Liz and Val's PJ - WP/GF, 1-24-09; Details =)

[GlobalDiva]

Hey Everyone! So I had a PJ that I had put up in February and was updating and stopped coming to the boards altogether because my summer was crazy and intense: my dad had neck surgery, then my mom had several back surgeries and it was a super hard recovery.

In the midst of all this throughout summer, I was planning my 1st wedding--DF and I were getting married in Canada 1st (Where he's from) to accommodate the friends and relatives up there. So the wedding happened on September 6th, and I have to say despite an awfully stressful few weeks leading up to it, the day itself was loads of fun, mellow and went off without a hitch. Because of my mom's recovery, she ended up not being able to come up for the wedding, which was really hard for both of us, but we both made the best of it--we talked on the phone a couple of days, and she spent the day with some cousins to keep her company.

Now, my mom's much better--she's no longer in chronic excruciating pain, and she's much more energetic and is very excited to be completely better for the Disney wedding in January.

i'm gonna paste some of my old entries, and then I will start to update

 

[GlobalDiva]

OLD POST FROM FEB 2008: Hello all brides, brides to be, and others who find bride-related business to be stimulating I joined the DisBoards at the beginning of the year, and have been lurking for a while, rearing my pretty little head every now and then…SO much good info, and I love reading the Pjs and questions, so I’m starting my own now


I hope I figure out how to add pictures and all that...


As for where we are now on the planning timeline, we've done a fair amount of groundwork. A couple of months after getting engaged, we went for a site visit; that was April or May 2007. We went to the Pavilion, visited the different resorts, and sat down with the coordinator to ask a bunch of questions and get info packets and all that.


Then a lot happened, and Disney got put on the back burner for a while. My mom loved the place itself, and loves Disney weddings, but hated the idea of doing a destination wedding for the guests, because she didn't want to make them travel. So whilst never giving up my original first choice of a Disney wedding, I started looking at other places in South Florida. Elegance, luxury and character were most important to me in choosing my ceremony and reception place. Don't get me wrong, there are many great places here. But they weren't what I wanted deep down...


Then I found my dream venue (as in 2nd place since we had eventually decided we were NOT gonna do Disney). It was this building in Palm Beach that was built around the turn of the century. It used to be a church, then it was gutted, and turned into a theater; and now it's used for theater performances and private events. So the architecture is stunning, and the place has amazing character. I was like, "Yep, that's the place for me." And even better, it was 2 miles away from a built-at-the-turn-of-the-century Catholic church. I was in heaven. I'm really into old church architecture, and don't like most modern church buildings--this church had exactly the interesting look I wanted.


I saw on its website that the theater could take a lot of people, so I was like "YEAH!!" because we had a large guest list, and it's not easy to find a perfect venue for a large number of people.


Then we drove there, and the events manager says the place can't take more than 200 in a reception. I was like "I thought it could fit like 500; the site said it could fit over 500" And he was like, "Ohh, that's just for performances, it's not for table seating."


I was SO incredibly dejected. So my mom, sis and I went outside in front of the building and just sat quietly. Then I go, "Well, let's just do Disney..." And my mom sighed heavily and started laughing quietly, and was like, "You're not gonna let Disney go, are you?" I was like, "Well, it IS my dream... " Then woohoo, here I was getting back in touch with DFTW department after 8 months of silence. Alas, the universe had not meant for my Disney dream to die...


I've been with this coordinator basically since that site visit last year--Diane Mahoney-Brown. I'm glad we were able to pick up with her this year where we left off last year. DF and I think she's great, and hate to think we'll have to start working with someone new soon... We loved doing our site visit and initial visit with her.


We got our letter of agreement earlier this week, then made necessary changes with Diane. We've signed the letter and I will send it out tomorrow SO psyched!!!!!


Ok, some details in next post.

 

[GlobalDiva]

OLD POST #2 FROM FEB '08:

Background Info and Proposal​

My name is Liz (age 27) and DF is Val (age 31). We’ve been together for 3 years. I was blessed to find someone who loves Disney as much as I do! I'm very lucky to have lived in South Florida most of my life which made Disney World an always-nearby fun spot for me and my fam.

In Feb 2007, Val and I were on one of our many trips together to WDW, in this particular case to celebrate our 2-year anniversary. We were staying in one of the tower rooms at the Contemporary and he had made reservations at Disney’s California Grill for anniv dinner. We were dressed up, and went outside on the outdoor walkway to look at the parks. He started telling me how much he loves me and then I blinked and when I opened my eyes he was down on one knee. I started jumping around and shrieking, “Omigod, you’re doing it!” lol So that was wonderful, and we proceeded to have a lovely dinner and already started imagining our own wedding there.

I’ve been to a couple of Disney weddings--my cousin did hers there, as well as one of my best friends, and we pretty much always knew we wanted it there because it’s a place that means so much to us. We go several times a year, and every time we drive through those Disney World gates, our troubles melt away and the giddiness sets in and we feel that “happiest place on earth” sensation

 

[GlobalDiva]

Old Post from March '08:

Wedding Plans So Far​

Date: Saturday January 24, 2009.


Locations: We’re doing the ceremony at 5:00 PM at the Wedding Pavilion. Cocktail hour in Whitehall room and its patio, with a part of one of the ballrooms. Reception at Grand Floridian ballrooms.


Colors: Pink and orange, mine and Val’s favorite colors, respectively. And SCORE!-- these colors match the GF ballrooms PERFECTLY.


Gown: probably this Mary’s Bridal dress that I tried that I really loved. My mom and I went to a bridal gown shop, and it was the first dress I tried on and we both knew that it would be the one.


Photography: Christopher Patrick. www.cpoweddings.com The photographer and his wife got married at Disney World, so they know all about it. Val and I loved their pictures, and we met up with them formally during a Disney visit earlier this year and clicked well with them. We actually haven’t signed our contract yet--wanted to wait until we sign wedding contract first, but we’re decided on the photographer.


Rehearsal dinner / Farewell Brunch: No formal plans yet. I’d love to do a breakfast/brunch the morning after, but not sure yet. If I could do it for little $, then that would be perfect.


Room block: GF, Polynesian, Caribbean Beach and Disney All Star Music. We wanted Contemporary but there was nothing available. Even a year out!! Grr!!

Bridal Party​

Bride: Liz
Groom: Val
Maids of Honor: my 2 sisters, Farah and Yamilee
Bridesmaids:
My cousin Patricia
Best friend/pseudo-sister Liz
Best friends since high school: Elena, Maria Alejandra, Isabel (also a Disney bride, yay!)
Best friend since college: Monica

Have I asked them all to be my bridesmaids yet? Nope. But hopefully they’ll accept! Well, I already asked half of them, actually--my cousin and 2 of my friends. I had ordered these adorable “Will you be my bridesmaid? I promise not to make you wear an ugly dress” cards last year, which I haven’t sent out yet. I wrote them all yesterday, and will send them out this week.


Junior Bridesmaid: My Aneta J who is Val’s only first cousin. She’s 11 and we’re very close, and I want her to stand out at the wedding, and to have a very special place of honor.

Best Men: Val’s 2 brothers Cris and Georgel
Groomsmen:
Val’s best friends Marinel and Dinu
And we don’t know who else just yet, but that’ll come.

Ringbearers: We’ll have our 3 little boy nephews walk up together; at the time of the wedding, they will be 3, 4 and 5.

Flower girl: our little Emma, Val’s 5-year old niece.

 

[GlobalDiva]

My 'Will you be my bridesmaid' card

Example of what I wrote to one of my bridesmaids

 

[GlobalDiva]

Here are DF and I, last year at Yacht Club. We were going down to the restaurant for breakfast and there he was in the lobby! Yay, can you tell I was giddy?

DF and I at Magic Kingdom around Christmas 2006.

 

[GlobalDiva]

Update:

I sent back my letter of agreement today, with my deposit!! Hopefully they'll receive it tomorrow...

I also put the deposits down for my gowns. 2 dresses, because 2 weddings.

The first wedding will be in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada on September 6, 2008. DF is Romanian, and Orthodox, so the first ceremony must take place in an Orthodox church. Logistically, it would have just been too hard to cram all the guests into one wedding. Having 200 people travel from Canada, and another 300 from other countries, that would have just been a big headache for us. The 2 weddings help us keep things simpler.

Much more of this wedding planning however will fall on us. I’m looking quite forward to the planning because the reception hall is such a large blank canvas, but I’m not looking forward to the bridesmaids dresses part of the planning, since I live here and the bridesmaids live in a few different areas across North America.

I wanted black dresses, because I like the look of bridesmaids in black, and it would have made things easy for me since I live in another country-- i.e. ‘Please be my bridesmaid. Pick any great dress, as long as it’s completely black.’

The Canadian ceremony will be at the Romanian Church in Kitchener, Ontario. The reception will take place at their cultural hall.

We have already booked our photographer: www.trinakoster.com

That’s about all we’ve done for that one.

 

[GlobalDiva]

Updates:

I have been assigned a wedding planner. I was at the beach today, and didn't hear the phone ring at the time unfortunately. But was pleased afterwards to hear a voicemail from Marion Stewart introducing herself to me and letting me know that she would be sending info, etc.

I sent out my bridesmaids invitations, and all have accepted

Now I have until January to get like, 4 sizes smaller well, not really--but I wouldn't mind some minor bodily improvements here and there

Signing out for now

 

[GlobalDiva]

Got my LOA signed copy, and our APs.

Also received the stub/copy of our free room night for the wedding, which looked like Disney credit card junk mail and almost got thrown out But is now safely tucked away.

Time to start thinking about planning session, I guess...

My mom really wants us to do the PS before the 6-month mark since she doesn't want to go to Disney during summer months. I have to admit--neither do I (yes, South Floridians tend to be wimps with the heat ) So I know the prices don't lock in until 6 months before, which would make it this July, in my case. But I'd rather make my choices before then, even if prices dont lock in until later.

Trying to figure out what we'll do with my nephew during planning session and tasting. We really wanted my parents, DF, both sisters and I at the tasting and planning session, and the wedding coordinator checked, and said that was fine. But with the little guy there, we can't do the tasting in the kitchen, which sucks. Plus, we definitely can't have him at the PS because that's like 4 hours long or something, right? So I could have one sister babysit, but then that's one MOH's opinion out of the running, which sucks too.

The devilish angel who might keep us from having our tasting in the GF kitchen. Oh yes, and he's one of the ringbearers too

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We got the cake CD and music sampler also. We narrowed it down to like, I don't know, 15 cakes or something, lol. Still a big number, but I guess we at least eliminated much of what they offer

Next step: finding waltzing lessons for me and DF. We've always wanted to do a waltz for our first dance, and we want to do it to the Sleeping Beauty Waltz, the finale version from the Sleeping Beauty soundtrack--my favorite of the Disney Princesses . I have LOVED that waltz my whole life, have sung it my whole life, and I think it's perfect for the first dance--nice and short, about 2 minutes. Won't linger on so much that the DJ has to fade it out Then once all those dance formalities are out of the way, we can get down, like this guy --->

 

[GlobalDiva]

Hey Disboarders

So we've done some more cementing/planning for wedding #1, which is so much sooner than my mind is registering... September 6

Today, we booked our party bus. It's a big party bus for about 30, which is what we'll use for transportation from ceremony to picture site, then back. You can check it out here:

http://www.auniversal.com/fleet/index.php

Scroll down and it's the coach one with the nightclub interior It fits 30 people, so it'll be DF and I, our parents, wedding ceremony godparents, and wedding party.

We booked our decorator. Looking through the portfolios of most of the decorators online in the Kitchener-Waterloo area of Canada, I wanted to hurl because ALL of the weddings looked exactly the same. It was as though every decorator in that area worked on the same wedding together and distributed pictures from that one event among all their websites.

But I found this event planner, Kyle, who has a really refreshingly modern and creative take to things, so I contacted him and asked my future sister-in-law to meet with him to see more examples of his work, get his pricing, etc.

This is his site:

http://www.customelements.ca/

Our colors for Canada are red, black, and white. The reception site there is a giant room. Because it's a blank canvas, DF and I are excited to have 2 completely different types of weddings. I want the look in Canada to be very bold and modern, whereas the Disney wedding, I prefer a more opulent look that I think will mesh perfectly with GF.

My sister, who is a cake designer, will be making our cake for the wedding up there. I want a tall tiered cake. I want separators between the layers, but rather than columns, she's going to build solid separators so that she can incorporate this red and black decorative pattern that DF created as the base for our invitation.

Bridesmaids dresses will be shades of red. I don't really care whether it ends up being burgundy or scarlet, but a bold red is what I'm thinking.

Probably non-floral centerpieces, which I think I can easily get away with since I'm going for a very modern look with this reception.

My mom, who used to be a floral designer, will make my bouquet. I'm thinking roses for myself. I don't want to spend a lot of money on the bridesmaids bouquets because my thinking is that they won't do much with them after, so I'd like ribbon-tied bunches of blood red gerbera daisies for them. It's a more budget conscious decision that looks youthful and modern, but still elegant.

Something like this:

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I think that's all for now... I'm heading to Disney World tomorrow with DF to meet up with my siblings-in-law and their 4 little ones who will be visiting from Canada for a week and a half. A 5-year old, a 4-year old, and 8-month-old twin boys!! It'll be Emma's 6th birthday while we're there too, so she's got a Bibbidi Bobbidi appointment in the morning on Tuesday, then at night we're all doing dinner at 1900 Park Fare. We're staying at Caribbean Beach. We'll be there until Thursday

Love the World, but I'll miss the Dis while I'm away!

 

[thatdisneygirl]

I love gerbera daisy bouquets. They're so sweet and they make such an impact without the huge cost. If we had ended up doing real flowers, I totally would have gone that direction!

Glad you made the move over this side of the forums.

 

[GlobalDiva]

I love gerbera daisy bouquets. They're so sweet and they make such an impact without the huge cost. If we had ended up doing real flowers, I totally would have gone that direction!

Glad you made the move over this side of the forums.

Thanks Carly! They were definitely the right flower for me. I agree with you--they're gorgeous, happy flowers that take up a lot of space in a flower arrangement--which is what I wanted!

 

[keenercam]

Hi, Liz!! It is so great to see you back here. I'm glad your Mom is doing better. It will be so much fun for you to plan now, knowing she is feeling so well. Congratulations on your wedding! Now you get to relax a bit and plan another fun day! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[GlobalDiva]

Hi, Liz!! It is so great to see you back here. I'm glad your Mom is doing better. It will be so much fun for you to plan now, knowing she is feeling so well. Congratulations on your wedding! Now you get to relax a bit and plan another fun day! Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks so much!! It's great to be back; I missed the Dis so much

 

[GlobalDiva]

OK, so now that I added my old posts, I can update with current stuff!

Update #1: I'm married now! Yay! DH and I tied the 1st knot in Ontario, Canada on Sept 6, 2008. The weeks leading up to it were completely hellish, but the wedding day itself was totally relaxed and fun. I had no nervousness whatsoever.

The day was LOOOONG. I woke up at 5:45 AM and the limo bus picked up my sisters, 2 of my bridesmaids, and me at our hotel and took us to my sister-in-law's house. The bus was sooo much fun. They had champagne and pastries ready for us and it was like a little living room inside, so it was totally comfortable. We arrived at her house and my brother-in-law was outside with his camcorder ready to film us getting off the bus (looking quite tired, lol).

The hair and make-up team were there waiting for us, and started working on bridesmaids right away. The bus went to pick up other bridal party members while I relaxed on the couch and wrote my thank-you cards for my bridal party to put with their gifts.

i'm gonna add these updates little by little because my browser froze a couple of times and I don't want to forget what I wrote!

 

[GlobalDiva]

Here are some pictures I took in the morning:

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Some of my Bridal Party chilling and getting ready on the morning of the Wedding.

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My junior bridesmaid and flower girl choosing their hairdos from a magazine as one of the ringbearers and another nephew look on.

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My Flower Girl getting her hair done

 

[GlobalDiva]

So as the rest of the bridal party, and MIL arrived and got their hair and makeup done, I wrote my thank-you cards to add to their gifts. I provided the hair and makeup, since I thought it would be more convenient since many of the bridemaids were from out of town. I gave the bridal party their wedding day jewelry and hair jewelry, which were these great crystal sets that I found at an import shopping district I like to go to for costume jewelry. For their thank-you gifts, I gave them Coach wristlets.

In the mid-morning, my wedding day coordinator brought over my dress and veil, then the videographer and photographer arrived.

Then I got ready in the late morning; Did my hair and makeup and headed upstairs to get dressed. Once that was done, I took a few pictures--complete with lots of laughing as my wedding coordinator and I attempted to put in two, yes TWO sets of fake ****s inside my already-padded bra to fill in the chest-portion of the bodice.

Then we all got on the bus and headed over to the Church. About 2 minutes before we turned onto the Church street, the busdriver put on "Going to the Chapel," which we all started singing along to The bridal party got off the bus and I sat and waited for all of them to be lined up and order.

The weather could not have been more perfect. It had rained the day before, and it POURED the day after, but the day of, it was clear sunny skies with some fluffy clouds, slightly breezy, in the low 70s. PERFECT!!

The bridal party filed in down the aisle, then it was my turn, so I took my dad's arm and started my march.

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More coming soon!

 

[keenercam]

Stunning! You looked absolutely stunning, sweetie!!

So, are you wearing your gown again in Disney? It is gorgeous!

 

[bridetobe789]

Congratulations on your recent wedding!! Your gown is gorgeous!! I love the sparkles on it!! How exciting getting to plan two weddings!

 

[GlobalDiva]

Stunning! You looked absolutely stunning, sweetie!!

So, are you wearing your gown again in Disney? It is gorgeous!

Thanks!! i'm wearing a different gown for Disney. Hopefully a daughter or relative someday will want to use one of them!!

Congratulations on your recent wedding!! Your gown is gorgeous!! I love the sparkles on it!! How exciting getting to plan two weddings!

Thank you! The sparkles excited me very much We're so psyched to start planning the other one!