Rachel and Bob's PJ 1/20/08 WP and ADH Updated 1/5 Dress is Finished!

Sorry I haven't updated lately. Work is so busy and I don't like logging on there in case someone walks by. So anyway – updates from my planning session.

Day 0/Day1
Bob and I drove down on Tuesday the 8th after work and got to Disney World Wednesday morning. We stopped right by the Georgia/Florida border for the night. The ride wasn't bad and Bob was happy because he got to listen to Opie and Anthony the whole way on XM. He loves that thing. I was sleeping/reading most of the time since I don't drive. We made it to POR about noon and were able to check in to our king size room. Here is the view from our room
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We drove over to TTC to catch the monorail over to Epcot. Here is a pic of us on the monorail.

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First thing we did was run to Soarin to get fast passes. The wait only said half an hour, so we decided to do standby instead of fast pass. The wait ended up only being 10 mins, if even and it was wonderful as always. It's my favorite ride and one of the reasons I wanted to have my wedding at WDW. My parents only took me to Disneyworld when I was 11 months old (Epcot had only been open a month) and I know she would love Soarin' so much because she always has dreams about flying. So I figured the only way I could make sure she would come to WDW was to get married there. I can't wait to see her face when she goes on. Next we decided to go to the UK for lunch. We were staved since we only had the continental breakfast at our Econolodge in Georgia around 6 am to eat. We got the half yards of beer and fish and chips

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Our waiter was a total Prince William look alike. They even had him wear a crown. Bob was happy since they got to talk football. Bob is waaay into soccer, infact the two times we've gone to London he's planned our dates around when his favorite team (Wolves) would be playing so we could see them. After lunch we went to the living seas and went on the new Nemo ride. It was cute. We also did Turtle Talk with Crush which was super adorable. We had never seen it before. We walked around the countries a little more and took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. We did Jungle Cruise and Big Thunder, Peter Pan, and a couple other rides.

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Bob got a Turkey leg for dinner. I wasn't that hungry since we had the fish and chips and only got a dole whip.

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We watched wishes and as soon as it was over the rain started to downpour. We went to the shops and stayed there until the rain subsided. I got back to the hotel around 10:45. I know this because I got to watch Locke meet Jacob on Lost. Luckily the rest of the episode was taping for us on our dvr so i got to see it when we got home. It was a really good episode.

Day 2 – Site Visit/Photo Session
Thursday we were having our site visit w/ Diane and our engagement photo session with Randy. We got dressed in our photo clothes (I'll post the link to Randy's pictures as soon as he puts them up. I can't wait to see them). We got to the Boardwalk to meet Diane and Bob's parents came too. My parents couldn't come down for this trip because my dad recently had a quintuple(yes 5) bypass and can't fly yet. He's recovering very well though and has lost 18 lbs. So we all met Diane at the Boardwalk and walked over to the Atlantic Dance Hall. I had only seen pictures of it before, and my god, pictures do not do it justice. It was amazing. I loved everything about it. The marble tables, the stage, the balcony, everything.

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Wow. After that Bob's dad wanted to see the DVC Boardwalk Villas and the concierge level. The front desk happily obliged and took us to see the VP Suite called the Sonora Suite which sleeps up to 12 people.

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Umm... wow. We were pretty blown away. It was around $1,600 a night. We ended up falling in love w/ the one bedroom DVC villa and decided to stay there for our honeymoon instead of the poly. I think the kitchen area will be prefect for getting ready. And it'll be so nice to have a washer/dryer since we'll be there so long. We added a couple nights to our room block and Bob's parents are getting a 2 bedroom w/ Bob's sister and her family. His two nieces are going to be my flower girls.

After seeing the Boardwalk, went back to POR and waited in the lobby for Randy. His parents walked around the grounds and waited for us. Randy was so great and I can't wait to see the pictures. He took so many. After the photo session, we went to Downtown Disney and treated his parents to lunch at Captain Jacks. It was his dad's 59th birthday and we were doing out to a fancy dinner at Shula's in the dolphin that night so we went back to the room to nap and relax a little. We got back to our room and saw the mousekeeping had left us a surprise

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So we got to the Dolphin and waited for Bob's parents to get there to head over to Shula's We walk up to the hostess and realize it is VERY dark in the restaurant. The hostess tells us that the power is out and that the restaurant will most likely be closed all night. She is able to get us reservations at the Capital Grill and gives us the bottle of champagne that Bob's sister had ordered at Shula's as a surprise. Capital Grill is good, but we don't take any pictures. We have lobster tails, calamari, shrimp, oysters, and my steak was a kona crusted sirloin. And Bob had a Kansas City Strip. Here are the descriptions from the menu:

Cold Shellfish Platter:A melt-in-the-mouth, one-pound baby lobster, icy Gulf Coast jumbo shrimp and
freshly shucked oysters bring the sweet flavor of sunny shores right to your table.

Kona Crusted Dry Aged Sirloin w/ Carmelized Shallot Butter - A wonderful flavor combination with caramelized shallots, seasonings and coffee rub to create a first-class steak many guests claim as their favorite.

Bob's dinner was a special so it wasn't on the menu. It was all very good.

Day 3 – Planning Session
On Friday we headed over to the Grand Floridian for our planning session. It was being held there because there was some huge TeleFutura Wedding at the WP.

We met w/ Celeste and went over the ceremony and reception. We picked out our cake flavors. We're going w/ the Mickey Delight, and using this as a cake topper

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Our bottom layer will be yellow cake w/ dark chocolate mouse and raspberries, second layer chocolate cake w/ bailey's cream, and top layer, marble w/ raspberry mouse.

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Them we met w/ Rose to discuss flowers and décor. Since the Atlantic Dance Hall was already so perfect I didn't think we'd need to do much to it. All I wanted was a single votive on each table. I loved the marble tables, so we're not getting linens. She liked my bouquet and I asked if we could add white calla lilies to it, and she said that would look perfect.

Afterwards we went to the Poly and then to the AKL just to look at concierge levels. Bob and I were still trying to figure out where to stay for our disneymoon and wanted to see our options. In the end, we decided on the Boardwalk 1 Bedroom Villa I mentioned earlier.

At 2:30 we met Celeste at the Boardwalk Convention Center for our food tasting!!

We started off w/ the crab cakes and seafood fritters. I really liked the fritters, the crab cakes were nothing special. We decided to have the fritters, spinach pie, veggies, and cheese.

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next up we had the mahi mahi w/ eggplant zucchini medley and olives and capers piccata. It was delicious.

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Then we had the parmesan crusted chicken, penne ala vodka– it was incredible and I ate the entire plate.

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Next up we tried chicken marsala, sorry marsala, the parmesan crusted won our vote. It was also paired w/ the beef medallions and goat cheese risotto. Soo good.

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We will also be having chocolate covered strawberries paired w/ the cake (budget permitting)

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Everything was so delicious. I hope I have enough time to eat it all at the wedding. Celeste assured me she'd make sure I did. We were stuffed and went back to the hotel to nap. Bob's parents took us out that night to a local oyster dive, but we were all too stuffed to have very much.

Day 4- Segway Tour!
For our first trip together last September we were supposed to take the Segway Tour Around Epcot. It was going to be the highlight of our trip. Well much to our dismay, the tour was cancelled for 3 days last year (all being while we were there) due to the new Segway software. We were so excited to do the Segway tour this time since we weren't able to do it last time. We got to Epcot at 8 am and went right to guest relations. Everyone else on the tour could have been our parents, we were easily 40 years younger than most everyone else. I thought this was humorous because my mom was concerned about the tour, thinking it was dangerous. The Segways were incredibly easy to use and we had a blast zooming around Epcot. We are also planning on doing a Segway Tour w/ our friends for the wedding. We're working this out with guest relations.

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After the tour we met up w/ Bob's parents and spent the rest of the morning Epcot. We went on Test Track, Soarin', and all around the countries. Bob and I went to the Magic Kingdom to catch some more rides and his parents went back to the Boardwalk to see the Villas again and to find out more about pricing. We did Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and People Mover

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We met up w/ his parents and did a couple more rides. Then Bob and I headed back to Epcot for our Le Cellier reservations. I got the mushroom filet and Bob got the strip steak. Best meal of the trip. Even better than Capital Grill.

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We ended our night just in time to watch Illuminations :)

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The next day we drove back to North Carolina. We can't wait to get back to Walt Disney World.
 
I can not wait to go to my planning session!! Looks like you guys had a great time!! So when were you able to book your planning sessin. I know that they are 6 months before the wedding. For us that will be in September and I want to book a sat-tuesday mini trip and have our session on a monday. It's a shame we couldn't have done it when we were there last week,we could only see where we are having the wedding and reception.
 
I can not wait to go to my planning session!! Looks like you guys had a great time!! So when were you able to book your planning sessin. I know that they are 6 months before the wedding. For us that will be in September and I want to book a sat-tuesday mini trip and have our session on a monday. It's a shame we couldn't have done it when we were there last week,we could only see where we are having the wedding and reception.

Our wedding is still 8 months away. To my understanding, you can have the planning session whenever you want, just the prices won't be locked in until the 6 month mark.
 
Well I was told 6 months,did you make the appointment yourself or did you have to schedule it around your planner?
 

Well I was told 6 months,did you make the appointment yourself or did you have to schedule it around your planner?

When I got assigned to my planner we started talking about the planning session. I didn't want to go in the summer because of how busy and hot it would be, so we decided to go earlier. I guess I brought it up, but she never said there would be any problems with having it early.
 
Sounds like your planning session went great. I will miss that part, due to its long, not so fun flight from California. So any details you can give would be very helpful, thanks.
 
Basically we went over everything in the planning kit
Welcome Dinner - We're doing something casual on our own not through DFTW
Transportation - Limos/Shuttle Buses
Ceremony - who escorts who, people in our party, our officiant, and stuff, just basically an outline of the ceremony.
Then we had the cake tasting
Then Rose came and we spoke about flowers and decor, I wanted to keep everything very simple because ADH is so beautiful as is.
We also talked about what type of bar we want - our planner is pricing out both an open bar and a hosted per drink bar.

The best part was the menu tasting which you have to ask for separately. It was a great day, but very overwhelming to make so many decisions on the spot.
 
We chose all the food from the tasting aside from the crab cakes. All my food selections can be found in my planning report above. I'm a bit nervous about getting the BEO and finding out the estimated costs.
 
Yay for the Segway tour! Wasn't it great?? It's so nice of you to arrange another tour for your friends. We had a blast and will definitely do it again.
 
Hey there, thank you for posting your preference about the Parmesan crusted chicken. I was debating between that one and the chicken marsala for our buffet wedding. Your pic really helped! (it sounds better anyway!)

It so nice to see Diane. She showed me around when I was checking out the venues as well, memories! Isn't she so sweet and kind?

By the way, you are soo cute! You and your DF are adorable together!;)

Really enjoying your PJ, keep us posted!
 
I was done for my planning session the same time as you; mine was actually on May 10. In fact, I ran into Randy Chapman at the Yacht Club boardwalk while he was taking engagement pics for a couple on the same day you were getting your pics taken. I introduced myself to him since I had not met him yet. Maybe it was you :)
 
wow, love your PJ and pics! I have to say great choice in cake...:thumbsup2 lol, we had the same one but silver! :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 I knew I wanted that cake the minute I saw it...5 years before we got married (before we were engaged!) ! lol
 
I was done for my planning session the same time as you; mine was actually on May 10. In fact, I ran into Randy Chapman at the Yacht Club boardwalk while he was taking engagement pics for a couple on the same day you were getting your pics taken. I introduced myself to him since I had not met him yet. Maybe it was you :)

We had ours done at POR, so it couldn't have been us. He's a busy guy :) He was so great to work with.

Hey there, thank you for posting your preference about the Parmesan crusted chicken. I was debating between that one and the chicken marsala for our buffet wedding. Your pic really helped! (it sounds better anyway!)
It was so delicious. I wish I had some now.... Actually scratch that, I'm still trying to lose the 5 lbs I gained from eating all the food!


Yay for the Segway tour! Wasn't it great?? It's so nice of you to arrange another tour for your friends. We had a blast and will definitely do it again.

I loved the Segway tour! It was one of the major highlights of the trip. I was suprised how easy it was to balance. Were you the youngest people on your tour too?
 
Hey there! Just wanted to stop by and let you know that I love your PJ so far. It sounds like so much fun! I hope everything turns out great.
 
Celeste is my planner too. Everything looks great so far! Time to update with more pics!! popcorn::
 
I know I haven't been on here forever, but here are some updates. I'm getting so excited. It's really coming up so fast. I'm home for Thanksgiving, so it's great to be back w/ my mom. I miss her a lot. Here is a picture of me in my dress.

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Here is me in my veil w/ my Grandmother's pearls and new earrings :) I have my hair trial next weekend.

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and just for fun, a picture of me on Tower of Terror....

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Notice the kid and father both laughing at me..... I will try to update more. Everything is just set since we had our planning sessions early. We have 90+ people who said yes, and we're still waiting on a couple late responders.
 
Gorgeous! I love the detail of the veil:goodvibes
Lets see a closeup of the dress, lookin good. :thumbsup2
 
Here is a picture of the detail. The top is all rouching. I love it!
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