Debra & Brian's Fairytale Trip Report 12/03/10*Completed Wedding Day Report W/PICS*

[Deb loves Disney]

Hello everybody!

I did not do a planning journal, but almost started one countless times. I followed almost everybody else's and didn't think that I could do as good a job in posting all of the details like everybody else so I always hesitated and changed my mind. Now looking back and thinking of all of the help and inspiration that all of you gave to me without even knowing it, I really should have started this a long time ago.

We are back from our wedding which was on 12/03/10...we got back last night and I wish we could go back. It was such a fantastic trip, an unbelievable wedding. It will be very hard to top the giddiness that I felt all week, especially on the wedding day. I felt like a princess and had so many random admirer's throughout the day, so unexpected and such a wonderful feeling. I'm usually the type to shy away from compliments but on my wedding day they felt so good. More on that to come in the trip report!

One thing that I wanted to add was that we are so happy that we chose a Disney Fairytale wedding. I don't think that we could have had such a magical and amazing day if it had been anywhere else. I was telling everybody that asked that day to tell all of their friends to have a Disney wedding, lol.

Up next is a little about us as a couple and family, Glad I did's and reviews!

 

[geek+nerd]

Congratulations! I can't wait to read all about your special day!

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

i'm in!

 

[Mindyjoy]

congrats!!! Subbing in ...

 

[Deb loves Disney]

Yay, people are reading

I wanted to introduce us as a couple first before I go into all of the details of our wedding. This way you can kind of feel like you know us before you start reading all about our wedding.

Me (Debra) am 36 and have been a single parent for a very long time. I am bringing in two children to the marriage, they are twins , and I was never married to their father so this is my very 1st wedding! I am no longer a Florida resident, but before I met my now DH (I am so glad to finally be able to call him that) I was living just outside of Orlando working as a teacher/ Speech Therapist and also working seasonally at Disney as a Merchandise Cast Member (this becomes important later in the story). I was living the single mother life of working, cleaning, cooking, working, cleaning, cooking.......and having no life. I was very lonely for companionship but also very busy with just life itself and being a mom and a dad together.....more to this story after I introduce DH.

DH (Brian) is (?) I won't tell but he is a few years older than me. I was actually worried that i was older than him by two weeks at one point before we told our ages. I don't like being older than my man, lol. He looks way younger than his real age and I will leave it at that. But, back on topic...he is older than I am and that makes me very happy. I have always been attracted to older men, they are just more settled and with it in my experience. He works as a computer engineer doing technical things that I could never understand. He also runs a website and moderates a website. He has never been married either and did not bring any children into the marriage. He lived in Overland Park, Ks (just outside of Kansas City) and is an avid Disney lover, visiting Disney several times a year.

My children....Bryan and Amber, the twins. I got lucky and ended up with boy/girl twins. They are 13 and true teenagers, but I was fortunate enough to end up with really great kids. It's funny that both my son and now husband have the same name but only spelled differently. It only causes problems when I am saying..."Hey Brian/Bryan" and they both say what. We still haven't come up with a good nickname for them. My daughter and I usually just so "no, the other Brian" LOL. When we decided on a Disney wedding, we decided that we would have them be our wedding party. So Amber was my Maid of Honor and Bryan was the Best Man. They looked so wonderful all dressed up but more of that later.

How we met ~ So like I said earlier, I have been a seasonal Cast Member with Disney for almost 4 years. I currently work at Epcot selling merchandise, usually pins. Well in December of 08 I happened to be working one Saturday selling pins at the pin shop right in front of the Fountain of Nations at Epcot. It was about 30 mins before my shift ended and up walks Brian looking at pins to purchase. He happened to be there for Mousefest (which sadly they no longer have) and was wearing of all things a lanyard with the Dis listed. I of course post on here and started talking to him about it. We talked for a while and told me to look him up on the boards and he then bought a few pins from me. People always say this but I had never felt it before, but I immediately knew that he was the one! I could just feel it, and knew that I had to look him up when I got home. To make a long story short, I did look him up on here and sent him a private message asking if he remembered me. He did and we corresponded for awhile, talked on the phone some and then he came back to Florida for a vacation months later where we went on a "week" of dates at Disney. Literally our first "date' was eating dinner at Le Cellier. There is nothing better than courting each other at Disney, it's such a magical place and so many romantic opportunities abound.

So we hit it off during that trip and from there we traveled back and forth taking vacations with each other. Last March/ April, we took a trip together out to Disneyland as well as Kansas (so I could get to know the place, make sure I liked it). This is when he proposed to me. I of course said yes . He didn't give me a ring right away because he wanted to make sure I loved it. I was so grateful for this because I had been engaged one time before in the past and I actually hated the ring . More on the ring to come...I have posted it in the rings thread but not the story behind it.

We immediately both decided that we had to have a Disney Fairytale Wedding. I mean....we met at Disney, we both loved Disney, how could we not have our wedding at Disney!

We did almost all of the planning over the phone with each other because we were still living a long way away from each other. We both decided that me and the kids should move to Kansas since I was a teacher and could much more easily change my job than he could. He also makes more than I do so it was a no brainer. We planned on him coming down to Florida in the summer to help me move to kansas. This way the kids could get settled in before school started and they didn't have to change schools in the middle of the school year...big plus!

He came to Florida and I wanted him to see the wedding pavilion, where we had agreed we would be married. We eventually went around back where the arch is and he got down to get his "camera" out of it's bag and he took out a little white package. Hmmm....wonder what that could be??
It was my ring and I was so surprised and happy. It was so nice to be given my ring at the place where we were to be married. I will post a pic of the ring in the next post.

 

[Princess85]

What a sweet story!!! Hurry up and post more!!!

 

[Deb loves Disney]

Here is the ring:

There is a story behind the emerald that is in this ring. Years ago I went gem mining with my kids and mother in North Carolina. We bought a huge bucket of basically dirt and sifted through it looking for gems.

We found emeralds, rubies, sapphires and all sorts of other gems. I had always wanted an emerald and one of the perks of buying a large bucket was getting one of your gems cut and polished. I picked out the best emerald we had, crossing my fingers that it would be nice. If you don't know, before a gem is cut is looks just like a rock, not very pretty at all. Well my rock turned into a 2 carat emerald.
When DH proposed to me, I asked if he would consider using this emerald that I had laying around and putting it into a ring. He said he would consider it and took it from me. I have him some hints as to what style of ring I wanted buy ultimately he was in charge of picking it out.
Well when I opened that white box and saw my amazing ring, I almost fainted at how beautiful it was. He still won't tell me how much it appraised for but said I would be very surprised.
I want to know, lol, but he just wont tell me no matter how much I beg.

We have better pics from Randy as soon as we get them I will post here. We had the white chocolate castle cake topper and he put the rings on one of the spires and took some pics. I can't wait to see them.
I also don't have any pics of when DH proposed because we were by ourselves and it is a blur, lol.

 

[sw33t_angel]

Jumping in!

Your ring is beautiful!!!

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[Deb loves Disney]

Thank you for everybody's comments. I'm so happy to have followers! The more the merrier.

I'm not sure what to post next so I will let you know what kind of ceremony we had.

We originally wanted to get married in Epcot since that is where we met. We didn't want to go all out with a Wishes wedding, mainly due to the expense, so our options for an Epcot wedding were limited to Canada. We went with that and called DFTW, and waited for our coordinator to call. We got Pam Pearce and she secured our date of 12/03/10.

A little background for our date. We didn't want our wedding date to be close to anybody else's birthday, anniversary or anything else. Plus we didn't want too close to a holiday. We also wanted it to happen in a cool"ish" month. We finally decided on 12/03/10 for a few reasons. First, we met in December, Disney would be decorated for the holidays, it would be cool but not extremely cold, it was during a slow"ish" time right after Thanksgiving so the crowds were gone. Also, if you look at the date in numbers...it is 123. It made sense to us, lol.

So at the time, I lived within 20 minutes of Disney. I decided that I wanted to check out the potential wedding site. I wrangled up my neighbor and my daughter, knowing both would tell me the truth and not just sugar coat their opinions trying not to hurt my feelings. We set out to look at the Canada Terrace, Sea Breeze Point and the Wedding Pavilion.

I loved the Canada Terrace but wasn't completely sold on arriving so early in the morning and having my grandma get up to the landing....she is 85 with bad legs. We then went over to the Boardwalk via the International gateway and looked at Sea Breeze Point. It is really a beautiful location and the pics that I have seen taken from here are always gorgeous. For some reason an outdoor wedding just wasn't doing it for me, and wan't my dream. We were then off to check out the Wedding Pavilion.

Now originally I said that I did not want the wedding pavilion because it would seem too much like a church atmosphere and that just wasn't my vision. Boy was I wrong! We were lucky enough to get to the pavilion at a quite time and the most amazing housekeeper was there and she unlocked the gate for us and the pavilion to let us in . I immediately felt like this was "the spot" and knew we had to be married here.

I went home and called DH and sent him pictures as well as gave my opinion on every location. He agreed that the wedding pavilion would be just as special as Epcot would be since it has this amazing view of the castle and we both went many times as kids.

We called up Pam and she graciously changed our locations to the wedding pavilion and dessert party at Sago Cay....originally going to be a spot in Canada. At this point we did not have a reception lined up.

We were then contacted a few weeks later...after sending in the deposit and LOA....by our coordinator Tanis Armstrong. We told her that we would like to add a reception lunch to our day and we chose the Napa Room at California Grill with her help.

So, our wedding was now officially on 12/03/10 at noon at the Wedding Pavilion with a cake and champagne ceremony at Commander's Terrace followed by a lunch reception at the Napa Room and finally completing the days events with a dessert party at Sago Cay Pointe.

 

[disneemama]

I'm in, your ring is gorgeous! can't wait to read more and see pics. I saw a beautiful Bride on Dec.3rd at GF and spoke to her for a moment in the elevator. Wondering if it was you, almost sure it was.

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

Congrats!! I love the ring, such a great story behind it!! Can't wit to hear more about your wedding and see pictures!!

 

[Deb loves Disney]

What a sweet story!!! Hurry up and post more!!!

Jumping in!

Your ring is beautiful!!!

Can't wait to read more!!

Thank you...I'm so excited to have readers!

I'm in, your ring is gorgeous! can't wait to read more and see pics. I saw a beautiful Bride on Dec.3rd at GF and spoke to her for a moment in the elevator. Wondering if it was you, almost sure it was.

I think that I remember you! Did you tell me that your daughter is getting married soon at Disney? My DH and I were in the elevator with our wedding planner going to our cake and champagne celebration upstairs. It was so exciting getting our first compliments by strangers and it was exhilarating. The best feeling ever. I didn't want that day to end!

Congrats!! I love the ring, such a great story behind it!! Can't wit to hear more about your wedding and see pictures!!

Thank you! Pictures coming soon I have a few from my Aunt who was a guest at the wedding and am waiting on the professional pics. It's so hard to wait, lol.

 

[Deb loves Disney]

I guess I will do some vendor reviews next because like so many have said...these are very, very helpful when wondering if your choices were the right ones or are just plain wondering who to pick.

First I will start with our our outside vendors and why we chose them. Then I will tell you what I thought of their services.

When we first decided on a Disney wedding we knew for sure that we wanted photography and professional hair and make-up. We were not yet sure about Videography and we actually waited literally one week before the wedding to book one .

Photography ~ We went back and forth on a few photographers before finally deciding on Randy for several reasons. One, we really liked his pictures and two, he offered a great price and package which includes the rights to your photos, and a disc with all of the photos included.

Hair and Make-up ~ Almost right from the start I decided on Beaute Speciale for both hair and make-up. I really liked the reviews I had read on them and they had nice photos and tips on their website. Their price was very reasonable and they did not charge an extra fee for travelling to our room as long as it was on Disney property. They were very quick to respond to any questions and to send out receipts of payment. We booked Hair and Make-up for 4 people including myself, my daughter and the moms.

Officiant ~ We knew that we wanted a non-religious ceremony right from the beginning. From the list of Disney approved vendors, Ron Rozenzweig seemed like the best fit for us. He stated that he wore a suit for the ceremony (plus), he emailed us many choices for different blessings, sand ceremony, etc. His price was very reasonable and he was great at corresponding.

Videography ~ Like I said we had gone back and forth and then actually forgot about videography for the wedding. I read a thread on here about a week and a half before we left for the wedding about videography services and lots of you fellow disbrides recommended Stan STVS. We contacted him, he immediately sent us a link to a few sneak peak videos and then overnighted a dvd of his work. His prices were very resonable for what you get and he worked very closely with Randy who we had already chosen for photography. It was basically a no brainer to choose Stan. One more plus was he offers his couples access to Club 33 in Disneylany somewhere where both DH and I have always wanted to go. He apparently has been a member of this exclusive club for many years and now offers access to his couples anytime they would like to go.

I will post my reviews of our outside vendors plus our Disney vendors in the next post!

 

[Deb loves Disney]

Reviews (it's going to be a long post)

I'm so excited to finally post my own reviews of our wedding vendors.

I want to start off by saying that we LOVED everybody. Nobody was disappointing at all! I'm not going to give any grades because in my opinion they all deserved A pluses! I will just tell you why I loved them so much.

I'll start with Disney first...

Pam Pearce Wedding Coordinator ~ She was our original contact with DFTW and helped us get our date and locations as well as our LOA signed, sealed and delivered, lol. She was so great and very prompt with her responses. She answered all of our questions and helped put us at ease with the whole process. Loved her!

Tanis Armstrong Wedding Planner ~ Let me just start by saying how much I appreciated her calm resolve and efficiency on our wedding day. She had everything coordinated to a T and we literally felt like guests at our own wedding. Everything was just like what we asked and there were even things done that I hadn't even thought of like providing a basket for my last minute programs. She called in for a wheelchair for my 85 year old grandmother without anybody even asking for one. She was always easy to get ahold of, there were some instances where it took a few days but she always had an email notification set up letting me know when she would be getting back to me. I really felt like I already knew her like a close friend on the day of the wedding even though we had never met. LOVED her!

Rosie Disney Florist ~ Rosie was very easy to work with but at times hard to reach through email. I won't fault her for this because I know she has lots of other brides that she is working with. I will say however that I had lots of moments where I was hoping she got my emails and changed or did whatever it was that I was asking. In the end....she did! and everything was wonderful on our wedding day. She surprised us the morning of the wedding with a nice flower arrangement with a hidden mickey in it. She got my bouquet almost perfect. One of the colors of flowers started dying almost immediately (the light pink) and there was a tiny amount of greenery when I asked for none....but in the end those tiny discrepancies didn't matter and I LOVED my bouquet and all of the decorations at our venues. The Wedding Pavilion looked gorgeous, the Napa room looked gorgeous, Whitehall room and Sago cay looked amazing as well. It was all what I wanted and then some.

Darryn Disney Photography ~ Photography was included in our escape wedding package and Darryn was our photographer who was on the sidelines working out of Randy's way. He was so gracious and introduced himself immediately. Even though I haven't seen the pics yet, I have so much faith that our pics will be fantastic!

Limo driver, servers and hosts at California Grill, all the CM's we met in the lobby's of The Grand Floridian, the Contemporary, the Wedding Pavilion, and everywhere else we went in our wedding attire were so incredibly friendly and giving out compliments.....we really felt like royalty. Disney employees know how to treat their guests! I can't say enough how great the wait staff was at the Napa Room. I never had to ask for anything, or even worry about my drinks being filled, my plates being cleared, my silverware being replaced. So wonderful!!!!!!

Disney Guests ~ I have to add that almost every guest we passed on our wedding day gave us compliments and congratulated us. I don't think we would have felt so special if we had our wedding anywhere else.

Old Key West Resort ~ We are new DVC members and really wanted to stay in a villa for the extra room. We chose OKW because it has the most square feet and DH has always wanted to stay there since it was the first DVC resort to open. We loved it here! We had the cutest animal towel of 2 swans waiting for us on our bed on arrival. Everything was SPOTLESS, it was quiet, we had so much room, having a washer/dryer and kitchen was extremely helpful since we were staying for a week. The staff was so friendly and grounds were very beautiful decorated for Christmas. I have pics of the room and towel swans and will post them soon. We can't wait to stay at more DVC resorts, especially our home resort of Bay Lake Towers.

Now on to our outside vendors...

Randy Chapman Photographer ~ I LOVE HIM! I can't say enough how great Randy was throughout the entire day, even up to the dessert party. Randy arrived early, he stayed later than scheduled. He knows Disney weddings inside and out and was kind of like my own personal assistant. He reminded me of one of the celebrity assistants that work on the red carpet, making sure there celebrities are where they are supposed to be, keeping them focused and helping them with hair, make-up and wardrobe. Randy helped my son get ready because everybody forgot to tell him it was time, lol...he was sitting on the couch on his computer with 10 mins left before he was supposed to be getting in the limo..without his tux on yet . Randy and Stan stepped up and got him out the door. Randy helped me focus during photos because I was so out of it just trying to take everything in and not paying attention, lol. He saved the day for our dessert party. Due to the cold weather, we had to move the dessert portion of the party into Whitehall room and then move out to Sago Cay for the fireworks. Well nobody realized we were to move and Randy ushered the whole group of us out to the spot just in time for the fireworks to begin. We had paid the $500 extra for sound and would have been extremely disappointed if we had missed it....Thank you Randy! We really cannot wait to see his pictures, I know they will be great!

Beaute Speciale Hair and Make-up ~ These girls were so fabulous!!!!! They made us all feel right at ease and knew just what to do to make me feel beautiful. We had Laine for make-up and Jackie for hair. There were four of us and they moved us right along rotating between hair and make-up. I had the fake eyelashes and highly recommend them. They made my eyes pop and made me feel glamorous. When Laine asked me how I wanted my make-up I said forget the natural look I want to look like I am going to the Oscars, lol, I can look natural any day. She was so excited and had fun with it. I think the make-up turned out looking fabulous and it literally lasted all day, even when I was sweating a little from nerves. Jackie was a whiz with hair. I had no inspiration pics with me because I forgot to get them off my computer from home. I just said I wanted half up and half down and she worked her magic. My mom never looked so fabulous, I was really amazed at her transformation. My daughter looked so angelic and beautiful. I was in with her hair and make-up.

Stan STVS Videography ~ Stan was so amazing and accommodating. I mentioned before that we really didn't book his services until a week before the wedding. He worked so effortlessly, I hardly noticed him during the day. But he was also very friendly and we had quite a few good conversations about Disney and Disneyland. He offers his couples admission to Club 33 in Disneyland and I am chomping at the bit to go. He said his sneak peek wouldn't be until after Christmas so as soon as we get it I will post a link. I HIGHLY recommend him, his prices were so reasonable for what we are getting and he works so well with Randy.

Ron Rosenzweig Officiant ~ What a nice and understated man Ron is. He is so professional and really put us at ease on our wedding day. He dresses in a nice suit and does a walk through with the Groom and Best man before the wedding. He practiced with my son on how to take out the rings because he was nervous. I wish I could have seen this. When I arrived at the Brides Vestibule he came right in and explained everything to me and went over what to do with me, my daughter and my dad. I Highly recommend him!

 

[disneemama]

I am so happy to know it was you! I was amazed how gracious you were to insist there was room for us on the elevator. I could not stop staring at you, you looked amazing, we could even see your Champagne &cake event, from the windows. We were taking a break and just happened to be by the windows,hehe. I did say my DD is getting married, its May 4th, WP-SH-St.Augustine ballroom. I even came back and posted on here that I saw a bride (never even thinking you were a Dis bride) and the advise you gave me for my daughter. You told me to tell her to try remember everything. You were so radiant and happy, it was a pleasure to speak to you. Congratulations again!

 

[Mindyjoy]

That is so funny that you two saw each other and didn't know you were both on DIS. I love reading stories like that!!

I hope you can post some pics soon!

 

[Deb loves Disney]

I am so happy to know it was you! I was amazed how gracious you were to insist there was room for us on the elevator. I could not stop staring at you, you looked amazing, we could even see your Champagne &cake event, from the windows. We were taking a break and just happened to be by the windows,hehe. I did say my DD is getting married, its May 4th, WP-SH-St.Augustine ballroom. I even came back and posted on here that I saw a bride (never even thinking you were a Dis bride) and the advise you gave me for my daughter. You told me to tell her to try remember everything. You were so radiant and happy, it was a pleasure to speak to you. Congratulations again!

I am so glad it was you also!!!! I remember telling you to come in the elevator and that to make sure your daughter took the time to take it all in. The day was such a blur, but a blur of great memories. I even told several people from our party that I met a DFTW Mom and that you were so nice. What a small world this is.

Your post above made me tear up, but in a good way. I'm so glad that you saw our cake and champagne ceremony. I absolutely loved our cake and I was in a haze of happiness during the whole thing.

Please tell your daughter that I wish her a very happy wedding day and for you as well. My mom cannot stop gushing over how wonderful everything was. It was a very special day for her as well. Try to ride over in the limo with your daughter to the Wedding Pavilion. It was a really special moment for my mom and I and I'll never forget it.

 

[Deb loves Disney]

I promise to post a few pics soon. I "stole" some from my Aunt who posted them on Facebook, lol. I will try and upload them to Photobucket and post them in the very near future.

I wanted to update everybody a little on mine and DH's story. We are both born in August, we both have the same Chinese New Year symbol....the Tiger (this kind of gives you a hint to his age, hehe) and amazingly we both share the same last 4 digits of our Social Security Numbers....I mean, how much a coincidence is that???? We were both really shocked when we realized this.

Both DH and I are both very calm, very easy going, very happy, cup is half full kind of people. Everybody always tells us how perfect a match we are for each other. It is really nice to know that you are coming home to somebody who will be in a good mood and will be pretty agreeable to everything you say.

Sometimes I pinch myself wondering if I will wake up from this perfect match. Being a single parent for so long made me very leery of men. I had to make sure they would be a good fit for the kids. When I first met DH, I just knew we would be together. I have never felt that way about anybody before and now I really do believe that love at first sight exists. I have been converted to a believer.

 

[Deb loves Disney]

So like I said in my previous post...I borrowed, lol, some pics that my aunt took at the wedding. These are not my professional pics as you can obviously tell but they are pics with some detail....I hope you enjoy them!

Here is Brian walking down the isle, sorry it's slightly blurry

My dad and I walking down the isle

Here is a cool color splash of all the flowers

Here is the violinist you get as part of the Escape package

There is also an organist but I was such in a wedding fog that I didn't even see her...I guess I will look for her on the video

Here we are right after the nuptials, our recessional walk

My son and daughter, our MOH and BM

Here they are again...they look so gorgeous here, I just love this pic

Don't let my daughter's unphased look fool you, she was loving the attention
Brian and I with my parents

The kids with his mom

 

[Deb loves Disney]

Brian and I walking out on Commander's Terrace for our cake and Champagne toast

The cake

Getting ready to cut the cake

A close-up of my flowers

This pic shows some of the table decorations at the Napa Room

Only pic of food I have so far...The California Grill gave Brian and I desserts with a their special congratulations in chocolate....this cheesecake was unbelievably good!!!

You can also see one of our favors which were alternating White and Milk chocolate Cinderella slippers with our own personalized M&M's inside tied with a silver ribbon

View of MK from the catwalk atop the Cali Grill

A pic of the sign they posted in the convention center announcing our wedding events at the GF

They forgot to change it to Whitehall Rm from 8:30-9:30 and Sago Cay Pointe from 9:30-10 due to the cold weather that night.

There are lots of details that my Aunt did not capture like the Sand ceremony, the staged exit, me and Brian wearing the Bridal ears (he had the top hat), our Pink Vinylmation guest book which was such a hit, and of course our fireworks dessert party.
As soon as I get either more guest photo's and Randy's photos I will post, post, post.