The Wedding Thread

Maybe it is good luck tohave a little in law drama at weddings. Lol

One of the things I recommend most for weddings is those$50 Cisco flip cams. I was not going to get a video because I am in my 40s...just wanted a couple if stills. My husband insisted I buy two. So I did after I read online reviews. So so so nice to watch the videos. I had two cousins record. The only thing is the videos are shaky and they missed a musical part I wanted because they forgot in all the chaos. I gave all the relatives a DVD. It has been three months and I still do not have still pictures. And I have none from my cameras. Because it was like the day had a life of it's own. Was not able to whip out my cameras for my own wedding. I had had every intention of doing that. No person stopped me. The day stopped me.

I made my own flower bouquets the day before. You arrange the flowers the way you want them. Then you wrap them in tape and ribbon to hold them in place. Back into the water they go. Before the wedding, towel them off. I used a lot of white roses, some pink roses, and a few sprigs of snapdragon. For bouteniers, I used one white rose with a sprig of baby's breath wrapped in floral tape. I tied a small navy ribbon bow around each. The girls were dressed in navy. Total bill for all four bouquets plus boteniers was $12. (7 dozen roses, 6 snap dragons, 2 baby's breath). Recur the rose stem ends under water tomakesure there is no air lock preventing them from drinking.

I did a search of threads for wedding planning and couldn't find anything so I hope this is ok here ...
I've just started trying to plan my wedding for late summer 2013, and it's ridiculously hard!! We're looking at having a destination wedding ...but it's hurricane season in the Caribbean so that really limits things, add to that my sister's bf can't enter the US. Has anyone here planned a destination wedding? The front runners at this point are Aruba, Margarita Island or somewhere in the South Pacific - South Pacific seems so far tho since it seems anything remotely close to Canada is American. We have a decent budget but would like to find someplace reasonable (all inclusive is preferred) so we can pay for as much of the wedding party's travel costs as possible. If anyone has any advice or opinions I would love to hear them :) I feel like I'm been banging my head against a wall every time I try and talk to our family or friends about it and feel like I need to have a starting point before I go see a travel agent.

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Originally Posted by M_shelll

I did a search of threads for wedding planning and couldn't find anything so I hope this is ok here ...
I've just started trying to plan my wedding for late summer 2013, and it's ridiculously hard!! We're looking at having a destination wedding ...but it's hurricane season in the Caribbean so that really limits things, add to that my sister's bf can't enter the US. Has anyone here planned a destination wedding? The front runners at this point are Aruba, Margarita Island or somewhere in the South Pacific - South Pacific seems so far tho since it seems anything remotely close to Canada is American. We have a decent budget but would like to find someplace reasonable (all inclusive is preferred) so we can pay for as much of the wedding party's travel costs as possible. If anyone has any advice or opinions I would love to hear them :) I feel like I'm been banging my head against a wall every time I try and talk to our family or friends about it and feel like I need to have a starting point before I go see a travel agent.

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I don't know if I can help you at all, but I went to a destination wedding once and it was a great experience for everyone who attended. My close friend's daughter got married. I only knew a few of the wedding party before the wedding, but after days of this group of 50 people meeting up around the island (we were on Maui) to golf, go to the beach and other tourist things in various small groups, everyone got acquainted nicely from both the bride and grooms families. I helped with the wedding a little, what is that saying, "Many hands make light work"? There was a local wedding planner which was a little tricky to set up from a distance but turned out okay as she set up many things in advance, found the property for the wedding, the caterer and other tasks, but we set the tables with fruit and palm frond centerpieces thanks to Costco and other local resources so we could personalize according to the bride's taste (and it turned out beautifully!). The bride had relatives who performed the ceremony. We were at a house right on the ocean.

When I meet up with any of the attendees we still exclaim over that shared experience. As far as I know all the wedding party paid their own costs for the airfare and lodging, but the brides family took the women out for manicures/pedicures and some other special things. Most of the guests arrived at least a week before the wedding and left soon after, so most of the trip was truly a celebration of this wedding. I don't know much about any of the locations you suggested, perhaps some of our FORT friends know something about the climate in those places at that time of year. What about somewhere in Mexico, Belize or Costa Rica? You still may run into issues with hurricane season.

M_shelll, it would be fun to see what other people have done for destination weddings, especially outside the US. I hope you have a great time planning your special day!

The one destination wedding I've been to was also on Maui. The bride came from a HUGE family and figured only those who really wanted to be there would take the time and expense. It was lovely. I don't know how they arranged it all, but they ended up living there and being foster parents to a Hawaiian child. That's what eventually broke them up - the child couldn't be moved to the mainland when the husband wanted to move back and my friend couldn't part with the boy who she had mothered since his birth.

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I don't know if I can help you at all, but I went to a destination wedding once and it was a great experience for everyone who attended. My close friend's daughter got married. I only knew a few of the wedding party before the wedding, but after days of this group of 50 people meeting up around the island (we were on Maui) to golf, go to the beach and other tourist things in various small groups, everyone got acquainted nicely from both the bride and grooms families. I helped with the wedding a little, what is that saying, "Many hands make light work"? There was a local wedding planner which was a little tricky to set up from a distance but turned out okay as she set up many things in advance, found the property for the wedding, the caterer and other tasks, but we set the tables with fruit and palm frond centerpieces thanks to Costco and other local resources so we could personalize according to the bride's taste (and it turned out beautifully!). The bride had relatives who performed the ceremony. We were at a house right on the ocean.

When I meet up with any of the attendees we still exclaim over that shared experience. As far as I know all the wedding party paid their own costs for the airfare and lodging, but the brides family took the women out for manicures/pedicures and some other special things. Most of the guests arrived at least a week before the wedding and left soon after, so most of the trip was truly a celebration of this wedding. I don't know much about any of the locations you suggested, perhaps some of our FORT friends know something about the climate in those places at that time of year. What about somewhere in Mexico, Belize or Costa Rica? You still may run into issues with hurricane season.

M_shelll, it would be fun to see what other people have done for destination weddings, especially outside the US. I hope you have a great time planning your special day!

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Post by Cootie moved from Koffee Klatch

I'm glad to hear that as a guest you really enjoyed it! That was one of the things I worried about, I understand that not everyone can come (actually much happier to have a smaller wedding with ~50 people total) but I really don't want the people that do come to feel like it wasn't worth it or that it wasn't fun for them. All our family (that's met so far) get's along great so I'm really hoping for the same fun/relaxed feel that you guys had. We've decided to move it to the end of May cause it just makes things so much easier and opens up a lot of destinations that we figured would be off limits before. I would have LOVED to have it in Hawaii, never been but it looks so amazing, darn convicts lol! I think we've decided on Jamaica now, it wasn't my first choice but the BF, his parents and my parents are all pushing pretty hard. I know that there are bad stories anywhere you go so hopefully the stuff I've heard is a bit exaggerated. Has anyone here been to Jamaica before? There are a few resorts/area that look really nice that we are currently looking into. We went to Costa Rica a few years ago on our first vacation together so we definitely have considered that one too, I love love LOVED it there!!

I really like that all the all-inclusive resorts have an on staff wedding coordinator to help with all the stuff that needs to be done before we get there and then someone to help get everything set up. I want to bring my own centrepieces and a few of the other little details, if they'll allow it, I'm such a DIYer that that was the one thing I was kind of sad I would miss out on. Ever since we scrapped the local Banff/Rocky Mountain wedding my stress levels have dropped by half. Wish I could check the resort out first (mostly cause I'd love a vacation right now lol) but I'm going to be reading every review I can get my hands on! We haven't gotten any quotes back yet so not sure what kind of discount everyone gets on resort/airfare with the group rates they have available, but we're hoping we can help out the wedding party with about 1000 each to bring their costs down as much as we can.

Thanks again for the responses, I never feel like my RL family/friends are telling me what they actually think cause it's 'my big day' :p and they don't want to say anything that they think could come across the wrong way. Plus most of them have never been to or planned a destination wedding so they are as clueless as me! :)

M_shell, have you ever thought about Turks and Caicos? A cousin of ours was married there and had about 60 people show up. Unfortunately, my husband and I were unable to attend but if would have been wonderful to have made a mini-vacation out of it. I am trying, without success, to remember the name of the venue. It was quite beautiful and everyone we know who attended said it was a fantastic weekend. The bride and groom lined up lots of water sports and fun activities for the two days leading up to the nuptials.

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Has anyone here been to Jamaica before?

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Hi there

We go to Jamaica every year. We go to Sandals, and we have seen many weddings .Some very small and intimate, some larger .They do it very very well, taking care of every single detail.If there is anything you would like to ask me, please do

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Originally Posted by Eastcoastmom

M_shell, have you ever thought about Turks and Caicos? A cousin of ours was married there and had about 60 people show up. Unfortunately, my husband and I were unable to attend but if would have been wonderful to have made a mini-vacation out of it. I am trying, without success, to remember the name of the venue. It was quite beautiful and everyone we know who attended said it was a fantastic weekend. The bride and groom lined up lots of water sports and fun activities for the two days leading up to the nuptials.

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We kind of looked at it when we were planning with the old dates in mind but now that we're not going in Hurricane season I'll have another look at it. We're going for a week so it would be fun to set some activities up for everyone to get better acquainted and relaxed with each other before the wedding, that's a great idea!

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Originally Posted by Fanny Mare

Hi there

We go to Jamaica every year. We go to Sandals, and we have seen many weddings .Some very small and intimate, some larger .They do it very very well, taking care of every single detail.If there is anything you would like to ask me, please do

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Ohhhhh good to know :) I will definitely be taking you up on that!

I've spent about 2/3 of my work week this week on Calgary Stampede 100 Anniversary parties/BBQs/breakfasts & the other 1/3 on wedding stuff so I need to buckle down here and get some work done for my deadline next week ...I will be picking your brain soon :) Thanks so much!!