Chris & Kacie's Now Jade Wedding Planning 06.18.14

kbride2014 · March 20, 2014

I cannot believe we are less than 3 months away from our destination wedding at Now Jade Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico! The planning has gone by so quickly!! I am finally beginning to feel like I have a lot accomplished, until I look at this site then I feel behind again! Ha-ha!

HOW WE MET

Christopher and I met in the fall of 2006, when I started as a sophomore in high school. I was 15 and Christopher was 17, a junior in high school. We met one night cosmic bowling with mutual friends at the Bowling Lanes. A mutual friend, Slade, gave us each other’s numbers and we have been inseparable ever since. We officially starting dating on December 3rd, 2006, so this December will mark 8 years together as a couple!

OUR ENGAGEMENT

When it happened: Saturday, June 15, 2013

I woke up to a note and a bouquet of flowers sitting on the island in their kitchen. The note read "Kacie, Good Morning Sweetheart! As you can see I did get that switch to the day light shift. Please do not make any plans for this afternoon! All I can tell you is to sit back, relax, and wait for further instructions. Love Always, Christopher" Then I received a phone call from Christopher around 2 P.M. and he told her to go downstairs and look in the laundry room cabinet. Another note was placed there with a rose. The note read "Kacie, Hope you had a relaxing morning. This note is to inform you that you should pack an overnight bag with clothes and toiletries for the Pittsburgh area. Once again, after you have that finished sit back, relax, and wait for further instructions. Love Always, Christopher" I thought that, that was the last note and he was going to meet me at home and take me out to Pittsburgh for the night but that wasn't the case. Christopher then called again shortly after 5 P.M. to tell me to go out to the shed and look down to my left. Here I found yet another note! The note read "Kacie, This is the final note for the day. By now you should be all packed up, relaxed, and ready for the Burgh. Now comes the test! Come find me. Do not cheat and use your phone! You should know this; meet me where we first met, leave now! Hurry, Hurry, Hurry! Time is of the essence! Love Always, Christopher" I then drove to the Bowling Lanes where Christopher got down on one knee and proposed. I said 'Yes!' and now we are planning a destination wedding!

THE RING

The diamond is actually the center diamond to my grandmother’s ring. Chris had me pick out the setting to set the diamond in since it had such a special meaning. This is what I picked; it was designed especially for us! The picture has the wedding band on as well! I love it!

NOW JADE RESORT

The hardest part of the planning process was picking my resort. My sister got married at Dreams Palm Beach in Punta Cana in 2011, and it was gorgeous! That is when I knew that I was going to have a destination wedding, as well. However, that also means the pressure was on for mine to be just as nice! So, I did a lot of research on the price, location, wedding services, and I came upon Now Jade and fell in love! As you all know, there are so many conflicting reviews about every resort! It is so challenging to go with one without visiting, when my sister picked hers she was never there before and I found that to be crazy but then I did the same! My fiancé and I did, however, visit Now Jade in November 2013, after we already had around 60 people booked! We loved the resort and were very happy about our choice, luckily! The food was amazing, the beach was gorgeous, the pools were awesome, the bars were great, and the rooms were really nice! My biggest concern was food because at Dreams in Punta Cana a lot of her guests got sick, including me, and I didn't want that to happen at my wedding. Although, I am sure someone will have some complaints, they always do! In addition to the great food, I loved the garden area for our reception, and the beach for the ceremony!

TRAVEL AGENT

We choose the local travel agent that works with Apple Vacations, who also did my sister’s wedding. The rates we got for direct flight, round trip airport transfers to the hotel, and hotel were $1449 per person for 7 nights! I also had an option of 5 days, 4 nights for $1049 per person, which I thought were both very affordable rates for the package! Children under 12 were about $200 less on each package. We have filled all the spots that we had held for guests which bring us to about 80 guests!

ASKING OUR WEDDING PARTY

We simply sent these cards in the mail to our bridal party and most of them called to respond or sent us a text accepting! We had one groomsmen so far that informed us after he accepted that he could no longer make it and I believe that deserves great respect because a lot of people would just avoid you and not tell you until it was too late, but I respect him for giving us a great amount of time to ask another person.

TO THE GROOMSMEN:

Pack up your bags,

Let’s head to the beach.

Have a drink and some sunscreen,

Well within reach.

The crystal blue waters,

The warm Mexican sun.

A wedding in paradise,

A week full of fun.

In just eleven short months,

I’ll be marrying my bride.

Nothing would make me happier,

Than to have you by my side.

-Chris

TO THE BRIDESMAIDS:

Pack up your bags,

Let’s head to the beach.

Have a drink and some sunscreen,

Well within reach.

The crystal blue waters,

The warm Mexican sun.

A wedding in paradise,

A week full of fun.

In just eleven short months,

I'll be a "destination" bride.

Nothing would make me happier,

Than to have you by my side.

Love, Kacie

TO THE FLOWER GIRLS:

Your uncle and I,

Would love to have you by our side.

Under the Caribbean sky,

you would lead the way for me, the bride!

Will you be our flower girl?

Love, Kacie and Uncle Christopher

TO THE RING BEARERS:

At my wedding,

under the Mexican sun.

I have a BIG & IMPORTANT,

job that needs done.

And I think you're JUST

the big guy to do it!

Will you be my ring bearer?

Love, Uncle Christopher and Kacie

ENGAGEMENT PICTURES

We hired Jessica Fike; she serves West Virginia, Maryland, and Southwestern Pennsylvania.

http://www.jessicafikephotography.com/

Here are some of our favorites!

SAVE THE DATES

We ordered our save the dates from Magnetstreet.com, here’s the link to the one’s we got.

They are magnets and they are great quality!

http://www.magnetstreet.com/devoted-save-the-date-magnets

MY ACCESSORIES

I ordered this clip for my hair on Etsy! I love it! It matches the lace detail on my dress perfect!

I got these barefoot sandals for the ceremony and then I am going to change into flip flops for the reception in the garden.

My earrings are borrowed from my sister; she had ordered them for her wedding and did not wear them.

The garter also came from Etsy, again with the lace detail.

I also ordered a hanger for my dress on Etsy.

This is the inspiration for my hair!

MY BRIDESMAID DRESSES

I chose four different dresses by Mori Lee for my 9 bridesmaids. I left them pick the one that they wanted out of all four, it came out fairly even. I picked the Turquoise color but it is darker than normal turquoise and more elegant looking, in my opinion!

FLOWER GIRL DRESSES

We ordered these from Etsy. We have 3 flower girls, two are 5 and one is going to be 8 months old. We thought this would be adorable for all of them.

These are bags that the flower girls will carry petals in, also from Etsy.

GROOM AND GROOMSMEN ATTIRE

We ordered the their outfits from Island Importers. I went with the natural colored pants and ivory linen shirts, and the Groom will be wearing a jacket over his shirt so that he stands out from the group.

http://www.islandimporter.com/Grooms_Outfits/

WEDDING INVITATION

Below is a link to the design we used, I received so many samples from many different websites before deciding to use this one! I am very happy with my choice, it is a beautiful invitation and I got it at a pretty decent price with coupon codes. I would highly recommend ordering samples of invitations because they always send coupons for future orders, and if you are inviting a lot of people, it’s a great discount!

http://www.magnetstreet.com/details/market/517/productId/50949?colors=i%3AAAAYh0kUABFkJCoAAAAYpAAPZAAAYSkcAAAYhAAAAAAAAAcC%3A

Here’s what ours looks like!

OOT BAGS

We got bags at Silk Letter and tumbler Cups at Silk Letter and they are both great quality! I didn’t really have a ‘logo’ like some brides do; I just went with a palm tree and our names. The bags are good quality for the beach and we went with the natural color just in case if it would get wet the water wouldn’t make the color fade. The cups are a lighter plastic then normal tumbler cups, but they seem pretty durable and the lids snap on instead of screw on, so they are really easy to use because I always have trouble with the screw on lids working correctly.

https://www.silkletter.com/bags/tote-bags/imprinted-colored-cotton-tote-bag.html

I got 55 bags for $187.55 and 55 cups for $303.95. We ordered different cups and bags for our wedding party.

https://www.silkletter.com/drinkware/travel-cups-mugs-1/plastic-travel-mugs-tumblers/custom-logo-16-oz-economy-double-wall-tumbler.html

Also, in the bags we are putting a note in the cups, shown below, with our favorite drinks. I thought it was an inexpensive personal touch! A lip balm, with 15 SPF is also in each of the cups. I got the lip balm from The Knot.

http://weddingshop.theknot.com/personalized-lip-balm-tube-favors.aspx

Luggage tags were placed on the handles of the bags, as well. For couples, I just did one bag with two cups and an extra luggage tag inside, because I figured most men won’t use a bag.

I ordered the luggage tags from: http://www.specialistid.com/Rigid_Plastic_Luggage_Tag_Holder_p/1840-620x.htm

I got the clear ones, they came with the address side of the tag and I ordered Avery labels to put our ‘logo’ on the opposite side, as shown here.

The Avery labels I used were: Avery Name Badge Inserts, 2.25 x 3.5 Inches, Box of 400 (05390). I will attach the format I used to print these. I went with black and white to stay neutral and not too flashy.

I got the labels on Amazon for $14.99 and I got 85 luggage tag holders for $59.56. So I spent $0.88 per luggage tag, which was great!

For new travelers I provided a brochure from Vistaprint, they turned out nice, and they also come folded, if you are wondering! If you want the info in a word

document I have it, just ask! I ordered 100 and they were $42.40, with a coupon.

We are giving these the guests at our couple’s bridal shower two weeks before departure, to save us the hassle of transporting all that stuff to the resort.

BRIDESMAID GIFTS

The bridesmaids will each be getting a personalized beach bag, their earrings for the wedding, a personalized tumbler, their updo for the wedding paid for, and a credit towards their vacation.

I made the box decorations with my cricut.

GROOMSMEN GIFTS

The groomsmen will be getting their attire for the wedding, an OOT bag, a personalized cup, a bottle of tequila, and the underage groomsmen and ushers are getting a multi-tool pocket knife.

FLOWER GIRL GIFTS

The flower girls are getting personalized beach towels, a pearl bracelet, their flower girl dress, and personalized cups.

Here's a link to the personalized towels:

http://gifts.personalcreations.com/flowers/Kids-Name-MicroFiber-Beach-Towel-30076444?viewpos=3&trackingpgroup=psektwl

RING BEARER GIFTS

The Ring Bearers are getting personalized camouflage backpacks, their wedding attire, and a personalized cup. (Photo Above)

PARENTS GIFTS

I got the women (my mom, his mom, and his grandma) a necklace, personalized cup, and personalized bag.

Our dads are getting handkerchiefs from etsy and personalized cups that match the Groomsmen.

SPECIAL GIFTS

We only have 2 Aunts and 2 Uncles coming so we wanted to give them something special so I made these cups with the help of my cricut!

FLOWERS

This is my inspiration for the flowers at the wedding!

CEREMONY LOCATION

The Beach!

I am using this photo as inspiration to how I want the chairs to look for the ceremony.

CEREMONY DÉCOR

I ordered this starfish garland from Etsy for the ceremony.

Also, I have a sand ceremony kit I ordered online, they have the same one at Michael’s for much more.

CEREMONY PROGRAMS

I am getting ceremony programs that are fans, and they came assembled from Magnet Street that matches our invitation.

CHAIR SASH AND TABLE OVERLAYS

Instead of worrying about if the colors were going to match or if they will have enough I went ahead and ordered sashes and table overlays to take with us. The color we are using for the girls dresses is unique but I found it on Wedding Linens Direct.

http://weddinglinensdirect.com/8xorsaol.html

http://weddinglinensdirect.com/ortaovja1.html

These will cost much less then renting the chair sashes for $4 each and $15 for the table covers!

TABLE NUMBERS

Since Chris and I have been together for a little more than 7 years and we are having 7 tables at our reception I decide to put a picture of us from that year in our relationship coordinating with the table. I ordered these Tolsby picture frames on eBay for the table numbers, and used my cricut to put numbers on the bases.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30151035/

RECEPTION DÉCOR

We got dinner napkins to add some color without paying $4 a napkin, we are still going to use the plain white napkins provided as well.

Our guest book was made on Shutterfly using our engagement pictures.

I am not completely sure on what we are using for a seating chart or escort cards yet. I will probably do a starfish with a ribbon and a tag that says their name and table number.

Also, this adorable cake topper!

SIGNATURE DRINKS

We are having a Signature drink for the reception and the cocktail hour. The cocktail hour signature drink will be the Something Blue and the receptions will be a Blue Hawaiian.

PHOTOGRAPHY

We are hiring Del Sol Photography for our wedding and reception and the resort is letting us use our photography credit for a Trash the Dress! Del Sol is AMAZING, I can’t wait to work with them!

Here’s a link to Del Sol’s site!

http://delsolphotography.com/category/weddings/

VIDEOGRAPHY

We hired Cancun Wedding Video’s Mike Cantarell, he has a great reputation among brides on here as well!

http://cancunweddingvideo.com/index01.php

(more planning to come!)