Kristin & Mike’s PJ: Wishes–WP/LSS/UK–June 26, 2009 ~UPDATES!

[Malefi_Stitch]

After reading so many fabulous PJs and all the wonderful ideas you creative girls have, I’m so excited I finally get to start my own PJ!! I hope I can help a future DisBride like so many of you have helped me.

I was so nervous that we wouldn’t get our date (story on that later), that I didn’t want to jinx myself and blab about how’s it was going to be June 26.

But now that we’ve secured it (yay!), I can finally make it official…wow, we officially have a wedding date and a planner…how exciting?!

Anyway…here’s a little bio:

About Me
I grew up (mostly) at the Jersey shore and live with my DF. I found out about this board in March ’08 (the best discovery EVER, btw). When I was younger, I watched the Disney channel and was the perfect age to be mesmerized by the Little Mermaid, Lion King and Aladdin. I can still remember my mom and I getting tickets to a sold out showing of the Little Mermaid on opening weekend. (Can anyone believe it’s the 20th anniversary next year?!) We had to sit so close, our necks were cramped by the end but I bearly noticed…I was hooked (no pun intended). From that moment on, the Little Mermaid became my favorite movie of all time (I’m a complete nerd, what can I say). My dad still tells me he’ll never forget my face the first time I ever saw Cinderella’s castle when I was little; that’s something that’ll be with him forever. He gets a bit choked up every time he reminisces. I won’t lie, I do too haha.

About DF
We’ve been living together for just under three years. In high school, he played football and won awards wrestling. He had only been to Disney once when he was 10 but never even went to the MK! He was never really into Disney because he didn’t grow up with it (poor, deprived child).

Next up...How we met...

 

[Malefi_Stitch]

How We Met (…What Seems Like an Eternity Ago)
We first spoke on June 12, 1999, which seems like FOREVER ago. He was 17; I was 16. The story is actually pretty funny…

My best friend at the time worked at a popular ice cream shop and had a friend from work over that day. Her friend went to the same high school as my now DF. Well, the friend called my DF but no one answered. Later that night, he checked is caller ID and saw a number he didn’t recognize. He called it back, which he NEVER does, so that must have been fate right there! My best friend answered and they got to talking for about 3 hrs. In the middle of their conversation, he asked her if she “gets guys.” I guess to them that’s an indicator for how good-looking you are…?????? Who knows. Well, it was an ongoing joke between the two of us because she actually could “get” whomever she wanted, basically. So she started laughing and said, “You HAVE to call my friend, Kristin!” He was surprised by this and asked if I’d still be awake (it was 1am when he asked). She said, “Of course! She’s always up!” …which was true…normally. I was a complete night owl back then (a full time job really puts a damper on that now). So she called me on three-way and only she said hi when I picked up.

Yeaaaaahhhh… Have you ever not physically spoken for awhile so when you do finally use your vocal cords, they don’t work very well and a raspy, guttural sound comes out, if at all? Well, that’s what happened. Great first impression, huh. So her and I laugh about how absolutely ridiculous I had just sounded. THEN, I hear a guy laughing! Well, THAT woke me up! I perked up and sounded like my normal self REAL quick. He introduced himself as Mike and we all started talking. Around 3am, my best friend asleep but he and I talked till 6am!

We spoke on the phone for a bit every night for a week and agreed to meet at the Point Boardwalk (Pt. Pleasant, NJ). At the time, he lived in Pt. Pleasant and I lived in Wall Twp not too far away. Well that night, my mom dropped my BFF and I off at the boardwalk (unbeknownst to her we were meeting him and a couple of his friends there). He told me the night before what he was going to wear, so I could spot him. I still remember it: red Yankees cap with a blue Knicks jersey and khaki shorts. Apparently, he brought more than a couple friends! It was him and about 10 guys!! Well, the two of us were slightly intimidated and decided to hide a little bit while we got the courage to say hi.

FORTY-FIVE minutes later, we walked passed the group and my BFF thought it’d be humorous to shout my name. We dashed into an arcade and one of his friends nonchalantly followed us in. Shortly thereafter, I finally had enough and insisted that I was going to say hi. (That was big for me back then because I was EXTREMELY shy.) I marched around the corner up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and said hi. He and I then walked back to where my BFF was still standing as she looked at me in disbelief because she didn’t actually think I had the guts to do it. HA! He asked one of his many friends over and the four of us just walked down to the end of the boardwalk and sat on a bench and chatted till my mom had to pick us up (NERDS). By the time I finally said hi, we only had about a half hour left anyway. But, we spoke almost every night that summer on the phone (neither of us had a car, he had just crashed his…brilliant).

After that night, we usually say that our history was, well, complicated. But that basically means he was a butthead and didn’t realize how perfect we fit together. It took him FOUR years to finally commit to a relationship with me. We always liked each other and openly admitted it, but like I said…butthead.

Next up...The Proposal!

 

[Malefi_Stitch]

My parents, sister, DF and I have been going on annual vacations in June since 2005. So last year, my family took our first trip to WDW in AGES. Since DF had never been there, he was excited but not nearly as excited as he is now! Good boy.

We went in June 2007 and stayed at the Vistana Villages because my family has a timeshare there. My dad’s cousin also came with us. Well, the second night we were there, we had dinner reservations for Narcoosees. After walking around a park all day (I can’t remember which one specifically), my parents said we should go sooner than our reservations to walk around a bit. Well my feet were absolutely killing me already and the thought of wearing heels made my feet cringe, not to mention additional walking in them. They said we were getting there early to walk around and to deal with it…in so many words, anyway.

So I got dressed up (even bought a new dress and had no idea it’d be such a night to remember) and we left to drive there. The ENTIRE way over, DF was so fidgety. Tapping his hand on the car door, taking deep breaths… I noticed it but didn’t give it a second thought. We got to the GF and walked towards Narcoosees. Just as we approached the split between the restaurant and to go to the ferry dock, my dad suggested that DF take me to the dock to take a picture. We got down there and there were a bunch of people already admiring the view. He wanted to go down to the side where you would board the ferry, but I was hesitant since it was roped off. He finally coaxed me to where we could be alone and said, “So I lied…we’re not really here to take a picture.” I looked at him with a puzzled look on my face and he took the ring box out of his pocket and he got down on one knee. I gasped with my hands over my mouth (which my parents, sister and dad’s cousin back on “dry land.”

He was so nervous he didn’t say much more than “Will you marry me?” I said, “Yes! Of course!” He stood up and took the ring out of the box and went to hand it to me. HAHA! I said, “You need to put it on my finger, silly!” As we walked back up to the main dock, the people that were there had all huddled near the top. They clapped as we walked up and someone joked, “Aren’t you glad you crossed the ropes now?” I have no idea who they were but they were all so nice.

When we got back to my family, they were all crying…it was cute. Apparently, everyone in both families and all friends already knew this was going to happen. Everyone except me!

Here's a picture of us while we had a brief wait for our table:

At Narcoosees on our table was a pillow made of white carnations, ribbon and pins that looked like Mickey with a glass slipper. On top was a tiara and card from my parents. It said, “Congratulations and you’ll always be our princess.”

My mom also gave me a necklace with a slipper hanging from it. My sister got a gift set with a blinking tiara too. It was so cute!

And here's my ring, for good measure

More later

 

[ClemsonGirl]

Congrats!! What a lovely story! Looking forward to hearing more...

 

[MegKate]

What an awesome story!! You two look so happy together!

I'll be subscribing to follow along with your plans! Can't wait to read some more from a fellow Vistana-ite (my parents also have a timeshare)

 

[bridetobe789]

Great story!! Very cute! Congrats- and I'll be tuning in for more in your pj I'm getting married about a week and a half after you!

 

[Malefi_Stitch]

Congrats!! What a lovely story! Looking forward to hearing more...

Thanks so much! It's been a blast so far and can't believe how fast time flies!

What an awesome story!! You two look so happy together!

I'll be subscribing to follow along with your plans! Can't wait to read some more from a fellow Vistana-ite (my parents also have a timeshare)

Awesome! I have plenty of stuff to put on here...It always seems to be the lack of time (and sleep) that gets in the way. Yay Vistana!

Great story!! Very cute! Congrats- and I'll be tuning in for more in your pj I'm getting married about a week and a half after you!

Congrats! I love your date too! At least he won't forget it


UPDATE!
So I got an email back from our planner today (Celeste, who has already been super helpful) and we officially have a date for our planning session/menu tasting...Tues, Jan 6. I'm so excited!!!! I was mostly concerned about booking everything before the holiday rush, especially flights. Now I'm trying to coordinate with Misty to set up our engagement session as well. *fingers crossed*

Up next...flower girl and ring bearer cards!

 

[Malefi_Stitch]

I wanted to give something to our ring bearer and flower girls (we've since added one) that asked them, in a special way, to be in our bridal party.

In looking online, I had seen cards online but none struck my fancy. So, as I usually do, I decided to make my own instead. I'm really into paper crafting and card making with my own lil set up in the corner of our office.

The first picture is of the fronts of the cards. I got the blank cards and envelopes (silver metallic) from Target. I used the Whale of a Punch (Mickey silhouette) with white cardstock and wrote their names on them then glued it to the front. (Sorry for it being blurry.)

The embellishments were from a craft store, either Michaels or A.C. Moore. I printed their names on cardstock from the printer and tore along the sides for a more natural look.

On the inside, I wrote a poem for each of them. They're essentially the same except but very tricky to write! I printed them on white cardstock too and used decorate scissors to create a border. To finish them off, I initialed each in the bottom right-hand corner.

I have to make another flower girl card since one of DF's other neices has been hounding her mom to be a flower girl because she's excited. You really can't say no to an 8 year old who reeeeally wants to be a part of everything.

Now I need to get off of the computer and get some sleep!

 

[Malefi_Stitch]

So we actually have a story for why we chose our wedding date...

When we were gearing up for our first family vacation to WDW, I asked DF if we could do a mini Dis movie marathon to psyche ourselves up. He agreed and a couple movies into it, I asked him if he'd ever seen Lilo & Stitch. He hadn't because he said when it originally came it, he thought it looked stupid.

I convinced him to watch it because I knew that he'd absolutely love it. Yeah, I was right. Stitch is now is favorite Disney character EVER. When we were trying to narrow down wedding date choices, he went and ran to grab a calendar. Then he and exclaimed, "It falls on a Friday in 2009!!!"

Bewildered, I asked, "What does??" He quickly responded, "June 26!"
Low and behold........Lilo & Stitch = Experiment 626 = 6/26 = June 26

How perfect?! A Disney wedding date story for a DFTW. If there was one thing I was doing for him, I made sure we got June 26, 2009, as our date because it was HIS idea from the start. I knew I was marrying this boy for a reason.

More later

 

[camara381]

Love the cards, you are really talented!!!! That is such a sweet story on how you picked the date!!! HE'S A KEEPER!

 

[Malefi_Stitch]

Love the cards, you are really talented!!!! That is such a sweet story on how you picked the date!!! HE'S A KEEPER!

Thanks!! I'll have plenty more homemade stuff since that's a major way we're going to save $$

I'll have more updates soon!

 

[Malefi_Stitch]

During the summer, I purchased gifts for the kid's bags, ring bearer and flower girls at a local Disney Store's summer sale.

Here are the little towels they can put in the water to watch them unfold... I took a major guess on the number but, hey, they were only $0.50 each!

I couldn't resist when I saw these Buzz Lightyear toys and shirt for our ring bearer (it's his favorite character)...t-shirt, inflatable beach ball and toy cell phone that makes sound and flashes (I think).

Our two flower girls are five and eight years old so I picked up Tinkerbell t-shirts for each, inflatable beach balls and a Princesses brush with build-in mirror inside a hinged back.

I'm going to hold off for a bit until maybe holiday clearances to get more stuff.

Since I also wanted to get the kids in our bridal party something they'll be able to appreciate when they're older, I definitely hope to get his this personalized mini baseball bat too for our ringbearer if it'll still be in the budget (my father and grandfather played baseball). It's from gunthergifts.com.

Unfortunately, I'm at a loss for the flower girls. Who knew it'd be more difficult since I'm a girl! Does anyone have any ideas?

Up next...invitations!!!

 

[Angela0917]

Beautiful engagement story!

The flower girl and ring bearer cards are so cute!!!!!!! I wish I would have thought of something!

Can't wait to hear more of your plans!

 

[Malefi_Stitch]

A quick side note (& pic) before the invitations...
On one of the organization threads, I posted that I have a "wedding idea book" that I use to paste things from web printouts and mags to help with the clutter (goodness knows I have enough as it is ). It's just a plain artist spiral notebook that I decorated the front with scrapbook paper and stickers and sealed with clear packing tape (not the prettiest solution but we already had it so it was freeeee ). I said I'd post a pic once I scanned the front. Voila!

Sorry it's so big but when I tried shrinking it, you couldn't really see the detail. I also put a hidden mickey on it with a small scrapbooking punch. Can you spot it?? I'll post a close up of where it is later

OK, now on to invitations...

After reading many of the positive experiences with Cards and Pockets, and ordering samples from them, I've decided to make my own using them. I made a mock up awhile ago and have toyed with altering it, we'll see when it actually comes down to putting them all together. I AM really excited with the way they turned out on the first try!

This is the outside with silver satin crosshatch ribbon by Martha Stewart. I also used the mickey Whale of a Punch that I bought from a chain craft store. On the mickey, I used a scallop seashell rubber stamp with silver pigment ink and clear embossing powder so the silver won't rub off when in the envelope or when people handle it.

On the inside, I incorporated the Disney quote. The font of our names matches the color of the pocket for more impact (it's a perfect match in person which shocked me because I never get that lucky haha). The inserts will be on the left. There's also a light green rhinestone that I glued where the M and K hook together in the monogram. I'll probably do this on the programs too since the pack came with 144 of them!

I created our monogram on the bottom left, and it'll be throughout our paper stuff...programs, welcome folders, tags, etc. There's actually a light gray ampersand that the scan of the invite didn't pick up. I was so proud of this since it was my first "artwork" file in an actual graphics program!

Here are the inserts that I scanned separately. Some things I have in there as filler like breakfast at Chef Mickey's. We're going somewhere but haven't a clue where yet! Also the children's party will be "hosted" by my 11 year old sister (my dad wanted that). I also noticed I accidently left out my FMIL's name to the dessert party section. She's footing the bill for that! The RSVPs are big enough to act as postcards and we're going to have return postage on the back from Zazzles with Stitch (see wedding date story further up).

I'm really torn with the blue color of the pocket, though, because the BM gowns will be an irridescent navy and the linens in the LSS are green and navy. I reeeeeally didn't want navy invites (and programs, etc) for a June morning wedding. I did get a sample pocket that's the navy irridescent but I just don't know... I need to buy the invites next month for them to ship out after Christmas and before our planning session. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Until next time...

 

[padisneyfour]

Kristin, welcome and congrats! Everything looks wonderful! I love the cards and colors! Have fun with all your planning...

 

[trudy88]

can be very summery. But the blue invitation displayed here is lovely too.
trudy <><

 

[Malefi_Stitch]

My, my, my...has it been awhile! Time flies!

Here's a quick post because our engagement pictures are up by Misty Miotto! We absolutely love her! Her and her husband, Nelio, are fabulous to work with and can't wait for our wedding day!

The password is vitale.



Soon I'll be posting pictures of my gown (it should be coming in but luckily the sample I tried on back in August was my size), the bridesmaid's dresses and the flower girl's dress.

See ya!

 

[tiggerrifficheidi]

Beautiful pictures! I love how she put your names on that Poly sign! And the ones of you at Sunset Pointe *swoon*! I LOVE that spot!

 

[DISNEYMAGIC2005]

Just wanted to say Hi! And let you know that your DFTW is the day after mine! You must be getting soooo excited, because I know I am. It feels like it's coming soooo fast! And I love how your DF picked your wedding date! I love Stitch! Happy planning!

 

[Pirate's Princess]

Love the photos Neighbor! I'm over in Toms River! I want a reception at the Living Seas as well. Can't wait to see more.