Ashhtayy's Planning Thread - Azul Fives - June 7, 2016

[acw271011]

@@ashhtayy Love the STDs and the photo. I listen to the ladies here and am very thankful that I have a US address to send things to. I've always known it's expensive to send things here from the US but I never realized how expensive! Wow! I'm happy it all worked out for you and your thread and recommendation of zazzle's customer service will be a good reference sometime for another bride.

 

We travelled with Transat 4 years ago and almost all of the same perks were offered back then so not much has changed. I want a couple of them but we're only 4 from TO and 2 from BC so it means we pay for the Options Plus package. It gives us the extra bag allowance, seat selection, the wine on board and priority check-in which is totally fine by me. We don't need any of the group stuff. But you've all done very well with what you're being given. I think it's great!!

 

We bought a travel steamer and took it to Jamaica with us and I'm glad we did. It wasn't expensive - about $20 US I think at Walmart - and it worked just fine.

[yycbride2016]

 @@ashhtayy

Awe I love the save the dates! They are super cute. I wouldn’t worry too much about them and the cost/ missing information, etc. I actually designed and put ours together. I had them Printed and cut at staples but I did the rest. I think my price was about $80. But I only had about 70 to send.

 

As for the information I also stressed about not having enough information on mine. I felt like an idiot for not saying when they needed to book / pay their deposits by. I only wrote that the trips needed to be paid in full by December. So that was really dumb of me. But in the end I sent out reminder messages out through Facebook throughout the 90 days so people were aware. I have all that info on my website but like you said I don’t think many people look at that.

 

I’m also with you on not wanting to send out formal invitations after the amount of work that goes into save the dates. Being that I’m a designer I didn’t want to miss out on designing my own invitations though haha. In the end I’m happy we made them because we are having an at home reception so I need to get that info out too. Plus now that I’m starting to send invitations out people are gaining interest again in coming so my numbers slowly keep growing.

[ashhtayy]

@@yycbride2016 i also sent out reminder emails. i am going to include those in my next post. i had a hard time with the wording in the emails, not wanting to sound too pushy, and was able to find a few suggestions on here. i sort of combined the suggestions, added a bit and hit send. i kept thinking "why didn't i just add the booking deadline to the STD?" lol

@@acw271011 checking out walmart this week for a little steamer. mike's in BC for work so maybe he won't even notice the new purchase

[TinkerSofi]

@@vancouverpetunia I'll email tomorrow. thanks!!

our resort does have steaming. However, I found it very expensive. I think if you can borrow a steamer from someone who has one already you'll save a few bucks  . I attached the prices for AF here. As you can see, even with steaming your wedding dress and the suit or a couple of BM dresses you might as well even buy a travel steamer and bring it over.

 

Edited July 15, 2015 by TinkerSofi

[ashhtayy]

our resort does have steaming. However, I found it very expensive. I think if you can borrow a steamer from someone who has one already you'll save a few bucks  . I attached the prices for AF here. As you can see, even with steaming your wedding dress and the suit or a couple of BM dresses you might as well even buy a travel steamer and bring it over.

 

precios lavanderia hotel.png

 

@@TinkerSofi you're the best! out of curiosity, where did you find this? did the WC send it to you or did you find it online?

 

also, hoping you can give me some advice. i don't know where to go next. i have all documentation from the resort for food, cakes, booze, wedding packages (locations), spa packages, decor packages, and just general FAQS. should i be emailing my WC asking for other information? i don't know where to go from here. our guests are booked, we think we know what photographer we are going with but when is decision time in regards to all i mentioned above? this is a very vague question, i realize, but any direction you can push us in is appreciated. thanks!

Edited July 15, 2015 by ashhtayy

[TinkerSofi]

@@ashhtayy I got the prices for the steaming from my WC when I asked her if they offered the service. I just thought I'd save you a few weeks of waiting for a reply haha. 

 

Once you have your information, I'd just fire off an e-mail detailing all of your choices. What I did was divide the e-mail into ceremony and reception and I detailed off the locations, the food I wanted, if you want one of their wedding packages, any decor you might be getting from them, any flowers you might be getting, etc. If you do it in point form I think it's better for them. You can give them a preliminary number of guests so they can calculate the food costs and other fees that are on a pp basis. As your date gets closer and you have your final number of guests, you can upate them and they'll change the price before you pay. Keep in mind you can change things as many times as you want. For example, I think I changed our ceremony time like 3 times haha. But then you can check out your summary sheet and make sure that everything is updated and correct. 

 

At first I only sent them what I had decided on, for example, I hadn't decided when I'd do the hair and makeup or their trials, etc. So I didn't choose that until about 3 months out. Then I took some things out, for example we had chosen two flower arrangements for the sides of the gazebo but then I realized I didn't really like them, so I told them to take that off, and they did. 

 

I hope that answers your question! My main concern right now would be securing my locations, especially for the reception. Some of them are pretty popular, so you want to do that as soon as you can. Then if you change your mind that's ok, you can just let them know if that happens.

[ashhtayy]

@@TinkerSofi thank you so much. we actually locked in the sky deck for the ceremony and reception the second we booked. it's on our wedding builder and all information is correct - thank goodness. we are also considering pushing our ceremony back by thirty minutes. undecided right now.

[TinkerSofi]

@@TinkerSofi thank you so much. we actually locked in the sky deck for the ceremony and reception the second we booked. it's on our wedding builder and all information is correct - thank goodness. we are also considering pushing our ceremony back by thirty minutes. undecided right now.

I was so undecided about the timeline. I still am to some degree haha, but more on how things are going to flow throughout the day. These are the times when I wish I had some experience haha. 

 

So yeah, now I'd send an e-mail to them just choosing the details. Did you choose your welcome cocktail for your ceremony? What about any decor for the ceremony? Then yeah, it'd choose the menu, see if you need a DJ or you need to rent out the amplifier. Check whether you need any flowers or if you want to rent gazebo sheers from them, things like that.

 

Once you get your photographer let them know who it is, and how many people he/she is bringing. Then they'll add the $800 if they're an outside vendor. Check with your photographer as to whether they'll need dinner as well. Ours told us that him and his team wouldn't need dinner, so I let the hotel know. 

 

Then as you get closer you can book the time for your hair and makeup and maybe even the trial. 

 

Did you already choose your menu for the flavours dinner? 

 

Those are the things that I can think of right now. 

[vancouverpetunia]

@@ashhtayy Holy crap that is expensive to get the clothes steamed/pressed. I'm glad ours is included (different resort). Although now that I look at it, it says "preparation of couple's wedding day attire". I wonder what that actually means. They probably just stick it on a hanger for you and leave you the price list for the steaming. LOL

[calgarybride2015]

My resort was in line with AF for steaming. I believe it was upwards of $160!!! I said 'no thanks'

 

 

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