NEW: MIchaelandAraceli PIC filled The Royal Planning Thread (attention Chicago brides)

[MichaelandAraceli]

I found the BDW forum in November 2009 and I don’t know what I would have done without it! So many of you (especially the Royal brides- a special thanks to Jess, Karen and Nikki) have been so positive, supportive and helpful- I can’t believe we leave for Mexico in a few days for our December wedding!  If you’re a Chicago bride you might find this especially helpful…

 

Engagement:

November 25, 2009

The night before Thanksgiving my FI and I had a couples massage and we went to Geja’s Restaurant in Chicago. It’s supposed to be the most romantic restaurant in the city and I agree! He had sangria, flowers, music and the staff in on the big secret- the rest is a blurr.

 

This is my ring that my FI had custom made for me! I absolutely love it! It’s a radiant cut diamond stone surrounded by pave stones. The band in thin and it’s eternity- surrounded by diamonds. The ring is from Fey & Co in Chicago (Lincoln Park).

 

 

 

 

 

 

My FI choose 2 eternity diamond wedding bands- I can’t wait to wear them with my e-ring. My FI choose a titanium ring. It’s light weight – perfect for him since he’s always playing sports. We’re both happy with it.

 

Website:

I had our website up in running the first week of December 2009. The website has been changes a few times since then. We choose www.theknot.combecause it’s a classic website and everyone knows of it. Our guests used the RSVP option and they wrote sweet messages.

 

The Dress: 

After the website came the dress. It was the first one I tried on- I was done! I bought this dress December 2009. My parents bought me this dress at Francia Bridal Boutique in Hinsdale, Illinois. This boutique is very intimate and the owner personally helped me every time we went in. The dress is the Mikaella 1406 by Paloma Blanca. It’s very flattering for my body type.

Here it is on the model (Sorry I didn’t take any pictures with it):

  Back:

 

 

 

Our engagement photos in Chicago:

June 6, 2010

We took our engagements photos downtown Chicago. We used Otto Rascon and we can’t tell you enough how wonderful it was working with him. We loved all of our e photos! www.ottorascon.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My hair inspiration:

 

 

 

My flowers:

My flowers/bouquet are long stem white calla lilies. They are elegant, simple and graceful!

 

My mom and mother and law are wearing white corsages.

 

My FI is wearing a single calla lily.

 

 

My dad is wearing a single pink rose to represent me…his only daughter.

 

 

For our ceremony table and for our sweet heart reception table we choose the colorful flowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My shoes:

I absolutely LOVE the white Stuart Weitzman’s I bought at Neiman Marcus. I then had them dyed aqua blue. My shoes are my something blue!

 

 

 

 

 

 Side view:

 

 

 

 

 

 

My jewelry:

I bought all of my jewelry at The Left Bank in Chicago (Lincoln Park). I used to walk by it all the time and as soon as I got engaged I went it. If you’re a Chicago bride- I highly recommend this shop. www.theleftbankjewelry.comHere’s my necklace, my earrings and a broach for my bouquet to personalize it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s my birdcage veil (my mom helped made) and pins for my hair:

 

 

 

 

 

 For the welcome/rehearsal dinner I am wearing a white chiffon one shoulder dress by London Times (Nordstrom and Macy’s carries this brand).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Suit:

My FI bought a tan Calvin Klein linen suit., an aqua blue tie and white shirt from Macy’s and Brown shoes from Nordstrom.

 

 

 The ceremony:

The ceremony will be happening in the gazebo at The Royal. We’re having the ever so classy white covered chairs and we’re going to place our aqua blue ceremony programs on the white ties behind the chairs. We’re going to have a violinist playing at our ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The reception:

Our reception is going to take place at the beach- where else?! We choose the beach in front of Pelicanos because it’s the biggest. We hired DJ Doremixx to play at our beach wedding. We payed extra for the light up dance floor and fireworks.

 

 

 

 More details:

These are some of my most favorite details…I created our welcome letter, our wedding programs, and our menu.

Our wedding program:

 

 

 

 

 

Our menu:

 

 

 

 

 

Our wedding programs and menus:

 

 

 

 

We bought a ring bearer bowl /ornament from Palomas Nest on Etsy. When we get home we’re hanging it on our Christmas tree as an ornament. http://www.etsy.com/shop/palomasnest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also got custom drink stirrers from Etsy. The seller “Just Loverly†was great to work with! The stirrers have our wedding date, our monogram, Eat, Drink. and Be Married written on them- I just love them! http://www.etsy.com/shop/JustLoverly?ref=seller_info

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally (I know- I’ve been an Etsy member for over a year now) we got this banner that says Just Married  The banner seller is Earmark http://www.etsy.com/shop/Earmark

 

 

 

 

 Favors:

In the spirit of the holidays I ordered tree ornaments for everyone.  I ordered the ornaments from www.orientaltrading.com

Our guests from the states got these mariachi snowmen ornaments:

 

 

 

 

 Our guests from Mexico got these Santa on the beach ornaments:

 

Our cake:

When in rome…..we ordered a Tres Leches wedding cake. We’re putting an R cake topper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our place cards:

We went to Michaels and bought these seashell place cards to go with our beach theme.

 

Centerpieces:

We’re using a single ivory candle surrounded by seashells as our centerpiece.

 

 

 

 Our table numbers:

We bought the white picture frames from Target. I also printed the numbers on sand on photo paper at Target. If you want the numbers on the sand PM me I have numbers 1-20 saved.

 

 

 

  

Mike and Araceli
The Royal Playa del Carmen
December 18, 2010
http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt...98b2/event.png  

[MichaelandAraceli]

I finally did it right- with pictures this time! Hope it helps someone

[Lisa DSO]

Great job! Everything looks amazing! Best wishes for your wedding :-)

[erinbrooke124]

Everything looks beautiful!  Congrats!

[butterflyaniam]

Congratulations. It looks awesome. I love your rings and the engagement session looks amazing:)

[Brandy]

Everything looks amazing!!!

[josietoms]

Everything looks lovely - I have the same colour scheme - so has given me plenty of inspiration x :-)

[prettypigpig]

Love the details! I hope mine will be as beautiful as yours! :-)

[mistibuard]

Congratulations! Everything truly looks great!

[shelbygirl]

Great job.  Love your shoes and all your details!!