Table names, programs, decorations, etc.

Table names...

I wanted to make our wedding as personalized as possible, like most other brides.  Rather than having table numbers, I wanted to think something a little more creative.  I loved the idea of having pictures of us in places we loved but I had seen that at many weddings and wanted to do something a little different.  I ended up with the idea of doing street names, ones that Adam and I have lived on.  Keller Lake Road is the road I grew up on, Freidel Drive is the street Adam's parents live on, we met when we both lived on Menomonie Street in college (only 2 houses down from each other), and we currently live on Roscoe Street.  I handwrote the street names on some green paper and put them in panoramic frames to make it look more like a street sign.  I had come up with many other ways to make it look more like a street sign, or personalizing actual metal street signs, but the frames were the easiest and most economically friendly.  Each person had a place card that was strung from tiki torches on the beach.  These were a lot of fun to make.  My original idea was to glue sand to the bottom of each card and put a drink parasol through it to make it look more beachy but it ended up looking kinda cheesy.  I found the cards and some Martha Stewart metallic beads at Paper Source and was able to make them look a little more classy and simplistic.  

Programs...

I wanted to make fans for our programs and make them round if possible.  I had googled 'wedding programs' and searched all of the images and got many great ideas.  I found a circle cutter at Michael's and was going to put the programs onto a tongue depressor to make it a fan.  Last minute, I decided to ix nay the tongue depressors and just put a ribbon on the bottom of the circle.

Guest Book...

I had gone to a few weddings that had a photo booth.  I loved it!  Getting a photo booth down to Mexico wasn't going to work, but a polaroid camera would be a 10th of the cost and just as fun!  I read a few reviews online and ended up getting the Fuji Instax Mini.  The pictures turned out to be about credit card size and I was able to purchase an album on the Adesso Albums website that fit the pictures perfectly.  Our guests had a blast taking pictures and now we have the best wedding guest book ever....that we actually look at!

Flowers...
I was able to look at a bouquet guide from Secrets Silversands but they didn't have any bouquets that I loved.  I really wanted a colorful bouquet and really wanted orchids.  The problem with orchids is that they are very expensive.  I started looking in magazines and online and I ended up finding one I loved! They were able to make it very similar to the picture and added a few orchids throughout the bouquet. I loved the way they turned out!

Ball Lights...

I wanted to have ball lights at our reception since it would be outside and to add more ambiance.  I have always loved the way they look and couldn't wait to have my first dance under them.  The hotel was able to bring them in for us and they ended up looking great! 

Table Decor...

I didn't want to spend a ton of money on our centerpieces.  Again, I wanted to add ambiance so I decided to have 3 vases with orchids and a floating candle.  It was a windy night so the candles weren't able to be lit so that kinda sucked but I thought the vases turned out great....and they were within the budget!  

Jewelry

So the big day was only a few weeks away and the time had come to start looking for jewelry for the wedding day.  I had kept my eye out when I was looking for my dress and for the bridesmaid dresses but nothing jumped out at me.  I looked online and went to a few wedding shops in Minnesota with my mom but again, couldn't find what I was looking for.  There were some beautiful vintage pieces at Brides of France but I couldn't justify spending $400 on a necklace.  All of the jewelry I kept finding was either super expensive or not really my style.  I was walking down Southport Avenue in Chicago and found Bourdage Pearls.  They had some beautiful jewelry in the window and so I stopped in.  I loved what I saw!  I went with a thick pearl and crystal bracelet with some pearl and crystal drop earrings.  The bracelet was a little more expensive than what I was planning on but it's a piece I love and will have forever.  I justified it by saying I will wear it for every anniversary :)

For the bridesmaids....

There is an awesome jewelry store in Chicago, also on Southport Avenue called M2 Boutique.  I really wanted to buy my jewelry from them but just didn't find what I was looking for or if I did find something I liked it was too pricey.  One of my friends e-mailed me a link to a necklace on etsy.com and I loved the style.  I ended up going with a different necklace and a pair of earrings by the same designer - madebysam.  I went with simple gold drop earrings with a pink quartz stone and a gold necklace with 3 small orchids one the chain and a pink quartz stone.  I really wanted to personalize the jewelry so I loved that the necklaces had each of the girls initials on them.  It was so easy to buy through etsy and madebysam gave me a discount since I was buying multiple pieces...all the little savings here and there really help when you're planning a wedding!  Thanks for making such beautiful jewelry madebysam!

 

Fun Wedding Extras

I had the luxury of having all summer to plan our wedding and think of fun creative ideas (one of the perks of being a teacher!)  I spent way too much time on the computer when I should have been enjoying the beautiful summer days but I think it paid off!

I wanted to find a creative thank you gift for our guests that fit the Mexico theme.  I was looking for maracas and came across this website: Mishka Designs.  They are an event design company out of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  I contacted Mishka and they were exactly what I was looking for and even better....within our budget!  I was able to pick the colors and design and then they hand painted and personalized them for our wedding!  They shipped them straight to our resort and they turned out great!  We had them on each place setting and rather than the traditional clinking the glasses, our guests were able to shake their maracas for a little newlywed smooch.  They ended up being a hit!

Along with a thank you gift, we wanted to provide our guests with a welcome bag once they arrived to Mexico.  I found many ideas in magazines and on wedding websites.  I found bags at target that matched the bridesmaid dresses and I made a little luggage tag for each of the bags with a little greeting from Adam and I.  Inside the bag, we put travel sized lotions, sunscreen, aloe vera, gum, advil (necessity for an all-inclusive), personalized playing cards, and a can koozie.  Adam and I had a good time putting these together the night before everyone arrived at the resort.  We polished off the coronas in our mini fridge then decided to order a few more from room service.  They came on a silver platter within a few minutes....this is when we really knew we were in a good place!  At some point a little beer was spilled on the bags...the beer/lime smell just added a little extra Mexican flair :)

Another one of my ideas came to me one day in the shower. I was thinking about how I could have a llttle piece of our wedding for many years to come.  Many people eat a piece of their wedding cake for their first anniversary but I knew we weren't going to be able to bring our cake back to the states and neither of us are big cake people.  I came up with an the idea of having anniversary cards for each guest to write in.  I went back to my favorite place, Paper Source, and picked out some cards and a cute little stamp.  On the front of the envelopes, I wrote 1st Year Anniversary all the way through 46th Year Anniversary.  Each of our guests got a card and wrote us a personalized message.  Now we will be able to have a little piece of our wedding over the next 46 years!

Planning from thousands of miles away...

Since we were having a destination wedding, we were able to work with a wedding planner at our resort. Our planner was Lizette at Secrets Silversands.  They had a wedding guide that we were able to look at and choose a package and customize our wedding.  This part was quite easy but all of the other details were a little more involved.  Trying to plan a wedding with someone that is thousands of miles away and a native spanish speaker was a bit tricky at times.  Many times I would be a typical American and want a quick answer but would wait days for a response.  I quickly learned to relax and ask fewer questions in each e-mail.  After countless e-mails back and forth, we finally got every detail finalized!  We would meet with Lizette once we got to Mexico to see all of the venues and make sure everything was in order.  She was very helpful and knowledgable about all of the intricacies of a destination wedding.  She did a wonderful job of making our day perfect!  Thanks Lizette!

Tuxes, suits, ties...Time to dress the men!

So we started with the typical trip to Men's Warehouse to take a look.  Adam was thinking he wanted to do suits rather than tuxes but we thought we would have a look.  The tuxes were going to be about $250 to rent for up to 6 days (which we would need to do since it was a destination wedding).  After hearing that, we quickly ruled out that option.  We started looking at suits and found a few that we really liked but not exactly what we wanted.  We were looking for more European style suits that were more fitted.  We stopped at another suit store and the prices were way too high so we were recommended to Zara or H & M.  They had some really nice suits but it was difficult to get 6 suits in the right sizes within our time frame and the suits were a bit too European for our dads :).  We went to another Men's Warehouse in Chicago and we were greatly surprised.  We were greeted by Maria and she ended up helping us from then on.  We told her what we were looking for and she led us in the right direction.  She was such a huge help!  We ended up finding a Calvin Klein suit for less than $200...the buy one suit get one free really helped!

For the ties, we started at Nordstrom's and quickly left when the cheapest tie was over $50.  We then went to Macy's and paced through the sea of round color wheels.  We were looking for either a gray tie or one that matched the bridesmaid dresses.  We ended up finding one we loved.  It was azaela (purplish pink) and had small white pin-dots.  It was a Sugar Chicago tie but of course they only had one extra long tie in stock.  We took a picture of it on one of our phones and we called Sugar Chicago the next day.  They had us look on their website and we found it...and it was less than half the price if you ordered it through them!  Jackpot!  Men's attire...check!

The men were lookin' good!

We request the honor of your presence....

Since we were doing a destination wedding, it was suggested to send out our invitations well in advance so people could make their travel arrangements.  For invitations, I was recommended to weddingpaperdivas.com by a few friends.  I was able to pick out the invites, customize the colors to fit our wedding, stay within budget, and get them shipped to us in less than a week!  They made it so easy and painless.  They also have monthly coupon codes which really helped out!  We ended up ordering the Petal Clusters invitations with the flowers in the raspberry color and the words in the meadow color.  We were very pleased with the quality!

We got the invitations in the mail and had my brother and sister-in-law come over to stuff envelopes.  Adam and I were finalizing the addresses and started the printing of the labels.  Oh, the labels!  After a trip back to Office Depot to buy more labels and our printer having a mind of it's own, we finally finished the printing.  Thanks Brad and Kristin for the moral support that day!  We set up an assembly line and slapped on the labels, stuffed, licked, stamped, and cross checked.  Signed, sealed, delivered...check!

The Bridesmaid Dress Search Begins!

Since I was having a destination wedding I knew I would be looking for short cocktail length bridesmaid dresses.  I thought it would be as easy as going to JCrew and picking out a dress and a color, but of course it couldn't be that easy.  I was looking for a bright green or bright purplish pink color.  Adam and I both love the color green and I have a sweatshirt that is a purplish pink color that I absolutely love the way it looks on and in pictures.  Many people suggested that I find a color I like to wear and go from there.  JCrew had colors that were cute, but just not exactly what I was looking for.  Also, their dresses were quite expensive and I didn't want to ask my bridesmaids to spend that much, so the search online began.  I ended up finding a clearance JCrew dress and ordered a few sizes to have my girls try on.  When they came in I absolutely loved the color but they weren't very flattering on all of the girls so that idea was out the door.  Back to google searching.  I ended up finding this picture as I shuffled through the millions of images related to 'bridesmaid dresses' and I really liked the color of the dresses, it was similar to the JCrew one I ordered.  A few nights later I found some pictures of this same wedding party in a magazine and again, it really stood out to me.  When I read the article in the magazine, I found out this was a destination wedding in Mexico and the bride got her bridesmaid dresses from JCrew.  I brought the picture into JCrew but of course it was an old style and old color.  I just loved how the color popped so I decided this picture would be my inspiration!  My search continued....

My color inspiration

I looked at the hundreds of pantone colors in The Dessy Group, then looked at David's Bridal, After Six, Alfred Angelo, etc. etc. etc. but just couldn't find what I was looking for.   I ended up going to a few places to look and ended up finding the perfect dress at House of Brides in Chicago.  It was a Watters and Watters dress.  They had the perfect colors and I loved the style...but the price was too high.  I found an Alfred Angelo dress that I liked as well that was more in my budget but of course I didn't love the color.  I went back and forth about it for a long time and ended up calling The Wedding Shoppe in St. Paul, MN (where I bought my gown).  Carolyn was able to help me out and get the price of the Watters and Watters dress down a bit and since it was MN, we didn't have to pay sales tax!  Thank you Carolyn!!  I decided to go with the jewel color (bright purplish pink) and they turned out to be the perfect dresses.  My goal was to have the colors POP and they sure did!  Bridesmaid dresses....check!

My bridesmaid dresses

Will you be my bridesmaid?

Now it came the time to ask my bridesmaids.  I had thought about who I would ask for years now...probably starting in high school.  I always loved the discussions with friends about who we would have stand up for us someday....without even having a boyfriend at the time :)  Obviously, I would have my sister be my maid of honor.  Even though we have had our ups and downs as sisters, I love her so much and couldn't think of anyone else I would want to stand by my side on my wedding day.  Then comes Kristin, my sister-in-law....but basically you can erase the -in-law part as I feel as though she is a sister.  She has been with my brother for over 13 years so she has been around almost half of my life.  I decided to ask her to be my matron of honor so I could have both of my "sisters" stand with me.  For my bridesmaids, I asked Angie, Nikki, Britta, and Ashley.  Angie and Nikki are my best friends from high school and Britta and Ashley are my best friends from college.

So I wanted to ask them in somewhat of a fun way.  I took the "L" to Paper Source, which would end up being my sanctuary for idea searching throughout the wedding planning process.  And of course, they opened a new store on my street a few months later and the ladies knew me by name.  Anyways, I searched the store to find some fun or creative way that went with the destination wedding theme.  I ended up finding the perfect thing!  Rather than calling each person I decided to give them each a luggage tag with a quote and the question, 'Will you be my Bridesmaid?' on the back.  I decided to take the girls that lived in Chicago (Kristin, Nikki and Angie) to a Mexican restaurant to ask them and then mailed one to Alyssa and Britta.  I hand delivered it to my friend Ashley since I would be going to visit her the following weekend.  What a fun experience to ask my closest friends to stand with me on one of the most important days of my life.

The Quest for the Perfect Dress

So I didn't find my dress on the first day, although I had tried it on that day without knowing it until later.   After the first attempt, I spent hours on the computer looking up dresses and shuffling through magazines to find the perfect dress.  I also spent many hours with my sister-in-law and some of my friends looking at bridal stores throughout all of Chicagoland.  I found 3 dresses that I really liked but just couldn't decide and needed my mom and sisters opinion.

Finally, I decided to go back to Minnesota and go shopping with my mom and sister one more time.  We had another appointment filled day ahead of us and this time we were really on a mission.  My friend Britta met us at our first appointment at Bella Bridesmaid in Wayzata, MN.  I found a few that I really liked but wasn't quite sure, so we headed to the next appointment at the Wedding Shoppe in St. Paul, MN.  I walked up to the store and there was a beautiful dress in the window.  When I got closer, it looked a lot like another dress I had been trying on in Chicago so I knew it was one I needed to try on.  Since I had been there one other time, they looked up my name and they said they had written down my 2 favorite dresses from last time and would bring those to the dressing room.  I also asked for the dress in the window and later found out it was one of the ones I wrote down the first time I was there (when I had strep).  We got upstairs and trudged through the hundreds of white gowns but this time we had a much better idea of what I was looking for.  I tried on many dresses and then tried on the one in the window....I loved it!  When I saw my mom, sister's, and Britta's reaction, I knew that my decision was made.  This one was perfect!  I guess it took me weeks to dwell over in order to find the perfect dress which was actually right there in front of me the whole time.  I felt like I needed to add something to the dress so I decided to add a flower to it from another dress...this way I felt like I made it my own. :)  I ordered it right then and there and was so relieved the I had found my dress!  Bridal gown...check!

On to the next step...Wedding Gown!

Adam and I went back to Minnesota to visit my family and celebrate our engagement.  While I was home, I planned to go dress shopping for the first time with my mom, sister, and a few friends.  I flew in with my friend Nikki, who had also recently been engaged and in the process of planning a destination wedding.  We had a beer at the airport and she gave me a bridal magazine and the movie "Bride Wars" (which fit as we were 2 best friends about to get married).  Our flight was so much fun, looking at wedding magazines and discussing our upcoming weddings!  Near the end of our flight we found ourselves with our hands clenched together since it felt like someone had grabbed a hold of the plane and was tossing us through the air.  When we landed we were so relieved.  We met both of our families outside the airport and Nikki and I got to show off our new rings!!  Wow, we had waited many years to be able to do that.

Saturday morning - woke up with the most awful sore throat.  I tiredly tromped down the stairs to meet my ever so awake mother at 7 am that was all organized and ready for a day of bridal gown shopping. I decided to eat some breakfast and drink some coffee to see if it would make my throat feel better.  While I was eating, my mom gave me a mother-daughter figurine of a mom putting a necklace around the daughters neck on her wedding day.  Wow, was it a tear jerker.  Now I was picturing myself on my wedding day and it got so real.  That was such a special moment with my mom I will never forget.  I thought maybe I would forget about my sore throat with all of the excitement, but no it just kept getting worse. I got ready and went straight to the minute clinic to get a step test.  Within 2 minutes I had a positive test and was putting my prescription in.  Adam had just arrived in MN and so my dad and brother were picking him up from the airport when all of this was happening.  Our first appointment to try on wedding gowns was at David's Bridal at 11:00 am and it was 10:55 am.  My mom, sister, and I jumped in the van with the attitude 'David's Bridal or bust' while my dad, brother, and Adam drove to CVS to pick up my prescription.  It was a team effort :)  We ended up going to 4 different appointments and met up with 2 of my closest friends to try on dresses.  I had a fabulous day with my ladies even though I had white spots on my throat. :)

Later that night, we had friends come over to my parents house for a BBQ/Bonfire.  We had such a fun time celebrating our engagement with our friends!  I was a trooper and stayed up until 2:00 am playing a few raging games of bean bag toss and drinking beers by the fire.  Good times! 

Let the wedding planning begin!

So Adam and I had decided long ago that our plan was to have a Destination Wedding.  About 2 years before we got engaged, we had traveled to Costa Rica and that is where we were hoping to eventually get hitched.  While we were there, we met a man who gave us a business card with the name of a woman and her e-mail address that works for Tropical Occasions, a wedding planning company in Costa Rica.  He told us if we ever wanted to get married in the area to contact her.  After we got engaged, I looked around and found that business card that I had kept around...just in case :)  I contacted the woman and revved up my engines for starting the planning.  As we contacted multiple travel agents, we kept hearing the same thing, it's way over your budget.  We were wanting our guests to be able to fly to our destination and stay 4 nights in an all-inclusive hotel for around the $1000 ballpark.  Adam and I kept going back and forth with what to do.  Ultimately, we wanted to make sure our friends and family would be able to come and be with us on our day so we decided that Costa Rica was going to be a favorite travel location rather than the place we get married.  We worked with Carol, our travel agent from Cruise Holidays, and she did a fabulous job of helping us find a location and resort that would better suit our budget.  We finally came upon Secrets Silversands in Puerto Morelos, Mexico!  Adam and I looked at the pictures online and we knew that this was the place!  Finally, after weeks of pondering, lots of emotions, and hours on the phone with our travel agent, we got the first step accomplished....we booked out resort!