Puerto Rico Wedding Planner: 2009

Bravo Bride

BravoBride is an online marketplace where brides, newlyweds and wedding vendors buy and sell new and pre-owned wedding items. Shop for designer dresses, jewelry, accessories, decorations, favors and more. Items are FREE to list, get started today!

Great resource for both sellers and buyers.

Alfred Angelo

See below for details...

Who is Alfred Angelo?

HISTORY

We are the world’s leading maker of wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses and we retain the personal touch of a family owned company. For 75 years, we have been dressing brides and the members of their wedding party in our elegant and affordable designer gowns. Now, at the Alfred Angelo Bridal Stores, you can purchase directly from the designer and manufacturer. Our Stores are located in California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. Each carries a wide selection of Alfred Angelo wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, flower girl, special occasion and mother’s dresses.

PHILOSOPHY
Our gowns have made us famous, but it is our people that make the difference. Our goal is to continue to earn our reputation as The Friendliest Bridal Shop in Town. The deeply instilled Alfred Angelo Bridal culture is personified in its employees, people who share a single focus and are inspired to offer quality gowns and great service for those who know and appreciate the difference.

PRODUCT LINES
Our designer, Michael Shettel, dresses brides and their bridal parties in beautiful designer bridal gowns that are individually created and offered at an amazingly affordable price. We offer a broad range of silhouettes, in beautiful fabrics, with exquisite embroidery, beading and lace. Every style is available in sizes 2 to 28W. Michael’s goal is to make your gown just how you dreamed it would be. We meticulously sew each gown for the bride who wears it. We are pleased to accommodate a wide range of customizations to make your gown uniquely yours.

The Alfred Angelo Bridal Stores are also our designer’s showroom. Here you'll also find exclusive styles, straight from our design floor and only available at our stores.

When the time comes to select gowns for bridesmaids, you’ll appreciate that the Alfred Angelo brand is known as America’s Favorite Bridesmaid Dresses and Separates. Our styles are fashionable, affordable, and available in sizes 2 to 28W. Select a Dream in Color dress or separates available in the same 55 colors as our Dream in Color bridal styles, or our taffeta collection with alluring and dramatic silhouettes in 8 royal hues. All Bridal party gowns are carefully cut and sewn from the same fabric for a perfect color match. Most of our designs are also available in junior bridesmaid sizes 8 to 14. For the youngest members of the wedding party, there are many adorable options in our collection for flower girls, sizes toddler to 16.

Also, they are kind enough to offer all military couples a 15% discount... YEAH gotta love that!

Add 20+ Assistants To Your Pro-Photographer Staff On Your Wedding Day... Your Guests! OLAPIC Will Show You How.

You probably have already decided to hire a professional photographer for your wedding. But have you thought about how to share all the pictures your guests will be taking? Those fun moments that the professional photographer may not capture? There are plenty of those moments in a wedding: your friends celebrating a little to much, your cousins laughing over your uncles' jokes, embarrassing shots of your parents dancing! Chances are that your guests will bring more than 20 cameras to the celebration so imagine the possibilities. But the last thing you want to have to do after the wedding is chase your guests and figure out a way to get a hold of those candid pictures. It sounds time-consuming and stressful. Well here is your easy solution... Olapic, you set-up an account and in seconds you are ready to invite your guests to share their pictures. After the wedding, start the simple process of collecting hundreds of pictures that you can download, share, and print! Watch this 1-minute video to fully understand how it works."

The first 10 readers to go on Olapic and sign up will receive a $10 discount by submitting the code PRWEDPLAN. Good luck and have fun sharing the priceless memories your guests have captured.

I Heart Iomoi

I found these adorable canvas bags at Iomoi. They make a fantastic Welcome Bag for your guests who have traveled so far. Fill them up with a tour guide magazine, water, suntan lotion, towel, flip flops, snacks, itinerary (and/or whatever else you think they would enjoy) and have them waiting at the front desk at check in. They come in two sizes can be custom made to reflect your wedding theme. Check out their site for lots of adorable custom gifts and accessories.

Design Your Bridesmaid Dress Contest - Bridal Party - In Style Weddings

Have you ever dreamt of designing the perfect bridesmaid dress? Send us your sketch, and if we choose your design, Thread will create it for up to eight bridesmaids and add the style to their collection!

To enter, send your sketch to weddings@instylemag.com or 1271 Avenue of the Americas NY NY 10020 Attn: InStyle Wedding Design Your Bridesmaid Dress Contest.

Click here for complete contest rules.

Click here to learn more about Thread.

Inspiration For Your Bridal Bouquet

Let's talk bridal bouquets. Such a personal choice, but I am often asked for my opinion. So here is a little inspiration. Anything goes when your having a destination wedding in Puerto Rico. It can be a formal look, rich deep colors or a whimsical look, loose, colorful or as simple as one large calla lilly with a beautiful ribbon. It's all in your hands... literally :) Here are a few bouquets for inspiration...

A Little Paradise I Call Home - Palmas Del Mar

Hello future Mr & Mrs,

I am going to blog today about a little paradise I call home... Palmas del Mar. It is a unique enclosed community located on the southeast side of the island. This gorgeous community is full of wonderful, fun amenities such as;

2 award winning golf courses
Beach Club
Equestrian Center
Largest tennis center in all of the Caribbean
Largest marina in all of the Caribbean
17 restaurants - ranging from Japanese to pizza
Bike paths
Casino

If you are looking for a unique destination wedding experience in a self enclosed community offering the best of the best, Palmas del Mar is the site. Your guests won't even have to rent a car, a golf cart will get them around the entire community. How fun would it be to run into your guests on the golf cart path on the way to the welcome dinner. And most importantly the resort has an array of choices for lodging; private homes, villas and the 4 Points Sheraton Hotel.

I had a meeting with the catering dept at the 4 Points Sheraton and they have come up with a very reasonable, high quality menu.

The Enchanted Package (min 30 guests):

$89 pp including gratuity (tax not included)

Beach or Garden Ceremony Site
Outdoor or Ballroom Reception Site
Cocktail Hour - Mimosa or Sangria
Cocktail Hour - Cold & Hot Hors d'oeuves
Champagne Toast
Choice of Soup
Choice of Salad
Choice of one of 7 Main Courses
Choice of Starch
Choice of Vegetable
Bread & Butter
Coffee
4 Hour Open Bar (house brands)
White Table & Napkin Linen

If you would like more information about marrying in Palmas del Mar, please email me or call.

Fun Favor/Escort Card Idea

Brides and I are always looking for unique escort card ideas and fun, useful favors. When you can combine the two it's twice as good.

Heide & Paul's wedding was full of lovely, fun, money saving and unique ideas. One that I loved in particular was the favor. Heide & Paul wanted to give their guests a taste of the best rum the world has to offer, Puerto Rico's Bacardi Rum. So off I went to the Bacardi factory for my research (it's a dirty job but someone has to do it) and to pick up Bacardi nips (I must suggest if you are vacationing in Puerto Rico it's a fun tour. It is interesting, they offer two drinks of your choice at the end and best of all it is completely free). She wanted two nips, one dark and one light, for each guest (they also have flavored nips). We attached them to each other with a pretty ribbon and double sided tape. She made adorable tags that said "Some Puerto Rico Spirit" and they were placed at each guests table setting. When the guests arrived to their seat they all commented on how cute the favors were and how wonderful it was not to have to pack one more item in their luggage. Then I thought what a great favor/escort card. Same idea, you would add the table name/number to the tag. Super cute and you eliminate one extra item on your reception list.

Thanks Heide for the inspiration!

Note: Another useful favor idea... The fan in the background was placed on the church pews to help guests cool off. Heide added the peach ribbon and adorable starfish to personalize them.

Heide & Paul Wedding Slideshow

Click here to see a beautiful slideshow of

Heide & Paul's Wedding

Courtesy of David Medina

Date: Saturday, October 10, 2009

Ceremony: Cathedral of John the Baptist, Old San Juan Puerto Rico

Reception: El Convento Hotel, Old San Juan Puert Rico Salon Monterell

Stay tuned for many more pictures to come.

Great Advice From An Expert ~ Carey Evans

Hello Brides to be,

Below is an email I received from a bride I am currently assisting in creating the wedding of her dreams. Her name is Carey Evans and she is the very talented designer and co-host of HGTV's Closet Cases as well as having numerous appearances on My First Place, Freestyle and Don't sweat it with Steve Watson. She is oh so talented and full of creative ideas that look modern & chic but won't break the bank. I hope to be sharing lots and lots of her ideas with you.

Check this one out...

... Something for you maybe to blog about... In trying to save money I found that the cost for printing a return address as well as a RSVP address on every envelope would take hours to do by hand or cost money if you were hiring a calligrapher. My printer wanted to charge anywhere from $100-200 more to print my return/rsvp address on my main envelope flap and RSVP envelope. So I choose to get creative and have a stamp made for $18. With shipping it comes out to $23.. but I can have this stamp for as long as I am in this home.

I picked the "Curly" stamp from Paperwink...

But I saw a ton of them on our favorite site Etsy. Like these cool ones...
Etsy Stamp.

Just tell your brides if they are using them for their RSVPs they should ask to have a larger stamp made... mine are 2.8" x 1.75". But over all these pretty return stamps would be great gifts for newlyweds OR for anyone with a new home... or a new last name!

Thanks Carey! Love that tip! Keep them coming!