ebredhawk's "way too long" planning thread - Dreams PC/La Barcaza

[ebredhawk]

After constantly watching for new planning threads during my whole planning process, I’m so excited that I finally get to do my own! Plus, today is our legal day, so what better way to celebrate??

 

A great majority of what I’ve done would have not been possible without the help and support of my Dreams PC and April brides, along with the countless ideas I got from tons of other ladies on the forum.

 

My FI and I got engaged on Valentine’s Day in 2009, although we’d never really celebrated the holiday before. Apparently the ring was taunting him so he got up early and had his daughter wake me up and get me to come to the living room. With me half-naked in my PJs and the dogs barking at the back door, he asked me to marry him!

 

My engagement ring and wedding band:

 

FI’s bands:

Black tungsten from overstock.com

 

We also flew our fantastic wedding photographer in to take engagement pictures… here’s a link to that thread: Best Destination Wedding Forum ~ The Ultimate Destination Wedding Resource

 

Photographer: Stephany from EyeSpy Photography (|| EyeSpy Photography || high fashion seniors || fine art animals || commercial ||). She has become a friend throughout this whole process and I only came across her name because another BDW bride (tvt… thanks Tara!) had posted a review.

 

Video: I'm also bringing a videographer who is good friends with my photographer. His name is Nick Kesler and he's the owner of Clam Lake Films in MN. If you go to the eyespy blog (eyespy photography) he made the promo video at the top!

 

Monogram: the amazing Becks did ours (my avatar) and went above and beyond to include our theme of the stargazer lily.

 

Invites: Since we were only planning on inviting close friends and relatives, and they already knew about the date, etc., we didn’t send STDs, but just did our DIY boarding pass invites: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...details-44417/

 

Location: Dreams PC… we picked an island and the resort pretty quickly. I was very happy with how easy that process was!

 

Wedding Dress: Nicole Miller… this picture is from the first time I tried the dress on and picked it out.. almost exactly 14 months ago! Since then we added a halter neckline (starting in the middle of the bust line, looping around my neck and coming back to the same spot). We did this just because the dress is pretty low cut and sweetheart necklines are tricky if you are “generously-sized†in the bust area! I absolutely love my dress though, and it’s now my own custom gown!

 

Wedding Shoes: Bought these from Express last year… our ceremony is on the beach so no heels for me!

 

Wedding Jewelry: Since we added the halter strap to my dress last minute, I decided to ditch my necklace and just wear earrings. I bought these Briolette Cluster earrings from Etsy seller lulidesigns: Etsy :: BRIOLETTE CLUSTER Earrings (Golden Shadow)

 

Hair: My MOH left life as a CPA and went to cosmetology school just in time to do my hair and makeup for the wedding! I told her what I wanted for hair and she came up with this “boho chic†type look with an off-center, low bun and braids coming from both sides.

 

Hair pieces: My photographer also has a company that creates custom hair pieces (posh | rebel… www.poshrebel.com) so she made me one for the ceremony and one for the TTD. I can’t wear a veil for the ceremony since the beach can be windy, so we decided to use that one for the TTD instead. (TTD shoot will be ½ on the beach and ½ in a small town about 40 minutes outside of Punta Cana called Higuey)

[ebredhawk]

Makeup Inspiration: This is actually one of my BD pics, and I loved what the makeup artist did so much I asked her for the names of everything she used. We picked it all up at Sephora, so this I can have the same look for both the ceremony and TTD.

 

Old, New, Borrowed & Blue:

Blue – my BMs, MOH and mom will be writing on the bottom of my sandals in blue marker

New - dress, jewelry, etc.

Borrowed – the silver travelling starfish from this thread: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...-thread-19677/

Old – My mom’s garter from their wedding almost 30 years ago

 

Flower Girl Dress: Purchased from Gap Kids. We gave the girls coordinating flip flops in their bags.

 

Bridesmaid Attire: They have each picked out their own black dress. When they were looking, favorites included all of the convertible dresses from VS. They are so flattering!

 

They will also wear these black flip flops from dessy.com: Wedding Flip Flops | Bridesmaid Flip Flops | 50+ Colors: The Dessy Group

 

I gave them all starfish necklaces in their gifts (below) and I made them each (along with the flower girls) hair flowers from our leftover real touch orchids.

 

Groom Attire: Fedora is from Express, shirt is a white Kenneth Cole shirt (the picture shows a black shirt), shorts from My Cuban Store and flip flops from Old Navy

 

 

 

 

Groomsmen Attire: They will be wearing the same flip flops and shorts as the groom, but with this black shirt

[ebredhawk]

Wedding Party Gifts: The bridesmaids got makeup bags that I designed and bought the fabric for and my mom’s friend made, the starfish necklace they will wear in the ceremony (purchased from Kohls) and tank tops that I made on Customized Girl. Flower girls got cinch bags with goggles, aviator sunglasses, hats, their flip flops for the ceremony, a disposable camera and their necklaces for the ceremony (the pink, orange and green beads, made by FI’s aunt). The groomsmen got flasks and “I’m On a Boat†tshirts (not shown, but purchased since our reception is on a boat)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mom & Dad Gift: The one thing I didn’t take pictures of. We got only my mom and dad presents because they paid for pretty much everyone to go and we felt that it was important to pay tribute to that. We got my mom a 3-opening collage frame from Kohl’s and included a picture from their wedding, one of my brother and SIL from their wedding and then an opening for one from ours. We got my dad a shirt from Tommy Bahama to wear in the wedding.

 

BD Pics & Book: Again these fabulous pictures were thanks to the work of my photographer (Eyespy). She also made me a book that I didn’t take pictures of, but this is a link to the thread with some of the pictures: Best Destination Wedding Forum ~ The Ultimate Destination Wedding Resource

 

Flowers: My flowers are all real touch and were purchased from a number of different sites (stargazers from save-on-crafts.com, orchids and mini calas from usifloral.com). I actually changed my flowers in January to have a more tropical feel, and the lady who did them was amazing. She is a friend of my mom’s who does flower arrangements already, but is trying to break into the wedding business. She really turned what I had in my head into reality. I couldn’t be happier with these!

 

GM bout

 

FI bout

BM bouquet

 

My bouquet

[nmurch]

GORGEOUS ring, and super cute planning thread. LOVE your hair picture!!!

 

have a FAB wedding

 

<3

[ebredhawk]

Flower girl pail & petals: The petals are from weddingstar.com (cherry blossom), and I also purchased white pails from Gift Basket Supplies - Discount Gift Basket Supplies. I don’t have pictures of those done, but I put pink ribbon around them and will attach a large finger starfish to each when we arrive

 

 

Chair sashes: Purchased for $1 each from eBay Store - ELEGANT PERSPECTIVES: Satin Sashes, Table Runners, Chair Covers. If you see a color you like, but don’t necessarily want 100, just send her a message. I got an order of 30.

 

Ceremony: Beach ceremony. We’re using the huppah instead of the standard arch, and not including any decorations besides the simple white fabric that already comes on it.

 

Officiant: Pastor Rick York. He has been great to work with and he let us completely customize our ceremony. Here’s his mission’s website: Eastern Dominican Christian Mission

 

Music: We will all walk down the aisle with the Best Man playing Rise Against’s “Swing Life Away†on an acoustic guitar. The recessional after the ceremony is “Hotel Yorba†by the White Stripes.

 

Sand Ceremony Stuff: Bought the vases and sand at Hobby Lobby. We are bringing the epoxy and will plug the top of the big vase with it once we finish filling it up. Hopefully this will keep it safe during travel. We just bought the epoxy from our grocery store. It was in the hardware/light bulb-type aisle.

 

 

 

Reception: The reception is going to be held on La Barcaza which is a catamaran that sails along the coast of Punta Cana. They will be picking us up at the resort, driving us to the boat, we’ll cruise for 3 hours and have food, an open bar and dancing, and then get driven back. The WC there is incredible and I HIGHLY recommend them! Wedding Punta Cana. The best Wedding in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

 

Centerpieces: Our centerpieces include black table runners from efavormart.com, a pack of votive party pack from Hobby Lobby (very cheap, like $3 for a dozen), a pack of glow sticks and a vase filled with rocks, one of 3 flowers and topped with a floating candle. Below is the set up and then the two other flowers (we’ll have 3 tables so each will have its own flower)

 

 

other vase

 

 

“Guestbookâ€: This is in quotes because it’s not technically a book. We bought a map of the DR from maps.com and will have our guests sign this at the reception.

 

Information Book: My pride and joy is this book that I made and had printed for each of our guests. I attached it so everyone can see it as well. It is a compilation of all sorts of information I learned here as well as on the Dreams forums. There are several of our guests that haven’t travelled by plane recently, let alone internationally.. so I call this one “wedding micromanaging at its finestâ€!

 

OOT Bags and Contents: We had our bags custom embroidered with our stargazers and “Punta Cana, Dominican Republicâ€. Each bag (one per couple or single person) also included:

-2 blue towels (from Beach Towels wholesale manufacturer of custom embroidered monogrammed bath towel for corporate events) and embroidered with the same pattern as the bag

-luggage tags and keycard holders (both made with holders that I don’t really recommend… not very easy to open)

-Bubba Kegs

-Funky personalized flip flops for the ladies

-Pool floats from Walmart

-First aid kits (containers are the cool Rubbermaid snap ones with tablets of Immodium and Advil purchased from Costco, bandaids and mini Tide Pens)

-Decks of cards (from Michaels)

-Posts and pens

-Gallon-sized Ziploc bags

 

Wow! I am so glad I have been planning this thread for so long, otherwise that would have taken me forever! Hope you enjoyed looking at 14 months worth of work! It’s really neat to see it all together like this! Hopefully the wedding and trip will come together just as smoothly!

 

 

Info Book Draft.pdf

[Cindy*]

Everything looks great, congratulations.

[nsbride2010]

yay Erin!!! Your planning thread rocks, cant wait for the review! You bought the immodium at Costco, did they come in individual packets? I'm having a hard time finding this one!

[ebredhawk]

nat, they were in boxes of 50 indi. packs i believe. my mom found them and i have no idea how.. she was my OOT bag magician. she made things i didn't think existed materialize out of thin air!

[Eliana]

ERIN LOVE your wedding planning thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so original, so different! I can't wait to see the pics from your wedding!

[KimmyD]

Great Planning Thread!!! Cant wait to see your pics and review. Thanks!