NJBride2014

@@Sabes44 I leave in 8 days its coming down to crunch time.

@@tygrrlily thanks, its crazy that it's actually official but can't wait to do it again but with all our friend and family this time.

Yes, I had a different dress, I found the one for the church at Macy's on sale for $140. I'm keeping my full on wedding dress for Cancun. I say you can do a very simple dress which is what I had originally planned on doing or go a little more fancy if you can find a dress at a good price. Ultimately its your ceremony do what ever feels right.

I think im going to use this dress for our ttd session also so I get to use it again....it was a good buy. Lol

@@tygrrlily our reception is on the hotel terrace so we could do without it but my fiance really wants it. We recently went to a wedding in cancun and the reception was in a ballroom and they had the light up dance floor and my fiance loved the way it looked so I think I'll let him get this one thing. Lol I think the guests will like it and it will definitely give us light and get the party going and that's what we want a non stop party.

Your wedding is coming up! How exciting!!

I know!! I feel like I have a million things to do still....can't wait to just be hanging out by the pool!

I second the donna morgan dresses they have a great sale section on their website with different styles and colors.  My girls just went to their local nordstrom where they carry Donna Morgan bridesmaids dresses, tried on sizes and styles and then we just ordered them online once we knew what each girl wanted/liked. They were so cheap I ended up just buying them for each girl and just making them pay for their alterations. 

haha I was having a conversation with my now husband about his last name just yesterday.  My new last name is Grant and I was complaining on how I don't like how my G's look in cursive he said to suck it up lol.  Its just hard after writing my name for over 25 years to all of a sudden change.  I need some practice.     

I love Jet Blue also but they do not have direct flights out of Newark.  Great price though, super jealous!!  Hopefully this will push some guests to book if the flight is super cheap. 

Everything looks amazing!!! Congratulations!

Would you mind sending me the maraca tag template!

sara.fortin1603@gmaildotcom

 

Thanks!

I'll send the tag template when I'm at my work computer. 

So I'm officially married woo hoo, we had our church ceremony this past friday and it was perfect. Now only 8 more days for Cancun with all my friends and family celebrating all weekend!!

It was also awesome to have my nephews there playing ring bearers. They are not joining us in Cancun so it was nice to involve them in the church ceremony. 

@@LauraM I could do without it but my fiance really wants it so I'm caving and asking my DJ to add it. I hope its worth it.

Wow great price. What airline?

I had my civil/church ceremony just this past friday and it was intimate just our immediate family.  It was perfect and I'm glad I did it this way.  LIke everyone else doing it legal in Mexico was more work and money and my family understood that and actually they were glad that we decided to do it at our hometown church first.  One main factor for doing it at home was also so my fiance's father could attend as he will not be joining us in Mexico for health reasons.  Other family members from both sides who will not be with us in Cancun also got to attend the church ceremony and were glad to share in the day.  I didn't advertise it to everyone that's joining us in Cancun that we were getting married at home first but I also will not lie to them about it if asked I really don't think the friends and family I have would really care.  Both weddings are very real and will be celebrated full of love and happiness with all of our guests. This is what worked for my fiance and I and that's ok. Now only 8 more days until I'm off to Cancun!!!  

I would try to get them to honor day passes to save you a little money or ask them to waive the fee if they are the ones who switched the photogs on you.  Its worth a try.  

Good choice....I have them booked for my wedding and they did my engagement pictures and they are awesome to work with. Are they making you pay the vendor fee or day passes?

We just took photos of him with a good camera and my brother in law who is a graphic artist blew it up and printed it out and glued it onto a foam board.  He does these cut outs all the time for my nephews birthdays of cartoon characters so one of my dog was simple.  Its very easy to do on your own but there are also some websites that will do it for you and make it a cardboard cut out. I forget the site I was going to use but just google it cardboard cut out and I think you can upload your own photo.

@@spjwedding found the site http://www.shindigz.com/party/pet-portrait-life-size-standee/pgp/14petstandee

Guys just don't understand the amount of planning, negotiating and research actually goes into all the wedding stuff.  All he is seeing is numbers, let him know that this is work for you and you have been doing everything to make it within budget and perfect for the BOTH of you. Let him know that its hurtful when he says MY wedding when talking about it like its only for you.  I've had discussions about the planning process and even told my fiance once that he can start emailing everyone instead of me if he thinks its that easy. lol I have about a 1,000 emails saved going back and forth with about 30 different people, its definitely not an easy process.  I think they think the wedding just happens and voila done, nope you have to plan it. It's a good thing we all have BDW to vent. lol

I think he is just stressed out and guys just see the big numbers and don't really know where it all goes since most of the time the bride is doing all the planning.  Every time I bring up numbers, deposits and balances that we still owe my fiance has a little freak out but I talk him down and we move forward.  Just the other day he made a comment like I can't believe that the wedding is costing us this much blah blah I thought doing a DW was supposed to be cheaper it kind of upset me.  Then I reminded him the a lot of the add ons that is blowing our budget was one his idea that he really wanted to do them and two we are getting so much more for the money we are spending.  I'm estimating about $25,000 for the whole wedding and I mean everything wedding related, stationery, dresses, accessories, 2 week stay at the #1 resort in Cancun, all vendors, rings/jewelry, welcome bags, gifts for wedding party, outfits for wedding party, and we paid for our parents stay.  We were very generous with our bridal party and parents and that added about $4,000 to our budget and again that was my fiance saying oh we should pay for them. lol If we would have had the wedding in NJ where we are from it would have easily been around $25,000 just for the venue alone.  I think the experience in the end will be well worth it and he will forget how much it all really ended up being.  I also did a lot of DIY to cut costs and didn't do some things we originally wanted to do to save some money.  It'll be ok we all go through it its hard to see all this money being spent in such a short period of time.  Just have a talk with him and assure him it will all be ok and once you are on the beach having a drink and spending time with your family and friends it will all be worth it. 

Another DIY Project

Flower Bouquets and Boutonnieres for Home Ceremony

I'm getting married tomorrow at my home church then having a small dinner with my family and knew I wanted flowers so it felt like a wedding.  But I didn't want to order them from a local florist because the numbers I was getting for just the small amount of flowers I wanted was getting to be too much and it was money I didn't want to spend so close to leaving for Cancun..  Instead of ordering the flowers from a local florist I decided I would do them myself.  I went to my local farmers market on sunday and bought several bouquets of different flowers and then made my own bouquets and boutonnieres, it was super easy and so cheap.  Here is the final outcome and I only spent $15 for all the flowers minus the floral tape, ribbon and pins but that was probably under $10.  Not bad for a DIY project lol.  So for any girls who plan to buy their flowers from a florist or costco in Mexico you can definitely do it in Cancun just practice once before and get help it will take some time. 

Flower centerpieces for dinner

MOH bouquet

My bouquet

Boutonnieres for the men and my nephews.

I also had enough flowers to make mini bouquets for the moms but forgot to take pics.  Now they are all housed in my fridge lol hopefully they still look fresh tomorrow!!

My fiance and I decided we don't want to do the first look.  We are going to be traditional about it and wait to see each other at the ceremony when i'm finally walking down the aisle.  Our plan is for him to hang with his groomsmen while I hang out with my sisters and bridesmaids getting pampered all day then get both our reaction when we finally see each other.  The funny thing is we'll actually be married already but I think its more all the emotions of the day that will take over. lol   I'm doing the civil/church ceremony tomorrow so it'll be official I can't believe it, then 13 days until we leave for Cancun!

Just turned 30 last week....still feel like I'm 21. 

Nope! I didn't even know we could request that.  Our site visit wasn't that helpful to be honest

 

Our wedding isn't until 5 days after we arrive though, so I'm wondering if I can do a tasting earlier that week

That's a good idea, I would ask them to do that.  

I am jealous of you ladies actually knowing about cake flavours! Our WC has barely answered my questions even confirming the times/locations :S

@@tygrrlily You didn't get to do a cake tasting when you went on your site visit?  We had a food tasting and tasted 3 cakes.  I insisted we do this and was glad to be able to get an idea of what to pick for our menu and cake.

We are going with the hotels complimentary cake and the flavors are vanilla with strawberry filling and as a surprise I got my fiance a grooms cake and it will be hazelnut chocolate cake with raspberry filling.  

I agree with @@acw271011 at both my bridal shower and bachelorette party I had guests who were invited to the DW come and guests who weren't invited to the DW also attended.  I have a big family and a lot of sisters who have friends that I also grew up with but am not close enough with to invite to my DW.  My sisters, mom and aunts had their own guest list lol so they all invited women who I have known most of my life and who actually wanted to be apart of all the festivities even though they weren't invited to the actual wedding. It really surprised me that they still came to my bridal shower and bachelorette party and were genuinely excited for me and excited to be a part of the fun leading up to the wedding.  I guess you know your friends and family best and will know who should be invited.  Good luck and enjoy all the festivities leading up to the wedding it goes by real fast!!

Here are some pics of the thin spanx. Just so everyone can see how thin they are and the style. They are definitely not the sexiest under garments but some of us need a little smoothing out...haha I know I do.

You have a truly amazing planning thread!! I'm sure all of your guests will love all the little touches you've put together! I am also doing maracas for guests and would love it if you could post or email the tags you used (mmckiever11atgmaildotcom).

 

The cardboard cut out of your dog is hilarious. It's difficult to incorporate pets at a destination wedding but kudos to you because I think you nailed it

The maraca tag template has been sent.  

No these spanx are super thin I own both and its definitely not the regular ones.

The lady from the lingerie store recommended them especially for brides. I tried it on with my dress at my last fitting and it was great smoothing me out.