vanessav53

@diadiamond- my FI is one of 8 siblings and he has over 25 cousins and those cousins all have a few kids each. We are closer with some cousins than others BUT since his immediate family ( Just his brothers/sisters and nieces/newphews) is 31 people we decided to invite ONLY immediate family only. HIs extended family totally understood. You almost have to do all or none. You can't invite some cousins/aunts/uncles and not others. It was easier for us to just tell his family we are only inviting siblings. People were honestly totally fine with it so I guess maybe we got lucky. PLUS having a destination makes people realize it's an intimate affair anyway.

@@Jennypert I'm walking out to somewhere over the rainbow. We are walking out after the kiss to Bruno mars - Marry You and we are walking into the reception after we get announced to "best day of my life" from American authors Our first dance is Stand By Me and the dance with my dad is a surprise he is keeping the song from me! HA HA He's too cute

@GingerJ228- No seating arrangements at welcome BBQ. I"ll let people mingle. It's only 2 hours and we are having a live band ( in lieu of the calypso band that canceled ) so hoping people are up and dancing a little bit,etc. At this point my friends have met johns family and friend at the bachelorette party and bridal shower and a lot of people coming Thursday so people will have mingled a bit prior to getting to BBQ. Here are some photos of the centerpieces I was talking about. It's so super simple. Also I would ask your WC what they have that you can use to throw on the tables because so many brides leave stuff behind they might have stuff for no charge that they can put on the tables to just "spice" it up a bit. I'll have my tablecloths that you can use if you want. Ill have 8 navy organza overlays to cover the white table cloth. I have no idea if those are your colors but you are welcome to use for your welcome BBQ on Saturday since I'll be done with them on Friday night. I'm renting the vases from the florist but if you want anything else of mine let me know. Same with wedding stuff. I'll likely leave my chair sashes,etc with juan afterwards in hopes that another bride can utilize!

@@tcaurie07 - I used www.tablelinensdirect.com and the sashes and linens were very cheap. I did order a few more sashes and my wedding coordinator is going to tie around the cocktail tables as you mentioned. Just to brighten it up a bit. Also he is going to put little white lanterns on the table that he had left over from another wedding for no charge just to make it a bit fancier. I am not going crazy on cocktail hour décor because it's only an hour and I really want to focus on the welcome BBQ and reception but I figure a little punch of color around the stems of cocktail table will be great. I'll end up leaving my stuff there anyway so hopefully someone can use them when it's their turn. My colors are navy and fushcia. The tables come Plain white so I am adding the following: Pink Chair sashes on the back of the white chair cover Navy blue linens which will be placed like a sash under the plate setting just to give it a little pop My centerpieces will be bright pink flowers with a navy ribbon wrapped around the square vase with a small lantern next to the centerpiece For the welcome BBQ My tables will have the following: Navy organza overlay tablecloth - see through so just gives it enough color over the plain white tablecloth 3 cylindrical vases ( renting from florist) I'm filling them with water and seashells and a floating candle on top as centerpiece for each table. Again, keeping it simple since we will be on the beach.

@@tcaurie07 I am having my ceremony on the beach, my cocktail hour on the pool terrace and my reception on the beach terrace. I think there is an extra set up charge for that but my parents really wanted it that way so that's what we did.

@@tcaurie07 the hanging strung lights are $800 ( YES $800!) and they are extra. @@GingerJ228 - Absolutely! I will keep my eye out for you when I get down there. I'll just keep going up to people asking if they are Jackie!! HA HA It will be nice to meet you after all these months talking to each other

@GingerJ228- We arrive WEd AM around 11am to the resort staying until Sunday afternoon. I can't believe you wil be there almost a week before your wedding! What are you doing about making sure you don't get any tan lines??? I think I have to buy 70SPF sun tan lotion and I got a cute hate to wear also!

@@KathyandEthan - email me at Vanessa.vlahakis@@gmail.com I can give you the information on how I did a 50 room block through an AMAZING travel agent. Looking forward to connecting further

Ladies! Just got back from City hall!! we are officially Married!! We just had our two witnesses there and didn't really tell people about it bc we really, really want mexico to be "the real wedding" I did tear up at the court house even though I didn't think I would have!! one step closer to Mexico!

@gannonham- Two questions: 1. Was the reef bar only open for preferred guests or all guests? The app says it's only for preferred guests but the website looks like it's in the main area? 2. Did they serve top shelf liquor at the wedding? Did you have to ask specifically for top shelf? I heard you have to kind of ask them a few times to make sure they serve top shelf stuff. did you do anything the night before? A welcome bbq? Ladies- Does anyone have a map of the resort that I can print out for my welcome bags? The one on the website is a "flash" map so It's not static and I can't print. Hope one of you ladies can help!!!

@@gannonham what does that cute little wooden sign say on the beach ? Where did you get it from? How did you pack it?

@@gannonham First of all cONGRATS!! earo hyou are amazing for this re-cap of your wedding. I am so so hapy that it went well. The best thing is that I am using ALL the same vendors as you have ( anel and Jacob, DJ Mannia and alina) so to hear that they were amazing make me happy. Did you provide the DJ with a song list or he just played what he wanted? My friends are going to meet alina outside the gate so glad that was easy for the groomsmen to do! I am getting a late night snack as well but I like your chips and guacamole better than what I was quoted which was tacos,etc. that got a bit expensive. I might see if I can do just chips & guac. Either way I'm pretty excited for that part of the night as well. Thanks again for the detailed write -up and I'm gald you enjoyed the resort. If I have any additional questions I'll let you know

@@GingerJ228 - how long is the wedding now? 3 hours? We extended ours to 4 hours? I kind of felt like we are already WAY over our budget and we paid the dj for that amount of time and I really don't want the night to end so quick if I can prevent it SO I just did it for 4 hours. Knowing me and my drunk friends we will probably be out there until they kick us out to the club and I'll end up paying for 5 hours! HAHA I can't tell you what to do but just DO IT! This is your wedding, it will be over faster than you know it. Try to enjoy one more hour of the celebration. I bet you won't regret it. @@tschooley - MAY15th!!! I can't believe it! SO exciting. can't wait to hear all about it when you get back. My wedding is june 7th. we arrive June 4th to the resort!

I think June is start of rainy season but at this point I'm just going to show up and whatever the weather ends up being it is. I don't want to spend the next 30 days worrying about it since it's clearly out of my control. I figure once I'm there with all my friends family we will all make the best of it if it rains! Lets hope for an unusually sunny June!!!

@tschooley- You have NOTHING to worry about with Juan Carlos. He has been amazing and he knows what he is doing. He used to be a wedding planner in the US so I think he knows how to please American brides and keep them happy. I LOVE HIM and you will too! you are in good hands. When is your wedding? I can give you the full run down when I get back from my wedding ( june 7th)

@GingerJ228- I ended up just wearing the wedges. I had the peanut gallery with me during the dress fitting ( mom, aunt, sister) and they all basically like bullied me into it. It is what It is at this point. My dress is now hemmed to that height so no turning back now I kind of wish I had flatter shoes but it's done now so I"ll just embrace it. What did you end up doing for the steel drum situation? Did you find an alternative?

@GingerJ228- Had my first fitting today! The good news is I still love the dress There was some major alterations that needed to be done ( length), mid section area,etc. because I'm so short it wasn't falling correctly BUT I think for my next fitting it will look perfect. I seriously can't believe how close it's getting! We get married at the courthouse on May 6th so I think after that time will fly!

@@danielleandryan2015 if you send me your email address I'm happy to email it to you if you want. You can Private message me your email address if you want.

@meganwitt- I just bought the Wally bag. My fiancé tested it as a carry on during a recent business trip and it was totally fine. Fit in the overhead perfectly. I am flying jetblue and they don't have any closets so I upgraded us to priority boarding so we can get on the plane first and put the dress in an overhead. I would DEF carry your dress on. That thing is not leaving my side. We are also going to put my fiancés suit in there.

@Jenntpert Final dress fitting!!! !I go for my first one on Friday!!! You are ahead of the game. We picked up our rings from the jeweler last weekend ( which is great because I just watned to get that done) and I haven't written my vows yet either ( Need to work on those but they are so hard to start!) I'm in good shape though we got a lot done the past two weekends that put us a little ahead of the game at this point!

@@danielleandryan2015 Attached is our song list for our CD we just sent out as well as pics of our CD cover. some of our songs are "mexico" songs since we are getting married there but you can use some of the other ones if you wnt. We send these out last with in a pre travel mailer and I have gotten SO many compliments and friends texting me that they were listening to the CD!! it was a BIG hit CD Song List.docx

Hello Ladies! Is everyone getting excited! June is just around the corner. It seems like the days are flying by and we still have a bunch to take care of! How is everyone else feeling?

@forevertogether- I'm sorry that this is happening during your special time BUT it is a risk you take when having a destination even with close family. My FI's dad told us we were selfish the second day after we were engaged because we mentioned having it in mexico. MY FI is one of 8 siblings and we knew financially it might be a lot for some of them so we went back and forth ALOT to figure out if we wanted to have the wedding in mexico and know some people couldn't come, or pay for a big expensive wedding in the states that we didn't want. We ended up paying for the hotel portion for all of my FI's family so that all they needed to do was pay their flight ( except his parents we paid in full) it was expensive but it was still much cheaper than having it in the states. We figured we would spend the money to have the wedding we want vs. spending it in NY to accommodate a few family members and it would be 2x the price for the overall wedding. I know you're frustrated but you have to do what will make you happy and work through those details with your fiancé. I'm sorry you are dealing with this when this is supposed to be an exciting time. It will all work out the way it's supposed to.

@pzl101- GORGEOUS! I love that also.

@pzl101- do you have the pic? I'd love to see it