2012mrstobe

trivera5521, Glad you dodged that bullet! Have you decided who you will choose to do the dress? I think SOP was just a bad experience for a few people here, however, there are so many vendors that BDW brides have used and have great success. If you haven't read the entire thread, by the time you finish reading it, I am sure you will have some contenders! I'll be sure to post pics when I get the dress. I have already gotten mid production pictures and when I wanted some changes, they made those and sent me more pictures. Now the only thing they have to do is put the appliques on. I should have the dress in hand by August 9th, so it won't be long!

trivera5521, It was Shades of Pale. I had soooo many high hopes for them because I started communicating with them in August 2011 and we went back and forth for 3 months getting all the details down to the "t". I ordered the dress in mid February 2012 and it was supposed to arrive mid April 2012. Nothing......they never sent production pictures and would reply every once in a while telling me they were going to have it done.......I had to make the decision to pull the trigger and go with Plan B (Jasmines). When I corresponded with Shades of Pale to tell them I was trying to recover my money, they told me they don't do refunds.....Paypal would give me a refund b/c they said it was after their 45 day time frame. I ended up getting the money recovered through my bank though.

I forgot to comment on the color. I understand what you mean by not wanting it "so" white, but I chose white because my fiance will be wearing all white linen and I didn't know what Jasmines' "off white" was (didn't have time to order a swatch as it was getting down to the wire because of my other dress mishap) and I didn't want my dress to look that much different in color against his clothing. But I think the color will have to be something that you determine based on what works well with your skin tone.

Donna, I think the dress is just fine as it is. Jasmines is in the process of making my dress and the one thing I will say about them is they wil ask you and ask you and ask you to make sure they are doing it the way you want it (as has been my experience). I went with another dress company at first and still don't have a dress and I wished I had started out with Jasmine's. But since working with them, I have been very pleased.

What source are you using to print them? Are you printing them on cardstock and cutting them yourself or are you using Vistaprint? I am thinking of doing something like this on the rack cards from Vistaprint.

AfricanVenus, I will be getting married in Jamaica. I already have a photographer but I had to come in and comment on your pictures as it seems as if the photographer captured the very essence of your wedding. The pictures are really great and he documented some great memories.

Aug2012, Who have you been in contact with regarding the final details? I had been emailing Dawnette but after not hearing back from her in so long, I finally called and I got Vinetta, who actually works in the booking department but said she was just helping out in the wedding department. She sent me the one email that she promised she would and I haven't heard back from her (after sending several emails).

You can choose to have your wedding on the beach or in one of the two gazebos.

AfricanVenus, I'm not sure if you still frequent the board or not but I just looked at your pictures and I must say, you guys look like you had a ball! So much happiness and love in those pics! Did you take your photographer with you or was it the resort's photographer? Your dress was the very first dress I picked out when I got engaged; then I talked myself out of it. But you looked stunning in it.

When I first start planning, I would be so excited telling my FI about my vision for things. He would give me this big grin and just say "babe if you're happy, then I'm happy." He would always say that the wedding was a woman thing, but would still listen to whatever I told him about or asked him about, but I was surprised when he got really excited when he saw our passport invitations. He really liked them. When they first came in, he went on and on and on about them and how nice they were. Then when his friends started calling him and giving him feedback on the invitations and website, he had this big grin on his face like "yeah, my babe hooked it up!" He knows that I have a ton of stuff in the "wedding" room, and I ordered this big duffle bag to carry our clothes in (because I want to use the suitcases for all the other stuff that is somewhat fragile), but I don't really think he has any idea just how much stuff we have to take. He may blow a gasket when he really sees! He was going through the camera the other day and when he saw all the pictures I had taken as I was documenting my planning, he says "wow, you really pulled all this stuff together and it's looking nice." He is in charge of the music for the ceremony and reception and has put together an amazing playlist (including the song I will walk down the aisle to).

I spoke with Vinetta who told me that she works inbooking but she and Shanieka were filling in in the wedding department. Are you all ready to go? Are you getting married in the gazebo or on the beach?

I have not been able to reach the interim wedding planner for SSJG via email (after not getting return emails for about a month, I finally called and they told me she was no longer with them) so I want to ask you ladies about the order of service since I want to go on and print my programs up. This is what I have: Prelude Entrance of the Officiate Entrance of Groom, Best Man & Woman (my fiance will have his son AND his adult daughter as best man and best woman. LOL) Bridal Processional Greetings & Opening Remarks Presentation of the Bride Hand Ceremony Exchange of Vows and Rings Sand Ceremony Closing Prayer Declaration of Marriage Recessional I have the script for the entire ceremony written out but I want to make sure it is supposed to go this way. (when I was dealing with the previous wedding coordinator, I asked her if I needed to send it to the officiant ahead of time so he can read over it and won't be stumbling, she said 'no worries.") My fiance is trying to coordinate the music playlist and I have a question about the last part of the ceremony. Where the "Declaration of Marriage" is, once the officiant pronounces us man and wife, in the traditional Jamaica ceremony, don't we have to sit at the little table they have set up and sign papers before we can walk back down the aisle as man and wife? My fiance is taking the music very seriously and wants to have the perfect song, (gotta love him!) so I am thinking that instead of cueing up the song that will play when we walk down the aisle, after the declaration of marriage, there may be soft music while we sign the papers. Now once we sign the papers, what does the officiant normally say to signal that we do the recessional? Sorry for all the questions, but it is really a pain that the WC is not responding now and before I go on and print all the programs up, I want to make sure we can execute the ceremony as I have it planned. Thanks in advance ladies!

That was what I wanted to do, but I couldn't talk the FI into it! LOL We will be getting to the resort on Tuesday, guests will be coming in on Wednesday, wedding will be Friday, guests will be leaving on Sunday and then we will stay at the resort for an additional week. So we will have time with our guests and we will also have time alone after the wedding.

Hi, I am getting married there on 8/31/12. There aren't a whole lot of reviews here for that resort. I do recall one bride that gave a review and we corresponded through PM as well. I'll check my messages and come back with her name so you can look her up.

My mom is stressing out (and I think we are going to have a repeat of my sister's wedding a little over a year ago where my mom was soooo indecisive; my sister said helping my mom find a dress stressed her out more than any of her wedding planning! LOL) She is about 5'5, doesn't like to show her arms (so sleeveless is out), but wants to show her legs (so no very long dresses for her). What a combination! We have been looking for something in linen in our wedding colors (orange or red) but I am having no luck. Even if I can't find something in linen, if I can find a nice casual dress, we would be fine. (didn't know this until yesterday but my sister told me she was trying to decide if she would go very dressy or not. After my sis talked her out of that, she is fine with going dressy casual) Any website suggestions?

Abbie, I ordered organza bags to put the sarong and the sarong tie in. They just came in today and are barely big enough for the sarongs (but I am going to make them work!!) so I won't even be able to put the flip flops in the bag with them :-( I can't reorder larger bags because I am trying not to be wasteful. But I am in the process of coming up with a cute little hang tag that I will make myself with that saying on it! Thanks again!

Abbie, I actually like this! LOL I may seriously use it!.

I will be giving all my female guests sarongs in their welcome bags and I was wondering if you ladies could help me come up with a cute saying to put on the tag. (I will be placing the sarongs in a small organza bag). I wish I could have used the pashminas, but it will be a tad bit hot in Jamaica in August, so I decided to go with the sarongs. I have seen the cute sayings on the pashminas and I have been racking my brain trying to find something similar for the sarongs. Thanks in advance!

This dress is very elegant!!!

thespill, Even though I knew it was well past the 45 day mark and that paypal wouldn't give me a refund, I called them today anyway to hear that from their mouths. They said the same thing you said and said I should contact my credit card company, who is actually my bank, since my debit card is attached to my paypal account. The light bulb went off (as in "Why didn't I think of that before now???") and I started dialing! I have to be honest with you; I thought I had simply lost all hope of ever getting my $225 back. Not that I have $225 to throw away because I certainly don't, I just thought it would be a lost cause since it was too late to file a claim with paypal. In speaking to my back, I tell them the whole story about how it was supposed to be here by April 12th, then they kept sending me other emails stretching the time frame out and even asking me when the drop dead date was that I needed it. I told SOP it was June 1st and they said I would have the dress by then. My bank tells me their statute of limitations for recovery is 120 days (I paid them on 2/15) and that I am outside that time frame, but if I have the email exchanges where they say I would have it by June 1st, they would look into it and it should be a slam dunk. I just have to send the emails to my bank. In the meantime, my bank has refunded my money!

I made some for my bridal party; I'll be back to post pics soon!

Thanks Shanandcal! There is an apartment complex in Marietta that overlooks the Chattahoochie river. I can't think of the street its right down the street from Ray's on the River. You have to be buzzed into the complex but just tell them you are going to the coffee house, as there is a really quaint little coffee house on the property. It was a little hiddent gem my FI and I discovered and we have gone there quite a bit.

Thanks! The ones with the bike are (of course) FI's favorite ones as well. If it were left up to him, we would have taken each and every one of them on the bike! LOL

We got our guest book back from Mixbook. We made it from the pictures of the engagement photo shoot. These were some of our favorites.