T&R's Escape Wedding

[Crickety]

Ok I figured with 3 months to go I should actually get started planning, and although I think I know what I want in my head there has been minimal follow through.

So let me start off with what I have accomplished:
1. I booked the Escape package
2. I booked the MK/Epcot Shoot
3. I bought my dress (I'll post pictures in a few)
4. I have our hotel reserved, but still need to get the remainder of the balance in the mail. (We rented DVC points)
5. I made 1 ADR, sure we'll be the 10 days, but apparently we are only eating one of them. It's the Fantasmic Dinner, so that at least must count for something.

What I'm wanting to do:
1. Book a lunch for after the reception. We looked at menus, sent a revised menu back, and now are waiting to hear more back. We were told we could hold it at either the Attic or St. James room. The Attic really isn't our style and St. James room is just ok, so I think I might ask if there are any other options available. If these are our only choices, I suppose St.James it will be.
2. I think I want a dessert party. (ok I know I want one...who doesn't want dessert)
3. I NEED an officiant (no clue who I will use)
4. I think I would like to book Beaute Speciale to do my hair and makeup
5. I need to find someone to clean the dirty from the bottom of my gown and steam it.
6. I need to talk to Disney floral about getting the flowers I want
7. I need a ring... oops
8. I think my FH might need a tux or he will be showing up in jeans and a T-shirt
9. We want to personalize our vows
10. I need to find shoes, jewelry, and a veil
11. I want to change the cake

So as you see my to-do list is quite full. On top of all this, I'm working on getting my visa and packing because I will be moving to the UK. I am off work for the next month, so hopefully I can finally put a dent in this list.

I have the Passporter's wedding to-do list, but if you notice anything major I'm missing please give me a heads up.

 

[MrsRomance]

Ok I figured with 3 months to go I should actually get started planning, and although I think I know what I want in my head there has been minimal follow through.

So let me start off with what I have accomplished:
1. I booked the Escape package
2. I booked the MK/Epcot Shoot
3. I bought my dress (I'll post pictures in a few)
4. I have our hotel reserved, but still need to get the remainder of the balance in the mail. (We rented DVC points)
5. I made 1 ADR, sure we'll be the 10 days, but apparently we are only eating one of them. It's the Fantasmic Dinner, so that at least must count for something.

What I'm wanting to do:
1. Book a lunch for after the reception. We looked at menus, sent a revised menu back, and now are waiting to hear more back. We were told we could hold it at either the Attic or St. James room. The Attic really isn't our style and St. James room is just ok, so I think I might ask if there are any other options available. If these are our only choices, I suppose St.James it will be.
2. I think I want a dessert party. (ok I know I want one...who doesn't want dessert)
3. I NEED an officiant (no clue who I will use)
4. I think I would like to book Beaute Speciale to do my hair and makeup
5. I need to find someone to clean the dirty from the bottom of my gown and steam it.
6. I need to talk to Disney floral about getting the flowers I want
7. I need a ring... oops
8. I think my FH might need a tux or he will be showing up in jeans and a T-shirt
9. We want to personalize our vows
10. I need to find shoes, jewelry, and a veil
11. I want to change the cake

So as you see my to-do list is quite full. On top of all this, I'm working on getting my visa and packing because I will be moving to the UK. I am off work for the next month, so hopefully I can finally put a dent in this list.

I have the Passporter's wedding to-do list, but if you notice anything major I'm missing please give me a heads up.

WOW! Lots to do and not a lot of time to do it in! Good luck with it all! I moved to the UK six years ago so I remember the visa waiting game myself.

You might want to get the vendors lined up ASAP because you may find that a lot of them may already be booked out for your date. We used Tim Herring for our VR and he was fantastic, I can't say enough good things about him.

What does your dress look like? Pictures would be great

 

[Crickety]

My dress

 

[DisneyEverAfter]

Ok I figured with 3 months to go I should actually get started planning, and although I think I know what I want in my head there has been minimal follow through.

So let me start off with what I have accomplished:
1. I booked the Escape package
2. I booked the MK/Epcot Shoot
3. I bought my dress (I'll post pictures in a few)
4. I have our hotel reserved, but still need to get the remainder of the balance in the mail. (We rented DVC points)
5. I made 1 ADR, sure we'll be the 10 days, but apparently we are only eating one of them. It's the Fantasmic Dinner, so that at least must count for something.

What I'm wanting to do:
1. Book a lunch for after the reception. We looked at menus, sent a revised menu back, and now are waiting to hear more back. We were told we could hold it at either the Attic or St. James room. The Attic really isn't our style and St. James room is just ok, so I think I might ask if there are any other options available. If these are our only choices, I suppose St.James it will be.
2. I think I want a dessert party. (ok I know I want one...who doesn't want dessert)
3. I NEED an officiant (no clue who I will use)
4. I think I would like to book Beaute Speciale to do my hair and makeup
5. I need to find someone to clean the dirty from the bottom of my gown and steam it.
6. I need to talk to Disney floral about getting the flowers I want
7. I need a ring... oops
8. I think my FH might need a tux or he will be showing up in jeans and a T-shirt
9. We want to personalize our vows
10. I need to find shoes, jewelry, and a veil
11. I want to change the cake

So as you see my to-do list is quite full. On top of all this, I'm working on getting my visa and packing because I will be moving to the UK. I am off work for the next month, so hopefully I can finally put a dent in this list.

I have the Passporter's wedding to-do list, but if you notice anything major I'm missing please give me a heads up.

Welcome! Your to-do list is big (much like mine only a few weeks ago!) But now you actually have it in a list it will be much easier to tackle, I promise! I love your dress! At least you have it We too booked a lunch (but at DTD), we're planning a dessert party currently, & as for outside vendors, hurry up! Some people we wanted were already booked when we inquired =( I booked Beaute Speciale and so far they've been great to be in contact with. We're using Tim Herring for an officiant. & We're in the process of booking Randy Chapman for outside photography. You can do it! Just tackle one thing at a time! Passporters is definitely helpful~

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Your dress looks fabulous!

 

[Crickety]

Thank you both.

Since my initial post we've had a lot of non-wedding related things to accomplish. I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything, and broken down in tears more than once. It's difficult sifting through all of your belongings and putting values on them. I never thought I was attached to material goods, but thinking about leaving behind so much of my past is a bit heartbreaking. Poor FH tries to understand, but doesn't really get it. How do you logically explain that seemingly insignificant objects are worth triple and quadruple their value to move? It makes no sense... and I know it, and so I continue to toss everything but the essentials out.

Less depressing updates:
1. We emailed Rev Tim over the weekend and he is free on our day. We are going to do a mixed ceremony. We also really like the rose ceremony, so we're going to ask that it's included.

2. Another positive is Beaute Speciale was available to do hair and makeup on our day. I just need to fax the paperwork to them.

3. After going back and forth on a private luncheon after the ceremony we are tossing the idea. Neither of us liked the options being offered through Disney. We have gone through multiple menus, and I think we may just get together with our families at Bluezoo after the wedding. It is definitely more our style. There are a few others places we like, but most seem only open for dinner.

4. We are DEFINITELY having a dessert party.

Hopefully we will have a productive week. I want to try and get my dress to a cleaners, find some shoes, and pay some of this stuff off. (hate owing money)

FH is going to get the shipping people over to my place to get a more accurate quote, look into buying a tux, and deal with Disney.

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Glad things are moving along.

 

[yourgypsy]

Hello!

Your dress is gorgeous!

And if it helps, we're now 47 days out from the wedding and I still don't have a ring, nor does Doug have most of what he's wearing. Next month's paycheck!

 

[virtuous girl]

I'm glad u are doing a dessert party! That will be something special & unique Nice dress Congrats on your BIG day!

 

[DisneyEverAfter]

Glad you have things coming along!!! So glad to have another escape bride to compare things with Plans sound good, we have a lot of the same vendors! I had a few meltdowns over a bunch of things, DEEP BREATHS. Things will get better. I'll send some pixie dust your way!

 

[Crickety]

Time is quickly getting by me, and our planning is not going well. (at least in my opinion)

FH is working 10+ hours a day and then suggested he grab some testing hours on the weekend. I said no, but he insisted he should because he needed to provide for our family and make sure we had everything we wanted for our wedding/honeymoon. He is such a sweetheart, but needs to rest.

I go back to work in 2 weeks unless I hear about my visa tomorrow. We decided if I get my visa by about mid April I will just give my 2 week resignation and then move to the UK. If I receive my visa after that time I will stay here and continue working up until the wedding.

Today I had yet another meltdown, but this time it was wedding related. We sent in our planning kit to our WC and got back a not so positive reply. I sent in a picture of another brides bouquet (sorry I don't recall who) that had anemones and asked if something similar could be created for our wedding using our colors. The answer was no because they weren't in season. I was ok until the suggestion was to replace the anemones with daisies. Tears started coming as I tried to hold it together so FH could finish reading the rest of the message. Now I know lots of people love daises, but they remind me of the weeds that grow in yards down in FL. All I kept picturing in my head was a bouquet full of weeds. WEEDS! And the tears just let loose. FH just couldn't understand why I was so upset and trying to explain it to him just made me cry more. I spoke to my mother later in the evening and the minute I told her what happened she completely understood why I was so upset. Perhaps the "flowers" only grow here? They were great fun when I was little, but certainly not what I envisioned for my wedding day.

Sadly, the wedding cake we designed could not be made. Now we're not positive if we understood correctly or not, but we think they are able to create something similar which sounds fantastic. We are messaging her back to verify we correctly understood. Fingers are crossed.

We decided to just go with the standard flavors after being told having a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and adding fresh strawberries to the strawberry mousse was going to be an additional $75++. Sorry that doesn't seem worth what would turn out to be close to $100 worth of changes after tax and gratuity. We will have red velvet cupcakes at the dessert party. So our choice on cakes is Marble Cake with Strawberry Mousse and Almond Cake with Amaretto and Almond Crunch mmmmmm...

The petals for the aisle were quoted at $95 which doesn't sound bad, although we have nothing to compare that price to. Also, we're not sure how much to expect. We are trying to get this clarified. Is this a pretty standard amount??

We chose music over the weekend. I honestly can't remember what we chose though. I do know it was Disney.

Photography is settled. We are using DPS. We have requested either Regina or Rick. We would be ecstatic if we got either one. I am really praying at this point because we weren't happy with the style of many of the other photographers. We will start the day with MK/Epcot photos, move on to the wedding and cake, then we added an additional hour of photography, and the night will end with photos at the dessert party. I've wavered about doing dessert party photos because I have seen some pretty awful ones, but then I see an amazing shoot and my jaw just drops.

We are still working on a dessert menu. Considering we both love sweets it's hard to narrow down the choices. Hopefully we can work on this over the weekend. Darn I just hate working on the dessert party menu.

I've sent the contract and deposit to Rev. Tim and Beaute Speciale is booked and paid off.

Oh forgot to add, I finally got dinner reservations at Bluezoo. This was a mission to say the least. I emailed and called the group reservation person what feels like a billion times and she was never in her office. So one night I called the restaurant directly and the woman that answered the phone asked if I would like to speak to the manager. I wish I remembered his name because he was SO NICE!! He asked if I was interested in a private dinner room, but when I said no we just wanted a regular dinner reservation he promptly made them. Super nice. The next day or possibly even the day after I got a message from the group reservation person saying she had held one of the private dining rooms for us and sent us price information. We had made it very clear we weren't interested in a private dining room when I emailed and left a message. Thankfully FH stepped in and messaged her back.

Wow if you made it through thanks for reading the novel. Hopefully I can update a little more frequent so they won't drag on forever.

 

[DisneyEverAfter]

Yay! Glad you got vendors paid off & such.. Forgot to say in my last post (or did I??? I can't remember ) that I ADORE YOUR DRESS! The back is gorgeous! Yay @ the cake, boo @ the lady not hearing what you requested at Bluezoo, but mega Yay! @ the Dessert Party + Photography! Things sound like they're coming along for you More plans!

 

[Crickety]

Dinner Reservations for our trip are finally made. I love munching at Disney!

We will be going to (Before the Wedding): Tutto Italia (which I hope is as good as the reviews say it is), Hollywood and Vine for the Fantasmic Dining Experience (ate here it is just ok, but love the reserved section), Chefs de France , Boma, We are dining with our families the night before the wedding but no clue where

Wedding night Bluezoo-YUM

After the Wedding: Dine with an animal specialist at Sanaa (probably the meal I am looking forward to most), Jiko (Sanaa is more Indian so I think we should be ok), Liberty Tree Inn (lunch since I'm not a fan of dinner here), Kona Cafe (We need to try the Lapu Lapu everyone talks about), Narcoossee

I have no breakfasts planned because we are generally late risers and not huge breakfast people. Also for lunches not planned we will be grabbing counter services in the park or DTD. (Cantina de San Angel, Wolfgang Pucks, Picnic in the Park at AK, etc)

After our time in Disney we will head to Naples to relax on the beach for a few days before heading back to the UK. (Just FYI it is currently SNOWING there)

 

[Crickety]

I got my VISA!!

OMG so unreal!!

 

[CinderALLIE]

Congratulations on your Visa...and getting your ADRs sorted.