Maura

we didnt do a site visit - we didnt really want to spend the extra $ and we didn't have the vacation time to do it (no way was i flying to cabo just for a weekend to check the place out with the cost of airline tickets from chicago to cabo). everything worked out perfectly. we had the best time, and everything was beautiful. the key is communication with the staff at your venue so they know what you want. my WC had a binder with all my requests when i arrived in cabo 3 days in advance of our wedding, and went over every little detail with me to make sure everything she had was correct. do i wish i coulda done a site visit? hell yeah, who doesnt want another vacation! but was it necessary, absolutely not.

ugh jac i know you want this guy but is he really worth all the stress? what happens if you do get to book him but then want to do a pre meet or that kind of stuff to go over special requests? can you really depend on him?

yeah i paid $5/stem for roses... which i didnt end up using for my bouquet but now we have a lovely vase full of roses in our living room

erica, what exactly of the 4 pics are you looking for? i know she got the ring dish from etsy...

first, i want to tell you that you are a genious for pre-filling the names on the reply cards! second... just wanted to show you the other side of the coin with what you put as your responses... yari's came back to bite her in the ass. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t23047

i dont know where you got your info... but that is nuts! you def. dont need to worry about heatstroke in january!! i got married there in august and it was effin hot, but still really no need to worry about heatstroke, even when we spent hours and hours by the pool...

omg i love everything! if i could get the time off work, i would totally come surprise you and crash its so great to see all your stuff in one place finally and i cant wait to see pics from your big day!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Kelly C Cabobride did at Riu Santa fe. Hers was gorgous. Her's was my inpresation. do you mean "cabobridey" - her name was holly?

its called a chuppah - do not ask for an arch or you will end up with an ugly/expensive thing like this: here is what our chuppah looked like, very plain and simple with a floral arrangement on each side: you can also do things like add seashell strands or capiz curtains off the back...shoot i know someone else did this but i cant find a pic...

just do it - my MIL & her friends threw me a shower while we were visiting last christmas and i was so apprehensive about it, but it ended up being fun and we got some $ gifts out of it.

i originally wanted to get married at the chapel at palmilla and was crushed to find out that all your guests have to stay there - we knew half our guests would never be able to afford it (and neither could we really) so we ended up picking the westin, which is just down the street, because we wanted a non-AI hotel. best of luck to you - the palmilla is such a beautiful location!

hooray! erica ive been looking forward to seeing your planning thread soon for a couple weeks now

i just wanted to come back and add also that we had no planned activities for our guests except last minute "hey we're doing this and if you want to join us, cool" - and all of our guests still said it was the best wedding they'd ever been to... so really, dont fuss to much about planning things for your guests to do. like someone else said, they are on vacation too and won't mind if you dont plan everything out for them.

first -your son does not like thomas. it seems everybody in your fam needs to get over that. second - your FI should not get a free pass. you are going to work on a weekend to pay for the wedding... cant he tivo the effing football game? why should he get a free pass?

abbie's invitations were cool... what if you did something similar with a background photo of your wedding location? let me see if i can find that thread for you... here it is: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t21962

Quote: Originally Posted by JoLo908 It just seems overwhelming here in NJ. For example, my brother just purchased a small 3 BR house for $370,000. He has almost no property (maybe 1/10 of an acre) and lives right on top of all the other houses in his neighborhood. Don't get me wrong, his house is cute, but in other states you could have quite a nice house with cheaper taxes (taxes equal about $7000 a year). The cost of living is way too much and it is just overwhelming. Also, if anyone has ever lived here, it is like you are on fast forward-go-mode all of the time. Even if we took a pay cut moving somewhere else, it would probably be well worth it because of a more affordable cost of living, and a better quality of life. I would love to eventually buy a house in the town I grew up in, but considering it costs on average $500,00 for a small 3 BR and taxes are probably about $8000 a year, it seems insane! Not to mention our outrageous car insurance! I really am appreciating all of this feedback! Wow, Joanna - here in Chicago (in the nice neighborhoods that have decent schools) you can barely get a one bed plus den condo for what your brother just paid for a 3 BR house in Jersey! And don't get me started on the taxes...the property taxes here on a one bed plus den condo are about $8K! I have been realizing lately that I have no idea how my DH and I are ever going to afford to buy a place in the city, and we both are not really suburbs people. One of my girlfriends who just recently purchased a 2 bedroom/2 bath unit in our condo building spent $379,500 (I looked it up in the property transfer records for Chicago to be sure of the actual price - yeah for public records!) isnt that totally insane? That was just the purchase price... I am not sure that that price includes the parking space she bought in the building's garage. Then you have to also factor in the monthly condo board assessment fees to pay for the doormen, the gym facility, toward any necessary repairs, etc etc! holy cow!

honestly, dont worry about it. your guests will not be expecting to spend a ton of time with you - they know you are busy with other things on your mind. so if it happens that you get to spend a bunch of time with them great, and if not, its no big deal. honestly, there were times i just wanted to be alone with my DH away from our families and guests.

welcome to the forum, ali! i didnt get married at cabo surf, but i did use their salon, called sea spa for hair and makeup and i was very pleased with the service and the price!

ha no - i am retarded and thought you meant the place where you fill up your water bottle was far! yeah the peeing thing is an issue for me as well...just look at it as less time you have to do work its not your fault the bathroom is so frickin far away!

look at my sig pic - my dress was a true ivory and my DH wore a white shirt and it looked great.

get yourself a 1 liter bottle of water to keep at your desk. that way you only maybe have to go fill it up once a day.

rachel, i have the same size line as you - first, stay hydrated with enough water. second, start exfoliating. third, get some kind of wrinkle serum if it bugs you. but i'm begging you, dont cut bangs!

no bangs rach, dont do it!!!!!!!!

Hi, I just got married at the Westin on Aug. 9th. I loved my WC there, Maira, and I would honestly say it is not necessary at all to have an outside WC with the Westin. They do a fantastic job. The communication in the beginning when you're so far away from your date is probably not as much as any bride would like it to be, but once your day is getting close you will get a lot of attention. Feel free to PM me with any questions about the Westin. I also have a photo album online of the Westin property if you'd like to look at it, just PM me and I'll send you a link.

it was the waterboarding jason, it just really made me cringe so i went in bed and read a book while my DH finished watching. the whole two episodes he was dying laughing and just saying "this show is sick!"