Amanda & Christopher- 4/18/11- Italy Isola/AD

[chefbob609]

I have now uploaded all of the pictures i thought were cool from our planning session last october 2010 with Karen.
This is us with Karen going into the Boardwalk conference room for the menu tasting, we had it first thing in the morning:

The menu tasting table, Karen said look at the napkin folds before you destroy them:

The antipasto display:

The fruit and cheese display:

Parmesan crusted chicken:

Steak with the yukon potatoes:

fruit for my sister because she wasn't eating anything:

Primavera:

Chef Wayne, working at his station:

This is the alfredo, i wanted the alfredo from when the Italian restaurant was the l'originale alfredo but it didn't come close.. poor chef wayne:

This is the red pasta for Christopher, we ended up with a Pasta station:

this is similar to the dessert we had when we were engaged at Cinderella's Castle, i really wanted all the guests to have it but it isn't in the budget, me and Christopher are going to see if we can have it:

Apple Crumble:

We got to go to Atlantic Dance because my dad and sister hadn't seen it yet:

They were cleaning up from a wedding:

4 person tables, doesn't seem like much room for a dish:

The grand staircase:

The stage with the head table set up:

Christopher playing with the demo of a round bouquet:

Bring on the cake tasting!

 

[Fay]

How exciting does all the food look! Your not having all of the above are you?! What is your final choices? XXX

 

[chefbob609]

LOL no! I wish, but who would eat it? Our budget it really small. We started out with the antipasto display for cocktail hour and have recently cut it to cheese and dried fruit. We have a buffet of salad, twice baked potatoes, green beans and carrots, the parmesan crusted chicken in the picture, and mickey waffles. We have a carving station of flank steak and a pasta station where you can have alfredo or pomodoro sauce. And dessert is our cake although i did sneak in 2 cinderella desserts just for me and christopher. I was too nervous to eat mine the night of our engagement and i have been wanting one ever since!

 

[chefbob609]

Christopher during the cake tasting:


So the planning session ended, I was a little disappointed because I thought it would be more of them giving me suggestions and instead you could hear a pin drop in the room as they stared at me for ideas of what i wanted.

This is my mom after the planning session, stole the idea from my disney bride friend Sam:


These are our costumes this year at MNSSP:


Christopher in toontown playing with his potato family:


I am having a Small World wedding one way or another it will all come together. This is a funny picture i took during the trip because Small World was closed for renovations:


By December i had picked my dress and the bridesmaid dresses. My dress was an awful story. I went to 1 bridal store with my sister, that was a bust. Then i went to the second with my sister and my mom. My mom sat in a chair playing with her ipod the whole time and my sister tried to help me try on dresses. I was bullied into picking a dress at the store because it was the last day of a sale. I left and that weekend i cried, i had the worst anxiety, I called Monday morning and the woman told me all sales were final and she already ordered the dress even though she said she wouldn't for a week. So now i'm trying to make the best of it but this is my least favorite subject of my wedding.

On the other hand i LOVE my bridesmaid dresses, here they are:


They are themed after Small World, each girl is in purple with a different accent color from the ride/sign- orange, green, blue and pink.

This is what they will look like with the Maid of Honor and Flower Girls dresses:

 

[chefbob609]

Karen told me she would send me my BEO within a month of the session (11/10/10). It arrived 11/30/10. Apparently for whatever reason, even though they had my cell phone number and were told I was the decision maker, Karen contacted my mom for changes and was told I wouldn't be available to talk until the New Year because of school...? In the New Year Lisa Smith contacted me to let me know Karen has left DFTW for a job in the youth events. This made sense because Karen really didn't seem that into the wedding.

Now with 3 months to go Lisa Smith walked into a bad situation. I was frustrated, my BEO hadn't even been gone through once and it had to lose 20K and fast. Lisa was alright, she forgot about scheduled appointments and she would always email really late at night when i needed to go to bed. She also walked into the big character dilemma- Bill Barchik had told me, my mom and my fiance during our sales meeting getting characters in Atlantic Dance would not be a problem. He did not mention the list of available characters because of theme was about 8. After many rude and heated emails between Ms. Smith and I, our relationship was pretty much hostile.

I am now on my third planner- Diane Bowen I just couldn't have a woman who wrote to me in the manner Lisa did with my on my special day. We are still in a character dilemma but it is being handled with more compassion and respect. Since then i have learned Duffy can appear at Atlantic Dance! I have also finished revisions for the most part and cut about 15K out. Diane helped me speak with a florist since mine was not very responsive and I feel better about the theme-ing of my wedding and decor.

Not to skip ahead, but i had a wonderful tea party Bridal Shower in March and i would like to share those pictures:
centerpieces:


Tables:


Mad Hatter Cake:


Flower girls presents- wings they can wear at the wedding:


I stayed up until 2 am to frost these, i had to have them there- my family is italian so some of them say Mangia Mi:


The Bridesmaid's opening their tiaras i bought them:


My friend Tasha modeling the aprons my mom also embroidered for them:


Christopher and I putting our ears on to open gifts, i didn't realize until after my sister (maid of honor) in the background wore her ears instead of the purple tiara i bought her

 

[chefbob609]

For a february 14th Valentine's day postmarked i mailed my wedding invitations. They were designed and made by Impressions by Shelley out of Celebration, FL. They are awesome! Not only did Shelley design the most beautiful exactly what i wanted invitations she helped me design them on a small budget! She is really busy so you have to have patience but she is a awesome person and will come through for you!
Here they are:
all the pieces:


the main invite:


Give a little whistle return card:


the lining of the inner envelope:


And these are the ones i spent my spring break on for my Massachusetts Welcome/Celebration party a month after my wedding. It took a lot of time and people's hands to make these:

 

[Princess SarahK]

those invites are great!! (both sets!) im so impressed, and cannot wait to hear more!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

Your Small World invitations are so beautiful! Having the inside of the envelope lining decorated too, that's such a nice touch!

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

i just caught up on everything! sorry you had such a hard time!! can't wait to hear more!!

 

[chefbob609]

I feel like i have left out some details between the planning session and where we are at right now. I found out at the planning session Bill Barchik never booked my dessert party space. Karen was able to find us the upper terrace of the Terrace des Fleurs in Epcot. Lisa was able to get Epcot to agree to give us the $23 menu instead of the 25 or 27 we needed to meet our minimum food and beverage. So all was not lost but i did not get the location i really wanted. We are using the Desert Party not for the Wedding Day but as a welcome to FL party the Saturday night before the Monday wedding.

We picked the menu for the Dessert Party- creme puffs, assorted cheesecake, chocolate fudge brownies and fruit salad. Along with the fruit punch, coffee and tea.

On Sunday we have rehearsal at Italy Isola with Reverend Jack Day and our new planner Diane Bowen. I should said Reverend Jack is the sweetest man, our disney bride friend Sam used him and loved him so we are following suit.

Sunday night all of the Bridesmaids are staying with me in our Boardwalk Garden Suite and we start hair and make up at 3:30 a.m. by Beaute Speciale.

Our Wedding is at 9 a.m. in the World Showcase on Italy Isola facing Spaceship Earth. After our wedding we are headed to the Atlantic Dance Hall until 3p.m. We are trying to dress up Atlantic Dance so it is more "Small World" themed, I received some awesome ideas from a SOS post i put up in the disboards. Our centerpieces are clear gel light up cylinders with a vellum wrap of Small World design. We have alternating chair covers and napkins of all of my Small World Colors except Blue. The sweetheart table is blue and white symbolizing the last room of small world. The cake is TBD, the bakery knows the things i really want to incorporate and have been told to go wild. Shelley from Impressions is working on table numbers for me of the doll characters in each country and wrappers for lollypop goodbye favors.

My favors are pink and blue lanyards with a Small World and Goofy pin on them (one of my favorites and one of Christophers). They have the guests name embroidered on the neck and they have a 2011 lanyard pouch attached that has a label telling them what table they are at- they double as place cards.

I just bought my veil yesterday! ah! and it has to be shipped. I had trouble picking one that i thought was special, i was going with one layer mid length and then we went to one private owned store and i saw the most unique thing. It didn't have the trim i had liked on the other ones, it is absolutely plain, it is just sparkled. It looks like someone took sparkle spray paint and glued it to the material. My mom thought it would look awesome out in the sun during our wedding and it wont take away from the heavy beading of my dress.

I think that is about all i can think of. Tonight i am working on t-shirts and jewelry for the Bridesmaids and trying not to loose my mind. I feel like i'm going to forget something important or even forget to DO something important!

 

[NOMNOMNOMS]

I LOVE your invites and small world theme!

 

[chefbob609]

I love disboards and all but my wedding is about 2 weeks away and i can't stop the feeling that it is inadequate. I wish i got more into weddings about a year ago, It wasn't even like i didn't have a long engagement. Now i'm going nuts with things i have to get done like bridesmaids gifts but i keep feeling like there are better ideas out there than what i have. How do you deal with the feeling like your wedding is not as good as it could have been? Do i just cry and move on? Maybe it is a type A perfectionist thing.
Anyway just in a venting mood tonight.

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

awww don't feel like that! your wedding will be perfect for you!! you're allowed to cry... and maybe even have a little ice cream to make you feel better it's natural to have last minute loose ends to tie up. i'm 19 months out and i know i'll be a crazy person those last 2 weeks!! do the best you can and it'll all work itself out!!

 

[irishwishes]

Your wedding will be wonderful!! I can only imagine the anxiety that I'll have just before the wedding. I'm already thinking about what I'm going to have to have ready before we leave.

It will all work out!!!

 

[chefbob609]

Here are some of the loose ends i have been tying up:
I have been making the Bridal Party shirts:

My cousin has been making our wedding topper:

I have been working on the table numbers, or countries in this case:


And trying to box up the favors in alphabetical order:


among other things.. I am going crazy!

 

[sarah_n_brian2006]

Your wedding is going to be so cute with all of your Small World decor! Your cake topper is so cute and you are lucky to have a friend who could do that for you.
Relax, take your time. Time is flying by because of everything you are trying to do, but if you keep the momentum up, your wedding will fly by as well. Just remember, this is your and your DFs day and so far it sounds like everything is how you want it. The rest is the small stuff.
Can't wait to read more and see pics of the event after!

 

[chefbob609]

THank you for all of your support. It really means a lot to me to know there are people out there going through the same thing. I am going to try to take more pictures tonight of stuff i am packing for the wedding like guest book, bridal party gifts, tshirts when they are done etc. Here is the finished cake topper:

 

[KristiLyn]

The cake topper looks awesome!!
I really love your theme!!! Everything will be amazing!!!

 

[chefbob609]

I have been up throw the night packing and as soon as DF wakes up we are driving down to Disney World. Less than a week before the wedding!
Here are some of the things i have been working on:
t-shirts for the bridal party, groom, & mothers:




I dyed the black and white pajamas for the morning w are getting ready into each girls accent color:


Here is the flower girl presents:

And their bag:

And the jewelry we made:

Groom Shirt:

Front of the shirt:

My sister/Maid of HOnor working on table numbers/countries:

My mom made & designed us all jackets in case it got cold: FRONT

Back of mine:

Bridesmaid:

Sandals i bedazzled for the reception:

Bridesmaid Jewelry- everyone got one made for their color:

 

[Tinkerbell1105]

Those jackets are adorable