Hi, everyone! I missed you all very much while we were gone and I kept making mental notes to share my fellow DISBrides boardmates!

Yesterday was spent getting through hundreds of work emails and 384 person emails (OUCH!!) -- at some point I'll read all those sparkpeople articles and the recipes that came in in volumes while I was gone!

Today was the gym, then work, then a barbecue at our friends' house in NJ.
Finally, tonight, I had time to sit down and write my TS/PS trip report. Good thing I did it in word since I've had so many computer glitches tonight.
So, on to the report on our tasting and planning session on June 26:
Our tasting and planning sessions were wonderful, especially considering how little sleep wed had and how exhausted we were. We were up at 4 am to get to the airport in time for our 7 am flight. Once we landed, Howard and I headed to the rental cars while our friends & kids headed to Magical Express. By the time wed rented the car and driven to POP to check everyone in, the rest of our party arrived within moments! Once we checked in, we headed to Francks where we thought we were supposed to meet Meri, our planner.
We went into Francks around 10:45 and looked around a bit until it occurred to us that Meri should have been there by then, so we asked, and it turned out we were supposed to be at the GF Convention Center. The receptionist called Meri and told her wed meet her there.
It was so great to finally meet Meri. She was adorable and had the best smile and easy-going manner.
Here is the marquee sign that announced our appointment:
Funny enough, neither of us noticed that our last name was spelled wrong! My vision is so bad that I could hardly see the writing, much less ascertain its accuracy. I finally noticed the misspelling yesterday as I uploaded pix.
Meri led us back to the convention center kitchen, where we met Melanie, the Chef and Rob, our server. Here is the flashing marquee in that kitchen:
It was very awkward for me to get in the high director chair kind of stool, since I am so short, but we managed to get ourselves situated at the table, where we became acquainted with some plate and napkin fold choices. It was fun to start thinking about what the table is going to look like. We had seen a napkin fold in a magazine that was not a choice on the table, but which we later saw at Francks, and weve chosen that fold.
On to the food!
We started with a veggie samosa (lower left) and spanokopita (upper right), with an olive tepanade (IIRC) and a mango yogurt sauce (upper left). All of it was delicious!
We even had the choice of butter having the GF logo or Mickey:
Then, on to cheddar soup which was not quite as wed expected. It was very thick and rich, rather than the less rich variety served at LeCellier. After discussing some choices, and in deference to our vegetarian and Kosher guests, we are going with the variety served by Melanie, but rather than a baguette, it will be served with pretzel bread.
Next was the delicious Caesar salad.
The intermezzo of raspberry champagne sorbet was gorgeous and delicious!
The tasting of entrees was a bit strange. There was so much food and I literally took a bite or two of each item, other than my absolute favorite (more on that later).
First was an air-line chicken with pinot grigio sauce. Melanie explained why it is called air-line, and I am hoping that I remember correctly that the name is because part of the wing and breast bone is in place, as is the skin, allowing a juicier piece of breast meat. The chicken was very good but not necessarily a WOW for us.
Next was the duo plate of parmesan chicken (served with a mushroom sauce) and the beef. We asked to have both the blackberry demi and the red wine demi served on the side so that we could try both on the beef.
We both liked the red wine demi but not the blackberry, so the beef will be served WITH the red wine demi glace on top of it. And we both LOVED the parmesan chicken. I think I ate nearly every bite of it.
Finally, was the Cinderella slipper dessert plate:
We loved this, but are still very hesitant about serving a dessert when there will be plenty of wedding cake.
2 BIG disappointments regarding the entrée tasting.
1. Wed asked to try the parma rosa sauce on the chicken because we know several of our guests dont eat mushroom anything. Instead they served the parmesan chicken with mushroom sauce on top, which we both liked, but was not something we feel we can serve ON the chicken. Since we didnt get to try the parma rosa sauce, we are going to go with the mushroom sauce on the side.
2. We are very concerned about choosing a fabulous entrée for our vegetarian & Kosher friends and asked to sample a pasta dish with the artichoke cream sauce. Apparently, that item somehow got obscured on the list that Meri prepared and was not available for our tasting. We were both disappointed though we didnt make a big deal about it. Im unhappy about serving something that we havent tried.
When we were done, Melanie gave us a very nice gift of a special kind of salt and salt block:
Meri took a picture of us with Melanie and Rob (I realized later we have no picture of Meri. So sad!):
When we left the kitchen, we peeked into the Whitehall Room at a reception in progress. The theming of the reception was an Asian flair, with gorgeous red sashes on chiavari chairs with sprigs of yellow flowers tucked into the tie on the back of the chair. Everyone seemed to be having a fabulous time and the room was just as gorgeous as we remembered!
At that point, we separated from Meri, so that she could head back to Francks to get things ready for our planning session. We looked around the convention center a bit and then headed over to Francks.
The sky was looking ominous, so we paused for a few pix in case it was raining later.
The planning session was absolutely incredible. We met our floral planner, Laura Kidd, and I was SOOO excited to know shell do our flowers and décor! She had all sorts of fabulous ideas and was so excited to share them with us. I absolutely adored her and I really feel like we are in great hands. She really seemed to get what I like and she was fun and enthusiastic. I had pictures for her of Jenns gown, the same gown in the pale yellow that we want for our second color, pictures of bouquet sizes, shapes, colors; pictures of centerpiece inspiration and the inspiration for our altar piece/sweetheart table. I also gave her pix of my gown and the skirt detailing and she had some really sweet ideas about how to bring some of that detailing into our floral. She also understood very well what we want for our memorial table. We talked a lot about varieties of flowers and the colors each comes in, and what is in season. She also had some great ideas for how to decorate the pre-reception tables and loved our ideas for the dessert party. I had brought a BUNCH of pictures with me and ended up leaving almost all of them with her. She was so cute when she said Oh, it feels like Christmas!
Poor Meri was trying to get all sorts of other ideas on the table and help us with various decisions to be made, but I think we were all having such a great time gabbing! I cannot believe all the things Meri brought up that we hadnt thought about considering, and she was very candid with some ideas on how to make things affordable that we might not have otherwise done. I enjoyed absolutely every moment we spent in the planning session, with both Laura and Meri.
Once Laura left, Meri went through LOTS of other details with us, and THEN it was time for CAKE!!!!
We tasted:
Chocolate
Yellow
Almond
Carrot
Marble
As for fillings, we had:
Cream cheese
Bavarian cream
Buttercream
Dark chocolate mousse
White chocolate mousse
Tropical mousse
Raspberry
German chocolate
Baileys
Amaretto
Fresh strawberries
Fresh raspberries
Oh, my goodness!! I cannot believe HOW MUCH cake I ate!! I was feeling so sick by the end that it was hard to even THINK about cake, much less choose flavors. Frankly, we were so blown away by the carrot cake and cream cheese filling that it was nearly impossible NOT to pick that. But, for a lot of reasons, we decided to forgo that and chose:
Top layer almond cake w/amaretto filling w/fresh strawberries
Bottom layer chocolate cake w/white chocolate mousse & fresh raspberries
Other decisions that had to be made:
Height & number of tables for dessert party
Décor for DP tables
Audio package for DP
Height & number of tables for pre-reception
Décor for pre-reception
Menu for pre-reception
Uniform for wait staff
Attire for my main mouse
Timing for reception for dances, toasts, cake cutting, mouse appearance
Im sure there is SOOO much more I am forgetting, but those are the highlights!
Our tasting session started at 11 a.m. and we walked out of our planning/cake tasting session about 5:30pm. We accomplished a LOT in less than 6.5 hours. I am sure that in a non-destination wedding planning situation, thered be many multi-hour sessions to handle all the details, but the Disney folks have everything down to a science and I feel like we were incredibly efficient and accomplished.