echo2_62

Natasha - I had forgotten that you were having a wedding cruise so it makes sense that you'd want to have a dinner that includes all your guests as well. I think it should be easy for your guests to go along with appetizers and drinks, since it helps show your appreciation for them being there! Go for it! Erin - welcome back! I know what you mean about feeling really solid in the decision for a DW after making it through someone else's wedding. Last year I had the same moment when I was helping with my best girlfriends wedding... and I wasn't even engaged then! Haha! FI and I just knew all along that we wanted to go away and it's all I could think of to get my through her wedding. Now I have two more of my close girlfriends getting married next summer, but I think I'll survive because they're both *after* my wedding in the spring! It's too bad that you got sick though from all of it. I find I'm the same way. FI and I are both battling a bug right now and it's not fun at all

I've read that before the wedding, brides name goes first but then after the wedding the grooms name goes first (so thank you notes, return labels etc). I think most of our friends refer to FI and I using his name first already though just out of habit.

Haha, I basically can't buy a bathing suit unless it has the little padding cups in them! It's so sad but I just don't fit them well otherwise half the time. Okay that and I don't have to worry about when I get a little "chilly" if you know what I mean I'm not sure how I'll work it with my dress since I'm nearly backless! And yes, I would get more than a few laughs if I ended up doing lunges around my office floor! LOL! But I've got to do something! Although it's hard to avoid because my upper body is fairly small, I had someone (rather rudely) tell me that I was pear-shaped the other week and I don't think I've ever been that way so I'm hoping to work it down a little to even out the digits! Got to get these thighs and butt in gear!

Quote: Originally Posted by shortnsweet7675 For all of you having a "welcome dinner" the evening before the wedding, are you footing the bill or are you having the guests pay for their own meal? I was thinking of having a welcome dinner/meet-n-greet at a restaurant near the hotel the night before the wedding and just picking up the bill for appetizers and non-alcoholic drinks. Is that the wrong this to do? Are you planning to have a welcome dinner for absolutely everyone that makes it to the resort with you, or just with family and the wedding party on the night before your wedding? I just wanted to be clear I guess... but I think either way if you are sending out an invite my email or otherwise you could just include a line that says something like "Drinks and Appetizers will be provided by ___________ (the Wedding Party, the bride & groom etc)" and maybe a comment that "a full menu/bar menu will also be available at your own expense should you wish for something extra". That way your guests will know that you're happy to take provide something, but it's not meant to be a full meal. Ooh, either that or refer to it as a Cocktail Gathering as I think most people assume that there would not be a full meal for that. Taken from an idea from another bride (bad memory so i can't remember who!), I think we're going to do our full-group welcome at breakfast the first morning we're all there, but then do a parents & family only dinner the evening before the wedding. We're at an all-inclusive though so we won't have to pay extra for any of that - just get a little help organizing breakfast for 40ppl!!

yah the wobble board is fairly low profile so it isn't too much of an effort, plus I have reasonably good balance anyways. I'm at my computer a lot so I have it set up so that I can sit or stand which helps a lot! My lunges will just be standing (as opposed to walking along a hallway) so i can just close my door over lunch. Although people on my floor might not be surprised to see me doing lunges around the halls! Imagine how good the workout would be if I did lunges to the printers and back all the time! mmmmm, now I'm getting hungry!!

mmmmmmmm!! That sounds delicious! Can you email me the recipe for all that food? FI and I are always looking for new meals (and ok, I'll admit that I'm the picky one!), or at least different ways to cook the same stuff. And today I'm doing to do lunges and I've taken to standing on my wobble board at work and trying to do some calf raises at the same time. A little tricky when I have to type but I'm trying.

Welcome and congrats! Not too long until you're down to double digits in your countdown - that's so exciting!!

haha wow! I should have come to your house for dinner last night suzy!! Sounds yummy even though I have no idea what a couple of those things were

I totally thought that FI would be up for this style too, but he is actually getting the 'Imperial' band, once we figure out the correct size that he needs. We requested a ring sizer from them just so make sure. I can't believe that your entire e-ring fits inside of his!! You must have the most tiny little hands!! But those will totally be cute pictures for sure!

Quote: Originally Posted by Jesdinan Hi All, So, I am like the worst bride to be ever! I get married on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at DPA and I have really nothing done! The best thing this forum has done for me is give me information without having to actively do anything! I have the greatest confidence that everything will go relatively smoothly. Plus, besides a total hurricane or other natural disaster, there is not a lot that could make this go badly. I probably won't get check into the hotel until 5:oo PM on Tuesday. I meet with Jacy at 9:30 am on Wednesday and I get married at 4:00. p.m. on Thursday. I will let you know how this whole fly by the seat of my pants thing goes. There is no way that I would have felt comfortable doing this if not for the wonderful people on this forum. They have generously provided wonderful information that I never would have even thought to have asked about. In that vein, if anyone has any specific questions, I would be happy to ask them while I am there. Just let me know! THREE MORE DAYS!!! Even if you don't get this until after your return I hope you have the BEST day ever! Congrats and we can't wait to hear every detail when you get back!

shank - if you do a search in the last couple of weeks, there were a couple really good links posted for those coil wristband things that you're asking about... otherwise the only one that I have is coil wristbands and they have packs of 12 for $7 but I don't recall what the shipping and stuff is on this site.

Quote: Originally Posted by caribbeanLover oh wow 17, she is getting big!!! Congrates. Hope she enjoyed the party, and your hard work. Yes, beer drink couple, that is totaly us! again thank you. I know!! I got engaged 2 years ago, now I say 5 months and 18 days to go, it's cray!! Getting excited tho, and can't wait untill the wedding planning is all done. Next trip will be easy and simple to prepare lol! I have no doubt that after 2 yrs of being engaged that you're getting excited. So here's a strange but wonderful thought/feeling. Last week FI and I got into a decent blowout, for us anyways. I just let him have it and then disappeared with my dog for an hour long walk to clear my head. And the funny thing is that even though for the first half I was still boiling inside, I had cooled off by the second half of my walk and was playing with my ring as I went and still felt excited for the wedding. So we're totally fine now, having blown off a little bit of steam (!) and I realized that it just feels SO good knowing that even in the middle of an argument like that, I still can't wait to be married to him. And this is in stark contrast to my ex (who I was engaged to for three years without so much as getting a date chosen ever) where anytime we fought all I could think was that I just needed to learn how to get through it because that's what i'd have to deal with after the wedding. It felt like such a burden! Go figure that he's an ex for multiple reasons though HA!!!!!! I have to admit that I don't think I could ever have waited two years with FI to get married!!! I'm almost startled some days by just how much I WANT it to happen! But I think since we only got engaged four months ago, it might be part of the reason that I still get laughed at a bit when I can tell people the countdown pretty much off the top of my head!

Suzy - you're out of luck with the Prilosec here A friend of mine takes it and he either drives into the US or has friends/family bring it back for him. It's not like he needs it all the time though so it's easy enough to manage. See what the doctor says about it at your appointment next week. I take Nexium (prescription only) when I need it. My doctor tried me out on some that weren't as strong but the others didn't do the trick. If I have a really bad flare up then I take a pill a day for three or four days but that's about it now. I had to go through the period of taking them every day for a number of months before I could back it down to an as-needed basis. But it worked! Hopefully your issues are as "easy" to fix - relative to what some of the other girls here are going through.

OMG suzy! BREATHE! LOL! 1) you ARE nuts for having that many people at a birthday party, but I can totally understand too. 2) I like your idea of doing a welcome breakfast and just might do that, so long as I make sure to get around to everyone and let them know we've arrived (as if they wouldn't be waiting for ME of course!) 3) I have stomach problems too and my family doctor was able to try me on a couple different medications that help limit the amount of acid your body makes in your stomach. Something like that might help enough to let your stomach heal itself - which is the route i had to go, and it can take a good few months too. And after that it's just good old moderation to follow. And the pills in your back pocket just in case. I also had to see a gastro doctor. If you're having serious problems though it's prob. worth a trip to the doctors so you can enjoy your trip! 4) Is your little tiger feeling better these days? Maybe we could get out to the mall next week one evening...

I think I agree with you that dress #2 might stand out a bit too much for the beach ceremony as it is quite formal. And dress #1 is so pretty! But perhaps instead of trying to convince her to just go with what she has (because I'd be worried that she'll get her heels ground in) then maybe see if she'll keep #2 for the AHR and get a new dress that is in the middle of #1 & #2 styles as a compromise. That way she won't feel too casual and you won't have to worry about her being too formal. And I have to admit that I confessed a "bridezilla" request to my mom right off the bat about her dress. I asked to have Veto power. More importantly I just wanted her to show me the dresses she was looking at along the way and she's been awesome with it! You'll figure out something with her!!

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Well I use the term "rehearsal dinner" pretty lightly. Basically I know that FI's family especially will want to have a dinner or whatever that doesn't involve all of our friends (they seem to think we're over-accommodating for our friends as it is..grrr) so I figured that we could go to dinner the evening before our wedding and just make sure they're all up to speed on our plans for the following day and whatnot. FI's family will get very frustrated if they don't feel as though they have some schedule to work by, seeing as we'll likely be too preoccupied to help them out the day of the wedding. Honestly, neither of our families really have any involvement in our plans or execution. Not that we're trying to be cruel in this aspect, we're just both so independent as it is. The dividing factor, however, is that MY family is okay with this and HIS family feels like we're trying to screw them over. So yes, I'm trying to be the "Good new DIL" that is marrying their son and wants to be part of their big happy family by arranging a lovely family dinner (Please tell me you can read the attitude dripping off that last comment!!!). HAHA, so i suppose that's my drawn out way of saying that YES we will just be going to one of the a la carte restaurants for this because I don't want to be paying for something that I'm doing just to "make nice" and satisfy everyone else. That aside, we're going to try and arrange a time for welcome drinks with our entire group although I have to work out the details on that still. Funny enough, the flight that FI and some of our group arrives on is the latest in the day from any other flight so when we get to the resort, a number of other guests will already be settled in and waiting for us. Normally that wouldn't be a problem except that FI's grandparents are included in the early-arrival group and wouldn't likely feel too appreciative of a 10pm Welcome Party!! Although I plan on starting my night as soon as my feet are inside the resort!! Again.... details....

sunstarsmoon - I am totally with you about not having an AHR for the sake of everyone else. FI's mom is trying to convince us to do a big family dinner in manitoba afterwards, but we're really not even up for that (it would be about 35 family members I think - all FI's since mine live in ontario). I think to satisfy their family, and just for my own family enjoyment, we're going to have a friend record our ceremony so that we can make DVD's to send out to everyone. I was planning on doing a little announcement card with a couple wedding photos for my family anyways so including the DVD won't be a big addition either.

Quote: Originally Posted by SuzyQ76 Awe lucky girl you got him to decide!! That wasn't oh so bad!! lol I showed my FI the site and he seemed to really like them too! I think we'll be ordering from there for sure! Yah the hardest part now will be figuring out if we should get him the 6mm or 8mm band width. I was surprised a bit that he didn't argue at all with the one I'd chosen, even after seeing the others. But I guess that one shopping trip we did a few weeks ago gave me enough info to pick out something he'd want! Haha, and of course I made a gushy comment about "aww how cute is it that he picked out a ring for me and now I got to pick out a ring for him" just to rub it in a little bit!! Then of course he countered my comment that maybe its better I pick it out because after all, it is my way of saying "hey b*!ch he's mine - right?!" What a guy!

Kits55 - so I'm curious then what kind of engagement band you have, because I'd thought that the tungsten would be so much harder than gold would be (either white or yellow) so it might not be the best combination? Do you have a gold band on your e-ring? My thinking is that if having even a 10k gold ring next to an 18k gold ring, one will wear the other down more... so why wouldn't it be the same case with gold next to tungsten. Does that make any sense at all??

thanks for the site Mel! Fi saw a black tungsten ring at a store a few weeks ago that I wasn't too sure if I liked, although i didn't have a problem with the tungsten part at all. But when I looked through this site, I found the ones that are silver in the middle and black on the outside and I really liked it. And so does he! So once we figure out what size he needs, we'll be ordering his too!

jenv I'm in the same boat as you are! My family is in ontario and fi's is in manitoba... so travel was needed no matter where we had a wedding!

Well my trick for packing clothes... I plan them out!! Oh yes I do! So for a week I'd pick like 3-4 bottoms, then maybe 9-10 shirts that could go with hopefully at least two bottoms so that I can still have a little bit of variety in what I mix and match. Add in a couple sundresses, a couple cover-ups, a couple sweaters and a whole heck of a lot of bathing suits!! And don't forget that I usually expect to buy the odd item down there too Packing for the wedding will be my challenge too because of the additional wedding wear, pretty rehearsal dinner wear etc. I'm such a casual person otherwise!! But the best part is that i've got this one dress that I bought like a year ago because I loved it even though I had nothing specific to wear it for. So I'm totally going to wear it for my rehearsal dinner.

Quote: Originally Posted by amyrot Thanks Meghan- geez I cant' believe the hassle you guys are going through too! Isn't it funny how people can be so unsupportive. You're right in that its other people who are chiming in with their two cents- and one of my FI's aunts who is basically like a sister because they're close in age- was the one to get this all started. So I have a feeling that Kevin is going to be taking her opinion highly, but I know he wants to do what we want. We have to weigh the pro's and con's like you said. We have a lot of people who seem to really be excited about going and making a vacation about it. I know its a stretch financially for my family too but I've already told one of my sister's to not worry about it- and my parents want to go for a vacation I really think. they are excited. I know my FI's siblings are excited, and hey its not my fault that my MIL is going to pay for 3 of the siblings ! i'm glad you guys stuck to your plans! You are lucky to have your FMIL is helping pay for some of the siblings! Money is a tricky thing though! FI's parents are very good at treating them equally. What one gets, so does the other. So back when FI's brother and SIL had their destination wedding a few years ago their parents paid for around half of what the resort/flight package cost for the two of them. So it was kind of an assumption that they had the same thing in mind for us and therefore felt that they should have some input/opinion/influence on the way we did things for the wedding. Except for two small details. One - they hadn't yet given us, or even mentioned giving us, the money. Two - I flat out told FI that even if it was offered, I didn't want it because I was not comfortable taking it. Just part of how I grew up i guess. So it really ticked me off of course when fi's parents felt entitlement in any way. ARG! Although I think we're through the worst of it, FI still thinks his parents aren't happy with us because they haven't spoken with him, even though they have spoken with me. I'm just to the point of not caring. If they're going to be happy and come then great. And if not then it's their loss for missing their sons wedding! And the funny thing is, one of my BM's just got engaged and although she kind of wanted to do a DW and they're keeping it local, she has made a few comments that just have me thinking that she doesn't entirely agree with the way we've done some things. Like asking how we could limit our guest list which meant some of our not-as-close friends didn't get invited or either did our extended family. And I love this girl, and she would almost never say anything negative etc. but it just shows you that no matter who the person is, people will always have their own opinions that are going to be different than your own and you just can't stress about it.

Oh I am totally the best packer!!! We have to do long distance drives to go see FI's family and he is always amazed at how much I can get packed into the car!! Haha, his responsibility is to get everything he wants packed out on the bed, or at the back door. Also, I'm a borderline control freak so if I don't pack then I worry too much about having missed something and I get really frustrated if something DID get forgotten. I'm ridiculous!! But at least that way I can only blame myself for being stupid and forgetting things! But at least its good because then I always know how much needs to be packed to come with us!