After the fact Moon Palace planning journal with finished project pics. Heavy pics

Okay so my planning journal is coming after the fact but I think this is good because you get to see the finished products in use lol….

Okay so in the end I couldn’t be happier with my wedding at Moon palace. I loved everything about the planning and putting it together and the day was gorgeous and one of the best days in my life (other than the few pimples that popped out and made me crazy lol) I want to thank everyone past and present brides that not only give so much to each other in the way of ideas and creativity but give from their heart. I know I made 2 lifelong friends here as no one really gets what we are going through. The support we give each other is a beautiful thing and one I appreciated so much at my craziest moments. I have come to know each of you and I am so grateful for the love shown since I got back but a special shout out to my girls coco and shane who were INVALUABLE to me during this process!

Okay let's start the saga.....

Me and Joe have been together for almost 4 years and we have grown children and I never thought I would want to get married again but I am so glad he changed my mind because everything about getting married is awesome . I love being the center of attention so I couldn’t have been happier. I didn’t do any of this the first time so it was awesome.

Starts with the ring. My dream ring because I designed it lmao. 2 carat cushion cut center diamond with a halo setting and another carat in baguettes and stones around the center. For a wedding ring I just got a matching eternity band underneath it. I don’t know what he got some gold band with texture lol but who cares it really is all about me ..no?? lol 

I did not do invites as we decided to make our annual family vacation into my wedding and than I sent an invitation via email with our wedding website info and asking anyone if they wanted to join. Sadly, none of our friends joined us except my husband’s partner and the rest was all family. I put so much thought into where to have it and picked Moon Palace because of the resort credits and everything and than people didn’t even try to book and it kind of makes me mad but I was happy with the 30 people who did come and put all my energy into making a great time for us . I did buy monograms that I really didn’t use too much but they were cute. From aylee. $5 for two

All together we were 7 children and 23 adults.

It really all begins when you have picked the dress… I went to a bridal store in New York that was having a trunk show for Maggie Sottero. I was interested in her after seeing it here all over. I wanted to try on the destination line and they were beautiful but the shop owner recommended that I try on the adorae and it was love at first sight. I couldn’t be happier with my dress/ I never had dress envy or tried on any dress even one that was thousands more that gave me any pause. My dress cost $1200 and $130 to do a bustle that she made tie on the bottom so the gorgeous back would not be hidden! The adorae:

I chose the jewelry from an amazing designer who happens to be a close family friend. I was hesitant to use her at first because her website really didn’t have what I wanted but she told me she would do whatever I wanted and she truly did. My earring were off the hook and my MOH’s jewelry and my flower girls jewelry were stunning. She also made me these starfish swarovsky ankle bracelets for some of my younger guests that were off the hook. Everyone raved about her and the jewelry and I can’t be more grateful for all the hard work she put into my jewelry and my day. Please take a look at her website and contact her if you are interested because she was amazing to work with and gave me such great deals so I would love to pay it forward . My headband is ansonia rhinestone headband purchased at the bridal store and than I saw it much cheaper online grrrr.

I hate my feet and they are wide so I just picked a simple white satin shoe from touch ups and the white matched my ivory Maggie sottero dress. Go figure lol. I added these adorable starfish brooches just to dress it up a little because it was so plain.

The groom got a suit from Studiosuit. This was not the best experience for me and I still don’t know whose fault it is. But probably not mine lol. My husband is a big guy so when I waited until the last minute to start looking for linen suits surprisingly there was nothing in the stores. I knew studiosuits would work but I was leary about ordering online from somewhere that I couldn’t return but when I couldn’t find anything I went with them. Now mind you my husband says he doesn’t like the light colors that we have seen in Nordstrom so wheni order the suit I get a dark tropical beige and when he complained about it being dark I surprisingly did NOT kill him. I ordered the pre set sizes the pants and jacket a size up from his usual and the jacket fit perfectly. The pants however barely covered his crack in the back lol. The rise was low or my husband has an abnormally long rise??? Anyway now I am in for $200 because of the big size and the lining so I decide to try again and order the pants. I try to complain to studio suits but they don’t care they say the rise is fine so they give me 20% since I have to pay shipping again I order the pants for the best man at the same time also a size up and they come and fit both of them. Needless to say I didn’t really love the suit and found such nicer quality in the stores starting in late February but we already had this. Tommy bahama has really nice stuff. Anyway we had another fight about him tucking in his shirt lol but in the end we compromised. I let him tuck in his shirt for the wedding and I bought him a nice pink Robert graham shirt for the reception and he did an outfit change lol.

I didn’t need anything underneath my dress except my cute bride Victoria secret thong lol. So that was good. My MOH tortured me about her dress. This figures because it’s my daughter and she has been torturing me FOREVER lol. My good friend from this site came through though and happened to have a dress in the exact color in the right size in her closet and she saved the day when we still had no dress less than a month to the wedding. Her dress is Bari jay in hot pink and her jewelry is from the same designer as my earrings http://www.collettemarie.com/store.html. Her bracelet and earrings were absolutely stunning!!!!

Best man wore the pants from studiosuits and a shirt from Tommy Bahama.

The flower girls were absolutely adorable. I got their dresses so cheap on ebay for like $30 each and did a little surgery to them. 87sweetgirl . I didn’t like the petals and bought the Michaels petals and changed them. They were gorgeous and so cute.

Now all the goodies for the wedding: Ebay was my best friend and etsy for inspiration and purchases.

I went completely overboard on what I was bringing with me and never considered how terrible it was going to be traveling with 8 suitcases. Yuck. But my husband was a trooper about it even though I gave him shit that he needed an extra personal suitcase when I was making us bring 5 stuffed with OOT bag stuff and starfish lol. But in the end I was happy I brought everything that I wanted with me except for all the starfish he wouldn’t let me add a suitcase for lol.

OOT bags- I loved doing these and went totally overboard. The ones that I got at first were from David’s Bridal and I was not that happy with them. I tried to return them but they were personalized- they were a great deal like $14 with 20% off but they were kind of small although they were my wedding colors but anyway I then saw a daily deal from brad’s deals for Vera Wang breast cancer tote in pink leopard print that I just loved and they were only $4 so I got those also and gave everyone 2 bags- wonder why I had 8 suitcases yet lol.

 In the bags I put the Oh Sh!t kits with the first aid kits with extra advils and immodium.

suntan spray & aloe-purchased at CVS with a 20% off

Cards with our names on it from advantage bridal

Luggage tags from Michaels purchased weekly with 40% off coupons orig 2.99

Wet wipes & tissues from the dollar tree

Gum with our names from oriental trading co (my fave store throughout the wedding )

Toothpaste & toothbrushes- my dentist got me

Water cameras ordered from ebay(aquaman 20 fuji quicksnap 59.99 free s&h –best price)

Bath & body works pouch with travel size lotion,gel&spritz

Soduko book dollar store

Mugs from discountmugs- I loved these but noone used them the whole week lol.

Pashminas were the biggest hit of the week $4ea http://www.firstwholesale.com/shopping_cart

They were big and beautiful and everyone loved them.

Tshirt & magnets from vistaprint. Vistaprint is awesome. Buy those groupons and u can get everything you need for hardly anything.

Tshirt & magnets from vistaprint. Vistaprint is awesome. Buy those groupons and u can get everything you need for hardly anything.

Candles from yankee candle with our pictures on them (small beach & sand)

Seashell magnets from shell horizon.com they have great prices for all kinds of shells

Crystal starfish keychains from forever wed

Welcome books

Key card holder with lanyards and wrist coils also a big hit.

For 8 of the young girls that were coming with me from ages 12 to 21) and all very important to me I got juicy canvas beach bags that they went crazy for. I gave them pretty much everything above but added a gorgeous anklet made by the great and talented www.collettemarie.com and and juicy lipgloss and Victoria secret boxers, tshirts and spray. I also got them all team bride Victoria secret tanks that were too cute

My flower girls are the cutest children ever and my God daughters so I went off on them. The bags were from an ebay vendor and all the goodies were mostly from oriental trading. They had adorable flower girl frames for $6 and teddy bears for $10 and I got the adorable tank tops from ebay also advantagebridal. I never took a pic when it was all done unfortunately. The bags were stuffed. I also bought their dresses and their jewelry from the great collettemarie.com

My MOH bag was ridiculous lol. It was my daughter so I pretty much got her a Tory Burch bag and everything else she needed for this trip lol. Dress, jewelry, shoes, many dresses, juicy flip flops, tory burch flip flops and much more… she got me the cutest luggage tags with our pics on them, my mrs. Cafiero hanger and the most adorable juicy white hoodie with bride monogrammed in pink and gave me the most fabulous shower ever with these gorgeous personalized baskets that I still can’t believe she did. I have to share the pics….

For the best man I just added some personalized goodies- cigar cutter, pocket knife and best man shirt that he never wore lol.

I also got my step daughters these adorable shirts that said team cafiero groom’s entourage from Vistaprint and I got my husband a shirt that said game over with a ball and chain lol.

Other odds and ends that we got: bride & groom hats, groom sunglasses –big hit lol.

My bouquet was stunning and so was my daughter’s. I was so happy with moon palace flowers. I got pink bouts for the men and my mom a corsage. The bouquets were gorgeous. I got the swarofsky starfish big ones from bridal box and 6 small ones from advantagebridal. I got rhinestone band from ebay. I was thrilled with the results.

I knew what I wanted from the very beginning as far as decorations and set up but I never thought about transport and too many projects so some things I had to leave home and some projects I had to abandon. I can’t tell you enough to make sure that you plan and think it through because I have so much extra stuff it is ridiculous. From the beginning I started buying starfish, shells and ribbons and craft stuff in such masses from everywhere- Michael’s and ebay mostly. I have tons of ribbon and starfish that I couldn’t even bring with me.

Projects and extras for the ceremony:

I brought chair sashes, bubbles and fans for the ceremony. I also gave her parasols but she didn’t put those out.

The bubbles I got at Michaels with a coupon ($6) lol and made little tags that I got from Michaels and printed them out and attached them with ribbon.

The fans I bought from oriental trading co 12 for $10 and I bough double sided ribbon from Michaels 5/8 wide and wrapped the top and than I ordered this starfish poem (vistaprint postcards for free) that I attached with a little starfish charm that I got from oriental trading co for $6 a unit of 24

The parasols are from luna bazaar –great quality and the Mr & Mrs is from Etsy the seller was 4cycle and it cost $50. At first I was upset because you could see some of the glue on the umbrella but it didn’t come out in any pics so it was great. I think those pics are adorable.

Starfish decorations:

One of my favorite projects was the starfish hot glued to the raffia loops. I bought 3 rolls of 3 different color raffias. Light pink, dark pink and tan and I cut them in equal loops and than I hot glued the starfish to it. I bought enough to make 30 for the aisle chairs at first and than for each chair at the reception but I couldn't fit anymore and so I compromised and brought 15. Which they used for the aisle chairs as pictured and than for our chairs and every other place setting at the reception.

Flower girl baskets:

I originally bought these shell baskets and was going to use them for the flower girl baskets but i thought they were too heavy for my girls and they were hard to decorate with ribbon so I wound up buying large galvanized pails from Oriental trading company and hot glued shells and flowers to them and the girls used them for the ceremony and afterwards I used them for the kids tables filled with candy. I also got smaller galvanized cans for each kid and filled it up with all candy (mostly pink) that I got from Oriental trading and party city and put a marraca in the middle of each one and that was the kids place setting. It was too cute. I got the inspiration from oriental trading which has a lot of DIY projects and so much adorable candies to match any theme.

I didn’t add anything to the cocktail hour just gave the shells that they placed around

The reception: I had lots of things that I was adamant about wanting at the reception and even though I lugged a lot of stuff there I am so happy with the results. I got decorations from Zuniga which I knew I wanted the candle steps from the beginning and I could not have been happier with what they did. The candle steps are $55 each and you need 2 for each set up so that was $220 and I wanted those bamboo structures with fuschia and pink lanterns even though they were expensive. they were not needed for light because it is plenty bright but they were so gorgeous. they were $180 each. Than I really wanted a candy table. I had already started buying pink candy everywhere but I knew I was not going to be able to bring the jars and plates to set them up in so I asked Katie to give me a set up for a candy table for 10 and than I gave her a bunch of extra candy which of course she added to the table and it looked fabulous. Their candy sucked so I am glad I bought good candy: m&M's with our faces on them were a huge hit ($16 a bag and I got 4 bags sooo cute) and I had kisses with the sticker on the bottom with our names and date. And than I got a lot of candy from oriental trading. kit kats and licorice and pink love fortune cookies. I am so happy with the way the candy table came out and they wanted to charge me like another $100 for a candy table for 25 and I am glad I said 10 because their candy was mints and marshmallows and candies no one liked but set up cute. I also got these adorable pink bags that said sweet on them with pink stripes and people filled them up and brought them to their room because there really is no chocolate unless u spend a million dollars in the gift shop for it. Wish i would have put some in the OOT bags.

My table set up:

I wanted a lot of color at the tables so I got pink runners and dark pink satin napkins from weddinglinendirect.com.

 I bought marracca's from amols.com and added the tag from Michaels that says shake for a kiss. I also bought shell stamps and pink ink pads and stamped each one and they looked so cute:

I also got 4X6 beach photo albums from wedding favor.com and put them in pink organza bags with a little tag also from Michaels. One for each person although somehow I saw my mother with 6 stuffed in her bag lol. These were 2.25 each

I also got these tins from there with one side having our pic and the other side has a sticker that says: Diane & Joe...mint for each other and the date and place lol. I bought these for .99 each and filled them myself with cheap mints from party city and than I put them in tiny pink organza bags also one for each person.

I wanted to upgrade the cake even though i knew it didn't taste good and it was well worth the $85. It was so pretty. Cake knife and server was from ebay-cpst about $20. I also ordered a custom made cake topper but the girl couldn’t do what I wanted and wound up refunding me the day before I left very disappointing but I save $200 and my cake was gorgeous.

I made the I DO signs from letters at Michael’s that I guerilla glued tiny shells to. I loved the way the table looked. I brought them the starfish and the letters and cake server and personalizecake. 

My absolute favorite thing was my "photobooth". Everyone told me this was a bad idea and that it would be too much work and who would man it. But it was the biggest hit. Everyone had so much fun and I got a ton of goodies for it.

The boas were from party city as well as the little signs and the mardi gras necklaces. Also all the glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces.

The sombreros were from amols and even though they were a pain to get there they were so cute.

I got mini chalk boards for people to write on and I got these photobooth props from manic moose for about $35, I brought them home but they are slightly bent lol. BIG BIG HIT!!!! and so fun.

The camera is the fuji instax which I got on ebay for about $70 and I also bought 100 pictures but I only used about 40.

The book is from Michaels and I spent weeks decorating it and the pages and the end result is absolutely adorable. 

amd the absolute best thing I did was go with smile market they made my day amazing and I love my pics so much!!!!!

whewww. all my templates are at work and I will post tomorrow but if you want something specific just pm me. much love to all the future brides...good luck and happy planning <3

well the best thing i did was marry my man but u know what i mean.....

Wow-wee girl...AWESOME!!! : )  Love all the pinks...

You looked absolutely stunning in your dress!!!

wow! congratulations!! how did you manage to bring all these to Mexico? i love the candy buffet idea. i wanted to have one but my main concern is bringing the containers

Originally Posted by ladydi1844 

 

My absolute favorite thing was my "photobooth". Everyone told me this was a bad idea and that it would be too much work and who would man it. But it was the biggest hit. Everyone had so much fun and I got a ton of goodies for it.

The boas were from party city as well as the little signs and the mardi gras necklaces. Also all the glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces.

The sombreros were from amols and even though they were a pain to get there they were so cute.

I got mini chalk boards for people to write on and I got these photobooth props from manic moose for about $35, I brought them home but they are slightly bent lol. BIG BIG HIT!!!! and so fun.

The camera is the fuji instax which I got on ebay for about $70 and I also bought 100 pictures but I only used about 40.

The book is from Michaels and I spent weeks decorating it and the pages and the end result is absolutely adorable. 

 

amd the absolute best thing I did was go with smile market they made my day amazing and I love my pics so much!!!!!

 

whewww. all my templates are at work and I will post tomorrow but if you want something specific just pm me. much love to all the future brides...good luck and happy planning <3