cherany

I'm still gathering ideas and deciding what we might do, but this is a cool idea:

This isn't really a packing tip, but I see a lot of brides discussing chub-rub on their inner thighs in this thread, so I think this is worth sharing here. I've found a great way to prevent irritation is to apply deodorant on the inner thighs. Makes everything super smooth & you'll smell great, too!

Great article from a great blog! I love flashy, over the top fun, but at the end of the day, I want my wedding to remembered as the day Amy & I got married on a beautiful beach in Mexico, not the day people saw some crazy form of entertainment for the first/only time!

Thank you so much! Orange is my favorite color, as well, although I wasn't necessarily looking for an orange dress when I started browsing. I was really open to any bright color, or even white, although I knew the chances of me ultimately choosing white were slim. When I saw that dress, though, my heart practically pounded itself right out of my chest! I was salivating and knew I had to have it! Nothing else I've seen since even comes close.

I'm a May 4th bride, as well. We're not sure how long we're going to be able to afford to stay, so we have booked 3 nights (Thurs - Sat) for now, and we'll see how our budget looks as the date draws near to determine whether we can stay longer. The reason we booked so early with a possibility of staying longer and having to switch rooms, is that our hotel is a small boutique one, and we wanted to be certain we'd get our first choice on their penthouses (esp. since they have just one with 4 bedrooms, a great value for housing 4 bridal party members & their +1s). By paying for our bridal parties, we are, of course, sacrificing a longer stay for ourselves, but it's something we really want to do for them. A few of them will be struggling just to make it to the wedding. So far, no one has seemed bothered by the Thurs - Sat accommodations, but I guess it's hard to complain about free! Many are hoping to stay a week, anyway, so they'll probably come down on Tuesday or Wednesday, or perhaps stay through Monday or Tuesday. Hard to know, till it's closer, but I'm sure it'll all work itself out.

I feel like the luckiest bride ever, because we're getting married at the stunningly beautiful El Taj! Ceremony will be on the sand, as close to the water as we can get without risking a wipe out! The photos in this slideshow are so incredibly stunning, it gives me goosebumps just thinking about how amazing it's going to be for us!!! We're having del Sol photographers, as well, which is just so far beyond my wildest dreams, I feel like I might faint when I meet them!!! I would be worried about coming off as a screach-tastic fan girl of the venue & the photographers once we're there, if I didn't feel strongly that our guests will turn into giggly girls seeing at all of it, as well! Guys, too! I'm already getting that reaction from friends I've shown pictures to, and everything is always magnified in person, isn't it? I can't freaking wait!!!

One of my bridesmaids is singing Annie's Song as part of our ceremony, and we will most likely pour our sand while she sings. I'm sure we'll finish pouring before she's through, but since it's live music, it won't be awkward like a recorded song playing on and on might be.

I've always loved You First Believed by Hoku. Beachy sound & lovely lyrics!

This is worrying me, too, because it's not like it can be timed out before we get there. I am thinking we'll need a rehearsal mostly so I can see how long it takes everyone to get down the aisle. We do have several people in our wedding party, so I have the luxury of choosing whether to pair them up or have them walk singly, but there is danger in just winging it, because worse than music stopping abruptly at the end is having the song end before you finish your walk up the aisle! I want one song for all of us, Once Upon a Time In the West sang by Hayley Westenra.

LOL! I totally feel where you are coming from! While I did have a lot of ideas about weddings before I got engaged (colors, dress ideas, etc.), I did not have in mind fire dancers or other forms of wild entertainment. Soon as I saw other people with it, though, I thought, "Wow, that's so cool! I want that!" If we had an unlimited budget, I'm sure we'd have already booked a live mariachi band, fire dancers, and fireworks. Maybe even a donkey at the reception, because I saw that once and thought it was the funniest thing ever! However, budget is a huge concern, because we're basically cutting every corner we can, in order to splurge on our top few categories. We do want to entertain our guests, but based on our friends' excitement when we told them we were having a beach wedding in Mexico, the wedding itself is the entertainment they're excited about! I also try to remind myself that the average guest has never given any of this any thought, and they have no pre-conceived notions about wedding entertainment, other than a preference for live music or DJ. They would consider fire dancers the craziest wedding entertainment ever! Things we start to consider common or expected, because we're so immersed in the land of wedding planning, most guests have never heard of. I think often of a beach bride who said somewhere on these boards that nearly all her guests raved about what a unique and amazing idea putting out flip-flops for dancing was! Of course, most of us consider this idea done to death, even if we plan to do it ourselves (I do!), so that really puts things into perspective!

These look fantastic! Your guests will be impressed!

Sometimes little mistakes are wonderful like that! It sounds like it's THE dress for you, so good luck with your trip!

I initially thought we'd just take our chances and get what we could find while we're down there, but the more I envision our day, the more I realize flowers are pretty important to me. So, I'm trying to come up with something that features inexpensive flowers only & does not include sunflowers or gerber daisies. I think for the bridesmaids, at least, I'm sold on spider mum & dahlia bouquets: Not in white, though. For BMs on my side (bright pink dresses), we'd do these colors: And for BMs on Amy's side (aqua blue dresses), we like these colors: For those who like gerber daisies, this mix is pretty, too (and what got me thinking about the spider mum/dahlia combo):

I'm sure this would be crazy expensive, but you can't argue with the WOW factor!

Totally! My fiance fell in love with a dress that was nowhere near here. We considered a 15+ hour drive to find it, but it just didn't make sense for us, since we're trying to scrounge up every penny for other things in the wedding. Luckily, she has since found plenty of other dresses she loves, but I know how it feels to be so sold on a dress, nothing else can measure up. That's how I feel about mine!

Dazeydawl, that's gorgeous! I love all the lace!

You could do dresses that have both orange & pink on them. Pink dresses with orange sashes look amazing! Check this out: (Picture by del Sol Photography, whose site I'm constantly stalking for ideas!) I'm not sure where to find the slideshow from that particular wedding, but you get the idea! You could even reverse the combo for your MOH, if you wanted to (orange dress, pink sash). About the parasols, almost all fold up small enough to travel with easily. If you get delicate paper ones, just wrap clothing around them before placing in a well-packed suitcase (so not everything is flopping around in there & crushing them). The fabric ones are far less delicate.

My dream dress! I'm ordering soon, just waiting to find out if a local store can match the price I found online. I live on the WA/OR state line, which mean if I buy online and ship to my WA address, I'll pay 8.25% sales tax, but if I can buy it in a store (specifically, five minutes away in Oregon), there won't be any sales tax. Every penny I can save will help! Crazy? Obviously! So totally me that I'd forever regret not going for it, if I were to talk myself into something simpler? Totally!

Thanks, Matt! We are over the moon with excitement to have del Sol photographers! I can tell you, after months of stalking your slideshows, my dress is far from what you're used to seeing! :cool:

I think going barefoot in the sand looks really pretty, but I'm not sure I could do it. I wear high heels every day, so I wouldn't feel like myself without them. I'm also super short, so I need at least a little something to keep me from looking like a child in pictures. I'll probably go for dressy wedges, so I won't be digging into the sand, but I'll still have heels on.

I think any product that is routinely put on sale for hundreds less than the retail price is suspect. If something is fairly priced to begin with, there isn't as much room for markdown, without a loss of profit. I'm just happy I'm going for a dress not meant as a wedding dress. It's saving me a ton!

I asked before, but I explained that we would be very understanding of anyone unable to attend the wedding, and told them there was no pressure to give me an answer for a while. Three out of four said they wouldn't miss it for anything, and the 4th has legitimate reasons for needing to give me an answer a few months down the road, which is no problem for me. I'm sending STDs in a few days, which all our guests know are pressure-free badges of info, nothing more. Everyone who is invited knows about the wedding already; we just want them to have something to put on the fridge to remind them of the date and location and keep them saving those pennies for when the time comes.

I'm trying to figure this out, as well. I like the solution of switching hotels and going to a different area for a day or two, if guests are remaining at the resort after your wedding. If you have guests come down the week before the wedding, they may all choose to leave the day after the wedding, in which case you could just stay behind an extra couple nights.