katrina

about alterations- i recommend that after they measure you, that you try on a dress in that size in front of the salesperson. they measured me a 6 and i was blown away by that, so i asked to try on a 2 (which is what i knew i was) and that fit way better and was still a little loose. if you're not someone who yoyos in their weight then i recommend getting a dress that will fit you without major alterations.. save the hassle.. bridal salons just like to make some extra bucks on the alterations.

Quote: Originally Posted by jak27 We will be in Cabo for a week for the wedding. Then it's off to Belize for 8 nights! SOO excited about that. Then, we come back, I move to Denver (FI is already up there), and we're taking a weekend in the mountains of Colorado at a private home and getting legally married! It's going to be like 3-4 weeks of just pure fun! how are you getting from mexico to belize? that's the part we can't figure out. flying seems to be pretty expensive and the bus seems very time consuming. i found a private car service that will pick us up in pdc and take us all the way to belize city... but i was wondering if you had an easier way?

try going to a nordstrom or a neiman marcus or some other upscale department store so you don't feel so weird in a bridal salon. that's what i did... i bought a gorgeous calvin klein bridal dress in nordstrom instead of going to a place like david's bridal. it's a much more low key experience.

i found this necklace on overstock.com. i think it looks great with a starfish theme! Sterling Silver Polished Starfish Necklace : Jewelry from Overstock.com

i found mine at target during their summer clearance. not sure if they're still around but they were $3.50 for 4!

i found mine at target during their summer clearance. not sure if they're still around but they were $3.50 for 4!

Quote: Originally Posted by jak27 We're staying at Cayo Espanto...a little island to the west of San Pedro. I can't wait! we're staying on ambergris caye right outside of san pedro... can't wait to see pics!

isn't it an awesome feeling?

you can find corner cutters in any craft store... or even target.

Quote: Originally Posted by mauraw Katrina, so did you just have Kinko's print them on the cardstock and then you cut them out and did the eyelets on your own? What was the weight of the cardstock you used? I have a laser printer so I'm thinking about just doing mine at home if my printer can handle it i think it was 80lb card stock. kinkos printed them and i cut them myself to save money (you can have kinkos cut them as well). i bought a fiskars paper cutter from acmoore for half price and used that to cut them out.. saved a bit of time. for the eyelets i bought an eyelet setter and craft hammer from acmoore. i would have printed everything myself, but i don't have a color printer!

Quote: Originally Posted by foxytv Oh I love them! I like the hole punch and ribbon much better than my simple staples. And the palm tree and starfish are great. Are those fonts or clip art? Fabulous job!!! clip art! although dafont.com has some good wingdings you could use.

Quote: Originally Posted by jak27 We're going to Belize! So excited about it! me too! where are you staying?

Quote: Originally Posted by akh oh that's so cute, Jamy! i think i am going to give one of our children, a boy if we have one, my maiden name as their middle name - just cuz there are no boys to pass down my father's name - i'd do it as a gesture. man, you do have a lot of names! you're like a walking phone book! i'll be doing the same thing... fortunately, my last name could be a first name.. so it works out well

he did! he couldn't decide between costa rica and belize so i made the call for belize. since then, he has picked the resort and all of our excursions.. however- i'm the one who has done all the leg work and phone calls!

Quote: Originally Posted by Heidi I used the FREE offer on Vistaprint.com. Ended up costing me $20ish I think b/c I uploaded my own front & back for it. But 100 for $20 isn't bad at all! They were VERY professional looking. i also recommend using vista print for something like postcards.... more than likely you will spend more money buying paper and printing on your own... let alone the time it takes for cutting...

Quote: Originally Posted by ncainey Very nice! What do you tell them at Kinkos? I am thinking about having our invites printed and I will assemble them. Can you bring all the paper to them or do they have lots of paper to choose from? originally, i bought the paper i wanted and brought it to them.. but the lady actually messed them up! it ended up being fine because i liked the natural paper they had better than mine. they don't have anything incredibly high end.. nothing with a sheen to it and not a huge color selection but the weight on the cardstock was good and the natural had a nice clean look to it. but what is interesting is whether you decide to bring your own or use theirs, you still pay the same price for printing. it's $1.49 a page regardless. so i recommend going to kinkos and asking to see their cardstock selection before buying it from somewhere else. save a few bucks where you can!

Quote: Originally Posted by mauraw how adorable!!! i love this idea. would you mind putting your template up so we can get a closer look at it? here's the template i used.. i think it originally came from aylee.. hope that helps! SaveTheDates.doc

i did boarding passes also. i used the fiskar's paper cutting board and also bought a perforator blade. the board was originally $40 but ACMoore was having a sale and it was half off. the board made it a lot easier to quickly cut straight lines but i had to hand cut around the curves. instead of glue i bought matching eyelets from paper source and used them to hold the pages together.

we finally finished our stds and will be mailing tomorrow! it's exciting.. we printed these at kinkos and used their "natural" cardstock. the envelopes and eyelets are called "poppy" (a light orange) and i purchased them through paper-source. i like them!

the best deal around here (nj) is hollywood tans- even though it is still a bit of a rip off. it's $19.99 a month BUT you have to sign up for 3 months. you also have to make sure you cancel it before the cutoff date otherwise they continue to charge your credit card.

which luau company are you thinking of? i grew up on oahu so i know a bit about them. the atmosphere of a luau is very lively and there's lots of entertainment, but it's much more about sitting and watching a show than it is about dancing with your guests. it also gets rather loud so mingling and speeches could be a problem. but on the flip side, it's a wonderful way to experience hawaiian culture. the food is great- most people get a kick out of eating a whole roasted pig. also, do you know how drinks will be handled? many times each person just gets a few drink tickets. is it different with table service? and would they accomodate a wedding cake?

i love the beach mat idea, but i think i'm going to refrain from buying them since there are beach chairs everywhere. but over the summer i saw them very cheap in a store called 5 below. i think they were only like $2 (I bought 2 but can't remember the exact price) and you could save on shipping... but i don't know when you need them by or if you even have one of those stores..

welcome! the melia caribe was my very very close second choice! it looks so nice! we just decided on mexico instead of dr. but i love the gazebo!

i love the polka dot tote bags from oriental trading!

We are having an AHR also. I found a really nice but reasonable location for a saturday afternoon. This way I only have to serve light food. They have an ipod hookup so I don't have to worry about music. I want it to be very informal, so I'll just be greeting people as they arrive. No planned entrance. No favors, just a picture table with a separate guestbook. For decoration, I'm just doing gerbera daisies on the tables. I don't know if any of that helps, but in my opinion, the wedding will already be done, and that's the hard part. This AHR should just be easy, casual and fun.