A Cause For Celebration: A Wedding, A Marathon & A 30th Birthday - January 2018 Update:12/28

So, first of all I have been the absolute worst at keeping up with reading everyone's reports! I promise I'll get caught up at some point
Are you kidding!? You're trying to plan a wedding here :) Plus, I haven't posted a new update in awhile...so you haven't missed anything on mine, I bet!
 
I'm here! Looking forward to following along with your wedding plans and other trip plans! Planning a Disney wedding is so magical (and this coming from someone who doesn't particularly "get" weddings!)
 
Your menus sounds delicious! And a good price :thumbsup2

Homecoming sounds like a good place, I'd like to go there. I probably would have looked at it for our wedding too, but it was just opening when we booked our stuff so it wasn't on my radar.
 
Are you kidding!? You're trying to plan a wedding here :) Plus, I haven't posted a new update in awhile...so you haven't missed anything on mine, I bet!

I'm hoping to be able to catch up on all the reports I'm behind on this weekend!

I'm here! Looking forward to following along with your wedding plans and other trip plans! Planning a Disney wedding is so magical (and this coming from someone who doesn't particularly "get" weddings!)

Hope you're having a wonderful time in Disney right now! I'm looking forward to reading about some of your wedding plans :)

Your menus sounds delicious! And a good price :thumbsup2

Homecoming sounds like a good place, I'd like to go there. I probably would have looked at it for our wedding too, but it was just opening when we booked our stuff so it wasn't on my radar.

Yeah, I haven't seen/heard of very many people using Homecoming for their receptions yet, but it just seemed perfect for us! It was probably our favourite meal on our last trip, and I thought the pricing was really reasonable!
 


229 Days until Disney (Or 226?)
237 Days until our Wedding!
169 Days until FP+
49 Days until ADR's


I'm going to try and do an update at least once a week with general updates on life and stuff! Here's the first one :)

Last weekend, Luke and I celebrated our anniversary - we've now been together for 4 years! Every single year, Luke buys me a ticket for Stars on Ice (it's always here the week of our anniversary), so we went to that last Saturday. The actual lineup of skaters wasn't the best it's ever been, but the show itself was really good! The choreography was a lot of fun this year! For those who don't know what it is, it's some of the best figure skaters from Canada who get together and have fun with routines that wouldn't always be allowed in International Competition (like backflips haha). This year's show was the most difficult for me though, I'd always call my grandmother the next day and tell her all about it, but I couldn't do that this year :sad1:



On Monday night we finally went to see the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie - so good! I just loved Baby Groot!

This weekend is a long weekend here in Canada (Monday is Victoria Day). It's actually calling for nice weather, so I'm really excited to get outside and do some work in my garden! My front flower garden is a complete mess, I didn't pull anything last fall so there's weeds growing everywhere and dead plants from last year...but my tulips are growing like crazy! I need to clean it up a bit so the tulips aren't competing with weeds haha.


We went and bought some bricks to do a nice border along our flower garden, so I'm hoping to get that started this weekend as well. In our back yard we have a raised bed vegetable garden, so I need to actually plant some seeds there if we want to have anything this year. We do have that garden ready to go, I dug up all the old plants and the weeds that had started growing, and topped up the soil, so that won't take too long at all.

My mom and step-dad offered to finish our backyard for us this summer (this will be our third summer in our house, and the first summer was all about building our fence, and last year was building the raised bed garden). We plan on extending our deck, since it's just teeny-tiny right now, and building an actual walkway to lead to our garage. We're hoping to get that started within the next week or two as well!

I think I mentioned before that we are heading back to Disneyland in November for Avengers Race Weekend. Luke and I are both running the 5k there, and Luke is also competing in the half marathon. I decided I actually wanted to dress up for the 5k this time, so I started working on making a Captain America tutu for myself :). It's not finished yet, but it's way poofier than I thought it would be (which makes me happy!). I'm actually holding it on with my hand in the picture below, since I haven't attached the two ends of the elastic yet:


It actually matches my Blue Jays shirt really well too! I'm really happy with how it's looking so far, so now I need to decide what character I want to be for the 5k in January so I can make another tutu for that. My maid of honor really likes it too, and thinks we should make some tutus to wear while we're all together in Disney. We'll see about that haha, these things are time consuming to make!

Now for actual wedding/trip updates!

Rooms currently booked at Old Key West: 1) Luke and I, 2) My mom/step-dad, 3) My dad, 4) Luke's mom, sister, aunt, 5) My MOH and her husband, 6) My other two bridesmaids, 7) Melissa, our photographer. Since everyone booked using rented DVC points, the rooms are all paid for in full and non-refundable, so all of these 13 people are committed to attending our wedding. One of Luke's best friends (who will be a groomswoman), has also said that her and her fiance will be attending for sure, but they just took possession of their brand new house and they are planning their own wedding for September of this year, so they are thinking of staying in a Value Resort or offsite to save a little money. Everyone else that's been invited hasn't confirmed anything yet.

Remember how I told everyone in the wedding party I wanted them in Converse sneakers (and everyone in different colours)? Well, one of my bridesmaids bought her's this week! She originally said she wanted to wear purple, but then she texted me asking about this colour because she fell in love with them once she saw them in person. I didn't care, so she's now the first one to have their shoes -

18516218_994944607513_583794714_n.jpg

And yes, she bought kid's sizes haha. She has small feet to begin with, and apparently Converse run big. It motivated me to look for mine and Luke's as well, and I found a Canadian website carrying the colours we wanted for ourselves, and they were on sale! Score! So, Luke's black Converse should show up tomorrow and my Royal Blue ones should be here next week (it's going to be my something blue!).
 
The actual lineup of skaters wasn't the best it's ever been, but the show itself was really good!

I used to go to Stars on Ice every single year with my Grandma, too!!! We went for the last time two years ago and I hardly knew who any of the skaters were!! :( I'm glad you had a good time!

now I need to decide what character I want to be for the 5k in January so I can make another tutu for that.

Tutus are my absolute favorite :) I always wear one for our Polar Plunge and have also worn them for Pretty Muddy, the Bunny Rock 5K and others. :) I think I'm going to be Baymax for the 5 or 10K but I haven't decided on my second one yet!

So, Luke's black Converse should show up tomorrow and my Royal Blue ones should be here next week (it's going to be my something blue!).

Love that as your something blue!!!! Such a cute idea :)
 
I love the Captain America tutu! Super cute! (Also, the first thing I noticed was that it matched the Blue Jays shirt, and I thought that was part of the costume and got a little confused ... because why would a Canadian baseball team be part of a Captain America costume)

Yay for the first pair of Converse! And yes, they definitely run big. Also, some styles are unisex, so you kinda also have to look at the men's sizes. I normally wear a 7-7.5 shoe, and I wear a 4 men's/6 women's in Converse.
 


I love the tutu! I've always wanted an excuse to make one ;)

I would also fall in love with that color of converse. Maybe I need some new ones...

Also that tulip color is amazing. I don't think I've ever seen that shade before :love:
 
I used to go to Stars on Ice every single year with my Grandma, too!!! We went for the last time two years ago and I hardly knew who any of the skaters were!! :( I'm glad you had a good time!


I actually follow a lot of winter sports, so I've been live-streaming figure skating events all winter haha - so I knew who all the skaters were, they just weren't all the best of the best.

Tutus are my absolute favorite :) I always wear one for our Polar Plunge and have also worn them for Pretty Muddy, the Bunny Rock 5K and others. :) I think I'm going to be Baymax for the 5 or 10K but I haven't decided on my second one yet!

I've always wanted a tutu, but never had an excuse to buy one/make one until now! Baymax is such a cute idea for a costume! Luke told me the other day he's willing to wear a tutu with me for the 5k next January, so we need to think of matching costumes now haha.


Love that as your something blue!!!! Such a cute idea :)

My shoes arrived and they are awesome! I knew I wouldn't be happy wearing heels all day, and I figured why not kill two birds with one stone?

I love the Captain America tutu! Super cute! (Also, the first thing I noticed was that it matched the Blue Jays shirt, and I thought that was part of the costume and got a little confused ... because why would a Canadian baseball team be part of a Captain America costume)

Haha, yeah I just don't have the Captain America shirt I want to wear yet, and my Blue Jays shirt just happened to be what I was wearing that day. Basically my entire wardrobe is band tshirts and sports tshirt (mainly hockey and baseball).

Yay for the first pair of Converse! And yes, they definitely run big. Also, some styles are unisex, so you kinda also have to look at the men's sizes. I normally wear a 7-7.5 shoe, and I wear a 4 men's/6 women's in Converse.

I ended up buying actual women's fit, and went down half a size and they are perfect! So yay!

Also - we have the same size feet!

I love the tutu! I've always wanted an excuse to make one ;)

You definitely need to make a tutu for your wedding trip! Just wear it one day at the parks :)

I would also fall in love with that color of converse. Maybe I need some new ones...

Now that I have my blue ones, I want to buy another pair so I can actually wear them! I'm trying to not wear my wedding ones outside the house so they are nice and clean for wedding pictures, but I just want to wear them now!

Also that tulip color is amazing. I don't think I've ever seen that shade before :love:

I know! I love them!

I love the tutu it's so cute!

Thanks! My cats love it too, they think it's a great bed :sad2:
 
Now that I have my blue ones, I want to buy another pair so I can actually wear them! I'm trying to not wear my wedding ones outside the house so they are nice and clean for wedding pictures, but I just want to wear them now!
I know! I got a pair of custom shoes... (did you get in the FB group? they're from someone on there). I really need to post a picture on my PJ I've been neglecting... but I want to wear them all the time! I've taken them a few times to family holidays, because I want them broken in, and everytime DF is like :scared: I got a call that my dress came in and I'm going to go try it on tonight, so I think I'll take them along!

You definitely need to make a tutu for your wedding trip! Just wear it one day at the parks :)
I just might have to do that... :rolleyes:
 
216 Days until Disney (219 Days until OKW)
227 Days until our Wedding!
156/159 Days until FP+
36/39 Days until ADR's


Life Updates

We've been spending most of our time outside lately, it's been such nice weather here (except for last Wednesday, when we had a crazy storm and it rained for like 16 hours straight and came with insane wind - there were gusts up to 100km/hr - which is about 62mph for you Americans. There were trees blowing over, traffic lights were out, it was a mess). We did finish laying the bricks around our front flower garden yesterday though, now I need to decide if I want to leave it with just the one layer or if I want to add a second layer of bricks..


Two summers ago, we planted a small Asiatic Lily in our flower garden, and that thing is now multiplying and is going to be huge this year! I love easy gardening where things just spread on their own :)


We also finished our planters at the end of our walkway by the sidewalk, I love Gerber Daisies so much!


Our vegetable garden in our backyard is now planted as well, and has already started sprouting :) We don't go too crazy with our veggie garden, this year we planted beans, peas, carrots, spinach, lettuce, cucumbers and a few watermelons. Our raised bed garden will not be large enough for everything once it starts to grow, so I'm going to try and get the cucumbers to climb a trellis, and I'll guide the watermelons out of the garden into the rest of the yard.

On Friday night, Luke and I went to an art sale for a local artist we're big fans of. She's really into pop culture, and all of her artwork is based on comic books, television shows and movies. She creates her originals by attaching actual pages from comic books or novels onto a canvas or wooden frame, and then painting over top of that. We've been following her work for a few years, and figured this was the perfect time to actually go check out her studio - and we ended up buying so much! All of the Avengers, Star Wars, Calvin & Hobbes and Harry Potter paper prints below were basically 95% off her regular price, so how could we say no? It's hard to tell the size from the pictures below, but the Calvin and Hobbes ones were 4"x6" and the rest are more like 11"x14" (so a decent size!)






I did buy one print at regular price, but she was including a free frame with it, plus it was a print I've been eyeing up for years now...


She has also turned her artwork into a variety of other items - such as coffee mugs and puzzles (she also has throw pillows, phone cases, coin purses, etc)


She's also had some artwork turned into clothing, which is all amazing. I did buy her last pair of Star Wars leggings from the clearance rack. They still weren't cheap, but they are really great quality! They feel so good on, I can't wait to wear these on our next Disney trip!


She also sells some really fantastic Harry Potter clothing, which I think I need in my closet...

Luke and I are not big drinkers at all, but we stopped by one of the best beer stores in the city the other day and decided we needed to represent the Canada Pavilion and the Germany Pavilion haha. Actually, La Fin du Monde is a fairly regular staple in our house these days, but Schofferhofer is a bit more difficult to find.


We are now only a few weeks away from going on our annual vacation to New Brunswick! Pretty much my entire family is still there, including my dad, so it's a trip I always look forward to. Unfortunately this year's trip will be a little sad, as we are burying my grandmother while we are there (there was way too much snow on the ground in March when I was home right after she passed away). But, I will get to see all of my friends from high school and my family that week :) My mom has also decided she wants to do an engagement party for Luke and I while we are all in NB, since I've told her no bridal shower or bachelorette or anything like that. And speaking of our wedding...

Wedding/Disney Trip Updates!

Our Converse wedding day shoes arrived! Mine are a much brighter blue in person than they appear in the picture. I also plan on switching out the shoelaces, I want the more traditional Converse look with the white laces. Luke's are the basic Converse style in black.


We went for supper last weekend with a couple Luke has been friends with for a long time, and they confirmed that they are 100% in for attending our wedding, so Luke now has his side of the wedding party complete after asking him to be a groomsman.

This now puts us up to 15 people confirmed to attend our wedding. Since we are going with the Escape package from Disney, the max we are allowed is 18 so we are almost to our max already! One of the 15 confirmed is our photographer though, who does not count against our 18, so we still have 4 spots remaining. We've invited more than that, so now we wait to see who confirms.

We've now paid our $1000 deposit to Disney and signed the contract, so now we are waiting to hear which wedding planner we've been assigned. Once we find that out, we can start making the actual decisions for the wedding - like which bouquet I want, which of the allowed Escape cake styles we want, cake flavours, etc. We also need to start thinking about our dessert party menu, but we're a little stuck on that. We know we want to avoid cake/cupcakes, since we will be having our cake supplied by Disney right after our ceremony, and then more cake at Homecomin' (we chose the Moonshine cake, yum!). We think we want to ask for a savoury option at our dessert party, maybe La Cellier-style poutine or cheddar cheese soup...but that will depend on the price they quote us.

We've been going back and forth on it for awhile now, but we have decided to add a few extra days onto our trip and fly down on December 30th now instead of January 2nd. One of the biggest selling factors in that decision for me was the fact that there is a direct flight from Edmonton to Orlando that is only offered on Saturday's - it'll be nice to not have to transfer planes while I'm lugging my giant dress with me (because that thing will not be going into my checked bag). We haven't booked a hotel yet for the extra nights, but chances are it will be offsite. I'm fine with being offsite for those nights, we still have our 11 night stay at Old Key West from January 2-13.

Since we were now going down a few days earlier, Luke and I decided to submit volunteer applications to Give Kids the World. We figured the craziness that is New Year's Eve at Disney would be too much for us (especially staying off site), so we set up a volunteer shift from 3-6:30 on NYE and another one on New Year's Day from 11-2:30. I'm actually really looking forward to this!

Luke purchased his park tickets for the trip while the Canadian resident discount was still in effect (as did quite a few of our guests). He went with a 10 day park hopper, since that was the most days he could buy. If we need to add more days to his pass, we'll do that once we're there. My annual pass is valid until the end of February 2018, so I'm covered for everything.

We also sat down and did a complete list of what we would like to try and get for ADR's on which day for the entire duration of our trip. This post is getting long now, so I'll share that in another post :)
 
I know! I got a pair of custom shoes... (did you get in the FB group? they're from someone on there). I really need to post a picture on my PJ I've been neglecting... but I want to wear them all the time! I've taken them a few times to family holidays, because I want them broken in, and everytime DF is like :scared: I got a call that my dress came in and I'm going to go try it on tonight, so I think I'll take them along!

Did you buy a pair of shoes from that Laura girl? The one who hand paints characters on shoes? Because I think those are so awesome!

I've seen you post a few times in the Facebook Disney bride group, but I thought it might be weird if I commented with a "Hey! I know you from the disboards!"

Mike and Sully would be cute!! :)

That's such a cute idea!
 
Love the art and leggings.

We think we want to ask for a savoury option at our dessert party, maybe La Cellier-style poutine or cheddar cheese soup...but that will depend on the price they quote us.

That sounds good!
 
Your garden looks beautiful! And I love all those prints you got - those are super creative and I love the way it mixes the "originals" with her work. So cool!

Sounds like the wedding plans are really starting to come together! I love the idea of doing something savory at the dessert party ... after having cake, cake, and more cake at the wedding and reception, it'll be nice to have another option.

Good call adding days to the trip - flying direct always makes the trip easier. And I love that you're volunteering at Give Kids the World ... it's an opportunity to do something awesome for a great organization and it gets you away from the busiest times at the park - that's a double win!
 
We've been spending most of our time outside lately, it's been such nice weather here

Send some of that here, please! We've had rain and rain, with a side of rain.

We are now only a few weeks away from going on our annual vacation to New Brunswick!

Yay! Sorry to hear about your grandmother, though. But wonderful to get home and see everyone and have your engagement party!

Our Converse wedding day shoes arrived! Mine are a much brighter blue in person than they appear in the picture.

I love your shoes! If I didn't already have a pair of blue heels in my closet that I wanted to wear, and if I weren't already SO short, I'd totally want to do something like this! Your feet will be soo much comfier than most brides, and they're so cute!

We've now paid our $1000 deposit to Disney and signed the contract, so now we are waiting to hear which wedding planner we've been assigned.

Exciting! It seems like all the coordinators get great reviews, so I'm sure you'll like whoever you get. We got Samantha and we've been perfectly happy with her. She's responded to our questions fairly quickly, seems genuinely excited about planning weddings, and has helped us out with a few unconventional things like our allergy-friendly cake, etc. We're looking forward to actually meeting her on the day. :)

Since we were now going down a few days earlier, Luke and I decided to submit volunteer applications to Give Kids the World.

How cool! I'd like to do this sometime!
 
Following along! I came over from your trip report and am loving reading about all the details of the wedding. It sounds wonderful!
 
I love that tutu! I could never make anything like that, not to mention it would add about 8 inches to my already not small hips lol. Can't wait what costume you decide on for January!
Also love your royal blue Converse for the wedding :love: and I agree I think white laces will look better. Here's a wedding question for you, curious about it since I really know nothing about Disney wedding other than reading your plans and @MeghanEmily 's : so your max guests can be 18 but you invited more than that. What happens if more than 18 say they're coming? Do you tell the ones that RSVP yes after you've gotten 18 that they are welcome to come watch the ceremony (I assume anyone can watch, given the location), but they can't attend the reception, or can you pay some type of upcharge to have more than 18 at the reception? Inquiring minds who will never have a Disney wedding want to know lol!!

I really like those SW leggings for a SW fan, also. Perfect for Disney!
 
Love the art and leggings.

I know, right! They're so much fun!

That sounds good!

Hopefully the price for something like that won't be obscene....

Your garden looks beautiful! And I love all those prints you got - those are super creative and I love the way it mixes the "originals" with her work. So cool!

We've been wanting some of her artwork for awhile now, and we had to jump at the sale prices (the 11x14 paper prints were regular $20 but she was clearing them out for $1! Apparently she has ideas already sketched out for ~20 new paintings, and just needed the space in her studio to be able to fit them).

Sounds like the wedding plans are really starting to come together! I love the idea of doing something savory at the dessert party ... after having cake, cake, and more cake at the wedding and reception, it'll be nice to have another option.

Luke and I don't even love cake that much... I'm sure I will enjoy it that day, but twice is probably enough. Having a dessert party was really important to me though, so hopefully we're able to find a savory option that stays within our budget.

Good call adding days to the trip - flying direct always makes the trip easier. And I love that you're volunteering at Give Kids the World ... it's an opportunity to do something awesome for a great organization and it gets you away from the busiest times at the park - that's a double win!

Yeah, the more we talked about, the more we realized volunteering at GKTW was important to us, and there was no way to make it happen with our old schedule (due to Race Expo, 5k, etc). Plus, direct flights!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top