echo2_62

Yay Adrianne! Have an AMAZING time and I can't wait to hear all about it!

Quote: Originally Posted by pamphilia with my teensy budget, i can only afford a knockoff or a David's Bridal dress, so i am also worried that i won't love my dress. i want to go shopping (thanks for the tips Boo) just to make sure what sort of style will look good on me....and then i cross my fingers and order from china! eeek! at least i have time to try it a few times if it doesn't turn out the first time! Don't get too discouraged about your dress before you even get to start looking! They don't all cost a small fortune and I can say that my dress, including all costs for alterations and everything, was still under $1000. I'm not sure how small a budget you've got but you'll find a dress you love that fits it don't worry!

I'm not sure if some of you may already be aware, but I just read an article that said Canadians traveling down to Cuba are now required to have medical coverage that is approved by Cuban authorities, or you will have to purchase local coverage, in order to travel to Cuba. It sounds like the law just came in to effect recently but I don't know how talked-about it was before that. I know absolutely nothing about travel to Cuba otherwise but thought it might help someone! Here is the link... Cuba/CDN health insurance

Adrianne, I really wouldn't worry about the extra questions. I think you'd said that changing over to Sandra was just a recent thing, so she's probably just trying to cover all her bases and make sure she hasn't missed anything in the hand-off from Jacy. I can say that because we had no idea until last minute whether we'd be int he gazebo or inside due to weather, I just told our wedding party what I wanted as far as the order of everyone walking, the music was handed off to a GM to take care of and the timing for meals etc was all really easy to manage because we'd told the BM's, GM's and hubby's dad ahead of time so they could keep people moving along easily. It honestly all seemed pretty easy at the time! As for music, I think by default we had three or four songs but that was just by chance. I couldn't decide between two songs to walk down the aisle to but they were back to back on our ipod so I was happy enough that if I got any part of either song it would be right - and it worked! Then we had a specific song for the recessional and that was it. You can always play the same music before and after, just make sure that it's long enough to get everyone where they need to be. Finally, for the cocktail hour... I recall the "official" paid version including hors d'oeuvres as well as drinks and stuff so maybe that's what Sandra thought you wanted? WE didn't pay for anything and our guests wound up getting champagne at our ceremony and then drinks from Barracuda's outside. Just clarify that you are happy taking your guests outside (or to Desires for bad weather) and don't need the private service. I really, truly don't think you need to worry! Just be specific about what you want and repeat if you need to and everything will be amazing!

Quote: Originally Posted by sasse75 Congrats and welcome back to everyone!!!! My photographer has sent us a few teasers so far....the rest are coming for our AHR on Friday Vanessa Lalonde Studios | Fine Art Photography | Vanessa Lazaroff, Waterdown, Burlington, Oakville, Ontario, baby photographer, newborn photographer, wedding photographer, Vintage FIne Art Photography Haha okay I'm not entirely sure but I think your photographer may have been my friends sister or wife!!! Well there might be a few different Lalonde families in the area there but the coincidence is bizarre if it's the same people I know!

I think I heard from someone else that the OOT bags would have a delivery charge if the hotel delivered them, so I just did it all myself. Actually to be honest, the first night our whole group was there, I'd been drinking lots (but still less than everyone else!!) and I stayed up until like 3am assembling my bags (the bags were packed flat and all the contents brought down in ziplocks!) and then I ran around to leave them on doors for guests to find in the morning. Everyone got their bags and I saved on delivery charges P.S. for those of you who haven't checked out Adrianne's planning thread yet, it's AMAZING and you should go take a look!

holy crap Adrianne!! You've done an AMAZING job and your guests are going to be completely blown away by everything you've done! I'm almost glad that I got married *before* I saw your planning thread because you'd have made me want to do so much more LOL! I'm so excited for you and I bet you can't believe you're down to the wire here already. Congrats and have a wonderful time!!

Quote: Originally Posted by kwiest79 What music did everyone choose to walk down the aisle to? Not sure if I want to do a traditional instumental song or one with words and more meaning!! What type of cake did everyone choose? Did most of you write your own vows? We did a little mixture of both! I had a couple songs that were instrumental but not really your traditional songs at all, and then once they finished our ceremony we'd kissed and everything, they played a song that has lyrics and everything that is one of "our" songs and it was perfect. And it was even funny that one of the lines is "here is the church and here is the steeple, we sure are cute for two ugly people" and we were just laughing playing that for all our family and friends! I say that since it's your wedding and less traditional than a local one would be, that you should go with whatever fits you and FI the best! As for cake, we had the Mexican milk cake and everyone said it was really good. Turns out I have issues cutting enough pieces but I think DH and I were the only ones who *didn't* end up with a piece so we just pigged out on all the extra whipped cream topping!! And we didn't write a single word of vows or anything at all! We were doing the symbolic ceremony and just went with what the minister (?) had prepared already. It never occurred to me to check ahead what he would be saying, until I read Michele's comments regarding the religious content of hers! Haha!

well thankfully most of our snow has melted now, although yes there are definitely places in Alberta where that's probably not the case. Honestly we almost always get a late spring snowfall so I shouldn't be surprised. Even more sadly, it snows just about every year of the month here!! It snowed on my birthday last year - IN JUNE! That was a first for me living here in Calgary but it's a common theme for anyone who's lived here long enough. I know that DH would definitely NOT tolerate another 8 months of planning! The first time nearly did him in anyways and neither one of us would want to deal with all the headaches that came up along the way. And even the wedding I don't think we'd want to do over. There's just too much build up and too much baby-sitting to try and make sure that everyone was involved and had a good time. He's always wanted to do a group trip away like this but I think next trip will have to be MUCH smaller to actually be enjoyable. I'd actually rather that our next trip is a solo one for the two of us (if that makes sense!) and somewhere we've never been - so overseas I think. I guess overall I'm glad to say that we had the experience and I would probably regret if we didn't do it this way, but I'm still glad it's over now!

Quote: Originally Posted by adelaide whoops! I think this is what I meant to do... Claire Williams-Anderson's Photos - Wedding Pro Pics | Facebook cheers! OMG I'm so envious of your pictures!! They're beautiful! I love your dress too! Thanks so much for sharing!

YAY legal marriage day tomorrow!! Where are you having your ceremony? Any plans for dinner or drinks afterward? I have to admit that I kind of felt disappointed after our legal ceremony because I thought it might make me "feel" married, which it didn't, but I can happily say that after our REAL wedding in Mexico I definitely do have more of the "married" feeling. I figure since the mexico one is what we'll be celebrating for our anniversary anyways that it just fits together better!

That's me from up in Coventry!! And we still had our power this morning when I got up for work and we left the house about 6am with everything good still. LOL, we also drove in this morning to avoid the 301 bus, not so much for the drive in but in case there were problems getting home again! And go figure that the girl in the car IMMEDIATELY in front of me using the on-ramp from Country Hills Blvd on to Deerfoot completely spun out and wound up facing the wrong direction by the time she stopped! I'm not too sure what caught her tires because I had no problems slowing down easily enough to avoid her completely. Poor girl must've been freaking out though but thankful that she stopped her car before actually making it ON to Deerfoot. The scary part is that my office building has had blinking power almost all morning - and it's 37 stories high so that's saying something! Yesterday our office let us go home early if we needed to but I doubt that will be the case today.

Aw Mel that is so not cool! I hope your head isn't throbbing to much anymore! This morning (and last night) I was thanking myself for having trained my dog to understand "go pee" or "go poop" because she HATES any sort of bad weather! I know it's a simple concept and its not like she didn't understand what to do before learning the words... but she honestly used to hold it all in for like two days just to avoid going outside! At least now she seems to know that if we say "go pee" the door will be wide open for her when she bolts in after she's finished! LOL! Yah probably too much info about my dog but I feel so bad forcing her out in this weather when I won't willing go out in it myself either!

Sorry I missed Erin and Mel's day!! Hope you girls both had an AMAZING time (and better weather than me!!). And... HAPPY WEDDING DAY SUZY!!! I can tell you that Suzy is DEFINITELY lucking out right now because we're in day 2 of a nasty late spring winter storm. It's not that cold thankfully but we've been getting crazy winds and heavy wet snow since yesterday morning. It's supposed to let up by this evening but not before dumping another 10-15cm (4-6in) in our area. Oh how I wish we were on the beach right now!

Quote: Originally Posted by kris Also Meghan- where did you get that quote for $75.00 I'd be willing to pay that (so far my dress has just been sitting in my closet for 2 months and I definitely went swimming in the ocean with it on haha...I did rinse it in the tub after but still lol )...and do you have a review and pics up yet? The cleaners I took my dress to is Valiant Cleaners and it's on Bow Trail just barely a block away from the Dairy Queen. I've been going there for a while so the owner knows me and she's really wonderful. They do alterations and stuff too. The quote changes though depending on your dress, how much beading or embellishments there are on it. Because the entire bust on my dress is beaded she said they'd be hand washing it and not dry-cleaning! Oh and the $75 doesn't included preservation or anything just so you know. But I would definitely recommend Valiant!! She'll also give you some tips for dress-care if you're not preserving it right away, to help keep it from yellowing or anything like that. And no, I don't have a review or pics up yet - I'm bad I know! - but I should be getting the link for my pro pics today and I've had a few people send some to me so far. I promise to get something up soon though!

Quote: Originally Posted by m&d2011 Meghan! Congrats on your wedding! And thanks for the advice! I do feel a little better! But, yes, I feel better with what you said, and I'm looking forward to your spreadsheet! My email is [email protected] just in case ugh so I feel like an idiot because I thought I had a spreadsheet here for you but I don't! I'd forgotten that the one I was using was a part of our wedding website (we used www.momentville.com) and it's got a budget application in there. Sorry!!! I DO however have a map for you that might get you started, although as Ginalyn mentioned, it shows the old Sunscape name and not DPA. I can't get on photobucket at my office but I will email it to myself right away so that I can get it uploaded at home. BUT I did bring home a few different brochures that were handed out at the resort or by our airline specifically because they had maps of the area on them that I wanted to scan in for everyone! So I'll get those loaded as soon as I can as well.

Quote: Originally Posted by taraappl Does anyone know what steps need to take place to make our marriage legal in the US after being married in Mexico? They gave us our Marriage documents so I have those. I was doing some searching and it sounds like I'm supposed to get my Mexican documents Apostilled and that makes it legal in the US as well? I'm all sorts of confused. I just want it to be legal here and just want to know what steps I need to do to make that happen. Any help? Tara... from what I've heard it seems to vary from state to state (nevermind that I'm in Canada!) but I I think what Michele mentioned about contacting your local Vital Statistics office is the best place to start. I googled the same search for Michigan that I did for myself here in Alberta and came up with a website that lists local county clerk offices, which was the closest I could get with my horrible knowledge of the US! US marriage laws - michigan - the website has a whole bunch of info so maybe it'll help?! The laws for Michele are different because she got married in Jamaica so you'll end up with more to do than she will. Quote: Originally Posted by caribbeanLover Meghan, how did the music work out for you in the end? I've got to say tho, there is some people I have no interest in being friends with anymore. I am so happy I did what I did because in the end it does show who is a true friend and who isn't. I'm still trying to get back into normal life mode, but I have no idea where to start, since I don't work and my entire life was wedding for so long. I guess I'll start with laundry lol. Thankfully our music turned out just fine! The GM's ipod made it down to the resort in his luggage and we knew we had backups just in case anyways. I tried to make sure he got his credit for having everything there for us since he really was trying. As for our other GM, the one who was giving us all the headache about his clothes, well he still didn't seem satisfied but I didn't even bother talking to him about it even once. I'd have yelled at him if I opened my mouth! LOL! He was a bit of a jackass the entire week though and while I know that FI hasn't talked to him since we've been back anyways, I can pretty much say that we won't be talking to him much anymore. Even FI was a little ticked at the guys behaviour which helps me! But the sad part is that this same guy is in one of our other friends wedding party for NEXT summer and after hearing some of the things he was doing to us, she's really hesitant now but at least is a bit more prepared I guess. And yes, that leads me into your next comment of knowing who your true friends are... I have to say that some people definitely pulled through for us while a few just seemed to slip through the cracks. But I'd rather go into my marriage and move on in my life knowing who I can count on. p.s. Your TTD pics are beautiful! It looks like you two had a lot of fun doing the session. I still wish I could have done some, but we probably would have drowned in the waves the way the weather was going!! Quote: Originally Posted by hoyt75 YAY Tracy's home! Sorry I've been on the dl for a while... we had quite the weekend, my husband has gone out of town AGAIN! and we're getting our floors put in this weekend and I have to to paint my kitchen and get the concrete prepped before then. Oh, and on top of it all I've had a nose bleed for 3 day, been on my period for 2 f*ing weeks... I've never had a period this bad before in my life, I just want to curl up in the fetal position in the tub and not leave the house. AND I've been having massive leg cramps every night to the point I wake up screaming in my sleep and can barely walk the next day. AND my favorite music/drunk festival all the year sucked up the a$s and ruined my all my excitement about the whole stupid thing... did I mention my husband is out of town again he's also decided that he needs a new job pronto b/c he can't do this one (he's an enviromental scientist and tests emissions from smoke stacks at coal plants so he climbs like 500 ft in the air and it scared the piss out of him) so he completely freaked out the other day, but he's got another offer on the table with a diff company so his feet will be firmly on the ground. But that means that I can't quit my horrible (read God awful) pos "job" until he gets this funk straigtened out and I'm totally upset about it. His dad's having some type of problems and he's been going to the dr's for a week now. He can't really feel his left side and he's lost a lot of his energy and they can't figure out what's wrong with him. It sounds to me that he's having some type of little stroke or something. Oh - and his mom told us this weekend that a long time family friend and someone that we love sooooooooooooooooooo much that has been in the hospital with cancer, that it would take a miracle for her to get well. basically, she is going to die, they've done everything they can for her and if this last round of treatment doesn't work, then it's just quality of life. Fan-fucking-tastic. Sorry, I don't usually swear or rant, I've just kinda had enough. OMG! What a freaking week to deal with! I'm so sorry that you've got all this on your plate at once and even more sorry about the sad news with your FIL and your family friend. I hope you get some answers for both of them and are able to make the best of whatever outcome you have. Quote: Originally Posted by jerseykitten I emailed the Vital Statistics bureau in my town - she said you don't have to do anything (at least from getting married in Jamaica) she said just take your marriage certificate to Social Security and DMV if you want to change your name. I think I have learned more about who i can count on and who I can't from this wedding process than from anything else in my life. It may seem really stupid, but you all know my sister didn't come to our wedding, and I went back in her Facebook posts, and on the day of the wedding, she posted NOTHING. the day after the wedding she posted, "Congrats to my sister, she got married yesterday in Jamaica". Not for nothing, but I would have thought she would have said a little more...when it's her birthday, my niece and nephew's birthday, I make a huge deal...she makes a huge deal for her friends.... I'm her ONLY sister. I really need to lower my expectations. I had specifically asked for a nonreligious ceremony - I was told me they only do nonreligious ceremonies - imagine our surprise when the officant started mentioning Jesus - I was raised Jewish and Jim is an athiest so that was a bit shocking - i had to stop him during the ring exchange - You can see it on the video Michele - first off I can't imagine getting married without my sister so you're much stronger than I am. Beyond that, I can't imagine her NOT making a fuss over me on my wedding day, no matter what the situation is! I'm sorry that you felt a little bit let down by her. Funny that you say maybe you need to lower your expectations because hubby is CONSTANTLY telling me that in regards to how I feel about my friends. I don't think that I ask anything of them that I wouldn't expect of myself, but apparently that's a little too much. And okay I'm going to admit that I was totally snickering and giggling about your comment on stopping the officiant during your ceremony. I mean, it's one thing if neither of you have been brought up with those beliefs but for you to have been raised in a different manner altogether, well it just seemed a little funny! We had no idea what our officiant was going to be saying (yah I totally didn't think to ask ahead of time) but thankfully the most he got into was the "love is patient, love is kind" passage that is fairly common and non-denominational despite its origins. Another funny moment - a day or two after the wedding I was at dinner with my parents and my dad mentioned how a few comments were made that it seemed odd not to have all our witnesses sign the certificate with us at the ceremony. Having forgotten to make some account of this, I just passed it off saying that we took care of those details just prior to the ceremony and that its actually somewhat common to do that just to help speed up the actual ceremony itself! OOPS! How bad am I starting things off with a lie teehee! My sister already knew we did our legal stuff ahead of time though so I can always have her back us up if we need to. But funny that people actually noticed it! Okay and this post is huge but one last comment... did anyone else notice that somewhere in my first replies here I kept referring to "FI" and then had to switch to hubby somewhere along the way!?!? I'm SO not used to this husband thing!!

hey ladies!! I'm back from our wedding and we had a great time!!! I'm still trying to get caught up and will make sure to post more in the next few days. My camera broke just a day or two before the wedding so I don't have pics yet but I'll make sure that I get something up for all of you as soon as I can! Congrats to Michele, Tracy, Janine and anyone else that i missed who returned from their weddings while I was away, and additional congrats to Erin, Mel and Suzy who are all leaving in the next day or two!!! Enjoy your weddings and vacations!!!!!!

LOL! Too funny Nadine! Well I will comment one further about cleaning my dress and add that I took my dress in today and just for the cleaning alone my estimate is $75. I'm not getting mine preserved and put away just yet so I know I'll have to pay more for that later, but for now I'm happy just getting it prettied up again and not smely anymore SO... otherwise we had a great trip despite the fact that it seriously rained... a lot. We wound up having our ceremony and reception inside, although we were lucky to be able to sneak in some pictures outside during breaks in the weather. But I had to miss out on my beach pics and being out on the rocks etc that I wanted because it was seriously windy and nasty. It almost looked like a mini hurricane ripped through - or at least the only comparison to one that I'll ever be able to make! Despite that though, everyone said it was super pretty still and they all liked it so I can't complain too much. Well except for one of our guests rooms that got flooded because of all the rain on our wedding night, but nothing was ruined and the hotel took care of everything for them. Our group was still happy to get out and do all our tours/excursions and usually it was the mornings that were clear until mid afternoon before it started pouring for the rest of the afternoon. I think it was hardest on our grandparents that were there since they couldn't do much indoors. And sadly, I don't even have pictures of my own wedding because my camera broke about a day and a half before the wedding if you can believe it. I've sent out a desperate plea to all our friends and family to email or burn us pictures ASAP but since they're all back at work already (I don't go back until Monday), it'll still be a few days before I even get to see anything! But don't worry, I'll get some posted as soon as I have them myself!

Well I'm just back from DPA so here's the small details I can add. If you're having a reception AT 5pm then I don't think you have to pay the additional fee but if you're having a ceremony LATER than 5pm (say at 6pm like you wanted) then you might have the extra fee although I'm not sure why. It sounds like you got a date now that you're happy with so that's awesome! As for picking a package, you don't really have to decide on that right away so you can wait and see how many people you end up booking and that might help work out your costs. We went with the most basic package (Wedding in Paradise I think?!) for which there was no cost and then paid for our reception meal separately. It was $25 per person, all plated (with GREAT service) and included a salad, soup, main course and dessert (separate from our cake) and all our guests seemed happy with the quantity. White and red house wine were served all through dinner, as well as any drinks that guests wanted to order. We had 33 people in total and didn't hear of anyone else going for buffet afterwards Finally, I've got a couple different budget spreadsheets I think on my work computer but I won't have access to them for another day or so (yay for time off still!) but will try to get them posted soon!

Someone had previously recommended bringing an extension cord and I totally second this!! And while this sounds a little assumed - make a list of the items you're giving to your wedding coordinator and specify which items you definitely want back and which don't matter. We had a few things go missing that were important to us and it was pretty much a miscommunication issue.

Ooh, I'd totally be up for drinks! Weekdays usually work for me anyways so I'm on board. And I'm worried that just dry-cleaning my dress won't be enough because of how gross my regular clothes were already?! It rained a ton and was really humid otherwise (more than my last trip to Mexico at this time of year) so I'm worried about yucky mold and stuff. Any recommendations for where to go?

I don't think it'll be a problem to bring back maracas, especially when they're split up between a few different people. When you re-enter Canada there is a certain dollar amount that each person can claim (I think around $600 - it was really late when I got in last night with the slip!!) for the total of all purchases made, so considering they're gifts and probably won't cost that much I think you'll be okay.

Taylor you did a great job with your planning thread! What a great idea to use washers to weigh down your place card holders a little! Very creative And I love the Dr. Seuss book signing as well - I used to have SO many of those hard cover books as a kid and I still love them. Oooh, and I love your seahorse too! So I'm just at my office at a ridiculously early time for a sunday, because I went to the airport to see off the first half of our group flying down to the resort. I live about five minutes from the airport so it wasn't a big deal. I also had to pick up a copy of our music from one of the groomsmen. He was halfway through a big line when I got there, so I waited talking with a few other friends until he was done. When I went to grab the cd before they went through security, I found out that he'd just checked both cd copies *and* his ipod and didn't think twice about it! He knew that was the main reason I was coming to the airport too! OMG! So his wife sync'd her phone to his laptop last night so we're hoping that she captured all the songs, even if they aren't in the correct playlist. Unfortunately it just means that I'm left hoping he got all the correct song versions since I haven't even had a chance to listen to everything yet. I cannot believe that he just did that. Anyways, I can't do much about it now and I'm debating getting another friend to download a few of the important songs just in case. When I just told FI, even he was the one to say that these GM's are totally not holding up their end of things very well at all and I have to try not to panic about the things I can't control at this point. He's right but I have no idea how people can't be more responsible!!! Anyways, that's my rant for the morning and things are going well otherwise. We've got SO much luggage packed right now and I hate that we need to travel so heavy. I am totally the person who will fit everything in to a single bag, either checked or carry-on, just to avoid lines and waiting etc wherever possible. The nice thing is once we give all our stuff out, the return trip will be much easier since most of the bags will nest in with each other! About 26 hours until we're at the airport and on our way.... HOORAY!! Mel - glad you had a good time at your bachelorette party and I hope that you've recovered now too Hehehe, and I hope that Michele is feeling alright today and had an amazing day yesterday too! Erin - you must be in full swing getting J's daughter all packed up and ready to go as well huh? Was there a lot still that you've got to do to get ready? You and Mel both seem more prepared than I am and you still have just a couple short weeks left!!

So I just got in from the airport after seeing the first half of our group off for our vacation! I live just a few minutes from the airport so even though it's ridiculously early I didn't mind at all FI and I are heading out tomorrow and we don't have to be at the airport until about 10am so I know that will help my sanity IMMENSELY! LOL! Adrianne - are you just worried about losing a diamond or something from your engagement ring while snorkeling? Or do you have gloves that fit really tight? I can totally understand that you wouldn't want to just leave it in the room safe for sure. What about passing it off to a friend or family member who will be staying at the resort while you're away for the day? That way you know exactly where it is and might not have to worry as much?!?!