Debra + Richard's Disney Wedding 2014

[djsmith]

Hi sweetie.
Sorry I have taken so long to comment in your thread, but I am now all caught up with your plans.
I am so excited that you have decided on the Courtyard for your wedding!!
I am sure you will love it. It really is such a pretty spot for small, intimate weddings and always looks beautiful when done up in some floral for a wedding.
I would also recommend looking at the possibility of using an outside vendor for your cake. We used Heather at 'It's Tasty Too' and she was amazing!!! My cake was just as I imagined it would be and was absolutely delicious!!! It lasted really well too, and was still moist and fresh several days later. She offered a good range of cake flavours and fillings and was extremely reasonably priced.

http://www.itstastytoo.com/index.html

Good luck with dress shopping!!!!

sorry i'm just replyin now i thought i had done but i must'v planned to reply then convinced myself i had lol
I love the courtyard an i think its jus perfect for us with us having such a small wedding an me not liking being centre of attention i'l feel all shut off in our own wee world i'm sure!
Also thank u for recommending its tasty too for a cake. got prices back for them today(minus decoration costs so will see how much that adds on doubt it'd b took much) but basically i think it'l b bout half the price of the cake package just marry offer. Did u cut the cake etc urself or did u hire someone from the swan to cut an serve for u?
not found my perfect dress yet but gettin more an more of an idea wht i dont want lol more dress shoppin next week

Debra
xXx

 

[BritKansas]

Firstly Congratulations! Everything looks good so far & good luck with your dress shopping next week! Can't wait to read more and follow your planning

 

[djsmith]

Firstly Congratulations! Everything looks good so far & good luck with your dress shopping next week! Can't wait to read more and follow your planning

Thank u Brit an glad ur following along! a quick update about dresses comin in a few moments

 

[djsmith]

Ok well there doesnt seem to be too much to update so this might be a bit short.
Dress shopping in glasgow didnt turn out 2 be as good as i hoped. Had made a list of shops i wanted to visit so i phoned and made appointments. the 3rd shop i phoned pointed out there price range to me(without me asking) an i realised what they're cheapest dresses were priced at were already over my flexi none confirmed budget of what i planned 2 spend on my dress in my head. so because of that each time i phoned a shop from then on i asked for there price range. This lead to a few shops being scored off the list! its a shame but i figure whats the point trying on dresses i cant afford only 2 b very disappointed if i found one i loved but could get it .
I did find a dress i love to pieces, an after having it on i wasnt interested in tryin any others on the problem is that its from a store in glasgow that also has a store in edinburgh but if i was to buy that dress they'd not send it to the edinburgh branch for my fittings/alterations. This annoyed me a bit as altho glasgow is only 45mins-1hour45mins away depending on whether u take the train, drive myself or get a bus/coach thro going to the edinburgh branch would be so much more convenient both money an time wise. so after thinkin bout it i decided not 2 put a deposit down on the dress an had the idea of visitin the edinburgh store to see if they stock the same dress and if i still love it if i try it on there then it could be all good
second dress disappointment. We visited the shop that stocks the dress my sister tried on at the wedding fair. it was kind of a pointless trip as the only thing she could try on was the same dress in purple again. Altho they had it in the jade green colour that she wanted to try it was only on a display manniquin in a size 6. tht was several sizes too small for her an the sales assistant wasnt too keen on taking it off the manniquin to even attempt to try it on the plus side she still absolutely loves the dress an she either needs 2 pick the colour without seeing both on or she'l need to keep going back and asking if they'v gotten more sizes in stock. Also when she tried it on at the wedding fair it had white ribbon in the back, in the shop it had purple to match the dress. I cant remember what my sister prefered but i remember me prefering the white and my mum prefering the purple!
despite not tryin the dress on in the colour we wanted i liked chatting 2 the saleswoman in this shop. turns out she is gettin married in cyprus grove in florida next year! it was great talking to her about her wedding plans as well as mine and she shared some good tips on things like which airlines will let you take your dress on as hand luggage in a box and which ones wont and which ones will only view you as a wedding party if you'v booked the whole wedding through them etc.

in other news i'v emailed 3 different photographers about prices and to discuss all the things we want to do. This is being quite a slow process as it either takes a while to get a reply or i take a few days to reply as i havnt had much time recently and its only gonna get busier as christmas approaches.
must email its too tasty back with more info on what sort of design we'd be looking for.....
have also emailed beaute speciale about hair and make up for me and my mum and sister and for FMIL and FSIL. havnt gotten reply from them yet in about a month so must chase that up.

more news is that fiances family have been looking at florida brochures and FSIL is looking up every single ride online/ride videos on youtube. They'r getting super excited! My nephew whos dino mad at the minute can already tell you what characters he's gonna see and who as he puts it "i no need to see them" so he's definitely excited about jurassic park, he also needs to see harry potter and lightning mcqueen and shrek and mickey and the simpsons and the toy story gang and possibly woody woodpecker(depending on how he feels about woody when you ask him). the ones he doesnt want to see when shown pictures are minnie, donald, daisy, goofy, pluto, any of the princesses, spider man, stitch, any whinnie the pooh charaters, the cat in the hat and stitch. I'm sure by the time he's 5 and he's there he'l wanna meet them all but for a 3 and 1/2 year old this isnt the bunch of characters i thought he would and wouldnt wanna see lol
sticking with fiances family after looking at the brochures and realising theres more to florida than rollercoasters, fiances nana an papa are again talking about coming. I think what has swung it for them was the idea of seeing animals at busch gardens and seaworld that they could go there and have so much to see without going on any kind of ride. His nana really wants to go now and his papa has agreed to go speak to the doctor get a proffessional opinion on him flying and the heat etc. This is a BIG step for them considering there was one point where they were dead set on the wedding not even being in florida lol dunno if they'l actually make it but we'l see what happens.

Well that turned out to be quite a long update! to anyone still following along thanks and i'l keep you posted on anything interesting worth updating on

Debra
xXx

 

[djsmith]

Nothing new to update right now on the wedding front apart from the fact that me and Rich are going to a big wedding fair today! was originally goinog with my mum bcos he wasnt too fussed about going but its my mums birthday today so i kinda bribed him with the idea of free cake tasting and the like and he agreed to come so i'm excited to be going with him this time and starting to plan things together although i'm a controlling rich did say he wanted to pick the reception etc so if anything he might be able to pick the venue, cake maker, and entertainment all in once place today! i can hope lol

Will update later with any interesting wedding developments.

In other news I got a wee bit of adrenaline fix the other weekend. went to alton towers with some brownie friends for someone's 18th birthday. It was a fun weekend we had a laugh but with it being halloween and the english school holidays the park was very busy. We waited 2 hours for a few of the big rollercoasters which i hate doing and if i wasnt with people who hadnt been before i wouldnt have waited that length of time. Even after being in the park for 2 days there was still 3 big rides that we didnt do which was quite gutting but i'v been on 2 of them before and we'r planning on going back to alton towers with my parents and sister and her boyfriend next may (it looks like the boyfriend is permanent and will be coming to the wedding but he is not a theme park or ride person at all so we're trying to break him in slowly before florida in 2014 lol)

Have a good day everyone! I'm looking forward to mine!
Debra
xXx

 

[djsmith]

ok so the wedding fair was fun apart from rich getting bored very easily lol 2 many vendors talking 2 u bout the same things over an over again lol A few good things came out of it though.

1. Richard has decided he'd like to go paintballing as part of his stag do. Will leave that 2 him and the guys to plan lol

2.After tasting loads of cakes we'v picked 2 of the tiers flavours for our home receptions cake. We'l definitely be having a layer of vanilla sponge and a layer of toffee i also tried a "bounty" coconut cake that i loved so this is a possibility dont think rich is too keen on it (he didnt try it) but we'l see

3. We spoke to quite a few places for the reception that are in edinburgh. There's now a few places we need to go visit and once we book the flights etc next spring we need to get one booked asap. Richard has the final say on the reception so will see how he gets on with that its the only thing he needs to organise lol

4.We also spoke to a few Dj's and we got on great with 3 of them. They were very easy to talk to seemed to be on the same wavelength as us and all have had many many years experience doing weddings so that another decision we'll need to make and book when we book the reception.

5. last but not least we have some major news on the rings!!!!
from meeting a vendor at the wedding fair we arranged for one of their representatives to come to our flat and show us the collection of rings. The home visit was amazing and so relaxed and we loved every minute of it. it was magical

mines is white gold with diamonds on each side and sits really well against the square diamond in my engagement ring.
Richard's is white gold with the gold square thing design all around the band (thats the only picture they had of the ring they couldnt get one with a better colouring)

they were within budget (just!!) but they came with 4 free gifts and then there was a scratch card that we got given at the wedding fair that we scratched off revealing the highest prize bracket!
so the gifts will be a set of best man cufflinks, 2 pairs of silver cubic zirconia earrings, and a heart shaped pendant with a small cubic zirconia in it. I'm sure my scratch card prize i picked was also a necklace but i cant remember exactly what it looked like and there are not any pictures on their website anymore.


So i think thats everything for the wedding updates. In normal life i'm looking forward to putting my xmas tree up next weekend, decorating the flat and since all the xmas present shopping is done it just needs wrapped and handed out

Hope you all have a merry christmas and a happy new year! Enjoy the festivities

Debra
xXx

 

[rachaelk101]

Those are gorgeous rings!! You have some great pictures and ideas! My fiance is from Scotland and we are trying to tie a Scottish theme into our wedding so I am looking forward to watching your posts to see if you do as well!

 

[djsmith]

Those are gorgeous rings!! You have some great pictures and ideas! My fiance is from Scotland and we are trying to tie a Scottish theme into our wedding so I am looking forward to watching your posts to see if you do as well!

hi rachael, thanks for the comments! i love my ring can not wait till i get 2 wear it every day still waiting on them being delivered everythings sorta grinded 2 a halt over xmas. i dunno how much scottish stuff we'l have in the wedding bar the kilts lol but u never know there might be some scottish things that creep in

 

[Summer Daydream]

Ahh I missed the ring post! I love them. They are so unique. I looked up that show you were talking about, Don't Tell the Bride, and I am with you. Why doesn't the bride school the groom in what she wants before hand? Oh, and my parents are looking for the cake topper for you...they packed them away for safe keeping and can't find them now

 

[djsmith]

Ahh I missed the ring post! I love them. They are so unique. I looked up that show you were talking about, Don't Tell the Bride, and I am with you. Why doesn't the bride school the groom in what she wants before hand? Oh, and my parents are looking for the cake topper for you...they packed them away for safe keeping and can't find them now

Thanks! originally i thought rich would'v went for a plain quite thick white gold wedding band but now that he's picked that one i actually see why he did its so him, thinkin bout it if he gets any jewellary its always sorta tribal so 2 me his ring fits in wi that

i know i'v watched so many of them an some come out with amazin weddings that were either exactly as they wanted or better than the bride could'v imagined herself but so many of them get it all sooooo horribly wrong. i saw someone who wanted their bride 2 feel like a medieval princess so he made her walk through a muddy field in her dress before he came along an rescued her on a horse. saw another one where the bride went 2 thorpe park(a theme park near london) to go on a rollercoaster in her wedding dress as thats where they first met or had there first date or something. an another one made his bride sky dive or bungee jump in her dress! Although they r fun unique ideas none of the brides were impressed wi doing it in their wedding dresses! An the amount of them that get the dresses completely wrong is amazin almost no one gets it right. Like we both said why would u not just school them on every tiny detail of what the wedding should be even write it all on a piece of paper that could be kept off camera and checked like at night or something the cameras dont film the groom every second of the day just when he's doin wedding stuff lol

wow that turned into a long paragragh lol

an thanks for getting them to look for me they sound like me i'm really bad for putting things in a safe place an then forgetting an never finding them again. Still lots of time tho i have 6months till i can ask for my date but only 4 months till i can book the flights etc fingers crossed when we book flights i can then get a date within the 2 weeks we'r there

Debra
xXx

 

[xAshleyx]

Debra. I have to catch up on all of your posts. But love the rings !!
So great you were able to win free gifts

 

[djsmith]

Debra. I have to catch up on all of your posts. But love the rings !!
So great you were able to win free gifts

i'v just caught up on ur PJ, an left a massive comment lol

thanks i cant wait to get my ring in person an b able to wear it for the rest of my life, an i was over the moon wi the free gifts, i like gettin stuff for free/saving money lol

 

[djsmith]

ok so this morning i got the most exciting piece of mail ever! our wedding rings!!!!! before i post pictures etc I just want to say that the previous picture i posted of the rings is actually wrong. thats not my ring. when the woman came to us with all the rings i had narrowed it down to 2 rings that i liked. When they posted this picture for me i didnt think it was the one i'd picked out of my top 2 but i thought that maybe i'd just forgotten which one i'd finally picked. But now my ring is here i realised they'd posted my second choice but have thankfully sent me the correct ring! so i guess all is well in the end

so here is everything

the necklace i picked for winning their scratchcard prize giveaway thing

again, close up of the diamond details

best man cuff links(free gift)

heart shaped necklace (free gift ) planning to give this to my sister to wear on the day if she wishes or as her bridesmaids gift

diamond earrings (free gifts ) one pair for my sister again to wear on the day if she wishes or as her bridesmaids gift. i think i'l just keep the other pair for myself lol

Now for the rings
Richards ring (in box)

out box

my ring (in box)

out box

i absolutely love my ring so glad i picked it over the other one, have had it on to check the size and it sits perfectly with my engagement ring.
Rich also had his on and it also fits his finger perfectly.

So thats all the excitement of my saturday morning shared with u all. The only other wedding updates i have so far is that richard's sister and brother in law have kindly offered to pay for our invites as a wedding gift for us. i confirmed with her tht this covers all stationary basically so it includes the ceremony invitations, day of programmes(i may possible do these as a DIY myself though if i come up with an idea i'm happy with/able to make) and the evening at home reception invitations. i'm looking for idea samples from local invite makers to see what we want and there is also the possibility that richard's sisters best friend could actually make everything for us. She's very creative and made all her own wedding invites so this could be an option too.

So thats everything wedding related so far, thanks for following along everyone
Debra
xXx

 

[Summer Daydream]

Yay for getting your rings!!! I love your ring, it is so pretty. Your DF's ring is so unique. I think you are so lucky to have won those prizes...they all look great!
Hurrah on the stationary being paid for by your future sister in law. You could probably have awesome stuff made for you on Etsy.

 

[djsmith]

Yay for getting your rings!!! I love your ring, it is so pretty. Your DF's ring is so unique. I think you are so lucky to have won those prizes...they all look great!
Hurrah on the stationary being paid for by your future sister in law. You could probably have awesome stuff made for you on Etsy.

Thanks I love my ring too i'l admit i was a bit unsure of Richard's when he first picked it but now that its here i think its perfect for him suits his taste perfectly.

 

[djsmith]

So i know i'v not updated in a while, been really busy with my brownie unit getting ready for camp and preparing a presentation at work and getting everything ready for the upcoming parents evening at work. But I have a bunch of news for you all.

Firstly Erin from JustMarry! emailed me back this morning to say the Swan hotel had approved our date!!!!
We'll be getting married on the 4th of June 2014 at the west courtyard at the Swan.

(photos from Joanne, hope she doesnt mind me borrowing them!)

Our ceremony will begin at 11am followed by our cake cutting, and a mimosa bar and any toasts if my dad or Richard want to make them. Neither are any good at toasts so we might just not have any. After the ceremony and cake and mimosas we'll do group pictures around the Swan as well as couple pictures then we're going to the polynesian resort for an hour-ish, for more couple photos. We would then head back to the Swan to meet up with our guests again. We're going to have dinner at the swan around 6pm. We're thinking Garden Grove. Any suggestions what we can do/what our guests can do between the mimosas and cake and dinner at night?????

We can now officially book our photography and videography as well
We're using Vicki&David Arnt for photography and PD video for videography.

We can also now book our at home reception. We've been in talks with a planner at the Marriot Hotel in Edinburgh. She's been holding a date for us for the reception (think its the 26th of July 2014). I dont have the best pictures of the room, just these promotional one they sent us when we met the planner at a wedding fair. The room wont be set up quite the same as this. There will be 12 round tables set around a dance floor and we'v spoken to them about playing our video or sllideshow of photos which my planner says they can do.

(where the long top table is we'l hav a round table reserved for us and our immediate family, then there will be a dance floor infront of that with the disco dj at the other end of the dance floor and the rest of the tables around the dance floor.)

We've found the 2 villas we will stay in during the holiday but the uk travel companies are trying to sell their package holidays to florida and want us to take one of their villas or hotels instead of booking our own. So we need to hold off until end of May or June until they release their flight only or flydrive prices.

Originally we wanted to go for 3 weeks but it seems other than me and Richard no one can get the time off work or afford to go to Florida for 3 weeks. So when the prices come out we'll do the maths and decide if we're going to be in Florida for 2 or 3 weeks

We've still not completely decided on what hotel to stay in for our honeymoon yet. At first we wanted to stay at the poly but thats gonna be too expensive, so we're now considering either the Swan or the Caribbean Beach.

I also bought some fishbowls and mirrors which we could use as centerpieces for our at home reception but I'm having a hard time deciding what to put in them. Any ideas????? it'd be great if my brownies could contribute to them or help make the centerpieces in some way. They're aged from 7-10years and are really excited about me getting married and we have lots of wedding related activities planned for them to do next April/May before the wedding. I'm stumped as to what I/they could do for the centerpieces though

I'm now talking to the stationary maker so hoping she can make some save the dates for us and then she can get to work on making the rest of the stationary a little later in the year.

I also have my wedding shoes bought and I get to try my dress on again tomorrow I have a friend who is making a tiara for me as well.

I'm sure there is more to update and more that I need to do but i'l update again when i get a chance to take some pictures of things.

Debra
xXx

 

[djsmith]

another picture of our reception room from a slightly different angle.

when i get a chance to upload some more photos i'l do another update over the next few days

 

[Summer Daydream]

Yay for securing your date. I still have three months to wait and it's killing me! Maybe your guests could go mini golf or explore around the boardwalk area in between!
I like the reception site too! I can't wait to see your dress...take pictures so I can see it! And I am so glad you booked the Arndts! They have fabulous photos!! Sorry I missed your last update. I'm a slacker lol.

 

[djsmith]

ok so i'v got loads of changes and updates to do today now that i finally have a day with nothing planned And what better thing to start with than the dress
i've been back to the glasgow store and had my dress on another 2 times, once with my two best friends who wont make it to florida and once again with my mum and sister and it is now ordered and being made and should arrive at the store in time for my fittings next year. it comes in 8 weeks before our wedding date and i get two fittings, one to see what alterations need done and one to check everythin is fine once the alterations are done. I need to send a letter to head office to "change" our wedding date as they know it as we'll be flying out before the wedding and i dont want it to arrive too late so i'm changing it because i'm scared it might not be ready in time
anywayz here it is

the website image (this is diamond white mine is ivory)

heres me in my dress, mine wont have the train, it will be altered so it is permanently buttoned up at the back and fanned out in a fan shape since i dont want a train at all lol

not sure on the veil?

close up of neckline

close up of hip detailling sits just above my left hip

I also got my shoes, not exactly what i wanted but i couldnt find anything i liked in a full court shoe so these will do and they're super comfy and quite cute

and finally my tiara i sent a friend of mine who makes jewellary some ideas of tiaras i liked and she totally pulled it out of the bag it came out so much better than i could've expected and i absolutely love it

 

[djsmith]

so i dont get my nails done very often as i need to keep them short and clean for work so i just dont bother making them look nice since any nailart of extensions or nail varnish would just need to get taken off on a monday morning before work.
But for the wedding i definitely want some gorgeous looking nails and i'm not very artist to do it myself so i'v been looking at what local people can do and have found these 3 that i love ............

they'd all be purple to match the flowers and colour scheme i just cant decide which design i like best