J&MWedding

Yes, Kathy's pics confirmed it for me! I just needed to see some pics I think. I do like the black in the pics because it does remind me of a tux. Every time my FI wears black, I always think it looks great on him, he has tan skin/light eyes and black just looks good. Now, I just need to figure out the bout issue?...I guess he just wouldn't be able to wear one? (I know he won't wear a suite/jacket) Thanks girls for all the comments! Definitely helped! and thanks for being honest! Isn't that what all this is for anyways?! Jess, which shirt is your FI wearing? the one from Express that you showed me? different one?

I want people to be honest with me on this, what do you think of the groom wearing a black shirt? I see pics of groom mainly wearing ivory/white, which is what I thought I wanted, but I really think my FI will look better in black. Our ceremony is at the Gazebo at Dreams PV, so that is the backgroung. We bought him ivory linen pants (they look great!) and then a short sleeve black silk shirt (like Tommy Bahama shirt). The guy at men's warehouse told me that I wouldn't be able to put a boutteniere on his silk shirt? any experience with that? I haven't bought the best man's shirt yet, because I'm waiting to make sure I don't want to change my FI shirt to ivory. If anyone has any pics of the groom in baclk next to the bride in her dress, please send them my way! thanks for the input!

Guess what! I just was checking out Dazzling Details blog and it looks like Paulina just did another wedding and there are a few pics... The Dazzling Details let me know if that link didn't work...

Jess, who is performing your ceremony at Our Lady of Guadalupe? That churck looks so gorgeous! I always thought I wanted to get married outside, but seeing pics of that church can change a girls mind for sure. It's beautiful! Hey girls! just as a heads up, I'm making my own table runners etc. I just picked out the fabric - it's a pale silver/grey. My mom is going to sew the runners, and we might be bringing some other things for centerpieces - like crystal beads etc. I'm going to leave everything I bring at the resort (just like Lauren did) so you girls can always keep that in mind and use any or all of it if it works out with your colors too!

I just found these Simply Very Wang cushioned sandals at Kohls: Simply Vera Vera Wang T-Strap Sandals (hope that link works...) I saw them in the store, and they were on sale for $12 and they were in a nude color, so matches my dress perfectly. and they are comfortable with a little bling!

I just responded to Paulina's last email. She touched base with me and told me I could send her pics that I liked out of her portfolio, so I did that and explained to her which ones I liked etc. (although, I pretty much like all of them....) BUT, I told her that if she has any new weddings/pics that I would LOVE to see them! Same goes for all of us. If you girls hear/see any new pics, lets share with each other!

Quote: Originally Posted by MegaShay I have to agree with Julie. I wanted a DW to avoid all the stress and $$ of a wedding at home. Having a big AHR seems to defeat that purpose, but my future in-laws are insisting on it and paying for it. But if FI and I were the ones that had to pay for it, the DW would be it. I agree. I posted this somewhere else. We just cacelled the whole idea of a big AHR because it did defeat the purpose (at least for us). My FI was like, might as well just get married here and not even have a AHR if it's going tobe this big. I do agree with you MegaShay, that if my in-laws are going to insiste (which they might) then they can pay for it.

Awesome pics Jaime! Can;t wait to see more! i love your dress by the way! I tried that one on!

Yeah Brittany! They look awesome! great choice on colors! i liked seeing the purple dresses in there. Everyone looked so happy and it looked like the perfect day! Congrats again!

This is tough! I LOVE #3, but like someone else said, I think it just depends on the bride. I'm personally wearing really simple earrings, so I would wear a big flashy bracelet. Your earrings dangling, so maybe it would be best to go with #2. Just depends if you want to be super matchy matchy or not. Either will look great!

I'm starting to get a little concerned too. Our wedding is dec 4th, and my TA told me that it wasn't necessary to block rooms, but I know of still probably 20 ppl that still need to book. I put one month in advance too (so Nov 4th), but I think everyone will be booked by Oct or earlier though. any suggestions out there?

Quote: Originally Posted by lauren i had them; we were off taking pictures during the cocktail hour, but my parents said they were great. cost-wise, it's probably equivalent to hiring a dj for an extra hour. Lauren, I have to admit, once in a while, I always go back to your review, planning thread, and pics! It gets me more and more excited! I can't wait to see more reviews!

On the rehearsal dinner subject - I was sent tons of quotes and info from restaurants and other BDW brides. There were some great rates as other brides have mentioned, but I think I came to a conclusion. We were going to take everyone out offsite to dinner, but I think we are cancelling it all. We will do the rehearsal and then whoever wants to just eat together at the resort will. My girlfriend said that it might be better for us not to have an 'event' scheduled every night -so that guests can have time to theirselves to enjoy their "vacation." We are doing a welcome gathering on Wed, wedding on Friday, so I figure have nothing scheduled on thursday so that guests can just go on excursions etc. etc. Does anyone feel like that is just totally rude not to have a formal rehearsal dinner? We will still go to dinner with our parents probably but just at the resort at one of the restaurants.

You know what, I fully support this! I was on my lunch break one day, and I walked by my local bridal salon. They were having a 50% sale off the rack so I just decided to walk in an ONLY try on dresses that were on sale (because I did have over 12 months at that point to look...). I went in by myself and the 5th dress I tried on was perfect. Later, I just took my mom and my MOH in to show them and they loved it! It was nice though going by myself I have to say. You might be surprised. It might be more relaxing. And I think the whole point is not that I shopped spur of the moment, but that it was nice going alone. I was relaxed, calm, and didn't have five different voices going on. The ladies at the bridal salons are always/usually fun anyways and they hep you and compliment you too. I thought I would always want to do this extravagant weekend trip with the girls and go shopping, but I wouldn't change how I did it for anything.

Quote: Originally Posted by aprilmay I sent in my request for one yesterday! Is the ultimate package the really good one with the mariachi band? If you did have them were they good? (aka - worth it?) Good to hear you've had a good experience with the Dreams WC. I just need to get a good TA so my guests can get the best deal possible cause there are some complaining about the cost. I'm not too concerned with any other extras, I'm happy with the palm tree design they do around the arch-thingy. But I do think the mariachi trio would be pretty cool. What are you doing for the reception? Is it included in the package? And how bout music & dancing for later? I was really concerned about the pricing for our guests at first too, but then I just had to relax. I think I've posted some threads somewhere around here, but when we first started telling people that we wanted a DW, my maid of honor (yep...) started going around complaining to some of our friends how much it was going to cost. I guess it's one thing to make some comments, but you should definitely make sure it doesn't get back to the bride! My FI finally got through my head that I just have to have faith that the right people that go are the people that really want to be there and it will be fun with no resentment attached, right? Anyways, not sure if that was a slight tangent, but anyhow, when I was comparing the packages, I just thought the ultimate was such a better deal - the mariachi band will play during the cocktail hour, and I thought Ir ead somewhere that they were awesome. I wish I would have thought to try to discount on the package though! I have about 8 rooms booked so far, with probably a guaranteed 10 more.

Quote: Originally Posted by jmmercer Hi Jill, I am brand new to this site and just found this forum yesterday but have been reading the threads nonstop; such great input everyone! I am getting married Nov 7th and decided to have my wedding at 4:30. That should leave 30 minutes daylight for photos and also sunset photos. How long is enough time for photos? If anyone else has any recommendations that 4:30 might be too late please let me know. So far my FI and I have 67 guests booked and several more expected after the formal invites go out in a month! WE are very excited and thank you all for your inspirational words via this thread!!! Jaclyn & Marc I was supposed to have the ceremony at 4:30 but I was ordering my invites so I doubled checked with Rebeca and she told me that time of year, it is typically good to start at 4:00. You figure pics start around 4:30ish and she sun sets between 5:30-6 so that gives us one hour of photos in daytime - but of course, I do want sunset pics too, so I'm just trusting her on this one, but I think it's just your preference. I have to admit, I get a little jelous when I hear about all you SD girls having over 70 ppl coming... but of course, I'm happy for you girls too!

Quote: Originally Posted by Yanell I am definitely a Mishka groupie!!! It was a last minute decision, but we are soooo glad we ordered!! They were such a hit!!! Everyone loved them!!! An absolute must! Here's a couple of pics of ours, we kept it pretty simple: I'm definitely goint to order these from Mishka. It looks like you gave one to each guest? I think that's what we are doing. I don't think we will have the budget to give everyone a pair, but I think one is fine. I want to have her put each guests' name on it too, but I'll have to see. The only problem with that, is what if someone books last minute - it'll be too late to have their name on it. I can just order a few plain I guess. But I am so excited to order these once it gets closer to the wedding! My colors are grey and ivory, so we are probably going to have ivory maracas with grey writing/flower

Hi girls! We booked our honeymoon a few months at Playa Blanca on Ambergris Caye! I'm so excited! We are staying one week at Dreams PV and then coming over here for one more week. I initially wanted a resort type for our honeymoon - a place where we could be waited on etc etc but I figure we will get that at Dreams, and then we can come over to Playa Blanca and have our own private house/oasis - plus my FI wants to fish and the house comes with a boat and captain to take you out every day so I figure we will save money not having to pay for all those one day excursions. Has anyone check out Playa Blanca? We felt it was completely meant to be, because the when we called the owners to get information, they were actually from where we live! I've never been to Belize/Ambergris Caye so I'm very excited! I heard everyone is just really nice!

I wasn't going to make these, but I realized that all our guests will need something to put their room key in! other than just a pocket. I love the coil bracelet idea and they are cheap on OT!

So I think I have to throw in a new color or change it up a little bit... My FI really wants to wear these Tommy Bahama burnt orange shirts, and let me start by saying- I do love orange. However, I don't really want it for a Dec wedding, even though DW Brides can break any and all rules I love my original colors: slate grey, little bit of silver/sparkle, and ivory. So I was thinking of even having the guys wear black shirts - dress it up a bit, but now I'm thinking of what color could I add if my FI wants to wear color.... I thought of fuschia already and i do love green and I know green can go with grey - but I'm trying to figure out how my centerpieces will work with either of those.. If anyone has inspirational pics, send them my way please! any suggestions are welcomed!

Yeah, I did think her prices were reasonable- especially for the quality of her work! she just emailed me a week or two ago just to check in with me. She told me to email her if there were any specific types of photos I like, it was good to hear from her.

Thanks everyone! The VP postcards are free, so I figure might as well order them. I was thinking of saying something like this.... "If you are planning on joining us in Puerto Vallarta, this is a loving reminder for a few things...(then I'll go into passport/airline luggage requirements/packing list and remind everyone about the wedding website)" Thanks for giving me the confidence girls! I'm glad I asked!

I'm not really sure what they are called, but I noticed some brides sent out "reminder cards" after their formal invites and just enough time before the wedding that if someone did want to book last minute, they could still. I was literally just typing up free post cards from VP to send out as reminders cards, but now I'm feeling like I'm being pushy?....any thoughts out there? Here is my particular situation so that you gals can assess appropriately... Wedding Date: Dec 4th 2009 Sent out STD: March 2009 Sending out Invites: early July 2009 (5 months before wedding) *most guests live closeby, so no distant out of towners.... *If I did send out a reminder card it would be around Oct, right? and if you feel I should send one, what would you write on it..... I was thinking, it could be more of a reminder on what to bring too: passport, etc, etc,

I ran a mile before spin class this morning! spin class was a 50 min class and I might go to kickboxing or tennis tonight...trying to not to burn myself out too much. I've been going to the gym 6 days a week and after seeing how awesome my girlfriend looked at her wedding last weekend, it keeps me motivated!

I'm thinking there are so many great ideas! and I am typically up for the more unusual ideas, but I also don't want too much hastle over a guestbook - something I've seen so many times, just sits in a closet after the fact. So, I think everyone is just different and I think depending on what type of couple you are, depends on which guestbook idea you use. That being said..... I think I'm going with the coffee table book idea. I LOVE any of the polaroid camera ideas, but I'm not sure if I want coordinate all of that. And I know that a coffee table book of PV where we got married will definitely be visible in our house and we will look through it over and over again. (we went to Puerto Rico last year, and I made a scrap book photo album with those pics and it sits on our coffee table and we always look at it)...so I think I'll check out Borders for a PB book or just wait until we get there and look for one and have guests sign that.