Gown Preservation and Other Options

How many of you decided to preserve your gown after your wedding?  Did you ask for opinions before you did it?  Did any of your already married friends tell you where they went and what they had done?

Well, I asked a few of my friends where to go to clean my dress (most suggested a dry cleaner) because we got married in April and had a reception a little less than two months later.  But, I never thought to ask about getting my gown preserved.

Why?  Well, I figured David's Bridal has been preserving gowns for years and that meant I could trust them to do mine too.  Right?

Yes, I could!  But, what I didn't expect was for them to charge me out of my butt for other "little" things.

Included in the price of the kit was the standard preservation and free shipping.

What was not included was veil preservation ($15 extra), premier preservation (which includes gown insurance, lifetime guarantee, among other things - $50), and if you need to fix your dress due to rips or other minor things (these charges started at $15 and went up from there).

I have to say I was very disappointed by this whole process.  While I am excited to have my dress preserved so that I can keep it for when we have kids (I have a few plans for it if we have a girl!), I am not so excited that I had to pay that much for it.  Especially when you sit down and think of how much your dress was in the first place!

But, I guess I can't complain too much.  I made the choice to go with David's Bridal and also made the choice to get some of the extras done to my dress.  I just want other people to be aware of what they're paying for if they choose to go this route.  I would've found it helpful to know beforehand and I'm hoping someone else will find this helpful as well.

However, if you decide you don't want to keep your dress after your wedding (after doing research I found that a lot of brides feel this way) there are some great ways to get rid of it.  

Brides Against Breast Cancer is a wonderful organization that takes used bridal gowns and sells them at a much cheaper price to other brides.  You can find out more about the donating process here.  If you want to keep your gown but still help out this organization you can click on this link and give however much money you can.  A little can go a long way in making a brides dream day come true.

If the first option is not something you're interested in you can always give your gown to goodwill or try to sell it on the internet.  Also, if someone in your family likes a part of your gown (perhaps you wore lace) you can always let them incorporate pieces of your dress on theirs for their special day.  

Whether you want to keep your dress, donate it, or sell it there is definitely an option for everyone!  

   

A Little Bit of Gratitude

I just wanted to write a quick post thanking everyone who came out to celebrate our marriage at the reception in California.  I'll have a more detailed post once we receive the professional pictures from our awesome photographer (we loved her!), so please stay tuned for that!

Chris and I would also like to thank everyone for the thoughtful gifts and heartwarming cards.  We are overwhelmed by all the love and gifts our family and friends have given us and are so very thankful for each and every one of you.  Words can never express how grateful we are.

Thank you all!

After Wedding Surprises

When Chris and I decided to get married at DisneyWorld they sent us a list of all the people (marriage license, officiants, hair and make-up stylists, etc) that they work with.  We thought that if Disney recommended them, then all those people must be great.  And we were right for the most part.  Chris and I absolutely loved our Pastor (Kirk Bane) as well as everyone who attended the ceremony.  He's done (I think) around 500 weddings there and said he will keep doing more as long as people will have him.  I had two amazing ladies who did my hair and make-up (they worked for the Disney salon) who were so funny and such a calming presence the day of the wedding.  We honestly couldn't have had better people to work with for our wedding.  Except....

Disney provided us with two choices on how to obtain our marriage license.  We could either go to the courthouse (which we did not have time to do before the wedding), or use an online service (Say I Do Weddings, inc.) that cost us a little more, but we didn't have to change our flights to get to Florida early so we could actually go to the courthouse.

Let me start out by saying that I would never recommend these people to anyone who wants to have a destination wedding at Disney.  They were fine before the wedding because they got all the paperwork to us on time and that was one less thing to worry about.  But Chris and I got married about a month ago and I still don't have the license in my possession.  Every time I call to try to figure out what is going on no one answers the phone.  Once I leave a message, I usually get a call back anywhere between two hours later or the next day (most of the time it's next day).  When I finally get my call back the person on the phone has absolutely no idea what is going on, and I've even been promised things that aren't passed on to the manager so when I talk to her she has no idea what I'm even talking about!

When I called two weeks ago to ask where my marriage license was, I was told that it should already be here and that this wasn't the "norm" for them.  The girl said she would go to the courthouse the next day to get our license and then either UPS or FedEx it to us and would then send me the tracking number.  Last week, Chris called to see what was going on and the "manager" said she had no idea what he was talking about.  We needed the license so Chris could add me to his insurance at work so the girl promised to fax him a copy and then send the other copies to us via mail.  I asked for the tracking number on Wednesday night and it is now Friday and I have only gotten a very short and curt voicemail back from the assistant saying she's going to call her manager to figure out what is going on.  Why even call me if you can't even answer my questions?  

Needless to say we have no idea where it is and I'm having to practice being patient (I'm not so good at it...).  Chris says it's not a big deal because at least we had it for the wedding, but I just can't believe this has been going on for so long.  I just want a straight answer from someone and to know why they're having so many issues getting our license out to us.  I mean, it's been a month already!  Has anyone else had problems like this after the wedding?  Ugh...

Wedded Bliss

For some brides, their wedding day is just one giant stressed out blur.  I've never understood girls who act crazy if something goes wrong on their big day.  I've also never understood brides who think the wedding day is all about them and their husband is just supposed to do nothing but show up.  I always made sure Chris was involved in all the decision making, even if he could care less about the flowers or how the pavilion was decorated.  We were a team and in this wedding planning process together.  Chris and I had fun doing it and we can look back on that time and know that we designed a wedding that both of us were (and are) completely happy with.  

We got married on April 20th at Walt Disney World's Wedding Pavilion.  The night before the wedding I stayed at Disney's Contemporary Resort with my two sisters (who were also my bridesmaids).  We had a perfect view of the Magic Kingdom park from our room so we were also able to watch the fireworks that night as well.  In the picture below you can (kind of) see where we were staying in comparison to the Magic Kingdom and the Wedding Pavilion.

Everything was actually much closer than it looks in this picture!  (Thanks for the photo Shiva!)

The next morning, I had people come to our room to steam my dress as well as two hairstylists to do our hair and make-up.  Everyone was surprised that I had no problems sleeping and that I wasn't anxious or nervous the morning of.  I have to admit that I was soaking in the experience, and enjoying every second of it.  After hair and make-up, my photographers came and started taking loads of pictures (that I can't wait to see in a few weeks!).  We were all enjoying the pictures and I loved hearing how great my dress looked.  Yes, that may be a little conceited but that's okay.  I'm allowed to be that way on my wedding day!  ha!

I actually didn't get nervous until right before I walked down the aisle.  And the only reason I became nervous was because my mom started to get anxious and kept telling me how she was feeling.  (Just a quick note to whoever is walking a bride down the aisle, never tell her you're nervous because that'll set her nerves on edge as well!)  But, once the doors were opened and I saw Chris I forgot everything else.  We had an amazing Pastor (we found him through Disney) who kept me laughing and smiling throughout the ceremony.  I don't really remember what was said (guess I'll have to wait for the video to jog my memory!) but I remember being so incredibly happy and that's all that matters.


After everything was done Chris and I looked at each other and said, "Are we really married?"  Everything went by so fast that we couldn't believe it when it was over!  After eight months of planning, our wedding was over in just a few short hours.  The entire day was perfect and neither of us could've imagined a better way to start the next phase of our life together.

   

Bridal Shower Fun

On March 25th my sister Sam threw me a beautiful bridal shower at the house I grew up in.  I was surrounded by friends and family that are truly happy for this new stage in my life and I couldn't have felt more loved that day.  We ate loads of food, played a few games, and opened a huge amount of presents.  It really was a perfect day!

Below are some of my favorite photos from the day.  

(L-R) My mom's neighbor Patty, my best friends mom Karen, and my best friend Laura

The dessert table...yum!

Playing my favorite game...how much do you know about the bride.  :-)

My two best friends!  (L-R) Emily, Laura, and I

(L-R) Charlie (the dog), Me, Laura, Julie, and Sam

My family!  (L-R) Gran (maternal grandmother), Mom, Aunt Jenny (my dad's sister), Me, Grandma  (paternal grandmother), and Sam

The cute favor table

(L-R) Mom, Julie, Me, Sam, and Gran

And of course, we couldn't leave the party without a shoe picture!  

Thank you to everyone who made the day special!

Thank You's

While I was browsing Pinterest today I came across a list of things that every bride should remember to do. Luckily, since we're having a destination wedding, I didn't have to worry about most of the list but there were a few that caught my eye.  It also reminded me that I need to make thank you cards to write out after my bridal shower at the end of March.  So...I did what I always do and started searching on etsy for ideas!

I really like this card I found...but I wanted to add a little something more.  I'm thinking the words, "from the future Mrs. Cox" would look good as well as mixing up each card with a different little embellishment.  The first prototype I did was a little plain...but I think it was a great first draft!  What do you think?

  

Wedding Invitations Part II

Now that pretty much everyone has received their wedding invitations, I think it's safe to finally post the finished product on the blog!  If you read this post, you'll know that Chris and I went through several different designs before deciding on the one that was right for us.  I also surfed etsy and different wedding blogs until I found the invitation design that worked the best for what we needed.

Even though our wedding is a bit different (since we're getting married at DisneyWorld and all!) I wanted to bring a little bit of the traditional side into our invitations.  I'm not exaggerating when I say Chris and I went through six different designs before settling on the one we used.  Each design was different in it's own way, but I am very proud of the one we chose.

Here is the back of the pocket fold invitation.  I love the color! 

The invitation

Invitation inserts

I think this is my favorite part of the invitation!

The finished product.  

The back of the invitation.

I wish that I had taken pictures while I was making the invitations.  It would've given a lot of insight into what I had done and how time consuming the process was.  It took about three hours to cut and score all the paper, as well as put in the inserts.  While the entire process took a lot of time, I couldn't be happier with the finished product.  Finishing this project was extremely rewarding because I did it all on my own.  I love the fact that our wedding will have many personal touches that I did.

**Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures and the smudges I didn't notice until I uploaded them**

wedding band

Chris and I finally got our wedding bands in last week!  I was so excited and poor Chris was trying, but failing, to understand and match my excitement (guys just don't understand a girls obsession with diamonds!).

As soon as we got our bands we tried them on (I didn't want to take mine off!) to make sure they fit and we liked the way they looked.  Chris is still a little apprehensive about wearing a ring (he's afraid he'll loose it) but I can't wait for these next two months to fly by so I can finally wear that gorgeous wedding set!

If anyone is thinking about buying jewelry, I strongly suggest you look at the Blue Nile web site!  Chris first bought me earrings from there for our first Valentine's Day together...and we haven't shoppend anywhere else since!   So, when Chris finally decided to propose he knew exactly where to buy my ring from.  They have so many choices and you always get free 2-day shipping with your purchase.  And, if a ring doesn't fit you have 30 days to return it to get resized (for free!) as well as a full year worth of free resizing (as long as you pay for shipping).  We have never been disappointed in any of our purchases and I can honestly say we will be returning customers.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the rings we've bought from there:

My Nouveau Pave Diamond engagement ring and wedding band in Platinum

Chris's Double Groved Comfort Fit wedding ring in Titanium

Wedding Invitations

Today I finally finished the wedding invitations.  I have to send them out about two weeks from now, so I wanted to get them done early so I didn't have to worry about them over the next two weeks.  Back in October, I did my first wedding invitations with my soon to be mother and sister-in-law.

Here is an example of what we did

At first I was really happy with them, because they fit in really well with our Disney Wedding.  As time went on though, I began to feel like they looked more like a birthday invitation instead of a wedding invitation.  And I decided that since Chris and I are having a non-traditional wedding in Disney (I mean really...how many people that we know get the opportunity to get married there?!) I wanted a traditional invitation.  So...I began my search.

Chris advised me to look on etsy after a few failed attempts to make new and more traditional looking invitations so I eventually took his advice.  I also learned that even though Chris has a "whatever you want, honey" attitude about most things concerning the wedding, he is very opinionated about the invitation style.  

Here are a few things I found on etsy that fueled my imagination:

I used the RSVP style as inspiration for this invitation!  Plus, I love the blue color on this invitation!

I loved this pocketfold invitation as soon as I saw it (just not the colors)

I made my own version of this monogrammed closure flap (I have no idea what to call it!) which is probably my favorite part of the entire thing.

I also found a helpful blog that I used when constructing my own pocketfold invitations!  I ordered the paper I used off of MisterArt (although I did not use the type of paper that comes up with that link) and got it cut at Kinkos for under $5.00!  I also found that using tacky tape alone did not guarantee the pocket would stay in tact, so I used both tacky tape as well as superglue (I felt pretty clever in coming up with that solution!).  All in all...I am extremely happy with how our invitations came out and cannot wait to hear what all of our friends and family think of them!  

And now...I will leave you with a sneak peak of how mine turned out.  Don't worry...after I know that everyone has received theirs I will post a picture of the invitation in it's entirety.  

Flower Girl Dilema

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about my just-turned-one, soon-to-be niece flower girl.  My first problem is trying to decide what I want her to wear.  I have a few ideas in my head (thank you pinterest) and they're all so cute that I can't choose just one!

This Belle inspired tutu is so adorable and I smile every time I see it!

I love the tutu idea!  It just seems so fun, cute, and comfortable for the flower girls and I just love the look!  However, my mom brought up the fact that it may be too casual for a royal themed wedding. 

My other idea was to buy a cute Disney inspired Belle costume from the Disney store and have my flower girl wear it down the aisle.  But...when I was in California back in October we went to Downtown Disney and had Amelia try on the dresses and they were either too tight or too long.  And to be honest, it's just not my favorite.  It may be great for a royal themed wedding but I'm just not sure.

So...any suggestions on which one to choose?  What do you think works better for a royal themed wedding?  Oh...so many decisions and I'm having the hardest time trying to choose!  Any help would be greatly appreciated!   

Professional Engagement Pictures

A high school friend of mine just recently started her own Photography business with her neighbor and was so excited when Chris and I got engaged because it was her chance to do our photos.  We planned to do our photos in Washington DC near some of our favorite monuments.  The main attraction was that two days after we started dating in 2009, we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival and toured the city.  Chris, my mom, Sam and I went around to numerous monuments and had a great time doing it.  So..when Chris and I were deciding where to do our pictures, there was no question.  DC was the place to do it!

We were hoping that the leaves would start changing in mid October, so Ashley and Gail met us at our apartment and we all drove into DC together.  Unfortunately, only some of the leaves had changed so mid October wasn't the best idea but the pictures turned out great so we can't complain!

Here are a few of my favorites from the day!

I don't know why but I absolutely love this photo!

I love the chalkboard idea for pictures!

What a great picture of the ring!

                                                  

 

 

This is my favorite picture.  <3

Chris doesn't like his face in this one but I love it!  :-)

Ashley and Gail thought it would be cute to do a reenactment of the proposal.  I was acting a little over dramatic but it was fun!  You could hear a lot of people say, "She's not even crying!"  or "Is this for real?!"  haha

Destination Weddings (part 2): Choosing Your Bridesmaids

The wedding party is such an important part of any wedding.  The people that are selected are those the bride and groom feel closest to and those people should mean the most to them.  If you're having a normal wedding in your hometown, it's easy to choose who you want because 99% of the time, all the people you ask can make it.  It's much harder to choose when planning a destination wedding because the venue may have a low number of seats available, or it could be too expensive for a lot of people to come.

Chris and I found that our biggest problem was the number of people Disney allowed us to bring along with the package we purchased.  The limit was 20 (including the bride and groom) so we had to make sure we had plenty of room for our family before we started picking people for the wedding party.

The big thing other brides should consider when choosing their girls is whether or not they'll take the supportive or controlling role.  If you've had a friend that was married and turned out to be bridezilla you may want to think twice about asking her to be in yours.  Chances are, girls that are extremely controlling will also want to control a lot of the aspects of your own wedding.  Always choose people that are going to build you up on your wedding day, not tear you down.

Another thing you'll want to remember is that you do not have to choose someone just because you were in their wedding.  Never ever choose someone out of obligation.  Even if you made a pact with a girlfriend at a young age that you would be in each others wedding, it doesn't mean that if you grew apart over the years that you still have to ask them!  Always choose people that mean the most to you and your groom!  Those are the people that you will cherish for years to come.

Destination Weddings (part 1): Invites

Today I want to write a post on planning a destination wedding.  Chris and I got engaged on August 20th, 2001 and are getting married on April 20th, 2012 (four months exactly from today!!), so I've had a few months to start getting things done.

The first thing we had to decide is where we wanted to get married.  The decision was easy for Chris and I because not only do we love Disney World, but we also got engaged there and immediately knew we wanted to celebrate our wedding there as well.  The reason we chose Florida was because my family lives in Virginia and Chris's family is in California.  We didn't want our families to feel as though we were choosing one side over the other if we got married in either state, so we settled for something in-between.  Chris and I also knew that in choosing an in-between state, we would upset a lot of people because not everyone would be able to come due to cost and we are also limited in the number of people we could bring with the Disney package we wanted.  We quickly realized you can't please everyone.

With our Disney wedding package, the guest list can include no more than twenty people (including the bride and groom).  We knew that picking and choosing who we wanted to celebrate with us would be extremely hard, but were ready for the challenge.  We quickly decided which family members would be invited and then decided we'd use the remaining number of seats for friends.  The hard part was that people were upset we said only husbands and fiance's were invited due to the limited seating at the event.  I quickly realized that picking and choosing was going to be a much more difficult process than I had originally thought.  Chris and I really had to start picking our battles when it came our family and friends because the stress just wasn't worth it.  You always hope that people understand it's your wedding and won't be upset and cause you stress, but with Chris and I that was not the case.

I think the one thing Chris and I figured out along the way is that no matter what you do and how hard you try to accommodate everyone, there is always going to be someone that is unhappy.  I know that it's much different dealing with a destination wedding than a hometown one because everyone wants to celebrate with you and for a lot of people who have to travel, it's just not possible.  The one thing I constantly tell myself, (because I hate hurting other people's feelings), is that this is something Chris and I really want and are so excited for!  Would we like more people to be able to come?  Of course!  But this wedding is literally a dream come true and I wouldn't trade having it at Disney for anything.  We're happy and that is the most important thing.  :-)

If there was any advice I could give to brides planning a destination wedding, they would be:

• Even though you and your fiance have probably saved for a while for your destination wedding, a lot of other people probably have not.  Take that into consideration when deciding on who to invite.
• Some places (like Disney) have a limit on how many people can be at the ceremony.  Be aware who counts and who doesn't (for example: for Disney kids under the age of two don't count) and also make sure you know birthdays in case a child ages up before you get married.
• Make lots of lists!  I've utilized Microsoft Access and Excel a lot throughout this process and found them very useful when needing to refer back to certain things.

California Fun

Chris and I spent the last few days out in California with his family.  We got out there midday on Wednesday (the 19th) and came back to Virginia on Monday (the 24th).  While I spent most of my time with his mom and sister Jessica, he was off having fun at Blizzcon with his World of Warcraft buddies.  

Kelly, Jessica, Amelia, and I spent some time crafting, making my wedding invitations, favors, decorating for our engagement party, looked at reception locations (and found one I'm in love with), and even had time to do a little shopping!  At night, I went and hung out with Chris and his friends, spent lots of time with Shiva, and got to eat some really amazing food!  We had a really fun trip, and I was sad to come home.  But at least I know that I will go out again in the near future to help with more wedding stuff, hang out for my bridal shower, and go to Vegas for my bachelorette party!  (I can't wait!!)

And now....I thought I'd share our trip in photos.  Enjoy!

At Downtown Disney we ate at the Rainforest Cafe and looked at flower girl dresses for the wedding.  Amelia did not like putting on Cinderella's dress at all!

The Monarch Room at The Grand in Long Beach is where I am considering having the reception.   This was everyone's favorite room!

Some of the photos Jessica and I took of Amelia!

Kelly made the mickey ears for us!

The Mickey ears read, "FINALLY ENGAGED" (inside joke) and the tables were decorated pink and black.  These two photos were taken with my Hipstamatic app on the iPhone!