rach220

I would want more than a week! DH and I returned from Mexico on July 22nd and had scheduled our AHR for August 1st. The wedding was so easy, but the AHR was SO STRESSFUL. It probably didn't help that we bought a house 3 days before leaving for Mexico and the wedding, so when we got back we were moving. We rented a place, but did everything else ourselves. The only way I would agree is if FMIL was doing all the planning. Otherwise, it's way too much. You need time to unwind!

Oh no! I'm mad that you can't see the pictures...can anyone see them?

Oh, and if anyone wants any of the pages, just email me at [email protected] and I can send them to you...but again, everything except the timeline is in Adobe format.

Looking back, they all kind of blend together. Each page is really only 4x6.

I hope this helps!

Here are the timelines; I did them in Microsoft Word....these might be useful!

Girls Guide PP.doc

Guys Timeline.doc

I've been getting requests for this for a while, and am finally getting around to posting my Passport Welcome Book.

I used photo albums that were purchased from Target's dollar bin last spring. They had removable cardstock covers with animals on them, so I just took those out and had a blank book to work with.

I purchased pink and green cardstock from Michael's (our colors) and printed just the cover on them. For the inside pages I used thick cardstock purchased from Staple's.

I planned on filling the books (20 pages) but after getting started and realizing how long it took me, I ran out of time. I was printing these just hours before our flight left.

I tried uploading the files, but they are in Adobe and were way too big. I used Adobe because I could choose the size of the page (4x6) and move fonts and pieces of the document around. I don't think they would be helpful to anyone anyway, since they are pretty individualized to my guests and resort. But hopefully it can give an idea of what to include.

Here are the pages:

Congrats Raluca! Can't wait to see pictures!

Hey Ladies,

Fans are sold...so are the beach balls. Cheryl, I still have the lanterns, postcards, maraca tags, and stickers. Send me an email at [email protected] if you're still interested.

I purchased the mugs from another bride on the forum...I think Becks? I still have them too if anyone wants them!

Wow! I'm so glad you guys said something about the free bouquet...I thought I was supposed to get a free bouquet too!!!!! When I asked about it and they said no, I went online and looked back at the package and it wasn't there...I thought I was crazy but I totally think I was right now! I never pushed the issue since I decided I wanted orchids in my bouquet and knew they would be expensive by buying real ones. But now I'm kind of mad I didn't...oh well. You definitely need to print everything out and save everything!

Jenn-I am newly out of grad school and was also on a tight budget...we ended up spending around $10,000 but that included our 10 days there and the flights. I have an excel sheet I would be willing to share...email me at [email protected] and I will send it to you.

Our pictures are online at www.rachelandscottswanson.shutterfly.com. Enjoy!

Hi Jackie-

Congrats on your upcomin wedding...ASP was a fabulous choice! I can't answer most of your questions since we did the free package with very few add-ons, but we also had a small guestlist (17 guests) and had a 5pm ceremony...if you look through the previous threads, our pictures are online at shutterfly.com. I'm hoping to get our video online soon too.

The blood work was very quick and painless. They come right to the resort and did it in the conference room in the wedding office right after our meeting with Yazmin (our WC). I always bruise when I have blood drawn since I have small veins or something like that and was really nervous about having a black a blue mark on my arm that might not go away before the wedding...BUT I had no marks at all!

That's all I can answer for you...we didn't do fireworks and the packages weren't even around when we booked our date...I recommend getting the video though-it was totally worth it!

Good luck with your planning! You've come to the right place

This was my bouquet...peonies, roses, and orchids. It sounds like you're looking for more of the hot pink color in it, but maybe this will help!

Good luck!

Aww I wish I could go back to my shower...you're right, at all reallly does fly by!

Awesome pics...looks like a ton of fun! I especially love the vase with the roses and oranges! And of course, the beautiful ribbon hat-always a fave!

Beautiful pics! I had my wedding at the Aventura Spa Palace and also had no problems with the outside photographer thing. Glad you're putting that rumor to rest!

I also found these where you can see part of the patio (and our table) from the wedding gazebo (Coba Gazebo). You can also see people on the rooftop patio in the second pic.

Ok ladies...I got the patio info you are looking for I think. BUT, it will only work for a small party. We had 20 people total seated for dinner and it was a struggle to be seated on the patio. The entire restaurant is open air, but they have this area, that is NOT covered. The problem is it's only for concierge level guests...at least that's what they told us. We went to Mundaca for dinner a few nights before the wedding to scope it out and asked our waiter if the patio area was where they seated weddings. This is when he explained to us the concierge thing and I became really upset that my dinner wouldn't be private enough. There really wasn't another space that was private. So of course one of my girlfriends spoke to the manager and set up some sort of deal. I'm a complete pushover so if it weren't for her I would have had my wedding dinner in the center of the restaurant. I LOVE HER! Apparently she begged and he finally said we could have 1/2 of the patio, but only if she came an hour before to confirm directly with him. Of course she did and we were all set. I was psyched. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the most ideal situation, although I wouldn't have changed it. We scheduled our dinner for 6 PM and the sun was right above the patio...and blinding! DH and I had gone to do pictures while people were being seated and they said they couldn't even sit down because of the sun...they went to the bar instead and waited for us. I was mad at the time because it backed up our dinner, but I don't blame them. We sat around 6:30 and even though the sun was still there it was bearable...

Now for the pics! The big long table we had literally took up half the patio, so it's not large (sorry I don't have any pictures of the whole thing). It would ONLY work for a group our size, unless you did separate tables and used both sides. You can see how it is lower than the rest of the restaurant. I used the ledge that is just behind us to put our stereo on so we had music during dinner. It was perfect!

you can see the planters dividing us from the other side:

Here are some pics of the beach area. These were taken in July at around 3 PM. Not sure when the tide comes in or out, but you can tell by the wall that there are times there is no beach at all.

Don't mind me in the shot...this is the entire beach area in front of the resort. All the chairs were taken when we got there...

Looking to the left:

Looking to the right:

and a little further to the right...Senor Frog's and the pier:

Raffia fans are sold...sorry!

Shipping charges to Canada ended up being more than I expected and several people that were initially interested backed out. I am waiting to hear from someone about their decision on a few other items, but the only things I have shipped out are the raffia fans and starfish charms, and some of the maraca favor tags.

Let me know if you are interested in anything...

I think these look great!!! I wish I had come across this before our wedding-what a great idea! Nice job

Starfishes are spoken for...

The photobooks are 4x6 and I got them at Target in the dollar bin, but early in the summer.