Kashmir104's Couture PJ (p.1) & TR (p.28): WP/CR~1/3/09* 5/6: Highlights Video p.30

[Kashmir104]

Hi Everyone! I’m sort of a newbie, but I have been reading everyone’s awesome planning journals and TR on their weddings since January and have found them so fun and helpful. I am really excited to finally be able to share the details of planning my own DFTW!

DF and I are having a Simply Chic Couture Collection Wedding (designed by David Tutera) on January 3, 2009. I know that the Couture Collection Weddings have not been well received on this board, but I hope that everyone would still like to hear the thoughts behind and process of having one of these weddings (maybe there's someone out there who is also interested in having a Couture wedding!?)

About us: DF and I met through a mutual friend during my freshman year of college at Santa Clara University (DF was a senior at the time- an older man!) and we have been together now for a little over 4 and ½ years, living together for just about 1 and ½ years (although I took a job on the East Coast for a year, so we are doing the whole long distance thing right now), and got engaged 10 months ago in Disneyland!!!!

I knew I wanted a DFTW ever since I was a little girl. On one trip, while we were staying at the Grand Floridian, I was walking around outside the hotel with my family and saw a bride riding in Cinderella’s glass coach. Right then and there I told my daddy that when I grew up I was going to ride in Cinderella’s coach on my wedding day, and he just looked at me, said “Save your money!” and laughed. Needless to say I was determined to prove him wrong!!

Once we were engaged, having a DFTW just fell into place. Both of our families are from different sides of the country, and instead of making one family travel, we decided to make both. We're equal opportunity inconveniencers! DF never had a set place in mind for where he wanted to get married. While we talked about having a wedding at the SCU Mission or somewhere in my home state of Connecticut, as soon as I suggested having our wedding in Disney World, he said he couldn’t imagine us getting married any place else! Either could I!

More to come tonight (I need to get back to work so we can pay for this wedding!)- including details and pics of our DL engagement and the start of our wedding planning (we've been talking with our coordinator since August, so I have a lot to write!)

Preview pic of the entrance to our engagement dinner:

I hope you all will stick around and read more over the next 20 months!!

 

[marywdw]

Congratulations!!
I, for one, am very interested in hearing all about your plans! (even though I'm having an Intimate...I'd LOVE to see what a Couture wedding will look like!)
Happy planning!!!

 

[princessdisneybelle]

I can't wait to hear more details and how this process will work. I think the Simple Chic sounds beautiful. Welcome!

 

[Tiggerific04]

Congratulations! I'd love to hear about the couture wedding!

 

[lurkyloo]

Yay! Another Disneyland fan! Sometimes I feel disloyal wanting a WDW wedding when I practically live at Disneyland... Can't wait to hear about all your planning (or do you even have to plan with a Couture wedding? Seems like all the hard choices are made for you!).

 

[mermaidbride1108]

I would love to hear about your couture wedding!

Ever since i became a future bride, I love reading about all different wedding styles & ideas!

 

[DisneyFairy19]

I LOVE your FLowers... Cant wait to hear more!!!!

 

[cryssi]

congrats! can't wait to hear more...

 

[TexasCourt]

...

 

[Kashmir104]

Thanks everyone! I’m so glad that people want to hear about my experiences! Now for a continuation of my previous post-

The Engagement: My whole family flew from Connecticut to California for my college graduation and we spent some time up in the Bay Area before heading down to Disneyland. This was my parents’ second trip to California… and did they have any interest in going anywhere else in LA? NOPE! Straight to Disneyland we headed! On the 3rd day of our trip, DF told me we were going to dinner at night just the two of us at The Napa Rose restaurant at the Grand Californian. Now you have to realize that I’m a planner, especially when it comes to Disney. I like to have where we’re eating mapped out ahead of time to maximize fun park time! Ok, well I’m not as obsessive as it seems, but I was a little upset that we were eating at the Napa Rose when we had planned to eat there with my entire family the next night! After all, we were in Disney, so I thought we should attempt to vary our dining as much as possible! Needless to say, I wasn’t to happy to head to a dinner that I was just going to have again the very next night, but I went anyway. DF said that he forgot something up in the room, so he wanted to run up there with me quickly before dinner (I was staying with my parents while he had his own room... still I had to stay with my parents. I'm sure a lot of you know how that goes!) As we stepped out of the main elevator, there was this barrier set up blocking the entrance to a balcony. Something special was going on there for sure!

What I saw as soon as I stepped off the elevator.

Apparently it was for me! The DF created a special dinner on the 6th floor balcony overlooking the Grand Californian Hotel, Downtown Disney, and the DL Park. He planned everything ahead of time (apparently weeks in advance!), and we even had our own waitress! I am not a huge fan of champagne (and wine has a tendency to bother my stomach), so he made sure that tea was the drink of choice. I had salmon while DF had a filet. He said that he ordered two entrees that he knew both of us liked so that way I could have my choice when the time came to eat. He also timed it perfectly so that after our meal we would watch the 50th Anniversary Fireworks and had the Grand Californian pipe in the music to the balcony. It was perfect watching the fireworks by candlelight, by ourselves, in the arms of the man I love! At the end of When You Wish Upon A Star, DF got down on one knee and proposed!! Of course I said yes! The 50th Anniversary Fireworks always brought tears to my eyes every time I saw them and heard the music. Now they also remind me of our engagement, so they mean that much more!!

Looking out at Downtown Disney and DL park from the balcony:

The funniest part was that DF planned everything with Disney, down to the timing of the proposal. However, I guess we got stuck with a very sweet, but very SLOW waitress! DF arranged for my ring to be placed in Cinderella’s glass slipper before he proposed right at the end of When You Wish Upon a Star. Well, right before the fireworks started, he kept looking around for something. I couldn’t tell what, but apparently it was for the waitress who was supposed to have the slipper and was no where to be found! Very silly!

With the ring on my finger (and glowing!!!) we sat back down and the waitress brought dessert- strawberry ice cream cake and cheesecake. Yummy, but still no slipper. Then she returned with a plate, but only showed it to DF. She kept saying “Sir, do you like this?” He responded, “Um, yes, very nice.” “Sir, would you like to see the strawberries?” “Yes, they look nice” “Sir, again, would you like to see the strawberries?” “uh… they are nice” “Sir! The slipper!? Is there something you’d like to put in the slipper?” Then we finally got the clue and started laughing! She brought out a plate with chocolate covered strawberries with the Cinderella Slipper all ready for him to propose, but it was a bit too late!! That’s ok though because it will be a really funny moment that we will always remember!

The infamous plate with the Cinderella slipper and strawberries:

Right after we got engaged:

Once we were finished with dinner and enjoying the view and headed back to DF’s room, our waitress was so sweet and brought us a tray with enough tea for the evening as well as more strawberries and treats for the rest of our evening. Everything was definitely perfect!

The tray of treats brought to DF’s room:

The ring:

The next night we did end up going to The Napa Rose and had another delicious dinner, complete with a toast from my parents in honor of DF and I. It was really sweet of them to be so excited and happy for us!

My dessert at The Napa Rose (Disney kept congratulating us everywhere we went! It really made us feel special!):

Finally, the next day DF’s family came down to DL to join us. FSIL and her family congratulated us and was sooo happy (she’s one of my bridesmaids), but we thought it was a little weird that DF’s parents never said anything to us. A few friends also met up with us for a day in the park as well and we ended it with a dinner at the Granville Steakhouse (now Steakhouse 55?)

DF and I with our congratulations cake (again, we got a lot of congratulations this trip! If the wedding cakes are any bit as good as that cake was then we’ll be in luck!)

The next day was my last day in DL (I had to head back home to CT 1 day before the rest of my family to start a summer teaching job), it also happened to be the same day as the movie premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean II in the DL Park, which was really cool, but DF’s parents STILL had yet to say they were happy for us and I was packing up to head home for weeks apart from DF. I was a bit bummed.

On a happy note, we are really excited that we get to sign out contract for our wedding next week, so maybe after we sign out names, put down the deposit, and mail it in, we’ll tell DF’s parents. Still, I’m not sure what to do with them!!!

Well I better head to bed now, but I promise to write more later on our quest for a wedding in the Magic Kingdom and other details we’ve come to find out on the Couture Collection!

Btw, there is actually A LOT still to plan with a Couture Wedding. Basically the only things that are picked out are the table floral arrangements, linens, wall coverings, and lighting. Everything else is still up to us! (from the BM’s flowers to the food and cake and also any other extras we would want!)

 

[Kashmir104]

Yay! Another Disneyland fan! Sometimes I feel disloyal wanting a WDW wedding when I practically live at Disneyland... Can't wait to hear about all your planning (or do you even have to plan with a Couture wedding? Seems like all the hard choices are made for you!).

Well, Lurkyloo, I must admitt I was loyal to WDW first and foremost, however DL is so convenient now that I can't help but love it! The dinkiness of the castle sometimes gets to me when I compair it to WDW, but then the historian in me comes out and saves the day!!! I'm so glad that you love DL too!!!

 

[Kashmir104]

MaryWDW, Tiggerific04, cryssi, and mermaidbride1108: I love reading planning boards and TRs too! I always check every night to see who updated what and to hear more... DF thinks I'm crazy. Also, I think it's so much fun! (and then I tell DF about all the ideas I find and he just once again thinks I'm crazy! Especially when I refer to different brides as if I know them personally! hehehe) That's why I'm so excited to share my plans!

TexasCourt: I sent you a PM, but by any chance is your name Courtney? Mine is!!

Princessdisneybelle and DisneyFairy19: Thanks for your posts!! We picked the Simply Chic because we thought it was so classy and pretty- mainly because of all the flowers and candles. When I first started planning (before the Couture Collection came out) I definitely knew I wanted tons and tons of flowers, especially calla lilies, but I immediately fell in love with green orchids when I saw the Simply Chic pictures and how pretty and different they were!
More details on the decor to come!!

 

[Tiggerific04]

What a sweet proposal! And you're right, you'll be able to always look back and laugh about the slipper incident

Sorry to hear about your DF's father... I don't have any great advice, other than to try not to let other people ruin your wedding. Good luck and I can't wait to read more!

 

[KellyJo18]

I am so excited you decided to post a planning journal. I'm really interested in what your experience will be planning a couture wedding. Simply Chic was my absolute favorite collection from David Tutera's designs and am so excited to see what it all looks like throughout the stages of your planning.

What a sweet engagement story . The fact that your waitress was a little slow and missed the entire proposal is pretty funny... looking back on it anyway, I'm sure your DF was not entirely amused at the time.

I am sorry to hear about your FIL's . It's horrible that they were able to tarnish such a wonderful time for you and your DF. I am glad that you and your DF are not letting it ruin your decision to plan your dream wedding at WDW.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! and I can't wait to hear more

 

[AnnieBelle]

What a sweet way to propose! I love the little tuxedo strawberries! I cannot wait to read more about your planning!

 

[Maggimus]

Aww sweet proposal!! Congrats

 

[Belle1981]

Sweet proposal! I can't wait to hear more! Don't worry about the FFIL he will have to get over it! As long as you and your honey are happy that is all that matters! People are just silly sometimes!

 

[gillian1926]

Your DF did a fantastic job planning the engagement!! Congratulations! I am so sorry to hear about your DFIL. I know it is hard not to think about it but I hope it doesnt interfere with the fun in planning a wedding! I look forward to hearing more!

 

[Kashmir104]

I'm glad that everyone enjoyed our engagement story! It really was perfect, even with the slipper mistake. I'm really excited because we already booked a trip to DL June 21st-25th to celebrate the 1 year of our engagement!! I can't believe it's almost been a year already... time really flew by! I wonder if DF will do something special we will all just have to wait and see!

In any case, I had good intentions to post our planning questions and the answers we've received so far, but I left my planning journal at work! oops!!

The first phone call: So i called up DFTW back in August to tell them I wanted a DFTW and wanted to get info on how to have a ceremony in the park. I actually received a phone call from my coordinator, Kristi Davis, that same day. Kristi is AWESOME! I cannot say enough good things about her! Everytime I talk to her she always has good news for me and always answers my questions. Even when I went for a month without any questions, she still called me once every week and 1/2 just to check in, say hi, see how I was doing, and if I needed anything. She'd definitely on top of everything and I am super impressed!!!! In any case, that day in August she gave me a ring back and we talked about the potential for having a wedding in the MK park. I originally wanted to have it closer to Christmas (12-28-2008), but she told me that there was no way I could have anything in the MK park because it's Disney's busiest time of the year. So we looked further out to January, realized that the first weekend in January could have the same vacation potential, would be cheaper (the hotel prices go from peak to low season rates come Jan. 1st), and then maybe we could do something in the park. She said that at the time they were in negotiations with MK events to lower the price of having an in-the-park wedding because no bride should have to pay $500K to rent out Disney (like it was a convention event!) just for her wedding day, and told me to check back in 6 months or so. 6 Months came and when I logged onto DFTW's website I was sooo excited to see the option for the MK wedding in the park and it was $25K!!! (still a lot, but soooo much better than the $500K!) and it was then that I also discovered the Couture Collection. I was on the phone the next hour leaving a message for Kristi to call me back so I could get more info on both new options!

Now that I think about it... I made my first phone call to DFTW when my wedding was 29 months away... now it's only 20 months... which still seams far, but really it's not!! AHHH!!!! If I'm panicing now, I can only imagine what I will be like when it's only 1 month away!

If only I brought home my planning journal tonight, I could share with you all the info I received from Kristi that made it clear that the Couture Collection was the one for me!

Sorry this post wasn't too interesting/informational! I'm hoping that this weekend DF and I will have our contract in our hand (Kristi said she is going to try to get it to me by Friday) and also answers to a bunch of my questions that DFTW asked David Tutera himself for me!!!! Plus, once I remember to bring my journal home, I will have more to say for sure!!

 

[jasonandlisa]

subscribing...

Congratulations!! I'm intrigued by the Couture Collection and excited to hear more about your wedding plans...