Hey everyone!
So, there's been a minor update on venues since my last post, but it sits quite nicely in the next section I wanted to write about anyways. I'll explain as we go... (pre-warning, this one is loooooooong! I'm sorry, I like to talk!)
Deciding on Specifics
Floral/Colour Scheme
Even before I realised I wanted a Disney Wedding, I'd starting getting ideas about colours. Jon and I had toyed around with various different times of year and styles for our wedding, but we kept coming back to a summer wedding on our anniversary - June 2nd. This meant that summer colours were needed, and I very quickly remembered a set of tealights I bought from a UK company called PartyLite before Jon and I got together. They were only sold that one summer, and were a set of sorbet based candles that looked like scoops of icecream! I only bougt the tealight versions,but the colors stuck with me!
Once I started looking at Disney I saw that they had done very similar colour schemes in the past, both at weddings and by their events team, giving me more confidence that the three colours worked together. Of course, by the time I realised I wanted a Disney wedding, I had no issues knowing they could pull this off for us! However, I still had very little idea on which types of flowers I might want in my bouquet and other arrangements. This is actually something that became a lot clearer leading up to mother's day in March.
The first picture above is from Disney's event team. The second picture is the flowers I bought for my mum on mother's day. I've always loved the simplicity of gerbera daisies, and knew I wanted them somewhere, but this mix of pink gerberas, orange roses and small yellow daisy-like flowers (I've no idea what they actually are!!) just looks gorgeous to me! I'll have them much more structured and rounded for my bouquet, with less yellow and more pink and orange. I would also very much like a couple of hidden mickey cristals as well!
For my bridesmaids, I want smaller versions of my bouquet, but very similar. I'm planning on asking Emilie if she knows her mother's favourite flower (or possibly asking Frank, her father), and putting a single stem of that into her bouquet. Caroline (Jon's sister, and Emilie's mother) passed away before I met Jon, and i think this would be a really nice way of honouring her memory. I may even do it as a surprise for Emilie!
I'll talk about my ideas for other decorations (including centre pieces) in another post, as I have plenty of ideas! Of course, whether my wedding planner and floral planner can pull these visions off will be a whole other story!
Venues
Once I had finally realised I wanted a Disney wedding, I started looking a lot closer at the different venues available. At this time, we were still in the old pricing structure, when dessert parties were included in the minimums. I immediately fell in love with the idea of a dessert party at UK Lochside, as it's so close to my beloved Rose & Crown. Much as I prefer Wishes as a show (I'm a true Disney dreamer!), Illuminations means more to me, and it was hearing the Illuminations music for the first time in two years after the end of my CRP that made me tear up! So, even when they announced the change in pricing structure, I knew we had to have our dessert party, even if it meant cutting the guest list from nearer 30 to nearer 20.
Initially, I wanted our cermony at the Yacht Club Gazebo. I never had any love for the Wedding Pavillion, and I've always thought that smaller groups look a little bit lost inside it! Personal opinion, but that's how I feel! When I showed pictures of the gazebo to Jon he wasn't so keen. He doesn't get overly vocal about much to do with the wedding, trusting in my vision to make things gorgeous (I know he'll have more to say when it comes to the food!) but when he really doesn't like something he puts his foot down. This was the case with the Gazebo. He was very much against the idea of people looking out their hotel windows/balconies onto our celebration, and potentially appearing on their balcony, naked, in our photos! I conceeded, this was a fair point, and decided to see what he thought of Sea Breeze Point. Thankfully, he liked it, and it was always a close second place for me, so we had our cermony venue!
Our reception venue has always been the trickiest to pin down, and this is where the most recent update comes in. With SBP and UKL on either side, I never wanted to leave the Epcot resort area for our reception. I'd looked at various photos online (
@lurkyloo, your website is awesome for this!), and read the passporter book many times, and couldn't decide on any of the speciality venues. The Attic wasn't the feel we wanted, Atlantic Dance Hall too big, Ariel's too fishy (we're not fish themed). I was reluctant to head inside a park due to the extra venue fees incurred. And so, in my head, we were looking at a ballroom with decorations. (Side note - I adore the tulle twinkle canopies they put up in the ballrooms!) None of the Yacht Club ballrooms were a suitable size, so it came down to either St James Rooms or Marvin Garden's at the Boardwalk. Both have patios suitable for a cocktail hour, both were a good size for tables and for dancing. It seemed right. So, in Feb 2014, when Jon and I were holidaying to Disney (for the first time since i stopped being a CM in Nov 2011!), we spent one afternoon nosying around SBP and the Boardwalk Ballrooms. Jon has the nerve to just walk in and pretend he's meant to be anywhere... I followed meekly!
St James Room and Patio. Note the drinks cans lying around the edge of the room... there was a convention in town, but thankfully not in the convention centre at this time! Having checked our other photos, there was an Arbys sign in the lobby!
Two thirds of Marvin Gardens, in the process of being set up for a dinner presentation! The last picture is the little area in the corridor that looks out onto the patio.
My profile picture is from SBP from the same day. Jon immediately didn't like St James... he said the patio looked like someone's yard! Lol! But he didn't have a lot to say about Marvin Gardens. It was ok! That was Feb '14. Fast forward to March '15, and I contact DFTW. We already knew we had a trip planned for early April, for a friends (non-Disney) wedding, and as such wanted to schedule a site visit. Stacey emailed back with various places, and to organise a phone call. She also sent a bunch of pictures through. These pictures included the Napa Room at California Grill, Living Seas Salon and The American Adventure Parlour and Dining Room among others. Jon and I looked at these together, and he fell in love with Napa room! *headdesk* And so, our site visit was to include Napa Room, Living Seas, and the American Adventure.
Our site visit went well, and Stacey was lovely. My conclusions were vastly different to Jon's. After seeing them all (and we had another look at Marvin Gardens too!), his order of preference was: 1)Living Seas, 2)Napa Room, 3)American Adventure, 4)Marvin Gardens. This was a problem because I could barely even order them by preference of the actual locations! My order was based on more practical things... Napa Room was too far away to still do the Illuminations Dessert Party. Living Seas F&B minimums were crazy high (although I could see a group our size working in that venue quite well). Marvin Gardens and American Adventure both require a fair bit of decoration - MG to make it pretty, AA to de-americanize it (we are Brits after all!). My choice was between MG and AA. When I explained this to Jon he pointed out that he liked all the venues and would be happy anywhere, he just wanted me to be happy. However, if it was between those two, it had to be AA as he really didn't see anything special about a ballroom!
And so (I finally get to my point), we will be trying to book the American Adventure Dining Room and Parlour for our reception!
Next thing to decide will be timings!
Photographer
Last quick point on the one thing that is actually booked - our photographer. Photos are the most important thing to us. They are the one thing that will last for the whole world to see after you've fallen asleep on that magical day. We were always prepared to spend any proportion of our budget on the right photographer.
I sat Jon down one day (he needs pushing into things sometimes), having found various local Orlando photographers' websites, and we went through their galleries. This included all the usuals... Roots, Cricket, David Arnot, Randy Chapman... along with a few others I can't remember now. I didn't tell him prices, and I didn't tell him my favourites (I had two - Roots and Misty Miotto). He picked two aswell, one of which was the same as mine. And so, we booked Misty Miotto for our wedding and for an engagement shoot. We had the engagement shoot on the trip we just took, and we are both really happy we made the right choice from a personality point of view. Misty is lovely, if a bit bossy, but for us that's good! It was the right level of guidance to get the best possible pictures, and I can't wait to get them through and share with you all!!!
I think that's plenty of waffling for now. Next time I'll try and talk a bit more about particular features I have in mind, like centre pieces, napkins, transportation and my hatred for chair covers!
Thank you all for following!
Vikki
P.S. Lurkyloo, I have more pictures from our nosey round the Boardwalk convention centre and Sea Breeze Point if you want them. You would be welcome to add them to your website. DFTW also sent me loads of more up to date AAP&DR pictures, which I'm happy to send you, but I don't know the logistics of you using them!
I'm glad you were able to get your date confirmed with Misty and Patricia!
