Nicole's better late than never planning thread

Ok a few things about myself that I think you need to know before reading this thread… it might make more sense that way:

1)I hate shopping….. actually loathe is probably a better word to use

2)I can be super anal, but when it came to my wedding I was the complete opposite and made several decisions by using the eeny, meany, miney, moe method (and yes, I have NO idea how to spell eeny meany miney moe).

So having said that……

Our engagement:

We had a pretty long engagement…. Longer than I wanted – almost 2 years! But I was trying to be considerate to our “guests” and allow them tons of time to save money to come to Mexico. Apparently our friends and family are no good at that because only 7 came, but hey, I sleep well at night knowing that they had that time.

Our wedding bands:

I don’t have my camera so I’m trying to use some of the pics my photog took so I can stop delaying posting this thread.

The dress:

Since I loathe shopping, I dragged my mom and sister to Ritche’s super bridal sale and told them I wasn’t leaving until we found a dress. So here it is: My Maggie

Oh and I did NOT love the dress when I bought it. It was the complete opposite of what I thought I wanted but I completely fell in love with it on the wedding day.

My shoes:

I was running out of time and couldn’t find what I wanted in the stores so I bought my flip flops off ebay. Yes, ebay lol. I actually barely wore them. I was barefoot most of the time.

Groom and Groomsmen attire:

The pants I got at the bay. I think they were around $40 each.

DH’s shirt I ordered off ebay and the groomsman shirts I got off Amazon.com.

Groom’s shirt:

Groomsmen shirts:

I had originally picked the colour turquoise for my Bridesmaid dresses, but when we were shopping for them they liked one that didn’t come in that colour. So I said “whatever” and we went with fuschia. I got them at the local mall for $100 each.

Wedding Party Flip Flops:

I ordered the flip flops for the guys and girls from Dessy Group. This worked out well because their attire was their gift and the flip flops came in little bags. Not a huge deal or anything special but a nice extra touch IMO.

Bridesmaid Bouquets:

I decided to save some money and have the bridesmaids bouquets and GM bouts made here. My Aunt had them made and they were about $10 for a set (bouquet & bout).

My bouquet: I just picked one of the options that came with my package and I loved it! I thought it looked way better in person than it did on the pic they sent me. This is a pic my photog took of it.

Fans:

Here are our fans, courtesy of Amanda aka BachataBride! It actually was sooo windy on our wedding day that we didn’t need them and I actually forgot all about them, but the girls loved them and took them home.

Sand Ceremony Kit: yup you guessed it…..ebay! It was a company that did etching so I got our names and wedding date etched on it. It’s kinda hard to see in the picture:

Garter – this was a last minute purchase. I wasn’t going to get one and then I decided to about a week before we left. One of my BM’s went out and got it for me but I can’t remember where she got it.

My hair flower:

I actually didn’t pick this until I got to the resort. Actually, now that I think about it I didn’t even see what it looked like until they put it in my hair lol. They had two but I thought that was too much for my irregularly small head and just used one.

My jewellery:

I wanted pearls and one of my Bridesmaids said her mom had a necklace with matching earrings. So I said “great! My something borrowed”. Not that I was following any sort of tradition as you can tell lol. I didn’t see them until I went to put them on for the ceremony so I don’t have a pic. I figured pearls are pearls right? I thought they looked great.

Our Cake:

I went with the small 2 person cake included in our package and I’m so glad I did. We all just took one bite just to say that we tried it since we were already stuffed from our meal and dessert.

And I think that’s it to be honest. I didn’t do OOT bags and I’m glad because a few of our guests were over weight for their baggage coming home and I’m glad I didn’t contribute to that. Plus we were a really small group so I didn’t feel that we needed as much organization, etc as most of you with big groups.

So I’m not sure how many people this will help since I’m pretty sure I’m the minority in the lack of planning category, but I thought I’d share anyways!

Thanks to all the brides that helped me keep my sanity through my guest issues and for re-assuring me that my wedding would be great…. you were right and I love you all! And of course thank you Tammy for having this forum and allowing me to make some great friends!

I heart you nikki, and heart you more for the fact that you bought flip flops off ebay. For some reason that gets me. Thanks for sharing!! And I must say, that pic of your dress on the model DOES NOT do it justice, it was completely stunning on you!

I'm with Nadine - the dress looked a million times better on you! Nice after-the-fact planning thread - I'm sure it will help some brides!

Great non-planning thread!!!

The photos I've seen looked like it was fantastic and your relaxed attitude probably meant you had 1/100th of the stress that a lot of brides experience! Your dress was seriously stunning on you.

Congrats!!!!!

I you so much Nicole!!!! This post is you to a T!! lol

I think everything looks amazing and I'm so glad you had such a great time!!

Sorry the fans didn't come in handy...but it is better than them sitting in my closet!! lol

Glad everything worked out for you. Thanks for posting. I also have a small group and have no stress at all. Congratulations to you!!!

Beautiful I loved how everything was classic and clean, no clutter

Great job Nicole! Im glad you did a planning thread! And, I loved your dress, it looked perfect on you.