"He looked at her the way all women want to be looked at by a man"- A Gatsby Vow Renewal 1/3/20

[cantoine]

Hello and welcome to my planning journal of our vow renewal. My husband and I decided we finally were going to renew our wedding vows after 12 years of being married. After doing so much research I came to the following conclusions; First, I fell in love with our location immediately after seeing it, and second, there is not a lot of information out there for where we planned on having it. I figured I would keep this journal as a way to help anyone in the future who may be considering doing a ceremony at The Swan Resort. Please feel free to follow along and ask any questions. I will do my best to answer them based on my experience. We will start out with the basics...The Who, What, When and Why's

The "Who"
​

My name is Crystal and my husbands name is Jason. We were originally married in 2008 in Carterville Illinois. We have 4 children together and we currently reside in Texas. My husband is a social worker for Child Protective Services and I recently began working as a substitute teacher for the local school district. Jason and i have been married for 11 years and we have been together for 16 years. We both love Disney and we enjoy our yearly vacations there with our children. We are DVC members, and annual passholders as well as Table in wonderland members. We took the above photo at MNSSHP 2018.

"The What & The Why"​

We decided that we want to renew our wedding vows. One of the reasons I wanted to is because after being with someone for so long, both parties change. We have grown up together. What our goals and hopes for our relationship were 16 years ago, are different now, because we are different now. We still love each other very much but I think our love is stronger now than it was when we first got together, and when we got married. We evolved and so has our relationship. So we felt it was important to set new goals for our marriage and new commitments for our marriage. 16 years ago our expectations for our relationship were so different than the expectations we have for our relationship today.
Another reason we wanted to renew is because we wanted out children to be apart of it. To see mom and dad recommit to each other. To show our 3 daughters what a real fairy tale looks like and to teach our son how to be someones prince. They are apart of our lives and we try to show them what a real marriage is. It is not always rainbows and butterflies. It is about conquering struggles together and making sacrifices together. They see this every day, but we both thought it was important for them to see a ceremony like this between us.

Our theme is "Gatsby" mainly because I love the period, but on our 5th wedding anniversary my husband took me to see the re-release of the movie and somewhere between the chocolate covered raisins and popcorn I realized how much I loved my husband despite him not wanting extra butter on the popcorn or getting his own drink and drinking all of mine. It was a moment in our relationship that brought us closer as a couple. It was an evening that was a milestone, We made it 5 years married despite what everyone thought. We had been together a whole decade. So it has always stuck with me.

"The When" ​

Our ceremony will take place on January 3, 2020. We will be holding the ceremony at Crescent Terrace at Disney's Swan Resort. Originally we had planned on doing it at Sea Breeze Point, but after very careful consideration and based off what I wanted it to be, it was not a good fit for us. I never mind paying top dollar for anything, but I want it to be what I want and I never want to settle for something. As we began planning with Disney, I felt that we were going to have to "settle" on a few things I did not want to settle on simply because it was Disney. Disney weddings are amazing and their team is great, but it just was not for us. We came across the swan option and I just fell in love with all of it, especially the ability to customize it to us. I do not want to relive Cinderella's Fairy tale, I want to create my own, and I am able to do that with the options we chose.

I have been planning for several months now so I have tons of stuff to share! I look forward sharing the details with everyone

 

[cantoine]

Our Package​

After starting the planning process with Disney we came across the venues at the Swan. The swan has actually has 4 venues that you can get married at. We looked at all 4 and weighed the pros and cons of each one. I am attaching photos of the four different places we had to chose from.
The Beach Terrace


Crescent Terrace


The West Courtyard by the Fountain


The West Courtyard near the Pergola

All four of the venues are beautiful and each offer something different. We went through each one and made a pro and con list for each. We decided against the Beach Terrace because we have 4 children, our son who has sensory issues does not do so well when things like sand touch his skin. So to avoid a break down from him we agreed that the Beach Terrace would not be best for us. I loved the West Court Yard and the fountain is a beautiful backdrop but it looked cramped to me, I really liked the West Court Yard at the Pergola. It opened up the space more, and it had a Pergola already there so that would cut the cost of needing to rent one. What I did not like was the hundreds of guest rooms surrounding the court yard. I felt a little uneasy about having people sit on their balcony and watch our ceremony or hearing the conversations of people who just want to sit on their balcony and enjoy the view. When we saw Crescent Terrace I absolutely fell in love with it. It offered a feeling of intimacy and quietness. I loved that it was tucked away and unless you know it is there, you walked right past it. The location of Crescent Terrace is actually right behind the Swan, next to the walkway bridge that leads to the boardwalk. The venue comes with market lights already installed which was a plus for us. It was very clean and it had a lot of options as to where my guest could be seated, and where we could do the ceremony.

When I went onto the Swan's website, it was displayed that Just marry handles their weddings. I reached out to them and I had a phone conversation with a potential planner. This was my opportunity to ask questions about options, and choices, and budgets. My planner was Danielle and she was just such a pleasure to talk with. She was very fourth coming and immediately put my mind at ease about several things. I was reminded that it was about us, and their role is to ensure that we get what we want. Being in Texas, and planning something like this in Florida can become difficult so I liked that she would be there to advocate for what we wanted and I did not have to go back and forth multiple times throughout the year. After my conversation is when I made the decision to switch from Disney to the Swan. Danielle put the request in for the venue at the Swan with the hotel for us. This all took place in January 2019. The people were actually still on the Christmas Holiday break so it took them about 1 week to get back to me, but we were able to secure the date of January 2, 2020 at 3:00 PM.

The way this company works is you can select packages that they have already put together. Each package has things included with it such as venue, photography, floral, hair and makeup etc or you can do everything ala carte. I asked her about a military discount as my husband is prior service and they actually offer a 10% discount on their venues. Because of this discount we chose to do the ala carte option. Depending on how you chose depends on your deposit. With the package you pay 50% upfront and then the rest is due about 45 days prior to your event. With the ala carte option, we paid 50% down for the venue, and every time we add something for example floral we have to pay for that service upfront.

The site cost $3375.00 inclusive of taxes and fees. We received 10% off of that price. I liked that they offered a back up venue in case of bad weather and that we got a food and beverage package for 20. We had the option of inviting 2 guest or 150 without having to worry about changing packages. Parking for our guest is included so that took care of another expense. I was happy with the price and all that it included. So we put our deposit down and started the planning process. Below you will find a list of what is included in the price.

• Exclusive reservation of your ceremony site for up to two-and-a-half hours for up to 150 guests
• Food and beverage package for up to 20 guests
• Seating for your guests (white padded folding chairs)
• A guaranteed indoor rain backup (if needed)
• A water station set up at the ceremony site
• The services of a professional Just Marry! Coordinator to book your package services, liaise with vendors, and coordinate the Ceremony
• Complimentary self-parking for up to 15 cars

We were off to a great start and I had 1 year to get all the planning done. I was very excited about our venue and our coordinator. She was very knowledgeable and you could tell she really enjoyed her job, which made me excited. Our wedding was a complete and utter disaster and if featured on a reality t.v. show would probably be one of the highest ratings for a show. Ill explain all about that in my next post.

 

[cantoine]

Our First Wedding​

Many people who meet my husband and I often ask us about our wedding. Our wedding was very interesting to say the least. At the time it was so horrible, but after all these years, my husband and I find ourselves looking back and laughing at all the issues we had. Because it is a funny story, I felt like sharing it on here would be appropriate. Mainly so people following along can see why certain things have been prioritized for our vow renewal. So enjoy the story...

We were married in May 2008. We lived in southern Illinois, and my family was located in the Chicagoland area roughly 6 hours north of us. My husband is originally from New York and he has family stretched out in New York, Miami and Canada. The weekend we got married was the same weekend I graduated from college. We had to do it that weekend because several of my family members expressed loudly that it would inconvenience them to have to drive back for a wedding. At 24 it was very important for me to please everyone and make everyone happy, so on an already hectic weekend I decided we would throw a wedding.

The day of our wedding southern Illinois has a huge storm. It destroyed the town. Our wedding was an outdoor wedding. So what better way to make a buck than for the venue than to charge us an additional $500.00 to move the ceremony inside the day of.

While walking down the aisle, my father (whom my grandmother made me invite and walk me down the aisle) knocked off my veil and caused a huge scene.

Our officiant who came highly recommended by several people, failed to show up for rehearsal the night before, and was in a rush to go play the ponies the day of our wedding. While marrying us, he forgot my name and it went something like this "Do you Jason take..um..um...um... hang on I think I wrote it down here somewhere...are you Cindy? No, Veronica? No...well damn sweetie whats your name?..." I was beyond humiliated at this point. Then he pronounced us husband and wife and never let us read our vows. 3 months later he was arrested for smuggling drugs into the federal prison for inmates smdh

3 of our groomsmen (my husbands brothers) were extremely late to the ceremony because they took a detour and got lost they walked in sometime in the middle of me being called Veronica and Cindy.

Because of the storm, it knocked out the power. So the beauty shop never got opened so no one showed up for my hair and make up appointment. No call, no text no nothing. Just figure it out on a Sunday. I have no clue how to do hair and make up. So I looked like a crazy person who escape the mental institution. I didn't even own makeup. My brother in law was nice enough to try and help me, but it was nothing like it was supposed to be...also because of the power outage the caters couldn't cook. So it put a huge delay on the reception start time.

But wait there's more...

My servers showed up in jeans and T-shirts with their boyfriends and asked if we could accommodate them as guest. Yes I am serious. My parent table was not served food. They forgot to bring the vegetarian entrees for my brothers so they ate salad. They placed my cake underneath halogen lights...and it melted all over the place so no cake for any of us.

We had 75 people RSVP for the wedding and 19 rooms that were reserved on our credit card for the room block. 47 people showed up and we were charged for 10 of the rooms since people were no shows. We also paid for 75 plates of food and had alot of left overs that went bad due to the space issue in my fridge.

My photographer was very inexperienced and tried very hard to help with other things that were not going well, sadly that meant she was not taking photos. So we have about 20 pictures of our wedding. None of which I am smiling in and I am only in 2. We have none together as a couple.

During our dance our best friends kid crawled under a table and knocked over what remained of the melted cake. Then when his parents disciplined him he threw a rock at the window of the venue and shattered a double pained glass..add another $2000.00 to our bill.

My brother and my husband's brother was in charge of putting all of our drinks into the fridge in the kitchen at the venue. They placed about 30 2 liter bottles of soda in the fridge. My brother felt it was too warm in the "fridge" so he tells my brother in law to "turn up the temperature to make it colder"..about 25 min later we hear screams from the kitchen the soda's were literally exploding everywhere... Apparently they put them in the catering ovens and turned the temp all the way up. No amount of ice made any of it cold again and we had very watered downed soda with our meal

Someone walked off with our envelopes from our card box.

So as you can see, it was absolutely an event to remember and we were absolutely the talk of the family. My husbands family was amazing and many of them traveled from Canada and Miami and New York to be with us. My family however made it appoint to make it know how inconvenienced they were the entire time they were with us.

For our vow renewal when the conversation about our guest list came up, we both made our list. Mine had 5 friends on it with their families. No family was listed. My husband looked at me and asked me why I did not list any family on my list other than a cousin. I told him I just do not want to deal with it this time around. I want this to be about us and what we want and not about what they want and I really do not want to hear about how bad of an inconvenience it is on them. He asked me to contact them and let them know we were renewing our vows and that we wanted to invite them. I called my grandmother and within 45 seconds I was told I was being inconsiderate and why am I expecting anyone to travel right after the holidays and I should wait and do it when it was better for them. Yeah that was the last time my husband brought that up.

We decided we wanted to keep it small. Currently we have about 32 guest including the 6 of us. We are focusing our attention on the officiant and photography and the small details that really make everything tie together so that it can be just simply breath taking when we see the completed event.

Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday!

 

[olafLover]

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[cantoine]

Wow, that's some story! I'm really happy you can both laugh at it now! I really understand you don't want to invite your family. Really, it's an inconvenience to celebrate your love for each other?
I hope your renewal will go flawless and you'll have beautiful pictures to look back on it!

Thank you so much for your kind words. I think as people get older their tolerance for the things like this is lessened and our expectations of people change. I look at it as, if you don't want to be there it saves me money! Our guest list is composed of several close friends who love us as if we were family, and they are extremely excited to be there to celebrate with us!

 

[cantoine]

Colors, Stationary, a Dress and a headpiece! ​

Colors:

We decided to originally go with Plum, Grey and Ivory. I prefer darker colors over the pastels and lighter colors. However, after buying a few things in these colors I was unhappy so we finally decided on Purple, Grey, Gold with Ivory and Black as base colors for backgrounds and stuff

Stationary:

For our wedding we had a very simple white invitation. It was a kit I purchased on mega clearance from Walmart (i just love clearance). This time around I decided to skip the DIY invitations because to be honest, they never turn out well for me and just purchase my invitations through Shutterfly. The first thing I ordered were my Save the Dates. There was a promo code for 10 free Save the Dates that I had. Shutterfly and I, we have a love hate relationship. I love their prices and codes. I hate that I can never figure out what is included in their codes even after I read the fine print. Does anyone else have this issue or is it just me? Anywho I had this promo code and a free shipping code, I designed this awesome Save the Date and BOOM not included in the 10 free, but if I ordered 20, I would get 10 free. I rolled with it. I was too aggravated to argue with the screen anymore. However, the promo code was expiring and we still had not heard from the wedding coordinator regarding our date at the time, So I left it as January 2020. Which proved to be one of the best decisions ever( I will explain later). I know that the general rule for Save the Dates is like 4 months out, and the invitations generally get mailed out about 2 months. However, with this taking place at Disney during the Holiday season, we wanted to get these out ASAP so our friends had time to save and plan. We had ZERO complaints about anyone receiving the Save the Dates in Feb. They actually received them on Valentines Day, We mailed out a total of 12 and everyone was very happy to receive them, and actually took the time to text us and say thank you for giving them the notice, and a reason to spend the holidays at WDW. A few weeks later, once we heard back and were informed we got the date we wanted we went ahead and ordered the Invitations and Reply cards. Again, I had a great promo code, Sadly, our love hate relationship still continued. Here are some photos of what our Stationary looked like:




Everything arrived and looked amazing. I could not have been more excited until...

The Dress

I hate dress shopping. I can never find what I want, and everything I love is never in my budget. (Go figure). Since we already had a wedding, and I did have a very nice dress that I purchased from David's Bridal, I knew I wanted something nice and elegant, but I was not going to break the bank. I do believe every woman should absolutely have that moment where they go crazy with their dress, and I had already been blessed enough to have that moment so I set a strict budget for my dress. No more than $200.00. I knew I was not doing white, I wanted Ivory, I wanted the dress to have lace, and I wanted a mermaid cut if possible. I found a dress on a website called JJ House. I did some checking and I saw mixed reviews. I did love the dress I found it was 187.00 so it was within my budget. I needed to measure myself in order to place the order. But I was extremely busy that week with work, and several of my volunteer positions. (Did I mention I am a GS Leader and this was cookie season). So I became a proscratator. . This is generally not me, but I am glad I did...One night my email app pinged on my phone and it was from David's Bridal offering me 75.00 off if I spend 200 or more. So I figured I would give it a try. My husband and I were joking about how I really wanted this Vera Wang Dress that I saw. It was a beautiful dress and had EVERYTHING I wanted excepted that wonderful price of 1700.00 was never going to fly with either of us. It was a beautiful dress though. So we are chatting and I am browsing and I see David's bridal is starting their 99.00 bridal sale... so I venture to that section and I see several that are very cute and on sale and then I see it....The Vera Wang Dress I fell in love with months ago.. the beautiful Ivory mermaid cut dress, with the lace and pearl embellishments. One of the very few dresses I have every looked at and said "WOW"...and underneath the photo of the model was a red price of $99.00 . Thank you Dress GODS!!!!

I immediately book an appointment for the next morning at opening to go get my dress!!!!! The dress is only available in store and they only have 2 sizes left a 2 and a 10. I believe I am a 6 or an 8 but there are always alterations. So I call my BFF P-Dazzle and she agrees to come with me to the appointment.

The next morning we set off to the Austin Area to go get my dress. (I have already claimed it, it is mine). We walk into the store and the lady greets me. She strikes up conversation about what I want and I show her the photo and she says "We do not have that dress in this store" . I asked her why the website says in store only...She explains to me how the 99.00 sale works. The dress on the website are in a store(s) somewhere in the U.S. but not in every store. She tells me that dress is not available. I tell her I want this dress and ask her to look up which store has the dress and I will drive there. Her manager tells me they will look up the information, but that they have pulled 5 dresses for me to try on. My friend informs them that I will try the dresses on but that I wont buy them and I will walk out of their store the owner of the dress I want. They laughed it off and whisked me away to try on 5 dresses that I had zero interest in. I found out I am not a 6...or an 8 (Damn donuts) I am actually more like a 10!!!!! No problem, I get to actually eat my donuts and get my dress. After the 5th dress wa put on me, the manager and sales associate threw their hands up in defeat. They realized I was not going to purchase any of these dresses. They finally let me know they had found the dress and I could purchase it and have it shipped to the store. ...BEST DAY EVER...I changed out of the dress...ran to the counter swiped my Debit Card for 108.22 and BOOM!!! I got my VERA WANG!!!! Of course the sales lady and manager were not happy. The manager informs me they do not think the dress will fit, because I would probably be a 12 in one of Vera's dresses. So I would have to drop a Corsette in the dress. I told her that is fine, but I will wait to see the dress on me in 4 weeks before making that decision...

Fast Forward 3 weeks on my drive home over Spring Break in March 2019 from Disney. I get another PING...My dress has arrived

The next day I went back to the Austin Area. I tell them I am there to pick up my dress. They were moderately busy and after about 20 min a man from alternations appears with my dress in a clear plastic garbage bag!!!! (OH NO YOU DID NOT) and hands it to me. I ask to try it on, and he says "why you can't return it if you do not like it" I again say I want to try it on...(I hate people sometimes) They bring me to the back of the store in the alterations dressing room and leave me there. My 10 year old knew I was losing my patience and she even made a comment how everyone was helping all those other women and no one was helping me. So she helped me. We got the dress on and zippered up. It fit perfectly (HAHA manager lady) and it looked absolutely beautiful on me. My daughters ages 10, 7, and 6 said I looked like a princess and then went back to fighting with one another. But we had a 20 sec moment...LOL




Finally my husband grabbed a lady and informed her I was standing back there with no help and I wanted to shop for accessories. She came back and helped me. Bless her heart, she was an alterations rep, and had no knowledge of the how the front worked. But she did her darndest to ensure I had my moment. I purchased shoes and a fur shawl to go with the dress.

Headpiece

One evening while searching the web I came across the most awesome headpiece. I love the 1920's and the periods clothing and accessories. Up to this point I didn't really have a theme for the renewal. But then I found this amazing headpiece and I just knew I had to have it. I ordered it, and it arrived before my dress, so I was able to take it with me when I did my dress try on. I was also able to match my shoes to this piece as well.


Shoes


I have a venue, I have some invites, I have my dream dress and some accessories. All of this happened in the month of March 2019. I also had a trip planned to WDW for Spring Break with just my daughters. I never would have dreamed that trip would turn into what it turned into, but they say everything happens for a reason...

​

 

[cantoine]

Site Visit & Major Change​

My daughters and I had a trip planned for their spring break this year, so I took full advantage of being there to do a site visit. I met with my wedding coordinator at the Swan and she walked me through the site. I can say I have been at the swan several times as well as the boardwalk, and I never knew that this place was nestled in there. It is hidden in plain site. When I walked up to the site everything just fell into place for me. I was able to visualize where I would walk in from, where my guest would sit, where my ceremony would take place. Where our food and beverage would be served. I was able to speak with my wedding coordinator about different ideas, and while I was there I was able to peak inside the restaurant we were considering for after our ceremony. I have been having trouble finding good photos and videos on Crescent Terrace so I took a bunch. I will add them below.

After we left the site tour we had 4 days left. So we enjoyed the parks and some cool meals. On Thursday evening, I get a phone call from my husband. He tells me he decided to fly in to Orlando because he missed us. So off to the airport I went to get him. We decided to go see the site the next night, since he did not get a chance to see it. That was a huge mistake (kind of LOL). Now Crescent Terrace was simply beautiful during the day, however, it was just jaw dropping stunning at night. The site has market lightening affixed at the venue. The lighting turns this venue into the most beautiful place. Couple that with the lights at the Swan in the evening and the outside fountains lit up and the bridge leading to the boardwalk just make the venue absolutely perfect. Sadly, my phone had died, so I was unable to take any photos from the night site visit.

As soon as my husband was standing there and he turned to me and said " I want an evening ceremony". So an email was sent that night asking to change from the 3 pm slot to the 5:30 pm slot. Because it was a Friday we had to wait until Monday to hear back from our coordinator. She sent an email to the hotel and after what felt like a life time, she emails me back to tell me they do do 5:30 ceremonies, however, someone was getting married there at 5:30 pm on the 2nd. Nit waOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! I thank her for trying and call my husband to give him the bad news. He was not happy and explained he really wanted to be at that venue at night. So another email I sent because to be honest the man has not asked for anything specific for our vow renewal and he was asking for this. She emailed me back and told me they had the 3rd at 5:30 pm available...So I accepted that in order to have the evening ceremony, we would have to change the date by one day. I went back and fourth with this for a few hours. Primarily because I have to be back in Texas by the 6th. Which means we have to leave Florida on the 4th. I wasn't sure how I would feel about having the renewal and then checking out the next day. But I finally emailed her back and told her to go ahead and move the date.

We had to move our hotels around to accommodate the date change and I will have to reorder the invites, but I think the evening at this venue fits us perfectly. We also decided to have the dinner after the reception at Garden Grove. We dined there the night we went and seen the site and this restaurant is really a hidden gem. The food was really good and the atmosphere was perfect, the characters were great and it was not over crowded and rushed. The manager was great to work with and the staff was excited to hear we had planned on dining there with all of our guest. So our Spring Break Trip which was supposed to be some R&R for me an the girls turned into a family trip and it

So As of March 30, 2019 we have the following planned, booked, and worked out:​

Date: Jan 3, 5:30 PM
Venue: Crescent Terrace
Photographer: Demetrius Howard of Howard Photography
Music: Violinist Jennie Rudberg of Orlando Violin Music
Officiant: Rev. Kevin Knox
Floral: Arch with Sprays by Raining Roses

I have a dress, shoes, headpiece, and some small items purchased like our guest book and table decor. Things are absolutely coming along

Crescent Terrace photos:

 

[cantoine]

Its been a busy couple of months with the end of the school year, but I have finally had time to sit down and add some more updates:

News
At the end of April we received an email from our wedding coordinator/Day of coordinator over at Just Marry! She informed us she has accepted a different position within the company so we were being passed over to another coordinator. where I am happy she moved up the corporate ladder as she is very talented, I just do not have the connection with the other coordinator as I did with Danielle.


We purchased DVC at Animal Kingdom back in 2014. We love it and it has been a blessing to our family. We have know for many years that we needed to purchase another contract but it always seemed like the wrong time. I attempted to purchase 2 resale contracts but to be honest it was more of a hassle than the couple thousand we were saving so I passed. Our first contract was direct. The DVC purchase was my 10th Anniversary present from my hubby. May is the month we were originally married, so this May husband decided to call up our guide and add another 75 point contract as my anniversary/mother's day present


Rooms

Because of the add on to our contract, we were able to successfully reserve deluxe villas at Animal Kingdom for all of our out of town guest. So our guest will get to enjoy deluxe studios savannah view from January 1-4. We have a total of 6 families plus our room which will be a 2 bedroom savannah view booked. I was happy we were able to offer this to all of our guest.

Add ons/Appointments

We extended our musician for the cocktail hour

Made my nail appointment at the Salon at Coronado Springs. My daughters and I will be getting mani pedis and spending the day together

My hair and makeup appointment has also been arranged. I decided not to use the vendor Just Marry! suggested because I just didn't care for them. I am not sure what it was, but I just had a bad feeling. I went with the Disney hair and makeup people and the stylist will come to my room the day of and get my hair and make up complete.

Food and Beverage

We decided on the Antipasti Display for the cocktail hour immediately following the ceremony to use our food and beverage credit included in our package.

Purchases

1. I have purchased my bridal bouquet and his boutineer
2. our daughters dresses.
3. I made their corsages using feathers and organza flowers.
4. We had all our signage made and had them framed. We have taken care of our favors.
5. For the girls and I, I purchased satin robes to wear when we get ready and special hangers for our dresses
6. Silk rose petal (though I am not sure if I will be using them or not)

It has absolutely been a productive month of planning and things are coming along well. 6 more months!

 

[GardenDesigner]

I just wanted to say that the story about your first wedding is so horrific that I laughed out loud and simultaneously groaned at the same time. I mean--if there were an award for the Most Apocalyptic Wedding--from mother nature to (likely) high, felonious ministers to melted cakes to obnoxious guests to exploding soda, you would definitely win. You couldn't even make all this up, it would be too much to be believable, so it has to be true. Ya know what I mean, Vanessa? I mean, Cindy, I can't even, it's simply unbelievable. And cursing during the vows?!? Wow. Just, wow.

I am SO SO SO happy for you with your gorgeous dress! See, the universe has a way of balancing things out, and you being practically *gifted* that dress is just that--angels going before you! I'm sorry also to hear how the staff at David's Bridal behaved, but then, I have a hard and fast rule about David's Bridal that basically goes like this: DON'T. PURCHASE. THERE.

So I am not surprised, but I am beyond thrilled that you stood by your guns and got what you wanted, in spite of them! YAY you!!!

I laughed about the girls pausing in their bickering long enough to tell you how gorgeous you are--I had three daughters and now I have 7 grandchildren soooo, I get that! You should hear my instructions before I take them to the pool. (No gut checking, no wrestling, no choke holds, no chicken fighting, no holding people under...)

And aawwwww about your DH and the anniversary gift! Your wedding may have been a disaster, but your marriage isn't, and that's the really important thing!

I looked at your ticker--exciting to be getting so close! But, sounds like you already have many memories--maybe more like : 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days before you make new memories!

I will be interested to know what you think of Reverend Knox. My daughter is getting married in WDW in December 2020 and he's our pick for officiant right now.

What do the girls' dresses look like? Upload photos of your flowers! And use the petals! They make for great photos, and yes! Some things are worth doing for the photos they will create!