MichCraw's After the fact Planning Thread- Wedding Dec 7th 2011

[MichCraw]

Our Story/ Background

 

My boyfriend and I have been together for 10 years. We were engaged 8 years ago around Christmas time, however 2 children later our plans for a wedding were put on the back burner. Last year when we realized that A: Our 10 year anniversary was coming up and B: Our family was established and we were happy with our 2 beautiful children. We decided that we would make our dreams come true...a destination wedding!!! My husband is an avid diver, loves the ocean and the sand and what girl hasn’t had the dream of getting married with the tropical blue ocean in the background! This for me was my dream come true!

 

The rings

 

 

My e-ring is a solitary diamond with white gold and the band, which you can't see properly in this picture is the same design as the e-ring but with 3 little diamonds in the front. My husbands ring bought off ebay for 10$ made out of tungsten hehe ... he didn't want to make a hassle of getting an expensive ring. Where he works he isn't allowed to wear any type of jewellery and he didn't want to get something expensive and then lose it because he has to take it off regularly. We don't have any engagement pictures, in all honesty I had never heard of this before coming on this site! I have known couples to wed and never has anyone I know done this... however I would have loved the idea! Wish I had known.. oh well .. more money in my pocket I guess!

 

 

Picking a Resort/Date

 

We wanted to get married on 11-11-11 like a lot of people did. The resorts that we could afford didn't have that date available, therefore we chose the first week of December, because we wanted the hurricane season to be over. We picked the 7th, because 7 is usually a lucky number, and my daughter's birthday is on the 7th.... simple as that!

As for the resort, we had a few criteria : We wanted to go to a place neither of us had ever been before, I had to get married in a white gazebo, there had to kids games/water amusement for our two children, and the price for 1 week had to be in between 1200$-1300$ in order for most of our guests to afford to go. Would we have chosen the Majestic Colonial if there had been no price issue... NO...however thinking back we were too worried about who would and wouldn't come because of the price and we should have been thinking about what would make us the happiest and this was a one and a life time moment for us. This is a picture of my white gazebo, taken when no wedding is scheduled. Even with no color enhancements I find it to be quite beautiful!

 

 

We booked our wedding date and wedding week 14 months in advance. We wanted to give everyone that was invited enough time to save up some money, so that they would be able to afford the trip! 20$ a week times 14 months and the trip was PAID! So we made our own invitations and sent them out really early! We didn't have a theme or color scheme determined yet, but we knew the when, where and how much so we sent them out as quickly as we could.

 

 

 

My dress and wedding attire

 

I went dress shopping too early. I was determined to get fit and in shape and lose weight, however I went shopping when I was at my heaviest. The boutique had maybe 3 dresses for me to try on, I was discouraged I put a deposit on a dress that I " sorta" liked, thinking that I would be crazy to order a dress I loved in a brochure and then pay for it and it looked awful on me when I got it. So I put a deposit on a size 22 dress, started working out in Jan 2011, eating healthier without starving myself or depriving myself of anything I wanted to eat. The weight came off, I was looking and feeling good.. I was having nightmares at night of the choice of dress I had made. During the summer, I did the what some brides must do... went dress shopping even though I had already put a deposit on a dress... of course with some weight off I could try on more dresses.. and I realized quickly that the shape of dress I had bought ... no longer looked flattering! (If it ever did) So I mustered all my guts and pride and went back to the boutique, talked to the manager and told her that I no longer wanted to purchase that dress and if she would be so kind as to put it back on the rack and maybe let me shop for another dress in the store?! She did, and I tried on quite a few dresses ... and picked one that had almost all my criteria! 1: Sweatheart neckline 2: White not ivory 3: Long train 4: Beading 5: A-Line .. I got 5 out of 5, the dress is partly satin however it didn't bother me one bit on the day of the wedding! First on the model and then a few of me in the dress late lateeeee on the day of the wedding.

 

To be continued....

[MichCraw]

Groom's Attire/Ring Bearer & Flower Girl

 

Our colors for the wedding were dark purple and hot pink. We bought my boyfriend's shirt at Le chateau, the tie, pants and belt at Mexx. He found some shoes maybe 3 weeks before we left, Shoe Dept beige shoes for 15$ on sale, one pair left and they were his size! Lucky guy! Sorry shoes are not pictured on this picture! My daughter (5 years old) and my son (2 years old) were the flower girl and ring bearer. I found a dress at a local wedding store, had a purple sash added in the back, as well as purple flowers added instead of the white ones that came with the dress. She had some cute little white sandals, hot pink earrings, a purple and pink pendant I gave her as a gift before the ceremony and I had a purple, pink and white ribbon/barrette made in her hair. My son was almost the exact replica of his father, purple shirt, beige pants, white belt, puprle colored tie and brown sandals.

 

 

 

Purple & Pink Decor/Accessories

 

Ring Bearer Pillow & Flower Girl Basket ( and ribbon for flower girls hair) Etsy:

 

 

Chair Sashes & Table Runners efavormart:

 

 

My maid of honor and I DIY'd the raffia fans as well as wedding day programs:

 

 

To be continued....

[MichCraw]

Forgot the shoes! Found them at Le Chateau on special before I bought anything else! Took them half a size too big because my feet are usually swollen when i'm down south... but this time they didn't! Ouch.. blisters at the end of the night!

 

 

Bought some cute Guess sandals for the ceremony, they were nice and blingy!

 

 

Jewellery

 

Starfish theme, so my necklace, earrings and hair accessories were diamond-like starfish. I got a purple amethyst bracelet as a wedding present from my mother. I also added starfish in my bouquet, some might think I went overboard but when you like something you go for it!

 

 

 

This is a picture of one of bridesmaids attaching a photo keepsake of my grandmother who had passed recently. I had that made on etsy, here is a picture:

 

 

I'm sorry if it's not as detailed oriented as other planning journals ... I feel a little lost and disorganized, however I will try to continue tomorrow and finish what I started maybe a bit of sleep will bring me back on the right path!

 

[MichCraw]

Photographer

 

If you are lucky enough to have Photophil available on your wedding date, the sure thing is to book him FAST. There are no vendor fees for hiring him, and he knows the Majestic resort & staff like the back of his hand. The resort photographers aren't bad either actually they have improved quite a bit since I started doing research over a year ago, however I was lucky enough to book Phil early on and he really did help us on the day of the wedding. Can't wait to get the final pictures from him so that I can show them!!! (Can be up to 3 months) I was lucky enough to have my friend who has traveled around the world and takes great pictures she also took over 1000 pictures of the wedding day preparations, ceremony and reception.

 

Reception

 

We were a small group and we didn't have it in our budget to have a private reception, so we ate at the steakhouse which is a la carte restaurant. I had brought some decorations, that I had painted myself. Starfish, shells... the table runners and sashes were transferred from the ceremony to the supper. I had bought some place card seashells, and I DIY'd my place cards. I also bought some disposable cameras for everyone to take pictures (efavormart.com). BEWARE: The disposable cameras from efavormart.com are " rebuilt", once you take the decorative exterior off the camera is held together by gray electric tape or big black tape, half of the cameras didn't have batteries or even the film!!! Out of 16 cameras, I would say 2 of them were usable! So instead of having a nice album with plenty of funny and unexpected pictures, I have maybe 10 pictures that are nice.  On a brighter note, I had a guestbook made at www.guestbookstore.com. They have every color you can imagine and they are great to work with! They even translated my book into french sent the final print for me to check if the spelling and everything was alright ... and poof I got it within 2 weeks. Great company to do business with, and the guestbook is fun, you can draw pictures, tell anecdotes, it really is a great keepsake. For the cake, we went to a local bakery and had seashells done in purple and pink to put on the cake, plus they made us some chocolate ones as well which we scattered on the cake table.. and they were gone in no time. I had a cake topper made on etsy, one of my biggest disappointments actually. It was expensive, it didn't come out like I wanted and it was so fragile that I received it with many pieces broken. We tried to fix it up at home and I put it in my carry on and was really careful and it still came apart once we arrived. One of the only things I would NOT redo if I had to. I also had door hangers made for the night of the wedding, I handed those out before guests left, they were cute but in the end that could have been one of those things where I could have saved my money for something more useful. Here are a few of the pictures: 

 

 

 

Etsy Vendors:

 

Ring Pillow, Basket & Ribbon: SisiCreations

Cake Topper: Garden4Arts

Grandmother Bouquet Charm: PhotoCharmShop

Wedding Door Hangers: designedbyme

Ring plate & Maid of Honor and Bridesmaid jewellery plate: SayYourPiece

 

 

I think that's all for now, if ever I left out any information ask away, I feel like there are many pieces I am leaving out!! If it weren't for this site and the help of many many brides, my wedding would not have been as organized and incredible as it was .. I thank anyone and everyone that helped me throughout this process... my destination wedding was a dream come true!

 

Michèle  

[Sharon99]

Congrats everything looks great! Love the color combo! Where did you get your tan starfish that were on the tables(pic with the fan)?

[JoanneIreland]

Congrats, everything looks amazing! Oh and congratulations on the weight loss, you did amazing and look stunning, i can't believe you originally ordered a size 22, you are so tiny now!

[MichCraw]

Sharon99, I had found them at Pier1 Imports last summer. It is a store in Canada don't know if it's in the US as well.
 

Originally Posted by Sharon99 

Congrats everything looks great! Love the color combo! Where did you get your tan starfish that were on the tables(pic with the fan)?

Thanks Joanne! lol I wouldn't say tiny but a whole lot better than I was. Congrats again to you too ... you were a STUNNING bride!

Originally Posted by JoanneIreland 

Congrats, everything looks amazing! Oh and congratulations on the weight loss, you did amazing and look stunning, i can't believe you originally ordered a size 22, you are so tiny now!

 

[DRPrincesa]

Congrats. Everything looks GREAT! I have seen you on FB and followed you a bit on BDW as well.  You seem pretty practical like myself. I too have been with my hubby for upteen years ( this is our 5 yr vow renewal) and we have 2 boys.  I got chills reading your story and your pictures clearly reflect your happiness. Thanks for sharing! May your union continue to be blessed!!

[murmel]

Great job! Even though the cake topper may have had a few issues...so cute!

[MichCraw]

Thank you so much DRPrincesa, your comments mean a lot to me .. nice to meet someone else in the same boat as us

It really was a once in a life time adventure and we are happy to have taken it!

Originally Posted by DRPrincesa 

Congrats. Everything looks GREAT! I have seen you on FB and followed you a bit on BDW as well.  You seem pretty practical like myself. I too have been with my hubby for upteen years ( this is our 5 yr vow renewal) and we have 2 boys.  I got chills reading your story and your pictures clearly reflect your happiness. Thanks for sharing! May your union continue to be blessed!!

 

Thanks murmel! lol
 

Originally Posted by murmel 

Great job! Even though the cake topper may have had a few issues...so cute!