Our Magical New York Wedding-- a Pixie Dusted Wedding and Honeymoon Report! - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Congratulations, Melissa and Rob! Can't wait to read all about your wedding plans!!!
Thanks you so much!! I can't believe I am getting married!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by sparks74
Congratulations! I am very excited for you and can't wait to hear about your wedding plans.
Thanks, I am working on another update now! I am hoping to get up to date with where the planning is at this moment by the end of the week so I can start writing things as they come up!
Quote:
Originally Posted by fourdrawfs
congrats, can't wait to hear all about it!
I can't wait to tell you guys all about it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
I was so excited to see the Wedding PTR started Mel...
Your PTR's are great and this will be even better as this is such a wonderful celebration to be looking forward too...and you are sharing it with us
Loved your intro...can't wait to hear more....
Thanks! I think there will be alot of good party-planning tips in here too-- my mom is so amazing at this stuff! She does everything from cooking to favor making to cake decorating for all of our littler parties-- I cant wait to tell you guys about the engagement party!
Quote:
Originally Posted by iamgrumpy
Great Start! Sounds Magical Already!
Oh and Congrats
Thanks to you! I must say it is magical already!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandra Bostwick
Congrats! As the fairy says in one of the Disney parades...I LOVE LOVE!!!!!!
OMG! I Love love toooo!!!!!!!! ;-)
Quote:
Originally Posted by MickeyMAC
Congratulations, thanks for sharing the excitment with us.
Thanks for reading along!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great start Melissa!!
You are always here to listen to my rambles!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrDolphin
Congrats Rob and Melissa!!! Can't wait to read all of the details!
Thanks! I am working on another update now!
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmymac
Congratulations. You're off to a great start - looking forward to the next installment
I'm so glad you guys liked the intro I felt like I had written similar things about 2 dozen times last year with all my PTR reincarnations!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ariel14
Great start!!!!! Congrats!!!!!!
Thanks! and !
Quote:
Originally Posted by omd
Congratulations Rob and Melissa!
Thanks for the toast!
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobDVC
Congrats! Looking forward to reading more as things progress!
I have to get you guys up to speed on all we've done so far! Hopefully I can crank out a few decent updates over the next week or so!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DyanKJ130
I've been looking forward to this!! Great start, Melissa! Can't wait to follow you along on your latest journey!!
That was super sweet! I think this will be the best journey of all!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Congratulations Rob and Melissa! I can't wait to hear all about it.
And I can't wait to tell you guys all about it! Thanks!
So, I guess that the best place to start it how the questions was popped!
Rob and I took our dog to a local park-- one of the many Vanderbilt estates scattered around the country-- for a walk one Saturday. When we began walking around Rob suggested we take a walk through the gardens there! This was one of the first places we had ever went to together-- one of our very first dates 7 some odd years ago! As Rob, Li, and I were walking through the gardens we stopped in an alcove and I could tell Rob was nervous. I thought it might be the time but I wasn't sure if I was thinking presumptiously so I tried to act normal.
Minutes later he was down on one knee asking me to be his wife! Yay! Of course I carry my camera with at almost all times so I had to capture the moment on film... well... on memory stick!!
And of course, my ring... though the picture doesn't do it justice if you ask me! You just cant see the sparkle and the twinkle in the pic! Sometimes I just stare at it during the day!
After returning home, calling our parents, visiting our parents, calling my grandparents and just basking in the glory of the day Rob told me that we had reservations at a local restaurant called Aroma Osteria (known to be beautiful, fancy, and have the best food around). Apparently when the forecast called for rain Rob felt he may need a back up plan! Here's a pic of us before we left for dinner--
Well, after our fabulous engagement day we went to my parents house for a big chunk of the day on Sunday. I must say, we got a lot of stuff done in that first couple weeks. My parents and I made appointments to see places for the reception, and on our first day of looking at our last visit we put down a deposit! This is the place my sister was married at AND had her reception and I had avoided it at first because I wanted my wedding to be my own. However, he has renovated almost everything and its such a convienent drive from the Church! In any case, here is a pic of it:
Its called Christo's catering! And Chris, the owner, recommended a DJ and Photographer that we ended up booking! He also recommended a Priest at our Church to talk to since Rob has never made his confirmation and I was nervous he would have issues getting married in the church. We met with the Priest, loved him, met with the photographer, who seems to offer everything I always think is missing at other people's weddings, and the DJ who told me he keeps a mickey mouse shaped disco ball ornament under his station for good luck!!!!! When he said that I said "Where do we sign??" LOL!
Cermony site
Officiant
Reception site
DJ
Photographer
And we were only 1 week into wedding planning!
My parents told Rob and I that we would only have to pay for 3 things:
1-- The Church
2-- The Photographer
3-- The Honeymoon
So of course we started to budget according to the prices we had been given.
Our original estimate was a couple thousand for the Photog, couple hundred for the church and around 25k for the Honeymoon. Our budget has now reached a whopping $8100. That is a far stretch from the $5000ish number we'd guesstimated.
Fortunately for us we should be able to combine our tax returns and pay for the photographer, I am working on an Advanced Certificate in Technoloy through my school which would entail and $2500 stipend to go towards our honeymoon, and if all goes well we might only be looking at saving around $3000 out of pocket. This is our hope and it makes us both nervous to "HOPE" the money will be there if in the crunch we have to give up things like organic salad, or protien shakes, or ordering pizza on the weekends, or birthday presents- we will do what we need to do! Any wedding budget tips??
So, we've met the people, put down deposits, crunched the numbers, and still have over 270 days to go!! xoxo
Next Up: Flowers, Fantasic Finds, and Finalizing the Engagement Party details!
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wow, girlfriend, you are getting so much done....it's almost like you have all of us there with you...he he he. i am really enjoying reading all of your updates....give li kisses for me....
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Yay!! As a wedding planner this is the best thread ever!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't forget that you will get "cash" for your engagement and bridal shower gifts, so that can help cover some of your out of pocket expenses . . . . . . And remember I'm here if ya need me. Can't wait for more
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I'm so glad I've made my way over to this! I'm so psyched to read all this process and hoping to steal a few tips for my own eventually*L*
The mickey mouse shapped disco ball...now i gotta see what that looks like There are little disney fans everywhere where you least expect it huh?
cant wait for more....great start!
I'm so excited I found your post! Congratulations on your engagement!!! I just got engaged myself - it's always nice to hear others' experiences! Your ring is gorgeous! I'm not sure if I missed this in your posts, but how long ago did you get engaged? I can't wait to read more!!!
Congratulations! We just got our son married off last July 26th at WDW Yacht Club and took them on a Disney cruise for their Honeymoon. What cruise are y'all planing?
Oh Mel! It sounds like you've gotten so much done! As for saving money . . . try figuring out how many weeks before you need the money and dividing to figure out how much you need to put away per week. Then put that amount in your savings account when you get paid before you do anything else.
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You are always here to listen to my rambles! 
Danny and I at Epcot 8/14/08
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