vlynnw's excessively long and pic loaded planning thread!

[vlynnw]

woohoo, can't believe I made it this far to actually be having a planning thread! Well 11 days until I'm in Mexico so here you go...I'm just missing my welcome booklets, which I'm still working on. Thank you to Tammy for this wonderful forum, and to all the brides that have provided me with so much inspiration.  Honestly, as much as I love everything I've gotten off this forum sometimes I think "gee if I never knew about the forum, there are so many things I wouldn't have done and saved more time" haha, but I love it all!

 

Engagement 7/18/2009

            On our 3 year anniversary weekend we planned  a trip away to the Hocking Hills to escape from the city.  We rented a cabin for the weekend and planned on doing quite a bit of hiking a sight seeing.  We are both very outdoorsy and do a lot of hiking.  I knew 7 months before that he had bought a ring because he cannot keep things secret even though he tries, so I just pretended I knew nothing.  I was suspicious the whole trip.  We hiked for 8 hours our second day there and were disappointed in the lack of waterfalls at the caves (the whole reason we were there), but we should have expected that since it was July.  Adam had big plans of wading into the water and proposing underneath a waterfall but due to the drought and numerous amounts of people around plans changed.  We were taking a break up on top of one of the cliffs near where a waterfall would be when he popped the question!

            The next day my aunt and uncle and cousins were all at my sister’s, in from AZ making it the most perfect moment to break the news, of course my parents already knew just not when it was happening.  We knew before we were engaged that we wanted a DW.  The first words out of my mother’s mouth was “so do we still have to go to Mexicoâ€!!

 

Wedding Website

A detailed story of our engagement can also be found here written by my FI

www.mywedding.com/VeronicaAndAdam

 

my e-ring!

 

my wedding band

 

FI’s wedding band

He got a tungsten carbide ring, he picked it out himself and wore it around the mall the day we picked it up so he could “know what it feels like†haha

 

The Resort

After A LOT of research and going back and forth we finally chose Dreams Tulum.  I liked that it was further away from all the hustle and bustle.  We’ve never done an AI before so this will be something new for us.  We typically prefer a boutique style but for convenience with our guests an AI seemed like the best option. 

 

We knew instantly what we wanted our wedding colors to be….Green and Orange they are our favorite colors so there was never any question about what our colors would be, and then I added yellow in here and there to compliment. We wanted to keep it with a tropical elegance theme, not too beachy but keep it simple and elegant. I hope I achieved that.

 

 

Will you be my bridesmaid card

Ordered these from etsy seller inkandenvelopes

 

I also ordered cards to give my BM’s with their gifts from her she is great to work with!

 

The dress

I got my dress pretty early in November 2009 we booked the resort and I bought my dress! It was by chance I was home over Thanksgiving and my mom had a flyer for a dress shop an hour away. When we pulled in my mom, sister, and I all pointed at the dress in the window and said “that’s itâ€.  It was definitely the one everything else just didn’t compare.

Pics from my final fitting

 

 

My Jewelry

Earrings from etsy seller EclecticOrnaments

 

bracelet from etsy seller JewelryBox88

 

Shoes from Nina,

I have heels for part of the reception and cute flip flops for the rest of the night.

 

 

My hairflower - my something borrowed from a fellow BDW bride

I'll also list my something blue - is the blue starfish jewel for my bouquet

new - umm everything! lol dress I guess

old - my grandmother's ring she left me when she passed away

 

 

BM Gifts

I bought my girls some accessories and am also paying for their hair and make-up. 

The wristlets are embroidered with their names from etsy seller syl28

 I also bought them a diamond and initial pendant necklace. 

 

Bridesmaid dresses

Alfred Angelo – moss green color

 

 

Groom’s Attire

We ordered FI’s suit from studio suits.  We actually had to order it twice because the first one did not fit at all even after taking measurements 3 times.  We took measurements again and I added 2-3 inches on all of them and it came back great this time.  We ordered the tropical beige color. We’re not doing a tie or anything I told him it was up to him.  Since we are going barefoot for the ceremony FI will have a brown leather pair of flip flops for the reception.

 

Groomsmen Attire

We bought their outfits as part of their gifts and FI will also be treating them to an excursion.  Outfits purchased from www.cubavera.com

 

 

Flowers

I used Angel’s Accents and cannot rave enough about her! I’m in love with my flowers she does amazing work and she is such a sweet person.  Angel calls to talk to each bride after you’ve requested quotes to get to know you a little and get a better idea of what you are wanting.  I knew from that phone conversation that I had made the right choice I was so excited to have her do my flowers.  I originally only ordered the bouquets and bouts but about 5 months before the wedding I contacted her to see about the centerpieces as well since everyone in the RM wanted to charge my hundreds for them.  I love the final product so much, and am so happy that I get to keep my bouquet.  FI is going to have a couple of the petals crushed and put into a necklace pendant for me after the wedding. 

 

During the reception I plan on using the bouquets as centerpieces as well. We’re doing long tables so it would be 2 of the centerpieces above and a bouquet in between them.  I originally was going to get glass vases for $1 at the dollar tree but was worried about the glass.  So I came across these wonderful inventions and love them, perfect for a DW! They collapse and don’t have to worry about them breaking and come in a variety of colors.  You can even use them with fresh flowers because there is a liner for water.

 

www.blumebox.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inspiration for ceremony set-up

 

I’m getting petals in orange and cream from the resort to line the aisle way.

 

I really dislike tulle, so I found a great affordable place for organza fabric for our canopy in orange, green, and ivory. http://www.paylessfabric.com/servlet/the-Organza/Categories

 

 

organza chair sashes from www.weddinglinensdirect.com

 

Ring Bowl

it says "last first kiss"

 

Sand Ceremony Set

 

I picked up some green and orange colored sand from a local craft store as well as two smaller plastic corked bottles for our mothers to pour in sand from the beach.

 

Garter Set

FI is a Miami Dolphins fan and when I found this on etsy I thought it was perfect.

 

 

....lots more to come

 

[vlynnw]

 

Ceremony Programs

 

Place Cards

 

DIY Passport STD’s

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/59753/vlynnw-s-passport-std-s-lots-of-pics

As stressful as they were I love how they turned out and I’m still getting compliments today!

 

 

 

DIY Boarding Pass Invites

 

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/67811/vlynnw-s-diy-boarding-pass-invites

 

BD Shoot

I did my BD shoot last April during a meet-up with girls from the forum in Chicago with the wonderful Tammy B!! Tammy is amazing and I was super nervous but she made me feel so much better.  I absolutely loved doing this and will admit I’m somewhat addicted now.  I plan on doing one again in the coming year.  I highly recommend every woman to do this….yes it’s a gift for your FI/DH but it’s also a gift for yourself, you won’t regret it!

 

My book cover….I made my own book using blurb

 

 

 

wedding day card

I got some inspiration from some other brides on here for this, but I just had to find a way to use our puppers somewhere in the wedding so here it is!

 

Guestbook

 

I also used blurb to make our guestbook which I got a lot of inspiration from a couple other brides for this. Here is the link to view it, I used quite a few of our epics to put it together.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1458738?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget

 

 

Parents gifts

I ordered hankies with special messages on them for our parents from etsy seller HeatherStrickland

 

Cute hanger for my dress for pics!

 

OOT Bags

 

List of contents

-       travel mug - thanks to another bride I ordered these and then put stickets on with one of our logos

-       photo share card

-       key/tip holder

-       first aid kit with Tylenol, and immodium

-       aloe

-       hand sanitizer

-       emergenC

-       beach balls

-       deck of cards

-       mini notebook with pen

-       suduko & crossword books

 

these I did on VP - photo share cards

 

OOT Bag Tags

 

Luggage Tags and Pre-Travel brochures

I got the business cards from zazzle because VP wasn’t working for me at the time. I also used ribbon instead of the plastic ties because I think it looks better.

I designed the brochures in Microsoft publisher and then uploaded them onto Vista Print for printing.

 

 

 

Menu

 

 

Photographer

 

We're using Jillian Mitchell, she's flying in from PV to do our wedding in Tulum! Picking a photog was very stressful, we fired the first one and then spent weeks debating and I kept coming back to Jillian,,,she actually won the coin toss when we got down to 2 different photogs! haha

www.jillianmitchell.net

 

Mishka Designs

I won Mishka's win win contest this year!!! So excited to have these maracas for our wedding.  I've just gotten news that they have arrived at the resort this week, I can't wait to see them in a couple weeks!

 

I made these tags for the maracas, didn't take pics but here is the template so maybe someone else can use them!

 

 

 

Honeymoon

The day after the wedding we'll do out TTD session, then have dinner with our guests and say goodbye and head up to Playa del Carmen to honeymoon at The Royal!

 

Well I think that's about it! I was going to take pics and show all my outfits and things for our time there but I fear this is probably long enough as is.  Hopefully I should have our welcome books finished within a week so I can share those then. 

 

 

 

 

shake for a kiss tags.pptx

[vlynnw]

almost forgot these

 

Hair and make-up inspirations

[BeachBound2011]

Wow!  Everything looks so great!  I love those Bloom Boxes!  Great idea!

[Donie Jordan]

Everything looks wonderful, I am so impressed! You have worked so hard and your guests are really going to appreciate it all! Congrats! (and, I'm sure I'm not the only one who wouldn't mind seeing pics of the outfits too! I think the more pics the better!)

Best Wishes!!!!

[pineapplebride]

Wow Veronica everything looks AAAAmazing!!!

What an awesome planning thread! I can't believe how organized you are... I need to start working on mine! hehe

 

I've never seen those bloom boxes before, what a great idea for a destination wedding!!

 

I hope you have a beautiful wedding! I'm sure I'll meet you eventually since we'll be a DT at the same time! Good luck!!

 

[Cindy*]

Looks amazing V, you're wedding will be fabulous!

[vlynnw]

Thanks ladies!

 

Heather - we'll have to try to plan a time for drinks while we're there!

[DeAngelis2be]

Love the bloom boxes!! I'm all over that idea. Thanks!!! 

 

Originally Posted by BeachBound2011 

Wow!  Everything looks so great!  I love those Bloom Boxes!  Great idea!

 

[DanniS]

Great job Veronica! You are so organized! I love your hair inspirations! I may steal some of them