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

[angel81uk]

It's been such a long time since I've updated my PJ, it's sooo bad of me! For ages it hasn't really felt as though I've had anything worth writing about as we've been stuck at the decision making stages. But there have been A LOT of big changes in our lives over the last month or so that's having an affect on the wedding so I guess it's time for an update.

So last time I updated we had the ceremony booked for SBP, I was thinking about booking Sago Cay, I had my shoes and my dress was on order. We were also in the early stages of planning our at home reception.

Well, unfortunately in the last few weeks we've had to cancel plans for the at home reception. We've been thinking about setting up our own business for quite a while but Spencer had a few concerns about finding clients, giving up his current job etc so it was in the "we'll do it some day" category. Then all of a sudden, completely out of the blue a potential client came to us with an offer we couldn't refuse! And then news started to get round and another client came forward with the offer for around 4 jobs a month . So at this point we finally decided to go for it, it was going to mean a few months of stress and a couple of months without an income during the transition stage, but it's not every day an opportunity like this falls in to your lap! We'd be stupid to turn down such an offer.

It did however mean that the garden party had to be canceled. Spencers employer was very kindly going to contribute towards the cost as a gift but of course we couldn't accept such a generous offer if Spencer was about to resign! And knowing that there would be a couple of months without an income we decided it made more sense to keep some of our savings back to make sure we could survive. Sure I was kind of disappointed, but setting up the company had such huge potential that it had to take priority over the at home reception.

So the company was set up and Spencer handed in his resignation. Then it all started to go wrong The client offering to match his salary started to screw with us, his employers went absolutely nuts when they found out they were losing him and it all seemed to be crumbling beneath us. Sure we could still afford to get married, but it was looking like we'd be pretty broke afterward if we couldn't find new clients.

I cannot even begin to tell you how shocked I was when Spencers employers came back and said they were so upset about potentially losing him that they were willing to match the offer of the client who was giving us problems! AND we've since had 3 other potential clients approach us wanting to give us regular work! It's still early days as yet as Spencer is still working his notice before making the switch to working for them on a self employed basis, but there's a very real possibility that we're going to end up with more work than we're able to handle!

It's an amazing position to be in and I truly am grateful we've been given such an amazing opportunity, but the timing sure sucks! If this all happened six months ago, or if we could delay the wedding it wouldn't be so bad, but it's been a whole heap of stress that I could do without right now! Oh and did I mention that this all started 1 week in to me giving up smoking?! How I haven't snapped and murdered someone yet I'll never know.

Time for a cup of tea before I carry on I think!

 

[angel81uk]

Ok, so the at home reception has been cancelled, we've started up a business and I'm 3 weeks in to giving up smoking. What else has changed?

Well, first of all we have booked Sago Cay! We're yet to decide on a menu but we've booked a dinner reception and dessert party back to back so we can enjoy the space for a bit longer than they'd usually let us book it for as an Escape package. And even better we only have to meet the $1000 F&B minimum, not the combined $1000 for a reception and $500 for the dessert party! As we're such a small party we were going to struggle to spend $1500 without adding in lot of unnecessary "stuff", so that's going to be something of a lifesaver for us.

We had managed to decide on a customized menu and had it all agreed. Then a couple of our guests had to drop out. Sad for us, Spencer was best man at their wedding a few years ago so we were really looking forward to sharing our wedding day with them. But they've dropped out for the most wonderful of reasons, they're expecting twins!!! They'd kept it quiet for quite some time so it turns out they're due late May so there's no way they could join us! Unfortunately it does mean that we now have so few guests that the chefs won't provide a buffet anymore. Not good considering that Sago Cay is a buffet only location! Fortunately Kathleen came to the rescue again and has talked them into doing a plated menu instead. It's not the buffet we had wanted, but at least we can still keep the location!

I've also booked Patricia Lejeune for hair and make up. This was quite a big one for me as I'm a trained hair & makeup artists myself. I could have done it myself but it's nice to enjoy a bit of pampering every now and then. I know she gets good reviews on the boards but I just wanted to make extra sure so I asked our photographers for a recommendation. I know from my own work that if theirs one person who really gets to see a wide variety of make up work and really scrutinize it up close it's the person who sits down and spends an age editing photos/video. The Roots recommended Patricia so it was a done deal. I didn't feel a trial run was needed but I've had to book one anyway to make sure I meet her services minimum. It's extra money I'd rather not have spent but hey ho. So she will be doing a trial the day before the wedding which works out ok as we're doing and "engagement" shoot that afternoon.

After a lot of deliberation I've also booked Ron Rosenzweig to carry out the ceremony. I have to be honest and say he wasn't top of our list initially, but Spencer is an atheist, the kind that would be quite angry if an officiant tried to slip a bit of religion into the ceremony. And as we've heard quite a few of the others slip up on this point we decided it would be safer to hire Ron.

I've had a planning call with Kathleen and another with Rosie and sent them both copies of my keynote document/mood board/look book. Kathleen has sent me my first BEO which is right on target, we're just waiting on the floral budget right now. I hope it's not going to be too shocking! I'm hoping to reuse a lot of the floral I'm adding to the ceremony at the reception which should help, but then I'm hoping to add hanging lanterns and other decor to SCP and I've gone for expensive blooms like peonies so I'll wait and see! I'm keeping my fingers crossed at this stage. As we're not spending a fortune on F&B and we're not adding characters, in park shoots etc I always new I would have to add something extra in to meet the $7500 minimum. It's just difficult to know if I've added just the right amount or far too much until I get the floral budget back.

And finally I had a call a couple of days ago to say my dress has arrived! I can't wait to book a fitting but I just don't have time to do it right now what with setting up the business, Spencer working on one last huge project and all the other crap that's going on. It would be easier if the dress shop was local but I'm going to need to book a trip to my parents for a few days to get to the shop. At the moment it looks like that wont be a possibility until the beginning of next month. Ah well, I'll just have to wait!

 

[angel81uk]

Oh, of course, there's one more thing! I can't believe I forgot as it's the reason I came here to update!

We decided ages ago that if finances permitted we wanted to book ourselves into a deluxe resort for a few days during the wedding. It's a bit of an extravagance as we're already booked for 21 nights at SSR with deluxe dining, but it's the one thing we really wanted to treat ourselves to.

Our usual indecisiveness kicked in though and we couldn't decide which resort we wanted to stay at. I always thought it would be BWI so we could be close to the ceremony and within walking distance of Epcot but was still undecided. Neither of us are huge fans of the GF as a hotel so that was out and the Poly seemed too busy somehow for a wedding. After lots of too'ing and fro'ing over which resort to choose and umm'ing and ahh'ing over cost I went ahead today and booked 3 nights in a MK view room at the Contemporary! It made sense to be at a monorail resort as we have ADR's booked at monorail resorts over those days and I know Spencer would love to stay there.

It's made me excited about the whole wedding again!

 

[elle1024]

Hi there! Just joining in...
Love your dress, it looks great on you!!
&&& I love the wedding date you chose, it's my birthday! LOL

 

[angel81uk]

Hi there! Just joining in...
Love your dress, it looks great on you!!
&&& I love the wedding date you chose, it's my birthday! LOL

Thank you, I think I needed to hear that right now!

Doubts have started to creep in about the dress and I've been starting to think I should have waited a little longer a tried a few more on. I've been avoiding looking at dresses online and in magazines etc since I ordered mine because I didn't want to fall in love with something I couldn't have, but a few weeks ago I went to the designers site to send a link to my dress to a friend. Of course right there, in their new season collection, was the exact dress I had set out to look for in the first place . It's like they'd stolen the thoughts from my mind and used them as a template to make my perfect dress, that's how close it is!

Right now I'm going along with pretending to myself that the new dress wouldn't look so good in person, wouldn't suit me, would be the wrong colour etc. Sure, I still love my dress, I'm just worried I might love their new one a little bit more! I'm putting it down to the fact that it's soooo long since I've seen my dress in person, I'm sure once I go in for my fitting I'll fall in love with it all over again.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Louise sweetie - IMHO your dress is fabulous (so are your shoes ) and I wouldn't even try on the other one!!! You will look stunning!!! We all have doubt from time to time about our choices, but something made you choose that dress in the first place and I suspect it was that you felt it was the 'one'!!! Trust that!!

 

[angel81uk]

Louise sweetie - IMHO your dress is fabulous (so are your shoes ) and I wouldn't even try on the other one!!! You will look stunning!!! We all have doubt from time to time about our choices, but something made you choose that dress in the first place and I suspect it was that you felt it was the 'one'!!! Trust that!!

Thanks Joanne, you're right. I've just got to trust that I picked the right dress in the first place. One things for sure though, there's no way I'm going to torture myself by so much as even looking at the new designs in the store when I go for my fitting!

 

[angel81uk]

So I've started work on some other bits and pieces. Current project is an itinerary booklet I'm creating for the guests who've asked me to plan their days for them. I'm still filling in information but at the moment they're looking something like this

The plan is to print them out and create an A5 size booklet that contains everything they'll need to know. A page per day with ADR's park opening hours, facts and figures, an overview of what each park has to offer and perhaps a second page with a suggested touring plan/list of best time to visit attractions. For the guests who're planning their own itinerary I'll use the same template to create a mini guide book.

 

[angel81uk]

And here's a mood board that kind of pulls together various parts of the keynote document I sent to Kathleen and Rosie. It doesn't include everything but it gives a quick overview. As you can see I finally decided on a colour scheme that I think will work much better than the ones I was originally looking at and still ties in with the things I've already bought.

 

[angel81uk]

As well as our wedding trip it's going to be something of a dining extravaganza! We got a package with free ddp AND 43% off at SSR, a good deal but last time we used the ddp we found we spent quite a bit extra on appetizers and breakfast etc and really enjoyed the signature restaurants. So this time round we've decided to upgrade, 3 weeks on deluxe dining is going to be a huge amount of food, but it should actually work out to be pretty good value for us.

Of course 21 nights means we needed to book a whole lot of ADR's! It's not normally the best use of the DxDDP but to try an prevent waddling around the parks feeling like we're fit to burst we've only booked a few TS meals for lunches and breakfasts. Because we only paid the upgrade amount it still works out to be good value and we're not tied to three ADR's a day.

I keep on tweaking the plans but at the moment our ADR list looks something like this:

Breakfasts:
Tusker House
Kona Cafe
Crystal Palace
The Wave

Lunches:
Teppan Edo
Sci-Fi Dine In
Yak & Yeti x 2
Tutto Italia
Cap'n Jacks
Sanaa
Via Napoli
Coral Reef
The Plaza

Dinner:
Turf Club Bar & Grill
Restaurant Marrakesh
Hollywood Brown Derby
Flying Fish Cafe x 2
Narcoossees
California Grill x 2
Citricos
Teppan Edo
Raglan Road
The Wave
Artist Point
Spirit of Aloha
Le Cellier
Tokyo Dining
Crystal Palace
La Hacienda de San Angel
Yachtsmans Steakhouse

 

[angel81uk]

I've been having a bit of a wobble when it comes to accessories. I have a beautiful necklace given to me by my grandmother before she passed away. It was given to her by my grandfather (who passed away before I was born) whilst they were courting I also picked up 3 more colourful necklaces in the sales that work well with my shoes and colour scheme, but I'm just not sure about them.

First of all, here's a detail picture of the dress. It doesn't show up all that well but it's ivory satin with lace overlay which has gold metallic thread running through it. The jewelled belt is in antiqued silver tones.

This is my grandmothers necklace

Because of the warm tones and gold thread I'm not 100% certain that silver accessories would work, and the shoes I've bought have a gold heel to tie in with the dress too so I'm really not sure!

Then there are the necklaces I picked up in the sales

I do like that they're not as traditional but looking at them now I'm concerned they might be a little too modern for the dress. They go well with the shoes though!

What do you think?

Because I managed to buy everything super cheap in the sales I'm not adverse to starting from scratch. But then I'm back to square one. I'd like to wear a statement piece of jewellery but it's got to work with the dress. Finding statement pieces in gold tones has turned out to be quite difficult and I'm not sure they would actually suit me anyway. But then I'm not sure if silver works either!

Has anyone else seen anything that they think would work?!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

If the gold threads on your dress aren't too prominent, I think it would work. After all, the jewel detail on your dress seems to be silver tones (or does it just appear like that in the photo?) If it is just indecision, what about wearing you Grandmother's (gorgeous) necklace for the ceremony and then changing into another for the bridal portraits and/or reception? Of the three coloured ones, my favourite is the third one (the one pictured with your shoe), but they are all lovely!!!

 

[KristiLyn]

Wow ALL of that is lovely. I like the idea of wearing your grandmothers necklace for the ceremony (for sentimental reasons) and then changing to the last necklace after. It's AMAZING, and so are those shoes!!!!

 

[lt90]

Just wanted to add I love your colours!!!! I think the shoes and necklace work great!!

 

[ckpoodge]

Hi there.

I wasn't going to post a reply, but I saw your grandmother's necklace, and it looks almost EXACTLY like my grandmother's necklace.

I was in a similar predicament - my DH to be wanted me to wear the heart of the ocean necklace he got me, but I wanted to wear my grandmother's necklace (since she is no longer with us).

I don't know where I got the idea, but I turned the necklace into a tiara, and that's how I'm going to wear it - I get the best of both worlds. I'm sure you can do the same with your grandmother's necklace - either a tiara or a headband of some sort.

BTW - it was really easy to do - get craft wire and clear fishing line - wrap the line around the craft wire and between the stones on the necklace. You can mold it to how you need it.

 

[angel81uk]

If the gold threads on your dress aren't too prominent, I think it would work. After all, the jewel detail on your dress seems to be silver tones (or does it just appear like that in the photo?) If it is just indecision, what about wearing you Grandmother's (gorgeous) necklace for the ceremony and then changing into another for the bridal portraits and/or reception? Of the three coloured ones, my favourite is the third one (the one pictured with your shoe), but they are all lovely!!!

Thanks Joanne, that's my favourite of the coloured necklaces too. I think I'm going to have to go with something a little more neutral though as finding earrings to match the green/turquoise necklaces will be a nightmare I'm sure.

Wow ALL of that is lovely. I like the idea of wearing your grandmothers necklace for the ceremony (for sentimental reasons) and then changing to the last necklace after. It's AMAZING, and so are those shoes!!!!

I'm beginning to wish I'd never seen those shoes, it would be so much easier if I'd bought regular ivory bridal shoes! lol

Just wanted to add I love your colours!!!! I think the shoes and necklace work great!!

Thank you! I do love the colours, I just wish I didn't keep on having these doubts about everything. I'm sure it will all come together somehow!

Hi there.

I wasn't going to post a reply, but I saw your grandmother's necklace, and it looks almost EXACTLY like my grandmother's necklace.

I was in a similar predicament - my DH to be wanted me to wear the heart of the ocean necklace he got me, but I wanted to wear my grandmother's necklace (since she is no longer with us).

I don't know where I got the idea, but I turned the necklace into a tiara, and that's how I'm going to wear it - I get the best of both worlds. I'm sure you can do the same with your grandmother's necklace - either a tiara or a headband of some sort.

BTW - it was really easy to do - get craft wire and clear fishing line - wrap the line around the craft wire and between the stones on the necklace. You can mold it to how you need it.

I love the idea of turning it in to a tiara, I bet it will look great! Unfortunately I look hideous in a tiara. Infact the way I'm feeling right now I'm thinking a paper bag over the head might be more appropriate!