Agape Gems

Quote: Originally Posted by MoKe0506 If you get an arch instead of the beach gazebo, do they put you far far away? Your ceremony seemed secluded, or was it just because Michael edited the people out? Did you find your spot better than the beach gazebo spot? I think if I do the beach, I will get an arch instead of the gazebo so I can be a little further. But then again I remember seeing a pic where Riu was setting up an arch right by the gazebo so it was kind of pointless. Based on this pic it seems that the arch is just a hop, skit, jump away!

I know lots of brides have serious issues with their FMIL's so this probably seems kinda silly to be worried about, but how do you politely tell her that you think its weird to call her "mom"? It's such a nice gesture and since FI is her only child and she always wanted a daughter I know she really wants me to call her that, but I already have a mom and she's enough!!!

They are really easy to get on, it's all one piece. There is a loop that slips over your toe and then there is a small clasp on the inside of the ankle. Does that make sense?

Thanks Abbie! I had to take up a hobby to save my relationship during football season!

I like lots of stuff:

I ordered these from Oriental Trading but then I found some at Stein Mart yesterday that had tropical wrappers and I bought on impulse. So... anyone interested? There are 12 tubes, 2 of each flavor: Coconut, Grape, Apple, Strawberry, Lemon, and Orange. I paid $10 but will take $5, no shipping cost. PM if you are interested.

I made these for my bridal party and thought I might wear them too but changed my mind so now i have an extra pair. They are made for size 9 but I can adjust up or down a size pretty easy. They are made from natural-toned mother of pearl chips and base metal- NOT STERLING SILVER. I figured the girls probably wouldn't use them again so I decided to save some $$$ and not use sterling silver. anyway, PM me if you are interested. I'm asking $15 for them, no shipping charge.

I'm off work tomorrow for Good Friday and I didn't even know it! And FI's co-workers are throwing us a lunch-time shower tomorrow : )

I'm addicted to hobby lobby and now i'm on their mailing list so i get a 40% coupon every week that I feel obligated to use!

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan yeah, i think it's kind of common to rank them. Sometimes its how long you've known them which isn't bad. But I've seen where it's who you are closest too. I got bumped from last to 3rd after throwing her bachelorette party & another BM didn't pay for her dress Score! I have NEVER heard of this!!! I think if you can rank them then they aren't really all close enough to be a BM! That sounds like some people get picked to have even numbers or something. I would be ticked off if I was in a wedding like this. I have 1MTOH and 2 MOHs and no BMs b/c I couldn't decide. My sister is Matron, my BF from kindergarten and my BF from college are MOH. Anyway I just had to comment b/c this just sounds so crazy to me. Every wedding i have seen has been according to height.

I love that your FI had to wear the ribbons and bows hat!

Thanks JM!

More styles I would love:

Quote: Originally Posted by ~*petals*~ Thank you for this thread! I've been thinking about this issue too. This is probably a stupid question, but if you're getting married early in the day, are you going to get your hair done the day before then touch it up the day of? I ask because when I go to the salon it's an all-day thing, and I'm worried it'll take forever to get my hair done on the wedding day... I'm having a "practice run" on thursday, then on saturday my appointment is at 7:30am and the wedding is at 11am. I'm just hoping that it will be much faster since I will be the only one she is working on, compared to my beautician here who is always working on 5 heads at a time.

Quote: Originally Posted by FutureMrsB Oh. Great suggestion. I totally think I need this now. I just washed my hair yesterday and it feels GROSS today. This is also gross but my scalp is so dry! It's so flaky I hate it. Do you know of a good product to fix that? I normally use Aveda or Paul Mitchell shampoo's and it's not getting rid of the flake. OK, girls. Here is a picture of what I want my hair to look like on my wed. day. Tell me what you guys think and whether or not its do-able with the humidy and fusion extensions? Clarifying shampoo is also great if you dye your hair and you don't like the color it turns out! I have never found a shampoo that does anything for dry scalp. I put TCB oil on my scalp after I wash it and that works pretty good. This style is actually almost exactly what I originally wanted when I was considering getting some sort of weave/extensions! I love big bouncing curls! Obviously, I can't comment on whether or not you can make it work though, blind leading the blind with this. But if you can make it work then I'm so jealous

Quote: Originally Posted by crawford2B I didn't see that on the price list but I maybe just didn't pay attention. We were only going to get the 30 pictures on the CD but when we were looking at them it was so hard to choose 30 out of 275. We did narrow it down to 50 and ended up getting the 50 on the CD. Also we had to pay for him to be at the wedding for the initial package and this included 10 pictures on the CD and 10 prints. So in all we got 60 pictures. He told us that he keeps all (275) pictures on file and he will email them to us for our family to look at and they can purchase them online. When we were looking at the pictures it had writing on it, so i don't know if when he sends them to us it will have that on it or not. Also the pictures that we bought, they took out everything that we didn't want in the pictures. For example the boats and people in the ocean. I don't think they would do that for all of them. This may be a good question for him. He was very nice and did a great job! I hope this helps you out. Pictures were a big deal to me and we were on a tight budget. It all worked out really well. so nice to hear another positive review of Michael. And your pics look great!

Does anyone know if the arch that is set-up in the background with the white tulle on it is the one that costs $200?

Quote: Originally Posted by md_ocr thanks drbrain!! It seems more secluded than the beach gazebo. I really like it. I'm so confused now! Only thing about the pond gazebo is that the purple hotel will be in the backdrop of all your photos. That was why i changed to the beach gazebo. But I did read that one bride had white tulle draped around the back of the gazebo so you couldn't see the hotel. My other concern was the water in the pond... it doesn't look clean in any of the pics I have seen. But you could wear heels! And that is a plus!

Quote: Originally Posted by BillysBride Not sure if y'all (excuse me, but my southern heritage comes out even when I type) are referring to whats known here in the midwest as "Quick Weave" but most of those do not require glue. They have "lace" fronts that blend into your natural hair and only expose about a an inch or less of your hairline and there are small combs attached all around to keep it in place. NEVER put glue in your hair. Cardinal sin.....(shakes head sadly) I feel like I'm in School Daze...No such thing as "good" or "bad" hair, so we need to stop this and pay no attention to what society calls any of it. Its just hair...either its curly, frizzy, straight or kinky, but its all just hair and can be dealt with! Love your hair girl..there are folks wishing for curls that don't have them! There are a LOT of products that are meant to be used in high humidity, and if you use a little "help" in there with extensions or a Quick Weave, you'll minimize how much effort you have to take. For instance, if it frizzes, its pretty easy to do a touch up with the front/sides. Jon Frieda/Frizz Ease has a great new shampoo and conditioner that seals the hair shaft and keeps out moisture. I'm not a big fan of the hair serum they've had out for years (I find it too greasy and weighs the hair down), but the shampoo and conditioner is MARVELOUS. I wouldn't recommend it over time (the build up is just too much on delicate AA hair) but for special occasions in heat/humidity like this it may work wonders! There are TONS of products that can help, so my suggestion is to hit one of your local beauty supply stores. NOT the ethnic shops, but a good supply store like Sally's where they carry only professional products. Something else that helps a lot to seal the shaft and keep out humidity is something called Porosity Control. Its soooo silky and it makes your hair ultra straight and soft after you use it. Like a conditioner, so its rinsed out, but it evens the ph in your hair to seal the shaft. Thats what weakens and curls black hair...pores and uneven surface. Try it, you may love it. A do hair on the side (have never had an interest in going to cosmetology school, but have been doing it since my college days) and I know a lot of tricks to work with hair thats "too" curly, straight, kinky or just too irritating. WOW! You are a wealth of knowledge! I'm going to Sally's after work to see if they carry any of the things you mentioned. I don't take care of my hair at all. I use the Tresemme' $3 shampoo and conditioner they sell at WalMart that comes in the liter size! But in own defense, when i wear my hair curly in the summer I have to wash it everyday so i go thru a lot of shampoo and conditioner! My hairdresser, who sees me like twice a year, uses this stuff called Bumble & bumble, it makes my hair extra silky and straight but its so expensive i refuse to buy it to use at home.

I think it depends on what look you are going for. The smaller crystals will look more uniform, but will take much longer. If you go with the bigger ones (anything 8mm or larger) I think will it will still look really nice, its just that you will be able to see the individual crystals more. So if you do larger you definitely want to make sure that the lines you create are straight.

I couldn't sleep last night so I did a trial run of the barefoot jewelry, please disregard the un-pedicured foot!!! I'm going to nail shop today!

Quote: Originally Posted by Gretchen I just have to say that I LOVE that you all put "good hair" in quotes. We have talks about "good hair" at my house. (damn those kids at school!) I tell the girls here that the only person with "bad hair" are bald men. It was bad to fall out. As long as you HAVE hair it is all good! Sounds silly - but I feel like the "good hair" lable is not so good for the kids (especially girls) with more texture... Do you think I am crazy? We also have kids books about hair... I grew up in an all white community, (literally me, sis, and 2 other black kids were the only ones in the elementary school and it was not a small school) so I got made fun of plenty. I hate when people say I have "good hair" or "white-people hair", it's so ridiculous. I just have hair! Ok, stepping away from the soap box before I get carried away.... Quote: Originally Posted by meltanirie Everyone has valid pts "hair" corny I know but I felt I needed to break the tension a bit...anyhoo back to the matter at hand. My hair may also be a problem I have had it natural for going on 7 years now and I const have it braids. No one wants me to do barid for my wedding and to tell the truth neither do I. Humidity will kill me if I starighten it and I don't want to relax it I hate weaves they make me miserable---I know I pretty much have nothing left but if anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it. My hair is soft but thick and it keeps the starightness when ironed but thats in cold weather----I may have to relax it and waste 7 yrs of health (sigh) What do you think about the natural curly look? Not sure how to describe what I'm talking about, but like in the crazy picture of me below only the curls would be really tight, like ringlets and not dry looking. I love that look, I wish my hair would be big but not frizzy. Maybe I can find a pic of what i'm talking about. Quote: Originally Posted by BarefootBride So I resorted to researching clip ins.... Okay sounds like a good idea right? Maybe. I figured, I can do a run through before Fiji and once I make it there put them in for the ceremony or just get them done before but I am like you guys.. What about the water issue? Really, whoever heard of going to Fiji and not snorkeling and if I do TTD then I will get it wet and wet hair is sexy! Anyways, I found this lady online - shes really not helpful but she has HUMAN CLIP INS ....The Best Easy Custom Celebrity Clip in Clip on Hair Extensions Its expensive but she has hair for both caucasian and kinky texture. I sent her a photo and she sent me a link to order from (it was caucasion hair) ... then I ordered a sample, and she sent me a different sample (I think African American straight) ... I was pretty confused by then. My FI said the sample was was not my hair texture so I cut off a sample of my hair and sent it to her and she comes back today with a link to curly weave! AHHHH I dont want my hair curly. I planned on blowdrying it straight! Im thinking its a problem I have because I mentally dont want to have caucasian hair! lol Even though I am 1/2 Asian I consider myself Black and maybe I am in denial of having "good hair" -I just dont like that term or being considered to be in that category because like India said, "I am not my hair." Is it me? OH yeah on top of that the lady at hair conspiracy.com said that it would be over 300 dollars to get it matched!!! OMG That is Freaking Ridiculous. Now I think she is trying to get over! What do you think? Thats sounds really expensive and complicated!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by loveangel0610 Hi ladies! I'm having the same problem. I have alot of hair as well and it doesn't get along with humidity. I know my wedding isn't for a while but hair is a big concern of mine. I don't want to get my hair done and step outside and it be a mess. I really don't know what I'm going to do. When I come back I'll let you know whether I looked sleek or afro-puff by the end of the day!

Yea, I don't think the glue-in thing is a good idea at all. My reception will be outdoors, but I just really want it to hold up threw the ceremony and formal pics. After that I don't really care as much. I'm still deciding whether or not to do a TTD photo session later that day so it might end up a complete mess anyway!

I'm having a brain fart at the moment, but I have seen toasting glasses that look just like this, the crystals ae wrapped around the stem of the glass. I'll post a link as soon as I remember where I saw them!