twinkybel81 & workmantm's Wishes VR 12.06.16 Japan/ADH/Lochside UPDATE 11/23 Two Weeks Out!

[Aschenputtel]

Your story is really touching and I'm happy to join your ptr! Your e-ring is really unique and yeah for the Roots! I would love to get married in Epcot Japan, but unfortunately that's not possible for Escape weddings (although because we still have to wait quite a while, I'm crossing my fingers that they change their policy ;-)). Eager to hear more and I'm hoping that you will have a better experience from now on with DFTW, but good to know you shouldn't let them know everything, so thanks for sharing!

 

[twinkybel81]

Your story is really touching and I'm happy to join your ptr! Your e-ring is really unique and yeah for the Roots! I would love to get married in Epcot Japan, but unfortunately that's not possible for Escape weddings (although because we still have to wait quite a while, I'm crossing my fingers that they change their policy ;-)). Eager to hear more and I'm hoping that you will have a better experience from now on with DFTW, but good to know you shouldn't let them know everything, so thanks for sharing!

Yay! Thank you for reading along! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that they'll change their policy or make an exception for your wedding.

 

[Sleepybeauty]

Hey! Excited you're Dec 2015- we are too! Haven't started a planning journal, yet...I need to do that.
I spoke with Stacey at Disney yesterday and she was amazing, I'm sorry you're consultant was a bit curt, Stacey seemed totally open to what I said and I did mention the podcast. I'm anxiously awaiting to hear back from the Roots- love their work and I'm hopeful we can have them as our photographers. We're doing wishes as well, sea breeze point and then either grand Floridian or Epcot reception. Torn between Epcot or sago cay, with sago cay you can see the celebrations fireworks, I believe.
We have littles involved in the wedding and look forward to seeing how you incorporate your stepson in the wedding- looking for some creative ideas. I sort of thought about using candy in a jar instead of sand? That way we could eat the finished product...we have 3 boys so I don't think candles are a brilliant idea!
Nice to meet you and look forward to sharing a journey with you!

Sleepy beauty

 

[twinkybel81]

Hey! Excited you're Dec 2015- we are too! Haven't started a planning journal, yet...I need to do that.
I spoke with Stacey at Disney yesterday and she was amazing, I'm sorry you're consultant was a bit curt, Stacey seemed totally open to what I said and I did mention the podcast. I'm anxiously awaiting to hear back from the Roots- love their work and I'm hopeful we can have them as our photographers. We're doing wishes as well, sea breeze point and then either grand Floridian or Epcot reception. Torn between Epcot or sago cay, with sago cay you can see the celebrations fireworks, I believe.
We have littles involved in the wedding and look forward to seeing how you incorporate your stepson in the wedding- looking for some creative ideas. I sort of thought about using candy in a jar instead of sand? That way we could eat the finished product...we have 3 boys so I don't think candles are a brilliant idea!
Nice to meet you and look forward to sharing a journey with you!

Sleepy beauty

Nice to meet you too! Yay December 2015 brides! What date are you looking to have your wedding?

Glad you had a good experience with your consultant. I think I may be driving Kristi crazy with all my questions and trying to schedule our site visit. I'm trying really hard not to bombard her, but I'm excited and we've been coming up with questions for a couple months and now I have someone to ask.

I'm still hopeful that in the end we will get along just fine, especially after we get to meet her in person and spend some time with her on our site visit. I may look into getting her a gift, but we will see.

Let me know when you start your PJ, I'll look forward to following along! 3 boys, oh my! Just having the one keeps me pretty busy (among other life things), I can't even imagine having 3, that's awesome for you.

 

[Sleepybeauty]

Thanks! We're looking at 12/15/15 but are open to anytime that week- I've been on here mostly and working on the photography/videography vendors and working out those angles so haven't had too much for the planner, yet, but I'm sure I will. I really trust that it will turn out well in the end so I'm feeling confident we'll work it all out!

 

[twinkybel81]

Thanks! We're looking at 12/15/15 but are open to anytime that week- I've been on here mostly and working on the photography/videography vendors and working out those angles so haven't had too much for the planner, yet, but I'm sure I will. I really trust that it will turn out well in the end so I'm feeling confident we'll work it all out!

Nice! We are looking at the week before you (hoping for the 7th or 8th). Kristi says that Japan is an uncommon request, so we shouldn't be in competition for that. We have narrowed down our reception locations to a few spots and are hoping that our site visit in a couple months will help us finalize our decision.

The other thing we are hoping to do is a Wishes dessert party at the Top of the World Lounge at Bay Lake Tower. It is an exclusive location for DVC members (which we are), so we are hoping to be able to rent it out for a dessert party. I spoke to Kristi about it already and she said that we would need to speak to them directly because DFTW doesn't deal with that location at all, because DVC is very protective about it. I had already tried calling directly a couple weeks prior, and was basically told that I needed to be there in person to speak to the duty manager. So, we are hoping to be able to do that to be able to get some kind of information about whether it's even on the table.

What locations and venues are you two looking at?

 

[Sleepybeauty]

That sounds amazing!!! Wedding at sea breeze point, for sure, reception either at sago cay or the white hall room or an Epcot reception at Italy isola or one of the French areas- leaning towards sago with white hall as a weather back up due to the view of the MK fireworks. They also don't allow characters at Epcot and I need Mickey and Minnie
We're doing a 5 ceremony with a rather epic tapas reception and dessert bar, or sit down dinner and dessert bar- still planning
What are you planning for food? The location sounds amazing!!! Will be exciting if you can do that, we have lots if family DVC members so are wondering what to do with a room block? Stacey said the DVC nights count if you get DFTW the reservation codes, not sure if other guests will stay with the room discount or not because I believe Disney dining packages can sometimes be a better deal and they aren't included?

 

[twinkybel81]

That sounds amazing!!! Wedding at sea breeze point, for sure, reception either at sago cay or the white hall room or an Epcot reception at Italy isola or one of the French areas- leaning towards sago with white hall as a weather back up due to the view of the MK fireworks. They also don't allow characters at Epcot and I need Mickey and Minnie
We're doing a 5 ceremony with a rather epic tapas reception and dessert bar, or sit down dinner and dessert bar- still planning
What are you planning for food? The location sounds amazing!!! Will be exciting if you can do that, we have lots if family DVC members so are wondering what to do with a room block? Stacey said the DVC nights count if you get DFTW the reservation codes, not sure if other guests will stay with the room discount or not because I believe Disney dining packages can sometimes be a better deal and they aren't included?

I'm a nerd, you already said all of those, sorry. I think Sea Breeze Pointe is beautiful, it is on my list as a back up in Epcot doesn't work out for some reason.

I think a tapas reception sounds AWESOME!!! I love tapas! And I've not heard of anyone doing that before, so it would be really unique.

For food, I think right now we are leaning towards a brunch buffet (whatever time of day meal we end up having, there will be Mickey Waffles!) and for cake, I want to just have a top tier made, so that we have something to cut, and have filled cupcakes to be served to the guests. I'm a huge cupcake person. Thinking we won't do any extra desserts for during the reception, to save on costs. I think right now we are leaning toward having the reception at the American Adventure Parlor, but out in the main parlor area, not the dining room area, those ceilings are way too low and the pictures make me feel claustrophobic. Also considering the Tower of Terror courtyard or The Magic of Animation building at Hollywood Studios, but those both have higher food & beverage minimums because they have to be after park hours and therefore a dinner reception, and that would also mean no DP that night, and it would be a long break between events for our guests. Haven't even started to look at what to serve at the dessert party yet, although likely we will offer one or two desserts and then something savory. I listened to a podcast earlier this week that suggested doing that, since not everyone is a dessert person, and I thought it was a great idea, since I tend to prefer savory over sweet most of the time.

Haven't gotten the room block thing completely figured out/decided on yet. Our basic plan right now is to use all of our DVC points to book a bunch of rooms, obviously some for us, but then we are going to offer the rooms to the people in our wedding party, and my parents (Dad has been out of work for over a year, so we are going to be paying for a significant portion of their trip). We are also planning on offering rooms to our officiant and my potential MUA, they are both personal friends, but they also both happen to be cast members, so we aren't sure if they will want to book their own rooms at their discounts or not. Which, if they do, we will look into reimbursing them as our payment for their services. We will still set up a room block, likely at Animal Kingdom (that's where we are DVC owners) and at a Value Resort, since most everyone on our invite list is on a tighter budget, and it will cut down on transportation costs for the wedding, since we will have to use Disney's transportation because of needing backstage access for our venues.

 

[Sleepybeauty]

You brought up such a great point- if we use sea breeze and GF we won't need backstage access and could use other transport...the luxury buses on the podcast seemed like our best bet, though! You sound like you have some amazing ideas!!!im loving watching it come together!

 

[twinkybel81]

You brought up such a great point- if we use sea breeze and GF we won't need backstage access and could use other transport...the luxury buses on the podcast seemed like our best bet, though! You sound like you have some amazing ideas!!!im loving watching it come together!

I liked the sound of the luxury vans as well. I will probably start sharing some inspiration photos soon. The Husband hasn't seen most of them, because it's too early for making decisions, so he'd rather wait and has other things that are more important requiring his attentions and focus at the moment.

 

[twinkybel81]

Just a quick update. We got confirmation for our site visit yesterday!! We sent our list of the sites we would like to visit to our consultant today, hoping that we hear back from her tomorrow on whether the locations are available during the date and time of our visit. She only works MWF, so so far she doesn't seem to respond to things on Tuesdays or Thursdays.

That also means that we were able to confirm our family photo shoot with the Roots!!!! We signed our contract and made our deposit today. I'm so ridiculously excited and happy.

Both of these will happen on the first day of our WDW vacation next month, 9/29.

 

[Sleepybeauty]

I feel behind or something!!! You have things moving so well!!! We're talking to Roots as well, not sure we'll do a site visit, probably a planning visit in April, though.
I do have an appointment at a bridal trunk show the end of the month so getting that moving! I can't wait to hear about your visit!!!!

 

[edeneye]

Congrats on getting your site visit confirmed! Hopefully that will be a more positive experience with your consultant and then the ball really gets rolling. It's a shame things haven't been quite up to Disney's magical standard so far, we absolutely loved our consultant and hopefully you'll get along great by the time you meet in person. It's great that you've been researching, I've been doing the same and I'm so glad I did. I too have been told that every wedding is unique and it's hard to compare circumstances but it's so critical knowing what questions to ask and what options are out there. Disney can give you a lot of scope to dream and create but if you don't realise that and/or don't know what's possible then you could end up selling yourself short so good on you for doing so much research and asking lots of questions - don't be afraid to keep it up!

 

[twinkybel81]

I feel behind or something!!! You have things moving so well!!! We're talking to Roots as well, not sure we'll do a site visit, probably a planning visit in April, though.
I do have an appointment at a bridal trunk show the end of the month so getting that moving! I can't wait to hear about your visit!!!!

I'm sure you aren't behind! We've already had our WDW vacation planned for about a year and a half, long before we even started talking about a Disney wedding (which was only about 2 months ago). We just figured that since we were already going to be out there, it would probably be prudent to try and schedule the site visit, and a "getting to know you" photo session with the Roots if at all possible. We are fortunate that everything worked out, with minimal rearranging even!

Side note: I can be a little on the obsessive side when I get excited about something, so as soon as we started talking about doing a Disney wedding, I went crazy with researching/image/inspiration collecting. I'm hoping to start sharing some of the inspiration pics soon, but I want to show them to The Husband first, rather than having him see them on here for the first time.

Yay for the trunk show! I've never been to one, and have only tried on a few dresses thus far, but I may be going to a charity dress event next month, the weekend after we return from Florida. Hope you have so much fun, can't wait to hear about it!

 

[twinkybel81]

Congrats on getting your site visit confirmed! Hopefully that will be a more positive experience with your consultant and then the ball really gets rolling. It's a shame things haven't been quite up to Disney's magical standard so far, we absolutely loved our consultant and hopefully you'll get along great by the time you meet in person. It's great that you've been researching, I've been doing the same and I'm so glad I did. I too have been told that every wedding is unique and it's hard to compare circumstances but it's so critical knowing what questions to ask and what options are out there. Disney can give you a lot of scope to dream and create but if you don't realise that and/or don't know what's possible then you could end up selling yourself short so good on you for doing so much research and asking lots of questions - don't be afraid to keep it up!

Thank you for your support! I fully intend to continue researching, and offering alternative ideas/questions when I have them, especially because I know we are not the "typical" Disney/wedding couple and want a lot of out of the box stuff. I'm also just going to try and be a little more aware of how I am wording things and my tone. I tend to be rather direct and no nonsense, and unfortunately people can misread that as being rude or me not liking them, which isn't the case (most of the time )

In her response to my last several questions, she also attached a picture of a ceremony they did last week at our desired location, because she thought I would enjoy seeing it, which I thought was very thoughtful and it definitely made me smile.

 

[edeneye]

haha I know exactly what you mean! My fiancee is that very same way. For that reason, I've been handling almost all the communications, she tends to be quite short and direct and it can get taken as abrupt and if someone responds in kind then it can be a bad scene! That's great that she's thinking of you guys like that, they know so much and are really really resourceful people. It's definitely surprised me in past when I've heard my coordinator mention things she's been looking into in the periods when I don't hear from them. Lots of communication with them is great for that reason, we worry about bombarding our consultant/planner a bit too but now they really seem to understand us and have a feel for things we like and it's exciting to see what they can come up with.

 

[twinkybel81]

haha I know exactly what you mean! My fiancee is that very same way. For that reason, I've been handling almost all the communications, she tends to be quite short and direct and it can get taken as abrupt and if someone responds in kind then it can be a bad scene! That's great that she's thinking of you guys like that, they know so much and are really really resourceful people. It's definitely surprised me in past when I've heard my coordinator mention things she's been looking into in the periods when I don't hear from them. Lots of communication with them is great for that reason, we worry about bombarding our consultant/planner a bit too but now they really seem to understand us and have a feel for things we like and it's exciting to see what they can come up with.

Sounds like your fiancee and I would get along just fine!

 

[twinkybel81]

Warning: this is going to be a picture heavy post! I finally had the chance to show The Husband some of the inspiration photos I had collected for Save the Dates. Below are some of what I showed him.

floral background not included

He most liked the Fast Pass or Key to the World ideas, so now we are focusing our attentions more in that direction. He would like to try and do the Save the Dates ourselves, rather than through whoever will do our invitations, which overall is fine by me. The only reason I had been thinking to use the same vendor for both was that I was thinking there would be a potential discount for purchasing everything through one vendor. We may try designing it ourselves, or ask a friend of ours who does graphic design to help us create the file and then have them printed ourselves. Here are some of the more concentrated inspiration photos. I also haven't ruled out using one of the mansion photos as a faded background with text. I think we are both in agreement on having them be magnets. I love the idea of having them be postcards, but with the information just being out there for anyone to see doesn't go along with our preferred level of security, so those are off the table.

Thoughts or comments are welcome!

 

[twinkybel81]

Probably going to have to take a break from posting here for awhile, likely until we are closer to signing the contract. I will try to post about how the site visit went next month.

 

[LadyD]

I love your theme!! We were considering a Nightmare Before Christmas theme as well for a while. From our experience with Disneyland, the DFTW are an interesting beast. Since the weddings are so customizable, it is so hard to know what your options are without the help of previous brides experiences since they don't exactly give you a brochure for every single possibility of what you can do for your wedding. Since one of the big features of the wishes wedding is that customization, you'd think they'd be a little more enthusiastic to what you're doing you're research to come up with a clear idea of the kind of day you would like to make it easier on them to present you with options you may actually say yes to. One thing I have learned from our planning experience out here is you may as well ask and see if something is possible no matter how impossible you think it would be. Their responses can be very interesting and enlightening (and sometimes very expensive haha).