Annie and Joe's "How Much Disney Can I Sneak In" At Home Wedding May 2017 - Update 7/25!

1. Yay new job! Congrats! I got a new job last Fall and it was like yes, money for loans/wedding too lol

2. Boo with proposals being high. I had that issue with our old pricey venue, and also with caterers. Even with one where I got a packet listing out recommended number of servers, and their cost per hour, the menu, etc, and I tried to estimate it myself, it ended being $2000 more than I was expecting. Ugh. And don't worry, I also constantly worry about being late in the game :scared:

3. Can I commission shoes too? lol

4.
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This is like Tangled without being too obvious... maybe he won't notice! Haha​
I read Zack your story about the Magical Map show. His response: "He's (Joe's) awesome." Anyways, I totally believe in your ability to have classy pirate touches. I'm all for proving people wrong - see centerpieces! :rotfl2:

5. Dresses! I can't wait to live vicariously through you - I haven't dress shopped yet!
 
Yay new job! Congrats! I got a new job last Fall and it was like yes, money for loans/wedding too lol

Thanks! I'm very excited about it

3. Can I commission shoes too? lol

I'm sure you can! She's on Facebook and Etsy as Krafty Kicks.

I've seen that photo before, and loved it. The place we're looking at does actually have Chinese lanterns hanging from the tent, but they're round.
 
Dresses

I should start by confessing that I'm pretty OCD. I like things in order, and matching. So my bridesmaids will have matching dresses. Don't get me wrong, I love the look of different dresses, but with only two I feel like it would look like they just forgot what dress to wear. I think I found the dresses I want too!

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I found these on Etsy, and the best part is they're $40. AND they're infinity dresses, so while I know everyone says this, I hope they'll wear them again. I ordered swatches and think that this is the color I'll go with. We've held off on ordering them until things are more finite. I have been looking through pictures on how to tie them on the Etsy shop, and I really like this style.

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Pirate-y, no? :thumbsup2

Now, as far as my dress goes, it actually happened accidentally. I had plans to go to the same shop my mom had, and invite my aunts and grandmothers. But just a few weeks after I got engaged, I had an appointment with Brinkley and Lindsey to shop for BM dresses for HER wedding at David's Bridal. While I was there, I saw a GORGEOUS ivory gown that immediately reminded me of Belle's ballgown. So I figured it couldn't hurt anything to make an appointment and play a little dress up.

Here's the dress that caught my eye
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It was elegant for sure. It also weighed about 50 pounds! The consultant put it on me in the dressing room, told me to turn around, and I said "how?" It was very pretty, but I don't know how I would make it through an entire day in it.

Next came a dress that was MUCH lighter.
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I liked it, but Joe had specifically asked for no sequins. I decided to keep looking, asking to try something with a v-neck.

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The reason my hands are behind my back is because the clips could not hold the dress closed. I had to keep it from falling down and revealing everything, which made me think it wouldn't be practical.

Next!
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I liked this one! Except I wasn't sure how much of an issue the cleavage would be, and it made me feel like I was on the frontier. Time to move on.

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Please excuse my expression. This was my favorite so far. It was in strong contention, and I decided I much preferred the illusion style neck. So then the consultant brought out this one:

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This is going to sound cheesy, but I immediately knew this was the one. I felt gorgeous, it was comfortable...I was in love! Even total strangers walking by stopped and told me that I should get it. And the back!

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Yep. This was my dress. I rang the bell, and then delayed taking it off for as long as I could. I really did feel like a princess. And the very best part? It was on sale! My dream dress that fell into my lap was only $675. And then my mama made me cry by pulling her credit card out and telling me that she and my dad wanted to buy my dress.

So that's how I found my dress! It's now hanging in its garment bag in our guest room closet, and Joe knows I'll kill him if he peeks. Not that he's really inclined to. The sparkly flower belt was separate, and David's wanted $250 for it :eek: So I've been perusing other sites and bookmarking ones I like. I haven't bit the bullet on any of them just yet, but I probably will soon.
 
Ohhhhh, I love it! Now I'm thinking I should make a surprise trip back home and surprise my BF and drag her to David's Bridal. But I can't believe how much they charge for veils and belts and such. I always got the impression that they were slightly more of a bargain store, so how do they even sell much of that stuff? I guess it's like flowers - oh, a wedding belt? Mark it up 8000%! But I love the skirt... I'm imagining something like that currently.

Also I want a bridesmaid dress for myself.

:jumping3:

And I almost forgot! When I was looking at non-floral bouts :rolleyes: on Pinterest last night, this came up:

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I thought of you :D
 


Your dress is gorgeous! DF is reading over my shoulder waiting for the laptop and he agrees with me!
 
Ohhhhh, I love it! Now I'm thinking I should make a surprise trip back home and surprise my BF and drag her to David's Bridal. But I can't believe how much they charge for veils and belts and such. I always got the impression that they were slightly more of a bargain store, so how do they even sell much of that stuff? I guess it's like flowers - oh, a wedding belt? Mark it up 8000%! But I love the skirt... I'm imagining something like that currently.

Also I want a bridesmaid dress for myself.

:jumping3:

And I almost forgot! When I was looking at non-floral bouts :rolleyes: on Pinterest last night, this came up:

b8867a5245e8bb9b5a598ba51e812e45.jpg

I thought of you :D

I think that's how they keep the dress prices down. They charge you out the wazoo on everything else. We hadn't really been paying attention, and we got the register and they told us how much the belt was and I took a step back and was like "um...no thanks, we'll come back for that." And then went on Etsy (yes, I'm obsessed with that site, I know) and found some really pretty ones in the $30-$50 range. My only concern is that they're almost all non-returnable, so I've been holding off on ordering one until I'm more sure about what I want.

The skirt is so swishy! I love it. I can't wait to try it on when I don't have 8 extra inches of fabric around my feet :rotfl:

And I may or may not have a bridesmaid dress in green in my cart. They just look so comfy!

I've seen that bout! We can't decide if we'll do a ribbon at the top or around the middle. I liked the smaller key, but then Joe found ones that also doubled as bottle openers.....

Your dress is gorgeous! DF is reading over my shoulder waiting for the laptop and he agrees with me!

Awww thanks to both of you!
 


So I'm behind on replying to comments on my TR.
Better get to it, right?
Okay. Who's up first.
Ah. Annie.

That reminds me, I keep forgetting to pop in to see her PJ.
(Which sounds like I'm a stalker and want to see you in your pajamas, btw.)

Anyway, here I am!

Won't quote everything, but...
Wrote your name wrong. That's hilarious. And totally charming.
Beautiful ring. I really like it. You're DF has good taste. At least in engagement rings.
Cute story of the proposal, too.

The reason my hands are behind my back is because the clips could not hold the dress closed. I had to keep it from falling down and revealing everything, which made me think it wouldn't be practical.

Maybe not practical, but certainly entertaining.


I don't know if you really care for a man's opinion.
But I'll give it to you anyway.
One word.

Wow.
 
I love etsy - one of my daydreams is being able to leave my day job and sell things on there full-time... even though I've never tried to sell a single thing. Just can't ever decided what would be a good idea.

We got shoes from David's for my dad and stepmom's wedding, and they paid, which was nice, but all I could think was, "these are very uncomfortable and I will never wear them again and they are $80..." I'm not opposed to spending money on good quality shoes, but those ones did not meet my requirements. And now I keep seeing people on craigslist with ads for veils like: Selling for $65, Retails at David's Bridal for $160 plus tax. 2 ft long. No embellishments.
:scared1: WHAT???? :scared1:
I'm like, do you people know how much tulle costs? I'm going to try DIY, because even if I fail, I'll only have spent maybe $5 haha, but I'm cheap on some things.

but then Joe found ones that also doubled as bottle openers.....

Double Duty! :rotfl2:
 
Love your dress- you look beautiful! :)

I got my VR gown from Davids and also purchased one of the sparkly belts from David's too! I tried everything on in the store and then ordered it online. David's online tends to have pretty good sales and I got my gown and the belt for 20 percent off (which basically meant my belt was free)! If you are in love with that particular belt check out Davids on-line every now and then to see if they have a good sale! ;)
 
That reminds me, I keep forgetting to pop in to see her PJ.
(Which sounds like I'm a stalker and want to see you in your pajamas, btw.)

Well, you do have a mustache....

Beautiful ring. I really like it. You're DF has good taste. At least in engagement rings.
Cute story of the proposal, too.

Thank you! I obviously am in the love with my ring. Joe tends to have more expensive taste than me. We had a good laugh last weekend because we went to look at wedding bands, and the one he picked was about $400 more than the one I picked!

Maybe not practical, but certainly entertaining.

I'd hate to give Nana a heart attack though. And there are gonna be a bunch of kids, so we gotta at least keep it PG

I don't know if you really care for a man's opinion.
But I'll give it to you anyway.
One word.

Wow.

Aww shucks :blush: I always value your opinion!

I love etsy - one of my daydreams is being able to leave my day job and sell things on there full-time... even though I've never tried to sell a single thing. Just can't ever decided what would be a good idea.

I've been working on custom mouse ears to try and open a shop. It is almost impossible to find time with a regular job to do everything!

I'm like, do you people know how much tulle costs? I'm going to try DIY, because even if I fail, I'll only have spent maybe $5 haha, but I'm cheap on some things.

I thought about DIY, but I know I'm gonna want sparklies on it so I'll leave that to the professionals. The cheap professionals, that is.

I got my veil from Tradesy for $20, including shipping! Just a suggestion

I'll have to check them out, thanks! Need to figure out what I want first though :lmao:

David's online tends to have pretty good sales and I got my gown and the belt for 20 percent off (which basically meant my belt was free)! If you are in love with that particular belt check out Davids on-line every now and then to see if they have a good sale! ;)

I didn't even think to look for my belt online. Which is silly, because for my friend's wedding I bought my BM dress online and on sale. I'll have to keep an eye out.
 
So. We got the contract for our reception space. I even signed it. We just.....haven't sent it in yet. Because it's a lot of money and I'm starting to panic. Because, you know, wedding stress. And money. Lots of money.

The good news is my new job will give me a paycheck that's about 2 1/2 times what I was making before. So that'll help a lot, especially if I start setting it aside now.

But Sunday night we had Joe's parents over for dinner to celebrate his mom's birthday. As we waited for the steaks to cook, the conversation turned to the wedding and budgeting and how many people we had on the guest list. His mom thinks we have way too many. I jokingly said that Plan C (because yes, there already is a Plan B) was to take my parents and his parents and just get married in Disney. Joe said it would still cost $10 grand.

"No," I reply, "I actually priced it out and for the small wedding it only comes to about $5800."

To which his mother says - "Book that! I'll even pay for it all."

Huh. Well.

Now, I should say that the entire conversation did not involve entirely sober parties. But Joe's dad said he'd be our witness. However, a Disney wedding was never really in the plans. And we both really want to be able to share our day with our extended families. But....Disney. Ironically, Mr. We're-not-having-a-Disney-wedding is all for it. I think mainly because then we can take the money we were saving and do a split honeymoon between Disney and somewhere tropical. I actually think I'm leaning towards having it here so I can have everyone. Plus, I couldn't have my dream wedding with my choir singing and the image in my head at Disney......and I HATE early mornings. But, we could do a photo shoot in MK and I'd be a Disney bride and......this is what goes through my head about every hour.

Mom, mom's co-worker, and her running friends say suck it up and just pay more for the venue we want. Dad wants Disney.

Thoughts? Opinions? Seriously, don't hold back.
 
Well, you do have a mustache....

This is true...


It's true of all of us mustache wearers.

Thank you! I obviously am in the love with my ring.

You should be! It's one of the nicest I've seen.
Seriously.

Joe tends to have more expensive taste than me. We had a good laugh last weekend because we went to look at wedding bands, and the one he picked was about $400 more than the one I picked!

:laughing:

I'd hate to give Nana a heart attack though. And there are gonna be a bunch of kids, so we gotta at least keep it PG

Well, that's just no fun at all.

Aww shucks :blush: I always value your opinion!

:goodvibes

So. We got the contract for our reception space. I even signed it. We just.....haven't sent it in yet. Because it's a lot of money and I'm starting to panic. Because, you know, wedding stress. And money. Lots of money.

Breathe! Breathe girl!

The good news is my new job will give me a paycheck that's about 2 1/2 times what I was making before. So that'll help a lot, especially if I start setting it aside now.

Nice. That'll help for sure.

"No," I reply, "I actually priced it out and for the small wedding it only comes to about $5800."

To which his mother says - "Book that! I'll even pay for it all."

Whoa!

Now, I should say that the entire conversation did not involve entirely sober parties.

Oh.
Where's a good recording device when you need one.

But Joe's dad said he'd be our witness.

That'll work!

Ironically, Mr. We're-not-having-a-Disney-wedding is all for it.

No way!

Plus, I couldn't have my dream wedding with my choir singing and the image in my head at Disney......and I HATE early mornings. But, we could do a photo shoot in MK and I'd be a Disney bride and......this is what goes through my head about every hour.

Oy.

Thoughts? Opinions? Seriously, don't hold back.

I will tell you a true story.
It's about two kids who had very little money between them.
They got married in the church he'd grown up in.
Afterwards, the reception was held in the basement hall of an inexpensive hotel.
The night before, the bride and groom and some of their friends decorated it with balloons and streamers.
It wasn't glamorous. It wasn't show stopping beautiful. It wasn't in a scenic location.
And yet everyone said what a beautiful reception it was because it was obvious the bride and groom were so in love with each other.
The bride didn't care, because she knew that this was what they could afford.
The groom didn't care because all he wanted was to be married to his beautiful bride.

Maybe that helped. Maybe it didn't.
 
Honestly? My biggest concern would be having everyone travel. Can everyone you want there travel to be there? That's kind of our problem right now. We're not sure who all's going to be coming, since the wedding is here in Kissimmee and almost everyone lives far away. You guys could always do a Disney vow renewal in a few years :) That's our current plan.
 
Decisions, decisions... I feel you.

We were also torn for various reasons, as you know. Here's my two cents: Think of what is most important to you guys. Zack and I each wrote down three things we wanted for our wedding, then shared. They were something like, good food/music/alcohol/family (him) and unique/lots of friends/family/good food (me).

So, some of those lined up, and also applied to anywhere like the food/music/etc. Unique works with Disney (definitely would be unique for my family) and at home, because I mainly wanted to stay away from the typical fancy hotel ballroom, which we're doing. Friends/family was the deciding factor - I've always dreamed of my large family being there, his grandparents can't travel...

Anyways, that was our process (followed by the whole NE vs CO and difference between can't and won't travel) it if helps. Still keeping Disney in the back pocket just in case with the drama. Some days I'm not opposed to a Memories wedding and we each take our best friends! We're definitely aiming for a budget with the at home wedding though. Less budget because we want to include things like a full meal and alcohol, but apparently too budget to afford any caterers so far (his family keeps offering to DIY the food, which makes me :scared1: - I know they did it for his parents wedding, but I don't want them to work terribly hard... we're looking at a combo DIY/order from somewhere right now).

I will tell you a true story.
It's about two kids who had very little money between them.
They got married in the church he'd grown up in.
Afterwards, the reception was held in the basement hall of an inexpensive hotel.
The night before, the bride and groom and some of their friends decorated it with balloons and streamers.
It wasn't glamorous. It wasn't show stopping beautiful. It wasn't in a scenic location.
And yet everyone said what a beautiful reception it was because it was obvious the bride and groom were so in love with each other.
The bride didn't care, because she knew that this was what they could afford.
The groom didn't care because all he wanted was to be married to his beautiful bride.

Maybe that helped. Maybe it didn't.

:love: this. It's easy to get caught up in the unimportant things. I keep trying to remind myself of what's really important.

You guys could always do a Disney vow renewal in a few years :) That's our current plan.

I may have to steal this.
 
Ok. Wow. It's been a while. There are a couple of factors contributing to this. The first, of course, being the new job. Yes, we do have external internet, but they frown on goofing off on the internet because there's always plenty to do elsewhere. And since we all sit in one giant line, and I sit directly next to my manager, there's no way to really hide what I'm doing. So no opportunity to get on at work. Then at home, my laptop has been throwing a temper tantrum and doesn't want to connect to our wifi. I can plug it in upstairs, but the cord is in the office and generally Joe's downstairs watching TV so it makes me feel antisocial. I do have a tablet, but while it's great for reading or browsing Facebook/Pinterest/Etsy, replying on the Dis turns into a multi-step process that I don't feel like dealing with. So I've been a bit of a slacker and I apologize.

When we left off, our heroine was trapped in a perilous situation, deciding between an at home wedding that could be hers, or a Disney wedding that would be free. What did we decide?
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To stay at home and book the venue we had decided on, budget increase and all. We crunched the numbers, and while it means no Disney trip this year :sad: and not going to my cousin's wedding in Texas, we think it's doable. And we (I) decided it was more important to spend our wedding surrounded by those we love. Joe just wanted some sort of decision to be made so I'd stop waking him up in the middle of the night. I sent the contract the Friday before last.....and heard nothing. Checked my bank account and yep, they charged the deposit the next day. Huh. That's weird. I actually still hadn't heard anything as of today, but Joe played bad cop and called the woman we'd been in contact with, Amy. Amy is the catering director at the hotel, and when she gave us the tour she also brought along Kate, who is sort of her assistant. Amy is really flaky and returning e-mails and phone calls, which is where some of my hesitation came in. Joe talked with Kate today, who said that Amy deals with everything event-wise at the hotel, but Kate deals mostly with the weddings so from now on we could reach out to her and she'd get back to us. I feel a little better now about our decision.

What's that? Oh, you want to know where this mystical venue is? Behold.

DT_exthotel001_2_677x380_FitToBoxSmallDimension_Center.jpg


The Doubletree Suites Raleigh-Durham. Not much to look at when you first pull up. But let's take a look at the other side.

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Much prettier, no? And doesn't it sort of bring to mind a certain deluxe Disney property that sits on the monorail? Joe LOVED the water. And see the white tent in the center of the photo? That's where the reception will be. Here's what it looks like on the inside.

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The chandeliers and chinese lanterns are included free of charge. They even have purple ones they can string up for us! Another bonus is this-yes, that is an air conditioning unit you see in the picture. It's climate controlled! Trust me, late May in NC can get unbearable, so I'm happy that this gives Joe his outdoor feel while still allowing for my Type-A side to relax and not fret over weather. Outside the tent there's also a little patio area

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They use it for ceremonies when couples choose to have it all there, but for us it will serve as cocktail space. The plan right now is to get married at 1pm and then have the reception from 3-8. It's about 30 minutes from the hotel to the church, so I wanted enough time for everyone to get back. We're also keeping it a little earlier than normal because a good majority of my family live about 1 1/2 hours away, so I want them to be able to go home after if they want without it being ridiculously late. Obviously with our reception space being a hotel, we'll have a block set aside for guests who choose to stay.

I'm finally starting to feel like I can get excited again about planning, rather than just stressing out! Hopefully my next update will be to say I've booked our photographer!
 
That is the most amazing tent set up ever. I love that they include the lanterns and chandeliers! I saw a few tent places out here, and they all charged up the nose for them. Plus, their views were crap compared to that! I love it! Hopefully Kate will be better, it drives me nuts when people are flaky - especially on things where so much money is on the line? Um, charging the deposit and no confirmation? Not cool.

And that does remind me of the Contemporary - at least from the pictures I've seen lol (but really :sad:)

Isn't it nice to be excited again?? That's how I felt with ours - I was stressing and nothing was getting figured out and I felt like we were going nowhere and the wedding would never happen.

Fingers crossed for your photographer! I'm thinking of changing ours, using the excuse of changing the date...
 
That is the most amazing tent set up ever. I love that they include the lanterns and chandeliers! I saw a few tent places out here, and they all charged up the nose for them. Plus, their views were crap compared to that! I love it! Hopefully Kate will be better, it drives me nuts when people are flaky - especially on things where so much money is on the line? Um, charging the deposit and no confirmation? Not cool.

And that does remind me of the Contemporary - at least from the pictures I've seen lol (but really :sad:)

Isn't it nice to be excited again?? That's how I felt with ours - I was stressing and nothing was getting figured out and I felt like we were going nowhere and the wedding would never happen.

Fingers crossed for your photographer! I'm thinking of changing ours, using the excuse of changing the date...

I thought it was really cool as well. It's the first tent that's ever really wowed me. I'm hoping too that Kate will be better, so that I can calm my bridezilla down.

It does feel nice not to have all that stress anymore! I'm beginning to see why more and more people choose to elope.

I'm waiting for my first paycheck from the new job to come in and then I'm hoping to book! I absolutely ADORE the guy we've been talking to. He's like my photographer soul mate. I told my mom I'd be more upset if I couldn't book him than I'd be if we didn't get the venue we want!
 
Yes, we do have external internet, but they frown on goofing off on the internet because there's always plenty to do elsewhere.

:eek:

And since we all sit in one giant line, and I sit directly next to my manager, there's no way to really hide what I'm doing.

I guess it would get pretty old after a while if you kept yelling "Look over there! Squirrel!" every couple of minutes...

I do have a tablet, but while it's great for reading or browsing Facebook/Pinterest/Etsy, replying on the Dis turns into a multi-step process that I don't feel like dealing with.

Ugh. No kidding.
I'm tempted to use my tablet for DISing, but then... I want to comment or reply... and it's such a pain in the butt!

And we (I) decided it was more important to spend our wedding surrounded by those we love.

::yes::

Joe just wanted some sort of decision to be made so I'd stop waking him up in the middle of the night.

:laughing: Typical guy. I should know.

What's that? Oh, you want to know where this mystical venue is?

::yes::


ooooohhh... pretty.

Much prettier, no?

Yup!

And doesn't it sort of bring to mind a certain deluxe Disney property that sits on the monorail?

The TTC?




:rolleyes1

Here's what it looks like on the inside.

dg_loungewedding_9_677x380_FitToBoxSmallDimension_Center.jpg

Nice!
 

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