Jenny's Planning Journal - Grand Sirenis 2013

Hi Everyone!

 

It is getting really close to the 2 months count down! We fly on July 29th and will be getting married at the Grand Sirenis in Rivieria Maya on August 3rd, 2013! I can't believe how quickly the last year has just gone by!

 

This website has helped me out so much through my planning and I hope to share a bit of my journey with you and hope to contribute back

 

The Engagement

If you're interested in the full story - you can go here

But the sweet and simple version was Chris and I met 4 years ago and as cliche as it sounds, when you know - you just know. The more I learned about Chris, the more certain I was that we were meant for each other. He took me on a complete roller coaster ride the last 2 weeks before he finally proposed, taking me out to romantic dinners, decorating the home with candles and rose petals with chocolate fondue (and it wasn't even Valentine's!) - and each time I thought he was going to propose but didn't. Just when I wrote it off while we were on vacation at the Grand Sirenis in Riviera Maya last year, he got down on one knee while we were enjoying the stars and the ocean breeze on the beach and asked if I would marry him. Of course I gladly said yes!

 

The Ring

Because he proposed on the beach at night time, I didn't even get to see the ring when he presented it! But boy was I pleasantly surprised when we went back to a more well lit area!!

I am completely in love with it! <3

 

The Save the Dates

Because we knew that we were going to have a destination wedding, I thought that giving people as much time as possible was necessary. I created a website through http://www.wix.com to announce our Save the Date 9 months to the wedding. Formal invitations were to follow a month later.

The website I built took about 3 months (I have a background in Communications so I probably got a little bit more intesnse than I should have with the construction of the site). That said, I did build the website from scratch with all the lovely photos that our amazing photographer, Jacqueline Elizabeth Morrison (http://www.jacquelineelizabeth.com) did for us. If you don't know html too well, don't worry, the website has lots of templates to choose from. The first landing page was our Save the Date photo, and in the website I covered our full engagement story, a blurb on each member of the bridal party, the location and resort, what to pack, how to book their trip, what excursions are offered, google map of the resort, etc. As thorough as I could be so that I would not have to repeatedly answer the same questions.

 

 

 

 

I'll post some more later I just gotta head out now! xoxo

The Invitations

As mentioned earlier, we sent the formal invitations a month following the Save the Date email. We did a formal styled invitation because I fell in love with a design I found at Papyrus. We had it done on heavy cold press paper, raised glossy ink, and a beautiful blush ribbon that's matted on top of a grey card. The invitation folds out into 3 sections. I also chose the French styled envelope and used a wax seal to give it that little extra something special. My FI had gifted me a calligraphy set over Christmas, so I put my penmanship to use and addressed 100+ invites. I had lots of fun doing it. We added a starfish motif to the otherwise uber traditional and formal invitation.

 

 

 

I love how you are having a "Man of honor"... I too am having one of my "guy" best friends stand up with me along with my 2 other Maid of honor's!

Everything looks great so far!! I love your website! 

 

Liz

Originally Posted by lgerry 

 

I love how you are having a "Man of honor"... I too am having one of my "guy" best friends stand up with me along with my 2 other Maid of honor's!

Everything looks great so far!! I love your website! 

 

Liz

Hi Liz - glad you enjoyed the website! I can't imagine getting married without my best guy friend! He's like a brother to me. I'm glad to hear that others are doing that as well. I love your engagement photos!

Hi Jen! I am getting married at Grand Sirenis next May!

 

Can you tell me what package you ended up going with, and if you're not having the Palapa, what restaurant you're going with???

 

Hi LeeLou - I went with the Presidential Package and I'm having the reception at the Palapa. If I wasn't having it in the Palapa then the Beach would have been my second choice. And if I had to have it in a restaurant I would have chosen the Italian restaurant because it's very classic and clean inside, and the colors are black and white so it's easy to coordinate. Have you put your deposit down yet?

Hi Jenny! Sorry for the delaying in responding.

 

Yes, we did put down our deposit for the Gold Package, thinking we would ask for the Italian restaurant. A lot of the extras they offer in the Presidential Package I can sort of take or leave. BUT now I'm second guessing and am thinking I might prefer the Palapa. It will cost us about $3000 more overall to upgrade, but I'm thinking it might be worth it because it's so private.

 

To accommodate family and avoid people complaining, we are having a wedding at home 2 weeks prior to leaving and get it done legally here, for 300+ ppl :S. So the costs add up like crazy!!! Such a tough decision.....

 

Hey. I know!! This wedding is definitely adding up a pretty penny for me too! I've always been pretty good with my pennies, but when it comes to wedding I'm finding it harder to be a bit more frugal than I am haha.. I'm also having an AHR 6 days after I get back home for the legal signing and a Chinese styled full on wedding day for 150+ people. But I think you should do the presidential package. The palapa and private beach area will be so worth it! I fell in love with the idea of the palapa. I know what you mean about the other perks, but I think the flowers are bigger and more lush too with the presidential package. I'd say do it!

Ya, you know, you are so right! The whole wedding at home is really for my fiancé's family really, so I think I should have my total dream wedding down South. And really, $3000 in the grand scheme of things isn't so bad. I'm really trying to be frugal and DYI as much as possible!

 

What are you doing for centerpieces?? I'm trying to think of lightweight items I can bring along with me for DYI decorating. SO many details to think about!

 

Definitely lots and lots of details to think about! But it'll be worth it! If you haven't got your dress already, just remember to keep a budget aside for alterations - because I'm getting my dress fittings this month and holy mama! It's expensive! Yes, I have 2 wedding dresses. Because I'll trash my dress in Mexico, and having our wedding back at home 6 days later is way too stressful whether the dress will come back clean, whether I'll tear the dress somehow, etc. Instead of stressing over it, I got a more dressier gown for our AHR. hahaha....