FranticBride2be

Hey, Our guests didn't know about the catamaran until the buses pulled up in front of them:) We had a website, and on it we asked people to RSVP to the event. We told them it could be anything (and there were pictures on the site of people skydiving, people swimming in cenotes, people on a huge boat up on its side going through the waves...) We said that if anybody was clausterphobic, agoraphobic, afraid of flying, not a good swimmer... then they could email us and we would happily give away information. We also told people to bring clothes people could go skydiving in (because the boat was windy) and swimming gear. The boat provided snorkeling gear and I brought tons of gravol. We only had 2 people ask what the event was, and both decided to come. We also had 4 people who decided not to come to the event, and 3 people who decided not to come on the day of. We almost booked two boats because we were going to be over, but the company said that usually on the day of, a couple people will bail. I'm really glad we listened to them because we had the perfect number of people on the boat with us. We asked people to meet in the Sunset lobby bar at 245, take off at 3. We should have asked people to meet at 230, because everybody was late so we got to the boats late. When we arrived at the boats, we did a really informal speech before we got on the boat, just saying this is our thank you (we didn't do giveaways). Anyways, Paradise Catamaran was such an amazing company to work with. We cut the cost by just providing beer for our guests. We did the event on the night before the wedding to keep everybody under control a bit more, but also because it gave everybody a chance to meet before the wedding. I think the timing was so great:) Good luck

Hey, The crystal room and gala menu was really good. For me, I would do the Chill out club and not spend money on the DJ, but it really depends on you. We bought a wireless bose sound system for about $300, and I really think that would have been good enough. The contact info for paradise catamarans is found on their website. Just look up paradise catamarans on google and it comes up. Our guests are still talking about it, we had so much fun:) The 'beach party' was really informal. We just sat on lawn chairs that were already down there, brought down tequila, rum and pop from our room, the bose sound system, and made our own party. It wasn't anything pre planned or organized, and the hotel didn't help us organize that at all. We had a really good time with it though. We did our pictures through Del Sol Photography. I really liked them (I haven't seen the pictures yet), but they were really nice. We had 2 photographers for 5 hours. I would totally recommend them. My first choice was actually Lincoln Photography, I really liked the stuff on his site, but he was already booked for that day:( The pictures take about 8 weeks to be delivered, so I"ll post them as soon as we get them:) Good luck!

Hey, Which room do you have rented? We rented the Crystal Room and it was perfect for our group of 55 people. The gala menu food was really good, so really no complaints, but its true that I would have done things differently. I really wish I had taken some pictures of the Chill out club. It looks exactly like the picture that CGYgirl posted, it also has two smaller decks that are attached. They light it up so nicely at night and its really just such a beautiful setting. I thought it would be too separated for our group, but in reality, the two outer decks are closely attached by wide/short walkways so the tables are no more separated then they would be in a big room. I don't think they have a DJ there, you'd have to pay extra for that service. We bought a portable bose sound system, and that would have been plenty large enough. My sister's bf also bought a $5 software that helps you mix songs on your ipad which connects to the bose, so it really eliminates the need for the DJ. I think the bose sound system, while small, would have been plenty loud enough for our group, even if we were outdoors. The reason I didn't do the chillout club was because I was worried about being bitten by sand fleas if we were right in the sand (I got attacked last time I had dinner on the beach in Mexico so I was worried that would happen again!). You're actually on a raised deck so that wasn't a concern. Also, indoors was really hot, a couple people tried opening the doors but Emma wouldn't let them. My dad actually ended up having to change into a plain tshirt because he was sweating so much! Outdoors is still really warm at night, but the wind seems to die down a lot, so you don't need to worry about ruining your hair/ sand getting in your food:) We didn't do an official beach party, we just had the MC announce that everybody was meeting on the beach by the main walkway right after the reception. He asked people to grab drinks (since the lobby bars are the only ones open) and we all headed down there. Quite a few small groups pile up on the beach at night, and the security guards are really cool about it (as long as you don't try to go swimming). It was really informal, but again we turned the bose sound system on, had a bunch of drinks, people gave informal speeches they didn't have time for before, and we had a great time. O my goodness, I have Franciesco or something at the spa, he was amazing. I had a really clean and simple updo because it was pretty windy during the ceremony and I didn't want my hair to get ruined. My hairdresser here told me it was a pretty hard hairdo, so I might want to have an alternative, but it was so great. The updo is def. the way to go. My sister and I both had our hair up, and it lasted the whole night and looked so great! Don't be worried about hair, it takes just over an hour, you don't need a trail, and it looked so great! We went with Paradise Cataman. It was about $2000 for 48 people. We kept the event secret from everybody and asked them to rsvp ahead of time. If they had any concerns (fear of flying, fear of small spaces, fear of boats, fear of... ) we asked people to let us know and we would give away the details. A few people asked and we told them what it was, but most people were really happy to be surprised. We bought a bunch of gravol in case anybody got seasick, and a couple people took us up on the offer. We told people to bring clothes they would go skydiving in, but also clothes they could go swimming in, towels...(I said skydiving clothes because it was pretty windy on the boat... and it tricked a couple people who guessed it was a boat). The company offers to make lunches/snacks or do a full bar, but we asked to cut down costs by providing only beer. There were no complaints and several people brought drinks from the resort with them anyways, so there was no shortage of drinks. We also asked them to take off at 330 (pick up from the resort at 3, so we had people meet us at 245, we should have said 230 though), and we got dropped off at about 8pm. Most people had a big lunch that day and planned on late dinners, so it wasn't a big deal that we didn't have food for the boat. I would strongly suggest this company. There are companies that offer slightly less expensive tours, but it was really such a great experience with this company. They went well above and beyond our expectations. I hope that helps Good luck with your planning:)

Hey, We just got back at 6am this morning from our Grand Sunset Princess Wedding! Everything turned our really well. There were obviously a couple glitches... but I think that happens at every wedding:) We started off our day in the pool, and at about 2, I headed back to my room to shower before going to the spa. I ended up getting locked out of our room (the key didn't work!), and wasn't able to get in until 2:50! So I skipped lunch, had a quick shower and made it up to the spa with my sister by 3. One of my bm's had their hair done at 2, and the other spent from 2-3 doing her hair in her room. I then had them do a couple errands for me while I was getting my hair done, and we all met back in my room at 4. I invited some of my other girlfriends to come get ready with us, and we split a bottle of champagne they left in our room:) We had one photographer meet in my room at 4, and one who tried to catch up with the boys (but got lost:( ). The guys were at the gazebo at 430 to help hand out programs and get everything ready, and the girls and I had a little shuttle come pick us up at 5 (since we were running late). Everything at the ceremony was perfect! Emma cued people walking in (we did a rehearsal the night before so we had a good idea of what we were doing), and the dj timed the music perfectly. I walked down the aisle to 'The Piano, by Michael Nyman', and it got everybody crying. After the ceremony, our bridal party helped get everybody up to the crystal room, and we did some pictures until Emma came to get us via shuttle. The reception was really great. We did a sit down meal, and the food was really good. The flowers on my centerpieces were wrong, but nobody noticed that except for me. Emma added in a couple extras as well. The party finished up at 10, so we invited everybody to come join us on the beach for a beach party. We brought down our sound system and drinks and partied there, all dressed up, until 3am! A couple people who didn't get to make speeches during the dinner even got to make speeches at the beach! Suggestions: -The DJ wasn't amazing, he really just sat there and didn't to do much. We had already created a great playlist, so one of the guys basically took over. -The chillout club (my dad bought us dinner there the next night), was amazing. If I had to do this again, I would have my reception there, and would not spend money on the DJ. I really wanted a sit down meal, so we had to use the gala menu, but they made a bunch of mistakes on the food anyways, and since people get unlimited a la cartes, I don't think my guests would have been sick of 'buffet' food by that point anyways. -Finally, Emma told me I would have a shuttle drive us from the spa to the room to get ready. This was really not true, and since the shuttles only run every 15 minutes, my sister and I ended up running the whole way back. I would have booked my hair earlier had I know this, as it caused me to be about 15 minutes late for the ceremony! Also, we did a catamaran tour the night before the wedding. It was really the highlight of the whole trip. We went from 3pm-8pm, and they only included beer, as we warned people to eat a big lunch. Most people had late dinner reservations for that night anyways, so it was perfect. It was such a great opportunity to have everybody be in one place for an activity before the wedding. It was also the first time C and I didn't feel like we were being pulled in a different directions as we were trying to host different events and make time for everybody. This was really the highlight, I would totally recommend this! E.

Hey Danielle! O my goodness! Wow four more sleeps, I can't believe this is coming up. I remember the night I got engaged, and I was thinking of what I would be feeling at this moment. So it seems really weird:) His shirt is great:) He's getting the other guys to just wear a long sleeve white shirt, but he has no idea what they look like together because he didn't think it mattered before, and now its to late because one of the guys lives on the island. So I'm hoping the whites are similar, and they don't look funny. I'll tell Emma to pass along my room phone number once I get there so we can try to meet up for a drink. Otherwise, I'll be listening for strangers yelling at me. I"ve totally done that, but by accident. I chased this guy down the street yelling 'Jaassssonnnn', and when he finally turned around, it wasn't him. Wow, embarrassing! Ok your ceremony seems like it was way more romantic then mine. We were honestly laughing so hard. I hope we don't laugh in the Mexico ceremony! Are you guys writing your own vows? We talked about it, but I"m not to sure if we will. It does feel strange to be legally married, I don't think it will seem real until Mexico:) We're taking a limo to the airport with my sister and Chris' sister and their significant others, and we're going to organize to have champagne and orange juice for the limo ride (9am). I figure that will be a good way to get started:) I'm using flowers for my cake, and I don't think I'm going to bring ribbon for the cake. Maybe I should get some plain white ribbon. I'm using fresh flowers for the side and top of the cake, so I won't have a cake topper. I'm also borrowing a cake cutter set from the hotel. I just got my programs in, and some other stationary (for table numbers, seating chart), but I haven't it yet. I'm going to pick that and my custom made broach up tomorrow from that store downtown. I'm going with my sister, and I think I'm going to get her some earrings (something to match mine) at the same time. I also still need to get a guest sign in, I have some ideas, but I really don't know what I want to do. C and I have been practicing a waltz (by Norah Jones) for our first dance, and I'm meeting up with my dad this weekend to practice with him. My toes are good. They still look a bit mangled, but I've been practicing in my big shoes, and I haven't had any problems. I have all my spa stuff coming up this weekend, and my sister has apparently made a slide show (that I haven't seen), of the staggette. I'm pretty excited about it. I honestly can't believe this is coming up. Remember how long our 'to do' lists were before? I added you to facebook so you're not yelling at total strangers:) E

Hey:) How was your 'real' wedding? We just had ours this afternoon. C was really cute, he went to a bakery and bought me some nice pasteries and a coffee before I woke up. And he also bought me a bouquet of roses! He's bought me flowers a bunch of times, but never roses, so that was really cute. We then met up with my mom and his mom and went to this lady's house. It was actually really funny, because she kept talking about her dog and her shoulder surgery, and then got super formal and had us recite vows in front of the fire place. It doesn't sound very funny but it really was. And she also wouldn't do the ceremony until we tipped her really well. So there were just a bunch of strange little things. Like my mom took a couple pictures during the 'ceremony', and the lady stopped and had to restart because she said the flash was hurting her eyes... like she honestly couldn't keep going. And her dog kept barking and playing with toys right there in front of us... so weird. Anyways, during the vows C. started laughing, and then my mom started going off, and C.'s mom was crying because it was emotional for her, so I was pinching myself to keep from laughing myself. C. got a shirt that I love! It has orange tiger lilies on the inside cuff and the inside of the collar. Its a super slim fit and looks awesome on him. This way he'll look different from the other guys too. I also spoke with Emma about getting him a slightly different boutinere so he'll stand out. We got all of our tickets in the mail:) I got two new bathing suits and some nice summer clothes and now I'm officially getting excited. Also, a friend reminded me that my actual wedding is 12 days away, which is super scary! Like I didn't believe her because I remember when the countdown on our website said it was over 365 days away, and now its down to 12! I hope everything's going well for you, I know you're leaving on the 21st! I hope you're getting all your final stuff organized (I still have a tonnnn to do!) If I don't talk to you before you leave, we'll be hanging out by the pool bars and beach quite a bit. We'll have a couple people with us (as will you), but feel free to come over and say hi! E.

Hey! C. came home with some shirts yesterday, none of them matched our colours though (the inside of the cuff is baby blue, and we're using teal and orange as our colours). I'm a bit worried they'll clash, but if he likes it, I don't really care. That's really cute that you're getting him a gift! I wonder if I should get him something. Hum... It sounds so nice to have a dinner when you arrive! We arrive at midnight so I think mostly people will be pretty tired. We've asked the bridal party to get together for a rehearsal/ dinner and drinks the night before, and then I think the guys and girls are going to split up and do a pub crawl:) Which bridal salon did you go to? I almost left the salon in tears, and then the girls downstairs told me to go back upstairs and try it on, and they'd have the head seamstress come fix everything. She did such a better job! I had to wait for an hour, but she actually took out the braw padding, and redid all the boning on the inside of the dress, so some major changes. It looked soo much better. I was really happy they stopped me, I was really ready to go home and put in a couple stitches on my own. C. actually organized a dance class for us tonight, we're going to do a waltz for our first dance. I can't dance in my huge platforms though so I think I'm going to safty pin up the bottom front part of the dress. I'm also doing a two-step ( my dad does country dancing and used to take me out with him dancing) with my dad, and I wouldn't survive that in heels, so I think safety pins is the only solution. I hope it doesn't look funny My wedding date is going to be Mexico. The signing of the papers here really doesn't mean to much to me. My mom is horrified by this, and I'm really starting to regret asking her! O well, she apparently wants to take us out for a nice lunch after, and if she wants to buy me flowers, so be it:) O my goodness, I was so sore after my run. Granted I usually run quite a bit and I hadn't run in like 3 weeks because of my toes, but that's a really bad sign! I'm planning on running almost every day this week, and maybe to go to the gym a few times. I do the same run all the time, and should not be feeling it, so its a sign that I've got to shape up and get out there more often:) Are you staying in the swim up area or platinum? We originally booked swim up but then our group ran out of swim up suits, so we agreed to upgrade to platinum to make sure everybody that wanted swim up got it. The only bad thing is that there were no ocean front/swim up platinum suits, so we just have the most basic one:( Hopefully they'll upgrade us once we get there. Wow, I can't believe this is actually happening:) Today I gotta to run some last minute errands:) E.

Hey! I'm good! I went bathing suit shopping with my mom and bought a couple items (summer dress, shorts, bathing suit!) I should be good by the wedding date. I went for a run and my toes felt fine, but I do have to start wearing my shoes so I break them in. Your weekend sounded really great too! I know its so sad that its over right! Do you have any other events planned? We're doing a bridal shower at a spa on April 21st. Thanks for the suggestion on RW& co. I told C. to head over there, and I know he went to a couple stores today and yesterday. I told him to buy everything he sees because he can always return them. O my goodness, it sounds like you have quite a bit to do! Its all the fun stuff though! What day do you leave on again? I still have to print out my programs (they've been ordered), come up with some games to put on the tables, finish name cards, pick up my broach (I had one custom made for the side of my dress), pick up my hair comb (I also had that custom made), finish putting together our ceremony music (I haven't picked out music to walk down the aisle to, or say our vows to). I picked up some library books,my rings and I picked up my dress yesterday. So there's still a couple small things to do:) Our flight isn't going to change at this point:( We have a stop over on the way there, and a red eye on the way back. My mom bought me some herbal tea though that apparently knocks you out, so I'm going to bring that down so I can get some good night sleeps at the hotel, and also on the flight back:) We're doing our legal ceremony on Monday! Wow our timing is so similar! For your witnesses, do you know if they're allowed to be family members? We each have our moms coming to witness the marriage. My mom's getting all emotional about it though, she wants me to have special flowers and a nice dress and everything. haha, for me, its just paper work, our 'real' wedding is in Mexico. Are you changing your name? I need to call the passport office and icbc to see what I need to do to change my name. I'm pretty excited too, I almost started packing the other day too. I decided to hold off, since I still have 2 weeks to go, but I am starting to get all my summer clothes out. E.

Its true, we don't have much time for photo's, but we only have the photographers for 5 hours. so this way we get them for getting ready, the ceremony, after the ceremony, and the reception. We'll probably be late for dinner, and I told them I'd love to have a picture of us on the beach in the water, so maybe we'll splash around a bit in the dark at the end of the reception. Our photographers told us that they'd even prefer later, so we can have sunset pictures, but if we're trying to catch sunset, I don't mind leaving the reception a bit, or showing up a bit late for that. This will also be nice because there won't be nearly as many people at the beach. E.

Hey, I ended up booking the DJ. I really wasn't sure what the hotel was able to offer as cheaper alternatives. The hotel said they didn't offer any alternative sound system we could rent, so if we wanted the sound system, we got the DJ too. I just bought a custom broach for the side of my dress, I have my programs (ordered, but I still have to print them), seating cards, seating chart (not fully put together, but the pieces are mostly there). So everything is getting organized nicely:) All I have to get is a guest sign in book. I found a great idea online, where people right notes on heart shaped pieces of paper, and they get folded in half and put in a picture frame. Its hard to describe, but its something I could have around my house as a piece of art, which is really nice. C still hasn't gotten shirts for the guys. I'm getting suspicious that he might actually think its a good idea to go shirtless. Anyways, I hope everybody else is doing well! Is there anybody who's getting married close to April 28th, 2012? Lets meet up when we get there:) E.

Hey, We booked our catamaran a couple of months ago with Paradise Catamarans. We found that this company had the best value. We looked a lot on Trip Advisor and there were a lot of really good reviews. We were also going to hire a parasailing boat, but we don't have to anymore because we are at the exact number of people allowed for the single catamaran boat. We had to pay extra for a bus to come pick our group up from the hotel. We asked Paradise Catamarans if we could cut costs by not providing a big meal ( we'll just have snacks instead), and by limiting people to 4 beers, and they were happy to do that. We figure that since we're going out in the late afternoon, people will have just eaten lunch, and we can always bring extra drinks from the hotel if we want to. E.

Hey VancityBride:) I feel like we've monopolized this site a little bit! I'd love to hear from the other brides that are getting married, especially those that are getting married at the same time. I remember there were a couple we were talking to, but everybody seems to have vanished! oups C came up with a good idea for name cards for the tables. We've gotten pictures of all of our guests, and we're putting a little stand up picture of each of them on their plates. There's a border that we've colour coded and have put their name on the back so the waiters will know who's eating what food, and also so people at the tables will know what everybody's names are. I think it's kind of funny, and if they remember where the picture was taken, it can be a conversation starter too. I'm going to get my programs from Fine Finds, as well as maybe bottle labels which we'll stick on bottles for our table numbers. They're white with orange coral on them, so I think it fits the theme well. You're right, I'm not going to worry about getting a bunch more gifts. I do want to get my sister something more, but I'll have to think about that. She's been really great, and her bf has been too. We've invited them to take the limo to the airport with us, but I want to do something more. They just bought a new house, so maybe I'll get them something for their place, that they move into the day we arrive. O my goodness, our flight times got changed. They're brutal. We leave Vancouver at 12 (noon), arrive at the hotel at almost 12 (midnight), with a stopover in Saskatoon!. Not so bad...but, we leave Cancun at 11pm on May 2nd, and arrive in Vancouver at 6am on May 3rd. Our vacation was supposed to end on May 2nd, so anybody who has to work on the 3rd could be really screwed! I also heard Sunwing is notoriously late, so we'll likely get in more at 8am, so people will have a really hard time getting to work that day. Like we have a teacher coming, who has until the 2nd off, and he lives in Sooke, so he's in trouble. My dad and great aunt ended up having to change to a Monday-Monday flight because the flight times were better and my great aunt (90 years old), can't be in a plane for 12 hours. I think the shirts for the FG and RB are great! You're right, they'll really like being given a bit of extra attention and this is a really cute way of doing that. I think that's a super idea. C. got a shirt, but hated it, so he's returned it and now the guys have no shirts. I"m not worrying about it. Maybe they'll walk down the aisle in sandals and pants, no shirt. Haha, that would be so funny. I'd be mad, but it's a real possibility at this point:) The guys have leather sandals from Kenneth Cole, dressy linen (beige) pants, and we're hoping for fitted white shirts. We're doing orange/teal for our colours, so my shoes are orange, and my earrings are teal. Orange is the main colour though. I wanted to be a bit different and everybody seems to do blue. Yah we found some really great latin instrumental only music for before the ceremony, then for the actual ceremony we might have the same??, for the processional, we have 'This is love' (Bob Marley), I do (Colbie Caillat), and a couple others. I'm just going to put them on a seperate ipod, in order, and then try to time it so it makes sense. I hadn't actually thought about a walk through. Its a really great idea though. Yah maybe the morning before we can ask our wedding party to meet at the ceremony location, go through a run through, and say we'll grab bk after. Or we could do it a couple evenings before, and make reservations for 10 at one of the restaurants, and do a informal dinner there after. Thanks, that's a really good idea. I think it would be so nice to have him walk in with his mom. I think you could have him go first or last, I think the tradition though is for him to walk in first. Are the bridesmaids walking in with the groomsmen, or on their own? Mine are walking in together, so him and his mom could either walk in first, or I think he wants to just be at the front and not do the walk down. I'll have to get together with one of the bridesmaids though and see how fast we would walk down the aisle though (and guess how long it is from pictures), cause I want to make sure one song will be a good length for them. I don't think its weird at all to use that song! If anything, its a huge compliment to her. I honestly see nothing wrong with that. My stagette... I broke two of my toes, and did significant other damage to my left foot. Hopefully I'll be able to walk down the aisle in my shoes, because right now, I'm far from putting weight on it, or putting my foot in shoes at all. Hum, other then that it was so great. We skied then did wine tasting with a couple cheese, olive and antipasto plates on Friday, Saturday we went snow-shoeing, then came back to the condo, my sister had everybody partner up and make a dinner dish using a secret ingredient (ginger), so my sister made candied ginger martini's, the other girls made food, and then I rated then and the 'losers' had to drink shots with me (my sister won, so everybody ended up doing shots), then a couple drinking games and getting ready, off to the bar, broke my toes. Then recovery/ceasars/bk on Sunday and drove home:) Yah it was a lot of fun, you're going to have such a great time. I was lucky, the girls didn't make me dress up silly, I wore a sexy red dress, and everybody else wore black sexy dresses, so that was really nice. I'm actually really sad mine is over, but I have my bridal shower in a couple weeks so that will be really fun too. Good luck at yours! Let me know how it goes:) E.

Hey Vancity Bride, Yah we have 37 days left:) Yikes I got the bridesmaids their shoes, and I just picked up some really nice leather sandals for the guys. I'm hoping I can use those as my gifts. What do you think? Should I get them something else or keep it simple? I definitely want to get my sister (MOH) something else, she's put a lot of work into the music and the staggette. We don't have flower girls or ring bearers, so it seems I've inadvertantly made things easier on myself then I anticipated:) It sounds really cute to have them in little custom shirts. It seriously sounds adorable! I think that's a really cute little gift, because it is really hard to get 10 year olds something they'll like. The boys on my end are also all over the place. I bought them their sandals, so I'm really making it way to easy on C. All they have to get now are their shirts, and I'm assuming C. will just tell them to wear a white shirt, which isn't okay with me, since he isn't going to see what it looks like all together until 10 minutes before, and then it will be too late if one of them thought white meant white with stripes or something! I know them, so I"m assuming something like that will happen. I'm not getting any responses either on the music! I'm really concerned about it. My sisters bf downloaded a dj software onto his ipad. Apparently it shows you the next 5 songs coming up on the list, and you can choose to take certain songs out, or put different ones in. It also mixes all the music. We have the music sorted by dinner/pre dinner (latin music), dance music for everybody, and dance music for people heading to the disco after. We also have about 10 songs reserved in a different folder for cake cutting, first dance, bouquet toss. Whenever its time to do those (we'll do all that stuff at the same time), we'll just put those songs next on the list to be played. I hope that works out. I'm really concerned about the sound system. Did you say you are using the sound system provided by the hotel? It seems like its nearly as expensive to use just the sound system as it is to use the sound system with the DJ. I'm concerened the Bose sound system won't be loud enough, but we decided that we'll play it in the room the day we arrive, and we'll decide once we get down there. If the DJ is already booked, we suck it up and use our BOSE, if the DJ is free and the BOSE isn't loud enough, then we'll book. I hope he's still available! I'm doing programs mostly because I don't want my guests to be lost or confused as they go from the ceremony location to the reception venue. There's also an hour gap between the two so I want to make sure the guests have some direction. I think the itinerary is enough, especially if you ask your parents or a friend to help lead any confused guests:) My schedule is: 230-415 hair and make up 415: pictures 5pm: ceremony starts 520: ceremony over 520-530: talk with guests Direct guests to riviera lobby bar, leave to take pictures 6: reception venue opens 6:20/30 arrive at reception venue. The night before the wedding we're taking everybody on a catamaran tour. I wanted to contain everybody a bit and make sure everybody saved their hangovers for the night after the wedding. Hopefully this will keep everybody a bit under control:) I'm not seeing him before the wedding, but he already accidentally saw a picture of me in the dress, and he saw my shoes, but still, I think its something else when he sees it all put together:). I'm not to sure about the ceremony song. I might ask my sister to put together some pretty latin music. I"m not a huge music lover, its really not going to be the most memorable part of the day for me, and I think latin music will tie in well with the theme:) I'm going to have a separate song for the bridal party, and a separate song for me. I'm going to see if we can blend them so there isn't a gap with no music in between. For walking in, I'm having the groom with the officiant at the front, then the bridesmaids and groomsmen will walk in together. I'll have our parents walk down the aisle first, before everybody else. Then I'll have my dad walk me down the aisle. No problem on the long message! I'm pretty stressed about stuff at this point too, I'm really not getting any of my stationary done, so I'm a little freaked out! E.

Hey VancityBride:) I actually hadn't thought about it like that! Only six weeks makes it really scary. I have the count down on my website, but I hadn't really thought about it. The boys on my end don't have their shirts or sandals, but like you, the girls have been done for a while! I have my final fitting at the end of March, I assume we just carry our dress as carry-on? For gifts, I bought their shoes, but I found this really great store in Yaletown called 'FineFinds', and I think I'm going to get them each a different necklace or set of earrings from there. They have some really great local designers that sell their things through the store. I actually found my earrings there, and I'm getting a local artist to customize a beaded side brooch for my dress. They also sell all the flipflops/tshirts/guest books, and loads more. I actually went through their website and saw that they make programs and things and so I've changed ideas, decided not to do as much diy, and have them make those for me. I also totally changed my mind on the place cards for the tables, and will either get those done at the store, or the manager is now helping me come up with some great simple ideas (mine were looking... messy). Aw its too bad you're the weekend after, I thought you were the weekend of:) My sister's organizing the whole thing, I think we have 10 girls coming up and we got a condo right in the village. I've been asked to pick out a bright red sexy dress for going out on Saturday, so I know something's up. We're also going up early on Friday to ski:) I'm happy that my sister isn't into embarrassing me, so I know it will be fun. O I did get my wedding shoes! They're super sassy:) They're bright tangerine cork wedges from Michael Kors. I had to try them on next to C. to make sure I wasn't taller then him:) They're super cute, and I'll be able to wear them again. I've got to go out for lunch or shopping with a friend though and wear them around to break them in a bit. I know exactly what I want to do for my hair. I tried copying the image into here but I can't. Its a really simple, sleek updo with a hair comb (I have swarovski crystal, starfish hair comb) on the side. I wanted my hair to be up so it makes me look taller, and also because then it will last to the end of the evening. I thought that if it was windy, and if I was running around, by the end of the night, my hair might look a bit flat. It can be pretty humid there too, so that's something to think about. I'm not doing anything special for the ceremony, we don't really have any traditions. We did buy our rings though, which was a lot of fun!! What are you doing for your programs? Do you know what your schedule looks like for the day? I've created a rough timeline, but I'm not to sure if I'm missing anything. Also, what did you end up doing for music? We're going to try to wait till we get down there to check our sound system. If its loud enough in the crystal room, we'll stick with that, if its a bit flat, we'll go with the DJ. Waiting to the last minute though is pretty scary! E. PS. Yeah for BM &GM, I'll pick up stuff at FineFinds (I pick up my earrings/brooch next week). I want to get my MoH something really special though. She's organized the whole stagette and a bridal shower. Not to sure what to get for her, and her bf who's actually doing the music (he's going to be our impromtu dj... )

Daniela, Yes, that's what we're doing. We're paying a per plate charge, plus $200 for the room for 4 hours. Im also paying for our wedding package. I don't have pictures of all of the rooms, I'd email the coordinator about that. For centerpieces, they sent me two different pdf's with different centerpieces. I think it would be best to email about that. I originally didn't get the second pdf, so I showed her a picture of what I was looking for, and she sent me a second pdf, so there are generally more options then they first present to you:) Good luck with your planning E.

Hey! On another note, I just realized my stagette is a full week earlier then I thought it was! I'm going to to Whistler Mar 23! I can't believe its march already, time really flies!

Daniela, We're getting married end of April. We're using the Gala menu and a private room. We're also using the round gazebo. It sounds like we're having pretty similar weddings! How many people do you have coming? For the Gala menu, we were able to present our guests with a couple of options. We allowed them to chose 1 of 3 selected menus (one meat, one fish and one vegetarian). We also have a kids menu (hotdog or hamb.). Each of these menus is a different price, so it just depends on how many of them you book. The gala menu also includes beer/wine and soda, so we're not providing an open bar on top of that. For the room, there are at least three options that I've heard of. There's the Jalisco room which is really big, and then two smaller rooms. We chose the crystal room. It has floor to ceiling windows and is good for the number of guests we have (about 60). The room rental for the evening cost us $200. The tables and chairs and basics are included, so we just ended up getting flowers/centrepieces from the resort. I was planning on bringing in an outside florist, but Emma helped me change a lot of the flowers that they provide (ie from roses to tiger lilies), so it ended up being cheaper to just go with the resort. I'm not sure if there's a fee to bring in a florist, but I would assume there is. We are getting the most basic package, because we have enough rooms in platinum booked, and then we are just paying for extras here and there. We found it was really difficult to get information from the WC, but as we got closer to the date, she was really attentive. She even called a couple times to make sure everything was working out. I hope that helps! E.

Hey Everybody, I know VancityBride had some questions about the DJ. I was also curious about the DJ services offered by the hotel. Did they organize everything? Did you give them a playlist? Did they play a entrance song, a first dance song, last dance song? I really want to know if the DJ added a lot to the reception, if it was worth hiring the DJ. Thanks! E

Hey Everybody I think we have everything organized! I'm just trying to finish off the last few details. All our guests have fully paid, and we actually had a couple last minute additions to our group. I'm half way through making name cards for the tables, half way through table numbers, and have an idea of what I'm doing for programs. Those are the only crafty things I'm bringing down to mexico. I just bought my shoes for the wedding, I bought the bridesmaids shoes (they're all different but the same concept), the bridesmaids dresses, and the boys all have their pants. I also have a really cute hair clip and I know what I want my hair to look like. I'm going in for my dress fitting tomorrow (yikes), and then I'm all finished up:) Hows everybody else's planning going? Are you bringing anything down with you (programs, name cards, to go bags...) E.

Hey, Thanks for sending the note! I got all my details confirmed and am now just waiting for my contract. Did you get flowers done through the resort? Does the resort photographer offer a 'trash the dress', if so, how much was it? Did you get hair and make up done at the resort? What were your reception details? Thanks so much! E.

Hey, My wedding is at the end of April. We don't have a contract so far, and Emma has recently tried changing some major things, and is now not responsive to emails... hum... E.

Hey VancityBride! I'm not changing anything, it seems like everything is being changed on me:( She gave us 2 meat options, and 2 vegetarian options to have our guests to choose from. She also gave us the option of hamburger or hotdog for children. We asked our guests to submit their menu requests using our website,and I submitted those numbers to Emma. She emailed back 2 weeks later saying we couldn't give our guests those options... which left me feeling really confused. So I've sent as polite an email possible back to her saying that she helped me organize this, so she's going to have to help make this work...We'll see how that goes. She sent me a blank email yesterday... maybe it was supposed to have some really important information on it, I'll email her next week if I haven't gotten anything else by then... I've also made a bunch of requests to modify the flower arrangements. She said that was fine, but quoted me the other day totally different prices. So again I've had to go back to her with the original emails she sent... That's really too bad about the BM! That must be soo disappointing! Sorry to hear that. It sounds like you're having some other bad luck too. Did you get much done while you were sick? I"m not helping the boys get their cloths at all. C. knows what my expections are. Maybe he'll just say he didn't get them until the very last minute even though its already organized. It sounds like the kind of thing he would do! I'm not going to worry about that at all. I ordered chair sashes, and I got a clip for my hair.. I also started tanning. So I really haven't gotten much done for my to do's. I was actually thinking, for table numbers, since we're not doing open bar since the Gala menu comes with beer/wine, I might get some really nice tequila bottles at the store in Mexico, take off the label, and put a new label (using a nice template from Avery Labels) to put on each bottle with the number, and something along the lines of 'drink me'. So that way we'll be providing tequila for our guests, and its a fun and pretty way to label the tables. So I'll have to do a sample of that (and of course sample the tequila:)), otherwise I'm doing these little candle lanterns with the numbers of each table cut out. My programs didn't turn out, so I"m still working on crafts, but I've been stalling, it seems to early to be starting on crafts. I haven't gotten jewellery, shoes, spanx, or any of my other to do's done. I"m a procrastinator:) I hope things start looking up for you! (car, getting the guys ready...) E.

Hey, I was also thinking about all the violence going on in Mexico. I came across this article today in the Globe and mail "http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/violence-rising-in-mexico-but-much-of-it-localized/article2314882/". This is an editorial, but it has some interesting statistics. Also, with regards to the women beaten up last week in her resort, I read today they have a Canadian suspect in custody, they saw him on camera kicking somebody laying down on the floor where she was found. For what I'm telling my guests, similar to what the article says, that most of the violence is concentrated in a small area of Mexico (along the west coast and the boarder). The Mayan Riviera is very secluded, and the big resorts all have really good security. Being on the Mayan Riviera is really very different from being in other parts of Mexico. I was wondering how you organized to have a signature cocktail organized? Do you pay for this by drink, or is this included in your open bar? How did you come up with the flavor of your drink? I would love to have a drink to present to our guests, I think that's a really fun idea! Are you having the hotel provide decorations for you? What are you bringing down with you? It seems like you got that all organized pretty fast! Just yesterday, Emma emailed me and told me that the menu options we provided to our guests (that she approved), are no longer available. We had our guests each chose their own menu option, and now we have to go back and get them to choose again. She's also been sending me a bunch of blank emails. I"m a little bit frustrated because it still takes so long to do things. I think it would be easier just to book cake/flowers/decorations with outside vendors, because that way you have more choice and can organize faster, but its cheaper to do it this way I guess. E.

Hey! Well we sent out a note to all our guests asking for their menu choices. I'm glad I sent it out when I did, because it turns out 10 people dropped out. It was pretty unfortunate, but I'm happy to get my actual set numbers. I emailed Emma last week asking a bunch of questions, and she hasn't gotten back to me. I expect that, but its always frustrating:) I've asked to make a ton of changes to bouquets and things, so maybe its taking time to get in touch with the florist! E.

Hey, Yes they do. I had such a funny time with trying to figure out the centrepieces. I asked what the options were, I was told option a, option b, or option c. I thought they were all pretty bad, so I asked if there was anything else they could offer, and they said no. So I sent the WC a picture of something I had found online, and asked if that option was available, and yes low and behold, it was. It turns out that with a little insistence, almost anything is possible. The centrepieces I ended up getting aren't similar to the one I emailed her asking about (that option would have been wayyy out of my price range), but there were more options then what they originally said. Because I chose the crystal room (which is really white and simple), I had to go with something pretty big for the centrepieces. Its tigerlilies (white and orange, small changes were possible, the white flowers were originally pink roses, but that doesn't go with my orange theme at all) on the bottom, and then stems and greenery and bird of paradise at the top. I didn't describe that very well, but it actually looks really nice. Its not what I would normally go for, but I think it will add the right amount of colour to the room. I also went out the other day and bought orange satin chair sashes, am in the middle of making name cards for the tables, bought a couple hundred tiny starfish to put on the tables, name cards, in bouquets... , and then for programs, I just bought orange paper fans. I have a stamp that I"m using to put the program information right inside the folding fan, so that once the fan is open, they'll see all the information right on it. I"m also going to try to dedicate them to specific people so it will say their table numbers too. I"ll have to ask Emma if they can help me move the chair sashes from the ceremony gazebo to the crystal room. I only have like 45 minutes max between the end of our ceremony and the beginning of the reception, so I"ll need all the help I can get getting the room decorated! Yikes