~*~Margie~*~

I can't pick just one! Jackson 5 - "I'll Be There" Young Michael - "Ben" Wanna Be Startin Something (the originial and the cover by Akon), Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, Smooth Criminal, Black or White, and I LOVED his duet with Janet, Scream.

I agree about Mary, she is getting on my nerves. The "scream" that everyone waits for thinking its the biggest compliment they can get, OMG I hate it. I prefer her when she is moved by something and crying, lol, cause she stays calm. Okay, so did anyone else notice this....Cat seemed to "know" something she shouldn't have known. The judges decision is supposed to be confidential till they announce. Well...when Cat was hugging Asuka and asked what she would remember most and she said Vitolio, Cat gave her a final hug before leaving the stage and said "I don't know what he'll do without you" like she KNEW Vitolio was staying, but the guys hadn't been announced yet. Strange Anyone else hear it? I think the people that went home deserved to go home.

I still can't wrap my head around this, it is so sad. Between the sad new and pregnancy hormones, I have spent my morning fighting off tears. My mom called me last night to tell me the news and all I could say was "You're kidding, right?" I just couldn't believe it and still can't. He was AMAZING!! While his influence is obvious in performers like JT, his ability will never be matched. I remember dancing around the house to his music, I loved the Jackson 5 stuff, and his solo song "Ben" was a favorite for my brother and I as kids. I remember being afraid of the Thriller video when I real young, and then being amazed by it as I got older. His so called "fall from grace" was difficult to see and I truly felt he was taken advantage of and possibly lied about. He seemed like a good natured person who truly cared for people. Yes, he did some strange things, but it seemed to all be in the name of recapturing a childhood that he never got to have, and who can blame him for that. He will never be forgotten, like Elvis and John Lennon before him, he died too soon and the world of music will never be the same.

I watched her special "Farrah's Story" when I was in the Bahamas (recovering from a rough wedding night) and it was so heartbreaking, all that she has been through in the last 3 years. Cancer is horrible, and I agree cancer, it wreaks havoc on too many people...it is so terribly sad that she lost this battle.

Try priceline.com and name your price. Once you select Chicago it will ask you to select areas of Chicago you want to chose from. Option 4 (Millenium Park, Loop & Grant Park Area) will put you in walking distance to Taste of Chicago and most sites, and you can select option 5 (North Michigan Ave) just to broaden your search and still be able to walk almost everywhere. We used priceline and stayed at the Palmer House Hilton in the Loop for only $99 a night, which is half price. It is a beautiful old hotel and you can walk everywhere from there. If you want suburbs, we stayed at the Extended Stay America in Downers Grove, easy drive into the city or easy access to public transport and it was $50-75 a night and very nice. Good luck. I love Chicago and the Taste of Chicago was soooo much fun.

I must say, I was very underwhelmed again, kind of disappointing. DH and I can't help but laugh when the judges try to say that this may be the best group of dancers they've ever had...I know they say that every year, but this year, I totally disagree. As for the judges, I would rather listen to Lil' C over Toni Basil, but honestly I tivo so I can fast forward, I skipped Toni everytime last time. I don't remember who asked, but it's Toni Basil, she's sang "Hey Mickey", appearantly she has done other things but I only know her from Hey Mickey. So onto the dancing.... Karla and Jonathan - disappointing. Karla did good but I kind of expected more from her knowing she dances with a crew. Jonathan has been doing well up to this point with picking up other styles but he looked really uncomfortable and out of place in this routine. Melissa and Ade - wonderful routine. I was worried for them when the showed the rehearsal clips but they really pulled it out. They are definitely front runners in my opinion, I think one of the few couples worth watching. Janette and Brandon - Brandon impressed me, Janette, not so much. In the moment, in the routine, in what he was wearing, I totally bought Brandon as a hip hip dancer. Janette is one of those "there's something about her" for me, I just don't particularly care for her. Asuka and Vitolio - again, seeing rehearsal worried me for them but they pulled it out too. It wasn't the best routine, but it was good and I did enjoy watching it. Kupono and Kayla - i was surprised they had chemistry. I really didn't think they would, and as I noted before, the look on Kayla's face last week when they said they'd be the new couple, I just didn't see it working. I do not agree with Mary that it was the "most beautiful" Viennese waltz on the show to date, I think Twitch and Kherrington last year when they did the Viennese Waltz dedicated to Jean-Marc's daughter was much more beautiful...but, they did well with it. I do think Kayla is a little TOO sure of her self though, reminds me of Blake (S. 1) and Danny (S. 3) who had that "yeah, I know I'm good" air about them. Caitlyn and Jason - did not like it at all. I agree that the outfits were distracting and her hair was bugging me. I was surprised at the lack of chemistry in this dance, because they seem to have alot of chemistry and at the end of the dance I admit I was waiting for them to kiss again. Randi and Evan - too cute. I really liked this. They both did really well with what Mia gave them and it was definitely a memorable routine. And Nigel with his "but...and there is a butt" I was cracking up. Phillip and Jeanine - okay, I really liked it. No, Phillip is not the most technical dancer, and he is not picking up the technique the way other street dancers like Twitch and Joshua seemed too...but, with that said I still think he looked good and believeable in this. I think he just makes you look at him and I for one am so busy looking at the overall package and performance that his feet and his lines aren't sticking out like a sore thumb for me. I agree with Nigel, I don't want him to make it through just because he has a following and people vote for him, I want him to deserve it, but I think he can still grow. I really like Jeanine and I hope she sticks around for a while. I can't even predict who will be bottom three. The only one's I think will definitely be there are Karla and Jonathan. I think Melissa and Ade will definitely be safe, everyone else for me is a toss up. Can't wait to see tonight.

Thank you for all the input...I think I need to relax and enjoy feeling good as everyone said and stop looking for reasons to be anxious

As someone else said, I too was kind of hoping that they had decided to cancel the show and seek counseling to save their marriage. It breaks my heart that those precious kids will have to perform for the camera while their world is falling down around them. I am happy to hear that they are atleast considering a hiatus for the time being. I must say, that when the news started breaking, I was reading the tabloids and while I NEVER condone cheating, I couldn't help but think "who could blame him". But...I realize that as others have said, its not Kate's fault. Yes, she was bitchy and talked to him like he was her 9th child, but he let her. And based on his own words, this seems to be more about sowing his oats since he is "only 32" and less about how she treated him. I watched the clip from GMA this morning and while I have never really liked Kate, my heart truly went out to her when she said "I don't want to be alone". She said in her interview with People that Jon asked for the divorce so it seems she truly wanted to try to save it. And the worst was when she revealed that Maddy said she wasn't surprised they were divorcing. It's sad that an 8 year old feels that way. I hope that if they take a hiatus it gives them a chance to clear their heads and maybe in the future try counseling.

Chiming in for the first time!! I LOVE this show, DH and I have watched religiously since Season 1, but....I don't like this season, I have been so disspointed so far. Usually by this point, I have my favorites. Last year was Twitch, but then again, last year I loved practically everyone and it was so hard to even imagine any of them going home because they were all SOOO good. This year, I feel like its not the same level of talent, I have not been amazed by any of them. If forced to chose I would have to say Ada and Melissa have stood out the most for me. As for choreography, I used to love Shane Sparks but the two hip hop routines last week were lacking "spark" no pun intended. I really think I prefer Tabitha and Napoleon for hip hop now, they seem more current, Shane seems old school. I think Phillip will be around for a while just due to the following he has built up so far. I really would have rather seen Kupono go home instead of Max, I agree with Erin, the ballroom guys seem to get sent home too soon and I don't think Max deserved to go. And did anyone notice the look on Kayla's face when they flashed on her as Cat was saying Kayla and Kupono would dance as a new couple on the next show....she did not look happy. I'm curious to see if they have chemistry. I hope this week goes back up a notch. Oh, so excited that Evan's brother made it to Vegas for the fall season...as if there was any doubt, hope he makes the Top 20, I liked him better than Evan. Thats all I have for now.

Congrats Summer! Looking forward to seeing pics. Anyone recall when they started really having symptoms? I know I am early still, just 6 weeks yesterday but other then some tenderness, the occassional ride on the emotional rollercoaster and tiredness, I feel fine. And people keep asking me how I feel, so its like they expect me to be feeling something, so now I feel weird that I'm not. Crazy as it sounds, I don't really recall the early weeks of my first pregnancy; it was 5 years ago and a very stressful time so I just don't remember.

Carly, congrats! Our due dates are close. Feb 3 was my due date with my first child but he decided to show up late and arrive on Feb 16 which is my due date for this baby. Maybe this baby will be an early bird and show up on the 3rd

Quote: Originally Posted by Kat81 Congrats and welcome! You are not silly, when is your first appt? Thank you everyone! I know lots of people try to hold off on telling people till the end of the first trimester but I am not a person that can hold it in, I am just so excited. My first appointment is on July 10, when I'm just over 8 weeks. From the online due date calculators, my due date is February 16, 2010, which I think is funny because that is also my son's 5th birthday.

Hi ladies...I am a 2nd time Mommy to be and it is VERY early in this pregnancy, I just found out and we are so excited, looks like it was a weddingmoon conception for us. I have been reading the last few pages of this thread and everyone is so far along, I feel silly for chiming in already. Good luck to all you ladies, I hope you are all feeling well.

I have noticed that the Bahamas thread is not one of the more active ones, but I wanted to post here in case there are Brides to be considering the Bahamas for their DW. I was initially a Mexico bride but had to relocate at the last minute do to the swine flu and we ultimately landed on Grand Bahama Island at the Our Lucaya Resort. I wanted to post a link to my review of this resort and while I am certainly not an expert because my planning process at this resort was short and VERY rushed, if anyone has any questions about this resort or weddings there, I will do my best to try to answer them. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t44177

While I sadly had to relocate and wasn't a DPA bride, I spent a ton of time on this thread and thought I would post my review link here incase anyone is interested in seeing how my relocated wedding turned out. Glad to hear everything is working out for all you ladies that got to wed at DPA. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t44177

Quote: Originally Posted by paraisobeachbride2009 Wow thanks for such a great detailed review! You looked absolutely gorgeous and I loooooooooove, love, love your dress...who makes it? Congrats to you and your DH! I can't wait to see the rest of your pro pics!! Thank you!! My dress is actually from David's Bridal believe it or not

Videography – A The videographer was a very nice man, Kendal Knowles I think his name was. He taped for an hour and had the video edited and waiting for us at the desk when we checked out 3 days later. We got two copies. It’s a tad cheesy but very cute and I am so happy we got it. Reception – B+ B+ because I wanted an outdoor reception but due to our group size we couldn't have one, so we got put in a private banquet room. It wasn't too bad, the building, The Manor House was beautiful and there were huge windows and a balcony looking out over the grassy knoll and toward the ocean and our ceremony site. We had a full bar set up, the food, Filet and Shrimp Scampi was probably the best food we ate all week, we danced to our iPod and we had fun. We did first dance there but other than that, none of the other dances, and we opted not to add a wedding cake since sliced cake came with our dinner choice (we are going to do dances and a cake at our AHR). We had the room for 3 hours till 9. After that, we kept the party going, I walked from the reception room all the way down to Prop Club with our docking station in my hand and music playing and dancing. We then partied at Prop Club where they have a DJ on Friday and Saturday nights. DH and I partied a little too hard, and ultimately our two double beds and up coming in handy when we both got to the room and passed out, what a memorable wedding night. First Dance (pro pic) My aunt and Uncle and you can kinda see my table set up Photography – Linda Lucas, Dream Images Austin – A+++ Long and short of it, this girl is awesome. If she lived in PA or I lived in Texas we would hang out all the time, and her work is amazing as well. I am going to write a full review in the bridal referrals section but I just have to say in here how awesome she is. Due to restrictions that Dreams laid on after I had booked a photographer located in Mexico, I wasn't allow to use a local photographer from Mexico; I had to use the resorts or bring my own. Luckily, the photographer I had booked had a bad experience at a Dreams Resort according to his assistant so he had opted not to do my wedding and I was free to back out, plus he just got a really BAD review on here, so I am relieved. I didn't want to use the resort photog and budget restrictions dictated that I needed to find someone who would provide services in exchange for just the cost of the trip/food. I googled and found a couple in Texas that offered that deal but they were booked on my date, so I took a long shot and asked if they could recommend someone that would offer the same deal. They said they would forward my email to their friend Linda who they had mentored before she went out on her own. Linda emailed me, was free on my date, I loved her work and the rest is history. Her husband acts as her assistant/second shooter, so I paid for the trip for the two of them and it end up being the same as what I was going to pay the guy in Mexico. She was so flexible with the change of destination. One of my primary concerns was making them feel comfortable. I met her at the transfer drop off in front of the hotel when she arrived and we immediately clicked. It was more like I had a friend who happened to be shooting my wedding and she and her husband Brian fit right in with our group, so much so that when she is on the east coast for a NY DW in July, our group plans to meet up in Manhattan to hang out. I have gotten a few preview pics so far and I love them. Between her and Brian shooting we are getting a ton of photos and I can't wait to see the rest. If you need a photographer, please look her up, she would love to do more DW's, ours was her first and she did awesome. Our TTD was awesome too, though DH and I had hangovers that kinda killed the mood. I haven't seen any of those yet, but I am sure they will be incredible cause we faked it well. My wedding and the whole trip was awesome and even with all the stress and relocating, I would do it again in a heartbeat, and I would recommend my resort and vendors to anyone looking to wed in the Bahamas. I didn't realize this was going to be so long. Sorry ladies, if you're still reading, thanks. MODS - I'm sorry if any pics are too big, I tried to resize but I think I was unsuccessful.

Ceremony – A- This resort has several options to choose from for ceremony sites, but site fees are "built into" the cost of the package and therefore, your budget kind of dictates which site you can chose, but they are all gorgeous. Our budget was small because I had budgeted around the cost of the Dreams of Love package in Mexico and spent in other places since that package had everything I needed. When we decided to relocate, I had to "find" money in the budget because this resort had a lot of packages, but none fit my needs, so I went more a la carte and it was slightly more than what I would have paid in Mexico. We married on Breaker's Cay beach, which is fairly private, big and has like a rock wall surround that was great for pictures. My bouquet was exactly like the picture that I sent and the minister read the ceremony that I had written myself. There were only two small deductions here, and one couldn't really be controlled. My chuppa inspiration was the chuppa with the hanging orchids, but instead of orchids, I bought garlands of gerbera daisies in my colors, orange and green, to have hanging. Well, the tradewinds came on strong on the ceremony day and with the garlands hanging, flowers started popping off so they had to swag them instead. I will admit, before I knew the reason, I saw the site on my way back to my room from the salon and I was ticked, so ticked I stopped to grab a drink before going to my room  But in the end, it was still beautiful and didn't matter. The other deduction was the minister not following script on the sand ceremony resulting in our vase looking terrible to the point I dumped it and we are going to do it again at home. Otherwise, the ceremony was everything I wanted, DH wrote the most beautiful vows and it was the best day ever. Ceremony Site Crossing the grassy knoll to the beach Walking with Dad (pro pic) Our friend doing the reading pro pic ring exchange (pro pic) pro pic My bouquet and our rings (pro pic) The Kiss (pro) Man and Wife (pro pic)

Resort Overall – B+ As noted, this resort is huge and BEAUTIFUL. It doesn't look like much when you drive up, but the inside of every building is lovely and when you get to the grounds outside, it feels like paradise. The beaches are big and very clean. The only annoyance was the people offering braiding and selling jewelry on the beach, but you get used to saying no and they don't push. There is a huge pool at the Sheraton end of the resort and chairs were pretty easy to come by at both the pool and the beach. The pool has waterfalls and a big slide, but we only saw the waterfalls on twice and the slide was only for people sixteen and under and was never open during our whole week there, I think because it was kind of low season for them. No matter what building you stay in you can use the amenities on the whole property, so for a change of pace we went to the infinity pool in front of the Westin a couple times. That pool had better chairs because they were padded and there were umbrellas there too. If you walk all the way down to Lighthouse Pointe, there is another infinity pool and a lap pool and there was hardly ever anyone there so it was private. The resort has towel huts and gives towel cards at check in that you can use to get towels and you get the cards back to use again when you return the towels. The weather was GREAT. It was in the high 80's everyday, not too hot, and they get the tradewinds, so there is a nice breeze, but some days, like the wedding day, it is down right too windy. There is also a casino which is right on the property. We went there the night before the wedding so I could participate in a Karaoke contest. However, I ended up being the only person singing so they had an intermission to wait till it got later so see if more people would come. They ended up waiting so long, that I just gave up and left because it wasn't worth sitting around for $100. So instead we went and played the slot machines even though I hate gambling. And… on 2 cent machine, I won $300!!! So exciting. Some of our guests that had joined us for Karaoke left and went over to the Port Lucaya Marketplace which is right across the street. That place is SOOO cool! There are a ton of shops and vendors there, restaurants and pubs, boat tours, etc. And the weekends are like one big party over there. My aunt and uncle and brother said Friday night was like Mardi Gras. And we briefly saw a parade that was cool, the people in the parade had costumes like what the Mummers wear in Philly, which we appreciated since we're from Philly. There are two things that kept this resort from getting an A, one is the all-inclusive option that I will get into separately below and the second is our one and only truly bad experience. Twice during our stay, housekeeping made assumptions on what was trash and took two plastics bags from our room. One that was taken on our second day there was an easy mistake, it was packing material for my votives that I was saving to take them back home, and some ribbon that I had used for my placemarkers. I had left it on the floor between the beds with the glue gun. It was no where near a trash can but I guess maybe they thought it was trash because of all the cardboard. When I realized it was gone, the cart was still in the hall so I checked the trash and asked about it but it never turned up. I let it go because it was just cardboard and $3 worth of ribbon. Well, then the day before we left, another bag went missing, this time, not such an easy mistake. My DH had gotten dressed in my parent's room the day of the wedding and left the clothes he had taken off there with his cologne and other toiletries. Then my mom had used my camera to take pics at the wedding so that ended up in her room and when we all went to the bar after the wedding, my mom took our iPod and docking station back to her room too. When she checked out the next day (Sunday), she had put all that stuff in a plastic bag and gave me to take to our room, which I did. It rained on Monday morning so we went to breakfast and then right back to the room and housekeeping had not come yet. When the rain stopped we went out for lunch and a swim. We came back to the room later to shower and change for dinner and housekeeping had been there. After my husbands shower he went looking for the bag of stuff to get his cologne and the bag was gone. Luckily I had wanted to look at pics and took out the camera and had to take out the docking station to get to it, but the bag was gone and I couldn't find anyone in housekeeping to ask. DH told me to let it go cause he thought it was just his clothes and stuff, it wasn't till we got home that I remembered the iPod was in there too. Right now I am working with the investigations department at the resort and hoping to get some kind of compensation. Beach Infinity Pool Food/All-inclusive – B- First off, let me say that even with a B- grade, this would not prevent me from going back here or recommending it to other travelers/ DW brides. There are not many all-inclusives in the Bahamas. On Grand Bahama Island there are only 2 and in over all quality, Our Lucaya is the better resort. However, since the all-inclusive is just an option, it is limited, so just go with that in mind. First off, to be on the all inclusive plan, you have to wear wrist bands and make sure they are seen when you enter the restaurant and order. I thought it would be bothersome, but it wasn't. The B- is for two reasons. First off, the food is not gourmet. If you want world class faire, you will not find it here. But the food is good, very good in fact, it has a lot of local Bahamian flair. The second reason is the limitations. When you are on the all inclusive plan, there is ONE restaurant that you can go too for breakfast. It seems to change with the seasons but while we were there it was Willy Broadleafs. It is a breakfast buffet and while it is your only option, it is not too bad because they change the options on the buffet daily and there is a made to order omelet/egg station so you can change it up daily. We stayed for 8 days and ate there everyday and I must say, it wasn't until the last day that I was like "Okay, I've had enough of this place" Had we stayed longer we probably would have gone across the street and gotten breakfast there one day. But the atmosphere and décor of the place was really cool. For lunch, there were too options, Prop Club or Sugar Mill Bar. Prop Club was an actual restaurant and Sugar Mill is the beachside bar. At Prop Club, they had there full menu and they had a limited all-inclusive menu which you choose from when you are on the plan. Again, the food is good, lots of seafood and Bahamian chicken dishes, sandwiches and pizza. This is where we ate on most days and I really liked each dish that I had, it just got repetitive. Sugar Mill was more grill food, burgers, hot dogs, hot pita sandwiches and salads. We only ate there once while spending the day on the beach, but we did drink there A LOT. : ) Dinner was the biggest issue. There were two choices for dinner, one was Prop Club again, again with a limited dinner menu to choose from. The other was called Iries, a Bahamian seafood restaurant that was a little more up scale. However, you were limited to going to Iries once every third day. So, we, along with our friends decided to go there on our first night (Tuesday) so that we could go again on Friday when all of our guests were there. Well…we walked over on Tuesday and walked into the restaurant and it was empty, doors were wide open, but it was empty. We looked outside where the menu was hanging and then noticed the hours; the place was only open THREE nights a week, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Needless to say that kind of ticked me off. So we went to Prop Club instead. There were other restaurants on property that you can chose from, you would just have to pay, but again, many of them were only open limited hours, or not at all I guess because it was low season. My parents ended up treating our whole group to dinner one night at a place across the street at the Market just so we wouldn't have to eat at Prop Club again. We did get to eat at Iries one night as a group after everyone arrived. The food was delicious. I had steak tips cause I am not into seafood and I loved them, they were so yummy. And our waitress was nice enough to let two people in our party upgrade to lobster for free even though it wasn't on the all-inclusive menu. No matter where you eat, they bring you a check at the end, 15% gratuity included and all you have to do is sign and put your room number. When we ate as a group, at most of the places they would just bring one big check and one person could sign since it didn't really matter anyway. But at the breakfast buffet, they insisted on one check per room and wouldn't do it as a group. None of the restaurants ever gave us a problem about seating us together as a group, but not sure if it would be an issue if they were at capacity. We were concerned at first because our list of what was included also seemed to limit alcohol selection and we had been ordering shots of Cuervo and bottled beers and signing for it, but when we asked we were assured that as long as we were at one of the places on the list, it would be included and not charged at the end and sure enough, it was fine. There were many cases where the staff at Prop Club would make exceptions and let us get things that weren't supposed to be included. And the staff was very pleasant. We made friends with one of the bar tenders at Prop Club and one of the waitresses, the waitress even came into work on her day off on our last day there to give us a wedding present. One final word of caution, everyone is on island time, do not expect high speed service, it is a very relaxed pace, but hell, you're on vacation, so enjoy it and relax. The staff and the free flowing alcohol definitely made it worth it and helped bump this from a C+ to a B-. Prop Club Wedding Coordinator – Stephanie – A- Stephanie was SOOO sweet. She was supposed to be off on the day of our wedding but she came to work to put our wedding together for us. We met with her our first day and took her most of our decorations in a suitcase and explained how everything was to be set up. I had a few things that still needed assembly that I told her I would bring to her the next day. She had pictures of how I wanted the chuppa and my bouquet and took notes on what I wanted. She also made my hair appointment for me. She was wonderful from the first moment was met her, and when we went to shake hands with her, she said "I don't shake hands, I hug" and gave us both big hugs. The only minor issue was a miss communication on the wedding day. Our ceremony site was on the other end of the resort from where our rooms were. The ceremony was at 5:30 so she said she would send a golf cart for my dad and I and our photographer at 5:15, well, 5:20 no golf cart so we started walking. Got to the grassy knoll in front of the site and no wedding coordinator, no bouquet, just a little stress : ) I went looking for her and couldn't find her and then she appeared out of no where with my bouquet. When I mentioned the golf cart she stated I was supposed to call her when I was ready for it, which I don't recall ever being said. But, not enough to bring her grade too low, she was great. Salon – A Nothing much to say here. I went without pictures because I hadn't anticipated having it done for budget reasons but decided to do it anyway. I gave her a brief verbal description of what I wanted, up because of the wind, loosely pinned in the back with some curls and a view face framing curls. It was a tiny bit "tighter" than I was picturing but it turned out beautiful and love it. I did my own make up. More to come...the good stuff : )

We got married on May 16, 2009 at the Sheraton/Westin Our Lucaya on Grand Bahama Island. Our wedding had been planned for the same date at Dreams Puerto Aventuras in Riviera May, but due to the now infamous Swine Flu, we relocated at THE last minute. After much stress making the decision to relocate, more stress was added trying to find a destination and get everyone there for around the same price. I spent over a week in tears and didn't have my new location booked until 4 DAYS before our departure. But, it went beautifully and the resort did a wonderful job putting it all together on such short notice, luckily we had a small group. I know that I wouldn't have been able to handle any of the planning or last minute relocation stress without this forum. I gained so much knowledge and so many ideas from here. My resort isn't really featured on this forum and the Bahamas threads are a little "slow" so I hope that this review will help other brides who consider the Bahamas for their DW. Travel Agent – Destination Weddings.com – B+ When DH (FI at the time : ) brought up the idea of a DW I was not on board, but I looked into it to appease him. I found destinationweddings.com and paid the $50 just to get the info, because I figured even if we didn't go through with it, it was only $50. One of their TA's, Laura, contacted me within days and began helping me see the benefits of a DW. We discussed destinations, but I already had one in mind after seeing the Dreams Puerto Aventuras website. Communications were a little slow and I ended up finding everyone's trips cheaper on Travelocity right before the wedding, but, letting Laura handle everything was worth it because it took the stress off me. Primarily, the B+ is because when it came time to relocate, I had to do a lot of the leg work to find the new destination and make sure we could get everyone there so I deducted because I felt that should have been done by them. Also, our "travel documents" were just like itinerary printouts from Apple and both the transport company and the hotel kept asking for "vouchers" which we were never given." While I will definitely book my own travel on future trips, I will say, with all the other things to think about with a DW, using a TA is worth it and I would recommend destionationweddings.com. US Air – B They get a B based on the baggage fees because I think paying for EVERY bag is ridiculous. We had four bags going down and it cost $80, coming home we had 3 bags because we tried to condense since we didn't have OOT stuff any more. Well, I am not sure why, but coming home they were going to only charge us for the 3rd bag, not the first two, but the 3rd bag was overweight so we had to pay the bag fee and the weight fee, total $75. Had we known they wouldn't charge the first bags on the way home, we would have stuck with 4 bags and it would have only been $50. So this was my only issue. They were great about letting me hang my dress, except it would have been just as well in the overhead since their closets were not full length; they looked like an overheard compartment turned vertical. Freeport Airport – A The immigration/customs process here was SOOOOO simple. We had our passports checked by an immigration agent, wait time was like 5 minutes, then 5 minutes with the agent. After that we walked through customs, no pushing buttons. The agent took our bags and laid them on a table and said "Do you have anything other than personal items?" I said yes and he asked "What?" and I told him wedding decorations etc. He just said "Okay" and handed our bags back, no check. Transfer – "Apple" – B+ This was supposedly an Apple transfer but it was just a guy with a van. They get a B+ because we told them we had private transfer and we were sent to the taxi stand instead and then 10 minutes later, reiterated we had private transfer and had to lug all our bags down to the other end of the pick –up zone because they had sent us to the wrong spot. Then the driver hounded us for "vouchers" that we did not have and wasn't going to take us anywhere unless we gave him a copy of something with "Apple" and our names on it. Just a bit frustrating. Resort Check In – B+ Check in was fairly smooth I guess. We arrived there with two of our friends who flew in the same day on the same flight with us. We checked in on a Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. so there was no line. Our friends room was ready but ours was not which was a little frustrating and I wanted to pull the "bride" card but…I didn't. Instead, they told us one of the head of the events staff wanted to speak with us and we could go see her at the convention center while we waited for our room. Well…this resort is HUGE and the convention center was at the complete other end of the resort complex. So we walked the long walk down there and checked out the ground; this place is beautiful. We had to wait about 10 minutes for the events coordinator to be ready for us and then we sat down with her to discuss the menu and our needs for the wedding. She then walked us around to show us the sites for our ceremony and reception. But I will get into that in another section. She then told us to go back and complete check in because the wedding coordinator assigned to us, Stephanie, was with another couple and then we could come back and meet her and bring some of our decorations, etc. So we went back, our room was ready, they had held our bags and then got them and took them to our room. They too hounded us for a voucher that we did not have and finally settled for a copy of our paperwork. Other minor issue is that this resort is not automatically an all-inclusive, it is an add on option that we chose and even though our reservations were made as such, they did not give us any information on it and we had to go back to the front desk a third time to get our wrist bands and paper work explaining the all-inclusive package. Sheraton Entrance Westin Breakers Cay building Room – B+ Our rooms were on the Sheraton side of the Resort. There are 3 or 4 buildings of rooms, there is the Sheraton Reef, Westin Breakers Cay, Westin Oceanside Suites and Lighthouse Pointe, all making up Our Lucaya as a whole. It gets an A- minus because for the same money that would have gotten us an Oceanview Honeymoon Jacuzzi Suite in Mexico, we got a "room", a basic, nothing fancy about it, but still pretty and clean room, with 2 double beds. Our friends had gotten two doubles and then went and asked for a king and got it. The only reason we didn't is because we loved our view. None of the rooms in the Sheraton are considered oceanview, the ones with a view are called Deluxe Pool view, but we had a clear view of the ocean and wanted to stay put. The events coordinator offered to upgrade us to the Westin Breakers Cay but we didn't want to be in a different building than our guests. Only other complaint was the air conditioner in my parents room sounded like an airplane landing. They were two floors below us and one room over but we could even hear it from our balcony, but they stayed put too. Overall I would definitely stay here again. Our Room Our view More of our view More to come......

Hilarious, sadly it perfectly suits the situation of my BIL and his oh so wonderful fiance.

Quote: Originally Posted by kimmaranto Reluctant, Congratulations to you and your Hubby!! Can't wait to see your pics! Sounds like an awesome place to be married. Hope you guys had a great time and I am so glad everything worked out for you both. I know it must have been so stressful for you. Please post review and pics soon. Thank you. Hey maybe we could all meet you at DPA for our anniversaries next year and watch you do your renewal!!! Sounds like a plan to me!!! Stay in touch , Kim Thank you!!! I would love to go down for my anniversary next year, even tried to look yesterday for prices but nothing was coming up this far in advance. I don't know that we'll do the renewal on our one year though, maybe 5 or 10 year. But heck yeah, party at DPA 2010, maybe we could join some of the 2010 brides

Hi Ladies!! Just wanted to drop by my old thread and see how everyone was doing. Congrats Bianca, everything looked beautiful!!!! I'm glad everything worked out and things settled down for you to go to DPA. After all was said and done, instead of Dreams PC like I had previously reported that I was moving to, we ended up in the Bahamas at Our Lucaya (Sheraton/Westin owned). The flights to PC sold out before we could switch our bookings so we spent more time searching for a new place. We settled on the destination just 8 days before our departure date. While I could not have the exact wedding I planned, I did have a beautiful wedding and I am planning on posting a review with some pics in the review section so I'll post when it is up incase anyone is interested. There is like no information on my resort in the Bahamas thread, but it is a great place that puts together awesome weddings, so maybe word of mouth can get more brides to be to take a look. DH and I have said even if its just us, we will go to DPA for a renewal someday, and even if its just for a vacation I plan on going there very soon. Congrats to you lucky girls who have or will be getting married there. RoryS, I look forward to seeing pics of your nieces wedding, with all your support and help, I bet it will turn out amazing!!!

I have ALMOSt good news. Hopefully by tonight I will be sure but we are in the process of moving to Dreams Palm Beach Punta Cana!!!! I am finally a little happy again but trying not to get my hopes too high incase something doesn't work out. Figuring out how to get my photographer there from Texas was hell, but I did the leg work, not my TA, and I found a solution. I have to shell out more money as do my guests, but everyone is onboard and told me that wherever I am is where they will be. Luckily we had a small group. And, luckily the resort had my date. I have to send my deposit but I don't want to do it till the TA says that everyones booking has been successfully switched. I will keep you ladies posted.

Another thing to consider....what kind of email account did you write to her from. She has trouble getting email from hotmail and aol. I wrote to her on my aol account and days went by with no response, I wrote from work, she responded in 20 minutes, she never got the one I sent from aol. Just a thought. Her blog still says: "Due to very heavy demand and not wanting to keep turning people away, I have decided to add a couple NYC sessions this summer. Unfortunately I am no longer able to offer them at the “recession special†of $400 per person, and my price for any additional group shots other than the ones mentioned above, is now back to the regular price of $500 per person plus room costs (if over $150). With the room costs it is going to be an extra $10-$60 per person depending on where we do the shoots - I always look for the best deals possible, and larger groups have less of a cost! The new summer NYC (or Philly, depending on interest) dates are July 27, August 10, August 17 - please contact me if interested!" There is no update saying whether or not these are full now.