*Sunshine's A Little Late, Jamaican Wedding Planning Journal*~~ LONG and PIC HEAVY!!

[sunshine2413]

Thank You!

First off… I want to thank all of the past brides for all of the great inspiration and ideas! Tammy, you are genius for creating this and I crown you as the destination wedding GOD!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! My wedding would have been so horrible without this website! When I found BDW, I was in heaven (as I am sure you can all relate)!! Thanks to my fellow grand brides and most importantly, Susan and Leah for sharing such a wonderful wedding weekend and helping be get through the tough times of planning! Thank you BDW… YOU ROCK!!!

 

 

Engagement

We got engaged at the wonderful Iberostar Grand Rose Hall in Montego Bay Jamaica in 2010 on our 5year dating anniversary! As soon as we got engaged we both knew we wanted to have a destination wedding!! Here is a link to my engagement thread: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/70279/the-surprise-of-a-lifetime-my-engagement-10-27-2010

 

 

 

Rings

My fiancé did a fabulous job picking a unique ring I absolutely LOVE!! Since it is a different shape, no wedding bands fit flush to the engagement band, and I was not really happy with having a gap between bands. SO lucky me… custom wedding band was the only option. I was happy with getting only one band to accent my engagement band but my dear hubby insisted on getting two so it matched on each side (what a sweetheart)! For his band he wanted a little bling, since he is not a real jewelry person he figured he should go all out on the one piece of jewelry he will wear. Here is a picture of our rings together on our wedding day and one in action on our honeymoon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Resort

After lots of resort, site visits, and review reading we decided to have our wedding at the one and only, Iberostar Grand Rose Hall in Montego Bay Jamaica. This is were we got engaged and after seeing other resorts in person we thought it would be best go back to our first love of the Iberostar. It is an ABSOLTELY AMAZING resort, wonderful customer service, fabulous grounds, delicious food, and a down right perfect place to vacation, so we knew it would be an easy sell to our guest! 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucky for us, since we were returning guests, we were upgraded to the presidential suite for our wedding night, Friday, and the remainder of the weekend! We sure were living large, oh I just LOVE that place!!! Here are some pictures, though the do not do it justice…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The DRESS

Essence of Australia D1241… I am in LOVE with it to this day and love to admire it from time to time! It was a perfect dress for a destination wedding; it had the glam that I wanted but comfy and lightweight, without having to compromise my vision.

 

My Dress on the BIG DAY!

 

 

When I said Yesssss To The Dress

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day of Groom Gear & Bride Accessories

 

GROOM GEAR When it came to my hubby picking out what he was going to wear, he went in with an exact idea of what he wanted. He wore a Calvin Klein Grey Tux with a custom shirt from Nordstrom’s and silk grey tie from Hugo Boss.

 

 

 

 

VEIL  In the beginning I was not sure if I wanted to wear a veil and the prices at the bridal salon were outrageous. But once I saw one on with my dress, I decided it was a go. I ordered my veil from: http://www.veilubridal.com/beaded-wedding-veils.htm

It turned out perfect and exactly what I was looking for, fast service, and excellent price.

 

 

 

EARRINGS and BRACELET: My Mom and Dad gave me these as a gift.

 

[sunshine2413]

DIY Overload

Thanks to this fabulous website and all the WONDERFUL brides, I built the courage to take on almost every DIY aspect of the wedding I could handle. I love crafting and always enjoyed coming up with my own creations so I really looked forward to this part of the wedding. Though being a perfectionist definitely added to the hours I spent on all the DIY projects.

 

ALL THINGS PAPER

Monogram: It all started with this grand creation from Rebecca http://www.allurementsbyrebecca.com/

 

 

 

 

DIY Message in the Bottle & Passport Invites  Here is a link to my invites thread: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/74261/our-mib-invites-with-lots-of-pics-and-additional-info

 

 

 

 

           

Pre-Travel Brochure After learning about good old vistaprint, I experimented with a few small things: return labels, mousepad, etc. Than progressed to more important items. With the help of many brides I was able to compile what I wanted to include on the pre-travel brochure. See pictures below (what a time consuming process)!

• This brochure went in our Pre-travel Package to all guest
  • Included: Brochure, Mix CD to get everyone in the island mood, and luggage tags

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome Packet (went in OOT bag)

 

 

 

           

Escort Cards

 

 

 

 Time Capsule for Reception Guest Book

 

 

 

Table Numbers for Reception

 

[sunshine2413]

WELCOME BAGS

Once I saw this idea on BDW, I knew we were giving OOT bags out. This was probably my first project I started on and I gradually picked things up along the way. Unfortunately in the heat of putting them together, while in Jamaica… I never took a final picture (what a dough-dough)! But here are some pictures and my inclusions

• Welcome Folder
  • Welcome Letter
  • Calendar of Events
  • No Facebook Please
  • Invite to Welcome/White Party Beach Bonfire
  • Guest Room #s

 

• Survival Kit – in a black zip cosmetic pouch
  • Lint Roller
  • Anti-bacteria
  • Custom Chapstick
  • Shout wipes/Tide stick
  • Nail File
  • Tissues

 

• Oh Sh*t Kit – in biohazard bag
  • Gatorade packet
  • Crystal light packets
  • Bandages
  • Cough drops
  • Imodium
  • Tums
  • Advil
  • Mints

 

• Snack Pack
  • Goldfish
  • Gum
  • Candy
  • Granola bars
  • Cookies

 

• Organza bags with custom matchbooks and candles
• Custom Cups
• “Deepest Thanks†Candy
• Starfish Bookmarks
• Deck of Card
• Jamaica Magnet

 

Here are some pictures of the goodies in our welcome bags!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sunshine2413]

Favors at the Ceremony/Reception for Guests

• CEREMONY
  • Raffia Fans

 

 

 

• RECEPTION
  • Custom M&M’s at each seat

 

 

 

• Pashmina’s for the women

 

 

 

 

More DIY Pictures & Projects

 

 

 

 

 

[sunshine2413]

Flowers

Since we were not having a bridal party, I figure why not have real flowers and get exactly what I want. I sent over two bouquets to our florist, Tai Flora and they combined my ideas to make my bouquet. I LOVE THE FINAL PRODUCT!!!! Tai Flora was amazing, they executed exactly what I asked for, flowers were fresh and colorful, and they gave great service.

            Flower Order from Tai Flora

• Bridal Bouquet
• Groom and Father of the Bride Boutonnieres
• Mother of Bride and Groom Corsages
• Two Aisle Markers (which were transferred to the ends of the sweetheart table)
• Marriage License Arrangement (transferred to reception)
• Center pieces for reception (I provided the sea glass, under water lights and floating candles to save $$)

 

My Inspiration

 

 

 

My Final Product... LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

 

 

 

Bouquet Jewels

 

 

 

Other Flowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kisha311]

Wonderful job! I especially like the biohazard bag idea. May I ask where you got the black zip cosmetic pouches and bio hazard bags? Cute ideas for sure! Also, I LOVE Rebecca, she made my passport save the dates and my logo!

[sunshine2413]

Ceremony

 

Décor

Here are some pictures from our ceremony set up…

 

 

 

 

 

And lastly... The "cheerleading crew" from the pool! So much Fun!

 

 

 

Script

We wrote our own script, with the help of some fabulous ladies from here and a combing my favorite parts with our words. I did this because I was worried it would not be right and we wanted it personalized.

• I also made vow cards with our monogram on the back so we could read our own vows

 

***PM for a copy.... I was struggling to attach it, my CPU must be on OVERLOAD!!

 

 

Music

We booked a Steel Drum Band… They were AMAZING!!! They played as the guest were being seated, walk down the aisle, during marriage license signing, and after ceremony for champagne toast.

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures

Fun Ceremony Pictures…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sunshine2413]

Reception

 

Details

We picked to have a private reception with a buffet dinner and open bar all night. I am so happy we picked the buffet; everyone said the food was delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

Décor

Here are some pictures from our reception set up…

( I gave instructions to the wedding coordinators on how I wanted everything to look and they went above and beyond what I asked for!!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Music

We booked the resort DJ and supplied him with a list of songs we wanted, special dance songs, and do no play songs. He did a great job and there were no issues!

 

 

Cake

We picked a 3-tier basic white icing, bottom layer strawberry cheesecake and top two vanilla, and spiced it up with some stuff I brought along. The Cake Topper was another DIY project. I ordered our initial and bedazzled it at home, saving $$ though taking forever to do.

- I ordered the basic D topper in silver mirror from etsy for $14.50. (though the shop seems to have closed since then, but there are other ones)

 

- Crystals from: http://myworld.ebay.com/island*girl*crystal/?_trksid=p4340.l2559 (super cheap and large quanity)

 

- Then spent hours using hotfix applicator putting the crystals on.

 

*** I also ordered the starfish and shells from: http://sugarcraft.com/ (they packed these babies AMAZINGLY!! I was so impressed with the price and how well the product was. Great service)

 

[sunshine2413]

 

 

 

Trash the Dress

 

Here are some pictures from our TTD Session the next day…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photography

We booked Misha Earle as our photographer. She was absolutely amazing to work with and she captured our day just as we wanted! Misha brought with her a side shooter and assistance. She made us feel super comfortable and captured us in a very natural way… her creative mine never ended, it was great! We booked 10hrs and used 7hrs the day of and 3hrs for the next day/trash the dress. Well invested $$!!

• Here is her website: http://www.mishaearlephotography.com/index2.php?v=v1

 

 

Events During Our Week in Jamaica

Though I felt like I was running around like crazy the whole week, we did have some pre-planned events for our guest and some time to enjoy one another. Everyone said they had a fabulous time and it was one of the best vacations in their life! All the hard work paid off! Since some guest came for the whole week and others just for an extended weekend we only planned one group excursion, earlier in the week, and had a welcome party the night before the wedding.

 

Trip to Dunns River Fall as a Group

We booked the Cool Running Excursion to Dunns River Fall with about 15 of our guest and it was such a blast! The excursion included: Catamaran ride out to snorkel, Dunns River Falls Climb, and booze cruise party after! This was my 2^nd time doing the excursion and still had the best time ever!

 

 

Welcome Party/All White Bonfire

Instead of having a rehearsal dinner, I pre-arranged for all of our wedding guests to have dinner at the Japanese Steakhouse and then proceed out to the beach for a bonfire and open bar party, the night before the wedding. I informed everyone about this in the pre-travel packet so they all knew to wear white! WHAT A GOOD TIME!!! We had wish lanterns for each of our guest to send off a pre-wedding wish for us.... they were absolutely PERFECT (well worth the hassle of lugging them there)!

 

 

 

 

Farewell/Thank You Bash

Since we had this massive Presidential Suite, we HAD to throw a party! So the last night we had a thank you party for all our guest… I am sure the butler was thrilled to bring boat loads of beer, haha, good times!

[sunshine2413]

Honeymoon

We spent our 2^nd week at the Iberostar Grand Bavaro in Dominican Republic. It was really nice to get away, unwind, and enjoy one another! We loved the resort but NOTHING compared to our first love in Jamaica!

 

Questions…

Well I am sure I left something out and I will be adding to this! I love to relive my wedding every day, even though it was about 6months ago, so if you have any questions… I am happy to help!

 

Check my Post-Wedding Sale: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/80320/big-post-wedding-sale

 

Thanks again for a wonderful planning experience and helping me along the way BDW… LOVE YA!!