ebredhawk

here's the updated list now!! dc22173's clear starfish line-up: 1 ) kimmyg - April 9 - Riu Palace Riviera Maya 2 ) ebredhawk - April 28 - Dreams Punta Cana 3 ) ldeavila - May 10 - Las Caletas, Puerto Vallarta 4 ) butterfly4kathy2 - May 11 - Las Caletas, Puerto Vallarta 5 ) future mrs. kt ellis - June 5 - Scottsdale, AZ 6 ) *kerin28* - June 19 - Worcester, MA 7 ) Bahiabride2010 - July 3 - Punta Cana 8 ) breeze616 - December 10 - Iberostar Rose Hall Beach, Montego Bay

nat, i'm not sure about the seating 15 people together. i would hope that for a "reception" they would make an exception, but that may not be the case. (sweet deal with the shoes too.. i'm sure they will look amazing!) clay, i definitely recommend checking with the resort about this. or maybe someone already has? welcome to the forum though!! we're glad to have you! toya, your dress is gorgeous!!! good for you for going with your gut and getting your dream dress! you don't want to just be satisfied with your wedding dress!

i made mine in late jan or early feb.. i think now is great if they take appts this early! whatever you can do to get things off your list

hoyt, i think they look fantastic! i love when each ring compliments the other!! i have a ring-related confession to make... sometimes i sneak into the room where i am keeping all of our wedding stuff and try my band on with my ring! i can't wait to wear it all the time! i got an email yesterday from my flower lady and ALL of my flowers are DONE!!! bouquets, bouts, centerpieces, everything! i'm going to pick it all up this weekend and then i can knock off half of my to do list!! (the things like setting up what i want reception tables to look like and taking pictures, etc.) of course i will post pictures of all of that stuff too!

eliana - we are just including spaces for them to eat. we're not doing our reception at the resort, but i saw a thread a few months ago about this and it seemed to be the consensus that people included them in the guest count. especially if you're flying people in and they aren't local. welcome terri! you'll be surprised how things will fall into place.. it just seems like a lot of information at once! if you decide to use the resort photographer, then one of the other packages may work best for you, but otherwise, the complimentary wedding package seems to be the most popular. it all really depends on what you're looking for though. if the packages you pay for seem to include a lot of stuff you wouldn't use, consider downsizing! my flowers are all done!!! got an email yesterday that i can pick them all up now! this includes all of my bouquets, bouts and centerpieces!! perfect timing too because we officially leave in less than a month! YIKES!

michele your OOT bags look fantastic!! tara, i love your story too.. very cool! plus, blending families together is no easy task and it sounds like you guys have done a very good job at it! and wtf is up with people not booking or rsvping?! as for the books.. you can def do them on vistaprint for a better price, but if you want a decent price and super amazing quality, check out blurb. they were amazing!!

a word of advice: if you're bringing stuff with you and currently ordering tons of things (whether it be for the wedding, clothes, etc.) keep all of the packing materials. i've accumulated tons of bubble wrap and those air pocket things over the past few months and they make me feel TONS better about bringing down my vases and sand ceremony bottles! here's a link to see what the epoxy looks like. you don't have to get it from a home depot-type place.. i think i got mine at the grocery store in the "hardware" section! GORILLA EPOXY 25 Ml 5 Minute Set All Purpose Epoxy - 42001 at The Home Depot

tracy the brochure looks great! they will be so helpful for your guests! i just noticed that there is now an april 2011 thread. holy moly, ladies!

Quote: Originally Posted by danathebride So I really want to do a sand ceremony, especially because I want to incorporate our son into the wedding, and this would be a great way to do so. However, I CANNOT figure out how I'm going to do this, AND get the vase with the sand home without it spilling or all of the colors mixing up. Anyone else doing this? What is your plan? we bought Gorilla Glue epoxy... those things with the two tubes that create almost a cement when you squirt them out together. we're using that to seal off the top of our sand ceremony bottle after the ceremony. Quote: Originally Posted by cogswellgray Don't they have sand ceromny available there? Or am I misguided? lol. SO just an update on my Deyanira email dillemma, its been 2 months, multiple emails & no response. what would u girls do? the only thing reassuring to me is that she charged by card for the deposit in the middle of all this no responding. I guess I'll send her ANOTHER email asking about the legal ceremony stuff but I feel like its a waste of time! they have a sand ceremony available, but it's just the wording. not all of the stuff that goes with it (the sand, frame or bottles, etc). i also recommend calling or even emailing any of the other WCs. has deyanira been officially assigned as your WC? Quote: Originally Posted by Alliecat023 Do you know if you can you have your own person perform the ceremony? we are using pastor york to avoid the "impersonal" feel you talked about. his ceremonies are beautiful. you can have your own person do it though. if you just do a symbolic ceremony you could essentially have any one of your guests get up there!

jenna and mel.. that is exactly why i keep postits by our bed! i get frantic when i'm about to fall asleep and realize something silly i did! by the way.. i'm on night #3 in a row of dreaming that our photographer and videographer don't make it in until the day after the wedding!

butterfly4kathy2... send ldeavila a pm and see if she's okay with that!

yikes.. so much to catch up on!! thanks for giving everyone the party update though, kim! it was a blast and i was so thrilled that she was able to show up!! we're sort of a low key bunch, but we had a great spot at the bar so we could see the skyline.. it was beautiful! kim, were you there when one of jeremy's sisters got the guy to strip? that was a smidge embarassing!! although i'm a cpa, i have no idea what the deal is with the homebuyers credit, but i hope it all gets figured out for you guys!! i can tell you from experience that the IRS has no sense of urgency whatsoever. i will keep my fingers crossed that everything gets figured out for you guys with enough time to spare before the wedding!! natasha, your bags look great! your guests are going to absolutely love them!

my nightmare: my photographer and videographer don't get there until the day after the wedding! our brains have been taken over by wedding plans!

tam, the planning definitely doesn't end! i just call our AHR "wedding phase 4"! ohh nat, forgot to answer your question. our legal date is actually april 20th. J's birthday is april 1st and we wanted it to be on a tuesday so we could make sure J's daughter could come with us. a small consolation in case she can't come to the wedding.

nat, we actually just ordered our AHR invites the other day. the wording was the HARDEST part because i'm not a cheesey person typically. we made ours on zazzle (great prices) and on the front it says "eat, drink and be married" really big and on the back it says "erin and jeremy will be married on april 28th, 2010 in punta cana, dominican republic. come join us on saturday june 5th for the real celebration!" it's in all different bright colors (i'll take pics when we get them) and then we made RSVP postcards in vistaprint that coordinate with our information booklet (and the same "eat, drink and be married" saying. as for the invites, i have no idea, but i would maybe suggest just sending pre-trip info to the people who have booked from the STD (if it had booking info on it that is). i have never seen the point in sending our formal invites to people you already know are coming!

tracy, both hair styles are really pretty and i agree with meghan, i don't think one will take longer than the other. one thing to consider though is whether you're getting married on the beach. i know some beaches can get pretty windy and i've seen beach ceremony pics where the bride has her hair all in her face! not a great look!

tricia.. definitely go ahead and send him to kim! she leaves early in april i believe so probably the sooner the better. we live in the same city, so getting it from her once she gets back is no big deal at all! here's the updated list too! looks like we need to fill in some of those summer/fall months! dc22173's clear starfish line-up: 1 ) kimmyg - April 9 - Riu Palace Riviera Maya 2 ) ebredhawk - April 28 - Dreams Punta Cana 3 ) ldeavila - May 10 - Las Caletas, Puerto Vallarta 4 ) future mrs. kt ellis - June 5 - Scottsdale, AZ 5 ) *kerin28* - June 19 - Worcester, MA 6 ) Bahiabride2010 - July 3 - Punta Cana 7 ) breeze616 - December 10 - Iberostar Rose Hall Beach, Montego Bay

it must be some law of physics i don't understand, but i seem to be adding things to my to do list faster than i can take them off. just under 6 weeks to go and i don't feel like i've made a dent at all! who knew that it took so much to prepare?

i have pictures of the centerpieces, but i'd rather just post a picture of the whole reception table set-up once i get all of my flowers and everything back! michele, i'm glad your FI's cousin is okay AND it all worked out better for your plans. it stinks that they can't come, but that is a legitimate excuse! much better than people who back out at the last minute because they don't "feel like it"!

kim!! i'll add you to the list and once i get the starfish i'll ship him to you and then when you get back you can send him back to me! worst case scenario i can meet you somewhere to pick him up or drop him off!

at the risk of everyone thinking that i'm a crazy, micro-managing weirdo.. i have attached my wedding packing list. this is ONLY wedding-related things... my packing list for myself and J is in my huge wedding file! i have columns for what it is, whether it's packed yet (or where it will go), if it's in my bins of wedding things and i put special notes of who it needs to go to (deyanira and flori are my two WCs) once we get down there. i also started a key for the name of each person's bag, etc. it may be a jumbled up mess, but it will give you an idea of all of the things we're bringing! and omg, i just looked at the calendar at april 3rd is almost 2 weeks away!! eeeek!! michele, when did you start this thread, last summer? it seems like just a few months ago! Packing List.xls

jmcaulay, we are using la barcaza for our reception. what i know is that if your ceremony doesn't start until 6:30, you won't be able to do la barcaza. they are only permitted to cruise until 10, so your cruise would have to start at 7, which means you'd get picked up at the resort at 6. does it start so late because you are doing a legal ceremony?

it actually does make me feel better that you guys don't think i'm bad!! and michele, it is obviously a personal decision whether or not you want to do gifts.. i did crack up that you already wore the necklace you got for your mom though! you leave in 3 weeks?!? that is nuts!! your wedding is going to seem like forever ago once it comes time for ours!! meghan, that's actually a good idea to lay out things to pack already. i'd be afraid that i'd decide to wear something early and then wash it and forget to put it back with the stuff to pack!

i am a terrible future daughter-in-law, but i'm not doing anything for my in-laws. i made a frame for my mom that has 3 openings.. i included a picture of her and my dad at their wedding (they have NO wedding pictures of their own out), my brother and my SIL at theirs and then an opening for one of our pictures. i got my dad a tommy bahama shirt to wear in the wedding. since my parents are paying for everything, i didn't see a reason to do anything for J's parents (and he agrees). they are paying for his birthday dinner (april 1st) which is when we'll pass out the remaining OOT bags and the BM and flower girl gifts. maybe we'll make them a small album afterwards? who knows!! you girls know that i hate traditions and things you "have to do" anyway!! michele i am SO glad that i helped you out!! anything to bring down the stress! i forgot to tell everyone that we actually have half of our wedding stuff packed and out of our house! my brother and SIL are taking Delta and you can check 2 bags per person for free to the Caribbean (the rest of us can only do 1) so i told them they are required to take a bag for us! all they have to do is carry it.. i did the rest! i was surprised by how little was left after i made it up for them! feels good to have that done too! i can update my wedding packing list (i made a spreadsheet that has everything wedding-related that we're bringing and which bag it's packed in) too! hello freaksih organization.

michele, handing out your OOT bags before you go is probably one of the greatest things to do! it significantly cut down on what i have to bring!! in my information booklet in the bag i explained what everything in the bag was and that they should probably bring everything with them, but this way they had a carry-on bag and could pack the stuff however they wanted and they would know to leave room for it all! glad to hear there wasn't super huge amounts of damage, but it just adds on to the stress doesn't it?! i'm going to go try that VS bathing suit thing right now!! $15 for a suit, count me in! meghan, i just now saw the "days" thing and it is majorly scary!! but in a good way of course