jennie

Love the Dollar Stores! lol I have created all of my centerpieces and put together decorations for the sand ceremony table, etc... all found at the Dollar Store. Charger placemats, flowers, votive candles, candleabras, etc... An idea that i found ladies: I took a colored votive candle holder and hot glued flower petals on the bottom. It came out real nice. I'm making 8 of them to be placed around the hurricane glass centerpiece that will have drowned flowers in. Great finds girls.

I agree with kitty, above. That's what we're doing. Taking ours to a person to copy and notorize that it's indeed a true copy of our originals. We are mailing those to the resort and then taking our originals down with us. Good Luck

Your a good sport for taking it light hearted. He will come around and wear what you asked him to wear when the time comes, i'm sure. My FI and I had a "discussion", I guess you could say lol, in the middle of the department store about his outfit. He wanted to wear linen pants. That's fine. But he was arguing about wanting to wear white pants and shirt. I said that unless he's the bride it's not happening. After a to-do and the sales staff taking sides, we finally agreed on tan linen pants, black buttoned down dress shirt, and tan vest. Of course he insisted he's still a high school size medium, so at last size large was agreed upon. Once it was on I could see him in the mirror checking himself out. He didn't want to admit I was right and that he looks real sharp in it. Bottom line is, don't worry about it. All guys are just plain stubborn whether or not they are your FI, dad, brother, etc... He will want to see you happy. I'm sure he will turn around.They always do. He's probably just trying to annoy you as siblings do.He knows how important his position in your wedding is.

OMG! That's awful that they will be laid up for the DW. On the brighter side of things, I have to agree with the ladies that at the very least... they will be able to enjoy laid back things together. After all, the can certainly still enjoy things at sit out by the pool, etc. Maybe even a nice massage. That's so wierd that it's happened to the both of them. Hope they get along. lol Good luck to you and your upcomming ceremony.

Josie: Did you end up getting the IPOD stereo? How did it go? It's great that everyone could pitch in. I bet the day was great!

For my dad and Jessie's dad, it's a definite to get them a new bathing suit for the DW. Can you just imagine what they would wear if we didn't lol Also, an outfit to go along with it. Jessie has a daughter and he soon will be a step dad to my 8 year old. She made a step dad card in school for him. I was very surprised of the fast connection to what's happening because her biological father hasn't been really involved and step out of her life this past January. For Jessie, I bought him a 37" HD FlatScreen TV for the bedroom. He's an electronics fanactic.....for Valentine's Day he whinned and whinned about wanting one for the bathroom lol I said....what are we on MTV CRIBS or something? lol..... So,i have it hidden in the office of my salon until Sunday. I know he will like it. He does alot for us and I don't always have the money, so I've been working overtime and saving for this.

Just got word back from the WC at RPTB that it's ok to line the aisle with rose petals. She said that they use petals from the flowers in the garden. I like this idea for an aisle marker. I think I would be way too nervous to to be coordinated enough to not trip on a runner. lol

Thanks for the idea Karen. I'll have to check it out for possible accents. We're using orange and fushia for our colors.

Thanks for sharing. What a unique idea. They are very reasonable with the engraving, too.

We're just have an arch. It's the one one that they use for the beach ceremonies. Very basic. I'm making sure that the chairs have covers on them and chair sashes, which we are bringing down with us. I opted to buy them and bring down opposes to "renting" them at $12 or so for what.... about 30 min? My WC said that we can use petals from the flower garden to sprinkle to make an aisle and for my daughter to sprinkle down the middle. Good Luck Planning!

Keep in mind that some resorts won't let you ship things down because of the responsiblitiy and the lack of storrage space. We're going to bubble wrap the heck out of our glass ware, centerpieces, and stuff them into "pilot suitcases" to carry on with us.

Thanks Amber! We're flying US Airways in August. I was also told that you can prepay for check in luggage. Its $15 per bag now if you pre pay on the airline site or $20 after July 9th and $25 at the airport. Some girls have said to also do this and that it really depends on the flight attendants if they would hang your garment bag up for you. When we went to the Dominican Republic, they accomidated the in flight brides. Guess it probably depends on their moods. huh I'll have to purchase a garment bag of that size. The only one i have is the one from David's Bridal with the dress.

Start looking for packages now. There are alot of buy so many nights and get a few free and % off discounts due to try to boost travel in this sucky economy. Most resorts offer "free" wedding ceremonies with upgrades, depending on the amount of people you are having. A good idea is if you plan to register for gifts.... place the resort or Travel Company on your registry to help curb some of the costs or to help pay for your honeymoon! We're getting married in Jamaica at the Riu Palace Tropical Bay and then going to Sandals Ochos Rios for our honeymoon. The Riu breaks down the cost of xtras, and the steel drums were about $300 or so. Each resort is different. For 7 guests for resort, flights,and ceremony ours came to about $6,000.00 for our 5 nights and 3 nights for guests. Sandals for 7 nights cost us about $3200.00 for a honeymoon suite villa ocean view butler suite with villa pool. We're sticking with a Classic Package for the wedding, which is $695.00 and includes everything from dinner reception,music,pics,ceremony,flowers,etc... Just search the different resorts and search the wedding packages to see what they offer. Keep in mind that when you find "THE" resort, you must put in a request for a date and time FIRST. Then they will get back to you via email to confirm that date is available. The, you can book your vacation days around your chosen date. Most resorts require that you be on their property for 2 days prior.... so also check this policy. Also, it's a good idea to purchase travel protection insurance. This allows you to get a full cancelation refund for the hotel portion of your trip if neccesary due to weather, health, or anything. Happy Hunting!

Great ideas keep comming! Sloan, I think that we will sneak our, as well. Unless you're insane, who's going to really object to songs played at a table for a wedding party? The other guests probably thought that yours was all planned out anyways. I think we will probably have our dance after the sand ceremony when we are announced husband and wife....then just have the song played after our first kiss.

You're not alone. We're getting married on the same date as you, but in Jamaica. As we're going through possible songs, I get teary eyed too. I think it's perfectly normal to feel this overwhelming emotion. This is a big deal: the DW, so who cares...no worries. We should all be worried if we weren't affect by emotions at this point.lol Sometimes when we lay next to each other on the couch watching a movie or something I think: OMG he's going to be my husband. I'm going to laying next to my husband. Weird, huh. I know what you mean about your IPOD. He let me chose the ceremony songs myself and he's choosing the rest. So, I know i'll start tearing up with the words cause they describe how I feel and i'm not so great with showing my feelings. I'll have to concentrate on something else so no one knows. You're just excited and happy, is all. Congrats and good luck with everything.

Love the car! Congrats on the dress shopping too! I can't wait to upgrade our Lincoln LS to a MKZ. Your car looks real sharp. Enjoy.

We're planning on having ring tattoo's done once we arrive back at home. FI works as an electrician, so he won't be wearing his ring all day which drives me crazy, but I never told him this. It was actualy HIS idea though, despite what people will probably think. We girls get the bad wrap on everything. I'll post later, but he has a tribal on his arm, a skull/grim reaper type design on his shoulder, and strenght and courage chinese symbols(you can prob. see on our profile pic)on his neck. I have a large tribal design on my lower back that I drew out while in college. I'm getting one on my footthat I designed and one on my ankle (our monogram)in a few weeks, so it can heal before the wedding. I heard the same thing too, that a lot of artists don't like to do ring tats. cause they fade quick and need to be touched up frequently. We will probably think of our own design; simple and black. We are actually searching for ideas right now. I have an artist friend that says he will do it, no problems. We will just have to keep up on the retouches I guess.

I'm abit biased too, as we chose the RPTB for our August ceremony. Keep in mind that if you book at RPTB you can guest at the very nearby (beach walking distance) Riu Negril. But, if you chose Riu Negril, you can not guest at the RPTB. So, you kinda have two hotels in one! I've been in contact with the Wc at the RPTB through emails. Her response time is great and very detailed. I've enjoyed planning with her and am quite pleases so far. I agree with Sloan: just search the review to see pics and read up on them. Good Luck!

Lisa, just sit back and relax alittle for now. I felt the same before, also. We are keeping it very simple and pretty much sticking with the package. Sometimes this seems more stressful than planning something big because it seems like your missing something! Right? lol Just wait patiently and your WC will contact you 2 months or so prior. It seems like not enough time, but it is. Trust us. With the exchange of just 2-3 emails, I have planned and chosen pretty much all our ceremony need. The WC at these resorts have everything down to the T, so no worries. Take your mind off of things and chose your songs, accessories, and clothing, etc... You're really ahead of things now. We just got FI's outfit last week or so! I'm starting to search BDW for centerpiece ideas, as i'm planning on making and bringing our own, as well as table runners, chair sashes, sand ceremony photoframe/verse to read, and ceremony song CD, etc.... Search the "what I would have done different" postings and see if there's something you haven't thought of. Happy Planning!

I totaly agree with everyone.... no one will prob. notice and who cares if they do. It a wedding. YOUR WEDDING!!! Not an LA Class. lol Just relax and enjoy.

KimmyG: keep in mind that if you have boning in it, you will see the lines through the dress if the dress is fitted. I tried one that had it underneath my dress, which is fitted on top to the waist, and you could see the fine lines right through the dress. Just to keep in mind and remember to bring it to try on dresses so you don't run into this problem. I ended up buying a bustier from David's Bridal after I got drained from running around to all of these different palces and trying them on.lol I gave up. It actually was close to the same price as I saw at the "mall" type places. I agree with Angruck that a strapless bra would probably fall or slip down. I was told that the bustier that I purchased ran small and it did, so make sure everyone is either measuring before ordering or trying things on. Good luck and happy shopping!

What have ypu past brides done about carrying his outfit onto the flight? I was wondering if I would have to hang his inside of my garment bag, or can he also have a garment bag as a carry on?

I agree: stitching them or taping them. You could cut them if you wanted to and just lay the dress flat on the couch, etc... in the room if you wanted to. IDK I would probably sew them alittle for the ceremony to be safe.

Thank You much! I will.

Do any of you know if Michael does the pics for just the ROR or all of the Riu's? Our DW is at the RPTB and I was under the impression that the photoshop company that they used was the same for all of the Riu's.