Forever Could Even Start Today, Wedding & Disneymoon Sept 17 update 10/1: Last Day, Budget recap

[DLo]

Love how your “flowers” turned out. And you look beautiful.

 

[mdsouth]

Thanks for sharing all the photos! It is fun looking through them and seeing how your day went. You were a gorgeous bride! I, especially loved your hair and the side sweep! It looks great from the front. And your make-up looks great! I can't wait to see more photos and read more about your big day!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Wow you look stunning! Love the dress, hair and makeup! Sometimes you never think to pick out what actually works best for you. A salesperson picked out my wedding dress too, LOL.
Love your flowers and all the DIY items! I can't believe you actually made them! They are amazing!

 

[wrestlingchick26]

You look amazing, love you dress and the bouquets

 

[Raeven]

My jewelry came from Kohl's, and was about $13 for the set.

I hate wearing jewelry so I think that's a good way to do it

before I decided 1/3 of a chocolate muffin + 1 whole mimosa wouldn't be the best idea.

Breakfast of champions

A look of concentration as I try not to flash anyone as I pull my bra out from behind my dress

This trip report almost got a little scandalous

Love the pictures! You look so pretty!

 

[kastoney]

I mentioned this on the boards here, and someone very kindly upgraded our room for us a few weeks out and sent me a PM about it (thanks again!).

Amazing!!!!!

We had a little gift of fruit, cheese, crackers, and wine from the hotel.

How nice of them. What a treat!

The next morning, I had an appointment to get my dress steamed at 7:30am. MK opened at 9am, and I sent Zack off to rally the troops and just planned on meeting them there since I didn't know how long it would take. It was just over an hour, and while they were working, I arranged all of our wedding things out on the dresser so they'd be ready for the next day.

​

Everything came out amazing!!!!

We had our 7DMT FP just before lunch, and Al and Aly had one for Pirates, so I sent them this handy dandy map to help them find our lunch spot after, which was Skipper Canteen!

​

Love this!!!!

Skip's Beefy Baked Pasta - Egyptian-inspired dish of spiced braised beef, pasta, and bechamel sauce served with seasonal vegetables $21
​

Zack loves this, I'm just really picky about my ratio of sauce to noodles and this was way too much sauce for me. Otherwise, I thought it was fine. So others may have liked it a lot! But I'm pretty sure I read that they took this off the menu within the last month. Also I was maybe a little sad they got rid of the bread service I bread.

Too funny, we tried this one time and I thought the ratio of noodles to sauce was off too but the opposite direction. It had way too many noodles and not nearly enough sauce.

I might sound harsh, but I was really looking forward to this meal as it was the only non-wedding meal with half of our group, because they would be leaving Wednesday morning. They made it seem like such a big deal to get tables near each other so I figured it would be really busy. It was empty. It was still like that when we left. They told us wrong about the server sections. Our server wasn't into it at all.

Sorry the meal was such a bust! Did you speak to a manager? It makes no sense why they wouldn't put you all together in an empty restaurant. Who cares if there are different servers? Change their tables!

We've only ever had 1 server into it there, so I think this is more of the norm than the exception. The hostesses are always fun, but most of our servers have been blah.

his is like my worst nightmare... my hair is long, curly, and thick and I never mastered the skills of blow drying it straight. I could actually count on one hand the number of times I use a blow dryer in a year. My other issue was nails... I had debated trying to fit in time to get them done somewhere in Orlando, but I didn't trust myself to go into the park without ruining, so I ended up picking out a set of fake nails at Walgreens. Super fancy But then when I started losing them in the parks I wasn't as upset as I would have been chipping an expensive manicure. Did I mention I'm a klutz?

You and I sound so similar. Total klutz, can't do my fair for anything in the world, and I'd still find a way to lose my walgreens nails too

​

Hogwarts Railways hoodie and Disney Tsum Tsum sleeping shorts.

Love it!

They said they could bring them up after 7am. But lo and behold, at 6:30am a knock sounds on the door, and here are the mimosas! Wedding magic, perhaps?

Nothing like drinking before 7am

Here's a few more shoe photos, in case you weren't on my PJ. I got them custom made from Pixie's Tiny Things on Etsy/FB.

These came out awesome!!!! What a great idea.

And eventually, I was ready!

You look gorgeous!!!! Can't wait to hear all about the wedding

 

[SoccerDogWithEars]

HI!!!! Remember me?

I'm so sorry I fell behind on this. Holidays at a financial institution....I basically came home and curled up on the couch every day.

You look gorgeous!!!! Can't wait to see photos of the ceremony and first look.

Also, guess what? We'll be in Disney in January!! Actually just booked our hotel today. Checking in the 27th, checking out the 30th. Maybe we can meet up?

 

[thumper*]

And no Pluto popcorn bucket

Bummer I'm also wishing I had gotten one when I saw it.

Unfortunately this ended up tying for my least favorite meal of the trip, for a couple reasons.

Since they changes the menu and nothing on it looked good to either of us I cancelled this ADR. reading your review it appears that I made the right choice.


Yay Wedding Day

Beautiful Bride just gorgeous.

 

[amalone1013]

Beautiful!

Aww thanks!

Loved your wedding dress, flowers and especially your hair - absolutely beautiful!! You look so calm

Thank you!

Love how your “flowers” turned out. And you look beautiful.

Thanks! I'm so glad I put up with all the issues from my flowers

Thanks for sharing all the photos! It is fun looking through them and seeing how your day went. You were a gorgeous bride! I, especially loved your hair and the side sweep! It looks great from the front. And your make-up looks great! I can't wait to see more photos and read more about your big day!

It might be too early to make that statement; I've got a lot of photos left! But thank you! I really liked my hair and makeup artist, she did great and I loved it!

Wow you look stunning! Love the dress, hair and makeup! Sometimes you never think to pick out what actually works best for you. A salesperson picked out my wedding dress too, LOL.
Love your flowers and all the DIY items! I can't believe you actually made them! They are amazing!

Thanks! They were a labor of love You should have seen my face when I realized I didn't know how to get them down there 2 days before we left...

I'm usually pretty simple when it comes to clothing and such, so it was definitely out of my comfort zone! The sales girl that picked it was so great. When I went to another shop and got no help - just told to go pick stuff myself from the racks - I was at a loss.

 

[amalone1013]

I hate wearing jewelry so I think that's a good way to do it

I have a lot of jewelry but I never wear it any more because I can't at work... There's definitely some things in there that I wouldn't wear any more haha. I used to wear a lot of big chunky necklaces and giant earrings and stuff.

Breakfast of champions

Maybe any other day!

This trip report almost got a little scandalous

Hey, we're family friendly here...

Love the pictures! You look so pretty!

Aww thanks!

Too funny, we tried this one time and I thought the ratio of noodles to sauce was off too but the opposite direction. It had way too many noodles and not nearly enough sauce.

I'm weird about that haha. For Zack, basically if it's pasta it's right no matter what - though occasionally something won't have enough sauce. He was very happy with his serving at the other table.

Sorry the meal was such a bust! Did you speak to a manager? It makes no sense why they wouldn't put you all together in an empty restaurant. Who cares if there are different servers? Change their tables!

We've only ever had 1 server into it there, so I think this is more of the norm than the exception. The hostesses are always fun, but most of our servers have been blah.

That's a bummer, I thought that was kind of the point of the restaurant... Maybe people were too confused. Everytime we ride the Jungle Cruise half the boat just has blank stares (though we had our very worst co-passengers in December ). I didn't think to ask for a manager in the moment. I should have when we got in there and it was mostly empty.

You and I sound so similar. Total klutz, can't do my fair for anything in the world, and I'd still find a way to lose my walgreens nails too

I struggled with my hair for years before I got to my current routine, which is like minimum work required

Nothing like drinking before 7am

"Kari Approved"

These came out awesome!!!! What a great idea.

You look gorgeous!!!! Can't wait to hear all about the wedding

Thank you!

 

[amalone1013]

You look amazing, love you dress and the bouquets

Aw thank you!

HI!!!! Remember me?

I'm so sorry I fell behind on this. Holidays at a financial institution....I basically came home and curled up on the couch every day.

You look gorgeous!!!! Can't wait to see photos of the ceremony and first look.

Also, guess what? We'll be in Disney in January!! Actually just booked our hotel today. Checking in the 27th, checking out the 30th. Maybe we can meet up?

Hi! How have you been? We should definitely meet up in January!

I totally understand coming home and curling up on the couch! My work schedule has been nutty, and will probably continue that way for the next couple months... yay...

Bummer I'm also wishing I had gotten one when I saw it.

Since they changes the menu and nothing on it looked good to either of us I cancelled this ADR. reading your review it appears that I made the right choice.

Yay Wedding Day

Beautiful Bride just gorgeous.

Thanks!

I was sad about the popcorn bucket... but I'm sure I will continue to find Disney items I want with no problems I'm not sure when we'll be back to Skippers now after that experience and the menu change.

 

[SoccerDogWithEars]

Hi! How have you been? We should definitely meet up in January!

It's been up and down. I had a hard time getting into the spirit these holidays, but Christmas was actually a lot of fun. We did absolutely nothing for New Years and it was fabulous. However, Joe's uncle died yesterday, so now we're trying to figure out plans with that and get everything together. So....not exactly how I wanted this weekend to go, but what can you do.

At some point (I make no promises as to the promptness) I'll PM you our plans for the weekend, and we can see what works.

 

[amalone1013]

It's been up and down. I had a hard time getting into the spirit these holidays, but Christmas was actually a lot of fun. We did absolutely nothing for New Years and it was fabulous. However, Joe's uncle died yesterday, so now we're trying to figure out plans with that and get everything together. So....not exactly how I wanted this weekend to go, but what can you do.

At some point (I make no promises as to the promptness) I'll PM you our plans for the weekend, and we can see what works.

I'm sorry about Joe's uncle. That's always hard

I was the same with the holidays... between work and family drama I wasn't ready or into it, but when Christmas showed up it was a good time. With working a lot, our plans for January are almost non-existent, besides thinking of what day we'll do each park so I could book FPs...

 

[amalone1013]

Mini, Off Topic Update!​

Hello everyone! I'm currently cutting down photos for the next post, because I know you don't really want to see all 1500 pictures of us Hopefully I will get it up tomorrow! In the meantime, here's a little bit of what we've been up to, a bit of background info, and a story at the end!

We spent last weekend freezing our tails off in the midwest, traveling back to my hometown for my cousin's wedding. I was not excited as I read the forecasts...

​

The actually set a new record the Wednesday before, at -17*... The record had been -15* in 1924.

We survived the weekend and all of the family. I've touched on this here and there, but I'm really done hiding or glossing over my family drama now, so here's the short of it. It will also explain why you have seen no mention of certain family members at this point in the TR.

My dad and sister and I haven't gotten along in the last two-ish years, so the only communication I have is when they tell me I'm a terrible person and what happened is all my fault. My dad told me tons of lies, and I put up with a lot of control from him over the years but I was blind to it as that was all I knew. Finally something came up and I put my foot down, and I actually had someone on my side thanks to Zack, and my dad lost it. My sister jumped on his bandwagon, and they both immediately started telling lies about me to extended family (both dad's and mom's). Meanwhile, I held this all in to myself for over a year... felt like I had to hide the dirty laundry. I'm over that now. I'm not trying to bum anyone out or anything, I just am telling it like it is to people. It happened, it sucked, I tried to fix it for almost a year but all that did was make me a punching bag. This isn't all my fault and I can't change them, so I'm living my life.

Anyways, I only hear from my stepmom when she sends me guilt trip style emails (my mom passed away a few years ago, and my dad remarried about 18 months later...). Her most recent email took the cake though, as she sent me an email a few weeks ago saying she knew I had a hotel room under the wedding block but hadn't RSVP'd (seriously? who asks those things of the wedding couple?), and she literally told me DO NOT COME as it would be my fault when my dad and sister caused a scene because they'd be seeing me for the first time since everything blew up.

​

Yeah. So we were on edge going, but I spoke to a few family members about it including my cousin who was getting married. I hadn't seen most of this side of the family since before the drama, about 3 years. I wanted to be done hiding out, and get back in touch with them - they're my family too! Being a large family, a few extra people found out about that email... no one brought it up to me, but I heard second-hand through my cousin who's kept me up to date on everything. I don't know how that meshed with my dad/sis/stepmom's main story about me not being to any family functions the last few years, which was that Zack controls me and won't let me see the family.

They mostly ignored us, which was just fine. I caught up with most of the family that was there - there were a few that have always been close to my dad, so I was disappointed but not totally surprised when they ignored me. Whatever, I'm not asking anyone to pick sides, I just want to be part of the family.

We had a good time overall. Beautiful wedding and reception. Here's a few pictures...

Al and Aly

^^what is my dress doing...?


These are all of my first cousins who were at the wedding... no spouses except the bride! This is about 2/3 of my cousins.

​

I took Zack to our best local Mexican place

My great-aunt on my mom's side had everyone over to her house so we could see them. I haven't seen them in almost as long! She baked us a cake to celebrate the wedding.

Yes, those are little bride and groom birds



And so we don't end on a downer, here is an entertaining, wedding related story!
​

About a month after we got engaged, Zack and I were at the mall, and I thought we should stop in and look at a few men's bands for fun. We had no plans at this point, but I told him it couldn't hurt to get ideas. Zack sees these bands with wood inlay, and is obsessed. Looked a bit like this:

​

So fast forward about a year, and I push Zack to seriously start looking. So we look at some stores, he looks online some, and we end up back at the place with the wood inlay rings, because that was the only place that had anything like that in-store. There were some things online, but we were hesitant about that. In April, he picks one out and orders it. They tell him 4-6 weeks to get it in.

It finally comes in, something like 8-10 weeks later. We go to pick it up, and it's super dark. Basically black, and you can't see the wood grain in it at all which is part of what he liked so much. Zack is really bad about not saying he doesn't like something right away... so even though I asked him if it was okay, he took several days to tell me no So he contacts the guy who sold it to him, who is the Store Manager, who tells him to bring it in and they'll send it back. So we do that, and everyone's like yeah, that's totally the wrong color! We're told, it's only 3-5 weeks to get it fixed!

So it took way longer again. To the point that Zack was emailing the manager, and leaving messages for him, because it was August. Finally the guy calls him back, and says the ring is back and looks the same. So we head in to discuss this issue, and he wasn't there but the other employees show us what they believe is the issue. When they took the rings out of the case and flipped them over, they were all a different color. Like the wood had faded under the jewelry case lights. So the one Zack ordered, did look black on the bottom half of the ring.

We had been told we could reorder or get a refund, and Zack picked the next lightest option, even though it wasn't quite the color or pattern he wanted. These employees told us it would be in in less than a week, which I didn't believe at all.

Sure enough, we get to the end of August... no ring. The first week of September I'm poking around online, and I find a jewelry site with wood inlay rings. The processing time was 9-10 days, but they had an expedited shipping option so I sent them a message. They called me back and said they could overnight it for $50. I sent it to Zack to see what he thought, because it looked like what the original faded ring did. So we decided to risk it. Even with the shipping charge, it was $150 less than the other ring, and the site had a 30 day return policy so we figured worst case scenario he'd wear it for the wedding, we'd send it back, and keep looking. We ordered it on the 6th, and it was supposed to be ready on the 13th and arrive on the 14th (which was actually the day we left! but Zack's parents would be there until the 16th).

In the mean time, Zack had been calling and emailing with no response on if the third ring was in. When we ordered the one online, he sent an email requesting a refund for his order, saying he had to go with another option since it appeared that ring wasn't going to get there on time. Magically he gets a call that the ring is in! He tells the guy who called he wants a refund, who threw a stink because it was technically a no refund special order item, but after he confirmed with the manager he told Zack he could come in for the refund.

The 13th rolls around... and I get a text that says,

Thank you again for your order. Due to recent natural disasters, we are experiencing a delay in shipping your order.

​

I dig out my order confirmation email, and this place is just south of Palm Beach. What are the dang odds that I found a ring from somewhere in Florida which was then hit by Irma????

I gave them a call, and they told me they had no power but were going to try and ship things out on Friday the 15th, so it would come on the 16th. Not their fault at all, but the problem was Zack's parents had a mid-afternoon flight on the 16th.

So I get on Amazon and find a sort of similar cheap ring. Thank goodness for Prime! I thought, it will come Friday for sure so Zack's parents can bring it, but it ended up coming Thursday before we left for the airport. Friday around 6:30pm EST, I get an email that the other ring is shipped! And we're thinking, it will be waiting for us when we get back from Florida...

​

Zack's cousin comes by on Saturday to pick up Zack's parents, and take them and Zack's aunt to the airport. They load their stuff up, jump in the car, and head out of the neighborhood... to pass a UPS truck! So Zack's mom makes his cousin turn around, and sure enough that truck is dropping off the ring. She ripped all of the packaging open in the car and left it behind

And that is how Zack's ring was ordered 13 days before our wedding and made it to Florida.

The infamous ring...

​

 

[Raeven]

because I know you don't really want to see all 1500 pictures of us

World's longest trip report?

We spent last weekend freezing our tails off in the midwest, traveling back to my hometown for my cousin's wedding. I was not excited as I read the forecasts...

It's been so cold I don't even try to go outside anymore unless I have to for work

Meanwhile, I held this all in to myself for over a year... felt like I had to hide the dirty laundry. I'm over that now. I'm not trying to bum anyone out or anything, I just am telling it like it is to people. It happened, it sucked, I tried to fix it for almost a year but all that did was make me a punching bag. This isn't all my fault and I can't change them, so I'm living my life.

You go girl (Also I sent you a message!)

When they took the rings out of the case and flipped them over, they were all a different color. Like the wood had faded under the jewelry case lights.

You would think for all they put you through the quality would've at least been a little better.

The 13th rolls around... and I get a text that says,

Thank you again for your order. Due to recent natural disasters, we are experiencing a delay in shipping your order.

How stressful! I'm glad it came on time.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Man! That is quiet the ring story. But that is the coolest Men's wedding ring!

Sorry to hear about your family drama. That must be very hard. But glad to hear that you go tot see some family.

 

[kastoney]

Good for you for rising above all the drama and going to the wedding. I know first hand the "fun" that family drama can cause and you handled it perfect.

I can't believe all the drama with Zach's ring too. Glad it all finally worked out though

 

[amalone1013]

Hopefully you guys want to feel like you were really there, because it's hard to cut photos!

First Look
Part One​

As my hair and makeup was getting finished, our photographers and videographer went to scout a good spot for the first look. That was definitely something I hadn't thought of or figured out... I should mention their names too. Our photographers were a husband and wife team, Michelle and Steve. They were great! Not only are we super happy with all of the photos, but they were great people too. Our videographer was Mike, who was also a great guy. Our video is supposed to be in the mail this coming week!

Anyways, they found a spot they thought would work well. If you've been to the Swan and Dolphin, just as you come out the doors of the Dolphin onto the walkway between the hotels, you can go left and there is a path that follows along the edge of the building until it gets to Yacht Club. It worked out well and there were really no people around (except I guess a jogger who started to use the path along the building, then saw us? Zack and N? Not sure when it was exactly, but apparently they turned around

I don't think there's a whole lot more to say here, so it will just be a lot of photos with some comments...

Zack got into position while we arrived in style...

This is my trying not to cry face

Apparently Steve was making some jokes here

*Jaws music*

I wasn't the only one with trying not to cry face...

Aw man, there he goes controlling me again...
Probably not great to joke about, but since hearing that rumor we've made a lot of jokes about it.

​

This might sound weird, but we just had this moment like, we made it. Not many people knew about our wedding beforehand outside of those who were there. We just didn't want any word to get around and certain people to try and ruin our day (because unfortunately, they would have... or shown up, I wouldn't have put that past them). It had gotten a bit iffy at times, so now we were here and it was happening and we made it (despite some attempts to keep it from happening)

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Every single picture is fantastic! I could have liked each one. I can't wait to see more pics. You both look great.

 

[amalone1013]

First Look
Part Two

We took a few more photos in this area before moving on. First I pinned on Zack's boutonniere, which is what I was holding in the other photos.


So in this picture, I look like I know what I'm doing.

In reality, it went more like this:

Zack checks out the boutonniere, as he hadn't had much of a chance - remember I was making these an hour before I left for the airport!

I used the little pin backs with the spinning lock, like the picture below. Guess what, those are really hard to open with fake nails...

Wait... what side does it go on?

Trying to close the pin is strangely just as difficult.

Success!

When they told us to touch foreheads, I think they meant lean in and look in each other's eyes, not stare at your shoes. Oops...

That's better!

This one, they told mean to lean over towards him... maybe they meant more against him/on his arm, but since we're the same height I would have been bent to the side funny, so I just look awkward.

But this is kind of fun from the other angle.

Occasionally Steve would say Stop! Don't move, do this! And then you'd get a fabulous photo.

And we headed off for more photos




As a reward for sticking with me, here are a few Behind the Scenes pictures!

First, a riddle: How many people does it take to untangle four Mickey balloons?

Four people, apparently.

Or maybe five. Maybe I'm directing.

Zack looks less excited about the Mickey balloon idea now.

N was our official balloon wrangler for the rest of the day.​