Lindsay & Ryan's Wishes PJ 10/25/13 **Planning Session TR Pt 4! 5/21/13**

[tinydancr06]

Your site visit plans sound great! What venues are you looking at?

Thanks! We're excited! I'm actually getting ready to post about the venues in just a minute

Joining in! Everything looks great!! I understand the bridesmaid count going up, we originally planned for 3 and 3 but I couldn't not have one of my good friends there for the entire day! So at the moment we are uneven but oh well I'm ok with that. (big on symmetry)

Are you doing the dining plan while you're there?

We love Narcoossee's at the GF but they are pricey so we only go if we have the dining plan
If you haven't done so make sure you check out Basin at the GF
You could always grab a burger at Beaches & Cream (before dessert of course) or heck you're on vacation make dessert your dinner
We just love walking the Boardwalk and going into every store/art gallery
We normally play at least one game while we are there
I've heard great things about Jelly Rolls and of course Atlantic Dance Hall

Thanks so much for reading! We briefly considered an uneven wedding party but I'm big on symmetry, too! I've seen tons of pictures of uneven wedding parties, though, and it looks fine. All that matters is that the people you need by your side are there.

Unfortunately, we won't be on the dining plan but Narcoossee's is high on my Disney bucket list, for sure! And I will definitely be checking out Basin seeing as I'm a sucker for girly bath stuff. I can't wait for that! I imagine I won't be leaving empty handed

For some reason I totally didn't think that Beaches and Cream would have food other than ice cream so, thanks to your tip, we'll probably be having dinner there! I'm really excited to explore the Boardwalk. Everyone seems to just love it! Thanks so much for all of the info!

 

[tinydancr06]

According to my ticker we have 19 days until our site visit and I'm super excited so how about some brainstorming?! Here's what I've got so far.

Ceremony Venue:

Wedding Pavillion - to be honest, I totally have my heart set on the WP for the ceremony so this will mostly just be to see it in person for the first time! I've totally been dreaming about it

Reception Venues:

We really want to stick to GF venues simply for the facts that I love the victorian look and it will be easy to get around. I told our consultant this when we set up the site visit and asked if we could just be shown around a bunch of the GF venues and they said yes. Here are the locations we would, ideally, like to visit during the site visit:

GF Ballroom
St Augustine Hall
GF Marina
WH Room & Patio (in the off-chance our guest count is lower than expected)

I'm nervous about seeing the bigger ballrooms because, to be honest, I really don't like those temporary walls! Am I the only one to feel this way? Not a big deal, I know, but they're a pet peeve of mine. I wish Whitehall were bigger because I reall like that room! Anyway...

I know they ask for 3 venues so does that mean each ballroom counts seperately or the convention center just counts as one? If they are seperate we may just go see the marina on our own but I would rather see it with the consultant because I have questions! Speaking of questions, I've been making a list of questions to ask during the site visit. I'm big on making lists because they really help me organize my thoughts and I always feel better prepared when I have a list to refer to. Here are my questions so far in no particular order:

Would it be possible to have the reception dinner in the marina and then move into a ballroom for dancing?

What costs would apply (moving decor, chairs, etc.) if we did move from dinner to dancing?

Will there still be significant GF DVC construction going on at the time of the wedding? (I know it's set to open in late 2013 so this may not be an issue)

When EXACTLY can I pencil in our date and then confirm the date officially? (I'm pretty sure I have the answer to this question but I want to hear it straight from DFTW so there aren't any issues)

Those are all I have for now. If you think of any other must ask questions please let me know! I want to get as much info as possible from the site visit! Also, other than venues to see, guest count, and basic budget, will I need to provide any other information at the time of the site visit?

Finally, Ryan and I are working on our guest list to get a more concrete idea of how many people will actually be invited. We told DFTW that the count would be around 100 but we may end up inviting a liiiiitle bit more than that. I'll let you know when we get our final invite number!

That's all I've got on the site visit front for now. I can't wait!

 

[tinydancr06]

Just wanted to update you all on some wedding related things I've got going on. First and foremost, I've added Disney's Sleeping Beauty as our central wedding theme!!! I know it seems like I'm just adding another inspiration to the list but I'm going to use this to pull all of my other inspirations together. We'll still be using the same colors and will be adding subtle Sleeping Beauty touches to everything. I think it ties all of my thoughts together pretty well. I'll do a full post with inspiration photos and such soon. I'm super excited about this. Aurora is my absolute favorite princess!

In other somewhat wedding related news, I signed up the Expedition Everest Challenge today!!! This will be my first race and will be good motivation in my ongoing shedding for the wedding efforts. Haha. Now to kick my training into gear!

Also, just a little thing. I talked to my MOH tonight and she said she and the BMs are already starting to plan my bachelorette and described it as "extravagant." What could they be up to?!

Oh, AND, I made two ADRs for our site visit trip! We'll have breakfast at the GF Cafe before the site visit. We've never been there before so there's another check off the list! Then, on our park hopping day, we're going to have lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe. I went there a while back and loved it and Ryan's never been so I can't wait! I hope he puts his elbows on the table

That's all for now. Have I mentioned how much I love being a DISbride? You all are awesome!

 

[MrsDuck]

Hey, I hate the temporary walls too!

Sounds like you're off to a great start for the Planning Session!!

I love that Sleeping Beauty is part of your theme! That will be gorgeous!

You will have a blast with the Expedition Everest Challenge! Running Disney is THE BEST. My dad and I will be at the Everest Challenge! Are you running as a team?

Aww, sounds like your BMs and MOH have something up their sleeves! Fun!

Great ADRs!

 

[CDsSleepingBeauty]

I love that you're going to have a Sleeping Beauty theme! We were going to have a Sleeping Beauty-themed wedding, but decided to do a Little Mermaid theme instead since we're using Shipwreck Beach and Ariel's. I'm one of those people that have a few favorite princesses. I don't know if it's still available, but Lenox made a beautiful Sleeping Beauty & Prince Philip figurine that would make a great cake topper.

 

[belle2211]

Hi! As far as the GF Ballrooms go, for temporary walls, do you mean like the walls they put up that divide a room in half to make it smaller? If so, with your count, you wouldn't need a temporary wall. We had a guest list of 165 with 92 guests coming and we had a whole ballroom with no temporary walls.

And congrats on signing up for Expedition Everest. I'm signed up for it too! We did it last year and it is so much fun!!

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Aww. Your PS is going to be so great. You seem like such an organized bride!

 

[tinydancr06]

Hey, I hate the temporary walls too!

Sounds like you're off to a great start for the Planning Session!!

I love that Sleeping Beauty is part of your theme! That will be gorgeous!

You will have a blast with the Expedition Everest Challenge! Running Disney is THE BEST. My dad and I will be at the Everest Challenge! Are you running as a team?

Aww, sounds like your BMs and MOH have something up their sleeves! Fun!

Great ADRs!

I'm glad I'm not alone on the walls!

One of my BMs and I are running as a team but I think another BM is going to run it solo. I'm wondering if she won't be able to be with us if she's not on a team. Hmmm.

I love that you're going to have a Sleeping Beauty theme! We were going to have a Sleeping Beauty-themed wedding, but decided to do a Little Mermaid theme instead since we're using Shipwreck Beach and Ariel's. I'm one of those people that have a few favorite princesses. I don't know if it's still available, but Lenox made a beautiful Sleeping Beauty & Prince Philip figurine that would make a great cake topper.

Yay, Sleeping Beauty! Little Mermaid is definitely more apropriate for a beach wedding, though! I actually watched Little Mermaid a lot more than the other princess movies as a child so Ariel has a special place in my heart. I will definitely be checking out the cake toppers. Thanks for the suggestion!

Hi! As far as the GF Ballrooms go, for temporary walls, do you mean like the walls they put up that divide a room in half to make it smaller? If so, with your count, you wouldn't need a temporary wall. We had a guest list of 165 with 92 guests coming and we had a whole ballroom with no temporary walls.

And congrats on signing up for Expedition Everest. I'm signed up for it too! We did it last year and it is so much fun!!

Really?! I'm so excited to hear that! Thank you!

I'm so glad to hear that everyone loves the Everest Challenge! I guess it's a good choice for my first race. Maybe I'll see you there!

Aww. Your PS is going to be so great. You seem like such an organized bride!

Thank you! I think this pj makes me a lot more organized. I'm not always like that but writing my thoughts down really helps!


Thanks so much for reading, everyone! It's so nice to be able to run all of my thoughts and ideas by people who will understand what I mean!

 

[tinydancr06]

Hi, everyone! Happy Friday! In honor of the christening of the Disney Fantasy last night I thought I'd express my super crazy excitement about our honeymoon to all of you.

Last month we booked our 7-night Western Carribbean honeymoon on the Fantasy and we could not be more excited! We hadn't even been thinking about our honeymoon plans yet at that point other than knowing that we would LOVE to do a Disney Cruise if possible. We've been on one Norwegian cruise before with a bunch of friends (most of which being the same friends from the MNSSHP group) and had a blast but have never cruised with DCL which is a total dream of mine. Here's how it happened: one of my parents' long time neighbors recently became an "independent vacation specialist" with Cruises Inc. and helped my parents book their very first cruise ever. During that process, my mom mentioned to her that we were having our wedding at Disney and would probably do our honeymoon with DCL. Well, having been on many cruises before (DCL included!) she got super excited about this and checked for cruises that would coordinate with our wedding
date annnnd she came up with a cruise on the Fantasy leaving the day after our wedding!!!

It's so perfect. We love that it has 4 ports but also 2 days at sea. Our first cruise had no days at sea and we wanted to do everything so we went into port everyday. Afterward we realized a day at sea just to enjoy the ship would have been nice and now we get 2! I cannot wait to explore the Fantasy and everything it has to offer! There will definitely be some trip planning going on for that too so expect to see the plans here. Here's what our itenerary looks like:

October 26 to November 2
Disney Fantasy

Day Port

1 Port Canaveral, Florida
2 At Sea
3 Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
4 Costa Maya, Mexico
5 Cozumel, Mexico
6 At Sea
7 Castaway Cay
8 Port Canaveral, Florida

And here's a little more info. for those of you who are experienced DCL cruisers and know what it means. We took our neighbor's word for most things like the dinner seating. We do know that the stateroom is on the back of the ship which we liked with the balcony.

Cabin Category: 05E
Cabin Type: Outside Balcony
Cabin Number: 9174
Dining Preference: First

There it is. Our honeymoon!!! It is so great to have something wedding-related actually booked! Watching the videos and seeing pictures from the christening has got me so excited. I feel so lucky that we get to go. Look for honeymoon planning updates mixed in with the wedding ones in the future!

Just for fun, I'll leave you with a picture of one of my fave Disney Fantasy features so far. Sleeping Beauty's mosaic in the Royal Court! Oh, how I can't wait to see this in person!

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

How fun!

 

[CinderALLIE]

Congrats on having your honeymoon booked.

 

[virtuous girl]

Awww, sleeping beauty theme! how cute Ur honeymoon sounds like a blast

 

[MrsDuck]

The Fantasy is a beautiful ship! I love love love having sea days. We don't even get off at some ports anymore because the on-board activities are too good too miss!

Your intinerary looks great!

You are wise to pick the first dining round.. even though there is plenty of food to be had (all. day. long) eating early frees up time in the evening for the shows and night time activities!

Excited for you!

 

[tinydancr06]

How fun!

I can't wait!

Congrats on having your honeymoon booked.

Thank you!

Awww, sleeping beauty theme! how cute Ur honeymoon sounds like a blast

I'm glad you like the theme I am actually trying to finish reading your pj!

The Fantasy is a beautiful ship! I love love love having sea days. We don't even get off at some ports anymore because the on-board activities are too good too miss!

Your intinerary looks great!

You are wise to pick the first dining round.. even though there is plenty of food to be had (all. day. long) eating early frees up time in the evening for the shows and night time activities!

Excited for you!

Thanks! I'm glad you think the first seating is the way to go. I really had no idea! The shows are definitely a priority to us!

 

[CDsSleepingBeauty]

That sounds like an awesome honeymoon!

 

[goodmorningirl]

Joining in! Love all of your plans so far. Your theme and colors are really beautiful! I can't wait to hear more.

 

[tinydancr06]

Joining in! Love all of your plans so far. Your theme and colors are really beautiful! I can't wait to hear more.

Yay! Thank you! So glad you're joining in

 

[tinydancr06]

That sounds like an awesome honeymoon!

I think so, too! Thank you!

 

[tinydancr06]

Hi, lovelies! I just wanted to give you guys a mini wedding update. Let's see...well, I've been doing a lot of research and contacting photographers. We haven't had our engagement photos taken yet and while we still have a while until we need them I feel kind of weird that we've been engaged since April 2011 and don't have them yet! I would like to get them done in October which is around the time I'll start dress shopping. We'll probably have the shoot at WDW since we live in Florida and could just meet the photographer(s) there. Ideally we would use the same photographer for the wedding. So far I've looked at The Roots, Misty Miotto, the Arndts, Jason Angelini, Thirteenth Moon, and of course Disney. Even though I've seen some beautiful photos, I'm not sure that Disney's photography services would work for me because I am SO not the kind of person who does well with not knowing what I am going to get.

Does anyone have any advice on choosing a photographer? It's more complicated than I thought it would be!

In other news, I emailed our consultant, Bill, yesterday basically asking what specific info he needs from us at the time of the site visit. I did this partially because I want to be prepared but also just to give him a subtle reminder that our visit is coming up! I've heard some stories and just want to make sure we're all on the same page. Our wedding may be far out right now but that does not mean we take this site visit any less seriously! Hopefully he gets back to me soon. We haven't had much contact with Bill since in the beginning we kept playing phone tag. We each must have left 3 or 4 different voicemails for eachother! Even now we've never actually spoken to eachother! He seems very nice though and when I left a message about setting up the site visit he left one for me pretty quickly telling me to absolutely set it up with an assistant if he was not available at the time. We can't wait to meet him!

Once I get all the pictures on Photobucket I'll post my Sleeping Beauty inspirations, I'm super excited about them! Oh, and I realized that I promised a wedding dress inspiration post and never did it so that's coming up, too! Stay tuned

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Glad things seem to be going well.