Maggietron

The package from the resort says $35 USD for each additional guest above 30.

@@llimaa I have been told that the toast is like 15 minutes long, so it would be a waste to use the trio for that. If you want to have music and whatnot I would go with the cocktail hour.

@@kimmyd2 I'm not mentioning it unless someone specifically asks. I read a comment on here that works really well when people ask if we're going to get married ahead or after - We're getting married in Mexico, but we will register our marriage before (or after). Signing the certificate is just a formality.

@@cfinkenbine Shoulder season is the time between the end of hurricane season and the beginning of the high season.

@@cfinkenbine Because I'm planning for shoulder season, I don't know whether there will be big difference in price week to week, so I don't want to book anything before we have pricing info, and since I'm in Canada, the airlines sell everything as packages and I have received an email from Westjet saying they don't even give estimates before the flight schedules are released.

@@kmk2016 I would love to recommend LaurieLee, but she hasn't responded to my emails since July 21! She responded to my initial inquiry and said she'd get back to me by the following Wed, and then nothing. I sent her another email a few days later, nothing. Earlier this week, nothing. I just sent her one this morning asking if she was even receiving my emails since I hadn't gotten a response in over 2 months.

We are paying for it ourselves. We're in our (EARLY!) thirties, his parents are retired and mine are still recovering from a costly divorce, but even if they weren't, we wouldn't expect anything from them. We're having a wedding that is well below what we could afford (our current expenses are showing at under $3000, not including dress, flight and hotel). We're even paying for at least some of our bridal party's attire and going to work with the travel agent to see if there are any perks that can be applied to those of our guests who are less financially secure. I don't think I know anyone who has had the bride's family pay for their wedding, but it might be regional/cultural, I also have only met a couple of people whose family paid for their school as well.

@@kimmyd2 I emailed travel agents in July, one told me that the schedules hadn't been released yet, and the other one just never got back to me. I've emailed LaurieLee four times now and she hasn't responded since her initial email in July where she said she'd have rates for me by the following week, which is disappointing seeing as she came so highly recommended on here.

Nope. The information from the resort clearly states that legal ceremonies must be conducted in Spanish. The wedding coordinator translates it into English for you.

I found this dress online http://www.allurebridals.com/products/9016 and I think it's gorgeous, but it's set to be discontinued this fall, and my wedding isn't even confirmed yet for Nov 2015. I'm tempted to go check it out, but I'm sure it's out of my price range based on prices for similar dresses by the same designer. Do you think that when it's discontinued I'll be able to find one online somewhere for a discount? I could go try it on at a local place and then if I still love it once I try it on, I can try to find one for cheaper online (or made in China?) but I'm worried about falling in love with a dress I can't afford. Or worse, convincing myself that I can afford it!

Yes. I don't want my ceremony to be in Spanish, and I would rather have a family member conduct a secular symbolic ceremony in English than take a risk and end up with a religious Spanish one.

@@llimaa I think the top package includes the cocktails after dinner and a mani pedi for the bride? and some of the upgrades apply to the parents too?

I think we are going to go with the middle package and just add on the poolside reception, I found the larger package included a lot of things we just didn't care about and when I ran the numbers we were better off with the middle package and adding on the poolside reception. The private dinners and whatnot should have been included in the package that you were sent. There is a 70 person minimum at $39/person to privatize the restaurant for you.

@@Ellia123 I have heard that it is the same price even for children, but I'm not sure where I heard that.

I know Vistaprint.ca does them, although I have only used them for STD cards so far.

LOL I would probably print up a bunch of stickers that look like the big stamps they used to put over concert posters that say "POSTPONED"

You might be able to get affordable stickers for some of the items from Vistaprint if it bothers you. Assuming the guests already knew the first wedding date, I would probably just leave it unless the stickers were pretty cheap.

I ordered 50 postcards from Vistaprint.ca for $15 for my STDs. Came to around $27 with shipping and tax.

Holy cow, that was 150 posts!

I would leave that information on the website. How much information do you have on your STD? Mine basically just says Mayan Rivera, Mexico - November 2015 and to see our website for details.

Ok. So I have ordered my save the date cards, that basically just say November 2015 and direct them to our website for details, which buys me about three weeks to get the details settled. So if I started getting the rates set up within the next couple weeks, then I could put our deposit down in early November and send out the invites at that point (1 year in advance) so they have until mid Feb to put down their deposits, then they will probably have until August to make their final payments?

@@TinkerSofi What was your timeline like and who was your package through? Like did you have 30 days to put down the deposit, but your guests had 90 days?

So from what I'm hearing here, once you lock in your rates, you have 30 days to put down deposits, and then 90 days to make final payments? So how do you time everything? Do you lock in your rate and then immediately send out the invites so that once they receive the invite, they have 2-3 weeks to put down the deposit? How late do you wait to lock in your rate so that your guests have time to save up? I'm completely unclear on how this works.

I'm planning to just have an informal beach party or something the summer after the wedding at home. We're only inviting immediate family to the ceremony, so we figured we could have a party with the extended family on my side (all 45 of them, hence the small wedding!) to celebrate since they're bound to be upset when they don't get an invite. I wanted to just do one of the potlucks my family usually does for beach parties, but my FH thinks it would be tacky, so I figure I'll just give my brother who works at Costco like $500 and have him pick up a bunch of meat and salad stuff. I might try to get my favourite Ethiopian restaurant to make me up a big tray of my favourite dish as well. No decorations, no speeches, although I did agree to wear the dress again. I have no idea if his family will expect us to do something in his hometown as well.

@@peachykeen159 I'm a 32F, and I couldn't wear it without some sort of bra underneath. It comes with a tube top that matches, though, so you can cover up the back of a strapless bra. The fabric is kind of stretchy, so there's no real support.