Swankster77's planning thread! Lots of pics!

[swankster77]

So is it too late to post a planning thread AFTER the wedding?! Here I am 1.5 weeks of marital bliss and I'm finally getting to my planning thread! I had every intention of posting this before we left but as you all know time is definitely stretched thin the weeks prior to the big day!

 

I am so lucky I found this website... I seriously had NO clue before joining this community. All I knew was I wanted to get married somewhere far away and warm and tropical! Boy was there a lot more to it! The brides (former and new) on here have been such a huge help and I cannot thank you all enough for being such an inspiration to me!

 

So I'll get started!

 

The engagement:

September 9, 2009. My fiance and I had talked about getting married for awhile at this point and we even looked at rings to I knew getting engaged was in my near future. However the day it happened I couldn't have been more surprised! It was a random weekday and I got home from work to find a note telling me to go to the place where our journey began... Lambeau Field! Our first date was a packer game so I knew this was what he meant. I don't have a picture of this since it was just him and I but here is the ring:

 

Wedding Location:

We knew we wanted to go somewhere warm like the caribbean. I used a travel agent that I get a discount with through my employer and she researched a few different locations. We decided on the Gran Bahia Principe Tulum. Not only was the price right but the pictures showed a place that looked like everything we had dreamed. Here are some pics:

 

Wedding ceremony and reception location:

 

Engagement Photo:

We probably wouldn't have done an engagement session but my fiance worked with a guy that had a side business. They're okay.. not exactly what I had in mind but we didn't pay a lot either so that was good:

[swankster77]

The dress:

Found my dress the first day we looked... didn't want anything too big/heavy or expensive. Found this ad David's Bridal for less than $500

 

Bridesmaids & Junior Bridesmaid dresses:

Originally I wanted a turquoise/teal theme wedding but we ended up loving the colors watermelon and tangerine from Davids. The first pic is my maid of honor in tangerine. The other bridesmaids had the same dress in watermelon - the cost of the dress was $135 w/$20 off because I bought my dress there. The 2nd pic is my junior bridesmaid who is my beautiful daughter - this dress was only $85. Both of these dresses had pockets - awesome!

 

Groom/Groomsmen Attire:

My husband got his outfit from JCPenny. Pretty simple - white oxford and khaki dress pants with brown shoes. He had a watermelon striped tie. The best man wore the same outfit with a tangerine tie and the other groomsmen had a watermelon tie. We bought the ties from solidneckties.com

 

Shoes:

I wore these shoes I bought and had dyed at Davids. This pic doesn't show them well but they're wedge style. I also had a pair of white flips to change into for the dance. They say 'what's mine is mine and what's his is definitely mine' kind of cute.

 

I had all the bridesmaids buy their own silver shoes and then I bought them these from dessy.com to wear for the dance:

 

And the groom/groomsmen shoes from payless:

 

Wedding Jewelry & Accessories:

I bought this set from Davids:

[swankster77]

And my hair flower which is actually a flower pin:

 

Found the bridesmaid necklaces at Target - so cute I found one for everyone (daughter, sister, friend)

 

Invitation:

I bought the paper from cardsandpockets.com. Love that store! I did the design & printing myself.

 

Sand Ceremony set:

I bought this from a seller on Etsy.com.

[swankster77]

Fans/Programs:

 

Bridesmaids Gifts:

I got the girls the necklace & flip flops I showed earlier as well as victoria's secret after sun lotion and a bikini bag from monkeyfootdesigns.com. I got a different pattern back to fit their personalities. A big hit!

 

Sand Ceremony Reader & Personal Attendant gifts:

VS Lotion and a hand bag hook:

 

Groomsmen gifts:

A monogramed money clip/wallet and gift card:

 

Boudoir Shoot:

This was such a fun experience! I went with Elegant Xposures in Oshkosh WI. Laurie Marie was wonderful to work with!

[swankster77]

OOT Bags:

This was so much fun to put together.. I think I went overboard though! The main items are the bag itself - from old navy, beach towels from target and mugs from discountmugs.com. The other stuff was small and some of it was probably unnecessary:

[swankster77]

Guestbook:

Instead of doing a traditional guestbook we bought a bunch of postcards from zazzle.com for everyone to write us some advice or funny story. Here is the card we put out with them:

 

Misc Decor:

Shake this for a kiss!

Placecards

 

Hair Inspiration:

 

Hair Trial:

 

Bachelorette Party!

 

Ok I think that's all I have! The rest I'll be posting on my Gran Bahia Principe Tulum Wedding review!

 

Thanks again to everyone on this message board! I plan to continue to be active and help future brides with their planning as well so hopefully someone can benefit from my knowledge as I did from all of you!

[TATrisha]

Kirsten, your wedding was so beautiful! And all the planning you did ahead of time really paid off. It's all so gorgeous!!!

Congratulations again!

[Cindy*]

Everything looks amazing, thanks for sharing. Congratulations!!

[AishaB]

Never to late to post your planning thread, thanks for doing so. Your stuff looks great! I love the maracas and the little umbrellas. Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

[KarenM]

Congratulations on being a Mrs!! Everything looks great! You know how we all love a good planning thread so thanks for posting it!