Emma & Scott's Wishes Wedding-10/16/12-WP/GF-*UPDATE-Planning Trip TR*

[ladyemz]

After spending lots of time lurking on these boards I can finally start my PJ as a Disney Bride to be, we are pencilled in for a 5pm ceremony at the WP on Tuesday 16th October, followed by a cocktail hour and reception at the Grand Floridian, Whitehall Room and Patio, with a Dessert Party at Sago Cay to watch Wishes...to say I am excited is probably an understatement!

Introduction

We had originally planned a May 2013 wedding, but over the last few weeks have learnt to live life to the full as sadly we lost my Grandad very suddenly. This made us question why are we waiting until 2013 so we checked with our guests and most of them could make October 2012 if we brought it forward so we contacted DFTW and after a lovely conversation with Pam, we are now pencilled in for a 5pm ceremony. We are hoping the wedding planning will help to my Nan over the next few months by taking her mind off things and also that she will be able to travel with us to celebrate, health permitting.

So, here we are on our first day of the magical trip we had in May this year

I am Emma (24) and DFi is Scott (23) - a toyboy!!!

We have been together for 4 years now, and lived together for 2 1/2. He was friends with my stepbrother at school so I kind of already knew him, and he tells me he used to fancy me when we were younger but it all started with a chat up line from him ... "Your mum tells me you don't know how to use a mop!" So romantic huh?! Scott used to have a Chelsea season ticket as does my Mum so he also knew her from football, hence the silly conversation about my mopping on the train home that day, thanks Mum!

We went to DLP in October 2008 with his sister and neice Ruby, who was only 3 at the time, and this is when our love for Disney really took off! We had always both enjoyed watching the films, we used to watch Scott's old VHSs in our early days!!!! My favourite is of course Lady and the Tramp, while Scott likes Jungle Book and Lion King.

Here we are in DLP (with Ruby our flower girl!)

After moving into our house in 2009, holidays were put on the back seat to decorating, so when we started to think of where to go in 2011 there was only one place we could think of...Florida! We originally thought it would be too expensive but after a few hours with a Virgin rep we had booked 15 nighst at the Fairfield Inn and Suites on I Drive for May 2011, luckily this is when I found the Dibb and after lots of research we decided to change our holiday to 8 nights at POR with DDP, then I booked a surprise for Scott, a night at BLT with rented DVC points, before finally moving up to I Drive.

This was the most magical holiday ever, we loved it and we knew from the first day that we would be back, just like we had been told we would on here! lol. (Trip report is in my sig if anyone is interested)

Next up...the proposal

 

[DisneyShamrock]

I just followed you over from the 2013 Weddings thread. I can't wait to read more about your plans!

 

[ladyemz]

I just followed you over from the 2013 Weddings thread. I can't wait to read more about your plans!

Thank you, sorry to leave you but glad you can still follow along with me

 

[ladyemz]

The Proposal
After a busy day of Crystal Palace breakfast with Pooh and friends, a morning in Magic Kingdom and then afternoon at blizzard beach, we were running slightly late for our ADR at Ohanas! No time to dry my hair, so sporting a nice "natural" curly look we go the bus to MK and then the boat across to the Polynesian. We really enjoyed our meal here, one of the favourites from our holiday, we even enjoyed a couple of drinks each!!! HEre is our server with one of the skewers

After dinner we walked down to the beach and took a seat to watch Wishes. Scott was a bit fidgety and suggested the 2 sunbeds I had chosen were too close to other people so we walked along the beach...no sunbeds in sight! So he suggested sitting on the kerb of the path just outside the Spirit of Aloha dinner show, which meant all we could hear was that! So we walked a bit further up...then we realised we couldn't see the castle anymore. It was now only 5 minutes before Wishes was due to start and I didn't want to miss it!!! haha. So we walked back to the sunbeds we started on....Not sure what all the fuss was about! Then he started to move his sunbed away from mine? I asked him what he was doing but he just mumbled something then finally sat down!!!

Finally!!!! We had a great view from here and there were not many other people on the beach to bother us so I was unsure of all the fuss he had made, and we enjoyed the electrical water pageant while Wishes was on

After a few comments of him telling me to stop taking photos as we had seen Wishes loads already (Not with the water pageant though) he started to fumble around again, pushed his sunbed even further and then got down on one knee

This was just the most perfect proposal for me and of course I said yes!

We brought some souvenirs from the Poly as a reminder of our magical evening, a lei for me to wearm here we are newly engaged at the Poly

And also a painting of Mickey and Minnie on sunbeds on the Poly beach, the exact same spot as where he proposed so this was a perfect memento

We now have it framed with a photopass picture of us and a photo of the beautiful beach we took the next day

We then got the bus back to POR and had a celebratory drink in the bar watching Yee-Ha Bob, that guy is mad and very talented, before going to bed after a few texts home to tell our friends and family the good news!

Next up...the ring

 

[ladyemz]

The Ring

Scott proposed with a Disney Couture Snow White rose ring:

Which meant that our plans changed slightly the next day to allow us to go ring shopping!!!

We went to the Outlets at the top of I Drive, and were looked after by a lovley lady in Ultra Diamonds. I tried on lots of rings, many were way too big for me and when she put "the ring" on my finger I knew it was the one. Here it is too small before it was sent off for resizing

It has 4 princess cut diamonds on the top in a square, and then 2 round diamonds on either side of the clasp, perfect!

I now wear both beautiful rings

Next up ... our welcome home and engagement party

 

[ladyemz]

Welcome Home and Engagement Party
We arrived home after the long flight, without any sleep for Scotty, and found our house looking like this:

I have the bestest friends ever, they did a great job and it made coming home not so bad! Perfect surprise for us, I especially loved the disney balloons and have even kept the foils

Then inside we had lots of lovely cards, flowers, champagne and even a wedding photo album from my sister!

We went to my Mum and stepdad Brian's for dinner the next day, and for pudding we were presented with this!!!

We were so grateful for everyone being so thoughtful that we decided to have an engagement party to celebrate our good news with our friends and family, we had it at a local parish hall, and lost half our deposit due to the firemem paying us a visit...too much smoke machine, ooops! Was funny though as all of my friends thought they were strippers!!!! Here are a few photos from the night:

My Dad did a great job printing banners for the decorations, the invites for the party were in the same style with the ring photo

Me and my Mum made a yummy buffet, which also served as my lunch the next day as I wasn't too drunk to forget to stash a tupperware full in my car boot

Brian's mum baked us some yummy treats for the cake table

Another Costco cake...which we forgot to cut so we cut and delivered it the next day as my wedding diet needed to start!!!

My friend (And bridesmaid!) Rhianne made us these delicious cake pops and little cute E and S hearts She is going to learn how to make Mickey head ones in time for the wedding reception in the UK

Me, Scotty, Mum and my stepdad Brian

And here I am with my special guests!!!

 

[ladyemz]

Initial Plans
Obviously we started to think about our wedding while we were still in Florida, and we had some spare time the morning we checked out of BLT before heading up to I Drive so we got the monorail to the Poly to take some photos of the beach to show family and friends

and then just to our left we could see this

so we walked along the path to Franks, we popped in and got a brochure and then a bride's uncle was entering the wedding pavilion, early for a rehearsal, saw our badges and invited us in to look around, I thought he was a wedding planner as he had lots of folders and notebooks haha.

Once we had entered this magical place we knew we would love to get married here, I am sure you all know how beautiful it is but here are a few photos we took

So we knew we had found our ideal venue, and we wanted to watch Wishes on our wedding night which meant a dessert party at the GF, so we also decided on Whitehall room for our reception so we wouldn't have to move locations again.

We originally thought May 2013 would be a good date, as we had loved WDW at this time of year, perfect weather and hardly any queuing, and this would also give people time to save up if they wanted to come and share our magical day.

We were very lucky and have about 30 family and friends who want to come with us, but then sadly we lost my Grandad very suddenly last month which made us think we need to enjoy life, and live it to the full, so we considered bringing the wedding forward to next October (as we had already booked 10 nights at SSR with Mum and Brian to show them around and have our planning session). Everyone was still able to come if we did this apart from one of Scott's uncles, aunty and 4 kids as it is not long enough to save, but we agreed to bring it forward as they can still celebrate with us at our UK reception, and hopefully planning a wedding will give my Nan something happier to concentrate on. So we contacted Disney Fairytale Weddings (DFTW) and checked for availability for our stay (8th -18th October) and there was one day left, Tuesday 16th October 2012 for our chosen venues...so we were pencilled in!

 

[DisneyShamrock]

That proposal is priceless! How cute with moving the chairs. I love the Snow White ring, too. Your engagement ring is gorgeous! The photo you got of Mickey and Minnie is absolutely perfect. What a great memento to have on your wall.

The welcome home and engagement party looked like a ton of fun. We just announced our engagement on Facebook and let our friends overrun our walls while we vegged out for the weekend (oh, modern technology).

It's good to hear your family is on board for the wedding. I first told my family and got mixed reactions, but everyone was going to be there. When we decided to move our date to November 2012 (after finding out my uncle, a cousin, and my grandparents wouldn't make January 2013), all hell broke loose for about three days. So, instead of losing two months, we pushed it back to November 2013 and gained ten. Oh well, for a particular person like me, more time is better. And, we could save more and extend our honeymoon!

I can't wait to read more!

 

[mebbradley]

I'm so happy it worked out well for you even if you moved to 2013! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Princess_K]

What a sweet proposal! And your ring is gorgeous!

That's great that they had an opening for your October trip. We have very similar venues as you -- WP & Whitehall, only we are headed to Epcot for our dessert party that night.

Can't wait to read along!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Emma sweetie - Loving all the photos!! The engagement party looks like great fun (especially the 'unplanned guests!!). Cute proposal too. You are a lucky girl!!

 

[tric8783]

Welcome and Congrats!! What a cute proposal story! Looking forward to hearing more of your plans!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

Congratulations! I love your story and your engagement party looked like a lot of fun! I'm looking forward to reading more!

 

[ladyemz]

That proposal is priceless! How cute with moving the chairs. I love the Snow White ring, too. Your engagement ring is gorgeous! The photo you got of Mickey and Minnie is absolutely perfect. What a great memento to have on your wall.

The welcome home and engagement party looked like a ton of fun. We just announced our engagement on Facebook and let our friends overrun our walls while we vegged out for the weekend (oh, modern technology).

It's good to hear your family is on board for the wedding. I first told my family and got mixed reactions, but everyone was going to be there. When we decided to move our date to November 2012 (after finding out my uncle, a cousin, and my grandparents wouldn't make January 2013), all hell broke loose for about three days. So, instead of losing two months, we pushed it back to November 2013 and gained ten. Oh well, for a particular person like me, more time is better. And, we could save more and extend our honeymoon!

I can't wait to read more!

Thank you, we had a few mixed reactions in the beginning when we first got back and told everyone but now we have the date set people are getting more and more excited! Great for you to extend your honeymoon though!!!

I'm so happy it worked out well for you even if you moved to 2013! Can't wait to read more!

Thank you, 2012 is a definate date now, very exciting as people keep telling us they are now booked or looking to book soon xxx

What a sweet proposal! And your ring is gorgeous!

That's great that they had an opening for your October trip. We have very similar venues as you -- WP & Whitehall, only we are headed to Epcot for our dessert party that night.

Can't wait to read along!

Thank you, have you been on a site visit to the Whitehall room and patio? I will look out for your plans too xxx

Emma sweetie - Loving all the photos!! The engagement party looks like great fun (especially the 'unplanned guests!!). Cute proposal too. You are a lucky girl!!

Hehe thanks Joanne, I am one very lucky girl!!! xxx

Welcome and Congrats!! What a cute proposal story! Looking forward to hearing more of your plans!

Thank you for reading xxx

Congratulations! I love your story and your engagement party looked like a lot of fun! I'm looking forward to reading more!

We had lots of fun thank you. xxx

 

[ladyemz]

That proposal is priceless! How cute with moving the chairs. I love the Snow White ring, too. Your engagement ring is gorgeous! The photo you got of Mickey and Minnie is absolutely perfect. What a great memento to have on your wall.

The welcome home and engagement party looked like a ton of fun. We just announced our engagement on Facebook and let our friends overrun our walls while we vegged out for the weekend (oh, modern technology).

It's good to hear your family is on board for the wedding. I first told my family and got mixed reactions, but everyone was going to be there. When we decided to move our date to November 2012 (after finding out my uncle, a cousin, and my grandparents wouldn't make January 2013), all hell broke loose for about three days. So, instead of losing two months, we pushed it back to November 2013 and gained ten. Oh well, for a particular person like me, more time is better. And, we could save more and extend our honeymoon!

I can't wait to read more!

Thank you, we had a few mixed reactions in the beginning when we first got back and told everyone but now we have the date set people are getting more and more excited! Great for you to extend your honeymoon though!!! xxx

I'm so happy it worked out well for you even if you moved to 2013! Can't wait to read more!

Thank you, 2012 is a definite date now, very exciting as people keep telling us they are now booked or looking to book soon xxx

What a sweet proposal! And your ring is gorgeous!

That's great that they had an opening for your October trip. We have very similar venues as you -- WP & Whitehall, only we are headed to Epcot for our dessert party that night.

Can't wait to read along!

Thank you, Scott did an amazing job! Have you been on a site visit to the Whitehall room and patio? I will look out for your plans too xxx

Emma sweetie - Loving all the photos!! The engagement party looks like great fun (especially the 'unplanned guests!!). Cute proposal too. You are a lucky girl!!

Hehe thanks Joanne, I am one very lucky girl!!! xxx

Welcome and Congrats!! What a cute proposal story! Looking forward to hearing more of your plans!

Thank you for reading xxx

Congratulations! I love your story and your engagement party looked like a lot of fun! I'm looking forward to reading more!

We had lots of fun thank you. xxx

 

[ladyemz]

Planning Session

Our wedding consultant is Pam Pearce and she has been a total star so far, very quick at responding to my emails, sending information across and answering my many questions. She is very helpful and you are in good hands with her!

Our Planning Session has now been booked for Tuesday 20th March 1-5pm at Francks as we are very lucky to be able to travel over instead of doing it over the phone. We managed to find return flights in the Virgin sale for less than £400 each, and have booked 7 nights in a villa followed by one night at AKL in a savannah view studio renting DVC points. We are there from 15th March for 8 nights and can't wait to go back!

My Mum and Brian are coming with us so I am really looking forward to showing them around WDW, although as we are on a budget we won't be visiting any parks.

They think we only have 7 nights so we are going to tell them on Christmas day about the extra night at AKL, really can't wait to stay at this amazing resort!

We are also using the car on the drive service after reading such good reviews.

So during this trip we will have our planning session, site visits and tasting sessions on the Tuesday We hope to buy our wedding rings from Ultra Diamonds after receiving such good service and value on my engagement ring. We also want to have a look around SSR ready for our wedding and honeymoon stay there in October.

I am going to book a few ADRS though, thinking Ohanas as that was our favourite and then watch Wishes from the beach, just like that magical night in May , California Grill so that they get to experience Wishes with the music, and enjoy the yummy food! Jiko on our night at AKL and then a Boma breakfast on our last morning to prepare us for the long travel day home. I will hopefully get these booked next week. Oh and not forgetting a trip to BEaches and Cream to attempt to finish the Kitchen Sink

So apart from that no other plans for March, so any ideas of free or cheap things to do in Orlando will be greatly appreciated, I did think of going to Celebration, and maybe a round of mini golf.

 

[ladyemz]

Disney Bride Diet

Seeing my beautiful ring sparkling on my hand is a great motivator in my quest to loose weight. I lost 2 stone before our trip in May, following the slimming world plan. Some of this did go back on after enjoying the DDP .

But I am now pleased to say I am back on track, I have now lost 11lb since starting again, and have another stone and a half to go to get to my target. I am hoping that I will then be able to fit in a UK size 12 wedding dress.

I am calorie counting, doing exercise DVDs at home, and running 3 times a week to try and acheive this. 8 weeks ago I couldn't run for 60 seconds without struggling but after following a couch to 5k training programme, I completed my first 5k run last Sunday, it felt great! Onwards and downwards I plan to go!!!

 

[ladyemz]

My Dress

I am very excited to have booked my first bridal shop appointment for Saturday 22nd October, at a shop which stocks Maggie Sottero dresses. I love looking at her collections online, and the real life Maggie brides all look stunning.

I really like the Destination collection and think these will also be perfect for the Florida sun. These are my favourites at the moment, but I am guessing this may change when I start to try them on.

Polina
http://www.maggiesottero.com/dress.aspx?keywordText=polina&keywordType=any&page=0&pageSize=15&style=J1447

Alexis
http://www.maggiesottero.com/dress.aspx?keywordText=alexis&keywordType=any&page=0&pageSize=15&style=J1376

This is the first dress I liked when looking through wedding magazines!
Teracina

http://www.maggiesottero.com/dress.aspx?keywordText=teracina&keywordType=any&page=0&pageSize=15&style=J1396

And I love the backs on these 2

Caprice
http://www.maggiesottero.com/dress.aspx?keywordText=caprice&keywordType=any&page=0&pageSize=15&style=A3321

Reese
http://www.maggiesottero.com/dress.aspx?keywordText=reese&keywordType=any&page=0&pageSize=15&style=A3240

I really hope the shop stocks some of these so I can try them on

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Emma sweetie - Loving the details of the planning session!!! AKL is one of my DVC 'homes' and I absolutely adore it!!! I hope you will too!! I am starting to have withdrawal symptoms as for our VR trip we stayed at our other home, BLT. Although I adore BLT too, and it is very convenient with being on the monorail, AKV will always have my heart as my favourite. The atmosphere is just so wonderful!!
I love all the potential dresses!!! I think my personal favourite is the Teracina. I had a Maggie too!! Mine was called 'Christina' and I bought her from a little bridal boutique in Farnborough, Hants (where my daughter lives). I had such good service there, and they even packed my dress (in tissue) so beautifully, into the hand-luggage sized box I bought for it to travel in (I had bought this box, as I was determined that I was not having my dress travel in the hold!! I didn't want it to leave my sight!!). My dress stayed in that box all the time it was at home awaiting our trip. They had packed it so precisely and neatly, that I didn't want to disturb it!! I didn't see my dress from the last fitting right up until I unpacked it at BLT on our arrival!!!
I am sure you will have good service (Maggie retailers seem to be fantastic generally) - a call to the shop will let you know whether they have your chosen dresses in stock!!

 

[ladyemz]

Emma sweetie - Loving the details of the planning session!!! AKL is one of my DVC 'homes' and I absolutely adore it!!! I hope you will too!! I am starting to have withdrawal symptoms as for our VR trip we stayed at our other home, BLT. Although I adore BLT too, and it is very convenient with being on the monorail, AKV will always have my heart as my favourite. The atmosphere is just so wonderful!!
I love all the potential dresses!!! I think my personal favourite is the Teracina. I had a Maggie too!! Mine was called 'Christina' and I bought her from a little bridal boutique in Farnborough, Hants (where my daughter lives). I had such good service there, and they even packed my dress (in tissue) so beautifully, into the hand-luggage sized box I bought for it to travel in (I had bought this box, as I was determined that I was not having my dress travel in the hold!! I didn't want it to leave my sight!!). My dress stayed in that box all the time it was at home awaiting our trip. They had packed it so precisely and neatly, that I didn't want to disturb it!! I didn't see my dress from the last fitting right up until I unpacked it at BLT on our arrival!!!
I am sure you will have good service (Maggie retailers seem to be fantastic generally) - a call to the shop will let you know whether they have your chosen dresses in stock!!

Hi Joanne, I really can't wait to stay at AKL, shame it is only for 1 night but I am sure this will persuade Scotty we need to stay for longer in a future trip lol. I loved your maggie dress in your TR, love all her dresses I think, have never seen a bad maggie bride! Thank you, great idea to call the shop and check in advance. I too am not letting my dress out of my site!!! I hope I can find a shop that provides as good service as you received.

Did you use Rev Tim Herring for your VR? I have just emailed Rev Jack Day but don't have a back up plan! xxx