Lisa & Dave's PJ: Home Wedding 8/2/09-MORE WEDDING PHOTOS!!

[LeesyUD]

Lisa & Dave's "When You Wish Upon a Star" Home Wedding - August 2, 2009

Hello, My name is Lisa. I am not having a WDW wedding as my fiancé and I had once hoped, however, we are just as happy if not happier with having a Disney Themed wedding at home. But I would still love to share my planning experiences here I would love any feedback or suggestions to help with my Disney/Wish upon a Star theme. Some general info on us and our events:

The Bride and Groom:

About Us:
The Bride: Lisa, 28
The Groom: Dave, 32

I (Lisa) am a really big dork as is my fiance Dave, and we will be the first ones to admit it!! But we love being dorks together! I have always loved Disney and WDW and I did the WDW College Program back in 2000. Within the first year of being together, I got Dave hooked on WDW as well. Ok, maybe not to the extreme that I am hooked, but he is a close second to me.

DF proposed on December 12, 2006 at Cinderella’s Royal Table at MK and it was very romantic! (You can read all about it, if you like, on our wedding website – link under wedding info) So we have been trying to plan a wedding for 2 ½ years now. We were going to plan for this October but we got tired of planning and waiting and got some great deals, so we are doing it in August. But we just decided this about 6 to 7 weeks ago so we only left ourselves a total of 4 months to pull it off!

We wanted to actually get married in WDW, but for us, we find that even the escape weddings are too expensive at $4500 to only have about 10 people that would actually be able to come. Instead our budget is about $9000 and we will be having around 80 people.


About the Wedding:
Main Theme: When You Wish Upon A Star
Budget: Approx. $9000 for 80 people
When: Sunday, August 2nd, 2009
Where: Boothwyn, PA ( We live in Media, PA about 15 minutes outside of Philly); Cermony and reception are booth going to be in the same ballroom. It is technically a “fire hall” for those who know what that is (For those that don’t it is a hall that is attached to local fire house that the fire house uses for their events and rents out) Fire hall wedding receptions and parties, etc., are very big in this area. A lot of them are old or a very very basic hall but are known for renting out for very very cheap. But the facility we are getting married at is actually a full ballroom facility attached to the fire house and their own catering company.

Our Wedding Website:
www.daveandlisaswedding.com

About the Honeymoon:

What we are doing: A two week Disneymoon – 7 nights at a Disney Resort in WDW & 7 nights on the Disney Magic
When: October 17-31, 2009 – We decided to spread this apart from our wedding to allow ourselves more time to plan out trip after the wedding and also so that any monetary gifts we receive will lessen the blow of paying for our honeymoon. (We have also registered with the Disney Honeymoon registry to help as well).
Our Accomodations:
October 17-24: Currently planning to stay in WDW at AKL for 7 nights (resort or length may change if budget doesn’t allow) w/ park hoppers & dining plan
October 24 – 31: Disney Magic for 7 nights - Category 6 Verandah Stateroom on Deck 5, Stateroom 5622'

Next: More on our Ceremony and Reception

 

[LeesyUD]

Ceremony and Reception

So as I mentioned, we are having the ceremony and reception in as the same location, in fact in the same ballroom. We were a little hesitant about that, but there is no outdoor area to be married there, and we are able to have the ceremony there for free. We will have all the tables set up as they will be for the reception. However, our sweetheart table will be removed and arch will be in its place. We haven’t decided on whether we will have a runner or not since it would have to go over the dance floor and might be slippery.
We got a great 5 hour package that includes the time for the ceremony, a full cocktail hour, and reception, and also open bar. It also includes our wedding cake, a dessert pastry table, and use of centerpieces they already have. They even have an arch for us to use which is already decorated with white silk flowers. We have decided on the buffet rather than the sitdown because we felt you get more for your money with the buffet. Because we are doing it on a Sunday we are getting 15% off and will be paying around $72pp for the whole reception as well as use of the room for ceremony, set up and arch.
Here are some photos of the facility:

The Outside Entrance (You would never guess it is attached to a fire station)

The Inside Entrance:

The Ballroom:

The Included Centerpieces:

Some of the pictures don't show it off as well as I like bc it was rainy and gloomy that day as you can see. Our wedding colors are going to be cornflower blue and deep pinks so it kinda stinks that the centerpieces won't match, but at least they are neutral colors so they won't stick out like a sore thumb.

Next: Wish Upon a Star Theme and Invitations

 

[LeesyUD]

Wish Upon a Star Theme and Invitations

We want to try to incorporate our Disney/Wish Upon a Star Theme as much as possible without it being too cheesy. To start, we are having a DJ do the music to our ceremony and use the Disney Fairytale Weddings CD. I am going to be walking in to the instrumental “When You Wish Upon a Star”and we will be walking out to the instrumental “ A Whole New World”. I don’t know what we will have the wedding party walk into yet. Maybe Beauty and the Beast? Any suggestions?

Invitations
I have been looking around like crazy to find reasonably priced wedding invitations that could go with a when you wish upon a star theme. But everything I saw was either too expensive or I didn’t like. I found out about www.vistaprint.com when I was looking into doing postcards for our save the dates. I designed the front of the postcard myself in photoshop and uploaded it as an image onto the postcard. The back was a generic template they already had that I modified a bit to fit as a save the date.

I really loved how our post cards turned out and started looking at their invitations. I found a design I really liked and it was perfect for a wish upon a star theme! I was worried about the quality of the card stock, but because I really liked them and my save the dates turned out so good, I thought I would take a risk. I paid a total of about $85 for 60 invitations (including plain envelopes), response cards, & matching return address labels with a special promotion (they have a ton of promotions if you look google it). I actually realize later I could have gotten them even a bit cheaper.

When I got the invitations in the mail I was very happy! I love the look of them and I think the quality is pretty good. We got them printed on linen card stock. It is not the thickest card stock ever but I am definitely happy with them.

I must have proofread everything a million times before I order and double checked everything….or so I thought. My fiancé pointed out to me within a few minutes that there was a typo on the Response card. We have decided to do online and phone RSVP only since basically everyone we know is internet savvy, with very few exceptions. The response card was supposed to say or “Or call us at XXX-XXX”, however it says “Or calls us at XXX-XXX”. On top of that I realize the RSVP by date was wrong. I had made a few updates on the card before I had ordered, but apparently I saved it as a new sample/design on their website and ordered the wrong one. I ordered the initial one I did when I put in a mock date. Anyway, we will need to spend another $20 plus shipping to order new ones, but oh well. What can I do at this point?

Here are some photos of the save the dates, invitations, and (incorrect) response cards:

Save the Date:

Front

Back

Invitations - It is a stand alone card stock sheet:

Well, I think I am done posting for the night. Will update more tommorrow night.

Next: The Dresses & Accessories

 

[Tink&PirateMama]

Congrats on your upcoming wedding!!
We are doing a disney/non-disney vow renewal, and I'm always appreciative of ideas to bring a little more magic in to it! I look forward to reading more!

 

[LeesyUD]

Congrats on your upcoming wedding!!
We are doing a disney/non-disney vow renewal, and I'm always appreciative of ideas to bring a little more magic in to it! I look forward to reading more!

Thanks I am really excited! We have been trying to get married for so long, I can't believe it is only a little over 2 months away!!

 

[CinderelliT]

Awesome! Congratulations and welcome! I can't wait to read more. That hall is gorgeous! I wish we had something like that around where we live. We got nothing. Barns are in abundance though.

Everything looks fantastic so far.

 

[LeesyUD]

The Bride's Attire

So I kept saying for a while that I wanted a dress with color in it, particularly pink and had been saying that for a long time. I am pooh sized so my selection is limited to a few stores or ordering online. I had my eye on a few david's bridal & alfred angelo dresses for a while. After a while and watching many episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress" on TLC, I kept thinking about how I would love to have just a simple dress - like a lacey or flowy one. But I thought being pooh sized I would not be able to find something like that unless I wanted to order online. Most of the dresses I had seen from initial browsing in stores seemed poofier or at least alot more dress than I wanted. I figured I would just try to do the best I could and find something with color in it bc I thought at least I would really like some color even if it is a bit of a bigger dress. I changed up my color to blue because I thought it would look better on my bridesmaids and plus I love blue too.

So my mom and I went a few weeks ago to local boutique that we knew sold alfred angelo. (Maid of Honor and Bridesmaid couldn't make it that day since it was such short notice). The selection was much smaller than we had anticipated but I did pull two dresses that I really liked. Both had color and were very beautiful, although they were still a bit poofier than I wanted. However, I really like one of the dresses. It had a blue color band at the top and had a blue design at the bottom-center of the dress. Both my mom and I thought it was really pretty and thought it would look great once it was fitted right (the sample was much too small but was able to get it on enough to see what it would look like on me). My mom tried one a few mother of the bride dresses while we were there and we told them we were pretty much certain that we were going to buy the dress but I wanted to leave and think about it a bit to make sure that was what I wanted.

When we left, my mom said she wanted me to go to at least one more store to make sure that was what I wanted. Normally I would just say no, I just want that dress and ignore her suggestion if it was something I really wanted. But for some reason there was something in the back of my head telling me as well to go to another store to make sure.

So we decided to go to David's Bridal to look although I wasn't really expecting to find anything much better. However, there were a few dresses that caught my eye. One in particular was an ivory burnout floral chiffon with spaghetti straps and empire waist. It really caught my attention because it was flowy but not poofy. I tried another simple dress on first but it was almost too simple. Then I put the ivory burnout chiffon dress on. I never thought I would cry when I found my wedding dress like you see on all the wedding shows on tv, but I was wrong! As soon as I walked out and looked in the mirror I felt so pretty in the dress and like an actual bride that I started welling up. And my mom loved the dress on me two so she started crying a bit as well!. My mother whispered to me that she like this dress alot better than the alfred angelo and she asked what I thought. I immediately said I loved this dress and she said she loved it too, so we were definitely not going to be going back to get the other dress.

So we put our deposit down and I am very happy with my dress!! We got the dress on a small $50 off sale so it was $495 plus tax. For me having a dress that I feel special in totally trumps having some color in a dress that I am just fond of!! Plus the only alterations I need are a small hem and the straps!


Here are some photos of my wedding dress from David's Bridal website:

I have been going back and forth on whether to wear a veil or just a hairpiece, but my mom found a great floral comb from Jo-Ann fabrics for $5.00 that matches the dresses perfectly and does not look like a $5 comb! So I think for now I am planning to just wear the comb on one side of my hair and wear my hair down with a bit of a wave (will post a picture after my hair trial). I also got a cute pair of ballet-type flats for $40.00 which I am having dyed ivory. And for a purse I saw a cute ivory pouch purse for $15.00 to match. I also found the perfect necklace and earrings for$45 at a boutique while shopping for my mother dress a week later. They really compliment my dress but they shouldn't overpower it.

Here are pics of my accessories so far:

The Hair Comb

The Necklace & Earrings

The Shoes

The Purse

Next: Bridesmaids Dresses and "When You Wish Upon A Star" gifts

 

[LeesyUD]

Awesome! Congratulations and welcome! I can't wait to read more. That hall is gorgeous! I wish we had something like that around where we live. We got nothing. Barns are in abundance though.

Everything looks fantastic so far.

Thanks, there are a few ballrooms around here like that which are technically fire halls but look nothing like one, but usually they are pretty bare and look more like a high school gymnasium with the basketball hoop.

Actually I was looking at the fire company website today and I got a kick out of the header on their web page:

From that you wouldn't exactly expect them to own a nice ballroom

Actually though, it is great fire company. There was an explosion in the area at a refinery in the area last week. And it could have been a devastating issue bc there were toxins that, if spread, could cause instantaneous death (abortion) and other severe health issues and injury. But they go through special simulations and training because of the refineries nearby, and were quickly able to determine that the toxins had all burned up and lost their toxicity. Other was their could have been widespread panic. I was afraid to open the windows in our apartment when I heard about it but bc of their training they were able to eliminate the threat not long after.

This has nothing to do with my wedding but oh well

 

[LeesyUD]

The Bridesmaids Dresses

By the way, I am having a very small bridal party because of us getting married so last minute. We are having just one bridesmaid & groomsman besides the maid of honor and best man and two flower girls (they are sisters).

Maid of Honor: Rene - Longtime friend of Bride
Bridesmaid: Jen - 16 year old cousin of Bride

We are doing cornflower blue for the dress because the color looked beautiful next to my ivory dress. We will probably do pink, blue and purple flowers.

We had such a frustrating time at David's Bridal when picking out the dresses!! I knew there might be some issues with the tight timeline but I figured they have my wedding date so they know when we need it so there shouldn't be a problem right? Wrong! When I had picked out my dress I explained that I had been there before but the we postponed my wedding from October 2008 to August 2, 2009 - so I figured they change the date in the system with my other info they already had. They actually had my wedding dress in stock in my size so I they didn't have to order it. I found out when we went back a week later to pick out the bridemaids dresses that they still had the date as October 2008. The same wedding consultant that we had when I picked out my dress asked me what the new date was and I told her again August 2nd. I repeated August 2nd at least twice.

So we had them try on a few dresses, all chiffon material because we wanted something light and casual. There were two dresses in particular that caught our eye that had beading on them looked great against my dresses. There were two dresses we liked for my maid of honor Rene. The one without beading we like slightly better on her but the other one looked great two and the beading was so pretty! So we decided on the beaded dresses, picked out shoes and headed to the register. They paid for there dresses and after the associate rung up Rene, she said that dress will be in August 10th!! WHHHAAAATTTT? It turns out she had written down August 22nd even though I had told her several times August 2nd. They checked there computers and said there was no way they could get it in earlier. They needed 16 weeks to get that dress in because none were currently made and they need to make a certain amount to ship them! I couldn't pay to expedite or anything - no options!! I know it may take up to 12 weeks but 16 weeks is crazy! So they said we needed to pick another dress, however, there are no other dresses that match with the beading!

My mom and I were really mad but we had to calm down to get this done. We had Rene try on the other dress which we really liked, but were concerned with the bridesmaid having beading and her not. So we were thinking of switching the other dress to a non-beading one, but at that point we were so disappointed it was hard to decide what to do. The associate suggested that we take the beading pack from the bridesmaid's dress and and some beads to the maid of honor dress when it comes in. We all thought that was a good suggestion and I decided that if it doesn't work out, the dresses will still look beautiful and we do not have to have the beading on the Rene's dress. So we went up to the register to do the exchange since we had already paid and the manager doing the exchange said that because this dress was cheaper she needed to spend $10 more! WHHHAAATTT? I got really frustrated again but tried to be polite. I said " the dress is going to be in in time and we have to spend more money because of that?" The manager said it had to be any even exchange.

So my maid of honor went to look at purses and found one that she liked, but it really was making my mother and I mad that they messed up and were going to make my maid of honor spend more money for their mistake. So I went back up to the manager bc I realized that she might not know the whole story. I politely explained that we just bought the dress just now, which the associate did not bother to tell her, and that it was rung up and then we were told it would not be in on time. The manager apologized and said she didn't need to spend more money. Rene ending up buying the purse anyway because it was really cute and it was only $15 dollars but it was the whole point of them trying to make her pay more money for her mistake. They told us there dresses would be in beginning and end of June. Well they were both in within 3 weeks! I wonder if the other dress would had gotten in on time as well. But oh well, what's done is done and I am just glad I am done with David's bridal until I have to pick up my shoes.

we may have the beads added to the spaghetti straps on the dress or I may try to make a broach/pin with some similar cheap beads as a trial one to see if maybe just a beaded pin would look nice somewhere on the dress to tie in with the look. We decided because of the beading that dyed to match shoes would look better:

Here are the dresses that we picked out:

Maid of Honor: pic from David's Bridal website

Actual Bridesmaid's dress:

Next: Flowers

 

[Scouter]

How exciting! I'll be following your wedding plans, I just love looking at all the photos
Nice wedding hall!

 

[LeesyUD]

So we have been lucky so far in the fact that everything mostly seems to be falling into place. The only thing is that I am having such a hard time with deciding on flowers and I really need help!! I am really not good with colors! The only thing I know is that I love pink and I love blue and I trying to make sure it doesn't look like a baby shower. I found a really reputable florist in my area who gave me a really good price. I am trying to figure out the best way to work in pink flowers so that it it looks good with the bridesmaid dresses and my ivory dress. If all else fails I will abandon the pink flowers and do something else. Here are some options I have come up with:

Option 1:

Light to Medium pink flowers with blue hydrangea for the bridesmaids and perhaps just some pinks for me:

Option 2:

Mixed light and dark pinks for the bridemaids:

Light pinks & ivory or creams for me:

Option 3:

Hot pinks & magentas with a few gerbera daisies and a few cornflowers. (I mentioned to the florist that I liked gerbera daises and hot pinks or magenta and he made this suggestion as to what they could do) So maybe something like this color palette:

Gebera Daises:

Cornflower:

Option 4: Throw pink out the window and stick to blues and purples

I would really appreciate any feedback on these options or any other suggestions!! I could really use the help!!! I have added a poll at the top

 

[lthiesfeld07]

I voted for option 1! I love the blue accents! I think those shades are beautiful and elegant!!

 

[LeesyUD]

How exciting! I'll be following your wedding plans, I just love looking at all the photos
Nice wedding hall!

Thanks...I love taking and posting the photos of everything so there will be lots more to come!!

 

[MomlvsGoofy]

Lisa I love the plans for your wedding. Your dress is beautiful! I really like your colors.
Sharon

 

[LeesyUD]

Lisa I love the plans for your wedding. Your dress is beautiful! I really like your colors.
Sharon

Thanks - the colors are the thing I have been stressing over the most so far - everything else seems to be coming along well! I think the dress actually looks prettier in person so I am hoping I will have a better picture of it when I try it on for alterations in another week or two.

 

[Ann117]

Everything looks beautiful. You are doing a wonderful job getting everything together is such a short time.

 

[auntpunkin]

Lisa, I just read through your PJ. I loved that you got teary eyed when you found 'your' dress! Everything looks wonderful so far! I am doing the same colors you are! My bridesmaid are wearing black dresses though. But I know your problems with the blue and pink flowers, I'm having the same issue right now; I don't want a baby shower and there are just no photos out there of what I have in mind. Here are a couple photos I've found that may help...

I'm thinking of doing that last bouquet with dark pink roses instead of the white...

I can't wait to hear more of your plans!

 

[LeesyUD]

Lisa, I just read through your PJ. I loved that you got teary eyed when you found 'your' dress! Everything looks wonderful so far! I am doing the same colors you are! My bridesmaid are wearing black dresses though. But I know your problems with the blue and pink flowers, I'm having the same issue right now; I don't want a baby shower and there are just no photos out there of what I have in mind. Here are a couple photos I've found that may help...

I'm thinking of doing that last bouquet with dark pink roses instead of the white...

I can't wait to hear more of your plans!

Thanks! Love your PJ! (Glad your son is ok!) I actually just happened to find that first photo the other day too!! Also, I have been considering pink roses with hydrangeas as well. It is such a hard decision. My mother also found this photo which I really like the colors in:

I am so bad with flowers and colors! The good thing is that the florist we are using has a really great reputation in our area and they do tons of weddings! I called to give our deposit yesterday and the guy was so nice! He said they would take really good care of me I feel good that I have a florist that knows what they are doing! I feel confident that they can figure out something that will work to what I want and still look great with all the dresses!

We went to one florist that gave us a price of $200 for just the brides bouquet! That was with some stephanotis and a few jewels - but the rest of the bouquet would have been hydrangea and roses which are definitely not worth an extra $100 - they wanted $800 for the bridal party flowers and the lady was absolutely no help and all of the flowers in their store looked lie they were dying! (Plus we had heard afterwards that a few people got flowers that were dying from them) The florist we are using has a much better reputation and they are only charging us $400 for all the bridal party flowers. Seriously, that is half of what the other place wanted!!!

The florist we are using actually has videos on you tube of their work:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BelvedereFlowers!

Their flowers are so beautiful!!

 

[auntpunkin]

Oh, that's such a pretty bouquet! I'm so glad you found such a great florist! My Disney florist keeps talking about blue delphinium, that may be an option for you too. I can't wait to see how your flowers turn out, you have to make sure to keep us posted.

 

[Pirate's Princess]

OOh Lisa, I like that last bouquet! Those colors are gorgeous!