Monorails and Memories- Nov. 7- Mary Lou & Rob WP/CG/Epcot DP

[LuluLovesDisney]

Mary Lou & Rob's Contemporary Fairytale Wedding!
Wedding Pavilion~California Grill~Epcot Dessert Party in France

On November 7, 2009, I became what I always dreamed: a Disney bride!

Table of Contents (I am such a teacher!)

Welcome Boxes and Day 1 Highlights

Day 1 Dinner at Shutters and Meet Up at Caribbean Beach Pool

Day 2 Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table with Flower Girls and Ring Bearer

Day 2 Magic Kingdom with my family

Day 2 Epcot Food and Wine and Bachelorette Party at Jellyrolls and the Boardwalk

Day 3 Rehearsal at Wedding Pavilion

Day 3 Rainforest Cafe Welcome Lunch Part 1

Day 3 Rainforest Cafe Welcome Lunch Part 2

Day 3 The Wave Bridesmaids' Dinner

The Wedding Day- Up Earlier Than Rope Drop!

The Wedding Day- Getting Ready Pictures with Randy/ Wedding Floral

The Wedding Day- The Guys!

The Wedding Day- Entering the Grand Floridian

The Wedding Day- Formal Portraits

The Wedding Day- Grand Floridian Beach and Landau Coach Pictures

The Wedding Day- At the Wedding Pavilion

I am finally starting a TR, so I can share with you some of the things I learned while planning my day, and hopefully help another bride with planning. There just isn't enough information out there for California Grill brides! It has taken me awhile to get started, mainly because I am a novice at picture software and things of that nature, but also because one of my friends passed away 3 months after my wedding. I am thankful he was able to share in the magical memories with me and it makes me realize how lucky we were to have a wedding with so many family and friends coming to our special place- Disney World!

Our reviews

I am not rating them, just giving my opinions, because truly all of them are consummate professionals and are at the top of their game.

Wedding Planner

Michelle Wenzler Dorr

She is the best planner! I enjoyed conversations with her; she is organized and made everything easy. She didn't hesitate to make recommendations and in hindsight, everything she recommended turned out to be true. There were some "bumps" on my day and she handled them all in a way that I didn't even notice them! She gets extra points for coming to the Poly to visit us on our MK shoot day so I could get a pic with her in my wedding dress. (The day goes so fast!) She is the epitome of a Disney Cast Member and I will request her for my future vow renewals!

Floral

Disney Floral- Laura Kidd

She is a great floral designer and she really listens to what you say. She flourishes when she is allowed some creative license. I gave her total freedom with the altar piece and it became one of my favorite things! Although the centerpiece vases were bigger than I imagined, I did love the final product and she totally got our Contemporary Fairytale theme. Another "friendly professional" which I expect from Disney. She worked with my husband to create some amazing surprises for me!

Officiant

Rev. Jack Day

Perfect. He performed a beautiful ceremony, which included everything I asked for. I did a very customized ceremony and he complimented it and just did a perfect job delivering it. It seemed as if I knew him longer than just a few days and all my guests loved it, which is a big deal since I was breaking tradition by not having a Catholic ceremony. He balanced formality with a bit of humor and Southern charm. I loved him.

Hair and Makeup

Ana, Rosie and Laine from Beaute Speciale

Talkative girls who run a great business. I wish I could have Ana follow me around every day. I love the way she made me look and she scores extra points for really acting as if she appreciated my business. She even emailed me with the products she used on me so I could buy the shadows for my own use. They really set my mind at ease and kept me calm and able to enjoy the day. I am truly thrilled that I chose them and can't wait to have Ana do my makeup again someday!

Videography

Disney/Bruno White

Kyle was a pleasure to work with and he risked life and limb to get my veil when it blew away on a very windy wedding day. The final product is exactly what I wanted and I am overall very thankful I got the videography. They even took all the recorded footage of my friend who passed away and put it on a separate dvd for me. They respond quickly and were a pleasure to work with.

Photography

Randy Chapman

Randy was great to work with on my wedding day and I enjoyed having him around to help with anything and everything. I will let you be the judge of the actual pictures; I believe photographs are a really personal thing and tastes vary, but I like Randy's romantic and creative approach. I have not yet received my photoshopped pictures or my album, so I will update when I do receive all those things.

Invitations

Smashing Cards

Ashley made some gorgeous invitations for me and it was exactly what I wanted. She never made me feel like it was a problem to go back and forth on 24 ribbon colors and I loved how it turned out. I only wish I had spent the money to have her do all my paper products instead of DIY-ing!

Napkins

Shelley from Impressions

Shelley used my dad's calligraphy on the stamped napkins to make them match and it turned out great. Although a little pricey, I loved how they looked with the castle and balloons, tying in the balloons at our Dessert Party. She was very easy to work with.

Music

DJ Scooter/Mike

Did everything I asked of him, played the style of music we loved and interjected just the right amount of humor without being tacky. He even practiced all our Polish last names. We had a lot of people dancing at an afternoon wedding in a very warm and sunny California Grill! No props, either I was nervous about having a DJ but couldn't afford a band. I was happy with DJ Scooter and glad Michelle recommended him as our "match".

Please stay tuned for more, including our Caribbean Resort pool party, Rainforest Cafe Rehearsal and a Bridesmaids dinner at the Wave, leading up to the wedding!

 

[curiouser]

You are too cute with your polite "please stay tuned"! I am so glad you started your TR

 

[padisneyfour]

looking forward to hearing and seeing more! Congrats

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Thank you so much girls! Morgan, how did I know you'd appreciate that <3 you!

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Welcome Boxes and Day 1

We made white gable boxes with coral ribbon and closed them with a gray and coral sticker with a logo showing the Contemporary and the Castle. Since our wedding was at the Contemporary's California Grill that became our unifying element.

They Mickey tag was for the guests' names and the Welcome tag was where I wrote the reservation information so they could be delivered properly. The Contemporary handled it perfectly but it took a little longer at ASMu. Most of the guests staying at the Caribbean Beach came to the pool for a meet and greet on our first full Disney day at night so we handed them out in person there, since we were running late.

Some of the items inside included battery operated fans, batteries, candies, miniature sunscreen and three Disney pins per child.

We also put in maps from each park

and a bottle of water for each person

The logo on the water is the same one as the sticker except in b/w.

For families with very young kids/babies we included Disney roll on bathtime paints and baby toiletries.

Our guests were really appreciative and loved how we made it special for the kids!

Our first real day in Disney was hectic. We had arrived late the night before and had the limo stop at Walgreens for medicine as I was feeling really sick. Yes, I was sick on my wedding day! So, our first real day was a haze of hugging family members and friends and making Welcome Bags while looking for my cough drops and nasal spray. However, I did get a great pedicure at the Mandara Spa and I was looking forward to a family dinner at Shutters and meeting those who had already arrived in WDW at the Caribbean Beach pool!

Up next: our first wedding event- a meet up at the Caribbean Beach pool!

 

[pezaddict231]

I'm so glad you're sharing your wedding day with us. You look beautiful in the pics and I love your dress. I'm so sorry about your friend, that was so sweet of the videographer to put together a special video of him.

The welcome bags look amazing and I love the logo with the Contemporary and the Castle!

 

[BravaCentauri]

Your pictures on the monorail are gorgeous! I love your dress! I also LOVE California Grill so I am looking forward to this!!

I am glad you have a good Randy review. I am hearing mixed reviews lately and I was thinking of going with him!

 

[neener3]

The welcome bags look terrific!

I'm excited to read the rest!

 

[pixie921]

Loving the story and photos so far! I'm anxious to read and see more!

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

I'm so glad you're sharing your wedding day with us. You look beautiful in the pics and I love your dress. I'm so sorry about your friend, that was so sweet of the videographer to put together a special video of him.

The welcome bags look amazing and I love the logo with the Contemporary and the Castle!

Thank you so much for the compliments and condolences, Sara. I am finally able to just remember the wedding with happiness! The people at Bruno White (Disney Video Services) were amazing and I am so thankful they went the extra mile to do that! His family will have a "living" memory of him.

Your pictures on the monorail are gorgeous! I love your dress! I also LOVE California Grill so I am looking forward to this!!

I am glad you have a good Randy review. I am hearing mixed reviews lately and I was thinking of going with him!

Thank you! Randy took some great shots. I think part of it is that I have over 3000 pictures so they're not all good. He gives you everything. Plus there are so many great photographers out there, they just keep raising the bar.

The welcome bags look terrific!

I'm excited to read the rest!

Thank you so much! I loved our welcome boxes!

Loving the story and photos so far! I'm anxious to read and see more!

Thank you! I hope you'll keep reading! I will try to post an update soon. I have to fix some red eye. I always get the worst red eye because my eyes are so pale!

I really appreciate you guys following along with my little report

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

After a wonderful pedicure at the Mandara Spa, I knew I was really getting sick. I stopped for a cup of chicken noodle soup from the CS place in the Swan and I hoped it would soothe my throat. I was excited to meet up with some of my guests tonight, though!

We were hanging out at the pool tonight so we went to Shutters at the Caribbean Beach Resort. Now, let me say, with an ADR we waited 45 minutes! (I think the long wait was related to what happened next and the fact that there were so many of us). The CM's were very nice about it, but it wasn't fun. We were also there 10 minutes late, but even so, it was stressful. However, overall I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this place! By the time we left dinner, I felt much better.

I was also surprised to see this on the table:

Can you read the tag? There was a hidden crystal Mickey inside the flower arrangement!

See it?

It was the first of many!

They offered us free champagne here, so we toasted!

You can see my salad here, but I was really excited about how cool that plantain chip appetizer was presented! The chips were cut lengthwise and had several sauces to dip.

I don't have any pictures of dinner, I think I shared something? However, after dinner we had another surprise!

Two enormous trays of dessert samplers!

Truly, we got a lot of pixie dust at this restaurant and I would love to go back to Shutters sometime.There were six full size desserts on there, that is a lot! The key lime dessert was excellent!

After we relaxed and digested our food, we were ready to head over to the pool, to see if anyone was there yet! I was a half hour late to my own Meet Up Opportunity! However, I was feeling much better. Maybe it was the free champagne, but we were finally beginning to relax and enjoy some time at Disney World!

 

[pixie921]

Wow! You got a lot of pixie dust sprinkled on you at dinner! Maybe it was the pixie dust that perked you up (and hopefully you kept feeling better afterward!).

 

[smileycrissy]

I love your monorail pics - they are beautiful! And the Welcome bags were adorable. I can't wait to read more and find out if your cold disappeared on your day.

 

[Racey]

Subscribing for definite - am looking forward to hearing about California Grill as thats one location i'm thinking of using and i'm desperate to hear how it goes

Loving the teaser pictuers you put up

 

[Bethannk511]

Oh i'm patiently waiting your next installment!! I love this and thank you so much for sharing!!

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Wow! You got a lot of pixie dust sprinkled on you at dinner! Maybe it was the pixie dust that perked you up (and hopefully you kept feeling better afterward!).

I actually found out later that the flowers were from my husband. He kept it secret then, though! The other pixie dust was from Shutters

I love your monorail pics - they are beautiful! And the Welcome bags were adorable. I can't wait to read more and find out if your cold disappeared on your day.

Unfortunately not I was sick, but I managed to get through on adrenaline and "magic" lol. Thank you for the compliments!

Subscribing for definite - am looking forward to hearing about California Grill as thats one location i'm thinking of using and i'm desperate to hear how it goes

Loving the teaser pictuers you put up

You will LOVE California Grill! It is awesome! Thank you for reading!

Oh i'm patiently waiting your next installment!! I love this and thank you so much for sharing!!

Thank you so much! Rob and I just got back from WDW, we took a little vacation to "take advantage" of our APs so now that we're back, I owe you all an update I really appreciate your reading along!

 

[Sassagoula Billy]

Lulu! I am LOVING the dress, the make-up, the styling... and those monorail photos look like they could be featured in Disney Wedding Planning videos. Seriously. Gorgeous.

And a California Grill wedding? Who knew?

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Lulu! I am LOVING the dress, the make-up, the styling... and those monorail photos look like they could be featured in Disney Wedding Planning videos. Seriously. Gorgeous.

And a California Grill wedding? Who knew?

I am LOVING the fact that you came over to the wedding board to check out my TR. With compliments! Thank you so much!!! I wish I could live that day over and over like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day!!

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Caribbean Beach Resort Pool Meet Up!

After Shutters, we looked at the time, oh no, we were late for the meet up!

However, before I tell you about our little meet up, I'd like to share why we chose the Caribbean Beach Resort as one of our three hotels for our guests to receive the DFTW discount from as well as why we stayed there ourselves (split stay between CBR and Contemporary). Since I was 14, I have stayed at CBR 6 times, both with friends and family and I have great memories of lying in the hammock, getting coffee in refillable mugs with my dad, swimming in the pool for hours and running around with my little cousin calling it the "Fabulous Ali Baba Hotel and Casino" (of course we called every hotel that when we were young!) So, it felt sweet to come back as a bride and share another magical moment with several of the people who I had visited this resort with over my lifetime.

It was really important to me to spend as much time with guests who had sacrificed to make the trip as I possibly could. However, I didn't want to appear like a chipper Tour Guide Barbie directing their every turn. On the other hand, I didn't want my nearest and dearest waving as they flew by on the monorail without us! So, an evening of swimming, talking and fun at the pool sounded like a good informal meet up idea.

At first I was worried that since I was late, everyone had left and the event was DOA, but soon I spotted my bridesmaid E. and her beautiful little daughter. Then my friend from when I did the 1999 College Program strolled over! Oh my goodness, this was my first wedding "event". People were here! This was real!

That is definitely my excited face!

After a few minutes, my SIL, brother R. and my niece/flower girl J. and nephew/ring bearer M. came over. My niece was desperately clutching a Minnie and my nephew was wearing Mickey hands. They were squealing and I could only catch every few words "The real Mickey!! "Footprints" "Our room!" Finally, I learned that they had a magical visit from Mickey and Minnie in their resort room, and Mickey and Minnie had left them gifts! I was so happy for them, and I got a surprise when my fiance told me that he was the one who had "tipped" Mickey and Minnie off about where they would be! I was so happy he arranged such a special moment that made their faces light up and truly made them experience Disney magic. My niece still sleeps with that Minnie doll. And my brother even bought me a drink! lol This is why I love trip reports, it makes you remember and appreciate all the little details.

I had a great time playing Peter Pan with my niece and my bridesmaid's daughter.

Although, my niece did have an important "phone call" to take!

My husband took a few pictures of everyone socializing before he hit the hot tub!

A great picture of me and my friend who recently passed away. He brought out my fun side like no one else!

We said goodbye to some people who were leaving early and then a bunch of us went in the pool, even though it was pretty chilly. It was GREAT in the water, but late in the evening, getting out was FREEZING! And happily (for you, dear reader) there are NO pictures of any of us in bathing suits! lol Chattering as we dashed back to our resort rooms, I was finally relaxing! I don't know if it was the free champagne, the friends and family or the bits of ice falling off me, but I was feeling pretty exhilarated!

*Lesson learned- I definitely think it is a good idea to plan an event like this, no cost and helps everyone to know each other.

*2nd Lesson learned- do not facebook chat while typing a TR. If you get a message and then hit backspace, you will lose the page and delete everything you wrote!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Great instalment!! We are also planning to do a relaxed pool night, so I am glad to read that you did that and it went really well! It looks like everyone had a great time, which is what it should be about. I also love that your DH added some pixie dust for the kids, they really love stuff like that, it will create some wonderful memories!