NJBride2014

@@tygrrlily You didn't get to do a cake tasting when you went on your site visit? We had a food tasting and tasted 3 cakes. I insisted we do this and was glad to be able to get an idea of what to pick for our menu and cake. We are going with the hotels complimentary cake and the flavors are vanilla with strawberry filling and as a surprise I got my fiance a grooms cake and it will be hazelnut chocolate cake with raspberry filling.

I agree with @@acw271011 at both my bridal shower and bachelorette party I had guests who were invited to the DW come and guests who weren't invited to the DW also attended. I have a big family and a lot of sisters who have friends that I also grew up with but am not close enough with to invite to my DW. My sisters, mom and aunts had their own guest list lol so they all invited women who I have known most of my life and who actually wanted to be apart of all the festivities even though they weren't invited to the actual wedding. It really surprised me that they still came to my bridal shower and bachelorette party and were genuinely excited for me and excited to be a part of the fun leading up to the wedding. I guess you know your friends and family best and will know who should be invited. Good luck and enjoy all the festivities leading up to the wedding it goes by real fast!!

Here are some pics of the thin spanx. Just so everyone can see how thin they are and the style. They are definitely not the sexiest under garments but some of us need a little smoothing out...haha I know I do.[emoji12]

The maraca tag template has been sent.

No these spanx are super thin I own both and its definitely not the regular ones. The lady from the lingerie store recommended them especially for brides. I tried it on with my dress at my last fitting and it was great smoothing me out.

We actually have a united airlines credit card and for the people who gave us cash/checks to pay for them we would put it on that card and then immediately pay it with their money. We got them to book and also built up a lot of miles on our card. Basically just use any card that will give you incentives like cash back or airline miles. Just a tip. lol

I used Wendy HIcks a TA from BDW and at first we didn't know if our guests would like to fill out the forms and fax/email them back to her but they did and there were no problems. Also if someone felt uncomfortable or just didn't want to fill out the credit card from they gave us the cash and then we just paid it on our credit card and paid our card with their cash. This worked for us with a lot of our family since a lot were older family members who do not use the internet. I guess do what you think will work best for you and your guests but just wanted to let you know that they shouldn't worry about forms with their information just from personal experience we didn't have any problems.

The pictures look great!! What a fun event and great way to celebrate with friends and family, very cool to see different traditions. Love your red dress!

Thanks, it really has been a labor of love doing most things DIY and steal away. I can't believe we are less than 3 weeks away until we leave for Mexico! I'll definitely post after the wedding anything I want to sell, there will be a lot of things I'm sure.

My fiance and I actually decided to do a legal/church ceremony before we go to Mexico. Our ceremony is next Friday...ahhh! It'll be a short ceremony with our priest and parents, siblings and just a couple of family members who can't come to Mexico. I haven't advertised it to the friends who are coming to Mexico but if they find out I don't think they will care that we are already married. At least I hope not. At first I just wanted to do the simple courthouse ceremony but my fiance really wanted to do it at our church. The church ceremony will be straightforward and we will recite the traditional vows they require at the DW it will be more personalized and we will do our it our way. We get the best of both worlds now. My fiance's father actually decided only a couple months ago not to go to Mexico because he says he's not healthy enough to go so its a good thing we are doing something at home so he can be present. After the ceremony we are just going to a local restaurant with our family and having a private dinner. I guess it'll be nice to be able to visit the church where we got married and one day might have our kids baptized in. This is what worked for us. I say do whatever works for you. As for the anniversary date we will celebrate the DW date but if my hubby wants to give me a little something for both I'll gladly accept. lol j/k

Cake Topper I ordered my cake topper on Etsy from a great seller. We really wanted to incorporate our dog Linus and she did a great job on all the details. Love our topper!! Here are some of the pics she just sent me. https://www.etsy.com...ction/217692400

I ordered my cake topper on Etsy from a great seller. We really wanted to incorporate our dog Linus and she did a great job on all the details. Here are some of the pics she just sent me. https://www.etsy.com/transaction/217692400

@ I know its becoming very real. 20 days until we leave for Mexico!

Thanks!! I'm not for the super tight dresses with a lot of cleavage but for some reason this dress felt right. I have my last fitting on saturday I can't wait to take my dress home finally!! lol

I understand what you mean when I first went to look at dresses I had it in my mind that it had to be flowy and all chiffon and beach appropriate. That went out the window when I went to try them on lol I kept gravitating to the more fancier mermaid type dresses. I don't think my dress is quite DW style but it fits with our venue and still has a beachy feel to it. Also I don't really care what people think, I feel GREAT in it!! I say do what makes you feel awesome and it will radiate throughout on your day and in pics. Here is the dress I bought.

I was gifted a nice set at my bridal shower from my future MIL it actually matches our Oneida cutlery set that my future FIL gave us years ago when we moved into our new place. At first I didn't really care what I used for cake cutting but now that we have a nice set I'm going to bring it and use it and have it in the pics. It will also be nice to bring it out on special occasions, like birthdays or holidays and remember our wedding day.

Yes, they actually give us white tiffany chairs for the ceremony but only 25 are complimentary and you have to pay if you go over. We will need 32 so I'll pay for 7 extra so its not too bad. I can't believe how fast everything is coming and I have such a busy 3 weeks before we leave for Cancun. My 30th birthday is tomorrow, my last dress fitting is saturday and then I'm having a big 30th birthday BBQ. Next week I have my work bridal shower, church ceremony on friday and then a week to get everything together and packed before we leave. It's getting down to crunch time and I must admit I'm a little stressed. lol I'm pretty excited for the cuncrawl I've never done it and only have been to Senor Frogs in Cancun so it should be fun to try out a couple bars/clubs with all my friends and family. I'm so ready for a vacation can't wait to be away from work for 2 weeks.

Another DIY Project done!! Ceremony fan/programs I bought the sticks from amazon for about $6 and then used leftover cardstock to print the program then hot glued it together, very simple and cheap. The template I found online and just customized it. Custom Sunglasses with our Wedding hashtag Love the way they came out and they will be going in everyone's welcome bags. I also made the tags in word with a basic template and used leftover gold paper I had. Welcome bags done with name tags Maracas all done with tags Free Guestbook from Shutterfly I just went with a photo book of our engagement pics for our guestbook it was free just had to pay for shipping.

These are the dresses, 2 my BM's are wearing the same dress. I bought the dresses they paid for the alterations.

Try the sale section on the Donna Morgan website. I got all 5 of my girls dresses there for $300 bucks. Not too bad when each dress was orginally $250 each.

When I went on my site visit last year I met my onsite wedding planner and had her email contact info so I asked my onsite wedding planner about booking one room night early on and she agreed to let me do one night to bypass the vendor fee. But just today I saw on my final bill that my wedding coordinator (different person) added the $800 fee for my DJ and I already booked the room for my DJ and his assistant. I actually just finished emailing my onsite planner today to get this fixed I'm sure she'll change it and if it does become a problem I will fight it because I saved every email where she assures me that one night will be fine. If you want to go around the vendor fee by booking one night try asking your wedding coordinator they might say yes or no I feel like it all depends on the person realy. You'll get different answers from different people which is strange. Remember to save every email where they promise your something so that when its time to get your final bill you can fight certain things. I was also promised to only pay for 2 day passes for my photographers and when I first got my final bill they had charged me the vendor fee instead I reminded them that they said I could do 2 day passes and they quickly changed it. Look at your charges very closely.

We are flying first class and get 2 suitcases each at 70 pounds to check in so all together we will have 4 checked in bags and 2 carry ons. I also have family who will use their free check in bag to bring stuff for me. I'm hoping to be able to fit all wedding decor/favors and any extras into 3 checked bags. So far I have 2 bags filled and I'm almost done packing everything away so I should be good with 3 check ins for decor alone. Now I hope I can fit all my shoes in my own bag along with 2 weeks worth of clothes. Oh and I need to carry my wedding dress and my fiance's suit. I can just picture us now with all this luggage lol. Kind of sucks that we will be completely alone when we travel since we will be going a day earlier than everyone else would be nice to have some extra help.

Wedding Weekend Events Thursday - Welcome Party with signature drink, appetizers and a buffet dinner. After dinner our hotel puts on a fireshow so we will stay to watch that. Just going with the complimentary tables and linens for this event. I also plan to have a table set up to hand out my welcome bags to all of our guests. My fiance wants to greet everyone when they arrive and hand out the bags then but I feel like its going to be stressful then. With 30 something people arriving at the same time and checking in I don't want to have to find everyone to hand them their bags. After the welcome party we plan on going on a "cuncrawl" this is optional and whoever wants to go can meet us at the lobby and we can take a taxi downtown and go bar hopping. If you are looking into an organized outing look into "cuncrawl" they have good reviews. Friday - Rehearsal Dinner again we are going with the complimentary linens and furniture but will spruce up the atmosphere with some decor. Its going to be more of a spanish/mexican themed dinner/party. The menu is a buffet of latin/mexican cuisine. Flowers for the dinner Then we are getting these papel picado banners made to put in the flower centerpieces. They have our names and wedding date on them. I found a seller on etsy who will be making them. https://www.etsy.com/transaction/216784678 I also will have this banner hanging across over the tables. I bought the banner at amols.com. Saturday - Wedding Day Ceremony will be at 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm at the gazebo but with white complimentary tiffany chairs and the lace cones for the flower petals and coral and white petals lining the aisle. We wont' have much decor here as the location and background view is enough I think. Cocktail hour will start at 5:00 pm we left a 1/2 hour gap between the ceremony and cocktail hour so guests can freshen up and we have time to take some photos and still make it to part of the cocktail hour. The cocktail hour will be on the terrace with signature drinks and appetizers. I'll also reuse the centerpieces from the rehearsal dinner and have them on the cocktail tables. Gold straws for our signature drink. Not sure what drinks we will have but I'm leaning towards a mojito maybe a strawberry or raspberry I want a pink/coral drink lol. My fiance will probably do some type of martini. These are our personalized napkins that I bought off of theknot.com, these will be used at cocktail hour. Reception will be on the hotel rooftop terrace. Flowers for the tables, the flowers will be more coral and creams/white flowers. Table inspiration. I bought my sequin runners from a seller on etsy. The look of the reception will be romantic and elegant with coral, hints of turquoise and lots of gold accents. These are my coral napkins with gold napkin holders. Cigar station inspiration. Found this cute turquoise beach themed tray and will used it somewhere in the cigar station. Groom's cake for my fiance, its a surprise and I can't wait for him to see it. A lot of his friends who work with him in the jail are going to be at the wedding so I really think they will appreciate the cake. lol

More DYI projects Found this nice free template for sparkler holders. We are making life size cutout of our dog so we can take pics with him at the wedding. lol This was my fiance's idea and I think its going to be hilarious. I made my own lace cones to go on everyone's chair filled with rose petals for after the ceremony. These are our champagne flutes, just bought inexpensive glasses at crate and barrel added sparkly stickers.