veryvalentine

wishing you an amazing wedding week! Sending you happy rays of sunshine!

Thank you so much for the advice @@acw271011 @@nadiakat17 @@calgarybride2015 I love the advice that acw271011 gave. .."there isn't anyone that is going to be happier than you" It's so true. I shared this with my FI and he agreed. We need to give ourselves permission to be so happy. I think we sometimes make that mistake where we can't be happy until we feel like everyone is happy for us or everyone is having a great time. We are really going to work on this and like iron it into our brains that nobody will be as happy for us as we are and that's totally ok, in fact, it's more than ok. So thank you for that! I think that I'm done. It's sooo sad because it was a friendship that has a lot of history. But, friendships like that don't just fall apart because of something like this, so maybe it wasn't as solid as we pretended it to be. You all mentioned that you feel like maybe it's something else. I think she feels left out of the bridal party. I think she wanted to be a bridesmaid. I have a sister who is my best friend and my maid of honour, nobody was going to take her place and I think maybe she thought that was going to be hers. We really felt confident that she would be honoured with being the Officiant. We didnt' expect her to feel insecure about her friendship with us and that she would be so small minded to think that she wasn't part of the wedding party. How can she think so small and think that the Officiant plays a small role? I don't get it and it's not my job on my wedding day to boost her self-confidence. I'm going to respect my boundaries and I'm not going to fix this. She can also reach out and I'm sure she won't. It will be interesting if she shows any interest in our wedding at all when we return. I have zero expectations but it's really in her court to make an effort. I'm not going to go and chase her.

Awesome job!!! Good for you for doing your own invites! awesome!

I know that I'm not the first to post about disappointment and I certainly won't be the last but I wanted to share my experience this weekend with you guys because you guys have been so supportive. We are getting married in 3 months and our Officiant who is one my best friends for over 20 years let me know this past week that she will not be able to attend the wedding. We recently confirmed with the hotel that we wouldn't need any of their services with the Officiants etc etc and now we are starting all over from scratch. She explained that money is a constraint for them and that they have 2 children and it's very difficult for them to travel. I do understand. We knew that not everyone could attend and we knew that this would be an issue for those who have children. We get it. When we asked her to be an Officiant she said she would do anything and she would make it work. We were thrilled. Since then I've heard rumblings from some of my BMs that she was going to book last minute because it didn't matter where her room was or which hotel she stayed at because she's not part of the bridal party so she's not important. I only heard about this in the last few days. We asked her to be an Officiant because she's an amazing speaker, she's witnessed my life through good times and bad and we felt like she really believed in us as a couple. We were so heartbroken when she told us that she couldn't come and it was because of money. So when I told my family about this they offered to pay for her and her husband to come. I told her this and she said that she still would have a hard time getting a sitter and it's just hard for her to come and she'd still need money to buy stuff etc etc. I get it. But at the same time, don't you just make it work for close friends? Don't you just say like, ok, one of us will go, I will make it work. She didn't even sound like apologetic on the phone. It was just like, can't go, it's a fact. Can't take your offer of help. They have two sets of grandparents that can take care of their kids and this was all arranged to work earlier on in the year. So now she's using them as an excuse that she doesn't know if they can sit. In addition to this leaving a poor taste in my mouth, I just felt like maybe she felt like she wanted to be a bridesmaid instead of Officiant. I really thought Officiant would be a greater honour because not only is she standing up at our wedding, she's marrying us. She would be wearing a pretty dress just like the other girls but just taking more of a leadership role. It feels silly that I would have to make sure someone feels special enough on my wedding day. LIke that sounds crazy as I type it. Well apparently not. I called her after our convo and told her that I spoke with the hotel and they would allow us to use her even if she decided to change her mind last minute and I had ordered her a bridesmaid dress one shade lighter to compliment the bridesmaid look and that way it will look awesome when we get our pictures taken. She then responded that if she comes last minute she probably wouldn't want to be an officiant and that i was wasting my money with the dress because she prob can't come. Which is fine, but like do we really need to be difficult? I bought the convertible dress and if she can't make it, then I will keep it. I feel like she's really not making an effort and just being childish by talking behind my back and saying that she's not included. How more included do you want to be? Do you want to be the bride? is that enough? I ended up taking today off originally for us to meet up to work on the ceremony but then she cancelled on me and decided that I should really take this time and still try to get some wedding things done while i'm here visiting from out of town. I had already booked the day off and purchased a ticket so I couldn't cancel my day off. I cancelled on her last night and explained that i took the day off originally to get ahead with wedding things and that i was going to try to get my veil tomorrow with my sister. She was very passive aggressive and was like, "ok, fine, fine, have fun." 4 hours later she sent me a very short emailing telling me to "next time give her more notice because she was counting on me to be with her today" I mean the obvious is that I wanted to say well I was counting on you to be our officiant...but it was ok for you to bail 3 months out. I just wrote back saying apologies. Didn't mean to inconvenience you. For me the friendship is over. Is this like an extreme reaction? I just feel like I really tried to help her out and make her feel included and even help out financially and her reaction is so negative. I mean would she even have fun? probably not. I just want to hear from you ladies to see what you think! It's been a very difficult and disappointing day. This is someone that I didn't think would ever be this way. ugh ;(

@April2015 I was just going back to look at this thread and realized that your wedding already passed! How did it go?? I'm so excited to hear. I never hear from a lot of Grand sunset brides. @Sara1603 how is your planning coming along? When is your wedding? I just heard that Guillermo left the princess so I'm a little stressed about the planning now. ah

@@LisaAnthonyPoppy I'm not getting married at the same venue as you, but I did have the same situation happen to me. Our WC who is amazing, or was, and I've read many brides speak of him very highly, just quit the resort. He didn't notify us. Nobody has notified us. We only heard because our TA mentioned it to us. I'm trusting that his replacement is just as great but who knows. It's really frustrating but I guess the entire world isn't going to stay on hold until my wedding day. ah. I hope your WC situation turns around.

@@Surfingsara Just curious..what location did you pick for your wedding. about 3 months away from our wedding I'm debating if the group rate was worth it. We have a few guests that will be booking outside of the group rate and last minute and I don't blame them. When it comes to money, I'd rather someone attend than not attend because our group price didn't drop. so frustrated.

very good point about the guacamole. Didn't even think about that. I tend to not gravitate towards fruits on vacation, especially on vacation. lol I'm sure that your guests can make the decision for themselves. I had to stop and think about whether I ate salads at resorts, and I def did at the a - la - cart restaurants. None of the guests that we were at the destination wedding I attended got sick. The only thing that really upset my stomach was the tequila (too much of it) and the beer (again, too much of it) he he.

@@krystalball I was in a very similar situation as you. Our wedding is June 17-24, 2015. We locked down our group rate in September 2014 and the prices have remained consistently high. There is a price drop guarantee but we have yet to see it drop. It's frustrating because we chose Wednesday as the departure date as that is usually the cheapest day to travel and now it turns out to be the most expensive according to the prices I have seen. June is also a super cheap time to travel and I can't imagine paying $1500 to travel during that time of year...the prices better drop. A lot of our guests are also waiting for a price drop because it is a little high.

@ omg! that's sooo helpful! You just saved me $35! thank you. I am going to try this out

@snsweddng2016 Great idea!!! That was exactly how I felt. Totally loved how my ring was shining but then just walked away. lol oh well at least I'll come around the second time. My wedding is in June so I wasn't thinking of going to the april show but maybe I'll just go to get that cleaner and gets some free samples. lol

Very helpful. We didnt' actually budget for this - I love how there are so many extras popping up. haha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvryolGa19ASuch great ideas. We are both big music lovers so this is like so much pressure to pick the right songs. I thought it would be cool to walk down the aisle to the soundtrack of the movie amelie:

@@smileitseb Not sure where you are located but I did see some at Black's Photography. they have a new line of trendy products.

@@snswedding2016 I tried this cleaner at a wedding show that I recently attended and it worked very well! It was amazing how much crap it cleaned out. I loved it. I didn't ended up buying and kinda regret it now.

@@kcole123 So frustrating! I would definitely agree with the rest of the ladies. I very much agree with the point that was brought up that not only will they feel like it was an after thought if he gives his groomsmen a gift after, but it is also embarrassing and awkward for you. I would hate to have hard feelings from the groomsmen on the wedding day. Imagine how bad he will feel if he does eventually regret that he didn't get them anything. If it's the money that Is making him not want to spend right now, you could always try shopping at an outlet. We discovered the Premium outlets and fossil has amazing sales. 50% off. Our groomsmen got some really nice gifts from us and we managed to keep it on budget. Good luck with this one! I think you should stand your ground.

@@rachelia160 Also having the same groomsmen situation. I still want to be able to have something in print to remember the day...especially since one of my best friends is going to be our Officiant, I thought it would be nice to recognize her someone in there. I realize nobody will save them. but we will. then there is the whole, do I print them in Spanish and English because our guests speak both only Spanish, and or only English. ahh

I love your fans! The ribbons and flowers add that extra touch! The time you invested in them is totally going to pay off

I had a productive week! I have purchased my bridesmaid gifts! Our dresses are coral and I bought them these wristlets. They will match the dress so nice. I also got them a little bowtie bracelet in gold. I still have to design their jewellery but that will be later on These are my shoes for the ceremony and I will have a little purse to keep my vows and tissue in. The fans are going to be placed on each chair for our guests to cool themselves off. I treated myself to a little passport holder! How cute is it!?? One of my bridesmaids had vows books ordered for myself and the FI. They are so cute. It fits perfectly in my little purse. Ahh getting very excited! 3 months to go! xoxo

Ughhhh, I am so sorry to hear this!! I hope that you have amazing healing super powers and that it is ok for your wedding week. I've literally been tempted to bubble wrap myself for the last few weeks til the wedding because I'm the biggest clutz. Friends have been inviting me to go curling, and skating and I've just been declining because it's too risky. so sorry to hear this news. Sending you healing vibes!

@@MissJen3 Awww you are so sweet and thank you for the encouragement! Congrats on the size 14! I can totally relate. The worst was when I went to Kleinfelds and I felt like the consultant was forcing some designs that just weren't for me and mostly because that's what was available in my size. "thanks". I'm super motivated and even more because I know come April 28th my dress is in and it better look amazing! haha I have four months left til the wedding and I think that it's more than enough time to pull off a success story!

I said yes!! It was an emotional evening but I finally said yes to my dress! I decided to go with my #1 pick. There are so many elements that I love about this dress and it suits the beach wedding. it's also not very heavy and I wasn't sweating in it compared to another dress made out of satin.(Just in the store alone I was sweating buckets.) So my next big decision was to figure out what size I wanted to order the dress in. Back in October 2014 I tried the dress on in a size 18. I returned two weeks ago and tried on the 16 and it was TIGHT. I was determined to order the dress in a size 14 and work towards that goal. I have been on a weight loss journey and that is another reason I chose this dress because I felt it would really showcase that weight loss. I had two weeks to try the dress on again and order it and try to lose some more weight to see if I could fit into the 16 a little better. I decided that if I could lose enough in two weeks to fit into the 16, then I will definitely order the size 14. So the good news is that I actually was able to fit into the dress better and I ordered a size 14 which I am so excited about. It is a corset dress so if it's too big then I can always tighten it up. I am not even going to consider what would happen if it's too small. I am very motivated and I know I can do it! (I am a lefty, so I posted my before and after as "after and before" lol) First picture = two days ago Second picture = two weeks ago same dress size Yay! xoxo

I haven't never even thought about this and I've also never heard of anything being stolen because they are under huge supervision too. Like there are cameras everywhere. I'm sure they would risk losing theirs etc etc..but anyway, I'm sure just about anything is possible. I think the FI and I are def. going to be wearing those puppies as I'm not in the mood to even risk losing the money.

Hi there! I love your décor! Similar colours to mine. I would totally be interested in the runners but I'm located in Canada and by the time I factor in the exchange rate and the shipping it's going to get a little bit expensive for me. I love your table numbers. Can you tell me a little bit about them. Did you have a picture of you and your FI? It looks sooo pretty!!!

@ Yes, you will probably find more reviews if you search under Grand Sunset Princess. One review that I really enjoyed reading was "Neha's" wedding review. Maybe type Neha grand sunset princess. The hotel is huge. There is the Grand Sunset Princess side which is where there sun sets, literally and the Riviera side where it rises. There is also a new complex next door to the Riviera side and it's the Platinum Princess adults only. Grand Sunset Princess and Riviera Princess share the same facilities and pools and beach, it's just such a big hotel that it is split. In the past they had their adults only sections in the Riviera side, but now that the hotel has rebranded to being more kid friendly, adults only is next door. ] I have been to this hotel twice and stayed on the Riviera side and we loved it so much we are getting married there in June. If you have any questions let me know! : )