KarenM's Planning Thread!

[KarenM]

Yay for planning threads! These have been my very favorite threads. We leave in a week and I cannot wait!!

Word of warning: there are A LOT of pics to follow.

 

Thank you so much to Tammy for starting this incredible place where all of us can share this wonderful time in our lives! I have been inspired by so many of you. Thank you to each of you for sharing your ideas & experiences ~ we all benefit from the wealth of information available here! Special thanks to the DreamGirls (& boys) of PV and the May ’10 brides! You are all amazing!

 

We got engaged in December of ’08. We were spending Christmas apart and had decided against getting a Christmas tree, which I was NOT happy about, but went along with since neither of us would be in NYC to enjoy/water it. On Dec 12th, P came home after work with a big beautiful tree as a surprise. I started crying & jumping up & down; it was the best Christmas present ever! Then as we were getting ready to decorate it, P dropped to one knee, said something about wanting to spend all our Christmases together and pulled the most gorgeous ring from his pocket. I was stunned and kept saying “no,no,no†because I couldn’t believe he was actually proposing. He then had to ask me “are you saying no?†I started crying (again) and said "of course I will!".

 

 

 

E-ring (FI designed it with the jeweler – Greenwich Jewelers in NYC)

 

 

We both, but especially FI, have always wanted to get married on the beach so it was a no-brainer to have a DW! I had been to PV years ago and absolutely loved it for it’s rich culture and beauty. We wanted a place that offered all-inclusive resorts, was family-friendly, had great beaches and lots to do off the resort. After a ton of research we came back to PV and found Dreams. This is a bit of an adventure because we haven’t been to Dreams yet, but have read wonderful reviews - all the more reason to go for it!

 

 

Dreams PV. We’ll be getting married Sat 5.29 on the beach with 40 of our favorite people in attendance.

 

 

Our jumping off point – the inspiration board

 

 

more to come...

[KarenM]

The Rings

 

Mine (designed as an eternity band)

 

 

His

 

 

DIY STD’s & link

 

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...ds-done-46010/

 

Invites & link

 

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...tes-out-50312/

 

 

Pre-PV package & link to brochure

We couldn’t find enough of one kind of luggage tag so we bought the larger ones from Michael’s for family and friends got the tags with dots (found at Marshalls). We printed out each guest’s name, address & phone # on cardstock & put them in the tags. We sent them out the first week of May & got a great response! People were so impressed with the brochure and found the information really helpful (thanks to vistaprint & all the girls I borrowed information from!).

 

 

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...rochure-54693/

 

We only have 3 kids coming so they got their own special tags.

 

 

more to come...

[KarenM]

The Dress (David’s Bridal T9612)

Thought I was going to get a light, chiffon, beachy dress but I fell in love with the Spanish-inspired lace of this one. I made a couple changes to it – removed most of the satin from the train (so the train will be all lace on the sand) and removed some of the satin in the bust area. It just made it lighter & more delicate looking.

 

 

Jewelry (Etsy seller BGBJewelry) Trisha was wonderful to work with! She custom made my earrings to match this bracelet. I love these!

 

 

Shoes (Endless.com - going barefoot for the ceremony)

 

 

Garter (Ebay. FI is a HUGE Cub’s fan & I thought he’d get a kick outta this)

 

 

Hair & makeup inspiration pics

 

 

 

Hair flowers ($14 Etsy seller enchantedbutterfly) I think I’ll probably wear just 2 of the 3 on one side; not sure yet.

 

 

DIY hair flower for TTD

I decided I wanted a fun red hair flower for the TTD, but didn’t find an affordable one so I made one myself. Bought a gerbera daisy-type flower, alligator-style hair clips and tiny flat-back crystals at Michael’s. I cut off the stem of the flower, used a glue gun to affix it to a clip and hot-glued the crystals to the center. Super easy (only took like ½ hr) and cheap! I spent about $5-6 on the supplies.

 

 

more to come...

[KarenM]

Bouquet inspiration pics

 

Starfish for bouquet

http://www.bouquetjewels.com/starofsea/star-sea.htm

 

 

Legal day dress (JCrew)

 

 

Necklace (Etsy seller RachelleD)

 

 

and shoes (Ebay)

 

 

P’s suit (linen Calvin Klein from Men’s Wearhouse)

 

White linen shirt from Banana Republic bought at the end of last Summer (I didn’t have a pic so I borrowed this one from Moe’s planning thread – thanks!)

 

and shoes (I designed them at converse.com) Love how these turned out ☺

 

 

Legal day suit (JCrew seersucker) with a dark blue oxford

 

and shoes (Endless.com)

 

 

 

more to come...

[KarenM]

BM dresses (David’s Bridal)

 

 

Groomsmen shirts (MyGuayabera.com ~ Tammy was so great to work with & I highly recommend them!) The shirts are embroidered with aqua, light green or an orangey-yellow thread. They'll wear linen pants & whatever shoes/sandals they want.

 

 

BM gifts (purses, jewelry, flip flops, cover-ups, random other things)

 

I had clutches made by ModDotTextiles for the BM’s with cotton fabric that matched each girl’s personality. Hope was so great to work with and I was able to include a thank you tag on the inside. I love how they turned out!

inside:

Etsy seller: ModDotTextiles by ModDotTextiles on Etsy

 

 

 

more to come...

[KarenM]

Found the bridesmaid’s jewelry on Etsy as well; also personalizing to each girl. Each piece was from a different seller – PM me if you’d like details.

 

 

 

 

Bought them each silver flip flops for the reception (shoes.com),

 

Cover-ups (TJ Maxx),

 

And a bunch of other random stuff: (bikini bag, Gal Pal deodorant remover, sleep mask, note pad & a purse holder hook that hangs from any table)

 

 

 

 

more to come...

[KarenM]

GM gifts: FI wanted to get something each guy really needed &/or would love so he built a computer for one GM (my brother), bought an iphone for GM #2 (best friend) and bought a DSLR camera for his brother/best man. A little overboard, probably, but we budgeted it in and feel really good about it.

 

 

OOT bags: My sister-in-law found cotton bags (T-shirt material) in multiple colors on clearance at WalMart last year and bought all they had. They’ll be great beach or grocery bags. Each bag will contain water guns, beach-scented candle, Spanish for Dummies, first aid kit, Tums, sunblock, chapstick, aloe, kleenex, Shout wipes, deck of cards, mini Tide packet (for wash in the sink), pashmina, Sudoku book, pen, welcome card & photoshare card. We’re hoping to find mini bottles of tequila in PV to add to the bags for the guys.

 

 

 

We made bag tags in Illustrator using a tile vector from istockphoto (just changed the colors & added “graciasâ€).

 

Also used the same tile to make the pashmina tags. Two sides say “warm†& the other two “calienteâ€.

 

Welcome Card (VistaPrint)

 

 

First aid kits

 

Inside: Advil, Tylenol, Pepto tabs, Imodium, Emergen-C, bandaids, hand wipe, gauze

 

For the kids

 

 

more to come...

[mswhatever]

Everything looks great. I am Excited for you.

[KarenM]

Ceremony inspiration

 

We bought aqua shell curtains to hang in the back. We sent them via FedEx to Dreams & they arrived last week without incident! Yay!

 

 

Shoes sign & brushes

I saw someone’s shoe parking sign somewhere along the way and loved this idea. I made my own version using thick craft felt, white acrylic paint and a wooden flip-flop crafty thing, all from Michael’s. I bought a small (~2 ft) wire easel that will stick in the sand and hold the sign through a small hole punched in the top of it.

 

Rattan mat to leave shoes on, (Target)

 

and brushes (bought super cheap at Michael’s, then just painted the handles white, printed out tags I borrowed from another Bestie and tied on with ribbon)

 

 

Reception

Our reception will be poolside at the Las Palmas Terrace.

 

 

We’re going to have lounge furniture set up for the cocktail hour & reception. Here’s an idea of how they can set things up, but I’m not sure what the end result will be.

 

 

Table numbers & place card holders

I decided I wanted to go with something that could double as a favor & thought Mexican Talavera tiles would be perfect! They can be used as trivets, spoon rests or just as decoration. I ordered 20 different hand-painted tiles from TilesandTiles.com (great customer service!), painted the backs with terracotta paint and then wrote guests’ names & table #’s in silver calligraphy marker.

The table #’s are Hacienda house tiles ordered from finecraftsandimports.com

 

 

 

Votive holders, 2 of each color to be placed on the reception tables (Crate&Barrel)

 

 

more to come...

[KarenM]

Cake topper (Etsy seller SpiritMama) Love these little guys! ☺

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...-topper-55254/

 

 

Because I love seeing what other people bring with them, here’s some of the stuff I’ve bought for our weddingmoon:

 

Just bought the white thong:

 

 

 

For our bonfire on the beach the night before:

 

 

 

 

 

To get ready in (tank from sis-in-law)