Ayita

Hurra ! I did my first concrete thing today ! I put a deposit on my flowers order ! I'm getting some gorgeous (a company) ! They had room for small orders between Jan and March, so my flowers will be there by Jan end ! I'm happy ! Tonight I'm getting started on the dress... After taking advise from this forum I callled several salons and they confirmed I am better getting started now - even though I still have 24 pounds to shed... Still no news from the location though Please pray with me so that they sign with a wholesller ! I set myself a deadline to Friday next week before moving on to another option. This makes me sad...

In the same vein... when do you do your TTD ? If it is after the ceremony, then what do your wear for the reception ? Or do you do it another day... ? Or is it just a common thing maybe to wear something other than your wedding dress at the reception ? I'm curious.

Thank you all for your answers. I'm going to follow your advise... I guess that I'm going to wait two more weeks which put me on Nov 8 (4-5 additional lbs should be off) and start shopping then. I've already looked a lot over the internet so I have an idea of what I like... I selected some salons and so I also know where to start. I am itching to go though... itching itching... Maybe I should just go and that would already allow me to rule out those dresses that would take too much time to come in ! PS : no idea what my US size is anyway (I never really shopped here other than for shirts) so I won't be horrified, I have no benchmark

Quote: Originally Posted by mich999 Hi - I'm a May 2009 bride too and can't decide if this thread makes me feel good or bad about what I've accomplished. I got engaged September 30th, and since then we've booked the Hilton Los Cabos, found a photographer we love (Juan Carlos Tapia thanks to this forum!) and started working on our wedsite. Trying to pick STDs now to get out asap. Haven't even thought about the dress yet... All of you who are already working on OOTs - I'm impressed - and jealous! Oh my God are you kidding ? Well I hope this makes you feel better ! I got engaged on Sept 29th and since I have done nothing but looking and looking and looking and looking again !! Nothing's booked, nothing's done, actually, yes, one thing, today I found the way to finance this wedding until I get my bonus in March... but that's about it... Let's look at the bright side : I've compiled so many pics and ideas that the day I will get started it will probably go faster... ... hopefully ... And last but not least you're getting married 4 weeks after me ! So : you're in advance ... on me !!

Quote: Originally Posted by newbride I just have to gush (and whine slightly, ha ha). I have completely fallen in love with a pair of shoes and I can't find them in my size anywhere!!!! I don't know if anyone else has seen the blue Christian Louboutin Rosazissimo satin sandals but they are completely gorgeous! Christian Louboutin Rosazissimo satin sandals | NET-A-PORTER.COM As far as I can tell net-a-porter was the only site that had them but now they're sold out (except in size 42). The new Christian Louboutin website isn't up and running yet so I haven't been able to try to find them there either I'm assuming that they're still available, they were just featured in pink in the newest Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. I guess I'll just keep dreaming, they're too expensive ($760 ~ although I would give up food for a month to have them, lol) and probably too high to be comfortable anyways (4 inches).......but even FH and my guy friends think they're awesome and they're boys with no normal appreciation for shoes (FH would kill me if I did buy them though) ! My God ! Very nice. I don't know what's your size but they are still available in 38 and 38.5 if you're not set on the color... see : Christian Louboutin Rosazissimo feather shoes | NET-A-PORTER.COM If they are THE shoes you should just put them on your registry !!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Kits55 Wow, i am so impressed! I'm not addicted to traveling but I don't think it's a bad or harmful one. What industry do you work in that you get to travel in other countries for work? I want to find a job where I can travel internationally but I have no idea what industries would be. I've worked principally in companies that provide services to Oil and Gas Industry (Schlumberger is one of the companies I worked for). I also worked for an agribusiness company. Quote: Originally Posted by Bisha Wholy smokes!!!!! Which ones where for pleasure and which ones were for work? I'm just curious because I dont really see anyone going to Azerbaijan (my sister-in-law's family is from there) without a needed cause. Thanks for providing the sites too. That's fun! My hubby has been saying for a while that we need to get a world map and put pins into places we've gone to give a better idea where to go next:) And you're darn right !! If I had had the choice.... I wouldn't have gone to : Azerbaijan, Romania, Bulgaria, Angola, Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Russia, to name a few of them. Some of the countries I've been to for work impressed me favourably though : Poland, Hungary and (surprisingly) Ukraine are some of them.

Hey girls, I was wondering how long in average it took you to get your dress ? Here's my dilemma : I'm currently losing weight (lost 16 lbs already... 24 more to go) so I don't want to go out and start trying dresses before I actually get close to my target weight... that could be not before December. I don't want something very elaborate (I will have a beach wedding so I want something rather simple), but I see that some of you have ordered their dresses already a while ago and it does not get there before January or so. So, do you think it will still be OK if I start looking in December ? Or should I start now, knowing that I might have more options later on (as the body changes the types of dresses you can wear also changes), or that the dress I would try today would have to be seriously altered if I picked it up now... any advise welcome ! (.... I already have to have my engagement ring resized !!!! )

OK, I've been here since a few days and although I could figure some of them, I'm still struggling to understand some of the abbreviations used here ! I just saw somebody else asking for something too, so I figure I might not be the only one. So, I propose to list here the commonly used abbreviations (and maybe stick them together in the beginning post as we list them ?) for the usage of all newbies (and older bees that never dared to ask ) I'm starting : AHR = At Home Party BDW = BestDestinationWedding ! BM = (?) (Best Man ?) DIY = ? FMIL = (?) FI = (?) (fiance ?) FIL = ? GM = (?) MOH = Maid of Honor OOT = Out Of Town bags = gifts for guests PM = Private Message STD = Save The Date TA = Travel Agent TTD = Trash The Dress WC = Wedding Coordinator WP = Wedding Planner That's all I'm thinking about right now. Please feel free to contribute (and fill the blanks ) Thanks !

Hi, well maybe my question is going to sound weird, but is there anywhere an actual listing of etiquette, traditions and to-do - in a "traditional" wedding ? And (hopefully) the reason for it ? I'm asking this because I sometimes don't even know what people are talking about or I hadn't even thought of this because we actually don't do it in France... For instance : - do you all have TTD (I guess this goes for "trash the dress") sessions ? Is it something "to do" in beach weddings ? Or in any destination wedding ? - what is a "rehearsal" dinner, do you all have one ? - is it a tradition to make gifts to guests ? I guess at the end of the day it's up to me what i want to do, but I'd like to know what we're talking about so I can decide if I want to do it or not Sorry again if my question sounds stupid or too broad... I looked for a sticky thread but failed to notice one.

Good morning ! I have a question for all of you here : have you considered the other Karisma resorts, Azul Beach amd Azul Fives, and if so, why did you pick up the Sensotari over these two ? Thanks ! Muriel

My turn... I've travellled a lot ! Not only do I love travelling for my leisure (my only vice ), I also happen to travel a lot for my work... so it's big... and some of these countries I would rather not have gone to !! I lived in France, Tunisia, Switzerland, and the USA. For the fun try this link : World Map Maker (Beta) it will build up the map of where you've been ! List of countries : 1. Algeria 2. Angola 3. Azerbaijan 4. Belgium 5. Botswana 6. Brazil 7. Bulgaria 8. Canada 9. Colombia 10. Ivory Coast 11. Cuba 12. Czech Republic 13. Dominican Republic 14. Equatorial Guinea 15. France (including Martinique, which is in the caribbean) 16. French Polynesia 17. Germany 18. Greece 19. Hungary 20. India 21. Israel 22. Italy 23. Japan 24. Jordan 25. Mauritius 26. Mexico 27. Monaco 28. Morocco 29. Netherlands 30. Poland 31. Portugal 32. Puerto Rico 33. Romania 34. Russia 35. Senegal 36. South Africa 37. Spain 38. Switzerland 39. Norway 40. Tunisia 41. Turkey 42. Ukraine 43. UK 44. USA 45. vatican City 46. Burma Next on the list : Peru (my maid of honor is livign there now) and Singapore (my brother will move from Tokyo to Singapore soon) !! I also intend to visit the north of Guatemala while in Playa !! I told you, it's an addiction

Thanks y'all !

Thanks so much for your help - the search for the place is the most difficult, indeed ! You will see that i'ts probably because I know what I want... and don't want (hey, you were the one to ask ) ). We started all over the place, and now we're quite convinced that we should do this on the Riviera Maya for a number of reasons : travel convenience and airfare to get there from Houston is the best, the color of the water and sand is the one I'm looking for (this ruled out Jamacia... for the wedding... I'll go there for vacation !), and it seems that the RM has the best choice of different places for all our guests constraints (they don't have the same budgets). Starting from there and knowing that not all my guests will stay at the resort where the wedding will be (for either budget, taste or "children" constraints), I'm looking for a place that will 1. not be an AI (or AI optional only), 2. accept children for the big day, 3. not require me to fill the hotel partly or fully and 4. has a beach as I want the wedding to be on the beach. At the beginning I was looking at an AI place that would accept children but I soon realized this would not fly (day passes to pay for external guests, requirements to book a number of rooms, and not necessarily the kind of places I'm looking for). Last but not least, I'm picky in the rooms decor and the food !! Ha ha ! I know why it took me so long to find my guy in the first place And when finally I thought I knew what i wanted my TA advised me that I should be careful in going with vendors directly (instead of wholesellers or big hotel chains) because if anything happens to the hotel, you don't know what happens to your deposit... and to your wedding. Whereas with a wholeseller they will always relocate you. Which is kind of true ! Sometimes you need people to keep you realistic... Well, having said all this this narrows it down pretty much !! It actually helps to put in writing I am investigating a property now that seems to match the criteria... if it does not work I will look at Azul Beach and the other Azuls. They are my second choice because they are AI (and tow of them are actually not opened yet) but it looks like they meet my other criteria. As you see, we're far from decided yet and any advise is welcome (specially, what places will accept a wedding to be held there, when the guests stay elsewhere. A non-hotel place could also work.) I know this is the hardest part of the job, so I keep my hopes up !

Quote: Originally Posted by mummergirl how did you send out STDs when you haven't picked a place? just wondering because i think it would have been even harder to find a venue if i wasn't a little flexible with the date ... may is a tough month, very popular for destination weddings in the caribbean especially since it's just outside the beginning of hurricane season, and college-age people are out of school. good luck! (hopefully you won't need it) ... but don't worry, once your date and place are picked the rest really does come easily! Ah ! The trouble is, most of my guests are coming from abroad (France, Singapore, Peru...), so I cannot take the hurricane risk... and I don't want my wedding to be in a year from now ! So, May was at the same time the closest and the latest... and on top of this this corresponds to school vacation in Singapore and bank holidays in France. So... it does give me only two choices in May... I really hope I will find the right place at this time. Otherwise... I'll just elope

Hello girls ! I'm a May 09 bride. I've been on WW for 7 weeks now and lost 15 pounds. The 10% goal is not very far... but I still have 25 more pounds to lose ! good or me I started before getting engaged so... I might make it in time for the dress I had tried it last year already but the meetings are not my thing. Now I do it online and it's much better for me !

Hi girls ! you have all done so much that I wonder if I will be able to make it to May ! I got engaged only 3 weeks ago, and have been so caught up by work since then that I still have to pick a place Will I be able to make it ? the only thing I've done is the "save the date" calls...

Hello everybody, my name is Muriel and I'm a French expat living in Houston, Texas. I'm getting married in May 09 somewhere in the Caribbean, but I'm still trying to find the right place ! The places that I like don't accept children... and the places that accept children I haven't found one that I liked yet ! It's important for me to have my niece and nephew at the wedding, so... still looking. I'm glad I found this forum as I hope I will find help here ! I still have to figure out where to post my questions, though C U Muriel