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welcome! so glad to meet ya

Heidi, I love your dress, I was looking at it too but I still can't decide if I want foo-foo ball gown, or lacy , or simple... too many dresses! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Lizz, I was surprised as well! I stumbled across dresses on target.com and laughed, then started hunting and have seen dresses on all kinds of unexpected store websites.

please delete! having time out issues!

Very cute! Love thecolors!

hello and welcome! you're going to get lots of help with mexico info here!

welcome! i'm sure you'll find loads of great info here.

congrats and welcome to the addiction!

have fun, and welcome!

welcome karen! glad to have you!

thanks and welcome to the forum. hopefully you can get some good ideas from us to give to your cousin (i'm guessing thats what your name means!)

I tried a search but couldn't find a hit on this here... I have a registry set up at OurWishingWell.com, but I'm wondering if anyone here has used this and what your feelings are on it. We don't want gifts because with our small house and combined households as established adults we dont need much or have room for anything more! But we do need a new mattress and boxspring set, and would like to have a nice honeymoon. We obviously don't want to outright ask for money, so someone at work suggested this site. Problem is, I don't know a soul who has used it. Any thought or comments?

changed my mind oh well, still looking.

those are cute! what a nice idea.

We were trying to decide on Mexico or Hawaii as our DW spot, and we finally dedided on Hawaii for a couple of reasons. Doug really really wanted the legal marriage certificate to actually say "Maui", or "Puerto Vallarta", or wherever we choose, instead of just plain old "Seattle". We also are having Doug's oldest brother (and best friend) get ordained online (!) and be our officiant. In order to have a "beach" location named on the certificate, AND still have Trevor marry us, we decided to go with Hawaii so it would all be legal. Also we wanted to avoid the hassle of the waiting period and blood test, etc. Hawaii does not require this. We are having the big "Wedding" at home with about 175 guests, about 165 of them will NOT be privvy to the info that we are actually not getting married until a week later in Hawaii. We don't feel bad about hiding this info, for one because its OUR business how we do it, and for another because when we talk about the at-home ceremony we call it "The Wedding", which it is, and there is no need for anyone to know it's not an actual legal "marriage". We also have so many people that either could not afford to, or are too elderly, or for whatever reasons couldn't make it on a big trip out of town. So we like the idea of being able to include them and have people like my 88 year old Grama be able to see me get married. It's really the act that counts, and the legality of it is just that, the legal matter.

thanks gals, he is very romantic and sweet, and i am soooo lucky to have him!

Haha, MelissaH, I don't know what it is that sets me off! I have been such a crybaby the last 2 months since it happened! I even got choked up reading that YOU were bawling! We're just all nuts, thats all!

I forgot to mention that my Avatar pic is from after he asked me.

Here is my engagement story from October 1st, 2007 Doug and I were engaged October 1, 2007 at Los Arcos hotel on Play Los Arcos in Puerto Vallarta, MX. We had discussed getting married a few times over the last year, but I wasn't going to pressure him! Doug received the perfect opportunity when we started to plan a vacation. All year we had been planning a HUGE family trip to Puerto Vallarta with almost all of Doug's siblings and their kids and his parents (he is the youngest of 5) and also my Dad and StepMom. A few months before the trip I realized we would be there over my StepMom Sharon's birthday. I also knew that with so many people we would all be off in different directions having all kinds of fun, so I wanted to plan a big group dinner so that there would be one event for sure that everyone would be at. I decided that we should have the group dinner on Sharon's birthday, since I knew she would like that. Nothing was fishy to me the first 4 days of the trip, and looking back I can't believe I was that blind! I think I just kept telling myself that each thing was really not what I thought it might be so that I wouldn't build it up in my head and get all worked up over nothing! Some "DUH!" moments were: The day before Doug and I were headed to the pool, we were so hot and just wanted to jump in and cool off. When we walked up we saw my parents off to the side hanging out on pool chairs, and Doug said he was gonna go chat with them. Doug is a nice guy like that, so it didn't even cross my mind that anything was up until Doug's BIL says to me "Why is Sharon crying?" I looked over and sure enough, she was. Anyone else might have thought something was up, but me knowing Sharon is a "cryer", I just thought that she was happy we were all together having the best week. I really just brushed it off to that! Another thing that happened was the next morning Doug came up to me after breakfast and told me his mom wanted him to go with her to a cash machine to get some money to pay the scuba instructor she hired for the kids that day. I never even wondered why she didn't just get cash from travellers checks at the front desk or something, it just made sense to me. The last Big Duh Moment was when we were getting ready for the group dinner that night, Doug out of nowhere says, "I'm going to give a toast for Sharon's birthday tonight at dinner." And unassuming lil' ole' me said, "That would be great! She'll really like that!" I can't believe I didn't see what was about to happen! We had decided we were going to have the dinner at Mauricio's in the Marina, but when we all met up in the lobby Sharon told me they found out it was closed on Mondays... so why don't we go somewhere else instead? I was upset because I had been dreaming about the seafood meal that they have, appetizer, meal, dessert, tequila for like $12 per person! Sharon said "OK, I know where we'll go, the place where your dad and I got married." I thought oh that will be nice, I haven't been back to that place since I was like 13. So we all headed to Los Arcos hotel in the romantic zone, to have dinner at the hotel restaurant. We got seated and got our drinks ordered and delivered to us. Doug stands up to get everyones attention. He makes a really nice toast for Sharon's birthday and thanks everyone for getting together for this really cool vacation, then we all clink glasses and start to talk again. All of the sudden I realize that everyone is quiet again and Doug has scooted his seat back farther to make room for him to turn to me. As he is reaching into his pocket and getting down on his knee, It finally dawns on me what is about to happen! I completely freaked out! I remember saying something like, "Ohmygodwhatareyoudoing?!?!" I was so overwhelmed and surprised that I don't remember hearing a word he said until he asked if I would be his wife. When I actually heard it I apparently responded with, "Are you f*%#ing kidding me?!?!" (oops!!!) and I was told later when I asked Doug to "re-live" it for me that I did in fact accept his proposal a second later with a, "Yes! OF COURSE!!!" We kissed and cried and the rest is history! The only thing I would have changed was that I would have wanted my Mom to be there, we knew ahead of time that she couldn't make it on the trip but there was no way for Doug to lose the perfect opportunity by talking her into going at the last minute. I think I would have known what was up for sure if he did that. Sharon crying at the pool was due to Doug asking my Dad if it would be ok to marry me! Doug getting "cash" with his mom was them going to a little jewelry store to pick out my placeholder ring, which I wore until a couple weeks after we got home when we got the real E-ring. The toast was something he probably would have done anyways, but he knew it would be the perfect rouse, I think he thought it was funny that I ended up planning my own engagement party!

oh kim, that is so awful. i'm sorry you had to have that experience that we all dread. to look on a positive note, at least it gives you a very good excuse to "try it again" with vow renewals down the road, at a loaction with a much more qualified WC! i hope you get some sort of retribution for all the trouble and heartache this has caused you does mexico have a version of the BBB? (Better Business Bureau) they need to know this, if so!

haha, "BM" always cracks me up too

welcome, my fair neighbor to the north(east!) congrats and have fun planning. you will find loads of great info here.

hi there! welcome and have fun!

welcome! so glad to have you!

welcome emily!