Lilpaisley

I just put the deposit down on the Riu Montego Bay for Feb 2009...so I guess this makes it official. I think I am the first RMB bride on here. We will book the actual wedding day in Sept when the resort opens, but I’m shooting for Feb 28. Man the decision on where to go felt like such a gigantic one. I hope the rest are easier.

While I agree that is a great attitude to have...you still have to be aware that inclusions can weaken a stone. Inclusions can be cracks, fissures, etc. There are 15 types of internal flaws and 9 types of external flaws...and depending on what type of flaw and where it is located...it can greatly weaken a stone. The diamonds in that ring are of a size that this is unlikely to happen, but it is still something to think about.

and congrats. I know how you feel. FI and I picked out the ring together. He then had the ring in a box on his desk forever. I could see the box everyday it drove me nuts. I think he did it just to tease me.Everytime we made plans to go to dinner, meet friends, anything...I would think "is this it?" It was hard, but really fun at the same time. Good luck and I hope it happens soon.

I agree with some of the previous post. I don't know anything about Philly, so I can't recommend a place...but looking in the diamond district is a great place to start. I work in the industry and can give you guys all a great place to buy jewelry...of any kind...traveling gem shows. Hands down my fav place to get good stuff. Not only can you get finished jewelry, but they sell things separately as well. You can buy your setting from one booth, your stones from another, and then take them to the jeweler sitting in another booth and watch him set them in front of you. You can also bargain with almost all vendors. The majority of the vendors are wholesalers from overseas so by buying this way you are cutting out a few “middlemen†and saving yourself $$. Make sure to do your homework before going and know your 3 C’s and some prices for styles you are looking for. This is one I frequent is Seattle. It's here this weekend, but it's just the bead show and not the full gem show: International Gem & Jewelry Show, Inc. Another place I frequently buy stuff is auctions. A good auction house will have an appraisal with a piece of fine jewelry so you will know the cut, clarity, etc. However auctions can be hit or miss…it all depends on the crowds. I have seen jewelry worth thousands of dollars sell for a few hundred…and other times seen a piece of rhinestone costume jewelry sell for close to $1000…crazy. The auction houses here is Seattle post their catalogs online so you can see what is for sale and decide if you want to go or not before leaving the house. My engagement ring came from an auction house and if you knew what we paid for it…you’d flip. So I guess I’m trying to say…think outside the box and walk away from the mall to save money. Ok…I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Ladies with Halzberg diamonds...make sure you take in your ring to have them inspect it every 6 months!!! if you don't, your warranty with them is void. They are fairly sticky about this. So I would make sure to keep up with it.

This ring is beautiful, but I would caution you on this one. The stones clarity is I2-I3 which means visible inclusions to the naked eye. Now with the total diamond weight of 1 carat the stones are likely to be about .03 carats each...which is about 2mm. You may not notice the inclusions at that size. The color in a range of H thru J is pretty decent. Colors G thru I show almost no color to the untrained naked eye. I would suggest a quick glance at the clarity ratings here:Diamond Buying Guide : Diamond Clarity This will help you with your choice. I'm a Graduate Gemology student, so I'm happy to answer any questions you have about diamond buying if you want it.

I'm likely to be at Riu Montego Bay in March 2009. The resort doesn't open till Sept this year, so we can't book our wedding date till then...but we are very close to purchasing the flights and hotel. If something happens and the hotel doesn't open on time they will send us to one of the other resorts...so I could turn out to be a ROR or RTB bride in the end

Thanks for the help. my e-mail is kris @ lilpaisley.com (or you can PM me) I have all the wedding package info for the hotel already...just not the photo info.

The hotel is purple? Can't wait to see that, it's my fav color. Before we decided to elope I was thinking of shades of purple for my colors. One quick question I have for all you ROR brides. Do any of you have the photo package info? They don't have any of that for MoBay yet and I wanted to get a general idea of budget.

We are looking at late Feb early March 2009. The resort is set to open Aug 29 2008...so it should have about 6 months to work out the final bugs before we get there. It's just the 2 of us, so kinks in the wedding planing are less likely to be a problem with us. Plus I am not really concerned with things like flowers, cake, etc. I just want to relax, have fun, and come home with decent pictures to show the family. I did check and if the resort is not upen in time for our trip, then we will be sent to one of the other Rius on the island instead...which is not a bad option either. Also the travel insurance we might select has some coverage for that as well. Right now it looks like our wedding date will be either Feb 28 or March 2, 2009. We are likely to put the deposit down in the next few days. I might be the first Riu Montego Bay bride on the board!

I tried searching for any postings about this resort and ran into a few problems, so I thought I'd just go ahead and try a post on it. Riu has a new resort opening up in Montego Bay on Aug 29 this year. Has anyone looked at or considered it? I know ROR is popular and seems to do a good job. It's just the 2 of us so we don't qualify for the free wedding but we'll manage. FI wants to go to Cancun, but I'm still secretly hoping for Jamaica and think this resort might be a good one to convince him. The price for the first 6 months its open is unbelievable. Cheaper than we could do Cancun, PV or Cabo for. I e-mail the resort and they won’t start booking weddings till the resort is open, which worries me a little…but we might just book the trip now as the price is too good to pass up. If any of you Riu brides have any helpful suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

I was looking specifically for any info about the Riu's in Jamaica. I see that a new Riu is opening in Montego Bay and wondered if anyone had mentioned it yet or had any info.

I tried both and nothing works

Is anyone else having trouble with search? I have tried a few times to search for Riu and I am getting either no results or timing out. I know that Riu should bring up a ton of results as I can go to the Jamaica threads and see the word Riu in thread titles. I wanted to see if anyone else was having issues or it was just me.

I have 2. A large paisley on my ankle and a 1/2 back piece that isn't finished yet. It's a large very colorful Sun. The piece goes from my bra line down past my bikini line. It still has allot of work that needs to be done, but the tattoo artist that started it passed away in a motorcycle accident and I don't know who I should have finish it. I have one photo of the original artwork, but that's it. So I'm kinda stuck.

Quote: Originally Posted by Hartyt509 It must be a rottie thing becaus Meg does exactly the same thing lol now she looks at you with a look of "you are gonna say what" lol she can freak out my FI and he is a dog trainer in the army lmao I can verify another Rotti (ours is a mix though) that can clear a room. Cleo has caused us to break out the scented candles more than once. We can't get mad at her 'cause she'll just look at you and cock her head sideways and look so darn cute. Our vet suggested Lamb and Rice dog food for her and it has help. We have also found that Science Diet canned food causes problems...so we switched brands.

I got my tax return today! I'm so happy. If you filed on 4/15 w/ Direct Deposit...check your account it might have come today. I also heard on the radio this morning that the stimulus checks have been moved forward and are now scheduled to start on May 2 instead of May 16.

FI is so cute. I thought he was complete uninterested in wedding planning or what was involved. Well, I was wrong. He found an article in the Sunday paper about money saving tips for weddings. I had no idea it was there or that he had read it. Living | How to save money on your wedding | Seattle Times Newspaper Last night he came into the bedroom and said “Sweetie I am so glad you don’t want a big wedding and prefer to get married barefoot in the sand…if I had to pay $3 a slice for someone to cut the cake or $10 a bottle for someone to open the champagne I’d go nuts.†It was so cute. I guess the article, which was supposed to make you feel better about wedding costs, completely freaked him out. That moment just solidified any doubts we might have had about eloping. I’m so relieved.

My cats are also strictly indoor. There is an eagles nest in the park about 5 blocks from my house and he is famous for picking up small pets. If you travel at all with your pets you might be required to prove they have had rabies shots (we’ve taken them to Canada before). Loki is a special need cat and requires prescription food. She still has not been required by the vet to have any of the other shots. Loki hates the vet and the less trauma she has to go through the better.

Joel and I are just decided to elope and I have been looking at possibilites of places to go for the past 2 days. I even tried to get organized and made an Excel spreadsheet of the different resorts and packages. A little OCD on my part...but it helped. I think the Couples resorts are now in the lead. I have been to Sandals MoBay and had a blast...but I like the wedding related stuff at couples just slightly more. So my big question is...Couples Negril or Couples Swept Away? I know CSA is larger and more $$; but other than that what are the differences? Is CSA worth the extra $$? I wrote Couples and got 2 basic docs w/ the wedding prices and policies so far. Has anyone here been to CN or CSA?

You can use any brooch with a good pin stem. All you need is either a few bobby pins or aligator clips to hold the brooch in place. Here is an old Sarah Coventry ad from the 1960s showing a brooch and earring set called Aroura Blaze. Leslie Ann Warren (a TV actress) has the brooch in her hair. I have personally owned this brooch and earring set and there is nothing special about it. I would highly suggest just using an old family piece. You'll get your something old taken care of and it will have allot more meaning to you and your family. Here is a pic of the set from the ad. I wish I'd taken a pic of the back, but as you can see it's just an old brooch.

Thanks Guys. I just don't want to feel like I'm missing out on anything. My parents and siblings are very casual and laid back and will just be happy with whatever we choose. I know they will be a little disapointed not to be there, but Joel has said it would make him feel bad to have my parents there and not his. I am a little sad to not be doing things like DIY invites, BM dresses, etc. However I'm sure the stress level will be so much less without all that stuff. I guess my next step is to find a good TA and figure out where to go.

I just got had a long conversation w/ FI about the wedding. We have been struggling w/ trying to to figure out the logistics of getting all the important people to our wedding...and the best place to have it. It looks like his parents will be unable to go. His dad lives in Montana and is fairly unwilling to leave. He has allot of animals and would have a difficult time finding caretakers where he is. He offered to host the wedding there...but he lives in the middle of nowhere (and I mean 45 min from a supermarket nowhere). Getting married there is very unappealing to me. His mom is recently widowed and is having large financial problems. Joel's step-dad left her a trust and the house in his will. She recently found out that the person running the trust is embezzling from her. She now has to give her entire paychecks to a lawyer to pay for the legal bills in trying to get her money from the estate. It's a big mess and she is about to lose it with stress. Joel hasn't even told her about the Mexico because he knows it's too much for her to even think about going. So we just decided to do the "just the 2 of us" weddingmoon. Who else here has gone that route, or is dong this? I'd love to hear from you about your experiences. I've been to Sandals in MoBay and know Sandals do them all the time. Who else does this type? Now that we aren't bringing anyone we can look outside of Mexico. I'd love to hear suggestions, advice, etc. I tried searching the forums, but couldn't figure out what terms to use.

A few years ago my best buds and I went to the Manchester U vs. Celtics game at QWest field. We had the best time. We worked downtown and just slowly walked from downtown to Pioneer Square before the game. Almost every bar was overflowing with fans...all singing team fight songs. It was a blast. I've seen some crazy crowds in Pioneer Square (I was at the Madis Gras riot & WTO)...but that was the most fun I've had there.

I used to eat those when I was a kid. My Grandma lived in San Mateo and she would have them as a treat when we visited. Man, that brings back memories