Anna83

I would do the sand ceremony if you want to. I don't see how the wind can affect the sand ceremony, you're just pouring sand from on container to another, not holding it up in the air and dropping it. The wind is the reason most people do the sand ceremony instead of lighting unity candles.

Maybe say something like: Please join us in celebration We are having an informal open house starting at 1:00. I can't think of any clever ways to say it. You pretty much just have to write what it is. I think if it says open house, people will understand they can come anytime.

This is what I used for my AHR invites, but we are having a formal reception: Together with their parents Mr. and Mrs. Ralph xxxxxx and Mr. and Mrs. Paul xxxxxx Anna Elizabeth xxxxxxx and Derek Paul xxxxxx are happy to announce their marriage that took place on January tenth, two thousand and nine on the beach in Ocho Rios, Jamaica We invite you to share in the joy of their marriage Please join us in celebration Saturday, the twenty-fifth of April Two thousand and nine What kind of food are you going to have, a full meal or just hor'duerves? I think that makes a difference on how you word it.

I bought my dress from David's Bridal. I had a good experience shopping for the dress. The only complaint I have is I was told they would steam my dress for free. I called a week before my wedding to see what I needed to do to get it steamed and they said to bring in the dress. After I drove 45 minutes to the store with the dress, I was told they would not steam it because I had it altered by someone else. I understand if that is their policy, but it would have been nice to know ahead of time so I wouldn't have wasted so much time. So keep in mind if you have your dress altered by someone else, you forfeit all of their free services.

I attached a copy of my program. I included most of what we would be saying because I was afraid people wouldn't be able to hear us. I arranged it so I could print on both sides of a paper and fold in half, so page 1 is actually the back page and front page. Wedding Program.doc

I'm not sure about whether it's safe, but we were just at ROR and we had actually commented as a group that we did not see any milk available to drink. I could be wrong, but I don't know that you can get any. We guessed that it is just too expensive for them to import, especially since the shelf life isn't long.

I made my own flowers using flowers from Michael's, Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's. I'm glad I decided to do this. In the pictures they look real and that way I got exactly what I wanted. Here is a picture of my bouquet. and a link to my flowers thread:http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t30667

Good Luck! You'll be surprised how fast the next year goes for you. Before you know it, it will be your wedding day.

I took our original birth certificates and passports to our bank. They made copies and notarized the copies. I scanned the copies that were notarized and then emailed them to Chandlyn. I brought the notarized copies with me, but she never asked for them. That was all she needed. It was a lot easier and cheaper to email them.

It was $180 for my makeup, hair, manicure and pedicure. I told her I don't wear any makeup, and she didn't gob a lot on. She said they do all of the brides without a lot of makeup. I'm sure they would use yours if you bring your own. This isn't the best picture of me, but you can see my face pretty good. The makeup stayed on all day, except for the lipstick. I think this is the first time in my life I have worn lipstick, so I'm sure I wasn't that easy on it.

I scanned and emailed my documents to Chandlyn. It's easier and saves the cost and risk of mailing. Here is her email address: weddings.ori@riu.com

I just had my makeup done there. I was happy with what she did, but I don't normally wear any makeup, so I'm probably not your best source of advice. I bought one of the bridal packages that included hair, makeup, manicure and pedicure.

I ordered cups from discountmugs.com. I was very happy with them, they were inexpensive and good quality. My guests loved them! They offer 10% discounts every month by email, so if you use them, sign up for the emails.

I made placecards using little drink umbrellas. They were easy and cheap!

Quote: Originally Posted by drbrainfreeze Thanks for sharing! Congrats!! Can't wait to hear about your time at the RIU How did you embroider on the bags? Was it a sewing machine? The one my friend's mom's machine, the embroidery is really really small My Mom has a large embroidery machine, so she can do pretty big design areas. I don't really know the specifics of it. She used to have a different one and the designs weren't very big, but she recently upgraded. I think the size of the design depends on the size of the machine. Thanks everyone for all of the great compliments! It's so nice to have people who really appreciate what goes into planning a wedding to show them to!

Quote: Originally Posted by KatyKo I would love to hear about your DIY cake toppers! Everything looks great...have so much fun! I printed out the letters in the font and size that I wanted, glued them to a sheet of aluminum, and cut them out with a dremel tool. I had to do quite a bit of filing and sanding, but I think they turned out okay.

Bubbles to be blown after we are named husband and wife DIY Unity Candle OOT Bags I had my mom embroider the logo on the front. I bought the bags from cheaptotes.com The palm tree on the right side is the name tags I made for them. Some of the OOT bag contents The included travel mugs, palm tree/monkey picture holders, granola bars, drink mixes, sunsreen, advil, pepto bismol, chapstick, pens and post-it notes. Here is the welcome letter and itinerary to go with the oot bags I think that's about everything. I don't have a picture of my dress, sorry! I also forgot to take a picture of my program, and I've already packed them. I'm still working on some projects for our AHR in April, so I will add those when I'm done. Let me know if you have any questions on how I did anything. I'd be glad to help! Thanks everyone!

STD's Invitations to a welcome cocktail hour We'll be handing out our oot bags at this time. Photo scavenger hunt to be done during our reception dinner. Placecards for dinner My DIY cake topper

FI's suit and shoes for reception (We'll be going barefoot during the ceremony) This is my DIY bouquet I made the little memory frames to remember my Grandparents I made wrist corsages for our mothers, FI's sister and Grandmother Bouteneirres for FI, our father's, and my brother

I can't believe it is finally my turn! Thanks to everyone on here for their help, inspiration and great ideas. I know I was a lot calmer over the past year because of all of you! So here it all is.... My engagement ring and our wedding bands My wedding jewelry I bought the earrings from a seller on etsy, the necklace was given to me 1 pearl at a time by my aunt, and I made the bracelet. and shoes more to come...

I am not having a veil, but I think most brides on here do. If you browse the photo and wedding review sections, I'm sure you'll see a lot of pictures with brides wearing veils. If you do wear a veil, you can add weights and you can also make sure you are on the side so that the wind blows the veil away from your face, not into it.

Has anyone had a friend or family member make a video of their wedding? I wonder if it would turn out okay and pick up the sound. I also wonder if our resort even allows this, or if they want you to pay for them to do it? I hate, hate, hate watching myself on video, so I am not for this at all, which is why I won't pay the $$ to get it done. However, some family members who cannot attend want to see our wedding, so I gave in. Secretly I'm hoping it won't turn out so we don't have to do it!

Quote: Originally Posted by neen not sure this works for you, but I thought it was special - my sister bought her niece a necklace with a pearl on it and note to the parents that for each birthday and special occasion a new pearl would be added...so by the time she's older, she'll have a beautiful pearl necklace That is a great gift. I was given pearls by my Godmother when I was a kid, and now I'll be wearing the pearl necklace on my wedding. Then only downfall is it takes a lot of pearls to fill it up. So if she 1 pearl a year, it will be a pretty small necklace, even by the time she's 30.

I will be wearing a crinoline skirt under my dress, a comfy pair of undies, and a long line bra. I just want to be as comfortable as possible, although I don't know how much comfort is possible, lol.

I just sent out std's, not official invitations. I am going to do nice invitations for our AHR. Since we are inviting a lot of people to our AHR and only about 30 are coming to our wedding, I'm considering the AHR like a second wedding. As long as your std included all of the necessary information, I don't think you need to send out official invitations.