Jilian & BT's VR 3/24/12 Crescent Terr/Il Mulino - Last of the Randy Chapman pics up!

[Jilian]

9 more months to go! I'm a dork and had my dress altered already, I pick it up Sunday. I can't wait to see how it looks. It is a whole different dress with the sash! I'm starting to get really excited and anxious about how much more I have left to do. We sent out the first wave of save the dates to the out-of-staters and haven't heard anything back (I asked people who were sure they couldn't make it to let me know). I was kind of hoping that we'd have some cancellations so I could squeeze in a few more of my local friends. I don't know how some of you ladies cut your guest lists down to 20 people! I'm having a hard time keeping mine at 60! We have so many "chains" of friends and most of our friends have kids. I want to invite the ladies from my mom's group but most have 3 kids and just to invite 4 of them (with kids) is 20 people! H keeps saying "well it doesn't have to be in Disney" umm...YES it does! I cannot imagine any other place in the world where I'd want to have our wedding. I'm already missing Disney while our passes are blocked out for the summer. It feels like my second home. It is the only place I'd want to say my vows.

 

[KristiLyn]

I completely understand! I told Brian that it was the ONLY place I am getting married! We knew we were going to elope somewhere, and Brian and I originally just started out with us two going. And then some of the family decided they really wanted to come and they were going to make a trip out of it!

P.S. You aren't a dork for getting your dress 9 months before. I think I got mine 9 months before as well!

 

[quandrea]

Enjoying your PJ. Glad to hear your son is doing well. Your plans sound wonderful. I'm so glad you found a dress on ebay. That was a thread I started. I love my ebay dress and got it at a great price. Still haven't told DH about it; I think he'll think I'm crazy. I was going to wear my old dress, but when I tried it on, it just didn't do it for my anymore. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I'm along for the ride. Congrats!

 

[Jilian]

Quandrea, thanks again for that thread! I've been scoring big on ebay ever since. I bought some just married buttons, a bride and groom t-shirt, and I'm looking at different Disney T-shirts for our trip. I've already found some Mickey shirts for the kids for $4-6 shipped! The same shirts cost $30 in Disney! Score! I did search wedding dresses on ebay and wish I hadn't. You can get a gorgeous dress for an amazing price, I wish I had thought of that before buying mine. BTW, my daughter was born a month before your twins She's Aug '09 I don't know how you twin moms do it, I couldn't imagine being pregnant with 2 babies and then chasing 2 two year olds around the house.

Speaking of my dress, I picked it up yesterday. They took the sash off and attached my sash to it (just 2 points, so it doesn't sag from the weight of the jewels). They also shortened it and did a french bustle. It looks like a whole different dress! I really like it a lot! I got so many compliments on my sash while I was in there too, everyone was asking for the website that I bought it from. The problem is that it fits like a glove, if I were to gain even one pound in the next 9 mos it probably won't zip. I've already gained 3 lbs since buying it. Boo! My daughter stopped nursing recently and I thought I'd be losing weight, not gaining! I think I need to have my thyroid checked. I've even been counting calories for the past month and I rarely eat more than 1500 calories a day. I should be losing weight! Grrrr! I guess if all else fails I'll cut out carbs for the last month before my wedding and drop the weight so I can fit comfortably into the dress. I guess this is the bad part about buying a dress early!

 

[pixie921]

Jilian, I'm so happy to hear that you've got your dress and it's all set to go! I'm sure with summer upon us, you'll find that any leftover nursing weight your body is holding onto will let go, especially if you're only eating 1500 calories a day! And like you said, there's always carb-cutting (or, if you're me, SlimFast, LOL!) if you have to at the last minute!

 

[KristiLyn]

Congrats on getting the dress!!! And I thought I'd tell you again, your sash is one of the most beautiful I've seen!!!
You'll be fine with the weight. I've been watching what I eat too. Cutting the caffeine was the hardest part, but after a few weeks it's no problem anymore Good luck!

 

[Jilian]

Thanks, I love my sash too I hope your dress appointment goes well! I've been keeping my fingers crossed for you! I dusted off my old tae bo DVD tonight and did the 30 min workout. I'll probably be limping around tomorrow morning. Tae bo has always helped me to get in shape really fast. I'm gonna try to stick with it at least 3x a week. I think I'd die without coffee, or at least I'd be really grumpy. I only drink coffee (2 half cups a day) and water but I NEED that coffee to keep up with my energetic kids!

 

[KristiLyn]

That's how I was! It was the hardest thing to get off of that coffee! I actually got lots of headaches for two weeks straight because of it. But I know you can stay in shape!!

 

[Jilian]

Disney has finally gone ahead and released their 2012 rates and I'm trying to figure out where we'll stay. It is so hard to choose! There are so many good options. We need extra space, there will be 5 of us along with all of the stuff we'll be bringing and we don't want to be cramped. We were thinking of renting 2 ajoining rooms at the caribbean beach resort because it seemed like a lot of our guests could probably afford to stay there too. We also thought it would be nice to invite everyone to their patio area near the pool cabana the day before the ceremony for a welcome drink/gathering. Then today my mom and sister said they'd probably just stay in a value. I really don't want to do a value, I have nothing against them, they just aren't for us. They tend to be really crowded and the busses pick up people from more than one resort so they tend to be crowded. With kids and a stroller we need easy bus rides where we are likely to have a seat. There are no water slides, no sit down restaraunts. Just no.

Honestly, I just want to stay in a 1 BR in animal kingdom villas. I've always wanted to stay there and I'm hoping that in the future we can buy into DVC with that as our home resort. With the crappy discounts offered to passholders it looks like 2 rooms @ carribean beach resort will cost just about the same as the 1 BR villa. The problem is that it prices most of our guests out of our location. I can't see a non-resident/non passholder paying AKV rates. So I'm not sure what to do. H thinks it would be rude to stay there because we'll be away from our guests. I think that if most of our guests will be staying at values then they won't be with us anyway. Maybe we could schedule more meet-ups to be able to spend time with our guests?

I wish we had more money to spend so we could have dinners with our guests a few times but we just can't take everyone out to dinner 2-3 times, we have about 50 people on our guest list so far! I feel rude asking guests to come out to dinner with us and not offering to pay, how does that work? Can it be done? This destination wedding thing is tricky!

 

[Kasper]

Jilian,
I say stay where you want to stay. With my daughter's wedding we are all over the place. She and her fiance are staying at the Contemporary. My DH, DS and extended family from my side are staying at the WL. Our bridesmaids are staying at Pop Century and most of the others are staying off site. You won't be able to work this around all your guests. It is impossible and will give you sleepless nights. Believe me when I say you cannot please everyone. As a Mother of the Bride I totally respect that my daughter and her fiance want to stay somewhere totally separate from the rest of us. We will get together enough to make us all happy.
I understand how you feel about wishing you could pay for everyone for all the meals. If only we could win the lottery and pay for everything for everyone. Wouldn't that be something?
What we are paying for.......We are giving all of the wedding party (bridesmaids and groomsmen, bride and groom....10 in all) $25.00 GC's to go towards an evening of drinks and snacks around the world. (A sort of bachelorette/bachelor party) We are paying for the reception/dinner at Citricos for the 30 guests. (Plus cocktails at Minzer's while the guests are waiting for the Bride and Groom to finish their photo shoot) I have told my daughter that we will also pay for the bridesmaids and groomsmen for the welcome dinner at O'Hana's the night before the wedding but all other guests that want to go must pay or use their dining credits if they booked the dining plan. (I am frustrated because the groom's parents aren't offering a dime for anything at all. To me they should at least pay for the welcome dinner the night before the wedding but that's my opinion. ) With just that we are close to $4000.00. You have to draw the line somewhere. (Especially with a large wedding reception back at home after the Disney Trip). We sent out a newsletter explaining everything to the guests and telling them our plans and what meals we are paying for and what meals they would need to pay for if they choose to attend those. It is their choice.
I hope that gives you an idea of what someone else is doing. Do not feel guilty that you cannot do it all. Your guests will understand.

 

[KristiLyn]

Ugh money. I hate that topic so much. It seems like there's never enough when you are wedding planning!
I would really suggest doing what you want and staying where you want for your wedding/honeymoon. We ended up having to explain to everyone that money was tight and these were the places we were having dinner/doing etc and they were more than welcome to join, but we really couldn't pay for it all. (we are paying for the wedding, etc with no help). One of the main reasons we chose a destination wedding was that we just didn't have to money to pay for a big local wedding. I agree with Kasper on everything...
I know that I wasn't much help, but good luck!!

 

[Jilian]

Thanks Kasper and Kristi. I reallly want to stay @ AKV so I think I'll talk it over with my H again. He's worried that we won't see everyone enough if we're not all at the same resort. I have a feeling we'd compromise and book @ CBR and then most people will end up staying elsewhere anyway. Maybe we can split the stay so we get some time @ AKV and then switch over to CBR.

I'd like to be able to meet up with people @ the parks but I feel weird saying "join us here" and then they have to buy passes to join us. I think they'd understand though, if we bought passes for everyone it would be a small fortune. I think we'll just make our plans known and go from there. Thanks for the advice

 

[cindy2013]

Cant wait to hear more! I think you should stay wherever you want for your wedding. I'm planning on staying at the GF and I know we will probably be the only ones there but everyone can meet us there for get togethers. Hope you get it all worked out and make sure you and the hubby are happy!

 

[belle2211]

I say stay where you want! I had a large wedding...92 guests. And I had 4 hotel choices. Out of those 92 guests, only 19 people (8 families) stayed on propoerty!! So you never know if your guests are even going to choose the hotels from your room block. It's your wedding, go for it!

 

[Jilian]

Thanks Cindy and Belle! That is shocking that only 8 families out of 92 people stayed on property!

We're still deciding on where to stay. We're leaning a bit more towards CBR now because that means we can stay longer. My H had a great idea of asking our parents to keep a few VR items in their rooms until the VR for safe keeping. That cuts back on the number of things we need to keep in our room and makes a single room more manageable. I'd love to stay in a villa but we'll save a small fortune by staying in a mod and we'll probably still be able to get the dining plan for less.

I finally got some pictures of my dress online! It started out like this:

then we took off the sash and put this on (a little lower):

and we ended up with this!

the sash won't sag like that, it sits straight just below my natural waist. It is so heavy that I had the alterations lady pin it in 2 points to keep it straight. We also went with the french bustle. I'll probably leave it bustled the entire time since I have no interest in a train. Here is the bustle:

I'm really happy with how it turned out. It looks like a whole new dress!

I'm continuing with my tae bo and calorie counting adventures and so far I'm feeling discouraged. I only have about 8 lbs total to lose but nothing is happening! I'm gonna give it a few more weeks and then maybe try something else (like cutting out carbs for a week or two). I hate dieting...a lot.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Jilian sweetie - the sash and dress look stunning together!!! How beautiful you will be!!

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

lol, we were looking at your sago cay pictures last night and i saw your dress on there... i'm like... hmmm that's new, lol. love it

 

[Jilian]

Jilian sweetie - the sash and dress look stunning together!!! How beautiful you will be!!

Aww, thanks. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

lol, we were looking at your sago cay pictures last night and i saw your dress on there... i'm like... hmmm that's new, lol. love it

Thanks! I'm happy the sago cay pics were helpful, my H went camera happy when we were still planning a DP there. It is such a beautiful location

 

[Jilian]

I think we've decided to go ahead and stay @ the Carribbean beach resort. We like it there a lot and last night we figured that if we stay there instead of a villa we'll be able to stay for 9 or 10 nights! I'm really excited because the longest we've ever stayed was 5 nights. My kids will be thrilled when they find out. My oldest keeps asking how much longer until the "vow renoodle".

I'm starting to think that I need to take a day trip on down to Il Mulino to have dinner there before the reception. We've never even had dinner there. I'd like to try a few of the dishes on our menu to make sure we don't want to switch them out for other dishes.

 

[KristiLyn]

Vow renoodle...hehe! so cute!!
I think it's a good idea to try to get down there and try the dinner. I've heard wonderful things about it though.
And I LOVE the dress and sash together! You are going to look beautiful!