JessiTaylor

This thread is fantastic, ive been giggling the entire time!! The broken ring finger made me cringe though!

At least you have a budget. my mum said she will contribute significantly to my wedding but wont give a figure. she just tells me to get on with choosing a venue despite the fact i dont know how many people i can afford or whether i can have a basic package or something a bit more upscale =S A date (april 6th 2013) is the sum total of my wedding preparations so far. it is hilarious that one day of our lives causes this much stress and drama though! Agree that paying everything for the aunt is ridiulous if shes never been particularly involved in your life! I have a long lost uncle (well hes not technically lost he just stopped visiting ten years ago and will send a card once every 2 years) and even if i invited him, i wouldnt pay and i doubt he'd come

Ps especially since your mum's friends get the nicer hotel!! Craziness!

I'm not paying for my guests accomodations, i simply couldn't afford it! I am basically saying to friends that i would love them to be there but i understand if they can't manage it - if they want to come they are financially responsible for themselves I find it kind of weird that only her friends would get the accomodation!! Its a problem because its her money, if it was yours it would be a lot easier to put your foot down!

I got engaged one Christmas day and i promised myself I would stay calm relaxed, and enjoy being engaged for a bit before i started serious planning. Well those good intentions flew out of the window almost immediately, casual browsing turned into obsessive internet searches! I decided on a date (April 6 2013) and an area...cancun/playa del carmen And after that ive made no progress whatsoever! and im starting to get overwhelmed and stressed, despite having over a year before my planned wedding date! Here are some of my pet peeves: ive emailed more than one hotel wedding planner with questions....and received a generic information pack with no answers whatsoever (for example some websites only display 2012 prices...and i need to know how much they will change) 'All inclusive' wedding packages that to me dont really seem all that all inclusive. Like 'heres the package, of course flowers, decorations, music, entertainment and food and X Y Z are not included'. I just want to see one price! Or if they could invent a cost calculator, instead of telling me the price for 20 people and extra prices for extra people and extra services- i would love to just type in numbers and what i want and have the price just automatically flash up. My maths skills are apparently incredibly poor even with a calculator How am i supposed to know if my guests will stay at the resort or not?! one hotel wants 80% guests to stay there and i dont know if they will or not! am i supposed to pay for guest passes if they don't, who knows?¬ and there are just so many different different hotel options, im overwhelmed!! My fiance is saying things like "its your special day, do whatever you want that makes you happy providing we can pay for it" which is sweet, but im pretty sure its secret man language for "i dont want to help with the arrangements, they dont interest me. just tell me where to turn up" Final bit of the vent (actually i do feel less stressed already!) is that apparently entire extended family of Mexican fiance had to be included. They seem to think 80-100 is a really small wedding when i had imagined something much more intimate (well to be fair, we live in North Mexico,Monterrey where people regularly have upwards of 250-300 people so it is small comparitively). i can just imagine those numbers going up as well! would this all be simpler with a seperate wedding planner? Oh lord im beginning to think it would be easier to get married in England hahaha And now im calmer jess x

Congratulations on your engagement! I think once you have a date and a venue tell people as early as possible - don't send invitations or anything like that, but give people a heads up so if you want friends to come they'll have a chance to save money and sort out their finances. My wedding is planned for april 2013 and ive mentioned to to the people i hope can manage to join me and they've said they were very glad i told them in advance! Over a year seems like an eternity away but i'm sure it will fly by. Im looking in the same area, Aventura cove looks beautiful and i'm going to add it to my list of options! My Mexican fiance says the most beautiful beaches are in Playa del Carmen, and overall he thinks its the best option for weddings in that area. As a city girl all the beaches look pretty good to me but im taking his advice under advisement! Its a bit closer to the airport than Tulum as well, which helps in terms of hassle getting there I also prefer all inclusive resorts as i think its a lot easier paying for everything upfront than doing meals and drinks seperately! Goodness, i always had zero interest in weddings and engagements and now its my turn its suddenly the most fascinating thing in the world

What a fantastic thread! I have to be honest, i'd never heard of OOT bags before i came to this website but they seem like a great idea and i love the choices you made! I will hopefully do something similar. but im being ridiculous - I don't know why on earth i'm thinking about OOT bags when i havent made my final choice of venue yet, ive only selected a date and an area (Playa del carmen!) Shutterfly seems like a great website too!

I think my main reason is i just wanted a small beach wedding. I live in Monterrey with my Mexican fiance and weddings here are massive elaborate affairs where you invite pretty much every single person you vaguely know - the idea of a small guest list due to finances just seems alien here! I'm not really the kind of person who wants hundreds of people looking at me, it makes me nervous. When i told my fiance i wanted a small wedding he said "mmm so about 100 people then" which to me is pretty big!! But 100 is fine...i just didnt want more than that. One friend recently had over 300 people at the reception! I wavered between having a traditional English wedding in London or a beach wedding, but as my family can afford to travel and his can't so we decided on Cancun (airfares for whole family would be too much of our budget). I've had to come to terms with the fact basically none of my friends can afford to come, even though i'm selling it as a holiday of a lifetime( with the wedding as almost an afterthought haha). I also figured its super convenient to have wedding and honeymoon in the same place!

Thanks for the good wishes. I'm trying to keep calm and relaxed and not turn into a bridezilla!!

Mexico has got a horrendous reputation for violence, its true, but this is concentrated in the border areas. For people who are in the resort areas the risk is negligible. The only real exceptions to this are if you plan to get involved in crime or buy drugs (but i'm assuming that probably wouldnt be the case for grandparents!) I'm English and i live in Monterrey, which is arguably one of the most dangerous northern cities. If you were coming here i would tell you to think again. But Puerto Vallarta is an area than my Mexican fiance and i travel to (as do our friends) and feel safe. There have been 0 Canadian or American victims of the drug war over there,and US travel warnings are for completely different parts of the country. Take sensible precautions you would take anywhere in the world - don't wander off into dark allies with wads of cash. Otherwise i assure you, it will be fine I love it there and i think its a great place for a wedding - im personally wavering between Puerto Vallarta and Cancun!

Hi, I just joined the forum! I got engaged on Christmas day and i'm planning to get married March/April 2013 in either puerto vallarta or cancun. I'm leaning towards Cancun but i am absolutely overwhelmed by resort options... I don't know where to start! After reading about a million reviews and looking at so many websites everythings starting to merge into one blurry superhotel!