Bahiabride2010's (Sarah's) Planning Journal - Lots of Pics!

[bahiabride2010]

Alright ladies….it’s my turn to add to the amazing resources here on BDW with my planning journal. This last year has been an amazing one for my FI and I. I cannot believe that we leave in just 2 short weeks! We’ve only got a few things left to do…Mom’s making the place cards, we’re in the process of choreographing our first dance and we need to write our speeches. I have especially enjoyed the friendships and amazing sharing that goes on here. I can honestly say that BDW has helped me with so many details related to planning our wedding. Thank you to Tammy and to all the mods for helping to keep the forum friendly and fun!

 

Here we go…

 

First up the rings…my E ring was designed by my FI and our jeweler and I absolutely love it. Two wedding bands have been made that fit on either side of my ring. My FI’s wedding band was way more difficult to choose but in the end he chose the Argon style of Tungsten ring. We ordered his from World of Tungsten and highly recommend them.

 

My Rings

 

My FI’s Ring

 

I knew right of the bat that I wanted to have Orange and Pink as my wedding colours. I thought they would look beautiful with the contrast of the turquoise Caribbean Sea! Here are some of the inspiration boards I liked and took some inspiration from.

 

The Resort we chose is the Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana. We’ve never been to the resort but have had many friends that have and absolutely loved it! It’s the type of place that people go back to year after year. Over the year of planning there have 3 different wedding coordinators at the hotel and they have all been very helpful. I’ve attached their Wedding Manual and some pictures here of the resort and the beautiful gazebo. We are using alternating orange and pink chair covers and the reception will be at the Garden Grill Restaurant. We went with the Blissful Love Package and will be having a private reception.

 

[bahiabride2010]

Next for invitations, we were so lucky that one of my childhood friends is an amazing artist and offered to design our invitations for us. I directed him with the colours but he came up with the images and our beautiful monogram. We ordered the paper and had the invitations printed through Cards and Pockets. The colours we chose were Soft Coral Mats, Cream Puff for the inserts, and Watermelon for the Pocket Fold. They were wonderful to work with the invitations came so quickly. We sent these out in October and chose not to do Save the Dates. My Mom did Calligraphy on the outside of the Pocket Fold and addressed the envelopes too! Gotta love my talented MOB! I bought seals from Michael’s to close the pink Pocket Folds. Just a heads up…if you go with the pocket folds be prepared to spend on postage. They are beautiful but heavy! It took two stamps to send them. Dan’s started his own invite design company…check him out on his website. PaperHeartSoul

 

Our Monogram

 

The Invites

 

For our flowers we ordered a package through Roberta at Plumerias Wedding Boutique. She was amazing to work with. Just a side bar – she does fill up super fast! I booked my flowers in September of 09! The flowers arrived in early may and look amazing! They are real touch. We got my bouquet, MOH and 4 BM’s bouquets, 3 wrist costages for the mom’s, 9 bouts for the guys and our dads! Here are some pics of the inspiration.

 

 

I’ll be adding a Clear Starfish Jewel…my something borrowed! Such a neat BDW tradition!

 

Here's what the flowers that I received look like!

 

 

In my bouquet I will also have my something old. My Great Aunt gave me a beautiful piece of lace that her great grandfather had brought back from a trip in the late 1800’s. We’re folding it into a rose and putting it in my bouquet as well.

[bahiabride2010]

WEDDING ATTIRE!

 

Onto my favourite part…the wedding attire. I absolutely loved wedding dress shopping and knew that choosing my wedding dress was one of the first things that I wanted to do in the early stages of planning. After visiting a few bridal salons in Toronto, I ended up at Bridal and Beyond in Mississauga. This is where I had my first Maggie experience. After trying on her dresses I was hooked. She really knows how to create wonderful shapes and accentuate the female body. My MOB and I knew when I first put on the Zuri dress that it was the one. So light but fitted, so flowy yet structured, so beachy but still wedding! It took 7 months to come which was a long wait but well worth it. Here are some pictures when I picked the dress up and a link to Maggie’s site. Zuri - by Maggie Sottero

 

My Dress

 

I bought my Tiara at a little store in Port Credit for $70 and my earrings at David’s Bridal for $10.

 

My shoes came from The Shoe Company and were $40. I wanted to be comfortable yet have a bit of sparkle and my FI is not too much taller than me so sandals were my choice.

 

My hair I want in a low, curly, beachy looking chignon. Here are some pictures I used for inspiration and some of my hair trial with my hairdresser here. My MOB came with me and took lots of pictures of the steps to show the ladies down at the Gran Bahia.

 

[bahiabride2010]

 

My Hair Trial - don't have one with the tiara on my camera

 

For make-up, I did a couple of trials! First I went to Sephora and booked a consultation with a makeup artist. There I got some FREE and wonderful tips on the products to use and on how to apply the look as well. Some of the products that I’ve absolutely loved using since:

Urban Decay – Eye shadow Potion – it’s eye shadow primer that is amazing! My eye makeup looks super and stays on all day. Even after a sweat-dripping, but-kicking workout!

Urban Decay – Gold and Pink Shimmer – I want to bathe in this stuff!

Smashbox Makeup Primer – I like the bronzing one!

HD Photo Finish Foundation and Microfinishing Powder

Makeup Forever Aqua Eyeliner

 

 

I also booked an appointment at the Mac Counter at the BAY where I bought my eye shadows and foundation. Here’s a before Makeup pic and an after makeup! The application is free but you need to buy $50 of product…not hard at all!

 

Before Appointment – no makeup

 

After Makeup

[bahiabride2010]

Bridesmaid Dresses

 

As for my ordering my Bridesmaid dresses this became a bit of a nightmare. I would NOT recommend ordering from J Crew. Out of 5 girls, 4 had problems with their dresses. One got the wrong colour delivered initially, one’s order was cancelled, one received a coat instead of a dress, and the list goes on. We got them during a sale which meant a great price(less than $100 a dress) but for the quality of the dresses I would not order at full price. After many calls to customer service, the problems were all resolved and all o my girls got the right dresses. Customer Service was good about sending the girls $50 gift cards and giving them free shipping for the errors. In the end it worked out but I wouldn’t go with J Crew again.

 

3 of my girls are in the Tea Rose…all different styles

 

1 is in Sweet Cantaloupe… the Juliette Dress

 

1 is in Marigold…the Juliette Dress

 

The Groomsmen outfits were a great find while on holiday in South Carolina. We found the Shirts at Steinmart for $25 and the pants at the Haggar outlet for $25. The guys are buying their own brown sandals.

 

Here’s one of our GM’s modeling!

 

My FI’s 1st outfit was mostly found last Labour Day on a power half hour shopping trip before we were heading to watch the Wolverines play football. The pants are IZOD and were on sale for $25 at Macy’s. His 1st shirt in the first picture was found at Target for $20 but we ended up finding a different one which was a better fit at Steinmart and was $25 and the sandals were $10 on sale from JC Penny’s. We figure he’ll wear the other shirt to a shower or the rehearsal dinner.  Just recently he bought himself a linen suit (I was shocked) so he’s decided (actually after seeing it I insisted!) to wear the suit with the 2nd shirt! Very complicated!

 

With Ist Shirt – from Target

 

With 2nd Shirt from Steinmart and Suit from Sid Silvers in Toronto

[bahiabride2010]

Onto the world of VISTA! This is one of the best things I learned from BDW…what a hidden gem Vistaprint is! Here are some of the projects I created with VISTA. For those that don’t know…sign up for the website and every once in while you will get an email saying everything is free. Save this and when you want to order the products you’ve created click on the link in the email…amazing!

 

Our OOT Bag Postcards – 100 free

 

Our Pre-departure Brochure – 25 free

 

Our Thank You Cards -10 free…actually bought 70 more!

 

Hats for Our Dads – Each one free

 

OOT Bag Welcome Letters – Oversized Postcards – 50 free

 

Programs for Ceremony – Rack Cards – 50 free

[bahiabride2010]

Luggage Tags and Tags for OOT Bag Items – 250 Free

 

Mouse Pad – 1 free

 

Picture Sharing Cards – 250 Free – will put these in OOT bags, have out at the reception and also mail them in our THANK YOU Cards,

 

Journal for FI and I to use during the trip

 

Game Over Stuff for my FI - also got him a notebook and shirt

 

Notepads, Sticky Notes, Keychains, and Pens for OOT bags - $5.00 an order (went a little VISTA crazy for a day and put in 25 separate orders!)

[bahiabride2010]

A big part of our wedding planning was selecting and choosing just the right gifts for our Wedding Party, Parents, and Guests. Because of our choice to have a destination wedding, I think these choices were extra important.

For my BM’s, we paid for their dresses, and gave them a beach bag filled with a small clutch, nail polish, notepad, jewelry, and made them shirts. The tanks I bought at Old Navy and were 2 for $10. The Iron On’s came from Michaels’ and were only $1 a piece!

 

Pictures of the Shirts – made a couple for me too!

 

For our GM’s, we bought their outfits, got them engraved flasks, bottles of rum (going to buy in the DR) and Cocktail for Dummies Books.

 

For my parents, I created a photo book of our best family photos and ordered it through SNAPFISH. Here’s a link to the book! I also made hats for our Dad’s and shirts for the Mom’s to wear while getting ready on our wedding day!

Snapfish: Projects: Share: MemoryBook: Registration

 

For my FI, I did a Boudoir shoot with Renaissance Swank Studios. Renaissance Studios Photography - Modern Vintage Wedding & Engagement Photography in Toronto & GTA, London, Milton, Kitchener, Chatham, Ontario, Canada

This was one of the best parts of the whole wedding process! What a fabulous night it was! I highly recommended Clint and his team! They were super! The shoot took place at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto and provided a beautiful back drop for the shots. I’m so happy with how the photos turned out. All of those squats and lunges paid off and I can’t wait to see my FI’s reaction when he opens it! It started as a gift for my FI but it ended up being a fabulous confidence builder for me!

 

To build up some suspense, I’m going to make a puzzle out of one of the photos. For the week before we leave, I’m going to give him a puzzle piece a day with the last piece being given with the book on our first night in the DR!

 

Here are a few of the shots that I really love:

 

Here’s the cover of my book!

[bahiabride2010]

Our OOT bags were so fun to put together! I ordered the bags from Sue at H2 promotions in Toronto! She was super to work with and the mugs and bags turned out wonderfully! We had an assembly party at my Mom’s with my BM’s and worked to put everything together! We spent about $35 a bag for our guests…we had to make 25 of them. Her email is [email protected]

 

 

OOT BAG CONTENTS:

•Snacks – Peanuts, Crispix Mix, Cookies, Gum from Sam’s Club

•Survival Kit – Advil, Imodium, toothpaste, tissue, aloe, Hand Sanitizer, Customized Chapstick, Lens cleaning cloths, trial size lotion packages

•Stationary Kit – 2 postcards, bookmarks, notepad, sticky notes, pen, keychain, magnet, picture sharing card

•Body Puff

•Splash Bombs and Footballs – in the guy bags

•Water Guns

•Mugs

 

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[bahiabride2010]

The Complete Bags

 

SOME OTHER PLANNING DETAILS:

We’re going with a picture mat for our guest book! I got the frame at the Great Canadian Superstore…we’re leaving the glass here and only packing the mat with orange and pink pens for people to sign the mat.

 

We’re doing the Raffia Fans from OTC and have attached the programs I made from VISTA. I bought the ribbon from Michael’s. Thanks to BRANDI for being my delivery girl. Here are some pics of the final products! I’m super happy with how they turned out!

 

 

Here are the bubbles that will be on each seat at the ceremony. Only 9 for $1 at THE DOLLAR GIANT! We wrapped ribbon from Michael’s around.

 

 

For wedding favours, we bought Pashminas for the ladies, thanks to HOLLY for organizing the group order, and are going to get cigars in the DR for the guys. I made matchbooks to put out with the cigars. Here’s some pics:

 

 

My amazing MOB did some serious shell collecting down in South Carolina and we will be incorporating the shells for our centre pieces. I have simple glass vases…we will fill with water and I found these great pink and orange floating flower candles at Dollar Rama along with orange tea light holders. Around the vase will be some shells and pink and orange rose petals. I’m doing a little mock-up this week and will post pics when I have them! My fabulous MOB is also creating the name/place cards we made with Sand dollars we bought through OTC. Mom is doing calligraphy! Pics will be coming this week! Just wanted to post this today…when I had a moment!