AllieH

you will just need your passports: http://www.stateofflorida.com/Portal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=30 there's a 3 day wait from when they issue the license, until when you can get married. so plan to apply for the license in advance at the county clerk's office where you plan to be married. You will walk out with your license. Whomever marries you will sign along with you & your new spouse, and any witnesses as required. marriage certificate & license then need to be filed with the county clerk's office. ask how best to do that when you get your license. usually you can bring it back and file it personally, or do it via mail. if you go the mail route, I'd do it via mail with tracking available. Hope that helps!

hang in there!!!! when do you leave? and yes - boys suck when it comes to wardrobes. Mine often says "it'll take me 5 minutes to pack". I want to beat him with a stick every time I hear it.

you will want pretty big floating candles, and you'll want to anchor them to the bottom of the pool. otherwise they'll float to the other end of the pool and not stay near the palapa so she's right, you'll want larger ones - and that may be more to carry than you had planned. how much are you wanting to light? Tucanes is pretty big, and would require a LOT of lights. it's fairly well lit inside. most brides choose to do paper lanterns around the ends, maybe some tiki torches and floating candles - and that's all you need.

hi ladies - welcome to BDW!!

@@girlinthecity97 - there you go, a good back up plan! we did favors, but our OOT bags were not elaborate, and we didn't spring for an excursion for everyone. so I felt favors were needed. I think if you've done generous OOT bags, and you have the little frames, just be clear that those are the favors for your guests and don't worry about anything else. our favors were fairly simple too - small ornaments with our wedding date on them that looked like sand dollars. they could double as a diffuser for scented oil too.

congratulations Elaine! your husband's face when you're kissing the donkey is hilarious. and you were a beautiful bride!!

did you ask them to correct it for you?? they will start a spreadsheet of your planning, and you'll get a chance to review it as you get closer to the wedding. minor issue (but just enough to be an annoyance, for sure!)

@@girlinthecity97 - you are most welcome. I just kept reminding myself that this is so much easier than planning a wedding at home. DW's aren't without their own stress, pain points and weirdness for sure. DJ All Music did a great job for us - we danced the entire time (and I'm not a dancer - only at weddings...). It helped that they played music we all loved. And didnt play the stuff we said absolutely NOT to play. I think they will still give you a dope mix. and if they happen to play something you aren't fond of, tell them to change it!

the candles & lanterns are in the "Miscellaneous" section of the Lomas Weddings Planning & Ideas website. Candles & Lanterns I'm not seeing just the vases listed anymore, so you'll need to ask Lomas about them. For my wedding (forever ago..sigh) we rented the tall cylinder vases for $30 each. Not really cheap..but way better than $100 per centerpiece for something more elaborate. They have them - they show them in the flower section, under centerpieces. they are shown here with the candles and more deco items, like BC18 and BC27. So I'd just ask about renting the vases.

ok I'm frustrated for you! we used DJ All Music and were very happy with them. the price difference between DJ All Music & Mega DJ is that All Music has an MC announce everything. I liked that - took the pressure off of us/one of our guests to keep things moving. they had a good planning sheet that we completed and sent to Lomas prior to the wedding. they will use their own laptop to run the music, and have you fill out a requested song list. my suggestion is fill it up with so much stuff that they don't have room to go off on their own. they also asked us what we wanted that wasn't on their list, and tried to accommodate that. You could also bring the music you want that they don't have on a USB, so they can pull it into their laptop. if you want candles, you'll need hurricane glass vases to go around them and protect them from the wind. they will not stay lit on the pier....they'll blow out very quickly. I'd do the flickering LED candles honestly. set them inside an opaque little candle holder and only the very nosey will realize they are LED.

@@LoLoJabs - yes, I brought my own stuff too. the only thing we rented from Lomas was a glass vase for each table. I brought shells and votives to put inside them. they charged $150 for the entire set up, including hanging the paper lanterns. they say the max they will charge to set up your decorations is $250. I did what Nicki did and my bouquet was fake. like her experience, no one realized they were fake, and now they are in a case on my mantle. they looked great in photos, and I got exactly what I want (hey - I'm a control freak!!). just another idea. @@girlinthecity97 - SERIOUSLY?? good grief. way to go Mexico. (repeat after me - it will be ok. it will be ok. it will be ok. it will be ok...)

I'm so glad it's coming together for you ladies!!!

get a good travel agent! they can help you choose the perfect resort for you. If you're in the US, check out Wright Travel. they are fantastic - they know the resorts, the wedding details, the areas and will help you get all of those guests booked.

Hi @@kfracassi - I'd do a fairly large lantern, and bring a weight to keep them from moving around the pool too much. otherwise they might end up at the other end and defeat the purpose of lighting the pool by the Tucanes palapa. @@jcook123 - yeah, they are changing from central to eastern time zone on February 1st. @@travelgal78 - it looks like the sun will set around 7pm in March. 5pm might be a better start. I'd ask again after Feb 1st - give them a little time to see what time it actually sets, etc. then keep pushing your WC for the time you want. http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/mexico/cancun?month=3&year=2015

Have you checked out Bicoastal Images? I like their work a lot! Choosing a wedding photographer is pretty subjective. You have to look at their portfolios, and choose based on the style/work you like. We have quite a few RM photo on the board too. In addition to Bicoastal (Jen), there's Mexican Wedding Videos (Mike), Ivan Luckie, Moments that Matter ), Del Sol and I'm sure I've forgotten a few - there are quite a few here along with excellent examples of their work.

ok, so I did some google searching for the images. here's what I'm seeing for the pool deck: the area off to the right behind the pool chairs. I don't know that I'd call that semi-private. however, I do know that they close the pools fairly early, so the only traffic will be people walking along the beach for the most part (Generations didn't look to have a lot of restaurants right on the beach). I think either the beach or the pool will be about the same from a convenience perspective coming from EDR. are you going to want photos with your family? formals, etc? what about all of your guests? I ask because I knew we wanted a group photo with everyone. So we did that immediately after the ceremony (we had the minister ask everyone to stay close by for the photo right before he pronounced us and introduced us during the ceremony). then we let people peel off to go to the cocktail. so friends and family stayed - we did friends formals. then they left. then we did families, then we did couples pics of just us down on the beach. consider if you will want a few minutes alone with your new husband right after the ceremony, or if you want to be surrounded by family & friends. that will help with your logistics too. the photos were more important to me than the immediate time together (we were there to celebrate with our friends and family, and would have our alone time later). we did an hour for photos. I do wish we had taken more time to go around the resort and take more photos, vs. just the beach (but it was getting dark, so we were a little rushed). for instance there's a really cool buddha statue on the EDR property (that I have yet to find - but friends of mine did!!). or the gardens, or the old car that was often parked out front. cocktail hour: 1 vs 2 hours - decide based on what you want/need for photos. if you do the hour - your big drinkers will go somewhere else to get booze or they can get it once it opens for the reception/dinner. I wouldn't worry too much about that. sky deck.. I *think* there are two spaces. from what I'm seeing on their pinterest board, there's the ceremony area with the darker wood area, and then the one with the diagonal darker wood areas. http://www.pinterest.com/ojosaz/generations-riviera-maya/ but don't quote me on that! hopefully one of our BDW members who's been there can help out.

that's why we're here!! let us know how we can help.

yep, wedding dress alterations are pricey! I think mine were $400ish or more too. Hem, bustle, cups, and taking in the top. most brides (myself included) don't factor in the alterations when budgeting for the dress. if the budget is $2,000, find a dress that costs $1500 or less, and plan on the rest going for alterations.

@@HeyItsJackie - welcome to BDW!! TAs are compensated by the resorts. They are super helpful when it comes to planning your guests travel and taking that stress off your plate. They can help you narrow down the resorts based on what you are looking for - cost, location, amenities, family vs. adults only, etc. I'd suggest going with a TA who has extensive experience with Destination Weddings - not just a random TA. They are familiar with the wedding planning and events themselves, not just the resorts/airfare aspect. Plus they usually have relationships with the resort groups for extra perks like free events or resort credits for the group.

hi @@LoLoJabs - welcome to BDW! that budget is totally doable. most brides have gone with the a la carte pricing, bringing many of their own decorations. The bringing your own is really where the savings is - depending on how much you have to bring or want to bring with you. If you choose a really elaborate decor, and piece it together from Lomas the costs will add up ($5 per chair cover, $5 per table cloth, etc.) the Memorable moments packages are just the decor - you still have to pay for the cocktail or dinner to have a private reception on top of that. as Murmel said, you can pick and choose pieces of the Memorable moments - flowers or centerpieces or ceremony decor or chair covers or all of it. I also agree with @@jcook123 - more is less quite honestly. the settings are beautiful, and you don't need a ton of additional decor (unless that's what you envisioned!). don't feel pressured to do a chandelier and flowers out the wazoo if that really isn't what you want. Have you visited the Lomas Wedding planning site? It has all the prices for the pieces, as well as more details on Memorable Moments.

@@ChiTiff - ok, I'm a bad example here - I totally whiffed on tipping for the wedding. It didn't occur to me, and I didn't plan - we didn't have cash on us after the reception. FAIL!!!! We *should* have tipped the WC and the wait staff at minimum. If you go with the more traditional tipping, the DJ and officiant should have been tipped too (although our officiant was gone immediately after the ceremony - we didn't have the opportunity to tip, even if we planned on it).

yay it's wedding week! have an amazing time!

@@beckys98 - it wasn't super easy to be honest, but totally doable. they had it packed down somewhat, and then I had a wooden aisle runner for most of the way. that was a good decision!

I did wedges, but went with a turquoise vs. ivory/white. I would guess we'll see some white/ivory wedges in the next couple of months as the summer sandals come out. Toms has great wedges too - have you looked at those? here's what I went with:

Kim - I am so sorry to hear this. I agree that you have to make the right choices for you and the kids. It doesn't matter what others think or say. And it's better to come to that realization now. Sending some hugs your way. It sounds like a great celebration is still in the works with your nearest and dearest.