Jamaica0619

I actually ordered the teacher totes from this site and had them do the silk screening - we decided we did not want to be bother doing iron-on and we really wanted them to last. The silk screening has held up well so far (only been using mine for a month or so), and the totes were great around the resort. A lot of my guests used them.

I just finished (in the past week or two) a few really good beach books:

Driftwood Summer - Patti Callahan Henry

moon shell beach - Nancy Thayer

Nantucket Nights - Elin Hilderbrand

All were good reads - nice and light. Most of them focused on the relationships between friends/sisters.

I also read "A Lion Called Christian" in just a few hours - a really light read. But a really cute story about two friends who purchase a lion at Harrods and then ended up releasing him into the wild in Africa. The story is from the 1970's but has regained interest given a YouTube post.

I agree in this case it might not be worth a DIY project. To give you another site to check out, I purchased my chair sashes from the following website. Given that I got the most basic organza sashes and they were on sale at the time, I paid 69 cents per chair sash.

wedding linens direct home page

I had 21 guests and I did not bother with seating arrangements. Everyone worked it out without much fuss.

I used a very pale blue nailpolish on my fingers

I am sorry that I cannot help with the booking of the wedding. But, I have been to the Valley of Fire, and the location is absolutely amazing. A wedding there would be beautiful. And, personally, if I had to choose between that and a chapel or room at the Venetian, I would go to VoF. But I love natural settings...

This looks really cool...I added it to my bookmarks for future reference - Thanks!

The bottles of rum sound like a good idea.

We got married in Jamaica. I'm doing a palm tree cookie (palm trees were part of our theme) and tied to the bag I am going to attach a postcard printed at VistaPrint explaining we made a donation to the Alzheimer's assoication in memory of our grandmothers.

Congratulations and welcome - happy planning to you both.

Count me in...

I would vote for meeting outside. Do we want to say 4pm again? I know that is the time we had used when we discussed meeting in the past.

I don't know if this will help. But we talked about our AHR as being a celebration of our marriage/wedding.

Congratulations and welcome to the forum...the addiction will continue...even beyond the wedding.

Mine was at the salon. They took me 30 minutes late becuase they double booked the 2pm wedding (me) with the 4pm wedding. I had to wait for them to finish up some of the people for the 4pm. Then, she did my hair nothing like I asked, and she had to re-touch it - which only made it marginally better. Then she did my manicure after my hair. I was running at least 45 minutes behind at this point, and I now had to go back to the room to repair the damage to my hair. I was ready to go ballistic. Given how furious I was I thought my obnoxious attitude was doing pretty good.

That is really cute...I love the personalized cake toppers you can get from etsy.com

You, your FI and his family are in my thoughts. This is a terrible time, and I'm so sorry. I agree with Josie and others...the wedding will allow the family to focus on something very positive and happy. I think that they will just be a bit lost for awhile. Everyone grieves differently and needs a different amount of time to go through that process. Depending on how the family and your FI is doing at the time of the wedding, the idea of paying a special tribute to him might be a nice touch. However, it could also be very painful...depending on how people are coping.

Trash the dress doesn't mean you have to go into the water. You can also go into the town, walk on the beach,etc.

 

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this is what my photographer did. We went into Montego Bay for the TTD session. Specifically, we went to the market with all of the really bright colors, then we just walked down the main street. I haven't seen the pictures yet, but I suspect they are going to be really amazing. We also took a lot of pictures right at the water's edge.

Geralyn - everything looks amazing. You will have a wonderful wedding. Just take a deep breath, don't let anything get to you, and enjoy the day!!!!!

Balancing/updating our wedding budget and grocery shopping...

I'm actually doing my laundry while doing this in between loads.

It is fun to give back on the threads that were so helpful in my planning process now that I'm married.

Things I would do again

Video - I actually hate watching myself on video and have yet to watch the entire video because of that. But, I'm glad I have it for those that could not attend the wedding.

Pro Photographer - I'm so glad we hired a team of local photographers to come to Jamaica. While Photoshop took some good pictures, they would not have satisfied me.

Beach Reception - This was not something we planned to do when we left for Jamaica. But, it was the only way to have a private reception as the restuarant was not available for a private reception. I'm so glad we did this. It was probably one of the best things we did besides get married on the beach.

Bouquet - I'm so glad I ordered a real touch bouquet. People did not even realize they were not real, and they were absolutely gorgeous. It was one less thing to worry about when I got to Jamaica.

OOT Bags - I spent more on the bags then we budgeted, but given how much my guests like them and thier contents, I'm really glad I did.

Steel Drum Band - I only hired them for an hour and I thought they suited the ambiance of Jamaica perfectly. They were just a nice touch.

Things I Wish I Did

Prepare a dance mix on my iPod - After we booked the beach reception I wish I would have prepared a dance mix on my iPod. We had to keep searching out dance music on my master play list. It was not that big of deal, it would have just been nice.

Given myself more time to get ready - I started getting ready around 10am for the 2pm ceremony. I wish I had started around 9am. I was really rushed at the end.

Thanks to this thread, I don't think I had any real "misses". It was more things that got used and things that didn't. Overall, I think my guests were just so surprised and delighted that we even had the bags for them. They all thought it was a really nice thing for us to do.

Things that got used at the resort

The bag itself

Puzzle book - purchased from the dollar store - had suduko, word search and crossword puzzles

Hand Sanitizer

Lip balm

Pen and notepad

Sand molds - for the kids only

Things that were liked but not used:

Magnet - ordered from Vistaprint using a picture I took when we were in Jamaica in January

Kleenex

Luggage tags

First aid kits

Beach towels

Travel mugs

Deck of cards

Through the DW planning process, I know many of us are hurt/disappointed/upset by the fact that someone we care deeply about is unable or unwilling to attend our DW. While we may understand, that doesn't mean it hurts/disappoints/upsets us any less.

I wanted to share something that proves that there are others who will do anything to attend. My MOH and I have been friends since we were five. I am an only child and she is the closest thing I will ever have to a sister. So, her being at my wedding was incredibly important to me. Shortly after my DH and I announce our engagement her husband was laid off. While she teaches a couple of college courses each semester, her primary occupation is a stay-at-home-mother. Also, their two children are on the autism spectrum, which results in a lot of out-of-pocket medical costs. If anyone had a justified reason not to attend, I would say she did and I would have understood. As the wedding approached (she did have insurance), her husband was still out of work. At no point in time (and she told me this) had they ever discussed her not coming to the wedding. Obviously becuase of costs, the family could not attend. But it was never up for debate that she might not come to my wedding. I helped a little by covering the costs of her being in the wedding (dress, shoes, jewerly), but I know that the money she spent to come to my wedding could have been used for better/other purposes. In addition, she flew up for my shower, which was an additional expense.

I thought with the many stories about people being unable to attend (and I am not begruding anyone those posts, since I can sympathize with them) it might be nice to share a story about someone who I felt went out of her way to be there.

Does anyone else have a story?