Satara's Blog About Wedding Planning.. *PICTURE HEAVY*

Well I decided that since I have started planning everything for my wedding I would blog about it, share pictures, and ask for advice all in the same place!! That way all of my stuff isn't all over these forums by the end of my 1.5 year engagement!!

The Engagement Ring!! FI and I have been together for six years before the engagement!! He selected the perfect ring for me!! I am not the type to wear lots of jewelry and be very loud with my jewelry choices... So this ring in my eyes was absolutely perfect!!

When my cousin (who is one of my bridesmaids) found out I was engaged she sent me a package in the mail.. (She lives in Conn. and I live in NH) I opened it up and to my surprise was the cutest hooded zip up!! Which I plan on wearing on the plane down to Jamaica!!

And my AWESOME MOH got me two great picture frames!! And a fondue pot because I do not have one and I am a kitchen freak!! I have every kitchen appliance except the fondue pot which now I have!! LOL!!

Next comes all of the planning stages!! First I had to invite all of my girlfriends to be in my wedding and I wanted to do this in a special and unique way. I purchased, “Will you be my bridesmaid†cookies from a seller on etsy.com (CookieMamas) not only were these adorable when they came in the girls also said they were delicious!! With their cookies I sent out handmade cards with pictures from our childhood and a personal handwritten message inside telling them why I wanted them to be a bridesmaid in my wedding!!

Now after weeks and weeks of searching for an all-inclusive resort in the states we decided to start looking in the Caribbean. Once we saw the Beaches Resort Negril, Jamaica. I knew instantly that this was the resort. This resort had everything I had wanted!! There was a beautiful water park for the children, there was a bar in the pool, the water looked greenish, and there was a lazy man river that I could picture myself laying in with a drink in hand!!

Once setting the date I started working on my monograms!! No matter how hard I worked on my monograms they were not at all what I wanted…. I turned to the great Rebecca from Allurements By Rebecca and she made me two absolutely wonderful custom monograms!! I highly recommended her for any of your wedding projects she is fabulous!!

Monogram #1

Monogram #2

Next came choosing my bridesmaid and flower girl dresses!! My poor MOH went to tons of bridal shops with me and tried on endless dresses….

None of these worked for me!! Then browsing online gave me the inspiration for their dresses!! Here is the inspiration picture for their bridesmaid dresses…

I have found a local dress maker who is willing to make these for me!! The material on the top is going to be a white chiffon so it is light and airy!! Once these are finished I will post a picture!!

My flower girl dress was an impulse purchase online!! I wasn’t finding what I wanted in stores for my six year old niece, Ava, so I decided to enter the online world of flower girl dresses... By my surprise I found one rather quickly and it was SO inexpensive!! The complete dress with shipping and handling cost me under $40.00. I would have never found a great deal like that in a store!! I highly recommended this website for the purchase of your flower girls dress!!

http://www.pinkmarie.com/

Here is the websites picture of her dress

And an actual picture of her dress

Having a long engagement is giving me some time to work on DIY projects at the beginning of my planning stage!! Knowing that I would be inviting many children to our wedding I decided that I would make a children’s activity book for the children to use on the plane!! Thus being my first DIY project it took a lot of trial and error. I need to say a huge THANK YOU to (Amarillis) on this website who designed her children’s binder a few years ago. I took her template and made it into my own adding more pages and changing things to suit my needs!! Here is the file! In Publisher!!

Next is my obsession with vista print!! I signed up and finally got an e-mail to receive everything for free!! I took advantage of this offer even though I still have a year and 6 months until my wedding!! I made up postcards to put into my oot bags that will already be stamped for my guests to send to friends and or family back home!! My pre-travel brochures that would be sent out about two months before my wedding and the inserts for my luggage tags!!

Front of postcards...

Back of postcards... (These will get international postage in Jamaica)

Travel Brochures…. I know the pictures are small and you may not be able to read everything on them... But the wording came from all different pre-travel brochures from this website. I meshed all different wordings together to make it work for me! If anybody would like the wording PM me!!

Next up is the business cards I made for my luggage tag inserts!!

I have started buying all of the little things that I know I am going to need and not things that I have to wait on… I did buy a lot of things on here from previous brides who were selling things off!! Some pictures for you!

Headband for my flowergir... (Purchased from a bride on this website)

Conch shell for my ring bearer... (Also bought from a bride on BDW)

This is my inspiration for the shell... I just love how the sand looks!!

I bought this great sewing kit from a bride on BDW also... Going to be taking this with me just in case!!

Fans... These I think are going to be on individual chairs during our ceremony... I purchased these already not knowing how many people are coming to our wedding... They were super inexpensive so I had to buy them!! They came in perfect packaging so they will be easy to take down with us which is a plus!! They are still on sale!! $.59 a piece!!

http://www.weddingfavorites.com/SNDLWD-p-ONSALE.html

Flowergirl basket...

Websites Picture...

At home picture with some other items to give you an idea of the size!!

Crayons for the children to send out with their plane activity books!! Just bought these at Target for $.40!!!

The Christmas Tree Shop had fake starfish for $1.99 per 5 pack!! I am going to be attaching these to the outside of my OOT bags!!

I have started buying lingerie for my boudoir session here is what I have so far.. These were both on clearance at Sears for $9.99 with an extra 50% off of that sale price!!

And here are some dresses I bought down in Disney World in Februrary *I will wear these around the resort* (The gift shop at the Yacht Club had all of these on clearance!!)

We also found my FI a shirt for our welcome dinner at the resort!! We bought this at Macy's on sale!!

I just recently (About a week and a half ago) ordered a shell bouquet for myself from etsy member (romanticflowers).. I decided to order my birdal bouquet now to make sure that this is what I want for my bouquets!! I contacted her and asked her about fading and she replied as long as I keep it in the box nothing will happen. These are quite pricey so I want to make sure I like them before putting in an order for 8 bouquets!!! Here is the picture she has as an inspiration picture

My bouquet is going to have a white ribbon and light champagne colored pearls!! She said they take about up to 4 weeks to finish!! I can not wait to get this in and will post pictures as soon as I can!!

Happy Planning.....

-Satara

KidsBrochure.pub

Congrats on getting so much done already, Satara -- and your wedding is not until 2013! I'm getting married next year and haven't done as much as you. I really love the shell bouquet and flowergirl shell basket....very unique. My fiance is afraid that I'll poke him with the shell bouquet, so I'll have to stick with a flower bouquet :-) The bridesmaid dresses are gorgeous...can't wait to see your wedding dress!

Purchased these adorable "clam shell holders" from a bride here on BDW.. I am going to use them to put my flower girl and my junior bridesmaid's jewelry in!!

I gave myself two years because I wanted everything stress free!! No stress = Happy FI
 

Originally Posted by redginger 

Congrats on getting so much done already, Satara -- and your wedding is not until 2013! I'm getting married next year and haven't done as much as you. I really love the shell bouquet and flowergirl shell basket....very unique. My fiance is afraid that I'll poke him with the shell bouquet, so I'll have to stick with a flower bouquet :-) The bridesmaid dresses are gorgeous...can't wait to see your wedding dress!

Good Morning fellow BDW brides!! Today I am on the hunt for my children's table centerpieces!! I have found a lot of inspiration online

But this is my favorite. So I am going to try and replicate this in my own way!! Wish me luck and I will show you what I end up with tonight!!

Hi Satara - Do you know where the BDW bride bought these clam shell holders and the cost? What's the size? I would love to get these too for our flowergirls. Thanks!
 

Originally Posted by Sllefebvr 

Purchased these adorable "clam shell holders" from a bride here on BDW.. I am going to use them to put my flower girl and my junior bridesmaid's jewelry in!!

 

love it all!!!

R~

Wow, you are an overachiever! You go girl! I love the shell with the rings idea! Look forward to seeing all your great purchases!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330565334457&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:1123

The set includes two!! They are $9.00! Hope this helps!
 

Originally Posted by redginger 

Hi Satara - Do you know where the BDW bride bought these clam shell holders and the cost? What's the size? I would love to get these too for our flowergirls. Thanks!
 

 

Here is a picture for size comparison.. It measures 3x3 when it is closed!!