Gr8ful

You are definitely not the only one. My wedding would be, oh three weeks away, and we still haven't received all of our RSVPs. The response card has a STAMPED envelope! How hard is it to say yes / no and send it back? Apparently, this task is quite impossible for many to complete. Even from people who recently got married (& should know better, and "feel our pain"). It's very frustrating. I have called a lot of people, and those we haven't gotten in touch with, I'm not bothering with. If they happen to show up (I doubt it), they will have to get chips and salsa for dinner. HAHA PS. Can we get the money for our stamps back? haha

OMG, Thank you all SO much. You do not know (or maybe you do) how much anxiety, grief and tears you have saved me! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

I looked through a lot of the threads, so I apologize in advance if this topic has already been covered! I'm am so panicked over this! Here is my issue. Because we didn't want to go through the process of the marriage paperwork in Mexico, we got married stateside. Which means, right now, my name is legally different than my maiden name. HOWEVER, my passport and my tickets are still in my maiden name -- so what do I do? We have two international trips booked in my maiden name -- Mexico in early November (less than a month away), Costa Rica immediately upon our return to Mexico. Is it okay to wait until both those trips are over b/f I go about making all the changes to my travel documents, or do I have to do that now? And, do I have time to do this? Please help -- I have looked on the web everywhere, and asked friends and colleagues. This seems to be a shade of gray that isn't particularly well-defined. My biggest problem is that there is so little time left. Any thoughts, help, direction would be extremely appreciated! Thank you!

Sorry, I was wrong -- it's $70 / adult round trip -- I was confused, I had added what I paid in my mind, and didn't separate it out in my brain. Here is the link to the Cat Express. Catalina Express // Daily Trips To Catalina Island

Catalina is right across the water from me, maybe I can help out? It's very easy to get to -- take the Catalina Express across (~$130 / pp round trip). I'm not sure where you were thinking, but Avalon is the main town, and the ferry takes you right there. There are tons of places that do weddings, maybe you can just find another vendor to take care of you. It's very pretty over there -- the water is so clean! Are you planning to scrap it altogether? Good luck!!

We are doing the same thing -- the legal ceremony actually takes place tomorrow! I didn't want to deal with the headache of all the other paperwork. We are having a "bachelor party" tonight -- which will consist of me, him, our cat & a bottle of champagne! We are having a friend perform the ceremony for us as well. I drafted an outline using the website below as a guideline. We aren't religious, so we are going to have some poetry readings -- you can find some good ones on the web as well. We are cutting a lot of items out -- no "giving in marriage" and no "unity ceremony". This webpage was helpful b/c we could cut & edit the way we wanted and incorporate things that we like. I hope this helps! Planning Your Wedding Ceremony - A Sample Wedding Ceremony and Order of Service

I am SO happy that you found Cuji! That is such great news. She will hopefully gain the weight back quickly and get back to normal when she realizes she is back home and is surrounded by the love that she is used to! On another note -- what is everyone doing with regard to vows? I have this on my list of things to do and do not know where to start. We are getting married legally stateside, but this is our "official" ceremony. Any ideas? I have no idea how to even begin. I do not have all of my responses yet -- I think we are missing ~20 of them (even though I'm fairly sure that most of these are regrets). Are you just calling / emailing your stragglers? I can't believe it is coming up so fast! I don't know if I should be excited or freaked out! :-)

I just read this -- I am so sorry to hear about Cuji -- this is kidnapping! I hope you find her. I'm glad that you are getting some publicity, and that will bring her home...

Has anyone tried this one? I have been thinking about doing this for our wedding. Adesso Albums: Original Instant Photo Guest Books

OMG I have 71 days until the wedding. 71! I can't believe it is coming up so soon. I feel like I have so much to do. I'm the worst bride ever!

Gorgeous pictures -- your wedding looked amazing and you were stunning! Thank you for sharing!

Keep 'em! They look amazing -- I can't believe that you did these on your own!

I like #3 the best, however I must say that you look amazing in all of them. You have a great figure, lucky girl! :-)

I think both dresses are both beautiful and will look great, however, you should make your decision based on what you want, as it is your wedding. If you feel like you are being pressured into something you do not want, then push back, but do it soon. It will be harder to do the longer you wait. Just tell them that you appreciate their enthusiasm and excitement (you guys are so great and supportive), however, you were just showing them options and had not made your final decision. Do what your heart is set on b/c it is your special day, and it's important that you be "wed" (haha) to the decision that you make. Good luck!

HoosierFan, I did the same as you -- we sent out first wave of invites out (b/c we didn't have all of the addresses) in July, and asked for responses by Sept 15. That should give us time to do the final roundup and get numbers for the caterer. We are doing a Welcome Dinner instead of a rehearsal. If people are going to make the effort to come out, we are going to have all of them at our pre-party. My FMIL has graciously offered to organize this event (thank you FMIL!), so I am not even thinking about it. I put a check box in our invitation response as to whether or not they will attend, so I will pass this info to her, and she can decide if she wants to send a separate invitation or not. I think she wants to, and that is fine by me. She is very excited about it, which is so nice. Hopefully when we get the majority of the responses, we can send out informational email blasts with the itinerary, etc. I'm trying not to worry about this too much! We did some calculations yesterday, and I think we will end up with ~45 people (we'll see how accurate our predictions will be), which will be a nice number, I think. This will be a ~50% of who we invited (maybe a little less).

I'm doing orange shoes too! Here are mine -- they are flats. COACH SIERRA SANDAL - - Nordstrom

You look gorgeous -- wow!

Congrats MarieSam! You looked absolutely stunning and so happy! You and your hubby make a beautiful couple -- congratulations! Can't wait to see more!

You look beautiful, and so did your wedding -- congratulations!

Based on criteria #1 -- I am thinking the Yucatan Peninsula, since it's really easy for east-coasters to get to. Based on criteria #7 -- Cancun, or Playa del Carmen Based on #4 -- I have heard that Aqua in Cancun is amazing from people who have gone there on holiday and also people at my company who book hotels for events (they go to a lot of 5-stars, so this means it's nice). It's supposed to be amazing. HOTEL AQUA CANCUN RESERVAS RESERVATIONS BOOK ON LINE There are so many reviews on this website, so I would dig around to see what others have to recommend, or who have already done research. Good luck -- whatever you do will be amazing! PS. This is the hardest part, it's very overwhelming. But once you lock down the place and date, it really does get easier! :-)

Hi all -- we sent out our first "wave" of invitations, and are starting to get responses. There are a lot of people who I knew wouldn't come who aren't -- I can't help but feel a little disappointed, even though I KNEW they weren't going to come (i.e. family members with newborns). Has anyone else experienced this? Also, did I send them out too early? I thought since this is destination, more time is better (Nov 14th, 2009). Oh well -- thanks for the vent! :-)

This was a hard decision for me too, but I knew that photography would be my big splurge! It depends on your budget, and what your priorities are, unless you happen to have $$$$ budget and can do everything top-of-the line (I personally do not, alas). It's the pictures I will look at the end, so it is worth it for me. My photographer is costing me ~$3500, for ~5 hours on the day of the wedding, which is good enough for me. I don't need to have every last second of the wedding in detail, but again this is just me -- others may want to capture more moments. It's a lot of money, so I try not to think about it too much. I have made a lot of budget compromises along the way as well -- we did not send out fancy STDs or wedding invitations, for example. Anyway, good luck with your decision -- you will make the right one for you!

Just your address & a stamp. That's what we did.

Beautiful & I love your veil! Congrats! :-)

You look beautiful in all of them, however I personally like #2 the best.