This is caribbeanspicebride's Pink Wedding!

Today marks a month since the civil ceremony. I included some pictures of that day as well for you guys to see. These are the low resolution pictures from my photographer for me to choose which pictures are gonna make up my wedding album.

I've decided to bid my farewell...I will still pop in to check up on you girls and drop some comments now and then but as for posts..this is the end of the line for me.....its bittersweet. Before I go I will let you know my good, bad and the ugly ( like scheri would put it).

Good: The day in itself was good. I didnt forget anything..all the girls had all their stuff and no one was running around like a chicken with no head. The food was great, the champagne was flowing, the DIYs was a hit and most of all we had fun.

Bad: I was not totally satisfied with how the decorator decorated the reception. I felt like if I did it myself..I would have done a better job. For those of you who are very into detail...dont buy that " the reception decor should be a suprise". I wanted to see it the night before and she told me that it should be a suprise when i walked into the hall..well I was suprised! but in a bad way. It wasnt awful but i felt like my instructions were not carried out properly. But I didnt let that ruin my day because i think people didnt really notice. The bad on our part was that the wedding was suppose to start 4.30 it started after 5...oops. However the people were well entertained by the music, the programs and my tears of joy napkins.

Ugly: The coordinator i guess was the worst part because all through the night i had to tell her to do stuff like put on the fountain under the cake. The fountain was just sitting under the cake and had not been plugged in. I mean its not rocket science! There were alot of other stuff i had to tell her throughout the night and i did air my grievances after the wedding.

Me and the huzzy both agreed that we will do vow renewals in the future and have the small intimate wedding we wanted in the first place.

Fellow bride to bes: Sometimes you feel like you are obligated to invite certain people to your wedding and most of the time they don't even show up. Really assess if you need certain persons there...cause the less people the better.

Any gut feeling you have (for example about the coordinator or the decor) go with it. My gut feeling was telling me to view the hall night before and I didnt.

Do as much DIYs as you can because that's what people remember the most! It adds that personal touch. Oh yeah monograms really do make your wedding unique so slap it on on everything you can think of.

Most of all savor the day..its your hard earnt money ( or your parents' hard earnt money) so enjoy it! I wish all of you girls success with your wedding planning but most of all success on your marriages. I pray that we all are that minority percentage of marriages that last a lifetime! All this wedding planning is for one day but marriage is a lifetime so make it work girls...make it work.

I'm gonna miss you all...its like a lil family in here. Be good girls..no be great girls and byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!

Kisses from caribbeanspicebride aka Mrs. Janelle Presentacion!

Well ladies...Its done..the wedding is over and now my new life begins. I feel like I fell in love all over again! The wedding day had its hiccups...but in the end it turned out lovely. All the DIY stuff i did turned out to be a big hit with the guests. They loved the table cards with our story of how we met and trivia questions on the bride and groom. We literally saw people trying to answer the questions and having fun while doing it. We also had an advice box on each table and we got back great responses. We will save them as a keepsake of the wedding. The cookies was a hit too...the guests loved them and they finished quicker than the cupcakes.

Our cameraman who is also a radio personality even spoke about the wedding on his show the day after and said it was a lovely wedding and we were a beautiful young couple.

Girls..people will not remember the crystals on the table or the lobster bisque...they will remember how happy you two were on the day. We were really happy and we had so much fun. We danced the night away and i think thats the reason our wedding turned out lovely because how happy we were. We were the life of the party.

These pictures are from my brother in law camera. As soon as i get the professional pictures, I will post them and bid my farewell. Good luck to the girls getting married in the remainder of the month and every bride thereafter. I really miss planning with you guys but now I have my 3 bedroom house to decorate so I got something to keep me busy. Big kiss girls!

Well ladies, I cant believe the time has come for me to say bye. i've watched so many brides say their farewells and post their wedding pics and it so surreal that its my turn. I took the dayf off from work tommorrow so I can get my extensions, my pedicure and do last minute shopping for my roti dish at the reception. I will be back with pictures hopefully next week. We're going on a mini moon so I should be back with pictures by the end of next week. I wish all of you girls much success with your dream weddings and with your marriages. I'm really gonna miss WBC! Good luck girls!!!!!!!! WBC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol
Oh I forgot to mention...I had my bachelorette party last night..finally! It was really fun...my MOHs rented a party bus to take us all over the island it was soo much fun. They got a stripper, he was tasteful so I didnt mind. I really enjoyed it. As soon as I get pics I will post those too! Muah..bye girls!

You girls on here really inspire alot of my ideas for this wedding but most of all I've realised that DIYs adds that personal touch as well. I've designed all the stationery except the invitation and I cant wait to see it on the big day. Programs are trifold with a silver border on the paper.

PS 2 more days until our civil marriage ceremony and 3 more until our religious ceremony!!!! AAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Oh yes...August brides..its our turn. I am sooooooooo anxious but also very happy to be getting married to my best friend. Just wanna wish all the august brides...a happy wedding and a prosperous marriage. I can imagine how busy we all must be too! Good luck girls!

For those brides to be who would like to decorate the chairs at the reception
but chair covers are not in your budget...here is an alternative. I am going
to do this for my wedding so atleast I'll be the guinea pig to try it.
I'll make sure post pics so you can see the result.

For more information: visit this website: http://www.yourweddingcompany.com/index.php/action/showProject/
projectId/27/categoryId/109/

I got my girls little tote bags and I put naughty sleepwear in them. They are gonna love em! I'm gonna design a nice card to give to them along with their gifts. They have been such good sports...I had no trouble with them at all.

I mistakenly deleted the post....urghhhhhhhhh. However thanks gemasa7 and I think it was lisacuba ( i hope i got it right) for your advice. I was looking for alternative to chair covers since they are so freakin expensive. Got any advice...feel free to add. Thanks!

Well my mother and father are divorced...it was not a nice one at all. My father cheated on my mother with his current wife. She did some awful things to my mother but my mother is a very nice woman so she was able to look pass it and act civil with them for me. So normally, the bride and grooms parents sit at one table together. Knowing my father and the idot he can be sometimes..he thinks that his wife can sit at that table. Here are the reasons why I am very against it:

1. Me and his wife are not on speaking terms...she wants me to kiss her ass and I kiss no one..i repeat...no one's ass!
2. My mother does not like her even more especially since she does not speak to me.
3. Its my day..and I hate the thought of she even being involved in anything to do with the wedding even sitting so close to my dinner table!

My wedding planner told me flat out that she can not sit there. However my mom passed on some of her soft heartedness ( if thats even a word) onto me and I know my father would feel insulted if we sit her trifling ass at the back of the room where i cant see her ( hahahahaha..I'm kidding but still not kidding)

WBC brides...whats your advice. Leave her sit on a different table (which I am very much in favor of) or let her sit on the same table with my mother who I love with all my heart and would hate to see her uncomfortable.

What would you do or if you are in the same situation...what are you doing???

Before you think I'm just being impossible because of what happened 13 years ago...we have been speaking on and off since I was 15. I'm a grown ass woman and if she finds I act a certain way with her, she stops speaking to me. I am not going to speak to her anymore because I am a soon to be married woman with a kid, and I have no time for her stupid gimmicks. I am my father's only child and even he says he is not going to interfere in it anymore because its stupid what she does. I am pass the fact that he and my mother are no longer together..hell I'm glad because she is much happier now. I wouldnt have a problem with her if she wasnt so damn childish.

So with that said..what would you do if you were in my shoes??

I'm so proud of my daughter. She's only 3 years old but she already does her momma proud. She even sang a song by herself and she wasnt even nervous. For the ladies who plan on having kids; the love of a child is like no other! The mommas on here know what I'm talking about. I had her quite young (19) but I would never go back and not had her. She is truly my blessing and a blessing of our family. I got pregnant with her 6 months after my sister died. She came and bring the joy back into our lives. She's my angel and I am fortunate to be her momma! Mommy Loves you Angelle!

We were having a discussion with my wedding co-ordinator and she told us that she really liked the fact that my FI is very involved in the wedding. She said most of the weddings she did, she would see the groom a couple times before the wedding and the bride would do all the planning.

I do tell my FI that we need to do this together because I dont want to make any decisions that he doesn't feel comfortable with and I always consult with him on everything.

with that said how involved is your FI with wedding plans. I can undertsand that some men doesnt like the whole planning stuff and it feels a bit out of their zone. If i wasn't so persistent..my FI would probably be one of those!!!

Well my Fi wanted to do the cake centerpieces...so I did the research, showed him the figures, pictures and he loved it! And I loved that he loved it because it was certainly something different and would make our wedding different. So now we let the co-ordinator know that we want to do the centerpieces. She liked the idea however we already bought floating candles and vases. To make a long story short, she claims we couldnt do it because the candles would heat the cake stand and it would melt which is a fair point if you put the cake on the vase! And just like that, he dismissed the idea of cake centerpieces...like it was nothing! I was fuming at the ears!

Anyways we will have all the cakes ( we were gonna use as centerpieces) around the main cake on the cake table. Then after everyone eats and its time for dessert, they will become the centerpieces on the table, we will have someone cut the cake in equal pieces and share it out.

So we're back to the regular vases with floating candles and pink water...yippie! ( a very sarcastic yippie!)

I've finished my table cards. I added a little game for the guests to play. I think its a good conversation starter and they would have fun doing it. Along with the cake centerpieces...I think this will make the wedding fun. I've also made little cards for them to write their advice/ well wishes which will also give them something to do. I have alot of little boxes from the keepsake ornaments I bought to go in the favor bags so I will wrap those boxes in a pretty paper and make them the box for the well wishes and place them on each table. I attached the graphics of my invitation. They really turned out great once we printed them on invitation paper. Its really different! Tacky or not...We also made monetary gift cards because we just started working and we can definitely use the help! Plus its normal here on the island.

So like I mentioned before...on the 8th of August we are going to the census office to sign the papers and get our marriage book. So officially I will be a married woman on the 8th of August. So august 8th at 3 pm...legally I'm gonna be ( w8..this is a long last name) Mrs. Presentacion : )...yuppieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. then the big wedding will be on the 9th so everyone can attend and I get to do it all over again! lol

Spoke to my baker..and she is gonna charge me a beautiful $15 per cake. She's a good friend of the family so thank God for that. Still gotta find my perfect three tiered cake though...but I'm so glad I can afford to do this! Gonna need some ideas for a cake stand. I dont wanna buy about 20 cake stands..any suggestions on alternatives???

Yesterday I was talking to my hubby 2 be and I was telling him about some of the great things you girls are doing for your wedding like candy buffet, personalized M&Ms etc. Then I mentioned that even some brides are having miniature cakes for their wedding and he totally fell in love with the idea. He wants us to do it!

So our huge wedding cake would run us $400 ( we got a discount) and that doesn't include the sheet cake to serve to the guests. We initially took that cake ( it can be seen in an earlier post) because we thought we had to serve the guests with that cake.

I was thinking maybe if we got a nice three tiered cake and make about 20 miniature cakes that serve 8 people it should be about the same price right?? If we take the three tiered cake plain ( because we really are not gonna do much with the cake after the wedding besides give it away and eat it) and the miniature cakes in a nicer flavor with filling..it shouldn't be too expensive. Plus we wouldnt have to spend too much on centerpieces and dessert. Plus I have never seen this done before in any wedding I've been too or seen pictures of here in st.maarten.

My problem is...people are gonna touch the cake or it might even get knocked over. Maybe I can put a glass cover over the cake for safety.

What do you girls think? Any of you doing these cake centerpieces? How to deal with people interfering with the cake? I would really like ot hear ur thoughts on this one.

Appetizers:

Crab sandwiches
Devil eggs
Croquets
Meat balls
Honey ham rolls

Entree:

Cornish hens with herb sauce
Marlin (fish) in a cream sauce
Roti ( to represent my Trinidadian heritage)
Curry Goat meat- to represent where I'm from..St.Maarten!

Sides:
Scalloped potatoes
Vegetable rice
Fusilli pasta salad
Green salad
dinner rolls

Dessert:

Either cupcakes, a cookie buffet or cake.

I hope its good enough range of food. We're gonna have these sweet treats as one of the favors to represent my fiance's Curacao heritage. This is truly a caribbean menu. I dont know if it seems different to you guys?? does it?

I'm just walking around today smiling! Cause by this time next month..Imma be a married woman y'all and preparing for the wedding of my dreams the next day. I know it got some august 8th brides and august 9th brides and other brides with dates nearby....so I know all of us are probably on cloud nine knowing that we are close to our big day. Have a good day ladies!!!!!!!!

I finally decided that the first processional song when the bridal party enters will be " Here and Now" by luther vandross and my entrance will be cued by " Here I am" by Beyonce and Marc Nelson. Just curious to know who's not using the traditional wedding march and what type of song you will use to make your entrance. I made my pick by choosing the songs that made me excited to walk down the aisle and if the words fit perfectly for the occasion. How did you choose?

We all know nothing is never really unique because chances are someone has done it already. However here in St.Maarten, i will be doing some unique stuff that I have never seen in the weddings being done here..thanks to you lovely girls and ur creative ideas. My unique stuff will be program fans, a monogrammed aisle runner and the table place cards with our pictures and story of how we met. I'm also thinking of getting personalized M&Ms from the US that my matron of honor can bring with her when she comes.

So what will make your wedding different ( besides the fact that its your wedding) from the weddings you've been to and the kind of weddings your family is use to seeing?

To all the brides getting married soon, can you pretty please post pictures. Its nice to see how everything turned out and to hear some advice for we future brides. Let's support each other even after the wedding. Thank you : )

This is our wedding band. We didnt opt for diamonds because my FH said he didnt want a flashy ring. I wanted something nice so we met in the middle with a wedding band with design. Never seen this type of wedding band before...so I really like it. The one in the pic is titanium however ours is white gold.

I was just wondering how huge everyone's bridal party is? Mine sis 14 people including myself and the groom. I know organizing everything for a bridal party is time consuming especially since everyone has to match and compliment each other. If I had the money..i would have had a bigger bridal party..I would have included some jr. bridesmaids and jr. groomsmen. So with that said..how big is your bridal party and how was the experience organising everything for them?

This month is so exciting..its the last official month of the single life. Its the peak of planning and the butterflies gets more intense. Its time to look into finer details and dot all i's and cross all t's. Beware of the sudden mishaps like I've just experienced. I have no photographer! But thats not going to damper my spirit because July is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I saw another brideon here had really cute triangular table cards with her and her hubby's pictures on it. I loved the idea and wanted a similar place card for my tables. I added my own twist and here is the mark up of it. The blank page will have pictures from when we first started being a couple until recent pictures. The other page is a story of us. I think the guest will love to read it and it should spark some conversation. The card will be three sided. The two ends of the paper will be glued together, making the middle piece the front and the other pieces the two sides.

I picked up my dress on Saturday and it was a perfect fit. I cant believe my first fitting is perfect..no alterations whatsoever. Btw..my daughter's dress did not arrive, it will arrive in 2 weeks because the warehouse burnt down!!!!!!!! I was soooo lucky to get my dress.

Here is a mark up of my programs and its a DYI. I'm getting the hang of this DYI stuff :p. I'm gonna do the program fans.

Planning my wedding made me fall in love with my guy all over again. Even though he gets on my last nerve sometimes...i know in my heart it feels right. What makes that guy so special that you wanna spend the rest of your life with? This is the rest of your life!..for some of us it may be the next 50 or 60 years not including how many years you have already spent with ur guy. After seeing so many bad divorces on Tv and in your personal experiences...what that special something that lets you know that we have a good chance of surviving.

For me its how supportive my guy is and the sacrifices he made to make sure I finished college. He stood by me the whole pregnancy. I can still remember when I was about 8 months...I would sleep behind him with my belly to his back. Every 7 o clock in the morning my daughter would kick so hard that he would feel her kicking him in his back and we would wake up and laugh and he would rest his hand and she would play with him until she fell back asleep. Moments like that is how I know we are meant to be. I've always been there for him and he for me. Our vows will only make us stronger.

So what is so special about your guy. Share it and remind yourself why u fell in love.

I know engraving bands are very in...whats the message you wanna put in your band. I'm just thinking initials and our wedding date or something like eternal love since we're getting married 08.08.08. What are you girls doing?

So my wedding planner, my FH and I sat down last night and really wrote out how many people to expect at the wedding. When we first started planning...we said 85. Then we started making the list and it grew to 100. Now the list is at all time high with 140! I have decided to cut off the list..thats the limit. And the funny part is that more than 100 persons on the list is our family and they are our close family! We also decided that who we wanted to invite but couldnt accomodate will get a goodie bag with cake, wedding favor and other treats. My FH was really fuming at the ears and all I did was laugh because I found it hilarious. I'm a very humorous person. However, we looked at our budget and it still works. We got our wedding bands for a steal of a deal. We got design wedding bands that were going for 700 a piece and we got both for 375 because I am the asst. marketing manager of the parent company that owns the store. Sweet! So the money we allocated for the rings can now help towards feeding some more people.