After April 14, 2012--- Jasmine and Ryan Wedding Planning Journal

This is late but I figured still worth sharing... I want to give credit to all the brides and grooms that have shared on this site, without any of you I would have been completely lost! And to the creator and moderators of this site--- THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! This place have been a safe haven whenever I stumbled throughout this wedding process...

The Proposal:

• New Year's Eve

Ryan decided he wants to do something "different" for New Year's Eve... ofcourse he decides to tell me this the day before NYE! So I browse the web on a mission... He wants to head south, I don't want to drive more than 4 hours with Justin... What we found? Baltimore Inner Harbor. The Hyatt Regency is right in front of the harbor where they have the fireworks show to bring in the New Year, perfect! click, click -- booked!

• Dinner

 We weren't supposed to leave 'til Ryan got back from work NYE but work gave him the day, so off we go! After a disappointing check-in (we didn't get the room with the harbor view!) we decided to make the best out of the situation and head to dinner.

• Harborplace

After a fun mini- Happy New Year celebration with Justin over dinner, we went for a little stroll around Harborplace...

• Fireworks!

By the time we got back at the hotel room, it was almost 10pm and Justin was soo ready for bed. Since we couldn't leave Justin (but still want to somehow watch the fireworks and do a countdown for New Years), we decided to bring out our champagne in the hallway (where it overlooks the harbor) less than a minute before the ball drop. 3...2..1... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Fireworks!!! I turn to look at Ryan... He's kneeling down, what?!? I'm pretty sure he mumbled something about "marry" and "I love you" --- I was way too excited to really comprehend everything! I'm pretty sure I said "yes" and "I love you, too"... Perfect way to start a new year!

  Wedding Plans:

            I was born and raised in the Philippines so I always knew that when I get married it will be on the beach. Of course, now living in the U.S., I knew it wouldn’t be fair to my Fiance’s friends and family to have to travel 22-24 hours one way just to attend our wedding… so our compromise is the Caribbean, Punta Cana Dominican Republic.

The Resort – Now Larimar

            I fell in love with their restaurant The Castaways and knew that our reception would be held here, open-air and by the beach.

Colors: Shades of orange, gray and silver

My favorite color is orange so that was pretty easy, my fiancé wanted something to tame it, he definitely didn’t want too much colors going on! He also was already set on what color suit he was wearing (light gray, like silver but not shiny lol) so I just based it off that.

The Rings:

Welcome Bags

  These we’re a hit! Everyone appreciated and loved their welcome bags! I wish I had pictures of the guys' bags -- we got them their fave NFL team drawstring bags.

Rehearsal Dinner:

                We wanted to give something back to our guests who made the trip so we arranged our rehearsal dinner on the La Barcaza http://www.weddingboatpuntacana.com/. It was such an amazing experience, I highly recommend this! We left around 5pm and basically cruised watching the sunset, they took us to the natural pool… their food is great and we had music, drinks and dancing after.

DIY Projects:I definitely enjoyed this part... I made luggage tag Save-The-DatesI also made passport invites http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/74338/passport-invites-and-linen-pockets-loads-of-pics

 I added the ribbon on my shoes J

I made my BM’s bouquets and the GM’s boutonnieres

This was my inspiration for the escort cards—

I painted the starfish a shade of orange –

This is the inspiration for the starfish aisle décor –

My creation –

Centerpiece inspiration –

http://michaels.com/Beach-Natural-Centerpiece/e08809,default,pd.html?start=10&cgid=projects-wedding-centerpieces

My actual centerpiece –

Ceremony Set-up:

                I wanted to keep the décor very simple for the ceremony, I figured the beach would do the job of making it beautiful by itself.

Reception Décor:

                I don’t think I have pictures of this at all, but this is one of my faves so I have to show the inspiration… One of the reason I chose the Castaways because it had the perfect set-up for this.

The Dress:

                I was very excited when I found this dress because it has the same name as me!!! WTOO Jasmine Style.

My dress in action –

The Wedding Party’s Attire:

                Here’s the inspiration.

Here it is realized…

The Ring-bearer and the Flower girls:

Add-ons to our wedding that we thought were worth it:

We had a violinist play for the processional… I only have a video of that and I’m yet to upload it! We also added the Caribbean Trio to our cocktail hour. The guests enjoyed them a lot.

And at the end of our reception we surprised our guests with fire dancers, they were an absolute hit!!!

A Dream Realized:

                It was amazing to see all of our visions come to reality, our guests appreciated the whole experience and we truly just feel blessed sharing it with special people.

                Here are more pictures from our wedding week, thought it would also be worth sharing to everyone!

Jasmineandryan2012.shutterfly.com

everything looks gorgeous!!! congratulations!!! I do have one question as we are looking to do the same thing for the groomsmen and my fiance's suits, where did you get them?

you did a fantastic job! I love the picture of your groomsmen and of your flower girls and ring bearer. I also love your water bottles in your out bags, where'd you find them.

Originally Posted by dominiqueamber 

you did a fantastic job! I love the picture of your groomsmen and of your flower girls and ring bearer. I also love your water bottles in your out bags, where'd you find them.

I got the water bottles from target, they were last summer's though, but they carry the same kinds every year 

Originally Posted by cruisebride13 

everything looks gorgeous!!! congratulations!!! I do have one question as we are looking to do the same thing for the groomsmen and my fiance's suits, where did you get them?

My hubby's suit is Alfani, we got them at Macy's and the GM's are from JCPenny's.

Wow everything looks great I wanted to have my reception at Castaways also but there was a $5000 charge? Is this correct?

Originally Posted by Tbracer37 

Wow everything looks great I wanted to have my reception at Castaways also but there was a $5000 charge? Is this correct?

A $5000 charge? No I definitely did not have to pay 5k to have my reception there... It's one of the available venues that you choose from for the reception, unless there was a change in their wedding book it should be there.

Your wedding was beautiful !

I almost forgot... For our guest book wee had this map made for people to sign! Another one of my fave detail!!!