Sam and Mike's Wishes PJ WP/GF 10/27/12

[SammyB1027]

[Edited to add pictures 3/26]

Hello everyone!

I've been lurking on here for a few days and learning the ins and outs of everything, and I feel like it's probably time for me to start our PJ! Thank goodness for a desk job - these forums have consumed my planning life!

My DF is Mike, and we met in 2008 on eHarmony. I know, it's super cheesy, and now we're getting married - I guess the commercials are right! He's from England, and he had just got out of an awful relationship, so we took things slow...until we realized this was The One and we couldn't hold back anymore. We're both big ol' Disney geeks (I'm sure someone out there can sympathize!) and we knew from the beginning that a DFTW was probably in the works for us.

How He Proposed
I love our proposal story. He's a tricky tricky man and had been in cahoots with almost everyone I know to plan our engagement. One weekend we were in Orlando to pick his parents up from the airport who were flying in from England to spend a couple of weeks with us. We had some time to kill in the morning before we had to head over to the airport, so we decided to go to the MK. I had a feeling something was going to happen that weekend, but I couldn't pinpoint it. We stopped into one of the shops on Main St (Crystal Art Shop, I think) to buy a glass slipper - he knew I thought it would be really cute if he proposed with one. So I was a little suspicious of that. When we came out of the store we were in that little alcove where the caricature artists hang out, and he said we should get one done. Anytime we go to a theme park he always wanted to get one done, but I always said no because they never turn out the way you want them to. But since I had a feeling something was up, I thought I should go along with things. So Bruno (the artist) gets us all set up and says that he'll take turns drawing us so the picture comes out even. I'm thinking "ok, that makes sense, I guess." He sits Mike down first and starts to draw an outline. While he's drawing a Photopass photographer comes up and says she's taking shots around the park and would we mind if she took some shots of us. Nothing had clicked in my head - all I could think was 'wow, we could be on a brochure!' So then Bruno says it's my turn to sit down, so I do, and he starts sketching. He asks if I want to be smiling, wearing my sunglasses, etc etc, and then after a couple of minutes he says he's done. He flips the picture around and it's a caricature of Mike on one knee with a glass slipper proposing to me.

When I look over at him, he's on one knee with the glass slipper and my engagement ring on the slipper. Neither of us could speak, it was such a surprise for me. I kept saying 'yes, yes' and he would say 'I haven't asked anything yet!' I couldn't tell ya where my head was at. On top of that there was a parade going on (completely unplanned on his part!) and so there was upbeat music and lots of fanfare happening.

When I could finally breath again and we let each other go he asks me if I want to call my family. I nodded yes, and then he pointed up: both sets of parents were standing there! Of course the moms were the first ones over, and I was completely surprised. His parents had actually been in town for a couple of days.

So we hung out at the park for the day, stopping every Photopass photographer we could find so we could document everything. It's definitely a day I'm not likely to forget anytime soon

***************************************

So now it's time for planning! I've been dying for this day to get here forrreverrr now. I've seen a ton of amazing ideas on here, which I'll probably be 'borrowing' but I'll make sure to link back to where I've found them. Enjoy!

 

[Designer Rose]

Welcome! You're getting married the day before I am! Can't read to read along on your plans.

 

[lakelandcallsme]

awe... congrats. this made me kinda teary. what a fantastic story. welcome to the dis.

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Welcome!

 

[cass1013]

Congratulations!

 

[SammyB1027]

So we're doing a Wishes wedding. What next?

I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row before our planning session in one week. I've read about all these ladies that have had all these plans and accessories all lined up and ready to go and I feel so behind the ball on this one! I know this much:
-ceremony at the Wedding Pavilion
-cocktail hour on the Whitehall Patio
-reception in the St Augustine ballroom
-I have four bridesmaids, he has 4 groomsmen
-there are two flower girls, one ring bearer, and two ushers
-we're going for a very classic, elegant, glamorous feel for the evening with lots of neutral colors - black, white, champagne, blush pink, and silver

And that's about it! I've been inspired by so many beautiful weddings on here, so I have a ton of ideas, but I guess it's a matter of getting it all down and organized in one spot.

I can say we've started shopping for outside vendors. We're anticipating about 80 guests, so we won't really have a problem meeting the minimum expenditure (the food alone will come pretty close to that) so we were wanting to try and save some money in other areas. The first thing we've booked - our photographer! We got Regina Hyman! I was so lucky to have seen the post about her going independent as of August 15th, so that night I emailed her and she got in touch with me the next morning, and the rest is history! I'm just waiting to send off my check and contract in the mail and it'll be set in stone (er, paper rather). I did a little happy dance when we got that one sorted!

We've also talked with a florist, Danielle with Dream Designs Florist. She was super sweet and came up with a wonderful list of ideas for us, and (not surprisingly) most of it is way cheaper than Disney's prices. We're still shopping around as far as floral goes, but it gives us a really good baseline to work with.

And that's about it for now. This weekend I'm a bridesmaid in one of my bridesmaid's wedding so it'll be nice to share some wedding spirit and get some ideas for our October shindig. Yay!

 

[DisneyBrideCKB]

For some reason, I thought I posted on your PJ already, and I don't see my post in the history! It got lost!!
So I'm re-posting..
How was your friends wedding? Did you get any inspiring ideas?
You know you and I will be in Disney at the same time both doing a planning session! I'm on the 27th! and YAY for October brides!
Have you gotten all your details worked out for your PS? What food are you going to be tasting? Do you have any inspirational photos? What are your colors? Ok, I'll stop asking questions now! I'm just all excited to hear about your plans!

 

[SammyB1027]

For some reason, I thought I posted on your PJ already, and I don't see my post in the history! It got lost!!
So I'm re-posting..
How was your friends wedding? Did you get any inspiring ideas?
You know you and I will be in Disney at the same time both doing a planning session! I'm on the 27th! and YAY for October brides!
Have you gotten all your details worked out for your PS? What food are you going to be tasting? Do you have any inspirational photos? What are your colors? Ok, I'll stop asking questions now! I'm just all excited to hear about your plans!

Haha, thanks for being so interested! I wanted to try to post daily on here so it didn't turn into sporadic novel posts, but look at me now...such a slacker! I'll definitely get some inspiration pics up, it'll help with the train of thought.

My friend's wedding was so lovely, I can't think of two people more deserving of each other. And I did get some good ideas! One of my faves: she had crossword puzzles in a basket next to her programs with trivia about the bride and groom, and it came in really handy because there was a bit of a delay getting started. So I think I might borrow her idea

 

[lejen]

Hey your engagement story is so wonderful! I love it! I always want to do one of those, but my other half never wants to take the time. lol. I know it's super quick, but I just pick up my bootstraps and save myself the extra $30. lol.

 

[enchantedream88]

Joining in on the fun! Your engagement story is so wonderful, and incredibly sweet!! Congratulations! Can't wait to read along & hear about your upcoming wedding!

 

[TabZ]

Your engagement story is just devine!!

Hope your planning session goes well - can't wait to hear all about it!! xx

 

[Wshs0127]

Yay!! Another new PJ, welcome!

We sort of have something in common, my fiancé is from Scotland. I just took my first trip out of the US in January to visit England and Scotland! Beautiful place but cold!

Anyway, enough about me, your engagement story is awesome, the way he set it all up and had everyone there and then the creative drawing idea! Love it!!

Do post details about the upcoming planning session! Enjoy! Looking forward to following along.

 

[SammyB1027]

Hey your engagement story is so wonderful! I love it! I always want to do one of those, but my other half never wants to take the time. lol. I know it's super quick, but I just pick up my bootstraps and save myself the extra $30. lol.

Thank you! I ALWAYS put off having the caricature done, and now it's a little joke whenever we go out and see someone doing them! Thanks for reading

Your engagement story is just devine!!

Hope your planning session goes well - can't wait to hear all about it!! xx

I like it too I think I'll keep him for a while, haha! Thanks for reading!

Yay!! Another new PJ, welcome!

We sort of have something in common, my fiancé is from Scotland. I just took my first trip out of the US in January to visit England and Scotland! Beautiful place but cold!

Anyway, enough about me, your engagement story is awesome, the way he set it all up and had everyone there and then the creative drawing idea! Love it!!

Do post details about the upcoming planning session! Enjoy! Looking forward to following along.

How funny! My sister married a Scot too, isn't that weird? We took our first trip over together in 2010, and I had a blast. It is a BEAUTIFUL place, we didn't get to make it up to Scotland though. We went in August, and if all goes as planned we'd like to go for Christmas next year so I'll get to see snow again!

Yes, it took a lot of planning, but I think he did a wonderful job. Thanks for reading!

Joining in on the fun! Your engagement story is so wonderful, and incredibly sweet!! Congratulations! Can't wait to read along & hear about your upcoming wedding!

Aw, thanks for reading! I can't wait to share all the details with everyone!

 

[SammyB1027]

So...we're back!! And we had a BLAST! I probably didn't take as many pics as I should've, but I'll try to give as many details as I can so you can imagine it

Day 1 - Thursday
Since we live in Daytona, Orlando is only an hour away, so we did the whole work day thing then hit the road around 6:30.

First stop, Jared's - I hadn't had my engagement ring cleaned in a while so we figured now's as good a time as any. So we dropped off the ring and then hit the road towards Downtown Disney. We had two things to do there: exchange our wedding annual pass cards and find some grub. So we stopped at Guest Services and waited in the too-long-for-this-hour-of-the-night line (it was like 9:30, why the heck were so many people in that line?!?).

Yay, annual passes! I was happy with my Mickey one, Mike made them keep reprinting them until he got a Donald :

I had also seen on someone's PJ (I'm sorry, I wish I had a better memory so I could give credit!) that they spoke with guest services to get a bunch of buttons for their welcome bags, so we did just that and the lovely CM gave us a bag of 50. Woot!


Then we did some shopping at World of Disney - man, I love that place We've been in search for a candle holder like elleinad16's unity candle hold that she put together, so we thought we'd ask the information desk that's inside the store. Unfortunately the CM there was a little bit of an ice queen, and was not very helpful at all. Mike made sure to pass on the message to a manager as we were leaving that her very un-Disney-like attitude wasn't appreciated. But we did find a possible cake topper:

Then it was time to eat. Ideally I'd have loved a meal from Fultons, but when you're on a wedding budget you don't get to do things like that But that's ok, because we ended up at Raglan Road, and the food was AMAZING! We had never eaten there before, so it was a nice experience. They had a three piece band playing Irish music, and every once in a while some Celtic dancers would come out and dance. On the menu:
Some yummy bread with a Guinness, EVOO, and sugar dipping sauce

The crab spring rolls

Fish 'n' chips with housemade tartar sauce for him

And sausage-stuffed pork loin for me

We were tempted by the dessert menu, but there's was no way I could make it out to the parking lot after all that food! We headed straight for our hotel - we stayed off property at the Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista which was only a couple minutes away. Overall I'd give it a C, but we got a deal on it, so it was worth it I suppose. Sidenote: any other ghost believers out there...do you see all those orbs in the pic?!? Is that insane or what??

I had to get all of our wedding stuff organized and ready becauuuussssee...tomorrow is planning session day!

 

[SammyB1027]

Day 2 - Friday

Our planning session was scheduled for 9am, so we grabbed some breakfast at the hotel. We made sure to wake up nice and early to eat so there was enough time between then and our menu tasting. Mickey waffles!

Then it was off to Franck's. I was a nervous wreck! First off, I'm super shy, so I was worried about being personable with our planner Christy, and I kept asking Mike "what if she doesn't like us??" I know, it's ridiculous, but I can't help myself. And on top of that, I think I worked myself up into this anxiety because there were so many details that I hadn't planned out yet, and I didn't want to be put anything down on the table that I wasn't comfortable with. Mike kept reminding me that we're seven months out and we have plenty of time to change our minds, and that soothed my nerves a bit.
The best part of the drive!

We got to Franck's pretty early, so I decided to walk around and check out the construction.

You can see the blue walls around the hedges, but there's not upward construction yet.

This is the GF side of the beach when you're standing on the bridge to the WP. Behind the trees is the construction, so they've done really well to make things look nice.

And the Polynesian side of the beach. There's still plenty of beach to take pictures on, so any brides for later in the year need not worry about your photos.

We're here!

My mom was driving down from Daytona to meet us, and she got lost, so we got started a little late, but we still got plenty done in a short amount of time. I'm sure it's on here somewhere, but just for clarity's sake, here's the agenda we followed:

• Rehearsal - location, time, bring stuff we're supplying for ceremony and reception
• Timeline - payments deadlines, guest count change dates, etc.
• Ceremony - wedding party, photo timeline, music, special presentations, staged exit
• Cocktail hour - where Mike and I will be, how the guests will mingle, Kids Nite Out
• Reception - announcements, dinner timeline, DJ, Mickey & Minnie, speeches, etc.

Christy was super helpful and very knowledgeable, so it made the whole process seamless and quick. Then it was time for Elizabeth to come in and talk about floral and decor. When we saw her nametag we found out she's originally from Burke, VA, which is just a few minutes away from where I used to live! And the people on here aren't lying - she is fast! But it's not in the sense of I'm-not-bothered-with-your-details-I-just-want-to-get-out-of-here, it's more about she's probably done this a million times and knows exactly what to ask and what details need to be covered. And poor Mike, he was getting sleepy and this was the part of the PS that he didn't really know much about, so he sat there getting droopy eyed wondering when we were going to eat!
We of course did the cake tasting. I didn't realize you could request flavors before you come down, so we had the traditional marble, chocolate, yellow, and almond cakes. For fillings/frostings, we had the buttercream, amaretto, Bailey's, tropical, raspberry, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and Bavarian creme. Picking the flavors is so much harder than I expected! For our bottom tier we chose the yellow cake with Bavarian creme and strawberries, for the middle tier we chose chocolate cake with peanut butter filling, and we're still trying to decide on the top tier - Christy's going to see if we can sneak in for a few minutes one day to try out some other flavors.

Then it was time for what I felt like was the best part of the day. Mike requested that we get to hear the organist play in the WP so we can see what it sounds like. There was an Escape wedding taking place, so we had to wait until they were at Picture Point before we could go in, but while we waited we were introduced to Bill, the organist. He is hilarious, and a total Disney personality! He was making jokes and chatting with us, and as soon as we got in to the WP he just sat down and started playing and he in MARVELOUS. We have a list of songs that we'd chosen for the processional and stuff, but I think for the most part we're ok with him just ad-libbing the whole time, because he is brilliant. And then he started to play I See The Light from Tangled, which is our first dance song and the song we're playing for our unity candle presentation, and I lost it. Just those first couple of notes and I started blubbing. But I honestly feel like that was the best part of my day, and it made me look forward to our wedding day that much more.

Then it was time to part for a little while until our tasting. It was about 1pm, and our tasting was at 2:30. So we wondered over to the GF to do some wondering around and checking out the gift shops. Mom bought us a cute little pin of Mickey and Minnie sitting on an engagement ring, so I wore that around the rest of the day. Afterwards we mosied on down to the convention center. And look what we found!

If that doesn't make it feel real I don't know what does! Mom was so excited for it, I think she took about 15 pictures of it every time it came back around the rotation. We met up with Christy and made our way back to the kitchens.

For the hors d'oeurves: the mango yogurt sauce was not what we expected - it didn't seem to have much flavor and it was very liquidy. The hot crab fondue was DELICIOUS and went down on the list for our cocktail hour. The brie in puff pastry was good, but there was way too much raspberry involved, and I felt like it was a lot of pastry and a tiny bit of cheese. The crab fondue:

For the appetizers: The Italian risotto and scallop was AMAZING! I cannot say how delicious and creamy it was, it was absolutely perfect. The crab cakes were delicious too, but once you had a bite of risotto you completely forgot about the crab cakes. And the Canadian soup was good - but not the same. Le Cellier will NOT release the whole recipe (I know you can get the little recipe cards or find it in Disney cookbooks) so the GF chef basically has to do his own take on it. And it was delicious, don't get me wrong, but something was definitely missing. Christy even admitted that her husband has tried to recreate the soup several times at home, and she agrees they're definitely leaving us out of the loop on something! The risotto and soup:

For the entrees: we wanted to do duo plates so that people could have a little taste of everything. I don't like the idea of putting on the response cards "do you want chicken or beef?" so if I was going to be choosing the meals for them I wanted there to be variety. So we tried the beef and chicken duo and the chicken and seafood duo. Both were ever-so-good, but we decided to go with the beef and chicken one. The blackberry demi on there was unique, but a little sweet and rich for our taste so we switched it up to a merlot demi instead. And since we had the risotto with the appetizer, we changed the starch to the Dauphanese potatoes.

We were happy little campers when we were all finished up!

We finished around 4pm and had most of our decisions made. Christy took us around so we could see the set up for the St Augustine rooms and Whitehall patio. Then we said our goodbyes and went back to our hotel. Mom had to be at the airport at 7:30, so we decided to take a quick nap and then get on the road. Once we dropped her off we made our way over to the MK. We were able to fit in quite a few rides before watching the new Magic and Memories show on the castle (which was SO COOL, you have to see it!) and Wishes, then riding some more rides and waiting for the Electrical Parade to start. We sat in Frontierland for the parade and it was DEAD, there was hardly anyone there. I felt really bad for the performers because it was like they were doing a practice run! But it was still a fun show.

 

[SammyB1027]

Day 3 - Saturday

Because of our very full day on Friday, we decided to have a nice slow morning on Saturday. Once we finally got going, we went over to Jared's to pick up my ring and do some shopping for our wedding bands.

I was able to pick mine out on the first try, which really surprised Mike. I tried on some more just to make sure it's the one I wanted, and it definitely was. Both rings together:

{Sorry for the blurriness, I'll replace the pic when I upload my new photos }
Mike actually took way longer to decide. Originally I thought he might go very minimalist and just get a plain band in white gold or platinum. But started trying rings on that had a little bling and he go addicted! So he finally settled on a three stone ring that still looks pretty masculine.

We got all checked out and arranged to have my ring sized while we went to the parks. We stopped at BJ's Brewhouse for some lunch: portabello pizza for me and a pot roast sandwich for him.

We made our way over to DHS because we hadn't been there for ages. After working out a strategic plan of fast passes and line waiting, we decided to start off on Star Tours 2. It was so much fun! And we saw this while standing in line

I loved Star Tours anyway, but Mike was never really fussed about it. He said he loves it now! The graphics are great, and we had a fun storyline (the one where there's a spy on the ship and you jump from planet to planet). Then we did Muppets 3D and then Tower of Terror. That ride still gets me! Then we jumped in the 80 minute line for Toy Story. That's usually one of my favorite lines to stand in because of the scenery and atmosphere, but we had some seriously annoying kids standing behind us (and I'm a kid lover, I'm usually super tolerant) that kind of made for a not-so-fun line experience. And then I wiped the floor with Mike!! He ALWAYS beats me, whether it's Toy Story, or Buzz Lightyear, or whathaveyou, so I made sure I was in top form this time. Check out that score!

So yeah, I was pretty happy the rest of the day! Then it was time to head back to Jared's to pick up our rings before they closed. Look how happy they look sitting next to each other!

We grabbed a quick bite at Abuelo's, a Mexican restaurant that was right by Jared's, and then made our way back to DHS for Fantasmic!. We jumped on Rockin' Rollercoaster first, then grabbed some ice cream and walked over to the show. It wasn't crowded at all - we walked in about 10 minutes before show time and were able to sit front and center in the second row. This was only my second time seeing Fantasmic! and I was clapping and cheering along with everyone else since I didn't remember what was coming up. The boat finale was definitely my favorite part.

And that was it! Overall I'd say we had a pretty productive weekend. Now all we have to do is wait for the BEO (which is harder than I thought it would be!) and then we'll be on our merry way!

I know these last couple of posts were kind of long-winded, thanks for sticking around and putting up with it!

 

[tinydancr06]

Hi! I thought I commented before but I guess not. I just reread your engagement story and I teared up...again! What a creative, awesome, unique way to propose! I also LOVE your DF's choice of shirt to propose to you in Your TR has been so fun to read so far! I hope you guys had a great time! I'm glad hearing the organist was a highlight for you because that is something we will definitely be doing for our planning session. Now I can't wait! Excited to read more!

 

[redshirt]

I just wanted to say you have the best engagement story!! Have fun planning!!

 

[SammyB1027]

Hey all! Sorry for the gap in time - I've been traveling back and forth between Washington D.C. and Daytona for work, so things have a been a little on the hectic side. But that's never stopped anyone from some good ol wedding planning! Thank goodness for technology these days; I've been able to arrange most of stuff via email without any worries.

So to pick up where I left off, I decided to put up an inspiration board to show you guys the direction we're headed in.

Ta da!

Dress: I'm going with the Maggie Sottero Sabelle, and judging from Google searches, that seems to be a pretty popular dress. I don't mind though, because I feel like it totally sums up our vision: classy, elegant, romantic, and most of all: princessy! Yes, it's a word

Bridesmaids: The girls get to choose their own dress, but I've directed them in the direction of the Dessy After Six collection, mainly the floor length dresses made of the lux chiffon fabric. They're wearing black dresses with black shoes, and I'm accessorizing them with pink necklaces (each girl will have one that's unique to her) that will be part of my gift to them.

Floral: Our floral color scheme is mauve, blush pink, cream, and white. We're using pink garden roses in my bouquet and the centerpieces, along with mauve, cream, and white standard roses, some hydrangea, and a little greenery. The bridesmaid bouquets and groomsmen boutonnieres will be white anemones with black centers, which I thought would look kind of unique next to all the cliche roses.

Cake: We're going with the Happily Ever After cake, and probably not making any changes to it. We're still looking for a cake topper, but I really like the idea of something involving Prince Charming and Cinderella.

Other than that I think it's pretty self-explanatory. And putting that altogether just got me really excited!

Only 150 more days...this summer is FLYING by!

 

[CinderALLIE]

Congrats. Just found your PJ.

Could you please go back and edit the picture links from your PS as they're not showing and i want to see them LOL.

Thanks and look forward to seeing the rest.