fmichelle

Hey Jellis, just wanted to say "hi" as FI and I will actually be at the Elegance when you're getting married! We're getting married at Excellence on the 25th and then transferring over to the Elegance on the 28th for our Honeymoon. Hope you don't mind, but I may just have a sneak a peak at your wedding Congrats fellow April Punta Cana bride. Hope you're planning is going well. I feel like I still have so many loose ends to tie up...eek!

Lisa, I'm so sorry to hear about your seamstress stress, that is totally unacceptable. And to try and blame you for standing at an angle? WTF? I would highly recommend leaving a negative review for her on Yelp or something like that so other brides don't have to experience that. Good luck with the next seamstress, since she was able to fix your other dresses, I'm sure she'll find a way to fix yours and you won't even be able to tell that there was ever an issue. Meggers, I totally hear you. My shoot is on Friday and I'm totally nervous. Just get as much sleep as possible this weekend and start pounding Emergen-C, take some zinc lozenges, and tons of echinacea tea and you should be fine. Some homemade chicken soup wouldn't hurt either.

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate the positive comments. I haven't been able to show it to anyone since I'm not having a bridal party and the only one who has ever seen it is my mom, but since she lives half way across the country, she hasn't been to any of the fittings. I'm really happy with it, and can't wait to TRASH IT!!

We're only having 14 people and we're still doing a first dance because we want to do a first dance. We've decided that with everything, no matter how big our wedding is, we'll do whatever we want to do, traditional or not. It's your wedding, do what you want to do to make your day special.

Mocha, so creative with your labels, definitely impressed. Erin, so glad you were able to work out the shoe situation, sounds like it was nightmarish, kinda like Brandy's koozie fiasco. Meggers, looking forward to your extension pics, I'm excited to use mine for my BD shoot next week, Bailey, the party pics looks like that night was tons of fun. Lisa, I saw that starfish thread a while back but like Mocha said, I didn't get on that soon enough, but it's awesome you were able to work it out, I don't think it's silly at all. Sorry for everyone's family issues, I cannot even imagine the stress of an AHR while planning the DW, I think we'll probably just the the backyard BBQ thing, but totally informal, and not for a while (we've got tons of work to still do on the house despite living here for a year and a half) and FI wants to get those done before we have people over. I've been focused on getting the taxes done, but now it's back to wedding planning mode. I went to pick up my dress today, and it turns out she forgot to alter the bustle underneath, so now I have to wait another couple of weeks before I can take it home. But I thought I'd share a teaser pic anyway. I'm really happy that I decided to have her make it into a sweetheart neckline (the girls need all the help they can get..).

My Sony dock just arrived today and it sounds great! It's not too big and it's not too heavy, and the best part was that it was just around $100 shipped (less than the price of renting a sound system for three hours at the resort). Feel free to message me any questions about it. It has a remote and an aux input so I'm planning on using a wireless mic that I have if anyone wants to do speeches.

That claim sounds a little unreasonable, not to mention unhealthy. Since a pound of fat is 3500 calories, that would mean that by eating their diet you're burning 3750 more per day than you are consuming. I think your goal of five pounds is much more reasonable, only burning 1250 more calories per day than you're consuming. Have you done any calculations for you BMR which tells you how many calories you burn per day just based on your height, weight, and typical daily activities? There are a lot of online calculators for that.

So I think I've FINALLY finished our guestbook. FI still wants to Photoshop some of the photos and replace them, but I don't think he understands the time crunch we're on here...if I do the slow shipping we're talking about the end of the month, and if the book has any issues...ahhhh...I don't want to think about it. Anyway, if anyone would like to take a look at it, PM your email address and I'll send you the link. I'm hoping for some feedback on the style I've gone with. We're not having very many guests, so I had a lot of pages to fill with tons of photos of us. I hope you like it, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I actually have extra "treat bags" that I bought from Michaels. They aren't ziplock, but I folded them over and stapled them before stapling on the notecards that have the info on the contents. How many do you need? I only used 8 out of 20. Let me know.

greys, I like the vertical with the monogram, but it seems the be the most formal, so I guess it depends on what the feel is that you want for your AHR. But that's my vote. Tris, what a beautiful gown, and it fits you like a glove, absolutely beautiful. I think I'm going to have to get a pic when I go for my final fitting next week, since I can't show anyone else...FI wants EVERYONE to be surprised, so every time I go it's just me and the lady doing alterations.

Congrats! I'm so excited for you! I can't wait to hear all about your experience, I think the last bride who commented was a couple of months ago. I think I'm the next one after you, we leave April 20th. Counting down the days.

Thanks for the BD shoot advice. As far as the ceremony decorations, I wouldn't over think it. You're getting married on a beach for a reason, the natural beauty of the place should take care of a lot of the beauty of your ceremony, it's not like you're getting married in a sterile hall that needs all the help it can get. Personally, I'm just going with the flowers that the resort provides, I want everyone to be looking at me and my FI, not the decor. Keep in mind how much you already have to bring down with you and decide if these purchases are really going to be worth the extra effort and the money. Just my two cents.

Thank you! And thanks everyone else for the feedback on th bags, I feel much better now and will resist the urge to shop for more stuff...hopefully ;-). Thanks also for the prop feedback, I'm definitely going to bring my garter, veil, a champagne flute, and hopefully a pom pom! And with my photographer, paying for her flight and hotel is he'd payment. Basically when it came time to book, she said she'd prefer if we paid for that instead of paying pretty much the same amount at the wedding. So it all works out. Have a wonderful Thursday ladies!

Oh, please don't get me wrong, not complaining. It did take me almost two years to get here from 140. I just have never been comfortable in a bikini and I figured this would be the best time to do so. You also probably should know I live in LA, totally messes up your view of what "healthy" is. It becomes completely apparent when I go back to the midwest to visit family how overly critical we are here. But regardless, I am proud of where I'm at, as is my fiancé. He's just very health conscious and always been in shape and would like the same for me. We barely ever eat out, I cook 2-3 meals a day and try to keep things low fat and natural, and as organic as possible (as much as the paycheck will allow, anyway) My downfall is baking, which although I'm always cutting calories and fat by substituting apple sauce or yogurt for butter and using half the sugar suggested, it's my favorite stress reliever...and we all know how stressful planning a wedding can be ;-) (even if it is a DW)

Yeah, it's totally crazy about agave, I thought it was good too until my diabetic friend burst that bubble. One question for the dieticians on here, why is it that I read everywhere you should never eat less than 1400 or even 1200 calories, but then when I got on a site like dailyplate or loseit! I put in my height, weight, that I am moderately active, my height, and weight, and it's telling me I should only eat about 1000 calories a day to lose 2lbs per week? I'm only 5'2" and weight 120, but I'd like to ideally be 115 by my BD shoot in 2 1/2 weeks. So who do I listen to?

Well, at this point for me, it's the only one on my side that will be at the wedding...I've known her since 8th grade and it'll be nice to have an old friend there with us. She's actually doing my BD shoot for me in 2 1/2 weeks EEK! Still would like to drop another 5lbs before then. Thanks for the compliments on my OOT bags, I think the problem is I started shopping for them so early on that since I'm 50 days out till we leave, I keep feeling like I should buy more For the girls who've already done the BD shoot, did you bring any props or anything, or just the sexy lingerie? I was thinking that after seeing some sample shoots online, I might pick up some fake rose petals (in blue of course...our wedding color) from the dollar store and strategically place them for a couple of shots, what do you think? Now that I have my homemade Laker Girl outfit, I'm contemplating picking up a pom pom, although I think they dance more than use those. Any ideas on that front?

Hey ladies, I haven't been around for a while, but I thought I'd chime in with my updates. If any of you remember, I totally busted my ankle back in December and that set me back for quite a bit. It still hurts sometimes, but I'm able to workout on it and am able to push myself without HURTING myself. I'm back on the Jillian 30 Day shred. Since I'm not doing it every day, I'm trying my best to do 10 days of each level. I'm halfway through Level 2 and was able to actually get through the whole thing without stopping, so that's very exciting. I'm thinking of getting her new 30 Day Ripped. Anyone know anything about it? I'm thinking it's probably harder than the shred, but the same length of workout, which I have no excuse not to fit in. I've got my BD shoot scheduled for 2 1/2 weeks from now and I'm honestly more concerned about that than the wedding itself (my dress has a corset back, so no worries there). I'm hoping that a lot of photoshop won't be necessary I finally gave in and bought a scale to track progress. This one tells body fat percentage as well. I know it's not as exact as the water submersion test, but who has a tank these days?? The trainer at my gym once did the test with the calipers and tested the areas where you test a man, so I got a totally unrealistic result. Anyway, I was happy to see that I'm only 5lbs away from my goal and bodyfat percentage wise, I'm already supposedly "healthy." BTW, I noticed someone mentioned something about agave syrup. A friend of mine who is diabetic told me that it's a very bad sweetener for your body because of the fact that all the chemical processes they put it through, your body does not know how to break it down properly. When she tried it (has to avoid sugar, of course) her levels went totally crazy and she had to take tons of insulin to get things back under control. There is a lot of marketing money behind it but they're not really telling you the truth about its safety. Congrats on everyone's accomplishments thus far. And as far as being motivated to keep up after the wedding, I don't know about you all, but I'd like to stay looking good as long as possible until a pregnancy messes it all up (hopefully...)

Wow, I feel like it's been forever since I posted on here. I have been reading whenever I could get a moment to stay up to date. I think you all are doing awesome with your projects and staying on top of everything. I too can't believe we can say "I'm getting married next month!" So super excited. I've finally decided to let go my stress about my family coming or not coming. I've finally got it through my head that on April 25th, my FI and I wil exchange vows and start our lives together, whoever is there is witness it and wants to share that very special moment, great, and whoever chooses not to for whatever reason (rational or not) that's up to them. I have to say that I'm feeling much better now. So, last weekend I finally put together all the things for my OOT bags and took a pic that I wanted to share: Do you think they look like there is enough? I know our wedding party is really small, but I feel like that would be a reason to fill it with more stuff. BTW, since we are so small, I now realize I've got extra bags and extra first aid kits. I'll try to take them back to the dollar store, but if anyone is interested, let me know. Kitty, was it at Excellence that they had a flea market on the beach? I think I remember that's where you said you got engaged. Lisa, I actually like the white rocks because it makes the blue starfish pop more. I forgot who asked about the shoes, but chalk my vote up with the rest of the 9West, so much more fun. Brandy, you're gifts look great. It's so wonderful how you are personalizing everything. I'm sure all your guests and bridal party will feel so special to have been recognized in such a way. Erin, sorry about your crap week, AND your photographer, that is so lame. I'm flying my photographer down as well and I couldn't even imagine her asking at this late point in the game to change my wedding date? Not to mention the costs you would incur from every which direction. Totally lame, not to mention unprofessional.

I know this thread hasn't been active for a bit, but I wanted to let you ladies and others know that I've been researching like crazy and tried some out in the store again with my iPod and finally settled on this one: http://reviews.cnet.com/radios/sony-rdp-xf100ip/4505-7875_7-34025618.html Although it was $249 at Bestbuy, I got it on eBay for just about $100 shipped! (new too!) I was looking at the Logitech, but something to keep in mind is that although it sounds good when it's plugged in, once the AC adapter is pulled out and it's running on batteries, the sound suffers significantly. Since we're doing our reception out on the beach, we don't have a free power option. The Sony is slightly bulkier and every so slightly heavier, but the volume difference makes up for it. I docked my iPhone in the store and played our first dance song, and stepped away to see how far I could be and still hear it clearly (with all the ambient noise) and that's what sold me.

Recently I've been seeing people post issues abou not receiving their marriage certificate from the DR for months and months. There was on from my specific resort as well. Even though I feel sorry for these girls, especially after going through all the extra hassle to get married abroad and the extra money they spent, it makes me even more glad that we're getting the legalities out of the way here first. The sooner the legal is solidified, the better. Any other DR brides feeling the same way?

Awesome to hear! We are doing our reception on the beach with the BBQ as well and I was wondering about the whole dancing situation without renting a DJ (we're going to do the iPod thing as well) Did you end up doing the garter and bouquet thing out on the beach as well?

Brandy, I was going to say #4, but now that you're between the two, I say number two. I can't explain why, but I like the way it looks with your names first. Anyone else have friends who got engaged yesterday? FI and I now have 5 sets of friends that are engaged. Crazy! Love is in the air! Trying to catch up, so here goes...Tris, what happened with the photographer? Are you going to forego your deposit on your previous photographer? Erin, congrats on LEGALLY becoming a Mrs, love the ring. Totally understand wanting to wear it all the time, FI and I feel the same about ours. Any teaser pics from the BD shoots yet? Just scheduled mine for next month. BTW, Brandy, I took your advice and I'm making my own Laker girl outfit, bought a purple sports bra and a purple Cheerleading skirt, and bought some iron on Lakers patches I got off eBay. I'm sure FI will love it.

Hey Excellence brides and brides-to-be, did anyone who's wed there or going to be wed there have issues with guests (or family in my case) giving you a hard time about choosing the DR for a DW because of safety issues? And if so, how did do/do you deal with it? My parents and now sister are stuck on the info on the US Travel website and are seriously worried about their safety with traveling to the DR. My sister is particularly concerned about its proximity to Haiti. I quickly informed her that Punta Cans is no closer to Haiti than our home in LA is to the Mexican border, which is much less safe these days. I also informed them that I'll be pre-arranging their travel to the hotel with Mike (I read a ton of good reviews about his transports all over the island) and that the resort is behind locked gates with armed guards. Any other info I can pass along? I am working so hard to create a beautiful, memorable wedding week for my guests and I am so over getting grief from those who one would think would be the most supportive at this time. I know I can't change the fact that they have to take two flights to get there and that's also an issue, but I'd really like to squelch this safety issue right now. Thanks!

 More Vistaprint free stuff if anyone needs more. I did three orders and must stop there. And if anyone is looking for keycard inserts, I've got a ton extra (since the minimum business card order is 250) I'll send them for only the cost of postage if you're interested. You can PM me. Here's the link for more free stuff: http://ebm.e.vistaprint.com/c/tag/hBNVSZAAZdBOAB8Yiw4CUztHjSJ/[email protected]

 Thanks for the support ladies, much appreciated. So, Brandy that's crazy about outside vendors, so how are you supposed to get photos of the important moments? I would recommend recreating some of those things when you do have the photographer there. You don't need to actually be in your room for the photojournalistic shots, your photographer can lay things out in the sand or you can bring blankets...or you can use some of the props from your ceremony, you're one of the girls doing parasols, right? You can also get really tight close-ups of thing like your dress being zipped up, clasping your necklace, putting in earrings, etc. You can also try to recreate the moment when your parents see you in your dress for the first time, etc. It may involve some "acting" but a good alternative to making sure you get the shots you want. Now I understand why this whole thing is stressing you out!