Matt and Kat's Planning Journal - Disney Cruise Wedding November 2014, Disney Dream

[kbast]

Hi Everyone!

I am so excited to start my PJ! First, a little introduction. My name is Kathryn, Kat for short. I am a 25 year-old Registered Nurse born and raised in Central Florida. My Fiance is Matt, 31 years old from Massachusetts. We currently live together in Melbourne Florida with our 3 dogs Mojo, Neeka, and Bella. Matt and I have been engaged since July 2013 and are currently planning a wedding on the Disney Dream, sailing on November 7th! After I wrote that, I did the count down on my fingers....less than 5 months away! AHHHHHHHH!!! I am hoping that this journal will give me a good spot to write out all of my plans and get some advice from some fellow Disney Brides!

How We Met - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=51680105&highlight=planning+journal#post51680105

Our History with DCL - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=51680278&highlight=planning+journal#post51680278

Our Engagement Story - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=51682893&highlight=planning+journal#post51682893

Our Wedding Rings - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=51684048#post51684048

Our Favor Bags - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=51689133#post51689133

Matt and I at his brother's wedding, May 2014

Our Fur-Babies - from L to R: Mojo(14yo fox terrier), Bella(1 1/2 yo jack russel/beagle mix), and Neeka (7yo toy rat terrier)

 

[kbast]

 

[kbast]

Ok so I am attempting to post photos from my photobucket. I clicked on the icon that looks like a postcard with mountains on it and posted the URL of my photo in it, but when I post the reply, there is no photo there? Help?

 

[kbast]

How We Met:

As many modern couples do, we met on an online dating site. My experience with online dating had not been a great one thus far. Matt first messaged me in the summer of 2010. We quickly got to know eachother and exchanged photos. It was soon after that we decided to have our first date. I wanted it to be somewhere very public, you know, in-case he turned out to be an axe-murderer. I was taking pre-recs for nursing school at a community college. In addition to the required courses, I was also taking a ceramics class, just for fun. The professor allowed us to bring guests to class as long as we still got work done. So, I invited Matt to meet me in the lobby before my next class. My first reaction was "wow, he has a great smile". We had a fun time and it was nice to see how he just dove into an experience that was totally new to him. We still have the piece he made during that class and it is.....unique. I am so glad we have it though because I scratched the date into the bottom and it's a great keepsake of the very first day we met, 4 years and 4 days ago today.

 

[kbast]

And, I realized when I posted this that since we have both been so busy, we both forgot our 4 year anniversary. Wedding brain!

 

[kbast]

Our History With DCL

Before we started dating, I had never been on any cruise before. I grew up in Orlando, about 30 minutes from Disney World. I have always loved Disney as a company, but had never been a huge fan of the parks. I don't think I even knew that Disney had a cruise line before I met Matt. I came to find out that Matt's parents are AVID Disney cruisers. They have been on over 30 cruises (all Disney) starting back when Matt was a teenager. Matt had been on 2 cruises with them and had loved them. After hearing all of their stories about the wonderful trips, I decided that it would be a fun vacation to take. Matt and I took our first cruise together in June of 2012. This was a graduation celebration as I had just graduated nursing school. We took a 5 night cruise with a double dip at castaway, one day and Nassau, and one sea day. I was hooked! The service, the food, the beauty of the ship, and of course Castaway Cay! I knew I would be back. Our second cruise was about a year later. A 7 night on the Wonder to Alaska! More on that trip in my next post. Disney is by far, the best vacation I have ever been on. It is really a shame that Disney was the first cruise that I took because I think that if I ever attempted to cruise with another line, I would be constantly comparing them.

 

[kbast]

Sorry in advance, this is a long story...


So it was the beginning of July 2013. We were so excited because it was a few weeks until we left for a trip that we had been dreaming of. A Disney cruise to Alaska on the Wonder. This was to be our second cruise together. I had the day off and Matt was at work. I was sitting on the couch with the dogs, watching TV. The phone rang and the caller ID came up on the TV as "Sullivan's Jewelers" which is a local jewelery store about 10 minutes away. I answered and the conversation went like this...

Me: Hello?
Jewelry Store: Yes, can I speak to Matthew, please?
Me: He isn't here right now. Can I take a message?
Jewelry Store: Ummmm......no. Just ask him to give us a call back please.


Ok, so a little more information about me. I do not wear a lot of jewelery. At the point of the conversation I had maybe 2 bracelets and a necklace that I only wore when I was feeling fancy. Matt had asked me about buying me jewelery for birthdays/holidays before and I had nicely told him that I didn't want jewelery as I just don't wear it. We had talked about marriage and knew that it was the next step. About a year before, he asked me what kind of engagement ring I would like. I told him that I prefer a simple solitaire.

Fast forward again to this phone call. I was sure that he had bought me an engagement ring and was planning on proposing on the cruise later that month. I mean, what else could it be since I told him I didn't want him to buy me jewelery? I was SO excited, but at the same time I was sad that I had found out in this way and had no idea how to tell him that I had spoken to the jewelery store. I waited until he was home for lunch and told him that the phone rang while I was in he other room and I wasn't able to answer it. He checked the caller ID and was all "oh, its just some 800 number". Now I was even more sure of what it was.

The night before the cruise, Matt said "so it was supposed to be a surprise, but I know you answered the phone when the jewelery store called". I was thinking "seriously!? This is how he is going to propose!?". Then he came out of the spare bedroom with....a long skinny jewelery box. Uggggghhhh. I opened the box and found a beautiful........bracelet. I really tried to act excited and pleased, but I was so disappointed.


So we few to Vancouver the next day and met my mom and her boyfriend who were going on the cruise with us. Then we boarded the Wonder bound for Alaska.



It was the second morning of the cruise and our whole party had brunch at Palo. It was the perfect morning as the ship was sailing up to see a glacier. After brunch, we headed to the room to see the glacier from our verandah.

Matt's Nervous Face


The glacier was beautiful and the captain turned the boat from side to side to let everyone get a good view.

The Glacier


Eventually, my mom and her boyfriend left to go to the gym. Matt was acting really weird. He kept walking back into the room, going in his bag, and acting really sneaky. He came out onto the verandah and was standing in front of me, looking at the glacier. Suddenly he started pointing at the water and said "Kat, quick! Come over here and look at this!". I rushed around him and saw that he was holding the open ring box in front of him.

He asked me to marry him and I said "Of Course!!!".

The ring was gorgeous! I perfect simple solitaire, just what I had asked for!

Later I found out that Matt had purchased my ring a few weeks before. He had taken our friend Carol shopping with him. When he found out that I had spoken to the jewelers, he called Carol in a panic. Carol called the store and basically told them that they screwed up as they were supposed to call Carol when the ring was ready. They ended up giving him a really good discount on the beautiful, fake present, bracelet so he could trick me and throw me off his tracks. We were able to spend the rest of the cruise celebrating our engagement!

 

[golightly]

SUCH A CUTE STORY!
I love that you got engaged on the cruise line & you're getting married on there as well.

 

[kbast]

I got our wedding rings!!! Matt's ring is a hammered gold with a matte kind-of finish (he didn't want a shiny ring). I am actually getting 2 wedding rings. My main ring is my mom's wedding ring. Since my dad passed away about 12 years ago, she is letting me have it. It is currently being re-sized and is a gold band with five small diamonds along the top. I got a second ring because on my occupation. Since I'm a nurse, I don't feel comfortable wearing my mom's ring at work. Two of my co-workers have told me stories of loosing a ring when taking gloves off. I also use hand sanitizer a lot at work which isn't good for the ring. Plus, it just doesn't seem sanitary considering some of the things a touch at work lol and I am worried about accidentally scratching my patients. I actually wear my engagement ring on a necklace while I'm at work, but I really want to wear my band because I want everyone to know that I am married! So, for all of those reasons, Matt and I decided to get me a thin plain band that I could wear at work. This ring will still be special to me but the devastation I would feel over loosing my mom's ring can't even compare!

 

[kbast]

SUCH A CUTE STORY!
I love that you got engaged on the cruise line & you're getting married on there as well.

Thank you! I am so glad he close to do it there as well. It was a once in a lifetime type of trip!

 

[XxsmortzxX]

I love how you two met on a cruise! It's such a great way to spend time together and its going to be a blast with your wedding party and having people there to celebrate with you!

How many guests do you have so far?

 

[kbast]

I love how you two met on a cruise! It's such a great way to spend time together and its going to be a blast with your wedding party and having people there to celebrate with you!

How many guests do you have so far?

At first we thought we were going to have about 15 people including us. That number has gone up to 30 at the very max. It is more likely that it will be 20-22ish. I am regretting buying so many of my favors early now because I have 20 of everything and I may have to buy more. It is a bit frustrating that so many of the guests haven't made up their minds yet. Our RSVP is August 30th, so that is when my planning will really kick into high gear so I can get everything done on time!

 

[kbast]

Favor Bags:

So I still haven't completely decided on everything in my favor bags, but I wanted to share my progress so far. So, I went through so many different ideas when deciding on favors. I am not particularly crafty and I am OCD enough that I did not want to have everything be handmade because it would bother me if they did not look the same.

SO the one thing that I am making by hand are the favor tags. I wanted to really represent that this is a Disney wedding, without it looking really cartoonie or childlike. For the tags I just used cardstock in black and red, ribbon, a hole punch, scissors, glue, a silver sharpie (although I am thinking of using a gold one instead, what do you think?) and a mickey head outline that I found online. I cut the whole head outline out of black cardstock and then cut out half circle shapes from the red and glued them together. I originally got white card stock and used a hole punch to get small white circles to use as Mickey's "buttons". This is how you see it pictured. My new idea is to buy actual small white buttons to glue on instead. I also have not written any other names on the tags other than this sample one, as I am still not sure of who is coming. I used that hole punch to punch a whole in the ear so I can tie it on the handle of the bag. I found this cute nautical ribbon on sale at Michaels. I don't have enough to do all of he bags, but I think it will be cute to have 3 or 4 different ribbon styles.

And that is my ring on my finger in the picture. Matt is always getting annoyed at me when it is flipped the wrong way, but sometimes it just has a mind of its own. Plus then it looks like a wedding band and I get to pretend that I'm already married, for awhile!


Next is the bag! This is the part that I am most excited about. I found these bags on etsy and fell in love. I originally wanted the bags to say Boucher Wedding 2014. I decided to go with Bon Voyage instead because I thought the bags were more likely to get re-used by my guests this way. I cannot say enough about these bags! They came out beautifully! I got ones with bows for the ladies and ones without for the guys. Jennifer, the wonderful lady who made the bags, also threw in a special surprise "Just Married" bag for me! I almost started crying when I saw it and I can't wait to use it on the cruise!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SewSweetBoutiqueLLC?utm_source=transactional&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=convo_notifications_010170_10683759063_0_0&campaign_label=convo_notifications&utm_content=&email_sent=1401025065&euid=kq6aPMcF6x7Gq1STL0816ThJqrqe&eaid=7033239155&x_eaid=05febe5be7

So in the bag, I am including these cute nautical beach towels!

http://www.casa.com/


For each of the ladies bags, I found these bracelets.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Firegarden?utm_source=transaction&utm_medium=trans_email&utm_campaign=purchase_buyer


Those are all of the items that I have already purchased. I will be getting these personalized sunscreens. I love that they come on a carabiner so I can hook them onto the outside of the bags. I am planning on having them say something like "Matt and Kat's Disney Dream Wedding".

http://www.weddingfavorsmarket.com/fun-in-the-sun-sunscreen-bottle-available-personalized.html?gclid=CjgKEAjwzIucBRDzjIz9qMOB3TASJABBIwL16zI-5jZyP4fEBziunVOSSiXO3jSkpMXi-fJ1WVn8FfD_BwE


I am still throwing around ideas for one more item inside the bag. I have thought about little bags or maybe jars of candy. I also think a little cruise emergency bag would be fun. It would include individual packs of tums, shout stain wipes, sea-sickness medication, ect. I am looking for something reasonably inexpensive since I have spent quite a bit of money on the bags and the towels and I may have to get more, depending on the guest count. I will update when I decide. Any ideas are welcome!

 

[kbast]

So I am still trying to decide on the cake. I know that I want the "under the sea" design for sure. It is just beautiful and such a perfect fit for our wedding! Cake flavors are another story. Let me share the conversation that I had with my DF concerning cake flavor...

Me: Okay honey, we need to pick cake flavors. Let's see, the flavor choices are vanilla, chocolate, or marble.

Matt: Whatever you want is fine with me, Kat.

Me: I want you to be involved in the decision!

Matt: No, seriously. Whatever you want.

Me: No. I have been making most of the decisions. I want you to help make this one. Let's make this easy. My mom hates vanilla cake and your dad hates chocolate cake so lets make one tier chocolate and one tier vanilla.

Matt: Okay

Me: So what flavor should we make the bottom half?

Matt: Marble

Me:

 

[cantwaitfordis]

Your bags are amazing! Love the response to the cake can't go wrong with a bit of everything.

 

[sorceressk]

Like the favors. So nice you are giving real nice quality gifts! Even though they are expensive, they will make be real special for your guests!! I think the gold sharpie will look better. Plus it will match Mickey!

 

[kbast]

Your bags are amazing! Love the response to the cake can't go wrong with a bit of everything.

Thanks! I was very pleased with them. I guess that's true about the marble. It is his wedding so I guess he should get what he wants

 

[kbast]

Like the favors. So nice you are giving real nice quality gifts! Even though they are expensive, they will make be real special for your guests!! I think the gold sharpie will look better. Plus it will match Mickey!

Thank you! I felt like it was important to give really nice favors since the guests are spending so much money and taking so much time off to come. I'm glad you like them. I think you're right, I'm going to go with gold instead. I'll post pics when I'm done.

 

[omgitsdaniellie]

adorable pups!

 

[kbast]

Hi everyone. It's been awhile since I updated. I thought I would share my engagement photos! My soon to be sister-in-law took these. She is an amazing photographer and she offered to take both our engagement and our wedding photos! What a huge weight off our shoulders! I had been worried about using the photographer on the ship, but I had no idea how I would find and/or pay for one to come on the boat with us. The engagement photos were kind of a last minute thing. She actually took them while her and her husband were visiting. They had just been married the previous week and were about to get on their Disney honeymoon cruise! I guess Disney runs in the blood (our kids have no hope). We took these at a small park near our home.

This is the only shot of the day that was my idea (although my talented photographer set it up). I think it turned out really well!

I thought this dress would be perfect because of the anchor detail on the belt! I'm planning on wearing this for our first day on-board!