IrieBride08

Yah, instant polaroid cameras are being discontinued. I bought one on Ebay and some film especially for the guestbook. You can choose the guestbook option without the photo insert. I think it asks guests to draw a picture of themselves in the spot. All I know is that my guests all drew pictures of us (bride and groom) and that ended up being the funniest part! (Who knew Aunt Sandy was an artist! LOL!)

I ordered mine from here and I absolutely love it! My guests really took their time with it and the next morning, my husband and I read every page and cried with laughter over it. (The polaroid pics were hilarious!) I'm so glad I bought it! Let me know if you have quesstions.

Great thread! What was your favorite: Restaurant (and dish) - Reef Terrace (West Indian Pepper Pot Soup) Hang out place - The patio at our villa and the Manor Pool Bar/Lounge - Didn't really hang out at the bars! But visited the one on the manor side the most (for convenience!) Excursion - We planned an outside excursion for us and our guests thru Lee's Tours and they created a special sight-seeing, Dunn's River Falls, and shopping tour for us. It was great! Included Activity - Windsurfing was a lot of fun (I got completely soaked!) and we really enjoyed the snorkeling trip.

Quote: Originally Posted by bridget917 Did you do your own decorations (the hanging flowers) for the gazebo? Were they okay with you bringing them? I'd like to do something similar, but I don't want to spend the time/money if they won't let me put them up! Yes, I brought all the decorations for my wedding. Because I wasn't using Sandal's decorations (or florist), I had to take care of having the site decorated myself. (They only provide help to decorate the site if thier florist is used.) So I enlisted my cousins to decorate the site and they did a great job! Sandals was completely fine with us bringing and using our own stuff and decorating.

Wow Marsha! Congrats and good luck on your business venture. Great website!

Ok, here are a few more pictures that I've received from guests. Can't wait to get my prof pics! I hope to get them, and the video by the end of this week. (Some of these are blurry since they are scanned in photos. Sorry!) Back of the dress Free pic from Sandals Pronoucement Wedding party at Evita's Wedding cake at Evita's (Delicious!)

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I think that you and FI should really focus on making your wedding about the two of you. Focus on planning a wedding that celebrates your love and union and don't worry so much about the family aspect. I had similar family issues (my parents weren't supportive of my engagement and resisted getting to know my FI) so I went this route. Every decision and choice I made for our wedding was for and about us alone--whether my parents liked it, decided to attend or not. I really worked out in the end because at my wedding, they really ended up coming around and completely changed their tune. They have been raving about the wedding to all their friends since they've been back and my father pulled Michael aside during the wedding trip and said he regretted that he didn't take the time to get to know him before that point. I almost passed out from shock on that one! LOL! As the wedding gets closer, they will come around. This is a once in a lifetime event and despite what they're saying right now, they won't want to miss it.

When we did it, the notaries did my husbands and mine two different ways. My notary copied the certified copy of my birth certificate and then wrote a note at the bottom that says, "This is to certify that this is the true and original copy of Gionne Last name's birth certificate." Then he had me sign and date it, then signed it himself and stamped with his notary stamp. My husband's notary just stamped the photocopy of the birth certificate and signed and dated it. We sent those in and everything was fine. So, to me, you are both partly right. You will need a COPY of your original birth certificate and have the copy notarized (signed and stamped) by a notary. We also found that some notaries will refuse to notarize a copy of the birth certificate, which is why my notary made a copy from the original and notarized from there. Hope this helps! I'm interested to hear from others on this.

Quote: Originally Posted by hollisandsteph I wanted to do the seaweed wrap!! I kept going back and forth on weather or not I wanted to take the time/money to do it. There was sooo much I wanted to do and just was not sure how to fit it all in...lol It was super hot on our day too. I was really regretting my choice to wear crinlen (not sure how it is spelled). The first thing I did after the pictures was lose it..lol I left my crinolin at home on PURPOSE! LOL! I knew I was going to be hot enough without it! Quote: Originally Posted by Lizz Welcome back and congrats!!! You look beautiful! I was there May 19-22 for my honeymoon, I wish I would have run into you. Thanks so much. I was looking for you cuz I knew that you were around there somewhere! I hate that I didn't get to meet you! Quote: Originally Posted by katrina i loved the birdcage veil! very beautiful! Thanks to everyone for the compliments and well wishes! (The veil cost me $24 from somethingbold.com--it was the Grace veil. I noticed that she went up on her prices though!)

I ordered from AA also and got my flowers in the time specified. I was happy with everything. (Just a little more validation in case you need more!)

Quote: Originally Posted by hollisandsteph The pics are great! Cannot wait to see more! BTW What a great wedding site. I have a pretty good feeling it was the best location there! :-) HEHE BTW how was the spa treatment?? Yah, I definitely think the Reef Terrace is the best kept secret. It was super hot that day, but my guests were cool and shaded in that garden. The treatment was GREAT. I was wanting to bring Caroline home with me and keep her for life--it felt that great. It was a seaweed scrub wrap or something like that. My skin felt like silk afterward. LOL!

Ok, I got back late Sunday night and have been trying to get acclimated to my new lifestyle. I have sooooo much to share--especially since I didn't post a planning thread before I left, but everything was amazing. I want to thank everyone for your inspiration and support during my planning process. I couldn't have done it without you ladies! I was there from Weds May 14 through Sunday May 25. I had 40 wedding guests who all stayed on the Riviera side of the resort. They had a ball and that really made me happy. It was great to meet HollisandSteph at the manor pool! I'm in the process of compiling my review of everything, planning pics, etc. Here are a couple of teaser pics that one of my cousins sent me. More to come soon! My dad and I We did it!

The trip booking (if you did a group thing with your travel agent) is separate from your wedding booking. At the end, you should have a trip booking number and a wedding booking number. When you book your wedding, you will be assigned a wedding coordinator who will contact you fairly soon. Keep in mind that it will not be the coordinator that you will work with on your wedding day. It will be a Sandals "wedding coordinator" who is based out of Miami--she is really a salesperson for UVI Travel. I guess this is Sandals travel agency. She will help you with all of your wedding details--and will order all of your selections. I'm actually looking forward to meeting my on-site coordinator because I think she will be waaayyyyy more flexible than Darma has been. Everything I've asked for either carries a large price tag or can't be amended in any way (menus, etc.). She's sweet as pie though and very responsive. Let me know if you need to know anything else.

Quote: Originally Posted by Asteff2001 We'll definitely have to try and meet up. I'll be there 5/18-5/24! I've decided to postpone my bachelorette until after the wedding and call it something else, just for times sake. While I can definitely use a weekend of debauchery with my girls, I also need to pack and tie up lots of small, but still loose, ends! I plan on working right up until the day before we leave, so that will just leave evenings, and I'm always exhausted Let's do it then. I'll be there from 5/14-2/25. As of now, I don't have plans for a bachelorette, but we may do something in Jamaica. Wow, you have to work until your trip?! Bummer! I know you will get everything together though. I've been joking that I will arrive in Jamaica all tight and tense from all the work and no sleep--but once I get there, it will all be irie! Quote: Originally Posted by WifeToBe It'sa getting close for you girls....how exciting!!! Can't wait to hear details! I hope to post all my planning materials before I leave, but that's one more loose end I need to tie up! LOL!

Quote: Originally Posted by hollisandsteph I cannot belive how quickly time is going. I thought it would drag this last month but I only have one more full week in Ohio. I am praying the trip doesn't feel like is it going as fast as the last few weeks have gone. I really feel like everything is coming together finally. It felt like it never would and i was really stressing. I know I was driving my FI nutts! The last thing We have to do is book the hotel by the airport. We are 2 hours from it and our flight leaves really early. I think I am going to do that this morning. I am just really excited and wanted to share that with everyone!!! whooohooooo Quote: Originally Posted by Asteff2001 I'm excited that you're excited!!! I'm totally hearing you about the time flying by. We have less than 2 weeks until we're in Jamaica, and work is crazy, so I have my hands full 8-10 hours of the day and I have to sleep at some point! I'm really stressing myself out. Last week I tried to heat up my lunch at work in the photocopier! Oh my... I just need to take a deep breath and relax. Everything is taken care of. We're about 2 hours away from the airport as well, so we just booked our hotel. To me, it's definitely worth the piece of mind knowing that we're just a couple of miles from the airport! FI just had a flat tire this weekend, and that could have happened on the way to the airport if we hadn't thought ahead! I know! Me too! I'm currently working 12 hour days at our annual conference and I can't sew up my loose ends until Thursday! (hair appts, eyebrows, buy shoes, etc.) We haven't even discussed how we're getting to the airport. FI and I are going with my parents, my sister and my aunt. I've been too busy to stress over the wedding the way I want to or even enjoy this sweet moment the way I want. I hope to see you at SGOR. We'll have to meet and have a toast.

Wow Lizz! Everything looks so great! LOVE the hang tags. Everything has such a personal touch--whether purchased or handmade! Can't believe it's our time...it flew by so fast! I know that everything will be beautiful and work out perfectly.

Girlie, go and have a wonderful time, enjoy everything and try to take it all in. You will be beautiful and everything will be perfection. Enjoy!

Yup, I'm hoping and praying and crossing my fingers for no rain!!

Thanks for the info! I had no idea there was a deck separate from the main one. Sounds beautiful!

It is a beautiful location, but I wonder how private it is. I think it's part of the huge main deck. TA Jen, was it private? How important is privacy to you Melissa?

I've definitely had my moments too, but overall I'm excited. I haven't really had a lot of time to focus on the upcoming day because my company's annual conference starts tomorrow for a week and I have SOOOOOOO much crap to do for it that my focus has been divided. (Maybe it wasn't the smartest idea to plan my wedding for a week after the conference...) I have been having dreams about tornadoes though (like I'm caught in one) and I think it's definitely symbolic! LOL! I'm trying not worry about the small things though. For the most part, I'm ready. I will admit that I have fears that my guests won't like my selections and wedding choices, gift bags, etc., but that's super minor--I know it's all in my head! 16 days and counting...

Welcome home! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Here's one that I had saved in my inspiration files. I can't remember where I got it though.

Quote: Originally Posted by adrianna28 Here are the ones I want... Ooohhhh! These are super cute! Where are they from?

Quote: Originally Posted by MoWife I didn't realize you decided on Evita's. You are going to love it there and Eva is the best to work with! I also thought about using Almarie and having my ceremony offsite since my reception was off property at Evita's. I didn't end up using her and I just had the ceremony at the Riu but Almarie was quick to respond and eager to build an individual package to fit our needs. Yes, Eva has been a sweetheart and very accommodating to my needs! I'm really looking forward to it!