Kristy!

I haven't popped in here for a while. Just some quick responses. St. Lucia has some great restaurants, so I recommend not going AI. The Edge in Rodney Bay is a must visit. Definitely top 5 meals of my life. We also enjoyed Rainforest Hideaway in Marigot and Jacques in Castries. For those confused about which area to stay in, I'll take you up the west coast. Soufriere is furthest south and has more of the natural attractions (the Pitons, botanical gardens, sulfur springs, etc.). Further north is Marigot Bay which is a little romantic spot with a few hotels and is pretty quiet. Next up is Castires which is the capital. Here you'll find a big flea market and more of the hustle and bustle of the island. Rodney Bay is the main area tourists stay in. It has a lot of the great restaurants and a bit more life to it. I've been to St. Lucia twice and have actually never stayed in this area, but definitely will next time. Up at the very top of the island is Gros Islet. This has a lot of villas and is where we stayed for our wedding. The first time I went to St. Lucia, I stayed at Coconut Bay in Veiux Fort which is where the big airport is. There is hardly anything around there, but if you want a reasonable deal and to just stay on the resort then it will work just fine for you. Now that we know how friendly, beautiful, and just plain awesome the island is, you won't catch us hiding out at an AI anymore! I understand how intimidating it is to got some place new though. For hurricane season, I wouldn't worry about it. The last hurricane hit in August? 2007 (the first year I went there in October) and I believe it was a category 1 at the time, so no biggie. The last hurricane before that was in 1980. I'd say the odds are in your favor. For beaches, if you're looking for bright white sand and aqua water, you won't find it there. St. Lucia has golden sand and cobalt blue water since it's a volcanic island. Some of my guests were surprised by this, so I figured I'd let you know. The only place I can think of that has an open wall is Jade Mountain and that will run you at least $1100 per night. I'm not sure if Sandals has anything like this though. I hope this helped some of you out. Oh, please don't be insulted if you're doing AI. I just wanted to let everyone know that there is so much to see on the island. If you want to check out my pics, they're in my siggy. The places you will see are the catamaran we chartered, Villa Capri, the beach at Pigeon Island as well as some of the ruins, Jacques, and back to Villa Capri. Our TTD session was also on Pigeon Island.

I was just going back and reading some of my old threads when I came across this one. I thought it'd be funny to mention that my friend (the one whose outfit wasn't working) bought my shredder off my regristry for a shower gift a while back to destroy any evidence of these not-so-flattering pics. I'm thinking we'll have a shredding party soon!

Why are so many people against having kids at weddings? I am SO not a kid person, but they add fun and entertainment to the mix and they won't bother you. Let them party it up with you! I know that neither of my sister-in-laws would ever let a stranger in another country watch their children, and I wouldn't put them in that position. I say compromise on this one and let the kids stay. If the kids get tired, it's their parents' problem to deal with , not yours.

I don't mean to be rude, but why would you post this without giving any details? All this will do is get brides getting married in that area worried. We'd be more than happy to help if you fill us in.

I keep forgeting to report back to this thread. I'm sorry! I did week 2 day 2 last night and it was definitely easier than week 2 day 1. I agree with Erika, that running outside is more enjoyable, but definitely more of a challenge. I feel like I'm cheating if I do it on a treadmill because it's so much easier. Kristina, I'm doing the push-up challenge with girlie push-ups. After I complete the program, I will start over and do it with real push-ups. Keep up the great work girls!

I didn't have to do anything with an apostille (I don't even know what that is) or translation, so I'm no help now. St. Lucia was easy!

No worries, my name gets butchered all the time! Too many are similar to it. Lexi, really the only extra step is getting the marriage certificate translated. No biggie. Don't let these things get to you. I have a family friend in NY getting married in Mexico in May. It can totally be done. And no more listening to people who say that NY doesn't recognize out of state marriages.

Honestly, you just bring your marriage certificate to the social security office and DMV like you would if you got married in NY. The only thing is that you will probably need to have it translated. Since the primary language in St. Lucia is English, I didn't have to worry about any of that. This makes me angry because so many people said to me beforehand that I shouldn't get married out of the country, it'll cause all kinds of proclems. No one will recognize it, blah blah blah. People don't know what they're talking about! Grrr...(Sorry for the random rant, it's not at you!) I'm sure you've passed by me many times. I'm in Newburgh.

I did the 100 push-up challenge last year. I made it to the end, but I did girly push-ups. I am going to start this program again really soon. I'll go through it entirely doing girly push-ups, then start the program over and do real push-ups. I've also heard that using an exercise ball to do the push-ups really helps. By the way, I didn't complete the challenge in the number of weeks it stated. I had to start repeating some of the days because it got too hard. No shame in that though!

I got married in St. Lucia and had no problem having New York recognize my marriage. And the out of state thing is just ridiculous. Think about it...if someone gets married in Connecticut then moves to NY a few years later, the state doesn't make them get married again. Whoever you talked to definitely gave you some bad info. You'll be fine.

If you want a reception at a restaurant, I would recommend The Edge, Jacques, or Rainforest Hideaway. Jacques is the closest to Windjammer. I would read through the St. Lucia brides thread. You'll find a good amount of info there.

I'm late to this, but wanted to chime in. I started this program about a month ago, but then got sick over Presidents' Day weekend for a couple of weeks. Pair that with the huge snowstorm and a 3 day power outage, and well, I think I need to start from the beginning again. I am planning on starting this weekend. Has anyone actually started it yet?

It sounds like there is no other alternative for lunch, so you should definitely pay for it. I would avoid having your guests feel nickeled and dimed after paying so much to attend your wedding.

Thank you for the update. It's a long road ahead, but as long as you both remain committed to your marriage and each other, you can do this!

I definitely do not think your guests should be handed a bill. Why not just order lobster another time? It'll be much cheaper than paying for each guest that wants it.

I was able to do everything in NY with my St. Lucia marriage certificate. It'll be recognized, no need to worry about it.

Quote: Originally Posted by HereFishie yeah... and ... again double post... Wow, that was rude.

Things are much slower today than they have been the past couple of days. Lots of timing out, etc. Thanks for upgrading BDW, Tammy and Steve! All of its loyal participants are grateful.

Most likely (this is the case for the US in relation to St. Lucia), if Canada recognizes your marriage in a foreign country, that country will recognize a divorce in Canada. So in my situation, if DH and I were to separate, we wouldn't have to go through St. Lucia's court system, we would go through the US. To be honest, I don't think it would be a problem.

Some of my guests were surprised that I had chairs. I liked the look of having them, but I wouldn't have been super upset if I couldn't have had them.

Fun fun! I can't wait to see everyone's!

I know you're not going to like my answer, but I don't think it's unreasonable for your parents to give a smaller amount when it's costing them so much more for them to attend your wedding. My parents were generous enough to give DH and me money for our wedding, but they specifically laid out how much their travel expenses were going to be and pulled the money from the "wedding fund." I thought that was more than fair. Just so you're aware, your gifts will probably be smaller too, if you even recieve any. As great as it is to give people an excuse to go to a tropical location for a week, it's still a lot of money to pay for a vacation they didn't plan themselves.

Thanks for the breakdown! That's great. Chris and I talked last night. It's going to be a while till we can move (mostly because of the housing market), so it sounds like we're going to be on a similar timeline to you, Jannae. We just need to get out there to look around.

Very cool! I want a small feel. I'll so over NYC and its big hustle and bustle. I want stuff to do, but not in a concrete environment. Also, thanks for the political heads-up. I know you know I'm more conservative, so I appreciate that. I think hubs and I need to seriously start on this journey. I'm ready to go now! Too bad about 300 things need to happen before we can. I'll keep you posted. And thanks all! (Feel free to keep posting stuff though!)

Thanks Erika. I think we just need to get out there to get a feeling for the area. Great tip about Non-profits in Boulder. How far is Boulder from Denver? I think a smaller city is more up our alley, so I'm glad to here you say that Denver isn't huge (which I was pretty sure it wasn't). You may be hearing from me about a get together at some point. By the way Andi, I saw Kristi and Paul last Thursday. We went out for Indian food. I'm so in love with them.