Allie H's EDR (RM, Mexico) 11-5-2012 Planning Thread

[kellisbaby]

@AllieH  I really hope you believe that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery... I love the EFF out of your wedding and am "borrowing" so many of your ideas!!    I bought the lanterns and parasols from Luna bazzar, drink cup stickers from Davet Designs (Although my colors are red, black and white).AND commissioned my cake topper from mudcards.

 

TY, TY for all your hard work, planning and sharing.  I also really love and appreciate that you're still so active on the boards!  It makes it so nice to follow up and ask questions from someone "on the other side".

 

I can only hope my wedding is 1/2 the success yours was!

[AllieH]

@@kellisbaby - wow, thank you!!! I wish I could claim my ideas were all original - but alas, I'm also a borrower of fantastic ideas (and working with amazing vendors). I don't know what I would have done without the other BDW brides and Pinterest.

 

I can't wait to hear/see more about your plans.

 

 

@AllieH  I really hope you believe that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery... I love the EFF out of your wedding and am "borrowing" so many of your ideas!!    I bought the lanterns and parasols from Luna bazzar, drink cup stickers from Davet Designs (Although my colors are red, black and white).AND commissioned my cake topper from mudcards.

 

TY, TY for all your hard work, planning and sharing.  I also really love and appreciate that you're still so active on the boards!  It makes it so nice to follow up and ask questions from someone "on the other side".

 

I can only hope my wedding is 1/2 the success yours was!

[kellisbaby]

@AllieH  I am for sure coming back to do a planning thread on the site, so stay tuned for all your idea's to be reborn in red, black and white!  hehe.

 

Or, if you are really bored, I do have a wedding planning blog I keep: www.takeanapa.wordpress.com

 

The ideas there are pretty scattered and random though.  (or I post as I finish parts of projects, but not necessarily the entire thing).

[SuchALady777]

thanks for sharing!

[NickiLynn1116]

@@AllieH  I LOVE your cake topper.  I ordered mine from her as well.  Did you have trouble getting it there?  I am so nervous because it is so fragile.  I am doing cupcakes as well.  Did they provide you with a cupcake tier?  If not what did you do with the cupcakes?  Did you get one per guest?  

@@AllieH do you still have the music spreadsheet?  I would love to use that.  Does the DJ give you a list of songs to choose from or do you just pick whatever you want?  What if you choose a song they don't have, can they get it?

 

Thank you for all of your help with my wedding planning.  You have helped me so much along the way.  Only 87 more days for me!

I haven't said too much about our music, so here goes: 

 

We used our iPod for the ceremony. 

Guest Seating: We used Iz's combination of Somewhere over the rainbow/What a wonderful world

Groom Walk: they didn't tell me I could have a separate song for him, so he walked to the guest seating songs! 

Bride Walk: Just the Way You Are, Silverlake String Quartet 

Recessional: Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Stevie Wonder

 

My MIL hired DJ All Music for our dinner/reception. They gave us a spreadsheet to list all the songs for dances, introduction, party starters, etc. They stuck to our list, and everyone had a fantastic time. 

 

Intro: All You Need is Love, The Beatles

 

Dinner: 

 

Harry Connick Jr, It Had to Be You Jimmy Buffett, Pencil Thin Mustache Madonna, La Isla Bonita Maroon 5, She Will Be Loved Journey, Open Arms Otis Reding, Sittin on the Dock of the Bay

 

Bliss - John Legend & Teyana Taylor The Ingredients of Love - Musiq Soulchild A Groovy Kind of Love - Phil Collins Hang On to Your Love - Sade Summer Time - Ella Fitgerald Could You Be Loved - Bob Marley Only if for a Night - Floreance and the Machine Feeling Good - Nina Simone Paradise - Coldplay Islands in the Dream - Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want to have fun

 

They played a whole lot more, but I specifically remember hearing these. Dinner was about an hour.  We cut the cupcake after the main entree, so before their desserts were served. 

 

Cake cutting song: Pour Some Sugar on Me - Def Leppard

 

First dance: I won't give up on us, Jason Mraz

 

Father/daughter dance: I had the DJ announce that it wasn't a traditional father/daughter song, but it was the song I remember listening to with my dad as a little girl. This really made everyone mushy over a totally inappropriate (but personal) song choice!! The song was Luckenbach, Texas by Waylon Jennings

 

Mother/son dance: Just the Way You Are, Billy Joel

 

Dancing songs (Now that I think about it, several of the slower songs were moved back to dinner - like Piano Man, Cross my Heart, and some of the others): 

Party Starters: I'm Comin Out, Pink & Let's Get It Started, BEP

 

Our last song was Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer - one of my all time favorites. 

The rat of the dancing was a variety of these below: 

 

You Shook Me All Night Long  - AC/DC Brick House - The Commodores Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison 1999 - Prince Come on Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners Copacabana - Barry Manilow Dancing Queen - Abba Everybody Have Fun Tonight _ Wang Chung Funky Cold Medina - Tone Loc Get Down Tonight - KC & The Sunshine Band Getting' Jiggy With it - Will Smith Grease Megamix - Soundtrack Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice The Twist - Chubby Checker Love Shack - The B-52's New York, new York - Frank Sinatra Proud Mary - Ike & Tina Turner Shout - Isley Brothers Sweet Home Alabama - Lynard Skynard We Are Family - Sister Sledge YMC - The Village People Wild Thing - Tone Loc The Time (Dirty Bit) Black Eyed Peas Firework - Katy Perry Raise Your Glass - Pink Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond Sir Mix a Lot - Baby Got Back George Strait - I Cross My Heart Billy Joel - Piano Man Edwin McCain - I'll Be Rihanna - Don't Stop the Music Rihanna - Umbrella

 

Bob Marly - One Love Jayz & Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind (Warning) Elton John - Your Song Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun Kool & the Gang - Celebration

 

Rihanna  Pon De replay Ellie Goulding  Lights Justin Timberlake Headsprung Jay Z Run This town M.I.A/Diplo  Cutty Ranks Madonna & Party Rock Give me All your Luvin Nelly Furtado Big Hoops Nicki Minaj Pound the Alarm No Doubt Push and Shove Sean Paul Got 2 Luv U Sean Paul How Deep is your Love Smokey Robinson I second that Emtion  Diggy Do it like you  Kid Cudi (steve Aoki Remix) Pursuit of happiness  Flo Rida Jump Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville U2 beautiful day Michael Jackson PYT

 

So we had a ton of songs, and we didn't hear all of them, but it doesn't matter - the ones they picked were really great. I had lost my voice by the end of the night from singing and dancing!! 

 

I have spreadsheets of these if anyone wants them to help with your planning. it had spots for bridal party intro, garter toss, bouquet toss, etc. which are all things we didn't do/have. 

[AllieH]

Hi @@NickiLynn1116 - 

 

I ended up not bringing the topper to Mexico because I was afraid it would break en route. But you could bubble wrap it, and then take super glue with you just in case. 

 

I brought the cupcake tier with me. Lomas has them available to rent, but I'm cheap. They filled the 3 tiers, and then scattered the rest of the cupcakes on the table. I have a picture of the table I can send you. 

 

We gave the DJ a list of songs we wanted, but DJ All Music does have a huge PDF of the songs they have. They would try to find the music if they didn't have it available. I'm sure if you wanted to turn control over the song choices to them, they'd be fine with it. I'm a little more of a control freak, and knew the songs we wanted to play. 

 

If you'll PM me your email address, I'll send the DJ spreadsheet and the pic of the cupcake table. 

 

 

@@AllieH  I LOVE your cake topper.  I ordered mine from her as well.  Did you have trouble getting it there?  I am so nervous because it is so fragile.  I am doing cupcakes as well.  Did they provide you with a cupcake tier?  If not what did you do with the cupcakes?  Did you get one per guest?  

@@AllieH do you still have the music spreadsheet?  I would love to use that.  Does the DJ give you a list of songs to choose from or do you just pick whatever you want?  What if you choose a song they don't have, can they get it?

 

Thank you for all of your help with my wedding planning.  You have helped me so much along the way.  Only 87 more days for me!

[NickiLynn1116]

Allie you have seriously been the biggest help to me for planning my big day!  This is my 150th post and I felt like it should be to thank you for all your hard work that you continue to do with all us brides.  You are GREAT!

[AllieH]

@@NickiLynn1116 - thank you for your sweet words. I'm so glad I'm able to help you and other destination brides. I hope your big day is as magical as our was. 

 

Allie you have seriously been the biggest help to me for planning my big day!  This is my 150th post and I felt like it should be to thank you for all your hard work that you continue to do with all us brides.  You are GREAT!

[Surfingsara]

I'm at the 2 month mark, and I thought I should start sharing my planning with everyone. Like the other brides, I've learned so much and been inspired by brides who have gotten married before me. Thank you to all of you for sharing!!!    Background: My fiancé and I met online, and became friends in early 2006. I lived in Fort Worth, TX, and he was in NYC. We were both interested in each other, but clearly geographically undesirable. So we became internet friends. We finally met in person in NYC in September 2006, when I was there on business. Our first "date" was to Yankee Stadium (the old one) to see a game. We stayed friends for a few more years, and he finally decided to move to TX in 2009. So we went from friends to a committed relationship pretty quickly.    We got engaged in July 2011, and I knew I wanted a destination wedding. Fortunately he was on board with that plan, and just had 2 requests: infinity pool, and good food. We are hoping for an upgrade to an infinity swim up sweet, but EDR is supposed to have amazing food.    To narrow down our resort choices, I created a spreadsheet of the things that were important to us, plus some facts about the resorts. I've shared this with several BDW brides who have asked, and hope it helps you guys out too! If anyone can't download the file, feel free to email me: allisonlharper AT gmail DOT com             We went through the typical drama that a lot of DW couples do of family members not wanting to go. My parents put up a fight, but eventually caved. Some of my best friends, and my only sister are not going to be there. While I'm sad they won't be there, I think I've made my peace with it. This is for us, and we will not be the ones missing out on this special event.    So blah, blah, blah, blah.    We settled on Nov 5th as our date. After hurricane season, after the busiest time for my job, and a Monday so less competition from other brides/groups on that day. Our colors are light blue and orange (though we went back and forth with a teal/aqua and the light blue as you'll see from the STD to the invite differences...)   Our STD's went out electronically thanks to a bit of a snafu. We had a short time to get everyone's deposits put down and secure a pretty smoking hot deal. It worked though:      I should also add that Amanda of Little Bean Shop on etsy designed all of my paper/invite products. She's a good friend of mine, and did amazing work!    I did semi-DIY invites, which I've posted details here. Amanda designed the invite itself, I added the japanese handmade aper, twine, made my own envelope liner, and made the "seal" with the sand dollar. this is the final package that went out:      We included an RSVP with an entree choice on the back, an invite to the welcome dinner w/ a tear-off RSVP for that, and a little card with our wedding website on it.    We sent them out in late July, with a September 1 RSVP date. Our final payment date was August 17th, so this worked well with our timeline. it was also a good reminder about booking airfare for those who hadn't yet (and most of our guests had not!).    We also have a Facebook group with our friends - those who are going, and those who aren't. I'm doing a bunch of getting to know you (GTKY) questions so our friends can start interacting, and that is going pretty well!     Next post: ceremony & reception plans

Love your save the dates! Did you do this yourself or have them designed?

[AllieH]

hi @@Surfingsara! a friend of mine designed them for us - she has an etsy shop as well and is really reasonable. the link is in the original post - Little Bean Shop. 

 

 

Love your save the dates! Did you do this yourself or have them designed?