Okay okay okay! I know, it has been forever and I am terrible at updating. The thing is
nothing happened, then A LOT happened and then it took a while to get life back in order to have time to sit down and write this.
So here I am NOW
YAY! I am looking for a better way to embed photos in here can anyone help with this? For now I am going to direct link
but I think page owners dont generally like that. Any advice on this will be much appreciated.
OKAY SO.
Where to begin
Lets start with the little things.
We were talking Mimosas, and I was thinking mimosa bar or bellinis would also be quite nice! Such a cute setup here.
I just found this little detail idea I very much like this, and I think I can talk Katie into it
Initials and wedding date embroidered in
what looks to be the inside of the suit jacket pocket. Too cute.
I had a lot of trouble contacting the lady who had the lace bolero I posted earlier. Im a little upset, actually. I wrote her a message through Etsy asking for a swatch of the fabric in ivory to make sure it matched my dress. She wrote back to tell me that she does not send swatch. I wrote again and said I understand, lace is expensive, and requested to purchase a swatch. I heard nothing back for weeks (I was still in the decision process). Then I emailed her again, to tell her I was still waiting for a response, and began actively looking elsewhere. I am so, so glad I did. I still have never heard another word from the original seller. I contacted
Maira Eaton about
this shrug (it matches my dress so much better!). I asked for a swatch, and she replied immediately and I received a swatch about a week later. It matched perfectly. I placed my order, and she followed up (a couple times because I was bad at responding) to get a couple measurements. I received the shrug and it is GORGEOUS
just like the photo. She even sent a little matching hair pin with it so sweet. Unfortunately, it didnt fit at all around the arms. After talking with my mom about it she suggested I send it back to be fixed. So I emailed Maira last night (Christmas Eve!) and apologetically told her that I needed to send the item back to be fixed, and I was sure to mention that she didnt need to get back to me until well after the New Year. She e-mailed me back the very next day (Christmas Day!) to say SURE THING and make sure I had her address to send it back to. No questions, no fuss, just unexpectedly amazing service. I highly, highly recommend her for her outstanding communication and products that are exactly as pictured. She is WONDERFUL. I cant say enough how much I have loved working with her.
Next lets talk BRIDAL PARTY!!
Katie and I (mostly me) were unsure at first if we wanted to have a bridal party. I thought it might be easier and less chaotic and a nice money saving point to not have one at all. But then I thought of all the things a bridal party can and will do for the wedding as a whole and how important some people in my life are
and we decided YES. Lets go for it. Katie choose a good friend (who is also occasionally her flight instructor) Stephanie to be her Best Man (Best Bro as Katie likes to say it, yes Stephanie is female
we have gender roles all over the place here ☺ ). She is also considering her friend since infancy, Dani (female, short for Danielle), to be in the wedding party as well. I think its an awesome idea, but Katie is wavering because Danielle is still living in the South. Even though Dani is supportive and has never had a problem, it is still a difficult topic to approach in that surrounding. I think in the end Katie will ask Dani and all will be well and super happy. I love Dani and would LOVE to have her in the wedding ☺.
I had a hard time picking my bridal party. I have one friend (Dayl, female) who has been a close friend since we met well over ten years ago. For the most part though, besides Dayl, I dont have many friends who are still really IN my life on any regular basis. I actually had to sit down and chat with Katie to figure out who I wanted in my side of the bridal party, and we decided to keep it simple. I will ask Dayl and my great friend Justin to be my Bridesmaid and Bridesman.
Okay so THIS is the fun part. Katie and I are throwing a New Years Day tea party (what better way to kick off a new year than with friends and warm beverages and tiny sandwiches?!). Dayl is going to be in town (she is finishing her pharmacy phd in Washington) and I have told Justin that he MUST get the day off work to be at the tea. I ordered these items to POP the question to each of them:
Cufflinks in a light vintage blue for Justin and
for Dayl
There are going to be just a few close friends at the tea, and I am very, very excited to make a semi-public proposal! I will have to make sure to hand a camera off to someone to catch the moment !
On tooooo
CAKE!
Katie found this lovely cake (I cant tell you how many times we have watched Tangled or how obsessed I am with that movie)
I like it, but it is very dark
and we are having a morning ceremony with a brunch reception. I especially am not fond of the silhouette cityscape. But the idea is sound! So I went on the hunt and found this (birthday) cake:
The colors here are muuuch nicer and closer to what would work for us. Maybe lean away from purple and focus more on pale shades of pink and blue and lanterns (not 3D, Katie thinks the lanterns in this photo look like Captain Crunch!) maybe in a soft rosey gold color. A completely different topper and no ocean scene on the bottom
maybe a different phrase
but
yes! There is a start of a good thought here. It is especially nice since I will be walking down the aisle to I See The Light (have you heard it played on strings? It is SO beautiful .. check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q30sa7RO_Fk# ) so the cake will match that. OH! But we are cutting the cake to the Disney Mania version of A Dream is Wish
so maybe something like that
Oooh possibilities.
Speaking of music Katie decided she wanted to walk in (more casual than walking down the aisle) to Snow Whites Someday My Prince Will Come (it is very pretty played on the strings, also in the youtube link above). So thats adorable and I am all for it.
Okay here come the big changes. Are you ready?
We met with Joe, our sales rep, earlier this month. This was on the table for our meeting, I was so excited to see our names on Disney stationary!
He took us into the Wedding Pavilion, which was very grand to walk into! Much more than what photos will tell you. The stained glass was my favorite part. Joe told us it was added to block views of construction and intended to be temporary, but it has been so popular they plan to keep it! I guess the photographers like it too since it filters the light to make it softer.
Then he offered to snap a quick photo in front of the archway. If you squint and reeeally believe it, you can see the castle in the background.
He took us to see Luau Beach, which was intended to be our backup location
but we were underwhelmed by it in person.
In our meeting with Joe, he showed us some lovely pictures of Magic Kingdom weddings, and I was so excited! I asked if the ceremony was typically a little longer in the Magic Kingdom, since it is such a grand setting at such a large price. He said no .. actually, it is usually pretty short
and then a few minutes to snap a few photos and then right back up main street so the park can open. Huh. Okay. That totally makes sense
but lets take this. Put it together with the stress of NO DATE BOOKED until 6 months out
and couple that with the $10grand price tag that looks more and more difficult every day
and the Magic Kingdom isnt looking so appealing anymore. Hm.
I think during the meeting Katie and I were thinking the same thing, but werent ready to voice such doubts about something that meant so much to us. The next day we were walking through Epcot World Showcase and chatting
I told her I picked Luau Beach as our backup because originally she wanted a beach (toes in sand) wedding. But if I really had my choice, it would be somewhere in the World Showcase. Like Italy or France. (For those of you who dont know, I am a little obsessed with the World Showcase and would easily spend several days of a Disney Trip there if Katie would let me! Also, Duffy is my favorite Disney Character and just happens to be the World Showcase mascot! LOVE!) Katie says
well
I am half Italian
And then something amazing happens. I forgot to mention that Katies parents were also in Disney on this trip (it wasnt a together trip, but a
we are coming to and lets hang out some trip). So. The Amazing thing. We mention this thought process to Katies parents (maaaybe Italy
?) and
her mom says WELL HECK! Lets go look at it!!!. Katie and literally almost fell over or stopped breathing or something because .. WHAT!? Did Katies Mom just ask to do something wedding related with us!?? OH HECK YEAH LETS GO LOOK NOW! Now before you change your mind
(we could hardly believe that she had .. I mean
it was so unexpected that she would want to even think about or mention but she wanted to go look at a venue choice with us?!!).
So we did. And its awesome. And perfect in a whole different way. And by the way, my dress will look awesome there. I was having trouble reconciling my ivory dress with the blue-white of Cinderellas Castle
and the Italy Pavilion screams shades of ivory in a lovely way. And there is
a dias! Like .. a tiny stage! It is so grand! It could be so beautifully formal! And less than half the cost and we can book 12 months out and HELLO ITS IN EPCOT!!
So we are booking the Italy Pavilion for Thursday, May 1, 2014 .. and while we are at it we love the Italy location for the dessert party too (the smoke from Illuminations seems to always head towards the UK)
so yes. Oh and we still love the attic. So thats the big change!! Italy Pavilion ceremony, The Attic for brunch reception, and the (smaller) Italy location for the Fireworks Dessert Party. SO. EXCITED.
On the topic of dessert parties
we know it is probably not an option, but the answer is always NO until you ask ☺. We are wondering how much it would cost to buy out all of the reservations for the Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert party
and if we could even do that at all. Because that would be brilliant -- Magic Kingdom and Wishes dessert party? How unbelievably cool would that be? I really doubt they would let us
but we are going to see what they say when we ask !
Speaking of asking
we asked about having the Dapper Dans perform
and Joe looked into it
and its been done before !! So we got a ballpark price quote and confirmation that YES WE CAN BOOK THE DAPPER DANS!!!! This MUST happen.
Katie and I are now deciding between a few characters we love and want. Mickey and Minnie (classic and not to be overlooked). Duffy and Figment (our respective favorites and BOTH Epcot mascots! They will be in the wedding somewhere
), and Katies childhood favorites, Chip and Dale. There is time to decide, and to find out if they even still have the full size person Figment costume (though they are hinting they are bringing the Dream Finder back
and that would be stupendous).
So there are the big changes since we last talked!
AND ONE MORE!
I saved the best for last. Arent I nice?
Okay this one is really big. Really, really big.
I work at the airport, and last Thursday my Dad flew through and had a long layover. I was so happy to see him, I never get enough time with my Dad. He asked about our recent trip to Disney and I told him about the change in plans and how much money it would save
and then the amazing happened. In a nutshell
Dad is going to help pay for the wedding. I cant explain how much it meant to me
to go from wondering if he would attend to the amazing gift of financial support. And at Christmas time. And
I was overwhelmed and I cried and I still can hardly believe it.
I am a very lucky girl indeed.
The only issue besides price is that lassi doesnt really make sense in Italy & & but maybe we can go with it anyway.
