monkey

We were married last January in Nassau, with our reception at the Wyndham. We chose the Wyndham over Sheraton due to price (less expensive packages) and they are side by side, so you pay for the lesser one but have benefits of the Sheraton if you wish. The Wyndham also has the casino and ran a few golf packages (which basically turned our wedding into a golf trip for the guys LOL). I feel comfortable recommending the Wyndham (which has 2 on staff coordinators) but do have a concerns you might want to address beforehand (small things like separating all our guests into different towers, and what seems to be a policy of allotting the worst rooms out first - almost all of our guests asked to moved and were accommodated). If you want more information just let me know; I will be happy to share.

As we were wandering around lost in Nassau looking for the office where we could get our paperwork processed (FYI - its at the end of Frederick St., not in the business center that is beside the Hilton) we came across the Ministry of Tourism office who informed us that the government has their own Wedding Department that offers wedding coordinators FREE of charge! I am not sure how good the coordinators are or what they would do for you but I was skeptical of those same things when I was paying a few grand for regular one. The information they gave me is posted below. Also, I googled the information and found a link that might explain it better. Freda Madrisotti 242-328-7810 or 242-356-0435 Open 9-4, Monday through Friday WeddingSolutions - Wedding & Honeymoon Planning, Wedding Dress, Wedding Invitations, Favors, Gifts, Cakes, Engagement Ring Unfortunately we found out too late to use them but I hope this helps someone!

Windermere Spa was recommended by someone else on the board and my wedding coordinator. My day didn't go as planned so I was unable to use them, so I don't have any first-hand knowledge. The prices for “in salon” were starting at: hair-$60.00 makeup - $40.00. The cost for “out calls” is double. They have two locations, one is near Paradise Island and one is near Cable Beach. In hindsight I wish I would have paid the double rate because I think it would have worked out better. Here is the contact info I have: windermere@gussiemae.org

I have one thing to add that may be a little pricey but would have come in very handy - a small USB memory stick. A few of us had laptops so were downloading the picture cards from each other's cameras, but it would have been great to be able to put all pictures on one laptop and store the photos to a USB port for everyone. I am not that tech savvy so am unsure how big of a memory stick you would need, but I would think a 1G would have been enough. Also, we used paper bags because I thought all of my guests were seasoned travelers and would have their own beach bags but many of them either didn't have one or forgot theirs, so I wish I would have spent the money on beach bags (for the women at least - the guys wouldn't have used them).

Thanks girls - I never would thought of any of these things without all the previous posts of everyone on this board! Yes, everything was individually wrapped except the Advil (but it has Advil clearly stamped on it). The nail polish remover wipes and breath strips were from Dollarama, the Pepto and Gravol were from Shoppers Drug Mart - the Pepto was in bubble packs so I had to cut them to put in the bags and the Gravol were in blister packs with Gravol stamped on the back so I cut those down also. I have a sister in law in the states who picked up the shout wipes (way cheaper than the Tide pens - they were less than $3 for 12).

The Downy Wrinkle release may be one of the few things Canadians have that the US doesn't - I found them at Zellers for less than a dollar each. I am glad I only had a few weeks to plan my wedding - these bags can get out of hand once you start keeping your eyes open for stuff!

I made the recovery kits - I bought the envelopes/packets from Target (I think they were $12 for 25). I asked the hotel to bring in 2 cases of 24 of water so each bag got 2 bottles of water. We had a lot of rooms of just guys and just girls, so each kit changed a bit, but here is the basic list: Ritz bites Peanuts gum and/or certs (if they were smokers I gave them both) Downy wrinkle release blow up travel pillow tissues chocolate bar sugar free candies (I only bought these because after xmas the drug store was selling them for 20 cents a piece) Flopping love fish - saw these by another poster and ended up finding them at Pier 1 for .25 cents Lancome juicy tubes or lipstick- I actually won about 30 of these a year ago so thought I would share the wealth Body lotion from Bath and Body works (Cotton I think - light and tropical) Recovery kits: Shout wipes Pepto bismal Gravol (great for hang overs) Advil Breath strips Nail polish remover wipes bandaids

I am back from Nassau and wanted to share my OOT bags since I used so many ideas from everyone else on this board. I wanted gable boxes but couldn't find plain white ones on time so I ended up using plain white paper bags with turquoise tissue paper. Since we weren't at an all inclusive I didn't need cozies or mugs but I did think in room snacks were important. We packed everything in ziplock bags so they were easy to put together down there (I am addicted to ziplocks). We added water once we got down there (our hotel ordered it in for us). (I hope I am posting pics correctly - if not let me know!) http://s434.photobucket.com/albums/q...os/OOT%20bags/

I have answers! Flowers are expensive down there - each flower would be about $10 each (so 6 roses would be $60). They did have some selection though such as calla lilies, roses, lilies in white or pink and hydrangea. What I ended up doing was buying a large stem of hydrangea for my bouquet (for $10) and a smaller stem for my MH for $8. So, my advice would be if you wanted roses or a larger bouquet, you probably aren't saving much by doing it yourself. I wanted a very small, simple bouquet so I saved a lot of money by doing it myself. If you do go this route and use hydrangeas, make sure they give you the stem tube since they will wilt without it. Here is a bad photo of me but you can see my bouquet: http://s434.photobucket.com/albums/q...ction=organize

I will be getting married next weekend in Nassau and I plan to go to the florist shop and buy my own flowers to make my bouquet. More than likely the 'wild' flowers will wilt once cut but just because they have to import their flowers should not justify the cost quoted ($60 for a boutonniere)! I live in Manitoba - we don't grow anything here and a dozen roses only cost $9.99. Also, I did not care for any of the bouquets I saw in photos - cascading and way too large. I will let you know the cost in a few weeks.

Did you get a response or end up ordering? I am interested in the turquoise ones but will have to pay for expedited shipping, so I want to really like them! I had one more question - would they stay upright if you were to sit them on the sand?

Everyone's centerpieces are gorgeous! We are kind of going with a turquoise and starfish theme but just got the quote from the hotel for centerpieces - $100 a piece! So, now I am frantically trying to come up with something that is easy to take down in our luggage and fits with our theme. I was wondering where everyone are getting the large starfish from?

Beautiful dresses! I have 4 myself so I am not in need of another, but I am sure they will sell quickly

I LOVE these! Did anyone order them? Did their guests like them? Is the company reliable? I have mostly men coming to our wedding (yeah, quoting How I Met Your Mother 'girlfriends are lame') and think of all my OOT items they would actually be amused (and maybe appreciate) by these.

I am planning mine in under 2months (44 days form the day we decided to skip out of town and move it to Nassau). Nassau is different than Mexico though because they don't have the all-inclusives, (well, there are 2 AI's). Instead you can hire a JP and do it wherever you want or go to church (like we are).