Wafflesmom

It is now 6 months until our wedding so I think it’s about time I started my planning thread. Like many of the beautiful and helpful brides I’ve come to know from this site, I thought that starting a planning thread would not only get me organized but also give me valuable insight and advice from you all. How we met: In 2010 after ending a very long-term relationship with my ex-boyfriend, my friend kept encouraging me to sign up for online dating. I won’t lie to you and I was very skeptical about online dating and thought that there was no way I would even try it. After months of hearing her stories about how much fun she was having meeting new people and dating men she would never have met otherwise, I thought, what’s the harm in trying. So in December 2010, I created my online profile. I will admit that dating again was fun. I had no intention of getting into another relationship; I just wanted to meet new people. Well you know how they say that things happen when you’re not looking for it? Well in less than two weeks, I received a message from Derrick that just said, “Hi. How are you?” I thought that was a pretty lame message but I looked at his profile. I thought he was really cute so I messaged him back. We were messaging back and forth and soon enough, we agreed to meet for a date. We met at Starbucks. I figured it’s a safe place to meet in case he turned out to be a creep! LOL As soon as I saw him, I remember the sigh of relief, he looked like his profile pic, but was actually cuter in person. Despite the usual first date jitters, we had a great conversation and it felt natural. After Starbucks we went to watch a movie. I don’t know why we went to the movies considering we talked the whole time. By the end of the night, I knew that it was the best date I’ve ever had. After that date we basically saw each other every day and he would text me daily to see how my day was going. I knew that we had something special and what proved it was when he went to Vegas for his best friend’s bachelor party. It was 3 am and my phone rang, it was Derrick. I got worried since it was early in the morning. I picked up the phone and he was clearly drunk. Before I could get annoyed, he told me that he loved me and that he missed me. There he was in Vegas with his friends having fun, and he still thought of me. Right then and there, I knew he was a keeper. The proposal: As a bit of a background, Derrick had asked me before if I wouldn’t mind if he used a diamond his grandmother had gifted him to give to his future wife. I knew how close he was to his grandmother (she had passed away before I got the chance to meet her). So during a trip to Puerto Vallarta with his family in March 2014, his sister and I were walking the Malecon and they thought it would be fun to go to a jewellery store to try on engagement ring settings for me. I typically don’t wear rings so I didn’t know what setting would look nice on me, especially since my hands are small. I instantly fell in love with a halo setting. So when we got back to the resort, Derrick’s sister instantly tells him what we did, just to tease him and he got up and said, ok let’s buy it. LOL So to my surprise, we bought the ring. But before buying it, Derrick told me that even though I knew what my engagement ring looked like (minus the diamond), he would still keep the proposal a surprise since I wouldn’t know when he would do it. As you can imagine, he had fun with that. Being the jokester he is, we would go out, tie his shoes and look up at me to make it look like he was going to propose. It happened on June 30, 2014 during our annual fishing trip to Ucluelet, BC. The weekend started off normal with Derrick joking around about proposing. Jokes included writing down "ring" on our list of things to bring to the island and Derrick singing "put a ring on it". On the last day of our trip, Derrick suggested going for a walk to the beach after dinner and go beach combing. Derrick and I love to go beach combing anytime we're on Vancouver Island. I told Derrick that his mom and I saw a beach that morning when we walked the dogs along the lighthouse trail so we headed in that direction. As we walked to the trail, Derrick kept asking me to walk on his left side, closer to the road. I made fun of him, joking that my friend's husband always walked on the side closest to traffic to protect her, meanwhile Derrick wanted to use me as his shield. Apparently he had the ring box in his right pocket and didn't want me to see it. I should have clued in on this but still didn’t even think anything of it. As we got to the beginning of the trail and looked at the map, I pointed to where we saw the beach. Derrick said he didn't want to go to that beach since it would be crowded. He suggested we keep walking to find a nice new beach that wasn't full of tourists. As we walked along the trail, Derrick pointed down the cliff and said, "Let’s go over to that beach, no one's there". He suggested going down the cliff using these old ropes tied to trees. I told him he was crazy and there was no way I'd go down old ropes, only to die falling off the cliff! So we kept walking and he eventually found a better way to go to the beach. To get closer to the water we had to walk and balance on what seemed like miles of rocks. In my usual "positive" vibe, I grumbled and complained the whole way. I think Derrick's favourite line was, "we're beach combing here? You know what we'd find under these rocks, more (insert expletive) rocks!" He would just turn to me, smile and say, "This is what I love about you, your positivity" When we finally got to the water, I had to admit that the walk was worth it, the view was breathtaking. On top of that, we were the only ones there! We climbed over rocks as Derrick showed me starfish, sea anemones (or what I call sea enemies" and more rocks (lol). After looking around, we sat on a huge rock and just looked out towards the ocean and enjoyed the peace and quiet. I heard Derrick say, "Jer", and as I turned to face him, I saw him on one bended knee, holding a ring box and said, "Will you marry me?" I said "of course" and hugged and kissed him.

@@snswedding2016 I'm slowly starting to catch up on all the planning threads and I've missed so much. You have done such a great job with your decor, flower girl dresses and just your overall theme. I love that you've chosen to wear your necklace from Sean. I think that's a great choice given its sentimental value. And I love the inscription on it. And that's a beautiful place to take photos. It must smell so lovely there too. I can't wait to see your photos

@@calgarybride2015 well I guess you and I are birthday twins, my birthday is also August 11 ☺️

@@vancouverpetunia I've just caught up reading your thread and I love your groomsman's attire! I've been wanting to cross the border to go shopping with my fiancé but haven't been able to since he's kept procrastinating in getting his passport renewed. Men! I'm hoping we can go next month. I'm too scared to go to the new outlet, I hate crowds!

@@TinkerSofi I love the idea of getting Juan's ring engraved. It's a nice touch and gesture that he'll have forever. Eek, 28 days? I'm so excited for you!!

@@ashhtayy I love your save the dates! It's great to hear that zazzle.com has awesome customer service. I think us brides have enough stress to deal with so its great that they were so helpful and accommodating. I'm also with air Transat but I never heard about the travel voucher. Maybe that's a new thing? I booked in October 2014 but I'll ask my travel agent. It's funny that I also just found out about the in-flight announcement. I'm a Leo and love attention so I'm definitely taking advantage lol. Plus I think it will get all of our guests excited for the trip!

@@ashhtayy I love your planning thread, thank you so much for sharing your story! And that man must love you to pieces to leave BC for ON. That is unheard of! Lol We complain about weather and the cost of living all the time but we Vancouverites are so snooty and think that this is truly the best place to live in Canada (I can say that, I'm from here ). So yup, him moving to be with you is true testament to how much he loves you. And I love the scrapbook idea, he's such a romantic. You got such a great price for your trip! Azul Fives is gorgeous and to get it at that price us really good. And your engagement pics are gorgeous! I love that your pics will be very different from your wedding pics. Huge contrast from snow to sun! And yes, it's your wedding so you can break and make rules to your heart's desire ☺

@@TinkerSofi I'm sorry to hear about the Canada Post issues, but I'm glad they managed to deliver your necklace in time! I'm pretty certain that PayPal can refund you your money. They're pretty good to deal with!

@@vancouverpetunia you and I have the same fear! One of my bridesmaids had a destination wedding 5 years ago and it was so fun. That's one of the reasons why I wanted one in the first place, but since my friends have been to one that was fun, I don't want people to compare them. And worst, I don't want ppl to say ours was not as fun @@TinkerSofi I guess you're right, we'll be in Mexico, on vacation. Who doesn't have fun in Mexico? I still can't help but worry...I'm a worrier by nature though @@veryvalentine, @@calgarybride2015 and @@rachelia160 thanks for the reassurances about lite guests. We've actually only booked our wedding and a welcome bbq as events and wanted our guests to enjoy their vacation. It makes me feel better that my assumption is right in that it's better to leave them alone and not worry so much about having to plan every day we're there.

I love the idea of the serpent dance during the bouquet toss, it totally looks like so much fun! I'm sorry you have regrets and I know that I can only imagine what you're feeling since I'm still in the planning stage so I can on,y empathize with you but try to focus on all the positive things instead of the negative. From what I can tell, you and your guests had an awesome time! In the planning stages, and this is a personal fear of mine, I'm afraid that my guests will not have fun and wonder why they paid so much money to go to a boring wedding! I am hoping that my guests have the best time of our lives and they remember our wedding as one they had a great time going to. Well it seems you successfully pulled this off and you shouldn't regret this at all. You brought family from so many different parts of the world and you should be so happy that your wedding brought them all together for such a joyful occasion. This reunion may not happen again but you made it possible to even happen once in everyone's life.

@@priscilla31185 I'm so glad you were assigned your wedding coordinator! That's strange that your contract doesn't give you the specific vendor fee amount. Maybe that's a new thing?!?! Well I hope Nayeli is able to help you out. And I'm glad you found a photographer! Our photographer was one if the first vendors I booked, I couldn't risk having him already booked for another wedding

Oh Kristy, your highlight video is beautiful and touching. You look so beautiful. Thanks for sharing

Yay, another planning thread! I love your proposal story, and I really love that he proposed with the family heirloom. Can't wait to hear more about your wedding plans

Wow, there is no denying that that's your dress! You are beaming in it and you look so gorgeous. I'm so glad you had a great and successful wedding dress shopping experience, and that price is definitely a steal! I love Sophia Tolli gowns and to get one for under $1000, that looks great on you and has everything you wanted is unheard of....well until now lol. Congrats Hun, now it's time to go shoe shopping

Haha I love that website! I'll let you know if I get any promo codes soon. And @@LeighC, I love what you wrote. Yes, happy wedding planning to everyone! Love wins

@@yycbride2016 I'm sending plenty of positive vibes your way for a successful wedding dress shopping trip! One that's 80% off would be awesome!!! As for the heel guards, @@vancouverpetunia is correct in that they're only to prevent from sinking in grassy areas. They won't help with sand at all. I had the same problem as you. Our ceremony is also on the beach and reception on the terrace. As much as I loved the idea of barefoot sandals, I wanted heels (height) for the reception. And I can't do both since I have to alter the length to the heels. It would be too long for the ceremony and I don't exactly want to trip while walking down the aisle. So as a solution. I went with wedges. It will be easy to walk in sand and will give me the height for dancing

Hi @@priscilla31185 when did you sign your wedding contract? I can check on my timeline in terms of when I received my offsite wedding coordinator. As for approved photographers, I'm afraid it's only dreamart for now. Check your contract to see if the outside photographer vendor fee is $800. There was a period of time when the fee was $400 while the other vendor fees were $800.

@@acw271011 I know huh? I'm a size 5 and it was the only site I could find badgley mischka in my size, and on sale too! If you see shoes you like, wait until around the 4th of July. I'm sure they'll have some sales then. I'll pm you in case I get a promo code! @@LeighC I don't mind spending a lot for shoes, especially for my wedding. I just wouldn't have expected that much for sandals from etsy! And I agree about just getting paid to spend all day on this site. I just moved into a new office, I may have to close the door to wedding plan while at work lol

@@yycbride2016 I'm sorry your dress shopping experience wasn't enjoyable. Don't let bad customer service get you down or make you feel like your budget is inadequate! Your budget us realistic and I agree with everyone that you can find a beautiful dress within it. You're quite petite so sample sales will work for you. I bought my dress at a sample sale and it was 40% off! I love my dress and it's under $1000. As for shoes, I'm sorry if you e already mentioned but are you having a beach or terrace wedding? The second shoes are beautiful but may not be practical if your on the beach

@@LeighC I love your planning thread! And I agree with everyone, your dress is gorgeous. I know you're second guessing it a bit but I think it's beautiful on you. As for your sandals, I think they're really beautiful too and match perfectly with your dress. They're dressy and perfect for a destination wedding. Being from Canada, the price was converted to Canadian dollars and they came up to $196! Lol so $150 for you is a steal compared to what we'd pay for in our dollars Like @@acw271011 said, a lot of brides have been buying Badgley Mischka, including me I love shoes so they were important to me. I found them on sale at 6pm.com and they shipped them on time. Try looking there because they have a lot of designer shoes. If you like the blue so,es, they also carry Blue by Betsey Jonhson.

OMG I love Mr. Charles lol Looks like such a great time in Vegas! And I'm so glad dress fitting was a success! Your dress looks so beautiful on you and fits you perfectly! oooh you're getting so close, I'm excited for you

Wow, you look so beautiful in your dress. And I agree with everyone about the veil, definitely a great addition! It looks so good, you're making me think that I should get a veil too! I am absolutely thrilled for you and I can't wait to hear your reviews and stories. Congratulations

Your dress is gorgeous! I love the keyhole back, sophisticated sexy

@@priscilla31185 unless they've changed it very recently, I'm not aware of any other approved photographers. We're going with Samuel Luna and are willing to pay the outside vendor fee to have him photograph our wedding. I love his photographic style and have heard great reviews about him.

Hi @@Jenjennyjen, congrats on your engagement! This forum is extremely helpful with a lot of helpful and friendly brides I'm getting married at Moon Palace next year. @@Danielle1 has given you correct info, you do get unlimited private events if you book 75+ room nights. I do t know too much about the Palladium wedding packages but if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask me ☺