Amy & Jeff: 10/24/11 20th Anniv. Vow Renewal **8/4 - We surrender!**

pixie921

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 12, 2008
After reading everyone else's PJs for months and months, I'm finally starting my own. :)

I am Amy and dh is Jeff. We are planning a vow renewal for our 20th anniversary this year. It will actually be the day after our anniversary, on 10/27.

We met on a blind date fixed up by my best friend who was dating his best friend. It was the night before Thanksgiving 1990. We went on a double date with our friends to dinner and a double feature: "The Prince & the Pauper" and "The Rescuers Down Under"! Yes, our first date was to see two Disney cartoons, LOL.

We hit it off immediately. The next day was the only day since that we haven't at least talked on the phone ... we became instantly inseparable.

We'd been together about 3 months and were just sitting around one day when he turned to me and said, "So would you marry me?" I took it to mean "So would you marry me eventually if I asked you?" So I said, "Of course." And that was that. A few nights later I was out with a girlfriend and I mentioned the conversation to her. She said, "OMG -- you're engaged!!" And I was like, "No...I don't think so." And she was like, "Girl, you better find out for sure!"

So later that evening when Jeff and I were together, I asked him what exactly he'd meant when he'd asked, and sure enough, he *was* asking me to marry him! So, eleven months after we met, we got married at the church I grew up in and that my parents and grandparents were married in.

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We have an 18 yo son who is a senior in high school and he'll of course be part of our VR. This photo is from a couple of trips ago:

MKCloseUpFamily.jpg


We are planning a VR ceremony in Italy followed by brunch at Ariel's. We should have a relatively decent-size group, including our parents, siblings, my best friend (who was my maid of honor) and her family, etc. We're all planning on staying at BLT, except for my brother and his family, who live near WDW.
 
Plans so far:

Our colors are purple, dark aqua and silver. Disney is doing the floral for our ceremony since we're in Epcot but I've made my own bouquet. This was my inspiration:
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And this is the end result:

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I made dh's boutonniere, but didn't take a photo of it.

I've also made our centerpieces:

P1193349.jpg


And a Mickey ribbon topiary for our guest book table:

P1193344.jpg


My latest project is our cake topper and I'll post a photo of that when it's done. :)

We also had the amazing Dolly make up a logo for us that I will be using as much as possible 'cuz I'm in LOVE with it:

Mono4-1.jpg
 
Yay another VR bride!!!!
Loving all the plans so far!!!
I agree that Dolly is absolutely amazing!!
Do you have your dress yet?
We are staying at BLT over our VR too. My first trip 'home' simce adding on there about 18 months ago.
Can't wait to hear all your plans!!
 
Yay another VR bride!!!!
Loving all the plans so far!!!
I agree that Dolly is absolutely amazing!!
Do you have your dress yet?
We are staying at BLT over our VR too. My first trip 'home' simce adding on there about 18 months ago.
Can't wait to hear all your plans!!

Oh, you will LOVE BLT!! We bought in and stayed there for my 40th bday in '09 and seriously, it is so wonderful!

I actually just ordered my dress. It's a spring 2011 Maggie Sottero dress called "Ursula". None of the shops have it in yet because it's so new, so I ordered it untried! I tried on similar dresses to make sure the cut of the gown is good, so I'm not worried (too much, LOL!). This is my beautiful, gorgeous, fabulous dress (can you tell I'm in love with it?):

Ursula2.jpg


I ordered it in alabaster, which looks a bit like a cross between ivory and champagne.

Jeff will wear a suit, and we're waiting to look at them for a couple of months because he and I are both trying to lose weight. I ordered the dress in the size that I am because they promised it could go down at least 2 sizes in alterations, plus it has a corset back which can pull things in further if necessary. :thumbsup2
 
That dress is BEAUTIFUL!!! I love it!! And everything you made is really nice as well!! Love the flowers and the mickey :)
 
That is one seriously beautiful dress!!!
I have a Maggie dress too and I also have it in alabaster!!! Mine is called Christina

Christina.jpg


Have you figured what to have on your head?
I am still struggling with that one!!!
 
Loving all your plans so far!!! :)

Your bouquet is gorgeous!! AND of course your ribbon topiary is FABULOUS! ;)

I love that dress too! :goodvibes

Can't wait to hear and see more of your plans!!! popcorn::
 
That is one seriously beautiful dress!!!
I have a Maggie dress too and I also have it in alabaster!!! Mine is called Christina

Christina.jpg


Have you figured what to have on your head?
I am still struggling with that one!!!

Oh, I love your dress! And isn't alabaster a pretty color? The only problem I'm having is finding shoes to match. I found a pair of Nina shoes that I love at DSW, but I took them to the bridal shop to check the color against an alabaster dress and the color doesn't work. Then I saw on Nina's website that you can do a custom pair of the same shoes (yay!), so I ordered their swatch book and am hoping there will be a color in there that will work. :)

As far as what's going on my head (love that!), I put the cart before the horse and bought a headband on Etsy a few months ago. I totally love it so I'm hoping it looks good with the dress:

myheadband.jpg


Loving all your plans so far!!! :)

Your bouquet is gorgeous!! AND of course your ribbon topiary is FABULOUS! ;)

I love that dress too! :goodvibes

Can't wait to hear and see more of your plans!!! popcorn::

Thank you!! :goodvibes
 
I hear what you're saying!!!
I tramped the shops for ages (armed with my little swatch of alabaster fabric) and was unsuccessful. Eventually I hit on these in a little bridal boutique near where my daughter lives. I fell in love with them, and was prepared to have them dyed to match, but when I had a dress fitting in October, I took them with me and they are a perfect match!! I went through a stage of wanting them dyed the same colour as DD's MOH dress (spa - an aqua green colour), as I love the pictures you see of the brides coloured shoes peeping out from under her gown. In the end, however, I decided to leave them as they are and leave the coloured shoes to the younger girls. Here they are:-

Scarlett-PL.jpg


I love your hairband
As for my hair I think I may just go with a hair comb at the back (I would post a picture but don't want to highjack your thread - I have already posted two pictures on it!!!:rolleyes1), and have my hair up. I am still not totally sure.
 
I hear what you're saying!!!
I tramped the shops for ages (armed with my little swatch of alabaster fabric) and was unsuccessful. Eventually I hit on these in a little bridal boutique near where my daughter lives. I fell in love with them, and was prepared to have them dyed to match, but when I had a dress fitting in October, I took them with me and they are a perfect match!! I went through a stage of wanting them dyed the same colour as DD's MOH dress (spa - an aqua green colour), as I love the pictures you see of the brides coloured shoes peeping out from under her gown. In the end, however, I decided to leave them as they are and leave the coloured shoes to the younger girls. Here they are:-

Scarlett-PL.jpg


I love your hairband
As for my hair I think I may just go with a hair comb at the back (I would post a picture but don't want to highjack your thread - I have already posted two pictures on it!!!:rolleyes1), and have my hair up. I am still not totally sure.

First of all, those shoes are BEAUTIFUL and will look so lovely with your dress! I know what you mean about colored shoes ... I love the look and considered that, too, but I don't want to take away from the dress, so I feel like the shoes should match.

And post your picture, please! That's not hijacking, we're chatting and I would love to see! :goodvibes
 
Yay for 20 year VRs!

My DH & I are planning our VR to celebrate our 20th too. Ours will be on our actual wedding day April 13, 2011.

Love your dress and the headband! So elegant! And I love your colors too. How did you make the Mickey head topiary?? I absolutely love that. Steve (my DH) teases me because I always use the phrase: "it's so cute I want one" - and I have to say that when I first saw the topiary - that phrase came to my lips!

Can't wait to read more!
 
Yay for 20 year VRs!

My DH & I are planning our VR to celebrate our 20th too. Ours will be on our actual wedding day April 13, 2011.

Love your dress and the headband! So elegant! And I love your colors too. How did you make the Mickey head topiary?? I absolutely love that. Steve (my DH) teases me because I always use the phrase: "it's so cute I want one" - and I have to say that when I first saw the topiary - that phrase came to my lips!

Can't wait to read more!

April is such a pretty time of year at WDW ... you'll have all those gorgeous flowers around! We wanted to do our VR on our actual anniversary, too, but it worked out better with our locations (and, as it turns out, our guests) to do it the following day (my nieces and nephews will miss less school). Dh and I have decided we'll just call it our "Disney-versary". ;)

Thank you so much for your compliments on my dress and headband. I'm crossing my fingers they work together! :flower3:

I got the idea for the topiary after I saw flower ones Mikkel here on the DIS did, and found regular round ribbon ones on Etsy. Mikkel sent me her instructions, and I went from there! Hot-glued two smaller styrofoam balls to a larger one, and then made a hole for a dowel in the bottom center of the large one. I used hot glue to help hold it in and wrapped it in ribbon. Then I just went crazy with straight pins and 2"-3" lengths of ribbon covering the Mickey! I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, even though the colors look funny in the photo above, LOL!
 
Love your plans so far! And maggie is wonderful excellent choice :) I plan on doing a VR at Disney one day I can't wait to read about your experience with it :)
 
Oh, you will LOVE BLT!! We bought in and stayed there for my 40th bday in '09 and seriously, it is so wonderful!

I actually just ordered my dress. It's a spring 2011 Maggie Sottero dress called "Ursula". None of the shops have it in yet because it's so new, so I ordered it untried! I tried on similar dresses to make sure the cut of the gown is good, so I'm not worried (too much, LOL!). This is my beautiful, gorgeous, fabulous dress (can you tell I'm in love with it?):

Ursula2.jpg


I ordered it in alabaster, which looks a bit like a cross between ivory and champagne.

Jeff will wear a suit, and we're waiting to look at them for a couple of months because he and I are both trying to lose weight. I ordered the dress in the size that I am because they promised it could go down at least 2 sizes in alterations, plus it has a corset back which can pull things in further if necessary. :thumbsup2

Hi Amy, glad you've started your PJ, I just started mine today too! I thought it was about time I made a start, I've been saying I was going to do it for ages now! :laughing:
Your dress is really pretty! Looking forward to hearing the rest of your plans! :goodvibes
 
Congratulations on your 20 year VR and on starting your PJ. I'm still nervous to start one. Everything looks great! I love your dress. :goodvibes
 
Hi Amy, glad you've started your PJ, I just started mine today too! I thought it was about time I made a start, I've been saying I was going to do it for ages now! :laughing:
Your dress is really pretty! Looking forward to hearing the rest of your plans! :goodvibes

Congratulations on your 20 year VR and on starting your PJ. I'm still nervous to start one. Everything looks great! I love your dress. :goodvibes

Thank you both! I was waiting to start my PJ, too, 'til we were closer to the actual VR date, but now I feel like things are really rolling. :)

Jeff's been working insane hours (traveling out of town and late nights here) so he took a comp day today and we spent it doing VR stuff. We took the Nina swatch book to the bridal shop and nothing in it *matches* the dress. :(

We (Jeff, the bridal consultant and I, LOL) all liked silver with the dress, though, and I already have a really pretty pair of silver rhinestone shoes and a silver silk purse, so I guess I'm going to save some money and go with those!

We hit Hobby Lobby and picked up the remaining flowers we needed for our centerpieces 50% off. Then I came across silver acrylic chargers on sale for $1 each, so we picked up 24 for our brunch reception. That will be a big savings over the $6/charger Disney was going to charge us, even with having to ship them down there. :thumbsup2
 
Yay for saving money and bargains
I think silver shoes will look great with the dress. Silver is one of my colours too!!!
 
So I've finally finished some of the decor projects I've been working on for the VR. I found a great seller on Etsy who makes flat acrylic cake toppers in words and numbers, etc. and bought the word "Love" and the number "20" from her to decorate with Swarovski crystals.

CakeTopper.jpg


20.jpg


I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. :) The "Love" is going to be our cake topper and the "20" is probably going to be a decoration on our candy buffet.

I also bought a purple Vinylmation Mickey to use as a guest book. I was just going to color his buttons and nose with Sharpies to add some more color, but I started playing with my Swarovski crystals and ended up blinging him out!
VinylmationMickey.jpg


I showed him to our son and he said, "Mom, what are you gonna do for a guest book now? Because I KNOW there's no way you're letting anyone sign him now!" :rotfl: And he's right! So he's just going to sit on our guest book table and I have a photo mat that I'll have everyone sign and use it with (hopefully) a photo of us, our guests, and Mickey and Minnie. :thumbsup2

I've been getting info on the candy buffet I want to do. Disney requires that they provide anything that isn't individually wrapped, but of course their prices are pretty high. $87 for 5 lbs. of M&Ms! We have such a small group that I'm hoping we can do smaller quantities than that. I'm waiting to hear back. Fortunately, I've also found a lot of wrapped candies either online or locally that are in our colors that I can use.

I also scored some beautiful containers at HomeGoods and Dollar Tree ... really pretty ones, and nothing cost over $10! Renting the jars and scoops through Disney is around $150, and my jars and scoops cost me only $50. :banana: Even if I have to ship them down, it will be a significant savings. :)
 
I also scored some beautiful containers at HomeGoods and Dollar Tree ... really pretty ones, and nothing cost over $10! Renting the jars and scoops through Disney is around $150, and my jars and scoops cost me only $50. :banana: Even if I have to ship them down, it will be a significant savings. :)

Yeah!!! You finally started a PJ. I didn't realize who you were until I saw the monogram.

I LOVE candy buffets and think they are great for small or big events. I have a tip for your candy buffet since you said you are going to have a smaller group for your VR. I love big candy buffets with lots of jars and candy and the way you can do that without having to buy tons of candy that will be left over is take a clear glass drinking glass and turn it upside down and place it in the bottom of your jar. Then fill the candy around and over the glass so that the jar looks completely filled. This will save you a little bit of money on candy!

Hope that makes sense. Maybe it will help with your candy buffet.
 
































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