Jillian and Michael's Disney DREAM Wedding PJ

[JBeanBunny]

Hello, all

I've been reading and posting for a few months, and our wedding cruise is in T-minus 273 days, so I suppose it's about time I start a PJ to share with my fellow DCL brides and other interested parties! My name is Jillian (25) and my DF is Michael (29) and we met about 4 years ago and started dating almost 3.5 years ago. We're having a long engagement, by the time we're married, we'll have been engaged for 2 years and 3 months! It took us a long time to figure out when and how we wanted to get married, but one day at work, Michael met somebody who had gotten married on a Disney Cruise, and we started researching and quickly booked our wedding cruise and sent out invites!

We met through mutual friends in the Orlando/Lake Buena Vista (Disney) area. One bored day we decided to go (as friends) "Drinking Around the World" at Epcot, and about 3/4 of the way we decided that it's be funny if we got "Just Married" buttons (this was before they had Just Engaged Buttons or Happily Ever After buttons). But a problem arose, if anyone asked to see a ring, I didn't have one! So, we made it to the World Traveler at the International Gateway, bought a sterling silver mickey ring, then proceeded to France to have "engagement" photos taken. Now, remember that we weren't even dating at this time! He was working with MK Photopass at the time, and when GOOD photos are taken, they get shared (boasted!) throughout all the parks! So when Michael went to work the next day, everybody was asking him about his new fiance! Well, it was all good and fun- we started dating shortly afterwards with out little joke that since we were engaged, we had to get married before the 'world ends' on December 21, 2012 (Mayan Calendar ends...) Lo and Behold, we'll be getting wed on 09/14/2012!

Well, there's a start! There will me much more to come, I promise!

 

[JBeanBunny]

Flash forward 2 years from where we left off, and Michael and I went on a 'family vacation' to California so I could meet some of his family. We spent a day at Universal Studios, a day at Disney's California Adventure, and a day at Disneyland. Unfortunately, it was the beginning of summer and the first week of World of Color, so we encountered ginormous crowds! Turns out we couldn't go to Disneyland on the first day, so we went to California Adventure that day. Nobody told us that you had to obtain fastpasses in order to see World of Color, so by the time we found out, we had 11:30 fast passes, but we had a 3 and 4 year olds in tow, and we couldn't stay long enough to see it.

The next day we went to Disneyland on a short day. Since the park closed early to day guests for Grad Nights, they had Fantasmic back-to-back with the fireworks, with maybe 10 minutes in between! DF and I are very very very familiar with WDW Fantasmic, so after the show, I was busy stewing over the differences between MY Fantasmic and DL's Fantasmic... Among the giant crowds all headed in one direction to catch a good fireworks spot, Michael gets down on one knee and asked me to marry him... (Now flash back to 2 years ago with the fake engagement... I wore that ring EVERY day on my left ring-finger and Michael asked me weekly, sometimes daily, if I would marry him, taking off the ring, and putting it back in place.) I was still concentrating on Fantasmic and concerned with getting a good view for fireworks, that I tell Michael to stop, that he's embarrassing me, that it's not real and we need to get to the front of the park ASAP... Until he stops me and points at the ring, which is NOT my regular Mickey ring, but a REAL engagement ring! After that, I was so surprised and speechless, that he had to ask me my answer, which was, OF COURSE, yes! I feel rather foolish about my response, but it's kind of his fault with the whole "Boy Who Cried Wolf" thing!

Notice the Hand on the hip, and the "uhh huh, lets get this over with so we can watch the fireworks" expression

Now, notice him pointing to the ring, and suddenly I get it...

And you know, the next logical step...

We were staying at a timeshare on Dana Point Beach, so the next days my future niece took some photos for us! Enjoy!

 

[Freckledginger]

Yay!! Excited that you've started a PJ! Congratulations on your engagement (long engagements are good--DF and I will be engaged 1.5 years by the time we get married), and can't wait to read more of your plans!

 

[JBeanBunny]

Lets Talk Invitations! Okay, Invitations are well in my past- but I put SO much time, energy, and funds on this project that I want to show them off a bit!

Here's what you need to know... Before we decided on the DCL wedding, Michael and I were planning on getting married at the Orlando Science Center with the reception on the terrace overlooking the downtown skyline and the reception indoors in the Dinosaur room... Would've still been an awesome wedding, but it was going to be more expensive in the long run. Michael and I are both a wee bit nerdy (him moreso than me!) and we both LOVE Doctor Who, so we were planning on having a bit of a Science Fiction themed wedding at the Science Center... Well, that's not happening, as we all know! But we'd already had the ideas in place for the invitations, so we went forth with the original plan for invitations... TARDIS invitations, to be precise! (Time And Relative Dimension In Space, aka, an alien time machine... I warned you, we're a bit nerdy!) So the doors of the Tardis "pull to open" to the invitation, which is "bigger on the inside".

Here's how it was done:

I purchased a beautiful Doctor Who papercraft print "Danse Avec Moi" from Etsy, and I traced the pieces and re-created the entire piece by hand to match colors we preferred. I scanned it, did a little editing on photoshop, and took the file to Kinkos and had 50 printed. I custom ordered a chandelier stamp (also from Etsy) so I could use embossing powder and a heat gun to emboss the chandelier on each print. Next I made "Mickey Medallions" - I got a piece of sturdy silver paper and went to town with a circle hole punch, and I glued rhinestones into Mickey Silhouettes on the silver circles. Then I did all the folding- a major pain, since I had to measure EVERYTHING so precisely. (I used a WDW pen to make the creases- no need for a $10 bone folder from Martha Stewart!) Glued the ribbon, glued the medallions, punched a bazillion blue squares, and glued those too. At home, I printed the "confetti" glitter vellum paper with our formal invitation (found my font on DaFont.com), took those to Kinkos to have them cut perfectly down the middle, then hole-punched the top and tied ribbon bows to hold everything together! Then I dug through my crafts and found a stamp that says "And they lived happily ever after" so I made the executive impulse decision to stamp that on the back of each invite.

Wow, it's exhausting me all over again just thinking about it Many Many Many Many hours went into these invites, and so much love- but I'm so glad they're done! Though, it's nice knowing that they're so completely unique! Anyways, enjoy the pictures! I am the queen of everything that sparkles and glitters, so notice that the blue paper shimmers and, of course, that confetti vellum!

Danse Avec Moi: the inspiration piece

The Front- YES, it's being photographed on top of my DCL DFTW packet!

The Inside

Underneath the Vellum (notice the embossed chandelier!)

The Back

I thought long and hard about the wording of the invitation. I didn't want it to feel too stuffy, but I still wanted it to sound formal. I couldn't exactly copy typical invitations, since a cruise wedding is anything BUT typical! Here's what I wrote:

"We are delighted to invite you to set sail aboard the Disney Dream to celebrate the wedding of Jillian ... and Michael ... departing from Port Canaveral, Florida on the Thirteenth of September 2012 and returning on the Sixteenth of September 2012. Allons-y!"

We booked the wedding cruise in early September and mailed invitations shortly afterwards to give our guests time to mull it over and book their vacations! We honestly weren't expecting many guests to join us, but our guest list is already up to almost 50! And I know that not everybody has booked yet! We're getting married onboard, so that means we have to get married in one of the lounges instead of in the deck 14 Outlook I am thrilled to see more and more of my loved ones join us to celebrate our day (our weekend, really!) but I really loved the look of the Outlook!

It appears that my DF has fallen asleep on the couch next to me, so I suppose I'll put down the laptop and take him to bed! Have a great big beautiful tomorrow!

 

[JBeanBunny]

Being engaged for 18 months already, I've had the opportunity to try on dress after dress after dress after dress... For YEARS I've been dead-set on getting a Maggie Sottero gown, so I'd visit her trunk shows at local shops with friends, and I tried some on with my mom and I'd fallen in-and-out of love with several dresses over time. Finally, over Thanksgiving this year, I was shopping-to-buy (You can't get your gown TOO early, after all!) We went to a shop about 2 blocks away from the house I grew up in and found 3 dresses that I'd liked a lot! Then afterwards we researched a store that sold one of those dresses for hundreds less, so we went there- a really big shop that was pretty impersonal, tried on more dresses there, and found another one I'd adored! By Thanksgiving day, I was SO stressed out and busy mulling over the dresses and which one I should get... It took all the fun out of the process! Finally, I went to a gorgeous shop in Geneva, IL and tried on another rack-full of dresses, and found two MORE that I adored! Luckily, when it came time to re-try the two I liked, I put the first one on, and that was it! My DM really wanted me to try on that second dress, but there was no point because I'd found the one! My entourage picked out jewelry and a veil as I focused on the dress (and I shopped through several tiaras until I found my favorite) It's always hard to take everything off once you've fallen in love with it! But she took my measurements and sent me on my merry way! Just the other day I got a card from my consultant wishing me a merry Christmas and that she's eager to see me again at my fittings!

The Dress: It's NOT a Maggie Sottero gown! I know, I'm shocked too! It's an Essense of Australia dress- It's either a small ballgown or a very full A-line silhouette. The bodice has embellished lace beaded with crystals and pearls and a scalloped sweetheart neckline. It came with the belt for free, which I can reuse for one of my other "little white dresses" on our dinner alone at Palo and the skirt is sheer organza, so it's very soft and very lightweight, but still full! Now, the magic about this very princess dress is that the skirt has tiny iridescent rhinestones scattered evenly across the skirt, so it picks up the light just like pixie dust! You can't really see them in the photo because we were inside on an overcast day, but imagine how it'll look out on deck in the Bahamian sunshine! Gorgeous!

The dress, from afar- look at the beautiful shop we're in!

MY dress

The Closeup- I got that necklace and veil too!

I decided almost immediately after booking my wedding cruise that I wanted to wear a white dress every night... so I also bought two little white dresses... I only have poorly-lit cell phone photos on the hanger, but you can get the idea! One is for the day/evening of my legal ceremony, and the other I've chosen for the last night when we go to Palo alone.

Legal Ceremony Dress

Palo Night dress- I'm going to use the belt from my wedding gown to dress this one up a bit! The dress doesn't look great on a hanger because of its a-symmetrical gathering and it's meant to be very form fitting!

Alright, I think it's time to get ready for work... enjoy my photos!

 

[Freckledginger]

Hi Jillian!!!
Absolutely loving your PJ! Your invitations are incredible!!! They turned out beautifully, and are really unique. I'm so impressed by DIY projects like that... it must take so much time, energy and creativity. We haven't sent out invitations yet (we did STDs first, and will send out a formal invite next year), but I'm sure they will be a lot more basic than yours

Also, LOVE your wedding dress!!!!! It is absolutely gorgeous on you, and will be breathtaking in photographs on the Dream. It has really beautiful elements-- sweetheart neckline, dropped waist, and the decorative features. You must be thrilled to find something so perfect after all your searching!

What a fantastic idea with the multiple white dresses!! The other two dresses are super pretty as well, and will be perfect for the legal ceremony and Palo's.

Looking forward to hearing more plans! Have a good week at work!

 

[ccbride412]

Congrats on starting your PJ! You've been very busy! I love the invitations, very cute! The nerdyness is cute and how you tied in the French danse avec moi and allons-y. Tres chic! DF and I are also very nerdy-we're doing a pirate themed civil ceremony. lol!

By the time DF and I get married next year we'll have been engaged for almost 1.5 years and I'm impressed that you were able to hold out on dress shopping "for real" for so long! I went out 3 weeks after our engagement and had 4 dresses picked out for when my sister came 4 months later! Got my dress 11 months before the wedding!

I can't wait to read more! Adding your PJ to my subscriptions!

 

[stl_figment]

Pretty dress!

 

[PixieDust1969]

Your dress looks beautiful on you! I like your dresses for your first ceremony and for Palo. Your invitations are very cool and I can tell they were a lot of work! I will be following along with you!

 

[kiss da girl]

Great start to your PJ! I love your 3 dresses and the idea of wearing one every night!

Your invitations are beautiful!

 

[JBeanBunny]

Exciting News! In just 5 days I'm sailing on the Dream with my DM and DF as a "Research Cruise" prior to our wedding cruise! It's really a combination of "I can't wait for my wedding cruise, I want to go now!" and "I've only sailed the Magic and have NO idea what the Dream is like." And honestly, I think with all the wedding stress and spending as much time with as many of our guests as possible, I don't think we'll be able to kick back and "enjoy" our wedding cruise (only 3 nights!) the way you're supposed to enjoy a cruise!

Since our wedding party has climbed to over 50 people (eep!) we're unsure as to where our wedding will be held, since we've opted for an onboard wedding! We're too large a party for either the Outlook room and the private balcony that they use on the Dream for onboard weddings... So in the past Shanda has said that we'll probably be in one of the lounges which can hold more guests... BUT she didn't say which ones it might be! So, I'm very very glad that we're going on this pre-wedding-cruise cruise so we can experience everything and see everything ahead of time! It should give me some peace of mind once she finally announces where our event will be held!

Honestly, I'm also just excited to be having a mini-vacation and sailing on the DREAM for the first time!!!

 

[ccbride412]

Hope you enjoyed your trip!

 

[ohsoblessed]

Your Wedding dress is just beautiful.

 

[JBeanBunny]

Thank you, OhSoBlessed! I adore it, too! I can't wait for it to arrive and I can start my fittings! What you can't really see in those photos are the dozens and dozens of iridescent rhinestones all over the skirt that glisten like pixie dust! That's got to be the icing on the cake!

And Meghan, I had a GREAT time on my "research" cruise! Coming in the next week or so I'm going to be blogging about my experience on my wedding blog, and I'll probably cut and paste some of that knowledge onto my PJ, too! It was "Planning" after all! I even got to meet with the current onboard wedding coordinator, Laura, who was a big help in answering my questions!

Here's the link to my PhotoBucket album from this trip- It's mostly photos of the ship, things and places I found beautiful or interesting... along with some photos of my DM, DF, and myself! Even with the 230 photos taken, I STILL didn't capture everything there is to see on the Dream! It's a gorgeous ship and there's something new around every corner! Enjoy!

http://s1187.photobucket.com/albums/z393/JBeanBunny/Jan 2012 DCL cruise/

 

[Jillitude21]

I love the pictures that you posted of the Disney Dream, I am going to be getting married on the Dream Oct. 13,2013 and your pictures of the Outlook where a big help. I was wondering if you could tell me where you got the magnets on your cabin door made at.

 

[Evi]

I love the pictures you took around the ship. Thank you for sharing them with us. It really does help to be able to plan where you want pictures onboard. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

 

[JBeanBunny]

I love the pictures that you posted of the Disney Dream, I am going to be getting married on the Dream Oct. 13,2013 and your pictures of the Outlook where a big help. I was wondering if you could tell me where you got the magnets on your cabin door made at.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2897587

I went to a DIS board for dcl magnet graphics and had one of the DIS-igners design those magnets for me! All I did was post my information (Names, Ship, sail dates, and characters) and they gave me those cool preservers! I took the files to Kinkos and printed them on cardstock paper, then had them laminate them. I cut out the images and put sticky-backed magnets on the back.

I did the same for my wedding cruise! Two different DIS-igners made me some logos which I will incorporate into my event! I'm using one logo that says "I'm here for Jillian and Michael's wedding" for magnets on my guests doors. I'm using another one as an iron-on transfer for my favor bags for each room. I used one to print onto cardstock and made post-it note covers, seen here:

These were SURPRISINGLY EASY to make! I printed three of these logos onto 8.5"x11" shimmery ivory pearl cardstock paper from my printer at home (a little trial and error for the right image size). Then with a scrap-booking paper cutter, we cut out long rectangles to wrap all the way around the post-it note pad. Start from the top, wrap it backwards, around, and under, and over, creasing where necessary. (again, trial and error for the right size- once you have one, you can use it for a template, marking with erasable pencil marks!) Then I got sticky-back velcro circles and attached them to either side of the cardstock at the overlap to keep the whole thing closed when not in use. I love the idea of a practical favor that people will reuse once they return home!

Definitely think about utilizing the many talents of the DIS-igners if you get the chance! And don't forget to thank them profusely!!

 

[JBeanBunny]

I am a very crafty person... there is no limit to the amount of time I can spend inside of a JoAnn Fabrics, Michael's, or Hobby Lobby! I can walk around and see a color, a ribbon, or a stamp that can spark several ideas! Having the excuse of a WEDDING is making my crafty side geek out I adore all of the brainstorming, all of the preparations, all of the meticulous steps, and seeing my final product as a success! As you've seen, I handmade ALL of my invitations, each of which had COUNTLESS steps (probably the longest and hardest crafting of my entire wedding!) and I just posted my post-it note holders above... But there's more... OH so much more! Please enjoy! I'm a very visual person, so I hope you enjoy my photos! If you have ANY questions or need ideas or advice with crafting, please feel free to ask!!!

I'm making gift bags. I bought 25+ royal blue canvas bags from Hobby Lobby, and I'm going to affix them onto the Dream's seahorses (like fish extenders) outside my guests' rooms! Each bag will be lined with ribbon- I bought shimmery silver ribbon and some that's white with silver filigree. I bought gems that I'm going to put inside of a flower to cover the ribbon seam. As I said in my last post, I had some DIS-ingers design me some wedding logos! I bought dark-fabric iron on transfer paper so I can print and affix THIS round logo onto my bags. I also bought shimmery acrylic paint and Martha Stewart swirly stencils to fill in some spaces.

Corresponding with the Favor Bags is THIS logo, which I will have printed on cardstock paper and laminated (Kinkos will do this part for me!) and I'll cut them out and add magnets on the back, so every room will have an "I'm here for the wedding" magnet on their door!

I also want to make smaller, customized magnets for each of my guests (Mickey head silhouettes colored and themed to different Disney characters) with my guests names on them. The DIS-igner, Milliepie has tons of blank templates that you can just add your names to! See the link in my last post! Blueyes also helped me design wedding logos, they're both great!

Since I'm filling the tote bags with goodies, I'm constantly thinking of things to put in them! I wanted chapsticks, but ones with customized labels get expensive. I found the site bulkapothecary.com who sells VERY decently priced chapsticks, white tube or clear tube, with a sheet of labels, or plain and blank! A fellow co-worker and bride friend of mine has a Cricut paper cutter, and she helped me cut out these labels that I hand-wrote the flavors onto. Mint Medley, French Vanilla, and Blue Raspberry!

Now, while perusing the bulkapothecary.com website, I stumbled upon other supplies that they sell, including soap bases... which gave me ANOTHER idea for ANOTHER craft (and an excuse for another new crafty hobby!!) I researched and researched, and fell in love with BrambleBerry.com and their soapmaking supplies! They even have a youtube channel (Soap Queen TV) with EVERYTHING you need to know about melt-and-pour soapmaking! It is really SO easy, and very enjoyable! I bought two DISNEY "molds", and by molds, I mean a Mickey-shaped silicone muffin pan, and a silicone Mickey FACE ice cube tray! Here's my results:

I'm really very excited about these soaps! *squee!*

Now, if anyone was reading carefully (or if anyone watches the show), We have a slight Doctor-Who nudge in our wedding. It was HEAVY in our invitations, and I have a couple of Doctor Who soaps! Michael handmade a handful of Red Bow Ties out of clay for "Bow Ties are Cool" soap and I bought a two-part silicon putty mold-maker, and made a TARDIS mold, too. (I admittedly need to be more careful making my next TARDIS mold, because this one is very messy with a lot of cracks and imperfections.) For all those nerds (or nerd-lovers... I fall into both categories!) here you go!

just kidding... I guess I don't have a photo of the TARDIS soaps, atm. I'm a bit ashamed of the quality because I KNOW I can do better! Instead, here are a few other "practice" soaps where I experiment with new colorants, micas, and fragrances! I LOVE using my "practice" soaps, and so do my roommates and friends!

Now, somewhere on DIS (I think) I head of some brides attaining a sixpence for their wedding... "Something old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and a sixpence in your shoe" (for wealth!) and I shared this desire with some friends, and my BESTIE and MOH found a Sixpence for me from her grandfather's travels! I think that makes it SO much more special, and I feel so blessed to have it! Here are my photos (and one with a dime for size comparison!) I have NO idea how I'm going to get this sixpence IN my shoe, since I'm wearing sandals!

And for good measure, here's two pairs of my heels! I'm wearing the pink ones on my wedding day, and the blue ones one of the other nights with one of my other white (short) dresses!

AND one final photo for you: This is my CAKE TOPPER from Arribas Bros! I got it at DTD around Christmastime. It is glass, but it is SO lightweight! It's not more than one pound and the base is less than 6" in diameter (per the DCL specs). My fiance was a little miffed that I got it without consulting him... His biggest issue is that we're not getting married at WDW, we're getting married on DCL! Oh well, I'm a princess, and this is my castle!

Wow, that post ended up being longer than I'd anticipated! I guess I've just been a BAD BRIDE for neglecting my PJ for so long, so hopefully I have enough readers left to appease! I hope you enjoy this as much as I'm enjoying the process! Much love to you all!

 

[DisneyFairytale]

Those soaps look incredible! great work! you are so inspired! love them!

 

[clueluvzdisney]

so excited for you!!!