Ben and Libby's Happily Ever After - A Fairytale Wishes Wedding *Updated 14/3/18 + Wedding Video!

Loved reading about all of your progress! Sounds like everything is really coming together! So exciting!! Can't wait to hear your next update....

Thank you so much! :) New update coming up!! :) xxxx

Only just started reading your PJ today and am up to date. It's fun reading about a UK bride and your decision making as it is always awkward doing the 'destination' thing but you have so made the right choice.
I'm an Aussie and met my East Londoner online back in 2008 through nothing dating related hehe. He finally proposed in October 2015 and because we have the added fun of visas we went full steam ahead into Disney wedding at the Grand Floridian marrying at the Wedding Pavilion just over 3 weeks ago.

Like you we knew although locations in Sydney (or near Sydney) would be lovely and a UK wedding would also be able to be worked out neither was going to be ideal and importantly neither would have all our friends as it would be skewed heavily to either groom or bride side.....so we just went with Disney as it was what WE wanted. My parents were always on board with a Disney wedding. With only 4 months notice only immediate family could come but we are going to have a big party at a RAF function centre in London in a couple months. It helps having friends in the service to get a nice location!

I'm so with you on the Wedding Pavilion being...just....ahhhhhhhhh....
I'm itching to get the rest of my photos!!! For me I also knew strongly that photography wouldn't be skimped on and wouldn't be just anyone and I think you just have to go with your gut on it. Everyone has their own style. For me I really really really wanted a specific Disney photographer and I got who I asked for. I know that excitement when you get who you dream of. In the meantime I have this (we also did EPCOT and DHS shoots) https://app.enjoyphotos.com/Dbb/Event/Loading/787230A2-1331-438A-ABD2-66106E99D1F9
But totally with you on photos being so very very important.

Good luck with the rest of the planning! Sounds like you'll have an AMAZING day! The Grand Floridian is just the best...sigh...

Thank you so much for your lovely comment! :) I'm so glad you decided to have the wedding you really wanted :) That's brilliant that your parents were on board - they were the main ones for me! And how amazing that you planned it in such a short space of time!! I bet that was so so ecxciting!!

Ahhh I bet you can't wait to get the rest of your photos, the ones you have already are so so beautiful!!! I'm glad you got who you asked for too!!

Hope you're enjoying your newlywed status!! :) xxxxx

I"m doing a sparkly headband and veil too! I'm having trouble figuring out where they should go on my head. I like them right next to each other, but then the veil looks too poofy on top of my head. How will you be wearing yours?

I haven't 100% decided! I had the veil on top of my head, but my Mum prefers it lower. I think I need to wait until I get the headband and the veil and just stare at myself in the mirror for a while haha! :) xxxxxx

Loving all your choices, your taste is so similar to mine! Especially your BM dress and robes!

It really is such a relief to get all the dates/venues you wanted after worrying about it. Congrats! We didn't do the Wishes music during our dinner/DP at Sago Cay b/c it was HalloWishes but I know your guests will love experiencing Wishes with the music!

Ahhhh we must both have such good taste then haha!! :) Yeah it's such a relief to have the dates :) Although we're currently stressing because Wishes isn't scheduled for our date :( So waiting to see what's going to happen there!!! Arghhhhh haha!! xxxxxxx

Loved reading all about your wedding plans. It sounds like it's going to be an amazing day!

Thank you so much! I sure hope so :) xxxx

Libby...what have you been up to! The day is quickly approaching, how is all of your planning going?

Hahaha awww bless you! Update coming up! :) xxxxxx

YAY for Disney Brides! Love these journals! So fun! Love your choices!

Cake knife--doesn't Disney gift you a cake knife and server? Check and see if they don't, no need to buy what they supply, right?

Keep Calm and Plan On!

Thank you so much :) Ahhh I wasn't aware of this, I will investigate! Thank you! :) xxxxx

AnnaGiselle, with regard to "too poofy"--I did a sparkly headband (a gorgeous one made by a very clever woman--Swarovski crystals hand wired with gold wire and gold crystals) and a Belgian lace veil that I thought would be "too poofy" so I wore it rather not poofy... and when I look at the photos... to me it looks like a nun head piece. :( Too flat. I wish I would have listened to the advice of others, is all I'm saying...I bet SOMEONE (ahem, like 3 people) told me, "ugh, too flat!" But then the material was lace, not anything leaning toward poofy, so I see how a veil could be too poofy.

Oh well. With the exception of the nunnish veil, everything else was :cloud9:.

Back to the journal! :wave2:

Ahhh thank you for sharing this I'll def keep the nunnish veil in mind haha! :) Glad you're enjoying! :) xxx


Thank you for reading! xxx

I just finished reading your PJ!!! I about died laughing when you were trying to book your parents' stay. You and your family seem like a blast to be around! I can't wait to hear more about your big day!!

Hahaha aww thank you, what a lovely comment! :) More updates coming up! xxxx

This wedding sounds AMAZING!!!!!!!:jumping1::jumping1:

Hahahah wow thank you! I certainly hope it wil be!! :D xxxxxx
 
Honeymoon Plans

WeddingPavillionBridge_zpsnsloh7u5.jpg


Okay! So, plans for the wedding trip/honeymoon/extravaganza (I don’t know what to call it haha I don’t like the term wedmoon!! I’ll just call it the wedding trip I think) are coming on well!!

So!!! Let’s start with our flights, even though they were one of the last things we booked!

The-plane-flying-at-sunset-airliner-photography_1920x1080_zpssm8t0hfv.jpg


Flights

Due to the insane direct prices, we will be flying indirect. We’re literally saving like £400 each on what direct flights would have cost so it’s definitely worth it!! We’re flying with Delta but I believe it’s a Virgin plane, 9.25am from Heathrow to Atlanta :D Saturday 15th October! We’ve then got a 4 hour stopover - it was really important to us that we had a good stopover time as we’re both panicking about changing planes and I’ll have my dress etc so we just didn’t want to rush. We’ve heard Atlanta is a brill airport for shopping etc in anyway so hopefully we’ll be able to kill that time quite quickly! I’m always happy to browse American shops so I’ll be in my element :D We then get on a plane to Orlando at 6pm, and arrive in Orlando at 7.30. We’ll have cleared immigration so hopefully we’ll be on the Magical Express in no time :D Yay!! Our flight home (boooo) is on Saturday 5th November, so 3 glorious weeks in the magic :) We’re flying home via JFK so it will be exciting to see a different airport! Stopover is only 2.5 hours on the way back as I read that you probably won’t need as long. So that should be good! We were chuffed with the price we got for our flights, we were willing to go with whoever was cheapest and this Virgin/Delta combo had a long stopover and gets us to Orlando early, so it was the clear winner!

Accommodation

Onto the fun stuff!! So, as we have AP’s for this trip (and our Christmas one!) we couldn’t book a dealio with the free DDP. We did price it up as we love the convenience of the DDP but it was just so much more, plus we’d be stuck with tickets we wouldn’t actually be using. So it seemed slightly pointless haha! So we decided to rent DVC points, buy a Tables in Wonderland card and just pay as we go. I actually do think this is a better option for us as we aren’t big dessert eaters and would much rather get starters if we’re going out for a nice dinner. Plus TiW gives us 20% off including alcohol so that is a WIN!!

In terms of deciding where to stay, we narrowed it down quite quickly. The first thing we decided on was staying at the Grand Floridian. DREAM!!! Staying here the night before of the wedding was pretty much essential to me; I’d always imagined my getting ready photos to be at the GF in the beautiful rooms, plus the convenience of staying here when you’re getting married at the WP. Unfortunately the GF is CRAZY MONEY so we opted to rent DVC points instead. It’s actually quite tricky to rent DVC points here as it’s so new that it’s a really in demand resort, BUT we had a secret weapon!! Our lovely friends Ian and Victoria are owners at the VGF, and they very very very kindly offered to let us use their points so we could book it earlier than other people who don’t own there. YAY!! So Victoria booked us all!! We’ve opted for a Studio (I did want a 1 bed but just couldn’t stretch to it) and we’ve also gone for 2 nights, as didn’t want the hassle of having to move rooms etc the day of the wedding. Eeek, stressful!!!! If I remember correctly Victoria had a proper mare trying to book the GF for us (and them, they are staying there for 5 nights from the day they check in until the day after the wedding) as people are doing this ‘walk through’ booking to get their rooms more easily!! Grrrr!! She did eventually manage to get us 2 rooms booked though - initially garden view which was a little bit more expensive, but has since managed to get us just standard :D Phew!!!! Bless her, we literally would be so stuck if it wasn’t for our amazing friends!!! So that was that.

Errrr, how beautiful!!

Disneys-Grand-Floridian-DVC_Full_19735_zps1mail97z.jpg


Grand-Floridian-Villas-206_zpsfftagwyv.jpg


2nd hotel!! We both really wanted to stay at a hotel in the Boardwalk area as we just love that whole area and being able to walk to Epcot during F&W would just be amazing. So that was an easy decision! We decided to stay here for the last part of our trip, after our cruise, when the majority of our guests have gone home so it’ll just be us. So we’ve got 7 nights at the beautiful Boardwalk Inn Villas!!!

board-walk-inn-00-full_zpsslvsgbve.jpg


IMG_10891_zpsinlxlgpc.jpg


For the first part of our trip, i.e. before the wedding, we weren’t overly fussed where we stayed and it was mainly money driven!! We did want Animal Kingdom lodge after the wedding but unfortunately studios were fully booked :( So we went with our back up of OKW, which we had already booked for the first 3 nights of our trip. This is fine, I would have loved to rock up at AKL after the wedding but we’re not exactly hard done by are we haha!! We are super excited to stay at OKW, the studios look massive! And I love the little shopping/dining bit, it looks so cute!

overview-old-key-west-01_zpsy0qglknt.jpg


OKW_room2_zps8jvzu20l.jpg


Finally, we’ll be ending our honeymoon in style with a cheeky 1 nighter at the Grand Floridian, a gift from Disney’s Fairytale Weddings for meeting our room block minimum :D YAY!!

SO, as I feel this is getting confusing, here is the line-up of our 3 week trip :D 21 glorious nights all over WDW :)

15th October - Old Key West for 3 nights

18th October - Grand Floridian for 2 nights

20th October - Old Key West for 4 nights

24th October - CRUISE!!!

28th October - Boardwalk Inn for 7 nights

4th November - Grand Floridian for 1 night

Phew! Quite the line-up I think you’ll agree! I booked all our stays through David’s DVC and I couldn’t recommend them more; we possibly paid a tiny bit more than if we’d gone through a Dis'er or an owner on another forum but because it’s our honeymoon we just really wanted the peace of mind of having it all booked :) They’ve been fantastic - super helpful with all the questions I had etc, and when I noticed Ben wasn’t on one of the OKW reservations when I linked it to MDE they sorted it out immediately :) Brilliant! As an added bonus, all our accommodation is paid for! We didn’t really have a choice haha as the DVC owners required immediate payment, but it’s a good feeling nonetheless :)

Night before hotel

So there is one final element of the hotel line-up! A couple of friends of ours who are coming to the wedding have very kindly paid for us to stay in a hotel at Heathrow the night before we fly - how cute is that!? They had flight reward points to us as they stressed to us haha, but what a sweet gesture! So we are booked into the Sheraton Skyline hotel at Heathrow which looks AMAZING!!!!! Can’t even wait to stay here!!! :D We’re planning to book a car to pick us up and drive us to the airport as it works out about as much as the train, but it’s wayyyyy less faff :D I’ll feel like an actual celebrity getting picked up in a car from our flat haha! Exciting :) Depending on if we can use holiday, we’ll either go after work or hopefully take a half day and go about 2pm, but I’ll have to see what happens with my holiday :)

she268rf.149120_tb-1_zpsvj5lpqal.jpg


sheraton_skyline_hotel_london_heathrow_club_room_zps8xircczu.jpg


Cruise

Okay, now we’re getting onto the good stuff!!! As I think I shared ages and ages ago (like last year!!) we’ll be going on our first cruise as part of our honeymoon, a 4 night Bahamian extravaganza!!! We depart on the 24th for 4 incredible nights :) We can’t even WAIT for all the food, the entertainment, exploring the beautiful shop, Castaway Cay, cocktails, Disney movies on demand, staring out at the ocean from our balcony... it’s going to be so so amazing!!

8281924304bfc0f2893b1c5.68610208-1274810152_zpsndknb5qi.jpg


I’m trying to do as much research for our cruise as I can. I think we’ll have too much going on in the run up to the wedding to be able to participate in a fish extender, but there are other bits we’d like to do. We’ll be booking a Palo dinner, we’d like to do a cocktail making class, and we were looking at a food tour on Nassau but I think now we won’t cause it’s a bit pricey. We haven’t got high expectations for Nassau based on reading other trippies, but we’ll def get off the boat and have a wander as we have a sea day anyway, so plenty of time to explore the ship. Saying that I think we’ll likely get back on pretty sharpish as we hate being harassed by vendors etc!!

Obviously Castaway Cay will be amazing too :) We’ll be going to the adults beach and just sitting down, chilling, snorkeling...our CC day will be like a proper honeymoon day haha, if we’d gone somewhere like a beach break for 2 weeks! Which we’d never do. We’d be so bored. BUT, 1 day of peace and tranquility in the midst of a pretty full on honeymoon will be just the ticket :)

So yeah, we’re beyond excited for this portion of our trip!!

Restaurants

Ahhhh restaurants. The highlight of any Disney trip!!! I've recently finished making our ADRs and we got pretty much all of them, I'll do another update with exact timings etc :) We didn't make a huuuuge amount of ADRs to be honest. Following on from our Christmas trip, we really enjoyed the more relaxed approach we had to dining, meals etc, and we’d like to take a similar approach for this trip. Obviously we are doing meals, but we don’t want to go too crazy with the spending. I know it’s our honeymoon and we should splash out, but we literally have already splashed out so much haha!!! We don’t want to spend for the sake of it, and we actually really enjoyed eating CS meals for dinners etc and spending more time in the parks. We also found that on our 2013 trip we spent crazy amounts of time on busses travelling between resorts to get to meals. While this is fine once in a while, we definitely don’t want to be doing it every night. We’re planning to do only 1 or 2 signatures, a few TS, and then kind of wing it the rest of the time with CS meals. We also want a fair few evenings snacking round the F&W festival because we just loooveeee doing this!!! :) I think the thing is, we don’t want to have sit down meals just for the sake of it. We actually really enjoyed the flexibility of eating breakfast in our room so we’ll def be doing this again. I think this way we’ll also enjoy the meals we do have more, because there will be fewer of them and we can really appreciate them :) With all that being said, this is our rough restaurant plan so far...not 100% set in stone!!

Disney sit down meals

Olivia’s

‘Ohana

San Angel Inn

Beaches and Cream

Crossroads House of Blues

California Grill

Le Cellier

Raglan Road

Hoop de Doo Revue with wedding guests!! So excited for this!!

Possible Dining with an Imagineer

Counter service

Wolfgang Puck Express

Be Our Guest

Universal

Hard Rock Cafe (I literally think about the potato skins I had here on a daily basis - Ben isn’t so keen to go back as he thinks there are more exciting options, which there definitely are ahaha, so need to think about this!)

Cowfish?

15th - Arrival. No ADR- Giordano's or Goods to Go most probably

16th - Lunch at Be Our Guest with Mum and Dad, Olivia’s for dinner?

17th - Epcot all day so no ADR needed

18th - ‘Ohana for rehearsal dinner

19th - WEDDING DAY!!!!!!

20th - Chill day - Wolfgang Puck Express dinner

21st - Universal studios/dinner at Citywalk with wedding guests

22nd - Hoop De Doo with wedding guests (a recent addition!)

23rd - California Grill with Mum and Dad

CRUISE

28th - Food and Wine festival with wedding guests

29th - Crossroads House of Blues with Ben's Dad and Step-Mum

30th - Le Cellier

31st - Beaches and Cream

1st - Universal Studios so dinner in Citywalk

2nd - F&W snacking

3rd - San Angel Inn

4th - Check in to GF - dinner at Gasparilla Grill/wing it

5th - Leave :(

So having typed that out it appears there actually are quite a lot of meals hahah!! But as you can see we’ve gone for the cheaper 1 credit places rather than doing a lot of signatures. Well, 2. But still, that's less than we would normally do!! We will obviously also be doing Be Our Guest for lunch again as that was amazeballs :D

So that’s our honeymoon! We're also doing Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour which we're super duper excited about having done the :D Yay!! I’ve really enjoyed sharing our honeymoon plans!

--------------------------------------

I actually lost my planning mojo a couple of days ago a bit (but it's totally back now!!!!!), as we sat down and went through every single thing we could think of that we’re getting/buying for the wedding and honeymoon and UK reception and put it all on a spreadsheet and totted it up...holy guacamole. It’s a lot! We have been so lucky however to have had help from both our amazing families, and saved so so hard ourselves, and although we’ll be a bit more short than we thought we would (thanks to the crappy exchange rate and Disney cranking their prices up!!!) I am so so happy and excited about our special day, and the amazing 3 week extravaganza we have planned :D and I know it’ll be worth every single penny we spend!!! I also just want to say, as I see this a lot on the various wedding forums/groups/blogs I frequent - weddings are really important for some people and not so important for others, but neither approach is wrong! If you want to spend a lot of money on your wedding and honeymoon then GO FOR IT!! I feel like sometimes brides are made to feel bad for spending lots of money on their special day and it shouldn’t be that way! Our wedding is so important to both of us and while we haven’t spent crazy amounts in the grand scheme of weddings, it’s a lot of money for us! But I definitely think we’ll be the couple who have their wedding photos up all over the house! And for us, it had to be the wedding pavilion, not the local registry office. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with that for those who choose it!! Anyway I feel like I’m going on a rant but I just see this a lot and I hope anyone reading this hasn’t been made to feel bad about their choices.

Anyway, I read some planning journals on here yesterday and started crying at some of the wedding day recaps haha so I’m fully back in the zone :D I just love reading about other bride’s experiences so much!! So it’s really good! Anyway, I just wanted to share as I’ve always been really honest on my planning journal and it’s just on my mind, especially with this honeymoon update! So I wanted to add it in as I’m sure a lot of Disney brides feel like this at some point on their planning journey. If you are feeling concerned about money or the planning, my advice is talk to your partner (Benj has been AMAZING at calming me down, pointing out that we don’t want to do anything differently, and reminding me how absolutely fantastic our 3 week trip and wedding is going to be!!!!!) and stay focused on your love for each other and the fact that it’s only money (!!), and in 10 years time you’ll look back and regret not doing the things you really wanted!!! Many past brides have said this to me and I’ve tried to keep it in mind as we’ve made planning decisions during our wedding planning journey - prioritising the things that are important to us and focusing our budget on them, and not stressing over the things we don’t need!!

Wow, speech. HAhaha sorry! Don't worry I'm back to my usual planning self now!! :D

xxxxx
 
Hi Libby! I've been lurking for a bit on your PJ (and peeked through your dining reports - yum!). I can't wait to see how beautiful and amazing your day is! I love seeing your honeymoon plans too. We are planing on a Disneymoon in the fall and I think we'll have a similar take on dining - neither of us have ever been, so I think we'll be happy winging it with some CS meals and not always traveling to dinner every night so we have more park time. We are also not lay on the beach people haha :teleport:
 
Oh fun fun fun! I am so excited for you all! I just went back in the report and found your gown--beautiful--and you are just so lovely! But the gown, definitely MEANT TO BE! What a cool story.

This is wonderful--your excitement is contagious--

I laughed about your remark that you love to shop in American stores. My FAVORITE shop in all of WDW? The shop in WS....yes, England! Love that little shop!
 


PS: don't stress about the money. You have a good grip on things and obviously you are not an irresponsible twit. This is a ONCE in a LIFETIME trip that you will remember forever. I have regretted many things (what was I thinking when I bought that awful rug? Why did I go to Sea World, the world's most boring and expensive place on earth?) but we have never regretted our Disney wedding and honeymoon! Not ever!
 
Ah your plans sound amazing.

Thank the lord for the kindness of your friends. I am so glad that they were able to assist you in book the VGF as part of your dream wedding plan and bless the hearts of your friends who offered their points for the first night of travels. Such kindness. I actually love OKW - I am a bit biased as my family are DVC members and this is our home resort as we have been members since 1998 when this was the only DVC resort. It is really nice, quiet and laid back and they have the biggest studios of all of them. I think you will be happy with your stay there.

Your dining plans sound amazing! Your going to have so much great food...I'm already jealous!

I am so excited for you!! Everything sounds like its coming together for you.

When we went for our honeymoon last summer, we were a bit stressed out about spending money on the trip as well - we went on our honeymoon the day after the wedding so the final shock of that bill was still with us. However, we tried to just go with the flow and not tell ourselves no just because of the money. It was a once in a lifetime trip, you only get married to the love of your life once and get to experience this special time with them. If you want a cocktail with dinner, do it. If you want lobster instead of chicken, do it. Don't stress over money. I agree, don't go out of your way to order lobster when you really want chicken just because you "should" spend money because it's your honeymoon, but enjoy yourself. Unfortunately for most of the population, money will always be a sticky situation so why fret over it.
 
Great update, Libby! We missed you! Your honeymoon plans sound so, so amazing. I'm so jealous that you were able to get into the VGF for the night before/day of your wedding! This was our plan too, as we're also getting married at the Wedding Pavilion, but we couldn't secure a reservation and on top of that, all the regular rooms at the Grand are completed booked during our wedding. As disappointing as it was, one of my amazing friends who is also a DVC member offered to gift us a night at the Boardwalk Inn in a one-bedroom villa! So as sad as I was that we don't get to stay at the Grand, at least we'll have LOTS of space for getting ready in our one-bedroom! Plus our reception is at the Boardwalk, so that's pretty convenient too.

All of your dining reservations sound awesome too. California Grill and Le Cellier are some of my favorites! Also, if you're on the fence to try Cowfish at Universal, I highly recommend it. We ate there earlier this year and really enjoyed it! Prices aren't too bad either and its a really cool-looking restaurant :)
 


Congratulations!!! It looks amazing. The ONLY big downside of booking in 4 months was that the VGF wasn't available. My brother owns there so if we had been planning the wedding at 11 months he could have booked us there for at least 2 nights and then we would have probably moved to Saratoga where hubby owns. Or maybe Bay Lake. But we stayed in a 2 bed lock off at Kidani with the parents in the studio and us in the 1 bed room. It was awesome having the 1 bedroom and having the fridge to store the cake and the bouquet and things like that. The bath etc. But it would have been a tougher call had we had the choice of Grand Floridian because it is way more points. I think we would have just done the move to do the saving. As it was it was LOADS better being able to book and arrange a wedding in 4 months as I loved just sorting it. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Love being married and moved to the UK now.
Spent the last few weeks trying to decide on the photos. They're all sooo awesome. The location is just the BEST! https://flic.kr/s/aHskvRzDgQ

Anyway! It all sounds amazing. Andy flew direct from Gatwick and it wasn't too bad the cost It did make a difference on the day he picked though. He ended up flying on cheaper days by accident really. Monday and a Wednesday I think.

I hope all the planning goes well and it comes together well! It sounds amazing.
 
Your plans sound great! I can understand why you got out of the zone briefly, as it sounds like SO much planning, but I'm glad you're back into it and that Benji always helps destress you. Totally right call on getting the Grand Floridian for two nights - if your wedding is there, it sounds like a must to stay there, and you definitely wouldn't want to move the day of.
 
Libby I just wanted to let you know that House of Blues usually has a restaurant.com certificate you can buy which takes a bunch off your meal!!! Go to restaurant.com & put in the zip: 32830 to find it! You pay $20 now then you'll get $50 off a bill of $100! They do have them available now if that helps. Plus a bunch of other places in the area. :) Also another non DDP tip, we have done, purchase gift cards & make your own DDP so you can fully enjoy!!! We are used to DDP too, but it felt the same having disney gift cards & we'd often rather have apps over desserts too! This weddingmoon/honeymoon sounds EPIC!!!! You are doing this right & I feel your excitement!!!!!! The hotel line up alone is AMAZING!!!!! I'm also a fan of cruising but I've never done DCL, so I'll be looking forward to the details!!!!

Crossroads House of Blues

$50 Certificate | Your Price $50 $20.00
Minimum purchase of $100 at restaurant.
 
Hi Libby! I've been lurking for a bit on your PJ (and peeked through your dining reports - yum!). I can't wait to see how beautiful and amazing your day is! I love seeing your honeymoon plans too. We are planing on a Disneymoon in the fall and I think we'll have a similar take on dining - neither of us have ever been, so I think we'll be happy winging it with some CS meals and not always traveling to dinner every night so we have more park time. We are also not lay on the beach people haha :teleport:

Hiya! I'm so glad you're enjoying my PJ! :) More park time is definately a good thing, I think we're so excited for a slightly more relaxed approach! I hope you have fun planning your Disneymoon! :) xxxx

Oh fun fun fun! I am so excited for you all! I just went back in the report and found your gown--beautiful--and you are just so lovely! But the gown, definitely MEANT TO BE! What a cool story.

This is wonderful--your excitement is contagious--

I laughed about your remark that you love to shop in American stores. My FAVORITE shop in all of WDW? The shop in WS....yes, England! Love that little shop!

Awww thank you so much! :) Yes the dress was totally meant to be! A bit weird, really!! I'm glad you're enjoying my PJ :)

hahahah no way is that your fave shop! We love seeing how much all the English food is! Crazy prices haha! I'm obsessed with all things America so I just love love love shopping in American shops :D Mainly WALMART!!! xxxxx

PS: don't stress about the money. You have a good grip on things and obviously you are not an irresponsible twit. This is a ONCE in a LIFETIME trip that you will remember forever. I have regretted many things (what was I thinking when I bought that awful rug? Why did I go to Sea World, the world's most boring and expensive place on earth?) but we have never regretted our Disney wedding and honeymoon! Not ever!

Aww thank you so much, this was a lovely comment :) I have calmed down completely now, and your comment is 100% true :) I don't want to regret a single thing, and havin calmed down now I am fully back on track planning and buying little bits and pieces to make our dreams happen :) xxxxxxx
 
Hiya! I'm so glad you're enjoying my PJ! :) More park time is definately a good thing, I think we're so excited for a slightly more relaxed approach! I hope you have fun planning your Disneymoon! :) xxxx



Awww thank you so much! :) Yes the dress was totally meant to be! A bit weird, really!! I'm glad you're enjoying my PJ :)

hahahah no way is that your fave shop! We love seeing how much all the English food is! Crazy prices haha! I'm obsessed with all things America so I just love love love shopping in American shops :D Mainly WALMART!!! xxxxx



Aww thank you so much, this was a lovely comment :) I have calmed down completely now, and your comment is 100% true :) I don't want to regret a single thing, and havin calmed down now I am fully back on track planning and buying little bits and pieces to make our dreams happen :) xxxxxxx

If you like Wal-Mart, have you tried Target? Better quality and much cuter stuff. There's a great one off 192, very close to AKL lodge.
 
Ah your plans sound amazing.

Thank the lord for the kindness of your friends. I am so glad that they were able to assist you in book the VGF as part of your dream wedding plan and bless the hearts of your friends who offered their points for the first night of travels. Such kindness. I actually love OKW - I am a bit biased as my family are DVC members and this is our home resort as we have been members since 1998 when this was the only DVC resort. It is really nice, quiet and laid back and they have the biggest studios of all of them. I think you will be happy with your stay there.

Your dining plans sound amazing! Your going to have so much great food...I'm already jealous!

I am so excited for you!! Everything sounds like its coming together for you.

When we went for our honeymoon last summer, we were a bit stressed out about spending money on the trip as well - we went on our honeymoon the day after the wedding so the final shock of that bill was still with us. However, we tried to just go with the flow and not tell ourselves no just because of the money. It was a once in a lifetime trip, you only get married to the love of your life once and get to experience this special time with them. If you want a cocktail with dinner, do it. If you want lobster instead of chicken, do it. Don't stress over money. I agree, don't go out of your way to order lobster when you really want chicken just because you "should" spend money because it's your honeymoon, but enjoy yourself. Unfortunately for most of the population, money will always be a sticky situation so why fret over it.

Thank you so much for your lovely comment :) We really are so lucky to have such kind friends, we wouldn't be staying at VGF if it wasn't for them and that was so important to us! I'm glad you love OKW, we can't wait to stay there! The rooms look huge!!

Hahah 'the final shock of that bill' I can imagine! I think we'll be fine to pay the wedding off, it's just the honeymoon and it's our own fault as we just didn't start saving soon enough unfortunately! But yes it really will be a once in a lifetime trip, and we arn't holding back as you can see. I'm really going to try hard not to worry about money whilst we're out there, and like you say, spend if we want it, but not excessively :) a deluxe dining option a day would be doing that IMO, so with only a few sit down meals planned I think we're doing well :) Thank you so much for reading along! xxxx

Great update, Libby! We missed you! Your honeymoon plans sound so, so amazing. I'm so jealous that you were able to get into the VGF for the night before/day of your wedding! This was our plan too, as we're also getting married at the Wedding Pavilion, but we couldn't secure a reservation and on top of that, all the regular rooms at the Grand are completed booked during our wedding. As disappointing as it was, one of my amazing friends who is also a DVC member offered to gift us a night at the Boardwalk Inn in a one-bedroom villa! So as sad as I was that we don't get to stay at the Grand, at least we'll have LOTS of space for getting ready in our one-bedroom! Plus our reception is at the Boardwalk, so that's pretty convenient too.

All of your dining reservations sound awesome too. California Grill and Le Cellier are some of my favorites! Also, if you're on the fence to try Cowfish at Universal, I highly recommend it. We ate there earlier this year and really enjoyed it! Prices aren't too bad either and its a really cool-looking restaurant :)

Ahhh I'm sorry you weren't able to get a room at the VGF or Grand! :( But oh my goodness yes a 1 bed at the BW will be AMAZING!! So so spcaious, and way more convenient for your reception! Ahh we might add Cowfish in then thank you for the rec, or we might go back to Disney as we're finding there are just so many new options being introduced that we want to eat at!! I hope all your wedding is going well Lauren!! :) xxx

Congratulations!!! It looks amazing. The ONLY big downside of booking in 4 months was that the VGF wasn't available. My brother owns there so if we had been planning the wedding at 11 months he could have booked us there for at least 2 nights and then we would have probably moved to Saratoga where hubby owns. Or maybe Bay Lake. But we stayed in a 2 bed lock off at Kidani with the parents in the studio and us in the 1 bed room. It was awesome having the 1 bedroom and having the fridge to store the cake and the bouquet and things like that. The bath etc. But it would have been a tougher call had we had the choice of Grand Floridian because it is way more points. I think we would have just done the move to do the saving. As it was it was LOADS better being able to book and arrange a wedding in 4 months as I loved just sorting it. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Love being married and moved to the UK now.
Spent the last few weeks trying to decide on the photos. They're all sooo awesome. The location is just the BEST! https://flic.kr/s/aHskvRzDgQ

Anyway! It all sounds amazing. Andy flew direct from Gatwick and it wasn't too bad the cost It did make a difference on the day he picked though. He ended up flying on cheaper days by accident really. Monday and a Wednesday I think.

I hope all the planning goes well and it comes together well! It sounds amazing.

Thank you so much! Ahh I'm so sorry you couldn't get VGF either, but 2 bedroom lock off must have been amazing!! So spacious! And ow are you finding life in the UK!? I hope it's all going well! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and experiences! :) xxxxx

Your plans sound great! I can understand why you got out of the zone briefly, as it sounds like SO much planning, but I'm glad you're back into it and that Benji always helps destress you. Totally right call on getting the Grand Floridian for two nights - if your wedding is there, it sounds like a must to stay there, and you definitely wouldn't want to move the day of.

Aww thank you so much :) Yeah Grand is a must do for 2 nights, we def made the right decision :) I'm back in the zone now and it's brilliant :) xxx

Libby I just wanted to let you know that House of Blues usually has a restaurant.com certificate you can buy which takes a bunch off your meal!!! Go to restaurant.com & put in the zip: 32830 to find it! You pay $20 now then you'll get $50 off a bill of $100! They do have them available now if that helps. Plus a bunch of other places in the area. :) Also another non DDP tip, we have done, purchase gift cards & make your own DDP so you can fully enjoy!!! We are used to DDP too, but it felt the same having disney gift cards & we'd often rather have apps over desserts too! This weddingmoon/honeymoon sounds EPIC!!!! You are doing this right & I feel your excitement!!!!!! The hotel line up alone is AMAZING!!!!! I'm also a fan of cruising but I've never done DCL, so I'll be looking forward to the details!!!!

Crossroads House of Blues

$50 Certificate | Your Price $50 $20.00
Minimum purchase of $100 at restaurant.

Aww you are so so sweet!! Thank you so so much for sharing this I will definately get involved! Could save us soooooo much!! It was really sweet of you to think of us, I really appreciate it :) xxxxx
 
Update - 5 months to go!!

Hi guys!! So it’s been a little while since I updated, and we are now FIVE MONTHS OUT!! Like, 5 months today we’ll be married. I know I start every update with this hahah but time is honestly going so quickly!! So, lets crack on, I’ve got so much to share!!

Fireworks drama

Okay, so, the number one thing that has happened in the past couple of weeks is FIREWORKSGATE. Let me set the scene for you. As you all know, we took great care to plan our wedding around watching Wishes as it was super important to us. We checked historical MNSSHP dates to make sure the fireworks on our wedding day would be Wishes and not Hallowishes, we chose a Wednesday as they historically haven’t been party nights, and then once we got our date we were super excited and just had to wait for MNSSHP dates to be announced. Which they were, in April, and 19th October was NOT a party night. YAYYYYYY!! However. Mid-April I saw that October party hours had been released so I checked the TA calendar as it’s updated faster than the official site, and is generally pretty accurate. Something weird was happening October 19th. There was no Wishes listed, and MK was scheduled to close at 8pm with EMH til 10pm. That’s like, super early for MK in October. Every other non-party night was like 9 or 10, and even though I know these early calendars are always updated nearer the time, it was still really odd! I immediately went into panic mode as no one online seemed to know anything about it, and all I could think of was that it was a company or convention who’d bought it out and were planning a private event. ON OUR WEDDING DAY!!! I took solace in the fact EMH was listed, but still, I thought that could have been an error. I emailed Lisa, our WP, and asked if she could find out anything about it. I also asked if we could be penciled in for an Illuminations DP as a back-up, as I just had a feeling it wasn’t going to be good news. I wrote a pleading post on the Dibb (UK Florida planning website) to see if anyone could shed any light, and one Dibber made me feel loads better because she said she’d been able to book a Wishes cruise that night! Yay! She was so sweet and we messaged a few times, but then she messaged and said she’d called again to query the calendar and that everyone in the office said how weird it was and after putting her on hold for ages, advised her to change her cruise to a different night!! Nooooo!! I got really upset then :( I hadn’t heard back from Lisa and I was getting really worried that because of F&W, we wouldn’t be able to get a DP spot in Epcot as it’s such a busy time of year! Anyway, to cut a long story short, with lots of refreshing of both the TA calendar, my Gmail account, and the Park Hours thread on the Disboards, Lisa emailed me back. She was going to find out what was going on with the fireworks as she agreed it was really weird, and in the meantime she had penciled us in for UK Lower. Well, I can’t tell you how much better I felt after getting this email! Like, instant relief!! I was gutted that our Wishes plans may have been scuppered, but at least we would be having fireworks on our wedding day! I then threw myself into researching Illuminations DP’s and UK Lower in particular, and I began to really come round to the idea.

Fast forward to today, and the TA calendar has now been updated and is showing Wishes as 10pm on our wedding night!! Eeeeeekkkkk I can’t even tell you how happy this made me when I saw it!! However, I’m not 100% getting my hopes up yet. I haven’t heard from Lisa yet, and it isn’t on the official Disney park hours. When it appears on there I think I’ll be happy!! So please all keep your fingers crossed that we’ll get our dream fireworks and dessert party!

UPDATE: It’s now like 2 weeks later and I haven’t finished writing this update yet hahaha but Wishes is now appearing on the official Disney website, YAY!!!!!!! I had a little moment of thinking would an Epcot DP actually be better!? I know, crazy right, it’s just I know it would turn out cheaper! However we’d have to leave our reception at Whitehall earlier to get across to Epcot, pay for transport for all our guests etc. But now I’m 100% sure Wishes is the way forward and I am so so so happy that it now appears to be an option for us :) We did so much research for this and I am just so pleased that our perfect day will be happening how we planned it now :) I’ve heard back from lisa and she’s removed the hold she placed on the UK Lochside DP location in Epcot, so it’s all systems go for Wishes :D

wishes-nighttime-spectacular-05_zpsuznvgwbi.jpg


Badges

Okay, onto less stressful things!! We’d said all along that we wanted to get badges made up for all our guests to wear on our Stag and Hen Epcot day :D I found a fab designer on Etsy who made an amazing design for us with me and Ben on, the WP in the background, and our wedding date J In our wedding colours too, pale pink and gold! We were so so so so pleased with the design!! I then sent the PDF to a company who makes badges on eBay, they sent me a proof, and literally 2 days later we had 30 badges haha! They look absolutely awesome – I’m afraid I’m not going to share them on here as I think a few of our guests may be reading along and I don’t want them to be spoiled haha! But they look amazing and we can’t wait to wear them :D I think we’re going to put together a newsletter with useful times/phone numbers/addresses etc and mail them out a few weeks before the wedding, along with their badges to get all our guests excited :D Rather than us cart them all the way over to Florida and then have to hand them out!

Lightinthebox pending order
So! I currently have a list of wedding jobs that I’m working through, it’s a big document on our Google docs drive and I’m just trying to tick stuff off here and there :) I’ve also got a huuuge order sat in my cart on LightInTheBox.com – has anyone used it before? I found it while searching for veils, and they have so much affordable wedding stuff! I’ve got my wedding hairband/headpiece, a couple of pairs of earrings, a veil, cake cutting set, some giant gold LOVE balloons for our UK reception…and some other stuff I’ve probably forgotten! Shipping is quite high which is why I want to make sure I have everything I want from there, and I only have to do one order. My goal is to buy this little lot this week though so I can tick a bunch of stuff off my list at once, as that will be so satisfying haha!!

My hairband!

Screen%20Shot%202016-05-28%20at%2017.54.43_zps9z9gau41.png


Ordered wedding rings
So this is a big one!! I ordered my wedding ring last night :D We went to town a few weeks ago and went in a few jewelers to try on rings and get a feel for what we wanted. We went in Beaverbrooks hahah…..woahhh!!! we had a lovely experience to be fair, but holy moly those rings are expensive. I guess it’s just down to personal preference though – we aren’t huge jewellery people - I pretty much exclusively buy jewelry in Primark and New Look, and Ben doesn’t wear any!! I really am not a showy person or into diamonds at all, and I’d much rather put money into the actual wedding day and our honeymoon. Unfortunately, my gorgeous fiancé buying me a platinum engagement ring put paid to that haha! Because it’s platinum, if I buy a wedding ring that’s a softer metal, it will basically wear it down over time. I thought this was just something jewelers say to get you to buy the most expensive rings, but apparently it is actually true. So! My dreams of a nice but cheap white gold ring were out the window and we found ourselves staring at Beaverbrooks’ range of platinum wedding rings and feeling slightly sick!! Haha ohhhh. I am joking, we were aware of it before we went to BB, but still. I asked about palladium (a cheaper alternative to platinum) but they only had like 1 and I didn’t like it. We also looked in H Samual etc but again, they just didn’t have the range of palladium. I decided pretty early on that I wanted diamonds in my wedding band, so that, plus the need for it to be palladium and an amount we were comfortable with, meant our search was limited pretty quickly! Fear now though, I am an expert Googler. I took to the internet and eventually found a slightly dodgy looking website that had some gorgeous rings for amazing prices. Thinking it was too good to be true, I searched for trusted reviews, and it’s got like 9.8 out of 10 on the watchdog review shopping site! Amazeballs!! After emailing them to enquire about warranty/insurance etc and receiving an adequate reply (a few typos, but what can you do!!) I placed my order last night :) I’ll add a photo when it arrives, assuming it’s nice and not falling apart! I joke, but seriously. Keep your fingers crossed for me here too please!

In terms of Benjis ring, he does not have an engagement ring that’s going to eat his wedding ring, so we’re just gonna get the most affordable nicest ring he sees :) I believe he wants brushed effect as he felt the shiny was a bit full on, and he also wants it to be curved as he said the non-curved ones looked like he’d just cut a bit of pipe on and stuck it on his finger (LOL at him whispering that to me in Beaverbrooks) So he pretty much knows what he wants, he just needs to order it! :)

Another update here as it’s been so long since I wrote this...my ring arrived! Yay! And its beautiful! YAY! Unfortunately, it’s way too big! So I’ve sent it back this morning and they’re going to send me a smaller size, and also a thinner band as we felt it was too thick :)

Here’s the ring!

IMG_3399_zpsw68hqkzu.jpg


KTTK
Another exciting thing ticked off our list - we’ve booked the KTTK tour for my parents as a gift!! I was umming and ahhing about this - I thought it was something they’d both love and they are helping us out so much with the wedding that I thought it would be the perfect gift. My Mum then mentioned a few times how much she was interested in the history of the parks and Walt’s vision etc and I got even more excited about how much she’d love it! My Dad was getting really into the planning though and he was booking all his ADRS (They’re staying at SSR with the DDP) so I didn’t want to like book it for a day and risk him schedule something else soooooo I decided to tell just him :) I told him all about the tour and asked if he thought Mum would like it, and obviously if he would like it, and he seemed so so excited! I was so chuffed :) So that’s all booked now and we’re keeping it a secret from my Mum for now! Ideally we’d like to give gifts out on the rehearsal dinner, but as their tour is only a few days after, I’m not sure if I should tell Mum about it after. OOooh I don’t know! Need to give it some thought I think :)

Photo-Jan-20-8-52-09-AM_zpsem7c8ejm.jpg


Hoop de Doo
Now this was an exciting one!! We’ve got a whatsapp group with a few of our friends who are coming to the wedding, and we’re constantly sharing exciting stuff we’ve found happening at the Disney parks, or wedding stuff, or just general excitement haha :D It’s awesome! So anyway. We were all chatting last month and my friend Lucy piped up and said would anyone be interested in Hoop de Doo? Well, that was if. We were off!! She used to work in Epcot during her CP and she said that one time all her friends went to HDD but she couldn’t go as she was working, and she was liteally gutted as they said it was like the funniest night ever!!! o nce all our other friends found out there was unlimited beer and wine hahah they were sold!! Me and Benj were also sold, cause although HDD hasn’t been something we’ve particularly wanted to do, we figured we’d want to do it one day, and it’ll be sooooo much more fun with a big group of friends and this is probably the only chance we’ll get to do that!! So I called up the other day and booked for 9 of us haha, it’s going to be such a fun evening I can’t wait!! We’re doing it on the Saturday after our wedding, just before our cruise (on the Monday) :)

HoopDeDoo-7227_zpsosuvap5j.jpg


hoop-dee-doo-musical-revue-40th-anniversary-feat-5-1_zpsrrocwyki.png


Planning evenings - completed successfully, and upcoming ones
So this leads me nicely into talking a bit about the planning evenings we’ve hosted/attended during the last few months. As anyone knows who’s planning a wedding abroad, there is a LOT of potential planning to be done for family and friends who are joining you on your special day. I think it’s up to each individual bride and groom how much they choose to get i nvolved with everyone elses planning - for us it was important that we try and help everyone as much as we can, as it means so much to us that they’re joining us :) With that being said, I know it’s a lot to take on though and although I do love planning and we know a lot about Orlando/Disney, we aren’t taking toooooo much on. It’s mainly just family we’ve been really helping and the nice thing is everyone has got soooo involved with it all, and we’re finding that everyone is putting their own schedules and plans together on their own now! It’s so nice :) I’ve helped them out by creating mini streamlined duplicates of mine and Ben’s holiday spreadsheet, just with their travel dates and when the wedding events etc are. I’ve found these have really helped everyone visualise the wedding week and see where they need to be and when, and they can then plan their own events around them. As they’re all on Google Docs and fully editable, it’s nice because people can just amend their own versions. A couple of our friends have even created full-blown spreadsheets on their own which i was SO excited to see, and I have to see I got little butterflies in my tummy when I was reading one friend’s and seeing what they’ll be doing the morning of the wedding etc, and the fact they had ‘WEDDING’ written on the wedding day :D It’s the little things but it just got me so excited!! I also got ridiculously excited the other day reading Lottie’s pre-trippie and seeing that her and Rich are breakfasting at the Grand Floridian Cafe the morning of our wedding, arghhhhh it’s just so amazing to think that they’ll be doing that as we’re getting ready! And then we’re going to all have the most amazing day together!! It really is just so so exciting, I wish I could bottle the excitement and anticipation I’m feeling so I could feel it forever :)

You might remember last year we had a couple of planning eves with both sets of parents (Ben’s parents are divorced, so 2 x sets of parents on that side!) to help them with their initial bookings. We also had a planning evening with Ben’s godparents who are staying at the Dolphin which is awesome :) In my last update we were getting ready for a big evening with a bunch of our friends coming to our flat for American food and drinks and Florida chat and that was such a hilarious evening :D It was just really lovely to chat with everyone and see them getting so excited :) We’ve now got a planning eve in the next month or so with Ben’s Mum and Stepdad, and his godparents just to discuss which tickets they’re going to buy as they aren’t staying on site with Disney tickets and DDP. So that will be super fun :)

I thought you might like to see some photos of the planning session we did for our friends back in March :)

The food!!

1514624_10156569474760198_3442118878861539935_n_zpsfnnbrka1.jpg


Me and Benj :D

564459_10156569474900198_2236737678987116880_n_zpstm8di2zn.jpg


After Disney chatter wrapped up the evening turned a bit more adult with a rousing round of cards against humanity!

1914766_10156569475020198_2544359003504397758_n_zpsukncsvm3.jpg


Current projects
So on my to-do list there are a few DIY bits and bobs I’ve set myself as little projects. The most pressing one is to create invites for our UK reception and get them all printed off as we’ll probably start sending them out next month. I’m also designing wedding day programs/order of service (except it’s more than an order of service because I just want to make sure everyone is aware of the plans for the day - I hate at weddings when you don’t know when you’ll get to eat etc hahaha!!) So I’ve started working on the designs for both and I do more or less know what design I’ll be doing, but we had a slight set back the other day haha! Basically we had an iMac at home that was from Ben’s work for him to work at home, but it needs to go back so now I’m stuck for using InDesign and Photoshop etc! It’s like really expensive to buy, so we need to look into what to do there really. Damn it, haha!! I’m going to try downloading a couple of free layout programmes tonight and see if I can get anywhere. I really want to design them myself :( I’ll update you if I have any updates haha, we’re both racking our brains about what we could do!

Booked wedding and holiday insurance
We booked both our wedding and holiday insurance last week! We got our wedding insurance through Debenhams and got a £10 gift voucher in the post which is exciting! They seemed reasonable and covered everything we needed :) Benj sorted our holiday insurance so I’m not sure who we’re with but it’s such a relief to have got that sorted :)

Weight loss

This is something that’s been bugging me for a while, like its been on my to-do list but i haven’t done anything about it! However, I am now, and I’m feeling so much more in control and like i”m actually making progress :) I lost nearly 2 stone following Slimming World last year - I got to 2lbs to go until my target the week before we went to Florida in December :) I was so pleased and felt amazing. When I got back i got straight back to group, and while I haven’t gained any weight (aside from 4lbs ish over Christmas) I wasn’t losing any. However, I’ve been super motivated the last few weeks and I’ve lost 4lb, and now have 2.5lbs to go again until target :) This Bank Holiday weekend we’ve got a lot of social occasions planned which I’ll enjoy, but try to stay on plan where I can. I would love to get to my target, and potentially lower it another 7 lbs too depending on how I feel :) So wish me luck guys! I really don’t want to look back at my wedding photos and have any regrets, and while I am so proud of how far I’ve come, I definitely won’t look amazing in a bikini on our cruise at this weight and that’s something only I have the power to change!

1482766_10152117222661068_1688192330_n_zpszxypws7m.jpg


I think I’ll leave it there for now! I’ll probably have another update very soon as we’re getting so much done at the moment! I need to update you on our final ADR choices and talk about the restaurants and snacks we’re excited for :D

Hope everyone has a lovely long weekend! X
 
thanks for the great update!! Can't believe the wedding is only 5 months away!!!

EEEEKKKKK!
 
Thank you so much! Ahh I'm so sorry you couldn't get VGF either, but 2 bedroom lock off must have been amazing!! So spacious! And ow are you finding life in the UK!? I hope it's all going well! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and experiences! :) xxxxx
The lockout was amazing. Parents drove me nuts a bit but it settled ultimately and it was the right call given the choices. I'd choose Saratoga I think given what I know now but I mean there's lovely parts of Kidani that will be a lovely memory for us too so it's not at ALL a regret...just learnt a lot and now appreciate Saratoga more.

UK is great. Mostly settled now and it's going well. Nice hanging out with Hubby's family.

Glad to see your plans coming together! It's always so hard doing it from a Distance but ultimately I have to say that DFTW are really very good with getting it all day and I still can't believe how seamlessly our time ran. Despite my mother having mini dramas of her own forgetting things in the limo and all sorts of things. Our planner just got it all kept calm and sorted.

You'll have such a great time! Good luck with the rest of the plans. The ring situation is interesting. My hubby wanted me to choose my ring so we went all white gold and I love that the bands are thinner and smaller overall profiles. I HAD a couple years ago thought I'd want platinum but cost precluded...then earlier this year I saw my mate Alan who had done all Platinum (both wedding bands and her engagement ring) and it amazed me a year and a half later how scratched his ring was. And it was from a place like Beaverbrooks in Australia. It was top quality. I mean my wedding band and engagement ring has scratches and it'll need the yearly clean and rhodium check but I always expected more from platinum somehow...
Yours looks lovely and I agree the diamonds are definitely a lovely look
 
Just read through your journal to catch up and I love it!

I'm so glad your fireworks drama worked itself out and you'll get to see Wishes. It'll be amazing, I'm sure! Your ring and tiara look very cute. Thanks for mentioning Light In The Box, now I'm having too much fun looking there :p.

And good luck on the weight loss goal. I know how hard it can be, but I know you can do it and you'll look amazing on your wedding day and in that bikini. I'm also trying to drop a bit for my wedding so I'm here with you!
 
Hi!
Been reading along for a bit and finally decided to pipe in! I love your story (also been with my DF since HS, we'll be 11 years next month!) and your plans are all wonderful. I love your colors!!!
Thanks for a great report of your planning session. The timelines are super helpful and you're making me think December could be a great time for a planning trip (our wedding is in May so December makes sense but I've been hesitant because of the crowds)

Thanks for posting about lightinabox. They have the same favors i liked elsewhere for much cheaper and they have such a big accessories selection. Let us know how that works out.

And I'm so glad you booked your parents the keys to the kingdom tour!! We did it in 2010 and it was amazing! It made us appreciate the parks so much more and made us even bigger Disney fans! after it, we got so into the history and planted the seed that we had to go to Disneyland (which we did in this past April and DF proposed there). So yea the tour is the best.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top