Janjin

I'm not doing much flowers for that reason @@amyzig2 they just seem very expensive. I'm going with vases and candles instead for centerpeices and just some arrangements for the ceremony that I'm planning on reusing at the reception.

@@calgarybride2015 – Thanks. Eating out is something we both struggle with. It affects our waistlines and our budgets. It’s just too convenient to do that in our neighborhood. Good goals – I may borrow one. I didn't have a great weekend food-wise. I did manage to have 1 meal at home - breakfast on sunday (yay to fiance for making me pancakes before he left for the day). So hard to keep on plan with all of the social parts of the weekend. Oh well today is a new day.

Ahh just finished writing, stuffing and labeling the thank you cards for my bridal shower gifts! Just have to pick up some stamps today during lunch and mail them out. They're going out exactly 1 month after the shower - not too bad!! I had the thank you cards made using vistaprint

@@calgarybride2015 Yea, I'll have to talk to my WC about it because I agree I don't see why they couldn't bring the flowers to the reception. I only have 2 bridesmaids and I'm going to need 10 centerpieces so that's why I figured we can use their flowers and mine on the sweetheart table and everyone else can have the vases and candles.

@@calgarybride2015 - good thinking - maybe I can have the ceremony flowers brought down to the reception and placed around our table and the guest book table Haha too funny I'm using the same font - it just looks fun to me The etsy vendor is AlphabetArtPhotos. She was very responsive and quick. @@yycbride2016 - thanks! Having everything in one place here is definitely keeping me organized and excited

Décor: It almost time to finalize our décor options with our WC so its time I finally made a decision!! I’m a very visual person but have a hard time visualizing things together myself. I usually prefer someone else to put things together and then I can say yes or no haha. Ceremony Our ceremony will be on the skydeck which is beautiful so I’m thinking it won’t really need too much in décor. I’m expecting guests to just love the view! We’re going with: - the included white garden chairs, - sheers on the gazebo, - 4 flower arrangements – I want the flowers to be a mix of dark and light purples white and beige - 1 small flower arrangement for the ceremony table This is my inspiration pic I also want to do ceremony fans that will double as a program. I’m thinking of DIYing this so I should get working on that soon. I also want 2 different signs at the ceremony location. In order to get upstairs you get on the elevator and to the 3rd floor and then you walk up a flight of stairs to the sky deck. So I’d like a sign that says “Love, Laughter and Happily Ever After this way” by the stairs. The by the actual ceremony I’d like a sign that says “Pick a seat, not a side, we’re all family once the knot is tied”. Our good friend (she actually introduced us) is very creative so she’s offered to create the signs for us AND carry them to Mexico for us haha. We’re going shopping tomorrow for inspiration and supplies Reception Here is where I keep going back and forth so you can’t hold me to any of this just yet Guest tables: This is the tablecloths we’re going to rent from the hotel and then as centerpieces we’re going to do 3 different sized vases with floating candles and votive candles around it. Trying really hard to keep these costs down since we have 10 guest tables, so we aren’t using any flowers. I’m not a huge flower person so I’m ok with skimping on this and I’d rather have a photobooth then flowers haha. Our reception will be under a gazebo (well the dance floor is) and we’re going to have a number of paper lanterns in while and purple handing from it and will be adding Christmas lights around the poles. Something like this but with purple instead of blue. Sweetheart table: I’m planning on using my and my bridesmaids bouquets on our table. I’m also thinking of having a lantern on each corner of the table and a few votive candles around the table. I also want a banner of some sort on the front but can’t decide what we want it to say. Guest book: We’ve decided to go the nontraditional route when it comes to a guestbook. So we ordered a framed print off of etsy that we’ll have our guests sign. We are so excited for this! I cried when it came in since it’s the first thing that has my new name on it We’ll have this on table with markers, a sign asking people to sign it and votive candles. Maybe we’ll add a few pictures of us around here. Escort cards: We will be assigning tables but not seats for our guests. And what better way then by using maracas as escort cards! We ordered the maracas from amols.com and love them! We also created “tags” on vistaprint that will be attached to the maracas. This is the look I’m going for: This is the front of the tag (we still have to write the guests names): And this is the back of the tag: @@calgarybride2015 - thanks!! I'm really liking how its all coming together too!!

thanks @@yycbride2016! The suspenders were his idea actually which I loved haha. We ordered them on Monday and they've already shipped. Once I get them I'll post a pic. My mom loved the dress and she looked so happy in it so its perfect! We actually went shopping yesterday for it. Her, my future mother in law and I made a day of it. Went dress shopping and had lunch. They had fun and both found dresses they loved and felt great in - it was a good day overall!!

Bridal Party Outfits Our colors are shades of purple and grey. The girls will be wearing a grape colored convertible dress from etsy (I found the etsy seller from a bride on here – I think it was @perianjay so thanks!) and any grey/silver shoes they like. The guys will be wearing grey slacks with a white button down shirt and purple suspenders and we’re ordering them custom made grey converse sneakers with purple stitching and laces. My fiancé is a HUGE sneaker guy so he’s really excited about this. The girls dress: Grooms men inspiration pic (although Jamal will be wearing a full suit): My dad, who will walk me down the aisle, will be wearing a grey suit with a white shirt and I’m thinking maybe a purple tie – haven’t decided yet. My mom will wear a grey dress and his mom will wear the lilac colored dress.

Thanks @@yycbride2016!! That means a lot. I still get shocked sometimes on how far I've come - especially right now as I'm planning out where I'm going to run my 13 miles tomorrow morning haha

I want to join! I know I’m a day late but here it goes. My name is Daisy and will be getting married on November 20, 2015 at Azul Sensatori. I just turned 34 last week. I was not active at all as a kid or in high school. I didn't do sports or anything but I was able to stay skinny even while working at Mcdonalds in high school (can we say free food ALL the time!!) All of that changed in college where I started to gain weight but I never really thought about. In my twenties, I always "wanted" to lose weight but I never really anything about it. About 5 years ago, I started meeting my friend to run. And man I was so out of shape! I couldn't run for more than a minute before having stop. He was amazing and did a run/walk program with me and after months I was able to run a mile straight for the first time in my life! I was running here and there but my eating never changed. So my body didn’t really change – as everyone else said you can’t out exercise/run a bad diet. The turning point came 3.5 years ago, when my velrco ski pants didn’t fit anymore and I had to go buy new ones last minute. Mortified that velcro pants didn’t fit I signed up for Weight Watchers. Over the next 6 months I lost 30 pounds and have kept it off give or take 5-10 pounds till now. I’ve also upped my running game. Last year I ran my first 2 half marathons and I can currently training for my first MARATHON!! I’ll be running the NYC Marathon on November 1st. Similar to others, I don’t have an exact weight loss number in mind. Long term goals (now till Wedding day): - Finish marathon on November 1st healthy and happy - Feel confident in my bathing suit for bachelorette party - Feel confident in both my bathing suit and wedding dress wedding week Short term goals (1 week): - Cross train at least 3 times (I tend to just run and have gotten injured in the past because of this) - Do not eat every meal out this weekend (we are horrible and tend to have breakfast, lunch and dinner out on the weekends) - Limit “I deserve this because I just ran X miles” treats to 2 Think this accountability thread is really going to help all of us!!

@@calgarybride2015 - When we went for our site visit in June, it only took us about 15-20 mins from the airport to the hotel. So I'm thinking we should be at the resort by 3:30 the latest but I'll see if they have something a little later. Thanks!

@ - I'm so excited for this!! I think the bonfire is going to be so much fun and a little different. We have it scheduled from 8-10. This way guests can have dinner at any of the yummy restaurants then meet us for dessert and shenanigans on the beach. We're going to rent tiki touches from the hotel and bring down something to play music from an ipod. Jamal and the guys love cigars so we're going to make our own make shift cigar bar. We'll ask the hotel to bring out an extra table and we'll bring the cigars from here. They offer a cigar roller option but at $500 we're thinking it'd be better to spend that on the cigars the guys actually like. But I'll let this be his call. I'm ok with either way. Good thinking @@acw271011 ! I'll figure it out and make appointments by Monday.

Week of Timeline: So as of right now this is our timeline: Tuesday, 11/17 - arrive at the resort by 2:30/3 (we land at 1pm) - schedule hair trial for around 4:30/5. Thoughts? I’m thinking it’ll be good to get this out of the way since 99% of our guests won’t be there yet. - finish up welcome bags Wednesday, 11/18 - have wedding appointment (won’t know time until we get there) - welcome both sets up parents to the resort - some guests arrive this day - hopefully some pool time - using the dinner that comes with the wedding package as a family dinner this night Thursday, 11/19 - majority of guests arrive today - hopefully a relaxing day by the pool with our guests - smores bonfire welcome party on the beach Friday, 11/20 - WEDDING DAY!! - Massage appointment in the morning – will see if my girls would like to join – my treat. - Hair / make up appointments (still need to be made) - Photographers arrive at 2 for getting ready and first look pics - Ceremony on sky deck at 4, cocktail hour 4:30 – 6 and reception from 6 – 10. Saturday, 11/21 – Monday, 11/23 - Hang out enjoying being married haha Any major events/things to do I’m missing???

Thanks @ @@Wafflesmom @@acw271011!!! I actually enjoyed putting it all into words!! Will continue shortly

Thanks @@deecol!! It really was perfect for us!! Room block As I mentioned above, we initially blocked off 20 rooms at $100 each. It was good chunk of money up front but since we get it back in October we figured it was more of a wedding day prepayment. Rooms need to be reserved with at least $150 deposit per person by August 24th (which is the TA’s made up deadline) and we can drop rooms up until September 7th. That is also the date when all rooms need to be paid in full by. A few months later based on the number of people already booking and RSVPing we up’d the block by 10 rooms but fortunately we didn’t have to put the $100 per room down. As of today, we have 22 of the 30 rooms reserved and still have a bunch of people left to book. I may consider increasing the block in the next day or two just make sure everyone gets in. Guest list / Save the dates / Invitations: We decided that we would invite everyone to Mexico that we would have invited to a local wedding especially since we aren’t planning to have anything here when we get back. And we expected that we would have a good amount of people come with us to Mexico. We also decided to invite our guests with their children and left the decision to bring them up to them. Much to our surprise most people aren’t bringing the kids. Our guest list came to 155. As soon as secured the wedding date, we started looking for save the dates. Jamal really wanted to just send the invites but I had always wanted to do save the dates so I won Jamal isn’t a big picture guy. He doesn’t like the traditional couple “posey” pictures so he was completely against engagement pictures and since we were/are in a major money saving mode since we’re paying for the wedding ourselves, he talked me into not taking engagement pictures. The argument makes sense but I still kind of wish we would have done it. Oh well that just means we’re going to have to take amazing maternity pictures when that time comes!! Shhh don’t tell So save the dates with our pictures were out and so were any destination wedding theme ones. As I mentioned, we’ve been to a few destination weddings so passports, boarding cards, etc have already been done in our group so we had to find something different. After much searching we picked this save the date from weddingpaperdivas.com. We loved how different and fun it was. Same concept applied when looking for invitations. We gravitated toward the more modern type invitations so fell in love with the simplicity of this one. We sent out the save the dates in early February and the invites went out in mid-April with a RSVP date of 7/15/15. People have been slowly booking and RSVPing since February. One of Jamal’s groomsman booked even before the save the dates went out just so that he could say he was the first to book haha. I loved that! As of today, we have 73 adults and 4 children either booked or RSVP’d. We are very blessed to have so many people willing to travel for us! I did have 1 major disappointing no though – my aunt/godmother. I’m not close at all to my extended family but with her and her family its different – we are close. And I just knew in the bottom of my heart that she would come. When she finally said no, I was heartbroken. I understand it’s a lot to ask but the hurt was and is still there. But trying to focus on everyone else who is able to make it. Bridal Party: For Jamal, selecting his party was a no brainer. He has 2 best friends since childhood so 1 is his best man and the other is his groomsman. For me, it was also really easy. I had the 3 girls picked out for ages. H is one of my best friends and my maid of honor, C is my sister-in-law more like the little sister I never had and my bridesmaid, and K was my other best friend and going to be my bridesmaid. 2 weeks after after getting engaged, K passed away right after giving birth to her beautiful daughter. It was easily the hardest time in my life that should have been the best time in my life. So while I still have H and C (and am so grateful for that), my bridal party will always feel incomplete. The DRESS! I was so excited for this part but also scared!! I’m one of the most indecisive people ever and I thought it would take forever to find a dress. But sooooo not the case. I made an appointment at a boutique in the city and went with my mom, godmother, maid of honor and bridesmaid. Fell in love with dress #3 and even after trying on a bunch more #3 was it! I am very blessed that my parents offered to buy my dress and even more grateful for the generous budget they gave me. My dress is Pronovias Mildred I also added a pretty beaded belt and will wear a veil for the ceremony. I ordered in at the end of February and it should be in around September 20th. Can't wait!! Fingers crossed I still love it as much as I loved it that day More to come...

Hi everyone! I’ve been a long time lurker and sometimes poster but now that we are approaching our 3 month mark (ahh!!) I think it’s time to start my very own planning thread. Think this will definitely help me focus and hopefully make decisions J How we met: Jamal and I met a little over 4 years ago at a mutual friend’s birthday party. As usual, I went to this party with one of my best guy friends. We get to the bar about an hour into the party, say our hellos and make our way to the bar for drinks. After realizing that drinks were $15 a piece (gotta love NYC bars), I made a mental note that I needed someone else to buy me drinks that night haha. My friend and I always have the problem that people think we are “together” so we separate right away and go mingle. I did spot a cute stranger hanging out with our group but none of my immediate friends knew who he was. A little while later, as I was finishing my drink, coincidently, this cute stranger comes up to me and asks if he could buy me a drink J. We spent the rest of the night talking and hanging out. I eventually go to the bathroom with the birthday girl and find out that he was one of her really good friends and she assured me that he was a good guy. So when he asked for my phone number at the end of the night, I didn’t hesitate! To add a little twist to the story, the birthday girl knows him because he used to date her cousin and when they broke up she decided to keep her friendship with Jamal despite the breakup. She jokes that she kept Jamal in the divorce! We had our first date a couple of weeks later and have been together ever since. This relationship felt different right from the beginning. It almost felt easy, if that makes any sense. He and my friends (guys and girls) got along very well right from the beginning and that was so important to me since they are my family here in NY. And now we have been living together for almost 3 years now and have been engaged for about 8 months. The Proposal: It was Christmas morning 2014 and we were at my parent’s house opening presents like the big kids that we are. We take Christmas morning very serious in my family, we were onesies and my dad dresses up like Santa haha. This year was no exception. Jamal and I wore superhero onesies! After I opened my presents I took my new niece Sophia, who was only 2 weeks old, from my sister-in-law so that she can open her presents. I'm obsessed with Sophia so I want to hold her at all times. Then suddenly my brother comes to take the baby from me and I'm not happy about it and I don't let him. Little did I know he was doing it for a reason. He tried again warning me about a dirty diaper so I gave in and handed him the baby. I got up to help clean up the living room since there was wrapping paper everywhere! Then Jamal says "oh wait there's another present". I turn around excited for another gift and there he is on one knee with a beautiful ring in front of my entire family! Being the lady that I am, I say "oh shit" and start crying immediately and everyone in the background is screaming in shock and happiness. He asks me to marry him and there are more tears. He finally asks again "uh is that a yes?" But come on as if it would ever be a no. So yes I was proposed to while in a wonder woman onesie by a man dressed as batman J This was the best way for him to propose – I loved that it was in front of my family. Since we don’t live near them (we’re in NYC and they are outside of Philadelphia), I usually miss out on random family events. And it was amazing to have them be a part of this. Here is my ring Location / Timing: It was never a secret to anyone that I would have a destination wedding. For me, a big, expensive NYC wedding never felt right. And in Jamal’s eyes, we could have grabbed our parents head, down to city hall and call it a day. Both sets of immediate families were immediately on board and that was most important to us. Before we even told them our plans, we decided that if we needed to pay for any of them to come, we would. As long as we have our parents and siblings there, everyone else is icing on the cake J So as soon as we got engaged, the search was on. I must have spent hours and hours searching on google for locations/resorts. We had no idea where we wanted to get married but knew that we didn’t want Dominican Republic (so many friends have gotten married there already) or Jamaica (Jamal has distant family there and didn’t want to have to invite them). We finally came across Danialle from BeachBum Vacations and knew immediately we had found our travel agent. Right from the beginning she was helpful, knowledgable and super nice. She was able to help us decide that Mexico was the right place for us and our guests since we wanted to be considerate of our guest’s budget. Our resort requirements were: - Somewhere different to get married – I personally don’t like the beach and sand very much so I didn’t want a beach ceremony/reception - Keep costs for guests around $1,000 for 4 days/3 nights - All-inclusive with amazing food - Not a small resort After seeing pictures of the skydeck at Azul Sensatori I fell in love! A rooftop ceremony reminded of NYC and it hasn’t been done in my circle of friends, where destination weddings are the norm. So after some more research and thinking, it was done. We were going with Azul Sensatori. We didn’t want a long engagement but wanted to be considerate of our guests and their budgets, so after looking at work schedules (I’m an accountant so certain months are blocked off), we decided on November 2015. Based on availability at the resort, we selected November 20, 2015. Our travel agent was able to secure a room block for us. We started with 20 rooms in the block since we had to put down $100 per room to secure them. This was all done by end January 2015 so needless to say it was a very very busy few weeks. Now as much as I loved the pictures, I was sooooo nervous about picking a place without actually seeing it. We and my friends are huge travelers and have become accustomed to really nice hotels and amazing service and are willing to pay for it. But because of work schedules, we weren’t able to make it out to Mexico and still get information out to our guests early enough so that people could start saving money and blocking that time off. But thankfully a friend of a friend had gotten married there in September 2014 and loved it and her guests had a great time. So knowing that we have similar friends that put me at ease. We still scheduled a visit to the BDR in June to make sure

@@carrieandsam - thanks I'll check them out! I'm looking forward to the responses you get. I'm currently chasing down my delinquent RSVPs (why can't people just no sorry can't make?!?). Our room deposits/full payments are due by the end of August so that chasing around is about to start! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for your offer @@atyson03 ! But I think I actually want white sheers. Which ones did you use when you say you used what they had there? Did you rent them from Lomas?

Hi ladies - I'm looking on amazon for the sheers for the gazebo on the sky deck but there are so many to choose from and am confused. How many yards should I get? What width am I looking for? Should I be looking for organza fabric? Extra brownie points if anyone has a link or a seller I should look up Thanks!

Ahh that's a tough one. Not sure if it'll go with the color you're planning but maybe get a light glitter nail polish to put over the gel polish so the growth isn't that noticable (saw it on pinterest). Or maybe but the polish from the salon and have a friend do a touchup the night before. I would also go with a lighter color so that it's not too noticable either.

Awesome pics! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@@trbutler - Great bag!! I can see why your guest are still talking about them!! Where did you get the OFF wipes?? I want to include that in our bags too.

Hope you're having a great day @@BecomingaRiggio ! I can see your reception being set up and I can tell it'll look great!! Congrats!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@@jaden1976 honestly there is a lot of seaweed on the beach so if it's going to bother you you may need to think about other places for the ceremony. They are trying to clean it but there's a ton on the beach and eve floating in the water. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm here now also for this weekend's BDR and the wifi is great so far. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk