Gina & Carl's Wedding - 6/22/12 - Swan/Ohana ~ TR Day 4 Wedding Ceremony 8/9

[2dogmom]

I think it is time I started my PJ here

A little background on us. I am a mom to two girls, 11 and 8, and Carl is a dad to 1 girl, 15. (Both with birthday's in July so very close to almost.) We started dating January 22, 2010 and got engaged January 22, 2011. I originally wanted to plan a beach wedding for August 2011, but dropped that idea because there wouldn't be too many family and friends in attendance. I didn't want to plan something for just the 5 of us. So a backyard wedding and luau started to take shape. Again, trying for August 2011, but we soon came to realize I want too much done in my backyard before that So we moved it to the summer of 2012 with no specific date in mind. About 2 weeks ago, I realized that I just wasn't happy with a backyard wedding. If I was going to get married again, I wanted something "I" wanted. After all, isn't a wedding all about what the bride wants Kidding, but not so much. So I started investigating destination weddings again, but with disney in mind this time. I still wanted to go away, and Disney would be perfect for the family. So what if it was a wedding/family honeymoon. Our girls are very much a part of our lives and, moreso, I, well we, love disney. I also have a number of friends that love Disney so much that I am sure they would come. So the planning began...

I first started researching a DFTW, but those prices were out of my price range. I really don't have a need for annual passes or a 3hr limo serve. I know Disney offers the Memories collection for weddings, but the guest list would then be very limited, and I didn't want that either. Plus the memories collection only went through spring of next year. With kids in school and sports, that wouldn't work either. So the research continued. After reading a couple PJ's here, and looking at pictures on the Swan website, I decided that was the route I would go.

I emailed JustMarry.com for some information and heard back from Karen Gingerich. She has sent me a ton of information and I think that is the way we will be going.

Let the fun begin!

Details:
Date: June 22, 2012
Time: 4:00
Wedding Location: Swan Resort - Beach location (hoping no afternoon summer rain)
Cake: After the ceremony... It's Tasty Too
Reception: Ohana at the Polynesian around 7:50pm and watch Wishes from the beach after
Staying at: Beach Club

Mickey Flower Balls
More Mickey flower balls and Exit Wands
My dress


Budget - WIP
I currently am also keeping a wedding planning blog that covers the backyard luau as well.

http://planningmybigday.wordpress.com

Newsletter One
Newsletter Two

Trip Report
Trip Report Day 1 ~ The Drive
Trip Report Day 2 ~ The Drive Continues Part 1
Trip Report Day 2 Cont ~ MK
Trip Report Day 3 ~ Alone Time
Trip Report Day 4 ~ Wedding day part 1
Trip Report Day 4 ~ Wedding continues
Trip Report Day 4 ~ Wedding Ceremony

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

Congrats and welcome!! I think Swan is wonderful and can't wait to hear your plans!

 

[2dogmom]

Congrats and welcome!! I think Swan is wonderful and can't wait to hear your plans!

Thanks for the welcome! I can't wait to make the plans.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Good to see you have started a PJ!! Looking forward to hearing all your plans!!

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

Congratulations! And I can't wait to hear more.

 

[Fay]

Congratulations to you both!!! can't wait to read along!

Happy planning!

Xxxxx

 

[KristiLyn]

Yay! I'm so glad you did a pj!!! Can't wait to hear all of your plans!!!

 

[2dogmom]

Thanks for the welcome from all of you

Since we originally wanted to have a beach wedding, we loved the idea of the beach site at the Swan. Yes, we know it is not a shaded spot (in June) and it is near the playground, but we will take our chances with hoping there aren't many kids (or that my kids won't want to hang on the playground).

I have received the contract from Karen. I just included the basics for now...

- Base site
- officiant
- bamboo structure rental with sheer fabric
- floral swags for bamboo structure

We will sign it and get it back in the mail for her.

I'm thinking with the beach wedding, I will look into fans for the guests. I think I want to incorporate some shells in the decoration / flowers, at least on the bamboo structure. At least I have a lot of time to figure this out.

Has anyone used the website feature on weddingwire? It seems pretty cool. I may play with that and see how it will work for us.

Now that I have a date, I'm thinking about creating a Save the Date evite for the disney portion so our family and friends can get a heads up on our plan and start saving if they want to join us. Fortunately, my part time gig is a Disney TA so I can assist any guests that want to come with making their reservations and planning their trip. OK, just saying that now makes me sound crazy. Adding more planning. I may have to get help from some of my fellow TAs.

So much to start doing.

 

[2dogmom]

I added a picture of us on the first post.

 

[Jilian]

Congrats and welcome! It is so nice to see so many of us swan brides popping up, I think Joanne started a trend! I can't wait to hear more about your plans

 

[pixie921]

Welcome from one Swan bride (well, a vow renewal bride) to another! Congratulations on your engagement and I'm looking forward to seeing your plans unfold!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Congrats and welcome! It is so nice to see so many of us swan brides popping up, I think Joanne started a trend! I can't wait to hear more about your plans

Jilian sweetie - I would like to think that I started people thinking about weddings/VRs at the Swan!!! It is really excellent value and more flexible than the small DFTW packages. Karen is an angel, and deserves to have lots of business come her way!!! She really made our day perfect!!

2dogmom - Good to see that your plans are coming along nicely!!! We had plain white paddle fans on the chairs at our VR and they were really appreciated by our guests as it was a really hot day!! I looked into having Mickey fans (I think that there are a couple of sellers on Etsy who do them), but in the end decided that the plain white ones were more in keeping with the elegant style I was aiming for. I still love the Mickey ones though!!
I think fans for your guests are almost essential for an outdoor ceremony in Florida.

 

[2dogmom]

Just checking in quickly. We are on vacation this week so wedding plans are on hold until next week. Can't wait to get planning.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Have a good vacation sweetie!!

 

[Jilian]

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[2dogmom]

I am back from vacation. We went to Cedar Point and King's Island in Ohio and had a blast. Now back to the real world of work and wedding planning. The first thing I want to tackle is putting out some "save the date" cards/emails/something. Since my whole wedding will be on the informal side, I don't want to do formal cards. I was thinking about doing something like an eVite but I can only tackle one event with that. I want to be able to tackle 2 events at the same time and allow for guests to reply to both when they know what their plans are. So now I am thinking instead of an eVite, to put together a document of some sort that will talk about both the disney wedding and the luau reception back home, and incorporate that I can help assist with travel arrangements. I will definitely want a Disney count before 6 months out so I can make decisions about what we will do after the wedding. I have looked at a couple of wedding planning sites to assist with this and so far I like Wedding Wire the best, especially to help with the RSVPing part. I can separate it into separate events, give details for each, and get separate responses. Here is what I have so far.
http://www.weddingwire.com/GinaAndCarl

I definitely need to do more with that, but it is a starting point. Does anyone have a better site to use? Or a better way of sending out something?

 

[NicknNancy]

Welcome to the PJ world!!! The website looks great!!!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Have you thought about sending out a series of newsletters. In the run-up to my VR, I sent out three different newsletters - one at about a year out (which acted as a sort of S the D and included an initial response card, so that I had some idea who was thinking of joining us), one at about six months out with information about accomodation, ticketing, dining etc and one at about two months out containing more finalized plans.
Below is just a couple of pages (don't worry, not the whole thing!!) from the second newsletter to give you an idea. I created them at home using powerpoint and just printed them on good paper on my home printer. Everybody loved them and said that they were always eagarly awaiting the next edition!!

 

[2dogmom]

Welcome to the PJ world!!! The website looks great!!!

Thank you. I think it is time I put Carl to work to help out with adding content

 

[2dogmom]

Have you thought about sending out a series of newsletters. In the run-up to my VR, I sent out three different newsletters - one at about a year out (which acted as a sort of S the D and included an initial response card, so that I had some idea who was thinking of joining us), one at about six months out with information about accomodation, ticketing, dining etc and one at about two months out containing more finalized plans.
Below is just a couple of pages (don't worry, not the whole thing!!) from the second newsletter to give you an idea. I created them at home using powerpoint and just printed them on good paper on my home printer. Everybody loved them and said that they were always eagarly awaiting the next edition!!

Oh, That is a good idea. Could you share your first one with me too? Or if it is in your PJ, I can go check it out there. That is a really creative way of spreading the news.