Two Geeks and A 9/16 At-Home Disney-ish Wedding - We're married!

[DisneyFirefly]

I'm so in, Dana! I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

As a pastry chef, I'm kind of surprised you don't want more control of your cake...that would drive me NUTS! That said, you make a good point. If you have no expectations for what it will look like...you won't get disappointed. For me, if I didn't know what it looked like, I'd probably still "expect phenomenal" and get disappointed if it didn't meet that requirement of being amazing. So, I really admire that you can do that. So awesome!

And your engagement story is adorable. My DF was actually reading a story tonight about how couples who have really expensive engagement/wedding rings are more likely to divorce. That could be for any number of reasons...but I think the article was going for, "If the couple is putting material things above their happiness (i.e., getting themselves in to debt by buying really spendy wedding stuff, as opposed just focusing on loving each other). So, the fact that he just wanted to get married to you (and vice versa!) says so much. So, congratulations to you both for finding such a wonderful love.

Tiffiny

Hello! Honestly, neither can I

I think it's at least partially because I can't think of any particular design I want, and neither can DF. Disney's bakeries tend to do pretty good work for weddings, and if I'm working with them, I'd hopefully trust them enough to do my wedding cake I've seen some really awesome cakes from them when the couples don't ask for a specific design. I also know that as a decorator, I tend to have a little more fun with it when someone tells me that I have free reign over their cake.

I'm glad you like our engagement story I like it quite a lot It suits us. I showed DF your comment and he told me that he'd actually read an article similar to what you mentioned, so I wonder if it was the same one. In all truth, I'd be happy getting married to him at the courthouse if it was all we could do. We're planning for Disney, but we both know that there's always a possibility that we may not be able to do it. It's not about the expensive ring or the wedding as a status symbol for me. I just want to marry him, and if we have to do that with our friend officiating in our living room, then so be it.

Oh, and thank you Hope you enjoy reading along!

 

[franandaj]

Dana, it's taken me a while to catch up on your updates as we've been busy getting ready for PIO and family's arrival in a few days. Sounds like you have great plans. I just wanted to put one thing out there, I know you've mentioned several designer dress makers and I'm not sure if you have your heart set on a designer dress. I had my wedding dress custom made in China. Our wedding was a hasty deal. Marriage was only legal for a few months, so I had to pick my dress and order it quickly and it arrived in plenty of time for the wedding.

I'm not sure how well you can see the dress in this picture, it's very different than yours, but they have hundreds of patterns out there and I believe that it was only $300 with shipping.

And your engagement story is adorable. My DF was actually reading a story tonight about how couples who have really expensive engagement/wedding rings are more likely to divorce. That could be for any number of reasons...but I think the article was going for, "If the couple is putting material things above their happiness together, the love is superficial" (i.e., getting themselves in to debt by buying really spendy wedding stuff, as opposed just focusing on loving each other). So, the fact that he just wanted to get married to you (and vice versa!) says so much. So, congratulations to you both for finding such a wonderful love.

Tiffiny

I heard that same story on the news. Another aspect was that if they spent that much money on trying to make "everything just perfect", the couple would never be able to work things out in every day life and the challenges that most marriages face. I can say that my second marriage cost about half of what the first marriage cost, the rings on the other hand, were more.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Dana, it's taken me a while to catch up on your updates as we've been busy getting ready for PIO and family's arrival in a few days. Sounds like you have great plans. I just wanted to put one thing out there, I know you've mentioned several designer dress makers and I'm not sure if you have your heart set on a designer dress. I had my wedding dress custom made in China. Our wedding was a hasty deal. Marriage was only legal for a few months, so I had to pick my dress and order it quickly and it arrived in plenty of time for the wedding.

I'm not sure how well you can see the dress in this picture, it's very different than yours, but they have hundreds of patterns out there and I believe that it was only $300 with shipping.

Unfortunately, I can't see the pic at all I hope you guys have a great time when PIO and her family get there!

David's Bridal is very inexpensive, on average, and Alfred Angelo is essentially David's Bridal+, so it's slightly more expensive. The dresses I like from both of them are all under $1500 and AA doesn't charge extra for plus sizes, which is why I'd like to check them out. The AA one I really like is under $1000, and the Belle dress is the most expensive at about $1400-1500. If they don't work out, David's Bridal has one I like the look of that's only $500 (for a 26, anyway; I'm not sure how much a 28 would be, since that's "special order" ). I'm not looking for OMG DESIGNER (you know me, I'm not really into that kind of stuff), but I like those dresses and we'll see what happens. I can't fathom spending more than $1500 at the absolute most on a dress that I'll only wear one day. I'm just very hesitant to order something from overseas, since I've heard so many horror stories about them being completely wrong or never even arriving.

I heard that same story on the news. Another aspect was that if they spent that much money on trying to make "everything just perfect", the couple would never be able to work things out in every day life and the challenges that most marriages face. I can say that my second marriage cost about half of what the first marriage cost, the rings on the other hand, were more.

One of my friends at school asked me why we weren't looking at just doing the courthouse and then buying a house. I told her that we honestly don't know where we're going to be living in five years, so we don't want to go through the hassle of buying a home right now. We're going to try and keep it as close to our budget as we can. We don't want it to be "perfect", especially given that everyone's definition of "perfect" is very different.

 

[franandaj]

Unfortunately, I can't see the pic at all I hope you guys have a great time when PIO and her family get there!

That's because I'm an idiot and didn't paste the link here!

David's Bridal is very inexpensive, on average, and Alfred Angelo is essentially David's Bridal+, so it's slightly more expensive. The dresses I like from both of them are all under $1500 and AA doesn't charge extra for plus sizes, which is why I'd like to check them out. The AA one I really like is under $1000, and the Belle dress is the most expensive at about $1400-1500. If they don't work out, David's Bridal has one I like the look of that's only $500 (for a 26, anyway; I'm not sure how much a 28 would be, since that's "special order" ). I'm not looking for OMG DESIGNER (you know me, I'm not really into that kind of stuff), but I like those dresses and we'll see what happens. I can't fathom spending more than $1500 at the absolute most on a dress that I'll only wear one day. I'm just very hesitant to order something from overseas, since I've heard so many horror stories about them being completely wrong or never even arriving.

I didn't think you were a designer girl, but it wouldn't hurt to take a look at what you can have custom made from China. One of my DIS friends from England orders these outrageous dresses for her cruises and they are really affordable. Like us she is Pooh sized, and gets a beautiful dress every time.

One of my friends at school asked me why we weren't looking at just doing the courthouse and then buying a house. I told her that we honestly don't know where we're going to be living in five years, so we don't want to go through the hassle of buying a home right now. We're going to try and keep it as close to our budget as we can. We don't want it to be "perfect", especially given that everyone's definition of "perfect" is very different.

Yeah, after buying this house, as much as I love it, I really wonder, things are still going wrong and I'm not sure if everything will ever be "all fixed". Good thing we have some cash on hand. I don't even want to think about the last three to four days.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

That's because I'm an idiot and didn't paste the link here!

You look lovely

I didn't think you were a designer girl, but it wouldn't hurt to take a look at what you can have custom made from China. One of my DIS friends from England orders these outrageous dresses for her cruises and they are really affordable. Like us she is Pooh sized, and gets a beautiful dress every time.

We'll see what happens. I just don't want to take a risk with hundreds of dollars and have the dress never arrive or be completely wrong and I have no recourse for getting my money back. With a store in the area, I do.

Yeah, after buying this house, as much as I love it, I really wonder, things are still going wrong and I'm not sure if everything will ever be "all fixed". Good thing we have some cash on hand. I don't even want to think about the last three to four days.

No kidding I hope everything gets sorted out for you guys soon and that the house stabilizes.

 

[Serendipityblah]

Yay for starting early! Now you have plenty of time to make everything perfect.. and then change your mind and make it perfect again!

The tattoo removal is looking fantastic... just sad that it has to go

 

[franandaj]

You look lovely

Thanks, I just wanted to show you that it wasn't a shoddy looking dress.

We'll see what happens. I just don't want to take a risk with hundreds of dollars and have the dress never arrive or be completely wrong and I have no recourse for getting my money back. With a store in the area, I do.

Actually if you pay with PayPal they offer a guarantee. If you dont get it or it's not on time you can file a complaint and the buyer will have the funds taken out of their account until you say its resolved.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Thanks, I just wanted to show you that it wasn't a shoddy looking dress.

It's not Not my style, but it looks great on you!

Actually if you pay with PayPal they offer a guarantee. If you dont get it or it's not on time you can file a complaint and the buyer will have the funds taken out of their account until you say its resolved.

We'll see. I honestly don't think I'm going to go that route. I hate ordering clothes online to begin with, so I don't think I'd order my wedding dress online, custom or not. But we'll see. If it came down to it, I'd just find some cute little white dress at Torrid or something.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Yay for starting early! Now you have plenty of time to make everything perfect.. and then change your mind and make it perfect again!

The tattoo removal is looking fantastic... just sad that it has to go

Tell me about it Most of what we want has stayed pretty static since the subject of getting married first came up, so I'm not sure how much will change prior to booking it, beyond the things that we have no control over.

It's actually looking even better now than in that picture. I wish I didn't have to get rid of it, but such is life. Disney is literally my dream job, so I'm willing to get rid of the tattoo if it means I have a shot at it. Four more weeks and I'll (hopefully) know.

 

[franandaj]

It's not Not my style, but it looks great on you!



We'll see. I honestly don't think I'm going to go that route. I hate ordering clothes online to begin with, so I don't think I'd order my wedding dress online, custom or not. But we'll see. If it came down to it, I'd just find some cute little white dress at Torrid or something.

You being comfortable is the main thing. I was just letting you know that there are plenty of options to save some money. I hear about people spending thousands of dollars on wedding dresses, and you wear it once. Sometimes people can wear it again for the Vow Renewal but not often.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

You being comfortable is the main thing. I was just letting you know that there are plenty of options to save some money. I hear about people spending thousands of dollars on wedding dresses, and you wear it once. Sometimes people can wear it again for the Vow Renewal but not often.

Like I said, we'll see. I'm not intending at all to spend thousands on my dress. My mom graciously offered to pay for my dress, so I'm not spending more than $1500 at the absolute most, and that's only if I love the Belle or Cinderella dress. Aside from that, $1000 or under.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

More rambling

Online Shopping

I was home sick from work today, so I've been poking around online and such.

I need a new hoodie (my old Tron: Legacy one is falling apart and I don't always want to wear my pullover one), so I was wandering around on the Disney Store site and found one I like. In further wandering, I found myself in the Wedding subsection of the Disney Parks part of the site. DF was sitting next to me, so I was showing him things. We decided to get a picture frame that we both liked in case they stop carrying it by the time that we actually do get married.

This is the frame we ordered:

I'm not sure if we'd actually use this as a cake topper or just set it next to the cake, but we both really like this topper. I'm going to keep an eye on eBay and Lenox to see if I can ever find it cheaper.

Beauty and the Beast is kind of our movie, so we do want touches of it throughout the wedding. Someone in class asked me if that was our theme, which it isn't. The "theme" of our wedding is "us getting married".

I've seen some really cute "bride" stuff, but my main problem is that most of the companies that sell those things only go up to a 1X and sometimes a 2X. Based on the size charts that I've seen, those are also only about a 16 or 18. Maybe a 20. But never big enough for me. So if I want anything that says "bride" on it to wear, I'm likely going to have to make it myself. I found a couple of iron-on's that I like, but I'm going to wait to order them until I know for sure if we're doing Disney, since they say "Disney Bride".

I'm mostly just window shopping right now and bookmarking things for later. I have a few invitation shops saved, some DIY stuff, all sorts of random stuff that I want to look at later.

Characters

So... DF and I would both like to have characters come to the reception. The problem is that the characters he wants are most likely going to have major restrictions. He wants Belle and Beast. If I remember right, they have to have a backdrop which they cannot move from (I may be misinformed). If that's the case, I'd rather have other characters. One of the reasons I'm interested in having them is for the pictures with the cake and the dancing and all that. It sounds like the princesses are stuck at their post and can't leave.

I absolutely love Stitch and would be thrilled if we can have him at the wedding. I just asked DF who he'd want if Belle and Beast aren't an option and he said he didn't know. So we'll figure that out when we come to it.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

I changed the name of our PJ. The reason for this is that after doing a quick Google search, I found that this was the first listing with just searching for our names, the year, and "Disney wedding". So I changed the title of the PJ. It still describes us, as we are a couple of geeks. I would rather not chance having our family find this. So, name change.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Catching up!

Seems like you've done a bit of refining to your plans and your likes/dislikes. I'm looking forward to dessert!!!
Love your music choices.

Like I said, we'll see. I'm not intending at all to spend thousands on my dress. My mom graciously offered to pay for my dress, so I'm not spending more than $1500 at the absolute most, and that's only if I love the Belle or Cinderella dress. Aside from that, $1000 or under.

Hmmm. I think Alison should PM you the link to that Dis-ser's TR. You should take a look at her dresses that she orders from China. They really are something!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Catching up!

Seems like you've done a bit of refining to your plans and your likes/dislikes. I'm looking forward to dessert!!!
Love your music choices.

Hmmm. I think Alison should PM you the link to that Dis-ser's TR. You should take a look at her dresses that she orders from China. They really are something!

Of course you're looking forward to dessert And I'm glad you like our music choices We'll set things in stone once it's closer.

Honestly... I'm not ordering my dress from overseas. Plain and simple. I don't like ordering clothes online to begin with, but a hoodie or t-shirt is one thing. Heck, I've ordered clothes from one company in the same item number, same size, same color, and they arrived in two vastly different sizes. A wedding dress is too important to me, and there's no guarantee I'll get it in time to even make a complaint with PayPal if there's something wrong. Not to mention the idea that they might think my measurements were incorrect and "adjust" (I've had this happen before, since my bust is smaller than my stomach). Even my dad agrees that it's not necessarily a good idea, and you know how he is.

I've seen too many horror stories about ordering a dress from a seemingly reputable company and having it arrive with major problems or not arrive at all. If it didn't arrive on time, I'd have no recourse. If the company's page disappeared, I'd have no recourse. I'd rather buy my dress from a company here. Even if I have no other option, I'd rather just see if my mom can make something or look on a preowned dress site. So while I appreciate the repeated suggestion, can we please drop the subject of me ordering a dress from China? Because it's not going to happen.

 

[andeesings]

Why don't you look at David's Bridal, then?

They've got a great selection at all price points and sizes.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Why don't you look at David's Bridal, then?

They've got a great selection at all price points and sizes.

I'm going to. We're just going to Alfred Angelo first, since the dress I really love is from there. David's has a couple of dresses I think are pretty, but I'd prefer not to go there because of the way they tend to treat plus size women. The one they have that I think is really pretty (not sure how it'll look on) is fairly cheap. Not to mention that they tend to stop at a 26 and only maybe four dresses come in my street size (thankfully, my favorite of theirs is one of those). Anything else would have to be altered up. But I'm apparently borderline 26/28 at this point, according to the jeans I just bought that are fairly loose and can be taken off without unbuttoning them. So we'll figure it out.

 

[franandaj]

Good call on the change of the name. Sounds like planning is coming along at a good pace.

How long until the meeting with the Disney rep?

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Good call on the change of the name. Sounds like planning is coming along at a good pace.

How long until the meeting with the Disney rep?

I'd just prefer to avoid as much family drama as possible. And yeah, it's coming along as well as it can right now

We can't even be penciled in with them for another eight months or so, which means that we won't really be speaking with them until then. It'll happen soon enough

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Bridal Shows and OMG Moments

Today I went with Jacquie (my matron of honor) to one of those massive bridal shows you hear about. Beth (another bridesmaid) was supposed to come with us, but she had a pet crisis, so she couldn't make it. It was... interesting. It was also very overcrowded. Lots of pushy salespeople, a lot of "services" that I think are unnecessary (I'm sorry, but why is there a chiropractor at a bridal show?), and a lot of flyers and cards. We got some free stuff, mostly just samples of cake and the hotel that was hosting sampled some food, which was really good. I saw some really pretty cakes and a couple of others that had problems. I know they were just display cakes, but still. We also stayed for their fashion show thing, which was kind of silly. Most of the dresses looked very similar, but there was one... thing that was, like, a lace pantsuit and then Chewbacca's leg for a sleeve. It was really ridiculous.

There was one vendor from a tux place that was really giving me a hard sell. I was trying to get away from him and he kept blathering about how they were the best and blah blah blah. I kept telling him that the outfits for the guys are up to my fiance, but he wasn't hearing it. Thankfully, Jacquie pulled me away. I entered into a few contests to win a free engagement session, but I'm pretty sure nothing will come of them.

As we were waiting in line, though, we were talking about the trip we're taking to Indiana for me to try on wedding dresses. Which is next Sunday. It was one of those "Holy fudge, I'm really getting married" moments, except with a bit more vocabulary I can't put on the Dis. She said she might text DF while he's at work that day and tease him about the dresses I'm trying on. No pictures, though. It's also a bit odd to think this, but if we get the date we want, then two years from today, I'll be a married woman. It'll be our wedding night. That's really odd to realize that. But I can't wait

We also decided that sometime in February or early March, we're going to try and get the four of us together (the three local bridal party ladies and me) so that we can go look at dresses for them. If everything goes according to plan, I'll be in Orlando for my externship by early April, so I'd like to get this at least moving before then. We're just concerned about the holidays and all that, which is why we're putting it off. Everyone's schedule is just nuts right now. I interview with Disney two weeks from tomorrow. I have a mock interview on Tuesday with an advisor from career services at my school, to help me prepare for the real one.

My dad is now coming with to the dress appointment. So this is going to be interesting. I'm debating telling him to find a Gander Mountain or Bass Pro Shop or something and wander for two hours until it's over. Because we have to leave so early to get there, Jacquie and I are going to spend the night before at my parents' house and then Mike will be coming over and leaving his car there while my dad drives. I was originally planning on making crepes suzette for breakfast, but since my mom's not there, I won't, I'll just make french toast or something. My mom is currently in Indiana for work and will be until after we go there, so she'll just be meeting us either on the way or at the store. Which is also why my dad is coming. So that's going to be an interesting day.