KJT1985

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo Can I get your ladies opinion, for dresses my front runner is Mathia by Lea Ann Belter, a Canadian designer Lea Ann Belter Bridal - Niagara Collection - Mathia - its quite pricey but def. within the range still The Mathia dress was the first one I liked, but because we were rushed that day, didnt decide then and there, I kept doing a couple more trips, covered 7 or 8 stores, all that I was going to do, and then I grabbed the gang and we went back, its been a couple of weeks so the second time I think the dressed stretched and it has buttons and half the buttons were missing, but I wasnt as wowed of my body in it. Anyhow to know that I checked everything else there, I did ask the sales girl, who is fantastic! to make some other pulls, and as I have tried dresses before that werent in my price range I didnt limit her to price (my own fault) I put this one Romona Keveza Wedding Dresses - Wedding Dresses from Spring 2010 | Brides.com Its a Romona Keveza – Spring 2010, same dress but no embellishment belt, its allot more dress, but it just came in and looked prestene and some of the ladies liked it better - do some of you think its too much dress? its so not in my budget either, but I want to make sure I am making a decision for the dress first, then worry about money as dumb as it sounds. Thanks for all your input!! Do you need to purchase off the rack? If not, I certainly wouldn't worry about the condition of the sample dress. The dress you order will be new and pristine! Anyway, I think they're both beautiful and if you want that little bit of extra bling without the price, check into purchasing a rhinestone belt. I know they make them as accessories for wedding dresses. It might be a nice compromise! Good luck!

steflovesbran - those are BEAUTIFUL!! I'd be crying too!! YIPPEEE!!

Quote: Originally Posted by TheOneDay Bluestarfishsea – Thank you for the kindness. If this is all the drama surrounding my wedding I will be one lucky bride  Plus all the ladies on this posting look so pretty it must have just been bad luck for me. I don’t want to deter anyone from ordering dresses. I just wanted to make sure everyone can make an informed decision on which company they choose to go through. I contacted light in the box but they were 30 dollars more. I would have paid 30 dollars more for less drama. The upside is that dress shopping is fun, I am excited to see what is new out there. What an awesome attitude to have!! I, too, am sorry to hear about your bad experience. Ordering a knockoff was really scary for me (and i'm sure most brides). I think it really depends on your situation and what you're expecting. For me it was important that the dress not appear mass produced (I don't want to trash talk Davids bridals but I, personally, couldn't stand the quality of their dresses) but I also knew I wouldn't have the maggie sottero quality in my maggie sottero replica. For me it came down to money. My husband, being the practical person he is, just would NOT let me spend $1200 on a dress that i'd wear for a few hours. I was willing to take the risk. For $180 I didn't think I could go wrong, even if I ended up hating this. So to other brides who are considering it, I recommend being prepared that the quality is NOT the same as most dresses you might have tried on. BUT the price isn't either so you can't complain too much. If you have an open mind and aren't looking for an exact replica you'll probably be pretty darn happy with your deal. Ordering a completely custom dress is risky even if it comes from a reputable seamstress - that would be scary for me too! Every individual is different and every seller is different. Maybe they were busier when they made TheOneDays dress, who knows. I would just say that you should go into it with the mindset that it won't live up to expectations and you might be wasting a couple hundred bucks. You'll never be disappointed if you're expectations aren't high! Good luck to all the brides ordering replicas, I can't wait to see your dresses!!

Jo- I think the dress is beautiful! It is a BIT different from the original but not too much different. Adding crystals yourself is definitely an option. I actually thought about doing that when some of my beading rusted from the salt water but I ended up getting 98% of the rust out so I left it alone. I understand where you're coming from about the size. I got a corset back so it was a bit harder to mess up the size for me but maybe it's just the mannequin in your case? If the mannequin is the size of the dress it'll look tight and therefore, probably, small. I'm sure it's only because it's fitting the mannequin so well. I'm sure it's just because you're seeing it laid out perfectly (perfectly size mannequin) and only in pictures. I'm sure everything will work out! Awesome score on the shoes too! Edit: I just noticed yours is a corset back too. It might be that it's just done up a bit tighter than you'll have it as well. I wouldn't worry too much!

I've been trying to sell this dress for awhile now with no luck. I bought it as a sample gown and didn't end up using it. It retails for $800. Make me an offer. Shipping will be around $15. Tag says size 10 but it's probably closer to a street size 8. It's ivory and color and is really pretty in my opinion. Manufacturer Measurements: Bust: 37" Waist: 28" Hips: 39" Hollow to Hem: 58" Here are pictures on the model. On her it looks like its fitted more like a mermaid but it's really not at all. It's very much an A line dress. Let me know if you have any questions or I forgot something! Thanks for looking.

Quote: Originally Posted by LadyTrunck ALRIGHT ladies. The deposit was made tonight for my Maggie Sottero Reese knockoff from gianinabridal. I am SOOOOOOO excited to see how it comes out! They have been very responsive, which I love. Of course I'll post pics as soon as they send me the proof. Since this is my TTD, I'm only worried about it being totally see through in the water.... oh well- I read somewhere to wear a white bikini underneath. Oh, and second fear: that I'll like this one more than my main dress! If that's the case, I cannot tell FI I wore mine from gianinarbridal in the water and it wasn't see through at all. The inner lining is actually pretty thick (my dress is taffeta but i'm willing to bet they'll line yours the same). Herefishie- that looks so awesome!! I'm so happy for you!! PS - this is probably my favorite thread.

Thanks all!! :-D

Can't wait to see all the beautiful dresses!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Snickers Wow, this thread has been an eye opener for me as I am not sure how much I am willing to spend on pics. My fiance could probably care less as long as we have a few nice ones, but I would like a few more than that. This might sound dumb, but the cds they usually give you, are you able to print off pics from those or not? Yeah, our resort gave us the copyright waiver but it really depends on the photographer. Better ask if that's important to you.

Quote: Originally Posted by Tlseege I have to say something in regards to this comment. I just want to set the record straight: For people who purchase from resort photographers who don't do ANY editing, or even just minimal editing, then yes. There is probably a very large markup. However, for normal photographers, this is COMPLETELY false!!!! COMPLETELY! And I don't want anyone to think that we charge what we do simply because it's a once in a lifetime event so we can. That's not the case. For instance, the wedding I just photographed in Mexico. Just the wedding. 10 hours of photographing. For every hour of photographing I do approximately 6 hours of "other" stuff. That would include editing, sorting, blogging, burning a disc, mailing, and backing up. So to photograph one wedding is 60 hours worth of work. Let's pretend that you hired a photographer for your wedding for $2,000. First things first, remove 40% of that, because that's what we pay straight to Uncle Sam. So now, the photographer is getting $1,200. Divide by 60 hours of work. The photographer is making $20 an hour. Not bad, but it certainly is not a lot! Now, please don't forget the cost of goods. So what if your package included a book? Images? Online Gallery? These things all cost money. Not to mention the cost of our insurance, our equipment, etc. In the end, many of us photographers end up making very little money. We don't do it to be rich. We do it because we love it and we have a passion for it. We love capturing such beautiful emotion and capturing the love on one of the best days of your life. It's what we do. It's what we love to do. But please don't think that we are making easy money, as it is anything but! yeah, I was really just referring to resort photographers since that's the kind in question...

Quote: Originally Posted by momichele I love the top of your dress. Very unique Thank you! It's a Maggie Sottero replica and I love it! Quote: Originally Posted by luciel2820 Wow your pictures are beautiful, Im sorry your wedding officiant messed up some parts but your pictures still look amazing Yes! I'm very very happy with the pictures. I can go with the flow alot easier than my husband. Nothing is ever perfect so our ceremony was unique, i'm ok with that! Quote: Originally Posted by shae you look absolutely beautiful! i think i would've had a hard time leaving that amazing shower Thank you so much! :-D I felt really beautiful and then I saw how much my fat was hanging over my dress. Haha Guess I should have pulled it up tighter, oh well. And yea...the shower was to die for! HAVE to get that in my house!

You can see all our wedding photos here, there's alot: Wedding photos - Jamaica 2010 pictures by Katie_T85 - Photobucket I guess I should have reviewed my dress A+++++ It's a replica of Maggie Sottero's "Lavina" which I fell in love with but was $1200 and way out of our budget for the dress. I got it from china, gianinarbridal who sells on ebay or can be contacted directly. I sent them photos of the original, picked the color and material (cheapest or the more expensive, I went with the cheapest). I sent them a $40 deposit and after about 35 days they sent me proof pictures and asked if I wanted anything changed. It was perfect so I didn't and I had the dress by the end of the week I think. It doesn't have the quality that the MS would have but it's beautiful and costs $180 with shipping. I was ecstatic with the result and felt really beautiful. Hair salon - A The resort spa did a fantastic job with our hair. Everything looked beautiful. There was only one person doing it and it took about 3 hours to have 4 girls's hair done. All throughout, one of the resort staff kept bringing us drinks from the bar. We had an awesome time but I bet they were glad when we left! We were pretty loud and crazy! I chose to have it all pulled back because my hair would have been straight before the wedding if I had left it down - curls fall out too easily especially in humidity. It did pretty well but the wind did start pulling it out fairly quickly. You can tell in some of the photos but oh well! I guess the only other thing I can think to comment on was the cruise we took after our week at the resort. Carnival Southern Caribbean cruise - B I was really excited about the cruise. My husband had been before but I hadn't. He kept telling me how amazing the service and food was. We were on carnival victory leaving out of san juan, puerto rico - 7 nights. While I can't really complain about anything, I sorta wish we'd stayed in Jamaica for the other week. The service was fine but not 5 star like my husband had experienced 4 years ago. The food was ok too but honestly, the resort food was pretty darn good! Desserts were better by far. I don't think I liked having SO many people around all the time - no privacy even in your bedroom because the walls are so thin. I also felt really stressed that I had to be doing something all the time since we were only at places for one day. Then while we were out I was worried about getting back to the ship on time so we didn't miss it. Just more stressful than laying on the beach all day. Haha So I don't think I'd recommend cruises as a honeymoon and we probably won't be going on one again. It's also not as cheap of a vacation as it seems when you book - excursions with the ship are ridiculously expensive! Ok so if I missed anything you're interested in just ask! Thanks for reading ladies, and like I said in my planning thread - couldn't have done it without BDW brides!!

Reception: A I actually wasn't expecting much for this included "mini reception" but it actually turned out to be really really nice! They set up tables and chairs in the garden gazebo and we had a more formal reception with cake, champagne and the traditional cake cutting and interlocking arms drinking for a photo op. I had the WC set out our guestbook pages here and I think the guests really enjoyed filling them out while eating cake and having champagne! They also played our wedding music on repeat during it, wish I had made more of a playlist! Reception picts... Carriage RideA The resorts also includes a complimentary carriage ride which was fun and makes for cute photos! During the ride they also give you more champagne... photographer: Crazy J (Jariel Morris) - A+ J was so much more fantastic than I ever thought a resort photographer could be. He's actually a member on the forums and I had talked to him before heading down there. He sent me his website which made me feel much more excited about working with him. Jarmor Photography :: Portfolio He can also shoot at other resorts in the area so anybody getting married near Ocho Rios should definitely contact him!! J made everything fun and relaxed. He took so many photos and all of them are fantastic (not his fault my husband seems to blink in half the pictures, haha). He seemed to really love his job and would always stop and talk us when he saw us around. When I paid for our photo package before the wedding, I requested that we work with him. The lady told me that he had been booked for the wedding right after ours but that all the other photographers were great. We saw him later and he told me that he didn't know the other bride and had been talking to me on the forums so he was not doing the other wedding and would do ours. This was the nicest thing!!! I'm so happy he got out of the other wedding, haha! More photos from him: Photo shop: B I guess I only give them a B because of the price of things. We got the most basic package and it was $380. At BRB you don't pay for the photographer, just for the pictures you purchase. If you don't purchase pictures ahead of time, I guess you don't get a photographer! Our package included 30 images on a cd and your choice of ten 5x7's and two 8x10's from those 30. They also give you a copyright waiver so you have no problem printing the other 30. To be continued...

The weddingA++ But how could it not be?! As some additional info for BRB brides. We had 26 guests and ended up spending an additional $175 on cake and champagne, $6 for them to turn the one flowers in my bouquet pink instead of purple, and $275 on hair for 4 people. Wedding officiant my grade: C husbands grade: F---- To keep a long story short, because of some annoying details we were not able to make the wedding in Jamaica legal. I had some issues sorting this out with the wedding coordinator because they "only" offer a wedding or vow renewal and for the renewal you need to provide a previous marriage license. Finally we were able to reach a compromise - paying a civil officer $100 to perform the ceremony with no paperwork. The coordinator had me email her my ceremony script ahead of time so she could send it to him and make sure he was ok with what I had written. I never heard from her so a week before we left I checked in. She hadn't heard from him and said she'd contact him and get back to me. I never heard back. Come wedding time it was obvious the civil officer had never read what I wrote. Mostly it wasn't a problem until we got to the sand ceremony. We were to have the mom's pour the foundation layer of sand. In the script I had it laid out so he would "warn" the moms by saying something like "in a minute i'll ask the mothers to come forward" then he would explain the meaning, ask them to come forward and a song would start to play while they did their part followed by us. Instead he read "in a minute i'll ask the mothers to come forward" and then proceeds to stop and make the moms do their sand part after which he motioned to us to do ours. In my head i'm thinking ("no no no" but we went with it and just figured we'd skip the sand ceremony song). After we all poured our sand he read the meaning behind it (a guest later told me they were confused till he clarified) THEN proceeds to go ahead and ask the moms to come forward again!!!!! Ahaha so they stood up before I could say anything and he goes "moms, the song?". Maybe this is partially my fault because in the copy I emailed the coordinator I had *in different font and color to "start song #3, title and artist" and it's this copy that she printed out and gave to him. It just made an awkward moment when I had to tell the moms to sit down and that song #3 needed to be skipped. The sand ceremony was at the end of the whole ceremony and it just so happens that the wedding coordinator in charge of running the music was in the back texting when this whole thing was going on. She didn't know she missed the sand part and we ended up walking out to our sand ceremony song while our guests walked out to our song. It was slightly annoying that we paid him $100 for 20 minutes of his time and he couldn't even be prepared. I wasn't so upset about the song thing either but my husband was pretty upset by it all and really wanted to complain to somebody about it. But in general we had an amazingly beautiful ceremony, the weather was awesome and our guests loved it all. We all just ate dinner together at the buffet - no big reception for us and nobody seemed to mind. On another note. When you contact the resort and are dealing with the wedding coordinator, you always talk to Keisha Richards. Keisha only seems to answer emails regarding weddings and when you get there you actually work with Victoria and Pat (at least I think that's their names). This was annoying to me because I felt like maybe some things were lost in the middle man explanations. My husband thinks we didn't get much attention because we weren't spending thousands of dollars - even though we spent quite a bit! Here's some of my favorite ceremony pictures.... To be continued....

WHAT A BLAST!! Hopefully I remember to include all the details... Travel Agent: - Ellen Kerella, Special Occasion Travel, Centennial, Colorado: D Probably the only reason i'm not giving her an F is because everything was booked appropriately and not having to deal with the confusion of booking flights to puerto rico for the cruise we went on the second week was a burden off my shoulders. I used her as a TA because her website makes it sound like she really specializes in destination weddings. She did NOTHING to help with the wedding or anything more than a "regular" TA would. Things would come up with the wedding coordinator at the resort and when i'd call her for help her answer would be "well try this and if it doesn't work I don't know what to tell you". Totally and completely useless. I wish we hadn't sent her info out in our save the dates. Luckily only one other couple booked with her. I know her information doesn't really add anything to BDW but maybe there's other brides in Colorado who might come across her website and should avoid her. I also never met with her in person so maybe it's different then. American Airlines: A- Our flight leaving Dallas was 3 hours late because of weather in the area. Nothing they can do about that really. It was a pain but oh well! I only give them a minus because they don't even give you peanuts on flights that are over 3 hours long and charge ridiculous amounts for food! I was able to lay my dress out in an overhead compartment which was awesome. Breezes Runaway Bay: Overall: B+ I've only stayed at one other all inclusive resort and it was in Costa Rica (4 star). Overall, Costa Rica was by far a better resort but we also spent twice as much to stay there for a week. However, I will say that the Jamaican people are WAY happier and seem to enjoy their jobs much much more. The grounds of the resort were kept clean and beautiful. I think I heard that the resort is 40 years old and it certainly shows in some of the architecture and design. They've done updating but it's just not quite like the other huge resorts in the area. It's also a lot smaller. BRB only has 266 rooms total so it's a really small resort. I actually really liked this because it made it super easy to find guests and family. It was also really easy for everybody to move around the resort. My husbands aunt is in a wheelchair and to my knowledge there was never any issues getting her places. The relaxed atmosphere does affect customer service every now and then. My husband had some internet issues a couple times and would go ask the front desk for help only to have her go to the internet room, tell him she'd be back in a minute and never return. I'm more understandable about these things (maybe she was the only one working and got distracted checking people in or something) but it annoyed my fiance. Everyone seemed more than happy to do their jobs, even if it took a bit longer than you'd have liked to get it done. Some property photos: (best part of the room!! there were two more of the showerheads seen above and below the temperature handle on the opposite wall - 6 shower heads in total!!) front lobby

Nope but I had some friends stay there a couple weeks ago because it was cheaper than the resort I got married at. They LOVED it! They wouldn't be helpful with wedding info but I can pass along any resort questions to them..

Hmm. If you went through the resort photoshop the price sounds pretty similar to what we were told at Breezes Runaway Bay. We chose the most basic package and got 30 pictures on a CD, 10 prints from those that were 5x7 and 2 that were 8x10. We paid $380. I asked how much it would cost to get all the pictures the photographer took (like 300 or so) on a CD and the photoshop told me it would be $1500. My husband couldn't even fathom paying this much for electronic files of images so we passed that up. Pictures were important to me, not to him and he's throw a fit when he heard huge numbers like this for photos. I think I've heard other brides on here say they made deals on the side with their photographer for much less money though. So part of me thinks it's ridiculous that anybody would charge that much for pictures but at the same time, it's sorta a once in a lifetime thing and if you both like the pictures and neither are too upset at the cost it's not a rip off. Do they make like 500% profit on it? Sure they do.

I think our TA asked for us to be upgraded as a special request but we weren't able to get a better room because the resort was so full. We were in room number 1227 and had the most awesome infinity pool/ocean view!! The shower was the best thing about the room. There are 6 shower heads - 4 on one wall and two on the opposite wall - AMAZING! The beds were sorta hard and the pillows were WAY flat but there was more in the dresser drawers so at least you could use multiples. Some things definitely looked a bit unfinished (nobody in our group was in the newer building so I can't comment on those rooms). But we weren't really in our rooms that much so we didn't care. I took pictures of our room and you can check it (and other resort photos) out at the link below. They would have been the first pictures but I think photobucket changed up the order, sorry! Hopefully i'll get my review posted soon. I'll tell you this now though, absolutely without a doubt make sure you ask for Crazy J (Jariel) as your photographer (he lurks the forums here and is THE BEST!) Jamaica 2010 pictures by Katie_T85 - Photobucket

HEREFISHIE - that is so AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC! I LOVE the blue beading!!! Soooooo pretty! Enjoy your dress!! :-D

Initially my fiance was upset by the idea of "redoing" our sand ceremony when we got home. So I planned on carrying it on the plane since it doesn't have a top (also went on a cruise after the wedding leaving from a different country we got married in). Once it came time to pack and leave the resort he threw a fit at this because of the pain it would be. Haha. My dad had shoved some balled up plastic bags in the top and then my, oh I guess husband now, tied a bag around it so the bottom of the bag covered the top and the knot was on the bottom of the vase. I put a hair band around the top and tied another bag around it. When we got to the cruise port I could tell it was totally messed up. I was pretty upset because I would have rather just carried it on. We got home and after three flights and at least two TSA bag checks it's fairly mixed and a relatively good amount of sand fell out. It's not too mixed though and is still sorta cool looking. I'll try to get pictures of before and after when I get home tonight. So I guess my advice is do NOT check it unless you have a really good plan for sealing it up. One more plastic balled up bag inside and maybe some serious TAPE would have helped. Oh well it's still unique and it shows our lives being even more blended now.Haha

So we just returned from our wedding and honeymoon. While the resort photographer was gone by the time I jumped in the ocean I had an informal session with my MOH. I wouldn't really say my dress is trashed but I think I should warn people who have beading with metal backings that they might end up with rust on their dress. I rinsed my dress in the shower and hung it out to dry on the balcony overnight. The drying wasn't an issue at all (all but a small part of the train was dry overnight) and I only noticed the rust had transferred from the beading to my dress a couple days later. My dress is a replica from China so it's probably not an issue with designer gowns but my advice is to check your dress and hand dry any beading with metal backings with a blow dryer. I'm taking it in this week to get it dry cleaned and hopefully it comes out. I'm not too upset if it doesn't, though I REALLY hope it does. I was hoping to wear it for our AHR but who knows now. It doesn't look too bad from a distance. Just a heads up...

Quote: Originally Posted by midnight24 well just a quick update on my dress. i had my fitting yesterday and it is so much better. they stretched the fabric & steamed it to add 3/4 inch in length. i got flat silver sandals (1/2 inch) from town shoes Nice Shoes Online For Less - The Shoe Company they look great and aren't too much with the jewels either. at least now with such great sandals i'll probably show my feet off more. haha. anyways...thanks again everyone for your comments & support. it did help...and i'm glad everything worked out with my dress. it sucks it happened but it's fixed. SO glad things got fixed for you! Those sandals are super cute too, good choice!

Quote: Originally Posted by ewok Well, my dress made it home tonight. Right now I'm quite disappointed. It is like one size too large at the waist/hips, and probably more at the chest (I had it tailored to my measurements). The is kind of an extra not uniform material layer between the satin & the inner layer (sewn) that is causing to creasing/bunching (not sure how to describe). I'll have to see someone in the next days to see how much it would cost to fix. In addition, the neckline is not exactly what I would like (this is not so bad, but added to the rest...). I knew I was taking a risk, but still... Was expecting to post nice pics tonight! That sucks! I'm sorry your experience didn't go as hoped. Did you go ahead and order from Landy as you said you were going to previously? hopefully things can be fixed for minimal cost! I'd still like to see pictures if you're not too shy about posting them!

omg Kathy I don't know how i've missed this thread. anyway,that sweatshirt would almost work for me as well as my new last name will be Fennell. Random. Everything looks awesome! Congrats on your upcoming anniversary!

I bought the same veil as luciel2820 from venus veils!! Here's a personal photo (headband not included): Super cheap and fast shipping.