Sarcasticblonde's OFFICIAL Planning Journal!!! Updated with all pictures!

sarcasticblonde

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 21, 2007
Messages
584
Been here for a few weeks...figured it was time to start my planning journal :hippie:

Adam and I are getting married on Sunday, April 6, 2008. Currently, we are expecting approximately 60-75 guests. The rehearsal dinner is going to be at the Polynesian Resort Luau. Sea Breeze Point will be the setting of our wedding ceremony which will start at 5 o'clock in the evening. Directly following the ceremony will be cocktails in the China Pavilion Courtyard, then the formal dinner will move inside the Pavilion at 7pm.

Our colors are purple with silver and black accents. We aren't really planning on having a Disney theme.

Let me tell you a little bit about how Adam and I.

How we met:
Adam is originally from a suburb outside Chicago and I am from a small town near the southern tip of Illinios. For New Years 05/06, a girlfriend and I decided to spend a few days in Chicago. One New Years Eve, she and I were at a bar and a group of guys came up to talk to us just after midnight. Adam and I hit it off immediately and we talked all night. I remember he bought me a rose, which I thought was so sweet. We stayed out until 8am. He left to catch a flight to Orlando (he was going on a family Disney World trip) and I was to head back home that afternoon. We text messaged and talked on the phone the whole week he was in Disney and when he got back we never left each other's side. Fast as it may seem, we moved in together a month after we met.

Our engagement:
I don't have the standard super elaborate engagement story that some girls have. Our engagement actually began with an argument :scared1:

February 27, 2007...that is when it happened. I was looking online at different SUV's, trying to find the best fit for me. I had been discussing buying a new car with Adam, who is very opinionated on the subject. He was very negative about the car I had in mind, saying it was a cheap brand of car, blah blah blah. It made me mad! I really liked it!

The argument continued through to dinner, where we were eating at a local Mexican restaurant. I barely spoke (or ate) during the dinner. He kept giving me this weird look. And I was like, "What? Say whatever it is you are thinking." He just shook his head and said, "It can wait." So we drove home in silence and when we got back to our place, I flopped down on the bed to sulk.

He pulls a chair up beside the bed and grabs my hand. He then proceeds to tell me that no one else sees him, knows him or loves him the way that I do. That he couldn't go a day without me in his life and he would rather be arguing with me than be with anyone else. And then he asked me to marry him.

It was the most special moment ever...but boy did I feel like the biggest b**** :rotfl:

Adam's Family
First let me start off by saying a little something about my parents. They have been married 30+ years and are great people. Nice, accepting and you can talk to them about anything. They are those funny parents that will talk to you like you are an equal, not a "kid". They have liked Adam from the beginning and always treat him with respect.

I wish that was how Adam's family was. Adam is Jewish and I am not. I knew that was going to possibly be an issue. Also, Adam has a very strained relationship with his parents (moreso with his mother though). They have never gotten along because she is not a nice person and is very very controlling.

Since I met her, she has never been nice to me. She makes rude comments to put me down (basically, she thinks I am white trash because I didn't grow up in a rich Chicago suburb - Adam told me this). When they found out we were getting married, his parents never congratulated us, but immediately began telling us how, when and where we would be having our wedding - that we were paying for OURSELVES (P.S. We are both 24 year old ADULTS!!). I won't go into what the demands were, but it was basically everything against what we (or I) wanted.

We had originally planned on a 150 guest wedding and reception at the Hard Rock Hotel in downtown Chicago, but they were turning it into a 250 guest affair that was to be a party for them and their friends. Here is a quote from them directly: "A wedding isn't for you. It is for your guests. 10 years from now, you aren't going to remember anything about your wedding." Wow...

We couldn't handle it anymore, so we decided to up and move it to Walt Disney World!!! :earsboy:


Coming next...The planning
 
The planning

So, the Hard Rock Hotel wedding had fallen through due to family pressure. But I had the perfect solution. Adam is in LOVE with Disney World, totally and completely. He had been hinting at a WDW honeymoon, and I figured I would give him something even better.

I did some research and found out about Disney weddings. We looked at Escape/Intimate weddings first, thinking that we would have under 18 guests. But that just wasn't going to cut it, so we decided to upgrade to the Wishes Wedding.

Called Disney to get some information and they called me back the next morning. I spoke with Senior Wedding Consultant Joe Dematei and he helped me with everything! We were originally worried about having a reception at the China Pavilion because it says a 75 guest minimum, but he said that as long we got 50 guests, we'd be fine...YAY!

He even suggested the Polynesian Luau for the rehearsal dinner. It sounds like so much fun! And there is no food/beverage minimum so he said it'd only be like $50 a head...too perfect.

He called me back later to inform that both locations were available for the day and time I wanted. I was so happy! My contract is due in August and we are making our first (and probably only) wedding planning session during early October. Adam and I are making a little trip out of it. Thanks to fellow diser Onmedic, who kindly rented us DVC points, we will be staying at Old Key West from September 30-October 5.

During that time we plan on site visits, food tasting, cake tasting, meeting with the florist and the photographer. Whew! We will have a lot to do!


Up Next...Pictures of wedding stuff!
 
LOL, Don't feel bad, my engagement stemmed from an argument also LOL.
 

Awww...Your such a handsome couple.:) ...You are beautiful in your siggy.
What a sweet story...good for you going with the disney wedding.:thumbsup2
I bet you FDH is delighted...what did his mother think?..Who cares..she sounds like a pain.:lmao:
Good luck..can't wait to read more!:goodvibes
 
Aww that engagement is very very sweet-- I think true meaningful words can mean a whole lot more than expensive elaborate planned out engagement anyway! Way to go- and Congratulations!
 
Pictures of my plans!!

Invitations
So, I had been working on creating my own wedding stationary. I made some that I really liked but decided it wasn't unique enough. I really like to do things a bit differently, so I got the idea to make an invitation DVD. I'm still going to send response and reception cards but I want to send my guests a photo slide show DVD detailing the plans of our wedding.

Adam and I are going down to Disney World the first week of October for our wedding planning session and while we are there, we are going to have picture taken of us at Sea Breeze Point, China Pavilion, pics of ourselves in the Bride and Groom Mickey Ears and some pics with characters as well. We will also splice in pictures of us as a couple through our relationship and possibly as children as well. Then, of course, all the wedding details will be displayed on the screen. Adam is an aspiring movie director and he is amazing at making movies, so I have no doubt that our DVD will look awesome.

Here is the stationary that we are using:
ResponseCircle.jpg


ReceptionCircle.jpg


The Wedding Ceremony

The ceremony will be at Sea Breeze Point.

SeaBreezePointCeremony2.jpg


We will have a chuppah, which is similar to an arbor that is used in Jewish ceremonies. Here is a picture of one I like. We will have purple sprays of flowers on the front only.

chuppah.jpg


Here is the wedding dress I will be wearing:
8260l.jpg

8260b1.jpg

8260fl.jpg


An idea for my bouquet:
Bouquet1.jpg


Bridesmaids Dresses:
d310_tahiti_big.jpg


An idea for the bridesmaids bouquets:
Bouquet2.jpg


The unity candle:
UnityCandle.jpg



Adam and the groomsmen will be wearing black tuxes with purple vest and purple tie (regular tie...not a bow tie)...no pics yet.

We are having a maid of honor, 1 bridesmaid, best man and 1 groomsman. No ring bearer or flower girl - we don't know any small children. We are having a violin and harp playing at the wedding and my dad will walk me down the aisle to Canon in D and All You Need is Love will be played afterwards. We plan to have Rabbi Leftkowitz perform our ceremony that will be be mainly Jewish but we will have the unity candle as well.

Next: Reception Picture Ideas
 
Pictures of my plans!!

Invitations
So, I had been working on creating my own wedding stationary. I made some that I really liked but decided it wasn't unique enough. I really like to do things a bit differently, so I got the idea to make an invitation DVD. I'm still going to send response and reception cards but I want to send my guests a photo slide show DVD detailing the plans of our wedding.

Adam and I are going down to Disney World the first week of October for our wedding planning session and while we are there, we are going to have picture taken of us at Sea Breeze Point, China Pavilion, pics of ourselves in the Bride and Groom Mickey Ears and some pics with characters as well. We will also splice in pictures of us as a couple through our relationship and possibly as children as well. Then, of course, all the wedding details will be displayed on the screen. Adam is an aspiring movie director and he is amazing at making movies, so I have no doubt that our DVD will look awesome.

Here is the stationary that we are using:
ResponseCircle.jpg


ReceptionCircle.jpg


The Wedding Ceremony

The ceremony will be at Sea Breeze Point.

SeaBreezePointCeremony2.jpg


We will have a chuppah, which is similar to an arbor that is used in Jewish ceremonies. Here is a picture of one I like. We will have purple sprays of flowers on the front only.

chuppah.jpg


Here is the wedding dress I will be wearing:
8260l.jpg

8260b1.jpg

8260fl.jpg


An idea for my bouquet:
Bouquet1.jpg


Bridesmaids Dresses:
d310_tahiti_big.jpg


An idea for the bridesmaids bouquets:
Bouquet2.jpg


Adam and the groomsmen will be wearing black tuxes with purple vest and purple tie...no pics yet.

The unity candle:
UnityCandle.jpg


Next: Reception Picture Ideas

Everything is very pretty and unique. Can't wait for the reception ideas.
 
The Reception

Our cocktail hour begins at 6pm in the courtyard of the China Pavilion and at 7pm we will move inside the Pavilion:

Chinaatnight.jpg

China-HallofPrayerInterior1.jpg

China-UpgradedSetup2.jpg


We plan on using purple lighting to illuminate the room. The lighting is included in the DJ package we are using. Here is an example of how purple lighting can change a room (though we will use a darker purple):
bar_purple.jpg


We are going to hang lighted paper lanterns from the ceiling:
lantern.jpg



My bridesmaids and I will be taking pictures with parasols:
parasol2.jpg

parasol.jpg


These are our placecard holders:
PlacecardHolder.jpg


Our Table Numbers:
Table7.jpg


Our placecards:
PlaceCard1-1.jpg


Our Favors (the coasters will have a purple ribbon and both will have personalized purple favor tags):
Coasters.jpg

WineStopper.jpg


The candy containers we will have filled for guests:
takeoutbox.jpg


We are having personalized favor tags made. They will be in the color scheme below, but instead of the the "wedding cake" on the tag, we are using the Chinese Love character. And of course it will have our names and wedding date on them.
Tag1.jpg
Tag2.jpg


And finally, our cake. I drew this picture myself, so it's not the greatest. Also included is a pic of the cake topper we are using:
Cake.jpg

caketopper.jpg



That's all I got for now :) Any advice or anything is welcomed!
 
Lori, I love your reception ideas! and your dress is beautiful. You are very pretty.
Your future MIL should be grateful her son he met you.:hug:
 
Wow! Everything looks fantastic. I LOVE all the purple. And your dress is GORGEOUS! I can't wait to see everything come together.
 
I love your colors!!!

im really diggin your PJ...its awesome!!

Since your near me...if you ever want to get together...let me know...i think itd be a blast:goodvibes
 
Wow I love EVERYTHING about your reception. Can DH and I get put on the invite list? Pretty please
c60a3370.gif
?? I love weddings-- to bad they make me miss my own. Ive never seen anyone use China as their reception location so that makes you very unique in my mind. Im so excited for you! Everything is so awesome!
 
Ive never seen anyone use China as their reception location so that makes you very unique in my mind. Im so excited for you! Everything is so awesome!

When we first saw that it was an option for the reception, we were very excited! It just looks so cool! And we think it will look amazing with all the purple lighting. I cannot wait to go down in October.



I just got off the phone with the Invitation company from downtown Chicago that will be making my wedding stationary. I was very happy to find that they are able to make exact replicas of the ones I made on photoshop.

We basically have everything nailed down for what we are wanting. Haven't been able to get ahold of Randy Chapman to see if he is available for April 6, but I have already seen his pricing guide and I am happy with his prices.

I also need to find someone to do hair and makeup for me, my mom and 2 bridesmaids. I looked at some of the websites suggested by Disney and wasn't overly impressed by any of the pics I saw...but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I want my hair and makeup to be very Bridget Bardot...similar to the model in the picture with my wedding dress.
 
I used Lisa Pena from Lisa's Magical Weddings... I wasnt overly impressed with her work-- however I do hear that Ana from Makeover Majic is good. And ive also heard some girls are using Beauty Speciale. You might look into them..
 
yey! I love your PJ, you sure have been busy today!

Everything looks beautiful. I'm sorry to hear about your MIL :rolleyes2::, all that matters anyways is that you and your DF are happy.
 




New Posts








Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE











DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter DIS Bluesky

Back
Top