Michelle and Andy's Fairy Tale Wedding, 9/13/2010 - An introduction

[EllieBride]

With only a 6-month engagement (and ultimately, only four months dedicated to the planning process), I didn’t have time to complete a Planning Journal. However, I spent many hours reading through other PJs and TRs and they were enormously beneficial. THANK YOU to all of the other users on this board for sharing your plans, creativity, experiences, reviews, and lessons learned, and especially for sharing such a personal part of your lives. It’s really appreciated!

My plan for this post-wedding report is to share some vendor reviews and some of our favorite things about having a DFTW. I hope you enjoy hearing about our magical day (because I know I will enjoy writing about it). If there is anything you would like more information about, please feel free to send me a message.

Overview:
Welcome Dinner: ‘Ohana, Polynesian Resort
Ceremony: The Wedding Pavilion
Reception: Whitehall Patio and Room, Grand Floridian Resort
Total Guests: 40

Background:
I’ve loved WDW since I was little and have been even more enthusiastic in my adult life. I drag my best friend there with me for annual vacations and cry each time we leave. Yet even with a love for Disney so deep, it was never my fantasy to get married at WDW.

Fast forward to early 2010… Andy and I started having some preliminary discussions about marriage… We’re in our mid-30s, and neither of us had ever been married before. As our talks grew more serious, so did the urgency to set a date. It is our hope to have a family and given our age, we didn’t feel it was in our best interest to have a long engagement… Our conversation of marriage continued over the coming weeks, including talk of what the wedding would look like. I pictured an intimate affair, held in our local church where we had recently started attending. But then Andy informed me that his guest list alone would be between 100-200 people!

Whoa! So much for my intimate wedding… this was not at all what I had in mind! I tried to reason with him – and he even admitted that he would prefer a small wedding – but he simply refused to risk offending any of his friends or co-workers by omitting them from the invitation list (and lest I forget, there was the list of his parents’ high school friends!). It was easy to see that if he wasn’t going to show any restraint with his list, then mine would likely grow, as well. So this was a problem… I couldn’t see myself getting excited about a 200+ person wedding! I also knew that I didn’t have the money to host a wedding of this size (and not have it be anything close to what I wanted…). So now what…?

At this time, we started playing around with the idea of a destination wedding… Again, this wasn’t what I had pictured, but we quickly determined that a destination wedding was the only way he could possibly limit his guest list. So we started brainstorming ideas… his first idea: Las Vegas. My first idea: Walt Disney World. When he said OK to my suggestion, I couldn’t believe it!

We still weren’t officially engaged at this point (i.e. no ring), but Andy encouraged me to contact DFTW for information about pricing and availability. This all happened pretty quickly over the course of a couple of weeks as we learned more about the available venues and packages. We placed a temporary reservation for our preferred date and venue, but then we were on hold while I waited – impatiently – for a proposal and ring. I didn’t feel comfortable booking a destination wedding without running the idea and date by our families. And I couldn’t do that until we were actually engaged. To this day, I still don’t think Andy appreciates how awkward it was for me to tell the DFTW sales consultant that we couldn’t proceed with the LOA because we weren’t actually engaged…

So this is our story of how we ended up planning a DFTW… and to skip to the outcome, we LOVED having our wedding there. Our guests continue to proclaim that it was the best wedding they have ever attended and I think they truly mean it. I look forward to sharing some highlights with you throughout the rest of this TR. Stay tuned...

[bambi0921]

Yay, a new trip report! Can't wait to hear more! I'm sure your wedding was wonderful! :goodvibes

[April Elizabeth]

Joining in here. I love your story!:lovestruc
I can't wait to read more.popcorn::

[Sccrmnky2005]

Oh yeah!!!!! Michelle I'm so glad you are doing a Trip report!! I can't wait to hear about everything:goodvibes Because I LOVE :love: your pictures

[EllieBride]

I loved reading all of the posts about Dessert Parties and really hoped we could have one where we could enjoy Wishes fireworks. But as I researched pricing, it started to seem out of my budget. Instead, we looked into having a group welcome dinner at ‘Ohana. Because we had such a large group, I was referred to contact the restaurant directly. I didn’t know at this point how many guests would end up making the trip, but my early prediction was ~30. To be safe, I made the reservation for 35 (they split it into two reservations of 20 and 15). The manager was very careful to explain that they could not accommodate a group of this size at one table and they also couldn’t guarantee that the tables would be located near each other or not…

We were both surprised and touched that nearly all of our friends and families were on board with travelling to WDW for our wedding and our final guest count was more than we had originally expected. Mid-summer, I called ‘Ohana and requested to increase our reservation from 35 to 40. They said they would, but they also said it that it would be OK if we just showed up with the extra 5 guests in tow that night…

A few days before the wedding, I started organizing my travel and dining confirmations and was surprised that when I pulled up our dining reservations online, it was still set for 35 guests (by this time, our expected count had grown to 42). I called ‘Ohana back to confirm… After leaving multiple phone messages for them, I was starting to get a little stressed out… The manager finally returned my call and explained to me that once a large reservation is made in their computer system, they are very hesitant to change it. They would have to delete the original reservation, then attempt to re-book it for the new number of guests. With the huge volume of dining reservations they are receiving at any given moment, they don’t want to risk you losing the original number of spaces you had.

This logic made sense, but the manager had other news which was a little worrisome… she was shocked that someone at ‘Ohana had agreed to make a dinner reservation for a group of this size for this late in the evening (8:25 p.m.). She went on to tell me that they NEVER book large groups, except for when the restaurant first opens, because it takes too long to clear that many tables. I reminded her that we booked it for that time because we wanted to see Wishes. That threw her into another tailspin, as she explained that most of the tables do not have a view of Wishes.

I was really discouraged at this point… I’d been having some other bad experiences with my wedding planner (more on that later), and this felt like the final straw. Even though what she was telling me made sense, I couldn’t believe that none of this had come up when I made the original reservation OR when I called mid-summer to increase the guest count. But with the wedding only a couple days away, and everyone already invited, what could I do but proceed?

Fortunately, all’s well, that ends well…
I give the manager at ‘Ohana a ton of credit for making a less-than-ideal situation work for us… She suggested we arrive early and cautioned us to prepare for a wait while the tables cleared. We spread the word, asking our guests to arrive at 8:00 p.m. and cautioning them that there would be a wait before we were seated. Our guests all arrived on time, bought themselves drinks at the bar, and had a great time visiting with each other in the Polynesian waiting area. My sisters showed up with bride and groom mouse ears, so we spent a good amount of time posing for pictures while we waited (embarrassing for us, but our guests LOVED it!).

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/Sandee-Pic4.jpg


It was ~9:00 p.m. before we were seated, and in hindsight, I think this is a little late to be hosting a dinner, but our guests LOVED it. Granted, we didn’t have any kids in our party, so bedtime wasn’t an issue. Also, most of our guests are new to Disney, so the whole experience was new and exciting for them. They were truly blown away by the quality of the food and entertainment. (If you’ve never had dinner at ‘Ohana, you must try it. The food is so delicious!!!!! Even our picky eaters loved it.)

Wishes was delayed that night until 10pm due to weather, which worked out perfectly since it gave us time to EAT! A few of our guests turned their chairs to watch the fireworks, but a lot of them didn’t pay any attention at all. I think they had more fun participating with the restaurant entertainer – shaking their maracas, parading around the restaurant, etc.

All in all, this ended up being a really memorable experience for us… our guests were cool about the long wait for the tables and they used this time to get to know each others’ families. But that said, I don’t think that I would recommend ‘Ohana for a group of this size… (unless you book it for earlier in the evening). The staff really went out of their way to accommodate us, setting up two long banquet tables that were right next to each other, but we were very fortunate that it worked out this way.

The other downside was that Andy and I spent most of the night mingling with our guests and not enough time eating… I keep asking him when can we go back to WDW because I didn’t get enough to eat that night :yay:

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/Sandee-Pic9.jpg

[PrincessFendi]

Congratulations on your wedding! I look forward to reading all about it!

[EllieBride]

Patricia LeJeune:
I am very, very happy with how my hair and makeup turned out and I am very happy to recommend Patricia! She arrived right on time and was wonderful to work with!

But there are a few things that I learned along the way that might help you with your planning… I did all of my advance communication via e-mail (which Patricia's husband, Randy, manages) and sometimes it was a little lacking – on both of our parts. A few months before the wedding, I sent a photo of my “inspiration hairstyle” along with a current picture of my hair (pretty short, as you’ll see in the picture). Randy said that they could accomplish the same look as the inspiration pic, even with my short hair.

Tell me what you think... here is the inspiration picture (which Randy later told me was a trial originally done by Patricia!):
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/InspirationHair.jpg

And here is what my hair looked like at the time:
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/MichelleHair-Current.jpg

I consulted with my regular stylist for a second opinion and she said it was impossible since I barely had enough hair to pull into a pony tail. So we proceeded with hair extensions, which I had put in three weeks prior to the wedding. I should have let Patricia know this ahead of time! My fault… She nearly freaked out when she arrived on wedding day and discovered the extensions! She made a few comments in frustration which bummed me out a little, but then she moved on and got to work. I definitely take my share of responsibility on this… I should have asked to talk to Patricia ahead of time to discuss the pros and cons of getting extensions (or to discuss how they could accomplish the hairstyle with my current hair length). However, part of me wishes that Randy had done a better job of explaining how they could possibly create this intricate hairstyle with my short hair, rather than just saying “yeah, she can do it.” We had some other email communications that didn’t include complete answers to my questions and sometimes I had to ask a second (or third) time. In hindsight, I should have just contacted them by telephone. This is not a complaint, but rather a lesson learned…

The other advice I would give is that it is a really good idea to have a trial run… I tried to schedule one for while we were there for our planning session and engagement pictures, but Patricia wasn’t available. I feel very fortunate that everything worked out as well as it did for me, and to reiterate – I LOVED my hair and makeup and will recommend Patricia 100%!!!!

Check out the final result:
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/FinalResult-Hair.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/DVPic-MichellesHair.jpg

Patricia also did my hair and makeup for our Magic Kingdom bridal portrait (two days after the wedding), arriving at our room at 3:30 a.m. We were staying at the Grand Floridian and there was only one elevator that went to our floor and it was out of service that night/morning (unbelieveable, right?). My husband couldn’t get to the lobby to greet her as we promised, and she couldn’t get upstairs. From the 4th floor, he ended up calling out to her in the atrium on the main floor (if you were staying at the GF on 9/14 and we woke you up, I apologize!). It took forever, but they finally located the fire escape and then hauled all of her gear up the stairs to the 4th floor. Even after all of that, plus it being 3:30 a.m., she was still in good spirits, chatting away with us while we got ready for our pictures. I think this says a lot about Patricia!

[Sccrmnky2005]

Yay another update!!! :goodvibes

I love your hair!! I'm really not sure who I will use as of yet for mine... I'm still up in the air but really need to narrow it down soon so I can book them and such.

I can't wait to hear about everything, this is so fun:banana:

[Sccrmnky2005]

Oh and if I haven't already told you on FB I LOVE LOVE LOVE your dress!! I'm going to have the same hanger issue as you had because my dress is just as big and heavy as yours:headache:

[April Elizabeth]

I love your hair. It makes sense about e-mails vs. phone calls.:thumbsup2
Thank you for sharing.:goodvibes

[EllieBride]

Oh and if I haven't already told you on FB I LOVE LOVE LOVE your dress!! I'm going to have the same hanger issue as you had because my dress is just as big and heavy as yours:headache:

Thanks, Amanda! I can't wait to see the pics from your wedding! I wish it would hurry up and get here :) Everything you've done so far is beautiful...

[EllieBride]

Rev. Kevin Knox:
Admitedly, we didn’t do a lot of research on ministers… I spoke to Rev. Jack Day and decided that he didn’t quite fit our style… and my fiancé spoke to Rev. Kevin Knox and liked him. And that’s the story of how we picked our minister…

Rev. Kev sent us a “ceremony planning kit” which we found to be really helpful. We spent a couple of hours reading through all of the different options, picking the elements and verses that we liked the best. We cut and pasted them into a final ceremony script (or as my husband calls it, the “screenplay”) and sent it back to Rev. Kev for a final review. We felt like the final version was the perfect blend of religious elements, while also including more contemporary language for some of the portions.

We had hoped to meet Rev. Kev when we were there for our planning session in June. He was very agreeable to meeting, but unfortunately, we ran out of time and we didn’t end up getting to meet him in person until our rehearsal. He arrived promptly for our 9am rehearsal at the Wedding Pavilion and took his time getting to know us and our families. Our Best Man was running late due to WDW transportation problems and Rev. Kev was very understanding. After being delayed ~15 minutes, I felt bad and said we could get started without him, but Rev. Kev was totally cool and insisted it was fine to wait for him. I thought this was really nice of him!

As for our wedding day… Rev. Kev was exactly as described by others on the DISboards… He was delightful and friendly, checking in with me in the Bride’s Vestibule to see how I was doing. During this time, he also had my Maid of Honor sign the marriage license. She laughed and said ‘But they aren’t even married yet!” Apparently, he likes to get the paperwork done ahead of time (this was also true of collecting payment and getting the Best Man’s signature…).

As soon as the ceremony ended, he was GONE! I’d heard that this is what typically happens, having read it on the DISboards, so it didn’t really bother me. But I probably would have been a little put off about the abrupt departure if I hadn’t been prepared for it. As it was, though, I didn’t have a problem with it. There is so much else to do once the ceremony ends (i.e. picture taking!), that I really can’t blame him for getting his payment and signatures ahead of time.

Had he not vanished so quickly, I would have liked to ask him about the process for getting our marriage license back. But by the time we returned home from our honeymoon, it was already waiting for us at our house.

Selecting a minister/officiant is one of those things that is such a personal choice… we were very happy with Rev. Kevin, but that doesn’t mean he will be the right pick for you. My advice is to make a phone call to your potential officiants, or if possible, try to meet him/her in person. This will help you determine if their style is a fit for you (or not).

One last note… the older women in our group (including my mother), LOVED Rev. Kevin…

[*Pixiedust1438*]

Joining in! Sounds like you had a wonderful day! Congratulations, I am looking forward to seeing pictures!

[pixie921]

I'm joining in, too! We hope to have our VR reception at Whitehall next year, so I'm always on the lookout to see what different brides do with the space! :goodvibes

[EllieBride]

David and Vicki Arndt Photography:
This is the review that I will enjoy writing the most!!!

Hands down, photography was the most important decision we would make during our wedding planning (to me, this was even more important than finding the right dress!). I LOVE pictures and albums and knew that picking the right photographer was critical. Once again, my thanks to all of the DISboard members who posted photos. Reading reviews and browsing through Trip Reports was so helpful as we selected a photographer. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

David and Vicki Arndt were our favorite from the beginning, although we did contact one other photographer for a quote. The difference in price was substantial, making it an obvious choice to pick David and Vicki. We also liked that we would have both of them shooting, providing two different styles of photos.

Vicki was very quick to reply to email inquiries and we soon had our reservation in place. We also scheduled our engagement photos with D&V, to coincide with our planning session. (In case you don’t know, D&V offer a complimentary engagement session with their wedding packages, as well as a nice discount that is special for Disney brides!)

Fast forward to our engagement session in June… I didn’t have any expectations for this, as we didn’t have any specific intended use for the photos. My mom asked me several times, “but what are you going to do with the pictures?” Each time, I would respond: “I don’t know… I just want the opportunity to meet them and hopefully, get both of us used to being in front of the camera.” This, along with the fact that we didn’t have to pay anything, seemed like a good enough reason to me!

D&V picked us up at the Caribbean Beach, where we were staying, and zipped us over to Fort Wilderness campground, telling us “we’ve always wanted to take pictures there… are you game?” Of course we were! After that, we headed over to the Grand Floridian, then wrapped up at the Polynesian.

Even after reading so many positive reviews, nothing could have prepared us for how much FUN we would have. David and Vicki are two very special people who really, really love their job and know how to make you feel at ease. Our photo shoot flew by so fast and was one of the best memories of the entire trip. I honestly didn’t want to say goodbye. How often do you feel that way about someone you’ve only known for a couple of hours? I’ve certainly never had that experience before… As for the pictures… in my opinion, they speak for themselves. We absolutely love them!!!!!

Our slideshow of the e-pics is located here: http://video214.com/play/jGxxnsyZvpx0vF2ArL2aCA/s/dark

Vicki and I stayed in touch the rest of the summer over e-mail. I’ve come to realize just how much our communication during this time meant to me… No matter how many other weddings and events they had going on, she was always enthusiastic about ours. If I would see a picture I liked or get a crazy idea, I would send it off to her and she would be all over it. To me, it was this unexpected personal touch that completely set them apart from being just another vendor. If you ever look at their Facebook page, you will see that I am not alone in viewing both of them as friends.

Here is the link to the sneak peeks from our wedding: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=221767&id=111170876189&ref=mf

We love our pictures so much… and we love David and Vicki!!! I’ve said numerous times that I can’t imagine our wedding day without them…

[kirstyc822]

Oh this is wonderful! I am at the beginning of my plans so this really helps!

Cant wait for your updates

:yay:

[EllieBride]

Disney Photography / Magic Kingdom Photo Shoot:
I decided early in the planning stages that I really wanted to do a photo session in the Magic Kingdom. Now that it’s done, I have mixed reviews… And since I want to get this posted before the proofs are removed from the WDW website, I’m just going to put it all out there, so forgive me if my thoughts aren’t totally organized…

Photographer: Regina (with on site assistance from Ty)
We booked the 6am time slot (photos from 6:15-7:15 a.m.) and I still question if the 5am slot would have been better. My “wish list” of shots was entirely comprised of pictures taken in total darkness. Sunrise was technically at 7:10 a.m., but twilight began at 6:46 a.m. So basically, half our time was in the dark, half in the light. We had a 3am wakeup call in order to be ready for the 6am session, so moving it up by another hour sounded too painful for us… (and trust me, it was painful enough!).

I think the 6am slot would have worked out all right, had there not been so much construction going on in front of the castle. From reading other reviews, I was prepared for there to be lots of activity on Main Street and in front of the castle, but I wasn’t prepared for just how much. There were workers EVERYWHERE, including multiple trucks and a couple of cranes parked in front of the castle, as well as plywood covering along the castle ramps/stage area. Regina was extremely accommodating to the construction workers, always deferring to let them finish their work while we waited (even when the workers offered to let us go ahead with taking the picture). I appreciate that they all have to work together to accomplish their work when the park isn’t open to guests, but this was frustrating. We spent so much time waiting around…

Once we would finally get in position for a shot, we would hold our position forever while Regina set up her equipment (first the camera, then the lighting, then focusing the camera, etc.). She would eventually snap the picture, but half of the time we weren’t ready for it. I wish she would have given us a cue when it was time to smile/kiss/whatever. I’m surprised the pictures came out as good as they did (but you’ll definitely notice the ones where we aren’t ready!). It was great when Ty joined in midway through the shoot because he was really helpful in carrying her equipment and helping with my dress and bouquet. This speeded things up a little bit. He has a good eye for setting up interesting shots, too!

Which reminds me of another little situation… I ordered a duplicate boutonniere for Andy. It looked nearly the same as the original, but something wasn’t right with it and we could NOT get it pinned on straight. It kept falling over and we wasted so much time trying to fix it. I was ready to throw it away because it wasn’t worth it (thankfully, Ty to the rescue again… he was able to pin it on and get it to stay). We later learned that the original boutonniere was in the van. I saw it and it still looked fine! We should have used it again instead of buying a new one.

But back to the pictures… getting the castle shots in the dark was challenging, but I think there are enough good ones in my set of proofs to make the experience (and expense) worthwhile. We also took several pictures on the carousel, which I am happy with.

I had read in other reviews that the MK photo shoot is a memorable experience – quality time alone with just your husband and worth every penny! Well, we didn’t really feel that way. We were both tired, and probably a little irritated about all of the waiting around. Remember, it had been a frustrating morning… broken elevator in the Grand Floridian meant that we had to walk down the hot, humid, fire stairs to the lobby (the utility stairs are rough and snagged my dress beyond belief). Then, we were ready and waiting in the GF lobby 15 minutes ahead of schedule (we’d been warned not to be late because they wouldn’t make up the time). We told the valet that we were there and asked him to let Regina know once she arrived. Well apparently, Regina came into the lobby and didn’t see us (we were sitting right there, just inside the door), then left and went back to wait in the van. Luckily, she finally came back to check and was then surprised to see us sitting there, where we’d been the entire time. More time lost…

Bottom line… I don’t regret having the MK photo shoot. The pictures with the castle are so uniquely Disney. And I think I always would have regretted it if we hadn’t had them taken. I am planning to order a few enlargements, but not the DVD since there really aren’t that many pictures on it.

Enjoy the pictures and let me know what you think!

Please visit: http://www.collages.net/disneyweddings
Username: Pate / French Bridal Portrait
Password: 1971

[neener3]

I think they're gorgeous! I understand what you mean about the dvd though. We actually don't plan on getting it at all - although I could change my mind later on!

You looked beautiful!

[Sccrmnky2005]

I think they are really nice! :goodvibes There are a few pictures where I can see what your talking about, and a few that have maintence workers in the back ground which would bother me...:scared1: I can't believe in an hour that's all you got. If it were me I would have told the photographer since we keep waiting on the workers, etc. Can we not count this towards our time, because I know your time is so limited and these bridal potraits are alot, and brides pay alot for them:mad:

But overall there are really nice ones I think your happy with... But I would be a little ticked that there aren't very many:hug:

[April Elizabeth]

I love your Wedding Day pictures and your MK photos are very nice too. You looked so pretty!


I can see where you would be a little disappointed in the number of photos from the MK shoot. I think I would have been mad about the white van in my pictures. (teacup photos) I'm having a MK BP and I would think with as much money as you spend for this, they would photoshop out the white van or maybe the photographer should have asked someone to move the van for a few minutes. Even with all that said, you were gorgeous and so are your pictures.

[EllieBride]

Music (Reception):
We really wanted to have live music at the reception and our original plans called for a Jazz Trio. The quoted price was $1515 for three hours. It wasn’t until about a month before the wedding that we decided to change this to a DJ… Our first reason was the price. We were looking at our entire budget, trying to identify areas we could scale back. The DJ was less expensive, and we would gain an extra hour of playing time ($1150 for four hours). The second reason is that the DJ package includes “emcee” duties. Without having a DJ, we would have had to ask one of our guests to introduce us, the cake cutting, the toasts, the blessing, the first dance, etc. We didn’t have an obvious candidate in mind to ask to do this and didn’t want to impose upon our guests... Our third, and perhaps best reason for switching to a DJ, was that it gave us flexibility to change our music style as the evening progressed.

Our dinner playlist was a mix of music, including: Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, Louis Armstrong, Henry Mancini, Jason Mraz, Colbie Callait, Harry Connick, Jr, and some Disney songs mixed in. After the cake-cutting, we piped in the Wishes soundtrack and our guests went outside to the Whitehall patio for the fireworks (tack on another $495 for the Wishes soundtrack…). After Wishes, our DJ switched things up and played more current pop music. Our younger guests (along with my grandma) loved it. They went back out on the patio and had a blast dancing!

We booked our DJ through DFTW and they assigned us DJ Scooter. We really liked him and he played exactly the music we requested. We liked the way he handled the emcee duties, as well. He was fun and upbeat, but never over-the-top. He was also very conscientious to check with us for approval before switching to the upbeat dance music. I am happy to recommend him to anyone who is looking for a DJ.

Oh, one last thing… as a special wedding surprise for me, Andy requested that DJ Scooter play my alma mater’s fight song (Hail to the Victors!) for our grand entrance. Just as we were about to go into the room, DJ Scooter came out to the hallway and reviewed the plan, thus spoiling the surprise. He felt terrible when he realized what he had done (not his fault… Andy didn’t specify that it was a surprise…). I was totally thrilled about it anyway! Walking into the room and seeing all of our guests clapping along to my favorite song is one of my favorite memories of the day :yay:

[Sccrmnky2005]

Music (Reception):
We really wanted to have live music at the reception and our original plans called for a Jazz Trio. The quoted price was $1515 for three hours. It wasn’t until about a month before the wedding that we decided to change this to a DJ… Our first reason was the price. We were looking at our entire budget, trying to identify areas we could scale back. The DJ was less expensive, and we would gain an extra hour of playing time ($1150 for four hours). The second reason is that the DJ package includes “emcee” duties. Without having a DJ, we would have had to ask one of our guests to introduce us, the cake cutting, the toasts, the blessing, the first dance, etc. We didn’t have an obvious candidate in mind to ask to do this and didn’t want to impose upon our guests... Our third, and perhaps best reason for switching to a DJ, was that it gave us flexibility to change our music style as the evening progressed.

Our dinner playlist was a mix of music, including: Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, Louis Armstrong, Henry Mancini, Jason Mraz, Colbie Callait, Harry Connick, Jr, and some Disney songs mixed in. After the cake-cutting, we piped in the Wishes soundtrack and our guests went outside to the Whitehall patio for the fireworks (tack on another $495 for the Wishes soundtrack…). After Wishes, our DJ switched things up and played more current pop music. Our younger guests (along with my grandma) loved it. They went back out on the patio and had a blast dancing!

We booked our DJ through DFTW and they assigned us DJ Scooter. We really liked him and he played exactly the music we requested. We liked the way he handled the emcee duties, as well. He was fun and upbeat, but never over-the-top. He was also very conscientious to check with us for approval before switching to the upbeat dance music. I am happy to recommend him to anyone who is looking for a DJ.

Oh, one last thing… as a special wedding surprise for me, Andy requested that DJ Scooter play my alma mater’s fight song (Hail to the Victors!) for our grand entrance. Just as we were about to go into the room, DJ Scooter came out to the hallway and reviewed the plan, thus spoiling the surprise. He felt terrible when he realized what he had done (not his fault… Andy didn’t specify that it was a surprise…). I was totally thrilled about it anyway! Walking into the room and seeing all of our guests clapping along to my favorite song is one of my favorite memories of the day :yay:

Thank you for this!! I'm glad to hear that you were happy with your choice of DJ!! I def want a DJ for our wedding! I'm so sorry that he spilled the beans for the suprise but that's ok since it was still a great memorable moment for you!!! :goodvibes

[kcampbell]

Hey Michelle! I haven't been on the DIS in quite sometime, but saw your pics on David and Vicki's FB page a couple weeks ago. You looked BEAUTIFUL! Sorry to hear all the trouble you had the morning of the MK shoot, but I think those pics are great too. I'm so glad you were able to get the crystal purse (did you use the site I gave you?) and some of the other details....of course I love it! ;)

Congratulations to you and Andy!!! :goodvibes

[EllieBride]

I think they're gorgeous! I understand what you mean about the dvd though. We actually don't plan on getting it at all - although I could change my mind later on!

You looked beautiful!

Thanks so much!

[EllieBride]

Hey Michelle! I haven't been on the DIS in quite sometime, but saw your pics on David and Vicki's FB page a couple weeks ago. You looked BEAUTIFUL! Sorry to hear all the trouble you had the morning of the MK shoot, but I think those pics are great too. I'm so glad you were able to get the crystal purse (did you use the site I gave you?) and some of the other details....of course I love it! ;)

Congratulations to you and Andy!!! :goodvibes

Thanks, Kelly! The darn purse... I think that might be one of my only things on the Regret List.... I loved that darn thing (so sparkly!), but I didn't end up using it for anything except that picture! What a waste of money... (although I bought it off of Ebay, so the price wasn't too horrible). I brought it to the wedding, but it was inside of a small tote bag that had a few other items and no one ever even saw it. Oh well... same was true for my second pair of shoes (turquoise heels) and my hot pink wrap. LOL... oh well!

[Stephie77]

Hi Michelle.

I am so glad you are doing a trip report. Everything sounds great so far. I am sorry you were not happy with the MK shoot but the pictures do look beautiful. I understand what you are saying though on how it is not really what you expected. I used Patricia and loved her. You hair came out so pretty. I also had DJ Scooter also and thought he was great. I'm sorry he spilled the beans but I am sure he really did feel bad. At least you still were able to appreciate it. And as long as you and your guests enjoyed all the dancing then that is important. I am looking forward to seeing your actual wedding pictures (i can't go on FB at work). I can't wait to hear more.

[April Elizabeth]

popcorn::

[EllieBride]

Dress: Shipping, Steaming, Cleaning:
I was really, really torn about how to transport my dress from Michigan to Florida... I knew I would probably regret hauling the dress through the airport (it weighed a TON), but I was also scared to death to ship it. I postponed this decision until about 12 days before the wedding before finally calling Carolyn Allen’s. When I called, my intention was to schedule them to come to our hotel to steam the dress. But upon talking to them on the phone and hearing how much experience they have working with DFTW brides, I decided on the spot to ship it (along with my mom’s dress). The woman I spoke to recommended using UPS because they have a daily delivery to their shop and she also promised to call me as soon as it was delivered – which she did.

Hi ho, hi ho, off to the UPS Store I go… For $183.36, they boxed, insured, and delivered the dress to Carolyn Allen’s. It was painful spending more money at this stage in the game, but in hindsight, I can tell you it was WORTH EVERY PENNY! Getting around an airport is hard enough without having extra weight (and secretly, I knew I would have to ask Andy to help and that he would end up being cranky about it…). This is one of the best decisions I made!

I’m told that Sue and Keith arrived right on time on wedding day with the dresses. They steamed everything right there in the room, along with a few last-minute add-ons. I really, really wish I could have met them because everyone says they were very entertaining! (I was out delivering our favors to Franck’s and having a totally indulgent breakfast with my best friend at Kona. As an aside… spending the morning hanging out my best friend was another favorite memory of the day… she and I have been to WDW together a dozen times and have so many good memories... It’s hard to picture that our future trips together will probably include husbands and children. Crazy! If you have the opportunity for some “me time” on your wedding day, doing whatever it is that makes you happy, do it!)

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/Candid-WeddingDayBreakfastLS.jpg

So getting the dress there and looking fabulous was a breeze! But this raised the question of how to get the dress back to Michigan… I hadn’t made any arrangements, and honestly, I didn’t feel like spending more money to ship it back. There was only one small problem with this plan… in our haste to get dressed on wedding day, I mistakenly left the garment bag for the dress in my uncle’s suite. He checked out early the next morning and I have no idea what happened to the garment bag. If you’ve browsed through any of the wedding pictures, you’ll see that my tulle skirt was HUGE, so there was no way it was fitting into our luggage. Also, we had our MK photo shoot on the day we were checking out / flying home. During the photo shoot, the hem of the dress got so filthy dirty. So now here I am, ready to check out of the hotel, and I am saddled with a giant, dirty dress and nothing to put it in. Not good.

So I called Carolyn Allen’s and they took care of the rest. They instructed me to put it in a garbage bag (which we got from Mousekeeping) and leave it at the hotel front desk. They picked it up that day, cleaned it, preserved, and shipped it back to Michigan. It arrived just the other day and as far as I can tell (without opening the preservation box) it looks great!

I gladly recommend Carolyn Allen’s 100%!!!!!

[cicicoco]

a dreaming wedding! beautiful trip!

[April Elizabeth]

Thank you for the update. I'm using Carolyn Allen's too.:cutie:

[EllieBride]

Hotels:
Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I updated my Trip Report, so I decided to do a little bit of work on it in hopes of finishing it up before another 5 months have passed… Next up: hotels!

I have some mixed reviews about the hotel situation… overall, I was generally happy. But I set my expectations in line with the price, so for what WDW charges, I have pretty high expectations. I wish I could say that everything was 100% perfect, but unfortunately, this was not the case. Nothing terrible, just not perfect.

For our hotel block, we picked one deluxe hotel (The Contemporary) and one moderate hotel (Caribbean Beach). As it turned out, all of my family stayed together at the Contemporary because of the convenience of the monorail. Both of my grandmas were using wheelchairs on this trip and it made it really easy for them to get to our Welcome Dinner at the Polynesian and the Wedding/Reception at the Grand Floridian. Andy and I stayed at the Contemporary for our first two nights, as well. The location was one factor, plus I wanted to be near my family, especially the ones that I don’t see very often.

The Contemporary
The discounted room rate at the Contemporary is only for rooms in the Garden Wing, not in the main building. I wouldn’t say this is a big deal, but it was quite a long walk to the rooms which was difficult for some of our guests. The view was nice and my grandma enjoyed watching the boats go by throughout the day. Another problem was that the final bills for my maid of honor and her parents were mixed up and they each ended up getting charged for the others’ expenses. It sounds like this was quite a hassle to sort out. The worst part of this was that my maid of honor and her fiancée bought park tickets that should have been charged to their room. When they tried to use the tickets, they wouldn’t work. They lost an hour of park time from their one-day tickets trying to get it resolved (a very expensive hour!). Apparently, the tickets has been issued (and charged) to her parents’ room.

Andy and I had booked the two nights after our wedding at the Grand Floridian. This meant that he had to be checked out of the Contemporary by 11:00 a.m. on wedding day, but wasn’t guaranteed to be able to check in at the G.F. until 4:00 p.m. We had requested a late check-out at the Contemporary months in advance, and discussed this again with our planner when we arrived. Each time, they said the same thing – “we can’t guarantee late check-outs or early check-ins.” We understood this, but at the same time, it was our wedding day and this didn’t leave Andy with a place to get dressed at. His family was at the Caribbean Beach and that would have been way out of the way for him to go there for an hour to get ready.

The good news is that the G.F. offered him an early check-in. The only downside to this plan was my reaction. His family and best man were supposed to meet him in the room for pictures prior to the ceremony. The idea of having all of them in my “honeymoon suite” really bummed me out. (Disclaimer: this was the one and only time during the trip that I had a meltdown… not bad when you consider all of the stress!). Anyway, whether it was the idea of the bathroom towels being messed up, or “butt-prints” on the bedspread, or just having to listen to my mother-in-law-to-be describing my honeymoon suite to me in vivid detail before I even had a chance to see it with my own eyes… all of these imagined scenarios really stressed me out. Andy knew this was going to upset me and he called my maid-of-honor to discuss the situation. In the end, he decided to check himself into the G.F., but he wisely re-directed his family to meet him in the lobby for pre-ceremony pictures. I think his best man still hung out with him in our room for a while, but this didn't bother me.

The Grand Floridian
It’s been a longtime dream to stay at the Grand Floridian and it was amazing to fulfill this wish for our wedding night! They gave us a wonderful room in the main building on the concierge floor that had a view of the Wedding Pavilion. It had a huge bathroom and closet, a soft and lovely king bed, and a spacious sitting area. Both nights we were there, we would return to find classic, romantic Disney instrumental music playing through the television. I just loved it! That said, our stay was complimentary since it was part of the promotion that was running at the time. If we had paid out of pocket, I’m not sure that I could justify the expense.

Also, if you read my report on Patricia LeJeune, you already know about the broken elevator (a minor inconvenience). This was only part of some major construction taking place at the hotel. The day after our wedding, they ripped out the entire front entrance to the hotel! There was another DISbride getting married that day and I heard she was a little unhappy about all of the construction. Much of the lobby area by the White Hall room was ripped out as soon as our reception ended, as well. If you are getting married during the off season, you might want to keep this in mind since there is always lots of refurbishing going on.

Caribbean Beach
I didn’t get a lot of direct feedback from Andy’s family about the hotel, but I know that they had a lot of fun hanging out at the pool and visiting each others’ rooms. They took taxi cabs to some of our events because they didn’t want the hassle of taking the bus to the Magic Kingdom, then transferring to the monorail, but this was their choice and they seemed good with it.

[EllieBride]

I also wanted to let you know that I ordered and received the album that was included with our Magic Kingdom bridal portrait. I really love how it turned out! The quality is excellent and professional.

We didn't realize that they customize the front cover with our names and the date of the wedding. This is very nice, but Andy probably would have preferred "Andy" instead of "Andrew." Oh well :goodvibes

[DisneyBrittany]

Your dress is absolutely gorgeous!!!! I LOVE it!!! I also loved how you carried the ribbon theme through your save the dates and invitations. Did you make them yourself? Also, did the sash originally come on the dress?

[Sccrmnky2005]

YAY!! Your back!! I can't wait to hear more about everything!!! :goodvibes

[EllieBride]

Your dress is absolutely gorgeous!!!! I LOVE it!!! I also loved how you carried the ribbon theme through your save the dates and invitations. Did you make them yourself? Also, did the sash originally come on the dress?

Thank you so much! The ribbon and crystal buckle accents on our invitations and menu cards were not a coincidence, but I think you are the only person who noticed, so THANK YOU! LOL... The belt came with the dress and I just fell in love with it. My father-in-law still talks about "the belt" and how he'd never seen anything like that before. Cute! As for the invitations and menu cards... they were made by two local vendors. I think they would be easy enough to make if you have the time and patience (which I didn't). I bought the crystal buckles for the menu cards online and provided them to the store.

[EllieBride]

YAY!! Your back!! I can't wait to hear more about everything!!! :goodvibes

Hey Amanda! Good to hear from you! I haven't posted in ages, but I still keep up with your PJ and love seeing all the great projects you are working on. Your wedding is going to be amazing! Especially love the colors you picked and all the sparkly touches.

P.S. Great pics of you guys on the Dream!!!! Wish I could have been there, too!

[EllieBride]

Menu:
Where to begin… Andy and I are both foodies and picking the right menu was really important to us. We like to try new things, but our families aren’t quite as adventurous (what can I say, we’re traditional Midwesterners…). Our goal was to push their boundaries just a little, while still serving something that they wouldn’t totally balk at. Not an easy task, but I think we succeeded!

Our final dinner menu was as follows:

First Course:
Blistered Herb Chicken Breast
with Creamy Parmesan Truffle Goat Cheese Risotto
garnished with Pine Nuts

This dish was EXCELLENT! We sampled a similar item at our tasting - the blistered chicken breast with creamy mushroom risotto, wilted greens, prosciutto, and crisp capers. We liked it a lot, but it was a little too salty for my taste. We asked for some modifications, including the removal of the prosciutto, which helped a lot. Definitely recommend the risotto!

Second Course:
Bouquet of Greens with Turmeric Braised Pears,
Spiced Candied Pecans, Sunflower Brittle,
and Champagne Vinaigrette

We sampled two different salads at our tasting and the final version that we selected was a combination of what we liked best from the two. I wouldn’t say it was the best salad ever, but the presentation was beautiful! In fact, all of the courses were presented wonderfully! In our case, we wanted a very clean, contemporary look. But we had the chance to see some other beautiful presentations at the tasting, including a more Victorian look. If presentation is important to you, be sure to let your planner know :)

Third Course:
Lemon Basil Sorbet

Prior to our tasting, we asked to try a few items that were not on the standard menu. For the sorbet, we were looking for a blend of sweet and savory. We suggested rosemary/mint or lemon/basil. We also tried the standard raspberry champagne sorbet, which was also very good.

The lesson here is that you shouldn’t be afraid to ask your planner if you have special requests. Our planner, unfortunately, was not enthusiastic about our special requests. Her response was that she could try asking the chef, but she wouldn’t make any promises. I was disappointed and had pretty low expectations when we arrived at the tasting. But to our delight, the chefs were both super-excited that we had asked for some original ideas. They accommodated all of our special requests, including the sorbet. I can’t say enough about Chef Mikko, Chef Melanie, and their team at the Grand Floridian. They came to our table midway through the reception to inquire how our food was. We were so happy to have the opportunity to thank them in person for bringing our vision to life.

Back to the sorbet presentation… it was very cool! The iced glass slipper was out of our budget, but instead we had a glass flower with a blue LED light. Everyone oohed and aahed when the servers brought them out. LOVED it!

Fourth Course:
Choice of either:
Seared Filet of Beef with Blackberry Demi-Glace
and Diver Scallops with Tarragon Beurre Blanc

or

Pork Tenderloin and Seared Filet of Salmon
with Soy Reduction Sauce

accompanied by Grand Floridian Polenta Cake
and Fresh Seasonal Vegetables
and Warm Rolls with Garlic Butter Glaze

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED all of the above (well, I don’t care for salmon, but even that was good when I sampled it!). We gave our guests the choice and 32 of them picked the beef/scallops, and 9 picked the pork/salmon. Like I said, we’re a bunch of Midwesterners who like beef :laughing:. The polenta cake was a special request and was modeled after a favorite dish I order back home. Again, the G.F. chefs blew me away with their ability to recreate it!

Fifth Course:
Wedding cake!

I’ll need to write another post about the drama surrounding the cake… This was the single most disappointing part of the planning process. But the good news is that I still loved the cake we ended up with even though it was not what I originally planned. And it tasted even better than it looked!

The top and bottom layers were almond cake with layers of amaretto filling. This was my pick and I LOVED it!!! We left the reception with me begging for more cake!!! The middle layer (Andy’s pick, with my subtle input) was marble cake with alternating layers of dark chocolate and buttercream. Also delicious - but not as good as the almond and amaretto :yay:.

I didn't realize at the time that guests were not given a choice of cake flavor. Instead, the cake was randomly distributed. Had I known, I would have asked the servers to offer my guests their choice of flavors, but oh well...

Pre-Reception:
We made a last-minute decision to drastically cut our Pre-Reception menu (based on feedback I read on the DISboards!). We had originally planned to serve three appetizers: a) chicken, mango, plantain in wonton cup, b) mini lamb lolli-chop with mint pesto and watermelon slaw, and c) meatballs (maybe?). We sampled the first two at our tasting and LOVED them. But in the end, we decided that we had a very full dinner menu and it didn’t make sense to go all out on the Pre-Reception. Instead, we opted for the International and Domestic Cheese Display with Flatbreads and Dried Fruit ($9.75 per person). This saved us quite a bit of money. And since we weren’t there to experience it ourselves, I don’t feel too badly about this cut. I know it could have been nicer and if we’d had an unlimited budget, I probably would have gone with the original menu. As it was, though, we had to make a few tough choices and this was one of them. But I don’t have any regrets, so that’s good. For anyone in a similar boat, I would definitely give this idea some consideration.

[April Elizabeth]

I also wanted to let you know that I ordered and received the album that was included with our Magic Kingdom bridal portrait. I really love how it turned out! The quality is excellent and professional.

We didn't realize that they customize the front cover with our names and the date of the wedding. This is very nice, but Andy probably would have preferred "Andy" instead of "Andrew." Oh well :goodvibes


Glad your back! :goodvibes
I was wondering about this album. When I spoke to Disney Photography they told me it would be folio with the pictures. How many pictures are in the album?

Thank you for all the info. I love reading your TR:cutie:

[EllieBride]

Things I’m Glad We Did (or Didn’t Do):


Had a DFTW!!!!! It was every bit as wonderful as I had hoped it would be. All of our family and friends have said it was the best wedding they’ve ever been to (and they want to go back for our 1-year anniversary).
We didn’t have Cinderella’s Coach and we didn’t have Mickey and Minnie at the reception… :sad1: Sure, this would have been amazing – IF we’d had an unlimited budget. But alas, that was not the case. I will admit that there was a small part of me that was wishing right up until wedding day that we would win the lottery or that my prince would surprise me by adding Mickey to the BEO… But in the end, we didn’t miss this stuff at all. In fact, my father-in-law grabbed the microphone for an impromptu toast (i.e. long-winded speech) right in the middle of dinner. He actually told everyone to “keep eating, because I’m gonna talk for a while!” :confused3 Anyway, in his “toast” he told everyone how skeptical he was of us having a Disney wedding and how he thought he would be overrun with giant costumed mice everywhere he went, but how impressed he was with the classy and elegant event we hosted. At that point, I was thinking to myself – "OMG, what if I had booked Mickey for the reception??!!!!!" I would have been mortified (even though I know that a lot of our guests would have loved it just as much as me!). Moral of the story… pick the things that matter the most and prioritize your budget accordingly. For us, the menu meant more than some of the other extras, like Mickey.
Speaking of budget priorities… I’m really glad that we splurged on the O-shaped table, and also for the chiavari chairs. We had seen the O table early in our planning and couldn’t get past the idea of using it, even though I hated how much money we spent on it. But it was really important to us that all of our guests feel like one cohesive unit. The standard 5’ rounds just didn’t give us that same feeling. To be honest, I don’t think our guests really appreciated the O table as much as we did, but I’m still glad we did it. It was one more thing that made our wedding unique, whether the guests noticed it or not. As for the chairs… I made a last-minute decision to nix the chiavari chairs to save a little money, but to my surprise, Andy had a really strong opinion on this and asked me to add them back in. He was so easy-going about everything else that I felt I had to respect his wishes (and besides, I liked the chiavaris a lot better, too). Who knew that he had such an aversion to chair covers? Cute!
Best decision – hiring David and Vicki Arndt for photography. As noted earlier in the TR, photography is such a personal choice and there are many factors that go into your decision. We couldn’t have been happier with the decision we made. I am so, so glad that we have become friends with them. I hope that we will work with them again in the future, perhaps if we are blessed enough to have a family.


Up next... "On the Fence..."

[EllieBride]

Glad your back! :goodvibes
I was wondering about this album. When I spoke to Disney Photography they told me it would be folio with the pictures. How many pictures are in the album?

Thank you for all the info. I love reading your TR:cutie:

Thanks, April! It's good to be back and relive some of the awesome memories in my head while I finish up this TR. As for the album, we were able to select 12 photos to include. They are 5x7 in size and you get to pick the order that they go into the book. Each one is matted into its own page. I really like how it turned out.

[EllieBride]

On the Fence:


I’m not totally convinced that having a Welcome Dinner at Ohana was the best idea. As noted earlier in the TR, everything worked out great and we loved our dinner there (so delicious!), but the restaurant really isn’t suited for a group of our size. I think a Dessert Party would have cost about the same.
Magic Kingdom Photo Shoot (see review earlier in TR)… I’m not totally thrilled with how the photo shoot went, but I think I would have really regretted it if we hadn’t done it. There are some really good pictures that I like, so it wasn’t a total loss. It just wasn’t everything I had hoped it would be…
There is a part of me that wishes I had outsourced my flowers, linens, and other rentals. Not that I wasn’t happy with the flowers from WDW Florist, but they are very expensive for what you get. I know we could have had more bang for our buck if I had used outside vendors. The reason I am on the fence about this is because I am a professional event planner by trade, so this would have been fairly easy for me to do. But this was also the very reason why I didn’t want to do it – it would have felt like work. I’ve been planning events every day for the past 12 years and this time, I just wanted to be the client and let someone else handle those details. So I have a little bit of regret knowing that I could have stretched our budget farther, but I am also happy that I didn’t have to worry about people showing up, etc. on my wedding day. In the end, I think we made the right choice, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder about what could have been... :)

[Sccrmnky2005]

Yay!! I'm glad your back again :goodvibes Can't wait to hear more about your wedding day:worship:

[EllieBride]

Wish I Did:
I wish I had requested a different wedding planner. There, I said it.

So here it is in a nutshell… we just didn’t hit it off from the very beginning. For starters, she was really pessimistic about the menu items we requested for our tasting (see earlier post about our menu). I didn’t let this bother me too much, not realizing it was a sign of what was to come...

I arrived at our Planning Session super-excited to meet her and begin the process. I’m sure some of you can relate to that feeling that you don’t get to do any planning with DFTW until the planning session takes place, so this was a big deal! Well, she was about 45 minutes late showing up for our planning session. Considering you only get 4 hours to plan everything, this was a big chunk of our time. Also, as a result of her tardiness, we were late for our appointment with the florist. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we were re-assigned to Elizabeth Sutton (loved her!!!).

But back to the planner… During the session, I inquired about something I had heard about on the DISboards. She immediately called me out for having heard about this on the boards and she seemed really put out by it. I sensed that every time a new topic hits the boards, they must get 100 requests about it, but so what if they do? It’s free advertising for them, right? And furthermore, the DFTW website sure doesn’t do a very good job of giving you all of the options available. I learned so much more from the boards than I did from any other source.

Also during the session, Andy asked her if she had figured out that I am an event planner. She said that she had figured it out immediately and she didn’t seem very happy about it. I don’t see why it would make a difference, but maybe she prefers to work with clients who don’t ask many questions.

The final straw from the planning session occurred as we were leaving. I realized that we had neglected to talk about chargers. Her response was to tell me that I was already over my stated budget and not to bother even look at the chargers. Seriously? Isn’t that my call to make? I found it insulting.

My frustrations continued to grow throughout the summer, including major drama surrounding the cake. But even as my frustrations grew, I kept telling myself to be patient, that she would get back to me when she could, etc. I did not want to ask for a new planner and risk being viewed as an impossible-to-please bridezilla. In hindsight, I wish I had just asked for someone else.

The planning process is my only disappointment about the entire wedding. I really expected that she would be our advocate – making helpful suggestions, following through on special requests, bringing our vision into reality, and in general, showing some enthusiasm about the biggest day of our lives. Instead, she just caused me a lot of stress. When we still didn’t have a cake design less than two weeks before the wedding, I was ready to lose it.

About a week before the wedding, I was starting to get really nervous about how she and I would get along once I arrived in Florida. Meanwhile, I had also read some concerning posts on the boards about my planner that had me thinking I wasn’t the only one who was having problems with her… So I decided to call her and request an emergency phone meeting a couple of days before the wedding. I laid out all of my concerns and frustrations. We worked through the last of the outstanding issues, which helped alleviate some of the stress.

During this call, I told her again how upset I was about the way she handled the cake and her response was shocking to me. She told me that “the Grand Floridian Bakery just isn’t very good at doing original designs and she didn’t feel comfortable having them designing a cake for me.” This was after I had sent numerous inspiration pictures and detailed descriptions of what I was envisioning. I was shocked by her response, given all of the amazing and unique pictures I’ve seen of other Disney wedding cakes. Awesome cakes are what they are known for, what they market on their Facebook page, and what they feature on practically every culinary show on TV. To this day, I still feel like we got cheated out of having a unique Disney wedding cake and it makes me sad each time I see another fabulous cake posted on the boards. I ended up loving our cake, but it wasn’t the cake I had dreamt of. In the grand scheme of things, this is pretty minor and it certainly doesn’t spoil my memories of the day, but I still don't understand the breakdown.

To her credit, our planner was definitely friendlier with me once we arrived in Florida – even going so far as to give me a hug at our rehearsal. I saw very little of her on wedding day, but she seemed to do her job and everything went off perfectly. I’ve since heard that she is no longer working in DFTW department, which is why I didn’t feel the need to mention her by name.

Does anyone else wish that you could work directly with the Grand Floridian Bakery on cake design? I think that would have made things so much simpler!

[livsmom04]

I loved looking at your wedding pictures and reading the trip report. I'm trying to decide on where I want to get married next year sometime. Hopefully the engagement will come in July when we head to Disney World. :)

[princess_chloee]

Just tuned in to your WR. First, you're beautiful! Second, so happy for you. Keep the posts coming!

[EllieBride]

I'm having one of those days, feeling kind of blue, so I decided to cheer myself up with a little wedding nostalgia. I realized that I never posted our at-home e-pics, which were taken by my talented friend, Edda http://www.eddaphotography.com/

Here are a couple of my favorites...

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/Image106-Balloons2.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/Image100-Picnic1.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/Image102-Dog1.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/Image105-Balloons1.jpg

[EllieBride]

A couple more... Enjoy!

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/Image116-Mailbox.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/Image110-House1.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/Image107-Dogs2.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EllieBride/Image112-Mantle2.jpg

(We spent our honeymoon in Santorini, Greece... our own version of Paradise Falls...)

[Sccrmnky2005]

I LOVE THESE :lovestruc

[kipperoo]

I'm doing a Disneyland escape wedding with 4 and a half months of engagement and planning, so I'm glad to see it can be done!

[EllieBride]

We were married one year ago today at the Wedding Pavilion. It was the best day of my life.

How I wish we were at WDW right now to celebrate and do it all over again.

Last night, we defrosted the top tier of our amaretto and almond wedding cake. So delicious! Tonight, we are going out to dinner, then having more cake when we get home.

I still can't believe I married my prince at the most magical place on earth :lovestruc

[Racey]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

MMMmmmmm Cake - I can imagine it brought back such great memories

I cant get on your disney photo site (for obivious reasons) - can you pos up some wedding pictures?