CivilTwilight
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2007
- Messages
- 131
Hello everyone!
I guess it's time to start my mini-trip report...even though it wasn't a disney wedding.
A little background about us first. Adam and I live in St. Cloud, Florida. In Sept. we closed on our first home in St. Cloud. Prior to this we lived in Casselberry which is north of Orlando near Altamonte Springs. We moved to Florida in fall of 2004 from upstate NY.
Our vendors were as follows:
Ceremony- Trellis area at Leu Gardens
Hair & Makeup- Janet Mednick www.onsitebeauty.com
Flutist for Ceremony- Alexia Jowers www.elyseemusic.biz
Gown alterations & Steaming- Carolyn Allens
Officiant- Rev. Jason McKinney www.apersonalwedding.com
Flowers- Peddles Wedding Flowers www.peddles.com
Photography- Arturo Macias www.artzphoto.com
We have both been Disney freaks as long back as we can remember, long before we met. It seemed fitting to get married at Disney. Thing is, it was going to cost more money than we were prepared to pay, although in hindsight, I bet we paid about the same elsewhere! But that being said, we got to customize everything without paying extra for it and also got a meal out of it.
Anyway, so we decided on Leu Gardens just outside of downtown Orlando for the ceremony and then take photos back at the Portofino at Universal where we were staying and then on for a party at Bahama Breezes down near Disney.
I spent my last day at work on Tuesday, Sept. 25th and worked until like the wee hours in the morning trying to get stuff done. I was exhausted and didn't get home until late. Our new house is literally half unpacked and some rooms are painted, some aren't. The last thing I wanted was for our families to come down to Orlando and see a half done house...but we just ran out of time. On Wednesday I got a pedicure and eyebrow wax. TIP: Don't get an eyebrow wax that close to the wedding unless you don't turn red. Me? I looked like someone smacked me in the eyes!! But never fear, the makeup covered it up. Then I decided to go tanning....now I do tan regularly so I wasn't expecting any redness....but apparently the tanning bed had other intentions for me. I ended up burning my face a tad and thus had to have the makeup girl put extra concealer all over my face. And to make matters worse 2 weeks before the wedding I got the worst cold sore I have EVER had in my entire life on my bottom lip. Looked like Rocky Balboa gave me a lick to the left. And the scar was still visible when the wedding day arrived.
On Thursday, Sept. 27th all of my family and my fiance's family were arriving....all at different times of course. His mom and sister were driving down all the way from NY, his other sister was driving in from Ft. Myers and all of my family flew in from NY. All went well with the flights, the driving on the other hand turned out to take forever (which for the record I would have NEVER done).
I am driving all over creation picking up last minute gifts for everyone's gift bags...to DTD, to the dollar store, to Walmart....I was all over the place. Then I had to stop at Home Depot because we needed screws! Too many things going on at once I'll tell ya. Well all this running around, I'm now headed home only to get half way there and realize that I NEVER PICKED UP MY WEDDING GOWN from Carolyn Allens!!!! UGH!!
So I turn around on Florida Turnpike and back I go. I still owed the money for my alterations and for my steaming... I nearly dropped dead when they gave me the bill... $319.00!!! I guess I never really asked how much it all was going to cost but I never thought it would be THAT much. For alterations I had to have the sides taken out a little bit, I had them cut part of my train down and then a bustle as well. I can't say I was very happy with the bustle that she did, everytime I sat down, it fell right out. It caused my dress to get completely dirty during times I thought the bustle was up. She was very quiet during each fitting I went to and didn't find her to be very personable. I guess if I had a choice I probably would choose somewhere else next time.
After picking up my gown I drive very quickly back to St. Cloud (about a 30 drive) and finish throwing together the gift/welcome bags. Now the tricky part is getting them to everyone since they weren't all staying in one place. It's getting to be late in the afternoon and I hadn't even packed one thing to go to the Portofino that night.
Here are a couple pics of my welcome bags, everyone got something a little personalized and then some regular staple things as well..
Turns out I gave my parents and sister theirs when they came to our house to see it that night. Then basically I had to throw my parents out and run to the Portofino!!
The plan was for my sister to stay with me that night before the wedding and then be there when I get ready the next day. I didn't get to the Portofino until almost 9:00pm that night.
For those of you who have stayed at Portofino at Universal, you may know how absolutely breathtaking this place is. The rooms are gorgeous, the grounds are great, the service impeccable. I pulled up to the checkin area and immediately there were bellmen everywhere asking if they could help. When they saw my wedding gown, they were all smiles and congratulatory. Of course I let them help me to my room. I walked right up to check in with no wait. The front desk agent was very courteous and sweet. She congratulated me and then said that the asst. manager of the front desk had arranged for a beautiful room for me. (btw, the asst. front desk manager I had spoken with before as I work for Universal. Although I didn't know her personally, she must have felt inclined to put me in a great room!) And off the bellman and I went to the room. I was put in a gorgeous room with a huge balcony overlooking the piazza and canal. It was truly breathtaking. Here are a couple pics I took from my balcony...
As soon as I checked in, I had to go right back out to pick up my sister from the Embassy Suites on Palm Parkway. When we got back to the room, Portofino had sent up a complimentary bottle of champagne and urn of fresh chilled strawberries!!!!!! It was sooooo unexpected but it did remind me that this is indeed a 5-Star Resort. Very classy. One issue though...my man wasn't there yet! It was the night BEFORE the wedding! So my sister and I enjoyed the treat!
In the midst of drinking this champagne and getting sleepy, I decide to paint my nails. Mind you it's dimly lit in the room and I'm getting a wee bit toasted, what I thought was a pretty shade of pink turned out to be a bright shade of pinkish lavender the next morning!!
And this was the end of the night before the wedding! Stay tuned everyone for the wedding day!
Thanks for reading!
Jackie
I guess it's time to start my mini-trip report...even though it wasn't a disney wedding.
A little background about us first. Adam and I live in St. Cloud, Florida. In Sept. we closed on our first home in St. Cloud. Prior to this we lived in Casselberry which is north of Orlando near Altamonte Springs. We moved to Florida in fall of 2004 from upstate NY.
Our vendors were as follows:
Ceremony- Trellis area at Leu Gardens
Hair & Makeup- Janet Mednick www.onsitebeauty.com
Flutist for Ceremony- Alexia Jowers www.elyseemusic.biz
Gown alterations & Steaming- Carolyn Allens
Officiant- Rev. Jason McKinney www.apersonalwedding.com
Flowers- Peddles Wedding Flowers www.peddles.com
Photography- Arturo Macias www.artzphoto.com
We have both been Disney freaks as long back as we can remember, long before we met. It seemed fitting to get married at Disney. Thing is, it was going to cost more money than we were prepared to pay, although in hindsight, I bet we paid about the same elsewhere! But that being said, we got to customize everything without paying extra for it and also got a meal out of it.
Anyway, so we decided on Leu Gardens just outside of downtown Orlando for the ceremony and then take photos back at the Portofino at Universal where we were staying and then on for a party at Bahama Breezes down near Disney.
I spent my last day at work on Tuesday, Sept. 25th and worked until like the wee hours in the morning trying to get stuff done. I was exhausted and didn't get home until late. Our new house is literally half unpacked and some rooms are painted, some aren't. The last thing I wanted was for our families to come down to Orlando and see a half done house...but we just ran out of time. On Wednesday I got a pedicure and eyebrow wax. TIP: Don't get an eyebrow wax that close to the wedding unless you don't turn red. Me? I looked like someone smacked me in the eyes!! But never fear, the makeup covered it up. Then I decided to go tanning....now I do tan regularly so I wasn't expecting any redness....but apparently the tanning bed had other intentions for me. I ended up burning my face a tad and thus had to have the makeup girl put extra concealer all over my face. And to make matters worse 2 weeks before the wedding I got the worst cold sore I have EVER had in my entire life on my bottom lip. Looked like Rocky Balboa gave me a lick to the left. And the scar was still visible when the wedding day arrived.
On Thursday, Sept. 27th all of my family and my fiance's family were arriving....all at different times of course. His mom and sister were driving down all the way from NY, his other sister was driving in from Ft. Myers and all of my family flew in from NY. All went well with the flights, the driving on the other hand turned out to take forever (which for the record I would have NEVER done).
I am driving all over creation picking up last minute gifts for everyone's gift bags...to DTD, to the dollar store, to Walmart....I was all over the place. Then I had to stop at Home Depot because we needed screws! Too many things going on at once I'll tell ya. Well all this running around, I'm now headed home only to get half way there and realize that I NEVER PICKED UP MY WEDDING GOWN from Carolyn Allens!!!! UGH!!
So I turn around on Florida Turnpike and back I go. I still owed the money for my alterations and for my steaming... I nearly dropped dead when they gave me the bill... $319.00!!! I guess I never really asked how much it all was going to cost but I never thought it would be THAT much. For alterations I had to have the sides taken out a little bit, I had them cut part of my train down and then a bustle as well. I can't say I was very happy with the bustle that she did, everytime I sat down, it fell right out. It caused my dress to get completely dirty during times I thought the bustle was up. She was very quiet during each fitting I went to and didn't find her to be very personable. I guess if I had a choice I probably would choose somewhere else next time.
After picking up my gown I drive very quickly back to St. Cloud (about a 30 drive) and finish throwing together the gift/welcome bags. Now the tricky part is getting them to everyone since they weren't all staying in one place. It's getting to be late in the afternoon and I hadn't even packed one thing to go to the Portofino that night.
Here are a couple pics of my welcome bags, everyone got something a little personalized and then some regular staple things as well..
Turns out I gave my parents and sister theirs when they came to our house to see it that night. Then basically I had to throw my parents out and run to the Portofino!!
The plan was for my sister to stay with me that night before the wedding and then be there when I get ready the next day. I didn't get to the Portofino until almost 9:00pm that night.
For those of you who have stayed at Portofino at Universal, you may know how absolutely breathtaking this place is. The rooms are gorgeous, the grounds are great, the service impeccable. I pulled up to the checkin area and immediately there were bellmen everywhere asking if they could help. When they saw my wedding gown, they were all smiles and congratulatory. Of course I let them help me to my room. I walked right up to check in with no wait. The front desk agent was very courteous and sweet. She congratulated me and then said that the asst. manager of the front desk had arranged for a beautiful room for me. (btw, the asst. front desk manager I had spoken with before as I work for Universal. Although I didn't know her personally, she must have felt inclined to put me in a great room!) And off the bellman and I went to the room. I was put in a gorgeous room with a huge balcony overlooking the piazza and canal. It was truly breathtaking. Here are a couple pics I took from my balcony...
As soon as I checked in, I had to go right back out to pick up my sister from the Embassy Suites on Palm Parkway. When we got back to the room, Portofino had sent up a complimentary bottle of champagne and urn of fresh chilled strawberries!!!!!! It was sooooo unexpected but it did remind me that this is indeed a 5-Star Resort. Very classy. One issue though...my man wasn't there yet! It was the night BEFORE the wedding! So my sister and I enjoyed the treat!
In the midst of drinking this champagne and getting sleepy, I decide to paint my nails. Mind you it's dimly lit in the room and I'm getting a wee bit toasted, what I thought was a pretty shade of pink turned out to be a bright shade of pinkish lavender the next morning!!
And this was the end of the night before the wedding! Stay tuned everyone for the wedding day!
Thanks for reading!
Jackie
or Betty boop or Spiderman. Ok, this is definitely the point where I missed not being at Disney...but hey that's ok, I chose Betty boop! 
