Kyle took me to cincinnati
Kyle took me to cincinnati unexpectedly and i'm sans computer. I'll announce the winner of the etsy giveaway tomorrow when i get home...
Spotlight Review
No Disney Bride Spotlight today, but I have a good excuse...it's my birthday! Kyle is taking me on some sort of surprise weekend of fun and last night I celebrated with Nate (his birthday was a couple of weeks ago) and our friends, so I haven't had time to scope out a new bride. So here, instead, is a recap of the lovely ladies we've had so far...if you haven't peeked at their weddings, you definitely should! Each was beautiful, unique, and amazing.
Disney Bride Lisa
Disney Bride Lisa
How to Make Money with Your Wedding Blog (Part One)
400th post!
I’m starting another new thing on the blog today. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but towards the end of the wedding planning I started getting ideas for the blog that had to be pushed off until I could find a better time for them. Well, ta da! Welcome to a better time.
I’ve been torn, actually, between starting things like the new Esty Seller Spotlight and just plowing ahead with the trip report. After all, I have sooooo much left to cover from the wedding trip that I’m probably not going to get to receptions #2 and #3 until spring! And I do love talking about the trip because it forces me to remember all the happy details and makes me feel like I’m back on vacation with all my favorite people. However, I also love the fact that this blog has turned into a resource for people and when I do finally finish up and stop posting on here, I want to make sure that I’ve left information behind that will help other brides out.
I’ve been getting a pretty steady amount of e-mail from reader brides for the last four or five months and although most of them are simply compliments or quick questions, there are a couple of things that brides consistently want to know about. One is whether or not they can afford to have a Disney wedding. Another is how they can get their families and friends to be excited about the Disney wedding. The most common question, though, is this: How can I start my own successful wedding blog?
There are a couple of parts to answering this question, because the question is actually a few questions in one:
So, since this is such a big question for a lot of the brides who come through here, I thought I’d put together a detailed answer that lays out everything I know about wedding blogging…which is going to take more than one post! Therefore, starting today and for the next four Fridays, I’ll be posting a series on How to Make Money with Your Wedding Blog, which should cover most of the questions that I get. The series will obviously also be helpful for non-wedding bloggers, but since I’m being questioned by brides I’m going to answer to brides!
Here is the short whowhatwhenwherewhy on this series...
In the series, I’ll cover these five topics:
Excited? Me too. Let’s get to it…
Part One: Blogging 101
If you’ve never blogged before, the prospect of becoming a blogger can be intimidating and overwhelming. There are so many options open to bloggers these days that the possibilities are (quite literally) endless. However, there are also a lot of user-friendly sites that walk you through setting up your own blog and we’re going to use one of those: Blogger.
I have to throw it out there – Blogger is not that popular. Yes, a lot of people use Blogger, but the hosting service of choice for most profitable blogs is WordPress. If you google “set up a great blog”, you’re going to find millions of people who want you to use WordPress. So why am I wasting your time with Blogger? Simple – I think that Blogger is easier to use if you’ve never blogged before and I’m a Blogger girl because I heart Google very much. I just wanted to own up to the fact that I’m in the minority.
The first thing you need to do if you want to set up a blog in Blogger is to get a Google account. Honestly, you should get a Google account anyway. In addition to the ever popular Gmail, Google has a whole crazy-attic full of neat internet tools and toys to explore. To get a Google account, just go to gmail.com and set one up. Don’t worry about picking a username that you can blog with (coolbride@gmail.com) instead of one that you’d actually want to give out to people in your life (jane.smith@gmail.com). You can change your Blogger username when you set up a profile. I do have a thatdisneygirl@gmail.com account, but that’s to shield my “real” account from the readers who want to contact me.
Now I’m assuming that you have a username and you’re ready to start blogging. There’s also a good chance that you already had a username and a blog and I’m just rambling on and on about things you already know. So, the next part is going to be divided by specific questions. Scroll down to figure out what level you’re at and go from there.
How do I set up a Blogger account?
There are two different ways. Either
How do I post videos?
Again, there are two different ways. Either
How do I post links?
If you start a blog, feel free to leave your new address. The real show-and-tell will happen next week, though, when you guys learn how to make your blogs all pretty and fancy-like. If there are any basic blogging questions that I missed, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll respond to them there. You can also email me, but chances are if you have a question, someone else is wondering about it too…
I’m starting another new thing on the blog today. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but towards the end of the wedding planning I started getting ideas for the blog that had to be pushed off until I could find a better time for them. Well, ta da! Welcome to a better time.
I’ve been torn, actually, between starting things like the new Esty Seller Spotlight and just plowing ahead with the trip report. After all, I have sooooo much left to cover from the wedding trip that I’m probably not going to get to receptions #2 and #3 until spring! And I do love talking about the trip because it forces me to remember all the happy details and makes me feel like I’m back on vacation with all my favorite people. However, I also love the fact that this blog has turned into a resource for people and when I do finally finish up and stop posting on here, I want to make sure that I’ve left information behind that will help other brides out.
I’ve been getting a pretty steady amount of e-mail from reader brides for the last four or five months and although most of them are simply compliments or quick questions, there are a couple of things that brides consistently want to know about. One is whether or not they can afford to have a Disney wedding. Another is how they can get their families and friends to be excited about the Disney wedding. The most common question, though, is this: How can I start my own successful wedding blog?
There are a couple of parts to answering this question, because the question is actually a few questions in one:
- How do I start a wedding blog?
- How do I get people to read my wedding blog?
- How do I make money off of my wedding blog?
So, since this is such a big question for a lot of the brides who come through here, I thought I’d put together a detailed answer that lays out everything I know about wedding blogging…which is going to take more than one post! Therefore, starting today and for the next four Fridays, I’ll be posting a series on How to Make Money with Your Wedding Blog, which should cover most of the questions that I get. The series will obviously also be helpful for non-wedding bloggers, but since I’m being questioned by brides I’m going to answer to brides!
Here is the short whowhatwhenwherewhy on this series...
- Who? People who want to learn more about wedding blogging (or blogging in general) and who have at least a half hour every 1-2 days to put into this hobby.
- What? Short lessons on how to make your blog successful without making yourself nuts.
- When? Every Friday for today and the next four weeks.
- Where? Um...here.
- Why? Because blogging is fun and it's not nearly as hard as it looks from the outside. Plus, if you can profit in any way from the blog than that's more money you've saved for the wedding!
In the series, I’ll cover these five topics:
- Blogging 101.
- Creating an attractive wedding blog.
- Writing posts that people will want to read.
- Directing traffic to your wedding blog.
- Profiting from your wedding blog.
Excited? Me too. Let’s get to it…
Part One: Blogging 101
If you’ve never blogged before, the prospect of becoming a blogger can be intimidating and overwhelming. There are so many options open to bloggers these days that the possibilities are (quite literally) endless. However, there are also a lot of user-friendly sites that walk you through setting up your own blog and we’re going to use one of those: Blogger.
I have to throw it out there – Blogger is not that popular. Yes, a lot of people use Blogger, but the hosting service of choice for most profitable blogs is WordPress. If you google “set up a great blog”, you’re going to find millions of people who want you to use WordPress. So why am I wasting your time with Blogger? Simple – I think that Blogger is easier to use if you’ve never blogged before and I’m a Blogger girl because I heart Google very much. I just wanted to own up to the fact that I’m in the minority.
The first thing you need to do if you want to set up a blog in Blogger is to get a Google account. Honestly, you should get a Google account anyway. In addition to the ever popular Gmail, Google has a whole crazy-attic full of neat internet tools and toys to explore. To get a Google account, just go to gmail.com and set one up. Don’t worry about picking a username that you can blog with (coolbride@gmail.com) instead of one that you’d actually want to give out to people in your life (jane.smith@gmail.com). You can change your Blogger username when you set up a profile. I do have a thatdisneygirl@gmail.com account, but that’s to shield my “real” account from the readers who want to contact me.
Now I’m assuming that you have a username and you’re ready to start blogging. There’s also a good chance that you already had a username and a blog and I’m just rambling on and on about things you already know. So, the next part is going to be divided by specific questions. Scroll down to figure out what level you’re at and go from there.
How do I set up a Blogger account?
- Get a Gmail account.
- Go to Blogger.com.
- Click “create a blog” and fill out the form using your Gmail address. The display name you pick will be the one that readers see on your blog, so choose it wisely. It’s a good idea to pick something that is easy to remember, unique, and related to the thing you’re blogging about.
- Follow the instructions to set up an account.
- This will lead you right into picking a name for your new blog. You have to pick both the name of the blog and the blog URL (web address). You can change these later, but it’s a good idea to put some thought into it the first time around, especially if you don’t think you’ll change it until after people have started reading you. Case in point? My blog was originally titled Budget Disney Wedding and therefore the address is budgetdisneywedding.blogspot.com. I later changed the title to A Disney Wedding because it was less of a mouthful and people looking for budget weddings weren’t necessarily looking for a $20,000 celebration. However, by the time I changed the title I was already getting around 400 readers every day. If I had changed the URL on them, they wouldn’t have been able to find me. So now I have a blog title and a blog URL that don’t match. Bad idea.
- Templates are the way your blog looks when people view it. You have the ability to choose and modify templates to make your blog as attractive as possible.
- You don’t have to use one of the templates that Blogger gives you when you first set up the blog, but you do have to choose one initially.
- For now, if you’re creating a blog, just pick one you can live with for a bit until you have time to change it. Next week we’ll go over how to make your blog look unique and interesting.
- The first time you set up a blog, you should go right into the screen that lets you write posts. You don’t have to post immediately – your blog will still be there if you close the window and come back to it later.
- However, the next time you sign in, you will go to your Blogger dashboard, which lists all of the blogs you have on Blogger. If you only have the one blog, it will be right there.
- If you have more than one blog, you’ll have to scroll down until you find the one you want to post in. Your blogs are generally listed from the one you most recently posted to and down. For example, I have 15 different blogs (eep!) but the wedding one is almost always on top because it’s the one I post to the most.
- Under your blog name, there is a button that says “new post”. Clicking it will open the screen that lets you write posts.
- Put in a title.
- Write your post.
- Click either “save” or “post to blog”.
- Your post is now online. Click “view blog” to see it.
There are two different ways. Either
- Go to the create-a-post page and click on the little picture icon that’s right above the area where you type out your post. This opens a box that lets you either upload a photo from your computer (easiest) or put in an image location from a photo on the internet already.
- Use an outside photo service like Photobucket to store your pictures. Copy the HTML code from the photo you want to use. Come back to the create-a-post page and click on the tab that says “Edit HTML”. Look around until you see the spot where you want to put your picture and past the HTML code that you copied. Click on the “compose” tab to preview what your image will look like when posted.
How do I post videos?
Again, there are two different ways. Either
- Go to the create-a-post page and click on the little video icon that’s right above the area where you type out your post. This opens a box that lets you either upload a video from your computer, which takes a long time but is pretty easy. The downside is that the videos come up pretty small and are of questionable quality.
- Go with an outside video service like Vimeo or YouTube and upload your videos on their site. Then copy and paste the HTML code the same way you would for a picture code. Big upside of doing it this way is that it’s fast, especially if you already uploaded the video, and the picture is larger.
How do I post links?
- When writing a blog, if there is a section of text that you would like to turn into an active link (for example: this is the cutest baby ever) then highlight that text and click the button that looks like a globe with a chain link floating above it (it’s between font color and alignment).
- This will open up a box that lets you past in the URL for where you want your readers to go when they click on that text. I use text links to show people where I found things, to take readers to sites that I’m talking about, or to link back to things that I talked about in other posts.
- Go play.
- Look around at all the features that Blogger has to offer. They’re user friendly and impressive. You can change settings for how your blog is published, who can comment on it, who can see it (password protect your blog if you don’t want strangers reading), and all that other jazz.
- As far as layout goes, Blogger makes it easy to add things to the sidebars on your blog (like viewer count, etc.) so you can play around with them.
- Getting an attractive template for your blog
- Making the blog easy to read
- Avoiding blog clutter
- Deciding whether or not to put ads on your blog.
Stay tuned for Part Two: Creating an Attractive Wedding Blog
If you start a blog, feel free to leave your new address. The real show-and-tell will happen next week, though, when you guys learn how to make your blogs all pretty and fancy-like. If there are any basic blogging questions that I missed, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll respond to them there. You can also email me, but chances are if you have a question, someone else is wondering about it too…
Disney Wedding Forums
DisneyBrides.com
This private forum is small and very active. You must apply to be a member and once in, you must follow the forum rules and post at least once a week. If you forget to post, your membership can lapse and you'll have to reapply. A little harsh, right? That being said, this is by far my favorite forum. The fact that the forums are private and the posting requirement means that there are no lurkers and everyone shares freely. My favorite fellow Disney brides are friends I met on this forum and I highly recommend it.
The Weddings Forum on DISboards
The DISboards are a busy, crazy place, but they're also a wealth of information. PROS: tons of Disney brides and grooms show up on these forums and it's a great place to find the answers to all of your wedding planning questions. CONS: lots of lurkers, threads get buried fast, and it's a little tough to join in the conversation as a newbie. If you can get past the occasional catty comment and deal with the fairly strict moderators (I swear, I've been nearly banned about 20 times), then this is a FANTASTIC source of information.
This private forum is small and very active. You must apply to be a member and once in, you must follow the forum rules and post at least once a week. If you forget to post, your membership can lapse and you'll have to reapply. A little harsh, right? That being said, this is by far my favorite forum. The fact that the forums are private and the posting requirement means that there are no lurkers and everyone shares freely. My favorite fellow Disney brides are friends I met on this forum and I highly recommend it.
The Weddings Forum on DISboards
The DISboards are a busy, crazy place, but they're also a wealth of information. PROS: tons of Disney brides and grooms show up on these forums and it's a great place to find the answers to all of your wedding planning questions. CONS: lots of lurkers, threads get buried fast, and it's a little tough to join in the conversation as a newbie. If you can get past the occasional catty comment and deal with the fairly strict moderators (I swear, I've been nearly banned about 20 times), then this is a FANTASTIC source of information.
Day Three - Part One
Day Three – Part One (Monday)
On Monday morning we opened Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The initial plan was to meet at DHS as a big group, but when push came to shove only Aunt Carole, J.W., Kyle, and I made it to the park opening. The rest of the group caught up with us after breakfast. To be fair, I’m not a huge fan of opening parks in groups of 6+ because people are always so pushy and rushed in the morning. My family doesn’t really do well in pushy and rushed (wheelchairs and all) so that early morning bottleneck run through DHS’s main street would have been really annoying.
As soon as we got inside the gates, Kyle took our four tickets and ran back to Toy Story Mania to get fastpasses. We learned our lesson during our honeymoon when we tried to get fastpasses for Toy Story at 10 AM, only to learn that they had sold out for the day. In the meantime, J.W., Aunt Carole, and I were able to walk onto Tower of Terror with only a ten minute wait. I adore TOT. It might be my favorite ride ever, although I have to admit that a lot depends on the people you get stuck with…like teenagers who yell just to yell or screaming/hysterical children who have been drug onto the ride by parents insisting that they’re “going to have a lot of fun.”
This ride in particular was really good. They change up the drop patterns on the ride all the time and since I’ve ridden it easily more than 50 times, I’ve kind of been through it all. This one sucked my breath out, though, when it went straight up instead of dropping, paused, went straight up some more, and then sucked us all the way down. I was easily in the air for 30 seconds, butt off the seat, floating up against the pull of the seat belt. Heaven.
By the time we got off TOT (love it!), Kyle had almost made it back and he had his brother (Justin) and brother’s girlfriend (Tracy) in tow, so we waited for them to ride Rockin’ Roller Coaster. I have to admit, it’s actually my favorite first-ride-of-the-day ride. I can think of four or five times when I went to MGM by myself as a CP so that I could start the day by riding RRC before I had to go to work. Kyle doesn’t share my enthusiasm for the coaster as a substitute for morning coffee, but since it doesn’t make him sick like teacups or Mission Space, he humors me. Aunt Carole and J.W. were all up for it and loved it…until Aunt Carole about toppled over while getting out of the ride. Flipping upside-down before 9:30 AM tends to play tricks on your inner balance.
The rest of my family finally got there and were waiting for us when we got off the ride. My grandparents and my Aunt Darlene and Uncle Denis don’t do coasters or rides that spin or rides that drop (or really anything that involves motion) so the group split up with part of the fam going off to watch the Beauty and the Beast stage show and the rest of us going to ride Tower of Terror and the Rockin’ Roller Coaster. I had been talking these rides up to my little brother and my mom ever since we’d worked at WDW in 2002, so I was beyond excited to get them on. As I thought, they loved both of them. Photo op!
After we got off the rides, my mom decided that her knee was really giving her a lot of trouble, so the boys went to get her a wheelchair…which made the fourth wheelchair in the group. It was also the last wheelchair, which was fortunate because we were running out of people who could push!
After we got everyone back together, I gave my mom, my grandma, and my two aunts pin lanyards, so that they could start pin trading. They like collecting things like that so I figured it would be a fun little distraction. Little did I know, it was to become a whirlwind obsession…(more on that later)…
We split off from everyone at that point. We still hadn’t ridden Toy Story Mania, but we had lunch reservations with Justin and Tracy at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater and we didn’t want to be late. As we wandered away, we realized that it was really the first time we’d had alone together where we weren’t sleeping. I’d like to say that we did something wildly romantic and talked deeply about our thoughts on marriage, but in reality we went and saw Muppet Vision 3D and then tried on all the hats at the gift shop. Good times.
Lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater was AWESOME. I had never been there before and I was completely blown away when I walked in. The inside of the restaurant is just a big room with a tall ceiling and it’s done up to look like you’re walking around outside at a 50’s drive-in theater at night.
There’s a big movie screen playing clips and commercials of campy B movies and the tables are actually little cars that you sit in, 2 by 2. There are actual tables that you can get, but we hopped into a car, with Tracy and Justin sitting in the front and Kyle and I sitting in the back. It was sort of nice, actually, because we were able to chat and visit with them, but at the same time it was like being on a date with just the two of us.
I got a turkey sandwich and a cherry coke (and officially started to fall of the diet wagon) and Kyle got a Reuben (like he always does) and an alcoholic milkshake with a glowing ice cube in it. We had the give-us-free-stuff-bride-and-groom-hats on, so the waitress made a big deal and brought us a free sundae, which we couldn’t even finish. I don’t remember what Tracy and Justin got, but I know that everyone was happy and everything was delicious. Ah, it’s a rough life at WDW…
On Monday morning we opened Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The initial plan was to meet at DHS as a big group, but when push came to shove only Aunt Carole, J.W., Kyle, and I made it to the park opening. The rest of the group caught up with us after breakfast. To be fair, I’m not a huge fan of opening parks in groups of 6+ because people are always so pushy and rushed in the morning. My family doesn’t really do well in pushy and rushed (wheelchairs and all) so that early morning bottleneck run through DHS’s main street would have been really annoying.
As soon as we got inside the gates, Kyle took our four tickets and ran back to Toy Story Mania to get fastpasses. We learned our lesson during our honeymoon when we tried to get fastpasses for Toy Story at 10 AM, only to learn that they had sold out for the day. In the meantime, J.W., Aunt Carole, and I were able to walk onto Tower of Terror with only a ten minute wait. I adore TOT. It might be my favorite ride ever, although I have to admit that a lot depends on the people you get stuck with…like teenagers who yell just to yell or screaming/hysterical children who have been drug onto the ride by parents insisting that they’re “going to have a lot of fun.”
This ride in particular was really good. They change up the drop patterns on the ride all the time and since I’ve ridden it easily more than 50 times, I’ve kind of been through it all. This one sucked my breath out, though, when it went straight up instead of dropping, paused, went straight up some more, and then sucked us all the way down. I was easily in the air for 30 seconds, butt off the seat, floating up against the pull of the seat belt. Heaven.
By the time we got off TOT (love it!), Kyle had almost made it back and he had his brother (Justin) and brother’s girlfriend (Tracy) in tow, so we waited for them to ride Rockin’ Roller Coaster. I have to admit, it’s actually my favorite first-ride-of-the-day ride. I can think of four or five times when I went to MGM by myself as a CP so that I could start the day by riding RRC before I had to go to work. Kyle doesn’t share my enthusiasm for the coaster as a substitute for morning coffee, but since it doesn’t make him sick like teacups or Mission Space, he humors me. Aunt Carole and J.W. were all up for it and loved it…until Aunt Carole about toppled over while getting out of the ride. Flipping upside-down before 9:30 AM tends to play tricks on your inner balance.
The rest of my family finally got there and were waiting for us when we got off the ride. My grandparents and my Aunt Darlene and Uncle Denis don’t do coasters or rides that spin or rides that drop (or really anything that involves motion) so the group split up with part of the fam going off to watch the Beauty and the Beast stage show and the rest of us going to ride Tower of Terror and the Rockin’ Roller Coaster. I had been talking these rides up to my little brother and my mom ever since we’d worked at WDW in 2002, so I was beyond excited to get them on. As I thought, they loved both of them. Photo op!
After we got off the rides, my mom decided that her knee was really giving her a lot of trouble, so the boys went to get her a wheelchair…which made the fourth wheelchair in the group. It was also the last wheelchair, which was fortunate because we were running out of people who could push!
After we got everyone back together, I gave my mom, my grandma, and my two aunts pin lanyards, so that they could start pin trading. They like collecting things like that so I figured it would be a fun little distraction. Little did I know, it was to become a whirlwind obsession…(more on that later)…
We split off from everyone at that point. We still hadn’t ridden Toy Story Mania, but we had lunch reservations with Justin and Tracy at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater and we didn’t want to be late. As we wandered away, we realized that it was really the first time we’d had alone together where we weren’t sleeping. I’d like to say that we did something wildly romantic and talked deeply about our thoughts on marriage, but in reality we went and saw Muppet Vision 3D and then tried on all the hats at the gift shop. Good times.
Lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater was AWESOME. I had never been there before and I was completely blown away when I walked in. The inside of the restaurant is just a big room with a tall ceiling and it’s done up to look like you’re walking around outside at a 50’s drive-in theater at night.
There’s a big movie screen playing clips and commercials of campy B movies and the tables are actually little cars that you sit in, 2 by 2. There are actual tables that you can get, but we hopped into a car, with Tracy and Justin sitting in the front and Kyle and I sitting in the back. It was sort of nice, actually, because we were able to chat and visit with them, but at the same time it was like being on a date with just the two of us.
I got a turkey sandwich and a cherry coke (and officially started to fall of the diet wagon) and Kyle got a Reuben (like he always does) and an alcoholic milkshake with a glowing ice cube in it. We had the give-us-free-stuff-bride-and-groom-hats on, so the waitress made a big deal and brought us a free sundae, which we couldn’t even finish. I don’t remember what Tracy and Justin got, but I know that everyone was happy and everything was delicious. Ah, it’s a rough life at WDW…
A Letter to Reader Megan S.
Ok, I lied, I do have a blog to post. But, as this blog is only going out to one of you, it's sort of like not blogging...
Dear Megan S.,
I just wanted to send this note out into the world so that you know how much I appreciate the wedding gift you sent us. It was such a happy surprise to receive a gift out of nowhere from one of my readers and you were quite clever to get on our registry and pick something you knew I would love. The cookbook is absolutely to die for and I adore flipping through it. Kyle is eagerly awaiting the time when I'll pull out one of the recipes and whip us up some fine cuisine, but in the meantime I'm having a good time looking at all the pretty pictures.
It really was so thoughtful of you to send something and I truly appreciate it. I've been harassing the people at Crate and Barrel to try to get them to send me your address so I can send you a proper thank-you note, but as they seem to have "privacy concerns", blah blah blah, and don't understand why I don't know the address of someone sending me wedding gifts, this open letter will have to do.
Thank you so much for reading and for the lovely gift.
Quite sincerely,
Carly
Dear Megan S.,
I just wanted to send this note out into the world so that you know how much I appreciate the wedding gift you sent us. It was such a happy surprise to receive a gift out of nowhere from one of my readers and you were quite clever to get on our registry and pick something you knew I would love. The cookbook is absolutely to die for and I adore flipping through it. Kyle is eagerly awaiting the time when I'll pull out one of the recipes and whip us up some fine cuisine, but in the meantime I'm having a good time looking at all the pretty pictures.
It really was so thoughtful of you to send something and I truly appreciate it. I've been harassing the people at Crate and Barrel to try to get them to send me your address so I can send you a proper thank-you note, but as they seem to have "privacy concerns", blah blah blah, and don't understand why I don't know the address of someone sending me wedding gifts, this open letter will have to do.
Thank you so much for reading and for the lovely gift.
Quite sincerely,
Carly
Snow Day!
It's a snow day here in Columbus, Ohio, which means
- I don't have to go to work.
- My husband doesn't have to go to work.
- My husband and I are snowed in in our cozy little apartment with all of our toys.
- You get no blog.
Day Two - Part Two
Sorry about the delay in posting the trip report. Between the weekend spotlights and Chinese New Year, I had to take a bit of a break. Plus...you know...wedding blog and all...kind of have to milk this trip report for all it's worth to keep this thing going!
Day Two – Part Two
At some point in the afternoon, everyone got hungry so we headed over to Pecos Bill’s for fries and burgers. Call me tacky and insane, but I freakin’ love Pecos Bill’s…mainly because I love to load my fries up on cheese and mushrooms from the condiment bar. Yes, I know it’s weird to eat a meal that is 90% condiments, but I don’t care. I love it.
While we were there, we caught up with some family friends that I’ve known since birth. It really started to sink in that we were bringing people from all over the country and all different parts of our lives together. I mean, I guess that’s what the point of any wedding is, but the fact that we were sitting in the Magic Kingdom with 12 of the people who are central to my life was pretty incredible. I also started to get the sinking suspicion that no matter what happened on the wedding day, the fact that everyone was going to be there meant that it was going to be awesome…(but more on that later, of course)…
My grandparents were done with rides after we finished eating, so we took them over to see the stage show and to nab good seats for the parade and fireworks. After they were situated, the rest of us ran back to ride Splash Mountain, which was not closed like we thought it was going to be. We filled up the log with our party (and weighed it down a considerable amount) so we ended up getting soaked. There’s nothing like the sun setting down on the MK while you walk around wringing out your t-shirt.
Kyle’s brother and his girlfriend caught up to us after we got off the ride and we all caught the light parade from the wooden sidewalks of Frontierland. Once the parade was over, everyone started to head towards the castle. And by everyone, I don’t mean just our party…I mean EVERYONE in the whole park started to head to the castle. So, when my aunt called and said that they were saving us a spot down front, my initial thought was “yeah, right.”
Luckily, my uncle is really tall and he was waving a pair of those light-up ears like there was no tomorrow, so we actually made it to the impressively large spot that they had saved. I will say this about my family – when it comes to saving stuff, you really can’t beat them. They’ll be all polite and sweet one minute and then the next minute you’ve got lots of tiny, angry Chinese people who are telling you off. It’s pretty scary.
I’ve never seen the fireworks from right in front of the castle. Part of that may be because you can’t actually see the fireworks from right in front of the castle. See, the fireworks are actually set off in Fantasyland, so when you’re right up in front, the fireworks are behind the castle and you only catch a bit of one every so often. The view of the castle was incredible, though. It was still done up in the holiday lights and it was simply stunning. Kyle filmed the whole thing so I could sneak peeks back at my fam. I loved watching their faces every time a really big one went off. I wish I’d gotten some pics, but it would have ruined the moment.
It was extra magic hours so we headed over to Tomorrowland after that. My cute grandparents just kept going and going! We thought for sure that they would tire out after a while, but they were having a ball.
As it got later and later Kyle and I decided to split off from everyone and go ride rides with his brother, his brother’s girlfriend, Craig, and his wife, who had all met up with us at the park. The video above has fun clips of us hanging out. The six of us did the late night rides thing, got thoroughly soaked on Splash Mountain, and didn’t get back to the resort until after midnight. That’s ok, who sleeps at WDW, anyway?
Day Two – Part Two
At some point in the afternoon, everyone got hungry so we headed over to Pecos Bill’s for fries and burgers. Call me tacky and insane, but I freakin’ love Pecos Bill’s…mainly because I love to load my fries up on cheese and mushrooms from the condiment bar. Yes, I know it’s weird to eat a meal that is 90% condiments, but I don’t care. I love it.
While we were there, we caught up with some family friends that I’ve known since birth. It really started to sink in that we were bringing people from all over the country and all different parts of our lives together. I mean, I guess that’s what the point of any wedding is, but the fact that we were sitting in the Magic Kingdom with 12 of the people who are central to my life was pretty incredible. I also started to get the sinking suspicion that no matter what happened on the wedding day, the fact that everyone was going to be there meant that it was going to be awesome…(but more on that later, of course)…
My grandparents were done with rides after we finished eating, so we took them over to see the stage show and to nab good seats for the parade and fireworks. After they were situated, the rest of us ran back to ride Splash Mountain, which was not closed like we thought it was going to be. We filled up the log with our party (and weighed it down a considerable amount) so we ended up getting soaked. There’s nothing like the sun setting down on the MK while you walk around wringing out your t-shirt.
(if I didn't look naked, this would be the greatest photo ever)
Kyle’s brother and his girlfriend caught up to us after we got off the ride and we all caught the light parade from the wooden sidewalks of Frontierland. Once the parade was over, everyone started to head towards the castle. And by everyone, I don’t mean just our party…I mean EVERYONE in the whole park started to head to the castle. So, when my aunt called and said that they were saving us a spot down front, my initial thought was “yeah, right.”
Luckily, my uncle is really tall and he was waving a pair of those light-up ears like there was no tomorrow, so we actually made it to the impressively large spot that they had saved. I will say this about my family – when it comes to saving stuff, you really can’t beat them. They’ll be all polite and sweet one minute and then the next minute you’ve got lots of tiny, angry Chinese people who are telling you off. It’s pretty scary.
I’ve never seen the fireworks from right in front of the castle. Part of that may be because you can’t actually see the fireworks from right in front of the castle. See, the fireworks are actually set off in Fantasyland, so when you’re right up in front, the fireworks are behind the castle and you only catch a bit of one every so often. The view of the castle was incredible, though. It was still done up in the holiday lights and it was simply stunning. Kyle filmed the whole thing so I could sneak peeks back at my fam. I loved watching their faces every time a really big one went off. I wish I’d gotten some pics, but it would have ruined the moment.
It was extra magic hours so we headed over to Tomorrowland after that. My cute grandparents just kept going and going! We thought for sure that they would tire out after a while, but they were having a ball.
As it got later and later Kyle and I decided to split off from everyone and go ride rides with his brother, his brother’s girlfriend, Craig, and his wife, who had all met up with us at the park. The video above has fun clips of us hanging out. The six of us did the late night rides thing, got thoroughly soaked on Splash Mountain, and didn’t get back to the resort until after midnight. That’s ok, who sleeps at WDW, anyway?
Gung Hay Fat Choy!!!
Happy Chinese New Year! It's the year of the ox now, a year for prosperity through patience and hard work. I think that's a perfect fit for Obama's beginning.
We're celebrating in style tonight with two new members of the family! Kyle gave my my birthday present early because we were supposed to go up to Akron this past weekend and I ended up staying home with the flu. Not wanting me to be lonely while he was upstate, Kyle brought home Mokey and Nola.
How cute are they? I'm madly in love with all of their little pig noises already.
I do miss being at home with all my family on the new year, mainly because the food out here in O-hi-o is just not as good as San Francisco dim sum. I'm excited to get out there in a couple weeks and celebrate my Chinese heritage with yumminess. Plus, I get to break out the Chinese wedding dress that my Uncle Denis bought for me. You won't get to see it until after the Napa reception, but here's a little preview:
Good food, guinea pigs, and gorgeous dresses. I like the year of the ox already!
Etsy Seller SmittenXOXO!
I'm excited...
Today's spotlight marks a new Sunday tradition here on the blog (don't you just love weekends) and it's all thanks to another Disney Bride, Megan, who has no idea that she inspired me. A while back I showcased some things from Etsy that I really liked and Megan saw one of them and ended up ordering a bunch of things from that seller. That's the kind of thing I love...connections between people who are doing awesome work and people who will really appreciate it.
Today's spotlight marks a new Sunday tradition here on the blog (don't you just love weekends) and it's all thanks to another Disney Bride, Megan, who has no idea that she inspired me. A while back I showcased some things from Etsy that I really liked and Megan saw one of them and ended up ordering a bunch of things from that seller. That's the kind of thing I love...connections between people who are doing awesome work and people who will really appreciate it.
Wedding Spotlight: Emily + Ben
Ceremony Location: Sea Breeze Point
Reception Location: The Attic
Photography: Misty Miotto
Today's Disney Bride Spotlight is on Disney Bride Emily!
Emily and Ben were married in 2007 and they had a beautiful wedding photographed by Misty Miotto, who is a Disney Bride favorite. I love all the pink accents in their day...it just makes everything so sweet!
Day 4: The Wedding Day!!: Part one getting ready
7:00am: I woke up a few minutes before my alarm when off and decided just to get up and shower. I was feeling okay, a little nervous but not too bad.
Reception Location: The Attic
Photography: Misty Miotto
Today's Disney Bride Spotlight is on Disney Bride Emily!
Emily and Ben were married in 2007 and they had a beautiful wedding photographed by Misty Miotto, who is a Disney Bride favorite. I love all the pink accents in their day...it just makes everything so sweet!
Day 4: The Wedding Day!!: Part one getting ready
7:00am: I woke up a few minutes before my alarm when off and decided just to get up and shower. I was feeling okay, a little nervous but not too bad.
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Day Two - Part One
Day Two (Sunday) – Part One
We usually wake up super early on our first full day of a WDW vacation, but this time we let ourselves sleep in since my family hadn’t gotten in until late and we were spending the day with them. We actually did wake up pretty early, but we stayed in bed and watched TV so that we could let my family sleep. Of course, by the time I actually did call them, I found out that they were all up, that my aunt and cousin staying at the Pop had left without us, and that they were all getting ready to have breakfast. We were left in the Disney dust! I grabbed the duffle bag that had our flowers in it and we caught the bus/monorail over to Poly. We probably could have taken more, since the plan was to slowly move all the wedding stuff over there, but since we had a couple of days to go we figured the flowers would be enough.
We made it over to the Polynesian quickly and met everyone for breakfast at the Kona Café. I love seeing my family, especially when I haven’t seen them for a long time. To give you the full count, it was my mom, my stepdad, my little brother, my aunt, my uncle, my other aunt, my cousin, and my two grandparents. Kona was a ton of fun. I have to admit that I had never been there before. In fact, the only thing that I knew about it was that Van likes to go there for tonga toast and coffee. It’s funny the things you retain about people you’ve never met, isn’t it? Kyle got the tonga toast and mmmmm did it smell good. I was a good girl, though, since I was still on a diet. I admit that I was tempted by the free creampuffs that they sent us, but in the end I only had a nibble.
After everyone had enjoyed breakfast (except for the crash-dieting bride who enjoyed a Lara bar), we went to check out their hotel rooms. It’s amazing the difference between a value resort room and a deluxe resort room. I won’t go into all the details, but I can tell you that we went home that night and just shook our heads at our 70’s themed wallpaper trim.
After we took a couple of moments to enjoy the resort we couldn’t afford, the whole group headed over to the Magic Kingdom. It was quite the journey since we were traveling in a big group and we had two wheelchairs. My mom was also struggling a bit to keep up because she’s getting over a pretty serious knee injury. It took us longer to get over there than it should have because we went the wrong way and ended up walking (and wheeling) to the TTC instead of going up to get on the monorail. It’s so embarrassing to be the Disney experts and start out a week’s vacation with “uh…we don’t know where…wait, how did we…ok, I think if we go this way…screw it, let’s just get on this boat…”
Everyone got through the bag check and in the gates with no real trouble. I collected tickets and Kyle took off right away to get everyone fastpasses for the Pooh ride. (My grandma has a bear thing.) We were sort of a slow-moving bunch, especially by Kyle and my standards, but we were able to keep a good pace and hit a respectable list of rides.
We had a little bit of a snag in the Haunted Mansion. I was worried about my grandma getting onto the moving walkway and into the doom buggy, since she has a little bit of trouble, so I dispatched Kyle to walk in front of her and help her in before getting into his own. Somehow, we forgot to save one for him, so Kyle, my mom, and I all rode through the ride smashed into one of those tiny cars. We were cozy to say the least, but somehow we got back out!
Random funny story – so we had worked out this system where Kyle went off to get Fastpasses while the rest of us made our way from point A to point B with the wheelchairs and such, which ended up being a fabulous plan. We’d gotten fastpasses for the Jungle Cruise (turns out you don’t need them if you have wheelchairs) and we were waiting around in the front of the ride for our fastpass time when suddenly two cast members came up. It turns out that one of them reads my blog and recognized us, which was just too funny! I wish I had thought to get a picture with her, but I was so surprised I let her slip off without even catching her name…
We made it over to the Polynesian quickly and met everyone for breakfast at the Kona Café. I love seeing my family, especially when I haven’t seen them for a long time. To give you the full count, it was my mom, my stepdad, my little brother, my aunt, my uncle, my other aunt, my cousin, and my two grandparents. Kona was a ton of fun. I have to admit that I had never been there before. In fact, the only thing that I knew about it was that Van likes to go there for tonga toast and coffee. It’s funny the things you retain about people you’ve never met, isn’t it? Kyle got the tonga toast and mmmmm did it smell good. I was a good girl, though, since I was still on a diet. I admit that I was tempted by the free creampuffs that they sent us, but in the end I only had a nibble.
After everyone had enjoyed breakfast (except for the crash-dieting bride who enjoyed a Lara bar), we went to check out their hotel rooms. It’s amazing the difference between a value resort room and a deluxe resort room. I won’t go into all the details, but I can tell you that we went home that night and just shook our heads at our 70’s themed wallpaper trim.
After we took a couple of moments to enjoy the resort we couldn’t afford, the whole group headed over to the Magic Kingdom. It was quite the journey since we were traveling in a big group and we had two wheelchairs. My mom was also struggling a bit to keep up because she’s getting over a pretty serious knee injury. It took us longer to get over there than it should have because we went the wrong way and ended up walking (and wheeling) to the TTC instead of going up to get on the monorail. It’s so embarrassing to be the Disney experts and start out a week’s vacation with “uh…we don’t know where…wait, how did we…ok, I think if we go this way…screw it, let’s just get on this boat…”
Everyone got through the bag check and in the gates with no real trouble. I collected tickets and Kyle took off right away to get everyone fastpasses for the Pooh ride. (My grandma has a bear thing.) We were sort of a slow-moving bunch, especially by Kyle and my standards, but we were able to keep a good pace and hit a respectable list of rides.
We had a little bit of a snag in the Haunted Mansion. I was worried about my grandma getting onto the moving walkway and into the doom buggy, since she has a little bit of trouble, so I dispatched Kyle to walk in front of her and help her in before getting into his own. Somehow, we forgot to save one for him, so Kyle, my mom, and I all rode through the ride smashed into one of those tiny cars. We were cozy to say the least, but somehow we got back out!
Random funny story – so we had worked out this system where Kyle went off to get Fastpasses while the rest of us made our way from point A to point B with the wheelchairs and such, which ended up being a fabulous plan. We’d gotten fastpasses for the Jungle Cruise (turns out you don’t need them if you have wheelchairs) and we were waiting around in the front of the ride for our fastpass time when suddenly two cast members came up. It turns out that one of them reads my blog and recognized us, which was just too funny! I wish I had thought to get a picture with her, but I was so surprised I let her slip off without even catching her name…
Day One - Part Two
Day One (Saturday) – Part Two
Pop Century is a fun hotel. That being said, it’s not the nicest of Disney resorts. You don’t get quite the service and attention at the Pop that you do at other resorts on property. When we checked in we didn’t get a congratulations or anything, despite being listed as a Disney Bride and Groom and we had to wait more than two hours for our room with absolutely no estimate on when it would be ready. Like I said, not the worst service but sort of annoying.
While we waited for our room, we amused ourselves by grabbing some lunch and walking around the resort grounds. Pop’s whole thing is oversized relics from days gone by and there’s a nice bridge out in the back that is supposed to lead to another resort. They’ve stopped construction on that one for the time being, but I’m excited to see it completed because the theming will be early decades in the last century…20s and 30s and all that. The bridge is a very peaceful spot, so we went back there and chatted. After some pleading I was able to get Kyle to practice our first dance with me out over the water, using our little iPod boombox. We had been practicing our dance for about a month, but there were still some kinks…(more on that later).
We got our room after a couple of hours, but our luggage was a little slower. I admit that I started to enter a slow panic. See, we had a little bit of trouble with our luggage. To be more specific, I forgot to ship what needed to be shipped and the result was that we had to stuff everything into our bags. No, everything. What is everything, you may ask? Well, everything includes:
• wedding dress
• shoes, veil, purse, jewelry
• tea outfit complete with hat, dress, and vintage heels
• 8 adult size hoodies
• 15 attendant gifts, 7 vendor gifts, 5 parent gifts, 3 child-at-wedding gifts, and one flower girl gift
• 5 bouquets, 7 boutonnières, one flower basket, 5 bags of petals, and one flower wand
• one week’s worth of clothes for each of us
• 2 cameras, one camcorder, one laptop, one iPod boombox, and two iPods
• one copy of every scrap of paper relevant to the wedding
• hair straightener, hair curler, hair dryer, hair products (I have lots of hair)
• bride and groom mickey ears
• Matching Mickey Mouse rain jackets (never worn)
• a partridge in a pear tree
All of this (except for that last one) went into 4 checked bags, 2 carry-ons, and 2 personal items. Kyle and I each had a hat on. He wore his Mickey ears and I wore my tea hat. I knew that we could only carry on so much and the cameras/camcorder/laptop sure as hell weren’t going to survive being checked, so in the end I had to choose between my flowers and my wedding dress. I came damn close to just wearing the wedding dress to make sure that nothing happened to it, but in the end it got checked.
So, when it wasn’t arriving magically via Magic Express, I started to panic a little. Luckily, our luggage got there about a half hour after we did. Both of my suitcases had been broken (one handle and one strap) but the contents were 99% unharmed. The only thing that got dinged was Katelyn’s mini-lunchbox. Don’t ask me how, but it had a giant dent in it when I gave it to her. She loved it anyway.
We finally unpacked, freshened up, and hit the Magic Kingdom. We’d heard (falsely) that it was the last day that Splash Mountain would be open for the week, so we went straight there and stood in line for an HOUR, which is the longest I’ve ever waited for that ride. We did notice a couple of little things when we were floating through on our flume…eyelids that were stuck, parts that weren’t moving…it’s funny to realize that we’ve been through so many times that we know every nod and turn and whistle. Maybe we’ve been over magic-ed.
We wandered out after Splash Mountain. We’ve never been huge on the fireworks and we were feeling pretty beat after our late night/early morning. We did pop over the Grand Floridian on the monorail so that we could take a look at the wedding pavilion. They were cleaning up, so we were able to actually look in for the first time. We also hung out and listened to the band at the GF, dreaming about the fact that we’d be staying there in just a few days. I’ve walked into the Floridian a hundred times, but every single time it just takes my breath away. So completely beautiful…just breathtaking…
It was late by the time we made it back to Pop Century, but sweet Kyle ran down to the food court and got me my end-of-the-night hot chocolate like he always does. We watched a bit of resort tv, got a phone call from my family that they had arrived at the Polynesian, and then drifted off to sleep in our two queen beds, happily wrapped up in hotel sheets.
Pop Century is a fun hotel. That being said, it’s not the nicest of Disney resorts. You don’t get quite the service and attention at the Pop that you do at other resorts on property. When we checked in we didn’t get a congratulations or anything, despite being listed as a Disney Bride and Groom and we had to wait more than two hours for our room with absolutely no estimate on when it would be ready. Like I said, not the worst service but sort of annoying.
While we waited for our room, we amused ourselves by grabbing some lunch and walking around the resort grounds. Pop’s whole thing is oversized relics from days gone by and there’s a nice bridge out in the back that is supposed to lead to another resort. They’ve stopped construction on that one for the time being, but I’m excited to see it completed because the theming will be early decades in the last century…20s and 30s and all that. The bridge is a very peaceful spot, so we went back there and chatted. After some pleading I was able to get Kyle to practice our first dance with me out over the water, using our little iPod boombox. We had been practicing our dance for about a month, but there were still some kinks…(more on that later).
We got our room after a couple of hours, but our luggage was a little slower. I admit that I started to enter a slow panic. See, we had a little bit of trouble with our luggage. To be more specific, I forgot to ship what needed to be shipped and the result was that we had to stuff everything into our bags. No, everything. What is everything, you may ask? Well, everything includes:
• wedding dress
• shoes, veil, purse, jewelry
• tea outfit complete with hat, dress, and vintage heels
• 8 adult size hoodies
• 15 attendant gifts, 7 vendor gifts, 5 parent gifts, 3 child-at-wedding gifts, and one flower girl gift
• 5 bouquets, 7 boutonnières, one flower basket, 5 bags of petals, and one flower wand
• one week’s worth of clothes for each of us
• 2 cameras, one camcorder, one laptop, one iPod boombox, and two iPods
• one copy of every scrap of paper relevant to the wedding
• hair straightener, hair curler, hair dryer, hair products (I have lots of hair)
• bride and groom mickey ears
• Matching Mickey Mouse rain jackets (never worn)
• a partridge in a pear tree
All of this (except for that last one) went into 4 checked bags, 2 carry-ons, and 2 personal items. Kyle and I each had a hat on. He wore his Mickey ears and I wore my tea hat. I knew that we could only carry on so much and the cameras/camcorder/laptop sure as hell weren’t going to survive being checked, so in the end I had to choose between my flowers and my wedding dress. I came damn close to just wearing the wedding dress to make sure that nothing happened to it, but in the end it got checked.
So, when it wasn’t arriving magically via Magic Express, I started to panic a little. Luckily, our luggage got there about a half hour after we did. Both of my suitcases had been broken (one handle and one strap) but the contents were 99% unharmed. The only thing that got dinged was Katelyn’s mini-lunchbox. Don’t ask me how, but it had a giant dent in it when I gave it to her. She loved it anyway.
We finally unpacked, freshened up, and hit the Magic Kingdom. We’d heard (falsely) that it was the last day that Splash Mountain would be open for the week, so we went straight there and stood in line for an HOUR, which is the longest I’ve ever waited for that ride. We did notice a couple of little things when we were floating through on our flume…eyelids that were stuck, parts that weren’t moving…it’s funny to realize that we’ve been through so many times that we know every nod and turn and whistle. Maybe we’ve been over magic-ed.
We wandered out after Splash Mountain. We’ve never been huge on the fireworks and we were feeling pretty beat after our late night/early morning. We did pop over the Grand Floridian on the monorail so that we could take a look at the wedding pavilion. They were cleaning up, so we were able to actually look in for the first time. We also hung out and listened to the band at the GF, dreaming about the fact that we’d be staying there in just a few days. I’ve walked into the Floridian a hundred times, but every single time it just takes my breath away. So completely beautiful…just breathtaking…
It was late by the time we made it back to Pop Century, but sweet Kyle ran down to the food court and got me my end-of-the-night hot chocolate like he always does. We watched a bit of resort tv, got a phone call from my family that they had arrived at the Polynesian, and then drifted off to sleep in our two queen beds, happily wrapped up in hotel sheets.
The Worst Thing That Happened at the Wedding
I'm jumping the gun a little bit here. I'm supposed to be posting Part Two of Day One, but instead I need your help. There's a thing that went wrong at the wedding and I'm not sure how to fix it. Since it needs to be fixed before we go to Napa in a couple of weeks, I thought I'd pick your brains now instead of waiting until I "get there" in the trip report.
So, our wedding day was wonderful...more so than either of us imagined. We were blessed with good weather, good food, good people, and each other. That being said, of course something went wrong. But I wasn't exactly prepared for this kind of something to go wrong and now I don't know what to do.
You know the guest book? I was happy about it when we ordered it forever ago and when it actually came I was really really happy about it. The people at Blurb did a great job and I was careful not to let anything happen to it until the wedding since it is our only prints from our engagement session. We got it down there ok and my girls set it up at the reception so that it had its own little space. All through the night, people came up to me and told me that they loved it and they had never seen anything like it. So, when we got back to the hotel (very late) that night, I took a sneak peek to see what people had written to us.
And I ended up being very disappointed.
At some point during the reception, Craig, one of Kyle's groomsmen, took a sharpie and drew a mustache and a beard on me in one of the pictures. I don't have any explanation beyond that. I suppose he was drunk and I assume (or hope, really) that it was supposed to be funny. I'm not sure if he got confused and thought it was a yearbook or didn't realize that this book was a really big deal to me or what, but he did it and now it's there and I don't know what to do.
For a while I tried to be light about it. I mean, I sincerely doubt that if he had known how upset I would be about it that he would have done it. And, after all, it is just a guest book. Most people don't even open them again after the wedding. The fact that it's the only record of our engagement pictures is sort of my own fault. I mean, I took the only record and I laid it out at a table with markers. You could sort of say that I was asking for it.
That being said, it just broke my heart and I can't look at the guest book without being upset. So obviously I need to fix it. Here's my question: how? I've come up with the following ideas but I can't decide:
I don't know. Should I just suck it up and get a new one? Should I fix it somehow? Or should I try to laugh it off? I know I'm really lucky that this is the worst thing that happened at the wedding, but I could still use a little help here...
So, our wedding day was wonderful...more so than either of us imagined. We were blessed with good weather, good food, good people, and each other. That being said, of course something went wrong. But I wasn't exactly prepared for this kind of something to go wrong and now I don't know what to do.
You know the guest book? I was happy about it when we ordered it forever ago and when it actually came I was really really happy about it. The people at Blurb did a great job and I was careful not to let anything happen to it until the wedding since it is our only prints from our engagement session. We got it down there ok and my girls set it up at the reception so that it had its own little space. All through the night, people came up to me and told me that they loved it and they had never seen anything like it. So, when we got back to the hotel (very late) that night, I took a sneak peek to see what people had written to us.
And I ended up being very disappointed.
At some point during the reception, Craig, one of Kyle's groomsmen, took a sharpie and drew a mustache and a beard on me in one of the pictures. I don't have any explanation beyond that. I suppose he was drunk and I assume (or hope, really) that it was supposed to be funny. I'm not sure if he got confused and thought it was a yearbook or didn't realize that this book was a really big deal to me or what, but he did it and now it's there and I don't know what to do.
For a while I tried to be light about it. I mean, I sincerely doubt that if he had known how upset I would be about it that he would have done it. And, after all, it is just a guest book. Most people don't even open them again after the wedding. The fact that it's the only record of our engagement pictures is sort of my own fault. I mean, I took the only record and I laid it out at a table with markers. You could sort of say that I was asking for it.
That being said, it just broke my heart and I can't look at the guest book without being upset. So obviously I need to fix it. Here's my question: how? I've come up with the following ideas but I can't decide:
- Pay $40 for a new guest book and either replace the picture or just ask people to sign again at the other two receptions, ignoring that we had a guest book on our wedding day.
- Print out the photo on photo paper and glue it over the picture. (I'm worried that this will be too bulky, especially because the page is near the center of the book)
- Cut the page out and glue it to the last page of the book so that I can keep the signature and message that someone else wrote on the other side.
I don't know. Should I just suck it up and get a new one? Should I fix it somehow? Or should I try to laugh it off? I know I'm really lucky that this is the worst thing that happened at the wedding, but I could still use a little help here...
Day One, Part One...(and it begins!)
Day One (Saturday) – Part One
We woke up at 4:30AM on Saturday morning. I had printed out our itinerary the night before and had a general sense that our plane left around 6:30, but being completely neurotic I always like to arrive at the airport really early. Our friend Grey, who is our official drive-us-to-the-airport friend, showed up at 4:45 (bless his heart) and we ran around like headless chickens trying to get everything into the car.
We had woken up a little by the time we got to the airport (10 min drive) but apparently we hadn’t woken up enough because when we got to the check-in kiosk we realized two things: 1) I had left my wallet attached to the keys in the ignition of the car Grey was driving back to our apt and 2) We had forgotten one of our bags. This really just points to my insane state of mind. I usually check, re-check, and triple-check EVERYTHING before we fly anywhere. I don’t think I’ve forgotten a bag for anything in my life and here we were, with Kyle and Grey doing 80 MPH back to our place and me chewing my nails to stubs in front of the Delta check-in desk.
By the time Kyle came back with the lost bag and my wallet, it was 5:45. I wasn’t worried about it because that left us almost an hour before our flight and the Columbus airport isn’t exactly LAX. However, when we went to check in, we were denied. It turns out that I had printed out the itinerary for our February trip to Napa (for which our flight leaves at 6:45 AM) whereas our flight to WDW was leaving at 6:00 AM. Delta has a strict “check in 30 min prior to the flight” policy…something about luggage or some other inconvenient crap.
The woman behind the kiosk shrugged and told us to get in the GIANT we-have-issues line. Luckily, we were saved by two things. One was that I started to get that whole trembling lip thing that signals tears. The other is that my sweet husband-to-be had his Mickey groom ears on and so we were attracting positive attention. One of the Delta agents, who will be now referred to as our Delta Guardian Angel (DGA), came over and quickly rebooked us on a flight that was leaving at 7:30 AM. It meant a difference of only an hour from when we would have gotten there originally. After thanking her profusely, we made our way to the gate.
Of course, the drama did not end there. We sat at the gate for about ten minutes before they made an announcement that something was wrong with the plane. Then, ten minutes after that, they made another announcement. Apparently, the Columbus airport has one mechanic…and they keep him on call…but for some reason they couldn’t find him at home…at 6:10 in the morning…
So, we sat and sat and sat. The captain kept coming back on to let us know that they still couldn’t find him. Kyle stood in line with his Mickey ears on, but since there were about 40 other people in line, there wasn’t much that the guy at the podium could do. So, Kyle went off in search of Starbucks and I sat and left angry blogs about how much I hate Delta. Then, suddenly, DGA appeared out of nowhere. Apparently they had called her up to help with all the chaos and she spotted me in the crowd.
She called me up to the podium and then grabbed one of my bags and took off! I scurried after her and she rapidly walked me to another gate while slipping me new boarding passes and whispering that I needed to keep hushed about our new arrangements because everyone else would be irritated if they knew we’d been rebooked. Not only did she rebook us magically (for the second time!), she put us in first class on a flight that was leaving in ten minutes. Kyle booked it back from Starbucks and off we went to Atlanta!
The flight from Atlanta to Orlando found us back in coach, but at least we were in an exit row. It was actually pretty nice because it was a big plane and it was mostly empty, except for the occasional rowdy family. One such family was behind me and the stewardess did the cutest thing. She took all the boys up to meet the pilot in the cockpit. I thought they stopped doing that sort of stuff in the eighties, but off they went, following her like the Lost Boys.
The cuteness factor was taken down a notch when there was an incessant dinging that started after they went up front and rang throughout the entire plane. At first we laughed about how they must be having fun up there with all the buttons, but after what was seriously about ten minutes of dinging we were starting to curse under our breath. Suddenly, another stewardess came and started fidgeting with my armrest. I wasn’t touching it at all, but when she fidgeted with it the dinging stopped. When she walked away I turned to Kyle and said “that was weird”. It was at that point that he confessed that he had accidentally had his elbow on the attendant-call-button for that whole time and had only realized it when she came over to see why our seats were dinging. Yeah…
Since we were in an exit row, we ended up sitting across from the stewardess who was in the jump seat. She turned out to be really chatty and she just kept talking and talking for the whole flight, which was sort of nice because she made it fly by. At the end of the flight, she snuck us a bottle of red wine, warning us not to show any other passengers. (Apparently, Delta employees can only be nice to passengers as long as they don’t tell anyone)…
We made it from the airport to Pop Century with absolutely no drama whatsoever. I love that we don’t have to pick up our luggage anymore, thanks to Disney's Magical Express. We were just whisked off to WDW for our fairytale…
We woke up at 4:30AM on Saturday morning. I had printed out our itinerary the night before and had a general sense that our plane left around 6:30, but being completely neurotic I always like to arrive at the airport really early. Our friend Grey, who is our official drive-us-to-the-airport friend, showed up at 4:45 (bless his heart) and we ran around like headless chickens trying to get everything into the car.
We had woken up a little by the time we got to the airport (10 min drive) but apparently we hadn’t woken up enough because when we got to the check-in kiosk we realized two things: 1) I had left my wallet attached to the keys in the ignition of the car Grey was driving back to our apt and 2) We had forgotten one of our bags. This really just points to my insane state of mind. I usually check, re-check, and triple-check EVERYTHING before we fly anywhere. I don’t think I’ve forgotten a bag for anything in my life and here we were, with Kyle and Grey doing 80 MPH back to our place and me chewing my nails to stubs in front of the Delta check-in desk.
By the time Kyle came back with the lost bag and my wallet, it was 5:45. I wasn’t worried about it because that left us almost an hour before our flight and the Columbus airport isn’t exactly LAX. However, when we went to check in, we were denied. It turns out that I had printed out the itinerary for our February trip to Napa (for which our flight leaves at 6:45 AM) whereas our flight to WDW was leaving at 6:00 AM. Delta has a strict “check in 30 min prior to the flight” policy…something about luggage or some other inconvenient crap.
The woman behind the kiosk shrugged and told us to get in the GIANT we-have-issues line. Luckily, we were saved by two things. One was that I started to get that whole trembling lip thing that signals tears. The other is that my sweet husband-to-be had his Mickey groom ears on and so we were attracting positive attention. One of the Delta agents, who will be now referred to as our Delta Guardian Angel (DGA), came over and quickly rebooked us on a flight that was leaving at 7:30 AM. It meant a difference of only an hour from when we would have gotten there originally. After thanking her profusely, we made our way to the gate.
Of course, the drama did not end there. We sat at the gate for about ten minutes before they made an announcement that something was wrong with the plane. Then, ten minutes after that, they made another announcement. Apparently, the Columbus airport has one mechanic…and they keep him on call…but for some reason they couldn’t find him at home…at 6:10 in the morning…
So, we sat and sat and sat. The captain kept coming back on to let us know that they still couldn’t find him. Kyle stood in line with his Mickey ears on, but since there were about 40 other people in line, there wasn’t much that the guy at the podium could do. So, Kyle went off in search of Starbucks and I sat and left angry blogs about how much I hate Delta. Then, suddenly, DGA appeared out of nowhere. Apparently they had called her up to help with all the chaos and she spotted me in the crowd.
She called me up to the podium and then grabbed one of my bags and took off! I scurried after her and she rapidly walked me to another gate while slipping me new boarding passes and whispering that I needed to keep hushed about our new arrangements because everyone else would be irritated if they knew we’d been rebooked. Not only did she rebook us magically (for the second time!), she put us in first class on a flight that was leaving in ten minutes. Kyle booked it back from Starbucks and off we went to Atlanta!
The flight from Atlanta to Orlando found us back in coach, but at least we were in an exit row. It was actually pretty nice because it was a big plane and it was mostly empty, except for the occasional rowdy family. One such family was behind me and the stewardess did the cutest thing. She took all the boys up to meet the pilot in the cockpit. I thought they stopped doing that sort of stuff in the eighties, but off they went, following her like the Lost Boys.
The cuteness factor was taken down a notch when there was an incessant dinging that started after they went up front and rang throughout the entire plane. At first we laughed about how they must be having fun up there with all the buttons, but after what was seriously about ten minutes of dinging we were starting to curse under our breath. Suddenly, another stewardess came and started fidgeting with my armrest. I wasn’t touching it at all, but when she fidgeted with it the dinging stopped. When she walked away I turned to Kyle and said “that was weird”. It was at that point that he confessed that he had accidentally had his elbow on the attendant-call-button for that whole time and had only realized it when she came over to see why our seats were dinging. Yeah…
Since we were in an exit row, we ended up sitting across from the stewardess who was in the jump seat. She turned out to be really chatty and she just kept talking and talking for the whole flight, which was sort of nice because she made it fly by. At the end of the flight, she snuck us a bottle of red wine, warning us not to show any other passengers. (Apparently, Delta employees can only be nice to passengers as long as they don’t tell anyone)…
We made it from the airport to Pop Century with absolutely no drama whatsoever. I love that we don’t have to pick up our luggage anymore, thanks to Disney's Magical Express. We were just whisked off to WDW for our fairytale…
More last minute projects
Here are more things that I ended up putting together the night before we left...
Attendant Gifts
We were totally and completely stumped when it came to attendant gifts. Some of the things that we thought of were:
I admit that they are totally random. I was at Target, quietly panicking about finding 10 groomsmen gifts, when I saw these toys in the birthday party aisle. I don't know, it's just one of those things. When in doubt, reach out to those inner children with some cheap plastic items. I picked them up, tossed in some candy, put them in a pastry bag (50 for $4!) and voila - groomsman gifts. Kyle wrote out a nice note to each and stuck it in the bag. I admit, we did a budget-stupid thing by buying printed Thank You bags from the Target wedding aisle. $10 for 12! If I had thought ahead, I could have made 12 for about $4. C'est la vie...I suppose I can't really pay off my student debt $6 at a time...
The girls got more randomness. I had been aquiring stuff from the Target $1 bins for a long time. If you time it right, you can go when the $1 stuff is all 75% and since it's usually a bunch of Disney stuff for a quarter I tend to clean up! I had saved a really random selection of things, so that's what the girls got. Each got a small metal lunchbox with either Dumbo or Bambi on it and inside I gave them a bunch of Sephora beauty samples, a Knot.com nail file (scored at one of those wedding shows), a couple of chocolates, a wedding fortune cookie key chain (the whole I'm-Chinese thing), and some Go Smile brightener for the wedding. They also got little feet brushes, glass slipper lip gloss, a packet of Kleenex, and their hoodie.
I also stuck in a note thanking each for being at the wedding. It was a nice little package, but each cost me less than $5! It might be tacky to be happy about not spending much on a gift, but I swear that a lot of thought went into it between collecting specific samples for each and making all those hoodies. I suppose I can't say the same thing for the boys, but they know I love them!
Flower Girl Gift
Kaitlyn got a special gift. In addition to her little lunchbox full of candy, her kleenex, her lip gloss, and her foot brush, she got a real lunchbox and a special present. The lunchbox was actually something that my mom had picked up for a couple of bucks at some sale and it was the perfect size.
The special gift was bought at an after-christmas sale. It was Belle in her wedding gown and unfortunately it was the only one or I would have bought one for myself.
My favorite part is little Chip as the ring bearer. How cute is that?
Girl Gifts
At some point when I was little I went to a baby shower and the hostess had made me a special little package with small toys and candy. I remember LOVING that I had gotten a special treat, so I made three little packages for the three little girls who were coming to our reception and filled them with more of those 25 cent Target bargain bin finds. We gave them out at the reception and they were a big hit!
Vendor Gifts
I also wanted to do something for the vendors, so I wrote each of them a note and put together little bags of Buckeyes with a card explaning about them. For those who aren't from Ohio, Buckeyes are (in addition to being the OSU mascot) little chocolate peanut butter candies and they're famous around here. I thought it would be a nice local touch.
Cute, aren't they? Well, they were a big freakin' waste because somehow they got LOST with the cards I'd written out sometime between the morning of the wedding and the reception. They were returned to me when the wedding was pretty much over, so Kyle and I brought them home and are in the process of eating them ourselves. We almost mailed them out, but since they got kind of melty and squashed on the way home, they would have sent a funny message. Oh well...a tip from me to you: keep track of those vendor gifts and don't let anyone check them at the valet along with your day clothes and hair straightener!
The real trip report begins tomorrow!
Attendant Gifts
We were totally and completely stumped when it came to attendant gifts. Some of the things that we thought of were:
- Books for each with commemorative wedding bookmarks (couldn't think of a book)
- Flasks for boys and bracelets for girls (didn't work so well for my little brother not all of my girls are the bracelet type)
- Disney gift cards (seemed really...like we were paying them to be there)
- Disney pins (at least half would have gone unappreciated...if not all...)
- Mickey hats with their names stitched on the back (Kyle voted it down...boo!!!...)
I admit that they are totally random. I was at Target, quietly panicking about finding 10 groomsmen gifts, when I saw these toys in the birthday party aisle. I don't know, it's just one of those things. When in doubt, reach out to those inner children with some cheap plastic items. I picked them up, tossed in some candy, put them in a pastry bag (50 for $4!) and voila - groomsman gifts. Kyle wrote out a nice note to each and stuck it in the bag. I admit, we did a budget-stupid thing by buying printed Thank You bags from the Target wedding aisle. $10 for 12! If I had thought ahead, I could have made 12 for about $4. C'est la vie...I suppose I can't really pay off my student debt $6 at a time...
The girls got more randomness. I had been aquiring stuff from the Target $1 bins for a long time. If you time it right, you can go when the $1 stuff is all 75% and since it's usually a bunch of Disney stuff for a quarter I tend to clean up! I had saved a really random selection of things, so that's what the girls got. Each got a small metal lunchbox with either Dumbo or Bambi on it and inside I gave them a bunch of Sephora beauty samples, a Knot.com nail file (scored at one of those wedding shows), a couple of chocolates, a wedding fortune cookie key chain (the whole I'm-Chinese thing), and some Go Smile brightener for the wedding. They also got little feet brushes, glass slipper lip gloss, a packet of Kleenex, and their hoodie.
Flower Girl Gift
Kaitlyn got a special gift. In addition to her little lunchbox full of candy, her kleenex, her lip gloss, and her foot brush, she got a real lunchbox and a special present. The lunchbox was actually something that my mom had picked up for a couple of bucks at some sale and it was the perfect size.
The special gift was bought at an after-christmas sale. It was Belle in her wedding gown and unfortunately it was the only one or I would have bought one for myself.
My favorite part is little Chip as the ring bearer. How cute is that?
Girl Gifts
At some point when I was little I went to a baby shower and the hostess had made me a special little package with small toys and candy. I remember LOVING that I had gotten a special treat, so I made three little packages for the three little girls who were coming to our reception and filled them with more of those 25 cent Target bargain bin finds. We gave them out at the reception and they were a big hit!
Vendor Gifts
I also wanted to do something for the vendors, so I wrote each of them a note and put together little bags of Buckeyes with a card explaning about them. For those who aren't from Ohio, Buckeyes are (in addition to being the OSU mascot) little chocolate peanut butter candies and they're famous around here. I thought it would be a nice local touch.
Cute, aren't they? Well, they were a big freakin' waste because somehow they got LOST with the cards I'd written out sometime between the morning of the wedding and the reception. They were returned to me when the wedding was pretty much over, so Kyle and I brought them home and are in the process of eating them ourselves. We almost mailed them out, but since they got kind of melty and squashed on the way home, they would have sent a funny message. Oh well...a tip from me to you: keep track of those vendor gifts and don't let anyone check them at the valet along with your day clothes and hair straightener!
The real trip report begins tomorrow!
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