to splurge or not to splurge....and another ?

ok, so it seems as though our wedding will have about 30 guests, give or take...i'm doing the OOT bags, have no clue about what we want for favors, and am at a loss for what i NEED for 30 ppl...i want it to be beautiful and elegant, but i feel like decorating a patio (and bringing all of the decor w/ me) for 30 ppl is pointless...we already regret getting a dj, but deposit isn't refundable...what did you do about tables - small and intimate, or one big one?

so for those of you w/ a medium sized guest list - what did you decide to splurge on and what did you nix?

and another ? for everyone - what's my next step? now that i know how many ppl will attend, what do i do next?

AHHHH!

I feel the same as you do. We are having 34 most likely and 40 max!! I had the same issue with the tables. I liked the idea of like a U shape table set-up so that you had people on both sides of to of the tables and then the wedding party and dates at the head one...I think because I like squared off things and not round.

Well fi, sister, friends, etc...all think I should go with round tables! So I am now leaning toward that.

As far as DJ...we are going to use IPOD...it's a little cheaper and we didn't think we needed the whole production for the small group. FI is all excited to pre-record announcements in the playlists...nerd!

As far as spluring and packing stuff with me, etc...I'm still torn! I'm leaning more and more toward eliminating as much as I can. It all seems like a great idea to do all this DIY, etc...and I know it will make me feel good to have everything look nice, but really no one will remember it and care nearly as much as I do about it! So that to me isn't worth the trouble of hauling it all down there! Now I'm sure those who have done it would disagree and that is probably the hope I need!

I thought about all the colored linens and chair covers and centerpieces ect...

I have decided finally on all white linens, napkins, chairs with no covers. No flowers besides bouquets. I am renting centerpieces from wedding coordinator that will most likely consist of a hurricane w/ sand and a pillar and then I will wrap a Sugar starfish around each one w/ raffia. I will bring in my own votive candles and I will print up menus in my colors to place on the tables and that is how I am going to incorporate color!

I still want to do oot bags...but i'm so concerned that our group of people are so different in their likes and dislikes and I know that isn't what it's about, but I don't want to spend money and haul down there if they aren't even going to like it, use it or appreciate it...so the practical person I am is contemplating a more practical alternative which I am stumped on right now...

That's it for now because I have wrote a book...OMG! Sorry! But hopefully it helps a little...I am a simple person anyway so I figure I should keep to that and no matter what little things are added to the day..the big thing is all that matters and that is that I am marrying the man of my dreams!!!

I'll second a lot of what Michelle just wrote. We're having around 35 people as well. Originally I thought we would be at long tables, but the restaurant (La Panga) has changed to round tables ... so I didn't really have a say in that.

We're also doing an ipod instead of dj ... we're planning on buying our own speakers and bringing them with us ... the restaurant said that would be perfect since the outdoor private area does not have loudspeakers and they discouraged a band / dj due to their other guests in the main restaurant.

As for the tables ... I wasn't crazy about the linens I had seen in general ... and at one point was considering buying these cute napkins that I really loved (that I'm embarrassed to say were $8 a piece) - but I came to my senses. My mom pointed out I would probably be really upset if I ended losing some, or some got stained, etc. So, I'm actually making them (for less than $1 per napkin). They are made of natural cotton and have scalloped embroidery at the edges in different colors. They were super-easy to make, but just a little time consuming to cut out ... however, I tend to do 3 or 4 at a time ... I didn't find it nearly as crazy as the STD's.

I am getting candle centerpieces (trio of cylinders - one large, small, med w/ sand in the bottom and pillar candles at $36 per trio ... we're getting 6) from my WC and also 2 tall arrangements w/ dendrobium orchids in tall vases w/ clear gems - one for the cake table and one for the guest book table. I seriously thought about trying to bring things with me ... but then thought ... what would I do with all of it afterwards? Also - once I started pricing things - it wasn't that much cheaper. BUT - instead of ordering flowers for the tables - I bought drinking glasses on sale at Anthropologie for $1.75 / piece and I'm going to do small arrangements of fresh flowers from the market ... just to give it some color. My pictures are on my laptop and I'll try to post when I get home. Also like Michelle, I'm going to print my own menus and bring them with me. Finally, I'm going to order flaming heart milagros to place at each place setting ... to give it a little color and character, and guests can take them with them as favors, too.

As for saving some money ... I also want to do OOT bags ... but I figure that I will only have to do around 15 because most of our guests are couples. Right now I'm planning on using Mexican Market bags that I found online and filling them with snacks from Costco, maps, itineraries, etc., but I'm not doing the whole beach towel, sunscreen, medications, etc ... all of those single packets and individual items quickly add up! I think that some of the girls have done amazing jobs with all of their logos, themed items, etc. But that's just not really me ... so I'll just keep it simple.

Originally, we had thought about doing wine as favors ... I'd seen a wedding that did that and had the bottles in these cute wine bags ... I really liked the idea. But - that can really add up, too. Instead, I'm now thinking of this idea that my best friend just told me about after returning from a wedding last weekend. They gave out recipes from their grandmothers and the bride's mother who had passed away ... it was a neat way to remember the women in their family that were no longer with them. The recipes were on beautiful cards and in vellum envelopes ... they were really sweet. I'm also going to have cute boxes for guests to bring cake back to their room for a "midnight snack". Finally, I've ordered mexican wedding cookies and bought cute bags from Michael's to give to guests for their flight back ... The price for all three of these things is less than half of what the wine idea would have cost! Crazy! More importantly ... all of these things are easy to pack!

We did splurge on the photographer, but both of us agreed before hand that this was a top priority.

I nixed shelling out lots on flowers ... I bought silk rose petals on clearance at Michael's for the aisle. Nothing else for the ceremony other than my bouquet and his boutonniere. I'm not having bridesmaids, but if I were, then I think I would probably go with single stem callas instead of arrangements.

Hmmm... I also wrote a book! But Michelle's right ... all of these little details are fun - but the fact is they aren't really what matters! The whole reason we had a destination wedding was because we wanted to be small and intimate with those we love most in the world.

we're also having that mid-range of 30-35 people...

for OOT bags, i'm just buying canvas tote bags from oriental trading and i'll use an iron on. we bought beach towels on mega clearance from marshall's. they were $3 a piece. we have sunscreen from target's travel section. i plan on buying bug spray from the dollar store. i bought magnetic picture frames from target for 25 cents a piece. i also got coconut shell candles for $1 a piece from target. we're making cds for everyone of all our songs with a customized cd insert that we're just printing ourselves. we'd also like to buy tee shirts but that's a splurge we may not be able to do. we'll also print out maps and mexico information to put in there.

for the ceremony i'm just buying fake petals.. i've found a ton of sites that sell them for cheap so i'm not worrying about that. i don't think i'm going to bother with chair covers and ribbons. i'm assuming they aren't metal folding chairs.. haha. i think they are just brown wood, which i am fine with. i'm getting bm flowers, boutenieres, and mothers corsages but only because FI's brother wants to pay for them.

for photography, we don't really care that much. we're getting the basic package, and then we get 12 free pics with our wedding package. my MOH's boyfriend is a photography major in college so he'll be taking pictures through out the night. plus, with 35 people there, we'll have more pictures than we know what to do with.

riu has a beach party on friday nights so that's my reception.

i need this wedding to be cheap, but i don't want it to look cheap.. it's hard to balance those two things...

Hey corey...do you have pic of the mexican market bags?? Or a link? Sounds like a cool idea!

Oh --- and since photobucket is up ... here's the napkins, vases, and other reception 'decor' ...

I loved that these were "grass-like" and I couldn't beat the price ... I bought 6 for $1.75 each. I'm going to just buy flowers at one of the flower markets the day of the wedding ... and also may single gerber daisy stems for each of the blue vases ... maybe $20 max?

Here are the napkins ... I'm sure no-one will notice, but I like them!

I wanted something for the cake table ...

Finally - the candles ... a little hard to see in the picture. There is no way I could fly with 18 of these ... plus, what if they got broken, etc. And, after pricing them, I don't think that the $$ saved is worth the hassle!

Last thing I promise! We are planning to have a supply of sunscreen, advil, dramamine, etc. in our room and we'll let our guests know. We just thought that would be cheaper than trying to provide individual supplies - especially since many people will probably bring their own.