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Hey Ladies! Â I've been MIA again for awhile but wanted to check in and say hi and to all the noobs. I've been really busy and this past weekend I had my bachelorette party and bridal shower. I had a blast!! The pics are on facebook for those of you who want to see them (Meredith Caughman). Â I wanted to do a multiquote, but it took me 2 days to catch up and I didn't want to have to go back through the posts. Â Jamie, you asked about my BD shoot. I'm actually trying to reschedule that with Christine now. I was supposed to do it Labor Day weekend but with FFIL's passing I didn't want to leave FI alone to fly out and do it. I think it will be the weekend of October 15 so when I get that confirmed I'll let you know how that goes.

I have a question for you ladies that recently made you final payment to the resort. Were they on time with this? Â I'm asking because our final payment for our rooms is due the same day our final payment is due to the resort. I want to make sure the number of our guests doesn't change and possibly offer them a choice of entrees since I didn't think about that before we sent out invites.

Quote: Originally Posted by herbie76 Hi Ladies, I have just had my date confirmed for our wedding at Sensatori resort, it is 2nd August 2011 at 3pm. Soooooo excited This forum could likely become one of your best assets during this process. I would be lost without it! Â That's basically been my plan about everything else I have to take care of. I don't even have the energy to go back and forth anymore. If our menu didn't determine our final payment, I wouldn't even deal with them for that either. Â Thanks for the info!! Â What do you need help with?

Quote: Originally Posted by beaz2be Okay ladies, I am writing this post in a hopes to affirm something for myself. I have been feeling and expressing a lot of negativity over my wedding this past week or two. Â So... I am writing it on here to have you guys help hold me accountable. I WILL have a positive outlook on things. I love the positive attitude. Sadly, that's what will keep you sane during this process. I'm exactly 2 months out now and I've really been on cruise control. You just have to realize that some people will not remember what your programs looked like or whether or not your centerpieces were fab. What they will remember is their overall experience and unless they're just Debbie Downers you cannot go wrong in that department. Keep looking at the brighter side if things and when you do feel yourself losing control, step back, take a deep breath and remember what is important. You are marrying the man of your dreams and that's all that matters. I think we all lose sight of that from time to time and that's normal but to regain sanity, you have to put things into perspective. Â Quote: Originally Posted by MaggieandJay Girl, I can honestly say that you are not crazy and I went thru a 2 week period back when the resort wasn't finalized and I would cry everynight or get mad and I felt like this wasn't fun and I should never have done it, yada yada. My FI thought I was INSANE. I think we all go through the insanity spell and it definitely helps for you to latch onto those who are genuinely excited for you and your FI and that are excited about Mexico. Later than sooner I came to the realization that I don't really care anymore who comes to our wedding or who complains about the fact that we're doing it the way we want to do it. As long as FI and I make it to Mexico, everyone else is just lagniappe (something extra). Â It's interesting that people get told different things. I was never told that the signature drink is just champagne. Problem is, I've never discussed it with my new WC, just my old one that MIA now. It will be interesting when our final payment is due. I'm NOT paying for that. Â Those are amazing prices!!! I wish!

Thank you all for the condolences. FI is doing a little bit better. It was such a shock and I'm not sure if the reality of it all has set in yet, but this is definitely going to make our wedding much more emotional. I just hope that it isn't too much for the family to bear right now. I offered to postpone everything and FI didn't want to do that, so we'll see how the next couple months go. Â Quote: Originally Posted by JaimeCF2BR Ok, I've put a lot of my photos (with descriptions) in an album. I'm not sure if I am linking it correctly, so let me know if you can't get to it. Great pics!! So thorough!! Thanks. Â I can say that you have time, not much time, but you have time. I was behind schedule with picking my dress also. I ordered in the middle of April and it just came in Tuesday, so 5 months. I would say that you should get it done before November definitely. I was getting nervous that mine wouldn't be in on time. Â You may not want me to get started on this topic but I'l try to remain calm. Â Carolina is also my WC and she was all on top of her stuff when we first spoke (a month after she was assigned to me) and now frankly she has fallen off completely. I am still waiting on info I requested 3 weeks ago and negotiating....good luck. I really don't think she has the time to go to bat for anyone these days. However, I was told the same thing about flowers by both Carolina and my old WC Cecile, in her defense. So, I decided to go the real touch route. It will probably be a hassle when bringing all of that stuff with us, but I refuse to pay $300 for a bouquet!! One thing I would point out is that when I started planning everyone raved about Fabio and said that if you can't get something done through your WC, email him. Well, that hasn't been too good for me either. On more than one occasion I've emailed him and it takes my TA to step in for him to respond to me. Like I said a few days ago, it's interesting how some brides get answers and some don't. Â I'm sorry you're going through this. Hopefully he will come to his senses and look at it as a once in a lifetime thing that the two of you deserve to experience together. I know money becomes a huge issue when so much of it is being spent in such a short time. It will blow over soon and these are trials that you will go through to make your relationship stronger. Â I hope everything works out. I know it sucks to have this stress on top of wedding stress and possibly work stress. Â Quote: Originally Posted by daniepps I was told there was no way to pick onsite since everything is paid for before you go. I also had to have some type of place cards that let the waiters know who was getting what meal. So when I sent my pre-wedding brochure I gave my guests both meal options and a date that we needed their decision. I guess this would have been a valuable thing to know BEFORE I mailed the invites!! (deep breath) I guess my guests won't get options now...oh well!

Forgot one other thing.... Â Chong, I liked the idea of the flying lanterns when I first saw them in the beginning stages of my planning. I didn't quite know how to tie it in though. Now that my fiance's father has passed away I'm thinking it may be nice to send one up in memory of him. It seems you have more luck with getting your questions answered so, if you find out about whether they're allowed or not, please let me know. Thanks!!

Ok, still attempting to catch up! Gonna try this again I know there are some things that I clicked to multi quote but they didn't all copy over. So, if I missed anything....sorry. Â I did want to comment on someone's complaint about their WC (sorry can't remember who it was). I feel your pain. I asked for something as simple as a link to the website for the live webcam feed that comes with the Sky Wedding about a month ago and I still don't have it. She sent me a link that did not work. I was about to include it on my invites but something told me to check it out 1st and I'm glad I did!! Emailed her back and she seemed surprised it wasn't functional but I haven't heard from her since. Plus, I emailed Fabio in hopes that he could clear some things up for me since Carolina is so "busy" but it's been 2 weeks without a response from him either. Too bad one of you ladies mentioned that he emailed you back last week so I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that they're choosy! My wedding is 2 months away and final payment is due in 2 weeks. Do you think someone would want to respond to me?! So, to answer your question, maybe you can get a better response by calling, but I'm thinking that it doesn't matter how far away your wedding is. If it weren't for BDW, I'd be pulling my hair out right now. I've just decided to try my luck with the on-site coordinators and see what happens. Â Thanks for sharing and I too love your dress!! Â Just an FYI, I was also scared about walking on the wooden plank so I asked them to remove it. I know this may not work for those getting married on the sand, but I just thought I'd let others know it is possible to have the white runner alone. Â I know I'm late but I hope you're having lots of fun. I had to cancel my shoot due to my fiance's father's death but I may try to reschedule for some time in October. I'll keep you posted. Â I hope you get all of that figured out but I too feel that is really steep! If you spend that much money you can just go to Zoetry or Banyan Tree Mayokoba! That quote had to have gotten lost in translation somewhere. Â Quote: Originally Posted by MaggieandJay My invitations turned out SOOOOO awesome. I am in love with them Very nice! I like them and I'm glad you are "in love with them"!!! That's always a plus when your efforts pay off like that. Â I can commiserate with you. I say DO NOT let them get away with that. Think of all the people they have done that to and gotten away with it. I think this is absurd that a company as large as theirs will try to find loopholes to cheat people out of money. They know that $50 will not make them or break them but that may be a different story for your guests that were banking on that. Ugh! Where has customer service gone?! Â Thanks to all of you that have extended your condolences. We are definitely going through a rough time right now but I truly appreciate!! Â I just want to let you know that everytime I hear that song now I think of you!

Hello Ladies,  I've been MIA so please bear with me while I catch up. Unfortunately, my future father in law passed away unexpectedly last week and I have been tending to family stuff. We have also been back and forth on the road from Georgia so I'm just able to check in. For a minute I was expecting to have to postpone our wedding and/or change plans all together since it was such a shock, but FI is on board with continuing with our plans as is. So, forgive me if I beat a dead horse and comment on things that have been resolved, etc.  I hope this all worked out when she went back to school. Kids have it hard enough without having to worry about people picking on them.  I'm glad you're able to check something off your list. What's next?!  Thanks for the review!! Definitely good info.  So, I'm thining I've never seen the movie (although I thought I watched it in high school) but I don't think it's cheesy. I kinda like it too! Very nice choice.  Very good point, I'm glad that you mentioned this. I wouldn't have thought about that.  Quote: Originally Posted by beaz2be Ladies,  My TA has me all freaked out because she keeps talking about how the resort is almost fully booked etc. (prices are skyrocketing and so on). Anyone have any insight to share? I'm sorry, this sounds like an exaggeration to me too. Maybe a little fuel to make people rush to book?  Really cute and lots of choices available. I just went with plain round ones but I really like the shapes. Let me know when you go to get your. I may have you pick some up for me too.  Quote: Originally Posted by TLGnhci  And big news girls, I BOUGHT MY DRESS TODAY! It is beautiful and I am so excited for my wedding now. ) Congrats!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by daniepps  Did anyone qualify for the Bride and Groom Stay free promotion and if so how long did it take you to get your refund? I wasn't aware that was how it was going to work. We qualify but we booked the free foom for our photog. I was told we were paid in full from the TA so I'm assuming she deals with the refund with the resort. Maybe I need to double check this.  Welcome back!  You're lucky. I haven't served yet, but I'm sure just because I'm typing it now I'll be called soon  I like the Mori Lee the best and of course you know I'm going to choose the dark purple. Keep in mind it taked them like 10 weeks to come in. I know you have time but just wanted to make sure I told you that.  I'm glad you found a bouquet!  PM'ing you now  I've been wondering how things are going with your daughter and that awful situation.

I know I'm late but I love sooo many of your elements! Great job!!

Thanks for sharing I needed this!! They came out great.

Quote: Originally Posted by beaz2be  Just thought I'd voice an idea on the guest book thing. It's not really DW focused or anything (and would require someone to be "in charge" of the carry-on. .... But I'm planning to probably do a clay platter for a guest book. Everyone signs it with permanent markers and when you get home you bake them in the oven to set it all. Welcome back! Hope you had a blast. Very unique idea about the guest book.  Quote: Originally Posted by msmarmar123 One more suggestion..I think this is what I 'm going to wind up doing.... http://www.guestbookstore.com/  This is what I was looking for forever! Oh well, hopefully my MOH understood what I wanted and got something similar. I sent her the link just in case tho! Lol.  Quote: Originally Posted by msmarmar123 Has anyone heard of wedit.com?  What is wedit? I tried pulling it up and it just had Facebook stuff which I can't pull up from work.  When I signed my contract Caribe and Matias were the only resort photogs available that you did not have to pay the putside vendor fee for. I know that some brides have used Mexican photogs prior to this and even more recently. I would say ask for whoever you want and try to negotiate even if they say no at first. Just be prepared to pay the $500 or have them stay 3 nights. Pricewise, for us it didn't make sense so we're bringing one from The States, but maybe you can find one you like that they'll approve.

Quote: Originally Posted by JaimeCF2BR Â Oh, I wish I could lie and say I did these myself. I had tons of great ideas in my head, but could not get them on paper. No artistic ability at all! Well, IMO, it was worth going over budget. They're really nice! Â Congrats! Â Quote: Originally Posted by mzgillis316 HI I specifically remember talking with Cecile about this and made sure I saved the email. BUt I was told that as long as you are having a private event the day passes were free. You may want to talk with you WC about this I hadn't heard of this, but if anyone finds out, can you update us?! Â I noticed this too but was told it was only Caribe and Matias that we could choose from. Never really got an explanation although I did inquire. Â Thanks Chong. The ladies here had some good suggestions, so I'm going to pay for my mom to have a massage at the resort when we get there and I'm going to go shopping while in Houston. I think I'm also going to do the engraved picture frame with our pic after the wedding. Â I gave this task to my MOH and she found a place that does custom books and you can customize the pages. I didn't want a book where people just sign their names. I wanted something where people could write out messages/advice. Here's the site http://www.jennibick.com/. HTH! Â Quote: Originally Posted by thefuturemrslutz Hey chong!! Ryan had a guest book made of our engagement pictures. If you are interested, lemme know, and i will get you the company's name that he used. It turned out gorgeous! My other thought was to have a little photo booth set up. Just get a cute polaroid camera and have people take pics of themselves and write a little note. You could do a video guest book as well. I also did the postcard thing. I put an addressed postcard in the oot bags and had everyone write a note and mail it back to us. However, out of 50 people, I've only gotten 3 back. Hope this helps! That Ryan! Always has good ideas!

Quote: Originally Posted by msmarmar123 Sorry guys....my TA read it wrong...that would have been great...unlimited UNCOVERED chairs...srtill have to pay for covers.... Thanks for the update! Â Thanks for your kind words. I needed them! Â I agree that an outside wedding planner isn't necessary. I was about to go that route and I'm glad I didn't. All you need is a TA. Â Try Andrew Jordan based in Cleveland. He has a house in Riviera Maya so he doesn't need a place to stay. He's really nice, quoted me a very reasonable price and is willing to negotiate. Also, the outside vendor fee is for ANY outside vendor you use that isn't staying at the resort for a minimum of 3 nights. Â TA's generally don't charge a fee. They get paid from the resort. I think with destinationweddings.com you have to pay like $50 just to show them you're really serious. Â Conratulations MRS!!! I'm so glad to hear everything went great. Can't wait to see your pics!! Â Â Quote: Originally Posted by MaggieandJay Hello Ladies! big prgress today! First my dress is in and I pick it up Sat. I am then going to store it at a friends house till March when I see if we need alterations. Second Booked my BD shoot for March with Chrstine Tremoulet here is Houston. Very excited about that! Third All the inviations are stuff, labeled and ready. They just need my TA's booking instruction letter and I am ready to mail these bad boys! Fourth Deposits on room have been made by all essential family members coming so rooms are booked Fifth I am really liking my WC Maria Fay - She has been getting back to me so qick and we have most of the detail sheet worked out on details. Just Need numbers Sixth Ordered my Thank you for booking Thank You cards with our monogram on them! WHEW Wow! You got a lot done. I'll let you know how it was with Christine. Â Very nice! Did you do these yourself?

Quote: Originally Posted by lisadias The closest thing i could find was a burgundy which looks like a deep purple in the satin overlays  http://www.tableclothsfactory.com/Satin-Overlay-90-Burgundy-p/tab_stn_ovr90-burg.htm No, that won't work. But thanks for checking for me. I appreciate it!

Thanks for all of your gift suggestions! I really appreciate it and I guess you'll find out how that goes if I can ever get a planning thread together.  On another note, WARNING...here comes my rant  So, last week was the first time I spoke to Carolina and I have to say she seems very organized and nice but I think she was brushing me off. We went over all the details of our wedding and she gave me some pointers and sent me some links of helpful info. But now that I look back on it, nothing that I wanted negotiated was she successful with. She kind of shut me down on some things because she said she "knew" they weren't going to budge on them so I let them go. My main gripe, however, was the chiviari chairs!! She emailed me today and said that after a week of negotiating (which I really wonder if she did) they will not come down on the price. I refuse to pay $12/chair ($1200 total for the wedding and reception) BUT I really want them! I even negotiated with myself and said that I would only pay for them to be at one event even if they didn't come down on the price but honestly I'M PISSED! I know for a fact that some of you ladies have gotten the price down on the chairs, therefore I know someone is lying or playing hardball. I'm not an overly pushy person, so I have not pressed the negotiating issue on anything else that they turned me down on but this really makes me mad!!  We aren't using most of the stuff given in the pearl or the sky ceremony packages. We're bringing our own minister (I know that's like $400 saved right there). The fans they say are "personalized" for the sky aren't that at all. I just found out they're black an white which we can't use, so that's another thing I have to buy. The "personalized" programs aren't that nice IMO, so I'm making my own. They quoted me $300 for bouquets that I wanted so I'm bringing my own and my plan was to use the $50 bouquet that's included in the package as a toss bouquet (which kinda sucks because the person won't be able to keep it) but that was included free with the bouquets I had to purchase so I won't be using that either. Then, I find out from AmyKH that the damn live streaming of the wedding didn't even work for her and that was one of the ways I was able to justify the additional cost of the Sky Wedding to my FI!!  I am just so outdone that they won't go down on the chairs for me considering all of this. I haven't gotten a break on anything else price-wise except the cocktail party. I know I signed up for this and these chairs aren't "necessary" but thinking about it just makes me mad. Sorry for the rant but I just had to say something.

Quote: Originally Posted by daniepps I thought you only gave parents gifts if they contributed Sorry if I'm no help. No. Thanks for your insight. I really wanted to get my mom something nice because she's doing my bridal shower and she bought my dress. That alone was thousands of dollars although she didn't directly contribute to the wedding. FI's parents on the other hand have not contributed at all but from what I'm hearing they plan to give us a lump sum of money for a wedding gift Wish it would come BEFORE but I digress!  This is an amazing suggestion! I think I may get my mom a massage the day of the wedding. Thanks for the suggestion!  That was DEFINITELY a gift....and a good one at that!  Thanks. I may do this in addition to the massage.  I actually bought one for each of our mothers from Oriental Trading but they were like $5 so I kinda wanted to do something in addition.  I agree. I am a big gift giver and I would have given them something regardless of their contribution. However, I feel my mom is entitled to something bigger than his parents because not only did she surprise me and pay for my dress, she has been doing a lot of the running around and crafty projects that I dream up. In their defense, FI's parents did offer to pay for a rehearsal dinner. However, I have to laugh at this because it's an all-inclusive resort but whatever I guess.  Loved the pic! Even though I second guess myself about my color choice sometimes, everytime I see it I get happy. Crazy, I know.  Quote: Originally Posted by bigboponthebeach   Meredith...check out Etsy and see what they have as far as personalized address books. They have a wide array of nice ones there that you can have personalized in every way imaginable. I am 100% positive that all of my gifts to the parents, BM's, and GM's will come from that site. Thanks! I'm going to check it out tonite.  I would rather vacation also but FI is pretty big on gift giving and I have to admit he's pretty good at it so sometimes I just submit. Lol! He wasn't planning on getting his parents anything and asked me if it was customary and I wasn't sure. I just felt like it would be wrong to present my mom with a gift (we plan to do it at our cocktail party) and not give his parents anything.

Dark purple/Lapis Â

Quote: Originally Posted by lisadias I think they are cheaper on this site. check it out! Â http://www.tableclothsfactory.com/tablecloths-Table-Linens-Chair-Covers-Sashes-s/5.htm Thanks! These are cheaper if you are buying less but they don't have the color I need. Â

Hi Ladies! Â Hope you all had a great weekend! I was wondering if any of you had suggestions for gifts for our parents. I want them to be somewhat sentimental and I am having a really hard time coming up with ideas. FI has been zero help in this area. His mom mentioned to ME that she needed a new address book (she's very computer illiterate) and that's the only idea he keeps giving me ! So let me know what you brides are doing/have done. Thanks!!

Sashes - www.cvlinens.com  These were the cheapest I found (well actually another bride posted it on a different thread). $0.79 for 100+ $0.85 for 50+

Hi, Â I'm getting married November 12 so I'm not sure if it would be pushing it to send you what I have but I will most probably have purple chair sashes and white parasols to sell when I'm done.

Quote: Originally Posted by 4therestofmylife For anyone looking for sashes or any other linens in colors that they can't find -- I found CV linens... www.cvlinens.com Thanks for the site. They're cheaper than the ones I found on ebay!

Quote: Originally Posted by murmel  Your dress is really pretty!  Thanks Wendy! I'm sure Andrew will come thru....he better!!  Cute stuff! Thanks!  You're just having bad luck with this stuff huh? Lol.  I would NOT call you paranoid! I have posted on the "confessions" thread and I'm just waiting for someone to find it and confront me about it all. I would've changed my username too!

 I agree with just going with your vision. My wedding will be more formal (formal gowns and tuxes) and honestly I was scared it would be too formal for a DW but I always envisioned my wedding a certain way and that was something I didn't want to lose. So, my dress is formal but the dresses I've seen that aren't still look nice for the most part. As long as you keep things constant throughout it will be fine.  I think both dresses are really nice! Quote: Originally Posted by TLGnhci  I'm excited girls. I've been working with a friend of mine and I believe have finalized our invitations. ) My mom and I are going to embellish them with raffia ties and sand dollars. What do you all think? I loved the ideas on here with the passports but I wanted to skip the save the dates and thought it would be quicker to just make something less elaborate. But, I think she did a fabulous job and I am very happy with them! Really cute!  Quote: Originally Posted by TLGnhci Yikes ~ Big news!! Just read on the forum that Mexicana Airlines has filed bankruptcy! DO NOT book with them and if you have guests booked through them, you may want to check it out. I was considering them for our airfare. Glad I have this forum!! Thanks for the tip!! Their prices were sky high when we looked into them so I doubt any of my guests booked thru them though.  Congrats!!!! Quote: Originally Posted by beaz2be  I'm going away on vacation tomorrow!!! Have fun!!!!!!!  Quote: Originally Posted by mmc1105 Good for you! It'll be so empowering I"m still trying to decide whether or not to get married before we get to Mexico... I'm not sure I want to do the blood test and everything once we're there. Any advice? Are you glad you got legally married before? Not sure what to do Thanks! We're also getting married before but NOT making a big deal of it. I also wanted to keep it a secret but my uncle is officiating and I was scared it would get back to my mom (a traditional Catholic) and I'd rather she heard it from me. Then since I told my mom FI told his, otherwise no one would have known.  Some people say the darndest things  I say fight for the rate you were promised. Did you sign? Are you bound by the contract to stay with them? If not threaten to take your business elsewhere.  I hope this works out fou you. You definitely have ample time to get your dress perfect!  I love your inspiration board and the colors you chose! I'll keep my eyes open for stuff you can use. I just purchased some bouquets on debbiecoflowers.com and they have pink orchids in them and they were fairly inexpensive. They also have burgundy orchids available but they are real touch. If you want fresh ones I'm sure it will be much more expensive.  Quote: Originally Posted by gom4good Hi All Im very new to the site and have been trawling through pages and pages of previous posts- all very inspiring!  I have a couple of questions that you may be able to help me with...  I booked my wedding 4 months ago through my local travel agent for June next year and have so far had no contact with the hotel or been told who will be my wedding planner is. Can anyone tell me how long they waited to be sent any infomation regarding choices for the day? and how do I go about getting a wedding planner? does anyone have any names/numbers/email addresses for the hotel?  Any advice at this stage would be great as I would really like to start getting things organised and find out what choices i have for example flowers/colors/drinks/food etc  Thanks ladies xx Definitely have your TA give you the info you need about your particular WC. The manager's email is [email protected] and his name is Fabio. However, I emailed him with a similar issue and I still had to email my WC directly.  Never heard of that....weird.  I'm doing dark purple/lapis!!! Our accent colors are bronze, our mothers/aunts are wearing champagne and our bouquets have lime green in them and we're bringing in white to lighten everything up. PM me your email and I can send you the inspiration board that BigBop did for me.