Great Falls Wedding

   Walt Disney World

Jodi & Victor's Walt Disney World Wedding
Maximum Happy,
Minimum Stress, Great Value

We (Jodi Bucknam and Victor Nazarian) got married at Walt Disney World on Sunday 18 April 2010 at the Gazebo in the Rose Garden at Disney's Yacht Club resort and had our reception at the Atlantic Dance Hall.

The bride & groom laughed and cried and danced.

The critics raved:
It couldn't have been any better. - Bride's Mom
I want to do it all over again. - Groom
The best wedding I've ever been to. - Our minister, Tony Guida

If you've seen Molly Ringwald in "Sixteen Candles" or Steve Martin in "Father of the Bride" you may understand my state of mind in early 2009. I was worried and I wasn't sure we knew what we were doing. Marrying Jodi was a rock solid sure thing. I couldn't have been more positive of anything in my whole life. HOW do we get married?
HC SVNT DRACONES... (Here Be Dragons)

I asked Jodi to marry me on the Royal (pipe organ) stage at the Maryland Renaissance Festival on the last day of the Fall 2008 season. I was just back from an airborne Coast Guard Auxiliary patrol, still in my uniform flight suit. We'd been dating since the previous February and had known each other from swing dancing for about a year before that. She said yes, my friend Gary played Ode to Joy on the pipe organ and I was walking on clouds. Now we had to start walking those clouds in the direction of a wedding, somewhere.

We spent months, buying magazines, doing Internet research and talking to friends. We must have put in 200 hours on our MacBooks looking up details and reading reviews and comments on weddings and we probably put over 5,000 miles on Jodi's Honda Civic Hybrid traveling to interesting wedding spots. We wanted to stay out of debt and pay for it mostly on our own. It had to be fun, include dancing and have as many of our friends and family as possible. We knew we could save some money by doing our own invitations and ceremony programs and providing a few of our own special touches. We even got our friend Slash (Eric Dunn) to draw up some special graphics we could use in our invitations. We knew we'd probably spend quite a bit if we wanted a memorable event and we wanted to do it RIGHT, get a good value and have lots of fun for our money.

We had lots of ideas for themes including Victorian formal, steam punk, zoot suits, island/tropical and Jazz Fest in New Orleans, etc. I even suggested getting married by a ship's captain in period garb - a pirate wedding.
Jodi wasn't into the pirate wedding theme but getting married on a ship (in non-pirate clothes) stayed on the list. We considered several cities close to the water and also maybe staying close to home.

Even though Washington D.C. is beautiful in the Spring the sprawling nature and inflated costs of the D.C. metro area would have made staying close to home expensive and complicated.

Also, because Jodi's family is somewhat dispersed and would have to travel anyway it only seemed fair to have the wedding somewhere worth traveling to. This made a destination wedding much more appealing, at least to my logic.

We visited, Baltimore, Portland (Maine), Tampa, Orlando, New Orleans, Charleston and several other cities. One of the pilots in my Coast Guard Auxiliary aviation flotilla, even flew us out to Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay. Then we talked it all over, did the math and searched our hearts. All in all it came down to what would make the maximum happy with the minimum stress at a reasonable cost? Walt Disney World came up on top. It was more than just choosing a location, it was more like choosing a project management team with romantic show business experience.
I had just one tiny concern...
"I don't think I want a Mickey Mouse wedding."

Looking back that might seem silly. We had just about the best time anyone can have getting married. Before-hand however I had some real concerns. I didn't want to spend the price of a small, used airplane on something that might feel plastic and be regarded as cheesy. I love Disney and Pixar and I'm fond of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. We own every Pixar film and we both love The Muppets. Even so, I wanted to make sure our wedding would be a Jodi and Victor focused affair, special in its own right.

I was also worried I would talk Jodi into something she wouldn't love. I can be a real bulldozer when it comes to decisions. When the little voice in my heart expressed concerns about "Mickey Mouse wedding" I listened to it. I made sure to say something to both Jodi and the Disney folks. I also made a point of listening to everyone. I'm not always the best listener but for this, I tried to listen extra hard.

Here's where the Disney folks really impressed me, Telepathy. Yup, Kristi Davis one of Disney's wedding sales representatives over at Franck's can read minds! She showed us the wedding chapel and the beach near the Grand Floridian and then, perhaps reading my body language or looking inside my skull suggested we go over to the Yacht Club and look at the rose garden and gazebo. Long before I met Jodi my best WDW trip ever was back in the early 2000's when I stayed for several days at the Yacht Club. It's cool, retro and wonderful and it's right by the water. Also, it's walking distance to both Epcot and MGM (now Disney's Hollywood Studios). Somehow Kristi must have known I love all of that. I love mind readers!

We were still not sign-on-the-dotted-line just yet. We made sure to finish up visiting the other sites we had planned and we double checked our hearts. We looked at numbers and talked with friends. We asked family members what they thought and then we did the smart thing. We talked with Jodi's mom.

Jodi's mother Anita is a saint. Really! She's a super smart, ultra cool professor over at Ohio State (Go Buckeyes) and not only was she happy to let us do the wedding any way we wanted but she also said she'd help us if we needed it. She agreed with us that WDW was a good idea and was very supportive. Likewise Jodi's father was very supportive as well and also offered to help if needed. Although we wanted to do this ourselves as much as possible we were relieved to know that help would be there if we needed it. We did "tap the rents" a little for money for photography, etcetera and my own mother even put up some money for the rehearsal dinner. They were all comfortable with Disney and helped keep our stress down a lot.

The due diligence and teamwork really brought Jodi and me closer together and made us more confident in our decisions. Some people have buyer's remorse about their wedding (the place, hopefully not the partner). I didn't want to ever have any feelings whatsoever that we could have done it better. By personally visiting lots of locations together and talking to lots of people face-to-face we bonded and we assured ourselves we were doing the right things. Then we chose Walt Disney World and Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings. Smart move, they were able to make it all happen with lots of happiness and without stress. They have, or can arrange for, almost everything you might need.

Walt Disney's company is much more than cute media icons and cultural fluff. He and his brother Roy established a creative business culture that revolves around family, friendship and taking good care of people. Disney has what it takes to make a wedding into a celebration:
1. Professionals who are capable and motivated to make things happen.
2. Customer service - feeling pampered should be part of any wedding.
3. Happiness, fun and smiles, for everyone - key to a good wedding.
4. Low stress!!!
5. Resources that are all close at hand.


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   Brilliant Earth

BUYER BEWARE: Do not put your ring setting in the hands of Brilliant Earth - as you will see from my review (among others on yelp) they have an awful track record when it comes to quality of their rings along with the customer service in dealing with these issues

Starting from the beginning: started shopping with my then fiance for rings - stumbled upon Brilliant Earth as I wanted a sapphire and they had a good selection, Gloria was great in helping me pick the setting I liked and catering to all my needs. About a week after having the ring, I realized the sapphire was loose (could tap and hear it moving but not serious enough to com off) - I put off taking it in until we went shopping for our wedding bands a few months later. They took it, tightened the prongs and apparently replaced one of the diamonds in the band for it had turned yellow (never got any clarification on why this happened at the time) and returned it to me at no cost.

Unfortunately, a few days later the sapphire was again loose in the same way (frustrated at this point that the problem wasn't fixed but in the middle of wedding planning and I had moved out of SF so I had no time to bring it in again).

Finally a few months after the wedding, one of my little diamonds in my wedding band fell out/disappeared, and again one of my little stones in my ring had yellowed. I decided to bring everything in to take care of at once. I was directed to Bridgette instead of Gloria and this is where things turn ugly.

I asked Bridgette if there was going to be any cost in these fixes since I assumed them to be ring issues and not something I had done (considering 2 of the 3 problems had occurred before), also noting my concern that I only had the wedding band for 3 months and stones were already falling off. She couldn't give me a straight answer in person and kept saying the charges would be "fair" - whatever that means. She called me the next day to say she had the jeweler look at my rings and assessed what had caused the problems. Big Surprise: nothing was their fault in the ring design and it was all blamed on me. Apparently my band rubbing against my engagement ring had caused the diamond to pop off - really? after 3 months of wearing the two together - that's great craftmanship. The yellowing diamond was "due to me washing it with some type of Clorox cleaner and it getting underneath the diamond" (I work for Clorox - interesting how they jumped to that conclusion) - I told her that the only product I used to clean my rings was the "Brilliant Earth" cleaner so if you're suggesting that is creating an issue please tell me to stop using that - Bridgette dodged herself out of those questions. And then the reason my sapphire was loose was wear and tear - no concerns about the fact that it's been like that from day one pretty much and no willingness to assess the fact that the prongs were not designed to hold my ring. BUYER BEWARE: Do not put your ring setting in the hands of Brilliant Earth - as you will see from my review (among others on yelp) they have an awful track record when it comes to quality of their rings along with the customer service in dealing with these issues

Starting from the beginning: started shopping with my then fiance for rings - stumbled opon Brilliant Earth as I wanted a sapphire and they had a good selection, Gloria was great in helping me pick the setting I liked. About a week after having the ring, I realized the sapphire was loose (could tap and hear it moving but not serious enough to com off) - I put off taking it in until we went shopping for our wedding bands. They took it, tightened the prongs and apparently replaced one of the diamonds in the band for it had turned yellpw (never got any clarification on why this happened) and returned it to me no cost. At this point I was happy with the customer service. Unfortunately, a few days later the sapphire was again loose in the same way (frustrated at this point that the problem wasn't fixed but in the middle of wedding planning and I had moved out of SF so I had no time to bring it in again until after the wedding).

A few months after my wedding, one of my litlle diamonds in my wedding band disappeared, and again one of my little stones in my ring had yellowed. I decided to bring everything in to take care of at once. I was directed to Bridgette instead of Gloria and this is where things turn ugly.

I asked Bridgette if there was going to be any cost in these fixes since I assumed them to be ring issues and not something I had done (considering 2 of the 3 problems had occurred before), also noting my concern that I only had the ring for less than half a year and stones were already falling off. She couldn't give me a straight answer in person but called me the next day to say she had the jeweler look at my rings and assessed what had caused the problems. Big Surprise: nothing was their fault in the ring design and it was all blamed on me. Apparently my band rubbing against my engagement ring had caused the diamond to pop off - really? after 3 months of wearing the two together - that's great craftmanship. The yellowing diamond was due to some type of household cleaning solution getting underneath the diamond (I work for a household cleaning consumer company - interesting how they jumped to that conclusion) - I told her that the only product I used to clean my rings was the "Brilliant Earth" cleaner so if you're suggesting that is creating an issue please tell me to stop using that - Bridgette dodged herself out of those questions. And then the reason my sapphire was loose was wear and tear - no concerns about the fact that it's been like that from day one pretty much and no willingness to assess the fact that the prongs were not designed to hold my ring. Bridgette didn't do or say anything to ease my concerns (like you are taught to do in a customer service setting) - she basically acted like me being charged for anything was out of her hands and that the "ring tells a story".

They want to charge me to fix all these issues now which I refuse to do. I'm really regretting having them do my settings and am planning on taking both of my rings to another jeweler to be assessed although like the others on here I think I know what the answer is going to be (they are designed and crafted poorly). So there goes more money down the drain to fix their errors.

The customer service has been awful since I paid them for my 2 rings - it's literally been night and day (they got their $ and now don't care to keep me happy). I'm sure these issues are going to keep happening, and I'm not going to risk paying them more money when they don't know how to fix the rings and will keep blaming the issues on me.

Yes, they have pretty rings, yes the staff is great in helping you design what you want, but at the end of the day - the quality of the rings is awful and you should spend your money elsewhere. They are nice to you until they get your $ and could care less afterwards. Go somewhere else - you know those other jewelers that do cleanings for free, yearly maintenance, fixes, etc without trying to nickel and dime you. I have 5-6 friends who have gotten rings in the bay area over the past year and none of them are having any issues with customer service or their ring quality - if you want a reco for these places let me know and I will be happy to pass along their information.

I gave Brilliant Earth the opportunity to fix these issues at no charge to make things right with me but they refuse. I advise anyone to avoid this place at all costs.

Check out yelp for other similar reviews as well as another woman on this site - this is not the first time this has happened.

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   Winnie Couture Bridal Salon Beverly Hills

My experience shopping for my wedding gown was a bit hectic, it didn’t start off so great. I had to deal with super pushy sales girls, they kept saying every gown looked great, looked amazing, that it complimented my figure. I could see right through them, some of the gowns did look good but not that great and for them to tell every gown looked good, I knew they just wanted a sale. I wanted my experience to be something special. I kept researching online and then I came across Winnie Couture and see how close it is to my home so I call right away to make an appointment. I was blown away whe I walked inside, this boutique is to die for. The entire boutique is stunning, there is nothing that I didn’t like. It is absolutely gorgeous and you just feel the love as soon as you walk in. The staff was so friendly and so sweet. I meet my stylist and she gives this wonderful tour of the boutique that made me just fall in love with it even more, she was so knowledgeable. She worked with me the entire time, she gave me all of her attention but still managed to keep my party entertained. She was so much fun. what I really appreciated from her is that she was so honest, I knocked out so many dresses out that I thought I liked but in reality didn’t look all the great on me but she let me know her honest opinion and I took . Winnie Couture gave me the best experience. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I found my dream dress and it was easy. I walked out a happy girl, by far the best investment.

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   Atlas Floral Decorators

Kiriba Logan, the designer extraordinaire of Atlas Floral Decorators, delivered all he promised and then exceeded our expectations for our wedding on October 23, 2011 at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers. My husband and I could not be happier with every element Kiriba provided, from the bouquets to the centerpieces to the magnificent Chuppah that our friends and family are still talking about as the most beautiful one they have ever seen. I knew immediately that Kiriba was "the one" to design our flowers. Kiriba came warmly recommended to me and after meeting with him, I knew we would work well together to create the design I was looking for. Before our meeting, Kiriba asked me to do some "homework" and find pictures of what I liked and was looking for. Kiriba totally listened and came through with flying (Autumnal) colors. Kiriba took the design to another level that really made the flowers more than I could have hoped for. We went with an Autumn color theme and so we were surrounded by seasonal flowers, berries, branches and leaves.The colors and shapes he chose--chocolate calla lilies, red coxcomb, brown/red hypericum berries, hydrangea, birch bark, red/golden roses (just to name a few), had movement and charm and created a veritable Fall Wonderland. I wish I could attach photos to show the magnificent work Kiriba did. Since ours was a daytime wedding, a great deal of the color and decoration was going to be represented through the flowers and their colors. When I showed Kiriba a photo of leaves on the ground I took while visiting Vermont, he suggested scattering some foliage on the floor along the entranceway that people walk down to get to the ceremony. I was a bit skeptical at first, but trusted Kiriba's judgment and was delighted with the results. Atlas Floral Decorators and Kiriba Logan did an incredible job and I would recommend them to anyone and everyone who wants a beautiful, memorable, flawless floral decoration for their wedding or event.

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   Celebrations Catering & Special Events

Once we had decided on our venue, we were instructed that they only used one caterer. I was a little hesitant at first, but once we went to the food tasting - I was THRILLED! When we arrived for the tasting, I thought we had stumbled into an actual wedding reception. The set up was beautiful with table linens, china, food displays and flower centerpieces. The food was delicious. They had the different types of options – plated, passed and buffet style. I really had my heart set on a plated dinner but once I saw the buffet style carving stations with the London broil and herbed chicken, I made up my mind. It was delicious. We were stuffed at the end of the tasting! The day of our wedding- everyone raved about the food. Everything was set up beautifully and most of our guests went up for seconds or thirds for the creamy basil mashed potatoes. It was great. The only grumble is that the woman at the carving station didn't speak or understand English very well. Other than that, we were catered to by our own personal server who took our plates to the table (awesome, so I don't get anything on my dress) and she even saved us some of the hors d'oeuvres that we missed while taking pictures. It was AWESOME!



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“ FOR SALE: Alfred Angelo 2105 (Great for fall wedding) ”

New with tags

Size 8

never altered

Ivory and burnt orange

email me for pictures!  :-)

$900, will sell for $700 OBO

I had a change of heart in the style I want to wear

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“ kwr mini moon ideas for ”

New England & upstate NY for NON skiiers. Any reccomendations? Over holiday break...
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“ kwr mini moon ideas for ”

New England & upstate NY for NON skiiers. Any reccomendations? Over holiday break...
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“ DIY Wedding Christmas Ornament ”

This DIY project turns your leftover invitations into a keepsake Christmas ornament, marking your first year together. It also makes a great gift for your family and wedding party to enjoy for years to come, while remembering your special day.

 

 

Source

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Scissors
• Empty glass ball ornament
• Ribbon
• Hot Glue Gun
• Copy of your wedding invitation or program

Step One: Cut your invitation or program into strips. Feel free to create various widths.

Step Two: Use your scissors to gently curl the strips. If your paper is thin, curl only the end of the strips, then wrap the paper in a spiral and hold for about 30 seconds. This should keep the thin paper from falling apart. Once curled, pull the strip apart so it is stretched out.

Step Three: Remove the metal topper of the ornament, and place the strip inside. Continue to fill curled strips into the ornament until it is as full as you like and insert the metal topper.

Step Four: Cut the ribbon into a piece long enough to tie a bow. After the bow is tied, apply a dot of hot glue on the ornament and attach the bow.

Ta-da! You have just made the perfect DIY Christmas ornament. Be sure to share this with your friends.

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“ Advice Needed: longtime lurker breakup (LONG) ”

Hi Ladies, I've lurked on PW for over a year and need some serious advice. My boyfriend broke up with me a week ago. It still doesn't seem real. We had been dating for 3 years and have had ups and downs like anyone else. I graduated from college in May and chose to return home for awhile so my bf could work on a career path. Everything was wonderful since I came home for good (i was 4 hrs away) and BAM! We talked about getting an apartment after I graduated and spent the whole summer and a bunch of money gathering everything so we would be ready.

We looked at an apartment in the end of October, filled out an application and didn't get it. We looked at another one last Wednesday and were going to get it. He was worried about money being tight (he wants to do an lpn program in April and will only be able to work 3 days then) so we talked about it before I arranged to fill out the application. I went to work at 9pm, talked to him around 9:30 and all was good. The next day he was going to my house while i went to work to fill out the application. He doesn't fill it out, talks with my mom and breaks up with me at 7pm.

He cried like a baby the entire time, as was I. He has never cried that hard or that long. He says he doesn't love me. That's why we had 3 great years, talked about marriage and babies? A little over 24 hrs before we talked about furniture for the apartment, Christmas plans, skiing in january and next Halloween! Also, he asked why we got my dad a blue ray player for Christmas and not us. I said we have his ps3. He said what if we want to watch a movie in the bedroom? He brought up that in highschool (when he was 17) that he was obsessed/infatuated with one of our friends and it drove him crazy. He believes that this is how love should be and that we don't have it. He said we have a partnership, not a romantic love like its supposed to be. I know that we Disney "fall" in love, but grew to love each other by being friends, bestfriends and then lovers. We would say "i love you" a lot and meant it. Now he says that he was just saying it, but it made him feel good and happy to say it to me and would say it out of the blue. We would talk about what if we broke up in the future. He said that when we aren't together that he feels lost and needs me and the idea of me being with someone else made him sick. When we would be intimate he would talk about getting married and wanting a baby and how much he loved me. But all of a sudden he doesn't love me and doesn't know if he ever did because we don't have obsessive highschool feelings? We both wondered about what it would be like to date other people (we didn't date much before getting together) and he told me that he does a lot of things to 'try them out' like getting an apt with his bestfriend and then living with his mom and stepdad to see what it would be like.

His dad is a 43 yr old womanizer whose current squeeze is 30 (bf is 24). I know that my bf did not like that especially since his dad was talking about getting serious with her. His mom would once in awhile say that he's young and shouldn't get serious and just have fun. She would also tell him that when I grow up and find out who I am as a person that I probably won't like him anymore and leave. This had yet to happen. The only thing that happened between looking at the apt and the breakup was that he talked to his mom.

I told him that I want nothing to do with him and that I will not beg for him back, he will come crawling to me. He has yet to give my stuff back and texts my mom daily asking how I am doing. He has had plenty of opportunities to bring my stuff. I'm trying so badly to be strong, but all I want to do is call or text him and find out what his mom said to ruin everything! I know its foolish, but I have a glimmer of hope that maybe everything will be back to normal soon. I'm sorry this is so long! I was trying to give adequate background info to see if anyone can make sense of it and what I should do!
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“ Favorite pic of where you live? ”

Do you have a favorite pic of the area where you live that you'd like to share?

I took this photo at Provence a couple of years ago I love it.

Oh, p.s. - this isn't where I *actually* live, I had vocation there. Really unforgettable.

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“ Great Pumpkin ” by bamaybe

This was the inspiration for the quirky painted pumpkins I made for the reception.

For my version, we picked Long Island Cheese Pumpkins from our local pumpkin patch.  They are pale and more squat, like a wheel of cheese.  One of the few diy's that I took on.  They were great for our parents and family to take home after the wedding to decorate for fall too.

 

And I painted some little white gourds for fun too.

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“ Fall Favors ” by broseay

I've always wanted to do caramel apples for our favors since FI & I both love them & it would be perfect for the fall. I was going to do big apples but the more I thought about it the more I thought how bulky the would be on already cluttered dining tables and not everyone likes them (gasp). So, I saw that d1rtymart1n1 posted this and I think I'm going to try it out. If it works I think I'll do 3 in a little bag (one plain caramel, one w/ nuts, and one with mini-m&ms)

 

1) Wash and peel a large, fairly tart apple. I used a Pink Lady here, but as you can see it's a little dark and mealy. Next time I'll go with a good old Granny Smith. Using a melon baller, extract balls of apple. A large apple will yield about 6 balls (plus scraps for you to snack on). Place in a bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice.

2) Prepare a dipping station. I'm using mini-cupcake papers and shortened bamboo skewers (cut with kitchen shears- the remnants are great for stirring and whatnot). I also have a bowl of crushed nuts (peanuts in this case) and a bowl of warmed caramel apple dip.

3) Carefully spear each ball of apple through the ROUND end. Keep the flat end on the bottom, so they stand upright. Using a paper towel, blot off the excess lemon juice. This is important- if the apple has too much juice left on it, the caramel won't stick.

4) Dip the apple in the caramel, using a twirling motion to coat it evenly.

5) Transfer the apple to the nuts and roll, using a gentler twirling motion.

6) Stand the apples upright in the cups and let them chill in the fridge to solidify. Cute and addictive! 

If we don't do mini ones we're going to do regular sized ones.

How good do these look :)
 (JL Designs)

 

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“ Falling in Love with Our Home ” by pinkpan

Great tutorials and How-To's website ~ http://www.younghouselove.com/how-to/

Organizational Print-Outs ~ http://www.executivehomemaker.com/

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