LoriGran

Since becoming a member of BDW in 2012, I couldn't wait to start planning. I debated whether I should start a planning thread but this forum along with all the brides, have been tremendous help that I hope to return the favor to future brides. This planning thread will also be a memory of all the planning that went into my dream wedding! Our story My fiancé and I went to the same HS in 1997. He was a sophomore and I was a freshman. A few months after school started we began dating. We dated for about a year when he transferred to a different HS. My parents were strict at the time and I was not allowed to have a boyfriend so we ended up breaking up. I was heartbroken because he was my first boyfriend and my first love. Fast-forward to 2010 I get a surprise call from none other than him! He ran into a mutual friend and the first thing he asked was for my number. I invited him over that same day. We spent hours in my front porch just catching up. Turns out he tried several times looking for me but just never found the way to contact me. A few dates later I knew he was the one. We moved in a few months after making it official. Getting married is something we always talked about. We had even gone ring shopping together. On Memorial Day 2012, he surprised me and proposed with the ring we had both loved! The Planning Begins We had gone to a destination wedding in Punta Cana and we just loved everything about it. We knew that a destination wedding was the way to go. He fell in love with the crystal clear blue waters and wanted Punta Cana as the location. I had already gone to 2 destination weddings there so I wanted a different location. I ended up winning the battle so we decided on Mexico. Picking a resort was by far the hardest decision we’ve made throughout the planning process. We wanted an all-inclusive family friendly resort. After going through tons and tons of pictures and reviews and with the help of our travel agent we went with the Barcelo Maya Palace Deluxe Resort. We planned a site visit the following summer and fell in love with it even more! Our wedding day was set for July 25, 2014. We sent our Save the Dates a year in advance. We decided not to take engagement pictures so we went with a picture from our trip to Punta Cana the year before. Our STDs were purchased from magnetstreet.com Invitations - These went out about 6 months in advance. My lovely dear cousin does custom invitations and custom made my wedding invitations as a wedding gift to us. Our ceremony is going to be in a gazebo overlooking the ocean. I don't plan on decorating the gazebo as the background is gorgeous enough. For my guests, I made ribbon wands to wave after the ceremony and purchased fans from http://www.paperlanternstore.com (the straws are for the reception) This is a picture I took of the gazebo from my site visit! My Vision I have to say that pretty much my entire wedding has been planned on Pinterest! I don’t know what I would have done without Pinterest. I have also gotten so many wonderful ideas from the brides on this forum. So I decided to start my DIY projects last summer while I was off from teaching. I worked on so many little DIY projects that I have very little left to do. My Theme - I love anything chevron and just had to include it as part of my theme I found inspiration pictures on Pinterest and took it from there. My colors are gray and white chevron with hints of teal and fuchsia. I purchased chevron fabric from http://warehousefabricsinc.com I purchased free standing table numbers from http://save-on-crafts.com and will paint them teal. I will be using mason jars for my centerpieces with fuchsia roses. I will be using quart mason jar for the center and 2 pint mason jars. Mason jars were purchased at Kmart and AC Moore I purchased teal linen clothes from amazon and pink maracas from www.amols.com . I bought 3-4 inch white finger starfish from etsy. The size is perfect for anyone using starfish for escort name cards. I purchased lanterns and pom poms in my color scheme from http://www.paperlanternstore.com Wedding Party We will be having a small wedding party. My sister will be my maid of honor, my cousin and best friend from HS, and my fiancé's sister will be my bridesmaids. His best friend will be best man, other best friend, my brother in law, and his good friend will be groomsmen and 2 flower girls. So far for my bridesmaids, I purchased chevron passport covers, personalized OOT bag from Etsy, and the shoes they will be wearing on wedding day. Their dresses are from David's bridal in the color that's pictured Here is the inspiration for their bouquet Groomsmen will be wearing linen pants and linen shirt from Tasso Elba in Macys and my fiancé will be wearing a tan Perry Ellis linen suit from Macys. Here is the inspiration picture. For the groomsmen, we will be buying the shoes they will be wearing on wedding day. I will be wearing a Maggie Sottero gown which I will post after the wedding. I am obsessed with Christian Louboutins so it was only right that I wear a pair for my wedding! I will change into sandals for the reception. I still have to get my jewelry. I hired The Best Moments to come do my hair and make up. Here are my inspiration pictures My bouquet will look like this! This planning journey has been awesome so far! I have tons of projects I have done that will post later on. I can't wait... 3 more months!!!!

Anyone having signature drinks??

@@KLA1220 I totally agree with @@theriouxs !! How rude! I'm sure she was one of those people who goes on trip advisor and gives bad reviews just because there was a crack on the wall! I also did a site visit last year and the resort is gorgeous! We saw a wedding reception at the Palmeras Grill and it looked soo awesome and the people were having such a great time that we upgraded to the strawberry passion just to have our reception there. Everyone is different and has different opinions! You have absolutely nothing to worry about!

GET OUT!!!! That's insane! So on top of the room stay we do have to pay for the vendor fee... what a rip off! I was thinking of just paying the $500 and no room stay but I need him to come back the next day for my TTD session which will be in the resort

Sorry ladies, yet another question about photographers. I'm having a hard time trying to figure this out. I told my WC that I will be booking a room and including the photographer and videographer in my guest count. She told me that if the photographer is coming from the states then the fee does not apply. But NO he's a photographer from there...Does this mean I'm still being charged the $500?? I'm sooo confused!! How exactly did you set it up for your photographer?

@@Lindsay30 That's awesome!! I really can't believe how fast time is flying and before you know it, it will be our one month countdown! I sent my invitations mid February with an April 25th deadline. I have 47 people booked and there might be a few more....Here I was thinking I would have 30-35 guests! I'm going to have a simple OOT bag with just a few items including a tumbler. I will however be sending out pretravel brochures with luggage tags. I just finished working on the brochure and really like how it turned out!

I am bringing my own centerpieces (mason jars) I just needed the flowers for them. I was thinking of going with an outside vendor but don't want to deal with having to pick them up at the front lobby to avoid the fee.

Ladies, what are you paying for flowers? Does $500 just for flowers for centerpieces and 4 bouquets sound expensive? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello Ladies! Anyone using an outside photographer? I know most brides book their photographer a room in order to avoid the $500 vendor fee. However I'm getting married in July and they require a 3 night stay. Don't know if I should just pay the $500 or book a room. Anyone in the same predicament? What are you doing?

What a great planning thread! I'm debating on doing one myself! Lol

I got my bridesmaid passport covers and personalized tote bag from Etsy. I also bought them the shoes they will wear the day of the wedding. Don't know if I will get them anything else.

I NEED AN UPDATE ON THIS QUESTION For the life of me I don't remember if you have to pay for the tourist card they give you at the airport. Has anyone traveled to Mexico recently that can help me with this. Thank you!

@@theriouxs @Fitzgerh Hello Ladies, I did hear back from the coordinator. I asked how much would it cost and how many lanterns does she recommend I bring. Here is her response: As for the lanterns and the pom poms you can bring those, but is important that you have it ready to set up; I recommend that you bring for the Palmeras Grill, 40 pieces of lanterns and pom poms, mixed. If you want to have the lanterns hanging from the ceiling lighted up this could be quoted I won't be lighting the lanterns since I am already paying to light up the palm trees. Hope this helps! @@KLA1220 Hey!! I bought my bridesmaids the shoes they will wear the day of the wedding. They paid for their dress and can get their own jewelry. I also bought them personalized tote bags and passport covers from Etsy.

Is anyone going with an outside vendor for flowers? If so who are you using? Thanks!

Has anyone had the curried marinated chicken salad? If so, is it spicy? I'm debating whether to choose it as my salad option! Please help!

Hello, I have a question for the ladies having their reception at Palmeras grill... Do you know if we can bring hanging decorations like paper lanterns??

@@alexisinjamaica Great planning thread! I'm planning to use the same menu from weddingchicks. I just printed a "mock" menu card and it printed on the whole page!! When you printed did you change the size, if so what size did you go with or did you cut it to your own liking?

Soo excited!! Just upgraded to the Strawberry Passion! There is just no way I was going to have my reception indoors!! Ladies can someone email me the menu options, it would be greatly appreciated!! lori223@@gmail.com

No I'm not paying for my bridesmaids hair and make up. @@JMK923 is right! It does add up and that's a great idea about paying for one or the other. I'm showing my appreciation thru other ways such as custom tote bags and nice little gifts to go with the bag.

I'm soooo excited!! so far 25 guests are booked and I haven't even mailed invitations!!! Can't wait!

Hi and congratulations! If I'm not mistaken the brides that talk about a booking deadline are those who have a room block through their travel agents. There isn't a deadline given by the resort/wedding planner. Hope that helps!

Hello!! There are 2 things that I felt were very important for my wedding day #1 pictures and #2 Hair/make up and was willing to pay extra for the best. I'm getting married at the Barcelo maya palace and I too heard mixed reviews about the salon. My FI always says this to me "You get what you pay for" and it's totally true!! With that said, I hired The Best Moments who have awesome reviews on this site. I paid $320 for hair and make up. They do a trial run before the wedding and they use Mac products and airbrush. They also pay the vendor fee!!! (not sure if they do that with all resorts) I highly recommend you look them up and check out their reviews. You can also look them up on Facebook. Hope this helps!

Even though it feels like your wedding day is far away it will be here sooner than you know it! I have been engaged for almost 2 years .. Let's just say I can't wait to start counting down the days!!

When I first started planning my FI and I were going to have a catholic ceremony and decided on the Gran Caribe Real but after much consideration we decided to have a symbolic ceremony and felt that the resort wasn't what we were looking for. We decided to get married at the Barcelo in Riviera Maya. It's a big resort with 5 beautiful resorts to pick from. They do have a chapel in one of the resorts. You should check it out! Hope that helps, good luck planning!

That's awesome!! Congratulations! I would have liked an all adult but I couldn't leave my niece behind, plus she's my flower girl! You are off to a great start! I DIY'd my butt off during the summer here's what I have done so far: *Save the dates went out in August *Got my dress and shoes *Ordered maracas for favors *luggage tags for my guests that booked *ribbon wands for the ceremony *bought my centerpieces, fabric for runners, cloth napkins *started buying gifts for my bridesmaids *booked photographer and make up/hair *invites are going out at the end of this month *purchased guest book and frame *purchased straws and created eat drink and be married flags *purchased starfish for escort cards *started my oot gift bags- tumblers and survival kit I feel like I have a lot more to do including going bridesmaid dress shopping .. Can't believe how fast time flew. Can't wait to start counting down the days!!!