KJT1985

THANKS ladies!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Lady_Di Great planning!! Are you planning to take the vases in your suitcases? My fiance is telling me that our glass cubes will break in our suitcases. He's such a debbie downer! Lol Those were actually from our pre-wedding reception. I AM taking our sand ceremony stuff and just wrapped it up tightly in bubble wrap. I have ONE full suit case of just wedding stuff and my fiance is throwing a fit. All you girls who get to take extra decorations and centerpieces are lucky!

Oh KittenHeart! That's beautiful and those pictures made me laugh on this shitty day! haha

Thanks ladies! You guys are the reason I didn't lose my head during the whole process (especially the process of trying to find things cheaper!) I can't wait to get to BRB and have pictures to share!

Thanks!! And, that brings up a good point. We had a really small budget so I kept a spread sheet of ALL my expenses - even if I bought something I didn't end up using, it's calculated. So far we've spent $8,509 on EVERYTHING, including our two week vacation. We still have to buy the guy's gifts and pay for the girls hair (but the girls got tote bags, tanks, sandals, and a book too). After calculating gifts from the pre-wedding AHR we're at $3,309 net cost. Not too shabby in my opinion, our goal was definitely to keep it low cost.

Pre-wedding AHR Since my fiancé is Canadian, my future in laws threw us a pre-wedding reception for his side on November 21, 2009. I got my dress off amazon for around $70 and here you can see the bridesmaids dresses. And me with my wonderful fiancé… Chair sashes came from wedding linens direct home page. I loved the quality and they were so cheap. $104 including shipping for 100 satin sashes! And for the AHR centerpieces we did drowned flowers with floating candles. All parts were bought from Michaels. Thank you SO SO much for reading. NONE of this could have been possible without the wonderful ladies of BDW. I got so many ideas, links, and resources from you all. Good luck with your upcoming weddings! See you on the forum! Katie

I purchased my veil from an ebay seller for only $16. My headband was purchased NEW-secondhand (bride who’s wedding fell through) and is $99 at Davids bridal but I paid $30 for it. Veil: eBay Store - Venus Veils: Bridal Tiaras, White, Ivory My earrings came from overstock.com It’s how I’m getting my “something blue”! Shoes – the idea was definitely stolen from another bride (FutureMsMoulton) They are SO much more sparkly in person! We ordered luggage tags with personalized “stickers” as our guest favor. These were mailed out ahead of time with a “welcome booklet”. These came from Wedding Favors, Bridal Shower Favors, Wedding Favor Ideas and Gifts and were $1.20 each. The booklet was done pretty quickly and cheaply so it’s not the nicest but it’ll do. I used report covers from Office Depot – 6 pack for $1.97!! I purchased our guest book from Welcome to the Guestbook Store! Guestbooks for Every Occasion!. I love the idea that it’s more interactive and will be something fun to go through in the years to come. I don’t actually have a photo of this, maybe I’ll try to get one tonight. I purchased raffia fans from Oriental Trading. These will go on each chair at the ceremony and i'm still debating on whether or not i'll do programs. Again, need to get a photo tonight. When I had my dress hemmed I had the seamstress save the material. Yet another etsy seller used it to make a miniature dress on hankies for the moms as their gift. I think they’re too ADORABLE! $35 for two hankies. Originals By Barbee by OriginalsByBarbee on Etsy

The Save the Dates We did boarding pass save the dates. I got the template from a lovely lady here on the forums (forget who, SORRY!) and just bought the materials at Michaels/Office Depot. Invites I ordered a semi-DIY pocket fold kit from ww.cardsandpockets.com and LOVE them! Such an affordable option for pocketfold incvites! Odds and Ends I ordered my bridesmaid jewelry from an etsy seller. Wild Orchid Gems by wildorchidgems on Etsy I also couldn’t justify spending tons of money on real flowers from the resort so I had another etsy seller make my flowers. They were only $130 total! Etsy sellers store: Custom wedding flowers bridal bouquets and more by jdleggans

The dress Wow this was tough. I’m so indecisive and had a REALLY hard time with this part. I tried on about 200 dresses and only one stood out in my mind but it was $1200…something I knew my fiancé would NEVER go for since we’re paying for this all on our own and just bought a house. I ended up purchasing two sample dresses on ebay for a total of $500. However I wasn’t in love with either and after a few months neither fit  I’ve sold one and am still trying to sell the other. However, I kept obsessing about the Maggie Sottero dress I fell in love with and after reading some reviews of replica dresses from China, ordered one from eBay Store - gianinarbridal: wedding dress bridalgown, party evening or bridalmaid I’m so in love with it and am glad I didn’t settle (though I would have LOVED to have had the real thing). I paid $180 including shipping. The wedding bands Mine with E ring: I wouldn’t think it but he’s pretty obsessed with sapphires (Not his birthstone but is mine!). He looked at many rings with sapphire accents for me but decided they just didn’t look right. Instead, he’s getting sapphires in his ring! His band:

Preface: Sorry in advance, this is going to be really long. Apparently I took photos of EVERYTHING. How we met It was my senior year in college, fall semester. It was the toughest semester I’d had. While putting off studying for a test I was watching tv and saw a commercial for match.com. I laughed and figured the people using the website would never be as good looking as the people on the commercials. Wanting to procrastinate more however, I got onto the site and signed up. A few days later Kevin contacted me. At first I was skeptical but finally agree to meet him after we emailed back and forth for awhile. He was also just bored and killing time since he’d move to the states from Canada for work a couple months prior and was alone and bored frequently. Now it seems weird that we met this way I haven’t known him all my life. He knows me better than anyone and it seems like he’s just an extension of myself. The engagement After a year of dating I moved to another state to pursue my master’s degree. We did long distance for a year when he was finally able to get a job near me. We moved in together in Sept of 2008. My fiance randomly decided to go on a picnic in October 08 when the weather is turning cold in Colorado (where we were living). All that day he was after me to hurry home so we could go. Immediately upon walking in the door he says to me, "Why is your hair up?!". I told him that she didn't have time that morning to take a shower. He then told me that I had ruined the picnic and that's when I knew something was up. He had EVERYTHING ready for the picnic and was just sitting there waiting for me (he's usually not so helpful). It was 45F (7C) that day. We ended up driving about an hour up to Estes Park, Colorado and sat at a picnic area by lake Estes. On the way up there he was dancing retardedly in the car and said "if you're lucky you'll get to see me dance like this for the rest of your life". Then he asked me "for future reference, when I propose do I have to be down on a knee?" Obviously he's not good at hiding things and this is the point where I start to feel sick (with anticipation). I wrapped myself in a blanket and was wearing flip flops (cause he wouldn't let me take two minutes to change my shoes at home) while he was building a make shift fire to cook chip dip on. It was freezing and in Kevin's words - the picnic didn't go as he had planned. He told me that he had something to make up for it though. We drove back to our house and Kevin gets the gas fireplace going (which I had been asking for). He made me hide in the kitchen while he did this but I could hear what was going on. So we sat by the fire sipping wine in the dark. I could tell he was a little on edge. At one point I commented that I loved him - his response was "I hope so...". He then pulled out the ring box (which I had seen him move from his jacket pocket to his jean pocket earlier) and asked me if I knew was it was. In shock, I said no. He opened it and asked me to marry him. After MUCH crying, I said yes. The ring The wedding I think I picked our colours before we decided on anything else, pink and green. We picked February 23, 2010 as our wedding date and eventually chose Breezes Runaway Bay (Jamaica) as our resort (definitely the toughest part!!). We have 30 guests coming! My bridesmaids got their dresses before I decided on mine. They chose their own knee length dresses in “clover†by Alfred Angelo (seen later in pictures). My MOH will wear a pink knee length dress but has yet to find it. The Honeymoon After spending a week with friends and family at Breezes Runaway Bay, we’re flying to Puerto Rico to go on a 7 night southern Caribbean cruise with Carnival! I haven’t been on a cruise and I’m super excited!!

Yippee! I can't wait to see it!

Quote: Originally Posted by christinak82 thats so awesome I got an answer back from gianinarbridal offering me the possibility to use a type of satin which is 100% polyester and therefore not so heavy. they said that its basically just a little thinner but it has the same look as the heavy satin. and the best thing about it is, I get it for $150. DECISION MADE I will go with ivory as well. I think it just makes your skin tone look nicer. and a big advantage is also that if you dont have those crazy bleachy-white teeth the contrast wont be that crazy in pictures and your teeth wont look yellowish. kjt, I think your dress color is beautiful. and your husband wont see the difference. I hope he wont wear a white suit though ;-) Haha I don't know what he's wearing (um yes, my wedding is like 19 days away). He had a white shirt for our pre-wedding reception (I had a WHITE dress too) but he said he wants a new one for the wedding. I'm not too worried about it either way... Yes, my dress isn't very heavy at all which is great. It's heavy enough that it doesn't feel cheap but not so bad that i'll get sick of hauling it around the airport!

Quote: Originally Posted by christinak82 wow, its absolutely beautiful and exactly the "shine-level" I want thank you so much for posting those pictures. it helps me a lot. I think I will go with the cheaper one. just to make sure: your dress is also from gianinarbridal, right? what color did you choose? That's correct! I went with "light ivory". In person and against white things you can tell it's not off white. But I never really like off white dresses on me because they didn't compliment my skin tone. My fiance threw a fit about it not being "white" (hasn't seen it though) but I really don't think you can tell in the pictures. And i'm sure once i'm out in the bright sunlight you definitely won't be able to tell. Still, I won't have that off white clash against my skin! I ordered a veil online and there was no light ivory option so I just ordered ivory. I think because of the transparent-ness of a veil you can't really notice that the dress isn't full on ivory like the veil.

Quote: Originally Posted by christinak82 thanks for your help, kjt. would you say that the polyester taffeta looks shiny or is it more matt-looking? my only concern is that the fabric could look cheap in comparison to satin which always looks more fancy and elegant. but I agree with you that it is a little too much to spend more than double of the price to go with the silk taffeta. No, my dress is fairly shiny. Here's some pictures: with flash I think: Just in our living room one afternoon, blinds closed. another for reference

Quote: Originally Posted by christinak82 Hi girls, yippiiieeh.... I just got an offer from gianinarbridal. they will make my dream dress... it is a combination of a bonny (nr. 853) and maggie dress (fiorella). they gave me two fabric options with different prices. now I am confused. one is polyester taffeta ($150) and the other is silk taffeta ($350). seems like the silk taffeta has a better quality?! I dont know what to order... I prefer something that looks similar to satin but is not so heavy. does anybody know the difference between those two taffeta types or is there any other fabric that looks satin-like I dont know about? I also have to say that I am really impressed by their quick and nice response and their service. I will definitely post some pictures as soon as I get them. I went with the cheaper taffeta. I didn't see how the other material could be that much better that it would warrant spending twice as much. I LOVE the material. It's really soft, not like I expected when the other MUCH more expensive option had "silk" in the name. I think it's actually fairly silky and a MUCH better taffeta than say... Davids Bridal which I thought sounded like tent material when it moved. It's semi-thin but I don't know that the other material would be better regarding thickness. I think it's really just up to you and what you want to spend. Think of it this way, you're not really going to ever know what the other option is like. So if you're comfortable spending twice as much thinking the product is much better, then do it! If you don't think it'll matter then save some more money. Just my two cents..

Quote: Originally Posted by honey740 I got these too, but a different person on etsy. take a look at my wedding review for the pictures Neat! Did you use your dress material as well? I'd love to see pictures of yours (if you happened to take any)!

That bites!! I was really concerned about it too but the only thing I had done was to have it shortened and to have a bustle added. I think it helped that I got a corset back, it's alot easier to "mold" the dress to your body that way. Maybe the seamstress could add one (assuming it's not) and that would help? I don't know what problems you're having or if it would go with the dress style but it's a suggestion..

I got the hankies earlier this week and they're even cuter than the pictures!! They're relatively soft - not the best i'd imagine but not scratchy by any means. Like I said, you could always buy your own if you're worried about quality. I'm just thrilled with how they turned out!

I think I've heard this name on the forums before but can't remember specifics. Check out the knock off dress thread here or try searching for "DHgate" http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...ts-here-36700/

oops, double post

I recently bought a glass vase with our future last name initial etched in it at hobby lobby. I want to seal it with wax (and actually make it a candle on top) but also don't know how to do this at the resort - or how to get it packed tightly enough that the wax doesn't just run through the sand. I'm actually not the one who's concerned about it staying as it will be on the day we're married but my fiance is the one who's concerned! haha. There's no top to the vase so I can't close it either. I might end up carrying it on my lap. We, too, are heading off on a cruise after a week at the wedding resort. We have to fly from Jamaica to puerto rico so i'm slightly worried but it'll be fine even if we have to re-do it at home. My issue right now is with the pouring vases. What are you guys using? I really really want to stay away from glass because of the weight and breakability issues. I'm trying to take as few breakables as possible. My fiance suggested taking empty liquor bottles from the resort to use but i'm not so sure about this... I think my mom would flip out. (moms are pouring the "foundation"). Has anybody come across any good alternatives to glass??

SOLD! Thanks luciel2820!

Quote: Originally Posted by speedy130 Hi all, I love this thread, you all look beautiful! I'm looking for some advice. What do you think of these two gowns? Far and Away : Style 878 From AllureBridals.com Private Label By G I love the first one since it is a destination wedding, but I do love the mermaid style too! I have tried both on, and I love them both...help! WOW If I had the body to pull it off i'd for sure go with #1. It's so sophisticated and sexy!! But I think you'll look great in either. I knew I didn't want a super heavy dress but I wasn't really that concerned about getting something to fit the weather... it's more about what made me happy and I can deal with anything for a few hours! Get what makes you happy and not what you think you "should" get!

Quote: Originally Posted by HereFishie I put my deposit on my dress from gianinarbridal today!!! So excited! Yippeee!!! Make sure you let us know how it turns out!!

Well....I'm not totally sure how soft they are. I don't actually have them yet. That picture is the proof picture she sent me. I'll let you know as soon as I get them though. Another option would be to just buy your own hankies and have somebody do the rest. Then you can guarantee the quality of the hankies. I had to mail her my dress material anyway so it wouldn't have been a problem to just include the hankies if I had them myself.