echo2_62

I love the garter flasks and would love to get those! I looked for your seller but couldn't find anything. Now the search is on to get them elsewhere I guess! Thanks for posting!

Quote: Originally Posted by Tifuhhknee Thanks for the peace of mind! My mom just keeps saying "those Mexicans just want our money!" It's a joke, she's isn't racist, just being funny. I remind her the wedding ceremony package will be "complimentary" so of course we would get charged for chairs. Just to get the little arch thing with "basic decorations" for the beach ceremony would be about $700. I am opting for no arch because I can't get my head around that. I have no idea how someone else would already have the same date as me. I replied to her email and made sure to write 2011 like that to be sure she got my year right!! HAHA. Hehe probably a good idea to have it in bold just in case. If you were getting married this april, I'd just be leaving the day you were getting married. But I'm sure by next year you'll have a couple gals from this site there at the same time!! And I agree with you that I'm not able to get my head wrapped around $$ like that for such simple setups and decorations. I know it's a service thing, but I'd find some way to construct my own arch for that price!!!! Quote: Originally Posted by badrianne Ginalynn, Thanks for the heads up about the pesos! Agreed!!! I'm starting to worry that I haven't at all been keeping track of the extra costs for things that I maybe have forgotten about! We haven't asked too much along the way so far though so maybe I'm just imagining a huge scary bill that won't actually be received!

Does anyone know how well the rhinestones hold up if they're on a bathing suit or something that might go in the water??

An FYI ... when it's that bloody cold in celsius it's also that bloody cold in fahrenheit!! I checked the conversion and -42C = -43.6F so either way it's NO fun at all! Mel, it's too bad you don't get chinooks up there! It's gone up to +9 or +10 around here in the last few days.

hey Sheri! Look at your ticker today - you're down to 1 of everything

For any US purchases, if you have them sent from a friend or family member then I don't think you can get charged a duty fee since the package can be claimed as a gift item. It's one of those weird loopholes I guess. So when my girlfriend sends me any purchases that i've made, she either re-wraps the package or rips off/covers all the original labels and sends it along. So if you are able to get free shipping within the US (like on many of the VS sales) then it totally works out cheaper. And some items i've paid for the shipping to my friend and then here and it was still probably cheaper than paying for it to be sent directly. It all depends on the declared value of your purchase as to what duty fees you would have to pay and what option would work out cheaper for you.

Quote: Originally Posted by Buckeyegirl8 Yay! We have our wedding date...May 30, 2010. I can't wait Now, we are trying to get everyone to book their trip ASAP. I am sure I will have more questions coming soon... YAAY for booking with DPA! You must be very excited now that it's officially set!!! I'm sure with it being so close your friends will get excited for it very easily and will book quickly! Quote: Originally Posted by SassyCass Hi Ladies, I am new to posting (I have been a lurker for awhile), and I have read through most of your posts. Thank you for all the great info you have posted, and we are excited to have finally decided on Dream PA. We are getting married in October 2010. I did hear back from Sandra to confirm my date, but am not thrilled about it so I am going to see what else they might have available. Especially thank you for all the pictures, it helps to see the real deal and not just the resort brochures! Welcome to our thread! Hopefully some of the comments/reviews here helped in your decision to choose DPA! You mentioned not being happy with the date Sandra had given you in October - was it not the date you originally had in mind, or the wrong time etc?

Ugh I hear ya Tracy about the extra fees for VS stuff. At least the exchange rate is pretty damn good right now! Plus I've been taking advantage of my girlfriend who lives in the US to have her send things along. It seems to work well for us though because although she usually won't let me pay her back for the shipping (I think it's kind of my gift from her LOL!) I just send something that is specifically for her every now and then. She likes the surprise and I like the deal on cheaper shipping!

Agh! Well I hope that my trainers are able to be relaxed but focused at the same time. I guess my appointment this week will tell! Good to hear that you've found someone that pushes you and keeps you going.

Mel - nice gift from your work to get a gym membership!! We were watching tv the other night and there was a 'Participaction' commercial on that these two people take the stairs instead of the elevator. FI laughed and was like "who takes the stairs??" because he only does in his office if he's within maybe two floors. I was a bit surprised because there are ALWAYS people in our stairwells, especially with the -40 deg.c winter days. Our company is TOTALLY pro-wellness type stuff. And I'm excited because I'm officially signed up for my assessment with the trainer to get started with the kettlebells. THey do 1on1 sessions and group ones so I'm hoping that I can incorporate both. I'm a little intimidated though because I totally won't be used to having someone really push me. Especially not someone who simply won't care what excuses I try to give them. I'm looking forward to it though, and I may have found a friend of mine to go to some classes with me along the way which will be really nice! Plus FI and our guy friends play squash every week so the girls are all talking about going to yoga on the same nights. I can't wait!!

Ah it's just usually our busy time of the year over winter and I've got a deadline for some stuff due to one of the government bodies in our industry. The kind where there is zero tolerance for things being late and the particular document package that I've been putting together is complicated so it has to be "just so" before I can submit it. Honestly it's a huge pain in my ass!! So we went to the bridal store last night but not surprisingly they had sold the floor sample of my dress but the good part at least is that mine is due to come in about a month from now so it's not like I've got a long time to wait! So she'll just end up coming with me when I have my fitting most likely. She's just so excited for me that she doesn't want to wait I have the best sister in the world (although I didn't always think so when we were kids haha!). She does live here in Calgary with me and is my only family here. It kind of sucks that her place is about a half hour drive from me but it's an easy one so I don't usually mind too much - just when I'm tired from being in her hot tub too long and still have to drive home!

Quote: Originally Posted by 2010wedding Looks like cart rentals are $35 US? Not sure if you quite caught the wording on the pricing... I was SO excited thinking it was $35 per cart but it was too good to be true Extra fees apply for morning tee times too but I guess that's not too surprising given what Ginalyn had reminded us about the temperatures. "If you choose to play before 12 pm, a surcharge applies for premium tee times as follows: * From December 18th, 2009 to May 15th, 2010, a premium tee time surcharge of $35.00 USD per person applies. * From September 1st, 2009 to December 17th, 2009 and from May 16th, 2010 to August 31st, 2010, a premium tee time surcharge of $15.00 USD per person applies. * No surcharge applies for tee times after 12 pm until the closing of the course. Please remember the use of a golf cart is mandatory and the rental fee is $35 USD per person in a shared cart. So even with the green fees taken care of, we're still looking at $70 USD just to get a morning time and a cart, nevermind the cost of club rentals. Booo.

Quote: Originally Posted by 2010wedding We have our game scheduled for 9am so hopefully w can finish before it gets too hot!! It was -33 this morning in Calgary..so I'm ready for hot!!! Not sure about the cost though for renting clubs/cart. I know that you have to rent a cart....no walking. Okay not a problem thanks! I'll email and ask for a price then. I want to get my dad and FI's dad out for a game so I'm worried that for the four of us it could get quite expensive. Then again my dad and FI would be able to share a set of clubs most likely and really, who needs an entire set? Give me a 6 iron, 3wood and my putter and watch me go! LOL! Can you tell I'm an amateur still?? Quote: Originally Posted by 2010wedding Mylene- 2 more sleeps until you leave!!! You must be SOOOOOOOO excited Mylene!!! Have lots and lots of fun and we cant' wait to hear all about it when you return!!!!!

Sorry but I'm totally interrupting to whine and complain for a moment. Tonight is my third in a row of working stupid long days which has followed my Christmas holidays during which I was almost always working and/or on call. Yesterday I worked about 14 hours and today is going to be a solid 12 hour day - and that's actual office time, nothing to do with my commute in or out I'm exhausted and really wish that I could just go home. The only thing keeping me going tonight is that I'm meeting my sister for drinks at 7pm and get to go show her my dress if it's still at the store. Not sure because of all the 2010 ones that would have come in and mine of course is a 2009. I can't wait for this week to be done!

Quote: Originally Posted by ebredhawk i'm still undecided about the invites... meghan, we considered using the wishingwell thing, but we still have some family members that are weary of using credit cards and doing money-related things on-line. we also do want some people to get stuff from our registry, but not everyone since we hardly have space in our house as it is!! why are these the difficult questions to answer?!? i think i may go with the wedding website thing and have our parents and wedding party let people know our preferences if they ask. if everyone gives us money, we can always just go buy what we want off our registry anyway, right?! Ugh I know all about family members who don't want to use their credit card online! We couldn't get FI's grandparents to book because they absolutely wouldn't do it online and didn't even want to give their credit card num. over the phone directly to the flight agency!! They're totally small-towners (and they're old hehehe!) so I guess I have to excuse them. And using your wedding website to list any registries you might have is pretty easy PLUS you might actually end up with more cash from the people who don't actually bother checking your website LOL! I can bet that most of my friends haven't bothered checking out the website so even if we had registry info on there, they wouldn't see it. I honestly wouldn't worry too much about just passing it around by word of mouth. People will find an answer if they really feel they need one. Quote: Originally Posted by caribbeanLover Yaaah!! for booking more people!!! and your MIL.. Congrates!!!! I know how hard that has been for you guys. I also sent 50 invites, I got 10 reply's back and the dead line again is Jan 15th.. not looking good for us, more disappointed for the FI as he has no friends coming. I've decided I am not sending out reminder's.. and even if I was going to I'd be to late. Should I send another friendly e-mail reminder? Or would that look to pushy? Speak of money, I need your opinion. All my BM paid for their own dress's and shoe's. I have my MOH and a another good friend, and then FI's sister.. now she was on her honeymoon when we all went out to buy the dress, so I bought her's and gave it to her, saying the girls payed real cheap for it, the dress and shoes came up to $60. Well she never paid me, and I don't think she plans on it. My bad, I let it slipped that she hasn't paid to the other girls, and we all kind of feel like it's not right, since everyone is paying for their own attire plus their own trip, why should the FI sister be any different. But the FI doesnt want to ask!! But we're supper tight on cash, that $60 could go towards legalizing/translating our paper work for our wedding.. think I should ask, or let it go? Tracy had you considered extending your RSVP date just a little bit so that you could send out reminders and still leave people with enough time? I know it would be frustrating to have to wait a little longer but at least then you can make people feel guilty that you had to extend your deadline because they hadn't replied yet! LOL! I'm so mean! We have our deadline at January 31 so I'm not too far off of yours and everyone should receive their reminders in the next week or so. Whatever you decide, I think a friendly reminder letting people know that the deadline is just days away might light a fire underneath some. It's all about the wording so if you make it sound like you're trying to be considerate of their plans & money etc then I doubt anyone would be offended or think you're being pushy. As for your problem with your SIL, that's a tricky situation. Would you feel comfortable at all talking to her yourself, instead of having FI do it? You could just apologize that maybe you hadn't been very clear or that you know you hadn't had too much discussion with her over the issue, and just stress that you're not singling her out and that all the girls are paying for their own attire. I'm not sure what you're doing for gifts for them anyways, but you could mention that you'd had something else in mind for everyone as a Thank You that didn't involve paying for any of their items. If money really is that tight for you then you could also explain that to her in terms of your "wedding budget" nevermind details about whether it may or may not be a personal situation. I imagine that she knows you'd been off work for a long time too and we all know those things add up when it comes to talking money. Otherwise if it's just too awkward a situation for both you and FI to discuss this with her, then maybe let it go and just find a way that you can make it up in kind to the other girls so that in some way everyone is being treated equally and has the same expectations.

OMG!!! I honestly hadn't heard about the accident at all but I am so, so, so sorry that it was a friend of yours! That's just terrible!! I've had friends killed in car accidents so I kind of know what you're going through. Don't at all apologize for having a bad day either, it's totally legit and we're all here if you need to talk or anything. And you're right that having experiences like that sure make you appreciate what you've got. Go home and give FI an extra big hug and kiss tonight for sure.

Thanks for the update Miranda!! It's good to hear she's finding her place in your family and if they're all sleeping on the bed together then it sure sounds like they've got some understanding of the fur-minds. She's such a sweet looking kitty

If I can find all my papers that I stashed away at home then I'll try to post a few for you. It seriously took me over an hour of just hitting print on all the similar styles I liked that were under 96 in quantity. I definitely don't need that many - only about 50 like you - but it was easier to just open up a sh^*load of tabs in my browser and scan them quickly before printing. I narrowed down 60 pages online to about 20 mugs that way. It sucks that there isn't really a great way to sort them but don't give up because I definitely know that I saw at least a few mugs at the 50 quantity that I was interested in.

YYYAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY Michele for getting more people booked! We invited about 50 people as well and so far we're near 30 booked or definitely committed. Maybe eight or do definite no responses and the remainder still haven't replied at all. Haha, I sent out my reminder cards yesterday and meant to add a sticker with our wedding website and email addy on it but TOTALLY forgot until this morning, oops!! I'm sure they'll find a way to let us know and if not then I just assume that they aren't coming. You must be super excited to have the number jump up though!!!!

Erin - have you heard of the "wishing Well" sites that you can set up so that people can donate money for you towards something?? I did a quick google search and found this site:Our Wishing Well as an example. You have to set up an account and then provide your registy number (or guests can search by your names too I think) and then I believe you can list different things that you're saving for that guests can donate to. It seems to catch on easily because people feel like they're actually putting money towards something and not just handing over random cash. PLUS, you're not necessarily obligated to purchase those things you listed so it gives you a bit of freedom And on another site I read a little blurb on etiquette saying that while it's perfectly acceptable to request money as a gift, it's not acceptable to directly ask for a specific gift on your invitations. So basically don't write "We would prefer money in lieu of any gifts" and you're okay. And I think it's okay to list the registry itself because then you're not directing guests towards a specific item. Have you thought about including a separate card note in with your AHR invitation that includes any of your registry information? That way it's not "technically" on the actual invite but will still be included as reference for anyone that needs to know. Otherwise just pass it on to your wedding party, immediate family members etc what your wishes are and ask that they help to field any questions for you and pass on the word of what your preferences are.

Good for you Michele!! You're making me feel guilty for not having followed through contacting the trainer here that I want to see Better get on that soon!!

ahaha Tracy you're hilarious! I totally don't count computer talk as proper grammar/spelling! You don't have to apologize at all But yes, I did go at my wii yesterday and ended up playing for a good hour or so I think! I just kept flipping through the games because I made a new mii and had to get some points in the bank to unlock the more advanced levels and get myself moving! I can say one thing about hoola hooping - it doesn't feel good when you've got sore knees LOL! Snowboarding kicked my ass a little the other day! And as for the kettlebells - did you see the links I posted the other day? If not just google some videos and check it out... it's pretty impressive!

Hmmm, if you're doing first aid kits you could try and sneak little ziplocks baggies of meds into them? There's still a chance of having those checked I guess but it might be enough of a solution for you since they'll be divvied up between all your guests and might seem more for personal use than distribution.

Raykel... one idea is to travel down to your destination with all the pills still in a sealed bottle (and divide them up quickly once you're at the resort!). That way if you do get checked, it shouldn't be a problem since they're in a sealed container that can be identified. If you've already divided them up into individual packs, customs may question if you're trying to re-sell them or sneak in something a little less legal. If you're doing first-aid kits, pack the med bottles in with those and if any explanation is needed as to why you have such a large size bottle you can show that they're part of the package for your guests. HOPEFULLY you won't have any problem to begin with but these are the suggestions I'd had from frequent travelers just in case.

My FI had also suggested sending out e-vites and not doing paper invites and I was the one originally opposed to this idea. It wasn't so much because of our friends, but I knew that my family would want to have a solid object in their hands (and also to put away as a keepsake). It turns out that it was a really good thing I started my invites early because although we did the same as you, sending out an email STD, it was NOT well received by FI's family. There was a lot of miscommunication involved but the general feeling from his family was that we were being inconsiderate for a number of reasons but especially because his grandparents don't use computers and felt not included. (meanwhile right in the e-std it said Formal Invites to Follow... again, miscommunication). The whole situation sucked and was insanely stressful to be honest. So I guess all i'm trying to say is that you have to consider who is on your guest list and whether an e-vite would be enough for everyone. Since parents and grandparents (and most family for that matter) are the ones most likely to keep and value a more formal paper invite, you could always do a small set of paper invites for them, but include them in your email invites as well just to be consistent? I would just hate for you to be stuck in the same situation that I was because all the issues have led to a falling out between FI and his family, even though we're all speaking again. And if FI is still opposed because he doesn't care what people's reactions will be, then just tell him that you're making the invites for certain people as a keepsake more than a formal invite. That way you'll be able to cut down on your costs for the invites, but still get them to the people that matter or will really want them.