What I would and wouldn't do again...

[J and G 2012]

Thank you so much for this reminder!!
 

Originally Posted by BeautifulBridetoBe 

Focus so much on the wedding that I missed the fun: my advice is play in the ocean with your neice. Paint your toes on the beach with your girlfriends. Eat lunch with your grandmother. Throw your nephew into the pool....Enjoy this time. You may never have your friends and family all in one place again.

Hope this helps...

 

 

[J and G 2012]

Thank you so much for this reminder!!
 

Originally Posted by BeautifulBridetoBe 

Focus so much on the wedding that I missed the fun: my advice is play in the ocean with your neice. Paint your toes on the beach with your girlfriends. Eat lunch with your grandmother. Throw your nephew into the pool....Enjoy this time. You may never have your friends and family all in one place again.

Hope this helps...

 

 

[ssapper]

This is such an amazing thread!! possibly my favorite.. thank you to all past brides you have posted on here!

[june11bride]

This thread was awesome when I was planning so I thought id add to it. What I would do again: trash the dress, absolutely...and on the day after the wedding. It was amazing. -hire re mariachi band. We almost didn't because of the cost but it was totally worth it -do a dw! - do a legal ceremony -get married at barcelo -bring photographers from home -do an ipod reception -go somewhere else for honeymoon What I would do differently - make all my guests stay in the same hotel in our resort - make sure the reception has air conditioning -not stress about it because it all ended amazingly - I would have chosen a different honeymoon location- punts cana wasn't for us

[redginger]

Thank you for sharing, June11bride. We're thinking of using our POD for our ceremony and reception, to save money on the DJ cost. Would you mind sharing more details on how the IPOD reception went, who controlled it, and whether your guests liked it better than a DJ?

 

Originally Posted by june11bride 

This thread was awesome when I was planning so I thought id add to it.
What I would do again:
trash the dress, absolutely...and on the day after the wedding. It was amazing.
-hire re mariachi band. We almost didn't because of the cost but it was totally worth it
-do a dw!
- do a legal ceremony
-get married at barcelo
-bring photographers from home
-do an ipod reception
-go somewhere else for honeymoon

What I would do differently
- make all my guests stay in the same hotel in our resort
- make sure the reception has air conditioning
-not stress about it because it all ended amazingly
- I would have chosen a different honeymoon location- punts cana wasn't for us

 

[june11bride]

Im very glad we saved the money on the dj. I had 3 playlists...one for dinner which was mexican music... one with one song for first dance and one for party music. I delegated my BIL to change it over and it worked out great. I don't know if my guests even noticed.

[Samantha88k]

One more question, June11bride, did you have a dance floor set up?

Originally Posted by june11bride 

Im very glad we saved the money on the dj. I had 3 playlists...one for dinner which was mexican music... one with one song for first dance and one for party music. I delegated my BIL to change it over and it worked out great. I don't know if my guests even noticed.

 

[june11bride]

Our reception was in a beach grill so we just had the dance floor in the middle of the tables.

[tillybean]

 Things I WOULD DO again!

• Join this forum.  Just pay to be a member, don’t post 150 silly congratulations or one line blurbs on every post you read, you will find it makes it harder to research when you have to read ten congratulations before finding out the important information that you are interested in.
• Destination Wedding in Cabo – we had an awesome time with our friends and family.
• OOT Bags – guest loved them, I had beach towels, bags, cups, beach ball, cards, oh shit kit…..everything was used everyday.
• Hire a DJ (DJ Fradal), Photographer (Carlos Aboyo), and Wedding Planner (Mandy Clough and Assistant Lilian Romeron).  My wedding day was perfect.  All were Fantastic.
• Blossomart for Flowers. 

• Suzanne Morel for hair and makeup.  My sister, daughter, friend and her daughter all agree she was great and worth the price.  There is a florist next door; I got flowers for all of the girls to put in their hair for the wedding.

• Have all my guest in one resort….it was so much fun just hanging by the pool with everyone.
• Have the ceremony and reception at the Sunset Da Mona Lisa.  The view is amazing!  Pictures are amazing.
• Run through the water in pictures before the reception.  The pictures are great and did not have to schedule a trash the dress session.
• Get legally married before we left, one less thing to think about.
• Stayed in Mexico 11 Days.  We came before our guest and stayed 2 days after the last guest left. 
• I did not procrastinate on any aspect of the wedding. 
• Skip the rehearsal.  Everyone came in at different times; we did not want to make anyone feel obligated.  Instead, as guest arrived we kicked back by the pool and knocked off a couple of bottles of liquor we purchased at the duty free shop at the airport!  Then stepped out to El Squid Roe at almost midnight when I should have been sleeping for the wedding.  So much fun!
• Make my own escort card, table numbers, and menus.  I love the way they turned out and it was a nice personal touch. I added my dog’s picture to the back of each table number!
• Being well organized and kept a running list of to dos.  I remembered all my paper work, table number stands, there was nothing I wish I had remembered and nothing left at home.
• Not getting trashed before, during, or after the wedding.  No hangovers or sun burns the entire 11 days and I DID drink a lot of Vodka and spent many nights dancing to the wee hours of the morning at El Squid Roe!
• Not stress, I was like whatever!  Sister had a hard time bustling my dress before reception because it was wet, I told her to grab any tie and tie it up and lets go party!!!
• Plan my music ahead of time for the DJ.  Had good music and guest were dancing during cocktail hour!  I was getting a little jealous while getting pictures done!
• Skip the cake.  Saved money and the dessert provided by SDML was great.
• Limo to and from airport.  It was nice not having to drive to the airport for our early morning flight. 
• Make sure daughter did not get burned before the wedding, and made sure I did not have tan lines!!
• Bouquet charms from ETSY, mug stickers, shoe stickers, and body tatoo also from ETSY.
• Sky laterns (wish laterns) from Ebay. Cabo Florist was selling $12 for one lantern, I purchased 10 for $15. (end of Hangover 2 and Tangled movies they have sky lanterns)
• Have my son walk me down the aisle in his military uniform. 

 

Things I would do differently

• Arrange transportation from Resort to Sunset Da Mona Lisa, a few guests got lost and caused the wedding to start almost a half hour late.
• Not let my guy see me before the wedding, I ran into him at the hotel room because he was running behind schedule.
• Stress months before the wedding over the budget.  It ended up not being a big deal and it was all so worth it…..I would pay double for the day I had!
• Stress over not having contact with the wedding planner until 5 days before the wedding.  Everything ended up being better than I imagined.
• I know I said skip the cake but maybe have a little one for cutting, I kind of wish I had that picture looking back now.
• Worrying about who is coming and who is not.    

 

 

[redginger]

Thanks for sharing and congrats on your marriage, Tillybean! My fiance and I are thinking of jumping in the ocean after our wedding ceremony. I'm a bit worried that we won't have enough time to clean up and change before the reception...how much time did you give yourself without leaving your guests alone too long?

 

Originally Posted by tillybean 

 Things I WOULD DO again!

• Join this forum.  Just pay to be a member, don’t post 150 silly congratulations or one line blurbs on every post you read, you will find it makes it harder to research when you have to read ten congratulations before finding out the important information that you are interested in.
• Destination Wedding in Cabo – we had an awesome time with our friends and family.
• OOT Bags – guest loved them, I had beach towels, bags, cups, beach ball, cards, oh shit kit…..everything was used everyday.
• Hire a DJ (DJ Fradal), Photographer (Carlos Aboyo), and Wedding Planner (Mandy Clough and Assistant Lilian Romeron).  My wedding day was perfect.  All were Fantastic.
• Blossomart for Flowers. 

• Suzanne Morel for hair and makeup.  My sister, daughter, friend and her daughter all agree she was great and worth the price.  There is a florist next door; I got flowers for all of the girls to put in their hair for the wedding.

• Have all my guest in one resort….it was so much fun just hanging by the pool with everyone.
• Have the ceremony and reception at the Sunset Da Mona Lisa.  The view is amazing!  Pictures are amazing.
• Run through the water in pictures before the reception.  The pictures are great and did not have to schedule a trash the dress session.
• Get legally married before we left, one less thing to think about.
• Stayed in Mexico 11 Days.  We came before our guest and stayed 2 days after the last guest left. 
• I did not procrastinate on any aspect of the wedding. 
• Skip the rehearsal.  Everyone came in at different times; we did not want to make anyone feel obligated.  Instead, as guest arrived we kicked back by the pool and knocked off a couple of bottles of liquor we purchased at the duty free shop at the airport!  Then stepped out to El Squid Roe at almost midnight when I should have been sleeping for the wedding.  So much fun!
• Make my own escort card, table numbers, and menus.  I love the way they turned out and it was a nice personal touch. I added my dog’s picture to the back of each table number!
• Being well organized and kept a running list of to dos.  I remembered all my paper work, table number stands, there was nothing I wish I had remembered and nothing left at home.
• Not getting trashed before, during, or after the wedding.  No hangovers or sun burns the entire 11 days and I DID drink a lot of Vodka and spent many nights dancing to the wee hours of the morning at El Squid Roe!
• Not stress, I was like whatever!  Sister had a hard time bustling my dress before reception because it was wet, I told her to grab any tie and tie it up and lets go party!!!
• Plan my music ahead of time for the DJ.  Had good music and guest were dancing during cocktail hour!  I was getting a little jealous while getting pictures done!
• Skip the cake.  Saved money and the dessert provided by SDML was great.
• Limo to and from airport.  It was nice not having to drive to the airport for our early morning flight. 
• Make sure daughter did not get burned before the wedding, and made sure I did not have tan lines!!
• Bouquet charms from ETSY, mug stickers, shoe stickers, and body tatoo also from ETSY.
• Sky laterns (wish laterns) from Ebay. Cabo Florist was selling $12 for one lantern, I purchased 10 for $15. (end of Hangover 2 and Tangled movies they have sky lanterns)
• Have my son walk me down the aisle in his military uniform. 

 

Things I would do differently

• Arrange transportation from Resort to Sunset Da Mona Lisa, a few guests got lost and caused the wedding to start almost a half hour late.
• Not let my guy see me before the wedding, I ran into him at the hotel room because he was running behind schedule.
• Stress months before the wedding over the budget.  It ended up not being a big deal and it was all so worth it…..I would pay double for the day I had!
• Stress over not having contact with the wedding planner until 5 days before the wedding.  Everything ended up being better than I imagined.
• I know I said skip the cake but maybe have a little one for cutting, I kind of wish I had that picture looking back now.
• Worrying about who is coming and who is not.