RobsnRory2012

Bride2012 sounds like you're ahead of the game with your OOT Bags...good job! Love the "Hogan and Johnson" idea...very cute! Is anyone nervous about how much it is going to cost to bring everything down there? With everything I was thinking of bringing down (decorations, OOT bags etc) I'm sure I would fill up 2 extra suitcases. Now I'm thinking of scaling back. What is everyone else doing in terms of getting your stuff to the destination?

Thank you! My Mom and family get excited about wedding stuff with me but its nice to share with other brides too. I had them done by Delphine...they were reasonably priced and very professional to work with. Our friends and family have until November 15th to book but I still want to get the invitations out asap so that people can book the time off and start saving up.

We just got our invitations delivered today! I am so excited...and can't wait to send them out! Has anyone else sent their invites yet? And because I can't help myself here's a pic:

Our ceremony is at 5:00...which we aren't completely happy with but there aren't any other times available on any other day during our stay. Our photographer suggested doing pictures before the ceremony since there really won't be much time between the ceremony and sunset/our reception. A 4:00 ceremony gives you an extra hour which might be better...but probably best to ask your photographer.

That is a GREAT find Tori! I asked our WC about renting them and the resort would charge $20 + 16% PER HOOK!! Crazy...so $1.25 each is awesome! p.s. We booked Phil too! (Meant to respond earlier but forgot)

I've got another question...and it might be a dumb question but I'm going to ask anyways. Are you ladies serving your photographer/officiant/videographer etc. dinner and including them in your reception? I'm not sure what the standard is...?

Congratulations Lindy! It's so exciting to set a date and pick a place! Happy planning

Ooooooh. Sorry to get your hopes up. I hadn't seen those ones....just the solid colored totes. One other question about getting them from dollar tree...do you know if you would be charged duty on them? My aunt is saying I may want to purchase something in Canada since I may have to pay duty when shipping them.

Thanks for the ideas ladies. Tori - I think I am going to get the dollartree bags for one dollar and have them shipped to my aunt and uncle in Chicago. I tried ordering them today and they were not sold out. You should try again!

Question: Does dollartree ship to Canada? Also - what items is everyone planning to put in their OOT bags? I've got the bag part covered but now I am stumped as to what to put inside them.

Those look great Tori!! I'm impressed. Oh and thanks for the heads up on the vistaprint sale! I like the welcome letter idea. I think I am going to put a trip itinerary in each OOT bag. I bought these fantastic duotang folders at Walmart this weekend that are in our exact wedding colors. (Sorry its sideways) I'm going to print tons of resort info, a wedding week schedule, activity pamphlets etc. to put inside. I also like the idea of sending a thanks for booking card! Keep us posted on what you decide.

Quote: Originally Posted by torilynnsmith I love that you are doing flower balls!! I am in LOVE with pomanders and did a DIY a few weeks back of tissue paper pomanders. I will post a pic for you to check them out. They turned out really well. originally I was going to do real (too pricey for our budget) then I was going to do faux flower ones, and then a friend suggested these. I did them for under $1 a ball! My only concern is the type of chairs for the ceremony and how I am going to attach them... maybe using chair sashes? What are you thinking of doing? Danielle from FB group has been awesome and she suggested a company for chair sashes and they were only $0.59 a piece or something so if I do go for them I will likely order from there! I totally know what you mean about it taking over your life. FI is out away a lot lately and so it take up my WHOLE life I feel! DJ mania is our big decision too!! I just am having trouble justifying $450+ an hour because our reception is only 2-2.5 hours long! I think it will make for a much better "party" but I just don't know. Do you know if there are any other DJ options? What about the resort DJ? We will probably do a welcome dinner but that's it. I too have heard there's no real rehearsal opportunity but I think maybe we will just do dinner with our families and bridal parties as a "rehearsal dinner" the night before and just go over how we see it going. We have booked pastor york for our ceremony also so I am looking forward to that! Please keep me posted on all your DIY projects! Especially the tissue paper pomanders...I would love to see how those turn out I saw in one of the resort pictures that these metal hook things that stick into the sand were used to hang them so I'm hoping to use those. Here's a pic: As for a DJ I do believe there is a resort DJ...but is it just me or doesn't EVERYONE use DJ Mannia? You're right though...it is a lot of money if you're only having a 2-2.5 hour reception. I wonder if they would charge less for a shorter reception or if its just a flat fee? We booked Pastor York for our ceremony too!

Congratulations!! That is so exciting! Jamaica will be gorgeous and I've heard lots of great things about the Gran Bahia Principe!

Haha I know exactly what you mean. I honestly get so excited talking with other brides. It kind of makes me feel like I'm doing more to plan by monitoring the fb page and BDW day and night for updates....I think I need a life lol. I am also skipping STDs I just don't see the point in sending them out since we hope to send our invites asap. We also thought about Evites but I wanted something more tangible and a little more formal. You did the boarding pass style invitations right? That is such a great idea...if I was at all crafty I definitely would have gone for something like that but I am honestly not much of a DIY person. We are going to have everyone rsvp through our wedding website which is going to be really helpful in getting all of the trip info to our guests. I really want to do OOT bags too! If I can manage it for $10 a person I think I am going to go for it. Those totes sound like an awesome deal!! Too bad they were sold out. I did find a good site for bags: <http://www.discountmugs.com/> I guess it depends on the look you are going for. But you can get bags personalized for just over $2 a piece. I also stumbled across <http://www.minimus.biz/> which has tons of miniature everything. I am hoping to make flower balls to hang along the aisle for the ceremony and then reuse them somehow for the reception. I love real flowers so I was really hoping to do floral centerpieces...we'll see how I'm doing in terms of budget when the time comes though. I lucked out and found another bride on kijiji who was selling chair sashes and table runners in the color I wanted...ironically enough she also got married at the Majestic! We decided to book Phil Steingard as our photographer. He just seems so knowledgable both as a photographer and about the resort and destination weddings. He actually offered to go over our wedding itinerary and help us plan everything to run smoothly! I'm still debating on booking DJ Mannia...I could save a lot by just using an ipod or laptop for music but I just think it would be better if we had a professional. Are you booking a dj? Are you going to do a welcome dinner or a rehearsal dinner? Speaking of rehearsal...I've heard there isn't really any opportunity to do a run through of the ceremony with your bridal party before the wedding day...do you know anything about this?

Yay! Thanks Tori for starting this thread. As you know from the Majestic Colonial Brides fb group (which is an amazing resource fyi) I am also planning my wedding at the Majestic for February 22, 2012. 8 months and counting. Woohoo! I am both underwhelmed and overwhelmed by the whole DW planning process. I feel like I should be doing more to plan for the big day...and don't really know what to do when. Good job sending your invites out already! I ordered mine online and they should be here any day...pending a potential postal strike Have you decided what you are going to do for favors...are you going to do OOT Bags? Has anyone come across any economical options? I know from the fb page that you were planning on bringing some of your own decorations down? Do you know what your are going to bring?