I just realized that I never really did a formal blog announcement about my engagement back when it happened in December. So, if you didn’t already know, here’s a quick recap.
My boyfriend, David, proposed to me during the holidays. For Christmas, we usually go down to Florida to see my family, and we always talk about how we’d like to spend a night in Miami–just the two of us. And this year, we decided to make it a reality and got a room at the St. Regis Bal Harbour. Little did I know, this was part of David’s plan! We got all dressed up to go out to dinner and on our way out of the hotel, he popped the question. We were in front of a beautiful Christmas tree in the St. Regis’ very extravagant lobby, and he had professional photographers capture the moment. It was definitely a night to remember.
Fast forward to now, David and I have gone full steam ahead on wedding planning. We gave ourselves a few months to enjoy being engaged and in February began scoping out venues. We looked at a few places in New York and New Jersey near where we live, but nothing really fit our vibe. Well, one venue did but for catering alone their minimum of $350.00 per person had us both like, NEXT! We also did some research on venues in Miami since that’s where we got engaged, but same–nothing we were too excited about.
So, we decided to take things overseas. David and I love to travel, so it was a no-brainer that we do a destination wedding. In all honesty, we only looked at venues stateside to cover our bases!
Portugal was our very first international trip together when we started dating. And given that it has such a special place in our hearts, we figured why not go there to tie the knot.
I scoured the internet for wedding planners in Portugal to help make the process more seamless and came across MUZA. Their aesthetic fit the exact vision I had for our big day, and after a video chat just knew we had to work with them.
So far, we’ve picked our date, they helped us find and lock in a venue, catering company, photographer, and videographer.
And I felt like now was a good time to assemble my bridal party and David’s groomsmen. We want our wedding to be very intimate, so we decided to go with a small number on both sides. Each person in my bridal party has played such a major role in my life at some point and continues to be an important part today. They aren’t all in the same friend group, but they’re amazing and I feel so lucky to have them on my team leading up to the big day. So I wanted to surprise them all with something special.
Since we’re doing a destination wedding, I decided to make that part of the theme. I got them these beautiful and functional medium-sized cotton mesh tote bags. The color and shape is pretty neutral so I figured it’d fit all their tastes.
Inside, I included a personalized passport cover with their specific initials and a matching bag tag with their name. The passport cover and bag tags came in a few colorways, and I decided to get colors that were neutral and also fit their specific taste.
3 of the 4 ladies in my bridal party are not pink girls so I felt the grey with gold lettering was chic and timeless for them. My Maid of Honor is definitely more on the girly side so I got her pink with gold lettering. My main man, CJ who is also part of the party does like pink, but a more specific shade. So instead, I got him black with rose-gold lettering.
Given that this is all a celebration, I knew I had to include some sort of bubbly. I’d seen the rosé by Usual on Instagram a few times and loved how cool and unique the bottle design is. So, I purchased a few bottles of their champagne to include.
To complement the champagne, I also got each person a personalized champagne flute. It’s tricky finding bridal gear that doesn’t have the same super curly font, so finding these with such beautiful calligraphy was a blessing.
I wrote personalized notes asking each person that I included as well. To add a special touch to the outside of the bag, I also bought some white ribbon and tied it in a bow to the straps. (I’m a stickler for presentation).
We spent all day this past Saturday stopping by each person’s house to hand-deliver each ask. Given all that’s going on right now, it was honestly one of the best days I’ve had in a while. There was so much joy and it was nice to see everyone in person.
David actually put together boxes to ask his groomsmen as well, which we did the weekend prior. I was proud of him! He conceptualized the whole thing. A personalized rocks glass, and a small bottle of bourbon (tequila for his younger brother, ha!).
This is only the beginning and I’m already so excited for all that’s to come in this process. Along the way to our nuptials, I’m going to be sharing updates on the things we have in progress to help inspire anyone else who’s also getting married. Feel free to share any of your wedding tips or questions in the comments section below!
