LURKYLOO's Wedding Trippie: Morocco/Attic/Lower UK: Wedding Album + Gown Preservation

[swwake]

Carrie - not sure if I have ever said "hi" but I have been lurking from time to time when I have time. I have just finished watching your video over the past few days, 10 minutes at a time. I got SO addicted to it. Such a beautiful and different wedding. And can I say? You were STUNNING that day!

Things I loved:
- the "old" pics of (someone's mom and dad marrying?) mixed in
- your east coast swing with your DH outside at the attic (we are dancers )
- the locket
- the teal jewelry
- the cake
- the chair ribbons
- how absolutely happy and in love you both looked the whole time. So comfortable with each other.

Now, as I am addicted, I have to go back and read the planning journal, then all of this wedding report. I am so looking forward to this little diversion.

 

[lurkyloo]

You look like you both had a fab day. Seeing everyone with the mickey ears on was great - we are having those as our favours at our wedding, just to see the non disney lovers wear them will be worth the cost !!!

I agree! I can't wait to see your pictures...

That was very sweet and silly all at the same time (high praise from me). It looked like a lovely wedding. The ceremony was gorgeous, and I just loved the mouse ears. Thanks for sharing the video with us. I swear I have 75% of those songs on my ipod!

Oooh - good taste! Thanks for the kind comments!

I loved the petals on your train after the wedding! I loved the dance you shared with patrick; y'all did great!! The father & daughter dance was so neat and then the muppet - mother and son dance was hilarious!! Patrick was so funny with his mom!

The one part I wish I could have heard better was what you said to Patrick during your vows...

And hey, I love Oreos too

Thanks for sharing! I really loved the video, Carrie! It is truly a treasure

Aw, thanks! Don't worry - you didn't miss much in my vows. I think I basically just told Patrick that I love him because he's "HIGH-larious..."

Carrie - not sure if I have ever said "hi" but I have been lurking from time to time when I have time. I have just finished watching your video over the past few days, 10 minutes at a time. I got SO addicted to it. Such a beautiful and different wedding. And can I say? You were STUNNING that day!

Things I loved:
- the "old" pics of (someone's mom and dad marrying?) mixed in
- your east coast swing with your DH outside at the attic (we are dancers )
- the locket
- the teal jewelry
- the cake
- the chair ribbons
- how absolutely happy and in love you both looked the whole time. So comfortable with each other.

Now, as I am addicted, I have to go back and read the planning journal, then all of this wedding report. I am so looking forward to this little diversion.

Thank you so much! I am really glad to hear you enjoyed everything. The people in the video were my parents - we didn't have a lot of pictures of their wedding, but it was enough for Sage to work them in so that I could have the song we played in honor of my mom heard on the video.

 

[lurkyloo]

At long last.... the account of our at-home reception!


Well I hope the delay in recounting our at-home reception hasn’t built up any hopes that it will be as exciting as our actual wedding! I’m sorry it took me so long to get around to telling the story, but to give you an idea of my priorities, I still haven’t finished our wedding photo album…

Probably from the moment we announced we were getting married at Walt Disney World, we planned to have an at-home reception for those who couldn’t be at the wedding. I think they are a great idea and free you to have the kind of wedding you want while still giving all your friends and family a chance to celebrate with you.

Ours was held in DH’s hometown in the Bay Area of California. He has a huge family, and almost all of them live in Northern California, so the party was basically for them. I know some couples do a full-on reception with bridal attire, catering and a DJ, but after planning our spectacle of a wedding in about 5 months, I was completely uninterested in planning anything else.

So when DH’s parents offered to host it as our wedding gift, we let them do what they wanted – which turned out to be an open house with a sort of potluck. I wore my wedding necklace because so many people had asked to see it, but otherwise it was extremely casual – which was perfect!

The party ran from 1pm to 6pm on a Saturday about 2 months after our wedding, and we sent out combo wedding announcement/reception invites on the day after we got married (a huge etiquette no-no, but man was it convenient!).

We encouraged people to drop in whenever they wanted and stay however long they wanted, so we didn’t really have a schedule other than cutting the cake at some point. It was quite convivial and felt easy and fun rather than “let’s meet the entire fambly” scary!


We had our wedding video playing on a loop in one room, and I was surprised how many people who arrived in the middle sat through the cycle to see the whole thing.

Even guys watched it!

Even more popular were the softcover Blurb books I’d made of our wedding photos. We made one for each grandma and passed them around during the party. Tthe grandmas got their books at the end of the night and proceeded to share them with anyone who crossed their paths: bridge partners, hair dressers, the meter reader... ). People seemed to love being able to look at actual printed photos instead of the ones we had in a slideshow on DH’s laptop, and we had people ask us how to get started using Blurb.

Front Cover & Flap:

A sampling of interior pages:

Back Cover & Flap:

DH’s parents made a few crockpot dishes and put out sandwich fixings, and people brought desserts. We used leftover paper goods from our engagement party, which the hostess bought in our wedding colors – awwww!

My contribution was an attempt at re-creating my parents’ wedding cake, which my aunt made them as a three-tiered version of the popular family birthday cake (a Ghirardelli milk chocolate cake with milk chocolate frosting!). I watched a video about making tiered cakes on YouTube, bought a Martha Stewart cake turntable, ordered all the other supplies I’d need from a professional cake-baking website, and thought I knew all I needed to know….

What eight batches of frosting looks like!

Wheee! This’ll be a piece of cake (yukk, yukk, yukk!)….

Except, as it turns out, you have to be REEEEEEALLY precise when you cut the cake into layers and stack them, or else you get this:

Leaning Tower of Cake!

Persevering…

Getting sidetracked…

Maybe we just need to rotate it a little…

Finished at last!

 

[lurkyloo]

So…. maybe some of you know how it feels to try to draw a pretty picture you have in your mind when you have absolutely no artistic ability….? It was pretty much just like that.

This was the inspiration…

And this was the cold, harsh reality….

To add insult to injury, the dang thing actually started collapsing before the party started! We had to spackle over the Grand Canyon with extra frosting…. I guess drinking straws really aren’t a good substitute for wooden dowels when you’re making a layer cake. Fortunately, it tasted really good!

At the party, we used our special wedding cake knife for the cake-cutting and displayed pictures of our parents’ cake-cuttings and the one from our wedding.

One of the really nice things about the party was getting to meet all the family and friends I’d heard DH talk about over the years, including some of his former teachers and even school librarians! They had such glowing things to say about him.

We were shocked, too, by how generous everyone was. In fact, his grandma decided we needed to open gifts right then and there because so many people had brought them. It was really fun, and quite touching to be shown so much love by people I’d never met!

I admit I was a little scared how the at-home reception would turn out without me micromanaging everything, but in the end it was just perfect – a fun, relaxed opportunity to get to know people and share our excitement with them. I highly recommend the idea to anyone having a destination wedding!

 

[lurkyloo]

One last story to tag on to the end of my wedding trip report....


Our wedding got two pages in a national bridal magazine!

EEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee!

We're in the annual issue of Destination Weddings & Honeymoons magazine - a national publication that you can buy in the supermarket and everything! (take THAT, Disney Haters! )

It came out Dec. 30 and will be on stands until March 30, 2009. If you can't find a copy, it's because I bought it!

 

[Philadisney]

I loved reading your recount of your at-home reception. It seems like a wonderful, relaxed time - and the cake is great I can totally picture myself doing the same thing. You & Patrick always look like you are having such a ridiculous amount of fun.

 

[29apr00]

Yeah! About time!

What a laid back relaxing time!! Great job on the cake!

 

[adisneygal]

I am so glad you got to post about your at home reception. Great idea on the blurb books to share and then give to Grandma's. And that cake sounds yummy. Will I find the recipe in a google search or can you share?

 

[Wazzo]

First of all, I love this shot, it's hilarious!

Second, did Patrick get this shirt at WDW? I love it!

 

[lurkyloo]

I loved reading your recount of your at-home reception. It seems like a wonderful, relaxed time - and the cake is great I can totally picture myself doing the same thing. You & Patrick always look like you are having such a ridiculous amount of fun.

Oh it looks that way... I just don't post the pictures of me toiling away in my cubicle at work or Patrick designing, building and performing fabulously hilarious puppet shows. Say.... wait a minute....

Yeah! About time!

What a laid back relaxing time!! Great job on the cake!

Thanks! I kinda wish it had been even more wonky-lookin' so the pictures would be even funnier!

I am so glad you got to post about your at home reception. Great idea on the blurb books to share and then give to Grandma's. And that cake sounds yummy. Will I find the recipe in a google search or can you share?

It's been in our family for generations - ever since someone lifted it off the back of a Ghirardelli box. I'll bet it's on the Internet somewhere, but I'll post it here too!

Hayward Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350. Line layer pans with wax paper. Grease sides.

7 Tablespoons Ghirardelli chocolate
5 Tablespoons hot water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 egg yolks beaten in one at a time
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 beaten egg whites

Add ingredients with mixer in order given, except egg whites. Mix well with beaters. Fold in egg whites (beaten stiff) gently, but be sure they are mixed in well.

Bake 25-30 minutes at 350.

Icing

2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cups Ghirardelli chocolate
Hot water – add by drops until creamy


I don't think this makes enough frosting, so I worked out....

Bigger Batch of Icing:

5 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 sticks butter
1 2/3 cups Ghirardelli chocolate

I think I made eight of those and three batches of batter to make the layer cake.

First of all, I love this shot, it's hilarious!

Second, did Patrick get this shirt at WDW? I love it!

Yes! In the Mexico Pavilion, and they still had them when we were there last week!

 

[A-T-G]

Oh! That cake! It was so yummy! And now I WANT IT!! I am, alas, to lazy to bake it! Think of a way for me to bribe you into making it for my next visit, will ya? Or a birthday, or something! Make it a good bribe tho, that cake was FAN-tab-ulous!

Also, is it really bad that I want the TR for your latest WDW trip, like now? That's bad, right? I'm asking too much, aren't I?

 

[A-T-G]

Yeah, so I went back and watched your wedding video...again! What can I say, I'm a sucker for a romantic movie! My DH was laughing at me for spending an hour watching a wedding video that wasn't ours (we didn't even do a vid!) but, pointed out that he looked swanky...and I agreed, so he stopped thinking me odd!

 

[jennifaerie]

I actually think the recreation of the cake was spot on. It's great!

 

[irisbud]

Carrie, I think your reception cake looked great, actually!

Looks like everyone had a fun time! Thanks for posting this, it makes me feel a little bit better about doing an at home recpetion. DH wants the same kind of thing and I am dreading it, but maybe a little less so after you said yours turned out okay despite your worries.

Congrats again on the magazine!

 

[lurkyloo]

Oh! That cake! It was so yummy! And now I WANT IT!! I am, alas, to lazy to bake it! Think of a way for me to bribe you into making it for my next visit, will ya? Or a birthday, or something! Make it a good bribe tho, that cake was FAN-tab-ulous!

Sure - I love making that cake! And usually I have to make it for myself for my birthday, so it'll be nice to make it for someone else!

Also, is it really bad that I want the TR for your latest WDW trip, like now? That's bad, right? I'm asking too much, aren't I?

No, it's OK! I really want to get started writing it, but I am having Photobucket hassles... think it might be time to find a new photo-hosting site....

I actually think the recreation of the cake was spot on. It's great!

Hey, thanks! Watch out - I might make you one too! Even though you "hate" cake....

Looks like everyone had a fun time! Thanks for posting this, it makes me feel a little bit better about doing an at home recpetion. DH wants the same kind of thing and I am dreading it, but maybe a little less so after you said yours turned out okay despite your worries.

Yeah, I think the secret is to make it casual and to not plan it yourself/care how it turns out!

 

[jennifaerie]

Loathe it, baby!

 

[lurkyloo]

Because this board is only for discussing weddings and honeymoons, you can find the stories of our subsequent trips to WDW in the main Trip Reports forum.

You Just Got Married at WDW - What're You Gonna Do Next?: A pre-trip report for the 2 Haunted Mansions, 1 Day trip and for our anniversary trip

2 Haunted Mansions, 1 Day (plus free dining!)

Lurkyloo Does WDW: A live blog from (and sneak peek of) the anniversary trip and 2 Haunted Mansions, 1 Day

Return to the Scene of the Crime: The Lurkyloos’ First Anniversary at WDW! Includes info on planning a private anniversary IllumiNations Dessert Party for those who are interested....

 

[lpizzuro123]

No No No - don't go.

I have so enjoyed reading your report. I'll have to go on all your other threads to keep track of you two. I must say you have been an inspiration to so many brides on these boards. I can't believe your One Year Anniversary is coming up. See you on your other threads.

Your at home party looked like so much fun - very casual and comfortable. The cake you made looks and sounds yummy.

Linda

 

[lpizzuro123]

Hey Carrie - can you point me in the direction of your video. I remember reading someing about it and some pictures you added to it but I can't seem to locate it. Hope you are still coming here.

Thanks,
Linda

 

[lurkyloo]

Hi Linda! You are so sweet. Never fear - I *love* the DIS weddings board... you'll never see the last of me here!

Here are the links to our video:

Wedding Video Demo: http://blip.tv/file/1667510/

Full-length Wedding Video: http://blip.tv/file/1023592/


I've also put them on the first page of this thread, along with links to my pictures and to my Planning Journal, plus an index of the report so that the People of the Future can skip the boring parts...