Jennifer and Luke's PJ/TR NY/WDW HM 6/6/2010,Wedding photos up! 12/08

[shippedtosea]

Jennifer and Luke's Planning Journal and Trip report
June 6, 2010
​

hi, my name is Jennifer and I have been reading so many amazing wedding and honeymoon planning journals and I got inspired. We are not getting married at Disney world but we are honeymooning there and having some Disney touches to our beach themed wedding. I could really use tips and advice for planning. I never thought I would be as into the wedding plans as I am, so maybe this will help my mind from running a million miles a minute. most people are sick of hearing about it. I am the first of all my friends to get engaged.

Our Story and such:

We met when i studied abroad in England and hit it off immediately. We started dating April 27, 2006 and then I returned to America in July.

The engagement:
Luke came with his mom to New York to meet my family and spend sometime with me. It was an amazing and fun filled week but way too short for my taste. On January 12th 2007, I went to meet Luke at his hotel in the city and he said that he really wanted to go up to the empire state building (being a new yorker...i'm sick of stuff like that) but I went up. Afterward Luke asks me how to get to Hoboken, NJ. Totally confused I told him I had no idea. He figured it out and after a little while of frustration we made it to Frank Sinatra Dr, out on a pier. The lights of the city were shining and while it was cold it was absolutely beautiful. Luke started telling me all the things he wanted to do with me for the rest of his life, after around 10 mins, he pulled out a box and asked me to marry him. Of course i said yes, after many tears.

We have had a lot of distance and a lot of growing up, but we are still madly in love and so happy! After what seems like forever we have a wedding date! June 6, 2010 on Long Island, NY and we will be honeymooning in Disney World!

We haven't booked yet because we are waiting for the 2010 prices to come out. I am extremely open to all suggestion and tips. We have been to Disney before together (December 2008) so I want this trip to be completely different. so while I will be posting everything that's happening with the wedding I also would love your suggestions, anything and everything romantic we can do.

Also we have yet to decide on resort. We have been looking and settled on 3. Polynesian, Animal Kingdom and Wilderness. Depending on the day I want a different resort haha. If you have stayed at any of these please give me your experiences and what you think might be best.

I look forward to sharing with all of you and getting to know you<3

Here are some links to make this long Thread easier to navigate!
Wedding Planning
Programs
FG dress, BM's Jewelry, Shoes
My Jewelry
DH's suit
Invites
Wedding Graphics 44,
Shower 32
Engagement photos 49 + 50
Wedding Report 53,54
56 62
Honeymoon TR 55 56

 

[MainStMandy]

Aww your story is so cute! Welcome and Congratulations!! My brother has studied abroad many times and currently lives in S. Korea...I am always hoping he will meet a nice girl!!

I have stayed at both the Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom was just amazing!! Wilderness Lodge was nice, but Animal Kingdom knocked my socks off!!!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[ghoulish delight]

Congrats and welcome!! You two make a very cute couple, and I'll certainly be reading along!

 

[Bickimook2]

Very cute story I can't wait to hear about your plans I plan on honeymooning in Disney as well. I have only stayed at the Movies Resort, but I am really leaning on the Animal Kingdom lodge. You mentioned you wanted to maybe stay at multiple resorts, I have heard of people doing that but I still have no idea on how you would go about something like that , its sounds like fun though

 

[shippedtosea]

thanks for your warm wishes! I plan on doing a bunch of posts soon, once this week settles down.

I am at work right now so i thought I would add this.

So I looked last night and i have no good pictures of my ring, and its getting cleaning right now so I unfortunatley don't even have it

so this is my ring.

i'm extremely into vintage and the 40s so this really fits my style. You will see when I post more of my ideas for the wedding.

thats it for now. lets see how bored I get at work

 

[shippedtosea]

I have stayed at both the Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom was just amazing!! Wilderness Lodge was nice, but Animal Kingdom knocked my socks off!!!

Thanks for the help!
I feel like a nerd asking this but. Would you say that these have a romantic feel? One more than the other? I know neither are your typical romantic resort but we are not typical anyway haha. Also what is your feelings on how far away Animal Kingdom is? I was totally sold until I really thought about the distance, then I wasn't sure. Also what area did you stay in for Animal Kingdom? By what animals? Same with Wilderness what area?

 

[shippedtosea]

so I made a counter (what a good worker I am!) and I nearly had a heart attack. This summer seems to have gone so fast and I hadn't looked at the days in a while. I'm totally down to 10 months. thats scary

 

[MainStMandy]

Thanks for the help!
I feel like a nerd asking this but. Would you say that these have a romantic feel? One more than the other? I know neither are your typical romantic resort but we are not typical anyway haha. Also what is your feelings on how far away Animal Kingdom is? I was totally sold until I really thought about the distance, then I wasn't sure. Also what area did you stay in for Animal Kingdom? By what animals? Same with Wilderness what area?

Animal Kingdom was definitely romantic. We were actually staying at POP and spend one night in a studio at the Animal Kingdom Villas, Jambo House. We arrived mid-afternoon and checked in. After checking out the view from our room we went down and had drinks at the pool. A bit later we headed back to the room to get ready for a romatic dinner at Jiko. We ended up having drinks after dinner at Victoria Falls. It was super romantic and we both fell in love with the resort.

It's a bit far, but it depends if you rent a car or not. We do so it's not too bad as far as I am concerned. I think it might be a bit far by bus.

Hope that helped...sorry I am a rambler!!

 

[shippedtosea]

Animal Kingdom was definitely romantic. We were actually staying at POP and spend one night in a studio at the Animal Kingdom Villas, Jambo House. We arrived mid-afternoon and checked in. After checking out the view from our room we went down and had drinks at the pool. A bit later we headed back to the room to get ready for a romatic dinner at Jiko. We ended up having drinks after dinner at Victoria Falls. It was super romantic and we both fell in love with the resort.

It's a bit far, but it depends if you rent a car or not. We do so it's not too bad as far as I am concerned. I think it might be a bit far by bus.

Hope that helped...sorry I am a rambler!!

I'm glad you have such good things to say about Animal Kingdom. We will not be renting a car, I am underage and Luke is English and doesn't have an USA license. So I was afraid it would be too far out, even though I love it. its my only negative that i've seen so far. Polynesian is a bit pricey and looked a little older in comparison but i've never been there so i wouldn't know. So that let animal and wilderness. sometimes I hate making decisions

 

[shippedtosea]

Congrats and welcome!! You two make a very cute couple, and I'll certainly be reading along!

Thank you!

Very cute story I can't wait to hear about your plans I plan on honeymooning in Disney as well. I have only stayed at the Movies Resort, but I am really leaning on the Animal Kingdom lodge. You mentioned you wanted to maybe stay at multiple resorts, I have heard of people doing that but I still have no idea on how you would go about something like that , its sounds like fun though

Thanks so much!


Okay let me start by putting some things that are decided now. I have a lot of ideas but I am not positive on a lot. I didn't really know how terrible at decision making I was until I started this whole process. I get really nervous to choose something because I don't want to decide I hate it later. Well we will see won't we!

okay so these are my colors

Men's tuxes are going to be navy and brides maids are going to be the yellow. and light blue because....there are no navy flowers so yea. Nothing is picked out yet. wedding party is extremely hard to figure out because my DF is from England and a lot of his friends can't make it.


We do have a location. I always dreamed of a wedding on the beach but after much searching it didn't seem likely. No place had the right price or look we wanted. So we ended up with a garden on the lake instead. We are getting married at a place called the Swan Club on Long Island, NY.

this is where the ceremony will be. This is actually looking from where we'd be standing. There are actually huge doors that open up onto a patio and our arch will be outside while my guest are right on the edge. So I made everyone happy! I got my outside and they can't whine. (more pictures next time I go back)

this is where the cocktail hour is, this is actually a picture from inside the reception room.

this is a walkway through the garden. I didn't want to give too many pictures but i think you get the idea. there are 3 (small) lake that the property is on.

and this is the reception room. they don't really have it decorated very nicely but i will! there is a huge will overlooking the property where we will be seated and also a huge bar that has a very old English feel.

okay well that's Jenn babbling for a while. Tell me what you think. More to come i'm sure. totally bored today

 

[Bickimook2]

Gorgeous wedding and reception venues, it's like a dream. We don't have anything like that where I live, sometimes I hate the midwest, lol.

 

[ghoulish delight]

Love your ring! And what a beautiful wedding venue!! The colors you chose will be very nice together!

 

[shippedtosea]

Love your ring! And what a beautiful wedding venue!! The colors you chose will be very nice together!

thanks so much! I have been without my ring for a few days because they are cleaning it, and with pearls its special so its taking a while. I miss it!

Gorgeous wedding and reception venues, it's like a dream. We don't have anything like that where I live, sometimes I hate the midwest, lol.

thanks! I like it I live in the midwest currently so I know how venues are here.

So I'm at work and so like any good employee i'm posting on my journal instead of doing the work in front of me.

I don't have any major updates, tonight I might post pictures of some ideas for opinions.

This is my STD card. We really weren't planning on having STD but because some of our guest are in the UK and some are poor college students we decided we should give people heads up to get tickets. I have totally procrastinated about these though and they are sitting in my apartment, yay weekend project. my DF will not decide on the guest list he is driving me up a wall.

Anyone else have family coming from super far away and its an issue?

So here is a little vent that has been in my head since we started talking about the wedding:

What is everyone opinion on bridal party. We haven't definitely decided on anything and I have only asked one person, my MOH.
so here is the deal. my DF is from England so....he doesn't know who will be able to make it and he hasn't know his friends here for long so he doesn't want them. so now i'm in the spot do I offer my friends? do I keep it uneven? I know I want my brother and my DF agreed. So chances are one person will come and hopefully be his BM. On my side I have a friend who I have know for YEARS and my MOH has already hinted that she will feel left out. We aren't extremely close anymore but I've known her for so long that I feel I need to. Also I was in my Sister-in-law's party so I also feel she should be in mine. I'm not very good at this clearly.

so we have one MOH and one groomsman.

opinions? Please?

 

[MainStMandy]

Oh your location is beautiful! i love the windy paths by the gardens and the water! Nice choice!!

I'm probably not the right person to ask but I'm not big into bridal parties. We are only having a MoH and BM. My df is thinking of asking his brother as well but I won't be asking someone else just to even up the sides. I say ask who you want and he should do the same. I have seen some really cute pics where the sides are "uneven". I don't think it's a big deal. I think the important part is to have who you really want standing up for you...even if that means the sides are uneven!

 

[shippedtosea]

Oh your location is beautiful! i love the windy paths by the gardens and the water! Nice choice!!

I'm probably not the right person to ask but I'm not big into bridal parties. We are only having a MoH and BM. My df is thinking of asking his brother as well but I won't be asking someone else just to even up the sides. I say ask who you want and he should do the same. I have seen some really cute pics where the sides are "uneven". I don't think it's a big deal. I think the important part is to have who you really want standing up for you...even if that means the sides are uneven!

thanks! that helps. I have been back and forth and my mom is being "neutral". I just need to ask my girls if i'm going to because I am flying home for dress shopping in December and I don't want to be like btw you have to buy a dress.

I choose the location because of the gardens and water. there was another place that I was leaning towards more but the places for pictures was extremely limited so thats why I went with this one.

 

[LLLBelle]

Congrats! Your ring is gorgeous!

I like your color choices as well, they will look beautiful.

We were in between BWV and AKV for our honeymoon and it was a hard choice, but we ended up renting points for BWV just because it was more centrally located and the points values are pretty close. You may want to check out renting DVC points, we saved a lot of money doing this since we weren't even playing on staying in a Deluxe resort.

I'm not much help on the bridal party front, we had a MOH and best man, but to put a long story short, they flaked and we are not having a bridal party at all now. Well my mom and DFi's dad are going to be our bridal party, but they are not going to stand or anything. I don't think it matters if it is even or not and you should choose who you want, not who you think you should. And always remember, the smaller the bridal party the less money it is and the less likely you are to have issues.

 

[shippedtosea]

Congrats! Your ring is gorgeous!

I like your color choices as well, they will look beautiful.

We were in between BWV and AKV for our honeymoon and it was a hard choice, but we ended up renting points for BWV just because it was more centrally located and the points values are pretty close. You may want to check out renting DVC points, we saved a lot of money doing this since we weren't even playing on staying in a Deluxe resort.

I'm not much help on the bridal party front, we had a MOH and best man, but to put a long story short, they flaked and we are not having a bridal party at all now. Well my mom and DFi's dad are going to be our bridal party, but they are not going to stand or anything. I don't think it matters if it is even or not and you should choose who you want, not who you think you should. And always remember, the smaller the bridal party the less money it is and the less likely you are to have issues.

Thanks! I don't know that much about the DVC, can you explain how it work? just like briefly. We are doing the Disney registry so I wasn't thinking of doing it a different way. We don't want presents so we wanted people to help us pay for our honeymoon instead. (money is extremely tight) were you happy with the BWV? its top selling point is location. I like the AKV because of the animals (obv) balcony and the pool looks nicer. and it seemed more romantic. But I have been to neither so I only know from pictures. This is probably the only time we will ever stay at a deluxe so I want our choice to be good. How was the restaurants there?



will be posting some stuff in a bit <3

 

[Bickimook2]

thanks so much! I have been without my ring for a few days because they are cleaning it, and with pearls its special so its taking a while. I miss it!



thanks! I like it I live in the midwest currently so I know how venues are here.

So I'm at work and so like any good employee i'm posting on my journal instead of doing the work in front of me.

I don't have any major updates, tonight I might post pictures of some ideas for opinions.

This is my STD card. We really weren't planning on having STD but because some of our guest are in the UK and some are poor college students we decided we should give people heads up to get tickets. I have totally procrastinated about these though and they are sitting in my apartment, yay weekend project. my DF will not decide on the guest list he is driving me up a wall.

Anyone else have family coming from super far away and its an issue?

So here is a little vent that has been in my head since we started talking about the wedding:

What is everyone opinion on bridal party. We haven't definitely decided on anything and I have only asked one person, my MOH.
so here is the deal. my DF is from England so....he doesn't know who will be able to make it and he hasn't know his friends here for long so he doesn't want them. so now i'm in the spot do I offer my friends? do I keep it uneven? I know I want my brother and my DF agreed. So chances are one person will come and hopefully be his BM. On my side I have a friend who I have know for YEARS and my MOH has already hinted that she will feel left out. We aren't extremely close anymore but I've known her for so long that I feel I need to. Also I was in my Sister-in-law's party so I also feel she should be in mine. I'm not very good at this clearly.

so we have one MOH and one groomsman.

opinions? Please?

I know how you feel about the whole bridal party thing, I currently have people in my party that would have felt left out if I didn't add them and my DF had more groomsmen on his side so in order to make the sides even I bit the bullet and allowed people to be in my party that I basically didn't want. I kinda regret this now because as the planning process begins to increase I know those people won't really be there for me and all they wanted was the title. If I could do it over again I would definitely just have who I really wanted even if the sides are uneven b/c in the end it's you and your DF's day and it should be the way you want it to be.

 

[MainStMandy]

We are also renting points for part of our honeymoon. We are staying in a Studio at the Boardwalk with a Boardwalk view for only $800 for 5 nights. We are using our free night for our last night (Poly).

DVC is a timeshare based on points. Each room cost $x per night depending on time of year, resort and size of room. Then owners will rent out their points if they aren't using them. My points were $12 per point (a bit high). So we get to stay at a fab resort for a much lower price!! BWV is my favorite resort!

 

[shippedtosea]

I know how you feel about the whole bridal party thing, I currently have people in my party that would have felt left out if I didn't add them and my DF had more groomsmen on his side so in order to make the sides even I bit the bullet and allowed people to be in my party that I basically didn't want. I kinda regret this now because as the planning process begins to increase I know those people won't really be there for me and all they wanted was the title. If I could do it over again I would definitely just have who I really wanted even if the sides are uneven b/c in the end it's you and your DF's day and it should be the way you want it to be.

thanks. At least i'm not alone in not knowing who to ask. I am afraid that the old friend won't really be there, she just wanted to hang with my MOH (who she considers HER best friend! why are girls so weird?) but since I started making plans for the wedding, my sister-in-law has been defending me and trying to be super helpful. Even talking about it with my mom and her mom when I wasn't even around. Which for her is extremely abnormal. she was the most annoying bride ever, and was weird when we got engaged. So it makes me feel better when considering her because she is caring about it without me asking. (and sort of offered herself saying she would be the best bridesmaid ever) i'm gonna stop babbling now.