Jillian and Michael's Disney DREAM Wedding PJ

Is it worth it to get a Cabana on Castaway Cay?
I don't know about the Cabanas at CC. I've never gotten one, so I don't know from personal experience. My problem was that we took a 3-night cruise and we were moving and doing something the ENTIRE time! We had the legal ceremony the first day, the wedding the second day, then we took additional photos on CC on the third day. We were EXHAUSTED! We went to bed shortly after dinner on the wedding night, roughly 10:30 or 11 PM, then we had to wake up at 7 so we could get dressed AGAIN and take photos on CC. We took some photos on the ship until they let us off at 8:30, then we took photos on the island until it was WAY too hot and we were back onboard at 10 AM. We headed straight to cabanas for breakfast, took a dip in the pool & hot tub (hot tub to ease sore/achy muscles!) then we took a nap for 2-3 hours! We got off the ship with just enough time to get a drink and enjoy the view for a short time. We didn't even get in the water- we just stuck our feet in! It really depends on how you think you'll be spending your CC day. I'd made no plans, and I'm glad, because we really needed that long nap!!! The cruise was amazing, but EXHAUSTING!

I'll hopefully be updating my PJ again today and/or tomorrow to go over the big one- the wedding day! Eep! Just thinking about writing all of that makes me tired! :lmao: Let me know if ANY of you have any more questions! I'd be happy to answer them to the best of my knowledge!

I'll throw my thoughts in on the Cabana. I think it depends when you're going, if it's going to be hot. For us, it was worth it. I have 3 boys and one burns easily, so it was nice to be able to have a shaded area for him when needed. We have one for November, because I thought it would be nice for my mom with her mobility issues and not liking the sun. This way she'll get off the ship. We actually stayed out longer at CC because of the cabana because the kids didn't hot, sticky, and cranky! There's a shower there where you can rinse off as well. The kids enjoyed the bikes and the inner tube and floats that come along with it. We never used the snorkel gear. For me, the best was the iced cold wash cloths in the fridge :thumbsup2 It felt so good after being out in the heat. The kids kept hydrated since the fridge was stocked with water. For us there are 5 of us, so we were ok with the cost. If it was just my husband and I probaby not. In November there will be 8 of us. Those are just my thoughts. We are spoiled. If we had to do without it, we wouldn't be on the island that long.
 
Hi Jillian,

I'm sorry I know those where alot of questions lol. But I really do appreciate that you answered every single one of them :thumbsup2 . I'm so happy to hear how perfect everything went. Thank you again.

Evi
 
Thanks for the TR posts. Looking forward to reading more. Thanks for the detailed answers to the questions. That is great info to store in the back of my mind for later;)
 
Jillian- We got number 1 to board too, but were not allowed to "officially" board the ship until 2nd. We were taken through the VIP area with all of our goodies (meaning we didn't go through the Mickey ears), but had to wait in the hall outside the ship until the First Family or whatever went through. They were announced to the crowds and then were the first people on the boat. DSIL said she heard they paid $10,000 to be first! :scared1:

Evi- My first night's dinner we were in the private room in Royal Palace. I had a total of 32, including DH and me. We all fit very comfortably in the room (or we would have but they put a 6 top of random people in the room with us and 6 of MY guests sat in another room). I agree with Jillian, it's not a really beautiful space, but you can weigh sitting together vs ambiance.

I used faux floral for MOH bouquet, moms' and dads' floral, and groomsmen's as well. You can't even tell in the pictures that they're not real and it saved me A LOT of money. I used tropical flowers from Michaels and seashells. I think I spent a total of $15 on all the extra floral. I did do the aisle runner on CC of palm fronds and seashells- BEAUTIFUL!

Fivepin- I had a huge mess with DCL and seating for my guests. My coordinator told my mom that if I had just come to her as soon as I discovered the issue, she could've tried to change it asap. So I recommend letting that person know if you have ANY problems. We managed to resolve the issue of my parents not being at our table, but not the fact that 6 of our guests were in another part of the dining room. Sorry for the negativity, but it is worst case scenario and I'm still fuming about it 6 months later. Point of the story, you're coordinator is there to make you happy, so take any issues to them!
 


Oh my goodness! I think I started reading your PJ right before you guys boarded the ship and I am FINALLY done! I wouldn't let myself peek and skip ahead, so it felt more like I was living it with you. :rotfl2: It's been a saga! The wreck! Eek! I'm glad you're ok.
I absolutely lovelovelove how crafty you are! You even had me convinced at one point to have a cruise wedding! :rotfl:
The pics, even the candid ones, are incredible - it looks like you all had such a blast.
Did your DH (does it feel weird to think of him like that?) ever take the top hat off? I'm starting to wonder if he slept in the thing!
Anyway, I'm planning on starting my PJ today and your invitations have inspired me. I even showed them to several of my friends - only one of whom is a Dr. Who fan.... the rest didn't quite "get" it. I'm including copies of your invitations in my PJ and a link to your PJ - hope you don't mind. :)
 
So, I mentioned that we'd slept pretty well, considering it was the last sleep until our wedding! This, of course, is with the exception that I woke up and saw light rimming our curtains, and I woke up thinking it was roughly 8AM. Nope, it was 3AM and the light outside was artificial! It really bugged me NOT having a clock near the bed! Michael thinks that the alarm clock is too bring, so he'd cover it with a washcloth, so I had to get up and find a wave phone to see what time it was! Anyways, I think this was the day we slept in the latest- and that was probably until 9 AM. Got up, showered (I was instructed to apply mousse to my damp roots by my hairdresser), and headed to Cabanas. I kept trying to leave (You know, got lots to do!) but conversation kinda kept me in place... Until my wave phone rang at 11:00. Laura (wedding coordinator) called to tell me that Lora (photographer) and Alicia (Hairdresser) were at my grandmother's stateroom (Huge corner handicapped room!). Whoops, time to go! We went back down to our room and I didn't realize HOW MUCH STUFF I had to transport from our room to theirs- my shoes, my jewelry, my makeup, my perfume... Luckily the room was only about 5 staterooms away! As I was gathering my things, Laura (coordinator) knocked our stateroom door and MICHAEL answered! Well, she was carrying our steamed attire, and Michael may have gotten an eyeful of white dress! I led Laura to my "bridal suite" and that was the last I saw of Michael! From then on I had to send my mom or MOH to collect miscellaneous items when needed! I wish I'd been a little bit more organized at this point, but once my hair/makeup process started, it's not like I could leave!

Here's where I'm really glad I had my pink kimono robe- I've been snoopy and looking through other "getting ready" pictures, and I think it's so pretty when the bride is in a pretty robe instead of sweats or a button down shirt. I'm also incredibly thrilled that we had access to a large corner room (with a verandah! But I wasn't allowed outside b/c of the heat and humidity!) because at one point we had Me, My mom, My photographer, My hairdresser, My Moh, My aunt, My other aunt, My cousin, and my Grandma in one room! If you've ever been on a cruise before, you KNOW that staterooms are not meant to accommodate so many people! Once there, I had my hair curled and pinned up to set. Then Alicia worked on my mom's hair. Meanwhile my mom's beau had gone to deck 12 and brought down a plate of chicken and tuna salad wraps for us to eat! My MOH and I went through all of the floral separating "Bride Side" and "Groom Side" so that they could be handed off and distributed accordingly. (Only one item got put in the wrong pile. Whoops!) Meanwhile, my aunt started doing my MOH's hair, and once Alicia started on my hair and makeup again, my cousin started my mom's makeup. Somewhere along the line, my grandma and cousin needed to get ready, too! (It was their stateroom, after all!) So it was pretty chaotic in there! Now, every other time I've put on my wedding dress, we'd put on the crinoline skirt first, then pulled the dress over my head... But once the hair and makeup was done, we couldn't risk ruining my hair, so I had to step into the dress, and my MOH had to get up underneath my skirts to get that crinoline secured! Somewhere along the line, Laura showed up with my beautiful red & hot pink bouquet! Once we were putting on the finishing touches (including pinkish pixie dust for my hair and shoulders) somebody had the idea of sprinkling pixie dust on my bouquet, too! I really hope those pictures turn out well! We had a lot of fun sprinkling pixie dust everywhere!

After I was ready, we'd headed down to the Walt Disney Theater "lobby" by the gift shops to take family photos! We'd instructed Michael's family to meet in the Atrium on deck 3 to take photos, so we wouldn't bump into each other! The photographer that was with the guys was keeping in close contact via wave phone so that we wouldn't bump into each other! (A few weeks earlier we had worked on a "shot list" for these family photos, Bride with Bride Side and Groom with Groom Side. I'm really glad it was up to the photographer to arrange everybody!) Once finished with family photos, we had about 20 or 30 minutes to kill, so we went around the atrium area taking some photos. Thank goodness we did, because if I were just standing around waiting to get married, I would have gotten really anxious! As it is, Lora kept telling me to "Relax your shoulders! Relax your arms!" I guess I was still a little tense! Laura eventually found us and whisked us over to D-Lounge. Sent all of the stragglers into the room and into their seats and I was positioned aside my eldest brother, and suddenly we were being prompted to walk down the aisle!

They opened the doors and the first thing I think when I see Michael is... "Is he SERIOUSLY wearing the Mickey Top Hat at our CEREMONY??" Well, that's very Michael of him, so I guess it didn't SURPRISE me once it happened! It was a DISNEY wedding after all, and we are both very DISNEY people! I just wish I'd known he was going to do that, because I would've put A LOT more effort into decorating that hat! It was seriously a 5 minute project with some scissors and hot glue! My second though when entering the room was "Yay, Captain Henry is performing our ceremony!" If you want to know specifics about the ceremony, I couldn't tell you much (You can ask Meredith for a copy of it if you're really curious) but I do remember that Michael took one of Captain Henry's long pauses as his cue to kiss his bride... A bit too early! I think he laughed and said "I haven't gotten to that part yet"! We eventually made it to the point where he WAS supposed to kiss me, and we were pronounced husband and wife! Definitely a happy moment- AND I DIDN'T CRY! :cool1: I really didn't want to cry! We walked back down the aisle to our FANTASMIC recessional (The pianist did really well!) and after we'd left the room, they closed the doors, turned us around, and reintroduced us to the room as Mr. and Mrs. P______. OH. MY. GOSH. I felt so relieved and much more calm as soon as the ceremony was completed!

At that point we just made our rounds greeting everybody and taking lots of pictures with our guests. My family welcoming him to the family, and his family welcoming me to his! After perhaps 10-15 minutes of mingling, Laura suggested we cut the cake- she gave us a quick explanation, cut here, smile for the camera, etc. After we'd fed each other a piece each, she worked to get the cake cut and served very quickly. She even made sure my aunt (who can't each chocolate without getting a debilitating migraine) got a piece with raspberry butter cream before the knife cut into the chocolate caramel filled tier. As (or after?) the cake was being cut for the guests, champagne was being circulated (as well as the sparkling cider and iced tea, for non-drinkers). Laura handed us our champagne in the champagne flutes that we brought along. We hadn't arranged a toast by anybody, we didn't want to impose that on someone who didn't want it! So, Laura had prompted the Best Man and Maid of Honor to say a few words. We toasted, and Laura prompted the pianist to start our first dance song. We danced in front of the cake table for what seemed like an eternity! (Why did I pick such a long song?) I'm no dancer and we didn't get a chance to practice ahead of time like we'd originally planned! We definitely did the "High School" style dance, just holding each other and moving in a circle! The only problem was that my train kept getting caught up when I would spin! I had to kick it back every now and then, and my MOH tried helping when she could! After the dance (He played "At Last I See the Light" from Tangled) there was another 10-15 minutes of mingling before we were escorted out of the ceremony/celebration space (They had 30 minutes to turn the space over for some event for Pirate night) So we gathered everybody in the Atrium. As I'd predicted, Disney's photographers were busy taking their own pictures on the staircase, so my family just gathered together on the 3rd floor and my photographer took the picture of everybody from the 4th floor. Afterwards we took some photos by the Royal Palace entrance with the attendants and the flower girls (by this point the flower girls were being very fussy, especially the 2 year old!!!) and we sent everybody on their way! By this point, it was approximately 5 or 5:30 PM, so my guests could freshen themselves up before the early show around 6 PM. Lora & Danielle (photographers) and Michael & I spent the entire time from 5 PM until 8 PM (just minutes before dinner) taking pictures around the ship! We went everywhere from deck 4 outside, all over the District, we went to the deck off Meridian on deck 12, all around the 11th and 12th decks outside, we took pictures in the atrium and on the grand piano... Honestly, until I get my photos back from the photographer, I won't even remember everywhere we went!

at 8, we'd finished up in the Atrium. We adjourned to our room to freshen up (although most of my things were still locked up in my grandmother's stateroom!) Once I sat down, I didn't want to get up! We made it back downstairs to Royal Palace around 8:20 or 8:30. When we got to the restaurant, they held us at the front. All of the servers had lined up at the entrance and cheered as we entered! (Luckily my photographer had her camera handy, She must've gotten a few photos of that!) Of course, the entire dining room chimed in- it was really quite an uproar! It was definitely a surprise to us, and a very cool entrance! I knew we'd shown up late for a reason! Unfortunately, our servers were waiting to serve food to the rest of our table for when we showed up. I feel like we were starving the other 8 people at our table! Once we ordered, Michael and I started making our rounds. I was ordered to take my shoes off, so I was wandering around RP barefooted! (I was still in full bride attire, so no one could see!) The dinner was great- I had Escargot and French Onion Soup as well as the Steak & Lobster for dinner. Afterwards the head chef brought back the rest of the cake and had it cut and served at Dinner, too. They'd asked if we wanted it sent to our room, but we'd already asked Laura to send a piece of each to the room.

As we left the dining room, we spotted our flower girls taking a picture with Tinkerbell, and we totally photo-bombed them! (Disney LOST these photos! SO frustrating!) After that, we all headed up to the top deck to watch the fireworks! We were at the forward starboard side. Like our last cruise, we didn't get there in time to get a spot to watch the pirate show that accompanied the fireworks, but one of the most precious moments of the wedding was listening to Michael who was holding our niece/flower girl Sophie, and telling her all about Fantasmic and listening to her telling him the story of the last time she saw fireworks! Then she was guessing what color the next firework was going to be... It was adorable! After the fireworks, we headed aft and stopped to dance during "Party Rockers" about midship! It was an awesome impromptu moment between a few friends and us! Once we hit our floor, we'd mentally checked out! I gathered everything from my grandma's stateroom and went to bed! It was an amazing and exhausting day, and we still had a 7AM wakeup call the next morning!

Here's a picture of the bed. Pretty! But we took a couple pictures, then Michael literally scooped the flower petals into the trash! :rotfl:
IMG_0453.jpg

The lighter petals near the pillows are the faux rose petals that the flower girls scattered. I also adore the Ariel and Eric "Just Married" DCL buttons they gave us!
IMG_0454.jpg


Gotta run! Time for work!
 
Last edited:
Got a moment to look through everything, thanks to another typhoon:faint: , The wedding was beautiful and it was great that someone from the cruise was able to get some candid shoots of you. Those are good. They were nice to take the time to get them and share them with you.

How sweet and brave of that man to ask in front of all those people. I think I might have had some evil thoughts if my Dh had done something like that ;)

pixiedust: getting back to the routine of life and staying with Fantasmic

Hope you made it through the Typhoon alright! I'm glad I gave you something to read during your down time! I also may have been a twinge embarrassed if I'd been proposed to in front of thousands of people! More power to the groom! That takes guts! Thanks for the Pixie Dust! Things are getting back to normal, but I'm nowhere near done unpacking my wedding stuff! I just don't know what to do with it!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the update! I've been very curious about how embarkation day goes.

You're very welcome! I just added my WEDDING DAY report today! The CC day post shouldn't be as long as the other two considering we took a 2 or 3 hour nap through that day!!! :rotfl2:

Hi Jillian-

WOW-what a wealth of information. Thanks for posting. I'm planning on bringing on some extras, so it's good to know that the coordinator should be able to accommodate. I'm delivering the embarkation bags myself-only 7 but all over the ship. Bring on the M&M favor jars and some of our wedding photos to decorate the Outlook. Trying to keep it simple.
I may see if they can do a strawberry butter cream instead of raspberry. We are not raspberry people, but would love the strawberry with the yellow cake.

Got my confirm: did get the Outlook for 4pm like I requested.But, no table 82,
said my guests would really be scattered? There are 30 of us all together. Then requested 3 8 toppers and 1 6 topper, but got 4 4 toppers and 2 8 toppers. I'm just happy I got the time I requested just in case people do get off the ship since they don't know about it.

Going with their florals:it is expensive, but I only need 3 boutinerres for my boys and something for my mom.


Was told no to the sheet music for the one song not on the list, need to provide the CD. Oh well.

Can't wait to read more of your report, but dying to see your pics.

Saw you tried to PM, cleared out my inbox some. So, there's space now.

I think the M&M jars sound like so much fun! If I'd known I could set up a little favor table, I probably would've taken on MORE projects than I already tackled! I am a raspberry LOVER, so the raspberry butter cream was perfect for me! I don't know if they'll do a strawberry butter cream or not, I know that they like to say "No" to special requests :headache: I think it's great that you got the Outlook! It's such a pretty space, and you shouldn't be rushed out of your space like we were! (There was a pirate night event happening in D-Lounge just 30 minutes after my event!) Sorry about 82- Hopefully they'll keep your party near each other! My tables were the farthest scattered on the RP (wedding) night, but we were all still in a similar vicinity, I could still easily see all of our tables. I didn't have a problem with it. They got us our table 82! It was beautiful, but a little tricky being at a 10-top table! I noticed that our food took a lot longer because they tried to take everyone's orders at the same time and that they tried getting all of the courses out at the same time. Disney floral is beautiful and I think your additional boutonnieres will look great!!

Sorry to hear about the sheet music! I was told I could submit the sheet music when I started the process, and I included 3 songs with my wedding packet! Meredith even commended me for being thorough and submitting it! But immediately afterwards, I heard that others weren't being allowed to do it! So bizarre! Maybe the pianists complained about learning new music for every wedding? My pianist was great and even did well on the complicated Fantasmic music we gave him! I noticed on the first day that the same pianist was playing "At Last I See the Light" as guests were entering the ship- My coordinator, Laura said he was practicing and showing off his new song! I loved that I caught it ahead of time! But I will agree with the other brides- you're so busy at your event that you hardly notice all of the music! I remember the first three bars of my processional (A Whole New World), I remember the Fantasmic recessional, I remember Rainbow Connection, and I remember At Last I See the Light... Wait, I also remember hearing Beauty and the Beast and "He's a Tramp" lol- that one wasn't on my list, but I love that he fluffed it up with Disney songs! It was perfect for me!

Hi Jillian,

I'm sorry I know those where alot of questions lol. But I really do appreciate that you answered every single one of them :thumbsup2 . I'm so happy to hear how perfect everything went. Thank you again.

Evi

No worries! I'm happy to answer any questions! If they've helped just one other person, that I'm satisfied! Keep 'em coming if you've got more! Sometimes the questions bring up new things that I forgot to add to my PJ/TR

Thanks for the TR posts. Looking forward to reading more. Thanks for the detailed answers to the questions. That is great info to store in the back of my mind for later;)

Happy to help! I hope you enjoy my wedding day post! It was really just a flurry of one thing to the next to the next... It was a LONG day, but it went by quickly (does that make sense? :rotfl:) Feel free to ask any questions. As Evi learned, I'm willing to help in any way I can!

Jillian- We got number 1 to board too, but were not allowed to "officially" board the ship until 2nd. We were taken through the VIP area with all of our goodies (meaning we didn't go through the Mickey ears), but had to wait in the hall outside the ship until the First Family or whatever went through. They were announced to the crowds and then were the first people on the boat. DSIL said she heard they paid $10,000 to be first! :scared1:

I used faux floral for MOH bouquet, moms' and dads' floral, and groomsmen's as well. You can't even tell in the pictures that they're not real and it saved me A LOT of money. I used tropical flowers from Michaels and seashells. I think I spent a total of $15 on all the extra floral. I did do the aisle runner on CC of palm fronds and seashells- BEAUTIFUL!

Wait, wait! You got to go somewhere to get extra goodies because you had the "1" boarding group? Not us! We just joined like usual through the Mickey funnel, only we were the second family, not the first... Lucky you! The one thing I didn't really like about boarding first is that there's fewer people to "clap" for you! Okay, that sounds silly!

I agree on the faux floral- It was a lot less expensive and it still looked great! PLUS, I was really proud of myself for accomplishing another craft! Who knew I could be an amateur florist? Besides, most of my photos were of me and Michael who had the real floral anyways ;) You did an aisle runner and aisle decorations? Too cool! I was wondering about that, but it was never something I paid much thought to! Very cool!

Oh my goodness! I think I started reading your PJ right before you guys boarded the ship and I am FINALLY done! I wouldn't let myself peek and skip ahead, so it felt more like I was living it with you. :rotfl2: It's been a saga! The wreck! Eek! I'm glad you're ok.
I absolutely lovelovelove how crafty you are! You even had me convinced at one point to have a cruise wedding! :rotfl:
The pics, even the candid ones, are incredible - it looks like you all had such a blast.
Did your DH (does it feel weird to think of him like that?) ever take the top hat off? I'm starting to wonder if he slept in the thing!
Anyway, I'm planning on starting my PJ today and your invitations have inspired me. I even showed them to several of my friends - only one of whom is a Dr. Who fan.... the rest didn't quite "get" it. I'm including copies of your invitations in my PJ and a link to your PJ - hope you don't mind. :)

Welcome aboard! I'm glad you got to experience it with me day by day! I never thought my PJ would get long enough to be 14 pages long! Whoops! Be sure to check in again a few times- as SOON as I get my professional pictures, I'm posting a link!!!

Thanks about the compliments to my craftiness! It's something I love doing, and I promise you that there were still dozens of crafts that I'd dreamed up that I didn't even get a chance to create! :idea:

Hmmm, Come to think of it, I think DH (yes it IS weird to call him that! I still have to get used to it!) did keep the Mickey Ears on for a lot of our professional pictures, too! Silly groom of mine! I do know that the second shooter took his hat for many of the photos... but be prepared to see more of the hat when the professional pics come out! AHHH, I'm so frustrated that he didn't tell me he'd be wearing the darn hat during the CEREMONY! I would've put a LOT more effort into it!!!

Be sure to put your PJ link in your signature so I can find it! I'd love to get hooked on new PJ's now that I have more spare time! Don't worry- it feels weird at first writing a PJ (who's gonna read this, anyways? am I wasting my time?) But as time goes on, you find more and more things to post about! As I said, I never even though I'd make it to 10 pages, and I'm almost at page 15! That's so cool that you showed my invitations to your Doctor Who friends! If we had an "on land" wedding, we were going to have it at the Orlando Science Center in the dinosaur room!!! We were also going to get a Tardis or a backdrop of a Tardis so people could take pictures with it! I also had all sorts of Doctor Who elements I had planned to incorporate (including the centerpieces!) There were SO many ideas I didn't get to use, BUT I did end up having a "River Song journal" as my guest book! Oh, we're such nerds! :lmao: Feel free to "link" to my page!
 


Wait, wait! You got to go somewhere to get extra goodies because you had the "1" boarding group? Not us! We just joined like usual through the Mickey funnel, only we were the second family, not the first... Lucky you! The one thing I didn't really like about boarding first is that there's fewer people to "clap" for you! Okay, that sounds silly!

I agree on the faux floral- It was a lot less expensive and it still looked great! PLUS, I was really proud of myself for accomplishing another craft! Who knew I could be an amateur florist? Besides, most of my photos were of me and Michael who had the real floral anyways ;) You did an aisle runner and aisle decorations? Too cool! I was wondering about that, but it was never something I paid much thought to! Very cool!

No, no. There is a section off to the side of the Mickey Ears for the Platinum CC Members to wait before they board. We were put in there to skip going through the ears because we had 2 HUGE boxes of wedding favors, my dress and DH's suit. We were the second family to get on the ship and I agree, it was sad to not have a bunch of people to clap for us! The First Family got a big send-off through the ears and was announced to the entire terminal before they boarded and then again on the ship. I guess it's something Disney does if you pay extra.

Yeah, we had the palms and seashells aisle runner on the beach. It was very pretty!
 
Ahh! My photographer e-mailed me a link to my photo gallery! I'm only 232 pictures deep out of 1065, but I had to stop to post a link for my ladies!!!

http://lorarodgers.smugmug.com/Weddings/Jillian-Michael
Password: my last name

Lora and Danielle were FANTASTIC photographers to work with and their work is just beautiful! If there's any future DCL brides out there (or any WDW or local Orlando weddings, for that matter) Definitely look into contacting Lora! www.LoraRodgers.com
 
Last edited:
Jillian your pictures are gorgeous!!! It makes me even more anxious about my own wedding, just 6 months & 25 days to go.
 
Great pics! I especially like the ones of you getting ready.
And Mickey at Castaway Cay!
 
Jillian,

Your pictures are amazing. All of your planning and hard work made for a beautiful and memorable wedding. Looking forward to my Vow Renewal Ceremony in July. I know that the closer I get to the cruise, the more questions I will have. Thank you for sharing your special day with us.

Linda
 
Your pictures are just beautiful!! Would like to use some of your for reference shots if you don't mind.
 
Hi Jillian!!! :goodvibes
I've gotten behind again, but it's been such fun to sit down for the past hour and catch up! I cannot tell you how much I love your photos!! They are fantastic!!! Your photographer did a brilliant job, and you and Michael look wonderful. I know you must be so pleased. Are you going to make an album or anything?? Before our wedding, I'm definitely going to go through them for inspiration if you're happy with that ;)

Yay!! TR time!!!
I can completely imagine that it's quite an adjustment to normal life after the wedding. Like it's great to be married and not have the stress of the wedding anymore, but you're so used to devoting so much of your time to planning, that it's probably a bit odd not to have to worry about that now. I'm sure that there are enough of us brides that would love to have some of your amazing crafts to keep you from straying too far from the wedding world though :)

The Grand Villa at OKW resort must have been amazing!! I thought about trying to book one of the Grand Villas to do a Welcome Event, but then got infatuated with the idea of a DP :upsidedow I bet that was a lot of fun though!

How was your experience with ESCOT? Were the buses nice?? Seems like they were timely, and it made it easy for your guests to get to the departure terminal. Right now I've got busing for the DP booked (not sure if I should keep this or just use Disney busing--CS to MK & MK to GF via monorail. What do you think??), WDW to Port Canaveral, and Port Canaveral to the Airport. That's a great idea about a busing list! I'll have to add that to my To-Do's!

I've heard about so many dramas with the steaming thing!! I'm not sure why DCL hasn't expedited this process a bit more, but it seems like every bride and groom has to deal with some sort of trouble with the steaming billing... At least you all got it sorted out!

I'm so jealous you had a private hair stylist for the wedding!! How fantastic!!! :goodvibes You looked so beautiful for your legal ceremony! I loved your entire outfit--especially those heels and bouquet! It just really made the whole thing pop!
It's so great to hear that they're keen to make you happy and try to accomodate any requests you have onboard. Now that you've said that, I'm starting to toy with the idea of some sort of chair decoration for the ceremony.... Hmm... Will have to investigate this further to see if I can think of something cute but simple :scratchin

So sorry to hear you got seasick!! I know that's a terrible feeling! I usually do okay on ships, but I had a mild seasickness experience on a catamaran last year, and it just makes you miserable. I'm impressed you were able to push on and socialize with your guests still! :thumbsup2

That's so awesome you've booked an Anniversary cruise on the Fantasy!!!! That will be incredible! I am so hoping I can talk Timmy into something similar onboard ;)

So question, I think I saw you mentioned you delivered your welcome bags yourself?? How did you do that? I'm trying to decide whether I should deliver them the day before the cruise while in WDW or if it would be better to distribute them once we're on the cruise...

Thanks for posting your responses to Evi's questions. It was really helpful to hear your advice! :)

I laughed so hard at you waking up at 3 am on the wedding day and thinking it was 8. That is totally something that I would do! :goodvibes
We've tentatively set my parent's room as the "Bridal Suite" and left our room "for the Guys", but after reading about you having to move all your stuff around, I may look at changing that up a bit. Knowing myself, I'm sure I'll have a ton of stuff! :blush:

You looked so fantastic in your pink robe! Really cute idea! It actually inspired me to look into robes of my own, and I'm thinking that could be a cute bridesmaid gift! What did you do for attendant gifts??

Your bouquet was gorgeous!!! :cloud9: I was so happy to see that Disney did such a beautiful job with it. I love that you added pixie dust to it!!!! Can't go wrong with a little extra sparkle, I say.


You were just stunning at your wedding ceremony! The dress, the veil... it was all perfect :goodvibes I also love that Michael wore his Mickey Top Hat to the ceremony! Very fun! I think it looked great in the photos, so I don't think you should be so hard on your effort. I'd really love to make one for Timmy. Do you have any tips or advice for that?

Yay Fantasmic Recessional!! :goodvibes You both looked so lovely in happy in your ceremony photos. Glad to hear it went so well!

Hehe, I loved your re-telling of your first dance! I'd imagine that most end up being "high school style" and probably feel a bit funny, because it's just the two of you dancing with everyone else staring in your direction. I'm also concerned about it being too long, so I conveyed your experience to Timmy, and we're going to aim for something about 2 min long (since we're mixing our own first dance song). At least you had a pretty song that you were dancing to! ;)

That's so awesome that the dinning room welcomed you in at dinner!! How fantastic!! And great to hear that the food was yummy also! How did your seating go? Did Disney follow the arrangement you had sent in?

Love the decorations they did for your room that night and the DCL buttons!!! So fun!! :) Did you wear them the next day??

Thanks for writing such detailed TR! It's so great to hear about everything, and actually makes me feel like I'm experiencing it! Looking forward to hearing more!!
 
Loved the pics. Gonna have to go back and get inspiration for ours. DH liked them also. He was impressed with the top hat, so much so he asked if we were going to wear MM ears? Never would have thought DH would have suggested that, but I am going to run with it :rotfl:
 
Great pics! I especially like the ones of you getting ready.
And Mickey at Castaway Cay!

Thanks! Any "Character" photos we got were spontaneous, they just happened to be there when we were walking by! We were even good children and we waited in line! I know some other couples have asked for the entertainment CM's to arrange a quick meet & greet with characters for some photos. Don't know how "current" that info is :rotfl:

Jillian,

Your pictures are amazing. All of your planning and hard work made for a beautiful and memorable wedding. Looking forward to my Vow Renewal Ceremony in July. I know that the closer I get to the cruise, the more questions I will have. Thank you for sharing your special day with us.

Linda

Thank you! Feel free to ask questions whenever they arise! After I booked my cruise and before I submitted my planning guide, I had a LONG span of time where I had a LOT of inactivity. No active planning, no questions... So when you get closer to the date, I'm sure you'll have more questions!

Your pictures are just beautiful!! Would like to use some of your for reference shots if you don't mind.

Go for it! It's hard to get reference or inspiration photos for DCL weddings! I found a few albums, but some were of different ships and the ones who used DCL's photographers seemed to take photos in the same few spots! I hope my experience will help others!!!

Loved the pics. Gonna have to go back and get inspiration for ours. DH liked them also. He was impressed with the top hat, so much so he asked if we were going to wear MM ears? Never would have thought DH would have suggested that, but I am going to run with it :rotfl:

The top hat was so incredibly easy to make! I just went to Party City and got a $10 top hat, got a black mickey ear cap for $13, and I literally cut the ears out and hot-glued them to the hat. Since the hat was black, it blended well against the black top-hat. Then I just hot-glued a ribbon around the base. It took me no more than 5 minutes total! My "ears" (look back @ my bridal shower pictures) were just a silver pair of Minnie Ears and we stitched on a yard of silver sparkle tulle. This way we each had unique "Ears!" Hey, if DH is willing to go for the ears, go for it! When in Rome... Right?
 
Hi Jillian!!! :goodvibes
I've gotten behind again, but it's been such fun to sit down for the past hour and catch up! I cannot tell you how much I love your photos!! They are fantastic!!! Your photographer did a brilliant job, and you and Michael look wonderful. I know you must be so pleased. Are you going to make an album or anything?? Before our wedding, I'm definitely going to go through them for inspiration if you're happy with that ;)

I don't blame you for "getting behind" Miss BRIDE-TO-BE! I can't believe how soon it's coming up! Of course we're going to make an album! I don't know if I ever mentioned it on my PJ, but Michael and I bought two DFTW albums from Cast Connection (highly discounted WDW merch for CM's) Apparently they used to cost $200-$300 each, and we bought two (One black with Silver trim, One White with Gold trim) for $40 each! They each hold 40 8x10 photos! I can't even begin to fathom narrowing down 1065 photos down to 80! That will be quite a project! And I'd be happy to serve as inspiration! I had so much trouble finding albums for DCL weddings! I want to make it easy on my gals!

Yay!! TR time!!!
I can completely imagine that it's quite an adjustment to normal life after the wedding. Like it's great to be married and not have the stress of the wedding anymore, but you're so used to devoting so much of your time to planning, that it's probably a bit odd not to have to worry about that now. I'm sure that there are enough of us brides that would love to have some of your amazing crafts to keep you from straying too far from the wedding world though :)

Well, I've gotten 2/3 days of my cruise done, at least. I don't think the third day will take very long. I'll probably post that tomorrow on my day off! Everyone keeps asking "How's married life?" and since Michael and I have lived together for 4+ years now, it's NOT terribly different for us in terms of adjusting. BUT we just throw around "husband" and "wife" into conversation to each other and it's a really good feeling knowing we're OFFICIAL! I'm definitely relieved that all of the wedding stress is over, especially after such a long engagement! And now I get to throw myself into some soapy-favors for my lovely DIS brides!

The Grand Villa at OKW resort must have been amazing!! I thought about trying to book one of the Grand Villas to do a Welcome Event, but then got infatuated with the idea of a DP :upsidedow I bet that was a lot of fun though!

The Grand Villa was great, except that since we only had it for one night (most everybody was flying in the night before) there wasn't a lot of time to enjoy each other's company as much as we'd like! Although my friend and my cousin shared the living room and became BFF's overnight! Michael and I still stayed at home, though (so much packing!) and we just traveled to OKW a whole bunch! I'm excited to hear about your DP! It seems like so much fun!

How was your experience with ESCOT? Were the buses nice?? Seems like they were timely, and it made it easy for your guests to get to the departure terminal. Right now I've got busing for the DP booked (not sure if I should keep this or just use Disney busing--CS to MK & MK to GF via monorail. What do you think??), WDW to Port Canaveral, and Port Canaveral to the Airport. That's a great idea about a busing list! I'll have to add that to my To-Do's!

Escot was easy to book, as you should know ;) After we paid, they sent a confirmation e-mail with a "sign here" page that you give to the bus driver. I didn't get any first-hand experience since Michael and I drove. They were on time, they got everyone to the port nice and early (around 10, and they let people into the cruise terminal at 10:30). They went OKW to Port Canaveral, then Port Canaveral to the airport, and finalizing at Downtown Disney (because you can get a bus to anywhere on WDW property from DTD!). I think they did well! I'm not sure about the bus for the DP, though... I'd just let people get themselves there thru WDW transportation- just make sure they give themselves AMPLE time, because there can be delays!

I've heard about so many dramas with the steaming thing!! I'm not sure why DCL hasn't expedited this process a bit more, but it seems like every bride and groom has to deal with some sort of trouble with the steaming billing... At least you all got it sorted out!

I'm so jealous you had a private hair stylist for the wedding!! How fantastic!!! :goodvibes You looked so beautiful for your legal ceremony! I loved your entire outfit--especially those heels and bouquet! It just really made the whole thing pop!

I lucked out completely! She was in control of my cut and color in the upcoming months, and I had plenty of time to tell her what I wanted! I honestly showed her hairstyles on Pinterest (thus that "hairstyle" album!) and she was PERFECT! It turned out just how I wanted it! Also, I never would've been able to do my makeup as well as she did! It was really beautiful! I wish I could've gotten my hair fixed a little more nicely for the CC photo shoot, but I wasn't going to bother her for a third day in a row! I let her sleep in with her hubby! I wish I'd gotten more photos on my Legal Ceremony day and the last dinner! I think only one friend of mine had taken pictures of me in my fancy dress for Animator's Palate! I loved my blue shoes and blue bouquet! I think the feather floral was a great impulse buy! Thank you, Etsy!

It's so great to hear that they're keen to make you happy and try to accomodate any requests you have onboard. Now that you've said that, I'm starting to toy with the idea of some sort of chair decoration for the ceremony.... Hmm... Will have to investigate this further to see if I can think of something cute but simple :scratchin

Chair decor would be amazing! If it's simple, I would think they'd be able to help you. They really do want to make it special! It wasn't something I'd even considered, but I think you might be able to get away with it! Check this out: http://www.save-on-crafts.com/chairsashes.html - Save on Crafts is a great site for brides to get inspiration and great supplies for decent prices. It looks like they sell pre-made chair sashes! :scratchin

So sorry to hear you got seasick!! I know that's a terrible feeling! I usually do okay on ships, but I had a mild seasickness experience on a catamaran last year, and it just makes you miserable. I'm impressed you were able to push on and socialize with your guests still! :thumbsup2

That's alright. It was inconvenient, but I should've remembered how ill I felt the first cruise and I should've taken something in preparation for it! Try buying ginger gum! It was a great anti-nausea (in addition to the motion sickness pills!) I found mine at Drugstore.com and I love it! I'm hoping no other bride feels as ill as I felt that night! Stupid rough Gulf Stream!

That's so awesome you've booked an Anniversary cruise on the Fantasy!!!! That will be incredible! I am so hoping I can talk Timmy into something similar onboard ;)

I'm so excited! If you *want* to, you can book the September 21st, 2013 cruise :rotfl: I hear some AWESOME people will be on it!!! Even if you don't have a specific date in mind, you can always call to re-book and you still keep your $100 onboard credit!

So question, I think I saw you mentioned you delivered your welcome bags yourself?? How did you do that? I'm trying to decide whether I should deliver them the day before the cruise while in WDW or if it would be better to distribute them once we're on the cruise...

We didn't personally deliver them, we had our friends do it! We had 21 staterooms and I think we had 3 or 4 people delivering them. I just attached a tag to each bag with the guests name and stateroom number, and I made sure that they stuck the magnets on the door! It was fun wandering the halls through our cruise and seeing where all of our guests were staying! As much of a pain as it was getting everything onboard, I'm glad we had them delivered to the rooms ourselves- THAT way, we knew they got to the rooms, and they were available when people checked into their rooms! (If you have DCL deliver them, they arrive when you're at dinner) My friends enjoyed the scavenger hunt! BUT, the one package I did send to the DCL warehouse was waiting and ready for my flower girls when they got into their stateroom! That was a huge relief, too! That box was HUGE!

Thanks for posting your responses to Evi's questions. It was really helpful to hear your advice! :)

'Twas my pleasure!

I laughed so hard at you waking up at 3 am on the wedding day and thinking it was 8. That is totally something that I would do! :goodvibes
We've tentatively set my parent's room as the "Bridal Suite" and left our room "for the Guys", but after reading about you having to move all your stuff around, I may look at changing that up a bit. Knowing myself, I'm sure I'll have a ton of stuff! :blush:

Waking up at 3 was no fun! I got really messed up having no clock near me! I'm weird like that when I sleep! I wouldn't change anything (except maybe my preparedness?) about my "bridal suite" choice because you saw the stateroom in my photos- that corner handicapped room was HUGE!!! But if you're going from regular stateroom to regular stateroom, I'd say let the girls use your stateroom! It's easier than sending your attendants back and forth for your things! I'm really glad I cleaned our stateroom that morning, otherwise there would've been a mess for the guys' photos!

You looked so fantastic in your pink robe! Really cute idea! It actually inspired me to look into robes of my own, and I'm thinking that could be a cute bridesmaid gift! What did you do for attendant gifts??

Thanks! I got the idea for the pink robe on Pinterest! I saw some other brides' photos in casual clothes and I was unimpressed- This is your WEDDING DAY! and HEY, you're having lots of pictures as you're getting ready, you may as well look good! As for attendant gifts, we only had one MOH and one BM. I got my MOH a lot of jewelry from Kay. I got her sterling silver sand dollar earrings as well as a sapphire necklace and ring set. I also made her that blue crystal starfish necklace, but after I'd gotten her the "big girl" jewelry, that was what she HAD to wear! As for the BM, we got him all Doctor-Who themed gifts. A Tardis beach towel, a Tardis necktie, and Seal of Rassilon cufflinks. He was easy to amuse!

Your bouquet was gorgeous!!! :cloud9: I was so happy to see that Disney did such a beautiful job with it. I love that you added pixie dust to it!!!! Can't go wrong with a little extra sparkle, I say.

Thanks! It was hard for me to picture the Red & Hot Pink roses (it was hard to find something similar online to get an idea!) but they turned out BEAUTIFULLY! The Mickey crystals were such a nice touch, too! PLUS, since the mickeys were faced in a certain way, there was a "mickey" pearl detail on the ribbon on the stems that let you know which way was forward! If you know anything about me, it's that I love sparkle! I'm glad my hairdresser had the idea to bedazzle the roses!

You were just stunning at your wedding ceremony! The dress, the veil... it was all perfect :goodvibes I also love that Michael wore his Mickey Top Hat to the ceremony! Very fun! I think it looked great in the photos, so I don't think you should be so hard on your effort. I'd really love to make one for Timmy. Do you have any tips or advice for that?

You're gonna make me blush! Everything came together wonderfully! I'm glad that you think his hat seemed fitting! His tux was just so expensive and the hat was SO cheap!!! Luckily the hat photographed well! It was SERIOUSLY SO easy. I just got a $10 top hat from Party City and a $13 black Mickey cap (do they sell these @ Disney Store?) I just cut out the felt around the ears and I glued that felt onto the top hat! Then I just found some leftover ribbon and hot glued that around the base. FIVE minute project!

Yay Fantasmic Recessional!! :goodvibes You both looked so lovely in happy in your ceremony photos. Glad to hear it went so well!

I was SO SO SO SO relieved once the ceremony was complete... and I didn't cry! Yay! I didn't want to cry! I can save the tears for OTHER people's weddings! Michael got a little anxious at one of Captain Henry's long pauses and took that as his cue to "Kiss the Bride" before it was really time to kiss the bride! Oh geez, that seems like my Michael! PLUS the Fantasmic recessional was GREAT! It even continued once we were re-introduced to the room as Mr. & Mrs.!

Hehe, I loved your re-telling of your first dance! I'd imagine that most end up being "high school style" and probably feel a bit funny, because it's just the two of you dancing with everyone else staring in your direction. I'm also concerned about it being too long, so I conveyed your experience to Timmy, and we're going to aim for something about 2 min long (since we're mixing our own first dance song). At least you had a pretty song that you were dancing to! ;)

Hey, it photographed alright! Who cares if I'm not a dancer! Who would I be kidding if I'd taken a ballroom dancing class to prepare? I probably would've been more nervous if I'd had specific steps I was supposed to be performing!

That's so awesome that the dinning room welcomed you in at dinner!! How fantastic!! And great to hear that the food was yummy also! How did your seating go? Did Disney follow the arrangement you had sent in?

Seating was good, throughout all of the dinners, all of our tables were clustered NEAR each other. The night we were the closest was Enchanted Garden (like, ALL next to each other) the next closest was Artists Point (but the 10-top was separated from the others by a wall) and most scattered was the wedding night at Royal Palace (What can you expect when you request a specific table??) But that being said, the tables were all within eyesight. Most of our tables didn't know many people at other tables, so it wasn't a huge deal to be scattered. It was still easy to make our social rounds! And yes, my seating chart was followed as planned- everyone was with the right people.

Love the decorations they did for your room that night and the DCL buttons!!! So fun!! :) Did you wear them the next day??

It was lovely!!! But totally impractical. I don't know how anyone can feel "romantic" after a long and exhausting (and stressful, even though it's GOOD stress!) wedding day!!! As I said, he LITERALLY swept the rose petals into the trash after we took pictures! I LOVE the Ariel & Eric DCL "Just Married" buttons! Working @ WDW I see the WDW buttons EVERY DAY, so seeing something new is exciting!! We wore them a couple times... Along with my "Just Married" tank that a friend gave me! We wore the Mickey/Minnie ears off the ship because we didn't have anywhere to pack them!! :rotfl2:

Thanks for writing such detailed TR! It's so great to hear about everything, and actually makes me feel like I'm experiencing it! Looking forward to hearing more!!


Welcome! As I mentioned earlier... I don't think my CC day TR will be terribly long nor nearly as exciting as the wedding day!! But, I will still be diligent and write it! I'm sooo excited about getting my new order of supplies so I can start making some blue soaps!!! :thumbsup2
 
Your wedding PJ has been so informative!!! I am so happy your wedding went smoothly. You looked absolutely beautiful in the professional and candid pictures!! I loved your personal touches with the shoes and bouquets.
Just wanted to stop in and say congratulations!
 
YOUR PHOTOS ARE AMAZING!!! SO AMAZING IT HAD TO BE TYPED IN ALL CAPS!!!:goodvibes

I love watching those photos and even forced my DF to watch all 1,000 pictures with me!!
 
Your wedding PJ has been so informative!!! I am so happy your wedding went smoothly. You looked absolutely beautiful in the professional and candid pictures!! I loved your personal touches with the shoes and bouquets.
Just wanted to stop in and say congratulations!

Hello! :wave2: I'm glad you got a lot out of my PJ and Thank You for the compliments on my photos! I'm glad you stopped by to read my story! :goodvibes

YOUR PHOTOS ARE AMAZING!!! SO AMAZING IT HAD TO BE TYPED IN ALL CAPS!!!:goodvibes

I love watching those photos and even forced my DF to watch all 1,000 pictures with me!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH, I LOVE THEM TOO!!!

haha, it looks like your caps rubbed off on me! I'm surprised your DH sat through them all! The night I got them, my DH would only look through half of them before he got tired of looking at us :confused3 BTW- LOVE your username- anything with "glitter" is something I approve of! :rotfl: Are you looking into a DCL wedding for yourself???
 

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