"You and me, we're in a club now!" - a DFTW/Disneymoon/Vacay August 2017 PTR

[MeghanEmily]

Will he be sneaking in some time at Disney when he's not on the job? I think that will be a well-justified break!

Originally he'd been toying with the idea since he'd only be about 20 minutes away (and I told him he was only allowed to go do things I didn't like or couldn't ride so I wouldn't be too jealous!) but then when we were on our trip together I sent him off to do a few rides on his own and he found he really didn't like park touring alone as much as with me, so he decided against it for this trip. He was thinking he might try to stop in Disney Springs before he left though and I never did ask whether he got there or not. I know if I'd been there for work I absolutely would have made a Disney pit stop! He ended up painting a ton of paintings for cast members though!

 

[ariane37]

OK I need to get over to that TR!

Also, if you want to see pictures (including a masterful selfie) of our fabulous Dismeet with @ariane37 and her husband, Steve (in which she looks flawless and summery, and I look simultaneously sweaty and awkwardly perky)

Yeah.....that's not really how that worked, but thanks for wearing your rose-colored glasses It definitely was a fabulous meet though

The tailor was surprisingly political in our conversation (we have a provincial election coming up next week) and was saying some very uncomfortable things

Not cool. Normally before a big election down here there's some political chatter. Before this last Presidential election? NONE. Except on social media of course, because everyone was afraid to actually say anything to others' faces, it was so incredibly controversial-and continues to be which I'm sure you know! But hey, it's all good if he can sew

He's a Universal fan and just tolerates Disney. *shudder* But I think he can sew.

As I said, all good if he can sew, but still...............

 

[MeghanEmily]

Not cool. Normally before a big election down here there's some political chatter. Before this last Presidential election? NONE. Except on social media of course, because everyone was afraid to actually say anything to others' faces, it was so incredibly controversial-and continues to be which I'm sure you know!

That's very interesting! At the risk of being too "political" for the boards, all I'll say is that I know it was certainly a polarizing election, and I imagine it was hard to share your views with anyone without knowing whether they had drastically different ones. We got a lot of second-hand talk here about it, being such close neighbors. When we visited Disney last April we actually struck up a conversation with a young-ish cast member working the DVC booth who spoke more candidly with us about it than we expected and said he didn't know what he would do because he felt unable to vote for either of the major contenders. Nathan had still never been to Epcot at that time (we were going the next day) and the cast member was telling him all about the great parts of WS, and when he started talking about the Mexican pavilion, Nate deadpanned asking him if they'd built a wall around it yet. The CM was in stitches. There! That's it! That's all I can say without risking those pesky Dis rules!

 

[missangelalexis]

Can't wait to read about the May trip! Sounds like you accomplished a lot of wedding stuff while down there!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I could not have cared less about our wedding cake, so I let Rob do all the picking. I don't even like cake, but I HAD to have some on my wedding, and I was so pleasantly surprised that I took a handful to plop on his nose and actually ended up eating it...right out of my hand, it was SOOO good!! Glad you found some fun flavors to get excited about

I love the creepy basement wedding dress and non-Disney loving tailor stories!! You just have to deal with people sometimes, shaking your head at all the MAGIC they're missing!!

 

[vrajewski10513]

Brownie and cinnamon shouldn't work.

No, you wouldn't think so.. now I'm curious

He understood our wishes, had a nice speaking voice, and a good appropriate/cheesey sense of humor.

All very necessary in an officiant

I'm glad you guys were able to check off some things on your wedding to-do list ahead of time! I know how stressful it can get closer to the big day!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Can't wait to read about the May trip! Sounds like you accomplished a lot of wedding stuff while down there!

Thanks for joining — we got lots done in the two days, so I'm really glad we went! My only regret is not scheduling a hair/makeup trial appointment while we were there, but I'm also glad we didn't cram in so much that we missed out on enjoying some quality park time.

I could not have cared less about our wedding cake, so I let Rob do all the picking. I don't even like cake, but I HAD to have some on my wedding, and I was so pleasantly surprised that I took a handful to plop on his nose and actually ended up eating it...right out of my hand, it was SOOO good!! Glad you found some fun flavors to get excited about

I probably like cake too much but I'm very picky about gluten free baked goods. How great that you actually enjoyed your wedding cake so much! If there's ever a time to actually like cake, your wedding would be it! I'm feeling super excited about ours now...mmmmm, cake...

I love the creepy basement wedding dress and non-Disney loving tailor stories!! You just have to deal with people sometimes, shaking your head at all the MAGIC they're missing!!

Absolutely!! I'm hoping N's parents love Disney once they get there so we can say "I told you so," but not everyone is a Disney lover...some people are crazy or just very unhappy inside.

But the wedding dress thing makes a fun story to tell people, though it wasn't quite as creepy as it sounds. And the store owners were super nice and helpful.

No, you wouldn't think so.. now I'm curious

We were pretty surprised. And I mean maybe we're just really strange and everyone else will think it's gross...but it's our wedding, our cake, our rules! We only tried it at all because Nathan started making a game of putting every single flavor frosting on every single kind of cake to try to get on my nerves. But I guess it kinda has a Mexican hot chocolate vibe, and cinnamon and chocolate work well in that case! We told the manager to thank us when it becomes their next best-seller!

I'm glad you guys were able to check off some things on your wedding to-do list ahead of time! I know how stressful it can get closer to the big day!

It absolutely can be! It seems just this last couple weeks with our planning trip, and now with our planning form with all our choices being due in a couple of weeks...everything has started happening all of a sudden! So many choices to make and so little time! It's very overwhelming, but also exciting.

 

[afwdwfan]

it was nearly 100% a success (details to come later)

Nearly? That doesn't sound good.

When I called, the guy asked me to describe the sound. How else do you describe "ka-thunk" other than by saying "ka-thunk??"

Uh oh... might be nothing. Could be something big. Good to get it checked.

But I felt good about his sewing skills and I think he'll do a nice job with the dress...I hope.

As long as you don't disagree with any of his opinions...

He's a Universal fan and just tolerates Disney. *shudder* But I think he can sew.

You've got more faith in him than I do after reading that line.

We had our cake tasting at Erin McKenna's.

The highlight of the trip!

The final wedding thing from this trip was meeting our officiant, Reverend Kevin Knox, a.k.a RevKev. We met him at the GF on the Friday, and he was really lovely. We both feel really good about our choice to have him officiate our ceremony. He understood our wishes, had a nice speaking voice, and a good appropriate/cheesey sense of humor. We also think N's parents will approve, which is a bonus! He's a lovely man and reminds me a lot of a southern-gentleman-version of a lot of the ministers we've had at our churches at home.

That's great. Honestly, one of the more important details, IMO. You want to make sure it is someone who you like, can get along with and will do a good job.

 

[MeghanEmily]

Nearly? That doesn't sound good.

We had no major complaints (except for SPOILERS some slight difficulty I had with the heat one day and not feeling too hot on our return flight.) But we did manage to miss out on a few of the plans from our original itinerary. Worth it in my opinion, but probably would have been disappointing for someone else. Will elaborate soonish in my new TR.

The highlight of the trip!

It's almost silly how incredibly true this statement is!

That's great. Honestly, one of the more important details, IMO. You want to make sure it is someone who you like, can get along with and will do a good job.

I agree! We both feel really good about having met him and how we clicked. He also has a really calming presence about him which I think will be welcomed on the morning of when we're feeling a little jittery.

 

[Whit64130]

And fortunately the dress is forgiving in that it laces up the back if I gain/lose after that.

I had a lace up dress and you would be surprised how forgiving it was. I wasn't as small I had hoped to be on our wedding day but the dress saved the day!

I love my rose gold ears from MarisaAnneDesigns (even if they're a little overstuffed for my liking

I LOVE the Rose Gold ones! I keep intending on buying a pair but I just haven't yet. I'm headed on over to your TR now!

 

[MeghanEmily]

I had a lace up dress and you would be surprised how forgiving it was. I wasn't as small I had hoped to be on our wedding day but the dress saved the day!

That's SO what I'm hoping for! My dress was a little too small when I bought it since I had to buy a sample and was stuck with whatever size they had, but now that I've lost a few pounds it's great. And hopefully if I go a little one way or the other before the wedding I'll still be good to go because of the lacing up thing.

 

[vamassey1]

Welcome Back! It's so hard entering the real world again. At least you have another trip to plan for.

First, I had to be a grown-up today and make an appointment for my car.

I hope this went good and it wasn't something too serious.

But I think he can sew.

That's the important part.

We were so stuffed with cake.

Sounds heavenly.

The final wedding thing from this trip was meeting our officiant, Reverend Kevin Knox, a.k.a RevKev.

We loved RevKev! He was the best.

 

[MeghanEmily]

I hope this went good and it wasn't something too serious.

Sadly, I'm still waiting on the appointment! It's summer tire changing season here right now and the shops are swamped. Hopefully it doesn't die on me before then, but we have the Canadian version of AAA if anything happens.

Sounds heavenly.

Absolutely! No better feeling! (Unless we'd been able to go on Big Thunder or something lol)

We loved RevKev! He was the best.

Such a lovely man! I think he'll do a great job with our ceremony. Glad you and Michelle liked him so much!

 

[shannie102]

A friend of mine had RevKev and said he was awesome, so i feel you are in great hands! Keep the report coming (once you have had a chance to catch your breath!), this is great!!

 

[MeghanEmily]

A friend of mine had RevKev and said he was awesome, so i feel you are in great hands! Keep the report coming (once you have had a chance to catch your breath!), this is great!!

That's super reassuring! We feel really good about RevKev. I think he's lovely and cheesey and will be great for the ceremony. When you meet him he makes you feel like a friend, not a stranger. I don't wanna speak too soon and jinx it, but I'm really glad we chose him!

 

[KathyM2]

I am going to go check out your TR! I can't believe how close you are getting to FP+ day...same here!!

 

[MeghanEmily]

2 Splurges and a Freebie

Hello, all! I've been so wrapped up in the busy life these last couple of weeks, and also in getting updates done for my May trip TR, that I've been starting to miss this thread. Fortunately, we just sent in our planning forms this week since they were due soon and so now I have some new updates for you

Firstly, I had planned an event last week at my condo: a Princess Night! As you know, I work for a company doing princess parties. There are about 10 of us involved in the company, and two of us are getting married this summer. We thought it would be fun to get together and eat cupcakes and watch Disney movies, so I asked everyone about their schedules, found a night that worked for them all, and went to town picking movies, buying princess napkins, making cupcakes and punch, etc. The day before the party we had 8 RSVP'd to attend. But those of you who follow me on Facebook or Instagram may already know that that didn't end up being the case... the day of the party, everyone ended up having other things to do...and only one person out of the 8 showed up. The one person was the other bride. So it was just the two of us, the ones who were intended to be celebrated, just hanging out in an empty party-less condo. (Glad I didn't spring for the helium balloons! ) We cut our losses and celebrated each other, ate extra cupcakes, and watched Aladdin and talked about wedding plans. In order to be a good host for Tanya and to thank her for taking the time out of her night to spend time with me and help me eat mountains of junk food, I didn't spend the evening complaining to her about how rude and frustrating it is to blow people off—especially without notice—when those people put in gross amounts of effort for their friends.

I posted this picture to Instagram and Facebook, and I captioned it: "That awkward moment when you didn't set out enough food for all two of you! #badhostess #princessnight #justtwobrideseatingadozencupcakes#itsmypartyicancryifiwantto

I even wore my Moana-themed dress for the princessy occasion. It was a fun night anyway, but this event, coupled with a few nights later when I drove an hour each way in the rain to see a friend in a mediocre show, realizing the whole time that they wouldn't do the same if the roles were reversed...all this led me to a mepiphany (an epiphany you have out of love for yourself: me + epiphany): I'm not spending time on people who won't spend time on me. Not anymore! I have a bad habit of picking up friends who don't have the time or energy to contribute to friendships, and it usually makes me feel like I'm doing all the work. Ain't nobody got time for that!

Fortunately, my bridesmaids aren't friends like that at all. They're both busy people, but they always can make time. And this coming Saturday they're planning some kind of bachelorette/girl's day type event that they won't give me any details on...so updates on that to come after next weekend!

Finally, after so many days of endless rain and gloom (#buildinganark) we had the most beautiful weekend this weekend. Sunny, highs just above 70, and gorgeous blue skies. N is away working, so I took the weekend for some me-time. I went downtown, got delicious iced tea, took a book to these gorgeous public gardens we have here, treated myself to vegan chocolate peanut butter gelato in the sunshine, bought and planted flowers and herbs for our little balcony garden, barbecued, and walked over 20,000 steps on Saturday alone. Today my mom and I went for a long walk and I've been getting all kinds of little chores done. It feels great, and the only thing that would make it better would be N.

Now on to the wedding splurges...in sending in our planning form this week, we've solidified all the elements of our wedding, and we've managed to add a couple of things that will make the day really magical for us.

Depending on what you all think is reasonable to spend on a wedding or a vacation, these things may either seem like no big deal to you, or they may seem like ridiculous extravagances that you would never waste money on. Every wedding, every couple, and every budget is different, so these were things that we found worth it for us in the end...

The first SPLURGE for us comes in the form of two very special guests...

We've opted to have Mickey and Minnie attend our day!! As someone who, even as an adult, really enjoys character M&G experiences, this was something I didn't want to pass up! We waited until now to make sure it would be in the budget. When you plan a DFTW, you can have almost any character (except certain licensed character like Winnie the Pooh and the gang) attend your special day for a price. To have one character from the fab five, you'll pay $1200, but to have two the increase is only to $1700, so if Mickey was going to be there we figured we might as well also have Minnie! They will attend for a half hour during our cake-cutting/toasts/mingling period to take photos and hang out with us. And they are supposed to be attending in their gold formalwear outfits...

It's far and away the most expensive character M&G I'll ever have, but there was something very special and very Disney to me about having them there all to ourselves. My little cousin will also still be at the age where Mickey and Minnie are fun to meet. And I have many guests who've never been to Disney before who will have an awesome VIP first experience with my favourite mice! Some people who have a wedding at Disney don't want it to be Disney-fied and want it to be just as normal and classy as a wedding anywhere else, but we wanted to make sure those special Disney touches were included.

Speaking of special touches, our other big SPLURGE is pretty magical to us as well: We're doing a Magic Kingdom Bridal Portrait Session the morning of our wedding! For a hefty price, you can have your photos taken in your wedding attire in the Magic Kingdom (or other parks) first thing in the morning before they open. Our session cost $2125, but my grandmother offered to pay for half of it as a wedding gift. There are three routes you can choose for photos, all of which include the castle, and ours will also include Enchanted Tales with Belle, the exterior of Be Our Guest, and Journey of the Little Mermaid. We were torn about which route to take as there's also one that offers Pirates, the Tangled bathroom area, and Haunted Mansion...but I've seen some really beautiful photos online from our locations, so that's where we picked.

Our photo session is so early in the morning (I believe it's somewhere around 7am, pick-up being earlier than that) so it means my hair and make-up appointments begin at 3:30am. Woah. But since we're having a morning wedding anyway, we'll plough through till the end of the wedding, go take a giant nap, and be refreshed for our 6:35 dinner reservation that night. ...Idealistic thinking, but we'll make it work! We could have done our photo session on a different morning, but for many reasons we decided doing it all the same day would work best for us.

I'm justifying the costs (not that I really need to since it's our wedding and we're paying for almost all of it by ourselves) by reminding myself of some of the other things that other brides put money into that we haven't done. For instance, a lot of DFTW couples add a dessert party, and we'd considered doing this, but we didn't think it would be a good fit for our group or our schedules. Another thing many people do is pay for outside photography rather than using the included photography from Disney in the package. We didn't do that, so we're considering our portrait session an extra gift to ourselves instead.

Finally, after all this splurging...I bet you want to hear about our freebie...and it's a good one

Any DFTW couple who, along with their guests, will be staying a minimum of a certain number of nights on property can set up a room block for those nights and receive a complimentary night at a Disney resort. The minimum used to be 25 nights, and I knew we probably wouldn't have that many. But recently I noticed that the minimum had been quietly dropped to 10 nights! We had that many for sure! We also hadn't made any hotel reservations for our first night after arrival, Aug. 15th, thinking we'd get in late and stay in a cheap motel....but now that we get a free night we hadn't budgeted for...we're planning to speed up our driving to arrive earlier in the day on Aug. 15th so we can be sure to enjoy our totally free night at...

...the Grand Floridian!!

This is exciting for many reasons, of course. We figured if we got a free night we should stay in the swankiest place they had! But it's also exciting because we have developed a new goal of staying at all the WDW resorts at some point in our lifetimes, and we don't think we would have ever had a reason to stay at the Grand otherwise, between the extravagant price and us being more inclined toward the theming of other resorts for a longer vacation. I already know I'm going to regret so many resort hops during this trip, but I'm also very excited to use it as an opportunity to see so many different WDW resorts all at once!

That's all for today. Thanks so much for following along on our journey so far! Everything is suddenly starting to feel very close, seeing as we've sent in our forms and our FP day is this coming week. Up next you'll hear all about our cake and floral, and then an itinerary complete with wedding ceremony deets and FPs is soon to follow...​

 

[ariane37]

The day before the party we had 8 RSVP'd. But those of you who follow me on Facebook or Instagram may already know that that didn't end up being the case... the day of the party, everyone ended up having other things to do...and one other person showed up. The one person was the other bride. We cut our losses and celebrated each other, ate extra cupcakes, and watched Aladdin and talked about wedding plans. In order to be a good host for Tanya and to thank her for taking the time out of her night to spend time with me and help me eat mountains of junk food, I didn't spend the evening complaining to her about how rude and frustrating it is to blow people off—especially without notice—when those people put in gross amounts of effort for their friends.

I absolutely hate when people don't RSVP I think it's so incredibly rude. When the kids were little and had birthday parties there were always parents that didn't RSVP and everywhere you had kids parties you needed to give a # a week beforehand. So annoying.

And this coming Saturday they're planning some kind of bachelorette/girl's day type event that they won't give me any details on...so updates on that to come after next weekend!

Fun! Can't wait to hear about it!

We've opted to have Mickey and Minnie attend our day!! As someone who, even as an adult, really enjoys character M&G experiences, this was something I didn't want to pass up! We waited until now to make sure it would be in the budget. When you plan a DFTW, you can have almost any character (except certain licensed character like Winnie the Pooh and the gang) attend your special day for a price. To have one character from the fab five, you'll pay $1200, but to have two the increase is only to $1700, so if Mickey was going to be there we figured we might as well also have Minnie! They will attend for a half hour during our cake-cutting/toasts/mingling period to take photos and hang out with us. And they are supposed to be attending in their gold formalwear outfits...

OMG reading this and why you've chosen to have them brought tears to my eyes! I think this is awesome! What wonderful memories this will give you You're right, to each their own when it comes to weddings and what's important to some isn't important at all to others, and while I would have given anything to have Mickey and Minnie at my wedding non-Disney lovers would of course think this a waste of $$. WHO CARES?? It's your $$ and it's the BEST idea!!!

here are three routes you can choose for photos, all of which include the castle, and ours will also include Enchanted Tales with Belle, the exterior of Be Our Guest, and Journey of the Little Mermaid.

Holy crap, I don't know if this is better than M&M being there or not! I like the HM/Pirates route but unless you're not a romantic couple at all I think the 3 locations in your package are better. I totally cannot wait to hear all about the wedding and see pictures I'm so excited for you two!

...the Grand Floridian!!

 

[MeghanEmily]

I absolutely hate when people don't RSVP I think it's so incredibly rude. When the kids were little and had birthday parties there were always parents that didn't RSVP and everywhere you had kids parties you needed to give a # a week beforehand. So annoying.

I've gone back to edit because I didn't make that very clear - the person who showed up did actually RSVP, but she was the only person out of the 8 who RSVP'd yes to actually show up!! Which was equally frustrating in my eyes as having extra people just show up without notice, or ever more frustrating. But I've seen a lot of that first hand by doing all these kids' birthday parties! Parents are always so up in the air about how many kids will be at the parties because other parents never RSVP in good time, and then we're going to a party not knowing whether we need supplies for 4 kids or 20...So inconsiderate!

OMG reading this and why you've chosen to have them brought tears to my eyes! I think this is awesome! What wonderful memories this will give you You're right, to each their own when it comes to weddings and what's important to some isn't important at all to others, and while I would have given anything to have Mickey and Minnie at my wedding non-Disney lovers would of course think this a waste of $$. WHO CARES?? It's your $$ and it's the BEST idea!!!

<3 I think it'll be wonderful. We aren't usually very liberal with our spending, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing and we want to make sure we have what we want and have no regrets. I think the day will be very special for us and for our guests.

Holy crap, I don't know if this is better than M&M being there or not! I like the HM/Pirates route but unless you're not a romantic couple at all I think the 3 locations in your package are better. I totally cannot wait to hear all about the wedding and see pictures I'm so excited for you two!

So cool right!? The other parks are actually much cheaper (relatively speaking) and only run about half the price. We'd almost considered doing Animal Kingdom or Epcot instead to keep our budget down, but when my grandmother heard she wanted to make sure we did it up right and got castle pictures and everything, so she chipped in. (She's very excited about the whole wedding thing! I'm the only female grandchild. ) The third route is more classic attractions: teacups, carousel, wishing well. But as much as I like the classic things, Nathan doesn't have the nostalgia factor with them, and the prettiest pictures I've liked the most have been on our route.

 

[ariane37]

I think it'll be wonderful. We aren't usually very liberal with our spending, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing and we want to make sure we have what we want and have no regrets. I think the day will be very special for us and for our guests.

You have plenty of time to be frugal with your $$; if you have the means and the desire to go a bit big with your wedding, you do it