Taradactyle

Your hair looks beautiful! I've hired Suzanne too and am glad that you are happy! Thank you sharing!

You look beautiful!! I love your colors too! Congrats!!

Paper bags for guests to take their pashminas, cake, flip flops, etc. in... Fortunes - for the welcome dinner, we will be tucking a fortune stick into each guest's napkin. We'll also be setting out buttons for guests to take, with a sign asking them to take one that reflects their personality. I tried to make sure there's at least one button that reflects everyone's personality. For ex, one of guests is a doctor, so I made a pin saying "Love Doctor." The fortunes were purchased from Apartment 48, but I ended up not using about half of them because a lot were "bad" fortunes (e.g. "bad news will come to you today", "you have a traitor among your friends"). The buttons were custom ordered from Etsy's Barrel of Monkeys. We're hoping these will be good ice breakers!

Bridesmaid Gifts - I bought them spa wraps for their shower-hostess gifts. I added a body wash from Khiels and a loofah and included a note saying "I hope your next shower is as wonderful as mine." Ok, a little cheesy, I know... =) For their Bridesmaid gifts I got them their dresses, hair and makeup from Suzanne Morel, and jewelry designed by my maid of honor (I'll have to post a pic later of it!). IMG]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh224/superyuhjah/Planning%20Journal/33.jpg[/img] Since my maid of honor designed the BM jewelry, I got her a separate gift...

Pre-travel packets - we sent these out a few weeks before the wedding to our guests. Each packet included a "passport" of information on what to expect, itinerary, Spanish phrases to practice, packing list, etc. We also included a few luggage tags. Welcome bags - we purchased cheap canvas totes and ironed on our logo. We also included beach towels, sunscreen, SPF lip balm, hand sanitizer, first aid kits, postcards, more luggage tags, welcome letter with itinerary and other information. A huge thank you to Morgan for sharing our first aid kit and Montezuma Revenge packet designs! We will add snacks from Costco once we get to Cabo: The welcome letter packet: Welcome bags for my two young nieces. Oversized sunglasses from GAP. Straw bag from Footsteps Clothings. The activity book is from Jean M. Flip flops from Old Navy. Necklace for the dog: It was originally our intent to have the dog in a lot of our engagement photos so I made this necklace for her to wear. She was camera shy that day so we didn't end up getting many photos with her. Oh well. Maybe she can wear this for Christmas...

Meal Choice Cards - Because we're offering guests their choice of appetizer and entree, Dreams advised us to have some way of indicating who ordered what so that the waiters will know each person's order. Patrick came up with these. I just cut them using our trusty paper cutter: Our menus - We designed them and then had them screenprinted: Escort cards: Pashminas. Purchased from downtown Los Angeles: "Dancing Shoes" - flip flops from Old Navy. Will have these in brown, white, and blue-green. Cake boxes - I LOVE cake. So we ordered extra cake slices for guests to take with them. We made the cake box design to match everything else. Cake boxes purchased from Kitchen Works. They ship very fast and have good pricing compared to other vendors. Our photographer is setting up a photobooth for our guests. I thought it would be fun to have a basket of props for our guests to use including masks, clown noses, groucho marx glasses, etc. I'll be adding a few things including a boa.

Water bottle labels - we made these too (ok, I really just printed them and Patrick designed them). We ordered water-resistant labels on-line. Dreams has kindly agreed to have their staff affix these to water bottles and have them in a bucket before the ceremony and during the cocktail hour. Cake: Reception Canopies - each table will have a canopy over it, but the canopy will match our ceremony canopy. Lanterns will be hung from the canopies and will be lit by candles. Arrangements for the name card table and bar. Smaller versions will be used for the cocktail table centerpieces. Rattan chargers: Guest book. I like this coffee table book because it has really wide margins for guests to write messages in. Coasters - we made these as well. We purchased blank coasters online. Patrick came up with a yummy recipe and we named it "Cabo Kiss".

My bouquet: My bridesmaid dresses: Groomsmen pants - they'll wear these with short sleeve white linen shirts Groomsmen sandals - Patrick purchased these for his groomsmen from J-Crew. He'll also wear the same sandals. My Bridesmaid's Bouquets: Wood "wedding" sign to be stuck into the sand, directing guests to the wedding... Patrick made this himself: Raffia fans and parasols: Inspiration for our ceremony set-up: Programs - We made these as well. Paper and ribbon purchased from Paper Source.

I can't believe the year has flown by since we started planning the wedding! I want to say a HUGE thank you to the brides on this forum, as well as Tammy for starting it! I couldn't have done it without the help of this forum and all the invaluable advice and tips I got here. Here are a few pics to share... The ring... Our invitations - we made these ourselves. It took forever but in the end it was worth it. Our guests really loved them and it really helped set the tone for the wedding. We even made the boxes to send the invitations in, covering them in chocolate brown paper to match our colors. Materials are from Flax Art, Paper Source, and Office Depot. Signs for our rooms that I made... some of the letters in "Groom" don't stand out, but eh... I'm too exhausted at this point to go back and fix it. Materials are from Scrapbook Alley in Berkeley, CA. The dress - I don't have a picture of me in the dress because it's still being made. So here is Barbi wearing the inspiration dress by Vera Wang. My hair accessory - two orchids with pearls and rhinestones in the center. Purchased from Hair Comes the Bride. The Shoes (I bought some not-so-pretty wedges to use while walking down the aisle in the sand) Garter. Purchased on Etsy. Hair Inspiration - Would LOVE if it my hair could hold this look, but since I have stick straight Asian hair, this may not work... sigh! Makeup Inspiration:

I don't think it's tacky either. I'd be glad that someone I cared about told me beforehand, even if it's a private ceremony, rather than finding out later.

Quote: Originally Posted by Tammy Host tara, dont you mean the guests come about 2 hours late, just as the food is being served, eat, take the centerpieces and any left over bottles of cognac...then leave during speeches...or worse yet, start to karaoke at an ear shattering decibel. i actually had nightmares about a big asian wedding...we had to have an AHR and it was so chaotic and not fun (at least not for me). Yes!! We were dreading the big Asian wedding too. I think my parents are a little disappointed they couldn't invite all 400 people they know, but we're not!! Leia, that sucks that some people took more than one pashmina, but imagine if you had it here in the States! Would've been sooo much worse!

Quote: Originally Posted by Tammy Host oh my gosh! that is so asian...i can say that...that is so something my mom would do. at my AHR people were taking off with all the centerpieces before the event was over! Exactly! I've been to sooo many weddings where they just take eat, take the centerpieces, and walk out even when the best man is trying to give his freakin' speech! Oh, and if it's a buffet, they pack up plates of extra food before they leave. It's part of my we decided on a destination wedding... no obligatory invites to those people!!

Leia, thanks for the awesome review and for sharing all your pics!

Thanks for sharing more pics Leia! You look beautiful!

Leia, everything looks beautiful and it looks like everyone had a great time! Congrats again and thanks for sharing with us!!

They look great! I love the map and bright colors... great job!

Congrats and welcome back Leia! You look beautiful ~ love the hair! And can't to see more pics!

You look so beautiful and it looks like everyone had a great time! Thank you for sharing!

Looks like everyone had a GREAT time! Congrats!

Oops, I'm a little late, but I swear I was thinking good thoughts your way earlier today! Happy wedding day Leia! I hope you and John are having a great time!

Welcome to the forum! There are tons of idea here and lots of info on different locations. Happy planning!

Shanny, I'm so glad it worked out and that you're still getting married in Cabo!

The color in your bag is a little lighter but it's really, really close... I know it may not match but I agree that the color you got looks really great!

Yari thanks for the review. I agree, it's your experience and I know it will be very helpful to future LC brides. Even though there were some snags I can see from your pic that it was a beautiful wedding!

Welcome to the forum! I'm from SF too! Happy planning!