J&MWedding

Quote: Originally Posted by angie8119 whats the etiquette on this? Do I invite the same people that are going to the wedding? What if most people I invite to the wedding go- then the AHR celebration would be small. If I invite the same people to the AHR that are invited to the DW will they think I am just double dipping on the gift? My FI and I had a meeting with our parents and completely switched everything up for our AHR - I think I'm going to post a thread about it, but we are going to end up being a little more selective on our invites. What is happening is we were up to about inviting 150 ppl, then my mother in law forgot a list to give me, and etc etc, and now we are up to 200 ppl. I think we are telling everyone that our AHR is going to just be for family - close family, and we are just going to do appetizers/cocktails and show our photos and video etc. It wasn't even about money that made us take the guest list down, it was because we were getting so stressed thinking about 200 pppl party and we didn't want to focus on our AHR, we want to focus on our actual wedding in PV. I hope this helps....

Oh, can't wait for your review! Thanks for giving us the heads up!

Yeah, good thread! Thanks! My Dad is a DJ for a radio station here, so I told him that we would get together one afternoon and go through some playlists. He loved the idea! But I am intimidated too, because we are paying for a DJ but I want to make sure he has songs that I want/like.

Andi, Congrats again! It sounds like your day was absolutely perfect! I love hearing all these success stories!

Quote: Originally Posted by lani76 Just wanted to share my excitement about finally getting a contract and bank transfer forms from Paulina!! I'm taking a quick look at the contract details to make sure everything is accurate and will send her the deposit this week, which officially books her for my date!! Yay!!! For those who have been having difficulty getting a hold of her, she generally takes an average of 4 or 5 days to get back to you, especially if you are sending an email in English, as she only speaks Spanish and has an interpreter to translate everything, including email. If you can write in Spanish or know someone who can, you'll probably get a faster response time. My fiance has been communicating with her in Spanish and we've been having better luck getting responses from her in a more timely manner. Even then, she may take a couple of days because of how busy she is but it'll better your chances. Don't be afraid to send her a friendly follow up email for questions that you haven't received responses for but I would give her a week before each follow-up. I was feeling really anxious about getting her to respond to my email messages before but with some of the input that I've been receiving about what to expect with communication (thanks, Jill!), my worries have been put to rest. ....ahhh...photographer checked off the list! Feels great! Yeah! Yeah! I was thinking of contacting her again, but I don't necessarily have a reason to. I have the contract, but does it feel weird to anyone else to pay someone that lives so far away and have your wedding so far off?.... I keep going on her website and looking at her portfolio. I love it! Congrats again!

I second that, I like the first one better.

Sure, I will send pics. It might take a while, because I got them out of magazines. But, I can scan them and post....

I just decided to use the cake that comes with my wedding package, but my mom and I thought up some really cool things to add to it. My mom is very creative (owns a quilt shop...) and she figured out how make those rhinestone initial/monograms that people put on top of the cakes. They usually sell for over $50, but she just went and bought wire and crystal beads and made it herself. We are also buying some fancy beaded ribbon and putting that around the base of each tier of the cake. Also using the same ribbon for napkin rings. These things are easy to bring in our suitcase too and Rebeca said she would put everything out as long as I gave it to her the day before. just thought I would share some creative ideas.....

We set our honeymoon! It's all booked! We are spending one day at Dreams after our wedding, and then on Sunday, we are flying to Belize and staying on Ambergris Caye in a private house. I personally was fine staying in Mexico, but my FI was set on Belize. We will be there for 6 nights and then come home!

Quote: Originally Posted by autjo Does anyone know what the Ultimate package means in terms of photos and video? It says that you get 50 pics and a 30 min dvd. Do you still have to go hire a phtographer? It looks like everyone on this thread is bringing their own so I'm confused. Does the photographer included in the package stink? Autjo, it looks like you're the day after me! I have done hours upon hours of research and I'm using Paulina. The package includes the photographer at the resort, you don't have to pay extra. I asked Rebeca for sample photos of their work, and (this is only my opinion) but they aren't bad, they just aren't awesome. That's all. I was either going to go with them or Promovision for 6-8 hours of coverage, or spend the same budget and get Paulina for maybe only a few hours. So, I think it just depends what you want. More hours, more photos, good photos. Fewer hours, fewer photos, amazing quality. It also depends on your budget. Just ask Rebeca to send you sample of the work from the resort, she will send it over to you. I'm using Paulina for photo but I am using the 30 min video from the resort that is included in the package. Let me know if I was confusing too, it's a little late, so I'm not sure if all that made sense...

Oh! I forgot! Where did you get your earrings!? I might have to copy you on those! They are exactly what I'm looking for!!!

I second that! Sarah, you look absolutely gorgeous!!!!! your hair, dress, the ceremony, everything. Congrats a thousand times! I agree with Jamie, I don't even know you and I'm so happy for you! I was also going to ask: How many guests? Did you have the DJ that Dreams uses? Did you use Rebeca for WC? What did you do for centerpieces? I'm sure you just got back and I hope you're posting a review, I don't mean to rush you either!! I'm sorry. It's just so exciting for us girls who are waiting for our day, and to see the pics of the gazebo and the las palmas terrace where we are getting married too!

I was planning on doing my hair there just because it was included in my package.The spa emailed me a price list that I requested and it has everything on it. a deep tissue message was $104 for 50 min. ouch! Let me know if anyone wants me to email them the price list I have from the spa! if you ask, they will send you one though!

oh, good website Malisa! Here is what we are doing (similar to others...and I posted this somewhere else I think) Luckily, my future brother in law is already ordained for some reason. He said he can marry us legally whenever, wherever as along as we have one witness. then we sign the paperwork in front of him and file. Our very good friend will be our officiant in mexico and witness in the US. So, literally, we leave on our flight on Sunday, and at the airport, I'm going to have my Brother in law perform the ceremony before we get on the flight and then take off. meet everyone in Mexico! Our witness/officiant will be there and then perform the symbolic ceremony in mexico. I love the idea and we won't really have to lie/hide anything beforehand. People will arrive a few days before the wedding in mexico, but I figure we will be having so much fun no one will ask us anything or pay attention!

I don't know if it helps, but it looks pretty similar to what I was getting. Although, I'm just using the WC at Dreams, but that sounds about reasonable, especially the bridesmaid bouquet.

I just found this thread! So excite to start using it! What a wonderful find!

Wow! Those dresses are SO pretty! I love it! sometimes I think I got my dress too fast, I got it last November, but it was 50% off the rack and it fit like a glove! Here is my Maggie gown: JSM1061 - by Sottero & Midgley I love everything she makes!

It worked for me! Great link! I think this can save some brides out there! I am probably doing an updo, but I wasn't thinking a bun, I was thinking more messy.... hmmm...I'll have to think about that though

I will be using the same letter! it looks perfect!

Quote: Originally Posted by bcbride I am thinking of dancing to "Isn't she lovely" by Stevie Wonder or "My Girl" by The Temptations I LOVE "isn't she lovely" by Stevie Wonder. My dad and I knew what song we would dance to when I was very young, "I just called to say I love you." Kinda a weird choice I guess, but it is completely our song. We have a video of him and me lip sinking it when I was 6 or something.

I definitely agree with everyone has said, you can totally be casual about it. I think a big hint is if you have known she has been a bridesmaid before. If she hasn't, then maybe she isn't familiar with certain "duties" to the bride, I know I have had a friend in this situation. I'm a bride, a MOH, and a bridesmaid all this year and never been in a wedding at all before this, so I went online and looked up etiquette on what to do etc. (I also agree with you on having only one MOH and best man, I like the idea!)

We felt the same way and REALLY didn't want any gifts!! I copied off another website I saw, and wrote, "Your presence is gift enough." but then I added, "that being said, we have received many requests for a registry...." and it continues on. I really had people get mad at me and tell me that they would just get us something from somewhere that we wouldn't necessarily want..etc...etc... So, I felt the closest thing I could do is write the above and then we registered for a Honeymoon Registry where a certain percantage of the money "raised" went to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (I wrote a thread about this...) so this way, our guests know that we aren't trying to get money out of them, but if they HAVE to give us a gift, at least they know that we are sending some of it to a charity...I just felt like this was the perfect medium ground...for us

I was thinking I was going to do what Jaime said on the previous page. I have some very special girlfriends that I wanted to by my bridesmaids, but there would have been probably 7 of them and I thought that was a lot. I also felt bad asking them to be a bridesmaid and paying to travel and pay for a special dress etc etc, so I decided to just have my cousin, my MOH. All the other girls know who they are that would be my bridesmaids, they definitely are not sad, and they are all coming anyways, so I was thinking of maybe getting them little tanks to wear on our girls night out in PV. For my MOH, since it is my cousin (and I'm her MOH this May), I was just assuming to buy her dress (It prob won't be much anyways, under $100) and pay for her hair the day of, and then get her a little something else. I don't think she will expect me to pay for her dress, so I do think it's a nice jesture.... any thoughts on not having my other girlfriends in my wedding party?....

I'm the MOH for my cousin, getting married May 2. We just had her bridal shower last weekend and we did a few different games: We did the one someone mentioned above with asking the bride questions about the groom, but we also included both moms to see who knew the groom the best. We also put a list together of "household chores" and titled it Honey DO, Honey Don't and everyone had to put either the brides name or grooms name down on the chore they thought the person did. For example, my cousin ALWAYS does the cooking, but her FI always does the dishes and ironing. things like that. We also did the bracelet game, where you give everyone a bracelet when they arrive and tell them not to say the word "wedding" and if someone catches you saying it, they get to take your bracelet. whoever ends up with the most bracelets, win! For my bridal shower, we are going a "hat party." Like the kentucky derby Hats.... and we are having different types of salads, fruits, breads, and then giving everyone little antique handkerchiefs for favor. (I can get them from my mom at wholesale, only $1.25 per hankie...) hope this helps!

Michelle, that looks like such a special day! I think us brides don't really think about our bridal shower much, but it really is so special to share with family and friends, and I think is so sweet! I like your theme!!