Nichole's Wishes PJ 10/24/2011 ~ WP/ADH/SCP ** OUR WEDDING DAY ~ The Reception

[Nichole33]

General Info.
- Our Story: #1, #5
- When: October 24, 2011
- Where: 5 PM Ceremony at the Wedding Pavilion followed by a reception at Atlantic Dance Hall
- Wedding Planner, Maxine Pallakis: #126
- Rehearsal Dinner at 'Ohana (for the wedding party only): #17, #131
- Welcome Reception & Wishes Fireworks at Sago Cay Pointe for everyone: #127, #164
- Floral BEO: #145
- BEO: #164
- Itinerary: #216
- Personalized Champagne: #261

Attire
- Wedding Dress: #35, #50, #206
- Shoes, Jewelry & Garter: #50, #101, #161
- Bridesmaid Dresses/Earrings: #76, #135
- Flower Girl Dresses: #76, #259
- Mother of the Bride Dress: #76
- Tuxes: #135
- Rings: #135, #174

Ceremony
- Officiant: Rev. Jack Day #34
- Ceremony: #84, #255
- Aisle Runner: #60
- Tears of Joy Packets: #26, #43, #93
- Unity Candle: #116
- Flower Inspiration: #127
- Programs: #289

Reception
- Linens: #126
- Table Numbers: #64
- Place Card Candles: #221
- Flower Inspiration: #127
- Guest Book: #34
- Beverage Napkins: #34
- Signature Frame: #76
- Our Menu: #126, #164
- Our Cake Flavors and Inspiration: #127
- Bathroom Baskets: #174
- Toasting Flutes & Cake Knife/Server: #261

Drinking Around the World in Epcot
- Drinking Around the World in Epcot Passports: #101
- Drinking Around the World in Epcot T-Shirts: #245, #272

Photography/Video
- Photographer: Randy Chapman: #12, #44
- Videographer: Stan at STVS: #12
- Engagement Photos: #26, #44
- Engagement Album: #76

Invitations/Printed Materials
- Wedding Logo: #24
- Website: #44
- Save-the-Dates: #45, #60
- Newsletter: #45, #60
- Invitations: #150
- Menus: #126, #261
- Thank You Cards: #174
- Rehearsal Dinner Invitations: #245
- Programs: #289

Site Visit
- November 9, 2010: #17

Planning Session
- April 12, 2011: #28, #116, #121, #126, #127

Michigan Party & Shower
- July 3, 2011: #144, #183

Jack & Jill Shower and Bachelor/Bachelorette Party
- July 3, 2011: #268

Favors & Welcome Box Goodies
- Welcome Boxes: #279
- Koozies: #28
- Ornaments: #93
- Door Hangers: #93
- Flower Girl Bags: #135
- Shot Glass Favors: #174
- Welcome Basket Wine: #221
- Bear Necessities Packs: #255

Gifts
- DF: #259
- Groomsmen & Ushers: #76
- Bridesmaids: #76, #259
- Parents: #76, #259
- Flower Girls: #76

DIY Projects
- Will You Be My Bridesmaid Cards: #4
- Tears of Joy Packets: #26, #43, #93
- Table Numbers: #64
- Place Card Candles: #221
- Ornaments: #93
- Door Hangers: #93
- Drinking Around the World in Epcot Passports: #101
- Drinking Around the World in Epcot T-Shirts: #245
- Invitations: #150
- Menus: #126, #261
- Bathroom Baskets: #174
- Rehearsal Dinner Invitations: #245
- Welcome Boxes: #279
- Programs: #289

Wedding Trip Report
- Pre-Travels and Day 1 ~ Hoop Dee Doo Review: #355
- Day 2 Part 1 ~ Cinderella's Royal Table: #361
- Day 2 Part 2 ~ Family/Friends Arrive & Downtown Disney: #365
- Day 3 Part 1 ~ Swimming with the Manatee, Tuxes and Tea: #366
- Sneak Peak Professional Photos: #376
- Day 3 Part 2 ~ Hen and Stag Parties: #377
- Day 4 ~ Drinking Around the World: #383
- Day 5 Part 1 ~ Hair Trial and Rehearsal: #389,#391
- Day 5 Part 2 ~ Rehearsal Dinner: #397
- Day 5 Part 3 ~ Welcome Party and Fireworks: #402
- Day 6 THE WEDDING DAY Part 1 ~ Guys Photos: #408, #409
- Day 6 THE WEDDING DAY Part 2 ~ Girls Getting Ready: #416, #417
- Day 6 THE WEDDING DAY Part 3 ~ Girls Photos: #424, #425, #426, #428
- Day 6 THE WEDDING DAY Part 4 ~ The Ceremony: #438, #439, #440
- Day 6 THE WEDDING DAY Part 5 ~ The Petal Toss Exit: #444
- Day 6 THE WEDDING DAY Part 6 ~ Photos After The Ceremony: #448, #449
- Day 6 THE WEDDING DAY Part 7 ~ Couple Photos: #453, #454
- Day 6 THE WEDDING DAY Part 8 ~ The Reception (ADH Decor, Introductions & First Dance): #459, #460, #461
- Day 6 THE WEDDING DAY Part 9 ~ Reception (Speeches, Dancing & the Cake): #489, #490, #491

_____________________________

Hey everyone!

A Little About Us
DF and I got engaged in late May 2010. I'm a soon-to-be patent attorney (fingers crossed that I passed the Bar!) who works for a virtual law firm based in Savannah. So I work from a home office and absolutely love it! DF works for the Geek Squad and plays hockey.

The Proposal
We met in November 2009 and were only dating 6 months when he proposed in May. I knew he was the one I was going to marry, but I didn't anticipate his proposing until after the Bar exam in July and my brother's wedding in August. When I went away on a work trip in May DF used the opportunity to go ring shopping. He was planning on waiting until our birthdays in July, but he is like a little kid and just couldn't wait. He proposed 2 days after I came home. I was truly surprised! I started crying and our Chihuahua started licking my tears. We put the ring on the wrong hand and sent pics to all our family.

Wedding Plans
We knew we wanted a destination wedding, but went back and forth on the location for a while. Disney was always in the back of my mind, but I thought it would be way to pricey for our budget. After getting some proposals from beach resorts, we quickly realized Disney was actually more affordable. Long story short, we are now set on having a Wishes Wedding!

We started putting together our list of guests thinking we were looking at 50 people, but after getting the lists from our family, our little wedding has quickly grown to 100!

We are leaning towards a date in October 2011 now. There are a lot of birthdays and other anniversaries to work around, but hopefully we can find something that works. I like the idea of 11.11.11, but I’m concerned there will be a lot of other weddings on that day and getting good outside vendors will be hard. The weather is cooler in November, but the sun sets around 5:30 so there will be no time to take photos after a 5PM ceremony. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

We made our first phone call to Disney today and are waiting to talk to a consultant. What questions do I need to ask? I feel so out of my comfort zone!

I am working on the "will you be my BM cards" and then it is time to go dress shopping! Wow, there is so much to do!!

 

[PunttinOnes]

Congrats!!

 

[FutureMrs.B]

Congratz on your engagement. I thought it was soo cute how your dog was licking your tears..awww I think you should go with November but that's just me because I'm a November bride. jk. I know it can be hard to pick a date. It took us a while to decide and even now sometimes I wonder if we should change the date. I'm sure that whichever date you pick will be perfect for your magical day. Looking forward to reading more.

P.S. Best of luck with the Bar!

 

[Nichole33]

"Will You Be My Bridesmaid" Cards
I decided to test my creativity and make my own "will you be my bridesmaid" cards. I must admit, I am a little excited about how well they turned out!

I am waiting for some t-shirts that I ordered to come in, then it is time to set up lunch dates with everyone!

 

[Nichole33]

I finished talking with Stacey Meacham at Disney and I feel so much better. I think we are going with October 24, 2011 at the Wedding Pavilion with a reception at the Atlantic Dance Hall!!

We are thinking about taking a trip to check out the locations before we sign the contract. Did anyone else do a site visit?

 

[April Elizabeth]

Joining in here. Congratulations, I love your story. I was laughing about the dog licking your tears and the ring on the wrong hand sending pictures to the family. That sounds like something I would do.

I love the cards for your bridesmaids.

 

[qtsugarangl]

We just came back from taking his dad to Disney for the first time, we added a site visit on the last day we were there. You will love the wedding pavilion, pictures do not do it justice!! ADH was the only other location we looked at, she explained how the guests would enter and how we would enter, how the tables can be set up, etc. It was just reassuring to see the places in person. I would say if you can make a quick trip down there I would. She did say that they only do site visits Monday - Friday HTH

 

[PinkSleepingBeauty]

Hi, joining in! You get married the day before we do! I had a site visit on Wednesday, the Wedding Pavilion is just beautiful, you will love it! Happy planning

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

Congrats and welcome to the boards. We are also using ADH and WP and I love following other brides plans with those locations. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Nichole33]

Thanks everyone!

I think we are planning a site visit for early November now. We live in Atlanta, so we can drive down for an extended weekend

 

[faerieye]

your bridesmaid cards came out so nice! what a lovely touch

 

[Nichole33]

I passed the Bar on Friday, so we are officially good to go for our wedding in October!!

I booked Randy Chapman for our photos and Stan at STVS for our video this weekend. I love Stan's stylized edits for the video! I think both their styles will fit in really well with our families.

We are going to Disney this weekend for a site visit and to take some engagement photos - I can't wait!!

Next up... I have heard some horror stories about the Disney Facebook app, so I think I am going to design my own website through weddingwindow.com

 

[elleinad16]

Just read the beginning of your PJ...!

Congrats on passing the bar!

I'm also a WP & ADH bride ...you will have to take lots of pictures of ADH, because I'm kinda just winging it and haven't even seen it hahaha.

Can't wait to read more

 

[pixie921]

I had to peek in on your PJ because we're renewing our vows 2 days after you get married next year. October is a beautiful time for a wedding!!

And your story is so similar to ours ... we also met in November and were engaged the following May! (We actually married the following October, and next year will be our 20th anniversary.) And my dh is a tech guy too ... he's the North American tech manager for his company! I'm not a lawyer, but wanted to be one and interned at a law firm before realizing it wasn't for me, LOL! Congratulations on passing the bar!!

Your plans sound like they're coming along nicely, and I'll definitely be following along!

 

[FutureMrs.B]

Congratz on passing the Bar! That's awesome. I've also booked Randy and Stan. I loved both their work and they both seem really nice! Looking forward to reading more of your plans. Enjoy your site visit!

 

[BriarRose Bride]

Huge congrats on passing the bar! I can't wait to see more pics and I absolutely love the "will you be..." cards you made, very classy!

 

[Nichole33]

We had our site visit earlier this week and couldn't be more excited about our plans! I am completely set on the wedding pavilion - photos don't capture the beauty of it though! My guests are going to be speechless

We are having our reception at the Atlantic Dance Hall. I think it will fit our party perfectly! We can have a formal sit-down dinner at ADH now too!! I love the balcony and the built-in bar.

I think we want to have the curtain open. They were setting up for something while we were there, but you can see the back of the stage in this photo.

We can also use the wooden chairs at no cost, so we will save on covers Our colors are dark red, black and silver. They won't match exactly but I don't think people will really care.

Plus having Jellyrolls right next door is perfect for going out after the reception. We are having a 5 PM ceremony followed by a cocktail hour and reception. Almost all of our guests will want to go out afterwards, so I think we are only going to have the buses for the first 5 hours instead of through the entire reception.

We had dinner at O'hanas and think it will be perfect for our rehearsal dinner. It is all-you-can-eat with a fun atmosphere. They even said our wedding party can do the coconut race!

We are only having the wedding party at the dinner and then everyone will join us for a welcome reception at Sago Cay Pointe for the Wishes Fireworks around 8 pm the day before the wedding. We are going to have a cash bar, but I am still trying to decide what we want for food. Half of the people will have just come from O'hanas, so I don't image they will be very hungry. I am leaning towards having a chocolate fountain and a few other deserts. They said I didn't have to do a per person amount of food, even though they recommend it. I guess we will think on this one for a while.

We were also able to get the Boardwalk Inn as our deluxe resort at 50% off and Coronado Springs as our moderate resort at 35% off!! We are going to have Pop Century as of value resort (but it's really not my favorite).

Wow, it was a really helpful visit! We even had a chance to go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and get our engagement photos taken with Randy.

We signed our contracts with Randy for our photos and Stan for our video. Since we are having Randy do our rehearsal and welcome party he did our engagement photos for free! He already sent us a teaser shot!

I'm working on designing our save-the-date cards now and finishing our website.

 

[elleinad16]

We are having our reception at the Atlantic Dance Hall. I think it will fit our party perfectly! We can have a formal sit-down dinner at ADH now too!! .

I thought ADH was only a buffet option?
Did they change it????

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

Wow it looks like you had a great time at the site visit! Great pic's of ADH and I love your e-pic... can't wait to see more of them!

 

[Nichole33]

I thought ADH was only a buffet option?
Did they change it????

Yep (at least they told me they recently changed it). I think they use the kitchen at the Boardwalk now