punkie569

We are getting married in November and since Christmas is so close we know people are too busy with Christmas parties and such so we are waiting until January to have ours. Also trying to book anything at that time won't happen because of all the Christmas parties. We figure this way we'll have our pictures/video done so everyone can see at the AHR. I don't think there is anything wrong with waiting at all. Have it when you want to have it!

I wanted a VERY small ceremony so that meant only immediate family and a select few friends were invited. That also meant lots of people weren't invited that felt left out. I hadn't heard of AHRs until this forum and I thought it'd be a good solution. This way we get to celebrate with everyone and stretch out the wedding abit longer. We are only doing an appetizer buffet at a small restaurant. I didn't want to go the formal route because then I figured I might as well just get married here if I was doing a whole wedding just without the ceremony. To me being casual meant we can mingle more and we'll have a table with our pictures/video set up so everyone can see. I think everyone and their situation is different so don't feel you have to have an AHR if you don't want. I know for a lot of brides it's just not the in the budget. We compromised with our parents and said we'd pay for the wedding if they'd take care of the reception and they agreed. Otherwise I don't think we could afford both.

I'm a West Coaster as well planning an AHR. Well first I'm trying to plan the wedding...LOL...I keep thinking that once I'm done planning the wedding that's it but nope then I have to start working on the AHR. Our wedding is November 2010 and since that means Christmas is right around the corner we are waiting until January to have ours. We are just doing an appetizer buffet kind of party at my favourite restaurant, where I used to work as well(so hoping for a small deal). I didn't want anything formal so this way we still get a party but it won't cost us an arm and a leg. I swear ever since I started planning this wedding Michaels and dollar stores have become my 2nd home. I'm finding Dollarama has some pretty decent things for a dollar store.

Wow I'm so glad my FMIL knows her place when it comes to my wedding. I couldn't handle it if she was trying to take over. I personally think it's too soon as well. I like to unwind after vacations and have some downtime. Because we are getting married in November it's really close to Christmas so we want to wait until January and luckily noone has any issues with this. I also thought that yours might be soon to have your pictures and I'm sure everyone would love to see them if they weren't there. That's another reason why I'm glad we have some time in between the wedding and AHR. Good luck!

I got the idea from another bride but what we are doing is having postcards(Vistaprint of course) and have people write on those. Keeping with the destination wedding theme it's all beachy and I think I'm leaning towards a treasure chest to put them in. Then I'll put them in a scrapbook with some pictures. I wanted to do something a little bit different than the regular guest book. And since everyone at the ceremony will be at the AHR we won't have anything to sign at the ceremony. I already have too much stuff to bring with me.

Oh man I'd be fuming too. I'd tell her that the restaurant has set up the tables that way for a reason. If she wants to sit at a different table let her but don't let her move the tables. Is there anyway you can ask the restaurant to step in if she did that? I know that's a cop out but sometimes people will only listen if it's a stranger telling them. I hope it all works out!

Great idea! Sorry I don't have any ideas but I'd like to see if anyone else has any. Although sometimes I find with Vistaprint I will look through their stuff and get inspired by something cute. If I come up with anything I'll let you know

I've been toying with centerpieces or not but this is a cheap and easy way to do it. These look great. Thanks for sharing!

Quote: Originally Posted by finzup that's not true.. paypal has full protection with a credit card. AND the best thing about paying with a credit card is if for some reason paypal fails you, you can do a chargeback on your credit card. Whenever I buy a bigger ticket item, I ALWAYS use a credit card for this double protection. Yes the seller pays a bit more in fees but hey, that's the cost of doing business I suppose? The bottom of this page has seller protection and buyer protection details; https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...plaint-outside I must have got bad info then. I was really worried buying my dress so I looked into it to make sure I was protected no matter what. Thanks for correcting me

Wow this really sucks. I always thought it was fairly safe on here to buy/sell but I guess we always have to be on the lookout for scammers. I've bought from a few brides here and it's been nothing but great experiences. I thought we were all here to help each other out and it's unfortunate that some people lack morals and corrupt a good system. I hope this doesn't discourage other brides from buying/selling but just be more aware. I know I will be from now on. I thank all the brides that I have bought from that were on the up and up. Sorry you girls have to go to such extreme lengths to get this resolved. I hope you get some kind of resolution to this.

Those look great. I can't wait to shop in the States for all my OOT bag stuff. I have some things but we definitely can't get a lot of good stuff here it seems. Where did you end up buying your mugs? Here or there?

My ering is 19k white gold. I choose that over the 14k because this way I won't have to get it re-dipped. Apparently it holds up better and so far so good. I'm always banging it on things and it still looks good. We more than likely will go with a different metal for FH's ring. He'll need something a little more sturdy.

You did an awesome job on those and thanks for the tips.

I had lifelong family friends assume they were invited as well. As much as I love them I know they would turn my wedding into one big week long drunk fest. They are loud and obnoxious and I think they would scare FH's family. Even though we told them that we were keeping it small with only immediate family they basically said "screw that. you can't stop me from going to a beach". I didn't know what I was going to do to have them not sabatoge my wedding. Luckily their daughter is also getting married next year so I chickened out and pleaded with her as a fellow bride to please talk to her family about not making someone else's wedding all about them. They've done the same thing to her so even though she was initially upset that I really wasn't inviting them she totally understood. If you could you could email her explaining that you are wanting to keep the wedding small and unfortunately you can't accomodate everyone. Personally I don't think you should have anyone at your wedding that you don't want there. In my case I have to vacation with these people for a week so I wanted to make sure it's people that I want to be with, not people that I'm forced to be with. Good luck!

Beautiful. Love how the bouts turned out.

Quote: Originally Posted by Barbo I've seen a lot of post regarding 'real touch' flowers. Why do BDW brides choose fake flowers? Is it because you ladies want to keep them afterwards? Are they cheaper? Are you worried that Mexico won't provide exactly what you are looking for? How will you transport them? Just interested in them and wondering what the pros and cons are. Thanks! I'm choosing to go the fake route mainly because I'm spending so much money on them I want to enjoy them when I'm home. I'm not spending much more on my bouquet than I would have if I bought real flowers from the resort and this way I have a keepsake. I was also worried about wilting and not getting exactly what I wanted but I'd have to say it was mostly so I can keep it. I am worried about transporting them there but that's what carry on is for

I thought about making my own bouquet and bouts as well since I wanted to keep my bouquet after the wedding but I don't think I will now. I was at Michael's last night pricing out the flowers and supplies and it was going to cost me almost $100 just for the flowers alone. I was quoted $135 to have one made with real touch flowers. So it seemed to me that it wasn't much more to have someone make it that knew what they were doing. I've since found one for under $100 so I think it really depends on where you look and what you want to do. If you really want to make it then go for it and it will be that much more special and if you do go to Michaels you can always use their coupon. I'm curious though to see what other brides have to say on this.

Love this idea. Good luck finding the frame you want.

Quote: Originally Posted by Rhonda Congrats! That's very exciting! I have one pic of the cocktail hour that I can email you if you send me your email address. I definitely think the cocktail hour was worth it even though my husband and I barely got to enjoy it because we were with the photographer. It was perfect for our guests because it was so convenient right after the ceremony. I don't know what they all would have done while we were away. We had a solo guitarist at the cocktail party, which, I heard was good, but, not sure if it was worth to have or not. Hope that helps! I'd really appreciate seeing whatever you had. My email is [email protected]. Thanks so much for the feedback too. I'm excited to have the cocktail hour now!

I'm not into bridal showers so luckily I'm not having one. I might be sabatoged into having one but at least I know now that it'd be ok since we are having an AHR to invite people that aren't coming to the wedding. We wanted the wedding ceremony very small so that meant a lot of family/friends weren't invited(hence the AHR) Like classadiva I was invited to the bridal shower and even the stag party but not the wedding. It was my best friends sister so of course I didn't mind going. It didn't bother me about not being invited to the wedding because I was told there wasn't room. But when my BFs ex-boyfriend came into town all of a sudden there was room for him even though I'd known the family longer. They'd been broken up for 6months even. That's when it felt like a punch in the face and I would never want anyone to feel left out like I did.

Thanks for all the great ideas. I especially love the balloon release idea.

I don't think it's a silly question at all. I think if you get an ordained minister you can have it be religious or not. In order to marry someone you have to be ordained but I don't think it matters what is said because they can be of different religons. So if you want certain religious things included then you should tell them that is what you want. I'm sure they will read whatever you ask of them. Doesn't hurt to ask, right? Maybe they use this minister because not all brides are religious so they don't always need a priest/pastor? Good luck!

What a great project. You did an awesome job!

Good to know. Thanks for the info!

I won't be wearing my dress for our AHR. We get married in November so we are waiting until after Christmas to have our AHR because we know how busy everyone is during that time of year. It would feel weird to me to wear my dress that long after the wedding. Also our AHR is going to be basically an afternoon cocktail party. Probably no dancing but we will be having a cake since I won't be doing one in Mexico. I'll probably do my hair the same and I figure it's a good reason for me to buy a cute new dress