AlmostMrsH's "planning" journal

[AlmostMrsH]

Ok, so I have 12 days left before my wedding (and only 8 before I'm in Orlando!) so this isn't a journal about the planning so much as it is a way to kill time while I am once again NOT SLEEPING. (Heh...I can't wait to see how strung out I look in pictures if the insomnia has kicked in this early...)

Anyway, Mr. H and I have been together for just over 10 years. We actually met in high school, a fact which I sometimes forget, especially when someone brings up the subject of "high school sweethearts", at which time I usually have to be reminded ("Oh, yeah, that does apply to us!"). We spent nearly four of those years (on and off) in a long distance relationship. This is On Topic because most of that time he was away at school, and/or I was living in Orlando, working for the Mouse. (I did two CPs and went full time for about a year). When I made the decision to move back to Illinois, he came down to spend my last week with me, and help me move. He proposed to me in front of the Partners statue. That was November 16, 2001.

We (okay, ~I~) have been very lazy since then. We've talked ad nauseam about where and when to have the wedding. We had always planned on having it hear where we both grew up (South suburbs of Chicago). We set the date, and then I'd think about how much work was involved and get busy doing other things...and the date we picked would come and go, and we'd pick a new date. It became a running joke with our families and friends.

Then, in the space of a year, I turned 29 (gulp!), he nearly lost his job, then got into a big car wreck, then I was diagnosed with MS, and it was just a really, really bad time. But we got through it together, and I decided I didn't want to have to worry about "The Wedding" - I just wanted to be married - to have a husband and start a family and all that. So we spent a solid week discussing/arguing about where to have the wedding, and after I offered a million other options (Merriville? Vegas? Napa Valley? Downtown (Chicago)? Tinley Park?) I said, "Let's go back to WDW". I NEVER thought he'd go for it, but he said "Sure".
"Really?"
"Yeah"
"I'm serious - you'd really get married at Disney?"
"I think it would be cool to go back to where I proposed.... And I like the roller coasters".

So we told my parents. I thought ~they'd~ never go for it (they've always promised to help me pay for my wedding) and they thought it was a great idea. So, 6 months later (!) we're almost there....

We knew we'd never be able to afford a Custom wedding, and originally it was going to be just his parents and sister, and my parents and sister. I had wanted to have the ceremony at Sunset Point at the Poly (my fav. resort) but our first Wedding Planner talked us out of it, so our alternative sight was Sea Breeze Point, for the water/beachy feel. And we decided if we had more room we should invite more people, so now we have a couple of friends from school, and some of my closest friends from my time in Orlando as well.

We also decided that we would host a reception at home, for all the people we weren’t able to invite to the ceremony in Orlando. This actually works as a great compromise, because it means we get to skip a lot of the traditional stuff that we don’t really care about (cake cutting, garter throwing, etc) and focus on being with family and friends.

Anyway, the planning so far:
Most of the Orlando planning is done (thank goodness - not much time left!). This board has been invaluable in figuring out who to use and how to get what I want. We’ve chosen Rev. Day to officiate, and Randy Chapman as our photographer (His stuff is amazing! I can’t wait to see our pics!) We’re going to Periwig’s to get our hair and makeup done (I had originally booked Lisa, but Periwig’s is less expensive, and my sister/MoH pointed out that going to a salon will feel more “special” than someone coming to our messy hotel room).
This is how I want my hair:

We’re renting Tuxedos from Men’s Wearhouse. There are only three guys in the wedding party (Mr. H, his best man, and my dad) so they're all the same:

My dress is by Bill Levkoff. It was actually a bridesmaid’s dress, but I liked it because it was simple and had a short train - and was less expensive, too. We bought it at a bridal shop in Oak Lawn, but I refuse to even mention them by name, they were so horrible. (Long story, but the gist is that it took them an extra 6 weeks to get the dress to us than they said it would, and then tried to charge us for alterations they didn’t do, because we originally said we’d do them there. The dress is STILL at a tailor (someone we trust, thankfully) because we didn’t have it until a week ago. And they were very rude about the whole situation…just, argh.)
I took this off of the BL website, but changed the color of the dress and sash (it's all ivory on mine) and flowers (they're still ugly...):

The girls’ dresses are by DaVinci. They are Bubblegum Pink. I have NEVER been a fan of pink until the last couple years, and still can't believe that I chose such a bright color, but it’s just so pretty in person. I also thought the pink would pop against the white wood at the Boardwalk, and not wash out in the Florida sun. We’re going touches of green and brown to coordinate, with more of the brown at the home reception (it’s the week before Thanksgiving).
They really aren't this bright, but I had a hard time manipulating the color to get the shade right. They're gorgeous in person, imho:

Wow...so this made me more tired than I expected (A good thing). This is my first time posting photos, so please let me know of I'm doing something wrong! I'm going to try to post more, like my jewelry and flowers and stuff...
Thanks for "listening"

 

[VistaLeigh'smommy]

I am going to be a Mrs H too!!! It was fun to read your story and I am sure the wedding will be beautiful!

Can I ask why you were talked out of the Poly? I plan to have mine there (a year from today!) so i'm interested.

pretty dresses, and I love the color!

 

[AlmostMrsH]

VistaLeigh'smommy, the Wedding Coordinator said they have had problems with the Poly regarding the weather and the space ittself. She wouldn't get very specific, but I've talked to other people who have mentioned problems ranging from fire ants, to the site not being close to service roads, to it being too hot there (there isn't any shade). But I don't know for sure. In the long run, it wasn't worth arguing, and we got to invite a few more people and turn it into a big vacation, too. But I wouldn't let it get you down - just ask about those things up front when you start the planning.

Thanks for the compliments - I can't wait until I have real pictures of the dresses (and everything else) to show everyone!

 

[AlmostMrsH]

So, I was paid an interesting compliment today. I just started a new job, and the girls I am working with were talking about their weddings (one was 4 years ago, one was just a year). I spoke up and talked about my wedding, and they couldn't believe that it's in a week and a half. One of them said, "I can't believe how calm you are! She's, like, the least crazy bride I've ever met!". I thought that was nice, because it means I must present myself as much calmer and more put together than I usually feel on the inside.

So, I wanted to show off my jewelry. This is one of the things that I am most happy with - it is EXACTLY what I wanted when I first started looking for jewelry. I figured with a plain dress I would need to "bling" up a bunch with the jewelry, but I still wanted it to look light and graceful and "airy", if that makes any sense. I had a picture of what I wanted in my head, and looked EVERYWHERE near where I live and couldn't find what I wanted. So, I can't remember how I found it (Google? This site?) but I ended up at RedotDesigns.com . Her stuff is GORGEOUS, and after emailing her a few times I can say she is wonderful to work with. I ended up choosing the Danielle necklace (and a bracelet that matches):

And the Erin earrings:

And I also got jewelry for my bridesmaids - they’ll be wearing the Gracie/Natalie combo, like, this, but in crystal AB instead of pink (I wanted them to be more neutral so that hopefully they’ll be able to at least wear the earrings again):

I am not wearing a veil (I know it would just blow around outside and drive me silly). I thought about wearing some sort of tiara, but so far everything has cost me more than I budgeted, so I am trying to make hairpins for myself that will match the jewelry. I bought matching crystals at Michaels and am slowly working on them at night. Here is the progress so far :

Let’s see… Oh, yeah, we also made our own invitations. We used a kit (also from Michaels) with pink and brown, for the reception invites, and printed them on my parents’ computer. I know they’re not very fancy, but it’s already a non-traditional wedding anyway, and they turned out pretty cute:

I also made invites for the ceremony. These were a little more work but there aren’t as many of them, and less formal than the others because they were going to people who already knew most of the details - they’re more like reminders than anything else:

So I’m pretty happy with the way things are turning out so far. I’ve got a few other projects I’m working on, for the reception and the ceremony, but nothing I’d like to show off just yet. I did take a picture of the “project table” in the kitchen, just as an example of how ridiculous I am sometimes , and an example of one of the projects that didn’t work out (though I’ve seen it done by someone else here and it was lovely):

Oh, and I’ve also put together welcome bags - again, an idea that has evolved mostly from posts on this board. They’re nothing special, just a few things to thank people for traveling and get them excited about Disney. I don’t have them put together (don’t think they’ll travel well like that) so I separated everything into baggies so I can put them together quickly when we get there:

Each bag will have a deck of cards (with a flip-flop theme), a tiny “scrapbook” (for autographs), an inflatable beach ball, a flip-flop magnet, a yo-yo, a maze-game-thingy, Pixie Stix, individual drink mixes, and a pack of Kleenex; and for each person a (fake) lei, a tiki glass, a Mickey or Stitch pen, flip-flop gummy candies, Chips Ahoy cookies and Goldfish crackers. (I like themes…):

And, the fiances favorite, the favors for dinner after the ceremony (at Yachtsman’s Steakhouse):

Wow…this is actually a lot of fun. It’s nice to see all my “stuff” in one place. I’d love to hear what you all think!

 

[sarah_n_brian2006]

Everything sounds so great! Good luck on the rest of your planning!

 

[heathrow42]

Everything looks great! I just wanted to say that your story sounded so much like ours! We got engaged a month after you at Disney, and are getting married in disney this December. (The 5 year anniversary of our engagement) We got lazy about it for a while, then we moved and right after we moved, dh2b hurt his back.. I did the same thing, suggested a bunch of places to get married, even tried to get him to elope to vegas! We are finally back on track!

Everything looks gorgeous.. the M&M tins look really nice! Your welcome bags look great too. I hope you don't mind, I added some of your welcome bag ideas to Great Big List of Welcome Bag Ideas

Silly question.. but if you get the chance, post a pic of your shoes!? I am having a really hard time finding shoes and would love to see yours!

Congrats!
--Heather

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

What do your M & Ms say? They are very cute!

 

[ExCPKate]

I had to laugh reading your original post about locations to have your reception around the south suburbs of ILL. Did you mean Merrillville, as in Merrillville, IN? I'm from NW Indiana (or the region as we like to call it!), and I enjoyed reading a post from a neighbor. Good luck and congratulations!!

 

[dznystar]

I love your champagne flutes. Where did you get them?

 

[AlmostMrsH]

Gah - they don't have a smiley running around with it's little hands flapping... That's how I feel right now.

We leave in 2 days(!!!!!) - Well, Saturday afternoon, so I guess it's 2.5. I have a million little things left to do, and I can't make myself go do them. I also can't sleep (again!) so here I am....

I still need to wrap gifts and write notes to the wedding party and our parents. Oh, I can post pics of the gifts! (Procrastination....)

We didn’t plan on it, but we ended up getting everyone something personalized, mainly with their initials.
Here is what we got for the best man and both dads (and Greg). They're from Things Remembered - the gunmetal stuff kinda matches G's ring. :

And for my bridesmaids:

For my sister - it matches the gunmetal and ring, too. I had them write “My Maid of Honor, my sister, my friend” on the bottom - I hope it isn’t too cheesy! :

For the moms we got bracelets from Blue Nile. They’re actually a knock-off (ahem - “designer inspired”) of a Tiffany bracelet that I covet. They are VERY pretty in person, and BN does a great job of packaging them nicely:

I snuck back to Things Remembered and had them do a keychain for G that matches the watches and ring (SHHHH! Don’t tell!). It, too, is a little cheesy, with the date of the wedding on one side (no excuse to forget the anniversary) and “Love, Holly” on the back:

Between these gifts and the bags I am so excited to see how everyone reacts (I love giving presents! Almost as much as getting them! )

Oh! And we got our first official wedding gift today. My aunt sent it to us - it was a complete surprise (they’re not even going to be with us in FL, just at the reception). I didn't even know they made this - it's so cute!:

Let’s see… FSUDisneyGirl, our M&Ms say "Holly & Greg" on some and "Thank you" on the others. I just wanted something they could actually do something with (I have a drawer full of Jordan almonds and cake shaped candles, so I thought something edible would be cool.)

dznystar the flutes are from Walmart - they were, like, $12 for the pack of 4. The etching was my attempt at Cinderella's coach, but it is WAY harder to cut out the stencils than I had imagined. Major props to LIPurple, who did an amazing job on hers ( look ) We'll look around while we're there for a set we can buy, or we'll just go with the ones provided....

heathrow42, I am honored to be a part of the welcome bag list, especially since most of my ideas came from there! Also, my shoes look like this:

I got them at Payless - they were on sale for $7!!! I was SO proud of myself.

Well, I think that's it for now. I'm sure I will be sleeping very little between now and Saturday, so I'll be back soon. Thanks for all the comments!