Here is the card that I made for my "will you be my bridesmaid" DIY...I have asked my college roomie, Hillarie, to be my Maid of Honor, my best friend Deana (and mom to my flower girl) to be my Matron of Honor, Joyell (college bestie) will be a bridesmaid, Katie Sue (a great friend) will be a bridesmaid, but stand on Joey's side to represent the both of us, and Joey's sister Steffi will be the last bridesmaid...here is the card:

I printed out the text and Tinkerbell, then stamped the top with a damask stamp. The tied the ribbon, and glued the paper to two different colors of glitter cardstock... It was a fun and easy DIY and I think the girls really liked them! Next up, we'll talk fashion...Wedding dress, BM dresses, shoes, jewelry, etc! fun fun!!! 

5-15-11:
Just finished ordering our welcome bags! Joey jokingly asked if they would be big enough, since, quote, "you have so much to put in them, the Prius, new lawnmower, set of golf clubs, a new hot tub..." At which point he stopped because I started throwing things at him...

Ok, so I admit that I have a lot of things for the welcome bags.  We only have 18 guests, so I want to make sure I treat them right, and show my appreciation for them traveling all the way to WDW for the wedding.  I love playing hostess and giving gifts. And I think because I'm an escape bride (more on THAT soon), there aren't as many plans or decisions to make, so this makes me feel productive, creative, and like I'm personalizing what could become a "cookie cutter" wedding.  I think that Joey gets that to a point, but secretly, he thinks I'm a freakazoid! haha!!

Here are some pics of the various stages of the Welcome Bag process:



I bought the bag from a website for about $1.50...then Joey and I designed the logo on the Mac and printed it out on transfer paper...then we simply ironed the design onto the bag...I was SOOOO happy with the way they turned out!

Mickey Earbuds

Glow "things" for dessert party

part of the ring bearer bag

Our nephew was our ring bearer, and his name is Andy! So this made me super happy!!!

front of the door hangers for everyone's room

Disney cups!

 Part of the flower girl basket, and some other goodies for the gals!

Disney necessities

 Fun stuff!

 Birthday girl's bag

There was lots of other fun goodies that we put in the bag, but somehow, I didn't get a picture of everything. But as you can see, the welcome bags were chock full of stuff. And in case you are wondering, no, I didn't have room for the Prius or the golf clubs!! 

Time to post pics of my first DIY project! I made Ellie badges from the movie UP. It's one of our favorites. It's just the sweetest story. FH and I both cry everytime we see it. And DUG! We have a miniature horse...uh, I mean, a golden retriever named Maverick who I think they modeled Dug after. I swear they are the same dog! And if Maverick could talk, he'd talk just like Dug. Meet Maverick:

So, I am going to attach the Ellie badges to the welcome bags, and ask that everyone wear them for the ceremony and dessert party. I am so happy with the way they turned out! I'm not the most crafty person, and although I enjoy it and have great fun, I usually end up messing SOMETHING up. But, I have to say, no complaints so far about these guys! YAY! So, here is the front of the badge:

and here is the back...

sorry it's so blurry...I'm having trouble uploading photos. What a pain! But hopefully you get the general idea...we also made a card to go with it:

Here is the newsletter for our guests. Most of them had either never been to WDW or it had been a long time since they've been, so there is a lot of basic info about the parks and not so much about the wedding! Which I think is so funny. Sometimes I think I'm more excited about going to Disney than I am about getting married! It's just that I've been in love with WDW a lot longer than I have with Joey!  He says he understands and it's ok by him. Thank goodness! Anyway, here's the newsletter. Please excuse the first page. I was attempting to get rid of our last names, but then I realized, I don't really care. But anyway, the cover page looks a little odd because the top half of it is missing.

First Page: 

Second Page: Important Info and Q and A with the fairy godmother! 

 Third Page:  Where to stay

Fourth Page: Schedule of wedding events

Fifth Page: A little info on WDW

Sixth Page: Disney Dining Plan info

Tips and Tricks for a Disney Vacation

Outside Cover for Guests' address:

Invitations are done! Yay! But, envelopes are not. My printer is being stupid and printing the address and watermark at the very top of the envelope no matter what I do! I have resized, move the text, changed the settings, moved the envelope in the printing tray...you name it, I've tried it. And it. still. won't. work.

Here are a few pics of the finished invites and the various components.

Sorry some of them are sideways...I can't seem to fix it. But you get the general idea! 

A Fine Line Between Coincidence and Fate

You can't have a Disney wedding without a good love story first.  Here is the condensed version of ours.   How we met: Joey and I have known each other pretty much our whole lives. We grew up a half mile from each other, went to the same high school, etc. He graduated a couple of years before me, and he was like a big brother, best friend type. After he graduated, he moved to Florida for college. After I graduated, I went across our home state of NC to college, and we lost touch. Fast forward to summer 2001. My best friend and I decided to spend the summer in Orlando, playing and working and living in the land of Mickey. One lazy afternoon at the pool, I decide to run inside and get a popsicle. While inside, instead of rushing back out into the Florida sunshine, I think it'll be a good idea to check my email. Granted, no one has emailed me in weeks, but hey! you never know. So I get online, and Joey IM's me! After a brief chat (the first one in at least a year), we find out that he's in Daytona Beach, I'm in Orlando, and in a few days, he should drive over to Orlando, and we'll do dinner. As buddies. Because he has a serious girlfriend. And he's like my brother. So, he shows up with flowers, and tries to hold my hand the whole night. I kept thinking, "Weird! He's like my brother!"  (later he will confess to me, that he told his buddies that night he was "going to see the girl he's going to marry" aww) He went back to Daytona and eventually I went back to NC. We kept in touch, and then one day, walking across campus, I realized I was in love with him. BAM! He moved back to NC, and we've been together ever since. Now, I just have to tell his side of the Orlando story, cause it just seems like fate to me. He walked across campus, in a suit in the middle of July in Florida, to go to a random computer lab for no reason, when he could have jumped in his car and used the computer at home. If he hadn't done just exactly what he did, and if I hadn't checked my email instead of just grabbing the popsicle, we might have missed each other. There is a fine line between coincidence and fate! Engagement: Ok...here is the condensed engagement story... 2005: We were on vacation at WDW. We started at the Magic Kingdom at Joey's insistence. I usually can't wait for Epcot, but he wouldn't back down. (I would later find out that it was because he was so excited to propose, he couldnt stand the wait!). We were in Adventureland, enjoying a Dole Whip (favorite food on EARTH!) when we heard strains of music coming from the castle area. Suddenly, Joey is on his feet, grabbing me and yelling, "hurry hurry! Let's go see what that is!" I was totally confused at his weirdo behavior. This was the year of a million dreams, and they were doing a princess show (can't remember the name anymore). I had told him that I really wanted to see it, but he didn't seem all that interested. Now, he was practically yanking my arm off, pulling me through the crowd, saying "we're gonna miss it!" WHAT?!? I remember telling him that it was ok, we'd just catch the next show..no big deal. (Plus, I wanted to finish my Dole Whip). But he wouldn't relent so I followed wondering why my Joey was suddenly so interested in Disney Princesses. So we make it to the castle and we are watching the show, disney princesses everywhere!! I look over at Joey and he's not there. ?? Look down, he's on one knee. In the background, my childhood heroes are singing "A Dream is A Wish" and Joey is saying, "I want you to be MY princess...(and some other stuff I cant remember)" and blinding me with a sparkly ring in the hot Florida sunshine. Obviously I said yes, (although I dont really remember that part, just saying Oh my God over and over). And as soon as I did, fireworks went off over the castle. Fireworks...in the middle of the day. Perfection! I spent the rest of the day bumping into people because I was too busy looking at my ring. We had a celebratory lunch/dinner at San Angel in Mexico, complete with Margaritas...then Joey grabbed a beer a little later in Germany, and we toasted each other with champagne in France a couple hours after that. Needless to say, we aren't big drinkers EVER...so that combined with it being Orlando in mid June, we were NOT feeling very well. We ended that night early.

Castle Magic