HazelsMelody

Here are my invitations. I did everything myself, had them printed up at Staples, but I designed them, cut them all out and assembled them all on my own. I think I managed to keep it all under $180, envelopes and stamps included. I had so much fun making them!

Our wedding is at 11:30. We actually wanted an earlier wedding. We went to a destination wedding last year, at the Gran Bahia in Runaway Bay actually. ) And the wedding was at 3pm. And there was so much time during the morning and afternoon for the guests to play and party and half the guests (us included) were TOAST for the wedding... We were hanging out at the pool with the best man and his girlfriend, doing shots at the pool side bar and playing in the sun... and if we all made it through the ceremony it was a miracle, but dinner was at 6 and many people left early - too tired, too sun stroked, too much to drink, the groom's parents included. They also planned to go to the disco later in the evening and hardly anyone showed up! At least if your wedding is earlier, you can party WITH your guests later in the day and if they're all hammered, you will be too, so who cares. LOL

Quote: Originally Posted by skadow I just dont understand why some people have to be dificult! I understand that this is their vacation as well, but I am sure a lot of research was done by you ladies when you picked out the hotel and I dont think people relize this. There are very good reason why hotels are picked. I know that I considered food, expenses, proxy to other towns, amentities, services, and spent probably 50 hours reading reviews. I feel as tho I could start advertising for this hotel I am so fimilar with it by this point =) I just want to tell people...that just because the resort has a cheaper per night price, it doesnt mean the resort is cheaper! Value can be measured on a lot more levels then straight upfront cost. Plus come on....lets just play nicely and book with your family! Make the brides life a little easier. I am kinda to the point of just telling a few people the location of the hotel, the time of the ceromny and see you their if your interested! Amen to that! Well said! It's too bad you can't really tell some of your family members exactly that. Like, HELLO! I did all this research for you! My travel agent mentioned to us that our resort is a very popular resort, rated one of the best consistently over the past several years and because of this, does not tend to have these "sell off sales" that some resorts have, and it tends to book quickly. I actually put that on my website and I mentioned it to a few members of my fiancé's family who we know are waiting to watch for cheaper rates. Anyway, they at least decided to try and stay at the same resort just because of the day pass thing, they decided it would have been more expensive to stay elsewhere and get day passes. I never thought of it before, but I think I'm going to add that to my website as well, just in case there are more people thinking about that.

I've always been of the understanding that the shower gifts are from the girls. The girls attend the shower with their gifts and it's to you from her (even though it's really to both of you). The wedding gifts are to both from both. Now if you'd had a Jack and Jill shower, different story. That's just the way I see it anyway.

We are 10.5 years apart. I'm 30, he'll be 41 in a couple months.

Good to know information. It just occurred to me recently that both my tattoos will be very visible and I've wondered how "good" it will look. I might consider covering them up for the day, but then, how long does that cover up last? Will they be covered for the ceremony and immediately after or last all day?

Honestly, I haven't thought that far. We're still trying to nail down all of the details. At this point, probably just use the resort's photographer and rely on our guests for pictures, but who knows, might change our minds.

Mine came to $750 after taxes. I didn't want to spend any more than $1000, but I found this dress and had no idea how much it was. When I went to inquire about it at my bridal shop, I was SO pleased to to find out it was only $650!! ) I can't imagine spending oodles and oodles of money on a dress I'm only going to wear once (well, twice since I'll wear it at our at home reception as well).

This is my Alfred Angelo dress. It is #2000NT. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it - when I was looking for a bridesmaids dress for my sister's wedding. As soon as my fiancé proposed I was like, "I totally know my dress!!"

I'd love to see pictures of the beach gazebo with chairs as well! We haven't looked much into that, but we definitely want a beach wedding, however it works.

July 2010 truelove4life (Rhea & Curtis) - July 2010 - exact day and resort is yet to be determined Char & Gary - July 3, 2010 - Paradisus Varadero Sarah&Shaun - 12th July 2010 - Iberostar Varadero Oct 2010 Crystalballl - October 20, 2010 - Playa Pesquero, Holguin HopelesslyBlissful - October 10th, 2010 - Blau Costa Verde, Holguin Stephanie & Travis - October 25, 2010 - Melia Varadero December 2010 Krishna69z - December 1, 2010 - Iberostar Laguna Azul AliciaM - December 2, 2010 - Iberostar Laguna Azul Richard and Mary (richardparent) - week of Nov 27th- Dec 3d- Melia las Dunas Lisa1981 - December 9 2010 - Iberostar Laguna Azul Fireweed - December 20th, Sirenis la Salina February 2011 Alexsbride-Feb.4, 2011 Sirenis La Salina, Varadero, Cuba. Weeks of Feb.1-14 Lindslou - Feb 15 2011 Sirenis Playa Turquesa, Holguin March 2011 Bryan and Kelsey (islandbride_2011) - March 6th - 14th Iberostar Varadero Albert and Suzanne (HazelsMelody) - March 25, 2011 - Iberostar Varadero May 2011 Ron and Mel - Iberostar Laguna Azul - week of April 30th to May 7th Janet and Larry JNL- Iberostar laguna Azul - week May 1 to May 8th

I emailed her yesterday afternoon, but haven't heard back just yet. It's good to know that she's good at getting back quickly. I've seen on here that some wedding coordinators are so busy that they take awhile to reply. I'm so excited. My brain is overloaded now with all the stuff I can finally get to! It's very funny that we're both going around the same time! Same month anyway. )

We booked our trip this afternoon!!! Iberostar Varadero it is! SO SO SO excited!!! )

I decided to go with the blue bag. I like the idea of the plastic bag better... but the blue looks nicer with our colours. I got 17 in total, cleaned them all out of the blue, but the cashier said it's a regular summer stock, so keep checking back. 17 is probably good, but I'll get a couple more, just in case. Thanks for the input! )

Ooh I'm so excited! I went and ordered my wedding dress today!! I'm quite nervous, because I fell in love with the picture last summer when I was looking for bridesmaids dresses for my sister's wedding. Things were going well with my then boyfriend, so I kept the dress in mind and then when he proposed I'm like, I have my dress!!! However, I've never seen what it looks like on me... :oS And to make matters worse, I'm currently 6 months pregnant! LOL I was smart though, I went to my bridal shop and spoke with the girls there earlier on in my pregnancy, before I started showing, and they took my measurements. So we ordered it today based on my pre-pregnancy size plus one size. It can be taken in. I don't know if I'm more nervous or more excited!! LOL

So, I went shopping yesterday and came across these two bags at the Dollarama. I love them both, but now I'm stuck as to which one I should go with! The Canada bag is cute because it's Canada, and we'll be in Cuba. It's plastic, so it's waterproof, it'll keep cameras etc. dry at the pool and beach, but like my fiancé pointed out, if you don't take your wet stuff out after, it stays wet. The mesh bag is more our colour, ours is dark teal, but this is close. It would allow wet stuff inside it to dry, but wouldn't protect stuff from getting wet. He thinks people may be more apt to reuse the blue bag afterward as well. Which one would you girls go with? I'm honestly torn, but I want to make my decision so I can go buy them before they're all gone.

Never been to Cuba. We narrowed it down to Cuba as it was one of the least expensive places to go from here. We were deciding between Iberostar Laguna Azul, Iberostar Varadero and Paradisus Varadero. We keep flipping back and forth between them, nothing as yet. But we'll see. All three of them look like beautiful resorts.

It's unofficial as yet, but I *think* we're getting married at the Iberostar Varadero. We don't have our booking yet, but our travel agent has talked to the wedding coordinator and found out that there's a day available for our ceremony. But it's not until March 25,2011, so it's a little later than yours. I am interested, though, if there are any other Iberostar Varadero brides out there?? There certainly doesn't seem to be...

I LOVE the bottle opener idea!! I may have to store that idea away for later. )

I think registering is a great idea, even if it's a small registry. Some people like giving gifts so it gives them the opportunity. And hey, if you don't expect anything at all, then if anybody does send gifts, it's all the better.

Those are awesome!! They look very professional! I'd go for white envelope.

Great job! Those look so fun and tropical!

You know what I'm having trouble with - just the estimation of how many bags to make. I'll be doing one per couple and one per single as well. But we haven't booked anything yet, if we go on the dates we want to, then we're only 10 months away and I've wanted to start collecting stuff for the OOT Bags to kind of spread out the costs a bit. But who knows for sure how many are coming. Could be as few as 10-15 or as many as 40 if everyone who was interested actually comes. But I guess it'd be best to aim higher and have extra stuff than not enough...

Those are very cute! I'll have to include more than one in some bags for sure!! I'm sure some of my guests will have LOTS of tears of joy! LOL

Ooh! I love the photoshoot idea!! If I were a maid of honour, I'd love that gift!