Lindsay & Larry's Sept. 20 Wishes Wedding

[LindsayHD]

Hi There!!!

We have finally decided and we are OFFICIALLY having a Disney World Wedding. But let's start at the beginning, not the happily every after.

My name is Lindsay. I am 27 years old and have been engaged to my fiance Larry for almost two and a half years!!! Holy Moly! It's Time... We are ready to start planning our wedding.

I didn't go to Disney World until I was 14 years old. But when we went, I was hooked. And so were my parents. The next year they bought into DVC and we have gone almost every year since. My mom is a real estate agent, and when I was about 16 years old, I was at one of her client's houses and they had a picture of them getting married in front of Cinderella's Castle. After that day, I knew I wanted to get married in Disney. I have always been a pretty big tom-boy into sports and whatnot. I never really thought about my wedding until I met Larry, Disney was always just sort of in the back of my mind.

My fiance's name is Larry. He is originally from New Mexico and is a chef. He is always cooking spicy foods and gourmet dinners. Larry is very into sports and is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan, which I hate. But I love him, and his cooking so I keep him around. He has only been to Disney once, but once was enough and he has been pushing for a Disney Wedding since the day after we got engaged. He has high standards and he believes only Disney will be able to meet his expectations.

We met in school. We met at a Culinary/Hospitality Management School in Pennsylvania and after the second week of school, we were inseparable. We both went on to become Valedictorians of our respected classes and both secured great jobs; however, these jobs were 250 miles apart from each other. We did the long distance thing for a while, which like everyone says-sucks. Eventually we couldn't stand it anymore and he moved to me.

Our Engagement Trip. Larry had never been on a vacation in his entire life, so I decided to plan us a trip to Disney World for January 2011. It was a 9 day trip staying at the Boardwalk. He wanted to make the trip into as many new things for me as possible and I had never stayed at Boardwalk before. We fell in love with it. What's not to love. The location, the atmosphere, the restaurants-I can't imagine staying at another resort now. It's perfect. Larry's a chef, so we did this trip right: Deluxe Dining Plan, Chef's Table at Victoria & Albert's, & Pool View. We had to make our first vacation together perfect.

The second day we were there, we went to Hollywood Studios. I don't think I have ever seen a single parade in Disney besides night parades, which made Larry want to see the parade even more. Plus it was the opening week of the Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun Parade. The parade didn't start for about 20 minutes so we sat down on the stoop on the corner in front of the reader boards. There was a show going on before the parade with some of the old hollywood actors and actresses. One of the actresses came up and started talking to us. Larry was wearing a first time visitor pin and she started asking him why he hadn't come to visit ever. She then asked us how long we had been dating. Larry responded by saying 2 years. She grabbed my hand, pointed it at Larry and asked if we had been together for 2 years, why he hadn't given me a ring. She then grabbed my hand and started pulling me up with her, saying "Well if he won't get you a ring, we will find someone better and richer who will." Larry then grabbed my hand out of her hand and got down on one knee, told me how much he loved me and how he wanted to be with me and proposed!! :fireworks:
I started crying and the actress started freaking out. She grabbed us both and pulled us to the middle of the street and put us on this red carpet. One of the old hollywood actors then had us re enact the entire thing in front of about 800 people right before the parade. I couldn't stop crying. The actress brought us back to "our spot" and sat us down. She then brought me a box of tissues and said it was our engagement present.

The Red Carpet:

Announcing what Happened:

The Proposal:

Engaged!!!

I was so excited I couldn't stop looking at the ring. I don't even remember the parade. I was just sitting there crying, staring at my ring. Looking back, I wish I could have thanked the actress, heck even got her name.
We went and took some photo pass pictures. We told the guy we had just gotten engaged and he did some cool pictures with us.

We then went to the Great Movie Ride, which is one of my favorites, but I was so excited I couldn't even focus. We were in the front row and it was so weird because this girl I graduated high school with who I hadn't seen in about 6 years was the actress who performed the ride. She was so excited to see me, but I didn't even realize because I was so out of it. I just blurted out that we had just gotten engaged. It was so random. Kinda funny because she ended up being the first person we told.



I then was so overwhelmed I had to process everything. I wanted to go back to the hotel and have a glass of champagne to celebrate. My high school friend told us to go to guest relations and get Just Engaged pins and we took this pic while waiting for the boat back to the boardwalk.

We got some Fairy Tale Champagne, drank on our poolside balcony and called our friends and family. Perfection.

 

[LindsayHD]

Our Wedding


Larry and I had 7 more days down in Disney World after we got engaged, so we were in bliss and decided to check out Franck's and the Wedding Pavillion. I think a lot of people must get engaged and do this because the receptionist there was very helpful and not at all surprised we were there or anything. We looked through all the photo books and looked at the cakes and were impressed. There was nothing going on in the Wedding Pavilion that day so we went over there and looked at it. When the doors opened, it just blew me away. I have not been super into wedding planning at all before we got engaged so this was like the first thing I had even looked at, but it was amazing. It literally took my breath away. I just imagined myself getting married there. The windows, the pews, the aisle. Everything about it.

Well it also sold Larry. He became obsessed with getting married in Disney World. Before we got engaged whenever we had talked about getting married, we always said it would be in Cleveland, because that's where I am from. I have a big family and my family has a lot of family friends. Almost all of these people are in Cleveland, so it just made sense. And then Disney became an option. Larry loved the idea of Disney. He has 8 siblings and none of them have ever been there and he really wants at least his 2 younger sisters of the 8 to see it. All of his family and friends would have to travel to Cleveland as well, so he would rather them travel to Disney World rather than travel to Cleveland. I wasn't completely sold though. I am pretty religious so it's hard to imagine not getting married in a church.
We went back to Cleveland and after writing down our guests, we realized that in Cleveland we would have to invite 400 people!!!!
This would also involve me meeting a lot of Larry's family on our wedding day. Yikes. I didn't like that idea at all.

At this same time Larry made me a formal presentation on a Disney World Wedding. He made a power point, showed me pictures, did some of the walkthroughs. He was super into it.

Both Larry and I are in the Luxury Hospitality Industry, so it can be hard to please us. Disney could be one of a few places to be able to live up to the standard we continuously set for others

So a little bit about the Wedding:

Why did we wait so long?
We got engaged in 2011. We started planning a Disney Wedding for January of 2013, which was 2 years away and we lived in Cleveland so it would be a destination wedding. There wasn't a lot of planning done, I sort of figured I would do it closer to the day. In September 2011, we started contacting our consultant saying we were ready to book at the 16 month mark. A few days later, we received a message that DFTW had changed their policy and that you could not book until 12 months out instead of 16. It must have been fate because a few days later, Larry was offered a huge promotion to move down to Southwest Florida for a Chef position. I eventually moved with him after a couple of months, but that move used a lot of our wedding fund. It also changed our seasons: In Hospitality, it is not uncommon to work 65 hours/week. January was now peak season, which meant if we wanted to have a relaxing wedding week, we would have to change the time of year of our wedding. After some time to relax and consider all of our options, we decided on a late September 14 wedding. I am not set on a date, as long as it is on a Saturday and at the Wedding Pavilion.

So this is what I know so far: Wishes Wedding for 150 people(We are inviting 220 and think about 70 of them will not come) at the Wedding Pavilion at 5:00, ideally September 20 or 27, 2014 at a TBD Banquet Hall with a Dessert Welcome Party in Italy Isola the night before. I am not sure about which Ballroom. My Mom, Dad, Larry, Myself and my MOH Melissa are all going to meet with our Sales Consultant in September to look at the options.

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

Congratulations and welcome! You two are such a sweet couple! I love your proposal story, I love spontaneous proposals (especially at Disney) it's so romantic! I love how excited your fiancé is for the Disney wedding, making a PowerPoint and everything! My DF pushed for a Disney wedding too, but that is a whole other level! I am really looking forward to following along, and hearing your experience as an informed service industry professional.

Can't wait for more!

 

[disneydania]

Welcome! Your story is so adorable. I've seen couples get engaged at Disney before and I always feel happy being part of that couple's happy moment. I'm sure you'll love telling your kids that story in years to come.

And if you're not set on a ballroom yet for your reception, look into the ones at the Boardwalk resort. You already love it there and those ballrooms are just lovely, better than the Grand Floridian ones IMO.

Happy planning

 

[ddevito]

Congratulations! My Disney wishes wedding will be 9/17 so we may see each other around. Best in your planning!

 

[charliegirl76]

Congratulations and welcome!! Love your engagement story. I would have died if DF had done that. I can't wait to see all of your plans!

 

[disneydreamer1025]

Congrats! Hope planning goes well, I am a September 17th bride so I may see you!

 

[theemily]

Congrats on your engagement!! That story is adorable, I especially love the 'present' of tissues

Good luck with all of your planning - I'm sure with both of you in hospitality it will be an amazing wedding!

 

[LindsayHD]

Hi All!!

Thank you for all the nice comments. Next time I promise I will answer them individually. I am still so new to this whole thing.
Sorry for not being on here often, I have been reading other people’s PJ’s. There just was not much in the way of planning. But now I finally feel like things are starting to take shape and we are actually planning a wedding. 2 weeks ago, my mom came down to Florida to go dress shopping and to go to a Bridal Show. We planned it super last minute because we realized it was starting to be crunch time. In September, we are going to Disney for 5 days for a site visit and then once it hits October, it is busy season at work til May, and I am not sure if I would have been able to set aside a few days for my Mom if she were to come down here to go dress shopping.

I had tried dresses on once or twice before up in Cleveland but never found anything I loved. I realized that I liked fit and flares, no satin, and definitely not a ball gown. I am not a fashionista in any way, shape, or form so I do not know a lot about dresses. I watch Say Yes to the Dress, but all the gowns I like are always super high end, so I stopped watching it for a while, hopefully to eliminate my caviar tastes.

My Mom came down for a Saturday night-Tuesday Morning. If you don’t know, Southwest Florida is quite small. There is Naples, which is extremely high-end and there is Fort Myers, which is larger but still really small compared to other larger cities. I suggested to my Mom to go over to Miami to go dress shopping, but my Mom was against it, saying that we should look at my home area first so it would be easier for fittings. I obliged, not wanting to spend a lot of money on staying in Miami anyways and said if we didn’t find anything that she would come back down again and we would do Miami the next time.

There are only 5 places to try dresses on in about 65 miles, so I made appointments at 3 of them. We were going to do them all in one day and then I had to play in a softball game that night so it was going to be a tight day. The first place we went was a locally-owned boutique. The owner was gracious enough to come in on the only day she was closed to let me try on dresses. She was absolutely fantastic. She listened to everything I had to say, went and grabbed dresses based upon what I liked and was super kind. I tried on quite a few dresses there and all the ones I liked seemed to be Maggie Sottero. While I was trying on one of the ones I had liked a lot, a UPS man actually came and dropped off another Maggie dress. The owner actually went to the back at that time, cut open the box and had me try that on. Fresh out of the box. I tried the dress on and it was my favorite. It was beautiful, clean, and it fit almost perfectly.





She had me walk in the dress. She let me take pictures and my Mom cried. I really felt good about it. I told the owner that I still had two more appointments that day, but I would probably be back to get the dress.

We left there to grab lunch and head to our next appointment. As I was driving away, I was starting to feel hesitant about the dress. Somewhere deep down, I didn’t feel right about it. I was thinking that maybe because the woman had opened the store and the UPS had come, I was convincing myself it was fate, when really it was not.

We arrived at our second appointment right on time. The second place was a locally-owned boutique as well. It was in a shopping mall, which I am totally ok with, but we parked in front of the store and there was trash everywhere. Plastic cups, chip bags, straw wrappers. I work in hospitality so maybe, I am biased, but I could not imagine owning a salon, walking into work everyday and not picking up the trash that my customers step over to get to my store. Even if you just pay rent and don’t own the place, there is no appreciation for where you work. We get inside and no one even says hello. I say Hi, my name is Lindsay and I have an appointment. A woman, who I later figure out is the owner, is leaning on the counter, says Hi and says to go pick out some dresses I like. I wasn’t even sure what to do. I asked if I was supposed to grab them myself and then her assistant said no she would just follow behind me. It was so awkward. I did not feel comfortable at all. The owner of the salon then went on to tell me that they are the best shop in the area and all other shops just copies everything they do. Their largest client base is referrals, which I find entirely hard to believe especially with what comes next.

I picked out a few dresses. The first one I tries on was another Maggie Sottero. It was beautiful, but not as pretty as the one I liked at the other store. The second dress I tried on would not fit. We could not get it to go over my hips and she did not try over my head. She took the dress off of me and quoted, “Well you didn’t like that dress that much anyways, did you?” I was so horrified. How rude could this woman be? Insert footnote here: I have been working out and eating healthy lately like crazy. I have lost almost 20 pounds. Yes, I could probably stand to lose another 25-30 pounds but I was able to fit into a 10 at the last store. She made me feel horrible about myself. I just nodded my head. There was one more dress in the dressing room with us. She looked at the dress and looked at me and said “What do you think” I replied by telling her that it looked pretty, but I would love to see it on. She replied by saying, “No, I mean do you think it will fit you?” And then went on, “Why don’t you go look at the rest of the store and see if you can find anything that will actually fit you?” I was beyond angry, sad and mad. I couldn’t even put emotion into it. I said fine, trying not to cry and left the dressing room. The owner was still standing behind the counter, talking on the phone, and I told my Mom we needed to leave. She asked why, trying to keep me there, because it is hard for her to come in town. I told her I was not comfortable and would never ever buy my dress there. We left and then I couldn’t hold it in anymore, started crying as soon as I opened the door to leave.

I had my emotional breakdown in the car and then was fine. My mom called over to Alfred Angelo, our last appointment of the day, to see if we could somehow get in 2 hours earlier since we were right there and they let us. Now let me state something about Alfred Angelo. I went in not wanting to even look there. I am trying to have a non-Disney wedding at Disney World; therefore, I wanted to shy away from Alfred Angelo because of the whole Disney Wedding Dress line. But I figured I might as well see if I like anything.

Upon walking into AA, it was immediately upon me how much different it was then the last place. There were 3 girls behind the counter and they were all extremely welcoming. The girl that was working with me, Amanda, was so nice. She pulled me aside, asked me what I liked, asked about Larry. She then had me look at the Disney dresses and told me to pick out the ones that I like from a book. We would then try them on and she could get a sense for what I liked to try on after.

I did try on a few of the Disney dresses: Cinderella, Jasmine, & Tiana. I liked the Tiana dress the most of the 3, but the Jasmine dress flattered me as well. Here are a couple of pictures:







None of these dresses were exactly what I wanted, but Amanda said she had one that she knew I would like. I tried it on and Amanda was a little newer so she didn’t pull it down correctly. Even though it didn’t look extremely right, I knew it was THE dress. The other 2 girls came over and helped, which was so great. The one tied the corset tighter while the other got under my skirt and pulled it down correctly. I fell in love immediately as it fit perfectly. Hugged me in the right places and had two roses on the bottom. It was entirely perfect. I started crying, my Mom started crying. Even the girls that worked there were excited about it. One even said that if she were getting married, this is the dress she would choose.

Not to sound conceited, but I actually think I look better than the model. I just do the dress justice better; However, I cannot post it on here. This is too public of a site and if you didn't get that from my last post, my fiance is wedding crazy(Hello Powerpoint). He knows I'm on here and I know he would stalk. I posted this is DisneyBrides and I will post it in the facebook group. They are both so much more private. You can also pm me if those don't work for you.


All in all, it was an amazing shopping experience day. My softball game that night actually got cancelled, so my Mom ended up trying on dresses. She didn’t find anything she loved, but it was so nice to do that with just her. No excess opinions and just myself & my Mom bonding.

 

[andeesings]

Oh, please PM me the photo of the dress I'm dying to see it!!! And may I also say I was obsessed with you in the Maggie Sottero!!! You look GORGEOUS!

 

[LindsayHD]

Oh, please PM me the photo of the dress I'm dying to see it!!! And may I also say I was obsessed with you in the Maggie Sottero!!! You look GORGEOUS!

Ahhh I just saw this message. I am going to PM the dress to you right now. Sorry for the delay!

 

[LindsayHD]

Hi All!

Oh my Gosh. Sooo much has happened since my last post. I kept trying to update but so much has been happening that I just never got a chance. I have been thinking about my newsletter and Save the Dates for a while now and I wanted to do something a little different but that I could incorporate for later on in the wedding, i.e. Programs, Celebrating Buttons, Website and all that jazz. One of the things I have always wanted at my wedding, even before I knew I was having a Disney wedding, was a Caricature Artist. I thought it would be a spin on the popular photo booth of today's day and age. Well then Larry and I started working for a company who uses caricatures all the time as an employee incentive. We get one whenever we get a promotion or if you are employee of the month and we have a group caricature montage of all the Leaders. So I asked the artist we use to make one of Larry and I to sort of incorporate my Caricature Artist Wedding Request that I have had forever. It turned out fantastic.


When I e-mailed the artist, I gave him a picture of my dress. He did such a good job that I think it looks too similar to my dress to let Larry see the entirety of the dress so I am going to somehow block it out. I am considering putting the font over top both of us saying Save the Date to sort of block out the dress while still calling attention to the Disney aspect. I will test out a few things in the next few days to show you all.

Also, I just got back from Disney for my site visit. Before I left, I had been speaking with my Sales Consultant and I am sure I had asked her billions of questions, but one of the important things I discussed at length with her was dates. So just a recap, in case I haven't mentioned it. I want a Saturday evening wedding at 5:00 in the Wedding Pavilion with a Ballroom Reception. One of the most important items to me is the Dessert Welcome Party in Epcot on Friday night. Well for both work and price, September is a good time. I ideally wanted September 27; however, because the Food & Wine Festival will be starting that weekend, that Friday night, no Epcot locations would be available. I want the wedding as late in September as possible, because I know firsthand, it rains ALOT in Florida. Like ALOT ALOT.

This is from this past Disney Trip. It rained so much


The later in September it gets, the less chance of rain; therefore, I wanted the latest date possible thus being September 20. I e-mailed Diane and told her that was my first choice and asked if anyone else wanted it, and of course someone else wanted September 20 at 5:00 for the Wedding Pavilion so I would have to do a lottery. :twisted: Yuck. I was not happy about that. I tried not to think about it for the week before going to Disney because I knew I would find out while I was there because it would be a year out while we were there.

Next Up... The Site Visit Trip

 

[LindsayHD]

The Disney Site Visit Trip

Thursday September 19
The purpose of our entire trip was for an entire wedding planning trip. Both of my parents, my best friend and MOH Melissa, Larry and myself all met Thursday for a 5 night trip to focus entirely on the wedding. Larry and I got into town that afternoon where we met up with my family at Old Key West. My parents own DVC at Old Key West because my mom is in Real Estate and those villas have the largest square footage of any other DVC so we try to stay there frequently. Our site visit was scheduled the next day at 9 am so we went to dinner at Teppan Edo in Japan to discuss our game plan. Well that was both a good idea and a bad idea. Absolutely nothing can be discussed at Teppan Edo because there is a show the entire time. The Hibachi Chef was absolutely fantastic, the best one I have ever seen at any Hibachi Restaurant and it was a Woman, which I have never seen.
So we didn't get much talking done at the restaurant, but it was ok because the food was so good, I didn't really seem to mind. We got back to the 2 bedroom villa and I tried to stay awake to come up with a plan for the next day, but I was unsuccessful. It had been a long day of both work and travel and I wanted to have a well rested mind for the morning.

Friday September 20
The next morning I woke up super excited and super nervous. My family is extremely opinionated, including myself and Larry so I knew it was going to be an intense day. We were supposed to be at the Wedding Pavilion at 9, so I told everyone we had to leave by 8:15 because I knew my mom would be late. Well of course I was right and we didn't get on the road until 8:35. We got lost twice along the way, but with the help of 2 Castmembers, we made it to Franck's at 8:57. I am always early because my mom is always late, so I was already nervous going in, even though we were on time. Because I was so nervous, we didn't get the obligatory picture in front of the door; however, I did get a picture of the doors.


We met Diane right away and she led us into the Fauna room. It was quite tight since there were 6 of us, but as soon as I sat down, Diane immediately put me at ease. She was so friendly and incredibly enthusiastic. She started off by explaining the DFTW process and the way the LOA worked. She then went into the lottery. She explained that since that day it was exactly one year out and it was a Friday, they wouldn't do the Lottery until the end of the next business day, which was Monday. She then also explained that even though all the sales consultants are present and choose the winner of the Lottery, the winner is not notified until 2 days later, so I wouldn't hear from them until most likely Wednesday. In all honesty, that wasn't an extremely long time, but I knew I would be nervous for the whole Disney trip.

She then asked me about my back-up options. I told her I was interested in the 2:30 Ceremony Time but then she said that the Reception immediately follows and I have to have a night reception, so I changed my back-up to 5:00 on Saturday September 13. I really did not want that because again, the earlier in the month the better chance of rain, or dare I say hurricanes.

All reception ballroom venues were open for both days, so we went on a field trip to look at the choices. Going in, I was assuming we would choose the Contemporary or the Boardwalk. We first went to the Boardwalk and everyone came to the conclusion that it is not our taste in the slightest. It is too old-fashioned and I am much more trendy than that. Both Larry and I were somewhat disappointed because the Boardwalk is our favorite hotel and that is where we want to do our room block at. Our next stop was the Contemporary. I really liked the Contemporary. I didn't take pictures, I was extremely focused on looking at the venues, so if you want to see pictures, let me know and I will ask my mom to send me some. Anyways, I really liked the Contemporary. the Nutcracker room has a small patio outside of their ballroom that has windows. I had this idea of putting games out there like cornhole and having natural light come in. I also really like the carpeting, it was the most downplayed carpet of any of the ballrooms. Traditionally, brides do the cocktail hour on that patio, but I didn't like the idea of that so Diane said that we could do cocktail hour on the Porte Cochere because no other events would be going on. You could see both the castle and Space Mountain from there, along with the monorail, but there were bugs everywhere. Like a mass amount. She told me that they would probably be gone, but she wasn't quite sure why they were there. Eeek

From there we headed over the the Grand Floridian. We saw every room in the Grand. My favorite was the Whitehall Room and Patio, which based on our guest count would be where our cocktail hour would be and then checked out the ballrooms. I really liked it and all of my family loved it. Diane told us there would be a wedding in the Grand Ballroom that evening and that we were more than welcome to go check it out. The 6 of us headed back the Franck's to go over the room block and answer any last minute questions.

I felt really good after the site visit was over. Diane had a way of putting me extremely at ease and I really felt confident in the trust I had in her. From there, my mom wanted us to check out the possible hotels for our room block. First we headed over to the All Stars and to Pop Century. They were almost entirely identical so whichever one would offer the better price would be the hotel we would choose. From there we headed over the Coronado Springs. We met a lovely cast member in the lobby who offered to show us a room. The rooms were really nice and Larry really liked how the theming reminded him of his home: Albuquerque, New Mexico. The one thing I was uneasy about was how large the grounds were. It seemed like quite a distance from the front of the complex to the back. After Coronado Springs, we headed over to Port Orleans Riverside. My mom loved Riverside. She said it was so relaxing and tranquil and she loved the look of the mansions. Larry said he liked it because it reminded him of a vampire movie. Haha

I was getting tired and I wanted to see the wedding setup that night, so we headed back to Old Key West to take a nap before checking out the reception and going to California Grille for dinner.

After a power nap, the 5 of us headed over to the Grand Floridian to check out the setup for that night for the wedding for 125 people. The room looked beautiful and as we were looking around, 2 ladies from Disney Floral came over and started talking to us. They could not be more helpful. They asked us what our decor would be like and went on my mom's iPad to pull up linen pictures and showed us where the get their decor from if Disney does not carry it. I was more nervous for them. The reception started in 45 minutes and only half the room was decorated, I couldn't believe it. :shock: I left feeling more confident about the Grand Floridian but still couldn't decide between there and the Contemporary. That night we took a break and to check out the Updated California Grille and to watch HalloWishes, which I liked more than regular Wishes.

Saturday September 21
The family headed over to the Magic Kingdom. I could not believe how crowded it was. One of the reasons I love September is how empty the parks are. Not today. The place was PACKED. Maybe because it was a Saturday or because it was somewhat sunny, place was jamming. That night we had dinner at the Polynesian and checked out where the future DVC would be. In no way would it affect the wedding pavilion, which though I wasn't super worried, a small butterfly in my stomach relaxed.

Sunday September 22
Larry had to go to a food show in downtown Orlando and my Dad had to go back to Cleveland so it was a girls day at Hollywood Studios. Again it was crazy crowded, which made just a little more uneasy since this would be the wedding weekend next year. We waited 45 minutes for the Great Movie Ride, which was longer than I have ever waited! September, come on! We didn't even get to go on Toy Story Mania because all the fastpasses were gone by 11 and there was a 95 minute wait. We rode all the rides we wanted and then it started pouring. We decided to skip Fantasmic to head back to Old Key West and have dinner there.

Monday September 23
We woke up to pouring rain. :roll: That night we had an early dinner at Be Our Guest and reservations for the Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party that night for the fireworks so we decided to stay at the resort and work on wedding stuff. Since the lottery would be that day, Diane called me first thing in the morning asking me what I decided Grand Floridian vs. Contemporary. I asked her if I could have 30 minutes and call her back. We discussed the pros and cons. Melissa pointed out that if there was an outside patio that I might not like that guests are not inside dancing We also discussed how much the Contemporary looks like a Convention Center and the Grand Floridian blends much more in with the Wedding Pavilion; therefore, it was decided that we wanted Grand Floridian. I called her back and was nervous all day for the lottery even though I knew I wouldn't find out for 2 more days.
At 4:00 we went to Be Our Guest. I was so excited to eat here. It was more stunning inside than I could have imagined.

We got to the table and saw this napkin fold, which I loved. Maybe for the wedding???


I asked our server, Craig, how to do it and he totally showed us how. It was hilarious watching my mom and best friend who have never worked in restaurants try to fold a napkin. I can fold napkins in my sleep so it was super easy for me, but seeing my mom do it was great. The food was amazing and even though we had a dessert party that night, I had to try the Grey Stuff, after all, "It's Delicious." And it was. As I was eating dessert, my phone started ringing and it was Disney. I answered the phone and it was Diane. I was so nervous. Why was she calling me right after the lottery? After a couple minutes, she told me I got my date.

I was so excited I started crying. Of course my mom and Larry took pictures of me crying.




She then told me she would send the Room Block info and instructions where to go from there. At that time Craig, our amazing server, came over and was freaking out that something horrible happened. Nope. All good. He told me to come back next year, bring the wedding party for dinner and request him as a server. Maybe that could be the case...

We went on a few rides and it was still raining. Either because it was a weekday or the rain, Magic Kingdom was dead that day. We got on everything right away. As we were standing in line for the Dessert Party, I received a call from Vicki Arndt. We were supposed to be doing engagement pictures at the Boardwalk the next day, but it had been raining all day and there was a 90% chance of rain tomorrow. She asked if we could reschedule, which I was ok with. It had been a long week and I had a huge zit that morning. Fate stepped in it seemed.

The Dessert Party was quite nice. Though due to the humidity not a lot of the tarts held up, good to know for my dessert party next year. They literally crumbled when you picked them up. Everything was tasty and the view was spectacular. Where else can you enjoy desserts, coffee and then watch the Wishes comfortably? Definitely worth it.

Since Diane had e-mailed us all the information and I wouldn't see my mom til Christmas we did the entire room block. We chose:
All Star Movies: $88/Night
Port Orleans Riverside: $154/Night
Boardwalk Resort: $256/Night

It was quite difficult to guess what nights each person would stay. It wasn't as hard to choose which hotel, but to choose what nights, especially since we have a lot of Florida residents, it was intense. Hope it works out for the best.

Tuesday September 24
Our last full day and since we were leaving at 7 am the next day to go back to work, it had to be a somewhat early night. It was a 90% chance of rain all day and they postpone our pictures because of it, so of course it didn't rain and the sky was beautiful all day. The 4 of us had a nice day at Epcot. We then went back to room to come up with a strategy for DVC and enjoy the last moments of the trip. It was a very successful trip. I was a little disappointed we didn't do our engagement session, but all the more to look forward to in December. Over the next few days, I will be returning the room block and signing the LOA. Holy Moly, it's finally starting to feel real!

 

[nickipoo2012]

congratulations, i get married just before you on the 16th at the WP with reception at WHR i have Diane as my consultant too she is amazing!! good luck i hope you got your 1st choice

 

[nickipoo2012]

you did get your 1st choice sorry i mis-read that bit

 

[elphie101]

Hello!! I'm along for the ride, especially since our weddings are (hopefully) so close together! (I'm hoping for 10/12/14). Congrats on getting your date!!! And great site visit TR!

I LOVE your caricature! I would love to do something like that but I don't think it's in our budget (I need my dessert party!!)

 

[LindsayHD]

Hi All

So I have not visited this report in forever, basically because I work insane amounts of hours during November – March, but also because I have been crushing out my newsletter. I finally finished my newsletters and sent them out a couple days ago, so I can breathe easy for a little while.
Since last posting, I have accomplished a few goals. I started my wedding website. I asked around for a while and I wasn’t looking for something super in-depth so I finally decided on wedding wire. It was free. It came along with checklists and all that stuff and all I really needed to do was to fill in the information that they already pre-prepared for me. If anyone wants to check it out, it’s pretty basic, but here you go. Basically what I did was copy everything from my newsletter into the website so it all worked out. http://weddingwire.com/lindsayandlarry

I was able to finish my Save the Dates and I think they just turned out awesome.



A few months ago, I got a $10 for $60 groupon worth for vistaprint. I had read other’s pj’s and it seemed like vistaprint wasn’t wonderful and usually 50% of whatever ordered got messed up.
I ordered postcards, one-sided and upgraded to a stronger cardboard. I planned on sending about 100 so I had to order 250 in case half of them were unusable. With my groupon, it cost me about $20. When I got the postcards in the mail, I was pleasantly surprised – Not a single card was bad, I could have only ordered 100 and been just fine.
I then ordered adhesive magnets from Oriental Trading for about $10 and made them magnetic. I am so happy with the way they turned out and from the few people who have gotten them so far, they’re a hit.
With how easy my Save the Dates were, my newsletters were quite the opposite, by far my biggest struggle so far. I knew all the information I wanted to include, I just couldn’t find the motivation to get them done. I started writing it and only wanted it to be 8 pages. But I realized I wouldn’t be able to fit it into 8 pages. Since I made mine like a newsletter, instead of adding just one page, I had to add 4, thus more time and more information.
At my job, I write an employee newsletter quarterly so I thought I would hone those skills and make this a little different than those of the past. I wanted more of a magazine feel. Check it out. I hope you all like it. Thank you to all the other pj’s out there that I was able to get notes and ideas and steal a line here or there. I am so glad you had an impact on my wedding.
























It was presented in booklet format, stapled down the middle like a magazine, so some stuff didn’t transfer well, for example the back of the resort page, but all in all, I am pretty proud of it. I bought some Martha Stewart glittery yarn to tie together the Save the Date and Newsletter like a nice little care package and bought some green envelopes online to go with the theme.





Next up, I got my shoes, got to pick up my dress, and some jewelry!

 

[LindsayHD]

I like to consider myself a funky, contemporary bride. I like some of the off-beat stuff, but I am not committed to going the whole way of "offbeat bride."
I am not really into a lot of the traditions and there is nothing I hate more at a wedding than the garter toss. I am not a fan of the hurling of the bouquet either but I think the garter toss is by far the tackiest. Blame it on my prudeness or hatred of PDA, but a guy climbing up in a girls skirt, usually using his mouth or teeth in front of the elderly and children, is not my cup of tea. I also think it is super awkward when the garter winner and bouquet snagger are forced to dance together. Nobody looks comfortable in that situation.

I do however like taking traditional ideas and giving them a twist. For example, when we get ready to enter the reception, we are going to do our first dance but we want everyone joining Larry and I and dancing to "Jump Around" by House of Payne. We are going to have the DJ ask everyone to join the bride and groom on the dance floor for the first dance.

And so I lead into my traditional non-tradition wedding...

Like most girls, I am obsessed with Pinterest. I feel like my wedding would be only half as awesome if Pinterest hadn't been invented. I truly think Pinterest is the wedding magazine of our time. Last year when I started planning the wedding, my moh bought me a subscription to Brides Magazine. I thought that was such a cute idea. In this super quick technology era that we now live in, people just want their information that much quicker. They just want to blow through and see what works for them. Don’t get me wrong, every month when that Brides magazine comes in the mail, I get super excited to comb through the whole thing and cut out anything I could remotely want. Pinterst is just such a mecca for that. If you were to compare pinning to cutting out of a magazine, it is just that much quicker, alas this crazy generation.
Anyways, not to be the crazy Pinterest lady. I have gotten a few great ideas from there and I just want to give credit where credit is due. So here are a few things that I have seen that I am currently working on improving.

Unity Ceremony
Like I said before I like taking the traditional idea and doing it a little it different. I saw some unity ceremonies online that involved a painting or the wine box. I love the wine box idea, especially the part about writing the love letters to each other and then opening them at your first big fight, but then I found this super cute thing on Pinterest and it was a custom-made hourglass in almost whatever color you want. You can then pick out whichever colored sand fits the theme or colors of the wedding. Whenever you are fighting, you are supposed to flip the glass over and stop talking to each other to cool down and then when the sand runs out, you can pick up where you left off, hopefully a little more relaxed. Here is a picture of it:



I just think it is such a creative idea that is something you can keep and utilize forever. I am not quite sure what colors I want to get it in though. My home is grays, whites eggplant and lime green. My wedding colors are navy blue, white, and lime green. Obviously you can tell I love lime green.

Guest Book
I also want to do something a little different for our guest book. At our engagement party, we had everyone sign a photo framed-mat with words of marriage advice. We got some really good answers for example: Argue naked, but because we have already done something with a photo, I didn't really want to use photography in the guestbook. I also wanted it to be something we would look at again and remember fondly, not just something I would stick in a closet never to think of again. SO I saw this idea for a guest book quilt, which is something a little different that can lay on my couch or use to snuggle up with on a cold night.








I will be working on these few things over the next couple of weeks so look for updates on that. I know nothing about quilting or sewing so I am going to have to seek some guidance from a few people on that. One of my mom’s friends who is invited is a master quilter so I am going to have to reach out to her. I am not even sure of what kind of fabrics I need or what size they should be and what to use to write on them.

I also saw this idea – throwing pom pom balls instead of rice or rose petals at the exit



I was never committed to throwing anything until I saw this so I never reviewed Disney’s policy. I know it has been mentioned before on here but I haven’t seen it recently. Hopefully we can do this, in our colors of course.
Cannot wait to get crafting and start making some of these things

 

[edeneye]

Hey, I'm new here so I'm just catching up! Really enjoying the story so far, it seems like fate keeps stepping in to make sure the right things happen for you guys!

Regarding the pom pom balls, my fuzzy understanding of that is that you can't use non-biodegradable materials for outdoor staged exits. That's about all the relevant policy that I'm aware of! As my own ceremony location is entirely outdoors, we're restricted from artificial petals etc but as yours is the Pavilion maybe you're okay as long as it's kept indoors? But from there I guess it's a matter of if you can bring in your own toss materials for the exit! We've been told the only floral we can personally supply that which is worn or carried so I'm stuck in a grey area there. There's so much policy to try and get a grasp of! Every time we have a question about policy, our poor wedding consultant gets another two emails in her inbox.

Oh & your magazine looks great. You mentioned borrowing a little from other brides for that, I bet there'll be a lot who borrow parts of that from you!

 

[GiaShmia]

Thanks for the info!