I's Married Now

We did it! On June 7th, Kawon & I tied the knot in the most beautiful wedding I could have ever imagined. Everything was perfect! The weather on the beach, the food, every detail and being surrounded by our closest friends and family.

We're still getting settled from our trip and married life but I'll have a full post with all the details and lots of photos coming soon:)

I Have to Stop Worrying and Plan This Wedding

When it comes to planning our wedding, I think I've hit a wall. According to my to-do list, by now I should have a host of things done but in all actuality I haven't done much. The wedding is exactly 4 months from today and that's only 120 days from now! Eekk!

Yes, there's less to do when planning a destination wedding, but there's still things to be done and I've been seriously slacking. Decisions...decisions and when it comes to planning my own wedding I am no good at making decisions. And to be honest I finally admitted this week that one reason I'm having such a hard time making decisions when it comes to the wedding is because I'm so worried about whatever else is gonna think. Why? I have no idea! It's my wedding, right? Why should I care what anyone else thinks, but I do. And I need to get over it pronto!

Last Saturday, I met up with my Matron of Honor, Maid of Honor and mom to go over the details of my bridal shower & bachelorette party and now I feel a little better about those events. This week I also emailed the wedding coordinator at the resort to request info on decor, flowers and menu choices and got some information packets back to go over so that I can have an idea of what I want. Whew!

Tomorrow I plan on ordering some card stock that I plan on using for our DIY invitations (that I should have bought a few weeks back) so that I can finally start that project. And I'll continue the search for bridesmaid dresses as well. Kawon and his groomsmen are going shopping on Sunday for their attire, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything turns out okay and they find everything they need.

Throwback Thursday

Here's a short trailer of Kawon & I's first trip to Las Vegas back in February of 2011. I've recorded tons of videos throughout our relationship and now that I've figured out how to work iMovie, I'll post a few new ones every now and then!

Enjoy!

Wedding Invites

I'm not that much of a DIY'er but after searching the internet for months looking at wedding invitations I've decided to make my own.

Being that we're having a destination wedding I like the boarding pass style invitations or the passport style but wasn't feeling 100% about the design options. Of course I want something different but there are a million different things out there to chose from. I haven't actually started working on them yet, but I know what I want and that's a huge deal for me. Like I've said it a million times before I've become so indecisive when it comes to choosing what I want for my own wedding.

During the Christmas holiday I decided on the design, went to Michael's to buy card stock and requested samples of envelopes and additional colored card stock online. I also bought a paper cutter and rounded corner cutter while at Michaels for some other DIY paper projects for the wedding and ordered some washi tape from Etsy as well.

It feels good to have another task checked off of my to-do list! I'm still waiting on my samples to arrive for the paper & envelopes, but as soon as they arrive I can't wait to get started and see everything come together. I'm still debating whether or not I'll share the design of the invitations online before I send them out but you'll get to see the soon enough. : )

5 months and counting!!!

Location, Location, Location

After purchasing 5 bridal magazines and countless hours searching on the internet we have finally narrowed down the location of our stay in the Dominican Republic and where we plan to have our wedding ceremony.

Finally, we decided out of the many resort options that we would pick 10 places to review and then narrow it down to 6 resorts and then contact 3 for availability and rates.

When chosing a resort there were a few things that we were looking for:

• Budget Friendly - Since we plan on inviting guest we didn't want to go over $350 a night for a double occupancy room.


• All-inclusive.


• Affordable Wedding Packages


• Cleanliness


• Good Reviews


• Food Options - We're goodies so we want multiple options since we will be there for 5 plus days and also has a large variety to accommodate our guest.


• Kid Friendly resort - If not we have a plan to include my 11-year-old son in the ceremony at home since the wedding there will only be a symbolic ceremony.

With all that being said, we selected the following resorts and emailed them this morning for availability on Saturday, June 1, 2013.

#1 choice - Excellence Punta Cana

#2 choice - Ibersostar Bavaro

#3 choice - Riu Palace Bavaro

I'm praying that we hear back from each them soon and so we can finally lock down a date & location. I'm so ready to move on to other details of the wedding already. Choosing a location has been such a job that I haven't even considered any colors. I've saved a few images on my computer and on pinned a few things on Pinterest but feel like I'll really be able to focus on other things once I have this task crossed off my list.

UPDATE **I heard back from Riu Palace this afternoon and they are available for the date we have requested. One down, two to go!**

I'm Engaged!!!

On July 3, 2012 after almost two years of dating my boyfriend popped the question and I SAID YES!! For more details of the proposal you can read about it here on my photography blog at www.shayla-j.com!

We've decided that we want to have a destination wedding and this blog will chronicle the ups & down of planning our wedding in the Dominican Republic in the summer of 2013.

I love everything about weddings and even considered becoming a wedding planner before I started my career in photography but I'm only 3 weeks into my engagement and I've been stressed already. Stay tuned for all the good, the bad & the ugly!