MyTye2B

Hi Ladies! It’s been a while and my crazy month of March at work is finally over. Once the class I was teaching finished I flew back to Ontario last weekend and spent 3 days with my mom and bridesmaids and it was absolutely wonderful! I feel like I finally got to sit down and start doing some real wedding planning and DIY fun while wine drinking and gossiping – it was exactly what I needed! We were able to do some iron on transfers for the OOT bags. Here are a couple of them: I also got to go try on my dress again (not my actual dress but the style with the hair flower I ordered) and it was so great! I’m even more in love with it. J I did have a bit of drama this week though too, mainly some miscommunication with the bridal store over the hair flower – seems minor but I actually had my first bridezilla moment lol. It all worked out though, although I was annoyed that I was having to chase them down once I was back in Alberta and there was the time difference and I was busy with work hours. The other drama was with our TA (who doesn’t have drama with their TA lol??) but that’s sorted out too. It puts us back $1500 which my fiancé wants to pay for his brothers and sisters to help them out, and I’ve decided it’s not worth the argument since it’s going to happen anyway. He said that’s all he wants, except for the DJ haha, and I can order as many chairs and lanterns as I want. So we’re going with that. Girls I asked the question in another thread but I didn’t get any response so I’m hoping you guys can help me out. I want one of those tree fingerprint guestbooks – a hand drawn picture of a tree and underneath are your names and wedding date. My date is a fantastic artist so as a gift he is going to do one up on a canvas that we can frame at home and put on our picture wall. The guests will ‘leaf’ their thumbprints in ink in our colours and sign their names just above the print by their leaf. I am wondering what kind of ink remover I should have? Will a little basket of alcohol wipes work? With a little garbage on the floor? I certainly don’t want our guests to be walking around with inked fingers all night in their nice attire, haha. Has anyone heard of something that will work? Carlota I am just now realizing your wedding is on Aug. 6! Mine is on August 19 but we will be arriving on August 15. I see that you will be there for 2 weeks after your wedding as a honeymoon so it looks like we will be there at the same time. J Also I agree that you got an incredible deal on the hotel! I think your timeline sounds good - the beach party fits in really nicely and would be a great way to end the evening. Did they say it would be ok to start it that late at 11pm? Casey I was sort of wondering the same thing as you about the elderly family members. I’m not sure if my Nana will actually be able to make it, but it would be nice to guarantee that there is something there to help her out if she can. Please let us know if you hear back from Vanessa. I’d say just to email her about that. She is fantastic about replying to emails. The one time she didn’t immediately respond within a couple of days to me I was worried something was wrong and she ended up writing back about a week later and she said she had to fly to Mexico city and felt SO badly when it wasn’t a big deal in the least. She is great. As for your other question about the reception prices, that $50-$60 is per person. None of the receptions are included. L You’re right, it sure adds up. We have 42 confirmed right now, so just above the limit and I have a feeling we’ll be closer to 55ish when all is said and done. I don’t have a wedding day timeline to share but here is what we’re doing – 4:00pm ceremony which will last about a half hour. Then the Spanish Trio will be playing for 45 minutes and the champagne will be served. We’ll go to take pictures leaving the guests with about 2 hours to themselves before the reception starts at 7pm at La Laguna. On our website (if you want to check it out its tyrelandlauren.ourwedding.com) and in the welcome packages I have written something like ‘time to freshen up and have a few drinks but don’t eat too much because there is a lot of food to come. I’m worried about the pace of dinner because the one wedding I went to before at Grand Palladium was wonderful but it was sooooo slow! It was like after dinner was over there was barely time for dancing and there were only 40 at that wedding. We have hired a DJ as well for 4 hours so I’m kind of wondering how to use him appropriately. I just have an iPod for dinner music but maybe he can man that and then it seems we’ll probably only get 2 hours of dancing. At least we’ll have the mike available during dinner for speeches and things. Any suggestions from anyone on that aspect of things? Maybride I have heard great things about El Dorado Steakhouse. Actually a couple of people including someone I work with who had her wedding dinner there said that the steak can rival Alberta beef and that is saying a lot! I think you’ll be happy with it there. Welcome Kathy and Bre, more Canadians! I can’t wait to discuss all the plannings with you two. I know it will take a loooong time, but I’d totally suggest heading back through this thread when you have some time and reading what the others have said. They have been so helpful. Or else just ask again, haha. We’re here for you! Jen and others - I feel your pain about the new Karen Busson packages. They are so classy! I hate though that you can’t change the colour scheme. One of the reasons I was attracted to Grand Palladium was that you could personalize so much and without the outside vendor fee. It seemed like a lot of other resorts you had to go with their prepackaged stuff and if you wanted to change anything it would cost a fortune. Don’t get me wrong, lol, this is still costing a fortune, haha. Initially Vanessa did tell me that they would be eventually available but since we didn’t know when I wanted to start planning I just decided not to worry about it and go with the vow renewal. I loved, loved, loved the Mayan Pearl package and the Tropical one too. My biggest thing was that I really wanted the tiffany chairs which I agree look so elegant. I ended up ordering them from an outside vendor Latin Asia at Wedding Cancun where I also ordered a crystal backdrop for the gazebo. I’m really happy about it but of course it wasn’t cheap. Mostly the delivery charge! Our colours are turquoise and I have already purchased the lanterns, and the girls’ have their dresses and it’s too much to change now. I really love in the packages how the gazebo can be decorated and I’m bummed that I won’t be able to have that – and the beach bashes sound so fun, but we are pretty stuck with what we have now so I’m going to go with it. My suggestion would be the same as Sarah’s which is to look at some outside vendors for the few things your fiancé really wants. J Sarah, I also loved your suggestion about not waiting for the prices to go down especially when it comes to group rates. I’m in the industry and it never happens and disappoints people all of the time. The last minute stuff is for flexible dates usually. Grab those early bird discounts when you can. Karen certainly you’re not online right now but I want to say that I hope you had the most fantastic day! I’m sure it went off without a hitch just like they always say it will. Mikeycelle, Maybride and Chrestena you guys are in my thoughts right now as your days are just about here!!! How are your nerves? Chrestena you’re funny that your table is all piled with stuff. You’re so organized! And with killer shoes like that you have nothing to worry about. I absolutely can’t wait to see your pictures ladies, you are so beautiful as is your weddings are going to be gorgeous! Is there anything last minute we can help you with?

Hi Ladies, for anyone who has done the tree guestbook with ink thumb/finger prints, what did you have available for your guests to wipe off or clean their hands with when they were done signing? I love this idea, I'm just not sure if individual little alcohol wipes would work or if there is a better idea out there. Thanks!! I apologize if the answer to this is somewhere buried in the thread. - Lauren

My fiance and I wanted to have my thumb print engraved around the outside of his ring. It's an idea we had seen on Pinterest and we loved it. Lol, he's joked that I would be 'branding' him. Our only problem now is we're having trouble finding someone who is able to engrave something so intricate on Tungsten which is what his band is. I'm interested in hearing some other thoughts. I think cute/fun but you can also work traditional to be unique too. Good luck!

Sue I'm so happy to hear that your wedding was fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing your pictures. I'm on my way over to your website now to look at the rest. You looked beautiful! I appreciate hearing about the food - our reception will be at La Laguna as well. I haven't heard great things about the Japanese a la carte so I'm happy to hear you liked it. Japanese food is great!

Karen I can't believe how close your wedding is!!! I am looking forward to your review of the spa too. I made appointments for myself and the moms and my bridesmaids for our hair and makeup (and yep that 50% deposit made it pricey!) but like you I am getting my nails done here at my fav nail salon. I am wishing you an absolutely perfect time and can't wait to hear how it all goes!!! Relax and enjoy every minute!

Hi Gingerbeef, I'm so sorry to hear about the schedule change - totally frustrating! I just wanted to let you know that I actually work for WestJet and my flight got schedule changed for our wedding in August too lol. Luckily not enough to affect our actual date and it was my flight, not the one our guests are going on, but a bit of a pain none the less. They were more than willing to work with us to find a no cost solution - as was Air Canada when they schedule changed my friend's flight for this past January when she got married in Punta Cana. They actually even ended up paying for her hotel stay in Toronto! Have you spoken directly with Transat to look at some other options? It's possible they might have other flights that would work but just moved you to one that they thought would work best. Usually there is some other option direct rather than spending $800 to fly everyone through Toronto, or I'd think they'd let you make the connection but not charge that ridiculous amount since it was their schedule change. It's true that booking early will help with a lower cost but certainly it throws a wrench into things when you think you're set to go and a change that is out of your control messes up your plans. I hope you find a solution that works for you and doesn't cost an arm and a leg! I know you're likely attached to your wedding date that you've set, but perhaps you could change it. If all of your guests are there for a week then they won't care when the wedding is as long as they get to celebrate with you - and not have to fly home the next morning! Good luck!

Hi Ladies just popping in to say hello and that I'm thinking of each and every one of you as the days go by! Welcome Maybride I echo Claire in that I'm glad you've found value in reading all of the conversations. It is really encouraging to know that you're so close and yet feeling like you have the answers you need and are relaxed enough to enjoy your last few weeks and go with the flow. To everyone else, I'm sstill reading, just ridiculously busy with work until March 27 then I'll be back with a vengance as I'm sure I'll be feeling the pressure by then! Thinking of you guys!! xo

Hi Ladies, you're absolutely right this snow is terrible haha! However it's the back and forth that is bad, especially for us migraine sufferers! I can handle the cold but the chinooks and then the cold is what kills me. I am going through a really crazy couple of months at work but when it's all over I know it will be wedding mode like crazy! Even tonight I should be doing a few wedding type things but I'm just exhausted, haha. Soon enough. I'm sure I'll have more questions in a little while when I'm panicking about how quickly things are sneaking up. How are all of the preparations coming for you guys? I hope everything's going well!

Hi Punta Bride and Jess, I got the tshirts today (this is my third Vistaprint order and I live in Calgary, Alberta and it's taken about a week to get to me each time) and I have LOVED everything I've received EXCEPT the tshirts. They are AWFUL honestly lol. I am so glad that I paid next to nothing for them. The colour is faded (really badly) the fit appears much larger than I expected which is usually not the case, but good for you to know, and the women's tshirts are really floppy and stretched out. On the other hand the scavenger hunt cards, and the shower invites are perfect! Jess I have not actually ordered the door hangers yet. I first made my own and I can appreciate your comment about the school kid making them lol. That's what my DIY ones look like! The ones I posted are my design made on Vistaprint from the Rack Cards. I think I will order those soon. I've been impressed with all of their paper stuff - just definitely not the tshirts lol! Lauren

PuntaBride I ordered Tshirts for both sets of parents last week - I'll let you know as soon as I get them in. My MIL is very tiny, probably 5'3 and 110lbs, whereas my mom is 5'11 and about 170. I ordered a small for MIL and an XL for mom. For my dad (regular size I guess haha) I ordered a L and my FIL is about 6'1 and a really big guy - I ordered a XXL for him. I'll let you know!

Oh also, thanks for giving us an exact number that you were thinking for the tip, Chrestena. We also tip a lot and on everything here so I was kind of planning on tipping most of the people who work with us for our wedding, but especially Vanessa because she's been amazing. Our wedding is not the legal ceremony but just symbolic so the base price is a bit cheaper - $1500. Although with everything I've added on I'm sure our final number will be higher haha. That is without any of the dinners which we're looking at least $3500 more as we're anticipating at least 50 people. We have 40 booked already and that's just family. Haha, I have a small town fiance with a big family! Oh man, now I feel like I'm going to get sick! We will be tipping on the cost of the wedding package though, maybe a bit more. I was thinking $250-$300 USD. When did you get your final bill as to what the wedding is costing you?i I know we don't have to pay the balance until we get there, but hopefully we'll find out in advance the majority of the cost so that I can prepare. Thanks!

Chrestena your dress is soooo beautiful!! I love it! What designer is it? I think it looks great without the belt but definitely a sparkly belt if it's thin can only make it better! Kmathes I have hear fantastic things about El Dorado Steakhouse. Someone recently mentioned in this thread that even being an Alberta girl (which I now am too - we're known for our beef) they thought it was great. Also my administrator at work had her wedding dinner at that restaurant 2 years ago (also from Alberta) and loved it! She said her family was very impressed as well. That might be one to try! I am interested in trying the Asian restaurant for the setting and I just love sushi! Although the reviews on Trip Advisor aren't very good for that one from what I've read. so maybe one to try on your own, lol.

Welcome and congratulations, Carlota! First of all, let me say that your English is very good. I am interested in hearing what the other girls have to say about your question. I have been wondering the same thing. I have Vanessa as a planner too, and I think she is wonderful. She always gets back to me and I think she deserves a good tip. I just don't know what would be appropriate. I'll keep watching for advice from others. Chrestena I can’t believe I missed that you got your dress! So happy and excited for you!! I’m so glad it fits pretty much perfectly! I bet it looks amazing. Can't wait to see pictures! Mikeycelle I think your dress is amazing too! I bet you're so excited for it to come in. It is SO different and beautiful. Really happy for you! Thanks Jengullage for all of your advice and support! Sometimes it’s just nice to have other ladies to talk to who understand. We may not all be doing the exact same things for our weddings, but we’re certainly all invested in making these days the most special and meaningful days we can for everyone involved. I am not doing favours other than the donations and the OOT bags to answer your question, Mikeycelle. I'd be curious as to what others are doing. I do love Jen's idea of the gummy bears and m&m’s. m&m's are by far my favourite candies and I hate this fairly recent lactose intolerance which means I have to be good and stay away from them, haha. If you can get them there without melting your guests will be so thankful for the late night snacks. I remember last time being at the Palladium for a wedding 6 years ago and having goldfish crackers back in the room. I have a pic of a friend of mine feeding them to a stray cat outside our room and I was thinking ‘stop sharing!’ lol! Especially since as far as I know GP doesn't have room service it can be great to have something small to snack on back in the room. We are also getting married in Canada first. If you figure out how or any tips or what it costs, pass it along haha. We haven’t even begun to think about that yet. We are then just doing the 'vow renewal' at GP although it's adding up cost-wise anyway! My family knows we'll be getting legally married here but I do hear that they are really good about making everything look authentic if you're trying to hide it. With regards to shoes, I am doing the foot jewelry, even though the sand will probably be boiling, lol. It looks so beautiful! I’m hoping that my feet are tough enough from walking on the hot sand lots before but I may bring a back-up pair just in case of something pretty. I'm kind of feeling like if last minute the sand is too hot and then I don't have anything but flip flops I won't feel as sexy as I want to. Tyrel is not a ton taller than me, a few inches but not much, so I don't want really high heels. I did get some just married flip flops for the reception but I don't want to wear them for the ceremony. I think they'll just kick up sand and be too tough to walk in anyway. As another Canadian I’ll keep my eyes peeled at our stores for lighter, softer coral dresses for you. Are you thinking short? Would you ever order online or are you definitely wanting from a store so she can try it on? My girls ordered online and I have many, many, many (lol, I’ve been a bridesmaid a LOT) times before and never had an issue. I would just not recommend House of Brides after a review I read today and an experience I am currently trying to sort out that happened to me personally last week. Until they sort it out, and even though they've been pleasant on the phone (not so pleasant via email) I am hesitant to recommend them. Best Bridal Prices has been really good. Shayla so good to know the cenote is so close! Our photographer told me it was just about 10 minutes away but I had a hard time believing it so that's awesome to hear. Again, your pictures are just beautiful!

Hi Everyone, Wow everyone's dates are getting sooo close! Kmathes I can't believe how close yours is! Are you feeling like everything is mostly together? Shayla your pictures are incredible! Like, really, really beautiful! Was the location close to the resort? I am so excited to be doing a TTD shoot after seeing how well your pictures turned out. Chrestena thanks for the back up about the OOT bags. I'm not too concerned, this is one friend who has lots of $$ lol, so I expected something like that to be said somewhere along the way! Try not to worry too much about the no rehearsal. I'm sort of nervous about that too, and like you, it's more because I want myself to know what's going on haha. It seems pretty common for DWs not to always have a real rehearsal. I feel like at the end of the day we always here how together these planners have everything. Vanessa did tell me straight up that she wouldn't be there for an acutal 'rehearsal' either. I honestly think things just go smoothly. I've heard too many great stories to worry too much. The one thing I'm wondering is if you ladies are writing your whole ceremonies, if you're writing your vows, or if you're just having someone else say it all? Because we're being legally married in Canada, we will just be having a renewal of vows that will appear real lol. I am wondering how it will all go off. I'm slightly controlling over wanting to know what will be spoken at our ceremony so that it's meaningful for us. My one other situation right now is trying to find a junior bridesmaids dress for our JB which I originally ordered in the same colour as my girls' dresses by the same designer in a similar style. Well now they apparently don't make the dress in that colour - I find out now! So I need to find another dress. I'm not sure if I should try to match the colour, the style, or just go with something altogether different because it may be impossible at this time. We were already not even getting her dress until June! As for the DJ app, I haven't played around with it too much more. Tyrel decided he wanted a DJ so I was focussed on finding us someone. I will still definitely be using it though for the ceremony so I'll let you know how it goes when I do try it out a bit more. I need to download some songs first. That's something that's going to take a LOT of time! I'm nervous that I'll be hiding away the next month. Until March 27th I am absolutely slammed at work starting on Monday so if I'm not on as frequently know I'm thinking of all of you and I really hope I don't miss anything too big! I'll keep peeking by when I'm procrastinating, I'm sure! Talk to you soon, ladies and good luck if I miss you! Lauren

Who did you order them from, Marymack? They look great!! I love the 'one love' that is on them.

Hi Melissa, I haven't been able to get anything for 'free' either, but I have received some really amazing deals. If you watch this site (and follow the 'Everything you can do with Vistaprint' thread) the ladies are always helping each other out when there is a Groupon. I've purchased 3 Groupons in total and they don't have to be from your city since it's online. Two were $70 worth of stuff for $17 and the latest one was $25 for $100 worth of stuff. I'd also highly recommend the site Retail Me Not. I never make an online purchase without checking there first - they have coupons for EVERYTHING - including 50% off for Vistaprint right now! I don't realy know how everyone got all of this stuff for 'free' but it is still possible to get things greatly discounted. Good luck! Lauren

Thanks Claire! I ordered Jumbo plastic clothespins from Amazon since I found the really cute towel clips were way too expensive. Here is the link for the ones I bought. http://www.amazon.com/Clothes-Premium-Heavy-Duty-Soft-Touch-24-Pak/dp/B004PW0CFC/ref=sr_1_fkmr3_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361734822&sr=8-2-fkmr3&keywords=jumbo+plastic+clothes+clips This is just what the bride at the other wedding had and they worked perfectly fine and were large enough to fit around the chairs. I shipped to my girlfriend in the US since it was cheaper and she said that they are great. Good luck!

I guess I should go ahead and show all of the things I've ordered so far (key words - so far, haha) through Vistaprint. Of course many, many of these ideas wouldn't have been possible without the help of the ladies on this forum for creativity, wording and more. Thank you so much for your help! I've only made 2 orders for all of this stuff - one order with the $70 worth of stuff for $17 Groupon and one with the $100 worth of stuff for $25 Groupon. So that's $42 I spent, and then the total came to $26 for one order with the shipping (I'm in Canada where everything costs a bazillion dollars to ship) and the other order came to $60 in total with shipping. So for everything I've spent under $130. Not bad, although I haven't received anything for free. That may be days in the past now! These are our At Home Reception Invitations. We currently live in Calgary, but my family and friends are all back in Ontario so we're having 2 receptions - 1 out here with his family and 1 in Windsor with my family and friends. We are also in the process of having a new home built, so we'll probably have a house-warming party for our work friends (we work for the same company) sometime in September but we'll just do a Facebook invite for that. It won't really be a reception. Question for you guys - I haven't actually put through the order for these yet. Is it tacky to include our registry information on them? I say yes (and my family and friends would probably agree with me) but he says no and his mom actually wants it included since their friends won't be going to the wedding and they'll still want to get us something. My other option would be to just include inserts in the invitations that will go out to the people who want it. Looks like I just answered my own question, haha. Since we can only order 100 minumum of the postcards I am making just one design for both receptions. These are my matching bridal shower invitations. I have ordered these and I love them! They were also a minimum order of 100 although we really only needed about 50. These were made on business cards. I purchased towel clips for our guests and will be putting them in the OOT bags clipped onto these cards. I just got back from a wedding in Punta Cana and they were the best things that the bride brought with her! Enough clips for everyone. Not only did the clips hold the towels on the beach chairs in the wind, but they also helped identify members of the group and that way we were all sitting together near the pool. I loved it. I purchased 50 of these. I may need to get more once we get our final numbers. These will be inserted in the plastic ID holders I got at Walmart (12 for $2 or something ridiculously cheap like that) and I ordered the coil wrist thingies from E-Bay in our turquoise colour as well. I also ordered 50 of these but may need to get more. This I have not ordered yet and I'm not sure if I will. I made DIY door hangers out of turquoise paper and PowerPoint but this just looks so much nicer. On the other side I'll have a 'Welcome, we hope you enjoy your stay' and maybe 'Do not disturb, we're resting up for Lauren and Tyrel's wedding,' I'm not sure how to get the hole punched nicely in these rack cards. I keep trying to buy a jumbo hole punch from Michael's but one that I bought sits too closely to the edge and won't centre, and one that I think will work they have been out of stock for months. So I might make it really difficult and get a circle cutter which I'm sure I'll screw up haha. Luckily these come in minimum orders of 50 and I sure hope we won't have that many rooms. Then if I mess up I'll have extras. I'm still not sure how many people will actually come. We've got 40 people already and that's just family, not even our party has all booked yet. Any advice from brides who have made these door hangers before about the hole part? Thanks! Made out of business cards as well, I made these to go on the tables at my shower. I'll be putting them in placecard holders (a couple per table, not at each place) and we'll still be giving maybe a small pretzel or fortune cookie favour as well. These are for our parents. I really would have prefered tank tops for all of the parents as that's what they like best, but for the price I couldn't say no. I hope they'll at least wear them one of the days. I will be putting them in the special OOT bags I'm making for the parents. And finally on postcards as well (so minimum order of 100 even though I'll probably need 30 tops) I made a welcome book to put in the OOT bags. It will be made of 3 separate postcards, back and front so 6 pages. I haven't decided how to attach them all yet, maybe a small holepunch and thread ribbon or raffia through. Any ideas, let me know! Thanks! Phew, so as I mentioned, that's it for now. I'm sure I'll come up with more that I just have to have, albeit unnecessary sometimes, haha. Thanks for reading!