Alex & Tim's PJ: SBP/Sago Cay/YSH 12/09/09: UPDATED-Hair is done!

[Beep]

Hi, I’ve decided to start a planning journal as things seem to moving towards our date a bit quickly! We didn’t think we were going to be able to afford to get married next year but after a re-work on the finances and a re-think on the details we reckon we can.

So, let’s start with a bit about us two.

My name is Karen but I tend to use my middle name Alex more. Tim is Tim and uses Tim! We have been together for around 10 years (I say around as we’re not sure when we met) and 1 week after meeting Tim moved in with me. We both just knew that it was going to work and that we would be together for the rest of our lives. Other people weren’t as sure as we were (!) but we knew.

We live in Birmingham, England, in an apartment and have two cats. I am a software trainer for solicitors. The company I work for is an online conveyancing company and I train the solicitors to use the software. I am field-based ie out on the road but work from home which is great as there is no office to go to every day!

Tim works with processes and procedures and (until the day before we went on holiday in September last year) was employed by a Jaguar cars supplier. When we came back from holiday Tim struggled to find the right job but then started working just before Christmas on a 3 month contract. We are hoping it continues past the 3 months, if not then he will find something. Hence saying at the beginning we thought we couldn’t afford the wedding.

We decided in the middle of last year to get married at Disney. We have been talking about getting married since we met and Disney is perfect for us. Tim formally proposed in Goa at Christmas on 2006 (gold, diamonds, one-knee!) and we have been talking about weddings since then.

We researched the venue options and when we went to Florida in September last year had a look at some of them. We both fell in love with our favourite from the pictures – Sea Breeze Point. We stayed on the Boardwalk for a couple of nights (birthday surprise for Tim) and it was just perfect, especially being so close to Epcot which is our favourite.

So, when we got back the planning started. Oh boy did it start with a bang!

Couple of pictures for you. A few years ago I lost 42lbs by doing low-carb and I've got the before and afters:

Before in Kerela, India:

After in Florida 2 years ago:

Tim and me in Florida:

I put about 14lbs of the weight back on thanks to Florida, my birthday, Christmas etc so am back on the low-carb to lose it. I've lost 3lbs in the first week so a good start!

Next installment, on to the planning so far...

 

[Beep]

I’ve been lurking around on the Wedding section for quite a while and asked a few questions so had an idea of what we needed to do and to look at.

I should mention at this point that I have a bit of a secret weapon. It comes in the form of my friend called Kirsty. She started working for the same company as me a year ago and we hit it off straight away. The reason she is my secret weapon is that she worked for Disney for a year at Epcot and knows everywhere that I talk about, and so much more. It is fantastic to have someone like her that shares every heartbeat of Disney. She keeps me (in)sane and has some great ideas, sensible and whacky!

The guests will hopefully be:
*Mom and Dad
*Brother and his wife
*Kirsty
*My manager and her husband (not as ‘corporately-creepy’ as it sounds, she is a really good friend)
*Friend from USA
Friend from Derby and her boyfriend
Friend from St Albans


I'm not sure who will be able to afford to go (or want to go) but the ones with the stars against them are definites so we are looking at a minimum of 10 people including us.

My Mom wasn’t too pleased when we announced that we were going to get married at Disney – I think she thought it was going to be all childish and that they would have to dress up as characters. Oh if only! We showed her pictures of the resorts and SBP and she was really impressed. They went to Florida quite a few years ago with some friends and went to Epcot and MGM and really enjoyed it, but they hadn’t seen any resorts so had no idea what to expect.

First thing I did was set up a Wish book and had a look at the options. $10,000 seemed quite a lot considering we wanted to keep it small. I also sae the venue hire fees, minimum food expenditure etc but what finally did it was the 25 night minimum stay. There was no way we could do that.

We thought an Escape package sounded ideal so set about planning that. We love the standard cake that you get so that was fine, the limo sounded great, SBP was perfect, loved the idea of a single violinist etc. The only thing we really wanted that wasn’t included was Randy Chapman. We absolutely love his work. We loved that fact that you could have a 2hr Honeymoon shoot if you had a separate photographer so that was great too. We would need an extra bottle of bubbly, a button-hole and a corsage for my mom and that was about it. Brilliant!

Of course, then I started thinking of ‘options’ from the Wish book like the Vintage Rolls, flowers at the ceremony etc which wasn’t good!

Next, the where, where and when!

 

[calla28]

Hello Alex and welcome to the boards.

 

[Beep]

Thank you Calla!

 

[Beep]

We decided on SBP at 1000, lunch at Gardenview Tea Room at 1400 and then dinner at Le Cellier at 1900. That will give people time to have a drink at the GF while we are having pictures taken and then some downtime after lunch to ‘play’ in Epcot or go back to their hotels. We might change lunch to the Grand Floridian Café at 1300 so there is more gap between lunch and dinner.

We don’t think the limo will be able to transport people to and from the GF within the 4 hours as part of the package, so we can always add another hour if needed. We aren’t going to be able to afford the vintage Rolls or Ford so we will need extra time to get us to the GF too.

We also decided on the date – 9th December 2009. We will fly out on 28th or 29th September, have a week to sort things out, then the wedding week and then a week after. We will be leaving just as the holiday period starts so it’s good timing.

First thing we did was to contact Randy Chapman for the photo’s. We sorted out what we wanted and will be holding the date with him later in the year. He was so helpful!

Next was Ana to ask about hair and make-up. I have a tattoo armband that I want covered and although I can get the kits to do it myself I wanted to see if she could do it for me. She can and we are in the process of booking her.

Next was a call to a hair extension specialist to get some information. I want longer hair to cover the part of my back that the dress won’t cover as I have another tattoo. I got loads of useful information, really liked the technician so that’s another crossed off the list.

Next, the dress.

 

[Beep]

I saw a posting from Meryll83 on here with a picture of the Maggie Sottero Capri Lynette dress and fell in love with it.

I really like the Capri Royale but I’m not keen on the strapless style. I found a stockist in Birmingham and went up there at lunchtime today.

Rude and unhelpful. That's the best way to describe them. They are based not far from the Bullring in Birmingham and went to see them at lunch time. I asked if they had the specific dress (Lynette) and was corrected on my pronunciation of 'Sottero' first of all (!) and then told they didn't have it. I asked if they had any of her dresses with pick-up skirts and they asked me what that was. Hmmm, not a good sign.

The girl said they had one dress with that style skirt (not a Maggie) but they could order in whatever dress I wanted for a £30 postage charge. That would be credited against the cost of the dress if I bought it. I asked how much the dress was and she said she couldn't tell me until I ordered it. So, I could be ordering a dress worth a couple of thousand pounds for all I knew and it was going to cost me £30 to look at it? I don't think so!

I asked if I could try the one on that they had and first of all she said that they only had small sizes (I'm a UK16) but I could try if I really wanted to. Cheeky %"$*!!! Anyway, I slipped it on and the style of dress looked great but it was a strapless. The skirt looked fantastic.

I thanked them, left, got home and phoned another stockist. What a difference. I've got an appointment on Saturday morning to try the Royale on as they don't have the Lynette. They also told me they could add straps, sleeves, bolero jacket etc. I've got a large tattoo on my back and an armband and although I don't regret them I don't want them on show at my wedding as I don't think they will look right. She wouldn't give me the exact price of the dresses but after giving her a few figures to say yes or no to it looks like they are in the £800 mark.

I also found I found a company on the internet in the UK called The Empty Box Company and they do ph-level boxes and acid-free paper to store your dress in so it doesn't go yellow. They also do cabin carry-on boxes at the scheduled and charter flight sizes so you can take your dress on the plane rather than putting in the checked baggage.

The storage boxes are around the £60 mark and the travel boxes are around £30.

 

[Beep]

Duplicate post.

 

[meryll83]

Haha I've found your planning journal, you dress stealer you!

I'm hoping to get to try it on in 2 days time, fingers crossed the shop has it in stock!

It may be that I hate it and go for something different altogether, in which case I will let you off for thieving, only joking, I'm just worried you'll look better than me!

I think you are going to become my DIS planning buddy as we're both planning for late 2009 and you're the first DISbride that actually has a date planned that is later than mine!

 

[Beep]

Dress stealer - i like that!

It would be great to have you as a planning buddy, you had so many questions that were the same as mine that a lot of where are are now is thanks to you.

I'm going to get a copy of measurements tomorrow from the bridal shop so i can go to other places if I need to. I know I'm going to wish my hip measurement was my bust measurement and vice versa!

I'll give you an update on the dress tomorrow x

 

[meryll83]

Will they be forthcoming with the measurements do you think, or are they likely to try and keep you all to themselves?!!

 

[Beep]

Well, when I went yesterday they didn't measure me because the size of dress they had in fitted perfectly. If I go for a proper fitting I'm sure they will then and I want a copy of my measurements.

It did surprise me that the US12 fitted perfectly! One thing she did say is that most bridal shops put the dresses in the UK sizes on the rails ie the US12 is marked up as a UK14 so if you are after the size to go somewhere else, or the internet, make sure you know whether it's the US or UK size that they tell you

 

[Beep]

I would like to introduce you to my new baby. Her name is Capri Royale and she is perfect:

I went to the appointment on Saturday and had a fantastic time! What a difference to the other bridal shop. I tried on the Capri Royale and it fitted like a dream. I am a UK16 and this was the US12 and it fitted perfectly. I couldn’t believe how comfortable the dress was! I didn’t get the muffin-top effect on my back and shoulders and the dress is so well made – and flattering.

The one they had was ivory and I wanted white. She held up a white dress infront of the Capri so I could see the colour and it looked really good.

I started off with a ‘modest’ petticoat underneath and it looked good, but the bigger crinoline petticoat made the dress look fantastic. I am 5’6” and with the 3” heels I had on and the huge petticoat I would only need about 1” off the length. Unless I go for a b**b job I’ll have tuck in the top too!

I really wanted a dress that looked like Belle’s dress from Beauty and the Beast so asked if they could take the train off, which they can. The train got on my nerves! The dress looked absolutely stunning, exactly how I hoped it would look.

I was going to buy it over the internet from the USA and when I went back to the car and worked out all the costs I couldn’t get the same deal as in the shop! I really haggled hard and pushed them and got a fantastic deal.

For the price of the dress I am also getting the fittings and alterations, they will charge me £25.00 storage and also gave me free choice on a tiara! The one I really liked was £225 so a good deal there!

By the time I had bought it from the internet, paid customs and duty, paid a seamstress to alter the dress, paid for a storage box etc it was coming very close to the shop price. I decided to go back and order it. Both bridal shops I went in told me it was taking anything up to 8 months to get the Maggie dresses in. I told them that we were waiting for Disney to confirm the date and if we couldn’t get December this year it would be next year (my nose got a bit longer at this point) and it was no problem for them to store the dress until then.

I paid them a deposit and am going back at the end of the month (pay day) to pay the rest. I know I’ve ordered it a long way ahead but I feel really good for doing it!

 

[meryll83]

I would like to introduce you to my new baby. Her name is Capri Royale and she is perfect:

I went to the appointment on Saturday and had a fantastic time! What a difference to the other bridal shop. I tried on the Capri Royale and it fitted like a dream. I am a UK16 and this was the US12 and it fitted perfectly. I couldn’t believe how comfortable the dress was! I didn’t get the muffin-top effect on my back and shoulders and the dress is so well made – and flattering.

The one they had was ivory and I wanted white. She held up a white dress infront of the Capri so I could see the colour and it looked really good.

I started off with a ‘modest’ petticoat underneath and it looked good, but the bigger crinoline petticoat made the dress look fantastic. I am 5’6” and with the 3” heels I had on and the huge petticoat I would only need about 1” off the length. Unless I go for a b**b job I’ll have tuck in the top too!

I really wanted a dress that looked like Belle’s dress from Beauty and the Beast so asked if they could take the train off, which they can. The train got on my nerves! The dress looked absolutely stunning, exactly how I hoped it would look.

I was going to buy it over the internet from the USA and when I went back to the car and worked out all the costs I couldn’t get the same deal as in the shop! I really haggled hard and pushed them and got a fantastic deal.

For the price of the dress I am also getting the fittings and alterations, they will charge me £25.00 storage and also gave me free choice on a tiara! The one I really liked was £225 so a good deal there!

By the time I had bought it from the internet, paid customs and duty, paid a seamstress to alter the dress, paid for a storage box etc it was coming very close to the shop price. I decided to go back and order it. Both bridal shops I went in told me it was taking anything up to 8 months to get the Maggie dresses in. I told them that we were waiting for Disney to confirm the date and if we couldn’t get December this year it would be next year (my nose got a bit longer at this point) and it was no problem for them to store the dress until then.

I paid them a deposit and am going back at the end of the month (pay day) to pay the rest. I know I’ve ordered it a long way ahead but I feel really good for doing it!

Yey! Your dress is very Belle
Julie is picking me up in about 20 minutes for our first stint of dress shopping!

Teach me how to haggle!!!!
I'm the same as you and thinking that I can do it cheaper online etc, but it would be soooooooo much easier to buy it here so please please please give me tips on how you got the price down!

 

[Beep]

Hiya, have a great time dress shopping. I had an absolute blast yesterday.

What I did was be really friendly (which I usually am anyway!) and really gushing about the dress and the shop. They knew I really wanted the dress but I was hesitant so they offered me 'bits' to entice me.

They knocked money off the dress to start with as I wanted it in white and they only had it in ivory. They didn't have a white dress to show me in any style so I played on that a little. I then managed to get a bit more taken off the price because I asked.

I asked how much the alterations would be and she made a mistake of saying it was one price regardless of how many alterations. I pulled a face and she said they would include it in the price of the storage for £25.00. Then I told them I wanted the train taken off the bottom, but they had already committed to the price.

The final one was when I was dressed again and I said I wold go away and have a think about it all, and look at a couple of other places. That was when they offered me a free tiara!

Take your time in the shop, even if you know what you want, and let them think you are not sure. I told them what my strict budget was and everything all-in has come to £50 more - including the £225 tiara!

Don't be afraid to ask, the worst they can say is no. Remember that they want your money as much as you want the dress, but you can go to other places and they know that.

Have fun and post later xx

 

[orangetiggs]

I got my dress after haggling!! I tried it on in one place maggie sottero sahara and it was £1200 and I said I go away and look then I got it for £800!! so its worth asking

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

Hello! Great start to your PJ! I noticed you went shopping in Birmingham ~ I'm originally from near there (my parents still live there) in Redditch! So nice to see someone from near "home" on here. Love the dress! It just looks so luxurious!!! I so should have haggled for mine!

 

[Beep]

Hi, that's a great price! Makes it even more special doesn't it?

It was all the 'extras' that did it for me in the shop that swung me getting it from them rather than over the internet.

My mom lives in Cornwall so it will be difficult to let her see the dress, apart from the fact she will be lacing me in it on the day and will need instruction. They are happy for me to go in any time with my mom and show her the best way to do it.

I was really impressed with them. I'm going to see what sort of price they will do a veil for next!

 

[Beep]

Hi Raspberry - my sister-in-law is from Redditch!

I've lived in Birmingham since I was about 11 (we lived in central Spain up until then) and my folks used to live in Evesham. They retired to Cornwall a couple of years ago so we get nice free holidays down there now

To be honest I don't think I would have thought to haggle but when they started I thought why not? I love haggling, it's one of the best things about going to India but the shop yesterday wasn't up to the standard they are over there!

 

[meryll83]

Did they have the Capri Lynette in any of your Birmingham shops of just yours?

They didn't have it in the York shop and didn't even have anything similar so that was a bit disappointing. Nearly everything they had was strapless and all really similar. I found a couple I liked and now no what sort of neclines don't suit me, but nothing wowed me.

I'm going to go though the listed Maggie suppliers and phone til I find the Lynette somewhere - I really need to try it on!

I'm going to ring our local shops tomorrow and visit a couple on Saturday if possible - hopefully the experience will be a bit more positive, the girls in this shop really didn't seem all that interested....

 

[Beep]

Hi Mery'll, doesn't sound like you had a brilliant day. Come down to Shirley in the West Midlands with me - they were brilliant.

I couldn't find any stockist close to me that had the Lynette. One told me they could order it in for me to look at at a cost of £30 that would be offset agains the price of the dress if I bought it. The others said they could order it but it had to be paid in full before they did.

I'm not sure what they would do if you paid for it and then didn't want it. I'm not sure if they would put it in stock and let you have another to the same value. Might be worth asking.

I know you are 'up north' but for info I tried the Birmingham, Shirley (where I went yesterday), Solihull, Cheltenham, Warwickshire and Cornwall stockists and none of them had the Lynette.

What did you try on? What sort of dresses?