LilyRose

Thank you so much Wilsonj2 ! I appreciate your feedback regarding the booking stress. You are right, we choose something to accomodate our guests but they do not come. I am getting married in July because a lot of my friends are teachers or still at University but none of those are coming. I guess we have to choose for ourselves and not think too much about our guests because even if they say yes in the first place, they may change their mind. A good advice to new brides planning their wedding! And you are right...at the end, we will be rewarded by an awesome and exotic destination. St. Lucia is the prettiest Caribean Island. And we will enjoy every minute of it!

Congrats for your booking JessM! To date, we are 16 including us. Anse Mamin seems to be the perfect place for a reception. The resort told me that there is no time limit to party there since is a private area. So you can dance till the morning hours! I am not sure if I will do my reception there as I really want a plated dinner and they can only offer buffet at Anse Mamin. I know it's strange, but I always dreamed of a seated dinner and it's hard for me to change my mind...Maybe I will, who knows! The hardest challenge I have with my wedding is St-Lucia resorts (in general) price. Many guests find it too expensive (I understand them) but since it's our wedding, I wanted this upscale location. Many guests are comparing the prices with an all-inclusive in Cuba or Mexico and this drained a lot of my energy. Wondering if it has happened to you too, St.Lucia brides. A lot of guests says they would come (they knew it was St.Lucia) so we went ahead with bookings but later on, they RSVP no. I should not complain because we are already 16, but many of our most important to us won't make it. Anyway, sorry for the complain, I just feel a little bit sad about it and I have to remember myself why I have chosen St.Lucia in the first place (=intimate wedding!). JessM, are you booking your guests directly with the resort? My fiancé and I are booked directly with the resort but our guests are with our TA and AC vacations.

Thanks JessM, The communication with the resort has been great so far, Karolin, the owner, write to me personally. I am planning a phone meeting with her in the near future as she suggested it. I have found a lot of infos on their Elope to Paradise webpage and as well on their Facebook wedding's page. Have you visited these webpages yet? My wedding date is July 11th. I have reserved more than one year in advance but the time flies by so fast... Where are you doing your reception? Anse-Mamin, the AC restaurant by the beach ? We are doing the ceremony at the Jade terrace but do not know yet for the reception. Talk to you soon, Lilyrose

I agree with you proti007! :-) I was unaware of this either and then a bride on this forum informed us of that bracelet color thing. My resort does not have any bracelet so it was not an issue for us. Our rates are so much better with the group rate than nobody asked to book with another agent or website. I think that because my resort is a boutique hotel (49 rooms), they do not discount their prices that much.

Welcome to the forum Jess M! Congratulations! I am glad to find another Anse Chastanet-Jade Mountain bride here! You are the first I met since I registered on BDW! I am Canadian too and will get married in July 2011. What is your date ? I am getting married at Jade Mountain but our guests are staying at Anse Chastanet. Would love to stay in touch with you to help in the planning! LilyRose

Hi JBean, I am from Canada too and I am using Air Canada vacations but maybe I can help... Sometimes, Expedia has cheaper rates that they will offer for a small number of rooms (See other posts about it on the Travel section). Those rooms can be "inferior" and may give the guests different colors of bracelets in some resorts, so not everyone is getting the same package. I do not know about your particular resort though. On my wedsite, I did a FAQ section where I have put the question "Is it cheaper to wait and book via Expedia and other discount website?" And then, I have explained the dangers of doing this: rooms all booked, inferior rooms, ect. I am not a TA but one thing I find strange about your case is that your price on Expedia seems lower even that far in advance. My group price was between 200-500 $ cheaper per person that the Air Canada Vacations website (and any other one) and that, since November (my wedding is in July.) I would understand better rates at the last minute (couple of months before the wedding) on Expedia. Have you tried to go online and find the price of your package on West Jet Vacations? What is the price difference between your group price and the "regular" couple price? I think you should discuss that with your TA. I am sure she will be able to help you with that. I would let her know what is happening like you have explained here to us. Don't be afraid to be honest with her. If she can not find a better rate, she will give you more details about your booking and how you can convince your guests to pay extra for the group booking. Let us know! LilyRose

Thank you for your input ladies! I'm glad to see other brides having the same concerns than me. We can not always fulfill our environmental expectations or "buy local" desires but at least, we try the best as we can. It's sooooooo easy to go overboard with the wedding! For now, my best conscience is to think before I buy something and like other brides, I try to buy local whenever it's possible and I avoid Chinese replicas or products. I forgot to mention that I have chosen an "environmental-minded resort" but it's also luxurious. I'm so eager to be there! Please, continue to share your ideas! LilyRose

I do not think this is what mochamakes3 wanted to say. I think that the inferior rooms are more likely to be given when guests are booking by themselves (Expedia, Orbitz...). Also, on these websites, they only have few rooms for the discounted rate. I think you are better with a TA from this website. It will be way easier for your guests to contact a US TA than to deal with the resort directly. I would contact Vacations For Less before deciding. Keep us updated!

I love this also! I agree with acireta, stationery and flowers would be great because every bride form any destination need them!

Welcome Little Princess! Congratulations on your wedding! What brought you to Coquitlam ? Which venue are you getting married at? Vancouver as many options in terms of free activities: Walking the Seawall, visiting Stanley Park, Granville Island, Yaletown...You will find a lot of good restaurants and shopping too in Vancouver. In the winter, you can also enjoy skiing. If you can strech your budget, Whistler would be great too! Some visitors like to enjoy a ride on the BC ferries. All is depending of what you like and of course, your budget. Coquitlam is more a suburb and has few parks but that's about it in terms of entertainment. I would'nt spend a lot of time there. One of my favorite place, if you have the time and budget, would be a mini honeymoon in Tofino, Vancouver Island. I am sure the other ladies here have other suggestions for you as well.

Yes, I have put the infos online but not on the invites. I have put my travel section near the end of the website so people read all the good things about our wedding before knowing the price of it! :-) So, here is my advices: put a lot of pictures and videos of your resort on your website to attract and convince your guests. Then, list everything that is included in the all-inclusive: food, snacks, beverage, free water sports, welcome cocktail, transferts, ect... List every single detail offered in the package. Guests will see all they get. I would also get a different quote to see if it would be cheaper to include airfare in the rate. And why not offer different options to your guests in term of stay: for 3 nights the price is...for 5 nights...for 7 nights... I wanted to do this but we can't really in Canada because of the flight schedule. Last thing, when offering the different options for the 3, 5 or 7 nights stay, you can just use the basic category of room and write : to upgrade to ocean front, add __$ per night...for each category of room. That way, the price is very attractive for the basic room and the upgrade difference seems little. Keep in mind that even with a super low price at a better priced resort, some guests will not attend. It's really the difficult part of a DW. Some people won't like the date or the destination, the price or the resort and so on. I know, we all want everybody to be there but you have to like the place also. When you are peaceful with that, the rest of the planning is getting easier! Krsmith, I live not too far from you, in Vancouver! :-) LilyRose in sunny Mozambique right now!

Oh, by the way, have you tried to convert the Word document by sliding it into the Pages icon? Usually it works for text but not so well for graphics and pics. A lot of the templates here are created on Power Point. So, just not buy Word but the complete Office suite, it will save you money! Here is what a have on my computer, so I can play and convert everything. PC MAC Word Pages Excel Numbers Power Point Keynote LilyRose

Hi krsmith, Congratulations for your Mac Book Pro! I love mine and would never exchange it! Although I do not have the right to download attachments here, I think you should consider buying Microsoft Office for Mac. I really like Pages and Keynote and I can "convert for PC" every document I make with those softwares. The opposite is not true. You can not read Word documents for PC with Pages on your Mac. But when you will have Word for Mac, you should be able to see the content and design exactly the way it was designed on a PC. You will have the best of both worlds! P.S. You can purchase Word for Mac online if you prefer! LilyRose

Thanks for sharing MrsWilliams, You are so right, it's hard to know how it's gonna be like before we go. My experience tells me that Trip Advisor is really good for having a idea of the place. But we have to be careful because other travellers expectations are not often the same. Some travellers are not used to travel so they will overate it or they can also be too picky about small stuff. Recently, I was looking for a good hotel in Paris and Trip Advisor refered me a hostel with excellent reviews! I am not backpaking in Paris in Febuary so ..thanks but no thanks! :-) Also, last year, I was reading bad reviews about the hotel I stayed at in Costa Rica (Hilton papagayo) and some people did not like the hotel at all because of the food (no burgers or hot dog). For me, it was not a deal breaker at all as I prefer to eat something different... Anyway, I looked the rating on Air Canada Vacations. Usually, there are quite good in rating the resorts (in terms of star ratings). I find that they tend to rate them realistically. According to them, you can expect a different experience depending at what Bay Garden you are staying at: Bay Garden Inn 2 stars and and half Bay Garden Hotel 3 stars Bay Garden Beach Resort : 4 stars Also, this is telling me that you have to be very careful when reading reviews online as some of them can be mixed up and refer to other sister hotels. http://www.aircanadavacations.com/en/vacation_packages/destinations/Saint-Lucia/resort_listing?actualpage=2&sortedBy=Rating Hope this can help you with you decision.. LilyRose

Welcome to the forum! I am a St Lucia bride too! I am getting married July 11 2011. I know the St Lucia thread is pretty slow right now but we can change that for sure! Please do not hesitate to ask your questions-comments, I visit the thread quite often! Congratulations again!

I was also wondering if some of you have used their website to promote the pre-wedding infos instead of mailing a package. I am hesitating with this one. Maybe mail the package only to those who do not have Internet or a computer a home ?

Hello ladies,  Well, I know, that a destination wedding is not so eco friendly because of all the transportation involved. It's important for me to try to reduce the environmental cost of our wedding. Do you have ideas or tips? What did you do to help?  Here is my list of ideas:  - Using a website to communicate news and pre-wedding infos. (I did send passport invitations by mail though, it's a keepsake!) - Not ordering magnets, door hangers, ect. for OOT bags even if they are free. I keep in mind that recycling facilities are often inexistant in many parts of the world and they will be trash after the wedding. Before ordering something, I ask myself if it's really a necessity of my guests. Most of the time, I am just lured by the word "free"! :-)  - I will not personnalize the outside of my OOT bag so my guests will use it after the wedding (it's a kind of high end reusable grocery tote in a plain unisex color). I can attach the monogram or a flower on the handles if needed. - I will try to work with what the resort has so I do not have to bring my own sashes and decor. - Instead of doing a sand ceremony, we will do a "tree ceremony" where we will plant a palm tree on the island. - Reselling or giving stuff after the wedding  I am sure you have plenty of other ideas! Please share! Â

This thread is so useful! Many thanks!

Hi Wilsonj2, Yes, our date is set to the 11th to make it match with the year (2011) and 11 is my favorite number! :-) I am starting to plan the details with the resort as they work differently than most resorts. Do you know that we will be there at the same time that the St Lucia Carnival ? I will maybe plan a group activity there (maybe a kind of bachelorette party!) Also, I do not know if you are aware, but it will be the Full Moon in St Lucia on the 15th! It will be gorgeous for your wedding night! For my invites, I went with a passport from an awesome designer in the UK (I live in Canada but it was easy to work with her). You can see pics of them in a precious thread called: Lilyrose's unique passport invitations. Where are you from ? The US ?

Welcome MEve to the forum! It's good to see some activity on this forum after quite a while. Seems like not a lot of brides are getting married in St. Lucia in 2011. Marie-Ève, I am sure you will love this forum! Before coming here, I never have participated in forums either. You came to the right one! I will PM (private message) you today. Congrats to MrsWilliams! I love the number 11 too! I am getting married July 11 2011 at Jade Mountain. Wilsonj2, how is the planning? I am not sure if I am right, but I think you are getting married the same week than I. Once again, it's good to see this thread active! LilyRose (in sunny Mozambique right now! )

Awesome idea! :-)

No template sorry... I try the DIY but my talents were very limited in that area and I felt that the results were not at all what I had in mind! lol So I looked for designers. I used the services of an amazing invitations designer. Her name is Kate and she is based in the UK. Even if I am in Canada, it was not a problem at all to work with her. The fact that she is based in Europe was even an advantage for me as her designs was "off the beaten path". She sent me a sample of a previous work (absolutely free) so I was able to see the quality of her work before I choose to go with her. She also sent her designs to professional printers for the best finish results. The shipping cost was very reasonable (50$) and quick (she said a week but I received them in 3 opening days). Here is her website: http://www.weddinginvitationdesigner.com Hope it helps! :-)

Oh no, I did not made these...I wish I could be so fantastic but...no! :-) I just planned what I wanted and told the designer and we worked from there. They were printed by professional printers too.

Hello ladies! I have to thank you all for this amazing forum! The idea of passport invitations is from here! I had so much fun working on my invites... Can't wait to see the reaction of our guests! I wanted my invites to have a professional feel in the design and printing. (I LOVE the attached RSVP card to tear off!!!) Also, I went for something I have not seen before. It was sometimes challenging as our invites are bilingual (French-English) so I needed to dispatch the infos accordingly. Of course, I choose pictures of us and of the resort to do something quite colorful! You may also see that I have chosen a resort picture (mountains and sea) in the background of the outside part to add more depth to the cover. I'm also crazy about the stamps! The airplane one is just too cute! Thanks, LilyRose Here you can see the picture in the background... The pages are machine-folded so the middle section look good on every page! Tear off RSVP card folding inside the passport. I really like the Polaroid style pictures!

I will share my pics for sure! Let me know if you have any questions! :-) Happy planning, LilyRose