Our Real Wedding this month comes from Chezelle Rodriguez, the owner of Chezelle Dezines, an event-planning and graphic-design company, which she opened in 1999. She specializes in destination weddings in Puerto Rico.

“Evelyn and Andrew are both native New Yorkers who met at Columbia University as alums and fell in love at first sight. Their first vacation together was at El Conquistador four years ago. “It’s where we fell in love, and we’ve known all this time this is where we wanted to bring everyone to see us wed!” Evelyn says. Andrew is the president of Manhattan GMAT and also the founder of a nonprofit group called Venture for America. After years in marketing at L’Oreal, Evelyn is now the director of marketing at zeel.com, a beauty and wellness site. They currently live in New York City.

Evelyn reached out to me in June 2009 on a trip she made to visit vendors in Puerto Rico. Our personalities clicked, and the planning began that very same day. I knew she was going to be on the island for a couple of days so I made sure her time was well spent. I scheduled her hair and makeup trial, site inspection, and she got a chance to sit down with the decorators to discuss what she envisioned for her special day. After she went back to New York we communicated via email and phone on a regular basis.

The color of the wedding was an Orchid purple with green and white accents. Bridesmaids wore purple, and the linens for the reception were custom made from a swatch that Evelyn had sent me. Purple and green water goblets were also placed on the tables to give it an extra touch of color.

These two were the cutest couple! They called themselves teddy and they even had a “bear” love language. Andrew proposed to Evelyn with a comic-strip illustration of two bears on a tropical island, walking on the beach, and the bear had an engagement ring hidden inside an oyster. This is where I got the idea to incorporate the bear theme into the wedding. I designed and illustrated the stationery for the wedding, which included the menu, place cards, schedule of events, and program. I hid a teddy bear in the pattern of the design, and for the favors Evelyn picked up some purple gummy bears and placed them in a clear bag. We placed these on the table setting along with the menu.

I knew this wedding was going to be a blast, and I was super excited to be a part of the planning process. Having 120 guests fly in from New York was a challenge, and keeping them busy that weekend was one, too. Everything was outdoors, which called for us to have a Plan B in case of rain. Evelyn wanted her guests to feel like they were at home. She had me put together one of the best welcome bags that I’ve ever made. Inside her guests had two bottles of water, snacks, a mini first-aid kit, and for the women she had an organza bag filled with Chanel #5 perfume, Dior mascara and lip gloss, and lots of goodies from L’Oreal. Along with the welcome bag each guest received a bottle of Monet wine and a schedule of events.

Guests were invited to a brunch the day before on a nearby island called Palomino, which the hotel owns. The ceremony took place at the Casitas Garden under a trellis adorned with roses, hydrangeas and sheer organza linen. Ottomans and garden chairs were placed on a beautiful labyrinth, and the aisle was filled with rose petals. The reception was held under the stars at Trellises. Everyone had lots of fun with the photo booth that was used as a guest book. During the cake cutting my staff passed out sparklers to each guest, and they all lit them and surrounded Evelyn and Andrew as they cut the cake. Their cake cutting song was “Firework by Katy Perry.” Every detail was well thought out, and it was a wonderful experience.”

Are you an LWPI graduate or instructor? Are you interested in having one of your weddings featured? Contact our managing editor for more information, and for more on the vendors used in Evelyn and Andrew’s wedding see the following links.

Location: El Conquistador Resort, Puerto Rico
Ceremony and Cocktails: Casitas Garden
Reception: Trellises
Guests: 120
Coordinator: Chezelle Dezines
Décor: Arquetipo
Stationery: Chezelle Dezines
Photographer: Saul Padua Photography
Cake: El Conquistador Resort
Hair and Makeup: Golden Door Spa at El Conquistador
DJ: Julie Covello – DJ Shakey
Photobooth: Puerto Rico Photobooth

Tags: become and event planner, Destination Weddings, event planner, Puerto Rico weddings, wedding planner, Wedding Planner Course, wedding planner school

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