kerrij

GOOD NEWS!!! So Nolitours started up a trip the same days as us for $500 less than our route rate! i freaked! i told my TA to ask them for a group rate for us, it came back to us and even with our group forfieting the $200 deposit with Sunquest we'd still save $250 per person...well my TA told Sunquest that we might drop them and they matched the rate of Nolitours (plus $200) so we are now paying the exact same we'd pay if we switched companies! i'm so happy we actually are paying even a little less. so great!! So this will make everyone who has booked so happy and anyone left to book can go with out group or not! it's great! oh happy day!! now, no more looking at rates. lol

Ya Julia, that is awesome you got your day! so what days are you going? we are March 5-12 and then going to negril 12-19. we haven't booked our hotel for the 2nd week yet, waiting for rates to go down a little more i think. Beverly has been fantastic to deal with directly, except sometimes she won't eamil me for a couple weeks, like right now, i've been waiting for a few days, but i know she'll get back to me. it's weird you deal through your TA. what travel company did you use? i used selloffvacations actually! the actual wedding i'm not doing much planning, i don't want to stress the day of. working on finding a photographer right now and planning the 2 events that we are having for the guests so they get to kow each other. it's gonna be fun! but ya the day of, just going to be simple. wedding in the gazebo at 3:30 dinner from 6:30-8:30 then from 9-11 we are renting the gazebo and beach area with a DJ for only $500! cheap! dancing barefoot in the sand is what i wanted! how's yoru planning going?

Quote: Originally Posted by sammysgirl lately I've been pretty stresesd about the fact that not that many of my friends/family are going to be able to attend. I have second guessed my decision to have a dw wedding probably a million times, but a dw wedding was the only way we could come up with to stay within our budget and have an AMAZING wedding (with an AHR). I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that if just a few close friends and family members are there for our dw wedding that I will be happy.... I'm sure I'll be stressed about something else next week! Ha! That is one major stress i forgot on my list. Most of my important family can't come, aunts cousins, etc. it's hard to come to terms with the fact that so many people won't come...some were atcually pissed off at me and didn't even look at the price before making a decision. it really hurt, but i know in the end they'll regret their decision. it's our day, not theirs, right! hehehe cheer up!

Quote: Originally Posted by juliaks Hey Kerri. It looks like we'll be getting married there as well. I'm just waiting to hear back from the wedding planner, to find out if March 14th is available. I'm from Calgary too. Small world. Wow my first Calgarian on this site! So have you found out yet if your date is avail? Beverly is awesome to deal with. usually gets back to you in a day or two. We'll be at the hotel until the 12th and then we are going to Negril for our 2nd week. So exciting eh! less than 4 months away sista!

I'm a March 2010 Bride! Glad to see there is someone else out there too : ) March 9th to be exact. We are getting married at the Gran Bahia Principe in Runaway Bay Jamiaca.

Yup Beverly has been fantastic to me too! I'll make notes of all my questions and i can send her a list of a dozen questions if i want, and she'll reply and answer every single question! she's great

It's great to hear that i'm not the only one with one of the biggest stresses as the wedding party. I agonized for months, about 3 months over who i would choose. there were 5 girls i wanted to ask or felt i had to ask, and i ended up picking 3, with one "honourary bridesmaid" who will spend the day with us and do all the fun girl stuff the day of, just won't be up there in the yellow dress with the other 3. and the 5th girl isn't coming. Now i really wish i just went with the one MOH and one best man and had 3 honourary bridesmaids. Another huge stress was finding a TA!! i went through 8 before i actually got a quote from someone! well i did get one quote which was ridiculous so i said, heck no! and then once we got the quote we were told we had 30 days before the pirce would go up...so it was a huge panic to get the invitations done and ready and out so people could book. and then sure enough, after the 30 days the prices dropped!!! Hopefully that is all of the stresses i will have and it's all smooth sailing from here! Good luck girls!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by robinkar It was great to see your note. We are planning what we hope will be some fun things that are more unique and not expected by the guests. On the first night we will have a coctail hour at the lobby bar of the resort. During the cocktail hour we are planning to have a - who knows the bride & groom. The bride and groom will have shots to give to the first person who answers the questions correctly. During the afternoon on two of the days, there are two events planned - flip cup at the swim up bar and then water ballooon volleyball. We also wanted to incorporate a reception line whereby the guests all get to meet the wedding party but without the formality and not the day of the wedding. So we will probably do some activities that incorporate your idea. We are thinking of having a trivia/challenge game. I really liked the part about having different clues and having the guests meet the wedding party at different locations. Let me know what activities you are planning for your Amazing Race. We have a couple of ideas but it is always good to hear from others. Oh more fun Ideas! love it! I really like the trivia/challenge game idea. I think i'll incorporate that into each Pit Stop. where we'll have some questions about that wedding party person or about the bride/groom and the people have to answer it. sweet! and i looove flip cup! great ideas!

Yay!! congrats on making the right choice for you! now breathe and enjoy!

Oh wow!! thanks all so much for your info! after each of your posts i was like, ok I'll stay there! hmmm, no i'll stay there! hahah now i can't make up my mind where we'll stay and it's up to me. eeesh! I like all of the ideas, staying at the cliffs or country country and AI's...decisions decisions! thanks for the tidbits!

Simba i like your cousin's ideas, so nice! i like that she made the girl next to be married feel special too. love it! we think we might do the toss and have all the girls up and all the guys up and do the tosses and whoever catches gets a dance with us the bride/groom, to a song of our choice. maybe a super cheesy fun old school slow dance song or something. lol

Eeek!! why isn't she asking me for a deposit? i WANT to give a deposit. hahahah i totally agreee Chrissi that i'm a little uneasy about not having a deposit down. although i do have email confirmation that our dates and times are booked. I'm so excited to see other people here getting married at GBP! now if only we could find some brides who got married there already! and chrissi thanks for the email addy, i'm going to email her about the room rates and she what she says, probably nothing, but worth a shot. plus i need a map of the hotel grounds as we are doing an Amazing race event on our 2nd day there. yippeee! tim-juleswed, i'm excited you are booking the private room! that is awesome. i considered it but not sure i want to spend the extra moola. but do you get to have your dance and everything in there? maybe i'll wait until i get there to see what hte room looks like and then decide. i'm trying to spend as little as possible so we have more for our honeymoon! heheh

YAY! finally some GBP peeps! lol Oh i have so much information on GBP! Yes you have to pay for meals, but i think that is everywhere? i went with the "free package" which gets me 16 ppl free and $25/person after. so for our wedding of 50 it's only $1200 including the minister fees which isn't included in the free package. we almost went with the blissful love pkg which is $1350/30 ppl and includes the $400 minister fees and $40/person after that. i think most places you have to pay per head afterwards. Dinner is in a restaurant but it's semi private and still decorated for us. I was hoping to find someone who's been married here to see what it's actually like. silly, but whatever, i don't mind really. you can however, get a private place for $2500...no thanks! and you can't have your dinner on the patio or beach due to heath regs the dance floor...you can rent the gazebo for 2 hrs, from 9-11pm which includes the beach area beside and includes a DJ for $500...totally worth it in my books! we'll do our dances and all the fun stuff there. but you also have to pay for a bar to be down there since there isn't one there, and you don't really want your people running to the bar all the time and then get distracted and not come back! hahah it's $20/person. which really isn't bad. i totally agree it's so lameo that we take 50 people and bring in so much money to their resort and we still have to pay for food and beverages at an all inclusive! but everywhere else i looked is the same way, so i just sucked it up. so stupid eh! I'm pretty bummed that our group has each paid $2000/person flight hotel taxes and i just looked 2 days ago and the price dropped to less than $1800 inclusive! ugh! i think i will contact the hotel and see if they can help us out and discount some rooms. $100/night is awesome, we were quoted a month ago for $1175 for one week per person. and Chrissi, no we don't have to pay $2000 down for the wedding. We don't have to pay for anything until we get there. I email Beverly often and she's great! she's the WC there and i asked if i needed to pay a deposit and she said, no nothing until we get there. 4 months today until we leave!!!! Yay!!! Chrissi could you tell me Karelia's contact info please

I'm so lost by all the acronyms out there...WC and DW are easy but it took me forever to figure out DIY! lol I assume FI means Fiance, but what is FH? and i just learned what BD is but there are so many, i searched but didn't find a list....it's like learning text talk all over again "lol" hehe This Noob needs a cheat sheet please!!

OH YAY!! thanks for that post Leah! i thought the gazebo in the pics looked so amazing and i like that it shades your eyes from the sun so you aren't squinting just to see! heheh thank you!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Debs This is a DW, so in my opinion traditions are out the door. I would say I'm just having all bridesmaids, no MOH. or have your cousin as your guy of honour. Like you said, it'll relieve the pressure! Debs took the words right out of my mouth! we've all thrown tradition out the window by having a DW so do what you want! My suggestion is, have JUST your cousin as your Man of Honor and no one else. I agonized over my bridesmaids for 2 or 3 months before coming up with my 3. and now, i really wish that I just went with just one MOH. my agonizing put me from one MOH to 3 and then at one point i was like, ugh i have to have 5 bridesmaids to make everyone happy...in the end i went with 3 but now i wish i went with one. My mom told me i should just have 1 cause it's so much easier, and she was soooo right! lol i still feel bad not asking the other 2...but one of those 2 (the other can't make it) i've given a very special job to be my wedding side kick and even spend the day with us girls...she even gets the job of delivering my FI the card I'm sending him. so shes really pumped for that! sorry, i'm getting side tracked here! but i wouldn't ask your younger cousin if you don't want too.....think about who knows you and your FI the best and who you feel you could pick up the phone and call right now and cry to about anything...that should help you pick your answer. good luck

Ugh! Not a good position to be put in to. Is she planning on renewing their vows just the 2 of them? i think if they did that, then that would be totally awesome if they did their own private little thing. We got engaged when we were in Mexico for my good friends wedding. my FI asked their permission first and they were extatic, but he insisted he wouldn't propose until days after the wedding so that we didnt' steal any of their thunder. we got engaged on our last day of the trip, so it was perfect for the both of us But, if she wants a big production and everyone to come, then i'd say NO! KRama totally put it perfectly! I would be upset if a friend asked me that for sure. I mean if it was someone like my parents who have been married over 35 years, that would be totally different and I'd feel so happy about it. but that isn't the case. Let us know what you decide...

I love the BD book idea, i never heard about it before until now. My FI is getting his wedding gift on Friday!! only 4 months early! hahah I surprised him with his early wedding present about a month ago...we are from Calgary Canada and he is a HUGE Philadelphia Eagles fan so I'm flying the both of us to Philly to go see an Eagles game! I did lots of proding to see what would be his ideal team to watch, and checked out all kinda of site to get the best seats and finally found the perfect tix! so i'm taking him to an Eagles vs. Cowboys game this Sunday, 15th row, 40 yard line! sooo excited! Sports up here isn't anything like NFL or any other sport around the world, although NHL is huge, but not rowdy. So yup flying up both there on Friday morning and back Monday night, we are even going to try to catch a Flyers game on Saturday night! I'm so excited! As for what he's getting me, honestly I'd be happy with a love letter or a card, he's so good at that.

Quote: Originally Posted by nathanielthompsonphoto A very classy alternative the bouquet toss that happens at many weddings is the bouquet presentation. The bride usually says a few kind words about an woman that has been instrumental in her life, then goes over and hands her the bouquet as a gift. It's often given to a mom, a grandma, or a mentor. Just a thought. I LOVE this idea!!!! thank you for this idea!

Sooooo Pretty!! love the sparkles!

I think this is one of the funnest things about being a bride (ok maybe not the most fun but in the top 5)...getting to choose your old new blue and borrowed! Here is my list so far... Old - My MOH who is my cousin suggested to my mom that i wear an necklace that was our great grandma's, which is over 100 years old. it's not what i pictured around my neck but i think it's perfect! New - when i was a little girl my dad told me if i married at "dirt bag" he'd buy me pearls, but if i married a good guy, he'd buy me diamonds. i like to remind him of that....so whatever it is he buys me, will be my new....better be diamonds! hahah Borrowed - I'm not sure yet I don't have that one pinned down yet Blue - is my gold and blue strappy sandals.

I haven't heard of Etsy before! I'm going to have to go check it out! I looooove this garder! Has anyone used this one...i'm wondering how the feathers hold up in the heat and if they just look seaty and yucky by the end of the hot day? when we got engaged in Cozumel a random peacock walked over, sqwaked, and did a little dance for us, so now peacocks have a little special meaning to us...so this would be perfect! Quote: Originally Posted by lupearroyo MiaVonMinksGarters on Etsy - Mia Von Mink's Garters dandelionland on Etsy - Hand Painted Wood Dolls, Prints and Originals...

I used at TA to get us a better group rate as i tried to get my own group rate and wasn't able too. it's reallly nice to have one contact number for all the guests to call and let the TA do the rest! Although...my TA has nothing to do with the resort or the WC which i think would have been nice but my WC is awesome anyways so it doesn't matter to me! however it did take me 8 TAs before i found someone who would get back to me with a decent quote, which was waaay too much stress, but if you can find someone who is actually willing and able to help you off the bad, then do a TA, it doesn't cost you anything and saves you the work. Good luck and happy planning!

I've oftened wondered why people legally get married before/after their DW? Not sure if Aruba is legally recognized all over the world or not, but i know it is in Jamaica and people still do it before. What are the reasons people get married before they go? and doesn't it kinda spoil the purpose of the trip? but anyway i'm pretty sure that as long as your license and passport have the same name you're ok, but make sure you have your legal wedding paper with you incase they cause you problems...but confirm that with your TA or whatever government group in the US that would look after that. ps. our wedding day is just 4 days before yours, but in Jamaica yay!!

Oooh I like the Salsa lesson! fun! I'm so pumped to do the Amazing Race, glad you guys liked the idea! Any other fun ideas out there?