Ashley & Matthew's Escape Wedding-3/16/18- YCG & Crescent Terrace (Updated 05/22-*Vendor Review*)

All caught up! Escape Details
Alrighty so with the last post on my bridal shower, we're pretty much all caught up! I wanted to make a post explaining some of the choices we made within our Escape limits that may be helpful to future brides reading this. Escape may appear to be very rigid and strict, and in some ways it can be, but I was actually really surprised to see all of the ways we could change certain elements of the package to make it fit more within what we wanted for our day.

Photography
I'll start with photography because I know that's always a big item on every bride's list! So with Escape, you get 2 hours of photography included in the package. What they don't really advertise is that you don't HAVE to take their photography for your ceremony. Many brides actually choose not to because of the crap shoot DFAP is with their photographers. You are not able to be guaranteed a certain photographer or photography style. This bothered me, like many other brides, and I decided to go with an outside photographer. I would have needed one anyway to document our reception, since it's off site, so I figured we might as well have them shoot our ceremony too and see what else we could do with those 2 hours of photography. After researching on Passporters and listening to the Disney Weddings Podcast, I realized we could swap this out for a family photo shoot. I decided this would be a perfect little treat to offer our family, almost as a "thank you" for coming to our wedding. Many of my cousins and siblings have recently had new babies, and we are a pretty close-knit extended family. I think that the photo shoot will be a great way for each individual family to get photos with their new babies/kids, and then we can get some whole group shots to keep and cherish forever and always look back on that time we are all together. This is a resort shoot, so we are doing the photos at the Boardwalk, and I'm actually really excited for them! If we get matched with a photographer that isn't that great, then at least we didn't spend oodles of money on this and we can just take the photos for what they are. I know that they also allow you to use the 2 hours for photography for a Dessert Party if you choose to have one. I'm really happy we were able to still get some use out of the included photography but not have to worry or stress about our wedding photos not being the quality or style we want.

Floral
Another big item included with Escape is the floral. There are actually 3 options for this that they don't really advertise. You can get the included 1 bouquet and 1 boutonniere, or you can do 2 "petite" bouquets or 2 boutonnieres, or you can do a corsage and a boutonniere (or something to that effect). We are going with the traditional choice 1, but what I was really pleased to hear is that we CAN switch out certain colors and flower types in the bouquet and boutonniere we choose. For example, I LOVE the cascading beauty bouquet, but I didn't like the idea of having the pink stargazers. I really love lilies, they are my favorite flower, but with our colors being mostly purple dominant, I felt the pink would clash. So we are switching out the pink stargazers for plain white ones, and we are switching out the pink spray roses in the bouquet for lavender ones! We're also able to switch Matt's boutonniere from a pink flower to a white flower. So, if you see things online or in your planning kit you want to tweak- just ask! They can pretty much switch out anything within reason as long as the flower grows in that color naturally.

Transportation
Another thing I wanted to see if we could change up was the Transportation element. We definitely won't need the transportation between our ceremony and our reception, because they are literally right next door to each other. I was so relieved in doing my research to find out that we could take the transportation off site! So then it was a matter of deciding what we wanted to do with it. Originally, I thought about doing what most brides do which is take after the wedding when we leave for our honeymoon (in our case, to Port Canaveral for our honeymoon cruise). But then, I realized it would be quite fun to share in this experience with our friends and family, since most of us don't get the opportunity to take limos around often! Lol. So we actually decided we would use it to take everyone to and from our "night before nightcap" at the Boathouse restaurant at Disney Springs. Technically we'll lose out on some time while the limo waits for the 1-2 hours we're in the restaurant, but I figure that would happen anyway even if we took it to PC since its definitely not 4 hours away. So, for anyone planning and reading this, just know you have lots of options when it comes to the transportation!

Cake
So if you're anything like me, you may read the cake choices for Escape and feel a little....underwhelmed. Lol. They're just so BASIC. So, once again, through my research, I was really happy to learn that we could change our cake flavors and design to pretty much anything we wanted within reason, as long as we were willing to pay a small fee. So we are upgrading our cake to have it's own design not offered on the list of choices at all, and our cake flavors will be as mentioned in the previous post- Yellow cake with hazelnut crunch filling and Chocolate cake with "the grey stuff" filling. We're only paying $75 for this upgrade, which I thought for Disney was really a steal! I'm so excited for our cake and really wish we could have had a tasting before hand, but I know it will be great. So don't be afraid to think outside the box if you want something better for your cake! We're also boxing up our cake entirely and taking it to our reception- we're not doing the cake cutting portion of the "cake and champagne" hour. Just champagne and pictures during that time :thumbsup2

I'm really happy that overall we were able to tweak a lot of the things that seemed at first very straightforward in the package and really make the ceremony fit our vision. I still wish SO bad that Escape included more like 25 total guests- that would make my life so much easier- but at least even with such tight guest restrictions, there are ways you can make your ceremony "your own" and make it the perfect day for you! I can't wait to see all of these elements come together to form our Big Day!

What's next
So now that I'm pretty much caught up, I guess the next big thing will be my Bachelorette party in January. We just actually booked it yesterday- A 2 bedroom Villa at Saratoga Springs! I'm so excited. Of course, there were hiccups lol (everything in my wedding journey seems to have SOME obstacle in the way), but overall I know its going to be a great weekend. I'll get more into what those hiccups were when I post my entry about the bach party to put it into some context.

Yesterday we went shopping for the bouquets for my bridesmaids! That's another one of the things I was happy to hear- we could use our own vendor/bring our own personal floral for the bouquets. I'm definitely going the fake flower route for these, because honestly I feel like in photos you really can't even tell the difference. So, me and my mom and Matt schlepped off to Hobby Lobby and tackled the task of figuring out the floral we wanted. I knew I wanted combinations of purple (of course) and I wanted to stick mostly to roses, hydrangeas, and carnations. We were actually having kind of a tough time with finding flowers that "worked" together, when we turned the corner and had an "aha!" moment- they had pre-made, small bouquets! And they had a purple version! They were almost perfect! We decided we could just add a couple of singular flowers we had picked as being my favorite to really round it out and make it perfect. Here's what we came up with!

IMG_7201.JPG IMG_7204.JPG IMG_7206.JPG IMG_7207.JPG

We'll obviously be cutting off a lot of the greenery and stems at the bottom, but at least you get an idea. I ended up going over to one of my bridesmaid's houses for a bonfire last night and her dress just had come in, so I brought the flowers with me to hold up against the dress and make sure they looked good- and they did! Great in fact! I'm so happy that ended up being an easy process and that's one more thing to check off the list!

I'll check back in in a few weeks and update you guys on any other developments!
 
Yay!:yay: I'm so glad to see another update from you. I love the idea with the floral and thank you for adding in that there can be substitutions or alterations on the Escape package. I'm sure that will come in use later down the road for someone like me, so thank you! ::yes::
 
Yay!:yay: I'm so glad to see another update from you. I love the idea with the floral and thank you for adding in that there can be substitutions or alterations on the Escape package. I'm sure that will come in use later down the road for someone like me, so thank you! ::yes::

Thanks so much @Happiest.Haunt_999 !! I’m glad you enjoy reading it all- thanks for following along with my journey! :)
 
YAY I'm so glad you decided to do a planning journal! And sorry that I'm just seeing this...I've been a little MIA from the Disboards lately. But I'm all caught up so here's all the thoughts running through my head after reading your plans so far:

- OMG your food sounds AMAZING! Especially the beignets. Now I'm drooling at my desk.
- LOVE the Yacht Club Gazebo. It was a strong contender for my wedding too, but ultimately too public for us. Your reception space also looks gorgeous! I absolutely love the market lighting and the theming you're going for. I might be a little biased, but I also love your incorporation for marquee lights and Mickey/Minnie kissing silhouette :P
- Your dress is PERFECT. I seriously love it. Especially the blush color!
- Love Matt's suit. I think grey suits are so nice and it also reminds me a little of what George wore for our wedding.
- I'm so sorry and totally feel your pain and stress about your bridal shower! I went through the same exact thing with my bridal shower/bachelorette weekend last year when Matthew hit :( Thankfully we just had to push our plans back a day rather than cancel, but it was still the most stressful couple of days ever.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your plans!
 


YAY I'm so glad you decided to do a planning journal! And sorry that I'm just seeing this...I've been a little MIA from the Disboards lately. But I'm all caught up so here's all the thoughts running through my head after reading your plans so far:

- OMG your food sounds AMAZING! Especially the beignets. Now I'm drooling at my desk.
- LOVE the Yacht Club Gazebo. It was a strong contender for my wedding too, but ultimately too public for us. Your reception space also looks gorgeous! I absolutely love the market lighting and the theming you're going for. I might be a little biased, but I also love your incorporation for marquee lights and Mickey/Minnie kissing silhouette :P
- Your dress is PERFECT. I seriously love it. Especially the blush color!
- Love Matt's suit. I think grey suits are so nice and it also reminds me a little of what George wore for our wedding.
- I'm so sorry and totally feel your pain and stress about your bridal shower! I went through the same exact thing with my bridal shower/bachelorette weekend last year when Matthew hit :( Thankfully we just had to push our plans back a day rather than cancel, but it was still the most stressful couple of days ever.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your plans!

Aww yay, thanks Lauren!! I'm so happy to have you following along! :) Love hearing your thoughts and feedback!
 
Dress is in! Part 1

Eeeek! My dress is in, my dress is in! I go in on Saturday for the “first look” since I bought it back in June. I’m so nervous! I hope I still love it :scared1: and that it fits! I’ll post an update here afterwards! Anyone have any suggestions of what to expect/things not to freak out about? This is just a quick first appointment to pick up the dress and schedule the alterations appointments. So excited!!
 
Dress is in- Part 2!
Eeeek! Today was the day! I went and picked up my dress today! I was so nervous it wasn’t going to fit, or be the wrong dress, or something ridiculous since that seems to be my luck with this wedding planning process LOL.

We also almost ended up missing the appointment running late, since we had decided last minute to go to Dapper Day at MK after picking up the dress. Throwing together our outfits took longer than expected, and I was out the door 10 minutes later than I wanted to be (oops!). I knew the shop had another bridal appt right after mine, cause they had already called me once to try and reschedule to make sure everyone had enough time in the shop (to which I promptly said “no”- I was not going to have them try to reschedule me AGAIN after the A/C fiasco in June!). Thankfully, my mom drove like a madwoman LOL and got us there right on the dot of our appt time.

It was funny because the one other bride they had in there finishing up her appointment happened to be in my exact dress at the time I walked into the room. It was such a funny moment being like “oh! That’s my dress too that I actually chose and bought and am now here to pick up!” Lol. It just brought back all the great feelings of my shopping day and made me want to go back to that moment!

So I tried on my dress and, truly, it fit like a glove! There are of course some alterations necessary, especially in the chest area as I’m fairly well endowed, but overall, I was surprised at how awesome it fit. It felt so good to be in my dress again!

D7EB9D2C-216D-4374-B688-4206EC6AA9C9.jpeg C1CCC1AA-BB86-4203-BE3E-D3515CF830AB.jpeg

I was really excited to this time finally see the illusion back all closed up. The girl helping me missed a few buttons and basically said she didn’t have time to redo them because of her other appointment going on in the other room (*eyeroll*), so it wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty close...

86F1E507-0604-4D0C-91A2-ABBE9F7F53DF.jpeg
CA01E88F-F34B-4339-B50B-35350CB43A68.jpeg

Okay, first thought: HOLY CRAP I LOVE IT!
Second thought: HOLY BACK ROLLS, BATMAN! :rotfl:

So I’ll deffffinitely need to focus on back/lat exercises and dieting hard core so that we take care of those before March LOL. But otherwise, I really love it. It’s elegant, but not too over the top. It’s just... perfect!

I got to leave with my dress in hand and hang on to it til I come back for my first alterations appointment in January. But I’m so happy! It’s all coming together! I’m so happy I still love it and I’m still so happy I went with this dress. I can’t wait til alterations are done and it truly fits 100% perfect!

Then, it was off to Dapper Day to celebrate! We attempted our first Disneybounding as the Red Queen/Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, and the White Rabbit. We had a great time dressing up and people watching and seeing everyone’s creative ideas. A perfect end to a perfect day!

0F9FAABD-5310-4708-A0D3-714F6649997B.jpeg
 


90 DAYS!!!!
Aaah! Holy crap! We've almost made it to the 90 day mark (we're about 92 days away as I write this post). That thought is so crazy to me. I can't believe how fast time is flying by, and at the same time going so agonizingly slow haha. I feel conflicted constantly about just wanting the day to be here already and trying to enjoy and savor every moment of the planning process, because I know the time will soon be gone! Its funny that sometimes when I think about things on the "to do" list, they seem so far away/so far in the future. Then I remember they're really next month or the month after! aah! lol.

We've been pretty busy this past month just checking things of the to-do list. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we took the opportunity of Black Friday to purchase our wedding rings and get a few other things bought while the sales were going on. We both LOVE our rings and I'm so happy that we both truly got what we wanted with these. I've never seen Matt so excited about anything in this wedding planning process as he was about his ring. Not only does he love the one he picked, but I can just see how proud and excited he is to be marrying me (d'awww <3). I love my ring too and I want to wear it all the time! LOL. It's been so hard not to wear it around the house or even out in public or to work. Can't wait until it's "permanently" apart of my hand!

IMG_6649.JPG IMG_6643.JPG IMG_7356.JPG

We've also just been trying to get all of the loose ends wrapped up as best as we can. I'm a little stressed about our Welcome Drinks, because the Cabana Bar and Beach Club at the Swan and Dolphin wanted a $750 food and beverage minimum to reserve a space for 15 people :sad2:. We decided we're just going to show up and see what is available that day and hope there's enough space for our party. If not, the new Dolphin lobby that was recently redone is gorgeous and has a new bar right there in the lobby. There's plenty of space and I think that might also be a good option for the Welcome Drinks. It's definitely at minimum going to be our backup space should it be cold/rainy, etc. We'll see how that ends up working out- eeek!

I've also purchased things like our cake cutting set, ring box, card box, and other little details of decor for the reception. I've definitely realized I'm going to have a suuuuper detail-heavy wedding LOL and I hope the photographers are able to get shots of all of the little things that'll be on display.

We also got the bridesmaids floral done and ready to roll for the big day! That was a fun afternoon with my dad, Matt, my sister/MOH, and my mom. Don't mind the ugliness of the stems sticking out of the bottom LOL those were sawed off with a hand saw once we got everything done :)

IMG_7402.JPG

I'm also realizing how much of my decor is actually Disney themed! I had started this process saying that I would only have little hints of Disney here or there. As the planning started progressing, however, I realized I really needed more of a theme to anchor certain things (table numbers, guest book, etc). I ended up just sticking with Disney themed things (specifically, Mickey and Minnie) since it was the easiest thing to do and I'm super un-creative! I hope I don't end up regretting that later on...

For now, we're going to continue to pick away at the to-do list (or, really the "to-buy" list) through the holidays. I had hoped to be done with everything by Christmas (HA!) and just have smooth sailing to the wedding, but that's definitely not happening. But, I figure, it will keep me busy and help to make the time go by even faster as the anxiousness has definitely already set in. I'm soo ready to just have our wonderful celebration already!

Wishing everyone a happy holiday season and a Merry Christmas!
 
60 Days! AAAAAAAAAAH!
WOW- I can't believe how much has happened in just a month's time! I feel like everything is sooo much farther along/so different than it was a month ago! And holy crap- we're within 60 days! :scared1: People keep messaging me/tagging me on Facebook reminding me of that fact LOL which is nice that they're excited, but to me its just more of a reminder of how much I need to get done in the next 2 months!

The holidays came and went and were lovely. Except I got the flu on Christmas Day :faint: which was miserable, but we had a great holiday with our family. We also got tons of things purchased off of the "to buy" list and I'm feeling much better about that overall than I was a month ago.

One of the major things we did was send our wedding invitations! I wanted to wait until the holiday mail was pretty much over with, so we chose to send them Jan 6th for our March 16th wedding. I figure that gives the invites 10 days to get to their respective places, giving people exactly 1 month to reply. We actually sent them from Main Street in MK, and even went to City Hall to put the "Main Street" stamp on them!

invites.jpg

The day we went back to work (Jan 8th), I ended up getting an email from our DFTW planner with our BEO! I swear its like they know you need a pick me up. It made going back to work so much less of a thing because I was just so excited to review the BEOs and move forward in this process! She sent over the overall budget with add-ons as well as the full BEO with the flow of things. I'll attach our final version below with edits for people interested in seeing how we changed things/what things we added (**see 2 posts below for DFTW BEO). I was so happy and relieved to get that step out of the way. Then, the next day, our Swan and Dolphin planner sent over THAT BEO 1st draft as well! It was like Christmas all over again! LOL. I told both of them I was probably the only person who was excited about getting their BEOs. I was honestly so happy to see the prices for both BEOs were relatively within our budget. We had to cut some macarons from our dessert buffet at our reception, but other than that everything was right within budget. I honestly can't recommend Swan and Dolphin for receptions enough, people! All said and done, we are paying $130pp for a cocktail hour with 3 hot hors d'oeuvres, a carving station and build your own mac and cheese station with 2 sides, and a beignet station and fully open bar for 5 hours. No minimums to be met. Its truly amazing and has allowed us to have our happily ever after we always dreamed of!



My AshBash Bachelorette Party!
One of the most exciting things is literally the weekend after coming back to work, I also had my bachelorette party! Of course, the winter freeze hit FL THAT WEEKEND (ugh, I swear, weather has NOT been my friend this planning process!) so we froze to death LOL but we had such a great time! We stayed in a 2 BR Villa at Saratoga Springs. WOW- what a great resort! Originally I wanted to stay at Boardwalk, since I had never stayed there, and I just love that whole area more than anywhere else on Disney property. Of course, though, when I went to book it, the 2BR villas were ridiculously expensive, and DVC rental store had 0 availability for a 2BR that weekend. So, ultimately, I settled on Saratoga Springs and we really enjoyed it. Its a biiiiiit too big for me to be somewhere I would stay all the time- everything is really spread out- but its really very beautiful.
villa.jpg
We started the day going to lunch at Earl of Sandwich for something reasonable and filling. Then, we just drank around Disney Springs at my favorite places (Boat House, the newly opened EDISON!!) and worked on a fun photo scavenger hunt my MOH created, all the while enjoying plenty of adult beverages.
boathouse.jpg
After that, we went back to the resort, played Cards Against Humanity, and drank more. After getting all glammed up for the evening, we headed out to the Boardwalk for dinner at the pizza window (I'm obsessed with pizza so this weekend was full of all of my favorite things!), then jaunted over to JellyRolls! It was also my first time going there, and it didn't disappoint! What a fun place! The drinks are quite pricey LOL wish it was a liiiiitle cheaper since its somewhere you generally want to spend a good bit of time, but we knew that going in it was going to be a pricey night (hence the cheaper options for lunch and dinner).
glammed up.jpg
pianos.jpg
I had such a blast people watching and meeting folks from all over the country, and of course singing my lungs out to the songs! It was truly an amazing night and I had tons of fun. The next day, my mom and sister completely surprised me with staying an extra night! Since it was MLK weekend, we had the day off, and I was so overjoyed they did this for me! We drank around the world for the day at Epcot, then went to check out the hotel.
epcot.jpg
We stayed off property, but in one of the Disney Affiliated resorts right next to Disney Springs. We had dinner together with my dad and fiancé (who just came out for the surprise and for dinner), and then went out to DS for some more drinks! (my body was hurting big time at this point lol!). The next day, they surprised me AGAIN with breakfast at the Tusker House restaurant in Animal Kingdom. Ya'll, my heart was just so full after ALL of these things, but especially the surprises and effort my mom and sister put in to this weekend. There truly will never be words for how grateful I am for them. Also- PSA- TUSKER HOUSE IS AWESOME. The food? YUM! Seriously one of the best breakfast buffets I've ever had at Disney. I highly recommend it!
AK.jpg
mickey.jpg
I think that just about sums it up! OH- wait! Actually, we also met with our DJ for the first time as well. We are using Shawn with Subsonic DJs, and he was such a pleasure to meet and start working with! I felt so much at ease after meeting him, and it just helped reassure me that there would be someone that day really making sure things were going smoothly and that everyone was having the best time possible. It was such a relief and yet another weight off my shoulders!

Okay, NOW I think I'm done LOL. Now, its just waiting for the RSVPs to keep rolling in, working on getting our final payments settled in the next few weeks, and just trying to hold on for dear life! I know I need to keep in mind that this process will be over soon, but I really am at this point just so ready for it to be over. I just want to have all of the fun and memories made that I've been envisioning for so long. I just want to marry my {almost} husband. I just want us to be sailing off into the sunset on our honeymoon cruise. The stress and pressure are definitely reaching their peaks, so I'm just ready for the fun to start! Hopefully these next two months will fly by and I'll be updating you guys shortly at the one month mark! (eeeeeek!)
 

Attachments

  • LeGrande Rosenberg UPDATED BEO's 3.16.18.pdf
    972 KB · Views: 16
Last edited:
Ashley,

I just found your journal and have read it all the way through! Wow! It is going to be a wonderful wedding for you and Matt. Congratulations! I am a teacher myself, so I understand your need to get the bulk of things done during your breaks.

I just love your dress and the outdoor venue for your reception! Just gorgeous! I saved a copy of the photo of the outdoor ceremony site since I just love the look and would like to incorporate some of the same ideas into a fun, classy outdoor party someday.

And your engagement photos were so cute! The two of you are just so happy!!!!

I am happy to hear that your bridal shower and the bachelorette weekend went off so well. It looks like you had an amazing time at both events!

I love how your journal shares all the little details that go into the planning. And it was interesting to see the actual contracts for your wedding from WDW. To help ensure your privacy and I suggest that you take down the files and revise the files to scratch out the BEO and GMR numbers on the invoice. You can then reload the files.
 
Thank you so much @mdsouth !! I’m so happy to hear it was helpful for you!
Thanks for the tip on the BEOs. I double and triple checked there was no CC or address or phone info on there, but I guess I should have still crossed out the BEO numbers themselves. I’ll be sure to do that.

Again thank you so much for all of the compliments! :) you’re so sweet!
 
Last edited:
BEO Round 2

So I deleted my files on my last post so that I could take out the BEO numbers, and now the site won’t let me upload my DFTW BEO! No matter how I manipulate the file, it keeps saying it’s too large *eyeroll*. So, here it is in screen shot form!
 

Attachments

  • 45223056-1754-47AB-A756-79D28FC628E7.jpeg
    45223056-1754-47AB-A756-79D28FC628E7.jpeg
    68.8 KB · Views: 68
  • BC02B4BA-0F83-4A65-B877-8BBFA80DBD8C.jpeg
    BC02B4BA-0F83-4A65-B877-8BBFA80DBD8C.jpeg
    120.1 KB · Views: 52
  • 4D616698-4887-42B8-90B8-1447B9E9D798.jpeg
    4D616698-4887-42B8-90B8-1447B9E9D798.jpeg
    124.6 KB · Views: 53
  • 356CDB2A-8769-4BF0-A418-646004230133.jpeg
    356CDB2A-8769-4BF0-A418-646004230133.jpeg
    99.8 KB · Views: 55
  • 78CB6388-4141-4BA6-B0F8-3774CD07EFB2.jpeg
    78CB6388-4141-4BA6-B0F8-3774CD07EFB2.jpeg
    98 KB · Views: 53
  • 3378912D-A27F-4C09-B64F-5ED8BA342F85.jpeg
    3378912D-A27F-4C09-B64F-5ED8BA342F85.jpeg
    90.4 KB · Views: 60
Last edited:
30 Days!
Aaaaah! 30 days out! I can't believe as of today (well, actually 2 days ago because February has to go and be all weird) we are 1 month away. I remember thinking about this time so long ago. Wondering what I would feel like. Stressing about what stresses would be arising that I wasn't yet aware of LOL. And now, here we are! I am so ready for the big day to be here. Thankfully, I'm feeling a liiiiiitle bit (and I really mean just a little haha) less anxious and more calm and at peace. Its nice seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I have checked off almost everything on the "To Do" list. Almost everything has been bought and paid for. Now its just the FUN things like shopping for the honeymoon, packing and organizing all of our decor and clothes we will need, and getting those final things wrapped up like my dress alterations.

I wanted to start this post by showing some of the details we went with for our reception. I feel like our reception has CRAZY amounts of detail LOL. I secretly hope our photographers will pick up on how much detail went into it and will take photos of LITERALLY EVERYTHING haha but I also know they will be focused on capturing the moments happening on that day, which really is what's much more important, but because of that I wanted to make sure I documented here some of the things we have that are shaping our reception into our vision.

First off, I realized I didn't share with you guys what our invitations actually LOOKED like on one of my previous posts, so this is what we went with:
IMG_6532.jpg
IMG_6533.jpg
We went with the boarding pass style from Inspirations by Aimee Lee. They came out AH-MAZING. I am so, SO happy with our choice to use these. When I saw them during our initial phases of planning, I fell in love, and nothing else would do. I've gotten so many compliments on them that I know we made the right choice. I can't recommend Inspirations enough- Aimee was amazing to work with and got the invites to me super fast!

Next up, here's the menus we went with. I found this shop on Etsy and again, I'm so super pleased. They came out SO CUTE and are honestly one of my favorite little details that I can't wait for our guests to see

IMG_0216.JPG.png

We're doing a combo menu/table number for each table to save on costs of printing. I found these perfect 4x6 photo frames from Ikea that were super cheap, and are two-sided. We spray painted them purple to match our theme, and one side will be the table number and the other side will be the menu! They came out super cute! I'm not a big DIY person- in fact, I hate it LOL. So I wanted to keep my projects at a minimum. Thankfully my dad helped me with the spray painting so I really didn't have to do much! And they came out great and perfectly fit my vision. We had some extra, so for those we just put in the menu and will put those on the highboy tables at the cocktail hour!

IMG_0768.JPG

I also had envisioned, since the start of planning, of having quotes from Disney movies around the reception. For the longest time, I couldn't put my finger quite on what I wanted these to be. Vinyl on wood? Painted on canvases? Printed on card stock and framed? I had gotten another idea from a friend of printing them on vellum paper and overlaying the vellum on top of our engagement pictures, and framing those. But I still wasn't 100% settled. I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg, but I felt so drawn to having the quotes there. For me, my love of Disney is rooted in growing up watching the movies. I've seen almost all of the animated classics. It just felt right to have the quotes from these movies be a big part of our decor- but how? Finally, one day, I came across these super cute fashion mirrors on Ebay. They were $6 a pop and seemed like the perfect way I could display the quotes- write them on the mirrors in purple chalk ink! Keeps that whimsical garden feel, but isn't too over the top and isn't too expensive. LOL. Once again, I would have to break out my spray paint skills (er- my dad's awesome spray paint skills :rotfl:), but that seemed easy and cheap enough. So I bought about 10 of them, ordered some silver/galvanized tin colored spray paint, and voila! It ended up being SUPER difficult to write the quotes on them LOL wayyyy harder than I imagined, mostly because I'm not very patient and like to rush through things. They kept coming out uneven or one word would look funky and I would hate it and have to start all over. It was impossible just to erase one word/letter, so I'd have to always start over with the WHOLE quote. ugh. After a few tries though, and a lot of help from Matt in keeping me from getting aggravated :P, we got them done! They also came out amazing and I'm so excited for them to be discovered scattered throughout the reception tables by our guests.

IMG_0771.jpg

For our escort cards, we went with the Fastpass cards, also popular across Etsy. The company I used was called Invitation DISigns, because theirs were the closest to the authentic ones as possible. This was also something I fell in love with long ago in the planning process, so I was really excited to finally order them after months of keeping them in my favorites lol. Again, the shop was AMAZING to work with and I literally received these in-hand within 5 days of ordering! Michael even sent me a proof literally within an hour of placing the order, it was great!

IMG_0670.JPG

There's seriously tons of other details like our chair signs, favors, etc. that I could post, but I'll save some of that for when I show you guys wedding pics post big day!

Crisis Averted

So since my last post at the 60 day mark, I very narrowly avoided a major crisis! I have been doing great with sticking to my wedding diet and jogging/exercising to get that wedding look that I want. Back towards the end of January, I was out for a jog when I stepped really funny on a storm drain as I was crossing the street, and down I went. I was in more pain than I've felt in a very long time. Instantly, I knew that something was really wrong with my ankle. I was hysterically crying while I called Matt and thought for sure my ankle was broken. When he arrived, that was the first thing I said to him- "I'm pretty sure its broken". So many emotions running through my head- would I be in a cast for the wedding? What will I do if I can't walk down the aisle? What about my first dress fitting that was in just a few days- would I make that? Great, now I can't keep running and keeping fit for the wedding!-AAAAAH! I was honestly I think crying more at the thought of wearing a cast for the wedding or this somehow screwing up my life for the next few weeks until the wedding than I was for the pain. We went straight to an Orthopedist who took x-rays, and, thankfully, it was NOT broken. It was however super sprained- they called it a 2nd degree sprain. Boot for 1 week and physical therapy for the next 4-6 weeks. UGH. It was really crappy to go through that, but I am just so thankful it wasn't broken. It could have been so much worse, so I'm so thankful it wasn't. It was also a major wake up call. I had been so stressed about things with work, the wedding, and in my personal life that my anxiety was at peak levels. After the fall, I just realized how lucky I was, and how it could have been so much worse, that everything else seemed so small and trivial. I think honestly it was a blessing in disguise, helping me to calm down and refocus on whats important! Its been about 3 weeks since it happened, and my ankle is almost back to normal. I still have some twinges of pain here and there, and have trouble rotating it in certain directions. I'm still not jogging/running, but I am walking and going to the gym about 4x per week to keep up the exercises of my upper body. Seriously a crisis averted! :crutches:

Wedding Week Plans
So now that the end is in sight, I figured I'd share with you my plans for our wedding week! I'll start with Wednesday since that's the actual day of check-in:

Wednesday:
-Breakfast at Grand Floridian Cafe. My mom surprised me the other day and noted she wanted to take me and my sister out to breakfast the day we checked in, as her treat to me. She said I could pick anywhere I wanted, nothing was off limits. I decided to go with GF cafe, because I seriously LOVE that restaurant, and it really is rather affordable. I've never been there for breakfast, so I wanted to try their unique menu items, and I thought it would be great to start the day off at GF like so many brides do. Since I'm not getting married at WP, I like that I still get to enjoy a bit of the "grand-ness" of the Grand lol even though my wedding isn't technically there!
-Nails at Ship Shape Spa. I made a reservation for my mom, my sister, and I at the nail salon at the Yacht & Beach club. I've never gotten my nails done at Disney (or enjoyed any spa service there really), so I'm excited to have that experience! We are staying at the Boardwalk, so I figured it would be better to go there rather than Senses at GF (plus, I made the reservation before knowing about the breakfast ADR). Can't wait to get pampered with my mom and sister!
-Check in to Boardwalk. We have a 1BR villa reserved at the BWI for the first night. Originally, I had our reservation at the Caribbean Beach, because that is my family's favorite hotel on property, and I wanted to tie it in to the weekend somehow. After initially booking though, my mom kept saying she really wanted to stay in the vicinity of Yacht club to make things easier. While I could agree that it would be more convenient to stay in that area, I also wanted to save some $$$ by staying at a moderate resort for the first night. After her persistent begging and finally her agreeing to cover the difference in cost between CBR and a Deluxe resort, I decided to look into switching it. Unfortunately, by that point, almost all of Yacht and Beach Club was booked up except for Club Level, so we had to go with BWI. I'm actually really happy we did, because initially I wanted to stay there during my bachelorette party, which didn't end up working out. So now, we get to stay at BWI for the first time, and I'm happy I get to experience that with my mom since I know she's always wanted to stay there too!
-Welcome Drinks- Cabana Bar and Beach Club. We're doing our welcome drinks rather informally, having them at the poolside bar at Swan and Dolphin. Since most of our guests will be staying there through our Room Block, I figured this was the easiest for everyone. Its casual, we love the feel and vibe of the classy pool lounge, and it'll be good for anyone with kids- they can go for a swim while we mingle if they want :)

Thursday:
-Family photos- Boardwalk. Another plus to staying at the BWI is that it helps with getting started the next morning with our family photos, since those will already be there! We'll just have bell services switch our things from BWI to Yacht Club, and walk downstairs and meet everyone in the lobby for photos
-Check in to Yacht Club. This is where we'll be staying for the rest of the trip! Eeek! I am so, so hopeful that I can get our rooms to face the gazebo. I have this dream of waking up the day of, sitting on the balcony with my coffee, and just looking at the space, envisioning the day to come. I've noted it on our reservations and even scoured the internet to the number for Yacht Club directly so that we can put in a call a few days before politely requesting again that our rooms face the gazebo. This will also allow some of our family members to watch from the balcony of the room, thus bringing them "in" to the 18 without them really being "in"- if that makes sense! :bounce:
-Rehearsal- Yacht Club Gazebo. Okay, so another one of my "totally breaking the rules and doing things my way" things is the fact that we are going to attempt to have a rehearsal at the gazebo LOL. I realize with Escape, you don't actually get one of them. However, I can't imagine going into the day of the wedding having not at least attempted even a short run-through with everyone altogether. I'm hoping that the gazebo will be open around 4:00 on that day for us to pop over and do a quick rehearsal. I realize our planner won't be there, but she's been great at sending me very detailed itineraries and step-by-step of what to expect that day, so I feel like I can again very quickly at least run through it with everyone. Since our officiant is my uncle, its not really putting him out any, so hopefully it all works out *fingers crossed!*
-Rehearsal Dinner- Yacht Club quiet pool. And again, we are the weird couple out doing a totally informal, off-the-cuff rehearsal dinner. We decided we wanted to do something by the pool, since again this is many people's vacations and we also love swimming and being poolside together as a couple. We're going to order pizza from nearby Flippers, and bring it into the pool area. We'll bring in boxed wine and aluminum canned beer, and have ourselves a little relaxed pool party! Again, this is assuming everything works out how I hope it will LOL and there's no rain, no one taking up alllll the space at the quiet pool (cause we have nothing officially reserved), and no one says anything to YC management and asks us to leave or something. We should have a relatively small group- 15-20 people or so, so I'm really hoping for the best. Definitely taking some chances here with this, so send some pixie dust our way it all works out okay!
-Night Before Nightcap-Boathouse @ Disney Springs- We're using our limo charter here to take the bridal party to the Boathouse restaurant (and anyone else can just use Disney bus service) to have some drinks after the rehearsal dinner, as a little "night before nightcap". We reserved the outside area, on the docks by all the cool boats, so I'm excited to have that private space just for us!

Friday- THE BIG DAY!

Saturday

-Disney Day at Hollywood Studios! So far, we already have a group of around 20 who bought tickets to join us for a day in Hollywood Studios! We're so excited. I've never done Disney with many of these family members, so I'm excited to experience my family being there with us and seeing the Disney Magic consume them and see everyone enjoying themselves in our favorite place.

Sunday
-Farewell Breakfast- Beach Club Marketplace. I wanted to do something casual for the farewell breakfast as well. I know my family and friends, and I know that holding them to a bunch of formal reservations wouldn't work out so well. I'm happy this is a casual situation and people can just pop in if they want to say bye to us. They can choose to eat, or not to eat. The Beach Club Marketplace is perfect because it has hot options (like everyone's favorite- Mickey Waffles) and cold/grab-and-go items. We'll say bye to everyone and head out to our honeymoon cruise!!
-Depart for honeymoon cruise on RCL Oasis of the Seas. Seriously, I can't wait for our freaking honeymoon you guys! LOL. I love to travel and I love cruising. I've never been on a ship as big as the Oasis, and neither has Matt, so we are so so excited. It'll be so nice to get away together and celebrate being husband and wife alone, away from the family craziness. So stoked!!

Welp, with that, I think I'll wrap up this (very very long) post. The next time I post will most likely be post-wedding! Aaaah! Thank you to everyone who has followed along in my journey so far! I can't wait to update everyone on how it all came together, and finally post as Mrs. Rosenberg! eeeeeek! 28 days!!
marriage license.jpg
 
Last edited:
Where do I start?

The table numbers/menu and the quotes look amazing! They are perfect! Great planning!

I adore your invitations and the Fastpasses - so cute!

Sorry to hear about your sprain. I fell this summer and like you it was a major sprain. It took a lot of patience and me working with it to get it back to where it now feels normal. You are right, sometimes it takes something like that to make us just stop and really look at the big picture. It is hard sometimes when you are in the thick of things and things are very hectic not to stress out and make things more important than they really are. It sounds like you truly appreciate your family and Matt's love.

Your plans for the relaxing family dinners by the pool will be fantastic! You all can just relax and the kids can swim so everyone is happy! I am in the same frame of mind as you in that the important thing about the family dinners with weddings is that you are all able to be together and just hang out. People will appreciate this more than some big fancy dinner that they might be bored with. And they will most likely not even remember what they ate the next day.

Looking forward to more posts and seeing photos of the actual wedding week!
 
Where do I start?

The table numbers/menu and the quotes look amazing! They are perfect! Great planning!

I adore your invitations and the Fastpasses - so cute!

Sorry to hear about your sprain. I fell this summer and like you it was a major sprain. It took a lot of patience and me working with it to get it back to where it now feels normal. You are right, sometimes it takes something like that to make us just stop and really look at the big picture. It is hard sometimes when you are in the thick of things and things are very hectic not to stress out and make things more important than they really are. It sounds like you truly appreciate your family and Matt's love.

Your plans for the relaxing family dinners by the pool will be fantastic! You all can just relax and the kids can swim so everyone is happy! I am in the same frame of mind as you in that the important thing about the family dinners with weddings is that you are all able to be together and just hang out. People will appreciate this more than some big fancy dinner that they might be bored with. And they will most likely not even remember what they ate the next day.

Looking forward to more posts and seeing photos of the actual wedding week!
Thank you so much!! I appreciate the compliments on the quotes and table numbers! You guys are really the only ones who have seen them (besides DF of course), so it’s such a relief to hear that other people like them! Hahaha

I agree, the times when family can just spend time together and relax are the best times. As much as I would love to have an amazing Dessert Party or welcome party, or unique ADRs, I know for my family that aren’t big Disney fans, they wouldn’t appreciate them as much. So I think this will be the best of both worlds! Thanks so much for all of your support! :cutie:
 
I found you on the FB group! Love all your details and your dress! This looks like it’s going to be a fantastic day!
 
One last update...
IT'S OUR WEDDING MONTH!! AAAAH!

On a sad note- My grandmother passed away this past Monday. It was heartbreaking. She got sick very quickly and passed even faster. We can't believe she is gone, and it is really hard that it happened so close to the wedding day. But, I know she is in a better place and I just keep telling myself- she would want us to be happy and have fun. We are going to take the rest of this week to mourn the loss, and then hopefully I can get back to being focused on ALL THE THINGS I have left to do in these last 2 weeks. So much to do- so little time! :scared1:
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!










Top