Christine & Erik's PJ: 12/4/08 Finally New Updates!

[redheadedmomma]

thanks for the info honey, now that i'm retired, we need to keep me busy. because of you i found the dis boards & yes it is addicting & interesting.

 

[keenercam]

Your cake topper is gorgeous! I wouldn't have noticed the details of the wedding bands or the crystals if you hadn't pointed them out. The favors are really nice, too. That would be a very nice favor to receive. Your pix of your DL visit are great! So glad you were able to squeeze in a visit!

Welcome to your Mom, too! How fun!

 

[cp_princess]

Thanks keenercam and mama! I loved that we got to stop in DL it made a wonderful and special trip even better the only thing that possibly could have made it more amazing was adding the DL part and I'm so glad we did. Especially in respect to recent events that holiday was really needed.

Let's see what's new....
Well I ordered a hoop skirt on ebay and it came in and is perfect - except that I have to cut a bunch of the tulle from the bottom because it's too long. But that doesn't bother me a bit because at least the hoop part is the perfect length.

I also managed to buy a bunch of staples for the welcome bags while in Target the other day... I raided the travel supply aisle and ended up getting band-aids, alcohol wipes, germ-x gel disinfectant, spf 20 chapstick, sunblock, a nail file for the females, rolaids with a travel container, shout wipes, charmin toilet seat covers and I think that's it. Needless to say people's essentials will be well covered. I may pick up a few more things like gum and a little gift or two for the adults and then just the snacks and drinks I'll buy when I get to Orlando.

Plus I've been working with Meri on arranging the Ice cream social welcome party and it really looks like this will happen (good reason for dancing bananas however there will be no bananas on the ice cream bar because cause I don't eat them ....yuck!) OK maybe I'll consider it for others we'll see if I decide to be bridezilla or not.... or more accurately if we'll end up paying an arm and a leg to have those added. To be honest I didn't even think of them until now but I guess people may want banana splits I just didn't think of it cause I don't eat it! hehe! Anywho we'll be at the GF summerhouse and it's really shaping up to be something that I'm jazzed about. Hopefully once the PS happens we'll still have room in our budget to do this.

Other then that I haven't been able to get much accomplished wedding wise because I've been having some health issues that started the same day Erik's grandfather passed away. Long story short I had a migraine for 10 days straight (I've suffered from migraines for years but this was by far the worst yet). Basically the doctor thinks it's a sinus infection, hormones and stress. So since I have to work and can't cut that out, hormones are not something I can control, and since dealing with family including dealing with Erik's family's loss is part of being a good fiancee and an inevitable part of being human the only option I had was to pull back from wedding activities. So I'm still going to be on here but I have to limit myself to weekends and maybe one week day to dedicate to the wedding. Luckily most of the big things are planned so far. I just have to realize I have limits and focus on the fun stuff not the details. Which is sooooooo hard already! But I just wanted to let you all know that I love the comments you write and I apologize if it takes me a few days to answer back but I really look forward to reading them! So please keep reading and posting. Hopefully once this work assignment ends I'll be a little less stressed and have more time to be around without adding stress to my schedule.

Christine

 

[dawrobin]

I have been getting migraines since I was 7 so I can totally empathize with you on the pain. I hope you are feeling better!!

Glad everything is coming together!

 

[redheadedmomma]

hi, with all that's going on, i can't beleive you, erik, john & del had the time and engery to plan a 40th anniverserary party for dad & me. I have never been so surprized. you kids did a wonderful job planning the party & keeping the secret. we were floored! i'm usually the planner, so to see what you kids did was amazing. i love you all & again thanks for a wonderful day!

 

[cp_princess]

OK well with that introduction from mom I guess I should give an update on what's been happening. As she mentioned, we all got together and planned a 40th anniversary party for mom and dad (can I just say that Erik and I hope we're blessed with a marriage that lasts that long and with that much love - needless to say I learned from the best. Well Erik and I were the decoy for the surprise - we told Mom and Dad they had to come with us to see a DJ for our at home reception (something I really do still need to pick by the way) and the looks on their faces were priceless when they found out why they were really there ! I have been called evil by both my parents and my MOH because I've forbidden them from doing the same for me for my shower - I hate being the center of attention so a surprise shower would totally make me freak out! I'd probably be hiding in the ladies room the whole time. So that said we're also planning a house party for next weekend - and lucky me I'm sick again though not with migranes this time. So while I'm home seeing all the things I should be organizing and cleaning I'm in reality only feeling up to watching tv and surfing the web. Needless to say that with all the other planning I've been doing the wedding has kind of fallen to the back burner. I am super excited though because mom and dad are going to come to the planning session with us and while I realize the idea of Orlando in July is a scary prospect I know they really wanted to be involved in the PS, and tasting since these are things we aren't really getting to do for our at home reception since it's not officially a "wedding."

Mom and dad are extra lucky and I'm so envious because they actually also get to go to Disney in two weeks for a short trip with my brother and niece. Even though wish I could be there I still benefit from this trip because if I can get my stuff together I can send a bunch of my materials with them since they will be driving and not have to deal with the stupid airline restrictions. I'm hoping that between what I send with them and what we all bring with us in July and December that we won't have to ship too much - I can keep my fingers crossed right ! Especially since in Dec. Erik and I will need enough clothes for more then half a month including wedding attire!

Speaking of airlines we also booked for December - first class here I come ! I'm hoping this will be a true treat when it comes to our traveling experience. Other then that hopefully I can use this time home to get some prep work for our PS trip - like scheduling a photo shoot and hair and make-up trial and meeting with Rev. Know, and then work on some design stuff for the welcome bags, Save the Dates, and Invites. So much for taking it easy I suppose.

Alright that's about it for now. Thanks for helping me get started on an update mom!

Christine

 

[IndyBride]

Everything looks really good! I love your cake topper!

 

[lov2b@disney]

It's great to have your parents involved! 40 years is a great reason to celebrate i bet it was fun! my brother and i did a surprise party for our parents 25th, my mom thought she was going to a baby shower and was crocheting blankets like a mad women for days before! They were stunned Even my dad had tears in his eyes!
Have fun with your planning!

 

[Dreamer24]

Hi Christine, I am enjoying greading your pj. Can you share more about the ice cream social? Where is it? What's involved? About how expensive is it per person?

 

[cp_princess]

lov2b@disney - yeah my favorite mom quote of the weekend was "How did they do this I'm the planner in the family" - of course as many of you can see I've kind of learned from her about that and seem to be able to hold my own with planning these days. I think they were also so surprised because they were both like how did you pull this off you can't lie???? I'm horrible about telling half-truths you can see it on my face. If I didn't live 2 hours away I don't know if I could have pulled this off ! But it was funny they both stood by the door in shock for a moment and then my dad realized enough to go in but it took a push to get mom in the door she was so shocked. Which was the total opposite of what I expected. My dad is much more like me when it comes to being social so I wasn't sure if he'd walk out (he's done so at restaurants after the staff asked to sing happy birthday to him) but he took it in stride much better then I could have. Mom on the other hand loves spending time with her family - and it's a big family so I didn't think she'd be too daunted at entering into the group but the shock definitely took hold of her for a moment.

Dreamer24 well I still don't have all the details on the ice cream party - I think most of it will be decided when we go through our PS. I really need to see where we are with the rest of our budget before we decide how detailed we can get. I can tell you it will be at the Grand Floridian Summerhouse, we have a $1000 food and bev. minimum if I remember correctly. I'm not sure how many of our guests will be there either so that will kind of affect things. Obviously fewer guests means we can have more options food wise for them. Basically at this point we're shooting for staying as close to that minimum as possible. We'll be doing Soda and water on consumption - which currently I think is about 3.50 ea. but I've been told the prices will probably go up (big surprise right????) Otherwise I think it was in the 20-25 pp++ for just the ice cream bar set up with vanilla/chocolate and a bunch of toppings. Hopefully there will be room in the budget to add the chocolate dipped Mickey ears- I so want to work them in somewhere that week. Or I'd also like to offer fruit for people who'd rather not go the junk-food route. The prices of those are about similar for the dessert parties - like 7.50 pp for the fruit and $60 for a dozen Mickey treats - or somewhere in that range. Overall a little more then I'd like to spend but it is pretty much the vision I originally had and the convenience factor is huge sooooo I think as long as we're not too far over budget come PS we'll be able to go with it. HTH with your questions - I know it's not completely specific but it's about as specific as I have at this point.

Well that's about all that's new for now. Not much has happened the las few days other then me sleeping but I'm knocking on wood right now because I'm beginning to feel a tad bit better let's hope it keeps up because I still have my whole house to clean and organize by next weekend. Want to come up a few days early mommy?????????
Hey at least I'm honest about that - more cleaning definitely gets accomplished when mom is under my roof!

TTFN

Christine

 

[dislovr]

Christine,
I came to check in! I'll now be following along. BTW...nice dress!

 

[cp_princess]

Hehehehe, right back at you on the dress. Thanks Dislovr - glad to have you.

 

[Dreamer24]

That helps a lot! Thanks Christina!

 

[cp_princess]

Well both of the big parties we had this spring are over. Now I can focus on the wedding for a change ! We had our house warming on Sat and it all went pretty smoothly thank goodness. Especially thanks to mom who was a huge help running things the day of! And my DF who handled a lot of the social aspects! I think this was DF and I the whole week before . Sunday was great it's the first day in forever (when I wasn't sick) that we did absolutely nothing! Now back to the fun of wedding planning. I really have to stop procrastinating on a few things - like appointments for our July PS trip that I need to set up. Plus I really need to find some more pictures and such to bring with me for inspiration. Otherwise I managed to send like 1/2 of my supplies with my folks who will be driving down there this week and storing it in my brothers condo. So maybe between all of our pre-wedding trips we can get everything down there without paying extra for baggage. Or at least only paying minimally when we go for the wedding since I don't see how I can possibly get 2 weeks worth of clothes in one bag. Otherwise I still have to find a DJ for our at home reception and pick some decorative touches and find a bakery oh and do save the dates and invites . It all seems so simple and manageable until I start writing it out and seeing exactly how much there is to do! OK off to watch my hockey team - hopefully we win this time or the seasons pretty much over! Oh well that means more time to focus on wedding plans too I suppose!

 

[cp_princess]

Well I did finally get some wedding stuff done today but largely because I didn't have the energy to do much else. I pretty much spoiled myself today trying to do only happy things because yesterday was pretty rough. I found out that my puppy dog passed away (doesn't even begin to explain how I feel but it's a start). My aunt was sweet enough to watch her while mom and dad were in Disney and unfortunately she passed away yesterday morning. They got home last night which is about the earliest point I could have gotten there as well. This is one of those times that living so far away really sucks. Though at 11 years old, and with her health issues, for a lab she lived an average lifetime. But she was my baby so it was still a very very tough bit of news. It will take a long time for me to feel better I'm sure but I'm trying to keep myself occupied with happy things to help ease some of the pain.

So my good news or progress for the week is as follows. I finally started on Save the dates - though I ended up going with a scroll theme so it's going to take some skill to put them together. I have one mock-up partially started and an idea of what I'll do but really need to get a group together and do an assembly line to complete them. Hopefully I'll get to that in the next few weeks. 96 of the main part are printed and I have the whole template made so once I get some more supplies and a team together I hope and think they might go quickly.

Also for my special birthday this year I've convinced Erik to do a belated birthday weekend. So by some form of pixie dust I've convinced him to do a weekend in Disney in Mid-October. I figure that way we'll spend a few days (where even though we'll be in Disney the wedding talk will be off limits) and we can have some time to recharge before all the big events and the holidays hit. My DF must really love me because somehow he agreed! That will make 4 trips in a year and a half plus 2 trips to Disneyland in the same time. I don't think I've spent this much time at the parks in such a short amount time unless you could when I lived and worked there! So today we did some trip planning, which while necessary, is also something I find fun.

I also finally contacted the photographer, makeovermajic, and Rev Knox to see if any of them can fit some time in to meet with us while we're there for our planning session. I feel so horrible for waiting so long to contact them I feel like it's such short notice. But maybe since it's mid-summer things will be slow. I know when I spoke to Randy's wife back in the winter she was saying July usually is relatively slow for them (as opposed to the rest of the year I suppose because from what I've seen on these boards I get the feeling things are never really slow for them). So keep your fingers crossed I get some pixie dust in regards to that because I've really procrastinated myself into a corner. Funny thing is most other things and places 8 to 10 weeks notice is probably plenty but in this case who knows .

I'm also slowly adding things (like printed emails and confirmations) into the wedding binder in hopes it will be all up to date by our planning session in July.

I think that's about it for now. I can't remember anything else if there was anything. Oh I did finally get the castle I ordered on Ebay - it's kinda cute a bit cheesy though but from a distance it definitely adds some sparkle. Since I plan on using it as an accent on the cake table - not as the main cake topper it's fine. I'll try to add some pictures of that and the Save the Dates for the at home reception in the near future.

Hope you all have a great weekend - especially anyone with the extra Holiday on Monday!

 

[DisneyBrideToni]

Ok this is REALLLYYYYY Freaky. I just looked at your website that you made and I see that your reception is at Scotland Run. Well I am from Vineland and I started planning my wedding here in Jersey before I decided to have a DFTW and I booked Scotland Run for my reception...WOW!! It's a small world after all!!!! Love your PJ can't wait to read more. Love your theme!!!

 

[Lynn5700]

Gorgeous Cake topper!!!! everything look's great!!!!!!!!!!

 

[cp_princess]

DisneybrideToni,

Hehe it is a small world! It's actually pretty funny because Erik and I originally planned on something simple - maybe rent a hall and DIY type thing. But my parents - who are nice enough to host our at home reception insisted that we take a look around at venues and such. Well when I found Scotland Run I pretty much knew it was between them and another golf club in the area that also had a lodge type feel. It just fit perfect with my personality and our theme. Once we went and visited them while the other had a fantastic view of Philadelphia I just loved the room and set up of all of Scotland Run and from that point it was pretty much decided. I had my heart set on it and Erik pretty much agreed that if that's what I wanted then we should do it. We did have to be creative to try and find a way to fit it in financially but I think we've totally created and event that we'll all be happy with in the end. I really do love that place...now let's hope I feel the same come next Feb. once we're done dealing with them! JK - it seems like a wonderful place to work with the coordinators are very accommodating.

Christine

 

[DisneyBrideToni]

Oh I think I know the other place you are talking about but I can't remember the name. I actually looked at that place too. At scotland Run everyone was really great and helpful. I think they are the most reasonable out of a lot of venues. I was also looking at the Carriage House but they are wayyyyyyy to overpriced.

 

[redheadedmomma]

we didn't price weddings, however, i did price a sunday brunch shower at carriage house in voorhees & the price was very competitive with venues in haddon hts. in fact the carriage house offered more for the money including a cake cut & boxed for the quests because there are sweets included with the brunch. the owner was very accomadating. christine doesn't like surprizes so i had to tell where & when the shower would be. sorry you had a bad experience, hope i'm not disappointed.