**Faith and Max's 12.22.12 Swan/Garden Grove/ADH Wedding!!** UPDATED 16!!

[Shannon84]

YAY twin!! I am so glad you are going to try and do the EE race, be careful and have tons of fun!! I can't wait to hear how it is!

I love the dress from Target, thats really cute. I can see why you had your heart set on the Alfred Angelo one, it is really beautiful.

Your newsletter is super cute!! I think your guests will love it, force them to read it!!

I'm sorry to hear about your grandma, thats sweet of Max to make sure to check in on her

 

[Jilian]

Awww, you and your DF are so cute recovering together on the couch!

Good luck at the EE! You are so badass for still doing it even with your busted up foot. I hope you have fun, can't wait to see pics of you with your medal!

That is so nice of you to be conscious of BM dress prices. I really like the dress you ordered, it isn't too different than the one you initially wanted. I hope it looks great.

Yay for starting DIYs! I can't wait to see what you come up with. I'm sure it will all be fabulous. I'm all for starting early, you never know what kind of issues you may run into.

Have fun in WDW!

 

[flyergrad09]

Hi! I just wanted to let you know that I've really enjoyed reading your PJ. I'm not planning a Disney wedding or anything, I'm just a sucker for anything wedding/Disney related. That stinks so much about your foot! I hope the 5k went well & I can't wait to read more!

 

[tinydancr06]

Hey! How did the race go? I kept my eye out for you but to no avail. I hope you had a great weekend and your foot didn't suffer too much!

 

[MrsDuck]

Heeeeeyyyy Ladies!

I just wanted to pop in and give a few WR and NWR updates!

First of all, let’s start with our Expedition Everest Challenge trip!

Sadly, we didn’t take a lot of pictures but we’ll just have to make do!

My parents took off that Friday and we got to Disney around 12. We headed straight over to Wide World of Sports to pick up our packets. I was disappointed that there wasn’t more “fun stuff” to do while we waited in line. Plus, it was REALLY FREAKIN’ HOT.

The official race shirt was a Race-Tech shirt (very fancy) and they fit us well—hooray!

I got LOADS of comments and questions asking if I was running considering my foot was.. well, in this monster:

Half of the people seemed impressed; the other half thought I was crazy. I’m pretty sure I was crazy.

After, we went to DHS, grabbed some lunch at Pizza Planet and toured the parks! It was nice and relaxing.

We had dinner at the Brown Derby. SO NOT IMPRESSED. Honestly, I thought the food was mediocre and really expensive. I usually don’t complain about prices of food at Disney but we really felt that the Brown Derby was kinda sucky. After dinner, we didn’t stay too terribly long because my foot was hurting pretty bad and we all were pretty tired.

Saturday was race day! I convinced my mom to take me to MK just because I can’t resist a trip to MK if I’m on property. My mother is amazing. She pushed me in a wheelchair through the sea of the crazy tourists at MK. I should also mention that it was like 90,000 degrees.

The awesome thing about being a FL resident is that we can just go to the parks whenever. It’s only a 2.5 hour car drive so technically we could go up and back in a day (we’ve done it, it’s worth it). Because of this, I’m not used to going in the HOT months (May-August). Holy COW. There were SO MANY PEOPLE, SO MUCH HEAT. Never again. I’ll stick to random days during off-season, thankyouverymuch.

We ate a Dole Whip and just “rolled” around the park. We didn’t stay long as we knew I needed to rest before the race that night.

After we got back to MK, we hit the pool and ate a light dinner at the Mara.
Then, it was time to get ready for the race! Here we are:

We drove over to AK because we wanted to bring the wheelchair with minimal fuss. It worked out perfectly. I love pre-Disney races! The music and entertainment is so fun!

While we were waiting, I ran into Andrea and her running buddy! It was fun to meet another DISbride! YAY!

Long story short: we were in round 5. When we got to enter the corral, we tried to get as far forward and as far left as possible. I knew I’d be walking a lot of the race since my boot weighed like 50,000 pounds and, oh.. my foot was broken.

The fireworks exploded into the sky and we were off!

I managed to run the first .5 mile. And then, I made the worst decision ever—I took a walk break. Not smart considering as soon as I started walking I was finally able to realize how much pain I was in and how exhausted I was running with an extra 7-10 pounds from the boot and having an awkward gait.
From there on, I walked/panted/crawled the rest of the route.

Let me tell you something- some people are just amazing. I heard SO many words of encouragement, so many congrats, etc for “being a trooper” and running with my foot. Mickey and Minnie made a huge fuss about it from the top of the safari truck and it really helped to lift my spirits. I didn’t go any faster but I didn’t feel quite as close to death

More disaster struck at Mile 2. Pookie (daddy) is an old- football relic. He sustained so so many injuries from college football and he really has a hard time moving. He broke his back and it has, of course, never recovered. So, at mile 2 he starts to feel LOADS of pain. I knew something was wrong because he was even lagging behind me and he wasn’t talking. Pookie and I are some of the loudest, most rowdy people I know when we get going. It hit me that we were running in silence and I was really concerned.

Regardless, we made it to the finish line. Then Pookie pretty much collapsed onto a very conveniently placed rock. My mom was there and we sent him to the Medical tent. We knew he wouldn’t be able to finish the race so we grabbed his bib off of him and pinned it to my mom.

She was in “costume” and ready to go just in case she needed to fill in for one of us!

So, we were back in the saddle.

Next up was the clues. Some were easy, some were not.

Long story short: we finished, got our medals, and my mom crossed the finish line like a real winner—not even sweaty! I hobbled and tried to smile for the cameras.

Here is a picture of all of our official race pictures! Sorry they're so small.. PS. notice that there is only one picture of my dad who completed the hardest part of the challenge and a load of my sweatless, pristine looking mother who walked around the park with me while I tried to figure out the clues.

We were going to stay for the after party but by this point I was in so much pain. I was exhausted and, honestly, hysterical. My foot was killing me and I didn’t even want to stay for the rides/fun.

We left and went back to AKL. My mother practically dragged me into the shower. I stood there whimpering, lol. It was pretty terrible.

Thankfully, Pookie was feeling better. I was asleep before I even knew what was going on.

In summary: even if you think you can do it, don run/walk a race with a broken foot. The end.

Sunday was Tonga Toast Day! I liked it but wasn’t too crazy about it. After that, I don’t remember what else we did except leave. Very anti-climatic. Sorry!

Next up…. Wedding deets!
So, we are officially at the 7 month mark today! HOORAY! Time really does fly by! I’m so excited to see the number on my ticker go down to 6!

Since we are at 7 months, we can finally book our wedding accommodations!

From December 20-23rd: my parents and I will be staying in a 2 BR villa at the Boardwalk. As many of you saw, there’s a good chance we’ll have a pool view. Ya know, of this creepy, horrifying, demonic, killer pool:

SERIOUSLY. *** Disney? SO many people are terrified of clowns and you make this choice? With the tongue slide?!

Right before the clown chomps down and eats the kid.. or takes it back to his scary clown lair to turn it into another killer clown...

I’m petrified of clowns. All clowns. Even the nice ones that aren’t too scary that paint kids’ faces. I hate circuses, I hate Dumbo, I hate hate hate it all. My family thinks it’s HIGHlarious that we could have a pool view. THEY haven't seen the pool yet. Oho, just you wait, family, just you wait….

The night of the wedding (December 22nd): Max and I are staying at a studio at the Beach Club! We’ve never stayed here and I really want to use the pool but I doubt that will happen on this trip.

The next day, we leave for our Super Top Secret Honeymoon trip! YAYAYAY! Honestly, I hope the trip is a cruise.

My parents are staying from December 23rd- 26th! This will be their first Christmas at Disney! I think they’re pretty excited. They will be able to book their room tomorrow.

In addition to the accommodations, I’ve finished our one and only newsletter. I’m really happy with the way it turned out, although I’m sure our guests will just throw them away. Lovely. I’m going to get them printed here soonish. I’ll post a picture when I do!

My DIY progress has been slow. I have little motivation to do anything wedding related for some reason….

In other news…
Many of you saw that Teresa has asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding! I’m very excited and very honored! So, I will be on property for that. Look for me in the pictures!!

ALSO, this morning I booked SSR for my twin Shannon’s wedding in September! So excited!! I am taking off a day from student teaching and I don’t even care! Max sadly won’t be able to go with me as he’s saving up vacation days for the wedding.

Speaking of September and Max… we are booked at the Art of Animation Resort for the opening of the Little Mermaid Rooms!! Wheee!! It was all Max’s idea—he said “wouldn’t it be cool if we could stay that we stayed in the Little Mermaid rooms the first night and weekend they were opened?”. Uh. Yeah. So, we booked! Cannot wait!

So many trips coming up! Time is flying and I’m so excited!

Thanks for letting my blabber on and for celebrating 7 months with me!!

 

[tinydancr06]

You're amazing for running at all on the foot! I hope you and your dad have at least recovered. It really was crazy hot that whole weekend!

That's so cool that you'll be staying at Art of Animation! I've heard sooo many great things about it already.

Good for you for deciding to go to grad school! In the music ed field (what I teach!) they tell us that if we don't get a couple of years of experience first we won't get into good grad schools so I'm in those "couple of years" now. You're right though, I feel much less motivated to get my masters now that I'm actually teaching.

YAAAAAAY FSU! That is crazy that you'll have a degree from each but cool in a way! You'll loooove FSU. I know I do!

Oh, and sorry about your clown view. You make a good point. It's weird that Disney hasn't taken note of the fact that A LOT of people have a fear of clowns and that one is particularly huge and scary looking!

 

[2dogmom]

So glad you and your dad survived the race. So great that your mom stepped in to take over for your dad, even if it was the easier portion.

Good for you to do grad school while you can.

That clown slide is pretty creepy and I don't have a clown problem. I'm sure the resort will be nice though. 7 months!!! That time will fly by.

 

[DisneyShamrock]

Glad to hear you made it through the challenge! I'm also happy to know your dad is ok.

Yay for grad school! I want to go back, but I can't justify the price tag or time it would take me.

I've always hated that slide. They should either redo it, or at least paint it to look like the character from La Nuba.

 

[yourgypsy]

I'm happy both you and your dad survived the race! You two are such troopers! As is your mom, for stepping in.

Yay for 7 months!

And I know I mentioned it on FB, but that clown is CREEPY - and I don't even have a fear of clowns. Definitely makes the BC that much more appealing!

And yay for library science! And the Masters'! (This is a lot of exclamation points for not even being awake for two hours yet LOL)

 

[Shannon84]

I am BEYOND excited that you are coming to the wedding My mom will be excited to see yours again if she comes with too! Though Id like to meet this Max character one day!!

I can't believe you did that race with the boot, you are CRAZY girl!!! Hope your dad is doing ok too! PS every time you call him pookie I think of my first pet ever, a big white cat, that I named Pookie

Yay for your Master's!! One of my good friends that is most likely coming to the wedding has her bachelor's from FSU...she LOVED it there!

 

[ShanaMouse]

I'm just stopping by to say that I really enjoyed reading through your PJ! I'm excited to read more!

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

-Really?! I loved brown derby!!! It was one of my favorites on my honeymoon. Did you get the grapefruit cake? You totes should have if you didn’t.
-Awww your mom is a sweetie. And I’m jealous that you live 2.5mi away. Justtt sayin.
-And awww at everyone supporting you. You go, girlie!
-Poor Pookie. I hope he is feeling a little better!
-YAYYYY 7 MONTHS!!!!
-Oohh 2 bedroom. You fancy.
-ooOO yay surprise honeymoon. I hope it’s a cruise too!
-Staying in the mermaid rooms the first weekend is fabulous. Man, I am so jealous!
-I think you’ll love the MLS degree. I have a friend graduating with her MLS and she has a job in her field already. (I noes, right?!) You get to be another sexy librarian.

 

[Icecoldpenguin]

*poor faith and her poor foot! That is horrible but I am so glad you made it through
*thank you for stepping in!
*jealous you are going to shannon's wedding! I want to go!
*i feel you on the not wanting to do wedding stuff...that is me too except i kinda NEED to do wedding stuff lol
*EWWWWW clown pool
*we are going to AOA too! Right after your wedding we are going the 29th to the 3rd.

Love the updates and talk to you soon

Teresa

 

[AvasMommy526]

Just finished reading your PJ so far!! What a beautiful day you are planning, so exciting! I cannot wait to hear back about our own date so I can really get to planning!
I am glad to see your dad was feeling better and you are so brave to run with a broken foot!!
Looking forward to reading more! And thank you for your suggestions over on the other board

PS I hate clowns too and that pool is terrifying!

 

[Jilian]

Awww, your poor foot. You're a trooper for doing the race still. How is your foot now? I hope it is getting better!

BTW, how are things with grandma? Did she ever come around or is she still upset about the Disney wedding?

I totally hear you on the clown pool, who ever though that was a good idea?! Seriously! Maybe it is Disney's idea for dealing with crowded pools and slides? Just make a skeery as hell slide and the kids will run and the pool will be empty

Yay for getting to go to fellow DisBride's weddings! Have fun!

 

[librarygeek]

* Wow, you are crazy... but super impressive! I can't believe you did the race with your broken foot, that is truly amazing!
* I can't wait to find out what your surprise honeymoon is!
* So cool that you'll be in the Little Mermaid rooms the day they open! Can't wait to hear how Art of Animation is!
* And congrats on deciding to go for your MLS! I hope you enjoy it and if you ever have any questions let me know!!

 

[Crofttobe]

Your entire thread is EXTREMELY helpful, I'm getting married 12/16/12 and I can't wait to get more info/updates! Love it, and congrats!

 

[goodmorningirl]

Hi Faith! It's been a while since I joined in, but I'm back and I've caught up! You've done so much and your wedding is so close! I think the aqua and white is going to be really beautiful and the red could work too. I have something (can't think of what right now) that has an aqua blue background with a red piece of coral and it is very chic. lol You are so brave to do that Everest run in your cast! I can't imagine. You and Max are so cute together. I love reading your updates!

 

[MrsDuck]

Holy Gucamole, girls! It's 6 months for me {tomorrow}!! I cannot believe how quickly time is going by. I'm so excited!

I figured it was time for an update so here we go!

First, I've been starting to accumulate DIY materials. So far I know I'm making...
1. A newsletter {it's actually done and sent- pics later!}
2. A cardbox
3. A "Thank You" sign to hold up for pictures
4. Programs
5. Welcome bag stuff

and I think that's it. For now...

I slaved away over my stupid newsletter. It started out as a 5 page newsletter and then I managed to cut it down to a brochure. Here it is!:

The problem? On the first page I forgot to add the word "outside". So, we have a sentence that says something along the lines of "Please be sure to bring a sweater as our reception will be held"

I was FURIOUS when I saw the mistake {after I printed 60 on the laser printer} and just chose to send them regardless. A few of our snarky friends have pointed out the mistake. Surprisingly, I don't care too terribly much

Next up is the Bridal Shower! My amazing MOH is really busy so my mom and I have been doing a bit of the planning. Honestly, it's been REALLY fun. I love having a wedding planner but it's fun to get a little more hands-on with the shower.

Here are the printed invites. We had them printed at Staples and when we went to pick them up we got them fo' free, y'all! I asked why and the lady said it was because they weren't finished in the time they told me. Funny thing is, they never told me when they'd be ready so yeaahh..

So, the newsletter and the shower invites were sent out together. We've gotten a couple RSVPs and the majority of them are "no"s. I figured we'd have a small turn out since the majority of our guests are OOTs. No biggie!

We went to the florist and decided on 5 topiaries for the shower. They'll be similar to this picture but they'll have 3 balls (? lol) instead of two:

The top will be pink lillies, the middle will be these green fuzzy things, and the bottom will be a mix of flowers that are pink, lime green, orange, and purple. I didn't specify the type of flower I wanted because I honestly don't care. I told the florist I just wanted something "fun, happy, and bright". Whatevs.

We just have to decide on games and then the shower is pretty much planned! YAY!

Next, I decided to ditch my old sand ceremony vase and get something BETTER. I saw this really cute idea of filling a shadow box with sand so I immediately ran my little (flattering myself) butt off to Michaels to pick a top-loading shadow box up. Here it is:

{I also broke a HUGE picture frame when I was at Michaels. OOPS.}

I figure we will put a picture in there and fill the sand a little less than half way up. Max is worried about how long we'll be pouring so I think we'll practice.

We can't decide if we want aqua and red sand or aqua and white sand. Such a crisis.

While I was at Michaels I picked up these goodies:

Organza bags for our Sprinkle toss!:

Aqua Ribbon for our ceremony lanterns:

Red Ribbon for decorating le Card Box/Fabric (from JoAnns):

Vases for the sand:

The Card Box:

I plan on starting the card box when my mom gets home from California next Friday. I don't think I could do it without her, lol! After she returns home from Cali, we are going to attempt the "Thank You" sign as well. I'm also printing my invites this summer just so I don't have to do it while I'm student teaching. Printing stuff stresses me out. All other wedding DIYs will probably have to wait until the Fall when we have things more finalized.

In other Wedding Related News: thanks to your encouragement I bought these super cute heart shoe clips for my shoesies! BIIG thanks to Victoria for her magical photoshopping (she put them right onto my shoes!). These remind me of the heart meter in the Legend of Zelda series- my favorite- and I felt that we needed to show a little more of a our geeky side:

I think I'll wear them for my shower as well. I think they'd go nicely with my Alice in Wonderland theme.

Speaking of geeky, our engagement pictures were featured on When Geeks Wed which is one of my favorite wedding sites. I love so many of the ideas on there and wish I could have a wedding like that {I think my old people that are invited would probably keel over and DIE}. Click the link after this to see the pictures and learn how nerdy we really are: http://whengeekswed.com/blog1/2012/06/20/faith-maxs-indy-adventure/

I'm going to Teresa's wedding next week! Woohoo! As many of you know, I was asked to step in for one of her Bridesmaids and am very excited to be involved! I bought a new black dress (no pics, sorry!) and new shoes. After breaking my foot wearing heels is KILLER. I got wedges. They'll have to cooperate or I'm going barefoot.

Next Saturday, my mom and I are driving up really early to get to the rehearsal. After the rehearsal lunch we'll check into OKW and then head over to the Garden Grove {our reception site} to verify we're all good with our reservation, etc since we'll be a little under 6 months at that point. That night we have no plans! I really want to just relax by the pool.

Sunday is the wedding! Woohoo! Monday we drive home. POO.

I will certainly update that next week with pictures and wedding deets! Look for me in the pictures, ladies!

Also, we decided on our favors! I wanted to do something really cute and fun but I decided it'd just be easier to go buy a crap-ton of the chocolate bars from DTD. So that's what we're doing. Yay cheap and easy!

I'm also making progress with my Bridesmaid Gifts! I ordered them customized hangers, got them pashminas in case it's cold, and am getting them each a magazine subscription. I may throw in a few other things but I think that's what they're getting. Wish I could give more but it's not in the budget!

I don't think I have anything else too exciting to tell you that's WR.

Let's see.. Non-Wedding Related...

1. Max is taking off tomorrow (6.22) since it's our 6.5 year anniversary but mostly because he has PTO that he'll lose if he doesn't use, lol. We're going to see the first showing of Brave tomorrow! I CANNOT WAIT. He is also taking off Monday. Since my parents are out of town, we get to play house which is always fun!

2. Um. I really want to try the Red Velvet pancakes at IHOP.

Okay, yeah. That's pretty much it!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll be back after Teresa's wedding to say hi and re-cap her day!

Thanks for reading along ladies!

 

[Icecoldpenguin]

HOLY CRAP MY WEDDING IS SO CLOSE! Hahaha ok had to say that.

Ok I love the zelda shoe clips those are amazing

I would highly suggest trying to knock out your DIY projects as early as possible that is one thing that is haunting me right now.

Everything looks fabulous absolutely fabulous!

Have fun seeing brave we are waiting until after the wedding.

Ok I will see you soon!

Teresa