Snswedding2016 Planning Thread - Jan 9 2016 (Azul Fives)

[calgarybride2015]

@@calgarybride2015 oooh that's exciting! I think I read on your thread talk of Thailand or somewhere in asia maybe for your one year?? That would be so fun!!

Shawn wants to go back to Thailand. I believe Phuket? I think I'd like to go to Jamaica but I will have to compromise on the AI at some point hehe he's more a backpacker. I'm more hotel

 

 

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[snswedding2016]

@@calgarybride2015 What about a hotel in Thailand??  My TA was there in March for some wedding events and the Four Seasons in Chiang Mai looks AMAZING!!! She raved about it. You could splurge and do a nice hotel or resort (like the Anantara Phuket Villas) and then have some adventures travelling around that might appeal to Shawn. Best of both worlds! 

[calgarybride2015]

He promises me he will find nice hotels he stayed in decent places for $20 a night! But I'd love a little hut on the water like you see in those dreamy pics

 

 

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[vancouverpetunia]

@@snswedding2016 Can you give more details on your honeymoon registry? I have thought about doing that, but haven't looked into it much.

 

 

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[veryvalentine]

I love your engagement picture location! Makes me wish we had a done an engagement session. 

Terre Bleu is so beautiful - can't wait to see the pictures

 

yay

[Wafflesmom]

@@snswedding2016 I'm slowly starting to catch up on all the planning threads and I've missed so much. You have done such a great job with your decor, flower girl dresses and just your overall theme. I love that you've chosen to wear your necklace from Sean. I think that's a great choice given its sentimental value. And I love the inscription on it.

 

And that's a beautiful place to take photos. It must smell so lovely there too. I can't wait to see your photos

[snswedding2016]

@@vancouverpetunia We set up our honeymoon registry with honeymoon wishes (http://www.honeymoonwishes.com/) but my TA's company has a way to link it to our specific trip. We also had the option of setting it up through Karisma (via honeymoonwishes) that owns Azul Fives. We considered both but if you set it up through your honeymoon resort you can add very specific items to your registry. You can add a specific spa treatment that only that spa offers at the resort or a specific room upgrade, so it's nice that you can make it that specific. If you do it that way though it goes through your resort and has to be used for those specific items. The advantages of doing it through our TA is that we can keep our honeymoon resort secret (we're going right after our wedding and we don't necessarily want to encourage other family or friends extending their vacation to 'hang out' with us haha!) and you can add items like "room upgrade" or "candlelit dinner" or "hotel transfer to the airport" but when you receive it, it comes as cash. It allows you the freedom to change your mind of what the money will be used for on your honeymoon. Takes the pressure off a little. 

 

This is the link to our registry, it'll give you an idea of what your guests would see if you set one up. 

 

http://myweddingaway.honeymoonwishes.com/Honeymoon-Registry-259034-Its-a-Surprise-Stephanie-Nakamura-Sean-Clement.html

@@veryvalentine @@Wafflesmom Thanks so much!! We're so excited for the shoot! Hopefully the weather cooperates. After much back and forth we finally found a date that works for us, our photographer and the farm.

 

I have to say I hate when I get responses to emails that are so vague that could be much clearer and we waste 5 emails going back and forth. I asked are there private permits available between Aug 4-6 from 5-8pm? I thought that was pretty clear. I got back the response "yes, we have some of those times available on some of those dates".....really? That's not helpful. So then I had to go back with "can you tell me what dates are NOT available from 5-8pm between Aug 4-6"...I really just reworded the same email I sent. sigh. Anyway it's all sorted and we ended up picking Aug 3!

[deecol]

@@snswedding2016 I just started reading your planning thread.  Well done so far!!!  And love the necklace idea, it's sentimental, beautiful and especially because you said you're not a big jewellery person you won't feel out of your comfort zone or like it's too much.  What a perfect idea  Can't wait to see the rest of your thread.

[vancouverpetunia]

@@snswedding2016 Thanks for the link to the honeymoon registry! A couple of questions for you:

• Obviously you are using this but are in Canada. In the FAQs it says you need a US bank account, but then further down it says something about PayPal if you are not from the US. How are you getting getting the funds? We aren't doing our HM at a big name resort, so we can't choose the option to have the money go directly to the resort.
• Do you understand the fee structure? I understand it is 9.65% that can be split/applied in a few different ways. Where I get confused is where they say "If the fee is added to the gift, purchasers can receive a 2.65% discount if they choose to mail a check directly bringing the total service fee to 7%." So, this would be an offline transaction with an actual physical mailed cheque to avoid the 2.65% fee?

[snswedding2016]

@@vancouverpetunia

 

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply to your comment. It got a bit buried - I had a hectic weekend! Yes, I've decided to do get the money by cheque. I think you can use the Paypal option from Canada as well but I think they charge you a service fee….which brings me to the 9.65%/7% service fee. I think you're right (from my understanding of it anyway) that if you choose direct deposit or the paypal option there is an additional 2.65% added to the 7% service fee. You can choose to have your guests pay the 7% service fee or you as the couple pay the 7%…really it just means you adjust how much you price your items at, since you get to set the amounts anyway. 

 

I hope that makes sense! I've written my TA about it too since she's the one who suggested the site to make sure I'm understanding everything correctly.

 

I irony is that after all this work I don't think many people will use our honeymoon registry. In the Asian culture (I'm Chinese & Japanese) you usually just give money for weddings so I have a feeling most of my family who will want to get us gifts will just give us cash instead of using the registry. oh well - it's there just in case!

 

@ thanks I'm so excited for the shoot and the location! Hope our photos turn out as well as your engagement photos shoot did!

 

That's a great deal on the straws. I don't think their too child like - I think your adults guests will love them! They're so fun! I almost went back to get them for everyone at our wedding and not just the kids but they didn't have enough in the blue. 

Mini Updates:

 

Garden - Reception:

 

I found out from another bride who is at Azul Fives right now that they actually removed the grass from garden area and replaced it with stone. My initial thought was "that could be nice" and then I thought "what about our string lights and lanterns??" - in the garden they used to dig poles into the grass to hang the lights off of. I was worried we wouldn't be able to do that with the new look. The bride said she was going to post some pics of the garden soon….sometimes I can be impatient so I decided to call Karisma directly to see if I could get some answers and some photos. I reached the wedding department and I was in luck because my WC was in the office and available to answer the phone! Those who deal with Karisma know that that's a feat in itself! ha! She was very helpful and confirmed that it is stone now (actually stamped concrete) and that it looks really pretty. String lights are still possible as they now have a couple of trees in the area and that is what they use to hang the lights off now.

 

After seeing the photos I am actually happier about this look. I know some brides are disappointed that the greenery is gone from the area but I actually like the look of it. The stamped concrete is quite beautiful and i like that we have something natural to hang the lights from instead of metal poles. I also love that now I can move my dance floor to the centre of the reception. We're not renting a dancing floor so initially (when there was grass) we were going to use the area by the pool as the dance floor and I was fine with it but it is a little further away from tables and not nestled in with the group. Now we can have the dancing right in the middle of all the action! Also ladies can wear heels if they want to and not worry about sinking into the grass!

 

Here are pics (I've posted this to the Azul Fives thread as well):

 

 

 

I also asked my WC for dimensions of the garden chairs for my DIY chair sashes:

 

 

 

Vow Books - I found cute journals at Indigo to use as our vow books. 

 

 

There were so many cute things at Indigo…I picked up and put back down so many items. I'm pretty proud of myself that I only bought the journals. The other items that I really wanted were these passport holders that look like his and hers - I love them but they are $18 each…maybe I'm too cheap but I found that too expensive for things are aren't really necessary. Maybe they will go on sale if I wait it out.