Marisa's Aruba Planning Thread 6/11/11 * PIC HEAVY!!*

[J and G 2012]

Thanks for the review on the Necklaces, I was thinking about getting the gold ones for my BMs.

[Samantha88k]

Everything looked amazing, thanks for sharing!

[Sharon99]

Looks like you had a beautiful wedding! Love you dress, I am a fellow Maggie bride!

[IslandBride201x]

Everything looks fantastic!!!  Where did you get your place card shells from?  I am planning the same thing to put in sandboxes.  I found a couple of sites that sell them, but haven't seen that shell combination. 

[MichCraw]

Thank you so much it's true we do love to read the planning threads .. your looked amazing, great hair great makeup.. beautiful reception hall wow!
 

Originally Posted by risa1818 

Well this is after the fact, but I enjoyed reading these planning threads so much I just had to do one too! This site was a HUGE lifesaver for me!! I was able to get so many wonderful ideas here! I truly enjoyed planning my wedding and I could not have done it without this amazing site!

 

About Us:

 

Kevin and I met in March of 2008. We dated until August when I decided to break it off because of his crazy work schedule at the time. It was a hard decision and I was upset over it, but at the time it seemed like we never saw one another. That entire month Kevin sent me text messages every day asking for a second chance, telling me he would quit his job and even going as far as trying to get the help of one of my close friends to get me back. It was beyond sweet, and after a few weeks I knew I had made a mistake. We got back together and Kevin had left his job and decided to give me a promise ring since he knew eventually he wanted to marry me. Now here we are today

 

Proposal:

 

Kevin proposed on December 24th 2009. We were visiting my family for Christmas and before we headed out for dinner, he decided to propose in the living room at my Dad's house in front of my family. It was beautiful and was the best Christmas gift ever!

 

 

My engagement ring is a platinum art deco style, vintage ring. I always wanted a vintage ring and he picked out the perfect one!!

 

Wedding Bands:

 

I decided to purchase a smaller eternity band to fit with my ring. I feel that it compliments it very well and doesn't overpower it. Kevin's ring is a Tungsten. They are both from DePrisco Jewelers in Wellsley, MA.

 

My E-ring with band

 

Kevin's wedding band looks similar to this:

 

Location:

 

We decided on the beautiful island of Aruba! I had been to a wedding there before so I already knew the place we wanted to have it. Our wedding ceremony and reception were at the Manchebo Beach Resort on Eagle Beach. We did the ceremony right on the beach, and then we had our reception under the open air pavilion. It was perfect! Our wedding was on June 11, 2011.

 

Manchebo Beach:

 

 

Reception in the pavilion:

 

Invites:

 

As much as I wanted passport invites, we just couldn't spend the money on those and I am not very good at DIY! So I heard that Zazzle.com was having a sale and I picked out a nice set of invites with matching RSVP cards. They were 50% off so in total I only spend about $130.00 for everything! I loved the Tiffany Blue color and that I could come up with the wording myself.

 

Our Invites:

 

RSVP cards:

 

Attire:

 

We had originally planned on having a wedding here in MA, so I had bought a dress at Running of the Brides in Boston. Once we decided on a DW, I knew that the dress I had purchased didn't seem right for that setting. I originally was just going to do some alterations to it, but then came across a dress I fell in love with! I tried it on and knew I had to have it! My dress was a Maggie Sottero RD1044. It fit me perfectly and looked absolutely beautiful in the pics! I loved it!!

 

Here is when I first tried it on:

 

Here is on my wedding day:

 

Hair flower:

 

I purchased my hair flower from etsy seller EnchandtlyYours. It was steal at $10.99!!

 

Shoes:

 

I brought 2 pairs. One were flip flops for the beach ceremony, the others were small heels for the reception. I LOVED my flip flops and thought they went great with the dress! They were Audrey Brooke Hella Sandal from DSW:

 

For the groom, he wanted an all white linen suit. We found one on Amazon.com for a great price! It is a Bianco Brioni.

 

Groom's Attire:

 

The shirt he wore underneath was from Island Importers. We also had the GMs buy their shirts from there also. Kevin had a blue shirt and the GMs we had wear a turquoise color.

 

GMs shirts:

 

On the guys:

 

The color looks a little off in this photo, but it is in fact the same shirt and color. They wore these with white linen/cotton blend pants from Old Navy.

 

Bridesmaids:

 

I loved the dresses they wore! I went with a J. Crew Taryn dress in the color Bring Coral. I had them purchase them when they were on sale.

 

BM dress:

 

I also gave them orchid necklaces that I purchased from etsy seller morganprather. I decided to get all of them the 3 across style, but for my maid of honor I got her a 3 down style:

 

BM Necklace :

 

MOH necklace:

 

Rehearsal dinner dress:

 

I got this beautiful strapless dress at Ann Taylor. It was one of the first ones I tried on and I loved it! I can't find it on the website but here is a pic of me arriving at our rehersal dinner in it. It was all white with tulle flower print all over. Those are our OOT bags that I am holding in the pic

 

 

 

Hair and Makeup:

 

I was extremely lucky that one of my good friends has a very talented and amazing make up artist sister! I was so excited when she told me she would come! She ended up doing all the hair and makeup for the wedding party and one MOB, so in total she did 8 women in one day! It was crazy but she did such a fabulous job!

 

Makeup trial pic:

 

Hair trial pic:

 

We decided to make a few adjustments the day of. Mainly to move the placement of the hair flower. I loved how it all turned out!

 

Day of Hair and Make Up:

 

 

OOT bags:

 

I had a lot of fun deciding what to put in these. We ended up buying 12 of the Oriental Trading Company's Hibiscus bags for the couples, then 12 solid color drawstring bags for the singles. This worked out well since we had quite a few single guys come and I figured they did not want to carry around a flower print bag.

 

Bag contents:

 

Bath & Body Works hand sanitizers -B&BW

Personalized mini SPF bottles- Fellow BDW bride on here!

Band aids - Target

Pepto Bismal - Target

 

Tylenol - Staples

Chapstick - Ocean State Job Lot

Granola bars - Target

Welcome brochure -Vistaprint

Photoshare cards - Vistaprint

Map of Aruba - Aruba tourism bureau

Mini bottles of Aloe - Ocean State Job Lot

20oz plasic cups with lids- These went over so well! Everyone used them to make drinks. We purchased these from ebay seller

 

Some pics:

 

These labels were bought from a BDW bride!

 

Bought from a BDW bride on here also!

 

Decor:

 

I purchased turquoise table runners and sashes from efavormart.com. They were great quality and very inexpensive! I think they added some beautiful color to the space!

Centerpiece with table runner and rum bottle favors we had made for us on the island. The centerpieces are wedding planner did for us:

 

Table numbers and place cards:

 

I got these from etsy seller dazzle0604. I loved the idea of all the different shells to hold the names and when I told her my colors, she was able to do the fonts and table numbers to match! I think these looked great and she was a pleasure to work with! Unfortunately the Aruba wind did not allow these to stand up for long on their own

 

 

Guest Book:

 

We did a postcard guest book. I framed a sign that I actually got the wording from here. I bought a small box at Michael's to put all the postcards in. The postcards we bought when we got on the island.

 

Sand Ceremony Set:

 

I bought this from an ebay seller. It came three in a set and we etched the main one to say:

Marisa & Kevin

Unity Until Eternity

June 11, 2011.

 

The smaller ones had our names etched on them

 

 

 

I think that is everything!! If you have any questions about anything, just let me know!  Hope you ladies enjoy it and happy planning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[X-Chan]

Everything looks great and you look absolutely beautiful! I'm going to be an RD1044 bride as well. ^^

[MichCraw]

Your hair flower and dress were beautiful ... how did the makeup hold up over there?

[risa1818]

Aww Thanks!! Makeup held up really well, she used all professional Mac cosmetics and I think since it was in the early evening it wasn't as hot as the day would have been.
 

Originally Posted by MichCraw 

Your hair flower and dress were beautiful ... how did the makeup hold up over there?

 

[risa1818]

Thanks!! I bought the shells, place cards and table numbers from etsy seller dazzle0604. She did a great job with everything and was really nice to work with! Very well priced too

Originally Posted by IslandBride201x 

Everything looks fantastic!!!  Where did you get your place card shells from?  I am planning the same thing to put in sandboxes.  I found a couple of sites that sell them, but haven't seen that shell combination. 

 

[Evgal]

Love your flower hair piece! Congrats!