Picked a place!! Riu Merengue

[*Casey*]

I'm so glad you picked your location... That's always the hardest part! Congrats!!!

[BachataBride]

Right now I am planning on the gazebo wedding (that is the main reason we picked that resort) - but I will decide for sure once I get there if I want to change it to the beach. I think we're going to bring an actual ipod stereo (a small compact one) so we don't have to worry about hooking it into something that they have (if they even have it!). Hopefully we can find a battery operated one too for the beach!!

I want to travel with my friends and family and somewhere along the line get hitched. That's is so funny...that is my thought too!! Although I do want SOME of the traditional stuff! I am having little favors...hand-held paper fans... Add to Cart and then I'm getting labels for the boxes...and that's it, besides our attendants gifts (we only have a MOH & BM). One other thing I am doing is CDs & envelopes for all my guests (well, one per couple). I am giving everyone a CD and envelope with our mailing address on it so that people can put their pics on it from the wedding & send it to us. I thought this would be a better idea than having ppl email, it's such a pain to get pics off an email!

I'm hoping for the upgrade too, but don't count on it...I've heard of people not getting it (but I would really push for it when you're there! It might be available & they might just say its not, hoping that someone will pay for it!)

I'm not upgrading my package...just ordering a few flowers, getting my hair done, maybe a spa day with the girls! What are your plans??

We also got a pretty good price from all of our gateways...about $1500 from TO, Halifax & Ottawa...and about $1800 from Edmonton (which is a fantastic price!) Do you have many coming from other gateways? We have 28 booked & confirmed right now, but still expecting a few others (if there is room on the plane!)

[saraece]

I have people coming out of Calgary ($1899) and a few out of Toronto. But the bulk are out of Ottawa. We have 35 coming so far and a possible 7 more if they can get a good rate with their points. I think I will canvas my group and see if anyone had a portable Ipod player with speakers. Better not on rely on the resort and be disappointed.

I am also getting my hair done and their flowers. I have three BM and 3 groomsmen and two flower girls and a ring bearier. I didn't intend for our party to be large but who could I cut?? So we will need a few flowers.

I am not sure of our atttendent gifts yet. There is a cool spa outside Ottawa that I may treat the girls to. But since none of my grils live in Ottawa it may be too much to organize them right before Christmas. There is always jewlrey and ther are lots of ideas on this forum, just nothing has hit my fancy yet.

Did you check out the Dominican' web site yet? 01_home It has great information on all the paper work that needs to be done. We are in the process right now of getting our long form Birth Certificates since they need our parents names on it. All the paperwork is going to cost a bit, but hey still way cheaper then doing it here and we get a vacation out of it!! What is on your list of things to do this week?

[BachataBride]

For my MOH I am planning on doing up a beach tote bag w/ MOH custom tank top, jewellery for wedding day (a palm tree pendant), gift cert. for the spa on site to cover cost of hair, and a cute mani/pedi set in the shape of flip flops! And I'm sure I'll find more things to add as I keep looking!

For his BM, Jeff is planning on buying him a watch...not really beachy...but that's what he wants to do!

We still have quite a few things left to do...wedding bands, documents, Jeff's attire (he's wearing white linen pants with long sleeve white linen shirt), have to order my toasting flutes Add to Cart , I need shoes & jewellery, complete our registry, get CDs & labels for our guests (for them to send us their pics!). Oh boy...I'm realizing how much more there is to do!!!

And now who knows what's going to happen with my TA. I just sent her an email saying I was not impressed with her crappy customer service lately She was fantastic at first...but it seems like now that we have booked...and the majority of my party has too...she doesn't give me the time of day. I have sent her an email every week, for the last 3 weeks asking for information & she has only responded with an "I got your email and will respond when I deal with this urgent matter". I hope she treats me better now that I have made her aware of it - instead of worse!!! yikes!

[BachataBride]

I meant to ask...have you bought your dress yet? What about bridesmaids dresses? What are your colors?? I'm attaching my dress & my MOH's dress. I think I'm going to go with orange & white accent flowers.

I can't seem to load my pics...do you have any hints?? I changed them to .png's...I put them in word docs...but I can't seem to upload them...

I've also added a pic to my signature & that doesn't seem to be working either...even though it shows it when I go in to edit my signature. WTF?

[saraece]

To post a pic you have to go through another website. Here is thread that helped me figure it out. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t16832

As for my dress here is my thread I posted while trying to pick colours to go with my non white dress. In the end the BM can pick whatever dress they want to in creamy beige. My MOh is getting the convertable dress in that colour

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t24514 So picking jewlery as their gift can be tricky since they may all have different necklines on their dresses. So I am not sure yet what I will do.

That is completely unacceptable fo your TA. We know she is making a money off you and your group and she should at least get back to you. I hope this is a temporary situation and she gets her act together.

[BachataBride]

Thanks for the photo instructions!! I just have to find time to read it!

I am trying not to spend most of my day on this site now...I am completely addicted and not being very productive at work!!! They're soon going to fire my @$$!! lol Then I'll have problems...how will I pay for the wedding!! I was just speaking with a friend of mine last night & if you know of anyone we can't really go for the full week & have airmiles, they can fly down, stay for "x" number of nights (all inclusive) and then fly back. They will just be responsible for their tranfer to the hotel from the airport. If you go to the RIU website (Riu Hotels & Resorts) you can book your room right there. My friend is a flight attendant with west jet so she doesn't pay for flights - she's planning on going for 5 nights I think...& it will cost $1076 (tax in) for two people! (Just an option I thought you should know about!)

Love the dress by the way!!! Its beautiful!! I love that color...a friend of mine just had her wedding & that was the color of her BMs dresses! It looks so nice...check out their pics here... Erin & Chad - a set on Flickr . I agree with the people in the other forum that you should go with a light color...silver, or a lighter shade of your dress color. What are the guys wearing??

[Riu Mambo Bride to be]

I am getting Married at the Riu Mambo November 10th 2009!!!! Im going to pay for the caprice package because I have 24 people confirmed so far but trust me, if you haven't been there you WILL love it.... We chose the Mambo because it's a little quieter but the hotels are so close together it doesn't really matter which hotel you sleep at... I have tons of pictures from when we were there in november 07..... I have one question though,,,, What do we do after the ceremony? Im getting Married at noon and Im just a little sad at this point that I will only get to wear my dress for the ceremony Do you know if there is any way I can pay someone to help me with a small reception after the dinner??

[BachataBride]

There is no rule stating that just because you don't have a "reception" you have to change!! I plan on wearing my dress all night long!! I plan on having a wedding reception/party at the disco...it will not be private, but all my guests (plus others!) will be there & I plan on bringing a CD with a few songs that I'd like to hear. Typically the DJ will play them...especially since you're the bride!

Maybe you could touch base with the WC and get reception options. I've heard that people have had the reception at the restaurant, but I"m not sure if it was this resort or not! PM me and I"ll give you the WC's email addy.

[Riu Mambo Bride to be]

Are you going to just make due to the photographer down there or are you bringing one with you? I don't know about the guys who work for the hotel or what their work is like? Have you heard anything about this yet?