Our October Escape 10/13/11. TR Day 4 Wedding Day Part 5 A Little Fun Time at MK:)

[FlamingoAllie]

I'm joining in! I love your invitations! And that newsletter that you did is awesome, it looks great and it's so informative. Your welcome bags look like they are going to be a lot of fun too!

Thanks so much for reading and I'm glad you like what we have so far. I'm having so much fun with all these DIY projects!

 

[librarygeek]

Your ADRs sound great! I'm the same way, I've never really been to one or two sit down places during a trip, and I've probably only been to about 6 or 7 in the world total. So I'm really excited to be trying one a day!

 

[FlamingoAllie]

Quick update!

Booked our room yesterday and started our honeymoon registry! So excited! I really hope that people will jump on board with the disneymoon thing, because after 10 years together, FH and I don't really need much in the way of housewares. We did also register at Target, because inevitably we will have the old schoolers that will have to do (or buy) what's always been done. Toaster ovens and towels, here we come! oh well.

And apparently, I've heard that there are some grumblings in my family because I haven't really invited anyone to the wedding. This is exactly why we decided to do the Escape package. "Sorry, we can only invite 18 people." I have a million and one aunts, uncles, and cousins, and most of which are not really...well...nice I guess. They are judgmental, condescending, and could hold a grudge like nobody's business! And so I can't really invite one and not another, so I just decided to say NO!!
So we are having our parents and FH's stepmom, sister, and nephew. And then our closest friends. The REAL family, you could say. The ones that stick by us and take care of us and love us no matter what.

Well, this was supposed to be a quick update, and it's not at all. Where did that rambling come from?

The other big update isn't necessarily wedding related, but it affects the wedding in a big way. My FH just applied for a job at his alma mater, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University as a flight instructor. He has been working here in NC as an instructor for quite some time, and is one of the top rated in the US. (I'm so proud of him--have to brag on him a little!) But he is a contract employee at the flight school, and there are no benefits. Also, the weather in the Mtns of NC is too unpredictable for good flying. So, looks like we will be moving to Florida in the next couple of months!! He will have a steady stream of students, great flying weather, and full benefits for both of us! Even before we get married! Which is nice, because as a dance instructor, I for sure don't get any sort of benefits!

There are good and bad to this. I LOVE Florida! We've lived back and forth between NC and FL for the past 10 years (mostly NC), and I will be so glad to be back. Although, I think I will really miss my mom and dad and nephew.
Also, the timing is really stressful. The wedding is in 4 months, my end of the year dance recital is in one month (which is the craziest time of year for me--think retail at christmas times 2), and you want me to pack up and move 500 miles away!? I'm so excited, but kinda stressed and scared too. How am I going to do all this?! The wedding itself was taking up all of my time. (In a good way). And we are kinda pack rats, so we have a LOT of stuff. I'm going to have to do some major spring cleaning! And I may have to forego some of my DIY projects. That stinks. But hunting for a beach house helps! And the BEST PART?

I WILL BE LESS THAN 2 HOURS AWAY FROM DISNEY WORLD!!!!!

That more than makes up for anything else! Now we can really put those AP's to good use! Ok, my "quick" update has turned into a major ramble, so I've got to get my butt in gear and do something productive!

 

[FlamingoAllie]

I am getting a little (okay, a whole whole lot) frustrated with the honeymoon registry! Anyone else use it? Anyone else having problems? It took me an hour to set it up because it got stuck on the "please review your information" page and wouldn't let me go forward from there. I'm like, I've reviewed it, thanks! How many times can I review the same info? Finally I tried it on a different browser, and that helped, but I could only browse through certain categories of the catalog. And then after I added everything that it would let me, I went to look at the registry and all of it was GONE!

And I'm not sure what to do about it, or what else I can do. I just want the darn thing to work. Because after living together for almost 10 years, there isn't a heck of a lot that we need otherwise! I just want an awesome wedding/honeymoon trip! And this stupid website won't cooperate with me!! grr!!

Sorry for the little temper tantrum there. Can you tell I'm an only child?

I know that family members, especially the ones that aren't even invited to my Escape package wedding aren't really going to care enough to keep trying on this website that doesn't work. Heck, they probably won't even go look, so I really don't know why I'm so worried about it! I think a lot of people are pissed they didn't get the invite. But anyway, I digress.

On a happier note, I'm pretty much done with tears of joy packets, door hangers, and I made a shirt for my Noelle (one of my dancers and the daughter of my in town BFF, so she's like a daughter to me!). She is sharing her 18th birthday with us! So, I'm going to try to do little special things for her on the wedding day. I got her embroidered "It's my Birthday!" mickey ears and I made her the shirt. I'm also going to see about getting her a tiny personalized cake at the DP that night. So, I'll post some pics in a little while!
YAY for pics! It's my favorite part of my (and everyone else's!) PJ!!!! hehe

 

[librarygeek]

The honeymoon registry is notorious for malfunctioning. Everyone has had so many issues with it, that I'm honestly shocked Disney hasn't done something. I expect better from them. Anyway, if you don't think your family members would be content with re-trying with website, I know some other DISbrides have set up honeymoon registries through other websites. I don't know any names, but if you start a thread on the main board I'm sure people can suggest what they are using!

There have been many threads about it, including this one, if you want to take a look:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2687175

If you go with another registry, definitely send an email and tell them what happened and how you decided not to use the Disney one because of that. I've been trying to rally everyone in complaining with the hopes that maybe Disney would take the time to fix it Really, if you search there are threads going back at least two years complaining about it. It's ridiculous..

 

[FlamingoAllie]

Librarygeek,
Thank you for the info. Glad to know I'm not the only one, but really upset that it's not an isolated incident. I have sent an email to Disney, although it doesnt seem to help does it? I will definitely look into another registry. I was just SO excited about Disney's. Oh well.

 

[FlamingoAllie]

The canvas tote bags for our welcome bag came today!! I did an iron on logo, and I am so happy!! They look great!

I just have to tell you guys about my DIY disaster though. hehe. The bags I got today were my second batch of bags. If you read in my earlier posts, I ordered some from Oriental Trading. They were the synthetic reusable grocery bags in bright neon colors. I didn't even THINK about the material being an issue when I went to do the iron on. So I get everything printed up and set up, and start the process and immediately MELT THE BAG!!! DOH! (insert smiley smacking itself on the head). I mean melted and mangled! I was going to post a pic so all you lovely DisBrides could have a good laugh, but my FH threw the bag away before I could take a pic. You should've seen his face when I told him I was upset about that and why. He just stood there looking at me for a sec, then says, "You have a problem." And walked off. Anyway, hopefully that will be the worst of my DIY mishaps. Fingers crossed!

The new bags are canvas, and I have two ironed on already. They look fantastic! I'll get pics posted soon.

And just have to say....off topic. So You Think You Can Dance premieres tonight!!! An obvious choice for my favorite TV show, considering I'm a dancer/teacher! This doesn't begin to describe my excitement!

 

[FlamingoAllie]

Finally something to show you guys! Pic update!

Here is the front of the door hanger we made for everyone's hotel room:

And here is the back:

I think I'm going to bling it out a little more, but I haven't decided yet.
We have special ones for the ring bearer and flower girl, since they are little and will get a bigger kick out of it!

Canvas tote with the iron on logo:

the picture just doesn't do it justice. I am so happy with the way these turned out. They look SO GOOD!

Noelle's birthday shirt:

Hope she likes it!

This is the front of the tears of joy packet. Sorry it's so blurry. I can't figure out what went wrong with it!

 

[librarygeek]

Librarygeek,
Thank you for the info. Glad to know I'm not the only one, but really upset that it's not an isolated incident. I have sent an email to Disney, although it doesnt seem to help does it? I will definitely look into another registry. I was just SO excited about Disney's. Oh well.

I feel the same way. Perhaps if they keep getting enough emails about it they'll do something, I don't know. I still have mine set up and I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it works when it needs to. But I'm not holding out much hope.

On the plus side, your DIY projects look awesome! I especially like the bags

 

[FlamingoAllie]

quick update!
I've been sick so I've taken advantage of being off work to get a few DIY projects done for the wedding. I made a t-shirt for my daddy (was going to put it in his welcome bag, but will probably give it to him for Father's Day).
Also, finished up our Drinking Around the World Passports, Welcome bag folders, and a few postcard size invites, info, etc to go in the folders. Also picked up more stuff for the welcome bags!
Oh, and I'm almost finished with a newsletter for my MOH and BMs. Will post pics tomorrow, and hopefully have a better, longer, update!

 

[FlamingoAllie]

So, DF's bday was this past weekend, and yesterday we had a birthday/hand out invitations cookout. It was a blast! My maid of honor came up and spent the weekend, and it was so nice to hang out with family and friends. I also came to realization that I need a matron of honor. Full story tomorrow, but, DF and I got engaged 6 yrs ago. And that's when I asked my bridal party to stand up with us. Well, a lot can change in 6 yrs. I haven't had to cut anyone (thank goodness! I chose well!) But I do need to add a couple of someones. I found one of my best friends last year, and my MOH, after spending the weekend with us and my other best friend, asked me "why is she not in the wedding? Or her husband? They are obviously important to the both of you." Well, if that's not the question of the century!! Why NOT?! The only answer I could think of is that if I asked them, that there wouldn't be many people sitting in the "audience" to witness our marriage. Umm....SO WHAT! So, I have finally decided to ask her to be my matron of honor, and DF is asking her husband (and DF's best friend too) to be a groomsmen. It feels good. I'm so glad I finally figured that one out! What the H*!! was I thinking?
Tomorrow: Full birthday, wedding invites, MOH's, best men, not so great men, groomsmen, pics, pics, pics, and finally a real update!!

 

[librarygeek]

That's great! It's definitely better to have to add people than to feel like you need to cut someone

 

[FlamingoAllie]

GRRR!!! I had almost finished this big looong update for you guys then my computer froze! GONE. Although it might be a good thing, cause I realized that I was doing some major venting, and that would've just brought everyone down. So now, I can start fresh with all the good stuff going on, and I dont have to bring all of you down with my ranting and raving!

I have decided to add two people to the wedding party. My flower girl's mom and dad. They are our best friends, and I don't know why it took so long to ask them. I know it sounds weird, and you're thinking "why haven't you asked your best friends to be in your wedding?" I know right?! Well, its a little complicated. Joey and I got engaged 6 years ago, and that's when we asked our bridal party. I didn't even know Deana then. Fast forward to last Christmas. We decided that it was time to get married, and we were going to have an at home wedding with a disneymoon. With a guest list of almost 200 people, and 4 bridesmaids, it was perfect for me. Then, when we decided to do the disney wedding, suddenly our guest list went from 200 to 18, and those four girls and the best man take up another big chunk of the guests. I was so afraid that there wouldn't be anyone in the "audience" to watch us get married that I balked at asking Deana and Quillon. So, this weekend at Joey's birthday cookout, my maid of honor Hillarie asked the question of the hour. "Why weren't these two fabulous very important people in the wedding party?" Well, that's a good question! So after Hillarie smacked some common sense into me, I decided to ask Deana. I made her a cute little card and asked her this morning and she said yes! Joey will be asking Quillon to stand up with him on his side in the next few days. I am so happy! Now everything seems right and complete!

Here is the card I made:

I also hand delivered our invitations out this weekend at Joey's party. I am so glad that I decided to do it that way. I debated back and forth about doing the invitations the old fashioned way or just saving the postage since I see most of our guests on a daily basis. In the end, the money I saved on postage made up my mind for me. And thank goodness, because it was so awesome to be able to be there and watch everyone open their invitations. To see their excitement was priceless! They were a big hit! Everyone ooh'ed and ahh'ed over them. I was so happy! I still have one invite to hand deliver and three to mail, so that's not too bad.

Here is the setup for the invites at the party (please excuse the mess in the background. I'm keeping my flower girl during the day, and she likes to make messes! ) :

I only hope that everyone likes all the other little things we are DIY'ing for the wedding, like the welcome bags, and stuff for the ceremony. Speaking of welcome bags, I have a few things accomplished. Soon, I will have pics of all the goodies that are going inside, but I just finished the welcome folder and some stuff for that.

Outside folder:

inside folder:

some of the folder contents:

The blurries are annoying, so I apologize for that. But at least you can get some idea of whats going on.
Now, I just wanted to thank all the disbrides and creative disigners on here. If it weren't for you fabulous ladies, my welcome packets would be so boring! I stole a lot of cool stuff from other disbrides, so thank you thank you thank you!! Hope ya'll dont mind! Ok, well it's time to get ready for dance class. Hope everyone has a great Tuesday!

 

[librarygeek]

Your welcome folders look so nice! And I love the little Belle and Beauty and the Beast figurines that you have by the basket, they are beautiful.

 

[FlamingoAllie]

Your welcome folders look so nice! And I love the little Belle and Beauty and the Beast figurines that you have by the basket, they are beautiful.

Thanks!! I've had a lot of fun getting the welcome folders together. Although I can't take credit for most of the stuff in them. Gotta love Creative Disigns and disbrides willing to share their hard work!

I've had the Belle since I was 12 years old, and DF got me the Jim Shore Belle and Beast for my birthday this past year. Obviously Beauty and the Beast is my favorite!! Someday, I'll have to upload a picture of my dad. He looks just like Maurice (except he's not bald). It's uncanny! I made him a Father of the Bride tee with Maurice on it, and its so funny, cause it looks like he's wearing a cartoon drawing of himself!

 

[FlamingoAllie]

So...DF got the call today. He will be interviewing for his dream job two weeks from tomorrow! I have such mixed feelings!
We are both really excited to move to Florida. I've been trying for the past 10 years to get down there. Also, it will make this whole destination wedding thing a lot easier when it's 2 hours away instead of 10. And although it's just an interview, I'm pretty sure that he will get the job. Which means in two weeks, I may be packing up 10 years of stuff. We are such packrats! We have WAAAY too much stuff. I'm freaking out just thinking about it. Plus, we just moved into the house we're in now in August. I swore then that it was the last time I was going to move for a VERY long time. HAHA. Shouldn't have said that. It hasn't even been a year yet, and here we go again. I'm also kind of worried about moving 500 miles away 4 months before the wedding. I have pounds to lose and flowers to pick out, and vows to write. I don't have time for a total life upheaval!! deep breath deep breath! whew. On the upside, I'm probably moving to FLORIDA!! and the beach!! That is freakin' awesome! And it will be a lot easier to use our AP's if we live in Florida vs. North Carolina. Oh how I'll miss my mountains though. Wow. I am a wreck. And I've rambled on and on, and this has nothing to do with the wedding. Except get in its way. I need to stop. This is me stopping. I'll get back to wedding now.





********************************




This is me getting back to the wedding and not freaking out about the possibility of moving.




Here is the front of the shirt I made my daddy for father's day:

And here is my daddy (and mom):

 

[librarygeek]

Your dad's shirt is awesome! I definitely see the likeness!

Also, that is exciting about DF! Though it will be a big life change, it seems like it will be a positive thing... you'll be closer to Disney Plus, if it's his dream job, then that's definitely a good thing, right? I'm sure you'll be able to handle the moving and the wedding at the same time. It's not easy, but you can do it! I'm moving back home for the summer, and then into DF's apartment immediately after the wedding,so I'm dealing with a lot of packing up and whatnot too.

 

[FlamingoAllie]

Your dad's shirt is awesome! I definitely see the likeness!

Also, that is exciting about DF! Though it will be a big life change, it seems like it will be a positive thing... you'll be closer to Disney Plus, if it's his dream job, then that's definitely a good thing, right? I'm sure you'll be able to handle the moving and the wedding at the same time. It's not easy, but you can do it! I'm moving back home for the summer, and then into DF's apartment immediately after the wedding,so I'm dealing with a lot of packing up and whatnot too.

Thank you for the encouragement! I've started sorting everything into keep/goodwill/toss piles and that seems to help. And I just keep telling myself, "You'll live at the BEACH and be practically next door to DISNEY!!" Uh, this should just be a fun move...So that's staying in the forefront of my mind. Man, I feel for you, moving twice so close together. I HATE moving. Anyway, thanks again for reading my PJ, and all your kind words and encouragement! I really appreciate it!

 

[FlamingoAllie]

AAHHHH!!! My ticker says four months and three days! That is so scary! Skinny waist, where are you? You were supposed to be here by now! On a less scary note, I found ponchos and battery operated personal fans at the dollar tree yesterday! Score! I have been wanting both, and couldn't find them cheaper than 8 bucks a piece. Which isn't terrible, but it's much better when you can get them for a dollar! I doubt that they will be the most amazing fans ever, but hopefully, they will do an okay job for my guests during this trip at least. Fingers crossed. DF says that I can't buy anything else right now. But he has a point. If we decide to move, then thats just more crap i have to pack up and move. So I'm trying to refrain til he goes through the interview process and we know if we are moving or not. Which we are. I know he'll get the job. He's too good not to get it. Wow, 2011, what an eventful year you are turning out to be! Bring it on!

 

[librarygeek]

Thank you for the encouragement! I've started sorting everything into keep/goodwill/toss piles and that seems to help. And I just keep telling myself, "You'll live at the BEACH and be practically next door to DISNEY!!" Uh, this should just be a fun move...So that's staying in the forefront of my mind. Man, I feel for you, moving twice so close together. I HATE moving. Anyway, thanks again for reading my PJ, and all your kind words and encouragement! I really appreciate it!

Well, since I've been at college and moving around a lot, I actually haven't stayed in one place for longer than 10 months in at least five years. At this point I am used to it, and sometimes I don't even unpack everything all the way because I know I'll just be moving again So it will be really good to move into the apartment in September since we'll be staying there for at least a year, hopefully a good while longer!

And I like reading your PJ and commenting, so no problem!

AAHHHH!!! My ticker says four months and three days! That is so scary! Skinny waist, where are you? You were supposed to be here by now! On a less scary note, I found ponchos and battery operated personal fans at the dollar tree yesterday! Score! I have been wanting both, and couldn't find them cheaper than 8 bucks a piece. Which isn't terrible, but it's much better when you can get them for a dollar! I doubt that they will be the most amazing fans ever, but hopefully, they will do an okay job for my guests during this trip at least. Fingers crossed. DF says that I can't buy anything else right now. But he has a point. If we decide to move, then thats just more crap i have to pack up and move. So I'm trying to refrain til he goes through the interview process and we know if we are moving or not. Which we are. I know he'll get the job. He's too good not to get it. Wow, 2011, what an eventful year you are turning out to be! Bring it on!

I know, my ticker says 2 months, 3 weeks, and a couple days! Seeing that two months... that's like almost nothing! Especially since I'm going on vacation twice this summer so that's almost two weeks of no wedding planning... yeah, my own fault of course, but still!

That is a great deal you found on ponchos and fans! I may have to check out the dollar store and stock up for the honeymoon

Let us know as soon as DF hears about the job! Good luck with everything!