Emmalou53

I have pictures posted in my album section of my DIY bouquet. They need to be fluffed up a little bit, and I might play around with the arrangement and maybe tweak the colors to more neutral ones. Not sure yet though. It was really hard to cut through the wire stems. I used actual wire cutters, as you can see mine are really jagged so I will have my fiance clean them up a bit. I suggest having your fiance do the cutting, because it really hurt my hands. Overall, really satisfied with the way it turned out, and even more satisfied with all the $$$ I'm saving by doing it myself!

OMG! I love stacey, her photos are so beautiful, and yes, we are doing a TTD session the next day. You will be able to meet her at my wedding! How cool! The only question I have is, how are we going to avoid paying that vendor fee?? LOL I am all about saving the $$$.. She said something about booking in. What exactly does that mean? When she comes back the next day to do the TTD, the WC said I would have to pay another vendor fee! Ya right! That's what they think! I think Dunn's falls is sooo gorgeous and the waterfalls are amazing! You should do it even if you have to hitch hike back to the resort!

Ok girls, I made my bridal bouquet last week and I got my flowers from Hobby Lobby. I got a mixture of the "real touch" and just the generic fake flowers, but the way they make fake flowers these days actually look real! I am impressed with the way it turned out, I will try to get you a picture soon. I figure when it is all said and done, as extensively as our picures will be edited, the flowers will end up looking fake anyway. Right? At first we planned on bringing our own photographer, but after talking with my mom about it, she had a lot of points that made me change my mind. I decided to book Stacey Clarke. Has anyone heard of her? Her photos are extremely amazing and she is always so quick to answer my questions. I have a great feeling about her. So back to the flowers, I highly suggest hobby lobby for the flowers. I believe the most they charge for 1 flower is $10, but they always have weekly sales when their stuff is 50% off. I waited for the week their flowers were 50% off and I only spent a total of $47 for my whole bouquet. That includes the tape to go around the stems, and the yard of fabric trim to wrap around it. JWed, MY Fi Kasey is owner and operator, so most of the time he doesn't get tips. I think it's because the brides know that he already gets 100% of everything they pay. Sometimes he get tips and it has never been more than $100. We are from Bettendorf, Iowa. So everyone has received their message in a bottle invitations. The response I got from everyone was a lot less than desired. So far my mom, aunt, uncle, his girlfriend and daughter, and Kasey's mom and dad are coming. I might as well count out Kasey's sister, her husband and two kids, because all they see is the dollar amount, despite the fact that they have 7 months to save! Kasey's other sister would rather blow her money on eating out, and gas to drive 6 hrs a week to see her new boyfriend. I hope that RMB has a good sale closer to our wedding date so some of these people will change their minds. It just won't be the same without them. I am not having a wedding party, so it will be a small ceremony as it is.

I just sent them a huge list of questions, hope they answer all of them........

We are getting married at RIU MB on 6-20-12 and also want to do the sand ceremony, but there is no way I am paying $150 that. I'm not sure why they cost so much, and we plan to bring our own as well. I am going to E-mail the WC and ask.

Jwed, Are you guys planning on using a microphone during your ceremony? Since my FI is a DJ, I think we are bringing his wireless Lapel Mic for him to wear, and hopefully it will pick up my voice and the officiant. Or we may ask the officiant to wear it. Not sure yet. We are also going to bring our portable cordless Bose i pod dock and i pod to serve as the Speaker and ceremony music. The acoustic quality that Bose has is hard to beat and I think it will be perfect, not to mention free. I will have to take these in my carry on bag so hopefully there won't be any problems with the airlines letting me have them on the plane ( I don't know the rules) but I will ask my TA just to make sure. Anyway, if we do make it down there with everything, you are more than welcome to use them at your ceremony, just let me know. I think Im also going to use silk flowers for my bouquet and make it myself so I get what I want. Do you know what song you are walking down the isle to? I have so many that I like, and when your FI is a DJ it just makes it worse because they have all of these suggestions! I think my top contender is Marry Me by Train, it is so romantic <3

We just met with our travel agent today, and will arrive at the resort on Sun June 17 along with our guests. Ideally we wanted to go up there by ourselves and have everyone else come the day before the wedding, but the charter flights out of Chicago only run on sun and thr. So, we are all going to be there that sun. Our guests will leave on thr. and Kasey and I will stay until sun and then come home. That time alone will be our "honeymoon", and after a week of being away I think that will be good enough. We thought about going somewhere else after the whole wedding week, but all of the costs add up really fast. I have read that some brides bring extra stuff to decorate for the ceremony like chair sashes and centerpieces, etc. Are you planning on bringing anything extra instead of paying their prices to use their stuff? So far, we have the free wedding, but I'm budgeting the cost of the minister and we decided to pay the extra $500 for the steel drums for the hr. That's all I have so far. Another thing I read in the RIU's info they sent me is that some services will need to be paid in cash when you get there, do you know what these "services" are?

You can for sure be a specatator at our wedding! I am so glad someone (Other than my FI) is going through the same thing as I am at the same time! We should meet up that week! Thanks for all time Info, sounds like you know your stuff! LOL. I oficially booked our date for the 20th with the hotel so we will for sure be there. I can't wait, it's going to be beautiful! My whole family thinks that we are coing to Cancun because that is what we decided at first, but when we realized all of the crap you have to do just to have a legal ceremony there, we changed our minds to Jamaica, so our family is going to be shocked when they get their messge in a bottle save the dates that say MB Jamaica. We haven't told anyone it's going to be great!

Hello MrsHamblett, I am getting so excited about how much fun this wedding is going to be! I seriously can't sleep at night because of it LOL! When you described your decor/color/theme, I immediately had a vision of the Martha Stewart weddings that come with the Sandals packages. I love the look of them so much, it is totally "ME." So far, I have done the initial E-mail to the RMB resort. I'm sure I will hear something soon on if the minister is available for my date. We are going with the free wedding package. Do you know if that includes the minister service and certificate fees? I think I will save some money and send my guests to one of the bars to drink for free for the cocktail hour, while Kasey and I get our pictures taken. As for the free bridal bouquet, I do not think this is something that I will be happy with. It looks quite small in a lot of real bridal pics that I have searched for. I need something that is going to stand out in my pics. As a new bride to be, I am always asking myself, "Hmmmm....How is that going to look in my wedding photos?" I have seen some pics of people's weddings by searching the Internet, and some of the flowers look dull and I have seen some seriously hideous looking wedding cakes. Where are you having your reception dinner? I believe I read in one of your previous posts that you expect about 20 guests. That is how many we are expecting, 4 of them are children. I want to pick food that everyone is going to like. Do you know if alcohol is included with the semi private dinner? If you have any info that you can share my e-mail is [email protected] , it would be greatly appreciated! I am really contemplating on the whole DJ thing. This is a hard decision for me because my fiance has been a DJ for 11 or so years, and has a really successful business in our area. I can just picture being at our reception and having to hear how the DJ should have done this, or how he did this wrong, blah, blah, blah.... LOL. My family is really outgoing and fun. They know how to have a good time. Kasey's family on the other hand, not so much. They are very quiet people, more reserved, and come from a very, I mean, VERY, small town in southern Iowa. Since they make up half of my guest list, I need to make sure that they will also have a good time at the reception, and I don't think the whole renting out the Disco and hiring a DJ thing will suffice. Any other ideas? In my initial wedding request I added the steel drums for an hr. I think this is very authentic and will be a huge surprise to my guests. Have you decided on photography yet? This is what I want to spend the most on. Ideally, I would prefer to talk a local photographer/videographer into a free all inclusive vacation if they will do my pics for free. IF I end up doing this, they will actually be considered guests at the resort, so I wonder if they would have to pay the fee for bringing a vendor in? All of the info everyone has shared is extremely helpful. Lets keep this going so we can all have the knowledge to make our dream wedding come true!

RMB June 2012

Hi everyone! I have become obsessed with researching resorts for my June 20, 2012 Montego Bay wedding, and have FINALLY narrowed it down to RMB. I have stayed at the RIU Cancun in Mexico and I loved every minute of it. I like to be entertained all the time, and I know the RIU resorts keep activities going all day, and have theater entertainment at night, etc... If any of you are getting married the same week that I am, let me know. We can swap info, and ideas and such. My FI and I are expecting around 15-20 guests. I'm really picky about decor and prefer a really modern, chic, upscale look. We want to do a sand ceremony and write our own vows. We will not have anyone in the actual wedding except maybe a flower girl or two. Since we don't have a big group I don't want to waste money on a DJ for a reception. I think our families would have just as much fun if you give them unlimited booze on the beach! LOL I am having a hard time picturing how the day will actually flow. I assume it will be the ceremony at whatever location we choose, then do we take our pictures while our guests have a "cocktail hour" at the ceremony site? I'm sure we will have the semi private dinner at one of the restaurants, but does the WC introduce us as a couple when we walk in? Should we still have a first dance? When should that take place? I want to save as much money as I can so I can spend a lot on photography/videography. I want pics of everything, getting ready, ceremony, reception, and I REALLY want a TTD session the next day with my new husband! Any other ideas or input would be greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone! My name is Emily and I am recently engaged to my fiance Kasey. We are planning a June 2012 wedding and I have become obsessed with finding out information about cancun destination weddings and trying to learn how everything works. After paying for ourselves, which is approx. $3000, I really don't want to pay more for a wedding AND a reception. I think we will opt for the free wedding, I am having my photographer friend take pics in exchange for the cost of her trip. As for the reception, why can't everyone just go to one of the restaurants for dinner and then go out after? Does anyone know if a paid reception is required?