Msredd's Ridiculously Long and Pic Heavy Planning Thread!!!

[msredd3129]

As many have said before, I can’t believe it is my turn. I started and finished half of this thread before we left, but I didn’t have time to finish and post it before our flight. We just returned last night from our honeymoon, so after I post this planning thread…I will post my reviews. Thank you soooo much Tammy  for creating this site, I really don’t know how I would have planned my wedding without it. Also thanks to the mods and all the brides before me who have contributed their thoughts and ideas from which we have all borrowed from. I can’t remember everyone who I have borrowed ideas from…but thank you all and feel free to take credit.

   We did not have a formal proposal, we just knew we would get married one day and talked about it from time to time. My fiancee’ and I have been together for over 20 yrs. We have 3 children together..ages 21,20 and 10. We were actually supposed to get married shortly after our last child was born..but plans changed. He gave me my ring about 9 yrs ago, but we had it redesigned and remounted about 3 yrs ago. It was originally a plain princess cut with 2 small diamonds on either side. We changed it into this antique setting. This is the best pic I could get.

The rings:

  It is a princess cut with a pave platform and pave all around the front of it. We found the perfect pave band a few months ago.

His ring: Again the pic is not that great, but it is a black and white diamond band.

 

The resort:

  We ultimately chose Moon Palace in Cancun because  of the wedding packages and the decided to go with the complimentary package and add on what we wanted, as you could not change anything in the packages. I had stayed at Moon Palace a few yrs ago and loved it. We also did a site visit last July with the wedding coordinator.

   We then decided on our colors on a suggestion by one of my best friends. Hot pink and apple red..like the colors on a Victoria’s secret bag.

Our 1^st monogram:

Our daughter drew a rough draft of our monogram for us. I then sent it to Rebecca from Allurements by Rebecca to finish it. It came out great.You will see it on our boarding pass STD pic.

 

 

 

The Boarding Pass STD’s:

  I then started working on our STD’s with much help from this site. I found the images from surfing Google images.

 

The Passport Invites:

  I got the template for the Passport invites from one of the girls on this forum and changed and added what I wanted. After finding great envelope liners with polka dots in my colors, I decided to add the polka dots to our theme. One of our laptops crashed, but I will try and add all templates later.

 

 

The Dress:

  I originally put a deposit down on a David’s dress, but I didn’t have “the one†feeling. I continued to look around and found the perfect dress from a seller on Craig’s list in my size. The Maggie Sottero Destiny. I made an appt to try it on and it fit great.

I also found a really nice dress for my TTD on Ebay:

Bridal Jewelry:

  I found these Judith Ripka earrings on QVC’s website.

 

  I then found a matching Judith Ripka necklace brand new for sale on Ebay:

  I found this bracelet on Overstock.com for a really good price. It has a dangling glass heart near the clasp:

Hair Flower:

I ordered this hair flower from an Etsy seller..it matched my jewelry really well…it has crystals and pearls in the middle:

Bridal Bouquet:

  I don’t have a pic, but they will be hot pink and red roses with a pink and red polka dot ribbon.

Bridal Party Flowers:

  I contacted Marvin of Maya Disneo florist in Cancun and explained what I wanted. He sent me these pics and I love them:

Mother Corsages:

Bridal Party Dresses: In watermelon pink and a red sash and red shoes.               

[msredd3129]

Flower Girls:

In Watermelon pink and apple red.

Ring Bearer suit: He will wear this with red Converse. I found his linen suit on Amazon.

Groom and Best Man suits:

  We ordered swatches from Studio Suits and matched the ring bearer suit to their English Beige linen swatch.

  We got the guys measurements from a local tailor and ordered the 2 custom suits. Unfortunately the groom’s jacket was too small but everything else fit good. We then reordered a preset size jacket in the same color and it fit just right.

 We also ordered these pink ties from Amazon:

Groom and Best Man Shoes:

 I don't have a pic but they are wearing tan loafers.

 

Second Monogram:

  Again created by Rebecca…I can’t say enough great things about her she is a godsend. She created this monogram to fit our polka dot theme:

 

 

 

Pre Travel Brochures and Luggage Tags:

These were designed on VistaPrint, and the tags from Rebecca’s template from this forum. I ordered the luggage tags from Clearenvelopes.com.

 

Fans:

 We decided not to do programs, as they would probably only end up in the trash. So, we ordered these fans from The Knot.com while on sale, and had them engraved with our names and date. I then added red ribbon and starfish charms and a business card from Vista Print with the following star fish poem to the fans. They will be on each seat.

Petal Cones:

  I again used Rebecca for these, and loved how they turned out. One of each of these will be hanging on each chair with red and pink rose petals I bought from Flyboys Naturals website.

 

Linens:

  I purchased hot pink organza chair sashes and overlays, as well as linen napkins and red table runners from Efavormart’s website. They were the cheapest I found. This is a pic of my mock set up at home with the menu  and table numbers made by Rebecca. I used the Ikea Tolsby frame to hold the table numbers. The starfish are from Oriental Trade. This is not our centerpiece, that pic will follow:

Centerpiece:

This is my inspiration centerpiece, which will have pink floralytes and clear acrylic ice on the bottom:

 

 

 

Cake Inspiration:

  We decided to not upgrade our cake and chose this one, only it will be white and the shells will be pink and only 1 tier:

Cake Topper:

  I found this M monogram cake topper at Michael’s:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[msredd3129]

Candy Buffet:

  I found the jars at Marshall’s and seller on weddingbee. I am bringing Hershey Kisses, M&M’s, Swedish Fish, Twizzlers, Pink and red fortune cookies and assorted Lollipops all in our wedding colors. This is my mock set up:

Candy Buffet Labels:

  I found these labels in Michael’s that came with templates with designs. I then added a piece of red cardstock to the back:

Welcome Books:

  Yet another idea borrowed from one of the girls on this forum. I ordered clear photo albums and used the template from this site and created this welcome book which is over 12 pages, so I will only post the first 3:

Welcome Dinner Dress:

  I have to post this dress because I love it. I found it on Macy’s .com:

Welcome Dinner Shoes:

 

OOT Bags:

  I ordered the canvas bag with our monogram, Tshirts, Hats, Pens & post it pads from Vistaprint. I used a link where each item was free and ended up paying a lil over $10 for each set of these items. I got the deck of cards from Michael’s and used a template from this forum to personalize them. I ordered the lanyards and keycard holders from one of the girls selling them here. Notebooks in our wedding colors from Michael’s. Personalized travel cups from Factory21 on Ebay. I found the little  cocktail bottles at Target and then made labels for them. Survival kits, chapstick, sunblock & aloe gel from Target. I found the Advil and Pepto on Amazon. Hand Sanitizers from Bath and Body Works. All templates for the labels for these items, I found on this forum. Survival Kit tops and Chapstick labels made by Rebecca:

OOT Bag Tags:

  I designed these postcards on Vistaprint and then attached them with a ribbon. I couldn’t get a really clear pic of the back, but I had a really cute poem borrowed from one of the girls on this forum:

Favors:

  I ordered these candles from The Knot.com. They are vanilla scented gel candles with real small starfish and shells on the bottom. I wrapped each of them with red tulle and tied it with a pink and red polka dot ribbon. I will add the favor tags when I get to Mexico. Favor tags by Rebecca:

[msredd3129]

Signature Drink and Sign:

  I found a recipe for a Pink Diamond and then had an Etsy seller create this sign. Her business card is next to the sign in the pic:

GuestBook:

  We created this guestbook on Adoramapix.com. It is really great quality and came out better than we expected. This will have a starfish pen holder and pink gel pen next to it:

Guest Book Sign:

  I ordered this guestbook sign from an Etsy seller..I can’t recall the name. I placed it in a white frame:

Flower Girl basket ordered from Etsy in pic above.

Flip-Flops:

  We will have a basket of flip flops labeled with each persons name with a framed poem about dancing shoes borrowed from a bride from this forum:

Ring bearer Box:

  I found this unfinished mini treasure chest at Michael’s and stained and finished it. I attached the polka dot ribbon and some mini starfish to the back and sides. I also made a hot pink satin pillow to go inside:

Place cards and holders:

  I borrowed the personalized mini maraca place card holder idea from another bride here. I ordered them from Oriental Trade and painted the top with watermelon pink spray paint. I then painted our M monogram on then with a red paint pen and tied them together with red ribbon. I will attach the place cards in Mexico…placecards made by Rebecca:

Flower Girl OOT bags:

I ordered these personalized bags for the flower girls on Vistaprint and again used my free items link. I also ordered them the hats. The bag fillers I found at 5 below:

I also made one for our ring bearer from Vistaprint personalized with a bear on it as well as a hat and filled it with more “boy†friendly fillers but forgot to take a pic.

[msredd3129]

Bridal Party Gifts:

  I bought t shirts from Old Navy and the crystal iron ons from Michael’s and made these shirts:

I also had these beautiful cards made for each member of the bridal party and the mother of the bride and groom from the Wonderful Rebecca:

 

I bought the MOH’s wedding jewelry, a starfish and onyx necklace and starfish earrings.

We chose a personalized Dogtag for our Best Man and ring bearer, this was the best pic I could get:

 

That’s about it, let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for reading till the end, I know it’s really long. I’ll post my reviews this week.

[celestial419]

Awesome job!  I love the polka dots!

[Sharon99]

Wow everything came out great! Great job with it all!

[Maritza919]

Great job!!

[lisa203]

Very nice! Congratulations!

[muzikgrrl]

Everything looks great!! Congratulations!