Lisa and Rick's PJ/TR: Peace, Love, Mickey Mouse DFTVR! - DAY THREE! =) [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

WithDisneySpirit

06-30-2008, 10:09 AM

Since I did not do a planning journal, I am going to cover our introductions and then a bit of pre-VR planning and then just pick right up with our VR trip report! :goodvibes
Rick and I met September 1997 in church. He was sitting in the row right in front of me. We have a “greet/hug each other” part of the service and he turned around to hug me and said, “You have a beautiful voice!” Well, that kind of flattery made him an instant friend =) :flower3: I thought he could be that ‘not so common’ guy friend – I sure wasn’t thinking romantically to begin with… One thing did lead to another though, and we had our first date on the Saturday night after Thanksgiving. Soon, we were pretty much inseparable. :lovestruc

He was frightened of being a Dad to my 6 and 9 year old sons though and he tried hard to just have a long term relationship! Na-uh, not me, so I offered to break up with him right away, LOL. I said the goal needed to be eventual marriage or nada…let’s just say we never broke up =) Along the way, we realized a mutual love of Disney and we started to plan a vacation, just he and I, for when my kids were going with their Dad on vacation for a week.

Five weeks before vacation, we were driving along somewhere in the car and Rick, out of the clear blue, asks me, “What do you think about making this Disney trip our honeymoon?” :love: So much for bended knee with ring at the ready…what did I say…YES, lol! We decided we wanted to elope so we went together and told our minister that we wanted him to marry us quietly after church on Sunday and then we would leave for Disney. He, being the Mickey lover that he is, said, “Why don’t we marry y’all in Disney and we’ll go too?” I did some minor checking and felt that even the smallest wedding at Disney was more than we needed. We tried our best to decline and our minister said we’ll just pick a quiet spot, marry you and we’ll be off to the parks =)

Well, he won and off we went. We all stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort and very early on July 7, 1998, Rick and I got married on the sandy beach in front of our building. My minister’s wife was our photographer; I didn’t do flowers or anything. We loved it though. We set up a camcorder on a tripod to record the event and surprise our families with when we got back. We kept it a secret until then… Here are a couple of pictures:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/1Wedding.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/2Wedding.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/3Wedding.jpg
We did have matching rings made for our wedding ceremony and they are so special to us! In fact, for our VR, we used our exact same rings during our vows: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01259-1.jpg We had an idyllic honeymoon at Disney, of course. We settled into a very happy wedded life together. We did take our kids back to Disney at Christmas that same year and then we went through a very long Disney dry spell. We talked about going and could never quite get it together.

In early 2004, we decided we had to go back to Disney!! I started to do internet research and discovered about renting points to stay at DVC. That sounded perfect to us because we knew that a good vacation with two rambunctious boys would have separate bedrooms, LOL. The more I researched, the more I wanted DVC. Instead of renting points, we bought an OKW contract on the resale market, yay!!!!!! We chose OKW because it was the one Rick liked the look of in the pics at Allearsnet.com. I enticed him and I really didn’t care where he wanted to buy, lol, as long as we could buy it!!

We made our first DVC trip home in October 2004. Oh, DVC will really hook you – did we ever love OKW and that 2 bedroom villa we stayed in =) It just happened that my boys were going off to dad’s family in NY for fourth of July in 2005. That is our anniversary, July 7, the same week. So, we took a trip to Disney, just us two again, for our seventh anniversary! We had such a romantic and lovely trip!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_0168.jpg
We were taking pics of Mickey&Minnie so they did the same - I love this pic :love:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_0340.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_0357.jpg
We even made an ADR for Shutters so that we could re-visit our wedding spot =)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_0658.jpg
Here is a couple of pictures from our actual anniversary day!
Our original wedding spot:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_0660.jpg
A rather unflattering pic of me at our wedding site, lol!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_0664.jpg

Somewhere, along the way in planning for this trip, I discovered the idea of Disney vow renewals. Boy, did that ever get my attention! I felt that we had made a true success of marriage and I really wanted to celebrate this with our family. What better place than Disney to marry all over again? I broached the subject with Rick on our ten hour drive home from Disney. He must have been basking in the afterglow of a great Disney trip because he said yes to a 10th anniversary vow renewal at Disney!!!!! Let the planning begin =)

DisneyMissy318

06-30-2008, 10:26 AM

Great story Lisa! I love that your minister insisted it be at Disney! What memories for you! I can't wait to hear more!

Disneychix

06-30-2008, 10:37 AM

Wow, that is quite a wedding story! You guys look so cute in all the pics! Can't wait to hear about the VR! :)

MyMelody

06-30-2008, 11:01 AM

:love: Great story!!! I love it....

29apr00

06-30-2008, 11:31 AM

What a great start! Can't wait to hear more!

lurkyloo

06-30-2008, 12:52 PM

What a wonderful story - I like the idea of the combined PJ/Trip Report. Can't wait to hear more! :goodvibes

WithDisneySpirit

06-30-2008, 04:02 PM

:lovestruc Thanks, everyone! Since I never did a pj, I thought it would be great to at least give a little behind the scenes planning. It won't be a blow-by-blow PJ since I just don't remember all of it, lol!! Only Mom and DH had to listen to the thousand times I changed my mind about favors as one example! :lmao:

It has always been a glorious memory to have married at Disney. Nothing can top the awesomeness of having a real Disney Fairytale Wedding though!!

chepic

06-30-2008, 05:01 PM

popcorn::

I love other's TR's...it's like reliving the VR all over again.

cheryl

WithDisneySpirit

07-01-2008, 09:52 AM

Site Visit trip: 7/29/07
Mom, Dad, DH and I went on a fabulous Disney trip :lovestruc and while there we got to visit our reception site as well!! A little background on why we picked Italy as our wedding site. At first, I felt forced to pick the Wedding Pavilion, if only for the heat factor sure to be present on July 7, 2008!! Now this is not to say that the Wedding Pavilion is anything but breathtaking but I truly wanted another outdoor wedding, like our first. After much discussion, we decided to move our date up to May 27, 2008 in the hope that it would be a cooler day since we knew there would be very small babies in our family by that time (as yet unborn!). :hug: That settled; I felt free to discuss an outdoor venue. Rick really knew that I wanted Italy because it holds special meaning for me…I grew up in a military family and four years of my childhood were spent in Naples, Italy! It was a truly wonderful time for my family. I was 10 to almost 14 while we were there. The memories were so special that I asked Rick if we could marry there. He, like a true knight, said of course! :cloud9:
Here is a pic of the courtyard that I took on this trip.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_4793.jpg
Every time I went to Disney, I took pictures of the Courtyard, LOL. I even stopped during the Minnie Marathon on May 4, 2008, to take more pictures of my beloved Italy, lol. :laughing: After I slowed to a walk to take this picture,
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00721.jpg
I had to speed up again because there was a nice Disney photog ready to take this pic, haha!! :rotfl2:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/MinnieMarathon0002.jpg
Because of many hours spent poring over trip reports from past Disney brides, I had already discovered the Attic for a possible reception site. It looked perfect for our reception because we were looking for a casual, cozy atmosphere for a party rather than something more elegant which really doesn’t fit our personalities. Plus, I saw pictures of toys in the Attic, including airplanes. I found this very exciting because my DH flies a small airplane for a living and I just knew it would please him. Pleasing my DH is part of my secret to a happy marriage… :wizard:
Before we left on the trip, I contacted Bill Barchik, our wedding consultant and was able to make an appointment with him to view the Attic and make sure it would be the perfect place for our reception/party. We planned the site visit for 3pm on August 3. Dad and Rick were spending that day at Fantasy of Flight (see what I mean?) This is the only place in Orlando that can drag my hubby away from Disney theme parks for a whole day!!
Mom and I planned a great day of shopping and girl time at Disney. We were shopping at DTD and we also wanted to take the DVC tour of the latest Animal Kingdom Villas models. So we took a bus to SSR. After the tour, we walked through the store next to Artist’s Palette. We thought it would be nice to take the boat back to DTD and then catch the bus to BW for our site visit appt. This was the worst transportation snafu in all my Disney memory!! First, we waited a looonnngg time for the boat. By the time we got to DTD, I was sure we were going to be cutting it close for our appt. Keep in mind that the guys had the car so we had to make do… well, we waited and waited for the bus. It finally came. Then, it stopped at Pleasure Island and guess what?? They decided to do a shift and driver change!! :headache: We were also unaware that BW is the last stop of all five resorts. Needless to say, I was in shock and trying to call Bill Barchik to warn him of our lateness. I got his office and they had him call me on my cell and he actually told me not to worry and that he would wait for me!!!! That man is gold, pure gold =) :love: We actually arrived a full 45 minutes late and he waited on us and showed no irritation toward us. He was a perfect Disney cast member gentleman. I loved seeing the Attic; it was definitely the place for us. I took so many pictures, here are a few of them:
See the airplanes in the corner and my mom :)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_4801.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_4806.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_4805.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_4804.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_4802.jpg
After we said goodbye to Bill, we met our men at Beaches and Cream, one of our favorites, of course. Mom and I never turn down an opportunity for a No Way Jose (sadly, no picture from this trip), here are some of us having fun at B&C though:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_4811.jpg
Notice my dad's Pink Floyd shirt :cool2:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_4810.jpg
and another couple of Disney fun pics:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_4748.jpg
Yes, we are like Peter Pan :upsidedow
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_4777.jpg

lov2b@disney

07-01-2008, 09:58 AM

Lisa loving your TR! Cant wait to read more!

29apr00

07-01-2008, 10:39 AM

The Italy courtyard looks beautiful! Great choice! can't wait to read more!

WithDisneySpirit

07-01-2008, 07:11 PM

Lisa loving your TR! Cant wait to read more!

Thanks, venue twin! Can't wait to read more of yours too =) :cutie:

The Italy courtyard looks beautiful! Great choice! can't wait to read more!

It really was gorgeous! It didn't hurt that it was during the Flower & Garden show :goodvibes

WithDisneySpirit

07-02-2008, 09:53 AM

The next big planning event was the dress! Now to be honest, I had been looking on the web and in magazines for dresses since the moment we decided to do a tenth anni VR in July 2005. I would get mildly depressed fairly often about it. Part of me wanted a big, princess-y, poufy, Disney-ish dress but there were reasons that I felt like I would never find something like that for me. :(

The main roadblock is that most of those dresses are strapless or halter style. For twenty-four years, I have had autoimmune disease, including lupus for the past eight years. My skin is affected by its own autoimmune problem and it permanently disfigured my upper arms and shins and I have even had surgery on my arms which is the reason you will always see me in every picture with sleeves. I know, ‘tmi’ but it helps for me to tell y’all that because many people wonder and ask me in the heat of summer why I’m wearing longer sleeves. I even had a wedding guest I don’t know very well ask me at the welcome party…:rolleyes:

As a result, I had resisted going in to any bridal shops because I so rarely saw any bridal gowns with sleeves… I thought about bolero jackets and kept searching the web and I also considered a seamstress to design my own dress. Anyway, I saw an ad for a sale last summer at Parisian. They had a room called the Parisian Room which has evening wear (I say had because Belk’s bought them and Parisian no longer exists :headache: ). I thought I would run in there and just check out what was available. I went in and in ten minutes, I found my dress!!!!! :bride: I could not honestly believe it?! It is a beautiful color of peach and gold. It has a sleeveless gown with a matching jacket that was so lightweight and breathable. It was so very perfect for me! :lovestruc And…in a way, it looked a bit princess-y too because of the flowing chiffon upper layer. Would you like to know the most unbelievable part?? I got this dress at 75% off the original price!! It was so inexpensive; I am embarrassed to say how little I spent on it, lol!!! I told DH that I planned to shop for shoes, a purse, jewelry and a tiara because I was so frugal on the dress, haha!!:teacher: Well, here are a couple of pics of the dress:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/_MG_1698.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/_MG_1716.jpg

padisneyfour

07-02-2008, 09:57 AM

Those are beautiful pictures! That dress color looks fantastic on you and the flowers were very pretty too! Looking forward to hearing more details...

lov2b@disney

07-02-2008, 10:08 AM

love the dress and the color! Beautiful!:goodvibes

29apr00

07-02-2008, 10:36 AM

I agree, the color looks fantastic on you!! Great find!!

WithDisneySpirit

07-02-2008, 10:12 PM

Those are beautiful pictures! That dress color looks fantastic on you and the flowers were very pretty too! Looking forward to hearing more details...

Thanks and I did love my flowers - Laura Kidd is wonderful! :lovestruc

love the dress and the color! Beautiful!:goodvibes

Thanks so much - it was my princess dress :bride:

I agree, the color looks fantastic on you!! Great find!!

Thank you! The dress was actually brighter than it appears in many of the pictures - I really loved it :goodvibes

figmentfan814

07-02-2008, 11:43 PM

I'm loving your story so far. Thank you for sharing pictures from your original wedding too. Bill is great :thumbsup2 He was our sales manager too and he was easy to work with for everything.

I love your dress; it was perfect and it looks beautiful in the setting at Italy. Looking forward to reading more from a fellow Epcot bride,

WithDisneySpirit

07-03-2008, 11:09 PM

Planning session trip highlights: Jan 9 – Jan16, 2008
This was another wonderful trip with DH and I on our own staying in a studio at BWV! We arrived on Thursday;
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00009.jpg
we walked right into Epcot for our ADR at Biergarten. We had a great time; I had not been here since 1985. Remember this picture of us that night as you will see it again later.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00016.jpg
Here is what I ate - Mmmmm!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00015.jpg
When I described the fun we had to my mom upon our return, we decided to plan a night at Biergarten during the vow renewal as well!!
We were here in January for another big purpose for me. I was about to run my first half-marathon ever!! We were busy off and on both Friday and Saturday with that excitement and we spent half of Sunday cheering all the full marathoners too!! Here are a couple of pics:
Me, right before the big race :eek:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00146.jpg
After the bananas and a shower, my post race meal :rotfl:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00188.jpg
I got a medal! :dance3: (hopefully my picture will right itself...)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00189-1.jpg
We visited the Magic Kingdom the day before our planning session and we enjoyed watching Spectromagic and Wishes that night. Since I had bought a new, pink, little camera for my half-marathon run, I was busy taking pictures of everything in sight. This is a picture of the castle which will figure into my planning later also…
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00313.jpg
So, our planning session was on Jan 15, the last full day of our trip! I was so excited!! We drove over to Franck’s that morning for our 9am appt. I must have been nervous because I took a total of four pictures while we were there, LOL!
Here are two pics of the inside of Franck’s:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00413.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00412.jpg
The other two were cake porn, haha and I’ll just post one of them:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00415.jpg
We finally got to meet Michelle, our planner. Rick and I both liked her right away! She is very charming and personable – very funny too. I really loved the fact that she had her own DFTW at Disney so she is one of us!! I had sent pictures ahead of time of cakes that we liked to use as inspiration. This is our last email correspondence before we arrived on Tuesday and met:

Subject: Re: Cakes Pictures
Hi Michelle!

Finally, I am sending you a couple of cake pictures that I am attracted to. I really like whimsical (i.e.. Mad Hatter type cakes and vibrant colors) Basically, Rick and I are somewhat earthy and casual. A girlfriend at work says we belong in Berkeley, CA, lol! I think of us as moderate hippie types, ha-ha! When we eloped to WDW the first time, one of the matching shirts we bought on our honeymoon was our favorite. It had the symbols of Peace, Love and Mickey Mouse!! These symbols personify Disneyworld for us and our feelings about our marriage. We would love a cake that has these symbols on it as the main theme =) And then, here are some cake styles I like as well in the PDF files above. The fourth one may be harder to open for some reason but I was able to open it with Microsoft Picture manager.

Thanks again,
Lisa

Hi Lisa,
You are too cute :) I absolutely love the cake photos! So different and unique, I have not seen anything like it before. You are correct on the fourth cake photo. I was not able to open it, no matter what I tried (even Microsoft picture manager). Is there anyway you can print a color copy on your end and bring it with you to the Planning Session? Please let me know.

If there is anything else I can assist you with, please don't hesitate to contact me.

See you SOON!
Michelle

We laughed the most about the cake pictures we had provided. Michelle really understood that we wanted to meet but not exceed our minimums by much! The only minor disappointment I had before the session is that I asked about a dessert party rather late in the game and there wasn’t anything available for our date, incl. Fantasmic (which I would not have chosen anyway). We got re-married at a very busy time. It was just as well in hindsight as I was very happy with how the whole day turned out.

Laura Kidd came in about 12 noon or so and the four of us had even more fun as she is very down to earth as well. She had the most wonderful ideas about how to dress up our event without over spending. Little things made the difference like having colored napkins on the table and small centerpieces to avoid naked looking tables. It was just perfect for us and great looking in the Attic which is already full of color anyway. We just had the best time and DH summed it up best when he said that he enjoyed the whole planning session and he never thought he would, LOL!!!

Finally, because we all like food porn too and you never know where you might have a welcome party or a rehearsal dinner after all, here are some dining pics from Yak n’ Yeti, which we loved!!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00116.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00117.jpg
The yummiest egg rolls ever!!!! :lovestruc
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00119.jpg
We split our entree and forgot to take a pic when it was pretty :rolleyes:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00118.jpg
After our meet with Michelle and Laura, we headed to Epcot and had a snack in the American Pavilion:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00420.jpg
We also had a great meal at Chefs de France that night to cap off our planning session trip!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00428.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00427-1.jpg

surface77

07-04-2008, 11:16 AM

WithDisneySpirit

07-04-2008, 12:00 PM

Lisa,
Just got caught up on your thread. I am lovin' it! I might reach out to later w/ DVC questions. I am impressed w/ how well your curls looked while running in Florida of all places! What product(s) were you using that day, Curly Redheaded sista friend?!! :rotfl:

Great, Sarah, if you buy direct from Disney, we both get benefits if you use my DVC member number as a referral source!

My hair does do ever so much better in my hometown :hippie: I use the hair soaps from Basin in DTD exclusively now. For conditioner, I use the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle in the shower. My hair can take oodles of conditioner, so after I get out of the shower, I put Nexus Humectress in my hair as a leave-in conditioner. I use a diffuser to maximize the curl on very low heat. Naturally curly girls are all different though, my sister's hair would be weighed down by all the stuff I put in mine :laughing:

surface77

07-04-2008, 12:30 PM

Great, Sarah, if you buy direct from Disney, we both get benefits if you use my DVC member number as a referral source!

My hair does do ever so much better in my hometown :hippie: I use the hair soaps from Basin in DTD exclusively now. For conditioner, I use the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle in the shower. My hair can take oodles of conditioner, so after I get out of the shower, I put Nexus Humectress in my hair as a leave-in conditioner. I use a diffuser to maximize the curl on very low heat. Naturally curly girls are all different though, my sister's hair would be weighed down by all the stuff I put in mine :laughing:

Great! I would love to help out my fellow curly redheaded sista friend w/ DVC points whenever possible! ;)

I feel you about the oodles of conditioner. I have found that Pureology has the BEST conditioner ever! Plus I don't have to use a ton of it. It is very expensive but I think it averages out, due to the fact that I don't have to buy conditioner every other week. :lmao:

I was using salon products; Paul Mitchell (frizz syrum you can only get from salons), Deva Curl gel, and Matrix Curl mousse. But, I recently discovered SAMY at Walgreens the other day when I ran out of gel and mousse and it was a Sunday. I bought the Samy BIG CURLS CREME and Samy iStyle Curl Mousse and I love them! I also use the diffuser and NEVER leave home without it! :)

WithDisneySpirit

07-04-2008, 02:20 PM

Great! I would love to help out my fellow curly redheaded sista friend w/ DVC points whenever possible! ;)

I feel you about the oodles of conditioner. I have found that Pureology has the BEST conditioner ever! Plus I don't have to use a ton of it. It is very expensive but I think it averages out, due to the fact that I don't have to buy conditioner every other week. :lmao:

I was using salon products; Paul Mitchell (frizz syrum you can only get from salons), Deva Curl gel, and Matrix Curl mousse. But, I recently discovered SAMY at Walgreens the other day when I ran out of gel and mousse and it was a Sunday. I bought the Samy BIG CURLS CREME and Samy iStyle Curl Mousse and I love them! I also use the diffuser and NEVER leave home without it! :)

Well, you know I am writing all this down and will have to try them :dance3: Especially when a curly readhead tells me about them! :thumbsup2 Where do you get the Pureology?

Mama of Indybride

07-04-2008, 04:15 PM

WithDisneySpirit

07-04-2008, 04:49 PM

When you started researching renting DVC points vs. buying them, was it a no brainer?

I think...I think....I think my husband is deathly afraid we are going to buy as soon as I start doing research!

:rotfl:

:rotfl: :rotfl2: :lmao: You already know the answer from reading my first post! Tell him "be afraid, be very afraid!!!" My hubby was too but now he is my biggest cheerleader for having convinced him to do it. Of course, it helps that he loves Disney like I do! We absolutely love to travel by way of DVC! For us, it was a no-brainer financially as well. As I said before too, the best incentives for buying direct from Disney come from having a referring DVC member's information :wizard: PM me if you want mine. We bought on the secondary market though and you can do that too! We will be adding on direct through Disney though if they ever announce the Contemporary DVC available for sale!! :goodvibes

29apr00

07-05-2008, 04:47 PM

We are renting points for our VR trip in Dec 09, if anyone has any left over! ;) I'm hoping once DH sees how great it is, he'll let us buy into it! But i doubt it!! :confused3

WithDisneySpirit

07-05-2008, 10:12 PM

We are renting points for our VR trip in Dec 09, if anyone has any left over! ;) I'm hoping once DH sees how great it is, he'll let us buy into it! But i doubt it!! :confused3

You mean you are staying on site for a few days before or after the cruise? Are you renting a studio or a bigger villa? I bet your DH will get sorely tempted on that trip. Renting points has caused many a new DVC owner. :rotfl: My parents, at age 68 and 69, bought DVC points within months after going on a DVC trip with us!! :goodvibes :thumbsup2

WithDisneySpirit

07-06-2008, 08:17 PM

Invitations:

I am all about Mickey and Minnie and so is DH! :lovestruc We knew we would want our invites to reflect that love… I had been researching some of the Disney invitations available through Carlson Craft. I found a website that advertised being able to order any invitations through their site at a 30% discount. Being the frugal girl I am (except when paying Disney for my DFTVR, lol:rotfl: ), I wanted to order one of their Disney choices; here is the set I chose:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/Invites.gif
Anyway, I got all the way through the order process and was preparing to pay when I realized it did not give me the discount?! :headache: I called the website and they said that Disney had recently disallowed any discounts on their stationery. When you need 27 invites and have to pay for 50, the price sans discount was just crazy! I started to search all over again and was considering looking for some other type of invitation, not Disney themed. It was really bothering me…can you tell? :mad:
My sister has worked her whole adult life in graphic design. I promised myself that I would not bother her with this though. She works so hard and has four children and two new grandbabies. It just seems that she has so little time for anything that I did not want to burden her with this. One day, in pure frustration, I called her to ask a question about invites and when she got me to tell her what was up, she immediately began the search for graphics and materials for us to make the invitations ourselves!! I visited her one morning and we went over all the plans at her home office. We picked this paper in Starburst Lichen and Spring Larch: :dance3:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/Petallicpapers.jpg
Cathy picked a vellum overlay that was gorgeous called iridescent. We found a fabulous picture of Mickey and Minnie where Minnie is kissing Mickey’s cheek and she is wearing her flower hat too!!! :goodvibes I picked the wording for the invitations. The papers arrived and we set aside a Saturday to complete the work. We went to Hobby Lobby to find some way to further decorate our invites with a Mickey symbol. We looked and looked. We considered cutting black felt, using black pom-poms and going with just a flower symbol at the top. Finally, we noticed for the second time, tiny black brads in two different round sizes that could possibly be teamed together to make a Mickey head!!! :mickeyjum We bought them and prayed it would work as we envisioned.

I wish I had pictures of us assembling them because they turned out so well, imo! We put the brads (Mickey) through the first paper and then sealed it to the second color paper so the back of the brad was secured and hidden inside the two papers. Everyone that received them thought we had spent a fortune on them. :teacher: We would have for a specially designed invitation! Here is our invite minus our last name:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01255-1.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01308-1.jpg
We did our stamps through Zazzle. Originally, I had wanted to do a stamp with Mickey and Minnie in the airplane with the heart shaped smoke behind them. I could never make the site go to the Disney area and of course, it denied my request for that as a stamp :rolleyes1 So, instead, I decided to use my own pictures for the stamps. I was pleased with them and here they are:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01256.jpg
My mom also sent an invitation to a character breakfast on our last morning at Disney honoring Rick and I. I thought it was great how it seemed to almost match my invitations in paper looks and it was from the Hallmark store! My sis, the expert, did the inside printing and made sure it had another Mickey at the top!! :thumbsup2 Here it is:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01252.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01253.jpg

29apr00

07-06-2008, 09:16 PM

You mean you are staying on site for a few days before or after the cruise? Are you renting a studio or a bigger villa? I bet your DH will get sorely tempted on that trip. Renting points has caused many a new DVC owner. :rotfl: My parents, at age 68 and 69, bought DVC points within months after going on a DVC trip with us!! :goodvibes :thumbsup2

Yup! The plan is to stay 5 nights at VWL in a Studio before the cruise. But my girlfriend is going on teh cruise with us, and is thinking of coming to Disney also. I don't want to make her pay $300 a night to stay at WL, so we may end up having to go to the AKV because i know they have rooms that will hold 5.

your invitations are too cute! Your sister is very talented!!

chepic

07-07-2008, 09:23 AM

kayleighnik

07-07-2008, 10:09 AM

I love your dress and invitations...everything! The stamps are great too..I'd like something like that, but I'm from the UK...

Eargerly waiting for more! :thumbsup2

Kayleigh

micandminforever

07-07-2008, 03:42 PM

Your invitations were true Disney magic.

WithDisneySpirit

07-07-2008, 11:05 PM

Yup! The plan is to stay 5 nights at VWL in a Studio before the cruise. But my girlfriend is going on teh cruise with us, and is thinking of coming to Disney also. I don't want to make her pay $300 a night to stay at WL, so we may end up having to go to the AKV because i know they have rooms that will hold 5.

your invitations are too cute! Your sister is very talented!!

AKV is beautiful; I hope you get to stay there!!

My sister is very talented :goodvibes

OMGosh......I love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cheryl

Thanks a bunch! I'm glad :flower3:

I love your dress and invitations...everything! The stamps are great too..I'd like something like that, but I'm from the UK...

Eargerly waiting for more! :thumbsup2

Kayleigh

Thanks so much! My dress isn't exactly the norm but I love it :cloud9:

Your invitations were true Disney magic.

I will definitely have to show this thread to my sister! I sent her a special thank you note for helping me. It was a collaboration but she is the one with the smarts to make it happen!! :hug:

It is hard to really show what they are like so I made two more pics. The envelopes closed up like a petal and I put Mickey and Minnie stickers to close them up...

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01317.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01315.jpg

I forgot to mention also that I only received back about 6 response cards. Some of my family just told me flat out that I would not get anything back because it was too cute and they also wanted to keep the stamp!! :)

chepic

07-08-2008, 10:09 AM

WithDisneySpirit

07-08-2008, 10:25 AM

Just beautiful....don't you love being able to say I love you over and over again, and do it in so many different ways? I think it is so important today with so many couples not making it through the good times, let alone the bad.

che

You are so right, che :lovestruc Yesterday was my actual 10th anniversary, July 7, 2008 :cloud9: My husband gave me a card that said on the front, "True love stories never have endings." The quote was written by our favorite author, Richard Bach!!! Inside he wrote, Dear Lisa, I love you more now, than the day we married! I am so glad that you said "yes" to me. :hug: :goodvibes He is such a great husband!

Making it through the bad makes the good times so sweet!

IndyBride

07-08-2008, 02:24 PM

What fabulous invitations!!!!!!!!! They look so great!

chepic

07-08-2008, 02:46 PM

You are so right, che :lovestruc Yesterday was my actual 10th anniversary, July 7, 2008 :cloud9: My husband gave me a card that said on the front, "True love stories never have endings." The quote was written by our favorite author, Richard Bach!!! Inside he wrote, Dear Lisa, I love you more now, than the day we married! I am so glad that you said "yes" to me. :hug: :goodvibes He is such a great husband!

Making it through the bad makes the good times so sweet!

Happy Anniversary.....my husband isn't always the most poetic...however, he will go with anything I plan :lmao: so I make up for that!!!!

Cheryl

WithDisneySpirit

07-08-2008, 10:25 PM

What fabulous invitations!!!!!!!!! They look so great!

Thanks, I am proud of them :goodvibes

twiu

07-08-2008, 10:34 PM

WithDisneySpirit

07-08-2008, 10:48 PM

Lisa! I just found your PJ/TR and I'm so excited that you're writing this. I've been so curious as to how your VR went! I'm sure it was gorgeous! I love your dress btw! My goodness - GORGEOUS! It's so nice to read this too now that I've met you. It makes a huge difference! Can't wait to hear more!

I am so glad you found it too :lovestruc I didn't want to run around saying, hey, everybody, I am finally writing a PJ/TR, LOL! I thought it might be a little obvious and weird :rotfl:

Thanks so much for the compliments too :cutie: I do hope all my sister Disbrides from our O'Hana meet write TR's too and that includes you :goodvibes

WithDisneySpirit

07-10-2008, 12:36 PM

What will the cake look like? :confused3

We had picked various designs and weren’t wedded, lol, to any one cake. Some of those cakes were:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/whimsical3.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/Whimsical1.jpg
Now don’t laugh too hard at this cake!! It is not a wedding cake but a very funny birthday cake that was obviously for a tree-hugger! Michelle laughed hardest at this cake and wanted to know what that was on the cake, IYKWIM, lol. :lmao: And it is, in fact, a tree-hugger raisin man something!! I just really wanted to share the tie-dye fondant so I did =)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/whimsical2.jpg

We really liked our Peace, Love, and Mickey Mouse theme idea and wanted to incorporate that in with our cake. We also loved the tie-die fondant idea because we are just hippies at heart!! :hippie: Another email between Michelle and I discusses our theme:

Hi Michelle!

I came home and took the picture of Rick's shirt and then I promptly forgot all about it!! Something my mom said tonight reminded me that you needed the peace, love, and mickey mouse shirt. Rick and I really enjoyed our visit with you and we liked Laura very much too =) Rick actually said the planning session was fun, lol! I knew he was a keeper ten years ago. If only he liked to shop...

Anyway, we know we are in very good hands and I am looking forward to the next step!

Have a great week!
Lisa

Hi Lisa and Rick!
Thank you very much for sending me the Peace, Love, and Mickey Mouse logo. I will pass it along to the Pastry Chef for your cake design.

I had a great time meeting and spending time with you both at the Planning Session. I am very excited for your Vow Renewal!

If there is anything else I can assist you with, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Have a MAGICAL day!
Michelle

So, here is the picture I sent Michelle to illustrate our theme. We bought these shirts on our honeymoon in 1998 and my husband still wears his. I would too except the sleeves on a short sleeve shirt really don’t work for me anymore. We just loved having a special theme for our wedding!! :goodvibes
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00429.jpg
Michelle forwarded this picture and the cake picures to the pastry chef and he had fun (Michelle said) coming up with a cake design for us! He drew it out and sent it to Michelle and she forwarded it to us. Here is the drawing and our eventual cake was very similar to this!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/danielsvow5-27-08-1.jpg
I asked for the paisley swirl to be removed from the side and the three symbols to just be scattered all over the cake. The colors were obviously off but we loved the design. We had requested in the planning session for the flowers to include gerbera daisies and he did an admirable job with that too!

lov2b@disney

07-10-2008, 12:40 PM

Love the invitation and the cake is soo cool!:cool1:

29apr00

07-10-2008, 12:51 PM

The cake design is so cute! I can't wait to see the finished product!

micandminforever

07-10-2008, 03:21 PM

Can't wait to see the finish product of the cake.

pink_tink8i8

07-10-2008, 06:14 PM

I love your invitations! and your cake is going to be amazing!
I wanted those same shimmery mickey mouse cards from hallmark and when I went back to get them, they were all gone :sad1:

WithDisneySpirit

07-10-2008, 09:41 PM

Love the invitation and the cake is soo cool!:cool1:
Thanks! :goodvibes

The cake design is so cute! I can't wait to see the finished product!
It really did turn out pretty cool :wizard:

Can't wait to see the finish product of the cake.

It won't be too long, I hope! Thanks for reading along. :3dglasses

I love your invitations! and your cake is going to be amazing!
I wanted those same shimmery mickey mouse cards from hallmark and when I went back to get them, they were all gone :sad1:

Is it too late? We have so many Hallmark stores here - did you call around for them? I am sorry you did not get them :sad1:

Thanks for the compliments though :flower3:

WithDisneySpirit

07-14-2008, 09:30 AM

Original Banquet Event Order

I decided to post my original event order and then I will post my final event order that came after the wedding and gave me the final figures on my bill including ‘billed on consumption’ beverages. From the beginning, I was wanting (like Carrie :cutie: ) to hit the minimums ($10,000 for a Tuesday) for a Wishes wedding. I had too many guests to do an Escape wedding and besides, I wanted my VR to be in Italy :lovestruc

Bridal Portrait Session $1,000.00

Wedding Ceremony:
Venue - Italy Plaza $1065.00
Guitarist $525.00
Floral Wedding Package $493.10
incl. bouquet
3 wrist corsages
6 boutennierres
10 bowls w/daisies
peach and green napkins
Limousine $256.80
Motorcoach $714.00
_______
Event total $3,053.90

Wedding Pre-reception:
Boardwalk Inn: 47 guests, est.
Av and tech service:
1 CD player $88.55
1 Audio Mixer $56.93
1 Powered Speaker $101.20
47 Soft drinks $225.25
1 Coffee, regular $74.12
1 Coffee, decaf $74.12
1 Bartender $106.50
_______
Event total $726.67

Wedding Reception:
Boardwalk Inn: 47 guests, est.
141 Soft drinks $675.74
42 Tinker Bell brunch buffets $2,791.15
4 Tinker Bell buffets –child $132.91
1 Chef’s Choice vendors meal $17.83
1 Saute Chef/Carver $79.88
1 Formal Mickey & Minnie Mouse $1,200.00
_______
Event Total $4,897.08
Est. Program total $9,678.08

Since this total included service charges, I actually had a shortfall of $1,348.25. I had, thus far, spent $8,651.75 of my minimums. But, I still had a pending charge because my cake price was still not reported yet. Even so, I knew I would not have the number of guests estimated on the BEO above. Yay, I still had some money to spend :dance3:

We did have a special non-alcoholic signature drink as well that was billed on consumption too. We picked the yummy Lillikoi juice from the Polynesian resort. It was great and well received by our guests. :lovestruc This drink was not mentioned in the BEO and I was concerned that it would take a lot of my shortfall (which did not happen, thankfully).

After much thought, I decided to go with the black chairs provided in Epcot. Laura Kidd showed me a picture of shepherd’s hooks that they use to dress up the aisles so I went with that as well. My feeling was that they leave all the black chairs set around in the courtyard in Italy anyway and that could kinda clash with the white chairs. I was happy with how it looked in the end :cool2: Here is a picture of the setting since a post with no pictures is booorring!! Notice the black lighting circling the pedestal area too! The flowers had not been set upon the pedestals yet at this point.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/101_1384_0240_240.jpg
Another perspective to show that there are other black chairs and umbrellas in the background that do not get moved for weddings in this area:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/IMG_1358.jpg
Finally, a final look at the chairs with the shepherd’s hooks to dress them up:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/_MG_1829a.jpg
The first things I added to the BEO were floral related: 6 shepherd’s hooks with bows, 2 more wristlet corsages for my sisters, and hidden Mickey’s in the bouquet and bout. :love: Then, I added $250.00 to my Magic Kingdom photo session! That gave me 8 X 10’s to choose myself instead of the smaller photos, which I feel is worth it, especially since I can make smaller prints from the larger prints with better success :wizard:

The funny thing is that before all was said and done, my floral nearly tripled, lol!! :rotfl:

29apr00

07-14-2008, 09:47 AM

Wow you did a great job!! Way to go!!

padisneyfour

07-14-2008, 10:18 AM

Thanks for posting your BEO .... you great!:goodvibes

figmentfan814

07-14-2008, 12:45 PM

That is so great that you were able to keep so close to your minimum. We weren't much over, really our MK shoot is what was above the $10K. I love the shepherd's hooks, they really are beautiful and the black chairs look great in Italy.

WithDisneySpirit

07-14-2008, 11:37 PM

Wow you did a great job!! Way to go!!
Well, these are not final numbers but I did do pretty well in the end :goodvibes

Thanks for posting your BEO .... you great!:goodvibes
You know, it dawned on me that some of my family will read this trip report and I hope none of them faint when they read this post!! :scared1:

That is so great that you were able to keep so close to your minimum. We weren't much over, really our MK shoot is what was above the $10K. I love the shepherd's hooks, they really are beautiful and the black chairs look great in Italy.
Thanks, I think the black chairs can work in Italy although I have seen examples of the white set-up and it was certainly beautiful as well :grouphug: I think Laura Kidd advising me to consider the shepherd's hooks really pulled my look together! :love:

WithDisneySpirit

07-26-2008, 10:33 AM

Favors:

I spent more time thinking about and web browsing for favors than almost anything I did for the wedding!! It was kind of crazy. :rolleyes: Since I was getting married in Italy this time, I did tons of research on Italian wedding favors. That led me to crystal and jordan almond favors like bombonierre and confetti (I know – don’t die laughing, Wendy/Mistress of all Evil :rotfl2: ). I thought I wanted the flowers that contain a jordan almond in each petal. I even went so far as to ready an order on the web a couple of times but never finished them because I would change my mind or not completely know what I wanted. I also settled on a crystal figurine; it was a tiny carousel. I actually ordered it and then they couldn’t guarantee delivery before the vow renewal and I had to cancel the order and be reimbursed :sad2:

I also decided not to do a true welcome bag. I had ordered chocolate labels off of Ebay which I neglected to take a picture of before they were all eaten. I had entrusted DH with the job of settling on wedding music and we decided to do a wedding cd favor for our guests as well. The wedding cd was basically a compilation of some of our favorite love songs and favorite Disney music as well. This song list grew to 120 songs before we forced ourselves to stop adding to it! :music: DH had to copy the songs onto an MP3 disc to fit them on one cd, lol. I wanted to give one cd to each couple and single at the wedding. Since that does not lend itself to easy giving at the reception, I went to Party City and purchased treat bags (like for a birthday party) and handed out the cd’s and chocolates at our Welcome pool party at Old Key West. For the little ones, I bought Disney stickers and tattoos to go in their bags with the chocolates. Here are pictures:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01354.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01272.jpg

In browsing other Disney brides planning journals, I came across customized M&M’s and thought they were so cute! I definitely wanted to do these. I like to get my husband’s input when possible so I was asking him what he thought I ought to put on the m&m’s and he had the most wonderful idea to further our theme :dance3: I bought little peach bags (from ebay, lol) and chose the custom colors, green and ivory for the order, to best align with our color scheme. Here is how they turned out:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01361.jpg
I ordered two sets of five 7 ounce bags each and in so doing, I paid for four bags in each order and got one free bag! I actually thought I needed to do that to get the mix of m&m’s I wanted but I also liked using the coupon code twice, haha! The first batch came in and I noticed right away that many of the m&m’s looked deficient. I sat down and started making the favors and pulled out the most offensive candies along the way. When my stack of “yucky” candy kept growing :eek: , I called the company and the customer service department was swift to tell me that there would be an all new shipment on the way to me immediately!! Whew, I don’t like having to call and complain but it was truly unavoidable. I did not make pictures of the low quality chocolates but they had the words running off the side of the m&m’s and the words were faint and not centered at all.

Then, a few days later, I received another brightly colored M&M box and rightly assumed it was my second order finally come. The tape along the top was riffled a bit and jaded me wondered if someone had tampered with it!! To test this, I tried to tamper with it instead of just pulling it open as I would normally. Sure enough, I was able to get one side of the box open and push my hand down inside and feel the bags of candy… Then, I opened the box all the way and looked inside to find only four bags, arggghhhh!! :scared: Can you believe it?? Someone enjoyed a whole bag of Peace, Love and Mickey Mouse candies! Are they gonna have bad karma, or what??! These chocolates, by the way, looked amazing and perfect. Me, the girl who hates to complain (but will when I have to :teacher: ) was forced to call the M&M company back and again and tell them that someone swiped my free bag of candy, LOL! The representative, believe it or not, was not surprised. She said that once their stock of brightly emblazoned custom M&M boxes are used, they have plain (brown wrapper, LOL) boxes to take their place!! She offered to credit my account for the one bag and I agreed. The replacement batch came in and all was good :flower3: So, ends the candy favor saga!!

Toward the end of my vow renewal plans when it became clear that I had more money to spend per my BEO, I decided to spend more money on my guests. I thought I wanted bride and groom strawberries either on a platter as an extra dessert (which I still would have liked) or as a favor, which my planner and floral manager promptly talked me out of doing. They said that the strawberries don’t have a long enough shelf like to be a favor so it would be a bad idea. Laura Kidd suggested other favors and in the sharing, I picked bride and groom oreos – YUM! Here is a picture of some leftovers that some silly guests left behind. These were a pretty big hit and I am an oreo freak from childhood anyway!! :cutie:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01230.jpg

Lastly, in the favor department, DH and I decided to spend a good bit of our extra minimum money on a caricature artist. I read about the possibility in a TR of a Disney bride ages ago and thought it would be great for my dance free reception party. So, we did this and it was a definite thrill for all my guests. More on this later as the pictures I have, I want to save for the reception section of my TR =)

micandminforever

07-26-2008, 01:48 PM

Lynn5700

07-26-2008, 08:31 PM

OMG how did I not see this sooner!!! You and your DH are adorable..what a beautiful couple you are inside and out!!!!

Everything truley was amazing!!!

29apr00

07-29-2008, 05:39 PM

The favors are great! WOW I love the Oreo's! I'll have to rememeber those for our trip!!

kingLouiethe1

07-29-2008, 07:35 PM

I so dig your trippy hippie cake. I could get into a whole 60's themed wedding, seeming as I sometimes feel like a bit of a hippy myself. The Beatles are still one of my favorite bands for pete's sake.

Your character breakfast invitations are great. I wouldn't have minded having those as wedding invitations! However the DF wasn't too thrilled with any of the Mickey invites I showed him, in fact no one was. I do love our DIY invites, but the really bad reception anything Disney received from everyone surprised me, after all we are getting married at Disneyland.

WithDisneySpirit

07-29-2008, 09:56 PM

The M&M idea was great and I loved the colors. I am also a fan of oreoes, in fact your report inspired me to open a pack of oreoes(bad for the diet).

I continue to enjoy your report, and look forward the the next installment.
Oh, I can't even keep oreos around the house at all because I will eat them right away! You can be sure those leftover favors did not last long :rotfl: Sorry to contribute to diet sabotage!!

OMG how did I not see this sooner!!! You and your DH are adorable..what a beautiful couple you are inside and out!!!!

Everything truley was amazing!!!
Thank you, Lynn, for your very kind words :goodvibes

The favors are great! WOW I love the Oreo's! I'll have to rememeber those for our trip!!
They were quite yummy treats! Funny thing is that I liked the bride oreos best and Rick liked the groom ones :rotfl2:

I so dig your trippy hippie cake. I could get into a whole 60's themed wedding, seeming as I sometimes feel like a bit of a hippy myself. The Beatles are still one of my favorite bands for pete's sake.

Your character breakfast invitations are great. I wouldn't have minded having those as wedding invitations! However the DF wasn't too thrilled with any of the Mickey invites I showed him, in fact no one was. I do love our DIY invites, but the really bad reception anything Disney received from everyone surprised me, after all we are getting married at Disneyland.
Now what is up with that?? I know some couples prefer the Cinderella/prince Charming theme rather than Mickey and Minnie. What are you and your partner having as a theme? Is it Disney related? Maybe you should spring some hidden Mickey here and there for your own peace of mind, lol! Thanks for checking out my TR too! :hippie:

***Alert: I will be on a short second honeymoon trip Thursday through Tuesday and won't be here to update for a bit! I promise to get to work on my TR even more diligently when I get back! I get to meet Randy in person while we are there too and I will tack this trip onto the end of my report as it is definitely the honeymoon to my vow renewal :love:

DisneyBrideToni

07-29-2008, 11:40 PM

WithDisneySpirit

07-30-2008, 10:06 AM

Ahh I love your PJ/TR. Everything looks great so far. I love the black chairs in Italy. I think it really sets off the space well. I can't wait to see more pictures especially the ones from the Attic! :goodvibes

Thank you, Toni! I really loved the look of my vow renewal setting too :love: I will be back too soon to pick up my posting :goodvibes

figmentfan814

07-30-2008, 10:22 AM

The oreos were so cute, are those a part of their normal favor offerings. I love the Mickey and friends treat bag too.

I can't wait to read more and to see shots with the caricature artist!

micandminforever

07-30-2008, 12:03 PM

Happy Honeymoon to your Vow Renewal.

kingLouiethe1

07-30-2008, 07:26 PM

Now what is up with that?? I know some couples prefer the Cinderella/prince Charming theme rather than Mickey and Minnie. What are you and your partner having as a theme? Is it Disney related? Maybe you should spring some hidden Mickey here and there for your own peace of mind, lol! Thanks for checking out my TR too! :hippie:

[/B]

Well we're going with a Mad Tea Party theme to go with a Mad Hatter cake, but also because I love Alice in Wonderland and through the looking glass. I am definitely going to be getting me some Mickey cufflinks though :)

Have a great trip, can't wait to see the actual cake!

WithDisneySpirit

07-30-2008, 09:59 PM

Happy Honeymoon to your Vow Renewal.

Thank you very much! :lovestruc :goodvibes

The oreos were so cute, are those a part of their normal favor offerings. I love the Mickey and friends treat bag too.

I can't wait to read more and to see shots with the caricature artist!
I can't be sure really what their normal favor offerings are?! I know they have the chocolates page but I never asked further after they offered the oreos :yay:

I think the treat bags are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse; I like them too. :thumbsup2

I can also say that our caricature artist's name was Ted. He has 15 years of experience and he was just wonderful :dance3:

Well we're going with a Mad Tea Party theme to go with a Mad Hatter cake, but also because I love Alice in Wonderland and through the looking glass. I am definitely going to be getting me some Mickey cufflinks though :)

Have a great trip, can't wait to see the actual cake!

I absolutely love Mad Hatter cakes. They really are my favorite! I can't wait to see yours too! When I get back, I will devote some quality time to your PJ :3dglasses

lov2b@disney

07-31-2008, 08:18 AM

disneychickforever

08-07-2008, 07:10 PM

Love the PJ/TR so far Lisa! I stole some of your italy pics, hope you don't mind :thumbsup2

I'm wondering, were those black chairs like cheap uncomfortable plastic chairs, or what? They look good in your pictures, but I'm just wondering since I have an Autistic older sister who would probably be jumping in her seat the whole ceremony (when my times comes, listen to me I'm not even engaged yet and I'm asking this) and I want to be sure it won't break under her.

Thanks in Advance :)

WithDisneySpirit

08-08-2008, 09:39 AM

Lisa just caught up! Italy looked great with the black chairs-when we were trying to pick things out they had like NO pictures of Italy set up and we just couldnt imagine it-but it definately works and the hooks and urns-we had the urns in our proposal but at $800 they got cut:sad:

Love the m&ms and oreos!

have a wonderful trip- cant wait to hear more!

Sandy, your set-up was gorgeous too! Now, future Italy Plaza brides can look at ours to get an idea :goodvibes The urn they quoted you must have been bigger somehow because mine were $200 each. :confused3 I plan to post my final BEO that came after the wedding later because I did my beverages bill on consumption.

Love the PJ/TR so far Lisa! I stole some of your italy pics, hope you don't mind :thumbsup2

I'm wondering, were those black chairs like cheap uncomfortable plastic chairs, or what? They look good in your pictures, but I'm just wondering since I have an Autistic older sister who would probably be jumping in her seat the whole ceremony (when my times comes, listen to me I'm not even engaged yet and I'm asking this) and I want to be sure it won't break under her.

Thanks in Advance :)

Well, they were definitely plastic, although better than the ones they sell for backyard use, I think. I did not sit in them nor did any of my immediate family so I will ask my mom for you. We did have some bigger people there who had no issues though and did not appear uncomfortable. I tend to think that plastic is as durable as wooden chairs with joints though and may actually be more comfortable for your sister...:grouphug:

Oh, and steal away - it is a compliment :)

WithDisneySpirit

08-08-2008, 09:45 AM

Well, I am back from a fabulous second honeymoon :lovestruc I am going to get going now in earnest on vow renewal TR! Before I start though, and since I am behind at work and home, here is the link to my MK photo shoot to get us started :goodvibes

http//www.disney.collages.net (http://www.disney.collages.net)
My username is Daniel Vow Renewal, pw is 1971, of course :flower3:

The quality of this website drove me crazy. I felt so much better when I got the proofs and except for a couple pics, I was very happy with them. I was lucky enough to have Paul Looper :dance3: :cheer2:

lov2b@disney

08-08-2008, 10:02 AM

WithDisneySpirit

08-08-2008, 10:23 AM

Lisa- I:lovestruc love your MK pictures!!!! I like where you had them done, better than mine!:mad: We have the walt/mickey statue like coming out of our heads instead of next to us and I asked for the fountain pictures and it was like a bother so they aren't that great- I like the different angles he did of you and the castle- oh well ours are OK--Sorry for the rant!

Yours are beautiful!

BTW I couldnt click on the link

i used www.collages.net/disneyweddings

Now, Miss Sandy, I went directly back and looked at your shots and they are gorgeous! I am sure that had something to do with the subject matter :goodvibes :lovestruc but I adore your castle pictures! Take a look at how your first many are on the walkway and even show the flag; I don't have any like that :love: . Also, it is true that he posed you right in front of Walt and Mickey for some but I think he was trying to center you and the castle which made for beautiful shots. The ones where DH is behind you and you are off to the side behind DH show off Walt and Mickey to perfection :wizard: I love your fountain shots too and I think that the fact that you asked for them made them look different and unique than other people's fountain shots.

I do think since Paul knew I was a disbride, he wanted to do extra sites and we ran around all over getting to extra places. I am glad you liked them :flower3:

lov2b@disney

08-08-2008, 10:35 AM

Thanks Lisa! That was sweet of you to look back at them! They need an album of spots, everyones best so we can choose the ones we like!

29apr00

08-08-2008, 11:06 AM

Beautiful pictures Lisa!!

disneychickforever

08-08-2008, 12:50 PM

Thanks for answering my question! I really appreciate it :)

Your pictures are so beautiful! Can't wait to hear more :)

WithDisneySpirit

08-09-2008, 05:29 PM

Thanks Lisa! That was sweet of you to look back at them! They need an album of spots, everyones best so we can choose the ones we like!
That would be great, huh?! :goodvibes
Beautiful pictures Lisa!!
Thank you for looking :yay:
Thanks for answering my question! I really appreciate it :)

Your pictures are so beautiful! Can't wait to hear more :)
You are very welcome! If I find out more, I will come back and share :)

farjojo

08-09-2008, 09:40 PM

Wow, your MK shoot photographs are truly stunning. I haven't been too sure whether to spend the extra cash on this but your pics are going to cost me big time as they have totally sold me on it!

WithDisneySpirit

08-09-2008, 10:15 PM

Wow, your MK shoot photographs are truly stunning. I haven't been too sure whether to spend the extra cash on this but your pics are going to cost me big time as they have totally sold me on it!

Thank you for such wonderful comments :goodvibes :goodvibes If there are any settings that are definitely your favorites, be sure to ask for them. :thumbsup2 And come back and share with us please!!

pjstevens

08-09-2008, 11:07 PM

Lisa,

Your MK photos are so beautiful! Thank you for sharing them with us. You looked wonderful!

WithDisneySpirit

08-10-2008, 09:44 AM

Lisa,

Your MK photos are so beautiful! Thank you for sharing them with us. You looked wonderful!

Thanks, PJ!! :goodvibes

kingLouiethe1

08-10-2008, 04:05 PM

Your pictures really are amazing Lisa. I don't think I could make myself look that good at 5 in the morning :cutie:

WithDisneySpirit

08-10-2008, 09:10 PM

Your pictures really are amazing Lisa. I don't think I could make myself look that good at 5 in the morning :cutie:

Thank you for saying so because I was unable to sleep the night before and literally poured eye drops in my eyes that morning :confused3 :rotfl:

LovableGluttons

08-11-2008, 10:10 PM

Great report and gorgeous pics! Thank you and congratulations!

WithDisneySpirit

08-12-2008, 08:37 AM

Great report and gorgeous pics! Thank you and congratulations!

Thank you! There is more to come :goodvibes

WithDisneySpirit

08-12-2008, 08:50 AM

The Final Week Crazies!!

As every destination bride surely experiences, the last days before leaving built to a crescendo of stress for me and to a lesser degree, my family. I worked straight through Wednesday before leaving, Thursday, May 22! Of course, work became busier and more demanding as each day progressed.:scared:

The home stress culminated the Saturday before leaving when Disney Chase Visa called us unexpectedly to confirm the veracity of some charges and then shut down our credit card for suspected fraudulent use. We were able to determine belatedly that it was a charge from a legitimate Orlando vendor for the wedding (they used a parent company name which we did not recognize). Once Chase closes an account, however, there is no turning back!! We quite worriedly told them of our trip and wedding plans and they decided to overnight new cards to us. That meant we would get the cards on Tuesday at best…then, of course, no one was at home to sign for them, augghhh!! :eek: I stayed home till 11am Wednesday to make sure we got the cards, pre-trip. Advice? Get off the phone with fraud prevention prior to saying you don’t recognize a charge because a few minutes won’t matter in the long run and may give you time to put it together. There will be more stories later on how this affected our trip repeatedly! :rolleyes:

One other further stress beyond mere packing and vow renewal preparation was that DS15’s girlfriend graduated high school this same week. I felt terrible that I was forced to miss her graduation party (I sent DH in my place as I left for Disney with my parents two days early). DS, preparing to miss her like crazy, decided he needed to see her five days in a row before leaving…and he doesn’t have a driver’s license yet!! I pushed hard to make sure that I helped get him over to her house along with everything else. :hug: Here is a picture from grad night:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_5985.jpg
This pic is from graduation party night :cheer2:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/100_5988.jpg

Now that I have surely bored you with credit card woes, I will post a couple more pictures of my accessories and hubby’s for just a bit more fun =)

My necklace is Celtic and it was my Valentine present from DH this year. The modern interpretation of this knot is the Celtic love knot. In times past, it represented the goddess or feminine spirituality. Rick and I bought it really with the Celtic love knot in mind but I like its past meaning too =) :lovestruc

I wore beautiful diamond earrings that I was lucky enough to receive for my tenth anniversary present! I couldn’t bring myself to take them off to snap a picture as they have screw on backs and it is time consuming, so here they are on, lol =)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/10thDiamond-1.jpg
Since I have room for another set of earrings, I bought these really cute Mickey dangly earrings and wore them as well. Here they are with my necklace:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01719.jpg
I also decided very late in the game to finally buy a hair accessory! I settled on this tiara; it is called the Sun Goddess Tiara and it is available at orangeblossomtiaras.com. I had forgotten this lovely bit of stress but a week or so after it arrived, I pulled it out for another session of “how am I gonna wear this tiara" when I realized that three pearls were missing from the tiara!! I called the vendor and he mailed out six pearls to me immediately. He was even going to send a new tiara but I told him it wasn’t necessary. When they arrived, thankfully right before I left, DH glued them on for me :goodvibes Another disaster averted, LOL!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/Tiara.jpg
Finally, I wanted DH to have his own Mickey look so while Mom and I were at the Minnie Marathon earlier in May, I bought Rick a beautiful Mickey tie to wear for our vow renewal. For some reason (photographing abilities :rotfl2: ), the tie colors aren’t so good here? The color was really a medium to light sage but here it is anyway:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01370.jpg
Next up, my fabulous vendors! :teacher:

pjstevens

08-12-2008, 09:54 AM

WithDisneySpirit

08-12-2008, 11:42 PM

Lisa,

I completely understand your Disney visa problems. I got that same call on Saturday evening!!!! But in our case it was fraud and before you can do anything BAM, you account is closed!!! I am trying to patiently await our card which should be here in a few days, but I NEED to get my disney reward points for our trip and I'm getting worried as it's just over three weeks away!!!

I feel for you too! I hate that it was real fraud too - it feels like such a violation!! :mad:

As long as you haven't loaded your reward points already, you should be fine and you can order a new rewards card right now since your account is open. Don't try to load reward points on your old rewards card though!!

DisneyBrideToni

08-13-2008, 10:20 AM

WithDisneySpirit

08-13-2008, 09:59 PM

Love your update. Your earrings and necklace were great!!! I love the tie too!! I could see the sage color.

I have a Disney Chase card too. They never did that to me but I hope they don't because I plan on using that card for our honeymoon!!! :eek:

In their defense, they called to make sure the charges were not fraudulent. Since we were caught off guard and so busy trying to get ready in those last days, we really reacted too quickly instead of taking a breather and trying to figure it out. What happened later was more aggravating in that it resulted from poor customer service and representative inexperience :headache:

I am sure that won't happen to you! :goodvibes

wtpclc

08-15-2008, 02:04 PM

So glad I found this!!! Love your report LIsa. Can't wait to see the rest.

BTW, forgive me fro not sending the RSVP back. :flower3: They were just too darn cute!

WithDisneySpirit

08-17-2008, 05:26 PM

So glad I found this!!! Love your report LIsa. Can't wait to see the rest.

BTW, forgive me fro not sending the RSVP back. :flower3: They were just too darn cute!

Well, at least you have a good excuse :rotfl2: I'm glad you found me here :goodvibes

Goldeelox9

08-18-2008, 03:36 PM

I just found this and LOVE it so far! I can not wait to read more!

WithDisneySpirit

08-19-2008, 08:53 AM

I just found this and LOVE it so far! I can not wait to read more!

Thank you! :goodvibes Hopefully, I will have more soon :thumbsup2

29apr00

08-22-2008, 10:57 AM

Oh your mickey earings are so cute! I love them!!

WithDisneySpirit

08-23-2008, 10:45 AM

Oh your mickey earings are so cute! I love them!!

Thank you! I found them on ebay and I literally wear them 4-5 times a week :goodvibes :lovestruc

WithDisneySpirit

08-23-2008, 11:04 AM

Vendor report:I plan to list my vendors as I came into contact with them during the week of the vow renewal. I think that will flow the best! I am not going to give ratings because mine would be boring anyway! I can't rate anyone less than an A and that tells you what I think of DFTW :love:

Michelle Gilhooly: Michelle was my lovely, smart, personable and funny wedding planner! She really did an excellent job for Rick and I and we couldn’t have been happier with our events =) She, in fact, saved the wedding day with her excellent idea :worship: about what to do with my bouquet during the ceremony when I couldn’t hold it. I will elaborate on that later. Count yourself lucky if you get Michelle…

Paul Looper: We had a blast with Paul taking pictures in the MK! He called us on Monday night and asked us to come down at 5:45am to catch the faux night shots in time =) :wizard: I mentioned the Disboards, a good idea with Paul. He went above and beyond and exceeded our expectations. We are even happier now that we have seen our pictures!

Laura Kidd: I was very lucky to have Laura for my floral manager. She is very creative and chock-full of ideas. My bouquet was bigger and more gorgeous than I even hoped for considering the cost was only $210.00 or so with my crystal and hidden Mickey crystals added in! All the flowers were beautiful and she was excellent help with favors as well :flower3:

A Moment to Remember: I found this videography company along the way in my planning and I was more certain after hearing a couple of Disbrides speak very well of them. Most notably, Sunsh1ne was very happy with their work for her wedding =) At the wedding, they were very unobtrusive and seemed to always be in the right place at the right time! I have now seen the finished work and let me say that I am ecstatic with my DVD. I got a standard DVD and I have an HD version on the way to me as well. Everyone in my family loved the video too :3dglasses Here is our main guy; he covered both events:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/_MG_2013.jpg
DFTW Assistants: Kevin and Liddy were Michelle’s assistants during the events and they were also quite helpful! Kevin walked around with us during the pre-reception, kept us on task and gave location ideas since my photographers were not from Orlando – thank you, Kevin!!! :thumbsup2 Liddy made sure everyone was in the right place for the wedding as well. Kevin is at the table and Liddy is next to him helping with flowers. Not great pics but something :goodvibes
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/VowRenewaltrip150.jpg
A quick mention for Brandye as well. She was not there that day but she helped a lot in the office and really came through for me with my late guests who did not get their ressies on time!!:yay:

Guitarist: We had a very talented musician. I never heard his name but here he is:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/HPIM2187.jpg
I wish I could say I enjoyed everything he played but I must have been in another world as I cannot remember the music. Rick definitely remembered him playing a special song at the reception that he wanted called “Little Wing.” I was also able to hear some of our selections during the vow renewal by watching my video later – yay!

Caricature Artist: Ted was absolutely awesome!!!!!!! He made a huge hit at our reception. Our goal for the reception was just a big party. We did not have dancing or many other 'first married traditions.' I highly recommend a caricature artist if you are not having a DJ :lovestruc Here is a teaser pic of him and then his work:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/101_1451_0183_183.jpg
This is the last one he did. It was of our friends and took place after we left the reception site. He agreed to stay late and do this one - he was really super!!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/IMG_1445.jpg
The only issue is time management because there were a few guests that did not get to have their picture done and we were doing couples most of the time. It may be that he simply needed more time to do our numbers and I know sometimes they hire two artists for bigger groups.

Boardwalk Attic waiters: We had an excellent staff helping us by serving foods and beverages. They were helpful right to the end and did a great job of packing up our cake too!

Mickey and Minnie: The characters were absolutely magnificent! Do they ever know how to help make memorable pictures!!! Their handler was excellent as well. Again, remembering that our photogs were our friends that don’t live in Orlando, the handler and characters made sure that the main things that should happen did :worship: All our guests loved Mickey and Minnie being there!!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/IMG_1423.jpg
Transportation: We had a very nice limo driver!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/101_1370_0253_253.jpg
I was a bit out of it with excitement and regretfully did not tip her. We only had her one-way and I was oblivious at the time… :rolleyes1 Then, the bus driver was a bit late picking up the first guests from the Boardwalk but everyone got there on time, I think. I wasn’t wearing a watch, lol! The bus stayed late though after the reception to make sure we all made it down before she took us back to OKW. She even did a headcount and I still had some money left to tip her!!! :cheer2:

Next up – Day One!!!

tiggerrifficheidi

08-23-2008, 04:16 PM

Lisa,

It looks like you had a blast! I can't wait to see more!

You two look like you had so much fun!

WithDisneySpirit

08-25-2008, 03:13 PM

Lisa,

It looks like you had a blast! I can't wait to see more!

You two look like you had so much fun!

We really did have a blast!!!!!! :dance3: :yay: :love: More is definitely coming. I am finally working on Day One of my VR TR, lol!

keenercam

08-25-2008, 05:33 PM

Lisa -- All of the pix you have posted so far are absolutely wonderful! You and Rick looked gorgeous and you always looked as if you were having such a great time. Can't wait to hear more! :banana:

figmentfan814

08-26-2008, 02:52 PM

Lisa~ I'm just catching up on everything. Your MK shoot was beautiful. Paul really does amazing work, it's sad that he's leaving. I love the shots with the mosiac in the castle and the ones by Haunted Mansion.

The Mickey earrings are too cute! Sorry to hear about all the confusion with the Disney credit card, etc.

I feel so bad I didn't even think about tipping our limo drivers :guilty: Although, one of them ran into something backstage and made us late for pictures, so maybe that's not such a bad thing. The main Disney people that I gave anything too were my planner and her assistant (we got them gift cards). Who else did you end up tipping? I know I didn't do our photographer, video, or makeup since they all owned their own business and I know that's taboo.

Lynn5700

08-26-2008, 02:56 PM

Lisa what a fun reception!!! I love the charactiture artist!! Too cool!!

WithDisneySpirit

08-26-2008, 09:48 PM

Lisa -- All of the pix you have posted so far are absolutely wonderful! You and Rick looked gorgeous and you always looked as if you were having such a great time. Can't wait to hear more! :banana:
Oh, believe me, we loved our day and you and Howard will too :cloud9: :lovestruc :goodvibes

Lisa~ I'm just catching up on everything. Your MK shoot was beautiful. Paul really does amazing work, it's sad that he's leaving. I love the shots with the mosiac in the castle and the ones by Haunted Mansion.

The Mickey earrings are too cute! Sorry to hear about all the confusion with the Disney credit card, etc.

I feel so bad I didn't even think about tipping our limo drivers :guilty: Although, one of them ran into something backstage and made us late for pictures, so maybe that's not such a bad thing. The main Disney people that I gave anything too were my planner and her assistant (we got them gift cards). Who else did you end up tipping? I know I didn't do our photographer, video, or makeup since they all owned their own business and I know that's taboo.

Thanks, I wish Paul weren't leaving also :guilty: he was so good as a Disney photographer!!!

Let's see, I did gift my wedding planner, her assistant, and my floral manager with gift cards like you. Then, I tipped the bus driver, my caricature artist and the boardwalk waiters. The two I missed were my guitarist and my limo driver :sad2: I also, in retrospect, wish that I had figured out a way to gift the wedding assistants that were with us that day, Kevin and Liddy! They did a great job too. Tipping is really hard to figure out, at least it was for me!

Lisa what a fun reception!!! I love the charactiture artist!! Too cool!!

Thanks, Lynn, we really had a blast :yay: and the pictures he did were all hilarious!

disneychickforever

09-04-2008, 10:21 PM

I love the vendor reviews! I'm wondering, is Paul with DFTW, and did he do your ceremony/reception?

WithDisneySpirit

09-04-2008, 10:32 PM

I love the vendor reviews! I'm wondering, is Paul with DFTW, and did he do your ceremony/reception?

Hi and thanks! Yes, Paul was with Disney and worked as a photographer but he is either leaving or has already left.:sad2: He did our Magic Kingdom photo shoot and he was really great to work with too :lovestruc

disneychickforever

09-04-2008, 10:51 PM

Hi and thanks! Yes, Paul was with Disney and worked as a photographer but he is either leaving or has already left.:sad2: He did our Magic Kingdom photo shoot and he was really great to work with too :lovestruc

Oh that's my luck lol. I'm getting a lot of bad news tonight! Ah well, your pictures are beautiful.

Mama of Indybride

09-05-2008, 12:07 AM

Everything keeps getting better and better!

Can't wait to see more!

WithDisneySpirit

09-13-2008, 11:21 PM

Oh that's my luck lol. I'm getting a lot of bad news tonight! Ah well, your pictures are beautiful.

Thanks so much!! :goodvibes

Everything keeps getting better and better!

Can't wait to see more!

I am finally getting up my next installment :rolleyes1 I am a real slow-poke!!!

WithDisneySpirit

09-13-2008, 11:32 PM

Day One: :dance3: :yay:

My parents like to arrive at Disney about 2-3 days early for the added rest/fun it provides them. They usually stay at Shades of Green for those few days since Daddy is retired military :goodvibes For this trip, Mom said, “would it help you to go down a couple of days early for your vow renewal, Lisa?” Uh, YES, it would, lol!!! :cheer2: Even though, it was hard on poor hubby to be left behind for a couple of days (he could not leave early and one son had important girlfriend stuff going on), it turned out to be such a blessing! I’ll explain later…

Regretfully, I did not remember to take any pictures of packing the car or the trip down, so please bear with me during the picture-less section. Mom and Dad came over to my house bright and early on Thursday morning to pick up me and all my stuff. I tried to leave some things behind for Rick to take but most of it came with me, including my dress, of course :bride: I settled into the back seat of their 4Runner and sort of set up shop. One of the main jobs still undone was to pack my welcome party favor bags. We all gossiped about what fun we would have on our trip to Disney while I packed our wedding music MP3 discs, personalized chocolates, gum and candy in party favor treat bags which I will picture again here for something to look at, lol!!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC01354.jpg
We normally like to stop for a sit-down breakfast on the way but since we had Kona Café to look forward to for dinner and wanted to be sure to get there early enough for our ressie, we decided to pop in to McDonalds for a quickie breakfast on the run! We brought snacks for the car and with a couple of pit-stops, we made it to Disney by around 6:20pm – yes! :love: Here is the entrance picture – Daddy even pulled off the road so I could get a better picture, LOL!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00788.jpg
We had plenty of time to check in at Shades of Green and walk to the Poly for our 7pm ressie – yum!

After lugging in our “luggage,” we walked over to the Poly. On that walk, we pass by a small pond that has the ubiquitous sign/warning about alligators and I actually thought to myself, I wonder if there is an alligator in the water…and here is the picture:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00791.jpg
There WAS an alligator in the water and Daddy estimated it was four to five feet long based upon the size of his head!!!! :scared1: We couldn’t believe it. He was attracting a little crowd too with everyone just watching him watching us. Finally, we tore ourselves away and continued on to our yummy dinner. At the Poly, we saw more wildlife but this time just a cute little rabbit:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00792.jpg
Why didn’t I take food pictures, argghhh!! :confused3 I think my dad got a salmon dish (he adores that) and mom and I shared the teriyaki steak and potatoes entrée. That really is an excellent piece of beef :thumbsup2 We all ordered our own dessert. I was still attempting to be good and ordered the fruit and chocolate fondue which was delicious!

With full tummies, we did our usual wander about the Poly checking out the little store upstairs and across from Kona. It was dark when we headed out for our walk back to Shades of Green. Believe it or not, we could still see the alligator in the pond and the moonlight picked up his eyes in the water. :eek: My mom was a bit unnerved by this because the alligator was moving about a little in the water…my night shots did not take well enough. On the way to our room, I could not resist getting a picture of Patriotic Mickey from Shades of Green lobby.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d182/withspirit/DFTW/Pre-Wedding%20pics/DSC00794.jpg
Off to our room to get some shut-eye so we could get to Magic Kingdom on Day Two :yay:

figmentfan814

09-14-2008, 02:06 AM

:cool1: So excited to see your first day. I can only imagine what the assembly line of you putting together the bags in the car had to look like; I know how messed up our hotel room was when we put ours together.

That's scary how actually saw an alligator :eek: Kona cafe is so yummy, although I've only been there for lunch and dinner, I wonder if their menu is different at dinner :confused:

WithDisneySpirit

10-12-2008, 10:01 PM

I am so embarrassed to see the date I last updated! I think getting to this part was very overwhelming for me! I started Day two last week and I have spent over two hours tonight trying to finish writing and get pictures into photobucket to get this installment ready. Kudos to others that are able to put it together so much better than me :confused3

Speaking of you, Vanessa, your trip report is positively awesome. :worship: I am going to keep plugging away at this and get it done!!

Kona has an excellent dinner menu. I love the teriyaki steak with roasted potatoes but there are many excellent dishes. I always go look at allears for the latest menu and prices.

I was glad that I had the backseat all to myself to do those favors :laughing: And I was really glad when I got it done!! :goodvibes

Now, on to Day Two...

WithDisneySpirit

10-12-2008, 10:19 PM

Day Two, Friday:

I was up early by 6am and virtuously headed to the Shades of Green fitness center. I knew how I would indulge today and wanted to get in a workout occasionally! Their gym is pretty nice. I did the bike and then some ab work for about an hour. Left there and checked out the AAFES store. Finally, I decided to get a coffee and Daddy found me at the Java bar. They have very good Starbucks coffee at Shades of Green!

Pretty soon, we were all ready to face the day! We packed up my boxes which included things like our guest books, personalized napkins and M & M custom favors. Daddy drove us over to Franck’s studio and a very nice assistant there took my loot and promised it would be delivered safely to the reception. :wizard: We also explored the grounds for a few minutes and even got to peek in on a rehearsal at the wedding pavilion:
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We couldn’t wait to get to Magic Kingdom today. All three of us dream about the frozen lattes and cinnamon rolls at Main Street Bakery and we planned to head directly there to get our fix, yum!!! We took the bus from Shades to the Ticket and Transportation Center and then rode the ferry over to MK. We went to get our bags inspected and that is where our plan broke down :sad2: Security inspected Daddy’s utility pack. He was okay with Dad’s mobile ham radio but he happened to notice that Daddy had what looked like a large pen hooked onto his shorts pocket! Lo and behold, Daddy was carrying in a small penknife! :eek: Had he just dropped it inside his pocket, it would have attracted no attention. Instead, he was directed to get a small locker to store it while we were visiting the park. Dad was irritated right off, partly because he wished he had noticed it earlier and put it into his pocket instead of hooking it and also because it was so obviously not meant as a weapon. The fiasco worsened as the security “people” first had Daddy get the change from us (Mom actually flagged down another guest to try to get change for her dollar) to buy the mini-locker and then the locker was broken. Then Daddy had them cough up more change for a second locker and it wouldn’t open either!! :scared: Finally, after some heated discussion and then some calming conversation, one of the lead security people told my father to just put the little penknife in his pocket and leave it there during our visit. What a “not so fun” way to start our Magic Kingdom day as all this drama took about 40 minutes! Thank goodness it all worked out though!

Belatedly, we made our way to Main Street Bakery and assuaged our tension with the yummy carbs in our frozen lattes and and cinnamon rolls. After such a delicious meal, we calmed down and were ready to take on the park! :goodvibes

Daddy usually prefers to ride shady park benches but today, we managed to convince him to try Laugh Floor for the first time. I caught him laughing at the corny jokes several times and Mom and I loved watching him enjoy it! :rotfl: As we were walking out of Laugh Floor, we noticed this darling boy running between his mom and maybe an aunt. We always notice cute babies and kids and the mom allowed me to take his picture :lovestruc
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Tomorrowland Transit Authority is always a fave for my parents so we did that too.
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The black line in front of my dad happens to be the antenna on his mobile ham radio. You can see it in the pics coming up too, lol! We then wandered over to enjoy all the kids driving their race cars at the Tomorrowland Speedway. Then, we rode the train from Toonland back to the front of Magic Kingdom.

It started raining quite a bit at this point and we ducked into the shop next to Tony’s Town Square. To our good luck, they had Pluto, Chip, and Dale entertaining the kids and adults inside here until the rain stopped and the parade could begin. We scoped out a bench to watch the characters interact. Soon, however, we became part of the show!
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Dale outdid himself thrilling my parents and embarrassing me. Daddy felt Dale’s arm and told him he could definitely tell he was a macho chipmunk. Dale agreed heartily and upon hearing of the impending vows began to flirt with me!! Here is the evidence of our great fun!!
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Finally the rain stopped and we caught the parade and started back down Main Street. We had an ADR at Plaza Restaurant, so we headed there. They were busy turning people away and I could tell they thought we were hoping to get in without a ressie! She was surprised to have someone walk up with an ADR, lol. We were seated within minutes and we enjoyed the ambiance and sitting right by the front window too. I had the Cheese Steak sandwich and while I enjoyed the flavor, it could have been juicier. I had fries with my sandwich and enjoyed them. We had planned on getting dessert here as well but we wanted a better choice of ice cream flavors so we opted to go next door to the Main Street Ice Cream Parlor :mickeybar We picked our ice cream and ducked back into the Main Street Bakery to eat it.

Daddy then humored us for a time while we wandered through the Emporium. Mom found the cutest Mickey wristlet purse in yellow. I ended up buying a different color in the same style and here it is:
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At this point we headed out of the park and back to Shades of Green to settle in for the night. This was a great day overall notwithstanding our difficult arrival at MK. Be careful what you carry to the parks! :rolleyes:

Day Three: Celebration and the Quest for Stickers!

29apr00

10-13-2008, 10:06 AM

Yeah for starting again!!

SOG has starbucks!????! Mental note to find someone in the service my next trip to WDW! :lmao:

Sorry about the problems getting in!!

Nicsnick

10-19-2008, 10:27 PM

DisneyBrideToni

10-19-2008, 10:48 PM

Loving your TR. I love that cute little wristlet you bought!!! Very pretty colors!

WithDisneySpirit

10-20-2008, 09:27 AM

You have been over to my PJ a couple of time so I came to read yours and I cant wait for you to finish it!!! Everything looked great!! I loved your marriage story!! What a great trip that must have been!!

Thanks! :goodvibes It was so memorable - I will always treasure that trip :lovestruc

Loving your TR. I love that cute little wristlet you bought!!! Very pretty colors!

Yes, I still love that wristlet :cutie:

figmentfan814

10-20-2008, 02:35 PM

:cool1: I was excited to see the next installment that I had somehow missed until now.

It definitely sounds like getting into MK that day was a big hassle, but thankfully it all worked out. I am going to have to remember to try the frozen latte at the bakery; it sounds fantastic!

I love the shots of your parents with Dale. It's always great to see the characters with the adults too!

We love the Plaza too, it's always on our list of ADR; I think most people don't even realize it's there. I love their tuna sandwich :thumbsup2

It looks like you really had a wonderful day, it's so nice that you were able to spend some time with your parents :goodvibes

toocherie

10-26-2008, 08:21 PM

I am loving this report--can't wait to read more!

wtpclc

10-27-2008, 10:20 AM

I love that you had time with your parents before all of this. Just seems so appropriate. SOunds wonderful. Forgive me fore laughing about teh incident with your dad. All too close to my dad having a fit because his tic didn't work at MK. Not pretty. Off course, he was using his hotel key which did not have his tic on it. Ugh.

Can't wait to hear the rest!

WithDisneySpirit

10-30-2008, 10:47 PM

Yeah for starting again!!

SOG has starbucks!????! Mental note to find someone in the service my next trip to WDW! :lmao:

Oh, I am so slow to respond! You can walk right in and get Starbucks coffee at SOG - as long as you do it between 6am and 1pm :lovestruc

:cool1: I was excited to see the next installment that I had somehow missed until now.

It definitely sounds like getting into MK that day was a big hassle, but thankfully it all worked out. I am going to have to remember to try the frozen latte at the bakery; it sounds fantastic!

I love the shots of your parents with Dale. It's always great to see the characters with the adults too!

We love the Plaza too, it's always on our list of ADR; I think most people don't even realize it's there. I love their tuna sandwich :thumbsup2

It looks like you really had a wonderful day, it's so nice that you were able to spend some time with your parents :goodvibes

Yes, the time at MK with my parents was priceless to me :goodvibes The frozen lattes at the Bakery are awesome :love:

I am loving this report--can't wait to read more!

Thanks, I have another installment ready :3dglasses

I love that you had time with your parents before all of this. Just seems so appropriate. SOunds wonderful. Forgive me fore laughing about teh incident with your dad. All too close to my dad having a fit because his tic didn't work at MK. Not pretty. Off course, he was using his hotel key which did not have his tic on it. Ugh.

Can't wait to hear the rest!

Aren't Dad's a trip :rotfl: What would we ever do without them!! Thanks so much for reading, Carrie :goodvibes

WithDisneySpirit

10-30-2008, 10:58 PM

Day Three, Saturday

This morning, I was off to meet up with four other disbrides at O’Hana for a breakfast meet! I was very excited at this prospect and I left Shades of Green to walk over. I had a nice big cup of Starbucks coffee with me that I had not finished. I arrived and decided I must be a bit early as I did not see anyone that I was sure was a disbride. I took a seat out in the waiting area and watched for other girls and I thought I would recognize Twiu anyway. Speaking of Starbucks, 29Apr00, I had a man walk up to me and ask where I got my coffee. He was desperate for Starbucks. I explained that they had it at Shades of Green. Anyone could go there and buy coffee, by the way, although they close at 1 or 2pm each day. I mentioned that the Kona coffee bar had excellent coffee; he said he wanted a big cup of coffee, LOL! :laughing:

After about twenty minutes, I thought I recognized Sunsh1ne and we finally met up. Soon after, Twiu arrived and jumped in line to check in for us. Pixydusted and Bellelemariee found us soon after. The check-in CM’s were a little annoyed because our large table originally reserved had dwindled down to a table for five. Fortunately, we waited only a few minutes and were seated promptly. :wizard:

We had so much fun visiting with each other that we hardly stopped talking to eat. The food was very good though. We had some great character interaction as the following pictures will show. Lilo even grabbed my camera from me and took a picture of herself and then gave the camera back to me; she was great fun!
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I was seated between Pixydusted (hi Mikkel!!) and Bellelemariee. Mikkel brought her scrapbook memories of her engagement night and trip with her DF on the cruise. She did a beautiful job and I loved looking at it! :lovestruc Bellelemariee was extremely excited about planning her wedding and because she is marrying a Frenchman and moving to France to live, it made all her preparations more difficult. If I remember correctly, she shared that she would have both a wedding at Disney and another wedding in France!! I would love to know how hers was. :flower3: Twiu told great stories with Mikkel too about being cast members and we heard all about their exciting wedding plans. Sunsh1ne was a great source of information to us all because she was the only Disbride that was already married at Disney and a veteran Fairy Tale Bride :bride: We talked for a very long time and probably outstayed our welcome at O’Hana’s but it was so much fun! I highly recommend a disbride meet if you ever have the opportunity. I would certainly do it again!! :grouphug:
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After we finally said our goodbyes, I left to meet Mom and Dad back at SOG. We hopped in the car again and headed out to find stickers. I decided I needed some sort of stickers for the Welcome party favors so that I could match the gifts with the guests. Before we realized it, we were headed in the general direction of Celebration and decided to go there in the hopes of finding sticker labels. It probably was not the wisest move as it seemed we would have no luck. We left Daddy in the car monitoring his ham radio for contacts and started walking through some of the stores on the main road that led to the water. One retail person mentioned that we might want to try the Post Office. We hit pay dirt here. The stickers weren’t perfect but they certainly did the trick for what I needed. It began to rain while we were still making our way back to the car so we hopped in and left. Here are pics I took while in Celebration:
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Our next stop was Downtown Disney. We bribed Daddy with ice cream :mickeybar so he parked and we all went to Ghirardelli’s for a yummy sundae. After our treat, Daddy left us and headed back to SOG to relax and Mom and I shopped around DtD. We stopped in at the Basin because I was running low on my favorite shampoo soaps; DH and I both use them :thumbsup2 We also enjoyed wandering around in World of Disney. Eventually, we knew we needed to get back to SOG for the arrival of my groom and best men. DSis, DBil and very darling Nephew were also arriving within the next hour. It is definitely a trick to find the SOG bus stop at DtD!! We had to stop twice and ask for directions. We then had a fairly significant wait for said bus; I was thrilled when they finally arrived. I thought we might have to call for rescue!! :eek:

When we arrived, my DH and sons were there – yay!!! Soon after, my sister’s family arrived as well. Once we got settled into our rooms, we all decided to eat at Evergreens. It is a casual restaurant at SOG and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Luckily, they weren’t overly busy by the time we arrived and we kept our waiter pretty busy bringing food and drink. Regrettably, I don’t think any of us thought about pictures at this meal but we had great fun teasing each other, laughing, and just enjoying one another’s company. We hung out together for two plus hours and we all turned in after that.

Day Four: The family converges and we check into OKW!!