Wishes Wedding in Wonderland 3/3/13 WP/WHR/Sago Cay- PS and Menu Tasting Update 9/15

[lyncecelia]

Just read your whole journal, and I love what I read so far! I'm sorry that your tasting had such small entrees, but it sounds like you enjoyed the experience nonetheless! I look forward to reading more!

 

[longwaybycarriage]

It was the Wonderland part that pulled me in! Probably my favourite wedding theme ever (if only Df agreed ). One of my chief bridesmaids is getting married next year and we're doing teapot centrepieces for her - we've seen them at a wedding show and they look so quirky and cool.

Oh, and the dress! You definitely made the right choice. It looks stunning (and I've been notoriously picky about dresses!).

Looking forward to seeing more.

 

[DFTWbride2013]

Everything looks great so far! Your dress is beautiful!

I also have Chrissy! Finally someone who shares a planner with me!

I actually have her a book of picture-inspiration as well...so here saying no one has before....

Thank you! I love my dress, can't wait to put it on when it gets in!

Hah, I thought she was lying but I don't know why she would! Thanks for confirming my suspicions. Those planners are so odd sometimes!

Lyndsay, aren't you on the Facebook group? I didn't know you had Chrissy! She's really sweet, isn't she?

Just read your whole journal, and I love what I read so far! I'm sorry that your tasting had such small entrees, but it sounds like you enjoyed the experience nonetheless! I look forward to reading more!

Thanks! The tasting was great, I'm very confident that my guests will not go hungry at our wedding. I really feel like whatever else we get, we can't go wrong even if we didn't taste it all ahead of time.

It was the Wonderland part that pulled me in! Probably my favourite wedding theme ever (if only Df agreed ). One of my chief bridesmaids is getting married next year and we're doing teapot centrepieces for her - we've seen them at a wedding show and they look so quirky and cool.

Oh, and the dress! You definitely made the right choice. It looks stunning (and I've been notoriously picky about dresses!).

Looking forward to seeing more.

Hi there! Yes, Wonderland has been such a fun theme to do. I'm so glad I decided on this after running through countless other themes that I got stuck on. Aww, be happy your DF has opinions! Wish I could get mine to! Yay for teapot centerpieces! I've seen them so many ways and I always love them, I'm sure hers will be great too!

Thank you! That dress was so fun to wear, I felt like shaking my backside in it!!

 

[DFTWbride2013]

I just have a little update today- about more dresses and my meeting with Shelley from Impressions. I'm going to start with my experience at David's Bridal because it's a big chain that I know a lot of brides end up going to.

So, even though I swore I would never go to David's Bridal after the terrible service one of my friends received there, they had a sale going on for bridesmaid dresses so I thought I'd drop in and take a look. I was trying to find something for engagement pictures and I didn't want to spend a lot on something I'd probably never wear again; that's the job of the wedding dress, right? So I go in, and this really nice lady greets me and takes my name and points me to where I'm supposed to go. She tells me someone will be there shortly to help me and to get me a room. I start looking at the clearance wall and I'm disgusted by the condition that these dresses are in. Rips, tears, some even stained. Unless you know how to sew (and I sure as hell don't) it would cost more money to fix one of these dresses enough to wear it anyway. So I start looking at their other dresses, and I have questions, and I need a room... It's been at least 15 minutes and this unknown lady that's supposed to help me still isn't around. Eventually I go back to the woman up front and she helps me and has to hunt down the consultant that was supposed to come greet me. I'd already seen this consultant pass right by me a few times and never said a damn word to me! Even now that she's being introduced to me, she barely says two words- I can already tell she's going to be no help. So after having a few of my questions answered by the woman up front, I start pulling my own dresses and trying them on. I find a couple that I like, but I had more questions. I hunt down my consultant, and she's helping this other woman look at tiaras. She sees me, doesn't acknowledge me, turns away and completely ignores me. All I wanted was an "I'll be with you in a moment" or something along those lines, but nope, I get nada.

So I'm furious, I'm about to leave... And this GORGEOUS wedding dress on a mannequin catches my eye. Instant love. I had to try it on. I asked the woman up front if I could try on a wedding dress, and she made me fill out this form and told me I'd have a different consultant for that. Hell yes, that's fine with me!! So I wait a few minutes, and I'm looking through the wedding dresses and I see this adorable tea length dress I'd seen on their site. I love it, but it didn't list it in my size so I never gave it a 2nd thought. It was even prettier in person. I check the size, and keep moving because I'd never fit into it. I get called up front to meet my new consultant. The difference was night and day! This woman was very sweet, very friendly and helpful. She even apologized for making me wait. I pointed out the dress I wanted to try, and she went and got it and helped me try it on. Oh my gosh!! I loved it, I knew I had to have it. I didn't take a picture of myself in it because I was alone and never even thought about it, but here's the picture from the website.

Of course, this picture doesn't do it justice. The fabric was so soft, there were sparkles but not TOO much. The one-shoulder strap sparkled too. It was the princess feeling I wanted for the ceremony that I didn't get out of my other dress. Okay, I'm sold. I don't think the consultant understood that though. I made the mistake of mentioning that I'm getting married at Disney. You might ask, "Stephanie, why would that be a mistake?" Well, let me tell you, everyone has a different interpretation of what a "princess" dress is. This consultant ran and started pulling these satin gowns with typical princess waistlines and obviously acrylic boning through the top of the dress... Oh boy, SO not my thing! I told her 3 times I don't like satin and I don't want satin and she pretty much forced me into 3 satin dresses that I just couldn't stand. After that, I think she finally got the hint. "I think that first one is your dress, you keep looking at it." Well no sh*t lady, I told you that when I had it on! (I'm so nice, aren't I? I was at my limit and beyond by this point)

Well, she was ready to go check me out, but I mentioned that I still hadn't gotten answers to my questions about the engagement dress. I told her about my other consultant's lack of interest so she ran right off to go find answers for me and help me out with that dress, too! We get that settled, she even pulled other dresses I the colors I was thinking of to help me decide on a color, and then we're finally done with that.

This is the dress and color I chose for engagement pictures at Grand Floridian and Animal Kingdom Lodge during Christmas time.

So now we're up at the register, going over payment options and all that, and she pulls open the bridal gown book to get the info she needs to order my dress. Do you remember the tea length dress I mentioned earlier? Well apparently it's by the same designer as this one-shoulder dress that I'm getting. So I point it out and whine a little about how I love that dress and I can't get it because it doesn't come in my size. She looks at it and said "Yes, I think it does. Would you like me to check?" So she looks, and they do have it in plus sizes! It's just a special order. So, of course, I ordered it and now I have my tea length gown for my rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, farewell breakfast, Victoria and Albert's, and whatever else I can squeeze it in for! I was so excited!

Here's a picture of the tea length dress.

I'm going to get a light pink crinoline to go under this one, too. I think it'll be adorable. Oh, and when I got home, I got back on the site and checked the page for the tea length dress to see if it mentioned plus sizes. I realize I'm an idiot because it's right there under the description with all the other print- Available as a special order in extended sizes. Oops! Well good thing I spoke up because I sure as hell can't read.

 

[DFTWbride2013]

The other, much smaller update I wanted to talk about was my meeting with Shelley from Impressions yesterday. Let me tell you, yesterday was not a good day! We got stuck in terrible traffic for two hours on our way over, because of an accident on I-4. So what would have normally been an hour and a half drive took us 3 and a half ours instead. Thankfully, Shelley was running late too because Disney put a surprise order on her yesterday for a wedding that was taking place today. So I was there at 3pm for our 1pm meeting and she was there at 3:30. LOL. Funny how things work, right?

Anyway, we met at Franck's. She had a big folder-purse thing (I'm so technical, aren't I? No idea what it's called) with a bunch of samples and she brought some Alice in Wonderland things she had. I'd already come to them with the basic invitation style I wanted, so we were there more to discuss papers, colors, and the smaller details. She took down all of my wedding information, how the events are being decorated, colors, all of that stuff. She asked if we were going more for formal and elegant, or fun invitations. I told her I wanted a cross between both. I do want the Cheshire cat somewhere and I want it to be a little fun, but not too cartoon-y. I want box invitations so we talked about the colors for the top and bottom of the box and the shimmer box vs matte. Printed ribbon vs plain ribbon. I also want a ribbon and buckle on the invitation itself, so we talked about buckle shapes and wider ribbon vs the more narrow ribbon. We talked about the different ink types, colors, wording, how many insert cards I would need, placement of the ribbon and the Cheshire Cat on the invitation, what kind of art he would be in, every detail. We also went over table signs because I know I definitely want to do those through them too. Oh, we're doing our framed table seating list through them also! It hadn't occurred to me before that that was even an option, and of course she said they could do it. One less thing for me to try to DIY with the spare time that I figured out I don't have. We also talked briefly about programs, but since I still have no idea what I want we didn't get into details on those yet. Shelley is not the person to go to for pricing though, she said herself that she's not the one that keeps track of it, so don't expect that from her! She took down notes to ask Amanda for any pricing questions I had. I did tell her I was trying to cut costs down a little from the list they'd sent me before, so she did try to make some suggestions but she doesn't know exact price differences or anything.

Oh, and I didn't really talk about it, so I definitely want to mention that Shelley herself is an absolute sweetheart! We did get off track a few times talking about other things, and I felt very at ease with her and I wasn't nervous at all. She was such a pleasure to talk to and I had a really great time. I definitely feel like I can go to both her and Amanda with questions and that I'll get thorough, friendly answers and they'll help me with whatever I need. I look forward to working with them more.

All in all, I think it was very productive and it was well worth the pain to get out there to have this meeting. The dole whip I went to have at the Poly afterwards didn't hurt either.

That's it for today, thanks to anyone who read!

 

[rphelps27]

Love hearing about your plans. We are getting married 4/4/13 and I can't believe how fast it is approaching. I plan on starting my PJ this weekend, I've been a slacker about it! Keep the info coming...