A Dream is a Wish...An At Home Disney Themed Wedding 9.1.18 - Updated 4.30.18

[Melissa Perez]

Oh so fun! Hi almost wedding twin! Where on the North shore are you getting married? My cousins live in Swampscott so I go up that way a lot! Alexandra's was so amazing! I am so glad I didn't have to go to a hundred places, esp given how indecisive I can be! Bachelorette is May 12-16! I cannot wait to be down at Disney. Work is gonna draaaaag these next two weeks!

Yep it's official. We are twins. I grew up in Swampscott so I am getting married at Tupper Manor in Beverly and everyone is staying in Salem. My Bachelorette is 16 - 20 but I'm coming down the 12th to surprise my mom for mothers day with california grill brunch and a trip to senses at SSR. What a small (dis)WORLD!

 

[Woth2982]

On April 19th we had our food tasting. Our venue sets it up like a mock wedding. They have all their preferred vendors, and almost every food they would serve on your wedding day. I saved ALL my weight watchers points for this (and threw in an extra workout that morning since I took the day off). We were able to bring 10 people total to the tasting, so it was Me and Andrew (naturally), mine and his parents, his groomsmen Reza and Chris, and their wives. Chris and his wife Emily were a last minute replacement because my mom’s friend Kathy was freaking out about some school work (she is 65 and completing her bachelor’s degree, inspired by my mom who finished hers in 2016, go Kathy!).


Prior to the dinner, Andrew’s parents decided to go and check out the commute between the hotel, church and rehearsal dinner space to get their baring’s since they aren’t from Eastern MA. They finished up early and decided to grab some drinks at the Chateau (where the rehearsal will be held) and invited us to join. So we had some drinks and headed out after.


The venue sent us a list of foods ahead of time, and because I am an OCD freak, I made a spreadsheet and had everyone rank their food choices 1-4, 1 being the can’t live without, and 4 being ewww why would anyone eat this? (please ignore my lunch box, Andrew's knee brace and my torn TJ Maxx bag in the background).

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The tables were set up like a reception. We are only going to do candles on the head table mixed in with the garland I want draped across. But I thought they were very pretty they way the venue had them set up.





And now the food.

Mini Sliders – No one liked these. They were very dry
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Mini Grilled cheeses and tomato soup – the soup was more thick like a marinara, I liked these, but I don’t think they will make the cut
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Steak Teriyaki – I was the ONLY one who liked this!
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Scollops wrapped in bacon – I didn’t care for these, they were way too mapley, and my dad hates them so they will not happen
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Stuffed Mushrooms – I LOVE stuffed mushrooms, I did not like these, however they were the MOST popular of all the apps we got. I thought they were a little dry
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Beef Wellington – These were my moms favorite, I thought they were just ok


Cocktail Meatballs – Ladies and gents we have a winner! These were so good.
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So our apps are still up in the air. We get 3 passed apps, so I know we are going to serve shrimp (which was not at the tasting), the meatballs and probably the mushrooms since they were so popular. I would prefer the steak, but I was the only one who liked it.

Up next was the dinner. They staged each meal like it would be on the day of the wedding, however they served it buffet style in big serving trays. Each serving was small so you wouldn’t waste too much food is my guess. It worked perfectly the portions they made.

Stuffed boneless breast of chicken – No one liked this. It tasted more like turkey than Chicken
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Chicken CCB – This is the Canoe Club’s specialty. I didn’t like it only because I don’t like spicy food that much, however those that do like it this was a big hit.
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Chicken Piccata – I REALLY liked this one. It was not too dry and had good flavor
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Baked Haddock – Not a winner
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Grilled Salmon – another non winner
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Pork roast or chop, not completely sure - either way no one liked it, and my dad LOVES whatever this is.
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Filet Mignon – This was really good
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Prime Rib – Also really good
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Slow Roasted Beef – Also pretty good
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We can pick two for our meal on the day of the wedding. So after all my tallies Chicken Piccata was a clear winner. Fillet was the biggest winner, I liked both the fillet and the prime rib, so I let my parents decide this one. I told them I am not paying, I like both. Fillet mignon is more expensive than prime rib so the choice is yours. They picked Fillet Mignon.

Our sides will be roasted potatoes and broccoli with butter. For our first course we are doing the garden salad, followed by clam chowder (I may have that backwards), and we are going to pay extra for the cheese ravioli. We all left loving it and couldn’t decide between that or salad, so we decided both.

We are doing a late night station with nachos (my brother has been calling the wedding nacho day) and ice cream sundaes.[/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url]

 

[Woth2982]

Yep it's official. We are twins. I grew up in Swampscott so I am getting married at Tupper Manor in Beverly and everyone is staying in Salem. My Bachelorette is 16 - 20 but I'm coming down the 12th to surprise my mom for mothers day with california grill brunch and a trip to senses at SSR. What a small (dis)WORLD!

Yep officially twins! That is so funny! So crazy how small the world really is! Tupper Manor is beautiful, you will have a great wedding day! What fun to surprise your mom with brunch and senses! Such a great mothers day gift! We will be at MK the 12th, and Epcot all day on the 13th! If you see us say hi!

 

[Woth2982]

We now take a break from wedding planning to discuss my Bachelorette party.

We are going down to Disney World on May 12th! Most of us leave May 16th and we are staying at Port Orleans French Quarter. I cannot believe how close it is considering we officially planned the dates back in December. But in reality, this was planned before I was even engaged.

Planning the dates was not easy. With my job I cannot take off the first week of the month (the life of an accountant, my own fault, I sold my soul to get out of public accounting many moons ago). Typical school vacation weeks were VERY expensive for people to fly. I have a lot of friends who are teachers, so unfortunately they will not be able to attend.

So who is coming?

Well there is Me (duh), Jen, Anne-Marie, Sue, Carrie, Karen, Beth, Leigh and Molly. Molly will only be joining on Saturday and possibly Monday. She has four kids so she wants to be with them for mothers day. I told her a great mothers day gift would be a day without her kids, but her family wasn’t going for it. Molly lives local in Florida which is how she is able to skip a day to be with her kids.

Most people are coming Saturday to Wednesday, and Sue and Carrie are flying home on Monday. They have some work commitments too. The “main” bachelorette day is Sunday at Epcot. I do not really know a lot of the details as I am not allowed to plan any of it! This is major for me, since I am super type A and I hate giving up control.

What I HAVE done though is I booked an Illuminations cruise. I thought about having everyone split the cost, but the cruise is my way of thanking everyone for spending a lot of money and vacation time to come and celebrate me. I know it was all voluntary, but it is my way of giving back. We will have two bottles of champagne and a cake on the boat. I also hired a photographer to document the cruise which I think will be fun. This way no one has to worry about making sure we get great pictures.

I also made “goodie bags” for the girls. Something small and fun. I think I spent maybe $25 per person total.

The contents are:

Rain Poncho
Drinking Around the World Passport
Temporary tattoo
Magic Band Decal
Drawstring backpack
Gallon ziplock bag for a wet poncho
Quart ziplock back for phone/camera for water rides.

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And the bundle

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[missjackiemcg]

Everything looked so yummy!! Sounds like you made great choices for your meal. I love the idea of late night nachos and ice cream sundaes!! I got married before the late night snack became a thing....dangit!

LOVE your goodie bags for the girls!! The ponchos are too cute, the baggies very thoughtful and practical, tshirts SO sparkly, and I LOLed at the tattoos--a great idea!!!

 

[jenseib]

I didn't know you had this going. I will have to get back here and read up!

 

[Woth2982]

I didn't know you had this going. I will have to get back here and read up!

Welcome! You wont have to go too far back to catch up! I have been soooooo far behind! All my bachelorette photos are on my camera still. I am HOPING to have some time this Saturday to upload everything. I have not had one free weekend since I got back in May!

 

[Woth2982]

Just a super small update. I have been on the verge of having a blow out with my mother over wedding stuff. We had an issue after one of the fittings and I didn't speak to her for three days. She finally admitted she was wrong. But she was annoying me more this weekend so I did a thing. I booked a quick trip to Disney for Sept 7-10 at the Yacht Club. I wasnt planning on park tickets, but Andrew said we should go to food and wine because we are RIGHT THERE! Ok twist my arm. We got him a 1 day Epcot ticket (my AP is good til October and will probably be renewed, my bff is planning a big trip in 2019). I booked the Yachtsman Steakhouse for dinner and I think Im gonna book Hoop De Doo on Sunday and then do MNSSHP. Maybe, maybe not. I havent decided on that yet. So HOPEFULLY I will have some free time this weekend so I can upload all my bachelorette party photos and get you all an update!

 

[Jules76126]

Following along. I did my bachelorette party at Disney as well back in 2016. My husband is not a huge Disney fan so there was no way we were getting married there and he also said no to a Disney Honeymoon (we went to Paris and London). It was so much fun. I am sure you had a great time. September is a beautiful time to get married in New England. I think we have gone to 6 or 7 weddings in September/early October and it has not rained or been overly cold at any of them.

Our venue also did the mock wedding thing. I loved it as it was not only fun but you could see how the food tasted for 100 people. There were things we thought we would love that were meh and others that we hadn't even thought of that we loved. I feel you on the flower thing. I am not a huge flower person. We got married in December and everything was out of seasons so we only did bouquets (got married in NH). But I think yours will look great - simple but still very elegant.

Weddings are stressful, especially dealing with Family and guests. It can get worse before it gets better. I always say pick and choose your battles. We had an issue with the guest list for the reheresal dinner. Way more people than we wanted. But eventually I was like my MIL is paying for it, if she wants these people than so be it. It was fine in the end you and you will have the most beautiful wedding I am sure.

 

[Woth2982]

Hello everyone! I have not completely jumped ship. I have finally got all my photos uploaded to Flickr, I just have to write the various updates. So much has happened in the last few months. We had not one but two bridal showers, thrown by my mom and then another by DF's mom. We had a local bachelorette party for me, and Andrew just got back from his bachelor party on Sunday. We are now 17 days away from the wedding! I do not know how this is possible! It has really snuck up on me. I had my final dress fitting last Friday and it had to be taken in AGAIN! I have been told not to gain or lose another pound in the next 17 days. So hard to maintain. I either gain or lose, I don't maintain, especially since I am now 8lbs away from my goal weight and 10lbs away from my "reach" goal weight (we all have to have a reach right?). OK well that is all I have for now, I am hoping to get a solid update together this weekend, but we have my friend Tracy's bachelorette party on Saturday so I am hoping I am able to be a functioning human on Sunday!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Sheesh, your wedding sure did sneak up fast!!! Though I'm glad you didn't post a lot of updates while I was MIA myself this summer! We went on so many vacations and mini trips and weekends away that I totally bailed on the DIS.

I can't wait to hear all about your big day!!!! Congratulations in advance in case you don't come back in the next 17 days LOL

 

[figmentfan814]

It sounds like you've had a lot of exciting things happening over the last few months. Great job on the weight loss. We used Weight Watchers leading up to our vow renewal and I was able to lose 25 lbs and have managed to keep it off. Congrats on getting so close to your goal. You're getting so close to the big day and I can't wait to read more!