Rachel & Chauncey-SBP/Morocco 12/08/09 Updated 6/10 TR IS DONE!!!!

Ok first of all the shoes are just FAB!! I love you girls and your colored shoes. Df looked at me like I was crazy when I told him I was wearing purple shoes!! He kinda got nervous like I was wearing purple shoes cause my dress was purple :lmao:

Anyway....I love the pics you guys got taken! Very cute!!! Everything looks great!
 
I was wondering where you went!:laughing: Glad you're back! I LOVE your shoes! :cloud9: i'm doing the same thing. The crystals a pretty too they'll look so pretty in your bouquet with the peacock feathers next to them.:thumbsup2

I'm still around, just didn't have anything to post. I've sent out a ton of emails to various people this weekend so hopefully I'll have updates to post after I hear from them.

Ok first of all the shoes are just FAB!! I love you girls and your colored shoes. Df looked at me like I was crazy when I told him I was wearing purple shoes!! He kinda got nervous like I was wearing purple shoes cause my dress was purple :lmao:

Anyway....I love the pics you guys got taken! Very cute!!! Everything looks great!

Thanks! DF loves them too, course he loves me in heels in general ;) I love the idea of colored shoes, then that means you can wear them again! :thumbsup2
 
Ohh Rachel love the shoes girl! Great color choice, and yay for a big at home reception, I bet you guys will have a blast because you will have a bit of time in between the actual wedding and the at home:goodvibes
 
Sorry I haven't updated but I really haven't had anything to update about. I guess that's one of the downsides to letting Disney plan for you (at least with an Escape since I can't speak for the Wishes brides), you can find yourself with nothing to plan :confused3 I mean, we'll still need to finalize floral and our desert party menu, but with more than 5 months to go it isn't a huge deal right now I guess :confused3

Anyways, I do have a few things for you. First off, DF and I went to a bridal show over the weekend to check out some stuff for the at-home reception. We're still trying to find a photographer and all the one's who I like are soooo expensive (of course, I do have good and expensive taste :rotfl: ). We've found a DJ and a cake baker but we still need a caterer. One of the things that's frustrating is that when I go to these shows, most of the vendors are local and our reception is 3 hours north of here and at the time I don't have a lot of time to visit vendors that are closer. :confused: I know I still have some time. but it is a year away and the longer we wait the less options we'll have as everyone else who's planning a wedding next year will have gotten the good vendors first :confused:

Anywho, that's my vent for the evening, if you're still reading thanks for sticking around :thumbsup2

Oh I do have some questions for you oh so wise and intelligent ladies:

-What is the best way to find a place to have my dress altered. I bought my dress from a shop out of state, so it's a bit out of the way to take it there, but I don't want to take it just anywhere. I don't have any friends in the area who haven't gotten married to ask either so I'm at a loss.

-For those of you who shipped stuff to your resort ahead of time, how far in advance did you send it. Did you use delivery confirmation and/or insurance to make sure it got there? How long are the resorts willing to hold onto a box? Our wedding is on a Tuesday and we leave for Florida the Saturday before. It won't be a lot, but it's stuff that I don't want to try and pack in our suitcases.

I think that's it for now, if I think of anything else I'll post it!
 

I just caught up on your PJ. I can't believe I haven't read in so long. Everything is great. Your dress is beautiful. I love your shoes! I'm doing a candy buffet also! It was a lot of fun putting it together. I went with pastel colors and got all of my candy at Easter... hopefully it's not melted before August. Can't wait to read more!
 
Hey girlie!!!

I dont know much about either one of your questions. I haven't gotten that far yet. But from what i've read on the boards you can ship your stuff down to the resorts atleast a week early. I know you have to put the name of whoever made the reservation and your reservation number on there so they know to get to you when you check in. I would also definatly get a tracking number and insurance. :thumbsup2
As far as getting your dress altered i'm kind of in the same boat. I bought my gown on ebay so i didn't know where to get it fitted. I did a google search of local tailors and i found and contacted a few of them. Make sure you ask to see their work and/or testimonials. Its hard going to someone that you dont know and you'll probably sound pushy but covering all your bases is key!

HTH!:goodvibes
 
I just caught up on your PJ. I can't believe I haven't read in so long. Everything is great. Your dress is beautiful. I love your shoes! I'm doing a candy buffet also! It was a lot of fun putting it together. I went with pastel colors and got all of my candy at Easter... hopefully it's not melted before August. Can't wait to read more!

Thanks! I'm not to concerned about a particular color palate for our candy buffet so I'm planning on starting to stock up after Christmas and all subsequent holidays after that. We'll just keep everything in the freezer and it should store alright.

Hey girlie!!!

I dont know much about either one of your questions. I haven't gotten that far yet. But from what i've read on the boards you can ship your stuff down to the resorts at least a week early. I know you have to put the name of whoever made the reservation and your reservation number on there so they know to get to you when you check in. I would also definatly get a tracking number and insurance. :thumbsup2
As far as getting your dress altered i'm kind of in the same boat. I bought my gown on ebay so i didn't know where to get it fitted. I did a google search of local tailors and i found and contacted a few of them. Make sure you ask to see their work and/or testimonials. Its hard going to someone that you dont know and you'll probably sound pushy but covering all your bases is key!

HTH!:goodvibes

I figured it would be about a week or so ahead of time. I usually use FedEx for all my shipping needs and they can usually give you a day you want your package to arrive. I also did some searching through the Better Business Bureau here in Indy to find an alterations place. I've found a couple so I'll be contacting them to see if they'll work for me. Thanks for your help!


-I also have another question!!! While I'm pretty untraditional, I still want to do the something old, something blue, etc. So here's what I've got so far:

Something old: ???
Something new: My dress
Something borrowed: ???
Something blue: My bouquet and my rings

I have no idea what to do for the old and the borrowed. What did you ladies do for yours?
 
Yeah time for more updates! With 5 months and some odd days to go, it's getting to crunch time :eek: I think we've got our guest list finalized so we're in the process of filling out our planning packet and sending it back to Kathleen so she can make out our BEO. I'd rather get it now so we know what we're looking at as far as budget.

We're also moving along with planning for the at-home reception. We've booked our photographer (he's done work for Martha Stewart weddings, how cool is that?) and are in the process of getting quotes from DJ's. The hardest part is the food. We're both very specific about what we want and it's hard finding a caterer who will do what we want (and fit our budget with a 200 person guest list! :eek: ). Luckily since DF's mother works as a photographer in the area, she's familiar with the caterers so she's been a big help.

So now it's down to finalizing details with Disney and paying the balance. I'm still waiting for December park hours to come out so we can plan our park schedule, tours and our ADR's.

That's about it for now. My bridal shower is next month so I'll have pictures and more to share after that.

Happy 4th of July!!!
 
Yeah time for more updates! With 5 months and some odd days to go, it's getting to crunch time :eek: I think we've got our guest list finalized so we're in the process of filling out our planning packet and sending it back to Kathleen so she can make out our BEO. I'd rather get it now so we know what we're looking at as far as budget.

We're also moving along with planning for the at-home reception. We've booked our photographer (he's done work for Martha Stewart weddings, how cool is that?) and are in the process of getting quotes from DJ's. The hardest part is the food. We're both very specific about what we want and it's hard finding a caterer who will do what we want (and fit our budget with a 200 person guest list! :eek: ). Luckily since DF's mother works as a photographer in the area, she's familiar with the caterers so she's been a big help.

So now it's down to finalizing details with Disney and paying the balance. I'm still waiting for December park hours to come out so we can plan our park schedule, tours and our ADR's.

That's about it for now. My bridal shower is next month so I'll have pictures and more to share after that.

Happy 4th of July!!!


Awe you must be getting so excited!!! :yay:

You're going to have to let me know how your BEO comes out. DF and I are trying to get our budget together for our escape wedding.

The home reception sounds like its coming together nicely too! I can't wait to see how everything turns out! :goodvibes And you'll have to update after the bridal shower!
 
Awe you must be getting so excited!!! :yay:

You're going to have to let me know how your BEO comes out. DF and I are trying to get our budget together for our escape wedding.

The home reception sounds like its coming together nicely too! I can't wait to see how everything turns out! :goodvibes And you'll have to update after the bridal shower!

We are! I'll make sure to post our BEO once we get it. I'm excited about my shower since it's the only real wedding thing we're doing before December. That and there'll be cake! :banana:
 
We are! I'll make sure to post our BEO once we get it. I'm excited about my shower since it's the only real wedding thing we're doing before December. That and there'll be cake! :banana:

I LOVE CAKE!!!! :laughing:

I can't wait to hear all about it! keep us all updated! popcorn::
 
Yeah time for more updates!

We're less than 5 months to go and things just keep getting crazier :upsidedow So where do I start?

We have DF's outfit for the wedding taken care of. Instead of doing the tux thing he and the GM will be wearing black suits. We figured most guys have one to begin with (it's the male equivalent of the little black dress) and DF needed one for work when making presentations so we could justify the expense. We got it at Men's Wearhouse while they were having their big summer sale, so it was a great deal. We got his suit, shirt, tie, socks, suspenders and alterations for less than $500! Plus if he looses weight (or gains) any additional alterations are free and he gets free pressing/steaming for life! It's being altered right now but it should be done next week, so once it's done I'll post a pic of DF in it so you can see how good he looks :thumbsup2

Here's the picture from the Men's Wearhouse website (but in black which they don't show) :

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Ummm...what else...oh we're getting ready to send in our planning sheets so our BEO can get put together. We were just waiting to hear back from our planner about getting a cake flavor other than the ones listed for the Escape cakes. DF and I couldn't agree on any of them, so we checked the Wishes flavors and agreed on....*drum roll please*.....the peanut butter cup filling! I'm excited cause I love peanut butter cups, I drool just thinking about it. :rolleyes1

Also, my BFF is getting married this October and I'm her maid of honor, so I went and ordered my dress on Sunday. Her colors are orange (tangerine) and pink (fuschia). This is the dress all the BM are wearing in tangerine, and we'll be carrying the fuschia gerbera daisies:

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And if that wasn't enough, I'm moving in 6 weeks! :scared1: DF's lease is up on his apt in September and he lives in a not-so-nice part of town, so we got an apt down here by where I currently live and we're moving in September! This will be my first venture out of the comfort of living under my mom's roof which is scary, but with DF (who's been on his own for a few years) I know it'll be ok. That and we'll still be close to my mom so it's not to bad :hug:

So now that updates are done, time for more questions!!!

-I'm moving in September, but then the wedding is 3 months after that. Should I go through and do the change of address thing in Sept and then do it all again with the change of name in December, or just wait and change it all at once? Is that even possible? Or should I just change what I absolutely have to as far as address and make due until December? It just seems like a ton of paperwork on my part to change all my info twice :confused3

-I'm planning on carrying my dress with me when we fly to Florida for the wedding. I don't trust the postal service (sorry to any postal workers, but you must admit things can and do happen) so I want to make sure I know where it is at all time. For those of you who carried yours, how did you go about it? Did you call the airline first? How far ahead did you call? What happened when you got the airport? How was going through security? I know every airline is different, but it would make me feel better to get an idea of what I'll be looking forward to.

-My BFF's bridal shower(s) are coming up soon. What do you usually do as gifts? Do you get something off the registry or something more catered to the bride? None of the showers are themed (ie cooking, naughty, etc.) so I'm at a loss. :scared:

I think that's it for now...we're meeting with a potential DJ for the reception next week so I'll probably have an update after that (also when DF's suit comes in :love: )

Time's a ticking! :yay:
 
Hey rachel!

You've got alot on your plate huh?

Ok first... Love the suit your man will be wearing. :thumbsup2 We are having the groom and Best man in suits as well. Is that MW sale still going on do you know?

LOVE the BM dresses, they're beautiful! :love: and the colors are going to look amazing together... I love tnagerine and pink!

I'm interested in hearing about your dress on the plane senario. I feel the same way and would rather have my gown with me AT ALL TIMES. I know that its been done because i've seen it in other PJ's but like you said every airline and airport are different do you never know.

As far as the bridal shower's go i'd say go with your gut... if you think the bride would apprecaite something more personal like a naughty joke gift then i'd say do that. If you not sure though just go with something off the registry, You can't go wrong with that! :thumbsup2

Can't wait to hear more as time gets closer! popcorn::
 
Rachel great updates!!! I love the suits! DF is also going to wear a suit. And that orange dress is too cute!!! Love it!!
 
Hey rachel!

You've got alot on your plate huh?

Ok first... Love the suit your man will be wearing. :thumbsup2 We are having the groom and Best man in suits as well. Is that MW sale still going on do you know?

LOVE the BM dresses, they're beautiful! :love: and the colors are going to look amazing together... I love tnagerine and pink!

I'm interested in hearing about your dress on the plane senario. I feel the same way and would rather have my gown with me AT ALL TIMES. I know that its been done because i've seen it in other PJ's but like you said every airline and airport are different do you never know.

As far as the bridal shower's go i'd say go with your gut... if you think the bride would apprecaite something more personal like a naughty joke gift then i'd say do that. If you not sure though just go with something off the registry, You can't go wrong with that! :thumbsup2

Can't wait to hear more as time gets closer! popcorn::

I'm not sure on the MWH sale, I know they had extended it past its original end date because it was so popular. I'd call them and ask.

Rachel great updates!!! I love the suits! DF is also going to wear a suit. And that orange dress is too cute!!! Love it!!

Thanks! It's such a cute and comfy dress, BM dresses have come a loooooong way in the past few years. I think I'm gonna wear it again to our DP since I'm not wearing my wedding dress.
 
Hiya everyone! Time for a bit of an update.

First the bad: Many of you probably don't know (unless your a friend of mine on Facebook) that one of our dogs, Perdy, had a stroke last week. We took her to an emergency vet where they stabilized her until we could take her to the animal hospital. They gave her an x-ray at the hospital and found a tumor on her spleen (which they think caused the stroke since she's an older dog). So they did surgery to remove the tumor and the spleen and they found a 2nd tumor which had ruptured. They biopsied the tumors and we found out yesterday that the tumors were cancerous. So she's now considered terminal and has been given about 6 months. :sad1: As you can imagine we're pretty upset, but we're going to make her as happy and comfortable as possible for as long as we can.

Now the good: Things are coming along with the wedding plans. Chauncey's suit is all done with alterations and he looks good! :love: I'll try and get pics up soon. We've also booked a DJ for the at-home reception, and he really seems to get a good handle on what we're looking for as far as vibe. In other news, my soon-to-be mother-in-law has been helping out a TON with finding vendors closer to our reception site. We're wanting the Mad Hatter cake for the reception, which is not your typical wedding cake. (For those who might now know what the Mad Hatter looks like here's an example) :

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We're wanting to do the colors on our wedding colors (sapphire blue, turquoise, ivory, etc.) with peacock feathers coming out of the top. She met with a cake place on Monday who could do it, but to do a cake for 175-200 people it would have been $1200! :scared1: So after making a few more phone calls, MIL found another person who could do almost the exact same thing for $300! :woohoo: We're still working on trying to find a caterer but I have a few people I'm waiting to hear back from.

I'm still waiting to hear from our travel agent on whether we qualify for free dining or not, plus I need to book the room for my dad and brother. Either way we can book our ADRs on September 6th so we're finalizing our list of restaurants (although the list will be longer if we're eating for free :rotfl: ) I found last December's park hours so I'm going to use that as a reference until this December's hours are posted. Although I have no idea on how to guesstimate what days which EMH will be at what park. Anyone have any ideas? :confused3

That's it for now. My bridal shower is this weekend so I'll have a report when I get back!
 
Awe Rach i'm so sorry about your dog! :sad2: I have two dogs and i know how they become part of the family. Its so hard... but just do what you said and keep her as comfortable as possible and love her to pieces. :hug:

As far as the good stuff goes... thats awesome that your FMIL found someone to do your cake for A LOT less money than the first lady. :thumbsup2 I'm glad you found a good DJ too... the last wedding we went do i didn't like the DJ at all. Its great you found one that'll make sure they create the perfect vibe.

Have fun at your shower this weekend!! I hope you have a blast and make sure to take lots of pictures to show us!! :goodvibes
 
Rachel I am so sorry to hear about your dog!! It's always hard to lose a pet.

But your good stuff is fun and you just have to remember there is good stuff too!! Love the cake idea and I can't wait to see pictures!!
 
Awe Rach i'm so sorry about your dog! :sad2: I have two dogs and i know how they become part of the family. Its so hard... but just do what you said and keep her as comfortable as possible and love her to pieces. :hug:

As far as the good stuff goes... thats awesome that your FMIL found someone to do your cake for A LOT less money than the first lady. :thumbsup2 I'm glad you found a good DJ too... the last wedding we went do i didn't like the DJ at all. Its great you found one that'll make sure they create the perfect vibe.

Have fun at your shower this weekend!! I hope you have a blast and make sure to take lots of pictures to show us!! :goodvibes

Thanks :hug: The first cake lady owns her own professional bakery so I know with that you pay for the expertise. The second lady is Amish (there's a lot of Amish up where they live) so her business is smaller and therefore cheaper, but from what FMIL told me she's still very professional and very good.

Rachel I am so sorry to hear about your dog!! It's always hard to lose a pet.

But your good stuff is fun and you just have to remember there is good stuff too!! Love the cake idea and I can't wait to see pictures!!

Thanks Mandy :hug: Apparently there's going to be a decent turnout for my shower so it should be fun. DF and a bunch of his guy friends are going to a casino while us girls are doing our thing. Chauncey's turning it into his "bachelor party" which is fine with me (it'd be even better if he hit big at the casino :rotfl: )
 
Hello everyone! Time for another update including shower pics!

DF, my mom and I left Friday evening as soon as I got off work. It's 3-3.5 hours to DF's parents and the ride was just as dull as it always is :upsidedow We arrived late that night, but DF's parents were still up waiting for us. After getting settled in we all finally got to bed.

Saturday morning DF got up and he went with a bunch of his buddies to the casino for his "bachelor party" (aka this is gonna be girly so let's get the heck out of here :rotfl: ) FMIL and my mom went and ran some errands and then FMIL went to the church where my shower was to be to decorate. My mom and I waited back at their house until Debbie and Dave showed up (FFIL and Dave went to college together and their kids grew up with DF and his brother). They were coming from Battle Creek in Michigan and Debbie would be riding with us to the church while Dave hung out with FFIL (or so we thought!)

So a little before 3 my mom, Debbie and I drove over to the church and after setting down our stuff I got a chance to meet some people I hadn't been introduced to yet. FMIL (aka Tweets), plus DF's cousins Jenni and Beth were throwing the shower for me so they directed how things would happen. They had some games planned including "How well do you know the bride?", "Bridal Bingo" and "What's in the bag?". We started with "How well do you know the bride?" where everyone had a list of questions about me and they had to answer them. Whomever got the most correct won. So everyone sat down to fill out their sheets, but we were quickly interrupted by some party crashers!

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"Aunt Teressa from West Virginia" aka Terry, FFIL

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Teressa's friend "Davina" aka Dave (FFIL's college friend)

Apparently this is something Dave has done at several showers including his own daughter's a few weeks ago. Everyone was busting out laughing, it's almost a shame that some people missed out. I have video that I'll try to upload on Youtube so you guys can see. The best part was, no one knew! It was certainly one of the highlights of the weekend.

So after "Teressa" and "Davina" left (they had pedicure appointments :lmao: ) we got back to our games. My mom ended up winning "How well do you know the bride?" (although she didn't get a perfect score :scared1: ) Then we did "What's in the bag?" where we had a bunch of brown paper lunch sacks and we had to figure out what was in it just by feeling through the sack. It was kinda hard but still fun (especially since I got to keep everything in the bags).

Then it was time to cut the cake!

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It was raspberry and Bavarian cream, so yummy! It came from the lady who wants $1200 for the Mad Hatter cake for our reception, FMIL wanted to get my shower cake from her even if we weren't getting our reception cake from her, it was worth it....*drools*

After eating then it was time to open presents and play bridal Bingo. Everyone had a bingo card which they filled out with things they thought I would get as a gift. Then as I opened said gifts people could check them off, then whomever got a Bingo won! We got a lot of nice gifts which will be good when we move into our new apartment. Here's a few pics:

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I could be on the Price is Right! :thumbsup2

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Homemade wine from "Davina"

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Cross-stitch from DF's aunt Sue

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Closer pic

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Rolling pin aka device for when DF acts up :rotfl:

After opening the gifts I thanked everyone for coming then it was all over. We cleaned up the church and then loaded the car. Then we spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with DF's family till we came home Sunday evening.

More pics:

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(L-R) My mom, me and FMIL

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(L-R) "Aunt Teressa", me, "Davina"

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Presents!

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Photo screen that FMIL filled with pics of DF and myself

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(L-R) Me, my Matron of Honor Jenni and her sister Beth

Overall is was a great weekend and it really makes this wedding seem closer than ever. 4 months to go!!!
 














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