Emily and Nick wish they had a DFTW, but settle for the disneymoon!!!-December 2010

[PrincessEmily87]

Hi,
I love reading about what every ones plans are for their weddings, and even come here for wedding planning ideas, you all have really great ideas!!!

My fiance, Nick and I just got engaged in December. For my whole life I have wanted a Disney Wedding, but with loans and uncertainty of finding a job after I graduate, We just didnt have enough money. Instead we are going to have an at home wedding and a DISNEYMOON!!!

Here we are:

This is me, Emily and my fiance, Nick . We have been dating for 4 years and are finally getting married!!!

I was wanting to surprise my fiance with our honeymoon, but he is too good and figured it out within 2 days. He know my plan, but he said I can plan the whole trip so the whole trip is a surprise for him. I love planning surprises, but Nick hates it when I have surprises for him and usually ends up not being surprised because he figures it out.

Our wedding is going to be December 11, 2010 and we are thinking about having our honeymoon December 12/13-21/22. Nick has never been to Disney World during Christmas time and I know he will love it!

 

[PrincessEmily87]

Our Engagement:

Nick wanted to take me to see the Princess and the Frog Movie the night it came out. He was planning on taking me after I was done babysitting, but due to the freezing rain, is car ended up sliding off the side of the road and he had to be brought home by a tow truck driver. The next night the weather was better so he took me to the last showing of the Princess and the Frog. After the movie we went driving around looking at Christmas lights (one of our favorite things to do at Christmas time). After a while he had me pull over in front of the court house that was all decorated for Christmas. He asked me if I wanted to open a Christmas present early, I had a feeling what it was so I said yeah!! He pulled out a wrapped box that was pretty big. I was wondering if I was guessing wrong so I opened it. Inside the box was a belle lenox ring box. I opened the box and I saw the ring inside and he asked me if I would marry him. Of course I said yes. He is such a sweet heart!

 

[gemmybear83]

Congratulations !!!!I'm there on my disneymoon the same time as you!!!!

 

[PrincessEmily87]

Congratulations !!!!I'm there on my disneymoon the same time as you!!!!

Thanks! December sure is the best time to be in Disney World!!!

 

[MainStMandy]

Congratulations!! Let's see pictures of the ring!

 

[PrincessEmily87]

Congratulations!! Let's see pictures of the ring!

Thanks!!

So here is my ring. Its not a very good picture, my camera wont focus well on the ring to get a close enough picture.

I just realized the close up of this picture makes my hands look really wrinkly!! They were just dry from the cold when I took it!

I lead Nick in the direction of the type of ring I wanted and this is the one he chose. I really like it, he did a good job!

 

[MainStMandy]

Oh it's beautiful!! Lol when I first took pics of my ring I thought my hands looked chubby...I think it's just the close up!

 

[PrincessEmily87]

So this is what we have planned so far for our at home wedding:

Our colors are going to be deep red (not santa red) and gold. We are going to get married at my families church, it isnt the prettiest church in the world be we will be able to decorate the inside and it fits the Christmas theme. here is what the inside looks like:

We are then going to have our reception at a local conference room. We didnt want to have the reception at the church because we wanted to be able to serve alcohol. Here is what the inside of the room looks like, its just not the best picture, it looks a lot better in person!!!

I have also bought my wedding dress. I didnt know I would find it in my first trip, but I did and I surprised myself! This is the one I bought:

I got the dress in ivory and it has gold in the beading so I think its really pretty!

My one dilema I have right now is trying to decide on bridesmaids dresses. I have 4 bridesmaids who are all different sizes and shapes and so I am trying to decide on a dress that would look nice on all of them. These are two that I am considering but I am still willing to look at other options!

The last thing we have done is we booked our photographer!!! We found a photographer at the local bridal show that was offering 25% off a package if we booked at the show, so we did!!! We are going to be taking our engagement photos in March during our spring break!

 

[MsEsty]

My girls are using the dress in yellow (but in marine). My sister is a size 22 and the dress looks *amazing* on her. My other is a smaller size 8-10 and it looks just as good. I was really impressed with it.

We'll hopefully be there the same time! Make sure you attend the MVMCP, it really caps off the entire holiday feel of Disney!

 

[PrincessEmily87]

My girls are using the dress in yellow (but in marine). My sister is a size 22 and the dress looks *amazing* on her. My other is a smaller size 8-10 and it looks just as good. I was really impressed with it.

We'll hopefully be there the same time! Make sure you attend the MVMCP, it really caps off the entire holiday feel of Disney!

That is the one I like the most, Im just not sure how it would look on bustier girls... I think its beautiful though! Is MVMCP a lot like the halloween party they do in Magic Kingdom?

 

[MsEsty]

That is the one I like the most, Im just not sure how it would look on bustier girls... I think its beautiful though! Is MVMCP a lot like the halloween party they do in Magic Kingdom?

My sister isn't exactly busty or I would take a picture and send it

To compare the two: the MNSSHP is fun and makes you feel like a big kid (the decorations, the trick o' treating) and the MVMCP is more magical. The park is much more decorated and festive (oh and the castle is *beautiful*).

But the concept of the two are the same, two parades, fireworks and certain rides are open.

 

[PrincessEmily87]

Luckily I have a bit of time and hopefully davids bridal gets some new dresses in that I can try, Im not sure I really love any of the bridesmaids dresses they have now, we will see!

MVMCP looks like a lot of fun. I think I will try to take him to that on one of the nights! We both really liked the halloween party, but Christmas is more of the type of holiday we like anyways so Im sure we will really enjoy it!

 

[PrincessEmily87]

Since I am still in school, every chance we have to work on some stuff for the wedding we use it. So, last night we decided that we would make our place cards, just not put the names on them yet since we dont know what names to put! As our place cards I really wanted to use ornaments. We were able to find ornaments really cheap at the after Christmas sales. We got red and gold ornaments and are planning on writing the names of the guests on the ornament and having the ornaments hanging on a Christmas tree for people to get them. Since my fiance is loves movies, we decided to name our tables after our favorite Christmas movies. So I took photos of our favorite movies that I had, and we went and made 2x3 (wallet size) photos to tie on to the ornament. At each table we will also have the same photo, but a 4x6 so people can find their table.

We plan on using the head table as the Beauty and the Beast the Enchanted Christmas table. Here is what that one ended up looking like!

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Oh, I love Christmas weddings, I am looking forward to reading along! I really like the architecture in the church, and I agree, it will suit the christmas theme well! The reception area looks good too, there is definitely a lot you can do with it! I love your ideas for the table names and place cards...it is going to look amazing!! So creative!

 

[PrincessEmily87]

So I finally booked our engagement photo session for March 23!!! We are going to use the photos for our save the dates. I think we want to use magnets with the wedding information on it.
I also got my my tiara I am going to wear. At Davids Bridal it was $150 and it was on sale for $45!!! Its really pretty too, it is gold and has crystals and pearls on it which matches everything perfectly. I also got a fur wrap that matches the same color of my dress that was on sale for $50!! I got my veil, and shoes to! Here is a picture of the shoes I got

I like them because the heel is larger so I wont fall over, knowing myself, I know I would fall walking down the isle if I had thin heels. They are also shorter heels, since my fiance is only 3 or 4 inches taller than me, now I wont be too tall.
I feel like I am getting all of this stuff done really fast, but then I look at everything I STILL have to do, I just get the fun stuff done first!!! The next fun thing I want to do is get stuff (coloring books, markers, any other suffestions?) for bags for the ring bearer (3) and flower girl (7)!!!

Disney honeymoon update:
So it looks like we are going to be staying at POFQ or ASMu. I really hope there is some sort of deal that comes out or we get a pin code... because I really want to stay at POFQ!!! I would love to stay at AKL, but I know it probably isnt in our budget. But who knows maybe I will win the lottery!! Im also thinking that we will do MVMCP while we are there and I really want to go on the sleigh ride at wilderness lodge. Are there any other romantic honeymoon ideas that we could do while we are there in December?

 

[PrincessEmily87]

So I called Disney today and booked our honeymoon at POFQ!!! I have never stayed here before and I am very excited about this, but I am still hoping that we end up getting a pin code or there is a deal that comes out to the public for the time we are going. We are going to be staying from December 13-20. We are watching a flight that leaves Oregon at 5pm on the 12th and gets into Orland at 6am on the 13th so we have a little longer trip. We will see what the flights look like as it gets closer. So these are the dates as of right now, it depends upon if I end up getting a teaching job for the 10-11 school year or if I have to sub. If I sub we will keep these dates, but if I get a job then we may have to move the dates depending upon how many personal days I can get to take time off!

 

[weedee]

congrats on your engagement! That's awesome you guys are still able to incorporate Disney into your wedding celebration - a Disneymoon is going to be so much fun! I've heard great things about POFQ. We are staying at POR for our Disneymoon Can't wait to hear more!

 

[PrincessEmily87]

congrats on your engagement! That's awesome you guys are still able to incorporate Disney into your wedding celebration - a Disneymoon is going to be so much fun! I've heard great things about POFQ. We are staying at POR for our Disneymoon Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks! Yeah, I am really excited for the honeymoon part of the wedding planning!!! I have been to POR, just not FQ and I loved POR its very pretty there so I hope I like the French Quarter just as much. I hope you have a great time on your honeymoon!!!

 

[PrincessEmily87]

So here a plan of what I am wanting to do on our honeymoon. This is not going to be in any sort of order or set in stone, just what I am thinking would be fun!

Day 1 -
If we get the flight we want it will land in Orlando at 6am so we would go to the hotel, check in, take a rest if our room is available, head to animals kingdom. For the evening we would go to animal kingdom lodge for dinner and to see the Christmas decorations and the animals of course. We would then take the bus to DTD and then go to the hotel whenever we were done there.

Day 2 -
Epcot and have dinner at one of the restaurants that come with the candlelight processional package so we could do that. (Suggestions welcome about which restaurant is best).

Day 3 -
Hollywood Studios to see the Osbourne lights and do what ever else like rides and shows. Maybe have dinner at Downtown Disney or go see another nice hotel??? I also want to see that ice exhibit at the gaylord palms, so maybe this would be the best day to do this... I also like the polynesian, so maybe we will have dinner there that night!

Day 4 -
Animal Kingdom in the morning, then take the bus to the Grand Floridian to have an early dinner/late lunch. In the evening go the MVMCP!!!

Day 5 -
Hollywood Studios again so Nick can watch Fantasmic! He loves that show and maybe see the lights again. We would probably do a Fantasmic dinner package at one of the restaurants, Im not really sure which one.

Day 6 -
Epcot to have breakfast at the restaurant in Norway. Belle is my favorite and I just found out on my last trip that that is the restaurant where you get a photo with Belle and she is my favorite Disney character which is why I am so excited about the new plans about Fantasy land having the beauty and the beast restaurant!!! Nick likes trying to drink around the world so maybe we can do that this day as well if we dont do it the first time! We also wanted to try to go to Jellyrolls since we have never been there so maybe we will do that this evening.

Day 7 -
Magic Kingdom is my favorite park to end the trip so I hope it will end up staying on this night! I thought it would be fun to go over to the wilderness lodge for dinner to see their decorations and maybe do the carriage ride, but Im not sure its worth it, I just dont know a lot about it... We may even watch the water parade thing too that I have heard about on here!

So that is what I have so far that I really want to do. I dont want to have our schedule too packed and I want to be able to keep it pretty flexible so hopefully I dont have too much that I really want to do!

 

[Bickimook2]

Congratz on your engagement. It sounds like you got everything really planned out, the restaurant in Norway is an excellent choice, they have a really good cheese and crackers bar. Have you ever eaten at Cinderella's Royal Table? You should definitely check it out, I love the breakfast there. Can't wait to hear more of your planning!