One month before my wedding I went to Sephora and set up a consultation regarding what my make-up wedding should look like. I knew I wanted something fresh and young, but I knew that I also needed to make sure that I had the right colors. I made a reservation, and explained over the phone exactly what I wanted. The salesperson was great about placing me with another salesclerk, Julie, who was really great about wedding make-up. I had a great consultation, we talked about different shades and how to apply the make-up. I bought new brushes, eye shadows, etc. It was expensive, but I was so happy to have my new make-up and a fresh and pretty look for my wedding day.

We got the invitations from snapfish, which is an online site that let us make the invitations. It’s really simple, and in the past I have used it before to make birthday cards or holiday cards. We didn’t want to make our own cards, and uploading our engagement pictures took less than 15 minutes. But we weren’t exactly impressed with the overall quality of the pictures. I think the looked okay, at best. Considering the amount we were spending on the wedding, it seemed silly to try to save some money by ordering really inexpensive cards. I do think people liked having a copy of our engagement picture, I just wasn’t over impress with the quality of the card.

We went on a two-week vacation to Thailand, and for the first week it was up to us to find our own hotel. The second week we would be on a package tour, and would shift to a much less nice hotel. We chose the Sukhumvit because it had good reviews in travel books and online. The Sukhumvit is perhaps the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in: it is super trendy, clean, and the staff was amazing at how much they wanted to accommodate us. We were ten minutes walking distance from lots of great sites, but we were also right by such a bustling night and day life! It was really a great first place to stay during our first week in Thailand!

Because I was going to have an onsite wedding, I got rather particular about what my bouquet would look like. I knew that I could always bring a fresh bouquet from Milwaukee, but I didn’t want something that would wilt in the drive over. I liked the idea of having silk roses, or even a paper bouquet, because then I could keep it forever and wouldn’t worry about it wilting. I found the most perfect paper bouquet on Etsy! The seller, Laurie Cinotto, makes these beautiful creations, and my bouquet looked great! Some people even thought it was real! I was also able to buy really beautiful matching flower hairpieces for the bridesmaids to wear in their hair, which looked really perfect at the beach. I think paper flowers is a great option for brides getting married on location.

My husband has lots of tattoos, and there was always talk that I would get a tattoo when we got married. I wasn’t really interested in having ‘ink’ done, but I did find a site online that let me make my own custom temporary tattoo. My mother loved the idea, and she said that we should get temporary tattoos for all the guests. We only needed less than 120, but they sell tattoos in batches of 1000. With shipping and handling, it was less than $120, which isn’t that bad. I could have gotten the fake tattoos for almost $30 cheaper by going with the smallest size, but I chose something in the middle. I uploaded a design I liked, and then talked on the phone with a phone rep about what I wanted. They do lots of tattoos for wedding, so they knew exactly what I wanted! It was easy, and all the guests loved the tattoos.

I wanted a location wedding on a beach, but I also wanted my family and friends to be there, and to be able to afford to be there. The Illinois Beach Resort is perfect! It was less than an hour from my parent’s house in Milwaukee, and it’s an easy drive. They have a beautiful reception hall, an executive chef that helped plan our menu, and lots of room for all our guests. The Illinois Beach Resort does all the catering, and we were able to discuss what kind of menu we wanted. The price per plate were really reasonable, and we could have made the menu range from low to high. It was nice that we had the option of having really luxury plates. The chef at the resort made the cake, which was nice. I don’t think we would have been able to bring up a cake. Best of all, we were right on the water and the weather was just beautiful! We were able to get married right on the beach, which was what we wanted! The ceremony had to be very simple, especially when we were planning it because we never knew how the weather would turn out, but it worked out just right. It was lovely, the staff of the Illinois Beach Resort were great in helping us to plan, and I loved every moment.

Maxi dresses from the brand, T-bags, bought at Neiman Marcus in Chicago. 7 stars!!! My sister and maid of honor lives in Chicago, and I when I visit her I always love shopping at Neiman Marcus for special occasion dresses. They have a beautiful collection of dresses by brand names I had never heard of before, and this was the case with the T-Bags dresses. They were really long and colorful, and I loved the idea of how they would look at a beach wedding. I bought three dresses that day, one for my sister and two for my other bridesmaids, and they all fit perfectly. The cut of the dresses also really compliment any size body. The T-Bags dresses are really well made, and they are about what one would expect to pay for a bridesmaid dress ($200-300 range).

I am a big fan of the Park Bistro, even though the prices are a bit high (between 12-20 a plate, not including drinks). My best friends and I chose this as the wedding shower location just because I wouldn’t be having a real bachelorette party. I made a list with my mother of all the female relatives and friends, and then we made the reservation. The shower was almost as much planning as the wedding! We included a menu inside each invitation, so that guests would know what they would find there. Everyone loved the food, and the atmosphere is perfect! The staff was really great, and they were fine with the balloons my mother brought in with her (three balloons). You can always count on the good menu and nice staff, but it is harder to get reservations on short notice for such a big group.

The Watters & Watters trunk show was excellent! This was my first time at Zita’s, and it was a great chance for me to see what the store was like, and what kind of dresses they carried. We RSVP, and the staff and other guests were really friendly and nice. We didn’t feel like we needed to buy something, it was really, in the words of another bride, “to see what’s out there”. They have lots of trunk shows, but we were there for the Watters trunk show, which meant that I got to see all the Watters dresses. I fell in love right away with one Watters wedding dress! I hadn’t had the chance to see many wedding dresses, so it was so nice to see the dresses in person. I found the dress that I wanted at that show, and even though I didn’t get my dress at Zita’s, I am so happy that they had the show so that I could see the dresses.

This would have been really hard, but my best friend had bought her dress through netbride.com and walked me through all the details. I knew the style of dress that I wanted, but it have twice as much as I was able to pay for it. We looked on netbride.com and found that the Watters dress was sooo much less online than in the store! We ordered the dress, and it arrived and it was exactly what I wanted. My only problem was that I did find the ordering process rather hard. I wouldn’t have been able to order without my friend helping me, but I wouldn’t have been able to afford the dress I wanted without netbride.com.