SarahBen2011

Only 5 more days of work for me after today!  It can't come soon enough... now I know how you brides feel when last minute changes to the guest list happen.  We just found out Ben's family friends can't make it to the wedding, their daughter was in a car accident, she's okay but they just can't leave right now.  Such a bummer! 

Even worse though - we found out Ben's BROTHER the best man may not be able to come either!!!!!!!  He's in the military and I guess Guadalarja is having some drug/violence issues and the military is banning travel to that area for military personal.  Umm WHO CARES!   That is happening in every city in the US!  I can't believe it.  And we all leave in 1.5 weeks!   We'll find out today for sure - but Ben is really upset.  And if his brother isn't there I know our wedding day won't be the same for him  :-(  It's really tough.

I was seriously sooooo excited, and my bubble is kinda burst now.

Pucca - congrats on the new place! 

meBonidie2be I can't believe your friends ex-husband would do that!!!  I've heard of places (at least in Chicago) that you can get a same-day passport as long as you already have one.  Wow... good luck though!!! It'll work out!

I'm so beyond excited. We finished the play list and it wasn't nearly as annoying or tedious as I thought it was going to be!  So glad that's checked off the list!!!  Now it's just those damn programs.  And little stuff (like tanning, start getting manicures, getting a hair cut Saturday).

I'm so ready to be on the beach!!!

Thanks for the idea Mrs. Weiss!  I did the same and they look SOOO much better!  It was pretty tricky to do though so I give you props for doing all those STDs too!

I keep going back to this thread for inspiration :-)  Love it all!

Thanks everyone!!!  There are so many things I wanted to add.... so we'll see if I can hold off on purchasing anything else!

LOVE the planning thread Kerrib!!!  I hope married life is treating you well

Thanks everyone!!!

I no longer need the signs - thanks though!

Loving the pictures Courtney Leigh!  What a good idea - get excited again ladies!!!!  I finally started packing some things up in suitcases and I'm SO GLAD I started now.  This stuff takes up WAY more room than I thought!  EEK!!!  So far I have 2 checked bags just with wedding stuff (programs, seating cards, OOT bags).  How did that happen???  We need to buy more luggage! 

But, it does make me feel way better knowing that things aren't in random piles at my place anymore... at least it's organized chaos! haha

I'm mainly stressing about our programs.  I decided to DIY program fans (the kind w/ the stick in the middle) and these are taking so much longer than I thought they would :-(  Luckily one of my BMs is going to help this weekend.  Once those are done (and that damn play list) we'll be in good shape!

Hang in there ladies!

Girl you are HOT!!!!  That is such a sexy picture!!!   I really really wish I had sexied my poses up a bit.  Maybe I'll do another for our 1 year anniversary?? LOL
 

Originally Posted by sxcT 

So the link will probably be better so you have the option to view it instead of my booty just be right in your face LOL.

 

http://confessionsofaboudoirstudio.com/

 

 

My pic is under her post "Who Says Risque?...I Do!"

 

That's me!!  I can't believe it.  So excited to see the others.

And JoanneIreland I'm so sorry to hear how much you are stressing!  But remember why you are doing all this... to marry the person you love.  All the rest is details!  Courtney Leigh gave you such good advise and she's right, we're all here for you!  A few more days and you'll be relaxing on the beach with a yummy cocktail!

Thanks guys!  After reading this through I realized I forgot a few things  :-)  But I'll post the rest later!

Okay.  AMAZING thread!!!  So much detail and you can tell you've really put a lot of money and time into everything.  Congrats Courtney - One more week for you!!!!!

I just posted mine as well :-)

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/76477/sarahben2011s-dreams-pv-planning-thread-with-pics#post_1688769

leigh2011  I'm gonna read yours now!

This thread is a little old.. but I'm interested in the Mr. and Mrs. signs if they are still available??

I actually don't think he's on Etsy anymore, I can't find him... but here's his website:

http://www.barrypromos.com/koozie.html

Hope that helps!

So we leave in 3 weeks and before things get too crazy I wanted to post my planning journal!  Thanks again to all the girls on the forum... I have spent probably too much time on here but it's sooo helpful!  And hopefully other brides can get some ideas/inspiration from my experience too!

First, the E-ring!  Ben surprised me with flowers, xmas lights and about a thousand candles at our apartment when i got home from work 2 days before Thanksgiving 2010 :-)

The Dress at my most recent fitting (and with my hair updo trial).  It's Allure 8815 and I love it!  Still not 100% on the hair though

Here it is on the model

Ben's suit - Irish Linen from J Crew

BM dresses (all are different styles).  Bari Jay Chiffon in Wisteria

Flower girl dress from JC Penny for $40

Flower basket / Ring Bearer Shell ($40 for both) from Blue Roof on Etsy - very well made and too cute!  I forgot to take a picture at home but here it is:

My shoes from DSW!

And sandals that I ordered on http://www.starlasandals.com/  They are soooo pretty and were only $30, no shipping!!!!  And they have a ton of other designs too.

Garter that I bought on at the Knot Shop for $15 (my something blue)

For the BM gifts I bought their dresses, am getting their hair at the resort and I also got them a pair of earrings to wear at the wedding ($30 from Macy's).  Since each of their dresses are a different style I wanted to mix up the earrings.

And I ordered them custom beach bags for $20 each at the Knot Shop

For the GM / Usher we bought travel cigar cases / humidors and an engraved cutter from Elighters.com and we'll buy them each a few cigars in Mexico!  It worked out to be about $30 for the case and cutter

For table numbers we decided to stick with the travel theme and picked 7 locations that we've traveled to (one for each table)!  I just added the text and printed at Walgreens.  I found the brown picture frames at the dollar store!

For the escort cards I printed out everyone's name / table number and burned the edges (which was NOT that easy and I'm surprised I didn't burn our condo down).  But, I think they turned out really cute!  I ordered the bottles from http://www.specialtybottle.com/  (number VC4C).  I still want to fill up the basket I bought with sand and see how they look inside....

I got the idea from Martha Stewart but am doing a lined basket instead of a glass vase.

We sent Save the Dates in January (11 months before the wedding) and invites in May (6 months before).  Ben's brother's wife's mom (whoa) owns a printing company and did all of our printing for free!!!!!

The boarding pass invites and postcard RSVP

I bought cute string & button envelopes at Paper Source

We also just sent out a brochure (about a month before the wedding) to get people excited :-)  These were free on Vista Print:

Here are the OOT bags and the full post with pricing is here: 

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/76454/finished-oot-bags-with-lots-of-pics#post_1688341

Here are my inspiration pictures that I'll bring to Dreams:

White bouquet for BMs

Purple bouquet for me

submerged orchids for centerpieces

Cake w/ orchids

Ceremony location (we're upgrading to these chivari / tiffany chairs)

The only thing left on our to do list is the music play list and we need to assemble the program fans!!! 

Hope this was helpful and if there are any questions, ask away!

Joanne - so sorry to hear about your friend!!!!  How someone can do that I dont know... but I'm sure she really does want to be there and just can't afford it  / get off work / whatever :-(  it's tough, but I'm sure in time you guys will get past it!

And SXC you had such a crazy fun-filled weekend!  I can't believe you did all that in a 2 day span!  Can't wait to see the BD pics ;-)

We leave in exactly 3 weeks too... I'm starting to get SOOOOO stressed!  I had my second fitting and it looks GREAT but there's a little problem in the back where the small zipper meets my corset tie.  Everyone said no no it's fine... but I'm making them put a hook in and hopefully that helps?  I'm trying not to worry about that... I'm going again on Saturday for one last try-on and fingers crossed it's fixed!

I really want to start packing but we live in a one bedroom condo and I am NOT looking forward to the piles of stuff and suitcases everywhere... can I rent out a second apartment for organizing it all?? LOL

I've had these done for a few weeks and am finally posting the pictures :-)  Thanks to everyone on the forum.. I blended a lot of ideas and couldn't have done it without you!  It was very hard not to keep buying, but I really tried to keep myself in check and on budget.  Hopefully our guests like them!  We'll also throw in a cigar for each guy once we get to Mexico!

Bags are from Vista Print.  I used 2 Living Social coupons pay $10 for $50 so the bags worked out to be about $1.50 each.  Here are the contents:

Deck of Cards - Oriental Trading (.50)

Small maraca - Oriental Trading (.40)

Tissue - Target (.25)

Orbit Gum - Target (.80)

Koozie - Barry Promo's on Etsy ($1 per koozie)

Rustic paper gift tag - Michael's

Health kit:

Aloe - http://www.minimus.biz/'>http://www.minimus.biz/'>http://www.minimus.biz/ ($1.40)

Pepto - http://www.minimus.biz/ (.60 for 2 tablets)

Gatorade packet - http://www.minimus.biz/ (.80)

Advil 10 count - Target ($1.60 on sale)

Avon Lip Balm (.67)

Bath & Body Hand Sanitizer ($1)

Bandaids - Target

Magnet Calendar (free from Vista Print) - I forgot to include it in the actual pictures but here it is:

I thought about doing what I've seen on here where you make a label that says "In Sickness and In Health" to go over the top but I ended up just tying some brown raffia around the clear bags that I got at Party City.

The bags worked out to be about $10 each and I have 40 bags to give out.  We'll also include our itinerary, a list of everyone's name & place for their room number and welcome letter postcards that I ordered on VistaPrint

I think that's it!!!!!

Girls - how is the time flying like this?!?!?  AHHH I'm so excited for everyone :-)   I have my second fitting this weekend, we're picking up bands next week.   Assembling the programs next week too.

I totally keep forgetting about our AHR and that's realllllly starting to sneak up on me.  OOPS!  That's Jan 7th and we're sending invites for that next week.

We leave in 25 DAYS!  Can I start packing yet?! lol

It's really really tough at first.  I was extremely frustrated.  Each time they changed a coordinator I had to go through everything again, re-confirm prices, etc. But I've heard that most resorts are like this... it's just the way they operate.  We decided to go with the free package since we are not using their photographer and therefore didn't need that portion of the higher up packages (Michelle Turner, she seems so great!). And the packages only include 20 people and we knew we'd have more than that as well.  AND we didn't want to spend money on a cocktail hour (which ends up being about $30 a person) so that's another reason we went for the free deal. I'm doing a full planning thread in a few weeks so I'll try to remember and post that here for you too!

Have fun planning!  Have you set a date?

Congrats LTLFAITHY!!!!  It's true - the wedding coordinators at Dreams are a bit MIA and so far we've gone through 3 different coordinators.  I'm a very detail oriented person so it took some time to get over that and some of the miscommunication we had.  But, I'm getting married here in 4 weeks and now everything is lined up and ready to go.  I'll keep you posted but I'm very excited!

sxcT you will NOT regret having a pro do your pics!  Joanne had some great advise.  I really wish I would have shown my photog some pictures that i wanted to re-create.  I forgot to mention it while i was shooting (i was too nervous trying to look "sexy") hahaha.  So i missed out on some shots i wanted.  And - seriously go out of your comfort zone!  I just got my pics back and i love them... but they aren't as HOT as i wanted them to be.  They are pretty and some of them are seductive, but i could've gone all out and i held back.  DON'T hold back!

Here are 2 pics that dont' show my face :-)  I'm making my book on Picaboo I think.... not sure yet! 

$500 that is insane!  Is the person doing your hair/make-up a guest of the wedding or staying at the hotel?  If so you wouldn't have to pay anything.  You don't want to do hair/make-up at their salon?

They quoted me $100 for an external videographer or photographer - and they quoted that last fall so maybe prices have gone up (as usual)!

All of our weddings are coming up so fast!  We get get married in 36 days so we leave in 33!!  ahhhh i'm beyond excited!  And our bach parties are this weekend so that'll be a blast!   It's time to start WORKING OUT, I'm such a slacker!!!

BGardner - You'll check in when we check out :-)  The outside vendor fee is $100... so not too bad!

We are also heading to Yelapa for our honeymoon!!! But we are staying at Verana for 4 nights!  Although Lagunita looks amazing as well!!!!!

Hhaha Verana is even more "open" so I'm also curious / nervous about the bugs but it'll be such an adventure!

Pucca congrats on the legal wedding!!!!  So exciting!  And sxcT I love your dress!!!!  Beautiful!

I too am already "planning" my planning thread HA.  I've been taking and saving down pictures and will hopefully post a week or two before I leave. 

I kind of wish I had more to do on my list... but I'm sure I won't be saying that in a few weeks :-)  The next month is going to FLY by.