twinkybel81 & workmantm's Wishes VR 12.06.16 Japan/ADH/Lochside UPDATE 11/23 Two Weeks Out!

twinkybel81

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 29, 2014
Hi all!

I figured today was a good day to start my PJ, since tomorrow is the day that we can FINALLY call DFTW and get the ball rolling on planning a vow renewal for December 2015. It will technically speaking be a vow renewal because we are already legally married, but we didn't have a ceremony (eloped at the courthouse), so we are treating it as our wedding. :)

We are hoping for a weekday morning ceremony in Epcot, leaning toward the Japan pavilion, we have a few different ideas for the reception location, and we definitely want to try for a dessert party (I would like it to be Wishes, since personally I'm not a huge fan of Illuminations). *We have had an inspiration for a completely different post wedding event for our guests, but won't make that decision until after our trip out to the world in December 2015. Once we decide, I'll elaborate, but for now the idea is staying under wraps.*

I've already done a ton of research and have lots of photos and ideas saved (still don't know if I have enough posts on here to be able to post pics yet though), but nothing in set in stone. I think at this point we are leaning toward a The Nightmare Before Christmas/Haunted Mansion theme.

Thanks for reading along! I will post pictures and some info about us in my next post. So ready for it to be tomorrow morning already! :banana:



Table of Contents:

How we met

Pictures of us & my ring
Save the Date inspirations
Site Visit Recap
Roots family photo shoot
Roots photos from 2014
Ring box #1
Cinematographer booked!
Penciled in
Shoe inspiration #1
Dress shopping
We got our dates and booked our rooms!
LOA, Photography, Hair & Makeup Artist
Bridal party, gifts, dresses #1
Groom/groomsman attire, Save the Dates, wedding website
Yes to the dress!
Hair & Makeup inspirations, MOH dresses part 2
Officiant, Personal Floral, & Invites pt 1
Shoes, flutes, head table deco, and more!
Planning Session Plans
Menu & Cake Tasting Selections
Shoes #3, MOH dresses purchased, Favor musings
Initial Floral Proposal
Mini-update and Wedding Trip Plans

Invitations, Guest Book, & General Update
General & Misc Update
Earrings, Shoes, RSVPs, Favors, & More!

Two Weeks Out!

Planning Session Trip Report:
Day 1
Day 2 (Planning Session Recap)
Day 2 (Menu Tasting Recap)
Day 2 (Post Menu Tasting)
Hair & Makeup Trial
 
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How we met: We were both in a large group of friends who met up at Disneyland for a mutual friend's birthday trip the weekend before Thanksgiving 2008. I noticed him immediately, but figured he was already taken, since he had a toddler with him. I checked and saw that there was no ring, and very shortly after we started talking, discovered that he was in the middle of a divorce. We flirted throughout the day, but that group of friends tends to be on the flirty side, so I tried not to read too much into it. At the end of the night, it ended up just being he and his son, my roommate, and myself walking back to our cars. I was too chicken to give him my phone number, as I was afraid of rejection. Fortunately, I knew my roommate had his number, so I asked her to text him my number, which she did because she loves me! I figured that way, he could do what he wanted with it. That was a Saturday evening, and on Sunday morning he sent me a text, and that was the start of everything (he even met my parents that night when he met up with us again at Disneyland).

We never officially dated (he is not a fan of titles) but we were essentially together from that first day (not exclusively for awhile though). I moved in with him after almost 3 years of being together.

I don't really have an engagement story, but I will tell you how we ended up getting married. Two things first, 1) from the day we met, he made it very clear that he never wanted to get married again, for a variety of reasons. I wasn't thrilled with that, but I understood where he was coming from, so I accepted it and respected it. 2) We were never engaged. So last year, probably mid year, he started to broach the subject of getting married (which is a huge deal considering his adamant declarations that he was never getting married again). We talked about it, but weren't sure, because we wanted to make sure we were doing it for the right reasons. Didn't really come up again for a few months, and when it came up again, we both felt we needed more time to think about it.
Fast forward to the weekend before Christmas. We were laying in bed talking, and he made the comment that if we were going to get married, it would need to happen by the end of that week. (He shares custody of his son with his ex-wife, and he was due to go back to her for a few months at the end of that week, and we wanted him to be there). So I said ok. We looked at our schedule for the week and decided that Christmas Eve was going to be our best bet. He asked his son if we were to get married would he want to be there and if he wanted me to officially be his stepmom, to which we got a resounding yes, even a double yes!

So we both went to work Christmas Eve morning (his son came with me) and we worked half a day. We then went to husband's company Christmas lunch, and once we were done there, we headed over to the courthouse and got married. From there we went to Disneyland and got our Mickey and Minnie bride and groom ears, got some treats from the bakery, and then watched the Christmas parade. <3 We didn't tell anyone, even our families, for a few weeks.

I'm still trying to figure out how to post pictures here that aren't links. Once I figure it out, I'll post some pictures of us and my ring.

We made our initial call to DFTW this morning, yay! Now I'm waiting for a sales consultant to call me back. Really hoping they call today and don't wait til Monday or Tuesday. We already had a vacation to WDW planned for the end of September/beginning of October this year, so we are hoping to schedule a site visit for while we are out there.

 
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Congratulations to both of you, albeit late. pixiedust: My own story is very similar but I was the one with the kid and the divorce and he was the one with the patience. :) I can't wait to see what you have planned! :goodvibes
 
I learned how to post the pictures directly, so here they are!

Here is us back in March of this year:

photo1-vi.jpg


Here is me, extremely tired but happy on the day we got married:
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Here is The Husband with our 85lb German Shepherd :) :
photo1-vi.jpg


Here is my stepson last December:
photo2-vi.jpg


And here are a couple shots of my ring (The Husband already had the center stone, I chose the setting when we went shopping a couple days after we eloped):
photo3-vi.jpg

photo2-vi.jpg
 


Congratulations to both of you, albeit late. pixiedust: My own story is very similar but I was the one with the kid and the divorce and he was the one with the patience. :) I can't wait to see what you have planned! :goodvibes

Thanks! I'm super excited! We have a good idea of what we want to do, and have been doing research and reading Carrie's Passporter book. And I'm lucky because even though I had dreamed of a Disney wedding, I never suggested it due to the cost. The Husband is the one who suggested it, and I was obviously on board! :cool1:
 
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I likely won't be using our real names, because The Husband is big on security and not giving out too much info via the internet. That being said, I realized I didn't give any info on us in my PP, so here it is.

He is 34 and works in the manufacturing industry doing engineering, quality control, production, planning, and whatever else needs doing. He's an inactive Marine (you never say ex because there is no such thing as an ex-Marine ;) ). He is one of the most intelligent people I have ever known, and he naturally does well at whatever he decides to pick up. He challenges me to be a better person and to get out of my own head, and makes me laugh every day. :)

I am 33 and currently work in the firearms industry. I am a photographer by trade, but I enjoy this industry as well. Also wouldn't mind getting into the food industry (back of house type stuff, maybe baking). I've lived in Southern California my entire life and have been a Disney AP since I was 14, except for the 3 years that I was a CM.

I'm drawing a blank on what else to include in the "getting to know you" post. I think I need more coffee. ::yes::

 
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Just noticed that the link I posted to the pic of me the day we got married didn't show up in the post. I've fixed it now. :)
 


The wedding consultant did not ending up calling us yesterday, boo. Hopefully they will call on Monday, Tuesday at the latest. Other than being excited to starting "officially" working on the wedding, we are also anxious to see if we will be able to schedule a site visit for during our WDW trip in two months. Once we get the site visit scheduled, we will be able to confirm the day and time of our family/engagement photo shoot with the Roots! :cool1:
 
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Your ring is lovely. Stepson looks like an adorable little scamp. Will he be the ring bearer? Keeping my fingers crossed that you'll hear from the consultant ASAP!
 
Your ring is lovely. Stepson looks like an adorable little scamp. Will he be the ring bearer? Keeping my fingers crossed that you'll hear from the consultant ASAP!

We haven't decided officially what his role in the wedding will be, but likely he will be the ringbearer. He's a good kid and I love him to bits. 7 years old and all boy!

Thanks! I'm actually looking forward to a Monday with the hopes that they will call. :yay:
 
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Your ring is lovely. Stepson looks like an adorable little scamp. Will he be the ring bearer? Keeping my fingers crossed that you'll hear from the consultant ASAP!

Thank you on the ring! I picked it out, lol. He had the center stone (certified) set in a simple yellow gold solitaire from his first fiancee (he was just out of high school). That ring was too small for me and I am not a fan of yellow gold, so we went to the jewelry store and he let me pick out what I liked best that would fit the center stone. I tried to get his opinion, but we have differing styles (he likes things far more simple than I, not that I like things over the top by any means) and his answer was "you're the one who's going to be wearing it, not me." The funniest part is that the design that I chose was almost identical to a picture of a ring I had saved 2 years before I even met my husband. I'm definitely consistent! ;)
 
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The other thing I love about my ring that was completely an accident: if you look at the side stones and the band below it, it looks reminiscent of an owl. I have a fondness for owls, as did my grandmother. :hyper: I didn't notice it til I'd been wearing it for about a month.
 
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Finally figured out how to post pictures, so no more having to follow links! Thanks for following along. :)
 
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Ooh! it really does look like an owl! How cool!

How do you do that quote thing? I know, I'm such a N00B.

Has your consultant contacted you yet?
 
Ooh! it really does look like an owl! How cool!

How do you do that quote thing? I know, I'm such a N00B.

Has your consultant contacted you yet?

Not yet, I was so bummed yesterday. When I spoke to them on Friday morning they said today should be the latest that someone would contact us, so hoping today is the day! They also said that if no one had contacted us by today, to give them a call back and nudge them about it because they are busy, so we shall see.

To include the quote in your response, just click the little box in the lower right corner of whichever specific entry you are wanting to respond to. That will bring up the post as a "quote" at the top of the response field, and then you can type your response beneath it. Hope this makes sense and helps. :thumbsup2
 
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I called DFTW yesterday morning to follow up, per the instructions of the woman we spoke to Friday morning. I spoke to a different woman this time and she gave me a touch of attitude, telling me that it was generally 3 business days before they called. I politely explained to her that it had been 3 business days and that I was merely following the instructions of the other person who had helped us and that I wasn't trying to be a pest. She looked up my name and told be that we had been assigned to Kristi and that she was currently in a meeting and that the person I was speaking to would send her a reminder email.

Kristi finally called me at around 12:30 in the afternoon. pixiedust: I ended up on the phone with her for about a half an hour, asking a lot of the questions that I had been gathering over the past couple of months. She gave me a bit of pushback after one of my questions telling me that I was doing myself a disservice by reading about what other brides have done and that what other brides have done isn't the best way to do things, and that I need to trust Disney because they are the experts and will tell me the best way to do things. Figured out pretty quick that she isn't overly a fan of Carrie's book, saying it "has some good information in it, but there is a lot of inaccurate information as well", so I won't be mentioning her book directly anymore. I let her know that we know that they are the experts, but that 1) we are on a budget and want to make the absolute best use of our money, and 2) we are going to have ideas of our own on how to do things, that we are going to throw out as alternatives to what "Disney says is best", but that I hadn't meant to say they don't know what they are doing. Basically letting her know that we aren't just going to necessarily say yes to the first thing they suggest and that we are not pushovers, without using quite so many words. She calmed back down after that, but I was a little bummed that she was already giving me some attitude/pushback. She seems to know her stuff and has already answered some of the subsequent emails I have sent her, and we are in the process of scheduling our site visit for our trip in a couple months, so I'm hoping that things will continue smoothly. She didn't pencil us in like I thought they were supposed to either, but maybe she did it and didn't say anything, or I am misunderstanding the process a bit.

She got really good reviews a few years ago over on disneybrides.com, but there was nothing recent. Has anyone else here dealt with her?

Also, she made the comment that chartered transportation is required for Epcot ceremonies and receptions, rather than having the option of using some of the one way transport to save money. Can anyone else to speak to this?

Thanks for your help and have a great day! :cheer2:

 
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I called DFTW yesterday morning to follow up, per the instructions of the woman we spoke to Friday morning. I spoke to a different woman this time and she gave me a touch of attitude, telling me that it was generally 3 business days before they called. I politely explained to her that it had been 3 business days and that I was merely following the instructions of the other person who had helped us and that I wasn't trying to be a pest.

She gave me a bit of pushback after one of my questions telling me that I was doing myself a disservice by reading about what other brides have done and that what other brides have done isn't the best way to do things, and that I need to trust Disney because they are the experts and will tell me the best way to do things. Figured out pretty quick that she isn't overly a fan of Carrie's book, saying it "has some good information in it, but there is a lot of inaccurate information as well", so I won't be mentioning her book directly anymore. I let her know that we know that they are the experts, but that 1) we are on a budget and want to make the absolute best use of our money, and 2) we are going to have ideas of our own on how to do things, that we are going to throw out as alternatives to what "Disney says is best", but that I hadn't meant to say they don't know what they are doing. Basically letting her know that we aren't just going to necessarily say yes to the first thing they suggest and that we are not pushovers, without using quite so many words. She calmed back down after that, but I was a little bummed that she was already giving me some attitude/pushback. She seems to know her stuff and has already answered some of the subsequent emails I have sent her, and we are in the process of scheduling our site visit for our trip in a couple months, so I'm hoping that things will continue smoothly.

She got really good reviews a few years ago over on disneybrides.com, but there was nothing recent. Has anyone else here dealt with her?

Also, she made the comment that chartered transportation is required for Epcot ceremonies and receptions, rather than having the option of using some of the one way transport to save money. Can anyone else to speak to this?

I don't understand - more and more I read about DFTW consultants being curt, or rude, or testy, or not very helpful. If I was paying all that money, I'd be so mad that someone was giving me attitude to gather information right off the bat. That is not the first guest service encounter you want to have for such a special day that you're excited about. What's wrong with being an informed consumer? Like you said, you don't want to just go with what they say assuming it's the best way for YOU or the most cost-effective. You wouldn't do that going in buying a car or expensive jewelry or a house or any other type of large purchase. I've read the actual planners are more polite and accommodating than the consultants, but you don't talk to one of them until you've already put down your deposit. I hope you have a better experience next time you talk to her.

As for the transportation, Carrie just posted a new Disney Weddings Podcast yesterday all about transportation that might help with your question about the backstage transportation. I'm pretty sure for ceremonies and receptions you do have to have backstage transportation, but I think you can choose what kind of transportation it is (vans versus a motor coach bus for example) which can save some money for you.
 
I don't understand - more and more I read about DFTW consultants being curt, or rude, or testy, or not very helpful. If I was paying all that money, I'd be so mad that someone was giving me attitude to gather information right off the bat. That is not the first guest service encounter you want to have for such a special day that you're excited about. What's wrong with being an informed consumer? Like you said, you don't want to just go with what they say assuming it's the best way for YOU or the most cost-effective. You wouldn't do that going in buying a car or expensive jewelry or a house or any other type of large purchase. I've read the actual planners are more polite and accommodating than the consultants, but you don't talk to one of them until you've already put down your deposit. I hope you have a better experience next time you talk to her.

As for the transportation, Carrie just posted a new Disney Weddings Podcast yesterday all about transportation that might help with your question about the backstage transportation. I'm pretty sure for ceremonies and receptions you do have to have backstage transportation, but I think you can choose what kind of transportation it is (vans versus a motor coach bus for example) which can save some money for you.

That's pretty much my feelings on the subject exactly. My husband and I tend to be very educated consumers, even for smaller, less expensive purchases, so you can bet your patootie that we are going to be educated on dropping this kind of cash!

I listened to the new podcast yesterday (before I spoke with Kristi), so I was thinking that we would have some more options for charter vs one-ways. I am pretty sure they won't force us to use a motor coach if we don't have the guest count to fill it and that we would be able to use smaller/"cheaper" forms of transport. The way that Kristi worded things yesterday, she made it sound like we would have to book charter rather than one-ways, no matter which mode of transport we chose. Definitely going to look into this further and have alternative options ready to present for consideration when we get closer to needing to plan that detail. Her reasoning was that we needed to have transport on standby just in case of unforeseen circumstances (having to move everyone due to weather, someone feeling faint, etc). The Husband thinks it may be more to do with them wanting to have a way to rapidly get people out if, say, there were something like a fire or something more along those lines. That makes way more sense to me than "oh, what if someone feels faint?", but I still want to explore multiple options.

Thank you for your reply, I was wondering if maybe I was just totally off base in my thinking or expectations.
 
To include the quote in your response, just click the little box in the lower right corner of whichever specific entry you are wanting to respond to. That will bring up the post as a "quote" at the top of the response field, and then you can type your response beneath it. Hope this makes sense and helps. :thumbsup2

OMG, I feel like a dunce. Thank you so much, and thank you for not laughing at me! I'm really, really sorry that she was rude to you that is ridiculous. I'm a little worried now about when I call. Guess I won't mention any information that I already have, just phrase things in the form of a question. Siiiiiigh. I can see why they might be upset that their expertise is being called into question.
 
OMG, I feel like a dunce. Thank you so much, and thank you for not laughing at me! I'm really, really sorry that she was rude to you that is ridiculous. I'm a little worried now about when I call. Guess I won't mention any information that I already have, just phrase things in the form of a question. Siiiiiigh. I can see why they might be upset that their expertise is being called into question.

I can see why she took it that way, and I did apologize that that is how it came across, because I wasn't trying to question her expertise at all.

I'd never laugh at you! A lot of stuff like that, that may seem simple to some, is not always intuitive to me. I ask my husband (who is naturally inclined to just about everything) for help and how to do things all the time. ;)

Don't stress about when you call, your experience may be completely different. :) And as I mentioned, she calmed down after I apologized and seemed to be fine by the end of the call.

Right now I'm anxiously awaiting her reply email to confirm our site visit day and time so that I can confirm with the Root's for our photo shoot. So impatient I am! :p
 
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