Jodi & Raphael's Disney Dream Wedding - Jan 19-23, 2014

[1EvilQueenfan]

Hi All! I've been on the boards for awhile getting ideas for our wedding. Well we've finally set a date and have decided to get married on the Disney Dream sailing January 19-23, 2014! I'm super excited.

So a little bit about us!

I'm Jodi,35, and he's Raphael, 38. We reside in Seattle and moved here 3 years ago from Florida. In Nov 2004, I moved from Mississippi to Florida and started a new job at the county's animal shelter. Raphael had just started there a month before me. We were friends the first year and then got closer after that, and the rest they say is history!

Originally we wanted to get married at Aulani, we LOVE Hawaii, but with all of our friends and family being on the east coast plus the cost, we didn't think many people would attend. So we decided to do the next best thing and have a DCL wedding along with a Disneymoon!

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

So I'm very thankful for these boards as they were very helpful and I hope I can give back through this PJ!

I booked our cruise and wedding package through Lisa R. from Pixie and Pirate Destinations. Yes ladies, you do not have to contact DFTW yourself! Lisa is wonderful to work with and I contacted her early on when we thought about having our wedding at Aulani!

From reading the PJ's from past DCL brides, I knew if we could financially, I would want us to bring a photographer! I asked Lisa if she had any recommendations and she gave me three. I emailed those three along with a few others that I had heard of on the boards as well as a few from the knot's website. I finally decided to go with Tanya Downs Photography, which was one of Lisa's recommendations!

http://www.tanyadownsphotography.com

I'm very excited to work with her!

For invitations, I went through SomethingPrintable by Victoria, on Etsy!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SomethingPrintable

Victoria was wonderful to work with and she got the images to me that same day, even after corrections! I am going to have them printed through VistaPrint, using a Groupon I got.

The hardest time I am having is looking for a dress! I having being bring a co-worker along and she's been taking pictures so I can send to my mom, my aunt and a few friends back home, to get their opinion. I have two more appointments this week. Wish me luck ladies

I'm sorry this has been very long and with NO pictures. Unfortunately, I don't know how to upload pictures on here! Can someone help me out?

 

[Goldeelox9]

Hey there Miss Bride! I am so glad you started. I can not wait to read along! This wedding is going to be GREAT!

I'll email you on how to add pictures!

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

Hey there Miss Bride! I am so glad you started. I can not wait to read along! This wedding is going to be GREAT!

I'll email you on how to add pictures!

Thanks so much Lisa! I hope I'm able to figure it out LOL

 

[Summer Daydream]

Congrats!!! I love reading about cruise weddings. I use photobucket to upload pictures. It's super easy. If you need any help, PM me. Can't wait to read about your day

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

Congrats!!! I love reading about cruise weddings. I use photobucket to upload pictures. It's super easy. If you need any help, PM me. Can't wait to read about your day

Thanks! I'll let you know. I hope you enjoy my PJ!

 

[2012DisneyWorldBride]

Jodi

Hey!!! I thought I would mosey on over to your PJ and subscribe to it so I can see when you do updates

If you need help with the photobucket, I can help too... by now Im a pro with uploading photos lol... actually had to open 3 different accounts to have enough space for all my pictures on disboards so far.

I am very exctied to see the pictures of your dress shopping tomorrow! Send them to me asap

Good luck with the dress shopping!!!
Michelle

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

Jodi

Hey!!! I thought I would mosey on over to your PJ and subscribe to it so I can see when you do updates

If you need help with the photobucket, I can help too... by now Im a pro with uploading photos lol... actually had to open 3 different accounts to have enough space for all my pictures on disboards so far.

I am very exctied to see the pictures of your dress shopping tomorrow! Send them to me asap

Good luck with the dress shopping!!!
Michelle

Michelle

Thanks for joining and for all your help! I'll definitely be sending pics your way!

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

So here is a picture of us when we went to MVMCP this past November!

Now you may be wondering why I didn't include a proposal story! Well truthfully it hasn't happened YET! SO, we've been together for about 6-7 years now and I knew this is the year that we were finally gonna get engaged. I figured you know a year engagement to plan and save money, well Raphael didn't want to wait so long, I mean we have been together for a long time and we already live together. When we were discussing this I asked him what he wanted and said that by this time next year I want us to be married (this was end of December beginning of January). So we are planning a wedding before we are officially engaged but he's still going to propose at some point

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

My dress search is FINALLY over! I found a Maggie Sottero dress that I really liked but the problem was the select few places that carry Maggie Sottero didn't have that style in store for me to try on! I started calling places out of the area and came across a bridal shop called Weddings with Joy in Olympia WA! The girl on the phone was SO super helpful and friendly, she understood my dilemma and said that it's happened before. I had such a good feeling from that one phone call that I decided to drive the hour south and check out the place! When I went a lady named Angela, who is the owner of the store, was helping me. Angela was so nice and asked what I was looking for, where I've already been shopping and even wanted to know if I had pictures of what I tried on. After showing her some previous pictures we started to pull dresses. The first dress I tried on I was very surprised that I liked it, I had a lot of lace. So Angela stated that while I'm looking at Just the Dress, she's looking at how the dress works with my body! I was so impressed with this little bridal shop! I tried on this dress 3 different times, Maggie Sottero Giovanna Marie! I really liked it but it's heavy and has a lot of material on the bottom. I was very hesitant because I didn't think it was a great fit for our wedding on the cruise but I REALLY liked it! WELL, then the girls that worked there were looking at the Maggie Sottero's website and FOUND, Giovanna! IT's the same style just not as much material on the bottom, pretty much what I was looking for and not to mention over $300 cheaper

 

[Summer Daydream]

Congrats on the dress!!! I can't see it though

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

Congrats on the dress!!! I can't see it though

Oh man! It worked when I did a preview . Not sure what went wrong. I'll try to fix it

 

[Summer Daydream]

I googled it. Soooo pretty! Glad you found one. I know you were getting frustrated. You and your fiancé are such a cute couple

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

I googled it. Soooo pretty! Glad you found one. I know you were getting frustrated. You and your fiancé are such a cute couple

Thanks so much! Yes I was getting frustrated. I think what made it worse was that I had no family or close friends here with me. But all is well the dress was ordered yesterday and will be here in August!

Sorry I didn't get a chance to fix that, hopefully tomorrow.

 

[Sizzle]

Hey Jodi!

I kind of quit the DISBoards and just NOW saw that you left a message on my PJ last summer!!!

I am still in Seattle too =) Are you on the facebook group? I can add you if you want, that's pretty much where I gather these days

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

Hey Jodi!

I kind of quit the DISBoards and just NOW saw that you left a message on my PJ last summer!!!

I am still in Seattle too =) Are you on the facebook group? I can add you if you want, that's pretty much where I gather these days

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for joining ! Unfortunately I'm not on Facebook but if you on me, I'll give you my email address!

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

So I emailed out our save the dates! Of course I decided to work on it right before we were going to bed and it was late! I sent one to myself and when I checked it in the morning, I noticed that the email didn't send as I intended it to. I used a cool font and put in some images of Mickey and Minnie. Well the font came out plain and the images were never displayed. Thankfully my wonderful TA, Lisa, helped me out. She took the email that I sent with the images and made a wonderful save the date for me that I had to resend. Here's what she came up with-



We loved it! It's better that what I had originally sent! Thanks again Lisa!

So attached to the STD email, I had a newsletter that Lesley(lescal79) was kind enough to do for me. I liked the newsletter that she did for her wedding and she changed it with our information for our wedding. Thanks again Lesley
It came out wonderful! Here's a picture of the first page-



As I mentioned before, I ordered our invitations from Something Printable on Esty and had them printed through Vistaprint! I should be mailing them out next month. Instead of an RSVP card, I had that made into a postcard. Here are our invitations-


I feel like things are moving slowly! I did order shoes for the wedding and they should be here this week, that will be my next post My dress is ordered and will arrive in August! I hope everyone's planning is going well and that everyone had a great weekend!

 

[lescal79]

So I emailed out our save the dates! Of course I decided to work on it right before we were going to bed and it was late! I sent one to myself and when I checked it in the morning, I noticed that the email didn't send as I intended it to. I used a cool font and put in some images of Mickey and Minnie. Well the font came out plain and the images were never displayed. Thankfully my wonderful TA, Lisa, helped me out. She took the email that I sent with the images and made a wonderful save the date for me that I had to resend. Here's what she came up with-



We loved it! It's better that what I had originally sent! Thanks again Lisa!

So attached to the STD email, I had a newsletter that Lesley(lescal79) was kind enough to do for me. I liked the newsletter that she did for her wedding and she changed it with our information for our wedding. Thanks again Lesley
It came out wonderful! Here's a picture of the first page-



As I mentioned before, I ordered our invitations from Something Printable on Esty and had them printed through Vistaprint! I should be mailing them out next month. Instead of an RSVP card, I had that made into a postcard. Here are our invitations-


I feel like things are moving slowly! I did order shoes for the wedding and they should be here this week, that will be my next post My dress is ordered and will arrive in August! I hope everyone's planning is going well and that everyone had a great weekend!

Everything looks great, I really like your invitations. Now that my wedding is done, let me know if I can help you with anything! The magnets that I made fit the porthole fabulously! Look forward to following along in all your planning.

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

Everything looks great, I really like your invitations. Now that my wedding is done, let me know if I can help you with anything! The magnets that I made fit the porthole fabulously! Look forward to following along in all your planning.

Thanks Lesley! I'm looking forward to your TR! I was happy with our invitations. I'm glad your magnets worked well. I need to get on making them! I'll let you know if I need anything, thanks . Do you have any advice?

 

[1EvilQueenfan]

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted something! Well A LOT has happened!

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!

Even though we had the wedding plans in effect, we weren't officially engaged. Well Raphael and I had a very nice romantic night at Willows Lodge. We got the Do Not Disturb Package. It came with a dining credit to the restaurant Barking Frog and while we are at dinner then draw a bath in your room and leave dessert and champagne. So before dinner, after we checked in, we walked the grounds and then had a few drinks at the bar. We then went back to our room and had a few more drinks. We were sitting out on the patio and Raphael starts to ask me if I'm happy with him. He thanks me for being by his side with everything and he's so happy to have me in his life and wants me to continue on the journey of life with him. He said that I've waited long enough and didn't want me to wait any longer and asked if I would be his wife. Well, the next thing out of his mouth was, But I forgot the ring at home! I busted out laughing and was about to tell him that he's gonna have to redo the proposal at home on one knee. Well before I could say it I looked down and he was down on one knee with the ring!! I started to cry and of course said yes. SO here is a picture of the ring

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I was so glad I got the manicure that day. I was surprised and didn't expect it

Here is a picture of us on our way to dinner

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And this is what our room looked like when we got back from dinner. They also had the fireplace going and music playing.

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