C&M's Magical 9/24/11 WP/ADH/Italy Isola Wishes Weekend

[kharmagirl]

Hi All,
I'm Coleen and I've been reading everyone's reports throughout my planning and found them so helpful. I wasn't ready to do a journal while planning because reading everyone else's journal's and scouring the internet was a full time job in itself I wanted to share my own journey though in hopes that it might be a little helpful to someone else.

Michael and I got married at a 10 am ceremony at the WP on 9/24/11 with pre-reception and reception from 11-4 at ADH. We gave everyone a short break and then had a dessert party in EPCOT. It was a wonderful - exhausting day. I don't have many pictures yet unfortunately. This is the only professional one I have - it was taken at about 5:30 in front of our hotel room, so needless to say we were exhausted by then and feeling a bit disheveled - but I wanted it for my thank you cards and had forgotten to bring the sign earlier in the day..

 

[kharmagirl]

You can see us, how we met, and our engagement stories at coleenandmichael.com

Briefly - we met on 9/19/09 at a Lock and Key party. I was 37 and Michael was 34. I had pretty much given up on meeting the man of my dreams, but decided to go to the party with a girlfriend just to check it out. It was at a club that was next door to our favorite bar, so we figured if it was lame or boring we'd head next door. Well, early in the night Michael and I saw each other and it was definitely a WOW for both of us. We both knew we had to keep talking to this other person. Michael called me the next day and due to our schedules we were unable to go out until Friday. We had the most amazing date and when he kissed me I knew that this guy was special and different from any other guy I had been with. Michael has said he was nervous about our date and about kissing me and that had never happened to him before. We have been together ever since and truly blissfully happy. He moved into my house in April 2010. I ended up having a major medical crisis literally two weeks later - something that most people would not have stuck around for after just 6 months. He stayed and was my rock through it all. We probably would've been engaged sometime that year if the medical issue hadn't happened - but life has a way of making other plans and you just have to roll with it.

We got engaged on our 1 1/2 year anniversary - March 19, 2011 (we celebrated every month on the 19th because at first we were just so excited to make it to and past 3 months of dating... but then it was nice to acknowledge our relationship growing). That was a Saturday. I had always known I wanted to get married at Disney and my dad said go for it I called Disney on Monday and Diane called me back on Wednesday. I knew I wanted September or October because we didn't want a long engagement. I wanted a Friday evening wedding at AK. WP wasn't on my list because Michael is of Jewish heritage and we knew we wanted a chuppa. Diane told me the have a chuppa designed just for the WP and it would be no problem. There were several Friday evenings in Sept and Oct available for WP with AK following She told me it was $3000 for the WP. We could do pre-reception at AK starting at 6 and reception in a different area at 7. There were only a few places we could use because we were planning for 100+ people. AK would be $3000 but when you use two places on the same date you get one of them free. again. We set up an apt. to do a site visit the first week of April since Michael and I were planning to go there anyways because our AP's were expiring.

In my excitement I didn't realize, until thinking about it, that Diane meant that it would be $3000 for WP and $3000 for AK. The waived fee was from the pre-reception area at AK. There was a $10,000 F&B minimum and you would have to pay more for DJ and lighting since there was no sound system in AK. Ummmm .... I think we're going to have to change this...

While figuring out a location we settled on 9/24 at 10 am. I had always said I wanted an evening wedding with a big party - morning is too low key. After a little discussion though we realized that we're really no longer night people. By 9 pm I'm ready for bed. Plus, the last wedding we went to was an evening and most people had emptied out of the place by 11 - long before cake cutting and just after dinner was served. We did not want a late meal at all. Late night partying was great when we were in our 20's - but now that everyone is late 30's we really don't do it so much. Plus, we didn't want to spend all day just waiting around. I am so happy that we did it this way.

I had told Diane that I didn't want a ballroom - no offense to those who have one but they are too boring for us and if I wanted a ballroom I could do that in South Florida. She took us to ADH and we were sold. Date and time were booked! Now it was hurry up and wait time... It took several weeks to get all the paperwork back and forth and signed and deposited. In the meantime I started ordering and planning...

 

[mebbradley]

This is an awesome trip report! Keep your updates coming, it looks like your day was shaping up to be awesome!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

I'm really enjoying your TR so far! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[kharmagirl]

This is an awesome trip report! Keep your updates coming, it looks like your day was shaping up to be awesome!

I'm really enjoying your TR so far! Looking forward to reading more!

Thank you ladies. I tend to be a pretty detail oriented person so hopefully I don't get too wordy and boring...

 

[kharmagirl]

(Hint to self and others: type in Word first then cut and paste if it's going to be a lengthy post...)

While in Disney we decided last minute to see if we could schedule a photo session and get some engagement photo’s done. The normal photopass 1 hour $300 option was not available since all photographers were scheduled. We were offered a regular photographer for 20 min’s at $99. I figured I’d give it a try and see what we got. I just really wanted pictures for the STD’s and the website. We took pic’s at the Poly. We got a handful of pictures around the lobby and the beach. We left with the CD and were happy enough. You can see several of these pic's on the website.

I originally had planned on the color scheme of pink’s and green’s (I also wanted brown but Michael vetoed..). After seeing the ADH I knew it wouldn’t work so switched to purple, silver, and hints of green.

After returning from the site visit the first thing’s to do were set the guest list, get out STD’s, and get a dress. The guest list is the first time in our relationship that we actually had a real argument. We live in South Florida so the possibility of many of our guests coming was a good one. Michael wanted to invite every passing friend and client plus he knew his mother would want to invite 100 people we'd never met. I already had an idea that this was going to be pretty expensive and I didn’t want random people at the wedding. I wanted to be able to look back 20 years from now and know everyone. I have a huge family and we have quite a few friends between us so we quickly had to do some cutting. I limited my list to immediate family and aunt’s and uncles. I have too many cousins and with their families it would be another wedding in itself. I also limited friends to just close friends. We also knew early on that +one’s would have to be eliminated. We went back and forth and round and round. Michael had this guilt thing about inviting everyone he’d had some contact with. After laying out the budget and my concerns, etc,. he finally gave in. We also decided no kids other than my two nieces and nephew otherwise it would've been another 25+ people.. By time invites went out and we had a better understanding of cost he realized that I was right (he’s learning…) and there were quite a few people on the list that we could’ve left off… Thankfully from the very beginning he was on my side when it came to his mother. Many times he had to tell her our plan and we weren’t deviating and he let her invite 3 of her friends. I was so grateful for that. She swore they wouldn’t come but it would be rude not to invite them – well – one of them did end up coming – so never count on a “no” response. After the wedding DH told me he was so glad that I pushed and that we then stuck to our guns with only inviting people we knew very well and loved.

So we got the list to 109 and I really needed to get the STD’s out. So many people on these boards had wonderful, fun, creative projects and pictures. I looked at so many different options but just didn’t have the time. I ended up going to Snapfish and creating a card that I could pick up at Walgreens. I was so happy with the result and it was not very expensive at all.

 

[kharmagirl]

Hmmm - I can not seem to get a picture to post today. I'm using Shutterfly and it worked easily enough the first post. I'll keep trying.

 

[kharmagirl]

I know this is not a popular choice, but we chose not to have a bridal party. When I was young I was one of those girls who had my line-up of 5 or 6 really close friend that I knew would be in the party. As I got older though and was in and had been through many weddings with many friends it seemed to me that a bridal party was not what I wanted. The main reason was that I just began to feel like the was supposed to be about me and DF vowing to share our lives together. I also just saw too many issues with bridesmaids and hurt feelings – and way too much money spent. I would joke that I’d rather you bought me a nice gift then spend all your money on being in the wedding. Plus, I knew I was asking a lot for them to come to Disney as it was. And then in addition to friends I have a brother, a stepsister, and a stepbrother and he has 2 sisters. I was not having a hundred people stand up there. Fortunately DH was in complete agreement with me.

I did end up asking my two young nieces to be “bridesmaid’s” when I put on my dress for the first time and realized I’d need someone to straighten the train and hold my flowers. They were thrilled to be part of the wedding. I just had them walk down the aisle and rather than standing at the alter they sat with my dad and stepmother in the front row. They came up when I got there to straighten the train. One of the girls took the flowers from me and the other gave them to me at the end. It was perfect. I didn’t want my nephew to feel left out so we had him walk my stepmother (his grandmother) down the aisle. He was great and took his job very seriously.

I am so glad we made this decision as well. There were so many things to think about and pay for, that not having to worry about or pay for a bridal party just made things so much easier.

 

[kharmagirl]

As I noted, DH is Jewish however he is not religious at all. In fact he’d really fall under the atheist category. I was raised Catholic but began to question it in my 20’s. After a lot of studying and thinking I came realize in my late 20’s that organized religion does not work for me. I still consider myself a very spiritual person though who believes there is something out there, I just choose not to worship at a church. This is one of the reasons DH and I work well together. So when we got engaged I knew exactly who I wanted to be the one marrying us…

From the moment I saw Joey marry Monica and Chandler I knew that that was what I wanted – someone I knew and loved to marry me and my beloved.

I had mentioned this to one of my closest girlfriend’s many many years ago and she said “I want to do it”. So, I called Christine immediately after we got engaged and said, “You’re up!” (Of course if she was still interested…) I’m not sure if she remembered she had offered – but she was all for it. I had done my research and knew that in Florida the rules say you can be married by a Florida notary, a judge, or a church representative. Since she lived in Colorado we went the on-line route. In a few short hours Christine became a certified pastor with the Church of Spiritual Humanism.

Now the other side of this was not initially so easy. We had talked about Christine officiating many times and DH had said we’d probably need a Rabbi as well for his mother. At the time that was fine with me. The more I thought about it though, the more it didn’t seem to make sense. Since neither of us were religious, why would we have a Rabbi? At first I said he could just stand in the back and look pretty but say very little and just be a symbol. But that didn’t seem right. Our next big argument came when I said I just don’t think a Rabbi made sense and I needed a reason from DH for why it was so important. All he could tell me was that it would make his mother and grandmother happy so we had to do it. Whatever makes me happy and his mother happy is all that matters to him and that makes him happy. Well, I pushed it because that was not a good enough reason for me. Our ceremony was not about making his mother happy. This was the first time he was actually really upset with me because I wouldn’t give this to him and he gives me everything. And I know he is absolutely right about that – but the whole Rabbi thing just didn’t feel right. So, a few days later I proposed that he ask someone, his sister or closest friend who is Jewish, to be the Jewish contingence and co-officiate with Christine. “ Just think about it and let me know what you think.” Next thing I know I hear him asking his friend Neill. He’s known Neill since they were five years old. I was thrilled and Neill said he was honored. Neill went on-line and became a Florida Notary. Now we were covered and two people had potentially budding new careers…

I am beyond happy with this decision. After the wedding I asked Michael about it and he said he is so glad we went this route and couldn’t imagine it being half as special if we had the Rabbi. We loved the intimacy of it being just the four of us standing under the chuppa.

 

[lpizzuro123]

Thanks so much for posting this. I fully understand what you mean about reading a report and planning a wedding is a full time job and I did not do a PJ either but chimed in on these boards alot (including pictures) both before and after our wedding. I am enjoying reading this though.

We also had our reception in ADH and had our dessert party in the UK - but our ceremony was in Italy in the morning so we have some things in common. Love all your pictures so far and your dress is amazing. I also love the look of your two nieces walking up the aisle. Your STD also came out amazing. We did not do STD with pictures - we just used the Disney ones. That was when Disney sent out little books as STD so we felt we did not need anything else.

Looking forward to reading more - and seeing more pictures. Even though we have been married almost 3 years (just 4 more weeks) I still love checking our all things Disney wedding related.

Linda

 

[kharmagirl]

Thanks so much for posting this. I fully understand what you mean about reading a report and planning a wedding is a full time job and I did not do a PJ either but chimed in on these boards alot (including pictures) both before and after our wedding. I am enjoying reading this though.

We also had our reception in ADH and had our dessert party in the UK - but our ceremony was in Italy in the morning so we have some things in common. Love all your pictures so far and your dress is amazing. I also love the look of your two nieces walking up the aisle. Your STD also came out amazing. We did not do STD with pictures - we just used the Disney ones. That was when Disney sent out little books as STD so we felt we did not need anything else.

Looking forward to reading more - and seeing more pictures. Even though we have been married almost 3 years (just 4 more weeks) I still love checking our all things Disney wedding related.

Linda

Thanks Linda.
I was going to wait and just do the Disney STD's but it was taking way too long to get everything from them and I just didn't have the time to wait. Plus, I wanted to see what it looked like and I couldn't find that our or if I could add my website to it - so I went with my own.

 

[kharmagirl]

The weekend after I returned from the sight visit and finalized the location and date I knew it was time to go dress shopping. I so wanted to go the day after getting engaged but I wanted to have some plans set before hand. But now it was time to get down to business. The wedding industry (and a few friends) try to freak you out by saying you have to order your dress at least 6 months ahead of time. Well, by now it was end of April and I had about 4 months. I had a Friday off of work so my mom took off and she, my aunt, and my grandmother made plans to start shopping. We made appointments at 4 different shops: 2 on Friday and 2 on Saturday. I would’ve booked more but they were already booked up. Apparently you need to make those appointments months ahead… I knew I had to make a decision that weekend.

The first boutique had dresses ranging from $1000 to $20,000. Um, I want the lower end please. This is not like Kleinfeld’s – I told them what I was looking for but then they told me to go look through the dresses. I had done some research and began looking through magazines, but it was overwhelming to do it on-line and I was not looking through 1000’s of dresses. I knew that I wanted something a little different, not your typical wedding dress. I was really liking the new “textured” kinds of skirts. I actually liked the AA sleeping beauty type of skirt – just not so poofy. The sales lady was nice but the dressing room was really small and there was no mirror. I didn’t see the dress until I walked out. Now – I have to tell you that for much of my life my weight was an issue and I would go up and down from a size 4 in college to a size 12 a few years ago. I hated being overweight and struggled for years until I finally became a vegan and began to eat healthfully. Then the weight finally fell off. So for the past few years I have loved the weight I’m at although I sometimes find it hard to believe. Half the time I only know it because I know what size I am and because people will say I’m so small. I did not expect, therefore, to love how I looked in the dresses. Everything I put on looked amazing and was so beautiful. My family was great and just oohed and ahhed. But nothing really struck me at this first salon. We left and headed to Bellissima Bride in Deerfield, just about 20 minutes from my house.

I fell in love with this place. At Bellissima we were also allowed to walk around and pull what we were interested in. My saleslady was wonderful and didn’t mind that I tried on dozens of dresses. I finally had it narrowed down to about 4 or 5, which I kept trying on over and over. I narrowed it down to 3 dresses that couldn’t be more different. (I wish I had pictures but my mom took them on her camera and I never got them from her...). I knew I was going to get a dress from here so we cancelled all the other appointments. I decided to go home and sleep on it and come back the next morning. That night at the movies I told DH that I had so much fun trying on dresses and that this was my only time in my life that I would get to do it, so I wanted to try on more. I shared this with my mother who was fine with it but felt we should just stick with Bellissima. When we got there first thing in the morning the three dresses were already pulled to try on again. I mentioned I wanted to try on some more and they said fine. We went hunting again and I tried on it seemed like a few dozen more. My mom had brought in this big poofy dress with embroidery and tulle and I just thought “no way – so not my thing” but I was having fun so I said what the heck. As I stood there watching her zip me up I just started laughing. I really liked this dress. I walked out trying not to trip on the layers and layers of tulle and everyone gasped. I admit, I went back and forth between this one and a second dress. The second dress was a trumpet style dress that had beautiful soft layers that hugged the body down to the thighs and then flared out in waves. I felt so thin in that dress. People in the salon kept saying how amazing it looked. I went back and forth and had to have tried each dress on a dozen times. My mom asked though which dress made me feel like a bride – and especially with the veil there was not question it was the big poofy one. So I said Yes to the Dress. Thankfully this dress would be ready by the end of July.

Now, I have to be honest with what happened after this. I started second guessing and thinking about dress number 2. I didn’t say anything to anyone. I would watch all these shows and see all these girls with the body hugging dresses and start to think I made a mistake. I tried to put it out of my head. When my dress came in I was very excited and couldn’t wait to try it on again. I was hoping to have that falling in love again feeling girls describe. I saw it hanging on the hangar and I just thought “oh my gosh it’s huge”. I put it on and was ok. My mom was there and I tried it with the shoes and the different jewelry I had bought so I could make a final decision on the jewelry. I did still like it at the time. At this point we were only a few weeks before the wedding and had the three alterations appointments made at two week intervals. I kept thinking about it for the next two weeks and for some reason began building up how big and how tight the dress was. Since it was strapless and very very heavy (I really didn’t remember it being that heavy when I tried on the sample) it had to be very tight to stay up. I started to freak out. I went to the second fitting by myself and after the seamstress finished pinning for the bustle I just broke down and started crying. I had myself convinced that it was not me, that it was embarrassingly poofy, and it was so tight that I couldn’t breathe. The owner, Tanya, is a lovely lady and listened to me and tried to figure out what she could do for me. Everyone kept telling me the dress was beautiful and looked great on me, which I didn’t disagree with, I just didn’t think it was me. I left in tears and called DH because I didn’t know what else to do. He was so wonderful and felt so helpless. He said we could buy a new dress – whatever I wanted. I kept saying no way, this dress was insanely expensive and I wasn’t wasting the money my mother spent, and it was too late to do anything. We were literally 3 weeks from the wedding. He didn’t care but I insisted this was my mistake and I would live with it. I was so upset though that after much discussion I actually had him come in the next day and see me in it and give his opinion. Up until the moment I came out of the dressing room he asked if I was sure but at this point I didn’t care. I did see his face and he lit up and told me I was crazy and the dress was gorgeous and I looked gorgeous. He kept saying it over and over. This is why I was marrying this man. I couldn’t be convinced though. I sadly tried to stop thinking about it and tried to put the dress out of my mind. I was so envious of all the girls who were in love with their dress. I wanted to be one of those girls who couldn’t imagine taking the dress off and wanted to wear it everywhere.

The morning of the wedding though, I put the dress on, and felt amazing. It seemed to all fall into place. I was in love again. I glowed when everyone told me how gorgeous the dress was. I felt like a bride. We did a first look and even though DH had seen the dress, he hadn’t seen me all done up with the veil and his reaction was still what every bride wants. Somehow it wasn’t too heavy or too tight. I had no trouble sitting or breathing or dancing in it. I didn’t want to take it off. I was thrilled that we planned an AK shoot for Tuesday and I got to put it on again. It’s currently still hanging in my hallway because I’m not ready to put it away for good or admit that I’ll never get to wear it again. I keep thinking about putting it on and just staring at myself in the mirror. I think I’m going to have to do it just to say goodbye one more time…

 

[kharmagirl]

I spent a lot of time perusing the disboards and decided pretty quickly that we needed a monogram. At first we thought we’d give it a go at designing our own. We each had a few ideas but nothing exciting. Then we tried to figure out how to go about creating the monogram. Neither of us knows how to use programs like paint or photoshop. I actually downloaded a so-called “simpler” form of photoshop – but after spending ½ hour trying to figure out how to even put a cursor on the page or make a mark of some sort I gave up and emailed Dolly. I don’t see her on as much now but when I went on her name was everywhere. She was great to work with. Initially I had no idea what I was going to use the monograms on – but it was so inexpensive that I picked 3 designs and figured I’d find ways to use them. I picked 3 of her stock designs and after a dozen emails back and forth she had nailed the color and look that I was going for. She emails you back almost immediately – I swear I don’t think she sleeps.

The first thing I did was use two of the designs as my opening page and home page on my iPad and work computer.

I then ordered a tote bag from zazzle that I use everyday. (Ok - my camera is crappy and doesn't focus in on writing - time for a new one!)

I also had Dolly design a candy bar wrapper and bottle wrapper. They turned out beautifully but it was a time consuming task. We printed the color copies at Kinko’s and then DH and I spent a good 45 minutes cutting them out with the paper cutters at Kinkos. Then DH, myself, and my mother spent about an hour putting them on the candy bars and bottles with glue dots.

I ordered stickers from Zazzles that I put on the front of the welcome folder.

I used one of the monograms on our door hanger. These I actually created myself literally last minute. They were very easy to do. I used Publisher. I used 8.5 x 11 paper. Divided it in thirds. I used the Disney font that I downloaded from a free font website for the writing and then added a picture that I downloaded from a website that had Disney drawings. I took them to Kinkos to have them printed. They wouldn’t print it themselves though because of the Disney stuff so DH had to do it himself at one of their machines. I just cut them out and used a 1/16th inch hole paperpunch that I found at Michael’s to make the holes and tied the ribbon on. Did not take very long at all.

I wanted a cheap way to provide our itinerary and phone numbers to people and have it pocket sized. Zazzle had 100 two-sided business cards for very cheap. I love how these turned out. I even put one in a frame that I had gotten at a wedding as a take-away gift. I didn’t know what I was going to put in the frame because it was so small – but now this sits on my vanity and I get to look at it everyday.

A week before the wedding I had Dolly create two signs for me. I was going to do them myself – but again my computer and creativity skills failed me. Her sign’s turned out beautifully. I printed them at Kinko's and I put them in frame’s from Michael’s.

You can see Dolly’s creations and reach her at http://paperperfectiononline.blogspot.com/

 

[lpizzuro123]

Love the post about your dress. It's so funny - while looking through the pictures you posted - the first thing I felt was how much I loved your dress. It is very bridal and I love the skirt - it looks so soft. I also love the sweetheart neckline. While I was looking for my dress I posted some pictures of different dresses and one was strapless but went straight across the top - not sweetheart. One bride posted that she did not like dress that went straight across like that because she felt it made your bxxbs (not just yours but anyones) look like a loaf of bread. Well from then on I could not get that image out of my mind so I just had to go with sweetheart.

I also love how your monogams came out. I also used Dolly for one for my DH and I with just our initials but with the little Mickey head (like your first one). Love all the brides on these boards - they are just so helpful.

Looking forward to reading more.

Linda

 

[kharmagirl]

Love the post about your dress. It's so funny - while looking through the pictures you posted - the first thing I felt was how much I loved your dress. It is very bridal and I love the skirt - it looks so soft. I also love the sweetheart neckline. While I was looking for my dress I posted some pictures of different dresses and one was strapless but went straight across the top - not sweetheart. One bride posted that she did not like dress that went straight across like that because she felt it made your bxxbs (not just yours but anyones) look like a loaf of bread. Well from then on I could not get that image out of my mind so I just had to go with sweetheart.

I also love how your monogams came out. I also used Dolly for one for my DH and I with just our initials but with the little Mickey head (like your first one). Love all the brides on these boards - they are just so helpful.

Looking forward to reading more.

Linda

Thank you Linda,
I've lived with this cleavage for - oh gosh - over 25 years - so I completely get the loaf of bread image I knew from the beginning that sweetheart was really going to be the way to go. Plus it made it easier to pick out jewelry.

I realized I don't have a great picture of my dress posted yet. The only pic's we still have are grainy pictures from friends. Here's one that shows it a little more in full. I went in wanting something not so traditional - but now I'm so happy that I went with a dress that looked bridal and that in 20 years I (hopefully) won't look back and go "what was I thinking?"

 

[kharmagirl]

Sorry for the long delay in posting. Life just somehow got in the way..

I had heard about ETSY but never really explored it until the disboards. I ended up buying a lot of stuff though from there and was happy with everything.

I used this as our cardbox and it now sits with wedding memories in it on my bedroom shelf - from inspiredbymarie

Handmade organic soaps we handed out at my tea party by prunellasoap

My guest sign-in by InvitingMoments

I Do for my shoes:

 

[kharmagirl]

I purchased the thank you sign that we used with for our cards (first post). I could not find which seller I used.

sorry pictures are really big - I pulled these from Etsy -

I purchased this Purple necklace by magdalinen first. It’s very beautiful and delicate

I also purchased this necklace and earring set by nuvika

When I tried them on with the dress I decided to go with the second choice.

Hair flowers by VirginiaGeigerJewels. They were the perfect size and stayed put all day.

 

[kharmagirl]

I ordered a few things from zazzle. Since I was planning on such a short time line and was ordering a lot – I joined the zazzle black which had a free month of use. This gave me free shipping and worked out great. I ordered a lot of the things that had my monogram on it. Several things I posted already: the small business cards that I gave to everyone in their welcome packets, my totebag, the large stickers with our monogram

Invitations for the rehearsal dinner:

I ordered a groom hat for DH with the intention of attaching Mickey ears to it. He was not fond of that option, and frankly I ran out of time. He did wear it for the week before the wedding though. (You can't see in this picture but I also had him wearing the Happily Ever After pin)