Morning lovelies!! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Do anything fun?
My “Mel’s Monday” recap will be coming a little later this afternoon, but first up this Monday morning, I have a little Vancouver love sent to me from Cecilia Flaming from Cecilia Flaming Photography. Taken around Queen Elizabeth Park, this adorable couple, Grace and Brian chose the mix of waterfalls, trees, and beautiful cliffs to capture their love. Oh- and we mustn’t forget about their adorable pupster who joined them in on their e-session!
Here’s a little more from their photographer, Cecilia: This engagement session took place at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, BC. Grace & Brian also included their dog, Mulan in the photos, since she will be part of their wedding! The couple met training for a marathon and continue to run marathons together all over the continent!
A little puppy love…
And of course, gotta show the shoes some love too.
Thanks Cecilia for sending us this adorable engagement session! Happy Monday everyone!
Okay…..so I think I just stumbled upon the most creative destination wedding and honeymoon luggage tags EVER! They are absolutely unique. I couldn’t believe how super laugh out loud funny they were and screams the attention from other passengers or passer-byers- which I loved! I mean, who doesn’t want to get congratulated from like the entire airport? Okay maybe not for everyone, but these are seriously hilarious. I’m tempted to buy one for myself and all those recently newlywed couples I know!
C’est Superbe (which my good from Steph from Bubblerock Studios kindly translated for me- thanks Steph!) means “It’s amazing!” and boy is this Etsy store just that.
These Eurpoean handmade luggage tags are durable, super cute, and would make the perfect wedding gift or shower gift for any destination wedding couple. And she has an even larger selection for all honeymooners! I wish I could share them all here (I had a ton of fun going through them all) but since I can’t, I’ll share just a few from her selection…
And one of my favorites…
And now for those honeymooners…
Not a honeymooner or destination wedding couple but still want one of catchy little things? Great- she’s got you covered too! Go here: VIP Luggage Tags and Lazy Traveler Luggage Tags to see more from her Etsy shop! And not to worry USA’ers, she ships out internationally. Yay! And based on her past customer reviews on Etsy, every bride and groom and honeymooners adore their tags!
I say these might make for a good giveaway later don’t you think?? I do! Stay tuned… ;)
I’m really excited to welcome guest blogger, Sarah from A Paper Proposal today! She was so kind enough to let me feature her own gorgeous destination wedding right here on OSB last week. Well since meeting Sarah via Twitter and bonding through the fact we’re both destination wedding brides and got married/getting married in Mexico thing- she has become a phenomenal resource for me! Forget all the forums I was reading (no they too are helpful) but I felt like I had a VIP pass to Mrs. Veteran Destination Bride herself. And I was thrilled when Sarah said she would join me here on Oceanside Bride to share some of her own personal tips and tricks of getting married abroad. There are some things I never even would have thought of but since speaking with Sarah I have definitely started to prepare myself better so my wedding travels can be smooth sailing. So without further delay, here’s Sarah!
Hi everyone! I’m Sarah from the wedding blog, A Paper Proposal | Inspired Weddings, and I’m really excited to be a guest on Mel’s fabulous blog today! You may remember seeing my destination wedding on OSB last week, too!
While I was planning my wedding last year, I relied on former destination brides all the time to help me fill in the blanks. Reading their detailed reviews and advice helped me so much, and for that reason, I’ve loved helping out Mel whenever I can as her destination wedding approaches! My destination wedding was truly amazing, and my biggest piece of advice is to enjoy every minute of it. With that being said though, I can definitely relate to the stress most brides feel leading up to the big day, and for that reason, I’m more than happy to share some of my own lessons learned with you guys today!
Do create a wedding website. Provide a wedding website for your guests to access at least six months prior to your wedding date. You won’t be able to include all of the details your guests will need in your wedding invitations unless you’re planning on distributing some seriously hefty booklets. Include a link to your website in your save the date’s (distributed at least six months before the wedding date) and on your invitations (1-2 months before). Make sure that you have your travel agent’s contact information, resort and transportation details, full itinerary and suggested dates of travel on your website.
Don’t be afraid to make the day YOURS. I think that a lot of destination brides fall victim to all of the standard wedding packages offered by the resort venues. Whether you choose package A, B, or C, don’t be afraid to personalize your day…bring in your own vendors, pack up your suitcases with votives and charger plates, do what you want and don’t feel restricted by what the venue offers. Linens and paper goods like programs, menus and escort cards are all lightweight, travel-friendly ways to dress up your ceremony and reception. Wedding favors, welcome bag contents and silk flowers can be a little more difficult to travel with, but it’s certainly not impossible! I did!
Do hire your own photographer. Most resorts will offer their house photographer as part of their wedding packages. Unless the pictures really don’t matter to you, I highly suggest booking an outside photographer. I hate to say it, but I have never seen a hotel/resort photographer that comes even remotely close to doing what a professional wedding photographer can do. Take the time to research photographers working in your destination’s region, or if you have the budget, fly a trusted pro down with you.
Do recruit friends and family to help you transport your wedding supplies. Keep in mind that each passenger gets one checked bag for free on international flights – so it won’t cost your friends anything extra to help you as long as their suitcases don’t exceed the weight limit! I asked a few of my family and friends to save some room in their suitcases for me several weeks ahead of time. Most of my guests were only staying for 4 days, but they chose to travel with their larger suitcases so that I could fit some of my stuff for the wedding in them. The day before we were scheduled to leave for Mexico, I asked everyone who agreed to help me to bring me their suitcases so I could divide all of the wedding stuff amongst all of the bags. I took notes of what each person was taking with him/her, and gave everyone a little bit of everything so I wouldn’t be completely out of luck in the case that one of the bags got lost.
Don’t throw away your receipts! Whenever you purchase anything in a larger quantity for the wedding, make sure you keep the receipt. If you’re leaving the country, you’ll have to go through customs when you arrive. I was lucky because no one carrying wedding stuff was stopped for a bag check, but I’ve heard that if customs does happen to search your bag and sees anything out of the ordinary, the first thing they’ll ask for is a receipt. Keep in mind that if you divide your travel mugs amongst your guests’ bags, you’ll need to make a copy of the receipt for each of them to have when going through customs.
Don’t let your dress out of your sight. I brought my wedding dress on the flight with me as my one carry-on item. I didn’t have a garment bag that was large enough, so I just kept it in the plastic bag that the bridal shop originally gave me the dress in. I put the dress through the security’s conveyer belt thing, and didn’t have any problems getting it through. Once I arrived at the gate, I asked one of the attendants if there was a coat closet in the first class cabin where I could hang up my dress for the duration of the flight. I’ve heard that many airplanes do have a closet available, but mine didn’t, unfortunately. Upon boarding, I asked one of the flight attendants to put it in an overhead bin by itself. She made me wait until everyone else had loaded their items into the bins, but luckily, our flight wasn’t very full (we were traveling on a Wednesday evening), so it didn’t end up being an issue. My advice? Whatever you do, don’t let your dress out of your sight. I knew exactly which bin my dress was in and I kept an eye on it throughout the flight.
Don’t assume it’s all taken care of. Because you’re meeting a lot of your vendors for the first time only days or even just hours before your wedding, it’s absolutely essential that you’re organized and well prepared. I put together a binder with everything that I wanted my on-site coordinator (provided by my venue) to know, and she had it with her at all times on my wedding day. Don’t leave anything to chance. Create a full timeline of your day, including a ceremony script, what music will play when, breakdown of the reception dances, toasts, etc. Be sure to include lists detailing all of your vendors, your wedding party, any deliveries that you’re expecting, items that you traveled with for the wedding and diagrams showing where everything goes.
Don’t overschedule your guests. Don’t feel as if you have to keep your guests busy all of the time. Unless you’re traveling out to the middle of nowhere, your guests will appreciate having some free time to relax and enjoy the destination. When my husband, Dale and I first began planning our wedding weekend, we contemplated booking one or two group excursions for everyone. But in the end, we decided to leave our guests’ days open, and scheduled our wedding events in the evenings. Remember that just because you’re not booking an official activity with your guests, doesn’t mean you won’t see and spend time with them anyway!
Do schedule a get together each day. While we chose not to take up a lot of our guests’ time, we did plan at least one little get together every day. We hosted a welcome cocktail reception, rehearsal dinner and a farewell brunch, in addition to the wedding, of course. I noticed that some of our guests took comfort in knowing that there was something “official” planned each day because it provided the space for everyone to get to know one another, and no one felt left out.
Do keep the out of town bags simple. The welcome bags were by far my biggest DIY project leading up to the big day, and looking back, I really wish that I had scaled back the project. Each of the welcome bags had a brochure with a welcome note, full weekend itinerary and information about the area for guests (see below), a travel mug for each guest, some medications and vitamins, Band-Aids, Blistex, hand sanitizer, prepaid calling cards and game books. Ultimately, our guests found the Blistex, Band-Aids and Motrin useful, but they loved their travel mugs most. I kind of splurged on the mugs, and I’m very glad that I did! Everyone used them down by the pool for their cocktails because they were bigger than the resort’s glasses and it kept the drinks cold longer. If I were to do it over again, I wouldn’t have included any of the game books or calling cards, and I would have nixed some of the meds because no one seemed to get much use out of them. My advice is to not worry so much about how full your bag is, and focus on getting a few high quality items that your guests will really use!
Thanks Sarah for your wonderful tips! I’ve truly appreciated all your advice and help along the way while planning my own! Speaking of my own planning, if you want to see some of my own wedding updates and read a few random thoughts from a clueless bride, head over to Sarah’s blog, A Paper Proposal to see my post today!
And of course I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to wish a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our lovely guest blogger today. Sarah, I hope you like white cake layered with pastry cream and a strawberry filling topped with chocolate covered strawberries! If not- I’m sure the hubby will get you the cake that you really want later! ;) Oh and I mean CAKE- get your minds out the gutter people!
Have an amazing birthday girl and I wish you an incredible year ahead!
via the Art of Two Tarts
Also wishing my bestest friend, Tahiana of 15 years a very happy happy 30th birthday today! Wish I was with you to celebrate but you know I love you more than anything and I’m celebrating with you in spirit!! “Cuente Conmigo Siempre”
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