Katlyn and Kevin- A Kingdom Hearts Wedding- *Wishes* Japan/LSS 09/17/17

The sketch of your dress is absolutely gorgeous! Can't wait to see how all your plans unfold! Loved your proposal story! Following along!popcorn::

Thank you! I'm glad people like my sketch!

I love your Aqua inspired dressed! I'm desperately awaiting the new KH games, so I absolutely adore your wedding theme!

Ahhhhhh! You recognized it! Thats super cool! Glad to meet a fellow Kingdom Hearts fan here. I can't wait to add all the little KH touches throughout the wedding!

I also have a mini dress progress update.

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The skirt and top aren't attached yet, they are still pinned to the mannequin (my temporary duct tape one since my nice one is back in America). I'm getting a package with my fabric for the bit of swagging I have planned around the hips, so that will change soon. I'm debating lowering the neckline. I'm already redoing the lace neck because I want it a bit wider, but I'm not sure if lowering it will really do anything for me since I'm pretty flat chested.

You can barely see it in the picture but there is a ridiculous train coming off of this dress. I can't fit it in the room, so its chilling in my closet area. My apartment isn't big enough to really see it at work and that's a shame. I'm planning to also add a flower bustle at the back once the collar repair is done. The flowers will cover up the back closures some and add some color. Sticking to gold and blue for my color additions, with the blue used very sparingly.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the design so far. Once the shape finishes coming together I can start on details like beading it all up and down.
 
Love the shoes!! The dress looks great. I can't wait to see the final product, you are extremely talented. Were you super excited to see Aqua in the new 2.8 trailer?
 
I've returned!

Sorry it's been awhile. Not much wedding stuff was happening and I got really busy planning visits to Japan for Kevin and for my parents. For two years I lived pretty much alone, and now during my last year here everyone wants to visit me all of a sudden. Some of my friends are talking about a visit in spring, and I got invited to visit a friend over New Years break. I'm trying to save money and everyone want me to travel all over right now!:scared:

Kevin's visit went really well. He was here for two weeks in August and we both wish it had been longer. We mostly stayed at my apartment, but did venture out to a Ryokan over in Kurokawa for three days. I finally had someone to travel with so I hit up some onsen (Japanese hot springs). I probably spent a little too much money while he was here, but it was fun so I don't regret it. Kevin went back home and now I'm arranging things for my parents visit in October, which I'm super excited for. I'm going back to Tokyo Disney with them for 5 days!

On to our wedding news! So we officially signed the contract and made our down payment with The Roots for our wedding photography. I'm so excited for them to take the wedding pictures. I've became a big fan of theirs over the last few years of lurking on others planning journals. They have been really helpful and understanding to our situation by letting us do a lot of things online and via email.

I bought two sets of earring to try for my wedding look. I know it's still early but I liked both of them and there was a great sale going on.
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I still haven't decided which I like more. I think the first one is prettier, but the second pair has hearts that look a lot like the Kingdom Hearts symbol and I am a sucker for matching my theme. I'll probably hang on to them for a bit before deciding. I want to see how they look with the total ensemble.

Sewing progress has been a bit slow. I had to wait for my sash fabric to arrive, then had to order some dye from abroad, and then had to dye it. It's pinned on to the top part of the dress and half sewn on, but I paused on sewing while Kevin was visiting, and the week after he left I had to go to a Kingdom Hearts concert and had no free time. I love sewing and it really relaxes me but I always find it hard to start up again after a break. I'm hoping to start up again this week and make some real progress.

We're planning on ordering our Save the Date cards later this week. We officially book with Disney in a few weeks, and plan to send off the cards shortly after that. We are looking at these Fast Pass Save the Dates, with the Carousel of Progress design. We really love that ride even if its kind of silly. The song is delightful and we plan to stick it somewhere in the wedding, possibly as our recessional...

Anyway, that's pretty much all the wedding progress in the last month or so. Hopefully with us hitting the year out mark soon, a lot more will start happening! At least the dress will start progressing quickly if I can get motivated enough!:p
 
We are officially a year out and are working on the room block now!:jumping1:
We played phone tag a bit with Disney but eventually got everything sorted out. It's tough to do phone stuff when I'm abroad and Kevin works night shifts.

The room block was probably the thing I was most worried about. I know its not THAT complicated but I feel like :confused: when trying to wrap my head around it. People are saying logical things that make sense but I can't get it fully for some reason. I'm letting Kevin handle most of it, and I'm just asking relatives about how long they plan to stay and what hotel they are interested it.

We're blocking at the Boardwalk Inn, Port Orleans French Side, and POP Century. Most of my friends plan to stay at POP, while most of my family is leaning towards Boardwalk. We're going to spend the first half of the trip at Boardwalk and then go to Port Orleans for the second half to save a little money. My mother was complaining about not being on the monorail, but I chose hotels near our wedding site and I really don't want to add more. I love Magic Kingdom but I'm more fond of Epcot and glad to a be a short walk from it.

Ahhh its so nice to have everything down and booked.:rotfl: We still have to sign the letter of agreement but knowing my locations are secured is such a relief. We are still doing the Japan Pavilion for the ceremony and the Living Seas Salon for the Reception. They gave us Italy Isola for our Rehearsal Dinner/Dessert Party! Kevin was really happy about that. We also have Cinderella's carriage reserved. I'm glad we stayed firm on asking about it, the person we talked to for booking wasn't sure they could do it at Epcot but I knew I read about it being used there in the past. Our parents both know about the carriage but we are trying to keep it as a surprise for everyone else. I really want to surprise my cousins and their kids with it!

We also have our Save the Dates at Kevin's place. They came out super cute! We got the Carousel of Progress design after all because we just love that song and it fits our wedding (There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow!). I'm also going to type of a little info card with a link to our wedding website and a request for an RSVP. I'm annoyed I can't really do any of the mailing from over here, so I'm trying to do as much of the background work as possible. We know for sure who we want to invite but relatives keep trying to convince us to invite additional people and its a headache. I'm not adding anymore relatives until I get some definite no answers back first.
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The wedding website is also up and accessible. Kevin wrote most of it. I chose the hedgehog theme for him since he really loves those animals (I just noticed he snuck one in the photo above). I plan to add more details closer to the date, but I thought I'd keep it simple so as to not overwhelm people. If you have any suggestions feel free to add them.:thumbsup2

I worked a little more on the dress. It's all one piece now at least, only little detail work left to do. Of course that will take forever, but I have time for that. I brought it to an English/Sewing class I run with some of the local ladies. I'm taking the next two weeks off from working on it because my parents are visiting. I'm taking them to Tokyo Disney for five days before heading back to my town. Looking forward to seeing the Tokyo Disney version of Halloween and I especially hope to get some pictures with the Villain Recruiters they added to the park last year. I'm dying to take a photo with Eight Foot Joe!

Fingers Crossed!
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Congrats on getting your venues booked! :goodvibes I love your Carousel of Progress Save the Dates. They're so cute.
 
Contract and first payment finished!

Kevin had to handle all of that because of how far away I am, and I don't have easy access to printers and fax machines where I live. He had a rough time getting everything done on time because he had surgery on his nose that week (his nose got broken a while ago and we have been trying to get it fixed for months.) I'm just glad that step is done, we had only a little confusion over how many people to expect for the dessert party, but that was fixed easily and now we just have to start getting our things together for the planning session!

My trip with my parents went really well. I was glad to see them but also relieved when they left. Playing tour guide and translator for three weeks can be exhausting. Going back to Tokyo Disney was for sure my favorite part! The Halloween decorations were beautiful and I got to see almost all of the Villain recruiters so I was overjoyed. They were also celebrating the 15th anniversary of Tokyo Disney Sea so there were a lot of neat crystal details around the park. I'm going to miss going to Disney Sea when I come back to America. I want to go one last time before I leave Japan. If I can save up a little extra I will try to go again.
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I did one splurge on the trip because I saw a tiara perfect for the wedding at the parks. I kept going back and forth about if I wanted a tiara or not. I saw this one on the first night and fell in love. I tried looking at other options and stressed myself out thinking about it for the 4 days of the visit before I made my decision to get it the last day. I am really happy with my choice!
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I love the hidden Mickey and heart details. I've tried it on only briefly as I'm scared of damaging it before the wedding. Its going to stay in its nice box on the shelf for a while.

We're working on sending out the Save the Dates now. Still trying to get the guest list to a point where both us and our parents are happy. At the end of the day if I have to cut some of my parents friends I'll apologize but this is about us and what we can afford. I've had to tell my mother no repeatedly and I know Kevin has had similar issues. I originally only planned for about 50 people but I got pushed up to 70.
 


I decided to make this its own little mini-post. I stayed at the Mira Costa hotel and snuck a peak into the Wedding Area and took a few pictures of the little displays they had up.
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So glad I caught up on your updates. Everything looks so beautiful. So jealous you are getting the wedding you want. Anything too Disney or geeky or nerdy we've been told no so now we are working on hiding it in minor details.

Your dress is gorgeous btw. You are very talented.
 
I realized I haven't responded so a reply roundup is in order!

Love the shoes!! The dress looks great. I can't wait to see the final product, you are extremely talented. Were you super excited to see Aqua in the new 2.8 trailer?

Thank you! I was super excited to see her! She is my favorite character and I can't wait to play as her in the game.

Congrats on having everything booked!

I love your save the dates, so cute!

They are really cute and the seller was super fast to respond with a mock up. We're still working on sending them out but everyone seems to like them too.

Congrats on getting your venues booked! :goodvibes I love your Carousel of Progress Save the Dates. They're so cute.

Thanks! The Carousel of Progress is such a fun little bit of the past and I'm glad to include it in our wedding stuff. Pretty sure most of our guests won't get it but it means a lot to us.

So glad I caught up on your updates. Everything looks so beautiful. So jealous you are getting the wedding you want. Anything too Disney or geeky or nerdy we've been told no so now we are working on hiding it in minor details.

Your dress is gorgeous btw. You are very talented.

Thank you so much! Yeah we really wanted to put as many geeky things as possible in the wedding. I want a classy wedding, but I want it to represent our relationship and we really are huge nerds. I want our relatives to feel comfortable and not out of the loop so we are working hard to blend everything in nicely.
 
We have our Planning trip officially set up! The first week of May we will return to America for a one week visit during Japan's Golden Week holidays. The Planning session is at 9am on Thursday May 4th. We are currently thinking that we will be at Disney from Tuesday to Friday, and fly out early morning on Saturday to return back to Japan. It will be a short 4 day trip but I can't wait. Returning back to America also gives me a chance to take back a few suitcases of stuff from Japan. I have so many things to move back that it will be nice to get a head start.

I feel like right now I don't have anything big "done", its just a lot of things half done. I've been working on our ceremony playlist and have about half the songs chosen, but am really stuck on what song to have for my walk down. I have three or so different ones I like and I'm having trouble deciding. They all have slightly different moods and it's tough to choose which way I want to go.

I like the theme from Howls Moving Castle a lot so that's one choice.
Then there is the BBS version of Dearly Beloved.
And last is the orchestrated version of Hikari.

I also have asked the groomsmen what kind of music they would like and they just keep joking around and suggesting Sonic songs and I would really like it if they would give me one suggestion that would actually work. Oh well, I have time so I'll just wait for them to think more.

We also sat down and planned out the menu for the Reception. I get hungry just looking at it!

Cocktail Hour
  • International and Domestic Cheese Display with Flatbreads and Dried Fruits
Brunch Buffet Menu
  • GOURMET MASHED POTATO BAR- Mashed Yukon Gold, Sweet Potatoes and Peruvian Purple (Toppings Bar to include Gravy, Bacon Bits, Cheddar Cheese, Sour Cream, Butter, Steamed Broccoli, Sautéed Mushrooms, Scallions, Brown Sugar, Marshmallow and Candied Walnuts)
  • APPLE PECAN SALAD- A mixed salad with hand-picked red and green apples and sweet cranberries (This is the Wendy's salad)
    • Blue cheese crumbles, pecans and pomegranate Vinaigrette dressing on the side
  • Pasta with Wild Mushrooms, Roasted Tomatoes Confit, Spinach, and Asiago Cream Sauce
  • Le Cellier Lunch Poutine
  • Petit Vegetable Medley tossed with Citrus Olive Oil and Sea Salt
  • Champagne Sabayon with Fresh Seasonal Berries served in Champagne Flutes
  • Applewood Grilled Chicken Breast with Applewood Smoked Bacon
    and Gouda Cheese
  • Herb Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breast with Smoked Tomato Jus
  • Wild Berry and Grand Marnier Cream Cheese Crêpes served with Vanilla Bean Sauce and Mandarin Oranges
  • Hardwood smoked Bacon
Accompaniments
  • Croissants and Hard Rolls
  • Butter, Jams and Preserves
  • Coffee, Decaffeinated Coffee, Iced Tea and a Selection of Hot Teas
We probably won't keep both chicken options, but we plan to try them at the tasting session to see which we prefer. Kevin and I argued a little back and forth over a Mashed Potato Bar versus a Mac and Cheese Bar. I just don't really like Mac and Cheese much. I'm fine with us adding a Mac and Cheese option to our menu maybe later, but I don't want to pay for a whole bar I won't even touch. We're still thinking through our Rehearsal Dinner/Dessert Party. We want to ask what sort of option they would suggest. Since the Dessert Party is our Rehearsal Dinner, we want a few savory options. It's also a little difficult to plan menus that we like and we know Kevin's family will eat, they have very plain tastes.

Dress progress is slow but moving along again. I had paused on working on it while my family visited and then right after I had two colds in a row. Working on a white dress when you have a drippy nose is just asking for trouble. I made a flower bustle to put on the back of the dress. I'm still adding little flowers to the tulle going down, but here's a pic of where it was yesterday.
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A small update with one good thing and some venting because I'm getting stressed by family.

Okay good thing first! I bought a ring pillow on Etsy! It's shaped like a Paopu fruit from Kingdom Hearts and very cute. The seller has been very accommodating and is looking for ribbons to match my wedding colors. You can see an example of it over here. I'll post a pic when the real thing arrives with the proper colors.

On the venting side I'll keep it short. FMIL has said a few hurtful things in the past few months and she has apoligized since, but it's really gotten me down. Saying something like, "our wedding isn't a fairytale event to her anymore." really hurt me.:guilty:

She doesn't really approve of Kevin and my life plans right now and I think she doesn't like the fact he is moving to Japan with me for a few months so she is just lashing out a bit. I'm trying to be a good person and understand how she feels but it still hurts.

We've also had a few relatives complaining at us that they don't like our wedding being so far away. They'd rather just give us a gift and not come because we are being bothersome. I'm 100% understanding if people can't come but I wish they'd not say it so rudely and to our face. If you don't want to come just RSVP no, don't be a jerk about it.

Also I really had my heart set on both my parents walking me down the aisle but it looks like my mom doesn't want to because she has been having knee trouble lately and thinks she won't be able to get out of in the carriage. That's understandable and I get it, I'm just sad. :sad1: I'll have to think of another way to include her in the ceremony.

ANYWAY :rolleyes1 to end on a more positive note my coworkers in Japan have been really sweet and said they want to send me a video message when I get married and have been really complimenting my work on the dress. I'm so grateful that everyone here has been so sweet. It's easy for me to feel so isolated and alone out here but my students and coworkers really make me feel included and valued.
 
I found this by chance and I'm super excited to find another bride utilizing the same theme as I am. All of your details have been so amazing and your dress is coming out beautifully. If you don't mind, can you share where you found the heart earrings? I'd love to exchange details and see how your wedding evolves! My wedding is July 15, 2017 and you can see all of my details on my site http://onewedding-onedestiny.tumblr.com/

I'm excited to see more of yours! <3
 
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I found this by chance and I'm super excited to find another bride utilizing the same theme as I am. All of your details have been so amazing and your dress is coming out beautifully. If you don't mind, can you share where you found the heart earrings? I'd love to exchange details and see how your wedding evolves! My wedding is July 15, 2017 and you can see all of my details on my site http://onewedding-onedestiny.tumblr.com/

I'm excited to see more of yours! <3

The heart earring I got on Amazon Japan at this store. They don't have any more currently but you may be able to find something similar using the info on the site. I just looked at your site and its beautiful! All the little details are so nice, I've also been eyeing that wax seal stamp for a bit and thinking about ordering one. I'm sure your wedding will be amazing!

Following your PJ! Love all the personal details and uniqueness.

Thank you! I'm glad you appreciate it. We really want a wedding unique to us and our story. :lovestruc
 
Kevin is here! He moved to Japan to live with me for the last bit of my contract. He's only been here a couple of weeks and I've been busy showing him around and getting all his paperwork done. I'm so glad he is here with me for the next 6 months. It makes wedding planning a lot easier when we aren't relying on my spotty internet connection. As things have started to settle down with him here we resumed wedding planning.

Most of our guests on my side have said yes. My grandfather sadly says its unlikely he can attend. Since I left America he's had a sharp health decline and rarely goes out anymore. My favorite Uncle said no as well because he recently got divorced and has been struggling financially. I'm sad they can't come and hoping I can do a wedding live stream so they can feel part of the day too. Many of Kevin's side said no for various reasons, but we expected a little less attendance since many of them live in Ireland.

With our guest number starting to become a little clearer, we decided to order our wedding invitations. We used Wedding Paper Divas for ours. If I was back in the US I would probably have done more DIY on it. They still look nice and I tried to give some KH flair in them. They have just now shipped so here is a preview image of them
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I feel a little bad including that note about extra guests but I'm worried about it based on some of the replies I've gotten so far. My sister wants to bring her current boyfriend and her ex with her for some reason? I get she's still friends with him... but I think its a little weird.

Right now Kevin and I are listening to all our music collections to find our perfect songs. I found mine but he's still looking. We're going to a Kingdom Hearts concert in Tokyo in a few weeks so fingers crossed they sell a new CD with more orchestrated songs! We always need more background music from our favorite game.
 
Our planning trip is almost here! Just a month to go until we are flying back home to visit Disney World with my parents.

We will be at Disney from Monday, May 1st to Saturday, May 6th. All our dining reservations are finished despite some issues on the website. We ended up having to skype call my Mom and have her give them a call while I talked over the computer. I can't wait to ba back in America and be able to make these calls myself. My mothers been so helpful acting as my representative and designated mailing person, I'll have to think of a good gift to give her at the wedding to say thank you.

Kevin's mom also talked to us about the Rehersal Dinner and it's gone up to a larger meal than originally planned. She wants a lot of her side of the family there and we decided to just say okay so she would have a good time. I'm a little nervous about adding more social stress to myself before the wedding but I want her to be happy and comfortable. She's just much more outgoing than I am.:confused3 It looks like there will be about 45 people at the rehersal dinner now instead of the original plan of 22. We sent an email to Vita asking about what are some good food options to have at the dinner since they only sent us dessert menus. We don't need a full meal set up, but we want some savory food since this is a rehersal dinner/dessert party combo.

Dress sewing is going really well now. Kevin being here added some extra motivation to get working harder. I'm hemming away on the dress almost every day (there are 5 layers to get through and that looooooong train). It's taken over the kitchen table unfortunetly, but we are working around it. Once hemming is compelete there is just detail work and beading to be done. I also have to make gloves and the veil, but those are small projects. I don't think I'm going to end up making the rehersal dress unless I finish way earlier than expected. I'm going to try and post a picture of the dress here later tonight when I am home. I'm really proud of how it's turning out.
 
And here it is. The yellow sashes still need to be tied properly, I can't tie a nice bow without someone helping me so they just lay there till I get to it. I can't wait to be done hemming and start sparkling the dress up:jumping1:
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Your invitations turned out so pretty!

And your dress! It's really starting to take shape - you are extremely talented!
 
I'm loving all the details you're making. I'm currently working on basic ideas for a Kingdom Hearts wedding too. :) ours is waaaayyyys away as we don't even have an engagement ring yet but I was told to have fun and worst comes, we will already have ideas when the time comes. I can't wait to see more. I'm trying to figure out how to make a Kairi themed dress.
 

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