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Absolutely! Anyone that sent or gave you a gift should get a proper thank you! For work I would pick a main person (HR maybe?) to send the card to, but say to all of my work friends, or to all my colleagues, or something like that. We have a board at work where things like that get posted so everyone does eventually see it. if you're doing a photo card, for sure I would send one! What better way to acknowledge that they did something for your wedding than to send a wedding photo of the two of you! We did both. Because the photos took about a month and a half at least, I bought thank you cards and sent them right away (within two weeks) for all the gifts we received. Then I did a Vistaprint folding card with "Our Wedding" on the front in the colours that we used, and the details of our Jamaica wedding, since no one was there, written on the inside then attached a 2x3 photo inside it and sent those out.

The range of prices that photographers charge runs the whole gamut of pricing. Do a comparison. Take the pricing of the photographers that you've contacted and see what they charge for what you're getting. Then go back and take a look at their work. It should say something to you when you look at their style. I was set on one photographer for our renewal in October and decided on someone else just because the style clicked with me. I love his work and I'm really happy we've decided to go with him. I did contact one photographer that when I got the pricing it was $5,000. That's definitely not in my budget. So absolutely double check everything before you make a final decision, especially if it involves that kind of money!

We had that situation too. Almost everything was money. I second the "generous gift" or monetary gift. That works, but definitely state what you "plan" to put it towards. You don't say that it will help you pay off your wedding or something to that effect even if that's what you think you might do. You just say you're putting it towards a downpayment for a home, or honeymoon, etc. I'm really happy to see all the ladies here working at or talking about thank you cards. We were invited to a wedding last year and in the end, didn't go. We still sent a card with a pretty generous cash amount in it. I've known the bride since she was 10 so about 15 years, or slightly more. We see the bride and groom and her parents all the time. They're good friends of ours. But we never received a thank you card at all. I know her mother was advocating that the bride send them. The mother is Iranian and the daughter was born there, but here since age 2. She still insists that in their culture you don't write thank you cards. In fact, to my face I've never received a thank you for what we sent. From her mother yes, from the bride no. My point is that she isn't in iran. She's here and here it's the proper thing to do. I'm actually quite disgusted about it all because my honest feeling is that it's laziness and nothing more. This was a bride too that stewed over the fact that she didn't get enough money as a gift from her bridesmaids, apparently "not even enough to cover the cost of her dinner". Ladies - please remember your etiquette when it comes to your wedding. Maybe the young people of today don't care about manners but if you have older people attending your wedding, it's very likely they do. If your friends couldn't care less if they get a thank you card or not, that's fine. But your older generation people, like me, believe that it's the right thing to do. I can almost guarantee you that when our friend's daughter decides to have a baby, it's highly unlikely we would send a gift, especially if a simple thank you isn't going to be part of it.

aww you ladies are all so sweet and I appreciate the encouragement. The thing is we're already married. This is more of a vow renewal/celebration of life deal just because of some stuff we've been through and as much as I want his jaw to drop I don't want to be too far over the top. I agree about taking some of the crinoline type stuff out to tone it down a little. lol the main thing now is to try to find out what it costs!!!

Oh my gosh!!! How did you do that??? That's awesome!! it's exactly right. I've never even heard of Kittychen! Which probably means it will be waaaaaay more than I'm willing to spend! Thank you pykx82! Ok ladies - so next question! Is something like that too much for the terrace at Azul Fives? I would want the train shortened. That's definitely a bit too much but I'm in love with the rest of it or at least a similar style!

That would be great! Thanks!

Congrats and welcome! I read about the new Secrets resort and it looks absolutely amazing! I know it's a new resort so there may not be too many brides on the site yet, but definitely use the search bar at the top. I found this one forum that you can take a look at: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/77406-secrets-playa-mujeres-bride-may-5-2015/ Good luck and happy planning!

Very pretty! They did a wonderful job! And it looks gorgeous on you!

Congrats and welcome to the site! @@MarieSamSanchezPhoto is exactly right. This site has a ton of information that will help you on your planning journey. Definitely take a look through the forums for past and current brides that have travelled to Costa Rica. And Wright Travel is absolutely another fabulous resource for travel assistance that will take the stress off of you and provide assistance to your guests. My husband I have been investigating Costa Rica as the place we want to retire to and everything we've found out is wonderful. I think it would be a gorgeous place to get married! Good luck and happy planning!

There are west coast brides here I know. I think it's easier for them to pick resorts on the west coast. I have been looking at how to get my son and daughter in law from Vancouver to Mexico with us. The way it's looking now it will be easier to get them to Toronto and then have them travel with us. Just keep your eyes open. I'm sure you'll hear from BC brides!

I've spent the last few months looking at dresses online trying to get an idea of what I might like for Mexico in October. With everything we've been through with surgeries and hospital stays, I want hubby's jaw to drop. I have sort of an idea of what I think I might like. I was curious about some of the knockoff sites that are talked about here so decided to take a look. I went through dressilyme and found this. Obviously with that site the designer isn't mentioned at all and they use their own numbering system. Does anyone recognize the background of the picture or the designer? I haven't seen anything like it before but it puts together pretty much everything I'm looking for. I adore the keyhole back style and the layers in the skirt. It's very likely way out of the range that I'm willing to pay but I would still like to try and find out who makes it. Thanks ladies!!

Finally! I heard back from the coordinator today and we're confirmed for our little vow renewal at Azul Fives on the Zky Terrace on our wedding anniversary, October 20, 2015 at 5pm! yay!! I've also confirmed Styling Trio and Samuel Luna. It's only my daughter in law and myself so we're going into PDC to ST's studio to have hair and makeup done. Let's hope the rest of what we're planning now falls into place. We're nowhere near the scale of most of you ladies. We'll be a group of max 8 I think, including hubby and I. I'm so ready for some sun and sand! I agree - the winter totally sucks this year!!

I absolutely love the "pack a bag and get ready for paradise" or pack a bag and come celebrate with us" idea. That totally works if you want informal! I just might use something like that!

How did you use them? Did they hang somewhere? They're really pretty!

Hi Joyce, Quick question. Do they allow outside weddings if you aren't using the resort?

Listen to your travel agent but ask for more options. They are only there to recommend, not decide for you. If you aren't happy with what she has given you, keep looking and be armed with questions on other resorts. Let her know that you don't like what you've read and see if she can provide you with better reviews, or other ones that put your mind at ease. It's your wedding, you're going to be spending a lot of money and you need to be comfortable with your resort choice. Good luck!

We had ours too immediately after. We were in a gazebo right on the beach so we did our ceremony, walked down the stairs and the waiter was right there with a tray of glasses. It was nice and gives you a "wet your whistle" after saying your vows! lol And yes, it does give people a chance to congratulate you and hug you and have a little clink of glasses with you. Then you go have your pictures and people go on to the cocktail time.

Do you have any photos that you can add in? For some reason the one you posted isn't opening. Thanks.

I got married in Jamaica in 2011 at the Gran Bahia Principe Jamaica in Runaway Bay. We loved it! We used Merrick Cousley for our photographer and Roxroy for our videography and both were fantastic! We loved them both! For makeup tons of girls recommend Rashel Edwards. I used the spa and I was disappointed overall. Rashel has a facebook page but she books up very quickly if you're interested in her. She is supposed to be fantastic and uses the air brushing. Even in the heat the reviews I read said that she does such a great job it doesn't melt. Our 2 choices were Lady Hamilton and Gran Bahia and we went with Gran Bahia. No complaints at all. They were excellent.

The other ladies are totally right in that it's very much a personal preference. My husband and I had each been married before so we had extra documentation that was required which was our divorce papers. When I looked into having everything translated and apostilled it was going to be expensive for only that reason. Otherwise we would have done the legal thing in Mexico. Instead we opted for Jamaica because the paperwork requirement was a lot easier. There are a lot of people that get married in Mexico and never have an issue but of course it's the ones that might have a problem that you hear about. I was of the same mind and didn't want two different dates. For me personally I felt it was wrong. My step-son did it and his father and I both had an issue with it. That is only our personal feelings. By all means talk with your resort coordinator and see how much help they will be. Like everything else there are good ones and bad ones and you'll get a feel for how much they're going to help you out. If you aren't totally comfortable with the process you could always consider another country like Jamaica where it's a bit easier or do like many other brides here and do your legal marriage at home before you go. Good luck!

Well I'll have to see. She said she could let me know today. Question. I know it's $1700 to get the Sky Deck. What do they include with that? What set up do you get if anything? I'm so ticked about all of this. If the system had stopped me from booking the pier instead of letting me go ahead with it then I would maybe thought about something else. The thing is now my husband is in love with this resort. We saw on the website about the new gin bar and he wanted to book it right away! lol Gin is his drink of choice and the bar has 20 different premium gins so he's already on board!! it's the best of what I've been looking at for what I want except for the travel stuff. Maybe it's just time to let it go and look at something else.

Well ladies. I'm just getting more unhappy. It turns out that the application process showed me and allowed me to book the pier for 5pm. Well guess what. It's not available. She said the system shouldn't have allowed me to book it. So I asked about the Zky Terrace. There's a wedding there at 3 and that wedding is moving to the pier to have their cocktail reception. That's why the system stuck us into the garden, which I really don't want. The coordinator is looking at whether or not they'll allow us to take the terrace since they mandate 2 hours in between weddings but she needs to talk to the on site person and she's going to send me pictures of the garden because it's "an awesome location". But people can walk by on a sidewalk 6 feet away. Don't know what's so awesome about that. She said if we want to switch to the 21st we can have the pier but I want to do our renewal on our proper wedding anniversary date which is the 20th. She offered me the Azul Beach but it's 45 minutes away from PDC. This just gets better and better....

Best suggestion is get a travel agent. They will become your new best friend and will help you figure out what you want in a resort for both you and FI and your guests. Costs, packages they offer. A good TA will help with all of that. As well, they will help your guests with their booking, flights, questions, insurance, whatever. And save you stress! Having said that there are lots of beautiful resorts for weddings. There are a lot of Riviera Maya brides here as well as Cancun. You could always read through the resort reviews here and see what past brides have said about their experiences and you can sort through the resorts by country. Good luck!

Just as an FYI in general the resorts discourage sending items down to them just in case, as was mentioned, they get lost or damaged in transit.

Not sure but what about some of the fabric stores? Also, there are some flower shops that work with real touch flowers so might have a small selection. Are you up for a quick trip across the border? I know the dollar sucks but right in Niagara NY, there is Hobby Lobby and they have a ton of flowers.