Quote:

Originally Posted by engaged24 
 

OMG!!! CONGRATS! BEAUTIFUL! AMAZING! THANK YOU FOR SHARING. I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON MY PLANNING WITH MY WEDDING AT SUNSET. 8 MONTHS UNITL THE "I DO".!!!!

Let me know if you need anything...

Summing this up......

I think that is all the info I can remember.  If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.  Oh yeah, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and AC Moore were my best friends when it came to buying supplies, especially with coupons!!!

Don't have too much fun in Jamaica.....We didn't know it until around the AHR but we had brought back a stowaway from Jamaica.

This was my main reason for taking sooooo long to get around to this journal.......

At Home Reception

We knew that we wanted to do an at home reception once we arrived back from our honeymoon.  We had a lot of people who wanted to attend but could not.  We chose to have our reception on 09.08.12 at a hotel ballroom that was an affordable price.  The date also gave us time to get out photos back from out photographer.  Now my mistake was not asking him to take photos at the AHR as well.  We did not end up with any professional photos from that night!!

Anyway for planning sakes.....I wanted the reception to be Caribbean themed, island music and island food.  I asked the chef to cater the buffet with jerk chicken, rice and peas, roast pork, beef patties.  I wish I had photos!!  I also had cocktail hour and served rum punch as the drink of the night. We had the DJ play steel pan drum music during cocktail hour as well.

I used cocktail hour to display our photos on a slideshow running in the hall, along with poster sized spreads I created at Sam's Club at a great rate.  I had my guest sign a frame from IDOENGRAVABLES.com instead of using a guest book.  I also played our wedding video during dinner.  This was a great idea because everyone had a chance to witness our nuptials.

I also found a photo booth guy on groupon for $250 for 3 hrs.  My godmother put my flowers together and they were absolutely gorgeous!!

I also used the last of my seashells...did I mentioned I ordered way too many from oriental trading.  I ended up spray painting a lot.  I also took every photo of a special guests like my BMs and framed the photos and put them on their tables.  The pics are before I put anything on the table.

We partied until the DJ cut the music off   which was 11pm.  My hubby and I adjourned to our room after cleaning up for the night.

Anyway, I'm sure I'm missing something....but here are the only pics I have of that day.

BTW, the dress was from etsy, CoralieBeatrix.

Template for Placeholders.  I started with this template from MS Office.  

Place cards.docx

Here is the template for the passport.  

Passport template.pptx

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deltabelle8 

You did an amazing job. Everything looked wonderful. I am getting married at Sunset in January, 2014. After seeing some of your pictures and reading your comments I am glad I choose Sunset, a number of our guests are bringing their children so it is turning out to be a family vacation for most. I do have a few questions if you don't mind. I am doing the shot glass favor and Appleton favor as well; I was looking for a vendor to buy a case of Appleton can you share your vendor. Second, for the reception they indicated only standard white linens were available. The overlays in your pictures were they provided by Sunset or did your florist provide those?

Thanks for sharing. It was beautiful. If you have any advice or tips you think would be helpful regarding Sunset, I would love to hear them.

Thanks

The vendor contact was Annalisa Gordon with Wray and Nephew. I think they are the wholesale distributor for the island. Her email address is Annalisa.Gordon@wrayandnephew.com.

I rented the overlays from the florist who decorated.  I would probably recommend buying them on ebay and packing them in a suitcase.  If you give them to the WC at the resort, they will decorate using what you give them.  It helps if you have a person present from your party such as a hostess that can make sure they are putting the decorations out as you envisioned. Also, you should be able to sell the overlays when you get back. I sold my sashes in less than a day when I listed them on craigslist.

wow you really did alot!!! great job. we'll be at Secrets in december, i'm def taking some of your ideas! thanks!! lol do you have the vendor contact info for the appleton rum?

how did you get the door hanger to stay? I use a 3 inch hole punch and cut a slit from the end to the hole.

How did you create the passport? I used a template. I used stockcard paper for the cover and regular white paper for the inside. I will see if I can upload it tonight for some reason, I'm missing my editor buttons at work. the survival kit..did they come like that set up or did you do it? I went to the dollar store and brought lunch bags and freezer bags instead of buying the ziploc brand. I made the top using stockcard again and folding it over the top of the bag to cover the zipper. I then stapled them shut. Is the template from a particular site? I will upload that tonight as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renewedbride 
 

 

You looked gorgeous!!

Thanks!! Your gowns were gorgeous! I love the bling.

Quote:

Originally Posted by heather1214 
 

 

 

We wore the same dress!!  Good thing you changed out of it, I sweat my buns off at the reception!!  Congratulations you looked beautiful!!!

I love the red dress!!

Tomorrow I will try to cover the Home Reception.....

The Honeymoon........

We were married on Saturday, that following Monday, we transferred over to Secrets Wild Orchid for our honeymoon.  It was literally down the street.  This honeymoon was a last minute change to our plans. I booked this place on a whim with the money we saved. My husband was upset at first but now he keeps asking when will we go back.

On with the gifts.....

I brought everyone in my party a gift....

For my mom, his mom, stepmom, his dad, my godmother, my husband I brought personalized handkerchiefs from etsy. The vendor was         

I brought my mom, his mom and stepmom Michael Kors clutch bags.

I brought his father and best men a personalized money clip and key clip from Ebay.

My husband's bestfriend was our photographer and I brought him a personalized flask from Ebay.

Here is the website for Jan's Florist.

http://jansflowersjamaica.com

As I mentioned, Jan's did the décor for the wedding.

Here is the setup for the wedding.

Here was the setup for the reception.

I debated on rented formal chairs but thought I could use the money towards a honeymoon.

Before I forget...I got the bridesmaids dresses from etsy.  The seller was CoralieBeatrix.

Let me know if you need anymore info.....

I started a planning journal...yes, its really old now but it may be helpful.....

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/87359/a-year-and-some-in-the-making-sorry-for-the-lateness-of-this-planning-journal-08-04-12-sunset-beach-resort-montego-bay-jamaica#post_1947181

The Bridal Party....thank you SWAG!

Bridesmaids Gifts.....I got really carried away!! 

Michael Kors tote (Macys), MK flip flops (Macys), Starfish Flip Flops (Old Navy), MK comestic bag packed with makeup goodies from estee lauder (Estee Lauder Outlet), another MK small tote (Macys), sunglasses (aliexpress), bangles (NYandCompany),passport cover (amazon), a flower for the wedding(etsy), a personalized compact and personalized purseholder (ebay) I got a little carried away.

SHIRTS (All from Vistaprint):

For my mother:

For My Bridesmaids:

For Me:

For his Mom:

For Him:

For his dad:

For my son, the ringbearer, I got him this dufflebag with toys and a shirt. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a pic of it but here is an example. They were both ordered from Oriental Trading....

I will try to wrap this up tomorrow.....

The Gear:

I brought this dress off of the clearance rack for $50 at David’s Bridal for the rehearsal.

I brought the starfish sandals from ninewest.

I brought my wedding dress from a woman on Craigslist who found out her fiancé was cheating.  We happened to be the same height and size.  Great!!!  Almost forgot, I picked the personalized hanger from Ebay for $10.

The shoes....I loved these shoes from Macys. I ended up getting them on clearance.  Funny story, when I brought the shoes, I didn't check the box.  Well on the day before we were getting ready to leave, I decided to look them over again.  They were two different shoes. Fortunately, there is a land of lost shoes in the back.  My matching shoe was sitting there!!

We chose matching wedding bands.  We ended up getting those at Macys as well on clearance too!!

Groom & Groomsmen

For the men's suits, I was going to go the route of Studiosuit.com but I ended up finding something similar at JCP for a decent price.

I ordered the ties from Amazon for $5 bucks a piece.

Bridesmaid Dresses

I used etsy to order my BM dresses.  I loved how they turned out.

I found some small starfish sandals from Old Navy. I know they were on sale. I don't think I paid more than $7.50 for each pair before any sale discount.

Cards, Cards and more Vistaprint.....

I made the obligatory door hanger using rack cards with a discount codes from Vistaprint.

Wedding Ceremony Program

I made these using the rack cards too.

Menu Cards for reception

I made these using the rack cards too.

Wedding Favors:

I have every one a shot glass and a bottle of appleton’s at the reception.  I had the shotglasses  made at a good price from discountmugs.com and I had the appleton’s vendor bring over a case after we arrived at the resort. I put the shot glasses in little silk bags that I brought from ebay as well.  Note: some of the shot glasses broke during the trip to Jamaica so I had to run out and but a few more. 

For the winner of the bouquet toss, I used a shirt from vistaprint ( I think I had a free tshirt code to use)

Decorations:     

Seashells

I colored seashells using spray paint and glitter. I also ordered napkins with our names with a groupon special at a local party shop.

Parasols

I ordered them from oriental trading and a co-worker decorated them.  We used some of them for decorations and some were used for shade.

Sign for my son

Our son carried this sign…again made by a co-worker  (she was really a DIY life saver)

Placecards:
I ordered these starfish from ebay and spray painted them.  I then used a placecard template and printed it on stock card paper.

Raffia Fans:

I ordered the fans from oriental trading and wrapped the handles with ribbon.  I sat these on the chairs for the wedding.

Flowers: 

I can't take credit for the flowers. I used Jan's Flowers for decorations that I didn't not want to bring.

I brought the orange sashes from EBAY and had the rest provided from Jan's.

The posts were also decorated by Jan's.

Center Pieces by Jans

Bridesmaids Flowers:

Gent's Bout and my Bouquet

Our picture frame from Etsy.  I brought the sand from Hobby Lobby

OOT Bags

A friend at work made the design.  I brought the bags from theknot.com for 1.99.  They were huge and a great price.  I found a screen printer that charged $2.50 a bag. 

I put a welcome pack together that included a lanyard for the keycard (oriental trading) , postcard (vistaprint) and thank you note(vistaprint).

I also included a FIRST AID KIT.

It included: Band-aid (target), hair band (forever 21, 10 for $1), pepto bismo (amazon, multipack), advil (amazon, multipack), chapstick (oriental trading), handwipes (amazon, multipack), shout wipes (amazon, multipack) and napkins(oriental trading).

Fun and Sun Kit

Includes: 16 oz personalized cup (discount mugs.com), word games book(dollar tree),  star key chain (theknot.com), playing cards (oriental trading), pen (oriental trading), writing pad (oriental trading)

Old School Candy

Included: Lemon heads, red hots, trident gum, sour heads, hot balls

If you have any purchase questions...please feel free to ask. 

Boarding Pass invitations and Party

I knew I wanted to do the boarding pass invite after seeing some examples on this board.  So I brought all of the items necessary, mostly from Amazon and printed them.  I then had a diy party. I brought food and alcohol and amazingly people showed up....lol. They were then mailed out in January 2012.

Luggage Tags/Headed to Jamaica

A month from the trip I mailed out these packets.  Aceirata  was my inspiration…okay, I just flat out borrowed her idea.  It was just too cute to pass up. I included luggage tags, a pamphlet, a packing list, and a passport wedding itinerary and info.

Inside, I listed my passport

A pamphlet I created from Vistaprint:

I sent this off to the guest right before the wedding in a white envelope with labels I printed from Oriental Trading.