Meryll83's SBP/Citrico's/Morocco PJ - Update: Trip Report now underway!!

[keenercam]

Oh, Meryll, your gown looks so BEAUTIFUL on you!! You must be so excited to see how perfect it is on!!! Have you decided yet how you are going to wear your hair? It is gorgeous! If I had curl like that, I'd wear it down around my shoulders. I can't wait to hear what you decide.

 

[Chilly]

Judging by the overwhelming reponse to my above ideas i guess it's back to the drawing board!

I am thinking of popping back to our room in between so that we can have an hour or so on our just talking together or maybe having afternoon tea at the GF.

The dress looks gorgeous!!!

 

[meryll83]

Oh, Meryll, your gown looks so BEAUTIFUL on you!! You must be so excited to see how perfect it is on!!! Have you decided yet how you are going to wear your hair? It is gorgeous! If I had curl like that, I'd wear it down around my shoulders. I can't wait to hear what you decide.

It really is just the length that needs altering, so that's good.

My hair needs a good cut and colour somtime soon to be honest, it's getting ratty!
I happened to catch a celebrity weddings thing the other day and I love love loved Tiffany Amber Thiessen's hair - colour and everything!

I can only find naffy pictures from the front though and I can't find the video online anywhere to get another look at the sides and back, but the positioning of the veil and everything was just how I'd like it.
http://thiessenpictures.com/displayimage.php?album=481&pos=1

 

[meryll83]

I am thinking of popping back to our room in between so that we can have an hour or so on our just talking together or maybe having afternoon tea at the GF.

The dress looks gorgeous!!!

I want to keep all the guests occupied, that's the only thing.

Thank you, I feel like some dieting may have to begin, but hey, I have 18 months!!

 

[cseca]

Pretty dress!!
And I love TTH hair too...
It's down... I'm all for wearing the hair down

 

[hope1826]

I want to keep all the guests occupied, that's the only thing.

Thank you, I feel like some dieting may have to begin, but hey, I have 18 months!!

You look gorgeous in your dress! I don't think you need to diet at all!

 

[Nicola2010]

beautiful gown meryll... is it a maggie?

i love love loved tiffani amber thiessan's hair too and really want mine like that, but as you i cant find any decent pics. i have tried googling it and not much luck so i guess they didnt sell themselves out and have kept their pics private grrr!

18 months to go and you have your dress! wow! you are super organised!

 

[BaBeeCee14]

Meryll

The dress looks beautiful on you!

 

[Lynn5700]

You look great in your dress!!!I love the detailing

 

[B2B-2008]

Love your dress you look beautiful. Can I just ask how come they are fitting you so soon? I'm going to see my dress on Wednesday as it has just turned up but they won't do my fittings until we get closer to our wedding date. But to be honest I fell so fat at the moment it gives me a bit more time to try to slim down a bit.

 

[meryll83]

Thank you everyone for the nice comments!

Yes Nicola, the dress is a Maggie, I have it so early coz I had real trouble tracking down the design, I'd seen it online and really wanted to try it on, so I went on a mad hunt! And when I finally found it, it was reduced to half price, so that was too good to pass up!

With the dress being a lace back, there was only really the length of the dress that needs to be altered, and I already have my shoes, so I figured I'd get it fitted sooner rather than later. Another reason being I figure that in a years time alterations charges will have gone up, also my mum said she'd be more comfortable if the dress was at home.


In other news.....
I have lost ANOTHER bridesmaid!!
Yes, as I had previously worried, Gemma and Pete are no longer coming due to expense.
I do understand coz they have their own wedding to pay for, but I wish at the point of deciding their wedding date they'd immediately said at that point "Look we might have to think about whether we can afford to come to Florida now" rather than waiting it out.
The thing that spurred this is that I sent all the girls a reminder about their trying on session next week and asked if the time was still ok. Shortly afterwards Pete rang and spoke to Si to explain their situation to him, I looked afterwards and had a missed call from Gemma on my phone, but I haven't had chance to speak to her properly yet.
Apparently she wanted to tell me in person, but when I was asking about times she thought they'd better tell me now.
At least they let me know before we got in to dress shopping.

In light of this I text Julie and Jackie to make sure they are both really definite about this before we get any further down the line and they both sent me really great responses.
Jackie said definitely, and could Tim now be a bridesmaid, and Julie said in her mind she was already on the plane

After chatting, me and Si decided that even though we are disappointed, this still doesn't ruin anything, and may even make things easier to organise.
There will now be 11 of us total, which will be a nice sized group to organize for any get-togethers, obviously it decreases costs for us and I now have bridesmaid symmetry back with 2! There will be us, 4 friends and 5 family, which is a nice mix, I suppose there is the potential for some people to want to join us nearer the time, but it might be better to keep it small now.

We were thinking of just having an evening recpetion here in the UK, but are now going to investigate more into our original idea of a blessing here also.

Think that's all for now - ah the ups and downs of wedding planning!

 

[B2B-2008]

I'm glad your positive about your bridesmaid loss. You are still a little way off, my MOH only really confirmed that she could make in January, so you never know things may still change.

 

[Chilly]

sorry about your bridesmaid, just keep thinking about saving money for other things you want.

 

[Beep]

Hey hun, absolutely love the dress! What a brilliant choice - it really suits you

Sorry to hear about another drop out, but at least you more than half expected it I suppose. It's still bad though.

There is a lounge next to the Yachtsmans Steakhouse where you could go for a drink before dinner if you are looking for something to do for a little while.

We've changed our plans from the Yachtsmans. We are going to have lunch at the Grand Floridian Cafe at around 1230, then over to Port Orleans for some photos and then people can get changed at the Boardwalk and go to Epcot, or go back to their rooms to chill. We are going to book Le Cellier at around 1830 so as long as people are there for the meal they can do what they want for a few hours. We thought it might be a bit much for people swanning around in wedding gear all day, and I still get a decent amount of time in my dress!

 

[meryll83]

I'm glad your positive about your bridesmaid loss. You are still a little way off, my MOH only really confirmed that she could make in January, so you never know things may still change.

I know, we have so far to go, we might have no-one left by next year!!

sorry about your bridesmaid, just keep thinking about saving money for other things you want.

It does mean we can reassess our budget!

Hey hun, absolutely love the dress! What a brilliant choice - it really suits you

Sorry to hear about another drop out, but at least you more than half expected it I suppose. It's still bad though.

There is a lounge next to the Yachtsmans Steakhouse where you could go for a drink before dinner if you are looking for something to do for a little while.

We've changed our plans from the Yachtsmans. We are going to have lunch at the Grand Floridian Cafe at around 1230, then over to Port Orleans for some photos and then people can get changed at the Boardwalk and go to Epcot, or go back to their rooms to chill. We are going to book Le Cellier at around 1830 so as long as people are there for the meal they can do what they want for a few hours. We thought it might be a bit much for people swanning around in wedding gear all day, and I still get a decent amount of time in my dress!

I think we will try and do a welcome meal at Le Cellier if funds allow. Otherwise, we'll just make it an optional meet-up. It is soooooo scrummy though!
I think we may go for a 2.30pm cermeony, photos at the BW, photos at the MK resort area, tea at Cali Grill then back over to Epcot for the dessert party.
I think. For now anyway!!
I think my mind will change a million times!

I just got a text from Gemma actually, apologising. Don't really know what to write back at this stage, so she can sweat it out while she waits for my response!
It's difficult, I don't want to make her feel bad, but I am disappointed...

 

[Beep]

I just got a text from Gemma actually, apologising. Don't really know what to write back at this stage, so she can sweat it out while she waits for my response!

Probably best to wait until you know exactly what you want to say, or you may regret it if you send something now.

Are you sure you don't want Kirsty and me to step in as bridesmaids?!

 

[meryll83]

Probably best to wait until you know exactly what you want to say, or you may regret it if you send something now.

Are you sure you don't want Kirsty and me to step in as bridesmaids?!

I've just gotten used to the idea that we'll save some money having less bridesmaids!

I wrote back, I basically just said that I wish they'd told us as soon as they began having doubts, but they've said that they really were hoping to be able to go, but after having budget talks with their families this week, they've realised that they can't see how it'll be possible to afford to come to Florida with us and afford their own wedding too.
If money were no object, I'm sure they would've been there.

 

[meryll83]

So frustrated with our local Council!

I rang up a couple of months back to find out when the October half term school holidays would be for 2009, and I was told they should know in March.

With Virgin and Travel City going on sale within the last week or so I've been scouting out the best prices etc. and getting exciting at the prospect of booking our holidays really soon.

Simon's mum emailed someone the other day to check if the dates were out yet, only to be told they should now be released mid-April!
Apart from the frustration of having to wait the extra time, both tour operators have said that they are currently offering preview prices, and from around late-April to May when their full brochures are released, their prices are likely to increase
I hope this is the case with all local councils, I don't want to find that ours is the last to release it's date and the whole of the rest of the UK can happily book their prices before flight supplements etc go up.

So, it's really just a waiting game now, and it ain't an enjoyable game!
But on the bright side, hopefully in no more than about 8 weeks time we should be booked to go back to WDW I just need to get everyone prompted to do their research and find their holidays so when those dates are released it's go go GO!!!

 

[Chilly]

Sorry you are having to wait to book. Is the price likely to go up a lot? Could you not take the risk and book when you think it will be while they are on offer and if you book the wrong week pay to move to the correct date, might that be cheaper?

 

[meryll83]

Sorry you are having to wait to book. Is the price likely to go up a lot? Could you not take the risk and book when you think it will be while they are on offer and if you book the wrong week pay to move to the correct date, might that be cheaper?

The girl I spoke to at Virgin (who we'll probably book with) was really sweet actually, she said that the price shouldn't really change within the next few weeks, but once the main brochure goes out, the prices may well go up.

Here's hoping the council pull their finger out before the main brochure is released!!

The problem if we book the wrong date is that we will have and admin charge of £25pp (which isn't bad really, considering that's the total charge and people like Thomas Cook charge pp per change) and then we would have to pay the difference if the holiday was more for the correct date. Not the worst thing in the world, but it would tie us to Virgin, if we found the correct date to be cheaper with eg Travel City, we would then lose our full deposit.

To be honest, I think we'd be safe booking a date, because there are 2 weeks where we anticipate half term could be, and if we go at the start of the first week, then it means we can have the wedding in the first week if we're right, or in the second week if that's when half term actually is.
We'd like to set off in the first week anyway coz it's cheaper and it should ensure that we'll definitely be there over the half term period (an essential for Si's parents working in colleges).

But.......... what if we're completely wrong with the dates??!!