Jenny2014

The quote I (try!) to live by is: "Today is the tomorrow you were worried about yesterday. Was it worth it?"- Dale Carnegie

Ha! Yes, it was and scared the crap out of me. So when you see numbers creep up that high, you know something needs to change and needs to change fast. So we cut it all back, and are now MUCH smaller, and much more realistic (or so I hope!)

Hi Kate, Thanks for sharing your review. I'm sorry it didn't go as smoothly as it should have! Did you see Eleane at any point afterwards and get an explanation for why she left? I am glad you enjoyed Dreams- it really was an incredible place for our vacation and I am so excited to go back there! I really do hope that despite all the minor hiccups, that your wedding was truely beautiful, and that you all had a wonderful time!!! Hopefully when you have some time you can post some pictures Congrats on your wedding!!!!! xoxoxo

You currently have 11 posts. It shows up in your name banner. If you just joined this month, and spend a little bit posting here and there, all you need to get up to to get attachments is 150. Your getting there! Just go around, posting to other threads, and you will get there, I promise! Your wedding isn't until 2015- LOTS of time to get to 150 to be able to download posts! Best of luck to you!!!!

Thanks for all the advice Most of these I had already handled. We completely changed our wedding and are just having under 30 people come. We will do a big reception back home, with all the speeches, dances, etc. here, and keep Mexico small and intimate. I am just going to pay for the photographer for a couple of hours (since we are not having a reception there). I an undecided about the table runners, etc. but I am thinking more along your lines- just a few candles to make it intimate, and that's it. A while table cloth is fine with me. We aren't doing any actual favours- we are donating to a charity instead (as FI works in the not-for-profit industry), so it only makes sense to do that. Plus, no one really does anythign with favours, so at least this way, the money isn't wasted, and goes to someone in need. We won't be putting food/drinks in our OOT bags- they will be more "oh sh*t" kits, and fun stuff (squirt guns, cheap sunglasses, etc.). FI will be buying a suit- he hates tux's anyways. I bought my dress at a sample sale, so it only cost $680 and my mom and grandma paid for it. Can't use vista print very much- shipping to Canada is ridiculous. So I can only use it when the sales make it worth it. Our TA is free, and has gotten us a good deal. Our invites are actually going to go out in a few weeks, with everyone putting down a $150 deposit. Full payment to be made by January (yes, 9 months ahead), but otherwise the prices are supposed to go up. If people choose to not go along with this deal, then they risk paying more, but that is their choice! They could also pay less/ same and just pay later on is all as well! Ohh, I am ms. organized. I have a whole binder to keep me on track, excel is my second love. We are putting away money every month (though May seems to be a bad month for us- too many birthday's/anniversaries/ parties....) so, we didn't do so well this month. However, we did secure our TA, and 30 spots on the plane for our guests, so it was still an accomplishment this month! Thanks for all the advice again! Appreciate you taking the time to help out a fellow bride! Good luck to you as well!!

Amazing! I love how candid so many of them look. Even though you both are looking right at the camera, you don't look forced or uncomfortable. LOVE the one of your FI kissing your neck behind the pole- super hot! Shows the passion you guys have for one another!

Just beautiful! Your dress is simply just stunning and you look breathtaking!! Congrats on your marriage and hope your wedding was everything you hoped it would be!

Maybe as a letter sized poster? I'll just be going to my local printer and have it printed there.

Quote: Originally Posted by Jenny2014 Alright, so our wedding costs seem to just keep on growing. However, as things are still so far away, I am hoping I will find ways to make them much cheaper. So far our costs are looking like (estimation for most... and I am sure I have WAY over compensated... plus, we have told our parents that the extras over 29 people are being divided up between them, as we only want 29 to be there. IE. additional guest charge, std, invite, oot, bonfire, etc... i will be calculating the costs and letting them know what they owe haha): Wedding Package for 20 people: $3000 Additional Guests (50 people): $4250 Chairs for 70 people @ $7/chair: $490 Total: $7740 Ceremony costs: Programs/signs: $300 Bubbles/ fans: $300 Sand Ceremony: $50 Decor: $200- $400 Total: $1050 Reception: Decor: $500 Favors: $200 Lounge chairs: $480 Fire show: $750 Total: $1930 Flowers: Bridesmaid Bouquets: $200 Blue orchid extra cost: $150 Jewels for bouquet: $100 Rose Petals: $100 Total: $550 Music: DJ: $825 Vendor Fee/ Dinner: $200 Total: $1025 Photography: Package: $2000 Vendor Fee/ Dinner: $300 Total: $2300 Attire: Dress: $800 Veil/ Alterations: $350 Shoes: $100 Jewelery: $100 Groom Outfit: $500 Groom Shoes: $200 Pre-pampering (nails, hair): $400 Hair & makeup for BM's: $500 Total: $2950 Rings: His: $150 His ring tattoo: $500 Engagement Ring: $1500 Hers: $600 Total: $2750 OOT Bags/ Welcome Books: $900 Paper Costs: STD: $150 Invites: $250 Printing: $200 Postage: $300 (Canada-wide, to the US, to Europe and Pakistan) Guest Book: $50 Menu Cards: $100 Signs: $50 Guest Cameras/ Sign: $150 Total: $1450 Miscellaneous Costs: Bonfire: $850 Legal Ceremony: $500 Passports: $200 Set-up fee: $150 Gifts: $500 Trip Clothing: $1000 Travel Agent: $500 Misc. expenses: $1000 Total: $4700 Trip Cost: Airfare and Resort stay for 2 weeks: $6000 ($3000/person) Tips: $1000 Taxes: $1000 Total: $8000 Grand Total for 70 people: $35,345 <---- I think that will be me, if this is what the actual cost looks like at the end of all of this...... LUCKILY, there are many costs I am willing to cut, if and when the time comes to do that (ie. bonfire, lounge chairs, fire show, and decor from the ceremony/reception,oot bags) I think I just need to do an absolute worst case scenario, so that way when the prices start to come in and they are cheaper.....woo hoo!!!! Scratch absolutely everything I wrote here. I will repost in a coupe of weeks what it will actually be. We completely changed everything about our wedding and will be MUCH cheaper than this! YAY!!!!!

I would love to have a Dreams Puerto Vallarta webinar!

LOVE THEM! I am sure your guests will love them too!

I personally like the first one better. While the floor length dress is gorgeous, just thinking of what a 16 year old would be more comfortable in, and it is something fun and flowy like the knee length one.

So operation fit into my wedding dress is SUPER failing this week. Aunt Flo is SERIOUSLY messing with me. I am starving at every moment this week, and nothing is making me feel better. So, once this goes away, it will have to be heavy duty make up sessions for the copious amount of crap I have eaten in the past 3 days. Long weekend ahead too.... so THAT will be super fun... our friend wants to come over Sunday night and just drink wine all night haha. So yay to getting drunk on his good wine, but not so yay for my ever growing waist line haha

I hope you don't mind me sharing it! I just remembered how awesome it was.... and when she was asking about a newsletter type announcement, I couldn't for the life of me remember where I had seen it!

I think it is amazing It gets all the information they will need, as well as keeping it simple and to the point. Will you be having a website, so they can have further information as needed? (since your not sending out a formal invite)

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I found it! hahaha! http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/85325/templates-templates-templates-march-2013 Lydia is going to use it as part of her OOT bag, but I remembered it was amazing how it was worded! Take a look and see if it works for you!

Oh no! What are they going to do about it if they are completely lost?

Love it! Everything looks stunning... your invites are just incredible. We will be staying and getting married at Dreams as well! Not until September 2014 though.... but isn't it just an incredible resort? I am actually going to subscribe to this thread, to refer back to. Some of the details you had on your website were amazing and I might borrow with love to add to mine! Excited for you!

Alright, so this was my first DIY project! After seeing everybody's beautiful boarding pass STD's, I decided I wanted to do that for my invites. So I just wanted to keep the STD's fairly simple, but still fun. My first big excitement was going to vistaprint and getting our return labels and envelope stickers. As I was ordering them, I stumbled upon a save the date template I fell in love with. I thought it was sooooooo cute and just wanted to use it. So.... I made it, and just saved the image! Ordering them from Vistaprint would have just been far too expensive. Especially since, at that point, I thought I was going to be sending out a fairly large amount. This was my first template. I used a picture from our vacation at Dreams as the background. After many alterations, including saving, resaving, and editing and saving again, I FINALLY landed on a final image: After creating this image, I knew I wanted it as a postcard size, so I downloaded a postcard temple for word. It took a bit of finesse to get it to print within the proper lines, etc. But I finally got there. My original idea was just to print it on cardstock. However, after doing that, I just wasn't happy. The colour wasn't as bright as I wanted, and it just look cheap. So, I had seen glossy postcard paper at Staples and decided to try that out. My parents tried to print it off at their work, but the margins weren't working to allow them to do it. So they took it to CANcopy to have it professionally printed. Honestly, BEST decision and I am glad they did it. The comparison between the two is just incredible! So to create the glossy postcard, I used items from the Dollarstore and Staples. All those combined, equals: Now I had to find a way to send them! I didn't just want to send them in a plain white envelope. I finally found a pretty purple envelope at the Dollarstore. It came with a purple card as well, but I just kept that out and put the STD in the envelope, along with a personal message from Amir and I regarding us sending the invites out shortly, as we have secured a deal on a package that requires our guests to put down a deposit by the end of August. <---- please excuse my ugly table. We have been "refinishing it" for about 2 years..... so it just has a table cloth on it and we ignore it hahaha. <--i didn'd end up using these, as it looked to "kid crafty" Cost breakdown: Cardstock 1 (from bigger package) Business Card Magnets 10 Staples Postcard Glossy Paper 14 Staples Super Glue 5 Staples Sticker Decoration 2 Dollarstore Purple Envelopes 3 Dollarstore Glitter Glue 2 Dollarstore Paint Brushes 1.5 Dollarstore Colour Copying 14 CANCopy Printing White Mailing Labels 1 Dollarstore Stamps 0 Parents bought Return Labels 2 Vistaprint (part of bigger order) Envelope Seal Stickers 3.5 Vistaprint (part of bigger order) $59 In total, cost me $59 for my STD's, and some of it from purchasing unnecessary items, and through trial and error. In the end, had I know the cost of this trial and error, I would have just ordered them from Vistaprint. However, I didn't know (at the time), I would be reducing my guest list from 90 to 23! So that changed a lot of things! And I now have a LOT of extra postcard glossy paper with my STD on it haha. Oh well! Hope you guys enjoyed, and like! Feel free to leave a comment ~ Jenny xoxoxo Postcard STD.docx