Justine & Adam 4-21-12 SBP/LSS/SCP--Updated 9/30

[donald&daisy]

Hello all! My name is Justine and I am finally starting my planning journal. I have been resisting for a while, not sure why...probably because I don't want to turn into a 15 dress bride who changes locations 5 times, lol. I do feel more comfortable now that I have had a site visit and I have resisted the urge to go dress shopping...until this weekend so it seems like a good time to start. But here's a recap of my engagement thread from August:

Hello, My name is Justine and I have been reading these boards off and on for a while. My boyfriend of 4.5 years asked me to marry him this past Saturday! We both went to undergrad at the University of Arkansas where we met in our senior year. We then went to law school at the U of A, graduated last Spring, took the Bar exam, passed (thank God), and got real jobs. Adam works for Walmart HQ in Health and Wellness Compliance and I am the director of the Fayetteville Animal Shelter. We have been enjoying adjusting to life as working adults rather than students.
Adam had invited me to a corporate dinner event at a fancy restaurant on the U of A campus (no, not the dining hall). I was somewhat suspicious for various reasons (ex: this mysterious dinner was in Fayetteville and not Bentonville, where Walmart HQ is located; also, it was moved back a day, two days beforehand for no apparent reason, etc). Plus, we have been talking about marriage for a while. Anyways, he told me we had to park across campus; he gave some silly reason, but I didn’t give him a hard time about it. As we were walking, he asked if I wanted to stop by Old Main, the flagship building on campus, and I said sure. This was the building where we first met in class. We get to the doors and he starts fishing through this messenger bag he brought with him (for a “speech he had to give at dinner”) and he says “oh no, I forgot my id, good thing I remembered to bring this…” and he whips out this bad boy:

I start smiling like a crazy fool and he says some really sweet stuff about how he feels so lucky to have spent the past few years with me, but that he would feel like the luckiest guy on Earth if I would spend the rest of my life with him. It is all kind of fuzzy because I was just so excited! Then he asked the actual question and I said YES!!!

He even hired a photographer to take photos while it happened. She had been hiding out behind a tree when we walked up. Here are a couple of the photos. We then actually did go to dinner, where I ate all 6 courses (delish!) and then we stayed in a suite at the Inn where the restaurant is located. It used to be a girl’s dormitory back in the early 1900s, but has been renovated into a beautiful inn. It was all wonderful and we are both super excited about getting married. We have vacationed to Disney once a year for every year we have been dating, except for last year when we branched out and went on an awesome post-Bar cruise. It is a special place for us with lots of memories and we are looking to having an April 2012 wedding there. We are going to Universal for the first time in October (yay, for Halloween Horror Nights) and we hope to do a site visit then. I’m looking forward to learning lots of info to make planning easy!

 

[FutureMrs.B]

You're ring is gorgeous. Your engagement story is so sweet. How nice of him to propose where you guys first met and also have a photographer ready to capture your special moment. I'm looking forward to reading along with all your planning.

 

[elleinad16]

Oh my goodness, your ring is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Congrats on everything! I can't wait to read more wedding plans!

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

I am in love with that ring! I have to know if you helped pick that out or if DF did that on his own? Congratulations and I can't wait to hear your plans!!!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Welcome and congratulations!!!
Like everybody else so far I love love love your gorgeous and unusual ring!!!
You make a lovely couple and I am looking forward to following along with your plans.

 

[donald&daisy]

Yay! I'm so excited! It is fun to finally start a PJ.

I am in love with that ring! I have to know if you helped pick that out or if DF did that on his own? Congratulations and I can't wait to hear your plans!!!

Well, I sent him pictures and strongly suggested that I liked this ring. I would commonly refer to it as "the one ring" and "my precious" lol. I knew I wanted something with colored gemstones as well as the main diamond. After I saw this ring, I fell in love but I felt guilty asking for a Tacori because you pay so much for just a name. He did go to a local jeweler to see if they could make something similar,and they could, but it would have been almost as expensive. I love it.

Thanks for reading everyone! I will try to post later today about how we chose our venues and I will recap my trip to David's Bridal yesterday.

 

[donald&daisy]

I have been reading these boards for a long time and I had seen pics of lovely weddings around the Grand Floridian. I also really liked the idea of having all of the events in one place. I was pretty sure that we would end up using the Wedding Pavilion and having a reception in either White Hall or another ballroom. I am also extremely fond of Wishes, so I thought Sago Cay would be perfect for our dessert party.

Well, last month we had a trip planned to Universal and I squeezed a day at Disney in on the end. We left on a Saturday and had our site visit on the following Monday. We thought about renting a car, but ended up just taking a cab from the Royal Pacific over to the GF. The first thing I took a picture of was this sign:

I was super excited. We had walked by the Wedding Pavilion before, but had never been inside. We went into Franck’s to meet our guide (or whatever they’re called) named Joe. He was very nice and extremely knowledgeable. We started by just discussing some of the ideas we had for our wedding. At this point we knew that we liked bold colors and Adam definitely wanted the ceremony to be at the WP. I like SBP, but Adam likes the more traditional idea of a chapel type setting. I am cool with both, so we were settled on that. I was also settled on the idea of a Wishes DP, rather than Illuminations—I just love the sentimentality and Disneyn-ess of Wishes.

So that really just left the reception location. Joe suggested some other locations besides looking at the GF rooms. He showed us a really gorgeous reception that was done at the Contemporary, and I asked some questions about Tamu Tamu—he basically said he doesn’t recommend it because you have to truly be comfortable with your backup options and we wouldn’t be okay with those. We kept looking at pics and then he showed us some pics of the Living Seas Salon. Adam decided he really wanted to go to take a look it. After we had asked every question we could think of, we got our stuff together and headed over to the WP to look. Someone’s bridal party was helping to set up for their ceremony. It was so pretty, we loved it!

On to the GF to Whitehall and it’s patio—my first choice at that point. I really liked it, Adam was concerned about the Monorail noise, but I didn’t think it would be a big issue. I didn’t like the birds of doom on the wall—but I didn’t like the way it looked covered up either. Then Joe showed us some of the ballrooms. I was surprised at how some of the set ups seemed really narrow, that being said—they were really pretty. Here's someone's pretty pink reception being set up:

Then we headed over to Epcot to see the LSS. We enjoyed seeing the behind the scenes route our guests would take to get there. He explained how it used to be an area for a corporate sponsor (some company I can’t remember the name of) to use for events. So we rode the elevator up and he showed us the area commonly used for the cocktail hour and how that just sort of flowed into the rest of the room. I wonder if there is a way to curtain it off to save some of the drama of revealing the reception décor? Anyways, Adam was totally sold and I think he put it best when he said “We could have a reception in a ballroom anywhere in the world, but this would be really special and unique.” I was happy that he was happy, plus I loved the overall feel. We were both afraid it would seem dark and to a degree, it does—however, our reception will be during the evening and in any other room the lighting would be dim, so I’m not worried about. I think we will love it.

So that, ladies and gentlemen, was the thought process behind our decision. I am really grateful that we got to have a site visit; I think we would have made a totally different decision otherwise. It also made the idea of having a wedding seem much more real to both of us. We are basically in a holding pattern until Dec. 21st when we can book! Here's me being cheesy after our site visit:

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

your ring is amazing!! we go on our site visit this thursday!! i'm so excited i can't stand it!! can't wait to hear all your plans!!

 

[donald&daisy]

I have got to figure out how to make the pictures smaller....

 

[donald&daisy]

I thought I would take some time to introduce our fur children. I am the director of our city’s animal shelter so I spend a lot of time around animals and I consider ours to be part of the family.
Chewie is my first born. He is a 4 year old shih tzu and my soul mate in canine form. I know you aren’t supposed to have favorites among children (or at least you aren’t supposed to talk about it), but I am the first to admit that Chewie is my favorite, lol.

Together:

Surfing the net and watching the Hogs win:

Next, is Mr. Jinx he is a 4 year old Persian kitty. He speaks with an English accent and thinks he is a dog. Sometimes we think he is an alien…he also likes to “suck our soul”—he gets right in our faces and wheezes like he is stealing our soul…I recently brought a home a kitten from the Shelter I named Nirmal to see how it would work out, but Mr. Jinx quickly showed me he prefers to be the only feline in the house.

Third in order of acquisition is Gabby—I named her after my favorite Desperate Housewife. She is a border terrier mix and we think she is 2 years old. She is so spunky and she loves every human she meets and most dogs too and she loves cats. She has more personality in her tail than most dogs ever exhibit in their whole lives. I take her and Chewie to work with me almost every day and we call her our Wal-Mart greeter because she likes to station herself on the front counter and say hi to everyone who comes in.

Hanging out with dad:

Last is Max, we got him right after I started working at the Shelter so he just turned one year old. Adam had been wanting a bigger dog and when I saw this little guy come in, I knew he was perfect. Max is so laid back and sweet. He is also very protective so he usually goes to daycare rather than to work with me.

When he first came home:

Turning one year old:

So those are my kids, I promise to get back to wedding related details in the next post…

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

Aww... all of your "kids" are adorable! That's great that you do some much with helping animals!

 

[FutureMrs.B]

Awww I love your furry children! They're soo cute.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Love your furbabies!! I'm intruiged as to how a cat can talk with an English accent!!

 

[donald&daisy]

Love your furbabies!! I'm intruiged as to how a cat can talk with an English accent!!

Well, like all perfectly normal people we talk for our pets and it just so happens that Mr. Jinx sounds like Stewie from Family Guy...

 

[donald&daisy]

So a couple of weekends ago my mom and granny came up so we could take my granny to the casino for her 83rd birthday. She’s a funny lady, she told me “I could die happy if I can hear David (my cousin, the preacher) preach one more time and if you would take me to the casino for my birthday.” Well, I fulfilled my part of that request. Also, we aren’t allowed to tell any of her friends what we did for her birthday. We all had a great time paying the penny slots at the Indian casino. We also went to David’s Bridal beforehand so I could try on some dresses. I was very leery of this because I thought any dress with much volume would make me look like a short, squat cupcake. This didn’t turn out to be the case so it opened my mind to look at lots of different types of dresses. I always read these stories of how awful David’s is, but we had a nice time and it was a Saturday. Granted, I would have been put off if I was truly looking at buying a dress that day, but I also wouldn’t have chosen a Saturday during their $99 sale, lol. So here are some of the highlights from the day:

#1—I really liked this one and it would have looked even better if they hadn’t put me in a bra two sizes too big. It kind of makes me want a bigger dress for the wedding and a lighter one for the reception.

#2—We called this gown the “ruffle explosion.” A pretty gown, but not the best for me--although it does look good in pics, hhmmm....

#3—One of my favorites but Adam says he thinks it looks like it has “barnacles” growing on it. He feels this way about gown with 3D flowers, etc. I thought it was super flattering and makes me really want a sweetheart neckline.

#4—I loved the light and airy feel of this one. If I don’t go with something like this for the whole day, I will def get one for the reception.

#5—A couple sizes too big, but flattering nonetheless. I liked it, but if I am going to wear a ballgown I want more flair, lol.

Closing thoughts: David’s Bridal is so affordable! Seriously, I have budgeted $2k for my wedding attire and I could buy two dresses and still have half my budget left. It kind of makes me wonder if I will be able to buy a more expensive gown now because I know I would be happy in one of the David’s dresses. I am a practical spender, but I will keep looking. It was a fun first foray into dress shopping. Oh, and Adam hates veils (something about ghosts, etc) and I’m not partial to them so I won’t be wearing one. So which ones do ya’ll like???

 

[elleinad16]

I really like #5, the last one!
Very pretty!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Love the dresses!!!
I think number 1 is my favourite
Lucky girl to be getting two dresses!!

 

[KitKat5]

Hi just joining in!! I love your 'kids' they are all sooo cute! Funny thing too, my cat talks like Stewie from Family Guy too!

I love dress #1...it looked beautiful on you! Dress #2 is different and again, looked gorgeous on you! I also really liked dress #4 but def think its best for the evening...you need a real princess dress for the day!! I flew over to Florida from the UK in April to buy my dress from DB and it cost soooo much less than getting one back home! They were sooo great and I got everything but the shoes!!

 

[donald&daisy]

Hi just joining in!! I love your 'kids' they are all sooo cute! Funny thing too, my cat talks like Stewie from Family Guy too!

I love dress #1...it looked beautiful on you! Dress #2 is different and again, looked gorgeous on you! I also really liked dress #4 but def think its best for the evening...you need a real princess dress for the day!! I flew over to Florida from the UK in April to buy my dress from DB and it cost soooo much less than getting one back home! They were sooo great and I got everything but the shoes!!

I wonder how many people think their cat talks like Stewie? I think dresses number 1 and 4 are my faves. Although 4 is pretty....You're smart to buy your dress over here! I've read other UK bride's planning journals and almost fell over because of the price differential!

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

Love the first dress! I went to David's last week and also thought it was so affordable, but I will add I liked a lot of dresses there until I went somewhere else, and then, not so much. lol. But I think the first dress is beautiful on you and very flattering.