Rachel and Corey's Wishes Wedding 12/7/15 Update 4/20 HONEYMOON DAY 1

[rachel09985]

This is a little late to the game, but I figured I could still start this! Hopefully, I will get advice from others on the ideas I am still contemplating and maybe help others out along the way.

So here goes..

Corey and I got engaged this past January a few weeks after Christmas. This year we did a second christmas at our apartment in Minnesota after we got back from Ohio. We just each made each other a stocking and got each other a gift. He was mad because I spent more on him. Well, he said next weekend would be Christmas 3.0. Little did I know he already bought the ring at that point. The next Friday after he picked up the ring he wrapped it and had it under the tree. When I got home from work I opened it and was so surprised!

Here is the ring-- it is so simple but so pretty!






Corey and I have been together since high school! Our junior year of high school is when we started dating and now we are 29. So it will be 13 years together.

Our first trip to Disney in 2008.



Here is us our last trip before Narcoossees. This is our 9th time together. I think, I lose track with this many. We have been coming here since college and we love it so much.


Our family was already planning a trip in December, so we thought, why not tack on a wedding? So I started to look at Escape weddings and spending as little as possible. Now It has progressed to +12 more people and +$8K more But that is okay, it will be a dream. We are excited. Well, I am

Since I only have four more months to go it will be rehashing my plans and talking about my future ideas, but I would like to have this to read and go back to.

 

[rachel09985]

STRESS!

I have to start with going over the year we have had since we got engaged.

About a couple weeks after we got engaged Corey's mom had to go in for a biopsy in her breast since something was suspicious. I am incredible close with Corey's mom so our lives were very stressful. She is basically my mom. We text all the time and we talk on the phone a few times a week. She is one of my very best friends.

Unfortunately, this mass turned out to be breast cancer. She was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. Plan of treatment was lumpectomy with radiation. Unfortunately, during surgery they found out the cancer spread to her lymph node so she has to have chemo. It is still stage 2. She is now halfway done with chemo! She completed 4 rounds of AC and almost 6 taxol treatments. She is having a really really rough time and it has been incredible hard on us as a family. Right now she is going to get done with treatment the week before the wedding. If that doesn't happen it means she can't stay for the week of our wedding, which was our original plan. So, I am hoping she gets done the week before so she can have a beat cancer vacation. It has been incredibly trying for our family but also has been wonderful to grow closer as a family.



I bought our family these shirts to wear in support of her.



She is bummed because she doesn't have hair and has thin eyebrows and eyelashes. She won't have much hair for the wedding but does have a wig.

Because of that I requested a transfer to Ohio closer to home. I work for PepsiCo and worked on the Target team in Minneapolis but now I work on the Kroger team in Cincinnati. We are about 3 hours away from home as opposed to 11 hours in Minnesota. We miss Minnesota but enjoy being close to home. That has also been incredibly stressful-- interviewing for a new job, traveling back and forth, keeping it a secret, packing our house, renting a new apartment, moving, ahhh! I get stressed thinking about it.

All of this on top of planning for a wedding and figuring out how to pay for it has been stressful. We had a pretty short engagement so I wasn't exactly prepared to pay for a wedding. And now that we upped our budget it has been challenging. But we will get through it!

Anyways, thats the backstory about everything. This wedding will be extra special because it will be a celebration of love along with Diane beating breast cancer. We are so excited for that day.

 

[sara1215]

Great start! I love reading trip reports, especially wedding ones. Can't wait to read more. Sending prayers for your future MIL. Thankfully there have been so many advances in cancer treatment. Early detection is the best prevention!

 

[kanadar]

Oh yay you started a planning journal! So excited to follow along with your decisions on here! I'm so sorry about everything that is happening with your future MIL, I know how hard that is and hope everything works out. Sending prayers and good thoughts.

 

[twinkybel81]

It's nice to see you over here! Looking forward to following along.

I can't even begin to imagine the stress load of everything you have been dealing with, but you seem strong and will come through it all with a beautiful wedding, a husband who loves you, a closer knit family, and a (hopefully) cancer free MIL.

 

[rachel09985]

Great start! I love reading trip reports, especially wedding ones. Can't wait to read more. Sending prayers for your future MIL. Thankfully there have been so many advances in cancer treatment. Early detection is the best prevention!

Thanks, glad to have you! Yes, they said she did have early detection!

Oh yay you started a planning journal! So excited to follow along with your decisions on here! I'm so sorry about everything that is happening with your future MIL, I know how hard that is and hope everything works out. Sending prayers and good thoughts.

It is very hard to watch when we are so close.

It's nice to see you over here! Looking forward to following along.

I can't even begin to imagine the stress load of everything you have been dealing with, but you seem strong and will come through it all with a beautiful wedding, a husband who loves you, a closer knit family, and a (hopefully) cancer free MIL.

Aw, thank you!! It has been so stressful! I am ready for the wedding to be over to get this stress gone.

 

[rachel09985]

Since this has already happened and it is my favorite part, I am going to go over my dress shoppping! It was so much fun; I miss it every day. I am not joking I probably tried on 60 dresses. I am going to post all of my dresses I tried on that I have pictures of. This will most likely have to be two posts.

The first time I went shopping I went with my good friend in Minnesota. I have no family in Minnesota so I took my friend since I wanted to go alone. I really had no idea what I wanted. I thought I wanted an A Line dress but was open to trying on many different dresses

This first I was like no way!


This one was really pretty but it was off the rack which I was turned off of.


I loved the back of this but the front was too mermaidish




This one was pretty but not young enough for me. P.S. Don't mind my faces.


This was a no!


I don't know why I am frowning but I loved this dress. The belt was too low though.




After looking back at the pictures the last one was my favorite. I honestly thought this would have been my dress when looking back at the pictures. I loved it and I felt so skinny in it!

The weeks passed and I went to a couple more places.









I look awful in this...this was from an off the rack store that had really expensive dresses for cheap.



I really liked this one! But I think it was because it was a designer dress for only $2,000 originally $9,800.

 

[rachel09985]

Before my mother in law had surgery she came to visit us. We went dress shopping one Saturday. I wanted her to see the dresses that I liked because I wanted her to be involved in the process since we are so close. There was one other one that I liked that I wanted her to see which I haven't shown yet.

The first place we re visited a shop in St Paul. I tried on my favorite again.


Still loved it!

We went to the new place to show her my new favorite.






I absolutely loved it and I could tell my mother in law loved it too. When I left I was giddy because I thought that was my dress. But, the longer I thought about I wanted a dress with lace also. But maybe not all lace.

So, I continued looking alone since my mother in law left.
I went to this little dump a city over just to continue trying on dresses. And I tried on this.




I absolutely loved this dress but they wouldn't let me take a picture with it. I had to beg them and had to pull out the cancer card because she needed to see the dress. I am sorry but when you have no family in the area, you need to take pictures of the dresses to get your friends and family's opinion. I thought that was crappy.

My whole family and friends loved this dress too. Could THIS be the dress!?

I went to one more place to try to find another dress that I liked that had lace and satin.
I liked this but no bueno on the straight top.


This was fun.


I thought I liked this but not in the pictures. It is amazing how different the pictures look vs. what you see in the mirror.


This was so pretty.


So was this!

 

[rachel09985]

In two weeks my mom came to visit and our goal was to buy the dress!!

So we tried this Effie's Bridal Trunk, which had a great selection! I tried on tons of dresses.
This was ugly.




This was so pretty and sooo fun!! It was so light and airy. Although it was expensive.










This dress had the lace and satin but I didn't like it.


This one was pretty but was a sample. I loved the tiers.


In the end, I ALMOST bought this dress! I loved it so much. It was just a bit out of my range.






The next day we went back to try the mermaid.

This is the same as one I liked but this was ivory. I wanted to try this one to see if I liked this better in the champage.


I tried on a blingy dress since my mom wanted me to.


Next we made a spur of the moment to go back to Effies to retry this dress on. It was gorgeous.










However, I tried sitting in it and it was just so stiff. I didn't like buying it off the rack either.

In the end we went back to this store and bought this dress!! I love it soo much!! The champagne is beautiful and I love that the dress is dripping in lace. It is a Mori Lee.










I originally ordered a 12 because I was between sizes and am trying to lose weight. But then I had a freak out moment and called them to up my size at the last minute. My dress was supposed to take 22 weeks.

 

[rachel09985]

BUT, my dress took two weeks!! I was absolutely shocked. I couldn't believe it. I scheduled an appointment to try it on.





When I left I felt buyer's remorse. I didn't feel pretty in the pictures I took and it just didn't look good on. But after taking to my friend she made me feel better that it does look good. Plus, the lace was longer in my dress, which I didn't like either.

So, I took it in to get accessories. I didn't like the accessories that Diamond Bridal had AT ALL Even though I got 20% off. So I went back to Effies to get my accessories. I wanted to buy my accessories before we left Minnesota because there isn't any sales tax.

I wanted a veil, a blinged out belt, and earrings.

Here is what I picked out. My belt is Allure.





My veil is a tulle veil with little diamonds in it that are so elegant and simple but just add a touch of glitz.





Trying the dress on with my accessories made me love it again! I am so happy and can't wait to wear it in December.

 

[sara1215]

When I saw that dress on you in the first picture you posted, I knew that would be the one you ended up getting. It looks just right for you, and I don't even know you! I love the champagne color.

 

[rachel09985]

When I saw that dress on you in the first picture you posted, I knew that would be the one you ended up getting. It looks just right for you, and I don't even know you! I love the champagne color.

Aww really! That is kind of neat that you could tell. I love the champagne too and I had no idea I would like it! I wanted an ivory dress.

 

[TXMNie]

Beautiful dress! Sending positive thoughts and prayers to your mother-in-law and family!

 

[elphie101]

Yay!!! So glad to see you started a PJ over here! Welcome

I'm glad you reposted your dress shopping experience, it's so much fun to relive it! The one you picked was clearly meant for you, you look absolutely stunning in it!

 

[librarymom2007]

Love your dress!

 

[rachel09985]

Since I have only talked about my dress, time to talk about other details!

Our colors! Our colors are navy blue, gold, and pink. Pink is more of an accent color. I just think this will be so pretty in December- I did not want any Christmas colors at all!

At first the bridesmaids were going to pick out any navy blue dress no matter what fabric. I started this process off really relaxed and didn't want to go overboard on anything. I wanted a very simple wedding without spending a lot. However, things have changed!

Since then I picked a specific designer for the bridesmaids- Bill Levkoff. They could pick any chiffon navy long dress they wanted. I only have three bridesmaids, my sister, my best friend, and Corey's sister. They are all different sizes so one dress wasn't going to look good on all of them.

My sister's dress


My friend's dress


Corey's sisters dress. This might or might not be it. I really hope this looks good on her. She has massive boobs so didn't want a full sweetheart but wanted a strapless, even though I wanted her to get a one shoulder. She chose this modified sweetheart.


I have already got them their gifts too! I am going to be paying for their hair the day of. I also got them Kate Spade earrings


and Coach wristlets. I really hope they will get use out of these wristlets. Since pink is our accent color I figured this would go good with everything. With all of the events going on I figured they would need something small to carry around.


By the way, the rose gold wristlet is mine for the day of and the shoes are mine and they are amazing! They are Badgley Mischka and I am in love. I wish they were a bit more navy but I still love them.





Also, these are the earrings I got. I got them from a boutique shop and I also love these!! They were expensive so I better feel that way.


They flower girls are going to wear these Alfred Angelo dresses in ivory and navy. I really wanted them to wear this Bill Levkoff dress too but the little girls tried the Alfred Angelo dress on in the shop and there wasn't any Bill Levkoff so they just went with that.


The men are going to wear gray suits. Not too gray but not too light. My brother is going to be in the wedding and Corey's dad is going to stand up there next to him. I know it is a little weird to have your dad but they are close. Corey has a few friends he could have asked but none of them would want to go to Disney, they are young and single.

Now time for the flowers! The flowers are one of THE most important thing for me! I just feel like they add so much to the photos and are just soo pretty! I love flowers!

Here is basically exactly what I want minus the peonies.


I want a few different colors of pink though like this


The bridesmaids will have a slightly smaller bouquet exactly like mine.

The men will wear ranunculus with the green berries like this


The flowers girls will have a mini bouquet since they are both older girls.

 

[rachel09985]

Beautiful dress! Sending positive thoughts and prayers to your mother-in-law and family!

Thank you!!

Yay!!! So glad to see you started a PJ over here! Welcome

I'm glad you reposted your dress shopping experience, it's so much fun to relive it! The one you picked was clearly meant for you, you look absolutely stunning in it!

Aw thanks! It was so fun! I love looking at other people's dresses too.

Love your dress!

Thanks so much!!

 

[TXMNie]

I have already got them their gifts too! I am going to be paying for their hair the day of. I also got them Kate Spade earrings

I LOVE these earrings! I literally just looked up Kate Spade earrings because of these haha

I love the idea of wristlets for bridesmaids! I just might have to think about doing that for mine. Also love the colors - they are very similar to ours.

Here is basically exactly what I want minus the peonies.

So pretty! I also love the greenery.

 

[rachel09985]

Corey and I had our planning session this past June. We tried to get it for the 4th of July weekend but they were booked up. We did make a vacation out of it and it was so much fun! Any vacation there with him is amazing. We were so excited about getting Maxine as a planner. She seems so amazing and I have liked her past wedding style.

We were to meet our wedding planner, Maxine, at 9:30. I was not very thrilled about eating this heavy meal at 9:30 but that is okay. We took a taxi from Animal Kingdom Lodge to the Boardwalk since disney transportation resort to resort is no bueno.

When we got in Maxine introduced us to our chef Redgie and our server. Both were so attentive and kind. I have never felt so spoiled before in my life. I felt like we were royalty, it was amazing! However, I did not like everyone watching us eat. I told everyone else they could eat too but no one else wanted to.

We started with some appetizers. In hindsight I wish I would have picked no appetizers.

Lobster Club with no tomatoes


Scallops in Bacon and Teriyaki Steak


The lobster clubs were good but nothing special. The scallops covered in bacon were SO Delicious! Corey wasn't a big scallop fan however. The teriyaki steak skewer was horrible. It was almost inedible. If I would have realized how expensive the appetizers were I would not have picked them.

Now time for the sides.

Yukon Gold Potato, Bacon, and Gruyere Tart.



At first I was so turned off because I was expecting this to be more tart so I was confused. But then I really liked this! It was delicious and wasn't too rich.

Macaroni and Cheese


The macaroni and cheese was delicious but so rich! It was really good but I didn't know if I wanted something this rich at the wedding.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with a Marsala sauce


The chicken was delicious. The marsala sauce was a little bit weak but it was pretty good.

Chardonnay chicken with pine nuts and tomatoes



At first I really liked this but it was a little dull compared to the parm crusted chicken.

Grilled Flat Iron Steak with merlot and black pepper sauce reduction


Oh, this was a no brainer. It was so delicious! It was cooked perfectly and was just amazing! We also decided on having the chef there to slice the steak.

In the end we decided to have two salads, two sides, and three entrees. We are having a garden salad, tomato/mozz salad, potato gruyere tart, fresh grilled vegetables, parmesan crusted chicken with marsala and marinara, grilled flat iron steak, and we added the mahi mahi topped with crab and a light citrus butter sauce for guests that would like fish. We decided to pass on the passed appetizers and have fruit for the cocktail party.

We had a wonderful time Chef Redgie- he was awesome and sooo attentive.

He surprised us with Mickey bars at the end! What a kind gesture. We were soo happy! They were delicious, but were a mess. We even got the perfect picture outside the door. One of our favorites, Up!



We checked out the outside of St James Place which I loved. I was happy we chose St James Place.


Chef Redgie even gave us a parting gift! This was one of the best disney experiences ever!


Now time to go to the Grand for our 1pm planning session. We had a 4pm DVC tour so I was hoping we finished in three hours.

By the time we got to the Grand we were drenched. It was sooo hot. We walked through Epcot to take the monorail back and that was our demise. It was so hot.

It felt so good to get in Francks, and it was gorgeous! I loved looking at everything although nothing was really my style that I saw.



We started our planning session on time and it got cold FAST. At the end we were so ready to get out because of how frigid it was in there. She had to put the heater on us.

Here are our fabrics we chose: The navy is the napkins, ivory tablecloth, and gold the runner. However, this might be changing as we speak!


The best part was the cake tasting. Can you tell I am a sucker for food?



Corey was in heaven too.



In the end we chose red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, and almond cake with almond crunch. I thought that was going to be my favorite, but it was actually Corey's favorite too! We both liked the red velvet next, it was really good. We were split on cream cheese filling or white chocolate mousse. I wanted the mousse. The lemon cake was my next favorite but it was a bit dry. The marble cake was really dry!

And that is the end of our planning session! I will go over more details later. We made it our DVC tour which was a mess. The guy we dealt with was so pushy. We weren't going to buy but we wanted to find out more. Plus, we got a $100 offer if we took a tour. I took them up on it. I think we might like to get DVC eventually but not right before our wedding and probably through resale.

We were so glad we did the planning session. We weren't going to because of cost, but it made the entire experience better.

 

[TXMNie]

Looks like a great planning session! It seems like they really treated you well - although that is no surprise with Disney!