Goodbye, 2010...and Thank You!

My friends,

It has been quite the year! Last January, I made it my New Year's resolution to kick the blog into high gear and see if I couldn't get a little more organized with the spotlights and info. I dreamt about pulling in a bigger audience, but set my goals low (maybe I could get 20 readers to be my Facebook friends...30 even?).

Well, thanks to you guys, this was by far the biggest year the DWB has ever had. We did more than three times as many spotlights and my spotlight to-do list is growing growing growing! We had tons of giveaways, lots of guest posts, and I finally was able to pull together a big fat list of my favorite wedding vendors...not to mention conquering the big fat list of Disney wedding locations!

This year brought me lots of new friends and some really exciting firsts, like the first Disney Wedding Awards and, more recently, our first (international!) DWB Secret Santa exchange. It's hard to imagine that next year will top this one (well, blog-wise anyway...I am having a baby after all), but I'm excited to tell you that tomorrow I'll be debuting the new sister site to The Disney Wedding Blog AND I'll be giving away a new DVD copy of Disney's Fantasia/Fantasia 2000!

Tonight, be warm, safe, and merry, and just know that you guys truly made my year.

With love,
Carly

Wedding Spotlight: Tina + Mike

Location: Wedding Pavilion, Grand Floridian
Photography: Randy Chapman

Wedding Spotlight: Janet + Jose

Location: Palace Hotel San Francisco
Photography: Jasmine Wang Photography

Did You Just Get Engaged?

Are you one of the lucky people who got engaged this holiday season? If so, congratulations! I was a December engage-ee myself and had a lot of fun combining our celebration with the holidays.

That being said, I remember going straight into stress-mode after the new year, when we suddenly realized how many decisions we had to make and how lost we were about getting started with the wedding planning. To make things just a touch easier, I rounded up a few posts that you might find helpful if you're just starting to take your first steps into the wedding bubble:

A Ranch Wedding and a Disneyland Train

Ok, guys, you can file this one under "bizarre" and "awesome".

Before Kyle and I were engaged, I wasn't always sure if we'd be able to do a Walt Disney World wedding. Most of my family lives in northern California and it seemed like a lot to ask that they come across the country for our celebration. This was all before that Disney family museum opened in San Francisco, so my Disney options in California were basically non-existent outside of Disneyland. I had always thought that a vineyard or ranch wedding would be lovely, since that's more the style of wedding that my family was used to, but ultimately our desire to incorporate Disney into our wedding won out. (And the rest, as they say, is history...)

However, I have just found out that if you're thinking about getting married in California, you now have another Disney option...and it's very, very cool. The Santa Margarita Ranch in the San Luis Obispo area is home to a vineyard, a beautiful garden, an incredible barn, AND one of the original trains from Disneyland. It turns out that the only train that has ever been moved out of Disneyland and into another tourist location is the one at the Santa Margarita Ranch. Oh, and yes, it's fully functional and if you get married there your guests will actually get to ride the train to your celebration.

Can you get a mental picture of how cool that would be? Well, in case you can't, here's a wedding spotlight to start you thinking:

Location: Santa Margarita Ranch
Photography: Allyson Magda Photography

Wedding Spotlight: Silvia + Mike

Locations: Wedding Pavilion, Grand Floridian, Whitehall Room
Photography: KENKATO Photography

A Warm and Merry Christmas

This is a late post because my Christmas was filled with food, friends, and family. Still, I wanted to check in to wish you a happy holiday and share a little wedding-ish Christmas goodness...

These wedding inspiration pics are both Christmas and Cinderella inspired. Thank you to Simply Bloom Photography, Mrs. B (Bride @ Heart), and Kate Holland of Ruby & Willow Wedding Stationery Designer.

Engagement Spotlight: Maggie + Alex

Locations: Disneyland, California Adventure
Photography: Chelsea Elizabeth Photography

Wedding Spotlight: Joyce + Johnson

Locations: Grand Floridian
Photography: Corinna Hoffman Photography

Wedding Spotlight: Kimmy + Eric

Locations:St. Margaret Mary, Shades of Green
Photography: Binary Flips Photography
Floral: Forever Young
Cake: Charley's Bakery

Disney Fairy Tale Wedding Dresses by Alfred Angelo

The Disney Fairy Tale Wedding Dresses by Alfred Angelo are out and available. I really love that they embraced the character theming when they took these publicity stills...it just makes so much sense! I loved the Kirstie Kelly for Disney line of wedding dresses, but sometimes I got the impression that they were downplaying the amount Disney inspiration behind the gowns. I say, if you're going to do it, go for it!!

Wedding Spotlight: Marcy + Mert

Locations: Wedding Gazebo, Yacht Club, Epcot - Italy
Photography: Root Photography
Year: 2008

Note: This is a wedding from a few years back, which is why the Roots shot inside of Epcot. Outside photographers are no longer allowed to shoot in-park weddings. I promise to tell you as soon as that silly rule changes.

Wedding Spotlight: Crystal + Joseph

Location: Hong Kong Disneyland
Photography: ThomasGalleria

(relatives watching everyone get ready on CC television)

Engagement Spotlight: Nyra + JR

Locations: Disneyland and California Adventure
Photography: Silva Stills and Cinema as Artistic Imagery Stills and Cinema

More from Nyra + JR: Video

This is such a gorgeous wedding, I figured you guys would want to see more. The video below features clips both from their Disney reception and from their off-property ceremony. I love it because it gives you a really good feel for the size of the Grand Ballroom at the Disneyland Hotel, so if you're considering that as one of your locations, you should definitely take a look!

Wedding Spotlight: Nyra + JR

Locations: Disneyland Hotel, Grand Ballroom
Photography: Silva Stills and Cinema

Winter Wonderland

This gorgeous reception was up on a sneak peek on Randy Chapman's blog tonight. It so gets me in a holiday mood! Can't wait to see more from this wedding...

Metal Broach Bouquets = LOVE

I saw two of these this week. One was on the Roots' blog in the Lorie + Jonathan recap (amazing if you missed it, btw) and the other was on this wedding shot by Chelsea Nicole Photography:

Pre-Engagement Spotlight: Dolly + Chris

Location: Disneyland
Photography: NeTonya Grant Photography

I'm not really sure what counts as a "pre-engagement session"...it's either a session where you know that you're going to be engaged but you haven't actually gotten a ring or it's a session that happens before you've gotten to the being engaged stage of your relationship. Either way, they're surprisingly common with couples. I only say surprisingly because it seems like one of those things that unmarried men might be a little wary about.

Maybe it's the word "engagement". I feel like if you throw that in there, it makes it a loaded photo session. Or maybe that's just because Kyle used to get panicky about that kind of stuff until there was a ring involved. The idea of being married was fine, but the idea of being engaged seemed to be terrifying and for the record, I asked him if he would have let me do a pre-engagement session before I got the ring. He said absolutely not...but when I rephrased it as a professional couple's session he thought it was a cute idea.

So, maybe we can just call this one a cute couple's spotlight in my favorite backdrop:

Wedding Spotlight: Dawn + Ben

Locations: Sea Breeze Point, BoardWalk, Polynesian
Photography: Open Image Studio

Weekly Update - 12/17/10

We haven't done one of these in a while, so I thought I'd check in before we hit the full craziness of this holiday season, just to share some updates and tidbits:

• If you missed it, nominations for the 2010 Disney Wedding Awards are now open, so go here to nominate your favorite brides and grooms. I'm working on the prizes as we speak and (as usual), there's a whole lot of stuff that I wish I could be winning! If you have an Etsy shop or other small business and you're interested in donating to the prize pack for the winners, drop me a line and we'll chat...

• The DWB Secret Santa gift exchange seems to be in full swing. Lots of you have sent me messages to let me know what you've sent or that your recipient might get their present a little late with all the delays of holiday shipping. From the sound of things, you guys are going to be opening some pretty lovely gifts! Don't forget to snap a few photos and send them in so we can all share the joy.

• In non-blog news, Disney Fairy Tale Weddings is doing a new thing this March called a Bridal Showcase. It's basically an information session about Disney weddings and there's an opportunity to talk to planners and tour some of the venues. There's also a chance to have lunch with David Tutera and Carley Roney (editor of The Knot). If you're curious about Epcot dessert parties, they'll be throwing one so you can sign up and see if you'd like your guests to enjoy the same on your wedding day. From what I can tell, a good chunk of the DWB community is interested/planning on going so it will probably be a good time. I'd love to tell you that I'll be there so we could group together and storm the showcase in style, but I'll be here in Utah getting very close to having our baby girl. If you're interested in attending the Bridal Showcase, click here for more information.

• Lastly, in related (and slightly bummed out) news: our upcoming January trip to Walt Disney World has been canceled as of this week. As many of you might have seen on Facebook last week, I've been having some trouble with my heart. That, combined with the fact that I just hit the third trimester of this pregnancy, means that I'm no longer cleared to fly. Kyle's taking it like a champ (much better than I am) and doesn't even mind the fact that we have now spent a total of $600 on entries into the WDW half-marathon but we've never actually done the race. I feel like they should at least send me a t-shirt, don't you? Anyway, I was looking forward to seeing some of you and doing more site visits/blog research, but it looks like that will have to wait. I hope that the many readers who are taking WDW trips in the next four weeks have a lovely time and I promise that one of these days we'll have a big get-together down in Orlando.

• And...hopefully I'll have some better, exciting news to share with you guys soon, but the details aren't settled yet. Stay tuned!

 Photo by Hal Jurcik Photography

Nominations: The 2010 Disney Wedding Awards!!

It's time to send in your nominations for the 2010 Disney Wedding Awards! If you didn't join in the fun last year, the Disney Wedding Awards recognize some of the best weddings we've all virtually enjoyed through message boards, trip reports, and spotlights here on the blog. All of the nominees come from blog readers and I get to shuffle through them all to find three nominees for each of our twenty categories. That's right...there's twenty categories this year, which is more than we've ever had! (Now I know how the people running the Academy Awards must feel...)

The categories this year are:

Cassie + JB's Wedding Video

I'm assuming nobody around these parts has forgotten about Cassie + JB's beautiful wedding at the Grand Floridian marina. I'm happy to report that they have their wedding video and you can actually get a much better sense of all the details of their day...including the cold, windy weather. Enjoy!

Trash the Dress Spotlight: Candace + Zach

Locations: ??
Photography: Corinna Hoffman Photography

I really like this take on the new trend of "trash the dress" sessions. Most of the trash the dress sessions I've seen involve some sort of water. Sometimes the resulting images are really amazing, but I'm not so much one of those people who would want to jump in a pool in my wedding gown. I'm not really a swimmer and my wedding dress wasn't that comfortable when it was dry, so I can't even imagine it wet.

For their trash the dress session, Candace and Zach went out and took photos all over Walt Disney World. I love that they weren't worried about getting the dress dirty, but they also didn't do anything to the dress just for the sake of trashing it. Plus, how lucky are they to get these shots from so many different locations?

Speaking of which, I'm going to hold off on listing the locations to see if you, my dear Disney readers, can name them all...

Wedding Spotlight: Noelle + Scott

Locations: Grand Californian, Downtown Disney
Photography: Mathieu Photography

Engagement Spotlight: Juli + Wayne

Location: Reading, PA
Photography: Metropolitan Imageworks

Wedding Spotlight: Michelle + Trevor

Location: At-home Disney wedding (Lake Tahoe)
Photography: Nudrat Photography

Wedding Spotlight: Chrissy + Braden

Locations: Croquet Lawn, BoardWalk
Photography: David and Vicki Arndt Photography

Wedding Spotlight: Nicola + Anthony

Locations: Sea Breeze Point, BoardWalk
Photography: Randy Chapman

Inside Disney Weddings: Hope and Mike

Today's Inside Disney Weddings Podcast features an interview with Hope and Mike, who got married at Disneyland this past summer. They share lots of info about their wedding planning and how they cut costs. Listen to the podcast here.

More From the Mad Hatter Reception

Photography: Courtney Reece Photography

If my inbox is any reliable indicator, we're going to be seeing many more mad hatter inspired wedding receptions in the future. Since so many of you begged for more inspiration pics from Anna + John's reception, I'm obliging:

Engagement Spotlight: Christie + John

Location: Disneyland
Photography: The Youngrens

Disney Wedding Stalkers: Friend or Foe?

Not all of the ceremony and reception venues at Walt Disney World or Disneyland are private. Every now and then I get a question about how to keep strangers from peeking in at your Disney wedding. My answer: I have no idea. I don't think there's a way to completely exclude the outside world unless you choose a private venue, like the Living Seas Salon at Epcot.

For example, this couple had a ceremony/reception at the Wedding Gazebo over at the Yacht Club...and now we all get to enjoy it thanks to the mystery guest who filmed the event from the balcony of their hotel room and posted it on YouTube. The bride and groom don't look bothered (or didn't seem to notice) but it is a little strange to be virtually peeking in at their wedding this way. Is it nice that these people were so interested or would it have made you uncomfortable?

What do you think? Are "wedding stalkers" a problem or something that isn't that big of a deal?

Red Envelope: $30 for only $15

I don't usually devote whole posts to Groupon deals, but the deals aren't usually wedding-centric. However, there's a deal today for $30 worth of Red Envelope merchandise for only $15 and Red Envelope is one of those online wedding vendors that people use over and over. So, I thought I'd give you guys the link to the deal and a peek at what Red Envelope offers.

Link: Get the deal here.

Peek: (All of these are $30 or under)

Engagement Spotlight: Rachel + Joshua

Location: Disneyland
Photography: Palos Studio

PassPorter + $100 Disney Gift Card Giveaway

I promised that there'd be a new giveaway coming up today, but I'm not 100% sure that I can make that happen...it might be a new giveaway coming up tomorrow instead.

BUT...

Mouseketrips is teaming up with Inside Disney Weddings and they're doing a giveaway for a copy of printed copy of PassPorter’s Disney Weddings & Honeymoons and a $100 Disney gift card. So if you didn't win the last giveaway we had here on the blog, here's your second chance with a kicker!

For more information, visit Inside Disney Weddings to listen to their latest weekly podcast...

Disney Wedding Blog Secret Santa 2010

Ok, we're trying something new this year.

A reader named Emily sent me a suggestion for a new bit of fun for the holidays and I've decided to try it out. We're doing a blog-wide Secret Santa (a general holiday swap for everyone celebrating whatever they're celebrating). The idea is that readers who want to participate will send out a gift to a stranger (I'll provide the address) and they'll get a gift from a different stranger in return.

I admit, I was a little nervous about the idea at first, just because I can't police it that well. If someone sends something out, but doesn't get a gift themselves, there's not much I can do besides send out an inquiry email. I also can't do anything about gifts lost in the mail, etc. That being said, I've done these before with people online (Disney brides and others) and I've never run into that problem. In fact, it's always been a ton of fun!

So, here are the official rules:

On Being a Wedding Guest: Thoughts From the Other Side

I spend almost all of my time on this blog talking about what it’s like to plan a wedding. The posts on this site cover everything from wedding inspiration to frequently asked planning questions. Since this blog started out from the perspective of a bride (me), it’s continued to run in that general direction and when people send me things I always immediately think, “That’s nice…but what would a bride think of that?”

This past week, however, Kyle and I took a trip home to Ohio for the holidays and while we were there, we were able to attend the wedding of two of our friends. These friends had traveled down to Orlando to be guests at our reception when we got married and it was fun to trade places and celebrate their big day with them. It got me thinking, though, about the fact that I should probably stop enjoying the wedding with a “planning bride” mentality and start enjoying it with a  “wedding guest” mentality.

So I did. Here’s what I learned:

We Have a Winner!!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our weeks-long giveaway for a copy of PassPorter's Disney Weddings & Honeymoons, a guide to planning your Disney wedding. I'm happy to announce that we have a winner!

And the winner is...