NJBride2014

@@Sabes44 Yup that's how I felt too about having a bridal shower and bachelorette party.  Then my sister reminded me that I've been to everyones events in the last couple of years.  My 3 sisters have had baby showers all in the last 3 years so I've been planning baby showers back to back with no complaint.  Then the birthdays and baptisms for all 3 nephews I'm always helping and involved.  My sisters were happy to throw me a shower and now to throw me a bachelorette party its just part of the wedding fun!! I of course would have been happy if we didn't do them too but i'm lucky they wanted to do it for me. 

My sister/Maid of honor is throwing me a bachelorette party next saturday.  She hasn't given me a lot details of what to expect but I know her and there will be strippers...lol I'm not really into that but I think its funny, I'll just be hiding in the corner while the other girls have fun!  Its going to be crazy I bet. 

Just spent the weekend with some exciting people. My BMs planned an awesome bachelorette weekend in Atlantic city (it's an early celebration because my MOH is pregnant). So many people came out to celebrate and it made me so happy. They booked a room, we went to the beach bar, dinner plans were amazing and I especially enjoyed the karaoke lounge. It was a night to remember and exactly what I imagined (although they kept telling me there was going to be strippers, thank goodness there were none lol)!

Has anyone had a great bachelorette party? What was/ is your worst fear? And what were the plans?

Your bach weekend sounds like fun.  Its awesome they planned such a great weekend for you.  I wanted to go away for the night but its just too much to ask of my girls on top of going all the way to Cancun.  You have some good friends!!

You don't actually trash your dress per se. From what I've read and heard from some photographers your dress actually gets really dirty at your wedding from dancing and walking around in it. The bottom is filthy so at the "trash" your dress session in the water the dress actually come out cleaner and can be used again. Im still debating if im going to do this, the pictures are pretty cool.

Bridal Party Continued

I also gave my bridesmaids this cute coin purse for Christmas to get them excited for the wedding and I also got myself one.  I found them on Amazon on sale for I think $40 each.  

For the bridesmaids dresses I found a great deal on Donna Morgan's website.  I went with my girls to the nearest Nordstrom to try on the dresses so we could pick styles and sizes and then ordered from Donna Morgan's website.  I ended up just buying the dresses for them and it will be part of their gift.  I got 5 dresses for $250.00 the girls will take care of their alterations.  At first I wanted to do coral dresses but couldn't find one's I liked so I changed my colors to champagne and then will have coral or turquoise jewelry to play up my wedding colors. 

These are the dresses they went with

2 Girls will wear this style.

I also bought these earrings on Etsy for the bridesmaids to wear for the wedding.  This is part of their gift that I will give them on that day.  I got 5 for $95.00 including shipping.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/180726467/sale-aqua-grayed-jade-teardrop-and-white?ref=favs_view_2

For the guys this is my inspiration except my groom will wear a tie.

My fiance found nice Kenneth Cole pants for the guys at Century 21 for $40 each and bought their pants again we are gifting them their outfit.  Now we are just on the hunt a nice affordable white button down shirts.

Our Bridal Party

I have 5 bridesmaids my 3 sisters, my best friend and my aunt who I'm very close with (she's my moms youngest sister).

I originally had asked another friend who i've known since we were babies but she couldn't do it because she was planning on getting pregnant and now she is about a month away from giving birth.  It was sad and she definitely handled everything the wrong way by completely ignoring me and the card/gift I sent her but I'm over it now and we are ok I guess.  I'm not mad about her planning on getting pregnant it was just the way she ignored me for months and this was months before she even got pregnant.  But anyway it all worked out in the end. 

My fiance has 5 groomsmen his brother, and 4 really good friends.  He also originally asked his cousin to be in the wedding and he accepted but just a month ago told us he would not be able to take the time off so he had to drop out.  In the end my fiance asked another friend to fill in and to be honest he should have asked this friend from the beginning.  So again it all worked out in the end.   

We asked our bridal party to be in the wedding last July with personalized cards and I gave my girls a nice personalized bottle of wine. 

I found the template for my fiance's card I think on weddingchicks.com and my template on etsy and just personalized it to my colors.  I then printed them on snapfish.com and did the labels myself on wine label paper.  I think we spent around $60 bucks for everything that's including the wine bottles.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000J09IH2/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WOINT4/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I used these for my luggage tags and they are great quality.

Well I'm now under 2 months until the big day and I thought that starting a planning journal will keep me organized and hopefully help some girls with wedding ideas.  I have tackled a lot of DIY projects, ordered a lot from Etsy and have used a lot of ideas from BDW past/future brides in the last 17 months since I got engaged and started my destination wedding journey.  This hasn't always been a fun experience but I know in the end it will all be worth it and we will have the wedding we dreamed of and worked so hard for.  

First let me start with how my fiance and I met.

OUR STORY

My fiance and I met in the 4th grade, he was a new student who came from a private catholic school and sat right next me.  We became fast friends and were even in a play together.  After 4th grade he left public school I guess it wasn't for him lol and he went back to private catholic school for 5th grade.  Then in 6th grade he came back but we weren't friends anymore we had grown apart, we had new friends and drifted away. haha I like to tease him and say I wasn't cool enough for him anymore. We continued to go to school together throughout elementary school, middle school and high school as acquaintances but never really became close like in 4th grade.  We had totally different set of friends I was super involved with school, sports and after school activities and he was the total opposite only hanging out with his cool older brothers friends and very focused on cars and racing.  Funny story is that we actually went to the prom together in the same car his best friend was my date and we all went in my dates car to the prom so those prom pictures are hilarious I'm with my date and hes' right next to me with his date.  Fast forward to Junior year of college we both went to different school in different states he went to Penn State in PA and I went to Pace U in NYC.  This was the era of the aim instant message and I guess we were friends on aim and he messages me randomly asking me how I was doing and if I would be home for summer break, we are from NJ.  We spoke a couple of times and had planned to meet up at a local bar sometime during the summer.  When we were both back from school for summer break we ran into eachother at a bar and he made his move which was a shock to me because he is a very shy and quiet guy but that day he had courage, or maybe a couple drinks in him.  We became real close that summer talking everyday and hanging out all the time.  Then we had to go back to college for our senior year we still kept in contact throughout the whole year becoming closer and closer through instant message and seeing each other during holiday breaks.  We never said we were exclusive since he was in PA and I was in NYC but we knew that when we were home it was just us no one else.  After graduation we both moved back home and started our new jobs and that's when we made it official on my 22nd birthday.  We have been together ever since and can't believe we have known each other as long as we have.  We have now been together almost 8 years, have lived together 4 years and have 1 dog Linus together and I can't wait to marry my best friend.

I'm in the middle with my date and he's to the left of me with his date.....this is circa 2002 the girl next to me I also met in 4th grade and she is my best friend/bridesmaid. haha

Our Engagement

We got engaged on 12/20/2012      

Every year we try to go to NYC during the holidays to see all the lights and to see the tree at Rockefeller Center.  We have a picture from 6 years ago right in front of the tree and David thought it would be a good idea to take that same picture again.  I wasn't very excited about waiting on line to take another professional picture in front of the tree since we already had one.  When he suggested it I really didn't want to do it but I finally went along anyway and waited on the line.  The wait seemed to go on forever as the family in front of us took the opportunity to take about 100 pictures when you are only supposed to take a couple.  I didn't notice it at the time but David was definitely sweating it out waiting for the family to finally finish with their photo shoot.  It was finally our turn to go up for our picture and as the photographer is putting us in our positions I look down and David is on one knee.  Not realizing he was proposing I ask him what he is doing as he opened up the box.  I immediately start blushing and bawling like a baby as I'm am surprised/shocked and can't believe what's going on.  The photographer also didn't know what David had planned and started documenting the proposal and snapped us some good pictures.  Everyone around also realized what was going on and they started cheering and clapping for us.  After I said "yes" David tried to put the ring on my finger but being that it was winter time I had gloves on and didn't realize I still had them on and he couldn't put the ring on.  It was definitely a funny and romantic moment.  To celebrate we walked to Central Park and looked at all the christmas lights and we ended our night by having dinner and dessert at Serendipity.  It was a perfect night.    

Deciding On a Destination Wedding

My fiance and I are not really all about the big wedding and all the attention so we always knew we wanted a small intimate wedding with just our family and closest friends.  We chose our resort for many reasons, our wedding is at the All Inclusive Adults Only Le Blanc Spa Resort in Cancun, Mexico.  We fell in love with the resort back in 2009 when we went there on vacation, the service is impeccable, the decor is beautiful, the beach is very private, the food amazing and it just felt right.  It wasn't easy for everyone in the family to agree to come but after months of planning and giving people more information they came around and now we have 36 people booked and all staying at LeBlanc Spa.  LeBlanc was a great choice for us especially with the benefits you get if you book 75 nights.  We did reach the nights and now we are getting unlimited free events which helps with our welcome cocktail party, private rehearsal dinner and cocktail hour/2 hours of reception.  

I like option 3.

Here's mine they are very simple.

@@tygrrlily Haha your mom sounds like mine. Im always getting pics of her in new dresses or shoes "for Cancun". She's a bargain shopper though she gets excited when she finds a sale and can use a coupon. Haha

This my moms dress. It fit her perfect except for the length but that's always a problem for her. She's a shorty lol. She bought it at lord and taylor for like $50 with a coupon. Not bad.

With the ruffles it felt very appropriate for Mexico. I was happy that she was happy and loved it.

Im getting my groom a watch. He loves watches and has a nice collection growing. Im going to put a cute tag on it saying "meet me at 4". :-)

@@Sabes44 I'm very overwhelmed with wedding projects but im excited too. Im also doing a church ceremony at home before cancun which is like planning 2 weddings. Help me! Jk

@@Sabes44 I got one for my mom, grandma, grandpa he's walking me down the aisle, my mother in law and my father in law. The seller that I posted from etsy was great to work with but I would order with time because it does take a couple weeks to get it.

I did personalized handkerchiefs for the parents with a nice message.  My fiance and I also payed for their flights and covered one room night.  I think i'll also cover the mom's hair for the day of but that will be it.  Oh and I'll also give them a nice card. This is the handkerchief vendor. https://www.etsy.com/listing/193809282/personalized-wedding-handkerchief-for?ref=shop_home_active_1

@@helenk I didn't know they did either I've only used the thicker ones but she recommends these to a lot of brides. Def makes a difference.

I think I'll probably decide when I try on the dress! I have to wear some kind of bra whether it's a cup sewn in or strapless or whatever. I'm a D/DD cup so going braless is not an option! Lol. And for the bottom I was going to wear soanx but since it's jamaica and it's going to be hot idk anymore. Depends again on the dress, if it hides any imperfections well and I don't need to wear spanx than great!

 

 

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I'm doing spanx underneath the lady at the bridal salon actually recommended it for the beach because if you sweat it will be buffer between your thighs to keep you dry, sexy right? lol The spanx I got are super thin and just smooth me out.  

@@NJBride2014 OMG your dress is gorgeous! I'm curvy myself so I hope I find something that flatters my body like that! And I'm obsessed with the lace and details! Everything about it! Love it! Congrats!

 

 

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Thanks!! You are too sweet, you make a girl feel great about her decision. lol 

@@NJBride2014 Wow - that looks beautiful on you!! I love the bottom of it! That's perfect for a DW!!

Thank you!! 

We are flying first class and with United my fiance and I can check in 2 bags each up to 70 lbs. and we get our carry ons as well.  I'm hoping to fit most of the stuff in our check in bags but my family has volunteered to use their free check in bags to bring whatever we can't fit.  My 3 sisters and mom are all only staying for 3 nights so they only need to pack their stuff on a carry on and will let me use their free check in bags.  I should be able to fit everything plus some extra decor but If we need to pay for one extra bag that will be alright. My resort won't let me ship anything and also its not recommended because there is risk of it not making there on time or just disappearing altogether. 

Yeah Etsy is good for some things, other things I just use Etsy for inspiration and then try to do the stuff myself.  Here are my hangers, shirts, maracas and shot glasses.  All Etsy inspirations and all together probably spent around $200.00. If I would have bought everything through etsy it would have been over $500.  

@@tygrrlily did you meet your onsite coordinator when you went to your onsite visit? 

We did and we have her email address, sometimes I'll email my off site coordinator and cc my onsite so that one of them answers me.  My onsite sometimes takes over and I get answers and things waived that my off site coordinator previously said couldn't be done.  Just a tip. 

I bought all 5 of my bridesmaids their dresses but I also found them online for an awesome price.  Donna Morgan had a sale going on and each dress was $50 from the original price of $250 so I bought all 5 dresses for the price of one.  My bridesmaids really appreciated the gesture, they are covering the alterations though. Look on Donna Morgan's website under the sale section they always have bridesmaids dresses on sale. 

I had my engagement photos taken in Playa Del Carmen by Del Sol Photography and I loved how they came out.  You can see some of my photos if you click on the link below in my signature.  They are great photographers they are also doing my wedding.   

The beach is beautiful and you have the lush trees and plants. 

I wanted to share my DIY wedding favors. I bought white maracas from amols.com and then spray painted them my wedding colors turquoise and coral.  My awesome brother in law then made me a stencil to spray paint the design and then we used paint pens to write on them.  I think they came out great!! I was going to order them online from a Mexican vendor and get them shipped to my resort but it would have been around $350 to $400 for the maracas.  I only spent around $75 for all 40 maracas that's including all the spray paint and paint pens. I'm also adding some tags that says "shake me for a kiss". I'm loving all the DIY projects and the savings.