A Birthday Surprise!

I celebrated my 26th birthday while we were in California. It was the best birthday I have had in a long time. Not only did I get to spend it with my amazing fiancé but also my Matron of Honor and her husband. And we celebrated at one of my favorite places in the world, Disneyland!

All photos coming up are personal :)

The Disneyland castle decorated for the holidays

We had a blast! My Matron of Honor has three kids but we decided to make this a "grown up" trip. It's a good thing we did because it rained all day. It would have been miserable for kids. We were pretty soaked, but that didn't keep our spirits down!

Jeff and I on the ferris wheel at California adventure. It was raining pretty hard at this point and we were sooo wet, but still happy!

Even with the rain we still had so much fun. The rain cleared out the park so we didn't have to wait long for any of the rides. I love how they decorate for the holidays at Disneyland, and one ride I was particularly exited to go on was It's a small world. For the holidays they cover it with beautiful lights and add some holiday songs and decorations inside the ride. It's always a must do this time of year.

It's a small world

 Jeff and I before getting on the ride. It was still raining. That hoodie on my head is usually light gray...

Little did I know but Jeff had planned a little birthday surprise while riding It's a small world. You see, I didn't think I was getting a birthday gift from Jeff. We had been really busy leading up to our trip and I knew with work and preparing Jeff probably had no time to go birthday shopping. He had said things like, "Uh you might not get your gift on your birthday," or "If you see something at Disneyland you want for your birthday let me know." So I wasn't expecting anything from him. While we were on the ride he turned to me pulled a blue box out of his jacket and said, "Happy Birthday."

 My best friend sitting behind us caught the moment. Note the look of shock on my face.

The card read, "I love you so much, here's to the next chapter of in our Tiffany Love story. -Your thrilling fiancé." I opened my little blue box and received my first pair of peal earrings!

Opening my gift

So surprised and feeling so loved.

I love my earrings. I wore them on Thanksgiving and I think that's when I thought, "You know what, these would be great earrings to wear for the wedding!" They are classic and beautiful, everything I wanted. And they mean so much to me. They're perfect!

And thus my birthday gift became wedding jewelry!

My beautiful Tiffany pearl earrings!

I had a fabulous birthday. What a great start to my 26th year! A year that's going to be full of so many exciting things!

Here's another favorite picture from the day. Wearing the "bride" Minnie ears.

Do you have your jewelry picked out yet? Are you wearing something that was a gift from someone special?

A place for cards

I love all the ideas there are out there for card boxes. I love the bird cages, present boxes, rustic wooden boxes, ugh I love them all. We were very excited to find the one that feels the best for us! We had two ideas running through our minds and the decision was a hard one indeed.

Since we are trying to run with the vintage, theatrical thing, I thought a trunk or suitcase would be a great idea.

Image via Etsy / Seller DuryeaPlaceDesigns

Image via Etsy / Seller thevintagehideaway

We could make it look like it was a prop box from backstage, or a makeup case. Mr. Castle had the idea of using a suitcase and putting clothes at the bottom with a sign on the side that says, "Honeymoon bound." He wanted it to look like we were going to close up the suitcase and whisk away on our honeymoon with our cards in tow. I thought this was a very cute and clever idea, until I came across this and showed it to Mr. Castle

Image via Etsy / seller onehipstickerchic

 Image via pixar.wikia.com

Not the most original idea, I know. Some other bees have also used the Up mailbox. Mrs. Lioness, Mrs. Snow Cone, and I'm sure there are others I am forgetting. UP is one of our favorite movies. We didn't want to put to much Disney into our wedding and seem like nerds. But with this it's a nice touch of Disney without doing something over the top. We are also using some music from UP during our ceremony so I think it would tie in nicely...

So our dilemma was should we go with the one that matches our "theme", or the one that gives a nod to our love for Disney Pixar and the movie UP? Well, we decided to stick with our love for Disney and make our own UP mailbox. We have put our hand prints on a mailbox and left it in California for FMIL Castle to add our names before the big day. Can't wait to see how it turns out! 

Which would you have picked? And what are you using for your card box??