Yycbride2016 Grand Sirenis Planning Thread February 2016

[yycbride2016]

Ok so back from a very disappointing trip to find bridesmaids dresses... nothing... again. But here is another update for you on things that ARE working out for me haha

 

Wedding Website:

So we knew we wanted to have a wedding website because that way our guests could RSVP online and not have to worry about emailing us or mailing us their RSVPs. We did set up a joint email address incase any of our guests had any questions or anything.

 

Kyle was originally a web developer so he was going to build a custom website with RSVP, event info, etc. all built into it for us. Unfortunately he has been so incredibly busy at work (covering 2 jobs plus his own) which meant working evenings and weekends. So out the window our idea of a custom site went. I decided to build a website through theknot.com. Its actually super easy and quite cute. I couldn’t find any sites that were teal with starfish which sucked but that’s ok. I put our wedding day info, at home reception info on there, travel/ booking info, pictures of the resort, our engagement weekend as well as our engagement photos. I haven’t even sent out my actual wedding invitations yet and people are already RSVPing to the wedding and reception which is making my life easier!

 

Wedding website: www.theknot.com/us/janelle-and-kyle

 

Booking Process:

So we have officially hit our 3 month mark for people booking into the wedding. I’m so thankful I got 10 bookings made because we needed 10 (including ourselves) as a minimum to keep our deposit. My TA is on holidays this week of course (being the final week for guests to book and guarantee a spot on our trip), so I won’t find out what my actual count is till next week. I’m estimating about 18 so far have signed up! Which is perfect because with 2 of those being single travellers that makes our 10 rooms booked for 7 days...aka… free wedding package! So relieved!

 

Not going to lie though, having only 3 months to get your guests to sign up is a bit stressful. One month before the final day I sent out a group message to all of our guests to remind them that they had a month to book in and pay their deposit. I didn’t really hear much response at this point. One week left to book and I sent out another message and sure enough RSVPs started coming in and people letting me know that they might book later, etc. As long as I had my 10 people and my 10 rooms I was happy haha. I think if any of you have the same plan as me where your guests only have to pay a certain amount as a deposit to hold their spot and they have like 6 more months to pay the rest of the trip off, you should make that super clear to your guests. I think a lot of our guests were concerned they had to drop $2054 when they booked in. I think they were relieved to hear they only needed to pay $150 today and they could pay the rest whenever they had the money. One of my bridesmaids didn’t understand this and told me she wasn’t going to book until the fall I was a bit shocked and then when i explained it to her she seemed to think that booking with us now was a better idea. (no idea if she’s actually booked yet though, and it’s making me super nervous)

 

Engagement Photos:

Fun stuff now!!! We knew exactly who we were going to get to do our engagement photos since she did our family photos a year prior and they turned out amazing. Her prices are fantastic and she’s really fun and gets the job done. You can check out her work at: www.paisleyphotos.ca. Her work is really cute and she really captures the love in her photos. We actually went up to the Braag Creek area for our photos in February and amazingly enough it looks like our photos were taken in either the spring given the amazing weather we had. Super happy with how they turned out. Now I just need to order a photo book to put on the coffee table of all our gorgeous photos.

 

 

BTW... you can see these photos on our wedding website too! 

Edited May 30, 2015 by yycbride2016

[calgarybride2015]

Love the pics

 

Did you try the stores I mentioned? If so I'm sorry you found nothing I struggled hard with this too.

 

I don't believe singles count for the free wedding package unless they are sharing a room. It was 10 double rooms (so 20

People) booked for 7 nights for us. (Sorry if I misunderstood what you meant).

 

Can't wait for more!!

 

I also agree on pricing. They were ludacris when we got our quotes too!

 

Where do you plan to go wedding dress shopping? I went to David's bridal and Ever After.

 

 

 

 

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Edited May 31, 2015 by calgarybride2015

[yycbride2016]

@@calgarybride2015 thanks we are super happy with how our photos turned out too. We were surprised they were actually good because we were laughing and making jokes the whole session.

 

I did go to those stores. We went into Oskana but they didn't have our color and I kind of felt like most of their dresses were too blingy for what I'd want. We found a store called Essence that had a super cute dress in it but because it was on sale they o my had two left and I'd need 3. So the search continues. I'm thinking we will end up ordering online and just crossing our fingers that they are good.

 

Ah do you think 2 single rooms would count as one? I'm pretty sure I will have enough rooms booked anyways but still makes me nervous. If we don't get the free wedding I'd want the presidential package for the private palapa...hmm...

 

I am going wedding dress shopping in 3 weeks when my mum comes in from Europe! I'm so excited. I booked a cute little shop in high river. My sister told me 3 of her friends found dresses there and at good prices so I switched my David's bridal appointment to there. I moved my David's bridal appointment to July just as a back up. I wasn't really happy with them though. When we went for bridesmaids dresses they didn't seem to want to help us. She was working with another group at the same time and gave them more attention. Wasn't the experience I was hoping for. (Maybe I'm just picky and a bridezilla hahaha but hopefully I'm not).

 

 

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[vancouverpetunia]

We are at a different resort but single rooms didn't count for anything for us Even triple rooms didn't count, which seems ridiculous that you wouldn't get at least one room credited for that. But I guess those are the loopholes they have in place to minimize what you can get for "free".

 

 

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[Moments That Matter]

The Grand Sirens is a great choice of wedding venues, as you can see from these magical wedding "moments that matter" Linc captured at some of his weddings there......Enjoy!!!

 

....Grand Sirenis Wedding Album 1:

 

 

 

....Grand Sirenis Wedding Album 2:

Wishing you all the best with your plans......cheers!!! team MTM

[calgarybride2015]

Good luck with the store in High River!! I went to Ever After as I know 4+ people who had luck there. I found a beautiful lace gown there but it was over my budget. The service there was one on one and fabulous. I agree David's is super busy and stretched thin but thankfully I did find a dress there. Not without drama mind you but it all worked out just some lack of communication. Our experience with the BMs dresses was spot on though.

 

Sorry Oksana's didn't work out. Do you think Essence could find you the third dress at another store or ship it in?

 

I was under the impression it was double rooms only. We had singles but since we had enough doubles I didn't ask. That said if you didn't qualify you could still take the silver package (free if you qualify) and upgrade to the palapa. You'd have to run the numbers and see which one is more cost effective though. I'd like to say silver and upgrading would be but I don't know what extras you are looking to book! The presidential did have a lot included. Some now which looking back may have been nice (spa days) but when with all my upgrades and extras the smaller package was still more cost effective for us.

 

The pictures are such good practice too! We did ours at Confederation Park and I was so worried I would look like a dope and I LOVED how they turned out. Made me more confident for Mexico.

 

 

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Edited May 31, 2015 by calgarybride2015

[acw271011]

I like the website. It turned out great! Your photos are really cute, and the background is beautiful!

 

I don't have any experience with stores in the Calgary area at all. I know there are enough ladies here that do. There are a couple of online sites that the ladies have mentioned. I don't know if they're of any help to you or not. RW & Co. also has a wedding line if you look. Again, I don't know much about them but you could look online and see if there is anything that clicks to you. There are a couple of lines online that might be worth a look to see who the retailers are. There is Dessy and After Six that come to mind off the top. I don't know if that helps you at all or not.

[vancouverpetunia]

@@acw271011 RW & Co has wedding attire? I don't see anything on their web site and when I google it, I come up with mostly older posts (2011-2014). I tend to like their style (and price point!) so would love to check out what they have.

 

 

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[acw271011]

I was trying to think of the other one I've seen here and it's J. Crew I think, but if I remember correctly when I looked I found them to be expensive.

[calgarybride2015]

I didn't know about RW&Co either. They should as there is such a market. I also find J Crew kinda pricey!

 

 

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