Lydia1120

After many years together, my fiancé and I have perfected the Art of Marriage. We are best friends, lovers and soul mates. We have grown together to have the same sense of value and common objectives; we have learned to speak words of appreciation; we have learned to compromise and know that being the right person is just as important as being the right partner; we are able to forgive and forget; we never go to sleep angry; we stand together and face the world; we say "I love you" at least once a day; we form a circle of love that gathers all our friends and family and we will never be too old to hold hands. We are getting married knowing that our love will last a lifetime! Now, time to start planning the wedding. We decided on a destination wedding as we love to travel. We’ve been to Belize, Cuba, Dominican, Barbados, Mexico, Jamaica and Cayman Islands and I have to say that Cuba has pretty good beaches. We also chose Cuba as it is the most cost effective for our guests and has the best nightly entertainment (Costa Rica comes in 2nd). My future brother-in-law had been to Blau Marina Varadero (formerly Barcelo Marina) and he absolutely loved it! I checked out the packages and compared with some of the other local resorts and decided to go with Blau Marina as that where we got the most for our money. After getting quotes from Sunwing, Trans-At and Signature Vacations, we booked with Transat Vacations…. $1032 for regular rooms and $1104 for oceanview rooms and some really impressive incentives. BTW, I paid the $30 to be able to view pictures and download attachments on this website, which I have found to be worth the money. Thanks to all the brides for posting! :-) SAVE THE DATE CARDS We immediately ordered our Magnet Save the Date cards from http://www.magnetstreet.com/. Paid $2.05 each in total (incl taxes and shipping). See picture attached. GIRLS DRESSES: Given that people are paying for their trips, I wanted to pay for the bridal party’s attire. I bought the girls dresses at www.venus.com and paid $39 each. The girls love the way the dress fits and love the fact that they can wear it again after the wedding. For the ceremony, I purchased barefoot sandals for the girls from e-bay for $13.49 for a pair. For the reception, I ordered personalized flip flops from www.partyflops.com. I ordered 25 pairs for my guests as well and with shipping, it came out to $9.48 each. I would suggest going to Wal-mart and buying the $3.00 pair instead, albeit they came out fantastic! GUYS ATTIRE: My fiancé wanted to wear Cuban attire for the wedding. I did plenty of online surfing before I found a reasonable price www.guayaberascubanas.com . The guys shirts were $28.99 and the pants were $39.99. I also ordered the ring boy attire from there for $32.99 for the shirt and $34.99 for the pants. I will keep posting as my plans progress. For now, I will go back to finishing up my Message in a Bottle invitations.

After many years together, my fiancé and I have perfected the Art of Marriage. We are best friends, lovers and soul mates. We have grown together to have the same sense of value and common objectives; we have learned to speak words of appreciation; we have learned to compromise and know that being the right person is just as important as being the right partner; we are able to forgive and forget; we never go to sleep angry; we stand together and face the world; we say "I love you" at least once a day; we form a circle of love that gathers all our friends and family and we will never be too old to hold hands. We are getting married knowing that our love will last a lifetime! Now, time to start planning the wedding. We decided on a destination wedding as we love to travel. We’ve been to Belize, Cuba, Dominican, Barbados, Mexico, Jamaica and Cayman Islands and I have to say that Cuba has pretty good beaches. We also chose Cuba as it is the most cost effective for our guests and has the best nightly entertainment (Costa Rica comes in 2nd). My future brother-in-law had been to Blau Marina Varadero (formerly Barcelo Marina) and he absolutely loved it! I checked out the packages and compared with some of the other local resorts and decided to go with Blau Marina as that where we got the most for our money. After getting quotes from Sunwing, Trans-At and Signature Vacations, we booked with Transat Vacations…. $1032 for regular rooms and $1104 for oceanview rooms and some really impressive incentives. FYI: I paid the $30 so that I could start looking at pictures and downloading the templates which I found so very helpful! Thanks to all for their contributions. SAVE THE DATE CARDS We immediately ordered our Magnet Save the Date cards from http://www.magnetstreet.com/. Paid $2.05 each in total (incl taxes and shipping). See picture attached. GIRLS DRESSES:Given that people are paying for their trips, I wanted to pay for the bridal party’s attire. I bought the girls dresses at www.venus.com and paid $39 each. The girls love the way the dress fits and love the fact that they can wear it again after the wedding. For the ceremony, I purchased barefoot sandals for the girls from e-bay for $13.49 for a pair. For the reception, I ordered personalized flip flops from www.partyflops.com. I ordered 25 pairs for my guests as well and with shipping, it came out to $9.48 each. I would suggest going to Wal-mart and buying the $3.00 pair instead, albeit they came out fantastic! I also ordered the wedge for myself. GUYS ATTIRE: My fiancé wanted to wear Cuban attire for the wedding. I did plenty of online surfing before I found a reasonable price www.guayaberascubanas.com . The guys shirts were $28.99 and the pants were $39.99. I also ordered the ring boy attire from there for $32.99 for the shirt and $34.99 for the pants. I will keep posting as my plans progress. I must get back to finishing up my Message in a Bottle Invitations which I'm really impressed with. Here is the first bottle:

I am getting married on Nov 20, 2013 at the Blau Marina Varadero resort, formerly the Barcelo Marina. My future brother-in-law has been there and he said that it was beautiful and the food was awesome for Cuba! We are flying through Transat and the tickets were just over $1,000 pp which is perfect. I wanted to stay in that price range to make it affordable for our guests. Well it worked...we have 74 deposits so far and it's only January....The hotel does charge extra ($1,000) for the co-ordinator to work with you, flowers, hair, etc. Transat also offered every 21st person for free and only pay the taxes of just under $300, so we are using the freebies for us and one of our son. The resort also charges an additional $20 pp for the meal after the 20th person. Overall, it is still significantly cheaper than a wedding here at home and definitely going to be much more fun in CUBA!!!!

Bridal set of Necklace and Earrings $5.00 4 Sets of Bridesmaids Necklace and Earrings $5.00 each Buyer pays for Shipping

I purchased this gown and it is absolutely gorgeous but unfortunately too small! Retails for $900. The trumpet silhouette is comfortable so that you are able to dance and move easily. The gown is lace with a pleated satin midriff with beaded lace. Located in Ontario, Canada. Selling for $200 or best offer plus shipping.

I am interested in the Black Swarovski Crystals and the Suduko books. Can you PM at [email protected] I do live in Canada but have friends in Michigan that it may be cheaper to deliver to. Lydia

I bought 50 nylon bags at orientaltrading.com for $31.50 and did not have them personalized....several different colours in the package. I will just decorated them with ribbon and put a tag on each. This way, my guests can use them as grocery bags afterwards.

I have sent out my Save the Date cards and am getting ready to send out the Invitations. However, 32 people have already put their deposit down on their trip. So I would like to add a note thanking them for the deposit and a reminder as to when the final payment is due. Any suggestions?

Fantastic job! Thank you for the wonderful ideas!

where did you order the Mini bottles with corks for message in a bottle seating?

I am interested in 12 of the Wine Glass Swirl Vellum Shades. You can email me at [email protected] I may also take some of the ring for kiss place cards