NYJen's Wedding Summary - VERY LONG!!!

Here is my wedding summary with all the details. I wanted to write this, not only to share with all of you, but also so I can keep it for myself and never forget anything. I apologize for it being so long. I hope I don't bore you.

From the moment we left the house, things could not have run any smoother. We had a van pick us up since we had 3 pieces of luggage, 3 large cardboard boxes, my dress and 3 other carry ons to take to the airport. When we got to Newark airport, a bag handler greeted us and took all our luggage to the first class check-in. Getting through was a breeze and then we just hung out in the First Class Lounge for awhile. (Although I have to say, it was pretty comical walking through the airport with my dress in my hands. Everyone was congratulation us - we got a kick out of it.)

Landing in Cabo and getting through customs also was easy. Got all our luggage and had a bag handler help us get it outside. I waited with all the bags while Brendan went to get the rental car. Thank goodness we reserved a large car because we knew we were bringing a ton of stuff down with us. It all just barely fit in the car, but it was a short ride to the hotel. When we arrived at the Hilton, we were treated like royalty. They checked us in, gave us a welcome drink and brought us to our room. The hotel was GORGEOUS!!! Our room was GORGEOUS!!! I was literally jumping up and down from excitement with how beautiful our room and view were. I told Brendan right then that we would be coming back to the Hilton each year for our anniversary and will be staying in this exact room. We also had received a HUGE bouquet of flowers from my sisters welcoming us to Cabo. And Vari, our wedding coordinator, also sent us beautiful flowers (in our colors) with a bottle of champagne.

Next step was that we had to go to Costco to get some of the water and snacks we needed for our Welcome Bags and then we were going to go visit some friends that were already in Cabo. So here are some of the highlights of the weekend.

1. We gave each of our guests a Welcome Bag which was a Land's End canvas tote bag with the following items: 2 beach towels, a currency converter, magazine, frisbee, Bert's Bee's lip balm, Bert's Bee's After Sun Soother, a mesh pouch with Advil, bandaids & neosporin, water, snacks and a personal handwritten note thanking each guest for coming, along with a personal itinerary for the weekend.

2. Our Welcome Dinner was at Don Emiliano’s in San Jose, the night before the wedding. Brendan gave a speech thanking everyone for making the long trip and told them how blessed we feel to have such wonderful family and friends. Then he ends the speech by saying how tomorrow (our wedding day) is our 10 year anniversary and how over the past 10 years he’s loved counting the time with me. And then he hands me a box and says that it's a little something to help me count the time with him. He gave me a Cartier watch - and it’s FREAKING GORGEOUS!!!

3. I loved the way Don Emiliano’s set everything up. We only needed 4 tables and they used 4 rectangle tables with nice, comfy chairs. I gave them the table #’s which were framed pictures of numbers written in the sand. Each picture frame was nautical, but all four were different. My mom and I also created menu cards for this event since we were having a set pre-set dinner. Everyone loved everything, especially how open the restaurant is and that you can just look up and see the stars from your seat. And we had our photographer, Juan Carlos there to take pictures too.

4. We started our wedding day with a couples massage on the beach. Then we had breakfast together and then started getting ready.

5. I had my grandparent's wedding rings sewn into my dress (behind the flower that was on my left hip) with blue thread. Juan Carlos got a picture of it. And my bouquet was GORGEOUS - pink and orange roses with green orchids and Carly's starfish pin.

6. We had the cocktail party before the ceremony (which I attended, but in a different dress.) Halfway through the cocktail party, I went up to change and take some pictures. Then I had Juan Carlos take my gift to Brendan and take pictures of his reaction as he opened it. (I had a photo shoot done of Boudoir photos and had Sarah make me an album for him. There was nothing bad (no nude shots) just some tasteful pictures. And in fact everyone has pretty much seem the album now. I had it say, "For Brendan's Eyes Only" on the cover.) Then after that, Juan Carlos brought Brendan to a "special" spot where he got to see me for the first time in my dress, alone before the ceremony and we got some shots of that too.

7. We had Chinese wood and paper hand fans on the chairs at the ceremony (since it was on the beach and it was still pretty warm out - even at 5:00PM.)

8. I rode down the zigzag cement pathway to the beach, where our ceremony was, in a golf cart with my brother-in-law, Keith, who escorted me down the aisle. Brendan's sisters translated the ceremony and Brendan actually cried when he said his vows and placed the ring on my finger. It was very sweet.

9. After the ceremony, we took a group shot of everyone on the beach and then some more shots with family and then just us. While Brendan and I took some pictures with Juan Carlos, we had a post-ceremony party going on near the reception area. It was a smaller version of a cocktail party and the area was set up with some high cocktail tables, a bar and a lounge bed.. It was very cool and trendy.

10. Our introduction was that we ran to the dance floor with our bridal party to the song, “Who Let the Dogs Out.” This is sort of an inside joke because Brendan and I call each other “Dawg.” My family all calls each other that too. It was really funny.

11. We had a choreographed first dance to 100 Years by Five for Fighting. Nothing fancy, just neat and sweet. A couple of twirls and a dip at the end.

12. Our favors were blue and green leather luggage tags (also used as the place cards at each persons plate.)

13. We had a basket of flip flops (all different colors and sizes) with a sign that read, "Please help yourself to a pair of Dancing Shoes."

14. When the sun went down, I had a server pass out pashmina's to the women.

15. The reception decorations were BEAUTIFUL!!! We had one long table set with turquoise tablecloths, green hand blown chargers, green menu cards that matched our invitations and that were set inside the white napkins, the luggage tag favors were used as place cards, and the centerpieces were orange, pink and green flowers in square vases, limes in tall clear vases, and white pillar candles. There were three sets of these centerpieces. We also had white round Chinese lanterns hanging above us and floating in the pool and we had candle luminars lining the pool as well. The Hilton had white lights wrapped around the surrounding trees and some uplighting near the trees and on the hotel. We had a lot of light.

16. My FAVORITE part of the night was the cake cutting. Vari got everyone up and told them we were going to do something a little different. They were going to do a count down for the cake cutting. So all the guests said, "3 - 2 - 1" and then as we cut into the cake, fireworks went off behind us. It was so cool. No one knew about it except us (and Vari.) The timing was perfect and we all had a great fireworks show for 2 minutes while listening to “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”

17. Our cake was made by Jennifer Hatton and was 3 tiers, which each tier being a different flavor. The middle tier was checkerboard and it looks so cool in the pictures. We also had a "Make Your Own Ice Cream" station. One of the servers would put your choice of ice cream in a martini glass and then you could top it off with all different toppings. Very cool.

18. The DJ didn't play any slow music after dinner. We were all up dancing all night long.

19. Vari handed out small shopping bags with our logo on it, at the end of night for everyone to carry their stuff back to their rooms (fans, luggage tags, flip flops, pashminas, etc.)

20. We had a bonfire on the beach after the reception. Everyone went upstairs to change and then there was a S'mores station, drinks and leather couches set up on the beach for us. I wore a T-shirt to the bonfire that said "Mrs. Magee."

21. The next morning, we had a Farewell Brunch. A bunch of people left that day and the rest of us hung out at the swim up sushi bar all afternoon.

22. Part of our wedding gift from my sisters was a private romantic dinner on the beach at the Hilton. They arranged it for us for our one week anniversary. It was very cool.

23. We were in Cabo a total of 2 weeks. I really didn't want to come home. The resort was top notch and the service was spectacular. We're looking into going back for our 1st anniversary.

Congrats on your special day! It sounds like everything went flawless.

wow I loved your review...everything sounds PERFECT! I cant wait to see the pics, did you have a thread with your pics already? wow, I know I sauid "wow" already...its just that everything sounds so nice...the lights, the cake, fireworks, everything!! thanks for sharing.

did you talk to the airport/airline before hand about your dress?

Wow Jen, that sounds like an AMAZING wedding and a great experience. the only thing wrong is that i was not there

I CANNOT wait to see JC pics b/c your little details sound fabulous!

xoxo

Jen if you e-mail yourself the "share" link, then post it...that's what I have done in the past.

Congrats, glad everything went well for you!!!!