cougs

i leave for mexico in a week and still need undies/lingerie!!! but, the two bathing suits i ordered from newport news arrived earlier this week and they're great! one is the swimdress mentioned earlier in this thread (it's a great suit!), and the other is a black bandeau suit with a white bow (i bought black swim shorts from walmart to wear over it).

here's our finalized sand ceremony wording (FI's godmother has agreed to read for us): Before the two of you met, your lives were on separate roads ... each going in different directions and seemingly leading to different destinations. But somewhere along the way (through some twist of fate) you did meet, and you fell in love. Today, you find yourselves standing here together at the threshold of a new path, and have promised to forever join your once separate journeys into one. Before each of you there is a container of sand. Each container represents the separate journeys you once were on. They also represent your own sets of friends and families, that until today were apart from each other. I now ask that you blend these individual containers of sand together. As the sand has blended together, your lives too are joined. Your once solitary journeys have become one of companionship, as you now set forth on a single path together into your future. Your friends and family are as one as well. You will now share those who are a part of your lives as you walk hand-in-hand along the path of your marriage. Enjoy the journey always. May you remain as inseparable as these grains of sand throughout your days.

Quote: Originally Posted by Detroitbride Hi all, Just a quick question for those who are have done a sand ceremony. May sound like a silly question, but after the legal part of the ceremony by the judge, do you just go right in to the sand ceremony. Or does it take place before? Just trying to figure out how to incorpoate it into the ceremony. Thank you! for the legal ceremony at dreams cancun, i was told we could add the sand ceremony but would have to have a guest read it for us because the judge would not. also our WC said it would go after the rings, vows, and signing ... but before the pronouncement of marriage. not sure if this will be the same at your resort with your judge.

welcome to the forum! good luck with all your planning ... it will certainly be a lot easier now that you've found this place ... really it's an indispensable wealth of information! p.s. love your thread title

honestly, it's a shower. where i come from, you shouldn't even know when your shower IS, let alone see an invite or have any part in planning or decision-making. it's a party thrown by people who love you, with favors, invites, food, etc made to the best of their capabilities. i will probably sound like a b*tch here, but i think it would be incredibly ungrateful of you to not allow them to be sent out. they are not THAT bad. sure, they aren't cleanly and professionally executed, and sure hot-glued shells and pearls aren't everyone's style (certainly not mine) but they were made for you out of love for you and your family. you can tell they took time, planning, and a lot of work, and she probably burnt herself a million times with the hot glue gun! no one is going to think you made them. like others have said, thank her publicly at the shower with an announcement to be sure. you don't have to say, "thanks for the beautiful invites" (no need to lie). say something like, "thank you so much for the time you spent on the invites ... they are so creative!"

Quote: Originally Posted by KristinaM Let's go easy with the north jersey comments though girls!! LOL we jersey girls have to protect our reputation ... or denounce it, actually! i have lived in nj my entire life (all different parts of the state) and have never met anyone who fits the "stereotype."

Quote: Originally Posted by Jacilynda You should pick 100 songs and just put it on shuffle! HA! See what happens! You guys will be hammered you won't care whats playing! LMFAO! so true!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Jacilynda I started working on mine and it is SO hard!!!!!!! I want to make sure we have more than enough music. I don't want to come down to repeating a song or searching for something else! But I have our ceremony, 1 - 1 1/2 hours of cocktails, dinner for 1-2 hours and then depending on how long dinner is we have 3-4 hours of dancing!!!!! I need ALOT of songs!!!! i wish i needed that much music ... my whole problem is that other than the few songs for the ceremony, all i need is about 1 hours of dinner music and 2 hours of dancing music! (we have a mariachi trio for cocktail hour) when i first starting gathering up the songs i wanted, i had about FIVE HOURS of music for dinner, LOL. it's impossible to narrow it down to under 20 songs! stupid FI actually wants a say in what gets played too LOL, so that makes it even harder! i just think it's much easier to come up with 100 songs you love than it is to come up with the perfect 15-20, ya know?

aaaaaahhh i'm working on mine now and it's SO hard. when it comes down to it, if my whole reception is 3 hours, then like an hour of that will be dinner. how the heck do i narrow it down to just 2 hours of dance-type music? not to mention slip in a couple of slow songs and stuff to satisfy the old-folk?!?! SO HARD! oh, and i hate the freakin' electric slide but i know people will expect it! *sigh*

Quote: Originally Posted by Cassondra2009 I guess I was assuming that she would just deduct the amount of the cocktail hour from the wedding contract...I guess I will have to find out what she will do. I'm sure it says in this thread what Claudia has done in the past, but I can't read through all 3000 posts again! in the past i believe she has traded it out for some additional guests at dinner or maybe one extra hour of reception. however, it's never worth your time to "assume" anything LOL, nor to concern yourself with what they've allowed others to do. they are very inconsistent and will often agree to a certain trade for one couple, but not another. claudia seems to be harder to convince than the other WCs. also good to note is that they won't give you the full cost of any individual items or services that you choose not to use, because as part of the package deal you're getting it at a reduced rate ... if that makes sense. that said, make sure you get all the trades/credits that you can get them to agree to confirmed in writing. once your WC agrees to it, they can't take it back!

Quote: Originally Posted by JaimeLynne $150 is so worth it considering what it symbolizes. And how funny - it just so happens that there will be 26 of us there, and 26 butterflies! it is just SO meant to be!!!

i tried this and they didn't turn out well at all so i scrapped them. yours look great ... i'm wondering if the type of material the koozie was made of made any difference? mine were from oriental trading. or maybe it was that i had more solid areas of color? anyway, we tried *everything*, letting them cool, not letting them cool, ironing them for shorter or longer amounts of time ... and still we only had about a third of them come out well enough that i'd consider them usable. my parents were like "just give them out anyway! who cares?" but i didn't want to give people something that in my opinion looked crappy. glad yours turned out so well. your guests are sure to love them!

Quote: Originally Posted by Jacilynda I think they make butterfly bouquet picks! would be so pretty! Bouquet Jewels - Unique Bouquets for Unique Brides Crystal Butterfly Bouquet Jewel

thanks for this thread ... i literally have 1000s of songs right now and have to narrow it down to the final picks for our ipod ceremony & reception ... which happens in two weeks!!!!!!! (we leave on the 23rd!)

Quote: Originally Posted by fmsmith423 Anyways, my FI talked to his sister and she reassured him that she would never let her get a white dress. It is an all tan dress and she will be wearing gold shoes. SO, my FI and I are going to see the dress and decide for ourselves. did you ever go see her dress? is it really tan, or too close to white? update us!

i ADORE the way you labeled the different courses. SO cute!

i finally got my WC to answer my questions about the order of the legal ceremony and where the sand ceremony fits in. so now i feel compelled to do programs as i had originally planned, when i was so ready to scrap it. damn. so much to do! the good news is my strapless bathing suits arrived (and fit, yay!) and my "something borrowed" traveling starfish bouquet jewel also arrived today! i also just *finally* asked FI's Godmother if she would read the sand ceremony in our wedding, and thankfully she said she'd be honored! nothing like leaving that for the last minute! (still need to buy sand ceremony supplies!) bad news for today is while i was eating dinner, i had about half of one of my molars just break off in my mouth. so now i will need to deal with emergency dental work a week and a half before we leave, and lemme just say i do not have the expendable funds right now and really didn't need this crap. at least (so far) it doesn't hurt, but i can't chance that it won't start while we're away. there are frozen drinks to be drank (drunk?) and you can't do that with a cracked tooth! owwww!

look at it this way, jaime, at least because you got the rash NOW, you'll have the cortisone cream and benadryl on hand in case you get anything similar from the heat and sun in the days prior to your wedding! if you hadn't had this warning rash, you might have gone unprepared!

Quote: Originally Posted by Jess wait so do you put it in your bouquet or somewhere else? the one we are currently passing around is meant to go in your bouquet (it's on a long metal stem). others have bought similar-looking starfish brooches and used them on the ribbon that ties their bouquet, or on the bustle on their dress. some girls might like them on a hair clip. but the little guy getting passed around this thread is definitely the bouquet kind!

Quote: Originally Posted by dc22173 The terrace was dark but they set up some strobe lights and some other types of lights that made it feel like you were in a disco. I would not spend any more money buying extra lighting. diana i forget, did you have the dj? that might have been why you were given strobes and disco lights. just wanted to check because we are not using a dj or even the sound system, just our own ipod & docking station.

haha gopher up the *ss! LMAO ... good to keep in mind for our wedding photos. FI doesn't like to smile in pics, i guess because he has a gap between his teeth(?), but he also has adorable dimples and his eyes get all twinkly, so i'm going to do my best to keep him laughing! you two are just gorgeous. really.

oh jaime that definitely looks like the heat rash tom's mother and aunt get every summer when they get a little sun. (haha guess that means that's what all my guests will look like on wedding day, lol). actually if it makes you feel any better, theirs always cleared up in a couple of days. i'm also SO glad that the pic you posted wasn't you ... that looks pretty bad! you could try a topical benedryl cream in conjuction with the pill kind ... at least that way you don't get knocked out.

oh no! could it be as simple as hives from stress? (trying to be optimistic here) sounds like an allergic reaction to something. if you've been using new tanning lotion it could definitely be that, or if you're on any new medications. i don't think it sounds like bug bites of any kind. have you had the chicken pox before? could be that or shingles (caused by same virus as chicken pox). whatever you do, try like hell not to scratch at them (easier said than done, i know). i would go to whichever doctor knows you best to get his take on what it is.

Quote: Originally Posted by Erika J See I want cute sexy underwire tankini's for my trip. I got 2 from Old Navy last year, from the plus size swim and they are super cute but I want something diff now as I have been wearing those for 2 years, the only bad thing is that I hate the plus size bottoms that come with ON swim, that my me look totally fatter than i am, so I throw those out and buy different ones from target or VS. Also I cant really wear shelf bra swim because it makes me look saggy, then the halters hurt my neck, ugghh so tough!!! underwire is ideal but i need something strapless or i'll be tan-line ridden. unfortunately, bandeau is just about the most unflattering suit silhouette ever, even on skinny chicks! i agree tho, halter kills my neck because i have to tie it SO tight if i don't want my boobs hanging down around my waist. usually on vacation i say, "screw it, i'll never see any of these people again!" LOL ... um, not the case for a DW! i'll be in a bathing suit around people we know (all who have cameras!) all week long! yikes!

wait, you DO want her to carry the rings? if that is the case i would say she can carry the rings in a large shell or something like that. and since ring bearers are traditionally boys, i would just let her be called a jr. bridesmaid and leave it at that. if you don't want her to carry a bouquet like the BMs, nor a basket of petals, you could have her carry a pomander (aka "kissing ball") made of flowers or shells, or you could just get her a parasol, which would be adorable.