Dominican Ally

It is totally extreme in my opinion, and I can only assume they do it to encourage brides to use the resort photographer. I kept looking until I found a resort that didn't charge a ridiculous fee, because I wanted to pick my own photographer. Hope you can sort something out

I love these! Thanks so much for posting. I am going to change them up a little bit, but they will work perfectly with my paper fans and bubbles!

No problem! An update - I received my watches yesterday and they are fantastic! There are a number of things I want to grab off DHgate as well

I'm not sure, but I've ordered from vistaprint.com in the past when they don't have the same deals on .ca. It's gotten me plenty of free offers, and I didn't find the shipping to be any more expensive

Have you tried DHgate.com? It's a wholesale site, where you can specify your quantity and it will show you matches that have minimum quantities suitable for you. I ordered 50 waterproof silicone watches, and I've seen brides on here ordering sunglasses and other things from this site.

I got them straight from http://www.shopbubba.com. If you use this site, don't forget the promo codes (BUBBA10OFF for orders of $100 or more, and BUBBA15OFF for orders of $200 or more). It brings the price per unit down quite a bit, and I found this to be cheaper than any store (though I'm in Canada, so you may have more selection/sales in the US). They also have flat rate $4.99 US shipping, which I found fantastic compared to other travel mugs I looked at online. I'm in Canada, but had them shipped to a US friend Also, if it helps...I debated for a long time what size/shape to get. I decided on the "keg" style because it will sit better on the beach or poolside (I think the car style mugs with the skinnier bottoms would tip more easily). I also went with the 20oz, even though I was tempted to go for 32oz. I'm glad I went with the 20's, because they will be easier to pack, and they are plenty big enough!

Hey! I haven't given them out in my OOT bags yet, but I ordered 50 of them to take down and give to our guests. I always travel with a bubba, and have never had an issue at an AI resort yet. Usually, people will ask you where you got them while you're down there I'm confident that it will be, by far, the most used item in our gift bags! I purchased them online from the manufacturer, and feel we got a pretty good price I did it that way vs. hunting them down on sale in stores so that I could get large quantities in the two colours I wanted.

Ladies! Hope your planning is going well! I keep staring at my countdown, and can't believe that it is finally getting close Kristina/Jess - we will absolutely have to get together for a drink! What date do you guys arrive again? I've been slacking on the planning for months, but feel like I've kicked into gear recently. I'm working on selecting the menu and flowers with the hotel right now....booked my hair/makeup. Our MOH and BM are a husband/wife team, so they are working on our bachelor/bachelorette parties that we're doing while we're down there. I'm not privy to the full details of the day, but it's going to include an intimate spa morning with my MOH and mother, then a sunset cruise with everyone, dinner reservation together at the resort in the Mexican restaurant, and on to some more drinks and dancing. I believe the guy's timeline is similar and on the same day, but they will do dune buggies in the morning, drinks/socializing on the beach in the afternoon, dinner in a dif. restaurant at the hotel, and then off resort to a bar or disco where they hopefully don't get into "too" much trouble! lol. My dining table is currently a disaster of OOT stuff. I have an assembly line of sorts going, but I'm waiting on some more stock to come in on one item, and another to be shipped from China before I can complete them. I just sent out pre-travel brochures with calendar fridge magnets (free vistaprint offers! yay), and I hope people like/appreciate them. Just this past week I completed the groom/BM outfits, ordered my garters, bought my cake topper, ordered a hair flower, bridal lingerie, my MOH gifts, bought luggage, and some other things I'm sure I'm forgetting. I feel like I'm running out of time, but think I need to take a step back and realize that all of the things left on my list are totally doable within the timeline, just have to keep organized. My biggest things is that I really need to get in better shape...my dress was ordered to fit my bust anyways, so it will fit regardless, but I just want to look a little better so I'm happy in a bathing suit, and look fab on my wedding day. Ideally I'd love to find a way to lose 20-30lbs by the wedding, but that's just not going to happen at this point. I've ordered the 30 day shred DVD, so hopefully if I get through that twice before the wedding it will make a significant difference. How are you ladies all doing? How many other April brides do you have on here? Alicia

Thanks for the info on the watches! Do you happen to know if they are waterproof, or just water resistant?

Oops...for a "fee", not a "few". Darn autocorrect! Lol

I actually live close to the border, and have friends in the US so I've avoided the high shipping/duty. There are also services you can find online that forward US shipments to you for a few (usually much less than paying the shipping via the companies like minimus) and PO boxes you can ship to and pick up over there (like UPS stores) Not sure if this helps or if these are options for anyone. Most of the things I ordered from Minimus.biz and the safety products site were not available at places like Dollarama I didn't price out shipping to Canada with the safety product website, but their prices were awesome and they do ship internationally so it might be worth contacting them for shipping rates?

Your OOT's sound amazing! Your guests will be very pleased! I almost have everything ordered or purchased for ours now, and can't wait to get everything in the mail so I can assemble them. We also did 20oz Bubbas (Purple for girls, navy for boys) and I'm hoping to be able to fit everything in them as well. If not...I bought 50 of those reusable nylon shopping bags in our colour, so we can put the contents in those. Ideally, I'm hoping to be able to put the bags, and the contents of the kits into the bubbas, but I'm not hopeful it will work at this point. Our contents so far (for 50 ppl! ) are: -Nylon reusable shopping bags (.59c each from efavormart.com) -20 oz Bubba Kegs : I ordered them from shopbubba.com as I had a US friend to ship them to. The Canadian Tire sale worked out better if we ended up having to pay duty and shipping, but luckily we didn't! -Lanyards/Badge holders for room key/tip money. Got the lanyards/holders from ebay. The inserts with the cute verse on them, we printed using business cards (free promo) from Vistaprint "Oh Sh!t Kits" contents... -Individual packets of Shout stain remover wipes (.43 each from minimus.biz) -Tide Travel Liquid Detergent Sink packets ( 1.06 per 3 pack from minimus.biz) -Franks Red Hot Sauce (.11 each from minimus.biz) -antibiotic ointments (.13 each from minimus.biz) -Antacid Tablets (8.88 for a 250ct box from www.first-aid-product.com) -Anti Diarrhea Tablet (18.30 for a 100ct box from www.first-aid-product.com) -Electrolyte Tablets (8.62 for 250ct box from www.first-aid-product.com) -Acetamenophin Tabletes (9.51 for 250ct box from www.first-aid-product.com) -Ibuprofen Tablets (12.12 for 250ct box from www.first-aid-product.com) -Motion sickness Tablets (10.08 for 250ct box from www.first-aid-product.com) I still hope to find some hand sanitizer, wet wipes, and kleenex to include, which from reading on here - I'll be checking out the dollar stores for these. I would also really love to get those cheap waterproof rubber digital watches but I'm trying to find them for about $1.00 a piece, and can't seem to find the original place I saw them I can't believe I've been at this for over a year, and now there are only 4 months left! So exciting

Love your ring Amers! (Fellow Ocean Blue Bride!!) This is the first ring I've come across on here that is similar to mine I love the three stone look with side detail - wasn't at all what I thought I would end up with, but I totally fell in LOVE with it!

Hey Ladies.... Just wanted to let you all know that I love my OOT bags from efavormart. I actually tested them out by bringing them to the beach, and they fit 2 towels, a wrap, sunscreen, magazine, and STILL have room! I know that since they are nylon foldable reuseable shopping bags - they may not last forever, but still....they seem to do the trick and think they will actually be useful. Also...if anyone is doing paper lanterns....check out the thread on here regarding DIY lighting for paper lanterns! It's GENIOUS and I just got my supplies for it, and it works! yay! It works out to about .24cents per light, and I will use 4 in each lantern, even though I ordered enough to do 8 per lanterns. (200 leds ,and 200 batteries). It's so much cheaper than those LED lights you buy for the lanterns, and I think you can light them up better by adding more. I was honestly just not going to light them....but after this idea, I couldn't resist..... How is the planning going for everyone? I'm getting so excited! I'm going to pick out bridesmaid dresses soon, and I have a few more pounds to lose before I go get my dress.....but SOON

Looking great! So exciting!

Sure! I felt the same way myself, and just kind of crossed my fingers and went for it! lol. Thankfully, it worked! I realized when I went into ebay...I actually paid $48.00 for everything ($24.00 from each seller). Still...that works out to .24 cents per light, and I figure we need 4 per lantern...leaving us at less than $1.00 per lantern, and they are totally wireless Much better than paying for those LED battery packs that still require AA batteries for the lanterns....as they run around 5 bucks each at least.... Ok, so here is the link for the lights. I offered them 12.00 per 100 lights, so 24.00 for 200. I think I started off with offering $10 per 100 and they came back with a counter offer maybe? I think the key with the lights is that they are "diffused" which is supposed to give a better glow. I know nothing about these, but that's just what I read. They came in about a week and a half from Hong Kong http://www.ebay.ca/itm/180719924866?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 And here is the link for the batteries. These took about 2-3 weeks to come in, but can't complain with free shipping from China. The batteries come in packs of 20 and I ordered 10 to get 200, so I believe I started off offering about $2.00 per pack X 10 packs.......and they countered with 2.40 and I accepted. http://www.ebay.ca/itm/320734480191?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 Really all you need besides this is some reall good tape, and it's important to wrap them tightly so they don't flicker. My test lights have been going strong for 24 hours now, and I am hoping they actually last at least a few days - although I've read they could last for weeks. Time will tell Happy Planning!

Make sure if you order from shopbubba.com that you use the promo code for bulk orders. I think we ended up getting 51 Bubbas for about 350.00 (with the 15% off promo). The only crappy thing is the shipping to Canada - we were able to ship to a friend in the US and we will pick them up. I looked at factory 21 as well, and I think as far as cost went it was very similar to do factory 21 and get custom printing, or do the bubbas without printing. I figured people would really recognize the quality/cost of the Bubba brand and appreciate it being in our gift bags (it's the only expensive item). I also feel very confident in how cold the Bubba's keep things......however....it's not like your drink will be sitting for hours anyways before you get a refil....lol....so I'm sure the Factory 21 ones are great!

This is such an amazing idea! I just ordered 200 leds and 200 batteries from China (ebay) for about 40.00 and they had free shipping. We received them the other day, and just tested them out tonight - I'm so happy it works! 4 of them in my 16 inch paper lanterns seem to be perfect! I'm going to see how long the batteries last so that I can see what sort of time frame I have while down at the wedding. Ideally I'd like to tape together all of the throwies a day or two ahead of time - and the FI and best man can be in charge of hanging the lanterns/installing lights the day of the wedding if the hotel won't hang them for us

Hey There! Not sure if you've seen the site before or not....but I ordered all of my sashes/runners from efavormart.com and they had fantastic pricing! I found it to be even better than buying used from other brides....and for me that even included shipping to Canada.

These are super cute! Good job! I've taken a little break from doing these - after breaking the last pair just before they were finished....lol.

I'll let you know for sure if I come up with something for a poem/verse to attach to a tag My colours are turquoise/blue/white - so I'm trying to keep within those colour combos too. I think it's a pretty nice item to include in the OOT bags for the ladies coming - just not sure what I've gotten myself into......could take me the next 9 months to get all 28 done...lol. Maybe I'll get faster as I go through them? At least the weather is nice right now - I've been carting all of the supplies out to my patio table and sitting in the sun doing it I don't know if I should find something to put in the OOT bags for the men to sort of even out the barefoot sandals for the women.....but if I don't think of something - oh well! I love, love all of yours too! Keep posting pics as you go!

I've started on these again - I've decided to *try* to do them for every female attending the wedding.....which means I have to make 28 pairs......oh dear! 5 down....23 to go.....lol. I still plan on doing my bridal ones last - once I get better at it, and I'll use the more expensive Swarovski beads Ladies - post your pics here too! I'd love to swap ideas