Bio

Our Thank You Card!!

These were designed by Keith, and then we uploaded them to Shutterfly, and ordered the Glossy greeting cards with the text Thank You! written inside, and then we wrote our own personal thank you to each person. I highly recommend Shutterfly for these. We also included a copy of our wedding highlight DVD in each of our thank you cards. :) We got lots of compliments on including it for everyone to see.

Our Thank You Collage(Designed by Keith)

Our Vendors!!

Photography- Brian Tsai and his Wife Mimi(Life Mosaics) A++++

I am so lucky we chose Brian to photograph our wedding, it was one of the best decisions we made. Brian and his wife are truly wonderful people to be around and of course wonderful photographers. They made Keith and I feel comfortable right away. And even though everything was a bit chaotic without having a coordinator, they were totally comfortable and cool. Obviously, I don't have to explain why we chose them, the pictures speak for themselves. Please, don't hesitate to ask me any questions.

Flowers- Vanessa Jaimes (Vanessa Jaimes) A++++

Vanessa was one of our first vendors. Vanessa not only helped us with the flowers, but also put us in contact with a relative of hers who helped us with car rentals for us and 3 of our friends/family. We talked over email a great bit during the months leading up to our wedding. Whenever, I found a picture, I would email them, and she would get right back to me. In the end, I loved our flowers. She provided 2 bridesmaids bouquets, my bouquet, 2 centerpieces for during the ceremony, and later used too for the reception, and also 3 bouts for the guys, and 2 corsages for the moms. We ended up forgetting the bouts and corsages, we didn't realize it until the next day, and we just laughed, no big deal. The flowers held up all night, and really for almost a week later. She attached ribbons and ties to the bouquets free of charge, and even threw in a bag of flower pedals for the aisle. I highly recommend Vanessa.

Videography- Miguel at Cancun Wedding Videos (Miguel Angel Cantarell) A++++

Originally, we were planning on using Claudia Rodriguez for photography, but we ended up having to change our date, and she was no longer available. But fortunately for us, her husband was still available to do our video. I highly recommend his services. For under a thousand, we have 2 wonderful DVD's. The first one is a highlight video, which is nice to show friends who were unable to go to Mexico, but want to see a taste of our wedding. The second is a full video. I have never seen a Wedding DVD of this quality. I love how the images transition, and how vibrant the colors are, and also how quiet the background noise is. Although some girls debate on whether to have a video, especially if you have paid to get a really good photographer, like we did, but I really think its worth it. There are some things that you forget because really the day goes by so fast, but you can only see and hear these things during the video, not always through pictures. I loved too how we go to choose the songs that play during our video, just another sentimental touch.

Wedding Website- (Wedding Announcer) A++

I think our wedding website did the job. I know some girls pay for this service, but really I don't think that's necessary. We attached our website to our Save the Dates, and although we could tell everyone looked at the site, sometimes they would still ask us questions that were addressed on the site. I liked how you could upload photos, add a quiz, etc... I would recommend this vendor if you are looking for a free website.

Caterer/Reception Site- (Alain Grimond and Pavo Real) A++++

As I have said before, the restaurant itself was amazing, the food was amazing, the staff was amazing! We couldn't have imagined a better place. Alain was very accommodating and was willing to work with us. He even allowed us to bring our own alcohol. Also, during dinner, our DJ took a break, and free of charge and by surprise, a pianist started playing. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Our Villa/Ceremony Location- (Villa Sol y Luna) A+++++

If you have any questions please email me. This villa is amazing. The staff is wonderful and caring, the grounds are well kept, and the privacy of course is awesome!

Bakery- (Let Petits Merveilles) A++++

We visited this bakery on our planning trip and tasted the cake, and it was absolutely the best cake ever. Once we got down to Mexico, we searched up and down 5th Avenue in Playa to find this bakery again, and we were lucky enough to do so. They actually are a French Bakery. And of course we were very pleased with our cake, it was delicious, and it was 3 tiers as I wanted. Unfortunately, it didn't have a beach theme like I originally wanted, but we were lucky enough to have them make our cake only 2 days before our wedding. (Fault of the wedding planner)

Honeymoon Travel- (Jim Augerinos at Perfect Honeymoons ) A+++

Jim was very helpful and a very nice guy. He gave us different options and helped narrow down our choices. He is located in Tysons, Virginia. We went to see him twice before we finally decided on St. Lucia Sandals Regency. Then about a week before we left for Mexico, we went back to see him to get our tickets/itinerary, etc... If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Sandals Regency St. Lucia(B)-
We both really loved St. Lucia. It is a very tropical welcoming island. I have to admit, we spent the first few days doing nothing but relaxing and laying out on the beach. We definitely needed this after trying to plan most of our wedding in 4 days. Other things we participated in was Scuba Diving and a Day Cruise. Overall our experience was nice, but I am not sure I would go back to a Sandals property, at least not this one. The property was very old and needs updates. Also, when we first arrived we had to wait about 2 hours or so before our room was ready... I am not quite sure why.. and then we did get in our room, to find they upgraded us, but there was no balcony, and it was right near the pool. We asked if we could check out our original room, and they agreed. Although it was up on the hill, it had a private balcony, and was a bit nicer, even though the room was definitely older. One day, we had to wait until mid afternoon before our room was clean, and this was the day we spent a lot of time in our room, due to being hungover, so that was a real pain. I wouldn't say they were major things, but it was definitely a lot of little things. I loved though how they had a photographer on site who took pictures free of charge, and then later you could pick and choose ones to buy. We ended up getting 40 semi professional pictures on Cd, which was really cool.

Guys Ties- ( Wild Ties) A+++
We were very happy with the quality of the ties for the price. We ordered 4 ties in the blue, for the GM, BM, and our 2 dads. Keith ordered his white tie from them as well. They all came with pocket squares, which I think was a nice touch, especially since we forgot the bout's :)

My Wedding Shoes( Style Christy in white)- David's Bridal A++
I went to David's Bridal to check out wedding dresses and also bridesmaids gowns. But, I ended up getting my dress elsewhere, but I loved a pair of sandals they had and thought they would be perfect, so I ended up buying them :) I wish I got to wear them more than I did, but when I wore them during parts of the reception, I loved them. They were very comfy.

My Wedding Gown( Maggie Sottero discontinued style)- Formalities
My girls and I drove to Winchester, VA about an hour away from my house to go check out some Bari Jay bridesmaids dresses because they were the closest that we could find that had their line of dresses. My mom and gone dress shopping with the 2 previous times at other places, but this time she decided not to go because I wasn't planning on finding my dress. I drove all the way to Arlington(about 30 min. the opposite way from my house) to pick up one of my girls. On the way, I got a speeding ticket :( So needless to say, my day didn't start off very well. After I picked her up, we met the other bm at the dress shop. We looked at bridesmaid dresses for a while, and found a few that were cute. But, I figured I would go ahead and just look for myself, it couldn't hurt. I tried on a couple, but none that struck my fancy.. but there was one on a mannequin, that I saw when we first arrived, and decided to try it on.. That was it! I thought it was beautiful, and had the corset back that I really loved. I didn't cry, but I did get that feeling that it was the dress. And my girls agreed. I later went back with my mom and she agreed. :) It was a great feeling to find the dress! Unfortunately, it was a discontinued style, so I have no idea the style name, other than its a Maggie Sottero dress :) I also got my veil at the dress shop. I highly recommend them. The two ladies who work there are a mother and daughter team, which I could tell right off the bat before we asked ;) For those who know me and what I do, I work for my mom, so I know how that is :)

Guestbook- ( Guestbook Store) A++ +
This was actually our first purchase for the wedding. We were very happy with our guest book. We wanted to spice it up some and give it a beach theme, so I took a starfish, and glued it onto the front in the corner, I loved how it turned out. We bought the Polaroid camera from Ebay, and then got a really good deal on the film from CVS. We designated a friend who loves photography to take everyone's picture, and made sure they signed the book during the reception. Everyone signed but our parents, but we made them sign later when we got home. I highly recommend the Guestbook store if you are looking for a nice way to preserve your memories.

Sand for our Sand Ceremony- (Sand Blast Entertainment) A+++
We looked all around at the local craft stores, and couldn't find the perfect blue that we had envisioned. We finally came across this site and ordered a bag of white sand and a bag of Sky blue sand. They came quickly and were exactly the colors we had been looking for.

First Dance Lesson - Penny Cupina A+++
We had our 1 1/2 hour session with Penny to learn dance steps for our first dance song. Penny was great to work with, she was very nice and helpful. We first learned how to walk to the beat of our song, and then we began to string together about 5 moves to choreograph our first dance. Penny also taught us an entrance and an ending to our song. All our guests thought we did a great job with our first dance, but it also didn't look like we had taken lots of lessons before either. It was funny, as I might have said before, we were suppose to dance to Jim Brickman's Love of My Life, but we ended up changing it at the last minute(due to the DJ not having our songs) to Frank Sinatra's The Way You Look Tonight, and even though we changed songs, we still had learned about 5 moves, an entrance, and an ending, and so it worked perfectly. Penny only costs $75 for an hour and a half, so obviously this is a great deal. Plus we both had a lot of fun during the class, practicing a bit at home, and of course during the reception. I highly recommend Penny if you live around the northern Virginia area, because she is located in Reston VA. For more information, shoot me an email.

Ebay Vendors- (Various sellers) all A+++
1. My garter- tyler29cat
2. My wedding gown dress label(which I forgot to show off in pics)- Linen Classics Weddings
3. Starfish earrings and necklaces for bridal party- gothmog5
4. Clear Labels used for back of envelopes for STD's, also for the wedding DVD included in each of our thank you cards. They had our names, 2 hearts, and the date. - blackdaisy666
5. Sand Dollars- kathyndan1
6. Starfish- Atlantic Coral Enterprise
7. My Starfish Bouquet Jewel- obbiedog

For my planning bio, check out ilovekeith