murmel

Shoes were super hard for me too! For white shoes, try the Shoe Company. What colour green?? Emerald, lime, etc.? Here's a stroppy white shoe...not sure it would match the dress though... http://www.theshoecompany.com/shop-by-brand/greenwich-village/greenwich-village-p-font-color-blue-new-arrival-font-/prod117XXX982XXXX.html You must be so excited to see the dress again! Hope the alterations are quick and easy. And congrats on finding the earrings, I love when things start coming together. As for the long weekend...I am working. But only 5 more days and then 5 days off! Yippee!

I would get the full details explained to you! Every TA is slightly different. We sent out our invites in early June, and our guests had to put a deposit (I think $200) on a room by July 15 to get our group rate. They then had to pay the balance by late November. Something I learned, due to miscommunication: our guests were all charged their deposits on the same date July 15, no matter if they called June 1, or July 14. So this was really frustrating since people were wondering if their deposits had been accepted or not. Then the same thing happened for the balance payment. Some people called on September 1, and did not get charged til November 25! So this was frustrating since people though t they would be charged the day to called to say "I am paying off my balance, here is my Visa number..." This caused huge confusion since people were waiting for their itineries, and statements of payment. Again, the TA did not inform us, and if I had my time back I would ask exactly how everything would be processed. It's the TA's job to ensure you understand your contract, the timelines and to ensure your guests are treated well. Make sure you take notes, and understand it before you sign! Quote: Originally Posted by Mwise17 Ladies: I am kinda freaking....Chris and I both work at a college in the Athletics dept. and the support staff are on STRIKE!!! With both of us on a reduced income, I am hoping it ends sooner rather than later..or we are going to have to start axing a few of our private events we planned. (That and I have only done 2 days on the picket line, and I am ready to lose it!!!) PS>....whoever said the shoes were the worst to find...I SO know what you mean! Dress...easy, shoes...not so much!!! Always trying to end on a positive: I am finished my DIY chapstick labels, and have them all assembled, and am now working on the paddle fans. Melissa, I heard the news! That sucks Hopefully things will be settled soon. And if you can't do one of your private events....don't worry about it! People are there to spend time with you and Chris, it doesn't matter if you on a sailboat, ziplining, or just sitting by the pool! What color/style of shoes are you looking for? I will keep my eyes peeled And let me know when your LED and batteries come in and we'll get together for dinner!

It will not be completely private. However I don't think anyone will bother you or your guests. But the Yoga Palapa is in the middle of the beach, with beach beds around it which cannot be moved. The staff do try to ask other guests to walk around the area, not through, but there will still likely be people around. However if you are using it later in the afternoon/evening, it would be almost private since most people would have left the beach by that time. We used a travel agent, and we just put a deposit against 20 rooms for our guests. We did sign a contract (with our travel agent who was a GI consultant), but our guests did not. And our guests had about 3 months to make a reservation and hold a room, and then another 6 months to pay off the balance.

Quote: Originally Posted by justiner57 Jessie, your invitations looks great! Must feel so good to have those out of the way Ladies, I'm less than a week away!!! Feel like I hit a wall and can't think of anything else left to do. Anyone have a final check list that I can make sure to go over before leaving? I'm afraid I'm going to forget something.... You must be so EXCITED! I can't say I really had a list, but the one thing I would do is put everything you are taking with you in one place of your home and start organizing and packing! It took me quite a while. And I discovered as I was putting things into the room, other things would pop up in my head. A couple things that I added last minute and so needed: Scissors Tape and double sided tape A few thank you cards Nail polish remover body tape (if you or your bridesmaids are wearing strapless outfits) bobby pins Other things to keep in mind: -Make sure all your travel documents are ready and in one spot (ie. tickets, hotel voucher, transfer info, passports, traveller's cheques (if you have them), etc.) -call your credit card company and tell them you will be in Mexico and there may be some charges on the card (ie last minute wedding additions, spa charges,etc) -if you need any prescriptions get them filled now, so it's not a last minute panic Good luck! Have remember to have lots of fun

Great photos!

That's fantastic! I really think the 'set-up' fee is hit or miss. Some girls had to pay very little (or none) and other girls got charged huge amounts. I think it comes down to WHO your WC is. Just be prepared not to have what you want in case things are not available if you do it last minute. But it might certainlly be worth the risk!

True! You just walk into any of the restaurants and ask to be seated. If they are too busy, you choices are 1) try a different restaurant, 2) they give you a buzzer that will light up when your table is ready. Then you just find the closest bar and have a pre-dinner drink! We never waited for more than 20 minutes. Only Le Chique has reservations. You have to go to Le Chique mid afternoon (4pm?-5:30pm?), and place your reservation. I would try as soon as I arrive- it's an experience not to be missed! And keep in mind, they never fully book the restaurant- you'll often see tables empty because they only serve a certain number of people an evening (I think it's about 45-50 max.), so you have to get those tables early! justiner57 : Love that pink dress! Such a neat design. Looks like it was a super fun time.

It is an option with the Set Menu dinners. But you really have to push them to get this! You have to pick the appetizer and the dessert, but you should have the option of choosing 2 of the entrees and letting your guests choose. Of course there is the 45 day prior to wedding deadline (or 21 days if you really push your cause LOL) Take it in your carry one....carefully!

Men.....LOL! We did the symbolic and after saying our vows we signed a 'wedding certificate' (I will email you a photo of it). The only difference would be the fingerprint and the sand ceremony. But the sand ceremony has nothing to do with making it legal. And the fingerprint thing is a Mexico thing, so unless your guests expect it, they will be none the wiser! As for Chris's mom, I would politely pull her over and ask her to please stop asking because it is adding stress and that she should not worry about it! I would also make sure you advise her politely to keep her mouth shut about it to other family and guests! Or make Chris do it, since he started it! LOL And I would just for show bring 2 bandaids to Mexico, and once you are done your meeting with the WC, you and Chris can put bandaids on your arms to keep up the story of have bloodwork done. (I can be sneaky when needed ) Then when you walk back down to see your family and guests (and Chris's mom) they will assume you had the needle. It will all work out in the end!

Congratulations and welcome back MRS! Glad to hear everything went smoothly. Beautiful pictures.

I know the feeling, when I started looking at photographers in Mexico, I was finding rates from $900 to $12,000!!! So it's really hard to tell what the real price is. In the end, the photos were very important to us, so we made the decision to go with a photographer whose style we liked. Then we compared prices of the top 5. In the end it cost us less, to fly a local photographer from home down with us. Our total cost was about $3500, and included photos from our cocktail party, full wedding day (about 10 hours) and TTD. A couple things you should be aware of when looking for a photographer: -is it a style you like (ie. posed photos, journalistic, lots of photo editing) -how many hours will be required (ie. do you want photos of you getting ready?, just the wedding ceremony, reception, etc.) Be realistic, a minimum of 4 hours will likely get you the ceremony and photos of family/friends and you after the ceremony. - is TTD extra?. Is there extra charge to come back out another day? (since usually you would do the TTD a day or two after the wedding) - do you own the rights to your photos? Or do you have to order every single photo from the photographer?? (this was a major point for us. I wanted to have all my photos on a CD, so that I could decide what I wanted to do with the photos. For example I made photobooks for all our grandparents as gifts, since none of them could attend. Good luck!

I think they had told me the same thing. But in the end I got it down to 21 days in advance (3 weeks). And then I ended up added 3 guests less than 14 days away, and they let me choose their meals as well. Perhaps if you tell your WC that you will not be able to reach the 45 day mark, they will change it for you??? Can you send out emails to your guests? Maybe almost like an e-invite/or e-card, so that it gets out sooner? And they them to RSVP like ASAP? Big piece of advice, add at the bottom, "if I do not get your response by September 1 (?), you will automatically receive meal choice A." Then you are not waiting for people to reply and you can tell your WC the numbers promptly on that date.

The $250 Amp does come with a microphone. We had quite a few speeches and this really worked well. Also, if you give them an Ipod with a "dinner playlist", "dancing playlist", bouquet toss", "first dance", etc. They will make sure to play it at the correct time. There was actually a hotel employee who sat behind the amp the whole night, and made sure to play our dinner music, etc. and would then fade the music when our MC or guests came up to speak. When the speech was done the music would come back on. (so not really a DJ, but more than I was expecting) Quote: Originally Posted by justiner57 Ladies, today is the day we are going to the court house to legally sign our marriage license. We are both a little nervous as we don't really know what to expect and wish that we could just do it all the same day down in Mexico. But none the less we are excited, not doing anything crazy or even taking pictures. We want our wedding day to be the day we celebrate and make everything official in our minds Happy "legal" wedding day! We did the same thing, made no big deal of it, and truly consider Mexico our Wedding! Have fun.

They would not let us substitute things, so we ended up going with the Free wedding, and adding on what we wanted. And it ended up being cheaper in the end! LOL!

Unfortunately Del Sol is not allowed onto Karisma properties. I would take a look at the wedding photo section on BDW and look for the types of photography you want! Good luck. I know many girls, myself included, found a local photographer at home and brought them with us. This also allowed for me to get photos of my cocktail party, wedding and TTD.

Really depends on how long it would take to do the ATV tour. Usually those things leave the resort about 9am and return at 2pm....so depending on when the ceremony is scheduled it might be a bit tight. But really find out when the tours run and how long, and it might be possible?? (just remember most of these tours are about 15-30 minutes away. My groom and his groomsmen, just hung out, went for a swim in the pool and drank.

We didn't really have an itinerary, but here's sort of how my day went: 9am -girls only breakfast 10:30am- went to our room, and had hair and makeup done (bride and bridesmaids (3)). I had brought a lady down with us who did both hair and makeup (so the salon times may vary) 12:30- ordered room service for lunch (arrived about 1pm) (during this time had a many of my girlfriends just dropping in and out to see me get ready. It was so nice and relaxed) The photographer started dropping in around 11am and would go back and forth between the brides room and the grooms room. 1:45pm- hair and makeup completed. (me...still writing my wedding vows LOL) 2pm- bridesmaids got dressed 2:15pm- I started getting ready. Shoes on, jewelry on, dress on, veil on, and garter. 2:40pm- Last minute touchups. 2:45pm- got picked up by the WC for the walk to the beach. (we really didn't do many posed photos of bridesmaids/groomsmen....we prefer the journalistic style. But again my morning was super relaxed! No rushing about 3pm- ceremony. 3:30pm- Ceremony complete and we have a drink with guests before heading off to do photos.***our photographer was fantastic and we only did about an hour with him. I know many other brides would go off for 2 hours for photos. So be flexible here! 4:30pm- joined our guests at our cocktail party. (4-6pm on the beach) 6pm- Reception started (we did an early start, because we had a number of young children as guests) 6:15pm- our MC welcomed everyone 6:20pm- appertizers served 6:35pm-first speech - Best man 6:50pm- second appertizer served 7:00pm- speech -maid of honor 7:15pm- main course served 7:40pm- speech- groomsman 8pm- speech- welcome to the family (from my sister) 8:15pm- desert 8:30pm- speech-grooms parents 8:45pm- thank you speech from bride and groom 9pm- cutting cake, flower toss and garter 9:15pm- dance time. They started cleaning up shortly after 10pm. I think they stopped playing the music about 10:30ish. We then just moved to the coffee bar hut and partied til late in the night. *these times are really all approximate. We had the speeches run between courses, just to keep things going and not to bore everyone to tears and have them run back to back. Hope that helps a little, but my wedding was less than traditional. So most people would likely want to schedule more time for photos. And if you plan on seeing your groom before your ceremony (I didn't....saw him for the first time as I walked down the aisle) allow for time for that as well!

Hope you girls have wonderful stagettes coming up! So much fun! And great photos 1106wedding! I still have not been to Vegas....someday soon I hope. We just did a vanilla flavour. (I am very allergic to caffefine, so I didn't want to chance anything.) I was very basic (think grocery store vanilla...LOL) Quote: Originally Posted by mbowling Does anyone have any information/experience to share regarding small children flying back home without their parents? Our wedding group will be staying for a week and my daughter will be coming down with us, but my fiance's parents have offered to take her back to Canada (she is 4) with them (we all live in the same city) so that we can stay for the 2nd week by ourselves as a honeymoon. Our TA said there should be no problems with this, but to get a notorized letter for them to take with them. Anyone else done this? I just want to be sure the wording is correct! Thanks so much everyone! I can't really help you with wording, but I would highly suggest going to a lawyer to draft this letter, just to be sure nothing goes wrong. It would be similar to when divorced parents travel with their children. You require the letter to state that "so and so are granted guardianship of your child". Then usually a seperate letter which can be done by hand acknowledging that you know when and where they are travelling (ie. date and destination of flight, and then photocopy of your passport(s), and maybe a contact number) What a wonderful offer from your fiancee's parents! That's the best honeymoon gift!

The only thing I can offer is: Azul family and kid friendly. Great service and food. Moon is adult only. And if you're doing adults only, than Moon Palace has access and I think golf packages if your guests enjoy that. It is older, but still gets great reviews. If you're doing adults only, I would also suggest the El Dorados (also by Karisma) or Excellence. Good luck. And if there are specifics you want to know please ask. But it's really hard to make a suggestion without knowing what your needs are. Quote: Originally Posted by Mwise17 Thanks Miriam... It def. feels good to have some things knocked off....on my way to hot yoga, and then my mom is coming over to help pack up the wedding week survival kits to see what is missing. (and what we have space for!!!) I found the emergen-C...thanks. I can't wait to try on the dress again and cross fingers it fits (ordered a size smaller)...but have just over 2 months to go and plan on losing more. When was your final fitting? Do some have it super close to departure date??? Glad to hear you found the emergen-C, I kept my eyes open but didn't see any. Where did you end up finding it? I am sure your dress will fit wonderfully, and seamstresses can really work their magic! I had mine altered/finally fitting about 2 weeks before heading down. But I also used a private seamstress that works out of her home. So she could make me a priority. Not sure how it works at the actual bridal store. If you need a good seamstress, mine is in Brampton.

You must be so excited about the dress! Can't wait to see pictures And congrats on making so much progress on your DIY projects! It's a great feeling to have things done and checked off the list. And fun with your girlfriends, try not to worry to much, your FI friends will look out for their buddy! Congrats on the weight loss too! That's fantastic.

Love the centerpiece idea! Congrats.

Great planning thread! Love the dress and all your extra details. Well done

Ordered a random assortment of sizes. There were different sizes hung beside each other. I think we ordered 40...which is way too many. 20 for the gazebo was plenty! (we only used the 20 at the reception, and 4 at the wedding gazebo on the beach) We ordered some 10", lots of 12", a few 15" and a few 18". I would not go much larger, they become difficult to pack flat in your suitcase if they are much wider (unless you have a gigantic suitcase LOL)

We got a small cake (10 person?) just for the cutting of the cake. But since we had a dinner which included a dessert, we really didn't think it was necessary to have cake as well. I think the kids ate our wedding cake LOL!

The WC and staff put on the name cards on each table according to my seating chart. Most people noticed the tables in the corner and realized that's where the guest book and seating chart were and just wandered over. And the pathways are really not that close to the tables...again my diagram not at all to size LOL We just choose our menu according to what we wanted to eat. I think we just liked the sound of the set menu we choose, but really the food is wonderful there. We made our minds by simply reading the menus one by one, and thinking is this what we want- yes or no. The no menus got put to the side and I think we were left with 3 menus. From there we got a little more detailed and decided on the set menu we used. (plus it really helps that both of us really do not enjoy buffets, so we eliminated that right off the start) Good luck! And don't get too stressed out, your guests will enjoy what is served and more importantly enjoy being there for your wedding!