Branya2012

Those look great! I like the wrap around label idea. We are making boarding pass invitations and I was planning on using raffia to secure the cover...it looks really good with the charm so I might have to steal that idea! Thanks! Did you cut everything out by hand? Including the edges on the left of the boarding pass? I have a corner rounder which I plan to use, but it looks like you went the extra mile to cut that part out! Amazing job!

Like Mehganc said, you two will stand out regardless, so I don't think it matters at all if your groom and his best man wear the same thing!

Love your pics! I am definitely using the one of you two jumping off of the dock as inspiration for our TTD shoot! Love it!

When I asked about going an hour early (we are getting married on a Wednesday), I was told that it would have to be planned closer to the wedding date, as they do not know how many excursions there will be on your wedding day until closer to the event. We are planning on booking the extra hour afterwards, and maybe even before if we can!

This one looks most like mine. Beautiful ring!! All of the rings on here are gorgeous...we are all so loved!!

Dress twins!! So exciting!! Have fun wearing your dress in July!

Thanks! It is a great day! As for not knowing who is coming and all that...I think we've all been there! I'd love to start putting together OOT bags and stuff, and decide how many tables to have, etc, but we have to wait!! In the meantime, there is nothing to stop you from spreading news by word of mouth for people to start saving asap!! Sounds very fitting to send the Save the Dates out a year before the wedding! This is our list: STD: August 2011 (16 months in advance) Invites: Hopefully April/May 2012 (8 months in advance) RSVP by: September 21, 2012 (which is when full payment is due if booking with our wedding travel agent) Wedding Day: December 5, 2012 (YAY!!)

I personally think that sending invitations that far in advance seems a bit excessive. That leaves a very long time between the invitations going out and the RSVP date, and even between the invitations and the wedding, for people that may change their minds and want to come. Having said that, when we sent out our Save the Dates (18 months in advance) we knew where we were going, the date of the wedding and the week that we were asking people to come for the wedding (if they want to come for a week). For people to save money and know the time they have to book off of work, that should be enough in advance for those that are seriously considering coming to the wedding. I think if you want to know who is going more than 3 months in advance of the wedding, make the RSVP date 6 months ahead, but just remember that maybe not everyone will be able to commit at that time. I think that regular ettiquette is out the window, so to speak, with DWs, but try to keep in mind what is practical for people ahead of what we ideally want (to know who the heck is coming so we can prepare!). For us, our payment deadline to book with our group is 3.5ish months ahead of the wedding, so that made a really great RSVP date for us. As for a guest count for the resort, we had to book a minimum to book as a group, so we gathered our close family that is definitely coming and had them pay their deposits last fall (more than a year in advance) and we paid the rest of the deposits to meet the minimum, which is money that will count towards our trip at the end of the day. We don't think there will be a problem getting the minimum number of guests, but it seemed like a lot to ask for everyone to book/deposit over a year before the trip/wedding. We tried to think of it in terms of how far in advance you would usually book a vacation, and around 6 month seems reasonable, IMO! Hopefully you get it sorted out!!

Thanks!!

I do not think it's rude at all! You'll be the newlyweds, and who can really blame you for wanting a honeymoon!! My mom and 2 of my aunts go to Mexico on a girls trip ever year, and they are wanting to go for 2 weeks and stay one at the same resort for the week of the wedding. I politely encouraged them to stay for the week before the wedding instead of after, and they have obliged! We are changing resorts anyways, but I just know that my mom would want to hang out if we were there at the same time, even if she says she wouldn't want to interrupt our honeymoon! It worked out perfectly! I'm sure it will for you as well!

I don't think it's too sensitive of a subject to email everyone, it is your wedding after all! And it's still really far away! Have you thought about having an at home reception? Because you could always say to keep the date (or around that date) and have an AHR with invited guests instead. That way anyone that may have been planning on sharing your special day with you might feel less slighted. Good luck! The people that love you will understand deep down, even if (when) they express disagreement or concern!

Awesome, thank you! I am so excited!

Yay! I am so excited to wear it! Did you have the strap on for your entire wedding, or did you take it off? Also, and this goes for all you corset-wearing brides out there, did you have a friend/MOH/family member tie your dress on your big day? Did they tie it as tightly as they do when you tried it on? I, personally, was borderline not able to breathe, so while I still want it to fit really well, I am wondering if anyone went a little looser? Thanks!!

I found my wedding dress yesterday! Here it is! It actually comes with a detachable one shoulder strap, which you can see in the view from the back, the consultant tucked in across the top of the dress. I always liked one shoulder dresses, but I actually didn't like this one so I won't be having one.

If your gut is telling you not to have your friend do the photography, then the best advice is probably just to go with your gut! You gave several reasons that you want to have a professional (a "professional" you already had was bad but someone who speciailizes in destination weddings might be better, you don't think it's fair to pay for your friend's flight, etc., you want him to be able to enjoy the wedding, to name a few) so maybe that's the road you should take! Hopefully you can find a nice balance between what you and your fiancee both want. Maybe you could suggest a trash the dress shoot, or getting ready pictures for the friend to take for a reasonable price instead of paying for his whole trip. Will he be going to the wedding even if he wasn't taking pictures? Because if he is, then that seems like a very unfair price to pay for him to take pictures when he was already going to be there. We have newly "professional" photographers in my family that we had asked to take our wedding pictures (I use the term loosely because at the time, they were not as good as they thought they were. They have gotten better, but still). There was a huge misunderstanding and at the end of the day they wanted too much money, especially based on their experience, so we are having a friend that is also a newly semi-professional photographer (about 1.5 years experience by the time our wedding rolls around). The main reason we chose him is that he is an awesome, easy going guy that doesn't expect to be paid a dime for his work. So instead of having our snobby family take pics for a relatively expensive price, we are having our friend take pictures and we are paying him a decent amount, especially considering he doesn't expect to be paid at all. And the snobby family may, or may not, still be guests at the wedding. Good luck! I'm sure you will work something out!

We dated for 2 years and 6 months before we got engaged. We will be getting married 4 years to the date of when we met.

Love the one shoulder! It adds to the beachy feel. You look beautiful!!

Oh, got ya! I thought since you bought it off the rack, that was it. Very nice!!

Soooooooooo beautiful!!!!! I love it! It fits you so well! Love the flower details on the side.

It looks beautiful! I love the fit and the bottom! Is the back a corset?? It's hard to tell.

Well said! Especially the "Money is stressful enough without a wedding" part. It goes the other way, too...weddings are stressful enough without stressing over who's paying for what!! Best of luck SparksFly!!

We are going to spend the night before our wedding together, and then part ways in the morning before our afternoon wedding. I think we'll do a first look before the ceremony for the sake of getting pictures done before the sun sets, but I think it'll be perfect for us! We will have lived together for over 3 years before the wedding anyways, so tradition doesn't really matter to us. Definitely do what makes you happy and what makes sense for the start of your lives together as husband and wife!

Go with your gut as to what you want to do. For me, I am choosing to walk myself down the aisle. I considered having my fiancee meet me at the end of the aisle and then us walking down together, but I am really looking forward to walking down the aisle towards him and having that "while everyone else is looking at her, she'll be looking at you" moment. Good luck with your decision!

I agree re: #9. I love how much fun they are having; it is the perfect moment that was captured! I hope for the same for our TTD.

Same here! It's a great feeling and is much easier to do things our way when we know that we are the ones footing the bill! Originally Posted by jana297 We are paying all of it ourselves too! It feels really good to be able to save and plan and do it!