Wishes DFTW March 2012!

[Slugger]

A little update..

Now that our contract has been finalized.. We were finally able to get the whole DFTW app on Facebook working and being able to get a personalized url for it.

Other than that we should hear from the Wedding Planner this week so we can start planning this wedding!!

-Robby

 

[MLIDisney10]

So I am sitting in class right now and of course posting here! But its because I got the phone call! Mind you right now any Unknown number makes me edgy because I am waiting to hear from Disney about Professional Internships as well as from DFTW about our Wedding Planner. Well, see my phone blinking and its Unknown so I leave class and its Carol! Super excited to get the ball rolling now! She seems wonderful and I am ready for these 6 weeks to fly by so I can move to Florida and we can have a Planning Session in person! She said her assistant Kristi (sp?) is going to E-Mail me more information and a questionnaire. I was just smiling up a storm while I was on the phone and I can't stop! I am super excited to get planning!

Oh and on another note.... I talked to David's Bridal this week and I am set for shopping on April 23rd at 10am! I am really excited because my MOH (who now lives in NYC), my 3 bridesmaids (2 from OH and 1 from MI) and I will all be together! I don't know if I will buy a dress then, but I definitely want to be sized! eeekk! Sooo excited! What a great surprise for a gloomy day (Yes its 40 and raining in Cleveland today) :ROFLOL:

More updates soon!
-K

 

[Slugger]

Just another quick update...

On Thursday our Wedding Planner Carol sent us our first email with a bunch of information including the Planning Kit. Needless to say, we are on our way to making some headway with our wedding! Since we are moving down to Orlando next month, we will get to have our inperson planning session which I know we are both excited for!

-Robby

 

[Slugger]

Just a quick update.

Saturday morning Karen had to go pick up a package from the post office. When she picked it up, she found out that it was our signed contract along with the two annual passes that they give to the Bride and Groom. The only thing is we don't need the annual passes since we are both Cast Members.. other than that.. nothing else has come up.. I know this Saturday that Karen will be going dress shopping with her mom, maid of honor, and her bridesmaids.. so maybe she will chime in and post something real soon.

Also we have both started our packing for our big move down to Orlando! Karen should be getting the lease in the mail by Wednesday and it should be sent down to our apartment complex by Friday! Our "move-in" day is May 11th, but we won't be moving in until May 18th-19th. Less than a month left of school!!!

I fly up to go see her on May 11th, so I can make it to her graduation and then we start making our drive down to Orlando!!


-Robby

 

[MLIDisney10]

Dress Day!

So as Robby said this past Saturday I went for day 1 dress shopping! The appointment started at 10am, and we didn't leave David's Bridal until 1p! 3 hours of playing dress up! It was so much fun! I gave my bridesmaids the option to pick out any dress that they wanted, that they liked as long as it was a t-length or knee length dress. I liked the idea of a shorter dress in FL in March. It turns out that at different times they all tried on the exact same dress and all fell in love with it! So the dresses are picked for the girls. The colors are as follows: MoH: Dark Blue w/ light blue sash; BM1: light pink with purple sash; BM2: light green with dark green sash; BM3: light pink with dark pink sash. When I figure out how to post pictures on here I will get one up of the dress!

As far as my dress.... I tried on about 10-12 different dresses!!!!! I am so excited that my David's dress size is about the same as normal, and even with 1 dress it was smaller!!!!! I have not picked a dress, but I do have a top 4. I will not be posting pics because I don't want DF to have any idea what I am wearing. The one dress I will reveal is my reception dress. I am an accident prone bride-to-be and I don't want to ruin my dress before the pictures in MK, so I am going to wear a second dress for part of the reception. I went on David's online last night and actually found the bridesmaid dress in white/ivory for $99 so I am going to get that! I figure it will be fun to match the Bridesmaids for part of the reception!!!!!

Well, I am in class... only 3 more weeks left!! I will try and post some more info later!

-Karen

 

[Fashionista007]

Congratulations Karen & Robby! I'm so happy that you decided to post a planning journal. I love hearing about all your plans and joining in the excitement! And of course I love the Grand Floridian and Wedding Pavilion! I wish we could see pictures of your dress My sister got a beautiful dress from David's in 2009 and I'm sure you'll look beautiful! I can't wait to hear more as your plans unfold. :sohappy:

 

[MLIDisney10]

Congratulations Karen & Robby! I'm so happy that you decided to post a planning journal. I love hearing about all your plans and joining in the excitement! And of course I love the Grand Floridian and Wedding Pavilion! I wish we could see pictures of your dress My sister got a beautiful dress from David's in 2009 and I'm sure you'll look beautiful! I can't wait to hear more as your plans unfold. :sohappy:

Thanks! I cannot wait to start posting some information from our Planning Kit! I am so busy with school right now that I am more focused on that and not on wedding stuff or even packing!

I wish I could post pictures online, but my mom told me no way. She wants it to remain a surprise so you will have to hold out on dress pictures until March of 2012! Once I actually decide on a dress (right now I have a top 4) I might allow Messages for the David's link to it :lol: I will confirm that I am going to buy two dresses. One will be for the reception to eat in so I can save my dress for pictures in MK. The reception dress will actually match the Bridesmaids dresses and be in Ivory/White. I was able to convince my mom, my MoH and a bridesmaid of it last night and they really liked the idea. When I mentioned it Saturday they immediately shot the idea down and wouldn't give me room to explain. I figured I would wait instead of Bridezilla-ing it up in David's just to get them all to shut up!:ROFLOL:


All for now- because again I am in class! (7 more class days and then 5 finals separate me from graduation!!!)

As always comments and ideas are a wonderful thing!!!!

-Karen

 

[Ravenclaw87]

Your wedding planner is Carol?!?! Mine too!

 

[Slugger]

Just a little update...

I bought our wedding cake toppers the other day!!

I happened to go to eBay and was searching for vinylmations. Well I found these 2 with less than 2 minutes remaining on the auction for each of them. So I quickly bid on each of them and won them both. They came in yesterday and I've already packed them up since we are moving down to Orlando in less than 3 weeks! Even if we don't decide to use these vinylmations for our cake toppers, they definitely will be a great addition to our vinylmation collection!

Thats all for now!

-Robby

 

[MLIDisney10]

Invitation Help!

Okay, So I am getting ready to create the invitations to send out, but I want to include information about cost, resorts, transportation etc. I figure the more people know up front the better.

I don't really want to do Save the Dates because I would rather start getting counts now (RSVP would be July 15th-ish) and be able to invite other people in the next few months rather than in November when I would start getting responses.

What have you fellow DFTW Brides-to-be done? What information did you use? I haven't talked to Carol for about a month and I don't know what I should ask her if I were to talk to her.


HELP!!!!!!

PS. - Almost done with school (T-minus 2 weeks):sohappy: AND....... Almost ready to move (T-Minus 3 weeks) :sohappy:

-Karen

 

[wizards8507]

Okay, So I am getting ready to create the invitations to send out, but I want to include information about cost, resorts, transportation etc. I figure the more people know up front the better.

I don't really want to do Save the Dates because I would rather start getting counts now (RSVP would be July 15th-ish) and be able to invite other people in the next few months rather than in November when I would start getting responses.

What have you fellow DFTW Brides-to-be done? What information did you use? I haven't talked to Carol for about a month and I don't know what I should ask her if I were to talk to her.

Hey, I'm also in the middle of planning a wedding and here are a few tips:

You're really supposed to send out save-the-dates for a "destination" wedding. You could get those out quickly and then take some more time on the invitations.

It's perfectly acceptable to include a "travel information" card (or two) with your invitations. Another viable option is a wedding website. We had too much travel info to put in the invitation so here's what we enclosed in our invitation (South Bend, IN):

Area Attractions
College Football Hall of Fame
Studebaker Museum
Potowatomi Zoo
South Bend Chocolate Company
Indiana Dunes Lakeshore (1 hour drive)

A private tour of the University of Notre Dame du Lac will be offered immediately following the wedding ceremony. Comfortable shoes are recommended.

For information regarding accommodations and travel, please see our website at www.insertweddingwebsitehere.com.
​

 

[Fashionista007]

Okay, So I am getting ready to create the invitations to send out, but I want to include information about cost, resorts, transportation etc. I figure the more people know up front the better.

I don't really want to do Save the Dates because I would rather start getting counts now (RSVP would be July 15th-ish) and be able to invite other people in the next few months rather than in November when I would start getting responses.

What have you fellow DFTW Brides-to-be done? What information did you use? I haven't talked to Carol for about a month and I don't know what I should ask her if I were to talk to her.


HELP!!!!!!

PS. - Almost done with school (T-minus 2 weeks):sohappy: AND....... Almost ready to move (T-Minus 3 weeks) :sohappy:

-Karen

I made a newsletter instead of save the dates or invitations. But that was mainly because I only needed about 8 invitations for 18 people and they come in packs of 25. In my newsletter, I had hotel and ticket information as well as the name and number of the travel agent I was working with, itinerary, transportation info, etc. You can find some great newsletter templates for MS Word, Publisher, or Illustrator. I went with Publisher because I don't know Illustrator that well but I have seen some really great samples using that program.

Just a tip - you might want to keep cost out of it and let people do what they want. For my wedding, we have people staying everywhere from off property to the Grand Floridian. If you have people staying in the same resort tier, I'd say put the cost in your newsletter. Otherwise, they can discuss that with their travel agent. Also be very wary that people probably will not do what you expect. I think you know my story by now - I set up a travel agent and only 1 person ended up using them. That was pretty frustrating. I also offered to get group rates on airfare through AirTran but people kept arguing that Southwest is cheaper. I decided to forego the group rates and let people do what they want. And they're all flying AirTran. :hammer:

I'd be happy to send you a copy of what I did with the newsletter. PM me your email address if you like and I'll send it to you.
:wave:

 

[MLIDisney10]

I made a newsletter instead of save the dates or invitations. But that was mainly because I only needed about 8 invitations for 18 people and they come in packs of 25. In my newsletter, I had hotel and ticket information as well as the name and number of the travel agent I was working with, itinerary, transportation info, etc. You can find some great newsletter templates for MS Word, Publisher, or Illustrator. I went with Publisher because I don't know Illustrator that well but I have seen some really great samples using that program.

Just a tip - you might want to keep cost out of it and let people do what they want. For my wedding, we have people staying everywhere from off property to the Grand Floridian. If you have people staying in the same resort tier, I'd say put the cost in your newsletter. Otherwise, they can discuss that with their travel agent. Also be very wary that people probably will not do what you expect. I think you know my story by now - I set up a travel agent and only 1 person ended up using them. That was pretty frustrating. I also offered to get group rates on airfare through AirTran but people kept arguing that Southwest is cheaper. I decided to forego the group rates and let people do what they want. And they're all flying AirTran. :hammer:

I'd be happy to send you a copy of what I did with the newsletter. PM me your email address if you like and I'll send it to you.
:wave:

Robby and I both loved your newsletter! Thanks for sharing! We are pretty sure that we are going to send out the regular invitations that we purchased to all of the DFTW guests, and in there include the newsletter that could ask all of the common questions (travel, hotel info, tickets, parks, a tip of the letter etc) I think we are going to try and send out a newsletter every 2-3 months to keep everyone informed with plans and keep them up to date.

If anyone else has ideas we are more than welcome to them! We will not be sending anything out for a few more weeks (we want to move to FL first) so we are still formulating a plan, and I am going to be creating a deadline calendar! I need something to do now that school is over!

Thanks for everyone's input! It is always helpful!

 

[MLIDisney10]

Hey, I'm also in the middle of planning a wedding and here are a few tips:

You're really supposed to send out save-the-dates for a "destination" wedding. You could get those out quickly and then take some more time on the invitations.

It's perfectly acceptable to include a "travel information" card (or two) with your invitations. Another viable option is a wedding website. We had too much travel info to put in the invitation so here's what we enclosed in our invitation (South Bend, IN):

Area Attractions
College Football Hall of Fame
Studebaker Museum
Potowatomi Zoo
South Bend Chocolate Company
Indiana Dunes Lakeshore (1 hour drive)

A private tour of the University of Notre Dame du Lac will be offered immediately following the wedding ceremony. Comfortable shoes are recommended.

For information regarding accommodations and travel, please see our website at www.insertweddingwebsitehere.com.
​

I guess our weddings are a little different... We verbally have done save the dates, and really are getting ideas now about guests so thats why we jumped to gun with invitations. We are about 10 months out from our wedding, and people can already book rooms, and in some cases request off work and book transportation already. The idea about the invitations now is so we can stick to a limit of guests and have the ability to invite more friends and extended family now rather than last minute in November.

I do like the idea of the area attractions that you included and that might be something we include in the newsletter as other things to do in the area! We have been working on wedding websites (DFTW and theknot.com) but we do have some non-tech-savvy family that would probably yell at us for not printing it out for them :ROFLOL:

Thanks for your input! Robby and did talk about it and like it!

 

[MLIDisney10]

Where has the semester gone?!

Wow. So school has definitely gotten in the way for the last few weeks! Busy, busy, busy! The big move is 8 days away :brick: I feel like I haven't done anything yet with packing or the wedding because of school... ergh.

On a bright note though we have talked to family and the guest list is shrinking slowly! Hopefully it will help out budget a little! (we are inviting 120 and budgeted for about 80) Our invitations and newsletters are going to be sent out by the end of the month! We wanted to move before we had to figure everything out! We are also going to create Save the dates for those who we didn't invite to the wedding (elderly family, college friends, extended family, etc) for receptions in both Cleveland (my hometown) and Mobile (DF's hometown). This way we will still give them a reception/ cookout of sorts and allow them to celebrate with us! Invites with details for those will go out in January

I have not contacted Carol lately (since she contacted me about a month ago) with questions about resort information or anything. I am worried that I should have done this already, but yet again stupid school!

Fellow brides- How long was it after your DFTW planner contacted you did you first contact them with questions?! I feel like I am behind on the game a little bit. This is starting to worry me, especially since the wedding is 10 months away....

Hopefully some fun updates and pictures come soon! I have a bunch of wedding stuff that I am eager to post!

-Karen

 

[silver1113]

So I have been creeping around here for months reading other DFTW planning reports and getting ideas! I just joined the boards and decided that it was my time to create one of these and look to fellow DFTW brides-to-be and those who are knowledgeable in DFTW to help out!

Quick Background
I was a CP (from Ohio) at KSR in Jan 2010, met my now DF (from Alabama) a CP in DHS Parking (same time), got engaged Jan 4, 2011 (about 20ft away from him asking me out of course MK, by partners) called DFTW 2 days later for an appointment, and now about 350 days out from DFTW day!!! March 16, 2012 (we just submitted the contract on Monday!)

Wedding Basics
So we decided almost immediately that it had to be a Wishes wedding. I was looking at 2013 and my DF wanted sooner. He is just so darn impatient Our bridal party is 3BM and 3GM 1MoH and 1BM a FG and RB. Oh and us of course. We booked a 10a on Fri at WP with Cocktail hour and reception at GF from 11-3. My friend from my CP is our photographer, saving us about $1,000. My family friend is doing some silk bouquets so that's saving $500. I will take savings wherever I can! We are expecting about 80 guests (I was shocked that many family and friends said they wanted to come!) and yes, for a 10a wedding we are having an open bar from 12:30p-2:30p. It's 5 o'clock somewhere right?

Honeymoon
We are staying at DAKL for a few days after the wedding as sort of a mini getaway, since we will live 15min from MK. The plan is for a Disney Cruise, but it all depends on work.

I like to type so this should be fun! I am very open to suggestions and questions about the DFTW experience! I hope to post pictures along the way with decisions that get made The only ones I won't post will be dress shopping day. Just because I know that my DF reads these boards sometimes and I don't want him to catch an early look!

Thanks for reading/following and I think this will be a fun year!

-K

Congratulations and Good Luck again!!!

 

[Fashionista007]

Wow. So school has definitely gotten in the way for the last few weeks! Busy, busy, busy! The big move is 8 days away :brick: I feel like I haven't done anything yet with packing or the wedding because of school... ergh.

On a bright note though we have talked to family and the guest list is shrinking slowly! Hopefully it will help out budget a little! (we are inviting 120 and budgeted for about 80) Our invitations and newsletters are going to be sent out by the end of the month! We wanted to move before we had to figure everything out! We are also going to create Save the dates for those who we didn't invite to the wedding (elderly family, college friends, extended family, etc) for receptions in both Cleveland (my hometown) and Mobile (DF's hometown). This way we will still give them a reception/ cookout of sorts and allow them to celebrate with us! Invites with details for those will go out in January

I have not contacted Carol lately (since she contacted me about a month ago) with questions about resort information or anything. I am worried that I should have done this already, but yet again stupid school!

Fellow brides- How long was it after your DFTW planner contacted you did you first contact them with questions?! I feel like I am behind on the game a little bit. This is starting to worry me, especially since the wedding is 10 months away....

Hopefully some fun updates and pictures come soon! I have a bunch of wedding stuff that I am eager to post!

-Karen

I'm sorry you're so busy right now and I definitely know how that feels Just take it a day at a time...an hour at a time if you have to! "Everything will work out alright in the end, you'll see." - Mrs. Potts

My initial contact with DFTW had me a bit put off. I emailed them (since I'm also very busy) and they called me back I think 2 days later and left a message. I then called back to find out that they have very strict hours and are not open on the weekends. It really stinks to have to talk to them during the week but they are open until 7PM I think. When I finally got my sales consultant, Michelle, we talked about my basic needs. I think I emailed her questions almost every day for awhile because I had a LOT. She always responded within 2 business days and when she was on vacation, her assistant replied. When I got my actual wedding planner, Kathleen, I basically filled out the wedding planning kit, she sent me the BEO and that's where we stand. I have not had time to really look at the first draft BEO but we'll be meeting with her on 5/23 in person at Franck's. I have never spoken to her on the phone. I *think* that I have until 7/27 to finalize the BEO and that would be 60 days before the wedding date.

Just keep in mind that when you do ask questions, if it is via email you will not get a response the same day. I know how it is to have a burning question you really need answered but it will be answered within 2 business days. They have a lot of brides so it's only logical that they can't answer a question that exact minute. But rest assured, your questions will get answered!

I highly suggest you pick up a copy of Passporter's Disney Weddings & Honeymoons. It has great info, pricing included, and worksheets to help you with your planning. I love it! It's worth every penny.

 

[Slugger]

Hey everyone,

Well its been a while since Karen or I have posted anything so hears an update.

Since we first drove down to Orlando almost a month ago from Cleveland, we have driven almost 4000 miles and have been in a car together for over 50 hours.

We drove from Cleveland to Orlando, then Orlando to Mobile, then Mobile to Corpus Christi, then Corpus Christi to Mobile, the Mobile to Orlando. Then took a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas for Karen's graduation and my 21st birthday aboard the Carnaval Sensation out of Port Canaveral.

We got back from the cruise on Sunday and we both checked in for our college program on Monday, June 13th. Karen started work today, while I start tomorrow.

Our apartment is finally setup. All we have left is to hang up some pictures and clean up our closet.

As for wedding stuff, we should have invitations going out within the next month.

That's all I have for now, Karen should be giving an update soon!


-Robby

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Congrats on the DFTW!!!! It's my dream to have a DFTW... First, I need to find a groom!! :lol:

I love reading this stuff so post away!!!

 

[MLIDisney10]

UPDATE--- Finally!!!!

Wow, so I haven't really had much to update until now and on top of that I have been super busy with work and moving in that I couldn't really dedicate too much time for an update so this one has a BUNCH of stuff! Bear with me!

Invitations!

So, back in March I bought a box of invitation paper. I finally got around to unearthing the box and I got the invitations created finally! This next week is going to be dedicated to verifying addresses with our parents, printing out the invitations and creating our newsletter. We decided to include the first newsletter with the invitation. This way we can give each family more details about us as a couple and try and answer as many questions as possible that could be involved with the RSVP in advance. This way we don't have to deal with as many E-Mails and phone calls over the next few months with repetitive questions. We also decided to do RSVPs electronically (to a wedding e-mail), this way we can contact everyone much easier with other newsletters and updates.

Newsletter

As I said we are including this with the invites. The details we are going to include are the hotels for our block, the reservation phone number, more info about us as a couple and individually, and some information about tickets and transportation. This should at least answer a majority of questions for people before they start booking flights etc.

Planning Kit

I feel like I need a check list! There is a big check here and all I need to do is E-Mail it over! I am super excited about everything we have picked, and I cannot wait for our meeting with our planner! Off hand I can't remember all of the details, except the boys are walking in to "Imperial March" and I am walking in to the Pirates song. We find it fun to be different!

Dress Dilemma

Wow. So today has been interesting. I found out that David's discontinued the dress I selected for my Bridesmaids. Ouch. I am calling tomorrow and complaining because I was told it wasn't going to be discontinued. I did go online and have found some really cute alternatives though. I showed them to my mom, aunt and MoH on Skype and they like them. I think the biggest success was that I SAID YES TO A DRESS online!!!! I was looking through the clearance dresses and found one for $399 and having tried on about 10 different David's dresses I knew what my size and style were. The dress was a combination of two dresses that I tried on and loved so I said why not! I have 14 days to return it if I don't like it but I don't think that will be a problem. Right now the dress has a zipper back, so I am going to change that out for a corset back, and put an invisible zipper on the left side so it is easier to put on rather than having to get tied in every time. I know that will help DF when we have to go to MK for pics early AM so he doesn't have to try to tie the back and attempt a bow. :ROFLOL: I did decide to get a second dress for parts of the reception. I fear that even with an apron I will spill something on the front of my dress before pictures, so I have a dress to eat in. I will also be using it for the rehearsal dinner. It WAS supposed to match the bridesmaids dresses, but we will see how that works out.

Lastly with the dresses I have also decided to allow our younger sisters (Mine and DF's) to get the bridesmaids dress in Black. They are both a very important part to our Wedding (reading, ushering, etc), and sort of playing hostesses at the reception that we decided they should feel just as important. One will have green accents and the other will have pink. I am really excited to have decided to do this with them, and I know it will make them feel extremely special!


Wow, that was a lot to type! Hopefully we have some more developments soon, and I would say I would post pictures of the dress but DF sees this (and replies) so no pictures. I can send out style numbers for those interested so you can at least look at it online (while supplies last!)

As always I welcome comments and ideas!!!! I love what other people think, and I am completely open to ideas!

-Karen