AtoZ

I'm getting married at Ocean Coral & Turquesa on April 11 and our Vancouver guests paid just over $1500 -- plus we're able to use AirMiles points because we used Marlin Travel (who, in turn, use Air Transat.)

Here's that promised post on my pre-mailer laminated luggage tags. (The inspiration can be found here.)

 

Once again, excuse the iPhone photos and the shine off the laminated tags.

 

 

I just realized that the images posted as attachments, so many of you may not be able to see them. 

 

Here they are:

 

Alternative guest book/advice cards

 

QUESTION FOR ALL OCT BRIDES:

 

With the 3-course menu items - do we have to select one full menu, or can we mix and match items from the different menus.

 

For example: I really like every course in one of the set menus EXCEPT for the beef wellington.  I want to switch the main course with the surf and turf from another menu.  Am I allowed to do that?  I've emailed Pamela about this but I can probably get a quicker response here.

 

Would you mind passing on the menu information? I've been waiting to hear back from Ana about the food -- so far we've just been discussing some gluten-free/veggie options.

I managed to bang out a few of my DIY projects today and thought I would share the results. Excuse the poor iPhone photos.

 

ALTERNATIVE GUEST BOOK

 

Like my save-the-dates and wedding invites, I turned to a free printable to make our alternative wedding guest book -- wedding advice cards. This project came courtesy of Marry This!

 

The colour combinations don`t match the rest of our DIY items or wedding theme, but we plan on framing some of our favourites and hanging them in our upstairs hallway -- where it will match the current artwork. 

 

 

Items needed to make them:

• White linen card stock from papercircle.ca. I bought 8-1/2" by 11" which let me print two cards per page. You could probably print four per page if you managed to export them from the Adobe file (which lets you customize your initials) but it wasn`t worth the hassle to me.
• Paper trimmer.
• Recipe box 

Cost breakdown:

 

This was a fast one. It took a little over half an hour to print 40 double-sided advice cards (they have a pattern on the back) and the pop-up card.

• .20 per white linen envelope = $4.20
• Wood recipe box with glass, patterned lid from Target = $14

Grand total: $18.20 

I could have cut costs by finding a cheaper recipe/memory box, possibly from Michaels where I could have taken advantage of their coupons.

 

BRIDAL PARTY JEWELLERY

 

 

Items needed to make them:

• Resin cabochons from Etsy seller snapcrafty.
• Lace-edged settings (snapcrafty).
• Silver lead-free hairpin blanks (snapcrafty).
• Silver earstuds and backings from Etsy seller PrairieDogSupplies.
• ADH001 glue
• Leftover scrapbook paper (from another project) for packaging.

I've seen these flower cabochon hairpins all over Etsy and in some of my favourite local shops but I didn't see myself coughing up $20 for three hair pins. 

 

It took me all of about 15 minutes, if that, to put the tiniest dab of glue on the earstuds settings and hairpin blanks and attach the cabochon. I let them dry for a couple hours and then used some scrapbook odds-and-ends from another project to make some packaging, which took me about another 5-10 minutes. I simply used a needle to poke holes for the earrings and a box cutter to make small slits on either side of the paper for the pins. 

 

 

Cost breakdown:

• 30 cabochons of various sizes: $18.18 total
• 12 settings: $6.30
• 20 hairpin blanks: $6.30
• 10 pairs of silver earstuds and backings: $1.50 (yes, you read that right)
• Glue: $3

Grand total: $35.28 

This works out to $8.82 for each bridesmaid (2) and flower girl (2).

 

KIDS`ACTIVITY BOOK

 

 

Here's a DIY project that takes less than a couple of minutes. 

 

Simply download the free printable kids' activity book from Lovely Indeed and follow their printing instructions. I used regular computer paper. I then punched two holes in the spine and tied it together with leftover baker's twine from our wedding invites.

 

 

NEXT UP:

 

 

I'm in the middle of making laminated luggage tags to send with our pre-travel mailer along with these packing tips and their tickets. Here's my inspiration. I'll follow up with a new post when I'm done. 

 

BHLDN and Nicole Miller have some great bohemian-style dresses. Ivy & Aster might be another one worth checking out.

Another user (GatorGirl1) posted her template to a similar Passport invitation about a year or so ago. 

 

Here`s her post with the downloadable template.

Thanks for the lovely feedback, everyone!

 

I'm starting our next DIY projects today:

• bridesmaid hairpins, necklaces and earrings; 
• Luggage tags and packing lists for pre-travel mail-out;
• Alternative advice guest book/cards;
• Escort cards;
• OOT bag stickers and packaging; and
• Welcome booklet for OOT bags

That just leaves the menu and the programs, which I can't start until I hear back from the resort about some things. 

 

Let's hope I don't get the urge to do anything else. There's only three more months to get it all done!

Our invitations were sent out in the summer and as of this week, everyone has booked and paid in full, which means I can now relax (somewhat).

 

 

Like our save-the-dates, we used a free printable suite from the Wedding Chicks and then Photoshopped and crafted some extra add-ons to personalize it a bit more. And, because the invitation is part of a suite, we plan on also using it for our menus, thank you cards and possibly our escort cards. We'll also be purchasing their matching totes for our OOT bags because, well, theme.

 

What I needed to make the invites, RSVP cards, luggage tags and the lined envelopes:

• White linen card stock from papercircle.ca. I bought 8-1/2" by 11" which let me print two invites per page and four RSVPs per page.
• White linen A2 envelopes from papercircle.
• Tiffany blue metallic A7 envelopes from papercircle (They're actually more of a teal).
• Tiffany blue metallic card stock from papercircle. 
• Custom stamp from MyStamp on Etsy.
• Calligraphy pens and fine-point detail pens from Michael's.
• Extra-large luggage stamp from Michael's.
• Pre-cut chevron luggage tags from Michael's. (Note: They came four colours in a package.)
• Paper trimmer.
• Double-sided glue runner.
• Regular hole punch.
• Canon Pixma 982 printer. (We scored a deal and bought it when it was $100 off the regular price.)
• Plain printer paper.
• Divine Twine in teal and white from Greenmunch.ca.

 

 

 

The invitations are pretty easy to create on the Wedding Chicks' generator and, as an added bonus, it allowed us to change the standard wording to reflect our history and personalities. 

 

Our invite reads:

 

 

Our tagline on the bottom reads: Dinner, drinks and awkward dancing to follow.

 

 

We planned ahead to switch the colours of the font and the chevrons around so that they would match, but each piece would be stand out on its own. The STDs were mostly in the teal colour with grey font, while the invitations were grey with highlights of teal (our names, the tag line) and the RSVP was a mix of grey and teal chevrons. 

 

 

I also printed a free herringbone pattern called "tiny pieced chevron" in light grey from Melstampz's Flickr on plain computer paper and used it to line our envelopes. I managed to do about two liners per page -- they didn't go all the way to the bottom because that felt unnecessary and led to many papercuts on the first few attempts.

 

TEAL LUGGAGE TAGS

 

Figuring out the luggage tags wasn't as difficult as I thought. I simply measured the dimensions of the tag and then used that to draw an invisible outline in Photoshop Elements (just the box part of the tag). I downloaded some free fonts to play around with until I found something I liked, then copied that tag over and over on the page. I ended up only needing to print about six pages, which gave me enough for 64 invites.

 

NOTE: Printing text using downloaded fonts can cause pixelation, so you may have to play around with your anti-alias settings.

 

---

 

Once the individual elements were created, I put the entire package together, bound with one piece of twine and luggage tags (which covered the initial twine knots) and finished with a bow. This was left to the fiance. Turns out he's better at tying bows.

 

I chose to handwrite the addresses on the envelope because I wanted it to be personal and didn't want to mar our envelopes with a sticker. Here's where things went awry...

 

I began by stamping our return address on the back of the metallic envelopes and let them dry overnight -- they looked great -- then two days later it had turned into a giant black smudge from where the ink bled into the paper. Thankfully, I found grey chevron patterned Post-It book tabs from Michael's which I stamped and glued over the mess. I didn't lose a single envelope as a result!

 

THE COST BREAKDOWN:

 

Time: Eight hours spread over a long weekend to make 64 RSVPs, invites and lined envelopes for both -- minus the printing time.

 

Cost:

• .20 per white linen envelope = $12.80
• .28 per white linen card stock = $4.48
• .40 per metallic card stock = $2.40
• .40 per metallic envelope = $25.60
• $5 per package of chevron luggage tags = $15 (thanks to coupons)
• $3 per package of chevron Post-It book tabs = $6
• $80.64 in domestic (Canada) postage for the invites and the RSVPs

 

GRAND TOTAL: $2.30 per package (RSVP with lined envelope, invite with lined envelope, two luggage tags, twine, postage)

 

Add the .90 it cost us for the mailed STDs and we're looking at $3.20 for the whole thing per guest/couple.

 

 

*Note: I'm not including the price of the computer paper and some supplies (such as the twine and luggage stamp) because we already had them and will be using them in future projects.

That sounds great! You'll have to post a photo once you've done them.

Hi AtoZ, I noticed you are my wedding date twin! The first one that I have found on this site! I'm so excited...less than a year to go!!!  Thanks for sharing the envelope liner tutorial! In your honest opinion, do you think it was worth the time, effort and expense of doing them? I've been thinking about doing them, but I can't make up my mind...

It took me no time at all to line them once I had a template (which also only took a minutes). I was averaging 10 in about 4 minutes and received a lot of compliments -- people thought I bought them lined. The only annoying part was printing the paper. That took a long time but I was able to do other things while the printer chugged along.

I'm debating getting these shoes. They're from BHLDN and I love them, but I think $220 is a lot for sandals!

I plan on getting the same ones. They had a similar pair last spring that ended up dropping to $80 in the winter. Chinese Laundry and Steve Madden have similar styles for much less.

Forgot to mention: 

 

We're also purchasing Wedding Chicks welcome tote bags. They have three different chevron patterns, which tie into our invitations, but we're going with this Bienvenidos option in Tiffany or aqua blue. 

 

The bags come in groups of 20 for $125 -- but are often on sale for $100 for the lot. They ship to Canada for a low cost, fellow Canucks!

 

 

Here's my quick and easy chevron save-the-dates thanks to a free printable from Wedding Chicks (see more of their free printables here).

 

What I really like about the free printables:

1. It's free!
2. There are a number of colour options
3. The wording is customizable
4. This printable is from a suite. We'll also be making the matching invitations, RVSP cards, menus, thank you cards and possibly the escort cards.

 

 

 

What I needed to make them and the lined envelopes:

• White linen card stock from papercircle.ca. I bought 8-1/2" by 11" which let me print four per page.
• White linen A2 envelopes from papercircle.
• Custom stamp from MyStamp on Etsy
• Calligraphy pens and fine-point detail pens from Michael's
• Paper trimmer
• Double-sided glue runner
• Canon Pixma 982 printer. (We scored a deal and bought it when it was $100 off the regular price.)
• Plain printer paper

 

 

 

I added the travel agent's and our wedding website's information to the back. It took about 10 minutes to mock up -- I should have spent more time on it, but I was satisfied with the result.

 

 

 

Making my own envelope liners:

 

The envelope liners were really easy to make. There are a ton of how-to tutorials out there, but this one is helpful and includes free templates and patterns, as is this one which has over 100 envelope liners and templates.

 

The pattern I used is "tiny pieced chevron" in light grey from Melstampz's Flickr. She has hundreds of free digital paper patterns to choose from. I printed them on plain computer paper. I was able to cut two liners per page (they were slightly smaller than the envelope, but you can't see to the bottom of the envelope when you open them).

 

Some tutorials recommend you cut an envelope to trace a pattern. I simply measured from below the envelope's glue line and cut a square template from a piece of thin cardboard. I trimmed the excess paper around the angled sides of the envelope flap afterwards. 

 

Once cut, slid the paper into the envelope below the envelope's glue line. Secure with double-sided tape on the envelope flap. 

 

 

The breakdown:

 

 

 

Time: 3 hours to make and assemble 64 save-the-dates and lined envelopes -- minus the printing time, during which I watched TV and drank wine.

This was spread out over four evenings, but easily could have all been done in a day. We left the paper to dry overnight before running it through the printer again.

 

Cost:

• .20 per white linen envelope = $12.80
• .28 per white linen card stock = $4.48
• $40.32 in domestic (Canada) postage

 

GRAND TOTAL: .90 per save the date, postage included

 

*Note: I'm not including the price of the computer paper and some supplies because we already had them and will be using them in future projects.

 

 

Future paper DIY projects:

 

As I mentioned, we're going to be doing the invitation suite, so we ordered all the card stock and envelopes at once to make those plus programs, welcome letters and luggage tags for the invites. This saved us shipping costs.

 

Some of the future costs will be slightly higher because we are using Tiffany blue metallic card stock for the envelopes and luggage tags, which will hold together the invitation suite along with teal and white Divine Twine we already purchased from GreenMunch.ca.

Good tips and ideas! I'm having severe worry about people not putting down deposits, even though I just mailed out my STDs yesterday. I included information on the back, telling them to contact the travel agent by May 1 (even though the deposit isn't due for a month after that). I've also verbally told some people and will start a Facebook group. I had a friend do that for her wedding and the notifications were really helpful in reminding me to book my hotel. I also put a wedding website address in there where I'll put all the info again. What are people's thoughts on including the price breakdown? I thought it might be helpful on the website but I have a few worries: 1. It may look tacky, despite being useful 2. The prices, which are incredibly cheap for the resort and time of year may seem too high for those who don't travel and it will immediately scare them off 3. We have 5 different prices because we have invited people from across the country. As such, the price differs a bit, which I feel bad about. I may be way over thinking things.

Good tips and ideas! I'm having severe worry about people not putting down deposits, even though I just mailed out my STDs yesterday. I included information on the back, telling them to contact the travel agent by May 1 (even though the deposit isn't due for a month after that). I've also verbally told some people and will start a Facebook group. I had a friend do that for her wedding and the notifications were really helpful in reminding me to book my hotel. I also put a wedding website address in there where I'll put all the info again. What are people's thoughts on including the price breakdown? I thought it might be helpful on the website but I have a few worries: 1. It may look tacky, despite being useful 2. The prices, which are incredibly cheap for the resort and time of year may seem too high for those who don't travel and it will immediately scare them off 3. We have 5 different prices because we have invited people from across the country. As such, the price differs a bit, which I feel bad about. I may be way over thinking things.

Ah, autocorrect! That was PUT down my deposit.

Hey Leslie, I'm also an April 2014 ( the 11th) Ocean Coral and Turquesa bride. I've already arranged to have an outside photographer, which I had the wedding coordinators OK before I reserved my package with them. They put the $300 fee into my contract when I out down my deposit.

And we've officially put our deposit down and are booked for April 11, 2014. Turns out, phoning was the best option as they answered all my questions right then and there and I had forms sent to me within 15 minutes. They may have been motivated to secure the deposit, but still...

 

Now to spend the weekend finishing my DIY save-the-dates and envelope liners. Oh, and trying to make my handwriting for the envelopes legible. Calligraphy pens are intimidating!

Good find!

 

Forever 21 has a lot of really cute totes priced at $1.50. I'm considering getting the sunglasses, heart or love ones for my nieces. 

 

 

 

Has anyone found it's easier to call rather than wait for an answer to an email? We emailed them back about picking the date, details with a couple quick follow-up questions... that was over a week ago and no answer.

 

Not impatient, just wondering if shoring things up on the phone is easier.

For the fellow Canadians, I found these travel poker sets at Factory Direct. They're on sale today for $7. A little expensive, but not too bad if you want to buy less for the guys and splurge on one or two items.

Thank you SO much for pointing that out to me. I actually didn't notice it which is crazy bc I proof read things like I'm a copy editor...lol. I can't believe I didn't catch that. I would have been so embarrassed. Thanks again!

No problem, I am a copy editor! I almost had a typo in my save the dates and knew my co-workers wouldn't let me live it down.

Thank you! I plant to actually print and finish them tonight since I just found the perfect holder for them yesterday. I'm so excited! I'll post an update picture tomorrow or Monday!

You've probably caught it already, but there's a small typo in West Chester. Officially is missing one f. These look great, by the way.

After a year of hemming and hawing, my FI and I have decided to book with Ocean Coral and Turquesa. Tomorrow, in fact. 

 

I've been browsing through this thread for the past few weeks and collecting information as I can, but if anyone has a relatively recent handout from the resort about additional costs and the like, it would be appreciated if you could pass them on. [i don't have enough postings yet, but I can be reached at katie-mercer[at]hotmail.com. 

 

We'll most likely choose the Paradise package, but I was curious about the costs of ceremony set-up, bridesmaid bouquets (average cost), terrace lighting costs, and set-up fees for items you bring yourself.

 

Also, has anyone had experience with additional group settings, such as cocktail hours of beach bonfires (I'm not sure if that's even an option)?