islandbride317

What a adorable engagement story, Jeni! I love that even though you were both taken by the moment, you had your wits about you and made sure you went back inside before he slipped the ring onto your finger! What a catastrophe it could have been if it had falled through the cracks -- whew, crisis averted!

MarieSam -- Awesome "head's up", my good lady! Shame those adorable OOT bags are OOS (out of stock!), but I'll definitely be keeping watch, for sure! (And thanks for attaching pics, too -- always so helpful!)

Super HIGH-FIVES and CONGRATULATIONS to you, Kaylee & Savannah! You had some stiff competition, too, so you should be sooo honored!

AMANDA -- you're such a great Mrs., and you give THE BEST ADVICE! I've been on the forum now for a little while and never understood WHY you were on a luggage trolley in your siggy pic until...I clicked on your pics link and saw all the turmoil you went through! YOU LOOKED SO COMPLETELY GORGEOUS!!! (FYI: Please try to make your Wedding PICS link in your siggy more pronounced (bolded/what-not!) so that everyone (noobs to come and all) can understand that they NEED TO SEE YOUR PICS! It's a treasure I missed time and time again and more people should see! CONGRATS for weathering the storm and for looking so beautiful!

TA Jennifer is totally right! (She's SOOO great, BTW!) If you stay concierge level for 6 days or more (even if you stay 3 nights at one resort and 3 nights at another), then Sandals will pick up the $200 fee for marrying in Jamaica! GLORIOUS!!!

My FI knows that I WILL NOT walk to the mailbox without at least mascara..but, that's just me! (I've run into too many people at the grocery store, that I haven't seen for years (when I looked a mess in a track suit) to ever let it happen again! I think that if you only wear makeup for ONE day...it should be your Wedding Day... You are beautiful as you are and your FI loves you as you look in your daily lives, but you should look/feel glamorous and divine on YOUR DAY! Capturing how you look THAT DAY, which is a day you will be photographed more than any other -- why not look your VERY BEST?

Yes, Ladies! I am also a weekly/DVR fan of "Say Yes To The Dress"...I LOVE IT!!! I probably love it more than I should...but what woman doesn't love beautiful wedding gowns? My FI is concerned that I will still be obsessed with wedding dresses after we get married, and he's probably right (although I'll never tell him so!) SHE found HER perfect dress, albeit in front of a national audience! We are so lucky we got to take a look!

I'm with Savannah -- neither of our parents are contributing anything more than paying for our respective wedding day attire, and paying for their own rooms/flights. Other than that, I guess we're lucky to be avoiding all potential money conflicts between parents, since we're picking up the tab for everything else! It's a hefty burden, but in the end we think it's the best way for us to go to avoid any "who contributed more" kinds of situations! I can understand that it is a source of tension and I'm sorry you had a bad experience -- money matters can always be counted on for driving a wedge between even the most well-intentioned people!

AWESOME TIP, MIRANDA! They sound positively adorable! I tried to search for them just a second ago on their website, and I wasn't able to find them?! Maybe they are just an "in store" only item -- darn! I guess I'll be making a trip to good, old WM this weekend!

SO sorry to hear that probably your WORST FEARS (something going wrong with the wedding you've work so hard to plan to perfection) have come true! My heart breaks for you and all of the other Mexico brides that are going through this horrendous mess...wishing you all the very best with picking up the pieces, sweetheart!

You're a PRO, Besty! Huge applause and Congrats...it looks so warm and inviting! You and the DH will love coming home and sharing this amazing space as husband and wife in your own perfect sanctuary! Next item on the menu: ROMANCE!

Can everyone puh-leeze go back about, geez, 20 years ago (Good Lord, I can't believe it was THAT long!)and think of the song "Ice, Ice, Baby"....do do do dododowoo! YUP! I met the total has-been VANILLA ICE at a club in my hometown 2 years ago on my birthday! He was trying to be all cool upon his exit from singing and dancing on the bar at a place called the "Hardware Bar" (a Coyote Ugly-esque joint) in ever-lovely York, PA! I was totally tipsy, screaming, "It's my BIRTHDAY!!!" when he was trying to exit, flanked by bodyguards, and he came over to me and kissed me on the cheek and said that he needed to buy me a shot! Yes, we had a shot, of the ever-hardcore Jagermeister, purchased for me by the one and only VANILLA ICE! The famous people I've met that I am PROUD OF are the following: Christopher Reeve and Bob Woodward (he was one of The Washington Post journalists that broke The Watergate Scandal) while I was a journalism student at the main campus of Penn State University. Christopher Reeve was already paralized when I met him at a "Meet and Greet" after he spoke before thousands of students at PSU, and he was so incredibidly gracious and down-to-earth. He even said that he wished people would stop with all the Superman references, and realize that he was a real man, and that he was never going to get out of his wheelchair. I was afforded the opportunity to hug him and tell him how much I appreciated his acting. He said he was refreshed and truly glad that I didn't "go into some speech about how great I thought he was" because he was paralized. Since his passing, he will be missed. And, Bob Woodward was a fountain of brilliance! I felt almost overwhelmed to be in the presence of someone who BROKE ONE OF THE BIGGEST STORIES/SCANDALS in U.S. GOVERNMENT HISTORY! He was supurbly kind, and open to all questions from the students like me that he said he was "thankful" that there were so many students interested in journalism in this day and age! Sooo glad I met the "famous" people I did, and waiting to encounter more!

Yes, the internet IS (obviously, as we are all on it for the BDW site!) a BEAUTIFUL THING! I second TA Maureen's advice to scrap the hassle, and buy the dress you love online! If you are unsure or worried about whether or not it will fit, order one size up from what you think you will need, as any professional seamstress in your local area can work their magic to make the dress fit you ideally. Get your DREAM DRESS by any means necessary, Martine!

YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL, AUTJO!!! And so happy to be in the dress of your dreams...plus, I love the touch of orange that you're adding to make it uniquely your own! Sorry to hear that your local DB has a bunch of boneheads working there -- my experience at the York, Pa store was seamless and went off without a hitch! Oh, and I adore the orange flip-flops -- such a fun & "beachy" touch!

SAFE TRAVELS, Karla! I wish I had the opportunity to travel to beautiful JA itself to finalize plans for my May 2010 Ocho Rios wedding -- you lucky girl, you! Let us know how everything went when you return, will you?

WOW! What a GORGEOUS couple you are! Your dress is to die for, and so unique, so I'm sure you are loving the pics even more than we could imagine! Sorry to hear than your DH had stitches, but you can't tell he's in any pain in the pics at all! Must have been the euphoria of being the new husband to such a beautiful, sexy Mrs.! Cheers to you and congratulations!

Congratulations and best wishes for a safe, happy (and healthy) wedding, Emily! Please be sure to share all of your juicy details and beautiful pics with us when you return from your dream destination wedding in Cozumel!

Yup, even though I am getting married in Jamaica (which has not, to my knowledge, been effected by swine flu as of yet), I think I will spend a little extra money to get it rather than lose everything in the event that something as terrible as this happens next year. At first, I was thinking, nah, we won't need it, so no sense in spending the money on insurance when we could spend it on something else to make the wedding itself more elaborate. Now I believe it was naive of me to put all of my eggs in the "nothing could possibly happen to ruin the wedding" basket, and insurance is going to have to move waaaay up the priority list of things that need to be purchased for the wedding!

CONGRATULATIONS, MFRY! Safe and happy travels to you, and keep all of the Mexico brides whose wedding were cancelled in your thoughts, as you enjoy your magical experience! Wishing you a fairytale come true!

Ashley -- thanks so much, and what an adorable story you have, as well! Isn't it amazing how our engagements turned out sooo much differently than we may have imagined before, but are so much more memorable than saying, "he took me to dinner at a really nice restaurant on our anniversary and blah, blah, blah..." like a million other girls?! I love that he actually had to pick a fight with you to get up the nerve to ask you to marry him! PRICELESS! Congrats to you both!

Rachel -- Soooo sorry to hear about your colossal mess at your David's Bridal location! I guess I lucked-out with my DB experience! My local store is in York, PA and I dealt with a consultant named Stacy (on a Saturday, during Homecoming season & a Bridal Sale weekend), and she was precisely on time for my appointment and a total doll! I only tried on 5 dresses (which took 2 hours!), but she never seemed agitated or tried to rush me and those I brought with me for opinions (Mom, FMIL, & sister). I ended up getting a dress that day, with no alterations needed, and walked out of there a happy camper! I even got a handwritten Thank You note in the mail from Stacy saying she enjoyed working with me and that I was one of the most fun and "bubbly" brides she had the pleasure to serve -- sweet, thoughtful touch! I hope the rest of your potential dealings with DB go more smoothly, if you decide to go with them for your BM's dresses -- my fingers are crossed for you!

Two weeks to wait is awful, for sure, but better late than never, right? How awful it would be if something were to happen to you and your guests... You seem to have been fortunate that everything is falling back into place in light of the swine flu upheaval -- stay focused and keep believing the everything will be be beautiful, even if it is a little delayed! You're in the right, positive frame of mind, Corvette!

WHAT a living nightmare...I can't even begin to express sorry I am for all of you Mexico brides that would have had absolutely NO way to anticipate something like this! Even though it is so unfair, I think it's better to stay on the side of safety, then to risk the your health and that of family and friends for the sake of a wedding. Be well and hang in there!

I agree with everyone who said that their veil makes them "feel more like a bride". I was concerned about wind, too, so I will be having my ceremony further away from the water at a gazebo, so that I am not fighting the veil during the entire ceremony! (Nothing says "I love you, honey!" than by being preoccupied by your rogue veil whipping about your face during your vows, huh?!) When I change into my 2nd dress for the reception, I will lose the veil and be doing a flower in my hair, so I'll have a little bit of both worlds!

Congratulations on a job WELL DONE! You should be proud of how everything turned out and way to save some $$$ by doing them yourself!