In about a week I am heading down with my Mom to Florida, where we are having our May destination wedding. This may be my last shot at on-site planning before heading down the week prior to the wedding in 5 months, so I am anxious to make the most of my trip down south. This is my Mom’s first visit to our wedding location, so I am eager to show her around as well. Delray Beach is such a lovely little town, I am really excited to check it out again!

Side Note: Do you ever stop to think about how you would plan a wedding without the internet? AMAZING how much we’ve come to depend on this resource.
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I am happy to report that Dogwood Dude and I found every single one of our parameters when searching for our destination wedding! The Key Largo Grande Resort & Beach Club is an hour from Miami Airport, budget friendly for us and our guests (especially for those Hilton Rewards Members), has two amazing 3rd floor rooms overlooking the ocean in case of rain, has a beach covered in arching hammock trees….and PLENTY to do! The funny thing is that so many people ask me how we chose Key Largo, which seems so remote to most, and I always tell them…we just had five parameters!
Here are some pics!

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I am going to be honest with you from the beginning… we spent A LOT of time figuring out where we wanted to get married! The good news, Dogwood Dude and I did it all from the comfort of our own couch! All we needed was Google Maps and a bunch of browser windows. We started in North Carolina and went all the way down the east coast of Florida and back up to the panhandle to find the perfect location. I know that seems a little daunting, but you just have to set parameters and I suggest tackling one city a night.

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 Taken by F22studio
After we picked up my wedding dress from being steamed, it was time to get ready for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I slipped into my BCBG number (great find at T.J. Maxx!) and then headed outside to meet up with the wedding party. Of course there was some wrangling required, even though we didn’t have bridesmaids and groomsmen. With the help of our lovely officiant, Michelle De La Torre, soon we were all marching to the beat of the same drummer.
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 From http://www.flickr.com/photos/sammiedanger/2401084667/
One of the last-minute projects I recently tackled was putting together welcome letters for our guests. I have seen some fantastic examples of full-color wedding brochures that could pass for professional work, and some that are full of cute wedding clipart. But, true to Plumeria form, I didn’t have enough time or energy to truly do justice to a full-on brochure, especially given my paltry design skills. We are picking up brochures from the local chamber of commerce, so our guests will have Islamorada info at hand.
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Since our reception will be outdoors in the Florida heat, I started thinking early on about a second dress to change into for dancing. I had my eye on a cream-colored Betsey Johnson frock similar to this one, but the color wasn’t quite right and the fit was totally off. I also bought a dress from Dillard’s but changed my mind and returned it. (So glad I could do that without penalty– and Plumeria Dude was relieved I didn’t have the same attitude about wedding dresses.)
 From whitehouseblackmarket.com
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 Taken by me!
As I’ve mentioned before, I am a bit of a DIY newbie. I did seriously consider DIYing our wedding invitations but in the end, decided that it would be too complicated/stressful. But making my own thank you cards is much simpler and in the end, allows me to put my stamp (har-har!) on some of our wedding correspondence.
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Though Plumeria Dude and I aren’t having a traditional wedding party, we are having my adorable niece serve as the flower girl. She just turned two, and she is about the most adorable child I have ever laid eyes on.
 Taken by my sister-in-law
Too cute, right? At first I considered a very traditional flower girl look. Something like this, or one that could be accented with a hot pink sash.
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As most of you know by now from my previous Destination Wedding entry, my wedding is being held in Cartagena, Colombia. Planning a destination wedding is tons of fun even though it is a bit stressful.

This has taken a lot of planning and thinking ahead of time. I want my little Magnolia Dude and I to have our dream wedding, but I also know a lot of our guests are making a big effort by traveling there to be with us. I understand the worry and stress of traveling to another country, especially one where they speak a different language, so I have taken all that into consideration and made sure that I make this as easy as possible not only for myself but for them.
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The first thing we did after getting engaged (well, other than announcing it to everyone) was try to figure out where we wanted to get married. Both Lotus Dude and I live in the Washington, DC area. I have friends that married here and I had already done some research on wedding planning in this area, so it seemed like an obvious choice. However, none of our family lives in this area. Lotus Dude’s parents live in Atlanta and mine live in Ohio. We never really considered getting married in Atlanta as his parents were fine with having the wedding in DC.
My parents, however, are another story. It is traditional in Hindu culture for the bride’s family to host the wedding and the ceremony is generally held in their hometown. My mom kept asking how she was supposed to plan things in D.C. I explained that I would plan everything, but she was not too happy with it.
Of course, things rarely go as initially planned. Lotus Dude and I began to look at venues in the D.C. area and were shocked at the high prices. I knew that it would be more expensive than other parts of the country, but I was still not prepared. So we began to contemplate getting married in Ohio and discovered that most things were around half the price in Columbus as in DC. Yes, that’s right, half. It just made more sense to have the wedding in Columbus. Of course, my parents have agreed to do much of the legwork. So far, it hasn’t been too difficult planning a wedding in Ohio while living in DC. We have crammed as muh as possible into our trips to Columbus, and things are proceeding right on schedule. Hopefully that’s how they continue to go.
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