Planning Session

So, the wedding planning session was amazing. First, the organization of the planning staff there is phenomenal. They don't miss a thing and make you feel so comfortable. It took us about an hour and a half to go over literally every single little detail of the ceremony, reception, and dessert party. We got to do a cake tasting in the middle of the session. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it, it was so cute how they had it all set up. They had four different kinds of cake cut into little oval shapes (chocolate, vanilla, almond, and marble), and eight different frosting/filling flavors (butter cream, chocolate, amaretto, baileys, hazelnut, raspberry, one I can't remember and some kind of mango or pineapple or something). They were all so good, and I just knew I'd pick chocolate but we ended up with the almond! It was so moist and dense. Mmmm... I'm not typically a cake person, but it was SO good. We are having that with amaretto filling. Two flavors that are typically not my first picks! After the cake tasting, floral picking, and decor decisions were made, we had about an hour before we were supposed to go to the Grand Floridian Kitchen to try out our food selections! Frank, stupidly, went and got a personal pizza... a decision he would later regret tremendously!

When we arrived at the Convention Center, we were greeted by this!

That's us!!! We then met up with Michelle's (our planner) assistant, who took us into the kitchen.

We really didn't have a clue what to expect. We all had agreed that they'd have little samples out for us to try... you know, little bite size cups or plates or something. We really couldn't have anticipated what is about to follow. This was the first dish that EACH (three people) of us received to eat... yes, one plate per person! It was mushroom ravioli and was absolutely delicious.

The next one was Tomato Carpaccio, which we was the only thing we will not be having. It was really good, but the highlight was the cheese. It was so good that we asked that they could add it to our cheese display for the pre-reception.

Next up was an Endive Salad. I don't recall what the dressing was, but it was so good and an absolutely beautiful presentation!

Finally we moved on to the entrees. Each of us got 2 two entrees because the chef wanted to show us how the dishes would be presented! Can you believe the amount of food!!!

We were so stuffed at the end... and to think, Frank had pizza before all of this!!! We had such a great time, and the whole process made us so incredibly excited for our wedding!

Back in the Saddle

So, I know I haven't posted in a very long time. Actually, I've been downright flaky all summer. I have reasons, but they are probably more of excuses than reasons. Now that I'm back in school, and on a routine (no more traveling all over the place) I will *fingers crossed* be able to get back into the swing of things around here!

I've actually been meaning to blog the last few days, but I'm sort of at a cross roads. See, when I first started "wedding blogging" I did it for the friends and family members far away to keep them updated and help them feel like they were part of the process. The problem now is, I got so sucked into it and was having so much fun that I want to share EVERYTHING! I'm trying to hold myself back, because there are quite a few surprises in store for our wedding guests. While I am just not willing to spill all of them, I will spill some of them, but just ask those of you attending to either not read when you see *Spoiler Alert* as the title. If you do, please please PLEASE do not go spreading the news around. It is our special day, and we are really excited about these surprises. Really, I won't be posting that much, if any... especially not the really big surprises. :)

We had our wedding planning session two weeks ago yesterday. It was amazing. The Disney Cast Members did such a wonderful job of making everything seamless and exciting. My friend Stacie was able to take a day off work and attend... it was so much fun. We ended the day with a lot of laughs, a lot of fun, and very full bellies. :) I'll post some pictures tomorrow, I promise.

I can't believe it is only a little over 4 months away! The time has passed so quickly. I am currently on the Bride diet, trying to whittle my waist down a bit. I think I'm actually beginning to make some progress, which is making me VERY happy. I've actually accomplished a lot in the last few weeks. I'll be on a lot more in the coming days catching everyone up on everything. :)

Happy Blogging!

And the Countdown Begins!

We have arrived, and settled, into our room at Vero Beach. If you ever get a chance to go to Disney's resort at Vero Beach DO NOT hesitate! It is such a small little resort with so much to offer! We love it. It never feels crowded, even when at capacity.

I am really getting excited for the Wedding Planning session with Michelle on Wednesday. My friend Stacie is meeting me there, which will make it extra special! I am so happy to have a second opinion, and one I know I can trust! I'm happy that Frank got to make it as well, I originally thought I was going to be flying solo for this. :)

I will have so much to report in the upcoming weeks as we will be diving into the planning! I can't believe it is just a little over 4 months away! Time has gone by so quickly, and honestly I still haven't gotten very much done. What can I say... I work well under pressure. :) Tomorrow Frank and I will be going over all of the boring details bit by bit in preparation for the planning session. I want to try to get every question answered while I'm there. I will also try to take a lot of pictures to share with everyone!

I'm BAaaackkkkk!!!

It has been a long time since I have blogged "regularly." I've been running around like crazy, and completely miss it!

I just returned back from Oregon (my home) where I did a few wedding things. My sister and friend Tami threw me a FANTASTIC bridal shower. I am so lucky to have them, as they really made it special for me. My sister made me a scrapbook that had open spots for pictures at the shower, and included a page where she could record the Guests and Gifts. She blinged it out with Disney stuff, and added all kinds of Princessy touches. :) I love it. I was so grateful to see everyone while being home; it had been two years since my last trip!

My mom also took me to buy my wedding jewelry. We made it a very special day, she took the day off work, we went to lunch, etc. It was so lovely because due to the distance, I have have missed all of the bridal opportunities with my mom. We went to a few different stores, and then I found these:

The jewelry is absolutely gorgeous. The crystals pick up amazing color, and sparkle like crazy! They will also match the crystals on my gown and veil. It is perfect. The best part is, it is something I can actually wear again. I am very excited to wear it every year and remember my wedding and my day with my mom. :)

We have just short of two weeks until our planning session and tasting session. One of my friends in Orlando took the day off to attend with me! I'm very excited to have her input and thoughts. It will be so glad to have her there. Personally, I can't wait to try the foods and cakes. :) Yumm, yumm.

Well, I'm going to try to get back to my weekly posts on Disney-fy Your Wedding, and Destination Weddings now. I will be in Hilton Head, SC in a week and there is a lack of internet service there, but I plan to try to figure something out. :)

Until then Bloggers.

XoXo

Fancy Fonts

I just received my MacBook Pro in the mail the other day, and have been sitting around getting acquainted. :) I am absolutely LOVING it!

I've been in the process of downloading all of my favorite fonts (and a few extras) from DaFont. If you have never done this, it is super easy and super fun! I love using the fonts for different cards, holidays, newsletters. I can't wait to bust out the Disney fonts for our Welcome Letters for our guests at Disneyworld!

Looking for the Perfect Ring?

Check out Jewelry Vortex! With prices that can't be beat and thousands upon thousands of options, you can find the special token of love you've always wanted. From simple to unique and extremely competitive prices its worth a look! Definitely have yourself a peek. :)

Perks of a Being a Disney Bride

Okay, lets forget about the obvious perks like the experience of the Disney Wedding Planning Team, the great customer service, and feeling like a total princess. There are some perks you really don't expect! For instance, I just answered the door to sign off for a packet from Disney Fairy Tale Weddings and enclosed was a sweet little note from our fantastic coordinator, Kristi. Kristi was an absolute joy to work with. She had a way of making you feel like you weren't "just another bride." It must be a tough task to make everyone feel special when you host over 1,500 weddings per year. Kristi managed to do this with what seemed like complete ease. Anyways, in the super sweet card from Kristi was some "pixie dust" in the form annual passes for Frank and myself!

This is GREAT news, since Frank and I are heading to Disneyworld in July for a day and our annual passes ran out a few months back. We really didn't want to renew for just a day, but didn't want to buy a single day ticket. We may be heading down in late September for a quick weekend as well, for our usual Halloween trip. Again, with all of the money going out, we just didn't see it as reasonable to fork over more money at this point in time. What a great, GREAT surprise!!! Especially on a Monday. :)

Photo Booths, Save the Dates, Invitations... Oh My!

Well, things are finally starting to progress for this Disney Bride! Word on the street has it that some of our wedding guests have started receiving their Save the Dates from Disney! I am very excited about this, as things have otherwise been moving rather slowly. Not anymore!

I ordered some invitation samples from scroll wedding invitations, and they arrived today... wow! The presentation of their scrolls is phenomenal. They very much exceeded my expectations. Not to mention the price is extremely reasonable for the product. I am very pleased and excited about them, if you've ever wanted a scroll invitation these are the people to work with! Fantastic!

We have also secured our photo booth! I am relieved about this mostly because I just knew Frank was going to let it fall through. He wasn't excited about it, but it was one of two things I really had my heart set on. I booked it through Party Booths yesterday, I hope people love it as much as I will! I love photo booths like crazy. :)

Lastly, we have booked our planning session with our Disney planner Michelle! We are squeezing it in in August during a SCUBA trip in Florida. I really can't wait for this the most. I've always wanted to do the food and cake tastings. Ever since watching Father of the Bride, I couldn't wait for that part! I've been trying to gather all of the recommended swatches, and idea pictures.

I'm such a mess though right now, due to our house still being torn upside down. Currently our bed is in the middle of our room, because we are painting the walls and ceiling. We will then attempt to floor the room ourselves... I just can't wait for it to be over with. Somehow in the process of all this, our memory card from our France trip is still lost. I am completely devastated, and cry about it nearly every day. Pathetic... maybe just a bit. :) Poor Frank. I have a few pictures from Austria, so I'll still have to put those up. I've just gotten lazy about it because of the missing card. It basically chronicled our entire 3 week trip, except for the last 5 days, and included pictures from many places we may never go again. Frank has been sweet though, and promised me when we have kids, we'll go back to all of those places with them. :)

Oh, one more exciting thing... Frank sent me an e-mail last night of a confirmation from Ticketmaster... Yup... I'm going to Britney Spears!!! WooooHoooo! You know you have a great fiance when he'll sit through a Britney Spears concert with you. :) Ahhhhh.

Until next time...

Busy, Busy, Busy

So, we are FINALLY getting our Disney Wedding Planner this Wednesday (supposedly). I'm starting to doubt most of what Disney says at this point though. Everything seems to be happening a month later than they say. It wouldn't be a big deal, except there are a lot of things I want to book, like the photo booth, that I cannot until I am assigned my planner to be certain it will work with my facilities and is okay. Like I've mentioned in the past, Disney is great but there are A LOT of rules! We just laughed and laughed when we signed the contract. There are things like "you agree not to take any left over cake except for the top layer." Wow!!! We paid for the expensive thing... wow.

I bought my dress last Saturday! I LOVE it! The lovely woman at the store pulled it for me, and it was far and away the best! It is quite formal though, and I do have some fears that the bridesmaids will not be formal enough. They will be wearing short dresses and ballet flats. I'm sure it'll be fine, I just hope they don't feel out of place. Here are some pics:

My Dress! I can't wait to see it in "my size!" This one was a little big, so it wasn't as snug and body hugging as I would've liked. :)

One of the bridesmaids dresses. I'm nervous for this dress. It is SUPER cute, but the wedding is a winter wedding. I am afraid the bridesmaids will be FREEZING and may look under dressed in a winter wedding. Even in Orlando it gets down to 50 degrees at night regularly.


The other bridesmaids dress, except it will be in the clover green as well. This dress is MUCH dressier and VERY pretty on. It is a very flattering dress for every body type.



The back of my dress.

Shoes the bridesmaids will be wearing. I would've liked something a bit dressier, but sadly the ones I chose have been discontinued. These were definitely NOT my first pick. I am going to try to remove the bows and add a crystal button or something, I think that will dress them up a bit. :) They are EXTREMELY comfortable shoes though, which is a HUGE bonus for the girls!

Overall I am very happy with the dresses, I just hope the girls are warm enough and don't feel under dressed. I can't wait to hear from our planner this week and receive our planning packet. It is going to be another busy week with many home renovations. We are still recovering from our massive house flood. I am starting to get caught up with things, so soon I will be completely back into the swing of things and posting regularly again. :) Sadly, the memory card from our trip appears to have gone missing in all of the house flood/mess. I am devastated about it, but keeping my fingers crossed it will magically appear!!! As soon as it does (oh I hope it does!), I will post them!

Wow...

We flooded our house.

I don't know how, but we did it and returned from a month in Europe, only to live in hotels again. :( With all of the wedding stuff going on, its quite the bummer, but for the most part it hasn't been too bad and things have been moving along. Besides, we will be getting new floors. :) That is always a positive thing. And since the flood started upstairs, we get new floors downstairs as well.

I did go with one of my bridesmaids/friends this weekend to gown shop!!! I found an amazing and perfect gown in the first shop, which was a HUGE relief!!! I'll post pictures of that soon, as well as pictures of our fantastic trip. I'll also have news of the wedding shortly, since the deposit has been made!!!!

As for now, we are awaiting the insurance adjusters while listening to/watching our floors be ripped up.

So much catching up to do. This was certainly not what I thought my summer break would start out to. LOL.

Good News and Bad!

So, the good news is that I finally completed my last final on Saturday and am now in the clear for blogging! :) I had to pack my computer away the last 10 days or so, because I just love to procrastinate when it comes to studying. The other good news (GREAT news!) is that Frank and I sent out our guest list for Save-the-Dates and are about to send in our deposit!!! This means that in a couple weeks we will get a planner and a very fun wedding package to peruse. I'm so excited to finally begin planning!

So, for the bad news. Well, it isn't so bad for me personally, just bad for my blogging life I suppose. Frank and I leave for Europe for 19 days tomorrow!!! We are starting in Paris and ending in Austria. I'm really excited to be able to travel without studying and just spend some time together. Typically when we go on trips I get completely wiped. We leave the hotel early and return late. Frank pops right in bed, but I usually sit up studying. Oh does it suck. I have been VERY much looking forward to this trip!!!

So, unless I miraculously have Internet in Europe at some point (it doesn't look promising), this will be it for me for a couple weeks as far as blogging goes. Luckily when we return, I will have endless wedding things to talk about and a lot of pictures from the trip!

There are always these too...

Which one do you like???

Inspiration #5

So this week's inspiration is more of a hope. A "fingers-freaking-crossed-I must have-it" hope. I really want this gown. It is a little funny, because I had envisioned a "poofier" gown, very "princessy." I just love this gown though, and even better... it is WAY under my budget!!! I like under budget... it means I can put money elsewhere! I'm going gown shopping June 6th, and am SO excited. They carry this line at the store I'm going to, so I'm hoping it is there. Otherwise, I may have to order it without trying it on.

Photos courtesy of: Brides.com

You can also get a look at it here. It is dress #8620. I love the buttons that go all the way down the back. It is so simple and elegant. I really had imagined something much fancier for my gown. At least if the bridal salon doesn't have this dress, the line actually has quite a few beautiful dresses... I just really. hope. they. have. this. one. :)

Great Destination Wedding Location #4

So, since I'm having a Disney World wedding, I have to mention Disneyland! I have actually been lucky enough to pass by a couple of weddings at both The Grand Californian Hotel and The Disneyland Hotel. Honestly, their sites are incredibly beautiful. So beautiful that Frank and I considered having an east coast ceremony AND west coast ceremony (since we hail from both sides of this beautiful country.) We decided to put all of our money into one big fiesta though. The Gardens at these hotels are phenomenal. Of course one of the big perks of being a Disney Bride is the untouchable service you receive and the resources available. There are many web sites to help out someone wanting to host a Disney wedding, a few of them can be found in my right column under "For the Disney Bride."

Photo courtesy of: Here Comes the Guide

Photo courtesy of: Here Comes the Guide

Photo courtesy of: Here Comes the Guide

Photo courtesy of: Here Comes the Guide

Photo courtesy of: Here Comes the Guide


Photo courtesy of: Richmann

Photo courtesy of: big dawg vino

Inspiration #4

Up or down??? I still can't decide... just in case I decide on "up," these are the pictures I'll be taking in to my cosmetologist/hair dresser (which I'm FINALLY in the process of booking!)

Photos courtesy of: The Knot

If I do decide to wear my hair up, I just have to decide if I want to add flowers or some "bling." I always thought I'd have some kind of orchid in my hair on my wedding day, but lately I've been falling in love with some bedazzled-ful hair clips.

Great Bridal Tool!

I just wanted to share with the bridal blogosphere a great wedding planning site that has been recommended to me! Jeff, one of the creators of the site, contacted me a few days ago to share and ask me to check it out. I know there are a million (and one) wedding planning sites out there, but this one really is not to be missed. Really.

My Wedding Workbook is just as amazing. They cover everything from the engagement activities to the honeymoon. It is a straightforward and very easy site to use. One of the best features I've noticed (so far!) is the Task section. You can very easily add a new task to your calendar, and there is even an option to remind you via e-mail of your appointment. Not only that, but it is actually in a monthly calendar view and you can print it out! Fantastic! Below the calendar are reminders and suggestions of what you should be working on.

I am going absolutely ga-ga for this site. Please check it out and share it with everyone!



P.S. Do not miss the adorable story about how this wedding planning site came about. Awwwww. :) And check out Jeff's Blog, I love the name. I was just calling my Hubby-to-be a groomzilla (he totally is)... but Groomasaurus, brilliant!

Great Centerpiece Vases!

I have been looking high and low for the perfect centerpieces. I've found many things that I've "liked," but nothing I thought I would really see through. I still LOVE this idea, and hope to incorporate the whole pearl-thing somehow. I may just add them to the cake table or some other side table... we will see.

I like simple things. Classy things. I need something that can be used in an open outdoor area, or be moved into a busy/fancy Victorian themed room if it chooses to rain. I'm not sure exactly how Disney Floral works yet, but I will find out soon. May 8th is the day when we get a planner, from there I will make appointments and I hope somehow I can make these vases (sorry, not able to get a pic) work. They are fairly inexpensive considering I'd have to rent vases otherwise, and I would get to keep them!!! I could even share them with our wedding party after they are used!! I think votive candles scattered around them would reflect beautiful light, and they are just simple and gorgeous. Perfect.

Hopefully Disney will either fill them with flowers for me, or I can buy loose flowers from them and fill them myself. I wouldn't need much, maybe just some green and white hydrangeas.

Great Destination Wedding Location #3

Well, a little late is better than never! I have some catching up to do after a string of exams.

My next Great Destination Wedding Location is actually where Frank proposed to me! It is located in Amelia Island, FL, a small island a little Northeast of Jacksonville. It has great weather and all of the charm of a southern town. I have dreamt of changing my wedding to The Amelia Island Plantation Inn. The setting is absolutely stunning and romantic. There are endless options for the indecisive bride. :) With numerous venues, many great packages, and a host of culinary options, this place has the potential to create a truly special wedding. Check out their Wedding Guide for a list of services they offer!

All photos courtesy of: Beverly Clark's Wedding Location