Monday, April 18, 2011

A non-froofy Disneyworld wedding


Okay, ESB! Our beyond awesometastic photographer finally blogged our DisneyWorld, non-princess-and-puffy-tulle-dress wedding.

It was thanks to you that I had a last minute, beyond awesome coverup for my dress (a brown leather jacket from Fossil). My purple dress was also last minute; I'd had a cream-colored, floorlength JCrew (ahem) dress in the closet for several months. I woke up one day and realized that I hated it. So, with the help of my fiance (who did not actually see me in the dress until the wedding day), I found a purple dress online at Nordstrom. It was totally me. And yes, I wore tights. It's my thing in real life (dress, tights, and boots), so I thought, why the hell not? And I wore my great-grandmother's pearls with a hair clip from Etsy. My glasses were on my face because I can't see without them. No contact lenses for me in real life, so again, glasses it was on the wedding day.




We went about planning our wedding as a "let's just pick individual elements that we love and hope it comes together" way. At one point I had an idea board, and then I realized that our wedding was not a photo shoot (thanks again to you), and just started to roll with single decisions. The folks at DisneyWorld made it all happen. We aren't cool, indie, hippie people who look like they walked out of a Todd Selby photo. We are just us. So we went with that.


We had a billion colorful balloons because Casey proposed to me on a trip to the International Hot Air Balloon Festival, donuts instead of a cake after we realized we don't even like cake, confetti cannons just because they are fun, and we drove away in a bicycle rickshaw that we pedaled ourselves because I hate limos and paying a thousand bucks for a vintage car that would take us around the parking lot was beyond ridiculous. Oh, and we were married on a Monday morning, which just happened to be Valentine's Day. Note the stark lack of lace and red hearts. Not that there's anything wrong with that.



Our reception was outdoors, with a guitarist playing in the background, and we had a silhouette artist make silhouettes of our guests. Those were the favors. No DJ, no dancing. Just talking and beautiful weather and awesomely awkward family interaction and Jonathan Canlas, my favorite photographer in the world, capturing it all. [See more photos here.]

Our wedding day was better than I could have imagined. It was us, in every single way. It wasn't diy, or indie (does it get less indie than DisneyWorld?), but fuck that. My only advice to anyone getting married is to go with your instincts. Do what you want. Just because it's tradition doesn't mean it has to be in your wedding. And if you want to wear a colorful dress or even pants, then do that. I felt like a bride because I was *getting married* to my favorite person in the world, not because of my dress.



My husband and I both love your blog and irreverence. Keep it up, ESB.

-Jessica (one half of chesapeake and caseyfriday, aka the irritating Couple Who Comment on your blog)


I have just one thing to add: Jessica, you so ARE cool.

18 comments:

  1. I love this bride - love her! I once read about a wedding where the philosophy was "all colors go." I'm also a big believer in "if it occurs in nature, it works." Both of those describe this wedding and it is fabulous with a capital FABULOUS!

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  2. Yay, awesome! Is this the Beach/Yacht Club/Boardwalk area (between Epcot and Hollywood)? That's usually where we stay when we go there (my MIL adores the Beach Club and is friends with their former doorman).

    Love the purple dress. LOVE it.

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  3. Heart and soul- that's what this wedding has. Heart and soul is the #1 most important ingredient for a super awesome wedding. If it don't got that, it ain't even a wedding. You can feel the love right through these photos!

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  4. Grandma + grandpa wearing Mickey ears?! That photo just made my day! I love this bride & her wedding. Congrats!!! xo.

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  5. perfect! do you guys hate dancing, though? i just visited jessica's blog last week after reading one of her comments. congratulations to you both for doin' it exactly as you like.

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  6. silhouettes, a smashing jacket, cannons! thoughtful details all 'round, jessica, and you both look so happy. your way is a fine way.

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  7. This is my most favorite thing EVER. I love it. Love love love. It's so sad I'd never considered that Disney could have non-princessy weddings, too. This so kicks ass and put a smile on my face. Rock on.

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  8. WHAT. A. BABE.

    This wedding seems amazing!

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  9. how are the GRANDPARENTS so freaking awesome and sarcastic with those ears?! this girl's just lucky all over the place! bitchin' wedding.

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  10. Oh my goodness. I LOVE the grandparents photo! What an adorable couple!

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  11. Hey! The bride here! Thank you all SO MUCH. Wow. I cannot believe our wedding is on ESB. So cool. So fucking cool.

    @irisira-we were married at the wedding pavilion and had our reception basically next door at the summerhouse. All at the Grand Floridian.

    @jessica define, it's not that we don't like dancing, it's more that when I think dancing I think "that is so not my family." I guess that's pretty much what I meant by my Todd Selby comment; do you all remember that awesome wedding in the desert where the bride and groom set up drums and guitars and their super awesome friends just started playing a full on music set? Yeah, that's the type of thing I think of when I think of dancing. And our thought was "we are not that cool. our families are not the dancing kind."

    In that same vein, though, I'm looking at all of your comments and realizing that there are untold stories behind all wedding photos. The day was perfect, absolutely. But @lizzie, I just want to be honest: those grandparents, there, with the funny mickey ears? Are some of the unhappiest people I've ever met. And I've met them about four times in my life. There are some major ingrained family issues there, like painful fucking issues. They were only invited because I wanted them there. It caused some stress afterwards, to say the least.

    I don't want to bring this up to make anyone uncomfortable, I just have to be honest, especially for anyone looking here and maybe feeling crappy about their own families. There's nothing like sharing personal shame to lighten your burden. Even if it's in the comments on a blog. Yikes, folks, sorry about that. :-D

    So lizzie, those mickey ears are more ironic than you could ever imagine them to be. :-)

    Again, thank you ALL so much! Oof this is so exciting. Totally made my week! Thanks, esb!

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  12. Dear Esb and Jessica, I am having a pretty down couple of days but this post made me smile so much. Balloons are awesome. Thank you. x

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  13. I follow esb.. and 100layercake and I have seen the indie country wedding and I just want to say THANKYOU!!!!
    This is the the best view and best pictures I have seen of a wedding in a really long time. I am planning my own wedding and I just wanted to say THANK YOU!

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  14. jessica, you're awesome & have exactly the right attitude! i never thought a disney wedding would tug at my heart.

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  15. You're all so sweet! (I'm the groom and fellow annoying commenter.) Our wedding was fantastic, even though there were multiple family dramas going on. We didn't let them affect us, and we continue to not let them affect us. It's what makes our relationship so magical - the only thing that matters to us is each other.

    Thanks for all the lovely comments. :)

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  16. Grand Floridian is instinctively badass.

    Also, your wedding is AMAZING and it rocks. And your glasses are similar to what I want for my wedding. :) And for every day.

    <3 Orlando. :)

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  17. I LOVE this wedding. Very well done. The photo of grandma and grandpa in the mickey ears is the best thing I've seen all month.

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  18. Wow, what a beautiful wedding. What was the song the band played when you went down the aisle?

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