ScorpioBride

I actually DO envy you. I wish I had some people that loved me enough to be bridesmaids, alas I don't have a single one. Anyway this isn't about me, it is about you, and I wanted to know if she was demoted to a regular bridesmaid or cut from the lineup altogether? I would demote her, not cut her off completely. I can see her being very upset if she went from MOH to just a guest. I honestly think you are incredibly lucky with 6 bridesmaids traveling to your DW. That alone is more than half my guest count.

This is a really hard time for me. I promised myself I wouldn't care who came regardless, that I would just enjoy time with the guests who did come. There are 11 guests coming. ELEVEN. My fiance really thought we'd have 30, so its tough for him. We invited 100 people. The really harsh part is we had to book one of those guests flights on their behalf, he still has not booked his accommodation and the wedding is in 21 days. Another two guests JUST cancelled, and one had told me up until now he was coming, only to reveal today that his place ticket is costing him 5% more than what he budgeted for. I am angry because I spent HOURS researching flights, accommodations for this guest who is coming from another country, I found him sales, but he waited to long and now the sale has gone up a bit (although it is still a sale). 5% translates to roughly $150... I just don't get it. Now he won't come. You bet we will have a blast with those guests that come, this whole experience INDEED made me really happy about my decision not to have a wedding within my home country. #1 my ENTIRE family is spread out over the country and they would have had to fly in anyways to me, my fiance and his family's location here, and #2 to cancel things with vendors here is not permitted, I would NOT have the flexibility here that I have in a destination wedding. And cancellations would have happened. We have successfully weeded out all the two faced fakers who would have simply come to eat a free dinner. Now we get to the etiquette in which I will be harsh... From the 100 guests we invited, we have only received about 25 RSVP cards back. The due date is passed by nearly two weeks. My entire family has dropped the ball since they only account for 3 of the eleven people, that is my immediate family, and all my other relatives completely blew us off. We received three congratulations cards from the 100 people we invited, no gifts, and I know this sounds pathetic but I am so happy I could cry over those three cards. They are sincere and sweet and framed on my wall and it means me and my new husband will have three people that we know are there for us for LIFE. We also have four events total that we have invited people to attend, stag/stagette, backyard party before we go, wedding, and another welcome backyard party for when we return. Two of those events were planned by my fiance's family because they wanted to give people the maximum opportunity to celebrate with us, BUT unfortunately, these so called family and friends are blowing off every event. They won't even RSVP to a single ONE. We are giving people four chances in three different cities and they wont even try and connect with us. There is always an excuse and it makes me feel alone, since I don't know what I did or didn't do that they care so little for us. I tried really hard to reach out my whole life and it hurts observing how other people don't try at all yet they have family that communicates and comes together so well. I want something like that. I guess when I hear brides complaining about the lack of guests, cards, gifts, whatever it makes me cringe because it makes saying my situation out loud seem so pathetic in comparison to how bad they perceive theirs to be because I don't know anyone who has received as little support as we have from family... Yet I still feel somewhat fortunate. Nothing except a hurricane can keep me from enjoying my wedding day.

I haven't received mail for two weeks now. Our RSVP deadline is July 1st, six days away!!!! I'm really grateful we don't need to let my planner know final numbers until a week before. If I was having a wedding here at home, I would be SO screwed, as the final numbers would need to be in RIGHT NOW. What I am most worried about is that any cards or letters will be lost in the mail, those are irreplaceable and also I will not know who to send thank you cards to. If I don't send a card to someone who sent a gift because it never ARRIVED, its going to look so bad on me.

I am so glad to see this because I thought I was the only one ever who hates these sites!!! STP actually has a destination wedding page but honestly I've looked at these sites, plus Once Wed, and Destination inspirations and all I take away from it is that 1) these are almost always styled photo shoots, not real weddings 2) they all look the same 3) the brides almost ALWAYS have runway type body shapes that makes me feel like crap about mine. I stopped looking at these sites because it was really skewering what I thought a bride should look like and also I didn't like that it seemed like a big catalogue of goods to purchase. I never did but wedding magazines so I guess I am pretty biased.

Wow so many Mexico brides!!! Count me in too- August 2nd 2011 Belize I am pretty behind but the wedding coordinator says its ok- Island time is the best Can't believe we are just over 2 months away!

I wish I could help you but I've been looking for the same info!!! I do not live in the USA so my choices of wedding insurance simply do not exist. I am afraid that a traveler insurance broker is going to charge WAY too much and that it will NOT include what it needs to! Most of the helpful info I have found here : http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/1321/post-all-your-wedding-insurance-travel-insurance-info-and-questions-here Doesn't help much if you live outside the USA, but I'll keep posted here on the search for hurricane coverage.

This may be the most informative thread I have EVER read! Its been fun lurking around and seeing everyones weddings approaching, then seeing them in this thread. The things I am going to consider most from what you have all said are 1) don't feel bad about splurging on the photography 2) get that bustle back-up and extra pins!!! 3) put together small OOT bags 4) do my own makeup!!! We will see in just over 60 days how I feel...

I completely agree too, for me the biggest stressor has been guest concerns. There are many who say they are coming but with just over 60 days to go they have not even thought of booking, even when I sent them airplane seat sales and let them know that the resorts are filling up. For most people they haven't wanted to book the flights yet because "$500 on a return ticket seems like a lot of money to spend at once", but my point is that when the flights go up to $900 in a few weeks that is a LOT more money!!!! Why do people not get this? So yes, I am totally worried that people who said they were going to come will not come because they left planning too late and the prices go up for everything. How is that my problem? Gah! My meager guest count of 16 will probably drop down to 12 or less

When are you thinking of going? I think its a great idea- the prices there are really good and especially on Ambergris Caye its really low key atmosphere. Getting to Belize is tough but its part of the adventure I think.

Whoa I don't think I have a playlist quite like any other here- me and Fiance are alt rock fans, we love unusual songs old and new. A lot of people may not recognize these but I bet if you plug them into YouTube and have a listen you will like them!!! Ceremony and Cocktail hour are steel pan band. Dinner: City and Colour - The Girl redemption song - Bob Marley thank you - Led Zeppelin Into the Mystic - Van Morrison love song - The Cure do you realize - The Flaming Lips Only one - The Black Keys things behind the sun - Nick Drake heaven (acoustic) - Bryan Adams With or without you - U2 Hard Sun - Eddie Vedder endlessly - Muse meeting in the aisle - Radiohead Ill be your man - The Black Keys Wild Horses - Rolling Stones Iron lion zion - Bob Marley Shuffle your feet -Black Rebel Motorcycle Club I Follow Rivers (moon) - Lykke Li One - U2 A Million Miles an Hour - Eastern Conference Champions Who Do You Love? - George Thorogood everlasting light - The Black Keys First Dance: Sea of Love - Cat Power Parent's tribute songs: Evergreen - Barbra Streisand unchained melody - Righteous Brothers Slow songs: Could I have this dance - Ann Murray (request from relative) Forever - Ben Harper Make you feel my love - Adele cover of Bob Dylan always be right there - Bryan Adams lady in red -Chris Deburgh (tribute to father) Turn Your Lights Down Low - Bob Marley Kiss the Girl - Little Mermaid drive - The Cars (use as last slow song) Dance Songs: Thunderstruck - AC/DC (request from father) Sunshine of Your Love - Cream dancing in the moonlight - Thin Lizzy white wedding - Billy Idol Is This Love - Bob Marley girl I love you - Massive Attack heartbeats - The Knife just say yes - Snow Patrol have love will travel - The Black Keys Spread your love - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Get Some - Lykke Li Money for Nothing - Dire Straights (request from best friend) Undisclosed Desires - Muse Dancing in the streets - Mick Jagger and David Bowie fool in the rain - Led Zeppelin A Girl Like You - Edwyn Collins One More Time - Daft Punk The People - The Music Superfreak - Rick James Finish Night with: angel - Massive Attack young at heart - Tom Waits I will need to cut down the list for time but for now this is what I have.

Hi I think the reason you can't find the song is because it was composed most likely for the bride and groom by someone they know. Perhaps try googling the name of the person, with tags like 'composer', 'music', 'musician' you may get a hit. Whoever wrote it probably won't give it to you free though, just something to keep in mind.

I responded to BeachBridein11 in a Private message, but wanted to repeat it here- I am getting married in Belize and its not an all inclusive. My wedding planner down there is also free and the resort isn't taking a cut out of any of the vendors so that is likely why the cost of my band is lower. One thing I suggest is perhaps looking at local forums of the city you are getting married in, or local newspaper, and post an ad for a band. They can send audition mp3 to you and everything, you can always chat on Skype too. If your resort won't let you bring in outside vendors that is really too bad- I would consider reducing whatever tips your wedding planner or organizers are getting in that case

I posted this in another thread but just wanted to let you ladies know that one way to get a seamless crossfade from one song into another with no awkward gaps is to download a program like Audacity (free) or Soundtrack Pro (not free, but what I own) and place the songs in a timeline in the order you want them. You can then adjust them to what you want, and export as a new audio track. What I have done is combine groups of three to four songs together so that they are in 'chunks', and I rename them something obvious like "first dance and next three songs" "songs for parents tribute" or "uptempo dance". Nice thing about iPods is it will store all your metadata you enter so even if you don't use the names of the songs in the song title you can write in in the Info tab in case you forget the song names.

LMAO me too!!!! I got a late start

My fiance has always wanted a bobble-head of his own likeness, so I will be getting one with me and him and it will be the cake topper!!! The REAL gift to him of course will be a boudoir book, it will be off the hook!!!