Murmel's Planning Journal **Pic and Template Heavy**

[murmel]

 

First of all, Thank you, bestdestinationwedding.com! Thank you toTammy and all the other admins who do such an amazing job! I could not have done everything, or planned my wedding if it were not for this website and all the wonderful, helpful people who run and post on this site! I got so much support and inspiration J

 

I can only hope this planning journal helps inspire other brides! Please feel free to use any and all the ideas/templates. I know I have borrowed so many, and am so gratefully to those who have shared before me!

 

The beginning

I met my fiancée at work about 6 years ago. About a year later we started seeing each other and the rest is history. He proposed to me in Chicago on May 15, 2009. We started planning the wedding in January 2010.

 

STD

We wanted to make sure our family and friends had enough time to book vacation leave and start saving if they were able to join us. Both my FI and I like very clean, modern lines. We found a great stationary style on Vistaprint and were able to use it for almost everything.

 

Wedding website

We created our own wedding website using ewedding.com Our guests found this really useful to check prices, get information and see some pictures/stories of us.

 

Wedding invitations

Again, we used Vistaprint for the invites and RSVP cards. I also included a letter with all the travel details and our travel agents contact information.

We used Weddings By Oceans, based in Toronto, Canada. They are very nice people, however I was truly disappointed at their services. When we started working with them, they were quick to return calls, emails and seemed to understand what was going on. By the time our guests were booking with them, and literally until the day I was on our plane ride down, I was calling them constantly to correct things or make sure they were getting things done. I felt like I was babysitting them! I had hired them because I didn’t want to have to deal with the travel details…and then I had too anyway! (rant over)

 

 

Pre-travel brochure

We had many guests joining us that have never been outside Canada or the US. So we thought it would be very important to send out some information. (sorry no picture, but templates below) Also included in the package we mailed out were custom made fabric luggage tags. You can view the DIY instructions: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/65040/diy-fabric-luggage-tags-photos-and-instructions

It was a lot of work, but our guests loved them and used them!

We also sent out dinner choice cards at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to come.... 

pretravel1.doc

dinnercard1.doc

[murmel]

 

Photographer:

We found a local photographer whose style we loved and flew him down with us! His name is Taylor Jackson, and we can’t wait to see the photos when he’s done. He also was kind enough to shoot our welcome cocktail party and a TTD session!

 

For the kids:

Knowing we had a number of children joining us (8), I took a little time to make them an activity book for the flight down. These got mailed to them a few weeks before departure with a small pack of crayons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OOT bags

I cannot thank this site enough for introducing me to this idea, and then helping me complete mine! We made sure to get all the travel details of our guests (flight arrival times and dates), then made a chart, so that we could meet everyone as they arrived. I think everyone really liked that we made the effort to greet them and then hand them the OOT bag as a little welcome gift.

 

First thing, I made the OOT beach bags for our guests. Most guests received the black ones with the wedding color stripes in front. My bridesmaids got turquoise bags, and the kids got green and white bags. My MOH helped me iron in the custom made tags. Bought iron on fabric printer paper at Michael’s and then used our inkjet printer at home to create these.

 

 

 

The contents of the OOT bags:

Hangover kit (lip balm, band-aids, alcohol swipe, safety pins, 2 Motrin packs, 2 Immodium packs, 2 Emergen-C, nail file, hair elastic)

Welcome booklet

Custom pen

Hand sanitzer

Local Mexican treats (candy coated nuts, spicy chips, chocolates, gum and cookies)

 

Kids bags: (same as adult bags with the following exceptions)*

First Aid kits (same as above, but without medications)

Playing cards (old maid, crazy eights, etc.)

Sand and water toys

Candy

 

Welcome booklet:

I used cardstock for the cover, then punched two holes into the booklet and tied together with ribbon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hangover kit and First Aid kit templates:

I have borrowed these both from other girls on the forum, just changed the colors! I got the hangover kit from bahiabride; but I have to admit I can’t remember who the other one was. Thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to come.....

kidplanebook.doc

Welcomebook1.doc

cover.doc

Hangover Kit Labels.doc

first aid bunny template.ppt

[murmel]

 

Bouquet charm and jewellery

I ordered this great charm from etsy artist DesignsbyTami. She was great to work with, and I got the charm super fast!

I wore one of my Mom’s necklaces (sorry no picture), silver and turquoise bangles, and turquoise earrings.

 

The dress:

A Pronovias gown.http://72.232.198.18/manufcols/pronovias/pronovias2008spring/zoom/Deseo_B.jpg

 (sorry this is a horrible picture...)

 

The suit:

White linen Hugo Boss suit, bought at Harry Rosen. The shirt was custom made through the website iTailor . They had great customer service and the shirt is really nice.

 

The shoes:

Groom got custom made Converse sneakers with our initals on the back heel. Special thanks to Wendy for helping me with this! I found my shoes just in the nick of time on ebay.

 

Gifts:

I gave DH the watch he had been drooling over for almost a year (but he knew it was coming!) But totally surprised him with a Boudoir album. For more info read the thread http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/63563/toronto-boudoir-photoshoot

 

DH gave me a set of tanzanite earrings custom designed to match my ring. (sorry no photo)

 

Clutches:

One of my lovely bridesmaids found a lady who custom made these clutches for us. They are so nice! And it will always be a treasured item…especially with the date and our names inside!

 

 

 

Bridesmaids:

I found these great summer dresses at Smart Set in the summer. The girls loved them and they had the casual flair we wanted. As gifts for the bridesmaids we bought them Mexican silver jewellery. They all received the same earrings, chains, but the pendants varied. I also got them beautiful crafted Indian shawls, which were mostly white with a silver pattern along the edge.

 

Groomsmen:

They wore a Volcom shirt and dress shorts. We ordered these online through dogfunk.com . We totally lucked into the fact that the shirts pinstripes are our wedding colors! As gifts we bought them Russian Poljot watches (FI is a huge watch fan!).

 

 

More to come....

[murmel]

 

Decorations:

We ordered paper laterns from Asian Ideas in white, green and turquoise. There were a couple hanging during the wedding ceremony, and then more decorated the wedding gazebo at dinner time. We used the instructions from DIY LED lights to make LED throwies to light up the laterns at night! They were super easy and worked great. We ordered the batteries and LEDs from dealextreme.com

 

Our centerpieces (again we like simple):

Tall round vases (about 10”tall, 7”diameter), filled with limes and water. We bought the vases in a party supply store in Cancun, just outside of local Market 23. They cost us $12 US for all 8, add the limes and I think our total was about $20!

 

On a side table we had a seating chart. The tables were named for some of our favourite places we have visited. On each table was a picture of us in that location. (sorry no pictures!)

 

Each place had a name card, some in black (to indicate their meal choice of pork), the others in white (to indicate their meal choice of mahi-mahi). I printed these out on cardstock and then folded them into tent cards (templates below) The napkin and menu card were placed on top of the plate, and held together with a paper wrap. (my sister in law made these for us!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I totally borrowed this kids activity booklet from another bride to put onto the kids table to entertain them during dinner. We also put out some small toys and crayons!

 

 

 

 

 

We also ordered one of those lawnsigns from Vistaprint. This came in really handy to mark our reception areas! Plus it looked super cute J

 

Guest book:

We sort of have 2 things. The first is my FI and his family are super musical, so we actually had Valeria from Lomas pick up 3 acoustic guitars before we arrived! (I am so grateful for her help) Our guests played all week long! But on our wedding night we had two guitars lying on a side table at dinner, and had the guests sign their names. We will then be hanging these on the wall of our lounge area at home.

 

The second thing: We had guests write their well wishes/comments on a white board and then have someone take of picture of them with the whiteboard. Once we get a chance we will put all the photos together into one of those picture books.

 

More to come....

Namecardwhite.doc

Namecardsblack.doc

coloring_book.ppt

[murmel]

 

Rings:

My engagement ring was custom designed by my fiancée with a tanzanite stone. We then had the wedding band custom fit to the engagement ring.

 

His ring is a style known as Mokume Gane. It was custom made by Heidi in Toronto. http://www.heidischnabel.com/

 

Other:

Sorry, just a few things I forgot.

Luggage tag photo ( I made 65 of these little puppies! And the best part...all the guests used them)

Pens- One of my bridesmaids made these following instructions from DIY thread on making your own custom pens.

OOT bag label template

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, the wedding planning is done. And I do have to apologize since I am writing this after we got married. I had planned on doing it before we left, but then DH and I bought a house (6 days before we left for Mexico!), and needless to say I got a little busy with that.

 

If there is anything I forgot, or you would like to know more, please PM me. Thank you again to everyone that I borrowed and used ideas from! The wedding was truly a success and everyone had a lot of fun J

 

 

 

OOT bag sticker.doc

[mmc1105]

Miriam you did an amazing job!!  I love your dress, the colors, centerpieces... Everything looked beautiful. I LOVE the signed guitar, it's so personal! Congratulations on the new house too... You guys are off to a great start 

[lisadias]

WOW Miriam, everything looks fantastic!!!! You put so much hard work into the DIY projects. Those luggage tags are awesome. Congrats! I love the kids activity book and I am totally stealing that for FI's Niece and Nephew who are the only two kids coming. Thank you for sharing all the details and templates.I think the guitar idea was sooo great and perfect for you and your guests. Awesome score on the shoes!!!! They were beautiful! Good luck with the new house!

[sunstarsmoon]

you did an amazing job thanks for sharing

[Brandy]

Everything looks amazing!! And I LOOOOOVE those shoes! Congrats!!!!

[Lua]

You did such an amazing job!!!! everything looks so great   congrats to you and your new hubby! and enjoy your new home!