Shannon's Now Jade Rivera Cancun Planning Journal

[shannonmarie]

Time to pay it forward!

 

So it’s my turn to start my planning thread! I cannot believe it’s actually almost my time! ;-) First of all, thank you ladies (and Tammy!!!) for contributing to this board. I don’t think I could have done this without you! We had a 17 month long engagement. Got engaged Thanksgiving of 2011 and needed to do a summer wedding due to my future father in law’s job so that left us with Summer 2013! It felt like forever but toward the end, it's all going by so fast! I’ll start with choosing a location… I always knew I wanted a destination wedding. We have been to a dozen weddings and as much as I enjoyed them, it just wasn’t me. Also, both of our families are scattered around the US and would have to travel to attend our wedding anyways, so why not choose a tropical location! I honestly think my FI would have preferred a local wedding at first, BUT he knows that a destination wedding is my dream and he’s totally on board with it! It was between Jamaica, DR, and Cancun. FI didn’t seem too excited about Jamaica for some reason so we narrowed it down to DR & Cancun and I’m not sure exactly how it happened but we ended up with Cancun. We have never been to Cancun, or an all inclusive resort for that matter. Its a little nerve racking asking so many people to go somewhere with us when we’ve never even experienced it ourselves! But from what I hear, you really cannot go wrong! We have been on multiple cruises but never to an all inclusive!

 

Choosing the resort

 

Thankful to these boards, I read about sooooo many fabulous resorts!  We ended up narrowing it down to Now Jade Rivera Cancun and Dreams Cancun. What sold me was the Pergola ceremony location at Now Jade. I loved it immediately. I loved that I could wear heels and still have that beautiful back drop of the beach. Dreams Cancun did have a beautiful gazebo, but the Pergola at Jade was just more “meâ€. Also, Jade’s package included 25 guest while Dreams was 20, every little bit helps!

 

Save the Dates & Invitations

 

I am very frugal. I hate spending a lot of money on something that I know the majority of people will end up throwing into the trash. I could not justify spending hundreds of dollars on. We needed 150 save the dates and invitations and rsvp cards. Some websites were absolutely ridiculous. I turned to VistaPrint for both. I order Save the Date postcards. I had to order 200 since they only come in quantities of 100 and I needed 150. Total price: $32.80 for 200 postcards. I think they were having a sale or 50% off. I can’t remember exactly but I do know that I placed 2 diff orders. Here’s what they looked like. We sent them all out in June 2012.

 

 

 

Then it was time to order the invites. Again, I needed 150. As much as I love love love the passport invites, it just wasn’t in our budget. I’d rather have a DJ or use the money towards something like that. So I went back to good ole vistaprint. I ordered 150 invites and postcards for RSVP’s (saves on an extra envelope and a cheaper stamp!)..  $75.33 for 150 invitations & postcards (ordered 200). I used a Groupon for this one! I put our travel agent info on the back of the invite. We sent our invites out late January 2013.

So I paid a total of $183.46 for 150 Save the Dates, Invitations, and RSVP’s! Again, they were nothing fancy, but they did the job!

 

 

 

Post Card RSVP Front:

 

 

Back:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I started making Luggage Tags to send to guest with a thank you for booking note. Our first guest didn’t book until January so girls, don’t worry! I started to panic because we were 6 months out and still had NO clue how many guest we’d have. I was so sad that not one person booked, besides immediate family! Right now it is March, we are 3 months out and we have 30 people booked with about 10-15 people getting ready to book. About 10 of those people that we were absolutely surprised with. It’s true when they say the people you least expect will come and those you expect to come, won’t. True Story. I was hoping for no more than 30ish (it gets expensive!) but it looks like we’ll exceed that number. I’m honestly so honored that so many people are paying to come share in our special day!

 

Anyways, when I get confirmation that they booked, either from our travel agent or by text (1/2 used our travel agent, ½ booked on their own) we send out the thank you for booking note and luggage tags. I ordered luggage tags from Amazon. I ordered my first batch from http://www.clearenvelopes.com/2-3-4-x-4-1-8-clr-vinyl-luggage-tags.html i just started with a batch of 10. I liked these best but needed about 30 more so I ordered more from Amazon, it turned out cheaper. You can get a larger quantity from Clearbags.com but I didn’t need 100. However; I really liked the quality of the clear envelope/clear bags tags better than the Amazon ones. But the Amazon ones ended up being cheaper and they did the job. I used a template that I found on BDW:

 

I'm sorry, I don't remember which bride this came from:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I just tied ribbon to them…

 

 

 

 

 

 

OOT Bags:

 

I didn’t start on my OOT bags till the end of February because I still was unsure on our guest count, I still don’t know exact but I’ve been kinda estimating. I got most of our things from the dollar store. I am going to do the Weekend Survival Kit (the clear zip lock baggie with the survival topper), Filled with Aloe, Advil, Tums, Nail File, EmergenC, personalized Chapstick, pack of tissue, Hand sanitizer, Band-Aids, Cough Drops.  I will also add Slim Jims, a deck of cards, Crystal Light Packs, and Gum. Oh, and a Koozie.

We are doing one bag per room, of course adding 2 chapsticks, Koozies, etc, (the things you cannot share).

 

 

Here’s the breakdown:

Aloe – Travel Section at Target - $1 each

Tums – Travel Section at Walmart $1.78 for 3

Advil – Haven’t bought yet but will buy a big bottle from Costco and put in small zip lock bags (2x2) with label.  Got bags from Ebay 100 bags for $4

Nail File – Dollar Store

EmergenC – Walmart $9 for 30- Got 2 boxes

Chapstick – https://www.bulkapothecary.com/  Made my own labels printed on 5163 Avery Shipping labels

Tissue – Dollar Tree – 8 for $1

Band-Aids – Dollar Tree

Hand Sanitizer – Dollar Tree - 3 for $1

Cough Drops – Dollar Tree

 

Deck of Cards – Dollar Tree 2 for $1

Koozies - http://www.totallyweddingkoozies.com/store/home.html Haven’t ordered yet... But it’s been the best prices I’ve found.

Bags: Just regular disposable party bags from dollar tree 2 for $1, White with pink tissue paper.

 

Also, some free rack cards from VistaPrint:

 

 

Do Not Disturb Door Hangers: Back

 

Front:

 

 

Rack Cards (Vista Print)

Cancun Fun Facts:

 

 

 Rack Cards  - Resort Info:

 

Back:

 

 

Front:

 

Hand Sanitizer:

 

 

Tissues:

 

 

 

Chapstick:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for now! I'll come back in a few weeks and give some updates!

luggage tags.docx

[Jenny2014]

Looks amazing so far!!!!!

 

Congrats!!!!!!
 

Loved your DND sign

 

Looking forward to seeing more of the planning, guest list count and your wedding after the fact!

[AnaSteele58]

Wow! Great job!

[AllieH]

some great stuff Shannon!!! can't wait to see more.

[shannonmarie]

Thanks ladies! Here's a few more things:

 

Bubbles: 8 for $1 at Dollar Tree (FYI, I stopped by there the other day to grab a pack and they said they are discontinuing their wedding section so go grab some while they still have them!)  It's the best deal... 56 bubbles for $7, you can't beat that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Programs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My ceremony bubbles, programs, and fans... They will be displayed on each seat like this:

 

Sorry! Does anyone know how to flip these? It looks fine before I upload it, then it switches...

 

 

[shannonmarie]

I made mint matchbooks for my bridal shower favors and went ahead and made some for the wedding as well. I was going to throw them in the welcome bags but now I'm thinking I may just have them at each place setting at the reception for an after dinner mint. What are your thoughts?

 

 

 

Here's the bridal shower ones... Again, it looks upright before I upload it, and then it flips! Sorry again! :-)

 

 

[TauruSmith]

Our OOT bags are going to be very similiar. Koozies and "survival kits". Great job on everything you have done so far!

[shannonmarie]

Originally Posted by TauruSmith 

 

Our OOT bags are going to be very similiar. Koozies and "survival kits". Great job on everything you have done so far!

 

 

 

Thank You! I just tried to keep them pretty basic. I put some of the kits together yesterday.... Here's what they look like:

 

 

 

 

I also received my koozies on Friday. I think they came out nice!

 

[TauruSmith]

What kind of clear plastic bags did you use for your survival kits?

[shannonmarie]

What kind of clear plastic bags did you use for your survival kits?

I just used regular zip lock sandwich baggies. I think I got these ones from Aldi.