NJ_bride

Misha: My girls ordered their dresses in April and they didn't come until August. (Right on time as quoted by the shop) They are Jim Heljm, nothing crazy and I only have 2 girls. My mom's dress is a B2B from the same shop and took just as long. As hard as it may be, tell her to order now. I had a similar situation with my MOH and she was like oh I'm gonna wait until July so i can lose some weight, I said no way your have to order by such and such date. My shop wouldn't even order the others girl's dress b/c they want them out of the same dye lot. Well she ordered on time but guess what, she never lost the weight , the dress is tight on her, and she didn't go pick it up in person, sent her boyfriend and it has a stain on it! She has it at the cleaners now but really what a pain in the A#*!

It is perfect!!!! I don't know how they fixed it, but hey did. It's paid for and at my house, yeah!!!! No pics until the wedding though, sorry ladies!

LHM: we also paid for bridal party's rooms at the AI for 3 nights each. We did not pay their air. I think that is a huge gift!

Ok, so today is fitting #3. I am terrified...what if they couldn't fix the pulls or the dress hem is still too short. I called to confirm it is pressed and ready for me and she said it looks great but this is the same bitchy owner who tried to distract me from the pulls. I never worry like this but I am. I need some advice to what to say if I'm unhappy. I couldn't take the dress somewhere else after fitting #2 b/c they put the pulls in it and they need to fix them and if they cut the hem too short then again nothing could have been done. At this point if the dress is still F'd up then I got to live with it, too late for a new dress but I want some type of resitition financially, emaotionally, an apology, something. I will write a letter to the BBB and where ever else will listen, any other ideas? I just feel like this woman is soo nasty to my mom and I and we spent all this money,when I was in retaill the customer was always right and jeez i mean make the bride happy!

Michelle, everything looks great! Love your invites, I'm a palm tree nut! I used the stamp on my welcome bags. Great job!

Amanda, great pics! Your flowers are awesome, are they real? If so did you get them through the resort?

Casey: FH and I are currently on the South Beach diet. We are now in phase 2 where we reintroduce good carbs. Fruit, oatmeal, high fiber cereal, whole grain stuff. Phase 1 is 2 weeks, it sucks because there is not a good variety but once you are through that Phase 2 is cake. I have lost 9lbs in phase 1. I suggest buying the book and following the recipes, you never eat the same dinner twice and they are easy to make. Nice part is you eat tons of fresh veggies! Let me know if you have any questions.

This thread hasn't been updated in awhile. Can we bump? I know there are lots of new brides and this info is soo helpful!

Mixie23: Ok, I can soo relate to this situation. Long story short, FH picked brother as best man, over a year to save, we paid for bridal parties rooms for 3 nights a couple AI. Brother complained about $ from day 1, all he had to do was buy his girlfriend and his plane tickets which back then were reasonable everything for both of them was included. Guess what, ends up it wasn't about $ at all. That was his excuse, he didn't want to come or be bestman. Well he is not. If anyone is giving you an excuse especially family, then accept their reasons (even if they are BS) and move on. Pushing them being there will only make more problems down the road. Trust me on this one. My FH is soo let down and disappointed by his brother they don't even talk now. But that was his brother's choice. Good luck!

I used to work for a bank and I can tell you cash them now for 2 reasons. 1. Like the others have said people expect the money to leave their account and budget that way. 2. Each bank is different but after a certain amount of time checks are considered stale dated if they have not been cashed or deposited and the bank will not accept them. They will tell you to have them write you a new check. FH and I set up a free checking account when we got engaged with both our names on it. We got lots of engagement money and deposited it into that account. We used it for new furniture/wedding needs throughout the year. Just send your thank yous as you get the gifts though.

Alyssa, Those pics are awesome. You guys look so natural. Your wedding bands are really cool too, I love different jewelry, are they custom? Hawaii looks so pretty. Congrats!

Hi Kari! I'm getting married at CSA on December 5th. While they can schedule several weddings in the same day it shouldn't be an issue. I have talked to several CSA brides on here and the Couple's board and they said the resort is so big you don't even notice and they never rush you. Also there are sevral locations for the ceremony to chose from. I booked my time and location a year in advance so as long as you book early you are guaranteed your spot. Are you having a lot of guests? I am having 47 including us. Depending on what type of reception you want be careful what day of the week you chose. No private dinners on Fridays or Mondays. I'll post my full review when i get back.

Hi Ladies! So my Mom saw the Oprah yesterday and was telling me the same stuff. The above mentioned coffee rub works, it's just a temporary solution though. I know alot of the vacations I have been on the spa's have a anti cellulite wrap. Here is how it works, they massage caffeinated cream in into problem areas and wrap you in some seaweed and other stuff. The seaweed and other stuff sucks the water out of your body while the caffeine swells the fat cells making the skin look smother, lasts about a week and you lose about 8-12 inches in that area. I remember it being expensive but worth it for the week in the sun. I have also heard that massage in general smooths the appearance, but there is no way to get rid of it ;(

Latoya: I booked Sungold for my wedding next month and I had seen your pics on their website. Awesome! I hear Paula and Damain are a blast too, can't wait!

So after some advice I did some research and it seems that in this area $450 isn't totally over the top for alterations and I was just too scared to take the dress somewhere else. My tailor is great but I was having nightmares of her running the dress through the machine. Also she doesn't speak good English and what if she misunderstood something? Well my Mom called the bridal shop and spoke with the owner about the alterations price. She broke it down that they charge $25/ hour which my Mom who is in decorating says is standard. The owner said she would speak to her seamstress and call my Mom back, she never did. Yesterday we went for fitting #2 and my mom said after we got the dress and paid she was going to let the owner know that we are very unhappy with the $ for alterations considering we bought a couture dress and that we would not recommend them Well we get there and I put the dress on. The top is perfect, fits great. They attached the Velcro inside so the bustier holds up. The bustle is also perfect. The broach was not attached to the back yet but she pinned it while I was there. We look at the dress and realize they hemmed it way to short! You can see my shoes! The tailor kept saying it will drop when they press it but my Mom who has worked on silk says not enough, plus why wasn't it steamed when we got there? Also my Mom noticed the hem was uneven. Then the worst part, right on the front of the dress there are 2 huge pulls in the silk!!! Not little ones and they were not there at the first fitting. The owner comes in and seems to be trying to distract us from the hem being wrong and the snags but my mom wasn't hearing it. They claim they can fix everything, but this is what we paid $450 for, to have the dress ruined? Then they tell me I can come back for the final pick up on November 26, the day before Thanksgiving. I said NO WAY! We leave that Monday and with the holiday if the dress still isn't right that leaves no time to fix anything! We are going next Thursday instead but since they close at 4:30 I have to leave work early. I am not am person who worries, but truthful right now I am. Simply that we spent so much money and it should be perfect. I just want my dress in my hands fixxed and then I want to say or do something to let them know how I feel. I would like to know what everyone suggests?

My wedding is at CSA in December. We have a Beachfront Veranda but I think we have someone in our group staying in every category so I'll give you a review when i return!

After a long road my parents are still paying for everything except the following: attendant gifts, band, cake, FH's suit, part of photographer, welcome dinner, flowers, and some other accessories I bought along the way. All those things are/have been paid for by FH and I. His family contributed $0. See my other posts on this subject.

Simistar: I'm not sure about Canada but in the us they didn't charge me just told me when I made the appointment that there is a $50 purchase required. I spent way over that, no problem. As for diets, I'm doing South Beach. Almost done with Phase 1, will be done with phase 2 by wedding. I've lost 5 lbs since the 3rd of this month.

Congrats Danielle! Beautiful pics, looks like you had a great day!

If it is in the New Year, I would love too! BDW has been my savior and I would love to put names with faces.

1: What is your current job, and if you had to switch careers, what would the other career be? I ama bookkeeper, and I would love to be a travel agent 2: What is your favorite hobby? traveling 3: What is your favorite holiday, and why? Easter, I love the food, the bunnies, and chocolate 4: What is your greatest achievement? Being 1 of only 10 students to get in to F.I.T the semester I got in 5: What is your favorite animal... and why? Siberian Huskies, they are soo pretty! 6: What is your dream trip? Bora, Bora and i am going for our honeymoon in March 7: What is your fav food? Pizza (standard but still the best) 8: Who has made the biggest impact in your life? Not really 1 person more a lot of expereinces with different people 9: If you were a crayola crayon, what color would you be, and why? Purple, it's my favorite 10: If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? South Florida 11: How many siblings do you have? One. A younger brother. 12: What is your biggest fear? not moving forward in life 13: Whats your favorite holiday dish you make for your family? Pineapple Casserole at Easter 14: Do you have a nickname? Dan or Dani 15: What causes do you support? SPCA and any charity for children. 16: My question is what is your guilty pleasure? crappy tv, teen movies, and White Castle

I love it! I'm anti flowers too, it's kinda a joke, what girl doesn't like flowers? I love the starfish too!

Ok, I went to Sephora this weekend and bought the Derma Doctor KP duty. I am applying it at night and wearing a ls t shirt to keep my sheets nice. Hope it works and I will give a review before I leave for my wedding. Thanks!

My girls are wearing Caribbean Blue. I'm going with purple orchids and having them carry a mixed tropical bouquet (oranges, hot pinks, yellows, ect.)

Amy-WOW! Everything is great, your guests are gonna love it!