Danielle & Chris: 11-11-11 WP/ADH/DP Wedding PJ/TR - Complete *(1 Year Anniversary)

[elleinad16]

Directory
(Scroll down for wedding trip report!)

Basic Wedding Information

Wedding Date: Friday, November 11th, 2011

Ceremony Location: Disney's Wedding Pavilion - 2:30 p.m. time slot

Reception Location: Disney's Atlantic Dance Hall

Dessert Party Location: Terrace Des Fleurs (France Pavilion) in Epcot.

Disney's Fairy Tale Wedding Planner: Carol Mikles

Disney Floral Event Designer: Elizabeth Sutton

Officiant: Reverend Tim Herring (www.disneyweddingminister.com)

Wedding Photographers: Ashley and Phillip Colhouer (13:13 Wedding Boutique Photography)

Wedding Videographers: Disney Event Photography and Video (www.disneyeventphotography.com)

Hair and Makeup: Beauté Spécialé (www.beautespeciale.com)

Colors: Turquoise-y blue, chocolate brown, with a splash of burnt orange and white!

Wedding Party: 7 bridesmaids, 7 groomsmen, 3 flower girls, 1 ring bearer.

Guest Count: Originally estimated 50, but actually had 76 guests.

Wedding Planning Information:
About Us/Our Engagement Story
Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings - Open House
Our Bridesmaids and Groomsmen!
Planning Session Trip / Hair & Makeup Trial Run
Engagement Photo Sneak Peek

Bridal Shower #1
Bridal Shower #2
Send-Off Parties

Wedding Attire and Accessories:
My Wedding Dress & Bridesmaids Dresses
Wedding Dress Fitting
Wedding Shoes
Wedding Jewelry
Bride's Wedding Ring
Groom's Wedding Ring
Feather Hairpiece
Bridesmaid Ensemble
Groomsmen Ensemble
Breakdown of Groomsmen Tuxes
Mother of the Bride Dress
Mother of the Groom Dress
Flower Girl Dress

Wedding Details:
Save-the-Dates
Invitations
Flower Girl Petal Cones
Ring Bearer Pillow
Cake Knife and Server
Toasting Flutes
Guest Book
Gifts for Flower Girls and Ring Bearer
Cake Sketch
Music

DIY Projects:
Unity Candle Set
Welcome Bags
'Savor the Flavors' Treat Bags
"Drinking Around the World" Checklist
Newsletter
Bridesmaid Certificates

Money & Budgeting Info:
Rehearsal Lunch Menu Breakdown
Dinner Menu Breakdown
First Floral Proposal
Floral Proposal v.2
Floral Proposal v.3
FINAL Floral Breakdown
First Estimated Budget
Estimated Budget v.2
FINAL Event Budget

Vendor Reviews:
David & Vicki Arndt Photography
Moya Lara :: Exquisite Wedding Invitations
Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings
Reverend Tim Herring
Beauté Spécialé
Men's Warehouse
Ashley and Phillip Colhouer (13:13 Wedding Boutique Photography)
Disney Fine Art Photography and Video

Glad I Did / Wish I Did List

Blog Spotlights and News Features:
Engagement Spotlight - Magical Day Weddings Blog
Wedding Spotlight - Magical Day Weddings Blog
Nominated for "Best 2011 Disney Wedding Cake" - Magical Day Weddings Blog
11 "I dos" on 11-11-11 - Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons Ever After Blog
11 Couples say "I do" - Disney Parks Blog
11 Disney World brides think 11-11-11 is the most magical wedding date - Orlando Sentinel

Wedding Trip Report:
We're Married! - Sneak Peek

Day 1 : Part 1 - Traveling & Check-in
Day 1 : Part 2 - Welcome Bags, Wedding Guests & Downtown Disney

Day 2 : Part 1 - Hollywood Studios
Day 2 : Part 2 - Meet & Greet

Day 3 : Part 1 - Rehearsal & Rehearsal Luncheon
Day 3 : Part 2 - Relaxation, Babysitting & The Last Supper

Day 4 : Part 1 - Wedding Day: Getting Ready
Day 4 : Part 2 - Wedding Day: First Look
Day 4 : Part 3 - Wedding Day: Portraits & Going to the Chapel
Day 4 : Part 4 - Wedding Day: Processional
Day 4 : Part 5 - Wedding Day: Ceremony
Day 4 : Part 6 - Wedding Day: Staged Exit
Day 4 : Part 7 - Wedding Day: Boardwalk
Day 4 : Part 8 - Wedding Day: Details & Bridal Party Entrances
Day 4 : Part 9 - Wedding Day: First Dance
Day 4 : Part 10 - Wedding Day: Dinner, Toasts & Bridal Party Dance
Day 4 : Part 11 - Wedding Day: Father-Daughter & Mother-Son Dances
Day 4 : Part 12 - Wedding Day: Mickey & Minnie Mouse
Day 4 : Part 13 - Wedding Day: Portraits with Mickey & Minnie
Day 4 : Part 14 - Wedding Day: Cake Cutting
Day 4 : Part 15 - Wedding Day: More Dancing
Day 4 : Part 16 - Wedding Day: Bouquet Toss & Garter Toss
Day 4 : Part 17 - Wedding Day: Getting Sloppy & End of Reception
Day 4 : Part 18 - Wedding Day: Dessert Party
Day 4 : Part 19 - Wedding Day: Friends & Fireworks
Day 4 : Part 20 - Wedding Day: 'And They Lived Happily Ever After'

Day 5 : Part 1 - Drinking Around the World
Day 5 : Part 2 - A Family-Style Biergarten Dinner

Day 6 : Part 1 - Magic Kingdom Bridal Shoot
Day 6 : Part 2 - Epcot Bridal Shoot
Day 6 : Part 3 - Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Day 7 : Part 1 - Departure


Basic Honeymoon Information:
WDW : May 20th - May 26th, 2012
Honeymoon Pre-Trip & Trip Report

First Anniversary

Hello, readers!

A little about ourselves:

*Danielle (me, 23) - A Photography and sculpture artist with a huge crush for art history. I am a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania girl (and gosh darn proud of it)! And guessing like all of you, I have a HUGE overly obsessive love of all things Disney! (My favorite movie is Mulan! Followed by Princess and the Frog and UP). At one time I even worked as Cast Member for the Disney Store! I miss it dearly...

*Chris (the fiancé, 23) - An Illustrator/graphic designer, a born and raised New Hampshire woodsman with a love for old-school/hand drawn Disney (Loves Eyvind Earl and Ub Iwerks with a passion). He is currently working as an assistant Sign Maker for Whole Foods Market.

*Midori (1 year old kitten)-Our little ninja baby. She enjoys eating McDonald's Chicken McNuggets and then working them off by doing some parkour.

The Happy Couple

How we met:
We met our freshman year of college (Fall 2006). We both attended art school in Massachusetts. Our college has an annual student enrollment with less than 300 students and the female to male ratio is like 5:1! And that doesn't even factor in whether the male population is straight or single...
Luckily, Chris and I found each other and we have been best friends ever since.

Our Engagement:
I had asked my parents if we could go to Disney World for a long weekend to celebrate my 21st Birthday. It was during Disney's, "What Will You Celebrate?" promotion (where you got free admission on your birthday!) and I thought that was a milestone worth celebrating But it turns out we had more!

Our trip was from 5/29-6/1 2009, with my birthday on 5/31. Our group consisted of myself, my parents, Chris, Katherine (Chris' sister-celebrating her college graduation), and my 3 year old niece, Damia (her first visit).

5/30/2009-Our Magic Kingdom day!
After meandering our way through the park, Chris decided he wanted to take a picture behind Cinderella's castle in the courtyard. He slyly handed his sister the camera...I tried to pose with my arm around him, but he kept wriggling away. By the time I looked glanced over at him, he was already down on one knee. I started freaking out and yelling, "Here?! NOW?" For some reason I've always been uncomfortable with the idea of my parents being there for my proposal. Luckily at the same moment that Chris was proposing, my 3 year old niece had flipped her stroller and my parents had to pick everything back up Chris got a little choked up, proclaimed his love for me and he asked me to become his princess. I said "yes"!

Why 11/11/11?:
We have a few meanings behind this! It's not just a cool number.
1. Our first hang-out session was November 11th, 2006.
2. Chris' grandparents were married on November 11th, 1955.
3. One time I had joked, "let's get married 1,000 days from now!" we counted and it landed on 11/11/11.

 

[elleinad16]

Why a Disney Wedding?:
We were originally planning on having our wedding in the Boston area since that's where we went to school/met, and all our friends and family could conveniently attend; however, there was something that didn't feel right about having our wedding in Boston...that and it will be friggin' COLD (I hate the cold weather ).

Then out of the blue, I stumbled across a facebook post for Disney's Fairy Tale Wedding's Open House, being held on August 28th, 2010. I decided that would be the real deal-breaker right there. After all, that IS where we got engaged.
So, my mom and I scheduled to go down and attend the Open House to see what they had to offer.

_____

Disney's Fairy Tale Wedding Open House : Mini Trip-Report

Friday, August 27th, 2010:

We arrived at Disney's POP Century Resort in the late afternoon. This was the first time that we were staying at a value resort so I was a little iffy, but we ended up loving it. My mother and I were in room 0430, which was located in the 70's building.

Our room

Since we were only in Disney for 2 nights, we decided to just eat at POP's food court for dinner and not worry about traveling to a dining reservation at another resort. On our walk over, we got a little side-tracked by the awesome over-sized sculptures around the grounds.

Me with the Potato Heads

Mommy with Baloo and Mowgli

We went into Everything Pop and each ordered the Mom's Night Out T.V. Dinner, which had meatloaf, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, and corn bread. It was a delicious meal. We lucked out and even had entertainment during our dinner, because right at 6:00 p.m. the cast members started dancing to The Hustle. What a hoot! After our dinner, we rounded out our meal by having a slice of the infamous Tie-Dye Cheesecake. Mmm, the red velvet crust on this dessert was amazing.

T.V. Dinner

Me enjoying the cheesecake

After dinner, we ventured into the gift shop and then walked around the rest of the resort. We took a few more fun pictures and then headed back to our room. We went to bed early, because we had a full day of wedding planning ahead!

Saturday, August 28th, 2010:

We took the Disney buses over to the Grand Floridian and then walked over to Franck's Studio, where the Open House was being held. I didn't even know that Franck's existed before this...it was so beautiful! There was all sorts of wedding decor placed outside. There were transportation options (yes, Cinderella's carriage included), cakes, and table settings. We walked over to the long line of ladies and waited to check-in to the event. We signed a guest book and received a special Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings pin.

Outside Franck's Studio

We walked inside and viewed more table settings, flower arrangements, and cakes. Everything was immaculate and magical. I think this was the first point where I actually started feeling giddy about prospectively planning my wedding!

Sample cake

Table settings

My mother and I were immediately spotted by a sales consultant named Stacey, who ended up pulling us aside to chat about what I was thinking. (I wonder if it had anything to do with our un-intentional matching outfits?)

Like mother, like daughter!

With my sales consultant, Stacey

One of the first things we laid out on the table was which date I was thinking about getting married. I told her I wanted 11-11-11 and she looked at me a little worried. Apparently there were a few other brides there that were already booking the same date, so we had to see what was even left for available slots. Stacey came back with an option of 2:30 p.m. or 5:00 p.m., I told her I'd take the 2:30 p.m., and with that she put me in the system! Then we discussed some potential ceremony and reception locations. I didn't want to commit to anything too soon, since I hadn't seen any of the locales in person, so we decided to take a break and go see the scheduled Q & A that was being held in the Wedding Pavilion around the corner from Franck's.

I walked into the pavilion with my mother and it ended up being love at first sight. It was such a light, airy, and beautifully decorated building and I couldn't picture myself getting married anywhere else! It may be a little cliche, but I loved everything about it. Even the view of Cinderella's castle at the end of the aisle!

The session was a little scattered, but it definitely covered all grounds. The Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings team introduced themselves. We had planners, florists, chefs, and photographers talk about their roles in the wedding business. Then brides asked questions about prices, and add-ons, and weather backups, etc.

Watching the Q & A session

After the session, we walked back over and met up with Stacey. I told her to put us down for a ceremony in the Wedding Pavilion and that we'd just choose whatever was available for the reception. Our options were a couple of the ballrooms or Atlantic Dance Hall on the BoardWalk. I decided to go with Atlantic Dance Hall, since it sounded pretty fun. We wrapped up our meeting and left completely overwhelmed, but excited. I had just been signed up for a Disney wedding!

 

[elleinad16]

OH. Here's my idea of wedding colors! I always get weird looks when I tell people I want blue, brown and orange. I guess they think it's going to look like some sort of rainbow diarrhea.

The image is an actual setting they had previewed at the Disney Fairy Tale Open House...I just tweaked the colors from green to blue to show what I want

Blue and brown and orange flowers! Pretty!

So I went with two of my closest bridesmaids (seeing as the rest of them are scattered across 5 other states) to David's Bridal just to get an idea...

We found this dress. They liked it...it kept their tatas in (my mother is insisting on strapping these girl's tatas down! HAHA.) They liked the A-line and brown band; it made them feel thinner.

Oh well, gotta keep looking and an open mind!
Any ideas where to look for the blue I want as bridesmaids dresses? I guess this isn't the time of the year to look for them...

 

[KitKat5]

Hiya and congratulations! What a great start to your PJ! I LOVE your colours btw! I think they are fab! And the BMs dresses are lovely! Im going to Davids to get my MOH dress when we fly back over for the wedding...nothing like leaving it to the last minute! I cant wait to read more about your planning process!

 

[elleinad16]

I am overly excited! Once I told all of our friends that we were planning for a Disney wedding they freaked out in excitement.

So I threw together these little digital save-the-dates that I sent to my friends on facebook:

I'm hoping that the earlier I notify everyone, the more time they have to save up money!

So far, everyone that I sent them to is excited and appreciated the time I took to make them Yay!

 

[elleinad16]

Oh! And I'm happy to share that I made my first official purchase towards our wedding! I ever-so-sneakily bought 3 of the DFTW David Tutera flower girl cones on sale from the Disney Store. Thank goodness they were only $9.99--that's a steal!!! Now if I can only find the matching pillow that is discontinued....

They are even prettier than I imagined! I can't wait for my flower girls to see them!

My brother asked his daughter, my niece (now 4 years old! holy cow!) if she wanted to be a flower girl. She asked what a flower girl entailed...and if she got to "throw flowers all over the place" This is going to be good!

 

[elleinad16]

Hiya and congratulations! What a great start to your PJ! I LOVE your colours btw! I think they are fab! And the BMs dresses are lovely! Im going to Davids to get my MOH dress when we fly back over for the wedding...nothing like leaving it to the last minute! I cant wait to read more about your planning process!

Thanks so much!

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

I love your colors and I have to tell you: I went in June 2009 for my PS and I *wanted* those petal cones but they were around $70 each. I ended up getting Mickey purses for the flower girls but I am so jealous you got them for $10!!! I am in shock! I can't wait to see what you come up with. I am imagining a chocolate cake with those beautiful flowers on it!

 

[FutureMrs.B]

Hey congrats on starting your PJ. I'm also a fellow November 2011 bride. Yey! Your off to a great start with all your planning. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[mareeld86]

Congrats on your wedding I am also a November Bride My colors are yellow green and Orange and people also give me this look when I tell them!! All i say is Google those color weddings you will be surprised!

 

[elleinad16]

I love your colors and I have to tell you: I went in June 2009 for my PS and I *wanted* those petal cones but they were around $70 each. I ended up getting Mickey purses for the flower girls but I am so jealous you got them for $10!!! I am in shock! I can't wait to see what you come up with. I am imagining a chocolate cake with those beautiful flowers on it!

Thank you! Yes, I am very lucky I snatched up those petal cones! It's just a shame that David Tutera line is being discontinued, because I love it.

Hey congrats on starting your PJ. I'm also a fellow November 2011 bride. Yey! Your off to a great start with all your planning. Looking forward to reading more.

Thanks! I'm SO excited! November 2011 is going to be such a good time!!!

Congrats on your wedding I am also a November Bride My colors are yellow green and Orange and people also give me this look when I tell them!! All i say is Google those color weddings you will be surprised!

my computer wallpaper is a happy yellow, green and orange combination. OF COURSE they are awesome!!! How can people think it's weird?!

 

[elleinad16]

We finally narrowed down the 3 resorts we wanted our guests to choose from:

Animal Kingdom Lodge
Caribbean Beach Resort
All-Star Movies

!!! !!!

I can't wait to get my wedding on by staying in the Animal Kingdom Lodge! Ever since we ate at Jiko in May 2010, I've been obsessed with it! It's so pretty

So, I sent back this info (and the dreaded room block chart ), back to my consultant...She responded telling us that she got an even deeper discount for our guests during that time! YES.

Hopefully that means more guests will come

 

[FutureMrs.B]

Ok not to take up your pj but maybe you can help me with my question. Even though I can't make anything official yet should I email them about doing my room block now? Or were you already able to book at 16 months?

 

[elleinad16]

Ok not to take up your pj but maybe you can help me with my question. Even though I can't make anything official yet should I email them about doing my room block now? Or were you already able to book at 16 months?

Oh no problem! I like that people are reading my PJ
I would totally email someone! I've already returned all my room block info and guest list info. Someone is writing up my LOA as we speak and should be emailed to me by early next week.

I have to say, I am still a little confused too. I thought everyone had to wait until the 12 month mark to officially book, but on this timeline they gave me it states that:
At 16 months out-events held in one of our theme parks or a location other than our ballrooms (Ariel's and Atlantic Dance Hall) can begin working on a Letter of Agreement immediately. For events held in our ballroom locations, the agreement process can begin 12 months prior to your requested date.

So, I guess it depends on where you are looking to have your reception...?
Hope that helps!!!

 

[FutureMrs.B]

Thanks it does. I know I have to wait til 12 months but wasn't sure about the room block. I'll send him an email and double check. Thnx!

 

[Belle2Be]

Can I just say how jealous I am that you're having an 11-11-11 wedding? That was the date that we wanted, since it's the day that my FI asked me to marry him and also his birthday But oh well Love your colors! Mine are Blue and Orange (or turquoise and tangerine) as well

 

[elleinad16]

Can I just say how jealous I am that you're having an 11-11-11 wedding? That was the date that we wanted, since it's the day that my FI asked me to marry him and also his birthday But oh well

There is something magical about 11-11-11, right? But you can't be too bummed out--your wedding will still be very magical and amazing, cause well, it's your wedding!!!!!

 

[goofyfordisney16]

just singing onto your pj now, i am SO jealous you are having your wedding on 11-11-11!

can't wait to hear more

 

[elleinad16]

just singing onto your pj now, i am SO jealous you are having your wedding on 11-11-11!

can't wait to hear more

Thanks hun!

 

[faerieye]

i am in love with your color scheme! so lovely!