JaimeLynne

I'm sorry Tammy What a little sweetheart!

Awww Kate, I totally teared up! What an amazing, sweet proposal - love it!!!!!

I can't stop staring at the pics of the ring.... *drool* I can't wait til this week when we can go see the other jewelers!

Keeping my fingers crossed for you Kate!!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by LuvGrand Yeah. I have looked at Dreams. So far, I think that is going to be the best deal. I just don't know how much a discount you get if you reserve a block of 10 rooms. It's just SO hard to set up a budget when I don't know what a realistic budget would be. I probably shouldn't really stress about it right now anyway. It's a year away! Have you contacted a Travel Agent yet? We have a few here - the host, Tammy is a TA and TA Lindsay (I think) specializes in PV. I think they could help you out with this. I definitely know how you feel. I started out a year ago and I still have a year to go! When we first started we estimated about what you did. Now our budget is around $15k!! Best of luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by coquetayloca You are so ahead of me!!! My wedding is 3 days after yours and I just started thinking about STDs... They look great! Ditto! I love your STDs!!!! I really may have you help me out. I probably won't be doing mine until June though... Excellent job!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by LuvGrand Hi everyone! Thanks so much for all of the replies. I was wondering what you all think of a budget of $7,000 to have a wedding in PV. That would include me and my FI's travel and stay, a hotel room for his parents and hotel room for my brother and of course the whole wedding with probably about 30-ish guests. Is that going to be enough? My parents aren't going to help so we are going to try and save up the money by next April. It doesn't help that I'm a poor med student You should probably try looking at hotels that come with free wedding packages if you book a certain amount of nights/rooms. Try searching Dreams PV

This resort looks beautiful! Looks like a great HM spot too

Welcome! I'm a May 2009 PV Bride. You will find tons of information searching the forums here

Alesse = Aviane, right? I think so. Anyways, I'm on Aviane and doing ok. I cannot wait to get off BC period though!!!

Congrats Tami!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How sweet that he has your bags packed already! Have a wonderful time!!!! (Oh, and supercool that you have a LIMO taking you to the airport! YEAH!!!!)

Sooooo... I was at work today and mentioned wanting to get a different ring. My partner in sales gave me the name to a whole sale jeweler that she uses. Apparently you can only go to them if someone personally recommends you. She has an amazing ring so that's what led to our convo, and she said (like you gals!) def don't buy retail! Theeeen later I was getting the info from her and a client/friend of ours finds out what I'm looking for and very discreetly hands me a card. It has her name underneath a fine jeweler. I look at her with wide eyes (totally not knowing she works for jeweler - DUHHH!!) and she says to go check out both places but she really thinks her boss can get me what I'm looking for way less than RBs would cost. So YAYYYYYYY we now have two connections to go check out So excited!!!!! I will def let y'all know what we find out...

Maura & Rachelle - Thanks so much for both of your input!! I am going to relay this info to FI and we will look into it.

Quote: Originally Posted by Maura jaime, just to be a voice of reason.... you can take a photo of the kay ring to a jeweler to have it made... if we'd have bought my ring from tiffany it wouldve cost $16,000 for a 1 carat stone and identical band to what i got. we took the photo to a jeweler and had the same ring made with some custom differences and a much larger center stone for half the price. just my two cents. i think its really silly to pay retail. Wow, that is a huuuuge difference! Our budget starting out (retail) is much smaller - max of $5k and that's pushing it. The Kay ring setting is $1200, do you really think a jeweler could beat that price by more than a couple hundred dollars? And do they get diamonds cheaper for some reason? I guess I'm just not very educated on all this yet.

Quote: Originally Posted by Kat81 My friends doc told her to drink a glass of wine about twice a week when she was pregnant. Said it was good for her?? I have heard this from several people. Have you preggos heard that? I've heard a glass of wine a week is acceptable. If you think about how it can lower your blood pressure it makes sense as an overall stress reliever. I think like other people have said everything in moderation. I personally would be a little more careful with alcohol but I don't think a glass every now and then would hurt... now this may all change when I'm carrying a little one inside of me! Quote: Originally Posted by Rachelle E. Lol! No worries! And I still think it would be a good place for a meet up! And Yes, I'm definitely still interested in all of us getting together sometime. Maybe we can have a baby bump contest or something?! lol! I was just thinking about a meet up the other day...realizing our March plans had gotten away from us. We'll have to try and pick another date soon. lol, a baby bump contest would be great! I'm totally thinking of throwing you and Lisa a little baby shower once your due dates get closer. Y'all are really close together so that makes it easy But I think we should have a "regular" get together first to get any awkwardness out of the way

Quote: Originally Posted by Rachelle E. And of course now you've made me want a BIG glass of wine! lol! No fair!!! Doh! Sorry I was just about to say we should have the next Dallas meetup there but since 3 of you are preggo it might be too much of a temptation for vino... speaking of which, are you ladies still on for a BDW meetup since you've all ran off and gotten yourselves pregnant?! haha Oh, and Coalvines and Romano's Macaroni Grill are owned by the same person so the vodka penne might be similar

How sweet Maura!!! Quote: Originally Posted by DougsGirl hahahahaha this is so funny, when we had our seattle meetup, kate (lala) told us how brett calls us the cult, but like totally nonchalantly (sp??) as if he was saying weight watchers group or something. the next day i was telling doug this cause i thought it was so funny, not realizing the kiddos were listening. today when the package came from maura, trevor (who is 12) called me to tell me it was here. i said where is it postmarked from? wondering if it was from her, and he says, i think its from your cult friend in chicago! blahahaha! cracks me up! OMG that is so funny! We'd better be careful - before we know it the kids of BDW are going to be off telling their teachers "my mommy's in a cult"...

Quote: Originally Posted by Kat81 OK I give.. what is Coalvines? It's an awesome true authentic Italian pizza place in Uptown Dallas. They are also a wholesale wine retailer. You can get a large regular pizza for $1 more than the small and live off of it for a week! lol Everyone that works there seems like they are or were at one point in the Mob. Very cool. It's become super trendy and is the only pizza place I know of where ppl dress to the nines and go to "see and be seen". Us? We just LOOOOOVE their food and wine!!!! YUMMMM. (Rachelle, have you ever tried their Vodka Penne? MMMMMM!) Plus it's always a nice excuse to get dressed up and have a fancy dinner for a reasonable price. *End Advertisement*

Quote: Originally Posted by starfish kate I lurk over on Diamond prices: comparison, statistics, education (Pricescpe) It is a great site for researching diamonds and e-rings. There are also great comments about Robbins Bros. For what it's worth, I LOVE the Scott Kay setting! Wow that site looks so thorough! I searched "robbins bros" though and I found a bunch of horrible comments on them Honestly the lingo on their forums is wayyy over my head. I have no clue what they're talking about. I don't know, I just got an overall good impression about Robbins Bros. Sometimes you have to pay a little more for good customer service and like I said I am in sales so I appreciate a good sales team! Thanks for your vote on the Scott Kay! That's definitely the direction I'm headed

Quote: Originally Posted by Rachelle E. Mmmmmmm....Coalvines!! I'm jealous! Oh. . and the Troy Aikman sighting is cool too. ;-) HAHAHA yeah, I don't blame you for being more impressed by Coalvines than Troy! Martin did seem fairly star struck... he kept txting ppl during dinner and I was starting to get a little ticked off ... lol

Quote: Originally Posted by Rachelle E. Ooh...I really like the little diamond on the side! And it's definitely good to know you have lots of options for the WB. AND I was going to say, with the simpler setting of the Scott Kay you could definitely add a little bling to the WB and it wouldn't be too much. You know? Something with small round diamonds sounds like it would be perfect. I think so too! Quote: Originally Posted by LC_Rachel I love the tacori ring- the detailing is beautiful. I guess I'm kinda partial because my e-ring (and WB- it's both since I didn't want a wb) has a ton of detailing and a hidden diamond too. As for custom ordering, does RB not have a jeweler that can do that? When we were looking for WBs, our jeweler said we could always custom order through them. I decided not to get a WB because i felt it took away from my ring, instead of complimenting it. However, either way, I love both rings. And I agree, a better quality, smaller stone is a good idea. It will sparkle much more! I also like the detailing but like the hidden diamond you don't see it much. I'm sure RBs could get it custom made but I don't know what the price would be. Usually it costs extra and we're already at the top of our budget. I think I am coming closer and closer to a conclusion, ladies....

Ok I love the jeweler - have you seen the video on his website? Scott Kay Click on the Bridal part and a video will pop up... it made me tear up Oh, and here's 2 more views of the Kay ring!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Rachelle E. They really are both beautiful. Personally I would probably choose the Scott Kay setting...but then again the band on it is similar to my Ering...so I'm probably biased! lol! Have you tried on wedding bands w/ both? I guess that might be the other deciding factor for me...if there's a WB that you really prefer that fits better w/ one or the other of the e rings. And I'm definitely glad you're taking your time choosing your stone. Be SUPER picky about it!! It's your e-ring!! Make sure you get exactly what you want! (well, within SOME amount of reason I guess! lol!) Like I said I really love the Scott Kay setting too. I never looked at the prices and he never told me them until the end. Then he said, "Guess what? You picked the least expensive setting" I was so proud of myself! LOL It was after all the eliminations of other rings and a definitely love of the Kay that he came to his final selection for me. He told me that it might make my decision a little tougher but I thought no way. Then I saw it and liked it. FI came back from the restroom and didn't like it nearly as much as the Kay (he really loves the Kay) but it grew on him and by the end he really liked both as well. I think getting a smaller (like 1/2 the size!) diamond in the Tacori ring wouldn't make me happy. And since I love the Kay so much why not go with that?? I also think it looks better on my fingers since it gives a definite round shape, whereas the Tacori gives more of a squared off shape due to the prongs (one of the ladies who came to look said she liked the Kay because it was round and she doesn't personally like princess cuts, lol). Also, I think I may be getting caught up on the Tacori name a little Seriously, in 50 years who's going to be checking to see if it's a Tacori??! Thanks for letting me talk it out with myself (LOL) and you guys, it is really helping me in my decision! *EDIT* OH, and as for WBs - they have lots that go with the Scott Kay I tried on 1 and it worked pretty well. Not the one for me but it's nice to know that there are plenty that will work. That was definitely a factor for me going into this! (I think I want a band with small round diamonds to go with it.)

Quote: Originally Posted by deznchris2006 According to snoops, the Gallery's director said the dog escaped during the night. Of course he isn't going to admit the dog died!!!!! I don't know how people get the ideas to do this stuff. Quote: Originally Posted by Nrvsbride I just threw up in my mouth. I really hope this is a hoax. I saw another thing on the news the other day where this artist artificially inseminates herself and then gets abortion at different stages of her pregnancy and calls it art. She actually drips the blood of the embryos onto a sheet and hangs it and calls it art. WTF is wrong with people? That is abso-fucking-lutely RIDICULOUS! I work at an Art Gallery and cannot BELIEVE what some people call "art". BULLSH!T.