wedding

Destination Wedding Planning Online

June 14, 2019 by Alicia 1 Comment

I feel like as a child, many people dream about their wedding someday. I dreamed of getting married, but in terms of the details that go into a wedding, I really didn’t have a clear vision. When Brian proposed to me, Feb 29, 2016, we didn’t jump right into wedding planning. We actually were in the process of discussing one way tickets to Australia which we accomplished later in 2016. We waited until we returned to the states and settled back into jobs to work on saving up before discussing planning our wedding. Brian really didn’t want anything to do with the planning though and at one point in our travels I even tried to see if we could just elope in Australia, but he refused that at the time. I knew that I would be the one putting up the funds for the wedding and after some research…WOW food is so expensive and weddings in general are expensive. I, personally, wanted to spend a bit more on our honeymoon and traveling than the wedding part.

It’s no secret that in the last 6 years I’ve moved a lot. From school in Buffalo, NY to home in Evanston, IL to Philadelphia, PA for a couple years and then to Binghamton, NY. Due to school being away from my hometown and moving, I am lucky to have friends all over. It makes getting together with my friends very challenging though. So, my solution, I’m paying for this wedding, then I’m doing it my way and that’s going to be married on a beach with a small crowd. Brian was fine with whatever I chose and my family and friends that I invited would have had to travel anyway because my family is so spread out.

I initially started to plan in November 2017. I looked into planning our wedding in Florida because my grandma lived down there at the time and I knew she wouldn’t go unless she could drive to the location. After locking in my contract and package, about 4 months passed and I had also recently found a photographer and paid a deposit. Well my wedding package suddenly became unavailable that I booked and in 4 months I had literally had email exchanges with 5 different people. It seemed the company was having issues and unfortunately I had to let that deposit go on that. Lesson noted, read contracts very carefully, because supposedly my contract only reserved my date and nothing more.

After Florida was a fail and this was 14 months before we had planned to have our wedding. I decided to move the wedding to Charleston. I had heard the beach was beautiful there and Charleston was always a place I wanted to visit. Nope I never visited before my wedding.

I did a little more research online this time and tried to look up reviews, because how do you really know a company is going to follow through and after losing one deposit, I wasn’t about to lose a second. With the wedding moved and knowing costs, I found a company, Reynolds Treasures, that was affordable and had a great package for 15 people. So that was my new limit, 15 people. We decided on parents, siblings and a few close friends. Being that the wedding was a destination wedding, I decided to also make it a mini bachelorette with my friends. In a way it was a vacation for everyone. I highly recommend Reynolds Treasures if you are looking to get married in Charleston. You can add many customizations to your package with chairs and more, but I kept it simple. I actually thought I would have chairs, but learned just before that I didn’t. It still worked out perfectly because no one would have been able to hear had they been sitting so we all gathered in a bunch. They were able to set up the wedding right near our beach house and designed a beautiful bouquet from an image I found on Pinterest. I decided on teal and coral for my colors and my friends found their own dresses. Reynolds Treasures had WAY better communication with me than the first place I had looked at in Florida. They didn’t send too many emails, just enough so I knew they still had my wedding booked. They would send an email at different dates to select things like the flowers and say what I should have planned and instructions on the marriage license, etc.

Now my package was only for the ceremony and photographer. So when it came to planning a dinner, I searched high and low for restaurants to hold 15 people and reserve way in advance. I also knew I had one friend who was a vegetarian so I really didn’t want a steak house which came up multiple times in my searches. Eventually I found Butcher & Bee and coordinated through email. I had paid a partial deposit and then was told I would be contacted a week before to confirm the number of people and choose the menu. I did call the person a week before to follow up to make sure I was getting the menu and she was great to work with. We coordinated the menu and I loved how I had a personal menu at the table when we arrived. There were 5 appetizers followed by 3 small plates to share and then everyone got to order from 3 entrees. It was perfect and honestly the restaurant blew me away with the service and the food. Everything was so good!! Everyone continued to comment on the food and how amazing it was and we had such a variety thanks to all the small plates. So many vegetables and something for everyone to enjoy!!

Butcher and Bee — a sampling of the appetizers

Continuing with keeping it simple, a wedding traditionally would have a wedding cake. Well, I am more of a cupcake person and knowing the small crowd, I stuck with cupcakes. I found Cupcake DownSouth and placed an order with them for 3 dozen cupcakes. I ended up with 3 dozen mini cupcakes of different flavors; key lime, red velvet and peanut butter chocolate. They were ALL amazing. My wedding crowd also ended up being exactly 12 people with me and Brian so it worked out that everyone had the option of trying each flavor. Brian was highly impressed by the Key lime with a graham cracker crust and all. We might have been full from dinner, but back at the beach house, we enjoyed the cupcakes. Again, this was all coordinated through emails.

Planning all this online and not having a rehearsal of any sort, I didn’t set high expectations. I mostly wanted to have fun with my friends and get married. My tips for planning a destination wedding (especially if you haven’t been to the place like me) would be:

Read the contract carefully before signing that line, know what the deposit is and the terms
Try to book a package that includes everything for you, my ceremony package was perfect with the flowers, photographer and officiant (some places I looked you needed to bring your own officiant)
Read reviews
Don’t be afraid to ask questions with the coordinator or pick up the phone and confirm with the restaurant, make sure everything is in order

I kept our wedding simple and honestly the financing part was still stressful to me because I just don’t like spending money in general and costs definitely add up. I can’t imagine the costs (or I somewhat can) when you have a wedding coordinator, designer, reception hall, ceremony, photographer, etc. For me, the cost of food still is insane to me. I felt I had a really good price at my restaurant choice for all the food everyone got and I enjoyed it too. All those details. I understand that is important to some people, but for us, a beach wedding and close friends and family was perfect. My friends came in from Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. Yes, each person in my group came from a different state. When we visited the aquarium, the person actually, jokingly, asked if I just choose a person from each state lol. I mean most of us originated from Illinois, but have since moved. That’s how my friends are so spread out and so it was special to me that they all made the trip and we had a few days to hang out as well.

It’s a bit crazy to plan a whole wedding online to somewhere you have never been, but hey it all worked out for us. In this day and age of technology, that may become the norm, who knows?

As simple as our wedding was, I’m still glad the stress of it all is over. I’m glad everything worked out and my dress worked so well for the beach, the price was worth it because I just love spinning in my dress. It was fun to get dressed with my close girl friends around and reveal to them. All the cameras in my face were a bit overwhelming at the time, but of course I loved having so many photos at the end. Now we are planning the big local reception for more people. Since we don’t have to travel anywhere this time and it’s going to be pretty casual, it should be less stress.

What do you prefer: small or large wedding?

Aruba Days 1 & 2

June 7, 2019 by Alicia Leave a Comment

We have finally made it to the Honeymoon recap…Aruba!!

So originally when thinking about a honeymoon, Brian and I wanted to head back to the Bahamas, but then Brian brought up Aruba I think. I couldn’t say no to Aruba (HELLO YOGA GIRL!!). Lately when planning trips as well, I like to use my vacation time to go to new places. Since we haven’t been to Aruba, why not. Brian decided in his brief time off from working this winter to take a scuba diving course. He did all the paperwork and coursework locally and was able to get the reference paperwork filled out to complete his open water dive in Aruba. This meant the first two days of our trip, he would be diving and I would be off doing my own thing. Aruba was perfect since I could take a yoga class in the morning at Yoga Girl’s studio and then just relax. My summer classes also started our first full day in Aruba so I had quite a bit of reading to do in the first week and homework to figure out.

After a whirlwind of a trip through Charleston (part 1 and 2), our wedding and a brief stop in Atlanta, I was ready for some downtime. I booked an Airbnb studio apartment that was basically around the corner from Yoga Girl’s studio. I still drove there. I probably could have walked in daylight, but there are also crazy drivers in Aruba and it was just easier to drive and park in the back. We arrived on Sunday night and immediately headed to the grocery store before they closed. We had a grill to use and a cool bar area outside by the pool in our backyard. Brian grilled up some kebabs and it was the perfect dinner. Then we settled in planning our week.

Monday morning, we were up early so I could drive Brian to the other side of the island (a whole 45 minute drive, small island). Also there are basically no stop signs in Aruba. There are many yield signs and circles to force you to slow down. Also the average driving speed was between 40-60kph which is only between 20-30mph so really not very fast which makes sense with all the circles at intersections.

Once I dropped Brian off for the day, I headed right to yoga. I was able to look around some of the studio, but they were filming in the main room. Since I arrived early though, I started chatting with another woman visiting from the New Jersey area and who happens to have a house in the Charleston area. She has a daughter who recently graduated from college and I was telling her about my online MBA program at Penn State in addition to all my traveling. It was nice chatting for a while. I often find people in yoga are just so open and easy to talk to.

It was only an hour class so it went by quickly. I was actually glad because the air was shut off during the class and it was quite humid and warm in the room meaning I was slipping on my mat. I purchased a travel mat just for this trip, but plan to use it going forward as well. It was no slip for a while until my hands and feet were sweating so much I could actually do chaturanga correctly by sliding over my toes. We moved and flowed and for the class being titled “power yoga”, it was not as intense as I was expecting, but still a fun time and perfect way to start my morning. Afterward, I checked out the café and grabbed a green smoothie. I started to talk to another girl there asking where she was visiting from. She was from the PA and Philadelphia area and we started talking about that and yoga retreats, yoga girl and travel. She actually did a yoga retreat with Yoga Girl in Aruba last year and it was cool to hear about that experience. Maybe one day for me. We talked about other islands and travel as well and she mentioned a few restaurants to check out in Aruba for a nice romantic meal for me and Brian. We could have kept chatting, but her ride was there and I wanted to head back for some lunch.

After eating and checking on my emails from my teachers to start the summer classes, I started reading my supply chain book and then spent a while writing. It was so nice to have that quiet and down time. Around 2pm, I headed back to the other side of the island to chill out on Baby Beach and wait for Brian. Apparently I made perfect timing because Brian saw me pull in and had finished early. I sat down on the beach and he appeared shortly after. In the time I took to cover my body in sunscreen and read a few pages of my book, Brian went to grab a bite to eat and returned. I took a quick dip in the water which was super warm, but I didn’t want to leave my stuff on the beach too long, so I headed back to my stuff and Brian was tired and ready to go anyway.

Back to the house, Brian wanted to take a nap, so I brought my supply chain book outside and read for a while by the pool. I did take a quick dip in the pool, but then as the sun started to set and the breeze picked up, I was content reading by the pool and staying dry. The wind was challenging when reading and taking notes, but I made it work and it was nice to just be comfy outside in a bikini.

Somehow 2 hours went by and I didn’t even have my watch on, but I was starting to drain from the reading so I checked on Brian and woke him up basically. I found a restaurant nearby that sounded good, Dragonfly, and we headed out. I got orange chicken and a mojito because when a mojito is on the menu, I usually get one to try. Brian got a huge salad and some sushi.

I realized as we were out for dinner that it gets dark at 7pm which seemed so early because we are getting used to the sun being out later at home. Aruba doesn’t do daylight savings time so they were on Eastern time while we were there, but also not as many daylight hours which was an adjustment.

Day 2

Tuesday morning I dropped off Brian and then headed to SUP yoga. There were only 4 of us in the class so it was nice and small. The balance is definitely challenging on a board and we had awesome boards for yoga, Boga Yoga boards (putting that on my future wish list but maybe when I get a new car SUV to carry it and have time to SUP). There was also a huge starfish in between my board and the person next to me. I wish I had brought my Go Pro out for a picture as it was beautiful and pink. We told our teacher after class and she said it was rare to see them in that swim area. We left it where it was though as to not disturb it, but I was a bit afraid of falling off my board and stepping on it because we were only about hip deep.

When I got home I ate some lunch and had a bit of time to work before I headed out to pick up Brian around 1. Brian only had a half day of diving to finish.

In the afternoon, Brian napped and I worked on homework. It was really the perfect balance for me.

Then we headed out to Eagle beach. Apparently it’s the 3^rd best beach in the world according to TripAdvisor, but I wasn’t overally impressed having been to many Australia beaches. I did have fun playing with my new Go Pro.

We didn’t spend too long there before heading to the grocery store. The traffic was bad as we drove. We saw some people just drive over gravel to cut across the parking lot and then make their own space. The driving in Aruba is something else for sure. Also people pull out in front of you all the time because that is just the way they drive down here. If you wait to pull out, you will be waiting forever, so you have to be a little aggressive.

We got back around 6 and Brian cooked up Tuna for himself and a steak kebabs for me. We also skewered some brussel sprouts and cooked those on the grill to eat. It was a nice evening. Brian and I sat outside on our computers and working on our own things. I had my first supply chain class which I enjoyed while sitting outside at our little bar patio.

On days 3 and 4 we were finally doing activities together and I’ll come back with another post for that.

The Wedding – Folly Beach SC

June 3, 2019 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Alright, we left off at the first look. The girls had Brian keep his eyes closed until I came down and he could see me. Nobody cried, but we were happy to see each other and then it was photoshoot time, but being that it was 4pm, when the ceremony was supposed to start, I was ready to head down to the beach.

So the entourage of the 12 of us walked from the beach house to the beach. Kristin was helping me hold my dress so it wouldn’t drag through the street. I just love the photo of us walking. My sister took pictures on my camera. My dad had his camera and there were cell phone cameras all over us. My face was already getting tired from smiling so much.

Brian and my dad each got a boutonniere. Then it was time for everyone to line up and I linked arms with my dad as we walked down the sand and flower petal aisle. It was finally happening, our wedding.

All my friends were so excited and taking pictures and videos. So glad I had them there. We exchanged silicone rings (Groove Rings) because neither of us really expect to wear our rings much. I love my engagement ring, but my fingers swell so much in summer and I don’t like the tightness and then in winter, my ring looks giant and the diamond doesn’t even stay on top and ends up circling around multiple times a day. So it just made sense to not spend money on ring bands we will never wear. I would like to get nice watches to exchange and engrave though so hopefully soon. These rings work and although Brian hasn’t worn his since the first day, I do love mine as it stays put and is designed to work out with and be active as I am. [side note: the Mayor of Folly Beach married us which we thought was cool]

Now for all the photos to share. I didn’t expect it, but Brian and I took a lot of photos with the photographer after. This meant everyone was standing in the hot sun and eventually headed back to the house, so I didn’t get individual pictures with my friends, but we got our group photo and we all had a nice time. It was also just nice to have a small amount of people so I could spend time with everyone and my friends and I had the days leading up to the wedding as well. I will talk more about the planning in another post.

wedding yoga — bridge in my wedding dress of course

After the ceremony and photo taking, we all headed to Butcher and Bee in downtown Charleston for dinner. They printed a menu up and I choose 5 appetizers for the table and 3 small plates and 3 entrees. Everyone had the appetizers and small plates and then ordered an entrée from the list. It worked out amazingly well, because in case you didn’t realize, this was all planned online and through email! The food was seriously amazing so I highly recommend Butcher and Bee. I will say it was a little weird going to a restaurant in my wedding dress, but our group was towards the back and I didn’t notice too many people staring. I was having fun with everyone there.

Afterwards we headed back to the house. Someone, my other friend car needed to stop at Wal-Mart for alcohol…I’m honestly not sure who they thought was going to drink all of it, but they had fun. I had ordered cupcakes from Cupcake Downsouth in Charleston that my dad had brought over before the ceremony. While my order actually got messed up because it was supposed to be 1 dozen regular size and 2 dozen minis, they gave me 3 dozen minis but it worked out well because we had exactly 12 people and 3 dozen cupcakes. So everyone had the opportunity to try every flavor, which were red velvet, peanut butter chocolate and key lime. Brian was highly impressed with the key lime because it had a graham cracker crust on the bottom. They were all delicious!!

My friends stayed up pretty late, drinking and playing games. I worked on packing up my bag. Brian’s friend Kyle took my dress for me and drove it back to NY state so I was changed pretty quickly. I am glad my friends bonded so well especially since most of them had never met before. Brian and I are already an old couple apparently because we headed to bed around 10.

Saturday morning came around and me, Ashley and Brian took a walk down to the beach for one last beach walk. Then we rounded up the gang and headed out to The Lost Dog in Folly Beach for breakfast.

breakfast crew — breakfast minus Ashley taking the photo

Honestly breakfast took a little longer than I would have liked because we needed to get to the airport. After breakfast, I dropped off Brian at his hotel to get his things and check out while my sister and I worked to clean up the house and make sure we had everything packed. My friends in the other car, disappeared. Apparently they headed down to the lighthouse and unfortunately I was rushed leaving so I wasn’t able to say official goodbyes.

My sister and I went to pick up Brian and then we dropped off my sister with my parents since she was staying another day and spending the day with them. Then it was off to the airport. Of course you are in a hurry and there is an accident on the highway too. Luckily we made it in plenty of time. However, my friends cleaned up the house and my friend found my marriage license in the second kitchen area. I never put it in my bag..eeek. So thankful for my friends being the last ones to make sure everything was clean and my friend mailed me my marriage license. I still had to order the official stamped one anyway, but good to have your original right?!

Next stop for me and Brian…Atlanta!!

Charleston, SC – Before the Wedding Part 2

May 31, 2019 by Alicia 2 Comments

Thursday morning I heard someone walking around early and I was awake by 6:30am. I am so used to getting up early for work that was basically sleeping in. Ashley was also up. I grabbed myself a bowl of cereal for breakfast and waited for the others to get up. A few of us had a nice walk to the beach in the morning.

BFFs since I was 8 years old, me and Mercedes

We had a packed day ahead, beginning with a 10am walking tour of Charleston. Being that there were 6 of us, we couldn’t all fit in one car, so Brian met us at the house and drove a few of us into downtown Charleston and dropped us off while he went to pick up our marriage license and then pick up his mom and brother from the airport.

Meanwhile, the girls + Geoff were on a walking tour. We actually had our own guide with our big group. Later, a family with 1 kid joined, but it was mostly us. Again you can see some of the footage of our tour in my sister’s Youtube video of Charleston.

Being that it was my first time to Charleston and I think the first time for all the girls, actually, it was really interesting. We learned about the single houses and double houses and the pineapples people put out for hospitality. Of course, the highlight for my sister and us was walking down Rainbow Row. We ended near there so we quickly took some pictures before getting some much needed lunch.

Rainbow Row with the Girls, Theresa (sister), Ashley, Kristin, Me, Mercedes

Mercedes and Geoff headed off to find lunch themselves and me, Kristin, Ashley and my sister checked out Brown Dog Deli. It was a bit of a wait, but it allowed us time to decide what we wanted to eat. We also got to sit at the back patio and I didn’t even realize there was one.

When we finished, I realized the aquarium closed at 4 and it was almost 2 so we weren’t going to make it there. We revised our plan and decided to walk down King St and check out the shops. Mercedes and Geoff met us over there. I had heard about the Savannah Bee Company store and I would have loved to buy honey, but I didn’t want to send it home with someone or bring it overseas to Aruba. Honey is one thing I had to be cautious of traveling with because of going to New Zealand. I know every country is different, but I figured that less hassle is better with dealing with customs and TSA.

I did buy myself a chapstick that reminds me of the Chapstick Mint flavor. I also donated $1 to “adopt a bee.” I’ll donate to the bees but I can’t do the whole keeping a beehive thing. Bugs and things just like to bite and sting me…

While walking down King St, I learned of King Street Cookies. Ummm a cookie shop is a must stop for me (in addition to cupcake shops). This place was AMAZING!! Everyone got 1,2 or 3 cookies. I only got one, the smores. Some people got 3 because if you bought 3, you got a free drink of your choice. I was thankful I brought my hydrate pack with me for the day. I may have looked goofy or like a tourist, but it really helped me stay hydrated, a new must pack for trips. It also held my purse and camera.

After all the walking, everyone was getting tired and ready to head back. Brian was out with his mom and brother so after a long walk back to Kristin’s car, the 6 of us squeezed in. We got a little lost walking back to the car so it was like a 20 minute detour.

Once we got back, we headed to the beach for a bit. Brian was out getting groceries for dinner.

We had a nice grill and table on one of the many porch areas of the beach house and we were having the whole wedding party (10 people plus me and Brian, so 12 in total) over for dinner. Brian cooked up hamburgers, steak, sausages and shrimp. We also mixed together a bunch of salads and threw together dinner. It was actually all really good. While we ate, we could see the sun set behind the marsh area as well. It was a beautiful night. All the girls wore the Bride Tribe shirts and we took a bunch of photos. Even the guys got in on some photos. Also Brian’s friend Kyle arrived mid day. He drove down and that was nice to have another car.

After dinner, the parents left and the “kids” played What do you Meme for quite some time. I think around 10, I called it quits. We had been going for a while and the day was non stop.

Friday May 10th

Friday was WEDDING DAY!! But since the wedding wasn’t until 4pm, we decided to head out to the aquarium when they opened at 9. It actually worked out well as Geoff stayed behind and the girls all went. We wore our Bride Tribe shirts too. It was also Charleston graduation weekend and we seemed to walk through some of the campus to the aquarium. Luckily we didn’t have too much traffic arriving at 9 and leaving at 11. The Charleston aquarium has been on my bucket list since I met a girl on my Costa Rica trip in 2010 who worked/volunteered there for a while. Since she is currently living on a sailboat (what a life!), I didn’t get to see her, but we had fun visiting. Since our group was the first to arrive in the day and the staff seemed to be eager to talk to everyone, we had many people to talk to and ask questions. They then also offered us a free behind the scenes tour at 10:30am with one of their volunteers thanks to my wedding shirts for letting them know I was getting married that day. So we walked around and it was easy to follow the map as they have the aquarium organized for where to start and finish. We had pretty much made it through everything in an hour and enjoyed watching the turtle and other fish swim in their 42ft tank, the tallest in North America apparently. Then we watched the river otter feeding at 10am. It was exciting to see the otters swimming. Apparently river otters are quite mean and even trainers can not get in the area with them. They throw the food from above and each otter has its respective eating area. After the otter feeding, our guide found us and took us behind the scenes to the food prep area. He explained the aquarium is mostly run by volunteers and it’s a very educational aquarium as they have a lottery system to allow each school in the Charleston area to come to visit for free. We saw the many school groups start to arrive around 10am and I was thankful we arrived at 9.

Our guide then explained the holding tank area and we got to talk to some divers for a while about the fish they have in the big tank and also their one sea turtle, whom apparently rules the tank. They actually always need 2 divers in there so that one is watching her, because she likes some people and doesn’t like others and she can knock your tank or goggles if not careful. I was also given a fish tooth for good luck as we talked about my wedding. I just realized while writing this I gave the tooth to my sister to hold in her purse and never remembered to take it LOL.

charleston Bride Tribe — group pic outside of aquarium

After our tour, it was 11 and time for us to head back to the beach house to have the afternoon to get ready. We made a quick stop at Wal-mart for nail polish and headed back. We had bought bread and sandwich meat, chips and other snacks planning to be home for lunch. So we ate and then I found Miss Congeniality on TV so we put that on while painting our nails and everyone doing their hair, etc. I originally told Brian to come over at 3 for a first look, but apparently he wasn’t listening and I wasn’t ready anyway. Mercedes had straightened my hair in the morning and Ashley re straightened it a bit (after humidity) and my sister figured out how to do my hair for my veil. Around 3:30 everyone was getting to the house. I came out to reveal my wedding dress. Oh and the girls were on “Brian patrol” and keeping him outside for the official reveal. My dad had picked up my cupcake order and he walked in while I was in my dress. It was actually kinda funny, I was just standing by the door in my dress. It was super fun to spin in and the girls were all taking my pictures.

I also had sent my friend and dad down to the beach to see if anyone was setting up. Apparently the organizer was there and we had a little misunderstanding as I thought there would be chairs, but I guess I didn’t order any. I knew the ceremony would be short, so I didn’t worry about it. It actually worked out for the better because everyone crowded around to hear the vows anyway.

Finally we were all ready to go…(to be continued)