beckys98

Oh yeah, I meant that I'm putting it on the website. But people have been asking about the registry and shower (which I'm not having) so it comes up a lot in conversation. I agree it is better to avoid putting it directly on the invite.

We are going to say gifts are not expected from people attending our wedding in Jamaica. We'd rather them stay an extra night on the trip! If someone not attending is dying to give us a gift (which we still don't even really want/need) then so be it. We'll graciously accept. But we aren't registering - which we hope will cut down on the gifts - but that isn't going over very well with people! They think I'm insane or, worse, that it is some referendum on the fact that THEY registered and got gifts. I like to remind them this is about my fiance and me and what we feel comfortable with and nothing else

I just sent my electronic STD with website link out on Sunday for our June 2015 wedding. We are managing all RSVPs online, but really it is only my 2 grandmas on my invite list that aren't computer savvy. I figure if people aren't RSVPing as we get closer to the date then I will send something out in the mail, but I'm hoping not to have to. I'll cross check the online RSVP list with who my travel agent tells me has actually put a deposit down. We're using Appy Couple for the website and people are actually downloading the app (even my dad) and we've gotten several RSVPs already! I'm pretty excited about that.

I haven't bought my dress yet, but both my sister and my best friend went through the same thing. My sister got married in Mexico last summer and HATED her dress literally until a few days before the wedding. She loved it on that day and looks back at the pictures and can't believe how PERFECT the dress was and how great it looked. Hope you end up loving it as well!

I'm so paranoid that my sister is going to throw me a shower despite my insistence that she doesn't. She did just get married last year and I threw her shower and bachelorette party, but I don't expect payback! I'm hoping my not registering is a major deterrent to her trying to have one! Thank goodness for this forum. EVERYONE looks at me like I have horns growing out of my head (or worse) when I say we're not registering and I don't want a shower. I'm going to send them all a link to this so they see I'm not crazy!

I just sent my e-Save the Dates out 2 days ago with the link to our Appy Couple website. I wondered if anyone would even use the corresponding app - but they are! Even my dad downloaded our wedding app! People are starting to RSVP already so I'm pretty excited

Gosh - there seem to be a lot of options! Just when I think I've checked out all of their work, I hear another of another one I hadn't heard of! It is going to be a tough choice.

We will be doing a first look, but I honestly am not concerned about him seeing me before the ceremony so it was an easy decision. In fact, we've been together so long that it feels natural for us to walk down the aisle together instead of me being given away. That sais, the real deciding factor is I want to do photos before the ceremony. I don't want to miss my entire cocktail reception due to photos because the MOST important thing to us is having fun with our guests who made the trip!

I may do this as well, but playing it by ear to see who is actually bringing their kids. If there are only a few, I won't make a thing of it but I don't want to bust my budget paying for people's kids at the reception. I'm also considering coordinating among our guests bringing kids to bring an extra person on the trip to be a babysitter. I've thrown the idea out there and most of the parently would gladly split the cost of one person's trip to have an option for some adult time during the trip!

We aren't doing a bridal party and I am also having my dad be my witness. I really want our wedding to be about US and my fiance and I have been together forever so I really want to walk down the aisle together (I'm also very non-traditional so I don't want to be "given away"). So, having my dad be my witness still gives him a special role and he is happy to do it. My fiance will either have his mom or dad as well.

I would love to use her for make up and hair - and to have both done in my ROOM - but those vendor fees! I don't think I can justify it. I'll probably bring my own makeup and have it done at the spa.

I'm completely confused on the "room block." I'm using a travel agent but she never mentioned a room block - she is just taking $150 deposits per person to reserve the room and she said prices won't change (but could go down, or they will also price match a sale price on any travel site). Now I'm wondering if I should double verify with her on the prices. Our wedding isn't until June and I definitely don't want people paying more.

Nice! I hadn't thought of this option, but I like it! I think they make you end all receptions by 10:30 anyway. Thanks so much for the tip.

@beckys98 (Damion and Becky) June 11, 2015 at Suites!

My sister got married last year in Mexico and she did the iPod without a DJ. As the MOH, I sort of helped moved things along (I cued up people for their speeches in between courses at dinner) and played her first dance song when ready - but it really wasn't that big of a deal. We had a great playlist so no one missed the DJ at all! The good thing is for a destination wedding your guests have all been hanging out for at least a day or two so everyone knows who people are. My sister did a reception the night before so everyone was well acquainted - not much need to do a formal announcement of the bridal party! We are getting married in June in Jamaica and will do the same - iPod with no DJ! Just assign someone responsible to keep things moving in case it is needed.

Same! Weddings are SO old news to my friends since they are all full-steam-ahead in the baby making stage and aren't all that interested in my wedding details. Some fake interest more than others! Ha. In fact, I'm fully preparing myself for my sister, future sister-in-law, and best friend to all be pregnant for my wedding. Hopefully not so pregnant that they can't even travel...

Funny to see everyone's actual budget numbers! Originally I had $8k in my head...my fiance said $20K! We're now adjusting to somewhere between $10k-$15k, and $15k is probably more realistic. My one challenge with him so far is photography. He doesn't want to hire a photographer at all. He thinks we could just buy a fancy camera and have a friend take pictures. I am NOT making a friend be responsible for capturing our wedding memories - that is a lot of pressure and I want them to have fun! And no one knows how to do editing. We didn't do engagement photos or anything and I think it is important to capture such a happy moment in time. I'm hoping if I can keep the photographer under $2k (maybe under $1,500) he'll relax Anyone else's fiance disagree about photography?

I'm definitely surprised by how much food + drink costs for the wedding at an ALL INCLUSIVE! Seems so silly when everyone would be eating and drinking anyway. I'm sure some of it is for staffing but, I would call it a service charge instead of telling people to pay for something their guests already paid for. I've accepted it, but still

This very issue is part of the reason I convinced my fiance to go with a Thursday for our wedding date. That way I'll have the rest of the weekend with our guests and not have to worry about tan lines or eating/drinking too much! He is black and I am white - so he doesn't really understand tan lines - but he finally agreed

I'm using Appy Couple and I love it! We'll see how many people actually use the app, but it doesn't matter if they don't. The website design is great and It has been really easy to use.

My travel agent is handling the group booking/rates for me! The resort itself doesn't do any room reservations, except for local Jamaicans. So once we secured the wedding date the TA turned me over to the wedding coordinator and stepped out of that part (unless I need her) and she went ahead with the group booking through Iberostar.

I will be doing everything electronically! I'm working on my site now on AppyCouple. LOVE IT so far! The site looks really modern and the RSVP management options are great. You can even have certain events only visible to certain people (like only show your shower to people invited to the shower). I'm adding a question on the RSVP to ask when they are arriving at the resort so I know who to expect when.

We were between RIU Palace Tropical Bay and Iberostar Rose Hall Suites, and we went with IRHS for our June 2015 wedding for a few reasons. We REALLY, REALLY wanted to be in Negril but the prices for the actual wedding at RIU were much higher than for Iberostar (add ons like open bar, private dinner, etc.). Also, we did not like that there is no on-site nightclub at RIU. There is NO WAY our crew is going to be done dancing at 10:00pm and I don't want to go off-resort when everyone has already been drinking for a good while. I know we'd lose a lot of people. Also, they do up to 4 weddings per day with the last one at 4pm. One poster on here mentioned that since the restaurant that could fit her group size (50) was booked with another wedding, she had to have her reception on the beach and pay for the additional tent rental, chairs, and a bunch of additional extra costs. I was not down with that since I want air conditioning for my reception and I'm trying to keep costs down. Plus 4pm is also too early for the ceremony for me. Iberostar Rose Hall Suites only does 1 wedding per day, which I liked. I also watched some youtube videos of ceremonies at RPTB and there were A LOT of strangers in bathing suites gawking at the wedding and in the shot. IRHS seems to have more options on the property of where to have the actual ceremony. It is also more centrally located on the island so people can do trips to Negril, Ocho Rios, Dunns River Falls, Martha Brae, etc more easily from Montego Bay. Negril is far from Dunns River Falls. Still, I did read plenty of positive reviews of RPTB that made me think if we did do it there it would be fine. And everyone's priorities are different! They also offer better incentives for groups - like every 6th passenger free versus every 21st at Iberostar. That would help with the extra wedding costs at RIU. Hope that helps! Congrats and happy planning!

Great thread - we decided not to do a registry either. Since all of my friends are married they think it is silly for me not to "cash in" since I have spent thousands of dollars over the years on other people's wedding gifts! Still, I'm insisting on not having a shower because we don't really have local family we need to invite so it would be the same small group of friends coming to the shower who are coming to Jamaica with us. It is completely unnecessary for them to give us a gift - we'd rather them stay an extra night at the resort with us! My fiance would like to put something on our website to indicate that if someone insists on giving us a gift we'd rather it be cash - but I think we should just leave it off all together. Looking at our invite list I think the odds are slim that people are going to give us tacky stuff we don't like without a gift receipt. Our people know whats up

Thanks, all! We did choose IRHS and are booked for June 11, 2015! We wanted to give our guests time to save, but I sure do wish it were sooner. I'm too excited to wait almost a year