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[Bolanette87]

Ok well here is the Dessert Party...I will keep working on posting the rest:

Modified Petite Classic @ 30.00 pp
Cheesecake (with cherries if possible)
Chocolate Eclairs
Chocolate Banana Brownies
Chocolate Fudge Brownies
Linzer Diamonds
Cream Horns
Bread Pudding

$60 for the clear vases with gel
$250 Venue Fee
$75 set up fee

Total cost $1946

Sounds great! Wheres my invite again?!

Bob xoxox

 

[MainStMandy]

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[MainStMandy]

Everything sounds tasty! But what are Linzer Diamonds?

I don't remember...our WP told. I think it's some kind of pastry with cream.

Sounds great! Wheres my invite again?!

Bob xoxox

Um...in the mail??

 

[Bolanette87]

Um...in the mail??

Bob xoxoxox

 

[JustMickey]

Oooh I love looking at BEOs! It stinks that you have to cut it so much though

I like what someone else said a little earlier. Maybe if you had an idea of an overall budget (including everything) then you could spend less on the other stuff (photography, etc) in order to leave more for Disney.

Good luck!

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Your DP sounds fantastic!!! I feel a bit behind your PJ, have you picked a photographer yet? I guess the BEO isn't that bad considering it has everything you dreamed of, I bet there is a lot you can cut! It will be interesting to see what you two decide on!!

 

[LoveDisney!!!]

Lol yup!!!


I'm a very careful budgeter so I know how much expendable money a month we have. So right now everything goes toward the deposit, which we almost have, then after that everything goes toward that other list. Plus we have some money coming from my brothe, refund from Randy and possibly more money from my mom Right now 1313 and Roots is pretty even as far as cost plus we have the deposit all set. Those little things are not the issue right now...cutting $10,000 from the BEO is, lol.

Like I said, we are ok with keeping things simple. There are a few things that are must have's to us (my bouquet, Eric wants Mickey/Minnie) but other things we are going to be ok with cutting. It seems daunting but I think we can do it

I'm glad you have it all figured out!

It would stress me to no end to have to save several thousand dollars a month just for the wedding on top of other normal savings and then saving for a baby and house.

 

[Lindsay22]

Have you posted your menu?
We cut a lot out of our menu and no one noticed at all. (We cut out fish, a salad and something else that I don't remember...) We also cut out a lot of cocktail hour food (my thought was that people are only there for 45 mins or so.... how much food do they need?)
We also used the BOC bar and ended up getting about $2k back.

Also, we cut out ALL of our personal transportation. We walked from the Grand to the WP (if it rained, my father had a car that he rented and he would have shuttled us over). We took the bus that we had booked for our guests to the reception. That saved us about $1k.

We also cut stupid things that I didn't think anyone would notice (little stupid things like rose petals on the tables for $20/table, all of our cocktail hour decorations) We also did an existing beverage toast and just had 1 bottle of champagne for the two of us.

Linens- I agree that you need linens on those tables, but why not go with standard black cocktail linens and then a colored napkin (that's what we did and the napkin allowed a pop of color on the tables and were only $1 each) Also, we got the cheaper (cotton) chair covers for $8.50 rather than the satin ones for $10.50.

If you are having a special dessert I would drop that. We had the glass slipper dessert and I wish I had cut it. Don't get me wrong, I loved it and it was cute... but everyone had cake already and the cake slices are huge. The extra dessert (at $20/pp) was just not needed. (Especially if you are having a dessert party the day before)

Favors- We found plastic glass slippers for 10 cents a piece. We filled them with M&Ms and wrapped them in cellophane. Including the wrapping, we spent approx 50 cents on each favor. They looked cute, they went with our theme, they were chocolate. There was a point where I even contemplated making them double as place cards by attaching a name and table number to each one.

There are lots and lots of ways to cut things down.

 

[PeytonSdiz]

Oooh I love looking at BEOs! It stinks that you have to cut it so much though

I like what someone else said a little earlier. Maybe if you had an idea of an overall budget (including everything) then you could spend less on the other stuff (photography, etc) in order to leave more for Disney.

Good luck!

I wondered about the overall budget too. Because if your overall budget is something like $20,000 then you have $7000 worth of stuff you could possibly cut to put more money towards Disney stuff.

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

They have the glass slippers at Micheal's. You could do the slipper yourself and have someone put them out at each table.

We were going to use those, but our group was so large and we were getting candy and treats everyday in our fish extenders..

I decided not to do a favor other than the little blue magnets for every one's door. Usually I am not big on putting the B&G name on something they will just toss but there is a big deal about making door signs on the cruise. My bridesmaids and other people in our group made those for us and someone gave us the wipe off board which was great to let people in the group know where you are.

Gee..sorry I just hijacked your PJ with my blabber..I am hyper today.

 

[DisneyBrideToni]

I found the MK shoot to be the biggest waste of my money. Sure it is a fun experience but the amount of money you pay for that session and what you get is total crap. All we got was a box full of 4x6 pictures and a little 4x6 album with 12 pictures in it that Disney picked. Not worth waking up that early and spending that money. LOL

 

[Lindsay22]

I'm sure I have extra slippers....

 

[LoveDisney!!!]

Have you posted your menu?
We cut a lot out of our menu and no one noticed at all. (We cut out fish, a salad and something else that I don't remember...) We also cut out a lot of cocktail hour food (my thought was that people are only there for 45 mins or so.... how much food do they need?)
We also used the BOC bar and ended up getting about $2k back.

Also, we cut out ALL of our personal transportation. We walked from the Grand to the WP (if it rained, my father had a car that he rented and he would have shuttled us over). We took the bus that we had booked for our guests to the reception. That saved us about $1k.

We also cut stupid things that I didn't think anyone would notice (little stupid things like rose petals on the tables for $20/table, all of our cocktail hour decorations) We also did an existing beverage toast and just had 1 bottle of champagne for the two of us.

Linens- I agree that you need linens on those tables, but why not go with standard black cocktail linens and then a colored napkin (that's what we did and the napkin allowed a pop of color on the tables and were only $1 each) Also, we got the cheaper (cotton) chair covers for $8.50 rather than the satin ones for $10.50.

If you are having a special dessert I would drop that. We had the glass slipper dessert and I wish I had cut it. Don't get me wrong, I loved it and it was cute... but everyone had cake already and the cake slices are huge. The extra dessert (at $20/pp) was just not needed. (Especially if you are having a dessert party the day before)

Favors- We found plastic glass slippers for 10 cents a piece. We filled them with M&Ms and wrapped them in cellophane. Including the wrapping, we spent approx 50 cents on each favor. They looked cute, they went with our theme, they were chocolate. There was a point where I even contemplated making them double as place cards by attaching a name and table number to each one.

There are lots and lots of ways to cut things down.

Those are great ideas.

I like the thought of making the favors too. If you want chocolate, you can get a mold of practically anything (Michaels has them, but you can also find them online). You just melt the chocolate down and pour into the mold. You can add anything to them as well (nuts, mix the chocolate, etc). Heck, if you want zebra striped, just alternate white and dark chocolate in the mold. It doesn't take much time at all.

 

[tinker&belle]

Hi Mandy-

I don't usually post to this board, but I've been reading some of the pjs to get some ideas for my DH's stepbrother's wedding (I am good friends with the bride.) They are getting married at a lodge that is kind of between AK and Wilderness lodge, so I was looking for ideas for them since she has asked for some help.

You have two very nice locations. You and Eric seem like a really nice couple. I am a wee bit jealous I would have loved to get married at Disney!

I noticed you were talking about your budget, things to cut etc. I am a few years past my wedding. (We got married about 6 years ago.) My biggest regret is not looking at the whole picture and picking and choosing what REALLY matters as far as saving money goes.

With retrospect I would make sure to make family a priority. Get lots of generational shots and with everyone you love. In the last three years I lost my brother to suicide and DH lost his mother to cancer. Pictures of family are so important and priceless. Make those memories with family (yours and Eric's)a major priority. I can't remember (I've read several reports, haven't read all of yours) if all of both families get to come. If not, maybe you can come up with a special way to celebrate and make memories with the others?

Besides that, everything else is literally icing on the cake. You have two beautiful locations. I would dress up the tables at the reception, and focus on tying things together. Since your colors are really different between both locations, don't focus so much on tying the two parts together, just make each lovely in it's own way. (For example if the pink part of the cake is very expensive, just pick something basic to go with where you are.)

I would also consider using your own transportation, and making your own favors.

That is just MHO, it is worth what you paid for it. I just know I did a wedding on a shoe string budget, and everyone still had a really good time and the only thing people remember are the food, drinks and dancing.

Hope you have a wonderful wedding and I wish you the best.

 

[MainStMandy]

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[MainStMandy]

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[MainStMandy]

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[Lindsay22]

Why in the world are you being charged $1100 for an Ipod setup? I was charged $650 for an Ipod in AAR and I'd think that's a bigger area. You have so many more options for that price...

Flute from $575.00
Classical Guitarist from $575.00
Harpist from $800.00
Pianist (Piano rental included) from $820.00
Violinist from $575.00
Vocalist for ceremony from $650.00
Violin/Flute Duo from $1,030.00

And a DJ is only $1500. If you are doing an Ipod to save money, I personally would skip it and go with a guitarist... Then if you have a specific song you want played (for a first dance, etc) buy some good ipod speakers and hook it up yourself.

I would also get rid of two of your starches. You have Risotto, Mashed Potatos and Mac and Cheese. Pick one, get rid of the other two and your guests won't know the difference. It also might be cheaper if you got rid of the NY Strip and substituted that with the beef carving station. I also think I already mentioned the bottles of champagne for the toast. I don't think anyone noticed or cared that they toasted with whatever was in their hands.

Now the cake. My cake was $12.50 pp and it was not the cheapest. So if you did my cake with 40 guests, you'd be paying $500. (The Happily Ever After cake) I believe that they have cakes for $8.50/pp (the one with the mickey stamped in there??) if you picked one of those cakes you'd be at $340. (I'm reasonably sure that you can pick the color of the stamps too) Basically, your first cake is so complicated that it will take a ton of extra time to make. Get the simplest cake you can find and use that. Then, if you REALLY want to cut something a little fancier, get a MINI cake to cut.

Oh, and this might be a dumb question.... but why are you having an AK park shoot if your reception is there? Even though you won't have a prof photographer at your reception you will still have a ton of pictures there (some of my favorite pictures were captured by our guests)

Can you cut down your video package?

 

[PeytonSdiz]

I wondered about the overall budget too. Because if your overall budget is something like $20,000 then you have $7000 worth of stuff you could possibly cut to put more money towards Disney stuff.

In all honesty we are pretty set in our budget for the wedding. We don't feel comfortable spending more than the $13k on the wedding. We have also discussed what we feel comfortable with as far as the other items (photographer, Eric's tux) and some things are set, like paying for the dining plan for the honeymoon.

No, I understand that you're set on $13k with Disney. I was just talking about the overall budget. Like, if you were to sit down and add up EVERYTHING - disney (13k), dress, invitations, veil, honeymoon expenses, tux, airfare, etc. I know that a lot of that stuff is already paid for though.

As far as the BEO, the first thing I'd change would be the transportation. That seems pretty steep.

 

[PeytonSdiz]

Oh yeah, and I see you have 40 guests listed. Do you have 40 confirmed guests or is there a chance that number will change?