We drank good wine (of course)..A New Zealand Wine called LaRose from Stonyridge Vineyards in Waiheke Island, NZ.
You read about this time in your life in fairy tales and Disney stories but never do you think something like this could actually happen. It was magical. And then...came wedding planning. We had just moved into a new house, in a new city, new everything so we thought a long engagement was a good idea. Truthfully, I don't know how people plan a wedding with any less than a year. We set the date for April 27th, 2012 and to work we went!
We had NO idea where we wanted to get married. It was starting from a completely BLANK slate. I was certainly not one of those girls that had every detail and color planned as a young girl. I definitely work day to day and barley that sometimes. All I knew I wanted was to marry Matt at a beach because we met at the beach. All Matt knew he wanted was an open bar. We were CLUELESS. So, i'm pretty sure when we returned home from the engagement weekend we started our wedding planning by googling "beach weddings". Hey, you gotta start somewhere! After much research, we stumbled upon this quant beach town north of Jacksonville, FL called Amelia Island a.k.a HEAVEN.
We were all clueless with the idea of planning a basic wedding but I had all these bright (in the wedding world that's also referred to as...expensive) ideas like outdoor wedding, at sunset, and you get the idea. So, as we planned...we learned...A LOT. I thought I would share with you some of the things that even stumped many highly educated people, google, and wedding planners. Stuff I wish I knew nearly one year ago...
Destination Weddings
They are becoming more and more popular for a lot of reasons. One, if you're going to travel for a wedding people are now a bit spoiled. They want to travel somewhere new, different, and fun. Two, As a bride planning a destination wedding, you can be as "hands-on" or "hands-off" as you would like. I would make decisions and choices as needed or wanted and left the rest up to the professionals. Three, it allows you to create a special memory in a place that is unique to your relationship, family, and friends.
Transportation
We chose Amelia Island, FL for a lot a reasons (look here) but one of the most important was its close approximation to the Jacksonville International Airport. Easy access for our friends and family who were all traveling at least 2 hours by car but mostly by plane. However, during the process we realized that providing transportation to and from the wedding was important because of the location we chose.
So, we rented this bad boy to get our guest SAFELY to and from the wedding venue. Believe me people, it came in handy.
Wedding Itinerary of Events
Keep your guests informed. They spent a lot of money to be a part of your day and traveled long distances so they deserve to be entertained and spend time with you. One of our main reasons for doing a destination wedding and on a friday was to make it a whole weekend of events. We provided transportation to and from the venue, had a newlywed meet and greet on saturday mid-day, and a bonfire on saturday night. I don't mean to brag here, but I might be one of the only brides who can actually say I met with and even had a conversation with all of my guests. It was a nice feeling.
Welcome bags
Many of our guests came from out of state and traveled by plane so providing an amazing welcome bag was one of my must-haves in a wedding. Receiving it upon check-in to your hotel sets the tone for your wedding. It also provides people with some celebratory pre-game champaign, UV protection, hangover remedies, snacks, breakfast, and a tote for the beach. It wanted it to reflect a thoughtful collection of items that you meant to pack but might have forgotten for a beach/destination wedding.
Our burlap bags with wedding itinerary attached
Lighting
A VERY unexpected dent in our budget FOR sure but lighting was super important for the outdoor setting and the fact that in April the sun sets around 7:45pm and the wedding didn't end until 10pm. It made the setting romantic and soft. Of course, our photographer (Jimmy Ho Photography) captured the lighting's feel perfectly.
Dance with Pops:)
Looking very sober.
Aerial view..they thought of everything.
Starting our first dance...
Little bro's speech
I hope this helps all you newly engaged couples out there. Congratulations to you, and as my mom always reminded me during this sometimes stressful process, enjoy every moment of your planning and engagement because the actually day goes by SO fast. Best. advice. ever.
Party Nicole
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