Michelle & Ryan's Once Upon a Dream Home Wedding and WDW Honeymoon PJ

[mlegerto]

Hello Disboards,

As the title of this forum suggests, DF and I are starting to plan our home wedding for August 29 2015.

I have spent the last year reading over multiple PJ's and TR's here on the boards which has given me ideas, helped me plan and of course has fed my Disney addiction! I figured maybe my PJ will help a bride out there who is in love with Disney, but just can't make a Disney wedding happen.

Sadly, we are not having a DFTW due to a few restrictions. Firstly, Ryan's (DF) family is quite large. He is Italian and family is very important to him (not that I mind as I also strongly value family) and it was very important for the both of us to be able to celebrate this special day with as many of our loved ones as possible. Ryan's Nonna is turning 99 year old in just a couple of months, so the thought of her traveling a year from now was out of the question. In addition, my family is quite small, but my grandparents are very important to me (maybe more so because my family is small) and they have both recently had some health scares. All in all....an at home wedding was the way to go for us, BUT of course I want to introduce some Disney love into our special day AND we get a Disneymoon !

INDEX
MEET US - Bride & Groom
THE PROPOSAL
CAST
LOCATION
THE DRESS
HONEYMOON PLANS
INVITATIONS
HAIR
MAKEUP
CEREMONY IDEAS
ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS
BOYS ATTIRE

 

[mlegerto]

Eeek!

I wanted to continue my PJ with an introduction of us and wanted to start including some photos, but I cannot seem to figure out how to add an attachment within my posts (sorry I have never tried to include an image in one of my posts before).

Can someone provide me with some instructions?

Thanks!

 

[mlegerto]

Figured it out! Now we can continue.

MEET US - Bride & Groom

My name is Michelle. I am 26 years old and live in Toronto Ontario. I work in Human Resources and have two degrees. My first degree was in Business Administration with an honours in Finance and my second degree is for Human Resource Management. Needless to say, I am a Disney fanatic. I have been to WDW more than I can count, but I do know that it has been more than 30 times. I have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to go so often due to our DVC ownership (thanks mom and dad haha). We are home members at Old Key West and have been since the 90's (when OKW was the only DVC property).


DF's name is Ryan and he is 27 year old and also lives in Toronto Ontario. He works for FedEx which is great as it gives us some great travel perks - I will explain later. Ryan loves all things music related and plays quite a few instruments - guitar, bass, drums, ukulele, mandolin and piano. Ryan is not at all a Disney fan, more of a Disney tolerator - "I love Michelle so I will put up with everything Disney she throws my way".


We have been dating since high school, which puts us as being together 12 years as of December 2014. Here we are together.

 

[mlegerto]

THE PROPOSAL

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ryan is NOT the Disney fanatic in the relationship, but he understands my love for it (sort of haha).

He knew that I had always dreamed of a Disney proposal, I mean who doesn't want to be a princess. Over the last 2 years, we had talked about marriage and our future but our lives were so busy. I was just finishing school and searching for a job, Ryan had finished school and was just entering into a job, my parents got divorced, my cats (22 years old, no lie) passed away and we bought out first house and moved. It always seemed like life was getting in the way of any future plans for marriage - the cost for a ring and wedding always seemed distant.

Now Christmas is my favourite time of year. Even more so, my favourite time to visit Disney world. I just love all of the decor.

One days in October 2013, Ryan suggested that we go to Disney World sometime in late November/early December so we could experience Christmas at Disney. This is when I knew something was up - Ryan suggesting a trip to Disney that was not initiated by me . I just had a feeling that this trip was for a proposal, but of course I didn't want to get my hopes up and I didn't want to spoil any plans he was making so I accepted the idea and called DVC to book something ASAP.

We luckily got into a studio at the Bech Club for the last week of November into the first week of December. We decided to drive down (which is close to a 20 hour drive) because we were limited as to when we could fly due to the days we could take off of work - we had restrictions like we couldn't leave before 8 pm because Ryan had to work ect. So we figured we would leave right after Ryan was done work and drive all night through - we have done things before so no big deal.

BUT THEN we hit a HUGE deer on the drive down. It was almost 3 am and we were on the interstate in South Carolina. Needless to say, this turned out trip upside down, but we still managed to get to the Beach Club, only a day late.

It seemed like this trip was meant to go all wrong - we hit the deer, we couldn't drive our car, the mechanic we saw totally ripped us off and wasted a day of our trip, the Beach Club couldn't find our reservation at first, I ended up getting sick, ect. What a terrible start to the trip and I figured there was NO way this trip could be turned around and NO WAY Ryan would propose when I was in such a terrible mood.

However, December 1 was a magical day that made the whole trip worthwhile.

We spent the day park hopping, ending up at Magic Kingdom for EMH. Of course we stopped and got a spot early enough to watch Wishes (by far my favourite firework show). Now I don't know what it is about this show...but it ALWAYS brings tears to my eyes, no matter how many times I've seen it. AND THEN during one of the quieter moments of the show, I noticed Ryan wasn't hugging me anymore and I turned and there he was, down on one knee asking me to be his princess forever ! Of course I said yes!

BUT IT GETS BETTER....then out of NO WHERE, our two best friends (who just happen to be dating) come up to us from within the crowd. Now my best friend Neti is an amazing person who can NEVER keep a secret. It turns out that it was arranged for them to be there at the same time without me knowing so she could take photos of the moment and so they could celebrate with us! Here are the three schemer


We went out that night after Wishes and had a few drinks to celebrate. It was an amazing moment and I am actually SO happy that Ryan included Nick and Neti - I mean like I could keep that in until I got home haha.

Neti took some photos of my ring when we went out for drinks.



Coming up next....the start of wedding plan.

 

[EpicBilynn]

Your story is so sweet! This is a great start, can't wait to read more as it happens!

 

[roxysmum123]

Hello friendly neighbour (I'm from Burlington)!!

Subscribing!

 

[mlegerto]

Your story is so sweet! This is a great start, can't wait to read more as it happens!

Yeah! My first reply. Thanks Bilynn!! I think every story has their moments. I’m working on getting more updates loaded so stand by.

Hello friendly neighbour (I'm from Burlington)!!

Subscribing!

OOOH my first subscriber...so exciting (obviously I have never done this before haha). Were even closer neighbours than you think haha...I actually live just at the boarder of Milton/Oakville....I just didn’t think anyone would know where that is lol. I’m actually getting married in Burlington...stay tuned for details

 

[mlegerto]

Thanks for those of you who have joined in.

CAST

Let's get to know some of the special people who will make an appearance in our special day.

Bride: You've already meet cute little old me.

Groom: See that handsome stud up above , yah that's him haha.

MOH: Ahh, my beloved MOH. Our course this person could be no one other than dear best friend Neti. There isn't enough good that I could say about this person to make you understand how much I freaking love this girl. She is there when you need her, she will cry with you when your sad, she will make the stupidest jokes to crack a smile and she is always my go to gal for a good time. Plus, she owes me for one VERY drunk night so why not have her responsible for holding my dress while I pee at my wedding haha - she knows what I'm talking about.


BMAN: Ryan had a tough time choosing a best man. Well not really. It's just that he has a group of guy friends that he has been very close with since forever - one of them since he was born, some from grade 6 and others from high school. The hard part was that he has SO many great guy friends that he could have asked. In the end, together we decided that Nick was the guy for the job! Nick is also one of my best friends - even though if you asked grade 9 me I would have laughed at how wrong a statement could be lol. Nick is the kind of guy who is loud, fun and sarcastic, but is always there when you need him. In addition, he is and has been dating best friend/MOH Neti for quite sometime now (maybe wedding bells for them in the near future).


Bridesmaids:
Victoria - I refer to Victoria as my little sister because well I don't have a little sister and always wanted one. But really, we just have that kind of relationship...we both go our separate ways sometimes not talking for weeks but when we touch base again it's like we haven't missed a beat. I actually met Victoria because I used to competitively figure skate - synchronized skating to be specific and one year I got hurt and wasn't able to skate for a season so I decided to help coach the younger team at my club. At this time, I coached Victoria. We had an okay relationship during the first year I coached her, but we really became close the year after when I went back to skating and actually skated WITH Victoria. It was at this point that she was able to see me as a friend rather than a coach. Needless to say, I stopped skating now and we haven't stopped loving each other. By the way, she still skates and she is BEYOND AMAZING. Such a talented girl.


Amanda- What do I say about this girl. She's one of those super amazing, beautiful, super smart girls that everyone loves and loves to be around. That's Amanda in a nutshell. I met Amanda though a friend when they were dating and we instantly hit it off. Her and my friend aren't dating anymore and that's okay because we are still close friends. She's someone who I can't imagine not having by my side to party at my wedding. Plus the last wedding we were at together, she pulled me out of a swamp and cleaned me off with the dress she was wearing, literally haha. How could I NOT have this beauty by my side!


What wonderful ladies I have helping me through this day. I honestly don't have a single complaint about any of them thus far. They have all listened to me complain, laughed with me, drank plenty of wine with me and have helped me make every decision for the wedding day. We actually ALL went dress shopping together last week and we picked the PERFECT AMAZING dress...all for me. Ah, I can't explain how much I love each and every one of them.

Now on to the guys...

Groomsmen
Andrew - Andrew is Ryan's oldest friend. When Ryan came home from the hospital his parents already lived beside Andrew and his family. They have pretty much known each other since the day they were born. Andrew is a super nice dude. He never has anything but the best to say about people and is also there to listen. Over the years, Ryan and Andrew have fallen in and out of friendship. It's not that anything ever happened to make them not be friends, they just both went their separate ways over the years - different schools, different friends, different career choices, ect. In the end, they always end up being friends and now that we are a little older and everyone has kinda of figured their paths out, they are quite close again. I've always believed that a true friend is someone that you can have a break from, miss and get back together like you never missed a beat. I feel like this person will always be Andrew for Ryan so I am glad that he is a part of our special day.


Jake - Jake and Ryan have been friends since elementary school. They have always been goofy guys together and I think he brings out something good in Ryan - that fun, spontaneous, goofy part. Ryan has been there for Jake through some issues that he faced and I really think that it made them that much stronger - but they would never say anything like that because they are guys haha. Jake really is a nice guy - geez Louise seems like I hang out with A LOT of nice people eh'. Jake him self just recently got engaged to a beautifully amazing girl himself, so I guess they aren't far behind us!


All in all...I think we have a great group of people behind us and I am so excited for everything to come.

Next up....let's get to the good stuff some REAL wedding information. Stay tuned!

 

[mlegerto]

LOCATION

We will be getting married on August 29th 2015.....woooo just under a year from now!

As much as I would have loved to have done a Disney wedding, I have always wanted to do a garden wedding. I love the idea of the simplicity, simple elegance and romance that comes to mind when I think of a garden wedding - tea lights, mason jars, twine...you know what I mean.

After searching for venues in the GTA, we came to the conclusion that there was only one place that was going to satisfy everything I was looking for. We decided after visiting a few times that The Royal Botanical Garden's was the perfect choice for us ( http://www.rbg.ca ).For any of you from the GTA, if you haven't visited The RBG before, you should. Not only do they hold events, but they have tons of outdoor gardens, trails and picnic areas to check out for an afternoon.

We decided to do an outdoor ceremony in the Royal Court.

The backdrop where we will be saying our vows is a beautiful garden wall. There is an archway set up where we will stand. I am going to get some kind of flower display to drape over the archway to add some more beauty. Since we are getting married in August, we will have the tent set up to avoid our guests being in direct sunlight waiting for and during the ceremony. I will also be doing some sort of program as a fan as an option for those who still find it too warm.

We will be having the reception at RBG as well. However, we decided to move this party indoors. They have a beautiful atrium. The atrium features glass walls, living walls, two stories (but the second story is just a permitter so the actually lower level seems HUGE..don't know if that makes sense to you guys) and an attached patio with a waterfall feature.



When we booked our venue, we also got to book the gardens that we would like to book for our photos. They have 4 gardens that they suggest for photos and you book them in groupings of two. Of course you don't get to select which two you want, you select the package you want (2 options) and take the two gardens within the package you select. The first package were 2 outdoor gardens, one of which is a rock garden. Currently the rock garden is under construction so I am not sure what it will look in when its complete (Spring 2015), but it was very beautiful and unique in the photos that I saw of it prior to construction. The option I selected had 1 indoor and 1 outdoor garden. I thought this would be the safest route to go JUST in case the weather is not on our side. And if it it, the outdoor garden is frigging beautiful.

We will be having our photos in the Mediterranean Garden (indoors)


and in Hendrie Park (outdoor)


Well...what does everyone think? Any suggestions for decor or MUST take photos? Is anyone from here from the GTA or visited the RBG before?

 

[roxysmum123]

1. I work in Milton, lol! I'll wave on my way by tomorrow

2. My sisters husband was best man at a wedding at the RBG last summer and they really enjoyed it!! The best part of the night was when I got a call at midnight to pick up her drunk and crying self.....one of my fave stories about her....some one was mean to her and it caused mountains of drunk tears, lol....anyway, I just flicked through their pics quickly and they did very small table arrangements and chair sashes and that's about it for decor, but it seemed to work! I think RBG is a great choice in a venue!

 

[mlegerto]

1. I work in Milton, lol! I'll wave on my way by tomorrow

2. My sisters husband was best man at a wedding at the RBG last summer and they really enjoyed it!! The best part of the night was when I got a call at midnight to pick up her drunk and crying self.....one of my fave stories about her....some one was mean to her and it caused mountains of drunk tears, lol....anyway, I just flicked through their pics quickly and they did very small table arrangements and chair sashes and that's about it for decor, but it seemed to work! I think RBG is a great choice in a venue!

Hey there neighbour hahaha.

Oh what a small world! If your looking through photos and you see some cool ideas or shots, don't feel shy to pass them along my way haha - obviously only if your sister is cool with that haha.

 

[mlegerto]

THE DRESS

Last weekend my ladies and I went to KLEINFELDS (here in Toronto, not NY haha) and went dress shopping.

SO exciting...I found THE dress - and yes they did ask me "are you saying yes to this dress" lol .

I went in with a budget of $2000, but in my head I knew that I could do $2500, but I didn't want to tell them that of course.

I went in to this appointment in LOVE with a dress that I had seen in a magazine back in December 2013. The dress was by Haley Paige called the Londyn. Here is the dress I had to have.


Come on...HOW beautiful is that.

I showed my consultant some of the dresses that I really liked and of course showed her the Londyn. When I showed her the Londyn I had said to her "I don't think you will have this dress in stock because I know it is a part of the 2013 collection and 2015 collections are now coming out", but my consultant stopped me and said "no no, we have this dress in stock". I couldn't say anything but "SHUT UP" . Then the bad news.....she says "but it is quite out of your budget...its $4700". WHAT? HOW? NOOOOO! I quickly told her "don't even bother showing me it" because I knew that IF i put it on and IF I loved it as much as I did from the photo, I would be crushed because I could not possibly go that much above budget.

She quickly reassured me that they have plenty of lovely dresses that ARE within my budget, so we moved on. She came back in after a couple of minutes with a whole whack of dresses to start with and said "there is one dress you NEED to try, but I can't find it right now. Someone must be trying it on, but I will find it for you".

We moved on and I tried on a whole bunch of dresses. All of them were lovely, but none of them gave me that feeling. I finally found a dress that I really did like, much better than everything I had tried on, but I still didn't have that moment. It was then that another consultant came over with a dress to give to my consultant, the dress I was told I HAD to try on.

We go back to the dressing room and she pulled the dress out of the bag. I said to her "OMG is that the Haley Paige dress, I don't want to try it on!!!" to which she said "No, it isn't. It is very similar, but there are some difference that I think will be more flattering for you". She then went and grabbed the Haley Paige dress that I was initially in love with and showed me the differences between the dresses. We put this dress on and I never wanted to take it off!

Low and behold....here is my BEAUTIFUL dress.


This dress is by Paloma Blanca and it is everything I wanted!!!!

What do you guys think?

SHOE IDEAS

Now shoes...I have not yet found them yet, but I really want to have tiffany blue/mint colored shoes. If I haven't yet mentioned it, our wedding colors are tiffany blue and grey.

Here are some of the shoes that I really love, but haven't been able to find in stores and haven't done much online ordering.


I actually ordered these online and when they arrived..they didn't look ANYTHING like this photo. Then I tried to return them and they informed me that it would cost me just over $200 to return because I would have to return them to the original seller in CHINA rather than to the website location/store I bought them from. Freaking ridiculous! Now I'm a bit skeptical about ordering online!





What do you guys think? Has anyone seen any amazing heels in this color?

 

[roxysmum123]

The dress is very pretty! I like it!

As far as the shoes go, I'm TERRIFIED to buy shoes online so I couldn't even point you to any good website lol. What about those dye-able shoes you can get?? Now I"ll keep my eye open for pretty Tiffany blue ones when I'm out shopping.

 

[mlegerto]

The dress is very pretty! I like it! As far as the shoes go, I'm TERRIFIED to buy shoes online so I couldn't even point you to any good website lol. What about those dye-able shoes you can get?? Now I"ll keep my eye open for pretty Tiffany blue ones when I'm out shopping.

Ya... I'm afraid to order anything online now. Ahh well I'm just going to have to keep looking! Other people have brought up the idea of the dye-able shoes to me as well. That may be the route I go but I still have some time so I'm going to keep looking.

 

[mlegerto]

We have been talking about our Disneymoon recently because we can book our room at the end of September.

Since we are DVC members, we can book our room 11 months in advance at our home club Old Key West. We are looking to book a studios checking in Monday August 31 and checking out on Monday September 7.

I am also putting in some requests to move our reservation from OKW to another resort, but they won't entertain the idea of moving the reservation until 7 months prior to the trip. I am putting a request in to move to the Polynesian (assuming the DVC section is done by then). Next on our list (in this order) will be Grand Floridian, Bay Lake Tower, Beavh Club and Boardwalk.

If we end up staying at OKW I will be perfectly content. After all, OKW is like a second home to me and all Disney resorts are beautiful. I just want to move as the other resorts I've listed are in better locations.

I am also playing with the idea of buying tickets to the mickeys not so scary Halloween party. We've never attended before. I was thinking that if we grab one of the earlier dates (like the beginning of September) it will be less crowded and we may be abLe to get on a lot of rides and stay later in the park. Has anyone attended? Did you think it was worth the price? Am I crazy in thinking it'll be less busy if we take one of the first dates?? Please share your suggestions!

I was also thinking about booking a firework cruise! Again, haven't done this before but I thought it would be a nice thing to do one night. I figured it was our honeymoon so we should do some special things and I think that this could be a romantic experience. I was also thinking of ordering champagne and some type of desert the be brought onto the boat. I am not sure if we should do the wishes or illuminations one. Any thought?? Wishes is my favourite firework show, but I've heard that the location for the boats for the illuminations one is better. Has anyone done this?

I'll be back shortly with some more wedding updates!!!

 

[roxysmum123]

I'm a proper disboards stalker, lol. I swear I don't sit on here all day, I just have notifications come to my email, haha.

If you're a pool person, consider moving Beach Club up a little higher on your list. Their pool is AMAZING, not sure if you've ever stayed there before or not but that pool plus the proximity to EPCOT is my personal heaven. I WILL have DVC there one day

From what I've heard, the earlier you do the party the less busy it is. Either way, the party is great and if it's on I always make sure to go. The first year I went, when I got back to the hotel afterwards I went right to the front desk and booked a ticket for the other party that was going to be during my trip! On one trip, I walked onto basically every ride and even got to stay in the log for Splash Mountain for 3 trips in a row. The lines for characters can be long, but if you kinda prioritize what you want to do it's not awful. Don't miss the Winnie the Pooh gang in their ridiculously cute costumes. The other things you should be sure to do are the parade (they do 2/night usually) and the fireworks are AMAZING. When we did the party last year, in late September, the rides were crowded but it was raining the whole night so I think that just drove people to seek out shelter in the lineups. I feel like if the weather was better we wouldn't have seen the same level of busyness on the rides.

No personal experience with the wishes or illuminations cruises, but have plenty of friends who have done either or both. Never heard someone complain about either. For me, I'd book Illuminations....I'm weird about Wishes and I have certain spots that I need to stand in to see it "properly" and if the fireworks didn't look 'right' I'd be disappointed.....Disneyproblems right? lol

 

[EpicBilynn]

I am in love with all the Hayley Paige dresses, but they are so expensive! I love your dress! It's gorgeous and IMO looks like it would cost way more than the Hayley Paige one. I'm completely obsessed with the skirt. Amazing!

As for shoes, I vote for finding some really cute dyeable shoes and that way you could pick the color. If you order them from a site, most will send you swatches of their colors so you can see the color first and decide if you want to do that

 

[mlegerto]

I'm a proper disboards stalker, lol. I swear I don't sit on here all day, I just have notifications come to my email, haha.

If you're a pool person, consider moving Beach Club up a little higher on your list. Their pool is AMAZING, not sure if you've ever stayed there before or not but that pool plus the proximity to EPCOT is my personal heaven. I WILL have DVC there one day

From what I've heard, the earlier you do the party the less busy it is. Either way, the party is great and if it's on I always make sure to go. The first year I went, when I got back to the hotel afterwards I went right to the front desk and booked a ticket for the other party that was going to be during my trip! On one trip, I walked onto basically every ride and even got to stay in the log for Splash Mountain for 3 trips in a row. The lines for characters can be long, but if you kinda prioritize what you want to do it's not awful. Don't miss the Winnie the Pooh gang in their ridiculously cute costumes. The other things you should be sure to do are the parade (they do 2/night usually) and the fireworks are AMAZING. When we did the party last year, in late September, the rides were crowded but it was raining the whole night so I think that just drove people to seek out shelter in the lineups. I feel like if the weather was better we wouldn't have seen the same level of busyness on the rides.

No personal experience with the wishes or illuminations cruises, but have plenty of friends who have done either or both. Never heard someone complain about either. For me, I'd book Illuminations....I'm weird about Wishes and I have certain spots that I need to stand in to see it "properly" and if the fireworks didn't look 'right' I'd be disappointed.....Disneyproblems right? lol

haha I like your enthusiasm haha. stalk me all you like .

We have stayed at all of the resorts I mentioned about with the exception of the Poly. Since I was a child I have always wanted to stay there which is why it is at the top of my list. I do love the pool at the beach club and I was so sad that when we went on our last trip (proposal trip) we stayed there and had the biggest cold front that we didn’t even get to use the pool because it was FREEZING out, go figure haha. I am considering moving it up on my list, I just really wanted to stay on a monorail hotel, but we shall see what happens.

I really think we will do the MNSSHP. I am hearing great reviews about it and I just think it will be a lot of fun. Hopefully my plan works and if we attend one of the first parties we will see small crowds. I feel like it is more likely that we will do this than the firework cruise. WOOO!

I am in love with all the Hayley Paige dresses, but they are so expensive! I love your dress! It's gorgeous and IMO looks like it would cost way more than the Hayley Paige one. I'm completely obsessed with the skirt. Amazing!

As for shoes, I vote for finding some really cute dyeable shoes and that way you could pick the color. If you order them from a site, most will send you swatches of their colors so you can see the color first and decide if you want to do that

Honestly, I just love the style of almost all of the Hayley Paige dresses. I honestly can’t believe the price of some of them though. I fell in love with the dress. Obviously biased, but I feel like MY dress is some of the best components of the Hayley Paige dress and some even better features haha. I wish I had a back view of the skirt, it’s really cool in person. The top layer of the skirt kind of has like a pemblum look. Kind of hard to explain, but hopefully you get the image. When I go in for my first fitting (which is quite a while away still lol) I will try to get a photo of it.

Have you seen any of the dyable shoes or know any websites that would be safe to order from?


Thanks for your input ladies!!!

I am going to be working on some ideas of centerpiece vases over the next few days - trip to Michael’s is coming up, so I will post updates soon!

 

[TeamSy]

What a sweet proposal story!

 

[EpicBilynn]

Have you seen any of the dyable shoes or know any websites that would be safe to order from?

I found a few good sites that have secure online ordering.

www.myglassslipper.com and www.bridalshoes.com both let you order swatches first.

www.dyeableshoestore.com and www.dyemyshoes.com both have you send in a swatch. Dye My Shoes doesn't sell shoes, I don't think. They have you send in your dyeable shoes and they dye them to match your swatch. I found them all on theknot.com and a lot of people had good things to say about dyemyshoes.com. David's Bridal has dyeable shoes but they're really not that cute. But a lot of dyeable shoe places use their colors so that might give you an idea of the colors.

Hope that helps a little!