mmackeymouse
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2008
Do you care to give an idea what those extra time fees are? Is it per hour?
Vikki & Jon's June 2016 Wishes Wedding - SBP/AAP&DR/UK Lochside - Update Sept 22nd, on my birthday!
- Thread starter VikkiLilyBee
- Start date
Tarynashley
Paging Mr. Morrow
- Joined
- May 8, 2015
Congrats! We are planning an early July 2016 Disney wedding, so though I probably won't run into you there, I'll definitely be following along as you plan!
VikkiLilyBee
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2015
So, I've been meaning to update this for a while, but I was waiting until after last weekend because I had it all booked and planned to go dress shopping. As it turned out, I shouldn't have waited, as that is a whole crazy debacle in and of itself! So, I may just write a whole other post about that!!!
So, non-dress related wedding news. Again, quite a few little things, nothing major.
Reception Furniture
I've had a bit of communication with Tara, my planner's assistant, about furniture for the American Adventure Parlour. I'm sort of thinking about table sizes, and only seating 6 people per table. The standard size (ie, free) tables seat 8-10, and I worry that they're just too big for 6. So I asked about the cost of smaller tables. I also asked about moving the existing furniture through to the dining room so our guests have somewhere to sit and hang-out during the cocktail hour. I also wasn't sure if a dance floor could be brought into the Parlour due to it's location.
General answers: She gave me a cost for smaller tables, and it wasn't crazy insane. However, there is a delivery fee.
To move the furniture has a cost for the labour, although it would be a higher cost to take it out completely.
Yes, we can have a dance floor, although only a small one. Cost is unknown, as they hire them from outside companies, and we'd find out nearer the time. There would be a delivery fee.
My conclusion: moving furniture costs waaaaaay too much money. It wasn't entirely clear if some of these delivery fees can cover multiple things, but it was getting complicated, and my basic questions were answered. So I'm just going to leave it for the planning session.
My niece, Emily
If you remember the story of my niece and the problems between my brother and her mum, you'll be pleased to hear that my brother has it in writing that he can take Emily out of the country, to America, for the June half term in 2016!!! This was the best news ever when we found out, and we will be helping my brother financially so they can come. She absolutely hit the ceiling with joy when she found out she'll be going abroad, HOWEVER she doesn't know the wedding is at Disney World! We're hoping we can keep the secret right up until we leave. It's going to be so hard, because she has so many questions about the wedding, but we're doing ok so far.
In light of that, I thought it would be a nice gesture to send her an official "will you be my flower girl" invite, to her mum's house.
The words say:
To Emily,
I would never dream of saying "I do" without a Pretty Princess like you!
Will you be my Flower Girl?
June 2nd, 2016.
Lots of Love From
Auntie Vikki
I got the idea for the words and shape off pinterest, and made it myself. The little ribbon basket is full of yellow, orange and pink flowers, same as the ones glued on the dress. Yes, I bought a paper punch especially!!! She absolutely loved it! (As if you couldn't tell from that face!)
Disney surprise
After we signed our contract, Stacey promised a surprise in the post. Not only was it our contract returned with their signatures on, it was our annual pass redemption vouchers! This is very exciting! We'd never consider actually buying annual passes, as the cost of going over from the UK is crazy, but it'll be nice to feel the kind of freedom I used to have as a cast member once again!
Rooms
As we'll be footing the bill for both my brother's and Jon's mum's rooms, I thought it was about time we got in touch with our room block coordinator. Being in the UK, it can cost a lot to call them all the time, so I emailed Tara about getting an email address for our rooms person. We will be dealing with someone called Joshua, and he has already been very helpful, as he understands the phone cost issue - he has family in Scotland! We haven't actually booked anything yet, but I'm trying to work out access to a fax machine first.
Invitations
I previously said that Jon was looking at designing our invitations himself. He had a look at it, but he came back to me saying his knowledge of image editing software just wasn't good enough, and could we please find an alternative. I have a friend in my A Cappella Chorus who can do graphic design, and I spoke to him about the idea and would he help? For a small, friends rates, fee of course. He said yes, and things are coming a long very nicely. It already looks a million times better than I could've imagined, but there's still some tweaking to be done, so I won't spoil the surprise for you just yet. We will definitely be using our engagement photos from Misty on it though... picking just two or three will be impossible!!!
Hair & Makeup
We are all booked, with a contract, with LeJeune Artistry. Randy has actually been very helpful, as I've changed the requirements a couple of times. Firstly, I asked for me, my two bridesmaids, and both mum's to have hair and makeup, and my niece to just have hair. This has now changed to me, both bridesmaids, ONLY my mum for hair and makeup, and my niece to have hair and age-appropriate makeup. This was after discussion with my niece as to whether she wanted it or not. She will be 10 after all, so I think it'll be good, and I do want to include her as much as possible! I also enquired about hair and makeup for in-park photo shoots, so I have the information for that. Whether it will happen will depend on a lot of things, the biggest being budget, but a girl can dream!
First Dance
So, Jon is sat beside me and just mentioned this one (he knows I'm writing this post). I'd totally forgotten we'd worked this out!
Having wedding on the brain, but not being able to plan a lot has been hard on me. With Disney insisting on doing nothing until the 6 month mark, I've been trying to find other ways to plan bits. So I started thinking about first dance music. We have a song that kind of became ours, because it seemed to be playing everywhere when we first got together, but it is in no way suitable for any part of a wedding day - Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. So, we went through list upon list of suggestions from the internet. Nothing felt right. We wanted something Disney-ish, but not in your face Disney. And then I suddenly had an idea. One of the first movies we saw together in the cinema (if not, the very first), was Wall-E. Having very little speech in it, I knew the music had to be amazing, so I pulled up the soundtrack and started listening to it, without telling Jon what it was. There's one piece called "Define Dancing", which plays when Wall-E and Eve do the space dance around the outside of the ship, Axiom. We listened to it and both just went "yes"! I've no idea how we're going to choreograph something to it, so we might end up getting outside help, but it just felt so right!
Table Names
An odd one, as we don't actually know how many tables we'll have, but Jon came up with a great idea. Instead of the traditional naming after Disney Films, he suggested Disney locations. So examples include Wonderland, The Axiom, Agrabah, Arendelle. We've made a list of potentials, and will choose once we know how many tables we'll have, but I thought it was genius!
After that mammoth post, I will definitely write something entirely separate for the craziness that was last weekend's Dress Shopping. Sorry for the wall of text again, but I just started remembering more and more things as I wrote!
Vikki
So, non-dress related wedding news. Again, quite a few little things, nothing major.
Reception Furniture
I've had a bit of communication with Tara, my planner's assistant, about furniture for the American Adventure Parlour. I'm sort of thinking about table sizes, and only seating 6 people per table. The standard size (ie, free) tables seat 8-10, and I worry that they're just too big for 6. So I asked about the cost of smaller tables. I also asked about moving the existing furniture through to the dining room so our guests have somewhere to sit and hang-out during the cocktail hour. I also wasn't sure if a dance floor could be brought into the Parlour due to it's location.
General answers: She gave me a cost for smaller tables, and it wasn't crazy insane. However, there is a delivery fee.
To move the furniture has a cost for the labour, although it would be a higher cost to take it out completely.
Yes, we can have a dance floor, although only a small one. Cost is unknown, as they hire them from outside companies, and we'd find out nearer the time. There would be a delivery fee.
My conclusion: moving furniture costs waaaaaay too much money. It wasn't entirely clear if some of these delivery fees can cover multiple things, but it was getting complicated, and my basic questions were answered. So I'm just going to leave it for the planning session.
My niece, Emily
If you remember the story of my niece and the problems between my brother and her mum, you'll be pleased to hear that my brother has it in writing that he can take Emily out of the country, to America, for the June half term in 2016!!! This was the best news ever when we found out, and we will be helping my brother financially so they can come. She absolutely hit the ceiling with joy when she found out she'll be going abroad, HOWEVER she doesn't know the wedding is at Disney World! We're hoping we can keep the secret right up until we leave. It's going to be so hard, because she has so many questions about the wedding, but we're doing ok so far.
In light of that, I thought it would be a nice gesture to send her an official "will you be my flower girl" invite, to her mum's house.
The words say:
To Emily,
I would never dream of saying "I do" without a Pretty Princess like you!
Will you be my Flower Girl?
June 2nd, 2016.
Lots of Love From
Auntie Vikki
I got the idea for the words and shape off pinterest, and made it myself. The little ribbon basket is full of yellow, orange and pink flowers, same as the ones glued on the dress. Yes, I bought a paper punch especially!!! She absolutely loved it! (As if you couldn't tell from that face!)
Disney surprise
After we signed our contract, Stacey promised a surprise in the post. Not only was it our contract returned with their signatures on, it was our annual pass redemption vouchers! This is very exciting! We'd never consider actually buying annual passes, as the cost of going over from the UK is crazy, but it'll be nice to feel the kind of freedom I used to have as a cast member once again!
Rooms
As we'll be footing the bill for both my brother's and Jon's mum's rooms, I thought it was about time we got in touch with our room block coordinator. Being in the UK, it can cost a lot to call them all the time, so I emailed Tara about getting an email address for our rooms person. We will be dealing with someone called Joshua, and he has already been very helpful, as he understands the phone cost issue - he has family in Scotland! We haven't actually booked anything yet, but I'm trying to work out access to a fax machine first.
Invitations
I previously said that Jon was looking at designing our invitations himself. He had a look at it, but he came back to me saying his knowledge of image editing software just wasn't good enough, and could we please find an alternative. I have a friend in my A Cappella Chorus who can do graphic design, and I spoke to him about the idea and would he help? For a small, friends rates, fee of course. He said yes, and things are coming a long very nicely. It already looks a million times better than I could've imagined, but there's still some tweaking to be done, so I won't spoil the surprise for you just yet. We will definitely be using our engagement photos from Misty on it though... picking just two or three will be impossible!!!
Hair & Makeup
We are all booked, with a contract, with LeJeune Artistry. Randy has actually been very helpful, as I've changed the requirements a couple of times. Firstly, I asked for me, my two bridesmaids, and both mum's to have hair and makeup, and my niece to just have hair. This has now changed to me, both bridesmaids, ONLY my mum for hair and makeup, and my niece to have hair and age-appropriate makeup. This was after discussion with my niece as to whether she wanted it or not. She will be 10 after all, so I think it'll be good, and I do want to include her as much as possible! I also enquired about hair and makeup for in-park photo shoots, so I have the information for that. Whether it will happen will depend on a lot of things, the biggest being budget, but a girl can dream!
First Dance
So, Jon is sat beside me and just mentioned this one (he knows I'm writing this post). I'd totally forgotten we'd worked this out!
Having wedding on the brain, but not being able to plan a lot has been hard on me. With Disney insisting on doing nothing until the 6 month mark, I've been trying to find other ways to plan bits. So I started thinking about first dance music. We have a song that kind of became ours, because it seemed to be playing everywhere when we first got together, but it is in no way suitable for any part of a wedding day - Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. So, we went through list upon list of suggestions from the internet. Nothing felt right. We wanted something Disney-ish, but not in your face Disney. And then I suddenly had an idea. One of the first movies we saw together in the cinema (if not, the very first), was Wall-E. Having very little speech in it, I knew the music had to be amazing, so I pulled up the soundtrack and started listening to it, without telling Jon what it was. There's one piece called "Define Dancing", which plays when Wall-E and Eve do the space dance around the outside of the ship, Axiom. We listened to it and both just went "yes"! I've no idea how we're going to choreograph something to it, so we might end up getting outside help, but it just felt so right!
Table Names
An odd one, as we don't actually know how many tables we'll have, but Jon came up with a great idea. Instead of the traditional naming after Disney Films, he suggested Disney locations. So examples include Wonderland, The Axiom, Agrabah, Arendelle. We've made a list of potentials, and will choose once we know how many tables we'll have, but I thought it was genius!
After that mammoth post, I will definitely write something entirely separate for the craziness that was last weekend's Dress Shopping. Sorry for the wall of text again, but I just started remembering more and more things as I wrote!
Vikki
twinkybel81
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2014
So, I've been meaning to update this for a while, but I was waiting until after last weekend because I had it all booked and planned to go dress shopping. As it turned out, I shouldn't have waited, as that is a whole crazy debacle in and of itself! So, I may just write a whole other post about that!!!
So, non-dress related wedding news. Again, quite a few little things, nothing major.
Reception Furniture
I've had a bit of communication with Tara, my planner's assistant, about furniture for the American Adventure Parlour. I'm sort of thinking about table sizes, and only seating 6 people per table. The standard size (ie, free) tables seat 8-10, and I worry that they're just too big for 6. So I asked about the cost of smaller tables. I also asked about moving the existing furniture through to the dining room so our guests have somewhere to sit and hang-out during the cocktail hour. I also wasn't sure if a dance floor could be brought into the Parlour due to it's location.
General answers: She gave me a cost for smaller tables, and it wasn't crazy insane. However, there is a delivery fee.
To move the furniture has a cost for the labour, although it would be a higher cost to take it out completely.
Yes, we can have a dance floor, although only a small one. Cost is unknown, as they hire them from outside companies, and we'd find out nearer the time. There would be a delivery fee.
My conclusion: moving furniture costs waaaaaay too much money. It wasn't entirely clear if some of these delivery fees can cover multiple things, but it was getting complicated, and my basic questions were answered. So I'm just going to leave it for the planning session.
My niece, Emily
If you remember the story of my niece and the problems between my brother and her mum, you'll be pleased to hear that my brother has it in writing that he can take Emily out of the country, to America, for the June half term in 2016!!! This was the best news ever when we found out, and we will be helping my brother financially so they can come. She absolutely hit the ceiling with joy when she found out she'll be going abroad, HOWEVER she doesn't know the wedding is at Disney World! We're hoping we can keep the secret right up until we leave. It's going to be so hard, because she has so many questions about the wedding, but we're doing ok so far.
In light of that, I thought it would be a nice gesture to send her an official "will you be my flower girl" invite, to her mum's house.
The words say:
To Emily,
I would never dream of saying "I do" without a Pretty Princess like you!
Will you be my Flower Girl?
June 2nd, 2016.
Lots of Love From
Auntie Vikki
I got the idea for the words and shape off pinterest, and made it myself. The little ribbon basket is full of yellow, orange and pink flowers, same as the ones glued on the dress. Yes, I bought a paper punch especially!!! She absolutely loved it! (As if you couldn't tell from that face!)
Disney surprise
After we signed our contract, Stacey promised a surprise in the post. Not only was it our contract returned with their signatures on, it was our annual pass redemption vouchers! This is very exciting! We'd never consider actually buying annual passes, as the cost of going over from the UK is crazy, but it'll be nice to feel the kind of freedom I used to have as a cast member once again!
Rooms
As we'll be footing the bill for both my brother's and Jon's mum's rooms, I thought it was about time we got in touch with our room block coordinator. Being in the UK, it can cost a lot to call them all the time, so I emailed Tara about getting an email address for our rooms person. We will be dealing with someone called Joshua, and he has already been very helpful, as he understands the phone cost issue - he has family in Scotland! We haven't actually booked anything yet, but I'm trying to work out access to a fax machine first.
Invitations
I previously said that Jon was looking at designing our invitations himself. He had a look at it, but he came back to me saying his knowledge of image editing software just wasn't good enough, and could we please find an alternative. I have a friend in my A Cappella Chorus who can do graphic design, and I spoke to him about the idea and would he help? For a small, friends rates, fee of course. He said yes, and things are coming a long very nicely. It already looks a million times better than I could've imagined, but there's still some tweaking to be done, so I won't spoil the surprise for you just yet. We will definitely be using our engagement photos from Misty on it though... picking just two or three will be impossible!!!
Hair & Makeup
We are all booked, with a contract, with LeJeune Artistry. Randy has actually been very helpful, as I've changed the requirements a couple of times. Firstly, I asked for me, my two bridesmaids, and both mum's to have hair and makeup, and my niece to just have hair. This has now changed to me, both bridesmaids, ONLY my mum for hair and makeup, and my niece to have hair and age-appropriate makeup. This was after discussion with my niece as to whether she wanted it or not. She will be 10 after all, so I think it'll be good, and I do want to include her as much as possible! I also enquired about hair and makeup for in-park photo shoots, so I have the information for that. Whether it will happen will depend on a lot of things, the biggest being budget, but a girl can dream!
First Dance
So, Jon is sat beside me and just mentioned this one (he knows I'm writing this post). I'd totally forgotten we'd worked this out!
Having wedding on the brain, but not being able to plan a lot has been hard on me. With Disney insisting on doing nothing until the 6 month mark, I've been trying to find other ways to plan bits. So I started thinking about first dance music. We have a song that kind of became ours, because it seemed to be playing everywhere when we first got together, but it is in no way suitable for any part of a wedding day - Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. So, we went through list upon list of suggestions from the internet. Nothing felt right. We wanted something Disney-ish, but not in your face Disney. And then I suddenly had an idea. One of the first movies we saw together in the cinema (if not, the very first), was Wall-E. Having very little speech in it, I knew the music had to be amazing, so I pulled up the soundtrack and started listening to it, without telling Jon what it was. There's one piece called "Define Dancing", which plays when Wall-E and Eve do the space dance around the outside of the ship, Axiom. We listened to it and both just went "yes"! I've no idea how we're going to choreograph something to it, so we might end up getting outside help, but it just felt so right!
Table Names
An odd one, as we don't actually know how many tables we'll have, but Jon came up with a great idea. Instead of the traditional naming after Disney Films, he suggested Disney locations. So examples include Wonderland, The Axiom, Agrabah, Arendelle. We've made a list of potentials, and will choose once we know how many tables we'll have, but I thought it was genius!
After that mammoth post, I will definitely write something entirely separate for the craziness that was last weekend's Dress Shopping. Sorry for the wall of text again, but I just started remembering more and more things as I wrote!
Vikki
Love the first dance song (and how you got to choosing it)!!!
And I really like the table names idea, I've not heard of anyone doing that before and I love unique things.
VikkiLilyBee
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2015
Sorry it's taken me a while to reply to some of these, but I'm always thankful to know people are reading my journal!
Me too! I did have a bit of a panic over Misty when we first signed with her, as we had two date options and our contract was in the other date. She's been great about it though, no issues at all!
As of June 2015 (when I received the email from Stacey), it's an extra $400 per hour over the standard 5 hour reception. (1 hour pre-reception, 4 hours dinner-dance). That doesn't include a DJ fee, which she believed to be $250 per hour. I'll update these prices after our planning session and first BEO, but I can't see them changing that drastically in the near future.
I've always loved the Epcot resort area. I've stayed at Beach Club for one night in the past, and it was so easy walking to work in the morning! (I really do miss the Rose & Crown!) I'm mostly looking forward to having a private balcony!
Depending on your how far in advance you arrive, you might! We don't plan on flying home until Saturday 18th June. We'd like to spend some alone time in Disney after our cruise, so we're taking as much time off work as we're allowed!
My niece does get excited by the littlest things, but this truly will be a trip of a lifetime for her. I highly doubt either her mum, or my brother will ever be able to afford to take her to Florida again, which is one of many reasons I wanted this so badly for her. I'm praying we don't spill the secret though... hopefully we can film the moment of realisation!
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who adores the Wall-E music! It's just so beautiful, and suits us well as we both enjoy a bit of sci-fi! (we're currently re-watching all of SG-1 for example!)
Thank you so much! I like being unique as well. I know a Disney wedding is hard to get totally unique, as so many of us here use similar venus etc, but it's the little things that count!
That's a lot of exciting things and a lot of good progress made in planning!I'm glad you were able to get your date confirmed with Misty and Patricia!
Me too! I did have a bit of a panic over Misty when we first signed with her, as we had two date options and our contract was in the other date. She's been great about it though, no issues at all!
As of June 2015 (when I received the email from Stacey), it's an extra $400 per hour over the standard 5 hour reception. (1 hour pre-reception, 4 hours dinner-dance). That doesn't include a DJ fee, which she believed to be $250 per hour. I'll update these prices after our planning session and first BEO, but I can't see them changing that drastically in the near future.
I've always loved the Epcot resort area. I've stayed at Beach Club for one night in the past, and it was so easy walking to work in the morning! (I really do miss the Rose & Crown!) I'm mostly looking forward to having a private balcony!
Depending on your how far in advance you arrive, you might! We don't plan on flying home until Saturday 18th June. We'd like to spend some alone time in Disney after our cruise, so we're taking as much time off work as we're allowed!
My niece does get excited by the littlest things, but this truly will be a trip of a lifetime for her. I highly doubt either her mum, or my brother will ever be able to afford to take her to Florida again, which is one of many reasons I wanted this so badly for her. I'm praying we don't spill the secret though... hopefully we can film the moment of realisation!
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who adores the Wall-E music! It's just so beautiful, and suits us well as we both enjoy a bit of sci-fi! (we're currently re-watching all of SG-1 for example!)
Love the first dance song (and how you got to choosing it)!!!
And I really like the table names idea, I've not heard of anyone doing that before and I love unique things.
Thank you so much! I like being unique as well. I know a Disney wedding is hard to get totally unique, as so many of us here use similar venus etc, but it's the little things that count!
Doodlebug25413
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2015
Following along....love your color choices!
And I love that little flower girl presentation you did! That's super sweet!
And I love that little flower girl presentation you did! That's super sweet!
VikkiLilyBee
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2015
Wedding Dress Shopping!!!!
This post is now a much better post than it would've been a couple of weeks ago. However, I will start at the beginning.
A couple of years ago, after I came back from working at Disney, my Maid of Honour came to visit and we went dress shopping for a bit of a laugh. It was great fun! We found some dresses we liked, some shops we didn't, and had a great time. I was hoping that the weekend below would be the same.
Both my bridesmaids travelled down to Bristol on Friday August 7th. One was coming from Essex, the other from Scotland. To non-Brits, this means a train from Essex, that took about 3 hours, and a plane from Scotland, which took about the same (if you include check-in etc). Both girls had work on Friday, so wouldn't be arriving in Bristol until nearly 11pm, coming into totally opposite sides of the city! So I sent Jon to pick his niece up from the airport, and I went to meet my maid of honour from the train station. I had started work at 6:30 that morning, so was knackered! Obviously, we needed a girlie catch up once we were all together, and Tess and Emilie had never met, so introductions were needed. Bed didn't happen until gone midnight!
This meant starting Saturday a little on the tired side!
We had four appointments around the city:
9:00am at Future Brides in Chipping Sodbury. (Chosen as it's listed on Alfred Angelo's website for the Disney dresses)
1:00pm at Just For You Bridal in the centre. (Been in before, has a huge selection)
2:30pm at Lydia Couture in the centre. (Near JFY, small selection, but local designer)
3:30pm at Clifton Bride's in Clifton. (Been in before, loved both the dresses and the service)
Most people would say that's too many, but I knew I wouldn't be able to get everyone together again, so wanted the best chance possible at finding a dress in one day. You'll notice the large time gap between the first two appointments too - this was because I wanted to take a look at bridesmaids dresses too, to see what my girls thought of my ideas. Note that it was a very hot day, so we had great fun driving around with the roof of my car down, but we also all got a little frazzled!
On the left is Emilie (Jon's niece), right is Tess (Maid of Honour). They took this selfie sat in the back of my car! I think I was actually driving towards Chipping Sodbury here!
So, we picked up my mum from the station at 8:45am. Tess's first comment to me was "if I hadn't seen you point her out, I still would've known she was your mum" Yes, mum and I look very similar!
We get to Future Brides, find a parking space no problem (first panic over!) and head in. I choose this place because they appeared on Alfred Angelo's website as stocking the Disney Fairy-tale Wedding gowns. Silly me failed to check if they stocked this years, I just assumed they would. I really wanted to try on Sleeping Beauty, Snow White (for that skirt!!) and Tiana. I was rather upset when she said they didn't have this years, but only the first ever line. The first major line was from 2011, but they actually started in 2010, which you can't get any more. Again, she gave me false hope when she said first line, because I loved the very first Belle dress. But alas.
I chose a bunch of dresses, and mum pulled one out. "this one's nice, why not try this one?" it was a straight down, Greek style skirt, which is not the style I was looking for at all. I wanted a princess dress, bigger skirt, A-line type of thing. So I said, it's not the style I'm looking for. She said just try it on anyway. The best way to deal with my mum is to just give in, and prove it's not right when on. I think this kind of set the tone for the day.
I tried on 7 dresses in that shop. My MOH was great at taking notes about all of them. My mum took pictures, but as we discovered later she's either a bad photographer, or her phone has a really terrible camera! We did have success with bridesmaid dresses in this shop though! Both my girls are rather busty, so I was wary about strapless dresses, but as it turns out, they're both happy with strapless if they have a pashmina type shawl or something. None of the dresses fit them, but we found a style we all loved - it's a Romantica dress, and was tried on (held up with the zips undone!) in yellow. That is one of my colours, but not the one I want them in. They're both happy in orange (or rust, as Romantica calls it), but I'll get them yellow chiffon shawls too.
Emilie in said dress. She may not look happy, but she did really like this dress, honest!!
We left Chipping Sodbury with plenty of time, drove back to the centre of Bristol and went for some lunch. This was an iffy time for all. My mum has recently lost some weight, and is very proud of herself for it (as she should be), she's gone from a size 14 to a 10. (UK sizes). Emilie and Tess are both size 18-20. Tess also has thyroid problems, so struggles loosing weight, but has still managed to drop about 3 sizes the last few years. (again, I'm super super proud of her!) Annoyingly, my mum likes to talk about her weight loss, and has a general opinion on life that if she can do something easily, anyone can. She fails to realise that not everyone has the money or opportunities or lifestyle that she does. I'm used to dealing with this, but my bridesmaids are not. As you can imagine, this did cause some friction, not helped by the fact that all four of us have pretty big personalities.
Onwards to the next shop. 8 more dresses, and still nothing quite right. I find myself loving the look of tulle skirts, but worried about how well they hang. I also like the look of organza overlays, sweetheart necklines, lace up corset style backs, and sparkle without being too blingy. No, I'm not being fussy at all!!! Haha!
The third shop wouldn't allow pictures, as the designer was actually there. My mum liked this shop the most. I think because she viewed these dresses as more personal (my mum is a dressmaker - she'll probably make her own), and could talk sewing with the designer. My MOHs favourite phrase of the day from mum came from this shop (and the third dress): "Yes, this is your favourite dress so far". I hadn't expressed an opinion on the dress in question!
We got to the last shop, hot tired sweaty and stressed. We looked round the dresses, and nothing leapt at me enough to want to try them on. I felt so deflated, worn out emotionally and physically. It was probably best that they had nothing, as it gave us all a little more time to re-coop at home before heading out to the Bristol Balloon fiesta for the evening.
All in all, I tried on 18 dresses that day. It got to the point where I would put the dress on, Look at it, know it wasn't right, but go out to the girls anyway. I'd then let them talk about it, mostly disagreeing with each other, and say an odd word now and again to keep the peace. Needless to say, it was a very long day.
The evening was a totally different story. Two bottle of champagne (one was won in a raffle at work, the other was in our fridge, not sure where from!), hot air balloons and general chatter that was neither dress or weight related, and everyone was getting on a lot better! My dad and Jon also joined us for the night glow, and we had a very amusing time leaving too (it involved climbing over a fence). So everyone was in better spirits at the end of the day.
(I've no idea who the photobomber in the background is!)
Penguin balloons!
So, apart from the bridesmaid dress, the whole day was a bit of a bust. After a cooked breakfast Sunday morning, my parents headed off, Jon took Emilie back to the airport, and I spent an amazing day just hanging out with Tess, not thinking about dresses.
Finding the dress
The following week, I had a first aid at work training course in Swindon. There's not a lot in Swindon, it's not the sort of town centre you make an effort to travel to for shopping. The course is three days, and I was being paid 9-5 every day, regardless of time actually spent in training. Each day I jumped on a train for 45min, headed to Swindon, and each day we finished early. We were told that the last day would be done by about 2:30 or so, so I wondered if there were any bridal shops within walking distance. As it turns out, there was! I popped in during our lunch break on day two, and booked an appointment for 2:30 the following day. I love saying that I was paid to go wedding dress shopping!!!
I tried on 5 dresses that day. Three of them were better than anything I'd tried on the previous Saturday!
I came away very happy, but didn't want to make any rash decisions. I am the sort of person who likes to think about things - I knew I was never going to have that Wow moment that a lot of brides get. The shop was lovely, the lady who owns it even lovelier. I also found a lovely veil, and worked out I like not only huge trains on dresses, but also a long veil! The one they sell is three layers, with the first couple only going down to about the waist, and the third being the long one. However, the third layer is detachable, making it a very versatile veil!
I arranged with mum to go back to Swindon, each of us getting the train in opposite directions towards each other. (Swindon is roughly half way between Bristol and Reading, where she's based). So last Wednesday, we met up, had lunch, then headed to the shop. Mum's photos have improved this time ( the dress in the shop is about 3 sizes too big, but you get the idea):
I put a deposit down, and got measured up!! My actual veil will probably be a couple of inches shorter, so it doesn't hide the detailing on the train. They can't actually order the dress until I choose shoes though, as hemming comes as part of the manufacturers price. So I now have until the end of September to find the perfect shoes to go with my perfect dress!!!
After the crazy stress of that initial day shopping, it makes me so happy to know I have found my dream dress - it ticks all my boxes! So yay!!
In other, non-dress related news, our invites are very nearly finished, and should be heading to the printers next week!
Also, apologies for the hugeness of this post!
This post is now a much better post than it would've been a couple of weeks ago. However, I will start at the beginning.
A couple of years ago, after I came back from working at Disney, my Maid of Honour came to visit and we went dress shopping for a bit of a laugh. It was great fun! We found some dresses we liked, some shops we didn't, and had a great time. I was hoping that the weekend below would be the same.
Both my bridesmaids travelled down to Bristol on Friday August 7th. One was coming from Essex, the other from Scotland. To non-Brits, this means a train from Essex, that took about 3 hours, and a plane from Scotland, which took about the same (if you include check-in etc). Both girls had work on Friday, so wouldn't be arriving in Bristol until nearly 11pm, coming into totally opposite sides of the city! So I sent Jon to pick his niece up from the airport, and I went to meet my maid of honour from the train station. I had started work at 6:30 that morning, so was knackered! Obviously, we needed a girlie catch up once we were all together, and Tess and Emilie had never met, so introductions were needed. Bed didn't happen until gone midnight!
This meant starting Saturday a little on the tired side!
We had four appointments around the city:
9:00am at Future Brides in Chipping Sodbury. (Chosen as it's listed on Alfred Angelo's website for the Disney dresses)
1:00pm at Just For You Bridal in the centre. (Been in before, has a huge selection)
2:30pm at Lydia Couture in the centre. (Near JFY, small selection, but local designer)
3:30pm at Clifton Bride's in Clifton. (Been in before, loved both the dresses and the service)
Most people would say that's too many, but I knew I wouldn't be able to get everyone together again, so wanted the best chance possible at finding a dress in one day. You'll notice the large time gap between the first two appointments too - this was because I wanted to take a look at bridesmaids dresses too, to see what my girls thought of my ideas. Note that it was a very hot day, so we had great fun driving around with the roof of my car down, but we also all got a little frazzled!
On the left is Emilie (Jon's niece), right is Tess (Maid of Honour). They took this selfie sat in the back of my car! I think I was actually driving towards Chipping Sodbury here!
So, we picked up my mum from the station at 8:45am. Tess's first comment to me was "if I hadn't seen you point her out, I still would've known she was your mum" Yes, mum and I look very similar!
We get to Future Brides, find a parking space no problem (first panic over!) and head in. I choose this place because they appeared on Alfred Angelo's website as stocking the Disney Fairy-tale Wedding gowns. Silly me failed to check if they stocked this years, I just assumed they would. I really wanted to try on Sleeping Beauty, Snow White (for that skirt!!) and Tiana. I was rather upset when she said they didn't have this years, but only the first ever line. The first major line was from 2011, but they actually started in 2010, which you can't get any more. Again, she gave me false hope when she said first line, because I loved the very first Belle dress. But alas.
I chose a bunch of dresses, and mum pulled one out. "this one's nice, why not try this one?" it was a straight down, Greek style skirt, which is not the style I was looking for at all. I wanted a princess dress, bigger skirt, A-line type of thing. So I said, it's not the style I'm looking for. She said just try it on anyway. The best way to deal with my mum is to just give in, and prove it's not right when on. I think this kind of set the tone for the day.
I tried on 7 dresses in that shop. My MOH was great at taking notes about all of them. My mum took pictures, but as we discovered later she's either a bad photographer, or her phone has a really terrible camera! We did have success with bridesmaid dresses in this shop though! Both my girls are rather busty, so I was wary about strapless dresses, but as it turns out, they're both happy with strapless if they have a pashmina type shawl or something. None of the dresses fit them, but we found a style we all loved - it's a Romantica dress, and was tried on (held up with the zips undone!) in yellow. That is one of my colours, but not the one I want them in. They're both happy in orange (or rust, as Romantica calls it), but I'll get them yellow chiffon shawls too.
Emilie in said dress. She may not look happy, but she did really like this dress, honest!!
We left Chipping Sodbury with plenty of time, drove back to the centre of Bristol and went for some lunch. This was an iffy time for all. My mum has recently lost some weight, and is very proud of herself for it (as she should be), she's gone from a size 14 to a 10. (UK sizes). Emilie and Tess are both size 18-20. Tess also has thyroid problems, so struggles loosing weight, but has still managed to drop about 3 sizes the last few years. (again, I'm super super proud of her!) Annoyingly, my mum likes to talk about her weight loss, and has a general opinion on life that if she can do something easily, anyone can. She fails to realise that not everyone has the money or opportunities or lifestyle that she does. I'm used to dealing with this, but my bridesmaids are not. As you can imagine, this did cause some friction, not helped by the fact that all four of us have pretty big personalities.
Onwards to the next shop. 8 more dresses, and still nothing quite right. I find myself loving the look of tulle skirts, but worried about how well they hang. I also like the look of organza overlays, sweetheart necklines, lace up corset style backs, and sparkle without being too blingy. No, I'm not being fussy at all!!! Haha!
The third shop wouldn't allow pictures, as the designer was actually there. My mum liked this shop the most. I think because she viewed these dresses as more personal (my mum is a dressmaker - she'll probably make her own), and could talk sewing with the designer. My MOHs favourite phrase of the day from mum came from this shop (and the third dress): "Yes, this is your favourite dress so far". I hadn't expressed an opinion on the dress in question!
We got to the last shop, hot tired sweaty and stressed. We looked round the dresses, and nothing leapt at me enough to want to try them on. I felt so deflated, worn out emotionally and physically. It was probably best that they had nothing, as it gave us all a little more time to re-coop at home before heading out to the Bristol Balloon fiesta for the evening.
All in all, I tried on 18 dresses that day. It got to the point where I would put the dress on, Look at it, know it wasn't right, but go out to the girls anyway. I'd then let them talk about it, mostly disagreeing with each other, and say an odd word now and again to keep the peace. Needless to say, it was a very long day.
The evening was a totally different story. Two bottle of champagne (one was won in a raffle at work, the other was in our fridge, not sure where from!), hot air balloons and general chatter that was neither dress or weight related, and everyone was getting on a lot better! My dad and Jon also joined us for the night glow, and we had a very amusing time leaving too (it involved climbing over a fence). So everyone was in better spirits at the end of the day.
(I've no idea who the photobomber in the background is!)Penguin balloons!
So, apart from the bridesmaid dress, the whole day was a bit of a bust. After a cooked breakfast Sunday morning, my parents headed off, Jon took Emilie back to the airport, and I spent an amazing day just hanging out with Tess, not thinking about dresses.
Finding the dress
The following week, I had a first aid at work training course in Swindon. There's not a lot in Swindon, it's not the sort of town centre you make an effort to travel to for shopping. The course is three days, and I was being paid 9-5 every day, regardless of time actually spent in training. Each day I jumped on a train for 45min, headed to Swindon, and each day we finished early. We were told that the last day would be done by about 2:30 or so, so I wondered if there were any bridal shops within walking distance. As it turns out, there was! I popped in during our lunch break on day two, and booked an appointment for 2:30 the following day. I love saying that I was paid to go wedding dress shopping!!!
I tried on 5 dresses that day. Three of them were better than anything I'd tried on the previous Saturday!
I came away very happy, but didn't want to make any rash decisions. I am the sort of person who likes to think about things - I knew I was never going to have that Wow moment that a lot of brides get. The shop was lovely, the lady who owns it even lovelier. I also found a lovely veil, and worked out I like not only huge trains on dresses, but also a long veil! The one they sell is three layers, with the first couple only going down to about the waist, and the third being the long one. However, the third layer is detachable, making it a very versatile veil!
I arranged with mum to go back to Swindon, each of us getting the train in opposite directions towards each other. (Swindon is roughly half way between Bristol and Reading, where she's based). So last Wednesday, we met up, had lunch, then headed to the shop. Mum's photos have improved this time ( the dress in the shop is about 3 sizes too big, but you get the idea):
I put a deposit down, and got measured up!! My actual veil will probably be a couple of inches shorter, so it doesn't hide the detailing on the train. They can't actually order the dress until I choose shoes though, as hemming comes as part of the manufacturers price. So I now have until the end of September to find the perfect shoes to go with my perfect dress!!!
After the crazy stress of that initial day shopping, it makes me so happy to know I have found my dream dress - it ticks all my boxes! So yay!!
In other, non-dress related news, our invites are very nearly finished, and should be heading to the printers next week!
Also, apologies for the hugeness of this post!
DisneyFirefly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2009
Your dress is gorgeous!
Doodlebug25413
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2015
YAY!! Good choice! It's so pretty!!
I love that flowy skirt.
I love that flowy skirt.
Libby_Darling
Flippin' Her Fins
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2010
Hi Vikki! Loving, your PJ - what a beautiful dress! You look soooo happy, definately 'The One'! xxxx
xxxx
VikkiLilyBee
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2015
Wait until you see her response... I'll have the next update very soon, and it's adorable!
Hi Vikki! Loving, your PJ - what a beautiful dress! You look soooo happy, definately 'The One'!
Thank you all so much! I didn't have that all knowing gushy moment, but I did have a gut feeling, and I'm starting to trust my gut feelings when it comes to this wedding!
VikkiLilyBee
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2015
I've come to realise that I'm terrible at keep this up to date. I massively apologise to you, my readers, for this and will try my best to get better. I think it doesn't help that for my last few posts, other things have already happened when I write them, so it's been a while since I was up to date. Hopefully this post will fix that.
(added after writing – due to being a full catch up, there’s quite a lot… sorry!)
Flower Girl
My brother and niece came to stay in August, from Friday 21st to Tuesday 25th. If you remember, I sent my niece a special invitation to be my flower girl; she won't be able to see the real invite because she doesn't know we're going to Disney World. She loved it, as I expected. She had decided that the only way to reply to a hand-made invite was to make an RSVP.
It was so sweet of her, and is now hung on my wall, on a random hook that just happened to be there! I love that she called my original invite a "card dress thingy"!!
The main purpose of their visit was to go looking at dress styles for Emily. We also spent some time going Shaun the Sheep hunting around Bristol, going to Bristol kite festival, going to @bristol (a science centre aimed at kids), and generally spending time together. I don't get to see Emily that often, and it's usually when I'm visiting my parents, so it was really lovely to spend time with just them. We also talked a lot about the wedding, and travelling to America. I wanted Emily to have answers to any wedding related questions. It was also a great opportunity to discuss flights with my Brother, as we are paying for them.
My Brother and Niece, Mike and Emily... overlooking the Avon Gorge in Bristol.
Me and Emily with one of the many Shauns we found that day.
This is the dress style we all decided we liked the most, Emily included. We tried on a variety of dresses, both high Street stores and bridal stores, mainly because I wanted Emily to have a true bridesmaid experience, hard as that is at age 9. However, we would have the Dress in the below colours (Pink chiffon, with a yellow satin sash), which will coordinate with my bridesmaids' orange chiffon dresses with yellow chiffon shawls:
We won’t sort her dress out until the new year, as for all I know she might end up having a growth spurt. Her 10th birthday is at the end of January, so we’ll probably find their closest stocking just after then.
It was on the Tuesday, while Jon was at work and the three of us were at @bristol that we got our flights all booked and sorted. It was rather amusing being in this science centre, surrounded by kids (it was still school holidays), texting and calling back and forth with Jon to arrange dates, times, and ensure we had the correct details! I can now say however that…
Flights
Our flights are booked!!!
Mike and Emily will be on the same flight as us to get to Orlando, and will fly back the following Saturday. Our flights are as follows:
Saturday 28th May LHR 0930 – ATL 1400. ATL 1655 – MCO 1829.
Saturday 18th June MCO 1730 – ATL 1920. ATL 2040 – LHR 1000 Sunday 19th.
We chose to fly from Heathrow as it’s that bit closer to Bristol, and even though it means stop over flights, the waits aren’t crazy extortionate. We also think it’ll be easier to keep Emily in the dark about our final destination for longer, meaning she won’t be as hyper on the first flight and will hopefully get some sleep!!!
The next thing to sort will be all our accommodation. We have a villa from June 1st to 4th, and a cruise from 4th to 11th, but we need somewhere to sleep before and after those dates. We’ll book those, along with my brother and niece’s room once we know what dates Jon’s mum is flying out, so we can book that one too.
Invitations
Our invitations have now been finished, printed, and sent!!! I am now happy to show you all the final product. I had this idea in my head ages ago, ever since I saw other people’s park map style invites using the old style Disney maps. The new style maps proved to be much harder to imitate, so I enlisted the help of one of my choir members, who also happens to be a graphic designer.
They turned out a million times better than I ever would have dreamed!!! The UK ones went in a post box last Monday (14th) and the 5 heading to America got handed directly to a postman on Saturday (the 19th). Our first RSVP arrived Saturday morning from Jon’s niece (my second bridesmaid)
I don’t expect many other replies for a little while yet, as most people need to organise their flights, and we have given them a fair amount of time. We did send some invites to a couple of friends who weren’t expecting them, and it looks like they might all be coming, which is awesome!!!
Finalising our invites also meant getting our wedding website in a half usable order. It still needs a lot of work, but please feel free to take a browse at www.jonandvikkigetmarried.com (Jon made a mistake on the invites, so we actually own both websites “jonandvikki” and “vikkiandjon”, which I find really cool! Our guests can never get us the wrong way round!)
Shoes
My last post was all about finding my wedding dress, and even though I’d paid a deposit my actual dress couldn’t be ordered until we determined what length to make it. This meant deciding on shoes and heel height. I’ve been eyeing up Rainbow Club shoes for a while, not only because they have a gorgeous range, but also because they can dye them any colour you wish! I’m always wary about buying shoes without trying them on first, different styles often come up in different sizes on my feet! I range from a size UK 4 to 4.5 to 5. It’s very tricky.
So, after work Monday 2 weeks ago, I headed to a shop in Keynsham that I know stocks Rainbow Club to take a look at styles. They didn’t stock the whole range, but a fair few. I tried on various styles, and nothing felt quite right. The lady helping me grabbed a catalogue and started talking about being able to order others in, but potentially having to charge extra if they were the wrong size and needed returning. I found the shoes I’d had my eye on in the catalogue and she suddenly said “oh, I think we have a sample of that one”. She headed towards the front of the shop, and pulled a single shoe off a shelf.
Thea – the pair I’ve had my eye on, but wasn’t sure about the sparkles.
It turns out that Rainbow Club send single shoes as colour dye samples! It also turned out that the sample was a size 4, and a left foot (my larger foot). Not only did this give me the perfect chance to try the size (too small – I needed a 4.5), but also see how the dye takes on the sparkly part of the shoe, which was a concern of mine.
Now, I wasn’t going to order from a new shop when the shop that sells my dress can also get Rainbow Club. I also didn’t want to pay extra fees that I knew my shop wouldn’t charge if I ordered the wrong size. So I called my shop on Tuesday, she ordered my shoes and we arranged for me to come in on Wednesday to work out the hem length of my dress. (She had another repair of shoes with the exact same heel height). I turned up on Wednesday to discover that my shoes were half an hour away! So after sorting my dress length, I popped into town for lunch, then headed back for my shoes. Omg, I love them!!! This was another gut instinct that I’ve one with, so as said before… I’ll be trusting them from now on!
I took my shoes home with me to start wearing them in, and will take them back when my dress arrives mid-December. At this point we’ll send them back to Rainbow Club for dyeing, as I want them orange. In fact, I’m wearing them right now, while sat on the sofa typing this post!!
In terms of the colours, I pointed my bridesmaids towards Rainbow Club last night. They both chose a pair that Jon initially chose when I showed him the website, which is awesome! It’s a pair I wouldn’t wear because it’s a T-bar design, and I find them uncomfortable. So, I was thinking that my orange shoes will go well with their orange dresses, and they can wear plain white/ivory shoes. Rainbow Club’s biggest appeal is the fact that they will dye your shoes even after the event. So my Maid of Honour will end up with a pair of shoes in her favourite colour – purple! Which she’s certainly very happy with.
Florrie – the shoes my bridesmaids like.
Rainbow Club also do some adorable kids shoes, and Emily expressed an interest in having shoes with a very slight heel. I’ve yet to decide on the totally sparkly ones, or another pair with just some diamante gems on, but she’ll look great in either.
Bridesmaid Dresses
I’ve been in conversation with my two bridesmaids a lot this weekend. We found out on Friday that the colour I’d chosen for the dress we found was actually a limited edition colour, and is no longer available! I was gutted, but I was at work when Emilie (Jon’s niece) told me, so couldn’t do much. Once I got home I jumped online to start looking at various designers dresses to find something I liked, and would suit. There was much facebooking between the three of us all Friday evening and thoughout Saturday. I even made another trip to the shop in Keynsham to have a look at the dresses there. We eventually decided on a Dessy dress, mainly because in comes in a perfect shade of orange, called Tangerine Tango. I narrowed it down to about three styles, and my Maid of Honour picked the one she believes will be most flattering on her. I didn’t originally want to go with Dessy, as they are slightly more expensive, but I think it’ll be worth it on the day.
Link to the dress on Dessy's website I can't seem to get a picture of the back, but the bow will tie in very nicely with the dress I found for my flower girl as well.
Planning Session
Having found my shoes, and posted our invitations, the next thing on my list was to book our planning session with Disney. Unfortunately, our budget won’t stretch to the couple of grand needed for a trip from the UK, so it’ll have to be a phone planning session. No menu or cake tasting for us. :-( I e-mailed Carol, my planner, and we set up a date and time. Our planning session is now booked for December 1st at 3pm our time, 10am Florida time. We also now have our planning kit and a menu suggestions book. I think I was expecting a little more from our planning kit, and I’m honestly not sure what’s needed for our planning session. This is the one area that’s so very personal to each bride that it’s hard to work out what’s needed!
Bunting & UK party
My last thing for this post (whew – didn’t realise it would be this long!), is that I have finally started making the bunting to decorate our UK venue. I so far have 40 triangles sewn up, ready to put onto ribbon, and loads of fabric donated from my mum’s fabric cupboard to make more.
I also worked out in the last week that the event that might have taken a dozen guests away from our UK party (including the barbershop quartet I wanted to perform) actually starts the day after we’ve booked our venue, so yay! Everyone can come to our party on July 2nd, then head to London Sunday 3rd, ready to fly to Nashville Monday 4th for the international Barbershop convention!
That’s all for now, I am finally caught up with current wedding events. It has just gone midnight, so I can now say... IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! Hehehe!!!
Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust to you all!
Vikki
x
(added after writing – due to being a full catch up, there’s quite a lot… sorry!)
Flower Girl
My brother and niece came to stay in August, from Friday 21st to Tuesday 25th. If you remember, I sent my niece a special invitation to be my flower girl; she won't be able to see the real invite because she doesn't know we're going to Disney World. She loved it, as I expected. She had decided that the only way to reply to a hand-made invite was to make an RSVP.
It was so sweet of her, and is now hung on my wall, on a random hook that just happened to be there! I love that she called my original invite a "card dress thingy"!!
The main purpose of their visit was to go looking at dress styles for Emily. We also spent some time going Shaun the Sheep hunting around Bristol, going to Bristol kite festival, going to @bristol (a science centre aimed at kids), and generally spending time together. I don't get to see Emily that often, and it's usually when I'm visiting my parents, so it was really lovely to spend time with just them. We also talked a lot about the wedding, and travelling to America. I wanted Emily to have answers to any wedding related questions. It was also a great opportunity to discuss flights with my Brother, as we are paying for them.
My Brother and Niece, Mike and Emily... overlooking the Avon Gorge in Bristol.
Me and Emily with one of the many Shauns we found that day.
This is the dress style we all decided we liked the most, Emily included. We tried on a variety of dresses, both high Street stores and bridal stores, mainly because I wanted Emily to have a true bridesmaid experience, hard as that is at age 9. However, we would have the Dress in the below colours (Pink chiffon, with a yellow satin sash), which will coordinate with my bridesmaids' orange chiffon dresses with yellow chiffon shawls:
We won’t sort her dress out until the new year, as for all I know she might end up having a growth spurt. Her 10th birthday is at the end of January, so we’ll probably find their closest stocking just after then.
It was on the Tuesday, while Jon was at work and the three of us were at @bristol that we got our flights all booked and sorted. It was rather amusing being in this science centre, surrounded by kids (it was still school holidays), texting and calling back and forth with Jon to arrange dates, times, and ensure we had the correct details! I can now say however that…
Flights
Our flights are booked!!!
Mike and Emily will be on the same flight as us to get to Orlando, and will fly back the following Saturday. Our flights are as follows:
Saturday 28th May LHR 0930 – ATL 1400. ATL 1655 – MCO 1829.
Saturday 18th June MCO 1730 – ATL 1920. ATL 2040 – LHR 1000 Sunday 19th.
We chose to fly from Heathrow as it’s that bit closer to Bristol, and even though it means stop over flights, the waits aren’t crazy extortionate. We also think it’ll be easier to keep Emily in the dark about our final destination for longer, meaning she won’t be as hyper on the first flight and will hopefully get some sleep!!!
The next thing to sort will be all our accommodation. We have a villa from June 1st to 4th, and a cruise from 4th to 11th, but we need somewhere to sleep before and after those dates. We’ll book those, along with my brother and niece’s room once we know what dates Jon’s mum is flying out, so we can book that one too.
Invitations
Our invitations have now been finished, printed, and sent!!! I am now happy to show you all the final product. I had this idea in my head ages ago, ever since I saw other people’s park map style invites using the old style Disney maps. The new style maps proved to be much harder to imitate, so I enlisted the help of one of my choir members, who also happens to be a graphic designer.
They turned out a million times better than I ever would have dreamed!!! The UK ones went in a post box last Monday (14th) and the 5 heading to America got handed directly to a postman on Saturday (the 19th). Our first RSVP arrived Saturday morning from Jon’s niece (my second bridesmaid)
I don’t expect many other replies for a little while yet, as most people need to organise their flights, and we have given them a fair amount of time. We did send some invites to a couple of friends who weren’t expecting them, and it looks like they might all be coming, which is awesome!!!
Finalising our invites also meant getting our wedding website in a half usable order. It still needs a lot of work, but please feel free to take a browse at www.jonandvikkigetmarried.com (Jon made a mistake on the invites, so we actually own both websites “jonandvikki” and “vikkiandjon”, which I find really cool! Our guests can never get us the wrong way round!)
Shoes
My last post was all about finding my wedding dress, and even though I’d paid a deposit my actual dress couldn’t be ordered until we determined what length to make it. This meant deciding on shoes and heel height. I’ve been eyeing up Rainbow Club shoes for a while, not only because they have a gorgeous range, but also because they can dye them any colour you wish! I’m always wary about buying shoes without trying them on first, different styles often come up in different sizes on my feet! I range from a size UK 4 to 4.5 to 5. It’s very tricky.
So, after work Monday 2 weeks ago, I headed to a shop in Keynsham that I know stocks Rainbow Club to take a look at styles. They didn’t stock the whole range, but a fair few. I tried on various styles, and nothing felt quite right. The lady helping me grabbed a catalogue and started talking about being able to order others in, but potentially having to charge extra if they were the wrong size and needed returning. I found the shoes I’d had my eye on in the catalogue and she suddenly said “oh, I think we have a sample of that one”. She headed towards the front of the shop, and pulled a single shoe off a shelf.
Thea – the pair I’ve had my eye on, but wasn’t sure about the sparkles.
It turns out that Rainbow Club send single shoes as colour dye samples! It also turned out that the sample was a size 4, and a left foot (my larger foot). Not only did this give me the perfect chance to try the size (too small – I needed a 4.5), but also see how the dye takes on the sparkly part of the shoe, which was a concern of mine.
Now, I wasn’t going to order from a new shop when the shop that sells my dress can also get Rainbow Club. I also didn’t want to pay extra fees that I knew my shop wouldn’t charge if I ordered the wrong size. So I called my shop on Tuesday, she ordered my shoes and we arranged for me to come in on Wednesday to work out the hem length of my dress. (She had another repair of shoes with the exact same heel height). I turned up on Wednesday to discover that my shoes were half an hour away! So after sorting my dress length, I popped into town for lunch, then headed back for my shoes. Omg, I love them!!! This was another gut instinct that I’ve one with, so as said before… I’ll be trusting them from now on!
I took my shoes home with me to start wearing them in, and will take them back when my dress arrives mid-December. At this point we’ll send them back to Rainbow Club for dyeing, as I want them orange. In fact, I’m wearing them right now, while sat on the sofa typing this post!!
In terms of the colours, I pointed my bridesmaids towards Rainbow Club last night. They both chose a pair that Jon initially chose when I showed him the website, which is awesome! It’s a pair I wouldn’t wear because it’s a T-bar design, and I find them uncomfortable. So, I was thinking that my orange shoes will go well with their orange dresses, and they can wear plain white/ivory shoes. Rainbow Club’s biggest appeal is the fact that they will dye your shoes even after the event. So my Maid of Honour will end up with a pair of shoes in her favourite colour – purple! Which she’s certainly very happy with.
Florrie – the shoes my bridesmaids like.
Rainbow Club also do some adorable kids shoes, and Emily expressed an interest in having shoes with a very slight heel. I’ve yet to decide on the totally sparkly ones, or another pair with just some diamante gems on, but she’ll look great in either.
Bridesmaid Dresses
I’ve been in conversation with my two bridesmaids a lot this weekend. We found out on Friday that the colour I’d chosen for the dress we found was actually a limited edition colour, and is no longer available! I was gutted, but I was at work when Emilie (Jon’s niece) told me, so couldn’t do much. Once I got home I jumped online to start looking at various designers dresses to find something I liked, and would suit. There was much facebooking between the three of us all Friday evening and thoughout Saturday. I even made another trip to the shop in Keynsham to have a look at the dresses there. We eventually decided on a Dessy dress, mainly because in comes in a perfect shade of orange, called Tangerine Tango. I narrowed it down to about three styles, and my Maid of Honour picked the one she believes will be most flattering on her. I didn’t originally want to go with Dessy, as they are slightly more expensive, but I think it’ll be worth it on the day.
Link to the dress on Dessy's website I can't seem to get a picture of the back, but the bow will tie in very nicely with the dress I found for my flower girl as well.
Planning Session
Having found my shoes, and posted our invitations, the next thing on my list was to book our planning session with Disney. Unfortunately, our budget won’t stretch to the couple of grand needed for a trip from the UK, so it’ll have to be a phone planning session. No menu or cake tasting for us. :-( I e-mailed Carol, my planner, and we set up a date and time. Our planning session is now booked for December 1st at 3pm our time, 10am Florida time. We also now have our planning kit and a menu suggestions book. I think I was expecting a little more from our planning kit, and I’m honestly not sure what’s needed for our planning session. This is the one area that’s so very personal to each bride that it’s hard to work out what’s needed!
Bunting & UK party
My last thing for this post (whew – didn’t realise it would be this long!), is that I have finally started making the bunting to decorate our UK venue. I so far have 40 triangles sewn up, ready to put onto ribbon, and loads of fabric donated from my mum’s fabric cupboard to make more.
I also worked out in the last week that the event that might have taken a dozen guests away from our UK party (including the barbershop quartet I wanted to perform) actually starts the day after we’ve booked our venue, so yay! Everyone can come to our party on July 2nd, then head to London Sunday 3rd, ready to fly to Nashville Monday 4th for the international Barbershop convention!
That’s all for now, I am finally caught up with current wedding events. It has just gone midnight, so I can now say... IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! Hehehe!!!
Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust to you all!
Vikki
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VikkiLilyBee
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2015
It as been a while since my last update, but t be honest, not a huge amount has been happening on the wedding front. As such, this wild be a very picture light update.
I've been working quite a bit in the lead up to Christmas, and Jon has picked up some overtime as well. So that's always good for the wedding budget. I had a couple of days spent with my mum where we made a LOT of triangles for my bunting. They still all need ironing and sewing onto the binding ribbon though.
Both bridesmaids dresses have been ordered and deposit paid. They, along with my dress, should be arriving some time this month (December) or early January. I can't wait to see all of them!
The main reason for my post was that we had our planning session this afternoon. We filled in our planning kit a couple of weeks ago, and to be honest I was quite disappointed by it. I was always under the impression that it would be much more in depth, when all it really covered was the very basics and outline of the day. However, when it came to our phone call planning session today, it went very smoothly, and Carole was very helpful and knowledgeable. She totally understood most things we said, and was happy to accommodate. The only hiccup we've stumbled upon is surrounding our menu. Jon and I would like to offer a three course meal - starter, main and dessert - with three choices for each course. Carole was fine with this for main and dessert, but not for the starter! Our menu will definitely require some tweaking once our BEO comes through.
Tomorrow will be our phone call with our floral planner. I feel like that will be much trickier, as floral and decorations are a lot more visual. I've even got one or two ideas that I don't have pictures for. I'll post another update tomorrow with how that call goes!
Now we play the waiting game until our BEO arrives!
Vikki
I've been working quite a bit in the lead up to Christmas, and Jon has picked up some overtime as well. So that's always good for the wedding budget. I had a couple of days spent with my mum where we made a LOT of triangles for my bunting. They still all need ironing and sewing onto the binding ribbon though.
Both bridesmaids dresses have been ordered and deposit paid. They, along with my dress, should be arriving some time this month (December) or early January. I can't wait to see all of them!
The main reason for my post was that we had our planning session this afternoon. We filled in our planning kit a couple of weeks ago, and to be honest I was quite disappointed by it. I was always under the impression that it would be much more in depth, when all it really covered was the very basics and outline of the day. However, when it came to our phone call planning session today, it went very smoothly, and Carole was very helpful and knowledgeable. She totally understood most things we said, and was happy to accommodate. The only hiccup we've stumbled upon is surrounding our menu. Jon and I would like to offer a three course meal - starter, main and dessert - with three choices for each course. Carole was fine with this for main and dessert, but not for the starter! Our menu will definitely require some tweaking once our BEO comes through.
Tomorrow will be our phone call with our floral planner. I feel like that will be much trickier, as floral and decorations are a lot more visual. I've even got one or two ideas that I don't have pictures for. I'll post another update tomorrow with how that call goes!
Now we play the waiting game until our BEO arrives!
Vikki
Doodlebug25413
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2015
LOVE that little Yes response from your neice! That is definitely a keepsake! Love her dress & the color choices too.
Looks like everything is starting to come together quite well and nicely.
Yea, I hear ya on the BEO. We just got ours back. Definitely look it over well & make sure everything is initially where you want it. You can tweek it too afterwards.
Looks like everything is starting to come together quite well and nicely.
Yea, I hear ya on the BEO. We just got ours back. Definitely look it over well & make sure everything is initially where you want it. You can tweek it too afterwards.
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