Lara

Hi girls! Wow, I can't believe it's time for voting, again! Thanks to everyone that voted me into the finals - you ladies rock! Now it's time for the final vote and I'd really, really, REALLY appreciate your help! The power of BDW is what I need to win! =) Here's the message that I sent out on FB: To all my lovely friends and family, As you may or may not know, last September I entered an online contest for Weddingbells.ca. From thousands of entrants from around the country, I was selected to compete in the Destination category against one other Destination Bride. Thanks to all of your votes, I beat out the other gal and made it into the finals!! A million thank you's for all of your votes - it was a super close race and I wouldn't have beat her without all your help! Then came the fun part. As a finalist, I spent the last 6 months blogging all about our adventures in wedding planning. In case you didn't have a chance to follow along the way, all of my posts can be found here: Lara Varona | Weddingbells.ca So now, here's "the ask." Starting today, July 6th, the polls are open again and the voting portion of the finals will begin. Voting will take place until 5pm PST on July 27th. I realize it's a lot to ask, but if you wouldn't mind taking a minute everyday from now until July 27th to visit the site and vote for us to win, Karlo and I would really appreciate it! To vote, you must register for an account on weddingbells.ca, and then click "vote for Lara" on this page: Weddingbells.ca What's at stake is a fabulous prize pack containing some jewelry, a couture wedding gown and a honeymoon to Mexico! Since our wedding has already taken place, Karlo and I will be auctioning off some of the prizes (jewelry, gown and some other smaller items like skincare products and teeth whitening systems) if we do win. Then, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to charity (we'll be running our own poll at a later date to determine which charity) and the remainder will go towards saving up for life's next big steps: our first house, babies and all of that Ok, so thanks for taking time to read this message, and for voting us into this position in the first place. Karlo and I truly feel blessed to have had so much support along the way. Cheers, Lara

Hey all! We're back from our destination wedding in paradise and I have to say, everything was PERFECT! I'm working on my in depth review right now and will hopefully get it up (with pics!) in the next few days, but I wanted to post right away and say RPTB was absolutely amazing and I would DEFINITELY recommend it to anyone thinking about getting married there. A++ all the way around... I'll be back with more info shortly... Cheers! Lara (aka Mrs. Varona-Catalan, woohoo!)

Ooh those look great - what a FANTASTIC idea! Honestly, I hadn't even thought of prettying up the menu. I'll have to borrow this idea Thanks!

Great job! Thanks so much for sharing... we're under 2 months away from our wedding, so I'm really starting to ramp up the DIY projects in the next few weeks! I'll def be using your brochure for inspiration

Hi MayanLily - I just ordered a ton of stuff from Oriental Trading (after hearing so much about it from other BDW brides!) and they actually calculate shipping, customs and everything in CAD for Canadian orders! It doesn't convert the prices until you checkout, though, but before they get your payment info... so you can decide before you pay if it's worth it for you. For me, my entire order was right around $100 CAD including shipping and customs, and that was for 2 dozen raffia fans, 2 dozen white parasols, 2 dozen flip flop keychains and 2 dozen neon coil keyring holders! Now the only question is how long will the order take to arrive... says 10-13 business days, so hopefully they get here within 3 weeks =)

Wow those are fantastic! Like so many others on here, that's one of my inspiration pics as well I hope mine turn out as lovely as yours!

SuzyQ - thanks for sharing!! These look amazing! I'd already had a trip to Michael's planned for tomorrow but now I have an idea of exactly what I'll need for the bouts, so thanks a million

Hi there. I realize you've said several times that you won't separate the bouquets, however I'm wondering if you'd change your mind if you didn't have to ship them anywhere - I'm in Vancouver, too! I am only looking to purchase the bridal bouquet right now, because I only have my MOH in my wedding party and she'll be holding a different colour. Please let me know if you'd consider and I'll gladly take the bouquet off your hands tomorrow! Thanks, Lara

That's the dress I've had my eye on for my AHR! Sadly, it's not my size =(

Only a few more days in this round of the contest. The other bride is catching up...please vote everyday until Friday, I'm getting so nervous!! Thanks ladies!

Absolutely stunning!

Congrats and welcome! I'm also a Jamaica bride, getting married in May 2010 at Riu Palace Tropical Bay! You've definitely come to the right place to get all the info you need to plan your wedding. Happy planning=)

Ours is Karlo and Lara get hitched! - FI designed the whole thing to match our STDs! I love it =)

Hey ladies, I'm making the final decision about my veil very very soon, and thought it'd be nice to see everyone else's! I'm deciding between 2 different birdcage veils (as an aside, I wear my hair short in an asymmetrical bob and I love how birdcage veils look with short hair!) and can't wait to finally decide and order mine! Here are the ones I'm deciding between: As you can see, they're similar. I absolutely adore both of them, though, and can't decide! What do you think? Post pics of your veil or veils you're deciding between!

Ooh I LOVE it! I couldn't view your other dress on the other thread, for some reason. But I'm sure it's just as amazing! Congrats!