Bianca

I really don't think you have to have an even bridal party. At the moment I only have a MOH and jr bm. FI has no one.

I got these totes in the Lime Green, Orange and Hot pink handles

I finally heard back from the GM at DPA. I should get answers to my questions sometime today hopefully... I went on a (online) shopping spree this weekend I got my OOT bags, cake topper, swarovski crystals to decorate it. I think thats it... It felt like a lot more.

A lot of helpful ideas in here! Thanks!

Yeah... I can see the expensive part... I have spent about $130 on those little crystals... I got about 14 grosses tho... So I probably bought WAY too many, but I wanted to have lots of colors and sizes. I bought most of them from HotFix Queen - SWAROVSKI HOT FIX RHINESTONES ~ Lowest Price on the net with FREE SHIPPING I found her prices to be the cheapest around.

The 30 day Shred is pretty popular on here. The work out is only 20 minutes. It's like $9 on amazon. If you have Amazon prime you can get it in 2 days.

Chances are that the company your resort uses only works for that resort or a couple other local resorts. Paying to bring in another photographer is definetly an investment, but an outside photographer will also deliver a different quality of images than a resort photographer. That is not to say that the resort photographer is bad, but I think overall you can expect better quality images from a 3rd party photographer than with one that the resort offers. It all comes down to how important these photos are to you. For example, a resort photog might be taking more posed shots and an outside photog will catch more candid moments. Resort photogs usually only work for a certain time and you might have to pay more to keep them longer. You can get an outside photog to be there as long as you want. Another good point is that a resort photog is working for the resort, not you. A photog that you hire is working for you.

There are so many threads about local photographers on here. Here are a couple names to start you off Vanessa Vargas del Sol Claudia Rodriguez Martha Roque (I'm using her) Cecilia Dumas Lidya Solemidt Michael ---- Cant remember last name

I found this guy on the Knot. A lot of knotties have used him and recommended him highly. He can basically make anything you want. I sent him "Feel Script" and "SC By the Sea" so he could make our initials and a starfish. He accidently made a sea shell (its a lowercase "b") instead of the starfish (it's an uppercase "B") and he made the starfish and emailed me a new photo within an HOUR of sending the first pic. He is amazingly quick and I cannot wait to get my wooden cake topper. I don't like to post prices, but lets just say the 2 letters and the starfish was less than a single 3 inch topper from 1/8th inch mirrored acrylic from www.weddingcuts.com. The starfish is 5 inches and the letters are 4 inches tall. What I love the most is that I got exactly what I wanted! He does not have a website or anything, but his email is craftyeddy (at) gmail (dot) com. You can google the email addy and find lots of great things about him! I was a bit hesitant to use a wood cake topper, but after reading how many brides did this, I figured it cant be that big of a deal. I plan on spray painting it silver and then covering them with rhinestones. Here is a pic of my final pieces!

Here is mine... Slightly edited from fb... I am more free to say some stuff here than with people that "know" me. 1. I have been tagged in so many of these that I just had to do it. 2. I have a bridezilla in me and she is just waiting to come out. Don't mess with my wedding. 3. I lived in Bolivia during my middle school years. I hated it then, but now I want to go back and visit my old friends! 4. 2 and a half Long Islands is the perfect amount of alcohol for me. It took a lot of trial and error to figure that out. 5. I have many dream jobs. The include fashion designer, photographer, social worker, teacher, counselor, architect, etc. I have concluded that I want to help people. 6. I have never broken a bone. 7. I can't sleep with any lights or noise. I get up with the sun. 8. I don't party every possible night or every weekend. I would rather be home with Gabe. 9. I am a couponer and I have enough shampoo, conditioner, razors, toothpaste, pain relievers and foil paper to get me through the rest of my life. I actually didn't do any couponing for about 6 months last year bc I had no more room for my stockpile. 10. I can hide my feelings very well. I have mastered the art of deception. 11. I really wanted to learn Photoshop, but then piratebay gave me hundreds of dollars worth of cool actions I can use instead. 12. I like designing stuff and am a DIY bride. 13. I started a "buisness" just to get wholesale prices. 14. I don't add people on fb that have not been a friend to me at some point in my life. 15. Gabe can make me smile at any time of the day. 16. I like watching Degrassi, 90210 and Secret Life of the American Teenager. 17. I h8 it wen ppl type in "IM slang" (dun really kno wat its called) 18. My parents are the best parents I could ever have. I have put them through hell and back and they still stood by side. 19. I hate debt. I freak out if my credit cards start to run up. Thank you daddy! 20. I started drinking alcohol when I was 12. When I was 13 I ran away when I was drunk and met some random guy who got me a hotel room to stay in for the night. That is why my parents moved me back to the US from Bolivia. A year after we moved back to the US, I got in with the wrong crowd again and started doing whatever drug was in front of me. Luckily, I was never addicted to anything and stoped when I met me FI. I seriously think he saved me life. 21. I don't need people that have hurt me or piss me off in my life. I have no problems cutting people out. Just ask my mom's sister and her piece of shit husband. Ironically, 2 people that I could have forgiven and tried to make it up to me died (one in a car accident and one commited suicide). I feel partially responsible for my friend that commited suicide. I knew he was depressed and we used to talk about his problems. Maybe he just needed to talk to me again. I think about both of my friends every day. 22. With that said. I have learned to stand up for myself and what is best for me and my family since i got pregnant with Gabe. 23. Shutterfly wanted to persue legal actions against me 24. One day I will be rich and I will buy my parents a big house and then open up a luxury resort in Coroico and live there and get away from this sleep-work mentality of the US. 25. I always wanted to go backpacking through South America.

I looks kinda like Scrptina

I don't think its too early to think about it... but I really don't think Jacy cares this far ahead. I think for her its easier to just decide everything once we are there or close to the date. On another note... Still no word from Jacy or the GM regarding my email that I sent almost 2 weeks ago.

After looking at lots of pictures on Etsy, I decided to try and make my own. I bought from Swarovski Crystal Beads Sterling Silver Wholesale Jewelry Making Supplies Crystal Swarovski Crystal 5301 Bicones 6mm 50pcs (5301-6-001) = $5.00 Crystal Swarovski Crystal 5301 Bicones 4mm 75pcs (5301-4-001) = $3.45 and a metal comb from Joann's. They are on clearance and it was the only place I could find one I liked Total, the supplies cost me about $12. This took me about an hour to make. Once I figured out how I wanted to place the beads it went by pretty quickly. And the pics of course!

This is just something I threw together to get an idea of what my bouquet is going to look like... I can't decide if I want both the orange gerbera daisies and the mini callas or just the daisies.

Mr UPS was sooo good to me today! I got a bunch of goodies! I got flowers for my DIY bouquet, pashminas, my starfish bouquet jewel, swarovski crystal beads for a bridal comb I plan on attempting to make. I love getting packages.

My dad is paying for the wedding at the resort, but we are paying for the photographer, private transfers for our guests, decorations/favors/anything the resort does not include, our stay and anything else that comes up that is not included in the resort wedding. I am basically using my tax return refund to pay for everything. I only work part time and have no room to save up. FI works full time, but he pays all the bills, so he doesn't really have any extra money either. I am working on a pretty tight budget and am trying really hard to not put anything on credit cards, so going into debt is not an option for us.

I think it would only be silly if it isn't something you want to do!

I plan on buying chair sashes, table runners, napkins(if I can find matching ones) and maybe fabric to decorate the gazebo. I live in Northern VA, near the Dulles Airport. My colors are fuschia, orange and maybe some green. Read below if you are interested in my crazy calculations. Here are my crazy calculations for how much tulle to get... If you look at the photos on the front page, a person next to the pole in the gazebo is about half as tall as the poll. Lets say the person is 5 feet tall, so the poll is about 10 feet tall. Now if you look at the beam between the polls, it looks about the same size as the poll or a little shorter, so lets just say its 10 feet long. So in the basic formula, a^2+b^2=c^2 or 100+100=200 and then we take the square root of 200 and get ~14, SOOOO in conclusion I would say you need 10+10+14 (~24) feet so cover each corner to corner diagonally, so I am looking at about 50 feet (17 yards) to make the X like figure. Whew!!! I would def buy more just in case...

aaronsgirl - thats a great pic you found. that is whats in my head kinda.

I was thinking about hanging some tulle diagonally so it crosses in the middle and maybe some lanterns. Another idea was "papel picado." There is a post about it somewhere on here, but someone called it wedding flags. I'm not sure if I like it tho. It would be something more authentic. Chair sashes should also give some color in there. I'm not too worried about flowers.

Those are cute enough to sell and make lots of money! I love them!

Target had one on clearance to cheap. It was ivory/champagne/something like that. I'll see if i can find some info on it. It might be sold out.

The most recent list of DPA brides... Let me know if you are not on it. I am sending this to a mod now to get it posted on the first page. lyales - February 28, 2009 patsah - April 9, 2009 lp579 - May 7, 2009 Reluctant Beach Bride - May 16, 2009 smashingbp311 - May 18, 2009 Bianca - May 23, 2009 jgomez3838 - June 3, 2009 adnil - June 5, 2009 Erika(RoryS) - June 12, 1009 Andrea - June 9th, 2009 MonicaC - June 24, 2009 aaronsgirl - July 2, 2009 tara5258 July 9, 2009 AlliMay - July 14, 2009 kimmaranto - July 17, 2009 marryinghimagain - October 15, 2009 Jesdinan - October 29, 2009 aug0208 - November 6, 2009 Elizabeth - November 7, 2009 cantwait2718 - November 13, 2009 2010wedding - February 18, 2010 emaya77 - May 7th, 2010

Those look great!

So I posted my issue on the Dreams forum and baltobabe (the ultimate Dreams traveler) asked me to forward her the email so that she could send it on. She sent it back to Jacy and the GM of the resort. I hope I get an answer now... I'll give it another week.