clgriffi7

I am in the same situation - I picked up my dress from the shop in August 2010 for my November 2011 wedding. My plan is as follows: late August 2011 - take my dress in for the first time (this gives you a bit of time in case you are comfortable with the first seamstress) late September - go in for my final fitting early October - pick up the altered dress mid October - bridal portrait early November 2011- wedding The only problem with this plan is that you need to be at a sustainable weight/size 2.5 months in advance. If anyone thinks this plan is unreasonable - please let me know!

Carolina - What did you end up doing for centerpieces at your reception? I have a lot of planning time ahead of me, but I haven't decided what direction I am heading: traveling with centerpieces, buying then from the resort, or having an outside flower vendor. Any insight into what you did any why would be really appreciated. Courtney

cricket - There is an established Dreams Cancun thread (info below) where all of the brides for that resort ask questions and share info. I have signed a contract for the Ultimate package for next November. With 30 people, you will be paying for 10 additional people for the cocktail hour and the reception. With fees and taxes, I think I recall that will be around $90/per person for those 10 people. Some of the brides have traded the cocktail hour for 10 more guests at dinner - so you could have 30 people with no cocktail hour (everyone just heads to the lobby bar) and the seated reception for the package price. Dreams Cancun - Questions for those married here! http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/2782/dreams-cancun-questions-for-those-married-here/4730#post_1458243 I will likely be adding quite a few things to the package price - DJ, dance floor, centerpieces, extra photography (if I don't bring my own from the US - one thing to know iwth photos is that they try and charge $500 for the disc with all of the pictures but brides are able to negotiate to $300) and so on. With so many months to go, I haven't made all of those decisions final. However, there are several brides that are coming up on November 2010 weddings on that thread that can be of more help. Courtney

My fiance and I are definitely getting married legally before we leave. You do not need the stress of a legal wedding in Mexico - there are threads on this site about paperwork not having gone through MONTHS after the wedding. I think we will plan on getting married at least two days in advance in case there is anything that could delay things and make us not get it done the day we want (I am a pessimist like that - I always assume something will go wrong). I read in another thread that a bride and groom shook hands instead of kissing after the legal ceremony. So there are things that you could do to make the legal ceremony back home feel like a paperwork exercise and less like a wedding so as to make the Mexico celebration more special. Unfortunately, I think my fiance is heading in the opposite direction. I think he wants to have the dog involved in the legal ceremony (since he can't be there in mexico), which means taking the event out of the court house and having to pay for an officiant and blah, blah, blah. But after all of the things I say I want, I can't deny him this.

My company is doing their annual health assessment today where they bring in nurses to do quick blood work, measure blood pressure, weigh you and such. My results came back better than expected and now I get to go online and get $200 for doing well...woohoo!!! My fiance will not see that check and it will go into my wedding stash - so when he tells me something is too expensive I get to pull out the stash and say "I'll pay for it..."

Boo - Thank you so much. I think I will go with one of the wood ones. I think I like the look of the all metal one better, but the stonger wood one would make that one less thing to worry/think about.

for any of the ladies that have bought the coat hangers with "mrs. xyz", is it strong enough to hold your dress? The hanger will only need to hold the dress for a couple of pictures, but my dress is a standard wedding dress (not beachy - light & flowy). However, my dress does not have any beading. Do you think that hanger would work?

It definitely means she likes you. But I think it might also mean that she is a planner and once she has an idea she want so see it come to life. I am the same way. I am not getting maried until November 2011 as well, but I have started ordering stuff for the wedding that could seriously wait, but once I have an idea I have to follow through.

My suggestion is to first try on all shapes of wedding dresses (regardless of style) at the first shop. You may think you want a certain style (say A-line with straps) but after trying on the different types realize that a completely opposite type flatters your figure best (say a strapless mermaid). After you discover the best shape for your body, then you can better pick out which style of that shape you love. That was how I discovered that a A-line dress makes me look like I have huge hips and no boobs, and a sheath wedding dress makes me look like a boy because I don't have enough curves, while a mermaid hugs the right places to make it apparent that I am in fact a woman :-) My other suggestion is to get pictures of yourself (front and back) in each dress, and get the pictures of the contenders printed out. It really helps you to pick between a few good choices when you can lay out phyiscal prints next to each other and compare. You will have a great time! And good luck finding your dream dress...

I think it end up being easier for you to go ahead and assign seats. I can picture people just grabbing chairs and couples getting separated and having to ask others to shift down.

7 day cruises are definitely more fun - and after the excitement (and stress) of the wedding you will want more time to unwind. One thing I would look at is the actual price difference between the two as there often isn't a huge price difference between the two (especially certain times of the year - between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to be the cheapest time to cruise).

Kathleen - I am so happy for you that your husband understands and now wants the wedding that we girls dream of !!! My suggestion (and the way I started) was to get an idea of where you might want to have your renewal: Mexico or Jamaica or Bahamas or... At that point I would start stalking that portion of the thread and checking out the reviews for resorts from that location. In those reviews you will hear the good and bad things about different resorts so you can chose one that works for you. ALSO, from those reviews you will see a lot of pictures that will help you decide what you like for your colors, dress, flowers, and theme. You have so much time, that I would just stalk your chosen part of the thread and copy and paste your favorite pictures into word files which will be your inspiration boards. You will notice a theme in the pictures you have chosen as your favorites and will be able to start planning from there. I would think that 18 months out is the earliest that you would want to start talking to a travel agent about reserving your resort, so take your time and pick the perfect place for you and your family!

Amanda - I think you are completely doing the right thing. You cannot allow your mother to guilt you into a relationship with your sister. If your sister is going through some things, then fair enough, but your sister needs to be the one to tell you what those things are. I agree that you should sit your sister down first and tell her that you are considering asking your friend to be your MOH because she (your sister) cannot even make time to call you back and only made time for dress shopping after three requests. That will give your sister the chance to tell you why she hasn't been there for you. Remind your sister what is expected of a MOH (bridal shower, bachelorette party...) and ask her if she will be able to live up to all of that. If your sister can't or won't explain her actions and guarantee that it won't continue throughout your wedding planning/event, then you need to tell her your decision is final and then tell your mother. That way, when you talk to your mother, you will have given your sister the chance to speak up and make amends. Best of luck.

Mrs. Timpone - Congratulations! Please show us as many pictures as you can! I have started collecting wedding day and TTD photos from Dreams Cancun brides so I can have a list of must have shots/locations. I would also love to see pictures of details (like flowers) to know whether they were the ones that came with the package or were upgrades.

I will be getting married in Cancun, and I will most certainly have my engagement ring and our real wedding rings. I cannot imagine not having our real rings at our wedding! But I never take my engagement ring off - beach or pool, so I won't be worried about leaving that ring in the room safe. If you keep your rings on, then how are you any different than any other married couple that has their rings?

Tomick - How in the world did you get all of that stuff for free? The DJ, the dance floor? Those are worth a couple thousand dollars! Sounds like you got a fantastic deal!!!! I can only hope for the same... Has anyone else heard of any of the same types of freebies?

I hope to be able to pay for 1 excursion for guests, but that will depend on the number of people that come to the wedding. If the guest count is too large, then I will likely pay for family and then maybe try to subsidize the price for others so it is more affordable. I will try and have that (hopefully) prepaid excursion the day before the wedding and then have an optional one a couple days after the wedding. For that one, I will just let people know that the bride and groom are going to do xyz in case you would like to join. Possibly just instruct guests to contact the excursion desk at the hotel if they are interested.

I think #1 looks best. That dress is the most flattering as the ruffles on the skirt lay flat. Maybe in alterations they could so a sweetheart neckline - just a thought!

I think the blue will contrast with a white or ivory dress better!

I am thinking of planning a welcome cocktail hour and one optional excursion. I don't plan on scheduling anything else because I want everyone to enjoy their vacations. I am sure my fiance and I will spend additional time with family, but I don't want it to be structured.

I have started buying items for my OOT bags and I bought mugs (that will not be personalized) from the Dollar Tree. I am not personalizing so people may use them when they get home. And I bought $1 mugs in case they lose them or choose to leave them behind.

We have signed up for the Ultimate package. I am pretty sure we will have 20 or more people, so the Ultimate really makes sense. Based on the prices on the contract, it will cost ~$90 per person (including taxes and such for cocktail hour and reception) above the package price so the difference in the prices between the Ultimate and the next package down is made up for by the extra people it includes.

Comments about YS Falls - I was there as a tourist a couple of years back and had a few pictures taken in the falls. If you just wade into the pool areas between the layers of the falls you should be ablet o get some good pictures. However, one of the guides there put us right under one of the falls and our bathing suits were about to fall off the water was so strong! I think this place could make for gorgeous pictures, but it would be beneficial if your photographer had shot there before. YS Falls also has river tubing which could make for some really fun pictures (even if you don't tube down the river and you just hop into tubes for a few minutes to take pics - I am sure a tip to an employee would allow you to do this without paying). Lastly, they have a rope swing where you get to fall into one of the pool areas between levels of the falls. I would NOT recommend doing this in a wedding dress as effort is required to fight your way up to the surface when just wearing a bathing suit! Could make for a good picture of the groom, but please don't do it in your dress. Hope that helps!

Hi Ladies! I am 99% sure that I am a Dreams Cancun bride! I have signed a contract for November 5, 2011 and they just charged my credit card for the wedding deposit. I am just waiting to get a copy of the contract signed by Claudia before I feel 100% confident that I have a wedding date. I have been active on this site since June and I have been lurking around this thread while 1) deciding between Dreams Cancun & Dreams Puerto Aventuras and then 2) working on securing a date with TA Jill. Congrats to all the brides that are nearing their special days! Courtney

I am currently in the process of booking my wedding in Cancun for November 2011 - so you can see that the violence has not scared me off. In my opinion the majority of the violence is along the border and not in Cancun. However, Cancun is a city - there will be violence. Are there not reports of murders and such in cities like NY, Miami, & LA. Would you cancel you trip to those cities based on those reports? (My city in North Carolina reports murders weekly - it is all about where you go and when you go there.) I have not heard of 50 bodies in a pit in Cancun. I just went to google and looked and all I could find was a report in July of 6 bodies found in a cave. As there was no report of these being tourists - I am not concerned. For my trip, I plan on recommending my guests stay "on the beaten path". I am truly sorry that your guests and especially your family are putting you in this position. If they are convinced that it is dangerous, I doubt there will be anything you can do to change their mind. my suggestion would be to go with your heart and make your decision to hold your current date/location or move to another country very quickly and then stick to your decision so that you are not being emotionally beat up. My suggestion is to look at the list of guests who are still planning on coming and decide whether you will be happy with only those people being there for your special day. Best of luck deciding!