Jess & Dave's Swan & Dolphin 2013 Wedding! Update 29/07/12!

[Jilian]

Il Mulino let us do a menu tasting but that was after we had already booked. If you haven't booked yet you could ask. Worst case you could jut have dinner there, I hear that you can get great coupons from restaurant.com for Il Mulino

[Icecoldpenguin]

We did a site visit at the swan and met with our wedding coordinator. We also got to see the space for fulton's. I did not even think about doing a menu tasting with them oops. I think you should be able to and it should be fine. I really hope that you can make the trip.

Teresa

[jessiegirl84]

Thank you so much ladies for the suggestions!!

**Just a quick update**
We have decided to go!! YAHH!! and we have booked too!
We are staying at Pop with free dinning(yah!) from 7 - 16 September !! We are so so excited! I have already made a few ADR's hehe but waiting to hear back from Randy about if our dates are ok for an engagement shoot, then i'll speak to Beaute Speciale about getting my hair and makeup trial done. We are thinking we might get our photos done at Pop we love it there! Il Mulino and Just Marry are both happy to meet up, so once we have locked down the few others, then we can make arrangements to meet up with them and try out the meals at Il Mulino. Then we are also going to take a day trip out, maybe even to check out wedding dresses !! but we are going to stop in at Its Tasty Too to taste test some cakes!

Anything else I've missed, that I should look into?

Thankyou xx

[MrsDuck]

YAY for going!!

I think taking pictures at POP! would be an awesome place-- such a fun shoot!

All of your plans sound great-- definitely meet up with It's Tasty Too, Just Marry, and Il Mulino!

I'm trying to think of other places you should see and I can't think of any more aside from Beaute Speciale and Randy! Maybe the other girls will have some ideas?

So excited for you!!

[nic100308]

Just wanted to say hi!! Your plans seem beautiful, I can't wait to hear more. I too and a planner so I'm with ya there, girl!!

Have you worked out any of the details like invitations? Oooo have you gone dress shopping yet!?!?!

[Shannon84]

You'll be there the week before our wedding at the Swan!! YAY for getting free dining and it is going to be a great trip I bet!!

[nic100308]

We're going to be using our DVC so no free dinning for us, but we do always get the DDP. First, it's just really convenient to have our meals paid for and second we are foodies and dinning is part of our "relaxation".

We're also going to purchase a Tables in Wonderland card. I believe it is $100 and you can use it with the DP to get a discount and things that are not covered in the plan (ie- glass of wine). Our "reception" is going to be a dinner at the Yachtsman and we estimated our bill at around $2000 for 18 people (we're going to use dining credits, might as well.) Anyway, you get a 20% discount. We will both need to purchase one which will be $150 (you can only have 10 guests on one card) but that's a $400 discount for our wedding dinner!! And 20% on anything else during our Disneymoon!

[jessiegirl84]

Originally Posted by MrsDuck

YAY for going!!

I think taking pictures at POP! would be an awesome place-- such a fun shoot!

All of your plans sound great-- definitely meet up with It's Tasty Too, Just Marry, and Il Mulino!

I'm trying to think of other places you should see and I can't think of any more aside from Beaute Speciale and Randy! Maybe the other girls will have some ideas?

So excited for you!!

Thankyou for the suggestions, we are just waiting on confirmation from Randy for our engagement shoot, then I have to organise Beaute Speciale for the hair and makeup trial before the photos yah!

We are so excited, I still can't believe we are going back!

Originally Posted by nic100308

Just wanted to say hi!! Your plans seem beautiful, I can't wait to hear more. I too and a planner so I'm with ya there, girl!!

Have you worked out any of the details like invitations? Oooo have you gone dress shopping yet!?!?!

Hii !! Thankyou. hehe I love all this planning stuff its just great, I really wish I could do it as my full time job hehe. I think we are going to get our invitations from Wendy at Everafterprintables on Etsy, there is so many beautiful invitations to choose from!! Haven't gone dress shopping yet, I really don't want to fall in love with one so far away from the big day hehe but my 2 sisters are really excited and want to go asap! So I will let you all know how we go if we decide to go in a few weeks.

Originally Posted by Shannon84

You'll be there the week before our wedding at the Swan!! YAY for getting free dining and it is going to be a great trip I bet!!

I just found your planning journal yah!! I would love to meet up with you before your wedding! We are happy we got free dinning yah its definitely going to be a great trip, just not looking forward to the flight, we leave at 11am on 7th and arrive on 7th at 6pm, sounds like only 7hours but its actually more like 17hours eeekk!

Originally Posted by nic100308

We're going to be using our DVC so no free dinning for us, but we do always get the DDP. First, it's just really convenient to have our meals paid for and second we are foodies and dinning is part of our "relaxation".

We're also going to purchase a Tables in Wonderland card. I believe it is $100 and you can use it with the DP to get a discount and things that are not covered in the plan (ie- glass of wine). Our "reception" is going to be a dinner at the Yachtsman and we estimated our bill at around $2000 for 18 people (we're going to use dining credits, might as well.) Anyway, you get a 20% discount. We will both need to purchase one which will be $150 (you can only have 10 guests on one card) but that's a $400 discount for our wedding dinner!! And 20% on anything else during our Disneymoon!

Ohh that sounds like something we might have to look into, as we are thinking about upgrading our tickets before we leave to annual passes! So I might look into this Tables in Wonderland. Thanks for the information We loved having the dinning plan when were were there in December it was just so easy!

[jessiegirl84]

Just wanted to let you all know, that we booked in Randy for our engagement photo session! 14 September at Pop yah we are so excited! Plus we confirmed Beaute Speciale for a hair & makeup trial that day too!

[MrsDuck]

Originally Posted by jessiegirl84

Just wanted to let you all know, that we booked in Randy for our engagement photo session! 14 September at Pop yah we are so excited! Plus we confirmed Beaute Speciale for a hair & makeup trial that day too!

Great news!

[BecBennett]

Noticed your PJ link in your siggy, so I thought I'd pop in and have a look around

I'm so jealous that you get to do a site visit and everything like that! I would have loved to have had that chance!

BTW wedding dresses in the US are so much cheaper then here, so if you find The Dress, then I suggest you buy it!

I printed my STDs out as photos too, it was so handy to be able to print them for around 10c.

I think there was other stuff that I wanted to comment on, but they've completely skipped my mind!

You're going to have so much fun!

[tinkerbell 766]

Hi Jessie sweetie. Glad to hear all your plans are going so well and that you have booked to do a site visit. How exciting!!!

[Jilian]

Congrats on booking a trip and booking Randy!

[jessiegirl84]

Hi ladies, I'm sorry I haven't been around much.
I have been struggling with our decision to go with Swan & Dolphin so I have been tossing around ideas. But now we have just realised that we won't get our deposits back from Just Marry ($1200) and STVS if we cancel them too ($200).
But at the moment our budget is getting close to $20k is that ridiculous, surely I could get a DFTW cheaper than that? Plus I would get the Magic Kingdom photo shoot!
Can I post my budget here for our S&D wedding and see what you girls think? I have recently added some extra floral, as I am worried, if it rains then we will move inside and it will looks very dodgy with not much floral. Given its September and in the afternoon, its definitely a possibility hay?

Ok so here goes!
All of my prices will include gratuity & tax

Ceremony
Just Marry fee - $3000
including - celebrant, 1 floral arch, arch, aisle petals, aisle runner.
Bus Hire for our guests - $414
Harpist - $350
Hair & Makeup - $195
Flowers - $827 will probably go through just marry - just an guess for this price.
2x bouquets, 7x bouts, 6 flower balls, 2 side floral sprays
Cake & Favours - $264
Its Tasty Too
Minnie & Mickey - $1560

Reception
Il Mulino
Cocktail pre-reception - $1280
$1000 min spend
Dinner - $60pp (based on 30people) $2295
Beverages - $2550
Extra coordinator services from Just Marry - $500


Photography & Videography
Randy Chapman - $525
STVS - $672
In park shoot @ EPCOT - $1052

Welcome firework party at EPCOT - roughly $2000

so if my calculations are correct about $17, 400.
Plus another $3k for wedding dress, stationary and all that other fun stuff its works out close to $20k!
So I guess now I am really questioning, could I get more value for money if I went with DFTW.
Or maybe I should consider swapping to a ceremony in the morning, to reduce the reception costs, won't have to pay for as much booze & food i am guessing? If that was the case, anyone have any recommendations for a lunch reception?
Ohh i don't want to turn into a wedding bridezilla haha! Plus we have our trip coming up in September to do meet and greet with our vendors I want to have this sorted very soon!
Any help you girls could offer would be very much appreciated.

Thank you all so very much for your help

[MrsDuck]

I think you could get your floral budget a bit lower. There are all sorts of tips and tricks on how to minimize floral costs. Maybe once you talk to your planner/florist that number will come down?

I think you get more bang for your buck with S/D. I'd recommend looking at some DFTW girls' BEO's and seeing how they compare price wise to what you're looking for!

If you decide to stay with S/D, I'd go for a morning ceremony. Why?
1. It will be cooler temperature wise!
2. Less chance of rain in the morning
3. Cheaper for lunch

Michelle and Russell had a lunch time reception at BlueZoo and it was GORGEOUS! Here is a blog spotlight on their wedding: http://www.disneyweddingblog.com/201...e-russell.html

And here is their budget breakdown and their video: http://www.disneyweddingblog.com/201...-michelle.html

Maybe those links can help?

I also have to recommend my reception venue: Garden Grove. We are paying $30/pp for a dinner buffet and since our wedding is on a Saturday, Goofy and Pluto come to the restaurant (saves me $$ on characters). The only thing to remember is that you cannot reserve it for a private reception. BUT, we are being accommodated on the "top tier" of the restaurant and we should wind up taking up the whole space almost making it kinda private-ish.

I know I'm biased since I'm an S/D girl but I think it would still be cheaper to stay with S/D based on what I've seen from DFTW girls. Whatever you choose to do, you can't go wrong! Your wedding will be wonderful!