Jananaz

Congrats!! Have a great time in Jamaica! Welcome to the boards!

Congratulations and welcome to the boards!!

Yea!! Congratulations You will have a GREAT time in the Mayan Riviera. It's so beautiful. Happy planning!

Congratulations!! And welcome!! Where will your wedding be?

Congrats!! Have a good time planning and welcome to the boards!!

Sounds wonderful! Congratulations!! The guests will thank you for planning early.

Sounds wonderful! Congratulations!! The guests will thank you for planning early.

Oooh all great ideas. Bookit is showing good deals for areas in Mexico and especially good deals for Treasure Island in Vegas and Four Points in Orlando. Checked Carnival Cruises leaving from Galveston too.... no luck... all leave to early on Thursday and don't get back til Monday Too bad, there are some great deals. If anyone can get a week after later in the month, there is a 5 day cruise to Mexico for $299! Oooh... we love Key West too

Hi and welcome to the boards! Congratulations on your engagement! I agree with the previous posters - I'm going to have to recommend Akumal as well. It sounds like exactly what you're looking for. Gorgeous beach, private setting, just stunning. I mean... really. gorgeous. beach. The only thing I'm not sure about is where the guests will stay. One thought is they could stay at a nearby resort and you can just have the ceremony in Akumal. There are a bunch of cute restaurants in Akumal and the Half Moon Bay area (we loved la Buena Vida) that could host a reception for 50 with dancing on the beach. Happy planning and good luck!

Welcome to the boards and happy planning! uuugghh choosing the resort was the hardest part. Such an overwhelming decision because there are so many gorgeous places to pick from. You will pick a wonderful place though! There is a list floating around somewhere of all the resorts in the Mayan Riviera area and the amenities and wedding package details. The Azul Sensatori looks very beautiful and modern. Go with what you love! Congrats again!

Hi motherofthegroom, Congratulations to your son and your future daughter in law. How exciting. Punta Cana will be really beautiful and the benefit of a destination wedding is that everyone gets to have a bit of a vacation. I'm with you... weddings can be trying! Who does what and when can be confusing and sometimes frustrating. I'm glad your son and you have discussed and you will be doing the invitations. I'm sure they will be beautiful! You're a great resource for knowledge and support that I hope they take advantage of that since you've been through it all before - getting married I mean! For the actual trip to the DR and the ceremony, make sure to enjoy yourself too. If there is a wedding coordinator at the resort, then most likely the details the day of the wedding itself will get taken care of, leaving time for you to relax and enjoy the company of friends and family that day I think it's so great that you are involved in the wedding planning. My mom was in Canada and I was in Houston through all the planning, so we were not so fortunate. Your son should be very grateful.

Welcome to the boards! Congratulations!

Congratulations!! Happy planning! Miami in January will feel gorgeous coming from the north. Hope you have a great time. January will be here before you know it!

Hi Elena, Welcome to the board and congratulations!! Hmmm.... Mayan Riviera... boutique hotel for 170 ppl. That's a toughie! There are a lot of hotels in the Mayan Riviera area especially around Cancun and Playa Del Carmen, but I'm not sure if any of the boutique hotels could accomodate 170 easily. Have you thought about having a main hotel and then offering the option for guests to stay at a couple nearby hotels? There are lots of resources here on the board. Good luck, and congrats again!

welcome to the board!! Enjoy the planning - it's half the fun!

Hi there! Welcome to the board and happy planning. You'll find so many resources here to help you pick the best destination for your destination wedding Congrats!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Outdoor_girl1010 I am in the Katy cypress area. I'm on the west side of town! You are lucky! So much less busy and SAFER I might add. I head out that way to go to Katy Mills and the Houston Premium Outlets (always fun!). It looks so peaceful and nice compared to a lot of areas of Houston itself.

Quote: Originally Posted by Raykel Just found out we officially have 31 people confirmed...not counting kids! Woohoo! Raykel that is great news!! Planning is coming along quite nicely sounds like! As for photographers... my goodness the confusion with all the resort photographer business. I'm sorry all the new brides have to deal with this. From what it sounds like in the email from the WC, you would still be able to have a photographer who happens also to be a guest at the resort. I think that sounds fair, bc like you were saying if the photographer is a guest at the resort, then who is to say they can't take pictures for you. I'm glad you have the backup plan to bring a photographer from Canada. A few of us here on the board brought photographers with us and were really really happy with the results.

Hi Ladies, I'm thinking of heading on a cruise in January. Just wondering what are your favorite cruise ports of call, and what were the good souvenirs to pick up at each. For instance, I know in the Dominican, larimar, amber, and vanilla are good here. And in Playa del Carmen - tequila Key West - of course key lime pie and key lime anything along with Kino Sandals. What are your favorite things to get at the different ports? Thanx ladies

Hi everyone, My work and school are canceled next week and so DH and I have Thursday night - Sunday off. I WANT TO GET AWAY! The only problem is where to go! We live in Houston, so we have two airports in the city, and we're also driving distance to Galveston, which was making me think: cruise! Then again, we live about a 5 hour drive to New Orleans, and that was my other thought. We've been to Austin and San Antonio and really enjoyed it, but want to to try some different places. We're going to Hill Country next month for a wedding. Any ideas ladies? What's good this time of year? We can drive or fly, doesn't matter, we just want to do something fun. DH says he's down for anything!

WOW! you did a great job - looks so professional!! Did you use regular floral tape to hold the bottoms of the bout together or was extra glue needed?

Like others have mentioned. Dollarama rocks my world. The picture frames are great here along with travel size items like shampoo and mouthwash. I also love Giant Tiger - you never know what you'll find here because the inventory changes pretty regularly. But depending on what you need for you wedding, they have candles and other decor items, sometimes they carry cute little totes (end of summer would have been best to pick these up) and little Canadian goodies like pens with maple leaves on them and stuff. Someone mentioned on a message board a while back that they got some good deals on travel mugs from Canadian Tire, so that would be a good place to check out too. We used maple sugar candies as our wedding favors... but alas, we ordered them off Amazon... from a company in Pennsylvania. lol.

Like others have mentioned. Dollarama rocks my world. The picture frames are great here along with travel size items like shampoo and mouthwash. I also love Giant Tiger - you never know what you'll find here because the inventory changes pretty regularly. But depending on what you need for you wedding, they have candles and other decor items, sometimes they carry cute little totes (end of summer would have been best to pick these up) and little Canadian goodies like pens with maple leaves on them and stuff. Someone mentioned on a message board a while back that they got some good deals on travel mugs from Canadian Tire, so that would be a good place to check out too. We used maple sugar candies as our wedding favors... but alas, we ordered them off Amazon... from a company in Pennsylvania. lol.

Maybe not what you're looking for, but we hit up all the main places on Duvall and had lunch at Margaritaville - tourist trap yes, but it was fun

Simistar, Thanks for starting such a great thread. I love the pashmina idea... hello Christmas shopping too!! Here are some of the etailers we used and really liked: Beau Coup - We got their 2x2 inch square favor boxes which were fantastic, as well as a sand ceremony kit, and double happiness cake topper. Customer service was excellent and their products were great. Custom Wedding Maps from MrsCronkright on Etsy - Kristen did our custom wedding maps, gift tags, OOT labels and favor labels. She had great turnaround, and was super easy to work with. Bubba Kegs - we ordered these as favors for our guests and they loved them. They didn't use them as much on the resort as much as when they got back home for both hot and cold beverages. They sell out of limited edition colors quick (ahem, like aqua) but their prices are good compared to regular retailers and they offer shipping specials now and again. Good customer service too. Minimus.biz - we made little packages to go inside our OOT bags with travel size hand sanitizer, Advil (this was especially popular) and sunscreen. We got all the travel size items at Minimus and then the bags and labels for them at Michaels.