Rachelle E.

That is So pretty! I'm very impressed! My friend Monica is thinking of possibly making her own veil too...I think this will be a sort of confidence booster for her to see that someone else has done it and it looks great. I agree...lets see some pics asap!!

I totally hear what you're saying. If it were me, I wouldn't write "and guest" on any of the invites, but like the other girls said, if someone asked - I would definitely say yes...esp 'cause it's traveling situation. Also, if you are having BM's and stuff, they can be good about communicating that too...that way if people don't want to pressure you with the question, they can still kind of find out how you feel about things, you know? The only people I included an "and guest" for at my wedding was anyone in the bridal party and also a FSIL who was dating someone - not serisously, but I wasn't sure if she'd want to bring him etc.

Just wanted to say that I love those too! We had actually looked at wine stoppers for our wedding but all the ones we found were just too much for our budget. You got a great deal! So what are you thinking for the other favors? Any ideas yet?

Yeah, I definitely like the first one if you're doing a sage green...that's going to look so pretty!

Those are both really pretty! I particularly like the first one....I think the top/neckline on it is really flattering, just a smidge-y bit sexy, you know? Good choices! What colors are you thinking of?

Poor girl! That sucks about the whole scheduling drama. I totally agree w/ the other girls - have fun at your bachelorette party and just do what you have to, to get through the next day. Also, ditto to what Tammy said. I would totally stick to beer and/or liquor only if I were you. Wine can give me a pretty burly hangover, same w/ champagne and other sweet drinks. I try to stick w/ clear liqours personally,like a vodka mixed w/ tonic - for some reason that seems to work better for me. If you're trying to be really good you can try to drink a glass of water for every alcoholic drink you have, to cut down on the dehydration...not sure what that will do to your "bachelorette buzz" though!

omg! Those are SO adorable! I love them!! What a great find Anny! I saw these and totally thought of Christine...I especially like the green grapes and leaves...the whole set it really cute I think...

Honestly, I think it really depends on what you guys are looking for. When we started looking at rings for David, I was thinking we'd get a platinum band since he really wanted a simple band and my e-ring was platinum...it just seemed sensible. Then we saw how freakin' expensive platinum is ($1200 was the least expensive band I could find) and he totally vetoed the idea. So we talked to a jewler and finally settled on white gold and got a 5 1/2mm comfort fit band for $250. It was so inexpensive I acutally felt really bad at first. Although I got it engraved without telling him and he was so surprised and happy about it that I felt a lot better! But really, it's exactly what he wanted - so if he's happy, I'm happy. Also, you can have white gold treated and it will look pretty much like new. SO we figured that whenever it starts looking kind of beat up, we'll just take it in and get it recoated to look like new...and I think that usually runs about $25-30 per treatment at the jewler we bought it from.

Yeah, I'm a total sucker for the Lean Cuisines! I eat them at work for lunch. And I'm certain that's way better than all the take out and fast food most people eat - even with all the sodium! I actually love the salmon and basil one...I think it's so yummy.

I'm going to jump in here and offer my completely non-expert opinion! I agree with the other girls...I say go natural with that stuff. My mother is really into nutrition and health and has researched tons of stuff like that. I would say the vast majority of the reports and books she's read as well as seminars that she's been to have really supported the idea of more natural foods as beneficial to long term health. Personally I have a pretty strong reaction (horriffic headaches etc.) to most artificial sweeteners to I really can't eat/drink things with them. But I try to find things with reduced sugar if possible and I like to think that helps! Also, I try to buy things with mostly "good" fats and cook with things like that too. Also, a little trick I recently learned, instead of using oil or butter to cook or saute with, use a low sodium broth - chicken, beef or veggie. It's actually really good! I'm a big fan of things sauteed in butter (who isn't?!) but I recently made some chicken fajitas using a little bit of broth to cook them in and they were acutally way better than my normal fajitas!

I know the Moon Palace has lots of information on different cruises, dinners etc. We got tons of info on that stuff when we were there for our honeymoon...I MAY still have some of it. I'm at work right now but I'll look when I get home. Maybe I'll find something good! You may even be able to ask your contact there if they have any reccomendations - they were really helpful whenever we asked them about stuff. And I know they frequently provide shuttle transportation from the hotel to the various events/locations...but with your guests in different hotels that doesn't really help much, I guess! Ok, so I guess I didn't really help "solve" anything at the moment! I'll let you know if I find anything in my honeymoon info.

Super cute idea. . .Love it! Thanks for sharing!

I think Leigh is bringing out Ann's inner diva! What with all the photo shoots, dresses, fake eyelashes...You can't fool us! We've got you all figured out....

I know I'm getting in a little late on this one, but I think your tiara is perfect! SO pretty! I bet it's going to look amazing sittin' all sparkly in your hair!

So will you be doing some diva-like wardrobe changes at your WD?! ;-) Also, the BCBG outlet near me is having a HUGE sale - tons of dresses on sale and lots of cute tops and stuff to. Not sure if you guys have one near you but it's defnintely worth checking out if you do!

I love Bluefly! Thanks for posting! I'll have to check it out.

Those are gorgeous...and they are actually the other ones she was thinking about getting!

This site has some pretty jewelry on it. Celebrity Inspired Jewelry, Cubic Zirconia Jewelry, Sterling Silver Jewelry, CZ Jewelry from Emitations I think my friend Monica is going to get the Briolette Glacier Drop earrings and necklace. Soooo pretty!

I'm going to go against the flow here...I think the first one is SO cute! I like the second one too, but to me, the first one is super pretty....and kinda' unique. It looks more "Mexico-y" to me. Lol!!

That really is a great list! My friend who is currently planning her wedding (Dreams PV) is having a nightmarish time with a TA she had been working with. So now she's in a situation where she's trying to cut ties and work with someone else. The response time question is key I think, that was a huge issue with this other TA, I had emailed her asking a couple questions and didn't receive a reply for two weeks...and then only after I had sent a second email! It didn't really inspire a lot of faith in me to trust that she would take care of things. As it turns out, she never sent in the form to reserve the date for my friends wedding - when my friend tried to follow up w/ her a week or so later to confirm everything, she couldn't get in touch and finally had to contact the wedding coordinator at the resort directly...only to find out the form had never been sent in! That really freaked her out. Also, I think the whole money thing is important to discuss. After my friend confronted her TA about the form that hadn't been sent in (as well as other issues she had) the lady sent her an email outlining the agency's policy for booking destination weddings...and requested a $300 deposit before she would continue doing any work! Now I understand that deposits are frequently requried by all kinds of vendors when making agreements...the problem with this situation is that it was not made clear until they had already been working together for a month....during which time the lady really didn't actually accomplish anything, left many questions completely unaswered and neglected to turn in that VERY important form! It was once she sensed that my friend was going to "fire" her that she pulled all that info out. Kinda' shady if you ask me. I SO wish we would have known to ask all these kinds of questions to start with...would have saved that poor girl a lot of drama and headaches! Good job being proactive and thinking up all those great topics.

I grew up with a hyphenated last name ( and a fairly long one at that) so I was super excited to change mine and have just ONE last name after getting married....but it helps that his last name is a nice, normal, easy to spell/say name. One friend of mine joked that I just "switched from one sturdy anglo-saxon last name to another"! Which was kinda true. Anyway, I say that if you're thinking about or planning to have kids, just make sure you decide ahead of time what name you'd like them to have and then see whether or not you'd like to share that same name with them. I personally don't reccomend the whole hyphenation thing...it was a PITA for me growing up. But like Ann said - it's fine to have different names if that's how you're most happy. I also thought the idea of asking your FI if he'd possibly switch to your name was good one. If he's not terribly attatched to his then maybe he wouldn't mind and you guys would have one big, happy "maiden name" family! All that being said...if you or he make any changes, you will do more ridiculous paperwork and spend way too much time standing in lines (DMV, Social Security etc) than you ever imagined. After being married a few months, I finally took a day off work in the middle of the week just to get all that done! I'm coming up on my first anniversary and I still need to get my name changed on a couple key items...it's such a production!

I'm so sorry it took me ages to do this! I didn't actually find the post this was originally on, but here's the link to the site. Again, sorry for being such a slacker!

Number 2 is my favorite as well! It's just so light and pretty and looks fabulous on you! I think my next choice would be number 1...

I'm very pro-fake flowers for some things. I used them in my larger arrangements at the church - they're so far away from the people, they can't tell the difference and those large arrangements are expensive! Also I think they're great for the tables like Jessalyn (?) is using. Serisouly why spend all that $$ on orchids that are going to wilt?! But I used real flowers for my bouquets and my BM's bouquets, corsages etc. I LOVED having the real flowers for my bouquet....they smelled amazing. All that being said, I think my friend is going to use real flowers for her bouquet - it's included in her wedding package anyway, no sense buying anything extra. But she's thinking of using fake ones for the BM/MOH bouquets and her hair. It's definitely a money saver. Also, I remember someone posting a GREAT site for fake flowers on here somewhere....I'll see if I can find it. The pics on the site were really pretty and I was very impressed with the bouquets. I'll post that as soon as I locate it!

My dress was a Casablanca dress (same designer as Jessalyn's, I think). Anyway, mine was about $850...but that's because I had it special ordered so that the beading on the bottom woulnd't be affected when they had to hem it. I think the price before that was closer to $750-ish. The point is that I think they have some lovely dresses and would definitely be worth checking out if you're looking to keep it under $1000. Also, not sure if you're just wanting to keep the cost of the dress itself under that price or if you're wanting the cost w/ alterations to be included in that as well. Just remember that alterations are super expensive...even if the dress isn't terribly elaborate or detailed. My alterations were about $300 and all they had to do was take up the straps and make the bustle! (they ended up NOT having to hem it) Seriously, that's it - two straps and three little ribbons later I'm forking out half the cost of the dress itself! weddings.... Here's the link to Casablanca if you want to check it out. Welcome to CasaBlancaBridal.com My dress is in the Spring 2003 collection - style # 1631 if you're curious!