janette34

Ladies, I need some advice. I ordered a real touch bouquet from Bloom Bridal with orchids hanging down the side and here are the approval pics. Please offer any suggestions you may have. This was my inspiration pic for shape only, not colors. 1st Approval pic, top view, before trailing orchids are added. Love this! And with the orchids added, really hate the orchids and don't think the color of the trailing orchids match the bouquet very well.

Will do and thanks for all the info you provided in the Grand Sirenis thread. Our group is dropping by our house this afternoon to pick up their tickets so hopefully it will be an opportunity to get everyone really excited !

Thanks, you have no idea what a huge inspiration you were to me. I was almost disappointed when you wedding day came b/c I knew your planning thread was soon going to be finished.

Found another a picture to add to the collection. I wanted to do cake boxes since we are having a dessert after dinner and thought people may want to take a piece back to their room to snack on. The only ones I could find locally were just a plain ugly white so I broke out the paint I had left over from painting shells, picture frames, etc and here is the end product:

I was worried about that too, I thought I just end up wasting a lot of money and not be able to achieve the results I wanted. I tried as much as possible to purchase things that could be used in various ways. For example since I couldn't find any clipart that I loved I purchased 12 credits for $7 and then purchased 4 images at 3 credits each, making each image $1.71 I used these same images throughout to get my money's worth. I did a quick calculation of my invites and luggage tags for you: Invites: Ticket Jacket $0.38 per jacket Boarding Pass $0.00, I used printer paper that I already had Image $1.71 Palm Tree Brad $0.10 each 35 Invites = $18.51 or $0.53 each, no postage was required as we had a party before Christmas and handed them out then Luggage Tags Plastic Sleeve $0.08 per sleeve Luggage Loop $0.06 per loop Paper - used printer paper that I already had Cost per luggage tage $0.14 Table Numbers Vase = $2.00 each Vellum Paper = $.52 sheet Image = $1.71, used same image from invite 6 Table Numbers = $16.83, or $2.80 a piece

I got the same palm tree guest book!! I absolutely love it and don't think I could have found anything better.

For me I found by the 4th day my body had adjusted to the new exercises and I wasn't sore after that - I still felt it but at least I could move without saying ouch. I have done the 30 Day Shred, Ripped in 90 and now I'm working on the extreme Shed & Shred. Out of all them my favorite has been the 30 Day Shred.

Its seems like the countdown is one for a bunch of us!!! I leave in 15 days.

I'm up to 5, 2 for clothes and shoes and the other 3 contain OOT bags and reception decor. Our airline allows 2 bags per person with a max combined weight of 55 lbs. My brother and his family will take one of our suitcases since they have an allowance of 10 pieces of luggage between them and then we'll give another suitcase to one of our parents to take.

If I can do it anyone can b/c trust me I'm neither crafty or creative. The paper came from papercircle.ca

They were very easy the only hard part was figuring out the size of the clip art. I had some vellum paper already so I just measured to see how much I would need to go around the vase and then set up a template in Word, inserted the clip art and table number and printed them off. Once I had them printed I just wrapped them around the vase and attached them with Zots.

OOT Bags We purchased Jute bags from the dollar store and I spent last summer looking for bargains to fill them. I didn't take a picture before I packed them but this is a list of what inside. Seashell Bottle Opener Stafish Envelope Opener Tropical Themed Magnetic Photo Frame - Oriental Trading Tropical Notepad - Oriental Trading Bookmark - Oriental Trading Bath & Body Works Candle - Grand Opening Sale, 3 for $1 Flip Flop key chain - Walmart Oh Shit Kit Glass Wipes - Dollarama Advil - Ebay Lip Chap - Dollarama Band Aids - Dollarama Eye Make up remover wipes - Dollarama Shout wipes - Ebay Hand wipes - Dollarama Immodium - Coscto (one sleeve of 6 per person) Mini tropical nail files - Oriental Trading Clothes pins painted in orange & pink (the balconies have clothes lines at our resort) - Dollarama Matches - Dollarama I'm pretty sure I'm missing a few things but this is the majority of items and I'll take some pictures before we hand them out. In Flight Snack Pack Oddly enough this is one item that I'm really excited about. We are going to hand these out at the airport. Listing of contents: Fruit Snacks - Costco Almonds - Costco Gum - Costco Mike & Ike - Costco Mentos - Costco Small Luggage Container filled with jelly beans in pink, orange & yellow Pen for filling out tourist cards - Dollarama Menu Selection Cards - Vistaprint Brochure on the Riviera Maya - Vistaprint, using photos from our past trips Spanish Handbook - DIY I'm also going to make starfish & seahorse cookies to include in the bags. I have recruited my mother & aunt to help out with the baking and decorating a few days before we leave. Close up of brochure I found a coupon online for free brochures and uploads so I only had to pay shipping for these. And here's the PDF for my spanish handbook spanish handbook janette.pdf

Decor for bar & sweetheart table: Guest Table Set Up

Table Numbers, Place Cards, Seating Charts These were super easy to do once I figured out what size I wanted them to be. Using left over invitation paper I cut the colored paper into strips and folded them in half and printed names on the cream colored paper, cut them into rectangles and glued them onto the cardstock after that I just stuck on a starfish or a sand dollar. I picked up these unfinished frames from Michaels for $1 each and painted them. Using burlap I had left over from the napkin rings I glued that to the insert and then printed off the table listing and glued them on. The starfish on the corners are paper using my craft punch. I had some vellum paper and had no idea what to do with it so I started looking at luminaries and thought I could make these. Another trip to the dollar store for some vases and a little playing around in Word to get the right size and I have table numbers. More to come,

Ok so now on to the frugal part. Since I had a year to plan this thing I wanted to do most of the work myself and save as much money as possible. Starting early was a huge part of this, it allowed me time to find ideas, look for bargains and buy items from past brides. One of my first projects was invitations and I knew I wanted the boarding pass style. After playing around with different fonts and clip art I was ready to print, cut and assemble. Walking through the Dollar Store one day I saw trading card sleeves 12 for $1 and thought they would make great luggage tags so I brought them home and starting punching holes thru them for the strap and then made an insert in Word. We're asking everyone to use theirs so at the airport we can just grab all the bags with our luggage tags on them. My next project was barefoot sandals, I loved the ones I had seen on here and figured they couldn't be too hard. Early on I had seen sparkler tags for sale and loved the idea of doing an exit with sparklers but I was not about to pay $25 for 12 tags so I created these: My next project that I wanted to make was napkin rings. I knew wanted starfish themed rings but the only ones I could find were something like $30 for 4 so I found some directions online and had Colin cut some PVC pipe up that we already had. Here is the finished product with linens purchased from a past bride: Next up was pew decor. I was at Winner's one day and found a huge bag of starfish, I think there was 12 in a bag for about $14 so I bought the last 2 they had. In addition to the pew decor I will also have Rafia fans on every seat with the handles wrapped in pink and orange ribbon. I forgot to take a picture of these before packing them. The only other ceremony decor that I really wanted was a capiz chandelier/windchime. For months I looked for something that was affordable and almost purchased one from WildThings but being in Canada the shipping to get it here was going to be as much as the chandelier itself so I had given up on the idea until I found a used on Kijiji one day. Here's a picture of the chandelier that I got: More to come

Wow, I can't believe its my time to start a planning thread!! For the past year I have been counting down the months until we leave and as of today only 17 more sleeps. I don't know how I would have been able to accomplish anything had I not found this site. Thank you too everyone who has contributed, this site has been a wealth of knowledge and ideas for me. Resort One of the toughest decisions by far was picking a resort. We knew it had to be Mexico since we have been going there for the past seven years and always love it. Just after coming home from a trip to Mexico in April of 2011 my aunt (also TA) called me with some prices. One of the options was the Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya which we had stayed at in 08 and since the price worked for everyone so we booked it. Their private palapa was part of the deciding factor and they had a nice range of wedding packages. Attire Second toughest decision without a doubt!!! I live in a very small town with the closest major shopping area 2 hours away. I tried on so many dresses and couldn't find the "one". I fell in love with Pronovias dresses but could only find a limited few to try on in my province. Without any luck I took a chance and ordered a knock off from China. I did this early on in case it wasn't great and I would still have time to find a new one and I could use the knock off for our TTD. Well the dress came and it was well made but not exactly great so back to dress hunting. My next trip out I finally made the decision to order a dress, its Pronovias, Alfil. Colin's Suit from Le Chateau. His best man will wear the same pants and shirt. Maid of Honour dress. We're going to add a starfish brooch to the waist. I made her a pair of barefoot sandals to wear but I forgot to take a picture before I gave them to her. We went to a bridal show that holding a gown and dress clearance and this dress matched the groom's shirt perfectly so we got a great bargain. My Mother's dress:

Yay! I picked up my custom made band today and I love it. We had no idea that my e-ring did not have a matching band so it was a scramble to have a band made in time for upcoming wedding (less than 3 weeks until we leave).

Try this: http://www.tropitek.net/wholesale/home.php?cat=460 its a BC company. I haven't used them myself, was going to and then I found big bags of starfish at Winner's last summer. Not sure if they would be able to ship in time but it could be worth looking into. Have you tried Pier 1? I was there about a month ago and they were just starting to bring out their summer stuff and they did have some starfish items then.

Is anyone else using Bloom Bridal for their flowers? I contacted Judy back in October to place my custom order and everything was great at the time, fast response, very positive sounding. Now with only two weeks until the expected arrival date of my flowers I can't seem to get in touch with her. I sent an email last Monday with no response and again today so I will try to wait patiently for her to get back to me. For those of you who have used Bloom Bridal can you tell me when you got your approval pics.

Yup and the answer unfortunately is no because of the jungle surrounding the resort.

I'm so disappointed, with less than 5 weeks to go before we leave I would have loved to have ordered the sunscreen wipes and a few other things but the OOT bags are done and packed. Glad I was able to help some others.

HauteLook has great deals on OOT bags items today, 30 sunscreen wipes for $8, Make up wipes, etc. Here's the link in case anyone is interested: http://www.hautelook.com/event/14053 If you're not already a member and want to join you can use http://www.hautelook.com/short/3ChSV

Well that depends. DHGate is like Ebay there are a bunch of different sellers and each seller has its own reviews/feedback. As for dresses I ordered mine from Babyonline. It was a knock off of a Pronovias, construction of the dress was great, it was very well made but it really didn't like look the picture. They added a stupid looking ruffle around the waist that is really not flattering but that is my fault for not asking them to remove it before they shipped it to me. Since I'm just using this dress for TTD I'm not that concerned and having my mom fix a few things on it.

Those are my colors too and I ordered my paper from paper circle. Shipping was fast and not too pricey.

I have booked with Sunquest too and we got one free package for either every 11 or 13 people that booked.