Weddingbee

Hooray!

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I had best morning I’d ever had while having a fever and sinus infection. My bridesmaid Janean and I went to the Running of the Brides at Filene’s Basement earlier this year. The Running of the Brides is a historic event in which the store has a one-day sale of sample sizes and discontinued dresses that normally cost a whole lot of money. It only happens once a year, so people camp out all night and plan for weeks. The dresses aren’t organized by size or style, so when the doors open at 8AM, the brides actually stampede in and grab armfuls, without bothering to check sizes. They then trade and barter with each other to get what they want. Teams accompany each bride, and a lot of them have matching outfits, pre-made signs, and whistles/duck calls. It’s a little chaotic.
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Read part I here

A continuation of helpful tips for any of you planning on honeymooning at Disney World!

Top 10 low-energy things to do in the parks: (i.e. for grandmas and napping children)

1. It’s a Small World (Magic Kingdom). It’s a great ride and it’s seven minutes of gliding along, happy as a clam.

2. The Great Movie Ride (Hollywood Studios). This one is actually loud at parts, and a little scary in one scene, if you’re a kid. It’s a great ride, though, and worth it to see animatronic figures of John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart.

3. Ellen’s Energy Adventure (Epcot). I love Ellen and I love Bill Nye and anything they want to do together is great by me.

4. Festival of the Lion King (Animal Kingdom). I love love love this show and even though Mr. Flip Flop wasn’t a huge fan, he loved it when we saw it this past trip. It’s just really well done and it’s the perfect thing to do if you’re hot and tired at the park (Animal Kingdom is the hottest park due to the humidity of all the vegetation). I especially recommend catching the late show if you’re there for the Extra Magic Hours.

5. Finding Nemo the Musical (Animal Kingdom). This was a new show and it was WONDERFUL. I’ve seen other musical-type shows at the parks, but this was by far the best. I would pay to go and see it if it was touring. It would be higher on the list if we hadn’t been seated by a cast member in the front row (damn those bride and groom ears). We had a great view, but then they started the smoke machine and Mr. Flip Flop and I spent the next two numbers trying to find oxygen as the smoke poured off the stage and into our laps.
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-Roald Amundsen

I used our last trip to Walt Disney World as a sort of test run, keeping our wedding guests in mind, for the best things that they could bring, buy, eat, and do. I thought it might be helpful for any of you planning on honeymooning at Disney World, so here are my findings!

Top 10 things to pack before you go:

1. Water bottle. You can either take an actual water bottle, or do what Mr. Flip Flop and I did, which is to buy a disposable sports bottle of water and then refill it at drinking fountains. I definitely recommend the sports cap, because it’s a lot easier when you’re moving from attraction to attraction. You’ll save a ton of money if you don’t buy bottled water in the parks and there are drinking fountains, but they aren’t everywhere and there’s usually a line. If you’re not a huge fan of the taste of water from the tap, refer to #4.

2. Bag. We went with a JJ Cole Logic Bag from Target and we loved it. It’s actually a diaper bag, but it held a bottle of water, camcorder, camera, both wallets, phones, kleenex, snacks, and medicine, with room to spare. Plus, there’s a handy pocket right in front that’s perfect for room keys, park tickets, and fastpasses. There was only one thing that we didn’t like - it seemed to be back heavy, so we kept having to pull on the front to keep the shoulder pads in the right position. I think the problem was that the camcorder we had was fairly heavy, so it pulled the whole thing down. It was comfortable though and we took turns wearing it during the whole trip, which left our hands free.
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We’re up in Akron this weekend, which would be great if I didn’t have strep throat. We did have a chance to get some wedding stuff done. Mr. Flip Flop is trying to get his bearings so that he can start planning the Ohio reception. We took another look at our reception location, the Uniontown Community Park, so that he could get some ideas about decorating, etc. It’s interesting to see how different things would be if we were only doing a home wedding and reception, without the benefit of a wedding planner or a list of vendors who work with our site. It really is a blank slate and we need to fill in all the details (food, music, decorations…).

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Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward are far and above my favorite Hollywood marriage. I hope that she’ll have all of his amazing accomplishments to comfort her now that he’s passed.

I had a hair + makeup run through with Anna from Makeover Majic recently. The trial was $100, which is a little steep, but I had heard wonderful things about Anna from other Disney brides and I figured the trial run was well worth the investment.

Here are the inspiration photos I brought:

(photos courtesy of Jim Hjelm Bridal)

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(photo courtesy of disneyshopping.com)

There are definitely perks to being a bride in general, of course. You always have something to talk about when people ask you what you’ve been up to, and you receive a lot of notes and calls from friends and family that you haven’t talked to in a while. Of course, there are drawbacks too, such as the inevitable hand grabbing. It sort of startles me to be touched unexpectedly. I’m never going to get used to people grabbing my left hand to investigate. I totally forget that there’s a reason for their behavior, so my reaction is usually, “AAACHKK! LET GO! I DON’T WANT TO HOLD HANDS WITH YOU!!!” I don’t know what I’m going to do when I’m pregnant and people pat my belly. I’m going to have to learn jujitsu.

Anyway, there are special perks to being a Disney bride.
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I’m so thrilled to be joining the hive! I’ve been an avid Weddingbee reader for a long time now and it’s exciting to be a part of the bee party…

Mr. Flip Flop and I are having a Disney wedding. Yep, that’s right, we’re getting married at Walt Disney World, our favorite place on the planet. We actually met in 2002 while working at WDW in the college program so the parks hold a special place in our hearts. When we got engaged this past December, we debated long and hard about having a Disney wedding. On the one hand, we’re huge Disney fans and it feels like “home” to us. On the other hand, almost none of our family/friends are in the Orlando area so it meant a huge trip for everyone. Plus, those Disney weddings don’t come cheap and we knew we’d be footing the bill for whatever celebration we had.
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