JaimeCKL

I can not believe that we leave a week from tomorrow! So excited! I have been working with Ariana and I have found that if I am not getting an answer fast enough for me, I can call and get an immediate answer, which is nice. She has been super helpful so far and I am hopeful for the whole thing going smoothly! Does anyone know of a great packing list for the resort? I know I will forget something!!

I know this has been discussed before but does anyone have an awesome Chichen Itza tour provider they can recommend? I am hopeful for a small group or private. Not looking to be one of the herds of people arriving at the same time on the busses. Thanks!!

@@victoriasalv No songs for the bridal party to walk to? Do you mind if I ask what your songs were? Just trying to decipher tempo and such. @@lynne1609 Those boxes are adorable!

@@vanessajfelice Thanks again for the booklet! We are getting SUPER excited but I am suddenly overwhelmed by the details that I need to get done. This week my stressors are Groomsmen sandals, my bridal sash and the ceremony music. Does anyone know how many songs we need and how long they should be? I can not seem to find info anywhere on it!! I can't wait until August starts so I can say "next month!!!" when everyone asks about how long I have!!

I would love that!!! It is jaimekraus at gmail.com .....not sure if this message will get blocked if I send it to you formatted the correct way! By the way, I just noticed we will be in Mexico at the same time!!! Our wedding is 5 days before yours!

Does anyone have the Excellence of Love package booklet?

@@kjb0528 Thamara just quoted me last week $220 for the lighting package for Las Olas. I think we are going without it though. Finally ordered invitations! I had a designer design them and now I need to send them off to the printer! Sunday we shop for MOH and BM dresses....yeah!!!

@@vanessajfelice Small world!! We moved from St. Charles to Sycamore about two years ago and work in Schaumburg. I grew up in Dallas and would love to get back there eventually! We are there the 14th-21st, but we are thinking of changing our return date to the 23rd, just need to talk to our TA. We are counting down the days anxiously!! Have you gotten your dress yet?

We also sent our Save the Dates out 10 months in advance. I think people know fairly quickly with a destination wedding if they can make it work and will RSVP and I am hopeful that the invite and early RSVP date will help motivate them to make that decision so that I can know numbers for welcome bags and favors!!

I think by the time we get these invites done it will be end of March before the actually get received so it will be about 5 months out. I found one I loved at Minted, but even with a discount they worked out to be about $7 a piece after all the envelopes and addressing and such and even for our small wedding that is another $350 before postage so I had someone deign one on Etsy with the RSVP card and the Travel Details card and I am going to have them printed. We will go to Michael's and get fancier gold envelopes and vellum and twine or ribbon and make them fancier ourselves. That should save us a good amount, but is time consuming. I am just trying to figure out what to do about addressing them because I do not know calligraphy and want them to look nice, but I think printing them on a printer will look off.

@@vanessajfelice Awesome!!! We should definitely meet for a drink!! I see you are from Chicago? Where are you located? @@KeriT21 Thank you!! I hope to get it soon! We are currently working on invitations, so much more expensive than I had anticipated!! We were told that we should mail out our invites no later than 6 months before (so next month) and have a RSVP by deadline of 3 months before, which is June for us. I think I finally found the ones we are doing, now I am just confirming my entree options with Thamara so that I can order the RSVP cards as well.

@@HollyB322 Our wedding is at sunset, followed by the cocktail hour on the pier, so I am assuming it will be 7 by the time our reception begins, so I hadn't considered the heat and wind. Good to think about though.

I have received my documents already, but there was no mention of the cost of add ons in that packet. I guess I should request that. Thamara told me we would be fine without the lighting package as long as we had candles, but now I am anxious.

@@JenniferH114 Did you do any additional lighting or was that all included? I am so confused trying to figure it all out at this point!!

That is beautiful!! What were your colors? I think mine are similar!!

@@lynne1609 These are great~ Thanks!! @@JenniferH114 Good to know. Do you happen to have any pics from the reception? Did you do a DJ?

@@kjb0528 Thanks! It is a Stella York/Essense of Australia gown. It should be in next week hopefully! @@lynne1609 Those are awesome! Are you going to hang them? Is your reception at Las Olas? I have yet to see it done for a wedding so I am a little unsure of what I should be looking at. Has anyone seen or had a reception at Las Olas? Is there room for dancing? We have about 30 ppl total, so I am hopeful for 1 large table.

Finally bought a dress.....now on to invitations. I emailed our WC of the week (Thamara) and she told me that there are a few globe lights at the Las Olas that are there permanently and if we were to bring some LED candles or votives, we would be fine without the extra lighting fee. Has anyone else done this? I am trying to get a second entree option for our reception dinner, which I thought they had okayed before, but getting a little push back on it currently. Sorry about the giant photo, not sure how else to show it! Doing BM dresses on the 21st.......still unsure on colors.

@@victoriasalv Just getting a chance to reply now...the holidays were crazy chaotic!!! As far as shoes, I am doing barefoot for the beach and then fancy sandals for the reception, but our reception is at Las Olas and I envision a lot of beach time during the reception as well due to the proximity. Also, my fiancee is only 5'10 and I don't want to be taller than him in photos. So excited for you for the dress. I bought one, got it in, hated it, returned it and got a new one that was the opposite of everything I wanted. I wanted lace and a keyhole back or at least lace detailing straps in the back and when I got it, it was all very itchy, heavy and uncomfortable so I went with a Sottero & Midgley chiffon gown. It will flow with the wind and will be comfy all night. Our next to do is order the BM and MOH gowns and get our invitations done. I can not get over how expensive 40 damn invites are.

I am not that far into it. If it's not included I doubt I will do it. I am going way over budget and honestly, our reception is oceanside, that should be enough ambiance. I feel like flowers and all of that jazz is necessary when you are getting married in a hotel ballroom, but with the Ocean feet away and the sounds of the waves surrounding you, I doubt anyone will notice if I put out candles or not.

That's funny!! I never thought about the time of season....that makes sense. We are going in September so a lower rate I would assume.

@kjb0528 We booked ours a year out too and unfortunately our rates haven't dropped. We are staying beach view suite, club side and paying less than that. I would talk to different travel agents. I have an amazing one who saved us a ton, if you are interested.

I really love the one you picked out! I am leaning towards this one and waiting for the samples to come in to see how it meshes with our "colors".

I just ordered samples from both minted.com and weddingpaperdivas.com. I loved a blue watercolor one at minted I saw....simple and beautiful. Our wedding colors are tiffany blue and white so I am concerned about the colors being right. If you order the set of 20 of those totes or more they are only $6.25 each so that's better than the $10. I wasn't sure if we needed all 20 because we are doing one per room, but ultimately at the price we paid it was worth it to order the 20. If we have extras, so be it.

@@victoriasalv yes, Alejandra is my new coordinator. Not super impressed so far but hopeful it will all be just fine. I bought these totes from Wedding Chicks and had them personalized obviously. They worked out to be only $3.62 each shipped because of their 50% Black Friday sale. @@victoriasalv Do you have a pic of the dress?? Please share!! Also, where did you get invites? I am just looking now!