AnnaBanana

Thanks so much, ladies!!

Our wedding is January 6, 2011. Next week! Thanks, ladies!

I have been waiting to write this for over a year! Having read everyone else's planning journals and reviews, I have just been in awe since the moment I found this site. I have not always been active, but have appreciated very much all the advice, ideas and inspiration that this message forum has provided! So, without further adieu, I bring you my wedding planning process! (Please do not mind some of these pictures - I took them on my bed in the midst of packing!) Engagement Ring: It is hard to tell, but it is a .5 brilliant cut center stone with two baguette diamonds on either side. Engagement Pictures: Chantra and I live in San Antonio, and we highly, highly recommend our photographer. If we were having our wedding here, I would have her shoot our wedding hands down. http://damongallery.com/ Wedding Bands: They are both from Kay Jewelers. His is just 14 karat white gold and mine is a custom made band of 3 baguette diamonds. Ceremony Venue: Haiku Gardens, Kaneohe, HI http://haikugardens.com/index.html We originally wanted to get married on the beach, but unfortunately that was not within our budget unless we wanted everyone to stand around us. We wouldn't have minded this but neither my mom nor Chantra's mom would be capable of doing this. Reception Venue: Haleiwa Joe's Restaurant http://www.haleiwajoes.com/ This restaurant looks over the ceremony site, and the rental cost was included in our wedding package. Travel Agent: destinationweddings.com agent Elizabeth "Cookie" Randall Cookie is pretty awesome. She managed to get us a good deal, and never hesitated to work with me on my many demands. Wedding Planner: Jennifer Pulsifer is a lovely woman. She has been so helpful to me! Hotels: Hotel Renew - Wedding week http://hotelrenew.com/ http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60982-d596760-Reviews-Hotel_Renew-Honolulu_Oahu_Hawaii.html Turtle Bay Resort - Honeymoon week http://turtlebayresort.com/ http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60651-d87158-Reviews-Turtle_Bay_Resort-Kahuku_Oahu_Hawaii.html Photographer: L'amour Photography http://www.facebook.com/lamourphotography These guys take some amazing pictures! I knew I had to have them! Colors/Theme: Lord only knows - it has changed at least 20 times. What I THINK we are ending up with is a variation of these colors and some kind of theme based on this flower pattern. Save the Date: Invitations: I did so much DIY for this wedding (including these) and I am not a DIY kind of girl. If I had to do it again, I would not. It stressed me out beyond imagination. Custom Stamps by Zazzle: These went more with an earlier theme I had going on when I figured that we would be getting married on a beach. It's hard to tell by the picture, but they have sea turtles and they say: "Aloha" and then our wedding date. Dress: What a MESS this was. Ok, I bought a dress originally from David's Bridal website for $200. I thought it looked great until I had my picture taken in it at the shop for my fitting. I looked like a truck with 6 asses, so I ended up leaving, selling the dress on ebay and coming back later to find a new one. I tried on a million dresses I think until I came to this one which was $399 on sale. Now, to be honest, I never had that whole "OMG, THIS IS MY DRESS" moment at the time. I ended up having this nagging feeling for months about whether or not I should be searching for a new dress. I knew it wasn't in our budget and with alterations, this dress ended up costing about $900. But let me just tell you that when I finally put it on after all the alterations, there was NO DOUBT that this was my dress. None! I love it! I wish I had a picture of the final product! Hanger: Purchased by etsy seller: http://www.etsy.com/shop/DawnsCraftStore Shoes: Manjarrez by Aldo. I saw another bride on here post these as her wedding shoes, too! Jewelry: I do not have a picture of my jewelry. It is going to be borrowed from my step-mother and consists of a necklace and bracelet made of fresh water pearls that she got in the Caribbean last year. My earrings will be my grandmother's. Hair inspiration: I have gone back and forth about what I want in my hair. However, being that it is a week before we leave, I think I will go with the original plan of wearing a fresh flower in my hair since it is a little too late for anything else at this point. Seriously, where did the time go? Bridesmaid dresses: The color looks black, but it is actually a beautiful eggplant color. I had a seriously HORRIBLE, NIGHTMARISH experience with the woman who sold us the bridesmaid dresses. Ugh, just thinking about it irritates me. If anyone is in need of a dress in the NW Pennsylvania area, stay FAR, FAR away from this place: http://www.bridalboutiqueandtux.com/ We are filing a complaint with the better business bureau over the way the owner treated us. Groom's attire: White Aloha shirt we bought at Penner's in San Antonio on the recommendation of a fellow bride here. Unfortunately, we did not have a great experience at this store, and the shirt was altered very strangely in the beginning. They forced us to wait there while they finished it in the store, which was another hour. They also altered his $97 pants to an unwearable mess which they would not refund for me. Not a good experience. We ended up getting linen drawstring pants from Island Importer. BTW, a word of warning about Island Importer: If your guy is inbetween sizes and you are struggling to decide to go up or go down, go DOWN. Chantra's pants are HUGE on him. http://www.islandimporter.com/home.php Sandals are by Reef Groomsmen: I do not have a picture of this, but my step mother is making shirts for the guys. They will be light green cotton button down shirts with coconut buttons. We also bought them each a pair of dark brown leather Reef sandals and linen pants from Island Importers as their groomsmen gifts. Father of the Groom: Chantra's dad is a funny guy with an interesting sense of style, so for his Christmas & wedding gift combined, we bought him his wedding attire. The shirt is a Tommy Bahama shirt and the pants are just khakis from JcPenney. Shoes are by Reef. We got the shirt from a seller on ebay: http://myworld.ebay.com/casciere6xzs/ Mother of the Bride: My mother had such a hard time finding a dress in my hometown in Pennsylvania, so I found this on sale for her. She still hasn't decided to wear it for certain, but I loved the colors, so I took a picture! Dad and Step mother of the Bride: My step mother is making her dress and my dad's shirt. I have not seen them yet, but she is a fantastic seamstress, so I know it will be awesome! Flowers: Ohhhhh, what an adventure. We had a certain amount included in our wedding package, but I always seemed to go over. In the long run, we ended up with a $600 flower bill. My bouquet inspiration: Bridesmaid bouquet inspiration: Maile lei for groom: kukui nut leis for groomsmen: ceremony flowers which will double as reception flowers (the roses will be cream colored): Ceremony: Site: We could have opted for outdoors but chose the chapel because this side of the island is notorious for rainshowers. Fan favors: Bought from Oriental Trading for $9.99 per dozen. They do come in varying sizes which is a bit disappointing, but they will do just fine. Ribbon wands: I don't think we will use these in the long run. I kind of don't like them and think that the purple ribbon will end up looking too dark in the pictures. Programs: We did these last minute. I am so SICK of DIY projects. Reception: Cake: Do not mind my ridiculous drawing. I couldn't find anything that really matched my vision, so I drew it out myself. I wanted to tie in the recurring theme of the wedding which was the flower petal that was featured on my invites and also most of the paper crafts in the wedding. Cake topper: I waited until the last minute to buy this because it seemed really unimportant until I realized I had nothing to put on this cake. So, I purchased this off of Amazon. It was pretty inexpensive ($14), but it also feels like it. My mom bought me one also, but I have not seen it. Blessing Strings: Chantra is Cambodian, and we wanted to incorporate elements of a traditional Khmer wedding into our ceremony. However, it is very difficult to do so as the traditional Cambodian wedding lasts for hours. So we decided to take this element from the final part of the ceremony and incorporate it into our reception. I also felt that this was a great way to make sure I met and mingled with all of our guests. This was another DIY project - one that was a huge pain. However, of all the things I did by hand, this is the only one that I am happy I accomplished myself. Placecards: Yet another DIY project. Linens: My step mother was awesome enough to make these for me. She did such a great job! Guestbook: We purchased vintage postcards (from amazon.com) and addressed and stamped them with custom stamps (from zazzle). My MOH is going to collect them at the end of the night and slipping them into the mail for us so we have them when we get back from the honeymoon. The chalkboard is from a seller on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/braggingbags Favors: We are planning to purchase cookies in Hawaii for the favors. http://www.honolulucookie.com/ OOT bags: Ugh, another adventure. I ended up sending these out for Christmas because there was no way we could bring all this with us since we are the only ones traveling from Texas to the wedding. The large travel bags were purchased from vista print and the smaller ones were handmade by an etsy seller who made me a custom order for a VERY reasonable price. http://www.etsy.com/shop/aqtpursecover Bridesmaid gifts: I have always loved the Tiffany style palm tree necklace. Of course I couldn't afford the real ones, and these hardly do it justice. However, they are still cute and I think the girls will like them a lot. I purchased them on amazon.com. Parents gifts: Gosia Designs on Etsy provided us with these hankies. They are GORGEOUS and I love how they came out! http://www.etsy.com/shop/gosiadesigns Grooms gift: Chantra and I first met while playing a game online, so I bought him some memorabilia from the game. They were purchased from amazon.com. Wedding brochure: Made on vistaprint. Ok, I think that is it! Now to get to packing!

Those are super, super cute! I've been looking for shoe clips myself - I might have to try this.

I have a listing on ebay for a dress and petticoat with a buy it now price of $160 + shipping for a dress that I bought from David's Bridal online that cannot be returned. There is nothing wrong with it - I just didn't think it fit the style I was going for with my wedding. The dress is beautiful! Â http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140443569862&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT Â This dress has a gorgeous ivory satin bodice with a sweetheart neckline and a ball gown skirt with tiers of organza floating down. (There are pictures on the listing) The dress has never been worn (except for pictures) and still has tags attached. It is a plus size 22. It fits the following measurements in inches: Bust: 49 Waist: 43 Hip: 50 1/4 Seat: 51 1/2 Length: 59 The petticoat is also a size 22 and brand new with tags. In addition to the dress, I will send a free garment bag which I purchased separately. Â You can contact me via the forums or through ebay. Â Thanks for looking, ladies!

  This dress looks beautiful on you! Honestly, your face looks lit up like a Christmas tree in it! Â

 Lol, thank you! My dress has tiers of organza which I thought kind of matches the ruffle on the shoe, but I hadn't thought about undies. Good idea! Â

I debated wearing heels or not, but all the flats I showed my fiance didn't get as good of a reception as these. Â

Super cute!

 That will be my bouquet.   These will be the girls' bouquets.  I know they don't match colors to one another, but they match my wedding colors.

My dress was $299 on sale online from David's Bridal. My original goal was to be under $1,000 and believe me, I tried on a million dresses. I even almost bought one for $800 that a salesperson talked me into being the one. Â But isn't it funny - this one dress online kept popping in my head. I could never get it out. It was online only, though, which meant I had to order it withOUT trying it on and that was the only reason I never bought it. Â One day, I decided to throw caution to the wind and give the dress a go, anyway. I am SO glad I did, because it was THE dress.

Oh, very pretty! I love the colors.

Does the name of the entree give any clue that there is shrimp with the chicken? You could always do something like, "Beef, Shrimp & Chicken, Fish," making sure to put them on separate lines so that they know the chicken and shrimp come as a duo.

Haha, thank you so much! I assure you, I am not a crafty person. This was shocking. In fact, when I bought the materials, my fiance gave me a good, long staredown and said, "Now, are you SURE? I mean, REALLY sure?? Cause you know... you're gonna have to make stuff. You're ok with that?" Â I reminded him that if he still wanted to marry me, he would accept my lack of DIY knowledge, smile, nod and love whatever would come of these invitations - even if they looked like a 2nd grade art project.

Beautiful colors! And I love your dress

To begin with, I should tell you that we had about 50 invitations to go out. I was not really interested in spending a lot on my invites and I am neither crafty nor overly involved in DIY projects. So I was in a bit of a pickle. Â I decided to venture into Michael's craft store on a whim, hoping to find those all-inclusive DIY package things, but found nothing I really liked. And then it just came to me out of nowhere. Â I hauled my butt to the paper crafts section and picked up 2 Martha Stewart paper punches which were both on sale. I got them both for $10. There was a pretty nice selection of these there with a lot of different images. However, we are getting married in a garden setting in Hawaii, so I chose a pretty flower petal design. Â Next, I made my way to the DIY invitation section where I picked out chocolate brown A7 card stock. I bought 5 packages for a total of $10.50. I bought cream colored A7 envelopes - 5 packages for a total of $9.80. Then I bought cream colored A6 card stock. I ended up buying 6 packages of these since I intended to print on these and knew I would mess up a couple times (and oh, did I). These came out to $12.60. Lastly, I purchased a package of 50 notecards with envelopes in cream for $7 at Hobby Lobby. Â Total so far is around $50. Â I then purchased scrapbooking tape - 3 rolls for $12. Â Awhile back, I had been looking online for custom paper. I don't know why I did it, but I'm glad I did. I bought a sheet of Aubergine-colored handmade mango leaf paper for $2.80 + $10 for shipping (which you can find here: http://www.papermojo.com/Mango-Leaf-Paper_c_154.html.) It was probably too expensive, but the paper is really lovely. You can use anything for this from vellum to ribbon and it would look great, too! Â So we're now up to around $75 and that will cover it for materials! Â We did end up buying our stamps from zazzle because we had a coupon for $.44 stamps. And after weighing the invitations at the post office, it is confirmed that they are within the $.44 stamp range. Yay! So, assuming you pay $.44 for the stamps for both the invite and rsvp, that still brings your grand total to $119. Not too shabby! Â So, what are we doing, exactly? Â 1. Print invitations on cream card stock. Â 2. Use paper punch to punch images into the invite. Â 3. Use scrapbooking tape to adhere the invite to the brown backing card stock. Â 4. Print RSVP card. Â 5. Use the paper punch to punch an image in notecard. Â 6. Cut 10 inch by 1.5 inch strips of mango leaf paper. Â 7. Address envelopes and assemble invites. Â 8. Admire! Â Â Â Â

Your wedding was so beautiful, Kelly!

Wow, that's just awful! I'm surprised the owner hasn't already offered a discount. I feel like you are well within your limits to ask for one. Why would she even let you pay for a dress you couldn't order anyway? That's ridiculous.

I also agree. I like the border.

No problem! Yeah, I love Watters dresses. They're gorgeous!

Quote: Originally Posted by Kate08 Thanks Annabanana this information is so helpful! I've just started planning our Hawaii wedding (from Sydney Australia) and it looks like we're looking for similar things. I've actually been to Tiki's Grill and you're right, the food is AMAZING! We ended up going there twice because the food was so good (and you can get your drink in a coconut!). In your research did you come across Loulu Palms Estate? We're looking at them as a venue welcome to beach weddings in hawaii Cheers Kate Wow, it took me so long to reply to this. I've been slacking. I think I did come across Loulu Palms Estate, but didn't delve too much into researching as by that point we had already chosen Haiku Gardens. The site looks much more professional than some of the others I've seen, though!

Not sure if it is EXACTLY the same dress, but this one is quite similar: Watters & Watters | Bridesmaid Gown Collection | Style 6451 | Plumeria Dupioni Silk strapless mini ball gown with smocked back, pockets and sash.

Is it normal to not be giddy and excited the first time you try on dresses? I went yesterday with my bridesmaids and really felt more uncomfortable than anything. I suppose it was the idea of everyone fawning all over me, standing on a pedestal in the middle of a room with people judging me? I'm not sure. However, I found a dress. It's just gorgeous and I love everything about it, but I feel like I'm not as excited as I should be about the experience. Just wondering if anyone else felt this way. Anyway, here is the dress: