terrihugg

No problem. And what's great is that you can customize the emails or use templates. I believe they even have templates for weddings and love. Good luck and I hope this type helps someone. I just wish I had thought about this earlier on in my wedding planning!

Hi, I had to come back because I realized I spelt the website I mentioned wrong. It's mailchimp.com

I am no expert on this since I am struggling with the same thing. But one thing I just did was send out a group email through Mailchim.com. BAsically, it's a newsletter service (think email letters from your favorites stores advertising sales). It's free to use for the first 2,000 email address. So I created an email newsletter to send to all of my guests reminding them of due dates, wedding website etc. After the email is sent, it sends you a report of who has opened the email and who clicked on the links. BAsed on that list, I began personally calling the people who never opened the email or clicked the link to the wedding website. I suggest sending out the newsletter about a month before each payment due date. Hope that helps. But I get how frustrating the whole ordeal is. I let people know about our dw last June and the $25 per person refundable deposit. I still can't get people to put down money and it's now January. What's more frustrating is everyone says they are coming but no one is willing to do anything about it. But good luck. Hope you find a way that helps you.

So cute. And I love how you included the dog!!!

Everyone has offered some great tips here. I wish I had seen this before. I definitely want to start telling people about having to pay their own day pass, but I think it's too late for me. Unfortunately, I sent out my save the dates back in June and already had some people book their lodging out our resort of choice. But I've also had several people say they will attend the wedding but will stay else where. That was months ago, so I have no idea of those people already booked their alternate lodging. It's probably too late for me to start saying that they have to pay their own day pass to the resort.

Everyone has offered some great tips here. I wish I had seen this before. I definitely want to start telling people about having to pay their own day pass, but I think it's too late for me. Unfortunately, I sent out my save the dates back in June and already had some people book their lodging out our resort of choice. But I've also had several people say they will attend the wedding but will stay else where. That was months ago, so I have no idea of those people already booked their alternate lodging. It's probably too late for me to start saying that they have to pay their own day pass to the resort.

Everyone has offered some great tips here. I wish I had seen this before. I definitely want to start telling people about having to pay their own day pass, but I think it's too late for me. Unfortunately, I sent out my save the dates back in June and already had some people book their lodging out our resort of choice. But I've also had several people say they will attend the wedding but will stay else where. That was months ago, so I have no idea of those people already booked their alternate lodging. It's probably too late for me to start saying that they have to pay their own day pass to the resort.

Hey, newly wed! How was the wedding? Hope it was amazing. Please share photos when you return. And congrats!

Thanks for all the feedback. Unfortunately, after following up with people almost no one is coming now including my two maids of honor. Now i'm worried about even having enough for the group rate...

We are getting married on April 22, 2013. We sent out email save the dates telling everyone the date, location, and asking people who think they are going to make a $25 pp deposit to the travel agent by August 20th. Towards the end of July I sent another reminder email to everyone just saying that tentative RSVP date is rapidly approaching and if you plan on getting in on group rates send in your deposit by August 20th. We still plan on sending out formal inventations some time in December. Well even though we've had a few people tell us they're coming through word of mouth, I've just been informed by the travel agent that only my immediate family and four other friends have submitted their depositis right now. This makes me worried because we need to have a certain amount of people staying at the hotel in order to have the group rate. And the first deposit date passed more than a week ago. I"m wondering if and how I should follow up with the other people I sent the save the dates to see if they are coming or plan on staying at the hotel. The reason why I don't know if I should is because I don't wantt to assume they were planning on staying at the hotel we choose and it's still early considering the wedding is in April 2013. So should I call those people to see what they're plans are or if they are staying at the hotel we chose? How should I say it?

I'm in the same boat. We created video save the dates. But I'm trying to figure out if we should just send save the dates and no invites. We are having guests RSVP on the wedding website we made.

I don't think there is anything wrong with it. It's not like you aren't feeding the guests. It's just not a major sit down dinner. I know some people will say, "Guests are spending a lot to be there so the least you could do is feed them" But I think, these days people understand that finances are tough for everyone. As long as you take care of the guests in other ways, I don't think a cocktail reception is a problem.

Hey everyone, I appreciate all the responses. We decided to just go ahead put down the initial deposit ourselves. There is no doubt that $25 pp is very reasonable for a deposit. Regardless, putting down $1,000+ upfront is still a lot of money. (At least I think it is) But I really don't feel comfortable asking for money from our guests right away. What I did was make a wedding website and let some people know it was up. On the website I said that deposits of $25 pp deposit is due at least 5 weeks from receipt of save the date. I will be sending save the dates soon. Thanks so much for the input everyone. It was really a big help.

Well, do you really need a wedding party? I honestly didn't want one but my FI felt very strongly about having best men and bridesmaids. If you must, you could think about making relatives such as cousins your bridesmaids. or maybe even just having an at home celebration and have them act as bridesmaids there. Lastly, if finances are whats causing the issues maybe you can offer to pay for the dresses. It might help them free up some money for the trip. Good luck.

I will be doing an upgraded version. There are some extra charges. On top of the charge for the menu for private reception ($20+ per person) you also have to pay to rent out the area for the private reception. I haven't gotten the information on those prices as yet. There is also the fee for the bartender as well. Those are my main concerns right now. Other than that, the videography and photography packages seem to be a bit much for what you are getting. I was hoping to bring an offsite vender but they charge $1000 to do that. So that is no longer an option for me. DJ's start at $300 for two hours and calypso bands start at $375 per hour. Updgraded wedding arches are $300, table centerpieces are $40 each. Upgraded bouquets are $30.00 each etc. You can request to get a packet of everything from the stateside wedding coordinator. When is your date?

I am in the process of planning a Breezes wedding. Right now I am getting very irritated with them. First of all, the photography and videography seem to be over priced and not that great. But of course, the charge $1,000 to use offsite coordinaters. It seems a bit like exploitation to me. And then on top of that, they charge extra for you to have a bartender at the private reception. I understand paying extra for the menu for a private reception but paying more for a bartender at an all-inclusive resort seems to be a bit much.

So when you have a destination wedding there is definitely a need for a wedding website. There is just so much information to include. How are you guys organizing them? Let's share links for some inspiration and to get an idea of what needs to go on and what doesn't....

I really like this idea. I think I might do it this way too. Did you end up reserving enough rooms for everyone or were more than 10 rooms needed? How did that work out?

My guests a paying $450 pp for 3 nights 4 days in the Bahamas not including airfare. Looks like airfare will be about $400 to $450 per person to.

So we found an all-inclusive rate we like and have a great group rate. We have to either give them a deposit of $1,000 or have each person attending give $25.00 to hold the rooms at the rate we found. We are trying to find the best way to deal with this deposit. $1,000 is a lot of money to give up front. Would it be in poor taste to just ask everyone for the $25.00 pp deposit right away? We haven't even sent save the dates yet so I'm thinking it's tacky to just say "Hey I know I haven't sent you any invites yet but can you give me $25 pp if you think you are coming?" So how did you guys go about putting a deposit on group rates and such? Did you just put money down on your own or did you collect the money from everyone first. For those who put the deposit down yourself, did you put the information on the save-the-date and then request the dates have deposits in by a certain date? Did you request they write a check to you so you can get the money back? Just trying to figure out the best way to do it.

So we found an all-inclusive rate we like and have a great group rate. We have to either give them a deposit of $1,000 or have each person attending give $25.00 to hold the rooms at the rate we found. We are trying to find the best way to deal with this deposit. $1,000 is a lot of money to give up front. Would it be in poor taste to just ask everyone for the $25.00 pp deposit right away? We haven't even sent save the dates yet so I'm thinking it's tacky to just say "Hey I know I haven't sent you any invites yet but can you give me $25 pp if you think you are coming?" So how did you guys go about putting a deposit on group rates and such? Did you just put money down on your own or did you collect the money from everyone first. For those who put the deposit down yourself, did you put the information on the save-the-date and then request the dates have deposits in by a certain date? Did you request they write a check to you so you can get the money back? Just trying to figure out the best way to do it.