beachbum1285

Chicagobride - Yes photographers are crazy expensive! FI is a photographer too! Dang the luck... too bad he couldn't magically shoot our wedding. Oh Well! We're using Ivan Luckie. Have you looked into him? FI was impressed with his line of work. We couldn't get a welcome party together until the night before the wedding when our last guests arrives. We're just going to go to Senor Frogs and have everyone that wants to join go down there for drinks and it'll also serve as a joint bachelor/bachelorette party.

dianep - I was just thinking the same thing! And what the heck am I going to do with my time after the wedding?! I'm going to enjoy not have to constantly think or do wedding related things but it sure does help the time go by at work.

Quote: Originally Posted by dianep beachbum 1285 - i'm guessing the same will happen for us. i'm not sure exactly what to expect, but we're just going to do the least we can for now. personalized vows and ring exchange will take place in mexico and it'll feel more real then. when are you doing your legal reqs? Oh yeah it will be as unpersonalized at the courthouse as possible. I'll just pretend he's not saying anything and that the day never happened haha. That's so cool about your mom officiating your ceremony. I was hoping my dad would do the same but he didn't want to. Oh well! We're doing ours May 12. We leave for Cancun May 13 and have our ceremony down there May 16.

Quote: Originally Posted by dianep right now, we're looking at may 10. it's a monday, we leave on wednesday and have the ceremony on saturday. we still need to schedule with a judge, but just plan on going to a courthouse. we're keeping it as minimal as possible. we hope to just sign the papers; we are not planning on exchanging vows or rings or anything. we want mexico to be the first time for all that stuff so it's as "real" as it can be! we'll have our two witnesses with us, and likely my mom as well (she's pretty emotional and wants to see that part, even though it'll likely take all of 5 minutes AND she's seen me get married before, ha!) i'm not sure if we'll dress up or anything, but probably nothing fancy! what are your plans? I was hoping to go in and just sign papers but when I called our local courthouse they said we still have to say SOMETHING in front of the judge. A huge BOO on that. We'll see what happens when we get there.

Quote: Originally Posted by dianep i keep telling myself when i start to get stressed that the ONLY things that REALLY matter are rings on our fingers and sand in our toes. AMEN!! I got cheap huppa fabric this weekend... I'm not paying their $450 fee for colored fabric. I found some at a local fabric store for $30 a strand. YEY! I still get my color without breaking the bank! I never find good deals LOL!

LadyDi - Are you also purchasing table cloths for your reception? I was thinking of just doing runners just to give that little pop of color. Since it'll be night time I'm not sure if a full cloth is worth it.

Quote: Originally Posted by dianep does anyone know how many yards of fabric is needed to add a splash of color (in combo with their white) on the chuppah? I would like to know this as well! Quote: Originally Posted by LynnieS haha!! that sounds like fun, and a really good idea! Might steal this from ya LOL thanks. Go right on ahead! This is just how we act sometimes so it fits our personality. Quote: Originally Posted by msglave I agree! I was so pissed yesterday, lol! You just answered a question I had-Thanks! When we first started looking, we saw the $1200 price and my FI said-"How is the DJ only $850 now? I thought it was $1200." That must have included the floor. Now I see why the difference in price. It is no longer a package, it is separate so they can make more $. The moral of the story is: The Royal is always going to get their money! And this is what sucks so much cause I can fathom forking out $700 for a dance floor as *much* as I want to. Guess I'll be dancing in the sand!

Quote: Originally Posted by Lady_Di I bought my organza sashes from here. wedding linens direct home page The prices are pretty reasonable. I bought tulle fabric for $15 from a local store. They were going to charge like $150 just to decorate the huppa without flowers. Um no! . THANK YOU!! I'm going to have to look into this!

Quote: Originally Posted by Lady_Di I am doing similar to the setup as well except the aisle runner. I will be bringing down chair sashes, tulle for the huppa and I am still undecided on the flowers for the huppa because I haven't gotten back the quote from my florist. You can bring decorations for the beach setup such as chair sashes and aisle runner. They won't charge you to put them up. Yeah I'm not doing the aisle runner either I'm just doing the flower petals. I was thinking about bringing the chair sashes and fabric for the chuppa but didn't even bother to look. What kind of prices did you get for yours?

For my OOT bags, I figured once those individual people get there, then we'll give them their bag at that time. I have so many people coming at staggered times and days, and there's no way I'm paying $5 for them to give a bag that I can do myself. My fiance and I were thinking we could play like dumb big kids and leave it at their door, knock, and run real fast. Dumb, by fun.

Quote: Originally Posted by Lisa DSO Wanna hear something hilarious (i must be delirious cuz i find it funny)? My event coordinator for my Dallas reception won't send me a contract so I can send him money and book the venue! lol was he sent from the Michigan office? tee hee I'm giving him benefit of the doubt since he recently replaced someone, but jeez it's been a week and he told me this morning he PROMISED to have it to me by earlier today (still nothing). So comical... Oh no!! I can't believe you have to deal with that here too! I hope it all works out for you in the end. Quote: Originally Posted by luna1923 beachbum1285, That is beautiful!! How are you getting them to set it up like that? What I mean is, what are your specific instructions to them? Are they going to provide the extra tool/fabric in your co-ordinating colours or are you going to take it down with you? What about the two beautiful flower arrangements? Are you paying extra for that? Man, if they can set it up like that, then I will def have it on the beach!!! I sent that picture to the WCs in Michigan and never got a difinite answer so I sent the picture to the onsite coordinators in Mexico. For the chair sashes, flower petals (5 bags) the ribbons on the chuppa and the flower arragements on the posts it's $500. I know to some people it may seem a little steep but I wanted my wedding on the beach and I wanted color! The biggest cost of that is the flowers on the posts ($100 a piece) and I almost decided against it but what the heck. Only live once right??

Agreed!! This board has kept me sane and answered way more questions than they ever could!

luna - you're welcome! I'm setting up my ceremony similar to that.

Thanks everyone for the TTD suggestions. And yes I still plan to wear the dress for the ceremony for sure. It's a really light taffeta material so it actually breathes really well and surprising the dress isn't that heavy. Like y'all said and what I am worried about, since it has a train, even if I bustle it for the TTD session, I just see it weighing me down. Ugh.

OK I'm having TTD issues! I really don't mind trashing my own wedding dress that isn't the issue, but I bought a more traditional dress thinking I was going to have an at home wedding and then switched to DW. So anyone else that is doing this, do you think a more "fru fru" dress will work in the water/sand, etc, or do you think I'd be better off getting a simple J Crew dress? In fact I'll post the pic of it I know fiance doesn't get on this site LOL... the dress in the pic is champagne mine of course is white but HELP please I'm so confused I need girl advise! :/

luna - the chuppa is what you stand under during the ceremony. They give you a chuppa with basic white fabric or it's to my understanding you can request an arch.

So I know I'm at Royal Cancun, but would y'all happen to know of a hair/make up artist in that area I could use or do the ones in PDC travel to Cancun? Thanks!

Quote: Originally Posted by duprk452 Ok this may be a little off topic... BUT does anyone know where to find good bandeau top swimsuits? I'm having a hard time finding any that fit and i am TRYING not to have horrendous tan lines the day of the wedding LOL Try Victoria's Secret I bought one there and I just got this really cute green one at Old Navy. Target has some decently cute ones too if you too worried about not being about to try them on then and there. I'm the same I wanted a couple bandeau tops for the same reason!

Quote: Originally Posted by luna1923 Hey girls, who has hired a photog? The obvious choices (according to this forum) seem to be Elizabeth Medina and Del Sol. Has anyone hired these two? Is anyone aware of their pricing - I would assume given their popularity, they are likely $$$. The costs seem to just keep adding up! Has anyone hired someone besides the two aforementioned that may be a little more reasonable in pricing, but still take creative/artistic photos other than the usual group shots? I'm using Ivan Luckie. He's really quick with his emails and in my opinion very reasonably priced. We're also using him to do a TTD session.

This may sound like a REALLY dumb question, but I am assuming the DJ will play music while everyone is eating dinner right? I can just imagine hearing crickets chriping in the background... When are y'all using the Mexican Trio/Mariachi? My WC suggested during the cocktail hour.

Quote: Originally Posted by luna1923 does anyone know how much extra it costs to extend the reception and what is the max time we can extend it to. I have the Luxury package and want to extend the reception to 4 hours. Or, can we push back the start time of the reception? It just seems pretty retarded that my reception will be ending at 9:00 p.m.! Also, has anyone gone with paying extra for the resort's centerpieces? I really can't be bothered to lug candles, etc down with me - the added weight to the luggage is something that I don't want to deal with (likely cause I won't have any weight allowance left, lol) Mine's over at 9 too! Depending on my mood and if I still feel like partying, I was thinking everyone that feels like it could head to a local bar and continue the celebration. Senor Frogs? Carlos & Charlies? We'll see. I have a TTD session the next morning so I bet I end up crashing haha! I'm paying for centerpieces cause 1. I do not have a creative bone in my body and 2. like you I just don't want that much more stuff to lug down there. I'm already bringing an extra suitcase just for OOT bag stuff so I really didn't want to bring extras for ceremony/reception stuff. Linens and flowers I'm just paying the resort. I don't really care at this point they already put me through enough!

Quote: Originally Posted by dianep ok, thanks! since you're the day after me, that makes me feel a lot better. i just don't want anything to be canceled because i didn't pay "on time" or anything. thanks for the peace of mind as i wait to hear back from my WC! I know what you mean! I hope for a true bill 30 days out so that's almost a week away. We'll see about that! Quote: Originally Posted by jesmcan Hi ladies I don't know if anyone knows the answer to this. On the check list is says the price is $20 per bag of rose petals. How many bags do you think you need for the aisle? I think I'm signed up for 4. I went based on what the WC said about the sweet heart table. She said one bag spreads evenly on the sweet heart table so depending on your guest count/aisle length that's why I did 4. I want it to actually look like there's flowers on the ground. I wish I could actually see the size of this bag... it would it so much easier to decide.

Quote: Originally Posted by dianep for those recently married or with dates coming up soon, when did you make your final payment? i thought they were due 45 days out but i haven't seen or heard anything about it yet. i got my checklist in a week ago along with entree selections and a guest list, but haven't heard anything back. i just sent another e-mail, but i'm curious about when i'm supposed to make the payment. thanks! I just got a breakdown on the costs of everything today but no official bill yet.

Just curious how many of y'all are upgrading to the hot appetizers? I was thinking of it but not sure if that's an extra cost I want to add on.

dianep - Glad to hear you got things worked out!! Yey!!