Ocean Blue & Sand-Punta Cana

[Dominican Ally]

I'll let you know if the Organza I ordered is going to work out when I receive it. I think I may have only ordered enough to drape the front two sections of the gazebo.....which I think is maybe all they drape at the hotel in the upgrade anyways. We'll see how it works out.... Either way I will still be down there when you arrive so you can have it and see if it works for you before you go ahead and pay the hotel the crazy 150 bucks for draping...lol. Then maybe you can leave it down for the next bride, and so on

 

I'm open to selling my paper lanterns, and sashes, etc. for sure at a deeply discounted price

 

I think the mugs you got are awesome! I should also check out the Bath and Body works sale! I'm so happy to finally be ordering OOT items!

Originally Posted by jlb392 

Hi Alicia!  I'm glad everything is sorted out and everyone will be there for the wedding!  If you don't mind, I could definitely use the organza and possibly the lanterns.  I'll know more as we get closer.  

 

We went with some cups from Dollar Tree.  It would have been nice to get the bubba kegs, but my FI didn't want to spend that much on them.  the ones we got are pretty decent though: http://www.dollartree.com/kitchen-tableware/drinkware/Drinkware/Jumbo-Plastic-Water-Bottles-with-Straws-35-oz-/213c264c377p310001/index.pro .  It's the Bath & Body Works semi-annual sale, so I'll be ordering a bunch of stuff for the OOT bags tomorrow (payday lol).

 

Ntlsnow- I'm really sorry for your losses.  Just hang in there- everything will work out with the dress.  I bought my dress already and, while it fit, I had some back fat and under-arm fat issues going on.  Since then I've lost 12 pounds, so I'm hoping that takes care of it.  I'm doing Weight Watchers and love it- it's probably the healthiest way to go.

[Dominican Ally]

A tip if you are going to order from Efavourmart to save some money on what the hotel wants to charge for linens/etc.........is that if you use UPS standard for shipping (which I did...ugh)....there could also be some brokerage fees/etc. which could end up being significant. I will let you know what they ended up being when I get my package (soon I hope!). I chose UPS standard because it was the cheapest shipping option, but now it turns out that some of the other more expensive options would have included the brokerage/duty. I may have been better off to go with those, and I'll soon find out.

 

I can't believe how much the rental fees would be for you! Or that they want you to pay TWICE for the sashes. I think I have seen other brides on here posting about just insisting they move the chairs from the ceremony to the reception and they only paid the fee once. I'm sure it is just a scam to get more money, and no doubt some people are willing to pay it. Ugh!

 

I have no idea what I'm going to do to get the bubba kegs down there. They arrived at my friends place in New York (to avoid shipping cost to Canada - I'll pick them up this summer when I'm down). The parcel is HUGE! lol! I suppose I knew it would be with 51 bubbas, but it's even larger than I expected. It weighs 33lbs (15kilos) which is not so bad I guess.....and Transat does give us an extra 20kilos of baggage allowance since we're the bride and groom. I think I am either going to take them all down in an extra suitcase (or two) with the other items I'm taking down, OR I will give out the bubba's ahead of time to as many people as I can deliver to in person, and just ask them to pack them themselves. I am too afraid to ship them to the resort, because if they were ever lost or stolen - I think I would have a meltdown.

 

I'm so amazed at how quickly the hotel is filling up! When I had to get my Calgary people changed to Edmonton due to the flight dates changing - we almost didn't get 5 spaces on the Edmonton flight because they originally said there was only 3 spaces left. Somehow they came up with the extra 2. I think we have everyone booked who needs to be booked right now, so I'm ok - but it does suck if the hotel is booked up because I know we'll have a few people wanting to book closer to the date. We do have a couple of single rooms booked right now though, so I'm sure we could get creative.

 

We decided against the Honeymoon suite - although it looks amazing! I honestly think our families planned on getting the upgrade for us as a wedding gift - but if they are pretty booked up for our weeks there (April 6-20), then I can live without it You are going to LOVE it though! It's so gorgeous! Ideally, I would just like it for 2 nights.....the night before the wedding so I can get ready the next day in there for pictures, and the wedding night. If it works out, it works out, and if not I'll just go with the flow...lol.

 

 

Originally Posted by ocean123 

Hi Alicia,

WOW !! such a great idea for the chair sashes, table runners etc...

My colours are bright purple and coral and I everything the resort offers to rent is $$$$ and they don't have my colours. I was going to pay the $378.00 just for the reg white organza decor for the beach but now that you mentioned the website above, that is greaT!!! As of right now just renting from the resort I am at $584.00 for chair sashes, table overlay and the white oranganza on the beach gazebo... and then when I asked about renting the chair sashes from Yinette, she told me if I want them for the ceremony and reception they are 2 seperate rental fees.. WHAT!!?! that is insane..unless shes just trying to make and extra buck.LOL

  For the bubba's are you bringing them all down with you or having it shipped down to the resort?????

I am getting married on April 15, so I will see you there!!!

Also I have some bad news... I have 47 people now booked.. and the hotel rooms are now sold out with Transat. I have 20 rooms and then we just upgraded to the honeymoon suite to free up our room and give to some one. I got the last honeymoon suite for when I am there, so thank god!!

I was going to just see about an upgrade when I was down their but as soon as I found out it was the last one I grabbed it. Transat said that maybe they will get more rooms but as of right now the Toronto inventory for my dates are sold out. Argh!!!!

[alittlerandr]

I have a little input:

 

I paid for the chair sashes (as part of the basic decoration package) and they were used at both the ceremony and reception (La Brasa). They gave me the option of having them or not having them at the reception, but the cost was the same either way. Sometimes I think questions are not fully answered via email and it's something you can easily sort out when you meet with them face to face.

 

We made OOT bags for our guests which had 22 oz mugs, which I believe are similar in size (though probably not in weight) to Bubba Kegs. 35 of our 60 guests flew on the same flight. We let those folks know in advance that we had a gift for them at the airport, and to save a bit of room in their suitcases. (We said to plan for something the size of a shoebox...we thought about giving them out in advance, but I was afraid people would forget them, thus defeating the entire purpose.) The rest, we took in our luggage. I scouted thrift stores and garage sales to keep an eye out for old, large suitcases. We found a HUGE one for $1 and were able to fit almost all of the extra OOT bags in it. Coming home, we packed one of our other bags inside the huge suitcase. We flew with Delta and each person was allowed two bags. We had each of our mothers and a niece take one of our bags as their 'extra,' and we didn't wind up paying any additional baggage fees. I would be very hesitant to ship anything directly to the hotel...but I think it's totally possible to be creative in your packing (we packed things inside the mugs, too) and find enough room for everything Good luck!

Originally Posted by Dominican Ally 

A tip if you are going to order from Efavourmart to save some money on what the hotel wants to charge for linens/etc.........is that if you use UPS standard for shipping (which I did...ugh)....there could also be some brokerage fees/etc. which could end up being significant. I will let you know what they ended up being when I get my package (soon I hope!). I chose UPS standard because it was the cheapest shipping option, but now it turns out that some of the other more expensive options would have included the brokerage/duty. I may have been better off to go with those, and I'll soon find out.

 

I can't believe how much the rental fees would be for you! Or that they want you to pay TWICE for the sashes. I think I have seen other brides on here posting about just insisting they move the chairs from the ceremony to the reception and they only paid the fee once. I'm sure it is just a scam to get more money, and no doubt some people are willing to pay it. Ugh!

 

I have no idea what I'm going to do to get the bubba kegs down there. They arrived at my friends place in New York (to avoid shipping cost to Canada - I'll pick them up this summer when I'm down). The parcel is HUGE! lol! I suppose I knew it would be with 51 bubbas, but it's even larger than I expected. It weighs 33lbs (15kilos) which is not so bad I guess.....and Transat does give us an extra 20kilos of baggage allowance since we're the bride and groom. I think I am either going to take them all down in an extra suitcase (or two) with the other items I'm taking down, OR I will give out the bubba's ahead of time to as many people as I can deliver to in person, and just ask them to pack them themselves. I am too afraid to ship them to the resort, because if they were ever lost or stolen - I think I would have a meltdown.

 

I'm so amazed at how quickly the hotel is filling up! When I had to get my Calgary people changed to Edmonton due to the flight dates changing - we almost didn't get 5 spaces on the Edmonton flight because they originally said there was only 3 spaces left. Somehow they came up with the extra 2. I think we have everyone booked who needs to be booked right now, so I'm ok - but it does suck if the hotel is booked up because I know we'll have a few people wanting to book closer to the date. We do have a couple of single rooms booked right now though, so I'm sure we could get creative.

 

We decided against the Honeymoon suite - although it looks amazing! I honestly think our families planned on getting the upgrade for us as a wedding gift - but if they are pretty booked up for our weeks there (April 6-20), then I can live without it You are going to LOVE it though! It's so gorgeous! Ideally, I would just like it for 2 nights.....the night before the wedding so I can get ready the next day in there for pictures, and the wedding night. If it works out, it works out, and if not I'll just go with the flow...lol.

 

 

[kflocks]

kflocks(kari & Dan) Wedding: June 1st, 2013 Travel: May29- June5!!!

[Dominican Ally]

Thanks so much for the input! I think your ideas are fabulous About 30 of our 49 will be flying out of the same city as us - so I could absolutely do the same thing you did - pass out the OOT bags at the airport to those guests, and pack the others to give out when we arrive at the resort.

 

I love the idea of shopping at some thrift shops, etc. for some extra suitcases - I would not have thought of that!

 

I'm absolutely not shipping them to the resort. I would just be so worried and stressed about them getting there, and then not getting lost/stolen/damaged once they arrived.

 

Originally Posted by alittlerandr 

I have a little input:

 

I paid for the chair sashes (as part of the basic decoration package) and they were used at both the ceremony and reception (La Brasa). They gave me the option of having them or not having them at the reception, but the cost was the same either way. Sometimes I think questions are not fully answered via email and it's something you can easily sort out when you meet with them face to face.

 

We made OOT bags for our guests which had 22 oz mugs, which I believe are similar in size (though probably not in weight) to Bubba Kegs. 35 of our 60 guests flew on the same flight. We let those folks know in advance that we had a gift for them at the airport, and to save a bit of room in their suitcases. (We said to plan for something the size of a shoebox...we thought about giving them out in advance, but I was afraid people would forget them, thus defeating the entire purpose.) The rest, we took in our luggage. I scouted thrift stores and garage sales to keep an eye out for old, large suitcases. We found a HUGE one for $1 and were able to fit almost all of the extra OOT bags in it. Coming home, we packed one of our other bags inside the huge suitcase. We flew with Delta and each person was allowed two bags. We had each of our mothers and a niece take one of our bags as their 'extra,' and we didn't wind up paying any additional baggage fees. I would be very hesitant to ship anything directly to the hotel...but I think it's totally possible to be creative in your packing (we packed things inside the mugs, too) and find enough room for everything Good luck!

[ocean123]

Originally Posted by Dominican Ally 

 

A tip if you are going to order from Efavourmart to save some money on what the hotel wants to charge for linens/etc.........is that if you use UPS standard for shipping (which I did...ugh)....there could also be some brokerage fees/etc. which could end up being significant. I will let you know what they ended up being when I get my package (soon I hope!). I chose UPS standard because it was the cheapest shipping option, but now it turns out that some of the other more expensive options would have included the brokerage/duty. I may have been better off to go with those, and I'll soon find out.

 

I can't believe how much the rental fees would be for you! Or that they want you to pay TWICE for the sashes. I think I have seen other brides on here posting about just insisting they move the chairs from the ceremony to the reception and they only paid the fee once. I'm sure it is just a scam to get more money, and no doubt some people are willing to pay it. Ugh!

 

I have no idea what I'm going to do to get the bubba kegs down there. They arrived at my friends place in New York (to avoid shipping cost to Canada - I'll pick them up this summer when I'm down). The parcel is HUGE! lol! I suppose I knew it would be with 51 bubbas, but it's even larger than I expected. It weighs 33lbs (15kilos) which is not so bad I guess.....and Transat does give us an extra 20kilos of baggage allowance since we're the bride and groom. I think I am either going to take them all down in an extra suitcase (or two) with the other items I'm taking down, OR I will give out the bubba's ahead of time to as many people as I can deliver to in person, and just ask them to pack them themselves. I am too afraid to ship them to the resort, because if they were ever lost or stolen - I think I would have a meltdown.

 

I'm so amazed at how quickly the hotel is filling up! When I had to get my Calgary people changed to Edmonton due to the flight dates changing - we almost didn't get 5 spaces on the Edmonton flight because they originally said there was only 3 spaces left. Somehow they came up with the extra 2. I think we have everyone booked who needs to be booked right now, so I'm ok - but it does suck if the hotel is booked up because I know we'll have a few people wanting to book closer to the date. We do have a couple of single rooms booked right now though, so I'm sure we could get creative.

 

We decided against the Honeymoon suite - although it looks amazing! I honestly think our families planned on getting the upgrade for us as a wedding gift - but if they are pretty booked up for our weeks there (April 6-20), then I can live without it You are going to LOVE it though! It's so gorgeous! Ideally, I would just like it for 2 nights.....the night before the wedding so I can get ready the next day in there for pictures, and the wedding night. If it works out, it works out, and if not I'll just go with the flow...lol.

 

 

Alicia - Thanks for the advice ! I checked out efavormart but they don't offer my colours. I am going to order coral organze sashes so I am looking at BBcrafts, I have checked 3 wesbites now and the colour coral is sold out until August! Argh must be popular this summer. I think 50 chair sashes and 10 table runners are going to be $81.00 with shipping. I only need 5 tables of 8 but the coral organza is so sheer I need to double it up.

You said you ordered white draping, are you just getting them to drape the beach gazebo with the white? or are u having flowers etc? I have bought so much stuff here in Canada it is nuts, not sure if I will use it all either! But when I asked Yinette the dimensions for the draping she said she didn't know but I soon found out its an outside vendor. So I am still under about it, I am being soo picky with the set up LOL.

 

Yeah I wouldn't send to the resort either, I have just heard of so many people doing it, but I am sure its expensive and I also heard that is sometimes doesn't arrive.

 

Thanks for the advice !

[ocean123]

Originally Posted by Dominican Ally 

 

Thanks so much for the input! I think your ideas are fabulous About 30 of our 49 will be flying out of the same city as us - so I could absolutely do the same thing you did - pass out the OOT bags at the airport to those guests, and pack the others to give out when we arrive at the resort.

 

I love the idea of shopping at some thrift shops, etc. for some extra suitcases - I would not have thought of that!

 

I'm absolutely not shipping them to the resort. I would just be so worried and stressed about them getting there, and then not getting lost/stolen/damaged once they arrived.

 

Thanks for the advice !!!!!

[Dominican Ally]

I totally don't have the dimensions for the gazebo - I am just picturing having the front two corners of it draped in white.....and I am hoping that my 54 inch by 10 yards of fabric would do both sides......I may pick up some more just in case - we will see. You would think though, that 4.5 feet on each side would span most of the gazebo....then 5 yards for each side would get me to the bottom since that is about 10 feet?....It was only 20 bucks, so I'm not too concerned if it's wrong. I was also going to take two of my chair sashes and tie them around the gazebo posts. Similar to this picture (for the draping). It looks like they just staple the top of the fabric to the wood of the gazebo, and then drape it to the sides and wrap it around the poles?

 

It would be awesome if someone could get the actual measurements....but  I think that I can make it ok with what I've ordered (fingers crossed!)

Originally Posted by ocean123 

Alicia - Thanks for the advice ! I checked out efavormart but they don't offer my colours. I am going to order coral organze sashes so I am looking at BBcrafts, I have checked 3 wesbites now and the colour coral is sold out until August! Argh must be popular this summer. I think 50 chair sashes and 10 table runners are going to be $81.00 with shipping. I only need 5 tables of 8 but the coral organza is so sheer I need to double it up.

You said you ordered white draping, are you just getting them to drape the beach gazebo with the white? or are u having flowers etc? I have bought so much stuff here in Canada it is nuts, not sure if I will use it all either! But when I asked Yinette the dimensions for the draping she said she didn't know but I soon found out its an outside vendor. So I am still under about it, I am being soo picky with the set up LOL.

 

Yeah I wouldn't send to the resort either, I have just heard of so many people doing it, but I am sure its expensive and I also heard that is sometimes doesn't arrive.

 

Thanks for the advice !

[erinmc]

Thanks for the approximate meaurements!! I will use these if we don't get some actual ones soon!! Have you asked Yinette or Ada for the measurements? I'm getting married in October and thinking of taking my own drappery for the gazebo. Are you just drapping the front?

Originally Posted by Dominican Ally 

I totally don't have the dimensions for the gazebo - I am just picturing having the front two corners of it draped in white.....and I am hoping that my 54 inch by 10 yards of fabric would do both sides......I may pick up some more just in case - we will see. You would think though, that 4.5 feet on each side would span most of the gazebo....then 5 yards for each side would get me to the bottom since that is about 10 feet?....It was only 20 bucks, so I'm not too concerned if it's wrong. I was also going to take two of my chair sashes and tie them around the gazebo posts. Similar to this picture (for the draping). It looks like they just staple the top of the fabric to the wood of the gazebo, and then drape it to the sides and wrap it around the poles?

 

It would be awesome if someone could get the actual measurements....but  I think that I can make it ok with what I've ordered (fingers crossed!)

[KristinaM]

This picture makes me smile.

 

And remember how much I'm slacking on my planning. Such a good idea to buy this stuff yourself since the resort packages are a bit pricey.