Wrathwitch

I never understood the logic to trash a perfectly beautiful dress when there are so many ladies out there that would love to have a beautiful second hand dress at a more affordable cost. I spent 25 dollars on my lacy sundress that I can wear at any other occasion during the summer months. It makes me sad that people kill their wedding dresses when they could bring so much joy to someone else. Just my 2 cents.

Man made diamonds are almost exactly the same as Mined diamonds. The chemical composition is 99.9998% identical. The only difference is a very small mineral that is in evidence in the man made diamond which is undetectable by the naked eye. It can only be found by a device that DeBeers made to be able to do some damage control to their cornered industry. Man made diamonds are created from accelerated growth from a small diamond mineral/crystal in a controlled lab and with heat and pressure grown in less time than mined diamonds take. I told my fiancee that I would love a .5 carat diamond and if it was possible by only getting a man made or "created" (if the cost was more reasonable) then I was fine with it!! I have done some serious research on blood diamonds. If you could only fathom the damage done to women, children and communities from countries that export and flood the market with blood diamonds. If I could not be reasonably certain of the validity of the source of diamond that I will be wearing on my finger I would just rather settle for a man made diamond that no one could tell the difference (even trained jewellers in belgium) than wear something that may have brought misery and suffering to someone on this earth. Ironically, the mined diamond we settled on (having determined origin country with jeweller's guarantee was less expensive than the man made one. I would have been happy either way. This is not true. Created diamonds are not possible to identify with either the naked eye or with jeweller's magnifier tools.

I'm not quite sure the title reflects the article you wrote. Not sure what hype you are referring to. Firstly, happy that you are making your wedding dreams come true. Much congratulations and happiness! Secondly, for the most part, vendors and businesses don't care about you personally, ALMOST all of them. They care about making money. Their only concern is that their business continues to make money. The smart ones will recognize that if you are ecstatic that you will spread the word and they will make more money. Don't ever think that it is about you from their side of the table. The smart ones also hire people who are good with working with people to give the illusion that they sincerely care. That being said, the appeal of destination weddings held at resorts is to not have to plan everything but to have nice template with some choices and have someone do the leg work and everything else for you. I was engaged once before and when it came to the idea of having to plan my own wedding I almost had an anxiety attack. I thought a bit about it and know what? I realized that the "white wedding" dealing with photographers, receptions, registry etc was not what I wanted to do for "My day". I think a lot of women get hooked up on the "My day" thing and forget that it is "OUR day" (Husband and Wife both). For us, we want no fuss, no muss, with a beautiful setting and the least work and expenditure possible for this wedding. We are more about the enjoyment of the day than for the way the day looks. Not everyone thinks like that though and it's great to have such diversity. I am sure the people that make money off the weddings agree haha! I think what I was getting at was that, there is nothing wrong with having the wedding taken care of by the resorts, I don't think there is that much hype attached to the occasion from the resorts.

Apologies, I wish I could chime in but apparently I require 150+ posts to be able to view the attachments

We booked online. We have the package booked and the wedding confirmation date set already. I was able to get a better rate online with Air Transat than with the TA who works with Marlin who is sister company to Transat. I don't really have enough guests committed to the trip to make a discount viable. I predict 4-6 guests at best. You would have to be insane to book directly with a resort unless you knew someone on the inside or something.

We will be getting married in Excellence Riviera Cancun. I just shot off an email to the resort asking them what their supplement fee is. I didn't even know such a thing was possible. I just assumed you would have to pay the full double occupancy rate regardless if one or two people!!

Wow! I had no idea that that sort of arrangement could be made! I will have to ask the resort to see if they accommodate that kind of thing. If they do that would really save me some mental stress! Thanks everyone!

Hi all! My wedding is scheduled for Feb 11, 2015. The resort is a couples/adult result so double occupancy rates apply, like with most resorts. I have a few non coupled friends that I am trying to pair up to save costs, but I am worried that if one of the pair backs out, that the other person may not want to go because of cost. There are options of 2x double beds in some of the suites. Did anyone have this situation and how did you deal with it? Did anyone have a single odd person out? Much appreciated! Shani

Hi everyone! It's my first post but the topic is close to my heart. Initially I asked if he would mind if I hyphenated my name, but the more I thought about things (he was cool with anything, said he didn't care) the more it bothered me. Historically women took the man's name because you were being placed under his protection financially etc. But our relationship including even housework is 50/50. I don't need his financial aid or symbolic protection that way. We both have great jobs etc and even if one of us lost it. The other would carry the slack. In fact, my job is much more secure than his. Secondly, my mother and father gave me my name. I have been Shani Cochrane all my life, it is who I am. Also, the family name and bloodline die with me (not having children) so there is no future confusion regarding children. I would feel weird discarding the name that my parents gave me. Gods, not to mention all the crappy paperwork I would have to do. I am in the military so not only the regular paperwork change but all of my work related info too. Why should I have to do this? I thank my lucky stars that I have such a wonderful man that respects this and trusts in our relationship to not have an issue with my wishes here. That being said, I do respect and understand why some people are bound to the tradition.