Tracey & Neil's UK Bonfire Night/Disney Wedding (Nov 2016) & Disneymoon (May 2017)

[tracey1302]

Hello all!

Gosh, it's been a while!

Just a quick update from me on how things are going, wedding wise.

We have gone with this for our 'Save the Date' cards, as chosen by Neil.

These were sent out along with our Christmas cards. I was so excited to do this as it makes everything more official when you actually start semi-inviting people. I worked in collusion with Olly when I was sending these out. Olly and Ben also sent out their 'Save the Date' cards with their Christmas cards so we had to make sure that we were inviting the same people so as not to cause problems...

There were some friends of ours who I had intended to send cards to, but that we just never saw over Christmas. I will admit, I'm hanging fire on these friends. I feel like we probably will end up inviting them but if we don't see them over Christmas and aren't that bothered about it, are we really that fussed with having them at the wedding? It's that sort of age old issue of 'inviting people for the sake of it.'

There has also been an issue with thinking about inviting friends' partners and the like. One guy is a really good friend of Neil's (and mine, really) but his girlfriend doesn't talk. I think she's only said one word phrases in my presence. Our group of friends is sort of getting the feeling that she doesn't like us very much. At first, we thought she was shy, but she's a grown woman and they've been together over a year now. Come on, love, talk!

And then there's the exes. Well, specifically, one ex. I had two relationships before Neil. The first love, high school one, which lasted for two and a half years and then one which lasted for five months. The five months ex is coming to the wedding. It wasn't exactly a very serious relationship and so much has happened since then. I don't have a problem with inviting him and neither does Neil.

And then there's the first love one. He lives in Oxford with his girlfriend of nearly seven years. We see him maybe about two or three times a year, but he is very much a part of our home friendship group. He and his girlfriend will be going to Olly and Ben's wedding and were given a 'Save the Date.'

I spoke to Neil about Eddie and Alice quite some time ago. I told him that it was completely his decision as to whether we invited him or not. I genuinely don't care either way. Neil said he wanted to invite him to the night do, and then he can choose as to whether he comes up from Oxford again. So, this was the plan.

I'm going to have to have an awkward as hell conversation with Eddie about it. I genuinely think he will be very fine and understanding about it. That's not to mention that I'm not quite sure that my family would be thrilled to see him there on the day and he may get a bit of cold shoulder.

Any advice?

Oh the joy of planning weddings, I'm on with helping to plan Katie's now! We're off wedding dress shopping on Saturday! So excited

Neil's parents have also generously offered to pay for Neil and I to take a trip after the wedding as our wedding present. A mini-moon, if you will. This is so unbelievably generous of them and I am so excited because Neil and I have decided that we would like to go to Florence. Neither of us have ever been and it is so romantic AND, I get to book that next month!

In terms of our own honeymoon, I can't remember if I mentioned to you before that Neil and I were wanting to go to New York and then down to Orlando. It's looking like being around 19 days in total and it's going to be EPIC.

We're wanting to stay at the Holiday Inn, 57th Street in New York. I stayed here the last time I went to NY on holiday and the roof top pool was just a no brainer.



It's also really well located.

We are then going to stay at the Royal Pacific Resort in Universal for three nights.

And for the Disney bit of our honeymoon, our best friends, Ben (Best Man) and Olly (bridesmaid) are coming with us. Ben has never been to Disney and Olly wants to do Disney 'how we do Disney' with the dining plan and so on.

I still haven't decided between CSR and SSR for our resort. Coronado Springs appeals for so many reasons. I prefer the rooms...



And the ambiance...



But SSR has the incredible location...



So I'm still unsure... Olly is wanting to change jobs so we probably won't be able to book until the end of June, when she knows what she's doing in terms of holidays. We need to make sure that we sync in for the Disney bit. I think they're looking at coming for 7 nights over May half term (9 nights if she can get the time off)

Plenty of time to price up again and again when free dining is released in April.

I've also made enquiries with Randy Chapman about our photo shoot in Disney. I was going to go with Disney Photography but just messaged Randy on Facebook and he is like $150 cheaper than Disney so it's a no brainer. I also think his photographs are fantastic. I asked Neil about this again the other day as the last time we discussed the 'photoshoot in Disney' idea, it was in passing and we were still living at his parents.

He said that it was absolutely fine. He knew that not having a Disney wedding was a massive thing for me and it was only an hour or so of our time so he said it was no problem. There's the man I love more than life itself

I'm tentatively hoping to change the table names. I've done mock ups of the table plan and it looks beautiful with both. I relented and said we could have numbers like he wanted. However, I've planted the seeds with Katie's fiance, Jonathan, to say something to Neil about table numbers being boring (again, apologies to anyone who is doing this! )

My counter suggestion is Disney restaurants. I'll see if Jonathan's input has any sway.

I've contacted our photographer and we're going to have a meeting with her in May. She's also said about doing an engagement photoshoot. I'd love to do it in the summer if she can but we'll just have to work around her availability.

Oh and I was going to have an exciting update on the wine

In November, one of my cousins took up the job as a bar manager at the Fleece. He loved it and he was headhunted for the job. Me, Katie, Jonathan and Neil had lunch with my Dad and Step-Mum, Sylvia, on Christmas Eve and Katie and I started chatting with him about wine on our wedding day.

I do like the wine at the Fleece, but I would really like a nice Pinot Grigio or Soave Classico for the table white wine (which is not the house wine we get on the package) and a spicy Rioja for the table red wine. Joe (my cousin) talked with the manager and said that we could supply our own wine (through Katie, who works in wine) as long as they could put a mark up on it so it worked with the package. No problem.

However, on the 2nd January, the manager abruptly fired Joe. He had taken him to tide him over on the Christmas period and then fired him after a three month probation. What an absolute... you know what. I'm angry with the Fleece for Joe, and also hope that it's blown over by November when Joe attends our wedding! But now, I'm pretty sure the wine arrangement is off.

But, Katie had the very good idea of just serving the wedding guests the house wine and just buying the nice wine for the top table. I know it seems a bit prejudiced against the guests but I kind of don't care Me, my sister and my Mum are the real fussy ones when it comes to wine. I know my FIL loves a Rioja so I think that will work very well and shouldn't blow the budget.

Speaking of my FIL... Now I feel so incredibly self involved that I didn't mention this sooner, but Neil's Dad, Dave, hasn't been very well of late. He's been struggling with his bladder ever since they moved to Scarborough last June. He had an operation in September and things seemed to improve, but from November, his condition has gotten worse. He wasn't very well on Christmas Day either, he went to bed at 7pm.

He's had an operation this week and the surgeons found a tumour in his bladder. They took most of it out but there was some that they couldn't take out. He is having a CT scan next week to find out if the cancer has spread and how aggressive it is. We are hoping and praying that it hasn't spread, as Dave's health has been fine other than his bladder problems. They seem to have caught it early and Dave is very optimistic and in a very good frame of mind since his operation on Tuesday. So keep your fingers crossed everyone for my wonderful FIL! I know it's not a particularly pleasant thing to have to include in my wedding PJ, but it is on my mind.

Over and out.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Nesbits]

Everything crossed for your FIL.

who to invite to weddings is a nightmare isn't it?

[tracey1302]

I'm now thinking Port Orleans Riverside or French Quarter...

Ever since the prices were released for 2017, I have been rethinking our honeymoon options. As you know, I was thinking of Coronado Springs Resort as I loved the ambiance and I loved the rooms. However, as you also know, the location of Coronado Springs really bugged me.

With all the amazing bars and restaurants that have been opened in Disney Springs, the idea of being in this area really appeals to me, especially with the amazingly cute water taxi

I've calculated... and we can afford POFQ or POR with a King bed upgrade (important ) and to upgrade to the Deluxe DDP (again, important for us )



I have never really considered PO before. Mainly because the theming didn't appeal as much as the tropical resort like CSR and CBR. But looking in more detail, it is a really beautiful resort and the Tripadvisor reviews are quite considerably better than both CSR and CBR... and SSR for that matter!

I'm not saying I've completely written off SSR. But even if SSR is offered with a discount, I don't think we would be able to afford it. And I'd be after a king bed which is only offered with the 1 bed villas.

I can't wait to book already... but as I say, Olly is wanting to change jobs, so we probably won't be able to book until May/June...

[tracey1302]

Had a very wedding based weekend this weekend as I went dress shopping with my sister and she said 'yes' to the dress.

She looks absolutely amazing. Not to mention that her skinniness has urged my wedding dress diet/gym plans on even more. I just want to get down to 10 stone. It's not too much to ask, I hope.

We also went to see the in-laws in Scarborough, so many questions about suits and stag dos and hen dos have been raised this weekend AND I rounded off the weekend with a cheeky Ebay bargain.

My hen do

I am having my hen do in Leeds. It's not particularly adventurous for me as a choice of venue as I work in Leeds and it's simply the nearest big city to where we live. But I have a few reasons for choosing Leeds.

Firstly, I love Leeds.

I go crazy over cocktail bars like The Alchemist

And I love Epernay champagne bar

And I love the restaurant I've asked Katie to try and book... Sukhothai. I am a massive fan of Thai food and have never been to this place and always wanted to go!

Secondly, I HATE HATE HATE the idea of asking people to spend a lot of money on my hen do. When I was a skint student, I had to go on two very expensive hen dos and I really didn't like it and got quite upset about the whole thing. And the bridal party didn't seem to realise. It wasn't just a hen do, it was a weekend. With flights. And accommodation. AND drinks. AND activities.

And by the end of the weekend, you're finding you have to live on bread and rice for the next week because you're so skint from the weekend. So, from that moment on, I swore to myself that I would not be an expensive and demanding bride.

Our venue is a five minute taxi ride home for 90% of our guests.

And I'm not even staying over in Leeds on my hen do. We're having minibuses to take us there and back. Done.

So, what are we doing?

Cocktail making - Either at the Alchemist (see above) or at Revolution:



And then dinner at Sukhothai (hopefully!)

And then the day after, we're going to afternoon tea at a local restaurant called The Fox:



I am annoyingly good at keeping in touch with my girl friends so I have quite an extensive hen do guest list. I'm not sure who is coming to what, as my sister is organising it. But I think I have about 25 hens... Some are coming to the Leeds bit, and some the Fox bit and some are coming to all of it. I can't wait. It all gets a bit more real when you start thinking about this stuff.

Neil's stag do

As you may recall, back in August of last year, we had a bit of an issue with Neil's stag do, which mainly revolved around his best man, Ben. Ben and his fiancee Olly (my best friend and one of my bridesmaids) are getting married the month after us. Ben had always said he wanted his stag do to be in Las Vegas.

Which, though he didn't see it at the time, this would have caused major affordability issues for those wanting to go on both Neil's and Ben's stag dos. They have a lot of the same mates and this was genuinely a problem.

Thankfully, however, Ben has dropped his idea of Vegas (though we still don't know what he's wanting to do!) but Ben has stepped up to the mark and sorted out Neil's stag do already. He is going to Calella in Spain (near Barcelona) His extended family owns a bar there and it's cheap and cheerful, as they're going in September. Flights are booked. Accommodation isn't sorted yet but that's not as crucial. Neil is really thrilled.

Wedding menu tasting

Our wedding planner has been in touch and has booked us in for our wedding menu tasting in August. Neil and I are pretty sure that we are going to be choosing the chicken dish, as we only get the choice of one meat dish and one veggie dish for the main course. But starters are still up for debate. The dessert I would like is Sticky Toffee Pudding, but again, up for debate.

August is a little later than I wanted but I suppose it's good in a way, because it means that I'm not waiting forever for the RSVPs to come in I had planned to send the invites out in June. But I suppose I can wait two months. And I can have everything ready to roll apart from the wedding menu

I also have about a million questions regarding accommodation and set up times but I'll have to bombard my planner with those in the coming months

I've bought my veil...

Possibly the most exciting of my updates. I had originally planned to buy my wedding veil online from Wedding Veils Direct. They have a 'design your own' wedding veil option which I was quite fond of. I refused to spend upwards of £150 on something I was only going to wear for a couple of hours. They always try to push you into buying veils and the like in the shop (and they really hike up the price of your wedding outfit!)

I've bought my tiara already.

And yesterday I scooped up a once worn Joyce Jackson two tier cathedral length veil with scattered diamantes.

It was £40 including postage and packaging.

I've no doubt I'll have to have the veil in the bathroom with me every time I have a shower between now and November, but nonetheless. I am so happy

We are now at less than nine months

And have been engaged for nearly two years.

[Yorkie Girl]

Ooh, a hen do in Leeds! What a fab idea and Sukhothai is lovely

[Guest]

Your hen do looks like it's going to be super fun! I agree about veils I literally had no idea how expensive they would be! Yours is beautiful!

[Nesbits]

All your hen party venues are great, lucky you, your hens will do you proud.

[tracey1302]

Got the rings!

I had originally wanted to get my wedding ring from the independent jewellery shop in Halifax where Neil bought my engagement ring. However, I went on the website a few months ago and spotted that they had changed the range (and the prices! ) so their rings just weren't in budget for us anymore.

BUT in a passing trip to the White Rose Centre (I call in a lot on the way home from work - sometimes to get petrol, sometimes just to walk around ) I spotted that H Samuel were having a wedding event with 20% off if you bought two wedding rings As having an amazing wedding ring isn't THAT important to me and given that Neil isn't even sure if he wants to wear a ring permanently... we just didn't think it was worth going nuts over.

So, we bought them at H Samuel last weekend

This is Neil's...

It's really lightweight which is perfect for Neil. He doesn't wear any jewellery at all and said he couldn't feel that it was on

And this is mine...

I tried on a few before settling on mine. I tried on some that were normal white gold with a twist and diamantes in the twist which were pretty. And then a few others but none were wowing me. The lady then suggested that she cleaned my engagement ring () as she thought the wedding rings would look better. She brought it back and then picked out this one. I LOVED it.

The discount we got was well worth it

Booked the suits

I've been scouting suits for a long time and have changed our proposed vendor so many times.

Firstly, I wanted somewhere that had a lot of choice. If Neil didn't feel comfortable or didn't like the way he looked in a particular suit, I wanted him to have options

Secondly, it had to be relatively cheap. Suits and weddings don't come cheap as everyone knows And we somehow ended up with a ten strong male bridal party.

Neil, three Dads, two brothers, best man, three ushers.

I was going to go with Carl Stuart in Huddersfield as they seemed really reasonable and were a quality outfit when I went to go and chat to them in store.

But then I spotted that Greenwoods had a special event on which was 'Groom goes free' and 20% off if you pay in full on the day. Paying in full wasn't a problem as we have wedding savings and the rest of our balances aren't due till October.

When I went in the shop, the offer the manager gave me was even better than that because we were ordering ten suits. We got two free suits AND 20% off.

There are a couple of looks that Neil has as options...I don't know whether he wants everyone to be the same, or if he wants to stand out.

This is the overall look:

For Neil and his best man or Neil and the Dads...

For the rest of the ushers...

I suspect the boys will go for the non-flowery option but we'll see

The boys are to have their fittings in August and then the suits are delivered the week before the wedding. They then get everyone to try on to make sure everything is all right. If everything's all right, they take them home there and then. But if not, they deliver the final outfit two days before the wedding.

I'm glad that they don't need to do their fittings any sooner than August. Neil's Dad is having surgery on the 19th March and he is going to need at least three months in recovery

We are now at just over eight months...

[hunny 247]

ohhh love the updates! love Leeds and the alchamist and have heard fab things about the Fox it's on my list of local places to go eat! you will have to let us know how the pinic benches go down as that is a fab idea for a hen party (writes that into my wedding idea book!) love all your ideas it's really starting to come together isn't it!
xx

[Fleurlur]

Your rings and suits look lovely.