Katie and Nik's Swan and Dolphin Wedding - January 24, 2016

Hello Everyone! I have been reading planning journals on the disboards for years, dreaming about a Disney wedding. Now that it is my turn to share, I hope that I can keep you entertained or at the very least help to organize my own thoughts!

First, the introductions:

Hello Everyone! I have been reading planning journals on the disboards for years, dreaming about a Disney wedding. Now that it is my turn to share, I hope that I can keep you entertained or at the very least help to organize my own thoughts!

First, the introductions:



My name is Katie. I am 26 years old and live in Pennsylvania, about an hour from Pittsburgh. After finishing my master's degree last spring, I started working as an admissions counselor for a culinary school. I love it and I can't believe it's been almost a year already!
My fiance, Nik, is a mechanic. We met when my sister married his step-cousin (her first husband). Nik's family had just moved here from Colorado and the wedding was at Nik's parent's house. We started dating about a year after that in October 2006 and dated throughout high school and through my college years. Sometimes it has been tough, but it's also been great! I'm so thankful that we have both been able to grow and mature as individuals, but also stay strong as a couple.


We took our first trip to Disney in August 2012, right before I started grad school. I had only been to Disney World for 1 day trip a few years before. My great aunt and uncle used to work at Disney and while visiting my grandma, who used to winter in Florida, my cousins and I got to go to Epcot. In high school, I also got to take a trip to California and visit California Adventure, but this was my first vacation to Disney World, visiting all of the parks and staying on property. I loved it (I knew that I would)!
Nik had gone to Disneyland with his parents once when he was younger; he must have been around 10. The only thing that I have heard about that trip is that his dad made him ride the teacups and he was sick for the rest of the day. They actually had to push him around in his little brother's stroller and he was miserable! This may have something to do with his aversion to theme park rides. I didn't think that he enjoyed our trip very much. (He just looks so happy in that picture, right?) He complained about the heat and didn't really want to ride very much. BUT after we got home, he told everyone that he had fun.
Somehow I managed to convince him to go back in January 2014. (Actually, I remember how. My excuse was that it was my last college break before I graduated and had to find a real job and who knew how long I would have to wait after that before I had vacation days to take. This seems really funny now.) He said that this would be the last trip to Disney for a while. I knew that the cooler weather would be working in my favor, and that the other thing that could possibly win him over was food. We love to eat! So, we got the dining plan and I obsessively planned our reservations. Nik fell in love with Zebra Domes and Ohana. He also appreciated staying at the moderate resort, Port Orleans French Quarter. (We had stayed at All-Star Music during our first trip because it was the least expensive.)
Here I was, thinking that I was the only one planning before this trip, but I got a surprise also.



Later, I found out that this is why he insisted on carrying that drawstring bag through the airport and the parks everyday. This was also on the 4th day of our trip because that was the first day that my detailed itinerary had us at Magic Kingdom.
We had been dating for 7 years at this point, so I knew it would happen eventually, but I still wasn't expecting it here. In fact, I think he worked pretty hard to convince me that it wasn't going to happen on this vacation. Nonetheless, I was thrilled. FINALLY! I was also really glad that I had taken my hat and gloves off before these photos! This was the coldest day of our vacation. I swear the temperature was in the 30's (but still better than PA, where they were warned to stay inside because of a polar winter vortex ).
Immediately prior to his proposal, I had forced him to ride the teacups. (If you recall, this relates to his traumatic childhood Disneyland experience.) So, I guess if that didn't change his mind, he must really want to marry me! Also, right after he proposed, I convinced him to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. ("It can't be any scarier than what you just did, right?"). Later on that day, I turned to Nik, the guy who had begrudgingly taken me to Disney World twice now, and said, "You realize that you have now made Disney part of our story, right?" He did, and that was when I knew that he had given in and accepted that trips to Disney World would be a necessary part of our lives!

Hello! Joining in, and congratulations!!

Congrats and welcome!

Thank you CQuinn and runner_princess!

After we got engaged, I knew we would not be getting married right away so I tried not to get too deep into planning to early on (which was difficult). I decided that we wouldn't set a date until after I finished grad school and found a job (because if I didn't, we would never to able to pay for a wedding anyway). So, after I graduated in May of last year and started working at the end of June, I actually allowed myself to start looking at wedding options.

I, of course, considered Disney Fairytale Weddings, but also looked at options in our area. I knew that I didn't want to go the route that most people we know have, which is to have their ceremony in a church and rent a hall for their reception. Don't get me wrong, some of those weddings have been awesome, but that really isn't us. I also knew that I wanted our ceremony to be outside. I'm sure we could have had it at Nik's parents house, but as I mentioned before, that's where my sister got married and I didn't want it to feel the same.

I had mentioned to Nik that we could just go to Florida and get married and how it would be so much easier (which I believed at the time ). On one hand, I have been able to keep our guest list much smaller because it would have been impossible if we were getting married at home. I have an extremely large family. My mom is one of 5 kids and my dad is one of 13, which gives me a total of 50 first cousins . On the other hand, I am now trying to communicate more information and do more coordinating with the smaller number of guests that we will have in Florida. Nik wasn't very into the idea at first, as you can imagine. But I think he understood my reasoning and I also told him about all of the cool things that we could do.

I did buy the Passporter Disney Weddings book and tried to price things out for a Disney wedding and it just wasn't going to happen. I knew that even with a bare bones guest list there would be more than 18 guests, so an Escape wedding was out, and Nik and I are paying for everything ourselves. When we got engaged, my mom was in the process of looking for a new house. She and my grandma had decided to buy a new house and live together so that my mom could help my grandmother and so that she would have enough money to get a decent house. The house that she was living in, where I grew up, needed some serious work and she knew that it wouldn't sell for much. But instead of selling her house, she offered it to us, which is awesome! We talked to Nik's dad about helping us work on it since he works in construction because Nik knew he couldn't do all of it himself and he said that he would be willing to help. Now, we have been living here together for a little over a year and we are probably almost through the remodeling process. It is frustrating (especially having to put it on hold so that we can save money for the wedding), but also really great to own a home (which is paid off, so no mortgage!). So, the point of that entire story was that my mom gifted us a house and that is why she is not (and I would not ask her to) paying for the wedding.

I did more online research than I should admit to on wedding options in the Orlando area. I also listened to almost all of the back episodes of the Disney Wedding Podcast. Between the podcast and reading planning journals here, I had heard some good things about the Swan and Dolphin. It seemed like it would be easier on our budget and we could still do what we wanted, get married in Florida and then vacation at Disney with our friends and family . I posted on the Swan and Dolphin Weddings thread here that I was thinking about booking my wedding there and Michelle, a former Swan and Dolphin bride, now a wedding planner for Just Marry!, told me I could email her with any questions. Well, I did and after debating between a January and a May wedding, I let her know that we had decided and wanted to book with the Swan and Dolphin! Unfortunately, this was September of last year and we couldn't book until a year out . So, again I tried to avoid wedding planning because I couldn't book vendors or do much of anything until we confirmed a date. instead, I put my energy into remodeling and now have Pinterest boards for each room of our uncompleted house . I was also very busy (and still am) in December when we got two puppies. We must be crazy adding two animals (we also have a cat) to the mix while wedding planning and remodeling, but I like to think that they are teaching us patience .



Next up: I will post our Save-the-Dates and talk about our planning trip!

Such a great story! Your mom sounds like an amazing woman - how generous of her! And love the pictures of your fur-babies!

Thanks runner_princess! Yes, my mom's been very generous and so have Nik's parents for helping us remodel! The puppies are definitely cute, but so bad! They are chewing up everything. I guess the up-side is that our house is unfinished so there is less for them to destroy!

We were finally able to book our ceremony at the Swan and Dolphin in January. After having been engaged for a year, we had one year left until the wedding! I felt like it would never come, but as the wedding is getting closer it feels like time is flying by.

I wanted to let our families and friends know about the wedding as early as possible so that they would have time to plan and save money if they were going to make the trip, so I ordered Save the Dates right away. (We had asked our his parents, my mom, my grandma, our siblings, and best friends if they would be able to attend before we decided to have the wedding in Florida, but still wanted to make it official.)

Here are our Save the Dates:



We ended up with 2 different designs because Nik and I ended up liking different designs. Nik picked the one on the left. Since he hasn't expressed much opinion on wedding related things so far, I wanted to use the one he liked, . . . but really wanted to use the one that I liked. So, I got some of both and my pick went to my family and his went to his family.

We ordered 30 and probably could have used more. I was starting to freak out a little because the number of guest on our list kept creeping up. I included a note with each one asking people to let us know if they already knew that they would or would not be coming. I feel better now that we have heard back from some who will not be able to attend, and while I wish they could be there, I am relieved that our guest list is back to a reasonable number.

So far, we have about around 20. That includes me, Nik, my mom and grandma, Nik's parents and little brother, my brother, one of my mom's brothers and her sister, a few of my cousins, and our best friends. I am hoping that the rest of our siblings will be able to make it too. My other brother is in college, so he would have to miss class. My sister has 3 kids and is starting nursing school in the fall; she says she plans to come, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it doesn't happen. Nik's eldest sister lives out west as does most of his extended family, and I'm not sure if his other sister will have the money to travel and bring her daughter.

At this point, I'm wondering when to send out invitations. I know that it is still too early, but I'm afraid to wait too long, especially since most of our guests have little or no experience travelling to Disney. This includes our parents. None of them have ever been to Florida and I think they are nervous about planning this trip. Nik's dad is afraid of flying, so they will probably be driving (I think it's 20 hours ). My mom has never flown before, but I think she will if she has too. I think they will feel better when they have things booked, but I keep telling them that Disney hasn't released room rates for next year yet and it's too early to book flights. Hopefully I can keep them distracted with planning other parts of the wedding until that time comes.

Great story and congratulations! I am a swan bride for early December of this year! I look forward to reading all about your wedding! Which site did you choose? I love your save the dates!

Following along!!
Cute save the dates!

Pix13du5t said:

Great story and congratulations! I am a swan bride for early December of this year! I look forward to reading all about your wedding! Which site did you choose? I love your save the dates!

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Thanks Pix13du5t! Our ceremony will be at Crescent Terrace; Nik is not into sand in his shoes. Where is your ceremony going to be? Are you having a reception or dinner afterwards?

Doodlebug25413 said:

Following along!!
Cute save the dates!

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Thanks Doodlebug25413! I love our save the dates. It was so hard to decide!

Oh I love it all up to now. I am following along. You did well to choose a Swan/Dolphin wedding. Disney can get crazy expensive with all of the extras and Just Marry is so much more flexible. I originally had contacted them for information and they were so helpful. Plus it still feels like a Disney wedding. Your save the dates are both very cute, I can see why it was hard to decided. I would send out the invitations earlier than later because it is a destination wedding. I had a destination wedding and sent mine out 6 months ahead of time so that I could coordinate things better.

I'm doing crescent terrace also, DF is 6'2, I'm about 5'4 so heels are in sand is out! . I'm finalizing details with fultons for a private dinner. They are pretty reasonable and I definitely love some of the pictures I've seen of other brides on the boat dock. I also dream of a dessert party if budget allows me! I'm thinking invites at the 5 month mark, if it's any help!

Alexsandra said:

Oh I love it all up to now. I am following along. You did well to choose a Swan/Dolphin wedding. Disney can get crazy expensive with all of the extras and Just Marry is so much more flexible. I originally had contacted them for information and they were so helpful. Plus it still feels like a Disney wedding. Your save the dates are both very cute, I can see why it was hard to decided. I would send out the invitations earlier than later because it is a destination wedding. I had a destination wedding and sent mine out 6 months ahead of time so that I could coordinate things better.

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I'm glad to here you had a good impression of Just Marry. Hmmm. . . I was also thinking that sending invites out early would help me coordinate. I just don't want people to think I'm nuts for asking them to RSVP that early.

Pix13du5t said:

I'm doing crescent terrace also, DF is 6'2, I'm about 5'4 so heels are in sand is out! . I'm finalizing details with fultons for a private dinner. They are pretty reasonable and I definitely love some of the pictures I've seen of other brides on the boat dock. I also dream of a dessert party if budget allows me! I'm thinking invites at the 5 month mark, if it's any help!

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I have also seen some great pictures at Fulton's and in the Downtown Disney Area! I considered it, but decided on Garden Grove at the Swan just to make things easier so we won't need transportation for everyone. I'm also hoping to have a dessert party as a welcome party the night before. We'll see! I contacted Catered Events and was told they won't have prices for January until 6 months out. Thanks for the info. about the invites!

Following along! I love your plans so far and I think you don't see enough January weddings in FL! Your save the dates are cute (both of them )

Have you thought about making a wedding website to help educate your guests on travel & planning a Disney trip? Or are they on the whole not the type that would actually use one? I know a lot of brides make use of a travel agent to help coordinate guest travel as well to make it easier on them.

Following along! So excited to see another northern swalphin bride! (We live in upstate NY!)

We don't have anything set yet, but I'm looking at a possible February or May 2016 wedding. We both have big families that are spread out all over the country, we just bought a house and a puppy so I totally understand about wanting a destination wedding. My fiancé is slowly starting to agree with me finally...

Question: how did you find pricing info and options for the Garden Grove? I am definitely liking it as an option for our wedding dinner. I've emailed but I just get genetic information.


Can't wait to hear about your planning process!!

elphie101 said:

Following along! I love your plans so far and I think you don't see enough January weddings in FL! Your save the dates are cute (both of them )

Have you thought about making a wedding website to help educate your guests on travel & planning a Disney trip? Or are they on the whole not the type that would actually use one? I know a lot of brides make use of a travel agent to help coordinate guest travel as well to make it easier on them.

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Thanks elphie101! We have a wedding website, but I don't think anyone is looking at it. I'm considering suggesting a travel agent, but I've never used one so I don't really know much about booking with one.

belle032 said:

Following along! So excited to see another northern swalphin bride! (We live in upstate NY!)

We don't have anything set yet, but I'm looking at a possible February or May 2016 wedding. We both have big families that are spread out all over the country, we just bought a house and a puppy so I totally understand about wanting a destination wedding. My fiancé is slowly starting to agree with me finally...

Question: how did you find pricing info and options for the Garden Grove? I am definitely liking it as an option for our wedding dinner. I've emailed but I just get genetic information.


Can't wait to hear about your planning process!!

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So you understand the struggle! Who did you email at Garden Grove? I have been working with Angela Landry, the Garden Grove Manager. She had been great! She responded to my initial email and we set up a time to speak on the phone so she could answer my questions. Then, when we were in Florida recently and ate at Garden Grove we got to speak in person and she even took the time to show us around the hotel. She has been so flexible and made it really easy! Her email address is angela.landry@swandolphin.com

I want to talk about our planning trip, but think that I should probably discuss some more of the basic wedding plans first.

The plan is to arrive on Friday, January 22, hopefully early. I am thinking that we will just hang out with whoever else decides to head down that day, probably at Downtown Disney. Maybe I'll make a dinner reservation for Raglan Road; we love it there!

On Saturday, I am hoping that we will be able to have an Epcot dessert party as a Welcome Party for our guests. I contacted Disney Catered Events several months ago, but I was told that they can't book for January until the 6 month mark since they don't have prices yet for 2016. I really hope we can fit it into our budget, but I'm really unsure at this point. I would just love to be able to hang out in Epcot all day and provide such a unique experience for our guests. If this doesn't happen, we'll have to come up with something else.

Sunday will be the big day! We are still going back and forth with hotels, but I'm thinking that we will end up staying at the Boardwalk. We spent some time there during our planning trip and I enjoyed it. I also couldn't believe how close it is to the ceremony site.

I booked the Crescent Terrace ceremony site and an officiant through Just Marry. At first I booked for 2:00 p.m., but when we decided to eat at Garden Grove, I moved the ceremony to 4:00 p.m. I told Angela at Garden Grove that we would like to eat at 5:30 p.m., but she's very flexible and said just to let her know if we need to change the time. It's Tasty Too will be delivering our cake to Garden Grove. We will cut the cake at the restaurant since Angela is not charging us the cake cutting fee that I would be paying if we had it outside at the terrace.

Let's see, I've also booked Jennifer Werneth for photography and LeJeune Artistry for hair and makeup. I'm still considering videography; I know that I probably will regret not having a video of our ceremony, but again, that pesky budget.

We will be staying for the rest of the week. Some of our guests, like my sister and brother will have to leave Monday or Tuesday and I know that my friends plan to stay until Wednesday, but I'm not sure about our other guests. It would be nice if some of them stayed and we could spend time in the parks with them. We'll see, I guess!

I almost forgot to show you my dress! I went dress shopping in November and found my dress at the first store. It's a David Tutera for Mon Cheri dress. It's pink with an ivory lace overlay.



I was expecting it to be about 6 months before it came in (that's what I was told at the store), but they called me less than a month later and told me my dress was in. I thought that there had to be something wrong with it for it to be done that fast, but I went to try it on and it looks great! I still have to pick out a veil though and find a necklace.

I think that Nik is going to wear a grey suit. We decided to buy a suit for him instead of renting a tux, but we haven't really looked at them yet because he hates shopping. I'm thinking something like this:



As of right now, he only has 1 groomsman, his best friend who is planning to come to Florida. I don't think any of his other friends will be coming. I'm not sure what we will have him wear yet. I don't really want to ask him to buy a whole new outfit.

I have 3 bridesmaids, my sister:



And my 2 best friends:



I'm so happy to have them and thankful that they are willing to make the trip to Florida with me! I want them to wear navy and I'm thinking that we are going to go with twist wrap dresses. I ordered one and had Kelly try it on. She loved it! So now I just have to get approval from the other two.

Thanks so much for the Garden Grove contact! I sent her one so hopefully we can set up a time to chat. Now I have to think of a list of questions! So many things I want to know! Might need to plan a quick WDW trip...

Your dress is beautiful! So princessy and I adore lace. It's so classic and elegant. I'm not big on beading and glitter and whatnot, so I love it. I think the pink makes it really unique too.

Also really like the gray suit. Actually, I just love gray anything in general. But it's really sophisticated without being too formal or stuffy. I was debating on what my fiance would wear and I was thinking along the lines of just a gray vest and rolled up sleeves. And I'll probably have to say yes to his cowboy boots because he lives in them! I think a suit will be nice in January though, it could end up being a little chilly. I'd take that over sweating to death though any day!

Those bridesmaids dresses are so pretty. I have to admit, loving all your color choices! Gray and navy are my faves and they go w/everything! And I think that dress would be super flattering on everyone.

Just catching up! Your dress is wonderful! Have you thought about what you will do with your hair? With this dress you could truly wear it anyway you wanted! I love the lace!
We were a little hesitant about asking people to do more then come to Florida for a wedding also. But just keep a open mind when discussing options with your guests and bridal party. Your fiancé's groomsmen could probably always reuse a gray suit! We are buying DF's suit and asked the tailor for a swatch of the material and will be handing out the color so that our ring bear and his best man can find a similar gray within their budget and preference. Everyone seemed fine with that.
Also I wish some weddings I have been in had such a flattering bride's maid dress. Very beautiful! Any flower girls/ring bears?
Also, if you are doing welcome bags you could always print out your itinerary of your plans, with a little note inviting people to join you. You can also update your page with plans!

Your dress is just lovely and I love the look of your bridesmaid dresses. Perfect for a January wedding!

I hope you can get the DP, it really is a fantastic experience for your guests. And I loooooooooved Patricia LeJeune, her work is unmatched!