MJKH

My attempt at being artsy...here it is on...just before it went to spend the next two months in a bank vault! ; )

Super cute monogram Lauren...love it! : )

Thanks...I know, I think when we're in Mexico I will likely look for a nice silver band that will serve not only as a momento...but may also be even more functional for day to day wear.

It did get to be a tiny bit complicated to keep everything straight. Basic rule of thumb was couples got one bag. My good friend and her mother who are sharing a room will each get their own bag. My FI's adult cousin sharinging a room with her parents will get her own bag (and her parents will get a bag). Kiddies will get their own special treats.

Some pics from online...that trivet for the base of a centerpiece... a stunning peacock feather wreath... the peacock feather printed tissues... Just go to pier one's website and search "peacock" and you'll see all the stuff! Oh, and they also had animal print flip flop nail care kits?$...and mini sandlewood fans for $1.

I don't know where to post this, but I happened to stop in at Pier 1 this afternoon, and WOW...for any of you brides using peacock feathers/colours as accents, you should pay them a visit. I saw packs of peacock-printed tissues for $1...they had these beautiful peacock feather round trivets(?)...in the placemat section...one of those in the middle of the table with a glass vase & flowers would be stunning. They had beautiful fabric drapery panels embroidered with peacock feathers that you could take some wicked photos with I'm sure. Just stickin' it out there!

Ohhhh yes...that's me in a big, big way...on the rollercoaster of feelings from the "blahs" to "super stressed"...back and forth, round and round. I spent 7 hours decorating our Christmas tree yesterday and wasn't really excited about the whole thing in the end (which really isn't me!!). 8 weeks from Sunday we leave and my dresses haven't come in yet, my BFF's dress is too tight, my FI's daughter's dress hasn't come in yet and when I finally sit down to do my "what's left to do" list, I'll probably crack!

Well ladies... The issue of our rings has been up in the air for what feels like forever. We made the rounds to all of the jewellry stores in town...found nothing that knocked my socks off. I have never been a ring-wearer...my job in health care...in the inner city...the constant hand washing...not conducive to a big flashy ring. The only thing I knew I LOVED was full/round bezel diamond settings. I found this cocktail ring on the Birks website, but when I went into the store I found out they weren't making it anymore. I liked that it was a wider ring...my stubby fingers just didn't look great with a thin dainty ring. My hairdresser has a friend who she highly recommended we have do a custom order for us. We met with this fellow...he said "ok, we'll probably have it done in 6 weeks". I said, "Sooooo, do I get to try it as a wax mold or anything like that?" He said, "No, it'll be great!" I'm not gonna lie...I hadn't even seen what this ring looked like on my finger, and I was in a state of panic when we went to pick our rings up this week...praying it would be ok. Well, I couldn't be happier with our rings...here they are!!! One more thing crossed off the list!

I saw them this afternoon and thought of oot/welcome bags too : ) They're awesome prints! Quote: Originally Posted by Manda123 If anyone is looking for bags still, BTR has some good ones on sale, ranging in price from 2.99-8.99. The make is "envirosax". Here are some of the bags. There are at least 50 different designs for sale

Oh, and one other thing I found out...apparently magnets do not stick to stainless steel refrigerators...who knew?!?

Finally getting around to posting a few Vistaprint items, and thought I would share a lesson learnt... I loved the idea of these calendar magnets...I'm always in the kitchen trying to figure out what the date is or how many days there are in the month, etc. I ordered a bunch of free ones thinking I would put them in our Christmas cards... Instead, the majority of them went out with the "thank you" cards for my bridal shower attendees last week. I ordered a couple of styles...personalized note cards: And folded cards: If you can believe it, the extra weight in the envelope for a magnet + the folded card (essentially the back half of the card) required double the postage ($1.18 versus .59) here in Canada! Ughhh...had I known that, I would have save the folded cards for those thank-you notes being hand-delivered...or, would have just picked out the notecards...I preferred writing notes that way anyway!!!

TLS, I think if you include a list of games that can be played with a deck of cards, the kids (and the adults) can play together and hang out...my 12 year old nephew and 10 year old niece love playing card games. Card Games for Kids.doc

Yes...a big "THANKS" to you, Steph, for the idea!

Ahhhh yes, the budget. Here's what I can tell you: my FI and I are very lucky that my parents and his mother will be paying for the actual wedding and AHR costs, which has freed us up to do a few more of these "nice little touches" for our guests. our DW will be on the smaller side...final payments are due in 8 days...but it looks like we'll have around 30 friends and family with us. starting early is KEY...especially being able to shop for things at the end of the summer season when warm weather/beach-y items go on clearance. get to know if/where your local stores and supermarkets have clearance items...ASK! I have purchased many items off of the clearance rack from the Shoppers Drug Mart down the street and last week I got a really good deal on Nivea and Softlips lip balms ($1), Dryell stain removal pens ($2.49) and travel-size Downey Wrinkle Release ($1.49) all on clearance at Safeway. It's hit and miss though...I went to every other Safeway in the city in vain...no one else had more of these items for me : ( couponing takes time and energy...start looking closely for pads of coupons hanging off the shelves in stores...rip some off (if it's for an item you'll ACTUALLY use) and start watching flyers and looking at couponing websites (for your area of the country) every week. They will make reference to these coupons, where these items are on sale that week, and what your total cost would be. Read your local flyers! My Aveeno lip balms were all free thanks to a great offer at London Drugs a while back...the boxes of Advil Nighttime were all free (on sale at Shoppers Drug Mart for $3.99 and I had $4-off coupons for all of them)...the Aveeno hand lotions were all free thanks to the local Roots store (they were a promotional item sitting on the counter by the register in the summer, with a sign saying "help yourself"...when I asked her about them and told her about our DW, she gave me a whole box for free!). The Puffs Tissues were mere pennies a pack because I used coupons for them. The larger clear bottles of hand sanitizer were .20 each at Staples (a month or two ago?) when they had their 20th anniversary sale. The Kleenex wet wipes were on sale in the summer for $1 a package at Superstore/Extra Foods. I "liked" (on Facebook) "websaver.ca"...and get up-to-the-minute notifications related to coupons and free sample offers in Canada. We've received oodles of sample/travel size containers/packages of Pantene, Gillette, Kotex, Gain...you name it! But samples are limited, so you must sign in quickly and stay on top of the offers as soon as they pop up. as for an actual breakdown, well...other than cosmetic bags for the ladies ($3 - $4 on sale at the end of the summer) and the travel-size cans of dry shampoo (3/$9.99), every item on that table was $2 or less, including the lip glosses (3 for $5) and hand sanitizers (.50) and their hangers (.05) and travel candles ($1) from Bath and Body Works (all purchased in the States over the July 4th holiday...another great time to pick up items on sale for your DW!) I spent MANY lunch hours at Dollarama looking for items for the bags (my burlap bags, tissue, the Advil and Tylenol tubes, shower sponges, Blistex and Chapstick, lens-cleaning cloths, Sudoku books, playing cards + all came from Dollarama). The wet bathing suit bags came from La Vie en Rose for $1. I placed one order to www.minimus.biz for the eco bamboo mini foot files (which is my favourite item in each bag...it's the one thing I was dying for on our last trip to Mexico because my heels got so dry!)...they were $1.33, the eco nail files were .99, the Ms. Manicure pink bag with nail file and clipper was $1.99. The remaining items were purchased from the travel toiletry sections of Wal-Mart, Shoppers Drug Mart, Target, etc. I like to shop...I took my time...I watched for sales and deals...I didn't get hung up on number of items (if I could only get a handful of something, I still took them if it was a good deal) because we kinda customized the bags for each guest. As for the clear plastic bags for the survival kits, I found them at a crafting wholesaler in Regina called "Gales Wholesale"...they're a heavier-grade plastic than a typical Ziploc I think. I realize that doesn't help most of you, but if you're not happy with the size of a typical Ziploc, try looking at your local food/restaurant/craft wholesalers for other options. I think 100 cost me around $6. So folks, that's about all I can tell you...these bags were my labour of love...sorry, I don't have a cost per bag breakdown...each bag was somewhat different anyway. I hope our guests enjoy/appreciate/use them!!!

Ummmmm...no. Here's my dilemma...I'm torn between wearing my heels around the house (they don't really need to be broken in, but I should probably practice prancing around in them!) and NOT wearing them so that I get the nicest pictures of them. So I'm already planning for my heels to have their own photo shoot...you're not crazy!

I asked the girl who did the engraving...she said they hang all of their tags on display using this super sticky double sided tape and was confident it would stay on the book. She put two strips on the back for me. So far so good...I'd rather try that first than a really messy sticky contact cement or something like that that might bleed thru/stain the fabric.

Michaels in the late Spring/early Summer.

Well, apparently we didn't take a pic of the area so I googled it and this was the best I could find. This is a pic looking out from the snack bar on the beach...I wonder if they will have your bar set up in here? It's only open during the day for guests, but I'm sure they would use for a food prep area for evening functions. The area out on the sand where all the chairs are set up was where we saw that evening function taking place...you'll definitely see the stars and hear the waves crashing!

Oh, it's really nice! If I remember correctly they had lights strung up and a DJ. If it's the area I'm thinking of, it was right on the beach...I'll see if I can find a picture of the general vicinity during the day from when we were there.

Here it is, my album purchased from the etsy seller below. They have lots of options for fabrics, ribbon, etc. and were really good to work with. Remember that the engraved plate was my own addition...pricey but I love it even more with it (see my previous comments concerning the label the comes with the book by the seller). This is the silver duponi silk with the fuschia/hot pink ribbon. So, now I have the camera, film, album, sharpies...and I'm ready to go! http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHandmadeBoutique?ref=pr_shop_more

Thanks Janette, I hadn't heard that. I guess it makes sense because the top priority for bookings in the a la cartes would be wedding receptions.

HELP...feeling frustrated that, with around 60 days left to go until we leave, my e-mails are still going unanswered...and now I really need confirmation of things like our request for the rehearsal supper venue being approved, etc. so we can put this in our paperwork to our guests. This is where I'm sending my e-mails: [email protected] should I be trying another e-mail address?

Ok, so the engraved label was a little pricier than I had anticipated ($10 plus $6 per line of text X 3 lines)...$30 when all was said and done! I shopped around, and I would encourage people to do that, not necessarily to save money, but because the last place I went to had exactly what I was looking for and was better quality than the other stores. It looks awesome! I'll post a picture as soon as I can...

I received my book yesterday and I LOVE it : ) One tip, I asked her NOT to affix the monogram card to the front of the book...some of the etsy feedback indicated that certain folks thought it looked "cheap". She did enclose the monogram in a separate envelope, and I'm so glad I didn't have her attach it because it does look cheap (and mine was creased). My plan today is to go to an engravables shop to order a little metal plate to attach to the outside bottom right of the book OR perhaps the inside cover (if it won't scratch up the pages) OR maybe a tag to attach to the bow (if it won't look like it should be hanging from a dog collar!).

The last time we were there, I also saw a reception taking place on the main beach (they used the snack bar for all the prep I think)...I know they hold lobster dinners/bbqs there too. As another bride mentioned, after the sun goes down the beach areas are deserted (other than couples like us who are out for a leisurely stroll)...what would be nice about that space is that it's easy for your guests to zip back to their rooms if/when they need to.