sarafish81

Very true - my mom brought a box of bobby pins and the hairdresser was more excited about that than the tip I gave her! She gave my mom the biggest hug - it was so sweet. We went on a jeep excursion and brought lots of candy, baby onesies, baby food, children's tylenol. The kids come out of their houses as they know that the tourists will bring gifts and they are very grateful, as are the parents. It's a feel-good thing for sure!

Hi - mine are called "extend-it" extensions and the website is Extend-It Hair - Hair Extentions | Home

I got some from my hairdresser that I wore for my wedding. When I get home tonight I can check to see what brand they are and let you know. I believe they cost about $100, and my hairdresser was able to color them to match my hair and showed me how to clip them in and style them.

We had our legal ceremony on a Friday at 10am (as Virg and Julie said, the notaries don't work weekends), however, the wedding coordinator conducted our "symbolic" ceremony the next day at 4pm. Good luck!!

Thanks Julie! I hope your first couple of days back at work have been ok!!

Yes we did - bright and early at 7am the next day! It was our last full day at the resort and although we were both exhausted, I'm really glad we did it as they are some of my favorite pictures.

Congratulations - check out the Cuba thread for some great ideas! You chose a great resort!

Would you consider Cuba? We were legally married there and were not required to have our birth certificates.

Hey ladies, I've attached a link to my facebook wedding album. We haven't had time to edit our pictures (we just bought photoshop though - its so fun!) - hopefully by the end of the summer. We just bought a house so things are crazy that way. Hope everyone is having a great summer! Sara Anderson's Photos - Wedding | Facebook

I did post a slideshow of pictures that my brother's girlfriend took: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t41945 I still need to go through the cds that she made for us as well as we'd love to have a proper album! We just bought a house and are in the process of packing/moving so hopefully I can sort through them soon. I do have a facebook album though of mostly unedited photos which I'll post to the above thread as well.

Nobody danced at our wedding and I was really surprised! I thought my MOH would for sure get out there. I didn't end up caring too much though. I got to have my first dance on the beach with my new hubby and that was good enough for me. Don't stress too much - just concentrate on what a wonderful day it will be with your new hubby and friends and family!! Best of luck

Julie's right - there is an outdoor market close to the beer gardens (if you're like me, you'll figure out where the beer garden is right away LOL) - they have different vendors every day and I think it is closed on Sundays. They have some cute jewellery there - my mom bought me a cute bracelet for our legal day. I bought DH a little turtle that I'm going to make into a Christmas ornament (yay arts and crafts - some glue and a hook!) and we got a really cool map that looks like a pirate treasure map of Cuba that we have yet to mat and frame and hang (LOL). Because the vendors change daily, it is a gamble. For example, my MOH really liked the bracelet that my mom bought me, and the last day we were there, he came back and I was able to buy her a similar one. I would say it is better to bring trinkets, etc. with you for your OOT bags, and if you happen to find cute things at the marketplace, just add them. As for the shops, again they are by the beer gardens. I didn't go in them but I believe there is a liquor store there.

Thanks for posting these photos - you were a beautiful bride!! Your pictures turned out fantastic. Congratulations!

Welcome to the forum - we got married in Holguin, Cuba in April and it was fantastic - I would recommend it! I've never been to Varadero though.

Thanks for sharing your photos - they are amazing! You were a beautiful bride!

We used the bath and body works anti-bac pocket sized bottles, in coconut-lime verbana. A huge hit. My SILs still have theirs in their purses to remind them of Cuba LOL

We chose Cuba for the beaches, the culture and because we had heard good things about it. We got married at Playa Pesquero in Holguin, which by Cuban standards, is considered a 5 star. We were not disappointed with the beaches, the hotel or our wedding. The food is fine - I considered it to be "filler" for energy required for the excursions and to keep us going. It wasn't the greatest, but nobody starved or got sick!

Thanks for all the ideas ladies - I definitely have a "direction" now! Once I put it together, I will post some pictures!

Has anyone tried to make one of these? My MIL took some of our flowers from our archway, dried them and gave them to me when we got home in the hopes that I would create a shadow box of our wedding ... she must not know me too well - I'm not very creative/artsy - and I keep telling her I'm working on it when I haven't been and I know she wants to see the finished product. I'm trying to put together a list of things to put in this shadow box, without it looking too full - so far I've come up with: 1. Roses (I think she brought 3 home) 2. Wedding Day timeline that I spent hours on and forgot to hand out to guests 3. Small container of sand from our wedding location 4. Picture of me and hubby from wedding day. Does anyone have any more ideas that I can use? I did a google search and couldn't find anything that related (i.e. I don't have a garter or gloves) Thanks ladies

Hi, I'm not sure if you'll want to use these. I think I have more at home. Teacherbride (Connie) has some good ones I think. Our reception was small (just the one table). You might want to do a google search of weddings at playa pesquero. I think you'll find more reception pictures there!

LOL that is hilarious!! I love that story.

I'm so sorry to hear your sad news - it's so difficult to watch someone you love so dearly battle something so horrible. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

OMG my jaw just dropped. That is horrible. What a miserable person!!

Crystal, if you read my review (sorry, I'm not savvy enough to link it here), you'll see some of what I found to be good/not so good. My recommendations would be: 1. Be patient with Yaly. She is super busy all the time, but once she gets to know you over email, she will be quicker to respond. From her perspective, and from brides who have been there, you should know that the only things that really need to be decided upon before you get to the resort are the wedding date/time and reception location/time. EVERYTHING else can wait. This was a tough one for me. I'm a planner. 2. Have a friend/MOH/mom/someone attend your meeting with Yaly once you get to the resort who knows what your wishes are for flowers, wedding ceremony decorations, wedding music wishes (i.e. the band they can provide or your own cd's - the latter of which is what we did), reception decor and setup. Yaly knew for example that I didn't want the red aisle runner or huge bows on the arch. She is not present for the setup of the wedding location, so she passes on these requests. There are up to 4 weddings a day (on our day for sure, and we were last), and people are sloppy. This I do not believe is Yaly's fault. My SIL's were watching the setup and went to intervene as the red runner was set up, together with massive bows on the archway. They ensured these were fixed, which I found out afterwards and was so thankful for. Also, there was no power to the CD player provided up until 5 minutes before I arrived. Stuff like this should be handled by friends/family and not the groom as he was a stress ball about it poor guy 3. Be very specific with the resort hairdresser if you use her services. Speak up if you are not happy. She seems to do better with updo's than downdo's. Allow for lots of time. 4. Ask about whether or not champagne and wine at the reception (in our case, the beach bbq) are included in the reception cost. For our wedding, these costs were EXTRA and quite a bit. It would have been nice knowing that going in... 5. Enjoy your day and vacation! The resort is beautiful, the people are great, I really loved the catamaran/swimming with the dolphins excursion and the jeep safari. Our guests all had a fantastic holiday as well. If you have anymore questions, I'd be happy to help.

What a sad show last night. I was wondering too, are Jon, Kate and the kids going to have any support system from their families to get through this - (i.e.) especially with all the articles and interviews regarding how Jodi left the show because TLC wanted to pay her a salary and Kate was against it - it also seems like the parents of Jon and Kate aren't in the picture, nor are any of their friends/babysitters that they've had in the past due to Kate's craziness over who gets paid (depending on what you read/believe) or due to the fact that they've shut people out of their lives for other reasons.