beckys98

@@kcole123 I'm exactly the same on tanning - I really should not have tanned as much as I did in my 20s because now I have wrinkled! And my fair skin is "high risk" as my doctor tells me. However, I also plan to start tanning a couple months before and just do it really gradually. Like @@TinkerSofi I think it really is in my best interest. I'd also be a lobster!

Hi @ - I am with you. My mom passed away almost exactly one year ago and my future mother-in-law and stepmom are both nice, not very motherly. I just went with my sister, best friend and my niece. I'm getting married in June and didn't start looking until January! I got a lot of eye rolls at the bridal shops...my toughest choice was deciding to spend over my budget to get the dress I wanted (I did). I think you look especially stunning in #2! The lightness of the bottom is really beautiful and is perfectly balanced with the detail on the top. I also really like #1! I don't think you can go wrong

Hi! We're getting married at Iberostar Rose Hall Suites and will be around 75 guests - our budget including EVERYTHING (dress, travel, rings, photography, etc.) is like $18k and I wouldn't say we are skimping on things, so I think $10k is do-able depending on how fancy your tastes are! We are actually paying for 2 people to stay too. I know Iberostar has a ton of flexible options for the wedding itself. Doing a private tent on the beach is most expensive because of the rentals, but a lot of brides just do a semi-private dinner (which they say is really quite private) and then rent out the disco for like $800 including the DJ and drinks. Or do a bonfire on the beach after dinner. We're renting one of the a la carte restaurants for a private reception, which ends up somewhere in the middle cost-wise. Good luck! Just pay close attention to the "add-on" costs when deciding on a resort. Some seem like a total steal but then they charge you crazy amounts for every single tiny thing! Also inquire about group booking incentives. For example, we get every 21st person's stay rebated back to us.

I'm going to pay our balance to our travel agent for our travel today - I mean, we saved for it and everything but seeing that HUGE chunk of money come out of your account is still freak-out worthy I'm sure I'll get more used to it the closer we get to the wedding!

Fortunately I haven't had any dress regrets, but I did procrastinate buying it to see if I could find a used one close to my size to save money. Of course, since I bought the dress last month I've seen 2 posted on preownedweddingdresses.com that would have saved me at least $500! Oh well...it's just money, right??

Since I last posted on this thread we DID decide to do a separate honeymoon later on. My fiancé really wants to go to Peru and Machu Picchu but it is just impossible to get there from Jamaica. It just seemed silly to spend money on something else if that is what he REALLY wants to do. I ultimately deferred to him, so we'll do it in the fall. Honestly, I think I'll be so exhausted after the wedding anyway. And it'll be nice to have something to look forward to when we get back home.

@@Kristin18 and @@Cablelove11 I'm getting married at Iberostar Rose Hall Suites this June! 4 months from tomorrow, to be exact. If you stay at the Grand you have full access to the Suites and Beach. Suites you have full access to Beach. Beach is only Beach. But the Grand is adults-only if that makes a difference. We have a few kids coming, so Suites it is! For a wedding, the same would apply unless there was already a wedding at that resort on that day. So if you're staying at the Grand you can't have your wedding at the Suites if a couple staying at the Suites was having their wedding that day. They would get first pick. They only do 1 wedding at each resort per day, which is a good thing! Honestly, I have not seen one bride who hasn't been thrilled with her wedding at any of these three resorts. The wedding coordinators are all over it and they seem to do an amazing job and take care of everything! Plus, I like that the resort is near the airport for our guests and it isn't a HUGE resort where you need to be shuttled to get around. If you have other questions let me know!

Oh, sad to see your comment. What is wrong with Jamaica? My fiance is from there and has family there - it is a beautiful, safe country with nice people, amazing food and culture and tons to do! We are getting married there in June and have over 70 guests from the US who are thrilled to join us!

We are doing a semi-private dinner (but there will be 80 of us so I'm sure we'll take over where ever we are) followed by a bonfire on the beach with a steel drum band. We have to pay extra for a bar on the beach (and the band, of course) but our wedding reception will be indoor (because I sweat way too much) so it'll be worth it to do this event outside.

We're using Stacey Clarke! I was between her, Misha Earle and WPA and went with Stacey because of her pricing and because I love the tropical/colorful feel her photos have. WPA felt a little "moody" for me for a beach wedding and Misha was about the same pricing but you got less for it.

@@calgarybride2015 I love cake too! I would venture to say forgetting to do it at the wedding made for a better memory. We were literally eating forks-full straight from the (uncut) cake the next day like savages! But we were all kind of hung over so it was even more amazing

I'm definitely not bringing one and just using what the resort has, but the cake cutting is also not overly important to me as a wedding tradition. I just think of all the things I have to pack and that is one of the things that won't make the list! We are also not doing a cake topper. My sister got married in Mexico last year and everyone was having so much fun at the reception that we 100% completely FORGOT to do the cake cutting at all! Nobody noticed. They brought it to her room and we ate it the next day

I'm biased toward Jamaica since that is where my fiancé is from and where we are getting married! Ha. But we had a lot of the same "musts" that you do, including a resort that allows children. We choose a resort in Montego Bay that is about 10-15 minutes from the airport. We would have chosen Negril if we were only thinking of ourselves, but our guests will maximize their time at the resort this way! I've also stayed in Mexico on the Riviera Maya side several times and my preference is Playa del Carmen, which is going to be a little further from the airport than Cancun. I just don't prefer the "hotel zone" in Cancun but I'm sure the ladies on here can give you some ideas for a great resorts there. I've also stayed in Punta Cana in the DR and those resorts are pretty close to the airport, but getting there from Chicago generally requires a layover and you can fly direct to Jamaica or Mexico pretty easily. Not sure about that for Canada! Is your $1700 budget for guests including airfare? And how many nights? I don't know a ton about prices from Canada but I think that would work for 5 nights, but longer than that you may be more limited in your options. The last thing I would note is be very careful about reviewing the costs for wedding "extras" at the resorts. Since you mentioned not wanting it to be "cookie cutter" then I assume you want to add personal touches. Some of the resorts we researched looked like they were a good deal until I started added up fees and costs for every little tiny thing related to the wedding and it quickly got ridiculous. So definitely ask for that information before deciding. Good luck! Once the location is figured out the rest is smooth sailing! Well...except for getting people to RSVP/Book in a timely manner...we all seem to have trouble with that

I'm getting married in Jamaica and we're paying $2,400 for 8 hours on the wedding day plus a second 2 hour shoot, all digital photos, slideshow, etc. She also covers the vendor fee with the resort so I don't have to worry about that. Yay! Considering my fiancé wanted to spend $0 it sounds like a lot, but I was comfortable with under $3,000, but preferably under $2,500! I contacted every photographer I heard of and kept a spreadsheet of costs and what you get for it. Now, if you add videography I think it goes way up from there. We decided not to do professional video.

@@linaco80 have you seen this thread? http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/4595-what-i-would-and-wouldnt-do-again/ I found it a couple weeks ago and spent the better part of 2 days reading it. Great stuff!

Great, thanks @@budgetbride2015. My fiance's dad and cousin at least will book locally - but we have others who may want to split their time with family. Do you know if to book through the resort you just have to be a Jamaican citizen? Or do you have to live there?

Oh we're definitely just taking it as a rebate on the final amount! We're not discounting other people's stay by the amount. We are paying for a few people's stays anyway so it really goes toward that.

Oh @@budgetbride2015 that is interesting about the 3 might minimum. I actually was checking prices on kayak (just to make sure our deal was still best) and it wouldn't show me prices for 2 nights. That must be why! I wonder if the local Jamaican's can book 2 nights directly with the hotel. That would be fine since it would be outside of our group. We do also have 2 single rooms so far, so I hope they count! We don't have anyone staying 3 nights yet, but it is possible. Since our wedding is on a Thursday they could come Wednesday - Saturday. I hope they don't! As for decor, we're keeping it pretty simple. I'm going to bring turquoise chair sashes for the ceremony/reception chairs. I plan to just do some candles on the tables and framed table numbers - maybe a table runner - but that is it! We aren't doing a bridal party or I would use the bouquets as centerpieces. It would be nice to have some lighting and what not, but our crew is going to have a blast no matter what and they won't remember those details so we're trying not to go broke on them!

Haha! Our TA said she has a BUNCH of bookings in progress and people who have called and emailed with questions, so I want to see where that ends up. We did an email reminder last week and we've been doing *some* outreach already. She think pricing will still be the same next week. At some point, I just don't feel bad for people if they end up paying a little more. I'll just smile and say "Well, I warned you." Okay maybe I'll just smile and keep that last part to myself. Ha.

Ahhh, yes, rolling the ironed chair ties! Seems so obvious now that you say it. I was wondering about how to have them not be wrinkled

Our deposit deadline is Friday so we'll see where we end up! (People can still book after that but rates aren't guaranteed.) As of last week only 1/3 who have said they are coming had put a deposit down - including my family. So hopefully they were all getting busy this week! I'll start my stalking next week...

Oh thanks! I spend so much time on the forum threads that I forget about the vendor review I will check these out!

I know there are various Etsy vendor recommendations within planning threads and on the "Share your etsy finds" thread - but I am specifically trying to find a single vendor to do all my paper/detail items so they all match. I want the same vendor to do: - Itinerary - Menu/Thank you card for reception - Escort cards and table numbers - Room key/tip money holder - Thank you cards (maybe) - Misc signage for the wedding day There are just so many vendors so I thought I'd ask for suggestions! I know I could DIY some of it, but I just don't have much free time these days so I'm likely to outsource it to keep myself sane Thanks!

Oh funny! Well you'll probably see us there then! We'll be the crazy ones making too much noise and having too much fun We actually just bought a GoPro camera. Not so much for the ceremony, but so that we can take a ton of video of people just hanging out during the week. We plan to edit it into like a montage (or several montages) afterward because we think that'll be so fun to watch later on. We just feel like we'll enjoy that more than a professional video of the wedding. We'll just have a friend video the ceremony with a regular video camera.

My sister got married in Mexico and did a legal ceremony and didn't have any issues. They did have to do the blood test and be in the country 3 days before, but she didn't find it to be a problem at all. Everything with documentation was completely fine.