Gwen & Todd - 24 May 2011 - WP/Narcoosee's/Italy West *UPDATE: If I had only known...

[Sccrmnky2005]

Any new updates?? Would love to hear the rest of your plans

 

[Pengwend]

Ok, after a looong time doing nothing, we have made some big advancements! We originally were assigned Maxine as our planner, but I guess some schedule shifting happened and we were put with Diane instead. I was kind of worried about this because I didn't get a great vibe from Diane. Everything we were getting (contract and confirmation wise) were all still from Maxine, months after the supposed switch and also we were only ever receiving any correspondence from Maxine. T had a conference call with both Maxine and Diane when we were informed of the switch (I had laryngitis) and felt like Diane might be older and just not as "into" it anymore.

Anyway, we had our planning session a couple days before Christmas. Diane was nice, but she doesn't seem super awesome like some of the other planners I've read about here, yet anyway. T, my sister, V (MOH) and I went. We still didn't have a really clear "vision" of what we wanted, but we knew a lot of things we definitely didn't want (like anything religious, or any dancing). Diane walked us through the planning packet making notes here and there. On a couple occasions, we had ideas or creative bursts but she was more into sticking with what is "normal" or if it was a variation, something that she's personally done before. I had a bit of a cold, so I didn't speak up as much as I could have, but that's why we brought my sister along. She was good at remembering things I'd mentioned to her in passing and trying to get this whole wedding thing to be less cookie-cutter and more us. Besides, she also took copious notes. Those are great because I realized later that I don't remember half of what we talked about. I am hoping that as we get even closer to the wedding date, Diane will be able to focus more on our wedding and get into it more.

The cake (we're getting cupcakes) tasting was fun for T and V. I couldn't taste much, but that was ok because I only really wanted yellow cake with chocolate frosting and T and V were deciding on the other 2 flavours anyway. They ended up choosing almond cake with raspberry cream cheese frosting and chocolate cake with buttercream frosting tinted green. Our colours are pink, green and off-white, so the frosting tops will match. Diane didn't ask (and neither did we) about any kind of decorations on the cupcakes, so i am assuming they're just going to be frosted. I did request that the frosting not be a giant mountain, because I think that's just too much.

After tasting cake, we met our florist, Rose, who is very energetic and clearly very creative. I am pretty confident that she's going to put some nice things together for us. We're not really doing much in the way of decor or floral because our ceremony is at 10am and the reception being in Narcoosee's doesn't require a whole lot of decor. The grounds will be pretty colourful already and there are the giant windows everywhere. She was pretty upfront about that and honest about us really not needing to spend the money on floral if we didn't want to/weren't that into it. I'm not really into floral especially because nobody will be able to take the centerpieces home or anything so they're pretty one time use. But we settled on an altar decoration for the ceremony along with the traditional bridesmaid bouquets and groomsmen boutonnieres. We also asked for pricing on a custom aisle runner because we figure we can use it for our home reception too. But if it's exorbitant, we're ready to nix it. For the reception, we kind of fell into a loose Mary Poppins theme. We talked about centerpieces in teapots for the larger tables and smaller ones in teacups for the smaller tables. I can't remember what linens we picked - I think all white? And we opted not to have any kind of chair decor based on DisBoarders' advice.

After the whole floral stuff, we have 2 hours before our menu tasting. We didn't feel like going back to our hotel, and it was warm-ish out, so V and I took a nap in a hammock while T read the paper. Feeling decompressed and hungry, we got to the convention center early. We took a photo of our tasting "event slide" on the monitor in the lobby. [I'll have to add photos later because I left my camera card at work.] The tasting was fun, the food was very good, and enough to be considered a reasonable lunch but not too much. We picked really random stuff for our tasting because we wanted to try all the stuff that we hadn't had or didn't know if we'd like. We chose a menu, but since then have changed just about everything on it I think. I knew going in that I wanted the first course plated and served to "Be Our Guest." So we knew we had to pick something for that. Here's what we picked:

Appetizer (served) trio:
mini mushroom tart
pigs in a blanket
bleu cheese meatballs.

Buffet:
tilapia in lemon butter
beef bourguinone
egg fritatta
crepe station
meat carving station.

Dessert (to be opened after we cut a small cake):
Cupcakes
raspberry sorbet (to continue the Mary Poppins theme because she orders raspberry ice from the penguins)

Drinks:
Champagne de Moutardier Brut (we are bringing this ourselves)
Mary Poppins (bloody mary)
Mimosa (with our champagne)
Strawberry (named for Jane's medicine in Mary Poppins), but we don't know what cocktail it will be; maybe Shirley Temple with strawberry puree instead of grenadine as a children's drink
Lime (named for Michael's medicine in Mary Poppins), don't know what this will be yet either

 

[Pengwend]

So I guess I hadn't really caught the wedding bug until... our planning session? Because of that, I really hadn't been thinking or planning anything and certainly not making anything for the wedding. But now, I'm reading through other people's PJs and they have done waaay more than I/we have! I don't know why I wasn't into it before, maybe because it felt like it was so far away. We went on our first Disney cruise a couple weeks ago and it was awesome! We made goodies for random people on the cruise (Fish Extender gifts - definitely check out how to play if you go on a DCL cruise!) and that really got me excited and thinking about crafting for the wedding.

Anyway, over the long weekend, I did a lot of digital planning and creating. So I figured I'd post what I've done and if anyone is still reading this, maybe you'll give me some feedback?

First, I realised that I had originally planned to try to get our invites out by the end of January. Well, we are now in the middle of January and I still hadn't designed or done anything about invites. So we spent all day Saturday at stationery stores and in the end, I am still planning to make them. I am planning to use get all the paper supplies from cardsandpockets.com because they seem to have the best prices and people seem to like them on the various boards I've checked.

These are the pocket fold "invite wraps" (as I am calling them):

They have a bit of shimmer to them. I hope the green will be nice and go with our colour scheme. If not, we'll go with these, non-shimmery ones:

The invitation panel and the enclosures (response card and schedule of events) are all going to be printed on matte cream coloured cardstock. The invitation panel is going to be matted on a pre-cut pink mat, one of these:
Non-sparkly:

Sparkly:

 

[Pengwend]

Yikes! I didn't think we were going to get this for another week or so! I'm not quite ready to look at it yet, but I guess T and I will go through it tonight and see what's up. In the meantime, we also got a diagram of Narcoosee's to be used for escort cards (which I haven't even thought about):

 

[Pengwend]

I actually drew this logo for us long ago, but never posted it. The colours are wrong, but at least it shows the flower. Generally, we're not going to have our initials superimposed over the flower.

Logo for our monthly newsletter:

I've read that when you're having a destination wedding, it's nice/good etiquette to send a monthly newsletter to your guests informing them of what's going on and giving them any helpful tips along the way. Our newsletter is going to be called "In a Nut Shell" to reference T's proposal.

 

[Pengwend]

I finished designing our invitations and enclosures, so here they are:

Invitation panel:

Schedule of Events:

Response Postcard:

Back of Response Postcard:

 

[Pengwend]

I finally actually ordered the stationery for our invites. With any luck they'll be here in the next two weeks and then the assembly line can begin! I've decided to go ahead and use ivory cover stock from Office Depot or Staples instead of buying from the stationer. It's basically the same thing I think and this way I can get all the printing done before the envelopes and pockets get here.

Also, I had my first dress fitting this weekend. I had remembered my dress as being way too long (it was a floor sample) but with shoes on, it's really not! I don't think they'll be cutting off anything! Also, I don't have my actual shoes, so I need to get on that before my next fitting in 3 weeks... Here are some photos of the dress:

It is about 3 sizes too big, so I am holding it up in the back (and it is already pinned down both sides):


Edited to remove photos so Todd won't see

 

[KristiLyn]

I'm reading! Your dress is lovely! I like everything you've done so far! Your proposal was adorable, and cute name for the newsletter

 

[Pengwend]

Thanks for reading & sorry that my posting has been so sporadic.

We got an email from Diane yesterday saying that our champagne is not sold in FL, so they can't get it for us. We have a wine guy who can get it for us here, but we'll have to get it down there somehow. I wonder what that is like. Has anyone tried this? We are also considering other, more easily accessible types...

 

[tinkerbell 766]

I'm following along too!!!
I have noticed with my PJ that people sometimes read but don't post immediately, and then pop up at a later date saying something like 'I read in your earlier post.....' I guess people just post when they have something to say, unlike me who posts loads of pointless babble!!!

 

[Pengwend]

So we are less than 2 months away and I have barely updated! Truthfully, I feel like I haven't really done much at all in terms of wedding. T and I both started new jobs in January and have been kept pretty busy with that.

About a week ago I started having some serious worries about what was going on with our wedding. We hadn't heard much from either our planner or our florist and I was feeling like we needed to get moving (mostly because money was coming due!). I had kind of lost that excited feeling and was becoming extra worried because of that. Todd reached out to both Diane and Rose and we started really getting back into the swing of things. Rose has been really, really helpful in getting me back to being excited!

This past weekend, my mom came over and we spent pretty much the entire weekend going over every single item on the BEO and the floral budget and the giant google spreadsheet I've been compiling over the course of the past year. I realized that I/we are actually more organized than I thought and really it's just some of the details that needed to be ironed out. Plus, our response deadline is next week so we have heard from the majority of people (the ones invited to Disney at least). The last few we have already started reaching out to and have been getting responses back also.

Now we are looking at a maximum of 75 people for the whole thing down in Disney which is going to save us so much money! I think I was kind of holding Rose back in terms of decor and such because I was trying to keep our budget at $3k or lower, but now that we've dropped our guest count, we have more money to spend on decor!

 

[ValerieDFTWBride]

YAY for being so close! I felt the same way about feeling like I needed to do things but when I looked at the BEO closer I realized that everything is more together than I thought. Did you take a pictures of your invitations fully completed? I would love to see them.

 

[disneybex]

Love your dress! V. excited for you for being so close to the big day

 

[Pengwend]

I took a looong break from reading other peoples' PJs because they were starting to make me feel guilty/far behind when I wasn't doing much wedding-wise. This week, I'm back on the Dis, reading away! I have a fairly sizeable to-do list growing:

• Welcome bags (sew up the bags):
  make sure we have everything to go in them
  
• Getting Excited Kits:
  We got a stack of KTTW cards when we were down for our planning session and I want to make them into luggage tags for everyone who is coming down! My mom thinks she can get those line-shaped holes punched in them for me, but first I want to put a sticker over the bar code on the back so nobody gets confused thinking it's a real key (lots of people got confused by our plane ticket themed Save the Dates!). Also, I want to print out peoples' first names on clear labels to stick on the front. Hopefully I'll have a prototype to post later this week!
  
  I also bought a stack of mini CDs on which we're burning 7 of our favourite "getting excited for Disney" songs. I need to design a cute label for them, but my dad and Todd have already burned all the cds!
  
• Bear Necessities Pouches:
  In addition to making the welcome bags (which are going to be messenger bags) I want to make little boxy zip pouches to go in each one. Because the messenger bags won't have many pockets (drink pockets on either side and 2 big flat ones on the front) I think it will be easier to just fill the little pouch with the small goodies we're giving everyone. Here's what we're putting in:
  Chapstick
  Band-aids
  Sunscreen
  Tylenol
  Tissues
  Purell
  Sharpies
  
  We haven't figured out how we're going to give everyone sunscreen yet, but it's looking like we'll be making fewer than 50 pouches all together, so maybe we can just buy some of the travel size ones...

 

[Pengwend]

Here's the note we'll be including in the kits:

 

[Pengwend]

Love your dress! V. excited for you for being so close to the big day

Thanks! I didn't think anyone was still following along!

 

[Pengwend]

YAY for being so close! I felt the same way about feeling like I needed to do things but when I looked at the BEO closer I realized that everything is more together than I thought. Did you take a pictures of your invitations fully completed? I would love to see them.

I haven't! But I need to. I will get some tonight (while it's fresh in my memory) and post!

UPDATE: Photos!

Sorry that they are phone photos, but I didn't feel like digging out a camera cord...

The envelopes:
The outer envelope is a pearly ivory (stardream ivory, I think)
The inner envelope is a pearly green (also stardream)
The belly band is a brighter pink than I was hoping for, but oh well

Open invitation:
The pink is the same as the belly band and the invitation panel is green text printed on ivory cardstock.

The enclosures:
The response card is just over the minimum size requirement for a postcard

 

[Pengwend]

Ok, time to really buckle down and get some stuff figured out!

We'd been having trouble visualising our day, but several phone calls with Diane (our planner) and Rose (our awesome florist) and some really long hash-out sessions with parents later, I think it's finally coming together. And not a moment too soon! Yikes!

Here's what we've done:

• Bought an aisle runner on sale @ Michael's
• Finalized our "Getting Excited Kits" to be sent to guests who have responded
• Decided on a honeymoon (though not booked)
• Booked a rental minivan for our stay in WDW for hauling stuff around
• Booked plane tickets
• Picked up my dress
• Picked up Todd's suit
• Picked up the rings
• Started on making the welcome bags

My mom and I also found some candles we can use as our unity candles.

I didn't know if we were going to need candle holders for them, so we found these too, which would go perfectly with our little lotus logo. But it turns out we don't need them because we are getting a unity arrangement. I like them though, so maybe we can use them for something else?

 

[Pengwend]

It seemed that several of our guests were unsure about how to dress for each of our 3 events. So, we took our MOH (my sister, Vi) and BM (Todd's brother, Alex) and had a photo shoot. For our April newsletter (which should have gone out 2 weeks ago... oops), we have photos of acceptable attire. I'm also going to add these to our wedding website. I really don't want people wearing a lot of black, so I've made sure to add that in a couple times.

Here's what we have for gentlemen:
Welcome Reception: Casual attire, whatever they wore traveling or in the park. This is an open house type event so they can come and mix and mingle and get some refreshments along with their welcome bag & goodies!

Ceremony/Reception: Light coloured, summer suits with dress shirts, jackets required, but ties optional

Dessert Party: Dress slacks and shirts; jackets optional.

For Ladies:
Welcome Reception: Casual Attire (we figure people will be travelling that day or will have spent the day in the park, so this is more of an open house type event in a suite in the Grand)

Ceremony/Reception: High tea-style dresses with a jacket or wrap.

Dessert Party: Cocktail dresses with sweater or wrap

Those are pretty much the exact wording I've used on our website and on the newsletter. Do you think people will get it, especially with the photos?

Sorry if these posts are kind of random. I just had my wisdom teeth out yesterday and am trying to get caught up on wedding stuff. I'm not going to do anything that actually gets sent to anywhere or anyone, but I figured posting on the Dis and catching up on other people's PJs is safe!

 

[Pengwend]

So Saturday was the response deadline and we amazingly got most of our responses in, but there are still some that we haven't gotten back. I know that some people sent theirs and we didn't get them, so now I'm starting the process of going through our guest list and facebooking or emailing everyone we haven't heard from. Anyone out there reading this have any suggestions how to get this done quicker?!

In other news, this week is Spring Break, so my mom and I are spending some time at the beach until I have to be back to get my wisdom teeth sutures out. I'm hoping we might be able to find shoes for me to embellish as my wedding shoes!