rachelia160

@@calgarybride2015 I've seen a lot of anti-shorts brides, but I don't think I'd mind dress shorts on men. I want the groom and groomsmen in linen/cotton pants, but beyond that I don't think it bothers me. I'm putting "shoes optional" for everyone--what's better than a barefoot beach wedding!

Hi Brides! I'm having a beach wedding in Mexico in June, with our reception in an open air restaurant so it's going to be hot. I don't want my guests to be miserable, but I also want everyone to look nice for pictures, but I'm having trouble figuring out what the right balance is. For you beach brides, what are you asking your guests to wear? Especially men--dress pants? Shorts? Dress shoes? Sandals? I want to be able to give some guidelines since several people have already asked, because I'm afraid I'll end up with some guys melting in a suit and some guys bummin' it in shorts and a t shirt. What do you think?

I only paid an $100 dollar deposit for Photos in Cancun. Overall I felt their prices were very reasonable, and they have absolutely raving reviews. I'd definitely check them out.

Keep an eye out on Groupon for wedding invitation deals. I did a search every once in a while, and the other day I found a deal for a local invitation shop that was $100 for $250 dollars of invitations!

I sent out my save the dates in early November for our June 2015 wedding, which seems a lot later than most these brides, but virtually all the people who I knew would actually go already had our website and everything, and many were already booked before I sent them out (we also don't have a very strict booking deadline according to our travel agent, but now I'm starting to wonder if that's strange). I also used Magnets from Magnetstreet.com so people who haven't booked yet would stick it on their fridge and have a constant reminder that they need to get booked!

I've started a list of all the beach songs I can think of for mine (most of them are country songs, so if you don't like country then I'm no help at all!) Drunk on a Plane - Dierks Bently (I think this is a must if you're getting married in Cancun!) Some Beach - Blake Shelton Knee Deep - Zac Brown Band Blue Chair - Kenny Chesney Old Beach Roller Coaster - Luke Bryan Two Pina Coladas - Garth Brooks Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffet Beer in Mexico - Kenny Chesney No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem - Kenny Chesney

You have 83 people booked over a year out?! You're my hero!

We hired DJ Movil too because of all the raving reviews on here! Just shows you how powerful the word of mouth is! I just stalked your pictures, SO pretty! Love the orange bridesmaids dresses. Where site did you get your trash-the-dress dress from? I don't want to wear my real one either!

Our deposit is $150 too. Other than my FI's parents, sister, and nephew, NO ONE else from his side has booked yet--it's literally all my family and friends. He has all these high hopes for his groomsmen, but I am beyond stressed that they won't be able to organize themselves enough to actually make the effort to book and put down the deposit! As for only 7 people booking, I swear I had no one book at all for several months, and then they all seemed to book at once--virtually all 40 of my guests so far booked within a 2 week span, so don't worry--you still have lots of time!

@@TinkerSofi That sounds like the best of both worlds! At the end of the day, you're not going to be able to make EVERYONE happy, so I think the couple reserves the right to be a teeny bit selfish and choose what makes them happiest

With the Divine package you get 1 hour of coverage and 24 photos in digital format (that's straight from the photographer because I asked too). I have an outside photographer as well, so I'll probably use that hour for a trash the dress. I think that's what most people do. I think it would also be sweet to give that hour to your parents/parents-in-law so they could have a cute beachy photo session or something like that.

@@calgarybride2015 Seven nights, Sunday-Sunday (June 14 - 21). The prices fluctuate a little based on the airfare, too--some have paid less, and some have paid more. The prices tend to go up the closer you get, since the flights get more full. Some people opted to go for four nights, which is about $1124.44. As another bride mentioned, DEFINITELY get a travel agent. The prices my agent is giving everyone for the entire package is way better than if everyone had booked independently, plus it just makes everything easier

My guests are paying about $1475.00 per person for a week at the Now Jade in the Riviera Cancun, which is a 5 star resort and includes airfare (flying out of Cleveland OH), transfers, hotel, food, booze, the whole nine yards. I've stayed there twice before and the food is EXCELLENT--at every other all inclusive hotel I've stayed at, I've walked away saying the food was "just okay," but this resort's restaurants are really above and beyond. Overall I think it's a good value, and my guests have said so as well--we have 40 people booked!

I feel a lot of guilt over the fact that my grandparents can't be there, even though they'll be attending the legal ceremony before we go. Anyone else? As far as the cost factor, it crossed my mind, but my FI and I have made it very clear since we began talking about the wedding that no one should feel obligated to go or bad if they can't go. When people have regretfully told me that they wouldn't be able to make it, I just get them really pumped up about the AHR! The people that are taking the time and money to go to our wedding are SUPER excited, so I don't feel a whole lot of guilt there! But I do think it's important to take the time to make the week special for them with little extras when they're investing that much time and money into you. Planning little (non-mandatory) get togethers throughout the week, having a nice welcome bag and favors, spending time with each of your guests throughout the week, seeing them off to the airport if you can...that helps to show that you don't take their generosity for granted.

I definitely don't think you're in the wrong. I understand not allowing plus 1's at an at home ceremony, but if you're going to ask someone to pay over a thousand dollars to be at your wedding, they should be able to bring a travel buddy, and since they should be able to bring a travel buddy, that person should be invited to the wedding and not left alone in the hotel room. If your friend is asking people to stick their neck out to come to the wedding, they should stick their neck out for you, too! (Not that being asked to go on a tropical vacation is THAT big of a burden, but still

I'm having my AHR the weekend after we get back from Cancun (ambitious, I know!) on a Sunday afternoon because it was WAY cheaper than Fridays or Saturdays, probably from 1-4. I'm going to be wearing my dress again after reading awesome posts on here about how so many other brides are doing it, cause HECK YEAH I want to wear it again! Is it weird to have a DJ/Dancing during daylight hours? When I originally booked it it was going to be really casual, thus the afternoon timeframe, but now that I know I want to wear my dress again, I think I might make it a little more formal. Should I push back the timeframe into the evening, or is that inconvenient on a Sunday?

I'm curious to see what answers you get on this post as well. A part of me would really like to do cake cutting and first dances and the whole nine yards, but I don't want it to feel "staged" since we already did it all. I just want it to still feel like a wedding reception to some degree and not a big get together, so I don't know what to include or what not to include. I hope you get some answers! Are you wearing your wedding dress again?

It was important for me and my mom to have my marriage officially recognized in the Catholic church, so my FI and I are planning on getting married the day before we leave (we're meeting with my priest Friday to officially set it). We're just having our parents, siblings, and grandparents who can't travel attend. We're definitely keeping it on the down-low, but I don't like lying if someone asks me outright about it so I usually just explain what we're doing, but since most of our Catholic friends know that you can't get married outside the church, I feel like a lot more people are going to end up knowing than I'd like. I really hope no one feels like they're wasting their time going all the way to Cancun when it's not even our "real" wedding, even though, for us, it WILL be our real wedding. It's all pretty stressful!

I'm late to the party on this thread, but I just have to say that I'm SO thrilled that everyone thinks wearing your dress again is A-Okay! Like someone else mentioned, you see one post on "that other wedding site" *coughTheKnotcough* that makes it sound like wedding rules are written in stone and you're tacky for doing otherwise--I like your guys' style much better, and now I will DEFINITELY be wearing my dress at my AHR!

I can't see the picture--could you email it to me? You can also send a link to your Etsy site whenever you get up and running! rachelsalyer1@@gmail.com

@@Natata I'm planning on getting those cute barefoot sandals from Etsy for my ceremony, but I feel like I need some kind of heel or something for the reception and some more formal pictures and things, but I don't know what to get, especially since different shoe heights would require a different dress length. I'm curious to see what others have to say.

@@Meg32IL @@amarie4713 how frustrating that they make us go through that. You'd think they realize that we all talk to each other! I'll keep you posted on what response I get.

Has anyone had confirmation that you can extend a Castaways reception until 11? I know some of the paperwork says you can only have your reception there until 10, but I thought I saw someone mention that they'll extend it if you ask. I did, in fact, ask Pilar, and this was her response: 3) Is the rule that you can only have the reception at Castaways until 10 pm still in effect, or could we extend the reception until 11 pm? The reception cover 3 hour of service more the 3 hours will be and additional charge for $15 usd per person plus tax plus service we can finish until 11:00pm It seems that the answer would be "yes," but I've found that Pilar tends to answer my questions by copy and pasting information that's already in the information packets I already have, so I'm still wondering if she read it closely enough to see that I mentioned Castaways... I also asked about the fee for an outside photographer and this is what I got: 1) I'm hiring an outsider photographer for our wedding, We just pay the $65 for the day pass instead of the vendor fee, correct? Note the vendor fee are $350 usd for photographer and videdographer the vendor fee are $150 usd per person I'm pushing back on this one and stating that the information I received when I booked stated $65 for a day pass for a photographer. It seems like most brides in this situation were able to get the day pass fee, so I hope I do too!

@@amarie4713 , I LOVE your colors. Your boquet was gorgeous (as was everything else!)

I would love to see pictures of your table. I've been debating on whether or not to bring down linens (my mom keeps saying "You're in Mexico, no one will care what the table looks like!) so I'd love to see a simpler set up My email is rachelsalyer1@@gmail.com