BillysBride

I'm undecided. My mom just about begged my sister to wear hers (she was married in Playa last year) but in the end, she opted to wear something different. In my mind, I guess I'm leaning toward wearing it...though I already bought one I found (at a crazy sale price) a while back with it in mind for my AHR. But I still don't know for certain. I'd say I'm about 70/30 in favor of wearing my gown again.

Quote: Originally Posted by B&J2008 Pic shot by Jean-Marcus day after wedding, sky was crazy cool, was just about to storm Oh my goodness, they are all gorgeous and you two are so adorable together! This one is my favorite...beautiful, and you guys are reminding me of Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey:)

Love, looove, LOVE them! You looked sassy and sexy in your photos, especially the TTD's. Congrats on a beautiful day!

Does anyone know if it can be re-applied multiple times? I'm gonna have about a 3 hour TTD shoot, the product description mentions it lasting a 1/2 hour...would love something to help out a lil'.

That looks AMAZING on you!! I tried on a Dallas, but you do it justice. Congrats on finding THE one!!

Awwww..I so feel your pain. Only another bride could understand..I'm sure someone has told you that it doesn't make a difference or that the colors are so similar it won't matter, but ofcourse it matters to you! What about calling around some other shops? Maybe they have a sample in your size that you could buy. If your bridal shop is a chain, they may have one in another city...at the very least, you should be able to contact other retail outlets that carry the line and see if they have any samples available for purchase. I wish you luck...try to stay calm. It IS a beautiful dress, no matter what the color. I hope you find a solution that will work for you!!

Quote: Originally Posted by roo66 Oh my gosh your dress is perfect in everyway and such a bargain.Can i ask did you get import duty tax added.Ive seen so many dresses i like but over here we pay in pounds what you would pay in dollors.Here for instance a gown i like costs 1600 pounds in the us its 1600 dollors so on a good day almost half.You id very well to get yours at that price.Its a shame your friend treated you so shabilly try to ignore her comments or b as quick back sometimes playing thre shock tactic works.we cant wait now for the b4 and after alterration pics hope you dont tease us for as long though.xx im sure harty will have some great tip to sort your friend out lol.xxxx I think I see what you're saying. No duty tax or anything...with the shipping, the total came to 204GBP. LUCKILY, she took PayPal, and Paypal actually converts the currencies for you. The dress itself was 149GBP and 55GBP shipping. My total US was $369.67US with the conversion rate that day. The gown retails for between $1300-1399. Thanks everyone for all of your kind words...it's made me feel so good reading your responses, and I am now confident I made the right choice and can "pull it off" nicely. I'll definitelly post the before/after pics..sending it to the seamstress tomorrow, and she said she should be able to finish it befor the holidays start!

Someone told me about this lady...and she has a web site. She's evidently very helpful for those getting around Cancun and the surrounding areas..has a booth set up near Isle I think. Mapchick.com home page

Oh, we love big pics around here. lol..thanks! If you have any more, I'd love to see them.

I'd love to get a couple of the cups. Just for me and FI for the honeymoon stay. Maybe one with the black writing and one with the white to keep them seperate.They are too cute!

LOOK AT YOU!! LOVE the lines of it...very, very elegant. Fits you perfectly...niiiice!

For anyone looking into this place, my sister attended a wedding there this past summer and says that it is a beautiful local. Definitely 3 star, BUT very good service and that the key is not to book rooms in "the tower" or main hotel. They have built bungalows/villas which show up in the booking system as "Studios"..book those, they are along the water front, newer and very spacious with great views. I'm thinking of trying to convince FH to book a few nights there on the honeymoon stay. All the current reviews rave about it and talk about how it feels like "your own private paradise"...very laid back and uncrowded which appeals to me.

Quote: Originally Posted by MarieSam It's gorgeous girl and why the hell are you worried about fat issues? Come here so I can smack you into reality, lol J/K tee hee ~ Your figure looks absolutely wonderful in that dress, and what a steal for something so intricately designed!!! You're gonna look amazing on your wedding day I hate sounding like one of those typically ridiculous women who are over concerned with weight and think they should be a fence post. BUT, here's what happened. I have a "friend"..I put that in quotes because I'm beginning to see that she has issues of her own and may not be the best person to listen to. Well, in my excitement yesterday, I sent the pics to her FIRST via email....you know what she told me? I mean..this is my VERY FIRST FEEDBACK about the wedding gown that I searched high and low for, and have been so thrilled about. She tells me...."Well, I think it will look great once you have the right UNDERGARMENTS ON."!!! Seriously. I spent about an hour trying to dissect that sentence and see if I was just not taking it in the right way, or being oversensitive. Then I spent a half hour looking at the pics and trying to figure out if I looked gross and just didn't know it. All because someone whose opinion I value(d) was basically a bitch to me. I talked to FH, and wise man that he is, he pointed out that this person never had a "real" wedding, that she tends to seek attention in inappropriate ways (yea, she's one of those...I'll go ahead and say it..HOOCHIE) AND that her marriage hasn't exactly been anything to write home about. She is constantly saying things like "Thats why I didn't have a wedding." or "This is the reason I'm glad we kept it simple" everytime I would mention a particular obstacle in regard to my planning. I finally just told her a few weeks ago "Well, everytime I complain or worry, I'm still loving it...thats what brides do. We bitch and moan because we can but under it all, it's the coolest experience in the world and I'll be sad when AHR is over because that means the end of all my planning!" She hasn't said much about it since. ANYway, I am usually the most body image accepting person I know...I honestly don't get upset over not being a size 2 and never have....she just knocked my confidence for a loop being Negative Nelly with me. So I really do thank you girls so much for helping me counteract her bullshit impact on my feelings about my dress.

You girls are the best, I swear. Thank you so much for all of the encouragement. I would normally go to FH for a little reassurance, but under the circumstances.... I appreciate all of the kind words. NOW, I have to part with it and send it on to the seamstress..getting a deal on my alterations too! A good friend of mine has a neighbor that does alterations for a living. They are pretty close, so she has offered to do my alterations almost nothing! She's a real sweetheart. Can't wait to see The Dress after she gets done with it, and ofcourse I'll post pics!

Girl...c'mon! I'm a street size 12W, and had to squeez into MANY a sample gown...don't take it as being a "whale" or not normal some how. Thats not the case at ALL. You are average...period. Don't let anything ruin this experience for you..not many women can walk in off the street and find the perfect sample dress in the perfect size to show them what its actually SUPPOSED to look like. You either pin it in place, or do only a partial zip/lace up. The sales associates are used to that. Most of the sample gowns in the shops I went to carried 12 and under...in the case of a bridal gown, you know those were too small for my hippy ass, but I didn't sweat it. I squeezed in and just did my best to imagine what they would look like a size up ...with correct flow of oxygen to my brain. I remember the sales girl telling me that this one gown looked good and like the perfect length and since it was a sample, I could get it at a great discount...she then asked me if I could sit down in it, since that would be the test. I just looked at her, rolled my eyes and told her "Sure, I can sit down...but next I'll be laying down when my ass passes out and y'all have to call the paramedics to get me out of here."

Thanks, girls...truly. With shipping from the UK, I paid a total of $340..I believe the dress was like $246 with the exchange rate. And it's a Maggie that retails for 1300+!! I'm going to have the neckline altered into sweetheart, but not super low. Just need all the help I can get with my non-existent boobage. lol

OK, here they are..excuse the terrible lighting, jacked up hair and the fact that I'm holding the thing up in the back and not looking terribly enthused. I hate to be cliche, but I gotta ask..does it make me look fat?? I never imagined I'd have quads before I got to wear a real wedding gown. I'm going to try it on again tonight when my mom gets off work and can help me lace myself in there good and tight. I have zero objectivity at this point. What do you guys think?

Thanks ladies! I found the cutest passport stamps on Ebay...I'm going to stamp the outside of the boxes. They say things like "Destination love!" and "Mexico" on them. I can use ink in our colors for them too. I'm also going to burn the paper edges of the actual invites inside so they look sorta shipwrecked.

OK...so, as I've mentioned we decided to scale back, and just get married on our own throwing a big AHR later in the summer. I feel good about that, and I've been so stress free since making the decision, so I know it's the right one. HOWEVER, when we started talking about what our real needs were vs. what we were doing for everyone else's sake, I realized that I was NOT willing to forgo getting good pics. Like a lot of other ladies I've seen here on the board, I found myself looking forward to the day after/TTD pics even more than the wedding pics. (yes, I know..insanity) ANYWAY, we decided to still let someone from Claudia Rodriguez's team do that session for us, and I've been happy, FH has been happy...fine. Well, we want a lil' more...extensive shoot than the usual frolicking on the beach, though we definitely want beach shots (and lots of 'em) too. So, FH had the idea of doing some of the shoot in one of the cenotes. Still happy, still great. Love all the cenote shoots I've seen. Now the ouch part...$1200. It IS going to be more than two hours with transportation (which is included)..so I really shouldn't be so awe struck, right? Right lol

Niiiiiiiiice, I likey! Both look great.

A decision AND a discount!!! Gotta love THAT! Can't wait to see the pics...so happy for you!

I picked "other" because I'm planning to do it all!! If it weren't for all of these gorgeously romantic pics around here of beautiful veils blowing in the breeze, or wrapped around smiling faces, I wouldn't even give a veil a passing thought. BUT, with photo opps in mind, I'm going to wear one for the day after shoot, then take it off...same thing with hair flowers. I plan to perhaps start my ttd shoot with one in, but remove it as we go. But I'm only doing them for my day after/TTD photos. I get hot easy, and don't want anything extra on me that I can't throw off if I want to. I hate the idea of regretting NOT doing something...so....overkill? lol

I'm trying! hahaha..I'm just gonna break down in the morning and do it by myself..it won't look as good, cuz I'll have to hold it closed or whatever. I went to my mom's yesterday and was so flustered trying to get out the damn door without Him seeing me with the damn open box that I forgot to grab the camera! He's being more wierd about this than ANY bride I've ever seen..doesn't want to see the box, or even a corner of lace. Anyway, I'm going to call my friend tomorrow...see if she can swing by in the morning before work, and help me into the blasted thing. If not, I'll just slip it on and hold the back closed like a good BDW girl cuz I know y'all are about to lose it if I don't post some pics.

I had wondered as well. I don't live in Toronto, but will be there next month for a few days and had wondered if the timing would work out.

I see it both ways..but now that I'm this far into it, I've begun to think in more practical terms. Yea, I have to look at the thing for the rest of my life...but expensive doesn't always equal "love it" to me. I found a band to match my e-ring (after much extensive searching) for just under $500. His ring is just under three, so we're getting both for less than a thousand and that makes sense to me. We have a budget and still have to live after this extraveganza, and in the long term, there will likely be anniversay bands and all in my future. I still love my wedding band..and if I wear it forever, I'll be happy. I think it would have taken something away from it for ME to be looking at the thing my wedding day and thinking "Damn, this was too expensive." lol But thats just me, and again..I've become pretty practical lately.