hutchets

As of now, 2011, the beach party is on Saturday nights.

I am using the resort Photographer as it's what's easiest for me. His name is Michael. I will email you the 2011 documents if you'd like.

I love seeing all these rings. We went to have a wedding band to match my center band but are having troubles getting the stones we need. It's a rose gold with pink diamonds and we cannot find 31 pink diamonds of the same size. He called and said we could try pink sapphires so I said to order them and we can see. My pink diamonds are a pale pink and I'm afraid we may not be able to get that amount of the same size colored light pink sapphires. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Boy ladies, I wish I had more time to get on here. I love reading all your posts. It's amazing how you have all come to know each other through this blog. My wedding seems so small compared to most of yours. Anyway, need to finish cutting my favor tags this week. I'm not doing placecards or menu cards. I'm not even sure what's on the buffet for our reception dinner anyway since it's semi-private. I'm excited about having my rehearsal or pre-wedding dinner with all my friends the night before. I have a feeling it's going to be a blast. Parent gift - We will most likely doing a wedding book from kodak or someplace afterwards as a gift to our parents. We are paying for everything ourselves and I know they will definitely appreciate those,

I went ahead and registered for a few items I want to upgrade since most of my stuff is 20years old and from my first marriage. I just placed the sites on our website. I know there are a lot of older family members who prefer to purchase items as gifts rather than give money so we went with it-especially when you have lots of them asking "where are you registered?". I did register for new place settings though - going with Fiesta Ware this time.

How exiting! Lua, are you exchanging your $ before you leave for Jamaica? I cannot wait to hear how things go at the RIU.

Ellabaja and Jewelti, I'm sort of in the same boat as the two of you. There really isn't a ton of things that you "have" to do for destination wedding. It's just so easy compared to a wedding here at home (done that before). Some women are doing much more than others. In my case, I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible, thus the reason for a destination wedding. I'm not making oot bags as everyone will already have most of these items packed with them as they do travel quite a bit and know what to bring. We did purchase wine stopper favors though to give out after the wedding at our semi-private reception. We are not paying for a private one. The resort has their beach party that night so it's not worth it to fork out the extra for that as well as the fact that we are having our AHR one week after we return from Jamaica. That is where my planning is really taking place. There's not much to do for the wedding itself - going with the free package and no upgrades. Kids are standing up with us and participating in the sand ceremony. There are 13 of us going to Jamaica so that's a perfect number for me. The AHR will have around 150 people though. Good luck and do not stress over what you may not be doing. It's all up to you and what you choose to deal with.

I received my Umbra frame for our sand ceremony so I think I will work on getting that put tgether this week. I also found some small great orange and turquoise bottles to hold the sand which will add some pop of color to the table. Found them at Hobby Lobby for 1.25 each last week and bought four of them. One for each of us and one for both of my children. This will really make them feel a part of the ceremony. I think we will stick with neutral colored sands so that we don't tire of the bright colors years from now.

Lua, That's an awesome price for your trip. Ours was 1100 for 4 nights for most of our guests at RIU Ocho. Not "group" pricing though as people are traveling all different dates. Who did you use for your TA?

Wow-Off for a few days and now I cannot keep up! You ladies are fabulous! Loved reading the past 200 posts!

I haven't been on here in a while. There's sure been a lot of activity going on! Here is what I have accomplished in the past 1 1/2 weeks or still need to finish. I made my invitations for our AHR on Sunday and Monday and got them all mailed out yesterday. I purchased the glass bowls for my table centerpieces. Got a steal on them at Deals which was 1/2 of what I paid for the others at Hobby Lobby and Michaels at 1/2 price. Ordered sundresses and another potential wedding dress (not sure what I'm thinking) so those should be in this week. Received my ivory metallic Old Navy flip flops for my daughter and I. Now I just have to start working on the ribbon and crystals to dress them up. My friend is designing my wedding jewelry right now. She's an artist and I'm so excited about this. I purchased a ton of beads at a bead show last summer in Chicago just for the wedding. I reserved a block of rooms for our AHR I need to finish my starfish wine stopper favor gift tags and bookmarks this week. Have them all ready to print. Things are coming along! Have a fun and wonderful weekend.

Brandy- Think of it as a teaser! Now he will have more reason to be excited to see you in the dress since he's got a tiny hint of it. I think it's a really cute story. I'd just talk up about how wonderful you are going to look in the dress that he really didn't see.

Lua, In the US, marriage in Jamaica is considered a legal wedding - not as in Mexico where you have to do a legal ceremony in the US if you don't want to go through blood tests and all this other stuff in Mexico and then you are doing a symbolic ceremony in Mexico. I asked my TA and she said for the RIU requirements, we have to have a copy of the documents notarized by a Notary Public, you can find them at banks and many other places, that the copies are exact of the originals. We have a notary at the hospital where I work and I plan on taking them to her to notarize for free. Good luck. Your TA should be able to assist you.

This is something I have struggled with since we got engaged. We decided to send a magnet STD 10 months early to everyone, which included the DW date and the AHR date (which is only a week after we return from Jamaica-ugh!). That way, everyone knew about both dates up front. We have had 13 people book which is a good number for me. I really didn't want a large DW but didn't want to hurt feelings by not giving them the information. I feel like my STD was good enough for the DW invite. I have a feeling though that most people have not yet gone to the website to check it out. As far as I'm concerned, that is their loss! I'm fine with a small DW. We are getting ready to send out invites to the AHR though. I found my colored invites at Michaels and got 75 of them for 26.00 which was awesome. So we will send these out but will only include a RSVP to those who we know don't use the computer (grandparents, elderly, etc.). For the rest, we will have them RSVP to our website but I will make sure it is apparent on the invite to do so. I guess if people decide at a late date that they want to go after they receive the AHR invite, they are welcome to but I'm not keeping my fingers crossed (is that mean to say) You won't go wrong no matter which way you decide to go. You have to do what is best for you. I have realized that it's a DW so there are no rules!

CCIN131-Where did you find that particular type of shell for your rings? I'm making a shell ring holder but have only found the normal white/tan shells.

My 16 y/o daughter is the only one standing up with me and I have no idea what to get her. My 12 y/o son is standing up as well.

For my favors, we purchased Murano glass wine stoppers and wine glass charms. I am making my own favor tags thanking them for coming to Jamaica with us.

We are really doing only favors. I plan on giving them all a pre-travel document that includes just a few items for them to take with them. Luggage tags, Island breeze hand sanitizer and small magnets. This way they will have the tags prior to leaving and I don't have to carry it all down with me. They all live really close to us and there are only 15 going so it's no big deal. Good luck on your decision. I don't think it will matter which way you go. I honestly don't think that your guests have and ideas about OOT bags. I had never heard of them till I got on this site.

Where at in Kansas??? I'm in Lee's Summit, MO. Just on the other side of the border.

We are going to Couples Tower Isles two days after our wedding at RIU in Ochi. We are staying 5 at the RIU and then 5 more at CTI. We have some guests staying longer lengths of time and prefer to move on to our "honeymoon". We have too many people coming that aren't couples and I have children who will be there and cannot stay at Couples.

Tiera, I love the orange and pink but adding a splash of green enhances the two.

Brandy-Yes the ivory ones with the starfish. They are so stinking cute. I ordered the Nina sandals and they came in today but I'm going to have to send them back. They are a lttle large on me and neither my daughter or finace like the thick sole! I was really disappointed because they look so cute online and I was really looking forward to them. Theresa

Francine-Thanks so much for posting that. You did an awesome job and it's given me ideas to do something like this. I don't plan on taking oot bags down there with me but we are giving starfish wine stoppers and charms as our favors at the reception dinner since starfish is pretty much our theme. I would like to do something like this and send just them a few thingsbefore leaving such as a tiny magnet for the balcony doors to keep the air running if the doors are open and some locks for their luggage.

Michelle, Can you take close up pictures of your pre-travel brochures? I have no idea what to really put on them but would love to make some.

fmichelle, We did the same thing. We are staying at the resort we are marrying at for 5 nights and then moving to a Couples resort for another 5. We booked the trip all at once last April. Teira, I really like the first dress. Go with the bling whenever you can!