zethers

We hired a bartender for the night, turned out great. Didn't have to worry about a thing. We purchased the ingredients that we needed for 3 drinks, tequila shots being the favorite of the night, and the bartender kept everything running all night. You can find a list of them in your area through craigslist.com I've also read where people put the recipe of one or two drinks out, and let the guests serve themselves.

With only 35 people at our wedding, I wasn't sure what to do either, we ended up doing gift cards...$50 to the Home Depot for the men and $50 to Macy's for the ladies. The DJ cracked some jokes and had everyone laughing so it was easy to get everyone out there. It turned out great, everyone participated! (I think the open bar may have contributed too).

I can totally relate, my own Mother wasn't supportive of the decision to do a destination. Anytime it came up her mood instantly changed and she like M would insist on having a local wedding. We ended up not keeping her in the loop with any of the wedding plans for the first few months, and after she expressed how hurt she was, my sister (thankfully) pointed out the fact that we weren't going to include her if she wasn't supportive. It was after all OUR wedding. She eventually came around and was just excited as me to plan. Hopefully M will also come around! Good Luck.

Wow!! You look beautiful!! I love how you're smiling in all your pictures. Thanks for sharing all your planning ideas with us. I wish you all the best!

haha, yes "girls" but that's why they love us, right? Sounds like things are back on track. Have fun planning.

Here's what I did...because we knew most people wouldn't make it to the DW we invited all of our friends and family, over 100 invitations went out. Then when it came to the AHR, we clearly couldn't invite all those people, backyard AHR and we figured we could have 150 people tops. We eliminated quite a few people depending on who responding to the RSVP!! Haha, we figured if they didn't have the decency to respond even after I included a pre-paid postage envelope, filled out the address and everything and they couldn't even respond and/or call us, then we didn't feel bad about not inviting them to the AHR. This way you can eliminate some people from the AHR list while including those that are making the trip to be there. Just a suggestion, it worked for us.

Oh, haha, I guess you posted while I was typing. I'm glad to hear everything is working out! YAH!!

I'm so sorry to hear this has turned into a huge fight. While I totally agree that you should have your wedding the way you want...and this is probably the main reason most of us have decided to have destination weddings in the first place, I would also lightly suggest you not get so worked up over this detail. Is it really worth all the turmoil and the hard feelings?? I'm not saying you're not correct in the way you feel, and if this were your actual wedding, I would totally say stand your ground, but you are having your dream wedding in Jamaica. Now if you had to pay $100 to ship satin sashes down to Jamaica because that's what you wanted, so be it!! Having a pre-wedding celebration with his family in Canada and having your FMIL help out is a great way to strengthen the bond that it sounds like you have, without her really stepping on your toes for the actual wedding. A great compromise I think. Just trying to offer another way to look at it. I hate to hear brides get worked up over what should be a fun time. I hope it all works out!!

Haha, we are all so sneaky!! I love it. We actually got married legally in Cabo, two days before the symbolic ceremony. (We were there 5 days in advance) It was private and only the witnesses knew/know about it. The paperwork and bloodtest was actually easy, coordinator took care of it all and they draw your blood right there in the Hotel. I didn't want anyone to know the symbolic wedding wasn't the real thing, but I still wanted to say I got married in cabo. I didn't have any problems with having my wedding certificate in Spanish, Social Security and DMV both accepted it without issues.

So I was going to do both the slideshow and the Marth Stewart idea and ran out of time and didn't do either!! (sigh) I did put together a photo album of the wedding so that floated around and one album of the week of the wedding with pictures I made all the guests upload into photobucket. Printed them out to show off our dinner cruise and lounging at the pool and different activities. What I did do though, was print larger prints, 5x7 and 8x10 and purchased cardstock paper at Michaels, I glued the pictures to the fun colored paper and strung them throughout the backyard. Fiesta themed, so I used bright colored twine, colored clothespins and hung them between the trees, and along the entrance to the backyard. As people walked in they could see the pictures. It turned out great.

We ordered shot glasses for the actual DW so we could do a tequila toast as opposed to champagne. I ordered extra for the AHR. I gave them to the bartender and told her to give them away but they had to take a shot in order to have one. It was so much fun!! Then I went around and gave out shot glasses to others with a full shot in them, and some with water for those I know don't drink, just so they could join in the fun. Since we did a Fiesta themed, I went into downtown L.A. and bought a bunch of Mexican candy with little bags, it was a huge hit, we received a lot of compliments.

We decided to have a fiesta themed AHR...so I printed a fun picture of us from the wedding and glued a picture on the front on the inviation, decorated with cactus and chili peppers along the borders, (which I had to glue on one by one, because I couldn't find anything I liked or wanted to pay for), and on the back it read: Tacos, Margaritas, That's HOT it's a Fiesta Celebration Lizeth & Alberto Tied the KNOT With all the details under that. I know, I know, it may be a bit cheesy, but it turned out really cute. The picture of us was of us him carrying me on the beach and we're both laughing.

I purchased stadium cups with our logo for the OOT bags they were a big hit! Everyone was using them down by the pool. I purchased a few lids with straws for the kids and the parents were so appreciative. We also used them for mixed drinks in the rooms, they came in so handy, not to mention they were less expensive. When I visit my friends and families I still our cups being used. I also purchased extra to use at the AHR.

Beautiful invitations! Thank you for the links

I second the sunset tour, we did that with our group, it was great!! Although it may weigh on both your pants and wallet! If it is an option though, I would look into it. For those who were only there a few days they could at least say they saw the famous "arcos." Or you could do an informal get together at a local bar/club. Meet a little early before it gets crowded, that way you can find seats and everyone can sit together, talk, drink, dance, whatever. That way no one is obligated to stay and everyone could pay for their own drinks.