swankster77

I've been MIA ladies... but I'm back... only 3 months til i'm in Mexico!! I'm going to be starting to work on my wedding programs soon. we're having the civil ceremony... would anyone be willing to share the wording of their programs or send me a picture for some ideas/reference? I'm really lost regarding this. Have really no idea how the ceremony will go so that makes it hard. I'm going to have a ton more questions so any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Where did you find the white and pink bags?

Awesome! I think I'll head to Wal-mart today!! Thanks for sharing!

Quote: Originally Posted by Tlseege Nope, you're done! okay, that's not really true. But I didn't even get my license appostilled or anything. I just took the wedding certificate to the Social Security office, then to the DMV, and ta-da, all done!! Wisconsin doesn't file if you aren't married in the state either. You are a wealth of knowledge for me Same resort and same state! I was wondering the same things... did you have the legal ceremony in MX at the GBP? What exactly happens after that? Did you have your cert. translated, and all that in MX and wait for the copies to be mailed or did you take it home with you when you left? Did you take the spanish copy to the SS Office, DMV, etc? I'm way confused on what I need to do to make sure it's all legal, etc. here in WI.... Thanks in advance hun!

Can't wait to see your planning thread, Lindsey! As for the rest of you june brides... i'm in the same boat... it's getting so close yet feels so far away! I agree with the anticipation being half the fun so I'm definitely enjoying every day as it comes. I've been keeping myself busy (basically obsessing!) by working on my OOT bags and contents.... where are you girls getting your mugs? This has been one of my issues.. not sure where i can find the best deals... i'm also upping my work out routine... been doing body fit at the y once a week and cardio the other 4 -5 days... but starting next week i'll have body fit twice a week. I'm down about 5.5 pounds and want to lose 10 more... I hope I can do it! My first dress fitting is on April 27... they wanted to do it sooner but I stressed the fact that I'm trying to lose weight so one lady pushed it back for me - yay! I just want to be where i want to be (or close) by the time they do the fitting. My dress is already super big on me after losing only 5 pounds... oh and my BD shoot is April 17... aaahhh!

Good idea prettykity!! I was thinking about getting them for our OOT bags... either way though I'll just guess on sizes... always going big... I know a couple girls that have tiny feet and i think everyone else including the guys will be fine with larges. If not and they end up tossing them I really won't care since they're only a buck!

Quote: Originally Posted by cougs back on topic, sure i ate a ton for val-day but we also did a ton of wii fit over the weekend. i know the majority of you girls work out all hardcore on a daily basis, so this will sound ridic to you, but i was surprised to find that i am capable of running a mile. i honestly thought i would likely die long before the one mile mark, but i ran a 1.5 miles and not only lived but prob could have gone on longer. of course when i say "ran" i am using that word very loosely. it's more like a light jog, haha. small victories. Great job! I just recently started running (well, back in November).. I just ran a 5K (3.1 miles) for the first time ever and what a great feeling that was! I work out 5-6 days a week so working out a lot doesn't necessarily make running easy. It's taken me awhile to get to 1 mile let alone 3... and it's still a battle every day. Like today for example I could only run 2.... So be proud of yourself that you can run a mile... that really is awesome!

Quote: Originally Posted by swong Hi swankster, Thanks for the info! So we are allowed to hire DJ outside the resort? How much does Bijan cost? Thanks! Yep, we can bring in a DJ from outside the resort...and Jazmin told me there would be no fee/day pass required! We hired DJ Bijan... if you want his info let me know and I can post it or PM you. We're hiring him for 2-1/2 hours and he is charging us $300 USD. He said he normally charges a minimum of $250 for the first 2 hours. But had we hired the resort DJ at $180/hour it would be costing us $450... so using him is saving us money - yeah! SusieQ - welcome back and congrats! Thanks for your review I do have a question about your dinner at La Gran Tortuga... you mentioned the grand entrance as well as the fact that you were tucked away from everyone. Can you give any info on how the tables were set up? Jazmin told me they have square tables that can be combined to rectangle... seating 7-10 people. How did you handle this? Did you do assigned seating? How many tables and how were they set up in relation to each other? What was the grand entrance like? Also, what was the decor like? I know you gave pictures but did you bring the decorations or did they provide for you? Thanks for your info/help

Congrats SusieQ! Thanks for the review! I am bringing an 11 (almost 12) year old... I'll be PMing you about the Animation Staff... not sure what that's about.. hoping if it's bad my daughter is too young to be affected. Also can't wait for pics! I also have some questions about your dinner at La Gran tortuga and the set up/decor... will ask those ?s on the GPB thread so those girls can hear any advice you have on that topic. Congrats once again and thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the info! I also saw them for that same price at Old Navy today and I know target has some for $2.50 and some even cheaper ones for $1.

Quote: Originally Posted by latoya1908 Okay ladies! I just got back from Target #1 and cleaned them out of their pink and blue towels (they only had 5 pink and 3 blue). I'm going to hit another Target first thing in the morning and see if they have some more. I need about 15-20. I hope I find some of the stripped ones. Awesome! I just had my mom who lives in Minnesota hit up the target in her city and she was able to find me 12 more pink and 8 blue! They didn't have the striped ones there though. Quote: Originally Posted by bridej9 I wish those were my wedding colors! Bummer I'm kind of straying from my colors which are actually orange and pink... but I was not having luck finding towels anywhere for cheaper than $6 so I figured I better jump on it!

Quote: Originally Posted by kymkymkym Great Find - too bad I'm from Canada and we don't have Target around where I live Bummer! I didn't realize Target wasn't in Canada... Quote: Originally Posted by brookedanielle Thanks again for posting this, I ran out today to get these. First target I went to had ONE left. The next target had about 30 left, and I went ahead and cleared out about 25 of them. Here's a photo of all the colors available at the target near me. Thanks for sharing! These are the same colors we have in WI. I was hoping for orange but oh well. I'm getting nervous now because I need to find 19 more! I'll be calling Target everyday until they get more in. Too bad the one-spot stuff isn't available on their website.

Quote: Originally Posted by Kelitaw I went today at lunch (in San Antonio)...found the bags and towels. I am definitely going to take FI to Target tomorrow night to check out the bags. I also found the 3pack of the "to go" Tylenol for only 82 cents! I snagged some of those while I was there. What colors did you see available? Wondering if it's the same as here in Wisconsin. I just called the location that I was at and they not replenished yet. Wishful thinking! I also saw $1 flip flops in the dollar section and some slightly nicer ones for $2.50 in the shoe department... since the towels were half the cost i was budgeting for I might add flips to the bags... not sure if they'd get used though. FI says most if not everyone will probably bring those but ya never know!

Here are the pictures. I'm 5'7" just to give you an idea of the size... I forgot to measure..

For anyone wanting to add beach towels to their OOT bags.... I was at Target last night and they had them in their dollar section! They were $2.50 each! I bought them out and then went to the other Target in my town and they said that is a new item and they haven't put theirs out yet. The towels are obviously not the BEST quality but they're pretty darn nice considering the price. They had bright pink, bright blue, purple stripe, green/pink stripe. I'm going to take a picture and post it when I get to work later today. They also had tote bags for $2.50...the colors were not what I was looking for but I did end up buying 2 black ones for the only 2 single guys coming on our trip. The other colors they had were dark red and dark green. They zip and have a tiny zipper pocket inside. Ill post a pic of these too. Like I said, the clerk said they're new so not all Target's will have them quite yet but she said to check back next week. Hope this helps someone

Quote: Originally Posted by swong Hi swankster77! Thanks for your suggestion, I have to agree it is a better arrangement to plan the poolside reception after the dinner! I'm sure there will be a lot less people at the pool at that time! So are you planning on going to the club/disco after the reception as well? When do you arrive? My ceremony is at 4pm at the Tulum, maybe you can come take a quick look and have an idea on how your wedding going to look like! We get there a day before your big day on the 8th... thanks for the offer... I just might take you up on that Quote: Originally Posted by swong Hi, the time is clicking and my stress level is getting higher and higher..... I have a relatively small group of 25-29 people only, would that be kind of weird to do a pool side reception after dinner? And does it really worth hiring a DJ for that? I also have 29 people... I think the poolside reception will be perfect for that amount of people!! We hired DJ Bijan... he's cheaper than the resort DJ so if you want his info let me know.

Quote: Originally Posted by swong Hello! My wedding date is on June 9th 2010 at the Tulum site. I'm thinking of having a pool side reception after the ceremony, not sure if that's a good idea yet so I really want some inputs! Do you think it's going to be too hot to stay outside for another hour or 2 after the ceremony? Is the pool side reception actually a good idea? or people just go directly to dinner reception right after the ceremony? Thanks in advance, I'd really appreciated your help!!! My wedding is just 3 days after yours also at the Tulum location!! I have decided to have the poolside reception/dance. Our ceremony is at 4 and then dinner is at 6:30. Between the 2 I'm just going to direct people to have some drinks at the lobby bar while we finish up with pictures. Our dance doesn't start until 8:00 so I'm hoping it's cooled off a bit by then! Hopefully the sun will be setting and that should cool it off. I agree that keeping people out in the hot sun for hours while dressed up is probably not the best idea! What time of day is your ceremony scheduled? Did you schedule a dinner time/location yet? I think those 2 things will have to factor in on your decision...

Quote: Originally Posted by Tlseege Okay, I will warn against the white board. It does sound like a great idea... but it also tells people that you are NOT in your room. So I think that just leaves your room more available for bad things to happen. I wouldn't recommend that. As for meeting up with people, we had walkie-talkies. The tiny ones from Walmart. They worked great. It was so nice because my husband would sleep in every morning and then go for a run on the beach. Where as I was up by 7 and ready to eat breakfast. So it was lovely to just turn on my radio and see if anyone else had theirs on and were eating. Every morning we'd find each other via the radios. It worked out great! You bring up a very good point... I didn't think about that. How much did your walkie-talkies cost? They worked well? Did each room have one and if so did you provide them?

Quote: Originally Posted by Raykel Swankster - I know what a couple girls on another thread suggested, and I am going to do, is they are getting small white boards and going to leave it outside their room with wherever they are at on it.....so that is a thought too if you want people to be able to find you if they need to for some reason. Otherwise I think leaving it to chance is a good thing.....just preplan if there is something specific you want to do, like a rehersal the day before. This is a very good idea! And much less expensive I'm sure - which I'm all about! Are you getting a white board for every room for your guests to us as well?

Got yet another question for you ladies... how did you handle communicating with all your guests while on the resort? I hear that it's so big that if you don't have a set schedule you'll never meet up with anyone. Did anyone use walkie-talkies/2-way radios? If so, how did that work out? Did you buy one for everyone/one for each room? I'm assuming each room has a phone as well, right? That would be a lot of calling though... just hoping to hear how past brides handled this... or even current/future bridges.. what do you plan to do?

Quote: Originally Posted by mnh1983 My fiance and I initially agreed that we each only wanted our best friend to stand as attendants, so we each asked one person. Other friends of mine asked about my wedding party (in hopes I would ask them), and I kindly explained that we wanted to have one each, which satisfied most. Now, my fiance has decided he wants additional attendants. I have no idea what to do because I've already had one person confront me pretty harshly because I didn't ask her, and I know that others, while they understood, were somewhat hurt. I don't think it would be appropriate to ask them now because it would seem like they weren't good enough initially. I explained this to my fiance, but he just says I'm being stubborn. I told him that if he wants additional groomsmen, it is fine with me, or he can ask them to be ushers. He then argues that we can't be uneven. What do I do? omg i had such a similar situation!!! except my FI didn't bother to ask me before asking an additional guy to stand up! this was 2 months after i had asked everyone else... to make matters worse is that this guy can't commit (still hasn't put his deposit down -wedding in 4 months)... I happened to have a good friend that I had wanted to stand up to begin with so of course I asked her. This guy is still a big question but I've since realized that it really doesn't matter if it's even or not... what really matters is that you have who you want stand by you on your big day. What we decided is that if this guy ends up not coming either we'll have one guy have a girl on each arm or we'll have my daughter who's a junior bridesmaid walk down with one of my closest friends... it will all work out so please don't fret. just do what you feel is right for you!!

I have the same wedding date as you - yay! I had the same prob with my FI until about 2 weeks ago... he had ample opportunities to ask but somehow did not... I have a feeling that since he is not close with his two brothers that also happen to be quiet/shy personalities... that he felt awkward bringing it up. But what ended up happening was that I placed the engagement announcement in our local newspaper and he knew he had until the paper came out to ask... that totally lit the fire under his bum... not that I wanted it to happen this way but with the wedding only 4 months away i figured we better get a move on! maybe he is feeling uncomfortable about it? especially if he's not used to having intimate conversations with his brother? that was my FI's problem... it took a little pressure to get him to do it but he did. GOOD LUCK

I am also torn. If it's completely my decision I'd say no... I already live with my FI and this is my (not his) second wedding. But his family approached me on the topic before i had a lot of time to think about it and impulsively said 'no'... with the reasoning of not wanting guests to feel that they had to spend MORE money on a gift when already spending a lot to attend our big day plus most of FI's family are not coming to the wedding so I kinda feel weird inviting them, etc. I have no idea at this point what FMIL's intentions are... maybe she thinks it would be good in order to include those that can't come to our wedding? I have no idea... I hardly know her so I feel weird asking outright and I also feel like I've offended her by declining. I am so lost on this topic at this point. I'm starting to think that maybe just let people do what they want? I dunno girls.

Quote: Originally Posted by Raykel Swankster - you cannot download the attachments because you have to have 150 posts first....then you can download your heart away:) I think most people book mark the site or make a note of what to search for later and then when they have enough they go back. It drove me nuts waiting! When I could finally download it was so exciting...hahaha...this is what us brides are like. Excited to download a document Thanks Jules...that is good to know. I will watch for your update:) Ok, that makes sense. But I swear I have downloaded word docs before.. hmmmm. So I just read the rules of this forum, etc. yes I know... should've awhile ago however every time i would try none of the links worked so I gave up. Anyway I'm finally up to speed Will try to download again once I'm up to 150.

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