CanadianLindsey

We requested our ceremony hanging flowers be brought to the reception for our guest book table decor, and it was done at no extra charge.

My husband watches it with me too, we like to bet on reality shows for who makes dinner or back massages! He keeps claiming he is going to leave half way through,because it is so bad, but he never does!! I must admit though, Brad is pretty hard to watch! Very corny, boring dates and what's with the constant therapsit chats?! My coworker told me about this blog, it's really funny and the writer notices so many little details. I read it every Tuesday morning for a good laugh http://therosereport-karol.blogspot.com/2011/01/everybodywomacks-back-alright.html

Honestly, no different, but we have been together for 8 years so I didn't expect things to really change!! Although it does occur to me that I am married and make me smile when I notice my husband's ring on his finger!

Our guests loved them, one GM even giggled like a little girl with joy when we gave it to him!! Most resorts don't provide medicine, sunscreen, aloe or the other items we handed out and I know all of our guests used their OOT bag contents. You can personalize them however you want, big or small since it's something your guests won't expect, even adding practical items like luggage tags and a spanish translation book to your itneraries would be thoughtful and apprecited I'm sure. It doesn't have to be a "bag". We handed ours out before we left so we only had to pack 3 with us for our international guests. It is a personal choice for sure, but I like DIYs and gift giving so I found it fun. And it was a nice extra way to say how much we appreciated the few friends and family who came to our wedding and we didn't spend a lot on them(for 24 guests we maybe spend $100, most stuff we got on sale or a $ stores).

While I was married near Cancun at an AI resort and can't answer any Cabo specific questions, I can tell you I had my parents and my own suitcase filled with wedding stuff and had no problem entering Mexico. We brought candles, favors, a slide show projector, disposable cameras, fabric for decor, vases, wooden trays for our programs, etc and I brought receipts just in case but had no problem. We used the WC onsite and had no problem, but did get a friend to over see everything for us. To keep costs down we didn't have an AHR, had minimal decor-since the scenery it self is so beautiful-and reused our gazebo flowers and bouqets as centrepieces at the reception. We also didn't hire a dj and just had our guests pick a few songs each and made an ipod playlist that we played on a rented stereo. It was one of our best moneysavers($250 to rent stereo versus $1000+ for a dj) and everyone loved the personalized music! We splurged on a photographer and it was well worth it. We do wish we would have gotten a video made too since we can't remember any of our ceremony, we were so excited and nervous it was a blur! We did one optional day trip to a snorkelling spot but otherwise just made informal meeting places at the beach or pools and let everyone meet up when they wanted and just enjoy the resort. We tried to have at least one dinner with each group/couple too. As for your famillies travel fears, check out other threads on travel to Mexico and you'll see this is a common problem with wedding guests. As long as you and your FI are ok with your location, there is not a lot you can do. Some people are just nervous to travel and all you can do is answer their questions and let them figure it out. Honestly the part of Mexico your going to is pretty safe, all the tourist locations are well policed and run since that is their main industry. Good luck and congrats on becoming a DW bride, it's so much fun!! I wish I could do it again tomorrow!

For the ladies you could do: cheap flip flops, little romance novels, word game/sudoku books, nail polish remover wipes, make up remover wipes, beach inspired nail files or polish, inflatable pillows for beach or plane...

I got this sense of calm when I saw my BM and mom running around in my hotel room getting ready and I was able to just sit on my balcony with my Dad for a bit. It really started to sink in that this was my wedding day. Then when we waited outside my room for the WC to pick us up to go to the ceremony site, it felt so real and I got super excited! Before that it just felt like I was planning a party for everyone and was on vacation!

Sounds like the best solution to me! You don't need this kind of stress a few months before your wedding. Just say "these are the BM dresses. If you want to be a BM then wear it. If you don't like it, then don't be apart of MY day!!!" But to put the issue to total rest, maybe you can get someone that you are all close with to talk to them (your FI, mom, dad). Are they perhaps jealous of you getting married first, because I have seen other sisters do this too(my cousin, who is the youngest sister, got married first and the older sisters bought different dresses to wear 3 days before the wedding!! I think the bride had given up fighting them at this point, but it looked very odd and obvious since everything about the wedding was pale blue and the BM were wearing bright purple!!)

Here are my small wedding details: We had 24 guests after inviting close to 60. 9 were in the wedding, including us, and we had 2 MC's too! We had private events after our ceremony and just rented a stereo to play our i pod on for the dance. It was about $350 for cocktail hour with appetizers and $650 for our private dinner and it was totally worth it for us to have the private wedding feel we wanted. Everyone danced and partied until the private event ended at 11pm, then we moved the party to the resorts disco. We didn't have a cake for totally different reasons(I have celiac's), but we still did programs, the garter and bouqet toss, first dance and father/daughter dance, guest book(memory postcards), speeches, slideshow, etc. I think AHR are a waste...it would have cut into our DW budget and I honestly had no desire to have one just to appease people who couldn't come(luckily our must have people were all able to come to our DW, or I may feel differently about AHRs!), so we had everything we ever wanted in a wedding and it was on a beach in Mexico, the best of both worlds!! I highly recommed putting all your eggs into your one "beach" basket girls!

I'm not sure on prices, but I know one of the Azul resorts, Azul Beach http://www.karismahotels.com/resort/azul-villa-carola-karisma has a private villa on the resort so your guests have the option to stay at the resort or villa and you can pick an AI plan at the villa or do your own cooking. The villa looks gorgeous and it has great wedding ceremony locations.

We did our ceremony on the beach under a fabric draped gazebo and then had a cocktail hour at the poolside health bar and our reception under a palapa beside another pool. We had 25 people total and just did 4 round tables with 5-8 people at each table. No head table. It was nice and intimate and this way we got to have our wedding party sit with us. Also, for our ceremony, we set up 8 chairs on each side and didn't care who sat where. This eliminated the unbalanced sides since my FI only had his parents and I had parents, granparents, cousins and siblings.

You said it perfectly! No matter how much you dress up a church or a hall, it's just so boring! DW are an experience, not just another Saturday night out.

I jokingly tried to confince my FI to take my last name...I'm Scottish and he loves Braveheart...but he wouldn't do it! Funny that he thought it was absurd to change his name but just expected me to change mine. While I am taking his last name, I would love to keep my maiden as a middle name, but I already have 2 middle names and it would just be too much. As a compromise we agreed to give our kids a shortened version of my maiden name as middle names. On a side note, why does every phone, credit card and utilites company make it so difficult to change a last name?!

I hope you post a picture of you wearing it on your wedding day! It looks beautiful and very detailed! It will look amazing from every angle!

We didn't hire a videographer and I do regret it. My Uncle taped the ceremony with his camera, but you can't really hear anything because of the waves crashing on the rocks and he had to video it in 4 shorter videos b/c of his camera. We wished we had a video because the whole ceremony was such a blur for my husband and I. Between excitement and nerves, the whole day just flew by. It would have been nice to have a good video to remember it all, especially our vows!! On the flip side, I would not have paid thousands of dollars for this, maybe just bought a really good quality camera and tested it out before going to know sound would be picked up. I don't know if I am helping you at all here!!

El Dorado Royale-huge resort with lots of pools, beach beds, restaurants(no buffets or reservations!!) in a lush tropical setting so you never feel bothered by other guests. Rooms all have jacuzzi's and the swim up suite was a splurge worth getting! Best feature has to be 24 hour room service!!

Oh, please don't feel like your wasting your time by being beautiful and dressed up on your wedding day. Think of the photos that you will share with friends and family once your home and maybe even your future children. It breaks my heart to think of you girls letting potential guests ruin your wedding day like this. I picked out my wedding dress with the intention of looking beautiful for myself and my FI. He will still be at the front of that aisle waiting to see his future wife, so don't feel silly about your dress and shoes, feel excited and happy!!!

That is so disgusting and terrible that you had to fly on a dirty puke plane! And I thought it was bad we had to stop in Montana to refuel on the way home-2 hour detour with no extra supplies on the plane-so the bathroom reeked! I had written a complaint to Sunwing in December about all our horrible service and issues and still haven't heard back with any explanation or apology. We had the same problem with the EDR Sunwing Rep calling all my guests to make them book an excursion together. Is there a place to review Sunwing on BDW? I give them 0 stars!!!

Read reviews from past brides and make a list of the things that are important to you. Resort size/amenites, beach quality, price, wedding locations(ceremony/reception), how many weddings the resort has/day and communication with WC or resort staff were my main concerns. I ended up choosing a sister resort to Azul, El Dorado Royale, mostly b/c of their Gourmet All-Inclusive(24 free room service really won over my FI!) and great wedding packages and options. Figure out what you need and want and you'll be able to make a decision in no time. Good Luck!

I love that you made Jamaica "the middle" for you and your FI families!! I guess a DW in Saskatchewan just wouldn't be as exotic! Lol!!

Congrats and Welcome! Try not to get too caught up in the shade of your colour, it is way to hard to know what your resort colours and fabrics will look like until you get there(computer screens always vary colours too). We used various shades of aqua for everything from BM and GM outfits to our gazebo sheers and table linens and it looked very natural and not so matchy matchy. Plus it was way less stressful!!

The "guest listing with a spot to write room numbers" is a really good idea lyndsay_h! Our guests were all writing on the back of napkins and menus for the first few days. It would have been nice to have a list to just fill in the numbers as we often called each others rooms to make dinner plans.

I am wondering the same thing...I was thinking about professional pregnancy pics or newborn pics. I would pay for a session and let her book the time. I'm thinking of doing this for a friend. Any feedback on if this would be good or too personal?!

VFW=Veterans of Foreign Wars, it's an American hall where parties, like wedding receptions are held. B2B= Bride to Be Is DH the only husband abbreviation....seems odd?!

Sounds amazing! Especially the villa, sounds very luxe!! I hope you post pictures after the big day! Good luck and happy planning