futuremrstgun

good evening, ladies... as promised, following are a few of my templates..hope you guys find these handy. if you have trouble viewing the fonts..visit dafont.com for FREE downloads. as always, happy planning!! R~ I SPY CARD COCKTAIL MENU PASSPORT PROGRAM DO NOT DISTURB SIGNS - BEACHSCAPES MORE TEMPLATES TO COME! R~ Photo Scavenger Hunt.pptx Cocktail Menu.pptx Passport_Program_bdw.ppt DND_Beachscapes.pptx

Very nice!!! R~

Hi!!! So glad you liked the ideas! I thought about doing more wedding planning on the side but work has gotten in the way. Hope your planning is going well!!! ​ R~

DIYing definitely isn't for the faint at heart..lol! Thrilled you enjoyed everything. R~

You're so sweet! Glad you liked it all! R~

Good evening, brides!!! I remain overwhelmed by the well wishes, words of encouragement and interest with my planning efforts. Life as a wife is incredible!! I trust you all will be blessed just the same with an abundance of love and prosperity. I've received a few requests for templates...some of which I'll upload here for download this weekend. Feel free to contact me if I can be of any assistance. Please be patient with me as I don't visit BDW.com as often as I used to. Thanks again for ALL the love and as always, happy planning!!! R~

Aww, you're too sweet! These are beautiful. I trust your guests will be thrilled to receive these...good luck, love and happy planning! R~

These are stunning!!!! GREAT job!!! R~ aka futuremrstgun

I got married at IRHB last Oct and loved every minute. Happy planning!!! R~ aka futuremrstgun

LOVE your story! Beautiful...I wish you and yours much love and happiness!!! R~ aka futuremrstgun

Your pics are beautiful!!! Congrats!!! R~

I'm sorry your guests had a bad experience at Iberostar. My guests stayed there and I married there in October with no problems. R~

Your planning post is such a great place for other BDW brides. Everything turned out beautifully!! You should be so proud!!! Good luck on the side hustle, love!!! BRAVO and BIG KUDOS to you and yours!!! R~ aka futuremrstgun aka MrsG :0)

good evening, brides!!! marcia is alot of fun to work with. although, i completely understand the frustration some brides are having..i encourage you all to keep trying. she's super dependable on the day of your wedding..she arrived hours before expected and made my husband and i feel at ease fairly quickly. we even booked her to return since we had to move our wedding indoors (due to weather)..she returned with an associate photographer and we had an amazing photo shoot a few days after our big day. most of the shots we did, i wanted..i was very specific with how i wanted our shoot to go and she was happy to take my suggestions..etc..it was alot of fun!!! pics of my actual wedding and details from our big day can be found on my planning thread's final post. good luck with your plans, ladies! until next time, take care!! R~

hi, ladies! i've been incognito for awhile..started a new job and i'm trying to get myself reacquainted with home..its so hard coming back to reality after spending two weeks in paradise. i just posted my final post in my planning thread and hope to post my wedding review at iberostar rosehall beach within a few days. in the meantime, here's a few of the professional pics, Marcia E. Roberts took of me and my love on our big day and during our 'love' shoot a few days later.

i wasn't into the veils either..then i found a cathedral length one at david's for almost nothing...($9.99) and the rest is history.

good evening, ladies... without further adieu, this post will serve as my FINAL planning thread post. KUDOS first off...THANKS for following my planning efforts and for the encouragement you all have provided along the way. honestly, if it wasn't for your kind words and support, i simply don't know how i would've made it through countless hours of painting, paper cutting, printing, hole punching, glueing, and designing. there were plenty of days when i wanted to throw in the towel but my inner Martha would scream...YOU CAN'T LET THE BDW COMMUNITY DOWN..so get back to it!!! as i mentioned many times before, i chose to DIY most of my wedding..DIYing isn't for the impatient or faint at heart...it takes time, energy, creativity and LOTS OF PATIENCE. there were plenty of times when i thought how in the heck, or why in the world did i decide to do this all myself but now that its all over, i'm SUPER excited that i did. THE SKINNY ok, so here's the nitty gritty...my top 3 reasons why brides (especially DW brides) should DIY. 1. when planning a DW..you can get really creative from the onset, with STDs, photo cards, boarding passes, passport invites and the like. basically the sky is the limit and the resources are aplenty here and elsewhere (like ayleebits.com). 2. save the bank...DIYing is the most cost efficient means of wedding planning...michaels (has an iPhone app available), hobby lobby, ross, joann's fabrics, dollar tree and the like, are a DIY bride's best friends...you can find super cheap deals on paper, fabric and ribbons..all of which come in handy when DIYing programs, invites and even wedding decor. 3. the satisfaction of it all...i truly tapped into my inner Martha; oftentimes, she took over..like when i decided to change my programs at the last minute from a passport program to a multipage one...and when i decided i simply had to have drink flags and straws with ribbons...R~ thought WHAT WAS I THINKING...whereas my inner Martha said...YOU MUST DO THEM BECAUSE EVERYTHING MUST COOOOORRRRRDDDDDIIIIINNNNNNAAAATTTTTEEE...so i had drink flags and grey and white straws. PUTTING IDEAS INTO ACTION most of the ideas i chose for my wedding were things i'd come across on here and/or other websites, then i decided to craft them according to my own likes and dislikes. i became fast friends with my computer...i downloaded fonts, researched invitations, programs, and decor for many, many, many hours (just ask the hubby)..then i put the game plan in action... first stop..michaels (which is my go-to joint for all things DIY)...i fell in love with paper, punches and the like plus the staff is so super attentive and knowledgeable. ok...so here's the skinny on my finds at michaels. 1...i'm ALL about paper and punches...fell in love with the martha stewart collection of punches..she has everything from heart confetti, starfish and sand dollars as well as genius eyelet punches. paper..i'm all ABOUT the bazille paper at michaels. the version i like, diamond has texture and a bit of sheen which worked really well for all of my needs. i used the paper to create my boarding passes, programs, bachelor and bachelorette breakfast invites, postcards, etc. basically EVERYTHING in my stationery suite was printed on the bazille diamond card stock available in single sheets at michaels. here's a peak at the stationery suite. the program the wedding ceremony program 2. use the coupons..michaels is notorious for coupons..they post a new one almost weekly and with the iPhone app, you can go paperless...simply bring your phone, open the app and have the cashier wand your phone...SUPER DUPER SIMPLE. 3. take a peak in the discount corner and $1 deal baskets..they hold a plethora of finds..everything from luggage tags, to ribbon and even tea light holders...they're often found at the front of the store or in the back..take a peak..trust me, you'll be super happy you did. JAMAICA...YEAH, mon! my honey informed me at the very beginning (as in the beginning of our courtship)..that if we ever got married...we'd have a destination wedding in jamaica. so i knew full well, that our wedding would be in jamaica and discovered iberostar rosehall following a vacay there in the fall of 2010. i simply fell in love with the resort, the people and the beautiful beach. i didn't skip a beat...as soon as he put an (engagement) ring on it...the date was booked...OCTOBER 8, 2011... from then on..i decided i'd put every effort into incorporating my honey's likes into our wedding. his favorite colors, his favorite music (reggae & hip hop), etc. it worked out well. i chose purple, platinum (or silver), black and white for our colors...designed a monogram and the rest was planning history. OUR WEDDING WEEKEND our wedding weekend actually started on a thursday when most of our guests arrived in jamaica. i chose our wedding date based on the columbus day weekend with the hope that folks could take advantage of the federal holiday when planning their time away from work. it all worked out really well. we had a group of 20 in paradise with us. our weekend weekend schedule was as follows. thursday: welcome dinner friday: bachelorette breakfast, joint bachelor & bachelorette parties saturday: wedding sunday: last supper & night on the town (most of our guests departed on monday) monday: breakfast with the guests (my honey decided not to join me for breakfast he'd had too much fun the night before in the disco) most things went as planned...some guests missed flights and the resort had some scheduling issues but all in all it ALL worked out fairly well. SHELLS, STARFISH, LUMIS AND LANTERNS, oh my!! all of my decor items including real and ceramic starfish, shells, paper for luminaries and lanterns were packed and checked...and i'm happy to report that everything made it in one piece to jamaica....thanks to the makers of tissue paper and bubble wrap!! i made sure to pack everything gently and it worked!!! DOCUMENTING HISTORY i'd initially chosen an up and coming photographer but decided to go with a more experienced one, very last minute. i'm happy with my choice...the proof is in the pudding (not sure what that means except MY PICS are great!!!)... LOVE ON FILM so, my honey and i got a lot of great pictures on our wedding day but i was afraid, i didn't get all of the pics i wanted. mainly because we had to move the wedding inside which was initially, very disappointing but i'm very happy with how everything turned so, no worries here. i convinced my (picture-hating) hubby to do a photo shoot a few days later and i'm sooooo happy we did. we got a lot of great shots and had so much fun connecting with each other while Marcia E. Roberts and her associate Christopher Rose, captured our love on film. if you can afford to do it, i highly recommend doing a day after shoot... IS IT ALL WORTH IT??? aka what i would and wouldn't do.. YES, ITS ALL WORTH IT...and i would do it ALL again...except, i wouldn't stress out over the small things. in the end, it ALL works out, not according to our plan..but according to God's plan...and so, with that..i feel blessed! in so many ways. TEMPLATES, TRICKS AND THE LIKE many of you have inquired about my templates..i will share some of them...some i won't as i am seriously considering wedding planning on the side and would like to keep some of those things for that venture, however, i will share some items so just ask (via PM) and i'll let you know... most of my 'tricks' were mentioned in previous posts but if you have questions or if i can be of any help..just PM me and i'll do my very best to be of some help. UNTIL NEXT TIME...REMAIN BLESSED...THE END...(of the planning thread) here's to the end of my planning thread...its been GREAT fun connecting with all of you on BDW..i hope my planning thread has been of some help, inspiration and provided ideas...i consider BDW to be the best source of planning ideas and info for the destination bride...thank you all for allowing me to be a part of such an extraordinary community. until next time...remain blessed!! THE END R~

hello, girls! so tonight, i downloaded a truckload of professional pics..here's a sneak peak...its SUPER late so the review won't likely get posted until early next week (afterall and unfortunately)...my husband and i are going on a long awaited staycation so i'll be predisposed. hope the sneak peaks hold ya'll until my final review. before i go, thanks for the well wishes and words of CONGRATULATIONS..i'm OVER THE MOON and feel incredibly blessed. i trust all of you are doing well...and i do miss posting..so, i promise to post my review soon. until next time, happy planning!! R~

you're going to LOVE the grand!!! it was soooooo AMAZING!!! we had our wedding at the beach and it was beautiful...i loved it all..but oh my..the grand... my husband and i moped around our last day..we just didn't want to leave... already planning our return trip! enjoy and happy planning!! R~

ask silvia when you get there..most often...things are possible in person vs. over the phone. we had a total of 26 including my husband and i and it worked out really well with one long table...a U shape would be nice too. good luck AND as always, happy planning!! R~

good evening, brides! i know its been a long while since i've been on... i'm super SWAMPED with my new job..but i promise to post my final thread and reviews before too long. still waiting for the final professional pics..as soon as i have some new things to share, i promise to post....i don't want to waste your time on 'idle' chatter... for those of you requesting templates, etc...i did do a bunch of emails today and if you weren't in today's emails..you'll be in the ones to follow the rest of the week....thanks for all of the requests ...i'm trying to get to you all...hold tight, girlies...they're coming, i promise. well, i've gotta go load the dishwasher (a wife's work is NEVER done) AND feed the dog (you thought i was kidding...uhm...NOT...lol!). until next time, happy planning, loves!!! R~

capecodder... most of my templates are HUGE files..so if you want anything, just PM me..i'm sure they exceed the uploading allowances here...preventing me from posting them on the thread. R~

good evening, ladies! YES..i have SUPER WEDDING PLANNING WITHDRAWAL..but, i just started a brand new job (as in..we returned on sunday..i started on monday)...i'm a glutton for punishment... so that's keeping me super super busy..i'm still waiting on my professional pics..hence the delay in posting my FINAL review. i have to say, i'm SERIOUSLY considering doing wedding planning exclusive to destination brides on the side but first, i've got to get my feet firmly planted at the new job..there's lots and lots to do... so...with that..i promise to stay in touch..i'll be planning my bestie's baby shower slated for this fall so stay tuned for DIY baby shower projects... until next time, happy planning!!! R~ aka the bachelorette formerly known as futuremrstgun..forever known as TGun's wife and/or MRSTGUN! woo hoo!!! ciao! R~

you are correct..i'd initially booked roan robinson...made the change to marcia very last minute. she was super cool and very accommodating considering my last minute requests. R~

message me your info and i'll be happy to share. :-) R~