Sungela's PJ & TR Merged! Finally an Update! Faux Disneymoon Time

[keenercam]

The dresses are gorgeous -- love the color! And the invites will be exquisite! How wonderful that you can insert your own artwork. What a beautiful touch! Congrats on getting so much done this weekend.

 

[newyearsbride]

I love all the dresses, but especially the first one! I really like your invites as well! My favorite part is the "Laugh, Dance, Celebrate"

 

[DisneyFairy19]

What a cute flower girl dress

 

[lpizzuro123]

Great choices - glad you found something - love the color.

Looking forward to reading more.

Linda

 

[jnale]

Pretty BM dresses - with that style they can definitely re-wear them!

 

[sungela]

Last year, I figured that I would have tons of free time this last semester of college. After all, I was only writing two thesis papers, working, and planning a wedding. No exams, no homework, and a bare minimum of club activities. How wrong I was... Both of my thesis advisors required first drafts in these past couple of weeks, so I put myself on a PJ hiatus. My self-imposed rule was look/lurk, but don't post. But I handed the second one in yesterday morning, so I'm back!

Since my last post we've: undergone massive invitation drama, passed our three month mark, and changed our minds about three dozen times. To wit:

1. The invitations we picked, which we supposedly could use with our own pic, didn't work. And the woman from the store we were using was incredibly unhelpful; she wouldn't help us identify any other possibilities, and when we went in and made a list of other options, she looked it over and said that none would work. So we went to a new store, where the staff was amazingly helpful, and they worked with us to find a company that could make the invitations we wanted. Basically, William Arthur is going to print our text on the inside of a fold-over card, then send it to the Papery, who will flat print the picture on the front. And while we were there, we spotted a gorgeous note card with a green-blue-orange rainbow (our fave three colors) on two beach chairs. PERFECT for our thank-you note. They don't charge very much to print "Thank You" on each card either, so we're going to do that. We used zazzle.com to create a cool postcard from Angela's mother's picture, and it came out great. Now we have to wait for the invitations, copy our invitation insert (with a short reminder about how to book hotels), and buy stamps. I'd like to use the Disney stamps for the invitation, and makethe third of FMIL's paintings into our postcard stamp.

2. Slight grumble about BM dress shopping. When we went to pick out the dresses, they told us we were fine, so long as we ordered right away. Well, we did, but they called back the next day and said, "Sorry, fork over an extra $20 a pop for rush delivery." In terms of wedding expenses, $60 isn't a huge amount, but to my BMs, there's a big difference between $180 and $200. And I don't think they should have to pay... My mom thinks we should complain and see if the store will eat the difference. I don't know if I am bold enough to do that, though.

3. We booked our rehearsal dinner! Because our wedding isn't very Disney-fied, we wanted to do a very cheesy, very Disney dinner. So we picked 1900 Park Fare. I'm excited: the price is fixed, so we know what to expect, there's a wide variety of food for all our picky eaters, and we get to dine with characters! We had to go with the early reservation (4:30), which will give us a good amount of time to explore the Grand Floridian and mosey over to the WP for our 8 PM rehearsal. I went through a whole bunch of options with my parents (including an outdoor BBQ, a fixed menu at Citrico's, and the Rainforest Cafe), but they both insisted on the characters. Our count is somewhere between 16 and 34; we're still not sure if we want a big family dinner or just people who need to be there. It's really up to my mom, because she's paying, but she goes back and forth. Can we have an event with most of our family, but not all? Should we include my cousins, who aren't technically in the wedding, but are passing out yarmulkes and bubbles and programs, and who want to be involved? My mom really wants her mother and sister there, even if they aren't in the wedding, but then how do we leave out my dad's family? Oy vey!

Actually, related quick question--I know that the DDE card only works for the first ten people. Can we split the bill, and use a different DDE card on each? Angela's parents and my aunt are FL residents, so we could potentially have three DDE cards, which would cut down on the cost of a 30 person event significantly.

4. We also booked Victoria and Albert's for the night after our wedding--hopefully, we can use our honeymoon bucks to pay for it! We're looking at other reservation options too... So far, I'm leaning towards California Grill, Spoodles, and the private dinner thing at the Grand Floridian. I also want to dine with an imagineer, because I think it sounds fun, but we can't book until closer to the time.

5. Thanks to the person that created the "to see DF or not to see DF" thread, I think I've finally made up my mind. I was dead-set against it, but our rabbi was really not happy about the 8 AM Ketubah signing that would have been required to take pics and avoid each other. Then I started thinking, and I realized it's not a big deal. There's nothing in Jewish law or custom about the can't see each other superstition. It dates from arranged marriages, and our wedding is pretty far from that. I really want the staged first look (I LOVED lurkyloo's pic), and I think it will be nice to have fun and take pics together before the ceremony. I'm sure it will still be special and exciting when we're at the chuppah. It also gives us more time in the morning--5:30 with Ana instead of 4:30, which is a good thing. Angela wakes up at 5 AM everyday normally, so it won't be a big deal for her; 4:30 just sounds bad, even if we'll probably be up anyway. (Of course, I want the first look shot to be Angela's face when she sees me. Not narcissistic at all... )

6. We're still on the hunt for ties. We originally wanted bright orange ties (dream tie: turquoise background, with bright orange tropical flowers), so we could get away with orange yarmulkes (the beanies that Jews wear). But we didn't find anything, so we're leaning toward lime green ties, and orange yarmulkes anyway. The guys will all of green bouts, which explains why we'd want green ties. The girls are wearing blue, but one will have an orange tie around her waist, and they'll all be carrying orange roses (in rose wands, yay!). Is that too Mad Hatter? My favorite color is lime green, Angela's fave is bright orange, and our mutual close second is bright blue.

I'm sure I've missed a whole bunch of details, but baring any unforeseen thesis emergencies, I'm back to writing! My dress fitting is on April 20 (right time of month + my entire family and Angela's mom are coming to town for Angela's conversion/the first seder of Passover). I can't wait to post pics. In the meantime, though, I realized that we have very few pics on here, and I love to see what everyone looks like on their PJs. Here's me trying on BM dresses that we didn't get:

Excuse the fact that the dress is way too big for me, and you can totally see my bra:

And here's Angela, in her wedding dress:

And the dress I almost got, but it was $6000!! Notice my "God, I'm gorgeous, but $6000?" expression.

 

[mla1977]

I love the last picture! I'm glad you put up more pictures of yourself. From your first picture of the two of you, I had it in my mind that you were my old roommates twin (she's also Jewish and from CT - but she prefers men ). Same color hair, etc. Now I only think you guys look like cousins!

 

[sungela]

I have a doppelganger! I guess having dark hair/eyes and ghostly pale skin isn't that uncommon, even if it makes dressing in white a horrible proposition.

And the revised floral budget is in! Our original was close to $6K, but now we're safely at $3000-ish. I'm still torn between the chair covers and rented white chairs... with over 51 people, the rental chairs are cheaper, but don't look as pretty. Still, though, what guests ever look at their seats?

Our bouquets: Island bouquet (designed bridesmaid size) to include yellow mini calla lilies in place of burgundy mini calla lilies, brighter orange rose replacing the orange unique roses, green cymbidium orchids and tropical greenery. Angela's will have 75% ribbon wrap the faux stems in antique white satin ribbon, and mine will have 75% ribbon wrap the faux stems in TBD champagne gold ribbon. Price: $165 each. I was hoping it would be a little cheaper, considering the quoted bridesmaid bouquet price was $95, but I guess the orchids are more expensive.

Bridesmaids' bouquets: Triple orange rose wand with orange ribbon accents to match flower. Price: $35 each. Either rose wand prices went up or orange roses are more expensive.

Bridesmen's bouts: Green dendrobium orchid, orange spray rose, lily grass and tropical greenery. Price: $15 each. Too bad bridesmaids couldn't carry these!

Fathers' bouts: Light green dendrobium orchids, yellow spray rose, lily grass and tropical greenery. Price: $15 each. Just in case people think that our dads are actually in the bridal party, their flowers will set them apart.

Angela's mom's corsage: Pin on corsage of light green dendrobium orchids, yellow spray roses, lily grass, tropical. Price: $25. My mother is very tiny, and I think she's worried that the corsage will weight down her hand. Or she doesn't want to spend the extra $25. Either way, she's not into the corsage. Because A) we look enough alike that it would be easy to guess she's my mom; B) she's walking me down the aisle with my dad; and C) most of the guests at the wedding know she's my mom, I'm not worried that she won't have the all-important floral identifier.

Chuppah: Accent the chuppah with a mixed tropical greenery and floral arrangement in the front/center and (2) smaller clusters at the sides (curtain tie backs). Price: $255, plus $250 to rent the chuppah. A little on the high side, but we have to have it. And I'm sure it will be very pretty.

Pre-reception: Hexagon bowls with a single floating bloom in bright colors (alternate colors throughout room). Pedestal bowls on cocktail tables and non-pedestal bowls on high-boy tables. Price: $5 a pop. Not bad at all. I wish our reception centerpieces were that cheap...

Reception centerpieces: Multi-colored terra cotta pots with mixed bright colored mylar and lollipops: Mickey swirlpops, unicorn pops, Mickey pops and assorted other candy pops. Price: $65 each! I am very excited about these centerpieces. I love edible centerpieces--at my bat mitzvah, we had hand-painted (not by me, of course) pots filled with decorated cookies and candies. Every took home the sweets, and we gave the pretty pots to select people, who mostly used them for plants. I really wanted the same thing for the wedding. Our original floral budget included floral centerpieces with candy accents at twice the price, but I really just wanted the candy sans flowers. We have very few Disney-ish things, so I'm wicked excited about the Mickey pops.

Tables, continued: Accent each guest table with (6) large votive cups filled with gel in bright colors and LED. Price: $5 each. Too cool. And they're going to sprinkle wrapped hard candy on all tables for $50. Originally, I really wanted a candy buffet. Then I started thinking about the cost of said candy buffet, and realized that I was spending a ton of $ on guests who would probably not care. They already get so much food, and they're in Disney World, for goodness sakes! But sprinkled candies makes the table look so pretty, and they are much cheaper.

Head Table: The chuppah floral (at least the price includes two uses), two centerpieces, and 12 votive cups. I have an enduring vision of our best person, Cliff, playing with the gel, our other best person, Eileen, eating all the lollipops (she and I both share a preference for sugar over "real food") and Angela knocking over the centerpieces. I can't wait for the pics.

Linens: 90 x 90 poly-cotton overlays in hot pink, orange, canary, neon green, tangerine, plum, aqua and turquoise. Head table - orange (6), one of each other couple. $11 each. We're treading the fine line between incorporating our favorite assortment of bright colors, and throwing an upscale gay pride parade.
White resort napkins tied with hibiscus ribbons in aqua, hot pink, royal blue, tangerine and turquoise. $2.50 Another potential dilemma: do we use colored napkins ($2 each), or white napkins? If we use white napkins, do we pay $2.50 to have them tied with pretty ribbons? For guests who use napkins as tissues, does it matter? Would it look weird to have plain white napkins on colored overlays?

Dessert 9" cylinder vase filled with gel in yellow, aqua and light green, LED lights and tropical confetti mixed throughout. Price: $10 each. I love DP pics with the light-up vases. (HAHA--the "party" smiley added itself because I wrote party with a colon after it.)

I don't know how that all adds up to $3K, but it does. We nixed all guest favors (isn't our company favorable enough?), and pared down the flowers to a minimum, but I think it will still be very colorful and most importantly, very us.

Up next, as worries go: guest book. I like the idea of a picture guest book, but our engagement photos were laughably horrific (thank you, Sears), and we don't have very many pics of us together that aren't, shall we say, risque. But regular guest books are a little bland against our rainbow-hued reception, and I can see us breaking any plate or glass we used for guest sign-ins (we have an "Homage to Human Error" sculpture containing all the broken dishes from our time together). Any ideas?

 

[keenercam]

Sunny -- Your floral sounds absolutely gorgeous! LOVE the idea of the edible centerpieces!

As for your guestbook -- I think we have pretty much decided that we don't want a guestbook full of pix of us. What I am planning, instead, is a book chronicling our relationship from the weekend we met and including pix of our family with all of our friends and family who will be at our VR. I think it will be so much fun to have pix of our dear friends in a coffee table book that those very same people have signed. If you can't gather up enough pix of you and Angela together, you may want to consider more of a "through the years" photo book.

 

[sungela]

That sounds perfect! Are you using one of the printing services to make a book with binding, or are you making your own scrap book? I'm a total pack rat, so I have a lot of our souvenirs (the program for the performance we went to on our first date, the room cards from our first trip to Disney, etc.)--I'd love to be able to use those too.

 

[keenercam]

I was planning to do it on shutterfly or blurb. My project right now is to locate all the photos I want to use and upload them to whichever site we use. The real problem has been finding a cover I like. I don't want black or brown or white leather. I thought something in silver satin or linen would be pretty and not so formal. There are so many layouts available and I want to be sure there is plenty of white space on each page so that each member of any given family or both people in a couple will have room to write on the page that has their picture on it.

 

[Gillian]

Up next, as worries go: guest book. I like the idea of a picture guest book, but our engagement photos were laughably horrific (thank you, Sears), and we don't have very many pics of us together that aren't, shall we say, risque. But regular guest books are a little bland against our rainbow-hued reception, and I can see us breaking any plate or glass we used for guest sign-ins (we have an "Homage to Human Error" sculpture containing all the broken dishes from our time together). Any ideas?

I just double checked your wedding date but I was going to suggest gettting someone to take photos at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton. I'm biased, because we got married there, but it's really cool. It doesn't look like you have time for that though, and the flowers aren't in bloom yet.

You could check the scrapbooking section of Michaels and maybe do something with 12x12 cardstock (comes in every color you can think of) and fun markers. You can buy a book and clear page protectors in 8x8 or 12x12. It should last. You also could choose background pages (printed) and have pre-cut shapes of different solid colors for people to write on & then assemble it at home.

I've seen things like that done for baby books, where people who come to visit in the hospital write a message to the family.

 

[lpizzuro123]

Hello fellow NJ bride - we also love the coffee table guest book style and as of now I think this is what we are going with. Our other option - which I really like also - is a guest book from the guest book store. Not sure if you have seen these yet but you order a binder style book from them and you get inserts - one per couple or person. You can get them personalized at the top and there is room on the page for a picture of the person filling out the page that you can take at the wedding. There are a bunch of questions on each page also like - how do you know the couple - what are your wishes for the couple - how far did you travel - etc. We did this for a 50th birthday for a friend of mine and everyone had a lot of fun filling out the pages. What they did was leave a bunch of pages on each table along with a few pens and all the guests filled out the pages during the reception (yes, this was a birthday party like a wedding). I was official photographer and made sure to get a picture of everyone entering the reception or if I missed them I went around the party taking photos. Once the book gets put together it looks great and you get a photo of everyone at your wedding.

Check out their website www.guestbookstore.com.

Linda

 

[Beep]

Hi, the floral sound gorgeous and it will be worth every penny when you see it I'm sure!

We've only got 9 guests so decided, rather than a guest book, to have cards made up (bit like a table setting but bigger) where they can write a message for us. We are going to do a scrapbook for us and my parents as well as a photo album and these will be great to add in. We are going to photo the message cards and print them separately to put in one of the scrapbooks.

 

[pink_tink8i8]

Why are the most expensive wedding dresses always the most gorgeous argh!I LOVE Angela's dress. It looks so light and airy. It's nice OHHH I can't wait to see a picture of the floral arrangements for your Chuppah it sounds so beautiful.

 

[DisneyFairy19]

I know a dress i tried on was $8,000 and I couldny believe it.. I said 'Ok thats it, not bad'

I left the boutique laughing with my mom

 

[sungela]

I just double checked your wedding date but I was going to suggest gettting someone to take photos at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton. I'm biased, because we got married there, but it's really cool. It doesn't look like you have time for that though, and the flowers aren't in bloom yet.

The Grounds for Sculpture is gorgeous--I pass by it on the train all the time! If we were getting married in NJ, that would definitely have been on our list.

I know a dress i tried on was $8,000 and I couldny believe it.. I said 'Ok thats it, not bad'

I left the boutique laughing with my mom

I love it when bridal stores try to convince you that $6000 is a bargain for a dress! I'm usually not shy about being cheap, but I was so afraid that they wouldn't let me keep shopping if I totally balked at the prices. It's at least fun to try on an incredibly expensive gown...

Thanks for all the help and advice about the guest book! At first, I kept thinking, "But we don't have enough digital pics to make a book. What are we going to do?" Then I remembered: someone invented something called a scanner. I'm not always the brightest crayon in the box... I've been going through our photos and mementos, and I'm really excited to make a book. I think I like the blurb model the best--I want something that looks professionally done that our grandchildren can appreciate. Plus, I don't like watching videos about other people at weddings or bar mitzvahs. Most of the stuff isn't funny unless you're in on the jokes, and I'd prefer for our guests to talk amongst themselves. With a blurb book, we can show off our pics without making a big deal out of it. I'm sold!

Few updates from this weekend: we picked our Father/Daughter dance song. I asked my dad if he had any ideas, and about two secs later, he said, Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo Ole'. It's a medley of What a Wonderful World and Somewhere Over the Rainbow; the former is one of my dad's favorites, and the latter is one of mine. It's really beautiful: http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/i/israelkamakawiwoole6157/somewhereovertherainbow239745.html

We also decided on favors: lottery tickets. I mentioned this in the favors thread, but I'll repost. I was really nervous about skipping favors, but I also didn't want to waste $$$ on items people would chuck before they went home. I figured we were feeding them enough, so edible favors (other than those they can take from our centerpieces) were out. I hate candles, and most of my family is allergic to scents anyway, so there went that idea. Mini soaps have the same problem. I like Caryn's wine bottles, but we're not really winos, and I am the world's worst gardener, so seeds didn't seem appropriate. But lottery tickets, at $1 each, are cheap, and they may potentially lead to more money (I figure at least one person will win, and they may be too busy to cash in their ticket and decide to give it us instead. ) Plus, if someone doesn't win, they don't have to worry about carrying the ticket back home. We're going to make little envelopes that say, "We hope you're as lucky as us," or something along those lines. DF and I often talk about how lucky we are, and I think it's a cute message. I'm sure that the FL lottery will have summer-themed tix close to our date, which will fit in with our sunshiney theme.

But the most important update: our invitations are in!!! The wonderful lady at the Papery stayed late yesterday so that we could pick them up, and they are perfect. I don't regret making custom invitations, although I will advise anyone starting out that it's much easier and cheaper to go the usual route. Sorry if the pix aren't very good--I'm not that great with the camera.

Here's the front:

The inside text (thermography print):

Our insert:

The invitation lining (which was so worth it):

And the RSVP postcard, made by Zazzle:

We went with the Disney stamps that so many people here have used, and they definitely fit well with the colors. Of course, as we went to drop off the invitations at the postal box yesterday, it occurred to us that they might be too heavy for the 41 cent stamp. We figured one day waiting wouldn't matter, so this morning, Angela measured the envelopes. Sure enough, we need to plunk on another stamp. I ordered the old style Disney stamps from USPS, so now we have to wait another few days to send them out. But at least the invitation saga is (mostly) done!

 

[DisneyFairy19]

Love the invites, and Zazzle is the best isnt it

 

[Lynn5700]

Your invitation's are very neat!!!! Very original

 

[sungela]

Love the invites, and Zazzle is the best isnt it

I was skeptical at first, but they are amazing! I am seriously tempted to make ties with our pictures and give them to our men of honor...

Your invitation's are very neat!!!! Very original

Thanks! What a hassle, but in the end, it was all totally worth it (I'm sure I will be able to say the same thing about the whole wedding experience).

Quick budgeting update: inspired by Carrie's minimum expenditure regimen, I decided to calculate my total without service and taxes. And I am happy to report, for 75 people, I am only $1071 over my minimum! If we got rid of Angela's string trio ($1365), we'd actually be under our minimum. Of course, tax and tip add up to a whopping $2547.78, and we still have to pay for photography separately. But even with Disney videography, the Wedding Pavilion and Grand Floridian in high season, and a DJ, we're doing really well budget-wise.