kelly1214

What about volunteer firefighters? In PA, volunteer firefighers aren't given IAFF IDs.

It is windy. I didn't use a veil but have short curly hair. My curls were everywhere! There are very few pictures from the ceremony that my hair looks 'normal'. A veil would've been a huge distraction to the ceremony. I agree though- Tropical Imaging does amazing stuff with veils. Who's saying you can't get one for the pictures with them?!?! It's your day. Do what you want.

Thank you Misti! Married life going very well- a big adjustment which I'm sure any of the new wives on here can admit to but it's wonderful! Best wishes with your planning... don't forget not to stress so much. It's really not worth all the worry. Everything is so laid back when you get down there. I feel stupid for stressing about everything so much!

Hi AnnMarie, My family "bar hopped" after the dinner. We did a 30 minute reception and then had dinner at Barefoot by the Sea. They didn't kick us out after our 30 minute reception was up. The waiters left but we had everything we needed. I'm assuming it will be the same way for you if you choose to do a formal dinner. So I'm assuming you can stay at the dinner site if you want. After we ate and changed cloths (around 9 pm by that time), we met our families for a quick drink. We started at the patio by the Irish pub (sorry- i forget the name). My husband and I left then. I think the rest of the bunch went to the Turtle bar, that was their favorite place all week. I've also seen pictures of them doing karaoke at the night club and it looks like they were having way too much fun. So you should be find after the wedding finding plenty of stuff to do or not too- you can just grab a couple drinks and relax by the pool or on the beach too. PM me if you have any other questions. Good luck! Kelly

I got married at the Beaches Resort in Turks and Caicos in May. Part of the ceremony, involves you signing the wedding documents. The pastor notarized a copy for us to take home. The DMV, SS office, and my banks/credit card companies all accepted that so I could get my name changed immediately. The official license took about 10 weeks for us but I think they say it takes up to 14 weeks.

My husband's father paid for us to have a candlelight dinner on the beach our last night. It was nice. I don't know if I would've spend $170 on it but we had a private waiter that arrived at our room and escorted us to the beach. You pick the meal you want before hand and they bring everything out to you. There were about 8 or 9 tables set up on the beach about 50 yards apart so it was kind of cool looking down the beach at the other couples having dinner becaue all you could see was the torches flickering in the dark. The website says a "Honeymoon dinner for bride and groom" is included in the BB package. http://www.beaches.com/weddingmoons/weddings/ Lauren- I know you're getting married at 11am. You could do lunch with your family and the "honeymood dinner for bride and groom" at night. I'm not really sure how that works. We just did dinner with our families after our 4 pm wedding.

The weather was good. The rain in Turks and Caicos only last a couple minutes. They said they rarely ever have a full day of rain. It was a little humid but we're from central PA so it was normal for us. The ceremony and dinner were very private. We picked the 4 pm wedding time so the beach was pretty bare. I think that had a little bit to do with the rain that day. The hostess at Barefoot by the Sea put us off to the side and it was wonderful. I had one little girl come up and wish us a happy life together which I thought was super sweet. Other than that, we were left alone. As far as a private reception goes, I would say it depends on your budget and how much you value your privacy. If you are willing to pay, they will make it very private for you.

I got married in May and they wouldn't let us pick parts of the MS packages. It was the whole package or nothing. We wanted an arch for the ceremony but were told we'd have to go with the package that included that. So unless it changed, you can't purchase the bouquets from the Martha Stewart stuff. When we originally booked, you could purchase additions like a bouquet seperately. This was before Martha Stewart had a contact with Beaches. They never got back to me about seperate bouquets after the MS collections took over. You aren't allowed to use outside vendors for the ceremony though. As far as I know, you can't have flowers sent to you at the resort and make your own bouquet that morning. But... what they don't know won't hurt them? I went with clay flowers and brought them along with me on my carry on. They held up really well.

The 14 year old might be able to get his/her own. But they didn't give my nieces (6 and 3 years old) one. If they did- their parent's didn't let them use them.

Hi Kimberly- just sent you a PM...

Ours stayed. We melted a candle on top of the sand after the ceremony to seal the top. We kept it in our carry on and it got back just fine. They questioned it a little when it went thru the x-ray machine but once i told them what it was, they were okay with it.

The only restaurant at Beaches Turks and Caicos you can make reservations for is the Japanese restaurant. I can't remember the name of it right now... but everything else is first come first serve. Don't worry though- you'll never wait more than 10 minutes to be seated. We went when they were 95% booked and there was never a long wait for a table. I think we figured out Beaches can hold 1500 guests. There are 16 resturants. The larger restaurants can hold 150+ guests. So even if everyone went at exactly the same time to eat, there would still be enough room at one of the resturants for you... Â We had 17 people with us and did the wedding dinner at Barefoot by the Sea. As the 30 minute reception was wrapping up, my mom and dad went over to Barefoot and let them know a party of 17 would be coming soon. They took about 5 minutes to move some tables around and we were good to go. My mom and dad were seated and had drinks by the time everyone else arrived. It was really nice, they put us off to the side a little bit so we had some privacy too. Â We also ate at Schooners the night everyone arrived. They accomodated us pretty quickly too. We had to wait maybe 10 minutes for them to get tables together. Â Based on what I experienced, I would say anything smaller than 20 people shouldn't be too hard to get seated at a resturant together. You might have to wait a couple minutes but if you're looking to save a couple hundred bucks and think that paying for a dinner at an all inclusive resort is dumb... go with a dinner at one of the restaurants instead of the private dinner.

Stuff is expensive in T&C in general because everything has to be shipped in. My husband and I went to Grace Bay which is their main shopping area. There are a couple gift shops in Grace Bay but prices aren't any cheaper than the resorts and you can get the same kinds of things. Buy your OOT stuff in the states if you want to save a couple bucks.

You might want some cash. They have a small market of local venders outside the resort (open every day except sundays I think). Wednesdays they have local venders come on resort so you can see/buy local crafts too. We bought a cool little painting and a necklace. You can bargain with the venders on prices. Â We also took a taxi to the 'main shopping area'- Ports of Call in Grace Bay. Taxi was $10. There are a couple gift shops and places to eat. It's definitely not what I thought it would be. There aren't very many shops and not very many people around. We were the only ones in the stores some of the time. But some of the stuff they have is really cool. We got conch shells that had been cut in half so you could see how they look on the inside.

look into taking flowers with you. I did clay flowers for my bouquet. Here's some example. http://www.etsy.com/shop_sold.php?user_id=6825656 Â This vender is back up until September but you might be able to find another one on Etsy or searching the web. I've heard of other brides doing real touch flowers too. Â They look so real- I had someone try to smell mine. And they are a fraction of the cost. Mine was only $150 I think... or $165. I bought it a couple months ago and all the prices run together after a while. But I really like that you can keep them forever then. Mine is the center piece on our dining room table. Â Good luck!