DisneyGroom POV: Heather and John's Wishes Wedding 10/24/12- Hallowedding LOA Signed!

[johnscafide]

NOTICE:
Anyone in the family googling our names for the wedding, may be directed to this forum. Please note that we are currently working on a wedding website and this is not the site. This is our Planning Journal, meant for reading about our ideas, plans and other surprises. Feel free to read through, just be aware you may not be surprised. Our wedding website, when available, will be listed at the top of this notice. Thanks!

Table of Contents (Page number):

• About us: #1
• Rehearsal Dinner (for wedding party): October 23, 2012
• Rehearsal Dinner location: Ohana at the Polynesian Resort
• Wedding Date: October 24, 2012

• Ceremony: 2:30pm @ The Wedding Pavilion
• Pre-Reception: 3:30pm @ The Summerhouse in the Grand Floridian
• Reception: 5:00pm @ The Grand Floridian Ballroom
• Dessert Party: 8:30pm - 10pm @ The Grand Floridian Marina
• Engagement: #1
• Engagement Book: #2
• Monograms: #3
• Theme: #3
• 1st Major Setback: #4
• Date Change: #6
• Choice 1 for Engagement Photos: #6
• Wedding Photography: #6
  

**More to come**

It's interesting; I wanted to do a PJ for a while now, but felt I didn't have a story to tell. Or at least something others would want to read. However the more I read other PJ's, the more I wanted to share our story.

WHO ARE WE?
My name is John Scafide, I am 26, full time sheetmetal assembler building a world-renowned helicopter. I spent majority of my working life in retail, inspiring lifestyle changes in people all over the world.

My fiance's name is Heather Smith. She is 25, an assistant general manager at a famous food service store in the North East. She spent majority of her life in school, achieving her bachelor's degree in Business Entrepreneurship.

HAWAII INCIDENT
We met in August of 2005 at the retail store where we both worked. She worked there for a little while, and while it was supposed to be a temporary job for her, it ended up being a little longer, which gave me some time to get to know her. It was love at first sight. I knew when we were first dating that she was one I didn't want to be without. We started dating October 10th, 2005, which is the reason of us choosing that date for our Wedding.

A funny story (somewhat ironic) was when we first said we loved each other. I was playing a small, but maybe not a funny joke on her by saying I was moving to Hawaii for good. I asked her to come with me, and to live a new life together. I mentioned I didn't want to be where I was anymore, and was packing up my stuff and leaving. I think she thought I was kidding, and surely it must be a joke, but I kept insisting I was leaving. To make it more believable, I created a fake boarding pass with an airliner, and created a confirmation page saying I was leaving from Philadelphia to Hawaii with a few stops in between. I sent her the pictures, and she stopped talking. She said she couldn't go anymore, couldn't just pack up and leave her life. I was about 45 minutes away from her, and we were online, so I couldn't see her reaction, however I knew something was wrong. She kept pleading me not to leave, and from her voice, I knew she was really believing in my story.

I knew I had to go see her, straighten this out, ASAP. I didn't want to continue this fake story anymore, so I traveled to see her. On my way there, I told her the story was fake, and I wasn't moving to Hawaii. She didn't know that to think, other than why would this guy who I barely know ask to move to Hawaii and create a fake boarding pass as a joke? We spent a few minutes talking, she was crying, and I felt so bad. The only thing I remember from our conversation was the last few lines. She said she didn't and couldn't just leave, nor could she see me leave. "You can't leave, because I love you!" It hit me-- How could I have done that to her? "I love you too", I said, and from there, we started a life full of magical memories, awesome dinners and many incredible Disney trips.

How is this story relevant? Since then, whenever we spoke about our wedding, we always said we wanted the honeymoon in Hawaii, to always remember what ended up being a laugh, but signify the first time we said we loved each other.

DISNEY LIFE
Well now, with that out of the way, let me explain our Disney past.

I personally have been to Disney about 8 times, starting when I was around 14, staying at the All Star Music. When I met Heather, she had never been to Disney, and being a Disney fanatic, I knew I had to show her the greatest place on earth! I surprised her on her birthday our second year together, and she absolutely loved it. We stayed at the All Star resort. She was hooked, so I knew we had to go again. We went again, and again... oh, and again, with the last resort staying at Animal Kingdom. It was a tradition for us, we have went every year so far, and it was something special.


ENGAGEMENT
Over the years, we talked about us getting married, but being me, I held back. I said yea yea, but never went into much detail. We did mention something crazy one day a couple years back that we should do a Disney Wedding if we were to get married. We thought it would be a crazy idea, but we never fully looked into it. And, as I said, I was always pushing away from talking about it, so wedding in general wasn't a hot topic.

In the last year or so, we both moved out of our parents house, getting our own place. In the back of my mind, I knew I'd always want to spend my life with Heather. At this point, the thoughts of proposing to her was getting real and I just needed the right time. So, me being a crazy surprise planner that I am, came up with an elaborate 1 year-in-the-making proposal that would culminate on Christmas.

The entire ring process was daunting at first, but by the end became an awesome experience. I found that learning about the rings and understanding them and their styles was so easy when finally choosing the ring for her. I had experience in a retail background so the process was so easy (yes, even a caveman could do it).

To have a magical Disney touch to it (because by this time, we knew, if we were to get married, we would do it in Disney), I created a Photo book using iPhoto on the mac, which had all our Disney photos over the years on it. It was really amazing, and I will be sharing the book to everyone in a future post. It was super awesome, and it really topped my expectations. I decided to sit down with her on Christmas day, have a few songs playing in the background, lights dim, and look through all the pictures from our Disney trips in the book, and at the end, it show Cinderella and Prince Charming with the words, "Then something happened...". It would be then when I would propose. It worked so much as planned. She was in tears (obviously), and everything fell into place. From that exact minute, we started our special Disney wedding planning.


More to come.... Including changes to our original plans, meeting David Tutera and saving for the wedding...

[Fay]

Wow... that was a lot to take in! Congratulations to you both!

It engagement story sounds cool... Cant wait to see!

What was meeting David like!?

We are also getting married next year, more of us 2012 weddings are sneeking out of the woodwork! Woop woop!

XX

[LuvLuvLuv]

Can't wait to hear more! Hope you had a great time at the showcase!! I saw you were the other winner of the Passporter book!! Congrats!!

[Sccrmnky2005]

CONGRATS!!! I can't wait to hear more about your wedding and plans!

[johnscafide]

Originally Posted by Fay

Wow... that was a lot to take in! Congratulations to you both!

It engagement story sounds cool... Cant wait to see!

What was meeting David like!?

We are also getting married next year, more of us 2012 weddings are sneeking out of the woodwork! Woop woop!

XX

Fay,

As a guy, meeting David was amazing. People may not hear that often, but it was very cool to get great insight on his opinions and having him up close and personable. Watching his show every week added to that fuel.

2012 weddings are going to be awesome! A while back we mentioned something about doing a 10/10/10 wedding, but I'm glad we waited for the right time and not rushed it.

[johnscafide]

Originally Posted by LuvLuvLuv

Can't wait to hear more! Hope you had a great time at the showcase!! I saw you were the other winner of the Passporter book!! Congrats!!

Thank you!! It was so cool to see Carrie there and to win the book. I had the eBook, and was about to get the book before the trip, but because of me waiting til the last minute, I knew I wouldn't get it in time. Good thing I waited! I had a blast! Where did you guys stay?

[johnscafide]

Originally Posted by Sccrmnky2005

CONGRATS!!! I can't wait to hear more about your wedding and plans!

Thanks!! Can't wait to share!

[sw33t_angel]

Welcome & Congrats!! Can't wait to hear all about your wedding plans!!

[KristiLyn]

Welcome and congrats!!! Can't wait to hear all of your plans

[johnscafide]

To catch up on what has happened since Christmas, it was pretty simple. We didn't have much going on, except for ideas being flown. We wanted simple, but unique. Something catchy that isn't from your typical wedding. However, I am a sucker when it comes to the Wedding Pavillion. That was the one place that I really wanted the ceremony to take place. I mean, what other place does everything think of the moment they say wedding at Disney?

Anyways, I really thought it would be easy to decide on the ceremony, since it was like the only location. Boy was I wrong. I guess, before proposing, I listened to Carrie's Podcast, and read a little here and there, but never paid close attention to locations. Heather had other sights set for ceremony location. Sea Breeze Point she wanted. It was an interesting location, not really my cup of tea, but very unique, none-the-less, which was what we were trying to go after. For months we went back and forth on either location. We asked a lot of questions on forums, saw a lot of pictures, but we knew we had to go see it in person for the real decision.

Around January, I noticed the registration for the Bridal Showcase. It was a week before her birthday, and it seemed fit we go to have a lot of our questions answered. I'll talk more about the showcase in a later post, but I'll say, it did help us tremendously!!

So, what have we made decisions on so far?

• Well, we are narrowing the bridal party to 3 on each side.
• We also have a guest list of about 80, but we have a strong feeling it will end up being around 40ish when it's all said and done.
• We want a buffet (or how our Consultant put it during the showcase, Action Stations!)
• We definitely want Mickey and Minnie to cut in on our first dance.
• Since going to the showcase, we changed our locations from Reception at Italy, to Summerhouse at the Grand Floridian.

The last one seemed to be an easy decision once we went to Florida for the showcase. But that story is for another day!

[LuvLuvLuv]

Originally Posted by johnscafide

Thank you!! It was so cool to see Carrie there and to win the book. I had the eBook, and was about to get the book before the trip, but because of me waiting til the last minute, I knew I wouldn't get it in time. Good thing I waited! I had a blast! Where did you guys stay?

We stayed at AKV Kidani--way to far for my liking. We were there early in the waiting area by the phones... I was assuming that was you and your DF waiting in the lobby as well. All my paperwork said it started at 9... and I thought we were running late It was another one of those "hurry up and wait" situations I was with my stepmom. Did your DF try on any dresses?? Did she find one she loved?

[TiggerTink]

I'm interested in hearing why you chose Summerhouse!!! That is our ideal location, as well, but we are on the fence about it; mostly due to concerns about the weather. (10/2012 wedding)
I was told that summerhouse wouldnt be available for a private event around our requested date of 10.11.12, but if the venue is as amazing as I think it is, I'd be willing to change dates.
Congrats!!!

[Fay]

Hey again,

Its a shame they dont show davids show here on UK tele! When we visit Orlando we will definatly be tuning in!

We are also having a consultation with Good Golly Miss Holly for our wedding cake... she was on UK tele, the food network Challenge - and Cup cake wars! Very cool! lol our claim to fame any way! hehe

Hurry up and get some photos up on here! By the way... being a bloke whats your opinion on flowers if any? I keep asking greg questions about ''pretty'' things and he says I will like any thing you like... ?? Is this true!? lol

XXX

[johnscafide]

Originally Posted by TiggerTink

I'm interested in hearing why you chose Summerhouse!!! That is our ideal location, as well, but we are on the fence about it; mostly due to concerns about the weather. (10/2012 wedding)
I was told that summerhouse wouldnt be available for a private event around our requested date of 10.11.12, but if the venue is as amazing as I think it is, I'd be willing to change dates.
Congrats!!!

Hey!! You are having a wedding 10/11/12? Awesome! We are doing ours 10/10/12... I'm sure hoping it's not true about the location of summerhouse not being available. Our consultant suggested summerhouse to us when we told him we wanted an outdoor location in October. I'm SOOOOO hoping we can get it.

I'll provide more details on it soon!! The whole choosing Summerhouse over Italy is pretty interesting, so I'll explain in detail in my next update.

[johnscafide]

Originally Posted by Fay

Hey again,

Its a shame they dont show davids show here on UK tele! When we visit Orlando we will definatly be tuning in!

We are also having a consultation with Good Golly Miss Holly for our wedding cake... she was on UK tele, the food network Challenge - and Cup cake wars! Very cool! lol our claim to fame any way! hehe

Hurry up and get some photos up on here! By the way... being a bloke whats your opinion on flowers if any? I keep asking greg questions about ''pretty'' things and he says I will like any thing you like... ?? Is this true!? lol

XXX

Fay,

I believe (I might be wrong) that all of David Tutera's My Fair Wedding episodes are on iTunes. Even if you don't have an iPod or iPhone, you can still watch on your computer.

Photos are coming this weekend, I promise!!

You know, flowers are tricky with a guy. I mean, we know we would like anything that our DF would like and sometimes we may offer an opinion or two (just something small) about a color or style. But believe me, I think there is more going on in the mind of a future Disney Groom than the flowers. Honestly, I'm more interested in the choices of decor than flowers. But eh, if he says he's into anything you like, it's just that much easier when it's decision time. And believe me, that isn't a bad thing, it's more of a trust factor, knowing you would pick the best options.