lolkitteh

Quote: Originally Posted by Chanti I don't like giving up my good food, nor my wine!!! Right there with ya, Chanti! FH and I are both foodies, and normally enjoy good wine with dinner. Luckily, he is trying to lose a few lbs for the wedding, to, so that helps a little - if he doesnt overeat, it helps me stay in control, too. His calorie budget is way higher than mine, though, so I have to suffer while he sips his yummy sangiovese and I have my water. :-( And he is losing weight faster than I am without exercising!!!

For a Vegas wedding, we kind of wanted to do favors with a Vegas theme. We got those little favor boxes and labels in our colors (Label says "Lucky in Love"). We will also have bottles of wine wrapped in bottle bags for the center of the table for each guest in lieu of an actual centerpiece. (Kind of like a "breakaway centerpiece" concept but not really - it's really just using the wine bottle favors as the centerpiece) Now, for the little boxes, instead of filling them with the standard jordan almonds or some such, we will put in a couple things more related to Vegas. 1) Some dice 2) Advil 3) A couple of personalized Hershey nuggets(because people still want chocolate, regardless!) Is this a weird combo of stuff to stick in a favor box? Do you think guests will think it's weird to get Advil in their favor box along with the dice and chocs? Or will they get the joke?

I think it is going to be really tough to feed 200 people with a $1000 budget. I am planning an informal party with appetizers only using drop-off catering for only 40 people, and my budget for beer, wine, champagne and maybe a couple bottles of liquor alone is going to be about $500. My total budget is $1000, and I think I may even be going over that a little. One thing you could do is forgo the alcohol and just do soft drinks. Even if you only do beer, by itself it would eat a huge chunk of the budget. A keg provides around 200 12 oz servings - if each of your guests has 2 beers, you'd need 2 kegs, which would run around $160-200. So let's say you limit to only soft drinks, then a 2L bottle of soda will cost around $1-2 a bottle (hopefully you can get a sale or bogo for these). Each one has 8 8oz servings. If each guest has 2-3 drinks, that's 50-75 bottles, or around $50-150, depending on what kind of deal you can get on them. Assuming the best case scenario for drinks, that leaves you with $750 for food. That leaves $3.75 per person. If you ONLY had one burger and one dog per person, and you don't have to pay for someone to cook it, you might be able to pull this off. But that doesn't account for plates, forks, napkins, condiments, etc. Not to mention that some people are going to eat more than that, and you won't really have a budget for side dishes that others are going to want, like salad, fruit, and other picnicky type foods. If you really can't go over $1000, I would suggest only having a "cake and champagne" or "cake and punch" type of reception, with maybe some finger foods and snacks. That way, people come only expecting to share in the wedding cake and toast with champagne and won't expect to be fed a meal (schedule the AHR outside of mealtimes) IMO, having cake and champagne or cake and punch is perfectly fine for a wedding celebration, especially since this is an AHR. In the end, this really should be seen as an opportunity for people to celebrate your marriage together and share in the wedding cake and toast since they might not have been able to do that at your DW - I don't think you need to feel pressured to provide anything more elaborate than that.

Sorry, I didn't realize that you said in your OP that you had no MoH and forgot to include the Ring bearer and FG. thus, my suggested order would be: Walking to Bridal Party song: 1) GM 2) GM 3) BW 4) FH+FMIL 5) BM 6) BM 7) BM 8 Ring Bearer 9) Flower Girl Walking to Bride's Processional Song: 10) You+Dad

I was going to do something like the Adesso albums (New Digital Photo Guest Books at Adesso Albums) but then I saw this post using a whiteboard and am totally going to do that instead! http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...731#post475204 I plan on making a photobook out of the pictures I get and purchased 2 handheld whiteboards to do this with. We will attach a disposable camera to each whiteboard, but also give guests the option of using their table cameras along with the boards. I'm going to ask key people to help get guests to do this during the cocktail hour and reception, and have printed instructions on what to do to leave at the escort card table and each table. We're also having an informal party after the reception, so that'll be another time where I can get people to have fun with it. We figure that the drunker people get, the funnier it'll be. (We also think we might need to make 2 books out of the photos - one g-rated, and the other to include the ones you might not want grandma to see --hehehe)

Congratulations to everyone who regularly posts to this thread! Please keep your posts coming! I have to confess that I subscribe to this thread to motivate myself to exercise everyday, but haven't contributed much at all up to this point. Walked 2.5 hours yesterday (have to take it easy since I threw out my back about 1.5 weeks ago) and slowly getting back into it. Down 6 lbs from my beginning weight in the middle of Jan. 8 lbs to go! It's been a hard-fought battle for me, since it's mostly diet that will cause me to lose weight (I'd already been exercising regularly for years) and my body is slow to respond. Keep it up, ladies! Persist, and you *will* see results. :-)

We only have one attendant each (Best Woman and MoH), and my assumption was that the BW and FH would already be up front as is the norm, and as suggested by the other posters here. However, my WC pointed out that it makes for a nicer video to have the groom's side also walk up as a formal part of the processional as you propose to do, and suggested that his BW walk up by herself, groom walks up by himself, then my MoH, then me. In my case, the BW will not have a bridal bouquet (corsage only), but the MoH will. The BW and MoH will also be clearly dressed differently, so it's pretty obvious whose side is whose. So in your case, you could have an order like this: 1) Walking to Bridal party song: GM-->GM-->BW-->(FH + FMIL)-->BM-->BM-->MoH 2) Walking to Bride's processional song: (You+Dad) As you said, the BW and BM/MoH will be dressed differently, so no one should be confused by this. The fact that the groom follows his attendants will also be a clear signal that the BW is on his side. I'd also suggest asking your WC or Officiant for advice - I'm sure they have both seen all kinds of configurations and would have suggestions.

Quote: Originally Posted by VegasWedlockInvitations I'm so sorry that happened. That stinks! I'm glad you found an alternative. Thanks. It kind of pained me to add the add'l cost of the replacements (which I ordered today) + postage, etc. in my budget spreadsheet. For what we have now paid in total for this fiasco, we could have had letterpress invites! Oh well. I don't know if we will ever get our original ones back, but either way, it'll make for a good laugh and a good story someday. But I have to say I am pleased so far with my ordering experience with Wedding Paper Divas - thanks again Jess, for that tip! Very fast turnaround for their standard invites, and I only had to pay $10 extra for rush processing. Plus they had a couple of coupon codes on the site for an add'l 10-15% off, which took some of the sting out!

Recently, I discovered from reading other etiquette boards, that you are supposed to pay for bridal party travel and lodging, BUT, in modern times, in practice, this isn't always done. My attendants (we only have a MoH and BM, who is a woman) already booked and paid for travel, so I am paying for everything else wedding-related. I actually felt kind of bad about this, because I had a feeling that I should have offered to pay for travel beforehand, but my MoH was quick in getting a good travel deal and wanted to go anyway! We will pick up everything else that is a wedding-related expense, so in essence, they won't pay for anything else that a normal guest wouldn't pay for. So in the end, I will pay for "Day of" hair and makeup ($155 per person), and MoH dress ($300). I am also buying manicures and pedicures ($110 per person) the day before and getting them the regular "thank you" gifts, for which I've budgeted around $200. I bought some pearl and topaz earrings and an estee lauder collectible compact for my MoH. We will also ask the photographer to get individual "glamour shots" that don't look too wedding-like so that they each have hot pictures of themselves all made-up which we will present in nice frames (IE, pictures just for them and their SO's to enjoy that don't necessarily look like they were in a wedding!)

Thanks, everyone for all the help and advice! By way of update, last night I went to Wedding Paper Divas, set up an account, picked out an invitation, and have it all queued up to order. FI wants to wait one more day, since there seems to be some more information coming up on the whereabouts of our original invites. So at worst case, I will just pay expedited shipping and processing fees and should be able to get new ones by the end of next week if I wait another day. In the meantime, our stopgap STDs will be going on on Monday. Sigh. I spent so much time picking out the original invites in our colors, paid extra for thermography, agonized over spelling, wording, addressing, etc., so they could be "perfect". Now I just don't care - I need to get something out, even if it's printer paper scrawled with crayola! LOL. Oh well. Another lesson in "it's all small stuff" :-)

Here's at least one other thread on this subject: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t37216

This thread has some neat ideas: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t25731

Quote: Originally Posted by Ayita Silly question, but why do you need new invitations ? Is it because of the RSVP ? For silly reasons I wont go into here, FI thought it was best to centralize the invite process through his Personal Assistant, who lives in a U.S. city, while we were out in Europe. We sent them out to her, now they are lost between the European post and DHL. We have been trying to track them down for 1.5 weeks, but now I feel that we just cannot wait any longer to just get new ones. I feel just as responsible for agreeing with FI to send them to his PA, so I have to take some blame for this screw-up, too. Thanks, to everyone for all their helpful suggestions so far! And Jess-wedding paper divas looks really good! The price is right, and the shipping times look really fast, too! This may be the answer! I'll let you ladies know how it all works out.

I find myself in the position of having to reorder my wedding invitations that are pretty much on the verge of being late getting out already for my may 09 wedding! Let's just say that they were addressed, stamped, and ready to go about a month ago...and then FI was assigned the job to get them out. Long story short, they didn't make it to the P.O., disaster ensued, and now I have to reorder new ones. I've re-contacted the vendor that did the orignial invitations, and although I am still working on it, it could potentially take another 3 weeks to get new ones! Anyone have any suggestions on where I can get nice invitations turned around within about a week or so time? I've already put in a rush order to Vistaprint for STDs as a stopgap, but need the formals with RSVP, etc. info to go out really soon. I don't want to go the Vistaprint route if there are nicer (but FAST) options, but will if I have to. I figure tomorrow is the latest I can find and decide on a vendor, or go the Vistaprint route.

I don't think it's rude to bring young children to a wedding, assuming that the wedding invitation was extended to the whole family. However, if your invitation does not include the children, then yes, it is rude to bring them, just as it would be rude to bring any other uninvited guest. I would add, however, that if a parent knows that their child is incapable of putting on a "public face" in a formal situation such as a wedding, then that parent should have the good judgment not to bring their child, invited or not. If it's pretty clear that the child in question is incapable of putting on a "public face" (IE, will run around disturbing other guests, has crying or screaming meltdowns, cannot sit quietly during the ceremony, etc.) then yes, it is rude of the parent to bring them, despite an invitation. That said, parents of young children are going to have a really hard time if they cannot bring thier children to a destination wedding. While I think it is OK to specifiy that certain events in a wedding (such as the ceremony or reception) are adults-only, I really don't think it's polite or practical to prevent parents from bringing their kids to the destination - it's their money, their vacation. Also remember that children are family members - some people just would not consider traveling without them. Just think about how hurt you might feel if someone told you that you could come to their destination wedding, but not your husband. We have a few guests with young children who will not be invited to the ceremony and reception. We have made a childcare service available to those people. I'm sure that the resort can help you arrange this, too. Another option is to choose an adults-only resort, which will ensure that not only your wedding, but your destination is childfree. Again, however, expect that many people with children will simply choose not to go in this case.

Anyone inviting the officiant (and spouse) to the wedding reception? I realize that this would be normal for an at-home wedding, but considering that we don't have a personal relationship with the officiant and he came with our package, I'm wondering what is the norm here. I mean, we won't even meet him until the day before. I'm sure he will also be doing multiple weddings on the same day as ours. On the same note, are you inviting your WC's to your reception? (As a guest, not as a WC)

Quote: Originally Posted by frazali I had an unexpected result - some people thought that it was a gift-grab - or reminder that they hadn't given a gift. I have no idea how they thought that, but I will not be doing the same thing this time! No thank you notes to people who just attended and did not give a gift. It really hurt my feelings that some people thought that I was angling for a gift when all I was doing was thanking them for attending. This is unfortunate, but you were still correct from an etiquette standpoint - those who thought it was a gift grab were the ones who were wrong. But here is a situation where someone has to weigh the importance of "proper" etiquette vs. the audience for it. "Proper etiquette" doesn't win every time, IMHO, even though I'm sure Miss Manners might disagree with me. I will personally send out cards and notes to everyone who comes. Destination wedding or not, a guest is taking time out of their day to honor you, support you, and celebrate with you. They had to clear their schedue, get their sunday best from the dry cleaner, attend the ceremony and recpetion, possibly sit through a long religious ceremony that had nothing to do with their own faith, all on the HC's behalf. That deserves some recognition, DW or not, gift or not. And gifts for weddings should always be considered optional, even though guests are more than likely going to get one. The real "gift", as someone mentioned earliar, is that someone thought enough of you to attend your wedding.

Quote: Originally Posted by big3n09 I apologize for not mentioning the timing on when the cards should be sent out but considering you have a whole year to do it, that's even more of a reason to make sure you send them. That's actually a misconception. Proper etiquette dictates that guests have a year to send a gift after the wedding. For thank you cards, they should be sent within two weeks of receipt of a gift prior to the wedding, and within two to three months afterwards. 2-3 months is still quite a long time, though.

Thank you cards should be sent to *everyone* who attends the wedding, whether or not they brought a gift. This goes for all weddings, destination or not.

I personally bought a "regular" cake cutter and server from Mikasa that I am dressing up with ribbon for the "Big Day". All the "wedding" ones I saw were just impractical for everyday use, and I thought it was silly to buy something that I couldn't use again. My Mikasa set in practical stainless steel was around $25.

Heheheh... I emailed my baker 2 pages of color markups to those two Vegas inspiration pics with detailed instructions....(yeah, I'm obsessive) I hope it comes out, too! Either, way, I am looking way forward to breaking my wedding diet by eating multiple slices of that cake! Our flavors will be cinnamon with bavarian cream and chocolate with raspberry mousse. Mmmmmm.....cake.....

Here are the inspiration pics for my Vegas wedding. We will go with a combo of the two looks, in our colors.

Thanks Inked1! The prices are around what I expected. I'll be staying at the MGM for a little bit before my wedding, and thought I might need to get the roots touched-up a bit beforehand. Let us all know how the hair and makeup here turns out!

This may or may not address the intent of your question, but many Vegas brides have engagement or TTD pictures done at the Neon Boneyard (The Boneyard) where, among other things, they have "retired" neon signs, including ones for Vegas wedding chapels. Most Vegas-based photographers I'm sure can help you with this if you want pro pictures, or you can try for a tour and snap a few on your own.

If you really think you will go this route, then I would strongly recommend that you handle the after-ceremony dinner not with an invitation, but rather as an announcement that you will be having dinner together at X restaurant. That frees you from having "invited guests" (which implies a host, for which no guest should ever be expected to pay) to people who are joining you for a get-together afterwards. In this case, you would not send out an invitation, but an announcement of your wedding, with perhaps a notation such as "Following the ceremony, Mr. & Mrs. Msklee will be dining at restaurant X. Friends and family may opt to join them for a (choose appropriate wording, such as "no-host" or "dutch treat") meal at that time." This thus implies that people are not invited guests, but will merely have the option of joining you for a get-together if they so choose. If you are going to have issues with headcount (as in, you need numbers to give the restaurant), then I would get a close friend to organize this for you, so you don't give the appearance that you are really inviting people and asking them to pay. The reason why you never "invite" someone (even close friends and family) without fully hosting an event such as a wedding is because it is an event where you honor yourself. If you ask people to then pay for an event that honors you, then the underlying message is that you are saying to people, "Honor me, and pay for it, too", which creates an awkward situation for all involved. If you have a close friend manage the process for you, that divorces you from the situation. Having a friend organize it would be far more graceful than "inviting" people yourself and then asking them to pay. I do think you should weigh the risks of doing any of the above vs. simply throwing a celebration that you can afford - cocktail/appetizer receptions, lunches, or dessert and coffee receptions can be really nice and inexpensive. Among multiple hits, Googling the issue brought up at least these two threads about the same question. Responders on these boards were far less gentle about their opinions on the matter. Message boards Invitation Wording - Guest Pays for Own Meal at Reception - The PASH Wedding Forums and Message Boards Whatever you do, good luck and best wishes! I sincerely hope you at least come close to having the wedding of your dreams.