majnooni

Wow! Those are so neat! Wish I had just a fraction of your creativity ...

I love the eyelets. That's a great twist on putting them together. I'm just now starting to tackle mine and am struggling a bit with the design aspect. Anyone know where to get good clip art or images? I was thinking about doing something with either a compass rose or maps.

My girlfriends and I use VRBO all the time for rentals. Most of the time the places are exactly as described. We've only had a couple of places turn out to be not so nice or missing telling information.

Wow! Cuba, that's going to be great!

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome! There's a lot of great information here so you came to the right place

Welcome! Where in Jamaica are you getting married?

There's tons of great information!

I love the idea!

Quote: Originally Posted by mdw2dtw Welcome from another (leaning toward) Costa Rica bride. Are you getting married at a hotel or off site? We are getting married at Costa Verde which is a hotel in Manuel Antonio. We visited there in December and loved the environment and the view from the CV II pool. We have several older members of the family who can't really walk in the sand for a beach wedding so this was a nice compromise.

Congratulations!!

1. How old are you? 36 2. At what age did you/will you get married? 36, He's 38 3. Do you have children? Only the furry kind. I have a dog and a cat. He has a dog. 4. Did you think you would marry the person you are with now? No way!! We met when we were 10 and 12, respectively. Our families were friends but we didn't interact much. In fact, we can't find a single picture with both of us in it. There are plenty of pictures of us individually at the same events!! Twenty years later, we reconnected at his sister's wedding. It still took him 4 years to convince me. Thank goodness he is a persistent bugger! 5. Were you ever engaged or married to someone other than the person you are with now? First marriage for both of us. I was briefly engaged at 19 ... 6. Do you want a garden wedding, beach wedding, or the traditional church wedding? Garden overlooking the beach 7. Where did you/will you get married? Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica 8. First dance - classic waltz, slow and sexy, or fast and spicy? Haven't decided yet 9. How many guests did you/will you have? 40-50 10. Do you want/did you have an extravagant wedding or a simple wedding? Simple is better. The most important is that everyone has fun and we end up married! 11. Vows - traditional or something you make up on your own? Traditional plus the sand ceremony. 12. How many layers of cake did you/will you have? 3 13. Is/was your wedding/reception at a hotel? Yes, both ceremony and reception are at the hotel where guests are staying 14. When did you/will you get married - sunrise, mid-day, sunset? sunrise 15. Did you/will you have your reception outdoors or indoors? Outdoors under a roof ... open air venue 16. Plan every detail down to the napkins or let someone else decide? Planned every detail with the advice of a wedding coordinator. It's nice to make the decisions and leave some of the execution to some one else! We'll get to be guests at our own wedding. 17. How did/will the bride enter? Down the stairs onto a patio overlooking the Pacific 18. Song to walk down the aisle to: Undecided 19. Song to make your exit: Undecided 20. Will you/did you have a solemn ceremony or a light one? Light 21. At what age did you think you would get married? late 20's 22. Who to invite - practically everyone or a select few? Select few 23. Wedding menu - fine dining or simply delicious? Simply delicious buffet with a little something for everyone 24. Champagne or red wine? Yes!! 25. Honeymoon right after the wedding, awhile after the wedding, or no honeymoon? Awhile after the wedding. We want to spend time with our guests who have traveled so far to be with us. 26. Was your/will your honeymoon be at a place special to you both or somewhere brand new to you both? Some place new and exotic 27. Who will pay for the bills? It's all communal. We are hoping to be able to live on one salary and sock away the other for savings/travel/whatever. 28. Living together: Not before marriage or absolutely before marriage? Learning to live together is the HARDEST thing we have had to do. In some ways I think it might be easier after you are married ... After all, you've said the "I Dos" and should be fully committed and not asking "Do I really want to do this for the rest of my life?" You've already made that decision!! On the other hand, we're learning all that before hand so that first year will be easier and we can enjoy each other more. 29. Anything else about marriage you'd like to say? Nope

We're using WeddingWindow.com. It's nice since you can have unlimited photos and pages. But, the interface is a bit clunky to use and can be confusing. We've been very happy with what we have been able to put together. Wedding Website - Cheryl & Will

Wow! Those are great! How long did it take you to assemble all 50?

Welcome to the forum!!

Welcome! There's lots of great information here.

Quote: Originally Posted by mdw2dtw Thank you for your review, it's so helpful. And your dress....well it was the perfect destination dress. Working on making my destination wedding in Guanacaste area of Costa Rica. And I have a few (well, a lot ) of questions. You mentioned how much the photographer cost. Do you mind giving out the videographer's price? Did you ever get the DVD back? Did it turn out like you thought it would? How many photographs did you get in the photographer's package? Were his pictures digital? Thanks in advance for all your help. Hi mdw2dtw, My FH and I spent some time up in Guanacaste in December scouting around. Post your questions and I'll see if I can answer any of them. We opted to go with the Manuel Antonio area because it better fit my FH's idea of "Costa Rica jungle". Where in Guanacaste are you looking? Have you been down there? If not, I highly recommend a trip down to scout around. It is so much easier when you can actually picture what it looks like and how the logistics will play out. Our photographer (Eduardo Lopez) is $2200 for the day. The price includes a second photographer for the whole time, 8x10 prints of the best 20 pictures, and a DVD of all pictures taken (all digital). The best part is that we get all reproduction rights to the pictures as opposed to paying them to do prints. This is fairly standard outside of the US. US photogs make you go through them to get more prints and it can cost a fortune! Also, check out our web site Wedding Website - Cheryl & Will ... we're continuing to add a lot of information about CR. Cheryl

Hi Angie, Thanks for the review! We are getting married at Costa Verde this May but we opted to hire a true wedding coordinator rather than go with the hotel person. We too found working directly with the hotel to be challenging ... no responses to email (at all!), slow to get us information, unwilling to block out rooms, etc. Apparently, that is part of life down there. Things work at a much different pace. Brides, be aware of that if you decide to get married in CR. You need a lot of advance planning and as Angie said, go with the flow. We are working with Tropical Occasions which was started about 10 years ago by an American married to a Tico. The great thing about working with them is that they understand western expectations and can help you navigate the differences between the US and CR. They have handled all of the vendor relationships for us which has saved us significant time. We were able to read a lot of reviews about each vendor we might work with and review their work in advance. It certainly isn't cheap to hire a wedding coordinator but it has been worth every penny for me. My FH and I both work long hours and having some one we can rely on to think through (and deal with) the potential problems has been invaluable. Granted, I can't say how it will all turn out yet ... Rest assured that I will let everyone know! I'm optimistic with a heavy dose of laissez-faire! Also, if you are thinking about Manuel Antonio or the area, be aware that travel to MA can take a lot of time. It is either a 3.5 hour drive or a 30 minute flight from San Jose. Unfortunately, the last flight for the day leaves at 2 pm. Most flights from the US do not arrive early enough to catch that 2 pm flight. Our guests who can only take a couple days off work have had a difficult time planning their travel so they don't spend most of it in transit. Getting back is a lot easier. There are several morning flights back to San Jose that connect nicely with outbound US flights. Cheryl

I agree! These templates are great! I really like the stamps.

Those are really nice and unique!

Let's try this again ....

Congratulations! Welcome to the forum

Welcome! There's a lot of helpful information here.

Your book looks great! There are some really nice pictures of the two of you. Love the proposal!!

We're getting married in Manuel Antonio on the pacific cost at a hotel. Everything there is outdoors which is really nice. We decided to do it at Costa Verde (Costa Rica Hotels, Manuel Antonio Hotels, Beach Hotels) for the view.