For favors, we ordered travel mugs for each of our guests from 4imprint.ca

The mugs were a huge hit and all of our guests used them the entire week. We choose bright purple so everyone would know who else was a part of our wedding group and we also had our wedding date and location put on them. The staff were very prompt in helping us get our order finalized and the order of 72 mugs arrived in 1 month!

We decided to buy all the groomsman clothing at Old Navy at the mall. This turned out to be a great idea and the guys loved their simply outfits. They wore linen short sleeve shirts with khaki shorts. The groom's outfit was from RW, also at the mall, and his wore linen shirt and linen pants and it cost 80$. The linen was light weight and looked very nice on the beach!

Jennifer Hurlock, of Day O Restaurant and Bar, in Montego Bay, Jamaica, was also another reason our destination wedding was saved. Jennifer worked closely with our wedding planner, Kareen Smith, to plan our reception in less than a week. Day O Restaurant is on a beautiful banana plantation in the hills above Montego Bay. We did a buffet dinner and had wine on the tables as well as a rum punch for all our guests as they arrived. There is a beautiful pool right in the middle of the courtyard and by the end of the night, everyone was dancing around the pool or sitting along side of the pool cooling their feet. It was amazing!

We had an At Home Reception, two days after we returned from our honeymoon, in Victoria, BC at my parent's house. We had a beautiful cake made by Michelle Grossmith. She makes wedding cakes as a part time job. She did exactly what we asked for and the cake had palm tress and mini cupcakes all around it!

While we were in Jamaica for our wedding, we met a photographer who was traveling with another wedding group. His name was Paul Dipp and he is from Burlington, Ontario. The couple Paul was working with had paid for his trip down to Jamaica to shot their destination wedding, however, they had decided not to do a Trash the Dress shoot. So, Paul asked us and our photographer if he could tag along on our Trash the Dress shoot. Paul was awesome to have along and had some great ideas for photos. He gave us all the photos later that day on a DVD-R and in return he gave him permission to us any of the photos he took on his website and in his portfolio.

http://www.deliciousimagery.com/

I attended the Welcome Wagon Bridal Show at the Red & White Club in Calgary, AB. It was a free event and I went with one of my bridesmaids. It wasn't really a proper bridal show but it was still fun. For each category (photography, cakes, dresses, tuxes, etc.) they only had one vendor and they were all smaller local vendors. I ended up winning an engagement photo package which we used and thoroughly enjoyed. If you are looking for lots of vendors and bigger prizes, I wouldn't recommend this show, however for a bride on a budget, this show is awesome and I met lots of great local vendors!

I had 4 bridesmaid, all different shapes and sizes and a limited budget! I decided to pay for all our bridesmaids dresses because my girls were all paying for their trip to Jamaica. I had found the dresses in the spring at David's (dress chain at the mall) and waited until the end of August to buy them because the girls working at the store told me they would be going on clearance at the end of the summer. The dresses went from $110 each to $18.60! They were simply summer print dress (green and white) but looked beautiful on the beach! I even got two in red for my flower girl and junior bridesmaid!

Although we live in Calgary, I found my wedding dress in Victoria, BC at Stitches by Luz. I loved the store and let the consultant take over with the dress pulling. I ended up with a gorgeous Pallas Athena dress by Venus Bridal. I highly recommend this store, the staff is amazing, and the owner is wonderful and very friendly and experienced!
http://www.stitchesbyluz.com/

We used Kareen Smith-Lawrence of Exclusive Tropical Weddings - Jamaica. Kareen literally saved our wedding as our original destination wedding in Akumal, Mexico was canceled 14 days prior to our wedding because of the H1N1 Virus. Our wedding, including ceremony set up, legal paperwork, transportation for 50 guests (from our resort to a private beach venue) and flowers cost $1300 and Kareen pulled everything together with just 7 days notice! http://www.weddings-jamaica.com/contact.htm

We used Rebecca Repp from RR Images, based in Calgary Alberta, for our destination wedding in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Rebecca was awesome and took photos all week of us and our guests. She also was up at 6.30am with us one morning to do a trash the dress shoot. I love all of our photos and Rebecca fit in very well with our group. She was professional, yet fun and up for a good time! At the time of our wedding she was building her portfolio so we only paid for her equipment rental. She had awesome ideas and made us feel very comfortable!