MDLady

Congrats! We shall see you on the beaches of the world and celebrate our anniversaries

We had our ceremony on the beach and the reception on the deck just a few feet from the beach. It worked out really well.

Awww, the grandparents story is very touching. We basically narrowed it down to a long weekend since we were asking people to travel. We picked May because the prices weren't as outrageous as they were during high season in Feb-Mar. So we ended up picking Memorial Day Weekend. It also worked out that our first date was on Memorial Day Weekend 2 years before. And this way we have a long weekend every time for our anniversary

Wow, those are some tough situations! I don't think the numbers have to match evenly at all. We PLANNED to have even numbers but it didn't work out that way (my hubby's cousin got sick and another cousin had an urgent business trip same weekend). We had a blast and I would have felt REALLY weird asking someone to fill in last minute just to keep the numbers even. Nobody likes being 2nd choice.

I didn't really want one and insisted on no presents but my family and friends talked me into having a bridal shower and I'm glad that I did. Hopefully we all will get married just once and this is a good excuse to get together and have a celebration. I did mention that the gifts were optional but some of the people who attended were not flying for the wedding so they brought gifts and were happy to participate in the wedding activity, especially since they couldn't make the wedding.

It doesn't have to be matchy matchy. Just because turquoise and black are your wedding colors doesn't mean that EVERYTHING has to be torquoise and black! Don't stress about this at all.

If you both are ok with it then just go for it! My Dad is very particular about music (and not much else) so all of my suggestions were not accepted. He ended up picking a Paul McCartney song that had nothing to do with the wedding but we danced to it anyway. He enjoyed it and felt much better about dancing with me in the spotlight (he has 2 left feet LOL).

This is absolutely gorgeous. Very unique and tasteful. I had to do a custom wedding band as well since my ring is curved on both sides. Great job!!!

These are beautiful!!!! Love the picture also!

I love the color stones!!! So pretty!!!!

I wore a low heel sandal with some sparkles on it. The heel was rather wide so I didn't sink too much. Looking back, I would have worn a pretty flip flop and changed before the reception since my shoes were full of sand and I had to go to the restroom to clean my feet off before our first dance

Very cute dress!!! Love the color and definitely can't beat that price!

I so wanted to create a wedding book for all of our guests with our story and pictures of us, family, and guests. I just didn't have the time I saw the books that other brides created and was kicking myself for not finding time to do it. Would have made a wonderful souvenir for us and our guests.

Tiffany, I'm glad that you got things smoothed over. Wedding planning is stressful enough without all these antics. Good luck with the rest of your planning and hopefully your wedding party will behave themselves from now on

We got married in Aruba last year and did the legal marriage paperwork in the U.S. It is much easier that way. Then you can have the actual wedding ceremony on the beach or wherever you want. But you do need to be actually married and show the officiant your marriage license. It is a lot easier than dealing with the Aruban marriage as it has many requirements. It's a pretty standard way of doing things for destination weddings and you don't have to worry about registering and translating your marriage license when you get back home so the government here recognizes it!

This made me LOL. I remember doing that too, it was pretty funny. I haven't had to do that the last 2 years! I think they have stronger cooling systems now where lidocaine isn't necessary.

First, you have to see if you are a good candidate for it depending on your skin/hair color. But I think your results will depend on the place where you get it done. Some are definitely better than others. I had my underarms and brazilian done about 3 years ago. Those lasers were OLD so it took a long time and didn't work that great. As others have mentioned, my place switched lasers twice during the time that I was going. I also went to get my legs done last year (still have another session left) and of course that took much longer since there is much more area to cover. The new lasers cover quite a big "square" instead of almost a dot back in the day. I did go for a touch-up last year for my underarms and bikini since I still get a few hairs here and there (annoying). I haven't had perfect results (I'm a perfect candidate, light skin, dark hair) but they are ok. I was actually planning to ask them to give me a free touch-up for everything since I'm not getting great results.

I think you will find a lot of support and advice on this topic here. This is a very common and painful situation which I think many destination brides have to deal with (who would have thought a wedding in paradise would not sound appealing to the families?!?!?) I had to deal with this from my side of the family for months before the wedding. Even with a very solid reason for why our wedding had to be on the island, I was constantly questioned about it and complained to. My FI and I both really wanted a beach wedding and since his family is from South America, the Caribbean was perfect!!! My Mom and 2 aunts would NOT leave it alone and constantly questioned me whether people would travel so far and how hot it was gonna be and how this and how that. They told me that nobody will come. They told me that it is rude and inconsiderate to expect people to spend so much money. And etc etc. And all of them go on vacation to the Caribbean at least once a year!!!! I cried over it many times and went back and forth for a couple of weeks, even looked at local places which I could NOT get excited about (a wedding in the U.S. would also mean not much family from my FI's side would be able to attend since it's so far away and so expensive, plus visa hassles). Finally my now husband put me out of my misery and just said that we are going to do what will make us happy and if someone cannot come, so be it. It's not like our families could NOT come, they were just complaining and since they have never been to a destination wedding before, had no idea why we were doing something so unorthodox. Fastforward to the wedding, everyone had a good time. Yes, it was hot (which I like). Yes, it was pricey. One of my aunts totally ate her words and keeps talking about how we need to do a reunion for our anniversary since she had so much fun. The bottom line is that if your family CANNOT travel then you might want to reconsider. But if they are just giving you a hard time and do not understand but they CAN come, then do what you guys want to. It's your wedding after all. And there will always be someone who will complain.

I would never dare to ask how much my in-laws are contributing. I would even feel funny asking my own parents and we are very close. We planned based on our own budget and then the parents gave us gifts which did help when the time came to pay all the bills. I think it also depends on your and your FI's stage in life. If you are independent, then you should expect to cover your own expenses and anything that people give you will be a wonderful bonus. But if you are a younger and your parents still support you, then it might be a more appropriate question.

I paid for my own dress and my fiance and I paid for the wedding but our parents did give us checks as gifts for the wedding costs which helped with the bills quite a bit!

I did not include registry info on the invites at all. At first I didn't make one since I figured people would travel and we didn't want gifts, but then those who could not attend (and some who could attend) insisted on getting us gifts so I made a small registry. But I would not include it on the invite. Those who want to get you something will ask you where you are registered. Of course there were those who did not attend and did not ask for the registry but that's ok as well.

How terrible. Sorry to hear that I agree with others that maybe you guys can have an informal "party" with friends. Of course your families might be offended if they find out. You'd think people would be able to behave themselves for something as important as a wedding?!?!?!?!? If you are sending out cancellations, just be neutral. Say something like "we really appreciate all the love and support but at this time will be unable to hold the AHR as previously planned". I would not give a reason at all and yes, people will ask, but then you can tailor your answer depending on who asks

I would definitely wait for the right date for the official invitations. You are still more than a year away so IMO it's better to wait than risk having to resend the invitations or inform everyone of the exact date via other means.

We didn't use a lawyer and never considered of getting one. I made sure to read all the fine print and clarify all of the info via email so I had it in writing. I'm sure it can't hurt to have a lawyer look at the paperwork considering how much money weddings cost but to us it wasn't really necessary.

That's a very good deal that the hotel gives you an extra room. How nice. If that was the case for us, we probably would have stayed separately. We stayed together but I kicked him out first thing in the morning to start getting my bridesmaids/MOH/mothers/flower girls in order. But if they are giving him a room for free, might as well take advantage of it and enjoy the big bed to yourself