No, I'm afraid I'm the last. Saw that word "engagement" on conversations and didn't have time to go looking for this thread till now. I go away for a few days and people win contests and get engaged and I miss all the excitement. So happy for you. It has been great following your romance from your hesitation about the 1st date to such an awesome proposal. I think a year is perfect. Not everyone needs the 20 years Norm and I took to tie the knot. (On the other hand there's a lot to be said for no surprises!) Wishing you both a wonderful year of romance leading up to the virtual wedding of the century!

We took a Princess cruise and land tour several years ago. It was wonderful. We got a room with a balcony on the top deck so we could sit out there and look at all the sights without standing on deck being cold. We went in early May and the weather was not all that bad.....in fact, no mosquitos and very little rain. It was great to wrap up in blankets and call room service for coffee. We loved staying at one of the Princess Hotels in Denali and took the bus trip. Excellent! The train ride to Denali was OK but we took the bus back to Anchorage and enjoyed it much more. Our very favorite side trip was outside Skagway on the bus tour to the Yukon. There was also a train trip but the bus ride was a great experience. We got to stop along the way if there was something interesting to see.....like a big wolf near the side of the road. The guide was really a lot of fun and knew the history of the Yukon gold rush. We also stopped for lunch at a museum/gift shop. I bought the book Alaska by James Michener there and re read it. I would suggest you read it on your trip. We opted not to have scheduled meal times and that worked out very well. We met some people who were from a tiny town here in California where my maternal grandmother was born. Small world. We took the trip to Mendenhall Glacier outside of Juneau. Take lots of pictures and keep a journal so you can share your experiences with us when you return. Have a wonderful trip!

First of all ~ Congratulations on your up coming wedding! This is the only time (usually) in your life when this event is truly about you and your fiance - PLEASE, enjoy your ride!! It's only the first time once!! I too am having a destination wedding so I can totally understand your concerns with trying to acommodate everyone. I must warn you, when asking for opinions on this forum, you may not always like what you hear! I joined another forum - bestdestinationweddings.com - because they were more understanding and a lot more positive than many on this forum because everyone there IS having a destination wedding and can appreciate it! With that being said, we too had to invite a lot of people. Actually, what is now happening is that people I didn't think to invite are coming out of the woodwork and want to attend and that is awesome! What I did was a form letter on parchment paper and envelopes. I did a little "Save the date for the wedding of..." on the top third of the letter. On the rest of the letter I put "it is with much excitement and anticipation that we extend this invitation to you and your family. On (date) we will be exchanging vows at/on (the love boat - wherever). I did a short blurb of where and when it would be, a short blurb about which travel agency was handling reservations and gave a contact name and number there, a little short blurb about the hotel and 7 & 4 day all inclusive prices, two sentences about passports, one sentence about our wedding website and a closing sentence that said something like we hope you can make it, let us be the excuse you finally take a much needed vacation, etc. ~ and of course we signed the letters! I did attach a copy of the hotel's fact sheet and a color picture of the hotel (I took it off of the website - it had a PDF fact sheet) Based on the feedback, the attachment REALLY was a nice thing to do and by including the prices it gave a lot of people a dollar amount to associate what they were getting for their money. It wasn't a sales pitch, it just gave people an idea of what it would cost. Our wedding isn't until next November, but I sent the information out last month. For most working class folks with kids, we have to plan our finances accordingly and took that into consideration when sending out the letters so far in advance. Good luck and don't let the negative posts on this forum get you down.

Texanjana, I simply could not have done that. Our cruise was totally placid. I was sure I would not need anything, but I did. I don't know why; it looked like a lake. Most people didn't need anything; no one in my family did but me. I thought I could talk myself out of it. The onboard Dr told me to use the patch. I did and it was just like I was on land. Busy, We pride ourselves on efficient packing. By the time we got home, we had 22 pieces of luggage (including purses/backpacks, shopping bags) across 5 of us. Crazy! Try packing ski gear for 6 days, hiking boots and gear for warm possibly rainy weather, active resort wear , and clothing for a large sophisticated city. And two of the trips had luggage restrictions; the train to Macchu Picchu and the flight to Antarctica. Thanks Tibb, it was a staff member's pic! Funnygirl, Yes, I planned it, I really like to figure out what we want for ourselves. Though it was pretty complicated for this trip. A lot of remote places with one flight in and one out ... 13 flights in all. Feel free to email me if I can help. DH and I have been to Alaska and it seemed totally different to me. Thanks, Lynn, Pork, Violet, Beth, Mag, Eandhl, Dee,Mitch, BBSTX, Joanie, LOL Annie, Outside, embarrassed to admit, I did not use my new camera. I found the old one, and I was worried Id screw up with the new one. I brought it but never used it. DUH Glad, I have to read "Endurance" ; they say it is great! Arapaho, Yes! We have had a "Master Plan" for family travel since the kids were little. 1. Visit all 7 Continents - Done, we've been to all 7 now. We've seen a pretty good sampling of countries/cities within each continent too, except in Africa (too unstable for us to see much other than safari and Capetown) and Europe (as a family, we have only shown them Italy and London, we figure Europe is the easy one for kids to do on their own) 2. Quadrant trips - We divided the US/Canada into 4 quadrants and have done 3 week trips in 3 of the 4 so far. Probably will do the NW and Lake Louise (skiing) in 2016. 3. "Kid's choice" - I've told the girls since they were toddlers I would take them to Paris when they turned 16. It has morphed into one girl chose Paris (2018!), one wants Greece (2019!), and my son chose Hawaii (we will go this March) Sigh... then, I think its time for DH and I to get some alone time! We want to fill in the gaps in our travel itinerary! There are still a lot ... Cuba, Iceland, Morocco (DH made me cancel our trip there with Arab Spring), the Taj Mahal, and what I will now call the "Sochi trip" (eastern european road trip). Not to mention Mackinac Island and Door County and Greenbrier. And sooner or later my kids will be on their own steam (let's hope). DS goes to China with school in June. By DD's best friend summers in Turkey, and she hopes to visit her there this summer or next. Karin, You must have done Torres del Pines, Patagonia? All the cool kids were doing that before the cruise. A few were doing the Atacama desert, too. Chile was wonderful. Quite spectacular and varied. Too bad it's 10+ hrs from NY, I'd consider going back. We met a very nice Chilean family on the cruise and ended up changing our plans in Chile, so instead of staying inland we actually went to the pacific coast and visited them at their beach house. So maybe we do need to go back to Patagonia! Where did you visit? This post was edited by mtnrdredux on Thu, Jan 22, 15 at 8:22