Nkkilala's Planning Session Recaps!

[nkkilala]

ALRIGHT I THOUGHT I WOULD PUT MY PLANNING JOURNAL WITH MY RECAPS!!!!
THEY START ON PAGE 2


Ok everyone I thought I would post my recpas here for you to read!


November 8, 2006
5:03
OK so here is our wonderful story of the day.
Ryan and I woke up at 8 to get ready for our trip. My mom came and picked us up at 9:45. We made great time from Portage to Detroit. It was about 12 when we got to the check in (we stopped for a great breakfast at Big Boy). When we reached the Air Tran counter there was a sign that stated they were accepting passengers for Bumps. Well why not we said. We each got 2 (yes 6 tickets total) FREE round trip tickets on Air Tran!!!! EXCITING!!! The best part is we are only going to be about 4 hours late getting to Disney.

Excited to get free tickets

Getting upgraded to first class (and loving the free drinks)

I didn’t really have anything planned for the night (except for Whispering Canyon but we’ll put that in later in the trip!) I’m just so excited for the tickets! They will come in handy as Ryan and I are moving to FL in July. This will allow me to actually get back home for Christmas next year!!! Yippee!!!
We got into MCO at about 10:55.
Magical Express was quick and efficiant

Mom taking advantage of reclining seats

We were at the Contemporary at around midnight, just in time for the computers to shut down for maintenance. However we were given our room (11th floor non MK side). I totally LOVE it.

It is really nice, slick, and new! Need-less to say we all feel RIGHT asleep after a bit unpacking.

 

[nkkilala]

OK on to the next part

November 9, 2006
PART 1
WOW 7:30 rolled around a little too early for me. I quick hopped into the shower and got dressed. Today was the day I would plan my wedding!!!

Ryan my mom and I left the contemporary at 8:30. Due to a few monorail delays, we reached Frank’s around 9:10. Ok, just a little fashionably late! I wasn’t too stressed because I knew we had a full 4 hours and wouldn’t be using all of it.

Chuck was awesome! (can't believe I didn't take a picture of him!) It was so nice to meet him in person. We went though my wedding day almost minute by minute.
We are down for the Wedding Pavilion Rehearsal at Monday at 3:30. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will remain open however if anyone plans a wedding that falls in that time (What there are OTHER people planning weddings too!!! LOL) I’ll just have to deal with it! Everything went so fast!!

Our wedding is going to start at 2:30 followed by a pre-reception from 3:30-4:30. The reception area will open at 4:30 and by 4:45 we will start announcements of the bridal party. Then it is straight to our first dance, toast and then the nummy nummy food!!! (don’t worry I’ll get to that!! ;-)). We have decided to price out both the beer and wine package and a full par billed as a package (we have A LOT of drinkers, I’m talking everyone I invited…….based on past parties we have had everyone drinks a lot!)

OK now one thing I am still a little upset about is our wedding table set up. Apparently there isn’t a table available to us at the living seas that will sit 11 people. What we are doing is having us and our best/maid people sit at the table with us and the rest of the wedding party will sit at rounds next to us. I guess this is ok because it will allow for significant others to be with each other.

Before I knew it Chuck was asking us about cakes. This part I was confident about. I pulled out the pics of the cake I like “And they Lived happily Ever After”

Next we were on to the tasting. He brought in the lovely tray (which for some reason I didn’t snap a pic of!). And we started on our marry way of stuffing our mouths.
Ryan just LOVED the tropical filling. I’m not much of a citrus fan so non of that for me, however it paired with yellow cake is the middle tear of our 3 tier cake. My choice was the almond cake with the amaretto filling. I can’t believed how much I loved it!!! It will be our bottom layer. The top anniversary layer is going to be yellow cake with Bavarian cream. We are talking about having a grooms cake for Ryan served at the dessert party with the Nightmare before Christmas theme and being a Cheesecake base.
Nummy Nummy cake!!

Next it was on to the dessert party. Because we want so much of the focus to be on the cake we are going with a light spread. We are having fruit, tuxedoed strawberries, and a beer and wine package.

At this point Chuck let us get up and move around a bit until Rose arrived. We took this time to visit the Pavilion one last time!

Ryan was being a bit uncorroporative in this one!

and finally my mom practicing where she would sit (yeah she is in the wrong row but I didn't have the heart to tell her that!

Before I knew it we were moving to the larger room Merryweather, and meeting with Rose. Ok so we kicked Ryan out for a bit, which he pouted about later, but all in good fun. With my flowers we are doing a lot of pinks and whites. I am having roses and stephanotis. The stephanotis will have a few clear crystal Mickeys as well as some single pink crystals. It is going to be fully wrapped in white ribbon. The girls will hold similar bouquets but smaller versions. As of right now I have my flower girls carrying pomander balls. I’m not sure if they are going to be throwing roses yet so I thought I would start with that in the budget. Rose seemed so awesome and up-beat! I was really glad to be working with her. She even recognized one of the bouquets that I had a picture of wink wink.

We are really lightning up for the reception. Our centerpieces right now are fishbowls with arrangements inside (sand, fishies ect). Once we see how they price out we’ll decide how it’ll work. We are basing it on the following

Well chuck came in as Rose was leaving and we talked just a bit about some questions I had and then we were done!! Just like that!
It was amazing I just planned my wedding out in 3 hours! WOO HOO time for celebration! We headed off to Wilderness Lodge for a great meal at Whispering Canyon. Ryan got picked on for being with two women, and not getting an alcoholic drink. (both my mom and I had margaritas). She brought him out a LARGE sprite!

Which he shared with me

We took the boat from the lodge back to the contemporary

After that it was time for a nap! Ryan mom and I all slept for a good 2 hours.

Catch ya when we wake up!!

 

[Tinkerbellz]

Sounds like lots of fun Nikki! And I just love the pictures Looks like your room was fantastic and that cake is my absolute favorite.

I can't wait to hear more from your trip!

 

[BrideToBe82]

Can't wait to hear more! My planning session is in January so its helpful to hear other experiences! I love your cake by the way

 

[Sparkles9306]

Sounds like a great time!!

Your centerpieces are so cute!

 

[nkkilala]

Thank you so much everyone! We really had a great time!
I'm still not too sure on the centerpieces, we'll have to see what the price tag comes back as!

November 9, 2006
PART 2

Well around 5 when we finally got up and moving around Ryan and I took off for the Boardwalk area. We were going to go to ESPN zone but because of the Rutgers game it was PACKED! We finally found a spot at the Big River Brewery.

Our waitress was really funny to us, she reminded us of a cheerleader with the whole head-bop pony tail going on!

We had a great meal and lots of fun! The new were headed off to Jelly Rolls but they were really slow (it was only 8:30) so we put it off for the next day.

Ryan and I had never been into the Swan or Dolphin so we walked over to the Swan and checked it out. It was ok, not very Disney-esque.

The water was really cold!


We made it back to the contemporary just in time to see Wishes. We then spent the rest of the night checking out the hotel, gift shop, arcade, and of course the bar

Ryan really loved Jeti Mickey!

This was our favorite game in the arcade! We love it for our DS and Game cube and it was even more fun in the aracde version!

Our first Disney Drinks! Mine was the Glow Tini and I don't remember what Ryan had. We got them at the Outer Rim in the Contemporary

Ryan's artistic abilites are shown in this pic

Well around 11:30 we went to bed.

NEXT up time for FOOD!

 

[Kim10110]

It sounds like you had a great time i cant wait to read the rest

 

[nkkilala]

Thanks for checking in Kim!


Ok as promised everyone here is our FOOD!

November 10, 2006

Alright its 9 am and time to get up! Today is the day I get to stuff my face with food for Free!! (well kinda free….). Ryan and I made it to Franks with time to spear today! (He got a star for that one!) We were met by Tina, an intern at DFTW. She was really nice and young and was easy to talk to. She was a CP at mouse gears in 2005 and is now doing her professional internship with event management. We got into a brand new Chevy Uplander and before I knew it we were backstage at Epcot Events Center. Going into the kitchen was awesome! We met with Gene (not to sure about his role) Chef Ken and a waiter Mario, there was also an assistant chef Carol. Everyone was extremely nice! They all offered us congratulations which was refreshing seeing as we have been engaged for a year and a half and don't get thoes very often anymore.

Here we are ready to go!

First up we picked our napkin fold

Ryan really like this one however I like the shell one

Ryan talked me into the first one however. Apparently when he was a camp counslor he did the second shell fold every night.....and he has seen enough of them to last his lifetime. I agreed with him and choose his favorite but made him promise to show me the shell fold when we get 'real' napkins!

Next we started right in on the appetizers

We tried the chicken and cheese quesadilla, pigs in a blanket and bacon wrapped meatballs. We decided to forgo the meat balls and add a beef empanada.


Next up was a salad choice we tried the tomato mozzarella and the Caesar salad.

Needless to say it was Caesar hands down! To me the tomato mozzarella was too bland.

For the intermezzo we had the raspberry sorbet. It was so tasty! The campaign gave it a nice little kick! Sorry I forgot this pic I know BAD bride!

Now we were on to entrees. EVERYTHING here was delicious! We sampled a beef, pork, chicken, and lobster. We have decided on the pork and beef for our guests. Ryan is getting the Beef and Lobster however because he LOVED that lobster! We are also doing grilled veggies and mashed potatoes.

beef with a red wine demi (i think....)

Lobster paired with the same beef

Pork and Chicken. To me the chicken was just ordinary chicken. I didn't like it very much because to me it seemed like I could get it anywhere!

Everything we ate

A VERY full Bride and Groom to be!



After just about an hour we were done! Tina dropped us off at the contemporary and I got ready for Lisa to come and do my hair!

NEXT UP
WOW I look like a Princess!

 

[D&R love Disney]

So far it's been wonderful. I can't wait to read more. I just love the cake you picked out Good thing I'm eating lunch or I'd be drooling on my keyboard

 

[nkkilala]

Yeah Exams are over and I can now continue my recaps!!!

Ok so when we last left off Ryan and I were stuffed to the hilt and headed back to the Contemporary.

We had a bit of time before Lisa was to arrive so we hung out in the room watching a bit of TV.

At around 2:30 I kicked Ryan out of the room because Lisa was on her way up!!

I had a few pics set out for Lisa to look at inorder to give her an idea of the look I wanted. I told her that is what I like but that I wanted something she thought would look good on my face.

She came up with the following!

This one my mom said to Look serious.....I think I look like I could kill somone.......bewarned anyone who messes witb Bridezilla!

Here we go Bright and Happy Nikki!

And there are all of my princess pics.....

Some of the first ones are when my make up is done.
I liked it a lot! But did ask for her to use a bit darker lipstick. I like my lips to pop! (but not look like a hooker) Lisa added a bit of a darker color and it was perfect!

Lisa packed up and we said our goodbyes.

She was so nice and I felt at ease with her. She was easy to talk to and had a great personality! I can't wait to see her again in March!


SO now that I was all dolled up what to do what to do...........EPCOT!!!

 

[nkkilala]

Ryan and I headed to EPCOT via Monorail.

It was great we got to check out the New Nemo ride!!

Here you can see my makeup better

our lovely Clam Mobile

Us Claming it up!


Nemo was WONDERFUL!!! I totally loved it and wanted to do it again but we didn't have too much time before our reservation at China!!

SO you know what that means time for more Food Porn!!

We totally LOVE eating at China. We discoverd it on our last trip in March!

We started with the Salad in a vase

SO NUMMY!!

And that is it for food but here is one of ryan and I in the restraunt

Afterwards we watched the Chinese performers for a bit

We then stopped for our traditional picture with the Tori Gate however it is dark and you can't see it but I know it is there!

Well that is the end of the day!
We got lots accomplished and were extreamly tired. We made it back to the hotel in time to catch wishes from the fire escape. IT was lovely and if you take the stairs up to the 5 or 6th floor it is even better and you don't have people in your way.

 

[Maggimus]

Aww everything here is so sweet. Your hair is amazing!! She did a great job on your hair!! Good idea with the trial run!! I recommend bringing those photos of your hair that she did before with you when you go back. Literally- your hair is awesome!! Looks so great on you!! I cant wait to hear how everything else unfolds!! Congratulations!!

 

[Belle1981]

Great Recap! Thank you so much for sharing! The photos look great!

 

[beckyb29]

Wow, that food all looks so delicous!!!! The cake is beautiful that you have picked out! Your hair and makeup look great! Glad to hear you had such a good time planning!

 

[Gradar1]

Your hair looks really good! And those drinks look....mmmm...delicious, lol. Great recap!

 

[JJClemson]

Nikki- I love your planning session recap. DF and I just had our planning session the week before Christmas. I know what you mean about the almond cake and amaretto mousse! Oh my goodness, how yummy! We loved that too! We actually ended up choosing almond cake w/ chocolate mousse b/c I am a chocoholic and would be very disappointed in myself if I had no chocolate on my cake You two look like you had a great time! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[nkkilala]

OK well I'll be getting some of my projects posted here later today!!!!

Be on the lookout! I was VERY busy this weekend!!

 

[nkkilala]

Ok so here are the various projects I have been working on

First up are my welcome bags

I made 37 of them and are going to fill them with various items such as snacks, water, folders filled with info (that I know probably no one will read)

Next I have my door hangers. There are enough for everyone who is staying on property. All of them are different I had a lot of help from Mary626 on these!

This one if for Ryan and I

side one

side 2

I bought everything from a website that I cannot locate at the moment. IF you want to know PM me and I'll search for it....I know the business card is at my mom's house.

Ok on to Groomsman gifts

I got these cufflinks from the Disney store online.

These mugs I bid on though Ebay from yourcherishedmoments and her E-bay Store URL Cherished Moments (alt+w)
She was great to work with! I love the product and the are much heavier/thicker than I expected.
They were 12 dollars each and the shipping was combined.



Bridesmaid Gifts

I got the make and jewerly bags from a store online. Each one is embroidered with the girls first initial.

The two kits were from the target dollar bin

The jewerly is from David's Bridal.


Here is our guest book

This came from guestbookstore.com

I like it because the pages are interactive and are more than just a name.



Here are some of the kids things for the welcome bags

Most everything for them came from the Target Dollar bin. The only thing that didn't were the foamies used on the crowns. They came from Hobby Lobby



and last but not least Cake Server and Knife

 

[nkkilala]

Ok so I spent a lot of time working on shirts for the wedding party.
Here they are
(and I am still missing about 6 Bride, Groom MOG, 1BM, FOB, and Pastor )

Mother of the Bride

 

[Maggimus]

so creative... i wish our target had disney stuff in the dollar spot. Everything looks amazing... way to go!