teshy1

Krista -- cute story! The story of how my husband and I met: I was travelling through Europe with two friends of mine in 1999 and we were in London at a hostel when one of my friends, who's a huge U2 fan, saw a guy wearing a U2 shirt. She went up to him and started talking, and after a few minutes, was like "you have to meet my friend Tesia, you guys would get along great." Well, a couple of days later, we were sitting in the dining area of the hostel, when this same guy came in. My friend recognized him and introduced him to me. We definitely hit it off. Too bad we were going in separate directions the next day -- us to France, him to Wales. Fate stepped in, because we ran into each other again in Dublin a week later. Again, we were staying at the same hostel. He walked through the door one evening, and I was like "I know you!" We hung out all night, then exchanged contact info. We kept in touch over the summer, tried the long-distance dating thing (I was in Minnesota, he was in Alberta), didn't really work, but kept in touch over the years. Finally, in 2006, I admitted to myself this was the guy I really wanted to be with, and we started dating again. I moved up to Alberta in 2007 to be with him, and the rest is history...

Quote: Originally Posted by msjulie5475 There are some people who will always complain and find something wrong. Let them be and the ones who want to be there will find a way. I agree with you 100%!

You'll be just fine! I planned my whole wedding in 6 months, including booking the resort and travel. I found that the wedding planning sites that use checklists are geared more toward traditional weddings, and a lot of the timelines don't make sense for a DW. It's good to have a general idea of "must be done by" dates for the major things like ordering your dress, and STDs, but a lot of the little things don't need to be taken care of until later on. Congrats, by the way -- 9 months until your big day!

Quote: Originally Posted by Cindy* I tried on dresses there. I wasn't wild about my experience. I felt they were pushy and just wanted me to buy something. Pretty much every dress, the sales person would tell me looked good and I should get it when some clearly did not. Also she didn't have clips and it is really hard to see what a dress looks like on you when you have to hold it up the whole time. Also a lot of the dresses that I really loved from the website, they didn't have in the store for me to try on. Could just be the salesperson I had but I wasn't wowed by them. In terms of sizing, I found the dresses to be about 1 size bigger. I.e. I wear an 8 and the size 10 dresses fit me best. I had a not-so-great experience with David's Bridal about 5 years ago. I went in to try on a bridesmaid's dress for my best friend's wedding. From the start, I felt the customer service was poor. I was ignored for awhile, then was finally assisted by someone, who didn't seem at all happy to help. After trying on the dress in 2 different sizes, a 4 and a 6, the salesgirl insisted I purchase a size 8, even though the 6 was obviously the best fit and would only require a bit of taking in. I felt like they were trying to squeeze extra money out of me from alterations by making me go with a bigger size. I didn't purchase the dress there, and the last comment the salesgirl made before I left was "if you get it altered anywhere else, we can't be responsible for it!" I wound up ordering the size 6 from the store where the other bridesmaids had ordered from (to ensure the same lot number for colour consistency). To save money, I went to a seamstress elsewhere, who did an awesome job for a fraction of what David's Bridal was going to charge me. I'd have to think twice before going back to David's Bridal.

I think dress #1 is beautiful and looks just awesome on you!

I guess we're all just busy living life, right? I finally got a referral to an obstetrician and have my first appointment with her on July 26, the day before my 19-week ultrasound. Right now, hubby and I are trying to figure out when to sign up for childbirth classes. He gets really busy as the fall goes on, so we're actually looking at doing the classes sooner rather than later. Chris -- cute that you remember your 1st date anniversary! I have trouble remembering what day my guy and I met, but I do remember the date of when we "officially" starting dating... Brooke -- sounds like things are going well with your pregnancy. Congrats on (almost) reaching the halfway point!

IMO, if you have any questions you want answered, you should send off an e-mail to the WC. I don't think there is any "rule" on how soon to contact the WC. In general, WCs are used to lots of e-mails from brides-to-be. Planning details like flowers, decorations, menu, etc., might not be possible until later on. In my case, those details were decided once we arrived at the resort. We did have some info ahead of time, and the major things like date, time, location were of course taken care of months in advance. I say ask away!

I agree with all the other ladies on this one. Once you obtained the original quotes and passed along the info, your job was done. If people want quotes for different travel dates, kids, etc., they should contact the TA directly. We had many of our guests get separate quotes, because they were travelling from the U.S. while our core group was travelling from Canada. All of our guests that dealt directly with my TA found her very helpful and nice, and I didn't have to stress at all about acting as travel agent.

I got my dress at Bridal Debut (Sherwood Park). I loved my dress and was very pleased with the service there, including the work of the seamstress. I would recommend Bridal Debut any day. For the guys' attire, we shopped at The Bay and Sears. They dressed more casually, with khaki pants and short-sleeved blue linen button down shirts. One piece of advice --I'd be shopping for "beachy" clothes right now instead of waiting until the fall. My hubby had a heck of a time finding shirts for a beach wedding when he shopped in November/December. He lucked out by finding shirts he liked on the clearance rack at The Bay (out of season stuff), but had to go to about 4 different Bay stores in Edmonton to get the right sizes...

Wishing your SIL and nephew well and sending positive thoughts.... Congrats on becoming an auntie!

I understand how you feel. I had many discussions with my fiance about his attire. I wanted things to be taken care of, as well, to avoid last-minute headaches. We compromised a bit so that we were both happy, and as it turns out, he came through like a pro and did the shopping on his own with a buddy for his attire and the groomsmen's attire. Do you have a sense of why he wants to wait so long? Let him know why you'd like things to be taken care of by a reasonable date and maybe see if you two can come to an agreement on a "to be done by" date. One issue we ran into was finding resort-type/summer wear in Canada in the late fall/early winter. You may have to take that into consideration when planning. By the way, I had been set on having the guys wear sandals for the ceremony, but they decided the day before to go barefoot, and at that point, I just let it roll off my back. I thought they actually looked cute going barefoot. The girls (of course!) wore heels.

I think communication from the WC really depends on the resort. I don't really know much about brides' experiences with Riu Resorts or Riu Tequila. I was very fortunate to have an excellent WC, who was prompt in answering all my e-mails and worked to accommodate our requests. The only things I had arranged/confirmed ahead of time were the date/time of the ceremony, reception, and dance, the locations of the ceremony and reception, and hiring of the DJ for the dance. We met with the WC the day after we arrived to decide on menu for the reception, the cake, final number of guests, flowers, additional decorations, and transportation to the ceremony. If you have any special requests that would not normally come with a wedding package at your resort, I would try to get ahold of the WC ahead of time to double-check your requests can be met.

I can understand both points of view on this. My grandfather is suffering from dementia, and originally, we had planned to bring him to Mexico for our wedding, but as it got closer to the wedding, his mental health had started to decline even more rapidly. Situation was very similar to your mom's -- he was pretty comfortable in his own surroundings, but when he travelled, he would get easily confused and somewhat agitated. In the end, we decided it would be too hard on him to travel that far for our wedding. It was sad to not have him there, but we were still able to include him in the celebration by having an AHR back in my home state, which he attended. I think you have to decide what's best for both you but most importantly for your mom. Best wishes to you...

We did a bit of an itinerary for our guests, with about 3-4 events planned (welcome dinner, day trip to Tulum, day at Xcaret) and sent it out via e-mail ahead of time. We also let our guests know that everything was optional, so if they wanted to attend events to spend time with us, they could, but that they were more than welcome to do their own thing. When you have 30-40 people, it's hard to get everyone to commit to planned events. After all, it is their vacation, too. All I really cared about was everyone attending the wedding ceremony and reception, the most important part!

Since this is a STD, I think you can still get away with just "Yes" and "No", after all, a "yes" is technically a tentative yes until you send the actually invitations. Just my 2 cents...

Hi Wagnergirls....I'd say go with what will make you the most comfortable on your big day. There is a lot of pressure on us brides to do what we think people want or what they expect, but it is your day, so do it the way you want. Best of luck!

Yay Krista!!!! Have an awesome trip and an awesome wedding, and Congrats!!! I've been gone the past week, visiting my parents at their summer place in Ontario and having our 2nd AHR in Michigan. The party was fantastic -- it was great to see extended family and old friends. Now it's back to reality... Hope everyone had a Happy Canada Day and a Happy 4th of July!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by TonyandTricia We live about 20 blocks south of the plaza, if you're familiar with that area. We bought a house here about a year ago. Before that we lived downtown for several years. Which is where we met...ahhh. So where are you originally from? US or Canada? I'm originally from Michigan (Detroit area). My parents moved to Kansas City about 4 years ago, when my dad took a new job. I've lived in Alberta for not quite 3 years. I moved up here to be with my now-hubby. Brooke -- I have a tiny bump. It kind of looks like I've just had one too many Big Macs or something. I usually have a fairly flat tummy, so I noticed right away when my waistline started expanding. My pants are all snug, but I'm trying to get more use out of them. Thank goodness for loose tops and empire-waist dresses!

Tricia, I've been meaning to ask you -- what part of Kansas City do you live in? My parents live there, way on the north end.

Sabrina, I'm sorry you're so disappointed. Do you think there's a reason why they're keeping their trip short? Maybe they're worried about encroaching on time between you, your hubby, and the new baby? I understand what it's like to live far away from your family and not have people come visit. My brother and sister-in-law never once came to see me in the 3 1/2 years I lived in Minneapolis, and I've now lived in Alberta for nearly 3 years, and I have no hope they'll ever come to see me here, either. It really sucks. Big hugs to you this morning...

How the eff does a jewellry store "lose" an engagement ring Sounds extremely suspicious. I feel really awful for you, ChicagoPT. That store should do everything in their power to rectify the situation.

My husband and I do just fine financially, and both sets of parents are well aware of that, but they insisted on contributing to the wedding, despite our insistance that we were paying for everything ourselves. Refusing money looks bad (it is after all, a gift), so we graciously accepted. My mom said from day one she wanted to pay for my dress, so that's what she did. I think each family is different, and in these economic times, I don't think anyone can assume that family can or will contribute to the wedding. My husband and I are very fortunate to have parents that can afford to contribute something and are very giving people.

We tipped the wedding coordinator (she got the biggest tip, since she did the most work and did a fabulous job), the officiant at the ceremony, the servers at the reception, and the DJ at our dance. Also tipped the stylists at the salon. You could probably do a "lump" tip if you're paying for all the bridesmaids at once. We tipped in US dollars, since US money is well-accepted in Mexico. Oops, also tipped the photographer, of course. Her tip was similar to that of the wedding coordinator.

I haven't had my dress cleaned yet, either! I know it's pretty pricey, so I've been hesitant to do it. It would be nice to have it cleaned and boxed up, though, so I can store it properly. That hasn't been high on my priority list since we found out we're expecting.

Chris -- I'm so sorry you had to go through that all by yourself. I totally understand being stressed and worried that everything will be O.K. Thinking of you and hoping things are just fine. Sabrina -- a little girl, so exciting! Now you get to do all the fun baby girl clothes shopping! Brooke -- how cool that you got to feel the baby move for the first time! I'm anxiously awaiting that, but I probably still have a few weeks before I can experience that. Krista B. -- grrrrr! Frustrating that you have to find a new venue! It's too bad you can't squeeze in the 10 extra bodies. Are you having it indoors or can you move it outdoors? Last Friday, we finally made our first baby-related purchases. We now have a crib, stroller, and car seat, and a pile of gender-neutral baby clothes. My hubby was the one who instigated the buying, which made me feel good, because I feel that it's still hard for him to get used to the idea of us having a baby, since he's not the experiencing the pregnancy symptoms. Anyway, he talks constantly to others about us expecting, which is cool. Back to work again...