alexisinjamaica

FI is in charge of music, but we don't always love the same stuff so I'm making sure some of my cheesy pop songs are included. Occasionally we'll be in the car and a song will come on and he or I will shot "wedding song!" but we haven't been super organized about writing them down yet, so this list a big help!

I didn't make my own for this very reason. Have you already tried reading through this thread? http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/80126/aylee-template-help Some other brides suggested working on the doc in other programs like PhotoShop or Publisher. Not sure if you have those or are more familiar with them, but that could be easier? Sorry I'm not more help!

Love this!!!!

I totally understand why you're a bit concerned! I unfortunately don't have her info as I'm getting married at another resort, but have you tried emailing her again or calling just their general line and asking for someone else in weddings?

Hello there and welcome! I'm unfortunately not getting married at MDC so I can't speak to anything specific at that resort, but I will try to help with your other questions! 1) for OOT bags I (and most of the brides here) am planning to bring extra suitcases with me. We're flying American, which allows 2 checked bags/person so I'm hoping that between my fiance and I we can fit it all in. If not, I'll recruit my parents to take some sutff down with them too. Depending on how much you'll have, I suggest spreading it up between friends and family so you can avoid any extra baggage fees. But be sure to check with your airline too to see what's allowed! 2) We're not planning an excursion to Margaritaville. We're doing Dunn's River Falls and I'm looking forward to it-- should be ufn! 3) We're doing a welcome bonfire the Friday before the wedding. Ours includes an open bar and a DJ. Sorry, can't help you out with MDC inclusions/tips! 4) We are planning to do a steel drum band for the ceremony too! I feel like it'll add a fun island flair and will be something my guests have never experienced. We're going to have them at the cocktail hour right after the ceremony too but then switch to a DJ for the reception. Sorry I don't have information more specific to your resort, but I hope some of this was helpful nonetheless!

That's a great idea!

I just posted about this too! (a couple posts before yours). Would love to see some pics from other DW brides who have done this. I'm thinking of buying/bringing my own cupcake stands and toppers.

Quote: Originally Posted by CourtandMatt Alexis - Same issue! I really wish we had not wasted our money on RSVP cards and especially on postage. We sent out around 95 invites and only got 30 something back. Really?? How hard is it to put a pre-stamped card in the mail box??? Another piece of planning advice: don't waste money on invitations. I think we spent way too much money on something that ended up getting thrown away. One of my cousins even told me that her husband threw it away as soon as they got it since they knew they weren't coming! What a waste! Don't spend money on the invitations and instead spend the money on spoiling your guests that do come! Yep, totally agree. We sent out about 80 invites and got maybe 20 back. We had to just email everyone else because we really need a headcount and the deposits as we're getting close. So far we have 32 people who say they are coming but they definitely didn't all RSVP. I just would never think of doing that, especially to someone I consider a friend, so it baffles me that people really are too lazy to bother checking a box and dropping the card in the mail when everything else has been done for them! Love your idea of just spoiling the guests that do come. Future brides take note!

If most of your people booked off the Save the Dates I would definitely say don't bother with the RSVP post cards. You could always follow up with people over email if there are stragglers that you haven't heard from. We ended up doing this even though we had RSVP cards because so many people just failed to use them.

My FI has told me stories of what his friends did at other bachelor parties and none of it was good. All of these people were married or in serious relationships. He says he wishes he never told me because he "broke guy code." Too late! Also, Melissa-- I wanted to take engagement pics at the LACMA light installation so I love your profile pic! Very cool!

Haha will do! I'm sure it will help that I plan on basically having a marathon of TV shows that would make him roll his eyes and leave the room if he were home-- aka any of the Real Housewives!

Exactly-- I don't want to be in the room putting bags together when everyone is drinking by the pool! I can't believe your resort charges $7/bag. I thought $4 was bad. We will have about 30 bags too so I think I'm leaning towards sucking it up and paying $120 just so I don't have to worry about tracking people down individually or them not getting the bags until 2 or 3 days after arriving. But I won't be happy about it! Haha.

I actually just put all of my Oh Sh*t Kits together in their ziploc bags this weekend. I was going to wrap them carefully in my checked baggage with my other OOT bag stuff and decor and hope for the best, but now you have me nervous about possible explosions! I figure I want to do as little as possible when I'm actually at the resort and I will already have a decent amount of assembly to do as far as the bags are concerned since I'll need to throw everything together and that is one less thing I'll have to worry about. So maybe I'll leave as-is and bring extra ziploc bags in case of any spills. I also had first planned to distribute the bags at our welcome bonfire Friday night, but it now seems like a good amount of people will be there as early as Wednesday and I want people to have an opportunity to use the goodies inside for as long as possible, so I might arrange to give each bag to each person whenever I first see them or pay the fee to have the resort deliver them to rooms ($4/room, which in my opinion is crazy.)

Lately I've been thinking of doing cupcakes instead of a full cake. I'm not sure everyone will eat the cake since from what I've heard most people are so full after all the food that they opt not to have any. I figured with cupcakes each guest can more easily take one back to their room. Also I LOVE cupcakes so it just seems more me anyway. If anyone has cupcake inspiration pics please share!

Sometime next month! I don't think they picked the weekend yet.

MyFitnessPal is free too!

Yep! The resort contacted me the end of last week to start making my choices for menu, flowers, cake, etc. so now it's starting to feel close!

Nice! Congratulations! It's so exciting once you settle on a location because then you can actually start picturing things and it feels real! Happy planning!!

A food diary is a great tip!! And they make it so easy now with apps, as you mentioned. I too had the crazy calorie realization after I started using the My Fitness Pal app.

So are you and your FI each only bringing a carry on for your clothes, then the 2 bins with all of your OOT/decor stuff? Or are you also checking bags and paying extra for the bins?

I don't want a shower or bachelorette either! All I really want is to be married and for it to be a destination wedding, so I'm a happy girl! We're doing a welcome bonfire the Friday night before the Saturday wedding and I figured any girls who are there can join me at the resort club for a mini bachelorette, since it seems like they're insisting on doing SOMETHING. FI is going to Vegas for his bachelor party though. Oy.

Yay glad I could help!

I tried that once and omg. Sooo hot. I had to step out of the room a couple times! Haha.

So soft and pretty. Love it. I'm normally not a pink sort of girl, but it's funny how during planning I kept gravitating to color palettes like this!

So I was on the fence about doing a sand ceremony and FI voted no. Is it weird if we still purchase a shadow box kit and colored sand and make one after the fact with a nice photo of us from the wedding just as a keepsake? I think FI likes the idea, but I noted in another post that he hates attention and basically wants everything as short as possible to get the focus of him/us. So he just doesn't want to be up there longer than it takes to say our vows. It's weird-- he's a Leo and that is so un-Leo like! Haha.