Hillary's Christmas Wedding PJ/Disneymoon@WL!**UPDATE 1/10! ***

[caryndisneydiva]

i agree with monymony3471...everything DOES happen for a reason...

have you thought about having someone make the dress for you? there's a lady in houston who offered to do this for me and it would have been super cheap, but i already had a dress...

you'll be beautiful no matter what!

 

[DisneyDeeFL]

i just wanted to jump in and say i've been having the same feelings about my dress too, and my wedding is also coming up in december! i bought my dress back in may, and haven't tried it on since...i will need to take it to be altered very soon, and honestly, i'm dreading it. i get bummed out whenever i think about it because i bought the dress the first day i went shopping for one...it was like a whirlwind, everyone was saying how awesome i looked, and don't get me wrong, i liked the dress a lot...but over time i've been second-guessing it and wishing we shopped around more. i feel like the salespeople get you all pumped up and tell you how beautiful the dress is and next thing you know you're walking out of the store with a dress, veil, tiara, earrings, the works....along with a no return policy!

anyway, just wanted to tell you i know EXACTLY how you feel. it's nice to know i'm not the only one who is stressing about this. i've learned that people can tell you a thousand times over how beautiful you are, but it seems the hardest part is getting yourself to believe it.

in any case, all of the dresses you've posted on here are beeeautiful! try not to stress too much..sending you good vibes

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

I really am feeling better about the dress situation. I'm still emotional, but I think its due to EVERYTHING that's been going on, not just the dress. It really is a beautiful dress, and I can def. imagine myself wearing it down the aisle. Honestly, I'm the type of person who HATES making decisions and stresses over every little detail, so I think I'm making it out to be much worse than it is. So, I'm happy with it. It sucks that I never had that "moment", but now I'm hearing about alot more people who just didn't, and it was ok. So, moving on.

I've been slacking on updating here lately, mainly b/c I wanted to have more pictures to share, but oh well. One BIG thing we got checked off is our invitations, FINALLY! We got them back from the calligrapher last night, and I meant to take a picture, but forgot, and then my mom took them today to work to get stamps and mail them. OH well. But they are really beautiful, she did a great job on the calligraphy. So that is one major thing I can stop worrying about.

I don't know if I mentioned that I finished my bubbles, tying the ribbon on all of them...

We also need to put my sparkler packs together and the favors. We are waiting for the rest of the favor stuff to get here, we had to order more M&Ms and the favor tags...

I'm really excited about them though. We are having pink and ivory personalized M's

mixed with wine colored regular ones...

Alternating these two differnet ribbons...

This is kinda what the box will look like, minus the M's in the box and tags obviously. We have a really pretty cake plate that we are using to arrange the boxes on, kinda like this...

I have a busy rest of the week too. Tommorow morning is our second marriage counseling meeting w/the preacher, yay. I kinda dread going, but then it's fun once we get there, not bad at all. Just a little intimidating. And then Thursday we are meeting w/the florist and caterer, over at the church w/my wedding director and then at the reception hall, so we can get all of that finalized. And then I need to go exchange my shoes, b/c my dress has alot of silver beading and stuff on it and my shoes are gold, and that bugs me. Then Friday I have my annual exam at the GYN. BOO!

Oh and this past Saturday there was a wedding at the church, so DF and I snuck in and took pictures, so I could show my mom what it looked like decorated. It looked really nice, and it kinda hit both of us...in 6 weeks it will be US, here for our own wedding. crazy.


The windows...I'm going to do something similiar, but prob w/garland and hurricane lamps, not sure yet

The foyer has this little shelf, they just used it for their programs and I really like this floral arrangement. But we will prob use a table to put the programs on and possibly have the guest book there as well.

crazy that I will be walking down that aisle so soon...

the pews. I think we're going to do some kind of berries and greenery.

They had one floral arrangment up front, and then the candles. Which is prob what we'll have, the church kinda discourages having a lot up there...

I think that's pretty much all I have right now. I'm trying to get ahold of this lady a friend of ours reccomended to schedule an appt for my hair trial. The lady that does my hair will be out of town for the wedding, and a friend told us this lady is really good w/wedding hair, and esp curly hair like mine, so YAY! The phone has been busy every time I've called her salon today though so hopefully I'll get her soon. I need to go as soon as possible.

It's just getting SO CLOSE. SIX WEEKS as a matter of fact. Crazy close.

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

I truely believe that everything happens for a reason and everything works out in the end.

So no more stressing.

Thanks so much. I am beginning to feel the same way, I'm not nearly as stressed as I was, and I know that everything will be great.

I get what you mean. I'm sorry things didn't work out about the dress though!



Have fun! The B.F. would be jealous! Even though he goes to one every year in July!



So true!



I don't know if you've ever seen Napoleon Dynamite, but to quote him: "Lucky!"

Thanks for reading girl!! And hey I'm jealous too, you guys go every year, I don't know WHEN we'll be back again for sure!

I'm so sorry to here about your dress trouble. I'm sure that you'll look beautiful in your original dress!!!

Thanks so much!

i agree with monymony3471...everything DOES happen for a reason...

have you thought about having someone make the dress for you? there's a lady in houston who offered to do this for me and it would have been super cheap, but i already had a dress...

you'll be beautiful no matter what!

Thanks alot!! That's so sweet!

i just wanted to jump in and say i've been having the same feelings about my dress too, and my wedding is also coming up in december! i bought my dress back in may, and haven't tried it on since...i will need to take it to be altered very soon, and honestly, i'm dreading it. i get bummed out whenever i think about it because i bought the dress the first day i went shopping for one...it was like a whirlwind, everyone was saying how awesome i looked, and don't get me wrong, i liked the dress a lot...but over time i've been second-guessing it and wishing we shopped around more. i feel like the salespeople get you all pumped up and tell you how beautiful the dress is and next thing you know you're walking out of the store with a dress, veil, tiara, earrings, the works....along with a no return policy!

anyway, just wanted to tell you i know EXACTLY how you feel. it's nice to know i'm not the only one who is stressing about this. i've learned that people can tell you a thousand times over how beautiful you are, but it seems the hardest part is getting yourself to believe it.

in any case, all of the dresses you've posted on here are beeeautiful! try not to stress too much..sending you good vibes

Wow, it's nice to know that someone else really understand where I'm coming from, but at the same time, it sucks that you also feel this way. I really am feeling alot more optimistic about it and happier with what I have. I think that people sometimes put too much stress on the PERFECT dress, and it just ends up disappointing some of us. Our weddings will be beautiful regardless, and one dress is not going to ruin it!!





Thanks to ALL you ladies who have read and sympathized and encouraged me!! It really means more than you will ever know!

 

[Hedy]

What cool favors-and the church looks lovely.

 

[tinkgurl]

That IS crazy close! How exciting! My favorites? The personalized m&m's and the wine colored other ones!

 

[tinkerbell87512]

The church looks beautiful! I bet your so excited, it's so close now!

I love the M&M's very cute!

 

[caryndisneydiva]

that was a really good idea to mix the personalized m+m's with the regular ones, i wish i would have thought of that...

 

[DisneySweetie]

Wow! That ribbon you found is perfect. I had a really hard time finding ribbon that was even close to my colors. I'm totally jealous how well all of your stuff is going together. I love the M&Ms. That clear box you took a photo of looks pretty big though. Are you going to completely fill it up? How many bag of M&Ms did you have to purchase?

I completely understand your premarital counseling anxiety. We are starting our in the next couple weeks and I am totally nervous. I know it's going to be fine, but it's still a little intimidating.

The church is so pretty. How surreal it must be to walk in and imagine your upcoming wedding. Everything is so close. I feel like it all just starting hitting me. So just in case it hasn't hit you yet - YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED! WAHOO! YIPPEE! YAY! etc.

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

What cool favors-and the church looks lovely.

Thanks!!! I really love the favors, I can't wait to see them finished, and the church is really going to be beautiful!

That IS crazy close! How exciting! My favorites? The personalized m&m's and the wine colored other ones!

Lol apparently everyone is loving the M's, which is good, I don't want to be one of those brides who NO ONE takes the favor and I'm left w/all of them...although, I wouldnt complain about having leftover M&Ms!

The church looks beautiful! I bet your so excited, it's so close now!

I love the M&M's very cute!

It IS close, holy moly. When I told DF it was just 6 weeks, he was like WHAT! It's kinda crept up on us!
Very excited though.

Wow! That ribbon you found is perfect. I had a really hard time finding ribbon that was even close to my colors. I'm totally jealous how well all of your stuff is going together. I love the M&Ms. That clear box you took a photo of looks pretty big though. Are you going to completely fill it up? How many bag of M&Ms did you have to purchase?

I completely understand your premarital counseling anxiety. We are starting our in the next couple weeks and I am totally nervous. I know it's going to be fine, but it's still a little intimidating.

The church is so pretty. How surreal it must be to walk in and imagine your upcoming wedding. Everything is so close. I feel like it all just starting hitting me. So just in case it hasn't hit you yet - YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED! WAHOO! YIPPEE! YAY! etc.

Oh man, we SEARCHED for that ribbon, but we finally found exactly what I wanted in a Hancock Fabrics. Don't be too jealous, I think I appear more organized than I really am! lol. And the box looks bigger than it is I think, it photographed funny. They are just the standard clear plastic boxes you can get at Walmart in the wedding aisle, not too big. We aren't filling them up completely either, a little over half I think. We haven't started playing with them yet!
And the counseling really is fun, we've learned alot, but it is intimidating for me esp, because I don't know the preacher like DF does, but he's totally easy going and we've learned some interesting things, and looked at things in a new way. I'm so glad we're doing it.
And it IS starting to hit me, holy cow. I feel like you said, it's just starting to hit me, that I AM getting MARRIED. crazy. We are SO close, we'll both be married before you know it!







Thanks everyone for reading! I have a few quick updates.

Yesterday we got SO MUCH done, I'm so happy. We met at the church and then the reception place with our planner from the church and our florist, who I cannot stress how much I LOVE HER!!! She seriously, just took away 95% of my stress I think. She's very untraditional, which I LOVE, and we have the same taste. She's an old family friend, her son and my brother grew up together and she opened her own gift shop a few years ago and has started doing weddings/proms/etc. So I KNOW it's going to be beautiful. But she totally took charge, and made me feel SO MUCH better. She gave her number to my church wedding planner, and then the ladies at the reception hall, and was like, call ME, with questions about stuff, don't call Hillary and stress her out w/it, she doesn't need it. I love her. So much.

And her ideas are just awesome, it's going to be so beautiful...I told her, I don't know alot about flowers and stuff, and I totally trust her to make it all come together. I know my flowers are going to be alot of dark wine colors and some pinks and limey greens, and then the bmaids are going to be more pinks, ivorys, and greens. And unique looking stuff, I hate just roses, or the just traditional stuff. And we're going to have lots and lots of candles and greenery. I can't wait to see it all.


Anyway, after all that we drove to Columbia, SC, about an hour away, and went to the mall looking for my mom's dress. I found something to wear to the rehearsal dinner, and some earrings for my bmaids ( I already had the pearl strands), and then we went to Davids to look more for her dress, and finally found it there. Our David's here sucks so we didn't even look there.

It's this dress, but its like a tealy greenish blue color. SO pretty, I love it. I didn't want her wearing some dumpy looking dress, so I LOVE this. Oh and hers is longer, and has a smallish train on it too.

I got this to wear after the ceremony...

YAY! We are having the carriage bring us from the church to the reception, and HOPEFULLY it will be colder then, its still almost 90 here everyday. So pretty.

And I looked at this veil, but I don't know...

I really like that look, but I don't know what it will look like w/my hair the way I want it. I want it in long curls, half up maybe...I'm going for my trial on Tuesday so I may talk to her about it.

So THEN my bridal salon called, and she was all excited, said she found a dress she thinks I will love. Its very similiar to the one I have and then the one I found that they couldnt get...

It's got the lace like I want too. That's really the only thing I would change about the one I have, no lace. And I LOVE me some lace. The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesnt have the lace up back like mine does, and I really love that. Anyway. She gave me the website and told me to look at it, and let her know. She'd already called the company and they have it in stock, in my size. She could have it in a week. So one of my bridesmaids and I were already going to go down there today to get her dress, so I'm going to talk to her then. If they will order it, with no obligations, and not charge us more money, then cool. If not, I think I'm fine with the one I have. I'd already accepted it and really begun to like it. So I'm cool either way.

The rest of our M&Ms came in, for anyone who is looking at the personlized ones...they shipped in like 2 days. I just ordered them last Thursday, and then came in on Tuesday. AWESOME. Just waiting on the favor tags so we can start putting them together.

I'm just feeling SO much better about everything. All these little details I was stressing about are working out and I can actually picture my wedding happening now.

 

[Hedy]

Yay-so glad your stressing less.

 

[DisneySweetie]

That's great that your florist is so proactive. I can't wait to see photos of it all.

I really like that MOB dress. My mom and I still trying to figure out what she is going to wear.

Where did you order your favor tags from? I'm still trying to figure out favor tags for our cocoa cones. I think we want labels, but so far the designs we have come up with to print on our printer are not my favorite. I am looking for other options.

Be sure to post photos of your hair trial. Good luck with everything else.

 

[caryndisneydiva]

i like the veil, i think it will look fine with your hair down/1/2 up!!!

 

[babieemelly]

Hey Hillary! I'm so, so sorry that it took me so long to get all caught up, but I finally did. What a wedding you're going to have! I LOVE the whole red and pink theme, I've always loved that color combo.

The rings are gorgeous, the invitations are gorgeous, the flowers are gorgeous... it's all so beautiful! And the plans for your Disneymoon sound awesome!

The new dress the bridal salon found is really pretty! But I have to admit that I'm a huge fan of the first one. It's beautiful and the back of it is a piece of art. Gorgeous!

Only 2 more months!

 

[Kristen14]

Hillary, I love your fur wrap! Where did you find it? I've been looking, but I live in South Florida, so there's not a lot of fur around here

 

[BrcsDisneyPrncs]

So glad to hear that everything is starting to come together for you! I'm glad your florist is such a doll, someone like that can really help when stress gets tough!

You are getting so close, so exciting!

 

[Gillian]

I just read your whole journal -- can't wait for the wedding!

I love the MOB dress, it's very elegant. My mother couldn't find the dress she had in her mind, LOL, so she finally just had it made.

Both of your gown choices are beautiful, and you will feel like a princess no matter which one you wear. You'll be so busy and happy on your day that you won't even have time to think about your dress, except when your guests tell you how lovely you are.

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

Yay-so glad your stressing less.

Thanks!

That's great that your florist is so proactive. I can't wait to see photos of it all.

I really like that MOB dress. My mom and I still trying to figure out what she is going to wear.

Where did you order your favor tags from? I'm still trying to figure out favor tags for our cocoa cones. I think we want labels, but so far the designs we have come up with to print on our printer are not my favorite. I am looking for other options.

Be sure to post photos of your hair trial. Good luck with everything else.

I just love my florist, she's known me for years so she's really going above and beyond. And she also knows my taste and I'm so glad thats ONE thing I don't have to worrry about at all.

I got the tags from myownlabels.com, I LOVE them. They haven't gotten here yet, but I know they shipped on Thursday so any day now. I'm excited to see how the favors come together.

I love my moms dress too...she actually bought one in Dillards a few weeks ago, but didn't love it, and I didn't either. It was ok, but not my fave. She was hoping she'd find something else, and we just took a shot at Davids and I was SO glad. This is perfect for her, she looks great and dresses pretty fashionable every other day and doesn't need to wear one of those ugly MOB dresses I've seen.

i like the veil, i think it will look fine with your hair down/1/2 up!!!

Thanks!! I'm hoping so, if not I'll just exchange it. But I'm prob going to take it with me to my hair trial and see what she thinks. I'm still back and forth.

Hey Hillary! I'm so, so sorry that it took me so long to get all caught up, but I finally did. What a wedding you're going to have! I LOVE the whole red and pink theme, I've always loved that color combo.

The rings are gorgeous, the invitations are gorgeous, the flowers are gorgeous... it's all so beautiful! And the plans for your Disneymoon sound awesome!

The new dress the bridal salon found is really pretty! But I have to admit that I'm a huge fan of the first one. It's beautiful and the back of it is a piece of art. Gorgeous!

Only 2 more months!

Thanks girl!! I hope it all comes together beautifully, I'm sure it will. I love the colors too, its perfect for me.

And thanks for the dress comments, I'm really beginning to love the first one so I'm going to be ok, either way. It is so much more beautiful in person too!

Hillary, I love your fur wrap! Where did you find it? I've been looking, but I live in South Florida, so there's not a lot of fur around here

I got it at Davids! They had a few different styles. I've also seen them on ebay and other online sellers, but I really wanted to see it in person, I was weary about buying one online.

So glad to hear that everything is starting to come together for you! I'm glad your florist is such a doll, someone like that can really help when stress gets tough!

You are getting so close, so exciting!

Thanks for reading!! Yes my florist is the best!

I just read your whole journal -- can't wait for the wedding!

I love the MOB dress, it's very elegant. My mother couldn't find the dress she had in her mind, LOL, so she finally just had it made.

Both of your gown choices are beautiful, and you will feel like a princess no matter which one you wear. You'll be so busy and happy on your day that you won't even have time to think about your dress, except when your guests tell you how lovely you are.

Thanks so much!! My mom had a really hard time too, but I'm so happy with what she found!

And thanks for the dress advice, I really think I was worrying way too much about it all, and I'm feeling SO much better now. I think because everyting else is coming together and it's so close now, the dress is just not as big a deal, and I'm just happier overall.






Ok so not much to share but I did take pictures of Christy, my best friend and bridesmaid when we went on Friday...

This last one kinda shows how pretty the taffeta fabric is, LOVE it.

I loooooove the dress. The color is just beautiful, more than the picture even shows. We didn't get the sash tied right, and it's going to need alot of alterations, poor girl and her small chest. She laughs about it though. Hopefully they can add cups or something. But it looks BEAUTIFUL and I couldn't be happier with that.

I also talked to them about ordering the new dress, she said she thought it could be in by Friday, and they won't charge me anymore or anything, until I decide (that dress is a little more than the one I have). If I like it, great, if not I still like the other one. She got it out for me to see again, I didn't try it on though. And seeing it again reminded me of how pretty it is. And Christy loves it too. So we'll see.



Oh and I actually changed our ADRs for the honeymoon too. We were talking the other night, and both agreed that Artist Point is just really not our style, plus, its a 2 TS meal and we're already doing Narcoosee's which is too, so thast 4 TS credits apiece on just 2 meals. We really really want to do Narcoosee's though so thats ok. So we decided to drop AP. Which meant we needed 2 more places to add! So we looked at menus and stuff, and DF mentions he wouldn't mind doing a character meal. what???? I did NOT expect that at ALL!!! I figured he'd be weirded out by it, and think it was silly. But hey, thats cool!!!! So we decided on Crystal Palace, he said he'd like to see the Pooh characters, since he watched it growing up. And he's really wanted to go to Planet Hollywood, even though I told him we could go there anywhere. I was really liking the looks of Wolfgang Puck. So, after reading on here, I saw that PH isn't typically busy, and you prob don't need reservations, but WP you would. So, I made an ADR for WP, and we said we could decide later which one to go to. I'm hoping for Puck, it looks sooooo good.

So here's what we have now as our itinerary:
Monday the 10th-arrive, go to DTD, dinner at Wolfgang Puck (7:30) or Planet Hollywood. Hopefully make it back to WL to see Electrical Water Parade at 9:30.

Tuesday the 11th-MK morning/MGM night (no ADR)

Wednesday the 12th-Epcot morning/MK night to see Spectro/Wishes
Crystal Palace at 7:10 pm

Thursday the 13th-Animal Kingdom
Narcoosee's at 7:40 pm

Friday the 14th-Free day!
Rent boats, swim, DTD, resort hop.
Kona Cafe at 8:55

Saturday the 15th-Epcot morning/not sure about evening (E, AK, or MK most likely)
Coral Reef lunch @1:20

Sunday the 16th-MK for park opening (hopefully!)/Epcot evening
Ohana at 5:20

Monday-Trails End buffet breakfast (OOP) at 9 am before we leave for home


So yay for that. I feel like we're getting more for our money now, and really will enjoy everything. Plus we won't have to spend as much out of pocket for CS meals or whatever, since we'll be short credits because of those 2 sig meals.

Oh and off topic, we bought our washer/dryer yesterday! hurray!!!! THAT has been a pain, Andy having to go to his parents to wash clothes. We got to bring the washer home, the dryer will be in on Thursday. yippee. We are having a late Halloween party/my 25th bday party on Saturday, so we'll be getting ready for that this week. I'm very excited to have people over to our new place!

Hope everyone has a great HALLOWEEN!!!!

 

[Kristen14]

I'm so glad everything's coming together so well for you!

Your PJ reminds me that I need to make ADR's for the week before my wedding! I have a few booked with large groups, but nothing for DF and I together.

 

[tinkgurl]

We were talking the other night, and both agreed that Artist Point is just really not our style

Yeah, I know what you mean!

We really really want to do Narcoosee's though so thats ok.

I can't wait to hear about here!

So we decided on Crystal Palace, he said he'd like to see the Pooh characters, since he watched it growing up.

Aw, that's cute!

So here's what we have now as our itinerary:
Monday the 10th-arrive, go to DTD, dinner at Wolfgang Puck (7:30) or Planet Hollywood. Hopefully make it back to WL to see Electrical Water Parade at 9:30.

Tuesday the 11th-MK morning/MGM night (no ADR)

Wednesday the 12th-Epcot morning/MK night to see Spectro/Wishes
Crystal Palace at 7:10 pm

Thursday the 13th-Animal Kingdom
Narcoosee's at 7:40 pm

Friday the 14th-Free day!
Rent boats, swim, DTD, resort hop.
Kona Cafe at 8:55

Saturday the 15th-Epcot morning/not sure about evening (E, AK, or MK most likely)
Coral Reef lunch @1:20

Sunday the 16th-MK for park opening (hopefully!)/Epcot evening
Ohana at 5:20

Monday-Trails End buffet breakfast (OOP) at 9 am before we leave for home

Everything looks good!