figmentfan814AAR~LivingSeas~French Is. *I'm back and married! Will start TR soon!*

[JaxTeach]

I really like your information folders for your guests. I am working on our first newsletter and have been collecting park maps each time we visit the parks. You mentioned receiving your first stack of "First Visit" pins. Did you call Disney to get those? I've seen a lot of people include them with their Welcome Bags and wasn't sure how to get them.

 

[figmentfan814]

I really like your information folders for your guests. I am working on our first newsletter and have been collecting park maps each time we visit the parks. You mentioned receiving your first stack of "First Visit" pins. Did you call Disney to get those? I've seen a lot of people include them with their Welcome Bags and wasn't sure how to get them.

Thanks! The folders were a lot of work, but people really seemed to enjoy getting them. The only bad part was having to mail it to some of our out of state family and friends because the postage added up quickly!

I actually went to the concierge desk at my hotel when I was down for my planning session. I told them that I was putting together bags for my upcoming DFTW and asked if I could get some pins for my guests. They were pretty helpful and gave me what I needed. I ended up getting 15 pins in all, so I didn't ask for a ton.

A good tip that I got from my wedding planner about getting park maps is to go to Downtown Disney. At the World of Disney (by the checkouts) and at Guest Relations they have maps for all four parks, so I was able to get big stacks including ones for the Epcot Resort area (boardwalk) and Downtown Disney.

 

[lajones81]

Sounds great! I can't wait to read more!

 

[figmentfan814]

I was so excited this weekend we ordered two Leave a Legacy tiles. We were originally only getting one, but I couldn't resist adding the second since we are getting married at Epcot. The best part was since I already have a tile it was only $40 all together.

Here is the first one:

Another great bonus was that even though they are pretty particular about using proper names they let us include the information on where we were getting married on this tile.

I'm hoping they might make it up by our trip in September, if not they'll still be up by the wedding.

 

[figmentfan814]

We were thinking about doing something a little different for the invitation. We wanted to have one that includes photos, so that narrows down our options a little.

I have gotten several samples, but am leaning towards this one since it has three color photos on it. It is from Rexcraft. Nothing fancy, but it is pretty personal with all the photos on it. Plus, since it is standard size there wouldn't be any extra postage.

The front photo would be one of our engagement shots and the two inside would be of us in front of the ceremony site and the reception site. I figured we could take this pictures in September when we visit Epcot. Any ideas, suggestions? I am having a friend design our programs, but I thought it would be easier to just order the invites.

On a side note, for the programs I am thinking about having him design them to look like Spaceship Earth, we're stilling working on some of the details.

We got some of our engagement photos back and they didn't turn out the greatest. I am waiting for the CD from the photographer and then I will post some of them. We had them taken a couple weekends ago and it was freezing! I had on a sleeveless dress and it was only like 50 degrees with a little bit of rain. Typical day in May for Michigan The session was pretty short, so the photographer offered to set up another day to take some more shots and we are definitely going to take her up on that offer. We had them taken in Frankenmuth which is a small German town. There is a cute covered bridge which we wanted to get pictures by; we ended up with a few but the wind by the water was too strong to get very many!

 

[hisprincess]

OOOh, I bet your pics will be beautiful if they were in frankenmuth. I love that town, so pretty. We were gonna have our wedding there before we decided on Disney

 

[Belle1981]

I can't believe I missed this PJ! Everything looks wonderful and you will be just GORGEOUS at your wedding I love the dress! I look forward to reading more!

 

[figmentfan814]

I'm still waiting on my CD of our engagement pictures. For those of you that are from around here and have been to Frankenmuth the ones that the photographer posted on her site turned out pretty good. We have several great shots of the covered bridge in the background. It was funny because in a couple of the shots you can tell that the wind was really blowing, but that's what you can expect up here.

Anyway, I wanted to say that I got all of my Swarovski stuff in the mail on Monday. I bought the Cinderellla tiara, bracelet, and necklace. I don't necessarily know that I am going to wear the necklace because I would want to see it with my dress, but I got it just in case especially at that price.

I also bought all of my bridesmaids a gift, but I can't mention it because I know some of them read this thread.

I have been putting together my second newsletter and it has been taking longer than I expected. So far I have a rather lengthy article about all the things to do outside the parks and one that talks more about specifics for the actual wedding day. We have a few naysayers in our families about the entire DFTW, so I wanted to show them everything else there is to do. I covered things like golfing, boat rental, spas, fishing, watersports, etc. I am also working on an article about the Magical Express Service. Any other suggetions. I'm not sure if it's too soon to start bombarding people with info on dining and some of the pre-post wedding events. I'm open to any suggestions.

I've been trying to get in touch with my floral designer from Disney Floral and haven't had any luck yet. I want to order some things like the cake servers and I wanted to make a few adjustments to my centerpieces. I have learned though that you need patience because no word usually means that they are working on your requests.

One of my more crafty friends is up from Georgia for a month, so she is helping me on a bunch of wedding projects. She is doing the embroidery on the canvas tote bags for the members of the wedding party. We decided to put family names on them and then a monogram with initials for the singles in the crowd. Only our wedding party and immediate family are getting the canvas totes, I watched for sales at Hobby Lobby and got them at $2 each. The rest of our guests are getting large gift bags with our monogram on the front. I ordered these from Oriental Trading and got them for $8 per dozen.

My friend is also going to help me with modifications to my veil. We cleaned it using oxy clean and it came out really nicely. I'm using my mom's which has three layers and an attached head piece. We're taking it off the headpiece and attach combs to secure it in my hair. Then since my mom had wide chunky lace added to it, so we're taking that off too. We're then adding Swarovski crystals some in the dark sapphire and some clear. The sapphire will go along with my ring.

Once we have some progress on these projects I'll post some pictures. It should be rather quickly since she is only here until July.

That's about it for now, my DF comes home from Ohio this weekend and we are actually having a date night on Saturday. Usually his visits are always jammed full of family events and meeting up with friends, so I'm looking forward to having a night out on our own.

 

[figmentfan814]

OOOh, I bet your pics will be beautiful if they were in frankenmuth. I love that town, so pretty. We were gonna have our wedding there before we decided on Disney

My cousin got married there a few years ago. They had their ceremony at St. Lorenz the old Lutheran church and their reception at the Bavarian Inn Lodge. It was a lot of fun and a bunch of stayed the night afterwards and had brunch together the next day.

 

[jodeeluvsdisney]

Being a Michigander, I Love Love Love the Frankenmuth as well! So cool to have pics there. I am too far away to be trying that though, over on the west side!

Can't wait to see the pics of your newsletters, welcome bags, etc.! Everything looks/sounds great.

 

[figmentfan814]

We finally got the CD with our engagement pictures. Since it was such a cold and rainy day we didn't get very many shots, so we are getting some more done in a few weeks. There are some where Kris' shirt blew way out and my hair was going everywhere!

Here are a couple of the pictures. The covered bridge was a great backdrop. My mom doesn't like the ones of us on the bridge because we aren't standing right next to each other, but those are some of my favorites!

I cropped this one since his shirt was blowing way out!

Here is one with it blowing.

Here I am talking

I finished up the second newsletter and just sent it out tonight. I was so glad to have it done for everyone. I emailed out a lot more of these, so that will help save on some costs. I still have to get some hard copies printed this week, but only about 10 of them. I have to admit I have borrowed a lot of ideas from other brides that I have found online. The Disney artwork is from the gals on the Creative Board too.

We also got our floral proposal from Laura at Disney. Thankfully, it was pretty much right on target for what I had estimated. It was actually only $50 more than I had guessed. This even includes if we have to have my bouquet refreshed. The proposal covers everything from the chair covers to centerpieces to ribbon wands. We can't have anything to throw (petals, biodegradeable rice, etc.) at the AA, so I think we will end up using the ribbon wands. I also got some of the Mickey bubbles that people have talked about on here, but will probably have those for people at the dessert party. our dessert party will have glow centerpieces with Figement in them. Since we are having kids at the DP we wanted to make it a little more fun, so we're following a Figment (my favorite!) theme.

I am going to get this knife set from DFTW:

 

[JaxTeach]

Your engagement pictures look very nice even though the weather wasn't exactly cooperating! Again, I LOVE your newsletter! It is so professional looking and full of good information. The ladies on the Creative boards are awesome!

 

[figmentfan814]

Your engagement pictures look very nice even though the weather wasn't exactly cooperating! Again, I LOVE your newsletter! It is so professional looking and full of good information. The ladies on the Creative boards are awesome!

Thanks, I have to admit I spend way more time on the newsletters than I really need to... I guess it comes from working in the communication/media field for so long.

 

[purplegirl247]

Your newsletter is awesome; very informative. Looks great too. And your engagement pics are adorable. I love the dress you're wearing!

 

[M&M126]

Wow I love the newsletter! And your engagement pics. Very cute!

 

[figmentfan814]

Thanks M&M126 & purplegirl247. I bought that dress last year and had never wore it, I figured it was a good excuse to get it out

 

[Tabetha]

Your newsletter is amazing! I would love getting those personalized details if I were a guest.

One tiny nitpicky edit... Front page, third paragraph, last sentence. Should be "immerse yourself", not "emerge yourself".

I'm such a nerd.

 

[JackieSparrow]

the pics are so cute! my favorite is the one in color with the water and rocks directly behind you. fantastic job on the newsletter

 

[figmentfan814]

Your newsletter is amazing! I would love getting those personalized details if I were a guest.

One tiny nitpicky edit... Front page, third paragraph, last sentence. Should be "immerse yourself", not "emerge yourself".

I'm such a nerd.

Thanks everyone for your compliments, like I said before I've gotten lots of great ideas from other people. Tabetha thanks for finding that correction, I still have a bunch to print off and mail out so that definitely needed to be changed. I swear no matter how many times you read something there is always one thing that gets missed (I had already found one other reversed letter that I fixed today too!)

 

[figmentfan814]

Okay, so we are finally getting started on some of our do-it-yourself projects. The first is our canvas tote bags for the members of our wedding party. My friend is up visiting from Georgia for a month and she is amazing at sewing! I honestly have no clue when it comes to those types of projects. She is helping me redo my mom's veil and with the totes.

Here are some pictures of us working on the totes. She ended up taking them home to work on the rest of them, so I will post some pictures of the finished products soon.

We are doing 15 of these larger bags, three smaller canvas totes, and 25 gift bags (for the regular guests.) The totes are for our parents, grandparents, members of the wedding party, and our two hostesses.

I wanted to reuse parts of my mom's veil, so we are taking off all the 1970s motif and are adding some swarovski crystals in clear and sapphire colors to match my engagement ring. Some tips if anyone else is reusing an old veil. I took it to the cleaners to have freshened up and they told me to just wash it in the bathtub using some Oxy-Clean. It really made a huge difference in the color and was cheaper than having it cleaned professionally.

Here are some pictures before we got started.

You might be able to see it better in this image, which was kind of a joke that Kris and I were doing for a contest we were entering.

The original headpiece:

My new headpiece is the Cinderella Swarovski tiara that I bought during the Memorial Day sale from the Texas store.

Here is Amanda taking off the mountains for chunky lace:

Right now it is just three plain layers of tool

When I get home tonight I will post some more pictures of the veil. Also, I went crazy this weekend at the Disney Store Semi-Annual sale. I bought tons of stuff for my gift bags and ended up finding something for my centerpieces which I will share soon once I get the pictures in PhotoBucket.

Since I posted pictures of my tiara here is the other jewelry I purchased during the sale for anyone that hasn't seen these pieces yet. I don't know that I am actually going to use the necklace, but at that price I just had to get the whole set. I am going to take it to the dress shop when I place my order to see if it works or not.

My huge box of Swarovski goodies:

Necklace:

I love the bracelet: