Miss Petit Four, San Antonio/Isla MujeresAge and Occupation: 25, Technology teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Math Teacher and Football CoachEngagement Date: Feb 13, 2010Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Zama Beach Club, Isla Mujeres, MexicoAbout Me: I am a polka-dot obsessed, destination wedding diva living and loving in the great state of Texas. I am an island girl at heart and I visit the beach as often as I can. I am a wannabe DIY goddess, but that doesn’t mean I won’t give it my best shot. I love pearl earrings, the color pink, and ruffles are a part of my everyday wardrobe. My wonderful fiance and I are planning a destination wedding with our closest family and friends and we’re leaving a trail of glitter in our path!
Our final count on guests is a whopping 33! It’s to be expected since we are getting married so far away, but I am actually really excited that we will get to spend lots of time with our favorite people on earth. Since the wedding is quickly approaching, the reality that certain people won’t be at the wedding is starting to sink in.
Certain people like my grandma, one of my favorite aunts and two cousins that I grew up with won’t be attending. I realize that’s the price you pay for having a destination wedding, but it didn’t hit me until recently.
Sometimes I wonder if we should have done the big, traditional wedding like many of my cousins did, so everyone would be able to see us get married. Read more…
Miss Scone, Napa/Kansas CityAge and Occupation: 31, RecruiterFiancee's Age and Occupation: 33, Motorcycle MechanicEngagement Date: April 15, 2010Wedding Date: July 2012Venue: Boulevard BreweryAbout Me: I am a West Coast girl that fell for a Midwestern girl. I can’t get enough of baking, projecting, family and our fluffy dog child Darby. I bake by smell, haven’t used a timer in years and years. Having a major project on the horizon and a busy schedule keep me sane. I love beer even though I live in Napa (but I like wine too, just not as much as beer). We are planning a family friendly convivial affair in Kansas City and can’t wait to share the adventures.
After rambling about some details and random thoughts, I realized I haven’t talked about why we decided to plan a pseudo-destination wedding in Kansas City. (I say pseudo because the term destination wedding always reminds me of Mexico, Hawaii, or Jamaica—not Kansas City.) People that have known me for years look at me a little sideways when they learn where we are getting married.
I grew up in northern California (five hours or so north of San Francisco) and Oregon (Eugene), I went to college in western Massachusetts, most of my family is sprinkled along the West Coast (with heavy concentrations in Oregon and the Bay Area), and we currently live in the Napa Valley. Sweetie Scone, on the other hand, grew up in Kansas City, went to college in Kansas, headed west a few years back, and then her parents became snowbirds and landed in Phoenix. Now initially we had no idea where we should get married—my hometown (Eureka), her hometown (Kansas City), somewhere in the Northwest, or the Bay Area—so we talked a lot about what was important to us.
Miss Petit Four, San Antonio/Isla MujeresAge and Occupation: 25, Technology teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Math Teacher and Football CoachEngagement Date: Feb 13, 2010Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Zama Beach Club, Isla Mujeres, MexicoAbout Me: I am a polka-dot obsessed, destination wedding diva living and loving in the great state of Texas. I am an island girl at heart and I visit the beach as often as I can. I am a wannabe DIY goddess, but that doesn’t mean I won’t give it my best shot. I love pearl earrings, the color pink, and ruffles are a part of my everyday wardrobe. My wonderful fiance and I are planning a destination wedding with our closest family and friends and we’re leaving a trail of glitter in our path!
Or Out-Of-Town bags if you’re not hip with the wedding lingo yet.
I decided a long time ago that we would do OOT bags for our guests, since they are going to be traveling so far to come and see us. We want them to be as comfy as possible and not have to worry about little things that they may have forgotten at home.
I bought these tote bags last summer from Dollar Tree and literally drove around to every DT store and cleaned them out. Our OOT bags are going to be pretty practical, but we hope our guests still enjoy them!
Miss Coyote, Westchester, NYAge and Occupation: 26, Administrative AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Computer ProgrammerEngagement Date: August 2010Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Franklin PlazaAbout Me: I am an overly-caffeinated, sports-obsessed history nerd who loves a good book and hates bananas. Originally from a small town in Upstate NY, I made the move to Westchester County and never looked back! My loves include NBC Thursdays, red wine, fleece pajamas, and my amazing fiancé. Together we are planning a formal evening affair for 175 guests with a mix of new and old traditions and plenty of personal touches.
The next few posts are going to be about my experience with finding a venue. This was such an important aspect of the wedding for both of us, so I want to make sure that I spend the time to describe the process and hopefully give some advice to brides and grooms that are going through this step!
Mr. Coyote and I are having what I like to call a semi-destination wedding.
Mrs. Mole, Los Angeles/Las VegasAge and Occupation: 29, Test Prep InstructorFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, User Experience ArchitectEngagement Date: April 2011Wedding Date: January 2012Venue: Wynn Las Vegas/Bouchon BistroAbout Me: I’m a Wisconsinite-turned-Angeleno who is planning a destination wedding in Las Vegas. I am passionate about education: I spent 23 (!) consecutive years in school, and now I work to help other people get into graduate programs. I love running on the treadmill, buying bath products from Lush, learning new moves in step aerobics, and exploring my neighborhood on foot. I am sometimes snobby about food, but I am rarely snobby about books. I read everything from Geoffrey Chaucer to Iris Murdoch to Chuck Klosterman to Candace Bushnell. My fiance and I are getting married on our third anniversary!
Like otherbloggerbees who have had destination weddings, we are going to have a hometown celebration for the people who can’t make it to celebrate with us in Vegas. The first question to ask, though, was which “hometown” was it going to be in? Mr. Mole grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and I grew up in southeastern Wisconsin. We eventually decided on Milwaukee because it is an easy drive for our friends in Chicago, it is convenient for my relatives throughout Wisconsin, and it is close to my mom. Milwaukee was also our home together for the ten months before moving to Los Angeles!
Plus Alice Cooper loves the city / Video via YouTube / Clip from Wayne’s World
So now that we had the general location, it was time to talk specifics. We are thinking of this event like a party, not necessarily like a second wedding reception. We aren’t going to be cutting a cake or dancing or throwing a bouquet or anything like that. We just want to gather all of our loved ones together for a fun celebration with fantastic food and drinks. Keeping this in mind, we quickly zeroed in on our favorite Milwaukee restaurants. In all, we contacted three of them.
Mrs. Mole, Los Angeles/Las VegasAge and Occupation: 29, Test Prep InstructorFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, User Experience ArchitectEngagement Date: April 2011Wedding Date: January 2012Venue: Wynn Las Vegas/Bouchon BistroAbout Me: I’m a Wisconsinite-turned-Angeleno who is planning a destination wedding in Las Vegas. I am passionate about education: I spent 23 (!) consecutive years in school, and now I work to help other people get into graduate programs. I love running on the treadmill, buying bath products from Lush, learning new moves in step aerobics, and exploring my neighborhood on foot. I am sometimes snobby about food, but I am rarely snobby about books. I read everything from Geoffrey Chaucer to Iris Murdoch to Chuck Klosterman to Candace Bushnell. My fiance and I are getting married on our third anniversary!
Last Friday was a pretty good mail day here: voting ballot, Room and Board catalog, Time magazine, wedding invitation. The last piece of mail was particularly exciting. Mr. Mole’s good friends—and fellow greyhound owners—are getting married after dating for years and years. While the news of their marriage wasn’t particularly surprising, the details of their wedding were. They are getting married the weekend before Thanksgiving—in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Mr. Mole and I are also having a destination wedding. However, I have to be honest that my first thoughts about their wedding were something eloquent like, “Ack! How much are plane tickets going to be? How much will the hotel room be? Are we going to have to rent a car? How long is that flight going to be? What are we going to do about the dog? Can we take off enough time from work to make this cross-country trip worthwhile?
Miss Petit Four, San Antonio/Isla MujeresAge and Occupation: 25, Technology teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Math Teacher and Football CoachEngagement Date: Feb 13, 2010Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Zama Beach Club, Isla Mujeres, MexicoAbout Me: I am a polka-dot obsessed, destination wedding diva living and loving in the great state of Texas. I am an island girl at heart and I visit the beach as often as I can. I am a wannabe DIY goddess, but that doesn’t mean I won’t give it my best shot. I love pearl earrings, the color pink, and ruffles are a part of my everyday wardrobe. My wonderful fiance and I are planning a destination wedding with our closest family and friends and we’re leaving a trail of glitter in our path!
Since Mr. PF and I have been engaged for almost two years, you can bet your bottom dollar I have heard a lot of wedding talk. Needless to say, nothing surprises me anymore, so I decided to put together a silly list that I’m sure we can all relate to.
Mrs. Parasol, San Ramon, CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 25, Non-profit writer, editor, and bloggerFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Law school studentEngagement Date: December 19th, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Bent Creek Winery (Livermore, California); Reception: Family Residence (San Ramon, California) About Me: I am a California girl at heart. I love the outdoors, sunny days at the beach, and hiking in the woods and mountains. I also love good books and am fresh from completing my Master's degree in English and Comparative Literature in New York City. Living in NYC was an amazing experience, and while I'm glad to be back on the West Coast, I'm also thankful that my two years back East gave me an opportunity to explore new places, make new friends, and indulge my passion for Broadway shows. Oh, and I received a pretty awesome proposal from Mr. Parasol in Central Park. Above all else, Mr. Parasol is my biggest cheerleader and my best friend. But even though I'm thrilled to be marrying him, I wasn't always totally on board with this whole wedding thing and at first, I wanted to run off and elope. I've finally been convinced to throw the wedding I never thought I wanted, and so now I'm busy planning an intimate September wedding filled with DIY details. Along the way, I'm slowly learning to appreciate, perhaps even love the wedding planning process.
Mrs. Parasol here and back in action! I still can’t believe the day we’ve been building toward for nine months has come and gone, and I’m so thankful to all of you who sent your well wishes to Mr. Parasol and me.
I know I’ve been a bit of a wedding skeptic around these parts. I wanted a romantic elopement in lieu of a big wedding, I struggled with various DIYprojects Mr. Parasol and I took on, I had a pretty bad attitude about weddings in general when we reached the one-month mark, and I came down with a case of the bridal craziesin the last two weeks. I didn’t want to think of our wedding as something I just had to get through, but to be honest I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to escape that attitude in the end.
Well, let me tell you, hive. This wedding skeptic has been permanently cured of her cynical ways.
Miss Petit Four, San Antonio/Isla MujeresAge and Occupation: 25, Technology teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Math Teacher and Football CoachEngagement Date: Feb 13, 2010Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Zama Beach Club, Isla Mujeres, MexicoAbout Me: I am a polka-dot obsessed, destination wedding diva living and loving in the great state of Texas. I am an island girl at heart and I visit the beach as often as I can. I am a wannabe DIY goddess, but that doesn’t mean I won’t give it my best shot. I love pearl earrings, the color pink, and ruffles are a part of my everyday wardrobe. My wonderful fiance and I are planning a destination wedding with our closest family and friends and we’re leaving a trail of glitter in our path!
So, one of the big things about having a beach wedding is that it’s going to be hot. Hopefully not too hot, but it will at least be humid! Now, don’t get me wrong, I love my wedding dress (which just came in, by the way!), but it’s not the most comfortable thing in the world.
Miss Petit Four, San Antonio/Isla MujeresAge and Occupation: 25, Technology teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Math Teacher and Football CoachEngagement Date: Feb 13, 2010Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Zama Beach Club, Isla Mujeres, MexicoAbout Me: I am a polka-dot obsessed, destination wedding diva living and loving in the great state of Texas. I am an island girl at heart and I visit the beach as often as I can. I am a wannabe DIY goddess, but that doesn’t mean I won’t give it my best shot. I love pearl earrings, the color pink, and ruffles are a part of my everyday wardrobe. My wonderful fiance and I are planning a destination wedding with our closest family and friends and we’re leaving a trail of glitter in our path!
Mrs. Cucumber Sandwich, Washington, DC/Cape May, NJAge and Occupation: 28, School CounselorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Collegiate AthleticsEngagement Date: March 27, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Congress Hall HotelAbout Me: I am a school counselor who spends my day wrangling children and my nights attempting to be creative with wedding projects. My enthusiasm for each of these activities far surpasses my skill. Thank goodness Mr. Cucumber Sandwich is there to pick up the pieces and be the voice of reason about my DIY tries. I have an obsession with terrible romantic comedies (‘From Justin to Kelly’ anyone?, anyone?!?), competitive Scrabble play, and hot dogs. I could eat astronaut ice cream for every meal and can’t seem to resist buying more shoes. Our wedding is going to be a true hodge podge of semi-destination, tradition, Yuengling, New England charm, with just a dash of ‘Jersey Shore’ thrown in. It has been six years in the making and I can’t wait to marry my best friend.
Mrs. Balloons, Aspen, COAge and Occupation: 24, Mass Communications graduate, Web Design student, & winery workerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, EngineerEngagement Date: July 10, 2009Wedding Date: August 2011Venue: The Sundeck at The Little NellAbout Me: I'm a small-town Midwest girl planning an intimate mountaintop destination wedding complete with a huge DIY at-home reception. As an honors graduate fallen victim to the worst job market in history in my area, we're doing everything we can to still have the wedding of our dreams on a tighter budget. I currently enjoy working at a winery, but I'm lonnng overdue for a day job! I am: a big-time daydreamer, one of the pickiest eaters you'll ever meet, and a lover of pretty paper and awesome fonts. I'm a girly girl who loves to get dolled up, but also a country girl who loves to get muddy and go 4-wheeler riding. I also enjoy singing in the car, boating, going to concerts, the History Channel, carnival food, and going to watch St. Louis Cardinals baseball with my handsome engineer.
I’ve always wanted an outside wedding. Always. This was a problem because:
a.) Mr. Balloon’s family is Catholic. Catholic weddings happen inside of the church, nowhere else. Their church is really gorgeous—it’s just that I really wanted my dream of an outdoor venue.
b.) The area that I’m from offered nothing of the dream outdoor venue I’d always hoped for. The few outdoor places that I did actually like were nowhere big enough to accommodate our huge guest list. The places that were big enough came with nothing, so the rental costs of chairs, tables, etc. would be ridiculously expensive.
OK, so I knew that weddings were expensive…but until we started researching and planning, I had no idea that they were quite as expensive as I started to find out! The national average is something like $28,000?! That’s a lot of freakin money for one day! A very important day, don’t get me wrong…but still ONE day! Now hearing me say that, you’d probably think that I’m the sane one who has the finances under control and doesn’t care about frivolous details that people probably won’t remember in a few years anyway…but that would be an incorrect assumption. I definitely don’t think it’s necessary to go over the top (AKA over budget) by any means, BUT like I told Mr. Balloons (who, by the way,is the one with the finances under control and wants to cut every cost possible), out of all the “parties” that we will ever host, this is THE party. THE party that is representative of who we are and the one time that we will have all of our family and friends, those most important to us, together to celebrate with and show them a good time! He understands, yet still insists many of my ideas aren’t necessary…good thing I’m a good convincer.
As the search continued, I kept hearing more and more about destination weddings. I was intrigued, so I researched more into it. Turns out, people can save a LOT of money on tropical-destination weddings in places like Jamaica!
Mrs. Pony, Bloomington, ILAge and Occupation: 25, AttorneyFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, AttorneyEngagement Date: March 22, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Mackinaw Valley Vineyard; Bloomington Center for the Performing ArtsAbout Me: I found my Southern counterpart in law school and since he popped the question last March, we have been busy graduating, job searching, bar taking, and wedding planning. My loves include must see TV, magnets, quotes, anything green, my car, fun socks, the Cubs, and my Mr. Together we love wine, playing outside, and exploring the world together. Stay tuned to see our Midwest wedding full of Southern charm, vintage flair, lots of DIY details, and a whole lot o’ wine.
I am going to rewind a bit for this post (reverse reverse, everybody clap your hands).
Like most newly engaged couples, one of the first things Mr. P and I decided was where our wedding festivities were going to happen. Basically, we had three options: 1. my hometown; 2. Mr. Pony’s hometown; or 3. a tropical destination. We thought long and hard about the benefits and drawbacks to each option. Well, not really. But we did make a pros/cons list for each option and picked the one that worked the best for us and our loved ones.
My hometown—Bloomington/Normal, Illinois
Image by A. Strickler via Inhabitat (The Normal Part)
Mrs. Snow Cone, Pittsburgh/Johnstown, PAAge and Occupation: 23, Public Health Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, EngineerEngagement Date: April 9, 2010Wedding Date: August 2011Venue: OMOS Church ceremony/Sunnehanna Country Club receptionAbout Me: I’m one of the lucky ones---I met my future husband at the ripe old age of 13, started dating him as a mature woman of 15, and have been enjoying the ride ever since. Here we are, 8 years later, living in Pittsburgh, planning a "homestination" wedding in the place our school romance began---Johnstown, PA. I thrive on talking a mile a minute, eating my weight in chocolate, and internet shopping. I love a lengthy to-do list almost as much as I love a healthy amount of chaos in my life. Mr. Snow Cone and I watch countless episodes of Friends and The West Wing on repeat, root for rival college sports teams, and make each other laugh each and every day. We’re putting together a small-town wedding with a big personality and a classically modern (or modernly classic?) look for 250 of our closest family and friends. It’s been 8+ years in the making, and sometimes I still can’t believe I’m finally getting to marry my high school sweetheart!
Finding our church, date, and reception venue barely had us breaking a sweat. I was super impressed with myself for how easily this was all coming together and how I was probably well on my way to winning the title of “least stressed bride ever.” And then, our search for vendors struck. And my stress level rose. And I kissed my hopes of winning the trophy for lowest-stress bride ever goodbye.
Mrs. Snow Cone, Pittsburgh/Johnstown, PAAge and Occupation: 23, Public Health Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, EngineerEngagement Date: April 9, 2010Wedding Date: August 2011Venue: OMOS Church ceremony/Sunnehanna Country Club receptionAbout Me: I’m one of the lucky ones---I met my future husband at the ripe old age of 13, started dating him as a mature woman of 15, and have been enjoying the ride ever since. Here we are, 8 years later, living in Pittsburgh, planning a "homestination" wedding in the place our school romance began---Johnstown, PA. I thrive on talking a mile a minute, eating my weight in chocolate, and internet shopping. I love a lengthy to-do list almost as much as I love a healthy amount of chaos in my life. Mr. Snow Cone and I watch countless episodes of Friends and The West Wing on repeat, root for rival college sports teams, and make each other laugh each and every day. We’re putting together a small-town wedding with a big personality and a classically modern (or modernly classic?) look for 250 of our closest family and friends. It’s been 8+ years in the making, and sometimes I still can’t believe I’m finally getting to marry my high school sweetheart!
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
Image via Bridezillas
Image via 1stweddingplanner.com
Image via papermash
