Vancouverpetunia - Now Sapphire - April 7, 2016

[TinkerSofi]

I was just reading your planning thread and you cracked me up with your "befriending the gardener"   I brought down some gardening sheers to be able to put together my flowers etc etc and I was seriously tempted to snip some greenery afterhours to add to the volume of my flowers.  lol  I obviously didn't, but I was really tempted.

 

That's insane about the hotel charging you soooo much.  I was in the same boat as you.  My colours were gold and coral and Katy didn't have any gold vases for me to rent which is why I got my dad to get them for me.

 

A few things I learned from my wedding ...it's not easy finding nice vases in Playa del Carmen.  Not that we needed any but we kept an eye open because the ones that my dad bought were slightly small and I thought that if I found a size bigger I might pick up a few and add it to our décor.  We looked at Walmart, Chedraui, Sam's club, Mega, playa, and definitely wasn't easy.  They need a Michael's down there becfause that would solve our problems. 

Even talking to Katy, she mentioned it was really hard to find vases down there. 

 

So if you do consider bringing some down it might be the easiest solution for you.  Just because you bring them down with you doesn't mean you have to take them home with you.  You could always see if Katy wants them. 

 

I would probably do the lemon thing yourself and no let them charge you a dime- I'm sure if you recruit a few people it would be fine. 

 

I found a really nice flower store in playa del Carmen and their prices were very reasonable.  They also sell the greenery that you are looking for as well and for a reasonable price.  I have their business card somewhere...i'll post it when I come across it. 

 

Anyway, those were my little lessons learned regarding vases and flowers in Playa del Carmen. 

yes please post their business card. After asking the hotel 3 times for a quote for a darn boutonniere and still getting nothing i'm probably going to go out and get them. I tried. 

 

Did your hotel have a limitation on your contract that you couldn't bring outside flowers? 

[veryvalentine]

@@TinkerSofi

 

I couldn't contract outside vendors - so no external DJs, no external décor person, no external florist to come and drop off flowers.

 

I was allowed to bring any decorations I wanted as long as they did arrive in a luggage...

 

The contract did not say anything specifically about not being able to buy fresh flowers and arranging them myself.

 

I highly doubt they would even notice if you had someone else do your boutonnieres.  Our WC was all over the place.

[TinkerSofi]

@@TinkerSofi

 

I couldn't contract outside vendors - so no external DJs, no external décor person, no external florist to come and drop off flowers.

 

I was allowed to bring any decorations I wanted as long as they did arrive in a luggage...

 

The contract did not say anything specifically about not being able to buy fresh flowers and arranging them myself.

 

I highly doubt they would even notice if you had someone else do your boutonnieres.  Our WC was all over the place.

that's what I was thinking. I mean, if all of a sudden I show up with all natural flowers for the whole wedding they might wonder, but boutonnieres are so small that no one will even notice if they're real or not . It will also probably cost me a fraction of the price than if I go through the hotel 

[calgarybride2015]

that's what I was thinking. I mean, if all of a sudden I show up with all natural flowers for the whole wedding they might wonder, but boutonnieres are so small that no one will even notice if they're real or not . It will also probably cost me a fraction of the price than if I go through the hotel 

 

Agreed, bouts are a rip off when you really think about it.

 

At my resort the bouts were $17 each, but the BM's bouquets that were 4 (much larger) gerberas, greenery and ribbon were around $30 each. Seems unfair really lol

[vancouverpetunia]

@@veryvalentine Haha! Love it. See? I don't even have to befriend the gardener. Just bring shears and wander around the resort in the middle of the night... 

[acw271011]

@@vancouverpetunia You totally should get the other dress!! Have both! Wear the lacey one for the ceremony... then the other one to party in!! lol

[vancouverpetunia]

So... we have a few items on the go this week.

 

Excursion

We are ready to book our excursion. We are not doing OOT bags and likely no favors (maybe fans?) so this is our thank you for our guests. It's a bit of a further bus ride from our resort than we wanted (1 hour), but it is (the same or) a better deal than the catamarans that we've looked at and it also seems better for the older folks and the little kids (more stable, some air conditioned areas, etc.). 

 

That said, my parents suddenly offered to pay for/host this. They had originally offered a flat contribution for our wedding costs and this will be less. I'm not sure if they will top it up or not - and not really sure how to raise that issue. In addition to that, my FI's parents are not contributing anything (for good reason - they supported him financially a number of years ago when he needed help), but wondering if they will feel left out if we advertise this as "hosted by my parents". And finally, this was supposed to be our thank you. I sort of wanted to be able to say to our guests - thank you for coming, this is our treat to you (and not my parents' treat to you). That said, their original contribution is included in our budget, so it is kinda all the same. Not sure what to do with this scenario but will figure it out.

 

Groom's/Groomsmens' Outfits

We are planning casual clothes for them. FI in grey pants and white button up shirt. Groomsmen (2, including BM)  in same grey pants and matching light blue button up shirt. I would like to get this sorted out over the summer so we aren't trying to find linen pants (or whatever) in Feb. We are heading to Washington State this weekend for a few days of camping with the GMs and their GFs, so we are going to do a group shopping extravaganza to the outlet stores. Wish us luck!

 

I think that covers it for now! Happy planning, everyone!

Edited November 10, 2015 by TammyWright

[calgarybride2015]

That's a tough situation.  Do you think you could speak to your mom and say that you hadn't planned any other favors, etc. as you had planned the excursion to be your thank you gift and you would like to be able to use that as your thank you? I think that is reasonable and I don't see why your mom would mind.    Also, it would help the situation if you felt that his parents may feel 'left out' or 'upset' if your parents hosted something and they did not.

 

Good luck on the attire! Definitely a good idea to start looking for anything you consider summer attire.

 

Have fun in Washington.  It was that border that we got stopped for our maracas and they searched my car LOL!!!

[acw271011]

I agree with @calgarybride2015  Maybe if you explain to your mom that the excursion is what you and your FI wanted to do as a thank you to your guests, she would understand? As well absolutely you could mention about FI's parents. Although, having said that it is traditionally the bride's parents that host the wedding so your parents could still host a dinner, maybe a "rehearsal dinner" even if you aren't doing an actual rehearsal.

 

Have fun with the camping. We just got back after a miserable rainy weekend and are off again next Friday to South Carolina. I'm sure you'll get good deals on your GMs clothes. All of the summer stuff is already on sale in the US (so I'm looking forward to shopping too!).

 

Kim - what's this about being stopped for your maracas???? I was going to have mine sent to Dustin's in PA and bring them back. Why did they stop you?

[vancouverpetunia]

@@calgarybride2015 @@acw271011

 

Thanks for the advice. I did explain to my dad that we had sort of planned this as our thank you to our guests for coming to the wedding. He said they are fine with whatever we want to do. I told him that I would talk to Jeff (FI) about it and let them know. Jeff's not really fussed either way, although he did raise the point about his parents. I also mentioned that traditionally my parents would be paying for most of the wedding anyhow, but I understand where he's coming from. Anyhow, I'm still mulling it over a bit and will probably talk to them this week as we need to get the deposit paid. 

Edited July 14, 2015 by vancouverpetunia