scadeau

Over the weekend I went out with my bridesmaids (1 MOH and 5 bridesmaids) to chose their dress to wear (: It was surprisingly easy because everyone went in with an open mind! This is the dress we chose is by Bella Maids in the colour Slate Blue. The dress is short and made of chiffon which is perfect for the hot weather. This is the colour Slate Blue!

@@MrsMeis So exciting you are getting married 10 days after us (: I still haven't figured out my centrepieces either - but I think we will bring our own down. I am thinking something simple as well. We are adding the floral arrangements to our alter so I am planning on using those flowers for centre pieces and bringing some form of vase, bowl or mason jar to display them. I will be going Pintrest crazy in a few weeks to start figuring this all out. What days are you flying in?

My planning has taken a bit of a back seat with my finances birthday, holidays and a surprise trip to Niagara Falls. The only update is that we have selected our photographer! Pictures are one of the things we decided to splurge on because we have close family members that won't be able to make it to Mexico. We are using an outside vendor their name is Bohemia Photography! Next plan plan is to go bridesmaid dress shopping on November 19th. I still haven't picked what colour I want to go with... we are thinking of going with grey, navy blue or a dark purple. The guys are going to be wearing grey, so I think most colours will match this. ALSO just realized that I have been uploading my photos incorrectly. Here are my invites and planning binder AGAIN.

@@WPGBride17 Absolutely LOVE all of your updates!! Are you going to put a starfish on every chair at the ceremony? I really wanted to do this, but think I might just do something with starfish on the aisle chairs. If you don't mind me asking how much were the starfish you ordered/what website? Amazing progress - you are getting so close!!!

The bridal shop where I bought my wedding dress from is closing down (the owners are retiring after 60+ years) so as any normal person I started to panic, hoping that my dress would come in on time, would it be what I envisioned, etc. Finally it arrived last week (with a few weeks to spare before the store closed). The sample size I tried on was a bit small/the wrong colour, so once I tried on the dress I ordered (correct sizing/colour) it re-confirmed how much I love the dress!! The overall the silhouette, the back, the look, etc. I love it all I ordered Essence of Australia D1702 in ivory!! There needs to be some alterations done... what I know so far is that it needs to be shortened, the waist and bust also need to be taken in. I also bought the belt in the photo below because the store was having a 50% off sale. I still need to buy a veil, but that will be plain so it should be easy to find one. I will paying/picking up my dress next week with my mom! She was unable to be there when I picked my dress so I thought it would be nice for her to see it in person (: PS. Don't judge my awkward hairstyle haha I know its horrible.

@@SamanthaElizabeth Yes (: May 19th 2017 !!!

@@gaichan Yay - its always nice to meet other brides at the same resort! There is an awesome Facebook group that have past, present and future brides posting pictures, questions and giving recommendations, ideas, etc. https://www.facebook...ps/59537241435/ I almost feel behind in the planning process, but will eventually get everything done!

Great choice I love the shoes and it looks beauitful with the dress!!!

So far we have 58 guests booked (including FI and myself). One of the groomsmen has not booked yet because he lives in another province, so we are thinking our total guest number will be around 60! This morning I started my planning/organizing binder. My hope is this will keep me on track and keep everything in one place. I will bring this binder to Mexico with me because it will have contracts, receipts, ceremony details, etc. I bought dividers that have 8 tabs, so far I have only filled out 7. What I have: - Travel and Accommodations - Guests - Attire - Welcome & Rehearsal Dinner - Ceremony - Reception - Photography Does anyone have suggestions for the last divider tab!? The binder has plastic folders and a zipper pocket. These are perfect to keep smaller items (receipts, copy of our invitations) or things that I do not want to hole punch. My planning binder photos:

I wanted to give guests as much notice as possible so one my brilliant bridesmaids made my invitations (: There are invitations like this out there, but she put a personal twist on the graphics/colours. So grateful for this and it saved me on all costs (except for printing, which I had done at the same place my work gets our marketing materials printed). Double Sided-Invite (sorry for the glare) Booking Information & RSVP Card We still don't have our wedding colours picked out (fiance trumped my colour scheme of gold&blush pink)...... so we just chose colours that we 'liked' / considered beachy for the invitations!

How We Met Andrew and I met online early summer of 2014. Our initial conversation started with our likes for rivalry hockey teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. From there the conversation kept flowing and we went on our first date in early July. We continued to talk and go on dates over the next couple of months until we made our relationship official in August 2014. From there the rest is history ♥ The Proposal Every year we make a trip to Florida and stay in Indian Rocks Beach. This time we traveled with another couple (Ellen and Tyler) at the end of March 2016. Ellen and I being typical girls we wanted 'cute and coupley' sunset photos with the boys. On Sunday, April 3rd we finished dinner and walked down to the beach just in time to get in some good photos of the sun setting. Andrew and I took a few photos standing on the beach with the sun behind us, and then he said 'Let's try one more (pose)'. Then he got down on one knee in the water and I immediately started blushing and crying because I was so shocked/happy/surprised. After Andrew gave his romantic spiel and asked me to marry him, I said of course. Travel Agent/Picking a Resort We knew that we wanted to have a destination wedding right from the get go because we are beach bums and love the sun/water. Neither of us have ever been to Mexico, however it seemed like the perfect place for our wedding! The next thing on the list was to find a travel agent. I had been told to shop around for an agent for pricing and most importantly the person knows what they are doing/is easy to communicate with. We went to a local mall and popped into Flight Centre, they directed us to a nearby mall where their group travel specialist was located. Instantly we clicked and my finance and I knew we would be going with this agent based on her knowledge, experience and how helpful she was. The next step was choosing a resort, we wanted the resort to be affordable, yet still nice. We weren't very flexible with our potential wedding dates because the best man is a teacher and it is the only time he could take time off work to come to the wedding. After looking at quotes and reading (wedding) reviews we were sold on the GRAND SUNSET PRINCESS. On May 5th 2016 we put our deposits in for travel May 17th - May 24th. Our guests had the deposit deadline of July 13th to guarantee the rates given by the TA. ....More to come

We will be getting married May 19th 2017 at Grand Sunset Princess in Mexico !!! We moved quite quickly after getting engaged and decided on the resort, sent out invitations and made our wedding website with 6 weeks of getting engaged. Our deposits were due mid-July and we currently have approximately 65 guests booked in .. there are a few stragglers that may decide to book last minute. So far we haven't done too much planning with our co-ordinator at the resort, but we have picked our ceremony location and time as well the reception area. We have also booked an external photographer! Less than 9 months to go.. I feel like I have so much left to do, but sometimes don't know where to start! Happy planning everyone @@gaichan We chose the same resort It looks beautiful and all the wedding reviews sound amazing! There is a Facebook group that has past and present brides posting questions, photos, reviews of services, etc. I have found it very helpful so far! https://www.facebook.com/groups/59537241435/

Our wedding is next May and my finance and the groomsmen are heading out around Christmas time to get their attire. We are kind of stuck to this timeline because one groomsmen lives in another province and this is the only time everyone can get together. We are thinking linen as well.. I think Banana Republic and Le Chateau have linen pants. I haven't actually physically looked anywhere yet though, just a quick browse online. I will probably go 'pre-shopping' with my fiance early December to make him try on stuff and see what is even available at stores.

Good news for budget friendly brides - For all GTA brides, the boutique Ritche Bridal is closing down because the owners of 64 years are retiring. Everything is on sale and bridesmaids dresses are 50% off. The bad news - I bought my dress from Ritche and it is supposed to arrive late September to the boutique. The store is closing in November so I will not get to use their in house alternations (which was a huge selling point in me buying the dress from there). I am very upset by this because I do not have a place to store my dress during the alternation process/am losing the convenience of the one stop shopping wedding dress experience. My sister and mom both bought their wedding dresses from here (and had alternations done) and the dresses turned out absolutely beautiful. None the less this situation is out of my control, so I am trying to stay positive! Just wondering if anyone have seamstress recommendations in the GTA? Also, does anyone know if the seamstress keeps your dress between fitting sessions or do you have to bring it back and forth? Any help would be VERY appreciated