Brandy's Planning Thread!!!!

[Brandy]

 

I cannot believe that we leave in 13 days!!!!  This entire process has been so much fun and I would never have been able to do it without this forum!  Enjoy every minute of it because it goes by faster than you think.  I really want to thank Tammy for creating this site; it has been the best planning tool for me thus far. 

A HUGE shout out to my April Brides for being there for me through everything, you girls kept me sane through this whole process, we have all had our DW ups and downs, you girls are the best and I’m gonna miss you, I really hope we all keep in touch! And another shout out to my girl Misti!! You kept me together through all of this and you know it LOL, I really enjoyed our daily conversations and hope to continue them for years to come!!!  I have met so many wonderful ladies on here and I know each and every one of you is going to have the most amazing wedding, I wish you all the best of luck, and I hope my planning thread helps all future brides!!!  Well here goes it’s a long one……

Our Engagement

FI proposed on April 2, 2009 on board the crown princess, in route to Turks & Caicos at the top of the ship during sunset.  

 

 

The rings

 

 

The Resort

 This was the hardest part of the entire planning process; it took us forever to finally decide on a destination and a resort.  We had been to Turks & Caicos before during a cruise and just thought it was absolutely beautiful.   We have never actually been to any beaches or sandals resorts but I hear they are beautiful.  We knew we wanted to allow kids to come so we decided on the beaches resort, in Turks & Caicos!! www.beaches.com

[Brandy]

 

Theme & Colors

Our wedding colors are aqua (turquoise) and coral with hints of orange.

We chose the Martha Stewart Theme “Seaside Serenadeâ€.

 

 

 

 

 Monograms

From a seller on Etsy

http://www.etsy.com/shop/jennjohnstondesigns?ref=pr_shop_more

[Brandy]

 

So I have to dedicate an entire section to Rebecca (Allurements by Rebecca) www.allurementsbyrebecca.com because without her my wedding would not be nearly as fabulous!!  Rebecca went above and beyond my expectations, since we are getting married at Beaches, they take care of pretty much everything, you basically just pick a few things out and they take care of the rest.  So there wasn’t really much for me to plan or personalize which kind of drove me crazy.  But with the help of Rebecca, I was able to make all the little things more amazing and stand out, and was able to add more personalization to my wedding!!  Rebecca, is truly the best vendor I worked with, she is an amazing person, trust me, if you use her for your DW details you will not be disappointed!!!!!!!!

The very first thing Rebecca made for us was a custom monogram to put on the front of our passport STD’s.

 

 

Save the Dates

This is the standard passport with no pages, printed on white shimmer cardstock, and I tied on the coral colored raffia.

She even printed a cute seashell design on the envelopes so it all tied in together.

[Brandy]

 

Invitations

Rebecca also did our boarding pass invitations, which included 3 “tickets†the actual invitation, information on the resort, how to book and our website info, and the third ticket is the RSVP (postcard style)which tore off to go right in the mail, all printed on white shimmer cardstock.  We used the lagoon colored envelopes, and Rebecca made me wraps to put on the envelopes with all the addresses printed on them.  We ordered the custom stamps from Zazzle.

 

 

[Brandy]

 

“Will You Be My Bridesmaid?†Cards

I also had Rebecca make me cards to ask my three bridesmaids to be in my wedding, and I absolutely love how they turned out!  I also gave the girls luggage tags with the cards.  They are a z-fold style card, printed on white shimmer cardstock and then mounted on metallic orange flame cardstock, tied with 2†tiffany blue satin ribbon.

[Brandy]

 

OOT Bags!!

These were so much fun to make, but you can very easily get carried away and spend a little too much, but my guests are worth it!

I purchased the OOT bags from http://www.ailanakai.com/

I am really pleased with these not only were they a great price; I paid 3.75 each for them, but they are also a really great quality, very sturdy.  They are 12â€W x 10â€H (not including the handle) x 4â€D, and are made from palm leaves.

Each couple will receive an OOT bag, as well as each single

 

 

 

OOT bag tags

These are printed on a white shimmer cardstock; I attached 1/8†white eyelets (bought from Michaels) and attached them to the OOT bags using coral colored raffia.

 

 

Firsts Aid Kits

Rebecca made the labels for me and printed them on a glossy 3†x 3.5†sticker, and I purchased all the first aid kits from target, they were .97 a piece and I also had a coupon for $1 off of 2, I found the coupon directly off of Johnson and Johnson’s website.

Semi- DIY Chap Stick

Rebecca made the stickers for me on a waterproof label, and I ordered the Chap Stick on Etsy from the seller beach in a box.  I really love how these turned out, I think they are my favorite thing in our OOT bags!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/beachinabox?ga_search_query=beach+in+a+box&ga_search_type=seller_usernames

 

 

 

Key Card Holders

Purchased the lanyards from www.westcoastlanyards.com great quality and great pricing, I paid 0.50 a piece, I purchased the re-sealable badge holders from amazon.com for $26.00, and Rebecca made the inserts for me, printed on shimmer cardstock, and they say “to have and to hold your room key!† Each person will recieve their own key card holder

 

 

 

 

Hangover Survival Kits

 

Include: Advil, scope, first aid kit, Tums, Pepto Bismol, Emergen-c, and propel drink mix

 

I got most of the stuff from the Christmas Tree Shoppe, and Rebecca made the bag tops for me, I purchased a ribbon hole puncher from Michaels, which worked really great and threaded the raffia through to attach the bag tops.  I didn’t want to staple them or anything, because I didn’t want anyone to have to rip them off and ruin the tops.

[Brandy]

 

Sand, Sun & Fun Kits

Include: Palmers cocoa butter, (2) custom chap sticks, (2) bath and body works anti-bacterial, gold bond powder for the men, shout wipes, hair ties, and aloe

 

 

Koozies

I purchased the Koozies from Barry Promos on Etsy, I’m not even going to provide a link for them, trust me on this, if you come across them on eBay or Etsy I wouldn’t recommend using them, not only did it take 2 ½ months for me to receive them but they also came in wrong!  Now he was nice enough to ship me the correct Koozies very quickly.  Their prices are great so if you do use them, make sure you order them waaaaaaay in advance!

And the logo was designed by the fabulous Mrs. Rebecca!

 

 

 

 

 

Muslin bags, bought from a seller on Etsy, sellers name is Flirtdeux, I used these for the wrinkle release sprays and lint rollers.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/flirtdeux?ga_search_query=flirtdeux&ga_search_type=seller_usernames

[Brandy]

 

And the final bag!!!!!!

[TLGnhci]

Wow, I know your not even done yet girl, but your stuff has to be the best I've seen yet!  Fabulous!!!!!!  I wanna go to your wedding.  Ha ha

[Brandy]

 

Welcome Booklets

 

I dont have the welcome books just yet for the oot bags, but they include the cover, a welcome letter, schedule of events, Wedding day timeline, resort map and key, List of activities and the photo share page.

They will be tied together with a ribbon, printed on white shimmer cardstock and the finished book will be about 6 x 6, here is what they will contain....

The Cover

 

The Welcome Letter