Amanda & Jeff 12/7/15 - YCG/Marina/Ariel's/France - Update 10/25: Napa Rose Chefs Counter!

[DisneyFirefly]

Out of curiosity, what's Flutterfetti?

 

[Lauren1027]

So late to you PJ, but following along because we have so much in common! I'm an Orlando lady too, who recently got engaged on the Disney Dream! We're planning an early-December 2016 wedding and I'm hoping we can spring for a Wishes wedding at Sea Breeze Point and Ariel's.

 

[Amanda132]

Out of curiosity, what's Flutterfetti?

http://www.flutterfetti.com/wedding-confetti/

I first read about Flutter Fetti on Facebook. It's similar to a confetti cannon, but it's little sticks that your guests set off to throw the confetti. I've heard that Disney charges a clean up fee, but even with the fee, it's still cheaper than a confetti cannon through Disney (which is like $750). But the Flutter Fetti sticks themselves don't count toward your enhancement minimums, obviously, because you're not getting them through Disney.

So late to you PJ, but following along because we have so much in common! I'm an Orlando lady too, who recently got engaged on the Disney Dream! We're planning an early-December 2016 wedding and I'm hoping we can spring for a Wishes wedding at Sea Breeze Point and Ariel's.

Yay, thanks for following along! Congrats on your engagement! You should start a PJ too.

 

[Lauren1027]

http://www.flutterfetti.com/wedding-confetti/

I first read about Flutter Fetti on Facebook. It's similar to a confetti cannon, but it's little sticks that your guests set off to throw the confetti. I've heard that Disney charges a clean up fee, but even with the fee, it's still cheaper than a confetti cannon through Disney (which is like $750). But the Flutter Fetti sticks themselves don't count toward your enhancement minimums, obviously, because you're not getting them through Disney.



Yay, thanks for following along! Congrats on your engagement! You should start a PJ too.

If we are able to do a Disney wedding, I DEFINITELY will. We've currently got the Orlando Science Center booked for backup.

 

[Doodlebug25413]

Following Along! I'm a hopeful Gazebo in April 2016 too!

 

[Amanda132]

If we are able to do a Disney wedding, I DEFINITELY will. We've currently got the Orlando Science Center booked for backup.

The Science Center is an awesome venue! We looked a little bit into other venues in Orlando (even though we really knew all along that we wanted Disney most), and that was one of my favorites!

Following Along! I'm a hopeful Gazebo in April 2016 too!

Thanks for following! The Gazebo is so so beautiful. I love that it really doesn't even need additional decor because it's basically pre-decorated with all the flowers all around.

 

[Amanda132]

I didn't think I had much to update you all on, but now that I'm thinking about it, I think I might actually have quite a bit!

To start with, in a previous post, I mentioned the favors and table names that we are getting through Disney Floral. I asked our florist for photos for us to reference, so I'll share them here!



These are the escort cards/favors that we're getting. They will be milk chocolate instead of white, with purple writing. They will have the guest's names and their table names on them.



And these are the table name signs. They're going to be silver with a dark purple border, to match our color scheme. Originally I thought we should cut these and make table signs ourselves, but now I'm reconsidering. We are paying a lot for them ($19.75 each), but with the other things we're cutting, we're getting pretty close to the enhancement minimum. Plus, it's a big convenience to not have to bother making them myself. So whether we keep these are not is still TBD.

Of course, we're not even completely decided on what to name the tables to begin with. We'll likely have five tables plus our own. Jeff likes the idea of naming them after the Disney Resorts worldwide (Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland), but I think it will be confusing for our non-Disney fan guests. I mean, they're basically all Disneylands but one.

One of our other ideas for table names, which is my favorite idea, is to name them after our favorite nighttime shows at the Disney Parks. They could be Wishes, IllumiNations, World of Color, Fantasmic, and Disneyland Forever (or Magical or Remember... Dreams Come True, since we haven't yet seen Disneyland Forever). I hope I can convince Jeff that this is the best idea.

Speaking of Jeff, we finally went shopping for his suit last weekend!



He's going to wear a regular black suit with a white shirt and purple tie. This isn't the actual tie he'll be wearing, but it worked for trying it on in the store. He also bought a vest, but I didn't like the way it looked under the suit. So he decided that he'll wear the suit without the vest for the ceremony, and for the reception, he'll switch from the suit jacket to the vest.



For the ties, I ordered from bows-n-ties.com. I was a little wary to use their bridesmaid dress matching tool, but for the super inexpensive price (less than $10/tie), I thought I'd give it a try. Plus they apparently have a pretty great return policy.

I signed up for their newsletter on their website and was sent a coupon for $10 off a purchase of $30 or more. Of course, my order came to $29.70 for three ties. So Jeff got to order an extra tie for himself, to put me over the $30. Since the tie he picked was only $9.90, my order actually went down to $29.60 after the coupon code! So I actually gained 10 cents by him getting that fourth tie.



The ties came this week, and I'm extremely happy with them. I knew the colors wouldn't be exact since the ties are a shinier fabric than the chiffon dresses, but I think they're pretty darn close! Woot, that's one less thing for me to worry about!

Once I got the ties taken care of, I figured it was time to move onto my accessories. Firstly, shoes. I want to wear flats during the wedding, since I basically spend all my time in sneakers or flip flops and am not used to heels at all. Here is my shoe inspiration:

So I knew that the cheapest way to get shoes like this was to buy white flats and glitter-fy them myself. But I couldn't find plain white flats anywhere. And most glitter flats I found were silver, but I really wanted a white iridescent glitter. So I went on Payless.com and ordered three pairs of white flats. Don't mind the awkward angle photos, but here are the two that fit me:



I like the sides of this first pair, but they don't fit exactly right.



So I think this is the winner, and I'm going to return the other two pairs. I honestly don't super love the way they look on my feet, but shoes are at the very bottom of the priority list/budget, and I'm just going to glitter them up anyway. Actually glittering them is going to be a challenge, so I'm going to try to start that sooner than later, hopefully...

Other than shoes, I'm really not sure what I want to do for accessories. Part of me wants to wear no jewelry at all other than my engagement and wedding ring. I already have a beaded dress and beaded belt on the dress. And I don't typically wear jewelry in every day life other than rings. Is it completely unheard of to wear no necklace, bracelets, or earrings at all with a wedding dress? Determining that is going to be my next task...

 

[DisneyFirefly]

I hope your shoes come out the way you want! I know JoAnn Fabric sells spray-on glitter, so that might be helpful. Jeff looks nice in the suit, and I love the chocolate carriages!

I've seen people go without jewelry with their dresses. Honestly, I think it's just about what feels right to you. If you think it'd be too much, then it's too much

 

[elphie101]

Jeff looks so spiffy in his suit! I love that the ties worked out so well - such a relief!

IMO if you don't wear a lot of jewelry and you don't feel like you need to have wedding jewelry, then don't. Do you have/are you planning on doing something borrowed, something blue etc? Borrowing a necklace from a friend or family member could be a great cost saving measure and meaningful too. (For the record I also skipped the necklace because I had a heavily beaded bust, but I can't leave my house without wearing earrings. Just me though!)

 

[Doodlebug25413]

Awww everything is starting to come together! Everything looks great so far!

Love the suit & purple!

 

[Amanda132]

I hope your shoes come out the way you want! I know JoAnn Fabric sells spray-on glitter, so that might be helpful. Jeff looks nice in the suit, and I love the chocolate carriages!

I've seen people go without jewelry with their dresses. Honestly, I think it's just about what feels right to you. If you think it'd be too much, then it's too much

I'll definitely have to check out the spray-on glitter. Thanks for the tip!

Jeff looks so spiffy in his suit! I love that the ties worked out so well - such a relief!

IMO if you don't wear a lot of jewelry and you don't feel like you need to have wedding jewelry, then don't. Do you have/are you planning on doing something borrowed, something blue etc? Borrowing a necklace from a friend or family member could be a great cost saving measure and meaningful too. (For the record I also skipped the necklace because I had a heavily beaded bust, but I can't leave my house without wearing earrings. Just me though!)

I did have a backup plan for the ties because they had a pretty close color match at JCPenney, but it would have been three times the cost. Bows-n-ties was great on the budget!

I'm not currently planning to do a something borrowed, but that is a good idea!

Awww everything is starting to come together! Everything looks great so far!

Love the suit & purple!

Yay, thanks! I love seeing everything really start to take shape.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Not a problem! If you decide to give that kind a shot, JoAnn ALWAYS has coupons on their website. All you have to do is print them off and bring them in, or load them on your smartphone. They usually have at least one that's something like 30-50% off your entire purchase, but right now they have some different ones.

http://www.joann.com/coupon/

I get some of my cake decorating supplies from there, so I always check for coupons.

 

[Amanda132]

Not a problem! If you decide to give that kind a shot, JoAnn ALWAYS has coupons on their website. All you have to do is print them off and bring them in, or load them on your smartphone. They usually have at least one that's something like 30-50% off your entire purchase, but right now they have some different ones.

http://www.joann.com/coupon/

I get some of my cake decorating supplies from there, so I always check for coupons.

That is super helpful to know, thanks! I am never going craft shopping without a coupon again!

 

[Amanda132]

My sister's bridesmaid dress came in!



Ignore her sandals, haha.

She doesn't hate the color, and she doesn't need any alterations because it fits pretty much perfectly. Woohoo!

In other news, we met with Kristie on Tuesday for a BEO review. I had made a few changes since the planning session, and mainly we were just meeting to go over a few things and to make sure I didn't have any questions. It's great that we live so close to Disney that we could meet with her in person at Franck's instead of by phone or email.

We did make a few changes/decisions during the BEO review...

First, we made a decision on a backup location for our pre-reception. Our ceremony is at the Yacht Club Gazebo, and we're having our pre-reception at the Yacht Club Marina. If we have to go to rain backup, our ceremony will back up into the Yacht and Beach Convention Center. I was hoping we could use Martha's Vineyard, the little bar outside Ariel's, for the pre-reception backup. Unfortunately, we overlap with their opening time, so we can't use their space. We decided to use another convention room as a rain backup instead. Our other option was Ariel's itself, but Kristie pointed out that we'd already be in the Convention Center, so we might as well stay there.

We made two changes to our menu: cutting the beef skewer appetizer and the mahi-mahi during the reception. This cut our pre-reception menu by about $9/person and our reception menu by $10/person. Cha-ching! Also under food and beverage, we cut a $75 bottle of champagne that we added just for fun during the planning session. We don't even really drink champagne, so that was an easy decision.

We also made a decision on our specialty drink while at the BEO review. We're going to have the Blue Hawaiian drink (rum, blue curacao, pineapple juice, and sour mix). The name of the drink will be "Something Blue." This is sort of an inside joke, in that I decided to name a blue car "Blue." Jeff was telling Kristie about my toddler-level car naming skills, when she said, "Wouldn't it be great if you had a blue specialty drink named Blue?" And then my mom came up with the slight variation of calling it "Something Blue." And Jeff wishes he never told the story in the first place.

Finally, I cut the aisle petals and cake serving set from the floral proposal. Altogether, between the menu and the floral proposal, we have cut about $1400 from our original BEO/budget. Woot!

We're trying to stick as close to the minimums as we can, and right now we're $300 over our food and beverage minimums and $300 over our enhancement minimums. Not too bad!

Oh, also, even though our BEO review only lasted about 20 minutes, we spent almost another hour just chatting with Kristie. She's so great, and I'm so happy that we got her as our planner. Not only is she super prompt in responding to our questions, but she's also lots of fun to talk to.

As we were leaving Franck's on Tuesday, it started to rain, and she let us use this super cute umbrella to get to our car. Naturally, I had to take a selfie.

 

[Doodlebug25413]

I love that shade of purple. It's PURPLE. Not lilac. Not lavendar. Not muted plum. PURPLE!
Woot on cutting back on the BEO!

I'm curious, since we are Yacht Club Gazebo too, what do the Yacht Club Convention rooms look like?
Maybe I'll get lucky and everything will be booked for conventions and private parties & get Commanders Terrace as a rain back up. LOL not my luck.

 

[elphie101]

Love you sister's dress - how excellent it doesn't need any alterations! The color is just fantastic.

I'm quite jealous that you're able to meet your planner in person to review BEOs - it's such a different experience than the rest of us get and I imagine it definitely helps to make you feel more confident in how your day will go.

Yay for painless BEO cuts!! It's so great that you can bring down the cost without having to sacrifice things you truly love.

 

[Amanda132]

I love that shade of purple. It's PURPLE. Not lilac. Not lavendar. Not muted plum. PURPLE!
Woot on cutting back on the BEO!

I'm curious, since we are Yacht Club Gazebo too, what do the Yacht Club Convention rooms look like?
Maybe I'll get lucky and everything will be booked for conventions and private parties & get Commanders Terrace as a rain back up. LOL not my luck.

Thank you! Whenever people ask me what shade of purple the bridesmaid dresses are, I say that it's the color you think of when you think of purple.

Carrie has a couple photos of the Yacht Club Convention Center rooms on her site: http://disneytravelbabble.com/disney-weddings/wdw-venue-photos/yacht-club-ballrooms/

Isn't Commanders Terrace at the Grand Floridian?

Love you sister's dress - how excellent it doesn't need any alterations! The color is just fantastic.

I'm quite jealous that you're able to meet your planner in person to review BEOs - it's such a different experience than the rest of us get and I imagine it definitely helps to make you feel more confident in how your day will go.

Yay for painless BEO cuts!! It's so great that you can bring down the cost without having to sacrifice things you truly love.

Thank you! Yeah, it's super nice that we're able to do everything in person. Between our site visit, planning session, and BEO review, we've now been in Franck's three times. Though honestly, there's not really a need to meet up in person for the BEO review, since it's just a conversation with nothing visual involved. But it's still nice to get the opportunity, plus the opportunity to chat with Kristie. Seriously, we love her.

And yes, I'm so happy that we were able to stick close to the minimums and still have everything we want. Honestly, I'm kind of glad we ended up under the new price structure and being "forced" to spend $5000 on enhancements. If we were under the old price structure, I think we'd be more inclined to cut things from Disney Floral. I mean, we're probably spending more under the new than we would have under the old, but having that enhancement minimum allows us to have special things like fancy linens without the nagging feeling I know I would have that we could save money by cutting X or Y.

 

[rachel09985]

Hi! We are getting married on the same day and the same time. I just commented on another one of your threads! I am actually really nervous because I forgot to email Lejune that our time changed to 2:30. We had them booked for our 12 wedding. I see you have them too. I hope they will still come for me without us having to get up at 6am.

 

[Amanda132]

Hi! We are getting married on the same day and the same time. I just commented on another one of your threads! I am actually really nervous because I forgot to email Lejune that our time changed to 2:30. We had them booked for our 12 wedding. I see you have them too. I hope they will still come for me without us having to get up at 6am.

Eep, I hope it works out for both of us!

 

[Amanda132]

Since our BEO review, there hasn't been a ton happening on the wedding front. I just started a new job, so I haven't had much time over the last few weeks to try to get any wedding things done. I have a list a mile long of things that need to happen in the next three months, but they all require time and money! Which is in short supply because we officially made our 90-day payment. That one definitely hurt the wallet!

As far as the honeymoon, I don't think I posted yet about the fact that we had to cancel our honeymoon cruise. It was a huge heartbreak for me, since pretty much the only thing I love more than my fiance is cruising. It took me a little while to get over it (okay, I'm still not 100% over it), but I finally accepted that we needed the money for the wedding. And when it came down to cutting the cruise over things like having the Roots and having the dessert party, the cruise had to go. I'm only going to have this big wedding once, and I want to have everything that I want. The cruise ships will still be there after the wedding, but I will never have the chance to watch IllumiNations in my wedding dress with my closest friends and family ever again (probably).

So, making the best of a bad situation, we changed up our honeymoon to something less expensive and that doesn't require us to pay up front like a cruise would. We're going to Disneyland!

I was able to book most of the flights with Southwest points, and we have some Disney gift cards saved up that we were planning to use on the cruise for expenses. As of now, I booked us six nights at the Grand Californian, only because I wanted to lock in the availability. If it turns out that we can't afford it, we'll cancel most of the nights at the Grand Californian and spent the majority of the time at our old favorite, the Motel 6 Anaheim.

At first, canceling the cruise was really upsetting, and I felt incredibly guilty that I secretly felt disappointed that I was going to Disneyland instead. But now I'm really starting to get excited for California. It will be our first time seeing Disneyland at Christmastime, which is my absolute favorite time of year. Plus, we'll be able to see all the 60th anniversary stuff that I didn't think we would get a chance to see! I'm really thankful that we're fortunate enough to be able to make this great trip out of what was originally a sad situation.

The other big thing that has happened recently is that I had my bridal shower last week! My mom planned it, and we had it at Sanaa at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. She contacted the restaurant management who said that my mom could bring her own balloons, little decorations, and cake (though Sanaa would not allow her to refrigerate it). She also brought me a bride-to-be sash and tiara to wear.



My sister and I outside Sanaa

I wish I had more pictures of the shower. Hopefully my mom has some. It was so great! Some of my closest friends were able to make it, as well as two aunts and my grandma. There were 10 of us all together. If you've ever been to Sanaa, you know that the bread service is amazing. We ordered two sets of all nine dips for the table, and probably about 20 pieces of naan total. Then we also had salad samplers for the table, plus we all ordered entrees. And honestly, I think we were all stuffed before we even started our entrees!

My mom brought little games to play, like a How Well Do You Know Amanda game. My sister was very upset that she lost to my bridesmaid Haley! Then we had the cake that my mom brought (again, I think my mom has pictures of this that she hasn't shared with me yet). And then we opened presents. It was such a great shower. I was so so happy.

Here is one picture that I have of our whole group.



So we are officially less than three months out! Crazy! Also, I have now booked my hair and makeup trial with LeJeune Artistry next week. I can't wait for that. I'll try to get good pictures when I get it done, since that will probably be my next update!