Ben and Libby's Happily Ever After - A Fairytale Wishes Wedding *Updated 14/3/18 + Wedding Video!

[LadyD]

Getting caught up and following along! Love your story so much!

Isn't it amazing how when you break everything down, Disney can come out looking affordable compared to other comparable wedding venues? We went through the same indecision as you out here in California and considered alternatives to Disney, but nothing spoke to us in the same way or seemed to offer the same value for the amazing experience.

Congratulations and enjoy your planning!

 

[Doodlebug25413]

Could you stuff me in your suitcase for the cruise? I won't take up much room & I'll even sleep on the balcony so you have the whole room to yourselves. HAHA

I want a Disney cruise. A cruise for that matter. Maybe for Christmas or Thanksgiving one year I can pull Kevin's arm. I asked him about it, and he said as long as we have a balcony so he can toss in his reel.
(He wasn't joking either-- SMH)

 

[mlegerto]

AHH...so excited that you booked your CRUISE!! Amazing. So happy for you, it sounds like it will be AMAZING! DF and I went on our first cruise (not Disney, but still) last November and we had a balcony room. We hadn't necessarily planned on booking a balcony as this was a last minute trip (we booked it only 2 weeks before going!) and we had never cruised before so we wouldn't know what we were missing, but we ended up getting an amazing deal (DF has deals through his work) so we jumped on it! We made friends with some people and had stopped by their room (interior, no window) and we appreciated our room THAT much more. With the window/openness the room seems SO much bigger than the interior ones and since this is such a special occasion, you made the RIGHT choice...hands down!

I hope they can accommodate your planning trip schedule. It's Disney...I'm sure they will work their magic and make it happen. If anything, just be very nice and explain your situation with Ben's scheddule and the fact that you are traveling from the UK. They should be able to accommodate you since you have such a far way to travel and such.

So excited for you and Ben and can't wait to hear more plans as you continue to make them! EEEEK

 

[Alexsandra]

Your off to a great start. Love your save the dates! Very cute. That cruise looks so great. I get so sea sick on boats that I've always been too chicken to go on a cruise but after seeing those pics, it seems more and more appealing! Can't wait to see more.

 

[pinkle]

I'm quite curious about weddings there. My son is recently engaged and they are looking at many venues. He's grown up Disney and it sounds amazing......is there a ballpark dollar amount you can give me? I haven't researched it enough yet?

 

[elphie101]

How exciting! I'm horribly biased but a Disney Cruise is just such a relaxing and wonderful honeymoon - especially having a verandah! You will looooooooooove it!

Yay for reaching the 16 month mark! I hope you have a coordinator now!

 

[cinderkelly]

Hi Libby
I stumbled upon your DR and followed your link to your wedding planning here. First, congratulations!! I am so excited for you and your DF, it sounds like you are going to have a magical wedding! You two are super cute.
My DH and I will be in DW also in October 2016 celebrating our 10th anniversary. The same week as your wedding
You will love the Disney Cruise, we took this exact same cruise last September, so I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about the cruise part!
Good luck with your planning!
Kelly

 

[patches07]

Following along! Love your story so much! My Family and I will be in Disney World also in October 2016.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

That's awesome that you guys already have your cruise booked! And another odd similarity, lol, since we're thinking about doing a Disney cruise for ours. We'd have to do a November sail date, though, because our date is so close to the end of October.

 

[happy2012]

Oh I was so stressed for you reading that you *might not pick a WDW wedding even though that's what you 2 wanted. I had a destination wedding & got the exact same thing! It's your wedding not anyone else's!! So I'm so happy you decided to go for it, especially if it's the same price!! good for you. Honestly, people that try to convince you not to do a destination wedding are only looking out for themselves. I wanted a small wedding too & if people wanted to be there, great, if not also totally fine. In the end it's your day to remember!!! I'm so glad Benj supported the idea so much. He'll make a GREAT HUBBY!!!

 

[kanadar]

Just found this and am following along! I just came back from my Planning Session for my October 2015 wedding! It's all so exciting! Your ideas look great so far!

 

[Libby_Darling]

Getting caught up and following along! Love your story so much!

Isn't it amazing how when you break everything down, Disney can come out looking affordable compared to other comparable wedding venues? We went through the same indecision as you out here in California and considered alternatives to Disney, but nothing spoke to us in the same way or seemed to offer the same value for the amazing experience.

Congratulations and enjoy your planning!

Thank you so much! Yeah, it's pretty incredible! I know it's expensive but I really do think they offer such good value for money, way better than anything we saw in this country! We're soooo excited now!! xxxxx

Could you stuff me in your suitcase for the cruise? I won't take up much room & I'll even sleep on the balcony so you have the whole room to yourselves. HAHA

I want a Disney cruise. A cruise for that matter. Maybe for Christmas or Thanksgiving one year I can pull Kevin's arm. I asked him about it, and he said as long as we have a balcony so he can toss in his reel.
(He wasn't joking either-- SMH)

Hahaha sleeping on the balcony would be pretty breezy, but amazing!! Aww hopefully one day you'll be able to convince him! Does he not fancy it? I feel like everyone needs to cruise at least once! xxxxx

AHH...so excited that you booked your CRUISE!! Amazing. So happy for you, it sounds like it will be AMAZING! DF and I went on our first cruise (not Disney, but still) last November and we had a balcony room. We hadn't necessarily planned on booking a balcony as this was a last minute trip (we booked it only 2 weeks before going!) and we had never cruised before so we wouldn't know what we were missing, but we ended up getting an amazing deal (DF has deals through his work) so we jumped on it! We made friends with some people and had stopped by their room (interior, no window) and we appreciated our room THAT much more. With the window/openness the room seems SO much bigger than the interior ones and since this is such a special occasion, you made the RIGHT choice...hands down!

I hope they can accommodate your planning trip schedule. It's Disney...I'm sure they will work their magic and make it happen. If anything, just be very nice and explain your situation with Ben's scheddule and the fact that you are traveling from the UK. They should be able to accommodate you since you have such a far way to travel and such.

So excited for you and Ben and can't wait to hear more plans as you continue to make them! EEEEK

Oh wow, 2 weeks before! Crazy! That's so good to hear that you recommend a balcony We thought the same things about the interior rooms, it's not that we wouldn't have an awesome time still, it's just for not a lot more we could get what we really wanted We aren't cruise snobs though, we'd def go interior if funds meant we had to!

I hope they can too! We've actually got a little update on that which is super exciting, I'm gonna post it in a minute! I said all those things and fingers crossed things are looking good! Thank you so much for your sweet comment! xxxx

Your off to a great start. Love your save the dates! Very cute. That cruise looks so great. I get so sea sick on boats that I've always been too chicken to go on a cruise but after seeing those pics, it seems more and more appealing! Can't wait to see more.

Thank you so much! Glad you like the STD's! Awww thats so bad that you get sea sick! I don't really know if I do, I guess I will soon haha! Glad you're enjoying xxx

I'm quite curious about weddings there. My son is recently engaged and they are looking at many venues. He's grown up Disney and it sounds amazing......is there a ballpark dollar amount you can give me? I haven't researched it enough yet?

Hi! I'd love to help but that's a tricky question as there are sooooo many options! If you go on the Disney weddings website you can go through and map out a rough wedding plan and they tell you what amount they start out! We'll be sticking to the minimums wherever possible and I know this is easily done, so hopefully that helps you a bit! xxxxxx

 

[Libby_Darling]

How exciting! I'm horribly biased but a Disney Cruise is just such a relaxing and wonderful honeymoon - especially having a verandah! You will looooooooooove it!

Yay for reaching the 16 month mark! I hope you have a coordinator now!

Haha we're soooooooo excited It's gonna be a dream come true, especially a 4 day! I originally wanted a 7 day but Ben felt that was a bit too long, and I thought 3 days wasn't long enough, so we compromised with 4 yay!!

WE HAVE!! Wooooooo!!! Gonna update in a sec!! xxxxx

Hi Libby
I stumbled upon your DR and followed your link to your wedding planning here. First, congratulations!! I am so excited for you and your DF, it sounds like you are going to have a magical wedding! You two are super cute.
My DH and I will be in DW also in October 2016 celebrating our 10th anniversary. The same week as your wedding
You will love the Disney Cruise, we took this exact same cruise last September, so I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about the cruise part!
Good luck with your planning!
Kelly

Hi Kelly! Thanks so much for your sweet comment! Oh how exciting that you're celebrating your 10th anniversary at the same time as our wedding, congratulations in advance!! Thanks so much for the offer of answering questions, I'm sure I will have Q's nearer the time! I still can't quite believe we've actually booked haha!

Take care xxxxxx

Following along! Love your story so much! My Family and I will be in Disney World also in October 2016.

Ahhhhhh how exciting! I think October is getting more and more popular now! xxxx

That's awesome that you guys already have your cruise booked! And another odd similarity, lol, since we're thinking about doing a Disney cruise for ours. We'd have to do a November sail date, though, because our date is so close to the end of October.

Yay, honeymoon cruises are the way forward!!! Maybe yours will be Christmas themed depending on when in November it is! xxxx

Oh I was so stressed for you reading that you *might not pick a WDW wedding even though that's what you 2 wanted. I had a destination wedding & got the exact same thing! It's your wedding not anyone else's!! So I'm so happy you decided to go for it, especially if it's the same price!! good for you. Honestly, people that try to convince you not to do a destination wedding are only looking out for themselves. I wanted a small wedding too & if people wanted to be there, great, if not also totally fine. In the end it's your day to remember!!! I'm so glad Benj supported the idea so much. He'll make a GREAT HUBBY!!!

Aww thank you so much Yeah it was crazy stressful but things are sooooo good right now! I feel like I'm on cloud 9 with so much to look forward to! Exactly, if people don't want to come we aren't gonna make them!!

Yes he will!!! Bless him! He was the one championing the idea from the very beginining, a big part of it was him really! I'm so lucky to have him xxxx

Just found this and am following along! I just came back from my Planning Session for my October 2015 wedding! It's all so exciting! Your ideas look great so far!

Oh wow, how exciting!!! I need to read your PJ and get involved!! Thank you for commenting! xxxxx

 

[Libby_Darling]

Another Mini Update

OMG I'm so sorry guys, I've been so AWOL! I feel so out of the wedding planning loop!!! I've actually just started a new job and things have just been kind of crazy really! It's longer hours and pretty full on, so I've been getting home later, cooking dinner and just flopping in front of Netflix. I've barely thought about wedding planning or our Christmas trip and it's just not acceptable!!! One good thing though, is our countdown seems to have shrunk overnight cause I haven't been keeping an eye on it! 180 days baby, woooooo! Getting so close to our Christmas trip it's just too exciting!!

So, there has been an exciting development on the wedding front! In amongst starting my new job and getting used to such a change, I have been emailing DFTW We got assigned our wedding coordinator, the lovely Kristi (with an i, love that) and she is just the sweetest! The first thing I asked her was would we be able to do our planning session when we're in Florida over Christmas. I was pretty much on tenterhooks the whole day but then she replied, YAY, and said although it is a busy time for them, she was pretty sure (she couldn't say 100% which is fair enough!) we'd be able to do it. I did explain that we're from the UK and about Ben's job etc, and I feel happy that she'll do everything she can for us

She said we may get a different planner for our planning session than our actual planner, due to vacations etc, but that's fine And she said it would probably be 20-23rd Dec, or 27-29th all fine! I said we will literally do any date you can squeeze us in haha! Phew, so relieved. Fingers crossed it'll all work out. After that, we then told her the dates and locations we'd like and we are now PENCILLED IN for October 19th 2016, 2.30pm at the Wedding Pavilion How exciting! She said as of now, our date is clear. I also said I was worried about the lottery and she told me to try not to worry as most of the time it works out fine So we shall see! I think if another bride wants that date she'll let us know, and then we'd need to give her our backup times/dates etc. But I'm not going to think about that unless I have to!

Things are honestly starting to get so exciting though. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have a trip at WDW booked for CHRISTMAS to plan our DISNEY WEDDING, and then actually be flying back out to Florida again in under 10 months for the actual wedding!!! How is this happening!? We've had a few guests get booked up too with the current UK offer thats on, so that is really cool too. It's really starting to happen! And my job is all good and going really well and although it's hard work, I don't have the threat of possible redunancy hanging over me like I did at my old job (which I loved, but not that part!) and Ben's job is going really well and things are just good

So that's it, sorry it was just a short one! Hopefully this week I'll be able to do a full update about something more exciting, like colour schemes and details and photography! Need to get back into the swing of things!

 

[Libby_Darling]

The Photographer

I just thought I'd write a little bit about the photographer we will be having on our wedding day, assuming we get her as we can't book until we get our date! Now, photography is super important to us. And videography. I have a rubbish memory and I want to be able to look back and see every tiny moment of our special day recorded in some way or another, so we'll always be able to relive it It was also important that we chose someone we felt fit our style, and our vision for our day. I don't think we're picky, it's just that having an art background and being pretty creative myself, I know what I like. I researched all the usual photographers that are often used by Disney brides and I just wasn't liking what I was seeing. The style I like didn't seem to be present I fell in love with the Roots but unfortunately they are just too expensive and we couldn't justify them. If we opted not to have videography, we could, but videography is vital! So it was back to the drawing board. I must have looked at every Orlando area photographer's website like 2 or 3 times and I just wasn't getting anywhere. But then! I was listening to the Disney Wedding Podcast (CARRIE <3) and a bride was recapping her wedding and saying how she had the exact same problem we were having back when she was planning. Honestly, it could have been me talking! I got really excited because she then said that she'd found this photographer, and not only was she in budget, but her photos absolutely blew her away and were exactly the style she was after. WOO! I hurriedly got on Google, almost not daring to believe I'd actually like her...but I did! She's amazing!! Her name is Ashley and her business is Ashley Jane Photography.

Look at these beautiful photos <3

Okay I got carried away I'm sorry, but I just think her work is amazing. I emailed her wayyyy back in November (like 2 years before the wedding lololol) and she was so sweet and said she'd love to be our photographer and we could meet her in December and she'd pencil us in. At that point it wasn't 100% that we were getting married in Orlando though, but now that it is, I emailed her again last week. Yay! And she was just as sweet, and I said I was really pancking that she'd get booked up because I couldn't confirm our date until a year out, and she said don't panic!! Hahah She said she'd pencil us in for the 19th and let us know if anyone else was interested in the date, and that it was usually only Disney weddings she does on weekdays so they'd be in the same position as us (only able to book a year out etc) so that really put my mind at rest. So yay!


Videography

We're not 100% sure, but we are looking at Trinity. Their prices are reasonable, and I really like their style. I've also recently discovered Key Moment Films though, and their prices seem reasonable and I like their style!! Eeeeekk!! Again, I fell in love with a crazy expensive videographer (Von wedding films) after every time we were on YouTube and I typed in Disney wedding, this one wedding video would come up, and I just loved it. Unfortunately, the couple are from like Texas and so are the videographers so you have to pay for travel etc and it was just eye-wateringly expensive. Never mind though! So I'll have to return to videography once we've made our final decision!

 

[elphie101]

I know exactly what you mean about having a junk memory - I'm the exact same way and that's why we prioritized photo and video! I hope you get Ashley Jane! Her work is gorgeous and I've heard nothing but wonderful things about her. Trinity is also wonderful (from personal experience ) How exciting for you to be finally, formally penciled in AND to have a planning session unofficially scheduled! Things are starting to happen now!

 

[Doodlebug25413]

Memory, only gets lost the older you get. I'm having to take a B12 vitamin supplement. Kevin gets so frustrated with me. But I also have Alzheimer's in my family. So I'm trying to be alert in everything.
I think my issue now is just short term memory with stress. The vitamin is helping.

Glad to hear you're penciled in! Now all the fun begins!!

 

[LadyD]

I hope all works out with that photographer! She takes some gorgeous photos.

 

[Hydra]

Omg, your excitement is contagious! Also your engagement story is just too cute! Can't wait to follow along

 

[Alexsandra]

Hope you will be able to do your planning session in december. Fingers crossed! Ok, I love your Photographer! Such great pics. SO excited for you.