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

[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

 

[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

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!!!

 

[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!!!

 

[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!!!

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]

 

[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!)

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%!!!!!

 

[April Elizabeth]

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

 

[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

 

[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!!!

 

[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!!!

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 . 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 .

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

Glad your back!
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

 

[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… 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!” 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!
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

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...