IrieBride08

I must not have any reputation points yet! I can't see anything about reputation at the bottom of my usercp. I see that I have made 2 referrals though!

Ok, I can check a few more items off the list! FI's wedding band arrived yesterday (Beautiful!) Ordered raffia fans, travel mugs and travel candles (all to arrive this week) Paid group airfare and resort payments (We're all paid up and ready to go! 38 strong so far!) Mailed birth certificates for wedding license Deposit for reception at Evitas Restaurant mailed Still to do: INVITATIONS!! (working with Prim & Pixie!) Groom attire BM & GM attire So much more...

I think dress #2 is soooo flattering on you. Beautiful!! That's my pick!

Quote: Originally Posted by chicago88 I just wanted to let everyone know that I ordered the plastic 16 oz travel mugs from discount mugs and passed them out to all my guests - they loved them!! However, after about a day or two of using them the logo started rubbing off. I was kind of bummed but everyone still got to use them so not a huge deal but they were really cute. They had our names at the top, a palm tree/sun in the middle, & the date on the bottom. OMG! Which mug style did you use? I'm curious cuz I just ordered my mugs from them this past Friday.

I chose Sandals (Grande Ocho Rios) because it was a huge resort and like Lizz, thought it would offer more variety for my guests--many of whom have never been to Jamaica. I liked that all the food (9 restaurants), drinks and activities (snorkeling, scuba, etc.) was included, and when I booked, Sandals was having a killer sale on it's rooms. I also thought it was cool that my guests could "resort hop" to experience the other Sandals (Dunns River) for no extra fee. Honestly, when I was researching, I didn't look into Riu closely. I possibly would have chosen them depending on how things priced out, but I loved the many perks that came with Sandals with a large wedding party (free welcome reception, rehearsal dinner, etc.)

The majority of my guests are staying 4 days 3 nights. My parents and their best friends are staying 5 nights though.

I love the Carnival cruises too! I found that the included drinks (juices, water, punch, etc.) were sufficient for me. I never missed soda or felt I needed to buy one while on the cruise. (But I'm not a big soda drinker.) Now the alcohol, we definitely used our pre-paid drink passes!

Quote: Originally Posted by Debs I suppose I'm just apathetic at this point over all the 'friends' who said they were so on board but all of a sudden don't have the money to go. So true!!! Me too girl! I just don't understand why a year's notice isn't enough time to plan ahead...

I was tossing around the idea of skipping invites too for these same reasons...until I found out today that a friend, who received a STD back in September and we haven't heard from--no RSVP, nothing, was planning to attend our wedding and has made her own travel arrangements! I had assumed that she wasn't coming!! Especially since we made our 1st resort payment for our guests last Friday! (We aren't using a TA, organizing everything ourselves.) I wasn't planning to mail invitations to people not coming to the wedding, but now I'm concerned that there could be other guests who received a STD, never responded, but plan to show up as well! I don't even know what to think about this new development!

Quote: Originally Posted by FutureMrsB I have a question for the SGOR girls...What is your WC's name? I was curious if we have the same WC since RP is owned by Sandals and from what I hear is very close to the SGOR. My Sandals WC's name is Darma. She is based out of Miami though and I will be getting an onsite coordinator when I arrive in Jamaica. I hope the transition of all our correspondence is a smooth one! Quote: Originally Posted by klawrence925 Hello Everyone, I am getting married June 15,2008 at the Sandals Grande Ocho Rios. If anyone has some good information to share it would be wonderful. We have been working via our travel agent. We have about 24 people coming and we were told for that large of a group we could not have our dinner/reception at one of the resturants. That they would not accomodate that large of a group and we would have to pay for a seperate reception either $50 or $75 per person including ourselves. Has anyone else run into this? I spoke with a Bride yesterday via trip advisor and she just got back and stated she had her butler make a reservation for 27 people after her wedding and it was no problem. I am worried since we have to make our descion 30 days prior to departure on everything. If I try to chance it and wait until we get down there that it won't be available. I think it is a rip off to charge extra for something you are already paying for. I have not worked with a WC from Sandals yet, I called them directly and aske dthem about the extra charge and she said the same as my travel agent. We are having about 40 guests at my wedding. My WC sent me list of locations that we can have the welcome reception, rehearsal dinner, and reception and restaurants were included in all of these as options (San Genarro and Bayside Restaurants) I have never been told that my group was too large to seat in the restaurants, however I have been told that the reception will cost money regardless of where I have it. You can choose a cold h'ors reception with champagne toast for $15 pp (reception lasts 30 minutes), a Hot and Cold buffet of H'ors w/ champ toast for $25 pp (reception lasts 1 hr), the sit down plated dinner for $50 pp (lasts 2 hrs) or the $75 pp reception which lasts 3 hours (same menu as the $50 pp reception but includes hot and cold h'ors.) Open bar included in these prices for the duration of the reception. Once our wedding was officially booked, the WC emailed all of this information to us right away. We have decided to move our reception offsite, and are using a local restaurant instead. You should be hearing from a Sandals WC who will fill you in on all your options soon! Don't worry, you have time to go through all your options and pick exactly what you want. I'm just starting to really go through this process now, and I'm 3 months out.

Welcome to another SGOR bride!! Looking forward to the collaboration!

I need 30!

I would think the cake cutting would go along with the dinner reception. (Plantation)

Wow, phenomenal job! They look completely professional!

Ohhhhhhhh... RTFM.....makes sense!

OMG Amy, they look beautiful! Great job!! I totally want to do this with white/yellow orchids. I thought about using ribbon, but fishing line may be easier. Maybe you can PM me an "instructions for dummies" version of how to create these!

I love the new smilies too! Gretchen, the "Jerry, Jerry" smiley is a reference to the Jerry Springer show. Ok, now what does RTFM mean?

The dress is beautiful! I think I'm on the birdcage bandwagon! My Wedding Veil - Birdcage Veil - French Net Veil

Quote: Originally Posted by Gretchen My FI and I are planning to take a vacation in May. He is not big on flying, and would like to try a cruise. However, I am worried about getting sea sick. ALSO I am worried about charges. We like to stay AI when we travel. I have heard that some cruises charge for drinks - not just alcohol but sodas too. Anyone know about this? Are there any cruise lines that drinks are included? Or that you can pre-pay a certain amount to have them included? Any tips would be great! Thanks! I've been on two Carnival cruises and while the alcohol is not free, you can "pre-pay" by purchasing bar coupons in advance. I took a "girlfriend's getaway" cruise and purchased several coupons for my friends as a gift. Check the Gift page on the website. We used them throughout our cruise. Carnival Cruise Lines - Gifts & Services

Quote: Originally Posted by yari2566 Hmmm...perhaps I should too. They are just so cute. I'm using touches of palm as a decorative/design element in my wedding theme and these will go perfectly! Plus, I think the ladies will find them very functional...I hope!!

This is a trip, because I recently had a wedding dream too! I dreamt that it was my wedding day, the ceremony was about to begin and I wasn't dressed! I kept asking where my dress was and people kept saying it was arriving soon. I finally get the dress and keep trying to make it down the aisle on time, but different things were keeping me from arriving at the ceremony site! I couldn't find my shoes, they lost my bouquet, all my wedding guests were drunk, and my FI is standing at the alter wearing tacky jean shorts and a yellow tee-shirt with cowboy boots! I felt a little better when I woke up because I realized that even with my FI standing there looking straight CRAZY, I still couldn't wait to marry him!

Those are the bags I plan to use too. I absolutely love them. I know they're on the pricey side, but I'm going to bite the bullet and get them anyway! I'll be making 30 OOT bags.

Not sure where you're registered, but Macy's is nice enough to give a registry checklist. Whenever I go visit my registry I get this message: GIONNE and MICHAEL, we recommend 200 gifts for 120 guests, and currently you have 63 registry items. Does your registry offer choices for every budget? Our recommendations ensure your guests have a selection in each price range. And then proceeds to give recommendations of what to register for, which price ranges to cover, and items to select. It's been super helpful to me, since I don't know JACK about registering! As you can see, I still have a lot of work to do on my registry!

Quote: Originally Posted by TishaCombs LOVE that second gazebo area! Me too! But I can't figure out how to decorate it if I chooose it! The water fountain in the middle poses an issue! How would you decorate? Edit: Oops! I was referring to the third gazebo! The second one is beautiful too, I'm just concerned it would be too dark for photos.

Quote: Originally Posted by FutureMrsB I thought about this too, but I'm worried about the length of time the rental would be for. I'll be gone for 8 days. So I could see that adding up. Let us know what you find out. Maybe you could get a guest to bring them back early to hold down costs.