skp1

Ps. It was totally exciting seeing the guests reaction to the bags. You'll love it! It's so common for us with bring on this board but guests are so surprised.

I didn't post the template for the baggy tops but it's on another thread here. I can't remember the name of the thread but I didn't start it. It was someone asking for templates and a bunch of us posted. I currently don't have computer access otherwise I'd post the link.

It tasted even better than it looks!! I can't wait until 1 year anniversary.

I think its perfect and don't think anyone will think twice about it. Most realize you need a head count for food and chairs so asking for adult RSVPs is totally substantiated.

Well girls, I'm back from my fabulous wedding so I thought I'd post my real cake. Months ago I posted my inspiration which I had found on the Knot (the pink one). The resort bakery did an awesome job duplicating it! The florist provided the flowers and I provided the ribbon (curling ribbon purchased at Party City-the kind you tie to balloons).

How fun!

We didn't do one. I think some people are used to having a box but old school is that you hand envelopes to the bride or groom directly. Apparently a few guests asked and our banquet manager was scrambling around for something and told me. I just told her to tell those people to give them to the groom. We had a small box under our table for my purse, shawl, etc, so we just stashed them there.

The white paper was standard 80 lb cardstock that my husband had in his office - same paper I used for STD and so many other projects. The blue paper was 80 lb cardstock also but had a linen finish. This is where I ordered it from: http://www.thepapermillstore.com/product.php?productid=27164 Oddly even though both are 80 Lb they feel so much different. The white paper doesn't feel quite as thick.

I'll tell ya, raffia isn't easy to work with. it was a pain in the butt threading it through the hole punches. After they were done I noticed a grammatical error on the thank you page, but there was no way I was redoing it! I don't know why grammar/spell check didn't pick it up. Oh well, I'm betting no one even noticed.

thank you! I had a lot of fun creating all these things. But I have to give credit to all the other BDW brides who shared their ideas!

I’m back from our Atlantis wedding and WOW, it was amazing! If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t change a thing…seriously, I couldn’t have asked for anything better and our guests were blown away. We kept hearing comments like â€we’re doing this every year right?†or “I want you to plan my daughter’s wedding†and “I can’t believe you did all this.†Believe me, I had my ups and downs during planning but it was sooo worth it. I have so many things to tell you, I don’t know where to begin. I guess the logical place would be the actual wedding and then all the other stuff. Venues – our ceremony was on the Royal Overlook and the cocktail/reception was in Fathoms. There was a 40% chance of rain but luckily it was fine. However it was HOT, I mean really hot! I had originally worried about crying during the ceremony but the tears weren’t a problem, the sweat was! I just hope it doesn’t show in the pictures. Fathoms is awesome and our guests were so impressed – the rustic décor and fish tank really made it feel like we were someplace special. The wedding staff was really nice. Of course I had been working with our WC for months but the banquet manager only comes in that day. It all went really smoothly. A few minor glitches but nothing anyone noticed. They really keep on top things too and made sure the bride and groom were taken care of. Matthew Sweeting – everything you hear about him is true – he IS the guy to marry you. He makes the ceremony personal and really makes you comfortable while standing up there. As my sister put it, he is so charismatic. It made the heat bearable. http://www.islandpreacha.com/ Wildflowers – they are awesome. We had simple décor since Fathoms has a lot of natural décor already. We did cylinders with dendrobium orchids submerged in them and it was perfect – simple and elegant. We rented the chivari chairs and had some draping to close off certain areas. They really came through because at the last minute we had to make changes once we saw the spacial elements of the room. http://wildflowersbahamas.com/ Tim Aylen – such a nice guy! Haven’t seen the pics yet but he’s so easy to work with. I know they’ll be great. We didn’t do many of us alone because it was so friggin hot outside and we couldn’t stand it. http://www.timaylenweddings.com/ Jose Ageeb – he’s your one stop entertainment source. The music was great, he kept a good flow and kept us on the dance floor. We coordinated in advance the rough time line and it worked out great. And we were able to easily modify things on site too. Jose also organized our Junkanoo and cigar roller – 2 HUGE hits at the wedding. I went back and forth about the cigars since we didn’t have that many guests, but the guys loved it! Plus we were able to keep all the extras. We only had them during cocktail hour and it worked out fine. The junkanoo was AMAZING – you have to do it. I know it’s pricey, but seriously, cut something else and get this, seriously! Our guests were talking about it for days. We had it at the beginning of the reception when we were introduced so it really started the party off right. http://www.paradiseweddingsbahamas.com/ Mandara spa – my sister (MOH) and I had our hair done here. We opted out of the typical bridal up-do’s and just had a shampoo and style. My sister’s hair looked great but mine looked like it does every day. I knew that would happen so I wasn’t fazed by it. I had a beautiful sparkly headband I was wearing so it was fine. And really, it was so hot I ended up pulling it back once we got the reception…again, I knew I would do that. Bobbie Brown – Trinere came over and did our make up and we looked beautiful. BB is the way to go! Food – honestly, as is typical with brides I didn’t eat much so I can’t say much about it. But our guests did comment how good it was the next day. I did eat the hors d’oeuvres during cocktail hour which I loved (these we tasted at the site visit so I knew they would be great). Cake – this was to die for! We did a yellow cake with grand marnier and white chocolate filling and buttercream frosting. I didn’t think we had an option of using a pastry shop so we only tasted Atlantis cakes during our site visit. But several guest told us it was the best cake they ever had. I can’t wait ‘til our first anniversary when we can eat it again. I was able to smuggle the cake top back home with us – I was afraid it might get confiscated at airport security at which point I would have sat down and eaten it right there. I think that covers all the Atlantis specific items at the wedding itself. We opted not to rent AV equipment for the photo montage. Instead we loaded our pics onto a digital frame and had that set near the bar so people could watch while waiting in line for drinks. We also did a photo booth type thing (minus the actual booth) which was a big hit. Guests were hamming it up with boas, leis, glam glasses, etc. We had a blast looking at the guest book the next morning. We stayed at the Cove and ended up upgrading to a Sapphire suite. Man, the room was as big as my condo. It was crazy. Such great views, so much space. It looks exactly like the pictures on-line. We had a ton of treats for our guests and added even more once we were there. I really think they were surprised and shocked at everything we did. Day 1 – meet and greet at Breakwaters Bar – this is a great spot right on the ocean. We had everyone meet there at 5:00 (they close at 6:30) and just ran a room tab. Everyone came over in their swimsuits/pool attire and it was a great casual way to start things off. I highly recommend it. I gave out our welcome bags which I totally went overboard on (I only had to make 15). I was a little stressed getting them all together – our plane was an hour delayed, then the supermarkets were a joke – really slim pickings on snack bags. And we couldn’t even buy a case of water – we had to buy individual bottles and find a box to carry them. Just weird stuff. So my sister and I were in a frenzy to get them done by 5. But it was done and our guests LOVED them. I actually have some extra bags if anyone is interested in buying them for bridesmaids/groomsmen/family members, etc. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/thread/73932/atlantis-welcome-bags#post_1616691 After that we broke into smaller groups for dinner but all ended up in the casino area afterwards. Some people played at the tables, some of us hung out at Dragons Lounge (it was totally dead, but convenient) or Atlas Bar/Grill. So we could easily hop around and all interact. Day 2 – thanks to one of our guests we had a cabana at the Cove. This worked out great – we all had a central place to meet – we could hang out or come and go. Most people hung out on the beach side so it didn’t matter that they were not Cove guests. We had free flowing drinks and ordered lunch (all extra of course) but our friend was nice enough to pick up the tab as his wedding gift to us. This was one of those fun surprises that we added on at the last minute to treat our guests. It worked out so well we decided to do it again on Sunday (we picked up the tab this time). That night we had the rehearsal dinner at Carmines – holy crap that was a ton of food! We were in their private room, the staff was very good and of course it was so convenient. Glad we did it there. Afterwards we decided to have everyone over for a night cap since we had this gorgeous suite. We arranged for all these drinks to be set up with room service but had a little run in with getting guests past the elevator security guys. So about half our guests were there. Day 3 – everyone was on their own until the wedding. We had an after party at Aura for those who wanted to keep going. We reserved a VIP table so we had bottle service and a place to hang out. Hubby and I argued about this one a lot – I thought the price was ridiculous and that we should just go to the club like normal. But once we were there I was so glad we had the table. The place gets so crowded and having the table not only provided a place to rest our feet, but an area where we could actually breathe and sort of hear each other. Day 4 – we all met for brunch at Mosaic. This was a little challenging but our WC pulled through for us. They tried telling us they couldn’t make a reservation that large except before 8:30 AM. This was 3 days before the leaving and I was almost in tears. But it all worked out and I swear it’s the best deal in town. It would have cost us more to have a continental breakfast set up through the banquet dep’t. Guests loved it and it really didn’t cost us much. We then proceeded to our same cabana and hung out for the day. Dinner wasn’t planned but groups formed on their own. Day 5 – home L Overall, we were really busy but not stressed, work-like busy (other than putting the bags together). All I can say is, if you haven’t been before, go early or stay later. I was so busy socializing that I didn’t do all the things I normally would (like the slides, the spa, etc) but it didn’t matter because I’ve done it before. I’d have been really sad if I missed out otherwise. And I’m so glad we did our marriage license on the previous trip and didn’t have to worry about that and take time out to go downtown. Please feel free to ask me any questions – I feel like a guru now. I’m still waiting for friends to send more pictures – obviously I was too busy playing hostess so I didn’t take any. I have a few I’m posting here – first one is good view of Royal Overlook as well as Wildflower décor, next one shows Junkanoo as well as Wildflower décor and last one is our yummy cake. Now I need to get ready for my Hawaiian honeymoon - heading out Friday - Aloha!

I've got a lot of templates uploaded under different threads (there were none involved in this one). After my honeymoon I'm going to work on my planning thread in which I'll provide links to some of my other threads. In the meantime, I think you can go under my profile and choose "threads started" and find them. If there are any not on there, just PM me.

So glad your guests liked them and so glad its being put to use! I just came back from my wedding and I'd say about half the people did them, but it was still so much fun. The others enjoyed the facts and the "good wife" more than the games so I'm glad I mixed that in.

I assembled the small baggies at home (better/worse, richer/poorer, sickness/health) but everything else I put together at the hotel. It was a bit of a frenzy getting it done in time for our welcome party (our flight was delayed an hour, and boy that extra hour would have helped!) but it was so much easier to pack up this way. I brought a stapler with me to do the big baggies and adhesive for the water bottle labels. The rest was just stuffing and sorting - my sister & I set up a little assembly line to get it done.

coconoir - here is the template. I originally created it as 3 pages but then added the last one in a separate file, but basically using the same format. pre travel info 1.doc

Here is the order of everything....the Aylee template that you can purchase has 2 options and I used the one that had 2 copies on the same page - it seemed easier to manage. I'm not uploading the template for 2 reasons - 1 you won't be able to open it unless you have 150 posts but also, since Aylee currently sells the template I don't feel right posting it here for free access. I will be more than happy to share any of my original creations (inserts, backgrounds, etc).

Good luck Jess - it will be awesome! And no worries about weather. There was a 40% chance of rain for mine so I had to sign a waiver to have it outside but it was fine...just HOT!

Steal away - that's wat BDW is for! It really was a blast.

Our guests loved this and apparently so did some other people. My WC had warned that the bathroom wasn't private for our event space but I figured, no big deal, there was a sign that said compliments of the bride and groom. Well I guess people don't care and will basically take anything that isn't nailed down. I went to the bathroom to fix my hair early on and the box was almost empty. I had seen some brides that wrote signs about "use what you need and leave the rest for other guests" but I thought that didn't need to be explained. Oh well - live and learn. I'm still glad I did it. And the guests loved the hand towels.

These were a hit! I was really debating it at the end and thinking people will already be in semi comfortable shoes and it takes up so much space to carry down. But I'm so glad I did it. Guests kept telling me "those flip flops saved our lives." I had a lot of extra and of course didn't feel like bringing them home but it worked out. My DJ asked if he could have a pair for his girlfriend and I told him to take them all." So they aren't going to waste. Funny story though - I had 2 pairs specifically for me and my MOH because I didn't want to run out of our sizes. All the others were plain but ours had rhinestones so that should have been the first clue. On the tags instead of the size I wrote "Bride" and "MOH." Well within the first half hour of the event I see my husbands (wow weird to write that) 10 year old niece wearing my flip flops. I'm like OMG! My sister told her those were mine. But then a half hour later another girl was wearing them but I guess someone told her too. At that point we took them and stashed them under my table. Then later another girl was wearing the MOH shoes. I guess I should have written out Matron of Honor but I thought it was obvious. Oh well, it provided some good laughs.

Just got back from our wedding and this was the BEST idea ever. Guests had so much fun taking the pictures all night and really hammed it up. The next morning we went through the book and were dying laughing. I will truly treasure it!

So I ended up using sand dollars for the escort cards but had a bowl of these on the bar. The guests LOVED them! They were like "I can't believe all the details you thought about."

We just got back from our wedding and these were a HUGE hit! People were amazed and kept asking "does the resort do all this for you?" They can't believe all I did. It was so cool to see everyone using their bags and wearing their hats around property. I'm glad I had a smallish guest count so I was able to do this.

Here is my wording - tried to keep it simple. I think most girls know to wear some kind of dress but its more difficult for the guys. Undoubtedly people will end up asking you and you can go into more detail. Despite all the info in our invitations and pre travel brochures, people still want to hear it first hand. Wedding attire is resort chic - suit and tie not required, but no jeans or shorts.

I'm back and so sad its over! We had a blast and our guest were literally blown away by the experience. If I had to do it again I wouldn't change a thing - it was perfect. We had 33 guests so we spent quality time with everyone. It seems like every day was better than the next. They loved the welcome bags and all the goodies inside. They loved all we had planned and loved the resort. I think people expected a nice wedding at a pretty place, but not anything over the top. We exceeded expectations for sure including my own! people kept saying "so are we doing this every year, right?" I'm so happy...happy with the weekend, happy to be married. I can't wait to see pictures!