I love my family and friends and am always grateful when any of them are gracious enough to give me a gift, but when it comes to registering for shower and wedding gifts - I find myself at a dead end.

Mr. Jet and I have been living together for almost 5 years and since both of us can cook, we have almost every gadget, gizmo or whatchamacallit there is.  We are paying for our own honeymoon, so at first we thought we could do a honeymoon registry, but since we're going all-inclusive there really isn't much to register for.  A nice dinner on the beach?  Included.  A massage?  Included.  A bottle of tequila?  TOTALLY. INCLUDED.

We scratched that off our list, but what if people do want to give us a physical gift?  Do we chance it and end up with a hideous wall clock?  Or should we upgrade some of the stuff we already have with a small registry at C&B?  

I'll admit, I found this Save the Date back in 2009 on one of Miss Gloss' posts!

It had everything I liked - baker's twine! baby photos! kraft stock! rounded corners!

I tucked this post away until after P-Day (proposal day) and showed Mr. Jet my idea that-I-totally-just-found!  He liked it, so I sent him to his parents' house to find a good baby photo and I did the same.

I wanted to DIY my Save the Dates since it was a manageable project that wouldn't cost a lot of money, and being the obsessive person I am, I could bring them to fruition in just the way I wanted.

I am very, very, very, very lucky that my sister (MOH J) is a professional graphic designer and she's agreed to help with all of my paper needs!  HUZZAH!  Let's all praise her for just a second....

I showed her this idea and she offered up a little twist.  She mentioned that the Mini-Moo cards are pretty expensive for something like this so how about we use a little program called Printstagram instead?  She took our baby photos and gave them a little makeover and had them printed in the traditional Instagram 4x4 pattern so that each Printstagram print had two photos of me and two photos of Mr. Jet with a little white border around each that I could trim around.  This way, we'd get 4 pictures per print and ended up saving a bunch of money this way!

MOH J laid out all the text for me and sent me the file to print on my home printer.  (Note: if you aren't as blessed as I, Paper Source has downloadable templates for all of their stock paper sizes!)  I used the A2 cards and matching envelopes from Paper Source in Paper Bag.  Once I had all the cardstock printed, I rounded the corners using my Fiskar's corner rounder, then affixed the photos with rolling double-sided tape.  I cut my baker's twine to size and ended up with this: (All photos below are personal)

Once I figured out the best process for making one, I called in Bridesmaids C & E and MOH K for an assembly line!  I promised pizza and wine to entice them....

Here is the craftsplosion before we started:

Being the organized bride that I am, I set up stations for each girl and we got these things banged out over a few hours and several glasses of wine.  

Bridesmaid C stamped envelopes, Bridesmaid E affixed all the baby photos and MOH K tied the twine knots. (If you ever meet her, ask her how much she enjoyed her task!)

I had the task of cutting and inserting the envelope liners.  NO ONE LIKES A NAKED ENVELOPE!  More accurately, no one cares about a naked envelope except me - but I'm a glutton for punishment. ;)

I looked high and very, very low for the perfect paper and knew early that I wanted it to be wrapping paper.  It was cheap, easy to cut and wouldn't be too hard to fold or add too much bulk to the letter.  After visiting close to a dozen stores, I found the perfect, colorful insert at my local Paper Store.  I used the A2 Envelope Liner Template from Paper Source and ended up with this:

I addressed them with simple clear mailing labels in a matching font and sent them on their merry little way!

Overall, I am extremely happy with how these came out and proud of my very first DIY wedding project.  

Check out the breakdown below:

For 90 Save the Dates

A2 Paper Bag Envelope - $0.32/pp from Paper Source
A2 Paper Bag Postcard - $0.14/pp from Paper Source
Baby Photos - $0.52 for one of each of us from Prinstagram
Wrapping Paper Liner - $3.79/roll from The Paper Store
Twine - $10 for a 2-pound spool  (I swear, this spool will outlive me) online from WeSellCoffee (and apparently twine?)
Return Address Stamp - $25.95 from Paper Source
Postage - $0.46 from USPS, duh.

Total per STD: about $1.48 each!  How do you like them apples?

I have seven gorgeous bridesmaids of all different shapes, sizes, colors and personalities.  Finding a dress to look good everyone and match the theme of our outdoor Fall wedding was a big priority for me.  I wanted my most favorite women on earth look and feel great on my wedding day!

Originally, I wasn't into floor length dresses, as I thought they might be too formal for our event.  My mind was changed when I entered the wide world of chiffon.  At our local bridal salon, we found beautiful, flowing chiffon numbers in great Fall colors that seemed to accent not only my dress, but our modern/rustic theme as well.  

Enter, Bari Jay.  Bari Jay has been around for over 30 years offering really great styles that will never break the bank.  What's better is that they specialize in Bridesmaid dresses so they have real attention to detail and seasonal colors that never seem outdated.

We looked a few options in the floor-length chiffon but had a clear winner pretty quickly.  

Here she is, Number 324:

My favorite elements of this dress are the sweetheart neckline (which mirrors my gown) and the geometric ruching on the back.  The girls ordered the dress in the color Forest, which is a really nice medium, moss green.  It's going to tie into our theme perfectly.

It seems as though all the girls are happy with the dress and although I'm pretty sure they'll never ACTUALLY wear them again, I'm secretly hoping they find at least one more use for this lovely little number!

As soon as Mr. Jet and I got engaged, I signed up for a Knot account - that's what every fiancée does, right?  I will admit, they have a lot of helpful articles and checklists, but a lot of the fluff doesn't pertain to us and it seems like they're mysteriously trying to sell you ALL THE WEDDING THINGS!

I found myself discouraged easily and quite frustrated at all the lists telling me I needed to find the PERFECT. BRIDAL.  BRA.

However, being extremely HTML challenged, I did like the ease and ready-to-publish templates of their free wedding website.  I grabbed our URL and got to work messing around with all the pages and options we had.  I was able to customize it to suit our needs, while getting rid of most of the "fluff". 

We kept all of the pages really simple and straightforward.  We provided the following:

hi there. - A brief introduction and cute photo of Mr. Jet and I on our trip to Salem last fall! Aww...

she said, "yes". - The story of our proposal, since many people still don't know how it happened!

ceremony. - A photo, address and a few details about the ceremony location.

reception. - A photo, address and a few details about the reception.

our guys & girls. - A list of our bridal party members and a quick, funny description of each.

"out of towners". - We'll have quite a few family members and friends coming from out of town.  Here, we listed the hotel we booked rooms at, some Fall New England activities, our favorite restaurants in the area and a few bars for after hours fun. 

guest book. - pretty self explanatory!

map. - The Knot has a cool Google Maps interface that plots the points you dedicate for Ceremony, Reception, Hotels and more.  This is a neat feature and pretty much populates itself!

We left out an "about us" section because, really, if you don't know us why would we invite you??, a gift registry because we're still undecided, and pages of photos which seemed a little self-indulgent.  It's a simple and classic website and plays its part perfectly for us.  

Choosing our honeymoon proved to be a very difficult task for us.  While Mr. Jet and I do have very similar ideas about how we wanted to spend our honeymoon, the options seemed nearly limitless and trying to narrow me down to anything should be an Olympic sport.

We figured we should choose somewhere in the Caribbean, since it wouldn't be more than a 5-6 hour flight to most places from Boston and the weather would be really warm in October.  We were a go until we realized that we're hitting the tail end of hurricane season in most of the Caribbean.  Oops.

We looked at Aruba first, since they are kind of tucked into the west side of the Caribbean and rarely see hurricanes.  We met with a travel agent at AAA to discuss options, but were sorely disappointed when we realized our dollar would not go very far there.  The resorts we liked were way out of our price range, even for the most basic room.  This was our honeymoon, we wanted to travel in style and have a view like the one above!

I went back to the proverbial drawing board (TripAdvisor) for some more tropical options where we could live like kings for a week.

Our must-haves were:

-Beach
-Warm
-All-Inclusive
-Good Food
-Laziness
-But not too much laziness, we wanted optional excursions if we get bored
-Spa Services
-Adults Only

I asked Mr. Jet to pick his top two absolutes from this list and we both decided that Beach + Food = ULTIMATE.  I started trolling TripAdvisor reviews and message boards to find top rated All-Inclusive resorts that actually offered good food.  In the All-Inclusive world, these two things don't often go hand in hand.  I stumbled upon the Excellence Group and checked out their website to get the low-down on what they offered.  Their resort in Playa Mujeres jumped out as a more modern, adults-only retreat with what they consider "Gourmet" All-Inclusive.  I read about 150 reviews for this resort and it seemed to really live up to its name in terms of service and value.  It wasn't the cheapest resort in Mexico, but it looked like the one for us!  I even read some WeddingBee reviews (as well as Pengy's recaps!) and it seemed like it would be our perfect newlywed retreat.

I checked with my company's travel agent to see if she could crunch the numbers for us, it was definitely within our budget, and see that photo above?  Oh yeah, that's a two-story rooftop suite with private plunge pool!  It checked off every box on our list and then some.  This resort boasts 9 restaurants, 11 bars, daily activities, nightly entertainment, optional excursions, only a half-hour from Cancun, a nice (but small, I hear) stretch of beach and 24-hour room service.  We are taking a chance hitting the tail end of hurricane season, but mid-October seems to be fairly safe according to the seasonal reviews I read.  ::fingers crossed!::  To be on the safe side, we bought travel insurance through my company's travel agent so we weren't SOL come October.

We'll be spending 7 glorious nights in paradise, drinking things out of pineapples and eating so much we'll need to purchase extra seats to get home.

Anyone else heading to the Caribbean for their post-wedding getaway??

When I imagine Mr. Jet and I dancing at our reception, this image pops into my head:

I LOVE to dance.  I have always thought there was a badass Latin dancer living inside my little white body.  I can bust many a move and do so anytime the situation arises.  I love to be the center of attention on the dance floor and will most certainly do that on my wedding day.  Mr. Jet doesn't exactly share my love of "the dance," but he's a big goofball and will indulge me on any dance floor.

That being said, it was important for us to find a DJ who fits our style.  I love all styles of music; pop, alternative, punk, classic rock, etc. while Mr. Jet's interests are far more eclectic and "indie."  We had to find a DJ that can compromise our two styles and find a great mix of ambient dinner music and dance music that isn't too exclusive of our diverse guests.

Our DJ, Frank Baptista, suggested that Mr. Jet tackle the cocktail and dinner music, since his style is a little less accessible to the mainstream guests we'll have and I take on the dance music since I seriously sing Janet Jackson's "Pleasure Principle" in my sleep.  This was a great compromise for the two of us, since music is such an important part of both of our lives. (Mr. Jet is a self-taught musician and and I come from a long line of singers and musicians as well).

My "Reception Boogie" playlist is already 100 songs long.  Time to edit?

Typical Fall New England colors include rusty oranges, reds and yellows - much like our changing trees.  

I wanted to spice things up a bit with our October nuptials.  No Halloween theme, no falling leaves scattered on the tables.  I wanted to modernize our rustic venue with two of my favorite colors: Slate Gray and Moss Green.

These colors work so well with all of the elements we're adding - burlap, vintage wine, a touch of chevron, cream accents and square metal lanterns on every table.  We're incorporating the gray into the guys' suits and the green into the girls' dresses.  I just love the look of those two colors together.  Makes me feel all warm and cozy inside!  Here is the original Polyvore board I created, can't wait to see how it matches up:

As a not-thin-yet-not-plus-sized bride - I sort of dreaded trying on wedding gowns.  I love my body for the most part, I've got curves in all the right spots!  But I do have insecurities as well and have been working out (a little) and watching what I eat (a little) to try and drop a few pounds before the big day.  I'm hoping I fall into that category of women who seem to mysteriously lose weight in the weeks leading up to their weddings due to stress and anxiety!  I've got the stress and anxiety part down, so I'm 2/3 of the way there if you do the math....

I started looking at bridal magazines with my gal pals right after (okay, a little before) I got engaged.  My eye was always drawn to very romantic, lacy styles, especially this Oleg Cassini number from David's Bridal:

(Sidenote: Why do bride models always look so damn miserable?  It's your fake wedding day, look alive!!)


I do know how to dress my body type and a sweetheart neckline accents my boobs without squishing them into one giant uni-boob.  The mermaid/trumpet line of the dress tucks in my small waist and lets out the J-Lo badonk I've got going on as well.  I knew pretty quickly that I wasn't a sheath or cupcake gown bride and once I found the style I wanted, I made an appointment with a local bridal salon.  

On a Saturday morning, my step-mom, MOH K, B'maid E and I visited Alexandra's Bridal in Fall River, MA.  We were met with the sassy Brazilian consultant, Rosana.  I showed her a few pictures I had with me and described the look I was going for.  As luck would have it, those Brazilian girls have all the right curves just like this Irish-Italian girl!  Rosana knew exactly what would accentuate the positives and she pulled about 10 dresses for me to try on.

I'd offer you a neatly presented collage, but the salon did not allow photos!  Womp womp...every blogger's nightmare!

I will tell you, however, I did not make it past dress 3.

Dress 3, oh dress 3...how I love you!

Are you getting the vibe yet that I make decisions very quickly?

Dress 1 was lacy, form-fitting and elegantly beaded.  It was a gorgeous dress, but there was something about the fit I wasn't crazy about and I knew it wasn't it right away.  By the look on my face, my audience knew too.

Dress 2 was satin, ruched, bedazzled around the waist and fit my body like a damn glove.  It was glamorous and very old-school hollywood starlet.  I felt super sexy and this was a serious contender.  It made me forget my lacy love but didn't quite fit our "modern rustic" theme, so I kept going.  My audience loved this one, but agreed it didn't quite scream "me!"

Dress 3 was just...it.  Rosana helped me step into it and although it was 4 sizes too small, it still looked magical.  It had the lace and beading of Dress 1 and the perfect fit of Dress 2.  It was corseted (score one for being able to eat at the wedding!), lacy, fitted and gorgeous.  My audience was stunned.  It was completely unanimous.  It was everything I wanted in a dress and made me feel like a fricken queen.  You'll all have to wait for the big reveal, but hopefully you'll think it's worth it! ;)

Okay here it is...

I don't like flowers.

Not that I HATE them, but I am just so indifferent to them.  When I smell them it reminds me of funeral homes which is bad.  When I see them, I'm like, "Oh those are pretty..." and onto the next thing.

When we started to look for florists, I was given the name of a local vendor a co-worker used for her daughter's wedding.  I was also told to be prepared for ultimate sticker shock.  Yes, I will pay $30 a plate for a guest at my wedding.  NO, I WILL NOT SPEND $125 ON MY BOUQUET!!!!!

Flowers are outrageously priced.  They die quickly and all you have to show for it are the photos that you'll hardly ever look it.  I'm a romantic, aren't I?

I just could not justify the cost of paying that much money for something I cared very little about.  I agreed to meet with this vendor though, just to see if I could get away with some babies breath and green elegantly arranged for way less than fugly red roses.

Mr. Jet and I met with said unnamed vendor and she proceeded to tell us that babies breath was ugly and "so out of style" while showing us a decades-old portfolio where all of the pictures looked like this:

K, no thank you.

I left with a $900 quote in-hand and a bad taste for florists in my mouth.  I had heard good things about a few other vendors and our local supermarket florist, but I think my mind was made up.

I want fake flowers.  Screw it.

I started googling "faux flower bouquets", "fake wedding flowers", "realistic looking silk flowers" and finally came upon Sola Flowers.

They're flowers made of sola wood (yes, wood) that are peeled and shaped into different flower breeds.

I found a shop on Etsy called "Curious Floral Crafts", who specialize in these bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages.  

They were pretty and well-priced and best of all - THEY WON'T DIE!  ULGH!!!!!!

I messaged the shop owner, Samantha and ordered a few samples so I could see them in person.  I read on her site that the photos did not do the actual product justice.  So imagine seeing this:

And thinking to myself, "How could that possibly get any better?!"  Sam sent the samples and I really was blown away!  I'd show you another photo, but really - don't you get my point?

Her samples were all hand-made and beautiful.  They are delicate like real flowers, but will last a lifetime if stored properly.  And she can dye to match nearly any color - the options are limitless!

Much to the chagrin of my traditional family members who shouted "WOODEN FLOWERS?!", I set up an order with Sam for our wedding flowers:

1 Bridal Bouquet
2 Maid of Honor Bouquets
5 Bridesmaid Bouquets
1 Jr. Bridesmaid Bouquet
1 Groom Boutonniere
7 Usher/Dad Boutonnieres
2 Jr. Usher Boutonnieres
3 Pinned Corsages for Moms
1 Pinned Corsage for Nana

All that for HALF the price of my average local florist.  And again I must insist, they will last FOR. EV. ER.

I've already paid the deposit to Sam and we scheduled the shipment for mid-August.  Another convenience to note!  I'll have my wedding flowers 2 months before the wedding - no need to anxiously await a day-of delivery on the big day!

Okay, I must admit...I found our venue before I was actually engaged.  Do you honestly expect anything less from me?  Neither did anyone else.

While I sent out a ton of emails to local venues and sifted through quote after quote, I secretly knew where I wanted to get married.

It's an old barn-turned-restaurant in Westport, MA called Bittersweet Farm.

I loved the intimate venue and all of the charm that came along with it.  I was not wanting to decorate an empty hall and lord knows we are NOT the country club type.  This was right up our alley.  We're modern, we're rustic, we're not into country music but we ARE into their homemade honey butter and that awesome steel Portuguese rooster.  (Mr. Jet's parents are Portuguese immigrants and take much pride in their heritage.  A little nod to the future in-laws would win me a few points).

Bittersweet Farm met with us in March 2012, just a week before we were actually engaged.  It was really important to both of us to keep our anniversary in the same week as the one we already celebrated.  Since our actual anniversary fell on a Thursday in 2013, we opted to bump out two days to the following Saturday. At least we can always celebrate on or around these two dates if we get there early enough!

After harassing all of my co-workers about my impending engagement, I was encouraged (alright, VERY STRONGLY URGED) to book a venue as soon as possible.  My corner of the world is very small and although Boston and Providence are only an hour or so away from us, I didn't want to travel that far for a wedding.  We wanted to celebrate our area, where we both grew up - so we strictly stayed in the South Coast of Massachusetts.  This limited our choices a lot, which was probably a good idea as too many choices make my head hurt. However, it also may have meant that our very popular mid-October date was already booked everywhere. 

We inquired at a few local venues that were thought to be reasonably priced and all-inclusive, but nothing tickled our fancy like Bittersweet did.  It is a public restaurant and we've eaten there many times and have never had a bad thing to say about the food or the service.  

We met with Corrie to make sure our date was open - it was!  We asked her every ridiculous over-prepared question we could think of - 

Can we have our dog at the ceremony?  (They have a gorgeous field on their property with a gazebo surrounded by trees that will be perfectly colored for our Fall nuptials)
Can we have a late night snack?
How late can we party?
Can we have uplighting?  Really?  You're not just saying that?

The list went on an on and Corrie answered every question we had.  We secured the venue that week with our deposit and started REALLY planning.

Here is some more eye candy: (All images below via RC Uplighting)