Amy & Patrick's DFTW 12/12/2011 *WP/CR*

[PrincessFendi]

Hello! I fall into the lurker category and have finally decided it was time to start my planning journal. I hope that someone will find my PJ as helpful and entertaining as I have others on the boards. Please feel free to comment at any time.

Here is a brief background on us:

Patrick and I have been dating for 4 1/2 years. Patrick proposed to me the night before we were to celebrate our 4 year anniversary. (Story below.)

I grew up going to Disney about twice a year. I have family in FL and it was always the perfect stopping point for a family vacation. I am a huge Disney fan! I just finished with graduate school and now have my teaching license in early childhood education.

Patrick had never been to Disney until December 2009 when we went for vacation. It took a lot of convincing on my part, but he finally gave in. Patrick really enjoyed himself (I knew he would)! He has slowly started to become a Disney fan as well. Patrick owns a car lot and is opening another one next week, which I will end up running. (I am going to put my teaching career on hold for now.)

Our Engagement Story (short version):

After church on a Sunday afternoon, Patrick sent me on a scavanger hunt around town. Each clue had significance from our relationship. Starting at our house with stops at Brown's Island, the studio (Patrick is in a band and records music on the side), the River and ending at a Bed & Breakfast in Williamsburg, VA! Patrick had arranged for dinner at Opus 9. Towards the end of a lovely dinner, Patrick stepped away for a moment and ran into the waiter. The waiter told Patrick that the restaurant had heard that he may be proposing that night. At that point Patrick ran to the car and got the ring. I was still eating dinner when Patrick retruned. Patrick wisked two chairs out of the way and dropped to one knee while saying "Amy "last name here", I have one question...WILL YOU MARRY ME?" And with those words, I busted into tears and knodded "YES"! Our waiter appeared out of no where with champage. After an amazing day/night Patrick still had another trick up his sleeve. A tour of the Williamsburg Winery and lunch the next day! I was competely surprised!

Patrick and I will be getting married on Monday, December 12, 2011 at Disney's Wedding Pavillion. Our reception will be held at The Contemporary.

Our planning session is THIS UP COMING FRIDAY!!! I am so excited but feel a bit unprepared! I have done so much research and feel like I am still coming up short. We have a wonderful planner (Lisa Smith) and I know she will help tie up any lose ends we will have on Friday. I will make sure to post pics and let you know how it goes once we get back.

I would like to add that I planned our PS over Star Wars weekend just for Patrick. We have watched eposides IV, V, VI & I so far. We plan on watching II & III before we leave for our PS/Star Wars weekend. I had only watched IV & V with Patrick years ago. I guess now is the perfect time to watch them all.

We are also going to have our engagement pictures taken while we are at Disney. I will let you know how it goes. Really excited to meet our photographer, Amy.

Sorry for the ramble and jumbled mess...I hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day! I will update soon.

 

[pinkfairy1684]

Welcome and congratulations! Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[KristiLyn]

Welcome and congrats!! What a cute proposal!
We have went to SWW the last 2 years in a row...it's so much fun!
Can't wait to read more!

 

[PrincessFendi]

Welcome and congratulations! Can't wait to read more!!!

Welcome and congrats!! What a cute proposal!
We have went to SWW the last 2 years in a row...it's so much fun!
Can't wait to read more!

pinkfairy & KristiLyn thanks for the welcoming!

 

[Fay]

Hey,

Welcome and congrats... your story is cute! Cant wait to read along!

Lots of Love

xxx

 

[redlight]

I'm an Amy too. Congrats!

 

[violentmesses]

Yay! Another December bride! Congrats!!

 

[PrincessFendi]

Well, we are back (we have BEEN back) from our wonderful planning session and weekend trip to Disney!

Patrick and I had so much fun! We have the best wedding planner ever, Lisa!!! She is a perfect match for us.

We arrived at Coronado Springs around 8pm Thursday night. We originally wanted to head out to Downtown Disney that night but once we got to the resort and checked-in we decided to stay in for the night. We had to meet Rev. Herring at 8am the next morning and then our planning session was to start right after that. Neither of us wanted to be tired for the big day ahead!

We decided to split a pizza from Pepper Market. It was really good and our server was super nice. (We actually had her again later in the trip and she remembered us.)

Neither of us had ever been to Coronado Springs before. We had picked the moderate resort for our room block. I LOVED the resort! Patrick liked the music that was playing over the speakers as we walked around the resort. The only real draw back was how big the resort actually is! It was about a 7-8 minute walk to the front of the resort from our room (building 6B). We had a bus stop really close to our room. Come to find out, there are FOUR bus stops just around the resort! It was huge! I do however recommend staying there. We have friends and family booking there for the wedding.

We did not take that many pics the night of our arrival. We did take a TON of pics during the planning session and for Star Wars Weekend, of course! Up next, our meeting with Rev. Herring and our PLANNING SESSION with Lisa!

 

[princess_ariel_85]

hiya and welcome,

I'd love to go to a SWW, that would be fab. I'm looking forward to your pics.

Can't wait to hear about your planning session and other ideas/plans

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

I can't wait to hear more!

 

[PrincessFendi]

So I last left off the night before our planning session. After dinner, we went back to the room and I sat in the middle of my planning binder, magazine cut-outs that I brought and any loose items that I thought might be needed for the PS. I sat there and finally decided it would be better if I just went to sleep and had a fresh start. I had a feeling Lisa (our planner) would get us to where we needed to be. I just felt like I was going to be a "hot mess" for her and I really wanted to have it all together.

Friday morning we woke up and were ready to get the day started. Since our tasting session was scheduled for 9:30am we decided not to eat breakfast before we left the resort. We got ready and with the wedding bag in tow out the door we went. I am usually running a bit behind schedule and did not want to be late to meet Rev. Herring so we walked the LONG hike to the front of the resort and got a taxi.

Our meeting with Rev. Herring was wonderful! It was so sweet and really made me feel "at home". Lisa called me on my cell phone to let us know we were right on schedule and we told her we were with Rev. Herring at Franks. She said that she would meet us there. While waiting on Lisa, Rev. Herring showed us the WP, which neither one of us had ever actually gone in. Here are some of the pics I took while we were there.

*I know the clear windows have since been replaced. I would like to say that I LOVED how you could see out of the open windows. I am excited to see what the staind glass now looks in person.

*looking back towards the entrance. DF & Rev. Herring were talking.

Out of the front window. It is amazing that the castle looks larger from the entrance than from the alter. *Sorry the pic is sideways.

There was a wedding at 10am that morning.

GF side of the WP.

The ceiling of the WP. GORGEOUS!!!

Pink aisle runner for the wedding @ 10am.

Standing in the entrance/doorway looking to the right.

Up next...our meeting with the BEST WEDDING PLANNER EVER...LISA SMITH!
How the food really tasted...

 

[Kluhxrenay]

How many people are you inviting to your wedding? We're just having my DF family come. We didn't need tons of people coming cause we're going to do a vow renewal in Nagshead in the summer of 2013. We didn't have much spending money for our real wedding so we're going to do a huge beach house wedding/reception. It would give us some time to save up and what not. Our wedding is going to be at the Sunset Pointe location since we're having maybe 8 people total.

 

[PrincessFendi]

How many people are you inviting to your wedding? We're just having my DF family come. We didn't need tons of people coming cause we're going to do a vow renewal in Nagshead in the summer of 2013. We didn't have much spending money for our real wedding so we're going to do a huge beach house wedding/reception. It would give us some time to save up and what not. Our wedding is going to be at the Sunset Pointe location since we're having maybe 8 people total.

We originally thought we would have about 50 people...trying to keep it small. Just close family and friends. I sent out save the dates to a little over 60, thinking that it was a destination wedding and not that many people would make it. Opps what I wrong! We are now hoping for 40. I will have a better idea once we send the formal invitations out. I think your wedding @ Disney will be perfect! I sometimes wish we had decided to do that from the beginning.

I have a friend from high school that got married last year on the beach. Her wedding pictures were beautiful! It was in Nags Head, too

I plan on posting our BEO, etc soon.

 

[Kluhxrenay]

40 people isn't really that bad..imagine people with over a 100 count!!? Well it was a last minute change in May for having this November be our wedding. His family typically goes to Disney every November and we just thought it was a neat idea, and his mom was so psyched! So I really don't have that much time to plan so we're trying to keep it simple but with only 8 guests, it can be expensive still, for us anyway...I'm not sure how old you are, but my DF is almost 24, didn't know if yall might've gone to school near the same time?

 

[PrincessFendi]

40 people isn't really that bad..imagine people with over a 100 count!!? Well it was a last minute change in May for having this November be our wedding. His family typically goes to Disney every November and we just thought it was a neat idea, and his mom was so psyched! So I really don't have that much time to plan so we're trying to keep it simple but with only 8 guests, it can be expensive still, for us anyway...I'm not sure how old you are, but my DF is almost 24, didn't know if yall might've gone to school near the same time?

I am a older than your DF but have friends with younger siblings that he would have gone to school with.

I could not imagine a head count there with over 100 people. I actually had friends ask if they were going to be invited since they had not received a Save the Date yet. I felt (and still do) horrible telling them no. It is really just close family & friends.

I bet him mom was psyched! Would wouldn't want to have or go to a Disney wedding!

 

[PrincessFendi]

We had a WONDERFUL time at the tasting session! Lisa met and picked us up from Franks and we headed over the the Contemporary. We originally were going to have the reception at Whitehall Room & Patio and I had been stressing over the venue b/c I felt like we were not very traditional in the sense of style. Whitehall is gorgeous but our colors are black, white and tiffany blue/teal with hints of silver. I knew that if we were going to stay with my original color choice (navy blue & lilac) we would have fit the atmosphere better. Opps...sorry for the run off. I tend to do that every so often.

So we are on our way to the Contemporary and Lisa made us feel at ease right away. She is great!!! She parked and we headed right in. We were taken right back to the "kitchen" and had a wonderful experience. I do not want to spoil it for any bride that has not had a PS yet so I will spare you some of the details.

On a side note about the food we selected, DF originally wanted to have a plated reception and I wanted to have a buffet. DF felt as though it would not be right to have our guests line up for dinner, he wanted everyone to be "served". I on the other hand would rather pick and choose how much of something I would want. I could see DF's argument and he could see mine. We ended up going with buffet.

Our food was great...amazing...delicious...tasty...we still talk about it!!! Our head chef was Chef Joe (if I remember his name correctly-he was great!!!)Here are some pics of the food.

Chicken Empanadas & Chicken Quesadillas *pre-reception*

Lobster Mac & Cheese

I have a shellfish allergy and stated so on the form we sent in. Lobster is my favorite food even though I cannot eat it anymore and DF loves it as well. I wanted to make sure he/our guests would still have the good food so we selected it for the tasting. That was the ONLY time I had mentioned my allergy and low and behold...this is what they sat in front of me...

Chicken Mac & Cheese!
I LOVE how Disney pays attention to all of the details.

I think this was the chicken with the rozzo!

Here I am eating away...it was SO GOOD!!!!

I have to add that everyone at the table had either a pen and paper or an iPad and took notes about EVERYTHING that we said. I felt like we were food critics or something special. I do not remember anything in particular being something that we did not like. The rozzo was SO DELICIOUS!!!!

And to top it off...

I think one was keylime and the other was leeche nuts!

I do not have my wedding notes with me right now but will update later about all of the food choices. I will let you know what we ended up picking and that way you will have a better idea about prices.

I had mentioned earlier that DF is a huge Star Wars fan and we ended up having a whole conversation about Star Wars at the table. Our head chef even got in on some of the Star Wars talk. They totally got us excited about the newly refurbished Star Tours ride. We left our PS tasting...I wish we could have stayed longer because everyone was super nice. Lisa has us stop by the Nutcracker Ballrooms so that we could take a sneak peak of the reception area. There was a convention going on in one of the rooms but we were able to look at the room connected to the patio.

Ceiling

Doors

Chairs (we are not going to use these but wanted you to see them.)

Patio

The room (cut in half)

View from the patio

Cheese...thanks Lisa for the pic!

Then we headed back to Franks with Lisa.

DF was a lot more verbal than I thought he would have been during the planning. I was happy he was paying attention and giving his opinion.

We hashed out SO many details with Lisa. She is right on top of things and knows her stuff. She is celebrating a benchmark with Disney this year and has a beautiful Mickey ring as a gift from Disney. It make me want to work for Disney.

 

[PrincessFendi]

I had too many pictures. Here is the rest of the entry.

Once we pulled up in the parking lot this is what we saw...

There was a wedding in the pavilion and the bride had the carriage!
Of course I would love to have the carriage but I know it is NOT anywhere close to being in budget. I am happy we got to see it in person and take pictures. It really is gorgeous!

Later in the afternoon our floral contact, Elizabeth came in and and discussed floral with us. At this point in time DF started to zone out. He sat there and made a list of music for the wedding/reception. Let me say now that I am NOT a flower person. I love daisies, roses and calla lillies. That is about the extent of my floral knowledge. Elizabeth did not make me feel like an newbie to floral. She was great...just like everyone else! She is even from VA and I thought that was great since we are from VA as well. She and Lisa were so much fun to have in the room together. More on floral later...

After Elizabeth left the lady out front (I cannot remember her name) came in with forks and napkins. She asked us what we would like to drink...and at that time DF perked up. He knew what was coming next, our CAKE TASTING! He LOVE CAKE!

I'm ready...

Ohhhh the choices!

I will update what we picked later. Enough for now...I will add some more later. Hope everyone is having a great Saturday!

 

[PrincessFendi]

I have been best friends with my Matron of Honor since 7th grade...a long time. We have been going to Kona Grill for dinner every so often since DF and I got engaged. We will sit at dinner and talk about wedding plans and life. Back in January, my MOH asked if I was going to have a bridal party. I knew that I was going to ask her to be my MOH but did not want to say anything at the moment. I told her that we (DF & I) had decided not to have a bridal/wedding party since it was a destination wedding. Well, she had NO IDEA I WAS NOT telling the truth! I just knew I was busted! But I wasn't. She totally believed it! Well, I was not exactly being honest. I knew we were going to have a wedding party and I had a rough idea of how I was going to ask my bff's if they wanted to be in the wedding. Then one night a few weeks later we went back to Kona and I had her gift with me. I had hid it under my jacket and pulled it out while we were sitting there.

Here is a pic that we took right after I asked her to be my MOH.

Here is how I asked each of my girls to be in the wedding.

I made each girl a Mickey "head" with my Cricut. Then I cut-out each saying and glued the letters down.

MOH: Will you be my MATRON OF HONOR
Bridesmaids: Will you be my BRIDESMAID
Junior Bridesmaid: Will you be my JUNIOR BRIDESMAID
(JB is DF's niece. She is 12 and the sweetest girl ever!)

I gave each girl a Disney plaque from Hallmark and wrapped the Mickey head in tissue and put it under the plaque. It was funny because each girl would open the box, see the plaque and think that was all that was in there. I would wait until they put everything back in the box and I would say "I think there was something else in there." And they would open the box back up and then unwrap the Mickey head. It was priceless!

Each plaque was specific to each girl. Here are what two of the plaques said...sorry I don't have every pic up on Photobucket yet.

I know one of the other plaques said "All you need is a little Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust!" It had a picture of Tinkerbell and was obviously a quote from Peter Pan.

I was extremely happy with how the Mickeys turned out! I plan on using the Cricut for a lot more of the wedding things I plan on making. I will post pictures once I have them made.

 

[PrincessFendi]

Four months from now we will be married!

 

[Kluhxrenay]

I know! The big day is def.getting closer!!