April 2010 Brides

[ebredhawk]

230 people?! yowza!!! that sounds mammoth compared to my tiny 24! of course it's just family and close friends.. but still, that's nuts! sounds like it will be a blast though!

 

tara, your engagement party sounds great! as far as the "other things to do", being a DPC bride you may be a little stuck. there really isn't a town to go into (unless you want to take a cab ride) but i bet you could get some great ideas on here about fun things to do at your reception. i'll have to think about that one!

 

welcome tiffany! congrats on the moon palace.. i have heard wonderful things about that resort! also checked out your photog's website.. looks like you made a great decision. have you started the all-important dress shopping yet??

 

i had one of those "i think this is actually going to happen" moments last night. i found out that another girl on here got confirmed for a wedding my same date at my same resort and i panicked so i emailed the WCs at the resort to reconfirm. i got an email from them last night reassuring me that everything is all set with my date and time and i suddenly realized (again!) that this is actually going to happen! does it still seem surreal sometimes to anyone else?

[jk1101]

Tiffany Moon Palace is awesome - I went there on vacation years ago - it was my favorite vacation place and everyone I know that went there loved it! You will have a fantastic wedding there!

 

Erin, I know what you mean - it's still not very real to me. I did start a playlist and was listening to it over the weekend when we were on a motorcycle trip, and was picturing the music playing at different parts of the wedding, but it's still hard to put it all together.

Maybe when my dress comes in it will seem more real, or if somebody would freaking book a room already!!!!!

[ebredhawk]

michele, you're kidding! no one has booked a room yet? have you sent out a reminder email or anything?

[amcarter]

Hi Everyone

 

April 17, 2010 is the wedding date in Costa Rica.

 

I've been searching and searching since April and I'm happy to say I've finally made a decision. To date I have:

 

set the date

booked photographer and paid deposit

booked wedding planner and paid deposit

secured wedding/reception venue

found shoes (thx to a friendly blogger I'm get'g them custom made)

 

 

TTD (things to do)

dress selection

flower selection

color selection

food selection

drink selection

dj selection (why is this service so expensive)

band selection

invitations

save the dates

bridesmaid selection w/ dress selection

registry

 

My planner already has the vendors for all expect the invitation company but I have to send them photos of what I want.

 

I have 20 cents to give about the hot invitation topic.

 

For those of you that are hav'g trouble getting people to respond, start calling if you must. There's nothing wrong with this.

 

I've looked at a lot of Save the Dates and some of them have RSVP on them and others are just say Save the Dates. If the intention was to have someone RSVP their spot, the card has to be clear. I've seen Save the Dates with a lot of information on it. I can see someone getting a Save the Date and just putting it on their fridge and not taking action.

 

I was looking at a wedding site the other day and the bride and groom offered a lot of information. This way they assisted guests in making travel arrangements. I'm sure that's why you hired a TA but I don't like to use them so if someone sent me a Save the Date w/ a TA, I prob wouldnt' contact them b/c I can sometimes find the trip for a cheaper price. Perhaps some of your guests are doing the same thing.

 

I am in deep trouble. I have family in Canada, Europe and all over the Caribbean. To give them enough notice, I should have sent out something already. A phone call wasn't enough for them. I spoke to my British Grandmother today and she was quick to let me know that she didn't plan to book any travel until she rec'd a formal invite. Well too bad - they're not ready to send out yet.

 

Here's my plan - feel free to take any ideas if you need them:

 

Instead of Save the Dates, we'll be sending out what I will refer to as BYF. The Post Card will have Book Your Flight on it. Book Your Flight to attend the wedding of ..........in Costa Rica April, 17, 2010. I'm going to include the airport code and I will request that guests log onto www.... for more information. My FI is building a custom site. When they get there they'll see a message that says, "Seats are going fast - have you booked your ticket yet?" I'll try my best to update it weekly w/ rates from the cities that people are traveling from. I'll put a fake book by date on there. Something like Thanksgiving. The real book by date is Jan 1st but I need to know something before that date. I plan to include a section where they can fill in flight information and perhaps a blog section for people that are looking for someone to room with. This way, people can check in as needed for information. Anytime I have something new on the site, I'll send out an email.

 

Speaking of Post Cards, for some reason the image that I selected for vistaprint.com came up blurry. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this.

 

On another note, I'm still looking for someone to do a Michael Jax glove for a grooms cake in Costa RIca. My FI initially told me he wanted an ice cream cake. He has since changed his mind. I thought one cake was good enough for a small DW. Since MJ is gone he wants the glove in the wedding and this was the only place I would agree to have it. Please send me your suggestions.

 

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions and good luck to everyone.

 

[jk1101]

No...nobody has booked. TOday my TA told me that it will be cheaper for my guests to book their own airfare than it will be to go through her? What?

Ok, I appreciate her telling me this so my guests will save money but I thought that's part of the whole having a TA thing?

So now, if we want to get a group rate from Air Jamaica, which is the only airline that flies direct from around here, they don't even HAVE the group rates for April yet, and I have to call myself, AND I have to guarantee a minimum of 10 people to fly the same day from the same place AND pay for it all at once!

OR

I can get a discount code and people can all book their own travel on Air Jamaica and get 5% off.

 

So I can probably get the minimum of 10 people, but really, what a pain in the a$$, and I can't do it till the group rates come out, which my TA says will be another few weeks...so when I tell my mom, she says, "Oh, so I have time to book my hotel too...its not for another 9 months, you have so much time....

 

Yes, they do have time to book because I have the rooms held as well, but I wish someone would just book a freaking room so I could feel like someone wants to come instead of just saying they want to come!

 

 

amcarter - welcome and I really do like your Book Your Flight idea and as soon as I get the flight info I think I'm going to be sending something like that out!!!!

[ebredhawk]

wow amcarter, looks like you've done a lot of planning things out so far! nice work! the "BYF" idea is actually pretty cool... doesn't give anyone the excuse that they didn't know they could or should book yet!

 

michele i am SO sorry.. that is such crap if you ask me! what is the point of having a TA if she's not even going to be able to get you the best rate or helping you out? once you get the flight stuff figured out i'd start making it sound urgent to your guests. sometimes giving them the option to take their own sweet time can bite you in the butt! i will have my fingers crossed for you that everything gets figured out and a fire gets lit under your guests to get with the booking already!!

 

BD and engagement pictures this weekend.. i am SOOO excited, but so nervous i feel like i could barf!

[jk1101]

Yay for your pics this weekend! Don't be nervous...all pictures can be edited, fixed and worse comes to worst, deleted. I'm sure they will come out great! If you have a good photographer they will make you feel comfortable - especially for the BD pictures.

Are you doing outside engagement pics?

I can't wait to hear how it goes!

[ndinn]

jerseykitten- I feel your frusteration re people not booking. Including myseld and FI there are 6 people booked. I am getting the same response from people that they would love to go but are not acting on those comments. I am getting emails from my TA asking if there is anyone else ready to commit to booking. I hope some more people start booking soon!

[ebredhawk]

this weekend was AMAZING!! i honestly could not have chosen a better photographer if i had tried! stephany fit in perfectly with our family and made us feel like we were the coolest, most photogenic people she'd ever shot.

 

she posted a teaser of one of the engagement pics on her blog and it's seriously a tease! i have zero patience now to see the rest!!

eyespy photography

[GregsBride]

OOOoooooh Erin, that teaser is fantastic!!! I love the bridge in the background, it gives the pic so much depth... I can't wait to see more!!

 

Michele I feel your pain...I have no one booked yet, and I am just to the point that I just started to not care anymore... I tried my best to give everyone more than enough time to be able to put down deposits and make smaller payments but it's their own fault if they have to pay more $$$ because rates have gone up. I even had someone ask me how is it that the rates could have gone up already?? I almost lost it!!! I had to ask if they have ever done any research for a trip before... Rates change daily, and there was even a time I was researching a flight and the price jumped in a matter of hours.

 

I think I maybe taking for granted that people have COMMON SENSE, but at this point I'm not putting anything passed people. Part of me wants to send out new invites pretty much un-inviting everyone, because it seems to me that they have no plans on being there anyway. What kills me is that if none of these people were ever invited in the first place, I would have gotten so much crap about me not wanting them to be apart of my day. WTF I can't win!!!