Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Wedding Progress!

Thank you so much for all of the engagement love! Chris and I are very excited to take this next step in our lives together. We are planning a very small and intimate wedding this summer in Rhode Island, with 40 of our closest family and friends. We have secured the reception tent, the caterer, the officiant, the photographer, and most of the ceremony and reception decorations. There will be a few things to take care of when we arrive in Rhode Island before the wedding, but other than that, we are feeling very good about how much progress we've made!

Here is a picture of my gorgeous ring! Chris did a wonderful job. I think it's a perfect fit for me because it's classic and vintage looking. I love that!


One of the first things I did was pick my dress! I think that's supposed to be wayyyyy lower on the priority scale, but I was so excited to go with my mom and I ended up making my decision pretty quickly. Of course I can't post a picture of my final choice, but here are a few that I said no to before finding the right one. The first three are from David's Bridal and the last one is the Maggie Sottero Karena Royale.

  



We also sent our save the dates. I liked the idea of going with the state theme because it is a destination wedding after all. 


And here is the first decoration I bought for the wedding. I am going for a "vintage & rustic" casual wedding like pretty much everyone else in the universe. At least according to Pinterest. But hey, there are a lot of good ideas on there that I like so I don't mind that I'm kind of inspired by the current wedding trends.


My mom and I have really been having fun going antiquing and looking for vintage decorations. There are so many good ideas out there! One large piece of furniture we'll need is a display to hold the glasses for drinks (yes, I'm doing mason jars but I feel that's fitting for me since it represents the South) and here are a couple of really good ideas I saw in the antique markets.

Using two ladders with boards between them:


Using shutters with boards between them (I think this is awesome!):


One other thing I'm really excited about is using a window frame to transfer a love quote on to serve as a decorative focal point in the tent.


Okay, I feel like I've shared too much! I want many of the details to remain a surprise for my guests so I'm going to try to keep most of it to myself until the big reveal after the wedding! I may share some of the DIY crafts I'll be working on over the next couple of months. I have a huge to-do list!

HONEYMOON QUESTION: We were initially set on going back to Hawaii since we really loved our vacation there a few years ago, but it's looking like that won't happen. First of all, plane tickets are $1,000 each and the timeshare doesn't have much availability for our desired time. We are now looking into a trip to Jamaica and possibly at a Sandals resort. I'd like some honest feedback on Sandals if you have any or if you have any other recommendations in the Caribbean, I'd be happy to hear it! Thanks!

16 comments:

Amy @ Forever 29 said...

Happy planning!

We went to Sandals Whitehouse in Jamaica in 2007 and it was fantastic. From all of the commercials we were prepared for it to be a bit cheesy, but it really wasn't. It was perfect for lounging & relaxing. The accommodations were nice and the food was good (one of the more important aspects to us!)

Lauren said...

so beautiful! and the save the dates are so graphic and unexpected! congrats again!

Lauren said...

Honeymoon planning was my favorite part! We went to Sandals Jamaica Montego Bay, and while it is one of the older Sandals, it was GORGEOUS, super close to the airport (as in, 5 minutes - yes you hear planes, but not frequently and honestly, we did NOT notice) and there are SO many fun things to do. We loved it.

terriavidreader (IN-USA) said...

Congratulations! I'm so sorry I've been out of touch for so long. I'm very happy to hear your news and that things are going along so well for you!

starnes family said...

You look amazing! And that ring.....could it be more perfect?!

Susannah said...

I've done two Sandals trips in Jamaica-Ochos Rios is the best and most glamorous and wonderful! We also did one in downtown and it was awful!!! Noisy, scary, soliciting 24/7, just yuck! I would go for Ochos Rios-I think that was the name! It was about 12 years ago!

Keri said...

Beautiful ring!

One of my favorite places to go on vacay is to Punta Cana Dominican Republic - adults only all inclusive - Best time ever!

Mary A. said...

1. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!! SQUEEEEEEEEE

2. Ring = DROOOOL. It's spectacular.

3. Dress = sigh! You are so gorgeous!

Lucky in Love said...

Your ring is GORGEOUS...your dresses are GORGEOUS!! So happy for you friend!

Southern Living: Preppy Style said...

Oh yay!!!!! I've been following you for so long that this is just amazing news!! Congratulations. You look beautiful! :-) Ring is gorgeous! Stunning!

Muffy said...

I loooooooooooove that second dress!!! It's so amazing!!! So happy for you-- YAY!

Short, Sweet, and Petite said...

Ahhhh congratulations! I go to school in Newport so I'm very excited to hearing more details! Love your theme too! :)

Shoshanah said...

I love the STDs! I just think all these colors really together in it.

And yes, the "rustic wedding" does feel like it's really in right now. But I think for your guests, who probably aren't into the wedding world, it will feel completely unique to them.

MLD said...

Just signed into Blogger today for the first time in years, CONGRATULATIONS!

Kate said...

Please tell me you are going to have some nautical details since it's Rhode Island! I can't wait to see everything you pick out

The Ramblings of a Thirtysomething Wife said...

I am so happy and excited for you! Love all the details you ahve shared so far and can't wait tos ee more come June. Those dresses look gorgeous, so I know the one you picked will be absolutely perfect!!!

We didn't honeymoon at a Sandals resort in Jamaica, but we did honeymoon at a Secrets resort in Playa del Carmen in Mexico and we really, really loved it! It was a brand new resort and because we went in January (we were married 12/27, so we waited until after the new year), it wasn't very crowded. Absolutely loved that it was adult only and there weren't any kids running around. I love kids (we just had our second), but not on our honeymoon :) The best part about this kind of honeymoon, in my opinion, is the all-inclusive aspect. It was absolutely wonderful knowing it was all paid for upfront and that we could call room service up at 2am and order whatever we wanted. We loved that we could order drinks (alcoholic and non) and snacks to our room at any time of the day. We also splurged and got a swim up room, so we had a pool right outside our door! It was so awesome to have a place to enjoy the water outside of the main pool. Sure, it can seem like the cheesy choice when it comes to honeymoon options, but we really enjoyed ours and have talked about going back (or trying a new location) at some point.

FYI, my best friend vacationed at a Sandals in Jamaica and she told me she didn't really feel safe leaving the resort and that when they did, they were approached many, many times to buy pot :) That could just be her, though. She tends to be a bit more...uh...snobbish? I also think I remember her talking about the resort they were staying at was a smaller one and that the beach was across the road or something like that. She didn't seem too happy about it, so just be careful about which resort you pick if you do decide to go to Jamaica. I think I would stick with one of the bigger resorts and not the smaller one (I think it's called the Carlyle Inn?) Good luck!!! Excited to see you choice :)

 
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