Christal & Ray ~ A Swinging Wake...err Wedding

[Wannabe*Belle]

Former title: Disney one way or the other......

I've been debating on whether I should write this or not. But I decided I need an outlet of other brides that won't look at me funny when I mention Disney and wedding in the same sentence.

So onto us....

I'm Christal, 27, a customer service rep for an insurance company. I grew up in Kissimmee with an annual pass to Disney. Disney was my safe haven during my childhood, so it has a very special place in my heart.

My fiance is Ray, 27, works in IT for a retirement magazine. He never got to go to Disney when he was a kid so he's not as fanatical as I am but since his first trip in 2008 he is hooked.

We met our freshman year of college at Roger Williams University in RI. At the time I was living in Massachusetts and him in Connecticut. We've been together now for almost 9 years, the first 4 1/2 were long distance but we made it through. And have been living together for the last 5 years in CT.

The Proposal...

After our trip to WDW in '08, we argued on what to do for our next vacation. I really wanted to go back to the World but he wanted to do a cruise since he had never been on one. So after much debate and compromise we decided on a Disney cruise. We went for a 7 night cruise from 10/24-10/31. We planned on staying at the Wilderness lodge for Halloween and going to MNSSHP that night because it's my favorite holiday.

Come to find out he hid the ring the whole week and even the whole night on Halloween. So on our last ride of the night, we decided to do Pirates. We got our own private boat and there was no one in front of us or behind us for a couple of boats. We talked about the week and how we could just hide in the park and never go home. As the ride came to an end we were the only ones on the unload platform and he told me to hold on b/c he needed to get something out of the bad. At this point I just started to walk toward the ramp when he said something to make me turn around.

And there he was, dressed as a pirate on one knee w/ pirates singing in the background. I seriously jumped around and said no way for about five minutes. Finally, I calmed down enough and he popped the question, "I can has wifey?" (big fans of lolcatz)

And here we are today, planning a wedding.

 

[Wannabe*Belle]

So why is the thread called Disney one way or another?

Well we really want to have a disney wedding but we also really want to buy a house within the next two years. Sooooo we have two plans right now.

Plan a: Monday Sept. 19th, 2011 (International talk like a Pirate day) @ the Beach club beach near Stormalong Bay. Our theme would be Neverland, he wanted pirates and I wanted enchanted garden. Since Neverland has both pirates and fairies, we had a perfect theme.

Plan b: Friday Oct. 28th, 2011 @ the Eolia Mansion in Waterford, CT. I love halloween but hate the color orange so a traditional fall theme is out. But we have the perfect Disney alternative, The Haunted Mansion.

I'll be writing more soon but it's time for bed....good night ya'll

 

[FutureMrs.B]

OMG how cute!! Luv your story!! DF and I are also big fans of LOLcatz..hehe Congratz!! Looking forward to hearing more. hehe

 

[Wannabe*Belle]

Well sorry for the delay in this. We've been very busy the past few months. I guess I should start by saying I'm not going to be an actual Disney bride. Due to some issues with parents and such we have decided to have the wedding here in Connecticut.

So we are now getting married on Oct. 21, 2011 @ the Eolia Mansion at Harkness State park. And we will be have a Swinging Wake...errr...Wedding

Our theme will be the Haunted Mansion. Here's 2 of our inspiration pictures.


Madame20Letota1 by cconnolly192, on Flickr


A_Swinging_Wake_4 by cconnolly192, on Flickr

Our colors are Black, Purple, and Apple Green. We'll be trying to bring in that mysterious, slightly spooky, old Victorian feel but make sure it's not to Halloween-y or cartoonish. So NO ORANGE!

I'll be updating hopefully on a regular schedule now. We've got a fair amount done so I'll post those updates soon. But I know I'll definetly need my other Disney obsessed brides to vent to because other than my fiance and 1 or 2 friends no one really gets our theme. So I may need some encouragement.

 

[KristiLyn]

Congrats! Love the theme! Can't wait to see more of your updates!!

 

[Bickimook2]

Loving this idea! Welcome back I can't wait to hear more or your ideas

 

[Wannabe*Belle]

Loving this idea! Welcome back I can't wait to hear more or your ideas

Congrats! Love the theme! Can't wait to see more of your updates!!

Thanks ladies! It's nice to have some Dis encouragement.

 

[Wannabe*Belle]

The Venue

So we went with the Eolia Mansion @ Harkness State park here in CT. It's right on Long Island Sound and about 20 minutes from the casino Mohegan Sun.

Harkness is an estate that was given to the State to turn into a park. I actually heard about this place from my future sister-in law, she had looked at it for her wedding but it didn't hold enough people for them.

It's got a different vibe b/c it's an old house so it's not one big room but it's got that neat old time feeling which I think works great w/ an HM theme.

Here's a picture of the Mansion


PA090061 by cconnolly192, on Flickr

One of the best parts is that it has a permanent tent w/ a permanent dance floor attached to the house


PA090070 by cconnolly192, on Flickr

We'll be having the ceremony at the park also. They have an amphitheater that looks out onto the beach.


PA090082 by cconnolly192, on Flickr

For the tent we're going to have it uplit w/ purple LED lights, and some of the white lanterns you see but not as many.

 

[Wannabe*Belle]

The Dress

So the dress I picked is nothing like I thought I would end up in. I really loved the old Kristie Kelly Belle dress, ya know the gold one with the beautiful pickups.

I knew a Kristie Kelly was way out of my price range so I went back to looking for something else. Then Alfred Angelo came out with their Disney line and I had hope again.

Then I found my dress but I still wasn't convince b/c it wasn't what I thought it would be. So I stuck w/ my AA appointment hoping to try one of them. I was so disappointed when I got there and they told us that they only had the one display dress in and it was only the Cinderella, not the Belle or Tiana that I wanted to try. I guess in hind sight it was a good thing b/c I do love the dress I got.

Don't mind the faces I'm making in the pics, my fiance likes to take pics while I'm talking to my best friend/MOH.


P1150065 by cconnolly192, on Flickr


P1150067 by cconnolly192, on Flickr

It's kinda got this Snow White thing going on.

 

[KristiLyn]

That venue is AMAZING! Definately Perfect for your theme!!! And LOVE the dress!!!!!

 

[Wannabe*Belle]

That venue is AMAZING! Definately Perfect for your theme!!! And LOVE the dress!!!!!

There were a couple places we looked at but this one we thought was the best fit for the theme, and the outside gardens are beautiful.

 

[Wannabe*Belle]

The Bridesmaids Dresses

So we have a small wedding party, all together with us there are 8. I have my MOH and 2 BrMds. I definetly wanted them to have something that wasn't too expensive and didn't look like a BrMds dress. After looking at some alternatives places like Nordstroms, we decided on Alfred Angelo b/c my girls are in 3 different states so we needed something close to everyone.

After going through some of there mix and match color dresses we found this one that was great and has total re-wearability.

All three will be in black, my MOH will have a purple sash (white in picture) and the other 2 will be green.

 

[KristiLyn]

Great choice!!
I really love that they may be able to wear them again! Very thoughtful of you!! I can't tell you how many bridesmaid dresses I have that I would NEVER ever wear again...

 

[Wannabe*Belle]

Photography

This is the first board that I found really in-depth info about Disney weddings. I also fell in love with The Roots. I must have gone through Carly's and Lurkyloos wedding pics hundreds of times because I just loved the style. I'm the most unphotogenic person ever but I don't think Nate and Jensey could take a bad picture of anyone.

From day 1 I begged Ray to let me have them. But once we decided not to do Disney I think I was almost as upset about the prospect of losing them as I was that we wouldn't be doing Disney.

Luckily not only does Ray really love me but he really liked them too after our engagement session. So he talked with Nate and they agreed to do our wedding!


083_CR by cconnolly192, on Flickr

We also found out Nate and Jensey eloped here in Connecticut at Sleeping Giant Mountain, which is about 15 minutes away from us. See kizmet, it was meant to be.

 

[Wannabe*Belle]

Great choice!!
I really love that they may be able to wear them again! Very thoughtful of you!! I can't tell you how many bridesmaid dresses I have that I would NEVER ever wear again...

That was really important to me b/c I hate having to spend $ on a dress I'll never wear again. I hate wearing dresses as is, so it just adds a layer of hate when the dress is ugly.

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

Eeeek!!! I love your theme I'm a little obsessed with The Mansion if you couldn't tell) AND I'm from CT too! I'm from Norwich, about 25 minutes from where your wedding is, and I went to Quinnipiac, which overlooks the sleeping giant! Congratulations from a fellow CT bride

 

[One_Song]

Ooooh I'll definitely be tuning in! I love HM! I can't wait to see all your wonderful plans!

 

[Wannabe*Belle]

Eeeek!!! I love your theme I'm a little obsessed with The Mansion if you couldn't tell) AND I'm from CT too! I'm from Norwich, about 25 minutes from where your wedding is, and I went to Quinnipiac, which overlooks the sleeping giant! Congratulations from a fellow CT bride

HM is one of our favorites and Halloween is my favorite holiday so it's the perfect theme for us for this date. We always knew we wouldn't have a "normal" wedding theme.

It's funny b/c everyone I talk to except for some of our vendors haven't even heard of Harkness, of course that might be because we're down in the New Haven area.

Ooooh I'll definitely be tuning in! I love HM! I can't wait to see all your wonderful plans!

Thanks! we just got in our second set of centerpieces so I'll post that update soon.

 

[bambi0921]

Signing on a little late here but omg I think that might have been one of the funniest, cutest proposals I have ever heard of. Loving everything so far! The haunted mansion theme is great and that venue is beeeautiful! congrats and can't wait to read more!

 

[Wannabe*Belle]

Sorry ladies we've been busy busy lately.

So can I vent for a minute? Can I just say I hate flowers! I don't understand why they are soooo expensive, they die after a day. Grrr. Can you tell I'm having issues with this.

We've got 2 proposals back so far and we're just waiting for the one from Whole Foods. Hopefully, that one will be what we're looking for, for the price we're looking for.

Anyway, on a good note we got the candelabras for half of our centerpieces. We're going to have two different centerpieces which were going to alternate between on the tables.

One will be black candelabras with freeze dried rose petals surrounding them. And the other will be something that will look like a crystal ball lit up purple (think Madame Leota).

Since we couldn't find black candelabras that we liked we bought white ones that we'll have to spray paint black.

Once we have everything together I'll post pics.

One other good news we ordered our guestbook from Mixbook.com. With the use of a Groupon we got a full color book filled w/ our engagement pics for $25. Without the Groupon it would have cost us atleast $60. I can't wait till that comes in.