Pazoop

We registered at Crate and Barrel in the States where my family is (which hasn't opened in Toronto yet but they're opening a store here this summer and they said that my registry would transfer over - they also have a 10% buy out option at the end of your registry). I love the stuff from CAB -- especially all of their kitchen cadgets. We're going this week to register at the Bay and Willian Ashley. I hadn't thought about LNT but I'm hoping that the Bay will have that stuff? If not, if four registries over doing it?

We leave one week from today!!!! It looks like we're going to be meeting up on the 25th over at Caletas! My fiance would have been fine not seeing LC until the day of the wedding but at this point is so desperate for a vacation. Plus, I think he's happy to have some role in planning this wedding. He's been and will continue to be so busy over the next year with work (he just started as a first year associate at a law firm) that he'll basically be a wedding planning spectator. It's a big change for him because he's used to us planning everything together --even if I am the one who takes the lead researching everything he stays involved in the decision making to keep me from sweating the details! :-)

It looks like we're doing our site visit the same day! I was in touch with Kelley late yesterday via email and we're supposed to meet her for the second catamaran to Caletas on Tuesday, March 25!

Oh don't worry! We're both bringing our digital cameras and plan to go picture happy! Both our parents and all our friends are dying to see pictures of LC! The way I talk about it, I think I've given it mythical properties! I may need to get a little quiet about it now just so that they go in with lower or no expectations and then get really surprised!!! We're staying, I think at the Holiday Inn? I don't know for sure because I actually didn't book the trip. It's been gifted to us by my FMIL (As an incredible, fantastic belated engagement gift!!!!). She and my FI were scheming together last week and then he went on a website I alerted him to thanks to another BDW member and found an amazing last minute deal vacation package...He knew we didn't really care where we stayed provided no bugs, no mold, no (interest anything really repulsive here). And we wanted it to be close to downtown versus in Neuvo Vallarta. It's AI which is great because we won't have to worry about breakfasts and drinks around the hotel, but still cheap enough that we plan to eat dinners off the hotel -- definitely going to check out Barcelona Tapas on your recommendation! I've seen the photos from others WD and the food on their menu makes me hungry just reading it! And I want to try Le Kliff as well if we can...my cousins from LA go down to PV a lot and they've mentioned it, even if it's just for a sunset drink and app...the view is supposed to be amazing. Anyway, this will surely get me through the next not so fun week at work!!!!

I actually specifically asked Kelley if there might be any unexpected costs. My FI and I were trying to figure out roughly what our budget needed to be and I wanted to know if we were being realistic to think that the price quoted would be the actual cost of the wedding. She told me that there was nothing hidden and there would be no surprises unless I started asking for additions like more extravagant flowers, table centerpieces, etc. But even then she would let me know what something is going to cost before we go ahead with adding it on.

We were together 6 years and 3 months when we got engaged...It will be 7 years and 4 months when we get married....

Has anyone done the canopy tours while down in PV? I've heard about them but it seems like there are a lot of companies that run them. Any suggestions?

I like #5 the best! I love the silhouette in the front from the beaded neckline and rouching and the way it goes from fitted to falling into an A-line skirt.. And then the train in the back is beautiful!

Having just come from an afternoon of trying on wedding bands, I would recommend that you go out and try to find rings as similar as possible to the ones that you've posted and see how they look with your ering. You might be surprised how the look in "real life" verus how you imagined they would look on your hand/with your ering. I was really suprised by how the wedding band that matched the style of my ering (and that I thought I loved) looked with my ering. It ended up being too wide at 3mm and having too much bling and it overwhelmed and hide some of the detail. Even when I tried a thinner, smaller version of the same ring I didn't totally love the look. Then I tried on a shared prong eternity which I never thought would be my style and ended up loving it! Both choices you posted are beautiful so you can't make a "wrong" choice, you just have to decide which look you would like seeing on your hand everyday better!

Quote: Originally Posted by LC_Rachel Drink lots of tequila. Maybe I'll see you there! OMG! I just realized that it's you're wedding week while we're down there! Wow! As excited as I am to be going on a site visit/vacation you must be SO SO SO excited about you wedding coming up so soon!

I am so excited! My FI and I just booked a last minute trip to go down to PV for one week. Of course we're going to go and see Las Caletas! I just fired off an email to Kelley asking her which day would work best! I am so excited I am jumping out of my skin! Thanks so much to Kati who alerted my to some great vacation deal websites! We booked through one of them and got a really great deal! Please let me know what the MUST DO things are while I'm down there...the great restaurants, bars, shopping areas, site seeing, etc (obbviously Las Caletas in on the list! If there's anything anyone wants me to checkout while I'm down there for them too I would be more than happy to do so and to take tons of pictures (even though I know that JamieLynn just did an amazing site review a few weeks ago!) This is just so overwhelming. And just in time! Yet another Toronto snow storm is coming down!

Quote: Originally Posted by Melba We're going to Anguilla for our honeymoon, which is said to have 33 white sand beaches. Anguilla has the most beautiful beaches I have EVER seen! My favorite beach in the entire world is Shoal Bay (followed a close second by the beaches at Nungwi on Zanzibar). Shoal Bay Beach sort of has two coves so I'll try to post pictures of both. One side of the cove is shorter, but much quieter. There are far fewer hotels, but there's one great BBQ restaurant right on the beach called Gwen's Reggea Cafe. This side of the beach has more hotels and restaurants (which you can't see b/c of the photo angle) but is still really quiet compared to your typical vacation spot. If you decide to spend the day here, have lunch at this place called Uncle Ernie's...it's the best hamburgers! The last photo is Prickly Pear Island which is easily accessible right off shoar if you pay to go out by taxi - most have glass bottoms so it's a really fun ride. It's so pretty and definitely worth it! There's great snorkling too! As you can tell I am totally biased about this place being the best in the world! I've been there about 6 or 7 times now (once my parents find a place they like they don't try a new thing for another decade so I've visited them there a lot) so if you have any questions that I might be able to answer please feel free to PM me. I don't think this will be our "official" honeymoon location, but I'm trying to plan it so that we go down there for our 1 year anniversay since my FI has never been!

Awesome! Congrats on finding such a gorgeous dress!

I agree with everyone else, there's no such thing as "too formal"...It's a beautiful dress and you look AMAZING in it... The only thing that I would be potentially concerned about is that from the picture the material on the dress looks like it might be kind of heavy which might bother you if it's going to be really hot or humid in Maui during your wedding (especially with nerves and excitement and all of that.....) I know it's something I took into consideration when I fell in love with my dress, which is also a little more formal....it's made of raw silk taffeta...not the lightest fabric but not the heaviest either....I wanted something lighter but the dress was perfect so I decided not to let that stand in my way!

Hi Kati! Well, I am just like you now -- even though it says January 29, 2009 as my wedding date, some hotel booking issues have us back up in the air as to exactly WHEN in January we'll have it -- we're considering anytime in the last three weeks but we'll have it sorted in the next week (hey, you and I may even end up in the same week there!) We are also trying to plan a trip down to visit Las Caletas the week of March 24th on a last minute vacation package (thanks to your wonderful suggestion we checked out some great websites - Thank you!). I really want to get down there and visist, and I REALLY, REALLY need to escape the never-ending Toronto winter. More snow tonight! Again! I should know by the end of today if I can get the time off work so my fingers are crossed so hard right now it's hard to type! Even though most of our family and friends know, we are planning to send out Save the Date notices just as soon as we have the week of the wedding and the hotel block confirmed (although guests can make other hotel arrangements if they prefer we're going to arrange a group rate at the hotel we're staying at). We figure they have the general information but trying to keep everyone up on the details would be hard so we want to include on the STDs the address for the as-yet-to-be-created wedding website. That way the guests are able to access the detailed information about the travel agent, hotels options, passport application info, information about PV and LC, planned activities, etc. I don't know that a STD is necessary to share this information but I do think it's important to let guests know (in some manner) far in advance about the details of the wedding so they can arrange for time off or childcare and so that they can inquire about the the cost of attending the wedding so they know what to be budgeting and can decide if it's even feasible for them to attend. Invitations -- going to figure out how far in advance to send those once I know when I have to confirm with various PV vendors with regard to final head count, but likely not until at most 6 months before....

Well it has taken me absolutely forever to figure out how to take decent pictures of my ring (and the grey, snowy weather in Toronto has not been cooperating and giving me half-way decent lighting)...but I think I've finally done it! And not only done it but maybe gone a little too picture happy! My FI spent over 6 months secretly plotting with my sister to design the setting himself and I am so proud of him! Apparantely there were several revisions made, but he got it abosultely perfectly! And I love the stone - I told him I was partial to square or slightly rectangular shapes and he decided to search for a radiant cut because he liked that it was a mixed cut stone (part brillant cut like a round, part step cut like an emerald or an asscher)...so it has the less organized, more random and choatic pattern of sparkle underneath, which is like me, and the classic, clean, organized and logical lines on the crown like him - and together they come fit to make the stone more beautiful! My ring is a metaphor for our relationship! (Too sappy? I think maybe we should limit who we tell that too for fear of getting the rolled eyes...but it makes me tear when I think of how he explained it to me). OK, this is my first attempt to upload pictures so bear with me....I hope I get it right!

Oooohhhh!!! Now that's interesting....I like the middle name idea a lot! I am actually sitting here shaking my head wondering why it doesn't occur to people more often? But you've come up with something really fantastic! I don't know if it makes me change my mind about taking his last name, but it definitely gives me pause to think about it, especially because I know I want to have children and I can see the importance of sharing a last name.

Nat - I hear you too....In the course of my conversations with my FI he occassionally made some comments (under the auspicious of "I'm only joking!") that I found offensive and my reaction to them was to suggest swinging even farther from "tradition" because I no longer felt like compromising....I felt spiteful because he'd really hurt my feelings. I did't buy the "I'm only kidding" routine. I found it passive aggressive. Eventually though he came around and (while not thrilled) has been really understanding and that has made it easier for me when it comes to the idea of our future children and giving them his last name "officially" without hyphenating. I think a lot of times men don't realize how much easier they would make their own lives if they would just acknowledge that issues don't have to be divided into black and white...there are nuances. It doesn't make them really bad people to both acknowledge that the tradition is unfair and then admit that they still want to abid by it anyway because it's all they've ever known or imagined. Nobody likes change. At least then we can have a conversation about it as opposed to an argument. It was only when my FI and I came to that point that we were able to come to an understanding on the issue. But believe me, it took some time and we may still have to revisit it yet!

Kendra that is awesome! I am laughing to hard right now! I supposed the hyphenation debate is a bit of a moot point for you then? LOL! My mother always jokes about how funny it was that she was attached to her maiden name and insisted on giving it to both me and my sister as a second middle name -- her maiden name is Smith! It totally could have happened to her too!

Morgan - Sounds like that was one disgruntled DMV employee!! Wow! What a way to make a bad day at the DMV even worse! At least you got the lighthouse, I hope? But what the DMV woman did is really the point of this whole conversation -- no one else, not even my FI, should be able to tell me what I can or cannot call myself. That said, because I love my FI I invite his input and his feelings on the matter are absolutely taken into consideration, whereas the DMV's are not! :-) I also believe that it's a woman's perogative to change her mind! Who knows? Maybe after we have children I will want to add my FI's last name to mine because it will make me feel more like we're a "family" unit. That's likely still another 5 years away at least and I can't predict the future and how I'll feel then. I think it would also be ok (although I've never heard of anyone whose still married doing this) for a woman to go back to using her last name if she just can't get used to using her husbands. The new rules are that there are no rules. Just whatever works best for you.

Thanks for the information. I agree, her work is wonderful. I loved your photos! Everything at Las Caletas looked fantastic and you looked absolutely stunning! Congrats!

I totally agree that the meaning of words like "Mrs" can change and evolve over time. And words only have as much meaning and symbolism as we allow them to anyway. So, for those who hear "Mrs" and think "Mr's" it's something that would be hard to get past, but for those who hear "Mrs" and think about the title their mothers and grandmothers were referred to by or whatever conotation the word has for them, then it represents something different and a positive tradition to embrace. But of course, this is still just one aspect of the "change/keep my name" dilemma that we go through and consider. I always liked using the term "Ms" and didn't think there was any restriction on apply it to women over the age of, say, 16 years. I think it's like the great equalizer -- no one knows if you're married or not. I'm a social worker and I've worked with people who, for numerous reasons, experience discrimination based on the fact that they are not married (either legally or at all). I'm totally shocked they told you that you couldn't be a Ms. at the DMV. I thought you just got to circle Miss/Ms/Mrs and declare yourself to be one of the three.

Danielle - I'm glad you liked what I had to say. Thanks! And I also agree with the other comments that there is no reason feel defensive about any decision either way, but I do understand how other situations (outside of BWD) can make you feel that way and it's hard to put those aside. I was going back over the posts and thinking as I was reading all the different points of view that just being able to have this conversation is a sort of feminist statement because we are all talking about making a choice one way or the other with respect to our names. And I know I may have read this the wrong way and misinterpreted - but there was an earlier post about a husband who changed his last name to his wife's and the assumption was the guy had to have a bad last name to begin with to have done so. Respectfully, I disagree that was necessarily the case, and even if it were, it is still commendable that the guy was brave enough to be that progressive knowing that he will in all likelihood be teased by friends and strangers. It does take people like to push the boundaries of tradition and allow all of us to have this open conversations and ultimately make our own choices to change/hyphenate/keep names – whatever our reasons might be (and they’re all good reasons either way). Again, I may have misread the so my apologies if I misunderstood. I just wanted to share my take on what I know can be a sensitive subject.

Is she located in Puerto Vallarta? I saw other information online indicating she was in North Carolina. Thanks!

I'm not changing my last name. I am with Michelle - my FI wouldn't dream of changing his name to mine so for the sake of tradition I am supposed to give up my name for his? I thought about hyphenating briefly but realized that I didn't want his name to come after mine -- so I guess my decision really is absolutely about sticking to my feminist principles. I totally understand the reverse though - my BF is getting married in Aug and is changing her name. I think it's fantastic how excited she is to become a Mrs. She says it will make her feel really married and "grown up" and I totally hear that! While my FI was not thrilled with the idea that I wasn't taking his name at first, he's come around. This decision isn't really so inconsistent with the rest of me so I'm almost surprised he didn't anticipate it. Part of what made it easier for him to accept is that I'm fine with our children having his last name. I've figured out a happy medium there between hyphenating and not doing anything. What I actually want to do is what my parents did...I have two middle names...My "normal" middle name and my mother's maiden name. Sort of like an unhyphenated combination of my parents' names. Julia Middle Maiden Lastname instead of Julia Middle Maiden-Lastname On all my school report cards, diplomas, legal documents, etc. my mother's name/family is represented but on a day to day basis I don't have to say a long mouthful in order to tell people who I am. It's a sticky issue and one that each couple has to work out for themselves. The only thing I would say is that I think it's drilled so deeply into men's brains that the wife takes their name that anything else seems like a "personal" rejection of them and it can take a while for them to adjust to the idea and see it from a different point of view.