TinkerSofi

We did 3 months as well when the final payment was due. It worked out and we were able to get final numbers then I also had a few extras of everything because I had bought them so far in advanced, but oh well. Better to be prepared.

I don't think it's ever too early to start doing some planning. The day after we got engaged I joined this site and started scoping around what destinations we liked the most, what a DW entailed. I found a lot of things I didn't know about. That was 2 years and a half before the wedding. About a year before the wedding we got in contact with a TA and we went from there with choosing and booking the resort. This didn't take us long because by the time we saw her we had a clear picture of our budget, what we wanted, the destination we wanted, etc. Our original resort that we mentioned to her didn't work out, but she soon made different suggestions and it took us about a week to make up our mind. I think getting in contact with a TA about a year and 3 months or a year and a half out is good enough. The booking deadline for our group was exactly a year before the wedding and I thought that was good. We still had people cancel last minute because of unforeseen circumstances, but that can happen regardless. I think if the deadline had been more than a year out, it would have been harder for people to commit because no one likes to think that far ahead and a lot of things can happen in between. I think even getting in contact with a TA a month or two before you want to book something is a good idea. Keep in mind, usually the time between your booking with the resort and the group deadline for your guests is about 3 months. That will give you a month or two working with your TA to narrow down the resort you want. The only exception I can think of is if you want to and can do some site visits. Then I would speak with a TA before, and make a shortlist of resorts you want to see based on their recommendations. This is where things got complicated for us. About a year before we were ready to book we went and visited 3 hotels in the destination we wanted. I had done the research myself and didn't go through with a TA because everyone I asked said that it was too soon, they couldn't get quotes (one of my biggest deciding factors was the price of a week at the hotel), overall they just weren't very helpful. As it turns out, none of those 3 worked out in the end, we booked somewhere else and by the time we did that (a year before the wedding) we didn't have the time or the money to go visit this new hotel. Moral of the story, if you want to visit the resort before you book, I'd say get in contact with a TA sooner rather than later so that way you can budget for your site visit as well, rather than having that plus the wedding all to pay for in a year. I hope that is clear but let me know if you have any questions

@@beckys98 thank you for those words. I think that's exactly what is happening here and what will happen when we move in. I'm scared and he's so chill. But then again, I don't know how chill he really is, he tends to really hide his emotions and it seems like nothing affects him but I know that he's probably feeling the same thing I am. He has lived with someone before so he kind of knows what to expect, even though according to him his previous relationships were very different. I think the first couple of weeks will be bliss and a little bit weird because I basically have to make another house my home haha, but it will be our home, something I've been dreaming of for years, so I don't know why I'm so scared. The dating phase will be a good memory but it's time to move on and open a new chapter @ashhtayy @calgarybride2015 thank you guys! I still can't believe it's pretty much a week before we leave! I honestly thought it would never come haha. This week and next week I'm swamped with appointments to make sure I'm wedding ready . I'm considering eyelash extensions. Now the only issue is the money. I have PCOS, so I get facial hair. About a month ago I went get laser hair removal because it takes about 3 months to grow back so I thought the timing was perfect for the wedding. When I went there was a new technician so she didn't put the setting too high but I was supposed to have a follow up two weeks later just to make sure it worked. Long story short, In between the two appointments she quit, the treatment didn't work, I tried to get a refund for the treatment because I have hair again, and the lady (I'm being nice here, as countless, less nice words, come to mind) at the salon refused to give me my money back saying that I had already paid a discounted price and I got a treatment out of it anyway. They haven't hired a new technician so they can't give me a follow up appointment with someone else either. So now I basically have to somewhere else and pay again to get the same treatment, money that was supposed to go for my eyelashes. I'm so angry about this. I called them being really nice and asked to see what we could do and she got really rude really fast, without any provocation. I lost it on her in the end, I might have said some nasty things and hung up the phone on her haha. In the end I might just have to go with fake eyelashes

yeah! It's pretty great. I still have to sit down and actually read it haha, I just haven't really had time, but the parts that I skimmed through were pretty interesting. My friends said they got it at Indigo.

that is true! I'm getting really excited now and can't wait

I think the sexy stuff is a great idea too . It doesn't have to be anything crazy, but your ideas were good . I got this book called "The Sex Bible" or something like that for my bridal shower haha. Well, let me tell you that even the parents and their friends were all over that, even if married for 25+ years haha. We all had a good laugh about it and I think if your friends have a good sense of humour they'll appreciate it . I was surprised, despite the shocking and scandalous pictures, the book is actually quite interesting and informative .

@@Laurena1229 hey! welcome to the forums and congrats on your upcoming wedding . We are using the semi-private dinner as a welcome event and then paid for a private reception at the sky deck for our wedding. The only problem with the sky deck is that you can't have plated dinner, only buffet or family style, which was ok for us, but I know a lot of brides want the plated dinners 100%. We didn't get their packages. They weren't around when we first booked our wedding, and when they came up, after doing the math it didn't seem like such a good deal for 30 people (we had 40 people at the time when I looked into them, but still). I found that you pay a lot for a limited amount of guests, and while it looks pretty, you're also paying for a lot of extras that in our opinion weren't necessary. We decided to go with the always and forever package for the ceremony and bring our own decor and then we just paid $250 for each memorable moments table for the reception and then bring the rest of the decor. It was what we found cheapest. We also upgraded to the sky deck for both the ceremony and reception so that was our splurge . Let me know if you have any other questions! If it's not me that knows the answer, the other ladies on here are really helpful

Thanks! I read your comment the other day about getting used to living with someone else. I know it will be tough the first couple of months, but like you said, you're living with the man you love so everything will be ok . My biggest concern, and it always has been, is what if he gets sick of me? hahah. I guess it's just one of those things that you have to do it to get over the fear . I'm the kind of person that doesn't like change, and so whenever something changes so drastically I always feel nostalgia for the life I'm leaving, while also feeling excitement for what's to come. It's a very strange feeling. I always feel like "I need to enjoy my old life as much as I can before moving on so I have no regrets" haha. This isn't just about living with my family, but also our relationship with Juan will change and I want to make sure I squeezed the juice out of dating before moving on haha. It makes no sense because we've been dating for 7 years and I can't even count the times I told him that I can't wait to be married, I'm tired of dating haha. Like I said, it's just the change-phobic in me that doesn't want to let go.

I agree! It wasn't until after that I began finding out about other great photographers Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm using Octavio montes. So far he's been great to work and communicate with. I can let you know how things go on the day of fairly soon . We wanted to split our initial budget into photography and videography and I thought he was a steal for the amount of hours. I also really like his pictures, especially the ones he takes at night Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yay! planning thread! I love your proposal story , so cute and romantic I definitely lol'd at the whole "changing the diamond because it was bigger" haah, ouch, i'd be so offended if someone brought that up to me haha

@@calgarybride2015 I'd better ask the photographer how they plan on doing it, and whether they can split up. I don't want to burn a whole hour on getting ready pictures. I just have a couple of must haves but that's it. @ Oh I've been feeling emotional haha. I either cry or get angry so easily, not with my family or Juan, just random people seem to be pissing me off lately hahah. I just lose it a lot easier on people than I would normally @@Wafflesmom I love the fall because I feel like it's so cozy, so I think it will be perfect for nesting @@yycbride2016 yes, it's pretty bad, I think i'd have to spend 8 hours at a salon just to fix me up lol.

The countdown is on! I feel like I'm way too chill for this haha. Last night they gave us our possession date for our home, Sept 11! So that means, only 3 weeks after we come back from Mexico. It will be great because I'll have something else exciting to look forward to instead of the wedding blues . Last night I started with the nightmares again haha, I dreamed that I started packing at 2pm and we had to be at the airport at 2:30. Then my bag felt so light that I knew I was forgetting everything haha. Then my house was all weird and they had done a bunch of things wrong. It was just terrible haha. Today I booked all my appts to get beautified before the wedding. I feel like a gremlin right now, trying to let all my hair grow out (from everywhere) so that I can wax and thread properly in a couple of weeks and nothing grows out while I am in Mexico. I feel gross right now. The only appt missing is just the mani and pedi. I also worked on the timeline for the wedding day, again. I am so paranoid about this thing! I'm pretty sure I've asked this question before, for those already married (probably only @@calgarybride2015 hahah), how long did you allocate for getting ready pictures? These are important but I'd rather spend less time on these and get more pictures of the reception. Is half an hour ok? Do you think we'd be able to get both, girls' and guys' getting ready in that time? We have two photographers by the way, or one photog. and the assistant. I don't know if that makes a difference. I also e-mailed our Canadian officiant today. Since we're not doing special vows or exchanging rings here, we decided to do a reading. We're also not doing a reading in Mexico, so I think it's a nice way to keep both ceremonies special . I picked a quote from The Notebook, because I love that book : "I love you. I am who I am because of you. You are every reason, every hope, and every dream I've ever had, and no matter what happens to us in the future, everyday we are together is the greatest day of my life. I will always be yours.” My Canadian MOH just texted me today, apparently the zipper on her dress wasn't closing properly and getting stuck, even when she didn't have it on. So she went to the bridal store today and they recommended her that she also get the dress taken out a bit, just in case. It will be done by Aug 5, and we leave on the 9th, talk about last minute! hahah She just said that she wanted to be safe so she could eat all she could at the wedding and not have to worry about the dress being too tight . That's all the planning so far!

I love the second color palette and I think it's totally doable. Why not? Those colors are really in lately so I don't think you'll have trouble finding stuff. I think it will look gorgeous and romantic , right up my alley at least My color now became popular, but when I was trying to find stuff, nothing haha. Sometimes that happens. I think it would be easy for example, getting blush pink dresses for bridesmaids, and not only at bridal stores, which can save everyone a buck or two I don't know why we picked what we did. I think the mango margarita sounds delicious . We might have to change our mind when we get there haha.

I like the second invitations and I agree, it doesn't really matter if you're not exactly set on the colors yet. You can always add to that palette later and no one will remember haha. For my bridal shower, we played a game "who knows the bride best?" and for the questions "what are the wedding colors?" only half of them knew hahah. I think that as long as you don't change them drastically people won't see the difference.

I don't know if the bellini is frozen, I didn't even see it on the sheet haha. I hope the sangria is good and I would imagine that it's the red one. I'll ask when I get there how it is and I might change my mind haha.

I'm so sorry that you're going through this. My two cents is that you need to talk with her. As much as you hate confrontation; and trust me, I understand because I'm the same; your friendship came way before either man made into your lives, so it would be a shame to just let it go like that. I can tell you that she is definitely acting that way because she's jealous. Sometimes it takes someone else to be happy to realize how miserable your life is, and it hurts, it sucks! It's a shame that she's decided to show it this way rather than doing something to fix her life, but it happens. It doesn't mean she doesn't like you or care about you, she's just jealous, and jealousy is not letting her see past this. I've been in controlling relationships, and you honestly do not see the way out, even though it's right in front of you. You take it out on other people, everyone is wrong, you're miserable, but in your eyes, things are not as simple as dumping his a*** to make your life better. It takes a while to see that. I think you need to tell her what's been bugging you. You don't even need to tell her that your sister told you, you can just say several people have told you that she's been talking behind your back and that even you feel like she's not happy for you. I just feel like if things aren't meant to be between you two this will be the nail in the coffin. Then you can move on and forget about it, but in my opinion, it's better to try and fix things and fail rather than let yourselves simply drift apart after so many years of being friends. I agree that true friends don't go talking behind people's backs and that's just mean. It can really go either way, but at least you get your feelings out of your chest before closing that chapter

Welcome to the forums and congrats on choosing a resort! I'll be there in about 3 weeks. yay! I can't wait, and I'll let you guys know how it goes You basically chose AF for the same reasons we did. The beauty of the sky deck, the price, and the fact that it was close to Playa. I agree that the reviews are hit and miss, but I've been trying not to read them lately. Some of them are complete BS and all I'd like to say to those people is don't expect royalty luxury if you're not willing or can't pay for it. I always take them with a grain of salt and hope for the best during my vacation. I guess all places have an off week here and there, I just hope it isn't the week i'm there From my experience, the Lomas vendors (the Miami coordinators) are not the greatest to negotiate with. The only thing we've been able to get away with was getting the ceremony for free. My TA negotiated this because we upgraded our ceremony and reception to the sky deck, plus we're getting one of the memorable moments package. Other than that, everything I've tried hasn't worked. There's a few things that I want to negotiate when I get there, so I'll let you know how that goes. If you don't want to upgrade your reception to the sky deck, the garden is beautiful and it doesn't cost more. In case you don't want to do the beach, that's a great option You'll hear more from me soon!

We had picked the mojito at first I think but then someone said it was disgusting so we switched it to sangria. Hopefully that's good! Bellini is probably really good too! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk OMG. This is the best idea ever hahah. I would still do it and send it to them before you leave haha Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I second @, the proposal boxes are very cute. I feel like the most unromantic person ever, I basically just asked my MOH's to be there and they said yes haha. I kind of wish I had done something sweet like you

@@ashhtayy The choices for the welcome cocktail at the sky deck should be on the first email you got. There's one document explaining all the perks at the sky deck, and the options are right there I chose my hair appointment about 3 months out. I also asked and you can change things around once you get there. I budgeted for extra time for my hair because hairdressers never take into account the amount and length of my hair, and then complain that it takes them so long and they're late. I'll see how the trial goes, and if less time is needed, I can just change it up before the wedding. So definitely don't stress about that right now. In a few months, I'd pick the day of your trial and then a tentative time for your wedding day hair and makeup. They told me to budget 2 hours for both of them on the day of, so I budgeted anywhere from 2.5-3. It's always better to have extra time rather than to run around trying to play catch up.

Oh man that sucks about the booking drama. This was also our #1 source of drama and we're still recovering from it haha. I can't believe what the "temporary TA" said to your guests. That was so unprofessional, it actually left me with my mouth open. I still think you made the right choice telling people that the deadline was before. We had drama up until 12 before the deadline and I do not wish that on any bride. I told people after the deadline that we had lied but only because we know that some of our guests are procrastinators haha, everyone understood and actually said that was a smart idea. I'm happy that you have such a nice group coming! It will be so much fun . The next thing, given your TAs responsiveness, make sure that she sends you and your guests' travel documents about a month before you leave. I just got this from my TA. Everyone needs to make sure that all their names and everything is exactly as it is on their passport and just to make sure all the details look ok. Sorry I didn't answer your previous post where you asked me some things. I've been running around all weekend and I've barely been on here. I'll do that as soon as I'm at a computer [emoji6] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you ladies. I have to say, the etsy vendor where I got all my jewelry is amazing, so if you like what I'll be wearing definitely check her out. Her store name is poetryjewelry. She's based in Australia, but the shipping costs are very reasonable. @@calgarybride2015 I'll definitely stay on the lookout for the noise! Hopefully i'm up here in the north that day. Since Juan lives all the way down in Somerset, sometimes it depends on what we have to do, we might be up north or in the south. We had my bridal shower this weekend but there wasn't that many of us, so you probably didn't hear us haha. We ended up having a fire at night, so maybe you smelled the smoke haha. The bridal shower was a success. I had a lot of fun, and I think my guests did as well. There were 14 of us, all of them are coming to Mexico, so I thought it was a nice ice breaker for people. Everyone got along very well and now we're all getting super excited to leave for the wedding . Last night it finally hit me that I'm getting freaking married!! hahah. I just started thinking that my life will never be the same and I need to enjoy the last few weeks that I'll be here at home. I got pretty emotional after people left. Don't get me wrong, at my age I definitely feel like I need my own place, but it's basically the prospect of your life changing that makes it a little bittersweet. Our house won't be finished until September, so we're still going to live in our respective homes after we come back from the wedding until we can move to the new house. There's just no point in moving, to move again in another month. Maybe other Disney fans will understand, I feel like Wendy from Peter Pan and her last night at the nursery .

We leave on the 9th so our vacation is just 3 weeks away! That's insane and I still don't realize the seriousness of the situation hahah (that everything needs to be done in 3 weeks!!) hahah Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk With how much I've waited for these packages I can't believe I haven't had a chance to post a picture!! I love everything I got Here is the necklace And then bridesmaid jewelry set. They look a lot more sparkly in real life Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm using it! . I posted what I thought on the thread above. I'll let you know in a month how the party went with it [emoji6] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk