shannonmarie

I'm pretty sure we are going to do maracas as favors at the reception. I love the little quote about kissing to put on the maracas (Instead of tapping on your glass, here's a system with Mexican class. Stand and shake with all your might to see the groom kiss his bride tonight) and I think it's perfect for a wedding in Mexico. If something happens when the time gets closer and we don't end up buying them, then I think the welcome bag will be just fine!

I am also starting to think about centerpieces. I still not sure if I am going to drag things down with me or rent from the resort. Renting from the resort is just so darn pricey! Again, this depends on how many guest we have b/c at this point I haven't a clue how many tables we will even have! Guess I'll have to wait on this too!

We've got our wedding bands, we are getting ready to place an order for our invitations (using a groupon from VistaPrint that expires soon so I need to get one it)! Plan on sending them out mid-January. We are just using the resort photographer and Dj. I'm also doing a wedding madlib guest book and I created that on vistaprint but probably won't order it for a few more months. Hmmm, when I think about it, I honestly haven't done much but I don't even feel behind! This is half the reason I chose a destination wedding! I'm a very simple girl. I couldn't even imagine planning a local wedding! LOL We've only had about 6 guest book so far so I won't even start on my welcome bags for a few months. Not what I wanted to do, but we are keeping them pretty basic so it shouldn't be too bad.

I did this same thing. My resort doesn't need a count until about 45 days before the wedding but I'm setting my RSVP date for 3 months prior to my wedding date so I can get things done myself. We might have some last minute people book but at least I'll have somewhat of a number so I can start buying things.

For the additional hour of the reception?

Hey Billandstina! If I were you, I'd definitely forgo the STD's and just send out the invitations.

Those are very pretty! Unfortunately, it's out of my budget though! I'll have to stick with the $1.95 per pair and have to drag them down with me!

I've read on these boards that some girls did by the maracas there, expecting them to be cheaper but I don't believe they were much cheaper. If you do a search for maracas, you may see the thread. I think they originally tried to charge her an outrageous amount but she was able to talk them down a bit. It still don't think they were cheaper than http://www.amols.com/catalog/medium-traditional-maracas, on that website they are $1.95 a pair. I don't think you can beat that.. Although it may be a hassle dragging them down but that's my plan As for the swapping and credits,they are very inconsistent so I'm not sure. Hopefully they will be a little more lenient once we get down there

I like wedding wire.

I'm not sure about your first few questions but we too are using the resort photographer. I've read alot of people complaining about the quality of pics from the resort but I honestly didn't think they were terrible. Sure, there are better out there but we just cannot afford hiring an outside photographer. I'm sure the resorts photographer will be fine. As for the flowers, I think you can send her a pic of the bouquet you like and she'll let you know if they can do it and how much it cost. I will probably just pick something when we get there. Flowers aren't a huge deal to me. I just want something tropical and pretty Sorry, what's a terlace? All the packages come with chairs white chair covers. You can add colored chair bows at an extra cost per chair. Most brides bring their own, it's alot cheaper! We are sending out invites mid January for our June wedding. Asking for RSVP's by mid March. I'm telling guest i need a head count at 3 months even though it's actually less than that. But for my own sanity, I need to know so I can get everything finalized. I know not everyone will RSVP by then (& we may have some people book last minute) but the way I see it, if you don't know if you're leaving the country in 3 months, then I'll mark you down as a no. So I'd say send out your invites no later than June for your November wedding. Just my opinion! I made a postcard style RSVP card (including meal choices) with my invites on vistaprint. I chose postcards to save on postage and envelopes instead of normal rsvp cards. I put 2 meal choices (beef filet & shrimp, and scallop & mahi mahi) and instructed guest to initial their dinner meal preference.

I chose the Divine Package for the videography and live music. Also, it comes with a few extras that the eternity doesn't. I started off with the eternity but change to Divine. The tiffany style chairs aren't included in either package. We want to do some kind of welcome for our guest as well. I think we will just have cocktails in the Lobby Bar. Pilar said she can block of a small section for us if we are only having cocktails. I will put this in my welcome letter. I'll word it some way for the guest to know that it's an after dinner thing that way they know to eat before they come since there will be no food.

Love your pics! That's great to hear, I just booked mine 2 months prior to our wedding. I had no idea when to book it. How did you make the book? I was checking out shutterfly and sites like it but it seems you have to have a 20 page minimum. I was wondering if you used a site that allowed you to make a book less than 20 pages.

I think you'll be fine. Mine is at 5pm and it looks like the sunsets at 7:30 in Cancun. I checked the Bahamas as well and it looks like it sets around 8pm so it gives you about 2 hours. I'm not sure what the best lighting for pics is though. Maybe to play it safe, move it to 5:30 to give you 2 1/2 hours. I'm sure either way you'll be fine.

That sounds great! I'm not sure when my guest are coming just yet. My parents & sister are flying in with us and leaving the 16th. We are leaving on the 19th. We have 2 guest that will be there 13-17. and that's all we have booked so far. How many of your guest have booked?

We are arriving Wednesday, June 12th. We thought about coming Monday or Tuesday instead but we decided we wanted to spend most of our vacation after the wedding rather than the days leading up to it. I think I'll be a little nervous/stressed so I didn't wanna spend too much time there before the wedding. I also am afriaid to get too much sun before the big day as well! What about you?

Hey Catgirl! We have the same date!! Where is your wedding?

Hey Heather, I'm getting married June 14th! Megan (who is also on this board) is getting married the same day as you!

Hey ladies, There is so much information on Now Jade here: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/78683/official-now-jade-wedding-thread/1040#post_1841713

MissJali I feel the same way. I never wanted a bridal party. I agree, I just do not want to deal with the hassle. We will have a Maid of Honor which will be my sister, I could never get married without having her stand beside me and we'll have 2 bestmen, (only because my FI cannot choose between his 2 best friends). But other than that, I have no desire to have a "full" wedding party. I think you should just be honest with them. I'm sure they'll understand!

I'm happy to hear there are others in the same boat as me waiting for people to book! I thought it was only me for a while. On the forum it seems like a lot of brides getting married in May/June/July already have alot of guest booked, at least the deposit. That worried me for a bit until I realized there were others in my shoes too :-) I like your idea of guessing but I just have no clue. It could be 50 it could be 25. I would just hate to buy 50 of each and then have sooo many leftovers. I know I could probably sell them on here or another website but I just don't want to go through that hassle. I'll just wait until it gets a little closer. Soon after invitations go out I'm sure we'll start hearing more who's coming/not coming. However; if I had a huge exam like you did 3 weeks before, I'd want to get them out of the way as well!

I saw some pic on here of your wedding! You looked gorgeous! Congratulations!! :-)

Oh wow! This sounds so bad but I hope one third of our invited guest don't come! I wanted something small and simple too! That's why we chose to go this route! 60 is too many for my liking as well!! (I hope none of my guest are on these boards!!!) lol!

It's in Cancun. I'll be fine bringing the medicine but thanks for the heads up! I've talked (and read on here) a so many brides have brought advil, immodium, etc for their welcome bags and nobody has had any issues with smuggling drugs. If you do a search on these boards you'll read dozens of reviews and threads on OOT bags where brides have brought stuff down in their suitcases. If your worried, you can go to the Wal-mart or Costco in Cancun but I just don't want to deal with that once i get there. I'd rather just bring it all down with me & just enjoy my vacation right when we get to the resort!

I too am anxious to start my OOT bags! I have a list of everything I'm putting in but I refuse to buy anything until I have more of a clue how many guest we'll have. Right now I'm clueless. So many people say they are coming but when it comes down to actually booking, I'm not so sure. I am not making them too fancy, and I'm trying to keep the price reasonable. Just plain gift bags with a "Wedding Week Survival Kit" filled with medicine, tissues, chapstick, handsanitizer, aloe, ect, welcome letter, and then a koozie. Trying to keep it pretty simple! I'm trying to keep the OOT bags, and decor limited to one suitcase, POSSIBLY two if I have no choice! From my understanding, each person is allowed to bring in $300 worth of items without paying duties.

Your absolutely right! Things are so much different with a destination wedding! It's all about what works for you. I think you'd be fine sending invites around then.. For me, I'd like to have my RSVP's and a head count by March (latest April) for my own sanity! I'll need to know how many chair sashes, centerpieces, etc to have and I don't want to wait till the last minute. My resort doesn't need an exact count until I believe 45 days in advance, but I'm telling my guest 90 days (although I'm sure we'll have some last minute people book!) Unfortunately we didn't do a room block so I don't have a deadline for them to book by. I wish I did so people wouldn't wait until the last minute! So far (besides our parents and my sister, we've only had 6 guest book). As for an info card, I have all of the info on our website, which I'm sure most of our guest have looked at, but we put some of the important info on the back of the invite. How many guest are you inviting? We invited most everyone we would invite if we were having a local wedding and our guest list is around 150. I'm hoping for no more than 40 though! It gets expensive! It's amazing how things add up so darn quick!