madenerg2

For all of you working on your DIY wedding projects, I’m selling this Large Blue Turquoise Vellum card stock Size: W-29â€, H-22†I have 12 sheets. I didn’t get a chance to use it for my wedding, so it’s never been used but would look great for your invitations, STDs, or programs. I’m selling the whole package of 12 for $25 including shipping and handling - I bought it for $50. PM me or e-mail me [email protected]. CLOSE-UP TEXTURE

There are 6 dresses left, here are the sizes: Small - 1 Medium - 4 Large - 1

I have 8 dresses, there all different sizes: Here are the sizes I have: S – 2 M – 5 (1 broken belt loop) L - 1

This is the 2nd of the 2 wedding gowns I purchased at the Monique Lhuillier Sample Sale last year. This gown has never been worn and it still has the original designer tags attached. It has hem dust and will need to be professionally cleaned. The button needed to attach the halter straps needs to be replaced, but is a simple fix. Check out the pictures for clarification. This dress is in overall very good condition, It originally retailed at $5000, I purchase it for $1000, I'm selling it for $400 and I'll entertain most offers. Feel free to PM me or e-mail me at [email protected] with any questions. GOWN DESCRIPTION: Style Name: Lucky Style Number: 45-YKCUL Season: Fall 2007 Deep V-neck halter secures behind neck with button closure (secured in picture with safety pin) Fitted seamed cups are very lightly padded and could easily take the place of a bra High empire sits slightly above natural waist, with princess seaming A-line skirt has attached petticoat and lining Chapel train (sometimes called a 'sweep train,' or a 'tiffany train') is about 1.5 feet long Back invisible zip Color is true Ivory Fabric is 100% Italian Peau Silk Satin Charmeuse SIZE & MEASUREMENTS: US Size 10 This dress fits more like a US 8, which is equivalent to a UK 10-12, and it measures about 18 inches around the widest part of the bust, 30 inches around the waist, and 60 inches around the widest part of the hips (including the petticoat). It is 60.5 inches long from the top of the halter strap to the hem, and the train falls another 16 inches in back. FRONT BACK ORIGINAL TAG

***this dress is SOLD, see Post#2 for the dress that is currently available*** I purchased this gown at the Monique Lhullier Sample sale in Los Angeles in 2008 for $800, the retail price is $2000. This simple, elegant and sexy gown was a store sample which was tried on only a few times and it’s never been worn or altered. This ivory silk gown has a low drop back, and it ties at the back of the neck with small crystal details as well as crystal detail below the bust line, and a beautiful rounded train. This wedding gown is a size 10, but would fit any lower size depending on how you alter. There are two red faint marks on the left side of the gown (pictured below). This mark is underneath the under arm of the dress, so it’s won’t be noticeable. I took a picture of it, but my camera was barely able to pick it up, but will probably come out with professional dry cleaning. There is also minor dust on the hem. I’m asking $450 for the dress, but will entertain most offers. Feel free to PM me or e-mail me with any additional questions. Size: 10 Bust: 35" Waist: 29" Hips: 38"

I'm selling 8 never worn Arden B dresses I purchased for my Bridesmaids. I didn't go with this dress because they each wanted to wear something different. They've never been worn and most still have the sales tag. The dress is polyester and spandex. I purchased the dresses for $60 each, and will sell them for $35 including shipping and handling. ***price reduced to $25 each, only 6 left*** If you're interested, PM me or send me an E-mail: [email protected] Description: Belted Double V Dress with a Bubble Hem Line Arden B Size Chart: log on to ardenb.com, under dresses for their size chart Length: 33 inches from the shoulder Material: Polyester | Spandex. Origin: Made in U.S.A Cleaning: Dry Clean Only SIZES: S – 2 M – 5 (1 broken belt loop) L - 1 FRONT BACK

Once again Congratulations Michelle! You looked gorgeous, new husband is a very Blessed Man! Despite the hurdles, I'm very happy it all worked out!

Hair looked Amazing! Where was the reception? The colors were so nice?

Hey Michele!! Welcome back - I know exactly how you feel with the past 2 months - Wait til you start returns! The favors are beautiful, and you are a beautiful bride! Congratulations!

You're so welcome - let me know if I can help with anything more!

There was no server/setup charge for the welcome dinner b/c it was opened to the rest of the resort. I did have to pay a set up/server charge for the rehearsal dinner (but not the actual food) - and that charge was $50/server. Quote: Originally Posted by lm3682 Thanks LeShay - what was their server/setup charge for the welcome dinner?

HEY EVERYONE - THANKS FOR READING! Let me know if I can help with anything!

PM me your e-mail address and I'll forward you my Snapfish folder of my site visit with all those pictures.

First of all thanks to everyone that read the review and all your positive feedback! And Heyyyyyyyyyyy PaulaV - good to see you're still hanging out. The paradisus has most of their reception on the Tequila Terrace. And they usually set up the Gazebo on the beach. The other places you can have a reception are the cement area to the left of the Tequila Terrace (where we had ours), the grand ball room, and also the theater (I believe they use the theater in the case of rain). If you need to see any pictures PM me, and I'll forward you the pictures of all the different locations from my site visit. HAPPY PLANNING EVERYONE! Quote: Originally Posted by cac239 hello, You look awesome and sounds like you had a wonderful wedding!!! I was wondering if you could tell me the available sites for a reception. Is it possible to have a private reception on a gazebo/terrace something along those lines. Thanks

Ladies, My reviews were moved to the review section: Wedding Reviews They're titled LeShay's Paradisus Wedding Review part 1 - part 3, I put info in there about the DJ, food, and more. If you need any add'l info - don't hesitate to PM me. HAPPY PLANNING!

Hey Kim, thanks so much - feel free to PM your e-mail address and I'll send it out to you as soon as I receive it. You're going to have a fabulous wedding in 2 weeks! LeShay Quote: Originally Posted by kimkeathley LeShay, and EVERYONE!! I haven't been posting much, but rest assured, I have been reading my "email updates" to see what's going on... I have certainly been a "lurker" and I cannot thank you all enough!! We are getting married TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY!! We leave on Tuesday, the 17th... I cannot wait! LeShay, your posts have totally put my mind at ease... I am so excited to go to the resort and have the wedding of my dreams! I will do my best to post a re-cap, but I am sure I will not do 1/2 the job that LeShay did in summarizing! (BTW, I would love to see that binder!) You are all great... happy plannning, happy wedding, and happy marriage to you all!! Kim

Thank You, let me know, if I can help you with anything!

Melissa, thanks for the heads up. I'm not sure why it says that or where the reviews were moved to, however when I clicked on the reviews they did come up. I just sent Tammy (BDW host) an e-mail about it, so hopefully they become active again. If for some weird reason, you're not able to view it send me an e-mail or PM me and I'll send it directly to you with pictures.

Thanks for hanging in there and reading them all. I'm glad you're able to get some ideas. Let me know if you need any help.

Part 2 & 3 now up

LeShay’s Paradisus Wedding Review Part 3 of 3 SATURDAY – 4/26/08 – WEDDING DAY When I went to Paradisus for my site visit, Perla & Elisa showed us The Ambassador Suite, which is the Paradisus’s equivalent of the presidential suite. And when I tell you all I could imagine was my 9 Bridesmaids & I getting ready in there…I could see it Crystal Clear, and when Elisa finally confirmed it would be available for us for the entire wedding day to Sunday - I was ecstatic, this was an additional charge, but I figured I could make a little room in the budget since I didn’t spend anything on the Welcome. FI & I decided to sleep apart the night before the wedding, so the most challenging part of Saturday was avoiding him. Everywhere I turned there he was, but we would just act as if we didn’t see each other. On Saturday morning I went back to the Spa to get a polish change, and a pedicure, and then sat in the steam room. Brides, if you have an opportunity, to get ANY type of spa treatment before your wedding – DO IT! My nerves were completely calmed and I was ready to take on whatever I had to do for the day. I don’t remember the name of the woman who did my nails, but she was very good. I had a friend doing my hair and make-up, so I didn’t need to get that done. Since the ambassador suite has a 1 bedroom, living area, & 2 bathrooms, it was great to have all the space to get ready. It was also beautiful to have all my bridesmaids, and my mother there and not feel overly congested. Citlalli (Claudia Photo) was there promptly at 3:30pm to start the getting ready photos of the guys, and then she came over us. Citlalli has the sweetest disposition. She and her assistant were never in our way, and I barely knew she was there. I can’t wait to see her photos, they should be here any day now. My bridesmaid carried silk flowers, that we made in L.A., and I carried the bouquet provided by the resort. I did forget to order a tossing bouquet, so make sure you order one if you plan on doing this. What I love about the Paradisus is there’s 1 wedding per day, so when we came out of the suite it was like the whole resort stood still. At first I was going to have a problem with wedding gapers, but I literally felt like a rock star. The whole freakin’ resort was cheering us on! I couldn’t believe it. The ceremony was beautiful, my Uncle officiated, and there wasn’t a dry eye in sight, including myself & Ro. The programs for the ceremony were the paper fans, this worked out really nice, you can go to No Ordinary Day :: Paddle Fans to find out how to make them. Also, it’s very windy out there, so make sure you put on enough hairspray. We had everyone gather for a group photo on the Tequila Terrace steps, and the bridal party took photos while the guests went to the cocktail hour. We had Jozef playing the steal drum at the end of the ceremony, and also during the cocktail hour, which was really nice. And it was great with just the one steal drum. The steal drum service was the only outside vendor fee, the Paradisus charged us for. He’s local in Cancun/Playa, and you can contact him directly – Steel Drums: Jozef - [email protected]. They didn’t charge us for Citlalli, but that could have been an oversight on there part, b/c they did tell us that there would be an additional fee for her. The cocktail hour food was delicious, although I only had it at the tail end, it was really good. Our menu was: Mushroom & Cheese Empanadas - Chicken in puff pastry - Mini Beef Brochettes - Shrimp with Pineapple - Fruit Tray/Platter/or Fruit Skewers So make sure you have someone save you a plate, Ro & I were famished by the time we finished taking all the pictures. At the reception, I finally understood the importance of the time line. Everything went according to plan. We flew our DJ in from LA, and he was PHENOMENAL. If you’re interested in flying him out his website is DJ BAKDRAFT, we also had to hire a guy from Swank to run the equipment the DJ requested, so you’ll see him busy working in the grey shirt seated below. I couldn’t get around this but, for those of you that found a cheaper way around the SWANK DJ – KUDOS!!!….They were nice, but waaaay over priced. Our dinner was served Buffet style, and the menu was (all Delicious): -Shrimp Cocktail -Mixed Green Salad - Cajun Grouper -RibEye Steak -Honey Chicken -Red Beans & Rice -Grilled Vegetable -DESERT: TIRAMISU, ALMOND CAKE We ordered a Butter Cream strawberry cake from the Paradisus, that was DELICIOUS. My only regret about the cake was that I couldn’t freeze it and take it home. It was that good!!! We had planned to have the after party in the Fun Pub, but invited everyone back to the Ambassador Suite for an after party, which was AWESOME, we ordered room service for 30 people, everyone went back to their rooms to get all of the alcohol they had in their fridge, and with the help of my Aunt’s Bose system and the DJ’s IPOD we turned it into a full private after party. This was so fun and impromptu, it was the best all you can eat, all you can drink unplanned party we’d ever had. We did manage to kick everyone out, to still enjoy the 1st night of our Honeymoon to ourselves! A Perfect Day! SUNDAY 4/27/08 Sunday was our Farewell Brunch in the Carribbean Market Place. Perla & Elisa set up 3 tables in the far back corner closest to the Mexican restaurant. The food was of course, delicious, and it was a really nice way to say good bye to everyone. Citlalli came back for our post wedding shoot, I saw the ocean and thought about the dress, and agreed to do a TTD session! It was so freeing! To get in that dress and get in the water with it was so much fun! I initially thought the whole idea was crazy, but when it’s you and your new hubby laying in the water the clothes are secondary! The photo session lasted a little under 2 hours, and we were finally ready to relax on our Honey Moon. I forgot to add this note about tipping: Although it’s definitely not mandatory, I definitely encourage you to tip as you go – I believe this was a huge factor in our stress free weekend. And one last thing forgot to add I also loved the Paradisus’s walking Zoo. That’s it for the wedding review (Finally). Stay Tuned for LeShay’s Secret’s Capri HoneyMoon Review. Thanks for reading, and HAPPY PLANNING!

Thanks Phoebe & Kelly, I'm posting part 3 now...stay tuned

Thanks Kelly and Future Mrs. Jones. I'm so glad you had a great experience on your site visit. I'm posting part 3 now... I just tried to upload my wedding detail binder for you (it's a word file), and it failed. If you'd liked to see it, please PM me your address and I'll send it directly to you. Have a great day!

Just posted Part 2 of the review...Part 3 coming tommorrow

LeShay’s Paradisus Wedding Review – Pt 2 cont. THURSDAY 4/24/08 Thursday was the official start of the wedding weekend. With the help of a few friends and bridesmaids we were able to set up an assembly line to set-up the Welcome Bags. Which contained: The Official Welcome Letter Wedding Day Time Line Tylenol & Pepto Packets Chips (Cancun Walmart) Candy (Cancun Walmart) Fiesta Cups (orientaltrading.com) Fiest Pens (orientaltrading.com) Spanish Phrases Note Pad (Oriental Trading) Flip Flops ($1 Bin at Target) Visor Hats ($1 Bin at Target) Although the Welcome Bag assembly took longer than I thought, it was completed in time for the official Welcome Cocktails and Dinner. Since our goal was not to not spend much on the Welcome, we told guests to meet us in the lobby bar, and instead of having our bags delivered by the resort– We brought the bags to the lobby and set them up on a table in the back, and since the set-up is lounge style, we had an ‘unofficial area’ to our selves. I forgot to mention 2 weeks before the wedding, I mailed the guests a luggage tag (ordered off of Ebay for .99 ea, in blue,) and inserted their address in it, with their itinerary, so they already knew where to meet us. Elisa (our WC) told us that the hotel was having an official Mexican Welcome Dinner & Show in the theater on that Thursday (4/24), and told us that there would be no additional fees to reserve a few tables for our guests. This worked out PERFECTLY!!! I would encourage you to find out what events your resort already has planned to coordinate with your group. The Mexican style buffet was set-up in the theater, and they did reserve 4 tables with our party name, it was soooooo nice. And the food was excellent!! The Entertainment was also very good – a perfect Welcome event, and I was ecstatic that we didn’t have to come out of pocket for it! After the Dinner our guests all went back to the Lobby Bar, and the men got a kick out of The Cigar roller. So while all the men were getting Cigars rolled, the women had a bonding session of our own with tequila shots! We then went to the FUN PUB, and continued the party. They played a variety of music, so everyone had a really great time. Thursday was a great kick-off to the wedding weekend. FRIDAY 4/25/08 Friday was Spa Day for the women and the Guys played Volley Ball. The Spa Day was so much fun. Since it would take Elisa, a while to follow up with me by e-mail, I went ahead and contacted the sales manager, Kathy Stevens ([email protected]) of the hotel about booking my group of 15 women in the Humid areas of the spa. She gave us a great rate of $8/person, this is something I treated the women to, so that price fit right into my budget. The Humid areas are: The Jacuzzi (Hot & Cold), the Steam Room, the Meditation area, and the Sauna. A few of my guests also got massages, but they paid for those additional services. This spa day also worked out great! The spa manager was really nice, and we all relaxed and had a really good time, we even meditated in the area. The guys played Volleyball, and basketball and they all really enjoyed that too. The lunch spot was always The Carribbean Market Place (the Buffet), the food was delicious EVERY DAY! Never a disappointment, and always plenty of options. Later on Friday, we had the wedding rehearsal. Please assign someone from your party to lead the wedding rehearsal, if you have a “Day of Coordinator” or someone, it will be so helpful. I have to say this was the only really stressful part of the weekend. Everyone wanted to give their opinion on how the procession should be, and with 9 bridesmaids and 7 groomsmen offering their opinion, it just became a little chaotic – but it definitely worked out. Eventually my Uncle became the “go to guy” for the rehearsal, and it did go smoothly. We also rehearsed The Bridal Party’s entrance into the reception, which I initially thought was a complete waste of time, but it did work out perfectly. We then had our rehearsal dinner and all the guests were invited. Again, in an effort to save, we had the rehearsal dinner on terrace/patio- The Tequila Grill(where receptions are usually held), and they charged a small fee for the additional servers, decorations (decorated with the white draping), and table set up. Our center pieces were framed pictures of our favorite movies. There were no seating assignments so guests sat wherever they wanted. It would have been an extra fee to set up a private buffet on the terrace, so we had the guests walk in to the Caribbean market place to get their food. This worked out perfectly because it was a short distance, and we still had the privacy of the whole deck. Since FI & I are in the entertainment business, we thought it would be fun to do a spin on the traditional rehearsal dinner, and make it an “Awards Night”, in which we gave each guests awards for different observations we made about them since they arrived at the resort. Some of the awards categories were “Cutest Couple”, “Drink You Under The Table”, “Sexiest Dancers”, “Couple Most Likely to add to their Family”, etc….This was so much fun, and all the guests got into it. I forgot to mention that on Wednesday I also met with a transportation coordinator, Mercedes, she was fantastic. Mercedes is an independent Travel Coordinator, she does not work with the Paradisus, so you can use her no matter which resort you’re having your wedding. She helped me coordinate transportation to downtown Cancun on Friday night for all our guests. This also worked out perfectly. Here’s her contact Info: Mercedes Garido de Yanez Vi Travel (52)(998 -884-1514 Fax (52)(998 -884-8099 [email protected] Shortly after the awards night, we had four 12 passenger vans come to the Paradisus to take the guests downtown Cancun to go ‘Clubbin’. Mercedes arranged for us to get into the Club ‘DaddyO’s’, for $25/person with unlimited drinks between 11 – 2am. The guests paid for their entry, and everyone had a good time! The Music was really good. If you’re interested in taking your guests Downtown Cancun to go clubbin’ CoCo Bongo, is supposed to be THE HOT SPOT, but with a $50 cover charge I just didn’t want to pass that price on to the guests. Our other option was to shuttle to Playa Del Carmen, but since I knew we had more dancers in our group than bar hoppers – Downtown Cancun turned out to be the best option. I was amazed how late the clubs downtown stay open, although our group was shuttled back at 2am, the club was still in full swing. I don’t think they close until 4 or 5am. A good time was had by all, no one wanted to leave DaddyO’s! Stay Tuned to Part 3 Tomorrow!