mmcst38

we didn't have a rehersal dinner, because there really is nothing to go over, you stay in your room they set everything up, tell everyone what time to be there, the wedding cooridnator comes to get you walks you and your girls to the site...and tells everyone when to go. but if you really want to you can setup tables together in the back of st anns we did that for a birthday party while there

Just got back from our wedding on Friday the 13th of May!

No regrets about the resort at all,amazingly beautiful everyone loved it, we had our wedding on the beach and our reception again on the beach at the seagrape, saw three other weddings when I was there, two at the pool, not sure why someone would choose that but, to each there own, all of our guests kept thanking us for choosing the resort and telling us how surprised they were that is was so nice for such a reasonable price.

  as far as the wedding cooridnator goes, they do change prices but as long as you keep your emails she will honour whatever price she told you and she actually gave us the steel drum band for cheaper than she quoted us! I think its just the jamaican culture, they arent big on this is this and that is that, its very go with the flow which I love, I know going into this blind can be overwhelming but trust me these people do this all day long, there is no way to mess up your day, no problem mon, thats all you will hear..lol

Thanks I got the totes from a store called Pat Catans, they were only $.99 and great quality

Originally Posted by aahq45 

I loved everything!  Where did you get your canvas totes from?  Thanks for sharing!!

SO thats about it, I'm so excited and so happy! Again thank you to all the brides I stole the ideas from thank you thank you!

So after only a few short months, I am only a week away from becoming a Mrs…….Everything I have done for my wedding happens to be, all thanks to this site and, all the present and past brides who are kind enough to share their creativity with those of us without an ounce so we can “borrow†their ideas! I foolishly didn’t write down specific names of brides I borrowed from, sorry if I don’t give credit to exact brides but, thank you all so much past, present, future brides and mods

Engagement:

We met on August 15^th of 2008 thru mutual friends. We started seriously dating shortly thereafter. The engagement happened on October 31^st 2010, it was a complete surprise but, perfect, unless you know the area I live in you wouldn’t understand the story, so long story short, he was on bended knee on a bridge that goes over top a small lake. He picked out the most perfect ring for me even though we never discussed them there were three things I did not want in a ring and somehow he avoided all three! I get tired of things quickly and change my mind a lot so I’m glad it is truly a gift from him, what he wanted for me. An emerald cut center stone with baguettes all around and round diamonds around band…the wedding band is all round diamonds all from Helzberg. Fiancé wanted nothing to do with a ring, so we just order him a simple tungsten band plain and cheap.

Resort:

Riu Ochos Rio, We Choose our resort based on a couple of things, We wanted an English speaking country that wasn’t a long flight, since my FI parents have never left the country. Also we just spent a week at the Riu in Aruba last year and had such a great time, wonderful place, so we decided to stick with the Riu resorts, since we needed to at least have the option of people bringing children.

I ordered our formal invites through weddingpaperdivas.com, reasonable pricing and superfast service. FI actually picked these out because he said they look like the ocean.

FI suit is a Calvin Klein Linen Suit, white linen shirt underneath with white tie, brown belt and sandals.

Groomsmen, Linen Pants and Shirt (Old Navy), Brown Belt and Sandals & Sunglasses (American Eagle). We bought the groomsmen outfits as their gift. Forgot to take pic before we gave them to the guys, but they were nice quality and great price!

Bridesmaids: I was extremely adamant about this subject, I have been in seven weddings and sorry to say, I hate all the bridesmaids dresses, no I could never wear them again and they were a fortune, that being said I bought my girls dresses, they are not bridesmaids dresses from a designer just dresses from express, I also paid for half of the price of getting their hair done, and got them coach sunglasses and coach passport covers, sorry forgot to take pics of coach gifts

MOB Dress: My mom’s dress is awesome! I’m hoping to steal it after the wedding and have it sized to fit me for our next vacation! It’s a La Femme, not sure of style name or number.

My Dress: I LOVE MY DRESS! I also enjoyed looking at all the different styles of dresses on here, and how different we all are in what we want/like/think is destination perfect, for me I knew I wanted no bling,no chiffon, no ball gown, from there I came out with this dress, Allure style 8526

Shoes:Since I will be going barefoot on the beach I just bought these for dinner and added the I DO bling

Ceremony Site and Décor: We will be getting married on the beach (weather permitting) at 3pm, I am going for simple décor some white sashes, around altar and chairs with rose petal aisle something like this pic of another ROR brides , I chose to not go for any decor during dinner, not worth the effort

Flowers: I received the picture of the two free bouquets we could choose from, I didn’t like them so the WC gave me the florist website and number, well I could not justify spending the money  on flowers I can’t even keep. So even though my whole life I have been anti-fake flowers I choose Real Touch and ordered through Roberta at Plumerias wedding flowers, I got a bouquet, hair flower and FI Boutonniere, they are above and beyond my expectations so great I love them!  This picture has blue butterflies in it, my bouquet does not it has the blue starfish

I made the bridesmaids bouquets, here is a pic of two of them also made the boutonnieres and Mothers corsages

Pre Travel Brochures: All info was borrowed from other BDW brides, put it together in powerpoint and had local company print them out, mailed out about 6 weeks before, got great feedback from guests.

Welcome Bags: I bought canvas totes and put an iron on design on them filled them with, Travel Candles and matches in Caribbean flavors,  travel sized downy wrinkle releaser, shout wipes, baby powder, the wedding survival kit with Imodium, pepto, alka seltzer, advil, Gatorade to go, aloe, anti bacterial lotion, band aids, spf chap stick pashminas for girls and red stripe or Jamaica shirt for guys, made welcome books for bags following mandys template

Does anyone have the ceremony script they use at the resort?

I just booked my photograhper and the assistant in as guests for one night, it just seemed an easier option, as far as the dinner time, I think all dinners start at 6;30

tried on four, second one was the one

Thank you JayKay!

Hi ladies, I'm not getting married in Aruba but..decided to lurk over our thread because we went to Aruba last January stayed at the RIU Palace on Plam beac (right beside Westin)...OMG I love Aruba, would go back in a heart beat! Sopranos bar is so fun! Love the mexican restaurant in the little town square thing with all the shops such good food, we went on 2 excursions the snorkeling on catamaran awesome!!! and the natural pool jeep/landrover tour...defintiely an experience seriously scary though! You all picked a wonderful place to

get married congrats...Here are some pics

View from our room first pic

Riu and Westin from catamaran boat...fyi...cute jimmy buffet style bar at end of dock! Salsa calsses there at night!

!

So ladies I have two questions for you first...Do we need tohave voltage adapters? My mother keeps asking me and I keep telling her no but, someone keeps telling her we do????

Secondly we are arriving at the resort on a Tuesday with some of our guests ( Actually some will arive about 2 hours before us) and some will be arriving the next day....how are you planning to find everyone? Give them their Welcome bags? This is just one of those little details that keeps bothering me, thanks ladies!

thanks Tracey, we are excited about it, and we did get lucky because the park is less than 15 min from our house

Originally Posted by traceysteve 

mcmst38-your party sounds awesome! I wish I was able to find a venue like yours, it sounds perfect. Mine will be more than that only out of necessity. My dream AHR would be bbq-style, but can't find anywhere to have that. Boo.

I didn't take a pic of the sample I tried on so here is a pic from today in the seamstress back fitting room, please ignore my face in this pic, I look hateful but honestly was sooo super psyched because I tried my dress on in January and it didn't fit!!!! I was so nervous today but it fit perfectly they only have to hem a little and make bustle in back!

melt.....well unless the fabric you love is chiffon....not for me but the dress I pciked is a silklike taffetta so its still lighter than satin but I will be melting even in a bikin in jamaica..good luck!

I don't know how I missed this thread, and actually was kind of shocked when reading it to see how many couples are basically having a formal reception.  But, that is probably because my FI and I picked a destination wedding in part to avoid all that formality, since I have been in 7 weddings and he has been in quite a few as well, neither of us could conceive of having the traditional reception. Guess it just proves to each their own, not only with DW but the AHR as well!

So our "Encore Celebration" which is what we are calling it because it is by no means a reception, will be held at a local park that has pavillions for rent,

-we rented a 500 person pavillion has full kitchen in it, and enough room for people to be underneath in case of rain,

-we will have plenty of food, full bar, along with barrels of beer, also I will have the Jamaican rum punch made,

-will have cupcakes instead of cake, made by my favorite bakery

-we are having a DeeJay and, it will be for dancing and fun music, no dinner music here!

-there is a huge playground on the pavillion site we rented along with a baseball field horseshoe pits,

-we will setup some pics of our trip, along with some other things from the trip just so everyone can see

-I will not be wearing my dress obviously as this is informal, was loking to get a white sundress or maybe somethign tropical, my FI wants to wear a tuxedo tshirt..he thinks its funny, lol, I don't mind at all and if he does we will get matching kids ones for my two nephews

-we will decorate cover tables, flowers lanterns things like that, can't decide if I want to do our wedding colors for decoration or jamaican flag colors

- we will be sending out invites (got at michaels) 6 weeks prior and asking for rsvp since we will still need to know whether 50 or 150 people are comign to plan for food...

-our budget is not really set but minimal, my mom paid $400 for pavillion (it was $800 but we got half off for being residents!) she also paid for deejay which was $1000 but we got for $600 since we know him casually...

wel thats all I have so far, we wanted a party to celebrate our marriage with those who couldnt attend our wedding, nothing stressful, just fun

So I ordered my dress in first week of  November, well after going thru the holidays I went to try the dress on when it came in last week of January...it did not fit! it didn't zip about 3 inches, my dress has no beading or anything so they said I could wait till last week in MArch to be fitted....4lbs away from goal weight, my fitting is tomorrow, here is hoping the dress fits

I find this hilarious because...my FI is doing the same thing! we bought all their clothes,shoes and got them sunglasses...I asked when he plans on asking them, and he just shrugs and says well they will be there no matter what so why does it matter...lol...they are clueless..lol, glad I'm not the only one dealing with this

Originally Posted by hwilley218 

So get this- FI still hasn't asked his guys to be in the wedding yet, we leave in 4 weeks- We've picked out the clothes but the guys have no clue they are going to be in the wedding.  I keep asking him when and he just keeps putting it off.  I'm seriously about to call them all myself.  I asked my girlfiends about 6 months ago.  I really don't get guys sometimes.  LOL

I feel exactly the same as you! I would be fine if all I had to do was get in a dress for a day but the swimsuit part is whats getting me! Doctor told me 2lbs a week is still healthy, weightloss, goodluck!

beautiful, I love the way the material is on the bust, unique!

I tried the insanity videos...I actually did the DVD three times...definitely intense, I HATED them more than anything...I knew I wasn't going to exercise when at work I was dreading going home to those tapes,ugh..gave them to my sister in law said good luck! Glad they are working for you as everyone is different, we all need to find our exercise/heakthy eating niche! good work!

jaimeirene...love it...gorgeous! looks perfect on you too

Michelle-2...gorgeous rings! I Love baguettes!

My friend says she loves the physique 57 videos that she feels the helped her tone up after having a baby..but she is naturally extremely little maybe 110lbs...so what helps her is way off base than me, here is the web address...http://www.physique57.com/ 

DiamondGirl...I bought the jillian Michaels banish fat boost metabolism today..it had a lot of kick boxing in it, I couldn't find one that just said kickboxing, anyhow, it kicked my butt!

I will have to find that one, I like to switch them up so I am always looking for DVDs friends have used and liked, with my work/life going to the gym is not an option, so DVD's/treeadmill are my go to workout regime, although I do go to a zumba class with thats right down the road....

has anyone tried the Physique 57 ( I think thats what its called)