What I would and wouldn't do again...

Thanks Nadine!

Just a sideline, if you need an agent in town (calgary) mine was fabulous! Just PM me and I will get you her info.

What I would do again:

 

1.Have the wedding in Jamaica

2.Have the wedding at Beaches Negril - amazing wedding coordinators and beautiful beaches and rooms.

3.Use wedding paper divas for my stationery- very efficient and beautiful

4.Print everything( including what we and the officiant said ) in the program as people said it was easier to follow, and they kept the programs to take home as a souvenir from the wedding.

5.Bring my photographer from MN- followed us for 4 days. Got loads of pix.

6.Use a videographer- got a lot of footage which I was not even aware of.

7. 3 hour reception dinner-people wanted to stay longer.

T8. Take TTD photographs the day after.I was so much more relaxed.

9. Stay one extra week at another resort for our honeymoon- we really needed the rest .

10. Have an indoor reception- it was much cooler, could make as much noise as we wanted to, and could stay a lot later than if we had had it outside.

 

 

What I would not do again:

 

1.Trust that destination weddings.com would get me all sorted out. Had a few disappointments with them. and had to figure out some things for myself.

2.Plan my wedding in 6 months- too stressful

3.Not take my laptop with the pix of my flowers , cake etc to the resort. I forgot it and had to describe things to them so my bouquet was yellow when it should have been orange....

4.Not take my wedding checklist to the resort- could not remember some things, and who have carried what in their luggage

5.Not Arrive at the resort 2 days before the wedding. I needed an extra day.

6. Worry about everyone- Didnt get much sleep .

7. Schedule my hair and make up at least 4 hrs before the ceremony- I had only 35 mins left afterwards.

8. Have the wedding in the peak season - first week fo the year- expensive, and the resort booked up really quickly so people had to stay at a sister resort.

 

All in all though, it was great.

Bosi, I am so happy you had a great wedding.... since we got married at the same place, I think we shared some of the same fears.

this is by far one of my fave threads! Thanks so much to all the past brides for sharing!

What I would do again...

 

1. Have a destination wedding... hands down, best decision ever... everyone had a great time and said thanks for giving us a reason to go to Jamaica.

2. Go to Beaches... despite the headaches from their Miami coordinators (of which there are several) the staff there are wonderful. The rooms, grounds, service etc are all amazing, which made everything easier. They really know weddings.

3. Have a dinner reception. It was great to have the time to be together.

4. Suggest to my MOH that she throw a breakfast panty shower the day before the wedding... it was great in 2 ways, 1 I got to have breakfast with all of the ladies (with the mimosas flowing) and 2 I got all new undies which is a fun way to start married life...

5. Bring in a photographer- he's awesome, Jeremy Igo (shameless plug) out of Charlotte, very creative eye...

6. Pay for the video- watched it this morning, it is priceless

7. OOT bags... We got so many nice compliments and thank yous for the bags. I really wanted to make them special since the trip was not cheap and everyone really seemed to appreciate the effort.

8. Include blank CDs in the OOT bags, so friends can send us thier photos- which is awesome because seeing them on Facebook is cool but having them on my computer to print out is even better!

9. Get everything organized and paid for before going- I think it may have ended up cheaper if we had waited to arrange, but it would have been soooooooo stressful. We had a few meetings/obligations but otherwise had the time to enjoy with guests.

10. gosh my list could go on and on... it was such a perfect day... to those of you coming up on your weddings, congratulations and enjoy!!

 

What I would not do again:

1. Spend a lot of time on the ice breaker (I made up an ice breaker for guests to get friendly)... by the time we had handed it out at the rehearsal dinner, guests had already been partying a few nights and knew each other well.

2. I would get there a day or 2 earlier and stay a day or 2 later... it went so fast!

3. I would have sat down and thought more about a shot list for the photog... maybe done hairdos earlier- the last hour or so flew by and we didnt get to do a lot of fun shots, there just wasnt time. That and having the wedding at 4 with sunset at 6, we squeezed in what we could.

4. We would have let the videoographer know that we wanted a little more time before entering the reception- again not enough time for photos..

 

For a girl who never dreamed of a wedding, it was a dream come true. So fun!!

I just came across a site for chair sashes and table runners.

 

What I would have done differently is purchased these plus coloured chinese lanterns to add a splash of colour to our plain white chairs, tables, and which linen centerpieces.

 

I never even considered them because I thought it would be to expensive in the end, but its NOT!

 

Don't rule anything out without first researching it. Looking at our pictures, the tables looked plain and boring.

What I would do again:

-Have a destination wedding! But get legally married at home first.

-Get married at a Palace Resort...they completely exceeded my expectations, as well as my TA's. GREAT, GREAT, GREAT!!!

-Not stress out or over plan!! The beauty of DW are in there simplicity. In the end, everything fell together and I enjoyed the planning process so much more because I didn't worry/cry/get upset over the details.

-Use Del Sol as my photographers. Can't say enough great things about them!!!

-Use an Ipod and sound system during the reception instead of a DJ. Made things so much easier, we had the exact music we wanted, it saved us money and J and I had a great time together drinking wine and making the playlists.

-Had a trial run of hair and makeup with Fernando Fuentes. He was fabulous and it made things run smoothly on the wedding day.

-Have Ana De Roux make my invites. They were beautiful and I had so many compliments on them and their originality.

-Order 3 bouquets for my 6 BM. And then split them and make it into 6 smaller arrangements.

-Let my BM each pick our their own dress.

-Not drag ANY decorations to Mexico. I let the resort take care of it all. Made packing and traveling sooooooooooo much easier.

-Leave Mexico and go to Costa Rica for the honeymoon. It was such an adventure and so great to relax after the wedding and see another beautiful country.

 

What I wouldn't do:

-Order a larger cake than what was already in my package. We had so much left over we took it to the pool the next morning and let other guests at the resort enjoy it.

-Get such a big dress. I regretted my dress right after I bought it...and while I did love it, it wasn't the dress. And it was sooooo hot on the wedding day.

-leave my room without mosquito spray. I'm allergic and swell like crazy and got bit a lot. Not so hot in pictures!!

 

I think that's pretty much it...everything was perfect!

NaM i really like your idea of different dresses for the BM's (they look fantastic in your pics). But how did you coordinate their look? Did you choose a fabric and/or designer? Or did they have free reign?

Thank you!! I gave them free reign...I just asked them to either pick blue, yellow or green and it just happened to come together really nicely. I didn't even see the dresses until the wedding day!!

Thanks NaM! That's wonderful. I am struggling with this one so I may just do the same and leave it in the hands of my girls. So much less stress!