Dream 426's Wedding PJ and Disneymoon PJ!!!

[Dream426]

I have seen so many of you girls put one of these together and I have enjoyed reading them so much that I have decided to make my own. This is such a great board that I have become addicted to in the past few weeks. I don't comment on everyone's thread but I am pretty sure I have read most of them. Everyone has written such nice PJ and reviews I am so excited to write one myself. I am not much of a writer so I hope this is interesting enough for everyone. I will start by introducing us.

Me (Gina ): I am 24 and will be turning 25 in a few weeks. I am a huge fan of Disney and have always been one. I have been to Disney about 10 times and plan to go at least once a year after we get married. Yes I am obsessed.

DF (Jon ): Jon is 25 and will be turning 26 in December. We have been together for almost 7 years which has been long distance for the first 4. Jon moved down to live with me on Long Island for the past 2 years. I took him last summer 2006 to Disneyworld for his first time. He had never been before and really enjoyed it. He can't wait to go back, which is really good for me because I love it.

Here are a few pics of us:

When We Got Engaged

In January of 2006 we decided to plan a trip to Disneyworld. I was so excited because I hadn't been there since senior year of high school which was 6 years before that. It had been awhile and DF had never been. I think all of my excitement and stories really got him interested because he finally agreed to go. I was shocked. I quickly made the plans before he could change his mind and we were all set for July 3, 2006 for our first day at Disney.

Our engagement didn't happen until July 4, 2006. We had gone out to a nice dinner in Pleasure Island at an Irish place. DF's heritage is Irish and was so excited to go so I agreed. The food was excellent. I can't remember the name but I can't wait to go back. After we finished eating we headed over the MK to watch the fireworks show. I love all of Disney's shows and parades so I was really excited. DF wanted to really go to Cinderellas Castle and wasn't giving up. I am sure all of you know how crowded it is when they have a fireworks show or a parade. You can't move. We finally made it by the castle and watched the fireworks show, which was awesome. I could see DF acting strange and trying to pull something out of his pocket but it wouldn't come out. He was having a hard time and getting very frustrated. It was so cute. He finally got the box out and looked at me with a smile. He did the whole deal and got down on one knee and proposed. It is a moment I will never forget. Very romantic. Our parents were waiting the whole time. It was kind of funny because everytime we called them they were like so anything else new. I think they were sitting on the edge of their couches waiting. When we called they all screamed. It was so funny. Here is a pic of the ring.

Hope everyone enjoyed my first installment. Like I said I am not very good at writing. I will try and make my next installment soon. I am headed to a bbq later so it will either be tonight or tomorrow. Enjoy your day.

 

[jasonandlisa]

Congratulations!!! That's so sweet that he wanted to propose at Cinderella's castle during the fireworks show. I'm looking forward to hearing about all your plans

 

[TheRealDoraExplorer]

Congratulations on everything! You two really make a cute couple. I hope your wedding plans go perfectly and I wish you all the happiness. I'll be rooting for you guys!

 

[Dream426]

After coming home from Disney we didn't start planning the wedding right away. We decided to enjoy our engagement and celebrate with our friends and family for a few months. During that time we were throwing around dates on when we wanted to get married. I have always loved and wanted to get married on April 26th. I never thought it would land on a Saturday the year we wanted to get married. I really lucked out and DF was happy with what ever date I wanted. So we decided that after the holidays we would start looking at reception halls to see where we wanted to have our reception.

Starting in January of 2007 we started looking at halls and realizing what we liked and what we didn't like in a hall. After looking at about 10-15 halls we finally decided on something that we loved and the food was great. They even had the date available. It is actually a place we never thought we would love because it was kind of the opposite of what we wanted and funny enough we fell in love with it. We talked with the banquet manager and brought the folder home to discuss all the details and see what we could change and see if we could get some add ins and the price to come down a little. We went back later in January and booked the place and are very happy with our decision. We decided to have our reception at Chateau Briand on April 26, 2008.

Ceremony

Our next step after booking the reception hall was to book the church where we would have the ceremony. Hoping that they had the our date available I quickly called my church up and made an appointment. Thankfully the date was available and I was able to get the time we wanted. Here are a few pics of the church

Next up is booking the Disneymoon way in advance.

 

[caryndisneydiva]

congratulations! can't wait to read about your plans!!!

 

[oneyodafan]

Congratulations! Your reception location is beautiful!

 

[Dream426]

Thank you so much girls.

 

[Pomlover2586]

I love your reception hall and your church is absolutely stunning! What a wonderfuL PJ so far! Patiently waiting for more......

 

[Dream426]

After we booked our reception hall and church I really wanted to get a start on booking our honeymoon. Now I knew I wanted to go to Disney and on the Disney Cruise. I wanted to book as soon as possible because I know it gets booked up way in advance and the longer you wait the more the price will go up. The only thing was I wasn't sure if DF wanted to go since we just went less than a year ago. I knew he loved the trip when we went in July but I know DF he loves places on the beach and loves to relax which you don't really do at Disney. I approached him with the idea. He wasn't sure at first and I knew what would seal the deal for him. I told him on the cruise at like 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon they have beer tasting. Well that was good enough for him. I quickly went on the computer over a year in advance for the 3 night at Disney World and 4 nights on the cruise. What I really wanted to do was go to Disney for a week and the cruise for a week but as of right now we can't afford it. So I booked the deluxe stateroom with verandah for July 3rd-July 10. We have to plan our honeymoon about 2 months later because I am a teacher and can't take my honeymoon during the school year. It is kind of frowned upon. Which is ok with me because I really wanted a April wedding so it was just a little thing I had to sacrafice for it. Plus the schools are on spring break the whole week before my wedding so I don't think having two weeks off in a row would look to good. But we were really excited to go on the cruise.

After a few weeks have gone by I kept saying I really want the one bedroom suite. I didn't think we would be able to afford it. It was all I could think about. So one night I was like you know what we can't do what we really want, which is spend two weeks there and it is our honeymoon, I am going to spend the extra money and upgrade to the one bedroom suite and upgrade the hotel stay to the Grand Floridian. I figured out a way financially we could do it if it was only a little much more. I was so excited I called Disney Cruise up right away. I had all of my paper work out in front of me on my bed to write all the new information down. I got a woman on the phone and explained the situation and what I wanted to do. She said ok let me check. I was so hopeful and afraid because now it was a little while later from when I booked and I wasn't sure if anything was available. I know there is only a few suites available. She came back to say that nothing was available and I was so disappointed. She said she could put my name on a waiting list. I said ok not happy at all. I hung up and all my hopes went out the window. I was so upset. About a week went by and I was starting to accept the fact that would probably wouldn't be upgrading and I was still excited about Disney. I knew we would still have a great time. I came home from work one day and I was talking to my mom about the whole situation again for the millionth time and I said do you think I should call again or is it not worth it. She definitely said I should call that you have to keep on top of them. I said ok but I am not getting my hopes up. I went got all of my information again even though I thought it was pointless. A woman answered the phone and again I explain the information and what I wanted and that it was my honeymoon and I really wanted this. She said congrats and she would see if anything was available. After about 1 minute she came back to say we have one available. I said what. And she said we have a one bedroom suite for oyu to upgrade to. I said really. She said yup. I was so excited. My hopes were back and up and she said would you like me to upgrade you. I said OMG yes. So the process was going through and I asked how much more it would be and when she told me the price I kind of got a little nervous because it was more than I thought. But oh well I didn't care. I would figure it out. It is our honeymoon and we should spend a little more and spoil ourselves. She we would be upgraded to the Grand Floridian and I said great. She took another deposit which I knew she would already and I was all set. I was so excited and I got off the phone and screamed to my mom. She was happy and jealous at the same time. We had gone on the Disney Cruise when the Wonder was brand new and stayed in the 2 bedroom suite and we loved it. I told my mom the following summer we will plan a trip and do it all together. I couldn't wait to tell DF when he got home from work. I then quickly went on the computer to amazon and ordered the Birnbaums guide for the Disney Cruise. I wanted to read up about it because it has been about 8 years since I been on it and I know there were a million changes. Here is one pic I found of the one bedroom suite. It is the living room and a pic of the GF.

Now my next thing was to block rooms at the hotel for our out of town guests and for our wedding night. I knew I was going to go to the hotel my dad works at and does security for. It was a few blocks from my reception hall which was perfect. I went to talk to someone who gave me an awesome deal because my dad works there. DF and I got our grand suite for free for 3 nights and my parents got a suite free for 2 nights. The guests got a great rate also. A lot less than any other night. We decided we wanted to have a bar party after the wedding at the hotel and they gave that to us for free. They gave us the shuttle for free and also the room for brunch the next morning for free. We do have to pay for breakfast because it is catered by the deli next door but that was fine. I was so excited to get everything for free. Thanks to daddy. Here are a few pics of our room the night of our wedding and maybe the whole week. We might stay there since we aren't taking our honeymoon right away and then on the weekend after we are going to my parents place in Montauk to have some time alone.

Hope everyone enjoyed this entry. Next is dress and bridesmaid dresses.

 

[Dream426]

It was time for me to start looking for a dress. I was very excited about going and had invited my cousin (maid of honor) and my mom to come with me. I had an idea of what I wanted and brought pictures with me to show the lady at the store what my style was. We had an appointment at a bridal store that was suppose to have a nice size selection of dresses. When we walked in we were sitting there forever and no one walked over to us. Finally my cousin went up to them and said that we were here and gave her my name. The lady said she would be right with us so we went to sit back down. She walked out from behind the counter and screamed my name from across the room. I was like ok. Not really liking how it was going so far. She should have come over to me and introduced herself instead of screaming my name and tapping her foot while she waited for me to come to her. So I showed her a picture of what I liked and she goes oh and made a face. That would be strike two. I was disgusted by her but I was not letting her get me down. I told myself ok if I find a dress I love here I will buy it somewhere else because this lady's customer service was horrible. My cousin turned to me and was getting so annoyed. So the lady picked out dresses (ones that were total opposite of what I told her I liked) and brought me to a dressing room. She gave me a strapless bra that was too small for me so I was basically sticking out and there was no point for me wearing it and on top of that she never closed the curtain to the room while she helped me get into the dresses. I have never been so uncomfortable in my life. My cousin saw that I wasn't liking any of the dresses because it wasn't what I wanted and her and my mom didn't like them either. So my cousin said very nicely is there anything you have that is similar to the picture because that is what she likes. And the lady was annoyed saying you shouldn't limit yourself and that you should try all types. Now I agree but you still need to bring ones that I have asked for. She did a little better with the dresses but I still didn't like them because too much was going on with the dress. The lady asked out of the dresses what did I like the most and I said the pickups. She got so annoyed and said then why I you wasting my time if thats what you want. My cousin was fuming now and said well that is what she told you from the beginning and you weren't listening to her. That was the end of that store and I got out of there so disappointed and not wanting to look anymore. We were all so pissed off. We couldn't believe someone could be so rude. This is suppose to be a happy time looking for a dress and instead I hated it. I didn't want to go to another bridal store.

But the next morning my cousin woke me up and said come on we are going. I had no choice. She wasn't going to take no for an answer. She asked what other places I wanted to look and made the calls for me. Thank goodness for her. I don't know what I would have done. One of the places didn't have any appointments available for that day but another place on my list did and we had to go right away. She called me back saying she was on her way. I was still in bed. I had to hurry shower and I just threw clothes on and put my hair into a messy bun. We were on our way and talking about the events that happened the day before. We were still so annoyed. We arrived at the second bridal salon and were welcomed right away. I felt so comfortable. The lady who owns it is named Carmela and is from Italy which is perfect with my family. We are italian and we got into a conversation on how my great aunt was a seamstress and made wedding gowns and her name is Carmela also. I should have known it was fate. My great aunt was in the hospital at this point sick and we were all worried about her but this place gave us a great feeling. I showed the lady the same picture and she got the dress right away for me along with other dresses that she thought I would like just by looking at them. I tried the dresses on and really like all of them. She was getting my style so much. While I was standing at the mirror in a dress she happened to pull a dress off the rack and told me I should try it on. I said no because it looked to simple. Like I said before I didn't want too much going on with the dress but I didn't want it to be too simple. She told me just to try so I said ok thinking I can just tell her I don't like it. Well when I put it on I knew it was the one. I fell in love with it so much. My cousin had tears in her eyes and she called my mom (who was visiting my great aunt..weird I know) and told her to hurry over here. My my came right over and loved the dress also. The lady was going to give me a great deal but I said I wanted m grandmother to see it first before I ordered with the veil and tiara. The next weekend (exactly a week later) my grandmother came to see and was talking to the lady in italian. I knew she would love it there. I put on the dress and came out to show everyone and she started to cry my grandmother. She loved it and her approval was so important to me. She loved everything. The only thing she was was for me to have a bigger tiara but I didn't want a big one. I was so happy to have her there. Now the weird thing is, I said before that my great aunt made wedding gowns and her name was Carmela's and so was the lady who owned the store and it was the stores name. That night, that I put the deposit down on the dress and ordered, my mom got the call that my great aunt passed away. It was heartbreaking but my mom now believes that we were meant to go to this store. It means something to us now and the ladies that work there know the story and are the sweetest. Here is are some pics of the dress. It is an Eve of Milady dress.

I am also ordering my bridesmaid dresses there because we love them so much. My mom wants to order her dress there also when she finds one. My girls went to get measured and order their dress and loved the ladies there also. the bridesmaids are going to wear a Bill Levkoff dress #550. The color is going to be a Euro Wine. I couldn't get a picture of the dress with the color but here it is in a different color.

Hope everyone enjoyed this entry. Have a great day.

 

[Iluffyou]

Loving the pj so far!

 

[caryndisneydiva]

oooooooo, your dress and bm dresses are amazing!!!

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

Welcome to the board Gina!!! It all looks beautiful!! Your church and reception hall are gorgeous, your wedding is going to be amazing. And I'm totally jealous of your honeymoon, WOW! I want to go on the DCL SO bad.
And holy moly your dress is goooorgeous, as is the bridesmaids dress. Really beautiful.
I can't wait to see more!

 

[Dream426]

Thank you girls so much for all of your kind comments. I really appreciate it.

 

[Dream426]

Well it has been a few days since I wrote in my PJ. I have been so busy that I have only been able to read everyone elses. Not too much going on here though. I am 7 months away from my wedding and I still have a lot to do.

I have booked the dj, photographer, videographer, and limos. My next step is to book a florist. I have gone to speak to a couple of florist and I am pretty sure of who I am going to book with. Both were very nice and listened to what I wanted. Here is a picture of the bo-k I want.

I want tall centerpieces for each of the tables. The tables I will be having are oval shaped so I thought tall ones would look best plus I want the guests to be able to see each other and not have flowers in their faces. For the centerpieces I don't want a lot of green in them and I don't want them overpowering. I do want some color in it unlike my bo-k and the bridesmaid bo-k's. For the bridesmaid bo-k's I was thinking a bo-k of cream colored roses would go perfectly with their Euro Wine dresses. The flowers were really overwhelming because I didn't realize how much goes into flowers and how much you need. Thank goodness the florist knew..haha

My next thing I wanted to do was start looking at shoes. I knew I would need to order them within the next 2-3 months so I decided to get a start on it because I know I picky I am when it comes to shoes. I picked a pair out that I love. I am not sure what color to go with yet because my dress is a diamond white which is not ivory but not white. The colors I have to chose from is ivory and white silk I think. I am going to buy a pair in both colors to see what would go better with the dress. Now my mom thinks the heel is too high 3 1/2 inches which I don't think is too bad. I can deal. I have danced all night in heals everytime I go out. I can deal for one night. Here is a pic of them.

Here is also a close up picture of my tiara. I didn't post it in the other thread but it is not big like my grandmother wanted. I wanted something simple.

I have also started to think about cakes and what I wanted. I know I didn't want columns on the cakes to divide each section. I know I want flowers on it also but I don't want to many and no green leaves. These are some of the ones I like and the idea of what I want. No decisions have been made though. I really love the first one the best.

After thinking about cakes and reading about them I realized I wanted to do something special for FH and decided I would get him a grooms cake for the rehearsal dinner. He is a huge yankee fan so I want to do a yankees cake. I know they can get expensive and I still wanted to do. Then luckily one day I went to a bridal show and I won a $250 gift certificate to a place that makes amazing cakes so I am going to put it towards that. This is the only picture I have found so far but if anyone has any other they can post for me I would really appreciate it.

That is all for my update as soon as I do more and make more things final I will post on here. I am sure I will be doing a lot since tomorrow is the 7 month mark til the wedding. Oh yeah and I ordered this to be delivered to us on our honeymoon our first night there at GF.

It comes with the bridal ears that I want and sparkling wine with mickey wine glasses and crackers and cheese. There is a whole website. Well that is it for now. Hope everyone enjoyed reading and I will update soon hopefully.

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

Everything is looking great, sounds like it's all coming together! Those cakes are beautiful, and I really like that tiara! I like the more simple ones too.

And I think I'm going to order that same gift basket as a surprise as well!

 

[Dream426]

Thank you! Yeah I love that basket. FH has no idea it will be there when we get there. They have so much on that sight besides that but I thought this was the best and I wanted the ears anyway so why not have them waiting for us.

 

[caryndisneydiva]

i have to say again how much i just LOVE your dress, it's stunning...

what website did you order the basket from?

 

[Dream426]

Hey. Thank you so much. This is the website to order the basket.

http://www.disneyflorist.com/category/disney-florist-unique-designs/display

They have some other cute things.

 

[Dream426]

Hey everyone. I haven't written in awhile because things have been crazy here. I got an email from someone I met at my bridal store who was ordering the same gown that I did. She told me that the bridal lady at the store was making fake dresses. My dress is an Eve of Milady and to find out that I am paying all this money for a copy I was so upset. We went to the bridal store and spent three hours with this lady and with 3 months away from getting my supposed Eve of Milady gown she gave me my deposit back for everything. We took the girls bridesmaid dresses and left to never work with them again. So yesterday I went to the Eve of Milady's headquarters and they are making my dress for me and a gorgeous veil that is better than the one I was going to get from the bridal store. Everything worked out for the best and I can't wait to go for my first fitting. The lady said my dress will be ready in March and that my first fitting will be at the end of March. I just couldn't believe this was happened at first and that someone could do this to you knowing it is a special day for you. Everyone take this as a lesson to make sure you are getting what you ordered.