Day 2, Friday December 23rd, 2011
Where to begin!
This is the day that I actually got to do some real wedding stuff. Compiling all the information I have at home just does not seem to be real enough for me. When we hit the 1 year mark I felt a rush of wow we really need to get to work now. But, I think I really needed this site visit session.
The day started off by us going to Park Fare 1900. It was hard to get up because the day before had been so long and I was super tired. I was very excited about going to Park Fare so that was my motivation. I love character meals, absolutely love them. Greg had never been to Park Fare before so this was a first for him and for once I got to show him where something was. Many of you may know that Greg has been going to Disney his whole life so he knows a lot about the resorts and the property in general, so this was a moment for me!
The food was your typical breakfast food and I love the yogurt they have at Park Fare. When we got there though Alice and Mary Poppins were only a few tables away so we waited for them to get to our table before we got food.
Alice was great because she was asking us if we were going to be married forever and did we know what forever meant. She said she did not think she could be married forever to the mad hatter. This made me laugh.
Mary poppins was very nice she said her usual thing about our trip being quite an umbrella ride and then announcing to everyone that we were just engaged. It was good fun.
After we ate we walked around in the Grand Floridian a little bit and saw the gingerbread house. We had to do photopass with the gingerbread house but this photographer while being very funny was one of the less awesome photopass photographers on the whole trip. I did like the gingerbread house I thought it was kind of amazing they built something like that and that it was so big.
We went to the Grand Floridian bus stop area to hop on a bus to Downtown Disney. It was probably about 10:20am at this point and we knew we had to be at Fultons Crab House by 11am. We were going to be meeting with our wedding planner from Just Marry! Diana and Vanessa from Fultons. We arrived early to the DTD area it really did not take very long at all. When we got there we decided to walk through some of the shops. The first one we hit was the Art of Disney. I love that place because I love the art there and I love the pictures of cute Stitch that always seem to be in there. After I Ooed and Aahed at several pieces of awesome art we were on our way to Fultons. I love walking around at DTD with Greg it one of the first things we did at Disney together once we got past the point of realizing we really liked each other.
When we got to Fultons we sat on a bench because we did not know what Diana looked like and did not know if she was there so there was that awkwardness of where do we wait? I took some pictures of the outside of Fultons and then I saw some people standing by the door. I said to Greg maybe that is them...so we walked over and sure enough it was. Once we all got introduced Vanessa led us inside to go check out the venue.
When we got up into the room it was a little smaller than I expected but granted there was a christmas tree in the room and a bar. The Bar is removable and there will be no alcohol at our wedding so that will not need to be there. Also it was set up for an event with longer tables and not rounds. I think it will look roomier with rounds and set up differently perhaps. The best part of the venue is the deck that we will have access to. I love the view from the deck and it is going to be nice to have that during the day to be able to go out on and be able to dance on. They really could do more with the decor in the room to make it have more flare but thats ok I do like it how it is. Part of why I wanted to be there was to also use some of the ambiance of the place to accent the wedding decor. There will be a DJ set up in the room but hopefully that will not take up too much space and I think we are planning on setting up the guest book table outside on the deck for people to do the guestbook out there. There will be a table inside that will have the cards for peoples table assignments on it and hopefully also the treasure box that will be created at the ceremony so people can see it. I hope we are not trying to cram too much into the space.
Greg seemed to like everything he really did not have many questions. I clarified with Diana that she would make sure all the decor was set up at the reception site and that the favors would be out and all that jazz. She said absolutely she would have some people helping her and that it would all be taken care of. Once we finished up there we got in Dianas car and she drove us over to the Swan/Dolphin so we could see the ceremony site. Diana seemed pretty excited about using Fultons as a venue because it would be different from anything else she had done in the past.
I forgot to take pictures of the inside of Fultons....oops
Once we got to the Swan we walked through the hotel. It was the first time that I had ever been there so I was very distracted by looking around. We walked out to crescent terrace and Greg realized that he had stayed here several times and always walked past the site and never noticed it. This was kind of an awesome realization because to me it makes the venue more special. Why? Might you ask. Well for me it is because this means that not that many people get married there, it will be kind of secluded and private while still being public and I just love that idea. So while we were standing there at cresecent terrace Diana was explaining the set up for the wedding and what they traditionally do.
The first is that they seat everyone on the platform and the couple get married towards the back of the platform.
The Second is the couple is on the platform and the guests are seated off the platform on the ground level.
Greg started thinking you could see his wheels turning and he asked if the guests were on the platform with us where they would be seated. Diana explained they would be in rows like the picture above making a middle aisle for the bridal party and bride to walk up when they come down the walkway.
picture of walkway
Greg and I talked and I said that I dislike the idea of Bride/Groom side that if we are coming together as a union then so should our families. So as we stood on the platform and brainstormed this is what we came up with. I am going to try to describe it I hope I do a good job. The platform has four angled edges and four flat edges because it is an octagon. We would have on three of the angled sides the chairs set up in rows that would be longer in the back and get shorter as you come towards the middle on the 4th angled edge is where we would stand to get married. Blocking one of the straight edges will be a cocktail table that will hold our unity treasure box. Blocking another of the straight edges will be where the bridal party will stand. This leaves two aisles instead of one.
the area with the tree to the left of the people is where we will stand to take our vows
there are two walkways up to crescent terrace.
the traditional walkway
less traditional closer to the water
so what will happen is the grooms men will come from the walkway traditionally used by the bride. The bridesmaids will come from the other walkway closer to the water. They will each walk up the stairs and aisle closet to them and they will meet in the middle then go stand together to the right of the area where we will stand. I will walk from the walkway by the water and I have yet to decide which aisle I will walk up but I will pick one. Our families will be seated in the front rows of the three sections with seats and then after that all the rest of the guests.
I am not sure you can picture it but I think it will be very cool, very different and unique.
Once we got through that and we got very excited about it being something no one else has ever done we walked back to the lobby and said goodbye to Diana. She was so great and we enjoyed our time with her.
Greg and I then walked around and took pictures of the decor at the Swan because that seemed to be my thing. I wanted to get pictures of all the decor for all my disBride friends.
We then discussed what we would do and we went to the outdoor pool bar and I had a smoothie which was very tasty. We then walked to fantasia gardens to play putt putt.
To be Continued....