Mickey Head Pomander Tutorial

aka how not to create a Mickey pomander and how to fix it!

I've seen some beautiful pictures of Mickey Mouse pomanders (or kissing balls or flower balls as some people like to call them) on the Disney wedding boards and blogs. I wasn't crazy about any flower girl baskets that I saw and wanted to do something a little different. My wedding doesn't have a ton of Disney things (who am I kidding though, my Disney touches are growing by the day!), so I thought a hidden Mickey at my ceremony would be very cute.

I'll start by posting a picture of the finished product

The Wedding is REAL

It's been way too long since I posted. But...

The Save the Dates are in the mail!

The contract is signed and check is written!

My countdown is now in months and days instead of years!

We are actually doing this! We're getting married in Disney!

As soon as I get confirmation that our envelopes have started to arrive at their destinations, I will do a DIY post. Until next time, here is a picture of me registering over the weekend with Mr. Disney Groom. I hogged the scanner the whole time.

Beatles Bride

Mindy from Budget Fairy Tale shared a Beatles inspired wedding from Green Wedding Shoes on her Friday Favorites. I LOVE the Beatles and since our wedding has shifted to a more 60s themed bash, I'm loving all the inspiration.

Also, the bride's reception dress is one of my rehearsal dinner dress rejects. I still love the dress, so I'm hoping with some alterations it might make a good bridal shower dress. It photographs well!

I'm also extremely jealous of the Beatles cover band at their reception. I desperately wanted "The British Invasion" to play at ours until I found out that the fee was something crazy high like $10,000 for a few hours. I'm still bitter that they no longer play in Epcot and I don't know that I'll head over to watch the new band perform anytime soon. My live band dreams have flown out the window since we can't bring in outside entertainment vendors to our venue and all of Disney's bands start around $7,000. Ouch! I can live vicariously through this bride and her Beatles band though....and our DJ will be playing plenty of Beatles songs throughout the night!

My name is Miss Disney Bride and I have an addiction to buying dresses

I haven't gotten into my wedding dress shopping story yet, but since I literally spent hours trying to track down an elusive dress, I thought it was time to make a confession...I have a wee bit of a shopping problem.

Our rehearsal dinner is going to be epic. I might be more excited for it than the reception. Here is a sneak peak at our rehearsal dinner venue.

 

Photo from Disney Travel Babble 

Eeek! I lovveee it! So for such a fabulous venue I need an equally fabulous dress! I'm all about the white/ivory rehearsal dinner dress. No color for me! I'm going to wear as much white/ivory as I can at all wedding related events. 

The first dress I purchased was an impulse buy from Haute Look. I figured I could wear it to the RD or bachelorette party.

 

But when I got it that fluffy stuff on the shoulder was a little too distracting and the dress was more pink than white.

I then moved on to something a little more classy and romantic:

I loved this dress on the pictures of the models, but it just wasn't fitting me right. It was too long and too wide and the black ribbon at the waist was higher than my actual waist. Also, the lining on the dress was sheer and you could see even nude undergarments underneath it. I really, really wanted to love this dress. But I just didn't feel like I looked my best in it.

So I went from a demure dress, to something a little more flashy.

The dress was on backorder when I first ordered it, so I had to wait a few weeks before I got it in. This was another dress that I liked in theory. In real life...the waistband was too high and the bottom was too fluffy and made me look much larger than I am. I'd also be shedding feathers all night. Back to the store it goes.

I decided to change gears and maybe go for something flowy and ethereal...like J. Crew's Arabelle dress...until I found the dress.

You may have seen this wedding posted on Style Me Pretty.

So freakin cute! Image via Style Me Pretty

The down side? This dress is from several seasons ago a no longer available. Hence my several hour long search to find her. I checked every wedding classifieds site and used wedding dress site. I finally found one on ebay...2 sizes larger than what I normally wear. I decided to take a chance and order it, and will have it altered by a seamstress.

I hope I love it as much in person..because this one is not returnable!! 

Help Name the Budget Fairy Tale Mascot!

Fellow Disney bride Mindy is having a contest on her blog, Budget Fairy Tale, to find a name for her new mascot! Follow Mindy's blog and then leave a comment suggesting a name, and you'll be entered to win a custom caricature from Cameoland.

But hurry, the contest ends September 10!

Our engagement pictures!

I apologize (again!) for the lack of posts lately! I've been full of creative energy lately, and have been working on some fun stuff that has distracted me from sitting down and writing a blog post. I also got a new laptop and am having some trouble adjusting to the new keyboard. So, instead of racking my brain trying to think of the next wedding topic to tackle, I thought I'd just post some pretty pictures (and a vendor review!).

While most people do engagement pictures because they are included in their wedding package, I wanted to do them to:
1. Get a feel for our potential wedding photographers
2. Have some pretty pictures to hang around our house, add to my board signatures, put on our save the dates, use on Facebook, etc.
3. Have an excuse to take a trip to Disney after our Disney cruise on the Dream back in February 2011.

We were still over a year and a half from our wedding date, and couldn't even book a photographer yet. I knew from eons of planning that I was drawn to the style of two different photographers: Root Photography and Studio222 Photography. We ended up booking Studio222 for our engagement photos. Why, you ask? The pricing was similar, I liked work from both of them equally, but my gut told me to go with Studio222. I think the result speaks for itself.

More on our engagement photography experience in the next post!

All pictures were taken by the lovely, talented, and cool Studio222 Photography.

Themes, colors, and inspiration boards...oh my!

As you can probably tell from my post about selecting a venue, I had a lot of ideas about how I envisioned my wedding. I also love making inspiration boards, so in today's post, prepare to take  journey through the various incarnations of my wedding "theme" and colors.

Before getting engaged, I was convinced I was going to have some sort of Christmas theme. Think centerpieces with mountains of ornaments. Not cheesy...classy and glitzy. I went to a friend's work holiday party at the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in NYC (probably the nicest event I've ever been to in my life) and it had the most beautiful decorations ever! So this appears to be the only picture evidence I have:

Since the site visit...a primer on DFTW timelines and a lament on a lengthy engagement

Source

So since we met with DFTW and toured our venues in way back in November 2010, I bet you're thinking: "You're so ahead of the game! You probably already have your venues booked and contracts signed!" Not exactly. As a matter of fact, other than my monthly emails to check in with Joe to make sure that no one else requested our venues on our date, there was zero progress with DFTW from November 2010 until July 2011. The DFTW booking timeline for Wishes weddings goes something like this:

"Improved" Disney Honeymoon Registry?

I just got an email from the Disney Honeymoon Registry letting me know that they had some "exciting news" about some "enhancements." Now, I know what you're thinking...why all the quotes? Well, in the year that I've been a future Disney bride and in the several years that I've been in tune with the Disney bride community, I've seen several "enhancements" come through.

The one that comes to mind first is the switch from Disney wedding websites to the Facebook app. From what I've gathered, the app is difficult to use, not easy to access, and most brides end up making their own websites and having their guests call to make reservations through their room block. There was also a switch from printed and mailed Save the Dates, to email Save the Dates. Save the Date etiquette is not as strict as the "rules" for invitations, but I'm partial to my guests receiving good, old-fashioned snail mail.

Our Site Visit - Part 2

Even though we were still about 2 years out when I went for my site visit with DFTW, I never for a second felt like our consultant, Joe, was bothered by it. I know there are some people who plan a wedding in a year or less, and the average engagement length seems to fall around 15 to 18 months, but this just wasn't going to work for us.

We arrived at Franck's early in the morning and took a look around the inside. It was empty except for another couple who came in shortly after us, however the lady behind the front counter told us we couldn't sit anywhere because all of the spaces were booked for meetings (meetings consisting of invisible people at that point I guess). The poor couple in there made the mistake of trying to sit down, and were promptly told that they couldn't.

Our Site Visit - Part 1

Did I mention that all that hemming and hawing over venue selection was done from thousands of miles away and based entirely off pictures I found on the internet? Sure, I had seen Sea Breeze Point in person before, but had never actually stepped foot inside of it or our newly chosen reception venue. The last time we were in Disney, I also wasn't scoping out the in-park locations as potential rehearsal dinner or welcome party event spaces.

To my amazement, shortly after getting engaged and choosing Disney as our wedding site, my parents proposed taking a trip there to meet with the Disney Fairy Tale Weddings (referred to as DFTW from here on out) team and to do a site visit of our venues! Well sign me up! I'll take any excuse to go to Disney. The fact that this trip would fall during the Epcot Food & Wine Festival made it an even sweeter deal.

Worst Wedding Blogger EVER

Wow! So what am I averaging here, a post every three months? I need to get my behind in gear over here! Considering how much time I spend thinking about my wedding, you'd think that I could take a few minutes to write a blog post once a week. So that is my new goal - one post a week. If I ever get any readers maybe there will be someone to hold me to it!

Now where did we leave off...

Disney Wedding Myths - Debunked!

Well I know it's been awhile...leave it to me to start a wedding blog and then get slammed with work and illnesses. But I'm back and ready for another installment! I know I promised to take you on a tour of our sites and how we decided upon them, but first, I want to clear up a few things about a Disney wedding.

I spend a lot of my free time on wedding websites and boards. All in all, I read 3 Disney Wedding boards and 2 non-Disney Wedding boards. Occasionally, someone interested in a Disney wedding asks a question on a non-Disney Wedding board and the responses are...varied. I've found that a lot of people seem to think they know a lot about having a Disney wedding, but mostly their opinions are slightly off base. Here are some of the top Disney Wedding Myths - debunked!

But first, a little background. Disney World has four wedding "categories." Couture, Wishes, Escape, and Memories. Couture weddings are the most expensive as they require you to buy a very pricey decor package. Wishes weddings are kind of a custom built package - you choose your venues and all the other elements of your day. They are completely custom. Escape and Memories weddings are set packages - with only a handful of venue options, several included elements (floral, transportation, music, photography, etc), and strict guest limits (18 for Escape, 4 for Memories). You can add a reception or catered event to an Escape/Memories package - but it may trigger a higher minimum expenditure.

Now...on to the myths...

"You have to spend at least $20,000/$30,000 dollars to have a Disney wedding."
 Disney's pricing structure is a little different than other wedding venues - so there is understandably some confusion. For a Wishes wedding, each day of the week (and time of day) has a certain minimum expenditure. A minimum expenditure simply means that everything that you buy for your day (from Disney) must add up to at least that amount, exclusive of tax and service fees. For Wishes weddings, minimum expenditures range from $10,000 (a weekday, morning wedding) to $20,000 (a Saturday evening wedding). Escape weddings are inclusive and range from $4,750 to $6,200. A reception is not included in the pricing. If you decide to add on a custom catered event, your minimum is bumped to $7,500 (which basically means you have to spend the price different on venue rental fees, food, beverage and decor). Memories weddings are $1,991.

"You can only book your event 8 months in advance."
Disney changed its booking requirements in 2010. Wishes events can be tentatively confirmed 16 months in advance (no other brides can take your date or location). You can sign a contract and send in a deposit at 12 months. Escape weddings can be tentatively confirmed at 12 months and a contract can be signed at 8 months. Memories weddings can be booked at 6 months. I cringed when I read a response telling someone interested in a Wishes wedding that they couldn't book until 8 months - they would have been 8 months late! Now I will admit that I wish this process could start earlier. Many wedding venues outside of Disney take bookings 2 years in advance and it is very nerve-wracking to have to "wait and see" what happens.

"There is no flexibility...you will get a cookie cutter wedding."
Disney has a floral department, several bakeries, and a myriad of venue options. They can do anything you want - although they do have pictures of past work for those of us who need some inspiration. By no means do you have to stick with the samples - they love to do custom work! 

Regarding a Magic Kingdom bridal session: "They must be rich!"
 While a theme park bridal session isn't necessarily cheap - it certainly is quite affordable for most brides. In 2011, a Magic Kingdom bridal portrait session (only available to Disney brides), is $1,100.

"They only let you use a few of the ballrooms for your reception."
Disney's reception venues don't include just convention center ballrooms. They have dozens of in-park and "specialty" venues. You can also have your reception in some of Disney's finest restaurants, including the California Grill, Jiko, Narcoossees, and the Brown Derby.

Q: You're Engaged! What are you going to do next?

A: I'm going to Disney World!

 (Personal photo)

We didn't actually go to Disney World after we got engaged. We didn't become engaged there either (I'll post our engagement story in another post). But no one was surprised to find out that we were going to be getting married in Disney World. I'm a Disney World fanatic after all. And Mr. Disney Groom (bless his heart) plays into my obsession/hobby because he knows it makes me happy.

To be honest, we didn't really sit down and discuss our wedding destination options after we became engaged.  We didn't even attempt to research any venues or costs up here in New Jersey. My hubby-to-be knew going into this engagement that a Disney wedding was in the cards. Ever since I found out you could get married in Disney - I knew I had to do it. I'm ashamed that as a lifelong Disney fan I hadn't done research into a Disney wedding until a year into my relationship with Mr. DG (Disney Groom). I like to think that I just couldn't ever imagine myself marrying anyone until we met (aww). Disney wedding research became kind of a closet hobby of mine for a year and half or so, until we got engaged and I came out of the Disney Wedding planning closet.

The When and Where
Since we knew it would be in Disney - now it was time to figure out when and where exactly this shindig would go down. We got engaged in July 2010, and I initially was hoping for a November 2011 wedding. November is a great time in Disney - the Epcot Food and Wine Festival is wrapping up, the Christmas decorations are going up, the crowds are low in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, and the weather is divine (not too hot and hurricane season is over). Unfortunately, reality caught up with us, and we knew we needed more time to save for the wedding we really wanted. Go big or go home! That brought us to 2012.

(Source)

February was another option, that is until Mr. DG's Dad (who is a self-employed accountant) said he could not travel during tax season. January through April were out.  I don't fare well in the heat - so June through September were out. That left May, October, November, or December. Since I had my heart set on November, I figured waiting a few more months into 2012 wouldn't be a big deal, right? Famous last words.


Coming up next: Venue selection and site visit!

Let's get this show on the road!

Before I delve into my wedding plans and random babbling about pretty things, let's start with an introduction, shall we?

You can call me Miss Disney Bride. I will be marrying Mr. Disney Groom next November (yes, 2012 - not 2011) at the Walt Disney World resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. With more than 20 months to go until the big "I do," I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here talking about wedding plans that will surely change over the course of the next year and a half (plus). Aside from being Type A, I also have an incurable need to share my wedding plans with as many wedding lovers as possible. I can't help it - I just love planning this shindig!

And I have more done that most people do at 12 months out. Namely:

• I bought a dress and shoes
• I picked our venues
• I picked a color scheme
• I designed our Save the Dates and a rough draft of our invitations
• I designed and ordered our welcome bags
• I bought our toasting flutes
• I DIY-ed our cake topper
• I DIY-ed a wine box for the ceremony
• I started buying my bridesmaids' gifts
• On that subject, I already asked my bridal party using (you guessed it) DIY-ed cards
• I did a site visit of our venues
• I scoured sample menus and picked our top contendors
• I found our photographers and put a hold on our date
• I took engagement pictures with Mr. Disney Groom with said photographers
• I picked out (and put on layaway) my wedding ring
• I designed and launched a robust wedding website
• I designed and mailed our first wedding newsletter

So basically, I'm way ahead of the game here people. I'm also in a holding pattern until this summer when I can actually confirm our date with Disney. How will I fill the time you ask? By gushing about all of the above (and more) via this blog.

Welcome!