JHo2013

i think that's a one time charge. But you have to pay for the day pass/meal cost for your photographers per person. Our photographer was a guest, so they didn't charge us for her day pass but our videographer we had to pay for his pass and his meal.

Hi Amanda - The foot jewelery was lots of fun to make. Probably cost me under way under $20 for all of them (I made like 12 pairs) - mine I added some light blue swarovski crystals to it but still have enough beads to probably make at least another 20 pairs. I bought all the beads at Michael's when they had a sale and didn't really use any template, I just started off by stringing enough beads to tie around my second toe in the middle of the string, tied a knot so it makes a loop for your toe and then continued stringing from there

 

The ground was not soft. The patch of 'sand' your photographer will want to take you to is probably gonna be super rocky! We all brough flip flops so we can move from location to location. But the sand at the ceremony space was decent - all the girls walked out in their barefoot sandals for that portion.

Hi Jenny - Your wedding is so beautiful! Great job on all of the DIYs! I was looking at your professional photos and LOVE your mother's dress. Do you happen to recall the designer/where she got it? 

Hey Sara. Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the photos and the thread. My mom's dress was actually custom made in Asia when she traveled there for like $80! . She also got my traditional wedding dress made there too. I think Laura carried some similar gowns to hers though

Hey Marlos - My girlfriend from home is a photographer http://www.jacquelineelizabeth.com/jenny-chris-married/ She did our engagement photos and I loved them so much so she agreed to do our wedding also. It all worked out great! I just can't wait to get the copies now so I can start hanging these lovely photos on the wall http://www.jacquelineelizabeth.com/jenny-chris-trash-dress/ This is the link to our trash the dress.

 

This dress is beautiful on you!!! love it!

 

Shera - I was told by the resort that you have to be at the resort for a minimum of 3 days before you can have the wedding. This helps them to get everything in order, get your blood work, etc. Also, I would def recommend bringing your own photographer or hiring someone else. The resort's photographer isn't good. And lastly - our officiant was TERRIBLE!!!! She did not go with our program at all. We wrote our own vows and she blew right past the entire ceremony and tried to make us kiss before we even said our vows. We had to say 'uhhh.... stop we have written our own vows...' My brother had practised months and months to play 3 songs on the piano that I had to fork out a bunch of money for, she didn't stop once for him to play. So he just sat there the whole time. I tried to ask for my money back for the piano and they refused. It was really frustrating since I had the program all written out and printed for the wedding coordinator and for all my guests to follow. So if possible, ask to see if you can arrange talking to the officiant before hand.

The lanterns were from Dollarama and they were about $2 or $3 each (I can't remember), and the photocoasters were from beau-coup.com (I've ordered from them before and loved the turn around time and all, but this time around I was charged over $50 for customs so I didn't expect that and it brought the unit price up)

Escort & Place 'Cards'

 

Instead of the typical placecards (that might blow away from the wind outdoors) I bought lanterns and tied the cards to them. I wanted all white, but even hitting up over 10 stores they didn't have enough stock. So I got white for the guys and pink for the ladies. 

 

 

 

 

 

Instead of place cards I creeped out all our guests' facebooks for their best photo and popped their faces into coasters. The coasters were at their table setting so they had to find their own face to get to their seat!

 

Key/Tip Holders

 

Our guests LOVED these! And we saw pretty much everyone use them the whole week. I ordered the tags off http://www.specialistid.com and they were great. I would have ordered the lanyards too but my mom kinda had the material to assemble them so we made the lanyards ourselves. 

 

 

 

 

Hi Shantel

 

I had my hair done there, as well as my mom, mother-in-law, and my 3 bridesmaids. A girl named Isis did my hair and she was very sweet and tried really hard, she was too much of a perfectionist though and took over 2 hours on me so I had to leave and do the rest of my hair on my own. So I would recommend her but just be mindful of time

 

As for makeup, I did my own, and my bridesmaids all did their own. My mom and mom-in-law had theirs done and they did a pretty good job (I work full time at an office, but my part time job, I freelance as a makeup artist so I was happy to do my own), I had a peek into their makeup kit and they used mostly MAC makeup products and I use lots of MAC and can vouch that the product wears really well. I don't think they used a primer though before the application, so I would def bring a primer for them to use (I would recommend NARS or Smashbox)

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Shera - I would not recommend their photographer. They're the same ones that walk around all day taking photos of you with their exotic animals. We stayed there a year before our wedding and took some engagement photos with them and was pretty disappointed with the photos. But whether you use them or not they will still charge you that $300USD give or take. I would ask them not to come as they might get in your photographer's way.

 

Hi Janelle -we just got married in Aug and we asked all our guests to join us for an optional excursion to Tulum. So we did the walk around the site, and then we went swimming in the ocean there - most beautiful beach I've been on hands down. The sand is soooo soft and the water is perfect. And the tour guide told us that they are closing it off for swimming beginning next year so take advantage! Then we went off to another beach and swam with sea turtles - sooo awesome. Then to end off the day he drove us to a local ocean front restaurant for some local food and it was delicious. The restaurant was super cool, there were swings at the bar for seating, super colorful, giant sandbags and hammocks on the beach. Tree houses with a pail you can send down to the server and he'll rope drinks up to you in your treehouse. I would def do it again we had so much fun. Our parents and the older folks went for the half day, so their trip ended after the Tulum swimming. But our gang did the full day. I'd highly recommend this excursion bc it's great for all ages and it's only a 20 min ride from Grand Sirenis.

Mr & Mrs Chair Signs DIY

 

I found these really cute signs on the back of the bride and groom's chairs on Style Me Pretty. So I shopped around for them and man are wedding decor expensive!! I had to just make them myself. 

 

What you'll need:

- 2 piece of art wood (mine were from the dollarstore. Michael's also has a selection, or just go to Rona and tell them what you want and they'll cut up a bunch of plywood for you)

- electric drill

- Rope, ribbon, or twine (I used twine that I already had for other crafty stuff I do)

- Stain or paint (I just used the leftover paint from when I painted my walls, aka 'Eggshell' from Behr)

- large paintbrush for staining or painting the board

- small paintbrush or paintmarkers (find them at any arts and craft store - I used a silver paint I had and used a small brush)

 

 

Mark 2 'x's on your sheet of wood and drill a hole through them. Use a ruler or measure tape if needed.

 

Paint or stain the wood in the color of your choice. I just painted mine white. Wait overnight if necessary for your paint to dry. Very important - you don't want your text to smudge or blend.

 

Tie on your ribbon or string and voila!

Kissing Balls - DIY 

 

First off, I'm really sorry for the late post and I am unable to find all the photos I originally took. I hope that these step by steps still help though with the few pics I managed to find. 

 

What you'll need:

- Styrofoam balls (I used 6" diameter ones), but keep in mind they grow in size as you add flowers

- Pencil

- Something to help you poke a hole through the ball (I used my knitting needle)

- Ribbon 

- Silk Flowers - I used hydrangeas, cabbage roses, giant dahlias, and small tulips for my arrangement. Some people like to use one flower in one color as well

- Wire clippers

 

Time to make them:

1. Mark 2 'x's on direct opposite sides of the ball (a measuring tape might make this easier - I just eye-balled it)

2. Make a hole from 1 'x' to the other 'x' so that you have a little tunnel to slip your ribbon through

3. Cut your ribbon to the length you want the ball to hang (cut as many ribbons as many balls you'll make ahead of time so they're all the same length)

4. Fold the ribbon in half and push the ribbon through the ball and tie a knot on one end of the ribbon to create a handle or loop at the top.

5. Cut your flowers with wire cutters - leaving enough on the ends to jab the through the balls. I started with 1 giant rose, and then built on from there, adding hydrangeas in between as fillers.

6. And you're done. Easy! (Mine took about 1 hour each to make though so great time to break out some chardonnay and catch up on the shows you PVR'd)

 

Let me know how yours turns out!

 

Display:

- I asked my coordinator to hang them on the tiffany chairs down the aisle

- then I asked her to flip the ball, so the ribbon loop is inside the bowl, and used them as centerpieces, and gift table decor, etc. after the ceremony

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leelou - how many were you looking to buy? Some family and friends actually took a few home to use on their coffee tables PM me!

 

Thank you so much. They were really easy to make once you get into the groove - but really each ball took me about 1.5hours to make. And the tricky part for me was finding all the flowers that went together. I took lots of pictures on making it. Hopefully I'll get a chance to post them soon

 

Thank you

 

Hi - yes they were used as centerpieces again for the reception. Saved me a bunch of money. I made 10 of them. And all of them were used. I actually bought these small salad bowls from Ikea and just flipped the balls with the ribbon side into the bowls and they couldn't have looked any more perfect. Actually I think they outshined the real flowers for sure! The small Ikea bowls were around $1.99 each. I brought a few back, and my mom took a few home now we have lots of snack/salad bowls at home when people visit lol

 

I got it from Forever 21! But I totally left it there!! I was soooo sad. That was something I was really excited about having and passing down! Good thing is it didn't cost a fortune

beautiful photos!!!

And here are the TTD photos http://www.jacquelineelizabeth.com/jenny-chris-trash-dress/

Hi Everyone! I'm really sorry that I have been a little MIA - the year has not slowed down one bit after our wedding and AHR! Plus - work disabled the editor on this website so I haven't been able to post any photos on my ahem.... breaks.... But we got the photos from our lovely photographer, Jacqueline Morrison and she did such an amazing job!! Go check it out! http://www.jacquelineelizabeth.com/jenny-chris-married/

We ended up having a welcome dinner at the main buffet and I had distributed a rolled up towel tied with the handmade lanyard/keyholders to everyone. I also gave the MCs, the moms and the bridal party their gifts the same night too. The resort was able to put together lots of tables for us enough to have 50 people at dinner! It was really nice!

Where did you get those flowers? I am looking for coral flowers and am having the hardest time to find them. I am in Canada! Any chance you'd be willing to sell them now that your wedding is over? They are gorgeous!

 

Hi - so sorry for the delay!! It's been a little bit crazy! I purchased the big coral dahlias from Walmart! And the giant cabbage roses are also from Walmart. The coral hydrangeas are sold out (I actually went to 8 different Michael's to find as many stems of these as I can as they were being discontinued... that's the thing with waiting for stuff to go on sale!) I don't have the full amount of the flower balls any more as some people took some home. How many did you need? I can see how many I have left over

Thank you I've been soo busy I wish I had more time to post more pictures. The signs I printed them 4 x 6 - you can use Window's printing wizard to set that up or just change the image size in Adobe Photoshop. Just make sure that the dpi/resolution is at 300 otherwise it will come out really grainy