1106wedding

I can't believe it! you're pre wedding flight party sounds fun! We've got champagne in the limo to the airport tomorrow morning at 5am - it's never too early to start celebrating! :) I will be seeing you soon! You won't be able to miss us in all white Thursday night when you get in! Whooo hooo, just got SO excited!!! We had to pack an extra 2 bags so $25 each on Virgin = $50 = totally worth it! My parents have a few things in their bags as well

What a crazy few weeks! I can't believe I leave for Mexico on Wednesday morning!! The wedding is days away, it's all so surreal. We're doing our legal ceremony tomorrow with both sets of parents, my sister and grandma who can't fly to Mexico. Chris (FI) is really excited, calling me his wife and can't wait to wear his ring for a few days. I'm a little more casual about it, really, our wedding is on the 22nd!!!! It is part of the process though so I am happy about it . I will report back to all of you about how everything goes, I know it will be amazing! Our week at a glance: Wednesday - arrive with 30+ of our guests (direct flight on Virgin from SFO - CUN) Thursday - meet with DJ at 10am, meet with coordinators at 11am, a couple free hours, hair and makeup trial at 3:30pm, welcome WHITE party from 5pm - 7pm w/ bar and appetizers and the slideshow we worked on for 8 months!!! Friday - pool day , rehearsal (we'll do it on our own if coordinators can't do it with us) at 5:15pm, leave for our rehearsal dinner in Playa del Carmen w/ 25 guests at 6pm Saturday - wedding day!!!!! I'll have breakfast with the girls, then head to the spa for my treatments at 11:30am. I should be done by 2:15pm. I get dressed at 3:15pm, have our "first look" at 3:45pm, ceremony at 4:30pm on the sky deck, reception to follow until 10:30pm at Zavas Plaza. After party until who knows when!!!! Sunday - brunch at Zavaz restaurant at 11am, snorkeling trip from 1:30pm - 6:00pm, dinner on the beach for just the two of us, we may or may not cancel to be with friends and family still at resort, we'll see how we feel! Monday - breakfast in bed Tuesday - day trip to Tulum (about 12 of us) Wednesday - the last of our friends and family leave (about 18) - Chris and I depart for The Tides. We meet up with our friends who are getting married the day before us in Playa for a night of celebrating Thursday - Saturday - Mini-moon I know I won't be ready to leave!!!!!! Full report when I return!!!!!

I can't believe I'm next!!!! I remember being at the bottom of the list not too long ago. Wild. I don't have too much time at home before we head to Mexico (since I'll be in LA for work for 8 days). I'm really working hard at managing my stress nowadays (most of it is from work, so annoying). I keep getting thrown curveballs though...The latest: My photographer had to cancel (high risk pregnancy, dr.'s ordered her to take it easy), got the news on Friday. Ouch. I booked her back in December and second to the location, the photographer is my MOST IMPORTANT element. Thank goodness the company that she works for has 2 other available photographers and they're both great. But I wanted HER. Maybe it's meant to be for some reason, I have to believe this. I can't lose it over this, I have to move forward...being a control freak and perfectionist, I'm really having to learn lessons in the art of "letting go" DEEP BREATH. The things I'm working on this week (and beyond): Our ceremony and vows (we're writing the entire thing) Playlist for DJ Slideshow for our welcome party All paper goods (programs, escort cards, table names, welcome letter, etc) My final dress fitting is Wednesday (fingers crossed everything looks good!) And a bunch of other little stuff

Great to know, Paul, thanks. By the way, do you want fish or filet? I'm sorry you're feeling the pressure as well. Just keep plugging away and start letting go of things that aren't critical (I should take my own advice, I know). I get daily updates with the countdown "39 days to go!" and "next month!" and as excited as I am, I'm stressed. I blame work b/c I promised myself I wouldn't let this process get the best of me. But there's of course still a lot to do and I'm out of town for work a lot in the next month. I leave for LA on October 4th for work so I've set that as our deadline. Once I get back, we have 2 days to pack and wrap things up! Oh and I made my final payment today. Yes, welcome back! I was thinking of you!!! It sounds like you had an amazing wedding, yay!! I'll be married on the sky deck too, I love it up there. So you never needed the christmas lights for Zavas Plaza, huh? Were they good about moving all your other decor inside I hope. Crossing my fingers for less humitdy in 5 weeks.

Great questions. I'm buying my photographers dinner but I don't have anywhere to seat them. BTW, How many tables did you end up with? We have exactly 50 guests (and we're doing 7 tables of 7 or 8)

Melissa - I LOVED your video!!!! I booked Paul too and I can't wait to see him work his magic . I usually hate myself on video, hopefully he will change that. I had my 2nd dress fitting appointment today and thank goodness it went better than the first fitting (I left NOT excited about the dress, but I'm a perfectionist and sometimes that's a curse). My sister and one of my BMs was there and they convinced me to buy a veil, they were obsessed with one I tried on. I never imagined wearing a veil (I'm wearing my hair mostly down) but it looks like I will be! I can't believe I'm next on the list, we still have a ton to do of course. At one point I thought I was ahead of the game...!??! I'm so happy for all the new brides on the forum - I'm seeing a lot of 2012 dates, wild!! It'll come fast guys, enjoy every second you can!!

omg, it's like etsy just for weddings!! I'm in love already!

Super cute blog! Have such an amazing time, I think I might be the next wedding after you??? Insane!!! And we just got our FINAL number, 49, so about the same size group as you. You'll have to tell me how perfect it is . Did you end up buying your organza sheers for the sky deck gazebo? I was going to do that today. Let me know if you found a good deal. HAPPY WEDDING TO YOU!!!

Wow! Interesting, no charge for setting ANYTHING up? Good to know! Thank you!!

Congrats Michelle on a beautiful wedding! I imagine I'll be crying like a baby before walking down the aisle as well! Can I ask why they didn't upgrade you to a honeymoon suite right away? I'm secretly hoping we get that (we booked an oceanview room). Also, glad to see your bridesmaid centerpieces worked (that's what I'm doing). Did they supply the pink stones? They are charging me $10 per vase with water. THANKS!! justiner57 - you're making me miss my Vegas bachelorette! I want another! Glad you lived it up!

Such a blast. I love the tanks too, we wore them for all of 10 minutes, ha! Glad your Chris survived his Bach party. My Chris had his memorial day weekend (the boys were too excited to wait) in Lake Tahoe, took him like a week to recover. Did you already have yours? I have 2 showers at home (bay area) coming up this weekend and then 1 in SD labor day weekend. This is all so wild...

It was SOOOOOOOOOOO fun! I've never loved Vegas so much. We did Marquee Friday night and the lazy river at the MGM Saturday day (we were literally in the water for 7 hours til they kicked us out) and then we saw an awesome show called "Absinthe" Saturday night. Enjoy your weekend!!!!

Thanks!! The time has never flown by this fast, it's incredible. I'm trying to enjoy all the moments (meanwhile wishing my job didn't have me working 60+ hour weeks!)

Sorry can't help myself so I have to share: I had the best birthday/bachelorette party weekend ever!!! It went by way too fast!!! We met a bachelor party with exactly 11 guys like we had 11 girls, too fun! I've been in a funk all week, boo . I hope the wedding doesn't go so fast!

THANK YOU! This is how I remember it looking too...so guests enter from the bottom right, yes? We're doing a cocktail hour before the reception there as well so I'm hoping there's enough space in that bottom right corner. I might need to move the bar closer to that area. We're not doing a head table either, just 7 rounds of 7 or 8 people each. That would be awesome - thank you!!! Let's see how hers work and then we can figure out how much I owe you We're doing the cake for 30-40 (with about 50 guests) but thinking of reducing it...I pretty much just like the LOOK of a three tier cake... I want to put my escort cards in a little sand box as well as our tables are named beaches that we've been too together (costa rica, ireland, mexico, etc etc). Do they provide that for free? I think I remember another bride saying yes. You're getting so close!!! Happy for you . I LOVE the beach olympics idea, maybe we'll do something like that on one of the days after the wedding..... Zavas.docx

Sounds beautiful! Do you have a photo for inspiration? How many feet is each sheer going to be? I know the sky deck gazebo is bigger than the beach gazebos....thanks again!

Thanks!! did you ask if they could be hung from the trees to the gazebo? On my site Claudia said they could but she also told me the resort has grey goose served everywhere!

Any past Zavas Plaza brides have a diagram of the area to plot where DJ goes, cake table, head table, etc? I've asked my WC but you know how that goes...we're also having our cocktail hour right around there so I want to see how that flows as well...thanks!

They do, they're just a little more expensive. $100 per white, $150 per color. I have 2 on my detail sheet (one white, one gray) but I'm not 100% confirmed on it...

I'm off to my bachelorette party in Vegas this weekend, yeah! It's also my birthday on Friday, the big 2-9 . We've got 11 girls and 3 suites at the signature suites at MGM. We're getting there early on Fri for some pool time, going out to Marquee Friday night, pool day Saturday and then the show "Absinthe" on Saturday night. I can't wait, it should be a blast! I'll post a couple pics when I get back!!!!! This is the first official wedding "event" - it's getting to be so real!!!

Another sky deck wedding! Yay, I thought I was the only one! How are you doing your sheers? I've seen them done so many different ways. I'm not doing the big flower arrangements, just a bouquet on the sand ceremony table and then 4 pomanders. 6 posts - good to know! I was going to order them from Amazon...report back how your size worked. 12 feet?

I love that you're a Jessie and Chris like me and my Fiance are!! It's a good match :) Very timely comment about activities - thank you. My dad was recently asking (he can only manage a few hours of pool lounging, he needs to DO stuff). He'll for sure take advantage of the boats on the beach. Did they have little dinghys (small sailboats)? Did anyone try the cooking class? My mom would love that...

Perfect! That makes more sense now. And the staff at Sensatori knew what they were doing? You just handed them the lanterns, throwies and string and let them do the rest? Did you attach the throwies to the lantern or did they? THANK YOU!

Pardon my ignorance but when do you assemble them? Onsite? It looks like once you tape the light to the battery, the light is ON? How long does it last? I have to hand everything over to the resort a couple days before our wedding...thanks!

Love them! You look so happy, it' made me smile! I love #4