Planning our Riviera Maya Wedding!

[ashk]

As January 20th speeds incredibly ever-faster towards us, I am racing to get everything sorted for our Jan 17, 2013, 6am departure!

 

We have each other, the dress, and the place. What more do we need?

 

Oh yeah! The flowers, his suit, music, OOT bags and attendant goodies, choose menu, and all the hundreds of other things I know you all know Let alone the guests!

 

I hope something I've done/will do, or didn't do, will be helpful to those of you still planning.

 

And I am beyond thankful to all the BDW ladies who have come before me for their inspiration, ideas, experience and just good ol' sanity-saving "we've been there"!

 

Ashley

[ashk]

Choosing Destination

We decided to go Destination after seeing all the work and stress my girlfriend went through for her October 2011 wedding, and after both our parents semi-jokingly suggested it. We knew we wanted the Riviera Maya, because we'd been there a couple years ago on a day excursion while on a family cruise, and wished we could have spend more time there. After months of research and searching, we decided on Grand Sirenis.

 

My Dress

I got my dress kind of by fluke - a work girlfriend of mine is getting married July 2013, and we had been attending Bridal shows together. She wanted to check out a massive bridal sample sale downtown, and I tagged along for moral support and to see what was out there. I fell in love with the first dress I tried on! I was planning on something simple and flowy and beachy, so when I saw this gorgeous diamond-white, embroidered and bejewelled confection of a gown, in my size, I thought "well I should at least be able to say I've tried one of these on"

My friend bought her dress that day. I didn't have my mom with me, and I didn't really think it was appropriate for a beach wedding. It was so painful to leave it behind! I just couldn't get it out of my mind, and I ended up rushing back first thing the next morning with my mom, and it was still there!!! Totally meant to be! And it fits practically perfectly right off the hanger.

 

(I'm on the right, my friend is on the left)

[ashk]

Now the fun part - all the planning

 

Photographer

Our photographer is Take It! Photo, based in the Riviera Maya. I was looking at reviews here on BDW. Their work is beautiful, and they have amazing reviews. They work as a team (2 photographers) And Andre (my fiance) likes them too. 

I was actually torn between bringing a local photographer I had met at one of the shows -  my MoH and I both really liked her, and her work. But even tho she was happy to come to Mexico with us for the cost of her trip and supplies, I ended up choosing someone local. My logic being that they would be more experienced with the photographic conditions, and they're a team - so twice the photo opportunities! And it ended up being less expensive too. Altho bringing your photographer as your guest often means they wander around the resort the whole week you're there, and often take lots of random shots of you and your guests.

[ashk]

Invitations

We sent out Save the Date / Announcement emails to everyone as soon as we knew the date and place, to give as much notice as possible.

Then we made up Save the Date invitations. We made fridge magnets (business card size, from Vistaprint) designed by Andre (who's a photoshop wiz).

I think they came out decently, but the bleed margins given by Vistaprint were off so the blue border didn't come out quite right. But they were a hit with our guests I see them on everyone's fridge when I visit.

I made them from scratch myself with white letter size cardstock from Walmart (about $6 for a pack), printed with our message (made 2 per sheet). Then folded in half. Found gorgeous guava/coral ribbon at Dollarama. Wrapped a length of ribbon around the front of the card, and secured with a paper copy of the StD magnet. Then used the ribbon to hold an insert with information about the resort on one side, and the booking info on the other.

 

Total cost per StD including magnet and postage: $1.46

 

Our magnets and the front of the StD cards

[shannonmarie]

Can't wait to see the rest of your planning! Your only 2 months away! How exciting

[AllieH]

Love your STDs!!! Can't wait to see the rest of your plans.

[ashk]

Here's what the Save the Dates ended up looking like:

 

 

The information insert (front and back)

 

 

All the inserts (booking form, information insert, and fridge magnet)

 

The message and all inserts:

 

The finished product!

[ashk]

I also made the Engagement Party invites, with assembly help from my mother and 2 bridesmaids. Including postage, they cost $1.21 each.

I found the base cards at Dollarama, the coloured cardstock from Michaels (on sale) and my mom bought the sand dollar stamp and coral ink (also from Michaels) . The insides were made using MS Word and lots of trial and error to get the right font ink colour! And I used roll-on adhesive (similar to roll-on whiteout) to glue everything together, also Dollarama.

 

The base card - it had nice colours, but this icky brown ribbon had to go!

 

Added coral ribbon and a double square of cardstock stamped with coral ink.

 

Drew the map by hand and then photocopied a bunch of times - it's held in place by the ribbon, which feeds through the spine of the card (rotary cutter yay) and glued under the stamped card on the front. Then glued the green and blue corners and info insert. Taa-daa!

[ashk]

Finally scheduled my bustle fitting with the bridal salon - I love my train, but there's no way I'm dancing like that LOL!

 

Aww - my mom and bridesmaids threw me the most wonderful "surprise" shower yesterday   I'm still in shock that we were able to fit that many ladies into my parent's living room!

[Peach]

Oh, I LOVE the Grand Sirenis! That was the first trip FI and I took together (with his parents!)... we thought about going back there for our wedding, but opted for somewhere new.

 

Please be sure to post pictures and cannot wait to see the rest of your planning!