taylorwd

Yup, negotiate with your TA and see what she can do. Booking with DW.com comes with other perks and promotions, so if you like what they're offering outside of room price, that could offset the price.

Otherwise, switch TAs. There's no harm and you're perfectly within your right to do so. There's no special etiquette involved; your DW.com TA will know it was b/c of price.

Come to think of it, I'm surprised pricing is already out for 2012. Lucky you getting an early start!!

YAY Meghan WELCOME BACK MRS!!!!! So glad to hear everything was just perfect for you!!! I can't wait to see some pictures of you as a gorgeous bride!

I agree, it's so great you have the same photog doing all these different shoots for you. Lucky you! You have such great memories to treasure!

At first when I couldn't find anyone in Austin I checked out Houston. There are a TON there! All with different styles. I really liked Studio 563. They have an Austin office but only the Houston one does BD. Also, lots of ladies on BDW go with Houston Boudoir--they do a very air brushed look if that interests you.

If you don't find someone you like in Houston and want to consider Austin, holy cow my BD photog is ridiculously good. She's constantly featured here for her wedding photography and was just featured in the newest edition of The Knot Texas.

Not strange at all! I love getting the banners. Now, I think it's time you stopped referring to yourself as a newbie around here


Meeeeee! Please PM me the link!

Aw, sorry you don't get to go!!

We were really excited about the first anniversary stay too, but then we did the math. See, we booked during post-swine flu rates and got a great deal. On the day we checked out, rates for a double room had gone up by $200/night from the time we booked. We have a $750 credit toward an anniversary stay, so that doesn't even buy us 2 nights at rack rates. *Sigh* we were sad when we realized that. We'll probably go somewhere else where our money will stretch a bit farther.

Hoooray, congratulations!! Time to move on to planning! Or in your case, since you're so far out, thinking about planning!

This sounds like so much fun!!!! I'd love to see the pictures. Do you still have my email or should I PM you?

Yes, HAPPY WEDDING DAY MEGHAN!!!!!!!!

She was the first and now she's July 2nd, right? Or do I have it backwards...

Oh I don't miss wedding dreams! Just know every bride has them and they disappear instantly right after the wedding.

I'm so jealous you got to do a meet up! I think that would be really fun.

Congratulations!!

I think you can definitely have a wonderful, wonderful time just doing the small dinner for your wedding and focusing on the rest of your trip. Everyone will be in celebratory mode, and it doesn't matter if you're at a bar or on a dance floor with a DJ.

Celina is another bride doing this too, I think. Or was until she had to change resorts. Um, her username is something like cjbarder0...

Thank you! We really did have fun. I'm okay with the other details not having worked out. I'm the only one that knew what it was supposed to be. The biggest "OOPS!" was that I completely spaced on the wedding favors. We were in such a rush to get everything off the boat. I've decided I'll mail them to people. I wouldn't normally add that extra task onto my life, but half the people brought gifts, so I'll just include it in their thank you's.

OMG I love this story! The way you describe it all with such a good attitude is quite amusing. You got some really good side-of-the-highway pics out of it! I totally thought those were just made up shots. I'm glad it all worked out, but I do hope you raise some holy hell from them.

BTW, love it that you're changing your siggy pic so often. It's fun to see all the different pics!

Aw, thanks Amy! I really do love my dress! It was fun to be able to get to wear it again. I think I can officially retire it now.

Are you kidding me, your New England-themed AHR is going to be a blast!! I can't wait to see the pictures. When is it?

Thanks ladies!!! We really did have a good time. Everyone keeps saying they can't wait for their next party barge experience. DH's work friends who were there even went straight to their boss on Monday morning and said they needed to rent one for their next team building exercise. Love it!

Amanda, this is a pretty mild summer so far (by Austin standards). It was mid-90's that day and breezy once we were moving on the water. We've only hit a 100 degrees a couple times so far this year, which is weeeeeeird for Austin. I'm just glad the hurricane held off until this week. It's been nonstop rain for 3 days now.

Thank you!!

Do you live somewhere that you could do the boat?

Thank you Meredith!

Congrats, that's hard to do!! TYs are so tedious.

Hi ladies! Things have been crazy lately, but I've finally had a chance to put together a quick slideshow of our AHR this past weekend. We had sooooo much fun! As most of you know, we rented a party barge and took everyone out on the lake for a few hours. I had planned all kinds of details, but once we got on the boat, none of that seemed important anymore. Some things got set up but I just threw the rest by the wayside so we could all have a good time. And fun we had!!

 

I've created a quick slideshow highlighting the fun:

 

Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket

AmyKH, LOVE the wedding video!! It looks like you all had such a good time. And I also checked out Chris's pics on FB. Fab!!! So jealous you got pro shots for this event.

I've created a quick slideshow highlighting our AHR this past weekend.

 

Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket

 

As most of you know, we rented a party barge on Lake Travis and took everyone out for a few hours. I had planned and planned for this, having almost as many details as our wedding. Some materialized and others never happened once we got on the boat. For example, I had planned to decorate the cupcakes with pink and orange cocktail umbrellas but well, that just didn't seem to matter when the time came! We were having too much fun and the most important thing was getting the cake cut before a big wave hit and toppled everything over, LOL. Such is life when you choose a party barge to host your event! Details or no, everyone had such a blast.

Congratulations! You sound like things are well under way. I had Karilyn as well and she did a fab job!

My sunset cruise got canceled b/c of rain, but that's what we were supposed to do Friday night before the wedding. I'm not sure who you're looking at, but I was going to use Paradise Catamarans. It would have been 40 minutes each way on buses but with 2 hours of sailing time. This was one of the things I was most looking forward to and am sad we didn't get to do it. I've heard nothing but rave reviews.

I am of a different opinion than Artistique. Sunset for me was 7:05pm and I chose a 4pm ceremony so that I would have plenty of good light. I didn't want long shadows in my pictures. I think it all depends on what you're looking for. If you do want sunset time, make sure you see some shots from the photog you pick taken at that time of day. Not everyone is good at capturing shots in that light.

And yes, picking the photog is definitely hard! For us the resort was the hardest choice, photog came a close second!

You can check out mine, Andrew Jordan Photography. There are links under my siggy. If I recall your budget was $5000 for photog? He'd be waaaay under that! Are you thinking of bringing one with you, choosing one from the resort, or someone else in Mexico? I can think of a few other names if Andrew isn't your style.

LOL my birthday was a week before my AHR and I didn't want to do ANYTHING! I was so planned out. We ended up doing a quiet dinner with just 3 of us but honestly I could have just stayed home on the couch!

AmyKH, I see from your siggy that you have another reception in a couple months?! Wow girl you really know how to get married!!!! As I recall, this one is being throw for you, right?

Hiya ladies! Wow, I go MIA for a week and have sooooo much to catch up on!

 

My AHR rocked and was so so so so so much fun! It was full of good times and mayhem out on the lake. Perfect weather. I'll post some pics when I have the chance. Everyone was so excited that I wore my dress, and for those of you who remember my botched wedding cake, my AHR cake and cupcakes were perfect!

 

Lindz, I am officially off the To Do list! HOOOOOORAY!

 

Celina, I'm jumping in a little late on this. Any updates? My personal opinion is that you picked AB for a reason, and most likely the #1 reason was it's size. I don't think you should compromise wanting that feature and automatically jump to AS just to stay with Karisma. I think first and foremost you should stick to what you wanted originally, what was on your "Must Have" list. If AS has those things then great, if not I think you'll be happier in the long run switching to somewhere else. I know that means starting all over again, but now that you've done it one time it'll be much easier! Plus, it sounds like Karisma isn't offering you much of an incentive to stay with them. Be happy first with your resort b/c that'll make these last few months before your wedding so much better!

 

CONGRATS!!!!! Just make sure you pop in over here from time to time to tell us how it's going.

 

Sooooooo fun!!!

 

I think I had enough fun for everyone on here! Thank you! I feel lucky to have been able to celebrate twice. And they were both such different celebrations. Some of the details I planned for this worked out well, others were either a dumb idea to try on a boat or didn't matter cuz it was just wonderful craziness!

 

You win as the first 2012 bride I think!

 

I'm doing my NO RAIN dance for ya!

 

Me me me me me! Do you still have my email?

 

Oh nooooooooo! 38 rooms is a ton. I hope your TA helps get the word out about why you're changing resorts. You don't need 75 people calling you asking what's going on. Delegate, delegate, delegate!

 

Recommending BTC is definitely comical given the experience you're after. I hope that after you laughed at her that she came back with something better.

 

It's sad to see so many brides have to change from AB.

 

to you too! So many new brides, it's wonderful!

I think that if you're not including the things listed above, you can definitely do it for 10k no problem! That's a smart number IMO.

Do you have your photographer yet or are you looking for suggestions. There are so many out there and they really run the gamut. And it should be a huge part of your budget--it's the only thing you get to take back with you!

Ooooooh fun! And what a great idea!!!

La Panza es Primero. The hotel recommended it. They were able to accommodate us last minute and had plenty of room for all of us (25 ppl). Plus all 25 people only ended up costing us $300 (bargain!). The food was hit or miss. Mine dish was AWESOME but I think some of the guests thought it was just OK. It's definitely real Mexican but some people may be surprised at what that means b/c they're expecting beans and rice with their meal. The best part for us was that the place has a Mexican wrestling theme--think Nacho Libre! This was a total shocker and hysterical. They even have an area set aside where you can put on masks and wrestle. We got some priceless pictures that night!

Man, I wanna be one of your guests! This all sounds like so much fun. I'm sure you guys had a blast!

Aw, love it!

Yup, I second the "listen to every word" bit. I realized after our legal day that I pretty much have no idea what the judge said other than that the vows were standard. I was too emotional and caught up to listen.

So, I made extra sure that during the ceremony I listened to my brother. We all (DH, myself, and my bro) all put so much into writing the ceremony that I wanted to be sure I heard it. And I'm glad I forced myself to listen or once again, I would have been distracted. DH says he doesn't remember a single word--he was too caught up in looking at me

Yay!!! I remember that moment, too. It was a good one I didn't get the excited bride feeling until 2 days before we left when DH's coworkers threw a luncheon for us. I was too busy wrapping up the neverending little details to get excited. But once that feeling hit it didn't go away!

Aw, what a sweet surprise!

Right there with ya chica! This weekend and then peace out on the wedding planning!

Oh fun!!! I'm quite jealous. Stupid weather.

When you start a skin care regimen, it can take a while to start see the changes. I would say months ahead of time is appropriate. You don't want to try any new products too close to the wedding in case you have a reaction to them. Use an exfoliant regularly, microdermabrasion 1-2x/week, facials not more than once a month or so.