Amanda & Catie's Planning Journal - October 2020 S&D Crescent Terrace and West Courtyard

[JuneBugFL]

Hi everyone! I finally get to start a planning journal. I have been on the DisBoards for a verrrry long time, and lurked on the weddings boards for pretty much over a decade. I had always dreamed of a wedding at Disney, but for a long while I thought I would never get married. Then I met my other half. We have already started some tentative planning, but the proposal is this weekend!

I am currently at Disney right now, typing this from the Beach Club Villas. I am here with my parents for my Dad's birthday and my future fiance is joining us tonight because she had to work .

So let's introduce the players here! Me - Amanda, 33 lover of all things Disney and have for quite a long time. My family first started to come to WDW about 2-3 times per year when I was 12. My parents bought into DVC when we were here for my high school band trip in 2001 and they had to stay at All Star Music when they were used to staying at Yacht Club. I lived in NJ until I was 21 and graduated college with the first of what has turned into several degrees....and moved to FL with my parents when they were retiring. I live in Northeast FL near Jacksonville, so we get to come to Disney fairly often.

Next! Catie is my soon to be fiance! Also 33, she is technically a FL native, but was born in CA and has lived in a few other places because her Dad was in the military. We are both nurses, which is how we first met - working together. We don't work together anymore though. We have been together for a little over a year now.


Catie is on the left, I'm on the right.

So on to the proposal! I was told awhile ago that it was my responsibility to propose ☺, and that there should be fireworks involved, lol. Happily Ever After has a lot of great memories for us, so the plan is to do it during the show. I currently have the Sip, Savor, Sparkle event at the Contemporary booked for Saturday (9/28) night. I don't know if I can wait that long though! We might be going to see Illuminations tonight depending on what time she gets here, and I might do it then . I am also thinking I might suggest a stroll around the Boardwalk to take a look at Crescent Terrace and do it there.

The Ring:
I had it custom made from a local jeweler and the center stone came from a ring that belonged to my great grandma. We had discussed what type of rings we wanted and Catie wanted something art deco style. I also made the ring box that I am going to use during the proposal!



That's the ring on my pinky, since her fingers are a bit smaller than mine. As for my ring, I am pretty sure I know which one I am getting, but I will post pics when I have it on my finger.

So to make this trip special I also made mani pedi appointments for us and my Mom tomorrow at the Grand Floridian Senses Spa. And I got us some ears from Etsy seller Applemint House



Some of the planning that we have already started is deciding that the Swan & Dolphin would be the right choice for us over an Escape or Wishes wedding. We have too many people for an Escape, and the price tag on Wishes is just too high for us, as we are paying for everything ourselves.

We are hoping for Crescent Terrace for both the ceremony and reception, with hopefully a cocktail hour maybe near the swan fountain. We are also looking at doing a welcome party - we might try for a Happily Ever After dessert party at Sago Cay, or a catered lunch at a DVC Villa, or possibly a very large group reservation at Ale & Compass. My Mom has offered to help pay for the welcome party, so that's a big help.

If anyone wants to see our Pinterest planning it can be found here: Swan & Dolphin planning

We are hoping for the Roots for both engagement photos and for the wedding. So as soon as the actual proposal is over with we will start contacting them and JustMarry!

I know these boards haven't been as active in the past few years, but I have been looking forward to making a planning journal for a long time, so I decided to go for it!

Thanks for reading!

 

[lurkyloo]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I loooooove that ring you designed—it's gorgeous!

 

[MermaidFantasia]

I cannot wait to read your details. What a charming couple, and great taste in jewelry!

 

[JuneBugFL]

Ok, we are back home and back to the real world. We have gotten in touch with the Roots (yay!) and JustMarry and are setting the date for either October 4th or 5th 2020. My future sister-in-law probably won't want the kids to miss 2 days of school, so we are leaning towards the 4th since it's a Sunday.

I ended up not being able to wait until the Sip, Savor, Sparkle party on Saturday to pop the question. On Thursday we watched IllumiNations with my Dad and since we were staying at the Beach Club VIllas we walked back through International Gateway. Since we were already talking about Crescent Terrace, I said hey why don't we take a walk over there while my Dad went back to the room. So that is where I asked! The next morning we were checking out and then switching to Saratoga Springs while my parents were going to head home. We decided to quick walk over to Epcot so that we could get enough check-ins to get the coasters for AP this festival, and Catie said she just wanted to check the UK pavilion out to see if there was any construction for Mary Poppins yet. That's where she asked me! We had a good time at Animal Kingdom that morning and then headed to the Grand Floridian for mani/pedis.



On Saturday we headed over to Olivia's for brunch while we were on our way to Magic Kingdom.



And then we had the Sip, Savor, Sparkle to celebrate on Saturday night. It was awesome!




Right now I am just waiting to hear back from the Roots if they are available for the 4th, and set our date with JustMarry. Catie and I also made some sly appointments for just us at David's Bridal on the 26th so that we can figure out what kind of dresses we want. Our mom's are being a little overwhelming in different ways, so we wanted our first dress trying experience to be just us.

 

[lorimay]

Congratulations!!!!
Both rings are gorgeous

 

[Eeyore daily]

Congratulations! I love both of your rings!

 

[JuneBugFL]

Quick update! It's official - just paid our deposit to JustMarry.

Our date is going to be Sunday October 4, 2020. The ceremony and reception will be at Crescent Terrace. Not sure yet where cocktail hour will be, possibly the West Courtyard. Ceremony from 4:30-5, cocktail hour from 5-6, and reception from 6-10. Our planner is Danielle - she said there is a noise ordinance after 10p, so we had to move everything up by 30-60 minutes, but that's fine by us!

Something we noticed when we visited was that the market lights were flashing between red, blue and green. I asked about that and apparently that is what was put up after they did repairs from the last hurricane damage, but they can be changed to just white.

Gotta wrap up - we are out the door to head back to Orlando for Halloween Horror Nights!

 

[JuneBugFL]

Alright we are back from HHN - it was hot and sweaty but fun! So apparently Danielle was just our initial point of contact, our coordinator will be McCall Greiner. We have also put our deposit down on photography with the Roots, and have started our contract process with S&D catering. Next up is picking our Save the Dates!

 

[JuneBugFL]

We ordered our save the dates!

 

[JuneBugFL]

OMG guys! I have completely neglected this poor PJ. Not all that much has happened. But we did go to the Orlando Bridal Expo this past weekend. I also started a new job in the last few months that is now M-F, so I haven't had as much time to get on the computer for fun things! I also have my Master's degree classes starting back up tomorrow. We got some good info at the expo, we were mainly looking for DJ services, as well as decor ideas. This coming weekend we have our engagement pictures with The Roots in St Augustine! So I will try to post some pics from that when I can, and we have decided on our invitations, we just need to order them. I took some pictures, but I'm at work right now, so I can't post them right now. Now that my classes are starting again I will be on the computer much more at home, so hopefully I will be able to do more updates here on the PJ.

 

[JuneBugFL]

So we have a DJ now that also includes the uplighting! We are also planning on doing some type of welcome lunch. After comparing multiple restaurants and venues around WDW we think we are actually going to go with Chevy's which is near Disney Springs in the Crossroads shopping center.

I have off next Monday for MLK Day - so there will be a nice long update post with pictures.