Ashleigh & Ally's 2014 Escape PJ - UPDATED *PIC HEAVY!*

ariel_

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Well I have decided to jump in and start a PJ after lurking for ages through everyone else’s! It seems like it would be such a nice way to look back on the planning process one day – and the help you get on here will be fantastic too!

Introduction

So I should start of by telling you a bit about us. I am Ashleigh and DF is Ally, we are both 26 and hail from sunny Glasgow, Scotland. This is us celebrating 8 years together in WDW last year…

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We met through friends when we were both 18 and have been together ever since <3 I studied Primary Teaching and Ally studied Business at the same University, with him graduating a year before me. When he graduated, Ally originally got a grad job with Mercedes in England, so we spent a couple of years doing long distance – we survived but not something I ever want to do again! When I finally qualified as a primary teacher, we both moved to Birmingham, England for work, where we have been for the last year.

The Proposal

I have already pretty much posted my proposal story on the main board if anyone wants to read but here’s the short version…

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (12/21/12)
Be Our Guest
Ring
Complete surprise :goodvibes

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Plans

We had decided before we even got home that we wanted to get married in Disney. As it’s a long way away we will just be inviting immediate family and a few close friends, so the Escape package will hopefully be perfect for us. All of our family are onboard and Ally’s best friend and his fiancée have already told us they will be there so we are doing ok so far!

I always thought if I was going to have a Disney wedding that I’d want the Wedding Pavillion, but the more I looked I fell in love with Sea Breeze Point. I love the vintage theme and even though the WP is gorgeous, I’d feel a bit sad walking past all those empty seats as we will have 18 guests tops! It’s driving me nuts that I can’t book anything with Disney until May, but my very provisional plan is:

27th February 2014 (if we can get it)
Morning/noon ceremony at Sea Breeze Point
Lunch Reception at the Attic
Desert Party for Wishes or Illuminations

We are pretty flexible on many aspects of the day which I hope will make it more realistic that we will get our date – I’d love to have the Attic so that’s probably a priority. We definitely want a Desert Party but we want to see what options Disney recommend for a group our side. We both prefer Wishes to Illuminations but I think an EPCOT party may be more fun for the guests!

Extras

I am not hugely bothered about floral for myself or decoration - especially as I will have to leave it all behind – but there are some extras we would LOVE to have if the budget allows:

External photographer – I have pretty much put my Bridezilla foot down about this (the only time, I promise :rotfl2: ) I have this problem where in person I reckon I look ok, but when someone pulls out a camera and says “CHEEESE” my face does this…

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So good photography is going to be really important to me! I am not a big fan of the traditional style that Disney photography seems to give, it looks great for some people but it’s not for me. I love the Roots Photography guys, but I am looking around to try and find something a bit less expensive as I have had to talk DF around to the idea of paying extra for photography when it’s already included in the package!

Mickey and Minnie – During the rest of the wedding I’d like to keep Disney touches to a minimum as not all of our family are big Disney nuts like us. But having the main man and his lady there for pictures would be AMAZING!

NASCAR – its not strictly part of the wedding but we pretty much chose our date to fit around the Daytona 500 so that DF can go for his Stag party :rolleyes1

Disney Cruise Line – I’m pretty sure this will be doable, we have ccruised twice before with DCL, 3-night and a 5-night so the Honeymoon will of course have to be a 7-night Western Caribbean Cruise. Fingers Crossed!

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This was on Castaway Cay on Boxing Day :goodvibes

So that was my first post! I hope I manage to keep it up as I’ve not had much luck with trip reports in the past!

Next time – wedding bands and bridesmaids ideas!

 
Welcome! I had read your proposal before and thought it was so sweet. I am planning on Sea Breeze Point as well for my escape wedding...it really is beautiful and vintage.
I love the picture from Friends! It is my all time favorite TV show, and I do the exact same thing when the camera comes out. Glad to know I am not the only one!
DF is against an outside photographer, too. I love the Roots, but sadly I don't know if outside photography will be in the budget. A lot of Disney brides also use Randy Chapman and the Arndt's.
 
Welcome! I had read your proposal before and thought it was so sweet. I am planning on Sea Breeze Point as well for my escape wedding...it really is beautiful and vintage.
I love the picture from Friends! It is my all time favorite TV show, and I do the exact same thing when the camera comes out. Glad to know I am not the only one!
DF is against an outside photographer, too. I love the Roots, but sadly I don't know if outside photography will be in the budget. A lot of Disney brides also use Randy Chapman and the Arndt's.

Thank you! It's great to see another Escape bride I look forward to catching up on your PJ :flower3: Sea Breeze just blew me away it looks so gorgeous in people's photographs.

Thanks for the photography tip - I'll have to start investigating now! I didn't really start watching friends until I met DF and they were showing all the re-runs 24/7 - I think I fell off the couch laughing at the Chandler photo one as I could sooooo relate to it! Glad I'm not the only one :rotfl2:
 
Congrats Ashely! Getting married is so exciting! I can't wait to read your trip report. LOL by then I might be pregnant with baby number two. Fingers crossed! I'm a photographer so I know of a few photographers. I hate to ask your exact budget for photography but I guess up to what amount are you looking to spend? I know there are some reasonably priced photographers but you sacrifice the quality of the work for the quantity.

www.leigh-taylor.com is an amazing lifestyle photographer. Not too much posing, she'll get you guys as honest as possible. Your pictures will look awesome!


http://www.karlafountain.com/ more posed

http://www.33andathird.kjp-studios.com/#/home/ more lifestlye and beautiful work!

http://www.lovestoreyphoto.com/

http://kfortuna.wix.com/fortunaphotography The cheapest and someone I know. You don't get very many prints though.....

I can't wait to see whatever you guys plan for your wedding!!!!!!:banana:
 
Welcome! I loved your introduction

Congrats Ashely! Getting married is so exciting! I can't wait to read your trip report. LOL by then I might be pregnant with baby number two. Fingers crossed! I'm a photographer so I know of a few photographers. I hate to ask your exact budget for photography but I guess up to what amount are you looking to spend? I know there are some reasonably priced photographers but you sacrifice the quality of the work for the quantity.

www.leigh-taylor.com is an amazing lifestyle photographer. Not too much posing, she'll get you guys as honest as possible. Your pictures will look awesome!


http://www.karlafountain.com/ more posed

http://www.33andathird.kjp-studios.com/#/home/ more lifestlye and beautiful work!

http://www.lovestoreyphoto.com/

http://kfortuna.wix.com/fortunaphotography The cheapest and someone I know. You don't get very many prints though.....

I can't wait to see whatever you guys plan for your wedding!!!!!!:banana:

Thanks for joining in guys! DinaBina this is exactly why I decided to start a PJ - you guys are all so friendly and a fountain of knowledge! I can't wait to have a good look through the photographers you have suggested! I am hoping to keep photography below $2,000 - I know this is a lot less than the photographers I would love to have if there was no budget, but I've tried to basically budget around what I would realistically pay in ££'s at home and this about matches up. I'm not too fussed about having prints right away, I would prefer to be able to buy a disc with access to the photos and print them at a later date. I think this would work better for us being in the UK!

Off to research all your suggestions now and get post 2 finished :surfweb:
 

Wedding Band

Today was such an exciting day for me – I finally got my ring back after having it re-sized YAY! It had to go to America and I was so gutted at sending it away but it came back after a week ☺ It was 2 sizes too big but I had been determined to wear it anyway so it feels great to have it fit properly now. When we dropped it off last week I also picked out my wedding band. It seems so soon to get it but I really wanted a Tiffany band to match my engagement ring and when we move further north we won’t be able to visit London very easily so we decided just to go for it! I’ve had it on so many times I don’t know how I’m supposed to keep it off for a year :hyper:

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I had originally thought I wanted a band that was like a little wreath of flowers. I hadn’t seen any and when I tried on a band with a bit of detail in store it didn’t look nice with my ring at all so I’ve gone for a simple band and I’m really happy with it as it won’t date or go out of style!

Colour Scheme and Bridesmaids

I’ve gone a bit crazy on Pinterest recently and can’t recommend it enough for getting loads of ideas filed away! I finally decided on mint/aqua blue, blush pink and gold accents for our colour scheme. It wont be a huge thing as I don’t want to spend a lot on floral, but I would like to incorporate it with accessories and bridesmaids etc.

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I love the idea of having the bridemaids in different dresses – I am hoping to have my best friend, DF’s sister and step-sister and my own little sister, and they all have totally different body shapes and styles so there’s no way I could find something they would all like! Plus their ages range from 14 to 30 and I want them all to love their dresses.

Bits and Bobs

I’ve been starting to look online for small things that I can add to my wedding to give it a personal touch. I do worry that we don’t have as much choice with the Escape package and I don’t want to pay crazy amounts of money to have Disney do everything!

I found awesome vintage style paper straws in my colours on eBay – love these and think they will look brilliant with the Boardwalk theme. I was thinking of putting these out at the desert party.

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I've since seen them on another DISbride's PJ - great minds and all that :)

Also got a cute lantern garland – no idea what I’d even do with this but it was super cheap and I might even just put it up at home in the end ☺ Plus a little garland that says “Happy Ever After” which I thought would be sweet for photographs.

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Promise I'm going to find out how to re-size my pics soon - these are ridiculously huge!

Up next time – Engagement party invitations and awesome stationery
 
Hi Ashley,

I hope one of those photographers works for you then. A few of them are under $2000 USD.

I addicted to Say Yes to the Dress, which I think you guys may get it over there?? I don't know...

But my point is that on that show they always show how super important and modern it is to have different dresses for the bridesmaids when they aren't the same age. I think it's pretty awesome your choosing to do that, I think that's so fashionable! Are you going to let them pick out the style and you just say it has to be so and so color??

I can't personally comment on the Disney ceremony since we never had a wedding just did the court house. But I'm willing to bet that you'll get exactly what you pay for with them. I'd expect them to slap on extra charges for making your ceremony more personal if you left it up to them. Nothing wrong with a few DIY and it makes it a thousand times more memorable!!

I love the lantern idea!
 
I love the lantern garland. It's so cute! You could even use it to decorate your hotel room. I really like your color combination also. It lends itself to the feel of SBP. The band looks so nice with the ring :)
 
DinaBina said:
Hi Ashley,

I hope one of those photographers works for you then. A few of them are under $2000 USD.

I addicted to Say Yes to the Dress, which I think you guys may get it over there?? I don't know...

But my point is that on that show they always show how super important and modern it is to have different dresses for the bridesmaids when they aren't the same age. I think it's pretty awesome your choosing to do that, I think that's so fashionable! Are you going to let them pick out the style and you just say it has to be so and so color??

I can't personally comment on the Disney ceremony since we never had a wedding just did the court house. But I'm willing to bet that you'll get exactly what you pay for with them. I'd expect them to slap on extra charges for making your ceremony more personal if you left it up to them. Nothing wrong with a few DIY and it makes it a thousand times more memorable!!

I love the lantern idea!

Thanks again for the suggestions - I'm planning to sit and have a good look at lots of sites this weekend :)

I've heard lots of people talk about Say Yes To The Dress on here but I've not seen it - i'll have to search for it online I think because I reckon I'd love it! It's reassuring to hear that about the BM dresses - I've not been to many weddings so I don't know what's acceptable or allowed haha! I was thinking of having some dresses made as DF's mum has a good friend who's a dress maker - that way they could all choose their own style but we can have the same colour!

I think you're right about Disney charging for everything - I might have to send my MOH in with a bag of straws to chuck about the place before everyone gets there :)
 
Summer Daydream said:
I love the lantern garland. It's so cute! You could even use it to decorate your hotel room. I really like your color combination also. It lends itself to the feel of SBP. The band looks so nice with the ring :)

Love the hotel room idea - I wish the garlands had a bit of colour too, I might try to get some ribbons in my colours to add! I love SBP theming, it's so gentle & romantic! I've put my ring back in the box and stashed it away so that I'll stop trying it on :D
 
I'm so thrilled and flattered that people are reading this! I know everyone says this but it feels so nice to have a bunch of people reading your plans and offering advice and feedback! It's like having a whole bunch of extra bridesmaids :lmao:

Photography

I've had a look now at lots of photographers and I feel much happier about having an outside photographer. I do have one who recently contacted me that I have very good feelings about but I don't want to jinx it incase it doesn't work out :) I have loved looking at lots of blogs and websites at other couples' photography, some people out there are so creative! My Pinterest boards are full of picture inspiration that I hope I can incorporate into my day!

I also got some photograph props on eBay this week - I love the thought of posing with my Bridesmaids with these, or seeing DF's grandma with the pipe and monocle :rotfl:

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Stationery & Engagement Party

DF had seen some invitations online somewhere that were for a BBQ theme & he LOVED them but he couldn't find them anywhere so he had a go at making his own. He loves having a go on Photoshop and we were so pleased with the result. So pleased that I ran out and bought magnetic paper and we started printing them right away. Nearly halfway through we noticed a tiny typo...

Spot the difference!

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The first bunch had R.V.S.P instead of R.S.V.P :rotfl2: We honestly checked it a couple of times each and neither of us noticed until it was way too late. I'd like to say that we went out, bought more paper and started over but by this point it was about 10pm and I just wanted to go to bed so there's a few of the dodgy ones out in the post haha!

We also bought packets of lovely expensive envelopes to send them in... but realised we had bought the wrong size :mad: So our badly spelled invites were sent in mismatching office supply envelopes! Haha we aren't normally this scatty but we'd been out all day looking for nice envelopes & when I saw them I just chucked them in the basket without looking! It turned out to be a happy mistake because the envelopes came with gorgeous writing paper, which I used to make some nice letters for my MOH & Bridesmaids.

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I got the template for the top from http://www.weddingchicks.com/freebies/ I LOVE THIS SITE. I think I spent hours playing around with the different printables. I eventually went with navy and aqua, but the combinations were endless and they were all FREE! I am seriously considering using them to print my own invitations as they look so nice when printed on decent paper! I also made a little monogram that I printed on the back of all of my envelopes - super cute!

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We also got a brochure from DFTW through this week which I was so excited to receive, even though it was the same info as online - it's just so pretty!
We will also be going to the National Wedding Show in a few weeks - I was supposed to be going with a friend but she isn't able to make it down from Scotland so I'll be going with DF (He wants to try cake, I want to look for dresses!).

That's all for now - thanks for reading guys :flower3:
 
I'm following along! Our color scheme is the same, and I'm having a Wishes wedding at SBP and the Attic in Sept.! Cant wait to see more :)
 
Love how this is going so far. Can't wait to see more updates!

I'm following along! Our color scheme is the same, and I'm having a Wishes wedding at SBP and the Attic in Sept.! Cant wait to see more :)

Thanks guys! Today I bought a binder and some cute paper/pens to start a proper planning book. I have never been organised about anything in my life - this wedding planning business becomes me :lmao:
 
The BBQ invitation came out super cute. I wouldn't worry about the RSVP being typed wrong on a few...I honestly didn't realize it when I looked. And as far as the envelopes, most people just chuck them in the trash bin anyways, so I'm sure the envelopes were perfectly fine.
I felt the same way went I got the DFTW packet in the mail. Even though it had nothing new, I was so excited to get it :)
 

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