acireta

(2) Embroidered print panel ivory linen shirts from Cubavera.com Size: XXL (18†neck) New with tags, bought new for $40/ea $25/ea Cubavera tan linen drawstring pants from Macy’s Size: Large (36/38 waist) New in bag with tags, never opened, bought new for $60 $25 White bride rhinestone tank top Size: XL New with tags $5 Purple “Tying the Knot†tank top Old Navy size XL, worn once $5 “Property of the Groom†iron-on rhinestone decal $3 Real touch bridesmaids’ bouquets Green cymbidium orchid and white calla lilies 8†across, 7 callas and 10 orchids per bouquet $30 (4) White medium-sized real-touch calla lilies (long-stem) $5 Bouquet initial jewelry – C & L $3/each Quilted “Bride†cosmetics bag $3 Quilted rhinestone jewelry roll $3 Hair flower with rhinestone center on alligator clip $15 Hot Tools Bella Turbo Ionic Hair Dryer Includes hair dryer, finger diffuser, concentrator, pik, 3 temperature and 2 speed settings, Cool shot button and 8-foot cord with hanging ring New in box, never opened $40 Black “Bride†rhinestone yoga pants and hooded jacket (“Bride†on back, solitaire ring on front) Jacket: http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Brides-Rhinestone-Hooded-Jacket-DB16CSHOOD Pants: http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Brides-Rhinestone-Ring-Yoga-Pants-DB16CSPANT Size: 2X $30 Short white dress from David’s Bridal with shrug Altered to street size 20 (hem not adjusted), never worn, no tags $150

I just used Bridebox also! It was really easy to use, I really liked it for the most part. I'm interested to see the quality of the flushmount album. You sound like you were pretty happy with the sign-in book?

They're both adorable, I don't think you could go wrong with either one! I kinda like the top one just a bit more for some reason, but I can't put my finger on it.

Two iguanas got into a wrestling match in the trees during our ceremony. I was completely oblivious, but apparently it was really distracting to the guests LOL After the wedding, the winner came down to chow on the rose petals! We got some good pics of him!

Thanks, Dominique! Your planning thread is awesome, by the way! I posted the pro pics here: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/79320/aciretas-wedding-ahr-pics

Travel Agent – Patty Jordan at Wright Travel Agency: A Patty took over after our previous agent pulled some shady actions. Patty was able to link a bunch of bookings that weren’t made through her, and she put up with a lot of confusion and nervousness about using a TA. She did a great job, and I would definitely recommend Wright Travel Agency for any group travel. Wedding Dress – Curvaceous Couture (Columbia, MD): A+++++++++ This plus-size formal dress shop is amazing! There was a snafu with the arrival date of my dress, and they SAVED my butt. The owner is hands-on and personable, and she runs a great store with an awesome staff. Alterations – Alterations by Ruth (Woodridge, IL): B Ruth alters formal dresses in her home. She was recommended by a local store that carries Enzoani. She did good work, considering the extent of the changes she made to my dress and how much material and craziness there was to work with on my skirt. Wedding Coordinator – Island Bliss Weddings (St. Thomas, USVI): A+ I cannot say enough good things about my coordinator, Janelle, and her officiant husband, Stuart. Our day and the whole planning process was smooth, perfect, exactly what we wanted. Janelle made everything happen exactly how we wanted it (decorations, steel drum player, cake, flowers, ceremony refreshments). Her website and options are clear; her blog is great to read; and she is always expanding the options she offers her couples. Stuart made our ceremony so personal. It probably seemed to the guests like he had been talking to us for months, just from the info he gathered from us while driving to the courthouse and ceremony. Photographer – EJ of Paradise Pictures (St. Thomas, USVI): A++++++ Eric is amazing. He is friendly and professional. We were pretty awkward at first, and he did a good job of calming us down and getting us comfortable in front of the camera. His use of color drew us in, and our pictures did not disappoint. I could not be happier with them. We paid a small rush fee, and they were online for us to download within a week. He also sent a disc for us to use within two weeks. I might have him just do our album, based on the quality of his work. Ceremony Location – Limetree Beach: A Love Limetree! It was nice and quiet the whole time we were there. Our ceremony was so peaceful and private (except for our uninvited guests, the iguanas!). The beach was beautiful, if a little rocky for walking on the beach barefoot pictures. The next time I go to St. Thomas I will definitely spend as much time as possible at this beach. Lunch Reception Venue – Iggie’s Beach Bar at Bolongo Bay Resort: A The restaurant was perfect and quiet. We had a huge open air room to ourselves. The food was good, the drinks were cold, the service was quick and friendly. My biggest complaint was that the beach was REALLY rocky. I heard it was nicer further down, but it was pretty rocky in front of where we were. AHR Venue – Bobak’s Signature Events (Woodridge, IL): A+ Our AHR was great. We provided table runners, centerpieces, candy buffet supplies, etc. and let the event coordinator (Grace Ciesla) set everything up. I could not have been happier when I went in the room. She did such an amazing job! It was beautiful! The food was delicious, and the bartenders were friendly and generous. The whole staff was great and didn’t make us feel bad when we were late getting out of the room. They were so kind and gracious to us. It was a great experience, once I found the right venue.

Here are some pictures of our AHR candy buffet set-up, centerpieces, gift/guestbook tables. We didn't have a photographer so I'm still trying to collect pictures from friends and family who were there. It was an awesome party! All the planning was totally worth it. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't do anything differently.

It's been a few weeks and I've finally been able to sift through our pictures. Our wedding photographer was Eric Johnson from Paradise Pictures on St. Thomas. He was fantastic, and I can't say enough good things about him!! Travel Agent – Patty Jordan at Wright Travel Agency Wedding Coordinator – Island Bliss Weddings (Janelle) Officiant – Stuart Scott Photographer – Paradise Pictures (Eric) Ceremony Location – Limetree Beach Lunch Reception Venue – Iggie’s Beach Bar at Bolongo Bay Resort Wedding Dress – Fabi by Enzoani Clutch – David’s Bridal Jewelry – Etsy seller ElegantChicJewels Hair flower – Etsy seller EnchantedlyYours Guys’ shirt – Kohl’s Guys’ pants – Old Navy Bridesmaids’ dresses – David’s Bridal Ring shell – Hanson Ellis Rings – Michael Hill Jewelers Bouquets and boutonnieres – DIY Memorial bouquet charm – Etsy seller YourCharmedWedding AHR Venue – Bobak’s Signature Events Fingerprint tree – Etsy seller YourKeepsakeCo

Happy birthday to your FI! You're getting so close! I would love to go on another cruise, reality bites LOL Enjoy the last couple days, good luck finishing everything up! I'm working on posting pro pics now...

So our AHR was last night and it was awesome! We had a slideshow of the wedding pictures, a candy buffet, heavy appetizers, cupcakes and open bar, and about 125 of our friends and family from all over the country were there. Here is the candy buffet all set up, it was a HUGE hit! Here are the two different centerpieces we had on the low round tables: These were on the high cocktail tables: We had a table with wedding pictures and my bouquet set up for gifts: Instead of a guest book, we had a fingerprint tree with blue and green inkpads, pens to sign and alcohol swabs: I got my hair done, I wore my wedding dress, Al wore his wedding clothes. We played the shoe game, had a couple toasts and made a thank you speech. Hopefully I'll get some pictures from friends and family since we didn't have a photographer. It was an awesome night, and it went so quickly! I couldn't imagine having that kind of party on the same day as the wedding. I would have been so stressed! Next project - posting up pro pics here and on Facebook!

Totally makes sense. I like the way you think. Society has a lot of expectations for relationships, some but not all of them reasonable or current LOL This site rules all for destination weddings :-) but you should also check out offbeatbride.com. They have a lot of really interesting articles about different ways of thinking reasonably about marriage (not weddings) and good tips for assessing priorities in relationships.

Well, I've only been married for two weeks so I can't give you any long-term perspective, but I'll tell you what I've noticed so far: other people's reactions. To some other people, we are no longer a-couple-living-together-and-we'll-see-if-it-works-out. Our relationship is now somehow validated in their eyes. That's the biggest change I've noticed, even though I don't feel any differently. Don't get me wrong, I didn't get married to validate my relationship to other people. I got married because I know I want to spend the rest of my life with this person, and having a formal, legal commitment was important to Al and to me. We lived together for two years before getting married, so our routine is very comfortable and functional. We also know how much we enjoy each other's company on a daily basis because we've had it for a few years already. I'm sure some couples don't need this legal document; but we wanted it. A relationship could be just as valid without the piece of paper (of course, I immediately think of the benefits of a shared last name, making emergency medical decisions, taxes, etc. that come along with the piece of paper). I think how you let a wedding define your relationship/marriage is completely under your control. If it changes your relationship for the worse, you have to work to nurture it back to a good place or let it go. If it doesn't change it and you're still as happy as before, hopefully it was a good party! :-) I also think you sound very mature, understanding how much you will both change in the coming years. I can't even tell you how much I changed and grew up between 21 (graduating college) and 26 (meeting my husband). Just enjoy your love and where you are in your lives, and don't pressure yourselves into anything that doesn't seem 100% true to who you are as individuals and as a couple. I know the pressure from family can be tough, but as long as you guys are a team, I hope you can make the decisions that are best for you both!

I don't think you're crazy! :-) I understand how you want to get them off your plate already. I was obsessive with mine and had to put them away and not look at them for a few months until I was ready to print and DIY so I wouldn't go crazy. I think you should send them in the late fall if you're giving an RSVP date of January 2. If invites sit around too long, people will just forget/lose/misplace them. Give people a few months to think and save and ponder. Don't take the yes's as an answer until they're actually booked. Things don't always work out how people hope. We sent STDs 15 months out and invites were sent 5 months out, but we didn't have an RSVP date for the wedding. For AHR invites (people who weren't invited to the wedding), we sent them 7 weeks before, with a ten-day prior RSVP date.

Thank you so much! We have as many pics of Cardboard Buster throughout the trips as we do of everyone else LOL he is all over the slideshow I'm putting together! Thank you! I'll have to put together some reviews and recap as soon as the AHR is over!

Can't believe all of you are leaving all at the same time! I hope you all have beautiful weddings and awesome vacations!! I still can't believe I'm back and it's over. We have our AHR next Friday so I'm still pretty busy. Here are a few pics from the wedding!

Thank you!! I'm starting to organize everyone's pictures tonight to start working on the slideshow. At least I have a bunch of flights this weekend to give me the time to work on it! I used the 1.5" for stickers and labels in various places, and it's not as small as it sounds. I used it for gift bag stickers, sugar scrub tags, seals for my pretrip packets, etc. I just realized I was supposed to post more info on the sugar scrubs when I got back. I'm sorry for the delay! Supplies for each scrub jar 8 oz. clear round wide-mouth jars (http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-9935/Jars-Jugs-Bottles/8-oz-Clear-Round-Wide-Mouth-Jars) 1 cup white granulated sugar 1/3 cup safflower oil 15-20 drops fragrance oil (soap-making aisle at craft store; I got a variety pack with lavender, vanilla, coconut, pink grapfruit, mango & melon) I made 40 jars using 5 bags sugar and 1.5 big bottles of oil. I made labels for the jars on shipping label paper, and tied a cardstock thank you tag to each jar with twine from Ace Hardware. The thank you tags said "Thank you for making my shower so SWEET!" since they were sugar scrubs. Here are my templates for the labels and tags: labels final.docx thank you tags.docx

I got mine from Michaels, and they have them in a bunch of different sizes. Here is the punch that I used for the circle stickers (1.5"), it's nice because you can see through to what you're punching before you cut: http://store.scrapbook.com/f-7424.html?utm_source=google-shopping-feed&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google-free-shopping-feed&utm_content=f-7424&kw=f-7424&cmp=GSHOP I used a 3" punch for the bag tags. I set all my images to .1" less than the punch I was using so I'd have the slightest sliver of clearance around the tag/monogram. I don't have all the pro pics yet, but I got a couple proofs yesterday... I should have all pics by this weekend, and I'll be making a slideshow for our AHR, so I'll post more up asap!

Congratulations!! So exciting! I know what you mean, I was completely checked out by the last few days of work.. hell I'm still not completely back mentally LOL

No problem! Thanks for the compliments

Well, I started off with a circle in Powerpoint. I fit all my images and text within it and then messed with the type of circle to get dots or a colored circle. You can use word art to make arched lettering. Mostly I adapted other peoples images and templates and just tweaked and tweaked until I was happy. Here are some monograms I used, there are some circles and arched lettering in there to get you started... Good luck! monograms for bdw.pptx circle return address labels for bdw.pptx

Beautiful! Is it very heavy?

Glad this helped! Let me know if you have any questions! Good luck! I put mine in small vases, then in plastic bags, in my guest room closet. I did them super early also, but they worked out just fine. Keep them out of light and too much humidity and you should be ok! :-)

I just had my lunch reception at Iggy's at Bolongo bay on Tuesday and it was awesome. The food and service were great! The beach was quite rocky but the resort got great reviews from my family members who stayed there.

I will post the template tomorrow when I get home. The jars were 7 or 8 oz. clear plastic jars from www.uline.com. They're also known as clear plastic pet jars. Thanks hun! It was a perfect day, not a bit of stress other than being friggin hot and sweaty for pics lol but I'm married and happy as a clam. I will do a longer write-up on the scrubs as soon as I get home! I should have pro-pics next week, I can't wait!!

Hi everyone! We are in the car driving to Chicago from Miami, still in Florida so its going to be a long day. I'm still absorbing everything from our trip, mostly realizing pictures I missed like giving out the bags, darn it! The bags were a huge hit! The most used things were the bags themselves, lanyards, pashminas and sudoku books surprisingly. I didn't think they'd get used as much as they did. Anyway everyone loved them, I'm really glad I did them, and I'm sad and happy to be heading home :-)