Jilian & BT's VR 3/24/12 Crescent Terr/Il Mulino - Last of the Randy Chapman pics up!

[Jilian]

Our Story

Ceremony location: Crescent Terrace

Reception location: Il Mulino

Dress!

Dress on

Hair inspiration

Hair & Makeup Trial

Floral inspiration

DIY Invites

DIY Centerpieces

DIY Mickey candles Link to Mickey head punch

DIY Table numbers and place cards

DIY "Happily Ever After" banner for room window

DIY Mickey & Minnie head fans

How much this all cost...

Trip Report starts @ post # 412

Randy Preview Pics post #480

Vendor Reviews post #487

Glad I did/Wish I had post #496

Randy Chapman pics Start at post # 508
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Today I looked at my ticker and it said 10 mos I guess it is time to get my butt in gear and start a PJ, so here goes...

I'm Jilian, a 32 year old stay at home mom/nursing student to 3 great kids. I'm married to Brian, he's also 32 and we've been married for 4 years now. We never got to have a real wedding, so we've decided that for our 5 year anniversary we will renew our vows and invite all of our friends and family members to celebrate. Disney is our most favorite place in the world so it only seemed right that we would celebrate there

How we met and fell in love...
I met Brian in 2004. I was newly divorced raising my 2 year old son (who has aspergers) and waitressing nights so I could still stay home with my boy during the day. I had just moved across country from Boston to FL and the only people I knew here were my sister and parents (well and my XH but that wasn't really a good thing). Two weeks after I moved here Brian moved here (from Boston too!) and got a job where I was working. We became quick friends because we were both from Boston and feeling homesick. I knew he liked me but a relationship wasn't high on my priority list and I made that clear. We stayed friends for 6 months. We ended up spending a lot of time together and he'd often come over on his days off to watch movies or help me with things at my house. My son adored him too.

One night work closed early because of an issue in the kitchen. Brian pulled me aside and said that I should really give him a chance. He had already joked a million times that we should be dating by now but this time he was serious. I'm shy so I sat there in silence turning a million shades of red and praying that the ground would open up and swallow me. He didn't give up, the next night a group of us went out after work and he told me that he really liked me. A few more weeks went by of me ignoring his advances and finally on new years eve we kissed. We developed a slow relationship from there and by February we were a couple. The rest is history!

The proposal...not your ordinary fairytale
After we had been dating for 2ish years it was clear that we wanted to remain together and build a life together, only I wasn't willing to marry because my divorce had really tarnished marriage for me. So we bought a house together and began trying for a baby. 6 mos later I was pregnant with a baby boy. Pregnancy brought a lot of mixed feelings for both of us. Brian really did want to be married and as time went on so did I. He came home early from work one day and proposed. Two weeks later a JP married us on the beach with just our parents there. A month later I gave birth to our son. The plan was that after our son was born we'd plan a real wedding and invite all of our friends and family members. Our son had other plans. When he was 2 weeks old we found out that he had a congenital heart defect, he had open heart surgery that night. We came so close to losing him. It was the most awful time of our lives. I don't even have words to describe it. Luckily our baby survived but our lives were changed forever.

Our son grew healthier each month and by the time he was 2 he was moved to yearly cardiology appointments and his heart was perfectly healed. He'll be 4(!) next week and he's doing really, really well. BTW his name is Evan and when he was in surgery we found out that it means warrior. Very fitting! In 2008 we decided to have just one more baby and were blessed with a sweet baby girl. So here we are a family of 5 ready to plan that wedding that we never got around to! I'm excited that we will finally get a real wedding, the memories that come along with it and pictures that we can cherish. I've been so sad about not having pictures all these years!

Here we are when we first started dating...

and more recently...

 

[KristiLyn]

Yay! I'm so glad you started a pj!
I'm so glad you're son is doing fine. If you guys got through that you can get through anything!
Excited to read more!!!

 

[Jilian]

The plans...
Be warned, they change often. I've held off on even making a PJ because my plans seemed to change weekly.

We're planning a ceremony @ the Swan's crescent terrace @ 4pm. Here it is...

We've hired Randy Chapman for photography, I'm really, really excited to have booked him! We're having a violinist that we booked through Karen @ Just marry (who is AWESOME!). The aisle will be lined with rose petals and I'm working on some pretty plant urns (is that even what you call them?) to put where we'll say our vows. I'm thinking I'm gonna need some more decorations. Crescent terrace is pretty much a blank slate. We had Rev Tim Herring booked for the officiant but then our Pastor offered to make the trip up and do our ceremony, so we're using our own pastor.

We'll be having a dinner right after the ceremony @ il Mulino in the swan. It is only a few feet away. We originally wanted Bluezoo but they were not easy to get in touch with. They seemed to want nothing to do with us until the 9 month mark and wouldn't answer our questions. I decided that if they were that difficult when they were trying to earn our business then it would probably be worse once we booked them so we crossed them off the list. Lindsey @ il mulino was so sweet and quick to answer my thousands of questions. When we visited they were really great and offered us their courtyard for a cocktail hour (either private for a fee or non-private for free). They were so accomodating, they offered to put speakers out into the courtyard so we could hear the live music being played inside, they were willing to switch the menu around if we wanted, they are printing up a menu for us with our own picture and greeting, the list goes on. They are great and I highly recommend them! The restaurant is very modern and we love the style, we booked 3 of their private rooms to hold up to 70 people. Here is a peek...

and their courtyard

We're determined to pay for this entire thing in cash (which is part of the reason we went with a swan/dolphin instead of a DFTW) so I'm doing lots of DIY. I'd love to hear any suggestions any of you awesome dis brides have. I've already found loads of inspiration from these forums, I can't thank you all enough I'll try to get some pics of my DIY projects up soon.

Our color inspiration is the castle, we're using this pic on our planning guide/newsletter and on our STDs

our other color will be pink, a dark pink. Sort of hot pink I guess? Magenta? I dunno. Here are some centerpieces I'm working on for il mulino:

They were so inexpensive, I bought all of the supplies @ Michael's. I think at most they are $8 each, probably closer to $6 each. Gotta love those 40% off coupons!

And finally, my rings:

I wanted something different and initially was looking for a pink sapphire but when I didn't find any that I liked this one jumped out at me. I love it!

 

[pixie921]

What a sweet love story you guys have, and I'm so glad your little one is healthy now and you're going to get the wedding of your dreams!

I know exactly what you mean about changing plans ... I've done the same thing and finally decided that sometimes you have to keep changing things 'til it finally clicks!

I'm anxious to hear more about your plans, especially since you and I are sharing the same venue!!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Jilian sweetie - Yay for the start of the PJ. You are just the cutest couple and seem to have come through a lot. You really deserve your special day!!!
Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[Tale as old as Time]

So glad your son is better now! and I'm so happy that you finally get your dream wedding

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

welcome!! i'm so excited to read more of your plans!! your centerpieces are beautiful!! i'm glad you can finally have your dream wedding!!

 

[Jilian]

Thanks everyone! You are all so sweet. We're really excited too, it seems like a dream come true. I never thought we'd be able to have it in Disney, for some reason I had it in my head that Disney weddings were $100,000+ I'm so happy to have found the dis boards and learn otherwise. I've been lurking here for about 2 years, I can't believe I'm below the 10 month mark already! I'm hoping this PJ gives me the kick in the pants that I need to get going.

We're taking a last minute trip to MK this weekend for Evan's 4th birthday. He loves the buzz lightyear ride so we figured we'd take him to ride it a few times. We went with the FL resident season passes this year and our blockout for the summer is coming up so we're squeezing in just one more trip. I'm working on trying to convince DH that it is worth it for us to become DVC members. If only it weren't for 40+ years!

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

This is such a great story! I am so glad you get to have your wedding!!!

 

[Jilian]

Woohoo, the ebay thread inspired me to check out ebay for flower girl dresses and I found this for my daughter:

It was $20 with shipping! I'm going to wait and see what the quality is and then maybe order some of their suits for my boys. We were going to rent little suits but the suits here are under $30 which is probably less than renting. We're only having the kids as our wedding party. My younger son and daughter will walk down together and then my older son will walk down with me. We're still not sure if Brian will meet me half way so we can walk down together or not.

Here is my dress:

I decided after I bought it that the sash was too high. It makes me look stubby because I'm short. I also don't like how it hangs way down. So we're getting rid of it and using this:

I bought it from etsy and she's making me 3 small matching hair flowers with jewels in the center. I can't wait until it arrives! I had been drooling over this sash for months before finally ordering it.

 

[KristiLyn]

Love the flower girl dress!!! What a great find!
And your dress with that sash, GORGEOUS!! I really love it! I'd have the same problem with the bow as you, I'm short too

 

[Jilian]

Love the flower girl dress!!! What a great find!
And your dress with that sash, GORGEOUS!! I really love it! I'd have the same problem with the bow as you, I'm short too

Thanks

 

[Jilian]

I really need to get my STDs out! We're using the castle as our theme (it is my favorite thing in WDW and always gives me goosebumps when I see it) and here is a really crappy sample of the STDs I came up with:

I'm also working on making my own flowers and this is my first try:

But now I'm thinking that I want some pops of hot pink in there. It just needs something. I have jewels in it now but I'm not a big fan of how it is looking. I'm going to try to add some tiny hot pink flowers and maybe some greenery to see how it looks. Did I mention that I'm really not the crafty type?

Also, I went ahead and printed out newsletters to send with the STDs back when we were planning to stay @ Coronado. This past weekend we took the kids to WDW and stayed at the the carribean beach resort and loved it. We'll probably stay there for the VR. The problem is that we printed that the coronado is our favorite resort on the newsletter. Should I reprint that page and get rid of that part? I'd hate for people to book there thinking they are staying where we'll be staying KWIM? Or maybe when we send out the invites we could mention that we're staying @ carribean then? People cannot book until August anyway. Ughh, I'm so torn.

 

[pixie921]

Jilian, I really love your STDs (I'm a castle girl, too ... my biggest dream right now is to be able to spend the night in the Cinderella suite!) and you've got a great start on your bouquet! I love the colors you're using. I made mine as well, but the one I'm using is the 3rd I've completed ... that's not counting the literally dozens of times I took them apart and re-did them! I just look at it as a "practice-makes-perfect" sort of thing, and just kept doing it 'til I was completely sure! You'll definitely know when it's exactly the way you want it.

As far as letting your guests know that you'll be at CBR in your newsletter, I personally would do so (unless of course you want total privacy!). I think you'll find it really convenient the more guests you have in one location. Plus, CBR is a more centrally located than CSR, so that might be something your guests would appreciate, too. JMHO.

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

I love your story. What an adorable family

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Jilian sweetie - Loving everything so far!!! This is going to be such a pretty wedding!!!

 

[that-a-way]

I can't wait to read more! Your flower girl dresses are divine! I can't wait to see your etsy find sash on your dress, it's going to look amazing.

 

[Jilian]

Jilian, I really love your STDs (I'm a castle girl, too ... my biggest dream right now is to be able to spend the night in the Cinderella suite!) and you've got a great start on your bouquet! I love the colors you're using. I made mine as well, but the one I'm using is the 3rd I've completed ... that's not counting the literally dozens of times I took them apart and re-did them! I just look at it as a "practice-makes-perfect" sort of thing, and just kept doing it 'til I was completely sure! You'll definitely know when it's exactly the way you want it.

As far as letting your guests know that you'll be at CBR in your newsletter, I personally would do so (unless of course you want total privacy!). I think you'll find it really convenient the more guests you have in one location. Plus, CBR is a more centrally located than CSR, so that might be something your guests would appreciate, too. JMHO.

Thanks, I'm leaning towards re-doing the page too. Do you have pics of your bouquet? I'd love to see it!

I love your story. What an adorable family

Thanks

Jilian sweetie - Loving everything so far!!! This is going to be such a pretty wedding!!!

Thank you

I can't wait to read more! Your flower girl dresses are divine! I can't wait to see your etsy find sash on your dress, it's going to look amazing.

Thanks. The sash came in the mail today. I am beyond thrilled. It is more beautiful and sparkley than I could have hoped for. I'll try to get pics up soon.

 

[Jilian]

Flowers: take 2!

I'm pretty happy with how they came out, they aren't so plain anymore. I'm going to attempt a french braid with blue ribbon on the handle and maybe secure it with a pin and make a mickey out of jewels. I'm going to make a mini bouquet for my daughter with my leftover pink flowers and maybe some white roses. The boutonnieres intimidate me, any advice on those? Maybe white roses with a little pink and the green berries?

 

[KristiLyn]

The flowers look great!!
I think your idea with white/pink roses and a little green would look wonderful!