Planning Our Happily Ever After - A Disneymoon PTR! (NEW 7/13 - TR Link!)

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Where to Start? Everything is wonderful. The napkins, the place settings, the baskets, which are too cute!!! I would have never even thought of an idea like that, but have to say it is a great one as I know my feet are hurting so bad by the time I get to the reception that I do not want to do anything but sit! I love all the wonderful gifts you got for your friends and family for all their help. I have enjoyed so much going through planning your wedding with you and am kinda sad it is over but I know that even though the wedding planning is over with, I still have an awesome Trip report/Honeymoon adventure to look forward to.
I am so happy for you and Miguel and feel like I have come to know both of you as friends.
Whoo Hoo I am so excited for you!!!!!!!

Thank you so much! You are so sweet! It has been so much fun to share the planning here. But you are so right - there is still so much more to share in the TR! It is so true that when you follow along with people's reports that you really get to know them. I'm so glad that you've been one of my "faithful followers"!

Amazing AMAZING! I'm so excited for you Courtney!

Thank you!!!

Wow, everything looks SO amazing!! I love all of the colors, I love the gift boxes with the Georgia goodies, I love the dancing shoes, I love your favors, that was so creative! Your wedding is going to be such a great day, I'm so happy for you guys! And I can't wait to hear all about your honeymoon!

Thank you! I am really pleased with the favors. They were a lot of hard work but I think the guest swill really enjoy them.

Courtney, your wedding is going to be just gorgeous!! I love your colors and all of the DIY projects-- I can't wait to see pictures!
I also love reading about how close you and your grandmother seem-- I have that type with my mom's mother. That was so sweet that your grandparents would go pick up the flip flops for you-- the basket looks great!
I think your favors are perfect-- I love the blend of yours and Miguel's culture that you integrated into the wedding!!

Thank you so much! I can't wait to see the final vision become a reality! My grandmother and I are super close. She is my best friend. We talk probably 5 times a day and are always together on the weekends.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

OMG everything looks gorgeous I can't wait to see it all together!

Thank you! I am excited to see it come together, too!

OMG Courtney!!!

EVERYTHING looks so wonderful!!!

The flip-flop basket is the coolest idea! Never heard/thought about that!

The boxes for the out-of-town guests is a wonderful idea as well

Everything seems to be falling into place perfectly for your big day

Only 3 more days! And 4 till your disneymoon!!!

I am SO Happy for you and Miguel! After so long planning and getting everything ready the time is swiftly approaching when you will marry the man of your dreams and live happily ever after!

CONGRATULATIONS in advance This weekend will be the start of a new life together for you and Miguel as a married couple!

Thank you so much! I didn't come up with the flip flop idea myself, but I thought it was too cute not to do. Especially when I heard about the Old Navy sale. I really hope that guests use them!

You are too kind. Thank you for all of the sweet comments!

Not only do I want to come to your wedding...I now want to be in it!!!!! TIFFANY's????

I hope you have an amazing day (not that I can imagine that you won't!)

Thank you! I can't wait to share the day (and the following 2 weeks) with everyone!

 

[ronnmel]

You might be too busy tomorrow to come online, so I'll say this now:

Have an amazing wedding and a magical Disneymoon!!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

DAY 10 & 11 PLANS

***Apparently photobucket is down, so this will be a pictureless update. I'm sorry! It will probably be boring. ***

This is definitely the least fun of the daily plans - our last two days at Disney. Truly, it's really our last day and the departure day, since we don't ever go to a park on the day that we leave.

Thankfully though, we have some really exciting plans for our final night in Disney, so at least we will have something to look forward to at the end of the trip.

DAY 10

I am considering day 10 a free day. I haven't pre-planned the park that we're going to, since I thought it might be nice to just do whatever we feel like on our last full day. I know we will go somewhere, though, because we would probably feel like we were wasting time if we don't use our last day to do something.

Since we'll be at Epcot the night before, I highly doubt we'll go there. MK is a possibility, although probably not a likely one. I do love for MK to be my last park, but I think we will have a stronger desire to go to either AK or DHS. We've only got one day scheduled for AK, and because we love it so much, I can easily see us spending the day there. Also, we won't have an early morning in DHS during the trip, so it might be fun to head over there and get in line for TSM.

Who knows where we'll end up! I guess we could always hop around if we feel like it, too.

Wherever we go, we most likely won't stay too long. We will need to get back to the Poly fairly early to pack up and to get ready for the fun night ahead! A little after 5:00 we'll hop on the monorail and make our way over to the Contemporary for our ADR at the California Grill!

I am really excited to try this classic signature, but I am a little worried about our ADR time. We are typically late eaters (I will choose an 8:00 ADR over a 6:00 one any day) and this particular ADR is at 5:50. We needed a semi-early one to make it out in time for the cruise, but I wasn't planning on it being that early. Hopefully we will have worked up an appetite!

After our meal, we'll either take the boat from the Contemporary to the WL, or we'll monorail over to the MK and take that boat to the WL so we can do some exploring before our cruise takes off. It's been a long time since I've been to the WL (I stayed there as a child) and I am really excited to see it again. I don't think I've heard one negative thing here about the WL, so I have a feeling this might get on our resort radar!

Around 9:00, our Wishes cruise boat will arrive! At this point, Miguel still doesn't know about the cruise. I am debating when to tell him. I think I will let him know once we get to the WL. What do you all think?

Our boat is scheduled to leave at 9:30 and we'll spend the next hour or so floating around the 7 Seas Lagoon watching the fireworks in the sky. It should be a fun, relaxing and romantic evening. The perfect ending to what will hopefully be a beautiful honeymoon.


Day 11

Sadly, this is the day that our trip will come to an end. It's always so hard to leave the "happiest place on Earth". We have a little bit of last-minute Disney magic scheduled, though with a breakfast ADR at 'Ohana. I am not 100% sure that we'll end up keeping this ADR (it will probably depend on how tired we are) but at least it's good to know that we have it if we want to use it.

After breakfast, probably sometime around 10:30 or so, we will check out of the beautiful Polynesian and start the 7 hour drive back to Atlanta. Ugh - I hate to even have to think about leaving when we're not even there yet!

Only 3 days until the wedding and 4 until the honeymoon! And still one more update tomorrow night. I have to pack in as much as I possibly can!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

You might be too busy tomorrow to come online, so I'll say this now:

Have an amazing wedding and a magical Disneymoon!!

Thank you, Mel! I have one more update scheduled for tomorrow night, so I will be here a little while longer!

 

[rachel09985]

WOW!! Where do I start? I just read the whole thing and this has got to be the most amazing beautiful wedding ever. I wish I could go!! In all seriousness have a perfect wedding and honeymoon. You two are very cute and I can't wait to see pictures from the wedding and pictures from your honeymoon.

Good luck!!!

 

[Tracy161]

So happy for you two!!! You will have an absolutely beautiful wedding and a fabulous honeymoon!!! ENJOY every second!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pjennings]

Everything looks wonderful! You will have a magical day!

 

[amyrella]

Omg Courtney!! I had to use the chapter links bc I'm so behind! I've been reluctant to come to the dis bc I'm feeling some post Disney depression... Your plans sound great! And your wedding truly sounds like it's going to be classic elegant beautiful!!! I can't imagine. I can't wait to read all about it! Lots of love and happiness to you both!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Wow, you are SO close to the big day and an awesome honeymoon! Your day is going to absolutely gorgeous! I have to say that I am super impressed with all your planning. The outfits you've put together are amazing!

I am so excited about hearing all about everything!!

 

[WDWCP96]

I love all the wedding stuff and your honeymoon plans sound wonderful.

Yeah for 3 days until your wedding. My wedding anniversary is on Sunday, 7 years ago. It is fun to read about your planning and everything leading up to your wedding and thinking back 7 years ago I was doing similar things.

I can't wait to hear all about your wedding and Disneymoon!

 

[Nermel9]

The Wishes cruise sounds amazing, I can't wait to hear all about it!

Ugh, I hate even thinking about going home from Disney before the trip has even started!

 

[klacey1]

The Wishes cruise will be such a great surprise for Miguel! Super romantic! We like to leave our last day free-ish, too.
Have a beautiful wedding!! Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

WOW!! Where do I start? I just read the whole thing and this has got to be the most amazing beautiful wedding ever. I wish I could go!! In all seriousness have a perfect wedding and honeymoon. You two are very cute and I can't wait to see pictures from the wedding and pictures from your honeymoon.

Good luck!!!

Thank you so much for reading along! I know there is a lot of ground to cover! Thank you for all of your sweet comments! I hope that you will follow along with the honeymoon TR.

So happy for you two!!! You will have an absolutely beautiful wedding and a fabulous honeymoon!!! ENJOY every second!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much! I can promise that the trip will be very much enjoyed!

Everything looks wonderful! You will have a magical day!

Thank you! I so hope so!

Omg Courtney!! I had to use the chapter links bc I'm so behind! I've been reluctant to come to the dis bc I'm feeling some post Disney depression... Your plans sound great! And your wedding truly sounds like it's going to be classic elegant beautiful!!! I can't imagine. I can't wait to read all about it! Lots of love and happiness to you both!

Thank yo so much! I can't wait to share all of my stories with everyone!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Wow, you are SO close to the big day and an awesome honeymoon! Your day is going to absolutely gorgeous! I have to say that I am super impressed with all your planning. The outfits you've put together are amazing!

I am so excited about hearing all about everything!!

Thank you so much! The outfit planning was a lot of fun!

I love all the wedding stuff and your honeymoon plans sound wonderful.

Yeah for 3 days until your wedding. My wedding anniversary is on Sunday, 7 years ago. It is fun to read about your planning and everything leading up to your wedding and thinking back 7 years ago I was doing similar things.

I can't wait to hear all about your wedding and Disneymoon!

Happy anniversary! Thank you so much for the kind words! I can't wait to share everything here!

The Wishes cruise sounds amazing, I can't wait to hear all about it!

Ugh, I hate even thinking about going home from Disney before the trip has even started!

I am so excited about the Wishes cruise! I am glad that we will have something to look forward to at the end of the trip.

The Wishes cruise will be such a great surprise for Miguel! Super romantic! We like to leave our last day free-ish, too.
Have a beautiful wedding!! Can't wait to hear all about it!

I really hope he likes it! I'm sure he will. Thank you!

 

[Joyciemc]

You're getting married in just a couple of days!!!!!!!!

Don't spend even one more second thinking about the last day of your honeymoon. Just enjoy every passing moment of the next few days- you and Miguel are going to have a beautiful wedding and a fantastic Disneymoon!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

THIS IS IT!!!

The time has come! This will be my last post on my PTR before the wedding and honeymoon. I can't believe this day has finally arrived!

Thankfully I was very productive last weekend so, for the most part, this week has been pretty calm. Last night I finished packing up my wedding suitcase, toiletries and our "miscellaneous" honeymoon bag. I couldn't really think of a better word for it. Here's what's in it though!

I am excited to finally use the Mr. & Mrs. mugs that I got back in November! We can use them at the Poly for coffee in the mornings. We've also got our Disney ponchos in there, my books for the pool and of course the trip binder to keep us organized. Also, I'm excited to wear the ears and...the Just Married buttons!

I've read on the wedding board here that Disney no longer gives out the just married buttons unless you actually get married in Disney. Now, they give people on their honeymoon "happily ever after" buttons. I didn't think I would mind the new one's until I read that people get sprinkled with a lot more pixie dust with the Just Married buttons than they do with the others. So, I logged onto Ebay around 2:00 am on Saturday morning, and by Monday I had my buttons!

I am so glad that I got separate wedding weekend toiletries so I could go ahead and pack those up too. I hate waiting until the last minute!

The guest bedroom has turned into quite the suitcase room! At the beginning of the week it looked like this:

But now, it looks like this!

I actually don't think it's too bad. We each have one large suitcase for the trip and a small suitcase for the weekend, plus the extras bag for the honeymoon and one for the weekend. Speaking of which, isn't it cute?! My grandmother used it to present a gift at my Tiffany themed shower.

Tonight I went with my grandmother and one of my MOHs to get a manicure and pedicure. Tomorrow morning I'm getting my hair blown out so it will be nice and smooth for the hair lady, and then I will go with Miguel and his groomsmen to get their tuxes. Then, it's off to the hotel to get checked in and get ready for the rehearsal dinner!

It's hard to believe that this will be mine and Miguel's 5th trip together. I have learned so much since that first trip, mostly because of these boards! Every trip I find things that could have been done better, or that could have been enjoyed more. So, in honor of Miguel and I saying our vows on Saturday, I thought I would share a list of things that I vow to do on our honeymoon:

~ Take more pictures! I say this every trip and I am getting better and better, but could you really ever have enough?

~ Stop for lots of PP pictures. I pre-ordered our CD this week so we will have lots of motivation!

~ Take good notes. I love reading detailed TR's, so I really want to document all of the little details that make our trip what it is.

~ Don't get caught up in "the strategy". Miguel and I have a definite strategy (well, I have a strategy, he just follows it) that for the most part, does make our trips better. No long lines is never bad! However, Miguel has a lot more to explore at Disney than I do simply because he hasn't been there as many times, so he is more likely to want to step off of the path a bit. I promise to let him!

~ Take the time to find a good spot for Wishes/Illuminations and don't worry about having to wait. I say I am going to do this every time and then we get caught up in having to sit there and wait. I vow to get a yummy snack, a cold drink and just relax and take in the sights this time!

~ Don't worry so much about being hungry. I know this sounds strange, but because we plan so many ADR's, I constantly worry about us scheduling CS meals just-so, so that we will be hungry in time for our ADR. I also feel pressured to eat a full meal sometimes when I would probably be ok with just a snack. This time, we will go with the flow (or should I say, our stomachs)!

~ And speaking of snacks: I will get a dole whip! And a Mickey Bar! I have never tried the famed dole whip, so I must have one. And it has been far too long since I've had a Mickey Bar!

~ Buy some souviners. I have mentioned before that we aren't big souvie buyers. We still won't do too much, but I definitely do want to have things to commemorate this trip. I want a cute Christmas ornament and some t-shirts for the gym!

~ Don't feel bad about sleeping in or relaxing in the room. There is such a go-go-go mentality at Disney, but we are definitely planning on relaxing. I am telling myself it will not be time wasted!

~ Try the "every once in a while" attractions. I want to do things that we normally don't because they might be considered a bit of a wast of time on a shorter trip. Things like the Hall of Presidents, Carousel of Progress, and some of the country shows at Epcot.

~ Take a risk! I tried RnRC last time and while I kind of hated every minute of it, I am really proud of myself that I did it.

~ Savor the meals. Sometimes I think that TS meals can feel rushed. Sometimes by Disney, and sometimes by us because we're either so hungry or in a hurry to do something. I vow to relax, take my time and enjoy every minute.

~ And lastly - I promise to enjoy every single moment of the trip. To take in every sight and every smell and soak up being in Disney up until the very last moment.

Once again, that was much longer than I had anticipated!

I want to think you all so much for sharing this journey with me. It is hard to believe that this PTR was started a year ago. I have had so much fun sharing my plans with you, hearing your advice and making lots of new friendships. Your presence here really does mean so much! Thank you to each and every one of you who commented (whether it was frequently or only once) and those of you who just lurked. What a fun ride it has been!!!

But now, the fun is about to really begin! I feel like the luckiest girl alive right now. I must say how truly truly blessed I feel to be marrying Miguel. He really is my prince charming, and I can't wait to start our happily ever after...

See you in 2 weeks!!!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

You're getting married in just a couple of days!!!!!!!!

Don't spend even one more second thinking about the last day of your honeymoon. Just enjoy every passing moment of the next few days- you and Miguel are going to have a beautiful wedding and a fantastic Disneymoon!

Thank you so much Joyce! I am definitely thinking about that first day and having the whole trip in front of us. I can't wait!!!

 

[lilsqueakrr]

Woohoo! Enjoy!!!!

 

[klacey1]

Congratulations again Courtney ! I know you'll have a beautiful wedding and honeymoon! Enjoy every moment of it!