josietoms

I know we are toying with the idea of a holiday but we only have a one bedroom apartment so would like an extra bedroom really. Tunbridge Wells is quite an expensive town as it supposed to be a posh spa town - but its no dif than anywhere else really. Ideally we want to stay here otherwise we will move about 6 miles outside as you get so much more value for your money. I dont have much of a mortgage so if we play our cards right we may be able to get a holiday and move in at the beginning of next year - fingers crossed!!! We used Octavio Montes - there are some really good reviews on this forum on him and this is how I found him. We booked him for 3 hours. 30 mins before; then during the ceremony, afterwards and then 30 mins at the reception. We got 90 prints and every single photo on CD - he met us at the airport before we left. He is so cheap compared to everyone else and a great guy - so relaxed. Hubbys dad is a photographer but couldnt bring all his equipment and he said he was 'bloody' brilliant. Cost about £400. I'll post you a few pics so you get an idea. Good luck.

I think it will be quiet on here now for a while as its coming up to the low season (wet/hurricane season) in Mexico so the bookings tend to reduce in numbers. Look the brochures and invites. I need something to plan!!!!! We are hoping to move to a bigger place this time next year so will have to start looking now obviously! LOL.

Buster wore a linen suit - which we didnt get until 10 days before we left - lol!!! He got in from Debenhams. Was only about £99. We got married in January at sunset and it was still 24C then anything else and he would have been so uncomfortable. Esp as its so hot out there now.

Looks like you girls leaving in the next couple of days will have just escaped the Icelandic volcano which has erupted again they reckon it wont affect internation flights at present but wont be able to confirm for 24 hours. Michelle I know the feeling about running around like a headless chicken - you will be fine with the luggage going out it will just be coming back that they are really strict. Cant believe one by one we are all becoming married women!!!!

Welcome back Nicy it went so quickly. Well I am now officially married in the eyes of the law here in the UK as we got our legalised wedding certificate today. Better change my name and get a new signature! Michelle your time is nearly here I cant believe it - where is the time going!!!

Note to B2B - THIS MAKE CAUSE CONFUSION WITH THE MALE BRAIN!!!! I wore mine on my right hand and yes you've guessed it Buster tried to put my wedding ring on that finger. It caused a laugh but my bro assures me I gave him the look of death - afterwards he said why did you do that you told me its goes on the finger your engagement ring is on - lol!!!

Hey Nicy I often come on here and read what you ladies are doing and what stages you are all at but I had to reply to your post as honestly I went through absolutely every feeling you have listed. 1. I had some contact with the WC during the build up to the day but nothing about 2 months before I left I literally turned up at the hotel not knowing what to expect but as soon as we got to reception and checked in they knew we were getting married; treated us like royalty and the next day we had a note under the door from the WC confirming our meeting. They are just so laid back and honestly there is no need to stress. I didnt even know anything about times, what to say etc until it all took place - once you are there you wont worry. 2.You will look beautiful and Stephen will think so too he already thinks you are beautiful thats why hes marrying you. I did my own make up and was most worried about skin tone as obviously I was hoping to have a much browner face than I went with - I found the best foundation and its really cheap the Max Factor skin colour adapt foundation i got a darker shade than i would use at home and it blended perfectly. Also I get spots on my chin but remember the sun will make your skin perfect!! 3. We had no music until the week before we left as we too didnt have 'our' song - FI likes Robbie Williams as do I of course so knew if I chose an artist he liked he would agree to the first dance song which in the end was ' Only u know me'. Walking down the aisle I chose Elbow Beautiful Day - because I knew it would be!! What artists / groups does your FI like maybe we could think of some first dance suggestions? 4. He WILL NOT hate your dress - men only expect the woman they are marrying to be in white - they have no other expectations; to men a wedding dress is a wedding dress they dont give it much thought. However when he sees the dress you have picked he will think it is the most beautiful dress and will be etched in his memory forever as what a wedding dress is - your beautiful dress. 5. We had this problem with AHR rsvps as we needed to know final numbers before we left - even close family didnt reply until my husband got stroppy over it - then we had 20 more people turn up than we expected! Broadcast on FB and also email people and just say if your name is not on the list you cannot come and generally people do reply. 6. I lost about a stone over the course of a year then as I got married in January, Christmas was upon us I ate and drank for England and did when I was out in Mexico as well. So on the day I got married I weighed nearly the same as I did when I said I was gonna lose 2 stone - lol!! Wedding dresses have a great way of holding you in, everyone looks and feels more confident with a tan, and the whole of your wedding guests will see you in a bikini before you walk up the aisle. Now my weddings over with I'm to put a pizza in the oven. xxxxxxxxxx

U will soon realise Thomas Cook & Thomson dont know their arse from their elbow!! lol

Hey ladies To put your mind at rest about document translation etc - just check with your hotel direct but as long as your name on your birth certificate is exactly as it appears on your passport you will be ok and wont need anything translating. My husband had to have his birth certificate and change of name deeds translated as he changed his name and this in total cost about £300. When you get to Mexico and sit down with your wedding co-ordinator you will see the amount of paperwork they have to do to make your wedding a legal one! It is colossal! One thing which I will say which is a bit of a hidden cost as me and I think the other Jo found out although your wedding is legal and you will leave with a copy of your wedding certificate this still doesnt make it legal here in the UK. You will have to pay the hotel an additional cost for them to have the other copy they have of your certificate apostilled so as you can use it as a legal document here in the UK it only costs about another £100 but its something all the travel agents forget to tell you!! This is how so many people get caught out years down the line and find out their wedding wasnt legal!! It can take up to 6 months to get back so you cant change your name until you have that document and then get it translated into English and apostilled back here. Oh and the blood test you have - our WC told us they say it is for HIV, pregnancy etc but it is actually to make sure you havent eloped to Mexico to marry a member of your family!! Its to check you are not related so rest assured on that front - lol :-) I had v little contact with my WC until we got there and even an hour before the wedding I had no idea how we got to the ceremony site what we had to say etc but with the sun, tequilla and fun all around you, you really wont care. My husband was just really worried he would get his spanish bit wrong as we both had to say 'si accepto' as in I do - he practised this all day as he kept saying 'si accepta' and our WC said please dont say that it means something completely different!! Josie xx

Hey ladies just checking in and saw a couple of points might be able to help you with: 1. They still accept peso and dollars like they always have done. If u use your credit card that will be calculated in dollars. 2. For those of you flying with Thomson we took our letter with us when we checked in about the additional luggage and there were no quibbles over anything but be warned.... You have to spread your extra 10kgs each over 2 bags ie; you will end up taking 6 bags if you use all your allowance and the 2 additional bags to your suitcase have to weigh exactly 5kgs each I cannot tell u how many times I rearranged our bags. 3. You WILL be charged for anything you are over on the way back. 4. The dolpins is a complete rip off compared to what it was when we went 3 years ago - you no longer can pay to have the photos they take printed off - they only put them on a CD and charge about $30 per photo. Its about $150 for an adult and thats if you go direct obviously more with the tour operator - our hotel was a stones throw from the marina at Puerto Aventuras so the rest of our guests booked direct. We didnt swim with them this time. They also do too many things now to try and cash in on the photos rather than swimming etc with them. xx

The disco is quite bad!!! But after a few drinks it seems ok! They played Michael Jacksons Black or White followed by a Gloria Estefan track - theres no mixing - lol! I'm sure your DJ could play some tracks from your ipod as we didnt have a DJ but played the ipod from the hotels speaker system and it was as good as any DJ. I had my acrylic nails done at the salon and they were quite good - not as good as back home - but she knew it was my wedding day and went that extra mile - the lady who did my nails spoke quite good english and she did a lot of the translating for another bride who was getting her hair done at the same time as the hairdresser didnt speak any english. I was lucky one of our BMs was a hairdresser! The prices in the salon are quite good about the same as here in London; as the prices in UK hotels are always ridiculous. x

For those of you having an AHR you MUST wear your dress again - everyone loved the fact we wore our outfits again; and the rest of the 15 who came with us did as well - we all chose to do it after a few too many Tequilas. Might go and pop it on again this morning - lol :-) Nicy - I'll dig some photos out from the AHR X

Hey I know this sounds harsh but this is your wedding it doesnt matter what colour they preferred if you have your heart set on a colour scheme you should just say well sorry ladies but I have chosen turquoise as my colour scheme and I'm sure we will be able to find something we all like in this colour. With regards to the dresses and one of your BMs being pregnant why dont you wait for a couple of months you will be suprised what you will find when you need to find something. Once you have said the colour is definately confirmed you can then carry on planning all the sashes, ties etc and then you wont be at a loose end x

Heres a few photos - if any of you are on Facebook please feel free to add me Jo 'Thomas' Stopps as you can then have a proper look at all the photos. Just let me know who you are :-)

Hey ladies I finally have some time to myself - it was an absolute whirlwind before we left and has been since we returned as we have our AHR just a week after we got back. I am soooooooo pleased we got married in Mexico and wouldnt have changed it for a thing. Heres a quick run down of my day. I shared the bed the night before our wedding with my 'HUSBANDS' sister she was one of your BMs and he spent the night in his brother room. We woke up and it was very warm but very overcast. I didnt really care as long as it wasnt raining! I went and got my nails done at the hotel spa at 9am as this was the only appointment they had and then met all the other ladies at 11am and we went down to the marina and watched the dolphins etc and had a spot of lunch. By lunch time a few in the group had a bit of the mexico tummy so were popping the immodiums - I suddenly got a very 'bubbly' feeling in my tummy which I convinced myself I should take an immodium for but everyone told me it was nerves. I hadnt felt nervous all week; we were getting married on the 10th day; then all of the sudden I was quite literally feeling like I was gonna poop my pants! Yes it was happening I was getting married today and it felt very surreal like it wasnt happening to me. Our WC told us they would come to my room at 3.45 and get me, my dad and 2 BMs so we went to the room at 1.30 to get ready. Honestly girls leave yourself so much time we only left 2 hours as the photographer was arriving at 3.30 and it flew by. So we waited for the WC assistant to walk us to the wedding ceremony site but the judge hadnt turned up yet!!! We were due to get married at 4pm and the judge turned up at 4.10. Then I had to walk around the pool area to get to the wedding ceremony site - soooooooooo embarassing everyone woo hooing and shouting things like 'go girl' - before I knew it - my shoes were off and I was walking barefoot down the aisle on my way to MY wedding. I couldnt tell u anything about walking down the aisle - its all a bit of a blur as I was pooping my pants. As soon as I got there it was fab; a relaxed ceremony lovely words and a few laughs as well. Buster tried to put my wedding ring on the wrong hand as I had moved my engagement ring to my right hand; he said 'u told me it goes on the same ring as your engagement ring' right in the middle of the service - everyone including the judge was laughing. The ceremony lasted approximately 20 minutes, we then had champagne on the beach, followed by the photos. We paid extra to have a private reception in the pure chill out bar. It was perfect, BBQ on the beach, then the speeches, cutting of the cake and our first dance. We then had a disco from music i downloaded onto the ipod; numerous shots and then onto the hotel disco. It was perfect. The sun came out for our wedding and our pictures are amazing and I can honestly say the 15 people who came with us all said it is the best wedding they have ever been to. Relaxed, sun and a perfect setting. Honestly your guests will love it. For me getting married at 4pm was fab; you have the day to relax and as the sun is setting you can get some amazing pictures. One thing I would say is try and make some time for you and your husband on your wedding day as everyone will want a piece of you. We did something quite unique and unplanned and will stay with us forever. After leaving the nightclub at 3am - we went down to the beach and threw Busters wedding ring into the sea; some of you may remember we got one for £5 from Argos as he wasnt going to wear it - he threw it into the sea at about 4am and we layed on the beach talking about how we felt leading up to the day and how the day went - yes we had a bit too much to drink - lol - but it was a full moon, the stars were out and we could hear the sea in the background. We then headed to the 24hr snack hut and ate a mountain of food, went back to our room which had a bath on the balcony; by this time it was 5am; sat in the bath drinking champagne and calling our friends back at home to tell them we were now married as they were all at work at it was 11am back here in the UK. We took loads of things with us but didnt have anything for the tables; word of advice dont bother trying to transport centre pieces etc; buy them out there - we got some mini mexican hats; one for each table and then got some maracas and a shot glass for everyone with a hand painted mexican design and put them in a circle around the hat - everyone loved it including Pilar. Also dont worry about anything - if it goes wrong you honestly wont notice - as I was walking down the aisle Pilar who was the sweetest person I have ever met started cyring, Buster asked her what was wrong and she said she had forgotten to put the coloured chair sashes I had given her on the chairs. He told her not to worry - I didnt even bloody notice until they told me afterwards. Getting married in Mexico was the best decision we ever made and is the happiest day of my life; I didnt care about the small details that I was worried about before - no-one will notice honestly. I will try and add a few photos for those of you who havent seen them on FB. Any questions please just ask - I've been there and done it - woo hoo - love Mrs Stopps!! xx Hope all your plans are coming together and hope you have half as much fun as I did x