A&W's Planning Journal! 1/22/11 - Disneyland Wedding - TR Starting on Pg. 5!

[jtanddolly]

Love the pictures. I think it is funny that your husband is holding the bouquet as you walk down the isle.

I loved your video. The lighting really made your reception look amazing! How did you spotlight your centerpieces?

Can you post a picture of your reception "ticket" I saw it briefly in your video and would love to see a better shot of how it turned out. Everything looked GREAT in the video.

 

[Mindyjoy]

Haha! It probably was me- Traci and I were talking quite a bit before the wedding! I was always joking with her that I would wind up calling her almost every day... and that's about what happened She was so patient through everything- she is just the best!

You are right, she is the best!!!!!

I love everything you've posted; the invites are incredible!!! Please do a full Trip Report if you have time!

 

[Safflower]

Love the pictures. I think it is funny that your husband is holding the bouquet as you walk down the isle.

I loved your video. The lighting really made your reception look amazing! How did you spotlight your centerpieces?

Can you post a picture of your reception "ticket" I saw it briefly in your video and would love to see a better shot of how it turned out. Everything looked GREAT in the video.

Thanks! The lighting was a bit of a splurge, but I think it was totally worth it with how amazing the room looked! We had purple uplighting around the walls of the room, and then had the lighting team go and do pinspotting on each centerpiece. Basically it's like a tiny spotlight on each table- we thought about cutting them to save some money, but I am so so so glad we didn't. They really just made the room!

I'll ask DH if he's OK with me posting the ticket book up- he actually made an entire A through E-ticket booklet, with each ticket being a different part of the reception program. They were just stunning- I am so proud of everything that he did for the wedding

You are right, she is the best!!!!!

I love everything you've posted; the invites are incredible!!! Please do a full Trip Report if you have time!

1 trip report, coming right up! I was so bored on the flight home, I started writing it out right then and there

 

[Safflower]

Up until about two weeks before the wedding, we had mostly everything under control. My girl coworkers had even surprised me with a bridal shower on Sunday evening after work! Although we did have a lot of last minute preparations to take care of, we had mostly everything together by the time my parents arrived on Monday morning.

Well... At least I thought we had things mostly together. As we went over my to do list on Monday morning before I went into work, we realized that there were quite a few details that we still needed to finish up. It was such a big help to have my parents there early though, as I ended up giving them a huge to do list and then ran out the door for work.

Of course, this is where things started to go downhill. Less than 15 minutes after I got to work, I had managed to spill an entire teapot of boiling water down the inside of my right forearm. Feeling like the clumsiest person on the planet, I had to go through my entire day with my arm coated in burn gel, worrying that my arm would still be bright red at the wedding. I also managed to completely freak out DH, but that's a given =P

Luckily, by the time I got home, my arm was looking somewhat normal, and my superhero parents had finished the entire to do list and even had time to run the dishwasher! This totally prevented what would have been a bridal meltdown. We grabbed a bite to eat and started to pack up to get the van ready for the next morning. And yes, we barely slept the entire week before the wedding ><

 

[Safflower]

Tuesday was another crazy preparation day. I was able to finagle starting a bit later for work so that I would be able to help my parents start loading up the van. To get all of our items for the wedding down to LA, as well as transport our bridal party and family to and from wedding events, my dad rented a 15 passenger van. Thank goodness he did that! We thought that the van might be too big, but it was just the right size. Our plan was to have my parent drive down to LA on Tuesday ( about a 7 hour drive), and then DH and I would fly down and meet them Wednesday night.

I was a bit worried about my parents packing up the van without DH or I there, just in case there was something that I had forgotten to put on the packing list. DH and I both had work on Tuesday, so I wasn't sure how we could make everything happen. This all changed a few days before though, as DH had to go in for an emergency temporary crown on Tuesday morning! He was able to get Tuesday and Wednesday off of work because of the crown and all of the wedding stress, so he was able to help my parents with making sure that everything got brought along to LA. They were able to fit everything in the van- both dresses, all 20 centerpieces, all of our luggage for the wedding and the honeymoon, and all of the little accessories that we needed.

Dad and a very in pain DH were quite proud of getting everything into the van successfully... they almost ran out of room for my mom

While I was at work, they set off for LA, so by the time I got home the dining room was empty of boxes for the first time in ages, and DH and I were left with the very last of our projects to finish and the task of packing our overnight bags.

 

[Safflower]

On Wednesday it was finally time to head down to Disneyland! ...after making it through an entire day of work first. DH was able to stay home from work still, so he took care of getting the house ready for us to go and dropping off the cats at the boarding house/vet. I can't believe how many last minute little things we ended up having to do. I rushed home the second that I could leave work, we grabbed our bags and finally headed to the airport! We both couldn't wait to finally be away from the real world and enjoying our wedding weekend.

The flight down was quick, and before we realized it, we were landing at LAX. My parents came to get us, and then they took us over with our bags to the Disneyland Hotel! We had booked their Fairy Tale Suite, so I couldn't wait to check in. My SIL met us there with some additional wedding projects that she had done for us, and we headed to the front desk. A member of the concierge team escorted us upstairs to help us get settled and to show us all of the amazing things in our room!

Our pictures aren't quite enough to do it justice, but here is a link to the promo photos that they had of it on the Disney Parks Blog: http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/11/fairy-tale-suite-at-the-disneyland-hotel/

IRL, the room is better than any of the photos make it out to be! The shower in the bathroom is also a steam room, which was incredible. It was like living in all of my childhood dreams

We started to unpack, and then we got a little surprise- complimentary Mickey cookies and milk! It was so sweet of them to have it sent up ^^ DH and DSIL headed out to the 24-hr WalMart for some forgotten items, and I curled up in that amazing bed, feeling so much like a princess. I'm pretty sure that our room was just pure pixie dust.

 

[Mindyjoy]

MORE MORE MORE!!!

I'm so jealous you got the Fairy Tale Suite!! I want to stay there so bad!

 

[jtanddolly]

Wow...the fairytale sweet is AMAZING!!! I definitely want to stay there some day. What a wonderful way to start your wedding week!

And yes the lighting was a well spent expense as it really set the mood for your wedding.

I can't wait to hear and see more about your wedding! And ask your husband (pretty please with a cherry on top) if he will let you post pics of the tickets.

 

[Safflower]

Here are some pictures of our reception programs!

DH and I wanted to do them in the style of the classic Disneyland A-E ticket books. While we couldn't get our hands on a vintage copy, it was just the 55th anniversary at Disneyland - which meant lots of ticket book themed merchandise! We were able to get a good feel of what they should look like from the reproductions that Disney had put out.

DH recreated everything entirely on his own, and then we printed each one out on our fancypants laser printer on some medium weight cardstock leftover from our centerpieces project. We used an industrial paper cutter to cut the outside edges to size on each assembled book, and then hand cut the ticket edges on the interior. With some help, assembling and cutting them took an entire Saturday but I think they were worth it!

Each ticket book was personalized for each guest- the name on this one has been blurred out since I didn't have a blank one handy at home!

Inside

The "C" ticket was our menu card

The back-

 

[Safflower]

Thursday was a complete surprise! I had gotten a call the night before from 3 of my bridesmaids telling me to meet them downstairs in the lobby at 9:20. Not only was that an oddly specific time (especially coming from the three of them!), but they didn't mention anything else, so I knew I'd be in for a bit of a crazy day. I managed to wakeup even before the alarm went off- very much out of the ordinary for me. I met my girls downstairs, along with my parents, and we were off!

Our first stop was a lovely teahouse brunch, with fresh homemade scones! They were just amazing. After that, they whisked me away to a spa day! All of my bridesmaids had chipped in for my mom and I to both get a massage, and for me to have my nails done. It was such a welcome surprise! They took me to a Burke Williams spa, which was just amazing. It was so so so luxurious!

After we managed to drag ourselves away from the spa, our next stop was Disneyland with just my bridesmaids and me =) they gave me a list of 10 silly things to do while we walked around the park. The park was also super quiet, so we were able to almost walk on any ride we wanted to! Once my list was complete, it was about dinner time, so we walked over to Downtown Disney. Just when I thought the day was over, there were more surprises!

For dinner, 2 of my other bridesmaids and a good girlfriend of mine met us at the restaurant. We had such a fun dinner together!

Most of my bridesmaids live rather far away, so items so nice to have a girls night to catch up with them. We went back to their hotel room, where they had more surprises waiting- including quite a bit of champagne and strawberries!

Eventually (after some other interesting activities) I was dropped back off at my room, with more secret instructions for Friday.

I was so surprised and overjoyed that my bridesmaids and girlfriends had done so much planning to give me such an amazing day! I couldn't believe all of the effort they had put into it. I loved having a day where I didn't have to plan anything and I could just enjoy my time with them- all of the stress io had been feeling about the wedding got left behind, and I was almost ready to party!

 

[Fay]

Really LOVE your wedding video! Think its brilliant!

Did you sing the hillary duff song!? FAB!

XXX

 

[jtanddolly]

Thanks for posting a few pics of the coupon book. Your husband did a great job! You are both so creative.

 

[Mindyjoy]

Loooooove the ticket book, so creative! I have a question, did you get any comments from Disney about using their castle icon on your programs? I originally had that same castle in my logo but got nervous about using it after reading the contract. I now have an awesome new castle to use in my logo (thanks jtanddolly ) but I'm curious if Disney made any comments about you using it.

 

[Safflower]

Really LOVE your wedding video! Think its brilliant!

Did you sing the hillary duff song!? FAB!

Thanks! When my DH and I entered the reception hall, we sang the ballad version of the song together and then DSIL and I sang the pop version together! It was a lot of fun.

Thanks for posting a few pics of the coupon book. Your husband did a great job! You are both so creative.

Haha! He's definitely the creative one More projects to come soon!

Loooooove the ticket book, so creative! I have a question, did you get any comments from Disney about using their castle icon on your programs? I originally had that same castle in my logo but got nervous about using it after reading the contract. I now have an awesome new castle to use in my logo (thanks jtanddolly ) but I'm curious if Disney made any comments about you using it.

Ah... as we created everything on our own, and did not use any third party companies for printing etc, I would file our creations under a parody. Of course, we didn't run anything by Disney We didn't actually think about that part of the contract until just a week or two before the wedding, and by that time it was too late so... we just went with it!

 

[Safflower]

Even though I thought things couldn't get better after Thursday, Friday totally proved me wrong! All of my lovely ladies came to get me from my room in the morning, as I left my poor DH behind for another day of fun =P

In the elevator on our way downstairs!

I was still surprised that they had even more tricks up their sleeves. We started walking through Downtown Disney, so I figured we were going to head back to the parks, but not quite! As we were passing Catal, I spied my two grandmas outside the restaurant! I was so happy to get to have brunch with them. We walked into the restaurant and headed upstairs, and who was waiting for us? All of my female relatives! I was totally blown away!

Since almost all of my bridesmaids, and all of my family members live outside California, I hadn't really done any of the bridal shower/bachelorette stuff. So, after my awesome bachelorette party the night before, my family and friends had gotten together to throw me a beautiful bridal shower as well! I don't get to see most of my family members too frequently, so I felt so lucky that they were all able to come out to the wedding early to spend some time with me. Most of them live a good 2500+ miles away ( in both directions), so it was amazing to have them all together, especially without all the hubbub of the wedding day going on.

After our delicious meal, there were even more surprises! Together, they had put together a scrapbook of our memories together- they were even able to include those that were not able to make it.

Of course, it was so well put together and so thoughtful that I got rather teary- which meant that almost all of my bridesmaids started to cry as well That was definitely a common occurrence in the time leading up to the wedding!

My family members started to make their exit, and my girls and I were off again! This time, to meet my DH and his boys, along with our photographer, at Disneyland. We ran into some of our friends while we were there, and they handed us the "Just Married" buttons, which are so so easy to find at Disneyland! However, since we weren't married yet, we had to fix them a little bit...

Thanks to a handy sharpie, we were now "Almost Married"! We still grabbed two more buttons on our way out to wear to the parks on Sunday though

We played around for a little bit, and then DH and I headed back to our room a bit early to meet our outside coordinator prior to the rehearsal. Because we were bringing so many of our own items, it would have been too difficult to have someone from the wedding party set it up on Saturday. We sped through what to do with the centerpieces, and then headed down to the rehearsal!

 

[Safflower]

After rushing through how to set up the centerpieces and reception items for the next day, we almost ran down to the rehearsal. Amazingly, we ended up being only ten minutes late! I was trying to be on time for things for the most part during the wedding weekend, but things were clearly not going to be on time. DH hates my chronic lateness, so I figured that I would at least try to start things off on the right foot!

The rehearsal ran fairly smoothly for the most part- our bridal party was very forgiving and marched back and forth for a whole hour while we practiced everything. We also got a chance to meet our *amazing* Disney Coordinator, Herta. She was a total lifesaver! While I thought she might be a little too quiet for us at first, she got us right into order and didn't waste any time at all. She was also fantastic on the day of, but I'll get there soon enough!

After our ceremony rehearsal, we went over to the Grand Ballroom to practice a bit for our reception entrance. Our plan was for DH and I to enter the ballroom singing the ballad version of "What Dreams Are Made Of" from the Lizzie McGuire movie. I was so glad that we got a few minutes in the ballroom to practice this! The girl from Disney Entertainment was so on the ball to be at the rehearsal to make sure that everything would be correct on the day of the wedding. All of the CMs that helped with the wedding were just wonderful <3 I felt so lucky that they helped us so much!

With the ceremony and the rehearsal mostly planned out, it was time for our rehearsal dinner! DSIL and DMIL had chosen Bubba Gumps at the Anaheim GardenWalk mall- it's just a short walk or drive away from the Disneyland Hotel.

It turned out great! While we didn't have a totally private area of the restaurant, we had our own space and were able to mingle and run around between the tables. The menu was awesome, and the pricing was really reasonable considering how much food we got! DSIL was also kind enough to add on drink tickets, so we got to enjoy a little booze as well… although I was quite shocked when I saw my grandmas drinking straight bourbon!

DH also was rocking his new and improved groom hat- we added on some ears to his black fedora Too bad he has kind of an odd face in this photo!

We also gave our bridal party their gifts- an accessory for the girls, and a beer mug for the boys. We did everything through Things Remembered, so each one was personalized- the girls got a little poem on theirs as well.

After our awesome dinner, we said goodbye to almost everyone, and actually headed back into Disneyland! Even though we had to be up super early the next morning, we couldn't resist watching the fireworks one last time before getting married. With our photographer in tow, we ran into Disneyland to get a nice spot on Main St. for taking some photos.

And of course, since we were there and the parks were a little slow… we had to run over and watch World of Color too! Our photographer hadn't watched it yet, so it was so much fun to see the expression on her face =)

After the two shows, we were totally exhausted. It was only Friday, and the wedding weekend was already crazy busy! We managed to crawl into bed around midnight, with a 6:00AM wakeup call for the next day- UGH ><

 

[Mindyjoy]

YAY! I can't wait to see more!!!!!!!

 

[Safflower]

Finally ready to start writing about the big day!

We started off quite early with some snacks up at the E-Ticket lounge. The staff had seen quite a bit of us over the last few days, so they had gotten used to me running around in my bride ears =)

DH went to take care of all of the last minute details, while I met my girls at the Frontier room to start our hair and make up! With 10 of us getting dolled up, it was quite the process!

I was so proud of all of my girls for getting up and over to the hotel on time- for all of them to be finished on time, they had to be there at 7:30! To make things a little easier, I ordered some snacks and drinks from Disney. I was so glad that I did this, since then I knew everyone had at least a little something to eat before the wedding. Plus, the hair and makeup girls were really happy about it too!

My lovely BMs were kind enough to steam all of the dresses and get everything set up for me, so it was a pretty stress free morning!

Shoe shot!

Rings in my dress

The girls did get a little bit silly though…

The only problem that we had was that my hair took a little longer than expected, so we were running late for the first look. Once the girls had gotten me into my dress, they attached a mini Eeyore onto my underskirt- Eeyore is DH's favorite character =)

Even though I was running about 15 minutes behind, it ended up being OK, as it took longer for DH to coordinate with the AV people that we expected. We had quite a production team in the ballroom!

Traci coordinated moving the location though, so we still had our first look We moved it from the Grand Californian hotel to just near the lobby of the Disneyland Hotel. The location wasn't as pretty, but I was still glad to see him before the ceremony. I get nervous very easily, which is why we spent the night before together and had a first look. Not the most traditional, but I don't think we would have had it any other way!

Picture with the girls before DH got there

Getting nervous!

After our first look, we headed over to the coach to have me practice getting in and out. With my gigantic dress, it was much more difficult than I thought it would be! Herta was a good guide though, so I managed to make it in and out safely.

For my bouquet, I carried something from each of my grandparents- 3 of them are gone, but I still wanted to have them with me. I used my grandfathers ring, my grandmothers broach, and my other grandfathers music handbook. My grandma also let me borrow her rosary

My girls were a little nervous to go down- my MoH and Will's Best Maid were singing their entrance song, so they had the spotlight all on them for a little while!

And then all too soon, it was really time to go down the aisle!

 

[Safflower]

We made "fastpasses" to let our guests know about our reception details- we put a little map on the back, so guests could find our ballroom easily!

My groom waited patiently at the end of the aisle for the girls to make their way down…

Major Domo and Herta helped me out of the carriage- I was so nervous I would fall in front of my guests! Those steps coming out of the carriage are so tiny! Herta actually had to grab my ankles to guide my feet to the steps.

We wrote our own ceremony, and DBIL was our officiant. We were so glad that we could do something so personal for us- our families were really understanding about it =) We did two readings, and then a rose ceremony.

Afterwards, we took some portraits with the family and the bridal party!

My dress was quite large, so I couldn't move too much during the portraits- it took too much time to move me back and forth. So, occasionally, I just hid behind my DH!

Once we finished up with our pictures, we had some time to meander over to the reception room and enjoy our cocktail hour!

Reception photos soon =)

 

[Mindyjoy]

Everything looks so pretty! I love the fastpass idea! Too cute! And I think I spy Traci in one of your pictures ....

Can't wait to see the reception!