MrsTrussell2B

My hairdresser has been asking me for months what am i going to do about my hair. i usually wear tracks. first i would do sewn-in now i do glue in. We went to look at weave last week and instantly agreed on a hairstyle BUT im so worried about my hair looking a mess because i arrive on Friday and the wedding isnt until Monday. I dont want the people in the hotel spa doing my hair (i just have NO faith that they will know what to do).

Beautiful! I will have to show my FH because he doenst think that tan will look right with our BM dress (their dress is turquoise though so he may be right)

Quote: Originally Posted by Chiquita This is a good site It's got alot of stuff that OTC has, but some stuff it doesn't! Thanks! yeah i almost ordered some of the stuff from OTC but then i noticed that its cheaper on this site. I have a shopping cart full of stuff and constantly adding more. I want to give my AHR guests the feeling of being at the beach without going overboard and being cheesy. My FH thinks im nuts. First i obsessed about the MIB invites (which finally went out and everyday i get compliments on how creative they are so it was worth every hour of missed sleep) now im obsessing about the AHR

Foxytv welcome back! Maybe i should let my guests pay for their own excursion.

Im having the beach theme for my AHR. found this great website for luau/beach decorations Luau Party Supplies, Decorations, Leis (Sorry if this is a duplicate but i searched and found no results for this website).

Quote: Originally Posted by froggie1013 I'm doing an excursion, not sure about OOT bags though. It seems like people drop a lot of money into those bags (those little items add up quickly!). We're chartering a catamarran for an afternoon. I think it's $600 for 50 people. They get you with the food and drinks though. Since we're staying at a villa that includes chef service, I'm going to have the chef make up some lunch and rum punch to take with us on the boat. You are right the OOT bags can get really expensive. That's why I went with paper bags (13 bags for $5.00) and they are not too big. So they will only have personalized water, a CD of songs, fans, snacks, aspirin, and pepto. I set a limit of $10 per bag. Because I need to cut cost and I don't want to overload people with stuff

Quote: Originally Posted by ethrondson We are putting together little OOT bags for our guests in Punta Cana. After reading this thread, I told my Mom about it and that some people are doing excursions instead. We got to talking and have decided that we may do the OOT bags as well as an excursion. The only thing was that we would have to find something that everyone wanted to do, that no one that has been there has already done, and something that was affordable for us to foot the bill. Then we decided that we are going to look into renting vans for a day and we are going to go to 'Altos de Chavon'. It is a little village that a man built for his daughters birthday and it resembles a european city. It has become an artist community, but it looks beautiful. We heard about this and were told to go check it out, and so far everyone that we have talked to is interest in going. The only cost for us would then be the vans and it is not going to hurt the bank account doing it. Thanks everyone for the idea of an excursion!!! Thank you this is a great idea! I had given up on the idea because I couldn't find anything that we could afford to do. If you book the vans would you please share the company name and price if you don't mind

I am also looking for these. I saw them in one of our fellow BDW brides post. i wish i could remember which one. Maybe try a search of pics of MIB on the forum and you can PM the bride that used them. If i find the pic i will let you know.

Quote: Originally Posted by MrsPetti2Be Thanks for all the feedback...it is really helpful. What is the Ipod option, because I would rather bring my ipod than pay $300 for a DJ that I will provide all the music to anyway... . The IPOD option is allowed at my hotel by renting a $35 piece of equipment. but you have to provide someone to work the IPOD

I am having my reception on the beach. i am also considering using a DJ (i believe the cost is $200/hr and we would need him for 3 hours) but there is also the option of using an IPOD. My wedding is at Paradisus Palma Real. There the buffet is around $55 per person but once you get into the details it really starts to add up. That really bothers me because i feel as if my guest have already paid for the food since it is an AI. If i had to do it all over again i may have choses Sandals because a lot of the wedding/reception costs were already included.

Looks like last year someone posted pictures of tissue holders. I cant see those pictures so i wanted to give everyone the site for personalized tissue holders. Personalized Tissue Packs Wedding Favors

Thanks Christie Just a couple of questions: You mentioned that your ceremony started at 5:30 what time did your reception start? Did you have a cocktail party? If so was it "included" in your package?

Quote: Originally Posted by Otis1230 WE are doing both. We booked at the paradisus the snorkeling sunset excursions from scuba carribean - it was cheap and drinks included for 500.00 for 20 people (2hurs) Then we booked atv for another day- again got a great deal - Our bags are good but not great- I think..We have sunblock, pool raft, starfish soap, starfish wine topper, maps of the island & rersort, spanish for dummies, cards, chapstick, and some other stff That is reall a good deal. but we are expecting 50 people (even though all of them may not participate) so im afraid it would cost us over $1000.

Quote: Originally Posted by luv2love I think the excursion idea is a good one. Have you tried asking your resort what kind of deals you can get on excursions if you book as a large group? They might have suggestions for you. Plus it will make the group bond even more if you all do something together! Or you could treat all the girls to manicures and all the boys to a game of golf or something (depending how much it is ofcourse). I didnt think about asking the resort because they are just so darn expensive. But i will ask Kelly if she has suggestions. I did see on her price lists that you can do a booze cruise for $50 a person. but i was hoping to get something cheaper than that.

Wow Amanda your wedding day is my bday!!! anyway ladies its been about 12 days since the last post. Does anyone have any pictures yet. I have struggled with what my BMs should wear. Im doing a traditional dress (but it doesnt look like the princess/ball gown, its a trumpet style) anyway i want my BM to look cute, sexy and appropriate for the beach. But i worry that the jersey fabric will be too casual when they take pictures with me. For the brides that have ordered the dress for their BMs are you wearing a "traditional" dress. Please send pictures. My bridesmaids are freaking out that we havent picked a dress yet.

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan I planned easier to pack OOT bags. Also 50 guests only has to be 25 bags (1 per room). I don't think you have to do OOT bags though. I'm not familiar with DR, but I found cheaper excursion options for my guests in RM. I'm chartering a van & taking them to the ruins. It's less than $15 per person for the van & admission into the ruins. Maybe you can find something like that in your area. Another idea I had was to take everyone to a great lagoon for snorkeling & pay for their equipment rental. That would also have been inexpensive. the van charter is a great idea! im going to search. ok 25 bags arent as bad a 50 but many of my rooms will have 2 guests that arent a couple so i thought each guest would need a bag

Quote: Originally Posted by Yari Is it possible to spread out the items in the OOT bags in your BM's luggage? Is there an option to ship it out ahead of time? I need to check with the WC at the hotel but i think i can ship it ahead of time. i just really worry about the items being there when i arrive. As for packing in my BMs luggage they probably wont have room either because they like to overpack just like i do. :-)

I am trying to decide whether we should give OOT bags to our guests. after reading posts here and talking to my WC i thought that i really do need to make the bags. Problem is I expecting 50 guests. I dont want to travel with the bags (i wouldnt have room anyway!) Also i dont want the items/bag to go to waste and we have a few single men coming so i have no idea what to give them instead. So now im thinking about nixing the entire idea and planning an excursion instead. But the few i looked at are over $80 a person (not an option for my budget) Any ideas?

I was going to use paper to save money but after reading a few post I now realize i can get inexpensive canvas. but i do agree that most people will not reuse the bags so paper isnt a bad idea

Tami Did the WC at PPC give you an excel sheet that lists all of the prices for everything. Kelly called this the wedding calculator because they have set the formulas in the cells to calculate your total costs. Thats where i found the price of the dance floor.

sometimes i do wish i had backed out because now i feel as if I have to cut corners to stay on budget.

Im becoming numb to the entire thing. I chose PPR because i was in love with the Chill Out Chic package. Now i dont even like it because the menu is not what i imagined. So im having to customize my wedding and reception and everytime i turn around there is another fee for something. Anyway if im going to spend $900 i think i would really need to more guests. after reading the posts of other brides venting about their guests backing out i expect my 50 people to be cut in half and the party will mainly be made of women so who are they gonna dance with anyway? LOL

Danielle I doubt lights are included! They dont seem to want to give us anything for free. And i do agree $900 is very expensive! especially for less than 50 guests who may not dance at all.

i can definitely use this to cut cost. What about expiration dates? I want to make sure the products arent expired or about to expire

THank God I found this thread! Everyday i feel like this isnt worth it! People complain about everything! First it was why am i going away? Then they had a problem with the date. Then they had a problem with my hotel. Now its complaints about the TA! It never ends. I wish i could uninvite everyone and just elope. Plus i know it will only be worse when we get there and my family thinks it is my job to entertain them for the entire week. I thought this would be very low stress but i find myself trying to please everyone and now it is no longer fun.