LURKYLOO's Wedding Trippie: Morocco/Attic/Lower UK: Wedding Album + Gown Preservation

lurkyloo

The Attic was just perfect!
Joined
Aug 24, 2006
I’m going to try to organize my trip report in a way that info is easily accessible, so I’ll start with a refresher and my vendor reviews, then get into the blow-by-blow recaps!

I’ve noticed that a lot of times the things we obsess over in our planning journals don’t even rate a mention in the eventual trip report, so here’s a link to mine in case I neglect to cover some detail:

Planning Journal: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1629935

It also covers how we met, why we chose a Walt Disney World wedding, and what we said to everyone who asked us if we were going to be married by Mickey Mouse...

Wedding Details

Locations: Morocco/The Attic/UK Lochside

Date: 2/4/08

Number of Guests: 34

No Rehearsal Dinner, no Farewell Brunch, no Bachelor/Bachelorette Party, but we accidentally ended up having a...

Rehearsal Brunch: Spoodles

and a...

No-Pressure, Come-if-You-Want-to Meet ‘n’ Greet: The Drawing Room at Beach Club Villas

Photography: Nathan & Jensey Root (www.rootography.com)

Videography: Star Fruit Productions (http://starfruitprod.com/)

Floral: Disney (required for in-park events)

Hair & Makeup: Patricia LeJeune (www.lejeune-pca.com)

Honeymoon Resorts: Beach Club Villas/Contemporary/Animal Kingdom Villas/Grand Floridian


Our Pictures & Video

Wedding Photo Slideshow: http://clients.rootography.com/carriepatrick/

Wedding Video Demo: http://blip.tv/file/1667510/

Full-length Wedding Video: http://blip.tv/file/1023592/



Trip Report Index

Since this trip report is now up to 58 pages, I thought it would be helpful to index it so you can skip to each day’s installment. Many days required multiple posts, so I’ll link to the page and write in the number that the installment starts on.

Day 1: Travel Day – Page 2, Post #28

Day 2: Death By a Thousand Frustrations – Page 4, Post #51

Day 3: Rehearsal, Brunch, Meet ‘n’ Greet! – Page 6, Post #86


Wedding Day: Ceremony – Page 7, Post #103

Wedding Day: Reception – Page 9, Post #135

Wedding Day: Dessert Party – Page 12, Post #169


Glad I Did/Wish I’d Done – Page 14, Post #202

Magic Kingdom Portrait Session Review – Page 44, Post #651


Honeymoon Day 1: Stormalong Bay, All Day! – Page 17, Post #245

Honeymoon Day 2: Disastrous Disney Photo Shoot & Snoozin’ Through the MK – Page 47, Post #691

Honeymoon Day 3: First Full Day at Epcot – Page 19, Post #285

Honeymoon Day 4: Behind the Seeds Tour & Parasailing – Page 23, Post #338

Honeymoon Day 5: Another Frigging Magical Day! – Page 25, Post #363

Honeymoon Day 6: Animal Kingdom – Page 26, Post #379

Honeymoon Day 7: First-Ever Visit to MGM/DHS – Page 28, Post #409

Honeymoon Day 8: Celebration, Mini Golf, and Resort Touring – Page 29, Post #430

Honeymoon Day 9: Epcot to MK and Back Again! – Page 37, Post #544

Honeymoon Day 10: 60 Degrees Out? Sounds Like Water Park Weather! – Page 39, Post #579

Honeymoon Day 11: Lunch with an Imagineer – Page 40, Post #599

Honeymoon Day 12: Last Day of the Trip! – Page 40, Post #727

Day 13: The Reckoning! – Page 54, Post #799


Gratuitous Wedding Pictures: Focus on Japan! – Page 52, Post #766

At-Home Wedding Reception – Page 57, Post #843

Finished Ginormous Wedding Album + Gown Preservation – Page 61
 
Photography: Nathan & Jensey Root A+++

OK, everyone knows by now how much I love the Roots, so I won’t belabor the point, but... fresh style, all digital-photo rights, great price, friendly and easy to work with, pictures finished in less than two weeks – fantastic!

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Videography: Star Fruit Productions B-
chose them for their cinematic style—their videos look like mini movies or documentaries and they don't have that harsh videotaped look. Originally I didn't even want a video, but their work was so different from everything I'd seen that it convinced me. It took a bit of working on the final product to get it exactly how I envisioned it because I am picky and have a background in editing. The original camerawork and coverage were good, but a problem with one of the microphones meant that my vows are barely audible. Sometimes this stuff happens, and there's not much anyone could have done about it. However, I was surprised that Star Fruit didn't warn me about this when they delivered the "final" video—like maybe I wouldn't notice...?


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Floral: Disney Floral B+
Although I had to cut a lot of my original floral proposal due to the high prices, what I did get was exactly what I asked for, even though technically my dahlias weren’t in season.

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I was also happy that they worked with me to come up with super-cheap but great-looking altarpieces.

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Tying in with the over-priced thing, I wasn’t crazy about how limited my chair alternatives were – the cheapest chair upgrade (wood, folding) actually turned out to be more expensive than putting covers on the ugly standard chairs because of a setup fee. Oh, and the constant warnings that my aisle petals would blow away (they didn’t)...

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Hair & Makeup: Patricia LeJeune (www.lejeune-pca.com) A
I chose Patricia because I wanted natural-looking makeup, I liked the looks on her website, and her prices were good. I am extremely fair, which makes it hard to get a good foundation match, but the airbrush makeup she used on me blended really well and lasted all day (apparently real airbrush makeup is more durable than traditional foundation, but a lot of makeup artists don’t want to pay $40 a bottle for it, so they use regular foundation in an airbrush and it doesn’t last).

We actually used a lot of my own color makeup (at my request), so I’m going to give a shoutout to the products that lasted all day:

Lips: Vincent Longo Pearlessence Gel Stain + Paul & Joe Lip Gloss
Eyes: Laura Mercier Eye Color Quad; CoverGirl LashExact mascara
Model in a Bottle setting spray

This photo was taken 8 hours, 1 brunch, and many smooches after my makeup was applied:

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I also liked what Patricia did with my hair, although it took me barking out orders at the last moment to get it to look exactly how I wanted; Patricia was totally cool about that. One thing – she may be hard to get ahold of at first because she does SO many weddings, but when she makes an appointment with you she keeps it. Also, she was about 20 minutes late that morning, partly because it was 4:30am and there was no valet on duty to take her car. I had asked her to come 30 minutes earlier than I thought I needed her to come, though, so it worked out OK.



Dress Steaming & Shipping: Carolyn Allen A
Using Carolyn Allen to get my dress to and from Orlando, plus steaming, was one of the best things I did. I FedExed it to them in its original shipping box about 2 weeks beforehand and included my shrug. They brought both pieces to me the morning of my wedding already steamed, and then they touched them up while Patricia did my hair and makeup. After the wedding I left the dress & shrug with DH’s tux at my hotel’s bell services and CA picked everything up, stuffed it back in the box, and shipped it back to my house. The only thing that bugged was they charged me $35 for return shipping – it cost me $20 to ship it.


Tuxedos: Carolyn Allen B-
Getting tuxedos through CA should have been a lot easier than it was – the idea of having tuxes delivered and picked up at the hotel was very appealing, and there aren’t too many vendors who do this. The snag was that CA’s new vendor, Jim’s Formalwear, closes its warehouse all weekend, which means that if any of the pieces needed for a Sunday or Monday-morning wedding are wrong, they can’t be exchanged for the right ones (unless you happen to have selected a style of tux that CA keeps on hand). As I’d feared, this happened to us. It was really the fault of whoever measured the Best Man, but it bothered me that CA couldn’t get us the correct size jacket. However, the fellow who brought the tuxes for the fitting was a really friendly, helpful guy who even gave us directions to Best Buy!



Manicure: Perriwigs @ the Beach Club A-
When I heard about Caryn’s Magical Disappearing Manicure from Perriwigs, I was worried. But the girl who did my manicure did a nice job (I think her name was Xiomara), and it lasted about a week.

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Waxing: Mandara Spa @ the Dolphin D
I was really disappointed in the Mandara Spa. It has the attitude and prices of one of our swanky Beverly Hills spas but the atmosphere, amenities and services are mediocre at best. I knew I should have gone to Bliss before I left LA – it would have been cheaper, and they give you free brownies! When I first tried to book a full-leg and Brazilian wax, they said the woman who does Brazilians doesn’t work Saturdays (?!?). I called back closer to the date to see if her schedule had changed and they booked me. But when I got there, they said she still didn’t work Saturdays and I would have to come back the next day. The day before my wedding… which I had scheduled up to my eyeballs. Grrrr.

The girl who did my leg wax was friendly but did a TERRIBLE job – she missed patches all over my legs and didn’t fully remove all the wax bits. I had stuff sticking to me for two days…

(This is what my legs looked like post-wax…)

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When I came back for the Brazilian I asked the woman to fix her colleague’s bad job, but she said she didn’t have time. At least I had the presence of mind to ask about a discount for Starwood Hotels Preferred Guest members when I paid at the end… I got 20% off (kinda like it was for the 20% of my legs she missed…)

Jewelry: Madame Fortuna (http://www.madamefortuna.com/) A
A fellow DIS bride hooked me up with jewelry maker Madame Fortuna. I’d bought the aqua chandelier crystals I wanted to use for a necklace but couldn’t figure out how to construct what I envisioned. I sent Madame Fortuna the crystals and my inspiration picture, and she made the necklace and a pair of earrings. What I really liked, though, was the personal touches she added – an antique watch chain and locket, which I used for pictures of my mom.

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Fascinators: www.fascinators.net A-
When I decided I wanted a fascinator instead of a veil, I had trouble finding one I liked and could afford. The US websites call them “headpieces” and sell them for upwards of $300. I discovered the Australian website Fascinators.net, which has the advantage of lower prices and an exchange rate that was in my favor at the time. The downside was that it took a month to get my two fascinators, and one of them had a broken feather when it arrived. The owner of the site was really helpful about it, though – she sent me extra feathers and I made a few of my own to help fill it out a bit.

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That last picture of you guys is so cute :goodvibes

I loooooove the picture of the flower petals! They're just so pink and pretty!! :3dglasses

Umm, what else was I gonna say? Wow, brain lag.

Oh yeah! :eek: Brazilian wax?! Have you done it before? Is it horribly embarassing? I mean - I wouldn't ask - but you posted it on here... :rotfl:

More TR please! :yay:
 
YAY Trip report! :yay: :yay: :yay:

I love your format.

I am now rethinking Mandara Spa. I've called them several times to ask questions before I make an appointment and helpful and friendly are definitely not two of the words I would use to describe them. They are just the most convenient because of their proximity to the BWI.

Is there anywhere else you would have gone at Disney?

More pics please!!!:cheer2:
 


Love your start!

It was nice meeting you and running into you while at Disney. I loved your hats.
 
I just love the way your wedding turned out. Everything looks so beautiful! You definitely had the Old Hollywood Glam vibe going on!!!
 


great format carrie! i didn't have xochitl do my nails, it was some other girl, i can't remember her name now, xochitl was there when i was there though. i like that you included pics of everything! all of your accessories look amazing, i love how you included your mom in the locket on your necklace, that is very sweet. i think the shrug looked great and i didn't know you had a mini cage with your fascinator! how cool! what else can i say, OH, i'm glad you liked sage, i too felt like she and her assistant were always there taking shots. i still haven't gotten my video yet though...
 
Spa treatments.

Unless you go to your local place and know the people, I would be leery of letting any stranger do any sort of waxing on me. Found this out the hard way when I didn't want to wait for one of my regulars to wax my eyebrows. I wear them full and ended up with the very "hollywood" generic job(much thinner than I like).


I'm going to try a mani/pedi at the SSR spa over Thanksgiving. I'll let the rest of you know how it goes.
 
Alrighty then! The squeeze is on. Apparently I'll have to start my TR tonight to keep pace with my wedding twin.

LOVE your siggy pic! :goodvibes :cutie:

I like that you recapped everything and I can't wait to read all the nitty gritty! :woohoo:
 
and i didn't know you had a mini cage with your fascinator! how cool!

Yeah... I didn't realize this either. (I was going to say something after looking at pictures on your other thread!) I mean, I knew you were switching things up thoughout the day... from the wedding to the DP, but I must have really been in a fog before hand. I feel like I missed so many little details. I need one of those courses that help people focus and remember things! Anyhow, it looked stunning. You looked stunning! Love it!
 
YAY! I can't wait to hear all about it! I LOVE your necklace and all of the other colors your brought into your wedding.
 
Yay! So glad you started your TR! Can't wait to hear all about it! popcorn::
 
Wahoo!! I've been (not so) patiently waiting for this TR along with Wendy's! You looked stunning! Can't wait for the rest!!!
 
Perfect format! I've already learned so much from your PJ (TWO Resorts = One Way Bus!), now I can print this off as notes for future reference! :goodvibes

Looking forward to the whole story! :woohoo:
 
Yay - you are back! I'm so excited you have started these. I LOVE the photos you have posted so far. You look so glamorous!

I am sorry about the experience you had the Mandara Spa. That is really disappointing.

I can't wait to hear more :)
 
Your vendor reviews are fantastic and so helpful - THANK YOU!!

I, too, love the last photo! The fur shrug, the fascinator with the netting.. all perfect. You have fantastic style! I am a-twitch with envy - but in a good way! I can't wait to read more!
 
CARRIE!!! I cant believe how beautiful you look...you have such a classic look!!!! its AWESOME!!!!!

I love your reviews too....very well said!!!

I cant wait for more!!!
 
I'm curious to know how the tuxes at Carolyn Allen's works. Did you have to go try them on before hand or when you were in Orlando a couple of days before your wedding you took care of all that?
 

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