fmichelle

Brandy, YOU'RE AWESOME!! A little cheerleader for finding a cheerleader outfit. I'll just have to check my finances and budget it in. THANK YOU!

Hi Char, even though I'm a little late to get in on this particular discussion, I thought I would add my two cents since my father was diagnosed with cancer just after I got engaged. I have to say that my family didn't want to hear ANYTHING about the wedding and wanted all their focus to be on dad (he was going back and forth on a bunch of different treatment options) Basically, I let them dictate and take the lead when it came to discussing wedding plans, ie if they asked, I was happy to share, if they didn't, I didn't. Your half-sis seems much more into it to begin with so I don't think it would hurt to ask her how she feels. And I would even go so far as to ask if she would want you to change the wedding date, it sounds like she'll tell you not to, but the fact that you would even consider doing it would probably make her feel extremely special. BTW, my father had surgery last summer and has been recovering from it for the past several months, but he is cancer free, so that is the most important thing. Now, however, my sister is in the midst of getting divorced (with two young children), so I definitely cannot share wedding plans with her. She wasn't planning on coming to begin with, but now she definitely won't be there. But if she does ask about the wedding, I do tell her, but I never bring it up. On a happier note, my wedding band is supposed to arrive today, I'm eagerly awaiting the FedEx truck so I can get out of the house and head to work. Yay! As far as the BD shoot goes, I've decided to do one as well. Since a friend of mine is our wedding photographer and we didn't use her for the engagement shoot (I set it up before I knew she was going to shoot our wedding) she wants to do the BD shoot for me. I'm hoping to loose a few more pounds before I do it, but in the mean time I'm already brainstorming wardrobe ideas. Since my FI is a huge Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant fan, I know one pic will have at least one of their jerseys. I was hoping to find a Laker Girls costume, but for some reason I can only find Dallas Cowboys! That may be a shout out to you Brandy and your skills! Down to double digits now...getting sooo excited!!

Wow, you should sell your amazing work somewhere. This goes way above and beyond the usual DIY project. This will be an invite people will have to save for years to come.

So, I tried and tried and tried to make my own using templates from here and unfortunately the number of cards don't match up with the number on the sheets I had lying around. So, I went back to my old standyby...Vistaprint, but the minimum order is 250! I figure I'll put two in each key card holder so that means I'll still have at least 200 left over! So, I think I'm going to keep them very general, would anyone be interested in sharing the order, only paying for shipping to you? Let me know!

That's so awesome! Have a wonderful time and CONGRATULATIONS! I can't wait to read your review.

If you're looking for a linen suit, there's a whole thread on here about $99 linen suits from a company in India. Here's the link to their site: http://www.studiosuits.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=28_40 A lot of girls have been very impressed with the quality. Because they are custom made and shipped from India, you have to get on that pretty quickly with our weddings fast approaching!! Hope that helps!

Totally my pleasure. I get so many emails from them, I actually have to not open them so I don't get "inspired" to order more. Brandy, don't even worry about it, seeing a dress for a quick second is TOTALLY different than seeing his beautiful bride walk down the aisle. As well all know, dresses always look different off the rack than they do on. Besides, with all your awesome accessory finds, it won't even be the same outfit at all.

Quote:Originally Posted by Ellabaja1983 Yes, I plan to do that! I had some pictures saved, but I deleted them when FI started using the same computer as me! I will definitely get some more taken though!!  I'm just about done with my Vista Print order... I can't wait for it to be over with! (The VistaPrint order that is.)  Erin, before you order, pm me your email address so I can forward you an email (from this side of the border) that says 25 free brochures. It says it expired yesterday in the email, but I clicked the link and it still seemed to work. Brandy, thanks for the suit info. I had looked at the cubavera website and I didn't see that one, so glad you posted it here. We'll also check out Macy's as well. You've been so helpful with everything!

Brandy, I really like that suit. Where did you find it? My fiance doesn't seem to keen on wearing a suit, but I may be able to get him to wear this one, it's really perfect for a beach wedding. Great find!

So, I worried for nothing Turns out Griselda was on vacation and just got back in today. AND, they are going to honor the wedding package discount because I am already bringing enough people to Excellence to qualify regardless of what room I have booked. So, now I'm wondering if I should try to downgrade my room from the Excellence Club to save the money since being at the Club really won't have any effect on my wedding package price. I know a lot of girls on here have said that the Club isn't worth it, so for those who think it is worth it, why is it worth it? Griselda actually phoned me today and I was able to hold the entire conversation in Spanish, which I guess she got a kick out of. She sent me the Pre-Interview questionnaire that my FI and I are probably going to take care of this weekend. And, I'm excited because I was able to find an AMAZING deal for my photographer's flight and hotel. Things are coming together, less than 100 days now!

Yay for getting things done! I FINALLY ordered my wedding band. Brandy, I decided to go with the simple one and I think I'll be very happy with it. But thank you again for all of the options you found. A lot of the decision came down to a money issue as well. I was just checking prices for flights and hotel today and somehow the price was like $200 less than it was last night so I booked the flight and hotel for my photographer! I had been procrastinating as I was waiting to see if she could share a room with another single person that may be coming, but with the deal I found, it didn't make sense to wait anymore. So that's another thing off the list. Of course now there may be an issue with the hotel because they changed their policy with regards to how many rooms and what category need to be booked in order to qualify for the discounted wedding package. My original WC seems to have disappeared and the one that finally wrote me now made it seem like we won't qualify now, even though we got an upgraded room, it's not upgraded ENOUGH! Hopefully we can work that out, and soon. I don't like stressing about things that I cannot do much about. It's great for all of you that are working out your uneven number issues for people standing up for you. I don't think we're going to have any bridesmaids nor groomsmen. It looks like the only friend I'll have coming will be shooting the wedding and the rest of our group are my FI's friends. But I guess I don't have to worry about extra bouquets. I got an email from vistaprint that was offering free uploads along with other free items and this time my FI got all excited about the products. So it looks like I've got another shipment on the way to anxiously wait for! We're getting close!!!

mdb, (merideth) Thank you for much for providing me with that other email. I did send an email and heard back promptly from Isyuney. However, she did state that it is now required for the wedding couple to book 7 nights in the Excellence Club "OCEAN VIEW" room OR have 5 couples booked for at least 7 nights in any room category to qualify for the discounted wedding package. Is anyone else having a problem with this? We only booked the Excellence Club for this reason because the cost to go from a regular room to an Excellence Club Garden View room was less than the discount we would get on the wedding package. As of now, upgrading to an Excellence Club Ocean View room costs about 3 times as much than the discount you get on the wedding for booking that level of room. I stated to Isyuney that when we booked our wedding last August, the rules were different. And I also mentioned that although we don't have 5 rooms booked for at least 7 nights, (which equates to 35 room nights) we do have 3 rooms booked 7 nights and then a bunch of other rooms booked for different lengths equaling 46 room nights. I'm hoping that will be more than sufficient to qualify for the discounted wedding. Otherwise, we may have to move our ceremony and reception over to the Jellyfish Restaurant. I know it would be a pain to transfer everyone over there. @gamcdiarmid, how are you getting everyone over to the Jellyfish Restaurant?

I purchased mine off of Amazon.com. Unfortunately, Linens 'n Things no longer carries it. Unless it's on sale, you can get it for $25 with free super saver shipping on Amazon. I searched and searched for a better price, but that's the best I could find. We have yet to glue it all together, but that's definitely on the to-do list before April.

You girls who are paying extra for the photographer, is that because they are not staying on-site? A friend of mine who will hopefully be coming to the wedding (and staying Excellence) is a wedding photographer and I was planning on having her shoot (in addition to the basic package that is included with Photosouvenir--which I'm assuming is just some ceremony stuff) Will I have to pay extra for her even if she is a "guest" of the wedding who happens to have two very professional cameras? If so, that will definitely change things for me. Do either of you have Griselda as a WC? I emailed her a week ago and I haven't heard back. She used to be so prompt.

Lisa, AWESOME vistapring bootie! I was so excited when my stuff arrived. Great job on the brochures. Char, I'm sending my brochures out in the middle of March so it gives them only a month to hopefully not lose them before they have to actually pack. Also, we me have some late stragglers replying, so I want to make sure I have my final count. And have an awesome time in Europe! Free flights are the BEST! I lived in London after college and backpacking Europe after that. Some a life altering experience, that's for sure.

I think both options are beautiful Teira, but I think the colors you already have are much more festive and seem more tropical. The newer colors seem more traditional and although beautiful, to me don't seem as suited to a fun DW. I'm not a huge fan of orange either, but it really looks nice in the bouquets you already bought. I think we should all have our internet blocked from finding new options as we get closer to avoid second guessing and over spending

My pleasure. Glad you can find use out of it as well. BTW, still haven't heard from my coordinator, I think I'm going to send another email today. Now I'm getting nervous

By the way, here is my hair flower I got off of eBay (not as beautiful as some of the ones here, but it should do the trick) It's my "something blue" and our colors are different shades of blue. And I'm thinking I'm going to do my hair something like this: Hence why I had to make my own hair extensions I already have a veil, but I'm thinking I may take it off after the ceremony and I'm definitely not going to wear it for the TTD. Do you think it'd be weird to add a tiara when the veil comes off or would it be too much with the hair flower? The size of the flower is very similar to that of the girl in this picture. I don't want to keep buying things but I kinda want to keep buying things, you know?

Okay, didn't attach. Let's try again:

My FI made it from a map we got off their website, resized it to fit well on the brochure, and then I typed up all the text on the vistaprint document. I hope that makes sense. I've attached the map he made here:

Please do, I stole from other people! I was waiting and waiting till I had the 150 posts so I could start looking at people's templates and samples (I didn't want to break the rules and ask them to send it to me directly). Glad you found it helpful.

Just thought I'd share my pre-travel brochures that just arrived from Vistaprint! I also got a bunch of other stuff, but I figured if some of you are planning on doing pre-travel brochures, the info I included may be helpful. I hope I didn't forget anything! BTW, Diva, I still haven't heard back from the WC at Excellence, I know she may be busy or still be catching up on holiday stuff, but not being able to "get it in writing" is now making me a little nervous. How long does it usually take for your WC to get back to you? Griselda has usually been pretty quick with her replies.

BTW, I feel really silly correcting everyone now, but I figured you'd all be confused by my screename. My name is actually Francine, Michelle is my middle name, but I use fmichelle for a lot of things. Anyway... Here are the files from vistaprint. I did a lot of info about the Dominican Republic since most of the people traveling with us have never been there before. I also included a lot of things on the packing list so I don't have to unnecessarily fill the OOT bags with stuff people will probably bring: Vista print squished our pic on the front, so please ignore the fact that we look like oompa loompas. The resort map and key my FI actually made from files we found online.

Just found this link: http://www.obeythepurebreed.com/vista_coupons.html There is a way to get 25% off and free shipping on orders over $25. It says for new customers only if you haven't ordered there before or just create a new account in your FI's name and you should be able to get it. Hope that helps!

I think it's too difficult to get the free shipping offer since I'm always only ordering the free stuff. Do the uploading fees for personalizing count towards the $50 for free shipping? Shipping can get quite expensive, and totally doesn't seem fair since this was two separate orders that I ordered close to the same date and they combined together for one shipment. I did notice with the first order I was just getting some free return address labels and it was going to be $3 shipping, so I added a bunch of other free stuff and it ended up being $10 shipping. If you're getting their emails, just get as much free stuff as you can to justify the shipping costs, or perhaps split an order with someone close to you without completely personalizing the items (I definitely didn't need 50 postcards but that was the minimum in the free order). Lua, I got myself the Future Mrs. tote and a Mother of the Bride tote, now my FI wants me to get a Mother of the Groom tote for his mom next time I order. I have to say, his "just married" hat is pretty cute, I may have to get one for myself on my next order too! And of course I'll add in the free pen, the free stickies, etc. I'm waiting until we get the rest of our engagement photos so I can pick a nice one to make "thank you" notes out of to send out after the wedding. Brandy, AMAZING hair pieces! Do you work in internet research because you totally should. The range of things you find in such a short period of time, you should really be profiting from those skills.