cougs

i've seen sudoku books at dollar tree

i guess i'm the only one, but while i LOVE the earrings (yay for something blue!), it's kinda bothering me that they are goldtone and the shoes are silver. but maybe it's because you've got gold, silver, AND pearl going on? because i do agree with everyone else about the necklace ... it's just not needed, and maybe looks a little out of place since everything else is so edgy and chic. pearls kinda always say "conservative" to me. all that said, i ADORE that dress, and you're super cute in it!

dreams cancun said they would accommodate the vegetarians and food allergies of people in my group. not sure whether that means without additional cost though. it would be nice to know what they offered.

your makeup is amazing, but i suspect you'd be beautiful even without it. congratulations!

looks fabulous!

have you picked one of your two girls as your maid of honor? (i have both a matron of honor and a maid of honor ... lucky me, one of them is married and the other is not, so i wasn't forced to choose, haha)! and anyway, why does it have to be a bridesmaid or groomsman who signs the paper as your witness? for my wedding in mexico, the witnesses who sign must also fulfill the 4-day time period, and i'm not sure that anyone in our wedding party will be there that long, so it may end up being our mothers who sign! i would include your fiance's friend as a bridesmaid with your girls. for instance, my fiance's aunt is one of my bridesmaids. if i had a guy i wanted in the wedding, he would have stood with the groomsmen. as for the dad situation, i would consider adding a reading to your ceremony so that you can include your biological dad that way. i'm sure the man who raised you will feel that he's the one who should walk you down the aisle to "give you away," as well as be the one to do the father/daughter dance. also, be sure to have a photo taken with just you and your biological dad. not to muck things up, but is your biological dad paying for any part of the wedding? if he is, then etiquette also plays a part ...

anyone know if you can get the high resolution digital photos on disc from juan? that's all i really want (i could give a crap about prints ... they could always be done later. besides, what if they get lost in luggage or mail? then you'd have NOTHING!).

Quote: Originally Posted by Hartyt509 He wants one of me looking dreamily into his eyes! said wrong girl m8 ha ha ha PMSL! ... oh and believe me, i'm going to need a few drinks to get through it too!

there is definitely not a 9pm curfew, because they do some receptions 8-11 on the terrace (that's actually the time she put on my contract, but i'm trying to get it changed since my ceremony is at 4 ... they definitely screwed up). let me tell you, if i pay for a reception from 8-11, we are partying from 8-11, and there's no way they can tell me to keep the noise down. if they are having problems with guests of the resort complaining about noise, then they should not offer late night receptions so close to the rooms! their problem, not mine!

Quote: Originally Posted by TA Maureen Liberty Travel has a policy and price match guarantee. However, there are lots of variables involved. Is your price from Liberty a group rate or individual rate? If so the group rate could be higher because it guarantees a large # of guests a certain price and allows them to pay a deposit and make payments. Expedia may only have one package left at that lower price so when your first set of guests book with them the price will jump up and continue to do so as more and more people book. TA"s will price match but you just have to make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Group rates do not always mean lower prices but they do mean you have a block of space reserved at set price for all of your guests which is why a lot of brides book that way. If you tell your guests to book with Expedia that price could be gone by tomorrow. ahhh ... that makes a lot of sense. expedia's price for me was cheaper too, but they only had a flight that left at 8am my last day in cancun, and that sucks. i'm hoping for a late checkout that last day! also there were crazy long layovers for the trip home ... we'd be traveling all day long! i guess, as with most things, you get what you pay for!

what are the judges smoking this season?

Quote: Originally Posted by Hartyt509 We've ended up having to use Juan Navarro due to cost - i'm not a big photograph person so i'm not really bothered lol we're just using their photographer also. the difference is, i AM a big photograph person, but my fiance is SO not. i have in my mind all these beautiful artistic photos, but it will be a stretch to get tom to let his feet touch the sand (he HATES the beach, haha) or even to smile in a few of the pics ... oh, and he has this thing about lipstick (or chapstick or ANYTHING) ... it makes him gag and he never wants to kiss me if i'm wearing it ... i told him to suck it up because there's no way i'm not wearing lipstick on my wedding day! then there's his light sensitivity ... he swears he's gonna wear sunglasses during the wedding ... um, HELL NO! haha so you see, as much as i would like to spring for a better photographer it is probably SO not worth it for us. we'll deal with juan navarro ... i just want him to lay off the photo effects ... i can do that stuff myself. LMAO ... i just made my fiance sound like a total pain in the ass, didn't i? i love him, really i do!

Quote: Originally Posted by crystalljackson Well, you're not the only one! I've sent Claudia about 4 emails regarding this, and she never quite gives me a yes or no answer. I'd picked Cecilia Dumas as my photographer already, and I've sent Claudia an emails specifically asking if Dreams allows outside photographers (from what I could tell from all the brides that have been married at Dreams and used outside photographers, I figured they did, but I was just trying to be safe) and the only response I ever get from her is this... "Dear Crystal: The external photo vendors are: Juan Navarro Juanhphotos Claudia Rodriguez Claudia Rodriguez, Photographer, Cancun & Riviera Maya Thank you" So I write back again and again, to only get the EXACT same response. Highly frustrating! I don't want to use THEIR PHOTOGRAPHER. I am not impressed by his work what so ever. Claudia Rodriguez is good (and expensive), but only one of her minions, Alberto, is available on my wedding day. I'm not sure if Dreams has changed their photography policy, or what. I can't seem to get a straight answer from Claudia (the WC) at all...heck, if I get a response from her at all I'm lucky! Anyway, I refuse to use their photographer. My wedding is in two months and when I get down there, I will expect to use Cecilia Dumas, and I DARE them to give me any crap about it I've spent months trying to resolve this issue and have had no success. those are the only two allowed by dreams cancun. i would at this point write that you had already hired and paid for cecilia dumas, and ask what you will need to do to get them to allow her on property that day. it may be as simple as paying the guest pass fee.

Quote: Originally Posted by DanielleNDerek I'm up for season 4 right after season 3 ends! my wedding is only 2 1/2 months away so i'm running out of time. oh yeah, i'm definitely in for season 4 ... i had a 9-day vacation, 6 birthday celebrations, and 3 weekends away (lots of eating out) during this season so far ... i'm surprised i've managed to lose ANYTHING! so count me in for season 4, and 5 and 6 and 7 ... and however many more i can squeeze in before my wedding in may! i've got a lot to lose, and at least one of those times i KNOW i can be the BIGGEST LOSER and get all my money back!

Quote: Originally Posted by JoLo908 Yeah, tell me about it... she is with Liberty Travel... I will just be kind of annoyed... I want to tell my guests to book on Expedia or something... travel agents are supposed to find you deals! It's so frustrating... we are using someone from liberty travel as well, and they have a "price match guarantee," so if you find something lower they are supposed to match it. haha now i want to go check out rates for my trip!

Quote: Originally Posted by SLD4308 Hi all, I'm looking into having a Dreams cancun wedding, but I am nervous about prices for my guests. Do any of you know roughly what the group rates are? I will probably have anywhere from 50-90 people at my wedding. Any information would help. it all depends on the time of year and where you and your guests are traveling from. you will definitely want to get a travel agent as they can find you the best rates available, and take care of all your booking needs. there is a member on here who is a travel agent who specializes in dreams cancun, and she was even married there herself. i would have chosen her myself if i had known before we got ours. she is "TA jill." there's an ad for her at the top of the page.

all i know is rachel, you rock, and you're right ... THEY are the ones missing out! like i said, your photos tell of a perfect wedding! now if i can just manage to move my wedding up by a couple days, harty has offered to be my replacement ringbearer, even if the trousers are a little snug! LMFAO! i swear you ladies rock! thanks for helping put everything in perspective. you're all invited! LOL we know our parents are definitely booked and coming. and we know tom's grandmother (the only grandparent we've got between us) is definitely coming, because we decided we were paying for her trip ... she can't say no!

Quote: Originally Posted by LC_Rachel Soo to sum it up, we invited around 120 people and had 18 come. WOW. that's insane ... you must have felt so hurt. but your photos tell a story of a perfect, happy wedding ... soooo, if you had it all to do over again, would you have gone this route?

Quote: Originally Posted by Kat81 We had 40 people tell us they were coming no matter what!! Guess how many we are having.... 21. We also picked Dreams because of the kid rule. Guess how many kids we have coming... None lol. Just count your blessings that anyone is coming. I am actually glad to have a smaller crowd! 1. it's cheaper for us 2. I hate attention HA HA purely selfish reasons. kat, you crack me up! but i have to admit i was thinking the same (i hate the attention too, and it will definitely be cheaper!). i am seriously considering just going with the FREE wedding package now, and taking the 4 or 5 people who do come on a sunset dinner cruise or something for a "reception!"

they are driving me CRAZY!!! thanks again ladies ... i'm so sorry so many of you are going through the same thing!

Quote: Originally Posted by Kathie That's the way I understood it too Mummergirl. We'll wait for Anne. On another note, good luck everyone! I love weigh in day because I treat myself and have a little something that night. Unless I do really bad haha i usually love weigh-in day too, but i snuck a peek at the scale yesterday (why do i do that) and it looks like i somehow managed to regain almost everything i lost last week? i think i'm about due for my "time of the month," but WTF? we'll see how it goes tomorrow. i ate two fiber one bars today so i might spend the night in the bathroom LMAO!

Quote: Originally Posted by LC_Rachel I really know how bad it sucks. Let me tell you that when we started having "definitely" turn into "maybe" or the dreaded "oops- i lied" we too became VERY upset. how many were you originally counting on, and how many did you end up with? if you don't mind my asking ... i think i'm mostly flipping out because these are the people we went most out of our way to accommodate. and they are practically our whole bridal party at this point (which was almost entirely family, not just a bunch of friends). i *really* didn't expect them to bail ... anyone but them, ya know?

Quote: Originally Posted by JaimeLynne I'm so sorry It is a long way away so maybe there's hope.. that's all I can think of to say. I would say maybe switching the weekend might help (when kids are out of school) but it sounds like those same ppl would just come up with more excuses... I'm sorry, that is so disappointing you hit the nail on the head, they'd just come up with more excuses. just an example: my fiance's own MOTHER, when we were trying to get the 28th or 29th, said, "can you just make it the 28th, because i promised my Godson i'd go to his wedding on the 30th in texas." now, if you knew your first-born SON was getting married in may of next year but didn't yet know the date, would you go making promises to anyone else? let alone your Godson who you see maybe once every 10 years or so? she is literally leaving the day after our wedding and flying to texas for another wedding! besides, it was ridiculous just trying to get a date (ANY DATE) that wasn't in hurricane season! then there's the 4-day requirement for a legal marriage, so it becomes narrowed to either a thursday or friday. but the biggest limitation is that my fiance is in a school that is an 18 month program (not normal college semesters) starting in january and can only miss so many hours of any given module before they'd drop him. since the school refuses to put out an academic calendar for their program, we have no idea when his breaks are. he had to take a week in which he'd miss the least amount of class time. they are definitely off fridays, and are definitely off memorial day, so he'd only miss 3 days. that week was really our only option. obviously, my fiance is THE most important person to be there (besides the lovely bride LMAO)!

thanks to everyone for their support here ... i certainly didn't think i was alone with these problems (but it's probably even more common than i think it is) ... but first one of my sisters bailed (had my mom tell me ... never said anything herself yet), and at least one of tom's brothers is out. then my niece (matron of honor) and her hubby were all "SEVEN NIGHTS BABY!" ... now she's saying they don't know how they'll afford it at all (she's my most favorite person in the world). now tom's best man (who happens to be one of the only people who HAS booked) is giving us this crap about "can't we move our date because the boys have exams" ... i swear if no children end up coming and we could have gone ANYWHERE, i'm going to be pissed. it's all bullsh*t. i know we'll be there, and our parents are definitely going, so that's us and our four witnesses. i was wrong about the deposit before (it hasn't been sent yet) so there's no contract in play yet ... not sure if we should just downgrade to the free package and just hire a good photographer. we obviously have lots to discuss. thanks again, ladies. it's good to know i'm not alone, but sucks to know you guys are going through it too!

all i know is that tom and i are booked, we are staying 7 nights in a jr. jacuzzi suite at dreams cancun, and we're supposedly getting married while we're there. everyone said they wanted to do it ... if immediate family wasn't on board we were going to nix the whole idea from the start. everyone was in. everyone wanted it at an all-inclusive. everyone said they were willing to spend around $1500 per person for a week for may of '09. we struggled to find the perfect place within everyone's budget, and most importantly, that allowed children. then dreams offered kids stay free and everyone with kids was excited! then we booked our date, signed our contract and sent a deposit ... now one by one they are dropping like flies. not the people we were unsure about, but the so-called "definites" whom we based all our decisions upon. half of our bridal party is on the fence or out entirely! some are complaining about finances (airfare did go up substantially), but some of the other excuses are just classic: "the following week my kids have exams and i don't want them to miss the in-class review." SERIOUSLY. we're talking about 3rd grade here. not to mention these are the children we tried so hard to accommodate, choosing a place that might be a little more expensive for everyone else, just so that these people with children would be able to afford to come (since kids stay free). the dad is tom's uncle (and best man!) and one of the kids is tom's Godson (and our ringbearer)! i'm ready to just get hitched at city hall, and just go enjoy our honeymoon at dreams. *maybe* we'll suck it up and take the free package for a symbolic ceremony for the 2 or 3 (out of 50-something) people who decide to show. or maybe we'll say eff the whole thing. *SO AGGRAVATED!* /the end. thanks for listening.