Inspiration

The likelihood of Rob and I getting married at Disney is currently sitting at about zero, so instead we're taking inspiration from Disney in general and Disney movies.
So, after seeing Tangled Christmas Eve with Rob, I have found the most beautiful thing to serve as inspiration, bonus: it fits with the colors!!!!!

This is it:

There was another scene right after this where she looks into the sky and it shows the lanterns filling up the scene with pink and yellow light. It was so, so pretty, and I decided that would be an awesome design detail.
Pink and yellow lanterns strung above people out on a terrace while they enjoy cocktails is probably the best way to start a party. Then have soft pink lighting inside, with candle light reflected on yellow chargers, next to flowers floating in vases, and taller arrangements with amazing tropical, summer flowers. I'm so seeing it, now I just have to find a place to stage it. Sigh.
Now to convince Rob that we're naming the tables after Disney couples and not rides...

Spring Cleaning

There are several things that I have to confess today. I am ADDICTED to the published word. Absolutely, totally, and unabashedly addicted to it. I started collecting magazines as soon as I started getting an allowance. First it was Seventeen, Teen People, and the occasional sneaked Cosmo. Then it became Cosmo, Vogue, People, and Wedding Magazines, ANY Wedding Magazine.  I also picked up any magazine that had an interesting cover story or editorial that intrigued me.

I realized nearing my first move from home to college that if I kept EVERY magazine, I would be toting along a literal TON of glossy paper with me everywhere.  So with that I shed all of my teen magazines, convincing myself that at the ripe old age of 18, I had out grown them and it was time to move on to "adult" reading material. Well, that was all well and good till I was in college and there was no one regulating what I kept besides myself, and the confines of my half of my tiny dorm room. From this was born the "keeping it" filing system. This was established somewhere between the end of freshmen year and the end of my first sophomore semester.

The system is that when a predetermined container was full, I would go through it and take everything out of the magazines that I "needed" and throw the rest of them away. I've done this probably a dozen times in the last 7 or 8 years, and it has actually kept me in the respectable range of  5 or 6 books kept, and one VERY full folder of ideas. I finished this process again a few days ago, and honestly I need a way to better organize the articles I did keep.

All of the articles are bridal, mind you, I don't hold on to People more than a week, and I stopped buying the others because Cosmo is really a lot of the same articles each month, and I haven't really been enticed by any others lately.  Plus I don't see a reason for keeping articles from the other magazines. Anyway, I need a better way to organize these articles and ideas I did keep, and I need to go through my keep pile again and analyze why I kept them.  It sounds like a project that will take a while (and glue) but I'm excited that with this new endeavor I'll have a clearer, more visual picture of where I want to go.

So no real news after that, except that I think we've found save the dates. Check them out at Favors You Keep click on Austin couple or Austin skyline to see the two options we like (there will be a pop-up). I don't think that they're formal enough, because the Save the Dates are supposed to "set the tone" but I think that it will be something fun, and will stick out for people. Honestly I like them, and think that they're a fun addition. I don't think we're going to go black tie formal because that's not us. Fun touches are us though, I think they'll work. That's one thing off the list. *phew*

Gnight! 

Pictures

So part of what I love about the Disney Weddings I've seen are the portraits around the resort.  I'm well aware of the rules concerning large puffy dresses in the parks, and that's not really what I want. I want fun portraits of us around Pop Century (where we met), around Raglan Road (where we ended our first date), and of us in EPCOT (the last park we visited before I returned to Texas).  They'll be engagement portraits(I hope) that will have the magic that I want to share with my guests at my wedding and later to my home. I also would like to go back after the wedding and take pictures, but it will be of us in our reception outfits which will not be a tux and big princess-y dress, but probably a nice Hawaiian shirt and chinos for him, and a shorter white dress for me.
I personally love the idea of "trash the dress" and fully intended to take my big princess-y dress from Austin to CC and take pictures by the bay, on my parent's sailboat, on the beach, and maybe the aquarium. I like the idea of having fun pictures in these places. I want to take those kinds of pictures in Austin as well.
Let's just say, I'm not 100% on if I'm going to save it for my daughter, because wedding dresses are expensive things really and I wouldn't want to just wear it once and have it sit in a closet to maybe be worn again. I might donate it for someone else,  or hold on to it till my daughter makes her decision and then donate it if she doesn't want it.  Sigh, that's to much planning that's WAY far away from now. I'll cross that road when I get to it.

Here's an Idea

So I am currently IN LOVE with the idea of a Disney wedding.
Let me clarify, I'm IN LOVE with the trappings of a Disney wedding. I've seen some of the venues and I'm not head over heels about them, but I love the magic, the fact that everything's consolidated, and let's face it I love Disney.  That's where we met, that's where our story began, and I love the fairytale idea.  My new mission is to bring that to Austin, because honestly a Disney wedding might not happen (who knows? we haven't talked dollars and cents yet).  So here's my idea.
I've seen runners done in several weddings, some with monograms, some with names, etc. So I was talking to RL about it and he thought this was a good idea: have a runner saying "Once Upon a Time..." at the entrance of the church. Then over the doors as we exit a sign saying "...And They Lived Happily Ever After."  We thought about having lighting saying that, but that will be to expensive, we can really make the sign ourselves. To go along with that we'll take that part of the runner (if we have to buy it), and frame it with a picture. If there is one we can rent, we'll probably put the sayings on two different mattings, the former being with our engagement portrait and the latter with our wedding portrait.
It sounds cheesy to some, but ask me if I care. Honestly, it's not going to be over the top fairly tale, or overtly Disney. There is going to be fairy tale touches, and fun things like hidden mickeys and some Disney decorations.  Disney is part of our story and honestly it would be unfortunate to overlook that fact.

Reasons Why

My last post may seem like loosing weight is the reason for pushing back the wedding.
Yes and No.
Yes, because it is a secondary reason for doing it.  No because it is a vain reason for doing it.
The real reasons for pushing the wedding back from 2011 to 2012 are as follows:
*Personal Financing: RL just started his job here in ATX, he doesn't feel financially stable and wants more time to get to that point.
*Relationship Length: In honesty, we hadn't known each other that well when we got engaged the first time, and we want to be together longer (though we're solid on knowing each other)
*Parents: After the debacle of 2008, my parents (and I'm sure his) had their doubts that us marrying was a good idea, the more time we are together and not racing to the alter, the better.
*Money: We don't know where the money will come from: part from us, but will my parents help? will his parents help? That is a nerve wracking conversation to have, and I dread it with all my being. We will have to have it at some point (probably at the end of this year or the summer of 2011), but putting it off as long as possible just brings my stress down.

The Wedding Diet

Alright, So I realize that almost EVERY bride, that I have read about/talked to/heard about has done some sort of diet, ranging a minor change in what they eat and some close to the wedding working out to a crazy crash diet and manic work out routine that is just, well, crazy.
I am no different.  My level on the craziness/manic scale is low because I have um around 2/3 years (2010-2012), what catapults me to a bit higher on the scale is that I'm shooting to loose around 120lbs(from 274-154).  I know I can do it. I'm inspired, and I really don't want to be a marshmallow walking down the aisle. (I'm ridiculously pale, and the only thing  that would differentiate my skin from the dress will be the freckles.)
I'm already 20lbs down from my original amount from 140lbs. The rest is going to be helped by Curves, Weight Watchers, and a love of 5K runs. I think the link that has been missing thus far is the diet.
I have been successful on Weight Watcher before, so I'm returning to it on the online version, because of restrictions with my schedule.  I was doing the Curves plan, but after doing one cycle of 1200 calories for 1 week, 1500 for 3 weeks, and 2000 (normal) for 4-6 weeks, I couldn't get myself to go back to the beginning again. Yes I lost weight, but it just wasn't the kind of program that I could stick with because I dreaded returning to the first week again.
So in 2 days, I'm in the swing of points again, and have been things that are normal for me, just limiting snacking and my portions. Let's see how it pans out next Wednesday when I hop on the scale again. I also have a leg up on this program because I have exactly 9 Weight Watchers cook books, all 3 Hungry Girl cookbooks, a few other light cooking books, and I am a member of the Hungry Girl email list.
This blog will not be my weight lost log (that's why I did WW online), but it will have triumphs on it, because losing the weight ties to the wedding because it is the vain reason for pushing back the wedding.

An Explanation/Some Back Story.

This blog is a blog about my relationship.
My relationship with RL started in 2006 while I was participating in Walt Disney World's College Program working at Disney's Pop Century Resort. He was a Hospitality Management major at the University of Central Florida, was working part time at the same resort. We dated for awhile, were broken up for a minute, then back together when I returned to Texas State University to finish my degree.
Our relationship was a long distance one during the rest of that year with both of us traveling back and forth to see each other. Shortly after Christmas 2007, I went to see him in Orlando and on December 27th he proposed to me at the same restaurant that we had shared drinks at on our first date. We didn't tell any of the parents that it had happened right after it happened (mistake #1), but we did tell them individually not to long after.
In May of 2007 I was not really looking actively for work (sorry Mom!) and focusing more on finishing my degree, not realizing that the job market was not as big, vast, and opened as I thought.  RL was actively going from job interview to job interview for a position to go into as soon as he walked off the stage. In the job hunt, RL had a second job interview that brought him to Austin on the same weekend as my cousin's wedding, where he met my entire family. He got the job in San Antonio, so in return, I headed out to Florida shortly after I graduated, and moved out of my college apartment to meet all of RL's family for HIS cousin's wedding and helped him move.
We moved in together on June 1, 2007 and started to adjust to living with each other.  It was probably the toughest part of my life thus far: adjusting to living with a boy, looking for a job in the worst market EVER, and starting to think about a 2009 wedding. I got a few different jobs during the rest of that year, none of which were really what I wanted to do(I still didn't know what that was). The first was not far from our apartment that didn't pay enough, the second was a job 3 hours away that took me away all week and nearly ruined our relationship.  By March of 2008, I was out of work again actively seeking another job. That was the time when stuff hit the fan.  Family dynamics on his side reared it's evil head causing a nasty, name-calling, 14-hour crying scuffle that ended with me packing up and moving myself home for a week.  Not 2 1/2 hours after packing up my belonging and driving home RL called asking me back.
I did come back because I do love him and I had a job to come back to (the boss had called as I was leaving), so dynamics were changed. Our relationship changed, and our wedding date was changed to around summer 2011. We agreed, worked on things, and chugged along together happily. In November of 2008 I changed jobs again, this time taking a position with my mother in her practice, telecommuting from my apartment most of the month and spending a week in CC. In the same month, RL became a victim of the further down turning of the economy.
We took this as an opportunity rather than an end, so we packed up and moved to North Austin.  We took over the remaining months of a friend's lease, and began making a home in ATX.  RL applied and applied and applied, beginning to understand what I had gone through when we first moved in together. I had spent most of the time that we lived in that first ATX apartment working Mondays through Fridays in CC for work, being that we moved on my Birthday (January 18th) and it was tax season 2009.  Once I returned, we packed up and moved to our current place (a 3 bedroom which I love) and took my little brother on a trip to Walt Disney World.  We loved being where we met and had an awesome time.  Coming back, RL returned to applying for jobs, and I returned to working from the apartment and pouring over wedding magazines.
All trough the rest of the summer and the fall, RL went out for jobs and nothing came of anything. Fate smiled on us though because by January of 2010, he landed a position in ATX.
After starting work, he and I sat down and decided: the wedding date has now become after May 15th but before September 15th of 2012.  I like August 4, 2012 (8/4/12), but it is not set in stone.  Thus creating a 5 year engagement.  We are engaged, but we aren't.  A big step for me is that he talks of it every once in a while, but I am trying to not push him on it. We will be officially engaged by a year from the wedding date (perhaps sooner), which will be the start of official planning and putting down deposits.
This blog is a way for me to keep ideas straight, to vent frustrations, and to wait (im)patiently for actual planning to begin.