Branya2012

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!!
 

Originally Posted by ONEILL12 

 

I purchased my dress yesterday at David's Bridal. It was the first dress I tried on and I fell in love with it! I saw it online before going into the store and wasn't too impressed,  but I think the model wearing it and the setting of the picture gave it a different feel. It's very light-weight and comfortable and great for a beach wedding. I'm not going to wear a veil, maybe just a flower in my hair. The dress does have a train that you can't see well in the pictures. The best part was a sale price of $250!!

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

Originally Posted by Janinej9 

Thank You so much ! It is not a corset it has buttons up the back. I cant wait until mine comes in! This was the sample in the store.

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

Originally Posted by Katie McLean 

Here is a picture of my wedding dress for our Jamaica wedding!  I had originally wanted a train but have decided to do a long veil instead....I wanted something dragging in the sand! This dress fits me perfectly, doesn't need to be hemmed or anything, so i'm buying it right off the rack and just going to get cups sewn in and call it good! I didn't get a good picture of the detailing on the bodice part, but it's a very pretty flower detail...I  love it!

 

 

 

 

 

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

Originally Posted by Janinej9 

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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!!

Originally Posted by Jamie5280 

I really hope that your FI comes around!  If not, I think you should have a heart to heart with him!  He needs to understand that sometimes couples just need to pay wedding stuff together! (Not to mention I would want to get a feel of how he was going to be during the marriage with "his" money). And if your mom isn't covering something, then I feel he should have no problem paying for that stuff!  It shouldn't all be on you and your parent's.  Also for a man to say I paid for your ring is kind of hurtful.  All men pay for engagement rings and yet most men are still willing to help out financially with the wedding!  That's not fair to you!!  I so hope you guys work through this and everything works out and no longer stresses you out!  Money is stressful enough without a wedding!!!!!
 

 

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.
 

Originally Posted by QuintanaV 

I love #2,#4, and #9. Number 2 and 4 are underwater, which typically isn't my style, but very creative. Talk about perfect timing on #4 with the fish right in front of the dress, but #9 wins my vote because I feel that picture really says a lot about the couple themselves I would personally love a shot like #9 in the near future when its my turn to 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!

Just be honest about the reasons you are having  DW in the first place! You started off your post by saying that you want a small wedding...so tell anyone that asks that very same thing! It is yours and your future spouse's special day so you should do what you want and not feel guilty about it. In my experience, even if you were to cave in and invite everyone that you feel you are "supposed" to invite, you are not going to please everyone. Keep in mind that it's yours and your future spouse's wedding! No one elses!

On that note, if you want to invite some close extended family members and not others, then do it! One of my good friends that got married a few years ago said to me that when she was thinking of who to invite to their wedding, they thought of the people that are going to be there to support them in their life as a married couple and the people that were there for them currently. If that includes some family and not others, then that's just the way it is! You shouldn't feel guilty for planning the wedding of your dreams!! Even though sometimes that is easier said than done!

As for an AHR, if you don't want to have one, then don't! Don't feel obligated to do anything you don't want to do, especially since the cost could easily get carried away if you are throwing an AHR as well. Personally, we chose not to have one. I kind of felt that people might want to attend the AHR over the wedding, and it's sort of a one shot deal for us. If we were going to get married at home, then that's where we would have our reception.

Good luck in your choices! Hopefully at the end of the day you can make your decisions based on what you two want as a couple! It's hard, believe me! But at the end of the day you will have the beautiful wedding of your dreams!

Quote:

Originally Posted by lauren478 

I want a small wedding and right now I have 25 immediate family members and super close friends (who are the wedding party) coming. I have gone back and forth about inviting extended family because I am not that close to mine, and there are about 60 of them, and FI is not close to any of his, and none would come. I don't really want to invite them, except about 5 of them, but I realize I cannot invite some and not others. I want to celebrate our marriage with them, but not in a big huge way and not for gifts, but we don't have money saved for that, as of now. We would have to throw 3 parties for my moms family, dads family (they are divorced), and fiances family/friends that live in town, and come to them, otherwise it makes no sense to throw AHR if none can travel to it for a day. Just seems like a waste of money, and time, which I do not have (I don't get weekends off as a managers in a restaurant, especially 3 after taking time off for a wedding). Do we have to throw an AHR? Will my extended family/friends that aren't invited be mad? What do I tell people, like my friends parents, that they aren't invited to my wedding? 

Thanks for the quick reply!! Glad to hear your guests loved the bags...I am hoping to keep it a bit of a surprise for our guests as well. Did you have a lot less luggage on the way back?

I have heard of photo share sites...have you had many people respond with pictures? Great idea!

Thanks! I honestly haven't been giving planning a second thought, but I know there's a lot to think about (love the petals and the candles on your tables, btw, and the colours!!). Right now we're working on invitations and then I might start dress shopping. I'm kind of liking being chill about everything. Hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me later this year!!

Originally Posted by kya101 

Everyone loved the bags and were very surprised as no one knew we were doing that. I do believe most guests used almost everything in bags, especially the wedding week survival kits and the actual bags. I put them together down there, expect the wedding week survival kits, I put those together before we went down. I would say about 1 large suit case was just OOT bag stuff, maybe even 1/2 of another one. I had 6 suit cases total for wedding stuff, OOT bags, and clothes for ourselves and our son. The photoshare site, www.shutterfly.com you can create a site where you and your guests can share all of your photos from your vacation and wedding.

 

Good luck with your wedding and planning

 

 

Your kits are amazing!! And your welcome book looks really great! Those Tide sink packs seem like a fabulous idea!! Definitely going to pinch some of those ideas for our OOT bads. Thanks a lot!!

A few questions: did you get any feedback from guests, now that your wedding has taken place? Did they really like them, use them??

Also, what exactly was the photo share thing that you included in your book?

Did you find that stuff difficult to pack? Did you assemble them in Mexico, or before you left home?

Thanks!!

 I agree - definitely have a date for the wedding picked as well as estimated dates of travel. As for any further information, we didn't have any travel information when we sent our save the dates (sent approximately 16 months in advance of the wedding) but we had put together a wedding website and had it noted on there that the travel and resort info would follow. I think then it at least gives people an idea of where you're going and when, and if they want to come they can plan their yearly vacation accordingly. Also, keep in mind that a lot of people have to have their annual vacation in at the beginning of each year.

Also something to note, that formal invitations will follow. If you are planning to do them, of course!

Hope that helps; have fun setting a date!!

1. How old are you? 27
2. At what age did you/will you get married? 28

3. Do you have children? No

4. Did you think you would marry the person you are with now? Yes!!

5. Were you ever engaged or married to someone other than the person you are with now? No
6. Do you want a garden wedding, beach wedding, or the traditional church wedding? Beach
7. Where did you/will you get married? Las Caletas, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

8. First dance - classic waltz, slow and sexy, or fast and spicy? A mix of Slow and Sexy and Fast and Spicy (we are having a combo of three songs)

9. How many guests did you/will you have? Around 20? (Best guess)

10. Do you want/did you have an extravagant wedding or a simple wedding? Simple

11. Vows - traditional or something you make up on your own? Making it up!

12. How many layers of cake did you/will you have? Maybe 3?

13. Is/was your wedding/reception at a hotel? No
14. When did you/will you get married - sunrise, mid-day, sunset? Sunset

15. Did you/will you have your reception outdoors or indoors? Outdoors

16. Plan every detail down to the napkins or let someone else decide? Little of column A, little of column B

17. How did/will the bride enter? Down a set of stairs, by myself

18. Song to walk down the aisle to: I am thinking "Marry Me" by Train

19. Song to make your exit: Currently, I am thinking "Good Life" by One Republic, but it is still over a year away!!

20. Will you/did you have a solemn ceremony or a light one? Light, but still meaningful

21. At what age did you think you would get married? 22

22. Who to invite - practically everyone or a select few? I would've preferred to invite a select few, but my fiancee prefers to keep the peace with his family, so we invited practically everyone

23. Wedding menu - fine dining or simply delicious? Simply delicious

24. Champagne or red wine? Champagne

25. Honeymoon right after the wedding, awhile after the wedding, or no honeymoon? Right after

26. Was your/will your honeymoon be at a place special to you both or somewhere brand new to you both? Special town, new hotel/resort

27. Who will pay for the bills? Us

28. Living together: Not before marriage or absolutely before marriage? Absolutely before marriage

29. Anything else about marriage you'd like to say? I knew from day 1 I wanted to marry him...and there's just over 400 days til we say I do!

I am a paralegal, working in a law firm.

Thanks!!

I didn't want to keep people from finding out on their own...and I don't think anyone has been there before. Silly I guess...thanks!

 

Originally Posted by mllek1986 

Hey,

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! You will love Dreams I'm sure, great choice!

 

Just an FYI, I was just looking at your webpage and noticed that in the wedding part you say you want the location to be a surprise but then you wrote underneath where the itinerary is that the boat arrives at Las Caletas.

 

Kate

 

My fiancee and I are getting married at Las Caletas, but we decided yesterday that the resort we will be staying at will be Dreams PV!! So excited! I think this thread is awesome, so glad I found it! It helped us choose Dreams, for sure! We are also getting a really great deal, which helped as well!

All the best, safe travels and wonderful weddings to all you brides whose wedding dates are fast approaching!! Can't wait to hear all about it! And see pics.

Autjo: I just had to comment and say thanks for your review of Dreams PV. We have just decided to stay there when we come down for our wedding in December 2012. We actually have the same wedding date as you, December 5!! We are going to be getting married at Las Caletas and I am even more excited to stay at Dreams after your review. So thanks again! Your wedding looked awesome and you looked very beautiful!

Was it chilly? Is that why the pashminas came in so handy??

I think it's a really good idea to call your mom to talk about things, especially since it doesn't seem like she's going to pick up the phone and talk to you about it.

That being said, we all have our different ways of showing our parents respect, and choosing for ourselves whether or not to put their names on the invitations. Neither sets of my or my fiancee's parents are helping to pay for the wedding, therefore none of their names are appearing on the invitations. I think it's a little harsh to say that not putting your parents' names on the invitations is a slap in the face when you do not know everything about a person's upbringing or about their wedding.

I think that especially with having a destination wedding, you should do things however you want. It just sucks to have to deal with people's unkind words, especially when they don't come forward with them. We have been faced with a lot of upset people in our family, and it's so hard during what is supposed to be a beautiful, happy time. In a perfect world...

So, cdc150, hope it helps to hear you're not the only one to deal with unexpected family drama and that you can work it out with your mom. After all, at the end of the day, she'll be there to celebrate with you, right?

Good for you for not formally inviting them to your wedding! A recurring theme I've seen on the BDW forum is that it is your wedding and you should do what it takes to make you happiest on your special day! You and your fiancee are allowed to be selfish! You are the ones that are getting married! Good story and advice, JayKay.

Originally Posted by JayKay 

This is an aweful spot to be in.  I know exactly how you feel as we went through something similiar but it was with FIs parents.  When we first got engaged we sat down and made a list of who we were going to invite to our wedding.  We want just a small wedding as we are paying for it ourseleves.  We had decided who we were going to invite and it included grandparents but not aunts uncles or cousins.  We send out our STDs to only the people on our list. 

 

Everything was fine until about two months later when my FIs mother told me she had invited some people to come to Jamaica to our wedding.  I was absolutely furious, as its our wedding not her wedding, and the people she invited were friends of hers that I have never ever met in my life.  I'm kind of a private person and didnt want all these extra people that I dont know at my wedding.  I clearly explained to her that she needs to tell them they are not invited and she told me I would have to tell them.  Needless to say I dont have that type of personality to call someone I dont know and tell them they cant come to my wedding.

 

To get around it we sent invites to only the people on our list and excluded FIs parents friends that they had invited.  Just a little while ago FI mother was mad that we never sent invites to her friends.  She told us that they will be coming to Jamaica whether we like it or not.  I told her that was fine, they are more then welcome to come to Jamaica the same time we will be there, but they will have nothing to do with my wedding and will not be included in any wedding events.  We are about three months away from my wedding and so far none of these friends she invited have even booked to come (they were not allowed to book as part of our group, they had to book on their own) so whether or not they will show up who knows.

 

It is a tough spot to be in.  I guess you just really need to sit down with your FI and decided if its important or not to have those people.  If not, dont send them an invitation.  And be prepared to have some people angry for not receiving an invitation.  Also, some people may show up at your destination anyways, and there is really no way to stop that.

We are having a destination wedding because we met in Mexico and have always talked about going back there to get married! And once we had the vision of the ocean as the backdrop when we say our vows, there was no going back!

Not to mention that I agree with all of the reasons all of the other Brides have put out there. I cannot envision us getting married anywhere else in the world and I think we're getting more bang for our buck to go away to get married. It'll be so much fun on more than one day...how can you beat that?!?! Also, they basically all of the work!! And in skipping out on a traditional wedding means that we can set aside other traditional things and have our own, unique, non-traditional wedding.

OMG that logo is showing up huge on my computer...

OOPS. Sorry.

Originally Posted by Branya2012 

Here's our logo - It is nice and simple and exactly what we wanted!! It was perfect for making stickers for the back of envelopes on the save the dates. We also had help from a friend that is a graphic designer.

 

 

 

PS: Very well said. I just had to read it again!!
 

Originally Posted by TheFutureWagners 

So in the throes of all this "wedding planning" it is often hard to take a second and remember that besides the wedding, flowers, guests, OOT bags, etc, we are entering into marriage with the person we love most in the world.

We have had a VERY stressful last month with wedding planning and yet everytime something goes wrong, we are in it together, just him and I against the world...

Even when we were dating and knew we wanted to get engaged, we never felt the level of devotion that we now feel when our families are giving us hell, or everything is going wrong. It is an unspoken bond between us that is now there since we got engaged.

This whole experience has affirmed, and reaffirmed a million times over that I am marrying my best friend in the entire world, the one who will be with me through anything and everything and stand by me at all times.

He has been amazing and I know there are so many of us that get caught up in all the wedding details we tend to overlook that wonderful man sitting across the couch from us or waking up next to us each morning.

Girls, we are the lucky ones. To have found our life partners, and to be comitting our lives to these people that we are deeply connected with. Many people are not that lucky in life, and we are.

Just thought I'd take a second away from the craziness...

We are definitely the lucky ones! And through all of the hard times that have come since we confirmed our DW date, it has really solidified to me and my fiancee that we are doing what we want in having a DW. The best part is going to be walking away as husband and wife, and knowing that we never gave up on our dream to have a beach DW.