Cinderella16&PrinceCharming16's PJ(6/19/09)-Home Wedding - Disneymoon TR UP!!!!

[Cinderella16]

THE INTRODUCTION
Hi Everyone!

I’ve been on the DIS for about 2 years and I absolutely love venturing over to the Disney Fairy Tale Wedding and Honeymoon boards to see everyone planning their incredible DFTW!

My Fiancé and I got engaged at MK at Cinderella’s Fountain the morning of June 19, 2007. (More on that later).

We had always dreamed of a DFTW, but when we really sat down to think about it, a lot of our family wouldn’t be able to make it down there. And having our family share our special day was very important to us.

We decided to have an at home wedding here in Illinois with subtle Disney touches incorporated, so I hope you all don’t mind following along with an at home PJ! Once all the wedding fun is over, we are heading over for our Disneymoon for 8 nights at the Grand Floridian! Neither of us have ever stayed on Disney Property before, and we figured since this is our first time staying on property, we might as well do it in style!

The Cast:

Me – Cinderella16 – Julianne: 23 years old, ultimate planner, Disney lover, teacher (if I could just get my own classroom), Chicago Bulls fan.

DF – PrinceCharming16 – Justin: 25 years old, my ultimate planning partner, Disney lover, computer programmer, sports fan, love of my life. (You may see Justin peek in here from time to time. He had made a DIS account so he could recall his side of the engagement in my June 2007 trip report. So don’t be too surprised if he drops in.)

The Happy Couple!

Justin and I have been together since 2002, but have known each other since 2001. We have never been apart and think that is very special. We do everything together and I truly consider him to be my best friend in the world. I cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives together. We both live at home and in the coming months we will be searching for our first home!

Since we were best friends before we started officially dating, we consider the date of our first kiss as the day we began dating.

The date was June 19, 2002. We got engaged June 19, 2007, and will be getting married, yep you guessed it, June 19, 2009! We are super excited that we have less than a year to go, especially since we have already been engaged for over 1 year!

Here are some of the basics of our wedding day and I promise to go into more detail later.

The Theme: A Victorian Fairy Tale

The Colors:

Gold, Ivory, and Dusty Pinks

The Event: Black Tie Optional

What We Have Done/Booked

• Ceremony/Reception Venue
• Officiant
• Photography
• Videography
• DJ for reception
• String Quartet for Ceremony/Cocktail Hour
• Flowers
• Transportation almost finalized
• Bridal party is asked
• My Gown is ordered
• Invitations are *almost* finalized and ready to be printed (we are DIYing all the stationary stuff and it has been quite the project, but we love designing everything to our tastes and desires)
• Bridesmaid Dresses are picked
• Favors are picked
• We took our engagement pictures and are waiting to get them back!
• Slideshow for reception is in the process of being made (by us of course)
• Honeymoon is BOOKED! (Room Only ressie until 2009 rates come out)

As you can see we have been very busy the past year planning this wedding! But we love planning ahead and it feels really good to have all those things checked off our list. We still got a lot of work to do, especially all the DIY stuff, but we do have most of our vendors booked, which helps me sleep at night!

I promise to go into more detail about all the things we have done, and of course, there will be pictures!!

Thanks for reading along, I look forward to planning with all you helpful and wonderful DIS Brides (and Grooms!).

 

[DisneyFairy19]

Cant wait to hear more about your wedding, your colors are just like mine I just added a mocha color... CONGRATS

 

[jessesgirl-080708]

Sounds great.. keep us posted!

And congrats on getting an early start.. I am about one month away from the wedding and am just getting around to the engagement shots!!

Congratulations!

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

Yay! Goodness you have more done that DF and I, and we're getting married in less than 2 months!

Can't wait to follow along!

 

[lov2b@disney]

Welcome, looking forward to hearing all your plans!

 

[padisneyfour]

welcome and look forward to hearing all your plans....

 

[Keira1387]

Welcome! I'm looking forward to hearing all your plans!

 

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

JULIANNE!! You started a PJ!

Looking forward to hearing all about your wedding plans!

 

[Cinderella16]

Cant wait to hear more about your wedding, your colors are just like mine I just added a mocha color... CONGRATS

I am IN LOVE with your PJ! I am always lurking on it, you have such great ideas. Your wedding is going to be amazing!

Sounds great.. keep us posted!

And congrats on getting an early start.. I am about one month away from the wedding and am just getting around to the engagement shots!!

Congratulations!

Yay! Goodness you have more done that DF and I, and we're getting married in less than 2 months!

Can't wait to follow along!

Welcome, looking forward to hearing all your plans!

welcome and look forward to hearing all your plans....

Welcome! I'm looking forward to hearing all your plans!

Thank you to all you ladies! I feel so welcomed!

JULIANNE!! You started a PJ!

Looking forward to hearing all about your wedding plans!

Hayley!! I am so glad you are joining me. Btw, I can't wait for another one of you TR installments...hint hint...hehe

 

[Cinderella16]

THE ENGAGEMENT – June 19, 2007

BACKGROUND...
We were lucky enough to be spending our 5 year dating anniversary at the Magic Kingdom. It was so exciting to be celebrating an occasion at our favorite place in the entire world! Whenever we go to WDW, we go with his family, and this year was no exception. Being the crazy planners that we are, “we” had planned the entire day to a T. At least that is what I thought...Justin on the other hand, had very different plans that morning and everyone was aware but me...

HOW IT HAPPENED...(taken from my June 2007 Trip Report Our Magical Trip of a Million Dreams, Wishes, & Surprises ~ Engaged at Disney

By 9:00 AM we finally parking our car in the Magic Kingdom parking lot. Of course we still had to hop a tram and hop a monorail before we could even walk down Main Street. I was pretty shocked as to how many people were already in the parking lot, yikes! I could just tell it was going to be a very busy, crowded day at the MK!

After a short and uneventful parking lot tram and monorail ride we had arrived at the Magic Kingdom turnstiles at about 9:30, not too bad! Of course DBF and I made it through the turnstiles before anyone else so we found our favorite people, the Photopass guys (or gals).

I had been reminding DBF that the first thing we must do on our anniversary was head over to City Hall and pick up our anniversary buttons. We reunited with his family and told them to meet us at City Hall, of course they agreed and we were off. We obtained our buttons pretty effortlessly from the CM’s who were all very nice in saying congratulations but we had to explain that we had been dating 5 years, and weren’t married yet, we had to explain that a lot throughout the day and I think we only ended up confusing people more.

Here is what our Anniversary buttons looked like.

His family was waiting for us when we came out of City Hall and DBF and I had our buttons securely pinned on our shirts. I was ready to get this day started, “Off to Main Street!” I yelled. DBF quickly stops me in my tracks and tells me that he needs a bathroom break, the rest of his family agrees that wouldn’t mind going either. You have got to be kidding me...you small bladdered family. Luckily there was a bathroom right near City Hall, since my bladder is normal sized I decided to wait and sit on the bench. This was the longest bathroom break in the history of bathroom breaks, I am not even exaggerating. I was sitting there for what seemed like an eternity and all I wanted to do was get a FastPass for Splash Mountain just like my nice and neat itinerary said to do.

Once everyone is out of the bathroom a good 6 hours later I ask DBF sarcastically if we can go down Main Street now? We head down and there I see Cinderella’s Castle in all of it’s glory. Oh how I just love the castle and there is nothing like seeing it while walking down good ol’ Main Street USA! We took some pictures and I asked DBF if we should go and get that FastPass to Splash Mountain, after all we didn’t get here bright and early for nothing. He said that he wanted to check one of the shops on Main Street. We had been promising each other that as Anniversary gifts we would get something engraved on that day, so I just figured he wanted to pick something out so that it would be completed by the time we went home at night.

We went into the store and looked around for a little bit, but we were now separated from his family, who were also shopping in any one of the 50 stores on Main Street. There would be no finding them now. DBF said they didn’t have what he was looking for so we left and tried to find his family. I was thinking, what a great waste of time that stop was. On our way out we got some nice Congratulations by some CM’s and that cheered me up, I love those anniversary buttons! We finally are reunited with DBF’s family so we tell them that we are going to go FastPass Splash Mountain and to meet them at Pirate’s of the Caribbean, just like the itinerary said to do, just like we do every single time we are in the Magic Kingdom. I was all set to sprint to Splash Mountain when Jeanne (Justin’s Aunt) saw the Dream Along with Mickey Show, she decides that her and Matthew (her son) want to see it and we should go get the FastPass to Splash Mountain and meet them at the Castle since by then the show would be over.

Now I am sure you all want to know what was going on in my head at this moment, and lucky for you I will tell you. Let us recap though, we had gotten to MK bright and early so that we could get a head start and fit as much as possible into the day. So far we had been there over 1 hour and all we accomplished was a trip to City Hall, a bathroom break, and shopping excursion that led to no purchases. AND NOW YOU TELL ME MATTHEW WANTS TO SEE A CASTLE STAGE SHOW? Not only did he want to see Dream Along with Mickey, but that would mean DBF and I would have to backtrack all the way back from Splash Mountain to the center of the park when they could just meet us at Pirate’s which is in Adventureland, which is NEXT TO FRONTIERLAND WHICH IS WHERE SPLASH MOUNTAIN IS IN THE FIRST PLACE! And did I mention IT WAS CROWDED?!?!?

I was hoping DBF would not agree to this ridiculous plan and tell them that if they want to see Dream Along with Mickey then to just meet us at Pirate’s since we hardly ever watch Castle Shows in the first place. Except that DBF didn’t tell them to meet us at Pirate’s he agreed and said we would see them at the Castle once got our FP’s to Splash Mountain.

The walk to Splash Mountain was, well, interesting. Let us just say it was no longer a Happy Anniversary. I was yelling things at DBF like...

WE DO NOT BACKTRACK!

IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE OUR DAY!

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE ON THE DIS!

He tried to stay calm and told me to just be happy that we are here and not let something silly like this ruin our day.

Him staying so calm made me even more mad, I couldn’t figure out why we had to go all the way back to the castle in the first place. Now usually I love the castle, but at this moment it was my worst enemy. I was just picturing the sea of humanity that would emerge once Dream Along with Mickey let out and we would be right in the middle of it. It would be like trying to go against the flow of the lazy river.

We got our Splash Mountain FP’s and began walking back towards the castle. I was angry. I was angry at his family for ruining the plan, and I was angry at DBF for not following the plan which he knew was better in the first place, most of all I was angry at myself for allowing something like this to put in a horrible non-Disney mood.

We made it to the back of the castle where I spotted Jeanne, but she walked away, I just figured she didn’t see us. DBF, who was surprised was still talking to me after the way I had been acting, told me to make a wish in Cinderella’s fountain like we do every year, except every year we save the wish for after Wishes. I just figured that he was trying to cheer me up because he knows just how much I love that fountain and we had gotten off to a rough morning. I was really not in a mood to make a wish at the moment but had pulled out two pennies so I figured what the heck. I closed my eyes, made my wish, and chucked that penny into the fountain still rather angry, but I was still sure to make a wish because after all we were at the place where dreams & wishes come true.

And suddenly, my wish was granted...

I began to walk away and DBF asked me what I had wished for. I told him that I couldn’t tell him otherwise it wouldn’t come true. He pulled me back to the fountain, reached his pocket, pulled out a box, got down on one knee, and said “will you marry me?”

Look closely you will see him down on one knee.

I couldn’t believe what was happening to me, it all happened so fast. Instead of saying yes I said “are you kidding.” But then I realized what he just asked and finally said “yes.” I was truly surprised, as if you all couldn’t tell from the look on my face in those pictures.

As you can see from the pictures above we held each other and I cried...and cried...and cried...heck, I am about to cry right now. I love how in the pictures there a lot of people and then slowly the crowd thins out and we are alone. They let us have our special moment together and I thought that was really nice of everyone who was there. I guess people were applauding when it happened too, but I do not remember any of that. There could have been a million people standing there at that moment and I wouldn’t have noticed.

As I am crying, DBF says to me, “You know my entire family is behind us taking pictures of this whole thing.” I told him I was not aware of that and began to laugh. Sure enough his entire family was there snapping away.

I gave hugs to my new to-be family members, and I still couldn’t believe what had just happened. It was so funny that a couple minutes earlier I was so angry and now I felt like I was floating. It was such a surreal feeling.

The funniest thing about the entire proposal was that it was exactly what I had wished for when I chucked that penny into the fountain.

Posing next to our magical fountain.

Here is the ring....

(sorry it is so blurry)

It was honestly the most magical thing that had every happened to me and I am happy to say that Dreams do come true!

If you want to read Justin’s side of the engagement you can find the posts here...
Justin’s Side - Part I.

Justin’s Side - Part II.

Justin’s Side Part - III.

 

[Cinderella16]

We got our engagement pictures back over the weekend. They were taken at a local forest preserve, we are very happy with how they turned out! Here is a small sampling of them....Hope you enjoy them.
(Taken by Extant Studios)

 

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

Gorgeous photos Julianne! I am so excited for you!!

I love your ring, Justin did a great job there!

 

[HKinDC]

Hi Julianne! I love your photos - you two are an adorable couple, and what a beautiful location for the photo shoot. Congratulations and I can't wait to read more

 

[Cinderella16]

Since Disney just released the 2009 prices, Justin and I changed our room-only ressie to a PACKAGE with DINING for our Disneymoon! 8 glorious nights at the GF in a Garden View room! I AM THRILLED! We get to make ADR's on Christmas day, that is best gift!!!

 

[nickandlarisa]

Congrats Julianne! These PJ are so fun to read! I'm actually in a very similar planning mode. We are getting married at home (in Maryland) on June 20, 2009 and then going on our much anticipated Disneymoon! So it sounds like we will be in the world at the same time!

Enjoy all of the finishing touches (since you have most of the big stuff out of the way already) and I look forward to hearing more about your plans. Next June will be here in a snap!

 

[Princesskeyblade]

Congratulations!!! Your proposal story had me tearing up! And I love the engagement photos!

 

[Queenie]

Hi,

I love your engagement story and the photos are great! My PJ is for a home wedding too so I'm looking forward to seeing your Disney touches. Mine started out as "touches" but is now more like whole chunks, I don't think there's a non-Disneyfied bit!

Just an idea in case you're a bit sad about not having Disney wedding pics like I was. I booked a Florida photographer (Randy Chapman if you're a regular on the wedding boards) and he's meeting us on our honeymoon so I get the Disney shots, just without my dress. We're doing shots at the Grand Floridian so we can have the castle in the background.

Looking forward to reading more and seeing your dress!
XXX

 

[RachaelA]

Another June Disneymooner here. We're getting married in our hometown on May 30 and then heading to Disney for our honeymoon May 31-June 9th at the Animal Kingdom Lodge!

Congrats and love the proposal story

 

[IndyBride]

What a wonderful engagement story! You obviously have a very thoughtful fiancee!

 

[TinkAsh2001]

I had to stop by & say hi. I happened across this link from the June 2009 who is going thread! I think you are on the June 09 Knot boards also with me?! Our wedding is June 6, 2009 and our disneymoon is June 8-12!!! We are excited. DFI has never been & I LOVE disney!! Congrats on the engagment & cant wait to read more!!