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

[Chilly]

I'm glad everyones booked. I haven't even booked yet although i'm 2 months after you.

I don't think I'll be booking with Virgin after all your troubles.

 

[meryll83]

I'm glad everyones booked. I haven't even booked yet although i'm 2 months after you.

I don't think I'll be booking with Virgin after all your troubles.

I was just a bit obsessive over wanting to make sure everyone got booked before the prices increased too much (we're there over the school half term holiday) and even then we've ended up on 2 seperate flights due to economy selling out already I think that justifies my insistence a little bit!

It's a shame really that Virgin have been so difficult to deal with this time, we've had no problems in the past, but then we were just booking a holiday plus tickets for 2 on the day, our problems have all arisen when we've been wanting to add people / tickets / dining plan after the initital booking.
If you can make sure you're booking exactly what you need on the day you'll probably still be fine, just don't try and make any additions!!

 

[meryll83]

Time for a mini update regarding our at home reception, as I've neglected my trippie for some time now

Si's brother's wedding was at the weekend, we had a fab time, hotel was good, and we had a fun time at the wedding and reception.
I loved the bowls and mirrors they used for the centerpieces at the reception, and when I asked Anna where they got them she told me just to take them the following day when we were helping pack up, as they would only be sitting in their garage otherwise So this has saved us a few pounds which is awesome and really good of them, and we'll be able to put our own colours and theming into them so they'll look completely different. (I'll have to post you piccies of what they had and we're having so you can see if they look different enough!)
She has also offered for me to try out her hoop, so next time we see them I think I'll take her up on this and just see if it's any different/better to the one I already have...

I posted another thread regarding a photobooth company I found to see if anyone knew of them, they didn't, but with only a £75 deposit and the rest payable on the day, we're going to go for it. The room we are using for our at home reception is kind of an L shape, so we're planning to situate the photobooth round the corner, in the bottom of the L where the entrance is, and encourage people to use this, and we'll not have a professional photographer, just get family or friends to take a few nice posed shots of us, but mainly rely on people getting into the spirit of using the booth.
I think we'll let the guests keep the print out copy of the photo they have taken, as we get a master CD of all the images at the end, and then we'll make a book for ourslves using Blurb or Shutterfly or someone like that using the master CD.
It doesn't print out the traditional photo strip, we are paying extra to have a printer set up on site for the photos, and it's a stand up behind a curtain job with this particular machine, but this was so much cheaper than the bigger name companies that offer the traditional photo booth set up.

I've ordered a job lot of burgandy rose petals from ebay, also for use at our at home reception, for the cake table, guest tables and within the centerpiece bowls, and I'm planning on ordering some sea shells and floating candles shortly too, then our recpetion decor won't be far off complete.
I don't think we're going to order any floral at home, as we'll have our silk bouquets and boutenierres (sp?) and as we're there mid-November, we can request that the building's Christmas decs go up for us I had liked the idea of balloons within a balloon on the tables, but depending on what the Christmas decs are, we don't want it to look to busy, and also, having experienced this at Adam and Anna's wedding, there's nothing that can be done with them the following day, and there won't be a lot of kids we can give them too, so may ditch the balloon idea now.
Just need to investigate chair covers and then reception decor is pretty much there I think...
Just need to sort out the entertainment!

3 months today til we can book with Disney!!

 

[JoJo1980]

Glad things are going well for you now!! Was sorry to hear about Virgin being such a pain That was really nice of Anna to lend you her bowls etc... Every little bit helps and wedding costs just seem to grow by the second so its nice to save where you can

The photobooth sounds FAB!! I'm sure it will be loads of fun for everyone and its a great idea to use it instead of hiring a photographer. I bet you get some really funny shots - you've got to share them with us after the event

Isnt ebay great!! What would us brides do without it I got some really cute butterfly shaped petals on there, not decided where to use them yet - but they were too cute not to buy

Awww I love christmas!! All your decor ideas sound great

YAY for only 3 months until you can book

 

[Chilly]

Thats great that you've got the table decorations for free.

 

[meryll83]

Isnt ebay great!!

Ebay is downright dangerous - I could shop forever on there!

Thats great that you've got the table decorations for free.

On that note,
Here are the centerpieces as they were at Adam and Anna's wedding:

And I have now received my shells, petals, and floating candles (yes, from ebay ) so made a quick mock up earlier of what ours will look like.

However......... I was clever and forget to take a picture when it was all set up with the mirror and candle etc, but here it is on the side draining, minus the water, mirror and floating candle, and there will be more shells and petals on the day too, just didn't want to get everything soggy just yet :

So... use your imaginations, as it looks a tad pathetic here, but I promise it will all be full and candled, and nicely arranged on the day!!
Ooh and the floating candles smell of cherries - my favourite!! The only downside is that they're a bit of a brighter pink than I'd anticipated, but I think it looks ok.
By the time we have our UK reception it's November, so the candlelight should look really pretty in the dark.

That's your lot for now!

Ooh, except, I have an honourable mention for Vanessa, I received her spare Mickey bubbles in the post, so we'll be using these at the wedding too

 

[figmentfan814]

Ooh, except, I have an honourable mention for Vanessa, I received her spare Mickey bubbles in the post, so we'll be using these at the wedding too

Thanks! I'm glad you're able to use them

I think the centerpieces will turn out great. I love the color of the shells and they color combination with the petals will look really pretty.

 

[Chilly]

the centre pieces look great.

 

[meryll83]

So I've started thinking about invitations for our at home reception, - I'm just going to make some boarding pass style Save The Date type things for the few people coming to Florida with us, so I'm not too worried about those.

I really love the cards and pockets style invites, but am wondering what headings / how many inserts I would need, it'll be slightly different to those I've seen here before, as most of them relate to the actual DFTW not the at home part.

I'm thinking the main invite will have details of the blessing type ceremony and reception locations, and then for the inserts:
Accommodation?
Directions?
Gift List? (I know in the US it's not traditional to mention this in your invites, but everyone does it here in the UK!! Also I need a different heading for this really, as we aren't having a gift list as such, but we will politely mention donations towards a future honeymoon holiday, any suggestions for what the title of this insert could be?)
Is there any other information that normally goes in them?

I'm toying with the idea of making them myself at the moment, so they can be completely customised to say what we want, but I need some guidance for what I do actually want to say and what should be included!

I know you experts out there will be able to help!!

 

[Chilly]

Well the last few invites i've got that have asked for money rather than having a gift list have written poems. Such as:

So what do you get
For the bride and groom
Whose house needs things
In every room?
When shopping for a present please don’t be rash
As there is always the option
To just give cash!
We hope you don’t find
Our request to be funny
But we really would appreciate
A gift of money

If you google it you'll find lots of ideas.

I also found this web site, The Etiquette Of Asking For Cash Wedding Gifts

 

[meryll83]

Well the last few invites i've got that have asked for money rather than having a gift list have written poems. Such as:

So what do you get
For the bride and groom
Whose house needs things
In every room?
When shopping for a present please don’t be rash
As there is always the option
To just give cash!
We hope you don’t find
Our request to be funny
But we really would appreciate
A gift of money

If you google it you'll find lots of ideas.

I also found this web site, The Etiquette Of Asking For Cash Wedding Gifts

A colleague of mine had a different "cash poem" in hers as well which is how we plan to word it, but thanks for this, I'll investigate into all the other ditties we could use!

Any ideas what the title for this insert could be? I wouldn't know what to head it.....

 

[A whole new world]

Our cash request read:

'We know choosing gifts can be such a pain,
There is always the worry of buying the same.
Our home has been filled with love and care,
And is now full to the brim with no room to spare.
So should you wish to give a gift to help us on our way,
A gift of money or vouchers would really make our day.
So please don't be offended by this request,
The most important thing is having you as our guest!'

This is what we sent to our guests. I felt a bit rude sending a cash/voucher request, but lots of people asked what we wanted and as we had lived together for 4 years we have everything, so it was the best option otherwise you just end up with things you already got or people get things that you will never use.

Our title is our names and the date of our reception. We didn't really call it cash request but you could call it gift poem.

 

[meryll83]

These are all great,
I think I might fashion one together from a combination of the different ones I've seen, will let you know the end result! Still need to think about what might be an appropriate title for that insert....

I decided to bite the bullet and order some supplies to make invitations myself and save a few pennies and enjoy getting crafty, it's been a long time since I've got to be creative so it's quite exciting!
Once all the materials get here I'll take a photo of all the elements for you and explain in more detail what the plan is, I'm giving myself plenty time to create them stage by stage, can do a new task on them once a month or so.

I managed to track down a basic template for the boarding pass style Save The Dates (STD's ) I've seen around and about, which I've now mickeyfied and coloured and personalised, once we have our date and time (9 weeks to go now to book!!) and I've updated them and they're printed, again I'll take a piccie for you guys

Been at a lot of weddings over the last few weeks which has inspired me to get moving on all these kind of things again!
We also found an amzing band at Si's cousin's wedding, so I've emailed them for a price for our at home do, they also act as a DJ in their breaks too, which is great, as we were originally looking at a pianist and would then need a DJ on top of that.

Thinking we might go a bit more formal with the at home do and have a Table Plan, to which Si suggested we name the tables after Disney Princesses (Ohmigod he's becoming me! ). However, I wanted then to be a little more subtle (if that's possible) by not picking the obvious names such as Cinderella, Pocahontas, Snow White etc. We need 10, here's what we have so far, can you help us with any more that aren't overly obvious?:
1. Ariel
2. Belle
3. Aurora
4. Jasmine
5. Tinker Bell (perhaps too obvious!!)
6. Mulan?
7. Kairi? (from Kingdom Hearts, perhaps this is too obscure though!!)
8. Alice?
9.
10.

I know they're not all technically princesses, but hey, poetic licence!!
We could just call the Top Table just that, so then we'd only need 9 names!!

 

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

Esmerelda?
Megara?
Wendy (Darling)?

 

[meryll83]

Esmerelda?
Megara?
Wendy (Darling)?

These could be good, thank you

I was surprised that I couldn't think of more actually, I was sure there'd be looooooooooads!

I've just thought there's Giselle as well isn't there, and whatever the Princess and the Frog girl is called?.....

 

[meryll83]

Oooh I also wanted to ask about what fabric dye you all recommend?

I tried on Anna's hoop at the weekend, not with my dress yet, but it seems to fit me fine, and is a bit sturdier than the one I have, so I think I'm going to wear Anna's and take the hoop out of my original one and dye the skirt, so I can have a coloured crinnie but still give Anna hers back unharmed

The couple of people that I have told about dying my crinnie have just looked at me like I was a crazy bu we all know here how great they look! I won't mention it again now to anyone, I'll just show off the results! Hahaha Anna will probably freak out thinking I've dyed her skirt

Ideally it would be a dark red/burgandy dye to match the bridesmaids/floral, but I've heard that the material doesn't always take, so it may end up pink, which wouldn't be the end of the world, but obviously if anyone can recommend one that will give the truest colour that would be fab. It's 100% polyester material if that helps, I just don't know where to begin looking!!
The dye isn't likely to run afterwards is it? I don't want to ruin my dress or Anna's hoop!!

Thanks in advance once again ladies

 

[figmentfan814]

I love the idea of naming the tables after not so obvious characters; what a great idea!

 

[Chilly]

Do you need to name the insert? I don't think the poems we got had titles at the top.

Can't help with the dye i'm afraid.

Just playing devils advocate here if you name the tables after not well known characters will your guests think you've just named them after random girls names that you like? You might not care if they do

 

[meryll83]

Do you need to name the insert? I don't think the poems we got had titles at the top.

Perhaps not, it's just the others are going to be headed with 'Directions', 'Accommodation' and 'RSVP' so I didn't want it to look weird without a header Hmmm. will have to have a think about this....

I love the idea of naming the tables after not so obvious characters; what a great idea!

Just playing devils advocate here if you name the tables after not well known characters will your guests think you've just named them after random girls names that you like? You might not care if they do

I just didn't want it to be so obvious given that there won't be anything hugely Disney about the reception, apart from some hidden mickeys etc, going to keep it subtle.
I'm going to try and find pencil sketches (or trace some if I have to ) of the characters to go next to the names if I can, again trying to keep it subtle rather than having big colourful images.


Can anyone help on the fabric dye front yet, I'm still a bit stuck?.....

 

[Ticky Toria 78]

hope this helps, we used some wording from this site http://www.verseit.com/

If you are thinking about cash/vouchers some of the travel companies do vouchers (we did this).