Alli and Cole's 08/13/2015 SBP Escape w/ F! DP - Updated 09/29 Professional Photos Up!!!

[Disney_Alli]

Hi! Been reading along and just read about the whole catholic ceremony situation and i think you will be in luck. In order to have a catholic wedding you iusually have to go through meetings/"classes" with a priest, and a retreat. Also, i didnt think the preist would do it not in a church but i could be wrong. If you arent comfortable with it i would say say NO bc it is a lot!

Well the conversation started when we picked our officiant. I wanted him to pick a person - he wanted to pick someone based on the types of ceremonies they offered and brought up Rev. Kev's catholic type ceremony... So it wouldn't be a catholic wedding (that was never a possibility) but he wants a very religious service that's thats just not something I'm in to. I'm not adverse to religion or anything it's just not a part of who I am.

 

[Disney_Alli]

Okay so I called Big River Monday and the right person wasn't in so I was told to call back Tuesday. Called back Tuesday and was given all the information I posted her and was told I would be emailed 'right away'. I never got anything so I called back Friday and was told the manager I spoke with wasn't in but he'd call him so that he could send me that information 'right away'. Never got an email. I'm going to call back Monday but if I don't have this information from them by Tuesday night I think I might go a different direction with this 'rehearsal' type party. I've heard good things about private events at Il Mulino (though I think those have to be daytime events and I want evening) or maybe I'll just book the buffet at Garden Grove for all of us. Since its a buffet it will be a set price and we can just have a big ADR. I'm liking this idea more all the time...

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Okay so I called Big River Monday and the right person wasn't in so I was told to call back Tuesday. Called back Tuesday and was given all the information I posted her and was told I would be emailed 'right away'. I never got anything so I called back Friday and was told the manager I spoke with wasn't in but he'd call him so that he could send me that information 'right away'. Never got an email. I'm going to call back Monday but if I don't have this information from them by Tuesday night I think I might go a different direction with this 'rehearsal' type party. I've heard good things about private events at Il Mulino (though I think those have to be daytime events and I want evening) or maybe I'll just book the buffet at Garden Grove for all of us. Since its a buffet it will be a set price and we can just have a big ADR. I'm liking this idea more all the time...

I like the idea of doing Garden Grove... Especially since BRG can't seem to figure out how to email you!

 

[Disney_Alli]

I like the idea of doing Garden Grove... Especially since BRG can't seem to figure out how to email you!

Right? However I went on the Garden Grove site and it's not a dinner buffet per say any more. It's bottomless soup and salad plus a choice of 4 entrees (prime rib, chicken, salmon or a veggie entree) and dessert ranging in price from $29.99 to $36.99... So it's actually cheaper to do this.

 

[Disney_Alli]

Going to mail our invites out today! I didn't do anything fancy to address them but right after we bought our house I bought a custom stamp with our address on it and it really looks great!

I also gave up on the idea of Big River Grill and have made reservations at Garden Grove. It's cheaper, it's a character meal, it's more food and the entree choices are basically the same. Right now I have two big ADRs I'm hoping to get a manager to combine them into one.

 

[Disney_Alli]

So after reading Jenn's (that's @elphie101 in case you don't know) transcript of her ceremony I cried so hard! I loved it; it was exactly what I wanted. I got my fiancé to read it and he liked it a lot too. We went through Rev. Kevin Knox's planning kit he sends out and pulled most of his "warmer sentimental ceremony" plus the vows from his religious ceremony added in a couple of his included "favorite" readings and a VERY short sand ceremony (does anyone have any wording for a sand ceremony that don't include the words "vessel" or "all that you were and all that you'll ever be"? I love the symbology of a sand ceremony but most of the wordings literally made me gag - which made Cole laugh really hard) and we have something we really like. I am little worried it will be too long but I guess I'll send it to Rev. Kev and see what he says.

The invites all got sent out on Monday. Hopefully everyone will have them soon. I've made a couple of additional Etsy and similar purchases but I don't have pictures at the moment. I bought iron on transfers to do a pair of yoga shorts and a top for getting ready - then I went on American Eagle/Aerie and bought yoga shorts and a couple of tops to see which one I like. I finalized my additional earrings but haven't got a way to order them yet. The same girl is going to customize a pearl bracelet she has with a large starfish in my colours and she sent me a coupon for free shipping. I ordered some other things I won't mention here (hi @TinkLoverSam lol!) I also ordered Cole and I custom sweaters for the flight down. The seller used to be on Etsy but now has their own site. They started work on them today. Should have them in a couple weeks.

Big River Grille never got in touch with me again so I decided to go with Garden Grove. @TinkLoverSam and I both made reservations to cover our full group and I got in touch with the manager. I'm now working with her on setting it all up and she offered to let us bring in or order a cake and to lay out anything we want on the tables. I'm going to pass on a cake but I may do up a schedule for the next day so that everyone is on the same page.

I think that's everything for now. Just 5.5 months to go!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Wow you are a planning machine... Though I guess we both are lately, you with the wedding, me with the baby!

 

[Disney_Alli]

I forgot I also ordered a cool box to keep our rings in since we don't have a ring bearer. It'll be too big to go into a pocket but will look awesome in photos!

 

[Lynne G]

I like the idea of a box. Since we didn't have a ring boy or flower girl, our rings just sat in my DH's pocket until ready. Yeah, we had a very low key wedding. I think Garden Grove is a great choice.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I forgot I also ordered a cool box to keep our rings in since we don't have a ring bearer. It'll be too big to go into a pocket but will look awesome in photos!

Plus then we can say the bride would like a box to you too... Inside joke from my wedding dinner at V&As

 

[Disney_Alli]

The mail guy woke me up this afternoon to deliver my fascinator... I finally opened it up and it looks AMAZING! It's attached to the box and I don't want to take it out just yet so here's a picture of it in the box...
It's realy dark because once again I had a fight with my iPad and uploading pictures. All the lighter ones were "too big" apparently.

 

[Disney_Alli]

So I ordered my custom hangers today! So excited! I think the only thing I have left to order is anymore cufflinks I need (bestman and possibly for my dad) and transfers to do up shirts (but those I won't do until the summer) then I have to make a final decision on a large hair comb and order it... Which is good because I'm broke now

 

[majix]

Awesome! looks like you're all set, almost.

 

[Disney_Alli]

Man this week has sucked so freaking bad. Found out the new owner of my old apartment has been hoarding my mail since it stopped being forwarded in December. She finally dumped a huge pile of it down in the lobby so I got to find out the my health insurance is jacking my rates, I owe the government almost $4k because of an inheritance last year and that she lied and had the jawbone fitness tracker I ordered for my fiancé (and that I fought both CanadaPost and BestBuy over) all at once. Add to that the speeding ticket I got a couple of weeks ago and it's pretty much sucked around here lately. Plus I've literally seen Cole for like an hour this week and it's just been ****ty.

Sorry ladies needed to vent!

 

[Disney_Alli]

Well on to brighter news! I ordered matching tote bags for TinkLoverSam and I plus ones for our mom and Cole's mom as well plus tank tops for the two of us. The seller was awesome and discounted the totes to $13.99 each and the tanks to $11.99 so it was very reasonable. Now I just have to decide what I'll put in the moms' totes. I have lots of stuff for Sam's already. I'm seriously thinking of doing personalized handkerchiefs for them plus I know I'll do shirts for everyone. It doesn't seem like enough but my mom always bugs me when I buy presents for her so maybe I'll keep them simple. I have a small jewelry set from Beadforlife.org that I bought for Cole's mom after Christmas but I think that will be her birthday present... I'm just not sure. Anyone care to share what they did for their moms?
I think I've settled on a personalized set of cufflinks, shirt stays, tie clip (okay I swear there was a forth item I've blanked on) for a groom's gift to Cole. He wears a suit every day for work and collects cufflinks and shirt stays so I think he'd really like them. I love to do something else too but I'm not sure the budget will stretch that far.

I also ordered my large hair piece that coordinated perfectly with the cufflinks I bought Cole for the wedding. Not sure if I've mentioned the jewelry I ordered for myself. I have matching earring and necklace sets for Sam and I plus I just ordered bracelets for us as I felt a little naked with just the small sets plus extra earings for me as I generally wear three sets. I should have all of that soon and will post pictures as soon as I can. I love all these little coordinating details!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Yay pressies!

 

[elphie101]

I'm so glad you found something you liked out of my ceremony, it warms my heart!! Many people said our ceremony was their favorite part of the day and really, isn't that how it should be? (I chose to believe that was a compliment to the ceremony and not a sign that the reception and DP were crap ) The fascinator looks stunning, can't wait to see it in normal lighting!

I'm so sorry about your crazy mail hoarding neighbor (or whoever she is) and all the troubles she's causing. That's crap Hang in there.

 

[Disney_Alli]

It's been a while since I posted decent pictures on here so I thought I'd post my possible cake topper. I ordered it off etsy and while it said that the colour may vary on the listing all the pictures made them appear black with some slight variation. What I got was brown on one side and brown with teal writing on the other side. That just wasn't going to work so TinkLoverSam and I ventured to our local Michaels in search or black nontoxic acrylic paint. Here's the finished results
On the cake they'll be stacked to create a nice silhouette like so


Here's a close up to really show the original colors of the bases - I didn't paint them since I didn't want to risk paint getting into the cakes

 

[TinkLoverSam]

You did good with the painting! I just remembered they didn't have an accent colour that we liked in the right paint so we decided to go black for both!

 

[laurajane]

I adore your silhouette cake topper Alli! Do you have a link to the Etsy seller you got it from? I'd love to use something similar for table centerpieces.