Helloirishkitty's PJ: WP/LSS 02.12.11- 02/17- Back and Married! Reviews, Glad I did..

[wintermouse]

Your dress is beautiful! I'm a Maggie bride also and I think her dresses are awesome and very budget-friendly!!

It's always such a shame when people are treated rudely... especially when shopping for something so important!! I'm so glad you were able to order it from the other salon!

 

[Pirate's Princess]

Great dress. I love letterpress invitations too but I just couldn't justify it. But they are beautiful...I love the design.

 

[helloirishkitty]

Annie
I love the Fiorella too!
It was on my shortlist butin the end I went with Christina - plainer and more appropriate (IMHO) for an older VR bride!!
Just one question, I notice that our two gowns are made of the same fabric - soft shimmer satin,and I was wondering whether you are having Carolyn Allen prepare your dress and if so whether it is steamable or whether you are having to get her to iron it.
Thanks
I have just realised that I have hijacked your PJ!!! I do apologise!!

It's ok! Hijack away!

I love Ambrosia! I've got it short listed to try on, I've just got to find a weekend to get to a store to try it! It's beautiful!

I called all over to find a store that had it and surprisingly only one did! I'm surprised with all the girls that want to try it on that more store don't carry it.

What a gorgeous dress Your invites are really nice. love letterpress

Great dress. I love letterpress invitations too but I just couldn't justify it. But they are beautiful...I love the design.

I'm still trying to justify it but we're definitely leaning that way!

Your dress is beautiful! I'm a Maggie bride also and I think her dresses are awesome and very budget-friendly!!

It's always such a shame when people are treated rudely... especially when shopping for something so important!! I'm so glad you were able to order it from the other salon!

Thank you! I agree, Maggie dresses are amazing- beautiful and budget-conscious!

 

[helloirishkitty]

We booked our PS trip last night!

We will be in WDW from September 12th-14th with our PS and food tasting scheduled for the 13th. We are staying at POP! We got our plane tickets and two nights the resort for under $500! Part of me wanted to splurge and stay deluxe but now I'm excited that we got such a good deal.

 

[daisygirl902]

We booked our PS trip last night!

We will be in WDW from September 12th-14th with our PS and food tasting scheduled for the 13th. We are staying at POP! We got our plane tickets and two nights the resort for under $500! Part of me wanted to splurge and stay deluxe but now I'm excited that we got such a good deal.

OH - Congrats!! My PS was last week and was so great! Enjoy every moment, and eat lots of cake!

 

[weedee]

that's so exciting!! I think POP is a good idea, after all it leaves more $$$ to splurge on your honeymoon

 

[helloirishkitty]

Just a random update post since I have been neglecting my PJ

57 days until our PS!! I splurged a little and we are now staying at the Wilderness Lodge. We are going to Hoop-Dee-Doo the night we arrive, and our only other ADR's are at Chef Mickey's and Artist Point, so I figured that without a car, we might spend most of our little trip travelling. Plus, we wouldn't be guranteed a king size bed, and we wouldn't sleep well in a double, so having seperate beds on vacation is not very romantic.

We booked Studio 222 for our photography and Beaute Speciale for hair and makeup. I'm still trying to to find bridesmaids dresses and it's slowly getting on my nerves because I don't know if I want short or long. My dress has a lot going on, and I don't want the bridesmaids dresses to look boring in comparision.

210 days to the wedding... oh boy! I have soo much to do!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

You will be there for your PS the same time I will be there on my honeymoon! I hope that you have a great time at your PS - have you decided what food you will be having?

Congrats on booking your photographer and hair/makeup. I am sure that you will be very happy with everything!

 

[helloirishkitty]

*hangs head in shame*

I have been such a bad DisBride! I haven't updated my PJ in awhile, and my post today will be short and sweet.

We are leaving for our PS on Sunday so I will have a TR next week

I'm so excited that I almost can't breathe- I can't wait to have everything ironed out... and to get my BEO

 

[pixie921]

Have a wonderful trip! We'll all be anxious to hear how things went when you get back!

 

[helloirishkitty]

Well, we got our first BEO. We actually came in a little under budget, but this one doesn't include floral, so we'll see what happens. This also doesn't include our photography for the ceremony and before/after, we are using Studio 222 for that. We are having our ceremony at the WP, our reception at LSS and our DP at UK lower. BEOs are usually very useful PJ posts for me, so I thought I would share ours

Wedding Ceremony, Saturday February 12, 2011, 2:00pm-3:30pm
Grand Floridian, 50 guests

Catering Fees and Equipment
1 Wedding Pavilion usage @ $3000.00 each $3195.00
Transportation
1 Motorcoach - Charter @ $781.20 each $781.20
2 Van- Oneway @ $25.00 each $25.00

Estimated Event Total: $4026.20

Wedding Cake Delivery, 2:30-3:00pm
Grand Floridian:
Catering Food and Beverage
1 Wedding Cake- No Service Charge @ $980.00 each $1043.70

(our wedding cake is a 3 tiered mad hatter- we are providing the topper)

Event Total: $1043.70

Pre-reception/Reception, 3:30pm-8:15pm on Saturday, February 12, 2011
Epcot, 50 guests
Operations/Attractions
1 Venue Rental @ $500.00 each $532.50
Bar
250 Hosted, Call Branh Bar @ $6.75 each $2174.60
1 Wine, Sparkling- Champagne Toast @ $62.00 bottle $79.90
Catering Food and Beverage
47 Modified Down by the Sea with Ariel @ $99.00pp $5996.09
2 Child's Gus and Jaq Dinner @ $24.50pp $63.14
49 Antipasto Display @ $14.75pp $931.37
1 wedding Cake Handling Fee @ $205.80 each $219.18
Catering Fees and Equipment
1 Fee, Bartender @ $100.00 each $106.50
Entertainment
1 DJ Wedding Package @ $1400.00 each $1400.00
1 Donald Duck and Daisy (1 set) @ #1350.00 each $1350.00
2 Caricature Artist @ $585.00 each $11.70.00

Event Total: $14023.28

Dessert Party, 8:30pm-9:30pm on Saturday February 12, 2011
Epcot, 50 guests

Operations/Attractions
50 Illuminations Viewing Fee @ 12.95pp $689.59
Catering Food and Beverage
49 Custom Dessert Buffet @ $32.00pp $2020.60
Catering Fees and Equipment
1 Outdoor Set up Fee @ $75.00 each $79.88
Photography, Video and Multimedia
1 custom Dessert Party Package @ $350.00 $350.00
Transportation
1 Towncard- Oneway @ $25.00 each $25.00

Event Total: $3165.25


Estimated Program Total: $22258.25

 

[Nikisha421]

thanks for posting your beo...I too always think beo post are so helpful only second to wedding day picture post...lol...I think for you number of guest you did a really good job on your budget...

 

[NOMNOMNOMS]

Thank you soo much for posting your BEO! We also have Diane Bowen. Unfortunately we have not had the pleasure of speaking with her yet. I'm glad to hear you like her. We are planning to have our PS sometime in December *fingers crossed*...oh and I loooove your dress!!! I'll be following along

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

just got caught up! thanks for the BEO!

i tried on 7 maggie dresses last night... and Emily seems to be my girl

all maggie dresses are soooo amazing yours is sooo pretty!

 

[KitKat5]

Hiya! Just caught up and everything sounds great! I LOVE your dress! Its beautiful! I cant wait to hear more!!

 

[helloirishkitty]

thanks for posting your beo...I too always think beo post are so helpful only second to wedding day picture post...lol...I think for you number of guest you did a really good job on your budget...

Thanks! I hope our floral isn't too crazy because then we may have to cut things and I don't want to

Thank you soo much for posting your BEO! We also have Diane Bowen. Unfortunately we have not had the pleasure of speaking with her yet. I'm glad to hear you like her. We are planning to have our PS sometime in December *fingers crossed*...oh and I loooove your dress!!! I'll be following along

She is great- you will love her! She is VERY busy this month (she warned me that October may be a rough month to get ahold of her during). Are you going down for a planning session?

just got caught up! thanks for the BEO!

i tried on 7 maggie dresses last night... and Emily seems to be my girl

all maggie dresses are soooo amazing yours is sooo pretty!

maggie sottero. Emily is beautiful- congrats on finding your dress!

 

[helloirishkitty]

Hello everyone!

I completely abandoned my PJ prior to the wedding- the last few months were a time crunch and I was stressed more often than not. I left a lot of things to the last minute (case in point: I made the ceremony music CD on Thursday in our 2 bedroom villa for our Saturday wedding). But, everything got taken care of and even though I had my doubts at times, DFTW made everything perfect and I couldn't have asked for more.

I will do a full TR once we have our professional pictures- right now there is 1 sneak peak photo on Studio 222's blog and it's driving me crazy!

http://www.studio222photography.com/blog/

Here are some reviews


Diane Bowen- A+- even thought she was hard to get a hold of at times, she was on her A game the day of the wedding and everything was handled. There were some minor glitches (missing wedding rings and no guiness at the reception for the groom) but they were both taken care of in less than 5 minutes and it was like they had never happened. I never felt stressed the day of, she had everything under control and was there from ceremony-dessert party. LOVE her! Anyone that gets the pleasure of having her is so lucky- she's truly fantastic!

DFTW assistants- A+- I know we defintely had Vanessa and Matthew, but there were others running around the day of the wedding too. They were all fanastic- Matthew even pinned my veil in because it kept falling out during pictures at the GF.

DFTW floral, Warren- A+- Warren was great. I didn't have a lot of floral at the wedding but I gave him complete creative license with the bouquets and he did an awesome job. The centerpieces (silver lanterns with yellow roses) were exactly what I imagined.

Studio 222 Photography A+- I love Becka and Nate. They are perfect for each other and very very talented. I feel like they got exactly what I wanted for my picutres. Jason loved Nate because he's a fellow star wars geek. They were a little on the pricier side but they are truly worth EVERY penny.

Disney Photography- We had Disney Photography for in park events and we had two of them (their names escape me at this point) From what they showed me on the camera, so far so good. I am impatient waiting for them though

Beaute Speciale A+- I had my hairdresser from home come to the wedding as a guest, so she did my hair but Beaute Speciale did my makeup and my bridesmaids/moms hair and makeup. I didn't know what I wanted so I just let them do whatever they wanted and it was perfect. It lasted all day even when I got sweaty from dancing my butt off on the dance floor.

Steve Weinstein, Disney DJ- A+- I LOVED our DJ. He was fanastic. We had a small wedding (30ish) and he kept the party going. He took requests all night, even played The Dan Band and Richard Cheese. He was awesome- I would have picked him myself.

Carolyn Allens- A- They are not getting an A+ just because she seemed snippy when she arrived because we did not have a lot of room in our GF room but she did her job well and my dress looked fantastic.

Grand Floridian Staff- B-: I think part of the low grade was that I had waited my whole life to stay here and everyone was rude. We checked in on 02/11 and were given a room with two beds with a view of a dormer. I asked if there was anyway we could have a king bed and the girl at the front desk said that we could have one the following night. Even though I did not want to move, I agreed just to have the king size bed for our wedding night. So when I went downstairs the morning of the wedding to check in/check out a different front desk person said that there would be no king rooms available. I did go a little bridezilla on them at this point, but there was "nothing they could do" and we stayed in the same room. We didn't even spend our free night there, we stayed in our two bedroom villa as there was a king size bed and a big bath tub.

Bay Lake Towers at Disney's Contemporary Resort- A+- We own here but it was our first trip "home". I LOVE IT. I am so spoiled now- we were so close to everything and having the big villa was perfect. I loved having a seperate room to relax, I loved having a kitchen (I made cookies twice, heh) and I loved our view of the Magic Kingdom (which I think was a wedding perk because we only used enoough points for the standard view). The staff was also so great and said "congratulations" every time we saw them.


Glad I did....

1) Had caricature artists- We had two charicature artists and they were fantastic. I'm glad we had two because everyone got more than one done and I personally got 4 done. They were funny and very talented.

2) Had Donald Duck- We had a death in the family a few months before the wedding and our budget got cut in half. We cut Daisy but kept Donald and I'm very happy that we did. He was the life of the party- everyone loved him.

3) Had a dessert party- Our dessert party was the perfect end to the night. When we were leaving LSS after the reception, the night didn't feel over yet. After the dessert party, it did and everyone keeps talking about it.

Wish I didn't...

1) Had so much food at the reception and the dessert party- We had a TON of food, I know that a lot of it went to waste and that made me sad. But all of it was fantastic

2) Stayed at the GF- I really wish that we hadn't booked the extra night. It would have been just as easy for the girls to get ready in our villa- the boys went fishing prior to the wedding and we would have had lots of privacy. Plus, we didn't even utilize our free night.

 

[pixie921]

It sounds like everything (aside from the GF) was wonderful!! I'm so glad your day was everything you wanted it to be. I'm anxious to see pictures of course!

 

[DisneyShamrock]

Grand Floridian Staff- B-: I think part of the low grade was that I had waited my whole life to stay here and everyone was rude.

Aww, that sucks! But, at least everything else was great. I can't wait to see pictures!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Glad to hear that your day went well! Waiting for pictures is the worst! lol I am sorry to hear about your bad experience with the GF, I sort of know how you feel. I had wanted to stay there my entire life and I had no problems with the staff, but we didn't get our free night, and there were so many rude guests and horribly behaved children. At least you got to really enjoy your DVC home though! Can't wait to hear more!