kellygrrrl

yes, that definitely sounds better than before, but I wonder what they're distinguishing as, "the pool area located close to the activities staff booth" at the Royal PDC. from what I recall, I thought the activities staff both was the place where you received your towels at the royal, thus making the main pool the area closest to it -- unless they've moved it. can any recent brides respond?

ok, I think I finally got it. I was editing inside messages instead of my word document. thanks for hangin in there with me. : ) mochamakes3, has the starfish arrived to you yet?? kellygrrrl's CLEAR starfish lineup (taking over for dc22173): Mochamakes3 – April 16 – 27, 2011, Moon Palace, Riviera Maya, Ontario, Canada NurseM – May 18 – 26, 2011, Dreams, Cancun, New Orleans, LA Susanna.Hanson – June 14 - 21, 2011, Cabo San Lucas, Houston, TX Islandbride8 – June 29, 2011 – Majestic Elegance, Punta Cana, Morgantown, WV *** need travel dates, please Amara3CUS – July 17 – 31, Cancun *** need living in location, please Mallory57 - August 11 - 21, 2011, Moon Dance Cliffs, Negril, Jamaica, Philadelphia, PA Kathie - October 14 – 29, 2011, Aruba, *** need living in location, please JayKay – January 9 - 23, 2012, Montego Bay, Jamaica, Alberta, Canada Brenners – February 8 – 15, 2012, Riviera Maya, Minneapolis, MN 05/05/2012 *** RETIRING TO ORIGINAL OWNER *** kellygrrrl – May 1 – 15, 2012, The Royal Playa del Carmen, Austin, Texas

argh, please excuse the bad, older list above. corrected below: kellygrrrl's CLEAR starfish lineup (taking over for dc22173): Mochamakes3 – April 16 – April 27, 2011, Moon Palace, Riviera Maya, Ontario, Canada NurseM – May 18 – May 26, 2011, Dreams, Cancun, New Orleans, LA Susanna.Hanson – June 17, 2011 – Cabo San Lucas, Houston, TX ***need travel dates, please *** Islandbride8 – June 29, 2011 – Majestic Elegance, Punta Cana, Morgantown, WV Amara3CUS – July 17 – 31, Cancun, Mexico, living in?? Mallory57 - Aug 11-21, 2011, Moon Dance Cliffs, Negril, Jamaica, Philadelphia, PA Kathie - October 14 – 29, 2011, Aruba, living in?? JayKay – January 9-23, 2012, Montego Bay, Jamaica, living in?? Brenners – February 8 – 15, 2012 Riviera Maya, Minneapolis, MN 05/05/2012 *** RETIRING TO ORIGINAL OWNER *** kellygrrrl – May 1 – May 15, 2012, the Royal Playa del Carmen, Austin, Texas

sure, brenners! you've been added: Mochamakes3 – April 16 – April 27, 2011, Moon Palace, Ontario, Canada NurseM – May 18 – 26, 2011, Dreams Cancun, living in New Orleans, LA Adales – June 3 – June 13 – Adventura Cove Palace, living in Northern CA Susanna.Hanson – June 17, 2011 – Cabo San Lucas, Houston, TX Islandbride8 – June 29, 2011 – Majestic Elegance, Punta Cana, Morgantown WV Amara3CUS – July17 – 31, Cancun, MX ** Please contact both the bride before you and after you to make sure this update is ok! ChristieAnn –7/31 - 8/10 Mallory57 - Aug 11-21, 2011, Moon Dance Cliffs, Negril, Jamaica, living in Philadelphia, PA JoanneIreland - September 1st - 17th 2011, Riviera Maya, Mexico, Ireland ** Please contact both the bride before you and after you to make sure this update is ok! – bought her own blue starfish Kathie - October 14 – 29, 2011, Aruba, living in?? JayKay – January 9-23, 2012, Montego Bay, Jamaica, Alberta, Canada Brenners – February 8 – 15, 2012 Riviera Maya, Minneapolis, MN SummerDawn – April 15 – 22, 2012, Cancun, Mexico, Vancouver, Canada 05/05/2012 *** RETIRING TO ORIGINAL OWNER *** kellygrrrl – May 1 – May 15, 2012, the Royal Playa del Carmen, living in Austin, Texas

straight from ana perez, my wedding coordinator: Hola Kelly, I was advised by our Onsite manager that indeed, The Royal in Cancun & The Royal Playa del Carmen have no music in the pool, that is by the standards of the AAA. Thanks for your comprehension, as this is beyond our reach. Kindly, Ana

ok, on third thought here, the royal pdc now has a quiet pool. maybe that allows them to abide by the same AAA/5 Diamond restrictions while at the same time having a pool with music and activities. just an idea. still waiting to hear back from ana...

I've emailed our wedding coordinator (ana perez) to confirm the rationale for discontinuing the music in cancun and asked if this would happen in playa. I'll let you all know as soon as I hear back.

NOOOOOOOO - are you serious?! the pool music and activities MAKE the resort. it would be completely boring without them and the amazing entertainment staff. how did you hear about the rule? do you think it will be implemented at the playa resort as well? they, too, are a five diamond resort, but both have been for years, I believe.

that is a really great dress - my mom would love the light sleeves. SO hard to find. way to go!! : )

it's really nice, and I think it highlights your perfect hourglass shape. : ) and there's always shapewear (spanx fitted slips and the like) - even if it doesn't make a big physical difference, it feels good on and gives you extra confidence. : )

that's great to hear - thank you, jbean : )

ha, my wedding isn't until may next year, and I went out to try on dresses because I had absolutely NO CLUE what I wanted. first stop was david's bridal, and the night before I pulled some photos of dresses I wanted to see specifically. I'm sure you can guess what happened next. first. freakin. dress. : ) so I spent the past few weeks going to different stores and trying on a other styles I'd seen in magazines, etc because I knew I liked that first one but wanted to see other options, and when I went back to david's last week to try it again... I bought it. >1 year in advance. but it's like I said to my mom when she asked about waiting, "wait for what? what's going to change?" and there are always the resale sites like oncewed in case something comes up. I'm a little sad it's over, but dress shopping was not the world's easiest process, so there's a sense of relief, too. and then everything starts with the ordering and the altering and the shoes and the accessories - all in all, I think it's a good piece to have early on. : )

yes, actually - I just received a quote from him last night. I sent him an inspiration bouquet (real-touch) pand he provided the following photos and ideas. he's AMAZING!! I think he could do anything, and his prices were reasonable. for the orchids and birds of paradise below, the bridal bouquet was $160 - $180 and the bouts and corsages were $15 - $25. pretty awesome considering he's using some of the priciest flowers. I really like all of his ideas - he not only captured EXACTLY what I was looking for, but he offered some great choices, too. most brides decide on color first, and then he can probably help. it's also good if you search around on the internet (google images, the knot) to see what you like. there's also a forum on here for flowers - 55 pages of awesome, unique ideas. : ) INSPIRATION PHOTO ALL PHOTOS BELOW FROM MARVIN:

ADORE the centerpieces - just amazing!! where are you getting married? who is your florist?

jana297 and katelynn - check out these bouquets. here are some non-real touch options from Marvin of Maya Diseno (in Playa del Carmen): bridal bouquet the groom's bout uses birds of paradise, whereas other groomsmen don't. LOVE that idea as a distinction - works for the bridal bouquet, too! groomsman:

haha, funny you should mention that. I saw a couple of cute college boys in our apartment gym doing an exercise dvd on their laptop - they could hardly keep up!! I asked if it was P90X, and they told me it was the Insanity thing. clearly, I'm not up on my workout dvds. ; ) they said they had been doing it for a month and couldn't get through the workout. must be great - congrats on the weight loss, orange_peel!!

ok, got it now. eleventy-seventh time's a charm! ; )

ok, HTML code maybe? sorry. : ) <a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://img3.imageshack.us/i/sbridaltori.jpg/'><img src='http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5341/sbridaltori.jpg' border='0'/></a> Uploaded with <a target='_blank' href='http://imageshack.us'>ImageShack.us</a>

argh, wait - let me try that again: http://img3.imageshack.us/i/sbridaltori.jpg/

for brides wondering what options they have with even major department stores not carrying a lot of white/ivory shoes, I'd like to suggest david's bridal. they have lots of super-cute shoes, and many are not only dye-able but are also around $70. http://www.davidsbridal.com/Browse_Accessories-Shoes-All-Shoes I tried on the badgley mischka randall at nordstrom's over the weekend and knew I wouldn't make it all night in those - the heel must be 4 inches!! mad respect to you ladies who can do it. ; ) here are the shoes I'm choosing between from david's. I'll likely go with whichever is the most comfortable. : ) Uploaded with ImageShack.us

sorry for the continual stream of messages, but I went back through the most recent pages and made some updates to the list: * added back in susanna.hanson whose ceremony date is june 17. susanna, please let me know the range of time you'll be gone, as well as your current location. * removed adales due to timing. sorry, but it appears that susanna.hanson was before you, and her wedding date is june 17, meaning that having it out through june 13 would simply be too long. * removed JoanneIreland who purchased her own blue starfish and is starting an independent rotation for it * added a location for NurseM * added Islandbride8 to the list - not sure how she was dropped initially. please let me know if you no longer want to be on the list. I figure if we allow for one week transit within the same country and two weeks to travel across US/Canada borders, we should be good. and I LOVE the idea of starting a website for tracking the starfish's journey. anyone know of a way to do this? finally apologies to summerdawn. I think the dates are too close to risk not having it back by the time we leave. kellygrrrl's CLEAR starfish lineup (taking over for dc22173): Mochamakes3 – April 16 – April 27, 2011, Moon Palace, Riviera Maya, Ontario, Canada NurseM – May 18 – May 26, 2011, Dreams, Cancun, New Orleans, LA Susanna.Hanson – June 17, 2011 – Cabo San Lucas, Houston, TX ***need travel dates, please *** Islandbride8 – June 29, 2011 – Majestic Elegance, Punta Cana, Morgantown, WV Amara3CUS – July 17 – 31, Cancun, Mexico, living in?? Mallory57 - Aug 11-21, 2011, Moon Dance Cliffs, Negril, Jamaica, Philadelphia, PA Kathie - October 14 – 29, 2011, Aruba, living in?? JayKay – January 9-23, 2012, Montego Bay, Jamaica, living in?? 05/05/2012 *** RETIRING TO ORIGINAL OWNER *** kellygrrrl – May 1 – May 15, 2012, the Royal Playa del Carmen, Austin, Texas

certainly. anyone know how long it takes regular mail to go back and forth from the US to canada?

actually, there is one! it would be great if more people posted because activity is pretty slow, and my mom has no idea what to wear. : )

ok, sorry for the quick back and forth here. it doesn't appear the previous vendor http://www.bouquetjewels.com/ is still carrying the same 'star of the sea' jewel, though they do have a sale on the remaining sand colored starfish if anyone is interested: http://www.bouquetjewels.com/product_p/star%20of%20the%20sea.htm. they are also carrying a skinnier hawaiian beach collection starfish - again if anyone is interested http://www.bouquetjewels.com/product_p/starfish.htm. because the thread originated around the 'star of the sea,' I found it on another site http://store.thebridalbox.net/bjstarfish.html. in the meantime, mochamakes3 PMed me her address, which was in canada (I'm in texas). the store not only offered to ship directly to canada for only $6 US but when I mentioned that her wedding was only a few weeks away, they dug through their supply and found a clear one in stock (they had previously thought they'd be waiting on a shipment until mid-next week). I figured it was a sign that mochamakes3 was due to have a sparkly starfish in time for her wedding and put through the order ASAP. hockeymom, I do apologize, but it sounds as though you had other plans. I really hope it's ok. SO now picking up where dc22173, the CLEAR starfish thread will be continued as below. ChristieAnn, sorry, but your dates are too close to other ceremonies to be added, and NurseM you have been added. I think you mentioned someone else had been left off - please let me know. also, if upcoming brides can please be sure to update with their current city and state (so we can plan for sending across borders), that would be great. please keep us up-to-date with the condition of the starfish, as that seems to be an issue after numerous voyages. ; ) finally, mochamakes3 will be adding a travel journal and will send with the starfish to NurseM after her wedding. kellygrrrl's CLEAR starfish lineup (taking over for dc22173): Mochamakes3 – April 16 – April 27, 2011, Moon Palace, living in Ontario, Canada NurseM – May 18 – 26, 2011, Dreams Cancun, living in ??? Adales – June 3 – June 13 – this is probably not enough time to get the starfish to Susanna, but please PM her and check? Amara3CUS – July17 – 31, Cancun, MX ** Please contact both the bride before you and after you to make sure this update is ok! ChristieAnn – apologies, but dates do not work, as you are leaving 7/31 and returning 8/10 Mallory57 - Aug 11-21, 2011, Moon Dance Cliffs, Negril, Jamaica, living in ??? JoanneIreland - September 1st - 17th 2011, Riviera Maya, Mexico ** Please contact both the bride before you and after you to make sure this update is ok! Kathie - October 14 – 29, 2011, Aruba, living in?? JayKay – January 6-21, 2012, Montego Bay, Jamaica, living in?? 05/05/2012 *** RETIRING TO ORIGINAL OWNER *** kellygrrrl – May 1 – May 15, 2012, the Royal Playa del Carmen, living in Austin, Texas If you would like to join this CLEAR starfish list, please post in this thread with all of this info: 1) That you would like to join 'kellygrrrl's CLEAR starfish line-up' 2) Your travel dates 3) Wedding Location 4) Location where the starfish will be sent (US or Canada/other countries) It is your responsibility to get the info of the bride on the list after you, and send the starfish and journal on in a timely manner. Please do not disappoint the brides after you by committing to this if you don't think you will send it off in time.

awesome!! thanks, mochamakes3!! it sounds like hockeymom already has a plan in place, so if you would, please PM me your address, and I'll order the starfish to be directly shipped to you unless hockeymom wants it instead. I'll wait to hear back from her before ordering. any ideas what this notebook of well-wishes looks like?