Karen&Rene

When my mom married my dad, she changed her middle name to her maiden name and took my dad's last name; it's actually a Filipino tradition. I am excited to take my FI's last name; to me it is symbolic of being married and becoming a family. It will be interesting having his last name since it is a very common Hispanic last name and people will probably assume that I speak Spanish (which I don't). I only have sisters so there is no one to carry on my last name, but surprisingly, my dad is against me keeping my maiden name or hyphenating it. He's like, "that's too complicated; just keep it simple and take his," lol. And after addressing 100 invites, I agree. It was a lot of work to research each couple and find out if the wife changed her name or not!

Originally my mom was going to purchase my dress, but then I fell in love with a dress that was way out of my budget, lol. So it ended up that I paid for one third, my fiance paid for one third, and my parents paid for one third.

I agree! It would be so much cheaper to make them yourself! But if you don't have the time and do have the $$$, I say go ahead and purchase them!

I'm getting my TTD from China from $150! Or you could just buy a white sun dress for $20. Your FI could always just wear khakis and a white shirt.

Awesome. Can't wait for my TTD!

Wow! Those are most amazing underwater photos I have ever seen!

I met my fiance on match.com, and we couldn't be happier! I was actually the first person that he met on that site. I know it sounds cliched, but it was love at first sight. I always kind of thought it was BS when people would say that they knew they were going marry someone the first time they met them, but now I know that it really can happen. He was the sweetest, smartest, and funniest, (not to mention hottest!) guy I had ever met and we felt like we had known each other all of our lives. My sister texted me to see how the date was going, and I told her, "I'm going to marry this guy!" He proposed nine and half months later. Whenever anyone asks how we met, we never hold back from singing match.com's praises. We have never felt embarrassed about telling people the truth... the guys online are much better quality than the ones you meet randomly in bars anyway, lol.

Can't wait to see it!

Most of what is going in our bags will be edible, so I'm sure it will all get used since we're not staying at an all-inclusive. I attended a wedding recently that had OOT bags that contained snacks, candy, and bottled water. There was nothing left by the end of the weekend, and we definitely appreciated them! My fiance was so excited to receive the OOT bag that he was completely sold on having them at our own wedding, lol. I was considering this bag since it was only a dollar and looked like a boat tote even though it's made out of shopping bag material: http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Pages/Product.aspx?GroupID=30794&SubGroupID=30773&ParentGroupID=18981#30773 Another idea instead of OOT bags would small bottles of alcohol & mixers or some other type of edible treat local to the area if you're not at an all-inclusive.

Very cute! I'm sure your bridesmaids will love them!

Wow, very close to the original!

We did the court house wedding already. When we first got there, we were asked to fill out all the paperwork in the waiting room... kind of felt like we were at the doctor's office or something, lol. The ceremony itself took place in the judge's office. We did not exchange rings (although we had the option of doing so), but did have to say the standard vows; the judge just reads them off and you repeat them. It was super short and sweet and did not feel like an actual wedding at all. Even though we're legally married, I'm sure we won't feel married until we have the "real" wedding in a few months.

Wow, very nice!!

Very cute! I like the starfish detail.

That's where my cousin got married this past February. It was beautiful!

Hi ladies! We're getting married April 2nd, 2011 in Puerto Vallarta! We're staying at the Westin and tying the knot at Las Caletas. We live in Streeterville.

I got mine from Sam's club: http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=104667

OMG, did you order your dress from Eva's Bridal in Oak Lawn? That's where I originally ordered my dress, then they canceled it due to issues with the designer, then I went back and almost ordered a different dress but held off, and then I heard it burned down! Craziness. I was wondering what was going to happen to everyone who got their dresses there. Glad to hear it worked out for you!

I ordered the large business magnets and just uploaded my own image (saved the PowerPoint attachment as an image). http://www.vistaprint.com/gallery.aspx?pg=12&xnav=TsrItem&xnav=TsrImage

Hmm... the only thing I can think of is maybe it's because it's in PowerPoint 2007? Here is another version that I saved to be compatible with Office 2003. Let me know if you can open it! I don't have 150 posts either so I can't test it out, lol. Also, this is the version that has it the image doubled so it's ready to be printed using Vistaprint large magnets (2 on one magnet and then you cut them in half). If you just want a single image and don't want to print it double, then you can use this version: STD2 2003 version.ppt STD.pptx

The Chicago Botanic Garden has some pretty indoor areas, but they charge $125 fee for taking photos there. Navy Pier has an indoor garden area and there's that butterfly haven by Lincoln Park Zoo. Photos at the shedd aquarium might be cool too. I think outdoor winter photos in Chicago would look amazing... maybe you could plan for some indoor locations as a back-up in case there's a blizzard or something? Green House at Chicago Botanic Garden Navy Pier Crystal Garden: Shedd Aquarium:

I think they both look really nice! Your second dress is definitely more fun and unique. I agree that it just come down to which dress you feel is "the one." My dress is actually a satin mermaid. I originally purchased a more beach-appropriate dress made out of chiffon, but I later realized that I liked photos of brides with fancy gowns on the beach.... something about it not fitting the venue looked cool to me, lol.

I ordered my fans from them too. They did vary in size, but all of mine fell more into the 8"-12" range... I think it's just luck of the draw! They did price match them for me as well; I emailed them with the price on this site: http://www.koyalwholesale.com/pages-productinfo-product-3602/handmade_raffia_fans_bulk_12_pieces_best_seller.html

I like 4, 7, & 8 (they all look very similar to me so it's hard to choose a favorite!)

Everything looks really great! Nice job!