Louise & Spencer's Escape PJ - May 11th 2011 SBP/SCP - Accessory advice needed!

[angel81uk]

Well I thought it was about time I started a PJ, I'm hoping it will actually get me to start planning rather than just randomly ooh and ahh over other peoples PJ's!

Spencer (37) and I (28) met on a chatroom almost 7 years ago and got together as a couple in March 2004. 6 months later I moved to London to live with him. We got engaged shortly after buying our own home in February 2007, so a while ago now!

I wish I had an amazing engagement story to share with you all, but the reality is it was very simple! We had just been to our first Tai Chi class together, had got home and we were grabbing a drink of water from the fridge when Spencer just blurted out "marry me"! It came as a complete shock as he always said he'd never get married, so it took me a few moments to realise that yes he did just ask me to marry him, yes he is serious and oh my god I need to give him an answer! In the few fractions of a second it took my brain to process all that he's put his hand over my mouth, apologised and told me got to say anything. Turns out he wanted to propose "properly", didn't have a ring and was probably on a bit of an endorphin high at the time. Well I wasn't letting him get away with it that easily! He'd proposed! Even if it was infront of the fridge whilst we were both wearing sweats and in need of a shower, it was still him telling me he wanted to marry me and that was far more important than a romantic location and a ring presented on bended knee.

So then it was time for the planning to commence. I really though that it would be the easy part. Spencer produces luxury events for a living, great! I have my very own wedding planner I thought! Turns out it's much much easier to organise an event when it's someone elses! We spent more than 2 year going round in circles looking for the perfect venue that offered the flexibility we wanted to organise things ourselves. And to get the level of service that Spencer gives a client would be well out of our budget. Then we saw some photos of DFTW and were instantly sold on the idea. There aren't many people out there that Spencer would trust to plan our wedding but he knew Disney would be up to the task!

As it stands at the moment we don't have much more than a planned date and location! We're penciled in for May 11th 2011 for a 2:30pm ceremony at SBP, we have set deadlines for making plans, decided on accommodation, contacted our chosen photographer (the Roots, Yay!) and I've ordered my dress. For now we're just going to keep on focusing on one things at a time and hopefully we'll be ready to get married by the time may arrives!

 

[angel81uk]

So I went dress shopping for the first time with my mum a couple of months ago. I really thought I was going to have a hard time finding "The Dress", I had an idea of what I wanted in my mind and dresses like that seemed hard to find. Knowing I had to start looking at some point I traveled to visit mum with the intention of just trying a few on in the relative quiet of her local stores to make sure the style I liked would suit my body shape. Once I'd narrowed it down a bit the plan was to then start looking here in London where there would be more choice.

So there I was in the store trying to explain the kind of dress I wanted whilst mum sat by and rolled her eyes in apology for her picky daughter and the assistant grabbed the only five dresses she had that fitted the description. In the changing room I really had to try my hardest not to visibly laugh at some of the hideous monstrosities I was dressed in but persevered all the same. And then came the dress I'd picked out of the book. The photo made it look ok, kind of the right shape, wasn't sure about the colour or the lace and really wasn't sure about a strapless gown but I was only there to get an idea of what suited me anyway. Until I tried it on anyway!

Now normally I'm a rather rational kinda person, I don't do impulse purchases especially when it's something important! But today it took a lot of reining myself in and stopping myself from paying for it there and then! We did eventually leave the store without handing over the credit card and mum marched me around the other stores in the city just to make sure. But I knew I had found the dress already! And so I went back last week and ordered it!

(excuse the pixelation, I looked a mess after the journey and I wouldn't want to subject you to my exhausted look! The photos themselves aren't great either, mum had a few problems with the camera!)

I'm sooo excited! It's the first time money has exchanged hands regarding the wedding and it's made it all seem so much more real. I can't wait until January when my dress will be delivered and alterations can start

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Congratulations and welcome! Your dress looks beautiful on you and goes really well with your shape! I look forward to reading more as you plan - you seem like a really great couple!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Congratulations and welcome!!!
Your wedding is the day I return to UK following my VR so I won't be able to stalk!!
Love love love your dress - so elegant
Looking forward to following your plans!!!

 

[angel81uk]

Thanks for the warm welcome ladies!

And such a shame tinkerbell 766, we hope to fly over on the day of your VR so can't stalk either!

 

[padisneyfour]

congrats and welcome! looking forward to hearing more of your plans! your dress is very pretty!

 

[angel81uk]

So I've been having a play with the colour tools in illustrator to try and come up with a colour scheme. This is sooo hard! The problem is we just love too many colours so narrowing it down to a few to start making colour schemes is a nightmare. I've come up with a few to start with though and would love your opinions!

We really like some of the more muted colours but I think we need a bright in there somewhere to add visual interest and make it pop. What do you think?

 

[angel81uk]

So excited to have booked the photographers! Really, really pleased we've managed to get the Roots for our chosen date , now I've just got to hope we don't end up in a date lottery and find they're not available! Apart from the actual getting married part the photography has always been our biggest priority and we had decided we wanted to book the Roots before we'd even chosen a ceremony location. I only wish we could afford to fly them over to the UK for our at home reception!

Really not sure what we're going to do for photography for the UK reception yet. As much as I'd like to hire a photographer for the day I think we may struggle to find the money in the budget. Fortunately Spencer is a keen photographer along with three of our close friends. They all have pro DSLR's and enough kit between them to set up a studio so I'm sure between the four of them we'll get some great shots anyway. As much as I know they'll all be bringing their cameras and taking lots of photos anyway I just feel a little awkward putting pressure on them to provide the "official" photographs. They're our friends, we want them to relax and enjoy the day as much as any other guest!

 

[Jules~Marie]

Joining in.

 

[angel81uk]

Well it's all been rather quiet really on the wedding front. Spencer and I celebrated our birthdays last week (his is first and mine is the day after, I love having our birthdays so close together!) so we took some time out from the wedding planning. Getting back to it this week after a heavy weekend partying!

Today I booked our flights and accommodation we are spending 21 nights at Saratoga springs with deluxe dining. That's a whole lot of food! It's not the most spectacular out of the Disney resorts but we stayed last year and enjoyed the atmosphere. If money were no object we would love to book one of the deluxe resorts but the 42% off and free dining offer at Saratoga springs is too good to pass up. I'm hoping I manage to find a bit extra in the budget to be able to afford a couple of nights at the boardwalk for the wedding itself but I guess I'll have to wait and see. It's a great feeling to finally have it booked though!

We are having a go at coming up with some invitation ideas this week. I think we're going to go for a laser cut design to create a delicate border and try to incorporate a few motifs that reflect our personalities and hobbies. Spencer is really busy working on a huge project at the moment though so I may end up having to find a designer to do it for us. I really really need to decide on a colour scheme first though. Any opinions or suggestions on the schemes above would be most appreciated!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Wow 21 days - you lucky thing!!
We are only managing 11 for our VR holiday due to DH's work commitments and the fact that my eldest son's uni exams start a week after our return!!
Are you a DVC member? We are staying in one of our 'homes' - BLT for the first five days and our guests are staying at either BLT or AKV. I borrowed and banked points like crazy to pay for everybody's first five days. My points balance is looking decidedly sad at the moment!!!
The second section of the holiday we are all staying at PORS which I am very excited about as I have always wanted to stay there!! And we have free dining too!! We only have the regular plan though (upgraded from the free quick service one included with our resort). We considered de-luxe dining but have a few children in our party and it didn't make sense to do it with them.
Congrats on booking the Roots - they do fantastic work!!
Can't wait to hear more of your plans!!

 

[angel81uk]

Wow 21 days - you lucky thing!!
We are only managing 11 for our VR holiday due to DH's work commitments and the fact that my eldest son's uni exams start a week after our return!!
Are you a DVC member? We are staying in one of our 'homes' - BLT for the first five days and our guests are staying at either BLT or AKV. I borrowed and banked points like crazy to pay for everybody's first five days. My points balance is looking decidedly sad at the moment!!!
The second section of the holiday we are all staying at PORS which I am very excited about as I have always wanted to stay there!! And we have free dining too!! We only have the regular plan though (upgraded from the free quick service one included with our resort). We considered de-luxe dining but have a few children in our party and it didn't make sense to do it with them.
Congrats on booking the Roots - they do fantastic work!!
Can't wait to hear more of your plans!!

No, we aren't DVC members, yet anyway! This will only be our second visit to the world so I think I have a bit more work to do on H2B before I can talk him into DVC. 21 nights is a long stay but my family are joining us for 14 nights so it would be nice to have a week to ourselves. And because of the special offers it actually worked out at least £944 cheaper to stay at SSR or OKW rather than a moderate with DXDP. And as we're travelling as a couple we prefer the bed and sleeper sofa configuration in the studios at SSR instead of the 2 bed config in most other resorts as it gives us a bit more room.

We loved having free DDP for 14 nights last year but upgraded this time because there are so many restaurants we want to return to and so many others we want to try! We also ended up paying OOP for a fair few appetizers, breakfasts and additional snacks so the cost of upgrading was worth it for us. I don't think it would have been worth upgrading last year as there was just so much we wanted to see and do, but as we're going to be there for such a long time next year we will have plenty of time to do two TS meals each day without missing out on attractions. Also, H2B has recently given up on 15 years of vegetarianism (after watching me enjoy so many amazing meals last year!) so we plan on making the most of it!

I think it's amazing you've managed to pay for everyones first five days, lucky guests! And PORS does look lovely, I'm sure you'll all have an amazing time!

 

[angel81uk]

Ok, so I started looking at shoes a few months ago and came across a pair that I liked but wasn't too sure about. I decided to think about it for a while and then found out they'd reduced them and sold out of my size so the decision was taken out of my hands. Well today I'm looking on the website again and they're still reduced but now they only have them left in my size! I'm still not sure they're the perfect shoe though . I know I want something colourful and the gold ties in perfectly with the gold thread in the lace of the dress. They even fit in with some of the colour schemes we've been playing with.

What do you all think? This is the last chance to buy them so do I grab them anyway or keep looking? Will they even look right with the dress?

 

[madamemim1975]

Ok, so I started looking at shoes a few months ago and came across a pair that I liked but wasn't too sure about. I decided to think about it for a while and then found out they'd reduced them and sold out of my size so the decision was taken out of my hands. Well today I'm looking on the website again and they're still reduced but now they only have them left in my size! I'm still not sure they're the perfect shoe though . I know I want something colourful and the gold ties in perfectly with the gold thread in the lace of the dress. They even fit in with some of the colour schemes we've been playing with.

What do you all think? This is the last chance to buy them so do I grab them anyway or keep looking? Will they even look right with the dress?

I say GRAB the shoes!! If you decide not to use them, can you list them on ebay or something?? I think they are adorable!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

I love the shoes!!! If they fit with your colour scheme, I say go for it!!

 

[angel81uk]

Well, today is exactly 8 months out from the wedding (and 1 year since we last returned from WDW) and I cant believe how quickly it's going! I really feel we should have so much more sorted by now but I think we will be ok.

I ordered the shoes and they fit perfectly so that's one thing crossed off the list. I've decided who I would like to use for hair and make up and the officiant, I'm just waiting to get the call from DFTW on Monday to say we got the date before I go ahead and book them. I've seen quite a few peacock feather accessories on etsy that I quite like so Im leaning towards those sort of colours for inspiration.

We are currently looking at locations to hold a reception and DP. Initially we were thinking of Epcot but since we have booked our photography with the lovely Roots we are definitely going for a non park location. We would like to hold both the reception and DP outdoors but I'm still searching with my sales consultant for the perfect location. Sago cay would be the obvious choice but I'm just not sure it's right for us so I'm hoping we can find something else.

We are going to have to put wedding planning on the back burner for a couple of weeks now as we're both working on a really big project that's taking up all our time. Once that's out of the way I really want to get moving on the at home reception as there's so much to organise. We are going to hold a garden party at my parents and as Spencer is an event producer we are going to be doing everything ourselves. So we've got to find a structure, furniture hire, caterers, entertainment, florists and a whole lot more! We can't even use the suppliers Spencer would normally use as it's going to be in a different part of the country.

Once the big project is over we have a gap of 4 months before we have to do it all over again. That's absolutely terrifying right now! 8 months seems like a reasonable length of time but when I look at the calendar and think I've only got 4 months in which I can work on the wedding and the list of things we still have to do I can't help but feel nervous!

 

[FutureMrs.B]

Hi. I just found your post and am joining in. I luv your dress and shoes. They're gorgeous. I can see what you mean about becoming stressed. But it sounds like to me that you already know what you have to do and have an idea how to go about it. To me that's half the battle. Once that's determined than you just start working on what you need to. It's ok to be nervous but don't stress yourself out. This is supposed to be a happy time. Enjoy it!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Lovely to get an update!!
Don't panic you have plenty of time to do everything. You have a dress and some shoes to die for - what else matters??!!

 

[angel81uk]

Well big project number one is over and done with and we've caught up on all the missed sleep from working 18 hour days! So i guess it's time to get back to the planning now.

We're now officially booked in for SBP on May 11th at 2:30pm, the LOA is signed and we've been assigned Kathleen Reynolds as our planner. It's really encouraging to see so many people have loved working with Kathleen so I'm looking forward to it. We've also decided we would like to have a reception at Sago Cay. After not being to sure about it previously we decided it really does fit our wants and needs the best so I hope it's still available! Now I've just got to rein myself in from spending too much on decor!

The next plan is to take a trip to my parents at some point in the next few weeks so we can start making plans for our at home reception. We've decided on a traditional village fete meets garden party theme so we're looking for something along the lines of a traditional marquee, lots of decor and budget permitting lots and lots of floral. My mum and I have been buying up lots of vintage tea cups and tea pots etc to use as table centerpieces which we can fill with flowers and I'm hoping to find some pretty glasswear too. I'm also looking into the possibility of making some pretty bunting and perhaps even some simple quilts and cushions to scatter around the garden for some informal seating.

It's also time to start thinking about getting in shape for the wedding. I'm wanting to tone up a bit and Spencer is wanting to lose a bit of weight so he wanted us to join the local gym. I HATE gyms with a passion! Just the thought of paying all that money for membership only to have to wait for equipment to be free makes me feel angry! So instead I've just bought us a cross trainer. Being able to exercise in my PJ's in the comfort of our own home sounds much more appealing and will cost us about the same as three months gym membership which leaves much more money in the wedding budget!

 

[KitKat5]

Hiya! Just joining in! Everything sounds great so far...I love the sound of your at home reception too!! I hope you got those shoes...they are gorgeous!! Cant wait to read more about your planning!