Sounds like things are going well, so far! Looking forward to hearing more!
I think things are going well because with DFTW it's really one-stop shopping. I'm having fun with it but at the same time it is stressful to coordinate a destination wedding. I can't even imagine having a Wishes wedding with hundreds of people!
Helpful Tips
I have been scouring the interwebs for information specifically for Escape brides on how to lock down a date. The best information I found was that you can (and should) contact your wedding sales rep periodically and ask for an update on bookings for your lottery dates. As of Thanksgiving weekend there were absolutely no other bookings for any of our lottery dates/times. I just sent Michelle another request but she is out of the office until the new year (as am I woohoo for winter break). I'm counting down to 1/25/2011 which is the day I will find out if our first choice is available - Sunday 9/25/2011 12PM.
Another friggin fantastic tip I read is that you can contact Disney Photography through their website and have them mail you a sample DVD of their videography packages.
http://www.disneyeventphotography.com/
I clicked on Contact Us and sent them an email with my request. I received a response the next day with the Disney customer service that I have grown to know and love. They sent me PDFs containing pricing information for different packages and such. I should be getting my DVD soon, I last emailed them on 12/15.
Happy Holidays
This holiday season has been very different for us and we are SO excited that our families are so excited for our wedding! We spent Thanksgiving with DF's Father and Stepmother's family. My future Father In Law was introducing me as his first daughter (he has 4 boys) and I had to choke back tears of joy! DF and his Father weren't even speaking a few years ago but the progression of our relationship has brought them very close together. He can't wait for grandchildren, he's told us so
Christmas was our usual try-to-see-everybody-in-one-day fiasco. We always go to 3 different places on Christmas. Man I can't wait to have kids so we don't have to do that anymore. We started off with breakfast at my sister's (one of my 3 Maids/Matrons of honor), lunch at my future mother in law's, then dinner at my future father in law's. It was a good day but hectic.
How We're Doing On Budget
Sigh. When you're planning a wedding, it is SO difficult to stay within your budget. I keep seeing things that I want and yes it is a very special event that I have been dreaming about since I was a little girl but I don't want to go into debt because of it. I haven't talked numbers with either side of the family yet but both sides have mentioned that we will be getting money. We have just been planning the wedding as if we are paying for it so we can use any money we get towards a down payment on a house (or DVC, we'll see lol). My original budget was $10k (not including the honeymoon). Here's where we are now:
Escape Package: $5,750
Mickey & Minnie: $1,350
Videography Package: $1,400
MK/EPCOT Photo Shoot: $1,190 (15% off when you purchase a Videography package from Disney)
Total: $9,690
That's not even including other expenses like:
Wedding Dress/Alterations
Shoes, accessories
Wedding Rings
Bridal Party Gift Bags
Groomsmen Gift Bags
Tux Rental/Alterations
Hotel Welcome Bags
Hair & Makeup
Favors
Invitations
Officiant & Marriage License
Illuminations Dessert Party
Extra flowers & decorations
There are probably some costs I'm not thinking of, feel free to chime in
I'm not stressing over all of this too much. Mickey & Minnie are really the only have-to-haves on the list. I can do without the photo sessions and videography. Photography is included in the escape package, I just wanted Videography because I'm having such a small wedding and I wanted people to be able to see the ceremony. I have read wedding reports where people got married at the Wedding Pavilion for not much more than the Escape package price and their pictures were beautiful.
New Years Resolution
"Obviously to lose 20 lbs." - Bridget Jones
2010 was a good year for me, I lost a whopping 40 lbs.
I went from this:
To this!
I lost the weight by walking and recording everything I ate using
http://www.dailyburn.com. I also used
Alli which I think really helped me. I had never used supplements in the past to lose weight but I was trying to lose so much and I felt that it helped me to get over a few plateaus. I bought Wii Fit Plus and used it to record my weight every day, I love it! However, during the holiday season I gained about 8 lbs and I need to get back to my diet. I would like for my arms to have a little less waddle for my wedding
So that's what's been going on in the world of Shelley & Jason. I'm almost tempted to upgrade to a Wishes wedding (I'm so close to the minimum $10k anyway) just so I can get with the deposit and contract already! I just have to be patient and wait it out. I think September is perfect for us because we got engaged at MNSSHP so I want our colors to be an autumn bounty of light yellow, red, black, etc (not to mention Mickey's colors are yellow, red and black hehe). I feel like I've done so much research that I'm not going to need 2 30 minute planning sessions. I can basically tell my coordinator what I want the first time we talk
Happy Holidays to everyone and here's to a wonderful new year!
