AllieH

There's such a huge variety of dresses out there, you may be surprised! I'm a size 22/24, and put my budget at $1,500. I was shocked and amazed at the number of dresses I was able to try, and a variety of designers. From Justin Alexander, Maggie Sottero, Wtoo, Kathy Ireland, and several private label dresses too. I knew I wanted a corset back not a zipper, and that helped with structure tremendously. Good luck in your search!!! It really is a lot of fun - and that's coming from a girl who hates clothes shopping.

this is really pretty!!

yes, you are a proud member of this club girl!!

no, no! it's not just you. I've packed the one bag and sent it home with mom - that's most of the decorations. we are planning to have 4 checked bags. 1 each for clothes, 1 for all of our welcome bag stuff, and 1 for my (fake) flowers and any other decorations that I didn't send with mom. I'm also sending 1 checked bag with a friend that will have our favors in it. then I'll carry on my dress and a backpack, and my fiancé will have a carry on bag. WHEW! So it's still less expensive to pay for mom's checked bag (both home from Dallas this weekend, and then to Mexico in a few weeks). We're flying 1st class so we get up to three checked bags each (but no way do I want to take that much ourselves!!), and my friend has priority status so there's no charge to pay for her bag either. So a total of $75 for the 1 bag my mom is bringing. We'll take that empty suitcase back home with us, with another suitcase tucked inside... for the record, no, we aren't packed YET.

I'm at the point where I can't even look at the countdown on our wedding website without getting a drop in the pit of my stomach. holy cow!! where is the time going??! We leave in 26 days..wedding in 30. ACK!

oh yeah, I was right there with you girls. Watching them drop $3k and $5k, and then those nutty $20k+++ brides. Uhm, yeah. No need to spend that kind of coin. You can get a beautiful dress at pretty much ANY price point, you just have to shop around and watch for sales too. The new designs are coming out so some salons are discounting their samples - you can usually get a great dress at a sample sale for a steal. Don't feel discouraged or panic - be up front about your budget when you go shopping and just have fun with it!!

I can't imagine that there would be - we aren't carrying them on, just checking them through. We just wanted to make sure we didn't have a ton of assembly once we arrived. just throw 3 big pieces into the bags, vs. all the small items. I'll let you guys know if I run into anything weird in Mexico with the stash.

thank you all!!

we figured out that the 38 mugs we have will fit into a 26" suitcase that we can check. I can fit all of the rest of the welcome bag stuff in the same suitcase too. we decided to stuff the mini-kleenex packs, gum and antibacterial gel inside the cups for easier transport. WIN!

this is BEAUTIFUL too!!!! wowza, you girls are stunning!

oh Brit - this is GORGEOUS. Definitely the right choice!!!!!!!!!!

this is the "fun" part! enjoy it. we leave 4 weeks from today. I can't even look at the count down clock because it gives me heart palpitations lol

You ladies are the absolute sweetest!!! I'm so lucky to have you rooting for me. THANK YOU! So here's the pic from Friday, all jacked up with my accessories: they are making the train a little longer (because that was what I wasn't happy about), and adding the gel cups to the bust to round it out a bit more.

well I met with her this evening, and we talked through it. she's going to make changes to it, at no cost to me. She had no idea I was as distressed as I was... I will go back on the 13th to try it again, and hopefully for the last time. It was actually good that I put it back on, because we realized they didn't put in the gel cups they were supposed to (and I paid for). I wondered if all the weight I lost was in my boobs!!! phew... My mom took all of my chair sashes, table runners, table decorations and paper lanterns back with her, so she can bring them to Mexico for us. So that's officially 1 suitcase packed!

ok ladies, I leave 4 weeks from tomorrow. Right now I'm dealing with a dress crisis, as the shop shortened my train without my knowledge much less consent. I'm furious about it. I'm meeting with the shop owner tonight to discuss further. The reality is it looks fine the way it is, but the point is my train is much shorter, and is no longer a chapel length train - I bought a dress with a chapel train. So we'll see what happens. Not at all looking forward to the confrontation. I sent nearly all of my decorations (sashes, paper lanterns, table runners, shells, basket) home with my mom, so that's 1 suitcase of "stuff" packed. Hope everyone is doing well!

Hi Shannon, Here's a link with most of the options that EDR has available for ceremonies and receptions: http://www.weddingsbylomastravel.com/planning/ the donkey is under the entertainment I think - you can do a cocktail hour with the donkey. as for replying to threads - just go to the thread and hit "reply", you'll find a ton of info specifically on EDR on the specific resort thread: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/7513/el-dorado-royale-edr-brides-post-here happy planning!!

It's from Keren at mudcards (I linked it for you!). she's absolutely amazing.

fortunately it still has a train, just not as long as it should be. it was a chapel train, but not it's maybe half that - it's a dramatic difference. and to be honest, yes, a chapel train IS long for the beach. but that was my dress, the way it was and I was happy with it. the train was 3 ruffled layers below a layer of lace, to get the chapel length. it's now 2 ruffled layers. the fact that it's changed so dramatically really has me upset. She tried to tell me that they did not cut off a layer, only raised up the dress as the hem due to the layers - total lie. I have a picture from the day I bought the dress and then what it is now. She then tried to tell me that she did a "standard hem" for my type of dress, and anything different would have cost more. Never, in 2 fittings did she mention that the hem would cause the train to be shorter. She pinned the hem, pinned the bustle, but never pinned the train. Her next argument was to tell me she couldn't explain all of the changes that would happen with the dress in alterations - total BS! that's your JOB. from our conversation it sounded like she could fix it, but she wanted more $$ for it. And that would be the absolute LAST thing I would do - pay her more to hope it'd be fixed?? nope. anyway, I am going in beyond furious with the whole situation. she has a chance to fix it - ideally to repair it at no charge to me. or she can refund me the cost of the hem. Unfortunately I didn't buy the dress from her shop, so I don't think I have recourse to force her to buy me another dress and make me whole again. Not to mention we're only 4 weeks from my wedding... I will live with the shorter train if I have to, but not without some money coming back to me. And I will never be happy about it. sorry for the rant, clearly it's still a very sore subject and I'm super emotional about it. Imagine that...

Thanks! I can't wait for our guests to get them. The dress saga will play out a little longer - I had to go to the shop in order to force them to get the owner on the phone. I will be meeting her at the shop on Tuesday evening (after shop hours, but that's the earliest I can get there during the week) to discuss it further with the dress - and the "before" pictures. I'm incredibly upset about the whole thing, and the variety of things that have happened and been said to me today have not alleviated my dress distress in any way. My FI of course is reassuring me that it will be fine, it's just a dress, it's just a day, and all that. He's a good guy, but we all know this is "THE DRESS", and it's different...

While I'm waiting for the owner of the salon to call me back and resolve the dress disaster... we've been working on our welcome bags. We did mini-survival kits with a variety of small items, in a brown lunch bag with a scalloped edge (from a fiskar's edge punch - and these babies were a B*TCH to punch!). the final effect is adorable. I did the tags with Stampin Up's "Top Note" die cut, hand cut the logos and then the "weekend survival kit label" Contents & sources: band aids - Dollar Tree ($1 for a box of 30) lip balm - Bulk Apothecary ($0.28 each, and labels are DIY address labels, cut in half) Advil (2 boxes of 50), Tylenol (2 boxes of 50), Shout Wipes (unknown boxes of 12 wipes), Moist Wipes (don't remember quantity) and Immodium AD (2 boxes of 30) from amazon.com - prices vary Emergen-C - 2 boxes of 30, $10 each from grocery store before coupons Front of the finished bag: And the back: We also have travel packs of tissues and hand sanitizer. I'm going to put those in our tumblers along with the welcome letter. We're planning to stuff the actual welcome bags with the paper - door sign, post card, and timeline now. So when we get to mexico we just have to drop in the keyholders/lanyards, survival kits and tumblers as the assembly. Should go super fast and easy, and all should travel well.

Giiiiirrrrrl you are making me all misty-eyed!!! I am so flattered and happy that I can inspire someone else. And your wedding is far enough after mine that I'm happy to help with any DIY. Just shoot me a PM and we can chat. It's funny how my crafty/DIY bug was pulled out of a funk by wedding stuff. And yeah, two toppers. You can always have one at the wedding, and just save the mud cards one for home (to keep it from getting broken). One of my friend gave me a gorgeous glass bell jar to display the topper when we get home, so I can't imagine NOT having that personal one. I picked up my dress yesterday, and had all of my accessories with me. I'll post pictures in a bit. But I just realized they took off a whole layer of my train, probably 6-8". I'm absolutely crushed...