Wedding Wednesday: My Cinderella Moments

It's Cinderella's 73rd Anniversary today so I thought I'd do a special edition of my Wedding Wednesday blog segment.  For our Disney Wedding, Cinderella was one of the themes organically due to the location and what Eliot and I decided to include in our wedding day.  As soon as I knew we were getting married at Walt Disney World, it seemed natural to go along with the Cinderella theme. 

I think every girl dreams of being a real life princess at one point or another during her lifetime.  For some of us, that dream never dies... and that's why so many couples get married at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Aulani and the Disney Cruise Line.

I was blessed to have many what I like to call "Cinderella Moments" during Eliot's and my Disney Wedding experience.  Today, I thought I'd share a few of those with you!

Riding in the Carriage- One of the things that I was most excited about was riding over to our wedding ceremony in Cinderella's Carriage.  Riding in the coach is one of those things you think you'll never be able to do, but with Disney Weddings you can.  It was one of the more indulgent parts of our wedding day, but the cost was worth it.

I've talked about my carriage ride before, but I'll reiterate my favorite part.  When we were leaving the Grand Floridian and heading over to Disney's Wedding Pavilion, a bus had to stop to let us out onto the road.  I'll never forget all of the little girls popping their heads up in the windows to catch a glimpse of the "princess" riding in the glass carriage.  I'm sure that I'm in plenty of random people's Disney vacation photos, and it's such a wonderful memory.  To some of those little girls, I *was* Cinderella and if that's not a true princess moment, then I don't know what else is. 

I even got to go into it twice.  Right after our wedding, they had Eliot and I take a short trip up to the road and back so they could take photos and some video footage.  It was the first time after our wedding that we got a quiet minute to ourselves, and it was nice to be able to soak everything in together.  Plus, it made for a great photo op!

Major Domo- Obviously this wasn't a necessity, but when you get married at Disney, you might as well make it as magical as possible, right?  And honestly, I've said it before and I'll say it again, when Major Domo walked down the aisle of the Wedding Pavilion with the glass slipper holding Eliot's and my wedding rings, that's the exact moment when it hit me that we were *actually* getting married at Walt Disney World and our dream was coming true.  It came over me all at once and I got emotional... having him there was 100% magical and something that I'll never forget!

Fireworks- Ok, so fireworks themselves aren't really a Cinderella thing.  But the experience of going into the World Showcase to watch IllumiNations from the France Pavilion definitely had a princess vibe.  From walking through the World Showcase in front of park guests (many who stopped to notice the girl in the poofy white gown), to having our own private location to watch the show, to all of the yummy treats at our Dessert Party, to taking spectacular pictures during the show, to dancing to "Promise" our wedding song after the show was over... the entire evening was a magical memory.

Slipper Photos- A few days after our wedding, Eliot and I had our photo shoot at the Magic Kingdom.  This was another must have... I mean, what's the point of having a wedding at Disney if you can't take advantage of the beauty the resort has to offer? 

I brought along a bag with a few photo props: my "glass" slippers and one of my pink parasols that Stephanie, our wedding photographer, told me to bring along.  One of my favorite photos of the morning was at the Cinderella Fountain that's tucked behind the castle.  Most people walk right by it without even noticing it.  Stephanie used it as a photo location so it would look like Eliot was putting the glass slipper on my foot.  We used the fountain so I wouldn't have to sit in my dress, and I also wouldn't have to keep my foot and leg lifted so long.  I love how the photo came out and I was thrilled to recreate this Cinderella movie moment!

Cinderella Castle Photos- I was so excited about the castle photos.  For months leading up to our wedding, I would become really overwhelmed with emotion every time I thought about Eliot and I having our own photos in our wedding attire with Cinderella Castle.  Thankfully, we got quite a few of them!

Our photos on the lawn didn't come out as well as I'd hoped they would.  (I think it was still too dark out.)  But we got a bunch of other ones that I could only have dreamed of.

I'm so glad Stephanie had me bring the parasol with me.  This is one of my favorites.

Eliot and I were also able to go inside of Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for some photos.

My favorite moment though, was actually one that Eliot sat out of.  Stephanie had us go over to the walkway leading up to the castle where she and her assistant posed me with backlighting.  The result is something beautiful that I couldn't have imagined even in my wildest dreams.  It's the perfect princess moment... I felt like a real life Cinderella.

And to this day, I still have to pinch myself sometimes to remind myself that all of this actually happened.  Eliot's and my Disney Wedding really was a dream come true.  I am forever grateful to have had my own Cinderella Moments that I'll never forget.

Happy 73rd Anniversary Cinderella!!!  °o°

10 Year Wedding Anniversary

A long time ago in a land not so far away, a little girl was riding the monorail at Walt Disney World.  The little girl spotted a pretty building and wondered what it was.  

"Daddy, what's that building?" she asked.  "That's the Wedding Pavilion.  That's where people get married."  The little girl then asked her father, "Daddy, will I get married there someday?"  The father replied, "I don't know, I guess we'll see."  The little girl dreamed that someday she would marry her prince there.  

Ten years ago, in that same not so far away land... the little girl's dream came true.

I can't believe that it's been ten years since our Disney Wedding.  Time has flown right by a lot faster than I imagined it would.  Eliot and I had talked about having a vow renewal at ten years, but it crept right up on us.  Plus, with the pandemic the past few years, I wasn't interested in doing that with all of the weddings getting caught up.

We don't have any huge plans for our wedding anniversary today, but Eliot and I will be taking the afternoon and evening off to do something together.

I'm sure it will be a nice break too.  The rest of this week, he'll be making up hours at work and I'll be busy at home.  I have to get caught up with a few blog posts from this weekend and a super long merchandise post that was supposed to go live yesterday but all of them will be backdated now. (Keep an eye out for those three posts!)  Plus, we have a lot of stuff for the businesses to get finished and mailed out.

But for today, we're taking some time to be together and that's what is most important. 

Happy Anniversary babe!  I love you!!!  °o°

Wedding Wednesday: Our Aisle Runner

Happy Wednesday!  Today marks only two months until Eliot and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary on September 20th!  It's been a few months since I last posted a behind the scenes look at planning our dream Disney Wedding, so I thought today was a great time to write another installment of my Wedding Wednesday segment!

Eliot and I are super busy getting a bunch of orders finished and out in the mail before we're away this weekend for the Backstreet Boys concert and spending the weekend in Trenton.  So for today, I thought that I'd let my photos do most of the talking for me!

Since we're in the weeks leading up to our wedding anniversary, I thought it would be appropriate to showcase the thing that lead me down the aisle towards Eliot and the altar.  Our aisle runner was spectacular and it was a big part of our ceremony decor!

Disney offers aisle runners for their wedding couples, but after seeing how expensive they were for what I wanted, I decided to look elsewhere.  I discovered a company called Customized Wedding Creations (no longer operating as far as I know) that would customize the satin colors on either side of the aisle runner.  They would also add text at the top of the aisle runner (near the altar) as well as the foot of it.

I contacted Cherin late in our wedding planning process (August 3rd to be exact), but she was able to get us a quote and design proofs very quickly.  Before I knew it, we'd ordered our aisle runner and the process of creating it began!

Cherin was wonderful to work with.  Eliot and I got exactly what we wanted, and it was at a fraction of the cost that we would have paid for Disney to do it.

Before she mailed us the final product, Cherin sent us photos of our aisle runner.  I was so happy with how it turned out and I could hardly wait to see how it looked set up in the Disney Wedding Pavilion!  It was going to be absolutely perfect... 

And it was more than I could have ever dreamed.  We had gone with minimal decor for our ceremony, opting to let the space shine.  I was pretty awestruck when I saw how simple and gorgeous it all turned out!  We had the aisle runner down the center with hot pink silk rose petals lining either side of it.  Then, we had four simple Greek column pedestals holding pink and lime flowers- two at the front and two at the back.

Wasn't it perfect?  I think it was definitely worth every single penny!

It also ended up being a great photo prop for our post ceremony photos!

Plus, it's a great wedding souvenir for us to have to remember our special day!

I'm definitely 100% happy that I went with an outside company for our aisle runner.  If I had to do it all over again, I'd do the exact same thing.  Eliot and I got what exaxctly we dreamed of and it was at a great price point.  Plus, Cherin was a joy to work with!

I hope you enjoyed this installment of Wedding Wednesday and a behind the scenes look at our Disney Wedding planning process!  I still can't believe that it has already been ten years since planning and having the most perfect wedding day!  °o°

Note: If you click each of these photos, you'll be able to see the details better!

#tbt Our Disney Wedding Planning Trip

This week marks the anniversary of a special Disney trip for Eliot and me.  Ten years ago, back in 2012, we were at Walt Disney World to plan our wedding, tour our venues and attend our Disney Wedding Planning Session!  I thought this was the perfect time to do a little #tbt to share a few wedding planning highlights from that week!

Not all Disney wedding couples elect to attend an in person wedding planning session, but Eliot and I knew this was non-negotiable.  Most of our wedding planning happened while Eliot was finishing his senior year at Wentworth and I was in charge of a lot of the details.  But we both wanted to attend the planning session so we decided to do the in person session right after he finished with his finals, but before he had graduation.

My parents, my brother Jeremy and my Nana and Papa all went to Florida with us.  It was so hot that week... most days we didn't leave the hotel until after 4:00 pm unless we had to.  This was also the trip where Eliot and I first became annual pass holders when we both activated our passes gifted to us from Disney Fairy Tale Weddings.

Our plan for the week was to visit the parks as usual, but to do it around the schedule of events we had to plan our wedding.  Thankfully, I had booked our planning sessions around two days, so that allowed us to enjoy the parks on the other days!

On Friday April 27th, Mom, Dad, Eliot and I headed over to Franck's Bridal Studio so we could take a tour of the Living Seas Salon in The Seas at Epcot, where we were having our wedding reception.  We got a private tour from Joel (who reminded me so much of Joe Pavelski).  We got to go through "backstage" areas to get into the facility and Joel drove us through private cast member roads to get to The Seas Pavilion.  It was so cool to go behind the scenes of Epcot and see the countries from the back!

When we got back from our tour, we had a few minutes before our next appointment was going to be starting.  Joel told us we could go into the Wedding Pavilion since no one was currently using it for a ceremony.  This was the first time that any of us had ever entered it and it was an emotional moment for me.  This was really happening!

After our tour, Mom and I attended a session with Shelley from Impressions.  She was designing our wedding invitations and all of the paper products.  We met with her at Franck's Bridal Studio, the Disney Fairy Tale Weddings headquarters located right beside the Wedding Pavilion.  We picked out colors, designs, and details while there.

The highlight of our trip was on Monday April 30th, when we finally had our Wedding Planning Session.  They only allow four people at the planning session, so Mom, Dad, Eliot and I attended that.  During our meeting, we met with our Disney wedding planner Christy to discuss our vision and the timeline for our day.  Then, we also went over details like table linens, floral arrangements, decor for both venues, etc.  But the best part of the session was trying out wedding cake and frosting samples!

Another pretty big highlight of our trip was our Epcot Menu Tasting.  That took place after our Wedding Planning Session. It was so cool to go behind the scenes at Epcot again.  This time, they took us into the actual Epcot kitchen.  We had a small table set up right in the middle of it, and there the four of us sampled our pre-selected menu.

Eliot's not into fancy foods, so he wasn't eating that much while we were there.  Christy asked Eliot what he usually ate at home, and he answered tater tots.  We all got a good laugh, but a few minutes later, we understood why she asked.  One of the Epcot chefs came out with a plate full of tater tots for Eliot.  (The table must have had a hidden microphone.)  They took note of it too, because on our wedding day, the same chef came out with a plate of tater tots for Eliot at our wedding reception.  It was really special and our private menu tasting at Epcot was an experience that I'll never forget!

The rest of the week, Eliot and I enjoyed our time exploring the parks and riding on our favorite rides with my family.  One of the days, we took advantage of the hot weather and visited the water park at Typhoon Lagoon.  It was so refreshing!

Eliot and I never took formal engagement photos, so another day we dressed up in coordinating outfits and took a few PhotoPass photos at the Magic Kingdom.  We also had my brother Jeremy capture a few photos of us at the Contemporary Resort, on the balcony from the Main Street Train Station and on Main Street USA.

We also enjoyed visiting the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot.  We had seen the topiaries before, but this was the first time I remember seeings so many of the newer ones!  We were certainly dazzled by all of them spread out over the World Showcase!

It was a wonderful week and Eliot and I had such a great time planning for our Disney Wedding!  I only wish that I'd taken more photos of our planning session and our menu tasting.  But other than that, it was pretty much picture perfect!  °o°

Our 9th Wedding Anniversary

Today is Eliot's and my ninth wedding anniversary!!!  

Neither of us can believe that it's already been 9 years since we had the most magical experience at Walt Disney World for our dream come true fairytale wedding day!

We don't usually do much for our anniversary, but we try to take some time to do something together.  This year, we're on vacation in Virginia Beach with my family so I'm sure there's something fun we can find to do this afternoon or evening!  I've been scoping out some restaurant options so at the very least we'll probably do that!

No matter what we end up doing for our anniversary today, I'm just happy that Eliot and I can spend some time together away from our daily routine and the stress that our businesses sometimes put us under.  We can celebrate our anniversary all week long!

Cheers to nine magical years of love, laughter and happily ever after.

Happy Anniversary to us!!!  °o°

Our 7th Anniversary

Today is Eliot's and my 7th Wedding Anniversary!

It's hard to believe that it's been seven years since our fairytale wedding day at Walt Disney World.  So much has happened since then: we've moved twice, bought a house, started new jobs, started a successful small business, I left my job to become self-employed full time, and we've traveled all over the country!

This past year has been especially good.  I've been running the business full time at home.  We've been able to visit Mickey twice at Walt Disney World this winter and for a day at Disneyland in May.  We went to a ton of San Jose Sharks hockey games last season.  We've also made a lot of progress on the house over the past few months!

Let's be real, it hasn't all been Happily Ever After... marriage is hard work and running a business together is no easy feat.  We drive each other crazy sometimes.  But, it's also an amazing feeling when we accomplish goals together.

I think this next year is going to be another good one!  We've got so many more fun things coming up over the next few months: 3 trips to Walt Disney World, 2 Disney Cruises, a trip to California, some more Sharks games, and so much more!

ChEARS to another wonderful year!  Happy Anniversary Eliot!  I love you!!!  °o°

Our 4th Wedding Anniversary

Today is Eliot's and my 4th wedding anniversary!  It's hard to believe that four years have passed since we had our Disney Wedding.  It was a dream come true and sometimes, it still feels like it was a dream!

Thankfully, we splurged on photos and videos so we'll always have reminders of our special day!  I was going through a few of them the other day, and I created this short slideshow video for my Instagram account.  I thought I'd share it here too!  (Note: It's made to be viewed on Instagram so the photos are not a very high quality!)

We don't have any big plans for today.  Honestly, we've been so busy with ears that I've barely seen Eliot this month!  But, it'll totally be worth it when we're at Walt Disney World and on our cruise in a few more days!!!  (10 days until our cruise!)  We've already decided that we'll celebrate more then!  And what better place to celebrate then where our Happily Ever After first started?

ChEars to four magical yEars!!!  °o°

Our 3rd Anniversary

Today is Eliot's and my third wedding anniversary!!!  It's hard to believe it's already been three years since our Walt Disney World Wedding.  It was a dream come true!

To celebrate, I thought I'd take you for a walk down memory lane.  Our wedding trip was the most magical Disney trip we've ever had.  It was full of great memories with our family and friends.  Two years ago, I wrote recaps of our wedding week trip.  It's fun to look back at them each year at our anniversary.  I've put them in round-up format so it's easy to bounce between them, or to read only a few.  Enjoy!

Wedding Trip Introduction- Why a WDW Wedding?, Wedding Planning, Venues, etc. 

Wedding Trip Recap- September 14, 2012- Packing, Traveling to Florida, Checking In

Wedding Trip Recap- September 15, 2012- Hello Walt Disney World, Magic Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon, Pop Century Pool

Wedding Trip Recap- September 16, 2012- Epcot, Pop Pool, Magic Kingdom

Wedding Trip Recap- September 17, 2012- Hair/Make Up Trial, Wedding Projects at Pop Century, Hollywood Studios

Wedding Trip Recap- September 18, 2012- Getting Our Marriage License, Wedding Projects at Pop Century, Bachelor and Bachelorette Night

Wedding Trip Recap- September 19, 2012- Wedding Party in the Magic Kingdom Park, Wedding Rehearsal, Rehearsal Dinner at Golden Corral

Wedding Trip Recap- September 20, 2012 Our Disney Wedding Day!!!

Wedding Trip Recap- September 21, 2012- Animal Kingdom, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party with Family and Friends

Wedding Trip Recap- September 22, 2012- Universal Studios, Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Magic Kingdom

Wedding Trip Recap- September 23, 2012- Blizzard Beach, Bob Evans

Wedding Trip Recap- September 24, 2012- Magic Kingdom Photo Shoot, Wedding Video Shoot at Wilderness Lodge, Epcot, Minimoon Begins

Wedding Trip Recap- September 25, 2012- Goodbye Pop Century, Checking into Animal Kingdom Lodge, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Wedding Trip Recap- September 26, 2012- Epcot, Goodbye Animal Kingdom Lodge, Magic Kingdom, Goodbye Walt Disney World

As you can see, it was an action packed trip.  Eliot and I had a blast and were sad to see it come to an end.  But it was the start to another adventure that's been fun these past three years!  Here's to many more happy years together as Mr. and Mrs.!!!  °o°