Confessions of a DFTW Bride To Be

[Fashionista007]

The babies are adorable. I love black cats, we had a long haired black cat and my mom currently has a little short hair. I would totally love another black cat!

I hear you about standing in the DME line for GF. When we got to stay at AKL it was great to walk up that line!

The whole thing is so exciting, I can't imagine what you must be feeling :sohappy:

Thank you, I think they're adorable too! I'm a bit worried about shedding (since I'm a clean freak) but so far so good! I've been cleaning on my regular weekly schedule and it's been fine. I'm still finding some of Duchess' grey hair though I miss her terribly.

We're SO excited now and we're actually feeling a bit relieved that it's getting close. We STILL have people who have not booked their hotels yet argh! We did warn them that the ticket prices were going up. This planning process has been pretty stressful and we can't wait until our final payment is made and we can get this show on the road!

Those kitties are so adorable!!! I think black cats are beautiful so I agree with you!

And thats pretty awesome that you can get your dress sent down there! I was wondering how all of that was going to work out getting the dress down there if you were flying.

And it must be so exciting that your wedding is coming up!!! And that also means my trip is coming up too! Woo!

I love black cats, at nighttime when Mimsy is hiding in the corners you can't even see her except for her eyes. I love how she looks like a panther when she walks...reminds me of the Maharajah Jungle Trek!

89 days today!!! Less than 3 months now SQUEE! I'm telling people I need the final head count by Aug 1st and I certainly hope that the people who have not booked yet are actually coming because they are all Jason's guests. My Mom already told him that he's a part of our family now so he shouldn't feel left out

Your kittens are SO cute! I think that was definitely the best decision. But I DO hope you get to have Mickey there too. <3

Good decision with the dress, I'm doing the same--- it's SO puffy!!!

I hope we get to have characters too...I dunno maybe I'll sell my car I don't need it anymore now that I work from home!

There's no way I could get that dress on a plane! I could barely find a spot in a closet to store it at my house! I can see why some people buy seats for their dresses LOL. But it's cheaper for me to ship it.

 

[Fashionista007]

Odds & Ends

Over the past week I've been taking care of a few odds & ends...I spent all my time at airports over the past week going over our Wedding Ceremony planning kit given to us by Rev Kev Knox and I put together our wedding script! I sent it off and his wife confirmed that there will be no problems with it. I never really thought about the importance of having a wedding script but it's very helpful. Jason and I reviewed it together and we're happy with it. It's very traditional which is what we wanted. We added the Unity Candle ceremony and RevKev's specialty - The Blessing Of The Hands. People at the airport must have thought I was nutz - imagine me sitting there beaming into my laptop screen as I cut and paste together our wedding ceremony :hammer:

I also put together a spreadsheet of everything we have left to buy (favors, flowers, etc). I'm going to spread these out over the next 2 months. Today I bought:

Jason's Lord of the Rings Wedding Band (one ring to bind them hehe)

I also ordered all of the florals for the bridal party from http://www.alfloral.com. I found they had the best selection and prices.

Kissing Balls for the girls:

Corsages for the guys:

I also ordered 3 bags of loose petals for my flower girls & altar arrangement. I ordered white, red, and yellow to go with my theme. I do not care if all of the colors match exactly but I want all white, red and yellow to go with Mickey's colors I am going to bring my own altar arrangement and I found the cutest fairytale wedding coach unity candle set. I figure we'll have that and sprinkle some loose petals around it. The cheapest set that Disney could provide was $250 whereas bringing our own would run about $75. I do like the Disney one because it has the Mickey candle with crystals but I think $250 is pretty steep for something that really no one will remember. Plus we can get the fairy tale coach set personalized!

EDIT: I ordered white roses for the men and real touch single stem white roses for the Mothers & my Grandmother. Now I can cross flowers off my list! WooHoo!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

I love black cats, at nighttime when Mimsy is hiding in the corners you can't even see her except for her eyes. I love how she looks like a panther when she walks...reminds me of the Maharajah Jungle Trek!

89 days today!!! Less than 3 months now SQUEE! I'm telling people I need the final head count by Aug 1st and I certainly hope that the people who have not booked yet are actually coming because they are all Jason's guests. My Mom already told him that he's a part of our family now so he shouldn't feel left out

Awww thats so sweet of your mom And I'm sure they will all book in due time I mean how can you miss a Disney World wedding???

Jason's Lord of the Rings Wedding Band (one ring to bind them hehe)

This is the coolest thing I've ever seen! I am a HUGE LOTR fan and to see that they even make those is the coolest thing ever and that he gets to wear "The One Ring" as a wedding band! (The extended editions come out on Blu-Ray tomorrow!)

 

[Fashionista007]

This is the coolest thing I've ever seen! I am a HUGE LOTR fan and to see that they even make those is the coolest thing ever and that he gets to wear "The One Ring" as a wedding band! (The extended editions come out on Blu-Ray tomorrow!)

Haha I'm glad to see I'm in good company! I'll have to pick up the Blu-Ray editions and have all our nerd friends over to watch. Too bad we missed the re-release in theaters. The last show is today. Nerds rock!

My sister gave me her wedding jewelry but I'm thinking about either getting a Mickey Mouse jewelry set or Arwen's necklace. I'm leaning towards Arwen's necklace because I think I would wear it more often since most people wouldn't know what it is. I would have to shop smart though, there are SO many replicas and I would want a nice one!

Disney Honeymoon Registry

Last night I finally registered on the Disney Honeymoon Registry. I registered for things like our hotel stay, dinners, and massages. What I love about the registry is that everyone's contributions are applied to a gift card (Disney will send in 3 - 4 weeks according to the website). You don't actually have to use the funds for the specific gift that the person contributed towards because it's just a regular Disney gift card. I hope people contribute for the Grand Floridian Couples Massage...we really want to do that the day after the wedding. I've never had a massage in WDW before and I have a feeling we're going to need it on this trip! I have gotten massages at home before and they are so worth it.

I'm gearing up to send out my second wedding newsletter hopefully next week! :sohappy:

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Haha I'm glad to see I'm in good company! I'll have to pick up the Blu-Ray editions and have all our nerd friends over to watch. Too bad we missed the re-release in theaters. The last show is today. Nerds rock!

My sister gave me her wedding jewelry but I'm thinking about either getting a Mickey Mouse jewelry set or Arwen's necklace. I'm leaning towards Arwen's necklace because I think I would wear it more often since most people wouldn't know what it is. I would have to shop smart though, there are SO many replicas and I would want a nice one!

I also missed the re-release in theaters, which was unfortunate but very excited to see the extended editions on blu-ray. I own them all on DVD but of course now that blu-ray is the way to go I have to buy those as well! And yes NERDS rock! On a side note, I don't remember if I mentioned this on your previous trip report but I love all your Disney NERDs gear That stuff is so cute!

I agree with you on Arwen's necklace, not many people would know what it is and it is a beautiful piece of jewelery and I think it would look beautiful on you!

 

[Fashionista007]

I also missed the re-release in theaters, which was unfortunate but very excited to see the extended editions on blu-ray. I own them all on DVD but of course now that blu-ray is the way to go I have to buy those as well! And yes NERDS rock! On a side note, I don't remember if I mentioned this on your previous trip report but I love all your Disney NERDs gear That stuff is so cute!

I agree with you on Arwen's necklace, not many people would know what it is and it is a beautiful piece of jewelery and I think it would look beautiful on you!

I LOVE the NERDS Rock gear! I get compliments on my tote bag all the time. Actually when I was at the airport last week for my business trip, a little kid kept pointing to my bag and saying "Mickey, Mickey!" It was too cute!

Okay now I'm feeling selfish and thinking I shouldn't have to choose between Arwen and Mickey. I think what I might do is get the Arwen necklace and then get myself some Mickey jewelry as a Honeymoon present to myself and get it engraved. I could wear that to the Cali Grill for our first dinner as a married couple! I'm already planning to get some Arribas Bros glass mugs engraved. I have one from my college graduation (year omitted on purpose hehe).

 

[Fashionista007]

AFloral.com

I'm very happy with AFloral.com. I ordered my stuff on Monday and it came today! I didn't even pay to have it expedited or anything. I did notice that they ship from a small town in PA and it's probably an hour away from my house. So I'm not sure if this is normal for everyone but I'm happy!

I'm especially happy with these "Real Touch" white roses I bought for the Mothers. They really do look and feel real...except for the stems which I will wrap in a ribbon anyway.

Everything was great except for the kissing balls. They really didn't look like their picture and they had brown spots and the wood is cracked all over. It looks like they've been in storage for a long time.

Oh well, now that I've seen the Real Touch flowers, I'm going with those for the bridal party bouquets and my bouquet for the theme park bridal portrait sessions. I decided that if we do the bridal portrait sessions, we can both just use silk flowers. Otherwise you have to get a floral refresh and this would save us about $150 overall.

I've given myself a deadline of Aug 8th to nail down everything and request my final BEO. It's getting close! I can't believe it's nearly July already. I still have so much to do!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

I LOVE the NERDS Rock gear! I get compliments on my tote bag all the time. Actually when I was at the airport last week for my business trip, a little kid kept pointing to my bag and saying "Mickey, Mickey!" It was too cute!

Okay now I'm feeling selfish and thinking I shouldn't have to choose between Arwen and Mickey. I think what I might do is get the Arwen necklace and then get myself some Mickey jewelry as a Honeymoon present to myself and get it engraved. I could wear that to the Cali Grill for our first dinner as a married couple! I'm already planning to get some Arribas Bros glass mugs engraved. I have one from my college graduation (year omitted on purpose hehe).

Awww I love little kids!

Oooo thats going to be a great night at the Grill! Are you going around fireworks time?? That would make it even a more special (sorry if that was bad grammar..English was never my best subject) And of course an extra piece of jewelry (or pieces ) are never a problem for us girls

 

[Fashionista007]

Awww I love little kids!

Oooo thats going to be a great night at the Grill! Are you going around fireworks time?? That would make it even a more special (sorry if that was bad grammar..English was never my best subject) And of course an extra piece of jewelry (or pieces ) are never a problem for us girls

I am SO excited, our Cali Grill ADR is perfect! It's @7:55PM and Wishes is scheduled for 9PM that night. Perfection! That's going to be a wonderful experience and I can't wait to see what they do for Honeymooners! I scheduled this particular ADR exactly 180 days @6AM EST the instant it became available


Jason's "One Ring" arrived yesterday and it's fabulous! He loves it so much he's already wearing it hehe. I'm serious, he wore it to work today! I have never known any man to wear a wedding ring even one second longer than he had to I guess "the precious" calls to him!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

I am SO excited, our Cali Grill ADR is perfect! It's @7:55PM and Wishes is scheduled for 9PM that night. Perfection! That's going to be a wonderful experience and I can't wait to see what they do for Honeymooners! I scheduled this particular ADR exactly 180 days @6AM EST the instant it became available


Jason's "One Ring" arrived yesterday and it's fabulous! He loves it so much he's already wearing it hehe. I'm serious, he wore it to work today! I have never known any man to wear a wedding ring even one second longer than he had to I guess "the precious" calls to him!

That is really perfect!!!

That is really cute that he's wearing it already! Nothing can keep him from his precious!

 

[Fashionista007]

That is really perfect!!!

That is really cute that he's wearing it already! Nothing can keep him from his precious!

Yep Jason has had his ring for a few days now and he doesn't want to take it off. We looked for a chain so he could wear it around his neck but we didn't find any he liked (or were in our price range) so he decided to just wear it. I'll make him take it off for our trip though

It's All Coming Together

Today marks 79 days until we leave! I am SO excited!! I sent out another Wedding Newsletter this past weekend with the updated Itinerary, info about the wedding ceremony & what people need to do, transportation info, etc. It was 9 pages! I even included park hours for BOTH WDW and Universal. It kills me that people haven't booked yet. It's less than 3 months away! Do they understand how expensive airfare is now? I'm sort of expecting to get some calls with regrets that people aren't coming. We'll see. I can't believe it's July already! I need that final headcount people!

 

[Ravenclaw87]

Gahhh! People haven't booked yet?!?!!? What the heck!!! I hope they do soon!

And I love all of your flowers and stuff.

 

[Fashionista007]

Gahhh! People haven't booked yet?!?!!? What the heck!!! I hope they do soon!

And I love all of your flowers and stuff.

I know right? We even had a bunch of PIN codes that expired in April and our travel agent said we could book all of our rooms under the PIN code since 3 of us got the offer. She said you can book multiple rooms per PIN code offer. I put the info in my first newsletter and I have a group set up on Facebook that I know people see my updates. Be forewarned - you cannot have any control over what people do. In the newsletter I sent out last weekend I said that people need to book by Aug. 1st and get back to me with their hotel info and transportation requests. It worked for Jason's Mom, she complied and got back to me yesterday. We're still waiting on the rest of his family though :hammer: I've already booked a Disney Dream cruise in Nov 2012 for our 1st anniversary! That's how I roll. With any purchase, the more research you do and the earlier you book, the more money you save. Now the ticket prices have gone up for BOTH WDW and Universal. Oh well, I tried to tell them.

 

[Fashionista007]

Transportation

So we have an interesting mix of people, my family are all Disneyphiles so I'm not setting up any private transportation for any of them because I can trust that they know where they are going and they will not only be on time but most likely early. That's how we are For Jason's family, we decided to use our 4 hour limo service that comes with the Escape Wedding Package to pick people up at their hotels and transport them to the Wedding Pavilion and back to their hotels after. That's why we need to know if they want to take advantage of this so we need them to book by Aug. 1st so we have time to update our BEO.

We are also providing "Luxury Vans" to the Illuminations Dessert Party and Jason and I will take a private sedan. The sedan is required for us because we are wearing our wedding attire in the park so we have to have private transportation (legal stuff). It's not bad, both the sedan and the van are only $25 one way. The van holds 8 ppl so I don't think we'll need more than 2. My family will meet us there since they will all have park tickets and they know where International Gateway is.

Illuminations Dessert Party Info

I had read that if you are extending the time of your Illuminations Dessert Party, Disney will try to get you to also extend the food but you do not have to do this. I asked my wedding planner about it and the rule is that you can only extend it by 1/2 hour if you do not want to extend the food. I decided to just leave our plans as is - we extended it by 1 hr. The food extension was only $125 and I didn't think that was enough to cut 1/2 hr of my awesome private time with my family at EPCOT.

I highly doubt people will eat all of that food, esp since we have 2 small children who eat like birds. So, I decided to buy what they call "cake bags" for people to take home leftovers. I had them printed with "Happily Ever After / Shelley & Jason / September 27, 2011". I can't wait till they arrive and I'll definitely post pictures! (I got them from beau-coup.com).

Favors

I ordered my glass favor jars and I'm going to DIY labels for them with a Mickey & Minnie wedding theme. I also ordered these from beau-coup.com. I went with the round variety because I thought they would be easier to pack and ship to the hotel. I had thought about filling them with different types of candies but chocolate is out because I don't want stuff to melt during transport. I'm going to fill them with Fab 5 sweet tarts which I'll order next month.

Hair Design

I finally looked on the interwebs for some different hair designs I'm interested in. I am going with half up because I have very long hair and I'd like to have it cascading down my back like a waterfall Here are some of the images I like, let me know what you think!

Beauty Needs

I was thinking about what to do for my "beauty needs" before the wedding. Before I leave, I will get a good haircut, color, eyebrow wax, and pedicure. But I'm worried that if I get a manicure before we leave it may chip before the actual wedding day. Does anyone know of reasonably priced manis on property? We'll be arriving on Saturday and the wedding is on Tuesday so I'll have some time to spare.

As you can tell, I'm really flippin excited By the end of July/starting of August I *should* have everything in order for the BEO and that is the biggest hurdle :sohappy:

 

[diddy_mouse]

I think the second hair picture you posted looks gorgeous. Elegant and simple.

I will say that if you do a facial or eyebrow wax, make sure you get it done about a week or so before you depart. I remember reading a bunch of stuff about giving your skin time to "cool down" so to speak before the wedding day stress.

As far as a mani...heh, I ended up doing my own nails in my bridal suite the night before so I'm afraid I'm not much help. :lol: But I can tell you that the color (Blushing Bride ) stayed for the majority of my honeymoon. Yay for Sally Hansen polishes!

I hope you hear from those who need to book, I can totally relate to you on that point. I guess some of them might figure they can book it like any other travel destination. But this is DISNEY people! Well, I wish you nothing but stress-free days leading up to the wedding...I know everything will work out beautifully for you!

 

[Fashionista007]

I think the second hair picture you posted looks gorgeous. Elegant and simple.

I will say that if you do a facial or eyebrow wax, make sure you get it done about a week or so before you depart. I remember reading a bunch of stuff about giving your skin time to "cool down" so to speak before the wedding day stress.

As far as a mani...heh, I ended up doing my own nails in my bridal suite the night before so I'm afraid I'm not much help. :lol: But I can tell you that the color (Blushing Bride ) stayed for the majority of my honeymoon. Yay for Sally Hansen polishes!

I hope you hear from those who need to book, I can totally relate to you on that point. I guess some of them might figure they can book it like any other travel destination. But this is DISNEY people! Well, I wish you nothing but stress-free days leading up to the wedding...I know everything will work out beautifully for you!

Thanks for your input, I like the second picture too! I think it has just the right amount of curl because I have to keep in mind that it will need to stay all day and night for the Dessert Party.

Thank you so much for the advice on eyebrow waxing, I've never had it done before but I figured it would look nice for the pictures. I generally tweeze myself but I do miss the nice smooth contoured look of a waxing. I can't believe how much money I'm spending on beauty stuff for this event but it's once in a lifetime and it's not like I do this every week. I know people who do though and I can't help but think - what else could you invest in instead? Sigh, I'm sure I'll fall in love with everything and want to do it all the time after the wedding

My Mom talked me into getting my nails done at GF. It's $65 for a french manicure but it's just so darned convenient since we're staying there. If I went off property I'd have to take a cab so it would end up the same price anyway. Plus I want to get them done on Monday and we also have to do dress steaming and tuxes that day so I won't have much time after all. It's going to be a busy day!

 

[diddy_mouse]

I can't believe how much money I'm spending on beauty stuff for this event but it's once in a lifetime and it's not like I do this every week. I know people who do though and I can't help but think - what else could you invest in instead? Sigh, I'm sure I'll fall in love with everything and want to do it all the time after the wedding

There was one thing I told myself leading up to my wedding: If I wanted to look the best I possibly could, today would be the day! My friend did an absolutely amazing job with my hair and makeup. We had a trial run about two weeks before the wedding which was plenty of time to play around with the makeup colors and hairstyles. I'm so glad we did because everything went very smoothly on the big day.

Enjoy the indulgence! When you look at the pictures (which I'm sure will be amazing!) you'll be soooooo glad you did!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

I really liked the second and third hair designs, I think they would look really elegant but give you that waterfall effect that you are looking for.

And I hope everyone finishes booking! Don't they realize it's getting closer and closer?!?!

 

[Ravenclaw87]

I love all of the hair designs--- but the second one is my favorite.

I'm so happy to hear you're getting so much done!!!

 

[Fashionista007]

There was one thing I told myself leading up to my wedding: If I wanted to look the best I possibly could, today would be the day! My friend did an absolutely amazing job with my hair and makeup. We had a trial run about two weeks before the wedding which was plenty of time to play around with the makeup colors and hairstyles. I'm so glad we did because everything went very smoothly on the big day.

Enjoy the indulgence! When you look at the pictures (which I'm sure will be amazing!) you'll be soooooo glad you did!

This reminds me of the spiel from The Magic The Memories & You: "These special moments will live forever in every picture that was taken". That's definitely why I'm making such a fuss over how I look. These pictures will not only be looked at by my family, but my Internet family too for years to come. It's my one and only day to look and feel like a princess

I really liked the second and third hair designs, I think they would look really elegant but give you that waterfall effect that you are looking for.

And I hope everyone finishes booking! Don't they realize it's getting closer and closer?!?!

Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it! I think what I'll do is show all of the pictures to Patricia LeJeune and she can decide what's best for my hair type. I have very thick long hair but it does hold curl. I just need to make sure whatever she does stays all day!

Yes to us the fact that people have not booked yet is completely foreign. I put in my last newsletter in big bold letters "IT'S LESS THAN THREE MONTHS AWAY!!" I can only hope they get the hint. I'm still holding out hope that everyone will get back to me by Aug 1st so I don't have to hunt them down.

I love all of the hair designs--- but the second one is my favorite.

I'm so happy to hear you're getting so much done!!!

I'm really glad you're all on the same page with the hair design...there are many votes for #2! I really like that one too

You will not believe how quickly the last few months go by. I can't believe it's almost mid-July now! September will be here before I know it but at least I have everything organized and I know exactly what's left to be done. I'm such a nerd I have ToDo lists in my iPhone and a series of spreadsheets I created :hammer: