girlinthecity97

Agreed!!! I am sure your guests will love these and Aruba (I know I do!). Which resort are you getting married at?

lucky you lol re minimally involved fiance. mine likes to say he isn't involved and doesn't want to be but his actions are saying the contrary. i haven't begun to think of dresses for my niece who will be a jr. bridesmaid or my little flower girls. i really love the candle, gum and chapstick ideas you posted! i think i may have to put 2 of those choices in my bag. right now i plan to put a beach towel, tumbler, "frown upside down" kit (e.g., aspirin/ibuprofen, pepto, immodium, alka seltzer etc...) weekend itinerary, mini crab mallets to rep the home state/town (maryland) and i haven't figured out what else. i thought i would give starfish wine bottle stoppers and cork screws as favors but my mom thinks i should go a different route. i may veto her opinion.

i hear you. i had a debate & even surfed around to see if there was enough to post as responses or think of new things that hadn't been posted to try to get me the extra 70ish i needed. oh well

@ - oh wow those ARE really nice and they are around the same price as the ones i was looking at on silkletter.com, only nicer! THANKS so much for sharing this!!!

Thanks!! I will check them out. Theme/Colors: yes, it's classic black & white. i always wanted one & df is pretty conservative on colors - this year we actually had a christmas tree. he "surprised" me with a white one and refused to let me put colored lights or decorations on it, only silver. i want the decor and invitations to have a "pop" am thinking of adding pale gold aka "champagne" into the mix. i got the when i mentioned this but don't care. he'll adjust so i'm thinking i will order sample pockets in both a pale gold and black along with black and pale gold matting to see which one i like best. decor wise, i love candles and think i want to go with floating ones in glass cylinders with a string of orchids inside and have guests name cards in small gold or silver picture frames. save-the-dates: those will be colorful. i'm doing luggage tags & have already designed the inserts via zazzle. thankfully df likes them or else he'd have to get over himself lol. i'm now debating whether or not to create a postcard to go with them for those relatives who don't use the internet a lot. the postcard would list the wedding date, location and contact info for the ta. i can't really get all of that on the luggage tag insert. as SOON as we lock down our hotel, i'm pulling the trigger on the save-the-dates. i've been "banned" from advanced ordering. if it was easy to receive packages at work, i'd just go ahead and order some things an have it delivered at work so he'd be none the wiser .

thanks @@amarie4713!! i didn't know they had those details on here. call me me a quitter but i broke down and paid the $30. there's no telling how long it would take me to hit the 150 & my curiosity won out.

@@talicea7812 - ok i'm now a "supporter" so i can see the pics! EVERYTHING is beautiful!!! who was the artist that helped you on etsy if you don't mind my asking? love Love LOVE it!!! the wedding is going to be gorgeous & i can't believe the flowers are easy. i broke the crafting news to my sister re the brooch bouquet and shoes. she seems on board i know i said it before but i REALLY love your colors and theme! i also like your location - df really wants to get married on the beach but i don't want to, however, i'm starting to reconsider. this really has inspired me to start ordering samples and trying out invitation ideas. i want to go with a pocket invitation. unfortunately, i can't really do the passport or boarding pass idea b/c it's already been done by a couple of friends. another friend who married in pr last year did a pocket and i thought it was really useful for keeping my flight, hotel and invitation info all in one place. i'm really loving the monogram band and may try that around the invitation. was the monogram hard to make? i'm guessing it's more tedious/trial & error than anything?

@@talicea7812 - you are so on the ball and way ahead!!!! i'm beyond annoyed i can't see the pics unless i reach 150 posts or pay $30. i'm thinking i may have to break down and just pay the $30....there's no telling when i will hit 150! i really can't wait to see them. i hear you on invites & great tip re finding a designer to make some of things for you!!!! i'm thinking i will make all of my invites, from shower right on down to the wedding. i have 2 coworker friends who love a good craft and graphics project and are pushing me to go DIY all the way around. although my sister is throwing my shower, she's always last minute and the coworkers want to do the invites.

@@fmyers562015 - thanks they really were! i keep nudging her to send me a pic to post! i can't wait to share. she's thinking she will do mine with rhinestones instead of pearls. we'll see though..... @@amandab36 - WELCOME @ congrats! i too am in the very early stages of planning and LOVE this site.

Thanks so much!!!

hi all: i love the shutterfly book idea!! i'm thinking of doing custom mexico art and having guests sign the matting around it.

great thread topic & feedback from everyone! fi initially wanted a legal ceremony in MX but is now thinking we should just do it when we get back, especially since it may take a while to get the apostilled copies etc... Unfortunately, he doesn't want to go to the JP before we get married if anyone reading this is from nj and has insight re license requirements & turn-around time, i'd love to hear it!

CONGRATS, welcome & lovely ring!

@@MelV521 - CONGRATS!!! i love your wedding date - it's my birthday so i know your will undoubtedly be fab & amazing. jokes aside, i agree with @@Lilgabri03. two friends had destination weddings and highly recommend hiring a TA that specialize in destination weddings. their ta's were able to help them negotiate, understand, and advocate on their behalf when situations arose between the resort and parent company they were initially working through (e.g., actual package items at the resort differed greatly from what they were told by the parent team etc...).

hi all: like @@Carlicardenas, i plan to do 1 year in advance (sending save-the-dates next month). To cut down on invitation costs, I'm including an interest/intent RSVP with the save-the-dates (e.g., yes, no, maybe so) so i'll have an idea of how many invitations to make/order for those who are yes and maybes. @@lydiasusi - i say the earlier the better because you know your guests best. most articles i read say you can send out save-the dates 12-14 months out but no closer than 9 months from your wedding date. @@Carlicardenas - i'm a february 2015 bride too! we are in the process of nailing down locations.

@@amarie4713 - sooo cool you have a video included in your wedding package! if mine came with one, i think i'd scrap a hunt for photog. could you nudge the FI to make a decision so you can nail one down. thankfully my date isn't until 2015 so everyone i've contacted for pricing is available. our biggest fight is my not wanting to use the same company to do both video and photography so we only have to pay the outside vendor fee once. i feel really strongly about pictures so i will just have to budget to cover the fee myself if i have to. @@kdnolan - i am. i am just going to use the same design that's on the bag. i haven't decided if i'm putting one or two in the bags though.

@ - thanks for the candid feedback. it is greatly appreciated. we have been continuing our search and this confirms we are doing the right thing.

@@amarie4713 - i haven't booked just yet but i've narrowed it down to who i want...it's sascha gluk! while df doesn't care about a video, i do so i want blue lens caribe to do that since my dream videographer doesn't once we nail down our resort in a couple of weeks, i'm going to book him. also, i plan to send out my save-the-dates with an "early bird" rsvp/interest card so i'll have an idea of how many invitations to order. who are you going with? how's your planning going? well i hope!

CONGRATS & Welcome! I bet getting engaged on NYE was AWESOME....so fab! This site has been super helpful. Happy planning

@@MrsHK - thanks! I will look into this. Unfortunately, the photogs I like stateside have pretty high quotes to do the wedding (e.g., $5K not including air & min 3 nights stay just to shoot for one day). The same was true for videographers. Now's the time I wish I had a wedding photog friend instead of a fashion one. He refuses to shoot weddings

@ - love the phrase! also i hear you re having the names on the bag. decisions! my coworkers also made a phrase suggestion: "live, love, laugh" and to put "happy wife, happy life" on the tumblers for a giggle LOL @@Linz1131 - thanks to @, i think i'm getting my bags from www.silkletter.com. @ started a thread listing links to sites where she found cheap bags: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/75929-cheap-tote-bags/

@@amarie4713 - thanks! i love your glitter idea!!! i can't wait to see pics if you do it.

@ - SO true (re adding up FAST). we are looking at about 75 (possibly more) so my goal is to try to spend no more than $5-7/person (DF would love it if i got it down to $3-4/person). The most expensive item for my bag are mini crab mallets (want to rep the hometown/state), followed by the bag & tumblers. I plan to hit up a costco/sam's type of place to get travel packets of things like advil, emergenC, immodium etc...to also include. When I go down at the end of this month, I'm going to check the Cancun Walmart to see if I can buy those things in bulk and for cheap there so I won't have to pack this stuff come wedding time. @@tmcdonald - agreed. I'm trying to come up with cute phrase, followed by the location so it looks like a souvenir bag. After playing around on Silkletter, I think we are going to leave the date off. That way guests will be more inclined to use them. I have great co-workers and they said they really liked the idea of a phrase and the location. *shrugs* I'd love to leave our name and date etc on but the thought of the bags being tossed or left behind makes me feel .

CONGRATS and Welcome @@zoeknight20!! I've stayed at several of the palace resorts and they are really nice! The customer service there is great.

Agreed & Welcome! Do you know what type of destination "experience" you want? (beach, mountains etc...)