Josh and Laura's Wedding in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

Our wedding week began Thursday evening in Old San Juan for casual cocktails and a DJ at La Factoria. Followed by a more formal Welcome Party at Isla Verde Beach Resort overlooking the ocean. We invited all of our guests and served heavy appetizers, mojitos, beer & wine, and had a live string band. The cocktail-style party was a budget-friendly way to include all of our guests and thank them for making the trip without hosting a sit-down dinner and allowed guests to mix and mingle with one another more easily. We booked a small room block at La Concha resort even though the wedding day was 40 minutes away in the rainforest. This allowed guests to explore more of the city and enjoy their time together on their trip. We shuttled our guests to the Hacienda for the wedding and back to the hotel following the reception.

Josh and I did not have a formal bridal party but instead invited our closest friends to get ready with us at the venue the morning of the wedding. The guys were welcome to wear whatever they liked, and the girls wore whatever dress they wanted in shades and tones of our wedding color scheme. This saved them money and stress while allowing them to feel included on such an important day.

Before the ceremony, Josh and I had our first look underneath the bridge together, which was intense and emotional; I highly recommend it to couples on the fence about having one.

After a beautiful morning of getting ready at the venue, it was time for the guests to arrive. The skies clouded, and from that moment on, we would have rain the entire wedding and reception. This caused us to go with our backup plan for the ceremony, in the covered terrace area with a makeshift backdrop.

Our dear friend, DJ'd our wedding ceremony and reception. My husband's best friend/brother officiated the ceremony, and each of our parents read the readings.

For cocktail hour, we offered appetizers and specialty craft cocktails for our guests. My husband is a cocktail bar owner in Raleigh, so it was important to us to incorporate this, and it was a big hit for our guests.

For reception entertainment, we had the DJ and dancing, a digital gif/moving photo booth, and a coffee bar that made espresso drinks for our guests. These extra add-ons were inexpensive to include and made a big impact on the overall experience for our guests. We decided to splurge on food/catering since we couldn't taste it beforehand. It was so worth it; our guests raved about the food.

I am a graphic designer, so I was able to design our invitations, signage, paper products, table numbers, and wedding website myself. and get them printed, which saved money. It was a labor of love, and I was thrilled at how they all came out and were cohesive with one another. For our seating chart, we found photos of us with each guest and printed them out on polaroid style cards with the table numbers written underneath. For seating cards, I ordered calligraphy names on tropical leaves on Etsy, which guests kept as keepsakes after the wedding. I also designed custom napkins, koozies, and drink sticks with our dog's portrait on them. All of these little details were fun and very time-consuming to DIY.

Our wedding planner surprised us with a sparkler send-off on the pathway leading to the guest shuttles.

It was a magical weekend, and we continue to return to Puerto Rico every year.