beachbride08

Wow, I would be upset as well. I would definitely talk with your friend about what she posted. If she is that against staying where you selected I wouldn't pay for her day pass. You are obviously doing more than you need to to find them a group rate, and that is the thanks you get. I wouldn't do her any more favors.

Quote: Originally Posted by Gail Michelle, I am sorry to bother you but I can open temp of boarding pass to view only not to alter. Can you please send to [email protected]. I know you said you did a split order on cups but do you know where they came from? Thanks Again I posted the link to the cups, but I don't have a boarding pass template. Someone else must have posted that one.

Quote: Originally Posted by Mrs D To Be! Can I ask, was Citalli your first choice or was Claudia? I'm so confused about who i want! I've seen more of Citalli's work, so its quite hard to decide! I looked into Claudia first along with other photographers. We chose Citlalli based on her work and the price range worked for us.

Here is the link for the color changing cups: Custom Color Changing Mood Stadium Cups

I love Pottery Barn and they have beautiful furniture, but honestly I don't think I would ever buy any of their furniture due to their prices. The bed that you like is a pretty simple style and I have seen other very similar styles that would be a lot less expensive. I also just discovered the Canopy line that Wal-Mart sells and they have a very similar bed to that one for $499. I haven't bought anything from them yet so I'm not sure about the quality. Here is the link: Walmart.com - Always Low Prices! You can ship it to the store and pick it up so you save moeny on shipping too.

I guess it depends on what kind of area do you want to be in? There are a lot of different neighborhoods within Chicago and if you want to be on the north side vs. south side, close to el tracks, etc. You should have no problem finding something under your price max though. Is there a particular area or two that you are most interested in?

We have someone file our taxes for us every year so we are just going to ask him which would be the best option. We were legally married in July, but never changed any of our tax forms and we both claim 0. I know my friends that got married said they all got more money back after getting married, but they also got married and bought houses so I'm not sure which of the two resulted in more of a return or the combination. We don't own anything yet so we'll see, but we are hoping for a fat refund this year.

Quote: Originally Posted by Stina168 I've heard the hotel photographer and videographer are not very good, so we booked Cecilia Dumas for our photographer, but I'm still working on the videographer. It seems like they are all soooo expensive down there! I was thinking about just going with the hotel videographer since it is so inexpensive, but is it even worth it? Do you mind telling me why you didn't like the videographer? I just don't think we can shell out another $2k for a videographer Ugggg I hate our wedding video! If I had known how bad it would be I would have hired someone outside. Claudia Rodriquez's team offered a video package and I want to say the fee was a little over $500, but I don't know if that was the price if you were already booked with a photographer through her as we were. You might want to contact her to verify, but I'm pretty sure anything would be better than what we got. If I knew how to upload the video online I would so you could see what I'm talking about. Quote: Originally Posted by Jeannie Blessing v. Legal? Hi! To save aggravation and money we are thinking of using the blessing package instead of the legal one. Does the blessing seem like a real "wedding"? I just want my family to feel like they are seeing us getting married. Thanks! Jeannie We had the blessing ceremony and to me it felt like a "real" wedding. Plus, we were able to add the sand ceremony verbiage we wanted and where we wanted it so I'm sure you can alter the ceremony to make it more personal to you. Quote: Originally Posted by noelynn Can you let me know which outside photographer you chose? Do youhave samples? I think it's important to have nice pictures. Thanks, Noel [email protected] We hired Citlalli Rico. I posted the link to all our pro pics on here with my photographer review. We loved working with her and couldn't be happier with our pictures. Quote: Originally Posted by paraisobeachbride2009 Ugh! I'm so freakin' irritated with the Iberostar Beach/Del Mar WCs today. I sent Gabriela (who I have been corresponding with consistently since I secured my wedding date) an email yesterday with several questions pertaining to wedding day protocol in regards to my photographer (who is NOT the resort photographer) about day passes, when should I buy the day passes, will someone at the counter direct the photog to the wedding, etc. I also asked about the max number of people you can have at your reception dinner before you have to set the menu (I wanted people to be able to order from the menu so they can all have a meal that they will for sure enjoy, instead of having me guess). So I get a reply back, but I'm positive that it is from Reyna Ake (not Gabriela Palacios) giving me the 2009 Iberostar wedding package PDF document. She already gave me this in an email last month. None of the information provided in the PDFs she sent me answer my very specific questions. WTF!! I sent her a stern email back asking when they were planning on answering my questions as those documents have nothing to do with what I asked. I haven't heard anything back yet but I'm just so damn irritated. My wedding is in 3 weeks for crying out loud, now is NOT the time to ignore my questions. Sorry, just had to rant. Michelle, how did you coordinate everything with your photographer on your wedding day at the Lindo? Thanks in advance! I'm so sorry they are causing you such stress!! We were told any group over 25 had to have a set menu, but it could be different at the Del Mar. My guess would be that it would be similar. We ordered the steak dinner for most of the guests. Mike and I each got a chicken dinner since we don't eat steak, but we knew our families would enjoy the steak more. We also got a fish dinner for Mike's mom since she doesn't eat meat on Fridays and we got 5 chicken nugget dinners for the kids. We specified on our seating chart who got which dinner, but they still asked us at dinner who got the fish. We did placecards, but we didn't make any notation on them for who got which dinner. As for the photographer, you will confirm with the WC who your photographer is (and if they are bringing an assistant) when you meet with them. They will let the guard shack know they will be coming on your wedding day. They just charge the day passes to your bill and you pay when you check out. The photographers didn't get a wrist band or anything, and all the wedding guests were allowed to cut off their wrist bands for the wedding day and then they just had to go to the front desk the next day to get a new one. I brought a pair of scissors down with me. Some people forgot to cut them off (including my bridesmaid, but luckily she was at the Grand and their bracelets are clear so you can't really notice it in pictures.) I had emailed Claudia (I only communicated with her and not Citlalli directly until the wedding day) before we left to confirm the timeline so I would know when to schedule our spa appointments in order to be ready in time when Citlalli arrived. She then called me on the wedding day to confirm everything and get our room number. Citlalli and her assistant didn't have any issues getting in, and she arrived at my room a little earlier than anticipated. Don't stress out, everything will work out and you will have a fabulous wedding!! I can't wait to hear all about it and see pics when you get back.

Everything looks great. I love the color combo and the invitations are really cute Your dress is beautiful!

Quote: Originally Posted by noelynn I am getting married at the Del Mar in November. Has anyone used their photographer Foto Caribbean?? This is the photographer they suggest using. I think if you bring in an outside photogrpaher there is an extra $300 fee. If anyone has any input on this please reply. Thanks, Noel We hired an outside photographer and although it was a lot more money it was well worth it to have the type of pictures we wanted. We did hired the resort videpgrapher and were very disappointed with our wedding video. I wish we had hired an outside videographer as well.

That was so nice of the those vacationers to get off the plane for you guys. Everytime I go anywhere I pray for overbooked flight so I can get free vouchers, but it never happens. It sounds like you had a really nice wedding and you were a beautiful bride. Congrats!

Everything looks great! I love the little sailor suit, so cute!

Quote: Originally Posted by Jessica&Adam Thanks so much for posting...your pics are AMAZING! I'm so glad to see them too, because I have booked Citalli for our wedding and I haven't seen many reviews yet on her or her work. Does anyone know if she speaks fluent English? She spoke English just fine.

Alyssa, I have had the same problem. My ears were pierced when I was a baby and I always had to wear gold earrings or they would get infected. My dad got me a pair of white gold diamond studs years ago and I wear them every day and sleep with them in. I usually have no problem, but every once in awhile I will have a flare up. I usually will take them out for a day or two and clean them again before I put them back in. That usually does the trick. I'm not sure what causes the flare ups because I am pretty anal about cleaning my jewelry and wiping down my phones with alcohol wipes.

Here is how we saved on some costs. We stayed at the same resort for our honeymoon, but just switched to the adults only hotel on the property. We saved a ton of money and time by not travelling somewhere else and we still had a great time by ourselves! I found my dress, but then didn't buy it until the weekend after Thanksgiving. I got $100 off my dress by waiting until the sale, and I had already found a dress that was under my budget of $1K. Splitting orders with BDW members! I was able to get the color changing cups I wanted, but didn't have to buy the minimum order of 250 when all I needed was 50. Bookmark things you like online and stalk the sites or sign up for their newsletters. You will get emails when things go on sale and often times what you need/like gets marked down at some point. Almost everything I ordered I got on sale and/or free shipping. See what BDW members are selling. This could also be a good way to get a deal on things you needed that are new or slightly used. Plus, it helps the ladies on here get some of their money back!

JANUARY January 16- Carolyn (Carolyn) January 23- Tati (tchuchuca) January 29- Tina (~*petals*~) FEBRUARY February 9 - Candiekiss (Candie) February 22 - Ana (Ana) February 26 - Katy (KatyKo) MARCH March 4-Cachet (cdc0427) APRIL April 12- Kristen (kristendotcom) April 15 - Erin (Erin6341) April 25 - Melissa (SgtPepperette) MAY JUNE June 5 - Jessica (Jess) June 5 - Helen (Helen_S81) June 28 - Heather (*Heather*) JULY July 1- Brandi (MsBrandi) July 6 - Adrene (YoursTruly) July 10- Susana (Susanandmo) July 18 - Tami (foxytv) July 18 - Lacey (laycj1 July 29- Desiree (Tylersgirl) AUGUST August 04 - Amanda (BachataBride) August 15 - Abbie August 18 - Kathy (Cattie) August 22-Stacey August 25 - Jenn (JenniferLynn) SEPTEMBER September 15 - ErinB September 16 - Samie (lil_miss_frogg) OCTOBER October 1 - Kathie (Kathie) October 13 - Kristy! October 18 - Kathy (paraisobeachbride2009) October 29 - Angel (Angel) NOVEMBER November 25 - Ayita DECEMBER December 1- Tiffiney (Tiffiney01), Michelle (beachbride0 December 2 - Denise (FutureMrsLewis) December 8 - Casey (*Casey*)

That sucks!! Hopefully, something turns up at the pawn shops or the police find it. I would wait awhile beofre going and buying a new ring. Even if the chances of finding it are slim, there is still a chance. I guess you are helping other ladies out by reminding them to insure their rings ASAP! I waited over a year before i insured mine and am so lucky something didn't happen to it in that time, you just never know!

We gave mini bottles of tequila and personalized margarita mix packets as favors. We gave one bag per couple or one per single guest. We have 5 kids, but all were under the age of 6 so we gave each kid a coloring book at the dinner table with crayons. I guess you could consider that their favor although we just gave them those to keep them occupied during dinner. I don't think you need to give the kids a favor since it's not like they would be expecting to receive them, but you could do something separate for them if you really want to give them something.

Quote: Originally Posted by Gail Thank you Michele for everything. I have looked around and do like ur cups better than anything I have seen. I only need forty so if anyone else likes them and wants to split let me know. Michelle where did you purchase them from if I may ask? One of the other brides places the order. There were two threads on here about color changing cups and i think both listed the vendor if you do a search.

Quote: Originally Posted by lil_miss_frogg Okay girls....a good thing to do is figure out what credit card has the highest intrest...that is the one you want to pay off first. So....wht you do is make a list of all your credit cards and find out the minimum payment. WoW...that sounds confusing....let me see if I can find a better way to write this out. I'll use my junk as an example. I have three credit cards. Credit One: Balance $554.00 Minimum Payment of: $25.00 Household: Balance: $764.00 Minimum Payment of: $28.00 Some Visa: Balance: $233.00 Minimum payment of: $15.00 My visa has the highest %APR so instead of paying $75.00 to all of them I take and pay the minimum of the Credit One and Household and pay the $100 plus the $75.00 that I would normally pay towards the Visa. Giving me a total of $175.00 to one Credit Card. Do this untill all cards are paid off. Promise this works...I do Financial Needs Analysis for people everyday! If you need me to explain this better PM me! Yes, this is good advice and that is what I did a few years back when I was trying to pay off my credit card debt. I also sent any extra money (B-day, Christmas, tax returns, etc.) to credit cards to pay off the debt. Also, something that Suze Orman always says is once you have made a list of all your credit card debt and interest rates is to call your credit card companies and ask to lower your rate. The first person you speak to may not be able to give you a lower rate so ask for their supervisor, etc. This is something that I haven't done yet, but would like to do. Once you pay off the cards, close the account and just keep 1 or 2 with low rates to use for emergencies.

Naomi bugs me too. I didn't like her on Nip/Tuck, but I think she is even worse on 90210.

Quote: Originally Posted by briscoecrown Oh! That reminds me.... when I asked the WC about larger groups she said that if your group is more than 40 people you can use the convention center or the disco (which we know is not a likely option). However, she didn't tell me the cost associated. Michelle, by any chance did you get a chance to see the convention center? Sorry, I never made it over there. Quote: Originally Posted by Gail Michelle may I ask where you got your cups? Everything you did was great. If I may ask a couple other questions. What is the Vitrales room? Did you have some pics of flowers avail for centerpieces and brides.... I thought I saw one being emailed but can't find it. WC forwarded some but I didn't like themand trying to get some pics to choose from. I saw list of photographers on here but no rec, any insight on best quality for best price? I did a split order of the color changing cups with some other Riviera Maya brides on here since the minimum order was 250! We just did a generic logo, but all our guests loved the cups. They didn't use them down there, but when they got back and took them out of their luggage they discovered they changed color from the cold. The WC had emailed me some pictures of bouquets and the "centerpieces" they put on the ceremony table, but I didn't care for them. They have more pictures to look at when you get there, but I found pictures of what I wanted and included them in my details document so they could see what I wanted. I think that is the best thing to do so you have something visual for them and if you end up liking one of their pictures when you get there you can always change it. I also did not get the centerpieces I asked for even though I provided a picture, but I did like what they gave me better so it worked out. If the centerpieces are very important to you I would stress that to the WC in advance since we did not see our centerpieces until we walked into the restaurant for dinner so they wouldn't have been able to change them at that point. We hired Citlalli Rico and she was great and less expensive than some of the other photographers we were interested in. We love how our pictures turned out and she was great to work with. We hadn't initially planned on hiring an outside photographer, but are so glad we spent the extra money. Quote: Originally Posted by paraisobeachbride2009 Thanks for your honesty Anna, I really appreciate it! The more I consider this, the more I think I might just do own. I was thinking about going down to MAC or Sephora sometime soon and get them to give me a bridal makeup look and then buy the products and do my own. Do you think this is a good idea? To any brides who have gotten their makeup done at El Spa, did you provide the makeup artist (I'm using that term loosely here lol) with an inspiration pic or a general idea of what you wanted with a picture in hand? Just curious what these ladies had to go on. Thanks again for your honesty, it's so helpful!! I had done a makeup trial at Bare Escentuals before I left and bought the makeup they used. I didn't try applying the makeup on my own until the day of our rehearsal. It turned out nice, but since I had gotten some color the powder was a bit light which is why I decided to have the spa do my makeup. The bad thing about the spa makeup is that they have limited color selections for lip and eye color. I can't remember the name of the lady that did my makeup, but I want to say it was Ana or something with an A. I'll check my notebook to see if I wrote down her name. Anyway, I didn't bring any makeup inspiration pictures, but I told her I wanted neutral colors. She showed me the eye colors and I picked what I wanted her to use, same with lip color. I told her not to line my lower lid which she wanted to do, but I know that it never looks good on me. SHe didn't curl my lashes which I should have told her to do, but she had already started to put the mascara on. WHen I got back to my room I curled my lashes and put my waterproof mascara on over what she used, and put my eyeshadow over what she did since it didn't add much color, but did add shimmer. I spritzed my face with the spray to make your makeup stay on, I forget what it is called but it was recommended by another bride on here (ordered from skinstore.com).

Everything looks great; your girls are going to love their gifts!

Quote: Originally Posted by LindoBride2009 Michelle, A couple of questions for you....I leave on April 6th, so it's only 90 days away. I've received the last wedding details document from the WC and I'm wondering how far in advance it was when you sent in your completed form. Also, I'd like to use the Vitrales room, but I don't have my final guest count yet, so I'm not 100% sure that it will be big enough. Do you know how far in advance I have to tell them that I want that room? Thanks! I think I sent the details sheet about a month or a little over a month before we left. In addition to the details form I typed up an explanation document with picutres and details on the types of bouquets and centerpices I wanted and had included pictures of items I was bringing down with me, etc. I also brought copies with me, but they had everything printed out when I first met with Araceli. For the most part they set up everything correctly except for the guestbook sign. We had our final guest count at that point since we had some stragglers that booked their trips in September. We had 31 people including us and we could have fit more since we had empty space at a couple of the tables. I would think up to 40 should be fine if you have the standard table set up. I'm not sure how many people the other set ups fit.

Does anyone use these? Do they work? Which DVDs are best? They seem like they would be a good workout, but i have never used them so I'm curious to hear other's experiences.