WithDisneySpirit
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Lisa and Rick's PJ/TR: Peace, Love, Mickey Mouse DFTVR! - DAY THREE! =)
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WithDisneySpirit
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2004
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The Final Week Crazies!!
As every destination bride surely experiences, the last days before leaving built to a crescendo of stress for me and to a lesser degree, my family. I worked straight through Wednesday before leaving, Thursday, May 22! Of course, work became busier and more demanding as each day progressed.
The home stress culminated the Saturday before leaving when Disney Chase Visa called us unexpectedly to confirm the veracity of some charges and then shut down our credit card for suspected fraudulent use. We were able to determine belatedly that it was a charge from a legitimate Orlando vendor for the wedding (they used a parent company name which we did not recognize). Once Chase closes an account, however, there is no turning back!! We quite worriedly told them of our trip and wedding plans and they decided to overnight new cards to us. That meant we would get the cards on Tuesday at best then, of course, no one was at home to sign for them, augghhh!!
I stayed home till 11am Wednesday to make sure we got the cards, pre-trip. Advice? Get off the phone with fraud prevention prior to saying you dont recognize a charge because a few minutes wont matter in the long run and may give you time to put it together. There will be more stories later on how this affected our trip repeatedly! 
One other further stress beyond mere packing and vow renewal preparation was that DS15s girlfriend graduated high school this same week. I felt terrible that I was forced to miss her graduation party (I sent DH in my place as I left for Disney with my parents two days early). DS, preparing to miss her like crazy, decided he needed to see her five days in a row before leaving and he doesnt have a drivers license yet!! I pushed hard to make sure that I helped get him over to her house along with everything else.
Here is a picture from grad night:
This pic is from graduation party night
Now that I have surely bored you with credit card woes, I will post a couple more pictures of my accessories and hubbys for just a bit more fun =)
My necklace is Celtic and it was my Valentine present from DH this year. The modern interpretation of this knot is the Celtic love knot. In times past, it represented the goddess or feminine spirituality. Rick and I bought it really with the Celtic love knot in mind but I like its past meaning too =)
I wore beautiful diamond earrings that I was lucky enough to receive for my tenth anniversary present! I couldnt bring myself to take them off to snap a picture as they have screw on backs and it is time consuming, so here they are on, lol =)
Since I have room for another set of earrings, I bought these really cute Mickey dangly earrings and wore them as well. Here they are with my necklace:
I also decided very late in the game to finally buy a hair accessory! I settled on this tiara; it is called the Sun Goddess Tiara and it is available at orangeblossomtiaras.com. I had forgotten this lovely bit of stress but a week or so after it arrived, I pulled it out for another session of how am I gonna wear this tiara" when I realized that three pearls were missing from the tiara!! I called the vendor and he mailed out six pearls to me immediately. He was even going to send a new tiara but I told him it wasnt necessary. When they arrived, thankfully right before I left, DH glued them on for me
Another disaster averted, LOL!
Finally, I wanted DH to have his own Mickey look so while Mom and I were at the Minnie Marathon earlier in May, I bought Rick a beautiful Mickey tie to wear for our vow renewal. For some reason (photographing abilities
), the tie colors arent so good here? The color was really a medium to light sage but here it is anyway:
Next up, my fabulous vendors!
As every destination bride surely experiences, the last days before leaving built to a crescendo of stress for me and to a lesser degree, my family. I worked straight through Wednesday before leaving, Thursday, May 22! Of course, work became busier and more demanding as each day progressed.
The home stress culminated the Saturday before leaving when Disney Chase Visa called us unexpectedly to confirm the veracity of some charges and then shut down our credit card for suspected fraudulent use. We were able to determine belatedly that it was a charge from a legitimate Orlando vendor for the wedding (they used a parent company name which we did not recognize). Once Chase closes an account, however, there is no turning back!! We quite worriedly told them of our trip and wedding plans and they decided to overnight new cards to us. That meant we would get the cards on Tuesday at best then, of course, no one was at home to sign for them, augghhh!!
I stayed home till 11am Wednesday to make sure we got the cards, pre-trip. Advice? Get off the phone with fraud prevention prior to saying you dont recognize a charge because a few minutes wont matter in the long run and may give you time to put it together. There will be more stories later on how this affected our trip repeatedly! One other further stress beyond mere packing and vow renewal preparation was that DS15s girlfriend graduated high school this same week. I felt terrible that I was forced to miss her graduation party (I sent DH in my place as I left for Disney with my parents two days early). DS, preparing to miss her like crazy, decided he needed to see her five days in a row before leaving and he doesnt have a drivers license yet!! I pushed hard to make sure that I helped get him over to her house along with everything else.
Here is a picture from grad night:
This pic is from graduation party night
Now that I have surely bored you with credit card woes, I will post a couple more pictures of my accessories and hubbys for just a bit more fun =)
My necklace is Celtic and it was my Valentine present from DH this year. The modern interpretation of this knot is the Celtic love knot. In times past, it represented the goddess or feminine spirituality. Rick and I bought it really with the Celtic love knot in mind but I like its past meaning too =)
I wore beautiful diamond earrings that I was lucky enough to receive for my tenth anniversary present! I couldnt bring myself to take them off to snap a picture as they have screw on backs and it is time consuming, so here they are on, lol =)
Since I have room for another set of earrings, I bought these really cute Mickey dangly earrings and wore them as well. Here they are with my necklace:
I also decided very late in the game to finally buy a hair accessory! I settled on this tiara; it is called the Sun Goddess Tiara and it is available at orangeblossomtiaras.com. I had forgotten this lovely bit of stress but a week or so after it arrived, I pulled it out for another session of how am I gonna wear this tiara" when I realized that three pearls were missing from the tiara!! I called the vendor and he mailed out six pearls to me immediately. He was even going to send a new tiara but I told him it wasnt necessary. When they arrived, thankfully right before I left, DH glued them on for me
Another disaster averted, LOL!
Finally, I wanted DH to have his own Mickey look so while Mom and I were at the Minnie Marathon earlier in May, I bought Rick a beautiful Mickey tie to wear for our vow renewal. For some reason (photographing abilities
), the tie colors arent so good here? The color was really a medium to light sage but here it is anyway:
Next up, my fabulous vendors!
pjstevens
Had our DFTW Vow Renewal on the Wonder
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2005
- Messages
- 4,051
Lisa,
I completely understand your Disney visa problems. I got that same call on Saturday evening!!!! But in our case it was fraud and before you can do anything BAM, you account is closed!!! I am trying to patiently await our card which should be here in a few days, but I NEED to get my disney reward points for our trip and I'm getting worried as it's just over three weeks away!!!
I completely understand your Disney visa problems. I got that same call on Saturday evening!!!! But in our case it was fraud and before you can do anything BAM, you account is closed!!! I am trying to patiently await our card which should be here in a few days, but I NEED to get my disney reward points for our trip and I'm getting worried as it's just over three weeks away!!!
WithDisneySpirit
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2004
- Messages
- 1,828
I feel for you too! I hate that it was real fraud too - it feels like such a violation!!
As long as you haven't loaded your reward points already, you should be fine and you can order a new rewards card right now since your account is open. Don't try to load reward points on your old rewards card though!!
DisneyBrideToni
<font color=deeppink>Proud BLT DVC Owner<br><font
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2008
- Messages
- 3,267
Love your update. Your earrings and necklace were great!!! I love the tie too!! I could see the sage color.
I have a Disney Chase card too. They never did that to me but I hope they don't because I plan on using that card for our honeymoon!!!
I have a Disney Chase card too. They never did that to me but I hope they don't because I plan on using that card for our honeymoon!!!
WithDisneySpirit
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2004
- Messages
- 1,828
Love your update. Your earrings and necklace were great!!! I love the tie too!! I could see the sage color.
I have a Disney Chase card too. They never did that to me but I hope they don't because I plan on using that card for our honeymoon!!!
In their defense, they called to make sure the charges were not fraudulent. Since we were caught off guard and so busy trying to get ready in those last days, we really reacted too quickly instead of taking a breather and trying to figure it out. What happened later was more aggravating in that it resulted from poor customer service and representative inexperience
I am sure that won't happen to you!
WithDisneySpirit
DIS Veteran
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So glad I found this!!! Love your report LIsa. Can't wait to see the rest.
BTW, forgive me fro not sending the RSVP back.They were just too darn cute!
Well, at least you have a good excuse
I'm glad you found me here 
Goldeelox9
Our Disney Cruise Line Wedding ~ November 4, 2008
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2003
- Messages
- 2,573
I just found this and LOVE it so far! I can not wait to read more!
WithDisneySpirit
DIS Veteran
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- Messages
- 1,828
WithDisneySpirit
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2004
- Messages
- 1,828
WithDisneySpirit
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2004
- Messages
- 1,828
Vendor report:I plan to list my vendors as I came into contact with them during the week of the vow renewal. I think that will flow the best! I am not going to give ratings because mine would be boring anyway! I can't rate anyone less than an A and that tells you what I think of DFTW 
Michelle Gilhooly: Michelle was my lovely, smart, personable and funny wedding planner! She really did an excellent job for Rick and I and we couldn’t have been happier with our events =) She, in fact, saved the wedding day with her excellent idea
about what to do with my bouquet during the ceremony when I couldn’t hold it. I will elaborate on that later. Count yourself lucky if you get Michelle…
Paul Looper: We had a blast with Paul taking pictures in the MK! He called us on Monday night and asked us to come down at 5:45am to catch the faux night shots in time =)
I mentioned the Disboards, a good idea with Paul. He went above and beyond and exceeded our expectations. We are even happier now that we have seen our pictures!
Laura Kidd: I was very lucky to have Laura for my floral manager. She is very creative and chock-full of ideas. My bouquet was bigger and more gorgeous than I even hoped for considering the cost was only $210.00 or so with my crystal and hidden Mickey crystals added in! All the flowers were beautiful and she was excellent help with favors as well
A Moment to Remember: I found this videography company along the way in my planning and I was more certain after hearing a couple of Disbrides speak very well of them. Most notably, Sunsh1ne was very happy with their work for her wedding =) At the wedding, they were very unobtrusive and seemed to always be in the right place at the right time! I have now seen the finished work and let me say that I am ecstatic with my DVD. I got a standard DVD and I have an HD version on the way to me as well. Everyone in my family loved the video too
Here is our main guy; he covered both events:
DFTW Assistants: Kevin and Liddy were Michelle’s assistants during the events and they were also quite helpful! Kevin walked around with us during the pre-reception, kept us on task and gave location ideas since my photographers were not from Orlando – thank you, Kevin!!!
Liddy made sure everyone was in the right place for the wedding as well. Kevin is at the table and Liddy is next to him helping with flowers. Not great pics but something
A quick mention for Brandye as well. She was not there that day but she helped a lot in the office and really came through for me with my late guests who did not get their ressies on time!!
Guitarist: We had a very talented musician. I never heard his name but here he is:
I wish I could say I enjoyed everything he played but I must have been in another world as I cannot remember the music. Rick definitely remembered him playing a special song at the reception that he wanted called “Little Wing.” I was also able to hear some of our selections during the vow renewal by watching my video later – yay!
Caricature Artist: Ted was absolutely awesome!!!!!!! He made a huge hit at our reception. Our goal for the reception was just a big party. We did not have dancing or many other 'first married traditions.' I highly recommend a caricature artist if you are not having a DJ Here is a teaser pic of him and then his work:
This is the last one he did. It was of our friends and took place after we left the reception site. He agreed to stay late and do this one - he was really super!!
The only issue is time management because there were a few guests that did not get to have their picture done and we were doing couples most of the time. It may be that he simply needed more time to do our numbers and I know sometimes they hire two artists for bigger groups.
Boardwalk Attic waiters: We had an excellent staff helping us by serving foods and beverages. They were helpful right to the end and did a great job of packing up our cake too!
Mickey and Minnie: The characters were absolutely magnificent! Do they ever know how to help make memorable pictures!!! Their handler was excellent as well. Again, remembering that our photogs were our friends that don’t live in Orlando, the handler and characters made sure that the main things that should happen did All our guests loved Mickey and Minnie being there!!
Transportation: We had a very nice limo driver!
I was a bit out of it with excitement and regretfully did not tip her. We only had her one-way and I was oblivious at the time…
Then, the bus driver was a bit late picking up the first guests from the Boardwalk but everyone got there on time, I think. I wasn’t wearing a watch, lol! The bus stayed late though after the reception to make sure we all made it down before she took us back to OKW. She even did a headcount and I still had some money left to tip her!!!
Next up – Day One!!!
Michelle Gilhooly: Michelle was my lovely, smart, personable and funny wedding planner! She really did an excellent job for Rick and I and we couldn’t have been happier with our events =) She, in fact, saved the wedding day with her excellent idea
about what to do with my bouquet during the ceremony when I couldn’t hold it. I will elaborate on that later. Count yourself lucky if you get Michelle…Paul Looper: We had a blast with Paul taking pictures in the MK! He called us on Monday night and asked us to come down at 5:45am to catch the faux night shots in time =)
I mentioned the Disboards, a good idea with Paul. He went above and beyond and exceeded our expectations. We are even happier now that we have seen our pictures!Laura Kidd: I was very lucky to have Laura for my floral manager. She is very creative and chock-full of ideas. My bouquet was bigger and more gorgeous than I even hoped for considering the cost was only $210.00 or so with my crystal and hidden Mickey crystals added in! All the flowers were beautiful and she was excellent help with favors as well
A Moment to Remember: I found this videography company along the way in my planning and I was more certain after hearing a couple of Disbrides speak very well of them. Most notably, Sunsh1ne was very happy with their work for her wedding =) At the wedding, they were very unobtrusive and seemed to always be in the right place at the right time! I have now seen the finished work and let me say that I am ecstatic with my DVD. I got a standard DVD and I have an HD version on the way to me as well. Everyone in my family loved the video too
Here is our main guy; he covered both events:
DFTW Assistants: Kevin and Liddy were Michelle’s assistants during the events and they were also quite helpful! Kevin walked around with us during the pre-reception, kept us on task and gave location ideas since my photographers were not from Orlando – thank you, Kevin!!!
Liddy made sure everyone was in the right place for the wedding as well. Kevin is at the table and Liddy is next to him helping with flowers. Not great pics but something
A quick mention for Brandye as well. She was not there that day but she helped a lot in the office and really came through for me with my late guests who did not get their ressies on time!!
Guitarist: We had a very talented musician. I never heard his name but here he is:
I wish I could say I enjoyed everything he played but I must have been in another world as I cannot remember the music. Rick definitely remembered him playing a special song at the reception that he wanted called “Little Wing.” I was also able to hear some of our selections during the vow renewal by watching my video later – yay!
Caricature Artist: Ted was absolutely awesome!!!!!!! He made a huge hit at our reception. Our goal for the reception was just a big party. We did not have dancing or many other 'first married traditions.' I highly recommend a caricature artist if you are not having a DJ
Here is a teaser pic of him and then his work:
This is the last one he did. It was of our friends and took place after we left the reception site. He agreed to stay late and do this one - he was really super!!
The only issue is time management because there were a few guests that did not get to have their picture done and we were doing couples most of the time. It may be that he simply needed more time to do our numbers and I know sometimes they hire two artists for bigger groups.
Boardwalk Attic waiters: We had an excellent staff helping us by serving foods and beverages. They were helpful right to the end and did a great job of packing up our cake too!
Mickey and Minnie: The characters were absolutely magnificent! Do they ever know how to help make memorable pictures!!! Their handler was excellent as well. Again, remembering that our photogs were our friends that don’t live in Orlando, the handler and characters made sure that the main things that should happen did
All our guests loved Mickey and Minnie being there!!
Transportation: We had a very nice limo driver!
I was a bit out of it with excitement and regretfully did not tip her. We only had her one-way and I was oblivious at the time…
Then, the bus driver was a bit late picking up the first guests from the Boardwalk but everyone got there on time, I think. I wasn’t wearing a watch, lol! The bus stayed late though after the reception to make sure we all made it down before she took us back to OKW. She even did a headcount and I still had some money left to tip her!!! Next up – Day One!!!
tiggerrifficheidi
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2004
- Messages
- 1,345
Lisa,
It looks like you had a blast! I can't wait to see more!
You two look like you had so much fun!
It looks like you had a blast! I can't wait to see more!
You two look like you had so much fun!
WithDisneySpirit
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2004
- Messages
- 1,828
We really did have a blast!!!!!!
More is definitely coming. I am finally working on Day One of my VR TR, lol!
figmentfan814
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2007
- Messages
- 2,953
Lisa~ I'm just catching up on everything. Your MK shoot was beautiful. Paul really does amazing work, it's sad that he's leaving. I love the shots with the mosiac in the castle and the ones by Haunted Mansion.
The Mickey earrings are too cute! Sorry to hear about all the confusion with the Disney credit card, etc.
I feel so bad I didn't even think about tipping our limo drivers
Although, one of them ran into something backstage and made us late for pictures, so maybe that's not such a bad thing. The main Disney people that I gave anything too were my planner and her assistant (we got them gift cards). Who else did you end up tipping? I know I didn't do our photographer, video, or makeup since they all owned their own business and I know that's taboo.
The Mickey earrings are too cute! Sorry to hear about all the confusion with the Disney credit card, etc.
I feel so bad I didn't even think about tipping our limo drivers
Although, one of them ran into something backstage and made us late for pictures, so maybe that's not such a bad thing. The main Disney people that I gave anything too were my planner and her assistant (we got them gift cards). Who else did you end up tipping? I know I didn't do our photographer, video, or makeup since they all owned their own business and I know that's taboo.
WithDisneySpirit
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2004
- Messages
- 1,828
Oh, believe me, we loved our day and you and Howard will tooLisa -- All of the pix you have posted so far are absolutely wonderful! You and Rick looked gorgeous and you always looked as if you were having such a great time. Can't wait to hear more!
Lisa~ I'm just catching up on everything. Your MK shoot was beautiful. Paul really does amazing work, it's sad that he's leaving. I love the shots with the mosiac in the castle and the ones by Haunted Mansion.
The Mickey earrings are too cute! Sorry to hear about all the confusion with the Disney credit card, etc.
I feel so bad I didn't even think about tipping our limo drivers
Thanks, I wish Paul weren't leaving also
he was so good as a Disney photographer!!!Let's see, I did gift my wedding planner, her assistant, and my floral manager with gift cards like you. Then, I tipped the bus driver, my caricature artist and the boardwalk waiters. The two I missed were my guitarist and my limo driver
I also, in retrospect, wish that I had figured out a way to gift the wedding assistants that were with us that day, Kevin and Liddy! They did a great job too. Tipping is really hard to figure out, at least it was for me!Thanks, Lynn, we really had a blast
and the pictures he did were all hilarious!
disneychickforever
Queen of Disney Elephants
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2006
- Messages
- 1,080
I love the vendor reviews! I'm wondering, is Paul with DFTW, and did he do your ceremony/reception?
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