jk1101

You look gorgeous! Your FI will love them!

Quote: Originally Posted by simba1234 Thanks JerseyKitten - The points you made are exactly the types of feedback I'm looking for:) I always like to see all my options so I can make a really informed decision. I'm hoping that by showing my friend all the pros & cons she can really make an informed decision and not just go with what most people do. Hopefully this info will also help other brides decide on the option that works best for their personal taste. The resort I chose for my wedding had 8 restaurants & buffets in addition to 4 bars, 3 pools and a ton of other things so people didn't have to leave if they chose. The rate was $105 per night for the room so it was really only $50 per person for two people in a room, or about $35 per person if 3 people were sharing a room. So it's not necessarily always cheaper to go with the all inclusive option. You got a GREAT rate and I like all-inclusives sometimes but I just want my friend to know that's not the only option. The other vendor restrictions I was referring to include 'florists', DJ's, photographers, etc.. Sometimes (not always) all-inclusives charge fees or don't even allow you to bring outside vendors at all. Some all inclusives also charge extra for guests who are not staying in the resort. I'm not knocking all-inclusive resorts with my post - I'm just trying to lay out all the good & bad of both all-inclusives and non-all-inclusives so that brides to be can know all their options:) they did charge a fee for guests not staying on the resort to come for the day. I wouldn't have even thought to use another florist, however i dealt with the florist directly for my flowers to get exactly what I wanted, rather than go through the wedding coordinator. It's definitely good to know all the pros and cons - and your friend is lucky to have someone to help her! i'm sure all the girls on here would love to see pics of your wedding too - we all love pictures!

Quote: Originally Posted by simba1234 I would like to gather all the pros & cons of having a DW in an All-Inclusive resort. It seems like that is a very popular option on this forum even though it's not the only option and in my opinon not necessarily always the best. I'm trying to help my friend decide which way to go but I want to be as objective as possible and help her see both sides so she can choose what's best for her circumstance. Hopefully this will also help other brides on this forum who are undecided. I got married at Le Meridien in Cancun which is not an all-inclusive and it was absolutely awesome. I have no regrets. I got such personalized service and the coordinator was attentive, helpful and granted my every wish. I didn't have any of the problems I've heard from other brides about unresponsive planners or surcharges for outside vendors/guests. It was a really, really smooth process. I had the wedding of my dreams. My guests didn't even stay at that resort. We stayed somewhere else entirely and it wasn't even an issue. My wedding was very affordable especially for everything I got. Everyone thinks I spent a hundred thousand dollars when in reality it was less than half of what a hometown wedding would cost:) So, I'm curious why so many DW brides choose to have their weddings at all-inclusive resorts? I personally don't like all-inclusives for the following reasons: Too many restrictions with vendors Too many 'outside fees' I was afraid that the cost of all inclusive resorts would scare some of my guests away. Sometimes when people see $250 or $300 per person/per night it's a lot scarier than seeing $105 per night. They'll probably end up spending more money on meals anyway but it's all about initial perception. I don't like being restricted to resort meals. I like to go out and explore other restaurants outside of the resort. If I pay for all-inclusive, I just feel like I'm paying double when I go to an outside restaurant. Why did you choose to have your wedding at an all-inclusive resort?? What do you consider the pros & cons of a wedding in an all-inclusive resort?? I found that it was all Pros to get married at an All inclusive. I wanted a place where everyone could be together and not have to leave, and have the variety of restaurants that an all inclusive offered. We had 7 specialty restaurants + the buffets at ours so people had a lot to choose from. I also didn't want the added stress of coordinating off site trips for meals. the place I chose did not charge any vendor fees although I know some charge for outside photographers. I'm not sure what kind of fees and restrictions you are talking about. My resort came to $92 per night per person - they can be extremely affordable if you do your research. I do understand the not wanting to have to pay to eat elsewhere...my guests were only there for the weekend so for them it was perfect. My husband and I did do things off the resort, but chose to come back to eat - the food was amazing there so we didn't feel the need to eat off site. I think it's really a personal taste kind of thing. I love AI resorts and prefer to stay in them when ever I can. It's not for everyone though.

Natasha, Suzy, Sasse - your pictures are awesome! i'm so jealous that I don't have my pro pics yet. Every day I log onto my photographer site to check. Last night it said Michele & James on the Proof page. I was so excited but when I clicked on it it said Sorry, Michele and James pictures are not up yet.... Talk about a tease.... I'm seriously foaming at the mouth!!!! Am I the only April bride having an AHR? I can't remember.... I'm getting my dress back from my mom this weekend -she said it's perfect so I'm wearing it again Is it Friday yet?

Quote: Originally Posted by btn1091 My guests absolutely LOVED the personalized insulated travel mugs, almost every guest used them all the time! The guys loved that they could get larger beers and that they did a good job keeping them cool! This by far was my smartest and most appreciated OOT gift!! I purchased my mugs from discountmugs and they turned out perfect!! Quote: Originally Posted by Ayita I have spent about 20$ per bag. There are no "MUST HAVE" items in a bag - remember that it's a gift and most guests won't actually expect it. So you put whatever you want in them. For instance, I did not do any special gift (no mug or else), I just included stuff that I thought would be useful - welcome booklets, "survival" kits (ie medecine I thought would be useful), pens (personalized, see at Oriental Trading they are very affordable) and post its (for doors messages), water guns (for fun !), spanish phrase books, and the favor I had picked (which was plantable paper). everybody was really happy with that (and everybody actually used the medicine). There's a master list available in here : http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...e-items-28059/ Quote: Originally Posted by Ayita There's a thread on this topic : see here : http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...nt-used-35759/ the biggest hits in my bags were: The bags themselves - everyone used them all weekend as beach bags. Mine were from VistaPrint but any bag is great. The "big cup" Although not insulated, it was a 42 oz GLOW IN THE DARK cup that everyone used all the time for their drinks. The Glow in the Dark was just an added fun thing. 12.99/dozen from Oriental Trading. The Hangover Kits - so people didn't need to bring their own meds or if they needed more...especially after drinking from the big cup! I think what we as the brides forget is that most of our guests haven't been to a Destination Wedding before - All of our guests were shocked to recieve their OOT bags and so appreciative of anything they recieved and at the effort we put into them.

WOW!!! What a great job with so much detail! You will have such a beautiful wedding! Congratulations!

First of all - AWESOME way to meet and what a great idea to have lessons at the wedding! I think if you guys will be doing pictures and you will be changing between cocktail and reception, that would be a great time to do lessons. Just make sure to put a time limit on them so people don't get frustrated/bored.

Go pick it up - it's a gift for you! If they sent it to your home you'd open it wouldn't you? I know I would!

I say Do it! I had a 4pm ceremony with cocktails and buffet HDs immediately following on the beach and everyone RAVED about it. if people ate lunch at 12-1pm and then went to get ready, they will be pretty hungry by the time the ceremony ends. It was totally worth the $$ for us.

You are seriously talented - every picture looks like it should be in a magazine.

Congratulations and welcome- my husband and I just got married in Jamaica - at 40 and 41 - 2nd time for both - this forum will have tons of great advice for you! Good luck!

Great Job!!!! i love the cake cutter and the place cards!

You have to LOVE your dress. You are going to have literally hundreds, if not 1000 pictures taken of you on your wedding day, plus possibly a TTD session with 2-3 hundred pics. Do you want to look back at your pictures and say "I wish I'd bought that first dress"? there have been so many *2 dress brides* and even *3 dress brides on BDW*...it happens...you won't be the first bride to do this and you won't be the last. Go with your gut and if you can, get the dress you love. And don't worry....none of us will spill your secret!

We brought our real rings with us - I wore my e-ring the whole time (it is insured). DH carried the wedding bands on him when we travelled and kept them in the in-room safe till the wedding - the way the safe worked was that we created our own code to open it so I don't know how it could have been broken into. i wore both rings after the wedding, in the ocean, pool and even to Dunns River Falls and ZipLining. I do have a habit of keeping my thumb on my ring in the water, just to make sure it's there.

Couple of things. I had nothing to do with picking out my ring. before we got engaged my husband asked me a couple of times about rings and i said I liked Princess cut. He proposed to me with a beautiful ring. i have no idea what size it is, the quality of the stone, or how much he paid, and I prefer it that way. He bought me the best ring he could possibly afford, and I love it because he went and picked it out and proposed to me with nothing but love in his heart. I think he would be crushed if i said anything about changing any aspect of it, which i wouldn't do anyway. But like Lady Trunck said, if it's something you can talk about, and can agree to do sometime in the future (or now) then go for it.

Great pictures - Congratulations!

To be in one place surrounded by all the people you love is priceless I could not have said this any better! congratulations on a beautiful day!

I think your best bet is to test them out with a tank top and take some pictures to see how it looks, and how the coverage lasts, and how it does or does not get on your clothes. A tip from a former performer, baby powder works really well to set make up and keep it from running. put some in a sock and pat the sock onto the make up, then brush away any residual powder. this is how clowns keep their make up from running.

Quote: Originally Posted by caribbeanLover me too me too, I've been searching and searching. I loved the resort we were at, and they have some real good prices for the summer and in Sept, but you all know how it's hurrican season, is it even worth it? Or just wait until April again.. oh what to do what to do. We got a nice gift from my parents, and we thought about buying a king size bed, but recently decided to safe it for another trip! but also got to consider the husband vacation time (he only has 1 week left this year) Have you decided if you'll go again,or just looking around? I was watching the news and they said some of AB got 70cm of snow, OMG!!!! We had a nice day at 20c (not to rub it in, in anyones face as we had our fair share of snow when we got home this week) taylorwd Where are you looking to go? MX again? Quote: Originally Posted by taylorwd We would go back to our resort in Mexico. We can use our credit at any Karisma property in the Riviera Maya, but we love our resort so much that we don't want to try another one. Quote: Originally Posted by caribbeanLover I feel you, we are the type of people who love to go to different resorts. But like you, we fell in love with the Grand Palladium in PC we want to go back there, especially at the royal suites (def royal!) Do you guys have a lot of vacation time left? you only did 1 week in MX this time around, correct? right now neither of us get paid vacation, which kind of sucks. His office closes down in August, which is when we take our big vacation - last year we did our motorcycle trip through New England - i think August might be too soon to do an island but i'd love to do an anniversary trip in April and I bet some of our friends would go too - I'd really like to go to Riviera Maya or Cancun or somewhere where we can leave the resort on our own - he was so against Mexico, but now that I've been showing him everyone's pictures he realizes it's not all like Tijuana (the only part he'd been to)! Even if we just do a long weekend it will be nice. I'm hoping my job will go permanent which would help a lot and I'd get paid vacation. Check out Skyauction Airline Tickets, Cheap Hotels, Vacation Packages & Travel Deals They seem to have some really good deals - hopefully you can use in Canada Tracy!

i keep looking at vacation packages - i want to go on another tropical vacation SO BAD!!! I can't even imagine for you up north Meghan with snow!

Quote: Originally Posted by tiffandmarv I've heard this place was big but HUMONGOUS..WOW...I betta bring my good walking shoes. I do have a couple of elderly people joining us, so thanks for the heads up. Quote: Originally Posted by TA Maureen It is the largest resort in Jamaica! It was seriously HUGE! And HILLY! One of the reasons my OOT bags themselves were such a hit - the girls would walk from the room to the main building in flip flops, with their heels in the bag, then change to the nice heels once they got to the restaurants, and walk home later in the flops. your feet will thank you! By mid week, i wasn't really wearing heels anywhere - i have a pair of silver flip flops that were my "evening" shoes!

Fantastic review -- it sounds like you had an amazing experience and your pictures are just breathtaking - you look so beautiful and so does everything else - CONGRATULATIONS!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Thomasjsgirl I haven't personally booked anything, but I know friends who have and it's legit. You bid on the offerings and if you win, you get yourself a great deal! I subscribe to the site and get daily emails with other sell-offs as well. BTW, I LOVE your siggy pic. You're both just beaming! Awww thank you so much!

My friend used it to book her trip to a separate resort in Jamaica and got a really good deal. Anyone else use it? Some of the prices look too good to be true...which makes me nervous.

They have them in the Target dollar section a lot. I saw them there when I got my crossword puzzle books there.