TinkerSofi

@@NJBride2014 I'm the same way but I guess people just read the first few lines. I thought it would have been rude if my first line was the booking link but maybe I was wrong haha. I'm sending the invitations next month, even though it's 13 months away from the wedding but our deadline for the deposit is August 19. After that we have to give the unused rooms back to the hotel. They don't have to pay the full balance until next year but they really need to put down those $150! Anyway, I might have to send an e-mail out right before the deadline reminding people. I don't want to be pushy but I also don't want people coming back to me saying that now they can't afford to come because they lost out on the price we had when we booked everything. Ugh, so frustrating!

@@simba1234 I totally know what you mean. I chose my brother and my friend, who has been my friend for 7 years, to stand by my side and my fiance will have his two sisters by his side. I'm hoping that one of my cousins and my best friend from childhood will be able to come all the way from Argentina. In that case of course they would be added too. I told the rest of my girlfriends the situation and that even though I love them to death it is a really small wedding and I don't want to make it look like people needed to wear uniforms for my wedding haha. Besides, as you said, it really creates resentment for the few people that weren't in the bridal party. I've seen it happen before at another wedding. I'm stressing out over the fact that I sent e-mail save the dates with a link to the booking page and to our website with all the instructions on how to book, but apparently no one has read that and they all ask me how to book . Which also makes me wonder, those who didn't ask, do they know what to do or are they waiting for the invitation? I'm planning on sending out the invitation with the RSVP date (the deadline for the deposit) a little bit sooner than I thought so that everything is clear, hopefully. Does anyone have tips on this?

You can do whatever you want because it's your wedding and it only happens once! It's totally fine to have a really low key wedding. It might make your hotel selection a little bit harder because it's easier to find resorts that cater to small weddings rather than big ones. It's ok to feel overwhelmed as well. We had to change hotels last minute when we were ready to book and it was so overwhelming to start my whole research again. Now with the invitations it was a whole new overwhelming feeling. Just enjoy the process with its ups and downs . Don't feel bad for wanting a small, simple wedding. Some of us want to have a bit of that big "at home wedding" but close to the ocean so we kind of go all out on some aspects. In most cases your side of the planning is very minimal and you'll love that it's basically like picking your wedding from a menu! Haha. My fiancé was the same as yours, he said, "a wedding is mostly for the bride so do whatever you want as long as you don't pick red for the colors". Well that made my life really hard haha so now I narrow the choices down and ask him what he prefers. That seems to work Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was just reading the information that the wedding coordinator sent to me. I was wondering if it is possible to have a cocktail hour somewhere where we won't get charged the $8 per person like in the sky deck. We're already paying extra for the dinner on the terrace and we just want to skip that fee again. Has anyone else done it? what are the options?

I'm not changing mine because I love my last name (I have two already, my mom's and dad's) and it's a way of honoring my parents. My fiancé has always been good with that and he told me to do what I want. I had my mind made up before I met him. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I thought I'd wear my hair half up half down. I also got a strapless sweetheart and when I put my hair up to see how it would look I actually liked it better. Then I thought of when i usually go out that I end up putting into a ponytail anyways so up it is! The heat and humidity really make it look like a mess by the end of the night. I have thick hair, but I get those fuzzies when it's really humid.

an update! I thought I wouldn't wear one but when I tried my dress one with the veil I totally changed my mind! I think they do look nice on pictures and in some cases it just completes the look . Definitely try it with the veil and without and see which one you like better. I tried it with a veil and a flower and it looked good. you probably have to find the right flower, or you can also use the veil under your hairdo if you have your hair up, then you can wear both with no problem. I think once the veil comes off for the reception it's nice to have the flower

Finally my turn! If I had seen this dress online I wouldn't have thought in a million years to try it on. Definitely not what I expected but I fell in love with it when I tried it on! and me: here you can see the details a bit better:

@@mellie818 thanks! I actually live in Calgary so that's a bit far, but maybe it's worth checking kijiji and things like that for people who make bouquets with fake flowers. I got my bridesmaid bouquets for $12 at Michael's. They were surprisingly nice for the price. i'm just going to add a little bit of baby breath to them and they should be good to go . Thanks for the tip!

I found my dress yesterday! It needs to have a few alterations but I love it!

@@kellymiller that is great help! Thank you so much. They definitely look way nicer than the ones I printed at home haha and it saves me the trouble to go hunting for the right cardstock

Hi everyone! I'm doing my own boarding pass invitations but I'm running accross a few issues. First, it seems like all the pictures I've seen of other DIY invitations look so professional. I'm wondering what kind of printer I should be using, is laser or inkjet better? Also, what kind of cardstock should I be using to make them look a little bit more professional? Any other tips to make them stand out a little more and so they don't look like a 5 year old's art project? I'll try to attach some pictures tomorrow since it's kind of late today.

We originally thought the video was the least important part of the wedding. Then I found some old videos from when my brother and I were kids. These things were priceless! and that's when I realized that even though the pictures are nice, it's the videos that are so much fun to watch years down the road. I think in a way they're more special than the pictures. We decided to cut down on the pictures a bit and spend a little on a videographer . I don't think we will regret it.

if you want to, I think you should! I don't think people really start thinking of gifts until like 2 weeks before, one month at the most

@@BDABeachBum and @@reynbow. I personally wouldn't hire an outside coordinator but I think it depends how many $800 fees you're willing to pay. They probably would charge for the planner too because she would have to be at the hotel the day of the wedding since the hotel planners don't really know what's going on. From the info I got after booking at Azul Fives, and from what I understand, they do not allow flowers from the outside (or at least they don't unless you pay the fee), please someone correct me if I'm wrong. This isn't the only hotel that's starting to do this, sadly. In terms of makeup, they do airbrush make up now so that loophole is gone. With that said, in my opinion it is crazy expensive, running at around $200. I think it's pretty unfair that they don't let you take the cake, given that you're charged another $300 for it! I think you should be able to and I know i'm going to fight for that. I'm quite disappointed to hear that they don't have a filling. Who the hell likes dry cake?? I'll have to ask about that, because considering the price they charge they are really dropping the ball here. I might not even have a cake if that's the case haha. Also, a good question worth asking is whether they even allow you to bring a cake from the outside. Many hotels don't allow outside food. We're going with a joined photographer and videographer so we only pay once and we're keeping the flowers to a minimum so paying the $800 for an outside florist is really not worth it. We'll use Lomas's flowers for whatever we'll do and some fake flowers for details here and there. The hair is really not that bad, $90 so I'll get it done there. Someone will have to really convince me that the $200 for airbrush makeup is worth it, because otherwise I'll do the makeup myself or just get the regular makeup which is much cheaper. Another thing I planned was looking for spas outside the hotel, getting everything done there in the morning and just come back in with everything done, but I don't know if that's even realistic. in terms of music we're just renting the amplifier and maybe a few lights. That way we are sure that we play the music we want. The DJ doesn't have good reviews and the price is honestly out of our budget. I went with Azul Fives because I fell in love with their venues and the price for a wedding is about the same as other hotels we looked at. We don't have a big budget, which means we're limited in many ways, but from the research I've done, all hotels try to charge you an arm and a leg for everything. They don't have fees for breathing down the aisle because they can't. If you're very set on getting most vendors from the outside, including a planner, have you looked into an outside venue? That might be cheaper than paying all those $800 fees and your guests get to stay wherever they want. The only bad part being that your time spent with them will be more limited than if you all stayed at one hotel (which can also be arranged)

Thanks! Yeah, I mean we don't expect many people to give us anything, but if they want to at least it's better to get something you want! haha. I think we'll follow your advice @@acw271011 and wait a bit longer. I don't really think people will be thinking about gifts at this point with the primary concern being trying to get booked.

Should we set it up before sending invitations out? We are sending them out really early but I'm afraid people won't check our website after that. Also, things change so much in a year that maybe there's other things that will come out that we wish we had put in the registry. I was thinking of waiting before setting the registry up even if the invites are sent out, but is that ok?

@@BusyBee280 definitely! I'm so happy that the resort we chose we can just pay and have all the table decor already chosen and set up for us and of course everything else is so much easier to do. I think some people will always be offended but you can't please everyone. Having a destination wedding really helps to keep your guest list in check hahah.

that's a good idea! oh man, i'm still working on that website! And I should be sending these out like, tomorrow bahah.

@@Lilgabri03 I just hard back today! Yay! this is happening! I'm working on getting my guest's e-mails to send them the e-vite so they can start putting down their deposits!

I just got an e-vite from my travel agent with all the info for people to start reserving their seats. I have to e-mail them out today or tomorrow. The guests have 90 days to put down a deposit (I'm telling them 80 for all the procrastinators out there). The e-vite says that a formal invitation will follow. My question is, how soon should I send the formal invitations? I am working on them already as they are DIY but is it still too soon if the wedding won't be until August 2015? Or do people need their invites sooner because it is a destination wedding? We're not putting a lot of information on them, other than the ceremony info, but they have our website where everything else will be.

@@Lilgabri03 thanks! I sent my deposit about a week ago but I still haven't received confirmation of the date we picked. Let's hope it's still available! I'm still in the dark about a lot of things but hopefully I'll get to ask someone soon

@@Lilgabri03 did you have to pay the sky deck fee twice to have both of them there? @@mazarin, I would like to have both of them there too! If not possible I would go with garden ceremony and sky deck reception (C but reversed)

@@jayejayelynn You never know! Just as circumstances change and people cancel, some might decide to come last minute

We're sending invitations even to those that already told us that they will not go. I think the rule of thumb is, if you were planning on inviting them, you should give them an invite. Some people really like to keep invitations even if they can't go.