Cakes and Napoleons and F&W, oh my! Planning our Disney wedding!! UPDATED 9/15!!!

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

vitamin C and your vitamin alcohol...TRUTH! OMG, I might have died if everyone was thinking we took the roses from the table! That is hilarious!

Sounds like a perfect day of planning, totally makes me want to get married at Disney, even though I already am! Oh wait, maybe we could do a 25 year Anniversary renewing vows, that's just 3ish years away!

Hahaha it was an excellent piece of advice!! Yeah, that was a bit awkward, we just walked a little faster!

You totally should!!! That would be awesome!

Your wedding planning is going awesome!
Makes me want to renew my vows in disney soon!!! It's so beautiful!

My son LOVES figment! LOL We have the big stuffed figment, and he sleeps with him nightly

Can't wait to see your engagement photos!

Thank you!!!

That's so cute! I love Figment too, I don't get all of the dislike towards him!

Loved this update! It sound like they really made the planning as stress free and fun as possible. That tasting sounds like heaven! Thanks for all the great details of how everything works.

Love that you named your planner Franc.

They really did! We knew we were in excellent hands the entire time (and still are)!

Hahaha no, that's the official name of the wedding office at Disney!

Ahhh Wedding planning!! So fun! We did a brunch wedding as well, and had Mickey waffles. It was amazing. I loved all of the brunch wedding food, and because Disney was so amazing, I was relaxed on my wedding day and I got to enjoy all of the food! Eek, I'm getting so excited!

GFC is great as well, how sweet of them to bring you flowers and mimosas!

I think that the brunch is going to be a lot of fun! What other foods did you have at your brunch? That's so cool that you had the Mickey waffles!

It really was sweet of them!

It sounds as if Disney has this whole wedding planning down to a science. I mean, seriously, where else would 4 hours of wedding planning not seem like 4 hours? The dinner tasting sounds delicious!

Oh, they absolutely do!! They are experts at every single detail!

Vitamin alcohol = why Disney is so fabulous!

When you do your tasting/planning session, do you have to make decisions right there or are you given time to think/discuss afterwards?

I could totally live on the Boardwalk. We'd be neighbors!

for photo session at Epcot!

Hahahaha I loved that comment!!

No, you don't have to make any final decisions then, everything can be changed later on! (Perfect for people that change their minds often like me! )

That would be SO much fun!!!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

What an exciting day. I can't wait to hear about all of your choices.

Thanks!! It really was exciting!!

Disney is so cool, they seem to make the planning care free and fun. So amazing, congrats again and thanks for all the details
P.S. I would have had to say something smart for everyone to hear like "these roses are sooo much better than the carnations at Kona"

They really did! It was amazing!!

Thank you!!!

LOL that would have been too funny!!

I can't believe you actually select how the napkin is folded.

So the food was amazing. I can't wait to hear about what you picked. I'm sure everything is amazing.

I love that you started your day at one of your breakfast places. Your meals look delicious.

Your wedding planner sounds wonderful. What a fabulous experience.

Yes, you pick things down to the smallest detail! It's amazing!

Thanks!! It really was such a cool experience! Everyone we have worked with has been amazing!

Awesome update! All the planning and tasting sessions sounded like fun! Did you have to make your decisions right then or do you call them later? Do we get to know what you chose, or do we have to wait?

It was a lot of fun! No, we didn't have to decide anything for sure then. I'm not entirely sure what our final choices will be, so I guess we all have to wait!

Sounds like the wedding preperations came along really well. I would've been intimidated by the prospect of a 4 hour planning session plus a menu tasting. But as usual, Disney seems to have handled everything really well, and it seems like you and DF were able to enjoy the moment. That's an exciting time, as is, and it must have been extra special to have that Disney atmosphere around you, and be able to see the exact location of your wedding ceremony.


Your breakfast at the GF Cafe sounds great. It's awesome that they brought you mimosas and roses, although I would probably have been like you and have been conscious of all the other guests staring at said roses while you were leaving.

They really did!! We had a great time, and the 4 hours FLEW by! It was so cool to be able to really see everything and taste the food and cake!

Our breakfast was wonderful! Hahaha yeah, that was a bit of an awkward exit!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

How lovely to have mimosas with your breakfast ala Disney... & roses that's too funny about people looking... I would have disliked that part too... but then again I'm also also neurotic using fast passes while the people in the standby lines look at you like you are a criminal......

Disney cake & Disney napkins... wow how much fun can Wedding Planning get?

I saw someone getting married in that pavilion... so pretty...

It's going to be so awesome...

It was really nice of the restaurant to give us those treats!! Hahaha yeah, I always feel weird racing by with my FP's too!

It was definitely a lot of fun! I've only seen pictures of people getting married there, it looks so nice though! I can't wait!

Thank you!!

catching up !! Loving your last update !! LOL on the Say Anything reference. What a complete dream to be married at Disney. You are the luckiest person alive. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I can't wait to see the next update !!

Thanks!!! Hahaha I have to throw in an 80's reference now and again!

Aww thank you!!!

I have been hearing so many good things about the Grand Floridian Cafe lately! I am really dying to try it now.

I am loving reading all about the wedding planning! I also love your giant orange binder. It's great to see how these things come together... it seems so easy with Disney! I hate when I see brides freaking out over their wedding like it's the most stressful thing in the world.

"I really don’t see a valid reason why I can’t live here." SAME

Well, add Mickey Waffles to the list of things I need to have at my wedding. HOW did I not think of this before?

Whatever, Disney. I am totally going to re-enact Say Anything on the bus next time and there's not really much you can do about that.

You really should give it a try, it's a great restaurant!

Hahaha I love my giant obnoxious binder too! No, with Disney I am definitely not freaking out about ANY of the details! They make everything wonderful and stress-free!

I think Mickey waffles are an excellent wedding addition!!

LOL I think that would be awesome! Hopefully the Disney police wouldn't come after you!!

I am finally all caught up and totally loving every detail. I love all the wedding planning stuff! And of course you'd have an Epcot one! The place where you are having your ceremony looks beautiful!!!!

Of course they had a plethora of muppet hats. Of course. Isn't that always the way?

The food tasting sounds so good! And I totally love that they incorporated the father of the bride. "Frahnk" as I would phonetically pronounce it.

How awesome that you now have APs and a TIW card! Sweet!

Thanks!!! I'm really excited about all of it!!

Hahaha of COURSE it is!

Yes! I thought that was a great detail! Hahaha that's how I've been pronouncing it!

Thanks!! Yes, I'm very excited about both!

 

[CandleontheWater]

Your wedding planning sounds like so much fun! How wonderful that Disney made it so easy and awesome at the same time!

I can totally understand being psyched about making the event screen, I'd totally take pictures if I was featured on the Boardwalk events of the day!

Oh, and I LOVED the Say Anything reference. Don't tell DH but I'm still a little in love with Lloyd Dobler!

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

Hi Sara!

I've read previous reports of yours and this one is just as awesome! You are so lucky to get your dream wedding, and to take all of us along for the planning ride!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Your wedding planning sounds like so much fun! How wonderful that Disney made it so easy and awesome at the same time!

I can totally understand being psyched about making the event screen, I'd totally take pictures if I was featured on the Boardwalk events of the day!

Oh, and I LOVED the Say Anything reference. Don't tell DH but I'm still a little in love with Lloyd Dobler!

Thanks!!! Yes, they make it both easy and awesome!

Haha yes, that was a "must-photograph!!"

Hahahaha your secret is safe with me!!

Hi Sara!

I've read previous reports of yours and this one is just as awesome! You are so lucky to get your dream wedding, and to take all of us along for the planning ride!

Welcome!!! Glad to have you here!!

Thank you!!!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

The next morning was our earliest beginning of the day of our trip. We were scheduled to have our engagement photos done at 9 am in Epcot. I had scheduled a hair and makeup trial with Janet Mednick (of On-Site Beauty of Orlando) for that morning as well, figuring it would a good time to meet with her (as she is the hair and makeup artist I will be using for the wedding) and look all pretty for the engagement photos. (I’m sure you can tell by now from my photos that I practically never wear makeup, much less do anything fancier to my hair beyond a braid. So all of this was a very new experience to me!)

Janet was scheduled to arrive at 6:20 that morning, but she came a few minutes early (calling first to make sure that was okay), and got straight to work. She was friendly and professional, and we all chatted the whole time. DF alternated between chatting, checking out pictures online of the hurricane-flooded NY/NJ, and running to Sassagoula Floatworks to pick us up breakfast (bagels – pretty abysmal, but I know I’m spoiled by living so close to NY, and some bottles of water.)

Janet was finished with my hair and makeup perfectly on-time. I loved what she had done, I felt glamorous, but not over-done. We gathered up our things and headed out the door. I could tell already that my dressy shoes were not the most comfortable of choices, but figured we would be heading back to the room before doing any actual park touring, so I skipped throwing my flip flops in my bag, and off we went.

We were meeting our photographer, Ty Boyce, and his assistant, by the International Gateway in Epcot, so we decided to take a cab over to the Beach Club and then walk to the Gateway from there. We soon spotted each other (I’m pretty sure our dressy attire gave us away amongst the other guests entering the park), and headed the few steps over to the U.K. to start our photos!

(All photos - Disney Fine Art Photography; Photographer - Ty Boyce.)













We then drove around to Morocco (I’ll admit, one of the coolest parts of the photo shoot to me was when we drove on the main drag of the World Showcase to get from country to country.), and took a bunch of photos there.









(These photos took a couple of practice “dips” for me to not look like the total klutz that I am. I blame the tiled floor + heels .)





France, our last stop, was only a few steps away, so no driving to there!



The photo shoot was an hour long, but we never felt rushed or like that was too short an amount of time. The photos above are actually only a small portion of the ones Ty took! We really enjoyed working with Ty and his assistant (whose name COMPLETELY escapes me, but she was great!), and thought that the pictures turned out beautiful.

(While we're on the subject, want to see our Save the Date card?)

Front:



Back:



We said our goodbyes, and began to head out of Epcot the way we came, International Gateway to Beach Club. It didn't take more than half a step for me to realize what a mistake it was not to bring any backup footwear along. I hobbled along, detouring briefly into the store at the International Gateway to see if there was any hope of them having cheap flip flops.

No dice, $40 Crocs were the only option. As uncomfortable as the heels were, I couldn't bring myself to spend $40 on a pair of shoes to wear for 20 minutes. We continued on.

We got a cab at the Beach Club, and were soon back at POFQ. Home stretch. I slowly made my way back to the room (I know I’m sounding overly dramatic here, but these shoes were evil.) where I instantly threw off the shoes, said some very un-Disney like words to them, put some Muppets band-aids on my feet, and we were quickly back on our way out (having only had a few bites of the bagels much earlier that morning, we were both starving), this time to the Magic Kingdom!

 

[Sommery]

Yay, a new update! Following along...

 

[MeMom]

Thanks for sharing the pictures. You guys look great - and very happy.

So glad you were finally able to get out of the shoes. Uncomfortable shoes are no good, especially in Disney World.

 

[Nermel9]

Love the pictures, you guys look great! I love your hair and makeup, it's perfect! Your save the date cards are so adorable!

Ugh, I can't imagine walking around in heels in Disney, even for that short amount of time! I am so not a heels kind of girl anymore! Give me Crocs any day!

 

[mickeystoontown]

After looking at the engagement pictures, I have new nicknames for you two. Sexy Sara and Stud Muffin! You two look amazing and so in love. While I like all of the pictures, I think that the phone booth ones were my favorite and was excited to see that you chose it for your Save The Date card. Oh and the card, super cute!

Believe me when I say that I did not laugh one tiny little bit when you were talking about walking in the heels and couldn't wait to get out of them. I hate wearing heels and only do it when it's absolutely necessary. Thank goodness our church has a "come as you are" policy and I don't feel like I have to dress all dressy.

 

[MasonsDisneyMom]

Joining in! Love your trip reports! You guys look great in the engagement photos!

 

[jecskc]

I just love those photos !! Absolutely amazing !! You both look so good. Priceless !!!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

What BEAUTIFUL engagement pictures!

How spectacular that you were able to have them done at Epcot - what an excellent backdrop! (And, perfect for the two of you!)

 

[SoNotAPrincess]

Your engagement photos are wonderful...by yourselves, you look beautiful and Wingnut is very handsome, but together you're perfection!

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Look at you ... your little blue dress looking all Frenchie and those cute little heels... nice make up too.... You and Wingnut are looking great...


BTW I would have thought it too cool to be driving on the Epcot WS path too...

 

[Aurora1972]

Absolutely fabulous photos! I think my favorites are the ones with the phone booth. So precious.

 

[shan23877]

Gorgeous photos Sara! You guys got some incredible shots.

Your hair and makeup look great, and what a good idea to use the engagement shoot as a trial run. I'm sure you'll feel much more confident on the big day having already seen her work.

I'd have been tempted to buy new shoes too. Once the feet hurt, there's just no distracting me from it.

 

[MEK]

I know I said this before - but those pictures are really stunning and I absolutely love the makeup. Your makeup person did a fantastic job - just perfect for your pictures!

I think that would be a very fun experience!

As to the evil shoes - lesson learned!

 

[teekathepony]

Ohhhh those engagement photos are absolutely gorgeous!!
I know how awful an evil pair of shoes can be but I had a bit of a giggle at your description of throwing them and saying words and using muppet bandages.