Jennifer Davis

We are hosting a catamaran snorkeling cruise with food and booze on Friday afternoon for everyone. Our wedding is Saturday.

Woah. $1,200 for a DJ? That's crazy. Looks like that's out for me. I am going to email Nayeli now. I wonder how much everything else went up.

Hi there. Congratulations on your engagement and welcome to the forum!

My Dad is chipping in 5K for the photographer and catamaran cruise. Kenny and I are paying for our own wedding clothes and rings. We are splitting all other costs 50/50 including reception costs, flights, accomodations, OOT bags, favors, airport transportation, etc. We set a budget of 25K so we need to come up with 10K each. I am using a portion of my savings and tax return for my half and FI has been giving me bits of cash which I have depsoited in our joint savings account we use for vacation money. He is also using his tax return for his half. I have just been paying out of pocket for items such as my STDs, website and invitations. I am not planning on including that in the wedding budget.

You can just send an announcement of some sort.

Those are fantastic! Love them!

Hey there! Welcome! Cabo is beautiful. Great choice for your wedding.

Yay! Congratulations! That's great that everything worked out.

If you are concerned that not a lot of people are going to be at your wedding maybe you can have an AHR for those who can't make it? As many people have said - times are TOUGH and getting worse and worse. I think many of us with weddings in 2009 and 2010 will see our attendees drop from what we originally anticipated as the recession rears its ugly head. I invited 80 people - I am expecting about 15 - 20 tops now. I was a little disappointed at first, but I realized that the actual wedding will cost quite a bit less now. We can now extend our stay in Mexico and use the money we would have had to spend on the wedding on a longer honeymoon!

GREAT job! Those are so cute!

The person that spoke to you like that should be FIRED! What an XXXXXXX! If speaking to customers like that is common practice in the shop I can not imagine how it is still open!

Quote: Originally Posted by BLUSH* Hello, I'm getting married on May 16,2009. Your posts have been very helpful. does anyone know about music options? Scroll down the attachment - additional items - I am including. The music options are included on the document. 02_ADITIONAL_ITEMS_2008.pdf

Quote: Originally Posted by BLUSH* Thanks for the other two posts. Does anyone know if there are any other options for music? I'm not sure if we want the band or not. The resort allows outside vendors so you can have whatever entertainment you want. We are using a DJ as our entertainment rather than live music, but I'm sure both are available.

I have had Verizon since 2001. I can not see myself switching to another carrier. I am extremely happy with Verizon. My fiance is on Verizon as is my work cellphone account (I am on call 24/7). It works out great since in network calling is free!

I am actually enjoying my long engagement. It's such a special and exciting time for us - I wish it could go on longer! Kenny and I got engaged on Dec 1, 2007 and are not getting marrried until Dec 12, 2009. My advice would be to try to enjoy this time and look at the positive - your upcoming wedding celebration of your union with your fiance. You want to look back at this time fondly, not with feelings of negativity. (It also gives you more time to save money for your wedding!)

I am not a big fan of Valentine's Day but it is also mine and Kenny's anniversary. We'll be together 4 years this Feb 14th. I got tickets to the laser light show at the Hayden Planetarium and then we'll probably go out and get smashed on tequila at a bar we like on the lower east side.

I am getting married at Excellence PLaya Mujeres in December 2009. There are threads with lots of great information on both resorts: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t32897 http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t34210

Your friends comment was completely out of line, inconsiderate and disrespectful to you. I see you spoke to her about it but I would certainly not let her off the hook that easily. You deserve a huge apology. Also, I would ask her to remove her comment from Facebook if she hasn't already.

I have stayed at both. I preferred Excellence because I prefer adults only resorts while on vacation. I find adults only resorts to be much more relaxing than resorts which allow children. There were a TON of kids at Paradisus while I was there. It really depends on what you are looking for. If you think some of your guests will want to bring children than I would opt for Paradisus, however, if you don't think anyone will bring kids than I would definitely suggest Excellence.

Obviously having a bachelor party after your wedding defeats the purpose of having one and is silly but its his party and if he wants to have it with his friends, let him do it. However, as you said, if he has his own to have his party before your wedding he will still be attending the bachelor party in July for his friend anyway.

I am going to add another "be the bigger person" post. I know you don't want her there and I know she didn't include you in her wedding. However, if you don't include her, as the others said - you will strain your relationship with your father and you will provide your fathers wife with ammo to cause even more friction and amimosity towards your relationship with her. Like becks said, if you invite her you'll always have one up on her and the ability to say, "at least I included you". This should give you much internal satisfaction especially when she tries to pull some of her evil stepmonster idiocy on you! If you feel that strongly about not having her there, then I also agree with the others - avoid the drama and have the church ceremony with only you and your fiance.

At first, my fiance kept telling me that I have to buy them because he bought the engagement ring. In the end, we worked the cost of the wedding rings into the wedding budget and the cost for them is coming out of both of our pockets.

I think you have to go all or nothing on the kids thing. If it were me, I would have an adults only evening reception. It'll give the adults time to have a nice night out without having to worry about taking care of the children while trying to have fun and party like rockstars!

I liked becks idea. I think it is ok if you do not want to celebrate a birthday on your wedding. I also think it could be even more special if you had a separate birthday celebration for your parent's friend. This way - you could both have your own special day. I also don't think it would take anything away from your day if you allowed your guests to sing happy birthday either. A separate thought - I know we girls tend to get carried away with our weddings. They are a once in a lifetime event and we want to make sure everything is perfect and just as we always pictured it would be. I am trying very hard through my experience to "keep the koo-koo in the clock" and stay relaxed about things even if they aren't going to be as I planned. I am also trying to keep things in perspective and think of my guests and the experience they will have even if I have to adjust my plans a little to accomodate them. It is important to me to make the experience of attending my wedding as special and memorable for the guests who choose to attend as possible.

I have to agree with Debs. Now that your father married this woman - she is IMMEDIATE family. We all have family members we don't like hence the saying, "You can choose your friends but you can't choose your family". I think you need to include your stepmother in your church wedding. Weddings are a family event. They are a big deal for your Mom and Dad too. It is probably very important to your Dad to have his wife there. Another saying, "Two wrongs don't make a right". I agree with petunia, Debs and travelhappy - the right thing to do would be to include her - be the bigger person!