Jessica's St. Lucia Planning Thread, July 2011

wilsonj2 · July 10, 2011

This website has been a huge help while planning my wedding! Thank you to all the wonderful ladies who provided opinions, ideas, and templates. I also am so thankful I chose Sarah Sproull do create my invitations and monogram. She was wonderful to work with!

Our Engagement:

One of our favorite vacation spots is Hilton Head Island, SC, and we love the beach, so it was only fitting that we get engaged there. My FI woke me up for a sunrise walk and proposed on the beach. It was perfect.

This is my ring...

Location and Invitations:

We chose to get married at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian in Gros Islet, St. Lucia. We chose Sandals because we wanted a low-stress wedding, where the details were already in place and we could just show up. We ordered our STDs from www.weddingpaperdivas.com (Seaside Serenade) and sent them out last August.

We ordered our invitations from Sarah Sproull on Etsy. She was awesome to work with, but she is extremely busy. You need to reserve a spot early, but she is worth it! She even changed our monogram at the last minute when I was working on welcome bags. We ordered her St. Lucia boarding pass invitations and could not have been happier. I also ordered cute starfish stamps from www.zazzle.com .

Our Wedding Details:

The ceremony will be at 4:00 on the beach. We chose the Sandals Beautiful Beginnings theme, but we chose to do some upgrading. We added the Island Paradise Bouquet, Chic and Natural Arch, and the Steel Drum Band. We will also be having the two hour private dinner on the beach. I created a menu, and we will just use our Ipod and speakers.

I got my dress from David's Bridal, and it is style VW9340. I absolutely love how thin and comfortable it is, and I can't wait to wear it! His outfit came from www.islandimporters.com . We are hoping to go barefoot, but his backup shoes are brown flip flops, and I bought some Havaianas (my favorite flip flop).

Our wedding bands...

I will add the Welcome Bags and templates to this thread a little later.

Final Dinner Menu.docx

J-me · July 10, 2011

Everything looks beautiful - I love your dress! Sarah did such a great job on the invites too! Thanks for sharing!!

Samantha88k · July 10, 2011

Looks great! Your ring is stunning!

Jnadair · July 11, 2011

Everything looks great! Love your dress!

wilsonj2 · July 11, 2011

Rehearsal Dinner Dress from Anthropologie (It's on sale now!)

Welcome Bags:

We don't have many people traveling with us for the wedding, so I decided to get more personal with the welcome bags. I ordered a bag for each woman from Land's End and had it monogrammed. I did a Wedding Survival Kit for each bag and then gifts for individuals...

The bags are from Land's End and are each person's favorite color. I got a great deal on these bags, as they had an amazing summer sale! Wait until late June or July to order. These are the medium canvas open-top bags. They have tons of pockets on the inside and a lanyard to hold keys. I should have gotten one for myself!

400

This is the only thing I really started last year. I would pick up items as I saw them on sale. I used a gallon size bag (get one without a label in the middle) and bought larger cardstock at Hobby Lobby. I printed the cute labels on thick cardstock. Cut and fold the large cardstock and staple to top of back. Use double-sided tape for label.

Contents of Bag:

From Target travel section...

Johnson and Johnson First Aid Kit

Wet Ones Antibacterial Wipes

Shout Wipes

Coppertone SPF 30 Sunscreen

Carmex Lip Balm SPF 15

Tums Smoothies

Advil 2-packs (Dollar Tree, split large box)

Pepto Bismol Chewables (buy large box and split)

OFF! Botanicals Wipes (Target...buy large box and split)

Orbit Gum (Tropical Remix)

Safety Pins (Dollar Tree)

From Bath and Body Works...(shopped sales in December and June)

Nail File

Coconut Lime Verbena HandiBac

Coconut Mango Cooling Mist SPF 30 (50% off right now!)

Travel-size Coconut Mango lotion

Each bag has a candle...Caribbean Salsa from Bath and Body Works. I got these on sale for 75% off during the sale in December.

Havaianas flip flops for all the girls. I am a huge fan of these, but they are normall around $20. I found some at Gap and Loft for 50% off, and I ordered some from www.ruelala.com . It's an invite-only site with great finds! Inbox me if you need an invite.

I made a CD and placed one in each bag. Here is the song list...

I Do--Colbie Callait
Crazy Love--Van Morrison
Is This Love--Bob Marley
You and Me--DMB
Good Life--One Republic
All I Want is You--Tristan Prettyman
Marry Me--Train
Crazy--Pat Green
You are the Best Thing--Ray Lamontagne
Where the Boat Leaves From--Zac Brown Band
Dixieland Delight--Alabama
At Last--Etta James
Better Together--Jack Johnson
That's How Strong My Love Is--Otis Redding
Faster--Matt Nathanson
Free--Zac Brown Band
Forever--Ben Harper
Run--George Strait
Cold Drivers--Trances Arc
Make You Feel My Love--Adele

We bought Pandora bracelets with "Wedding Bells" charms for our mothers. I love this idea, because this will help with present ideas in the future for Christmas, birthdays, etc.

Just what I was looking for to give to my sister! Found these for a steal at Dillard's, and I think they are just perfect.

1836_Jewelry-and-Watches_Citizen-Eco-Drive-World-Perpetual-AT-Mens-Watch-CB0010-53L_4a43_1.jpg

We got the guys all Citizen watches, and I am going to surprise my FI with this one. I can't wait to give it to him and get married! I think that's it for now. I'll post some actual pics when we get back!

Wedding Survival Kit_Final.ppt

Evgal · July 11, 2011

This is great! Thanks for sharing.

JoanneIreland · July 11, 2011

Who did your logo and gift tags? Love them!

MichCraw · July 11, 2011

Beautiful, good luck with the wedding, can't wait to see pictures of the big Day !

Samantha88k · July 11, 2011

I love the pandora idea!! Genius for future gifts!!

wilsonj2 · July 11, 2011

It is the monogram that was on our invitations, by Sarah Sproull. She changed the colors for me at the last minute! I put about 8 on a page and just cut them by hand and punched the hole. Super easy!