2012mrstobe

I included hats in the bags for the guys (sarongs for the ladies) I ordered the hats from Vistaprint and they just said "Jamaica 2012" with a picture of the same sunset I used on the canvas bags. I also inlcuded 2 keyrings in each bag. Both the keyrings had the Jamaican flag on it but I thought one was more geared for men and one for ladies. The one geared towards the guys was a nail clipper and a bottle opener. The one geared towards the women was a little flashlight and a bottle opener. I also ordered a case of Appleton Rum. (the bottles were MUCH larger than I expected them to be). I put 2 bottles in each bag; one for the male and one for the female. If they didn't whether anything in that bag at all was geared to them, they knew one of the bottles was for them! Hope that helps!

Yes, your dress from Jasmines will come with a garment bag, but it won't hide the dress. The front of it is sheer. The garment bag is also made where it can fold in half (and it zips) so you can carry things in it. When I carried my dress on the plane with me, I opted not to use the garment bag from Jasmines because my FI (at the time) hadn't seen the dress and I didn't want him to. But the bag was great for transporting the dress back home because I hung it up in the bag, folded the bag in half and zipped it. (It even has two handles on it) Hope that helps.

Yes I think I must have missed the mid production pics because I was sure waiting on them. (I just went back to take a look at them though). I bet they were surprised to see someone send them very detailed changes like that (exact inches, etc.) Your seamstress is on it! I think Jasmines did a really good job of replicating the original dress and I love how flowy and drapy (if that is a word). Can't wait to see the final pics! Glad you had a pleasant experience!

I am only 5'2", 120lbs. and I will be going with a mermaid style.

My dress was packed very tightly, but remember, once you unpack the dress, the rosettes you are speaking of are fabric, they won't stay smushed forever. By the time you get the dress out of the bag, try it on, let it hang until you leave, etc. they will certainly be fluffed out by then. If by some miracle that they aren't, just hang your dress in the bathroom the morning of and run a hot steaming shower and the steam will surely fluff the fabric out (will also knock any wrinkles out of the dress as well). Hope that helps.

His name is James; I think he is actually Lisa's husband.

Donna...so excited for you! You know the routine; we're looking for pics as soon as you get them!

Fabulous!!! I really like the style of the ruffles too!

......breathing a sigh of relief for you...... I am so happy you have your dress in your hands and you are pleased with it! Can't wait to see pictures!

Whew! You made my head spin with the thought of trying to prepare 100+ OOT bags for guests! But I think you are headed in the right direction by giving your guests an OOT bag with a true Mexico feel. The items you suggested are very good ideas. If you use the kraft bags, you can vary the color of the bags and the tissues to tie your wedding colors in (as well as making sure the hang tags incorporate your logo and your colors). As far as the bags, you can find them as fancy (with handles) or plain as you want them. It will be so much easier to wait until you get to Mexico and go into town to purchase those things since that will be an awful lot to carry over there. We only have 14 bags to prepare and although I put a personal touch on a lot of the items in the bag (first aid kit, room key holders, sewing kits, etc.) I will still be purchasing rum when we get to Jamaica as well as some local snacks to put in the bags.

Here is my real touch bouquet from WedIdeas. (I just realized that this is the one she sent mid-production; the actual bouquet has orange ribbon around it to cover up the green florists' tape)

For both FI and I, this is not our first wedding so we both wanted to do something different. We are both avid travelers and knew we would be going on a honeymoon somewhere anyway, so after doing some research on resorts, wedding costs, etc. I realized that we could get more bang for our buck! After all the planning and money that went into the first wedding, I knew I didn't want to go that route. Also, my little sister got married just last year and a very close friend of mine got married last year as well. Almost every conversation I had with them was about the high cost of this or that for their at home wedding. That was confirmation that there had to be another way! Besides, it would be a great time to get our immediate family and very close friends together to have an awesome vacation!

.......................and then she breathed a sigh of relief......aaaahhhh! I am happy you got it all worked out, even though the dress isn't here for your "fake" wedding date! LOL Just as long as you have it before the "real" big day, I am sure that's all that matters!

Girl you know we wanna see pics!!!!! I went with white as well and when they were sending me the mid-productions pics, I just kept looking and saying "Man, that's REALLY white!", but I didn't want to go with off-white or ivory because FI is wearing all white linen and I didn't want our pics to mis-matched with him in pure white and me in off-white. Waiting on pics!!!

The sarongs came from 1worldsarongs.com and the original cost (for the "assorted sarong selection") was $9.99 per sarong. I contacted customer service when I initially started planning (and was expecting more guests) and she gave me a 20% discount on the sarongs as well as the sarong ties if I purchased 25 or more. She sent a customized quote. As it got closer to the date and I realized that I no longer had 25 ladies, I emailed her and asked her what would be the minimum number for her to honor the quote. She said 20. I got hats for the guys from Vistaprint that just said "Jamaica 2012", same as the tote bags.

I went with the regular sized bag. We just had "Jamaica 2012" put on ours. I think people would use them again.

The fans may not be very manly, but trust me, if it gets hot, they will surely use them! It's the ladies that will probably hold on to the fans and keep them for more sentimental value though. We are placing a raffia fan on each seat as well. But the fans will serve a dual purpose. They will have the wedding program on it as well as the guests can use them to cool off. I am sure that the men will refuse to fan themselves because the thought of a fan may too girly for them; I think if it gets hot enough, the fan will serve its intended purpose.

I am sure that most people traveling to Jamaica will have all their loved ones with them and probably won't have a need to call back to the states for any reason, but I am wondering what you are using if you do? Calling card? Cell phones? The reason I ask is because my FI and I have a business and although we will be leaving it in capable hands, we will probably call back a few times over the course of the 11 day period just to check on things. I know from experience in using my cell phone to call TO Jamaica that the long distance fees add up pretty quickly. I was just wondering where I could purchase an international calling card to be able to call back to the U.S. when we need to. What are most others doing?

Are you saying do a sweetheart neckline? I agree, I think it would nice with a sweetheart neckline as well. The ruching that you drew seems to follow the lines of the ruching already done, correct?

HeatherC234, So glad you were finally able to get pics of your dress! Now to just actually get the dress in your hands!

These are all great tips; thanks for sharing with us................. (now off to try and put them to memory!_

As it getting closer to my big day, I keep contemplating (and even rearranging) my luggage. I am already up to 3 very large suitcases full of wedding stuff, I medium sized and I small. I will be giving the medium sized to my friend as she said she will check it in for me. We will have a hanging luggage for the hanging and dressier items and we have purchased an oversized duffle bag to put all our clothes and shoes in. When we come back, some of the suitcases that had all the OOT bag stuff in it will be empty so we can transport the duffle bag back in one of those suitcases. Since I will be workin on projects when I get there, I will be putting an itemized list in each suitcase so I know what's in each suitcase (also to act as sort of a checklist too, so I am not forgetting anything)