Once Upon A Dream: A March 2011 Disney Wedding/Honeymoon Pre-Trip Report!

FINALLY! We’re getting married... that’s right, I said married. After seven years of dating and 21 trips to Disney World together, the time has finally come. Oh dear, where do I even start? I’m constantly splattering our faces (and vacation stories) all over the internet so I never quite know how much detail to put at the beginning of a report, because it always feels so repetitive. I guess a little background on us is a must though, seeing as how this is a pre-marriage report and all. :D

We (Holly and Brett) met in 2004 working at one of the dive bars in our little college town. We probably worked together (flirting shamelessly) six months or so before we started dating. We weren’t together two months before Brett had my first trip to Disney planned and executed. For real. I vividly remember us hanging out at a friend’s house one afternoon when the subject of Disney came up. The conversation eventually moved to other territory, except for in our little corner of the room... Brett was downright shocked that I’d never been to Disney. He was like “Let’s go.” And I’m thinking, sure, what’s the harm in playing along with this little game, it’s not like we’re going to pick up and go tomorrow. A few days later he tells me he’s worked out all the details, and if I’m still up for it, we leave next week! Talk about sweeping a girl off her feet. :)

It was a short trip, and I mean short... only two nights. We took off after work one Friday night and were at Downtown Disney by lunchtime the next day. We stayed at Caribbean Beach and somehow managed to hit up all four parks and Blizzard Beach over the course of two and a half days. It was a whirlwind. Here are some pictures from that very first trip. Yes, I had to scan them in because they’re from the dark ages – April 2004 to be precise. High quality!

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Overall the trip was a screaming success. Of course it was, otherwise I don’t think we’d be where we are today. :lol:


There are a handful of moments from that first trip that are as clear as could be for me... one was running through the Magic Kingdom at night during a major downpour, laughing like crazy and holding Brett’s hand as he drug me from one awning to the next, not caring in the slightest that I was completely drenched from head to toe.

Another was dinner at Ohana. I fell in love. In love with the Polynesian. In love with the restaurant. In love with the food. In love with the fireworks outside the window. In love with Disney. In love with the guy across the table from me. What?!? :eek: Uh-oh. Wait. How’d that happen?! And how am I gonna keep him from noticing? After all we’d only been dating two months.

Another was ice cream on Main Street on our last afternoon, just before we had to leave and head back home. I was hit so hard by how much I didn’t want any of it to end. I still get the exact same feeling every single time we leave property to head home. I think I mention it quite a bit in my trip reports, but my love for Disney is completely and totally tangled up and intertwined with my love for Brett. Falling in love with them both at the same time can have that affect on a girl. :animwink:

For us, Disney is a place where our relationship shines. Simply put... it is us at our best. And as cheesy as it may sound I come away from every trip even more in love with this man than before. THIS is why we are getting married at Disney World... it’s always been a part of our narrative as a couple and it will always continue to be.

 

Soaringirl

Member
This is so exciting! :sohappy: You two are the perfect couple. So adorable.
I was watching a show about weddings at Disney over the weekend and I was thinking about your upcoming wedding there. Enjoy every minute.
Congratulations, and have a magical day. :wave:
 

plaz10

Well-Known Member
YAY the pre wedding trip report! Awesome!!

You guys are going to have a fabulous wedding, followed by a fantastic cruise and a wonderful few days in the parks! Congrats!!!

You two are so freakin' adorable I can't stand it! The (scanned!:lol:) photos from the first trip are so old school, I love it. You two look like you are in high school. Little did you know you were standing next to your future husband in your future wedding destination! I love everything about your story, including you guys! I love hearing the stories about your first trip and your blossoming love for the World and for Brett. Keep them coming! This forum loves some good Holly/Brett stories and photos!

Congrats again! I wish you all the happiness in the world! You are so blessed! It seems so pointless to say "have fun" on what will obviously be the most fun trip ever. but...have fun!!!:sohappy:
 

WDWFigment

Well-Known Member
Congrats - and I can't wait to see the thread progress.

I think I've mentioned this before, but it seems like Sarah and I have quite a bit in common with you two (we met at a college party, seem to be roughly the same ages, had a first trip (together) to WDW where I fell in love with Sarah, like character photos--heck we've even been in the Jammin' Jungle Parade!). There are some differences, of course, and I think I might point these out to Sarah to see if I can use them to my advantage: you've done the Marathon, you've stayed at the Polynesian, and you're doing a Disney Cruise. You're also doing a Disney Wedding, but I think at this point, that ship has sailed for us!

Not sure how much I will be checking in here--I already went through wedding planning once, and that was plenty for me! Maybe if you post more character photos!

Best of luck planning--can't wait for the TR on THIS one!
 

disneygirl1

Well-Known Member
Oh how exciting! I can not wait to hear all the details! Is this your 1st Disney Cruise? We decided a few weeks ago we are going on the Drean next April! We're booking it next Friday! That will be our first cruise and am pretty excited for it!
 

HopLow

Member
Love it!! You guys are so lucky to have each other!

I love hearing wedding planning details. Can't wait to see what you have in store!
 

MillerPoppins

Well-Known Member
Hollybelle I am SOOO happy for you both! I have to say with our little chats back and forth, that I am super excited to see your report and see all the details of your wedding!
 

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Very happy for you & Brett, Holly. Looking forward to your report and being part of everything, even if only on this board.

I wish you & Brett a lifetime of happiness.

Enjoy this time, it will go by in a flash.

I'm really looking forward to sharing it with everyone, so I'm happy to hear that. Thank you for the kind words... I'm going to do everything I can to slow things down. :)

We'll be at the World starting the 17th, too. Although, nothing as exciting and life changing. Congratulations to you both, and wishes for a lifetime of happiness!

Oooh, maybe we'll cross paths. We'll be the ones in the wedding ears! :lol: And, thank you.

This is so exciting! :sohappy: You two are the perfect couple. So adorable.
I was watching a show about weddings at Disney over the weekend and I was thinking about your upcoming wedding there. Enjoy every minute.
Congratulations, and have a magical day. :wave:

You're too sweet, Soaringirl. Wow, some of those Disney weddings they show on tv are incredible, aren't they?! I can't imagine how much they actually cost. :eek:

I'm excited for the both of you!

Thank you!

YAY the pre wedding trip report! Awesome!!

You guys are going to have a fabulous wedding, followed by a fantastic cruise and a wonderful few days in the parks! Congrats!!!

You two are so freakin' adorable I can't stand it! The (scanned!:lol:) photos from the first trip are so old school, I love it. You two look like you are in high school. Little did you know you were standing next to your future husband in your future wedding destination! I love everything about your story, including you guys! I love hearing the stories about your first trip and your blossoming love for the World and for Brett. Keep them coming! This forum loves some good Holly/Brett stories and photos!

Congrats again! I wish you all the happiness in the world! You are so blessed! It seems so pointless to say "have fun" on what will obviously be the most fun trip ever. but...have fun!!!:sohappy:

Hi Jess! :wave: I was thinking the same thing when I looked at those scanned photos... we look so freakin' young! This trip is going to come and go before we know it, so I'll definitely do my best to "have fun." I'm soooo going to be a wreck when we leave this time.

You have quite the trip coming up, too. I hope the plans are coming along nicely.

Congrats - and I can't wait to see the thread progress.

I think I've mentioned this before, but it seems like Sarah and I have quite a bit in common with you two (we met at a college party, seem to be roughly the same ages, had a first trip (together) to WDW where I fell in love with Sarah, like character photos--heck we've even been in the Jammin' Jungle Parade!). There are some differences, of course, and I think I might point these out to Sarah to see if I can use them to my advantage: you've done the Marathon, you've stayed at the Polynesian, and you're doing a Disney Cruise. You're also doing a Disney Wedding, but I think at this point, that ship has sailed for us!

Not sure how much I will be checking in here--I already went through wedding planning once, and that was plenty for me! Maybe if you post more character photos!

Best of luck planning--can't wait for the TR on THIS one!

And add to that list that we both tend to write epic-ly long trip reports! :lol: I forgot you were in MJJP also; that is too cool. I think, as much as you both love the rare characters, you owe it to yourselves to participate in one of the Disney marathons. Use that to get Sarah on board. Turns out though that the best part is crossing the finish line... there's seriously no better feeling than accomplishing something like that together. You totally have to do it! Of course, same goes for the Poly and a Disney cruise. I haven't even done a Disney cruise yet and I'm saying that. But seeing how much I've enjoyed our cruises on other lines, I know Disney is going to blow me away.

I'll give you a pass on the planning updates... no reason you should subject yourself to that more than once in a lifetime. :lol:

Oh yeah, I found room in the "wedding budget" for the Sigma 30 1.4 It should be arriving any day now!

Oh how exciting! I can not wait to hear all the details! Is this your 1st Disney Cruise? We decided a few weeks ago we are going on the Drean next April! We're booking it next Friday! That will be our first cruise and am pretty excited for it!

Yep... this'll be the first Disney cruise. We've cruised on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess and Norwegian in the past. Seeing as how I really enjoyed all of those cruises, I KNOW I'm going to love this one even more.

I just realized it's Friday... maybe you're booking your cruise as I type this!

Love it!! You guys are so lucky to have each other!

I love hearing wedding planning details. Can't wait to see what you have in store!

Thanks, Ashley. I definitely do feel extremely lucky to have Brett in my life.

Hollybelle I am SOOO happy for you both! I have to say with our little chats back and forth, that I am super excited to see your report and see all the details of your wedding!

Thanks, MillerPoppins! Why do I not know your name? Because I feel like I should. I'm wondering how long my photographer will take to get the professional pictures back to me, because I won't be able to start the report without them. That's totally going to kill me.
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
I so need an emoticon that's sticking it's tongue out at you. Curse you for saddling me with unwanted patience! :brick: :lol:

The plans sound awesome. Sounds like quite the adventure. I'm with the collective group...can't WAIT for the upcoming report!

In case I haven't said it enough or you haven't heard it enough, I really do wish y'all all the best. You & Brett can only be destined for great things together. You're a Disney couple. How can there be anything better??? :D
 
Hi Hollybelle! I've been a long time reader of your reviews but I've never come out of lurkdom to post anything. So I'm here to say CONGRATS!! I wish nothing but happiness for you and Brett. Your post about how special Disney is to your relationship was so incredibly sweet. My husband and I became engaged in Disney (California Grill) and I agree that the magic of Disney just makes the event so much more special.

I realize this may make me sound somewhat stalker-ish, but I started reading your cruise reviews while researching cruises for our honeymoon. Then, I read your review of your marathon (after I'd just started running) and it inspired me to sign up for the Princess half (coming up in 2 weeks!). As I'm icing my knees after the half, I'll look forward to reading about your wedding and "Dream"-y cruise! Thank you for letting me tag along in your adventures!

Krista
 

becanya

New Member
Ok, I seriously want to be you guys! My husband and I are having our 10 year anniversary this year, and would you know, we never went to WDW before we had kids! We just didn't know it was so amazing, and now we are totally and completely obsessed. I would have totally forgone the 400 people at my wedding to have your great wedding. I'm so excited for you.
 

diddy_mouse

Well-Known Member
I am so thrilled for you and Brett!

It is such a magical thing to be able to share Disney with each other. My husband and I also took our first trip together in 2004 and he proposed on that very trip. Took me completely by surprise since I didn't think he would like WDW as much as I did. Needless to say, we've been married 5 years and can thank Disney for so many of our favorite moments, memories, and (to sound cheesy) magic.

Congrats once again and I wish you both so many years of happiness and trips to Disney. The feeling you have on your wedding day lacks a true definition and I hope that you savor that wonderful day for years to come! :sohappy:

P.S. Those "early-days" pictures are adorable! :D
 

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I love when you go. I know you will bring many of food pictures back with you!

Excellent. It's always good to know my foodie pictures are appreciated!

I so need an emoticon that's sticking it's tongue out at you. Curse you for saddling me with unwanted patience! :brick: :lol:

The plans sound awesome. Sounds like quite the adventure. I'm with the collective group...can't WAIT for the upcoming report!

In case I haven't said it enough or you haven't heard it enough, I really do wish y'all all the best. You & Brett can only be destined for great things together. You're a Disney couple. How can there be anything better??? :D

Thanks, Kelly! I promise to do a super duper dress post... just not yet! And I'm totally with you, Disney couples rock!

Can't wait to follow this TR! :)

Thanks, Joanna!

Hi Hollybelle! I've been a long time reader of your reviews but I've never come out of lurkdom to post anything. So I'm here to say CONGRATS!! I wish nothing but happiness for you and Brett. Your post about how special Disney is to your relationship was so incredibly sweet. My husband and I became engaged in Disney (California Grill) and I agree that the magic of Disney just makes the event so much more special.

I realize this may make me sound somewhat stalker-ish, but I started reading your cruise reviews while researching cruises for our honeymoon. Then, I read your review of your marathon (after I'd just started running) and it inspired me to sign up for the Princess half (coming up in 2 weeks!). As I'm icing my knees after the half, I'll look forward to reading about your wedding and "Dream"-y cruise! Thank you for letting me tag along in your adventures!

Krista

Krista! I'm honored you came out of lurkdom to post. Hooray! And an even bigger "hooray" for doing the Princess half; that is so exciting. I totally suggest befriending the volunteers with economy size bottles of biofreeze. :lol:

So did you end up doing a cruise for your honeymoon? If so, I'm curious as to which line you chose and how it was. So far, Princess has been my favorite.

And major points to the husband for proposing at the California Grill. That place is amazing!

Ok, I seriously want to be you guys! My husband and I are having our 10 year anniversary this year, and would you know, we never went to WDW before we had kids! We just didn't know it was so amazing, and now we are totally and completely obsessed. I would have totally forgone the 400 people at my wedding to have your great wedding. I'm so excited for you.

400 people!? :eek: Oh my goodness, how did you do it? I would've been a basketcase. If it weren't for my OCD taking over, I think a big wedding would be an absolute blast. Oooh, you should totally do an adult's only anniversary trip.

oooo yay!! so excited for you all!! i'm also going on the disney dream for my honeymoon!! very excited to read your trip report!! :D

Thanks, Ashley! So have you started to nail down the wedding plans yet?

I am so thrilled for you and Brett!

It is such a magical thing to be able to share Disney with each other. My husband and I also took our first trip together in 2004 and he proposed on that very trip. Took me completely by surprise since I didn't think he would like WDW as much as I did. Needless to say, we've been married 5 years and can thank Disney for so many of our favorite moments, memories, and (to sound cheesy) magic.

Congrats once again and I wish you both so many years of happiness and trips to Disney. The feeling you have on your wedding day lacks a true definition and I hope that you savor that wonderful day for years to come! :sohappy:

P.S. Those "early-days" pictures are adorable! :D

I'm totally with you on wanting to thank Disney for all those great moments, etc. Couldn't have said it better myself. Your description of how the feelings of your wedding day can't really be put into words speaks volumes to me. I'm so excited for that feeling... it's too bad it can't be bottled up! I guess I'll just have to do my best to savor it like you say.
 

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Guest List and Wedding Day Overview...

From the beginning the guest list has been immediate family only. Mostly this is because Brett and I want a small wedding. And if we start to branch out at all on this, then we're going to find ourselves in trouble. My Mom is one of 6 kids and my Dad is one of 8. This means I, alone, have like 36 first cousins. :eek: Can you imagine how quickly this would get outta control? So to have the wedding of our dreams, that means immediate family only. This includes: Brett’s parents, Danny and Kathy, and his brother Derek and his date. And then my parents, Rick and Kim, and my brother Scott and his wife and two daughters... putting our total guest count at 12 including Brett and myself. Unfortunately though, my brother’s family is not going to be able to make it due to work conflicts and the fact that they’ve decided not to take the girls out of school. This was really upsetting to me (and my Mom), but I’ve gotten the freak-out-crying-spell out of my system now and I’m not going to let it ruin our day.

We’re heading down to Disney after work on Wednesday (probably pricelining a room just off property for the night) and then we’ll be getting up early on Thursday to check-in at the Polynesian. Maybe we’ll be reunited with our dearest Tuvalu. You never know!

My parents will also be checking in that day, but Brett’s parents will already be there. And the plan right now is to head to the Studios and maybe the Animal Kingdom. Remember, my mom was just introduced to Disney last June, and my dad has never been. So it should be a lot of fun.

At some point that morning we’ll have to exchange our vouchers for our APs. I gotta say, receiving our AP vouchers in the mail along with confirmation of our wedding date/location was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever received via the US Postal Service! Yay! A huge thank you goes to my parents for all of this.

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Back on track… that evening, Brett’s parents are treating all of us to a “rehearsal” dinner at the Spirit of Aloha Luau! I’m super excited about this. Brett and I have been to it once (September 2008) and I think it will be a great way to get everyone in the Polynesian mood for our wedding.


Friday is WEDDING DAY!

Brett has breakfast plans with his family at Kona Café. My parents and I will probably grab a bite to eat from Captain Cook’s and maybe spend a little early morning time at the pool with mimosas! Knowing my mom and I though, it'll probably be early morning margaritas! :lol: This is probably wishful thinking, but I hope we find time for it that morning.

We're having a 2:30 pm ceremony at Sunset Pointe, followed by a cake/champagne celebration and then we’ll be having dinner at Ohana… our celebration place! Really, nothing else would make any sense for us. We have more things planned for after Ohana, but it’s a surprise that Brett and I planned for our families so I’m keeping my mouth shut! Please, no guesses, because I don’t want the little lurkers out there (ahem, I’m looking at you, Mom) to get any ideas. :D

Hmmm... there aren’t enough pictures in this post. How about some gratuitous shots of our ceremony location?! Sunset Pointe, I'm in love with you! Now if we could just order up this gorgeous blue sky for our wedding day...

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"My" aisle... :)

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Brett's view of "my" aisle...

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HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The Dress...

I don’t want Brett to have even the slightest clue as to what I’m wearing. Therefore, I’m not saying a word about the dress details, much to the dismay of Kelly (sweetpee) and many others. What I can tell you is that I’m one of those brides who tried on way too many dresses (like over 100, probably closer to 200 :eek:). Although, I definitely didn’t have a “this is the perfect dress for me” moment with tears and the whole bit, I can honestly say that I adore the dress I picked. So that’s good... all that dress shopping at least kept me from thinking there was something else better out there once I picked one. Because seriously, I think I tried them ALL on. :lol:

I so desperately want to talk about all the fun and exasperation my Mom and I experienced as we shopped, but I can’t. Therefore, I’m making a promise right now to post all about it as soon as we get back from the honeymoon. And lemme just tell you... some of the dress shopping pictures are downright hilarious! I’ve even considered making a mini “Say Yes to the Dress” photobook.

I, Hollybelle, solemnly swear to post all about the dress drama at a later date. There! Now you can hold me to it. I’ve already started working on the text for it, so hopefully I’ll have something fun to post as soon as we get back, because I know it will take a while to get my professional pictures and I can’t do much else without them.

All this talk about the dress leads me to some dress distress that I experienced over the weekend. On Saturday, my mom and I went for my final fitting only to find that the seamstress had sewn a horizontal line across the dress as a way to address my concerns over how the fabric was creasing. Seriously... shoddiest work ever. I was mortified. She told me it was “as good as it gets.” Ummm, no. So my mom kindly told her that we thought it looked better before she “fixed” it and told her that we would prefer for her to take it out. To which the seamstress replied haughtily with a “Well you two have been going back and forth on this, so you just need to make a decision.” Again, no. We hadn’t went back and forth on anything... from the get-go we wanted her to fix it. It’s not our fault she wasn't capable of doing so. It didn’t help that I wanted to throttle her for giving my Mom such attitude, after my Mom was trying to be discreet and considerate and not blab all over the shop that she messed my dress up.

So anyway, she said she could take it out and we could come back a little later to pick it up. When we returned, she was gone, but she had left the bill with the owner. It wasn’t even itemized... instead it just had a list of things she’d done... like “add bustle,” “hem underslip,” etc. One of the notations was “take tuck and then remove.” Seriously? Who actually charges for something when they can’t do it properly, and then has the gall to charge for removing the mistake? The bottom of the “receipt” said $95, which was crossed out, with $125 written below. Because the receipt hadn’t been itemized the owner couldn’t tell us what exactly we were charged for. It seemed to me like the seamstress didn’t like being called out (albeit discreetly and as nicely as possible) so she retaliated by tacking on an additional $30. At this point we just wanted to get out of there so we double checked that the seam didn’t leave any marks (thank God) and then we left with my dress. It was the principle of it that made us so mad, not the $30. Either way, it was incredibly unprofessional. What's so unfortunate is that as sweet and as nice as the consultants were, if a shop backs a seamstress that isn’t any good then there’s no point in purchasing a dress from them.

It feels good to get that off my chest. Okay, so dress drama aside, I’ve just got to say that I’m totally and absolutely in LOVE with my dress. She’s beautiful. Swoooooon. I’d totally sleep in my dress and head to the port to board the Dream wearing it if they’d let me. :ROFLOL:
 

WishIWasAtWDW

Well-Known Member
ahhh!!!! i LOVE it!! :D your report has me soooo excited for you two! and for my own day!! :D isn't it crazy, that counting down for a disney trip and a wedding leave you with the same feelings? at first you are like, man its so far away and then before you know it, its almost here! mine is still pretty far away but i know that it will be here before i know it! planning is going really well. i am trying to get as much done, as early as possible so i am not stressed out as we get closer to the big day. and i do want to make sure i have plenty of time to plan all the fun activities we are going to do on our disneymoon! :lol:

oh, and i can't believe that seamstress was such a "B"! i don't know how you all didn't flip out on the lady. i do not do well with poor customer service so i was getting angry just reading that part!! man! people just drive me crazy sometimes with how rude and stupid they can be!!
 

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