clgriffi7

Definitely not trying to suggest one area over another - but I think the same process could work for you. Check out the lowest flight prices from your main airports and then use expedia to find out the most reasonably priced resorts in that location.

Even though you are getting married in the US - why not get married at home at the courthouse (with justice of the peace) and then have a symbolic ceremony in Maui? Most of the brides on this forum are getting married in another country (which have hoops to jump through to make it legal there and back home) so lots of us are getting legally married at home and then having symbolic weddings at our destination. If I were you, I would try and find a way to have some sort of ceremony at home where your fiance's parents will attend but also have your dream wedding in Maui. If you offer this option the in-laws will feel like they have "won", which will keep the peace. And if you keep up with the planning of the Maui wedding, by the time it rolls around the in-laws might have changed their mind and might not want to be left out. Best of luck with your decision!

Those classes wouldn't be enough if you are trying to become a body builder - but they are definitely a great way to get started with weights. And you get to choose how heavy of a weight you use - so you can increase the intensity as much as you want. But let me say that for a weights class you normally use less weight than you would for regular lifting as they often have you doing a lot more repititions.

I am from Raleigh, NC and a local travel agent said that the cheapest flights were 1) Bahamas then 2) Cancun (servicing Cancun and the Riviera Maya). Based on that info I focused my location on Cancun/Riviera Maya. I am guessing that might be true for a lot of other East Coast cities. For an early November wedding my guests are looking at ~$1000/pp flying from Raleigh for a 5 night stay at all-inclusive Dreams Cancun. Costs for guests was certainly a consideration for me - I know when I go on vacation I am looking for a good deal so I couldn't ask them to do anything less just becasue it will be my wedding. Once I selected Cancun/Riviera Maya, I did an Expedia search for the time near my wedding (I actually did it for Nov 2010 bc I was looking back in June 2010) and narrowed down the resorts based on cost (I would suggest determining a flight + hotel max and only consider resorts below that max). From there I started looking at the ceremony and reception packages, locations, etc....

Joanne - I bought my dress WAAAAY too early. I got engaged in June and was forced to be off of work during the whole July 4th holiday week (my company does maintenance then). I figured that while I was off of work I might as well look - and I figured that a weekday would be less stressful than a weekend. I didn't intend on buying anything at that time, but I found a dress I lvoed and it was onsale (15% off) and I knew I would kick myself if I bought the same dress for more money later. My dress only took 12 weeks to come in. Here is my dress, Allure 8705 (I will likely make the neckline a sweetheart). I would say to send out your save the dates whenever you get them in, but it might be a good idea to verbally communicate your date and location to those guests most important to you in the mean time. And I don't have my invites yet (they will be a DIY project), but I pretty much have them designed. I would agree that you need to go ahead and decide what you will do for a photographer. My resort uses a great photographer and he would be available through the resort. But if you are looking to hire an outside photogrpaher, then you should start looking. However, I noticed that your wedding date is a Thursday - so that will help out a lot with availability. Best of luck and keep us informed!

I got engaged last June, so it isn't that I am organized....I have just had a lot of time. We probably would have chosen Sept or Oct 2011, but I wanted to wait until November to decrease the chances of hurricanes.... I really really want to plan more, but that is tough to do until you have a good idea of how many people are coming. So instead I am focusing a bit more on our At Home Party - we booked the DJ a couple of weekends ago and a little later this week we are meeting with the "caterer" to taste cupcakes and go over the trays of food they offer. I am a planner so I need to plan something!

Rachel - that is a very cool idea....

I definitely screwed up yesterday - but it was a conscious decision that I made. My scale said I gained 0.8lbs from Sunday morning to Monday morning. I am interested to see tomorrow morning how much of that is "real" weight. Before the game I went to the gym and ran a 5k on the treadmill and lifted weights in the hopes to partially counteract what I knew I was going to do.... BTW - it didnt' help that the hostess of the Superbowl party I went to is pregnant and was eating everything in sight (she had 3 servings of cake).

I thought about doing a site visit for my resort - but figured I would rather save that money and spend it on the wedding itself. I wish I could have the money to have done both! We sent out our STD's including wedding website back in December (to give everyone as much notice as possible) and I am planning to send out invitations late April. I did engagement pictures last November as a trial for a local photographer that we will take with us to Mexico. A link to those pictures in my profile is at the bottom of my messages. The dress was bought last year and is currently at my parents' house - I go and visit my dress about once a month I currently have no idea what size my wedding will be. it could be from 15 (immediate family only) to ~30 (immediate family + friends) to ~60 (immediate family, extended family, and friends). We do not want the hassle and expense of 60 ppl at the wedding. How can you enjoy your vacation if you have to spend time with 60 ppl?! It is sad, but 2 different aunt/uncle sets responded in their Christmas cards that they would not be able to make it and my fiance & I high-fived at the news.

05Nov jenniketchup TBD 05Nov clgriffi7 Dreams Cancun 10Nov carribe258 Dreams Tulum 11Nov angi111111 El Dorado Royale 11Nov karielk TBD 11Nov CaitlinBlane2011 IB Tucan 11Nov Vanessa C Gran Caribe 11Nov nadennec Gran Caribe 11Nov Pucca Coral Baja 11Nov AshleyNicole84 Kool Beach Club 17Nov JoanneIreland Barcelo Maya Palace BridetwoBe - what day are you?

Rachel - Thanks for the review. I love seeing how different (and still beautiful) things can be at the same resort... I do have one question that I will ask here in case any other ladies are interested. Where did you have your cocktail hour? The setup looked great. (From someone who has not done a site visit, it doesn't appear to be the terrace) If you don't check back, I will email you. Thanks again.

Debbie - Thanks for the review and the pictures. I love reading great reviews and feeling more confident that we all picked a great resort to get married at. Your hair did look great - in fact everything looked great. And that story about the second bride is great too - I hope someone got a picture of that!

I am personally going to stay very conservative with my jewelry (white pearls and silver) because I want to make sure that the dress is the focus. However, I am a girl that on a daily basis only has on a watch and my engagement ring so having on a lot of bright jewelry on my wedding day would be abnormal for me and might cause me some regret when I looked at the pictures after the fact. As my jewelry will be colorless and my dress will be white, I am having a fuschia hair flower that will match my fuschia shoes. But I think if you are the type of girl that loves to wear colorful jewelry and that is part of your "thing" then I think you should go for it. Just remember that you will be looking at pictures from this day for a long time to come, so think of whether it will look strange to have color or not to have color based on your personal fashion style.

That dress is beautiful...where did you get it?!

I would totally wear my dress again if we were having a more formal AHR. However ours will be more of a party: Friday night (starting at 8pm), free beer and wine, trays of snack foods, cupcakes, slideshow, and most importantly a DJ. Since it is more of a party, I will find a shorter white dress to wear (that will double as my legal day dress). But if we were having a full meal and doing things like announcements you better believe I would be in my dress again. If you think you might feel silly, why don't you wear your wedding dress for an entrance and any other "reception-like" planned events and then change into that short rehearsal dress you are talking about for the rest of the time?

Welcome ladies.... 05Nov jenniketchup TBD 05Nov clgriffi7 Dreams Cancun 10Nov carribe258 Dreams Tulum 11Nov angi111111 El Dorado Royale 11Nov karielk TBD 11Nov CaitlinBlane2011 IB Tucan 11Nov Vanessa C Gran Caribe 11Nov Pucca Coral Baja 11Nov AshleyNicole84 Kool Beach Club 17Nov JoanneIreland Barcelo Maya Palace

Rachel - Congratulations!!!! The picture you posted says it all... You know how we all love pictures and reviews, so we will be looking forward to yours.

Laides - it seems as if there are a couple of November 2011 threads but they are specific to certain destinations (like Riviera Maya or Cabo). I think it would be great to have a thread for ALL November 2011 brides because a lot of our planning has nothing to do with our location. I envision us offering support to each other as our wedding days approach as well as offering advice on where to buy all of those wedding necessities. As of today I have 9 months and 1 day! I am a November 5th bride at Dreams Cancun.

hey ladies - there is another November 2011 thread out there: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/57903/november-2011-brides-or-grooms/30#post_1536065

I have had one person say those kind of things to me and my response is: "Would you not go to Las Vegas? Because Las Vegas is closer to the border and the violence than Cancun is..." The person then looked confused and stopped talking....

Why hasn't your FI banned himself from his sister?!!! If my sibling had so little respect for my choice in mate that she felt the need to try and hook me back up with ex's (and it says something about the FSIL that she isn't really pushing just one lady - she is trying to hook him up with different ladies - WTF?!) then I would tell my sister where to go. It doesn't matter whether a sibling agrees with your decision, it is their job to say their peace just once and then be supportive. You are a much nicer person than I am. I would have told my fiance he needs to get this situation under control by whatever means he sees fit (be it laying down the law or avoiding her). And if he didn't get it under control then I would have to take it upon myself to get it under control and after several "warnings" you better bet that a family Christmas dinner wouldn't stop me. On the one hand you don't want to make an enemey of a future in-law, but you also don't want them to think they can roll all over you - if something doesn't give she will never show you the respect you deserve. BTW - When I say I would lay down the law, I would do it in such a way that made her out to be the bad guy. Something like, "Wow, ____ (FSIL's name)! It has been apparent for quite some time that you do not approve of ____ (fianc'e name) and I getting married by the way you are constantly trying to hook him up with other women. But I do believe this takes it to a whole new level that you are trying to use the celebration of Christ's birthday to break up my engagement." At which point I would turn to the rest of the family and say "I apologize that I will not be able to stay any longer as I feel I have been deeply disrespected. I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas." Then I would turn back to the FSIL and say "and I hope you feel ashamed of yourself." Sorry my reply was so long - but this one got my blood boiling!

Wow - this one is really tough! They are both such pretty dresses and just so different I agree with the comment that you need to decide which one makes you feel more like a bride. If I had to describe each dress in one word I would say #1 is sweet and #2 is sexy. Which one of those 2 adjectives is how you want to see yourself on your wedding day. Do you happen to have pictures of yourself in each of the dresses? That could relaly help us help you because one might be more flattering than the other to our impartial eyes.

I think the key to your statement is that a lot of ladies on here have a lot more to lose than you do. My thought is when you have less to lose then your body knows it needs to hold onto it. When I said I was doing better with exercising less and eating a bit more - it is because I am in the same situation. My weight loss goal (at the beginning of the year) was only 7 pounds. If you don't have much to lose and you are so upset that you are in tears, then at the very least you should take a break. Maybe cutting back will be the key to boosting weight loss, or maybe not - but if not, then at least you have reloaded emotionally for another run at your goal.

My first shopping day I did nothing but try on dresses of differest shapes/styles so I could determine what I liked. I didn't try and find "the one" I just tried to narrow it down. I thought mermaid would be best for me, but I had to be sure. What you like and what looks best on your body aren't necessarily the same thing. But once you see what looks best, you will start to love it. I then went to 2 more stores in search of the perfect dress and was able to find it - but I think I would have been overwhlemed if I had started looking for the perfect one without having been able to narrow down to the shape. Best of luck with the whole process, it can be a lot of fun if you don't put too much pressure on yourself. And of course the advice every bride to be should get is don't try on a dress if it is out of your price range - you are just asking for heart break!!

Ladies - I thought it would be fun to keeping a running tally of who is getting married on what day and at what resort so when November rolls around we know who's up next. Looking back through the thread, this is what I have: 05Nov jenniketchup TBD 05Nov clgriffi7 Dreams Cancun 10Nov carribe258 Dreams Tulum 11Nov angi111111 El Dorado Royale 11Nov karielk TBD 11Nov CaitlinBlane2011 IB Tucan 11Nov Vanessa C Gran Caribe 17Nov JoanneIreland Barcelo Maya Palace Please let me know if I have left you off or have anything incorrect.