Angela & Matt - Planning Journal - April 2009 - I BOUGHT MY DRESS!!!!

[Angela0917]

I'm kinda stuck. I was originally planning the Escape Wedding, but it seems like I have more family wanting to go than I originally thought. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE that they want to come! But now I'll just have to change some plans. I think we'll be having 30 people at most, so the Escape is out, unless we make it immediate family only. So, I've been looking into the Wishes and Swan Dolphin Weddings. I'm nervous about the Wishes wedding though because of the freedom you get with it... I don't want to be over the $10,000 minimum. I haven't been able to find many pics or information about the Swan Dolphin weddings, although from what I've seen, it pretty much looks like a wedding right outside a hotel... which I know it is, but I just don't want it to SEEM that way. Also, at first I was between SBP and the WP, and we went with SBP because it was $1,000 cheaper for the Escape wedding... but now if we're going to be spending $10,000 minimum anyways, I might want to go with the WP because I'm panicy with RAIN. I don't know what to do. I'm driving my family, my DF, and Randy Chapman crazy with changing my mind on everything!! Speaking of Randy.. is it ok that I'm booking him before Disney?? If you call Disney the day of the 12 month mark, did anybody have problems getting the day time and location of the wedding they wanted?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Or at least tell me to chill out!

 

[camara381]

Woo Hoo!!!1 another 2009 Bride!!! (i am 5 months behind you)

Congrats, can't wait to hear about all your plans. i have not been able to secure my date yet but was told that if there was more than one person requesting your date they would put you in a lottery. Sorry i can't be of more help don't fully understand the process yet!

Maybe someone that had been thru it can explain it better!!


P.S love your doggie... So cute.

 

[Lindsay22]

I'm kinda stuck. I was originally planning the Escape Wedding, but it seems like I have more family wanting to go than I originally thought. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE that they want to come! But now I'll just have to change some plans. I think we'll be having 30 people at most, so the Escape is out, unless we make it immediate family only. So, I've been looking into the Wishes and Swan Dolphin Weddings. I'm nervous about the Wishes wedding though because of the freedom you get with it... I don't want to be over the $10,000 minimum. I haven't been able to find many pics or information about the Swan Dolphin weddings, although from what I've seen, it pretty much looks like a wedding right outside a hotel... which I know it is, but I just don't want it to SEEM that way. Also, at first I was between SBP and the WP, and we went with SBP because it was $1,000 cheaper for the Escape wedding... but now if we're going to be spending $10,000 minimum anyways, I might want to go with the WP because I'm panicy with RAIN. I don't know what to do. I'm driving my family, my DF, and Randy Chapman crazy with changing my mind on everything!! Speaking of Randy.. is it ok that I'm booking him before Disney?? If you call Disney the day of the 12 month mark, did anybody have problems getting the day time and location of the wedding they wanted?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Or at least tell me to chill out!

Okay. First. Relax. Everything will turn out wonderfully. You can totally have a beautiful wedding at the minimum price. Lurky loo had about the same amount of guests that you will and she was $60 over the min. So it CAN be done (and she had a theme park location, a reception, and a dessert party... it's not like she didn't feed her guests )

A lot of people save a lot of money by doing a brunch or lunch reception (again, Lurkyloo did this) My sister Caryn (Caryndisneydiva) had a morning ceremony at SBP and then had a lunch at LSS for 70 ish people and wasn't too far away from the min either.

I am also panicky with rain, that's one of the main reasons that I am using the WP. If you choose an outdoor location they always book an indoor for you. I know that one bride was moved to the Attic (where Lurkyloo's reception was) and someone else was moved to the WP. So you'll be okay even if it does rain.

You can call Disney before your 12 month mark. I've already called them and had a site visit and my 12 month mark isn't for another month and 2 days yay: ) they'll set you up with someone who can get the ball rolling.

And the sooner you book Randy, the better. We met with him on Friday and told him we'd think on it and that afternoon he called to say that someone just called him about our date (I hope it wasn't you!!!!)

So. Take a deep breath. Keep your hands, arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Everything willl be awesome.
HTH!

 

[Angela0917]

Thanks Lindsay! I just panic about EVERYTHING. I'm driving Matt nuts!! hahaha! What date did you have picked for your wedding that Randy was busy?? I see from your ticker that it's about the same time as mine... so it very well could be me that took your date... BUT, if we are going to switch to a wishes wedding from an escape we're going to switch the date to a Mon-Thurs so we can have the $10,000 minimum. I actually just called Disney a little bit ago to see when you can book for a wishes wedding... I just assumed it was 12 months like the Escape. I can't wait to just get something booked so I can stop panicing about EVERYTHING! Although I'm sure I'll be in panic mode until the day of the wedding, hahaha! I think I might just go with the Wedding Pavilion instead of SBP... even though I think it's beautiful from the pics I've seen, I'm terrified that it will rain. I'd hate to spend all the money on a wedding for it to be moved to a ballroom, even though I'm sure it's still beautiful, I know I personally would be disappointed. I guess since we'll be spending the $10,000 max anyways, the $1,000 extra for the Pavilion is not a big deal. So when I call Disney and tell them the date, time, and place that I want, what happens from there? Will they send us something that includes everything that we can pick from? I'm so exicted!! Oh, and how difficult is this to do if we don't get down there for a planning session?? I'm not sure that I'll make it down there... I'll be in Orlando in June, but we'll be visiting for a little bit and then going down to Palm Beach. Is the planning session a necessity? How soon/late can you do it?

 

[PyxiiDustt]

First of all, Congratulations!

Second of all, you have the cutest puppy I've ever seen =]

Third, don't panic. I know I don't have a lot of right to tell you that, because I've haven't had had a Disney Wedding yet, but I've been to three. My two cousins and older brother have all been married in Disney and they're wonderful about everything. They make it easy to keep your budget if you tell them what you want it to be and they'll do anything to help you.

I can't wait to hear more about your wedding!!

 

[BelleBride2011]

I'm looking forward to hearing your plans

and relax... we're all here to help and just listen...

 

[Angela0917]

I called Disney this morning to book a Wishes Wedding!! A wedding consultant should be getting back to me within 3 days!! Yay!!!

 

[skiqt323]

Congrats on wedding planning, I love your journal. I am from south of Pittsburgh (Uniontown) and my parents were the same way about having a Disney wedding, but now that we live in Jacksonville and I did some comparing of prices, we will get so much more with a Disney wedding and not have to invite 500+ people to the wedding. We are also getting married in Apri 2009 (25th), hopefully, one more month of waiting!! Good luck with planning!

 

[Angela0917]

Congrats on wedding planning, I love your journal. I am from south of Pittsburgh (Uniontown) and my parents were the same way about having a Disney wedding, but now that we live in Jacksonville and I did some comparing of prices, we will get so much more with a Disney wedding and not have to invite 500+ people to the wedding. We are also getting married in Apri 2009 (25th), hopefully, one more month of waiting!! Good luck with planning!

That's so awesome!!! We'll be getting married (hopefully) the same week if the plans work out!! Very cool! I've heard of Uniontown, but I don't think I've ever been there. I think it's less than an hour from where I live though! Oh ya, wedding prices in Pittsburgh are OUTRAGEOUS compared to what you can get with Disney!! Plus if you compare Pittsburgh to Disney it's a no brainer which place is more fabulous! Are you planning a wishes or escape wedding?? The 25th was my original wedding date when we were planning a home wedding, but since the minimum is so much lower during the week, we're hopefully going to go with that Monday! I hope they get back to me soon!!!

 

[skiqt323]

Yeah, its about an hour south from the city, you just get on 51 if you know where that is. Its pretty small, no one has heard of it so I always just say I'm from Pittsburgh haha. We are having a wishes wedding at the WP, pre reception in Italy and then reception at the American Adventure Rotunda in Epcot. Our ceremony will be pretty late (7:30pm) but we figure since it's on a Sat that gives our guests the availability to fly in on Saturday morning if they need to. We had to change our date once already because it was already booked for a convention, so I am praying we get this date, since there is no other time that will work for us. Good luck with everything!

 

[Angela0917]

So I've been talking to the wedding consultant and we definately are doing the Wedding Pavilion and the California Grill, HOPEFULLY on April 20, 2009. The whole lottery thing makes me so nervous!! I wish they could just tell me if it's open or not!! I REALLY want Cinderella's carriage AND a Fantasmic Dessert Party, but I don't think we'll be able to work both into our budget. So I'm thinking we can either have a 12:00 wedding, and then get the earlier lunch prices and then have the dessert party, but that kinda bothers me that there's a break of time inbetween. I'm a VERY impatient person, and I know I will hate 'Relaxing' during that time. OR I was thinking that we could have the 5:00 ceremony, and then go to the California Grill, and watch the Wishes fireworks? Has anyone actually watched the fireworks from the California Grill? If anyone has any pictures of this place, and/or the view I would LOVE to see them. I've only seen the couple that the coordinator sent me. ALSO, I'm in love with the Mad Hatter cakes. What's the price range of those?

 

[irisbud]

Good luck with your plans! Waiting on Disney can be really frustrating! I agree that the large time block in between may cause problems. I think the 5 PM with the CG recpetion sounds good, but anything you choose will be wonderful!

 

[Angela0917]

I had a dr. appt. this morning, so I took the whole day off work, so I decided around lunch time that I should get a start on dress shopping!! So me and my mom had lunch and then went to David's Bridal and Alfred Angelo... soooo many nice dresses, I have no idea how I'm ever going to decide!!! There's 2 that I absolutly love!!!! I have an appointment to go back tomorrow to try them on again, AND possibly buy one! I'm bringing my aunt with me to get another opinion, but me and my mom both loved them!! I LOVE the pick up skirts!! They're soo princessy and remind me of Belle's yellow dress!! I know that's definatley what I want! My friends and I always talked about moving to Disney when we were in highschool, and we had it picked out what princess we would be... I always wanted to be Belle!!

Here's the first dress I tried on... liked it, but didn't LOVE it!

Oh, and sorry my hair looks like a rats nest! I didn't fix it today... I was planning on laying around the house all day watching Enchanted for the millionth time!

LOVE this dress... you can't really tell in the pic, but it's a light gold color. I always thought I wanted a traditional white, but I really really liked the gold. This is one of the dresses I'm considering getting...

and again with the matching veil (I hate veils, but my mom says I HAVE to wear one, hahaha!)

Kinda liked this one... the ribbon you can get in a ton of different colors, and I would definately get it in pink to match the bridesmaid dresses that I get (whenever I get them, I don't even know who my bridesmaids will be... I'm waiting for the last minute on that one)

Totally LOVE this dress... this is the other one I'm considering! I like how there's lots of pickups!!

Front view... this pic makes me look wide through the waist (not that I'm not, but some pics hide it better, hahaha). I don't remember it looking like that in person, and my mom said it didn't but I'm going to try it on again tomorrow

And here's the back

One of the ladies at DB wanted me to try this on.. it's her favorite dress in the store, so she jumped in the pic with me!! I really liked it alot too!!

I really like this dress too, and actually I think I like it better now looking at pics than I did at the store! Not a fan of the straps though...

So here it is again with NO straps

Yep, this is a GREEN wedding dress...

I liked it, it was a little big on the top, I would definately NOT get it in green though... weird!

Here it is again

Here's the same dress in ivory... wayy too small for me so we were pretending

Kinda like this one too, but the material seemed kinda heavy.

and here's the back

Hmm, what's everything think?? Which is your favorites??

 

[tlhbdm]

I like ALL of them. They all look really good on you. All I can say good luck.

 

[Lynn5700]

HMMM I'm going to say 2 because you look happiest in that one.

 

[Ticky Toria 78]

Firstly congratulations on your engagement!

I love dress number 2!

PS - We went to NYC last December too, the Rockettes were amazing!

 

[Goldeelox9]

I like no. 2 the best myself!

 

[Angela0917]

Firstly congratulations on your engagement!

I love dress number 2!

PS - We went to NYC last December too, the Rockettes were amazing!

The Rockette's Christmas Spectacular really was amazing!! I'd recommend it to anybody!!

 

[Angela0917]

Thanks for the comments, girls!!! I bought dress 2 yesterday! Here's the link for it on the DB website... you can see it better than the bad lighting from my pic. I did get it i white though. I LOVED the gold, but I was afraid I'd regret NOT having a traditional white dress...

http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridal_gowns_detail.jsp?stid=2834&prodgroup=127

I bought my tiera and veil too, but I can't find them on the website. I'll have to take pics and post them later. I also my slip and bra... so all I need is shoes and I'm good to go!!

I haven't decided on what kind of shoes I want. Definately something flat, or very low. I saw someone had a posting on here about the jellies cindrella slippers at Target, so I might go up there to check them out!

Yay, now if I could only decide if we wanted to do a wishes or escape wedding.

 

[Pam]

Beautiful gown!

It's a relief to have it ordered, isn't it?