Linda & Dave's Wedding 6/21/11: WP/Off Property/Morocco;Wedding day:pre-ceremony pics

geek+nerd

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 11, 2010
I'm pretty sure the "P" in "PJ" stands for "procrastination" and not "planning" at this point.

I'm sitting at my computer with a 35 line long to do list to get things ready to head back to school in less than a week. Naturally, I decide to start our PJ instead. :rotfl:

Us
I'm Linda: 33 years old, high school Spanish teacher, nerd.
He's Dave: 45 years old, computer programmer, geek.

How we met
In early August of last year, I went out to lunch with a married friend and her toddler son. During our conversation, I told her about a wedding that I went to earlier in the summer of a very good friend who met her husband on Match.com. I then went on to lament my spinsterhood. My friend asked if I would ever consider using a site like Match, and I said no way. I didn't feel that I could handle the level of rejection that comes with using an internet dating site. I have an orthopedic disability and walk with crutches, and I didn't want to set myself up for some attacks on my self-esteem.

Being the fantastic friend that she is, she pumped me up and really encouraged me to join a site. I still didn't think I could ever do it, but the seed was planted.

Two days later, in a rush of positive self imaging, I bit the bullet, whipped out the credit card, and signed up for a month of Match. While writing my profile, I decided to be totally open about my disability, figuring that if it bothered some guy enough, he wouldn't bother to contact me. I put pictures up of me with my crutches.

Needless to say, I was shocked at the responses I got. My August was quite a busy month. :) Dave was the third guy who contacted me. We immediately hit it off over email and the phone. He was the only guy I talked with who didn't make me feel nervous. Right away, I was relaxed and myself with him.

We had our first date on a Thursday night, August 20. We met at a movie theater about half way between where we live (a little less than an hour and a half). I picked him up at the movie theater and then we went for dinner at a Mexican restaurant not far away. The food was mediocre, but I really enjoyed our dinner. Again, I felt completely relaxed with him. I can't say I felt sparks at that point, but I knew that I definitely wanted to remain friends with him. After dinner, we went back to the theater to see District 9 (I told you I'm a nerd and he's a geek). The movie ended and we talked about how we were both a little disappointed in it, blah, blah, blah. He walked me out to my car and then no hug, no kiss, nothing. So, I thought, "Ok. I would still like to be friends with him."

I got home and had a text message from saying he had a great time and the usual stuff. The following day, I got an email from him saying that he had tickets to a Redskins/Broncos game in November and asking me to go with him. At first, I kind of panicked because I thought it was too soon to be planning things months away and that he must really like me. Then, I thought, "What the hell? I've never been to an NFL game, and we can always go as friends if things don't work out."


Us at the Redskins game in November. It was unseasonably warm, and I was very grateful for that.

In the meantime...I had second dates with two other guys from Match planned.

A few days later, Dave asked me out again, and we decided that I would drive to his house and we would do dinner and a movie again. At dinner, I once again felt very comfortable with him, very relaxed. We went to see Inglorious Basterds (our first few movies weren't very romantic :rotfl: ). During the movie, I tried to give him clues to hold my hand or put his arm around me. NOTHING. So, in my head, I thought, "He clearly isn't as in to me as I thought he was." The movie ends, we both loved it, classic Tarantino, yadda yadda. We got back to his house and since I had a long-ish drive and it was late, I was leaving. At the door, he asked for a kiss. Keep in mind, I was now convinced that this was our last date because he decided he didn't like me. Stupid me, caught completely off guard, responded, "Um. . .how about a hug instead?" How lame am I!

So, I gave him a hug and headed out the door. I got home and still wasn't sure what to think. However, I decided that I wouldn't go past three dates with someone and still date others.

Dave and I talked during the week, IMed, texted, etc. We talked about my surprise at the request for a kiss and what I had been thinking. It turns out that he was just really shy (which now I think is really sweet). And, we arranged for a third date! I also had date 3 with another guy from Match and date 1 with a different guy scheduled.

Our third date was just hanging out at his house. I got there around 1 pm. I brought schoolwork to do, and he watched football while I did some work and we chatted. And. . .we had our first kiss. :love: That was it for me!

Throughout the day, we played Wii, watched movies, ate pizza and talked. I ended up leaving at about 3 am! The next day, I canceled my other dates, and Dave and I officially became a couple!

OK. . .if you've actually read all this, you deserve a cookie, a medal and sainthood! I promise not to write so much ever again!
 
Welcome to the boards!!!

If your as detailed on your planning then I can't wait to read more! lol
 
Two responses and a bunch of a little stuff crossed off my to do list are all the encouragement I need to continue! :)

The Engagement
Our relationship became serious quite quickly. My brother-in-law joked that we would be engaged by my birthday in October and my sister said by Christmas. She was right!

I knew it was coming, but didn't quite know when. In fact, I had 5 different scenarios in mind. Because we live about an hour and a half away from each other, we get together once mid week, usually on Wednesday, for dinner and then we spend weekends together.

We made plans to redo our first date on December 16, a Wednesday. At this point, I knew he ordered the ring, but I didn't think he'd have it by that point. Dave is super sentimental, and he asked if I minded if we completely recreated our first date, down to me picking up in the movie parking lot. Of course, I thought that was sweet. I picked him up, and as he got in the car, I was rambling on about being hungry. He told me to put the car in park and then said, "Since this is the place where I first saw your beautiful face, I thought it'd be the perfect place to ask you to spend the rest of your life with me?" Of course, I said yes! After calling my parents and updating our Facebook statuses :), we headed to the Mexican restaurant where we had our first date. My sister, who knew what was going on, had called ahead to arrange to pay for our dinner.

My ring
We had been talking about getting engaged and started looking at rings. I looked at a million different sites and tried quite a few on in quite a price range and styles, but I kept coming back to a simple half carat princess cut. My ring is small, simple, and pretty. It's perfect for me.

Not the best pic-taken with my BlackBerry
 


We are tentatively scheduled for 10 am on June 21, 2011 (Dave picked the date) at the Wedding Pavilion. We've hired Randy Chapman for photography and are using Disney for the other ceremony details.

We were in Orlando this summer with my family for a vacation to Universal for the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and go to do some wedding stuff while there. I wanted to check out the WP and SBP. DF kept telling me that I wouldn't want to see anywhere else after checking out the WP; he had been to a wedding there several years ago. He was right! I cried as soon as I entered.

The dress
I don't have any pics of me in the dress, but I will post some once I go for a fitting (not for a while yet). Keep in mind, I'm under 5 ft tall, so this dress is actually to the floor on me! :rotfl:

It's super sparkly, and I love it. I had "the moment" that every bride wants to have when dress shopping.
yp9983_davids_bridal_wedding_dress_primary.jpg


I'm wearing a white sash for the ceremony and a lapis (dark purple) for other events. DF is wearing a white tie for the ceremony and a dark purple tie for other events (his idea-so cute! He's into the whole matching thing).

My bracelet
geekplusnerd
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I LOVE it!

I'm wearing my mother's strand of pearls as my something borrowed and pearl and crystal earrings that I got at Kohl's before we were even engaged. I just thought they were pretty, and they are perfect with my dress.

Shoes, etc.
I have an orthopedic disability, wear a leg brace and walk with forearm crutches. Because of my brace, I can't wear anything but sneakers. My aunt/godmother is making me a fancy pair of sneakers. I will post pics when they are done! My mom is going to get me a pair of white crutches and I bought little blue crystals to make one hidden Mickey toward the bottom of each one as my something blue.
 
Great start to your PJ!! Mine was also an excuse to procrastinate in the beginning...so I hear ya!

I love the recreation of the first date story - how adorable!!
 


Great start to your PJ!! Mine was also an excuse to procrastinate in the beginning...so I hear ya!

I love the recreation of the first date story - how adorable!!

Thanks! He's very sentimental and sweet. For our one year anniversary, he gave me a shadow box filled with ticket stubs and little mementos from all the movies, museums, events, etc that we went to together throughout the year. I couldn't believe that he had saved them all.
 
Besides DF's family's negativity toward our wedding location, little has caused me as much stress as flowers, specifically my bouquet. Just when I think I've decided, I see something else. My sister has commented that the internet is my enemy when it comes to planning this wedding because there is just too much out there.

Anyway, I am considering each of these bouquets. Any thoughts?







I don't like the china berries in this one.

I love calla lilies; I'm just not sure that they will go with my dress.

This is my dress except I will wear a white sash for the ceremony and a dark purple sash for the day's other events.

yp9983_davids_bridal_wedding_dress_primary.jpg


Any thoughts on which bouquet?
 
Love all your plans so far Linda. Your dress is gorgeous. I have picked a similar shaped tea length dress.

I posted my thoughts about your bouquet choices on your other thread, but for the record here, I think calla lillies are the way to go!
 
Hopping on board! I just saw this on the main board and needed to come and visit (luckily I'm not 30 pages behind!)

My vote is for the first bouquet....there is just something simple and elegant that I love about it...not sure why...the only think I would change is the ribbon-I wouldn't have the ends loose like that...I'd have them tucked in.

Just my 2 cents...hope that helps.

Looking forward to reading more!
 
Hi i just wanted to say im enjoying your pj so far! I like all of the 4 options tbh lol but if i had to choose one it would be the 3rd x
 
Love all your plans so far Linda. Your dress is gorgeous. I have picked a similar shaped tea length dress.

I posted my thoughts about your bouquet choices on your other thread, but for the record here, I think calla lillies are the way to go!

Thanks so much! I LOVE my dress! I actually only wanted to try it on for the shape. Originally, I wanted ivory and very little detail. My mom and I started dress shopping very early because I have "unique body contours," and frankly, we thought dress shopping was going to be horrible. I ordered one dress online and returned it. The dress that I bought was the first dress that I tried on in a store. We were both shocked! It's very flattering, and I just adore it. I feel very pretty in it, and I actually love all the detail.
 
Hi i just wanted to say im enjoying your pj so far! I like all of the 4 options tbh lol but if i had to choose one it would be the 3rd x

I think that's probably the one I'm going to go with. It was between #2 and #3, but some other posters mentioned that lisianthus doesn't hold up well in the heat. Our wedding is in June, and we are doing a 10 am ceremony with a dessert party that evening, so I'd like it to hold up all day.

Thanks for reading!
 
Looking forward to reading more of your plans!
I posted on the main boards about your bouquet choices, I had something similar to #2 and LOVED it so that would definitely be my vote :)
 
Our colors are lapis and lilac. Here's a link to the David's Bridal colors. Lapis is in the second to last row, second in from the left and lilac is in the third to last row, last color in the row.

http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/misc?contentName=/Left_Nav/Style_and_Fashion_Guide/Color_Inspiration/color_center&categoryId=3000193

Catching up, only on post #6 but love it so far! I wanted to let you know, Rosie has all the David's Bridal colors and can match them perfectly! When I sent her the pic of my dress, she knew exactly what champagne color my sash is and matched my flower ribbon wrap to it. I can't wait to see it!! :)

Now, back to reading....:goodvibes
 
I am also getting a calla lily bouquet for our October 12th wedding - we will be outside at Sunset Pointe at 5pm and then I will need it for our MK/Epcot photo shoot the next day. If this year is anything like last, it will still be HOT in October, so I will let you know how they stand up. I hope they won't get brown overnight!! :scared1:

Also, I think we were posting on the invite thread about our lack of DIY-ishness. Check out the DISigner boards!! I was going to order those little Hershey bars for our home wedding party, you know have them make the special labels and everything - well, they have labels over there that you can print on regular avery address labels, with any clip art and, boy, do the DISigners have clip art!!

I know I probably sound like a geek but I was so excited to find all the clip art and things I could easily make over there. I might be a clutz with a glue gun and get lost in a scrapbooking store but I can make a mean print out!! :thumbsup2
 
I had a calla lily bouquet for my wedding in August And I had an MK/AK photoshopt 2 days after the wedding the callas held up really well I put them in the fridge in our room at the YC and the fridge was so cold they froze! The next night I had them in a glass of water and they were fine only 1 flower looked worse for wear the one that froze to the fridge
 

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