1) Did you do yours on a "special" anniversary number? (our 15th is in 2010)
Geekerbell, how wonderful that you're thinking of renewing your vows -- and in Disney, no less,
~sigh.~
We did ours on our 20th anniversary. We had tried to do it several times before, but real life kept getting in the way (
you know how that goes).
I have an unfinished VR planning session trip report:
click here. I just recently started to fix some of the broken links in it -- and I hope to actually finish the trip report this time around (
but don't hold your breath since all the sub-planning items are taking forever to be fixed; for example, my supporting photo albums need all of their low-resolution photos replaced with higher-resolution versions, etc.).
My husband & I are currently in the process of trying to figure out how we want to celebrate our upcoming 25th anniversary. Will it be in
Disneyland, Walt Disney World, or Hawaii? That's the big question for us right now.
2) Did you do the Escape or Wishes?
We went the Custom (
a.k.a., Wishes) route. It didn't start out that way, though -- see the trip report that I provided a link to earlier in my post.
For our 25th anniversary, it might be an Escape. Or it might be a Wishes. Who knows at this point in time?!
3) How many guests did you/will you have? Did you pay for their rooms or any portion of there trip?
We kept it small. There were supposed to be 25 guests, but it wound up being 22 (
3 dropped out within a day or two of the actual event).
I had five rooms booked for various length of stays. These rooms were used by family and friends. These rooms were free to them, thanks to my DVC membership. I also paid for another room for my own family for the days surrounding the actual events. I put us up at our favorite resort, the Grand Floridian, for four days (three nights). It worked out well. I should note that I spent 2-1/2 weeks in WDW overall. My family and guests arrived at various points during those 2-1/2 weeks. It was a fun vacation for everyone.
I also had guests who were DVC members and they used their own memberships for their rooms. Other guests were local, so they didn't need any hotel rooms. It worked out well.
As to other items, yes, we paid for some other things. But there were times when our guests picked up the tabs, too. At times, it became a battle as to who was going to pay for what. My guests are some of the most generous folks on the planet. I am very fortunate to have them in my life,
~sigh.~
4) If you have kids, how did you involve then?
My son & daughter were Best Man and Maid Of Honor. They also read a poem during the ceremony. (
This is explained in my trip report.) It worked out very well -- and it was a lot of fun having them involved.
But I need to give full credit to my sister. I wasn't going to have anyone stand up for us -- after all, Rick & I had been married for 20 years, why did we need someone to stand up for us? But my sister said that my children & her children should do so. And so it was.
5) I've seen many etiquette sites say not to were white or ivory or any dress that looks like a wedding dress and you should not have attendants. What did/does your dress look like and did you have attendants? What did they wear?
I don't pay much mind to what anyone else has to say. I'm in my 40's and feel confident in any decision that I make. I have found that if I listen to my heart, it never leads me astray.
Now, with that being said (!!), my mother had actually purchased me a gown to wear to my vow renewal -- it was an evening dress with a matching jacket, very cute. She knew that I didn't want to shop for a dress, so she took the pressure off of me and bought me one. She lives in the Midwest & I live on the West Coast, so she bought my gown sight-unseen by me and then had it shipped to me. Again, it was very cute when I opened up the box and I was thrilled to have the dress decision over with.
But as the date of my vow renewal approached, I suddenly decided that I needed a dress that looked more like a wedding dress. I had a fear that on the night of my event, if anything went wrong and the Cast Members needed to get a hold of me for any reason, I wanted them to be able to immediately pick me out of the crowd. And so I purchased a slightly more traditional dress to wear. However, I chose not to wear the matching train, and I chose not to wear a veil (
or anything upon my head, for that matter). I have photos of my dress in my on-line photo album:
click here.
There is a story involved with my final dress, too. I actually went shopping with my husband & our daughter (
our son was smart & stayed away that day!). My husband & I were pulling wedding gowns from various racks within the store. When we met up near the dressing room, we immediately noticed that we had picked the exact same dress. My husband said to me that it had reminded him of my original wedding dress (
at least the lace reminded him of that since my original dress was a short one -- that also was purchased by my mother sight-unseen by me, go figure!). That dress was the one that I wound up purchasing since it perfectly suited my style --
simple.
As to what my bridesmaids wore, again, that decision was taken away from me (
thankfully!). My sister picked out short, black dresses in the Audrey Hepburn style (
think of the movie "Sabrina"). My sister lives in the Midwest so I didn't really know what the dresses looked like until she had sent my daughter's dress to me. When I opened the box, I thought it was adorable. And I was thrilled to have that part of the planning over with.
So, throw caution to the wind and buy whatever dress you want in whatever color you want. Or have someone pick it out for you (
like your mother, your sister, your aunt, or your best friend). It's your vow renewal and it should be the way that you want it to be, not some anonymous Miss Manners on some website out there in the ethers.
Sorry for so many questions. As I said I love to plan and am trying to figure out how to do this the "right"way and make myself and DH happy!
There are never too many questions, have no fear. But remember that this is your event and it should be exactly the way that you & your spouse envision it. Follow your hearts, they won't lead you astray.
Again, congratulations on your upcoming vow renewal. Have fun planning it!
and NONE of it reflected my taste (long story). This wedding is OUR wedding. We plan to wear whatever we want and have the event reflect who we are, not what anyone else expects. The people who will be attending love us dearly. They will not judge.
