One of the things Tom and I wanted to do for our week or so in Mexico was to create an itinerary of events for our guests. When you have a wedding in a location like Puerto Vallarta, people treat it like a vacation and on a vacation with friends, you have to have activites planned. I would say that about 75% of our guests will be coming for a week or more, 20% are coming for a long weekend and the remaining 5% are popping in and out.
How do you do this? Well, first I e-mailed all those planning to attend the wedding asking them to send me their flight information. I needed to know when people were coming and going. I placed all of this in a spreadsheet. Secondly, I e-mailed them a pretty long list of activities and requested they look over them and reply they would be interested in doing to ensure greater participation. After a few weeks I found that the majority of guests were interested in a Pirate Cruise, canopy tours (zip-lining through the forrest), and snorkeling. I then referred to the flight schedule and planned the events around those who wished to attend to create our optional activity itinerary. In Microsoft Word, I created this which was sent to every guest:
In addition to these optional events, we also wanted to throw a party welcoming everyone to Mexico. When Tom and I went to Puerto Vallarta in March, we fell in love with this outdoor garden bar. We asked to meet with the owner about the possibility of throwing a party there. He told us no problem and suggested we contact him closer to the date. Last week, we e-mailed him and set everything up! We plan to hold this party on Friday night.
In typical wedding tradition, we also wanted to have a rehearsal dinner. Mind you – there is no “rehearsal” per say because we are getting married on a beach that takes an hour to get to by boat… so the actual rehearsal won’t be until the morning of the wedding. Still, we wanted another excuse to get people together. In typical Tom and Brian fashion, we decided that everyone should come to our villa in PV for this event after we contacted the villa owner and obtained permission first. In addition, the house we rented comes with a maid and a chef, who have offered to cook and clean for the party for – get this – $70.00 USD, plus the cost of food. Awesome, right? We can’t wait! That party will take place the eve of the wedding.
Finally, we wanted to remind our guests of the timeline of the wedding day. So I created another itinerary in Word, this time a bit more formal:
These were a lot of fun to create and I hope that when my guests open them up they will get even more excited for the upcoming wedding! We have planned a lot of fun cheap and free things for us all to do to make this week not only memorable for ourselves but also for our friends and family. Viva la Mexico!
You are so awesome! I want you to coordinate my destination wedding hahaha Great personal touches…I’m so excited for you!
Aww, shucks – thanks, Tami! They were a lot of fun to create. I can’t WAIT for this week. It will be so much fun!!!