Kristi's Opposite of DIY Planning Thread!

[kfarkas26]

Well... As I get closer to my wedding I have decided to start my planning thread in order to organize my own thoughts and hopefully be of some assistance to my fellow BDW brides because this site has been such an inspiration and help to me!! I wish I was able to DIY like all of you talented ladies but I do not have the time or patience to do it! I have been working with amazing vendors on ETSY and other places so if anyone needs any advice or questions on vendors/sellers to work with let me know! I hope I can help out some of the anti-artistic ladies like myself!!!!

 

First thing is first--- my fiance Jack and I have been dating since June 21, 2003... high school sweethearts! We will be getting married on our 10 year anniversary. We purchased our first house together in June 2011, adopted our puppy Hurley in July 2011 and with our new doggy child by his side “they†proposed to me in September 2011 on the beach with a beautiful oval diamond ring. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(bad) picture of us and Hurley right after we were engaged!!! - and I HAD to add a picture of Hurley because you can not see his cuteness on the beach photo!

 

 

We always knew we wanted to do a destination wedding, we love to travel and we love the idea of making our wedding a huge vacation blending our families. We have been to several islands in the caribbean and NOTHING has ever compared to Jamaica! We will be getting married on our 10 YEAR anniversary June 21, 2013

 

 

Destination:

We will be hosting our wedding at the Iberostar Grand Rose Hall, in Montego Bay! We wanted some where close to the airport so our guests did not have to sit on a plane then on a 2 hour bus ride! Jack and I and about half of our guests are going to be staying at the Grand. The other half of our guests will be staying at the Suites which is on the same property, because we are having a private reception we do not need to pay for passes for our suites guests to come to the Grand!!!

 

Travel Agent:

We are using Donna Entrichel and the Travelsmiths a company based out of Point Pleasant, NJ for all of our travel arrangements! We currently have 49 people booked through her and 10 people who booked on their own--- 59 total!! WOW!

 

 

Wedding Website:

We wanted to get the word out to everyone right away about our wedding so I made our  website right away- its nothing fancy and hasnt been updated in MONTHS but here it is

www.mywedding.com/kristijack

 

[kfarkas26]

Save the Dates-

I wish I could be like so many of the BDW brides and be a creative and talented DIYer but that is just not me. I would rather pay the money and not have the headache then save a few bucks and get frustrated over things not working out how I planned! Thank goodness I found Katrina and Amir Muslim of AprilTwentyFive on ETSY! They have made my STDs and invites and they are AMAZING! My STDs are luggage tag magnets- every one absolutely LOVED them (also i believe that I got the quote on them from another BDW bride so THANK YOU!!!) These were sent out in May or June 2012 in order to give everyone at least a year in advance notice to book!

 

 

 

 

 

Bridal Party:

In our mind a destination wedding is a much bigger financial commitment than if we were to have a wedding here. We did not want to make anyone feel pressured to come. Also we wanted to make sure that our wedding party wasn’t larger than the people who are sitting in the audience. We knew that the only people we absolutely needed by our sides when we got married (besides each other) were my sister Michele & his brother Ben. So we decided to have a maid of honor and a best man as our wedding party! I am so excited to not have to deal with the drama a large wedding party can bring!

 

Dresses:

My Dress was a difficult decision! I was between two gorgeous dresses and going back and forth and back and forth. I was more comfortable in one and felt more like a bride in the other. I decided to go with the feeling of being bridal (thanks to my family, friends and BDW brides for all of your input) I went with Maggie Sottero Marion- I am obsessed and I can not wait to show you the final product on my wedding day!

 

 

 

 

My sister got to pretty much pick out ANY dress she wanted as long as it was in the colors I wanted. She went with this bari jay dress- in the  color sea mist- it is going to look great on the Jamaican beaches

 

 

 

 

My fiance has a younger sister as well. She is not in the wedding party (as far as walking down the aisle & standing at the alter is involved) But we wanted her to look and feel like she was a part of our big day too. She got this shorter version of my sisters dress but in a coral to match our color scheme.

 

 

 

 

My mother’s dress is also absolutely gorgeous as well so I had to share! This is the dress but the color is Mocha (dress shown is in topaz)

 

 

 

[kfarkas26]

Suits:

We ordered a custom suit for my fiance on Island Importers and got his brother and our fathers matching pants and shirts. His brother will be wearing a matching tie to my sister and our fathers ties will match our mother’s dresses. I have not gotten the suites in the mail yet (should be shipping this week) but when I get them I will let you know how they look! (fingers crossed!) I have a lot of confidence in them because I did the measurements for Jack's custom suit and submitted them, within 1 hour of placing the order I received a call from the company asking me to remeasure because to him it sounded wrong. He talked me through the remeasure and it turns out I was totally off and that the new measurements sounded MUCH better!-- Jack will def be wearing a tie- and I am still on the fence about everyone else.

 

 

 

 

Photography:

We are going to use Misha Earle as our photographer. Her work is AMAZING! And she is great to communicate with- we want to be able to have quality pictures to show our friends and family who are unable to attend!

 

Invitations:

Again by AprilTwentyFive on ETSY! LOVE LOVE LOVE. They are so amazing to work with! HIGHLY recommend! The pictures do not do them justice because they have an amazing finish to them where some areas are glossy and pop off the page! Again- I totally stole the wording from other BDW brides, I wish I would have remembered who so I could give them the proper credit!

 

 

 

 

That is all I have for now! I am currently working on pre travel brochures and luggage tags and I have ordered a bunch of OOT bag supplies! I will post as soon as I have more!

 

 

 

[lala7513]

everything looks so great! looooooooove those save the dates!! excited to see what else you decide on 

[eq123]

Everything looks lovely. Your dress is gorgeous. Looking forward to seeing what else you have planned

[alexisinjamaica]

This is all so great! Can't wait to see more!!

[CDC-SRW]

Originally Posted by kfarkas26 

 

Save the Dates-

I wish I could be like so many of the BDW brides and be a creative and talented DIYer but that is just not me. I would rather pay the money and not have the headache then save a few bucks and get frustrated over things not working out how I planned! Thank goodness I found Katrina and Amir Muslim of AprilTwentyFive on ETSY! They have made my STDs and invites and they are AMAZING! My STDs are luggage tag magnets- every one absolutely LOVED them (also i believe that I got the quote on them from another BDW bride so THANK YOU!!!) These were sent out in May or June 2012 in order to give everyone at least a year in advance notice to book!

 

 

 

 

 

We couldn't agree more. Katrina and Amir are great to work with and their quality is second to none. We are soooo happy we chose them as well.

[carajoe08]

Everything looks great! A fellow Jersey bride..love it

[KWandCM]

I agree with the other ladies, everything looks so beautiful so far! Looking forward to seeing how everything comes together. 

[sarahandjake13]

Everything looks great so far!!  I love your save the dates too!