MissJen3

Hi @@Kirsteen!

Just wanted to pop in and say that we had absolutely no issues with customs or anything when we arrived in Cuba. Like I mentioned above we did take a spreadsheet, some receipts, and emails between my wedding coordinator and I, but they did not ask to see it, at all! The most stressful part was that my husbands(weird to say that still, lol) luggage was 'lost' for a while. Thank god for the guys helping at the luggage pick up. I was about to have a melt down because half of our OOT bag items were in the luggage. Besides that, everything went more than smoothly! 

Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions. 

Hi @@Kirsteen!

I am getting married in Cayo Coco Cuba in 25 days! Ahhh! 

I am planning on bringing a whole boat load of OOT bag items with me. I am certainly hoping that I will have no issues clearing customs. I honestly hadnt thought about it until I read your post. Eeeek! 

I have been in contact with the on site wedding coordinator and she told me that the staff encourages brides to bring as much as they would like, so I just assumed this also meant OOT bag items???   

I have complied a spreadsheet of everything that was included in the bags, and the approx cost of the items. I plan to keep this, and the receipts (that I can find, just moved), with me with the wedding items that I was told to keep with me at the airport. 

All of our OOT items are being packed in our suitcases, and being farmed out to family memebers. My FI is carrying on our favours because they are glass. 

After the wedding I can give you an update as to how it all went. 

Fingers crossed for me and that things go smoothly! LOL 

Thank you so much for the advice. 

We are looking into getting stencils made. Its not that there is a lot of details on our stencil (actually just one word, Memories) its that we have to cut out the word ourselves and the other night that nearly took us an hour. If we could have a couple stencils made we are hoping we can set up an assembly line and recruit my mom for help to get them done faster. 

I will let you know how round 2 turns out. LOL 

The Real OOT Bags

 

I worked on the real bags today! Yay!! I'm super happy with how they turned out (well only the 6 I was able to do today haha). I feel like they look more uneven on the picture than in real life. My mom also had a hard time sticking her stencil on so they didn't come out as neat. 

 

 

I'm not very impressed with the stencil paper. I'm totally not a big fan or Martha Stewart, everything I buy from her brand is anywhere from "meh" to full blown crap haha. So don't buy her crappy stencil paper if you're following this for ideas. I found the stencil plastic gets stretched really easily when peeling the back so then it makes it very hard to stick on while leaving no wrinkles. Thank god I didn't do them with spray paint, because the paint would have gone into the little crevices.  I think I'll try to just use cardstock and stick it on for the next few and see how that goes. These turned out really well, don't get me wrong, but it got very time consuming sticking the stencil on perfectly. If using cardstock, there's also a spray glue to make sure the stencil stays on if using spray paint. 

 

@@MissJen3 I steamed the bags a little bit before painting them. Yours were probably folded in squares too and so it's hard to put any kind of stencil with the wrinkles that that leaves. I just put a cotton fabric on top so that the bags wouldn't melt on my iron and I set the temperature on the lower range of cotton section . 

 

Seating Chart

 

Juan and I bought some fans for the ceremony for people to keep cool. We will be using these as our seating chart as well. I'll attach a little sign with the person's name and their table number for the reception. This way we are killing two birds with one stone . I was working on the signs today but I'll post something once they're totally done, which won't be until June when our guests are 100% and I can finalize the seating chart

I need your help! LOL 

Sean and I were working on our bags last night. We used card stock and cut out the stencil, and then used the paint pens from Micheal's. They look NOTHING LIKE YOURS!. Ugh. Our letters bled into each other and even though we put cardboard inside the bag, for some reason most of the paint bled through and stuck to the cardboard. It was a complete disaster!  

Do you have any advice?     

I just went back and caught up on your thread! Your dress looks fantastic!! 

Hey hun!  Thanks.  I thought our quote was amazing!  I've seen so many other brides have much higher quotes.  I know that from Eastern Canada the quotes are pretty much $2,000.00.  

 

Thanks for the advice on the bachelorette!  I think I'll take that advice.  I'm already starting to feel the stress like there's just so much to do!

Congrats hun!  What resort are you getting married at?  I'm so happy to find another Cuban bride too!  There aren't that many of us on this site.

Invitations:

 

I really don’t know what the etiquette is with STD’s (Save the dates) and invitations.  I’m not really sure if there are rules for a destination wedding.  Dan and I wanted to give our friends and family about a year of notice so that they could save and book the time off.  Immediately after booking with our travel agent we scouted for invitations. 

 

During our wedding meeting the month before, aside from discussing the resort and the date we also talked about invitations and save the dates.  We decided that we wanted to send “save the date magnets” along with our invitations.  We loved the concept of a passport invitation and Wedding Paper Divas had an amazing tri-fold passport style invitation.  It was super easy to do and didn’t cost as much as I thought it would even with express shipping!  I wanted to get those invites out ASAP!  I was really happy with the quality of the product.  We paid extra for the pearl shimmer, the style of envelope, and the colour of the envelope.  We also bought the burgundy seals separate too (from Staples).  We wanted to incorporate travel into our invites.

 

I can’t remember where we found our save the date template from, but we did our magnets ourselves which saved us a lot of money.  We bought business cards and printed what we wanted on them then attached them to magnets.  We messed a few of them up, it was difficult to get the placement right.

 

For the bridesmaids and groomsman we sent little cards with a cute graphic picture on it asking them to be either a bridesmaid/groomsman.

We sent out about 23 invitations and invited about 52 people. 

 

It's been a while since we sent out our invitations.  We had 17 people (including ourselves) book with our TA and then we had 12 people book seperately.  We may have another 3 people coming as well.  So I'm thinking we're going to have a total of 32 guests attend our wedding!  We're really happy that our friends and family are able to make it.  We really didn't expect that many people.

I love your invites. I have been slacking the last couple of months. I have had no motivation. We just purchased a condo and are moving in August so I have been putting most of my time into that. Last night my FI and I tried to work on the design for our OOT bags. Oh man. What a fail. Back to the drawing board! 

We are getting married at Memories Flamenco Beach Resort in Cayo Coco. 

Just an idea, but what if you have your mom join you half way? In my head I am picturing your mom sitting in a chair next to the aisle and when you reach her you stop briefly and pick her up. This way you get your father- daughter moment that maybe your dad is looking forward to, but at the same time, they are both there at the end. 

Edit: I googled some options, because now I am thinking about how I want to go about this as well, and I found this idea on weddingwire that I thought was pretty cute. 

Another idea, which I incorporate all the time, is a flower ceremony for your moms. I also think that they don't have enough of a part and it is a huge, huge day for both of your mothers. In this ceremony, (which I always keep as a surprise to them) I call the moms up to join the couple, the bride and groom then present them with a single rose (pink, ideally, since that is the color of gratitude) and I talk very briefly about how the couple became the wonderful adults they are because of the mothers' lifetime gifts to them. It is a sweet way to incorporate the moms and still let your dad have that 'moment'.

I love that there is another Cuba bride! I am getting married November 20 in Cayo Coco 

My Fi is interested in the artist parts of our wedding. If he could just go to town will all the artistic elements I think he would be in his own personal heaven. I have to keep reminding him that we are still 7 months out, and we have time to do all that stuff. In regards to everything else, he offers up his opinion from time to time. One thing I have to say is that if I directly ask him a question he will have a full conversation with me about it. 

@@veryvalentine I am sorry to hear about your dress! Dont fret too much. It will all work out in the end. I often question wedding dress sizes. They seem to be all over the place. I wouldnt be surprised if they took the wrong measurements or somehow managed to sew it wrong. 

Like you I have had a similar dream. A couple weeks ago I  had a dream that something happened to my dress and I ended up walking down the aisle with pjs, a blanket over my shoulders and a pillow. In my dream my mom snatched a teddy bear from my arms moments before I walked down with my dad. LOL  

@@racht33 Thank you. I dont expect him to read the whole thing, on that day. I suspect it will be read over time. I am just super cheesy and thought that it would be something we could both look back on. 

Sean and I decided that we were not going to do gifts, but I really want to get him something small anyway. I have been writing in a day planner since Nov 20 of last year. Every day I write one thing that happened/he did/said that makes me remember why I love him. I called it 365 Reasons Why I Do. I plan on giving that to him on our wedding day, but I have also been toying with the idea of having a belt buckle made. He collects them and wears they every day. Now here is where I start to doubt my idea. Sean's father passed almost 13 years ago, and I know that it really upsets him that his dad wont be at our wedding. I am wondering if on the belt buckle I should put the word Greaser on it (thats what they called his dad)?  Is that weird? Part of me wonders if he would want a belt buckle with his dads name on it??

Congrats!! 

I love your dress and agree with what the other ladies have said 

Ouch! Well, I guess I'll be leaving the salon sore... I'm getting my eyebrows and bikini wax! lol

 

@@beckys98 Nah, don't feel bad. I think some brides really love wedding planning, but I'm just not one of them. For one, I am a people pleaser (not to be confused with a pushover) and two, I don't like making decisions. Honestly, I'd be perfectly happy with an entire wedding planned for me - right down to colors, etc and someone just saying ok, show up at this time. I know all of this will be worth it, but I have a hard time not rolling my eyes sometimes and saying I want to be married to my husband and move on to bigger things than one day. But, in retrospect, I think I would feel sad if we didn't have a celebration with family and friends.

In all honesty, before I got engaged and actually started planning a DW, I actually thought it would be more about someone else planning the majority of it for me. I quickly realized that obviously that is not the case, but like you I would have been perfectly happy if what I had originally pictured in my head was true. Its always been about the marriage for me, not really about the wedding. I think some people have a really hard time understanding that. 

I am interested to know what happens with the kids menu as well. For our dinner we only get to choose one meal for the adults, which is ok because adults are easier to please. Kids are so unpredictable that I cant see choosing one meal for all of them. One day they might like chicken fingers, and the very next day they hate them! My fiance and I actually had the same conversation about ordering from the kids menu. We are both very 'plain' eaters and all the menu options seem so fancy for us. Im not going to lie, we had to google what something was while looking at the menu. Haha. 

Thank you for sharing this. My FI is always so warm so linen is the best option for him I think. We were just out this past weekend looking for his attire and we didnt find much. I am definitely going to show him this as an option. 

I was just talking to a friend over the weekend about this and telling him that I'm already stressing out about spending time with everyone. He said that when he traveled back home to Guatemala he had this long list of people he wanted to see. He said for some he only had about 15 minutes, but he made sure to have a one on one with them and they were super appreciative of it, not matter how long it was. That made me think that maybe we're too hard on ourselves and literally expect the impossible (which is to spend a lot of time with each guest) but people will be happy to get your full attention even if it's for a short period of time. Everyone I've talked to says the same thing, they know it's a very busy week for you and you're trying your best . 

 

@@veryvalentine that turned out really well! Good job

I am not getting married until November and I am stressing about this as well. I have been trying to talk to some friends and family about how I am going to try my best but I am fearful that there wont be enough of me to go around throughout the week. I am also trying to stress to them that this is their vacation and I encourage them to treat it as such. Do excursions and go on adventures. I just hope I manage to have a moment with everyone. 

I cant draw at all either. I dread teaching art. I once had a class laugh at me. LOL  With Sean I have already asked him to get thinking about a future baby room, although that isnt for at least a year from now. LOL 

I did not realize how many types of paint pens are out there until I was in Michael's yesterday. I ended up with 3 in my hand before I got into line to pay. Then I found the ones that I think you are talking about, at the register and decided to pick that one.  The cashier laughed at me when I asked her if I could leave the other 3 behind. 

Thank god for the 40% off coupon though. 

Your bags turned out AMAZING!!

Your creativity inspires my (little bit of) creativity.

I ended up going to Michael's yesterday and purchasing the paint pen that you suggested, and an extra bag to practice on. I am glad I didnt end up picking up the Martha Stewart stencil plastic. I swear I spent 10 mins in the aisle looking at all the stencil crap she has for sale. I decided I was too cheap and planned on using card stock for the practice bag and figured I would go from there.  I also never thought to steam them out. It didnt even cross my mind, even though they are folded into little squares. 

Sean and I were talking about stencil ideas again yesterday, and I really just want to use a word or phrase, and he is very artsy and wants to put detail into it. Which I admire about him, but I just kept thinking it would be a lot of work, and I kept picturing myself getting very frustrated with painting a detailed stencil on the bag. Anyway, I just showed him your bags and he loves them! You are my hero! LOL   

Thanks for sharing with me. 

I think that you should go with your gut. I love the first shoes. They are still pretty strappy looking to me. Maybe it is the width of the straps that is throwing you off a bit? 

I am hoping to use Heartland- I loved her first. My only concern is that I cant make it through the song without being a big ball of mess. I will need to invest in waterproof mascara! 

This site is fantastic for venting. I think we all need it from time to time 

Awesome. I might go tomorrow and pick one up to play with. We are still trying to decide what we want to do for a stencil. Sean is very artsy, I am NOT. Every design he draws is so detailed and perfect. Everything I suggest is very basic. We are trying to merge the 2. 

I also watched several youtube videos last night on stenciling, and I noticed that the majority of the people in the videos are using a sheet of plastic for their stencils so I might try to find some of that tomorrow as well. 

I love all the hair choices! Who knew a hair style would be such a hard decision? 

I love the book Love You Forever. I cant help but cry every time I read it. 

I can see why you would be frustrated. I can distinctly remember 2 wedding events in the last 2 years (shower & bachelorette), that I have traveled quite the distance to be at. In both cases I wasnt even in the bridal parties, but the girls were my good friends so I went to celebrate with them. I am from just outside of Cambridge, and I managed to drive past Barrie for the shower as well as the bachelorette. I will admit that doing that drive, to and from, in less than 24 hours was not what I considered a good time. However, the time I spent with each of these girls was well worth it.  I cant help but wonder if there might something else that is preventing her from being there? I read that you dont think it is money, but could there be anything else?? Just seems strange that she would miss all of your wedding events for no reason other than the distance.