It was a really rainy day, but that did not stop Ricky from asking Michelle to marry him! Big Disney fans, Michelle and Ricky got engaged at The Grand Floridan at Narcoossee’s restaurant. We were so happy to be a part of it. xo
From Ricky: Michelle and I went to rival high schools and were part of different social circles; she was a cheerleader and I was a band kid. We knew of each other but had never met. We met three years after high school at a local bar and quickly became close friends and started dating a little over a year later. I fell in love with her smile, laugh, sense of humor, thoughtfulness, kindness, beautiful eyes, and the list could honestly go on and on. I am very lucky she loves me back and that she fell in love with me for a lot of the same reasons I fell for her: my smile, laugh, kind heartedness, my compassion, and again another endless list of traits. After a short 24 hour trip to Disney World to see the last Wishes firework show I decided I wanted to propose to her in the happiest place on Earth. It was seeing how magical her first time going to the Magic Kingdom was and I knew it would be the perfect place to ask her. I spent two months before the proposal making reservations and gathering help from her friends and family planning how I was going to ask. I made a photobook of our relationship with her close friends and family writing something near the end. Of course at the end of the book I would ask her to marry me. I told her we were staying at All Star Movies when in reality we had reservations at Beach Club. Our first night there we had dinner at Narcoossee’s restaurant at the Grand Floridian. It was after dinner we went out onto the deck overlooking the Magic Kingdom and I showed her the book. When we arrived at the section where her family and friends had written she began to cry, realizing what was happening. At the end of the book I got down on one knee and she made a little squeak of excitement and nodded her head vigorously and said yes! We are hoping to have our wedding in either December of 2018 or early 2019.
Courtney and I had the most wonderful wedding anniversary last November, our 6th. We spent it with 20 new amazing friends and 2 we knew well – Yvonne and Eric. We were all on the wonderful Fantasy Disney Cruise for their wedding! We were so honored to be there and to photograph their beautiful wedding. They treated us like family which meant so much to us. We’ve had two other shoots with them, an engagement shoot in Florida and one in New York, both so much fun and just re-enforced our friendship. Getting to meet and spend days on a cruise with them and their friends and family was icing on the wedding cake! Thank you Yvonne and Eric for including us in your lives. We are so lucky and honored to be there xo
I asked Yvonne and Eric to give us some insights on their Disney Cruise Wedding – in their words: Planning our wedding was surprisingly really simple. The two of us enjoy cruising very much and it was an easy decision to do a cruise wedding. I think I can speak for the both of us that we enjoy the company of our close friends and family very much. Because of that, we wanted them to also enjoy our wedding and hopefully make it as their own vacation.
Choosing a cruise line wasn’t that hard either. I always wanted to sail with Disney but never could justify the cost for a week long cruise. Disney had to be for something special and something that would make me disregard the cost entirely. It is the best decision we made. Disney just made everything so much easier. That’s why I said planning our wedding was really simple. They took care of almost everything. Flowers, cake, champagne flutes, music… and of course Disney’s unbelievable customer service. They really go up and beyond for you. Aside from the cruise line planning guide, I added some extra detail to make it more personal to us. Instead of ordering all fresh flowers for the groomsmen and bridesmaids, I ordered silk flowers from Etsy for them. It was fraction of the price if I were to get fresh flowers from Disney. Best thing about the silk flowers, you can keep it for as long as you like. They turned out so beautiful and real looking. We also gave our guests little tote bags with goodies in it to use for the cruise. It’s our thank you/ favors for them.
Every day/night on the cruise has been amazing. I think what made it so incredible is the fact that we had 25 of our closest friends and family with us on this amazing week long vacation. We were so overwhelmed and grateful that they took time off just to be there for us. It really is….there’s really no words to express how great they all are. To ask us what our favorite thing about the cruise is, it’s hard to give you one thing. We loved everything about it. From the rotation dinners, to pirate’s night, and knowing some of our friends were stalking their favorite cabaret singer. Speaking of which, our pianist, Cara Oman (the bridal party’s favorite cabaret singer) for the wedding ceremony was fantastic. We were so pleased to find out that she was going to play the piano and sing at our wedding. Actually I think the bridal was more ecstatic than we were. I mean they really stalked her, haha. But if I really had to choose a moment to stop time, it would be that very moment when I walked up to the aisle with my dad by my side, and me seeing Eric standing up, there waiting for me with that smile of his, being surrounded by everyone we love. You can just feel all that love and happiness just radiate off everyone. I tear up just thinking about it now.
This is one of those events in life that you can never forget, at least not for us. We will always treasure the memories we had on this wonderful cruise and we will always be thankful to have just wonderful friends and family. They mean the world to us and our wedding wouldn’t be that amazing without them.
Dream Vacation Planner – Pixie and Pirate Destinations – Lisa Reese
Planner- DCL-Disney’s Fairy Tale Wedding and Honeymoon
Floral- DCL- Disney’s Fairy Tale Wedding and Honeymoon, bouquet of white calla lily. BM floral: from Etsy : Songs from the Garden: Lavender real touch calla lily
Shoes- Custom Chuck Taylor converse, beach: Badgley Mischka– Naomi T-strapped Decorated wedge, and reception: Menbur ‘Strass’ pump
Dress- Mori Lee– Elegant Alencon Lace style 1862
Bridesmaid Dresses- Bill Levkoff style 764 color Amethyst
Menswear- Jcrew lightweight chino urban slim in khakis and Jcrew linen shirt in purple and Eric in white.
Officiant- DCL- Bahamian officiant
Cake- DCL- Touch of character, Marble cake flavor with 2 fillings: lemon butter cream and raspberry butter cream
Reception venue – Fantasy Outlook
Ceremony venue – Disney’s Castaway Cay
