Ashley and Nate's Disney Dream Planning Journal 4/10/15

[CaliMermaid]

I used the Seaside B&B template. I tried a bunch of the wedding templates, but none of them had the nautical elements or layout I wanted. Also, they will host your website for free but if you want to use your own domain, you have to upgrade to a premium subscription ($9/month). I stuck with Wix since I had already uploaded all of the pictures I wanted to use and finding them was half the battle.

 

[CaliMermaid]

I LOVE your wedding website!! It is awesome and very unique!

Your engagement pictures are so funny...you both manage to look great in every one, but they're all hysterical!!

Brooke

Thank you! (It would have been nice if one of the two dudes at that photo shoot had told me to pull up my dress)

I was totally inspired by Melissa's themed photo shoot.

 

[Disneyducks12]

I used the Seaside B&B template. I tried a bunch of the wedding templates, but none of them had the nautical elements or layout I wanted. Also, they will host your website for free but if you want to use your own domain, you have to upgrade to a premium subscription ($9/month). I stuck with Wix since I had already uploaded all of the pictures I wanted to use and finding them was half the battle.

Hmm I will have to investigate that I will be on vacation for a week so I know what I will be doing ahah but your domain is so funny and original!

 

[CaliMermaid]

I couldn't find anything that fit our shipwrecked theme in wedding invitations, but I did in kids invitations from Paper + Cup Designs through Paperless Post. Check it out!

https://www.paperlesspost.com/events/8309825-24613c56/replies/preview?mkey=YXNobGV5ZWxkcmlkZ2VAZ21haWwuY29t&utm_campaign=preview_rsvp_env&utm_medium=email&utm_source=event#paper/front/0

 

[alyaki]

Those are very cute! I think they turned out really well.

 

[NeeNeeBell25]

I love you engagement photos! Getting your dress at a thrift store is a total win I'll be following along!

 

[CaliMermaid]

We've spent the last few weeks engaged in the great address hunt for our invitations. In the meantime, the invites have arrived!

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[CaliMermaid]

http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/ashley_ford2/media/invitation_zps29e7bd81.jpg.html

 

[CaliMermaid]

For the night before the wedding, I have decided to wear an outfit that my wonderful aunt got married in.

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[Disneyducks12]

I love your invitations they look so good! Do you know what kind of registry card you are going to do yet? Also that is so sweet to wear the dress your aunt got married in to your rehearsal dinner are you going to do a rehearsal on the boat?

Everything is looking great

 

[CaliMermaid]

I love your invitations they look so good! Do you know what kind of registry card you are going to do yet? Also that is so sweet to wear the dress your aunt got married in to your rehearsal dinner are you going to do a rehearsal on the boat?

Everything is looking great

Hi Melissa! I am sending the majority of the invitations through paperless post virtually. Only a handful of older relatives are getting the paper versions, so I am not doing registry cards, just RSVP cards. My sisters' experiences have been that most of our relatives send back reply cards with checks (if only we could be so lucky). The registry is on the website but beyond that, I'm not promoting it unless asked.

That said, my mother worked in bridal registry and recommended registering everywhere at every price point so that your guests can find you something anywhere they feel comfortable shopping. For me, I usually put the invitation on the fridge and lose the attachments, so I love being able to go to the easy places (weddingchannel.com, Amazon, e.g.) and finding that the wedding couple is registered.

 

[Disneyducks12]

Hi Melissa! I am sending the majority of the invitations through paperless post virtually. Only a handful of older relatives are getting the paper versions, so I am not doing registry cards, just RSVP cards. My sisters' experiences have been that most of our relatives send back reply cards with checks (if only we could be so lucky). The registry is on the website but beyond that, I'm not promoting it unless asked.

That said, my mother worked in bridal registry and recommended registering everywhere at every price point so that your guests can find you something anywhere they feel comfortable shopping. For me, I usually put the invitation on the fridge and lose the attachments, so I love being able to go to the easy places (weddingchannel.com, Amazon, e.g.) and finding that the wedding couple is registered.

That is so awesome to send them virtually that way you save on postage and know people received it! and that is smart to have a bunch of options and hopefully you get replies with checks that would be awesome we ended up doing the Disney registry that way people can "buy" things for out honeymoon that's really all we want we have stuff for the house hopefully you get lots of things you really want!

 

[CaliMermaid]

After reading Melissa's PJ, I decided that I too needed to make custom tumblers for my guests. Knowing that Nate wuld not consent to letting me use the Waltograph font on anything, I decided to put each guest's face on his/her tumbler. As Melissa had promised, Dollar Tree had tumblers for $1/each. I downloaded an app called Face Salon to make each guest's face. I saved the images to the camera on my iPhone, emailed them and opened them in Paint (you could just copy and paste them into Word, but I wanted to flip the images horizontally so they would print correctly onto decal paper). I printed them on water slide decal paper and followed the instructions for application. Here is my sister's tumbler:

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[Disneyducks12]

So glad I could help to inspire wedding favors!! and yey to dollar tumblers you can not beat that deal I hope you got as many as you needed and that face app looks so awesome I love that idea it is so personalized to each guest! Make sure to post all of them when your done I would love to see

 

[CaliMermaid]

My brother proposed to a girl we had not met, so my sister and I decided to take her on a wedding dress bonding trip to Alfred Angelo. While there, we tried on the Disney dresses. I fell in love with the Sleeping Beauty dress and then got it on eBay for $147 (cheaper than altering my original dress). Now I must decide whether to wear it for the ceremony, reception or both, or to sell it at a profit. Love this dress!

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[sorceressk]

After reading Melissa's PJ, I decided that I too needed to make custom tumblers for my guests. Knowing that Nate wuld not consent to letting me use the Waltograph font on anything, I decided to put each guest's face on his/her tumbler. As Melissa had promised, Dollar Tree had tumblers for $1/each. I downloaded an app called Face Salon to make each guest's face. I saved the images to the camera on my iPhone, emailed them and opened them in Paint (you could just copy and paste them into Word, but I wanted to flip the images horizontally so they would print correctly onto decal paper). I printed them on water slide decal paper and followed the instructions for application. Here is my sister's tumbler:

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That is so cute!! I Luke the idea of personalizing with their own faces!! Where did u get the decal paper?

 

[CaliMermaid]

That is so cute!! I Luke the idea of personalizing with their own faces!! Where did u get the decal paper?

Hi! I got the decal paper on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0054TSEKU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I am still working on developing a better application process, so I'll post more about it when I have it down to a science (I hope).

 

[CaliMermaid]

We just returned from our research cruise. Certain adventures knocked our socks off and other experiences left room for improvement.

Day 1: We arrived at Orlando International Airport and toured the Hyatt inside where we plan to block our rooms. The rooms were nice enough and they showed me the area where they will help me set up my "make your own minibar" and gift bags. We drove to Total Wine and picked up a bunch miniature liquors to sample for the gift bags. Then we drove to the Wilderness Lodge for the night. The room was great and we had a superb meal at Artist's Point. Unfortunately, the pool was closed for renovations, but they told us we could use the pool at the Contemporary. We took the ferry (5 minutes) to the Contemporary just in time to see the Wishes fireworks. After using the water slide at the big pool, we found the smaller pool hidden away and had it all to ourselves.

Day 2: Smooth embarkation. When we got onboard, we went straight to the gym. The trainer began talking to us and sold us a deal including two days of bootcamp and body composition analysis for $33pp. We worked out for an hour in the empty gym on all new equipment and then headed to Cabanas. The lunch offerings at Cabanas were the best of the 10 cruise ships I've sailed. After lunch we went to our ocean view cabin which we loved. The layout is really smart and we loved it so much we might have spent a little too much time there. We changed into bathing suits and headed to the pool deck around 4:30. The wait for Aquaduck was an hour, so we went to the adult pool instead. The pool was small but adequate. Two teens approached and were escorted away by a cast member within 30 seconds. As six o'clock approached, we went to back to Aquaduck and were on the slide in about 12 minutes. I expected the ride to be more exciting, but it was pleasant at least. We went back to the room and for an hour and wandered the ship for about 45 minutes before dinner. Animator's Palette was overrun by children, even at the late seating. The food was pretty good, about average. Our dinner companions were nice enough, but sitting in the middle of the room, we didn't get to interact with the sea turtle.

After dinner, we had a glass of champagne at Pink and pleasant conversation and by then it was about 10. We sat/wandered around for an hour waiting for the night club to open. Missed having a piano bar. Then the dancing began at Evolution. The place went off! I had a great time and danced for two hours.

Day 2: Quick breakfast at Cabanas. Warning: the restaurant opens at 7 but won't serve hot food until 7:30. Lots of waiting, then the entire ship descends on the buffet. We scarfed down some food before 8AM bootcamp. Bootcamp was awesome! The trainers displayed appropriate enthusiasm for 8AM and we were up on deck stretching when we pulled into Nassau. We got off the ship to buy rum cake and rum ahead of our excursion. While on land, I got to dance with the Junkanoo which was SO fun- just like New Orleans. Back on board, we grabbed our scuba gear and met up with our group. Disney contracts with Stuart Cove who has an excellent operation. Our bus took us to the northwest corner of Nassau where the boats were docked on the set of Flipper! Once on board, our guide asked us what we wanted to see. "Sharks!" He took us to the Tongue of the Ocean and sure enough, sharks swam right by us. For our second dive, he took us to wreckage from a James Bond movie which was teeming with marine life. Caution: there is this stuff called fire coral which grows on a bunch of underwater stuff. I got stung when I wrapped my body around the boat line and ended up with a painful full body rash. Still, the excursion was so worth it. Back onboard, we went to Remy for dinner. I'm a foodie, and Remy was the best dining experience I have ever had. The service and wine parings were divine. We felt like royalty and it was totally worth the splurge. After dinner we had drinks outside the Meridian lounge which was one of my favorite decks of the ship. We were in food comas when it came time for the fireworks, so we watched them from our room (starboard side). This was one of the best days of my life.

 

[CaliMermaid]

Day 3: We woke up early waited around for Cabanas to let us into the hot food. After another great bootcamp, we headed onto Castaway Key. It was broiling hot with no wind. We saw the ceremony site which was super cute. The 5K also looked fun. We made the poor decision to try to walk to Serenity Bay and quit about a half hour in and hopped the tram back to the ship. We grabbed our snorkel gear from the room and headed back to the snorkeling lagoon. The snorkeling was okay, as was the water slide at the adjacent beach. We were hungry and headed to Cookies Too for lunch. Screaming children. Ugh. We were really regretting all of it. We took the tram to Serenity Bay which was true paradise. There is a restaurant there. We should have eaten in the quiet, with the grown-ups. We jumped in a hammock, but then my sunscreen ran out and we quickly returned to the ship.

Cabanas was closed. In my opinion, the biggest mistake DCL makes is having such limited hours there. I like to eat in the dining room, but I like to be able to snack and the poolside pizza was gross. Also, I feel like a lot of people would have dinner there and ease the crowding in the dining rooms. We went back to the cabin and ordered room service to hold us over until dinner. Royal Palace had excellent offerings. After dinner, we exited into the Atrium where we realized we should have spent a lot more time. The live music was excellent. We strolled over to the stores and had fun shopping. Finally, we went to an 11:15 showing of Guardians of the Galaxy. I had never seen a movie on a ship before, but the Buena Vista Theater was the cleanest movie theater ever and I would go again.

Day 4: We had breakfast in the Royal Palace and disembarked. The last morning of the cruise was less frantic than what I had experienced with other lines and we leisurely left the ship around 9:30.

Best Part: Remy

Worst Part: Screaming children in dining room

Can't wait to go back. 7 months to go!

 

[Disneyducks12]

Love your research cruise it sounds like fun and how exciting that you get to see where you will get married and take time see where you want to take pictures can you believe time is moving already I want it to be like March so I only have a few more months to go! How did the rest our your tumbler cups turn out? and have you been working on anymore wedding favors yet its fun to follow along with someone at the same time!

Happy Planning
Melissa