Swan and Dolphin McCullough Adventure 10.10.11 Trip Report

[Belle83]

I want to read more too!

 

[Shannon84]

YAY I am glad you are doing a report!!

 

[MrsDuck]

Ashella is just gorgeous!

Ahh! Isn't it crazy how things work out? Love that Karen got back to you so fast!

MORE!!

 

[Silverdocz]

Wow...I'm really bad at keeping this thing rolling. It seems as soon as I start a post, Ashella crawls up onto my lap and starts banging on the keyboard. If there is ever a crazy post, be assured I haven't been hitting the bottle, it's just a two year old posting.

 

[Silverdocz]

Aww sweetie, it is so nice to see you back on the boards!!! I am deeply honoured that I have helped in a small way in the planning of your wedding!!
Your little princess is just the cutest thing. You have every right to be immensely proud of her!!
Looking forward so much to following the rest of your trip report!!!

Thanks Jo! You will see a lot of your planning as part of my inspiration. Just let me know if you want me to take anything down.

Ahh, I can't wait to read the rest! Post! Post!

I can't believe you were/are a CP! Yay for college program. I wasn't a photographer. Food and beverage at Lottawatta Lodge in Blizzard Beach.

YAY I am glad you are doing a report!!

Hey Shannon!

Ashella is just gorgeous!

Ahh! Isn't it crazy how things work out? Love that Karen got back to you so fast!

MORE!!

Truly, I will never understand how everything unfolds. Somehow in this crazy world it does.

 

[Silverdocz]

So I was going off of no sleep, but excited to see the Swan and Dolphin in person. I still couldn't believe that 12 hours into the concept of even having a wedding at Disney, I was meeting with a wedding planner!

Ashella and I all ready to meet Karen, well...almost. I did put a dress on her

We arrived and met at the Dolphin fountain. Karen asked me a few questions about my overall vision for my wedding. I told her that I wanted beach, seafood, greens, and black and white damask. She just smiled. I could tell that she knew I really wanted a wedding planner that would do just that. Plan my wedding.
We briskly walked about and Karen rattled off everything. I was very appreciative that she could sense I was in a hurry and not super concerned with the details. I just wanted an overall idea. Are you ready for picture overload?

 

[Ms. Belle]

Hi, I just found this thread and am reading away, loving the pics and the story, please post again! Your little girl is adorable!

 

[3girlsfun]

Yes! Can't wait for picture overload!

I'm really enjoying this bc I'm considering S/D as well.

 

[Silverdocz]

So after I told Karen the overall feel of the wedding, I asked her about the receptions. She had mentioned that some brides go with the catering department and others go with the restaurants. I turned around and saw Blue Zoo for the first time. I fell in love. It was like if I was talented and could make a restaurant...this is what would come out of my brain:

The light fixture before walking into BZ

After Blue Zoo, we looked around at the rest of the options:
Garden Grove

Shulas

I can't remember

 

[Silverdocz]

Once I made my decision on BZ (Which ended up being totally different than expected, but still OK.)

Next was the beach terrace location and the walkway.

 

[Silverdocz]

I was in love with the whole idea, sleep deprived, and giddy. I told Karen again that I really wanted to just give her ideas and ultimately have her make the decisions and I would focus on the budget. I don't really think anything phases that lady...she was amazing. So within 15 minutes I had nailed down the ceremony, the reception, and now I needed to decide on "the dance".

When I was on the College program we spent many a night at these places. Pleasure Island was still in full swing at that time, but I always liked Jellyrolls and ADH.

 

[Silverdocz]

Man, why am I so bad at this thing? I really want to have it all completed to see our McCullough Adventure laid out before me. Sorry to whomever read this in the beginning...just too long in between posts.

So I was at the end of my very quick planning session with Karen from Just Marry. I had decided to just go with my gut and in a manner of 30 minutes, I had picked a date, location, and reception location. Wow. I thanked Karen for her time and asked her to send me the quote once she had it drawn up.

I decided on ADH for the dance after the reception only to remember it is closed on Mondays and we were getting married on a Monday. I knew I would have to sneak in a good 'ol dance session in somehow.

I also remembered watching Illuminations from the Boardwalk as a CP. I knew that we would be doing that also the night of the wedding. We used to go ontop of the Boardwalk and watch all the park fireworks from here:

I figured that is more something you do when you are 21 and not with your entire wedding lmao:
So it was time to say goodbye to Disney yet another year. This year was not so hard to say goodbye because I knew that meant that I only had a year to get my butt in gear to plan a wedding! Two more stock photos of my dream Blue Zoo and Beach Terrace Wedding. (We shall see how close my real photos get to these two)

 

[Silverdocz]

We were home again and it was time to get down to the real planning details. Considering I didn't even have a wedding dress (I had sold my previous on EBAY since I was so embarrassed that I cancelled the "first" wedding) and I told my wedding planner "beach, seafood, green, and damask". It was time to get to gettn'.
Google is my friend. I google everything. Here are the stock photos that I came up with for inspiration:

I sent all the images off to Karen so she would be able to start pricing the bouquets and cake. It is very cool to see the inspiration and the end result. The lady is a genius, I tell ya.

 

[Silverdocz]

Karen got back to me and let me know that the bouquet pics I sent her were faux flowers. I had to have real flowers, so I told her that I just wanted a black and white feel and I understood mother nature doesn't make black flowers. She also said that black frosting on a wedding cake is pretty, but a horrible ideas for pictures. Oh, duh! I didn't even think of my guests having black teeth. How cute would that be? I felt comfortable to let her run with the rest. She had my overall idea and I knew she would do awesome.

Next it was time to find my dress. Oh, and I haven't even shown my ring yet:

I saw this dress in a Google search:

Fell in love with it and knew that I was going to try it on the very next day when Davids Bridal opened. That next morning I went onto their website to get the number of the dress. It was no where to be found!!! Had I imagined this dream dress? I went to Davids in search of the beauty and couldn't find it anywhere. Finally, I pulled up the image on my phone and the consultant let me know that the dress had been discontinued and shipped out. Oh.my.god. I almost lost my stuff. I asked her to look in back. She returned with one in my size and it was 50% off!! The said that they must have missed the ship by date. I scored this beaute for $500!!!

And then I saw them on the very same day when I was buying my dress. I didn't even have to search or think about it. In fact, I think I may have squeaked when I saw them. MY SHOES!!!!!: