Andreah and Brian - Dec 8th, 2009 (Reception Photos Posted)

[GoonieBride]

aww that is sooo perfect! as i was reading it i was picturing the whole ceremony in my head. it will be beautiful!

 

[Chilly]

Have you sent the ceremony to Rev Knox? Inspired by you i've done mine now and wonder should I send it

 

[acwinsett]

Have you sent the ceremony to Rev Knox? Inspired by you i've done mine now and wonder should I send it

No, we haven't sent it to Rev. Knox quite yet. We just wanted to go ahead and write it out so that we'd know if we needed to order any special items from Disney Floral at our PS.

I imagine we'll schedule a phone consultation a month or two before the wedding and send the script to him at that time. With 5 months to go, we don't want him to forget what we talked about.

 

[trudy88]

I've never heard of fire and ice roses; but they're beautiful!

 

[Chilly]

No, we haven't sent it to Rev. Knox quite yet. We just wanted to go ahead and write it out so that we'd know if we needed to order any special items from Disney Floral at our PS.

I imagine we'll schedule a phone consultation a month or two before the wedding and send the script to him at that time. With 5 months to go, we don't want him to forget what we talked about.

Good point thanks.

 

[acwinsett]

5 MONTHS TO GO!!!​

We're getting more and more confirmations from Brian's clients and business associates every day . . . wow! Now we're looking at 30+ guests, instead of 25.

He was on a shoot last week and mentioned to the client we're getting married, and turns out she's a HUGE Disney fan. Next thing you know, I've got an email confirmation . . . she's a DVC member and is going to bring her daughter, who is not engaged or anything, but knows she wants to have a Disney wedding someday.

Then one of his voiceover talents confirmed that she and her husband are coming.

And Monday night, we received a Pre-RSVP Questionnaire from another one of Brian's clients for him and his girlfriend.

Then last night, Brian tells me that there may be some other clients and business associates coming as well.

Ay-yi-yi . . . I'm going to have to order more invitation supplies!

(Good thing we upgraded to Wishes . . . )

 

[Chilly]

Wow you are doing better than a lot of others brides seem to be with their guests.

 

[GoonieBride]

5 months already! wow!! id be so nervous right now!

 

[MegKate]

You're doing really well with guests - yay for being 5 months out! It's really going to fly!

 

[acwinsett]

We're leaving for our Planning Session trip in 6 days and I'm getting super-excited! :cool1

Today's laundry-day so I figured I'd catch up on the 'ol PJ . . .

I feel pretty good about where we are planning-wise, and budget-wise. In addition to the planning worksheets that Karen requested and the floral questionnaire that Rose requested, we created a little presentation document to introduce us as a couple to DFTW and to begin to convey the vision and style of wedding we'd like to have.

Click Here to View PDF

 

[acwinsett]

Here's the itinerary for our planning session:

Saturday, July 18th

Plan A - Fly standby on the earliest flight of the day
8:40 AM - Depart Memphis
11:44 AM - Arrive Orlando

Plan B - Keep our original flight (if no standby available)
Nice brunch at Cappriccio in the Peabody Hotel in Memphis
1:40 PM - Depart Memphis
4:44 PM - Arrive Orlando

Magical Express to Pop Century Resort
Evening at Magic Kingdom
9:30 PM - Late Dinner at Narcoossee's - Grand Floridian

Sunday, July 19th
Morning at Magic Kingdom
Afternoon / Evening at EPCOT
7:00 PM - Dinner at Chef's de France

Monday, July 20th
7:50 AM - Breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe
9:00 AM - Planning Session with Karen Heyn
3:00 PM - Hair and Makeup Trial with Patricia LeJeune
6:00 PM - Engagement Photos with Misty Miotto
8:50 PM - Late Dinner at Jiko - Animal Kingdom Lodge

Tuesday, July 21st
Morning at Disney Hollywood Studios
11:15 AM - Lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater
1:15 PM - Magical Express to Orlando International Airport
4:49 PM - Depart Orlando
5:50 PM - Arrive in Memphis

 

[GoonieBride]

i love the slideshow very creative!!!

 

[acwinsett]

We're leaving for our planning session in just 2 days, and I CAN'T WAIT!!!! If I'm THIS excited about the planning session, I'm afraid I'm going to be insufferable in December when it's almost time to go. The only bad thing is that work has been pretty quiet this week . . . just when I need a HUGE project to lose myself in. Time seems to be passing soooooo sllooooooowwww!

The biggest excitement of the week came on Monday night and Tuesday when the airlines announced fare sales for December and I had to scramble around to get everyone to book their airline tickets so we could coordinate flight schedules, etc. The funny thing is that my mother-in-law called me the other day to tell me that she found airline tickets for $219 . . . "But it says the Total Price is $252 . . . why are they getting an extra $30???"

So, anyway I just told her to hold her horses and don't buy plane tickets until I tell her to. The next day I called her up and told her exactly what to do. By waiting 12 hours, she saved $150 on two tickets!

Because Brian and I are traveling home on a Sunday (the most expensive day of the week to fly) and we had to book Gavin's ticket over the phone (which is $20 extra), we didn't save quite as much, BUT we DID manage to come in about $85 UNDER BUDGET on airfare!

I'm pretty sure that's the last time you'll see the words "under" and "budget" in the same sentence for the rest of this planning journal . . .

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the BEST BEST thing that happened this week. My grandma called me the other night from Iowa to tell me that she and my Aunt Mary booked their package and airline tickets. They WILL be at the wedding!!!! I'm sooooo happy!

I grew up with my grandma and lived with her for a few years when I was in elementary school, so I was really hoping she'd be able to be at the wedding. She had told me awhile back that she wanted to come, but they'd have to see if they could find a good deal. Well, after I emailed Aunt Mary about the great military discounts being offered (Grandma is a retired Navy wife), they jumped. They got 5 nights / 6 days at Caribbean Beach + 5 day Park Hoppers + Dining Plan for around $900 (for BOTH of them!). Then they got round-trip airfare from Kansas City for, like, $130 each. Flying out of KC will save them so much money, it doesn't even matter they will have to pay for gas to drive there, a hotel the night before and airport parking! YAY!

I hope everyone is having a GREAT week! I'll post a trip report late next week.

 

[GoonieBride]

Im glad that your grandmother is getting to make the trip out there. you sound very happy. but two more days till your trip. you better lets us all know about it. take tons of photos.

Have A Happy Trip!!

 

[MegKate]

My Gosh, so much good news!! YAY!!!

That slideshow is an excellent idea. You're so much more organized 5 months out than I am at 3!!

 

[acwinsett]

Hi guys! We're back home from our planning sesssion and now it's "back to the grind" . . . for another 18 weeks, anyway! We had a GREAT trip and I'll have trip reports to post starting this afternoon

 

[MainStMandy]

Oh Yay! Can't wait to hear about it!

 

[GoonieBride]

Welcome home! cant wait to hear all about it!!! and that picture! how perfect is that!

 

[acwinsett]

Brian was joking with me that we need to go out of town more often because his business always picks up whenever we're trying to go somewhere. And he's right! It seems like ALL of his clients needed him for last-minute work last week before we left town. Naturally, Brian had a video shoot on Thursday evening that lasted until 2 AM!!! And he had to be up bright and early on Friday morning to finish it up. Fortunately for me, Brian's office manager is a Disney fanatic, so she wouldn't allow him to work late Friday night.

We had been talking a little about trying to fly standby on the earliest flight of the day. Our flight was scheduled for 1:40 PM, but there was a flight leaving at 8:40 AM. Because he had so little sleep the night before, I told Brian on Friday night that we could just sleep in a little if he wanted to and we could go for a nice breakfast before catching our early afternoon flight. His response? "That's the DUMBEST thing I've heard you say all year! We can sleep on the plane . . . " So, we decided to take our chances and arrived at Memphis International Airport at about 7:15 AM. We weren't checking any luggage, so we went to the little check-in kiosk and - lo and behold - we had the option to switch to the early flight for $50 each. WOO-HOO!

We grabbed a quick bite for breakfast at the airport and then I wanted to go to the Elvis gift shop to pick up a little something from our hometown to give to Karen, our wedding planner. I found the perfect thing - an Elvis beanie baby called "Blue Beanie Shoes" . . . soooo cute!

Waiting to board the airplane:

The flight arrived in Orlando right on time (11:40-ish) and the weather was beautiful. We proceed to the Magical Express check-in desk to pick up our transportation vouchers. (Our booklet didn't arrive because the flight numbers had changed at some point which apparently confused the ME system.) Our shuttle was ready and waiting for us. It stopped first at Caribbean Beach, then the Swan then finally Pop Century!

Resort check-in went smoothly with no wait:

This was my third visit to Pop Century and we were in the 1950's building during my first two stays, so I was hoping for a different decade this time. So, I was excited to find out that we would be in Room 8213 in the 1990's building.

But before we went to our room, I wanted to grab a quick snack (not a full lunch, but just a little something to munch on because I was feeling a bit of a "sugar low"). We went over to the food court and decided to share a mini-pizza. YUM! With my snack attack properly fed, it was time to go drop our stuff off in the room . . . which was in a corner that, I swear, must have been at the furthest possible point on resort property from the main building. Good thing, though. I definitely needed some cardio to counteract all of the tasty treats of the weekend!

Next up . . . Afternoon at the Magic Kingdom!

 

[acwinsett]

We went to the Bus Stop for Magic Kingdom, and it started to sprinkle. No sooner than we got on the bus, the bottom fell out and it started pouring rain . . . Boo! It didn't last long, though. The rain completely stopped about halfway to the Magic Kingdom and we didn't see it again for the rest of the night!

Before we went to the Magic Kingdom we first had to get some legitimate tickets, so we took the bus to the Magic Kingdom, then the monorail to the Ticket and Transportation Center.

The first monorail ride of the trip!

Our first glimpse of the Wedding Pavilion and a really bad "moving target" photo:

Then we hop off the monorail and head over to the ticket counter. There was about a 10 minute wait, but we soon were legitimate Annual Passholders!

NOTE: We later found out that we probably could have taken care of this transaction right there at Magic Kingdom without having to go over to the TTC. There is a Guest Services window that you can get to without having to present your ticket first.

By the time we got back to the monorail, we were told the monorail was temporarily out of service and we should take the Ferryboat to Magic Kingdom. That was perfectly okay, since neither Brian nor I had ever taken the Ferryboat between the TTC and Magic Kingdom before. We ran to the top deck and took a few photos:

Great views of Bay Lake Tower and the Contemporary:

Yay! We're finally here! I just love the signage and decorations for the "What Will You Celebrate?" marketing campaign:

First order of business . . . a great big smooch in front of Cinderella Castle . . . then a quick photo: