What a whirlwind year! I really feels like I was just watching the ball drop on 2011 and rolling my eyes at Kathy and Anderson on CNN. (Seriously, watch them this year if you’re home. It’s an amazing train wreck.) And then I remember thinking it was so surreal I could finally say “I’m getting married THIS year!” And soon I’ll be saying, “I got married LAST year.” Life can really move by in a blur, so I’m extra glad I started this little blog to document all the special milestones.
So much happened this year, and since this is my first full year of blogging I thought it would be nice to relive the magic.
January – On January 1, I launched our sister site Disney Wedding Inspiration and two other blogs that are now defunct. I may have gotten overly ambitious with that. But DWI has grown into my most popular blog thanks to the power of Pinterest. Pinterest users love their Disney weddings. I also attended my first Disneyland wedding – the wedding of my friends Courtney and Calvin! It was great to experience a Disneyland wedding as a guest so I knew what to expect at my own wedding (and learned to make sure there are pitchers of water left on the tables after the bar closes).
January’s most popular post: Real Disneyland Weddings – Victoria and Brian
February – February was a bit of a slow month. But I had a great time with my friends at the Festival of Brides wedding expo at the Disneyland Hotel. It’s a great chance to see the ballrooms dressed up and nosh on the fab Disneyland desserts. I also gave myself a challenge in February – write down 100 Things I Love About Myself. I made it to 65 and it took three months.
February’s most popular post: “My Fair Wedding” Recap – Control Bride
March – In March my amazing Disneyland Bride friends surprised me with a Bachelorette dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen. I am typically an uber-planner and scheduler so this really threw me for a loop. It was a great surprise and I’ll never forget it!
March’s most popular post: “My Fair Wedding” Recap – Mad Men Bride
April – In April my wonderful Mom, MIL, and friends threw me a Mad Men-inspired bridal shower! It wasn’t without its hiccups but ultimately the day was amazing and we all had a lot of fun eating tiny sandwiches and posing for pictures with Mr. Draper. I also now own a ton of personalized aprons so I really need to learn how to cook (which is already on my Life List.) In April I also signed up with Fairytale Journeys and became an Authorized Disney Vacation Specialist! Thank you to all my amazing clients who let me assist them with their Disney vacations this year. It has been a fun little side job that will hopefully continue to grow.
April’s most popular post: DIY Personalized Dress Hanger (viewed nearly 2000 times thanks to Pinterest!)
May – Ummmmmmmm, we got married! It’s obvious our wedding was the highlight of 2012, if not my entire life. A year and a half of planning, worrying, and obsessing all culminating into one fabulous albeit exhausting day. While the day wasn’t perfect (no one’s wedding is), it was perfect for us. Saying our vows, pledging our lives to each other in front of all the people we care about most in the world, and laughing and dancing with them afterwards, it was everything we could have dreamed of and more. And while we could have gotten married anywhere, I’m so happy we chose Disneyland and they made the day extra magical for us.
May’s most popular post: A Budget Fairy Tale Moment – The Story of My Wedding Gown
June – Just two short weeks after our own wedding, we attended another Disneyland wedding, this time for our friends Wendy and Jeff! It was weird to attend a wedding so soon after ours and imagining all the crazy emotions Wendy must have been feeling. But their wedding was beautiful and went off without a hitch (as far as I could tell!), and it was fun to fully enjoy a wedding after getting a full night’s sleep, haha. In June I also started interning with DIY Bride! And I guess they liked me because now I’m their Real Weddings manager! It certainly keeps me busy but I love working with them and I’m learning sooo much about how a “big” blog operates.
June’s most popular post: Wedding Options Overload = A Bride’s Worst Enemy
July – In July I went to Cars Land for the first time, and attended my THIRD Disneyland wedding of 2012 (fourth if you count my own!), the beautiful wedding of Rachel and Mike (and I haven’t blogged it yet – shameful). There should just be a Chiavari chair with my name carved into it in the Sleeping Beauty Pavilion at this point.
July’s most popular post: Trip Report – Our Welcome Dinner
August – August was HUGE for me! First of all, we celebrated the one year anniversary of this little blog! Second, I launched our sister blog Pixie Dust Bride so I could continue blogging about weddings as Budget Fairy Tale moves more towards a lifestyle blog (although posting about Disneyland weddings will always be my first love). Last but certainly not least, Mr. BFT and I booked our HONEYMOON!!! We finally decided on a two week Mediterranean cruise for April 2013. I can’t believe it’s almost here. I am so looking forward to two weeks in Europe with my love. Ooh la la!
August’s most popular post: Disneyland Honeymoon Shoot – Jess and Matt
September – September was busy busy busy! Right at the top of the month I completed the Disneyland Half Marathon! This was a crazy, impulsive challenge I set for myself at the beginning of the year, mostly so I would have something else to focus on after the wedding was over. It was hard, and painful, but I did it, and I can’t believe I’m planning on doing it again in 2013. I must be COMPLETELY crazy. A couple weeks after that we headed back down to the Disneyland Resort for my birthday weekend, the highlight of which was our delectable five-course dinner at Napa Rose. I can still taste their specialty s’mores dessert, mmmmmmm.
September’s most popular post: “My Fair Wedding: Unveiled” Recap – Burlesque Bride
October – I wish I could just skip over October. It should have been a happy month. I attended my first blogging conference, Bloggy Bootcamp, and made a ton of connections and learned a ton of blogging tips (if only I had the time to implement them all). I also opened my Etsy shop, Fairy Tale Floral Shop, in conjunction with Camp Mighty. I still can’t believe people wanted to buy my little flower hair clips! I hope to expand the shop in 2013. But October was also the month I lost my sweet Walter to cancer. She spent most of 2012 putting up a good fight but we finally made the tough decision to end her suffering at the end of October. It was a really tough decision, but the love and support I received from all of you made the sadness much easier to bear. I miss her so much, every day.
October’s most popular post: “My Fair Wedding: Unveiled” Recap – Heaven on Earth Bride
November – Luckily for me, November was super busy and distracted me from my grief. In mid-November I attended Camp Mighty, thanks to the help and support of all of you! I still have so much to write about, and over a month later I’m still trying to process it all. It was a wonderful and inspiring experience, just not in the way I was expecting. And that’s totally okay. And oh, have I mentioned I awkwardly met The Bloggess? My biggest takeaway from Camp Mighty was the motivation to get started on a business idea that had been floating around in my head for a while. I got a lot of positive feedback from the attendees at Camp so I decided to JUST DO IT. And Blogging It Forward was born! It’s still a major work in progress, which is scary because I want it to be ready for users when I promote it at Alt Summit in three weeks. !!!
November’s most popular post: I’m Already There: A Brief Camp Mighty Recap
December – December was a total whirlwind! I barely even had time to enjoy the holiday (except for the SEVEN boxes of holiday candies and treats I bought from Trader Joe’s in early December). This year marked my first Christmas fully away from home – welcome to married life. But luckily I married into a generous and loving family, and they made our first married Christmas very memorable. Santa even found me all the way in Rhode Island; I was not expecting that! I also got to check something off my Life List – My first snow fall! Oh! And some time while I was typing up this post, this little blog hit 100,000 page views! WOW. How’s that for a milestone?
December’s most popular post: Disneyland Engagement Shoot – Lacey and Paco
2012 was certainly intense in the best way possible, and 2013 is shaping up to be another crazy year. While I have no wedding to plan, I have a million other things to keep me busy: Blogging It Forward, Altitude Summit, The Color Run, OUR HONEYMOON, Disneyland Half (and maybe the 10k, too?!? Am I nuts??), DIY Bride Interning, and maybe even House Hunting! OMG, I’m exhausted already.
Love and light to you and yours for 2013. A special note of congrats to all you Disneyland couples getting married in 2013! Don’t forget to send me your stories and pictures!
xo,
Mindy
