looking at the where.when.who of wedding planning
We have made it safely to Hong Kong!!! On my return I will attempt to share my experiences with you all including travel guides, food recommendations and other little bits Asia has to offer. However, while I am away I thought I would post a series over the next few weeks that I have been working on and as we are on the cusp of the season’s popularity it makes even better timing. I am finally going to post about our WEDDING!
I will share with you the process of planning our Mexican #mexipino2014 adventure from the fun bits (like stationary designs) to the not so fun parts (like organising transportation for 50 people), the aesthetic details and a rough guide to Tulum as a Honeymoon destination. Hopefully you will find this a good read if you yourselves are getting married, know someone who is or like many single folk on Pinterest, just like looking at Wedding stuff.
To start us off this post will mainly centre on choosing Where, When & Who.
The day after we got engaged in Stockholm Chris and I were on a bus having some light wedding chat. The subject of where came up and he expressed maybe having it in Mexico in the hopes that more of his extended family could attend. I thought that would be a cool option but we still had a few things to consider, like whether my immediate family would travel, and also if our close friends would too. When back home we realised more and more that to have a unique wedding England was not going to cut it. We were not Country Manor, Barn or Hotel people and we wanted something homely. Neither of our parents owns a Vineyard where we could pitch up a tent in the backyard and celebrate (which seems to be quite common on the TV show Say yes to the dress, which I’m obsessed with) or members of an exclusive Country Club (again, Say yes to the dress) and our family homes which we liked growing up in were not suitable to host such a shindig. So…back to family and friends flying out, we sound boarded with our close friends about getting married in Mexico which all resulted in YES’s, my Parents initially were not keen whatsoever but later changed their minds. My sisters said they would go wherever I wanted and my other (non Philippines residing) relatives lived in America so it would be closer for them too. Therefore we settled for Mexico, the Quintana Roo coast (home to Cancun) to be more precise which meant everyone had to travel a little, but more suitable for this international crowd we were drawing in. We were going to have a beach wedding!
Choosing a wedding date is quite an exercise. For many it is pre determined by venue availability, school holidays and whether the World Cup (or any other major sporting event of choice) is on. You also have to consider the weather too, which in England means never to relying on it not raining, DON’T DO THAT. As we were planning our wedding abroad we gave a years notice so folk could request holiday days and save their pennies. We knew it wasn’t going to be a cheap weekend away and really appreciated the guest’s investment. In that vain we wanted our guests to make this trip their Holiday on top of attending our wedding, and for them to have enough time to do so. We had close friends and family that were teachers so had to take into account Half term dates and we also needed to fly when flights were not so expensive. With all this to take in we came up with the date October 31st, yes, Halloween! It was the tail end of monsoon season and the start of drier days, Half term for the teachers and it had to be on the Friday so our friends could fly home Saturday to make it back to work for Monday.
The biggest dramas and stresses surrounding a wedding usually revolve around The Guestlist. Oh the guestlist! How so much hurt and offence could result from Wedding invites or lack thereof. Saying this however I wasn’t that put out and found it…OK. What you first need to consider is what type of wedding Reception do you want? A Buffet snack reception allows you to have more guests and a sit down 3-Course meal will inevitably mean spending more which could lead to less guests. Remember to keep in mind what is important to you and be mindful of your budget. Though one’s wedding day is very special in reality it is just one day and not worth putting yourselves through debt (not the best start to a marriage). We had the luxury of inviting most people we wanted knowing that due to the location the reality was that not everyone would fly out (though more did than we thought) and what was also great was that we had a lot of mutual friends so there wasn’t much vetoing. We also felt the ones who made the trip really wanted to be there for us so made it happen, and it was a lovely feeling. We had guests from Spain, Hong Kong, Sweden & France on top of our UK and Mexican guests. As we are family orientated people we had kids running around which for us was lovely, but I know it’s not suitable for all affairs, or everyone’s cup of tea. One thing I did realise was how in a year friendships can change. I could honestly say I have attended weddings where I was closer to the couple when they got engaged and on their wedding day I probably only hung out or even saw them once since the invitation, luckily that didn’t happen to us but I did become closer to some people within my year of engagement who I didn’t invite initially who I wish were there come the big day. One thing for sure, invite people who you love and who love you and you won’t go wrong.