islandbride317

Well, I sure hope he's learning something and getting help in that sex rehab I heard he's checked himself into -- I'm just glad the media has chilled out and backed off, so that maybe Elin and the rest of the family are getting the chance they need to start picking up the pieces after this scandal rocked their lives!

This is such a shame...from what I can tell on the show, the Duggars truly seem like a wonderful, loving family and I genuinely hope that the littlest Duggar and Mama Michelle pull through everything just fine!

This is my 1st time posting in this thread... and I am proud to report that since I got an elliptical machine at the end of November (and have been working my 2nd job running around at a deli a few nights a week), I have already lost 11.5 pounds ( + or - a pound or so either way for water weight fluctuations!) TONIGHT: 40 min. on the elliptical (450 cal burned) 80 varied crunches 144 varied curls with 10 lb. weights My goal is to lose atleast another 5 lbs. before I go to my first dress fitting in March, and another 5 or so lbs. after that before we leave in May, bringing the grand total to 20 lbs. -- wish me luck! Nothing like fitting into your dress and wedding pics that will be around FOREVER for some motivation, huh? GO GET 'EM, GIRLS!

Fingers crossed and prayin' to Jesus that this is the one and only time for both of us...! I think we both are going into this marriage with eyes, and hearts, wide open and as long as we are always honest in communicating with each other, I feel like we'll be able enjoy the triumphs and face the challenges that life may have in store for us as we begin our journey as husband and wife!

Miss Holly: I think it looks 100% gorgeous just as it is! I'm glad you decided to say forget the scissors, and keep that magnificent train...like wearing a veil, I think there are very few occasions when a woman can get away with wearing a train, and your wedding day is in position #1 at the top of the list! Not to mention how stunning and dramatic it will look in your photos -- you'll be breathtaking!

My heart truly goes out to your and your family in the unimaginably difficult time. I feel at a loss for words; just try to stay as stong as possible and tell each other how much you love and support one another every chance you get. Everything else will work itself out in time....

Oh believe me, I feel ya, ladies! I'm so sorry to hear of what you're going through... I almost had a meltdown back in September when my sister (2 years older) first told me that she and her fiance (who had been together close to 13 years before they actually decided to have a wedding) wanted to get married on May 17th, which would have been 3 DAYS after our wedding on May 14 (John and I would have still been in Jamaica on our honeymoon when she wanted to do this back in the States!) So....I completely flipped out on her, and said, "What the hell is the big hurry to do it 72 hours after us?!?! You've been with him over a DECADE, so if you want a war, you've got one if you go through with this!" Thankfully, she decided to move it up and got married on 12/12/09 without incident -- whew, what a relief, right? But, then there's my cousin who got engaged after us, and announced she wanted to have her wedding in Sept. 2010....in HAWAII! 2 DWs in our family only a few months apart was surely going to cause our relatives to have to choose between us, or so I thought. Turns out, that she and her FI won't be able to attend our wedding, and we won't be able to afford to go to theirs, so there are no hurt feelings there, and no one in our family is "choosing", at all! Everyone pretty much decided that if they can't go to both, they won't go to either, and we haven't really felt the need to compete as of yet, so I'm hoping the mutual respect for each other's Big Days continues... I HOPE YOU OTHER GIRLS CAN FIND A SIMILAR PEACE WITH YOUR RELATIVES, BECAUSE YOU'LL STILL BE FAMILY AFTER THE WEDDINGS ARE LONG OVER! HUGS, and I'll be praying everyone can find some common ground where there is less stress for all involved!

Great explanation, Maureen! Perfect way to outline the differences in what each resort offers.... And personlly, SGOR was the best choice for us because most of our guests are active and will really enjoy all of the things to do, plus SGOR offered the widest range of rooms costs, so someone like my sister (who doesn't care if the only view she has is looking out onto dumpsters, just as long as it's cheap!) can have the room that fits her budget, while my parents and I reserved honeymoon penthouse concierge rooms, since that was more the more suited to what we were looking for -- something for everyone! And maybe it's not as newly renovated as some of the other Sandals resorts, and the beach isn't as large or as grand, but we decided that a smaller beach would have to be what we sacrificed for the greater good!) GOOD LUCK no matter where you end up, and I'm sure your WeddingMoon will be beautiful, whether at Whitehouse, SGOR or one of the other Sandals resorts!

Quote: Originally Posted by JNagan2011 Thanks again everyone. Still deciding, waiting a week before going back to try them both on again and see which one I like best! Islandbride317, the 2nd one is a maggie sottero (Malina, I believe I spelt that right). But I will definitely let you all know once the final decision is meant. I am just glad I found two dresses I love rather then none. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! Maybe that's why I am biased to the 2nd one, since I have a Sottero and Midgley myself...is the 1st one by Maggie as well? Just curious...but, whichever you choose (and regardless of the designer) you're gonna look GREAT either way!

Well Miss Indecisive (as you call yourself!) -- I think you should rest your decision FIRMLY on dress #2!!! It is: sophisticated, and modern, yet still very "classic" bride, the beadwork is breathtaking, it fits you like a dream, and I love the drama of the tulle which is playfully peaking out from the bottom of the skirt – brilliant! Who’s the designer again, by the way? The whole gown successfully keeps the interest of the eye, and while I was looking at it, I felt like I kept moving from one section to the next and back again, to revisit some other interesting detail that I might have overlooked previously....this gown is truly going to leave a mark in the mind of not only your future husband, but in the minds of your guests alike. WHAT A HOMERUN! (And the 1st dress looks lovely on you and fits you beautifully, but I personally feel like it's a "been there, seen that" kind of style, so again, I think the search should end with gown #2!) I'm sure you are a special woman, so you should have an equally special dress! GOOD LUCK (and please let us know what you decide)! HUGS!

Oh, and can I please say one more VERY IMPORTANT thing.....? I TRULY LOVE ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL LADIES for being so sweet and offering your kind words of encouragement and support!! And to those of you who are having to do the very same thing or something similar to pay off all those bridal-bills, KUDOS to you, and I hope you can also summon the energy from within to get through it! Plus, I'd like to say that I'm really going to try to think of all your thoughtful suggestions and comments as I trek begrudgingly from one job to the next -- and I feel kind of embarassed and awful to be having a tantrum when I know that there are soooo many people out in the world that have it far, far worse than me (hence, why I feel like a total brat now for whining about having to work 2 jobs) when there are so many people who are completely without jobs right now (ie. the overwhelming jobless rate in America), or are suffering through horrific ordeals as those in Haiti and elsewhere all over the world...). It seems that I was just really overdue for a "snap out of it" reality check! Please forgive me for being such a 2 year old and for my rant. THANK YOU ENDLESSLY for being the fabulous, supportive sisters that I feel so fortunate to have found here on BDW -- HUGS and Thank you! Thank You! Thank You!

I never knew there were so many other ladies going through this, too! I guess when I watch all of those wedding shows where the brides have seemingly bottomless budgets (or their wealthy parents are picking up the enormous tab) I lost touch with the fact that they are the exception, NOT the rule! Am I jealous perhaps? TOTALLY! And as we all "punch the clocks" at our 2nd gigs, WE SHALL STAND UNITED! Oh, and here's the tricky thing about the dangerous aspect of the deli: I looked for a while to even find the part-time job, so I was psyched just to get the call from the grocery store, and they told me that the deli has one of the highest per-hour pay rates, so I feel sort of stuck there (or I'd have to take a pay cut/work more hours else where in the store to make the same amount) -- ggrrr! I just can't wait till this is over and I slice my last order of lunchmeat for good!

Things really DO seem to be going much faster...thank you, Tammy! I don't know if this is the kind of error message you are looking for, but when I've experienced issues, I get the following (and it just happened a second ago): " 408 Request Time-out This request takes too long to process, it is timed out by the server. If it should not be timed out, please contact administrator of this web site to increase 'Connection Timeout'. ------------------------------------------------- Powered By LiteSpeed Web Server LiteSpeed Technologies is not responsible for administration and contents of this web site! " Hope that helps, and again, we appreciate all of your hard work to keep BDW a well-oiled machine of bridal-information goodness!!

Quote: Originally Posted by carolina24 oh hon I'm about to know what youre dealing with. I currently work 40 hours at a restaurant and am getting an office day job. so i will be at work mon-fri from 9-5 and thrus-sun from 5(ish)-1am. i need to work to pay for the wedding and i want to pay off debt before we get married. IT SUCKS but the way i deal with it is by making myself think about the fact that its only temporary and its such a great goal to work for!! plus at the end you get rewarded with an amazing vacation...and hubby hang in there babe and know you are not alone!!! Amen, SISTER! Sooo great to know that although it won't be fun for either of us (your situation sounds like it's gonna be just as bad, if not worse!), I appreciate the reminder that it will only be a short-term situation, and we can both be proud that we did what was necessary to have our dream weddings! Thanks for the support (you too, jplovesme!!) -- back at 'cha, ladies! I hope YOU BOTH hang in there, as well!

I know EXACTLY what you are saying....it's reassuring to see the great reviews, and can spur on a near panic-attack when you read the bad, but look at it this way: your guests are ultimately going to be there to share your wedding with you, and I believe even if the resort is not the best place your guests may have gone in their travels, they will still have an amazing time, because of the HAPPY OCCASSION that brought them there! Just think of the bad reviews as a way to prepare yourself for any issues that may arise -- and you now have the luxury of trying to plan for them in advance so that they might not happen to you or your guests after all! I still heart tripadvisor.com, but if you feel like it's causing you more stress than good, I'd say maybe don't check it out as often, and rest assured that your wedding will be FABULOUS nonetheless! HUGS and try to put your mind at ease

Hi, girls.....I just need to take a second to vent a little. For a while now, my fiance John and I have both known we were going to need to get part-time jobs (in addition to our regular, 40-hour per week full time jobs) to pay for not only our DW coming up in May, but also our AHR, taking place in August, 3 months after we get home. My parents have already generously given us waaaaay more than I could have expected, so I wouldn't dream of asking them for more money -- so, when it comes time to "pay the piper", we need to be sure we have done what was necessary to save the money! And the thing is, we already have deposits down on a lot of things (especially for our AHR), so I can't really do anything but suck it up and get the money somehow. So, I now have a 2nd job...and it's wearing me down, and making me a less-than-pleasant bride to be, to say the least! Here's what my week is now like: after I sit at a desk all day, doing an I.T. job for a local healthcare system, I then have to change in the bathroom into my uniform to go and work another 4 or 5 hours working in the deli dept. of a local grocery store, plus I no longer have weekends off, since I am scheduled every Saturday and Sunday because that is when they are busiest -- it's a waking nightmare!! It's not the 60 + hours a week that I can't handle, it's the fact that the work is gross and dangerous (using the meat slicers, possibility of slipping on whatever nasty-ness may be on the floor, aching pain in my right arm from repetitively using the slicers for hours on end, etc.), and what really sort of burns me, is that my FI has yet to get HIS 2nd job, so I'm the only one that I feel is suffering for the sake of our wedding!! We very rarely, if ever, argue, but now I find myself becoming short-tempered and resentful that he's not helping me to pay for the thousands of dollars worth of wedding-related bills we have coming due in the next few months! I showed him a month-by-month spreadsheet of all the things we need to pay for and when, so now I think he's starting to realize how serious I am about HIM getting a 2nd job too (I'll keep you posted when he finally gets one -- I just hope it's not too late!) Am I just being a crybaby here?! IS ANYONE ELSE GOING THROUGH SOMETHING SIMILAR? I keep telling myself that if I can just tough it out through August, it will all be worth it, but right now, it's just awful!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by AnnaBanana Okay, if they are avoiding you like this, there is a major problem. I would check out your Better Business Bureau and file a complaint if necessary. I would also let the store know this. As a consumer, you have a rights! It's not about being a bridezilla. Had you gone home and chopped off 6 inches of your dress because you didn't like the alterations, well... that'd be another story. But yeah, you need to give these people a wake up call. That is just not cool at all. Amen, sister! I SECOND THAT....VERY WELL-SAID, and I fully agree with every point you made!

I VOTED FOR PAIR #1....they're really beautiful, have just the right amount of sparkle, and I think they'd make a true statement of elegance! And, if you feel like it, I'd keep pair #2 also, just to wear with another gown/for a different occasion, as they are gorgeous, as well!

WOW, EDY! You're a knockout! You're going to be such a beautiful bride, and everything about your gown just "works" on you....so pretty! And, I adore the lace (and I'm not even all that big of a fan of lace, either!) plus the sash around your waist just ties everything together so beautifully! CONGRATS on finding your perfect gown because it truly looks perfect on you!

OH, RonNMel -- your gown is so glamorous!! VERY 'Night at the Oscars', if you know what I mean (I could see a celebrity totally rockin' something like that on the red carpet, in white or even another really beautiful color). Who knows; maybe if you felt like wearing it again after your wedding, you could have it dyed another color and wear it to another formal event?! It's just the kind of dress that is perfect to do that! Just a suggestion... Anyway, if you have any pics of yourself in the gown, please post away! I'd love to see it on a real bride, and I'm sure you look just stunning!

Oh, Leslie....this is BEYOND terrible. I usually feel like I can always come up with at least something of worth to say, but your situation truly has me baffled, and I feel as lost for words as I can only imaging you feel lost in your relationship right now. My heart breaks for you. I join the rest of your sisters here on BDW when I say that only YOU can decide what path to take now, in the wake of his careless, irresponsible behavior. Safe to say, he's got on hell of a lot of growing up to do, and it's up to you to decide if enough is enough, or if you want to see if your marriage can be repaired after his selfish betrayal of your trust. As always, we are, and will continue to be, here for you. You've got more friends than you'll know what to do with just on the other side of your computer screen, sweetheart! Sending you much love, lots of hugs, and you'll be in my prayers.

Hi-ya, Danielle! From one SGOR Bride-to-be to another, congratulations on choosing your date and venue...and a big WELCOME TO BDW!! You are absolutely going to L-O-V-E this forum -- it's been a God send in virtually every aspect of my planning so far, and I hope you find it equally helpful! And now to try to answer some of your questions...I am getting married on May 14, 2010, and have really only had minimal contact with a Sandals WC (mostly I have been dealing with my own travel agent so far), but we also only have 10 guests, so "planning" per se has been rather straightforward for me. Since we are having a stateside reception with all the bells and whistles exactly 3 months to the day after our wedding (8/14!), we have decided to do only the 1/2 hour ($15 pp) cocktail and cold hors d'ourves reception at Sandals, because like you, I also couldn't justify spending $75 pp for a dinner since we'll be at an all-inclusive and people have already paid for all their meals! Why waste the money when we will be spending close to that per person, for about 85 guests at our local reception, right? Makes sense to me! And as for the pictures, I am also going a little unconventional here, and we only plan to purchased the $500 DVD footage of the ceremony and the $150 (6) 8 x 10 photos from Sandals. Nothing against the photographers at Sandals, I'm just not overly-thrilled with the very basic photography-style they tend to use, so we have booked a 4 hour, off-resort portrait/TTD (or Trash The Dress ) photo shoot with an American photographer named Brian Nejedly, who lives year-round in Ocho Rios, and that will be taking place starting at 4pm - sunset (about an hour and a half after our 2 pm ceremony). Some of the other girls here on BDW have used him before, and he's great -- not to mention, has really reasonable pricing! Check him out at Jamaica Wedding Photographer - Brian Nejedly if you'd like to see his work, and maybe consider him as an option for your photo needs, as well! Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions and I will do my best to help you out as much as I can! Again, welcome to BDW!

Quote: Originally Posted by cougs woohoo! my nom is running away with it! HA! You're hilarious, Cougs! Definitely giggled aloud when I read that....thanks so much again for the nom (I'm just really touched you thought of me)! And, best wishes to all of the other nominees!!!

Aaawww, yea!!!!! Meagan is now a MRS. -- I CAN'T BELIEVE YOUR BIG DAY IS ALREADY HERE!! I'm sure you were a STUNNING BRIDE and I can't wait to read all the nitty-gritty details of your magical day!

Quote: Originally Posted by Lady_Di for any inspiration, look at this link! Top 50 Prettiest Wedding Cakes! - By TheKnot.com You beat me to it, Di! I was just thinking it would be really nice to add this to the Cake Inspiration thread.....good looking out! There are some really gorgeous and really unique cakes featured -- totally worth checking out!