Meyer2010

Quote: Originally Posted by MObride09 In my case it's my sister. I knew from the beginning my mother and father would not be able to make it to Mexico. My sister, however, was "wherever you decide to go, I'll be there!" Even up to the day I booked the trip this was her claim. The day AFTER I put the deposit on the trip, she calls and says she can't afford to go. So, my FI and I decided to pay for her to come. And guess what, she still says she can't go, her husband didn't want to come to Mexico and he doesn't want her to travel alone. I explained to her that she would not be traveling alone, she would be flying with us and our 1st cousin who is like a sister to us, and that she could stay with my FI's mom who is traveling alone, or with some friends or family that are coming. I feel like I have done all I can to ensure a safe and cost free trip for her and she still is turning me down. Honestly, I think it has more to do with her husband than all the excuses she gave me, but I can't help being hurt that she did an about face seemingly over night!!! I haven't talked to her in a week because I really don't know what exactly to say. My family keeps calling me saying I should call my sister, but is it really my responsibility to make her feel better about backing out on me. (she was not only the MOH but was doing the hair for me and the 2 other bridesmaids)! Did I mention she didn't even call me to tell me she wasn't going to accept my offer to pay, she TEXT me the refusal!!!! Sorry about the ranting, but I'm just hurt right now... OMG... that really sucks. Your wedding is not for 8 months! You even asked her to be your MOH! How old is she? Is she older than you? Weird question but what was her wedding like? Maybe she is jealous you are getting married in a tropical place. That is terrible! If your mom and dad can't go, your sister should be there! No if's, and's or but's! You are paying for her way, what more can she ask for? I'm sorry this is happening to you at such a exciting time in your life! Keep your chin up and try and stay positive. Maybe she'll turn around. ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by KittenHeart I'm suprised at how many of our mom's aren't coming or can't save etc. My mom told me she couldn't afford it and then when I came back at her offering to pay for her and my brother to come out, she says "I'm afraid to fly".... Kinda sounds like a dis to me. It sucks but I'm not going to let it stop me from having the time of my life, if she WANTED to come, she'd come. Good luck to the rest of you ladies, at lease we know we're not alone in this issue. My mom was the same way. She said she couldn't afford it. Luckily we came up with a plan to help her out. Since my FI and I moved to China last October we had to find a place for our 9 year old black lab. My mom agreed to watch her for the 2 years we will be here. We were already paying her $200/month for food, supplies and misc stuff. So we told her we will pay for her way if we knock the price down to $75/month for the next year. She happily took that plan and now she is coming. I hope your mothers have a change of ♥♥♥♥!!! Happy planning 2010 brides!!! :-) ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by finzup the resort said I could have the front desk hand them out ... if not we are going to do a "meet and greet' cocktail hour and do it then... Yes... our resort said the same thing. We can just leave them at the front desk and they will hand them out as our guests are checking in. I know the hotel will have a list of our guests and rooms but what if guests decide to upgrade while checking in? Then the OOT bag would be in the wrong room.

Question: Does anyone know if we can bring "straw products" into Mexico? I remembering reading a post awhile ago saying that it is illegal. I hope that isn't the case b/c my bags are straw. If anyone knows, please post. Thanks!

Great question!!! I have the same question....

Great choice! They look so professional and fun! I want one!

Try this website... it was listed in another link on here. Wholesale Party Giveaways Incentive Gifts and Home Party Supplies For Beauty Consultants Good Luck! ~ Erica

How about the common phrase... ONE TEQUILA....TWO TEQUILA....THREE TEQUILA....FLOOR!!!

Great Idea girls!!! I'm totally doing this! Do the resorts allow door hangers to be put on the doors? I sure hope so!! ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by Geralyn I got this idea and template from someone here on the forum (sorry I forgot who) Anyway thank you for the idea. I ordered the plastic badge holders from ebay and the coil key chains from OTC (they originally had whistles on them but I took them off) Here's the template: Great idea! Did the badge holders have a ziploc at the top to keep the water out? I think I'm going to try to make some of these too! Thanks! ~ Erica

I have been looking for a steel drum band too. I got pricing from Ajua DMC and this is the pricing she gave me. I think that is really expensive! We were just going to have them play for our cocktail hour. I wonder if the acoustics set would be good? Band - $950 per set ($125 travel fee) Trio (mostly instrumental) - $850 per set ($90 travel fee) Duo (2 steel drums) - $750 per set ($60 travel fee) Single steel drum with backing track - $450 per set ($30 travel fee) Acoustic only (no sound system) - $225 per set ($30 travel fee) Our booking fee would be $100USD for any of the options.

Quote: Originally Posted by Ayita Hello ladies, Here are a few items left over from my wedding – mostly because of swine flu ! Side note - the OTC items are still being sold at OTC, so you can either get the ones below alone, or as a complement to an order from OTC. If you are interested by an item please post it in this thread and I will contact you – if you PM me I'm afraid my mail box is going to be full too quickly (I am travelling a lot and cannot check on it regularly). 10 large hibiscus tote bags, assorted colors – 5$ + shipping (original price from OTC ; 9.99$ a dozen). 15 drawstring bags with bright trim – 8$ + shipping (original price from OTC : 9.99$ a dozen). These are small bags, ideal for a first aid or hangover kit. Mine could hold all the medication (in individual formats), an aloe vera gel bottle, and a scope bottle easily. With that I have 14 hangover kit hang-tags, with ribbons of assorted colors (purple, green, orange) ; the little guys are : Alka-Seltzer, Tums, Immodium, Advil, Energy Patch, Scope, After-Sun,, and after-bite. Those are free (yes), I will either ship them with the drawstring bags, or to somebody else if the person that takes the drawstring bag is not interested by the labels (priority to the person who takes the bags). 4 pictures holders, can do for table numbers, or other signs you want to put (for camera basket, etc). 10$ + shipping. 2 calla lilies bouts, 1 orange, 1 white. 6$ each, + shipping (can sell separately but priority to someone taking them together). These are real touch flowers. Ribbon can be replaced. 1 BM calla lily white bouquet (can also be a toss bouquet, or a small bridal bouquet if you don't want a big one) : 20$ + shipping. Those are real touch flowers, so real that the hotel wanted to put them in the water ! The ribbon can be replaced easily. The picture is taken from above and makes it look a bit bigger that it really is. In action on the unique BM who came to the wedding – it's not this one but the exact replica : 1 orchid hair pin, white, from Hair Comes the Bride, 10$ + shipping 1 dendrobium orchid, white, from Hibiscus Floral, 10$ + shipping Hello... I will take the dendrobium orchid, white (from Hibiscus Floral, 10$ + shipping) if it is still available.

Bummer, I wasn't quick enough!!! I'm curious, did you also have the other side of business card filled out, or do you let the guests fill that out? I have always loved this idea and we will be doing these for our OOT bags in February. I love your logo too! Nice work!!

Quote: Originally Posted by finzup I just visited her etsy store and website and they are amazing!! thank you for posting, I will be getting one of these for sure! One question - how on earth did you decide?? there are so many options! Okay, my name is Erica and I think I'm addicted to Etsy.com!!! Ha-ha!!! Ever since you sent over the Etsy stuff I can't seem to pull myself away from it! What a great website. I think I found like 400 things I wanted to buy... ha-ha!!! WOW!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Scott-Pierre Meyer2010- that is a great idea! I wish I would have had more time to do something myself. I just finished grad school this week so I was limited on time to do the DIY projects. I am so glad I had someone else do this for me! I think you made the right choice! That is such a neat book! You will cherish for many years to come! Wow, less than 3 weeks and you'll be hitched! That is so exciting. Good Luck with the rest of your planning! ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by Scott-Pierre I found a fabulous Etsy seller, by the name of ItsMyDay. She made a wonderful guestbook for our wedding and also made a photoalbum/scrapbook for my MOH. This is going to be my gift for her! Here is our guestbook: http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/s...ngItems001.jpg http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/s...ngItems002.jpg http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/s...ngItems003.jpg Our wedding invitations were blue and brown, so we wanted to keep those colors for the guestbook cover. She incorportated our favorite colors throughout the rest of the book.Her real name is Jori and she was a pleasure to do business with. She was prompt in responding to all my emails and worked super fast! I highly recommend her. I love your book! Very creative! I am also doing a guest book for our DW. But, we've been collecting postcards from all the places we've been in the past 6 years and we are going to have our guests fill them out with a little message and then I'm going to have them bound into a book. We are going to have an AHR too, so we will do the same concept but the postcards will be all of our hometown. Good Luck Brides! ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by soon2bePowers We planned to have our legal day before we left for Mexico but with all the snow days we had this year we will be doing it shortly after we get back. We are having FI's grandparents and my grandma as our witnesses since they aren't traveling to Mexico. We figured we will go out for a nice lunch after. We also plan on doing the legal ceremony in Michigan 4 days before heading to Mexico. I really like the idea you had in including your grandparents. My grandmother is the only grandparent we both have left and she is unable to go to Mexico. So, I think I'm going to convince my FI to let her be one of our witnesses. We are keeping the "Legal" part a secret unless someone asks then we will tell them we had to do legal paperwork before heading to Mexico and leaving it at that! We will still celebrate our symbolic wedding day as our Anniversary. Good Luck Brides-to-be!!! ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by SDbeachgirl I think I am interested in the Carribean trio also. What exactly is that? Is it steel drums? Hello Brides-to-be!!! I have the same questions about the Caribbean Trio. I would love to have a steel drum band at our cocktail hour too but I have found that they are very expensive ($950/45 min. set). We want our guests to stay entertained while we are getting our pictures taken but we don't want to pay an arm and a leg! Any other thoughts? ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by IndianBride See attached document with list of things to do in riviera maya. Hmmmm... I guess I'm too new to this forum. I can't open it. Bummer ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by pebbles Hey everyone, Does anyone know any info on Symbolic ceremonies in Maya Riviera? I have a few questions and any help would be appreciated. 1) Do you still need blood tests when you get there? 2) Do you still need all your legal papers (i.e certification of birth certificate, etc) 3) Is it like a regular ceremony (i.e exchange of vows) but just not legal? 4) Do you still need to wait the 3 days? I'm asking because my FI and I are having a Catholic wedding back home but we are still having the wedding and reception in the Maya Riviera. Thanks, Sabrina Hello Sabrina! We are also having the symbolic ceremony. We were told we don't need any paperwork. Just our passports. We will be getting legally married in our hometown when we arrive back in Michigan. We agreed that we would celebrate our "symbolic" wedding day as our anniversary. Good Luck and Happy Planning!! ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by Weddingin2010 Welcome and congrats on your engagement! Happy planning! Hey... we're getting married on the same day! Very cool! Let's both hope for good sunny weather! Happy Planning!! ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by asitompul hello everyone, I got engaged in June and am finally starting to plan my wedding! I am kinda stressed out about finding a location for my destination wedding. I wanted to do a destination wedding to lower my budget but I feel guilty for my asking my wedding guests to pay to attend my wedding. I really wanted to get married in Hawaii but am considering Jamaica or somewhere in the Caribbean because of the all inclusive resorts. Are there any suggestions to what I should do? I just really want my guests to have a great time! Congratulations! I would suggest Mexico as well. Things are much cheaper there and I think you will get a better turn out. With the economy not being so good right now I think it is important to show your guests a good time and make it easier on their wallets as well. That is what we are doing too! We wanted something more lush like Hawaii but we've realized we wouldn't get that good of a turn out. So we booked our wedding at the Catalonia Riviera Maya which is located in Puerto Aventuras. It's only 15 min. from Playa del Carmen and only 15 min. from the ferry to Cozumel. Good luck with planning! This forum is really helpful and you will be glad you signed up for it. ~ Erica

I have another question for you girls. Are any of you having music after your wedding ceremony? We want to have a cocktail hour/music after our ceremony, so our guests can enjoy being on the beach and listening to music while we are getting our pictures taken. Has anyone heard a good steel drum band? We thought that would be more festive compared to a Mariachi band (sp?). I'd like your thoughts, thanks! ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan Erica I love your logo. Did Sarah make that? We did the symbolic ceremony, but went to the courthouse before we left. We made a really fun day of "legal day." Hi Morgan, No, one of my friends at work did our monogram. She is doing our Save-the-dates, invitations, brochures, seating chart and thank you's! She has really saved us a lot of time & stress! We thought about going to the courthouse before we go to Mexico too! We are still kind of undecided. What day do you celebrate as your wedding day? Did your guests know that you were already legally married when you arrived in Mexico? My FI is worried that some of our guests will feel left out if they find out we got legally married in the states before Mexico. We are going to do our best to not let them know either way. I just figured if they ask we can tell them that we had to do some paperwork in the U.S. as well and leave it at that. Maybe we are worrying too much!?! What are your thoughts? ~ Erica

Quote: Originally Posted by cda023 Has anyone received prices for the wedding packages? Obviously, this is a big factor Hello cda023! Yes, if you email Elena she will give you the packages list. Are you doing a civil or renewal of vows ceremony? We are doing the renewal of vows ceremony and it is $399 and you don't need any paperwork for it. Since our "Mexican" marriage wouldn't be recognized in the U.S. we will be getting married at the Justice of the Peace when we get back to Michigan. Good Luck! ~ Erica