A Wedding and A Disneymoon - A Disney Adventure

Shadoe1031

Earning My Ears
Joined
Sep 7, 2005
Messages
70
Hi All! My name is Jullie and I would like to share with you my plans for my wedding, which although is not being held at Disney, it is a Disney-themed extravaganza, and my honeymoon, which is a six-night stay at Disney and a seven-night cruise with Disney to the Western Caribbean!


This whole story started in December 2005. My DBF, Mark, proposed to me at Chef Mickey's. In front of everyone! Obviously, I said yes, and then proceeded to cry happily and not eat a single thing I had gotten from the buffet! I'm sure it was really yummy, but I haven't a clue what it tasted like. I don't remember it at all.
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After Mark finished dinner, and I finished not eating, we went on a ride around the monorail and stated discussing our potential plans for our wedding. Silly boy thought that if he proposed at Disney World, I wouldn't want a wedding there. Shall I stress the silly boy part again?

We planned a trip back to the World for September 2006 - Free Dining baby! We also met with someone from Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings. We even saved a date - September 24, 2007. We had chosen to get married on the beach at the Beach Club, with Epcot, and the Boardwalk in the background and have our reception at Ariel's.
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I was so excited.

And the we told our parents about what we wanted to do. And they were less than enthusiastic. Actually, they kept trying to talk us out of it. And I kept saying but we'd only invite 60 people, and then the cost would only be $12,000.00 for my Disney Wedding. I was trying so hard to get them to agree to my dream. Well, they finally won! I was not getting my dream.

So, now it was January 2007. We wanted to get married in September 2007. We have no date, we have no place to have the wedding and reception. We agreed that we would never agree which church to have the wedding in, so we are not having a church wedding. I had nine months to plan a wedding, starting from ground zero. Could it be done? Was I insane? Would I end up murdering someone during this process? Wait and see!
 
Starting in January, my DF and I spent approximately four weekends going around looking at places to have our wedding. Finally, we were able to agree on the Water's Edge Resort and Spa in Westbrook. It's about 15 minutes from our house. The real reason I chose it was because it felt like a Disney Resort. I figured it was the closest I was going to come without being able to be there! We settled on a date and a ballroom at the Resort. We are getting married on September 14, 2007 on the lawn. The cocktail hour is at the gazebo and our reception is in the Salon Ballroom.

One of my big ideas for the reception is that I want people to be entertained. I'm sure that we've all been to those weddings where you sit there waiting for the cake to be cut so that you can go home. I swore that wasn't going to be my wedding. We are transforming the ballroom into a Disney-themed party! The room is being decorated in three sections: 1) Under the Sea (using Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo as the inspiration); 2) Tiki Bar/Beach (using Lilo & Stitch) and 3) Pirates (can you guess what inspired that?)

The tables will have coverings according to the section they are in: black for pirates, champagne colored for the beach (as close to sand as they had) and blue for under the sea. The centerpieces for under the sea have fishies in vases, the beach has sand and seashells and candles, and the pirates have treasure chests with jewels spilling out of them. I'll post pictures after the wedding.

So, once I got planning the wedding that wasn't at Disney, I decided (and Mark agreed) that we were going to take a nice long Disneymoon. We'll be at PO-R from 9/30 to 10/6 and then 10/6 to 10/13 we're on the Disney Magic for a cruise to the Western Caribbean with stops at Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and of course, Castaway Cay.

I booked the cruise first - We're on deck 7 with a Navigator's veranda. I'm really looking forward to the cruise. I love going new places and doing new things! We have the second dining - at 8:15.

A few weeks later I booked Port Orleans - Riverside. I've stayed here once before, but it was back when it was called Dixie Landings. I'm so excited!!!

But now I'm off to put the zipper in my wedding gown and work on a few other gowns as well.
 
What a cool idea for the wedding theme....cannot wait to see pics and hear more about the details.

Sounds like a great Disneymoon is planned.
 

Okay, so that went really badly! I still don't have a zipper in my gown, but it's been taken apart twice so far. :headache: I hate installing invisible zippers!

Back to the details -

My gown is a very full, white satin gown (Think Cinderella or Belle) that has lace and beading along the bottom of the skirt. It will also have white on white embroidered Disney characters - Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald. I have the bride :bride: ears to wear after the ceremony. The ceremony itself is not very much Disney, but is incorporating a lot of quotes and music from BTVS, but most people won't get it unless they are huge fans of the show like we are.

My DF has the groom mouse ears for the reception as well and his boutinere is going to be in the shape of the Mickey Mouse icon.

I have three bridesmaids - I'm making their gowns. Each one is in one of my colors: Wisteria, Cornflower and Celedon. (pastel Green, Blue & purple).

As they are introduced with their groomsmen, they are representing a section of the reception. Amber (green) is representing Under the Sea and she's going to be wearing sea shells over her gown. Katie (blue) is representing the beach section and has a lei and two wristlets. Kim (purple) is representing Pirates and has a pirate hat and sword! pirate:

My favors are also section specific: The head tables have cardboard pirate chests with gold and silver chocolate coins. The rest of the pirate tables have circles of green, blue or purple tulle with the gold and silver coins, tied with an appropriately colored ribbon, with a tag that says Jullie & Mark, September 14, 2007 with this image watermarked on it:

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The beach section has candy covered chocolates that look like shells and beach rocks. That tag has this image:
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The under the sea section has tropical colored hard candy fishies with tags that have either Ariel:
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or Crush:
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They are so cute!
 
I haven't been to Disney since last September and I'm going through serious withdrawal! I want to be there!

This is Mark and I the day we planned our Disney Dream Wedding that isn't happening:
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We spent the evening at Epcot, eating at the Rose & Crown Dining Room, which was really great. I had an ADR for this honeymoon there, until I realized that they changed the menu and what I wanted to eat wasn't there anymore. We'll be someplace else that evening!

So, enough about the wedding so far! On to the Disneymoon! :cool1:

We are leaving Connecticut on 9/28 to drive to Florida. I weighed my options, driving vs. flying and driving came out on top! I hate having to try to squish all my stuff into my luggage to fly home. The cost was the same what with the plane tickets and then renting a car (I hate not having a car!). We are driving.
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Just the two of us in the van. It should be a lot of fun.
 
Okay, so yesterday started good. We had my last shower at 2:30 and it was absolutely amazing. I had such a great time. We played silly games, and we talked about the wedding and the disneymoon. One of the girls who was there also had a Disney-themed Wedding and honeymooned at Pop Century, but was already pregnant and had morning sickness the entire time! I felt so bad for her!

My mommie dropped me off and I showed Mark all the cool stuff that I got. I think one of my favorite gifts is a no-sew fleece blanket from my cousin, Cassidy. It has sock monkeys all over it! I love sock monkeys. Actually I like all monkeys!

I started working on the gowns that I need to get finished. I yelled at Mark who was trying to clean up the living room, but was just making huge piles of my stuff and was messing it all up! Then I went to try one of the gowns on Katie, one of my bridesmaids, and she lost at least 10 pounds since I fit her last. I'm really excited that she's losing weight because it's always been an issue, but now her Cinderella blue gown was making her look like a blue marshmellow! I have to rip it apart and make it much smaller!

I came home, called my mom and cried at her for an hour! And then I didn't fall asleep until after 2:00 a.m. :sad1: I was up all night having anxiety attacks!

Wish me luck, I think I need it.
 
I am totally subbing and will get caught up tonight...I am at work and am sneaking on the boards so I have to run before I get caught. ;)
 
Okay, deep breath....much better. On Wednesday my mother (Mommie) and grandmother (Nana) came over and we sewed and sewed! I finished some old projects and Nana took apart the big blue marshmellow gown! I've taken it in and now I'm waiting for Katie to come try it on again.

Tonight was Mark's bachelor party. My dad and brother have told me that Mark is going to be useless tomorrow. However, we have a 1:30 p.m. dancing lesson. *sigh* Oh well, it's all good.

Kim, my Maid of Honor, came over today to work on the place cards. On Wednesday night I went to Katie's house and we made the Pirate Map. Instead of having the tables numbered like a typical reception, I am labeling the tables by Disney characters. Each place card is colored coded by meal and then has a picture of the character for the table. We made the pirate map using the same pictures as the tables and the place cards so that everyone can figure out where they are sitting.

So, I'm doing much better!
 
We are leaving Connecticut on September 28th and driving to Florida. I really don't know when exactly we will arrive at Disney. The drive takes 24 hours when driving straight through (been there - done that!) We're planning on stopping two nights prior to arriving at Port Orleans - Riverside.

We have reservations at Le Cellier at 8:00 p.m. on September 30th.

We are taking the Keys to the Kingdom Tour at 9:00 a.m. on October 1st, and we have reservations at Tony's that night.

Tuesday brings ressies at Kona Cafe for breakfast and potential plans to go to Blizzard Beach. Our last trip we went to Typhoon Lagoon and we had a great time! We also have ressies for lunch at Sci-fi Dine-in. I haven't heard a lot of great stuff about SFDI, but Mark really wants to try it out, so I will sacrifice myself for the greater good of our relationship. :love:

Wednesday is our day to sleep in, however, I did make us late breakfast ressies at Yacht Club Galley, but we may cancel them. Not too sure yet! We have late lunch ressies at the Garden Grill. This is another place that I haven't eaten at yet, but I love the concept of the rotating restaurant. I've eaten at the Space Needle in Seattle, and I thought it was awesome. We're planning on going to the AK EEMH's.

Thursday we're going on the Wild by Design Tour and have early dinner reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern followed by MNSSHP. I'm dressing up at Elizabeth Swann from POTC 1 and Mark is going to be Will Turner from PoTC2. (Granted, I haven't made the costumes yet, but soon!)

Friday morning we are going to breakfast at Chef Mickey's. This is one of our favorite restaurants, ever since Mark proposed here! This is us last September. It's one of my favorite pics!

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We may not even go to the parks that day. I haven't decided yet! We may not actually decide until that very day! We might go to Typhoon Lagoon or Disney Quest.

Saturday we have ressies at Boatwright's for breakfast and then we depart from Port Orleans-Riverside. We're driving to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Magic! I'm really looking forward to the cruise.

We are dining at Palo on our first night (Mark wanted to get it done with!) We are doing the Pirate Soul & Historium excursion on Key West, the Grand Cayman Island Tour and then the horseback excursion in Cozumel.

Only 27 days until we leave.... and only 13 days until I'm Mrs. Mark. :banana::banana::banana:
 
Is it me or does that title remind anyone else of Bare Naked Ladies? It could just be me!

So, just seven days from now I will be getting married to the man I love and sometimes dislike, but 99% of the time makes me very happy! I'm nervous, I'm stressed, I'm starting to get scared. Can I really get all this stuff pulled together to make it the day of our dreams? I still have dresses to finish, scrapbook pages to spec out, a pirate map that needs to be colored and inked, programs to layout. And tonight and Sunday we are going to weddings! Mark's cousin gets married tonight and his former boss is getting married Sunday morning.

Is it a bad thing that I'm looking forward to the honeymoon more than the actual wedding?
 
Hope everithing works better than you imagine. Congrats and best wishes. I'll love to see pics...
 
Thursday morning I actually got to sleep in a bit.... until about 9:00 a.m..... I was so excited that I got to sleep! But it didn't last..... Mark and I had to finish shopping for costume stuff for the introductions the next day - Katie had requested a coconut bra and grass skirt the day before, so I figured that I had better get it for her!

We also had a dance lesson at 2:30. We practiced our first dance for the last time. I was so scared that we were going to mess this up..... but we did our best and said good-bye to Piers and promised him a copy of the DVD!


We then packed up the van and headed over to Water's Edge Resort and Spa. Katie presented me with a wand because I was the Queen for the day (or two)

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We had a great rehearsal, and while typically if it is a good rehearsal, it turns out to be a bad ceremony, but luckily, we had a great ceremony too!

We then went to my Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner. The two little girls played and raced around.

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Abby spent all day and night playing with her Crayola digital camera. She was so sweet. She was very excited about having a sleepover at Katie's house. She said we were going to stay up all night and have popcorn!

Unfortunately, Abby was asleep before we ever reached Katie's house. We spent the night burning cd's of Disney music for the DJ; dying Amber's hair; finishing Abby's pantaloons; and discussing guys. We went to bed at 2:30 a.m. I know that I was supposed to be in bed early the night before my wedding so that I don't have big, black circles under my eyes, but not everything works out so perfectly!
 
I woke up at 8:00 a.m. It was my Wedding Day!!! I think this was the only time I ever got nervous..... 8:00 a.m. I stayed in bed until I heard Kim moving around. I got up and talked to her while she packed up her stuff. Abby had woken her up around 7:30 a.m. but Kim had gotten her juice and was very happy watching cartoons. She got in the shower and I went to see if Katie was up yet. She was just starting to stir and was mumbling something to her cat. Amber was still fast asleep. I went downstairs and got Abby. I told her it was time for Amber to wake up and it was her job to make sure she did.

We went to breakfast at a local restaurant, and then went to Spazzo to have our hair done. My friend Jen is the owner and she did everyone's hair that day. We started with Katie:

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I just love the barrettes that the florist made for me. All three bridesmaid's had them, I had a halo with ribbons down the back and Abby had a halo of purple daisies.

This is Amber's head:

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Kim was done next, but I didn't get a picture of the back of her head. By this point Abby had taken over Katie's digital camera. She actually did a really great job taking pictures with it and was really well behaved because of it. Amber was banned from the camera because she left it in the bathroom hanging from the toilet paper holder!

This is a picture that Abby took. It was all her own idea to take this picture:

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After Jen took her smoke break, she did Abby's hair:

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Kim was tried really hard to convince me to let Abby have her hair in a ponytail instead of a bun because her curls are so cute! But I stuck to my original plan and had it coiled up. The halo wouldn't have fit otherwise!

Finally, it was my turn. My hair took over an hour to curl and put up. But I loved the way it looked. When we did the trial for my hair, I had people asking me if it was a hair piece or if I had extensions or something. But it really is all my own hair. I couldn't wait until after the wedding so I could chop it all off!

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Once our hair was done, we left Spazzo and stopped for lunch. Abby was asleep again before we hit the restaurants. This was a good thing. We were hoping she'd sleep long enough so that she wouldn't be miserable that night! And she slept until 4:30 when we made her get up to put on her dress.

TO BE CONTINUED....
 
At 5:00 p.m. our photographer, Joe, came up to my room to take some pre-ceremony pictures. Mark was scheduled to come up to my room at 5:30 to see me for the first time since I left the rehearsal dinner.

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That is my musician and friend Erin putting the finishing touches on Abby's hair.
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Kim and Abby outside on my balcony. This is where Mark came and found me for the first time. Once i get the pictures from Joe I'll post them!

After we finished up at the room we went down the gazebo and took the formal shots there:

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Mark's Family

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My Family

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The Wedding Party (or as we called them "Our Cast of Characters")

We then went down onto the beach for a bunch of cute photos:
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TO BE CONTINUED ...... SOON!
 
I could see the pics today!!! Thos dresses look great, it is amazing that you made them all yourself, I would never even think of trying that, get me to the dress store!!!
 
I could see the pics today!!! Thos dresses look great, it is amazing that you made them all yourself, I would never even think of trying that, get me to the dress store!!!

I'm glad you could see the pictures today! Thank you for the complement on the dresses. They are actually not all that hard to make as long as the girls were cooperating on getting to me for fittings when I needed them. :headache:
 


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