Branya2012

I agree! I've heard a lot of ladies say that their dresses are even cleaner afterwards! I am doing a TTD, probably the day after the wedding.

Originally Posted by Tulumbride2013 

Correction:
I intended to say wouldn't destroy your dress:)

Amazing! Thanks for the tutorial! I am looking forward to channeling my inner craftiness on this one! Thankfully, I think I'll only make one for me.

Great news!! Now you're not too far off schedule!

Originally Posted by Shaylaj 

After emailing Vistaprint, without question they're expediting a replacement order free of charge and the new order should arrive by Monday! Whew!
Vistaprint has great customer service!! They sincerely apologized and even sent me discount coupons to use towards a future order that I will definitely put to use.
I can't wait to get them (STDs) and will share pics when I do!

Wow, Congrats on your wedding and thanks for writing from your hotel room/honeymoon!

We have gotten every excuse under the sun (when a simple, it's not going to work for us would suffice) so it's great to hear that even though you went through what a lot of us brides are going through now, you had the perfect wedding!!! So glad to hear that everyone got along so well that you're even planning future trips! That's awesome!

Congrats again! And thanks a lot for the words of wisdom! I think that's a great stance to take...just tell the people that don't do that they really missed a great time. There are so many things that I know I want to say to people that have bad excuses for not going (like my future brother-in-law and his wife that refuse to leave their kids behind for a week to come to our wedding together, but three months after our wedding they are leaving their kids with his parents to spend a week in Vegas. How is that different?? I have no idea!), but just telling them that you had a great time and that they missed out is just perfect!

Cause it's true...everyone that doesn't go to all of our weddings, no matter the reason, is just missing out!!

Originally Posted by LPerry 

Ok, so since I started this thread, I feel I need to chime in since I just got married on Saturday. Yes, I'm typing this from my honeymoon hotel room. We ended up having 8 additional people with us, and I will tell you right now, it was PERFECT. We were able to spend time with each of our guests. We weren't wrapped up in trying to plan a million activities. I was able to buy great gifts for everyone who came (beach bags, swimsuit cover ups, and plastic insulated cups w/lids to use the entire trip) We had a simple, small wedding and small dinner at one of the restaurants. At one point my husband and I said, "Aren't you glad we didn't have more people here?" We had a perfect group - everyone got along. Everyone had a great time. And even better....we sparked new friendships between our guests who didn't know each other. The most important people were there. The funny thing is, they all kind of admitted they put off booking, but that they were so glad they came. On top of that....we all decided we're going to vacation again together b/c we had so much fun. Even my sister, who just had a baby, and had so much anxiety about coming had a wonderful time. She even said, "Now that I'm here - I just want to relax and help you and have a good time in Mexico"

 

The bottom line is, don't let it ruin your day or your destination wedding experience. Yes, it hurts your feelings when people say they're coming and they flake out. We had several people bail for "better vacation opportunities". It just really shows you who you are important to. I have solidified my relationships with the people who came here with me. Honestly, looking back on it, I wish I hadn't stressed so much. I was able to marry the sweetest, cutest man I know....and that moment up there with him was the whole reason I did this. Everything else was a beautiful extra. When it's all said and done....you just shrug your shoulders and say...."Wow, you really missed a great time" and it's their loss.

 

My best wishes go out to each of you as you continue to plan. I hope each of your days is as wonderful and filled with love as mine was.

 

XOXO

Lucy

Oh no! Sorry to hear that, how unfortunate! Hopefully they are replaced with no hassle...keep us posted!

Beautiful pics! I love your fiancee's hat!

Not sure what your mom's budget is, but my mom got her dress from Storybook Weddings (in PG). She paid around $300 and they altered it, including making straps. She is very happy with it! It took some time to be made, but if you have time to spare, check it out!

Originally Posted by tkuzma 

Change of topic, but what your mom's doing for their dresses? My mom and I can't seem to find anything decent, and when I do hear of something it's usually a matter of the purchase was made in the States.  Any suggestions?

Wow! Congratulations! Gorgeous ring! Sounds amazing that you were planning your own engagement party! Happy planning!

Originally Posted by JessicaUndines 

 

This is it!! I had a big proposal with all my closest friends and family. I planned a huge get together, little did i know I was planning my own engagement party and everyone was in on it!! It was romantic and so us! Best feeling ever is to be surrounded by everyone you love on moments like this! 

Originally Posted by JessicaUndines 

Gorgeous dress! Very sexy. I love the blue sash!

Originally Posted by RollerBride 

Here is the finished product. I got my dress at David's Bridal. It is by "Gallina" and it was just under $500. It came with an ivory sash, but I purchased this blue sash on Etsy.

 

I would rather be hot. (I am always cold...)

Would you rather be permanently bald or permanently have "Rapunzel" length hair?

On our Save the Date, we wrote something along the lines of "Your gift to us is your presence, whether in person or in spirit."

On our invitations, we wrote "We understand that not everyone will be able to make it to Mexico to celebrate at the wedding with us, but we have invited you because it is important to us that we have your love, support and happiness as we begin our journey together as husband and wife." Then I also added the same phrase that was on the STD, above. Also, for the people that we knew were not coming when we sent the invitations (like our grandparents, etc.) we wrote them a separate card that said something along the lines of "We understand that you are not able to make it to the wedding, but we ask that you remember us on our big day and raise a pina colada in our honour!" (I don't have that one in front of me, but that's the gist of it from what I remember.

I tried to put a positive spin on it. It didn't matter to us why any of our guests are unable to come, just that we have their love and support! Which is what I tell people when they ask if we have registered...no we have not, all we need is your love and support!

It's hard because we, like Kassi22, want people to understand why we are getting married in Mexico. Not a lot of people do, I'm sure, they'll think it's personal. But we met in Mexico and there has never been any other way we imagined our big day!

Good luck!

I love Vancouver! Me and my fiancee are both from northern BC and we love it here so much!!

I have no idea. We are booking with a group, and they have said they want to stay at our resort, so I don't see them hunting around for a better deal. Are you guys all booking separately? I can see that, but the final date for our group booking is the end of September. Some people! Also annoying...people that don't bother RSVP'ing. I know I've seen a few threads around here about that! Argh!

We do have a wedding website. We are also using it to manage our RSVPs. Wow, good luck with the RSVPs!! Your deadline is soon, very exciting! I just realized that now that it is August, the wedding stuff is starting next month! Bridal shower, stag/stagettes, booking and RSVP deadline!!! I wish we had gotten everyone's emails...that sounds like an awesome way to follow up with people!

My dress is perfect for me!! Haha. It has a fitted, ruched, body, snug down to just above my knees and then it flares out into a bunch of ruffles. I posted it in the Show Me Your Dress thread. The body has a bit of sparkle and it has a soft sweetheart neckline.

I was going to wish you a happy long weekend, but it's BC day so it's probably not a long weekend for you! Have a good one anyways!

Originally Posted by Sjay 

Haha, nope, I've been to Vancouver a few times... LOVE it. If I ever move to another CDN city, it will be there.

 

That's odd that ppl have gotten the time off work but haven't booked. Do you think they're hoping for a better rate? Some of our 'maybes' are waiting to get a good, last minute rate. The rest are all waiting on something... university schedules, vacation approval, etc.

 

Do you have a wedding website? We've got one with The Knot and are using it to send emails to our guests, manage our RSVP list, etc. Our guests got a STD last December, group booking info in May, and our invite in June, so I can't believe we haven't heard anything either way from about half our invited guests! Our RSVP deadline is less than a week away so I fear we'll be doing LOTS of follow up. I think I'll use the website to send out one last reminder email - hopefully it'll get a few more ppl to respond.

 

Yay, glad you found your FI's outfit! Silk linen pants sound really nice. My guy is always on the hot side too, but he wanted a suit so that's what he got. The jacket will be on the back of the chair more than on him though I'm betting. My dress is form fitting but has a net overlay with a cool pattern on it (I call it a 'sexy-fun' dress) so his suit will 'match' in formality.

 

I haven't posted a photo of my dress (yet) as I don't have a good photo of me in it. I ended up finding it at a sample sale and it's a bit small and has a number of small flaws to it, so it's with my seamstress now. When it's in photo-form, I'll post a pic.   What's your dress like?

 

Oh, and no personalized stuff. We're not finished deciding on things, but I don't think we'll have anything personalized at all.

Awesome tips!! Now only to remember all that on the big day...

Haha...I went overboard describing where I live and then realized you are in Toronto and probably wouldn't get confused if I told you Vancouver.

That is definitely an awful deal, especially when it looks like you have a lot of people coming! The policies seem ridiculous...writing a letter is a very good idea, indeed!! I may follow suit,

Originally Posted by jreist 

Their flights and service will, I'm sure, be awesome as usual, but their policies for group bookings REALLY suck! 

 

I'm not sure if you have the same policies that they gave me, but for us, if we dropped below 10 rooms then they would readjust the price for EVERY GUEST! And it would go up to whatever the price of the day is at that time (so no fortelling how much it would raise by). 

 

Also, they would only guarantee the price for as many rooms as we initially requested (10), and if we needed MORE than 10 rooms then the price for those rooms would be re-negotiated again, and likely go up. So we wouldn't be able to put a firm price on the invitation. 

 

These policies are pretty terrible! I have written a letter to the president of WestJet and am sending it out next week lol THATS how frustrated I am with them!

 

But thats just WestJet Vacations Groups [which is different than WestJet and also different than WestJet Vacations...] 

Sounds like you have a very good approach for it all! We all have those overwhelming times, though!

Ugh, maybes! Or I have some people that have booked the time off of work, and we have paid the deposit so they don't even have to put any money down, but they haven't booked. So annoying!!

I really don't want to go overboard with the gift bags (I trust that most people will bring what they need and it's my personal belief that not a lot of people are going to want an excessive amount of things personalized with our wedding date and names! Sorry if you have a lot of personalized stuff!) but I hear ya about getting summer stuff together! I really want to get a few new sundresses for the trip and I think my time is running out there, too!

We did find my groom's outfit over the weekend at Tommy Bahamas. We are in the lower mainland, Vancouver, BC, Canada. He's not doing a suit (it would be way too hot for him), we got silk linen pants and a nice white linen button down shirt. I think we've got the most done that we can for now!!!

Have you posted a picture of your dress? I'd love to see it!

Originally Posted by Sjay 

The initial shock and hurt has worn off for both of us. The ex-BM is one of my FI's best friends and he verbally confirmed he'd be at our wedding before we'd even decided on the resort (but knew we'd do Jamaica) so after all this time, to have this happen, ugh. I really make an effort (in life, and definitely in wedding planning!) to not worry about that which I cannot control - and this is a perfect example. FI will have someone stand with him, and we'll party it up at the resort - before, during and after the wedding!

 

We've done all the big stuff and have been 'on hold' as we await RSVPs. We've got 15 confirmed, and as many 'maybes'! How do you plan for 'maybes', lol? We're not doing an OOT bag, but a number of small things that guests will get over the course of the week. We've been buying stuff for a few months but we'll for sure have stuff to return and/or sell. I was afraid to wait on things and then have a hard (impossible?) time getting them into the fall.

 

Where do you live? My FI just got a beautiful suit at a Hugo Boss factory outlet store in Niagara Falls, NY.

Haha, no problem! I'll let my cousin know you said that!

Originally Posted by jreist 

Wow that link is amazing!!! So much information! Thanks!

PS: Maui was amazing! So relaxing and chill, with lots to do! I went for a week and it was a wonderful trip! We ended up spending one day on another island, at Waikiki beach, and it was a marked difference. Honolulu was a big city, very rushed with a very different atmosphere. If I had the chance, I'd definitely go to Maui again! Good luck!

Originally Posted by Branya2012 

I went to Maui for my cousin's wedding in 2008. Him and his wife have a blog about their travels to Hawaii. It's pretty in depth and could possibly have some good info for you. Have a read:

 

http://hawaiianadventures.wordpress.com/

I went to Maui for my cousin's wedding in 2008. Him and his wife have a blog about their travels to Hawaii. It's pretty in depth and could possibly have some good info for you. Have a read:

http://hawaiianadventures.wordpress.com/

You're on the best website in the world!! Lol. Until you narrow down where you want to go for your wedding (because if you want to go to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, I would send you to the Adventure Weddings website...but I'm a little biased because we are getting married at Las Caletas in December!!) just have a look at all of the reviews on the forums here. There is so much information, from the Dominicn Republic, to Jamaica and all areas of Mexico! It is seriously the best website! I can't think of any others that I refer to as religiously as I do this one!

Good luck! And have fun with it!

Originally Posted by corrine 

I have been engaged for about a mth. and the only thing we know is that we want a Destination Wedding! I have spent hours online looking and I have not gotten anywhere. can someone PLEASE give me some ideas, websites you have used, and how to start this whole process....

Thanks,

Corrine

I agree, tell her as soon as possible! However, I think that if you are honest with her about your reasons for not being able to be in her wedding party and go to her wedding, she should understand. It will probably hurt that you cannot stand up for her, but I don't know why she would automatically back out of your wedding! Especially if it's local.

Chin up and hope for the best! Your reasons for not being at her wedding aren't personal, they're financial, so hopefully she can understand that and you can be there for each other in different ways in the lead up to your big days!

Congrats!

Ditto!

Originally Posted by shannonmarie 

I too think you should go with the one you love!

Ouch, via email!!

That's really nice that you guys are having one person stand up for each of you. I love to hear that other people are foregoing tradition for what they want to do! Sounds like you're feeling a bit better about the BM situation; glad to hear it.

Planning is great. It really doesn't feel like there is too much to do at the moment. We have to find my groom an outifit, which is probably the biggest thing we have to do right now. We don't have final numbers yet, so it's hard to get too into the DIY projects or OOT bags yet so I'm patiently waiting!

How is planning going for you? How many people are you expecting at the wedding? Anyone booked yet?

Originally Posted by Sjay 

Hi Anya,

 

Thanks for your thoughts. When the BM bailed (via email) I asked my FI if he had mentioned the bachelor party at all, as we know he was already in the early stages of planning it. He hadn't said anything about it and at that point, my FI didn't want to ask him about it. They're seeing each other this weekend so maybe it'll come up, otherwise I'll bring it up again with my FI. I have no problem asking the now ex-BM about organizing it, but I want to make sure FI is cool with that.

 

We only have/had one person aside - he had his BM and my sister is my MOH. We'll definitely have someone to stand with him on the day.

 

We're not very traditional either - we're simply doing what we like and want to do, and passing on the rest. At the same time I don't want to hurt or offend anyone, hence my post here. I think FI's good friend will be sympathetic to his situation and won't be upset he was asked second. He only recently told he was coming afterall too. We'll figure out the bachelor party...

 

Thanks for your help! And very cool that we're two days apart! I haven't seen/talked to anyone on these forums with such a close date - how's your planning going?

PS: sorry...I didn't even notice this thread was about Cruise Weddings!!  Guess it doesn't really matter...

I'm not sure if it's WestJet Vacations, but yes, we're flying WestJet! They were the cheapest, and they fly directly to Mexico from my home town (which is a bonus for our family up there) so I guess they get to be a little stricter.

Originally Posted by jreist 

Any chance you're going with WestJet Vacations? That sounds like the bullshit policies that they use!! I've switched tour companies, and have found that nearly all of them are more flexible than WestJet Vacations.