Karen&Rene

We're going with Sea of Love by Cat Power... makes me teary eyed every time I hear it!

Maybe you can take it to a seamstress and see if they can work any magic? I would ask Gianinar for at least a partial refund to help cover the cost of alterations. Are you happy with the front of the dress? I think the front looks really nice!!

Here's pics of the inspiration dress:

Thanks Lisa! I'm definitely satisfied with the quality of the fabric.

Hmm... hadn't thought of shortening the bodice instead of the hem. I'll look into it. Thanks for the feedback!

Yeah, I know it's a little hard to tell with the white bed. I was standing on the floor at first and it immediately attracted all the hair and dust bunnies... time to vacuum, lol. I haven't gotten my shoes yet so I just told them to add two inches... I think it's about five inches too long.

Thank you! I'm starting to look on Yelp for high rated seamstresses in Chicago... I'm just hoping not to spend more on alterations than the dress itself!

Thanks! It's just regular quality fabric.

Ok, ladies. I received my dress from Monica Bridal yesterday. It appears to be well-made and arrived with no smell. It fits well, but as others have said, it is a bit too big and too long. The lace-up back is pulled tight almost all the way in order for it to fit right. I also noticed some small marks on it; haven't tried to clean them yet so not sure if they'll come out. I'm sure they're so small that only I would notice them. Also, it is going to require some alterations... I think the neckline would need to be lowered and I think the fabric that comes across the bust looks a little funny. Also, I would need to make some changes to the skirt, but not sure exactly how to make it look like the inspiration dress... My first impression was that I was a little underwhelmed with it, but of course it was still worth the $150 I paid for it even if I just end up using it for the trash the dress. I don't know... the longer I have it the more it is growing on me

Glad to hear it worked out for you! And just as a reminder ladies, these expire tomorrow!

Yes, it's my understanding that you can use them at any store where they are sold, but Walgreens was the only store that I saw that was selling them for $1 each.

I just ordered my invites and I put the location as Las Caletas but for time I put "Departing from the Puerto Vallarta Marina at four thirty in the afternoon." Any other info for the time line such as what time they would be returning I just put on the website, and I'll be printing out that info for the OOT bags.

We sent these out a while ago, but I thought I would finally get around to posting! We ordered these from Vistaprint, and if I remember correctly, they cost less than $35 for 80 magnets (including shipping). Just find a link where they are at least 50% off. We ordered 40 of the large magnets and printed two images on each one. Then we cut them in half with scissors. I was a little worried that the edges might look rough or unfinished, but the edges that I cut actually looked smoother than the real edges. Each STD was put on a white backing that we made out of card stock. We also got one of those free return address stamps to use for our STDs. I purchased the envelopes from this site: http://www.paperpresentation.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=PPN&Category_Code=E The template in PowerPoint is attached for anyone who is interested. Once you insert your own images/info, just save as an image to upload to Vistaprint. STD2.pptx854k .pptx file

Very cute! Postcard STD's are a great idea! I was thinking of doing postcard RSVPs to save on postage, but couldn't find any that were nice enough... I guess custom is the way to go!

I agree that you can definitely make your fans unique in the way that you decorate them. If you decide to go with raffia, I would order from oriental trading. They always have deals for a certain percentage off and free shipping. http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?demandPrefix=12&sku=34/1124&mode=Searching&erec=57&No=0&D=fan&Ntt=fan&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&y=0&N=0&requestURI=processProductsCatalog&x=0&sd=Refreshing+Fans Plus they do price matching 110% so they would match the price on the link you posted (plus 10%) or this is the site I used for them to price match. http://www.koyalwholesale.com/index.php?zenid=21971e5a1d07c42526d00e233e7c4e0c&main_page=advanced_search_result&inc_subcat=1&search_in_description=&keyword=raffia+fan

Wow, that looks so close to the original! It looks beautiful on you!

Amazing photos! I love your dress, especially the back! My fave photos were the ones in water... beautiful!

Yay! Looking forward to seeing the photos!

Aww, what adorable puppies! I love the welcome letters too!

Wow, gorgeous photos! I love the shoes too!

Love all the photos! Glad to hear everything went perfectly! I'm getting married there April 2nd, 2011... can't wait!

Beautiful! Love the bow!

Wow, it's gorgeous!!! I'm so happy for you! Too big and too long seems to be the theme... at least it's better than too small and too short!

The first link still works; thanks for sharing! I just ordered a free t-shirt, hat, tote bag, poster, pen, sticky notes, notebook, note pad, key chain, and return address labels for $34 in shipping. I made father/mother of the bride and mother of the groom stuff to put in their welcome bags. I'm going to use the return address labels to put on my RSVP envelopes so I don't have to hand-write my address a million times. It's awesome that the image uploads were free too! In a different order, I also made bridesmaids shirts for $2.66:

Yay!!! I am so glad to hear this... Can't wait to see the photos!