Charise & Jordan's DCL Wedding!! Disney Dream Onboard - Dec 8 - Update: I'M BACK! Travel Day Part 2

Sugarbaby1022

Earning My Ears
Joined
Oct 15, 2008
Maybe it's the 2nd or 3rd cup of coffee before 9AM (thanks, Starbucks)... maybe it's because I just ran out like a spaz to check the parking meter again (because I forgot to check it 10 minutes ago when I ran out to check it, so initially I just ran outside then back inside)... or maybe it's the high I'm getting from slyly posting this from my work computer (sorry not sorry)... OR maybe it's because I'm getting married in almost 2 months... but my heart is POUNDING!

Hi, everyone!! Like many of you lovely ladies on this board, I've been lurking around this Disney board for many a fortnight and have finally gotten to the point to where I get to start a planning journal! Not only is this a way for me to record happenings for myself (I have the short term memory span of a goldfish), but those who are looking at a Disney cruise wedding might hopefully get some perspectives from someone going through the planning process. Also, the journals I've read on here and the excitement and loving support I've seen from you all has been a major part in my choosing of a Disney wedding. Disney brides are wonderful and upbeat and incredibly supportive of one another, so I'm honored to be a part of it.

So here goes!! Man the battleships! Paint the town red!! Kick up your heels!! And other random exclamations that may excite and confuse the reader!! Because this is Jordan and Charise's DCL planning journal, and it's about to get mildly and responsibly crazy.
 
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Who are we?



If there were only 1 thing I'd get to say about myself - it's that I love Disney. Typically when I explain to others the extent to which I love Disney, they'd either jump up and down with excitement (rare) or they'd awkwardly laugh and slowly step back (less rare). I work in finance and am still building my career into corporate finance. During my MBA candidacy at a global business school, I was known as the Disney girl. My final project for Financial Statement Analysis was on Disney. My professor gave me an A, possibly out of fear that I'd kick down his door and talk more about Disney had he given me a lower grade. I'm 4' 10.5", but I tell people I'm 5' tall, because honestly who's going to whip out a measuring tape and demand accuracy?!

My DF is in banking operations, and to sum it up, he's fabulous. I hope he reads this and notes that I called him fabulous... he he... but truly he is! His tastes in movies range from Japanese horror movies to My Best Friend's Wedding, and his tastes in music range from heavy metal to Josh Groban. Do NOT get him started on his man love for Josh Groban.

How'd we meet?


In high school. Cue ::awwww:: and/or ::stick finger in mouth and make gagging noise::. I remember meeting him in sophomore English class. I'd just given what I thought was a stellar book report presentation about some book that had something to do with yams (yes, yams), and I'd spent the previous night immortalizing the significance of yams into this giant Marvel comic style rendering of a superhero named Yam Man. My teacher verbally slapped my attempt at making a boring book interesting in front of the whole class, and I was about to throw the poster away when this curly haired band geek came up to me and asked if he could keep it. If you ask Jordan now, he claims he liked me the second he met me. But I'm almost positive that's a lie, because I slightly remember tossing him the poster, muttering "Yeah whatever sure" like a mopey little baby, and stomping out of the room.

How'd he propose?




I'm not sure what the average time between meeting and getting engaged is, but for us it was 7 years. At the time, I was trying to figure myself out career-wise and was doing barista duties and some marketing for The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Anyone who's worked in the food and beverage biz knows what it's like to start work early. I was getting up at 3:45AM to open the store by 5, and once I got home in the afternoon, I would not so delicately pass out face first on the bed. One Saturday, soon after I'd face planted, Jordan strode into the room and started throwing workout clothes at me. "We're going hiking!"

Hiking.

First off, I'd finished a long early shift at the store. He should know this... Secondly, I'm like 4 feet tall, and climbing even regular steps at the mall makes me feel like a toddler crawling upstairs on her hands and knees. He knows I don't hike... So after much pushing off the bed and cajoling, DF finally got me dressed and into the car. After a bit of driving through the rolling hills of Austin, DF parked at the base of a well known viewing point called Mount Bonnell, which has this long, long staircase you have to hike up in order to get to the outlook that looks over the city. I feel for the older couple walking in front of us - it wasn't my finest moment in terms of verbal poetry, but we'll just say that I mumbled verbosely all the way up that hill. Once at the top, I walked to the edge and peeked out. It was beautiful, but I felt something was up, and DF seemed off. When I turned to look at him, he said he wanted to bring me here to look at the view but to also ask me something. He pulled a ring box out of his backpack and dropped to a knee, and asked me to spend my life with him. I remember bawling/gasping before his knee hit the ground, and he started crying a split second after. Hahah! I was actually talking to him about this yesterday, and he said he was telling himself "Don't cry, don't cry", which apparently went out the window the second I lost it.

One of the best parts of this was that there was a group of geologists at the top surveying the area, and one took this photo of us and was so kind to email it to us later. Another geologist came up to us, asked to see the ring, and said "That's a great rock! And we know rocks, we're geologists."

Why a Disney Wedding?


Both of us love Disney. I was raised on Disney, and Jordan liked Disney movies as a kid but didn't realize its full awesomeness until we went to Disney World as adults. When we started talking about weddings, I'd already been researching Disney Fairy Tale Weddings and their potential costs. It made sense. Plus we've been engaged now for over 4 years (school and life got in the way), so we've had a bit of time to mull it over. We went from deciding on the Wishes wedding to the Escape wedding - much of our family wouldn't be able to make it to that side of the country due to costs and time off from work, so the Escape package seemed more doable. I was wanting an easy ceremony at Epcot and then a dessert party later that night during the Illuminations show. We were set on that package for a while until it dawned on us that we'd still need more time to save up for it. After being engaged for 4+ years, neither of us wanted to wait any more. Then we thought of the DCL wedding. Affording that was much easier, we could book it as a wedding and honeymoon in one go, and we'd give people an easy out since taking off work, flying to Florida and paying for a cruise would be costly and time consuming for them.

So DCL Wedding it is. Easy peasy!

Why would you do this to a cat?




I didn't, don't worry.
But I think the real question should be "Why would you do this to a cat?! AND a perfectly fine piece of pizza?"
 
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Booking the Wedding... Booking Dot Com, Booking Dot YEAH!

I'd like to say DF and I were Masters of Strategery in coming up with our wedding date, but to be honest it was more a mix of "How fast can we get this thing done?" with "When's a cheap time to go?". It took me a while to get a job offer after business school (side note: Austin job market can kiss my left cheek), and only until I had an offer in place would we officially book our nuptials. I started work March 2015, and we booked the cruise/wedding that same month for December 2015. There are brides out there who go 1-2 years out and even more with all the planning they have to do. If we'd gone a different route and had much more people, that would've been the same in our case. BUT before life got in the way again (and with us, it's been known to happen), we wanted to be married before our engagement burned through another 4 years.

Has anyone seen that movie The 5 Year Engagement with Jason Segal and Emily Blunt? Long engagements aren't as funny in real life.

The Dec 7-11 booking was good for us - enough time to get clothing done, enough time to notify people who could come, it's in a slower season for tourism (compared to Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.), and it's still in this millennia. We went with the booking process as they have you do it online. We booked the wedding through the number they give you online for weddings, booked our cruise for ourselves, and BAM! It was booked! There's only one wedding per cruise allowed to use the Castaway Cay beach venue, and someone had nabbed that spot already, which was fine with us because (1) We are not one of those couples who naturally look beautiful when we sweat, and (2) I can't use high heels to bulk up my height if I'm getting married on the beach and walking on sand. I'm 4' 10". I'll take all the height I can get.

Once we made our down payment on the cruise and the wedding, I got an email from our wedding planner with some attachments to fill out and send back to her later. We talked on the phone a little bit, which was weird considering I hadn't met her in person. In the case of my wedding planner, so far she's been quick to answer my questions and supportive and friendly. I'm not asking for many adjustments, and I'm past the point in my long winded engagement to go Bridezilla on anything in particular, so the risk of bumping heads with her has been pretty low. Granted, women keep telling me I'll go Bridezilla-nuts on something eventually, so I'll let you know when that happens...
 
How'd he propose?


My fiance and I got engaged on Mount Bonnell in May of 2014! It is a small world (after all)! haha We both went to school at UT for undergrad. Did you go to McCombs for your MBA?

Also congratulations on the wedding planning! I would love to have a Disney wedding but it didn't quite work out with our big families and living in Minnesota now.

Has anyone seen that movie The 5 Year Engagement with Jason Segal and Emily Blunt? Long engagements aren't as funny in real life.

Totally have seen this movie. My sister watched it with me and said "Don't have that long of an engagement." haha We will be engaged over two years when we get married. Excited to follow along with your adventures! Best wishes! :)
 


My fiance and I got engaged on Mount Bonnell in May of 2014! It is a small world (after all)! haha We both went to school at UT for undergrad. Did you go to McCombs for your MBA?

Also congratulations on the wedding planning! I would love to have a Disney wedding but it didn't quite work out with our big families and living in Minnesota now.



Totally have seen this movie. My sister watched it with me and said "Don't have that long of an engagement." haha We will be engaged over two years when we get married. Excited to follow along with your adventures! Best wishes! :)

Thanks, TXMNie!!! Minnesota is pretty far from LA or Orlando - you could always do a themed wedding in Minnesota? If we'd gotten married back in Texas, our guest list would've been MUCH bigger. Maybe y'all can do a Disney Vow Renewal later on!

HAHA that's awesome about the Mt. Bonnell engagement and UT!! Very small world! So you know about the bajillion steps you have to walk up. I didn't get my MBA there, but instead went to Arizona for mine. McCombs is a great biz school, though.

Two year engagement time is great - Congratulations!!! Your sister is a wise woman. THANKS FOR READING! :banana:
 
Photography

I've read posts from other brides saying they don't remember much of what happened during the ceremony. They were so pumped up with adrenaline, with love, with hate, with pain (tight shoes), or what have you. Knowing myself, it'll be a mix of all those things.

::Walking down the aisle:: Shouldn't have had coffee, my heart is going to leap out of my chest... I love him so much, my heart is going to leap out of my chest. I hate these painful shoes, I hope my heart leaps out of my chest and discreetly takes off my shoes.

Thus is the reason for photography. So when we've both calmed down, DF and I can actually check out what happened that day.

There are I think at least 3 packages offered by Disney, and the differences are in the number of printed photos and photo items you want to take home with you. The last, most expensive package was what I was thinking about, and it included a selection of printed photos, albums, and a CD of all the pictures for your own personal printing use. The issue with this is if you chose a package without the CD or without tacking that on for a separate fee, you'd only get a handful of printed photos you'd have to choose from and that's it. On top of that, your photographer will only be shooting your ceremony and reception, and maybe some shots around the boat (if there's time leftover, or if you pay for extra time with the photographer). I've seen good reviews and bad reviews of using Disney photography, and some of the pics I've seen posted have been nice. (Side note: the DCL brides I've seen have all been ridiculously beautiful and so happy in their pics, in the end that's really what matters.)

For DF and I, we chose to externally hire a photographer and bring them on board with us. That meant finding a photographer, getting them set up on the cruise at our expense, and paying their photography fees. Everything totaled to more than the packages offered by Disney, but I already know it'll be worth it. Based on the portfolio I've seen of her work with other DCL brides, her knowledge of what'll go down come wedding day, and the fact that we'll have much MUCH more time with her for pictures, we know it's worth it in our case.
 
Welcome! I love your proposal story - it's so sweet. :) I'm excited to follow along with your plans!
 


Welcome! I love your proposal story - it's so sweet. :) I'm excited to follow along with your plans!
Hey Seia, thanks so much!! We were lucky that someone took pics of our engagement! Posting again, soon. Thanks for reading!!! :wave2:
 
The Great Room Switcheroo Fiasco of 2015

When DF and I booked our wedding back in March, we also booked our room reservation. We'd gone on a cruise a year earlier (which was also DF's first cruise ever) and had an interior room that we loved. Cheaper, quiet, and pitch black, and we both slept like tranquilized bears. So when we booked our wedding cruise, we booked an interior room. As luck would have it, we got the very last interior room, too. Noice.

Flash forward a couple weeks later, and we also decided to bring a photographer on board with us instead of using Disney's photographers. That meant booking a room for her and her assistant, too. By that time, there were only veranda rooms available that were several hundey sticks more than our interior room. So I talked with Disney Cruise Line on the phone and the nice girl said that we could book the veranda room and then switch the reservation names later so that DF and I got the fancy shmancy veranda room, and our photographer and her assistant got the tranquilized bear room. I asked if this was ok with our photographer, if we gave her the interior room and she was cool. This was all in April.

It wasn't until just recently that we were able to get the names switched. When we booked the verandah room, it was one of those "guaranteed" types of bookings where we were guaranteed a room, but we weren't assigned an actual room number yet. I had to call and check in 2-3 times over the past 6 months to see if they'd assigned us an actual room, since they couldn't switch room assignments unless both room numbers were assigned. They (Disney Cruise Lines) also couldn't estimate when the verandah room would be assigned. "Could be several weeks, could be on embarkation." Say whuh....??

(Side note: After having explained the reason of the switch multiple times on the phone to different Disney people, I started to feel a bit like a control-crazed dictator making my photographer take the interior room while we take the verandah. To me, it sounded as though we were subjecting her to a cave while DF and I sat on our gold thrones, nibbling fancy crackers whilst gazing snootily at the sunset. )

"Being a snooty verandah room hogger"

By George, man, your room is tiny! Whereas mine allows cross breeze and natural lighting, accentuating my diamond shoes and crystal mustache comb! Nah hah hah hah hah!

FINALLY, we were able to get someone on the phone who talked to their supervisor, who said that we could upgrade the verandah room for a small fee, which would give us an assigned room number, allowing the room switch, and it would guarantee that the room wouldn't have any weird obstructions blocking the view. I don't care much about the obstructions as long as we can see water. But if upgrading meant we could resolve this whole room switching nonsense, sign me up. So we bit the bullet and upgraded to spare a little sanity and get the rooms settled.
 
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In short, I'm... really...REALLY short. - The Wedding Dress

There was a time when I wasn't shorter than everyone else my age - that was when I was born. Normal baby height. Every day after that, I was short. And not just mildly short. I'm talking about that level of height that makes strangers contemplate the repercussions of picking me up under my armpits and swinging me back and forth in the air like a toddler. Having said that, I knew I was going to run far away from ball gowns. Not that they're not gorgeous. I just didn't want to look wider than I am tall. Plus all the online articles and magazines advised that short/petite brides wear slimmer silhouettes to elongate the body.

"Short/PETITE". That's the problem. I'm short. But I'm not petite - I have the butt of a Filipino, the appetite of a Filipino, and what is constantly described by my sister as "climber's legs". So when my mom and I went to my first dress appointment to try on dresses, I was looking for a fit and flare that didn't poof. Of course, once we got the go ahead to walk around and pick out dresses to try on, Mom zoned in on this ball gown that was so big the bridal consultant had to drop off the other dresses and come back for it.

It was beautiful - ivory silk satin, illusion neckline, and dramatic lace applique around the bodice, which had a sheer layer over a blush colored corset. It was the first dress I tried on, and I loved it. I tried on other dresses, which ended up being more A-line, but I kept going back to this dress. I then tried on a lacey fit and flare I'd picked out, and realized these types don't really have corseting to suck you in, and I wasn't about to hold in my gut for hours. I didn't even make it to the pedestal to look in the mirror before turning right around and shimmying back into the dressing room. After trying on the first dress again, mom and I agreed we liked this the best. The ladies gave us a discount to get the sample, since it fit well and was in great condition. Since I had another appointment across town, I said I'd think about it, and we scooted out into the parking lot. I think I got one leg into the passenger seat of Mom's minivan before I said, "Yep, I want it, let's go back." So we walked back in and asked for the dress. And BAM! Dress.

What I came in for...


What I came out with...


My dress looks a little different from the pic, but that's pretty much it. Mind you, I'm 4'11", and the 5 inch heels I'm squeezing into still has me at 5'4". The seamstress at my first fitting put the front up by almost 2 feet. You could build a fancy ivory camping tent for a party of 6 out of the excess scraps. But I loved the dress, and I loved the way it looked on me, so sorry writers of The Knot Magazine. But my poof dress brings all the boys to the yard.
 
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Beautiful dress! I am a shorter bride too and thought I would want a fitted style but opted for something else. Once you know, you know!
But my poof dress brings all the boys to the yard.
Hahahahaha Yes! This is great. You rock that poof!
 
I think it's great that someone captured your engagement moment! And having gone through the wedding and not remembering much of anything, it is wonderful that you are taking your own photographer! You will have such great memories to look back at forever.

And I'm on the shorter not petite frame size too. I did break the 5 foot barrier though, after I was in college. Hooray for one last growth spurt.
 
Your dress is gorgeous! :) When I bought mine, I think they were trying to steer me toward something fitted since I'm petite and wasn't going to wear heels on the wedding day, but I knew I wanted a big ballgown. When it's the right dress, you just know!
 
Beautiful dress! I am a shorter bride too and thought I would want a fitted style but opted for something else. Once you know, you know!

Hahahahaha Yes! This is great. You rock that poof!

HAHA Oh yeah!!!! I'm thinking it'll look much better on me when the alterations are all done. BTW did you watch the UT v. OU game this weekend?!?!?!?! Hook em horns!!
 
I think it's great that someone captured your engagement moment! And having gone through the wedding and not remembering much of anything, it is wonderful that you are taking your own photographer! You will have such great memories to look back at forever.

And I'm on the shorter not petite frame size too. I did break the 5 foot barrier though, after I was in college. Hooray for one last growth spurt.

Thanks, hollybearsmom! I'm relieved about the photographer - all the advice I received on it was through all the other DCL brides, so whew. I'll hope for one last growth spurt or at least I'll hope I don't start shrinking.
 
Your dress is gorgeous! :) When I bought mine, I think they were trying to steer me toward something fitted since I'm petite and wasn't going to wear heels on the wedding day, but I knew I wanted a big ballgown. When it's the right dress, you just know!

Thanks, Seia!!! That's so true - when you know, you know. I couldn't stop thinking about my dress when I was trying on the others. I'd LOVE to not wear heels. We're doing father-daughter dance and first dance, and that's all the dance I have to do, but we're walking around the boat for pictures for who knows how long. I'm bringing some comfy wedges to change into. :cool1:
 
HAHA Oh yeah!!!! I'm thinking it'll look much better on me when the alterations are all done. BTW did you watch the UT v. OU game this weekend?!?!?!?! Hook em horns!!

Oh my gosh, YES! It was so nice to watch a game where we actually played well! Highlight of my weekend for sure!! Gotta love some good longhorn football! Hope planning is going well! Are y'all planning on doing a bridal party? Have you thought about the groom's outfit? Sorry for all the questions, I just love the details! haha
 
Oh my gosh, YES! It was so nice to watch a game where we actually played well! Highlight of my weekend for sure!! Gotta love some good longhorn football! Hope planning is going well! Are y'all planning on doing a bridal party? Have you thought about the groom's outfit? Sorry for all the questions, I just love the details! haha

Agreed!! I sighed relief when we won. It gives me hope lol. Planning is going pretty well - luckily there's not much to stress over since the shindig will be small and Disney's taking over the reigns with most of it. No bridal party, since there's no bridesmaids or anyone really involved except for our parents showing up. No bachelorette party either! Weird huh?

Bring on the questions!! I'm into details, too. It's even been a little uncomfortable for me to just be chilling through the last 1.5 months before the wedding with fewer details to obsess over... :rotfl:Freaking Disney and their excellent wedding planning services...

And your groom's outfit question is the inspiration for my next post! Woo!
 
The Tux - And why DF sometimes is a better woman than me.

Exhibit A: Not only does DF pack more clothes for vacation than I do, but he contemplates his outfits, reassesses based on mood and weather changes, and repacks. It's not that he over packs more than it's that I under pack. On a trip to Hawaii, I didn't bring one pair of pants or a sweater (because come on, it's Hawaii) and I froze my butt off in the airport terminal and on the flight home. He bought me one of those overpriced US Airways fleece blankets that was so strategically small only one person could use it. Isn't it the girl that typically over packs and the guy that under packs?

Exhibit B: DF loves to iron. I hate ironing clothes and will get away with either clothes that don't need ironing or covering wrinkly clothes with other clothes that don't need ironing. Jordan then makes me remove the wrinkly clothes item so he can iron it for his own sanity.

Exhibit C: DF fainted twice during a Josh Groban concert.

The point is that when we went tux shopping, I shouldn't have been too surprised that we were in the store for a while. Other than requesting that the suit/tux be on the formal side (my dress is formal), and that it not be prom-y (light blue ruffled shirt), the choice was up to him. Color, style, accessories - go for it. DF bobbed back and forth between a navy and black tux, then the type of lapel. He chose the Joseph Abboud navy satin edge notch lapel tux with the matching navy vest and vetoed any of the other accessories that came with the rental. I was ok with buying a new tux since I have a random company discount at Jos. A. Bank, but DF didn't think he needed a brand new tux - few regatta galas in our neck of the woods.

So shoes, shirt, socks, cufflinks, bow tie, etc. are all his domain. DF knows he wants brown shoes, but he's VERY particular about the style. I'm assuming the socks will be easier to decide on, but I also assumed the shoes would've been easy to decide on. I think he has a nice button down French cuff he wants to wear, so that's done. DF's mom bought him some fancy cufflinks with little hourglasses that I think he will use. He's yet to choose a bowtie, which I know will take a while since he wears bowties to work everyday and is REALLY particular about that.

Pretty man wearing DF's tux

Rental shirt in store looked balloon-y, over-worn, and nothing like this picture.

The good thing about DF being so particular about his clothes is that I never have to worry about him presenting himself in front of others. He's sensitive, and even though he's gone through a number of years being teased by my merciless Filipino family, he's exactly the right kind of fit for me.

I'm a girl, but sometimes I do un-ladylike things. I farted on DF the other night in retaliation to a leg smack. DF's a boy, but he sometimes reneges on his man card. See Exhibit C. Luckily, I still think we're a solid mix of manly and womanly - whoever's side it comes from.
 
Love the suit! It looks really sharp. My FH is wearing brown shoes too! He was pretty specific about that as well, but I really like them too! haha

I'm a girl, but sometimes I do un-ladylike things. I farted on DF the other night in retaliation to a leg smack. DF's a boy, but he sometimes reneges on his man card. See Exhibit C. Luckily, I still think we're a solid mix of manly and womanly - whoever's side it comes from.

Love this! True love is being all parts of yourself with each other. Sounds like you two are a good fit!:)
 

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