2ndtimesacharm

We are also going at a different time than you so that could make a difference. Is your TA a GI certified TA with Karisma (or whatever they're called)? They will get better deals. My TA also went through FunJet and was able to negotiate a few price reductions even with our group rate. This is not usually allowed but we had a bit of family drama when my future SIL decided to book outside of our group block and, with only a few people going, nearly caused us to lose our great rate and $1200 in deposit! Our TA worked it out for us, thank goodness!

Anywhere from $130-150/person per night for 3 nights.

er reservation for up to 40 guests at Spoon International. I have attached what the menu card looks like. Thanks for posting this! We are having our dinner at Spoon and I was wondering what this looked like. I considered doing our own menus but decided it just wasn't that important for 15 of us.

Sorry, lanterns are only $5 each. http://www.weddingsbylomastravel.com/planning/details1.php?category=Candles_Lanterns_and_Torches&cpp=3&pagina=3

What's your "theme?" We're only having 1 large table so I can't help much but I've heard of some brides bringing plastic vases with them as they're light and likely won't break. If you have enough bridesmaids you could use their flowers as centerpieces and only have to buy a couple to fill in the rest of the tables. We are renting beach lanterns for $7 as part of our tablescape which I think are a nice alternative to flowers. Then we're adding some seashells, beachglass, and these photo luminaries: Here's the instructions for making them: http://www.marthastewart.com/267514/photo-centerpiece I'm not using frames, just mats, so I can fold them down easily and they don't add much to the weight of our already heavy luggage! I'll post pictures of how it all turned out when we get back next month.

That sucks! I would caution you not to ask those women you aren't close with because as you said it would seem desperate. I also don't make friends easily and for my first wedding asked a girl I wasn't close with to stand up for me to "balance out" the wedding party and I regretted it. It's just super awkward and then she got completely hammered and caused drama! LOL! If you are close with your mother, you could consider asking her to stand up for you. I've seen that before and I think it's really sweet.

I will add on to my original comment and say that it definitely depends on how many you're planning on inviting and think will attend. We made the decision this Jan to have a wedding in June and only invited 15 people. We had to book 5 rooms for the group rate and knew that those 5 would come so we were fine with signing a contract. I would be very conservative with the # of rooms you block off and if you are expecting alot of people then asking for deposits after save the dates are sent out is completely appropriate. I believe the original poster said the deposit was $25/person and save the dates hadn't even gone out yet so in that case, I'd book a small number of rooms and pay the minimum deposit. You can always add rooms to your room block this far in advance.

We also paid our deposit ($1200, I think) ourselves because we knew everyone was searching for airfare and would have to pay that right away. We made sure everyone knew when they had to commit by and when final payments were due. Then our TA used the $1200 we put down towards our room. Honestly, I think it wouldn't be polite to ask people for the $25 now.

LOVE the bags!!! How many did you end up doing?

http://www.bubbabrands.com/

I admit I'm not a huge fan of barefoot sandals but I can honestly say these are my favorite!! I absolutely love them! You did such a fabulous job!!!

We did: I take thee to carry my room key and tip money, From poolside to beachside, From sunburned to tan; through heat and humidity, Until I do so depart! I didn't want anything about being drunk or sober as we have 4 kids coming with us.

I'm in a similar position as you. This is my 2nd wedding (my FI's first but he is thrilled to have a small one). We went back and forth for a YEAR after we were engaged about what we'd do. We had some friends we'd invite if we had a wedding at home but not close enough to invite to a DW. Lots of family we'd feel obligated to invite at home but not necessarily WANT to invite as they always cause drama. Loving Mexico the way we do we just kept going back to the idea of a DW and finally made the decision to just do it. We contacted our immediate family (my brother/wife/baby, sister/husband, mom and his sister/hubby/kids and mom) and asked if they would come. We decided if those people couldn't be there, we wouldn't do it. They all committed and, knowing how expensive flights would be, we offered to pay for everyone at the resort for 3 nights. This is about how much we would have spent if we did a wedding at home anyway. It also alleviated my guilt about picking a pricey resort. Our families are all bargain shoppers and this resort had much more than we've ever vacationed at. We said "we hope everyone can stay for the week but completely understand if you can't." Everyone but my sister & hubby are staying the week (they're MUCH younger than us, less financially stable, just married last year, and moving half way across the country 2 weeks later). There has been some desire on my part about going all out on the ceremony and reception after seeing so many wonderful events on this forum. However, for 15 people it really is fine to just do a simple ceremony (bringing some of our own decorations) and dinner at one of the resort's restaurants. They will section our group off and let us bring our own table decorations so it practically is like our own reception. I figure if we're footing the bill for 3 nights for everyone at an all-inclusive, there is NO need to go all out for the wedding too. I've tried to make it clear to everyone that we are only taking up one evening of the week and they can do whatever, whenever they want. I know *I* picked their vacation spot for this year but I don't want to control their entire vacation. I honestly think that this is where most people end up disliking DW weddings. If I have to save up for a year to take my family on a vaca, I want it to be somewhere WE want to go. Some people may not want to go to our choice in destinations, that's all. Still NO reason for the avoidance or made up excuses though!!! I really hope your sister and officiant make a final decision very soon for you so you can stop worrying and get on with the show!

Thanks ladies!!! Kind sad that this fun is over.

Thanks!!! Kind of a little sad that fun is over...

Amanda - looks like a beautiful wedding!!! Thanks so much for the detailed review. What struck me the most is how much you enjoyed your entire week, not just the wedding day. This is one of the big reasons we're doing a DW - it's a vacation, not just a wedding day. Glad you loved every second of yours!

We were VERY happy to make the decision to only invite immediate family. 15 including us but this is my 2nd wedding and I get the desire to have a big one with all the family and friends. We considered inviting some friends but in the end decided to keep it simple.

Less than a month to the wedding and I’m so glad our OOT bags are DONE! Now I just have to figure out how to pack them all. I considered assembling everything once we got to Mexico but I just really don't want to waste a single second of my vacation! We are having only our immediate family attend (15 including us) so we could really personalize these bags and I ended up spending a little more than I would have if we had more guests attending. Once I started reading these forums and looking around for OOT items it was really hard to stop buying! However, I know how practical our families are and I wanted to make sure these were all things they’d use down in Mexico and probably back at home too. The bags we’re using are the Old Navy ones. They’re not our wedding colors (aqua and coral - hard to tell in these pics) but so cute and cheap I just couldn’t pass them up. I originally ordered bags from Oriental Trading Co but didn’t like them nearly as much. The teenage girls got the cute Paris bags from Old Navy and the other kids got small canvas, bright colored bags. There is a bag for each couple (I knew the husbands wouldn’t use them) and each single person. Contents of each bag: Bubba Kegs - $5.38/mug For the In Sickness & Health Kit (only in the adult bags): Bought refill first aid packs from First Aid Monster - $1.36 each (fab deal!) – contains: 2 Non Aspirin Extra Tablets 2 Ibuprofen Tablets 2 Pain Relief Tablets 1 Triple Antibiotic Ointment 3 Antiseptic Towelettes 3 Alcohol Prep Pads 6 Plastic Bandage Strips 10 Junior Bandage Strips 1 Knuckle Bandage 1 Fingertip Bandage 1 Butterfly Closure Insect repellent wipes (also from First Aid Monkey) - $.74 each (bought 2/person) Hand sanitizer - $.75 Wet wipes - $.50 Tums rolls - $.50 Neosporin to go - $.50 Sunscreen - $4 Welcome card/thank you note – free from VistaPrint Card w/ wedding day schedule – free from VistaPrint Sudoko & Crossword puzzle books - $1 Target Spanish cheat sheet – printed from internet wedding tissues (Oriental Trading Co) - $.43 each stamped & addressed post cards for people to mail back to us with their favorite memory – free from VistaPrint (we’ll buy stamps when we get there) Guys: golf shirts (VistaPrint) - $14.99 each (fantastic quality!) Girls: Pashminas (Amazon – various vendors) - $5-12 each Room key holder: (Ebay) – wrist bands $.67 each and zipped ID card holder $.80 each – I printed them myself Total: $17.87 (plus either the golf shirt or Pashmina) ~ $22-32 per person Each girl got asked what their favorite color is and then I bought the pashminas in those colors. Most were around $5 or $7 but of course my sister wants bright yellow and that was $12! I used free letterhead from VistaPrint for the Post Cards from Paradise instructions: Please take a few moments to write a note on these post cards for us. We plan to use them as our guest book so we ask that each person writes out their own card. Feel free to write out marriage advice, well wishes, or tell us about your favorite part of the vacation. We’d love to hear from everyone! We’ve included several cards per person so be creative and then give them to the concierge to mail home to us. The other post cards can be mailed to your friends at home to make them jealous! Gracias!!! Really love these golf shirts! Extra stuff for the kids' bags. Used free letterhead from VistaPrint for the scavenger hunt and after all my VistaPrint orders with free pens, had enough to give one each to the kids. The mugs are fantastic! I ordered all aqua but they ran out and sent me the brown ones. Their customer service was fantastic! They offered to either refund me $20 or I could exchange them. I took the $20 because I know I'm the only one who cares that they match our wedding colors! All the girls got the blue ones and the guys get the brown. So instead of $8/mug we paid $5. Not bad! Hopefully our guests like their loot as much as I liked finding it all and packaging it up! I know my FI is soooo happy this phase is over! LOL! Thanks for all the inspiration provided by previous brides!!!! ~Dori

They used to have a really nice spa "menu" on their website but I guess it's gone. I had it linked on our wedding website for our guests. I was quoted $86 (plus 10% service charge to the spa - not owned by Karisma) to have my daughter's hair done and our wedding is next month. You should ask your wedding consultant so they can lock in the rate. I'm sure they'll be going up every chance they get!

For those of you nervous about telling people you're getting officially married before you go to to your DW or don't want to take anything from THE wedding, have you thought about doing the legal junk AFTER you get home? That's what we're doing. I absolutely do not want to tell our family we're not getting officially married down there as they will think it's a waste to go if it's not "official." However, the complications of a real Mexican wedding are too daunting for me. I'd have to have my divorce decree translated into Spanish (and this has to be officially sealed) plus I have no idea how NY will be about accepting the Mexican documents as proof of marriage so we may have to get re-married in NY anyway! We're doing all the paperwork before the wedding (today, in fact!) and then after we return from Mexico we'll head to the courthouse to make it official. Our anniversary though will be our wedding date in Mexico.

Those are gorgeous!!! I really love the pic on the RSVP card too!

Those are super cute!!! I love your logo!

YES we want to see your wedding dress!!! Hope you have a fabulous day and wonderful trip to Mexico! Congrats on losing 40lbs too!!!!!!

Hi jriftin! I would strongly recommend going with a travel agent, particularly a GI wedding consultant certified by Karisma. They will get you some nice extras.

YEAH!!!! Can't wait to hear the details and see pics!