Meryll83's SBP/Citrico's/Morocco PJ - Update: Trip Report now underway!! [Archive] - Page 3 - The DIS Discussion Forums

Starr W.

04-04-2008, 08:59 AM

Thanks for the great response to the DDE girls, it sounds like it's definitely worth it to get one card, especially since we're hoping to have at least one group meal, and we're in the world for about 2 weeks.....
Just keep hoping for us now that they'll still be offering the free annual passes to us when we contract in October this year!

Ok - so a questions about the logistics of dining as a group - If my dad (and mum if she's coming - find out tonight!) decide to go on the DDP, and then we book a group meal at Le Cellier as we hope to, could we split the bill, so that we can use the DDE card for ours and other guests discount, but my parents can still use their dining plan? If we make sure to tell our server at the start of the meal will this be ok, or are there any problems that may arise with different payment types at the same table?

When you purchase a card to you get given a definitive list of which locations are eligible at the time? And I'm right in thinking that when we arrive in WDW, if we pop over to one of the parks on our first afternoon when we arrive, we go over to a window somewhere outside one of the parks (never done this before, is it just the normal ticket windows you pass when you've already got your tickets?) and we can redeem our AP vouchers and purchase a DDE card here at this time?

And one more question - is the discount valid at the listed locations for any meal, or are some locations only eg. breakfast and lunch but not dinner discounted?

Thanks girlies - you always know the answers! :thumbsup2

I don't think you can get the DDE at the ticket counter with the AP. I called and ordered mine and had it mailed. They do give you a list of resturarants, it's pretty much every TS. I think to get it when you are at the parks, you need to go over to Epcot(guest services maybe?). If you do a search on the DIS boards I'm sure there are many posts with the answer to "where to pick up the DDE"

I've used my card for lunch and dinner.

orangetiggs

04-04-2008, 09:31 AM

we got ours a dtd at guest services,w e got a list of places with it. some of the food courts int he hotels use it as well!

meryll83

04-04-2008, 09:39 AM

I don't think you can get the DDE at the ticket counter with the AP. I called and ordered mine and had it mailed. They do give you a list of resturarants, it's pretty much every TS. I think to get it when you are at the parks, you need to go over to Epcot(guest services maybe?). If you do a search on the DIS boards I'm sure there are many posts with the answer to "where to pick up the DDE"

I've used my card for lunch and dinner.

we got ours a dtd at guest services,w e got a list of places with it. some of the food courts int he hotels use it as well!
I'm not sure I can order mine by phone as I'll only have a AP voucher at that stage, not an actual pass?

So it's not available at guest services in all the parks?
I'll have a proper search later on (after work!!) and see if I can find a list of locations where I can pick it up....

lov2b@disney

04-04-2008, 09:49 AM

I got mine with an AP voucher, faxed it to them and it came in the mail!

meryll83

04-04-2008, 09:53 AM

I got mine with an AP voucher, faxed it to them and it came in the mail!
That's good to know!

I don't have a fax though, I wonder if I could email someone with a scan attached?

Who did you speak to to organise faxing a copy of your voucher over?

And is the DDE card valid for one year from the date of purchase?

lov2b@disney

04-04-2008, 10:09 AM

Starr W.

04-04-2008, 10:12 AM

I'm not sure I can order mine by phone as I'll only have a AP voucher at that stage, not an actual pass?

So it's not available at guest services in all the parks?
I'll have a proper search later on (after work!!) and see if I can find a list of locations where I can pick it up....

I read the little tiny numbers off the back of one of the adult AP vouchers to the DDE people. Our vouchers were plastic cards in a glow in the dark green color. When you buy an AP they send you a voucher that you turn in to get a the actual ticket. I know a lot of DVC'ers(we get a small discount) will buy AP's right before the annual price increase, then activate them 6 months down the rode.

I'm pretty sure Epcot is the only place you can pick up your actual DDE, unless it's changed and the clock starts running from when you purchase it.

meryll83

04-04-2008, 11:19 AM

Here is the phone number (m-f) 407-566-5858. www.disney.dining.experience@disney.com

Says you can now get them at Guest Service locations (this started 11/07)

On the mail application you only need the number that is on the back of the voucher (I think it starts with WTS...)

I mailed for mine last summer and it doesnt expire until 12/31/08
hth

I read the little tiny numbers off the back of one of the adult AP vouchers to the DDE people. Our vouchers were plastic cards in a glow in the dark green color. When you buy an AP they send you a voucher that you turn in to get a the actual ticket. I know a lot of DVC'ers(we get a small discount) will buy AP's right before the annual price increase, then activate them 6 months down the rode.

I'm pretty sure Epcot is the only place you can pick up your actual DDE, unless it's changed and the clock starts running from when you purchase it.

Thanks for the information here, seems to be a bit of conflicting info between the 2 of you though! (I know this is the case a lot, depending on the staff you speak to though!!)

Can anyone else share their experiences with where they can be bought and how long they are valid?

lov2b@disney

04-04-2008, 11:31 AM

meryll83

04-04-2008, 11:47 AM

Hi! My bad I got the application this summer-didnt mail it until November to get the card in time for our PS. Must have gotten it in Dec- therefore the Dec. expiration date. I had planned on sending it, until I realized it would expire sooner!

Sorry! Wedding planning along with raising 3DS's is sucking up my brain cells!:laughing: Promise the rest is correct! :)
:rotfl: You are forgiven!!!

So it's good for one year from date of purchase.

I'll have a mooch around online when I get home and see if there is a definitive list of locations to purchase it from, but I may well ring up and get it sent by post so we have it ready and it's one less thing to worry about!

So, where can I exchange our AP vouchers??

lov2b@disney

04-04-2008, 11:53 AM

We exchanged our voucher at MK- the customer service windows are to the right before you enter the park! It was quick and easy!

lurkyloo

04-04-2008, 11:58 AM

:rotfl: You are forgiven!!!

So it's good for one year from date of purchase.

I'll have a mooch around online when I get home and see if there is a definitive list of locations to purchase it from, but I may well ring up and get it sent by post so we have it ready and it's one less thing to worry about!

So, where can I exchange our AP vouchers??

Hi!

The definitive list for exchanging vouchers AND for picking up DDE cards is: any guest relations window - at the parks or at Downtown Disney. Also, they no longer mail them to you; you have to pick them up. On our first night we went to Downtown Disney for dinner and stopped by Guest Relations on the way to get the DDE. At first they gave us trouble about only having AP Vouchers, not active APs, but I explained to the CM that DDE does accept vouchers and she put it through.

As to the expiration, it is usually valid for one year from the end of the following month. We got ours on Feb. 1 and the card is good til the end of March 09. :thumbsup2

figmentfan814

04-04-2008, 01:04 PM

I read the little tiny numbers off the back of one of the adult AP vouchers to the DDE people. Our vouchers were plastic cards in a glow in the dark green color. When you buy an AP they send you a voucher that you turn in to get a the actual ticket. I know a lot of DVC'ers(we get a small discount) will buy AP's right before the annual price increase, then activate them 6 months down the rode.

I'm pretty sure Epcot is the only place you can pick up your actual DDE, unless it's changed and the clock starts running from when you purchase it.

This did just changed because I purchased mine at the Magic Kingdom guest services last month. They just started allowing you to buy them at any of the parks. In fact, my dad bought his at MGM last month too. They will give you the most recent printout of restaurants when you buy it too and the discount is good all the time at the places listed.

meryll83

04-04-2008, 01:26 PM

Is the 18% gratuity just added to table service meals or all DDE meals/snacks?

figmentfan814

04-04-2008, 01:28 PM

Is the 18% gratuity just added to table service meals or all DDE meals/snacks?

I think it's added to all table service meals now regardless of if you have the DDE. We went to dinner one night before we got our card and the 18% was added. I think it's a new Disney policy, but I could be wrong :confused:

meryll83

04-04-2008, 01:32 PM

I think it's added to all table service meals now regardless of if you have the DDE. We went to dinner one night before we got our card and the 18% was added. I think it's a new Disney policy, but I could be wrong :confused:

I think you're right, just wondered if it was only table service it applies to - or if they add it to counter service etc too?

orangetiggs

04-04-2008, 01:38 PM

we didnt pay it at pop at the food court when we used the dde

meryll83

04-04-2008, 02:32 PM

:yay: Mummy's Coming! :yay:

DigitalLove

04-04-2008, 03:17 PM

:yay: Mummy's Coming! :yay:

Aww! I'm SOOOOO pleased for you!! You must be overjoyed!!!

Yayyyyy Mummy!!!

figmentfan814

04-04-2008, 06:57 PM

I'm so glad that your mom is going to be able to come :rockband: party:

lov2b@disney

04-04-2008, 07:43 PM

How exciting for you! :woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

Goldeelox9

04-04-2008, 08:14 PM

I knew she would cave in! I am soo happy for you!

Mama of Indybride

04-04-2008, 11:58 PM

:yay: Mummy's Coming! :yay:

I knew she would come! What mama wouldn't come to see her baby girl get married!

I'm so excited for you! :jumping1:

meryll83

04-05-2008, 04:14 AM

Yey!!!!

Thanks everyone, you had more faith than me, but perhaps that's coz I know how stubborn she can be!
Maybe Tinkerbell popped in and persuaded her - or perhaps it was coz I ordered a planning DVD to go to their house to get her in the Disney mood - I was hoping she'd think it just arrived randomly and would think it was a sign! :rotfl:

It took foreeeeeeeeeever to get her added on to the booking last night, and after all that, just tried to check the booking online this morning and couldn't, so rang up and it became apparent that the guy had spelt my mum's surname wrong!!
The service staff I spoke to wanted my mum to call to confirm it could be changed and would only speak to her coz of data protection and blah blah blah - but I was like, NO, it's your fault, I made the original booking not her, and you can see by mine and my dad's bookings how it's supposed to be spelt, so sort it! - and they did ;) Nothing like a bit of aggressiveness on a Saturday morning!!

I need to call Virgin back on Monday as they said I could price match some 14day ultimate passes I've seen cheaper online, but the authorising team aren't in until Monday. I'll also be adding the DDP on for them on Monday too - so jealous!!
Wait til I speak to the guy who b'd up our booking!!!!!!!!
I haven't mentioned yet that after booking yesterday he was confirming it all back to me and then went, oh no, I've booked your mum a seperate room instead of in with your dad! Sigh. the joy of call centres. So I was on the phone for another stretch of forever while he sorted that out. I made him call me back though, I wasn't wasting my phone bill on his error! (even though I had to this morning :mad:)

So my mission for the weekend is to find the cheapest priced passes online (they have to be 2009 pass prices to be pricematched) - the ones I saw were £169 I think for 2008, but I told a little white lie that they were 09 :guilty: but now after this mess up I want the best price match I can!!!!!

meryll83

04-06-2008, 11:05 AM

OK so £163 is the best for 14 day tickets this year and £175 for next year - I'll see how I get on tomorrow, see if I feel naughty enough to try and persuade him that the £163 price is advertised for next year :rolleyes: After all, he did mess up! And they won't price match the dining plan only the tickets, so I might as well get what I can out of them, right?

Did I mention that I booked Randy the other day? Decided to go for it! :cool1:
He doesn't seem to have taken my deposit money yet though - has anyone else filled out his credit card payment form? How long did it take to process?

I've also just enquired with Beaute Speciale about a few things and will probably get them booked in too - it looks like they don't actually require a deposit :thumbsup2

I'm still waiting for an invoice to come through from the booking of our at home reception which we did a couple of weeks ago, apparently the admin person has been off sick, but it should get sorted this week.

So things are getting organised thick and fast at the moment! But still plenty to keep me going for another 18 months :lmao:

Thinking about booking in a pianist for our at home reception, that we saw at a wedding fayre that we both really loved, but he's pretty expensive, so I wonder whether we should wait that one out a bit in case we happen upon someone else a bit cheaper!!....

Chilly

04-06-2008, 01:55 PM

That is really great news about your Mum :thumbsup2

Beep

04-07-2008, 05:30 PM

Hey Meryll, how you doing?

That's really good news about your Mom, I'm so pleased for you.

Ok, the DDE. If you have a look on the main front page of Dis and go to the Dining section there is a page in there about the DDE and what restaurants participate and when. Also, if your spouse/partner gets an additional card it is $25 but it has the same numbers on as your main card (ie same membership number) so you aren't eligible for a discount on another 10 guests.

When I booked Randy it took about a month for the deposit to go through because he was so busy but it will go through. He is really flexible on the timings too so if you need to increase the time and it works out at more cost, he won't take the extra deposit for that time. It looks like we are going from 4 hours to 6 hours and he is cool with that.

meryll83

04-08-2008, 02:23 AM

Ok - wanna know how I got on with Virgin last night?

Here's a clue - this is the complaint letter I'm sending in the post this morning!:

Customer Services Department - Complaints
Virgin Holidays Ltd
The Galleria
Station Road
Crawley
West Sussex
RH10 1WW

7th April 2008

Dear Sir / Madam,
On 7th April 2008, I called Virgin Holidays to add on 14 day Ultimate park hopper passes and the Disney Dining Plan to our Florida Holiday at approximately 4:45pm.
I called the reservations department, asking for ***** on extension *****, as I had added my mum onto our holiday with him on Friday, and he had told me that he could price match our park tickets if I called back on Monday when the relevant authorising team would be in, and at this point he would also add the dining plan, which could have our 10% flying club discount deducted, but no price match. However, I was told that he was unavailable, I was surprised as he had told me to call him back specifically on this day, although he had not specified a time, so perhaps he had finished for the day, anyway I asked the girl I was speaking to (unfortunately I did not get her name – my mistake as this caused numerous problems!) if she would be able to help and she obliged.
I told her that I had seen online ticket prices at £163, she went away and checked and offered a maximum discount of 10% - £176, was this acceptable? I told her that on Disney’s own official website the price quoted was £175, at which point she offered to recheck and came back to me that this price of £175 had been agreed.
At this time, I apologised for being cheeky, but could she call me back on my mobile, as I was concerned that my credit was about to run out. She agreed and the call was terminated, however after about 10 minutes or so, she had not returned my call.
Concerned that she had taken my number down wrong, I redialled reservations, but of course as I could not remember the girl’s name, I had to start from scratch with a new reservationist. This female, however, informed me that we shouldn’t even have had our flying club discount honoured in the first place on initial booking, as the holiday cost was under £1,500. News to me!
At this point let me explain that our initial booking, done a couple of weeks ago consisted of myself and my partner (*****) and when we asked to add my dad on in a separate room, this had to be done on a separate reference number (*****) but the flying club discount was honoured across both bookings. These were booked by *****. My mum was added on by ***** on Friday in a very long phonecall, as although ***** confirmed that my mum would be added into my dad’s room, she again had to have a new reference number (*****) and when relaying back the booking details to me he realised he had made an error and booked my mum an additional room instead of adding her into my dad’s, so this had to be resolved.
I asked ***** to check the transfers had been correctly booked on our initial booking, as when I ended the call with *****, she advised that she had only added transfers one way, not return as we had requested, but she would amend this and then we ended the call. I wanted to make sure she had done this, however when ***** checked, he informed me that NO transfers had been added to this booking (*****) so resolved this issue for me.
Later on Friday evening, I went online to check my mum’s new reservation, only to be greeted by a message that said the passenger surname was incorrect! I called your services team on Saturday morning and discovered that ***** had incorrectly spelt my mum’s surname. I had to battle with the services team to get this amended, as they were telling me that only my mum herself could request this amendment, however when I explained that I had made the initial booking, not her, he could check the correct surnames by mine and my dad’s references and it was Virgin’s error not ours, the man I spoke to assisted in correcting this error.
So, back to my conversation with a new reservationist on the 7th, after being informed that although the initial flying club discount was an error, this would be honoured as it was already booked, but I couldn’t have the flying club discount applied to the dining plan, nor could I have the tickets price matched!
I explained that both ***** and the girl I first spoke to this day had advised this was possible, and I had just had the price match agreed by the girl who didn’t call me back, however this new girl said she was unable to help as ***** was unavailable and she could not find who the original girl was as I didn’t know her name and she hadn’t left any notes on the system. At this point I asked to be referred to a Manager, as I had been told I was getting these discounts and was not happy to accept them now being taken away. The first number she tried had no response so I was told she would try another number for me. This took me to a service manager, again female, however she told me that she was an internal manager and I had been put through to the wrong number, she advised that the services team could help and put me through there.
At this point I was referred to a foreign sounding female, who informed me that she dealt with agents only and would have to put me through to a direct team member. Here I was on hold for about 15 minutes and gave up and hung up.
I called reservations yet again, this time I was told quickly I needed the service team, I again explained someone in reservations had been helping me but hadn’t called me back as agreed, but I was told services team had to add on to existing bookings, so was transferred through.
I believe at this point it was ***** I spoke to in the service team and I seemed to be making progress again, however she then advised that she would need to speak to the support team to authorise the price match and they only worked 9am-5pm so could I call back tomorrow!
I said no I did not want to call back tomorrow I wanted this sorting now, as I had initially rung within the correct timescale (even though I knew nothing of these working hours) and had already had the price match agreed, and had now been on the phone for about an hour trying to sort this out. She reiterated that I must call back tomorrow so again I asked if I could speak to a Manager. She went away and then just came back to reiterate the same point about calling back tomorrow as there was nothing she could do.
I asked if someone could call me back as I had spent enough money today trying to sort this issue which eventually she agreed to but this return call could be anytime between 9am-5pm. I said I was not happy about this and asked wanted to specify a time, as I am at work all day tomorrow, so only my lunch time would be convenient. Begrudgingly, she took this request and the ordeal ended for today.
I am disappointed because not one of your staff seems to have performed in a manner I would call acceptable, whilst the majority of reservations staff have been pleasant, each has made a critical error on our bookings.
There seems to be a misunderstanding over which team, reservations or services, actually takes care of adding the tickets and dining plan on, and I was extremely angry to find that at the end of an hour’s worth of calls I was told that I was too late to sort my query today and to be asked to call back tomorrow, especially when it seemed that the initial girl I spoke to was going to have added on our extras relatively quickly.
I have spent at least £8 on my mobile phone just today calling your company, only to have absolutely nothing resolved and effectively be back at square one tomorrow.
In feeling it absolutely essential to write to you because of these concerns, I have spent another hour of my time relaying this information to you.
I hope that tomorrow will prove to be more fruitful and I will be able to add on the required elements with minimal fuss, but judging by the amount and content of conversations I have had today, I suspect tomorrow may be a new ordeal.
To resolve the problem I would appreciate confirmation that the ultimate tickets can be added to references ***** and ***** as initially agreed at a charge of £175 per person, and the Disney dining plan to be added to each of these bookings also, inclusive of my 10% flying club discount. This was promised to me, and I do not feel it is too much to ask that these features can simply be added, in what to me should have been a 10 minute job.
I would also be extremely grateful if anything can be offered to compensate for the time and money spent trying to resolves the various issues I have had with these bookings.
We have travelled with Virgin Holidays a number of times and have always found the service and information to be exceptional. This particular journey is especially important for us, as we are getting married in Florida, and we feel the service so far has been significantly below the standard we have come to expect, not only from yourselves, but any basic holiday tour operator. This experience has led us to question whether we should use Virgin in future.
I look forward to hearing from you and to agreeing a resolution of this problem. I would appreciate a courtesy call upon receipt of this letter, in order to ascertain whether or not the issue has as yet been resolved by the phonecall I am expecting from your service team tomorrow, or if I require further assistance in this matter.
Yours faithfully

Hope that made sense with all the ****'s, thought I'd better protect some identities and of course, my booking numbers!!

I was sooooooo angry yesterday I wanted to cry, so I vented by writing that letter, and I've just posted it! (After now noticing a couple of grammatical errors, darnit)

meryll83

04-08-2008, 03:07 AM

Chilly

04-08-2008, 03:35 AM

Just read your letter. Hope you get something sorted with them.

meryll83

04-08-2008, 05:17 PM

Well no-one rang me back today, so I decided to ring them back, in a lot calmer mood than yesterday!

The first girl I spoke to dealt with this straight away and added on what I asked for, price matching the park tickets (without even having to go off and get any authorisation from anyone!) and giving me the flying club discount off the dining plan! :thumbsup2 I didn't tell her about yesterdays shennanigans, I just let her get on with as I thought it would just create more problems if I brought it up!
So all was well......

until......

I went to check the updated bookings online to find that she had overcharged me on the dining plan!

Soooo..... I rang back again, specifically asking for her, but was told she was on another call, but as soon as she was free she would ring me.
One hour later....
I rang back again, this time I was put through to the service team as the new reservationist wouldn't help as it wasn't their departments job apparently, and went through the rigmorale again that for data protection reasons only my parents could amend their bookings.
The service member said if my parents rang up and gave passwords, I could then ring to make alterations by quoting these passwords and confirmed that she would put a note on the bookings to correct the price as I explained.

So, to save another argument, I got my mum to call and put passwords on.

Then I rang again, my service team member was now unavailable so I explained the overcharge to the new girl. She then insisted that the pricing was right and that the first service girl and misinformed me and that there was no note agreeing the price!!!!
I instructed her through the screens of the V Hols website so she could see where I was seeing my 'correct' price, and after this she did amend the booking.
So now, finally, we are sorted!! I think...

My mum's booking says half board rather than disney dining plan, but I've been assured by 2 people that this is just how they've had to fiddle the system as the accommodation is only booked on my dad's reference not my mum's and they both definitely have the dining plan.
Hmmmmm, think I'll give it a few days and ring and check this again - I've had about all I can handle in a week!

I thought about writing another letter today, but you know what, I just couldn't be bothered, I'll see if I get a response to my original letter first!

It's not just me is it? It really shouldn't be that much hard work should it???? :confused: Gosh I'm exhausted!!

Beep

04-08-2008, 05:50 PM

OMG YOU POOR THING! That is absolutely diabolical from Virgin. I really hope you get a response, and some pixie-dust, from them. They should give you the whole bl**dy lot for free after that.

How much would it cost to cancel the whole thing and book it all independently?!

I flew with Virgin to Orlando on my (1st) honeymoon back in 1992 and they were excellent. I didn't go with them again for a while due to money but when we did there was a definite difference in service.

When I used them a few years ago I swore I wouldn't go with them again. I enquired about upgrading the flights but decided that it wasn't worth it and didn't go ahead witht it. They called a couple of days later to advising that I would need to either pay for the upgrade there and then or pay at check-in as they had added the upgrade to my flights! I had a battle with them to say I hadn't upgraded and was just inquiring. They implied that unless I paid the difference my booking would be cancelled and I would lose my deposit. Can you believe that?! I eventually sorted it out, and when I finally spoke to a Manager she said that I must have been mistaken as they wouldn't have added the upgrade unless I had instructed them to do so and paid for it there and then.

Disgraceful.

meryll83

04-09-2008, 03:06 AM

At least it's not just me that's had problems with them then!
I know other people have said that thier after-sales services is bad, but I've had no chice to be honest, as even if nothing else had been amended, they still hadn't booked transfers on to my original booking anyway, so it's a good job I checked!

It's frightening though, because I've worked as a travel agent before I'm very conscious of making sure that everything is correct, but there must be many many people who just make their initial booking and that's that for them, they assume it's all correct.
Not so!!

It would cost £120 each in deposit monies lost, and although we could possibly save this each by doing it seperately, the whole point for us was that we could ensure our flights were booked now and we wouldn't have to wait until 11 months out, normally I wouldn't mind doing this, but as it's for such an important occassion we really wanted to make sure everything was organised as early as possible so we don't hit any of these problems later on down the line.

Granted we've been a litle bit complicated in having a booking where there is no accommodation for part of it due to the cruise, a single room booking that then needed another passenger adding, and then adding tickets and dining plan later on again, but this is their job - why aren't they good at it?????!

Chilly

04-09-2008, 04:19 AM

I've heard some horror stories of Virgins Customer Service, I don't think I'd ever book direct with them.

I hope you don't have any further problems with them.

meryll83

04-09-2008, 04:52 AM

We've been with them twice before in 05 and 07 and didn't have any of these issues!

I do agree with many that the standards of service right through from booking to the flights themselves do seem to have dropped over the past few years.

It's a real shame as they really were the leading company at one point I think....

Now I've written down everything that happened yesterday it makes me want to send them another letter, but I'll hold my ground for now, mainly coz I don't have enough time this week to do it!

Chilly

04-09-2008, 05:03 AM

meryll83

04-09-2008, 05:21 AM

If you do write again I offer one suggestion (from reading up on complaining when I needed to write a letter of complaint myself).

In the letter you have already sent you wrote:
I would also be extremely grateful if anything can be offered to compensate for the time and money spent trying to resolves the various issues I have had with these bookings.

From what I've read it is always better to specify exactly what compensation you want such as an upgrade or discount.

Yes, I've read that before actually, but I never know what I should really ask for, unless it's obvious - eg. a refund of a certain figure.
Any suggestions of what I should be asking for after reading my experiences?

Chilly

04-09-2008, 06:41 AM

Yes, I've read that before actually, but I never know what I should really ask for, unless it's obvious - eg. a refund of a certain figure.
Any suggestions of what I should be asking for after reading my experiences?

I don't think in this instance you can ask for too much as nothing has gone wrong on your holiday they've just made booking errors and the cost of the phone calls etc so perhaps you could ask for tickets to Seaworld or something like that :confused3

meryll83

04-10-2008, 06:36 AM

I don't think in this instance you can ask for too much as nothing has gone wrong on your holiday they've just made booking errors and the cost of the phone calls etc so perhaps you could ask for tickets to Seaworld or something like that :confused3

Well I shall wait and see if they get back to me and if they offer me anything, it's hard to decide what's fair compensation really isn't it, when it's not a definite figures as such?

On a completely different, and much brighter note, we went to see John Barrowman in concert last night and it was fab! I've never heard someone sing so perfectly live before! And now I get to look forward to him virtually taking over BBC1 every Saturday night :lovestruc Love that man!

Sorry, that was completely unrelated to weddingness - but I can solve that. We're thinking of using his version of Your Song for our first dance. It's actually the version that Ewan McGregor (:lovestruc him too!) does in Moulin Rouge, but we were concerned about all the very loud operaticified bits in his version, but John Barrowman's new album has this 'Ewan' version that we love, but without the opera dude bawling over it (sorry for my lack of precision on musical terms here!)

There we go, I get away with being off topic now, right? ;)

GlobalDiva

04-10-2008, 08:19 AM

Well I shall wait and see if they get back to me and if they offer me anything, it's hard to decide what's fair compensation really isn't it, when it's not a definite figures as such?

On a completely different, and much brighter note, we went to see John Barrowman in concert last night and it was fab! I've never heard someone sing so perfectly live before! And now I get to look forward to him virtually taking over BBC1 every Saturday night :lovestruc Love that man!

Sorry, that was completely unrelated to weddingness - but I can solve that. We're thinking of using his version of Your Song for our first dance. It's actually the version that Ewan McGregor (:lovestruc him too!) does in Moulin Rouge, but we were concerned about all the very loud operaticified bits in his version, but John Barrowman's new album has this 'Ewan' version that we love, but without the opera dude bawling over it (sorry for my lack of precision on musical terms here!)

There we go, I get away with being off topic now, right? ;)
I LOVE John Barrowman too! I'm a huge Torchwood fan, but alas, I live in the US and we get our episodes about 2 or 3 weeks behind their original air date in the UK, but I suppose that's not that bad.

His voice is lovely! What concert did you attend?

meryll83

04-10-2008, 08:33 AM

I LOVE John Barrowman too! I'm a huge Torchwood fan, but alas, I live in the US and we get our episodes about 2 or 3 weeks behind their original air date in the UK, but I suppose that's not that bad.

His voice is lovely! What concert did you attend?

We went to see him in Nottingham, which was a bit of a shame as it turned out, we nearly went to see him in Gateshead, and his support act there was Ben who was in Any Dream Will Do, and is now playing Link in Hairspray in the West End, and I grew up with Ben in my local theatre group, so it would have been awesome to see him perform in John's show!
(Don't know if you guys in the US will have seen or heard of Any Dream Will Do, it was basically a reality TV show last year where they were hunting to find a guy to play the lead in Joseph in the West End. Ben actually came 3rd, but then landed himself the part in Hairspray, which fits him to a tee! They hunted for a Maria for the Sound of Music the year before, and currently are looking for an Oliver and a Nancy to star in Oliver - and JB has been a judge in each of these shows, so I can get my Saturday night fix! He's also just starting a new TV show this week called The Kid's Are Alright, of course Torchwood, and I belive he's set to be in the new series of Doctor Who again at some point, so I'm loving Saturday night TV at the moment!)

PrincessSarah19

04-10-2008, 07:00 PM

On a completely different, and much brighter note, we went to see John Barrowman in concert last night and it was fab! I've never heard someone sing so perfectly live before! And now I get to look forward to him virtually taking over BBC1 every Saturday night :lovestruc Love that man

Sorry to go completely OT here! Just a long time lurker! :thumbsup2 lol

We saw JB in Cardiff on Monday - oh he was so amazing! And Connie Fisher (Maria) was his guest act!!!

We now return you to your PJ :rotfl:

meryll83

04-11-2008, 03:11 AM

Sorry to go completely OT here! Just a long time lurker! :thumbsup2 lol

We saw JB in Cardiff on Monday - oh he was so amazing! And Connie Fisher (Maria) was his guest act!!!

We now return you to your PJ :rotfl:
He really was fab wasn't he?:worship:

Do you live in Cardiff then - lucky girl, he has a home there and a home in London doesn't he?

Ok - yes, back to my PJ :lmao:

Not that I really have anything to share....

Oooooh yes I do - the school half term dates have finally been officially released, and much to our relief the half term is the week we though it was going to be, so we have booked the correct week (going out the week before the hols)! :cool1: Can you imagine if it was the wrong week and I had to call Virgin and get them to move everything on our 3 bookings :eek: I probably would have been on the phone for about 5 hours just trying to explain what we wanted!

Si's mum finally found the dates out from the council, and I heard Si on the phone last night telling her my mum was now coming and that 6 of us are already booked.
After I finished rehearsals last night, I noticed I had a missed call from his mum, so I wonder if she was calling for any further info before she gets booked, hope so! I was teasing Simon the other day by saying all 'my side' of people attending are already booked, where's his?;) Ok, so technically there are some joint friends that aren't booked yet, but they were people I became friends with through Simon, so I suppose their technically 'his'.

I've booked Beaute Speciale in for our guesstimated wedding date and MK photoshoot date, so now we all get to look beautiful :bride:

Still haven't had an invoice from our Scarborough venue, I'll give them another week before I email them again though.
And I might go ahead and contact our registry office regarding getting someone to perform our ceremony here.
They've told me that because they are not a religious association they cannot perform a blessing, but they can do a vow renewal. I asked them if they had any scripts they could send me, as I was a bit concerned what the wording would be like, as it seems a bit crazy to be having a vow renewal after 3 weeks of marriage to me, but if it's wording in the right way I'm sure it'll be fine.
However, they told me they couldn't send me anything until we've put down our £50 deposit - meanies!!

My bridesmaid dress order has been updated to say that the dresses are expected to reach the companies New York office on the 27th May - one day after my brithday! - and then will be shipped straight to me.
My ring should arrive in the shop in the next 2 weeks, Si still hasn't picked his, think we'll have to schedule him a day to go and look for one. He still hasn't looked at suits at all yet either. I know there's plenty time yet and we're way ahead in the planning process anyway, but we both agreed the more we can budget for and sort out early the better!

Chilly

04-11-2008, 04:12 AM

How far ahead can you book the MK photoshoot then if you've booked that already?

meryll83

04-11-2008, 05:25 AM

How far ahead can you book the MK photoshoot then if you've booked that already?
I've just booked Beaute Speciale for the date we are hoping for, not the actual MK shoot.
That can't be booked in until contracting the wedding date.....

Sorry if I was unclear, but it's Friday!! (blame everything on that!)

PrincessSarah19

04-11-2008, 11:08 AM

He really was fab wasn't he?:worship:

Do you live in Cardiff then - lucky girl, he has a home there and a home in London doesn't he?

He was out of this world amazing! :goodvibes
I'm at university in Cardiff so I'm always on the lookout for those BBC cameras filming Torchwood or Dr Who lol
Yeah, he's got a home in London and one in Cardiff!

Beep

04-13-2008, 05:16 PM

meryll83

04-14-2008, 03:16 AM

Hi Meryll,

Keep on with Virgin - they will sort it all out. If you have to, once everything has been sorted, call again and get someone different to confirm the details. I'm sure a lot of these people tell you they have sorted things out when they haven't just to get you off the phone. If you start with someone new and ask them to confirm the details you will know that they have done what you wanted. Hopefully!

I heard from Randy today. We have extended our photo package with him to include POR after lunch and he will be joining us for lunch as a guest. Don't gert spending that deposit money!!
I've not heard anything as yet from Virgin, but I think they have a couple of weeks to respond don't they?
I think once (if) I sort out with them if they are going to offer us any compensation for our troubles, then I will ring and check with a newbie that everything is booked in correctly, transfers, tickets, dining plan etc.
Did I explain that my mum's booking shows 'half board' instead of disney dining plan' - apparently they had to get round their system this way as there is no accommodation booked on my mum's, it's on my dad's booking - they've told me she has the plan too, but it concerns me! Don't want to get to check in to find we have problems and not be able to get hold of anyone at Virgin due to the time difference! To be fair, I'd be annoyed if I had to try and contact them in the first place, it should all be booked correctly shouldn't it?, but I think I'll worry about this now until check-in if the invoice still has to say half board!!

Randy has taken his deposit money out now, so that's good (if money coming out of your account can be classed as good ;)) and our at home reception have apologised regarding the invoice as their admin person is still ill, but that I can send the deposit in before the invoice if I want. Think I might wait it out until the invoice arrives still though....

Chilly

04-14-2008, 04:22 AM

I'm sure Virgin will sort out everything in the end.

meryll83

04-15-2008, 11:53 AM

I'm sure Virgin will sort out everything in the end.

I just got a standard letter today saying that they would send a full response within 28 days of receipt of my original letter..........

meryll83

05-05-2008, 04:05 AM

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/Dress003.jpg
Excuse the quality of the image, my camera obviously wasn't made for taking pictures of jewellry!!

Still haven't had a letter (other than the standard one above) from Virgin yet, but I did notice that they have taken a £25 goodwill gesture off my dad's booking alone when I checked the bookings online the other day.
However, for some reason, before they did this, they felt it necessary tot ake the price match of the park ticket but increase the flying club discount (but actually leaving us £2.70 worse off!!).

Why can't they just leave the darn booking alone?!! They've left mine and my mum's as they are.....

Ah well, we'll wait and see what their letter says when it arrives....

I also got an email update on 30th March saying my bridesmaids dresses had arrived into the New York office (weren't scheduled to arrive til May 27th!) and they're on the way to me now :thumbsup2

That's all for now folks!

meryll83

05-07-2008, 08:24 AM

I just got a standard letter today saying that they would send a full response within 28 days of receipt of my original letter..........
Hmmm, I'm not at home so I can't check what date I sent my letter, but I'm sure 28 days must be up by now. What am I supposed to do now, grass them up to ABTA?............

Chilly

05-07-2008, 08:53 AM

You posted on here on the 8th April that you'd sent the letter so if they got it on the 10th then tomorrow is 28 days.

orangetiggs

05-07-2008, 08:56 AM

i would call them

meryll83

05-07-2008, 09:05 AM

You posted on here on the 8th April that you'd sent the letter so if they got it on the 10th then tomorrow is 28 days.

Of course, I didn't think to look on here! Doh!

i would call them

Call Virgin?

I was hoping for a letter so that I would have a point of contact to go to rather than just phoning them blind as it were.

Do you think if I ask for the complaints department I'll get any joy??

figmentfan814

05-07-2008, 09:25 AM

Chilly

05-07-2008, 09:35 AM

I'd give it till Monday then ring and ask to speak to the complaints department.

meryll83

05-07-2008, 10:12 AM

Just thought I would pop over to see what I missed while I was gone. How exciting to get your ring in already. We didn't get mine in our hands until a few weeks before the wedding, so you are way ahead of us :goodvibes
Thanks for stopping by!
I know, I'm uber ahead with everything, still plenty to do though :thumbsup2
Have you been to Hawaii yet, or is that still coming up?

I'd give it till Monday then ring and ask to speak to the complaints department.
I wonder whether to write to them again, with the additional problems I had the following day after my original letter, and then say as you haven't replied within the allocated number of days, I now have no option but to go to ABTA.
Do you think that will get a hurried / better response out of them?

orangetiggs

05-07-2008, 10:53 AM

IndyBride

05-07-2008, 11:01 AM

How exciting you got your ring!! I can never take a good picture of my ring either! That's why I never posted a picture of it! :)

meryll83

05-07-2008, 11:44 AM

i dont think mentioning abta will help, when we complained to them i just rang when i got to my 28 days and they told me what was going on with the matter. the complaints team when i worked for virgin atlantic only worked mon-fri anyway and were very busy so i would call them before threatning further action
It does say on my letter something along the lines of 'in accordance with ABTA rules we will respond fully within 28 days' - so they've broken that agreement haven't they?
I'll probably give them a ring on Monday as suggested I think if I still ahven't heard anything by then.
As I mentioned before, they do appear to have discounted my dad's booking when I look online (although why only his booking I don't know and why they've amended the price match/flying club discount to be less favourable first!), but I'm not sure I should settle for just this to be honest. Or am I being greedy?

How exciting you got your ring!! I can never take a good picture of my ring either! That's why I never posted a picture of it! :)
It is exciting! And now it has to sit in a drawer for another 17 months :rotfl:

orangetiggs

05-07-2008, 11:50 AM

meryll83

05-07-2008, 11:57 AM

your lucky they have given you something at all, they have ruined our holiday and we have nothing from them!! we have had to change our honeymoon to a destination we dont want or cancel everything which was not an option as we had already contracted with disney. We just got a sorry over the phone and nothing else. We spent 6 hours in the travel agents argueing with them to no avail.

Personally having delat with their complaints team before I would call them as you ahve said as I think that will be more benficial than writing to them and threatning to take it further. At least you have a discount on your fathers booking so thats better than nothing.

The flyinh club discount has prob changed as its only applicable on certian things and if the overall booking value has gone down then of course the discount will be less. We have just amended our booking and we get frequent virgin holiday club discount and this has gone down as the overall booking has gone down

Ohmigod, poor you!
Don't you feel like trying to write a letter now, to see if they will offer some sort of compensation?
It's obviously (sort of) worked in our case.
What exactly happened in your case?

What they've actually done on my dad's booking is take off the price match they honoured on the park pass, and then increased the flying club discount to include this discount on the pass instead.
It's only about £2.70 difference but I just don't get why they did this without informing us! (They did this a few days before the £25 goodwill gesture was discounted, I noticed as I've been keeping an eye on it and also a new invoice has come through showing the price match/flying club discount amendments).
Presumably a new invoice will arrive soon showing the goodwill gesture - does this count as a response, or should they have still written to me about how they've chosen to resolve my complaint?

orangetiggs

05-07-2008, 12:04 PM

we booked ours as soon as the brochures we released last year and of course come sept last year after our contract had been signed and the uk blessing was booked virgin decided to change all the flights around, so our uk blessing is on 20th spet and they wanted us to fly home on 20th land on 21st! so we had the option of 2 other places mexico and barbados (we are having 2 weeks in disney and 1 week honeymoon in caribbean) we dont really want to go to either but had to make a decision as everyone had booked around us so we ended up going with the mexico option.

They would give us nothing, no upgrades or anything! we have a huge list of things that have gone wrong with our booking and its still going on now so once we are back the letter is going in and I'm expecting compensation from them *** they have kinda ruined our honeymoon.

They told us it was our fault for booking so far out! well dont issue the brochures then

meryll83

05-21-2008, 01:08 PM

Hope you manage to get something sorted out with them Sarah.

The official letter came, and I've decided just to go with the flow and accept the £25 discount they added, and ignore the fact they amended the discounts first so we're a couple of quid worse off. To be honest I can't be bothered with any more hassle!

Think I will ring them some time this week though and ensure my mum's dining plan has been added correctly though, as it doesn't show properly on the invoice still :eek:

Went for another dress fitting today and it turned out to be the final one so the dress is home :banana:
The dress lady blatantly lied though and said we'd never had any conversation about a bustle, so it hasn't been added and I'm just going to use the hoop at the back and carry it on my arm.
I couldn't be bothered to make it another trip to Darlington just for a bustle to be sorted out, but it really annoys me that people make this stuff up!

May also ring our registry office this week to ask about an officiant to do our UK blessing/vow renewal watever ceremony for our reception here.
Can't remember if I posted before, but when I asked if they could send me some wording to see if it would be appropriate to have a vow renewal they told me I had to give them a £50 deposit first - meanies! They can't do a blessing coz they're not a religious organisation, but I was concerned a vow renewal would seem weird 2 weeks after our wedding, so I wanted to see how the ceremony would be worded.:confused:

figmentfan814

05-21-2008, 02:22 PM

We got back from Hawaii about 3 weeks ago. It was such an awesome vacation. I've been to the caribbean and to Jamaica before, but Hawaii is so totally different. I never realized that they are the most remote island chain in the world!

Sorry to hear that you're still having a hassle getting everything sorted out. Our at-home reception is coming up next weekend. I definitely understand your stress having yours so close to your return. It's actually been nice to have the two month break to get all our pictures ready (and to get my dress cleaned! :goodvibes ) So, you're actually doing some kind of a cermony in addition to a reception back home?

meryll83

05-23-2008, 04:20 AM

Glad you had a fab holiday Vanessa! :thumbsup2
Hawaii looks beautiful!

We're hoping to have a small ceremony back home also, for those who won't be at Florida, so I need to give the registry office a ring and see what our options are....

orangetiggs

05-23-2008, 06:27 AM

we contact the registry office but we were told they could not help us as we were already legally married.

We are having our rings blessed in church as thats all that we could get.

Any one can do a blessing as its not official so you could do it yourself if you had a friend who could do it

meryll83

05-23-2008, 09:38 AM

Our registry office are treating it as a vow renewal (I called them today) and are sending us various options for the wording, but have basically said we can re-word it to suit us as much as we want, so that's good.

One of our friends offered to do it actually, but I don't know why but somehow it seems more official if a representative of an official company is carrying it out, despite them telling us what they do is not legally binding :rotfl:

Does the marriage certificate have to be sent off after the Florida ceremony for certifying or anything? Does anyone know? It'd be good to get a couple of copies I think if possible....

orangetiggs

05-23-2008, 10:21 AM

the officiant sends it off and then you get it a few weeks later sent to you, not sure about copies

meryll83

05-26-2008, 04:55 AM

the officiant sends it off and then you get it a few weeks later sent to you, not sure about copies

So it gets sent back to you at home in the UK, correct?

Well today I am another year older, but still one more birthday to go before the big day! I'm wondering when it starts to go fast coz at the moment it seems to be taking aaaaaaaaaaages just to get to this October so we can contract!!

The girls have now both tried on their dresses and they both fit just right which is a huuuuge relief, having ordered them online.
They possibly just need taking up at the shoulders slightly but they don't seem to need taking in or anything - not yet anyway, depends if any of us decide to try and diet!!!!!

Julie got engaged earlier this week, she was on a training course in Manchester and when she got back to her hotel room there was a card saying 'will you marry me?' and when she rang Steve he told her he was outside - he went down there to surprise her! I think she was totally shocked as she would never have expected him to appear there! :lovestruc They need to have a parental chat but I think they intend on getting hitched next summer, which means I'll get to be a bridesmaid for the first time before I'm a bride!

Back at work tomorrow, having had 2 weeks off, hope it's not too hard to get back into it..........:surfweb:

Nicola2010

05-26-2008, 05:35 AM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :cake:

I know how you feel... it's my birthday on Saturday and then i'll only have 1 more birthday until my big day (as i plan on getting married 5 days before my birthday in 2010 lol)... well hoping wedding day will be 2 years today actually!

Hoping it will fly by too but im sure your's will once youve signed the contract.

Eeyore's Tailfinder

05-26-2008, 06:02 AM

Happy Birthday Meryll!!! Hope you have a good one :)

Beep

05-26-2008, 06:56 AM

Hey Meryll, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

It's all downhill from here luv, everything starts sagging and creasing! I hope you have a great day :lovestruc :lovestruc :lovestruc

You're still only a baby yet anyway :goodvibes

Who is your officiant again? Both Kevin Knox and Jack Day will get additional copies for you when they deal with the cerficate for about $3 so I'm sure everyone else will - just make sure you tell them you want copies.

meryll83

05-26-2008, 11:45 AM

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone! (and the reassurance Alex ;))

Had a good relaxing day so far today and going to the theatre tonight, then back to work tomorrow :(

We're looking at Randal Miller to be our officiant but can't book him til 9 months out (someone worse than Disney! :rotfl:) so I'll be sure to mention it to him and see if it's a possibility....

Ticky Toria 78

05-26-2008, 02:53 PM

Happy Birthday!

:cake: party:

IndyBride

05-27-2008, 01:33 AM

:bday: Hope you make a fabulous wish!!! :cake:

meryll83

05-28-2008, 03:23 AM

Thanks girls,

You know, I didn't make a wish - is it too late now??

I didn't have a cake so no candles to blow out, does that mean I've really blown it now?!!

Darnit, no wishes for me - until 17 months time when we get to watch it over Cindy's Castle ;)
Man it's going soooooooooo slowly at the minute, I'd give anything just for it to be this October at least so we can contract and the proper planning can commence!!

Oh, so funny - my mum was giving me a lift somewhere the other day and had printed out directions and she came across this whole page of A4 covered in various scribbles. When I asked her what it was, she said it was my dad's list of restaurants they might want to book, I was like "you do know you can't book them til 6 months out?" - good to see daddy's excited! I asked her more recently though and she said she still hasn't returned it to him, I'll have to let him know where it is next time I speak to him (still tucked inside the road atlas!), he might be worried where it's gone!:rotfl2:

feline figaro

05-28-2008, 08:56 AM

I found another bouquet I like whilst looking up Halloween Horror Nights on Theme Park Review of all places!
http://*************************/wedding/ceremony/ceremony14.jpg
!

Have i just found out that your a secret Theme Park Review subscriber :laughing: ?? Yay for the Rob & Elissa pic, i loved their wedding :banana: :lovestruc . Have had it saved on to my pc for a few years. Their wedding was the first thing i had ever seen of a Disney Wedding, that takes me back ::yes::

See im slowely getting through your pj but am a long way off of being up to date so bear with me ;)

meryll83

05-28-2008, 09:22 AM

Have i just found out that your a secret Theme Park Review subscriber :laughing: ?? Yay for the Rob & Elissa pic, i loved their wedding :banana: :lovestruc . Have had it saved on to my pc for a few years. Their wedding was the first thing i had ever seen of a Disney Wedding, that takes me back ::yes::

See im slowely getting through your pj but am a long way off of being up to date so bear with me ;)
Haha my secret is out!!

I haven't been on TPR for aaaaages actually, but I do get email updates and like to have a good old nosey at their photo trip reports! The comments they make are so funny!

I was gonna say, you're a fast reader if you've ploughed through this beast of a PJ already!! :lmao:

feline figaro

05-28-2008, 09:29 AM

Haha my secret is out!!

I haven't been on TPR for aaaaages actually, but I do get email updates and like to have a good old nosey at their photo trip reports! The comments they make are so funny!

I was gonna say, you're a fast reader if you've ploughed through this beast of a PJ already!! :lmao:

I get their emails as well, i think they re all mad. I do have a secret love of watching their onride videos, they re hillarious.
I ve no clue how i located them on the net, i have a habit of sometimes looking at the weirdest sites so who knows. :confused3

Im doing a bout 3 things at the same time, im watching my emails just in case Doreen mails me back, am looking at the boards & Watching The Mole series 2 so it may take me some time before i complete your pj

meryll83

05-28-2008, 09:54 AM

I get their emails as well, i think they re all mad. I do have a secret love of watching their onride videos, they re hillarious.
I ve no clue how i located them on the net, i have a habit of sometimes looking at the weirdest sites so who knows. :confused3

Im doing a bout 3 things at the same time, im watching my emails just in case Doreen mails me back, am looking at the boards & Watching The Mole series 2 so it may take me some time before i complete your pj

Busy lady!!!

My boss at my 2nd job is rollercoaster mad so I think it was him that first showed me the TPR site. He also introduced me to rideaccidents.com which is not quite so jolly :worried:

And my old deputy boss there (still there but in a new job) is Disney mad (as well as on some of my other geeky passions including Doctor Who and Harry Potter and Star Wars http://intercot.com/discussion/images/smilies/yodasaber.gifwhich I do like but can't pretend to be an expert) so I used to love going to work! Neither of them actually work in my department anymore though which is a shame. Ah I'm just a big ole nerd!

I have 3-4 pictures on my phone from last week that Julie took at my last dress fitting, but I need to send them to Simon's phone so he can upload them for me (my phone is old and cack) so I'm going to have to get him to teach me tonight on a practice photo so I can try and do the dress ones myself without him seeing!
They may be slightly better than the last ones when I had a cold and was stood like a man, but I'm not promising coz at the moment they're only titchy on my phone, so they might be even worse when I see them at a normal size!

I should've taken photos of the girls when they tried their bmaid dresses on last week, but for some reason I couldn't be bothered at the time.......

keenercam

05-28-2008, 10:11 AM

Happy Belated Birthday, Meryll! party: :cake: SO funny about your Dad's meal planning. :)

meryll83

05-28-2008, 12:02 PM

Happy Belated Birthday, Meryll! party: :cake: SO funny about your Dad's meal planning. :)

Thank you!!
I know - but I love that he's excited though!!:goodvibes

Ok, so here are the photos from what turned out to be my final dress fitting
Sadly I didn't think to do my hair or put any makeup on:sad2: :

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/21052008211.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/21052008213.jpg
Excuse my mum peering at me like she's never seen me in a dress before!
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/21052008214.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/2105200821201.jpg
I love the camera work on the last one, but for some unfortunate reason I'm pulling a bit of a goofy face, I look cross eyed! :rotfl2:

Raspberry Bubbles

05-28-2008, 12:28 PM

You look so beautiful in your dress~and so funny about your mum!

keenercam

05-28-2008, 12:55 PM

Absolutely beautiful!!!! That dress style is so perfect on you! :faint:

IndyBride

05-28-2008, 01:01 PM

You look so great in your dress!

meryll83

05-29-2008, 11:30 AM

Thank you for all the nice comments ladies :goodvibes

I can't wait to be in my dress with my full hair and make up done! :hyper:

Summer-Caitlin

05-29-2008, 11:34 AM

WOW Meryll, you look stunning that dress is just perfect on you. You must be so happy!!!:thumbsup2 I can't wait to see your hair and make up done too, I'm so excited for you. I just adore the pick up skirt, just stunning!

lov2b@disney

05-29-2008, 11:48 AM

Beautiful! Looks great on you!

Beep

05-29-2008, 02:01 PM

Oh wow, did you make the right decision with that dress or what?! It looks fantastic on you honey, really really good. I wish I'd managed to find one now, but I'm sure I'll love mine when it EVENTUALLY comes in...

DisneyFairy19

05-29-2008, 02:17 PM

love love love your dress

camara381

05-29-2008, 03:16 PM

Gorgeous Dress!!!! I love the back, beautiful!!1

meryll83

05-30-2008, 03:12 AM

Thanks again for all the positive comments, it's really reassuring when I've not been 'made up' to know it still looks ok! - almost down to 16 months til I get to wear it for real :rolleyes: I need a fast forward remote!

I heard on the radio this morning that Virgin and BA have upped their fuel charges as of today, it didn't say how much by though. I'll have to price up a basic holiday package again for our dates, but I don't think I recorded the price from back when we booked (ours is a bit more complicated than the basic package most people would do).
I told everyone to get booked, I just can't understand why people wait, but that's just me!
That reminds me, I registered on a web site aaaaaaaaaages ago, air passenger refund or something like that, which was supposed to aid you in claiming back Virgin and BA overcharges from 2004 and 2006, but I've never heard any more about it, think I'll have to do some more investigating...

Alex,
Your dress will look awesome! When is it due again, is it October??

Chilly

05-30-2008, 04:07 AM

That reminds me, I registered on a web site aaaaaaaaaages ago, air passenger refund or something like that, which was supposed to aid you in claiming back Virgin and BA overcharges from 2004 and 2006, but I've never heard any more about it, think I'll have to do some more investigating...

I registered as well but I remember at the time reading it would takes ages for anything to happen.

Your dress looks lovely on you.

jennifaerie

05-30-2008, 07:32 AM

Meryll, you look amazing *without* the makeup! You look so happy too!

You're going to be stunning!

October Bride

05-30-2008, 07:57 AM

Your dress looks amazing, you look like a real princess in it :lovestruc

pink_tink8i8

05-30-2008, 10:32 AM

your dress is absolutely stunning!!!!!!

meryll83

05-30-2008, 11:40 AM

Girlies you are all far far too kind!!

Just come across a potential stumbling block :scared1:
Can a UK bride give me specifics on how long it took to get their marriage certificate (I'm told it goes off for processing and gets posted on to you at home)?

Received the pack from our UK officiant today, and it says they need our marriage certificate to be able to perform the at home ceremony!

No one told me this before, and I'm sure someone told me it took weeks to get it back - we have 3 and a half from the (estimated) date of the wedding til the date we want the at home ceremony and now I'm scared it's all gone wrong and won't work!!!

pjstevens

05-31-2008, 05:52 AM

Meryll,

Your dress is absolutely stunning. So pretty! Can't wait to see it for the REAL event. It's so hard when you are planning, it seems like it will never get here. I think once you hit the one year point, it will really start to fly!

meryll83

06-01-2008, 04:15 PM

Ticky Toria 78

06-01-2008, 04:22 PM

meryll83

06-01-2008, 04:26 PM

Can anyone shed some light on my above query regarding the time it would take to receive our certificate - it may foil all our plans if we can't get it in time?!!

Ok, so, although there are rumours abound that the choice of Escape cake designs may be increasing slightly, I've resigned myself to the fact that it is more than likely going to be a very plain, simple style of cake.
Which is no problem at all, but we have now sent off to a couple of companies here at home requests to receive a quote for a slightly more elaborate cake for our at home reception.
(Now depending on what quotes we get back will determine whether we decide to have a cake at all I think, coz it's something we weren't sure about!).

Here is the design we like and have ask fior quotes on (excuse the poor colouring, there's something wrong with my MS Paint):
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/retromania.jpg
We've asked that the chocolate colour be deep red, the mauve be pink and the ivory to stay as it is.
It's very similar in design to Disney's Mad Hatter in a way isn't it?

I've also asked if it would be possible to place a few hidden mickeys in there, firstly in the little shimmery balls on the wires of the topper by grouping a couple of them into 3's, and secondly, within the middle layer of the cake (using the below photo cropped from scottish / canadian's cake - thank you for the inspiration!):
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/madhatterhiddenmickeys.jpg

So hopefully the vendors will come back to us in the next couple of days with a price - hope it doesn't shock us too much!
We're thinking of the bottom layer in fruit cake, middle choclate sponge and top vanilla sponge, we're yet to discover what their many choices of buttercream filling are!!

DigitalLove

06-02-2008, 06:57 PM

Hiya Hun

About the licence... We got married on Thursday 20th March and arrived home on Saturday 29th March and i'm pretty sure the licence arrived on the Tuesday after we arrived home so 1st April? I know I was really suprised by how quickly it got here!!

Hope you're well and excited by all your planning. Work has been hectic the last few weeks and i've been doing extra shifts until they have been coming out my ears. Hopefully i'll get some time soon to sit down for a couple of hours and catch up with everyones PJ's and TR's

Christina

xxx

Lynn5700

06-02-2008, 07:03 PM

Meryll your gown is gorgeous you look amazing in it!!!!!!

Did you ask if you could have that cake for your wedding in Disney? I don't see why you wouldn't be able to..they would probably charge an upgrade for it. The cake looks so cool!

Keira1387

06-02-2008, 07:59 PM

I love your dress! I really like the "pick ups"

meryll83

06-03-2008, 02:42 AM

Hi Meryll, yes they do get sent back to the courthouse by your reverend for processing and then posted out. I think it took three weeks for ours to arrive after we got home. The courthouse also have a website where you can locate copies of these, I can't find this at the mo but will let you know when I find. Maybe you could ask your Rev and see if they process this more quickly for you....
Sorry I didn't notice your reply when I was posting my last message, perhaps we posted at the same time!
I have emailed Randal Miller and he is going to investigate a bit further, but you're probably right, if he's aware it's urgent, I'm sure he can pass this info on and try and get it rushed through.

Hiya Hun

About the licence... We got married on Thursday 20th March and arrived home on Saturday 29th March and i'm pretty sure the licence arrived on the Tuesday after we arrived home so 1st April? I know I was really suprised by how quickly it got here!!

Hope you're well and excited by all your planning. Work has been hectic the last few weeks and i've been doing extra shifts until they have been coming out my ears. Hopefully i'll get some time soon to sit down for a couple of hours and catch up with everyones PJ's and TR's

Christina

xxx
That was fast Christina! Which courthouse did you go through?
It would be home before us if this happens :thumbsup2
There seems to be a big difference in timescales from bride to bride though doesn't there - I think maybe the best thing is for me to ring our UK registrar and say if the worst happens and we don't get it, what can we do? One of the first things she mentioned to me was that the ceremony she performs is not legally binding in any way, so I'm not really sure why it's essesntial that they have it :confused: I wonder if they could accept a faxed copy or something from the courthouse? I don't even know if they would offer this service though :worried:

Sorry to hear work is a bit crazy for you, just think of the extra pennies you're getting for those extra shifts though :)

Meryll your gown is gorgeous you look amazing in it!!!!!!

Did you ask if you could have that cake for your wedding in Disney? I don't see why you wouldn't be able to..they would probably charge an upgrade for it. The cake looks so cool!

Thanks Lynnie :goodvibes
I haven't asked about the cake yet, as we still don't contract until October, but perhaps we might as well go with the cake that's included in the Escape package and then splash out on the fancy one for at home. We only need a 2 layer in WDW anyway, as there will be a max of about 15 of us, whereas at home we're probably looking at 100....
We'll see how the budget goes (that's my answer to everthing at the moment, I'm loving the horse and landau, but $1700 :scared1:)

I love your dress! I really like the "pick ups"
Thanks Keira,
Good to see you around again! :thumbsup2
It's hard to see on the pictures, but each pickup has a jewel in it - I'll try and take a close up of them at some point....

Chilly

06-03-2008, 03:24 AM

Love that cake design.

DigitalLove

06-03-2008, 03:45 AM

We went through Orange County Courthouse. I'm just looking at it now, and it was stamped and sealed on 26th March which would have been a Wednesday, so i'm guessing it went straight in the post that day so yeah, it arrived REALLY quickly.

I wish I got paid for doing extra shifts. Alas, we have a flexible working arrangement.... we do extras if we are busy, and take the days back when we are quiet. We've had a fair bit of staff cuts and natural staff wastage lately though, so we are rarely quiet and trying to take the time back is difficult. I've just applied for NHS Professionals (bank staff) and have told work from next month, i'll only do extras as bank staff... We're trying to save lik crazy as we have seen a lovely resort in Mexico that we want to visit next year

meryll83

06-03-2008, 04:57 AM

Love that cake design.
Thank you - it's a shame the colours have gone weird coz of my stupid PC :badpc: Hopefully we may get at least one quote today - I had an email last night from one of the companies saying they couldn't open the attachment so could I resend - doh!

We went through Orange County Courthouse. I'm just looking at it now, and it was stamped and sealed on 26th March which would have been a Wednesday, so i'm guessing it went straight in the post that day so yeah, it arrived REALLY quickly.

I wish I got paid for doing extra shifts. Alas, we have a flexible working arrangement.... we do extras if we are busy, and take the days back when we are quiet. We've had a fair bit of staff cuts and natural staff wastage lately though, so we are rarely quiet and trying to take the time back is difficult. I've just applied for NHS Professionals (bank staff) and have told work from next month, i'll only do extras as bank staff... We're trying to save lik crazy as we have seen a lovely resort in Mexico that we want to visit next year
We were hoping to get our licence online, but I've only seen Brevard County that does this - does this mean that the certificate has to go there too?
Is the Orange County Courthouse the one that most people visit in person / nearest to WDW? We didn't really want to take hours out of our day to do this.....

DigitalLove

06-03-2008, 09:26 AM

Its kind of difficult to explain, but your licence IS your certificate. In our case we took our ID to the courthouse (which was about a 30 minute drive from LBV I guess), filled in the licence, swore an oath and paid the fee. We then had the licence given back to us which we produced prior to the ceremony. After the ceremony your witnesses sign the licence along with whoever is marrying you, and it then gets sent back to the Courthouse where you first got it from. Basically, all the Courthouse then does is document the date of the marriage on their official records, and then stamp the licence with the official seal of the courthouse, sign it, and then send it back to you. There is no pretty wedding certificate like you get here in the UK with your occupation and Parents on etc... Its basically just a signed and stamped photocopy of the original licence application you made.

Following the ceremony, you don't see it again until its posted back to you. Its the responsibility of whoever is marrying you to get it back to the Courthouse and i'm pretty sure they have 10 days following the ceremony... so how quick you get it back could depend heavily on how quick your Officiant sends it.

meryll83

06-03-2008, 09:57 AM

That's a shame that it's not a nice looking certificate.
Do you have to get it filed over here in the UK at all to make it valid here or anything?

Mumofthebride

06-03-2008, 10:59 AM

Meryll...... I have sent you a PM

Kim

meryll83

06-03-2008, 12:27 PM

Meryll...... I have sent you a PM

Kim

Thanks Kim,

I've replied :thumbsup2

figmentfan814

06-03-2008, 12:32 PM

I love your idea for the cake. I would still go for it at Disney, after all they are able to do a lot more than some standard bakeries.

meryll83

06-04-2008, 02:58 AM

I love your idea for the cake. I would still go for it at Disney, after all they are able to do a lot more than some standard bakeries.
I'm just wondering if it would be better to put the amount saved on upgrading at Disney to having a fab cake at home - we were only intending on having a very basic cake or none at all at home, but I think it would be nice for the majority of people to see it, rather than the few of us at the wedding.

However... by the time of our contracting I'm hoping we should know more about the rumoured alternative choices for Escape cakes :thumbsup2

I got an email back yesterday from the other cake vendor asking if I could send her the picture of the "inspiration layer" (scottish / canadian thank you again!!) so they can put together the quote. For crying out loud, I hope a few hidden mickeys aren't that much of a deciding factor in how much extra to charge :rotfl:
Haven't head back from the first one since I resent the images through.
Maybe tonight.......

Simon had a guess at £500, but I'm going to guess closer to £400 (the lower the better ;)) - I hate how they don't have any prices on their websites so they can just make it up as and when they feel like it! I don't really know what the going rate is for a cake to feed 100 over here :confused: so pray with me that I'm the winner of our guesstimations, and by a long shot!!

orangetiggs

06-04-2008, 03:00 AM

our at home cake is 4 layers and is £395 we are having a different flavour for each layer and not fruit cake

meryll83

06-06-2008, 02:28 PM

Cake prices came back closer to my figure :cool1: but we're still going to have a think about what we want to do.

In the meantime....

IT'S TIME TO GET ORGANISED!

meryll83

06-06-2008, 02:33 PM

I want to group together my findings for easier reference, as everything is scattered all over at the moment.
These have come from a veriety of sources, so thank you to anyone and everyone who has willingly (or not so!) inspired me!

So hair inspirations:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/backcurls.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/blonde.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/blonde2.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/curlsfront.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/curls.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/fronthalfup.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/hair-1.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/halfupcurls.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/jenhairback.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/bouquet.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/natural.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/prettyup.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/uptiaraveil2.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/uptiaraveil.jpg

meryll83

06-06-2008, 02:38 PM

I finally got around to figuring out how to get screenshots of Tiffany Amber Thiessen's wedding hair - love the colour, the wave, the front, the positioning of the veil, the half up half down hair, in fact the only thing I really want done differently is to have a mass of curls above the veil, probably closest to the last blonde girls hair.....
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/20080606-190844_0.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/20080606-191709.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/20080606-191714.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/20080606-191719.jpg

meryll83

06-06-2008, 02:44 PM

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/bouquet.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/blurredbouquet.jpg
http://*************************/wedding/ceremony/ceremony14.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a282/firelookout13/19b6d324.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/mamadoll010103/Randy%20Pics/AE12532-22-08.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/mamadoll010103/Randy%20Pics/AE23952-22-08.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a282/firelookout13/25832f6c.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/hiddenmickeys.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/redbunches.jpg
http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b5cf23b3127cce98548bf88b6f00000017108AYsnLJk0aNv
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t93/KellyJoG/DFTW%20Trip%20Photos/Randy%20Chapman/KM14776-21-07-2.jpg

meryll83

06-06-2008, 02:48 PM

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/tallflowersandglow.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/ostrich_feather_wedding_centerpiece.gif
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/ostrichfeathersandmartinis.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/lightmartinis.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/centerpiece_pink.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/blackmagiccandle.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg142/ChristinaAndMarksWedding/web-9512.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg142/ChristinaAndMarksWedding/web-9540.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/mickeychocplacecards.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/chocplacecard.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/ChocolatePlacecards2.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/chaircover.jpg

meryll83

06-10-2008, 02:59 AM

Right, now that's out of the way, thank goodness, back to normality!
Apologies for all those pictures, I just felt I needed to group my ideas together in one place.

I bought Universal tickets for us last night while they are still at $79.99 (7 days for the price of 2), as there have been postings that this price will go up very soon, so that's another thing checked off the list. I doubt we'll make it to any other parks in all honesty, so until next years Halloween Horror Nights go on sale (gotta do that!), that's all our park tickets sorted now - as long as DFTW still give us free AP's!

I've seen the new Disney cake options now, but can't decide which I like the best, and may still have to pay upgrade to have each layer a different flavour, and for the fillings we want as they're not listed on the standard choice form :( Will see what Si thinks, but I don't think he wants to know until nearer the time :rotfl: - he tells me off coz we decide one thing and then Disney changes their policy or it transpires that you need a minimum number of people or something and then we have to change our choices! I really should have just started planning a couple of months before we could contract and then I might have had the right infomation in the first place!! :upsidedow

Did a bit more work on our budget spreadsheet last night, but I wasn't sure if things like officiants fees and marriage licence needed tax adding on top or not, it's all very confusing!!

Chilly

06-10-2008, 04:09 AM

Thanks for posting all those photos, it'll help when I start planning properly!

I love pretty much everything you posted.

Where did you get the universal tickets from?

linzwylie

06-10-2008, 04:52 AM

Thanks for posting all those photos, it'll help when I start planning properly!

Yeh I'll second that, I feel super underorganised now :rotfl:

Where did you get the universal tickets from?

Yeh that price is great ! Coyuld do with grabbing a couple of those myself !

Linz xxx :)

Oh and wasn't Tiffany Amber Thiessen a beautiful bride :bride:

meryll83

06-10-2008, 05:16 AM

Thanks for posting all those photos, it'll help when I start planning properly!

I love pretty much everything you posted.

Where did you get the universal tickets from?

Yeh I'll second that, I feel super underorganised now :rotfl:

Yeh that price is great ! Coyuld do with grabbing a couple of those myself !

Linz xxx :)

Oh and wasn't Tiffany Amber Thiessen a beautiful bride :bride:

I am just super over-organised so don't worry, you won't be behind at all!
The more we sort out now and get paid for, the less of a shock it will be later on though I think! :lmao:

You can get the tickets (tax to be added so works out about $86 I think) either via Dreams Unlimited or UniversalOrlando.com direct (tip: I discovered that here in the UK we automatically get redirected to a different pricing grid which isn't as good, so if you go via the HHN website and click 'buy tickets' there, you stay on the US pricing grid :thumbsup2

As I mentioned, if you're interested, grab 'em now as they're set to increase any time now, DU have put a disclaimer up saying as of today they can't guarantee this price anymore! They don't activate til you first use them, so you can keep them for years and they will still be valid until the day you activate them, then obviously your 7 days kicks in.

I just thought it was too good a deal to pass up!

Oh I absolutely love Tiff's overall look, I need to try and get my hair colour like that gradually over the coming months :lovestruc and then start a wee bit of tanning (not too much though) next summer!

Chilly

06-10-2008, 07:53 AM

I really like the look of Tiffs wedding as well.

I think I will get annual Unniversal tickets as we are hoping to go back 9 months after the wedding. Thanks for the tip though.

meryll83

06-11-2008, 03:29 AM

Well there's been quite a lot of talk about the dessert party motorcoaches lately, and it got me to formulating a plan.

We're on the escape package so have a limo for 2 hours.

Now, depending on what people wanna do before the wedding (2.30pm), we could have the limo pick up everyone up from about an hour before the ceremony from Pop, (bridesmaids will already be at the BWV with me) so that we can have some pre-ceremony photos done at the BW, with the boys and girls seperate.

Then the limo can take me, my dad and the bridesmaids from the BWV to SBP just before the ceremony starts (everyone else will walk down).

The limo can then tootle off, and at 4.30pm ish the motorcoach hire can begin to take us all to the GF for our reception meal, back to Epcot for the dessert party and back to resorts at the end (9.30pm ish). Then we get our full 5 hours usage in.

OR

If the limo can only drop me, dad and the BM's as far as the BWV (us girls will be there anyway) and we have to walk to SBP, then the limo can pick up people from Pop about 45 mins before the ceremony, and then at 3.30pm take me and Si to the GF to get some photos started while everyone else waits for the 4.30pm coach to arrive - perhaps we can recruit them to take sand ceremony / cake etc up to our room in the meantime.

OR

A combination of the 2 - 45 minutes before hand from Pop, me dad and the girls from BWV to SBP just before the ceremony, and me and Si still head off before everyone else at 3.30pm to the GF - I wanna get my limo usage dammit :rotfl:

SO........

firstly, please help me decide what option is best / how the limo works
and...
secondly, either way, there may be times where people need to "dawdle" so where at the BW and GF are there bars or other suitable areas that people can get a drink and hang out in between times??

By the time the boys and others get to the BW area, it may only leave half an hour before the ceremony for Randy to get some photos in with them, will that be plenty do you think?
Also, if the limo is picking up from Pop, will there be enough room for:
Si
My mum
My dad
Si's mum
Si's dad
Si's brother
Si's brother's (then) wife
Julie's (then) husband - OMG that's so scary!!
Jackie's DBF
And then there's a possible 2 x friends that are umming and ahhing at the moment about coming.

I suppose some people could make their own way over via Disney transport, or taxi, earlier on - maybe my parents might want to be at my room earlier, I dunno.....

Decisions, decisions!

meryll83

06-11-2008, 03:34 AM

Ooooh, forgot to mention,
Our UK registrars for the UK ceremony finally emailed me back, and advised that as the "vow renewal" type ceremony they are performing is not legally binding, they can accept a letter from Randal Miller advising that he has completed the marriage ceremony, just in case our certificate is back in time - they said it's not an absolute necessity, but they do like to check we are actually married first!! :rotfl2:

Chilly

06-11-2008, 04:38 AM

Well just to through a spanner in your planning you get the limo for 4 hours not 2 hours :)

meryll83

06-11-2008, 05:27 AM

Well just to through a spanner in your planning you get the limo for 4 hours not 2 hours :)

Oh no -you're right!! :rotfl: After all that!!

Ok, so in that case, I'd get the limo to make two trips if needed, get people started coming from Pop maybe about 1pm first pickup to arrive at the BW - presuming that there is somewhere they can grab a drink at the BW to keep them occupied, use it for the bridal party to get to the ceremony site if it's do-able, and then get the limo to also make two trips to the GF after the ceremony as well, so we can all have some photos down there, again need recommendations on a bar though.....

Then we'd get the motorcoach just to take us to and from the dessert party, we'll maybe only get a couple of hours use out of it this way, but at least we won't be worried about rushing to stay within the 5 hour limit.

Ok, so does that plan work better? :lmao:

Right, so where can people go at the BW and GF to fill in any time gaps? Come on ladies, hit me with your best ideas!.....

Chilly

06-11-2008, 06:15 AM

Well at GF they could go to the Garden View Lounge and have afternoon tea. Or at the BW Beaches and Cream Soda Shop perhaps?

meryll83

06-11-2008, 06:20 AM

Well at GF they could go to the Garden View Lounge and have afternoon tea. Or at the BW Beaches and Cream Soda Shop perhaps?

We're going to be feeding them at 6pm ish at the GF though, so it was really just somewhere for drinks we were thinking, rather than any of the restaurants.

Lurrrrve B&C too much to let anyone go there without me anyway!! :lovestruc

Are there any lounges or bars within the hotels themselves?

Chilly

06-11-2008, 06:39 AM

We're going to be feeding them at 6pm ish at the GF though, so it was really just somewhere for drinks we were thinking, rather than any of the restaurants.

Lurrrrve B&C too much to let anyone go there without me anyway!! :lovestruc

Are there any lounges or bars within the hotels themselves?

There afe definately seating areas that they could sit in but i'm not sure there are any actual bars that would be open in the day, not really a Disney thing.

DigitalLove

06-11-2008, 06:53 AM

We're going to be feeding them at 6pm ish at the GF though, so it was really just somewhere for drinks we were thinking, rather than any of the restaurants.

Lurrrrve B&C too much to let anyone go there without me anyway!! :lovestruc

Are there any lounges or bars within the hotels themselves?

Citricos has a nice bar which *I THINK* opens at 5pm... We had a couple of drinks there before we went to eat at 6pm

figmentfan814

06-11-2008, 09:53 AM

Not too sure on which option I would choose for transportation either, but your planner will be great at helping you work out these details. My planner helped us rearrange things so we had extra time with our bus for additional pictures after the reception.

For the limo, they only hold 8 and I ended up taking up two seats with my dress :rotfl:

baywatchextra

06-11-2008, 12:23 PM

mezz whats the deal with these universal passes? im thinking we should get in on this!!!

p.s. you think saying steven will be my husband is scary, trying being me!! :scared1:

meryll83

06-11-2008, 03:02 PM

There afe definately seating areas that they could sit in but i'm not sure there are any actual bars that would be open in the day, not really a Disney thing.

Citricos has a nice bar which *I THINK* opens at 5pm... We had a couple of drinks there before we went to eat at 6pm

Not too sure on which option I would choose for transportation either, but your planner will be great at helping you work out these details. My planner helped us rearrange things so we had extra time with our bus for additional pictures after the reception.

For the limo, they only hold 8 and I ended up taking up two seats with my dress :rotfl:
I forgot that hotel bars aren't likely to be open too early, darnit, hopefully we should have plenty to keep us busy though. Maybe.....

At least we can have the limo do 2 trips, might as well get our use out of it!!

mezz whats the deal with these universal passes? im thinking we should get in on this!!!

p.s. you think saying steven will be my husband is scary, trying being me!! :scared1:

:rotfl: go via the Halloween Horror Nights website and go to 'buy tickets' there, then you go through to the USA's Universal ticket area, then select the 2 day unlimited access option - I thought it was a fab deal so have bought these now before they go up - do it fast if you want them, they're set to go up at any time..... You pay in dollars, but obviously your bank card converts the currency over for you, bought ours on the credit card until payday on Friday ;)

next year when HHN tickets for 09 come out, you can then pre-pay $29.99 to upgrade your day tickets (you choose which day before hand) to stay for one night of HHN, and then we'll get the express pass aswell which is about $35 to make sure we can fit it all in in one night. Adds up a bit, but it's the best way to do it!

Ok - quick budgeting question - if you are only having the soft drinks included in the dessert party base price, does this mean you don't have to pay the $100 bartender fee, or is he your server of the soft drinks anyway and you have to pay this regardless?

meryll83

06-12-2008, 02:58 AM

Looks like I just got in in time with the Universal tickets, they've gone up $10 a piece now, which isn't a lot, but still, I got me a bargain! :cool1:

Can anyone help me out with my above little query at all? I thought it would be an easy one ;) :
Ok - quick budgeting question - if you are only having the soft drinks included in the dessert party base price, does this mean you don't have to pay the $100 bartender fee, or is he your server of the soft drinks anyway and you have to pay this regardless?
Just trying to get my budget organised, as it's creeping up a bit!
For the dessert party elements I have the dessert package itself, viewing fee if applicable, set up fee of tables/chairs etc, centerpieces/chair covers to be decided, Disney's photography to be decided, and I think that's all the elements involved, just wanted someone to confirm the above, if we don't have alcohol and use the included drinks, is there still a bartender fee??? Or is there anything else I'm missing also?

Thanks girlies, I know you'll help me get organised, someone has to!! :lmao:

figmentfan814

06-12-2008, 09:52 AM

Can anyone help me out with my above little query at all? I thought it would be an easy one ;) :
Just trying to get my budget organised, as it's creeping up a bit!
For the dessert party elements I have the dessert package itself, viewing fee if applicable, set up fee of tables/chairs etc, centerpieces/chair covers to be decided, Disney's photography to be decided, and I think that's all the elements involved, just wanted someone to confirm the above, if we don't have alcohol and use the included drinks, is there still a bartender fee??? Or is there anything else I'm missing also?

Thanks girlies, I know you'll help me get organised, someone has to!! :lmao:

For our dessert party we just did the included drinks- lemonade, coffee, and tea and we didn't have to pay for a bartender. I'm not sure with the soft drink package though.

meryll83

06-12-2008, 10:01 AM

For our dessert party we just did the included drinks- lemonade, coffee, and tea and we didn't have to pay for a bartender. I'm not sure with the soft drink package though.
Yes, it's just the included drinks thing I meant, tea coffee, some sort of fruit punch etc, isn't it?
So I won't need the bartender fee then :thumbsup2 that's good news!

figmentfan814

06-12-2008, 10:17 AM

Yes, it's just the included drinks thing I meant, tea coffee, some sort of fruit punch etc, isn't it?
So I won't need the bartender fee then :thumbsup2 that's good news!

We actually switched out lemonade for the fruit punch because I had nightmares of someone dropping red punch down my dress :rotfl:

Mermaid_Ariel

06-12-2008, 10:22 AM

I didn't catch what time you needed the bar, but I found out that the Tambu Lounge in the Polynesian is open earlier than others. There's a gap of time in between the end of the ceremony and our dinner ressies so I'm going to invite everyone to the Tambu Lounge for drinks since our ressie is at 'Ohana. Dunno if that helps or not.

meryll83

06-13-2008, 10:15 AM

We actually switched out lemonade for the fruit punch because I had nightmares of someone dropping red punch down my dress :rotfl:
Oh lordy, don't make me paranoid now! :rotfl2:
I didn't catch what time you needed the bar, but I found out that the Tambu Lounge in the Polynesian is open earlier than others. There's a gap of time in between the end of the ceremony and our dinner ressies so I'm going to invite everyone to the Tambu Lounge for drinks since our ressie is at 'Ohana. Dunno if that helps or not.

That's a good idea, the Poly is just a nice monorail ride away for the guests, we'll be kept busy with Randy until dinner time as we have him booked til 5.30pm anyway, but we can always send people along there if they can't get a drink at the GF :thumbsup2 I love the scenery at the Poly.

Just been informed by wayneg over on the UK boards that the 10% flying club member discount is reducing down to 5% after June 30th, so after sending a text to the outstanding wedding party, Si's mum has just got back to us to say her and his dad will book on Sunday when we go round for Father's Day. :cool1: So hopefully we'll have them booked at the weekend! Woohoo!

That just leaves Tim and Jackie (who have been adament that they aren't going to book until the end of the year!) and Adam and Anna (who were waiting til July when NYC/WDW could be booked together but apparently might have changed their minds and might just do WDW now!) to still get booked, we'll see if my text changes anyone's mind!!

Oh and possibly a couple of blokey friends who just can't get organised enough to meet up and discuss the packages and prices that I've already found for them!!:rolleyes: Mind, I priced them up with Travel City as they wanted to do it as cheap as poss...

orangetiggs

06-13-2008, 01:25 PM

my fvc page doesnt say anything about reducing the 10%

meryll83

06-13-2008, 03:10 PM

my fvc page doesnt say anything about reducing the 10%

It's Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club discount , not the Frequent Virgin Club discount that's changing :thumbsup2
Unfortunately we haven't spent enough yet for FVC! Although if they count my parent's bookings as mine (which they should as I did book it all even though they chose to put it on seperate references) then I should be a member after this holiday!

orangetiggs

06-13-2008, 03:11 PM

oh i see i have been a member for years so i was worried when i heard that!

meryll83

06-13-2008, 03:17 PM

oh i see i have been a member for years so i was worried when i heard that!

No you're good, don't worry!
Once you're a member do you stay a member, or do you have to keep spending whatever their criteria is to stay eligible?

orangetiggs

06-13-2008, 03:19 PM

i think the new rules are that you have to spend so much to stay but I have been a member for around 7 years now so i think i'm still on old rules, we only go with virgin holidays so i dont think it will ever be a problem, in 2 years we have had 3 holidays with them so hopefully i'm good

meryll83

06-15-2008, 02:43 PM

Went round to Si's parents today to help get them booked, then when we got home Tim & Jackie text us to say they booked today also!!

Woohooooooooooooo! :cool1:

Si's parents are actually on later flight times as Economy were totally booked up on our flight times :scared1: They're going for a straight 2 weeks (not 15 nights like us and my parents), so arrive the same day as us on the later flight, and leave a day earlier.

T&J are going out a week before all of us, so it's slightly cheaper for them as they avoid the school half term altogether, but they're still be with us all for the wedding week :thumbsup2

Si's brother Adam, and Anna were on the phone today, they are now looking at a twin centre with either Cancun or Miami rather than NYC, and I suspect they might get booked in the next couple of days too :thumbsup2

Looks like my tip about the flying club discount going down worked wonders ;)
Unfortunately T&J tried to do it online and then after booking asked when the 10% discount comes off, so I had to explain they should have called to do it, as they only have 5% off now by doing it online, the offices are now shut but I've told them to call Virgin first thing in the morning and explain the mistake they made, and I'm hoping they'll be nice and take the additional 10% off for them. Fingers crossed!

So that really just leaves the two boys, Geoff and Prev, to decide if they're gonna come too.

:yay: Totally excited and impressed that almost everyone is booked now!!!!!!!:woohoo:

Wrote another letter today asking Virgin to confirm in writing that my mum's dining plan is defo booked as they keep telling me they'll send an updated invoice and they don't (still shows as half board on her booking) - I'll let you know if they get back to us....

Chilly

06-16-2008, 04:59 AM

I'm glad everyone is now nearly all booked, must be a huge relief to you.

baywatchextra

06-16-2008, 03:37 PM

just to check u didnt get the 10% off if you added your park passes right?

meryll83

06-17-2008, 02:30 AM

just to check u didnt get the 10% off if you added your park passes right?
I think you're supposed to do it all at the time of booking, but my dad's ticket got added at a later date and they still honoured the 10% off that too. Is that what you meant?

However, until 30th June, direct through Disney, they're currently £165 for 14 days, so that's a really good deal! I think Virgin have a max percentage that they will price match to (so they tell me over the phone, it doesn't say that anywhere in the literature :rolleyes:) and there's are currently around £196 so I don't think they'll go as low as these prices.

Lynn5700

06-17-2008, 02:40 AM

Oh how exciting!!!!! Glad they are all booked :)

meryll83

06-17-2008, 02:44 AM

Oh how exciting!!!!! Glad they are all booked :)
I know!!! Soooooooooooooooo excited!!
And I was panicking we'd never get anyone booked, but here we are, still well over a year out and we're nearly all done :goodvibes

You're up early/late! :rotfl2:

Goldeelox9

06-18-2008, 05:48 PM

SO glad you got everyone booked.....What is the transfer into dollars? the exchange rate?

meryll83

06-19-2008, 02:37 AM

SO glad you got everyone booked.....What is the transfer into dollars? the exchange rate?
Well almost everyone....
One of the boys, Prev, text Simon yesterday to say he didn't think he'd be able to afford it, so unfortunately that means Geoff needs to find another buddy to go with him to avoid single occupancy costs :(

Haven't heard from Adam and Anna yet, but they might be the only ones left to book now if Geoff won't be able to go.

We have all booked through Virgin Holidays here in the UK, however the Universal tickets I bought directly the other day for a total of $174.36 converted to a cost of £90.86 when it came off my card, so it's a pretty good rate at the moment I thought :thumbsup2
Just have to hope that when it comes to paying off the bulk of the wedding the rate is good too! (Does anyone know with Escape weddings that once the deposit is made, can you pay off other elements while the rate is good before the final balance is due?)

orangetiggs

06-19-2008, 03:37 AM

if you friend books direct with disney he doesnt have to pay single occupancy! they just charge per room! might be a way to go for him

meryll83

06-19-2008, 03:55 AM

if you friend books direct with disney he doesnt have to pay single occupancy! they just charge per room! might be a way to go for him

Thanks for this advice!
We did look into this actually, and booking a seperate charter flight, but this was when there were two of them, and they were dividing the cost between them, and even then it only worked out marginally cheaper than doing a package with Travel City.
Good idea though :thumbsup2
I did notice a tour operator (can't remember which now) that had a few advertised hotels that didn't charge single occupancy, but they're all offsite, and for a first-timer to Florida who would only be going on his second trip abroad, we wouldn't want him to be out on a limb on his own, or travelling on his own either.:hug:

meryll83

06-28-2008, 02:35 PM

Guess I'll have to rethink the Adventurer's Club portion of the Hen Night.

Gutted. :(

DecemberBride

06-28-2008, 04:21 PM

I'm going through the same thing right now as well Merryl.... We were doing PI in December... not an option now... we're looking into alternatives, I'll let you know! ::yes::

Chilly

06-28-2008, 04:31 PM

Can't believe PIs closing so soon.

JonetteA

06-28-2008, 04:44 PM

Why not do a hen night at epcot. Or rent a van/limo and go to citywalk? There are plenty of places right around property if you wanted to. If you wanted to stay closer and do it a bit cheaper and it is all about the girls, why not buy alcohol from a store and just get a big room and have your hen night in. I would think that some of the bar's that are there that serve food will still be there. I am thinking of the Irish bar. I can't remember the name right now. I saw a fun hen party there!

scottish/canadian

06-29-2008, 04:16 PM

We did Jellyrolls and had a blast.

meryll83

06-30-2008, 03:57 AM

I'm going through the same thing right now as well Merryl.... We were doing PI in December... not an option now... we're looking into alternatives, I'll let you know! ::yes::
Defo let me know what ideas you come up with.....

Can't believe PIs closing so soon.
I know, 2 months is not a lot of notice at all is it? The cast members must have been so shocked!

Why not do a hen night at epcot. Or rent a van/limo and go to citywalk? There are plenty of places right around property if you wanted to. If you wanted to stay closer and do it a bit cheaper and it is all about the girls, why not buy alcohol from a store and just get a big room and have your hen night in. I would think that some of the bar's that are there that serve food will still be there. I am thinking of the Irish bar. I can't remember the name right now. I saw a fun hen party there!
The boys are planning on drinking their way around the world (or as far as they can;)) at Epcot, but I suppose we could always set off the other way! Food and Wine festival will be on so that could be extremely dangerous, best stick to the normal countries I think!
The park will be closing at around 9pm though, so we were gonna go over to PI afterwards.

I think I'd rather stay on property than go out elsewhere, but be out somewhere making the most of the Disney experience rather than staying in a hotel room or whatever, Raglan Road should still be open shouldn't it, I wonder how long before the new restaurants etc will be open? It might be fun to try one of those for a meal if they're ready!

Our original plan was to have an optional meal at somewhere like Ohana first, then all meet for a drink at each of the monorail resorts, ending at the Contemporary, and then go on the Wishes pirate themed Grand Gathering thing, but you need a minimum of 8 in your party, and there'll only be 6 of us girls, so that got blown out of the water by that which is a real shame as it sounded like a great plan :sad1: and then we were going to head over to PI for some Adventurer's Club action...

We did Jellyrolls and had a blast.
We luuuuuuuuuuuuuurve :lovestruc Jellyrolls, but we've already planned a group meal at Le Cellier followed by Jellyrolls for everyone, we want to take everyone there with us to two of our favourite places.

I thought Cirque would be fun, but too expensive for me to pay for everyone, and I don't like to ask people to pay to go when they're already paying to get to Florida for us!

MNSSHP? Not sure if it would be everyone's cup of tea though, and we'd probably get split up more with people wanting to do different things.

I think maybe reverse World Showcase might be our best option at the moment, but what do do after 9pm. Mind you, we might all be pooped by then already!!

We could rent the Grand 1 - but that's gonna end up expensive too, especially if people want a couple of drinks onboard. And we'd probably only get it for 1 hour so still leaves the problem of what to do for the rest of the early evening / night.

There must be a million things we could do, but I just can't think of them!!
What do you guys think?

On a totally different note, Adam and Anna are STILL yet to book, if they don't do it tonight (tomorrow the 10% flying club discount drops to 5%) then they obviously have more money than sense!
But hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to tell you that we're all booked!!
Except perhaps Geoff, but I really don't know what's going on with him at the moment, and I highly doubt he's found another buddy who wants to come (and that we want to come!) to make it affordable for him.

hannah_montana

06-30-2008, 03:32 PM

meryll83

07-01-2008, 03:38 AM

Hello!!

I have just come across your posts and thought I would join in as I am also a UK Disney Bride-to-be! I'm geting married at Sea Breeze Point on November 19th (not long now, pretty scary!). What location have you decided on? And when is the big day? I'm sure I could find out this information by reading all your posts but I will never find the time! I saw the pics of your dress, its gorgeous.

I've been trying to decide on what to do for hen/stag nights, I also had the idea of drinking at every country in Epcot with boys going one way and girls going the other!! We did decide it could get a bit messy though, not to mention expensive! And my sister and brother won't be old enough to drink which I suppose is kind of unfair for them. And now my plan of going to Pleasure Island has been ruined, which I only found out last night :mad:
Welcome to my ridiculously long PJ! (I don't blame you for not reading the whole thing! :lmao:) I was just thinking actually, now we're supposed to merge our PJ's and TR's together as one thread, but by that time mine would just be so stupidly lengthy (not that it isn't already ;)) I don't think anyone will have a clue what's going on! I wonder if they'll let those of us with over so many pages have a seperate thread for our TR's? Pretty please mods, it's for the welfare of others!

Anyways, we're very similar to you actually Hannah, Escape SBP wedding, next October though, and we're doing a 3 night cruise at the end of our holiday as well.

I'm not especially a big drinker, so it would be nice to think of something we could do after having just a couple of drinks on the hen/stag do. I think you're right it could get extremely messy, I think your siblings will be ok not drinking as long as there's other stuff for them to do, I mean they can always explore the countries a little more than the people who literally just wanna stand there drinking! How many are in your party in total?
That's why our original hen plan would have been good, a drink in each of the 3 monorail resorts, a break while we were on the Wishes GG, then we'd go to the Adventurer's Club and meet the boys, where people could choose to drink again if they wanted, or just enjoy the show.

I suppose we could still do Epcot, and not feel obliged to have alcohol in every country, I mean you can walk around 2-3 countries with the same drink, but whether the boys would see reason in this I highly doubt! Then we could all go to Jellyrolls after Epcot instead of doing it on our Le Cellier meal night, or those who want to go back can do of course. Hmmm, decisions decisions!

You must be getting excited now, not long to go at all!!

Adam and Anna have finally booked yesterday so.....
:yay: EVERYONE'S BOOKED!! :yay:
They're doing 10 nights at Pop with all the rest of us and then 4 nights at the Ritz-Carlton in Miami, although which one I don't know, coz Virgin seems to offer two.
Is it at 11 months out you can get DVC booked in at your home resort? Will have to contact our renter from last year in a couple of months to see if he'll have some spare points he can rent us again for our couple of nights at the BWV, otherwise I'll have to go hunting again!

I'm really impressed actually that at 15 months out everyone is booked already. Gah, 15 months out and my PJ is this long already - eek! I might be going for a record here!
However, I can just see Geoff coming back to us a couple of months before the wedding and saying "actually I still wanna come, can you help sort me out?". Which of course I'd try and do if it did happen, but I've offered my help already, and now it's up to him to decide if he wants to organise himself, apply for a visa etc. I'm just gonna leave it now and see if he approaches us again about it at all. Sigh.

orangetiggs

07-01-2008, 03:40 AM

sounds like its all going smoothly, I'm 9 weeks out today and panicing so much!

I iwsh i had been as organised as you at 15 months out

meryll83

07-01-2008, 03:43 AM

sounds like its all going smoothly, I'm 9 weeks out today and panicing so much!

I iwsh i had been as organised as you at 15 months out
Thanks Sarah,

Sometimes I feel far too over organised though, and I wish we were getting married this October, the waiting is horrendous!!

Wanna swap? :lmao:

You really are getting close now aren't you, what do you have left to organise?

orangetiggs

07-01-2008, 03:46 AM

meryll83

07-01-2008, 03:49 AM

almost everything!!!!!! We still ahve so much to decide on and i'm a nightmare with decisions! I cant make them!

I have started writing a list and working through it which helps so much!

Trying to lose weight so my dress fits is my main one at the moment!
It'll all come together, don't worry, you just want everything to be perfect, you just haven't decided what perfect is yet though ;)

DecemberBride

07-01-2008, 10:32 AM

Hey I live in Miami! The ritz is awesome down here.... you'll be very happy.

meryll83

07-01-2008, 12:26 PM

Hey I live in Miami! The ritz is awesome down here.... you'll be very happy.
I found two on Virign's website, one at South Beach and one at Key somewhere - but they both looked really close, I'm not sure which it is.

It's not actually us staying there, it's Si's brother and his finacee, we'll be DCLing it at that point instead!

meryll83

07-03-2008, 03:30 AM

Ok,

So I got a reply to my second letter to Virgin yesterday, which, in all fairness, was a bit pap.

They said "We're sorry you found our service to be poor but we pride ourselves on our service" at one point, and I was just like what, you pride yourself on poor service :mad: Oh, and they had passed these comments on to the service team manager. Great.

They did confirm that my mum has the dining plan booked and is sharing accommodation with my dad, so at least I have that in writing now, but they also said your updated invoices showing this should be with you by now - when I look online I can see that no new invoices have been generated at all :headache:

They didn't confirm our transfers were all booked in either, and I specifically asked them to do this given that mine and Simon's weren't booked in originally even though we were told they would be, and Virgin's invoices don't ever seem to show any transfer info.

Well I know we get vouchers for transfers when our tickets arrive so we'll know if they've been booked in correctly at this point, but I didn't want to leave it this late to be sure.

If we have any problems when checking in with my mum's dining plan, will this letter be sufficient do you guys think, or will Disney wanna see the non-existent updated invoices?

I really can't be bothered to write another letter complaining they haven't resolved all my queries, but they frustrate me so much!!!!!! There is a phone number on this letter, unlike the others, but I've grown to despise the call centres so don't want to ring them either with my concerns.

They finished the letter by saying "We will do all we can to ensure you have a fantastic wedding and honeymoon holiday" or something along those lines :rolleyes: What a crock.

They make me so mad :sad1: I think I'm just gonna leave it now and hope that everything has been done properly, but so help me if we have any problems when we get there, there'll be hell to pay :lmao:

Ok now breeeeeeeeeeeeathe..... I shouldn't have to feel this stressed already :rotfl:

Eeyore's Tailfinder

07-03-2008, 04:59 AM

linzwylie

07-03-2008, 08:18 AM

Wow, took me 3629405674437 hours but I read your PJ :rotfl:

You are uber organised and make me feel worried :lmao:

Your dress is beautiful !!

Linz xxx :)

meryll83

07-03-2008, 09:12 AM

Ugh! That's so annoying!! How hard is it to confirm everyone should be in the right place at the right time and that everyone gets what they pay for?

I know what you mean about the call centre though - we know more than them. I called them last year to add the free DDP promotion and was told the first time I called that they do no such promotion - I was like, uuuh I'm looking at it on your website right now - nope, sorry can't help you.

I feel your pain! I hope everything else runs smoothly!!

I know, right?!! :lmao: Surely all this is a fundamental part of their daily job, why is it so hard for them? :confused: I can't believe how little knowledge they have, you're right we do know a lot more than them and could probably teach them a thing or two!

Wow, took me 3629405674437 hours but I read your PJ :rotfl:

You are uber organised and make me feel worried :lmao:

Your dress is beautiful !!

Linz xxx :)
You're a crazy lady!
I would take one look at the length of this PJ and run away screaming :rotfl: although you probably don't realise how long it is until you start!

Well, I'm glad you're joining the journey, and don't worry, I'm not uber organised, I'm uber OVER organised ;)

I love my dress :lovestruc just 3629405674437 hours til I get to wear it now :lmao:

meryll83

07-04-2008, 03:52 AM

Well I got an updated invoice for my Mum yesterday which clearly says at the bottom that she has the DDP booked, although this does come under the Special Requests, Not Guaranteed section, but I suppose I'll have to let them off if it's the only places they can add notes :rotfl:

Bizarrely though, when I look online it's still got down the invoice details from April and no newer updates :confused3

Oh well, at least we have some progress!

How is everyone enjoying their new location in the Sub Forums by the way? The view from up here is awesome! :goodvibes

Chilly

07-09-2008, 06:38 AM

I'm glad everyones booked. I haven't even booked yet although i'm 2 months after you.

I don't think I'll be booking with Virgin after all your troubles.

meryll83

07-09-2008, 07:06 AM

I'm glad everyones booked. I haven't even booked yet although i'm 2 months after you.

I don't think I'll be booking with Virgin after all your troubles.
I was just a bit obsessive over wanting to make sure everyone got booked before the prices increased too much (we're there over the school half term holiday) and even then we've ended up on 2 seperate flights due to economy selling out already :scared1: I think that justifies my insistence a little bit!

It's a shame really that Virgin have been so difficult to deal with this time, we've had no problems in the past, but then we were just booking a holiday plus tickets for 2 on the day, our problems have all arisen when we've been wanting to add people / tickets / dining plan after the initital booking.
If you can make sure you're booking exactly what you need on the day you'll probably still be fine, just don't try and make any additions!! :rotfl:

meryll83

07-21-2008, 03:38 AM

Time for a mini update regarding our at home reception, as I've neglected my trippie for some time now :sad1:

Si's brother's wedding was at the weekend, we had a fab time, hotel was good, and we had a fun time at the wedding and reception.
I loved the bowls and mirrors they used for the centerpieces at the reception, and when I asked Anna where they got them she told me just to take them the following day when we were helping pack up, as they would only be sitting in their garage otherwise :thumbsup2 So this has saved us a few pounds which is awesome and really good of them, and we'll be able to put our own colours and theming into them so they'll look completely different. (I'll have to post you piccies of what they had and we're having so you can see if they look different enough!)
She has also offered for me to try out her hoop, so next time we see them I think I'll take her up on this and just see if it's any different/better to the one I already have...

I posted another thread regarding a photobooth company I found to see if anyone knew of them, they didn't, but with only a £75 deposit and the rest payable on the day, we're going to go for it. The room we are using for our at home reception is kind of an L shape, so we're planning to situate the photobooth round the corner, in the bottom of the L where the entrance is, and encourage people to use this, and we'll not have a professional photographer, just get family or friends to take a few nice posed shots of us, but mainly rely on people getting into the spirit of using the booth.
I think we'll let the guests keep the print out copy of the photo they have taken, as we get a master CD of all the images at the end, and then we'll make a book for ourslves using Blurb or Shutterfly or someone like that using the master CD.
It doesn't print out the traditional photo strip, we are paying extra to have a printer set up on site for the photos, and it's a stand up behind a curtain job with this particular machine, but this was so much cheaper than the bigger name companies that offer the traditional photo booth set up.

I've ordered a job lot of burgandy rose petals from ebay, also for use at our at home reception, for the cake table, guest tables and within the centerpiece bowls, and I'm planning on ordering some sea shells and floating candles shortly too, then our recpetion decor won't be far off complete.
I don't think we're going to order any floral at home, as we'll have our silk bouquets and boutenierres (sp?) and as we're there mid-November, we can request that the building's Christmas decs go up for us :thumbsup2 I had liked the idea of balloons within a balloon on the tables, but depending on what the Christmas decs are, we don't want it to look to busy, and also, having experienced this at Adam and Anna's wedding, there's nothing that can be done with them the following day, and there won't be a lot of kids we can give them too, so may ditch the balloon idea now.
Just need to investigate chair covers and then reception decor is pretty much there I think...
Just need to sort out the entertainment!

3 months today til we can book with Disney!!

JoJo1980

07-21-2008, 07:26 AM

Glad things are going well for you now!! Was sorry to hear about Virgin being such a pain :mad: That was really nice of Anna to lend you her bowls etc... Every little bit helps and wedding costs just seem to grow by the second so its nice to save where you can ;)

The photobooth sounds FAB!! I'm sure it will be loads of fun for everyone and its a great idea to use it instead of hiring a photographer. I bet you get some really funny shots - you've got to share them with us after the event :laughing:

Isnt ebay great!! What would us brides do without it :laughing: I got some really cute butterfly shaped petals on there, not decided where to use them yet - but they were too cute not to buy :surfweb:

Awww I love christmas!! All your decor ideas sound great :yay:

YAY for only 3 months until you can book :woohoo:

Chilly

07-23-2008, 08:49 AM

Thats great that you've got the table decorations for free.

meryll83

07-24-2008, 01:13 PM

Isnt ebay great!!

Ebay is downright dangerous - I could shop forever on there! :rotfl:

Thats great that you've got the table decorations for free.
On that note,
Here are the centerpieces as they were at Adam and Anna's wedding:

http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v297/108/38/504375268/n504375268_1533297_7925.jpg

And I have now received my shells, petals, and floating candles (yes, from ebay ;)) so made a quick mock up earlier of what ours will look like.

However......... I was clever and forget to take a picture when it was all set up with the mirror and candle etc, but here it is on the side draining, minus the water, mirror and floating candle, and there will be more shells and petals on the day too, just didn't want to get everything soggy just yet :lmao::
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/P1010150.jpg

So... use your imaginations, as it looks a tad pathetic here, but I promise it will all be full and candled, and nicely arranged on the day!!
Ooh and the floating candles smell of cherries - my favourite!! The only downside is that they're a bit of a brighter pink than I'd anticipated, but I think it looks ok.
By the time we have our UK reception it's November, so the candlelight should look really pretty in the dark.

That's your lot for now!

Ooh, except, I have an honourable mention for Vanessa, I received her spare Mickey bubbles in the post, so we'll be using these at the wedding too :goodvibes

figmentfan814

07-24-2008, 01:22 PM

Ooh, except, I have an honourable mention for Vanessa, I received her spare Mickey bubbles in the post, so we'll be using these at the wedding too :goodvibes

Thanks! I'm glad you're able to use them ::MickeyMo

I think the centerpieces will turn out great. I love the color of the shells and they color combination with the petals will look really pretty.

Chilly

07-25-2008, 08:37 AM

the centre pieces look great.

meryll83

08-14-2008, 09:19 AM

So I've started thinking about invitations for our at home reception, - I'm just going to make some boarding pass style Save The Date type things for the few people coming to Florida with us, so I'm not too worried about those.

I really love the cards and pockets style invites, but am wondering what headings / how many inserts I would need, it'll be slightly different to those I've seen here before, as most of them relate to the actual DFTW not the at home part.

I'm thinking the main invite will have details of the blessing type ceremony and reception locations, and then for the inserts:
Accommodation?
Directions?
Gift List? (I know in the US it's not traditional to mention this in your invites, but everyone does it here in the UK!! Also I need a different heading for this really, as we aren't having a gift list as such, but we will politely mention donations towards a future honeymoon holiday, any suggestions for what the title of this insert could be?)
Is there any other information that normally goes in them?

I'm toying with the idea of making them myself at the moment, so they can be completely customised to say what we want, but I need some guidance for what I do actually want to say and what should be included! :lmao:

I know you experts out there will be able to help!!

Chilly

08-14-2008, 10:09 AM

meryll83

08-14-2008, 10:38 AM

Well the last few invites i've got that have asked for money rather than having a gift list have written poems. Such as:

So what do you get
For the bride and groom
Whose house needs things
In every room?
When shopping for a present please don’t be rash
As there is always the option
To just give cash!
We hope you don’t find
Our request to be funny
But we really would appreciate
A gift of money

If you google it you'll find lots of ideas.

I also found this web site, The Etiquette Of Asking For Cash Wedding Gifts (http://www.wedaholic.com/archives/the_etiquette_of_asking_for_cash_wedding_gifts.php )
A colleague of mine had a different "cash poem" in hers as well which is how we plan to word it, but thanks for this, I'll investigate into all the other ditties we could use!

Any ideas what the title for this insert could be? I wouldn't know what to head it.....

A whole new world

08-14-2008, 01:53 PM

Our cash request read:

'We know choosing gifts can be such a pain,
There is always the worry of buying the same.
Our home has been filled with love and care,
And is now full to the brim with no room to spare.
So should you wish to give a gift to help us on our way,
A gift of money or vouchers would really make our day.
So please don't be offended by this request,
The most important thing is having you as our guest!'

This is what we sent to our guests. I felt a bit rude sending a cash/voucher request, but lots of people asked what we wanted and as we had lived together for 4 years we have everything, so it was the best option otherwise you just end up with things you already got or people get things that you will never use.:thumbsup2

Our title is our names and the date of our reception. We didn't really call it cash request but you could call it gift poem.

meryll83

08-18-2008, 03:57 AM

These are all great,
I think I might fashion one together from a combination of the different ones I've seen, will let you know the end result! Still need to think about what might be an appropriate title for that insert....

I decided to bite the bullet and order some supplies to make invitations myself and save a few pennies and enjoy getting crafty, it's been a long time since I've got to be creative so it's quite exciting!
Once all the materials get here I'll take a photo of all the elements for you and explain in more detail what the plan is, I'm giving myself plenty time to create them stage by stage, can do a new task on them once a month or so.

I managed to track down a basic template for the boarding pass style Save The Dates (STD's :lmao:) I've seen around and about, which I've now mickeyfied and coloured and personalised, once we have our date and time (9 weeks to go now to book!!) and I've updated them and they're printed, again I'll take a piccie for you guys :thumbsup2

Been at a lot of weddings over the last few weeks which has inspired me to get moving on all these kind of things again!
We also found an amzing band at Si's cousin's wedding, so I've emailed them for a price for our at home do, they also act as a DJ in their breaks too, which is great, as we were originally looking at a pianist and would then need a DJ on top of that.

Thinking we might go a bit more formal with the at home do and have a Table Plan, to which Si suggested we name the tables after Disney Princesses (Ohmigod he's becoming me! :rotfl:). However, I wanted then to be a little more subtle (if that's possible) by not picking the obvious names such as Cinderella, Pocahontas, Snow White etc. We need 10, here's what we have so far, can you help us with any more that aren't overly obvious?:
1. Ariel
2. Belle
3. Aurora
4. Jasmine
5. Tinker Bell (perhaps too obvious!!)
6. Mulan?
7. Kairi? (from Kingdom Hearts, perhaps this is too obscure though!!)
8. Alice?
9.
10.

I know they're not all technically princesses, but hey, poetic licence!!
We could just call the Top Table just that, so then we'd only need 9 names!!

Eeyore's Tailfinder

08-18-2008, 05:02 AM

Esmerelda?
Megara?
Wendy (Darling)?

:)

meryll83

08-18-2008, 05:09 AM

Esmerelda?
Megara?
Wendy (Darling)?

:)
These could be good, thank you :goodvibes

I was surprised that I couldn't think of more actually, I was sure there'd be looooooooooads!

I've just thought there's Giselle as well isn't there, and whatever the Princess and the Frog girl is called?.....

meryll83

08-18-2008, 09:32 AM

Oooh I also wanted to ask about what fabric dye you all recommend?

I tried on Anna's hoop at the weekend, not with my dress yet, but it seems to fit me fine, and is a bit sturdier than the one I have, so I think I'm going to wear Anna's and take the hoop out of my original one and dye the skirt, so I can have a coloured crinnie but still give Anna hers back unharmed :thumbsup2

The couple of people that I have told about dying my crinnie have just looked at me like I was a crazy :upsidedow bu we all know here how great they look! I won't mention it again now to anyone, I'll just show off the results! Hahaha Anna will probably freak out thinking I've dyed her skirt :laughing::stir:

Ideally it would be a dark red/burgandy dye to match the bridesmaids/floral, but I've heard that the material doesn't always take, so it may end up pink, which wouldn't be the end of the world, but obviously if anyone can recommend one that will give the truest colour that would be fab. It's 100% polyester material if that helps, I just don't know where to begin looking!!
The dye isn't likely to run afterwards is it? I don't want to ruin my dress or Anna's hoop!!

Thanks in advance once again ladies :goodvibes

figmentfan814

08-18-2008, 10:41 AM

I love the idea of naming the tables after not so obvious characters; what a great idea!

Chilly

08-19-2008, 11:11 AM

Do you need to name the insert? I don't think the poems we got had titles at the top.

Can't help with the dye i'm afraid.

Just playing devils advocate here if you name the tables after not well known characters will your guests think you've just named them after random girls names that you like? You might not care if they do :confused3

meryll83

08-19-2008, 11:31 AM

Do you need to name the insert? I don't think the poems we got had titles at the top.
Perhaps not, it's just the others are going to be headed with 'Directions', 'Accommodation' and 'RSVP' so I didn't want it to look weird without a header :confused3 Hmmm. will have to have a think about this....

I love the idea of naming the tables after not so obvious characters; what a great idea!

Just playing devils advocate here if you name the tables after not well known characters will your guests think you've just named them after random girls names that you like? You might not care if they do :confused3
I just didn't want it to be so obvious given that there won't be anything hugely Disney about the reception, apart from some hidden mickeys etc, going to keep it subtle.
I'm going to try and find pencil sketches (or trace some if I have to :eek:) of the characters to go next to the names if I can, again trying to keep it subtle rather than having big colourful images.

Can anyone help on the fabric dye front yet, I'm still a bit stuck?.....

Ticky Toria 78

08-19-2008, 11:43 AM

hope this helps, we used some wording from this site http://www.verseit.com/

If you are thinking about cash/vouchers some of the travel companies do vouchers (we did this).

IndyBride

08-19-2008, 12:19 PM

I've previously worked with RIT brand dye. They have powder and liquid formula. Used it in my washer and it works great. It does fade with washing but you won't be washing your crinnie. Click here (http://www.ritdye.com/Create+Custom+Color.9.lasso) for custom colors from Rit's website. I believe this is the same dye Caryn used. If you are worried about it coming out too light maybe try doing it more than once? Or leaving it in longer than directions specify. The website also has info on techniques and fabrics. I didn't look too much at that though.

As for another name: Nala?? Simba's lady tiger friend. And, if you are concerned people won't know you could always add a small picture to the sign. Jane from Toy Story. Dory from Nemo. Good luck!!!!

meryll83

08-20-2008, 03:12 AM

hope this helps, we used some wording from this site http://www.verseit.com/

If you are thinking about cash/vouchers some of the travel companies do vouchers (we did this).
Thank you, this is so useful! :thumbsup2
I've previously worked with RIT brand dye. They have powder and liquid formula. Used it in my washer and it works great. It does fade with washing but you won't be washing your crinnie. Click here (http://www.ritdye.com/Create+Custom+Color.9.lasso) for custom colors from Rit's website. I believe this is the same dye Caryn used. If you are worried about it coming out too light maybe try doing it more than once? Or leaving it in longer than directions specify. The website also has info on techniques and fabrics. I didn't look too much at that though.

As for another name: Nala?? Simba's lady tiger friend. And, if you are concerned people won't know you could always add a small picture to the sign. Jane from Toy Story. Dory from Nemo. Good luck!!!!
I'm surprised there seem to be so few dye brands out there - I've just investigated Rit, and the wine colour looks great, but annoyingly it goes on to say that it will dye lighter on Polyester, which I figured, but then it said it's not suitable at all for 100% Polyester :sad2:
The only dye I can seem to find in the UK is by Dylon, will have to see if I can find out more about them. I suspect it might be the same to be honest.
Who would have thought it would be so difficult to change to colour of something?! :confused3:lmao: Surely there must be something to do it!!

Nala's a nice one, the Princess & the Frog girl is called Tiani I just found out, which is also very pretty, but the film won't be released here until a month after the reception, so it may be a little lost on people, either that or they'll be impressed that I'm so ahead of the times ;)

Chilly

08-20-2008, 03:32 AM

What about naming the tables after Disney hotels? Just a thought.

meryll83

08-20-2008, 03:34 AM

Ok, bad news one is that Dylon also doesn't dye Polyester.

Good news is I found this stuff - iDye Poly (http://www.fibrecrafts.com/ProductGroup.asp?Level1=&Level2=&Level3=&PID=9427&Action=&FromPage=5) which looks like it will do the job.

Bad news again, is that it doesn't come in the right colour, the red is mega red, not burgandy enough - does anyone know what colour red and violet together would make, would it be close? Or would red and brown be better? Any suggestions? I'm not sure if they're mixable though and I don't think I want to risk it, I might have to buy a couple of sachets of each and do a test garment first, although I don't think I have anything else polyester to dye....

The trouble is, it comes in dissolvable sachets, so I would have to use the full amount of each colour, and it might just go a manky brown colour.
Do you all think it would look ok if I just did it red, or would it clash too much with the roses, bridesmaid dresses etc. I think for the little amount that it will actually get seen it might be ok in just plain red.... What do you guys think?

And the final thing to sort out here is the best method of dyeing is on the stove top, so any ideas where I can get a cheap pan big enough to "cook" the skirt in and throw away afterwards??

Thinking about it, if I do it on a stove top I can always see what colour comes out of mixing red and violet, perhaps dip some paper in or something just to see, then if it is awful, I can throw the mixture away and just do red on it's own.

meryll83

08-20-2008, 03:41 AM

What about naming the tables after Disney hotels? Just a thought.
That's a cute idea, are there enough?

1. Grand Floridian
2. Polynesian
3. Contemporary
4. Caribbean Beach
5. Coronado Springs
6. Port Orleans
7. Boardwalk
8. All Stars
9. Pop Century
10. Yacht & Beach Club

Ooh yes, there are!
My only worry is, will people feel less favourable if I put them on a Value table and others on a Deluxe table? :lmao:

Chilly

08-20-2008, 03:43 AM

That's a cute idea, are there enough?

1. Grand Floridian
2. Polynesian
3. Contemporary
4. Caribbean Beach
5. Coronado Springs
6. Port Orleans
7. Boardwalk
8. All Stars
9. Pop Century
10. Yacht & Beach Club

Ooh yes, there are!
My only worry is, will people feel less favourable if I put them on a Value table and others on a Deluxe table? :lmao:

Don't forget the DVC resorts!

meryll83

08-20-2008, 03:47 AM

Don't forget the DVC resorts!

Of course!
The grandparents can be at Old Key West ;)

Or we could do attractions and have the kids all sit together on It's a Small World and all our rowdy friends on Jungle Cruise :rotfl:

Chilly

08-20-2008, 04:02 AM

Of course!
The grandparents can be at Old Key West ;)

Or we could do attractions and have the kids all sit together on It's a Small World and all our rowdy friends on Jungle Cruise :rotfl:

Sounds like a plan!

keenercam

08-20-2008, 10:11 AM

Oh, FUN! I love the idea of using attractions and then suiting personalities to the various rides, like IASW, JC, Pirates, etc. The possibilities are endless!

meryll83

08-20-2008, 10:28 AM

I was actually half joking at the time, but now I'm wondering if it might be a good idea after all :lmao:

Pinkerbell1983

08-20-2008, 10:40 AM

meryll83

08-20-2008, 10:43 AM

Hiiiiii I just started reading your PJ (page one so far!), and I noticed your from scarborough!!!! How cool, my auntie and uncle are from scarborough and I'm from sheffield and we visit there all the time!!!

Just got excited :goodvibes Ill go back to reading now!! :surfweb:

:rolleyes1 It's a small world after all!! :rolleyes1
That's so cool! The mighty Boro!

If I were you I'd just skip through the text and look at the pictures :laughing: I'm going for a record I think of the DISboards longest planning journal!

Pinkerbell1983

08-20-2008, 11:02 AM

Ha Ha I don't want to miss anything!!!

Im up to page 5 so far, think I may need a few days!!!!

meryll83

08-20-2008, 12:35 PM

IndyBride

08-20-2008, 01:36 PM

Those are super cute!!!!

keenercam

08-20-2008, 01:46 PM

Oh, wayyyy too clever! :thumbsup2 I am very impressed! :)

PRPrincess1081

08-20-2008, 03:53 PM

Ok, so here are my STD's (that still sounds so wrong :rotfl2:) - still a work in progress as you can see, but not far off done once we get dates and times confirmed! :thumbsup2
I found the blank template through googling, I think it originally belonged to a knottie, and got creative with colours, clipart and editing yet more swirly clipart to make the logo and backing image!:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/forthedis-1.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/forthedis2.jpg

Love it I used the same template but only could go as far as the 1st template I figured since dinsey was sending some out as well i didnt need to add all the other stuff i was actually going to get them professionally done but they were about $20 - $40 a piece then I had to pay an additional $40 for a one time fee to create a picture I said no thank you.

You did a wonderful job!

Pinkerbell1983

08-22-2008, 10:46 AM

Love Love Love the STD's!!!!!

Where is this template from?

DecemberBride

08-22-2008, 04:27 PM

Love them too!!!!!!!!

Ticky Toria 78

08-27-2008, 05:59 PM

great work, they look really good!

camara381

08-27-2008, 07:24 PM

OOOOO I LOVE the STD's you did really good on those!! They are fabulous!

Beep

08-27-2008, 08:36 PM

*opens the door and sheepishly waves* :wave2:

Hi hun, I've been distant lately due to loads of problems we've encountered (not Disney related in anyway) and then it took me ages to find the new sub-section.

I love your STD's (how wrong does that sound lol) they look great. I've bought some small clip-frame-magnet things and I am doing an insert to match our invitations. I think we are going to go for a simple postcard style and the graphic on the front will be used for the STD too.

Have your remaining guests booked their flights and accommodation yet?

What a pathetic response from Virgin!

BaBeeCee14

08-27-2008, 09:16 PM

Those look great Meryll! Great job! :thumbsup2

meryll83

08-28-2008, 05:04 AM

Those are super cute!!!!

Oh, wayyyy too clever! :thumbsup2 I am very impressed! :)

Love them too!!!!!!!!

great work, they look really good!

Those look great Meryll! Great job! :thumbsup2

OOOOO I LOVE the STD's you did really good on those!! They are fabulous!

Thanks for all the lovely comments girlies, it makes all the hard work worthwhile :hug: To be honest, I do enjoy creating stuff, but I never set aside the time to do things like this any more, so it's been fun!

Love it I used the same template but only could go as far as the 1st template I figured since dinsey was sending some out as well i didnt need to add all the other stuff i was actually going to get them professionally done but they were about $20 - $40 a piece then I had to pay an additional $40 for a one time fee to create a picture I said no thank you.

You did a wonderful job!

Love Love Love the STD's!!!!!

Where is this template from?

I think I still have a copy of the blank template I found, so if anyone wants it, just PM me your email addy :goodvibes

I don't think Disney send them out for Escapees, and I just thought it would be nice to give these out to the few people coming rather than just saying, "oh by the way, we got this date"...

*opens the door and sheepishly waves* :wave2:

Hi hun, I've been distant lately due to loads of problems we've encountered (not Disney related in anyway) and then it took me ages to find the new sub-section.

I love your STD's (how wrong does that sound lol) they look great. I've bought some small clip-frame-magnet things and I am doing an insert to match our invitations. I think we are going to go for a simple postcard style and the graphic on the front will be used for the STD too.

Have your remaining guests booked their flights and accommodation yet?

What a pathetic response from Virgin!
Hey Alex,
I've been following the trials and tribulations of the work saga, glad you've managed to find a resolution, even if wasn't exactly the one you were hoping for, but still, you now know you can definitely go :cool1:
I love everyone checking out my STD's :lmao: :eek: Are you going to make your own invites as well? We're craftastic!
Everyone that we expected to definitely come has booked, I don't think we'll get anyone else now to be honest, there's only our friend Geoff that we thought might come who hasn't booked, but I suppose that's partly due to him being a single and the expense, so we don't think he'll be there now. He'll probably decide he wants to come about a month before we go knowing him!

I can't remember where I left you all on the crinoline front...
I bought some Rit dye in the wine colour and a big hoopless tulle crinnie from ebay for £6.99 so I can test it out on that, who knows, if the quality of it isn't too bad, I may actually use this as the one, I think the dyed net would look better than the 1 layer skirt dyed anyway, and I can always wear the hoop skirt as well if it needs extra support.
http://i19.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/9d/0d/807e_2.JPG
I have the dye, but the crinnie is coming from China and may take up to 4 weeks to arrive, but I'll take some piccies for you when the deed is done!
Is the colour likely to go on the inside of my dress / hoop skirt if it's worn or should it be ok? I think I've read that if you wash the dyed item in cold water after dyeing it should prevent this?

I am still awaiting my pocketfolds and card for the invites to arrive from the US, but I got some pink mulberry paper hearts from ebay,:
http://i9.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/b2/a6/c6b4_2.JPG
and two different sizes of self-adhesive pearls from Handy Hippo,:
http://www.handyhippo.co.uk/images/products/p3234t.jpg
so I have already made a pearl mickey head on each of the hearts, so they're ready to stick on the invites. Will probably put some sort of ribbon around them as well, but plenty of time to sort that out at a later date - you all know by know how over organised I am! :rotfl:

There was a closing down sale at my local dance shop, and I got some ivory silky ballet slippers for £5:
http://studiotostage.co.uk/assets/images/SLSATIN_FULL.jpg
- so I can have these at the ready for when my feet inevitably begin to hurt. I've also put a pearl mickey on the front of each - must take a photo for you!

And, we're on the verge of booking the wedding band for at home, just need to check some final figures out!

Ooh and I have this garter coming from ebay too:
http://i7.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/d3/37/644f_2.JPG

So, as you can see, all is moving along nicely this month :thumbsup2 7 and a half weeks til we can book with DFTW!

Pinkerbell1983

08-28-2008, 09:07 AM

You're so creative, I wish I could make stuff but I'm so creatively challenged, everything would look a mess. I really want to make some invites tho, any tips?

keenercam

08-28-2008, 10:27 AM

Wow! you have so much accomplished! Good luck with dying your crinoline. What fun!

Beep

08-28-2008, 07:59 PM

Hey Alex,
I've been following the trials and tribulations of the work saga, glad you've managed to find a resolution, even if wasn't exactly the one you were hoping for, but still, you now know you can definitely go :cool1:
I love everyone checking out my STD's :lmao: :eek: Are you going to make your own invites as well? We're craftastic!
Everyone that we expected to definitely come has booked, I don't think we'll get anyone else now to be honest, there's only our friend Geoff that we thought might come who hasn't booked, but I suppose that's partly due to him being a single and the expense, so we don't think he'll be there now. He'll probably decide he wants to come about a month before we go knowing him!

I'm still waiting to find out about the extra day at the beginning of the holiday but at least they have ok'd the rest of it.

I can't remember where I left you all on the crinoline front...
I bought some Rit dye in the wine colour and a big hoopless tulle crinnie from ebay for £6.99 so I can test it out on that, who knows, if the quality of it isn't too bad, I may actually use this as the one, I think the dyed net would look better than the 1 layer skirt dyed anyway, and I can always wear the hoop skirt as well if it needs extra support.
http://i19.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/9d/0d/807e_2.JPG
I have the dye, but the crinnie is coming from China and may take up to 4 weeks to arrive, but I'll take some piccies for you when the deed is done!
Is the colour likely to go on the inside of my dress / hoop skirt if it's worn or should it be ok? I think I've read that if you wash the dyed item in cold water after dyeing it should prevent this?

Brilliant idea, do a test run first. I remember reading somewhere that cold water does set the dye, and also salt.

I am still awaiting my pocketfolds and card for the invites to arrive from the US, but I got some pink mulberry paper hearts from ebay,:
http://i9.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/b2/a6/c6b4_2.JPG
and two different sizes of self-adhesive pearls from Handy Hippo,:
http://www.handyhippo.co.uk/images/products/p3234t.jpg
so I have already made a pearl mickey head on each of the hearts, so they're ready to stick on the invites. Will probably put some sort of ribbon around them as well, but plenty of time to sort that out at a later date - you all know by know how over organised I am! :rotfl:

These look really nice - don't forget to post them when they are done :goodvibes

There was a closing down sale at my local dance shop, and I got some ivory silky ballet slippers for £5:
http://studiotostage.co.uk/assets/images/SLSATIN_FULL.jpg
- so I can have these at the ready for when my feet inevitably begin to hurt. I've also put a pearl mickey on the front of each - must take a photo for you!

Hidden Mickeys! Love them on wedding stuff.

Ooh and I have this garter coming from ebay too:
http://i7.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/d3/37/644f_2.JPG

That's really cute

So, as you can see, all is moving along nicely this month :thumbsup2 7 and a half weeks til we can book with DFTW!

YAY!! I had a call-back from DFTW and now have a co-ordinator - how cool!

Beep

08-28-2008, 08:07 PM

Oh, meant to say. DFTW told me today that the whole amount can be paid in one go rather than just the deposit when you book it, so it may be worth thinking about if you can afford it now as they reckon the exchange rate is going to keep going down.

I worked it out and $4500 at 1.8/£ is £2500, 1.6/£ is over £2800 and 1.4/£ is £3200.

Quite a difference isn't it?!

DisneyBrideToni

08-28-2008, 10:16 PM

WOW! Those are fantastic!!!!! You are so creative. I love those! :thumbsup2

meryll83

08-29-2008, 04:18 AM

You're so creative, I wish I could make stuff but I'm so creatively challenged, everything would look a mess. I really want to make some invites tho, any tips?
You haven't seen how mine will turn out yet :rotfl:
I think it's important to make sure you set aside enough time and realise how long it could take if there are a lot to do. Hmmm I'm not sure I've thought this through thoroughly! :lmao: Luckily I'm planning way ahead of time, so no excuses that I can't find the time to do them....
I've just been exploring a lot of craft sites and looking at other people's invites for inspiration really.

Wow! you have so much accomplished! Good luck with dying your crinoline. What fun!
Me and Julie are going to don the marigolds and prepare to get messy!
She has inadvertantly volunteered to assist, as she has successfully dyed some socks orange for a party we're at tonight - we're going as the Scooby Doo gang :lmao: - so now I dub her an accomplished dyer, plus there's someone else to blame if it goes wrong! ;)

YAY!! I had a call-back from DFTW and now have a co-ordinator - how cool!
Oooh that's exciting! No-one really wanted to talk to me early on (or still really until we're a year out), being an Escapee, but I got an email address and made use of it a few months back to ask a gazillion questions. The lady in question actually emailed me the other day to say she's taken another position at Disney and directed me to a new lady, I think I was too much for her :lmao:

Oh, meant to say. DFTW told me today that the whole amount can be paid in one go rather than just the deposit when you book it, so it may be worth thinking about if you can afford it now as they reckon the exchange rate is going to keep going down.

I worked it out and $4500 at 1.8/£ is £2500, 1.6/£ is over £2800 and 1.4/£ is £3200.

Quite a difference isn't it?!
It really does make a difference, good to know that it can be paid in bulk.
We've now got a substantial amount of money in the US dollar account, so hopefully that should now pay for most of what we need. It's the add-ons like the MK shoot, dessert party, reception meal etc that also make a big difference when you look at how the dollar rate is changing too, so we've put extra funds in the account to try and cover those too.
I'm thinking about paying off Randy and Stan's balances also in the next month, just in case.
All the predictions I've seen seem to suggest the dollar will just keep dropping right through next year, so I'm figuring the sooner I pay off any US monies owed, the better off we'll be.
I'll be kicking myself if it goes back to 2.0 though :rolleyes:

WOW! Those are fantastic!!!!! You are so creative. I love those! :thumbsup2
Thank you Toni, I had fun making them, I hope they print out ok, I haven't done a test run yet as our printer is being a total pain and will only print out 1 document each time the PC is on, so if I need to print more than 1 thing I have to restart the PC :headache: I also need to find some card to do these on, although I have some spare photo sorta paper at home, for the few I need to do I might just use this....

My cardsandpockets order should arrive today, I had a customs charge to pay yesterday, but I'd factored that cost in so wasn't surprised.
I've just thought that as there's noone in to collect it, I wonder if Parcelforce will leave it with the neighbours or take it back with them. It's £12 for a Saturday delivery but we're never in midweek so I dunno what's best to do. I should have left a note out telling them to leave it with a neighbour, darnit, should've thought of that earlier....

scarlet-la-belle

08-29-2008, 04:22 AM

HEHE, i love your garter, it's so cute!
And thoses pearls are beautiful, hum i could do with some of them princess:

figmentfan814

08-29-2008, 02:42 PM

Ohh, you did such a great job! I can't wait to see the final product printed off. Are you going to print them on a card stock?

Beep

08-29-2008, 07:10 PM

It really does make a difference, good to know that it can be paid in bulk.
We've now got a substantial amount of money in the US dollar account, so hopefully that should now pay for most of what we need. It's the add-ons like the MK shoot, dessert party, reception meal etc that also make a big difference when you look at how the dollar rate is changing too, so we've put extra funds in the account to try and cover those too.
I'm thinking about paying off Randy and Stan's balances also in the next month, just in case.
All the predictions I've seen seem to suggest the dollar will just keep dropping right through next year, so I'm figuring the sooner I pay off any US monies owed, the better off we'll be.
I'll be kicking myself if it goes back to 2.0 though :rolleyes:

Yep, same here. We've got over half of the total costs saved so can pay for the wedding and for Randy when we confirm with Disney. The difference in the $ rate from 1.98 to 1.8 has made a difference of well over £700 to our budget already!!

By all accounts it won't reach $2/£1 for a very long time. Just our luck though huh - you just know...

Chilly

09-01-2008, 12:45 PM

I love everything!

I wasn't going to bother with STDs but seeing yours I now want to! Can you send me a blank copy? I'll send you a PM.

meryll83

09-08-2008, 02:33 PM

HEHE, i love your garter, it's so cute!
And thoses pearls are beautiful, hum i could do with some of them princess:
I thought it was a nice Disney touch that not everyone gets to see immediately! My mum has bought me an ivory garter with blue ribbon on too, so we just have to decide which one to give away in the garter toss and which one to keep!

The pearls were great, really easy to use, and they stick well too, I was worried they might not be very sticky, but they're fab!

Ohh, you did such a great job! I can't wait to see the final product printed off. Are you going to print them on a card stock?
Yeah, I need to get some card or photo paper or something to do them on.
Unfortunately I've recently discovered that the template I've been using doesn't line up exactly for them to print back to back, and I can't change the margins accurately enough to alter it, so I think I'm gonna have to stick the card together back to back. Should be ok though I suppose, but I'm going to keep playing with the template for a little while longer to see if I can get it to match up properly.

Yep, same here. We've got over half of the total costs saved so can pay for the wedding and for Randy when we confirm with Disney. The difference in the $ rate from 1.98 to 1.8 has made a difference of well over £700 to our budget already!!

By all accounts it won't reach $2/£1 for a very long time. Just our luck though huh - you just know...
It doesn't look like it's going to climb very soon does it? At least we're prepared!

I love everything!

I wasn't going to bother with STDs but seeing yours I now want to! Can you send me a blank copy? I'll send you a PM.
hey hun,
still working on the template issue, but I'll get a copy emailed over to you as soon as I (if!!) can suss it out!

Ok, so operation crinoline dyeing took place this weekend.
Julie and I both ended up with red arms, but I think the end results are worth it (I hope she thinks it too!)
In retrospect, we should have taken some photos in the process, coz we must have looked quite funny....

I didn't want to do it in the washing machine in case I ruined it, so we did it in a large plastic storage tub, filled with boiling water from various trips with the kettle and pans on the hob.
Simon graciously carried this outside for us so we didn't make a mess in the house, so we both sat out on our driveway in the sun, thankfully the weather actually held out for a change lately!
We soaked it in cold water first, then added the Rit dye to the hot tub and gave it a stir. We discovered it was too hot for our ickle hands, even with the super protection of marigolds, and I hadn't thought about stiring implements, so we used 2 coat hangers to stir and prod the skirt about with! :rotfl:
The skirt went in when the dye was all mixed in (it was the liquid dye, so pretty much mixed itself anyway) and we turned it around every 5 minutes or so to get the colour spread evenly, and kept pushing it down to be submerged constantly.
We could see it started a pretty pale pink, and I wasn't sure it was going to take at all, but as time went on we could see it getting darker.
After about 40 minutes we decided the colour didn't seem to be taking any more, and the resulting skirt colour was a pretty bright magenta kind of pink. This concerned me slightly, as I thought it would clash horribly with the burgandy bridesmaid dresses and roses, but I figures I could still wear it anyway, just for fun.
We then transferred it to a cool water tub, back and forth til the water ran clear.
We hung it out on the washing line to dry, and then in the garage when we went out later that afternoon.
When we returned in the evening, and had a peek in the garage, low and behold it appeared sooooo much darker, bizarre seeing as it was already dry when it went in there.
the colour was called wine, so maybe it just needed some time to mature, but I'm really please with how it finally turned out.

Here is the finished result (this flash on this picture actually makes it look pinker, and more like we expected it to finish when seeing it wet):
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/P1010060.jpg

But I've just tried it on under my dress (after much rustling around and thinking I couldn't get back out of it - and Simon wanting to help but me shouting nooooooooo don't come up here! :lmao:) for the full effect, and these 2 pictures give a much more accurate representation of the colour:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/P1010057.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l315/meryll83/Wedding/P1010058.jpg

So I deem this mission (successfully) accomplished!
Big thanks to Julie for making me leave it in the dye longer when my short attention span was trying to convince me otherwise, and to Simon for lugging big tubs of water around for us!!