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

[cp_princess]

Hi All,

So finally I am starting a planning journal. I'm still relatively new to the Disboards but have been planning our wedding since July. I'm going to start with a quick list for future reference.

Welcome Party/Bachelor/Bachelorette Gathering: ?/ Jellyrolls
Rehearsal Dinner/Dessert Party: Italy Isola -
Ceremony: WP 2:30 PM - about 50 guests -
Reception: CR, CG, Napa Room
Farewell Breakfast or dinner?: 1900 Park Faire (I hope)
Prewedding/Postwedding Resort: Grand Floridian
Honeymoon: 7 Day Eastern Caribbean Disney Cruise -
Disney Magic Kingdom Photo Shoot Trip (Post Cruise Honeymoon): PO-FQ,
Photography (RD/DP & Day of Wedding): Randy Chapman
Videography: STVS
Wedding Colors: Ice Blue, Royal Blue, Silver
Theme: Cinderella's winter wonderland
Party back home: Jan. 2009 about 200 people
PS July Counting down the days!

OK now that I have the formalities out of the way to make future reference easy the next post will have some of the more fun details that are more interesting.

 

[padisneyfour]

your plans sound wonderful, look forward to reading more and congrats too!

 

[cp_princess]

Well the reason it all started with a mouse click is that I met my fiance` Erik through E-harmony but more on that later. So here's a little background on each of us.

Bride: Christine, 29 year old self-acknowledged Disney (especially Cinderella) fanatic. According to Erik I carry an insane amount of Disney knowledge in my head . However as I've learned during my limited time on here, and from a few past friends, there are a number of people with more Disney knowledge then me. My Disney obsession started when I was 4. This was my first trip to WDW and Alice in Wonderland spent 5 whole minutes talking just to me. It was the coolest thing ever and I couldn't wait to grow up and work at WDW like Alice so I could spend time working with the Disney Princesses . Lo and behold in college I came across Disney's College Program and jumped at the chance. It was interesting and eye opening to say the least but I had fulfilled one Disney Dream - I worked with the princesses. I actually worked in Cosmic Rays in Tomorrowland where I would stare wistfully at the castle that I teasingly referred to as my own. Then I did a second stint after college working in Caribbean Beach for a few months before the real world intruded and I had to pay back my college loans . So then I moved back home to NJ where a couple years later I met the love of my life, my DF Erik.

Groom: Erik, age 36, not a huge Disney fan but I'm working on it. Shares my love of writing - hence he's a magazine editor. Major music fan - dare I admit that he definitely knows more about music then I do Disney ! Super smart - hence his ivy league degree. He's the only person in my life that has been known to correct my grammar. Which amuses my BFF immensely. Divorced but the only "kid" is his 11 year old dogie Evan. We both love sports - though my favorite is hockey and he's way into baseball and football. Both of his favorite sports mean lots of time dealing with fantasy sports - which is when I sneak onto the Disboards! hehe

Next post - info on dating, the engagement and the start of our little family.

 

[cp_princess]

Hi padisneyfour, thanks for the congrats and tuning in ! I have my first reader already!

Dating:
OK picking back up on the story, we met on E-harmony in May of 06. After a few weeks of communicating online we took the plunge and decided to meet up. I should probably mention that at the time Erik and I lived about an hour and a half apart. So he came down to South Jersey and we met up for lunch. I guess those commercials are true because our first date lasted about 5 hours! Being the sweet romantic he was he brought flowers all I can say is the man was raised right and gives me flowers for every appropriate occasion. I count myself a very lucky girl and hope it continues . I should probably mention the date - 6/4/06 which by pure luck (since we didn't get our first choice date for the DFTW) is exactly two and a half years from our wedding date. Should make the anniversary easier to remember and the wedding all the more special since it's an anniversary of sorts.

So we had seen pictures of each other online and everything pretty much measured up. I still wasn't head over heels but we had plenty to talk about and I enjoyed his company. According to Erik, he was from the beginning - sweet man! We had lunch and ended up going somewhere else for ice-cream afterwards - we both love sweets! I finally ended the date because I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and needed to get inside but didn't think the first date was a good time to bring Erik home to meet the folks. Unfortunately to save money I was living at home at the time. So second date was just the same as the first - this time it lasted 7 hours though with lunch, ice-cream and a movie. Oh and our first kiss - I only let him give me a peck on the lips but it sure was sweet! It took a few weeks of phone communication before we could have our third date but by then the intellectual attraction wasn't all I was feeling and we had the best date yet. It was official I was starting to fall and from that point forward (except for a preplanned trip in late July) we've spent every weekend together since. Probably would have spent even more time together but the drive was a bit much during the week. I met his family, because of the holiday on 4th of July 06 which was wonderful. Then Erik met my parents and BFF the following week. Funny note... while I was content in our relationship I was just along for the ride at that point. My BFF called it that day though. Her exact comment was that we'd be engaged within a year. I told her no-way. She was right though she squeaked by within a few weeks. Which brings us to the next topic.

Engagement:
To be honest it wasn't a surprise. DF and I had been talking about buying a house and what we'd want in a wedding since December 06. It felt so crazy to talk about something that serious so soon, but at the same time neither of us liked having to be apart all the time. Erik swore he knew he wanted to marry me since that first month of dating but it took me a little longer to get there. He wanted a small wedding since it's his second. I was OK with that since it meant I got my DFTW ! Plus I don't like being the center of attention. My mom laughs at this since no matter what I do I'll be the center of attention on my wedding day. But I keep telling myself it won't be so bad if it's a small group. However a small group for us is 50 people and that's just immediate family, grandparents, godmothers, and closest friends. In the spring he had a conversation with my dad. But other then that I didn't know where or when he'd pop the question.

I had been trying to wait patiently - which was hard since I knew it was coming. We had a family trip to WDW in May but it wasn't then... we had our one year anniversary but nope it wasn't then... a few weeks later was my birthday but again nope... a few days later we had an overnight romantic trip to Atlantic City but again no ring. I wasn't disappointed but I was starting to get anxious as each special event went by. So on June 30th I happened to get my hair cut. We were going to the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert that night so I went all out and even had them style my hair. Normally I just do the cut but I figured I'd go for broke. So we go to the concert and our seats are blocked off for a film crew! Erik nearly had a fit and I could understand being upset but he seemed especially on edge. His friend was working backstage at the show so we were trying to keep in touch by phone with him and had to notify him that our seats were changed. It was pretty cool because at least the new seats they gave us were in the same level but further down so were were practically in like the 4th row off the floor. So we're watching the concert and they started out singing together and then Faith did her set first. As the songs went along we would chat about the music as best we could and I was playing with my cell phone trying to get a few decent pics. Then during Breathe - one of my favorite songs - I turned and mentioned to Erik that it reminded me of how things were between us. At which point he says "I know that's why I want you to marry me so we can be like this always!" Sigh I of course said yes. I loved that he did it at a concert because it was so him. I loved that it was during a country concert - especially of a couple as hot together as Tim and Faith - which is so me. And I love that while we were surrounded by thousands of people he managed to make the moment just for us. Which was great because I'm so shy I wouldn't have wanted to be the center of attention. At least of anyone's attention beyond his! A few songs later his friend caught up with us and I gave him my left hand - he went to kiss it hello till he saw the ring! At which point he started exclaiming and hugging us and giving Erik high fives. It was very sweet. My mom had given Erik strict orders to have me wake her up when we got home so I did and had to re-explain it all to her since she was half-asleep. The next day we had a 4th of July BBQ with Erik's dad's side of his family where we were able to share the news.


So as I mentioned earlier we had already discussed a wedding and knew it would be in Disney. That made the only big choice of when to get married. We also decided to buy a house together - which we had been talking about anyway so that we wouldn't be apart so much. But we not only had to find a house, we had to decide what to do about our animals - and blending that part of our family together. We also had a few other obstacles ahead of us in the next few months. I'll get to those next time, plus I'll see if I can post a pic of my beautiful ring I haven't really tried to add pictures on here yet. Hopefully I'll get to add some tomorrow - I have a temp job for the day though so we'll have to see. Thanks for reading so far - hopefully the back story is interesting enough I promise I'll get to the actual wedding planning soon so stay tuned!

Christine

 

[curemoods]

I just have to say that I love the title of your thread...It all started with a mouse (click) ~ clever! Congratulations and happy planning, I can't wait to read more.

 

[pink_tink8i8]

congrats! seems like you have all your plans in order. I love your color scheme. It's going to be so pretty! Can't wait to read more.

 

[hope1826]

Congrats!!Another NJ !! I can't wait to read more!

 

[MeowGoddes]

'bout time for that PJ Christine!!!

 

[allie_to_you]

Congratulations! You got engaged on my birthday...cool! I can't wait to hear everything else!

 

[mla1977]

Loving it so far! Congrats on everything. I love Tim and Faith too!

 

[MistressOfAllEvil]

Woo Hoo for eHarmony. I kid my DF all the time that we should try eHarmony to see if it would match us up. I know that's horrible, but I just read an article on them in Readers Digest this month. They now have a marriage service. So maybe I'll finally get to use eHarmony for something since DF and I have been together for 11 years, since before the website ever existed! (now I feel old, ugh!)

Your story sounds amazing and you seem very organized in the planning that you've got done so far. I can't wait to read more. I'm leaving in just over a week though, so I'll end up taking a hiatus. I'm already looking forward to and dreading coming back and catching up on everyone's PJs and TRs!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mermaid_Ariel]

YAY Christine!!! I'm so glad you started a PJ!! Your plans sound so wonderful and I -love- the colors you picked out!!

I just wanted to say also - That I met DF on Match.com! Post piccies soon I can't wait to read more!!

 

[shezfrombermuda]

Congratulations! I think your proposal story is great. I love Tim and Faith too!

 

[DisneyJules]

Yeah, Christine!! Your pj is up and running, did you find out how many posts you need before uploading pictures? I've never heard of such a thing.
Oh and I just had to say that Cinderella is my favorite! It was the only Disney movie I had growing up and we owned it on BATA,

 

[cp_princess]

Thanks for everyones comments! I was so excited when I briefly got online yesterday and saw I had so many responses! I feel so loved !

Anyway just wanted to give a quick update. I was having issues last night with the computer so couldn't get anything done after work. And then the Dis shut down by the time it was working again !

Anywho we have to go away overnight so I probably won't get to post much till Sunday. But then should have plenty of time since DF is going on a buisness trip , nah seriously I'll miss him. But I'll have my mom around to help me get so many crafts done. And way more time to spend on here ! But I'll get to all the craft details on Sunday in my next couple of updates. I have to see if my dad has the photo disk with the shots we took the day after the Engagement concert - those were some of our best ring and couple shots.

Oh and thank's MistressofallEvil for the comment about about being so organized. I definately don't feel that way most days. Check out the dream description below for more details. Hehehe, I love your thoughts on extra uses for eharmony. Totally hilarious! Happy traveling enjoy your trip and wedding I can't wait to read all about it when you get back - I just got caught up on your PJ in the last couple days and now it's almost over . I by the way loved your stories about being with entertainment and best buds with some of the characters! hehe as a former cp I know how that goes!

OK so last night I had my first wedding nightmare. It involved not having any undergarments but already being dressed in my gown and I also hadn't written my vows yet as we were getting ready to walk down the aisle!!!!!!!It cracks me up now but I'm taking it as a definite sign that I feel a but unprepared shall we say! Good

OK gotta go DF is standing in his coat to get me out the door! Talk to you all later.

Christine

 

[OceanGdss]

omg..you're having "The Dreams"!! lol!! It will be ok..I had those dreams for a while too lol. They scare the jeezers out of you huh?? My most recent one was about a week ago. DF and I were at BCR the night before the wedding, and I realized 1) I had never gotten my dress fitted (its about 2 sizes too big right now) so it was going to fall off of me, 2) I had never made arrangements for hair/makeup, and 3) I hadnt shaved my legs and had no razor!! AAHHHH!! Scary

I love the "It all started with a mouse click". DF and I met online and I always say "It all started with a mouse" lol

 

[pink_tink8i8]

cp_ have you thought at all about favors? I was looking at some for myself yesterday and came across these really beautiful personalized mouse pad favors and I thought of you. I'll try and find the link.

 

[cp_princess]

Pinktink - I've been going through thoughts on about 10 different favors - can't settle on anything. I want to do so many! So hard to narrow down. The mousepads are cute though I'll have to add them to my list- hehe!

 

[cp_princess]

OceanGdss - Yeah I've heard they can be brutal - having the first one this early really surprised me. Of course now they're getting worse. I told DF today that last night I dreamed he wanted to back out and then later changed his mind. He's like I had a dream last night that I was at our wedding and didn't know most of the people that were there and they were all drunk. He's like maybe that's why I postponed the wedding! See that's why I love him makes me laugh - and he's sharing in my wedding nightmares - got to love it!

 

[cp_princess]

So we got engaged in late June - about as late as one could be, 10:00PM on the 30th! hehe! Well as mentioned we had been talking about weddings and a house for about 6 months by then. Erik had asked what order I wanted to do everything in and I had said Engagement, House and then Wedding. So we could have a long engagement but not have to be apart for quite so long. Well, with Erik's knowledge I'd been looking at houses for a good chunk of that time to find out what our options were. I had been having a not so great experience with my job so we decided being closer to his place of employment was a big factor. Well we ended up going to look at houses in person just before mid-July and on our first day out saw 3. Well we really liked the 1st one but there was already a bid. However the people weren't thrilled with the offer so our agent thought that if we were serious and wanted to put in a bid it might get serious consideration. The house had virtually everything we wanted so we couldn't see letting it slip by. Especially because it was priced well. So first day out we basically bought a house. I should probably mention that I'm huge into house design, and architecture so I do know what I'm looking at - making it not as crazy as it sounds. Unfortunately that was the easy part.

In order to put in an enticing bid we had to give a closing date of 1 month! Which was the least DF could do because of his lease. And even then he was overlapping by about 2 weeks. But the other offer was for a closing Asap so it was the only way we could compete. Also while it was close to his job it was 2 hours from mine - a bit too far for a daily commute. However I couldn't leave my job yet because I was about to have surgery on Aug. 15 - which if you're calculating along you'll realize is one day after our closing was scheduled! But I needed to keep my job and my benefits. So he moved in on Labor day and I couldn't until the end of Oct. which was really rough. What was worse was the closing got moved back till the day after my surgery so I had to sign proxy over to DF to buy the house for both of us and I didn't even get to go in my house from our original visit until about 2 weeks after I owned it! Also they almost postponed surgery because my blood pressure was high - can't imagine why! Then I couldn't take painkillers - oh I had my tonsils taken out at the age of 29! I'm allergic to most painkillers so I had to live on liquid Tylenol for 3 weeks. And I had a horrible time dealing with the anesthesia for the first 3 days. As if it all weren't enough my grandmother passed away about 4 days after surgery I couldn't even go see her till the funeral because of the risk of infection. I tell myself that compared to the stress of all that a DFTW should be a breeze! So these are the things that filled the time between the proposal and my original request with Disney in July. Since we had to wait for a year out before our dates were confirmed I spent a bunch of time on the Wish Book trying to figure it all out.

OK so other non Disney things while we were waiting to hear back. As I mentioned Erik has a dog 11 year old Evan

and I have an 11 year old dog Shadow

I also have 2 kitties that lived with me at my parents house - no pics right now. Anyway they're like 19 and 20 so we knew we wouldn't be taking them to our house too much stress. My parents also have a dog, Ginger,

Well Evan doesn't like other animals. He's a great, sweet doggy but doesn't play well with others. He had nowhere to go but with us. Shadow on the other hand could stay with my folks. Though she's depressed with me not there - her whole behavior changes when I'm gone it happened in college too. But she's got Dad there all day and Ginger to keep her company. Plus last year, 2006 she had seizures on Christmas eve so it was decided that for her best interest she's better off staying in Mom and Dad's house. That's how we blended our family of animals. We also got a baby cat in Oct. a few weeks before I moved in. She's our Halloween cat named Boo here's one of her earliest pics

Evan tolerates her, only attacking her if she eats or plays (what else does a kitten do??????) But we're working on it and we get peace every now and again. She's a bit crazy though - the vet calls her devil cat she hates him more then me! She doesn't actually hate me just thinks I should be attacked when she's bored or angry. But when she's tired she's a complete love bug who wants to cuddle! Told ya she was a bit loopy! So that's our family!

Tomorrow I'll try to post some wedding pictures now that you're all caught up on the back story! And now that I finally figured out how to post pics ! Though whenever I upload them to photobucket I'm having issues getting them to be the right size on here so any suggestions on that would help. It took like 4 tries to get these small ones and some I cut out because they still kept coming in large. Thanks for reading!

Christine