Andrea and Josh's Feb. 2014 Planning Journal!

[Drea2500]

Hello everyone! After being a lurker for a long time, I finally decided to join up once I got engaged! We are not having our wedding at the wonderfully magical Disney World, but we are having our honeymoon there! I am mostly posting this planning journal so I can put ideas out there and I can remember them all!

Table of Contents

About Us
Proposal
Updates full of pictures!

 

[theemily]

Congratulations on your engagement! This is a great place to keep track of ideas for your wedding & honeymoon! Good luck with all of your planning

 

[Drea2500]

About Us

​

Josh and I met last summer. We met online through an online dating site, but we really connected over an online game (World of Warcraft to be precise). We are both gamers and nerds and we compliment each other like crazy! : After a while, we decided to finally take the plunge and meet in person. While our first date was awkward (most are!), we both knew that we were going to be together for a long time.

And so, about a year after our first date, we are tying the knot! Our wedding date is going to be February 8th, 2014 here at a local church.

More updates coming soon!

 

[Summer Daydream]

Congrats on your upcoming wedding!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

Congratulations and welcome! Looking forward to following along with all your plans!

 

[Drea2500]

Thanks everyone for the congratulations!

 

[charliegirl76]

Congratulations and welcome!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[theemily]

My DBF and I met online & play WoW together too - I always love finding similar couples on the DIS!

 

[pryncess527]

About Us

http://s1349.photobucket.com/user/andreabro2500/media/JoshAndAndrea_zpsd0a954db.jpg.html

Josh and I met last summer. We met online through an online dating site, but we really connected over an online game (World of Warcraft to be precise). We are both gamers and nerds and we compliment each other like crazy! : !

As my husband and I say, couples who game together stay together! We played EQ together when we first started dating, and had a good run with DAoC and WoW later on.


Congratulations on your engagement and happy planning

 

[Drea2500]

Proposal​

Josh proposed to me on January 17th. It was the day before my birthday and two days before our six month anniversary. The week before, we were on vacation in San Diego visiting his grandfather and just enjoying San Diego itself. The whole trip I was expecting him to pop the question!

So, when we got back home, he ordered my ring online (he works wonky hours so he couldn't just go ring shopping) and the second the mail arrived, he popped the question! I acted like I was thinking about the answer just to freak him out, but of course I said yes!

Later he admitted that he was thinking of proposing to me at either the Panda exhibit at the San Diego Zoo or else at Disneyland. We were planning on going to Disneyland one of the days we were there, but we decided to relax on that day. He planned on proposing in front of the castle too! Looking back on it, I'm glad he did it the way he did because I don't like being the center of attention in a large group. The way he proposed was a lot more intimate and enjoyable!

Oh! And here's the ring! Again, he knew I didn't like large, over the top jewelry, and this ring was perfect for me!

​

 

[Drea2500]

Updates Full of Pictures!​

​

Sorry I haven't updated in a while! Things have been kind of crazy here. But isn't that all a part of the wedding process?

Anyways! The number one thing that happened was that the priest okayed our date of February 8th! We will be getting married at 1:30 in the afternoon, mainly because there is mass at 5:00 and we want plenty of time to set up, so Josh and I decided to have it earlier in the day. Our reception will also be at the church, but over in the education building so it doesn't interfere with mass at 5:00. Even at that, our reception won't be long. Probably not even two hours. We want to get our Disney vacation started! :

The next big thing that happened was that my maid of honor,my mom, and myself went to the Tulsa Wedding Show at the end of July. If y'all haven't been to one of those wedding shows before, it can be pretty crazy! Luckily, my maid of honor was prepared! She has been a MOH a few times and prepared me for what would happen. Even with that preparation, I wasn't prepared! Vendors were coming at me left, right, and center darn near throwing their cards and samples at me. It was pretty overwhelming! Then of course after it was over with, my e-mail inbox was getting bombarded with offers for things I already had! My phone didn't fare much better. For the past few weeks, I have been getting calls early in the morning (at least early for me!) from vendors saying I was shortlisted for contests I didn't even enter! I turned them all down since they were for things that I already had.

The next things are minor. I got my cake topper (pics at the end!), which I got on Etsy. They are adorkable! The next thing I got done (or at least my mom did) was my bouquet. I decided for a brooch bouquet since it can be done well in advance and it wouldn't wilt! I also got a flower ball done for the flower girl. Next up on the to-do list was to send out save the dates. We only got 50 since most people were around here and we wanted them more for out-of-town guests (which amounted to about 10 people). What I liked about them was that they nearly matched my wedding site! Oh yeah, I got that set up too! If you wish to check it out, feel free to check it out at www.weddingwire.com/joshandandrea2014. We also booked our photographer who is a geek like us! She takes awesome pictures and is super nice! Check her out at https://www.facebook.com/foureyedphotographer

Hm...something else...something else...oh yeah! We booked our honeymoon! : Josh and I were originally going to stay at Pop Century due to the fact we wouldn't be in the room all that much. But I secretly wanted to stay at POFQ. The small size was nice and the boat to Downtown Disney would be handy. Well, fate was on my side! We were planning on setting it up last weekend, but Friday night I had an inkling I should check out to see if Pop was still available. Luckily I did! ALL of the Value resorts were sold out for every day of our trip. I got scared and messaged Josh at work (he works 3-11) and frantically told him that they were all sold out. I told him FQ and Riverside were still open and he gave me the go-ahead to book it. I darn near broke my fingers to book the hotel! Again, I was lucky I did! A couple of days later I checked and there was no availability at any Disney hotel So, when booking I noted that I couldn't make a note that it was not only our honeymoon, but our first trip. Asking the lovely live chat person how to do it, they directed me to a number. I called and the woman told me congrats and said that it was noted. A few minutes later I get an e-mail showing our reservation. I thought this was odd as I had already gotten one when I booked. When I opened it, the woman had added two tickets to DisneyQuest, 2 tickets to miniature golf, and an arcade card with 100 points on it. : It was like she knew Josh and I were gamers!

Anyways! Enough yapping from me! I promised pictures, so here they are!

I forgot to include our animal family in the post about Josh and I, so I figured I'd post them now!

First up is Bubba! Bubba is my Australian Cattle Dog. He is the most awesome dog ever. He's not that fond of other people (he's very protective), but around mom and I, he is our little cuddle buddy! Just don't tell him. He has to be macho. He is also the most ridiculously photogenic dog ever!


This is Scruffy. Isn't he just the saddest little dog ever? Well, he's not! He's actually a very happy old pooch. He trots around like he is a young pup when he's actually 13! He always looks sad to get attention. And in this particular picture he just came in from the rain...and then proceeded to spray me with water after this picture!



This is Nero, Josh's cat. I wasn't a big cat person until I met Josh. I still prefer dogs more, but Nero could change a cat hater! He is the most awesome cat and is quite intelligent. We call him our little assassino (from the Assassin's Creed games). He likes to hide and pounce on the other cats to play. Adorable!


These two cats are not mine, nor Josh's, but they are living with us. One is his roommate's and the other belongs to his other friend. The red one is Pixel, who is kind of a spazz, but still a cutie and the only female in the bunch. The gray one is Einstein (we call him Steiny) and he is a lover. You could literally just pet him for a brief second and he will start purring! I just posted this picture because I love it! It looks like Pixel is so disgusted with Steiny! ​

Now onto more wedding type pictures! If I keep posting animal pics, I'll be posting them all day!

This is our cake topper! We love it since we both play Horde in World of Warcraft and knew this had to be our topper!


This is the flower ball for the flower girl to carry. Originally we were going to not have a flower girl/ring bearer, but since I dropped two of the bridesmaids (due to financial reasons), we had an excess of flowers. So mom went to work and made this!​

This is my gorgeous bouquet. I didn't have a current picture of it, but this was just before mom wrapped the bottom in chocolate brown silk. I love the little Once Upon a Time brooch she found!


This is one of my save the dates! I got them at MagnetStreet, which I absolutely love. They can pretty much customize your invitations to your colors. Since my colors were chocolate and ivory/cream, I just popped them in the little palate thing and BAM! Awesome save the dates!​

Okay, that's it for now! More updates coming soon!

 

[Drea2500]

The Dress!​

I've actually had my dress since February. It was the one thing that I was anxious to get. Both good anxious and bad anxious. Good anxious because I was getting married to a wonderful man and bad anxious because I was actually going dress shopping. Even though the picture of me above is me in a dress, I actually dislike wearing dresses. Before that picture was taken, the last time I wore a dress was at my high school graduation! Also, I'm a picky shopper (what little clothes shopping I do). I'm casual, comfortable and laid back. I prefer a t-shirt and jeans more than anything. But, alas, the time came for me to go shopping for a wedding dress.

One thing my mother told me (she went with me to shop) was that I should not look at the price tag. She didn't want me to spend $5,000 on a dress or anything, but she said that was the one thing she splurged on for her wedding and that I should do the same. So I made an appointment at a nearby David's Bridal (since I'm a bigger gal) to go in to try on dresses.

I went in not knowing what to expect. Another girl came in at the same time as me so there were two of us there trying on dresses. I thought I was early going in a year before my wedding, but she wasn't getting married until April of next year! I was glad I came in! Her family that was there with her were absolutely sweet. Since me and the girl were in dressing rooms right by each other, mom chatted with them while I changed. Apparently she was getting married at a certain venue that was on a two year waiting list! I was so glad that I was getting married at my small church!

When I went to the appointment, I was set in my decision on my dress. The exact dress, how I would wear my hair, and so on.

I was going to wear this dress with my hair up in a low bun style with a large flower or clip on the side. The dress fit my style perfectly. It was casual but still dressy.

It was the first dress I tried on. I cried. Mom cried. We thought it was -the- dress. But something didn't feel right. I just didn't look like I wanted to for my big day. But the lady who was helping us urged me to try on other dresses. So I agreed. I tried this one, this one, and this one. They all were pretty, but they just didn't feel right. Also in the mix was this dress. When I first tried it on, I liked it. The lady that helped us said she would pull it just to see how I would look. I didn't agree mainly because I didn't want strapless. When you are bigger on top, you don't want to really wear strapless and risk the girls falling out! Mom said it was pretty, but that she wanted to see me in the dress I originally wanted. So when the lady helped me out of the strapless dress, I almost didn't want to get out of it. I secretly thought, "This is my dress." I was almost in tears when she took it off (yay wedding hormones!). I tried my original dress on and I immediately hated it on me. The halter made me look hunched over and it just didn't look right compared to the strapless. I asked to try it on one more time. I told mom it was my dress. I knew it. She didn't see it at first, but then she asked to take my hair down and add a veil. BAM! she started bawling and said, "OMG you're right!" We were laughing and bawling as I rang the bell they have there for when you find your dress.

This is my dress and this is my veil. When I first saw the dress online after buying it, it looked kind of bad. The picture does not do the picture justice. You can even look at pictures other people posted and see that the picture is a bad one of the dress!

The moral of the story: Don't go in thinking you like one dress because you will more than likely like another one! :

 

[Bewitch324]

I really like your dress and think it will be so pretty on you! I'm so glad you kept an open mind and found YOUR dress!!!

I think your cake topper is adorable, and I love love love your brooch bouquet. SO pretty!!

Thanks for all the pictures!!

Brooke