Obviously I am not working all that much today. In reality, I should be planning a menu for Easter dinner with DH’s family on Sunday, but I figure I’ll wing it when I get to the grocery store. Yes, you should be laughing, because this is the worst possible idea ever.
Whole Foods + No Grocery List = BAD THINGS
(Well, good things, but BAD for checking account! And waistline.
)
Anyway, I thought next I would tell you what I requested from the event planning staff at the YC to compare to what they come back with / cost. Hopefully this will give you a better idea of how things break out if you decide to plan your own event in the future!
Timing: I requested to have this event on Saturday evening, the final day of our trip. This can be a bit of a gamble, as most weddings occur on the weekends – however due to the small nature of our party (just the two of us!) we do have a bit more flexibility in some of the parks.
It looks like our event will run about 5 hours altogether, it’s certainly a longer even than just a private dinner.
Location, Location, Location!: As you all know, I originally decided upon the Tamu Tamu courtyard in the Animal Kingdom, which we are no longer going to be at. However, the event planner and I spoke about TONS of spaces in the parks that might work. No events can be held in the Magic Kingdom, I should point out. Some of the areas we chatted about:
•DHS: Hollywood Hideaway, Tower of Terror Coutyard, The Great Movie Ride
•AK: Belvedere Palace Ruins, Tamu Tamu Courtyard, Conservation Station, Upcountry Docks and Overlook, “mystery location”.
•Epcot: Originally discussed Rose and Crown, but Epcot (and to some extent,
DHS) is a bit tricky when it comes to timing. We wanted to do a private event AFTER a park had closed. Most of what Epcot offers is just private space while the park is open (at least from my discussions and timing request)
Other things I’ve learned about the locations:
•Events start anywhere between 1:30 – 2hours after park closes for the day – no earlier than that. Perhaps now you understand why AK was such an appealing option to us, since it closes the earliest of all the parks.
•Private events in the park (at least from what we looked at) start around 1,000. There is probably a way to get below that, but it’s a good number to expect, bare bones. If you want to spend less than that, I would suggest Private Dining in one of the resorts.
•Most event spaces have a rental fee (250 and up) while all of them have a food and beverage minimum. If you only have two people, this could be pricey.
•Unless you love the park music playing in the given spot of your event (which they will pipe in at no extra cost) plan on spending a bit of money to have an iPod hookup for your own playlist. Some might believe this is expensive (I won’t know how much until I see the contract, but expect 100-200 dollars) but I believe it’s a nice way to personalize your event.
•If you are having an event in an area with tables already there, and you want to remove them, plan on forking over 250 dollars for the work!
Theme!: If I could recommend one thing when you talk to a planner, HAVE A THEME READY! I was sorely lacking in this category on our first call together, so bad that my idea of “theme” was “nice event with hubby.” Not helpful in the least.
Once we started talking about our wedding (Old Hollywood with an Exotic twist via Casablanca – yes, this is exactly what I told all of my vendors for the wedding and they all got it somehow
) the pieces started falling into place quickly. I wanted the jewel tones on the linens like we had at our wedding:
(Those golden elephants were our place card holders and wedding favors…more to come on them in a bit!)
I wanted to pull in certain aspects of our wedding as this will in fact be a celebration of our anniversary. However, I didn’t want a straight copy. So, we started switching things up. This is going to be an outdoor event in a lush setting, so what would our wedding have looked like if the elephants and peacock feathers weren't merely just an accent, but the major theme? Out of the ballroom and into the jungle we go!
Up Next: Flavors, Flowers, and Fun!
Want to read more? Miss an update about the Event?:
The Event Revealed!
The Reason Why
Pictures of Nemo
Timing, Location, and Theme
. I'm so glad you came over to join in on the thread! I truly am lucky to have my DH, he is the world to me and I cannot think of anyone else I'd like to spend the rest of my life with.
I'm waiting on pins and needles! 
but our special event obviously falls outside that category. While it was very little I did end up with a bit of money from my father, as well as vacation savings that we didn’t use getting such a good deal on our package. Once I decided I wanted to make this vacation amazing for my DH I decided to pull a bit out and treat him (and, with the event, myself) to something extra special.
Thankfully, it’s not one of the more insanely expensive Rolex watches which I never would have been able to afford!
