Sean & Elaina **Where Dreams Come True** Planning Journal UPDATE 7-9 Pro Pictures!

[Pomlover2586]

I found my dress!!! My mom and Sean's mom went shopping 2 weeks ago and I found it! When I started looking I wanted a strapless, A line with bead work on the bodice, skirt of the dress and the train. I didn't get that.......I got even better!!

First we went to a Bridal Gown Superstore.........all was going well I tried on about 9 gowns and loved a lot of them and had it narrowed down to 2; one had a halter top and the other had really intricate beading on the skirt and once hemmed would have lost a lot of the design. I was trying to decide what I should do and said I wanted to try 1 more on when the sales lady said "I'm sorry but you've already tried on 9 gowns and I can't let you try on any more, we usually limit our customers to 7-9 dresses per day so that they don't get damaged!" I asked her "So you expect a bride to pick her dress out of 7-9 gowns" to which she responded yes. Oh heck no! First of all I had to fight to get both my mom and Sean's mom into the dressing room with me because they only wanted 1 person back there and then my mom and Sean's mom were the ones doing all the work getting me into and out of the dresses [the associate was doing nothing] and now this? Forget it......i'll take my money elsewhere.......all the women in there had an attitude like

So we went over to Davids Bridal.......I had heard amazing things about the bridal gown superstore and horrible things about Davids Bridal and I had the complete opposite experience. They were WONDERFUL!!!!! Within 10 minutes I had an associate figuring out my size. I had about 6 dresses I had seen online that I knew I wanted to try on and once she had my size figured out she went through the entire store and pulled each dress off the rack for me to try on. My mom and Gail [Seans mom] each took a seat and got to enjoy watching me model all these dresses while the associate Vanessa did all the work. I honestly cannot say enough nice things about that girl! She was just amazing! So here are some pics of the dresses I tried on [not all are included but the ones I liked best are]

This dress was lovingly referred to as the "Princess Poof" dress for obvious reasons. Gail and I thought it was beautiful and my mom loved the fact that it matched my Castle/Fairytale theme perfectly......but somehow it was a bit too princessy for me.

This gown was the one I had picked out of the catalog as my top choice. Once I put it on however I realized I liked the shoulders and the bodice but the skirt and the train were simply too plain. I hadn't realized the lack of detail in the photos. Gail really liked this one, my mom however didn't.

Finally I tried on this gown and thought it was the one. It wasn't what I originally wanted......I hadn't anticipated getting a lace overlay but thought it would be interesting to try on just for fun. This dress was exquisite and I really loved the train detailing. Both my mom and Gail loved it and thought the simplicity would be great for our outdoor wedding.

By this point Davids Bridal was getting ready to close so I decided to sleep on it and scheduled an appointment to come back the next day [Sunday]. I went home and looked at the pictures I had taken over and over again and really thought i'd end up with the lace overlay, though I was still contemplating the dress with the shoulders even though it didn't have the detailing I wanted.

So the next day we drove back down to Davids Bridal. Once again Vanessa was helping me. I told her I wanted to try on the lace overlay dress and the one with the shoulders again and she went to grab them from the rack. She came back a few minutes later carrying another dress and said her manager had pulled this one off the rack because she thought it would go well with my Disney themed wedding. Apparently everyone at the store refers to this as the "Belle" dress from Beauty & The Beast. Once she called it that she had my curiosity.....I love Belle and have always liked her dress so I figured it was worth a try just to see. She took me into the dressing room and had me try it in. When I walked out of the dressing room and looked into the mirror I started crying!! None of the other dresses [out of about 20 that I had tried on so far] had made me cry.....not even the lace overlay one I was intending to buy that day. It had the intricate beaded bodice, skirt and train......and it had Belles bustled skirt look...[I had tried on a dress with the full skirt in the bustled look but because i'm so short it made me look shorter..this however didn't!]......I was in absolute heaven I had never worn anything so incredible in my entire life and I didn't want to take it off! I tried on the lace overlay and the dress with the shoulders again.......shoulder dress was immediatly discarded as it couldn't compare in beauty to the Belle Dress. Then I decided to sit down in each dress and boy am I glad I did! When I sat down in the lace overlay dress my breasts [sorry if thats too blunt] billowed up and out of the dress part way, when I sat in the Belle dress they didn't do this. I decided to try 1 size up on the lace overlay and that solved the problem but I would have had to have the dress taken in and I didn't want to have to do that. By the time I tried on the Belle dress I think I knew which one I wanted, but I wanted to make sure. So now that i've kept you all in suspense here is my wedding dress!!

The Back:

Close Up Of The Bustle:

The Front:

Detailing of the Bodice, skirt, and train:

I wanted to try and get the outfit as complete as I could while I was still wearing it so I chose my shoes, handbag, veil, and tiara while I was there.

Here are my shoes:

My handbag:

Detailing on the Veil:

Here is a shot of the jewelry and headpieces [veil/tiara] I will be weaing that day:

And here is a pic of the entire look:

So needless to say I bought it! I go in to pick up my dress in 2 weeks and then I have to take it back in a few months for the alterations. I know that by showing you all the other dresses I tried on some of you will like a different one better and I have no problems with that. I just knew this one was right when it made me cry. I don't cry when trying on clothes!!

I picked my somthing old, somthing new, somthing borrowed, and somthing blue.
Old: A hankerchief Sean's great-great grandmother made.
New: My Dress
Borrowed: My moms Pearl Earrings.
Blue: My garter.

**Oh and if any of you were wondering there was no drama with the mom and the FMIL! Everything went well and everyone got along! I was soooo relieved lol!**

I have been busy making confetti still.......again a huge chore.....here is a pic of some:

I also decided to send out Save The Date announcements. Usually this is only done with destination weddings but I decided since our wedding is on a Tuesday I wanted everyone to have plenty of time to request off from work. This way no one can say "I didn't have enough time" 10 months is more then enough time! Here is a pic:

Well Thats all for now! I hope you all enjoyed this update and hopefully it wasn't too boring for you all.

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

that dress is GORGEOUS!!!!! You are going to be so beautiful!!

 

[Pomlover2586]

Happy Dance Time!!!!


I booked our Disneymoon today!!!! We're going to Disneyland for 8 days!!!!! I'm soooo excited!!!! I can't wait to go back! We decided to have a really long Honeymoon instead of a short one so we're going to stay at the Motel 6 [formerly Red Roof Inn]. We stayed there last time and the hotel is soooo nice! It's clean and quiet and the staff is so helpful and accomodating! We'd love to have stayed at the Grand Californian but with our budget we would have only stayed like 3 days. I'd rather stay 8 and be in a less fancy hotel then stay in a nice one for 3. Plus we don't spend much time in the room to begin with......Df and I are both the open the park/close the park type [well at least I am hehe] I'm thinking with an 8 day trip though I might be more willing to sleep in and actually try using the pool! We haven't booked our flight yet- not sure if we're flying or driving [6 hr drive]. Usually we drive but I think this time we're seriously considering flying! Ok that's all for now!

 

[BrcsDisneyPrncs]

That dress is gorgeous! And congrats on booking the honeymoon, i booked mine yesterday for Disneyworld and I can't wait!

 

[oneyodafan]

Beautiful dress, and I can see "that smile" on your face in the pics.

 

[IloveChip]

Your dress is absolutely amazing!!! You look so great in it and it truely does look like bells Gown!! Great choice and your confetti is great! I am loving your PJ!! Again, great choice on the dress!

 

[Pomlover2586]

Thank you all for your wonderful comments! I'm very happy that I found my dress, i'm usually very picky with clothes and I figured it would take me months to find it!

I've been spending some time trying to figure out how I want to do the seating arrangements for the reception. I'm going to have people assigned to specific tables, but not specific seats. I'm still trying to figure out what to name the tables but the more I think of it the harder it becomes. I can't figure out anything that matches our Disney Castle theme as far as table names go.......I tried the Disney Castles like Belles, Ariels, Jasmines etc but a] there arn't enough [I need about 12 -14 names] and b] I couldn't find images of these castles. I'm starting to think i'm going to have to just have the tables numbered with no names. Any suggestions? Thanks!!

 

[DisneySweetie]

Great dress! I'm glad you found "the one."

As far as punching goes - I have heard from several sources that you can sharpen punches by punching through aluminum foil a couple times. I think that might help your castle one. I have also heard that punching through wax paper can help lubricate it. I would try the foil if I were you. I'm a little weary about the wax paper because it seems like wax might get stuck in the wrong places. But you never know. Just thought I'd pass along the information.

For tables... Why not Disney sweethearts? Each table could be a different disney couple. There are plenty of those. Mickey/Minnie, Donald/Daisy, Ariel/Eric, Belle/Beast, Lady/Tramp, Pongo/Perdita, Bernard/Bianca, Tarzan/Jane, Simba/Nala, Aurora/Phillip, etc. And your table could be Cinderella and Prince Charming. I think the best way to pull this off is if you could somehow get a silhouette of each couple. If you can find a good clipart of them, you can take it into photoshop or something and make it all one color. Or, if you're not a photoshop person, you could just print out the clip art, cut it out, and use it as a stencil. That way you could have a navy silhouette on a white background with pink writing. This might be too much work, but I think that would be really great. Hmmmm? I'm not having a Cinderella wedding, but I might consider doing this anyway. Hahahaha! You don't have to use it. But the question you posed got my creative juices flowing.

Good luck!

 

[shasess]

Wow, Your dress is so BEAUTIFUL!!!! I really love it. What a great choice!!!!

 

[Pomlover2586]

DisneySweetie: I love the idea of the Disney couples! The only problem is we're really trying to focus on a "Disney Castle" theme and not an "All Disney" theme.....if that makes any sense I want to incorporate Disney w/o it becomming so Disney-ish that our guests who don't love Disney like us arn't nauseated. I love your creative idea for the silhouettes though that would be fantastic! Thanks!

 

[Pomlover2586]

OMG........chaos has broken out as far as my wedding goes. I found an article in the local newspaper on Thursday that stated that the Golf Course we're using for the wedding was going to be making some refurbishments and eventually the Ballroom [where our reception will be held] will also be refurbished. I called to ask when this would be taking place and found out the're refurbishing the ballroom NOW. UH......Cr*p! So DF and I went down there today and looked at it...... ...Basically they repainted the walls peach colored which is fine- I don't care what color the walls are. What I do care about is that they removed the Fountain statue at the entrance to the ballroom and the're in the process of removing the columns on the sides of the dance floor and they will be moving the dance floor into the corner of the room instead of the center where it is now!!! The dance floor in the center of the room was the main reason why I booked this place! I loved the fountain and the columns and now those won't be there either. The event coordinator said the dance floor could be moved back into the center of the room for our wedding but the columns and the Statue would be gone I'm happy the dance floor will remain the same but i'm upset that all of this wasn't explained to us BEFORE we booked with them. I wasn't even given a phone call and told what was going on.....I had to find out through the paper! The event coordinator claimed that she didn't know any of this was going to happen because the person doing the refurbishments is a friend of the owners and is doing all this as a sort of "gift" to them. The're claiming they didn't even know what changes were goign to be made by the time it was all done- she had to call the lady to find out about the columns etc for me. I'm sorry but as a business owner you would expect there to be some set plan for what was to be done BEFORE even starting?? Not just letting this friend have a free for all decorating spree... I'm sure I won't be the only one who has issues with all of this. Basically the room I booked for the reception won't be the same room....it'll look completely different. I told the event coordinator that I'm very upset with the way this has been taken care of and DF and I feel somthing should be done to compensate us for this.....considering we booked this place assuming it would look the same [not to mention the lack of professionalism regarding telling us] I told the coordinator that somthing as simple as including the Tri-Tip into our total package would suffice [85 people = $250 cost] I don't want to have to find another location for the reception at such short notice because I know we won't be able to find somone who can give us the same stuff for the same price [our current package includes the DJ and cake] The event coordinator said she would speak to the owner re: the tri-tip and let us know. I'm just so frustrated by this......I tried to look at it from an outsiders perspective but even then I feel i'm in the right here......what do you all think? Am I over reacting?

 

[Lizby]

No, you're not overreacting at all. You booked the site based on the way it looked and should have at least been informed that they were redoing it. I think giving you the tri-tip is a small price to pay compared to their loss if you moved the wedding to another location. Good luck and let us know what happens!

 

[DisneySweetie]

You are NOT overreacting. My goodness, they should have handled this more professionally. I don't care what the coordinator says about not being "in the know" beforehand. As soon as she saw workers doing anything to the room, she should have been on the phone with all her upcoming brides.

The thing that gets me the most is the fountain. We LOVE fountains. Just the thought of having a fountian in the reception area brings a relaxing grin to my face. If I were you, I would be over the top stressed about this change. I probably would have wanted more than a $250 compensation. But, you are playing it safe by asking for that much. You are more likely to get it. Plus, since it's one item on the final bill, it's probably less likely that they will mess it up and it will be easier for you to track that it actually gets taken care of. Good job handling the situation.

Maybe you could ask her about renting a fountain for your day or something?

Good luck. I'm sure your reception will still be beautiful.

 

[Pomlover2586]

Ok now i'm having an issue with my color choices.......I don't know if i'm just stressed out over the whole room redecorations or what but now i'm starting to wonder if my navy blue, bright pinks, and white will look tacky together.....almost childish. Here is an image of the colors as they look in confetti.

To give you an idea of what the reception is currently planned to look like:

*The chairs will have a white cover with a navy sash tied around the back
*Tables will have a white tablecloth with navy cloth napkins
*Centerpieces will be octagon mirrors with round bowlson top with navy marbles in the bottom and then pink roses sticking out of the marbles. There will be 3 candles around the mirror and the confetti will be sprinkled on the tables around the centerpieces.


I'm just trying to imagine it all together and i'm starting to wonder if my color choices arn't going to work. I'm afraid the room will look tacky with too much color and end up being childish [since it is based on a Castle/Disney theme]

Please give me some suggestions.....and please be honest. I don't want to hear "it looks great" if it really won't.

All this stress with the room changes have made me second guess almost all of my details regarding this wedding..................

 

[caryndisneydiva]

i think your colors are going to be fine! as long as the pink accents are minor, it'll look great!!! i like your confetti...now i know why your thumb is numb!!!

 

[Pomlover2586]

So far the only pink in the reception is the pink in the confetti, the roses in the bowl, and possibly the roses on the cake. I'm hoping this is a good combination and not "too much" of an accent..........what do you all think?

 

[jasonandlisa]

I'm sorry about your recent bad news!! I agree that asking for the tri-tips is very reasonable. I'd certainly be very upset if I was this far along with planning and was thrown such a major curve ball. I hope they work to make you (and other affected brides) happy!!

 

[Pomlover2586]

Ok so time for an update on the not good situations:

As far as the remodeling goes- I spoke to the owner of Willow Park and she told me that the tri-tip wouldn't work because the restuarant & the banquet facility are separate. She told me however that if we need to rent anything to fill in the spaces left by the columns and statue or to decorate the room she will be covering the costs of the rentals. This seemed like a fair trade to me so all is well.. ........for now lol......I just hope no other surprises come my way **knock on Wood**

Now as for the colors.......I think my mini-panick attack stemmed from the stress issues w/ the remodeling drama. Anyway I'm going to stick with my original colors and keep the pink to a minimum in the reception. So far it's just going to be used in the Confetti, Flowers on the tables, and flowers on the cake.

I'm picking up my dress from Davids Bridal on Saturday! Yeah!!!

DF and I also picked out our wedding bands!!! We had to order his from a store back East because it was a special order. There're both from ShaneCo. I will post pics later on....don't have any right now!

 

[Pomlover2586]

Ok so I picked up my dress from Davids Bridal today!! The girl who helped me, Vanessa, told me I need to air out my dress so it doesn't get musky.

She said that if I leave it in the garmet bag unzipped halfway I need to take it out of the bag and let it air out for 1/3 hr once a week and let down the train every other week.
If I leave it in the bag totally zipped I need to take it out twice a week for 1 1/2 hrs each time and i need to let down the train every time as well.

I'm sooo worried about this! We have a cat and a dog and while i'm not worried about them spraying or marking my dress I am worried about my white dres touching our not so clean carpets! Also i'm worried about getting animal fur on it!!!

I know some of you must have animals and not so clean carpets. What did you all do for airing out your dress? I don't want DF to see it while its out either which poses another problem.....guess i'll just have to do it while he's at work?

 

[HarbinsMom]

I think if you keep the pink as an accent color (the roses and confetti), it'll look just fine. I think that hint of pink will look very nice.