TinkerSofi

Congrats and welcome to the club!! We got the memorable moments package for the reception tables and updated the ceremony to the sky deck so they were nice enough to waive the ceremony fee for us. That's something you could negotiate if you want one of the memorable moment packages . I know it doesn't sound like much in the grand scheme of things, but there's a lot of extra stuff you can do for $950! everything else I've tried to negotiate I haven't had much luck with, but I also heard the people over at the resort are more reasonable than the ones in Miami and more flexible in terms of negotiating. Make sure you ask about your free perk for booking with a GIC TA! My WC hadn't mentioned anything until I told her that I wanted the free spa package for booking with a GIC TA and then she said "Ok, thanks for letting me know" haha. Don't wait for them to tell you about the perks you can get

As promised, the pictures of the hangers. I'm not 100% sure about the guys'. I might just change Juan's and put the mustache and bow tie with the word groom in black, kind of like mine. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

totally agree with you, @@RitvikSehgal. I'm so glad we included this in our budget

that's what I like to think but the worrier takes over sometimes haha.

Looking back, yes, give people a +1. We didn't at first when we handed out the invites, but soon realized that it was unfair to ask people to travel alone, so we told them to bring someone if they wanted to, just to let us know. In the end most of them didn't, but I think it was the proper thing to do, to tell them to bring someone

thanks! I'm trying to negotiate the set up fee before we leave because I don't want surprises but I haven't heard back from my WC in 3 weeks . I called last week and apparently they had trouble with thier e-mail on the day I sent them mine so I had to resend it last week. Crossing fingers! I don't think we have a lot to set up, just some stuff on tables, so hopefully it won't be too much.

I know that microsoft office has the option of changing colors but it's kind of limited so I don't know if you'll end up with hot pink . Maybe paint is the best option

Sorry to have gone MIA once again. I've been stressed with work and other things and have barely had time to be around here, let alone much wedding planning. Final payments are due in the next couple of weeks and I'm praying that things go smoothly. I keep worrying that no one will end up paying their trips and so we will lose our perks. We're basically counting on these free people desperately. Juan now has to pay for pretty much his whole family to come and it's really putting a lot of stress on him and as a result on the both of us. I can't wait to hear the final "veredict", how many people are finally coming, how many people we get for free and just be done with this. Overall I'm just stressed and frustrated. Update on the Hangers: I decided to make my own hangers haha. They're not as great as the etsy ones but that's ok. It's just for a couple of pictures. I bought some supplies at Michael's and decorated them myself. I spent about $25 on all 9 of them . I'll try to post a picture soon. I might change the men's because I'm not sure I like them all that much. I have to sit on it and decide Update on the Bridesmaid gifts I've been checking like a mad woman when these will be shipped and I was starting to get a bit worried that they hadn't. Thankfully today I got a message from the seller saying that she's having some issues with one of the suppliers so she won't be able to ship them until next week, so everything is ok. Hopefully they arrive soon because I can't wait to see them That's all I've gotten around to this week. I keep looking at the ticker and even though I think i'm pretty much done with the planning, all these little things start nagging at me and keep stressing me out. This is my list so far. I feel like I have to write it all down to make sure that it's all in my mind and I don't overlook something: Things to do: - Write vows (after some discussion Juan insisted that he wanted to do this) - Finish up playlist for the party - Make playlist for dinner - Get kids' menu choices - finish up photobooth - polish the idea a bit. I really don't want to scratch the idea all together but considering the amount of work, I might. - finish putting tags to all the fans - assemble emergency kits - Pre-assemble welcome bags - Send welcome brochures to vistaprint - Get groomsmen gifts - start tanning - finalize the hair and makeup ideas

I'm just catching up with your thread. I'm loving all you've planned so far. Those centerpieces will look so good! How about heading to a library in town? sometimes they're getting rid of old books and just give them away for free. I know I've gotten a few books from the University library like that, or even professors who are getting rid of books. I think your bridesmaids will love the clutches . I found the idea too late about having clutches instead of bouquets, but I totally would have done that, and they're more practical too!

Here are a couple of pictures of what they look like Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just saw them this past weekend. I'll take a picture of them when I get home. Maybe if you show them that they might know where they are. I saw them by where all the stamps are and also where the scrapbooking albums are. At least the store I go to it's the first aisle, beside the aisle with the scrapbooking paper. It's the one with the Eiffel Tower sticker on the top. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I find colors always look darker in our amateur pictures . I like the Oasis more, but that's just me because I love blue . They're both very pretty though. Initially I told my bridesmaids they could pick whichever dress they liked as long as it was the color I had picked. They all ended up choosing the same hahah.

I think they are perfect!! I don't know you guys but they are very personal and emotional Haha, I'm the one with the holey socks and Juan throws them out for me haha I still have to write mine and have no idea what to say!

@@Lilgabri03 How were the set up fees once you got there? Did they charge you something crazy or were they reasonable?

I love the dress! It's short, but very bridal, it does not look like a bridesmaid dress. Sometimes your dress kind of surprises you when you don't expect it David's bridal definitely has the best prices from what I've seen, so you can't beat that and when it comes to BM they have so many color selections, it's great. I was actually going to go try some wedding dresses on there but then I fell in love with the one I got

I'm so sorry to hear that. I probably would the same then because I don't like it when companies act like my business is no big deal. I'm not saying they should put a red carpet for me, but a wedding is a big expense and it's giving them quite a bit of money. There's always resorts out there that offer way better perks. Have you looked into the beach resorts? Depending on the time of the year you might be able to get a good price and they also have beautiful terraces like AF. That one was on our list but the quote came back more expensive than AF. You don't lose anything by looking into it

The whole "we won't give you the stated price if you don't sing by yesterday" speech is classic negotiation. I wouldn't take it too seriously and still try to make a counter offer. Definitely have a plan B in case they don't bite, but I'm sure if you tell them "we'll only book if you do this" they're more likely to do that rather than let you walk away completely. If they don't bite, then yeah, maybe move on. Other than that, after we booked our wedding I started to look into the Grand Sirenis and Grand Riviera resorts. They are beautiful and they have much lower prices. Some of our guests are actually jumping ship to that hotel now rather than finish paying their booking at AF. Sometimes I do wish we had booked somewhere else. I know I won't regret my decision when we get there, but throughout the planning process I'm tired of having to negotiate everything and having to compromise on a lot of things because of their ridiculous prices. Grand Riviera Princess is actually next door to AF, so it might be a good compromise between good prices, a nice hotel and being somewhat close to Playa. That was priority #1 for us, being close to the nightlife, because we have so many young guests. That's where some of our guests are staying.

Lovely Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The garter is here! Yay! I'm really happy with it and I'm glad I didn't spend more money on this. In retrospect I think I should have chosen another one that I liked from the same store. It was the same but white lace and blue ribbon, but oh well. This will do the job and it still looks really nice: This is the store, in case any of you want to check our her stuff. She's based in Canada which is great because shipping fees are much lower for us Canadians and it arrived in no time! https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/MyThreeAunts

yeah, like they rarely have the 50% off ones but with your timeline i'm sure you can wait for one . Otherwise the 40% off ones come along pretty often.

As I have shown from previous behaviour, I would wait haha. Especially because you have so much time you can wait it out. On the one hand I want to have everything, on the other I want to save money. I guess I chose somewhere in the middle and didn't wait for another 50% off coupon, but 40% was good enough.

From the people that didn't book at the time of our deadline most didn't book at all. I kind of knew that but you'll see that aside from your MOH, which is obviously a big deal, when you get closer to the date everyone else is just nice for them to come but if they don't make it it's not a huge deal. I started thinking of the extra money in the budget that I could add to things here and there haha. I just kind of reminded everyone before the deadline and if they hadn't booked 4 months before I asked them again as to whether they were coming. That's when a few booked and others said they weren't coming. I'm glad it's almost over for you, getting people booked has definitely been the #1 stress for me. I think 40-45 people is a great number for a DW

I was talking to my dad about the photo booth the other day, and I was like "you can use me as a flash reflector!" hahaha. I need to do something about this because I look sickly white

yeah I think they were both about the same for wind, they're pretty good . I'm not saying they're as good as an actual Spanish fan, but they're good for what we need them. I just saw the coupon today! It makes me wonder whether sales are not going well because they never used to have coupons for the whole sale, only in the last 2 months they've been having quite a bit. @ I've basically had a week where I'm like "oh man, only if I had waited", I'd be an emotional wreck right now with all the stress haha. I guess we can't have it all. I still love your program fans, they will look amazing

I'm happy to hear that your FIL is doing better and recovering I would definitely send out a message or call people to let them know not to wait as the resort is filling up, but at the end of the day that's as much as you can do. We had a few people who waited until last minute and then prices went up, but we had warned them about it. At least from my experience, those who didn't book now will not book until the last 3-4 months when you start bugging everyone to finalize your numbers. Hopefully it won't be the case with you though.