MissJen3

Hi @@Kirsteen! Just wanted to pop in and say that we had absolutely no issues with customs or anything when we arrived in Cuba. Like I mentioned above we did take a spreadsheet, some receipts, and emails between my wedding coordinator and I, but they did not ask to see it, at all! The most stressful part was that my husbands(weird to say that still, lol) luggage was 'lost' for a while. Thank god for the guys helping at the luggage pick up. I was about to have a melt down because half of our OOT bag items were in the luggage. Besides that, everything went more than smoothly! Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions.

Hi @@Kirsteen! I am getting married in Cayo Coco Cuba in 25 days! Ahhh! I am planning on bringing a whole boat load of OOT bag items with me. I am certainly hoping that I will have no issues clearing customs. I honestly hadnt thought about it until I read your post. Eeeek! I have been in contact with the on site wedding coordinator and she told me that the staff encourages brides to bring as much as they would like, so I just assumed this also meant OOT bag items??? I have complied a spreadsheet of everything that was included in the bags, and the approx cost of the items. I plan to keep this, and the receipts (that I can find, just moved), with me with the wedding items that I was told to keep with me at the airport. All of our OOT items are being packed in our suitcases, and being farmed out to family memebers. My FI is carrying on our favours because they are glass. After the wedding I can give you an update as to how it all went. Fingers crossed for me and that things go smoothly! LOL

Thank you so much for the advice. We are looking into getting stencils made. Its not that there is a lot of details on our stencil (actually just one word, Memories) its that we have to cut out the word ourselves and the other night that nearly took us an hour. If we could have a couple stencils made we are hoping we can set up an assembly line and recruit my mom for help to get them done faster. I will let you know how round 2 turns out. LOL

I need your help! LOL Sean and I were working on our bags last night. We used card stock and cut out the stencil, and then used the paint pens from Micheal's. They look NOTHING LIKE YOURS!. Ugh. Our letters bled into each other and even though we put cardboard inside the bag, for some reason most of the paint bled through and stuck to the cardboard. It was a complete disaster! Do you have any advice? I just went back and caught up on your thread! Your dress looks fantastic!!

I love your invites. I have been slacking the last couple of months. I have had no motivation. We just purchased a condo and are moving in August so I have been putting most of my time into that. Last night my FI and I tried to work on the design for our OOT bags. Oh man. What a fail. Back to the drawing board! We are getting married at Memories Flamenco Beach Resort in Cayo Coco.

Just an idea, but what if you have your mom join you half way? In my head I am picturing your mom sitting in a chair next to the aisle and when you reach her you stop briefly and pick her up. This way you get your father- daughter moment that maybe your dad is looking forward to, but at the same time, they are both there at the end. Edit: I googled some options, because now I am thinking about how I want to go about this as well, and I found this idea on weddingwire that I thought was pretty cute. Another idea, which I incorporate all the time, is a flower ceremony for your moms. I also think that they don't have enough of a part and it is a huge, huge day for both of your mothers. In this ceremony, (which I always keep as a surprise to them) I call the moms up to join the couple, the bride and groom then present them with a single rose (pink, ideally, since that is the color of gratitude) and I talk very briefly about how the couple became the wonderful adults they are because of the mothers' lifetime gifts to them. It is a sweet way to incorporate the moms and still let your dad have that 'moment'.

I love that there is another Cuba bride! I am getting married November 20 in Cayo Coco

My Fi is interested in the artist parts of our wedding. If he could just go to town will all the artistic elements I think he would be in his own personal heaven. I have to keep reminding him that we are still 7 months out, and we have time to do all that stuff. In regards to everything else, he offers up his opinion from time to time. One thing I have to say is that if I directly ask him a question he will have a full conversation with me about it.

@@veryvalentine I am sorry to hear about your dress! Dont fret too much. It will all work out in the end. I often question wedding dress sizes. They seem to be all over the place. I wouldnt be surprised if they took the wrong measurements or somehow managed to sew it wrong. Like you I have had a similar dream. A couple weeks ago I had a dream that something happened to my dress and I ended up walking down the aisle with pjs, a blanket over my shoulders and a pillow. In my dream my mom snatched a teddy bear from my arms moments before I walked down with my dad. LOL

@@racht33 Thank you. I dont expect him to read the whole thing, on that day. I suspect it will be read over time. I am just super cheesy and thought that it would be something we could both look back on.

Sean and I decided that we were not going to do gifts, but I really want to get him something small anyway. I have been writing in a day planner since Nov 20 of last year. Every day I write one thing that happened/he did/said that makes me remember why I love him. I called it 365 Reasons Why I Do. I plan on giving that to him on our wedding day, but I have also been toying with the idea of having a belt buckle made. He collects them and wears they every day. Now here is where I start to doubt my idea. Sean's father passed almost 13 years ago, and I know that it really upsets him that his dad wont be at our wedding. I am wondering if on the belt buckle I should put the word Greaser on it (thats what they called his dad)? Is that weird? Part of me wonders if he would want a belt buckle with his dads name on it??

Congrats!!

I love your dress and agree with what the other ladies have said

In all honesty, before I got engaged and actually started planning a DW, I actually thought it would be more about someone else planning the majority of it for me. I quickly realized that obviously that is not the case, but like you I would have been perfectly happy if what I had originally pictured in my head was true. Its always been about the marriage for me, not really about the wedding. I think some people have a really hard time understanding that.

I am interested to know what happens with the kids menu as well. For our dinner we only get to choose one meal for the adults, which is ok because adults are easier to please. Kids are so unpredictable that I cant see choosing one meal for all of them. One day they might like chicken fingers, and the very next day they hate them! My fiance and I actually had the same conversation about ordering from the kids menu. We are both very 'plain' eaters and all the menu options seem so fancy for us. Im not going to lie, we had to google what something was while looking at the menu. Haha.

Thank you for sharing this. My FI is always so warm so linen is the best option for him I think. We were just out this past weekend looking for his attire and we didnt find much. I am definitely going to show him this as an option.

I am not getting married until November and I am stressing about this as well. I have been trying to talk to some friends and family about how I am going to try my best but I am fearful that there wont be enough of me to go around throughout the week. I am also trying to stress to them that this is their vacation and I encourage them to treat it as such. Do excursions and go on adventures. I just hope I manage to have a moment with everyone.

I cant draw at all either. I dread teaching art. I once had a class laugh at me. LOL With Sean I have already asked him to get thinking about a future baby room, although that isnt for at least a year from now. LOL I did not realize how many types of paint pens are out there until I was in Michael's yesterday. I ended up with 3 in my hand before I got into line to pay. Then I found the ones that I think you are talking about, at the register and decided to pick that one. The cashier laughed at me when I asked her if I could leave the other 3 behind. Thank god for the 40% off coupon though.

Your bags turned out AMAZING!! Your creativity inspires my (little bit of) creativity. I ended up going to Michael's yesterday and purchasing the paint pen that you suggested, and an extra bag to practice on. I am glad I didnt end up picking up the Martha Stewart stencil plastic. I swear I spent 10 mins in the aisle looking at all the stencil crap she has for sale. I decided I was too cheap and planned on using card stock for the practice bag and figured I would go from there. I also never thought to steam them out. It didnt even cross my mind, even though they are folded into little squares. Sean and I were talking about stencil ideas again yesterday, and I really just want to use a word or phrase, and he is very artsy and wants to put detail into it. Which I admire about him, but I just kept thinking it would be a lot of work, and I kept picturing myself getting very frustrated with painting a detailed stencil on the bag. Anyway, I just showed him your bags and he loves them! You are my hero! LOL Thanks for sharing with me.

I think that you should go with your gut. I love the first shoes. They are still pretty strappy looking to me. Maybe it is the width of the straps that is throwing you off a bit?

I am hoping to use Heartland- I loved her first. My only concern is that I cant make it through the song without being a big ball of mess. I will need to invest in waterproof mascara!

This site is fantastic for venting. I think we all need it from time to time

Awesome. I might go tomorrow and pick one up to play with. We are still trying to decide what we want to do for a stencil. Sean is very artsy, I am NOT. Every design he draws is so detailed and perfect. Everything I suggest is very basic. We are trying to merge the 2. I also watched several youtube videos last night on stenciling, and I noticed that the majority of the people in the videos are using a sheet of plastic for their stencils so I might try to find some of that tomorrow as well.

I love all the hair choices! Who knew a hair style would be such a hard decision? I love the book Love You Forever. I cant help but cry every time I read it.

I can see why you would be frustrated. I can distinctly remember 2 wedding events in the last 2 years (shower & bachelorette), that I have traveled quite the distance to be at. In both cases I wasnt even in the bridal parties, but the girls were my good friends so I went to celebrate with them. I am from just outside of Cambridge, and I managed to drive past Barrie for the shower as well as the bachelorette. I will admit that doing that drive, to and from, in less than 24 hours was not what I considered a good time. However, the time I spent with each of these girls was well worth it. I cant help but wonder if there might something else that is preventing her from being there? I read that you dont think it is money, but could there be anything else?? Just seems strange that she would miss all of your wedding events for no reason other than the distance.