Laura and Scott December 6, 2013 Escape Wedding - SBP/The Attic/UK DP

[WDWLover75]

Hi Everyone,

I figured I should start this now since we are four months out and I am pretty sure those four months are about to breeze right by!

About Us
I'm 38, live in the Cleveland area and work in IT. DF Scott is 48 and also works in IT in Cleveland. We met at work a little more than 11 years ago and about 10 years ago started going out for drinks occasionally after work. We officially became 'boyfriend/girlfriend' in April 2004. We've been through a lot together over the last several years and there have been a couple tiny bumps but overall, we have a ton of fun together AND he likes my family (and they like him)!

The Proposal
I've been hinting (ok, probably more than hinting) for a while that I really wanted to take the next step in our relationship. For months and months, I have thought 'oh, this is it' every time we would go on vacation or to a nice restaurant or hiking by waterfalls, etc....but it never was. I got more and more discouraged. Then........we normally go away for any long weekends we get and I generally do all the planning, for weeks, I asked him where he wanted to go for this year's Independence Day holiday...I provided lots of options and never really got much of a response other than a shrug or an 'I don't have time to think about that now'.....We get closer and closer to the long weekend and I finally say 'look, we need to pick a place now or there won't be any reservations left'. He looks at me with this goofy grin on his face and says 'why would we go away for the weekend' to which I responded 'you have already made reservations, haven't you?'....he had!

But, he wouldn't tell me where we were going. Only that I needed to bring clothes to go out for a nice dinner, and clothes for 'normal' dinners, and clothes to do stuff outside, and clothes to do stuff inside..lol...so, I have no clue where we are going! We left on July 4th and he starts driving, and driving, and driving...about 6 hours later, we arrive in Baltimore which is a place we've never been together. Then, when he pulls up to our hotel, I was pretty sure that this weekend would be it because our hotel was much nicer than the standard Courtyard by Marriott-type places we normally stay in....this was right on the Inner Harbor with probably about 10 feet from our window to the water with only a boardwalk in between.

We tour Baltimore and Washington DC for three days, go out to our fancy dinner and nothing. Then, on our last night, we go to walk to dinner via the BoardWalk where we stopped to look at the boats....we were there for quite a while which would normally be ok but it was getting close to 9pm and we were both starving and he also seemed to be looking around a bit....Finally, when there was no one else on the BoardWalk, he proposed! I cried and said 'YES'!

 

[AndiSlamberg]

yay! Another SBP bride! Congrats on your up coming wedding! Can't wait to read along with your journey though your pj!

 

[Summer Daydream]

Congrats!!! We are having an escape wedding at SBP too. We also started dating in April 2014. Looking forward to your plans.

 

[naomiatx86]

Woohoo congrats!!

 

[jmelenbrink]

Congrats! Your story is so sweet!

 

[Bewitch324]

Congratulations!

I love that he did it somewhere different that you hadn't been before, but that you'll be able to go back to in the future and remember that special moment!!!

Can't wait to hear your plans!

Brooke

 

[WDWLover75]

Room block question.

Well. We received our LOA yesterday so I am combing through that to see what questions I have....one that I have which I would like to get your feedback on is related to the room block. How 'serious' is Disney about charging us for damages if we don't meet our minimum room number requirement. Have you guys had that happen where you didn't meet your room block and were you charged? I'm so worried about not having enough rooms for my guests but am so not interested in wasting money on unused rooms!

Thanks ladies!

 

[bigr3ddog]

My understanding is that it is hardly ever a problem because you have so many chances to make adjustments up until 60 days ahead. The block is more difficult at very busy times than during slow times because you want to have enough rooms.

Carrie has reported that she has never heard of someone being charged, but that may be because of all the adjustments you can make along the way. Remember that you only have to guarantee 80% of your block and that people who stay on property but not through your block count toward your block as well.

 

[naomiatx86]

Woah, there is a room block for Escape weddings?

 

[WDWLover75]

Woah, there is a room block for Escape weddings?

Yep! You have to have at least 10 nights. Details are in the Passporter wedding book.

 

[naomiatx86]

Oh I thought that was Wishes only and Escape you had to stay 4 nights. I'm gonna get her book someday, lol.. Hopefully soon

 

[WDWLover75]

Oh I thought that was Wishes only and Escape you had to stay 4 nights. I'm gonna get her book someday, lol.. Hopefully soon

Sorry to have caused confusion - you do NOT have to set up a room block for an Escape wedding, you do for a Wishes. You are right that for the Escape, you will need to make a 4 night reservation.

If you or your guests will need six or more nights in addition to the 4 you have to stay, you can set up a room block and offer your guests discounted room rates. (Remember, that 'nights' is room nights, so if you have three friends that each spend two nights - that's six).

I HIGHLY recommend getting the book if you are planning a WDW wedding, it is full of fantastic information.

 

[WDWLover75]

My understanding is that it is hardly ever a problem because you have so many chances to make adjustments up until 60 days ahead. The block is more difficult at very busy times than during slow times because you want to have enough rooms.

Carrie has reported that she has never heard of someone being charged, but that may be because of all the adjustments you can make along the way. Remember that you only have to guarantee 80% of your block and that people who stay on property but not through your block count toward your block as well.

Thanks! That makes me feel a bit better.

 

[WDWLover75]

Deciding to have our wedding at WDW in December was pretty easy for me, DF needed a bit more convincing!

As we've been dating a long, long time, the subject of marriage has come up numerous times. About a year ago, I said, 'wouldn't it be cool to get married at Disney' and he said yes....so, I started doing research on Disney's site and through google searches, found websites where other people talked about their Disney weddings and I was pretty much hooked! We both have really small families and no matter what, they'd need to travel (some would have to fly) and stay in hotels etc so deciding between Cleveland and a destination wedding was pretty easy. Yes, it would be easier for our family members in Chicago and Philadelphia to drive to Cleveland but really, we weren't hooked on having our wedding here. We both want a really small wedding and if we had it here, we'd have a bunch of people we'd be obligated to invite and it would turn into a high-stress spectacle trying to impress my mom's friends. We really only want those people who we are really, really close to at our wedding.

Deciding on Disney.....we thought about it long and hard (DF more than me) but there is really no where else we could go where flights are pretty reasonable, non-stop, people wouldn't need to get rental cars, there would be plenty to do, plenty of places to eat, etc. Several friends suggested places like Sandals but 1. that requires our guests (some anyhow) to get passports and requires a bit more of a commitment and 2. from what I understand, the marriage wouldn't be legal, we would have to go to a courthouse here to have a legal marriage and I want the wedding to be the legal marriage...not have it just for show, not have two dates to remember (wedding date and marriage date)...so, Disney it was! Another thing that was really a deciding factor for me is the simplicity of the Escape package. I tend to be an over-planner....and I stress myself out every time I have a party...so, having to chose between a few cakes and a few bouquets and all the other stuff that is taken care of by the Escape package made me feel a sense of calm.

Wedding Date...
Lots of people have been surprised that we are getting married 5 months after we got engaged....but, I LOVE Christmas and through research, had heard the week after Thanksgiving is one of the least busy times at Disney. Because I'd already done lots of research (including stalking many of your planning journals - thank you), I felt it was doable to have the wedding in five months instead of waiting another year (you know, after the nine+ years I waited for the proposal). So, we picked the first Friday in December - people can make a long weekend and we aren't subject to the minimums required if holding the wedding on Saturday and Sunday, plus everything will be decorated for Christmas and we are going to MVMCP for the first time

I think we are in pretty good shape at this point, our Save the Dates are out, we put together our wedding website, I've ordered a dress, bought one of our favors (personalized ornaments), and have most of the stuff for our welcome bags (I will figure out how to post pictures and get those up soon). Next is returning our LOA with our deposit and finding an officiant!

 

[WDWLover75]

yay! Another SBP bride! Congrats on your up coming wedding! Can't wait to read along with your journey though your pj!

Thanks! I will have to check out your planning journal!

Congrats!!! We are having an escape wedding at SBP too. We also started dating in April 2014. Looking forward to your plans.

Awesome! I'm guessing you meant April 2004 - then you know how exciting it is to be getting married after all this time!

Woohoo congrats!!

Thank you!

Congrats! Your story is so sweet!

Thanks!

Congratulations!

I love that he did it somewhere different that you hadn't been before, but that you'll be able to go back to in the future and remember that special moment!!!

Can't wait to hear your plans!

Brooke

Thanks! Yes, I was very impressed with his planning! I was maybe even thinking we could go back there for the honeymoon but it will be too cold in Baltimore in December (DF doesn't like the cold).

 

[charliegirl76]

Hi, Laura! Welcome and congratulations! Your wedding day is 5 days after mine! Can't wait to see your plans!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[WDWLover75]

Ok - let's see how this goes trying to post my first image. This is a 'stock' picture of my ring. I will try posting one later of how it looks on my chubby finger.



Here is what it looks like on my hand (with my cat Oliver trying to steal the string on that black bag!) It is so sparkly in person, I haven't been able to take a picture yet that does it justice!

 

[WDWLover75]

Things are moving along pretty well.

• I mailed in our LOA yesterday!
• Our revised room block has been sent in, though we still don't know when everyone is planning to travel.
• DF looked over the list of officiants and decided he liked Jack Day the best (from their websites), so we've contacted him - hopefully he is available
• I've decided to go with Beauty on Site - I really liked their website and had a nice talk with Janet yesterday (who encouraged me to call her while she is on vacation!)
• Honeymoon - I *think* we've decided to go on a cruise for our honeymoon. DF likes sun, beach, heat, and would be happy just siting on a beach somewhere the entire week. On the other hand, I burn really easily and don't love the heat plus like to do stuff so a cruise would make us both happy! We've checked out the cost of the cruise plus researched renting a car from the Disney Car Care Center, returning it to the Fort Lauderdale airport and using the free shuttle National has to get to the cruise port! Now, we just need to confirm that is what we want to do and make sure we will make it to the cruise port in time after leaving WDW that morning!

One other thing I don't think I mentioned in why I picked the timing I did for the wedding in regards to logistics. My parents spend the summers here in Cleveland but then live the rest of the year in Naples. So, my idea was to do and buy as much as possible for the wedding before they drive down to Florida in October and pack a couple boxes full of wedding stuff in their car. Then, we'd go to Naples to celebrate Thanksgiving with them, buy whatever stuff we want to locally (bottled water, OJ bottles, booze, etc), get the Welcome Bags assembled, favors put together, dress steamed, etc. We'd be there through the weekend so we'd have plenty of time and not feel too rushed and overwhelmed (hopefully), then we'd drive to Disney on Monday. Drop off the Welcome Bags at the hotel, the favors and programs at Franks, check into our hotel, then return the rental car. That will give us most of the week to just have fun and relax before our wedding Friday.

This accomplishes a couple of things:

• Will save money on shipping. I will probably still have to ship some stuff or put it in my luggage but shouldn't be too much.
• Forces me to plan and get stuff done early. I am a BIG time procrastinator - huge, could probably win the Guiness record..but I digress.
• I tend to stress myself out unnecessarily on little, stupid things...if I have much stuff done by October, it will greatly limit how much I can stress myself out!

Up next - Welcome bag info and groom's gift.

 

[WDWLover75]

I bought two things for DF to give to him on our wedding day, 1 is just for fun, 1 is sentimental.

The fun one - personalized beer stein from Zazzle. I really couldn't resist!



The sentimental one - DF loves music and plays the guitar when he can for fun. He also likes to carry stuff in his pockets - I don't know why, but he has this stash of stuff that he always has in his pants pocket - Swiss Army Knife, a flashlight, a piece of coral he found on a beach, etc.....so, I thought this would be a perfect addition! Sorry the picture isn't awesome, I was getting quite the glare. This is a sterling silver guitar pick with our initials and wedding date.

From AKAoriginals on Etsy:

 

[WDWLover75]

For our Welcome Bags, we are dividing things into 'Packs':

• Information
• Drink
• Snack
• Essentials (though not loving this name - any suggestions?)

This post focuses on the Essentials Pack.

I was originally going to call it the bare necessities pack as a play on the Jungle Book song but I didn't think most of our guests would get it and with the supplies I ended up buying, I will be going with another name.

I was also originally going to get some custom made bags for the Essentials pack on Etsy but decided to DIY. I was also going to buy my welcome bags on Zazzle and have Minnie/Mickey Mouse plus the dates of our wedding but then ThirtyOne had a giant sale so I ended up getting bags there, plus I figured that would be more versatile and more likely people would reuse them. So, for the essentials bags, I wanted to have a Disney theme.

I found cotton/jute wine bags and Mickey iron-on decals.



After some ironing:



The contents of each bag:

• Lifesaver mints: 6 per person
• Gum - 1 per bag
• Tissues - 1 per person
• Minnie Pencil - 1 per bag
• Sunscreen - 1 per bag
• Bandages - 3 per person
• Antibiotic creme - 1 per person
• Purell wipes - 4 per person
• Shout Wipe - 1 per bag
• Advil pack - 1 per person

The stuffed bag will look like this:



I plan to add some sort of tag and attach it to the jute tie. I may also add a thin colored ribbon to tie the bag along with the jute for a bunch of color. We will see. I will post again when I have them all assembled (which, if you read my previous post, won't be till Thanksgiving. I have everything all packed up ready to take to my parents).