So it's been a little over a month since the BIG day! My fiance and I were married on Saturday, July 21, 2012 in the beautiful Old Mission San Juan Bautista. The reception followed at the Cultural and Community Center of Morgan Hill. We celebrated our love and commitment to each other accompanied by 240 family and friends. It was such a beautiful day.
There were only 3 weeks left before the wedding and I was still working on DIY projects. One of our centerpieces were small boxes made out of wood from our very own house. My fiance did the cutting and nailing and I did the sanding, staining and carving. The boxes were carved with our initials on one side and our wedding date on the other. I made a total of 15 boxes. The other centerpiece was a short wrought iron flower holder that I purchased in downtown Los Angeles for only $3.99 each. I wanted to have something nice, simple yet elegance that didn't cost a lot of money and I think we nailed it. The programs had been finalized and everything was set and ready to go. The last week I spent relaxing, we had worked so hard for so long that it was nice to be done with everything early. I didn't have a wedding planner so everything came from me... from the table decor to chairs and flowers and cake design. I also created my own ceremony and reception programs. I did have help the day of, I had a coordinator who executed my program efficiently and successfully. I was proud with everything that I had created. My vision came to life and everything looked better than I imagined. Since the wedding was in the summer I wanted the decor to be bright and fun yet still elegant. The bridesmaids wore a beautiful bright red dress which coordinated so beautifully with their mixed bright color bouquets. The groomsmen wore traditional black and white tuxedos and accented with a red rose. I didn't want them to wear the color ties, it seemed too prom for me. The groom wore a handsome all black tux with a white rose. The entire look was beautiful. The venue looked amazing... the food was delicious... the cake was finger licking good...music was fun and entertaining and there was plenty of alcohol for our guests to enjoy. Our main goal was for our guest to enjoy themselves and we definitely delivered. Everyone told us what a great wedding we had and how much fun they had. Everyone told us how beautiful everything looked.
This wedding experience taught me that it is very possible to have a beautiful and fun wedding for under $20,000 we had over 200 guests and an open bar. We were definitely blessed to have the support that we had during this process. :)
We celebrated our honeymoon in the beautiful Dominican Republic where we spent 8 amazing days... we are not home and working on starting a family of our own.
Thank you to all who read my blog... and remember, wedding planning doesn't have to be stressful. :D
Good luck to all the brides-to-be!!!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
86 days to go!
It's been a while since I have posted anything on here... I can't believe that I am only 3 months away from the big day. It feels like it was only yesterday that we got engaged and here we are almost a year later, finalizing the last details of my wedding. I have to say how blessed I feel that I am not completely stressed out yet... I do think about all the details that we still need to take care of and I think to myself... Wow, there is still a lot to do. All the big things have been taken care of. Venue is paid for... Church requirements are all complete... Decorations are done! Honeymoon-Booked. Invitations have been sent out and RSVP's are slowly coming in. I have a few more projects in mind but I have to wait until I see the final guest list to determine if I am going to be able to do what I have in mind. I get my dress in a few weeks and I am excited about that... I am interested to see how it's going to fit. I have an appointment for my Bridal Consultation at the salon in a couple weeks. Finally we will put the entire look together. Veil is here, still working on accessories, I have my shoes.
Dinner Menu has to be finalized, have to order the cake, and start stocking up on Alcohol. Oh I have a feeling the last few weeks are not going to be as easy as these first few months. I can already picture myself getting a little crazy. LOL... But it's such an exciting time for me. Stay tuned for more posts. :D
Dinner Menu has to be finalized, have to order the cake, and start stocking up on Alcohol. Oh I have a feeling the last few weeks are not going to be as easy as these first few months. I can already picture myself getting a little crazy. LOL... But it's such an exciting time for me. Stay tuned for more posts. :D
Thursday, February 23, 2012
When does the Stress kick in?
Not to brag but so far this wedding planning process has been a piece of cake. I was getting nervous because I was expecting to stress out and feel overwhelmed. So far everything has been great and pretty easy to handle. Maybe this wedding planning process is a reflection of my relationship with my fiance- smooth sailing. hahaha! But seriously, are all brides this calm? Or am I going to experiene an overwhelming amount of stress later in the process?
Choosing my dress-Easy!
My shoes- No Problem!
Wedding decor- Done!
Maybe I need to check in with the fiance or should I say financier ;) Maybe he's experiencing a little more stress than me, after all, he is the one paying for most of this. But overall I think that we have been extremely lucky. We have received tremendous support from his parents which has saved us a lot of money.
The only advice I can give a bride is to relax and believe that things will be perfect on her wedding day. Sometimes all this stress before is not even worth it. At the end of the day you are going to have the wedding of your dreams and the best thing is to enjoy the process... this is what I have been doing so far. But it is still February and my wedding is still like 5 months away. Check back in with me in a few months. :D
Choosing my dress-Easy!
My shoes- No Problem!
Wedding decor- Done!
Maybe I need to check in with the fiance or should I say financier ;) Maybe he's experiencing a little more stress than me, after all, he is the one paying for most of this. But overall I think that we have been extremely lucky. We have received tremendous support from his parents which has saved us a lot of money.
The only advice I can give a bride is to relax and believe that things will be perfect on her wedding day. Sometimes all this stress before is not even worth it. At the end of the day you are going to have the wedding of your dreams and the best thing is to enjoy the process... this is what I have been doing so far. But it is still February and my wedding is still like 5 months away. Check back in with me in a few months. :D
Friday, February 3, 2012
Vendors: Catering, Photography, Music, Alcohol!
Once you have decided on a venue, the next thing is to hire your vendors. The decoration will set the tone for the type of wedding you have. The food is important. I have been to many weddings and I have to say that most of the time the food is average. I have yet to walk away from a wedding thinking, the food was delicious. Oh and let's not forget the Music. The DJ is very important. They will be a huge factor in whether or not you have a fun and entertaining wedding reception. The photographer, by far, is the most important. These are memories that will be carried with you for the rest of your life.
Being able to bring in our own catering and alcohol was a HUGE plus for us. We have the flexibility of creating our food and drink menu from scratch. Bring as much alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages for our guest to enjoy without having them have to pay for it themselves.
Deciding on a caterer was easy. Honey's family owns a restaurant and agreed to cater the wedding for us. All we have to do is come up with a nice and delicious menu. The good thing is that my future SIL (sister-in-law) is very good at coming up with creative and delicious ideas. I am not worried about the food one bit. I have a lot of faith on the restaurant and I am sure the people will love the menu selection.
The music is important. I consider myself a fun and out-going person. I love to dance and have a good time. Having good music at my wedding is important. We decided we were not going to have a band so finding a great DJ was important. Honey knew a person who played for his parents restaurant. He had sort of retired for the DJ business but was still playing for family and close friends. Good thing he considered my fiance a good friend because he gladly accpeted to play for us. I have never heard him play but from my understanding he is great. He is very diverse with his music which is very important for us since our guestlist is very diverse too. We also hired a Trio for the cocktail hour and dinner. The music is soft, romantic, and classic Mexican. I am excited about them as well.
Decoration- I have an idea of what I want. I want something simple but beautiful. Because our venue is not fancy, I didn't want to go with fancy table decorations. I wanted them to be nice and colorful. There isn't a real theme to our wedding, I think we are going with bright summer colors and add a little rustic Mexican look. I haven't really thought about how I am going to pull this off but I am going to try by best. I am confident that my decorator will be able to translate my vision and come up with something beautiful. This is the area where I go back and forth but I know it will all be so beautiful.
We found the photographer through a friend of ours who got married in 2010. Her pictures were just gorgeous. She sent us the name and number and when I called, he was completely professional. He responded right away and was very helpful in creating the perfect package for us. We met with him a week after I contacted him and signed the contract. We have set an engagement shoot for later in May and I am excited to see what the pictures will look like.
It's all beginning to come together. All the major things have been taking care of. It's the details that I am worried about. I think I am creative but my creativity has been on snooze. I have to get on it and make the details of the wedding fit the overall look of it. :)
Being able to bring in our own catering and alcohol was a HUGE plus for us. We have the flexibility of creating our food and drink menu from scratch. Bring as much alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages for our guest to enjoy without having them have to pay for it themselves.
Deciding on a caterer was easy. Honey's family owns a restaurant and agreed to cater the wedding for us. All we have to do is come up with a nice and delicious menu. The good thing is that my future SIL (sister-in-law) is very good at coming up with creative and delicious ideas. I am not worried about the food one bit. I have a lot of faith on the restaurant and I am sure the people will love the menu selection.
The music is important. I consider myself a fun and out-going person. I love to dance and have a good time. Having good music at my wedding is important. We decided we were not going to have a band so finding a great DJ was important. Honey knew a person who played for his parents restaurant. He had sort of retired for the DJ business but was still playing for family and close friends. Good thing he considered my fiance a good friend because he gladly accpeted to play for us. I have never heard him play but from my understanding he is great. He is very diverse with his music which is very important for us since our guestlist is very diverse too. We also hired a Trio for the cocktail hour and dinner. The music is soft, romantic, and classic Mexican. I am excited about them as well.
Decoration- I have an idea of what I want. I want something simple but beautiful. Because our venue is not fancy, I didn't want to go with fancy table decorations. I wanted them to be nice and colorful. There isn't a real theme to our wedding, I think we are going with bright summer colors and add a little rustic Mexican look. I haven't really thought about how I am going to pull this off but I am going to try by best. I am confident that my decorator will be able to translate my vision and come up with something beautiful. This is the area where I go back and forth but I know it will all be so beautiful.
We found the photographer through a friend of ours who got married in 2010. Her pictures were just gorgeous. She sent us the name and number and when I called, he was completely professional. He responded right away and was very helpful in creating the perfect package for us. We met with him a week after I contacted him and signed the contract. We have set an engagement shoot for later in May and I am excited to see what the pictures will look like.
It's all beginning to come together. All the major things have been taking care of. It's the details that I am worried about. I think I am creative but my creativity has been on snooze. I have to get on it and make the details of the wedding fit the overall look of it. :)
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Oh the Guestlist...
Both Honey and I come from large families so deciding on a wedding guestlist was a little complicated. We decided that we were going to have a wedding with 200 guests. The venue we chose accomodates 250 people so we figured we would be able to play with the number. We also decided that we would have an Adult Only reception. Mexican culture weddings are usually filled with kids and to be honest, it's a mess. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with kids, I love them but there is definitely a time and a place for them and weddings is not one of them. We knew this was going to be a challenge because we have a lot of family members with little ones and who may have a problem with our Adult Only wedding.
We started creating our list and we were surprised at how easy it was. We included our closest family members and friends and when we were done our list was at 203. We both felt very proud of ourselves. A few days later, we went to visit my future mother-in-law. We told her that we had begun creating our guestlist and she immediately gave us a list of about 20 people. At that point we were up to 225 people. After speaking to my mom I added an additional 4 people. Before you know it our list was at 240 people. Mind you this does not include children or extra guest for our single guests. How will we ever pull this off? I am worried that people will get offended because of the No Kids rule. I am nervous that people won't honor it and show it with more guests. I hate to say it but older, traditional Mexican people are used to attending parties in packs and this is when it begins to get tricky. My fiance and I have different ideas of how to deal with people. It was easy for me to tell my parents that they were not allowed to invite people to MY wedding. Unfortunately he can't do it. He isn't able to tell his parents to stop inviting people. Not that I care but the truth of the matter is that we cannot accomodate everyone. This has definitely been the most stressful part of planning the wedding. Deciding what people you want to include and what people you have to leave out. :(
We started creating our list and we were surprised at how easy it was. We included our closest family members and friends and when we were done our list was at 203. We both felt very proud of ourselves. A few days later, we went to visit my future mother-in-law. We told her that we had begun creating our guestlist and she immediately gave us a list of about 20 people. At that point we were up to 225 people. After speaking to my mom I added an additional 4 people. Before you know it our list was at 240 people. Mind you this does not include children or extra guest for our single guests. How will we ever pull this off? I am worried that people will get offended because of the No Kids rule. I am nervous that people won't honor it and show it with more guests. I hate to say it but older, traditional Mexican people are used to attending parties in packs and this is when it begins to get tricky. My fiance and I have different ideas of how to deal with people. It was easy for me to tell my parents that they were not allowed to invite people to MY wedding. Unfortunately he can't do it. He isn't able to tell his parents to stop inviting people. Not that I care but the truth of the matter is that we cannot accomodate everyone. This has definitely been the most stressful part of planning the wedding. Deciding what people you want to include and what people you have to leave out. :(
Color Scheme- From Fall to Summer
The original date for our wedding was September 15th. When we booked our venue we changed the date because of unavailability. So this meant that we needed to change our color scheme as well... :( I always dreamed of having beautiful bright fall colors; Red, Orange, Gold and tints of Brown but were these colors appropriate for a summer July wedding?
The day I went in for my bridal fittings I also did a bridesmaid fitting. I let the girls scout the shop for bridesmaid dresses. There were a few options that we loved. The girls tried them on and we made a decision. A beautiful Yellow Chiffon one shoulder dress.
It was a beautiful style with a flaterring waist line and I thought that it would be great style for all of the girls but I was torn. I always said I wanted to have red as my main color and I had to find a way to mix in the red with the summer decor. I also realized that this dress would not look good in a red so I had to find another style. After much research and a lot of feedback from my girls I found a dress that I thought would fit the style I was going for. And so we decided to go with this instead...
I am confident that this style will look great on all of the girls. I think it will fit in perfectly with the color scheme I have decided to go with. Although we have decided to get rid of the orange and brown I will still incorporate the gold and some tints of orange in the flower decor. I am sure it will all be really nice. :)
The day I went in for my bridal fittings I also did a bridesmaid fitting. I let the girls scout the shop for bridesmaid dresses. There were a few options that we loved. The girls tried them on and we made a decision. A beautiful Yellow Chiffon one shoulder dress.
It was a beautiful style with a flaterring waist line and I thought that it would be great style for all of the girls but I was torn. I always said I wanted to have red as my main color and I had to find a way to mix in the red with the summer decor. I also realized that this dress would not look good in a red so I had to find another style. After much research and a lot of feedback from my girls I found a dress that I thought would fit the style I was going for. And so we decided to go with this instead...
I am confident that this style will look great on all of the girls. I think it will fit in perfectly with the color scheme I have decided to go with. Although we have decided to get rid of the orange and brown I will still incorporate the gold and some tints of orange in the flower decor. I am sure it will all be really nice. :)
Friday, January 27, 2012
Shopping for the Perfect Dress!
Dress #1
Dress #2
Dress #3
Dress #4 
Dress #5 
Dress #6 
Dress #7 
Dress #8 
Dress #9 
Dress #10 
Dress #11After trying on so many dresses in one appointment I decided that I needed to look no further. I found the Dress that I loved. It was something that I didn't think I would like but it was the first dress that made me feel like a bride. I felt like I had tried on every type of style and it was ann easy decision for me. After this appointment, I decided to cancel everything else. Maybe I watch too much "Say Yes to the Dress" but Randy says, that once a bride has found the dress she loves, she should stop looking and I found it and I stopped looking!
Yes, my dress is among these 11. ;)
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