El Dorado Royale (EDR) Brides - POST HERE!

[Jnadair]

Hey chiquita!  Just saw that our dates are pretty close!  My actually wedding date is 2/23/13 but we will be there on our honeymoon till 3/3/13 so we'll be there at the same time.  We may even run into each other!  Re: dress shopping...I did the same thing and just took my mother and MOH.  Too many people and you get too many opinions and it's not all that helpful.  Good luck with all your planning!

Originally Posted by chiquita8302 

 

Hi Allie! A house to yourself is always nice! Fun to get caught up on stuff like this! Glad your dress came out well!

 

So... we've officially paid our deposit on the rooms so we have our group block reserved, our wedding date set (3/1/13) and I'm working on the DIY passport invitations I found on this site now to send out to everyone with all of the information. I am so excited that some of the stressful details are over and now we can officially make our announcement to everyone I know it's premature to send out invitations, but so many of the poeple we're inviting want all of the details now, that it only makes sense to skip the STD and go straight to the invites. I figured the passport invites would be a good way to get them as much info as possible, and am listing a link to our wedding page on the Knot so they can stay up to date. I figure I can then send out a little e-mail updates or a note to everone as we get closer to the date. (I'll have to send something to everyone once it's time to do the meal choice anyway). I am hoping that everyone R.S.V.P.'s asap so I can get an idea of how many people will actually be coming! We're inviting about 75-100 people (he is supposed to be getting me a list of all his coworkers and addresses tomorrow so I know who we need to invite!), but I have a pretty good idea of who will actually be coming, and who I'm inviting more for the formality. (I have a lot of cousins and aunts/uncles that I'm not that close with that aren't really in a situation to attend this type of trip). I am expecting our guests will primarily be our immediate families, my friends (half of which are bridesmaids) and my FI's coworkers (most of his childhood friends won't be able to come)... he's a firefighter so they're all like family and he sees them all all the time, plus, they've been waiting for this for a while... so we should be able to get an idea of who is coming pretty soon.

 

Next week will be dress shopping!! Question for you girls... when you went to just start looking at dresses, who did you invite? I have a large group of girlfriends/bridesmaids and I am thinking it might be overwhelming to invite them all the first time I go, so I was thinking of secretly going with my MOH... and then once I have a better idea of what I want and where I want to go, then I can invite everyone the next time... but I wouldn't want the girls to be hurt that I didn't keep them informed all along the way, because that's kind of how they've all done it. (most of my bridesmaids are girls I've been friends with since 6th grade, so we've all been each others bridesmaids)

 

To you girls who are leaving soon, have an amazing time! :)

[AllieH]

take those whose opinion you value most, and who will also support you regardless of their own opinion. If that's just your MOH, then do it. you can invite the rest of the girls when you actually purchase or pick up your dress, for fittings, etc.

 

the more girls that are there, the more opinions to contend with. and the less likely that you can make them all happy, when what is really important is YOU being happy with the dress.

 

one of the # rules of dress shopping is don't do it with a large entourage.

 

that said, if they all took the big group with them shopping the first time, then you might expect some hurt feelings if you don't do what they did/expect. and that's ok - it's your wedding, do what you want. just know you'll have to deal with those feelings...

 

I went initially with my mom & a good friend. 2 different friends went with me to pick it up, and a 4th friend went for my 1st fitting. by that time, I was done with everyone else's opinion, so I just went by myself for the 2nd fitting - it was a really zen "OMG I'M GETTING MARRIED" happy moment too, so I'm glad I went back alone. they did take pics at the 2nd fitting that I could send to my mom (and friends).

 

my opinion

 

and my friends want all the details too - they don't want any surprises!!! it's sort of driving me crazy because I would like some surprise. We ended up with an electronic STD that had our website on it for the booking info. I'm working on the paper invites now, which really aren't necessary (except for the dinner choices and welcome dinner RSVP), but I'm going to do it anyway. in hindsight, I wish we'd done what you are doing with an early passport invite, and then I probably would have done a boarding pass/pre-travel/dinner RSVP - much smarter!!!

 

have fun with all of your planning. and don't stress - this should be fun, right? (I'm still working on getting into a happy place with all of the planning, but it's getting better!).

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiquita8302 

Next week will be dress shopping!! Question for you girls... when you went to just start looking at dresses, who did you invite? I have a large group of girlfriends/bridesmaids and I am thinking it might be overwhelming to invite them all the first time I go, so I was thinking of secretly going with my MOH... and then once I have a better idea of what I want and where I want to go, then I can invite everyone the next time... but I wouldn't want the girls to be hurt that I didn't keep them informed all along the way, because that's kind of how they've all done it. (most of my bridesmaids are girls I've been friends with since 6th grade, so we've all been each others bridesmaids)

[Stina9562]

 

 

 

Some of my favorite Pics!!! So excited to have them!

[Stina9562]

 

 

 

Some of my favorite Pics!!! So excited to have them!

[Stina9562]

 

 

 

Some of my favorite Pics!!! So excited to have them!

[Stina9562]

 

 

 

Some of my favorite Pics!!! So excited to have them!

[chiquita8302]

Originally Posted by Jnadair 

 

Hey chiquita!  Just saw that our dates are pretty close!  My actually wedding date is 2/23/13 but we will be there on our honeymoon till 3/3/13 so we'll be there at the same time.  We may even run into each other!  Re: dress shopping...I did the same thing and just took my mother and MOH.  Too many people and you get too many opinions and it's not all that helpful.  Good luck with all your planning!

Hey there! How fun!!! We will be arriving there on the 23rd! How fun!! I'm sure we'll bump into one another. And thanks for the dress shopping support! Good luck with your planning as well!

[chiquita8302]

Originally Posted by AllieH 

 

take those whose opinion you value most, and who will also support you regardless of their own opinion. If that's just your MOH, then do it. you can invite the rest of the girls when you actually purchase or pick up your dress, for fittings, etc.

 

the more girls that are there, the more opinions to contend with. and the less likely that you can make them all happy, when what is really important is YOU being happy with the dress.

 

one of the # rules of dress shopping is don't do it with a large entourage.

 

that said, if they all took the big group with them shopping the first time, then you might expect some hurt feelings if you don't do what they did/expect. and that's ok - it's your wedding, do what you want. just know you'll have to deal with those feelings...

 

I went initially with my mom & a good friend. 2 different friends went with me to pick it up, and a 4th friend went for my 1st fitting. by that time, I was done with everyone else's opinion, so I just went by myself for the 2nd fitting - it was a really zen "OMG I'M GETTING MARRIED" happy moment too, so I'm glad I went back alone. they did take pics at the 2nd fitting that I could send to my mom (and friends).

 

my opinion

 

and my friends want all the details too - they don't want any surprises!!! it's sort of driving me crazy because I would like some surprise. We ended up with an electronic STD that had our website on it for the booking info. I'm working on the paper invites now, which really aren't necessary (except for the dinner choices and welcome dinner RSVP), but I'm going to do it anyway. in hindsight, I wish we'd done what you are doing with an early passport invite, and then I probably would have done a boarding pass/pre-travel/dinner RSVP - much smarter!!!

 

have fun with all of your planning. and don't stress - this should be fun, right? (I'm still working on getting into a happy place with all of the planning, but it's getting better!).

 

Quote:

Thanks so much for your support, Allie... Good to know that I'm on the right track! Since until now all of my friends have had the standard... dad gives them $30-40K to do the wedding of their dreams... I feel like this is a different experience. It adds so many different elements when you're paying for it yourself and trying to control costs, I don't want to get carried away wiht what others have done or what they expect. This will be very different!

 

I understand your wanting some surprise, that makes sense! I hadn't really even thought of that, but you're right. Hopefully when they arrive there they'll be shocked wiht how beautiful and luxurious everything is (it better be! ) and the uniqueness of your day... if they know every detail it definately might take away from that experience!

 

I'm so glad you think my order of invitations is good... It seems so opposite what most people do, that I was worried, but I think it will work out. And thanks for the boarding pass idea for the later mailing... such a good idea, and with it being a boarding pass, it's cute, like it's really coming up soon!

 

Yes... totally shoudl be fun. I think I stress myself out abotu the details, more than necessary! I totally thought planning a DW would be a breeze.... little did I know it's practically the same as a regular wedding! LOL. Good luck with all your planning, go find your happy place. I feel like the paperwork and payment stuff is the hard part... I'm looking forward to get focused on the cute decorations and details, which is what I think you've been working on! Enjoy!

[chiquita8302]

Originally Posted by Stina9562 

 

 

 

 

Some of my favorite Pics!!! So excited to have them!

OMG I was quite worried about teh quality of the pics, but these are BEAUTIFUL!!! Congrats!!! You look fabulous and your makeup is beautifullllllll.. did you have it done there??

[AllieH]

those are gorgeous Stina!!!!!!