Ayita

I have tried the Aquafresh trays. I'm not doing it regularly - like every other day or even more - and even so they worked well. Maybe I should take some Crest white strips with me to Mexico ?

Quote: Originally Posted by Soon To Be Mrs. Gomez Wow You have great details! Everything is going to be perfect. Can you tell me how you came up with the idea of theplace cards because I have the same situation with my guests picking their choice of entree. I just did a template and printed on some place-card paper I got at Michaels. I had to tweak the template a lot so that the pics come into place (I wanted the pics to get into the pre-designed rectangles). I can upload the template, but it will only work with this particular paper. I also found that it did not print the same on plain paper and the pre-designed paper, so I actually ended up wasting a pack (5$) to fix it and make sure it comes out right ! Let me know if you're interested anyway and I will post in a different thread.

Quote: Originally Posted by Blkatz Atiya your stuff looks great! Who is doing your cupcakes? I had someone but they are giving me issues with details... I actually... don't know lol ! These are part of the details I did not take care of - this is on my WC ! I'm pretty sure nobody will eat them but the kids Did you try Turtle Bay Cafe (I think this is the name), Marie Sam recommends them and they are in your area (in Akumal) ?

Quote: Originally Posted by tylersgirl Ayita-Everything looks so wonderful! Your dress is stunning. Where did you get your luggage tags? They are too cute. Congrats and have a great time! Just target !! Mr. and Mrs. Luggage Tags 2-pk. : Target

Quote: Originally Posted by mummergirl omg that's HORRIBLE. unbelievable! hey maybe you WILL run into BDW ladies on your flight, since you're stopping in cancun! there are a ton of cancun and riviera maya brides! I alread know that I wil be on honeymoon with another BDW member ! Same hotel, same week !! BTW I posted it ! My planning journal ! http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t41196

For those who are still there it's the last post ! The cake topper is a personalized one from magicmud.com : My photographer is Claudia Rodriguez. THE TRAVEL ! And the best for the end : my luggage tags to be attached to my SUITCASES because I'M LEAVING NEXT TUESDAY YOO-HOO :

THE RECEPTION Lounge for cocktail hour (2 hours) : We don't have a guest book, instead we have a frame to sign : Buy Wedding Personalized Guest Book Frame - Wedding Personalized Guest Book Frame Online - Discount Wedding Personalized Guest Book Frame It's very big and putting my own picture here won't do any better than this actual link. Center pieces inspiration : Table numbers : rather "names" than numbers. We have only three tables so I could be creative… Place cards (still not cut from their printing sheet) : I thought I would not do place cards, but I finally had to as the hotel asked our guests to pick their entrée. We'll also have a simple basket to place the disposable cameras. We prepared scavenger hunt cards for the tables : We will be getting our champagne, wine and liquors from La Europea, in Cancun. They have very competitive prices, and they take back the unopened bottles. Bienvenidos La EUROPEA The cake is a cupcakes tower, inspiration :

THE CEREMONY Because we wanted a bilingual ceremony, we literally wrote it ourselves. Not only the vows. We started from a text sent by the officiant, added readings, cut off generalities, translated other stuff… The result is awesome and very personalized ! DIY program : the programs are also entirely bilingual. We chose to translate the readings and the words of the musics, that all have a meaning. Setting inspiration : Ceremony : Fans : I liked the palm fans, but I thought they would not be easily "transportable". Instead I did silk fans. Fans are from efavormart, I did ivory, burgundy and green : www.efavormart.com The ivory is a bit orange, but it's OK with my colors, so… The ring "cushion" is a mini-sombrero from displaycostume.com, to which I added ribbon to tie the rings : Party @ Display & Costume :: Costumes :: Hats - Headbands - Tiaras :: Western :: Sombrero Mini Velvet I got a sand frame for the sand ceremony, from Sandframes - Home, with green and brown sands :

FAVOURS OOT bags : Large hibiscus tote bags from OTC for girls or couples Large Hibiscus Tote Bags Drawstring backpack for our 5 single guys from Amazon Amazon.com: Basic Drawstring Backpack: Apparel Inside : -Hungover kit in OTC pouches : Drawstring Bags With Bright Trim with alka seltzer, advil, tums, scope, immodium, pure aloe vera gel and energy patches from Naturopatch of Vermont . Tums, aloe and scope from target, Naturopatch are from minimus.biz, and the rest from Northern safety and industrial. -Spanish for dummies -Coins purses also from OTC : Hibiscus Coin Purse Key Chains -Welcome booklet : More : http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...189#post770109 -Flip-flops plantable wedding favors from Botanical Paperworks Plantable Seed Wedding Favors from Botanical PaperWorks -Flip-flop bookmarks from OTC -Deet-free mosquito repellent and after-bites towelettes from minimus.biz -Water guns from OTC -Flip-flop sticky notes and personalized pens to leave notes on doors, etc. Also from OTC ! The hanging tags are DIY. I finally changed the OOT tags, I did not like the square ones ! Here are the new ones : Hang over kits : More on the hanging tags : http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t40367 My FG and RB OOT bags are towel bags with towels inside from Land's ends. They really turn into a huge towel that has two differen sides (for instance you can see the blue one, it has dots on one side and lines on the other). As they live in Singapore (summer all year round), they will have the use for these all the time ! I stuffed them with tons of things but I'm a crazy aunt. The highlights are the cameras from Fry's (they did really good with the cameras last time I saw them, decided they deserved one of their own). The cameras were only 50$, I thought it was a great price for a real 7.1 Mega Pixel camera ! The drawing stuff are for the night of the wedding, when they get bored. I need to come up with other ideas for the wedding night. Maybe stop by Walmart once in Playa and get some beach stuff, and games. Here's a sample :

BRIDAL PARTY ATTIRE CONTINUED GMs The GM attire is from The Havanera Co (JC Penney) : RB The ring bearer will be in Gap. He picked his stuff himself from a choice of two I gave him : BRIDAL PARTY GIFTS BM gifts totes from Longchamp and zirconium and silver earrings from Landau : GM gifts : personalized humidifiers : BW gift : Hum… DH still did not get that one… it's probably going to be a carry-on luggage !

BRIDAL PARTY ATTIRE BMs My BM dresses : 2 are from Alfred Angelo, and one from forever, all in burnt orange : BM bouquets : FG My flower girl dress is from Watters, white with an orange sash : On the model : The actual dress : I also got her a headpiece from OTC : I forgot to take a pic of the little petals basket and now it's been shipped. BW The best woman attire (sorry for the super bad picture taken on the hanger in the store) : It's actually same shape and designer than my welcome cocktail dress ! So you have an idea.

GROOM ATTIRE Suit : With DH everything is easy once he's on track ! So, it took me 3 months to come with me shopping, but once we did, he found his suit in no time (ie, one shop, 10 minutes in the shop). It's a pink (yes pink !) linen suit got for nothing (79$ !) : The shirt we got at Macys, same story : it took me 2 weeks to have him come, but then, second store, 10 min again : Shoes : sandals from DSW : His boutonniere is from AA (in this picture, together with the GM boutonnieres, I was debating whether to interchange the flowers and have DH have the white ones and GM have the orange ones) :

MY ATTIRE CONTINUED Hair inspiration (the first collage is stolen from Morgan, again, a great source of inspiration ! Thanks Morgan) : My hair flowers : not sure which one I'll use ! I have an Orchid from Hair Comes the Bride : And a pair of dendrobium orchids ? from hibiscusflorals.com : Silk Hair Flowers - Your Wedding Day Stylish Enhancement On the big day I will be wearing this swim suit cover to get ready : My just married flip-flops from OTC - I' going to wear these for the TTD - awesome pics ! My welcome cocktail dress : My Sunday Buffet dress is Victoria's secret : And my Sunday afternoon on-the-beach swim suit cover (also VS) :

MY ATTIRE CONTINUED My earrings are Swarowski, I have still not decided which ones to wear : My necklace is a simple Russian zirconium from Landau : My shoes : Flip-flops for the beach ceremony For the reception And if me feet get tired I will change into these : My flowers are from <company name removed>: My bouquet :

ALL MY ATTIRE My dress is from Winnie Couture. I decided on it so quickly – hardly tried on dresses more than one week before ordering it. Actually, I did not have much time given that we were already beginning of November. But all the dresses I tried on convinced me very quickly that this one was the one. Here are the pics on the model : And my second fitting, before it got taken in at the bust : Given that my dress is back less and super plunge clivage I get these adhesive push-ups from VS : My TTD dress is from David's Bridal : I got in on sale 99$ ! Could not be happier. Here at my first fitting My veil is from Winnie Couture :

THE INVITATIONS We did an e-mail STD so nothing to show here. At the same time than the STD was sent, the website was up ! Because I wanted a bilingual website, no pre-made site was good and I did a fully DIY website on yola (previously called synthasite), a great site for people who nothing of internet. Completely free, loads of templates, unlimited hosting for images or others, easy online tuition for the basics, an integrated photo editor… Because this forum is public I don't want to give the URL. However, because some of my (English !) pages are worth stealing I put up a site just for you with it Some links are broken so don't get crazy about that, the upper navigation menu works just fine. PM me if you want the address of the full website !! Excerpts from our website : http://tosharewithbdw.synthasite.com/ We quickly decided on the boarding pass invite – so fun ! I spent a few hours on photoshop coming up with the "perfect" template… DIY boarding pass invites and brochures : More : http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t35894

Well this is it girls… I leave in one week exactly ! It came SO quick ! I really only planned for 6 months, as we got engaged end of September last year and everything was more or less done at the end of March – just finalizing details, which helped me taking care of the huge issue we had with the venue at the last minute because most of it was done already. We're still working on last minute "big" things – like the music. What's for sure, I would never have had the same wedding without this forum and all of you girls ! So many awesome ideas and help from everywhere ! I even wonder if there is one idea I got myself ? Probably not ! Even not my hair ideas that I stole from Morgan !!! Sorry if I do not mention the names of everyone from whom I stole something – this is not because I'm ungrateful ! I have tried to return the favor by sharing as much as I could. So thank you so much everyone – the best part of this whole planning is that I would never have imagined doing stuff myself ; I started after reading some threads here and I enjoyed it SO MUCH ! And I must say I discovered myself some skills I did not know I had. So thanks everybody for making me learn about myself . Not to mention the "what I would and would not do again" which helped decide on a lot of things we debated… anyway here is all my stuff ! I followed the advice I read earlier here and made this as it went. The result : everything is here even what's already packed ! The only thing I did not put in there are my panties… Sorry sometimes the quality of pics is not so good. THE RINGS We got engaged in September 2008. The ring that started it all : my e ring is a black pearl with diamonds We quickly decided that we did not want to get married either in Houston or in France, and that we wanted a short engagement. After debating eloping, we finally decided for a DW. Because we wanted to avoid hurricane season (one Ike is enough to discourage the bolder ones… and remember we got engaged just after Ike), and because we wanted the engagement short, it meant we were going to get married no later than mid-May. We looked around the WHOLE Caribbean before deciding on Riviera Maya – mostly because it was the place that would allow the cheapest trips for all people coming from Houston. My band – I literally fell in love with it while strolling on the Champs Elysees in Paris at the end of November, just before my birthday ! I had tried on tons of them but none that really was IT… My band s not really a "band" but it will be perfect as the ring I will wear every day of my life as the symbol of our love. It is from Mauboussin : His band is a whole story in itself ! We first found one that he loved, very very quickly. Our two bands originally : But then he tried it on at the end of March and drama ! The ring did not fit any longer ! it was too big and he was losing it just by putting his hand down. So we went hunting again ad found the perfect ring at Robbin's Bros. I'm actually very happy about that because I like the second ring so much more !! For some reason this ring is difficult to take in picture, here is a pic of my e-ring coming back from resizing and his band : We did not want a huge resort, rather something intimate ; and we wanted a place children friendly. At least for all the wedding events – even if the children were not going to stay in the same hotel. We also did not want an AI, because we wanted to remain free of our suppliers, free of where our guests would stay, without having to pay for a day pass, and we did not want to pay for the food and drinks twice. With all these criteria we quickly selected Le Reve, a boutique hotel close to Playa del Carmen. Our first DIY project was our monogram – inspired from Laura and Keith and this forum :

and the end of it. Welcome booklet pages 11-14.ppt

I finished them this week-end and am super happ with them ! Originally we wanted to tie them with ribbon, but the eyelets do a so much better job ! We pre-cut (perforated) the last page with the map and the driving directions and phone number of the hotel so that guests could take it with them. We also "scored" the pages (with a cheese knife ) so that they turn easier. Here are some pics and templates. Welcome booklet pages 1-4.ppt Welcome booklet pages 5 and 7.ppt Welcome booklet pages 6 and 8.ppt Welcome booklet page 9.ppt Welcome booklet page 10.ppt

In powerpoint 07 (sorry I don't have the old version any longer), select the text box ; in the toolbar "format", in the box "wordart style", select "text effect", "transform". It is in there.

Quote: Originally Posted by angruck wow marie sam!!! that is so great you know so much about the area! You are an awesome resource! I agree Marie Sam rocks this is probably why she's MoM ! I will vote for her again

I went to see several of them in my early twenties (about 12-15 years ago). what I found out most fo the time is that these persons are really good at telling you your past and present, but super bad at your future - and will in fact only tell you what you want to hear at the moment. Not saying that all of them are like that, probably there are some genuine ones in there ; but most of the time this is what I experienced. These persons are really good at "reading" people : from your looks, your facial and body attitude and micro-expressions, your language. They will "test" you by saying things and see how you react to it, if they see they are in the right way they will go on. Then once they have impressed you with those skills - most of them can be learnt... if you know the sow "lie to me" it's a good example - they throw a few "predictions" at you that people here could have told you. Sorry but - you're with the one you will marry (nice, she saw your ring) ; you will be miles away sometimes but that does not mean you should separate (yeah... like every marriage) ; you will be a good mother (something you want to hear). From all the "predictions" I received only the obvious ones happened : that I would change jobs for instance (everybody changes jobs). The rest of it was B*S. But it was fun !! Sometimes a rip off, but always fun !

You know what else is crazy ? If everything goes as I want with the rest of the DIY stuff, tonight I will be posting my PLANNING JOURNAL. That in itself is freaking.... Good freakin' though !

Quote: Originally Posted by Blkatz we have the same date and we are leaving the same day Can you believe that it is only one week away? CRAZY! I got my hair cut/colored this past weekend also-made fiance get his hair cut also... I still have so much to do! I know ! I'm glad I took next Monday off... this gives me a 3-days week-end to get everything ready !

OK a quick update here ! So we managed to sort out things with the hotel. They sent a contract that i did not like, I made a lot of changes and they accepted almost all of them. The things that are not in there any longer are minor to me and I did not want to fight on them. Well, rather, DH did not want to fight on them - he was much more reasonnable than me in this and I think it helped a lot because I was out of my normal state - they made me freak out so hard ! My WC had a plan B available so it helped me staying firm with what I wanted. In the end, the only issues remaining as i said were minor, apart from my WC fee, but I talked with her and she agreed that we would deal with that separately, and that it should not stop the contract. My TA also gave me some advise - she told me basically that these guys were new, and that she did not think they were trying to take advantage of me, rather, that they had some glitches in the execution because of them being new to this. Well... I decided to follow the voices of reason (DH, TA, Dad) rather than the voices scraming in my head. DH said I had "wedding jitters". Hum. I think most of the issues were pretty real until we managed to discuss and put things in writing, but it's true I remained upset long after that. So this is it ! Last week (I leave next week), so now trying to focus on the "last but not least" things to finish before leaving ! Again thanks to everybody for their help, knowing I had a plan B helped me a lot in managing this.