Drew and Ashley's Escape Vow Renewal: Having to change plans! Would appreciate input!

[MrsDrewsky]

Hello, I am new to posting here, but have been lurking the disboards for over 5 years. I knew I wanted a Disney wedding, when I first laid eyes on their ad, in one of my friend's bridal magazines.

DH and I eloped on July 15, 2011 in Nashville, which is where we met. Although we both made efforts to make this day special, it was one hot mess of a ceremony. Poor DH was sweating buckets, and miserable.... I had made the mistake of letting an acquaintance that was studying cosmetology attempt to style my hair, and ended up with a bald spot... and the minister said he tried to hurry up the ceremony as quickly as possible since it was so hot. We knew we would have our Disney wedding eventually, which made it a little more bearable. If it wasn't for that I probably would have been a wreck.

DH and I did have a small Disneymoon, and stayed in a studio at OKW for 5 nights. Our trip turned DH into a Disney fanatic, and I am surprised how involved he has been in planning our wedding.

DH chose our ceremony location, which is Sunrise Terrace at WL. I am hoping to stay at VWL for our actual Disneymoon. While I had hoped to have our wedding on our one year anniversary, DH refused due to our melting in Nashville. So January was agreed upon by our families.

So far we have the location, and I have ordered our Save the Dates, which I will post soon. I plan to call DFTW in January to pencil our date. I also purchased the Passporter DFTW guide, which answered pretty much every question I had about the planning process.

DH and I are going back in May, and I can't wait to check out the terrace. I am going to surprise DH with dinner at Artist Point and a birthday cake.

Table of Contents:
Our Story
Initial plans for our vow renewal
My Dress for our vow renewal and marriage ceremony
Monogram
Reception Plans
Our 1st Valentine's Day
My Birthday Proposal
Changing Locations and the date

 

[paigeturner]

Hello, I am new to posting here, but have been lurking the disboards for over 5 years. I knew I wanted a Disney wedding, when I first laid eyes on their ad, in one of my friend's bridal magazines.

DH and I eloped on July 15, 2011 in Nashville, which is where we met. Although we both made efforts to make this day special, it was one hot mess of a ceremony. Poor DH was sweating buckets, and miserable.... I had made the mistake of letting an acquaintance that was studying cosmetology attempt to style my hair, and ended up with a bald spot... and the minister said he tried to hurry up the ceremony as quickly as possible since it was so hot. We knew we would have our Disney wedding eventually, which made it a little more bearable. If it wasn't for that I probably would have been a wreck.

DH and I did have a small Disneymoon, and stayed in a studio at OKW for 5 nights. Our trip turned DH into a Disney fanatic, and I am surprised how involved he has been in planning our wedding.

DH chose our ceremony location, which is Sunrise Terrace at WL. I am hoping to stay at VWL for our actual Disneymoon. While I had hoped to have our wedding on our one year anniversary, DH refused due to our melting in Nashville. So January was agreed upon by our families.

So far we have the location, and I have ordered our Save the Dates, which I will post soon. I plan to call DFTW in January to pencil our date. I also purchased the Passporter DFTW guide, which answered pretty much every question I had about the planning process.

DH and I are going back in May, and I can't wait to check out the terrace. I am going to surprise DH with dinner at Artist Point and a birthday cake.

I know you're not new to the boards, but welcome anyway! I think that it is so sweet that the two of you eloped , but I'm sorry that it wasn't a perfect day! But hey, now you get to have your vow renewals in the best place ever! Isn't the Passporter guide awesome? I am officially obsessed with it! I can't wait to read more about your plans...congratulations on your DFTW!!!

 

[amylock]

Hello, I am new to posting here, but have been lurking the disboards for over 5 years. I knew I wanted a Disney wedding, when I first laid eyes on their ad, in one of my friend's bridal magazines.

DH and I eloped on July 15, 2011 in Nashville, which is where we met. Although we both made efforts to make this day special, it was one hot mess of a ceremony. Poor DH was sweating buckets, and miserable.... I had made the mistake of letting an acquaintance that was studying cosmetology attempt to style my hair, and ended up with a bald spot... and the minister said he tried to hurry up the ceremony as quickly as possible since it was so hot. We knew we would have our Disney wedding eventually, which made it a little more bearable. If it wasn't for that I probably would have been a wreck.

DH and I did have a small Disneymoon, and stayed in a studio at OKW for 5 nights. Our trip turned DH into a Disney fanatic, and I am surprised how involved he has been in planning our wedding.

DH chose our ceremony location, which is Sunrise Terrace at WL. I am hoping to stay at VWL for our actual Disneymoon. While I had hoped to have our wedding on our one year anniversary, DH refused due to our melting in Nashville. So January was agreed upon by our families.

So far we have the location, and I have ordered our Save the Dates, which I will post soon. I plan to call DFTW in January to pencil our date. I also purchased the Passporter DFTW guide, which answered pretty much every question I had about the planning process.

DH and I are going back in May, and I can't wait to check out the terrace. I am going to surprise DH with dinner at Artist Point and a birthday cake.

Congrats!!! The terrace was really nice when we checked it out. I think it only accommodates only 10 people total - which is why we didn't pick it.

I'd get the date lined up ASAP since you already have your STDs on order!!!

When are you going to be there in May?

 

[virtuous girl]

Welcome & Congrats on ur vow renewal!

 

[MrsDrewsky]

Congrats!!! The terrace was really nice when we checked it out. I think it only accommodates only 10 people total - which is why we didn't pick it.

I'd get the date lined up ASAP since you already have your STDs on order!!!

When are you going to be there in May?

Thank you so much. I have been really enjoying reading your planning journal. Your fiance sounds like a great guy.

We're arriving May 30th for our summer vacation.

Our expected guest count is only 8 people. I think we might be leaning towards using our STDs design as our house warming invitation due to our small guest count. We just ordered the graphic design from etsy, and will be printing them at home.

 

[Rayvnn]

Welcome!

Congrats!

Leslie

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Welcome and congratulations!!! When we were considering an Escape VR, we were interested in the Terrace, but we had too many guests for it, and, eventually we ran with a S/D VR anyway. It's a stunning little location!!
Good luck, happy planning and be sure to keep us informed!!!

 

[MrsDrewsky]

I know you're not new to the boards, but welcome anyway! I think that it is so sweet that the two of you eloped , but I'm sorry that it wasn't a perfect day! But hey, now you get to have your vow renewals in the best place ever! Isn't the Passporter guide awesome? I am officially obsessed with it! I can't wait to read more about your plans...congratulations on your DFTW!!!

Yes, the Passporter guide is awesome. I am also pretty obsessed with it. My DH is starting to get jealous of the Passporter guide and the disboards.

Virtuous girl, Rayvnn, and tinkerbell 766: thank you for being so welcoming

I am happy to hear the good reviews of the location. We plan on incorporating the lodge atmosphere into our theme.

I found this photo on google images of the terrace, and plan to decorate it in a similar way:

For part of our ceremony we plan to seal a wine bottle and love letters to one another in a box to open on our ten year anniversary. I found this rustic wedding wine box on etsy:

For my bouquet I want to add a rustic accent:

For our cake I want something similar to this. We only need it to be 2-tier. I think mickey and minnie would look pretty darn cute up there, or perhaps the white chocolate castle with brown accents

This would be my dream scenario. In May I will find out how much these little extras will cost

 

[PrincessElla]

that cake is so pretty. We are thinking about doing the wine box ceremony as well.

 

[MrsDrewsky]

So I know I still have over a year to go, but I am recovering from surgery on my spine, and all this bed rest is leaving me with nothing to do.... except plan our wedding.

I am in love with this mori lee.

I thought I would share a photo from our elopement. I wore a small ivory dress from Davids Bridal. It did the job, and adding the ribbon helped it a little.

DH assures me he was just miserable from the heat, not getting married.

DH and I have been going on small walks at night, and last night he said he wouldn't mind splurging to have Mickey and Minnie come to our cake cutting. DH's best friend is hopefully coming to our ceremony, with his two kids. I love those kiddos and can't wait to see them meet Mickey at our ceremony.

Also today we are sending Randy our deposit for photography. Even though we can't secure our date/time until May, he said he is really flexible since he is familiar with DFTW's policies. We were able to secure his 2011 price for our 2013 ceremony by placing our deposit today.

 

[MrsDrewsky]

Some small updates...
We now have less then a year until our vow renewal! I am trying to focus on our trip to Disney in May, so the time will just fly by

One update... I bought my dress! It is the Mori Lee I had been eyeing. On a whim last month, I checked out preownedweddingdresses.com, and found two dresses in my size. To make things even better, one of the brides was my height and had a french bustle put in her dress. I was terribly nervous about ordering my dress this way, but for only $200 I couldn't resist. It came through UPS a few days ago, and it's absolutely in perfect condition. I think this girl could have been my body double, for the dress fits nicely. It is a corset back, so that probably helps... She even included her veil and a wrap. I now have the dress in my house, and will have to safely store it for almost a year.

With the $700 + saved, we are discussing treating our guests to a Wishes cruise. Having only eight guests can have it's perks.

I also wanted to share our monogram... I ordered it from Wendy's etsy shop. She did such a great job, I told her I wanted a "hidden mickey" monogram, and she later sent me four designs to choose from. I plan to use this on our gift bag card, guest book, and favors. I have worked with Wendy twice now, and can't say enough good things about her.

 

[yourgypsy]

Yay for finding a dress AND for saving a ton of money! I love when things work like that.

Your monogram is super cute and I love the Mickeys in it

 

[MrsDrewsky]

Yay for finding a dress AND for saving a ton of money! I love when things work like that.

Your monogram is super cute and I love the Mickeys in it

Thank you! We're big "hidden Mickey" fans, and had to incorporate one into the wedding somehow. Luckily there are people like Wendy out there that can help brides like me, that a graphic design impaired .

 

[MrsDrewsky]

First of all, sorry about how disorderly my planning journal is. I was just so excited to finally start one, I jumped in without really planning my planning journal.

So I met my now husband almost a year ago when I first moved to Nashville, Tennessee. I am someone who was pretty practical when it came to dating, and had always said I would have to date someone for over a year before becoming engaged, I was never going to try online dating, wouldn't get married before I was 30, and would consider marriage only after I finished my masters degree.

At 27, I moved to Nashville to complete my degree, and proceeded to herniate two discs in my spine during the move. I met with a doctor, who assigned me to bed rest for a few days, which led to complete boredom.

I decided to check out plentyoffish.com during my bed rest, for my good friend had met her husband through the site, and I really didn't have anything else to do. I was about to delete my account after lurking about, when I saw Drew's picture, my heart skipped a beat. I read his profile, he had moved back to Nashville from Oklahoma a few months prior. Wow, I was from Oklahoma and just moved to Nashville! Drew loved Tom Waits . Drew was handsome with an amazing beard I really thought there was no way he was going to reply to my message, but he ended up eventually giving me his phone number, and we text during the rest of the week. It was so sweet, he knew I was stuck in bed and would send me all these fun pictures of Nashville and his outings to keep me occupied.

Everything was kind of a whirlwind after that... I met Drew's parents a week later when they drove in from Illinois, and I also met his best friend. I think that sealed it for me, Drew's parents and friends are such an amazing group of genuine people, and they love and admire Drew very much. I knew then, that I loved him and wanted to marry him. Even now I can't believe I am married to such a wonderful man.

So things got a bit rough with my spine... we still didn't know I had a herniated disc. The disc started pinching and damaging my sciatic nerve that ran down my right leg, and I was struggling. I could barely walk on some days, and was constantly in an immense amount of pain. I was going to several doctors, physical therapy, orthopedists, nothing was working! Drew took such great care of me, and was even trying to help me financially due to all of my visits. I told him I wouldn't consider letting him do such a thing unless we were married. He then asked me to marry him. Umm.... what? Then I heard myself say yes. Oh wow...

Drew and I wanted a wedding, in fact when I told him my dream of having a Disney wedding he was so supportive. But I think every girl dreams of walking down the aisle in a beautiful dress, but I couldn't even bring myself to get excited due to my health issues. We decided to just elope.

After our elopement my overall condition took a serious turn for the worse. I went to the emergency room twice, due to my leg no longer getting proper blood circulation. My leg was turning completely black and blue, and the medical care I was receiving was just terrible. After a few discussions, we decided to move to Oklahoma together so I could receive proper care from my doctor. I know this might sound backwards, but the neurosurgeon in Oklahoma was actually one of the best in the nation, and I know this happened for a reason. I went into surgery in December, and was able to walk out the following day.

Drew and I during our first six months of marriage went through quite a bit, and my family has been amazed by how attentive, loving, and caring he was towards me during all this time. He has been my rock, and I feel that I was meant to meet Drew before going through all of this, for I don't know what I would have done without him. We're planning this vow renewal as a way to celebrate my recovering from surgery and making it through physical therapy, and as a way to confirm our vows to our friends and family that have helped us during this time.

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

What an amazing love story, it's so fantastic when things sound like they're meant to be!

Congrats on finding your dress for such a fantastic deal! Also I love your anniversary "time capsule" idea, it's very romantic!

 

[Icecoldpenguin]

I needed to stop in because you have been commenting on my stuff and I wanted to make sure that I said something to you.

I love your story and sometimes when you know...you just know.

I am so glad that you have had such good like finding the man of your dreams.

I love your location too.

Teresa

 

[MrsDrewsky]

What an amazing love story, it's so fantastic when things sound like they're meant to be!

Congrats on finding your dress for such a fantastic deal! Also I love your anniversary "time capsule" idea, it's very romantic!

Thank you so much I never thought I would have such a whirlwind courtship, even showing it to my DH last night we both sometimes can't believe all of this has happened.

I needed to stop in because you have been commenting on my stuff and I wanted to make sure that I said something to you.

I love your story and sometimes when you know...you just know.

I am so glad that you have had such good like finding the man of your dreams.

I love your location too.

Teresa

Thank you. I have been enjoying following your plans as I love Star Wars as well. This year will be our first Star Wars weekend at WDW.

 

[virtuous girl]

The dress u pick out is so Pretty the design of ur cake is so unique 2... i was looking into a wishes cruise also but my guests list is a little to big 4 that but i would love 2 go on 1 one day

 

[MrsDrewsky]

The dress u pick out is so Pretty the design of ur cake is so unique 2... i was looking into a wishes cruise also but my guests list is a little to big 4 that but i would love 2 go on 1 one day

Thank you! I like the cake, but DH caught a glimpse at a few of the mad hatter cakes and really wants one.

I know this is going to sound crazy, but it's so nice to hear from brides who's planning journals I have been admiring. I can't believe I get to be a Disney bride too

 

[yourgypsy]

Drew and I during our first six months of marriage went through quite a bit, and my family has been amazed by how attentive, loving, and caring he was towards me during all this time. He has been my rock, and I feel that I was meant to meet Drew before going through all of this, for I don't know what I would have done without him. We're planning this vow renewal as a way to celebrate my recovering from surgery and making it through physical therapy, and as a way to confirm our vows to our friends and family that have helped us during this time.

This paragraph brought me to tears. You know from my PJ that I've a number of health issues as well, and so much of what you wrote here sums up how I feel about Doug. Oh, goodness, I need a tissue. How are you doing now?

By the way, I love that you mentioned his beard in your 'meeting' story. Very adorable!