cookiemunchkin

Is Connie's pretty quick with alterations? My dress arrived and I need some minor tweaks... hoping I have enough time! Although if you're getting married at the end of the month BeachBride, and are going now, then there is hope for me I'm just two weeks after you! LindsLou - were you happy with your alterations? Can you pass me Connie's contact info?

I know when I look at the tracking info for mine, sometimes the timestamps look out of order but its because of different time zones - maybe thats the case with yours? If there's no update by Tuesday, I would contact whichever delivery company your package was sent through and ask for information. My first package was held until I went to go sign papers and show proof of payment, so it does happen sometimes. So excited for you that your dress is almost here!!

While I dont think its so bad that she booked her wedding on a weekend you are unavailable for (when you have family members and wedding party to worry about, its inevitable that any given weekend isn't going to work for someone or another), I do see why you're upset with her reason for not going with date number two! I would hope that your wedding already being on that date would be her top reason not to choose it, and am really really hoping the words just came out of her mouth wrong. Either way, you two have been friends a long time and its going to start eating at you if you dont get it off your chest and talk to her about that comment... so I really think you need to talk to her about it. Best case, the words came out of her mouth wrong and she'll have the chance to clear things up with you -- worst case, you'll be able to get your feelings off your chest. Either way, you'll feel better after you talk to her. Thats just my two cents though!

Speaking as someone who did look into changing various things to accomodate people important to me... I do have to say that at some point a bride needs to stop worrying about everyone else attending the wedding (including possible bridesmaids/groomsmen) and focus on what the bride and groom want. As you know, since you're getting married too, the wedding is for the bride and the groom! Having said that though, you did already tell her that you are not available for the weekend she chose, so you are basically in the clear if she tries to give you grief later on. Be there for everything else you can possibly be there for other than the wedding. I have a close friend (who also would have been one of my bridesmaids) that isn't able to make it to my wedding, but she has done so much for me (co-hosted my shower, planned a stagette) that there is no way I could ever hold hard feelings against her for not coming to my wedding. You can be that friend too

shootystar - sorry for the delayed response, but I ordered ivory from Monica Bridal and it is not yellowy at all. For your second dress, I agree that it looks a little stiffer than the inspiration dress but I think the dress looks nice. The belts are quite wide though

I can see why it would be frustrating if you search this thread hoping to score a good deal... but its pretty much expected that people would try to break even on unused items. Used items on the other hand... I agree that people need to accept that the item is no longer worth what they paid. But I do disagree that almost everyone here is trying to break even or make a profit... most of the posts I've seen here are a pretty good deal! There's the occasional post that is high, but the seller usually realizes they have overpriced and drops their price afterwards. And yep, people should do their research before buying something anywhere - whether its on this forum or elsewhere online. Its up to us to make sure we're getting the best deal we can

February 19, 2011... eek! Nemmerz - have you looked into taking a photographer from home?

Totally agree with this, it can be just as costly to have a destination wedding if not more so! We have almost 50 booked (and I'm also hoping it stops lol, though I am super thankful that so many people want to and are able to be there for us) and as it stands now its costing us about the same as it would have cost to have a 150 person reception at home. It totally irks me when people make comments like "oh your wedding must be costing you nothing since its at an all inclusive"... and I hate being one of those brides who drops numbers, but sometimes I just cant help it and pointedly tell them no its actually costing us more. I'm sure some of us chose destination because it is more cost effective (and up to a certain number of people, it probably is) but some of us also just chose it because we wanted a smaller wedding in beautiful scenery that is more memorable than the typical at-home wedding. Its our day and it needs to be special and memorable to US, and people should either come and be happy for us or stay home (and still be happy for us from their homes, but you know what I mean). Ok done ranting now haha, just having one of those days . I do love coming to this forum though and knowing that so many of us really do understand what we're all going through.

Cant wait to see pics!! Just want to give you ladies a heads up as well about something that happened to me. Not sure if Canada Customs is stricter than US Customs, but anyways... my dress was due to arrive two days ago and I hadn't heard anything. I got a phone call from DHL early this morning telling me that Canada Customs has seized my dress because the value on the package was written as $30 and they (of course) had a hard time believing a wedding dress only cost $30. I now have to go pay them a visit and show them all sorts of proof of purchase so that they will release it. In talking to a friend, she tells me that I should consider myself lucky they called because oftentimes when Customs seizes a package, they dont call to let you know. The lady I spoke to at Customs was very nice... she said a lot of packages shipped from China are undervalued so those are watched a bit more carefully. I guess the lesson here is to make sure whoever is shipping your stuff puts a more accurate value on the package so this doesn't happen to you too! My first dress also was labelled at $30 and was sent from a different vendor, so it looks like this is pretty standard practice.

Totally agree with this. One thing I noticed when I joined is that I started new threads when I wanted to ask a question and would get very few responses... and like you, I felt a bit like I was being ignored. But then I started posting in some of the more established threads, and got TONS of responses! I think its more that people revisit the same threads over and over, so you'll be more "noticed" by posting in one of those than by starting a new thread. Overall, people are super helpful if they do see your messages. Try posting in one for the resort you will be getting married at, i'm sure there will be a lot of help for you there

Brandy - I almost like the knockoff version better than the original! Cant wait to see yours when it arrives

Paid for my own dress. We're paying for the entire wedding ourselves, so we made it clear to both sets of parents that we dont expect them to pay for anything, other than their own tickets to attend the wedding. Each set of parents has very different financial situations, so it was the only way we could think of avoiding any bad feelings if one side does more than the other.

www.paperlanternstore.com Cheapest I was able to find online!

Thanks ladies! I'm very glad this one turned out better too... was feeling a bit bummed after dress #1 but I'm super giddy about this dress and just dying to put it on! I'm finally getting excited about the wedding :D Shootystar - definitely take time to chat with the Monica Bridal rep, ask lots of questions, send lots of pictures and specific detail about what you have in mind. It makes a big difference because you could both easily be picturing two different things. Katelynn - I would browse through the pictures of finished dresses on this forum and see which dressmaker you feel most comfortable with. Most ppl here seem to have used Monica Bridal, Babyonline and Gianinar lately. I've now used Monica Bridal and Babyonline and they are both very pleasant to work with, and I'd easily order with either of them again (babyonline is now making my bridesmaids dresses too!) Good luck to you

I agree with your FI that you should let it go. The ring was fixed (and at no cost) so thats the most important part. If there would have been a cost to fix it, or they actually lost one of the stones, or it was unfixable damage I would say raise some hell! But its fixed, so forget you ever walked into their store. I'm pretty sure no one you know ever will set foot there either!

Beautiful pics!! Ah, that sucks! Were you able to fix it at the time or did you have to deal with pokey boning for the rest of the day? Cant wait to see your pictures It was so nice to meet you ladies last night! Looking forward to the next time we meet

So I ordered a dress from Monica Bridal (pics posted a few pages back) but was not entirely thrilled with how it turned out. I dont think this was the dressmakers fault though - we probably should have chatted more about the dress before it was made. I think we just had different visions of the dress in our minds. Ordered another one from Babyonline afterwards, just received pics and I'm in love! We chatted for almost 2 weeks about the dress, went over every little detail (she even showed me the beads she was planning to use!) and I think all the planning made a difference. Here are the pics, I cant wait to receive this dress Inspiration: My dress:

I went a little overboard and ordered 80 even though FI thought I had lost my mind. They finally arrived today (12" ones) and I see that he was right! Offloading a bunch now, argh. Dumb dumb dumb

Thanks so much for sharing this info! Just ordered 100 batteries and 100 lights on ebay for a grand total of $25. I love ebay!

Good idea! And please hit me with the shoes if I say tomorrow that I STILL haven't mailed out any invites

Other than the size issue, the dress looks great! Maybe you could have a local dressmaker change the back to a lace-up style? inweddingdress.com.pptx

I have 20 white and 5 turquoise lanterns for sale, 12" each and brand new. Ordered way more than I needed! $1.50 each or all for $30 (plus shipping).

beautiful dress Mocha!

I see what you mean, it does look very different. Is it the skirt part or the appliques you're not happy with?

Nicyx - beautiful dress!! Bonnie - I had no idea Zappos shipped to Canada, thanks for that info! Cute shoes too btw