2013 Paradisus Palma Real

[EVKnowsitall]

Originally Posted by DP1andDP2 

 

I wish I was creative enough to figure out a theme. I watch tons of wedding shows but I am at a loss. Your ideas sound so creative! James Bond is hot stuff! That's quite brilliant actually--luxurious/mysterious yet fun and bold. My fi and I went to see Skyfall the other night--it was awesome.

 

In terms of color schemes my favorite color is green--I watched a David Tutera episode and he claimed that green was the worst color for a wedding LOL. So I tried to change it to purple or something more traditional. After trying on dresses with my bridesmaids I decided to go back to green--the dresses are a fern with gold foil. So I guess our wedding palate is fern, gold and chocolate. I think it's missing a color though. Any ideas? We want to have eco-chic wedding with some African fabric accents. I haven't figured out how to incorporate other African accents without it coming off as safari themed--not cool.  How can I put unique touches on my wedding without it being cheesy?!? Any ideas?

 

How did you like Skyfall? Anywho- I am creative but coming up with a wedding theme stumped me tremendously. I see all these great ideas and wish I was as creative as some brides. All I knew going into it was that my favorite color was blue- yay! Haha but I thik you already have your theme "eco-friendly chic" and the Chill out Chic package is perfect for you. I like your color combo- there are so many great flowers you can use- Cymbidium orchids, hydrangeas. I love purple, it was my first choice for my wedding until a few of my friends used it in theirs. I was really surprised no one used blue. The other thing that made me lean towards it is I have always wanted a peacock tattoo- in fact I was debating whether to get it pre or post wedding. I am attracted to the colors in the feather and wanted to use the feathers and colors in my wedding. I went on peacock overload and it started looking tacky so I scaled it back. When I found out the church was all white and we wanted the Aqua package it all started coming together. The clean white backdrop made me envision a marine/ nautical style wedding. Then the hubby to be choose a navy blue suit. Against the gem-hued "peacock" color of the bridesmaids dresses it looks dramatic. We only added the Aqua because of the Aqua package- but we ended up finding many elements with the navy/ aqua combo. If I think of anything else for yours I will share! But I love the Chill out chic decor. I really wanted that package but I'm not getting married on the beach so it didn't make sense for us because we wont have the arch and the orchids and the brown didn't fit in with our theme. 

 

My invitation lady is slacking. I was supposed to see a proof by now and have the invites before Thanksgiving but she has not even sent the proof. When she does, I'd like to start my planning thread on BDW and share some of what I have with other brides. I am trying to make many elements and have taken them from places I have seen. No reinventing the wheel here. I saw an idea that would be perfect for you on Four Weddings. It's my favorite wedding show, since many of the brides opt for DIY touches and I think they are the best!

 

The bride was a teacher and she made paper fans out of construction paper. To weigh down each fan, she found rocks around a local lake and used a white out pen to write quotes about love on each rock. If I were marrying on the beach I would so jack this idea. Michaels sells bamboo wooden fans- a box of 10 or 20- I'm not sure for $19.99 they might be a interesting option. 

 

I also scored silver plastic trays with rhinestones. They are meant for Christmas- the long rectangular trays you put candles atop. I got them for $2.99 because the Christmas stuff is on sale and I figured the plastic would travel well. I also bought silver frosted tumblers for $4.00 each and plan on putting blue lcd lights inside of them. They will sit atop the trays. Michaels also carries these adorable silver luggage tags that we will use for our place cards. They were $19.99 for a box of 10 ($2 each) and if you can find a coupon you can get them cheaper. Their celebrate it line has all the DIY crafts for weddings. 

 

My ideas are all over the place and I'm just beginning to bring them all together. I'm ecstatic and finally feel like I'm planning a wedding- but like I said- the creativity does not belong to me. It's really just taking ideas I find from others and making them work for me. 

 

Do you have a pinterest? If not- its a great place to find ideas on other peoples wedding boards and to create your own board so you can store websites and pics of things you like. I also suggest Etsy- there are so many great vendors who have inexpensive Nicknacks. There's a few websites where I find things for weddings at low cost. I will look them up and share when I can post the links. Enjoy the weekend! 

[MissyBee]

thank you so much for sharing! You were a beautiful bride!

[angelnjewels]

Indie thanks for sharing the pictures.... Congratulations!!!! I'm so excited!!!

[indie2011]

I received a few emails about the bridal suite and the escort cards I used. In case this info is helpful to any other brides, here is my response.   Question: I was just wondering where you got your escort cards done? I thought it was such a cute idea. Also, did you get ready in the bridal suite? If so, was it worth the money?      Answer: I actually printed the escort cards out myself with a template I found on Martha Stewards website. Here's the link.    http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/print/273323

 

About the bridal suite I would say it was worth it. I wanted to get dressed separate from my fiancé and he used our room at the reserve for him and his grooms men. I will admit if you can get your partner to use a different location and you use your hotel room that would probably be better. You will have everything you need and will probably feel more at home. 

 

The bridal suite is close to both wedding locations and although much smaller than I expected it was great to not have to worry about where my girls and I were getting ready. 

 

It's also great for taking pictures. It's kind of set up for great picture taking with the large light fixture and decorative mirrors. Had I got dressed in a bridesmaid's room we would have had to clear most of their stuff out to make it presentable. 

 

I did a first look shoot before the wedding and being on the main resort made it less stressful since the suite is central to everything. 

 

I will say I wasn't impressed with it but I was happy we all had a place to meet and hang before the wedding. If possible bring an iPod speaker dock. It was a big help to have my own music playing instead of the boring hotel music and the makeup artists loved it.   Here's a packing check list I found on theKnot.com. It was such a huge help I feel I must share it.    http://images.theknot.com/travelromance/pdf/packlist.pdf

[erica12]

those escort cards are amazing!!! sucha great idea!

[EVKnowsitall]

I'm a little miffed right now. Is anyone else having issues with DJ Mannia? I have tried THREE times now to have them send me information. I let my planning coordinator know I wanted to book them and she passed on their info. I sent an email, but there was no response. I noticed they used FB a lot so I took a stab and writing them a message there- Icontacted them on September 22nd. The next day, they sent a message back asking for my email which I sent. I never got an email or a response after that, so on November 15th, I sent a second message. On the 16th, they messaged me back assuring me someone from their office would get back to me that day. I never heard form anyone- so I sent a third message November 30th- still no response. I don't think I should have to hunt a vendor down like this.

 

I'm annoyed because I hear they are the best. Everyone rants and raves about them. There is another wedding on my date and I already lost out on my desired location, so I am desperately trying to lock in my other vendors. In my initial correspondence, they said they were available on my date but who knows now? I am becoming increasingly concerned. There are people getting married after me who already have many of their vendors booked and for some reason, they are making this a truly frustrating experience for me. Is anyone else having an issue with them?

 

Also- my invitations have not come in. I was told 4-6 weeks. It's week 6 and I haven't even seen the proof. At this point I am just extremely annoyed. How many emails can I send before I am the "annoying" bride? I send multiple emails to the person making my invitations as well and she has not responded. Is asking for an email too much to ask for in this day and age? 

[MissyBee]

Sorry you are having trouble w/ DJ Mannia. They have been pretty responsive with me. Are you using the address  info@manniapuntacana.com?  I have some pricing info if you need it. I think they have several DJs so hopefully they will still be available on your wedding date.... Good luck!!!

[EVKnowsitall]

Hey they responded finally and are available. Whew! Now we're in business. Thanks for offering your help. I was more in need of a contract do I could rest assured we were officially booked.

[MissyBee]

Glad to hear they were finally responsive!!! Dealing with all of these off-site vendors in very stressful for a control freak like me, lol. I finally ordered my invites today, so I feel a little better that I can check one more thing off the list.

[EVKnowsitall]

Originally Posted by MissyBee 

 

Glad to hear they were finally responsive!!! Dealing with all of these off-site vendors in very stressful for a control freak like me, lol. I finally ordered my invites today, so I feel a little better that I can check one more thing off the list.

Agreed. I'm not so much a control freak- but I like lists and scheduling things and knowing they are taken care of. I thought planning a DW would be less stressful but sometimes I think it's more stressful! I think its more fun because I know the pot of gold that's waiting at the end of the rainbow, and planning a whole week of fun in the sun surely beats planning just a one day 5 hour reception thats over in the blink of an eye, but its difficult to not be able to meet with vendors. I feel like so much is up in the air, so hammering things out is definitely necessary for my sanity. Many vendors are permanently on vacation lol so response times are slower than normal.

 

That's great! Post your invites when you receive them. I can't wait for ours. I also can't wait to create a planning thread. I went to start one but then I read the directions and its supposed to be done 1-2 weeks before the wedding once you have most of your things taken care of.