Renewing the magic: Andrea and Franco's 10th anniversary VR--Just Marry blog entry

[quandrea]

Thought it was time for an update. Faxed off my food and Beverage contract this morning. The Swan added Madelaines (little cakes shaped like shells) and mini fruit tarts at no extra cost! They'll be setting it up on a tea table and I guess we will eat buffet style. Oh how I hope for good weather.

Mickey is booked! He'll be wearing his traditional black, yellow and red outfit. My daughter Evelyn wanted that as did dh.

I think the cake will be vanilla with fudge filling and vanilla buttercream. The top layer will be carrot with cream cheese filling and vanilla buttercream. I've found a heart cake topper to tie in with the swirled hearts on the sides of the cake.

I've been working on my door hangers. Two left to make. Will post a pic once they are done.

No more word on if my brother and his wife will join us. I'm thinking not. They are watching their money and looking to start a family. I think it is probably for the best. I think too many people will make touring WDW tough.

Joanne, my sister will be our photographer--she has a university degree from an Art school here--best one in Canada in fact, with a major in photography so we didn't feel the need to hire anyone. Your pics are beautiful and I'm going to ask her to make sure to take pics of the dress, the shoes, the flowers etc. I love how yours turned out.

Next up: our itinerary and ADRs.

 

[quandrea]

This is the trip folder that I am making for my guests. When we are down in Sept, I am going to add park maps, buttons, transportations guides etc.

Here's a close of of the cover. I didn't want to spend too much on these so I went to the dollar store and downloaded menus from allearsnet. I've included an itinerary, door hangers and as a little extra--secrets to all the parks. Little details that people don't usually notice. The secrets are from the book The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World. Here is a picture of the door hanger:

And lastly, a close of our itinerary: Trip at a Glance. I've used our logo on everything.

We'll be heading to Mickey's Backyard BBQ on our first night. The following day Mum, Dad, Catherine and Caitlin (ds's) will have lunch at Chef's de France. Later that day we will have the VR and our tea reception following. On Saturday we'll have dinner at Akershus and finally on Sunday a farewell character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. Mum really wanted a character meal with the children, so we'll have two, plus the BBQ which is great fun.

We'll tour most days with my sisters and dad, but Mum will stay behind and do her own thing. Or she might come meet us in the morning to see the kids and then we'll break off at the parks to tour while she looks around and shops. She is not a ride person. Even when we went to WDW when I was six, it was dad who took us to the park and Mum met us for meals.

If someone can give me a tutorial on how to make my pics smaller that would be great.

Next up: All the little details. Lots of pics!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Andrea sweetie - Just admiring you hard work. Lovely!! How very organized you are!!
Here is the way I re-size photos and it is a bit of a fiddle so if anybody knows a better way, perhaps they can let us know!!!
On Photobucket, if you click on the picture you want to re-size, it will appear enlarged, usually with a small % number in the top left corner, eg. 90% which I believe must be the % amount of the original size the photo is showing as at that moment. If you 'mouse over' the top of the photo, some words will appear along the top edge of it. One will say 're-size'. If you click on this, a drop-down box of pre-set sizes will appear. If you click on one of these, a pop-up message will ask if you want to re-size this picture. Click on okay. Then when it appears in it's new size, copy the IMG code and post as usual
As a guide, the photos in my PJ are generally sized 640 x 480 and the ones in my signature are 320 x 240. Once you have re-sized a picture by this method, you will not be able to enlarge it again (unless of course you upload the original to Photobucket again), but you can make it smaller. If you are not sure what size you want it to be, go larger and keep getting smaller until you get it right.
By the way, sometimes, when you post a newly re-sized photo on the boards, it doesn't seem to appear in it's new size straight away, but when you go to your post next time, it has magically appeared in it's new size. Not sure why this is!!!

 

[quandrea]

Just bumping. Not sure if many of you are reading. I have finally updated with pictures and have lots to come. Take a look at my welcome materials. Today I hope to post pics of my shoes, headpiece and some of the smaller details for the day. Hope you'll read along. We are having such a good time with planning.

 

[Jilian]

Your logo is really cute! The UP picture is cute too, will you put that in your room window? I'm happy you posted door hangers, I couldn't figure out how to make them for the life of me (without buying a template). I'm definitely gonna use the ribbon idea. Your VR seems to be coming together nicely, thanks for sharing everything with us

 

[Mindyjoy]

I love your welcome folders! Can't wait to see your accessories!

 

[quandrea]

Your logo is really cute! The UP picture is cute too, will you put that in your room window? I'm happy you posted door hangers, I couldn't figure out how to make them for the life of me (without buying a template). I'm definitely gonna use the ribbon idea. Your VR seems to be coming together nicely, thanks for sharing everything with us

I love your welcome folders! Can't wait to see your accessories!

So glad to help with the door hangers. I've seen them elsewhere and I love them! So glad to see that you are all reading. Hope to get to posting some of the accessories today. With all three kids home things are a bit crazy!

 

[quandrea]

Thanks for following along everyone. Thought I would show you the flip flops my daughters and I will wear. I want the vow renewal to be lots of fun and to incorporate a lot of Disney. Probably wouldn't have done this the first time around, but this time it's all about having fun. Here are the flip flops. I had them m

ade by an Etsy seller.

Here is a close up. I just love the crocheted minnie with the rhinestone.

In keeping with the Up theme, the men (and my dd 7, who wants one too!) will wear grape soda pins--also made by an etsy seller. I will have matching grape soda earrings. Here they are:

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n632/quandrea/grapesod
a-1.jpg

Here is a picture of the Minnie Mouse ears I plan on wearing. I also had a pair made for each of my daughters.

Now you all get to see what I look like!

A close up of the ears. I love them.

The ears go beautifully with the beading in my dress. Well that's it for now. I have to get the babies down for nap.

 

[quandrea]

Noticed the grape soda pin didn't come up. Here it is again.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Andrea sweetie - wow you have really got the hang of this posting pictures thing now!!!
Everything looks great!! This is going to be one fun VR!!! Keep the info coming!!

 

[Jilian]

Those flip flops are just too cute. It is amazing what you can find on etsy these days, some of the sellers are really talented! Did you also get the minnie ears on Etsy too? I'd love to get some plain black headband ears for pictures. I'm not a fan of any of the ones that Disney has. Your ears look really cute on you, they will make for some really nice pictures.

I have to add that your reception @ crescent terrace is such a wonderful idea. Ever since you've mentioned it I've been wondering if we should look into something like that. Do they charge you an extra fee for renting it out after the ceremony? Are you using the Swan/Dolphin catering company? I'd love to hear more if you don't mind sharing. We have our violinist for the full hour and tossed around the idea of having a cocktail hour right @ crescent terrace.

 

[quandrea]

Those flip flops are just too cute. It is amazing what you can find on etsy these days, some of the sellers are really talented! Did you also get the minnie ears on Etsy too? I'd love to get some plain black headband ears for pictures. I'm not a fan of any of the ones that Disney has. Your ears look really cute on you, they will make for some really nice pictures.

I have to add that your reception @ crescent terrace is such a wonderful idea. Ever since you've mentioned it I've been wondering if we should look into something like that. Do they charge you an extra fee for renting it out after the ceremony? Are you using the Swan/Dolphin catering company? I'd love to hear more if you don't mind sharing. We have our violinist for the full hour and tossed around the idea of having a cocktail hour right @ crescent terrace.

Andrea sweetie - wow you have really got the hang of this posting pictures thin now!!!
Everything looks great!! This is going to be one fun VR!!! Keep the info coming!!

Jillian, we didn't have to pay extra to have the reception tea. We are having it in the West Courtyard, mostly because it is more private and I love the fountain. The Swan is catering it. The tea starts at 3:30 pm and Mickey arrives at 3:45 pm. The Swan is letting us have the space until 5 pm. I think it will be set up like a buffet. My contract mentioned a six foot table for the tea service set up. They've been very helpful in working with me on a menu. The headband was from the etsy seller called herfylinghorses. Hopefully you can do a search based on that.

Thanks for reading Joanne. You've been such a help getting this journal up and running. When I'm done here, I'm off to read your updates.

Thought I would talk about what everyone is wearing for the vow renewal. Dh said we'd do it if he could wear shorts so he'll be wearing khaki shorts and a LLBEan hawaiian inspired shirt. my oldest daughter is wearing white shorts and a pink tshirt. My little girl will wear a blue short set. It is very cute--the top almost looks like a dress and it is the most beautiful aquamarine. Ds will wear khaki shorts and a blue, white and yellow striped golf shirt. The twins had other outfits I'd purchased especially for the VR, but they are growing so fast that I had to put them on them already. They won't fit come Dec. They are only two and are now wearing a size 4/5 for shirts. I can't believe the size of them.

I was going to wear my old wedding dress, but I found a new one on ebay for $90 and couldn't resist. It is actually fancier than my original dress. We had an at home wedding and my dress the first time around was very simple, but beautiful. I'll post a pic of the dress at some point. Getting it down to Florida will take some doing.

 

[quandrea]

Wedding favours: I found these mini picnic baskets at Michael's. They echo the picnics Carl and Ellie went on in Up and our Logo.

I plan on filling them with personalized m&ms. I'll have the candies shipped to OKW because shipping to Canada is so expensive. Let you know about the design when I have it.

I realize I have to get going on finishing up all my plans--ie welcome folders, door hangers, etc. We are heading down in Sept and I want to have it all done by them to leave in our Owner's Locker. It will minimize what I have to take down in Dec. I'm gong to finish the Welcome folders down there.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Andrea sweetie - I love those picnic baskets - so cute!!! Good idea to make the folders etc early and take them down to store in the locker. I love my Owner's Locker - such a godsend.

 

[KristiLyn]

Loving everything so far!! And those picnic baskets are just too cute!!!

 

[quandrea]

Andrea sweetie - I love those picnic baskets - so cute!!! Good idea to make the folders etc early and take them down to store in the locker. I love my Owner's Locker - such a godsend.

Joanne, Thanks so much for reading. So many of my ideas come from you. I was just revisiting you PJ today. You and Paul have quite the story as well. Everyone has adversity--it's all in how you handle it I think. I'm not sure where to head with this PJ now; I have told most of all I have planned. Any ideas?

Loving everything so far!! And those picnic baskets are just too cute!!!

KristiLyn. So glad you are following along. Sometimes I feel I'm writing out into an abyss. The picnic baskets are very cute. Wait till you see the m & ms! What else do you want to hear about? I'm not sure there is much else to tell, except maybe about ADRs and my itinerary. Any thoughts?

 

[quandrea]

Here is my beautiful cake!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Oh what a pretty cake!!!
It will feed a lot!! Are you having a lot of guests?

 

[quandrea]

Here is my beautiful cake!

I'm only going to get the top two tiers. Publix will customize it to whatever I want. We are going for vanilla on the bottome with fudge filling and vanilla buttercream. I'm going to see if I can get the top in carrot with cream cheese filling and icing. If not cream cheese icing on the outside, I'll go with vanilla buttercream. I'm thinking they may not be able to mix two icings on one cake due to colour differences. We shall see. I also purchased an adorable heart cake topper.

Publix makes the most delicious cakes and they are very reasonably priced. I'm going to order our wedding cake when we are down in Sept. As I've said before, we'll have the cake back at the villa following the reception.

Thanks for reading Joanne!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Sweet Andrea - I am sure your cake will be heavenly!!
I know what you mean when you say that sometimes you feel like you are writing into an abyss!! When I first started writing my PJ, I felt the same way!! I used to get upset and think to myself 'You know, I am going to stop writing this because nobody is interested!!' I thought that maybe because we were older or because this was 'just a VR', people didn't want to know!!
Gradually, over time though, I realized two things. Firstly, I began to use my PJ for my benefit rather than anyone else's, and used it to jot down ideas and plans (some of which came to fruition, others which did not), and to sound off when things didn't go the way I had hoped. I stopped expecting people to comment and was surprised (but flattered) when they did!!!
Secondly, I came to the realization that that I was often reading (with interest), other brides' PJs but not commenting or posting. Hmm, maybe if I do this, other people do to. I started to make a point of posting on the PJs I read and although I am still very guilty of the 'reading and not posting' thing at times, things have turned around and it seems, understandably, that people take interest in your plans when you take interest in theirs!!! I am not saying, sweet Andrea, that you do not bother posting and I know that you post regularly on my PJ/TR (for which I am grateful), it is just my findings!!!
So, in answer to your earlier question, if I were you I would run your PJ primarily for yourself. You say you feel that all your ideas/plans are now all posted, but believe me, there will be others!! You can post your invitations, newsletters, favours etc and then later, photos and reports of the big day itself. Trust me, the readers will come I am sure!!! You already have one avid fan here, anyway!!!