skp1

I'm so torn! I think the sand dollar would go more with our setting - we have a tropical theme, not necessarily beachy. But I'm worried that the sand dollars may break in my suitcase - they are pretty fragile. Anyone have experience with packing them?

very cute idea!

Congrats on your great find! I think if I had multiple wedding party members I would do the same - turquoise is my color too! I'm also struggling with the "when." I only have my sister as my MOH and I am giving her the Tiffany starfish. On the one hand I want to tell her ahead of time so she can wear it at the wedding and not have to worry about buying something. But on the other hand I don't want her to think she HAS to wear it for the wedding if she would prefer something else. We live in different cities so we have been shopping separately - I've seen a picture of her dress but not the real thing so I really don't know what jewelry would look best. Right now I'm leaving it in limbo and if she brings up the topic of jewelry I'll mention it but if not I think I will wait and give it to her at the rehearsal dinner like originally planned.

Those look fantastic! I love all your custom passport stamps - I had lots of trouble trying to print words in an arch so I finally gave up and paid for Aylee's template with the watermarks. 780chick - the $10 Aylee template has 2 formats - one like the one shown above and one which prints 2 of the same thing on each page. I used that one and found it much easier to line up and order the pages.

I am definitely NOT dieting with my FI. Guys have it so much easier and I know I would get frustrated. I started almost a month ago - dieting, exercising and it sucks. I'm 40 now so it takes about 3 weeks for the scale to budge which makes it hard to stay motivated. I've been cranky and my social life has gone to pot since everything revolves around eating and drinking which I'm trying to avoid. I'm sure my FI will diet the week before the wedding and drop the same 5 pounds it will take me 2 months to lose. So I'm glad he didn't start at the same time as me.

Steal away! That's what BDW is for. The brides on here have been so helpful to me so I want to do the same.

Here's another great website for beachy things - another BDW recommended it and like a week later I was visiting my sister and the actual store was right near her house. they aren't cheap, but very unique.

Great selection! Some of these items I've seen before but there are a lot of originals here.

Turns out this isn't an issue anymore. About a week later at dinner one night his son was like "I'm a groomsmen, I don't want the responsibility of best man." I think it was just my fiance that cared, not the kids.

This wasn't on my original to-do list but we decided to have a cigar bar during cocktail hour so we needed some matches. I ordered standard size plain white matchbooks from E-bay ($6.50 for a pack of 50 including shipping costs). Since I'm always trying to use supplies on hand, I decided to use large address labels (4" x 3.3"). They were perfect to fit 2 covers on each label. I did our standard logo on one side and on the other I printed cute sayings. I use plain pieces of the label for the small area below the strike line. I'm pretty happy with the finished product. matchbook.docx

I picked out my ring too - I'm pretty picky so I knew I wanted to be part of it and my fiance was more than willing to let me do the work. We went to the jewelry store, he sat in a chair with his iPhone while I shopped. I tried on a lot of different style trying to keep an open mind but ultimately ended up with what I always thought I would get - a princess cut solitaire in a modern classic band. I LOVE my ring. I don't wear a lot of jewelry so I really didn't know much beyond that. I assumed around a carat but ended up with 1.25 which seems to fit perfectly in the setting. We also got a high quality stone. When I heard the price I kept telling my fiance that he can get a lesser diamond - I was OK with that, but he just went with it. Every once in awhile he asks "did I get you a big enough ring?" As much as I love my ring, I'm realizing its a little struggle to get a band to match. I don't want a lot of bling on the band but I don't want a plain one either. Most of the bands with a few diamonds are round and of course I don't want that to clash with the square e-ring. I need to look some more this weekend but will probably end up going with the one to match the e-ring which is more than I wanted to spend, but I'd hate to settle on something that doesn't look right that I will be wearing every day for the rest of my life.

I thinking about a spray tan but have now nixed that idea. I'd have to do it before I left town and they only last a few days so it could be completely gone by the wedding day. My sister just told me about Tan Towels and I'm going to try that. They're available at Ulta and one day she was in there some guys were raving about them. She bought them and loves them. I haven't been over there yet but that's my plan. Of course I'm going to test it out before wedding weekend though. http://www.tantowel.com/

Some wedding sites let you "turn off" pages you don't want to use. I used The Knot and I only used about half of the pages they offered.

Thanks for the rundown - those are definitely some helpful tips. I haven't been to a destination wedding but my close friend got married last year in her hometown of San Diego so about half the guests were from out of town (most from the east coast where both bride and groom live). One thing I did notice that you pointed out is about itinerary. I'm anal and of course brought my invitation with me but my fiends did not and kept having to ask me "when is such and such?" I also enjoyed having free time - I went to another wedding years and years ago that was a 3 day weekend with literally about 2 hours of free time and it was way too rushed. I'm trying to do something each day but figure Atlantis has so much going on that no one will be bored. It's also difficult for us since people are coming at varied times - we're going Thursday to Monday - some guests are going Thursday-Sunday, some Friday-Monday and some staying a whole week and some are arriving the day before us. My RSVPs are pretty detailed about dates so we can get accurate headcounts for each event. And not only are people coming at different times, but from all different cities so there is no way we can even attempt airport transportation. Another thing I noticed at that wedding and another one is that a lot fo people skip the brunch the next morning - some people want to sleep in, some people just want to head out on their own and some are headed to the airport. We asked on our RSVP for people to check if they are attending. We also decided to just do it at Mosaic instead of haivng a private affair and end up paying for everyone and then they bail. This way we have an idea of how many will show but in case they don't we only have to pay for the ones who do. Plus its in air-conditioning which is a major factor in June My welcome brochure also lists "things to do" to give people ideas. I plan on picking up a bunch of maps at the airport when we land to include in the welcome bag. I'm also trying to keep any gifts generic and only put Atlantis or Bahamas on it. I'm probably going to get my bags at Embroid Me which is a nationwide franchise - I went in to talk to the guy about a month ago so we'll see what happens next week when I go back with the final guest count. I'm looking at traditional canvas boat totes or something like that - I want to do a nice beach bag. The challenge is finding a place that will do low minimums - we'll probably only need about 25 OOT bags. My plan is to give out most of these bags Thursday night at our pool bar happy hour and then the rest I'll have delivered to the rooms (for those arriving Friday or who skip the happy hour). I was quoted $2/bag delivery charge and I think that's even written somewhere on the Atlantis website so you may want to double check that - I can't believe they told you $6. I also was wondering if we could leave them at check in for the Friday arrivals - we will know which tower everyone is staying in and can go around Thursday dropping them off so people can have them when they arrive. That's a good idea about the casino class. We are also putting a chip in our welcome bag (although only a $5 one - our bags and contents are costing about $40 already). Im stearing away from any liquids (other than water for the rooms) or bulky items. I don't want guests to ditch their items because it won't fit in the suitcase. I'm also being very conscious about getting gender neutral items - so many brides are filling the bags with lotions and candles and things girls like. One thing I'm trying to figure out and don't know if anyone has ideas - communication. I have a feeling most people are not going to activate international calling/texting/data on their phones. And Atlantis is huge so it's not like you are going to just bump into each other. Another bride said they were going to leave a message on their room voice-mail telling people where they will be (for non-scheduled times) and tell people to call the room. I'm going to do that but still it would be nice to be able to keep in touch when you are out and about. Should we have a default meeting location - like every day at X time stop by x? anyway - love to hear all the ideas out there!

Here's mine - I have 2 sizes also - one for sandwich size bags and one for gallon size bags Good luck! OOT labels.docx OOT labels 2.docx

I am so sorry you are going through this but its better now than later. It sounds like some pretty strong and hurtful things were done and said, but it's not past the point of no return. yes, it was a horrible "joke" and yes you acted hastily but that's OK. Having some time apart may be the best thing for you right now. Whether you get back together or move on is up to you and only you. Don't even consider what anyone else thinks - its your life. if your friends and family truly love you, they will support your decision. Right now everything is still very fresh so everyones' feelings are heightened. Believe me, if you end up marrying next year in Vegas, your friends and family will be there for you (if you invite them ) My FI and I went through a horrible break up after 8 years together. We were definitely in a rut but instead of working at it together he decided he wanted to look for someone else. it was devastating - I lost about 15 pounds in 2 months (which was the only good part at the time). I cried all the time, missed him terribly but moved forward. Six months later our paths crossed and we decided to re-examine our relationship. it wasn't like the movies where we went running back to each other - it was WORK. It took about another 6 months for us to officially be back together (during which time there were some huge ups and downs) and I admit I was embarrassed to tell some of my friends. But they all accept us as a couple and now years later, I don't think they could picture us apart. Give it some time, communicate with each other and use this time to improve your relationship. i think our break-up was the best thing that could have happened to us - we both learned a lot.

Thanks. I was really happy with the shade of blue too. I couldn't find that bright turquoise in cardstock anywhere and ended up ordering it from thepapermillstore.com. I held my breath a few days wondering if it would be the right shade and it was perfect....and nice quality too. I had to buy a pack of 250 sheets, but that's just more stock for DIY projects! I agree with Mochamakes3 - if you do a petal fan buy the perforated sheets. I was stubborn because I wanted my perfect blue and paid for it. The thank you wording came from samples of welcome letters posted on BDW so I can't take full credit for that one. I just put it together a little differently.

Another project to check off the list....and like the others I experienced some challenges. I hate to think about all the time I've spent on failed projects. I originally was not going to do programs since we had a small wedding party and are not doing anything special at the ceremony. But then I started thinking that its going to be hot and people are going to need fans. I didn't want to make paddle fans since they are so common and instead embarked on making petal fans based on samples I saw here. Kudos to the girls who did those well because mine sucked. I loved the design - the petals were small enough that it didn't look like I had so little info. I had 2 pages with info on white card stock and 3 pages of blue card stock alternating. Well that was the problem - it looked great for the other BDW brides but I could not cut the top circular part well. It looked OK with all one color but when I put them together it was so obviously off. So all of that went in the trash and I started over with just plain ones. I took a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 white card stock and divided it evenly in 4 sections to become my 4 pages. I have a cover page with out logo, one with the wedding info (pretty much same as our invite wording), the wedding party and a thank you. I cut blue card stock slightly larger and longer, folded a piece over on the top, hole punched it and tied it together with raffia. So, they aren't actual fans, but they can be used to fan yourself.

How about a bottle opener for the guys (beer, not wine) - they can never have too many. Most under wedding party favors are still kinda girlie but I'm sure there are other sites to order from.

I remembered an idea from another BDW bride - her FI was giving the groomsmen Flip video cameras.

I've found a lot of variation between what each store stocks. Yes, my Party City had the white ones and I also recently saw them at Kroger (a large grocer in the southeast). Here is what its called - maybe you can do a search on-line to see who has them. Right now I'm trying to find plain white matchbooks and no one carries those

I used those same tables numbers as Jessica! I printed them on white cardstock and then glued that to a larger piece of turquoise cardstock. Now I just have to find something to hold them - like those little wire photo holders. I played around with different cocktails for my signature drink and think i have that settled - I wanted a blue drink so I could call it "Something Blue" and coincidentally our wedding colors are shades of blue. i tried so many combos and a lot ended up too green or too strong - I'm afraid to serve a martini type drink during cocktail hour when there is just hors d'heuorves. The drink will be vodka, lemonade and Blue Curacao shaken and served over ice. I'm pretty sure our last song is going to be "These are the Days" by 10,000 Maniacs. I think its a good way to sum it all up. We're not doing a card box. I haven't figured out exactly what we will do with any envelopes yet. My fiance is Italian and its their custom for the bride to have a money bag but I soooo do not want to do that. We're having a buffet so no menus although I am working on ceremony programs right now. Raffia isn't easy to work with. No ideas for grooms gifts. The guys are my fiance's sons and brother and he's paying for their whole wedding weekend - flight, hotel, clothes, shoes, etc so he's like "hell no I'm not getting them a gift - THAT is their gift." his one son keeps mentioning wanting a flask. Alisa - I can't believe you are having a Duff cake - I am so jealous!!!!!!!

10 weeks to go and I feel like I have so much to do! Funny how I thought I had so much time at the beginning. We got the major stuff out of the way early but here's my list of to-do's now: 1. Get in shape!!!!! I started this early then fell off the wagon and now I'm restarting from a worse point than before . Ugh! Just signed up with a trainer last week and trying to eat better. I want to lose about 10 pounds but would really be happy with 5 if I was just more toned. 2. Dress fitting won't be until beginning of June - I was late ordering so hopefully there will be no delays. My plan B is that the sample in the store was my size so if it doesn't come in on time I'm going to bribe them into selling me the store sample. 3. Buy MOH and ring bearer gifts. I have this picked out at least - was just holding off because you know as soon as you buy something it either goes on sale or you see something you like better. 4. Buy wedding bands - I'm going to force the fiance to go next week. I think we're pretty late on that too. 5. Prepare OOT bags and various other DIY projects that are contingent on the final guest list (RSVP deadline is April 18th although I have a feeling I'll be chasing a lot down after that). 6. Buy clothes for the non-wedding events over the weekend (rehearsal dinner, brunch) including lingerie. 7. Write wedding vows 8. Prepare seating chart (soooo not looking forward to that) 9. Complete men's attire - clothes are purchased (tan linen pants and white linen shirt from Nordstrom) but they need to buy their shoes. 10. Create iPOD playlist for out welcome gathering. 11. Honeymoon planning - flights, hotel and car already booked, but we need to make reservations for excursion type things. 12. Follow up and final planning with WC - we pretty much did everything but I think the WCs are so busy with other clients that they don't start finalizing all the details until about a month beforehand. I was going to have an "engagement" party beforehand for all the people show can't attend (instead of and AHR) but now it's looking like I won't be able to fit it in. I'm not having a shower or bachelorette so this was supposed to be instead of that. Oh well.

Joyce You can find the template on the Aylee Bits website - she has great DIY templates http://www.ayleebits.com/templates.htm Word of advice - use the same color paper for each petal - I tried alternating and it totally showed the uneven cutting around the edges. I ended up scrapping the project.

It's hard to tell because the picture is small, but to me it looks like ribbon, not fabric. I've seen DIY instructions for this type of thing and it entails making the rings from the cardboard tube inside of paper towels cut down to about 1-2 inches a piece. Either they can be wrapped in fabric or ribbon - and in this case it looks like thin ribbon wrapped round and round through the opening. I could be totally wrong though.