skp1

Thanks everyone - it was a labor of love putting this together. The games came from all kinds of websites geared towards bridal showers.

That is a really cool idea about the individual photography sessions - I think our guests would have liked that. Careful taking pictures on casino night - they aren't allowed in the casino. the last night my husband's niece was showing me pictures on her camera and she was told to put it away. It wasn't even on other than the screen. I'd suggest using Shutterfly for the group photos. I've used Snapfish for years and a lot of my friends do too so that's why I did mine there, but they changed there format in the last few months and it doesn't seem so user friendly. Most BDW brides rave about Shutterfly and they have some cool wedding options. If you log on it will walk you through how to set up a group room and then you just pass along the login info to your guests. Shutterfly actually lets you put text in there too so you can write stuff about the photos or about the wedding in general. Yes, I definitely have the post wedding blues. I thought I'd be relieved that all the planning was over, but it was fun. Plus I'm usually sad after a vacation when all the fun ends and its back to reality but this one was so much fun its even harder. Oh well - I need to look into anther trip so I have something to plan and look forward to

I second Party City - they have tons of decorations for all kinds of parties. Maybe just walking though the different aisles will give you ideas. I think confetti or something along those lines would be great for the table, definitely get a sash that says bride to be or bachelorette (those can be simple and tasteful), maybe some cocktail napkins with a "girls night out" type theme and if you want to include a gift, maybe a personalized wine or martini glass to put at her seat. http://www.napacabs.com/Bottoms-Up-Bride-To-Be-Hand-Painted-15oz-Wine-Glass-Gift-Boxed-P6981.aspx

I did a yahoo search for wedding songs and there are many sites that gave all kinds of ideas for each part of the ceremony and reception. I ended up going with U2 "The Sweetest Thing" which was perfect. I love U2 and it fit the theme but wasn't cheesy.

It looks beautiful Dominique! I love the setting and the view is spectacular.

As far as the wedding, the only thing I wish I had done was to have a video of the ceremony. I kept thinking I would never watch it but about a month before the wedding I saw some samples where the videographers create something like my photo montage. I like mine, but it would be cool to have some true audio of us saying I do or other parts. Other than that I would do it all the same. The other thing is I wish I assigned someone to take photos of the non-wedding events like the welcome party, the days at the cabana, etc. They weren't the type of things that you'd hire a professional for, but I would like some pictures. Only about 5 of our guests have posted photos to our Snapfish group room. I know there are more, but people forget to share and of course I feel funny hounding them. So my suggestion would be to ask friends ahead of time to be responsible for a specific event - maybe different people for each one so no one is constantly taking pics. No matter what, your wedding will be amazing!

It's been awhile since I've posted on this thread - been working on thank yous and photos. I put together this montage (my photographer package included printing and usage rights). There are so many more good ones, but I tried to keep this short. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6t8J9UX_OU

It's me again - can't seem to get away from the wedding. Most post wedding stuff is done - thank yous are mailed, left over supplies and mementos are boxed up so now it's just the photos. I'm working on putting together a photo album for us but first made a short montage to share with all our friends. Most pictures are the professional ones taken by Tim Aylen with some of my own mixed in. The nice thing about Tim's packages, is that it includes printing and usage rights so I was able to make this without infringing on any copyrights or anything. I narrowed down the over 500 pictures he sent to make a short video (fits to one song). I may make a second one for us that includes more pictures, but figured about 3 minutes is about the attention span of anyone else. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6t8J9UX_OU

check out this post from Sharlie - she did a jamaica welcome book that has lots of fun stuff. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/69230/welcome-book-inspired-by-rach220

One of my close frineds did the thank you signs and it was adorable. But I didn't want to do it so soon afterwards.

I did a separate one for the inside and outside. Since it had to be printed on the backside I figured its easier this way than trying to figure out what side to flip, etc. Wow - 86 booked! That's amazing. Thank You.pub Thank You inside.pub

The wedding is over, but the DIY continues. Originally I had not planned to make thank yous - I figured these are readily available and once I received the photographers pictures I could easily order some. Well, I started checking and couldn't justify spending over $2/card after all the other things I have made on my own. Plus, the big roadblock was size - I want to send photos with the thank yous and most are slightly smaller than 4x6. Sure I could have just ordered larger envelopes and used those cards, but felt it would look funny. So using all my extra supplies I set out to make my own. I pieced together 2 wedding photos and 1 sand photo from the BDW bride who did the table numbers. I designed it in Publisher using the 1/4 page layout and printed it on the same high gloss paper I used for my welcome brochures. I then used the turquoise linen cardstock I had left over from my programs and made those slightly larger than 4x6 to hold the photos. I cut a slit in the fold of the card stock and slipped the photo paper through so that there was a white writing surface on the inside. I glues it together with spray photo mount.

so true. I had no idea how sparse the supermarkets would be - I compared it to a US supermarket the day before a snow storm is predicted. If I had to do it again, the I'd buy all the snacks at home and put them in the suitcase (of course nothing that could melt in the under belly of the plane though). The price is so bad that it would almost be less to pay the extra baggage fee than to buy the snacks in the Bahamas. And oh boy did I sweat!

Something else to consider which was my decision factor is time. I love the idea of a ttd shoot and was all for it, but it was going to take several hours and those are precious hours I wanted to sound with my guests. Our wedding as a long weekend and many of the guests live in different cities than us so don't see them but once or twice a year. Since they spent a lot of money to come all the way to the wedding I didn't want to run off on a photo shoot ( already the day of the wedding i was unavailable). If we were there longer (and I know a lot of destination weddings here are a week or the b&g stay longer than guests) then for sure I would have done it. But I'm happy with my decision to spend the day with friends and family stress free.

I use a mix of hot water and white vinegar - something I read online. It definitely works to keep the diamond sparkly.

I received several comments from my guests that they were excited to get the tags and couldn't wait to use them. Sure a lot of people have tags already but not unique ones (those freebies at the airport don't count!). Even if you do something generic (like a ribbon suggested by Krysta) for guests to have on their bag in addition to their own luggage tag, I think its worth it and people will like it. I really think if you are doing a pre-travel mailer you should something besides reading material which people tend to disregard.

Here's one more thing to add toy our to-do list that no one ever mentioned to me - have your engagement ring professionally cleaned right before the wedding. Everyone will be looking at you and your hands and the photographer will be getting close up photos so you want it to look its best. I normally do a home cleaning every month or so and that works well to keep the diamond shiny but the band was still looking worn out. Between all the hand washing and banging against metal door handles or rails, it takes a beating. I didn't really notice until we bought our wedding bands and it looked like a completely different metals when put next to one another. So I went to the jeweler and in less than 5 minutes the ring looked brand new (and its free since its the place it was purchased). Definitely worth it.

You can also have the baker do it with colored fondant or frosting.

Yes I was required to bring the ribbon. I wasn't sure what was done on the sample on the Knot but what I did was cut the ribbon. The original is the thickest piece and then I used a straight edge cutter to make the two thinner pieces ( just cut it off center). Some of the edges aren't that straight but I don't think it's very noticeable.

OK, here's the deal with Aura - when we originally contacted them we said maybe a dozen or so people would end up going. We were told that we would need to purchase a minimum of 4 bottles (starting at $325/each plus the standard 15% service charge). That's when I thought it was crazy. People weren't going to stay that long, we'd already been drinking for 5 hours and some people would want beer or wine or something other than the bottles we purchased so it seemed like way too much. We ended up negotiating 10 people and only had to purchase 2 bottles (of course the ones we liked were $375/each). We probably went in with about 10 people then others filtered in later (after they went to their rooms and changed, etc) and it was no problem getting them in the club or to the table. The price included admission, the bottled drinks and mixers, but other drinks like beer were extra. We had a nice size table in the corner and the one next to us was empty so we kinda spread into that area too. I think we ultimately closed out around 2:30 - everyone was pretty done by that point but definitely enjoyed the "after party."

Since a few people have asked about cabana and Aura prices I figured its easiest to post it here rather than send a bunch of PMs. I have the cabana info now, but not Aura yet - we got back Monday and have been at work all week so I guess this weekend we'll go over all our bills - yikes. First, if you haven't seen the cabanas, definitely go to the Atlantis website to check them out - they are more like bungalows - couches, flat screen TV, mini fridge, private bathroom, etc. It's not your typical pool cabana with the drapes on four sides - they are actual structures. They open up at 9 AM and you can stay as long as the pool is open - I think around 6 or so. The cabana has a private attendant who will stock the place with towels, bring food/drinks, etc. There is a wrap around couch inside, a bed lounge and 4 person table in front and about 4-6 lounge chairs in back (beach) and of course you can bring more over. Also, there are people who come around a give mini massages (no charge-they work on tips). The cabanas are at the Cove which is supposed to be private for Cove guests, but we told everyone to access it from the beach - all cabanas can be entered from that side, thus alleviating the issue of needing a room key to enter the Cove pool. Most of our guests hung out on the beach or in the cabana and didn't really enter the pool area so it was not an issue. Our second day we were told that the cabanas had a limit of 8 people and if management saw everyone it could be a problem. However, we were pretty spread out and mostly on the beach side so we didn't draw any attention. But just an FYI in case you plan on really partying. So, now that you know what its like, here is the price - it's $750 for the day which strictly includes use of the cabana and attendant. I believe they said 8 waters are included in the base price. Everything else is extra and based on the regular menu prices along with 15% tip. We all ordered lunch, drinks, etc so the bill can add up. And its only 1 bill so if people want to pay separately, they need to give cash to the person paying the bill - we didn't even attempt to ask them to split the bill. I think a few people went to the bar to order drinks because they felt bad about charging to the main bill. Anyway, it's pricey, but it really worked out great. I'm sure if we didn't have it we would have all been spread out around the resort and not spent as much time together. And our phone bill would have been ridiculous because we would have been calling people all day at $2/minute. PS, Skype didn't work because the internet connection SUCKED!!!!! We constantly lost signal so there was no way to communicate that way. it was fine in Royal Tower, but anywhere else, you had to constantly connect over and over again. I'll post in a few days about Aura - I remember what they quoted us but think we only paid about half of that so I need the details from hubby how he got around it. We got our wedding pics from Tim yesterday so we'll have to go through those too. Plus all the honeymoon pics - I have a feeling I'll be on the computer a lot this weekend.

Welcome and congratulations! The Atlantis room rates vary depending on season (ie holiday weekends are more) but generally speaking as long as you have 30 nights total in your party then the group rates are roughly 50% off the quoted prices. They give a discount for all towers so it makes it very convenient for your guests - some will want to splurge and some will want to budget. Our guests were totally surpirsed what a good deal it was and many extended their stay. It's a great place for a wedding and I found them very accommodating. Now, other than the room rates, its super expensive, but at least your guests don't feel that.

Magical is a perfect description! I know want you mean about post wedding blurs-we went from 120 to zero in a minute. But I'm on my honeymoon now and totally loving life. Man will it be hard to come home

I'll pm you next week when I'm home. I actually don't know the final aura details since hubby took care of that. Once we get back from honeymoon we'll go over all our final numbers. In the meantime I'm loving Hawaii.

Yes the ribbon had to be removed to cut the cake. We only cut one piece to feed each other and we cut around the ribbon the banquet staff cut the rest but I'm pretty sure they removed it first. My anniversary tier had no ribbon so they must have pulled it all off at once. But they were separate ribbons per tier.