Entertaining Guests????

[seaprincess]

Hi Everyone!! I am back with another round of questions....

I was tossing around some ideas this weekend of what to do after our Welcome Party at O'hanas and I am in need of some assistance!! My DH and I are in our 30's, my family(Mom, Dad, brother and his wife (30's), my sister (30's)), and a majority of our guests are 20 somethings. I was so hoping that Wishes would be at 9:00pm, however after looking at previous years, the fireworks for the first Friday in December have been at 6:00pm . I figured with a 6:00pm ADR, we would probably be done with dinner around 8:30-9:00pm. We will be using the Limo from our Intimate package that evening so we can take the guests back to their hotels who don't want to go out. Now, the dilemma...the night will still be young and so are my guests!! My husband and I are not huge partiers/drinkers, but it would be fun to maybe go dancing at a club to spend time with everyone. We will be staying at the Yacht Club, does anyone know if Atlantic Dance is open? If not, does anyone have any suggestions?? Our Ceremony is not until 3:00pm the next day so we don't have to worry about waking up early!!

Also, I have been reading archived threads about itineraries the day of the wedding for guests. I am a compulsive planner and sadly, I feel that I should have an activity planned for my guests for each day. I have everyday covered except for after the Welcome Dinner and the morning/early afternoon of the Ceremony. Because there are a lot of couples, I thought instead of splitting up men/women we could play Putt-Putt at Fantasia Gardens and then go to lunch at ESPN Club. Of course lunch venue is geared towards the men, which would allow everyone to eat and then the women to go get ready hence leaving them there to drink beer and watch sports. I pitched this idea to my DH and he said, " It is a nice idea but....Why do you feel like you have to entertain everyone, maybe they want to go to a park or something". Now I feel silly.

I would love to hear your ideas!! Please feel free to share!! As always thanks for your responses!!!

 

[michloo]

A fun place to go on the boardwalk is Jelley Rolls. There is a cover of about $5 bucks but the dueling pianos are worht it and if you have a large group makes it even more fun.

Also since you are having a welcome party I think that is enough for your guests. They can decide what if anything they want to do after dinner.

On the day of the ceremony you can have a girls lunch with your mom and bridesmaids. I am also a planner but you do not want to overplan. You could drive yourself and everyone else crazy. I know its hard but just kinda let some things happen. Disney has lots to offer no matter what your age or interests

 

[melmel]

For your own sanity I would highly suggest less planning. I'd plan maybe one or two events that anyone who wants to can join in on but I wouldn't go overboard with trying to plan every day. Yes, it sounds great on paper, but in actuality it will just be a big pain before the end of day 2. We had 9 guests that we did different things with on different days, but everytime I tried to do anything with more then 2 others it all went to hell very fast. No one likes the same rides, parks, or food. So what you think sounds like the perfect day will be a day that you wish would end by 9 am because half of your group refused to go to Early Morning Hours, or breakfast, or lunch or THAT park, etc... As for the day of, I had a 3pm wedding, and I still was in hair and make-up by about noon (just something to keep in mind) and it was only me and mom getting made up. So I wouldn't plan too much that day, or the night before just to be at least slightly rested. I say if you want to send the guys to putt-putt and espn great, but for you and the girls go for the relaxation side. Nice breakfast/lunch maybe get it as room service just kick back and relax you'll have a long day ahead.

Melissa

 

[Marty Moose]

I completely understand where you are coming from as I am struggling with the same worries...but all in all I have to agree with your dh. When it comes down to it, there is SOOOOO much to do at Disney I really don't think we have to worry about guests finding something to do!

I think maybe one or two casual events could be a good idea. Or even just give them a general itinerary of where you plan to be and invite everyone to catch up with you if they'd like.

I think some guests might feel that organized events connected to the wedding are somehow "mandatory" in that they would feel impolite by not attending. Most people are probably going to look at a Disney wedding as a chance to take a Disney vacation and will probably want to go off and do their own thing. If your worried about them finding stuff to do (again, I don't think that will be an issue) you might want to create a little welcome pack describing activities (both in and out of the parks) that you think they might enjoy.

Also, being as though you're an intimate bride (me too!) you likely don't have THAT many guests (18 tops?) so you might want to look into planning some stuff that gives you one on one time with individual guests. For example, I've planned a dinner with only our parents for one night, a character b-fast with my MOH and her family one morning and one with my future SIL and her kids on another morning.

Just don't feel like you HAVE to keep them entertained. I don't think anyone has EVER woken up at Disney World and thought "gee...there's NOTHING to do today. I'm soooo bored!"!!!!

 

[JandJ]

I'm a planner too but I didn't try to gather people up for events surrounding our Intimate. I sent out itineraries and let everyone (we had 8 guests but I invited lots of friends to Disney the days surrounding the wedding and a few of them came) know when we'd be where, and if they wanted to join us great, if not that was fine too. For example, we had a day-after brunch that everyone attended and after that we were going to MK and friends who did not attend the wedding met us there. My other friend didn't go to MK and my sister and her daughter (my MOH) split up and did their own thing at MK, and other guests went home after brunch. The next night we met a couple friends at PI but we left them there at midnight and went back to our resort early. It was still the beginning of our honeymoon, after all, and we didn't want to be nailed down to any specific plans with other people.

As for the day of, as melmel said, you will be busy! Our ceremony was at 3:00 pm as well but I was in bed by 11:30 pm the night before and up at 9:00 am for room service breakfast with my MOH. My friend brought appetizer type foods and beverages to the room about 11:30 am and another friend brought my hairdresser to the resort, MIL joined us and we all just sat around, got our hair done, talked, ate, and laughed. It was pretty spontaneous and a lot of fun. I didn't want to feel rushed and honestly, if I had planned anything that day I would not have been able to enjoy it because I'd be worrying that I'd run out of time or something would go wrong. DH spent the morning with my brother and my daddy and they just ate and talked and he said it relaxed him to not have anything to "do." We both had a very relaxing morning and afternoon before the ceremony.

Whatever you decide, don't spread yourself too thin, take time to stop and smell the roses, and most of all enjoy the time with your new hubby

 

[seaprincess]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my questions. I see that have probably gone a little overboard with the planning of our vow renewal. I am sitting here laughing at myself because I was trying to imagine how to try and convince everyone in my family to stick to a schedule and make everyone enjoy the same things. Not happening!! It never dawned on me (duh!!) that we are going to be at the Happiest Place on Earth and there is something for everyone to do. Because this is a vow renewal and our party is only 10-12 people, I thought I was responsible for entertaining everyone at all times since all guests will be coming from North Carolina. This is what comes of being a compulsive planner !!

My husband and I are flying down 3 days prior, on my birthday ! SO we will have a day together, my family will fly in the next day and we have a special dinner planned for them at Spoodle's and as a treat we are taking them to Cirque de Soliel. We will have the welcome dinner at O'Hanas on Friday to spend time with our guests, Saturday the ceremony, dinner and dessert party and finally on Sunday a farewell breakfast, then off to Disney Cruise Line for a 4-night cruise on the WOnder for just the two of us!!. So you all are so right, I think I have covered my bases!!

For those brides who have had their hair/make-up done, I love the idea of having the girls get together to hang out, eat good food while getting beautiful!! Our vow renewal is (hopefully) at 3:00pm, what time do you schedule hair/make-up?? I really like this idea and let the boys go do what they want. It amazes me how little they have to do to get ready where it is a 3 hour process for us...this is the beauty of being a woman!!

Have a great night everyone!!!

 

[Marty Moose]

I'm having my intimate at 3pm as well and am using Lisa for mine and my moh's hair (but not make-up).

She suggested it would be best if she came at 11am. That still sounds a bit early to me, but I figure she knows better than I do!

I'm glad you decided to pull back a bit on the planning. Never forget: it's all about you!!! You shouldn't have to spend your entire time worrying about everyone else; it will just end up driving you crazy. Trust me, they will be more than able to "discover the magic" on their own!

 

[DisneyFairy19]

Boardwalk is a great place to relax... You can check out the reasorts and walk over to the Swan, Dolphin, YC, and BC.... Jelley Rolls is also a fun place to hang out.. Try not to stress yourself out.....