Kayley's (KRama) Planning Thread!!

[KRama]

So I know everyone starts by saying they can’t believe it’s their turn. Well, I’m starting the same way! I really CAN’T BELIEVE that we leave in 4 days!! It’s come up SO fast and I’ve loved every minute of planning process and the excitement that keeps building as the date gets closer!

 

Planning treads were one of my favourite parts of BDW so I hope I put together a good one for you ladies. I know you love pics! Almost all of the things I’ve done are a direct product of ideas on this forum so I thank you all so much for helping me impress my family and friends by letting them think I came up with it all myself.

 

And I apologize in advance for the crappy quality of some of the pics! I have an old camera that doesn’t do close ups very well!

 

Engagement:

 

We were engaged on June 12, 2009, the day after my birthday. Long story short, I thought he was throwing me a birthday party but he kidnapped me (blindfold and all!) and took me to a hotel in downtown Calgary. When he took the blindfold off I was in a hotel room covered in tea light candles and rose petals on the bed in a heart shape with a tiny box in the middle. He got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife.

 

The rings:

 

He had my engagement ring made by a local jeweller and I’m totally in love with it. We went back later and had the matching band designed.

 

 

 

FI picked out a tungsten band with a bit of detailing from the same jeweller.

 

The Resort:

 

We found the hardest part of planning was picking the actual resort. We were looking for a 5 star resort around $1600 CDN per person that offered a wedding package that didn’t charge per head (we were expecting 50 guests). We actually found one! Grand Bahia Principe Coba in the Mayan Riviera was everything we were looking for and I’ve heard nothing but great things about it!

 

The gazebo is what sealed my decision:

 

 

 

More to come…

[KRama]

My Dress:

 

I tried on about 12 dresses before I found this one. I had gone in saying I wanted something simple, strapless, no beads and no lace. Well as you can see, I didn’t end up with that at all!

 

 

It gives me the best shape and FI is going to love how “the girls†look in it!

 

Shoes:

From Aldo

 

 

Jewellery:

 

I don’t typically where a lot of bling so I enlisted my bridesmaid who loves that kind of stuff to pick something out for me. And I’ll be wearing a diamond bracelet that FI gave me for my 21st birthday:

 

 

Hair Inspiration:

 

My hair is naturally pretty straight so I’m not sure how well this will hold up but I’m hoping the humidity in Mexico will help!

 

 

FI will be wearing a khaki coloured pinstripe suit that we bought during an end-of-season sale at MEXX last year. He’ll wear a white shirt and brown shoes. The groomsmen will be wearing matching pants and a white shirt, all from the MEXX outlet (sorry, I don’t have a pic, you’ll just have to wait for wedding photos!)

 

Bridesmaid’s dresses ordered from J.Crew:

 

 

Bridesmaid Gifts:

 

I bought the dresses for them and this necklace:

 

 

I also bought them personalized lounge chair covers from a seller on Etsy. I thought these were too perfect for a resort wedding!

 

 

FI bought the groomsmen sunglasses, sandals and funny T-shirts. He wanted to get them practical stuff that they could use on the resort.

 

More still…

[KRama]

My invitations:

 

We started by sending out a save-the-date via email telling people the week we chose, the destination we were thinking of and the price we were aiming for. We also told people that once we decided, we’d send out another email with the info and they’d have two weeks to put down their deposit. This worked out great because once we sent out that second email about a month later, our guests were prepared to book and pay their deposit right away. We had absolutely NO problem with guests dragging their feet or us being stuck having paid a deposit for someone that decided not to come. We had 4 couples that told us they were for sure coming but would be booking through other means which was perfectly fine with us. I would highly recommend this strategy!

 

Here’s the tread on my invitations:

 

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...tations-56075/

 

 

I also included a VistaPrint post card as our AHR invite:

 

 

We ordered mugs from Discountmugs.com and they worked out perfectly.

 

 

Wedding Week Survival Kits:

 

I loved this idea when I saw it on BDW! We have a bit of a rowdy group so they’ll get a kick out of this. Most of this stuff was from Minimus.com. I still need to put labels on these:

 

 

We’re going to give out the mugs and kits during our welcome party the first night we get there.

 

Décor:

 

I really didn’t want to bring much down with us and decided that we’re just going to let the setting speak for itself. All I’m bringing are table cards that I had a very creative friend make up for me. These will be mounted on tent cards and placed on the tables.

 

 

Keep going...

[KRama]

Flower Inspiration:

 

 

Fun stuff!

 

The tank my bridesmaids made for me. FI is a hockey player so the back has his number on it:

 

 

And my beach themed shower/stagette during the middle of a freak blizzard!

 

 

I think that’s about it! I tell ya, you girls sure made me ambitious. I maybe did a fraction of the stuff I wanted to do but I ran out of time and FI kept telling me I was going to way too much trouble!

 

Again, thanks so much for all your wonderful ideas. You’ve totally made this planning process stress free and fun! If you have any questions about anything, fire away!

[Cindy*]

Everything loves amazing Kayley. I love your dress! Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

[*Linds*]

Thank you SO much for taking the time to share! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE your dress! I cannot wait to seee what it looks like on you!

[Kimmysals]

Everything looks great! Congratulations!! And thanks for sharing!

[nmurch]

everything looks fab! and congrats your a WIFE in ONE week! YAY

[Danyelle]

Everything looks lovely!! And oh man that dress is to die for. I love the simple and pretty bm dresses too.

[autjo]

These threads just make my mornings You have done a great job on everything and your dress is awesome. Congrats and have a wonderful wedding!