Petals & Pixie Dust Planning Journal 11/30/2009/2010

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

Ok I have to admit...I'M SO BURNT OUT IT'S NOT FUNNY!!! I have been studying like a mad woman for 2 days...and I still have 3-4 more review questions to look up and study. I feel like my brain is going to explode! I have no clue how I'm going to get thru this history exam on Tuesday...Get 2 weeks worth of research for my history paper and keep up with my classes. I'm whooped!

So, I decided that I should continue my TR. At least it is a small distraction from the big picture I like to call My Life.
*Thank you for letting me vent.*

Anywho...Where did I leave off...Oh-getting to port...

We checked out of the POP and took some pics around the resort. Things like the timeline, front of the resort...that sort of thing-I'll spare you the pictures. If you are really dying to see what the POP looks like PM me or go check out the resort boards...their shots are MUCH better than mine.

We were going to be picked up by Cocoa Beach Shuttle. The guy was running a little bit behind, but oh well...Just as long as we didn't miss the boat! Once he got there we loaded up our luggage. We were the only ones on the shuttle. My dad sat up front and chatted with him the whole way. I really wish I had slept during the ride, but honestly-I was too excited to sleep (which seemed to be the thread through out the trip) I didn't think to take any pics of this (sorry) Really it was just open road. The ride was smooth-and for someone that gets motion sick pretty easily this is saying a lot...or maybe it was the Bonine I took...Either way..he was a very good driver. We got to port and saw this...

Its a beautiful sight! The place was kind of busy, so we just scooted into a line. We ended up in a regular line even thought DF and I are Castaway Club Members. I thought we were in the CC line...but we ended up with this old women who was not very magical. She must have smoked 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day b/c she had that voice. She didn't smile, didn't mention anything about our Just Engaged buttons. She was a grump. To her benefit, she was elderly, probably worked everyday of her life, and she is now working for Disney in her retirement. I started to worry that this was going to set the tone for our trip, but it didn't...

After getting our documents squared away, we got in line to have our pic taken..and then it was onto the ship..No pics of this either, the process went pretty quickly.

So, we had our first encounter with Disney Photography. I would scan these but they are hanging on my walls. I will say this...There were very FEW photos that Disney Photo took that were close to decent...And even that is a compliment. They no longer have an extra photographer there to take pics with your camera and we found most of the photographers lacked the personality to be worthy Disney employees. Honestly, I don't think they were-they had name tags on, but they weren't outlined the way true Disney Employees name tags are. We had hoped to have our Life Style Photos (the one on the white background) for our engagement photos...What a joke...That photographer was in too much of a hurry to allow us to get comfortable in the pose-So, DF looks like a deer in headlights b/c she caught him off guard. (NOTE-there was NO line while we were having these done) Ok rant over.

Our embarkment photo is the quick "line up, smile" shot...We walked the plank to the boat and there we met one of the various staff we would see during our 3 days. HE saw our buttons and asked how we wanted to be introduced. We just had him introduce us as by DF's last name...Should have let him do what he wanted...Might have been more fun. Oh well. (hindsight is always 20/20) I love the important feeling you have when you get out the ship.
We stopped at Guest Services to put $$$ on our account and headed off to the buffet. YUMMY!
As we waited in line we saw Minnie!

My dad...being my dad...asked if she had a date for that night. This isn't unusual. When I was in the second grade he tried to get me to ask Snow White for her number!!! Snow White over heard him and told him that the Dwarfs don't allow her to have a phone b/c she talks too much. Minnie covered her mouth and my father said, Oh you're probably going to be with Mickey-Sorry.

After lunch, our rooms were ready and we dropped our stuff in them. Then we walked around the ship before the sail away

I love this picture...I just we had waited until we were out to sea...the carnival cruise ship is kind of undisney like whooops...

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

I wish I had written this sooner. It seems like this trip was so long ago (note it was a month ago) So, here are some of the highlights/things that I noticed/ etc

#1. What ever promotion is going on in the parks doesn't transfer over to the ship. I wore my JE button EVERY day. No one said a word (except the guy that introduced us). This was very different from WDW..EVERYONE said something-AS SOON AS THEY SAW THE PIN! Maybe this is b/c it is a new promo???

Now to DCL's benefit...there was one cast member that was great... This was our night at Palo. I had run to the bathroom. Our waiter, Oliver, asked if we were celebrating anything. DF pipes up, It's their birthdays. And we recently got engaged." (Note: When DF gets comfortable in the WDW culture he is all about, "hey this is us and here is where we are from, this is why we are here...") I come back to the bathroom and shortly after Oliver brings us this:

Our own little piece of pixie dust! Thanks Oliver!

He also brought one for mom & dad that said "Happy Birthday" Pics are on their camera.

*No worries* I didn't wear the JE pin into Palo.

2. Good luck with DCL photo. I thought I was being too difficult here, but honestly, DF and I are pretty photogenic. the photographers were NOTHING like those we had on our 2004 cruise. We actually tracked one photographer and what pics she took of us and they were consistently bad

3. The cast members are STILL GREAT! Oliver spent time talking to us the 3rd day of the trip on deck. He even remembered us at breakfast. That is what Disney Magic is about!

4. 3 days just isnt enough!

5. Cove Cafe ROCKS! DF and I played chess and drank warm beverages (coffee for him. hot chocolate for me) He said he could definately spend a lot of time there.

6. The best/cheap excursion goes to Kayaking. This was great! No pics I forgot to buy a waterproof camera. Oh well. It was amazing!

7. All the planning and paying attention to detail was more than worth it. For me this trip was a "dry run" planning wise. I wanted to be the hostess with the mostess and my parents deserved that being that this was their birthday trip. They still brag about it even a month later! My father gushes that it was great and that I did a great job. Now, lets hope we have the same effect in 2010!

 

[BecBennett]

Great update. TR's do that, if you don't put them down right away, it gets a bit fuzzy, it took me 6 months to do my TR for my last DLR, and the end started being along the lines of "and then we did something else... I must have enjoyed it, because I have no photos..."

How's your school work going? Almost done! You can do it!

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

Great update. TR's do that, if you don't put them down right away, it gets a bit fuzzy, it took me 6 months to do my TR for my last DLR, and the end started being along the lines of "and then we did something else... I must have enjoyed it, because I have no photos..."

How's your school work going? Almost done! You can do it!

Note to self...TR's -write more sooner...I got the important parts in. Wedding stuff is all that counts right???

School...40 days left. I'm whooped and don't sleep very well. WAY too much to think about...like getting a job. Could use a little pixie dust there if you get a chance.

 

[BecBennett]

Any time!

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

Any time!

Thank you! This made my morning...

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

I have my first job interview today! I was worried that I had the time wrong...but called to confirm...Interview is at 3:30. Glad I called to check on it...otherwise I would have shown up at 3!!! YIKES! This is the first professional interview I've ever been on Jobs have just fallen into my lap...I've either known someone that had a job opening or recommended me...So, this is a totally new experience!

On the wedding front...b/c after all this is a wedding PJ...I've contacted Misty. Toni's photos sold me on her and after looking at her blog I was really impressed. I should be booking her at the end of the month.
I showed her pics to DF and he said...She does some weird stuff. OH BRIDEZILLA MOMENT! I snapped back "SHE HAS A PHOTOJOURNALISTIC (is that a word?) STYLE AND I REFUSE TO HAVE JUST SNAP SHOTS FOR MY WEDDING PHOTOS! IF THAT IS THE CASE I'LL USE DISNEY PHOTO AND NO I'M NOT USING THEM." He slowly backed out of the room saying "Ok I'll look at them..." So, I must publicly apologize to DF. I'm sorry.

OK off to finish getting ready. Wish me luck!

 

[PixyDusted]

Photojournalistic is most certainly a word and a particular style of photography. That's our photographer's style - it's my favorite!

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

Photojournalistic is most certainly a word and a particular style of photography. That's our photographer's style - it's my favorite!

I love it as well.

Today was interesting. I asked DF for the 3rd day in a row...he keeps telling me he will look at the sites I have sent him (Misty's)... Again, he said no that he didn't look and then asks, "Does it really matter? You're gonna choose anyway." This was good natured and really funny. I explaine dI wanted him to be part of the process but he knows better...When I'm planning WATCH OUT! it will all get done and put together and be amazing. He has learned to just show up.

Here is where we are with this...I've emailed Misty and spoke to her briefly...She called to confirm that I got her reply emails back She stated that even though email is quick and easy it isn't always reliable. (Good Customer Service!!! and I'm not even a paying customer yet!) I love her work...However, then decided tonight just for kicks that I would look at Randy's work again. Bad move on my part...Now i'm all confused. again...

Unfortunately, Roots is out. DF and I agreed that $4000 for photo is too expensive. (and almost as much as the base cost of our wedding) and I've heard they wouldn't budge on price which makes me sad all I wanted was the CD with rights...I dont need books and stuff, we can do those ourselves. But I won't hide that I'm bummed about it. Oh well.

I really think Misty is the one for me and in the end I am sure that is who I will go with. I'll show my mom. She's much more into it than DF. Funny, I thought with the whole photo thing he'd at least look...Looks like my guy is NID (not into details) or my bridezilla moment might have scared him Sorry honey! I didn't mean to be curt!

(I'm doing a lot of this apologizing stuff...Must get the Inner Bridezilla under control...)

 

[Rebclay]

That's funny. My df is basically doing the same thing to me. I ask him for his opinion and he keeps telling me it's my wedding and he will just show up. Doesn't he wish. If you figure out a way to get your DF involved, please let me know.

 

[beach bride 2010]

That's funny. My df is basically doing the same thing to me. I ask him for his opinion and he keeps telling me it's my wedding and he will just show up. Doesn't he wish. If you figure out a way to get your DF involved, please let me know.

I am sooo glad to hear my DF is not the only one that is acting this way! I couldn't even get him to come along for the site visit...had to take my mom instead. In his defense he's worked for Disney a really long time so he has been to all the places I told him I was considering but even after I chose a location I tried to discuss dessert party locations with him when we were walking around the flower and garden festival a few days later and he kept saying "I'm sure whatever you pick will be wonderful." So if anyone knows a way to get DF more involved, please let me know too!
To answer the question about the bride's room, when I went for my site visit I was told that Disney built two bride's rooms thinking it would be great because two brides could have space to get ready and not bump into each other but they realized after it was built that was a mistake because it went against their idea of no two brides ever seeing each other on their special day. So I don't see why you couldn't pick which room you wanted to use to get ready. Both are pretty much identical.
We just got off the Wonder last weekend and they gave us a magical moments certificate, two Tinkerbell buttons, and a bunch of pirate stuff to congratulate us on our engagement. It was a total surprise because I never noted the engagement or mentioned it to anyone but one random Cast Member that struck up a friendly conversation with us as the boat was docking in Nassau. DF will not wear a just engaged button and I don't push it. Maybe if I'd gotten him one the week we were engaged he would've worn it then, but I know he's one of those people that doesn't believe in wearing a button to celebrate something that actually happened 3 months ago and I completely understand. I had mine pinned onto my purse for about 2 weeks after we got engaged and it was quite funny because I was planning a field trip for my 2nd grade class to Animal Kingdom at the time, had to make several trips to the park those 2 weeks to plan stuff, and every single time I went through the bag check I'd get playfully teased by the security guards about the fact that I had the button but was alone. The same security guards were there when we went on the field trip a few weeks later, laughing at the fact that I no longer had the button but had 17 children in tow.
Maybe we got lucky but our photos from the cruise didn't turn out that bad and with most of the ones we took, there was somebody nearby to snap one with our camera (probably because most of the ones we took were with characters or my mom and dad were nearby). We didn't bother with the lifestyle portraits though since I usually only buy 1 or 2 of Disney's photos if any at all. The only problem I had with the photos is my DF is 6'3 and I am 5'1 and extremely petite compared to him so in a lot of the photos where they added borders the border is covering up half of his head or I look funny the way they centered the photos since I am so tiny next to him you can barely see me. Oh well, like I said we rarely buy them anyways. I totally agree about 3 days being too short. Even though we only got off the boat for about 2 hours in Nassau so we essentially had a sea day, the cruise went by way too fast!
Looking forward to reading more of your PJ and TR.

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

That's funny. My df is basically doing the same thing to me. I ask him for his opinion and he keeps telling me it's my wedding and he will just show up. Doesn't he wish. If you figure out a way to get your DF involved, please let me know.

I don't know if DF doesn't want to be involved or if he as just given into my planning obsession...If I come up with any ideas I'll let you know.

I
To answer the question about the bride's room, when I went for my site visit I was told that Disney built two bride's rooms thinking it would be great because two brides could have space to get ready and not bump into each other but they realized after it was built that was a mistake because it went against their idea of no two brides ever seeing each other on their special day. So I don't see why you couldn't pick which room you wanted to use to get ready. Both are pretty much identical.

I am so glad you posted this! Having the Rose Room is really important to my mom and me.

As for DCL...It might be just the way we hit the staff. I think they were going through a turn over as well. (new staff coming on old staff leaving) Don't get me wrong, it was still a great trip

 

[BecBennett]

It's not that we want our DF's to make any decisions - Oh God No!!! It's just that we'd like them to be excited with us!!!

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

It's not that we want our DF's to make any decisions - Oh God No!!! It's just that we'd like them to be excited with us!!!

Exactly!!!

 

[DISNEYMAGIC2005]

It's not that we want our DF's to make any decisions - Oh God No!!! It's just that we'd like them to be excited with us!!!

I would second that. Whenever DF makes a suggestion I get really excited!

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

So, DF and I were talking. I really want outside photo (See previous post) However, with graduating...not having a job (yet) and everything else that plays into the "How much is this going to cost us?" thoughts...I started to think
"Should we spend money on outside photo?"
So, I ask DF...I asked nicely, in my sweetest voice if he thinks we should spend the money on outside photo. He said that he thought Disney did that and I told him my thoughts on Disney Photo-While there are some photographers are good, I'm not willing to make it a crap shoot. He understood. I'm a huge scrapbooker and love photography-So he knows how important these pictures are. I told him what we would total after photo and he said basically just to do it and that I wouldn't be happy if I skimped. I explained that this total is before floral and any type of reception/dinner. He first asked "Honestly, how much floral are we going to need-a couple hundred dollars worth?" I explained that our personal floral was covered and we just needed to add mom's flowers and my dad's bout, his dad's memorial and flowers to toss. "To toss? For what? At who?" was his reply. I told him to just go with it, people toss them at us...you know like the rice thing-but it looks really good with flower petals...Trust me.

Next, we discussed timing. I explained that the lady that I spoke to said to be flexible on the day and time. DF and I both agree that honestly, we aren't really attached to any date, but we ARE attached to the WP. We also realized that while in the beginning we really wanted everyone to hit the parks ASAP....that we aren't sold on that idea. DF isn't keen on the DP. After he explained why I understand-Basically, he feels that if you want to see fireworks and have desert you can go into the parks and pick up a rice krispy mickey. You'll see the fireworks for free and won't have some much go to waste. *In a normal world this makes sense-in bridal speak not so much, but I'll agree and spend the money on something else *
Anyway, so he says "What if we have the wedding later?" We banged this idea around for a little bit and it might work too.
It seems like even though I would love an actual TIME LINE...it doesn't really matter. We will end up with a great wedding either way. We have the skeletons of what we want...Last week in Nov-First week in Dec, WP, some kind of meal/reception/cake cutting-whatever, and a lot of pixie dust Either way it will work out.

Now lets just hope I find a job

 

[BecBennett]

That's good that you've been able to throw these ideas around a bit. My DF think he's decided everything that he needs to - he's already picked and asked all of his groomsmen! Unfortunately he's picked 4... And I think FMIL wants his brother to be another, so that would be 5...

I wouldn't mind, except I MUST have symetry, which means 5 bridesmaids, which means 6 bouquets, which means 5 dresses, 6 tuxes, 6 lots of hair and make up... Yeesh! (Yeah I didn't include my dress in that count... It has a budget of it's own of course.)

So I've put into his head to not mention the whole groomsmen thing for a while, and make it more along the lines of, once we know who's going, then we'll pick our attendants...

I would personally prefer 2 each...

Ok, I'm rambling... So I'll bring it back to the point I was making.

Your DF seems to have a lot more input then mine!

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

Your DF seems to have a lot more input then mine!

DF and I have a unique way of planning things. Sometimes we each want something different and argue our points. That is kind of what happened with the DP, Grand 1 and my engagement ring. It's just us.

I try to remember that it is OUR day...not just my day. There are elements that he wants. (I'm most likely going to give in to the cake he wants-that is a huge sacrifice on my part b/c it is a detail and I'm all about details. ) but for the most part he knows that when it comes to the details of it...little things like hidden mickeys, flowers, blah blah blah...just don't ask questions and showup. There are some things I feel like he should have input on -especially if we are going to have to add to the budget. I can't just make those decisions myself b/c it's both of us in this one.

We will not have anyone standing up for us. Our mothers will witness the paperwork...it keeps with the immediate family only guest list. It makes it so much easier. I don't have to worry about getting dresses for them tuxes for the boys...and I know what you mean about symmetry...No worries there either. Its all good!

OK now I'm rambling...need to get ready for school... Only a week and a half left

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

Just had this idea...thought I would post it before I forget...Get DF Richard Petty Driving Experience as gift...Get me spa time while he does that.

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

So, it's 11:04pm and I can't sleep. Tomorrow is supposed to be Dolphy Day at school-this ridiculous day where all the students get drunk and skip class. Why they need a special day to do this I don't know. Whatever! (it's really pretty boring)

Anyway, there is quite a bit coming up.
-Last week of classes
-Finals
-Graduation in 20 days.
-Dinner with both families in 19 days.
*Note* This dinner includes the entire guest list minus one that will be at our wedding. This is the FIRST time we will all be together in the same place at the same time.

Mom and I will be shopping for dresses after graduation.

I have so many ideas about what I want for a dress...You can actually see the evolution of my dress as you read my PJ. This is what I have in my mind now...
Strapless, a slight sweetheart neckline, side swipe, beading, corset back. Of course this is all subject to change.

I've found favors for the tea party. I'll post those when I have time to upload pics.
I have an idea of favors for the guys for golf-but do guys really need favors?

Every time I look at something to do or give my guests I think "Is this going to be easy to get there and get home." and "Am I loading them up on too much stuff to the point where they are going to need an extra piece of luggage to get all this stuff home?" I can say I've successfully found small items that say thank you without getting too crazy.

I'm debating on getting something from Disney Floral for the room for our wedding night...Don't know about that yet.

I know I know...See, I should be spending time studying. LOL

Pictures to be posted later...I'm gonna try sleeping again.