Jess & Ben's Wishes Wedding 11/18/14 Sea Breeze Point/Backstage Prop Shop

[edeneye]

Yes they are indeed! In fact, I think October 26th is when we're arriving in the US so we're both counting down to that day being the start of our journey! And yes, Jess has indeed put a lot of thought into her bridesmaid dresses - in fact she has them already! When we go to the parks, Jess has a dress that receives a lot of compliments for reasons that'll become very apparent when you see it. Basically, the Bridesmaids will be wearing a version of the same dress


3/3 Caballeros agree, dress muy bueno

And do excuse my slowness, was a busy weekend! Not wedding planning mind you, it is my Pop's 82nd birthday on Tuesday so I made the drive up and back to see him on Saturday. Though thanks to the magic of the internet, we have indeed got some wedding things done. Photographers are official now, our agreement is signed and deposit paid - Nathan & Jensey Root are our photographers and we couldn't be more excited. I asked them for vendor recommendations and they were kind enough to get straight back to me with that and they mentioned a name I'd already seen a lot; Patricia LaJeune. And so after a few emails and a good look at their previous work, Jess' hair & makeup has since been confirmed!

No word yet from our Wedding Planner but I'm not at all surprised, with Valentine's Day having just passed I'm sure DFTW are very busy at the moment! Plus we're still 9 months out so there's not a lot we can confirm with Disney for some time yet. Except our rooms of course! Our guests are starting to book, everyone I've spoken to is looking at staying for roughly 10 days so we should be able to have a great time with them leading up to the wedding, I'm so excited about greeting some of them as they arrive on the Magical Express & welcoming them to the Happiest Place on Earth.

 

[KristiLyn]

EEk I love the glittery converse! I'm wearing the glittery vans for mine. No walking around in heels for me

And I love the color scheme! I'm so jealous you've found yours. I'm still going back and forth with mine. And how cute is that dress?? Her bridesmaids are going to be adorable!

I've heard great things about Patricia LaJeune. I almost went with her too. Jess is going to be beautiful!

 

[edeneye]

Nice! I find Vans more comfortable but Cons was always in Jess' vision. Or at least they were necessitated as - as you can see in the picture - I'm shorter than Jess! Put Jess in heels and I'd need platforms the likes of which would make Gene Simmons get vertigo. Besides, a couple of weeks at Disney is rough on your feet and the wedding day is a long one - may as well be comfy!

Tonight I emailed DFTW to enquire about the DHS portrait session as we have confirmed that we're not using them for the ceremony. Hopefully a date after our wedding is available, we'll do one before if neccessary but I'd really prefer not to see the dress before the ceremony! And if we were gonna do a first look, obviously having it the same day is kinda ideal. So hopefully we get some good news, it's complicated a little by the fact that we leave pretty shortly after the wedding. In fact, for today I may as well expand a little on our timeline!

Due to the fact that I work in retail (think Best Buy if you can, their CEO was just visiting my store this time last week), December is basically a no-leave zone. We always intended to go on the old tradition of a month-long honeymoon (and for those interested, yes the engagement ring did cost two months salary - I'm old fashioned like that) and the timing of the year means a lot of our honeymoon will be before the big day.

So! We arrive in the US on October 26 and spend a few days in LA, then off to Anaheim to visit you-know-who! I've never been to Disneyland before - Jess has numerous times - so that's exciting! We're hoping to stay 4 nights at the Grand Californian and then we're renting a convertible and driving out to Las Vegas for three days. From there we'll fly via Dallas to Orlando, hopefully just in time for the Wine & Dine Half. Our guests will start arriving around the 9th-12th and from there we have a few activities we want to do. Firstly, there'll be some sort of bachelor/bachelorette parties on the same night but different locations, a welcome dinner at Planet Hollywood (Jess & I love that! Was the first and last place we went last trip) and we'll go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party as a group too. The Christmas theming and decorations is a large part of why we chose November, we've never visited during that time of year and have often heard it's the most magical.

There'll be smaller excursions around town and the parks but those are the main activities we'll involve our whole group in. The wedding is Nov 18, we'll have a Crystal Palace farewell lunch the following day and then on Nov 21 we're off on a 3 night Disney Cruise! Disneyland, Disney World, Disney Cruise! We're hoping that we'll have finally packed so much Disney into one trip that we wont be sad coming home for once (but we know we will).

 

[TiffinyKaye]

Oh Ben--I am in love with this PJ, and especially that it's being written by a dude! An AUSTRALIAN DUDE!

Congrats on everything, thus far. Your engagement story is adorable, and I can't wait to see what's ahead.

As for the Roots--CONGRATULATIONS. I love their work too. We've had them booked since the beginning of January because we LOVE them. My fiance and I would agree with you that they are genuinely and sincerely lovely to work with, even thus far.

Let me tell you--I SHARE your fear on the castle pictures. Like your fiancee, the castle pictures are, by far, the big thing that I wanted in my Disney wedding. The 45-day thing was so...compelling...that I ALMOST picked Disney Fine Art Photography. ALMOST. After watching the back and forth on so many of these threads though...and seeing only a handful of GOOD Disney photographs (usually, it's Cricket who's work has been consistently good)...we ultimately decided to go with the Roots as well. It was a scary, scary decision, but this is how we came to it:

1. We're spending so much money to get married in Disney. Do we want to spend money on photographers who will make our entire ceremony look GREAT, or go with Disney who might mess up our ceremony AND MK photo session? Ultimately, we went with the fact that we at least wanted a guarantee on how our ceremony/reception photos would look.

2. The MK photo shoot is something that you're not locked into on that 45-day timeline from the ceremony. Talk to your planner. I'm not sure what kind of flexibility you have living in Australia...but you can actually go do your MK photo shoot up to ONE YEAR following your wedding! It doesn't expressly say it in your contract, but my Disney planner confirmed it. So...if you think there's any chance you guys could go back within a year from your November ceremony...I think you should. My fiance and I are getting married 12/08/14, and we'll definitely be going back within the year to get our photos. We COULD do them in December...but we're worried about the lighting at that time of year.

Can't wait to continue to watch your planning journal! I'm excited!

Tiffiny

 

[edeneye]

We had a very similar thought process with choosing the Roots! For a couple of days, Jess wished I hadn't showed her their blog so she didn't know what she would be missing if we'd just gone with DFA for the photos so we could book the portrait session. But we figured knowing already that our photos are gonna be exactly what we want is worth risking losing that portrait session, especially when if it were to rain or they decide to add more block out dates, is never 100% for sure. And may not even turn out any good! We also broke down the photo packages and took it down to an hourly rate which for the length of our day actually brought the Roots surprisingly close to being in line with what Disney were offering, still a little more but the guarantee of quality is worth it.

And besides, like you said hopefully we can get back and do the portraits later! Two of our guests are actually going to have their own Disney Wedding in 2015 (provided the new pricing structure doesn't scare them off) so we may very well be back within the 12 months. From the info I've got so far, it's for the best that you're returning for yours too since you'd be running into the final days of a block out period for park shoots anyhow and then a mad rush of people wanting to get theirs in after being unavailable for a couple of weeks prior. I'm told Sept-Dec is a pretty tricky time to book MK shoots, there's just so much going on between Halloween, Christmas & New Year.

Oh & the briefest of updates (relatively, since I evidently don't do 'brief') - I heard back from our wedding planner. This represents our first actual contact with her thus far and was simply a short acknowledgement of the email I'd sent. I already know the story, they can't really confirm anything until 6 months out at the earliest so the planners are stuck in a very non-committal holding pattern until then. I'm glad to know though that she has read it and that she understands us a little more now and where we're coming from. I do miss our Sales Consultant though, she's been so wonderful to deal with! I intend to put together a gift basket of Australian goodies for her (and my planner, if she's lucky!) to show our gratitude as, as far as I'm aware, Sales Consultants aren't allowed to accept tips. Plus we'd prefer something a little more unique.

Since I mentioned it, a final fun fact - if there's one thing my guests are most scared about, it's not the TSA, it's not Customs, not being in a foreign country with a foreign currency, sales tax, driving on the other side of the road or using the imperial system. It's tipping. All of the above are minor adjustments we can make to something we're already accustomed to, but tipping practically doesn't exist here! I've briefed many of them on it already but expect I'll need to refresh basically all of them shortly before we go.

 

[elphie101]

Aaaaaaaaaaand now I'm all caught up! Yay for sharing vendors! I'm super excited about Patricia's work (I've never read a single bad review for her!), and the Roots are, of course the Roots. Not only is their work amazing, but they seem like the nicest people on the planet!

I love your Converse in your wedding party - I'm a Converse lover myself, but DF would never have agreed to that! Mickey's colors look fantastic together, of course.

I'm envious of your honeymoon! So much Disney, so much time.......so jealous!

 

[Aschenputtel]

It's so strange to tip in the US… during DF's and my first time in the US (we're from Germany, by the way) we met an Australian couple on a trip to Niagara Falls and shared our travel experiences - we all came soon to the conclusion that tipping was the most confusing thing for all of us - so I totally understand your and your guests worries!!!
And congrats on getting Patricia! I'm already keen on seeing your photos!

 

[jennytablina]

Just popping in to say I'm really enjoying this planning journal! You sound so super keen about your wedding and that's making me excited for it too even though I don't know you guys at all lol.

I'm in a slightly similar situation, we've got quite a long time before we can seriously start anything. I live in the UK and he lives in the US, we're in for a long engagement, but it's no debate for us. WDW is where we met in person first time, and we want to book end it with a wedding there too!

It's really interesting for us to hear the process your dealing with, and how easy it is sorting stuff despite being quite far away from WDW! Subbed to the thread, excited to see how the rest of your journey goes : )

 

[edeneye]

Well after a few quiet days, there's more progress! Firstly, Jess has asked her first preference Officiant if he would be interested in marrying us and he is very happy to. He's from a couple of bands that she loves (and I don't mind - Coal Chamber & DevilDriver) and, by happy coincidence is ordained (we had no idea). It's currently pending his touring schedule but hopefully he'll get in touch a little later on to confirm. Then we'll go over the many details about how long, how much, the logistics of it all etc and see if it's all feasible but it's a start.

Also I've heard back from Disney Fine Art about dates we can currently book for a shoot at Hollywood Studios (and also what dates are currently available for MK, that we can't book). So now we're stuck on that a little. We get married on the 18th and leave on the 21st. We can have the 19th, 20th or 21st (or before if necessary). Jess rules the 19th out completely, she doesn't anticipate being very active the morning after! Lots of dancing and celebrating on her mind, not early mornings and more makeup/hair calls. So that leaves the 20th and 21st. The 21st has an MK booking currently available too, and if possible we'd consider doing both, Jess especially is really hanging on to doing both. However that is the day we set sail on our Disney Cruise and leaves no margin for error. If it rains that day, we have no backup. That's pretty much the best option though as we see it, we might hopefully get back in the relatively near future if all else fails but I'm thinking we'll cross our fingers and book the 21st. Then we'll look rather glamorous boarding the ship, too!

Last, but certainly not least, we have wedding bands chosen. I haven't yet seen Jess' as she did this all yesterday but I'll share them when I can. One unexpected complication when I bought Jess' engagement ring back in 2012 was that if it's platinum (it is), it's gonna be very rough on any band placed next to it that isn't. And then, if Jess' band is platinum and mine is silver - they're gonna look and behave pretty differently. So that whole exercise got a lot pricier! The quality and less need for upkeep on them will be worth it though, Jess' is a platinum band with diamonds that will be shaped to incorporate her engagement band so they sit neatly together and mine will be a two-toned palladium band. Priced at $3500 (which would've got us both to Disney and back!) but that's one thing taken care of!

Aaaaaaaaaaand now I'm all caught up! Yay for sharing vendors! I'm super excited about Patricia's work (I've never read a single bad review for her!), and the Roots are, of course the Roots. Not only is their work amazing, but they seem like the nicest people on the planet!

Ahh I know, right?! We've not only gained photographers but it's like we've got these awesome new friends too. That marriage of their work and their demeanour is why I had to make sure Jess took a look at them. We probably would've given the wrong photographer a pretty hard time or we would've been quietly stressed about them all day but with the Roots I'm really happy to just let them do their thing and have fun with it. We're already so at ease with them and that'll show.

It's so strange to tip in the US… during DF's and my first time in the US (we're from Germany, by the way) we met an Australian couple on a trip to Niagara Falls and shared our travel experiences - we all came soon to the conclusion that tipping was the most confusing thing for all of us - so I totally understand your and your guests worries!!!

haha It's so confusing! And not just how much, but who to tip! Every time we tip anyone, the first thing we do once they're out of earshot is ask each other if we just did that right - as if either of us knows by now. That's one good thing about WDW and touristy places like that, at least on your food bill they run through it for you and make suggestions so we're used to that but still totally all at sea when it comes to drivers, valets, housekeeping, bar staff and so on. Housekeeping is one we really notice at WDW too, we forgot for the first few days of our first trip and as soon as we realised we started getting our hand towels folded into little animals and other fun little touches.

Oh & sales tax, that gets us every time. We have a flat 10% here in Australia but while it's an easy calculation, it's always built in to the price that is advertised. Actually, we're confused by money in general. The amount of lines we've held up while we're counting our pennies trying to figure out how much we have...!

Just popping in to say I'm really enjoying this planning journal! You sound so super keen about your wedding and that's making me excited for it too even though I don't know you guys at all lol.

I'm in a slightly similar situation, we've got quite a long time before we can seriously start anything. I live in the UK and he lives in the US, we're in for a long engagement, but it's no debate for us. WDW is where we met in person first time, and we want to book end it with a wedding there too!

It's really interesting for us to hear the process your dealing with, and how easy it is sorting stuff despite being quite far away from WDW! Subbed to the thread, excited to see how the rest of your journey goes : )

Wow, that's some serious distance! Not just between you and WDW but you and your partner! Dealing with Disney has been the easy part, we just fire off loads of emails every time we have questions or something we need to add and that works out fine. I wish Jess & I could be together more often though to discuss everything as it comes up but we're definitely getting by alright with Skype and forwarding emails and ideas we have. It's not the ideal scenario but it's certainly quite manageable thanks to the wonders of the internet!

So nice to hear from you all!

 

[KristiLyn]

I vote for glamorous on the cruise! We are doing a HS shoot and I just emailed my planner today about adding the MK shoot. Now that my heart is set on it, I'm not sure I can handle a "NO" haha!
I bought bride and groom shirts to wear, as well as just married shirts to wear while I look glamorous for the day. That way I don't get funny looks. Like, "why is this crazy person all dressed up to come watch the fireworks?"
My hair and makeup person is coming to my room at 3:30 a.m., so the thought of waking up that early again for another shoot makes me cringe, but totally worth it!

 

[Aschenputtel]

DF and I are just like you and Jess - we tip and then turn to each other and ask if this was the right person/amount/etc . In Germany tax is also included in the advertised prices, so we don't have to calculate at all! Funny that though we're from different sides of the globe, we share the same experiences.

Great to hear that you're happy so far with the Roots! I'm eager to hear more!

As for the bridal portrait sessions - I totally understand your bride not wanting to get up that early the day after and I think it would make a wonderful farewell to WDW when you have it on the day of your departure! You will be the most glamorous couple to enter the ship (and who can say no to a little extra attention on their honeymoon?).

I also have a platinum engagement ring and thought about that you can't go with silver or something similar next to it - palladium (at least for one of the bands) seems like a great option!

 

[lydianne]

Hey Ben! Sorry if you posted about guys clothes already but I am shopping for bow-ties for guys and I saw these and thought of you and Jess!

I know you are doing the red/black/yellow colors and I thought these were so adorable [=

 

[edeneye]

It's so strange, there was such a flurry of activity December through mid-Feb and now there's not a whole lot happening! We're currently sitting in the waiting period between contract and BEO so it's just research, research, research! I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say it but you really can't overstate how amazing the Disney Weddings & Honeymoons Passporter and Podcasts are. I wouldn't even know what a BEO was yet without those, nor would I be here. I'd be an enthusiastic, but clueless, Groom-to-be driving my Bride crazy with indecision. Both times we've been to WDW I've felt like we're at a disadvantage in that we come so far and for such a limited time and with so little knowledge that there's so many treasures that we aren't able to discover without experienced help and it seems like that's tenfold with weddings because the scope is just incredible.

But I suppose one thing did happen recently - we lucked out on the Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend! We booked our stay at WDW to begin on the 5th of November, hoping based on last year that it would fall that following weekend. Sure enough, it has now gone on sale and the dates are right where we want them. We're also well into training for that, we've been seeing a personal trainer who has given us both programs that should help us tackle that event in a big way. For the moment though I can't wait until inclined treadmill is behind me. Massive added bonuses though; we'll be in shape for the big day, we'll feel great and we'll be able to make the most of our park days without needing to stop and rest so much. Or at least in theory - in reality I'll probably eat my weight in Mickey Waffles most mornings and then spend the rest of the day wanting to lie down.

I bought bride and groom shirts to wear, as well as just married shirts to wear while I look glamorous for the day. That way I don't get funny looks. Like, "why is this crazy person all dressed up to come watch the fireworks?"
My hair and makeup person is coming to my room at 3:30 a.m., so the thought of waking up that early again for another shoot makes me cringe, but totally worth it!

Very good thinking! Disney is such a wonderful place when cast members and even complete strangers are in on your celebration. It really adds to the magic. If I was doing something at home it might feel strange venturing out halfway done up as if for a wedding but Disney has such a special aura where it's like everyone there is celebrating something. People wearing pins, special hats, even medals from the Run Disney events, it's like this great communal party.

And ohhh yeah, 3:30am makeup/hair sounds rough but you're right, it will be so worth it when everything comes together and - particularly with the dress you chose - you'll be a real live Disney Princess. Jess & I will be staying in different resorts the night before our wedding so that's one early call I'll miss out on!

As for the bridal portrait sessions - I totally understand your bride not wanting to get up that early the day after and I think it would make a wonderful farewell to WDW when you have it on the day of your departure! You will be the most glamorous couple to enter the ship (and who can say no to a little extra attention on their honeymoon?).

I also have a platinum engagement ring and thought about that you can't go with silver or something similar next to it - palladium (at least for one of the bands) seems like a great option!

It will be such a nice way to farewell the parks! We're so sappy, the departure day always brings a tear so it'll be nice to have a wonderful experience to look forward to and enjoy. Usually we end up at Downtown Disney on our last day because we've used up all of our park days by then and we wave sadly as we pass the parks for the last time, but hopefully not when we've got a Disney Cruise still to come! And yes, I'm so glad palladium is a nice available option. It means my ring will require a little bit more care than Jess' platinum set but I can still closely match her without totally breaking the bank! For a while we were looking at the ring collections the Japanese Disney Store sells but we've met a few jewelers here and the customisation we'll have is important.

Hey Ben! Sorry if you posted about guys clothes already but I am shopping for bow-ties for guys and I saw these and thought of you and Jess!

That's so wonderful of you to think of us, Lydia! I really appreciate it, I'll definitely pass that on! We've put together a lot of the guys' suits so far but we haven't got around to bow ties yet. We've talked a little about it but trying to decide which colour or style to try and match and who should wear what keeps getting us stuck, that gives us a little bit of all of them and I think Mickey will be very impressed when he arrives for the reception. I saw in your post about the bow ties you mentioned they may be a little whimsical - that's one of our key words! We definitely want the real, formal wedding feel but we're always looking for touches of whimsy. Especially when one of our venues is the Prop Shop!

 

[elphie101]

Hooray for the Wine and Dine Half!! We're just missing the ToT 10-miler, which I'm pretty bummed about (it's the weekend before ours). I would LOVE to do the W&D someday though (because it's an excuse to go to Food and Wine of course!)

I feel like I'm in a perpetual state of having nothing to do but thinking that I'm forgetting a ton of things - I'm glad I'm not alone in this!

 

[edeneye]

Oh no! We've seen the ToT 10-miler too and it looks like so much fun with all the Villains out and everything! At least you've got Expedition Everest soon, we did that last year and it was great. It was also a novelty to have an event use a measure of distance that we can actually grasp, I've got no comprehension of how long 10 miles is but I know all about 5k!

Not much happening at the moment, that's a running theme! We have confirmed a couple of things though. Firstly, our Hollywood Studios portrait session is booked in for the 21st (the day we leave for our Disney Cruise). When we hit that magical 45-day mark we'll inquire about a Magic Kingdom shoot but at least we know we have DHS - pending Florida weather!

Also - personal floral is done. As I've mentioned, our personal floral is being made locally and is, obviously, artificial. I could go on as I do, describing things and talking abstractly about stuff I don't fully understand.. or I could just show you the finished product! This is a Disney forum so I don't need to remind you to ever be on the lookout for Hidden Mickeys

Jess' bouquet

The whole set! Boutonnieres, corsages, bridal bouquet, bridesmaid bouquets, toss bouquet and one of the yellow ones is going in the MOH's hair - I'm sure there's a better way of saying that but you'd have to ask the bride.

 

[KristiLyn]

Ooh I'm loving the flowers! Perfect for your theme and everything is going to match so well!

I'm so excited for our HS shoot as well! Have you thought about any locations that you want to shoot at in that park? I think the places we are going to try to get are SW, Muppetvision, tower of terror, and on the street.

 

[edeneye]

Ohhh, I hadn't actually thought about that! ToT is a definite, that's Jess' favourite ride in the world (and she loves theme parks) - and I can see why you'd be picking that one too! Besides that though, I'm not sure. It's hard to pick a spot anywhere on Disney property that isn't amazingly picturesque so I'm sure it's hard to go wrong, we'll have to get one of our maps out and get thinking about where else to go! All of your ideas sound great, they're all so well themed and will lend themselves perfectly to amazing shots.

In lieu of anything to update, I can mention that all of our various countdowns (til we fly out, LA, Vegas, WDW, Cruise) are now under 250 days! Still too far out for anything to be happening but we're pretty excited. I think the next thing we're going to do now is enter the Wine & Dine Half before the price goes up!

 

[edeneye]

Well, scratch that last part about Wine & Dine, I found out today that it sold out a day or two after going on sale almost two weeks ago! Devastated! We have been so excited about doing that, was a major goal for both of us this year and we literally set up our whole trip around it (hence arriving at WDW weeks before the wedding and leaving almost straight after, jeopardising our chance at a portrait session). Plus we've been training since December! Argh! We snooze, we lose. We'll keep training as if we're still doing it, the fitness will do us good when we're navigating the parks all day.

We got an email early this morning from our planner saying she would like to speak to us tomorrow. I wonder what about! It's the first actual contact we've had from her due to where we currently sit on the schedule (besides a reply to an earlier email) so I'm very interested to find out what it is! Due to our time difference, she'll be calling Jess at about 6am our time which is 4pm in Florida. Unfortunately I'll be off to work by then so Jess will have to fill me in later!

 

[elphie101]

Oh no!!! So sorry about the wine and dine! So disappointing Perhaps you could stop in LA right before the wedding and catch the new Avengers half in Disneyland (Wishful thinking!) Sorry you guys didn't get in, I'm so bummed for you.

I do love how the flowers look, the colors pop so wonderfully and they are great fall colors (they look like they'll match very well with the prop shop too!)

Perhaps your planner just wants to discuss planning session logistics? Eager to hear what they have to say!

 

[Giniapup]

I'm so sorry you missed out on the race that's such a bummer. It filled up super quick this year I have five friends running in it and it was 68% full by
3pm on opening day. You can always buy a ticket to the finish line party I know its not as cool has actually running in the race but I went last year and it was a blast. I'm going to the Finish line party this year as well while all my friends run. Maybe more spots will open up finger crossed!