Nkavanaugh Grand Sirenis Planning Thread-May 3Rd,2016

[Wafflesmom]

@@nkavanaugh we're going with Air Transat and we got wedding perks including complimentary seat selection, additional luggage allowance, priority boarding and I forget what else (off the top of my head) but will look into it. If you booked your group travel with them, you should get perks as well.

[acw271011]

@@nkavanaugh we're going with Air Transat and we got wedding perks including complimentary seat selection, additional luggage allowance, priority boarding and I forget what else (off the top of my head) but will look into it. If you booked your group travel with them, you should get perks as well.

 

That's the same package we had and Doug wants to do it again. You get extra alcohol on the plane too!! lol He said it was so worth it, especially the priority boarding with a wedding dress!!! It lets you get an overhead bin to put your dress in then stand guard so nobody messes it up!!! And 4 years ago when we went with Transat to Jamaica they did not have a closet to put a dress into so stake out your claim on an overhead!! lol

I ordered them in the coral as well - thanks again so much!  My girls love them and I'm sure will love them even more when they arrive.

 

omg the Gut!!! I spent a couple summers there jumping off the bridge.  My family there are the Steeles' - would be crazy if you knew any of them!

 

Can't wait to see the rest of your planning  so exciting!!!

 

I ordered one in navy. The price was too good to pass up. For a strapless long dress? Absolutely. I can wear that colour so many different places and ways. Now i just have to hope the sizing works out!!!

[vancouverpetunia]

I've been on a few Transat flights with wedding groups on them. They seem to be seated somewhat together, but they also tend to congregate in the aisles where the majority of the group is seated. Can get a bit awkward trying to get by and shuffling around to let the carts through, but they are all having a good time no matter what

[nkavanaugh]

Wow I have so dropped the ball with planning, I honestly feel so far behind and am lacking the motivation to try and figure out what it is I need to be doing. I am currently working two jobs Monday - Fri so when the weekend comes I cant seem to dedicate the time to wedding planning, which I need to start doing! Anyone have a checklist they find helpful for staying on track? Somedays I still feel like I have loads of time and then others I feel like its slowly creeping up on us!

[maria1488]

@@nkavanaugh hey! i am also looking at chaircoveryfactory for gold sequin table runners but I haven't ordered them yet. I am deciding whether to do silver ones for our all white bbq as well, but definitely plan on doing gold sequin for the reception. did you get any feedback? im just afraid of them being low quality/tacky looking. I ordered a sample from this store on etsy: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1064332107 andit came out great, but its more expensive then chairfactory. I kind of want a lighter gold so I may have to go with champagne, but im afraid that will be too pink!

 

Don't stress too much about planning, you still have plenty of time! We are doing most of our decorations with the decor company at the resort, because like you, we are expecting a bigger group, 80-100 people. So things that I plan on bringing with us are small things like votive candle holders + candles, welcome bags, picture frames, escort cards, little things like that. So i started slowly purchasing those when I was 6 months out and not nearly finished. I am finalizing all the decor with the decorating company now (flowers, lights, chairs, etc). The one bigger thing we are bringing are ikea lanterns that i plan on using 3 times for centerpieces: rehearsal dinner (on a boat), welcome bbq, and cocktail hour. and I may even use them along the aisle at the ceremony. One of my bridesmaids has status with delta so she gets to check in bags for free, so I spent a lot of time looking for a centerpiece that i can re-use at different events and thats what i came up with: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30122986/they come fully assembled and packaged in bubble wrap. 

 

so as far as a checklist, i would just make sure you have your venues booked, photographer, videographer, and music. all the decor really doesnt need to be done until 4 months out, but to spread out the cost, buying a few things here or there doesnt hurt. i also have changed my  mind on decor over the last 6 months like 10 times, so for me setting things in stone too far in advance would not have worked. 

 

if you have questions or want to bounce off ideas on handling a big group, just let me know!

[nkavanaugh]

@@nkavanaugh hey! i am also looking at chaircoveryfactory for gold sequin table runners but I haven't ordered them yet. I am deciding whether to do silver ones for our all white bbq as well, but definitely plan on doing gold sequin for the reception. did you get any feedback? im just afraid of them being low quality/tacky looking. I ordered a sample from this store on etsy: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1064332107 andit came out great, but its more expensive then chairfactory. I kind of want a lighter gold so I may have to go with champagne, but im afraid that will be too pink!

 

Don't stress too much about planning, you still have plenty of time! We are doing most of our decorations with the decor company at the resort, because like you, we are expecting a bigger group, 80-100 people. So things that I plan on bringing with us are small things like votive candle holders + candles, welcome bags, picture frames, escort cards, little things like that. So i started slowly purchasing those when I was 6 months out and not nearly finished. I am finalizing all the decor with the decorating company now (flowers, lights, chairs, etc). The one bigger thing we are bringing are ikea lanterns that i plan on using 3 times for centerpieces: rehearsal dinner (on a boat), welcome bbq, and cocktail hour. and I may even use them along the aisle at the ceremony. One of my bridesmaids has status with delta so she gets to check in bags for free, so I spent a lot of time looking for a centerpiece that i can re-use at different events and thats what i came up with: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30122986/they come fully assembled and packaged in bubble wrap. 

 

so as far as a checklist, i would just make sure you have your venues booked, photographer, videographer, and music. all the decor really doesnt need to be done until 4 months out, but to spread out the cost, buying a few things here or there doesnt hurt. i also have changed my  mind on decor over the last 6 months like 10 times, so for me setting things in stone too far in advance would not have worked. 

 

if you have questions or want to bounce off ideas on handling a big group, just let me know!

 

@@maria1488 Oh I just looked at that etsy vendor and am kind of obsessed with their sequin table runners now, how gorgeous are they?? Totally ordering a swatch, I had been kind of debating just doing a sequin table cover on the cake table and using white linens on the guests tables, its so hard to envision until you actually have things in front of you.

 

What décor company are you using? I also have been looking at the ikea lanterns and knowing they are already bubble wrapped has me ready to order them, they are an easy decoration and I am hoping to incorporate a lot of candles (or fake candles lol) to keep things with kind of a softer feel.

 

We have our photographer and venue settled, what videographer are you using? I have gone back and forth about getting one, we bought a go-pro to use for the week but when I watch what videographers have done for other brides I honestly am a bit jealous!

 

What are you doing for favors with such a large group? That is where I am struggling currently, we initially were going to buy mugs, but traveling with them seems impossible, were for sure going to do sunglasses. I have gone back and forth about OOT bags because I feel like the cost will be insanity but then when your guests have spent so much to spend the week with you it seems really important to give back to them! We really weren't expecting such a large group so its kind of blown our initial budget out of the water lol

[acw271011]

The IKEA lanterns are great. I took them to Mexico 2 weeks ago and they were perfect on our table. I got chair sashes and a table runner, plus a gold organza cover for the cake table from efavormart.com The prices were reasonable and the quality was good.

[maria1488]

@@nkavanaugh i totally hear you on not being able to picture it until its right in front of you. I have struggled with this a lot. i ordered a champagne sequin table runner from chair factory just to try out. Unfortunately have to pay for the shipping, but at this point, i don't want to order 10 if they aren't going to be what i am looking for. so i will let you know as soon as i get it! my plan is to have white table linens and these gold sequin table runners. I am going to have a tall centerpiece surrounded by votive candles and gold mercury votive candles on half of the tables, and then 4 long floating candle holders and 2 smaller bouquets on the other half of the tables. my flowers are going to be all white with a tough of soft yellow (my bridesmaid dresses are yellow). and the venue itself has all gold and white (draping) hues so I am hoping it will all come together to look elegant. the only things for decorations i plan on bringing with me are votive candles, gold mercury votive candles, the ikea lanterns, and table runners. 

 

for the videographer - this is where setting things in stone over 6 months in advance did not work out for me. originally we booked the photographer and videographer through the preferred vendor at our resort, as we did not want to pay an outside vendor fee and we thought they were good enough. but then 2 of our close friends got married this summer and they both used this one videographer that we absolutely fell in love with. his videos are unreal, the quality is amazing, and he is also a very cool guy that got to know our group of friends. So we ended up asking him to come to Punta Cana. And we are using the money we already paid for the videographer in punta cana towards the Photo Booth and some other extra things (since the photographer and videographer was the same company - Tropic One) Honestly, after watching all of this videos on his website (some more then once), I have never been so sure about anything for the wedding. He is going to be there for 3 nights and 4 days filming everything and there is no price you can put on having high quality videos to relive the most important event in your life for many many years to come. pictures just don't really do it justice, in my opinion.  If you have 20 mins to spare and want to check out some of his work and get inspiration for wedding videos: www.lifeinrewind.com our friends weddings are the "liya and ben" and "kc and katie". 

 

for welcome bags, i ordered the Hola Amigo bags from wedding chicks during one of their 40% off sales. we chose the bags and then just waited for the sale which they have once every 2 months or so. For contents, outside of the hangover kits, aloe, sunscreen, etc, we plan on getting picture frames and then putting a generic thank you note in them, and then later on sending a picture of the guests with their thank you note after the wedding, so they can put the picture in the frame. We also plan on getting cigars, just have to decide whether to do it once we get to Punta Cana, apparently there is a cigar factory close to our resort. And we are going to include personalized sunglasses just in case people don't want to wear their nice expensive ones when things get rowdy. Oh and we are gong to have flip flops at the reception, not in welcome bags. Outside of that, I am still working on ideas. Since its an all inclusive resort, getting waters or rum or anything like that I feel is unnecessary.  

 

For decor, we are using Caribbean Celebrations which is the in house decor company for Paradisus Resorts in DR. Unfortunately Paradisus charges $1,000 outside vendor fee (plus 18% tax), so we did not really have a choice. We are only paying the outside vendor fee for the DJ, because music is incredibly important to us and we decided to use an outside DJ based on reviews. For the videographer, because he is staying for 3 nights at the resort, the fee is waived. 

[nkavanaugh]

@@maria1488 sorry for the late reply was out of town for a bit and god life gets hectic this time of year it seems! Im curious as to how you felt about the chair factory table runner? I ordered two samples from the place you told me about on etsy and they were gorgeous, I agree with you they seemed like great quality and not at all tacky! I also just ordered the lanterns from Ikea and think I may do a Michaels run this weekend to get started on getting some Voltives and LED candles!

 

That videographers work is amazing!!!! I know youll be super happy you did that and honestly having those memories on top of photos is so worth it. My little sister is getting married in Nova Scotia a couple months after us and I am obsessed with her videographer but with the large group my budget feels so stretched already, which honestly seems silly somedays I want to say screw the budget you only (hopefully lol) get married once!

 

Do you love your bags from wedding chicks? I keep looking for a sale with them but can't ever seem to find one!

[Wafflesmom]

I love our bags from weddingchicks, I would totally recommend them. I'll be sure to message you when the next sale comes up. There was actually one just last weekend but I'm sure there will be more, especially in the lead up to the holidays