LaLa1116

John and I have a tradition of bringing home a Christmas ornament as a souvenir of every new place we visit. We thought it would be neat to include this tradition in our wedding because it is the first time all of our guests have been to PV and our wedding is right before Christmas. The ornaments will double as escort cards and be displayed in a shallow box filled with sand. I bought some sand dollars online, painted them with iridescent glitter paint and attached ribbons with tags. I also added our wedding info on the back to make the ornament a nice keepsake and a sweet reminder of the day.

White Pashminas and Flip Flops will be made available/given to guests at the reception. I plan on displaying them in baskets (pashminas near the bonfire and flip flops near the dance floor.) Both pashminas and flip flops were found online for less than $2.50/each. * Pashminas (Tags: "To Have & To Hold, In Case You Get Cold...With Warm Thanks") * Flip Flops (Tags: "Dancing Shoes" and size)

Hi Norma! Thank you so much! I am the queen of "stealing" images online, haha. I usually find something using Google Images and then use a photo editing site to alter it to my specifications. The image on the RSVP cards isn't actually of a banner, its 2 flags pasted next to each other to look like a banner. I used Microsoft Word to add our names and wedding date to the papel picado to personalize it. Microsoft Word is probably not the best program for the project, but it is the program I am most comfortable with. Why don't you just send me some info on what your looking for and I can make the image for you? (colors, wording, etc)

I absolutely LOVE Rivera Maya! We would definitely be getting married there had we not fallen head over heels for Las Caletas. It is very overwhelming with all of the amazing choices out there, but I'm sure you will find one that you love. I can't wait to hear more about your plans! Happy planning!

Thrilled to see a Philly girl on here! We live in Fairmount. Are you in the city or the burbs? Where and when are you getting married??

Thank you everyone so much for your sweet words! I'm so glad you all love the invites ...those are my favorite project so far, too. There are so many invitation suite options out there, it's difficult to choose, isn't it?!? I hope all of you are having as much fun as I am with your DIY projects! Stay tuned for reception + oot bag items!!

Our completed programs...

Here is a sample of the programs. I darkened the ink so it was more visible, but the actually programs are printed in mint green and coral. Front & Back Inside Info I will take a picture of the final product when I have access to my camera.

We've finally decided to go without the DJ. Thanks again for your feedback. I don't think I could've made the decision without hearing from someone with experience. Thank goodness for this forum! I plan on asking my best friend to man the iPod, so I have one more question...where is the iPod set up located? Will she have easy access to it? I don't want her to miss anything...

Thank you! There's much more to come!

I meant to type "paintings" not "pairings" - damn auto correct haha

@anasteele- I used www.befunky.com. It's a free photo editing site that allows you to manipulate pictures to look like sketches, pairings, etc. It's a lot of fun-check it out!

Thank Thank you! We LOVED dreams when we stayed their during our site visit. It sealed the deal for us when we were still making our final decision on the resort for our wedding guests. We saw several weddings take place while we were there and they were wonderful! Please feel free to use anything from the website and good luck with everything! Happy planning!

Thank you so much!

Thanks! Our guests definitely appreciated the reminder. Most of them said that they are keeping it on their fridge. It was also a friendlier way to remind guests who hadn't booked that they better get a move on! I printed them through Zazzle and it was super cheap

Hi Everyone! As we are not technically supposed to post a planning thread until a few weeks before our wedding (which I am so in awe of brides that actually find the time to do this a few weeks before their weddings), I thought I would start a DIY blog of the wedding items I've created so far. This forum has been so incredibly informative and helpful, that it is only right to give something back. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to post them here or PM me. Some background info: My name is Lauren. My fiancé, John (Buddy) and I getting married at Las Caletas & staying at Dreams PV in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on November 16th, 2013. We have had a nice long engagement (almost 2 years), so I have had plenty of time work on projects (and save us some money!) for the wedding. Our colors are mint green and coral. Our theme is beach rustic with traditional Mexican elements mixed in. Our Save the Dates were luggage tags. I took one of our engagement pictures and altered it to look like a painting...this was the front of the tag. On the back, there was information about the wedding. I also created a stamp on Zazzle.com using the same picture. Our invitations were made with a cricut machine. They were made to mimic a papel picado design I saw on Etsy.com, but couldn't imagine paying $450 for 25 invitations. While they aren't laser cut, I think the end result is just as professional. I found an AMOR papel picado stamp on Zazzle.com and used it for our envelopes. The RSVP card was made quickly in Microsoft Word. We had guests rsvp on our website to save money on stamps and return envelopes. I hand addressed the envelopes by printing on them in very light ink and tracing over it with a paint pen. I LOVE them and our guests are still talking about them! Our reminder post cards went out a week before the room reservation deadline as a friendly reminder to our guests. Again, I used one of our engagement pictures and a stamp from Zazzle. The front says, "Just a quick reminder." The back says, "Save these Dates" and all important dates were listed including reservation dates and passport deadlines. Our wedsite: Follow the link below if you would like to read about our story or wedding details. www.weddingwire.com/laurenandbuddy Ceremony items: On each chair there will be "tears of joy" packets (heart-shaped doilies were folded into envelopes with tissues and a cute poem "Tears of Joy, Tears of Laughter, Tears of Happily Ever After" inside). I thought the doilies mimicked the look of the papel picado so it worked with our theme nicely. On every other chair there will be mini wooden maracas (left unpainted and natural) and banderas flags to wave and shake at the kiss. I obviously didn't make these, haha. I bought the maracas on Oriental Trading Co. and the Banderas on Etsy. I haven't finished our programs just yet, so I will attach pictures of them when they are finished. I am also working on a sand ceremony frame that I will post when it's done. I'd like to keep this blog organized, so I will wait to post other pictures (OOT bags, reception items, etc) until the ceremony items are done. Stay tuned...Much more to come!!