EVKnowsitall

Sorry for all the typos too. I got a little crazy with the keys.

Quote: Originally Posted by 1Pris Wow! Amazing! I loved your TTD pics! I am so on the fence about trashing my dress since I will also wear it at my AHR but I think you just convinced me! I can just imagine your mothers face when she saw your dress after the photoshoot! Hehe What other tips do you have after you've finished w the photo session? How do I care for my dress? Thanks for your feedback! No worries- I managed to upload all my photos into three albums and they are at the bottom of my signature if you want to see the full spectrum. We had our TTD at a nearby resort- The Majestic Elegance. Our photographer, Phil Steingard, who I found on the threads for Majestic when we were initially looking to get married there, does most of his shoots for brides at that hotel. Our hotel, Paradisus, charged us an outside vendor fee of $1,000 to have him. In order to skirt around it, they have a clause that if your photographer is booked as a guest for 3 nights, you do not have to pay the fee. The cost to book him a room was $600 so it saved us $400. Anyway- he said he was more comfortable at Majestic because it was his home base, although had we insisted, he would have photographed us at our resort. But I felt like we would already have shots of us at our resort the day of our wedding and I wanted some variety in terms of backdrops. We took a cab to Majestic already dressed in our wedding attire. Here's what the day and the care afterwards looked like: 1.) He said to take a shower and come with my hair wet- so even if I didn't want to get in the water, I would look like I had. I hate the way my hair looks wet- but I just followed the pro. 2.) He told me to leave my veil home...which I later regretted. 3.) He told me not to wear my wedding jewelry because he was worried about it- that I didn't budge on. I hate not wearing earrings so I wore them anyway. 4.) We took a cab and our wedding attire but bought a change of clothes for after. 5.) We took our pictures all around the hotel first and then we went to the beach. The shoot was supposed to be an hour- took us almost 4. He kept saying "but I have some beautiful light" and "I just came up with a cool idea" and who can say no to that? We missed our dinner reservation LOL 6.) When we got to the water he said "how wet do you want to get. Like mist wet or wet wet." "Soaking wet all the way" I told him. And then the water hit my dress. I froze in terror and my husband and his best man (who came to assist) caught it on a camera phone that was later stolen at our AHR. According to them- my look was priceless. But once I realized there was no going back- we forged ahead. 7.) My dress weighed a TON ones it was wet and saturated with sand. I could barely move. It was quite comical although not so much when I thought I was being puled by currents. 8.) After the shoot, I walked into a lobby shower of the Majestic (in the bathroom of course) and went under the shower head in my dress. I got out of the dress and put on my alternate outfit. 9.) We put the dress in the trunk of the cab. I think I almost cried. I was worried about it because the taxi driver had a spare tire in the back and I pictured my dress with read marks all the way home. 10.) Back at the hotel- our shower was huge. It had two heads on either side. My husband helped me, each of took a shower head and turned it to the highest setting with a strong stream. We literally hosed down the dress. I went really close with the shower head ion the beaded parts and on the rosettes on the bottom of my train. 11.) We left the dress in the sower to dry. I checked on it every few hours. 12.) The next day, the dress was mostly dry, although damp around the train. Even though it was organza, the material under the dress was not. I shook the excess sand off. 13.) My mom told me to spread the dress out. We found an air condition vent on a beam in the hotel room and hung the dress from it. Then we took 4 high back bar stools and placed them in a circle. We fanned out the bottom of the dress over them to dry. 14.) Back in the garment bag it went and back in the overhead compartment for the plane ride back. I left it hanging in my house from a curtain rod. I never took it to the cleaners. I wore it without cleaning it or steaming it to my AHR. LOL my dress dealt with a lot. She's a strong one. For all the abuse she took, she should have been a tattered mess. 15.) Now my dress is in the garment bag in my closet stuck between my husbands clothes and a tupperware bin of christmas decorations. Poor thing. Sorry for the long post- but I wanted to explain. I Trashed my dress on blind faith that it would be ok. I had no back up plan, I just took a chance. And it worked out. But now I know that it can work for other brides too. GO FOR IT!!!!! You won't regret it. I think its cool to trash your actual dress because its like the after. People see you all glammed up on your wedding day and then they see you all sexified and sandy and gritty in the same dress. They get two versions of it and it will save you money because you won't spend money on a second dress.

Quote: Originally Posted by MickeyMouse I feel the same. I have seen some really great ideas and would love to see if there are any that I can use, but getting to 150 is a long way away. Join popular threads like show us your dress and your rings- this gives you an opportunity to compliment other brides, explore different styles, and boost your forum count. Also- even if you aren't interested in certain hotels- go to those threads anyway. When I first started I was torn between Mexico and DR so I followed a ton of different threads. Regardless of which property you settle on, you can get great ideas from brides in any forum.