We Have a Kitchen Table?!
September 29th, 2008 @ 8:34 am by Mrs. Pinot Noir
Many people ask me what the hardest part of planning a destination wedding is. They guess it is choosing venues, restaurants or table linens. The fact is, the hardest part about planning a destination wedding is figuring out how to get everything to the destination! Every planning and decor decision makes me think about how we will get the item to the other side of the country. Can we ship it? Pack it in our checked baggage? Do we have to carry it on the plane with us? Our luggage will include all our wedding week clothing, rings, parent/wedding party gifts, my dress, Mr. PN’s kilt, honeymoon clothes, etc., so we decided it would be best to send along some items in advance.
Our amazing florist graciously accepted to receive a few packages and take them to our venue on the morning of the wedding. So, we have spent the last couple weeks finishing our wedding programs, table names, escort cards, menu cards, and cake table photos.
Programs
I had high hopes of doing amazing programs like Mrs. Eggplant and Mrs. Tiramisu, but time and energy were not on my side. Our programs were very simple and straightforward. I used a basic template that I downloaded from Microsoft.com for Microsoft Publisher. The programs are one sheet of 8.5×11 recycled card stock that is folded in half. The cover has the monogram design that FSIL Pinot designed; the inside has our wedding party, ceremony outline, and thank you to our guests and parents. The back is printed with our ceremony reading, “Unknown Title” by Regina Hill.
Reserved Seating Cards
In order to reserve the assigned seats at the ceremony, I printed cards to be tied to the back of each chair.
Escort Cards
The escort cards were made using corks that a friend gave us and the standard recycled card stock that I used for the invites and programs.
Menus
FSIL Pinot designed the menus! They are half sheets of the recycled card stock and include a description of each course and its wine pairing.
After we finished all of our projects, I boxed them up and sent them Insured Priority Mail to California (and we are only $57 poorer…).
Now that we’ve sent away two full boxes of programs, cards, corks, pictures frames and the cake stand, we can actually see the kitchen table again!
What did you find most difficult about getting married away from home?
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8 Responses to “We Have a Kitchen Table?!”
Miss PN, PLEASE give yourself more credit. Your programs look wonderful. Kudos to you for being so organized. I am sure that the wedding will be amazing.
Our biggest issue was getting the license for the state we were getting married in. We couldn’t get it during the annual Christmas trip, because it would have expired, so we got it the day we arrived in town for the wedding. There’s a three-day waiting period, and we got there four days prior.
Wow — You’re doing a great job! I’m stressing about a wedding only 5 minutes from our house 
I love your escort cards and holders — we’re doing something very similar (with the corks).
We’re doing destination as well, and also plan on mailing stuff ahead (to our wedding planner). I think the hard parts seem to be that there’s no “last minute” if you mail it ahead, although I suppose we could overnight stuff. The other issue is that I can’t assemble the OOT boxes until we arrive, so we need to add that the list of things to do, along with finding postcards, and making the waterbottles.
@Elle: Thanks Elle!
@Sarah: Good thing CA doesn’t have a waiting period! Mr. PN doesn’t get in until late Thursday night - we only have one day to get our license!
@Melissa: We have to buy and assemble our OOT totes at the destination too! It drives me crazy that we can’t do it in advance!
Looks like you’ve got things well under control!
We got married at ‘home’ where we grew up but don’t live now. Definitely, I stressed about how to get things home, what tasks I should try to get done when we were there (we went back a week before the wedding), etc. The night before we flew home I was a wreck, getting up and turning the lights on every few minutes to write down things we needed to remember before leaving.
Luckily I remembered everything important, and most of our wedding party came the Wednesday before our wedding, so we put them to work
Piece of advice if you are flying to your wedding and have a layover: don’t let your groom hang his carry-on suit bag up BEHIND where you are sitting on your stopover… my husband was *this* close to leaving his beautiful new suit in a random city!
I just came discovered your blog and wanted to say we’re also doing a destination wedding in Napa!
You’re definitely right about the hassle of figuring out how to get stuff out there! Our last trip out there I tried to bring some glass candle holders in our suitcase…out of 12 only 7 made it in one piece 
Btw, what did you do about your dress?? That’s one of my biggest concerns giving all the airline regulations these days. Did you just take it on board with you?
Mrs. Pinot Noir, New York/Napa Valley
Age and Occupation: 24, Health Educator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Market Researcher
Engagement Date: November 10, 2007
Wedding Date: October, 2008
Blogging Since: June 25, 2008
Venue: Auberge du Soleil
About Me: I am a Minnesota raised, NYC transplant planning a destination wedding in Napa. I'm balancing my love for the environment and my hubby-to-be's love for tradition to create our "green wedding in disguise." Our wedding will include local food and wine, antique touches and lots of love and laughter. When wedding planning isn't taking up my free time (and money) I love to read, cook, workout, watch baseball and travel! Follow along in my adventure as I attempt to plan an eco-friendly and socially responsible wedding (with eco-oblivious Mr. Pinot Noir).
It all looks great; it has a very attractive and cohesive look. You did a wonderful job!
I think you’re right; one of the hardest things is getting it all there. I worried about this too, and we only had about an hour to drive, but once you are there, if you forgot something, you are out of luck! Our stuff turned out to be less of a pain to transport than I thought–we made lists and stacked stuff together for awhile beforehand–but my hubby had to go get the cake and drive it an hour to our ceremony site; that made me nervous for him! Turned out fine, though . . . Good luck with your transportation issues! I bet it all works out–you sound very efficient!