Terin & Amber's Wonderous Wedding

[dclwonderprincess]

Since there aren't that many of us DCL brides and a few just tied the knot I figured it was time to start my own PJ.

Where is all started: Last October I had done the unthinkable and joined an online dating site. After an assortment of interesting dates I was about to give up when I got a message from a seemingly normal guy so I figured why not give it one last try. We initially decided to meet at the dog park since we both have miniature schnauzers. Well of course I was running behind and my bff lived in the other half of the duplex I was living in so I just invited Terin and Bonita over for dinner. The bff came over at one point to make sure I hadn't been chopped up and crammed into an ice chest. After a fairly pleasant evening we decided to go out on a real date.

Fast forward to March and we had decided to start looking at houses to buy. We were both living in duplexes about 10min from one another and were transporting dogs back and forth frequently. In May we went on our first vacation together and visited the Grand Canyon and then Vegas. By June we had decided to get married. I'm a huge Disney fan and he has two adorable nieces and one nephew so what better place to get married than on a Disney cruise. Of course we ordered the cruise video and took it to his parent's to show the family and pitch our idea. Within a few days we found a local travel agent that specializes in destination weddings and is a Disney certified agent and met her to book our cruise. In total we have 16 attendees including ourselves. That makes 13 family members and one bff.

The two biggest reasons that I chose a Disney Cruise are: Disney cannot be surpassed on customer services and the ease of planning. I know a lot of cruise brides are frustrated with the limited choices; however, it was appealing to me. I cater on the weekends and have for many years, after attending at least a wedding a week I have no desire to plan a big fancy wedding.

I better pace myself with this PJ, our Cruise isn't until May 2, 2013 but the last few months have already flown by. Included is a pic of our little family. We have 4 dogs & 2 cats combined.

 

[basketlacey]

You guys look great together! Good luck with the Disney planning. I just celebrated my 16 th anniversary but I still love to hear all about the Disney weddings!

 

[LyndsayJ]

Congrats! I met my fiance online as well...we were both skeptics of it as well...but obviously it works!

 

[miste2blue]

Hey Amber!
What Disney cruise did you book for May 2013?? I just recently booked my DCL wedding (onboard the Disney Dream) for October 2013.....Very excited!! I can't wait to hear more about your upcoming planning!

Misty

 

[dclwonderprincess]

We're booked on the Wonder. I'm catering a bridal show this afternoon, then hopefully I can get some more planning info up here.

 

[dclwonderprincess]

How we invited our guests was to take the cruise DVD to family member's homes and show them the video and ask if they would like to go. The travel agent also gave us enough cruise books so that each family could have one. After we had a guest list my bff created a save the date magnet for us and we mailed them out.

The closer I get to the cruise the more I question the wedding package choices. At first I wanted to pink rose bouquet, then lavender and now I'm considering other options. I also wanted both layers of the cake to be the special chocolate cake. Now I'm leaning towards making the top layer white cake with raspberry filling. I'm hoping that we can have our ceremony in the Cadillac Lounge. I know having a wedding on deck seems pretty but keeping my hair from frizzing up is not a task I want to take on. Good thing everything isn't due until March. I'm a little anxious to see if there are any changes after the 1st of the year.

The things I find easy are planning to guest gift bags. My poor DF is tired of making trips to the DollarTree; however, he has gotten pretty good at locating stuff at Hobby Lobby. I've created a Bear Necessities bucket for each stateroom and beach bad for other wedding goodies. I've also made up special bags just for the kids. We don't have a wedding party since it's just immediate family and one friend going so I'm trying to make sure and specialize as much as I can since everyone is traveling so far for us.

I'm come up with a welcome letter to place in the basket and am slowly working on passport invites that will include an autograph area for the cast members.Of course I can't complete this project until we have the specifics of the date, time and location of the ceremony. I did score an awesome deal on a pair of cufflinks for Terin the other day.

Now off to prepare myself for another busy week.

One last quick pic, the beach bags I made.

 

[dclwonderprincess]

We now have the cruise paid off and part of the wedding package. I feel like every extra penny I have goes to Disney either on the wedding or wedding projects.
I decided that we are going to deliver the tote bags full of gifts at a dinner before the cruise, then deliver the bear necessities baskets with passport invites and welcome letters on the ship. This is mainly due to the extra weight and space.
I have an appointment to go purchase my wedding dress next week. I'm taking my mom and grandma with me. My grandma has terminal cancer and this may be her only chance to see me in my wedding dress.
I did email a photographer today to schedule engagement photos for the beginning on November. I'm hoping to get fall colors and be able to get the pics back in time to give out at the holidays.
Lots to do still and I'm on call for work this weekend. Good thing it's OU vs TX weekend, I'm hoping it will decrease the amount of calls I get. I'm a hospital social worker and we seem to be the catch all of questions that no one else can answer.

 

[lescal79]

We now have the cruise paid off and part of the wedding package. I feel like every extra penny I have goes to Disney either on the wedding or wedding projects.
I decided that we are going to deliver the tote bags full of gifts at a dinner before the cruise, then deliver the bear necessities baskets with passport invites and welcome letters on the ship. This is mainly due to the extra weight and space.
I have an appointment to go purchase my wedding dress next week. I'm taking my mom and grandma with me. My grandma has terminal cancer and this may be her only chance to see me in my wedding dress.
I did email a photographer today to schedule engagement photos for the beginning on November. I'm hoping to get fall colors and be able to get the pics back in time to give out at the holidays.
Lots to do still and I'm on call for work this weekend. Good thing it's OU vs TX weekend, I'm hoping it will decrease the amount of calls I get. I'm a hospital social worker and we seem to be the catch all of questions that no one else can answer.

I wondered about the same thing with the "Welcome Bags" Apparently they don't deliver the bags to their staterooms until dinner. I wanted our guests to have them when they went to their stateroom. I am on the fence about this. $2.00 delivery fee, and I don't want to stress that they lost them or one, etc. The best of luck in finding your dress!

 

[dclwonderprincess]

Things have been busy lately, we are down to 5 months & 28 days until we set sail. I took my mom and grandmother to David's Bridal with me and ordered my dress. My grandmother wanted me to try on a veil even though I had not planned on getting one. Well of course grandma won and I bought a very simple veil and a hair comb. Unfortunately I don't have pictures. The day we went shopping my grandma had a bad day including falling and she had thought about cancelling but my grandpa insisted that she go anyway. So we made her use the wheelchair, which she hates, and off we went. My dress was already $50 off and then I had a $50 coupon so I managed to order my dress, sash, slip, veil and hair-comb for the $500 that I originally allotted just for my dress.
Shutterfly has run several specials lately and I ordered the Just Married Mr. & Mrs. Potatohead magnet that I had come up with. Unfortunately I also tried to order t shirts and got an email that they weren't able to due to copyright laws. I guess I'll just have to make the shirts at home myself.

Another one of my best friends decided to go on the cruise with us. She eats dinner with us once a week and Terin has been working on her about going and a few weeks ago she called our travel agent and booked while I was making dinner. She actually got the room directly across that hall from us which will be nice for her to help me get ready. We've taken several vacations together over the years including Disney World back in '09 so she understands my love for Disney.

On Halloween my soon to be sister-in-law announced that she's pregnant and due in June. This means that their family will no longer be going on the cruise so we will only be traveling with one 4 year old. I guess that's what I get for planning ahead and making bags for everyone.
Next weekend we will be taking our engagement photos. I know it's probably still early but I grew up with a national park basically in my backyard and wanted to capture it in the fall. A friend I went to church and graduated from high school with is going to take our pictures. I took Terin a few weeks ago to see the park on the way to finish getting things our of my grandparent's home. They did a reverse mortgage a few years back and since they are no longer able to live on their own they let the bank have their home. The leaves were just starting to change so hopefully things will still look beautiful next weekend.

Terin and I bought a treadmill this week, so now I get to exercise at home to make sure I still fit in my dress. I get to book our dining reservations for our honeymoon on the 7th. I already know which restaurants we are going to eat at I just have to make the reservations. This includes one character dining experience.

 

[dclwonderprincess]

I made our Disney World dining reservations this morning!!!

 

[dclwonderprincess]

We went yesterday to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area and took our engagement photos. It was extremely windy; however, the leaves are still changing and we basically had the park to ourselves. It was better than I could have ever imagined. Melissa, our photographer, texted me that she took 462 photos. She gave me one sneak peak last night.

In other news, I got an email this morning that my dress has arrived and is ready to be picked up! Now I have to schedule alterations.

 

[MickeysStarTrader]

I made our Disney World dining reservations this morning!!!

How exciting!! Where are y'all going to eat?

We went yesterday to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area and took our engagement photos. It was extremely windy; however, the leaves are still changing and we basically had the park to ourselves.

In other news, I got an email this morning that my dress has arrived and is ready to be picked up! Now I have to schedule alterations.

That photo is gorgeous!! I love the scenery and your outfits I would not be able to tell from that picture that it was windy. That's so exciting about your dress I can't wait to see it

I just noticed that you live in OK also! Where abouts? (If you don't mind me asking)

 

[dclwonderprincess]

We are eating at Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano, Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, Coral Reef Restaurant and Be Our Guest Restaurant. I want to make Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks Dessert Party reservations; however, the May schedule isn't available yet.
We bought a house in Moore in July.

 

[lescal79]

We are eating at Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano, Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, Coral Reef Restaurant and Be Our Guest Restaurant. I want to make Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks Dessert Party reservations; however, the May schedule isn't available yet.
We bought a house in Moore in July.

I didn't realize you are getting married a few weeks after me! Are you getting excited?! We are staying at Disney before the cruise - we also made our dining reservations! I am pretty excited for "Be Our Guest" ... Do you know when they release the schedule for the DP? Congrats on buying a home! We also do not have a wedding party, except for our daughter, who is 10. We have our immediate family coming and just one family of 5 that my DF has been friends with all his life. I look forward to your updates!

 

[dclwonderprincess]

I feel like a bad bride, I haven't done much planning lately. I have been catering what feels like nonstop and will have the cruise & wedding package paid off by the end of this month so that I can reserve a cabana on castaway cay on Jan 2nd. I'm hoping for cabana #7, but I'll be happy with any of them. I'm curious to see if there are any changes or price increases for 2013. Part of me hopes they have more options on floral & cake but more choices means I could change my mind again. I did order paper straws, treat bags & napkins. I plan on ordering personalized m&m's to put in the treat bags. After Christmas I need to get back to planning. I need to finish my magnets & passport invites as well as our just married shirts. My friend got an embroidery machine earlier this month so I'm sure I'll be coming up with new projects. DF's mom has been collecting pirate gear. Only 4 months & 16 days to go.

 

[dclwonderprincess]

We have officially paid our cruise off & I'm good to make our cabana reservation on jan 2nd. Now I just have to wait until jan 3rd to call WDW to change our honeymoon reservations to upgrade to Coronado Springs & use the discount that is rumored to come out that day.

 

[dclwonderprincess]

Well our wedding guests are dropping like flies. My mother & her husband cancelled on Friday and Terin's brother's family cancelled today. We officially have no children going on our Disney cruise. There are now only 8 of us total including terin's parents, my dad & step-mom and two of my best friends. On the plus side we will all fit in one cabana.

 

[dclwonderprincess]

Yesterday was huge, we hit our 120 day mark with the cruise & I was able to reserve family cabana #9! I showed Terin's mom pics of the cabanas on the 1st so she was as excited as me when I texted telling her I reserved the one we wanted. One huge bonus about guest having to cancel is being able to include everyone in things like the cabana & hopefully one dining table.
To push my luck even further I suggested that we call Disney to change our reservation @ WDW with our visa before the promotion went public today. After 30 min on hold we were able to change to Coronado Springs with a water view and extend our trip by an additional day. The increased day made the overall cost go up by $450 but it was still a large savings with the V95 promotion.
I will admit that prior to calling Disney I had a slight meltdown bc I was trying to explain to DF that by the time we get off the cruise, rent a car & drive to Orlando from Miami we're only going to get a few hours at Hollywood Studios. Luckily for me DF thought we were coming home on the 11th & that was not what I had originally booked so we added a day and can spend more time at the parks!

 

[dclwonderprincess]

Ok wedding planning mode has kicked back in. While helping DF's grandparents move this weekend we found 2 boxes of Mason jars. I'm really excited about this find because my plan for our reception is burlap, lace & mason jars. I've pinned some lovely things on Pinterest.
Today I called to reserve the community room near DF's parents. I've attended & catered weddings in the community room and it is a great location for lots of our guests. Even better it's $160 for 6 hours and they will allow me to come in early to decorate.
I decided that I wanted to do something unique for our reception invites so I used a free online program to turn one of our engagement photos into a cartoon. Then I made a card on snapfish with the photo on the front & reception info on the back. I used a promo code for 40% off + free shipping.
DF & I have a favorite local bakery & we priced cakes with them tonight. They charge the same amount no matter the purpose of the cake, so our cake will be $95 before taxes.
Every penny I save on our at home reception is more money I can spend on our cruise. We booked our Palo reservations for the second night of our cruise but I still need to look at activities for our day at Key West.
Meredith emailed me the 2013/2014 wedding planning guide and it appears that my flower and cake choices are still available at no extra cost. I could send in my planning guide now, it's all becoming so real!

 

[dclwonderprincess]

This weekend we registered at target and on amazon.com. Terin acted like he wasn't very interested until he got to use the gun at target & then he was looking for stuff we need.
Our invites arrived in the mail today, sorry I haven't taken a pic yet. So then we headed to hobby lobby so I could get stuff to make our RSVP cards. I borrowed mad lib idea that I found on Pinterest. We also got lucky because card products, wedding supplies & ribbon were all on sale. I then used a 40% off coupon to get a 100 pack of tea light candles. I love not paying full price for things. Now I just have to wait for my address labels to come in and I can send out my reception invites. I'll try to post pics in the next few days.