Allie & Lee's Wonderland Wishes Wedding ~ 8/31/14

[rrali33tt]

Hello everyone! I have been lurking and posting on these boards for so long and it is so exciting to be able to have my own PJ! If I didn't stumble upon the Disboards I don't know how I would be able to plan our wedding. All of the PJs and threads I have read have been so helpful and it is great to have support from so many people who love Disney as much as we do! I hope you enjoy reading my PJ.

I am going to try to do a TOC so hopefully I can get it to work.

Table of contents:

Our Story #2
The ring! #3
Tentative Wedding Plans #4
Honeymoon Plans & Honeymoon Registry
Wedding Theme #8
Will you be my Bridesmaid?

 

[rrali33tt]

Hello. My name is Allison (my friends call me Allie, but my mother can't stand that lol). My fiancee is Raleigh (Lee for short).



I am originally from Long Island, NY but after college I moved to Hoboken NJ. Hoboken is awesome place to live btw and is perfect young 20 somethings, plus its a quick 15 minute train ride into NYC. I worked at an accounting firm auditing hedge funds (super boring). After 4 years of that I decided I wanted to change careers and go to law school (I had wanted to be a lawyer since I was 12).

My fiancee and I met in our first Criminal Law class at Seton Hall Law School in Newark NJ (a stark contrast to Hoboken, Newark is one of the worst places I have ever been). I was running late (as usual) and ran into the class and sat next to him (which he now claims was on purpose). I also sat next to our really good friend Mike. Mike and I became really good friends. I think because we are both Italian and Italians gravitate towards one another lol Mike and Lee also became good friends. At the end of the first semester we started to have study groups together. Now that we were spending hours upon hours together studying Lee and I began talking over the phone. We would talk for so long and obvi had a connection. I had a trip planned with a friend to go down to Florida over Christmas break, but before that Lee asked me what I wanted for Christmas (we weren't dating or anything ..we hadn't even kissed yet so I thought he was just kidding). I jokingly said " a mercedes". Before I left he gave me a Mercedes keychain and a DVD of the Dark Knight. So sweet of him!

After the holidays I invited all of my law school buddies out for a friend's birthday in NYC. Maybe the cocktails gave Lee the courage to finally kiss me! LOL Soon after that we went on our first date to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Valentines day was soon approaching and I had told him I never went out and celebrated Valentines day (yea i dated a bunch of losers). For Valentines Day he bought me tickets to see the Little Mermaid on Broadway and took me out to dinner in Hoboken. It was the best Valentines Day and that became our anniversary.

Our first vacation together was to Disney the following Christmas. Disney at Christmas is so wonderful but it is also super crowded. We had a blast! Our next vacation together was Disney AGAIN. This time we went for F&W. We also went to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal. Such good times. At that point we realized Disney was "our place". We went back again the following October and we knew that was where we wanted to get married.

Fast forward and once our 4 year anniversary came up I was very anxiously awaiting an engagement. Since we met I had moved from Hoboken to Piscataway NJ ( 5 minutes from him). We graduated law school and I now work in International Tax (yes I went to law school to be a lawyer but since 2008 after the economy collapsed there are not many jobs for lawyers and I got a job and took it). Lee was still working as a law clerk after we graduated and found a job at a small environmental law firm a year after. I now know that is when he bought the ring.

My job is really stressful ( and I am currently looking for a new one) and I said I wanted to go on a vacation. We planned a trip to PA to a B&B and wine tasting weekend for the first weekend in May @ Sweetwater Farm.



Sweetwater Farm is so pretty and peaceful. We stopped at a winery beforehand and went out to dinner. After arriving at the room we decided to explore the grounds. There are multiple cottages and a pasture and the B&B is on a winery. We took a bottle of wine with us and wandered around. Behind the winery/barn there is a place where they have wedding ceremonies. I mentioned this to Lee (which I thought he would be so annoyed cuz all I did was talk about our imaginary wedding). This is winery and the back is the ceremony site.





At the bottom he grabbed both of my hands and said " so this is what it's like to get married" and I said yes...and they put chairs on the lawn lol He then got down on one knee and said some sweet things and pulled out the ring box and asked me to marry him. I thought I would cry when he did this but I was too in shock because I really thought he was kidding until I saw the box. Of course I said yes!

 

[rrali33tt]

The morning after our engagement we had plans to go to Longwood Gardens. It was beautiful there. I managed to take a photo of my ring next to a pretty purple flower.



It didn't come out so good so I took a picture of it on a wine cork (I was inspired by ring wedding photos on pinterest lol)



We spent the rest of the day after the gardens at all the local wineries. So much fun celebrating at all of them!

 

[rrali33tt]

Let me just start by saying that I am really not a fan of this whole lottery system. (I am sure you all feel the same way). I think within a week of our engagement my family was already asking for a wedding date. It's so hard not knowing if you will get the wedding day and locations you want and having to convey that to family. I pretty much tell everyone because of the Disney "policies" I won't get my date confirmed yet. I called Disney and was penciled in for my dates ..now all I have to do is pray I get my day and time.

Here are our tentative plans:

Friday, August 29th - Drinking (and eating) Around the World with friends and family

Saturday, August 30th - Rehearsal/Bridal Tea at the GF / Dessert Party @ Italy Isola

Sunday, August 31st - Ceremony 5pm, Reception @ ADH

How we go to that date is another story. We had always talked about getting married in Disney in October. We go every year in October since we experienced F&W for the first time. I wanted our guests to be able to experience all of that too. We love Halloween and MNSSHP & HHN. Well, my best friend Adam actually proposed to his fiancee last November and stole the wedding date I always wanted (Columbus Day weekend). This upset me because I love the weather in October too. I also have to do a holiday weekend because my MOH is a teacher ( along with half the bridal party/spouses of the bridal party). I wanted my guests to be able to take a vacation in Disney and not have to take off work so that is another reason why Columbus day was a big fav of mine.

After the engagement we decided we wanted to go on the ABD Germany trip (more on the honeymoon later), and go to Oktoberfest (which is in September in Germany). I cannot take off work in June and July because that is our busy season so we ended up with Labor Day as it is closer to our honeymoon date than Memorial Day. On top of that, 3 of my bridesmaids are trying to get preggers RIGHT NOW.. so if I had it memorial day it might be closer to them giving birth and I am trying to plan around imaginary babies LOL).

Then I was terrified at the possibility of a hurricane, but DF calmed me down. I mean what are the chances we have another Sandy or Irene? I seem to think the chances are a lot higher than him. But I will just get wedding insurance and other brides told me if something like that happened, Disney will work with you on changing the date.

What if I don't get my wedding date?

If I lose the lottery, my backup plans are to have a 730 ceremony at WP, cocktail hour @ Italy Isola and reception @ AAR.

Option #1: I have always LOVED the AAR (so does DF). The venue is beautiful and I love the dome ceiling. When I called Disney to be penciled in they explained that the ceremony would be 730 when using AAR, the cocktail hour would replace my plans of a dessert party (because we cant get into the venue until after the park closes). Then the reception would run from 930-130 am. I am not a fan of this because I feel horrible making my guests wait until 830 to eat something and 930 for dinner! It would end soooo late. I think my grandmas will fall asleep. Plus, we want to go to Jellyrolls after the wedding and continue the party, if it ends at 130 this won't happen. AND because it is peak hurricane season, it will probably rain at some point. if it rains during my cocktail hour I will be devastated. The dessert party thing is one of my favorite things about having a Disney wedding (well after Cindys carriage ) If it rains at a DP on Sat night, at least it wont ruin the actual wedding day. All of the venues on the day of are indoors so I wont be upset if it rains. I suppose I could try and work with Disney on a different Cocktail hour location indoors but I have no idea where.

Option #2: move the date to the following Sunday. Since ADH is only available for evening receptions on Sun/Mon I would have to pick the following Sunday and people would just have to take off work

 

[Kaylars]

I love it, what a beautiful place

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

Joining in! You two make such a sweet couple! I really enjoyed reading your story! And you ring is gorgeous!

I love your plans so far, and I hope you get all the dates and times you want. I can't count the number of times I had to say, "Well... Disney won't confirm anything until we are 12 months out... but we've requested days and times and locations." Haha. Do you know if you are in competition for your date or locations at this point? Although, I think you will be fine, August is a less popular time for weddings than October, so maybe that will work out in your favour!

 

[charliegirl76]

Congratulations! You're an adorable couple! What a lovely proposal at a beautiful setting and a gorgeous ring!

I'm not really a fan of the lottery either. It's super nerve wracking! And not being able to tell anyone a firm date can be slightly annoying. But if you can keep yourself occupied with other wedding stuff, like brainstorming ideas for the ceremony and receptions, planning out how you will ask your family/friends to be MOH/Bridesmaids....etc., the time will go by pretty fast and you'll be fairly organized by the time the planning session comes around. There's tons to keep you busy while you wait. As for telling people, I think most understand....it is Disney and a lot of companies hold conventions there, I know my company does. Personally, I (for the most part) left out all the specifics about Disney's policies when telling people about dates. I just said, we're hoping for December 1, but we're really not sure yet. If they looked at me strange and asked why we weren't sure I just told them someone else can request the same date and time and we'd go with our second choice. They seemed ok with this answer.

 

[rrali33tt]

We are having an Alice in Wonderland theme for our wedding. Given the fact that all the decor at the ADH must be provided by Disney I am somewhat limited in what I can do without spending a kazillion dollars. So I am now calling my wedding an AIW "light" theme.

I came across the idea of having an AIW theme from an invitation I saw on Etsy with the following wording :

By order of the
Queen of Hearts,
Your presence is requested
To the Land of Wonders.
wild and new
Where dreams are twined when
We say, “I Do.”

Together with our families
Allison Bedford
&
Raleigh Steinhauer

Invite you to journey with them
Into Wonderland to celebrate
Our marriage
The thrity-first day of August
Two thousand and fourteen​

I felt that the wording coincides well with having a Disney wedding. The part where it says " by order of the queen of hearts" may be a bit much/tacky but is still like it..what do you think?

Another reason I think the AlW theme fits is that one Valentines Day DF bought be a cheshire cat doll and he holds a personalized heart that says 'We're all mad here, in love that is". Even though I am a huge fan of the love, laughter, and happily ever after slogan, this might have to be our slogan and I think it is quite original

 

[rrali33tt]

At first I was going to use a color scheme of red and black. This black tuxes and red dresses. The centerpieces would have been red roses with one white rose (think painting the roses red). But then DF said he wanted to wear a Grey tux not black, and I think red and grey would be wierd for wedding colors. We both like vintage stuff so now it has turned into a Vintage AIW theme. There will be grey tuxes and purple BM dresses. I have already picked out a ton of cute stuff on etsy.

Potential favors/placecard holders: I found these adorable beer openers in the shape of vintage keys. I was thinking of using these as placecard holders as well. I could take them out of the box and attach the placecard to it.



If I don't use them as favors I also found actual placecard holders in the shape of keys:



Since we are going with a vintage theme, the actual placecard holders themselves will be like these (with the names and table numbers added):



The table numbers are doorknob handles, like when alice enters wonderland she uses the key to open the door



I am playing with the idea of putting AIW quotes on the back of the table numbers like " Why is a raven like a writing desk".

On the tables there will be menu cards like the ones in this photo which incorporates the "eat me" pastry that alice has:



I would also like to make these paper hats and have a few put on each table. I would make them in the wedding colors.

If we have a signature drink, I will make a sign that sayd "drink me" and I bet we will name them after something in AIW.

 

[disneydania]

First of all, congratulations on your engagement and Disney wedding.

As for all the little details so far.....AMAZING! I love the AIW theme. The gray/purple color scheme sounds lovely and the vintage key place card holders are just the most gorgeous things ever.

Can't wait for all your updates.

 

[alyaki]

All your plans sound really fun! The Wonderland theme is really cute, and fits well with Disney. Are you going primarily with pastel colors, sort of like the pictures you linked?

 

[wiigirl]

Following along.

 

[rrali33tt]

wiigirl - I am not doing the pastel colors as of right now, but more of shades of purple with gold accents for the decor.


I saw a photo of the ADH for someone's wedding who used a lot of gold and I like how it looks with the gold molding around the ADH:



So I started my seach for purple and gold tablescapes. Here is my pinspiration for how I want the tables to look:





I really like the different shades of purple. I don't know how much all of this is going to cost, but some things will have to be eliminated. I definitely am going to get gold chivari chairs. Those are $9 each plus $75 delivery fee from Disney. I am only going to use the above centerpieces on the 6, 10 person tables that will be placed on the dancfloor. The gold chargers start at $6 and the gold rimmed glasses start at $4.70. I will probably cut the glasses. I think napkins are $3 a piece and I have no clue how much tablecloths cost or if they will even have one like the one in the photo.

Since i have 140 people invited I will be using the four tops and two tops outside the dance floor as well. Those will have a simple centerpiece and no chivari chairs. I am thinking of glass cylindar with a flower and floating candle. Not sure if I will have the chargers either. I know of another Disney bride who was allowed to bring her own chargers into the American Adventure Rotunda. if i can do this with ADH i will buy them in bulk and ship them down. It has to be cheaper than $6 each!

Completely opposite from the above would be this centerpiece:




I really like the way this looks and I think it is whimsical like AIW and also vintage looking, but I have a gut feeling it will cost a ton from Disney. I am also not sure if it goes with ADH. I also don't know how it would look with purple flowers. I suppose I could keep the colors that are used and do a light pink for the bridemaids. I would hate to do that though cuz purple is my fav color. We shalls see..

 

[charliegirl76]

Loving everything! Alice is a great theme, so many options. Can't wait to see more!

 

[alyaki]

The purple and gold look amazing together!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

I love the idea of doing a vintage style Alice in Wonderland theme. I adore those keys, they are so steampunky, which is awesome! It's a really great idea to use them as both the placecard holder and favour! I always love keys attached to placecards, it feels like a really perfect vintage touch. Also making the table numbers as doorknobs/keyholes, is such a good way to incorporate all the ideas. I love it! Really ALL your AIW ideas are so great and really cohesive, they all go so well together and make so much sense!

I love the purple and gold combo too! That last centerpiece image is absolutely gorgeous! Could you maybe even just do one or two to put in significant places, like the head table? It is really stunning! I think it will look even more dramatic in purple too, in a good way!

 

[theemily]

Hi! Congrats on your engagement! As a fellow Long Islander (well, formerly Long Islander) and someone who loves Alice In Wonderland, I'm definitely subscribing to your thread! All of your ideas look amazing so far, I can't wait to see more.

 

[clairehobby]

wow,all of your wedding plan seems so great,i love all of them,especially the table favors.

 

[Courtney Woods]

Congrats on your engagement! I absolutely love your theme. Alice in Wonderland is a great because you can go so many different ways with it! Can't wait to see more of your plans!

 

[jonesy445]

Wow looks fantastic... i too was thinking of doing a AIW theme! but only if i get married in Scotland... if i get married in disney i think it will be different as i will go for a much smaller more intimate wedding.

oh i love the keys and doornob ideas they will look fantastic...you will draw mighty gasps from all your guests!!!