kshows03

Hey! I got married at the Royal PDC last February and we will be going back the last week of May. I will get to check your wedding out! =) For the girls who are stressing....I promise things get easier as soon as you get that on-sit coordinator. They have more authority and just get it done. Seriously...I was skeptical that mine had a clue what she was doing...but in the end, after a 30 minutes meeting upon arrival...it ALL went PERFECTLY.

I cannot believe how long it takes to get wedding pictures back! Crazyness, but this one picture that we used for our thank you cards.

Just as an FYI - if anyone is looking for Men's Suits (light tan) they have a really good deal at Kohl's on their Ralph Lauren Chaps. Can get Coat and Pants for $109. If you are a card holder you get a minimum of 10% off and then $10 Kohls Bucks for every $50 you spend!

Raquel - I have a 10 but its in Ivory - selling for $800. Can throw in my veil (Orig. $200 that I never wore (tooooo windy)!

I got married on the 12th of this month and we even booked our Photographer at the REAL (also known as Real Crap) from some of our guests....haha...but we had no issues what so ever. I didn't even discuss it, he was a guest at my wedding. He had a room and a meal. But seriously no issues at all.

Hey we had 5 tables between 6 and 8 just depending. It seemed like a perfect number!

JHARRIS - No, no issues (Thank God!) but we waited in lines 45 min to an hour. I think 3 planes got in at the same time. So carrying a 50 pound dress in my arms got real old real fast. We were lucky enough to have my boss upgrade our tickets to first class so they were really nice about my dress and hung it in a closet, but even in the closet it had to be folded in half. We didn't ship anything due to the cost more than anything and with our first class tickets got to check two bags a peice for free, so we each had two checked bags, one carry on, and then I had my dress as well. (Haha, it probably looked like we were traveling for months)! However, we did have one more suitcase that we made the best man travel with and he did get stopped at customs. They freaked out at first since it was all decorations but in each suitcase front pocket we carried a list of all the items in that bag as well as the receipts for those items. Once the customs people saw them pull out the baggie of all the documentation they just let them go. Especially for all you ladies who are just now starting - KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS!!!! The only thing that would have helped is if we had an actual value amount associated with each bag. They eneded up just rounding the receipts out - but it would have been nice to have it in advance. Just another little tid bit!!

I am home and ready to sell my Size 10 Ivory Adorae. I had it altered with a hidden zipper (great for beach weddings) so you can take off the bottom for the reception. The dress looks completely normal when full. There is a hidden white zipper right at the knee.

JHARRIS - Yes I did get my dress and his suit steamed at the resort. We just dropped it off at the wedding center and then it was delivered to the room two days later. The catch is that you have to be in the room to accept it and "ok" it, they won't just drop it off (which is probably a good thing...but inconvenient). I thought they did a really good job considering I was so annoyed with my dress through customs and immigration that I was dragging it at points. (In the bag of course).

Diahr: Thanks! Pretty much our whole group...I think we had 22 out of the 36 guests. We left at 5:30 from the Royal and the Pirate Cruise leaves the dock at 7:30. There tends to be more traffic at that time, so it took about an hour and 15 to an hour and 30, but when you have 14 of your guests in the same van it seemed to go by pretty quickly. They used one big van and one medium sized van for our group and the second van just followed us. Francisco at CancunTransfers was the one who was our contact point, came to pick us up, made sure everyone was there, and escorted us onto the ship. With a big group, they really hooked us up with our own little area, first to eat, best seats to eat...etc. It is more for a younger crowd, but some of our old fokes were getting busy too! =)

Yes! We got back Thursday evening. It was a great trip, but I guess the funny/sad part was that out of our full week trip, the only day it rained was Saturday...pretty much the whole day. We were able to have the wedding at the gazeebo, bu we put everyone under it, just incase the rain picked back up. Also, the standing water on the concrete made it REALLY difficult to walk in my wedding dress. I had to take three long breaks...it was not a graceful walk AT ALL....all you can do is laugh though. Then instead of having the cocktail hour in the garden and the reception on the beach, they shut down Pelicanos and we had both there. That way we were still "out side" but had a covering. I got so many comments that it was the best wedding/most beautiful wedding/most organized event they had ever been to.....so I have to be happy with that. It was definately memorable! =) I will write a full review soon. I still do not have any pictures...it's kinda sad. With 36 guests and all the young ones were in the wedding, so the old folks were the only ones taking pictures during the ceremony and of course they haven't uploaded any of them...haha they probably don't even know how. Hopefully we will get a few previews soon! Just as a summary...I do not regret my decion to have my wedding at the Royal...rain and all. They were great and take care of you 100%!

Groom's Suit: My fiancé got his suit from StudioSuits.com. He got the linen/cotton blend in a very light tan. They run for $99 but he also paid a little extra for it to be lined, and then he did have to get it altered some when it arrived which included a cuff at the bottom of the pant. The total cost was approximately $175. Trash The Dress: I got my dress to take trash the dress pictures from David’s Bridal as well. This helped the girls get a discount on their bridesmaids dresses too because we said I got my wedding dress there. It was only $99. Here is the link: http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Halter-Charmeuse-Floor-Length-Gown-36857D_Bridal-Gowns-Features-All-Gowns Hair Inspiration (headband): I got my headband here at Weddings Factory Direct - http://www.weddingfactorydirect.com/hp-6471.html. I tried on a few at the bridal salon and I really loved them. Only problem was that they were a couple hundred dollars. I really wanted a ribbon headband and the best price I could find was $34.00!! They are usually $80 and above almost everywhere. I chose the modern vintage design, A – because I liked it, but also because it had the jewels that went all the way to the ear. Some are just on the crown and I didn’t like that as much. This was a picture of my hair inspiration, but it ended up not mattering. It was so rainy and windy the day of my wedding, my hairstylist suggested that I not leave my hair down. I ended up going with a side ponytail that was curled. My hair was done by Doranna (http://www.dorannahairstylist.com/) Make Up Inspiration: For my make up inspiration I used the February 2011 Cover of Cosmo that featured Mila Kunis. The makeup was very neutral, with a brown Smokey eye and very bronzy. My make up was done by Suemy Ortega with Make Up Wizards. Reception Decorations: For the reception, we got our chair sashes and table runners from Wedding Linens Direct. The chair sashes ended up being .89 cents a piece and we ordered 7 table runners at $2.68 a piece, but they come in packs of 10, so they just sent us a whole pack which was a nice surprise. http://www.weddinglinensdirect.com/8x108satinsash.html I also hand made my card box using a wooden box from Hobby Lobby, scrapbooking paper, a wooden M, black paint, and some stick on jewels. For each guest, we had maracas placed on the plate. We alternated a lime green pair, followed by a pink pair. We figured the boys and girls would just switch if need be. We got them from Amols. These were 1.95 a piece since we got more than 12 pairs. These are absolutely awesome. Wooden and say Mexico on them. We found them on 5thstreet, but they were $4.95 for a pair. Also the color selection was limited. We saw pink, but not lime green. http://www.amols.com/catalog/product/MX700 We had our wedding programs made on Etsy – from PaperDreams Studio Designs. They are $1.90 a piece. http://www.etsy.com/listing/52874526/custom-wedding-programs-thesquareref=sr_gallery_3&ga_search_query=square+wedding+programs&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade Our monogram was created by Aylee Bits - http://ayleedesigns.gnyc.net/front.html?monograms.htm You get two monograms for $5.00. Our guestbook was created on Shutterfly with our engagement pictures. The book was a 12x12 and I used one photo and love quote per page with the alternating page blank where people could write. We had pink and lime green sharpies available at the reception to use. I actually got a free voucher and only had to pay shipping for this with my David’s Bridal purchase. We had this frame by the guestbook to explain. I created these with VistaPrint.com and got the frame from Walmart for $5.00 We also had a flip flop table at our reception for our guests to trade in their “wedding†shoes for some “dancing shoes.†We got these from Old Navy over Memorial Day weekend when they were $1.00 a piece. We made the tags with a word document and printed them on pink and lime green cardstock. This is the sign we had by the flip flops. Again, made with VistaPrint.com and frame from Walmart. We made our escort card by hand. We used the same pink and lime green cardstock from Hobby Lobby and then I purchased some star fish off of Ebay for a few bucks which I thought were fake, but got a nice surprise when they arrived and smelt fishy!! We stored them in a box layered with dryer sheets to mask the smell. The pink signified guests who wanted beef and the green signified guests who wanted chicken We did have a mail out that went out approximately 3 weeks before that included a brochure made with VistaPrint.com (sorry no picture) and also this guide that I found online and we just adjusted to fit us. I had these printed and cut at Kinkos. DJ: We used DJ Doremixx which the hotel arranged for us. We only used the 3 hours for $850 which actually worked out nicely. We had quite a few older guests so the amount of time we had worked out well. Not to mention the rain. We did not get the light up dance floor, but they had a really nice dark wooden one set up for us. At times not everyone fit, which was fine, but you might want to consider that if you have a large group. We only had 36 guests and still didn’t all fit. We decided to not do a bouquet toss, or garter toss due to the small amount of guests. I think if we would have needed to take time for those, the 3 hours would have seemed extremely short. Photographer: We used William Sanchez. He is only 18 years old but won the 2010 best new photographer in Mexico. He uses a journalistic style which is what we really like. I have no idea what the pictures will look like due to the rain and the clouds, but we could tell he definitely worked hard. For our Trash the Dress session, we used Ivan Luckie. He drove us to Puerto Moralos to a more secluded beach. We are super excited to see how they came out. Florist: We used Marvin with Maya Diseno Floral. This was our centerpiece inspiration with the fresh limes in the base with an arrangement of pink, lime green and orange flowers. I also asked for black wooden number to lean against the centerpiece to note which table was which and he included these for free! Similar to the bridesmaids bouquet flowers: Mother’s Corsages and boutonnieres: Bridesmaids Gifts: For the bridesmaids, I paid for their hair the day of the wedding and I also had each of them a Beach Bag made and embroidered with their name on it. I actually got the bags at Ross in the summer for $6.00 a piece and then got them embroidered at a place here in Houston for $10.00 a piece. Groomsmen Gifts: Tony got his groomsmen this personalized desk clock/pen and business card holder. These were purchased at www.mygroomsmengifts.com Boudoir Photoshoot: I did this back in December with Norma from Houston Boudior Photography. She was an absolute joy to work with and the pictures came out better than I could have imagined. Cake Topper: We also got the cake topper from Wedding’s Factory Direct. An “M†which a guest joked if it was a “911†but we didn’t notice. Transportation: We used Cancuntransfers.com and they really took care of us. If you set up a page specific for your wedding guests they can get a 10-15% discount. We also used them to book our Pirate Cruise out of Cancun and they really took care of our whole group. They gave us a discount on the prices and also escorted us and stayed with us throughout the cruise. It was nice to not have to be in control. As the bride and groom people are always looking to you for guidance and it was so nice to have someone there to help everyone and answer all our questions.

Kayla's Planning Thread - The Royal (Playa del Carmen) I wanted to extend a special thanks to all those ladies from whom I stole their great ideas! A special thanks to all the Royal brides who have answered so many of my questions and have given me so much inside information. I think every bride gets some stress, but with the help of this site, mine certainly was reduced significantly. Please let me know if you have any questions. Engagement: Tony and I got engaged at the dog park (on the same bench) where we first met. It was a very cute moment. Picture courtesy of our neighbor Rosemary. Website: We used the free site from www.theknot.com. It was also a very good source to store all of our guest’s addresses and then you could access it through the website at anytime, anywhere. I did a lot of planning from work so it was nice to just have it electronically. Location: We chose the Royal after being there on a trip in September of 2009. We went for my fiance’s boss’ wedding. He chose the first hotel (2 night) which was El Tukan an it was a piece of crap. Then I chose our second hotel (2 nights) which was the Royal and we fell in love. At that time it was “Swine Flu†season so we only paid $249 a night. At that time we thought was a great price for the value and we a little shocked at what regular price was…but still went with it. Save the Dates: We ordered the large magnets from VistaPrint.com and put one of our engagement pictures on it. Invites: We originally looked into this and they are approximately $8.00 a piece for what we wanted and decided to make them ourselves. After many hours of printing, cutting, gluing and stapling….we had a great product which ran about $1.30 a piece. I got the template from Alyeebits.com and adjusted it some for what we were looking for. We ordered the paper from PaperandMore.com. The covers were made from the Pearlescent Metallic Card Stock. It has a very nice shine and looks pretty fancy. The color we used was Blue Vista. We decided to go against our wedding colors just because we wanted it to look more authentic like a passport since ours are blue and there was no way he was going to let me send pink invitations. We used the 8.5x11 pages and it worked our great since it made two covers for each page used. For the inside pages, we used Pearlescent Text Paper in Champagne. It came out a very shimmery light tan/gold and looked amazing! The key to making these was the way you fold the cardstock. Before you begin you need to practice with the paper, once folding it length wise and one folding it width wise. One will look MUCH better than the other since it is folded with the grain. Every stack of paper is different. You just need to find out how your batch was made and work with it. Attire: I got my dress from Weddings by Debbie in Houston. (I-10 and Greenhouse). It was the second dress I tried on. I brought my sister and my best friend (and other bridesmaid) with me to shop. After trying on about 15 gowns it came down to the first and the second ones I tried on. After much deliberation, I chose #2 just because it looked more like a “Wedding†dress. If the other dress was a different color, it could work for many events. I ended up choosing Maggie Sottero’s – Adorae. (On the model and then on me) The dress was only $1145 which I thought was a GREAT deal. For alterations, I decided that I wanted to make it a short dress as well and this is what we came up with…. A close up of the hidden zipper: Shoes: www.zappos.com– RSVP Fuchsia pumps. Bridesmaids Dresses: David’s Bridal in Watermelon For the bridesmaids shoes, I just bought them all silver flip flops I also found at Ross for $14.00

Thanks ladies! Man was it hard work though...pretty much a good 6 months of working out 5 or more times a week. My fiance has been working out with me and now he is a skinny minnie!! I would actually prefer he put on some weight, but hey you win some and you lose some! I am thankful of how supportive he has been, not to mention helpful. He used to be a personal trainer so getting that help for free was a blessing! I have drafted out my planning thread and it's going to be crazy long! I have been really busy at work, but I will do my best to get it out! Thursday morning at 6:30 AM and we are on our way........!!!!!!!!! I can feel the sunshine already!