John and Elena's Planning Journal...new wedding date!

[ilovefh]

So I posted about a week ago that my boyfriend told me that my mother had given him my grandmother's diamond and now I think we've picked a setting. Just a plain solitaire in white gold. He says he is still going to officially ask me when I least expect it, but we've started planning....we're backwards I know!

I am so completely overwhelmed! I know I will be asking many many questions of everyone! I told my mom I would like a low key reception at her house. Her head spun around so fast you would have thought I has just told her off! No way is her daughter going to do that! So told her she could have control of that aspect! She also admitted she had been looking at reception sites already!

She's also coming up with her "must invite" guests as well! She means well, she really does!

We're thinking that Feb 21 will be our wedding date. Sure it's winter, sure it's cold, but a few things. 1. I work in a school and it's right before my school vacation so we can actually go somewhere. 2. I really like snow on the trees and I'd love to have some pictures in the snow! 3. It fits my parents criteria of being over a year away!

Ok so now I have some questions...

Colors....I was thinking champagne and red, with my dress having an accent of one of the colors. What do you think about those two colors?

Also, and this might be taboo, but I'm not trying to start a debate. John believes in God, but is not baptized. He does not really want to become part of a formal religion, but he must be baptized before we get married. DO any of you know of a Christian church that will baptize him without a lot of classes etc?

I'm going to be looking for a planning book tomorrow since I am pretty much clueless! I thought I knew what I wanted, but I have no clue what to even do!

 

[disneychickforever]

Congrats!

I like the colors! The dress would look amazing with red accents!

As for the baptism, I would look into Pentacostal. My friend convert there the beginning of the summer, and by September she was baptized.

I hope he proposes soon!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[ilovefh]

I'm thinking it will be in WDW in Feb, but I expect that and he said it will not be someplace I would expect him to do it. He'll probably do it at blockbuster or something! (We met at blockbuster!) But even without the proposal, we're still planning!

 

[ilovefh]

So I have a bit of time to tell you about us!

Elena-27 The one writing the PJ. I work in a middle school as a para, but am going to school currently for my masters in special ed. I also work part time as a waitress and in the summers I work as a day camp counselor. I coach JV field hockey at the high school and love it! I love all things Disney, especially Mickey Mouse! He will make an appearance somehow at our wedding! I've been going to WDW every year since I was 3, even did the college program in 2001. Would be getting married in WDW except that my religion says that if I want to raise my children in the church, I must be married in the church. I'm also the overwhelmed planner! I have a close family and I love it! Bring on the Sunday night family dinners!

John-34 Laughs at all things on the DIS boards! He cannot believe that I ask "strangers" on the DIS boards about anything! John works as an installation tech for our local cable company and loves it! He equates his job with winning the lottery! He's been to DIsney twice, once with an ex and once with me. He will be going to WDW in Feb with my family. John is a huge patriots fan so I might have to work something Pats into the wedding! John does not come from a close family, in fact he has said this was the best Christmas in 12 years. While he might pick on us, he loves my family! He also accepts that we will be going to WDW for our honeymoon!

 

[ilovefh]

So I have a bit of time for an update!

We met with our jeweler so that we could pick a setting. I chose a simple solitaire since the diamond is small. When she asked when he needed it by I was asked to leave the table! Same thing when my mom and sister came, I wasn't allowed to stay!

Still no ring, however, I have gotten some hints! Our internet homepage is his email and one day I got on the internet and he had an email from Eileen's Jewelry, our jeweler. The subject was 3 stone something so I have a feeling that he picked a different ring after I chose what I wanted! I was good though and did not look at the email! I actually almost saw it last night when I was walking up to him sending a text message, he thought I was sneaking up on him but I wasn't even paying attention to him!

We leave for Disney in three weeks and even though the ring I picked out is less than $200 including setting the diamond, we keep saying we can't get it until after we leave, but.....
The other day he asked me to log onto his checking account to see if something had been credited back and there was a mysterious withdrawel. I'm still not sure where the money went!

My mom is VERY excited! We're going to see a reception location March 6th before they have a wedding to see their set up. She has many many many suggestions as to where the reception should be!

John's dad also told us he was baptized....in Scotland....now it is jst a matter of getting our hands on the baptismal certificate and taking the marriage prep class!

I'm having a huge budget problem....but not the problem you would think! I'm having a huge problem justifying all the money that will be spent. I want a nice reception but the thought of paying $60/person for over 100 people (what my friend paid for her wedding in Oct) blows my mind! Anyone else having this problem?

 

[ilovefh]

So we are officially engaged! First a bit of background. John and I have very few pictures together and because of this he wanted to get as many pictures together this trip as possible. We've been stopping at very photopass photographer we pass.

Ok now for how it happened.....

The whole family went to MK for dinner Saturday night. After dinner on the way down Main St. (which was packed because it was right before Spectromagic) John wants to get our picture taken in front of the Castle. Honestly at this point I'm a bit annoyed with stopping at every photopass person, but I love him so we're doing it. He walks up to me and just says "Don't cry!" And of course I realize what is happening and I start bawling like a baby! He got down on one knee. I swear all of Main St. cleared out. I don't think I could have planned it better if I had done it myself.

He did pick out a different three stone ring which is beautiful!! The ring box was so pretty with sparkling lights around the ring, funny thing is it didn't turn on. It's ok because I couldn't see anything through my tears! So now we can officially start planning!

Oh yeah, we got back to our rooms....and my mom just "happened" to have an invitation catalog with her!

 

[Lizby]

How romantic!!! Congratulations on your engagement!! Have fun planning (it sounds like your mom already is! )

 

[ilovefh]

This wedding planning stuff is tough! Here's an update. Can you follow the revolving wedding date?

We decided on Feb 21st as our wedding date. Pretty much everything around here was open for then so we didn't rush.

Well I think after looking my mom decided that she needed a cheaper place. The place she wanted was not open in Feb so we decided maybe November would be better. We toured it and HATED it! It looked so old and the chairs were grey rusty metal folding chairs. Chair covers were $7 per chair which now puts the cheap place much closer to the expensive place. Plus the woman was so rude! When I told her I thought I might use red she made this horrid grimace and a "ooh, wow" and then said that's not a good color. Aren't you trying to get my business?

Ok so now the date is Nov 22 and I decide to keep it because it's closer to now. Our church has tons of restrictions on when you can get married so we research and we research and find that we're fine! It's not inside the Dec 13-25 dats they have listed! Woo hoo! Upon talking to the priest he says these dates are incorrect. We actually have a Nativity Lent and we cannot get married during this time. Darn it! Foiled again!

At this point we call the place I would like to have the reception and just ask for all the dats she has available. Oct 11th? Ok book it!

The next night the priests wife calls to say she found out that we actually can get married Nov 22. Apparently you just have to ask the diocese but they approve it all the time!

I liked Nov 22nd better so now that we know we can do it then we call the reception place. What? They have that date tentatively booked for someone else? They do offer to call though and make sure these people still want it. And here comes the joke on us! She call's us back to say that she called Metrocast Cable and yes they still wanted it for their Christmas party. Funny thing....Dfiance works for Metrocast! So we'll be there that night...but it won't be our wedding! Darn them!

So now we're sticking with Oct. 11. Church is available, reception site is booked, we have a DJ. We're rolling! Except now it is just 6 months away! Time to send out some save the dates soon and look at invites!

We're looking at dresses next week so hopefully I will be able to post some pictures!! For now I have a honeymoon question. When do we go...

Leave Oct. 12th and stay until Oct 17. I coach JV field hockey so I would miss the last week of the season, but my mom would take over for me. This is her second year as a retired coach. She was the varsity coach. She says not to worry about it, but I don't know how I feel about leaving during the season. I would also miss four days of school (I work at a middle school)

Leave Nov 7 and stay until Nov 14. These dates I would only miss three days of school since one day is a holiday and one is a teacher workshop. I've been this weekend before and loved it.

Dfiance really wants to leave right after we are married. He thinks it is stupid to take a honeymoon a month after you're married. If we went in Nov we'd do MVMCP and see the lights. If we went in Oct we'd do MNSSHP. I've never done either. I have been to food and wine fest though and I love it.

Right now for Oct they have pretty much open availability for both times. So given the circumstances what would you do?

 

[sungela]

We're going on our honeymoon six months after our wedding! Since we're getting married in Disney in June, we're going to stay for a few days after our wedding to relax, go to parks, and enjoy a faux honeymoon. But we live in New Jersey (def not as cold as NH!), so we want to go on vacation when we need it, in the wintertime. We can't take off two weeks in June and two weeks in December, so instead, we're waiting until December for our honeymoon. I figure it extends the honeymoon-ness.

 

[ilovefh]

We're going on our honeymoon six months after our wedding! Since we're getting married in Disney in June, we're going to stay for a few days after our wedding to relax, go to parks, and enjoy a faux honeymoon. But we live in New Jersey (def not as cold as NH!), so we want to go on vacation when we need it, in the wintertime. We can't take off two weeks in June and two weeks in December, so instead, we're waiting until December for our honeymoon. I figure it extends the honeymoon-ness.

I think we were able to plan it so we can do both! A week in WDW after our wedding and a week in WDW in Feb! Boy do I love DVC!

 

[ilovefh]

We're going to look for a dress today. We've got two appointments booked. One is at David's Bridal and one is at place called Marry and Tuxx. Hopefully we'll find something today! I've also ordered some save the date samples. The only Disney ones I can find are cards that are like a scratch ticket. You have to scratch off the flower to show the wedding date. I don't like those. Does anyone know of any other Mickey save the dates?

We've also picked our invitations:

I now as far as tables go we're going to go with a WDW attractions theme. We're going in May so we're going to get our pictures taken on or in front of some of our (17) facorite attractions. Each table will be a different attraction. We figure if we can't get married in Disney, let's do a Disney theme!

Ok my mom should be here soon and I still need to get ready!

 

[lov2b@disney]

The invites are cute! Love the table name idea!
Cant wait for more! Take pictures of the dresses--and have fun!

 

[lpizzuro123]

Love the invites. Can you let me know who carries them. As of now we are planning on using Cards and Pockets but if it gets down to crunch time and I cannot get them made in time I will have to get professional ones made and those are really cute.

Thanks,
Linda

 

[calanniebu]

We're going to look for a dress today. We've got two appointments booked. One is at David's Bridal and one is at place called Marry and Tuxx. Hopefully we'll find something today! I've also ordered some save the date samples. The only Disney ones I can find are cards that are like a scratch ticket. You have to scratch off the flower to show the wedding date. I don't like those. Does anyone know of any other Mickey save the dates?

We've also picked our invitations:

I now as far as tables go we're going to go with a WDW attractions theme. We're going in May so we're going to get our pictures taken on or in front of some of our (17) facorite attractions. Each table will be a different attraction. We figure if we can't get married in Disney, let's do a Disney theme!

Ok my mom should be here soon and I still need to get ready!

Hi there from another new england bride October is an AWESOME time of year both for a wedding and a disneymoon. We got married the sunday of Columbus Day weekend in 2006 and headed down to WDW that Monday morning. We had a blast - the weather was awesome and we MNSSHP. It was also during Epcot's Food & Wine Festival and that was a lot of fun too - eating and drinking our way around the world!

I got my dress from Marry & Tuxx ... and a color accented dress to boot! They were AMAZING!!! Check out www.alfredangelo.com and www.bonny.com. Marry & Tux carries both of their lines. I got Alfred Angelo style 1797 accented with blue (they called it indigo). David's has a similar dress but without the beading detail and the 42 different colors to choose from.

Oh and 6 months is plenty of time - especially if you have the place and the church already! We got engaged on Jan 27th of 2006 and pretty much had all of our planning done by August.

 

[DisneyFairy19]

Congrats you are getting married about a week after me....

Its getting near

 

[ilovefh]

The invites are cute! Love the table name idea!
Cant wait for more! Take pictures of the dresses--and have fun!

Thanks! I figured they were just enough Mickey, but not too much!

 

[ilovefh]

Love the invites. Can you let me know who carries them. As of now we are planning on using Cards and Pockets but if it gets down to crunch time and I cannot get them made in time I will have to get professional ones made and those are really cute.

Thanks,
Linda

We're ordering them through a local store but online they have them at http://http://www.invitationconsultants.com/gallery.aspx?p_subcategory=disneymickeyandminnie

 

[ilovefh]

Hi there from another new england bride October is an AWESOME time of year both for a wedding and a disneymoon. We got married the sunday of Columbus Day weekend in 2006 and headed down to WDW that Monday morning. We had a blast - the weather was awesome and we MNSSHP. It was also during Epcot's Food & Wine Festival and that was a lot of fun too - eating and drinking our way around the world!

I got my dress from Marry & Tuxx ... and a color accented dress to boot! They were AMAZING!!! Check out www.alfredangelo.com and www.bonny.com. Marry & Tux carries both of their lines. I got Alfred Angelo style 1797 accented with blue (they called it indigo). David's has a similar dress but without the beading detail and the 42 different colors to choose from.

Oh and 6 months is plenty of time - especially if you have the place and the church already! We got engaged on Jan 27th of 2006 and pretty much had all of our planning done by August.

I went to Marry and Tux today but did not fall in love with the dresses there or the saleswoman. She was a bit odd and kept insisting that a dress that was "one of a kind" and that I "had to buy today because someone else will buy it" fit me perfectly when you could clearly tell it did not! It was a pretty gown, don't get me wrong, but it definitely did not fit me! I couldn't breath and you could see it pucker all the way around!

I did however find a gown from David's and I ordered it. Here is the link to it. http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridal_gowns_detail.jsp?stid=2839&prodgroup=10

It also comes in ivory with a champagne sash. I tried that on first and loved it, but wanted some red. This was my backup. It was simple...and in the end I think it lost out because it was too simple.
http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridal_gowns_detail.jsp?stid=2642&prodgroup=10

We're going to be leaving the next day and MNSSHP is definitely on the list! Now Halloween Horror Nights at Universal...no thanks! I told DF if he wants to go we better be bringing someone else on our honeymoon with us!

Congrats you are getting married about a week after me....

Its getting near

congrats to you too! It all feels like it happened so quickly because overnight the date went from February to Oct.!

 

[figmentfan814]

So, what did you end up deciding on the honeymoon? As you can see in my tickers I was married a month ago and we're leaving on our honeymoon in 3 weeks. We had some things come up where we had to shift the honeymoon, but after having a week in Disney we were happy for the break. The time leading up to the wedding was so stressful and we needed some time to rest, so now we can enjoy our time in Hawaii! Since you're getting married at home why not take a long weekend somewhere and then do Disney the next month like you mentioned?

 

[ilovefh]

So, what did you end up deciding on the honeymoon? As you can see in my tickers I was married a month ago and we're leaving on our honeymoon in 3 weeks. We had some things come up where we had to shift the honeymoon, but after having a week in Disney we were happy for the break. The time leading up to the wedding was so stressful and we needed some time to rest, so now we can enjoy our time in Hawaii! Since you're getting married at home why not take a long weekend somewhere and then do Disney the next month like you mentioned?

We're going to do Disney right after our wedding. Df is insistent upon it! It's one of the few things he has an opinion about so I figure I better give it to him!