NotSoWitty

Hi guys, this may have already been posted but I saw this over on facebook where someone found a wedding ring while diving in Playacar. Just thought on the off-chance someone here may be the owner: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=365910526896716&set=o.205344452828349&type=1

I'm getting a few changes made to mine including a slight change to the neckline to make it more boatneck and a little beaded bit (having a complete brain freeze and can't remember the name for it) removed or possibly added to a belt. Plus getting the bodice as well as the skirt shortened so it sits at a more flattering length. Plus getting a big-a$$ petticoat for loads of pouff!!! (ok, so that's not an alteration but a necessary step, I realised during my brief wedding dress shopping experience that I love pouff!)

@@TinkerSofi I've pm'ed you.

We're going for JhanKarlo http://jhankarlophotography.com/ who is reasonably priced, I love what I've seen of his work and he's been great when it comes to communication. Fingers crossed he's the superstar he seems!

After speaking to Beso Brides/Yucatan I'm going to hire a budget hotel room (with air con!) and meeting them there. It's working out as still being less than the cost of the vendor fee alone! I'm also really excited to have them as they seem to have really great reviews. I've had great fun this week putting together hair and makeup ideas. I got so worked up over this last week but almost everyone I spoke to was so helpful. Touch wood this is as stressful as it gets!

Hi Lealea and congratulations! I haven't used the website you mentioned, but are you getting married in one of the cities or out a little bit? From the sounds of it the site gives links to google maps, which isn't a particularly exciting feature, imo. If you're getting married in one of the cities, you should have plenty of selection. But, depending on where your venue is, the selection of alternative hotels or b&bs might be very limited. Do you have a coordinator over there? They might have a list of appropriate accommodation they could give you?

After going back and forward about holiday dates, we decided to fly on 17 January and get married on 21st January 2015! It's just a couple days after we land, allowing enough time to rest up after the flight, but not too much so that I don't indulge myself too much on the all inclusive and burst out of my dress! I came here wondering if there was any chance in hell we could pull it all together in 7 months and everyone was so supportive! A wedding planner got in touch and made some gorgeous suggestions, but we decided to make like the little red hen and do it ourselves! Sometimes I think it would be so much easier to let someone else organise it (especially someone who actually knows the area!) but I know we made the right decision. We knew it would be very low-key so there really hasn't been that much to organise. First came confirming the date. We knew two things would swing it for us - the officiant and the photographer. Both had to speak English, be available, be quality without being too expensive and had to feel right. We aren't doing the legal bits in Mexico, all the chest x-rays, plus blood tests, plus lots of reports that it's difficult to get the paperwork back home meant that we were definitely doing the legalities here, but considering the wedding in Mexico as the proper wedding. This meant that we had a bit more freedom with our celebrant. We originally liked the look of Noe Camacho, but found him difficult to get in touch with. Then LisaAnthonyPoppy mentioned Petra Rattue. She was really quick at responding, seems to genuinely love what she does and lived in England for a few years, so we're guessing great English! Oh and she was available on our day. Officiant booked! Choosing a photographer was more difficult. We weren't sure what were typical prices so didn't know what to budget. I contacted a range of photographers that I liked the look of and got a range of prices back! Some were completely out of our league, some weren't available, some didn't answer. A lot of our research made me wish we had the money to do a trash the dress shoot! We found and fell in love with JhanKarlo photography and even better, he offered a fantastic price. Photographer booked! So those are the main biggies taken care of. More to come! How did you find it being just the two of you? How did you manage the logistics, like who zipped up your dress and did you have a 'first look' type moment?

I tried on one destination style dress, but it was just to keep my sister happy that I tried at least one on. I had briefly considered wearing just a short cream dress but then decided to go for my dream dress which is tea length with a full skirt. I LOVE my poofy dress, I just couldn't have a chiffony one.

It's ok, I'm a questioner too! We'll be telling immediate family a few months before we go, but the first friends and wider family will know of it is through social media. We'll still be in Mexico at that point. We're going to be having a party a month afterwards so we'll have the chance to celebrate with them. I'd say a few of them will be a bit put-out, but we're hoping most of them will just be happy for us once they get over the shock.

I'm hoping to get a small headpiece made (kind of like an small teardrop hat) with a removable blusher veil. I'm toying with getting a longer one off ebay just for photos, but I don't know if that will just be weird.

Planning on gold flats for the ceremony and bringing a pair of high heels for the pictures. I hate feet so can't imagine being able to wear the barefoot sandals!

Thanks! How did you arrange the limo transfer? Was it through the TA? I'm planning on asking a million questions when we go in to pay the rest of the amount.

So, eloping! I have basically been planning my wedding since I was 8. That's when my eldest sister got married and I got hooked on all things wedding. I've always had a pretty clear picture of a big Irish day, in my home chapel, then one of the hotels nearby. I'm the youngest of six and really close to my family so an intimate wedding was never considered possible - we'd have the guts of 50 guests just through brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, none of whom I could possibly leave out. So the idea of none of them being there seems completely crazy sometimes! However, almost 20 years of planning the perfect wedding day means that realistically no day was going to live up to the fantasy. I would invariably be disappointed and completely stressed out over one minor detail and ruin the whole day for myself, and probably most other people too. Also, my father died almost 11 years ago and his presence would be hugely felt. I figure that if no one is there, the massive gap that he leaves would be felt less keenly. My h2b also has some family issues that would be pretty obvious during all the events. Last and not least, the cost is massively reduced! The whole shebang is probably costing us less than a quarter of the traditional wedding, and we get a honeymoon into the bargain. Added to the fact that we both love to be a bit different, I'm pretty sure this is the best idea ever! So why are we keeping it a secret, it's not exactly an elopement if we're planning it months in advance? Well, it's not. However, my sister is getting married next month and I thought it would be very cr&ppy of me to announce our wedding so close to hers. As I mentioned before, we also love to be different, so it really amuses us to think of our friends' surprise when they see the news on facebook! We told our parents before we booked, as a mark of respect and also to gauge if there were likely to be some long-lasting fall outs. We also told a sister each, his because he was so excited and mine so I could go dress shopping with her and we could have the fun of wedding planning together. We also told a couple office friends each, again because it's so exciting! And then the planning begins...

Eeee! I can't wait until I can see your attachments! The guestbook is one of the things on my mind at the moment and I'm trying to think of a nice way to stage it and a different kind of book since we're having a different kind of party (in that no one will have actually been to the wedding)

I went one day with my sister when I was visiting her. Found a dress I loved. Then I came back and went with a friend over here. Found more dresses that I loved and ended up buying the first dress I tried here. Because I live away from home and haven't told most of my family I didn't get to do it with all my sisters and mum. However, my sister is getting married next month, so I recently experienced what it would be like to go shopping with all of them. That is, a nightmare. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone's opinion is not necessarily yours. You wonder if you actually like any of the dresses and maybe you'll just wear a sack!!! I do feel bad that my mum wasn't there and hasn't even seen a picture of the dress (she's a bit of a troglodyte so I haven't been able to send her one) but I'll show her pics in a couple weeks and she'll be over for my first fitting. I actually can't wait to show her it cause I think it'll be really to her taste as well. My advice is to go maybe once with all your people to have a fun day where you play with pretty dresses. Then pick someone whose judgement you can rely on and who knows and understands your style and bring them for a serious days shopping! Oh and try on a huge puffy cinderella dress at least once!

Is anyone else getting their makeup done outside of their hotel in Playa del Carmen/Playacar? I'm really finding it a struggle to find someone that's willing to do it Of the many that I contacted, one has offered to do it in her home, one has said that they can rent a chair at another salon and sort me out there, one has suggested that we rent a room at a budget hotel and I had a very long and winding email conversation with another where they insisted on knowing my full name and name of the booking at my hotel (even though I pointed out that I wasn't coordinating any part of the wedding through the hotel and wanted to come to them) before finally telling me that no, they could only come to me. And several others who also can only come to me. It's only going to be me, so I don't want to cough up $350 for someone to come in and do my makeup. (side note - my hotel originally quoted me $200 and then suddenly it was $350 for 2015 when I questioned it!) Am I the only one in this situation? Is it just me that's finding it a struggle? Can anyone recommend any studios in or around Playa? Other than Styling Trio as I don't know if I can afford their prices!!!

21st January. It's a bit hard to believe that I'll be a Sadie Sadie Married Lady in less than 6 months!

Nope, just the two of us. We know that a lot of our family couldn't afford to come out. I'm the youngest of six, most of whom have big families of their own so it would be super expensive. So instead of feeling like I was putting anyone under any pressure we just aren't inviting them. One of my sisters is getting married in September so we're also not telling anyone yet. Well, we've told our parents, he's told his sister and I've told my sister who's getting married so we could go wedding dress shopping when I went to visit her earlier this month. We'll be telling the rest of our immediate families later in the year, but none of our friends until after the big day.Although we both told a couple people in our offices because they don't know anyone at home! More to come!

Does anyone know if Thomsons will hang it even if you aren't flying first class? We're going to be on a Dreamliner so I presume they have loads of closet space, but what do you do on the coach from the hotel to the resort? Now that've decided on my dress I'm super protective of it!

So I decided that I need somewhere to rant and rave about the wedding and planning process. To give you a little background: I met Peter when I was 17 and he was 18 and kind of dating my friend (you know the teenage, odd kiss in the nightclub, maybe a text during the week, nothing serious kind.) My first impressions of him were 'he is tall' swiftly followed by 'I'm away to the bar' The fact that I can remember this meeting is amazing in itself- I have an awful memory and never remember anything, especially if I was drinking! We're from a rural area in Ireland which is served by around three nightclubs, all terrible, but with a clear strata of 'awful', 'bad' and 'sure where else would you go?' Of course we were going to run into each other again and again. A few months later we saw each other in the awful club and he picked me up and swung me around. I realised that I kind of fancied him. A few months and a lot of flirting later we kissed for the first time, but the first of many times. Around two years later (during which we often bumped into each other and, if we weren't with other people, had the odd snog) he found out I was single again and started chatting to me on IM. I arranged to meet him and another guy when I was out for Halloween. I bumped into him first, walked him to the door of the pub when he was going to meet his friends... and ended up going with him. A month later we had to have the relationship talk as Christmas was coming and we needed to know whether or not to buy presents! And that's how we became a couple. Two years later, I had graduated and was working in a blah job and he needed to move to England for his degree. It seemed obvious that I would be going with him and I did. A year later, after taking me round town and getting my hair and nails done, he knelt down in a mucky park and proposed. And that's how we became our own little family and got engaged. Four years later, finally graduated and working in a real job Peter suggested that we should go on a real holiday, our first proper, beach, relax and indulge holiday. Yes, I am all for that. Then a couple days later he suggests that maybe we get married when we are over there. Just the two of us. No family, no drama, no huge expense, no unrealistic expectations. Yes, I say. And as the week draws on I'm insisting on it. And that's how we decided to run off to Mexico and get wed.

Probably PDC, this is something I'm hoping either our photographer or officiant can help us with. We've never been before and google maps street view can only show us so much!

Eeep, I've been getting a lot of those OMG moments recently. Last night I was thinking that my H2B will make a fantastic husband and I was a bit 'OMG, he's going to be my husband.' And today I put down my deposit on my actual real-life wedding dress! I was talking to my sister and asking when the heck I got old enough to become someone's WIFE! Don't they have some sort of course that you have to finish to become a fully certified adult? I'm pretty sure becoming a wife and having an actual wedding ring makes you an adult!

I just emailed the front desk and got two different responses! I had read about some hotels in general waiving the fee, but not specifically any of the riu ones. I'll email them again tomorrow when I have my thinking brain back on! There's just the two of us going to Mexico and we're going to get married on the public beach with just the photographer and minister so there's nowhere else for me to get my makeup done. Oh well, I'll figure it out! I'm hoping we'll have time for a massage or something nice in the morning - the joy of not having to worry about anyone else!

I love your planning thread, it's so detailed! I'm really interested in finding out what you do for your hair and makeup. We're staying at Riu Tequila but will be getting married off-site. I was hoping to get either Doranna or Beso Brides, but don't know if I can justify vendor fees. Doranna did offer that I could come to her house and Beso suggested that they could hire a budget hotel nearby so that I can come to them. Did you get any information about the inhouse mua? I've read that if they don't offer airbrush the resort may waive the vendor fee, but the responses I got when I emailed them were just confusing!

We aren't having guests and I guess a lot of my panicking was me trying to reconcile what I have had in my head for years about weddings (the long timeline, the stress, the huge expense) and what we are doing. We waited almost a month to actually book the trip and now we've booked our holiday, our photographer and officiant and I've been wedding dress shopping. We decided not to go through a wedding planner because we want to keep everything super simple. So far the biggest stress has been wedding dress shopping yesterday - I found two perfect dresses, both over budget and now I have to decide whether to go for the most amazing vintage dress ever or get the one I was originally thinking of (and still love, the other perfect dress was very similar to it) made in China for around a third of the price. Once I narrow down and book my hair and makeup and decide where we are going to go for dinner the night of, we are pretty much done with the Mexico details. I almost can't believe how stress-free it's all been!