beckys98

Hi @@mimiblak - The payment thing regarding the photographer seems to be the norm! Actually, I would consider payment "day of" to be not so bad. Most vendors I've looked at require full payment a certain number of days in advance of your wedding. That feels a little risky, because what if they don't show up?! I booked Stacey Clarke and full payment is due 2 weeks in advance.

@@kmbowm Your wedding must be coming up! Please give us a review when you return! I feel like the Iberostar Rose Hall threads have been pretty quiet. Even though I've read so much I probably know all the answers to my questions, I want MORE anyway! We have no idea how many guests we'll have so it is really hard to plan too much yet. So I live vicariously through other brides

@@KAT2015 What a bummer you've had such a hard time with the wedding planning! One of us losing our jobs is one of my top fears just because, as you mentioned, it can happen without any reason and with no notice! I make us aggressively save every month because of this and still never feel like we have enough. I am not one of those people who say "everything happens for a reason" because I don't think things like this are predetermined, but I DO think things have a funny way of working out for the better in the end even though it is so hard to imagine that in the moment. Whether that means he lands a new, better job or the turn of events makes something about your wedding even more special - I hope you're surprised in a pleasant way in the end! I can relate to your troubles. Since my fiance and I got engaged in December 2013, my mom passed away in February, his grandma (who raised him) passed away in April, and now he is having surgery in 2 weeks to remove a cancerous tumor. Not EXACTLY how we thought out wedding planning year would go and can't say I'm glad for ANY of it, but even though we've been together for 8 years, this year has brought us even closer together in new and different ways. We are hoping this cancer thing is done after his surgery, but if not I don't know what we'll do about the wedding. I'll say what everyone keeps telling me - 2015 is going to be our year! At least for me, it can only go up

Hi Sabrina! Congratulations! I'm getting married in Montego Bay on June 11, 2015 and my fiance is originally from Jamaica. Such a beautiful, friendly place. We, too, needed a family friendly all-inclusive resort and that will narrow down your options pretty quickly - there are A LOT of adults only resorts! Our top contenders were RIU Palace Tropical Bay in Negril and Iberostar Rose Hall Suites in MoBay. We did also consider Royalton White Sands, but I was just too nervous going with the newer resort. Ultimately we chose IRHS because they only do 1 wedding per day and, honestly, every single wedding review I read was positive and gave me a ton of confidence in the wedding planners and how the day would turn out. It is also centrally located to Negril and Ocho Rios so it makes day trips a little easier. AND, the RIU did not have an onsite nightclub/disco and I know our group will make very good use of that! We are not the type to turn in early So, in the end, it really depends on what factors are the MOST important to you. Also, I'm not sure when Easter is in 2016 but prices will be higher in March until after Easter because of spring holidays. We tried to book for the week after Easter when prices dropped, but the dates we wanted were already booked. I wanted to avoid May, so we ended up with June! Good luck and happy planning!

I wouldn't register just because people asked - it is kind of them to want to give a gift, but they can always give something thoughtful/personalized or money/gift card if they feel they must. I feel like our other guests wouldn't take the "no gifts" seriously if they knew we registered. No one wants to be the jerk that doesn't bring a gift when everyone else does and I'm afraid people would buy out of fear of being "that guy." We REALLY, REALLY don't want our guests buying gifts so we're being stubborn about it No shower, no registry.

My fiance is actually quite picky about fashion (super annoying) so I'm convinced he WON'T be wowed by any dress I pick! Pretty sure what will wow him is WAY out of our budget! That is probably why I haven't even started dress shopping...I gotta get on that

First of all @@calgarybride2015 - holy smokes, 120 lbs! Great job! @@DebbieSmith I'm sorry you've been discouraged. Sometimes people do mean it in a positive way and think they are paying you a compliment, but they just go about it all the wrong way. To avoid comments I've framed conversation around diet/exercise in terms of a lifestyle change and just that I want to be a healthier, stronger, more energetic version of myself. Losing weight is a side effect of that effort (albeit a welcome one)! People have a harder time objecting to you wanting to be healthy than to losing weight - as bizarre as that sounds! Keep at it!

That is adorable! My best friend did something similar - her husband is super into comic books and superheros so she had a custom comic book created with them and their dogs as the starts. So clever and unique!

I was thinking of posting on this topic - wedding is in June and I haven't gone dress shopping. Honestly, I thought it would be the thing I was MOST excited about but I'm just not. Part of it is all the dresses I can see myself in are upwards of $2,000 and I really want to keep it under $750. I feel like I should schedule an appointment when my stepmom is in town around Christmas to include her - but I dunno. I adore your backless options!

My sister got married last year and got pregnant on her honeymoon! She joked about doing so, but didn't think it would ACTUALLY happen. Well, as happy as she was to get pregnant easily, she would tell you that she should have waited a little bit. Not that it isn't manageable, but she felt like she missed out on that newlywed phase completely (and they were together for 5 years when they got married)!

I love the Chivari chairs as well. I'm not sure if my resort will move them from the ceremony to the reception for us or not. I HATE to spend the money on them, but it'll come down to how many guests we have total. If I'm talking about 25 chairs that is sure a lot more manageable than 70. Plus, if we only have 25 wedding guests the whole shebang is going to cost a lot less. I don't HATE the white chair covers though - I'll survive if I have to go that route! Haha. Honestly, I can't remember what the chairs looked like at any wedding I've been to (and I was just at one 3 days ago) so I think my guests will be a-ok with either

I JUST realized I'm at 145 (well, now 146)! Woo hoo! It's only been...oh...3 months

I don't know if we'll have any private vendors besides our photographer (and the resort) but our photographer does require full payment 3 weeks in advance. It does feel like a bit of a risk, but you would hope that the risk to them of being "outed" in reviews would keep them honest. As you note, even one bad review can damage their reputation. If they failed to show (and provide a replacement) they'd see the affects pretty quickly. You've done your research so if your gut feels good about it, I think you should go for it. Our guts rarely lead us wrong

That is great @@Mangosong! Thanks for the description! We were at a wedding this weekend and I discussed this idea with my fiance and his sister-in-law. She had been to a wedding where they did the cocktail hour first and she said it worked great! That it was nice because, like you said, you got to have a little something to eat and it made the day feel very festive. I was thinking the other benefit for us is I wanted a steel drum band to play as the guests arrive and for our walk down the aisle - and then also for the cocktail hour. If we do the cocktail hour after the ceremony then I'm paying them to do nothing during the ceremony. But if we do cocktail hour first, then they can play through the beginning of the ceremony and so I could pay them for less total time. We don't have to decide for awhile since we are still 7.5 months out, but I'm loving this idea. Thanks for mentioning it!

I've stayed at 4 different all-inclusives (Mexico and DR) and have always tipped wait staff/bartenders, bellman, housekeeping, and those who restock the mini bar (NOT the same person as the housekeeper). It isn't required, but it was certainly allowed!

@@Mangosong I never thought about doing the cocktail hour before the ceremony! I'm intrigued. So you and your groom are at the reception mingling before the ceremony? Do you still walk down the aisle? Or how does the transition to the ceremony go? We were planning to walk out together for the ceremony anyway (and definitely planned to see each other first) and I really want to be at my cocktail hour, so I'm wondering if we should do it this way.

@@Mangosong I hosted my sister's bridal shower and she was the same way. The thought of opening gifts terrified her AND, since she also had a DW, she wanted to spend time with guests who weren't able to attend the wedding. I asked people to bring their gifts unwrapped and we put them on a display table. I had note cards where they could write their name on the front and put it by their gift so you could see who brought what. (I have the wording I used somewhere - I think I wrote a little poem to include with the invite.) I was worried people would be offended or put off - but they weren't! Everyone told me how much they loved it because they got to socialize more and spend time with the bride! We had margaritas, too, which helped Just food for thought! Obviously I'm all about breaking tradition. Haha.

I completely agree - we looked at our guest list and honestly, truthfully believe that the vast majority of our guests wouldn't pick the absolute cheapest resort for their own vacation so why should we choose that for our wedding? Our resort is not outrageous either. The compromise we DID make was having a longer engagement - which resulted in a June wedding instead of the January/winter wedding I would have preferred - so that we gave people enough time to save and plan their vacation time. The other compromise was picking a family friendly resort - oh and a resort close to the airport for ease of travel. Honestly, I think that is enough compromise for OUR wedding Outside of that, I don't give a lick about people's opinions!

@@palmtree99 are you doing an at home reception? I was invited to a bridal shower for a wedding I wasn't invited to, but I WAS invited to the at home reception. But people may be put off by being invited to only the shower and not the wedding. Can you plan an event that isn't a true shower and more of a party (maybe co-ed)? Breaking out of the traditional shower mold might make it less odd for guests. I've seen people comment on here about having a "Bon Voyage" party and I thought that was a really cute idea. My fiance and I aren't registering or doing a shower, but we don't really *need* stuff. We've been living together for 3 years. If we really did need things for the house I would probably do it. I would certainly feel less bad about it! Generally though, I think if you want a shower you should have a shower!

So cute! Love that idea.

Oooh...I'm getting all sorts of ideas on here today. I'm getting married in Jamaica so I may steal your tequila bottle vase idea but do rum bottles...My Jamaican fiance won't have any issue emptying out the rum bottles over the next 8 months in preparation. Haha!

Oh my gosh I love ALL your stuff! I absolutely love your groom's wedding band. My fiance is not jazzed about wearing jewelry for the rest of his life so if we can find something cool and stylish like that he'll probably be happier. Also obsessed with your postcard/treasure chest guest book idea! I may be stealing that

I hadn't thought about games! Now that you mention it I would love to do that a different night during the week - just informally for those who want to participate. Adding that to my "ideas to figure out" list

I would probably accept the offer, but not so much because of awkwardness on the wedding night. Being around people the entire time may be exhausting and you might be anxious for a little down time together. Personally - I'm really looking forward to sleeping in and basking in our newlyweddedness (I made that word up) the next morning! Waking up as husband and wife is going to be so awesome and I want some quiet time to enjoy it and let it sink in before rejoining the group. Breakfast in bed with champagne will definitely be in order!

My sister did her slideshow DURING her father/daughter dance and first dance - immediately after dinner and before everyone started dancing. It worked out great because it didn't put so much attention on her and it was really sweet. I honestly don't want to do ANY of those traditional things. But I'm not having my dad walk me down the aisle though, so I think he'll be devastated if I don't do a father/daughter dance either. But my fiancé will definitely NOT want to do a mother/son dance, so I don't know. I'm considering doing the speeches at a welcome event on a different night. I really just want to do dinner and then get to the DANCING! With receptions at my resort having to end at 10, I just think we'll be running short on time and I want to maximize the fun for our guests.