ashhtayy

Anyone purchased from CheapTotes.com recently? This thread is quite old. The price is fantastic! I was against OOT bags but the more and more I see them, I feel we are cheating our guests if we don't do them. I would appreciate any feedback from recent brides. Thanks in advance!

@@vancouverpetunia Your stationary looks amazing! Love the papel picado – so perfect! And congrats on hitting the 50-day mark! Glad they were able to resize your bracelet for you and bonus that they didn’t charge you. Regardless of how long it took, time is money and most places would charge you for a 3 minute job. I’d go back there again for sure J Good customer service goes a long way! Are you downtown Van or outside? Curiosity, that’s all. Mike’s family is mostly in Coquitlam and Burnaby – only a matter of time until we end up there too. We aren’t looking to move but I think if the right opportunity came up, we would. It would be horrible to leave my family but I guess BC isn’t the worse place in Canada to live Hrmm, I don’t have much help to offer in terms of seating. I am still debating that too. I like the idea of assigning tables, not seats, but haven’t thought of the perfect way to do it. I look forward to seeing what you come up with (so I can steal your idea lol). I do like the toothpick in the lime idea but that does seem very time consuming. You could always laminate the paper if you wanted to slip in in the lime…but also time consuming and I would worry about the lime not sitting upright and even when it did, it inevitably blowing over. Safe bet is in the centerpiece, likely won’t move from there! Good luck. Sorry I am no help!

@@calgarybride2015 just checked the site - they don't have any locations in Ontario! Just Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba - now I know why I haven't heard of them before! Looks like they ship but at those prices I don't think I could buy without being able to try on first. I don't have much luck buying clothes online because I vary so much from designer to designer. Next trip to Calgary I'll check them out though

@@deecol So happy your bridal shower was perfect and happy to read those closest to you stepped up and let you enjoy the moment. Colin sounds like a sweetheart – you two are lucky to have found one and other J Your dress looks BEAUTIFUL! Where are you storing it? Do you have it at your house with you and Col? I think I would peak at it every day if it was in the house…and then randomly try it on at all hours of the day lol Exciting about your new guests! You are going to have a great size wedding. I am so excited to have everyone in one place for a week. I am also so interested to see how everyone interacts. Because we live across the country from one and others family and friends a lot of people haven’t met. Mike and I always talk about who we think will hit it off right away. Our fathers won’t meet until our wedding in Mexico – crazy! Sounds like you’re taking the flight change like a champ. New guests each day of the week sounds fun but handing out welcome bags every day does not. Are you using WhatsApp to communicate? Maybe you can have someone from each group message when they leave the airport to head to your resort so you’re not waiting around the lobby? Just a thought so that you can enjoy your other guests and the pool as much as possible J Looks like you’re in great shape! Did you decide what you are going to do for vases? Rent or bring with you?

@@deecol @@calgarybride2015 @@vancouverpetunia Thanks ladies! The legal ceremony will be super low-key; definitely don’t want to take away from Mexico. And yes, Easter Saturday but only because we wanted to include Mike’s mom and nonna and they will only be here Wednesday to Wednesday so that is the only day we could do it. They’ll be super happy that they could be here for it Story of my life – all busty ladies around me I haven’t heard of Swim Co. but I will check them out now! I’ve also checked Victoria Secret but haven’t had much luck. Still time though!

@@Rubyy No, definitely not ready but not in a panic - there's still time Most of the big things are out of the way at this point but need to set aside sometime to work on the little tedious things. I am absolutely carrying my dress on - no way I'd put it in a suitcase. I would also be so scared it would get lost. I want to know exactly where it is at all times lol

@@Rubyy I agree 100% with @@snswedding2016! That's actually what we are doing. We have 50+ people and it was just too expensive to go with one of the packages so we added what we needed and are bringing most of our decor. You can literally add anything you want from one of the MM packages individually - I like that you can customize it as much as you'd like. I don't know if there is spray tanning at the resort - it isn't on the spa package so I would assume no. I personally would be very scared to spray tan due to the amount you will be in the water, the sweating, etc. I plan to tan in beds before we go so I have a nice glow for our wedding.

@@Rubyy Congrats and welcome to the site! I'm a June 2016 AF bride. There are three forums for AF where you will find lots of information from past brides. Type Azul Fives in the search bar and you'll find everything you need

I bought a few runners and a round from a former bride who had purchased from www.chaircoverfactory.com. I bought the rest of the runners I needed from there as well. I have the champagne colour which I highly recommend if you want gold. They are gold so I can't even imagine what the 'gold' ones would look like. They were inexpensive and I am happy with the quality. Another bride mentioned they left sequins all over her house but I did not have that experience at all. I'd purchase from them again! Round: http://www.chaircoverfactory.com/product-p/tab_02_108_chmp.htm Runners: http://www.chaircoverfactory.com/product-p/run_02_chmp.htm

Mini Update Legal Ceremony Yesterday we got our marriage licence! Very simply process. Filled out the paperwork and submitted online; we printed it, signed it and walked into City Hall. All we needed to do was show government issued ID with a photograph, sign their copy and pay a $125 fee. It's valid for 90 days. Done! We also confirmed our reservation for dinner that night. Great restaurant with delicious food about 10 minutes from our house. Plan is to have our family over for "appetizers", have a surprise 10 minute ceremony and then head to the restaurant for some dinner, drinks and cake All we have to do now is read through all the documents our officiant sent and pick the wording for the opening, readings, vows, ring ceremony and closing. We likely won't exchange rings and will keep things super simple. We have until the week before to send this back to our officiant so no rush at all. Legal wedding date is March 26th, 2016! Bathing Suits I have a really tough time finding bathing suits - small girls, big(ish) lol booty. I can only buy bathing suits from stores that sell them as separates as I need an xs top and a medium bottom. I lucked out yesterday and found a perfect top and two bottoms from la vie en rose. I paid regular price for the top and one of the bottoms but the other bottoms I got on sale for $6.99. We were at Vaughan Mills yesterday and they had so many options - lots on sale too! Anyone else have the same problem as me? Tops are my biggest problem and most often I get lucky at la vie en rose because they sell xs. Anyone have any suggestions for stores that cater to us small chested ladies? Thanks!

If I were in your position I would have assumed they would have charged a fee...but for a day pass, not a vendor fee. A day pass at our resort is $99 and the vendor fee is $800. Big difference! Are you doing any wedding festivities there? Welcome party, etc. How do they know it's a wedding? Maybe that doesn't matter now but if you are not doing any wedding festivities there I would try negotiating the fee down to the day pass fee per vendor.

@@calgarybride2015 thank you! @@vancouverpetunia thank you! We just went with each other's names and our wedding date. It's so small on mine that you can barely read it...plus, no one will ever see it so we didn't put much thought into the wording lol

@@vancouverpetunia I'm late but there is something about two and five that I love - I should add, they all look great on you! I picture two and five with a big chunky gold necklace - beaauuttiiffulll!

@@sassylouxx Is your FI my FI? lol It was probably 2 weeks ago when he looked at me and said "what am I going to do about my hair?" His barber even joked with him about needing to book his trip soon. My FI get his sides done every Friday and is worried about the same thing...and we get there on a Friday and marry on the Tuesday lol. Luckily his nonna used to be a hair dresser, one of our guests is a hair dresser and they have the spa on site. I figure one of the three will have to work. @@snswedding2016 - Steph, did Sean or Fabio (lol) get their hair cut on site? Or @@TinkerSofi, did Juan? I think he keeps his sides short too? Any experience with the men on your trip using the spa for their pre-wedding cut?

@@yycbride2016 Woo! Glad you had a great time at your shower Great find with your ceremony shoes - I think you'll be so happy you got them. Also love your reception shoes! So sparkly! Your groomsman will love those watches; very generous gift and so practical. 12 days! Hope you shake your cold ASAP.

Mike picked up our rings tonight! This photo does not do them justice but you get the idea So happy we got them engraved too!

@@deecol what a thoughtful gift from your MIL! Hope your shower was perfect

@@yycbride2016 Your vow books are so cute!! Where did you get them from? We have ours but other ladies viewing your thread may be interested I really like the look of the wooden planks so I would probably keep that and scrap the heals for the ceremony. Heals, sand and wooden planks sound like a recipe for disaster! You'll get to wear those beautiful shoes during the reception I'm not sure if you'd have time to get them, but a little pair of barefoot sandals would look adorable. Like @ said, it sounds like regardless of dress length your dress will be in the sand. I think not having to worry about tripping would be well worth the slightly sandy dress! Congratulations on being SO close! You've done so much work in preparation for both your Mexico Wedding and AHR - I can't wait to see photos of it all. Deep breathes...it's coming soon!

@@TinkerSofi thank you!!

HBC Registry Info Just an FYI for anyone planning to do a registry; I found something out today that kind of bothered me. We are registered at HBC and our experience at the store was great. The consultants were really knowledgeable and patient with my indecisiveness. We hadn't told anyone we did a registry except my mum, Mike's mom and nonna and my MOH. I get it though, some people assume you do a registry and may automatically check The Bay because so many couples use them. The consultant suggested we over scan while we were there, password protect our registry so that we have some time to figure out what we do in fact need, what is overkill, etc and then remove the password so it is searchable. They assured us that this meant that no one could see our registry. Well...that isn't the case. The guest password only blocks people from accessing your registry online but not from accessing it at store level. We didn't by any means go crazy, we actually didn't scan a whole lot but there were some things on there that I was on the fence about. Example - we scanned two toasters. We don't need two toasters but at the time, we couldn't decide which one we would prefer. You can add and delete any items you like from the comfort of your home but I wanted to go back one more time just to be sure what we had placed on there was what we needed. My Aunt, being super on the ball, went to the store last weekend and printed out our registry and started making comments to my mum about how this and that was discontinued, etc. She was trying to be helpful but one. we haven't even told anyone when the shower is and two. we hadn't released the password. I called HBC and they apologized stating they didn't realize the password wasn't for in store either. They've corrected this by changing our names which in turns makes it unsearchable online and at store level. I feel like a brat - my Aunt had good intentions by going to the store early and trying to find some gifts for us - but on the flip side, I am so uneasy about having a shower in the first place I didn't want our "wish list" released without me having the time to go through it with a fine tooth comb. Anyways, this may seem ridiculous to some but it bothered me enough to share. Moral of this post? Password protection does not help. Alter your names so they can't be searched in order to give yourself more time to make your "wish list" perfect.

@ Thanks for the tips! The clear coat is a great idea - I'll pick some up soon! Excited to start working on these. @@deecol Do you have any idea of what kind of vases you are looking for? If mason jars, you can get them anywhere! I bought ours at Dollar Tree because the size was perfect. Dollarama also has some great vases as does HomeSense! I had to travel to a few different stores to get enough but it was well worth it for what we paid. Let us know what you're looking for so we can keep our eye out too.

@@TinkerSofi Hey! They are telling me I won't need more lights on the Sky Deck, but do you think I will? Steph remembered you (I think it was you, anyways) saying something about guests using their phones to see their meals lol I feel if lights were needed the WD would tell me that so that I would spend more money but she assured me it would be fine! Any advice? Thank you!

@ Oh, great tip about leaving the glass at home. I had thought about how that would work transporting it. Not sure why I never considered just leaving it at home lol $10USD for vases is steep. I'd for sure bring your own. Plus, you'll likely find ones here for cheaper that you like more than anything you could rent there. I am also using mason jars and have purchased the spray paint but have yet to use it. Any spray painting tips @? Last time I chalk board spray painted the bottom of wine glasses it got really messy.