Help! Small World theme wedding in less than a month

[chefbob609]

Help! I am trying to have a very special Small World themed wedding.. like the attraction "it's a small world!" I just got re-assigned a planner this morning and my wedding is less than a month away 4/18/11! I still have major items up in the air like the cake, florist budget, part of the BEO. I keep asking friends and family for help or ideas but i think i haven't been thinking clearly- here is the forum of the experts. So if you could find it in your heart to throw any suggestions my way, i would appreciate it.

Right now the bakery has 2 visions for our cake: both are three rounds. One has the building structure from small world around the bottom and little circles around the upper 2 layers with the small world faces printed on them in my colors- purple, pink, orange, blue and green.
The other idea is to have concave circles cut out of the rounds on one side of the cake and somehow make the buildings look like a 3 dimensional set up like laying against the cake but standing up. I haven't seen a drawing or picture of each.
What do you think? I was thinking maybe combining the 2, going for the dimensional face but with the circles?

My other issue is decorations/theming. I just don't know how to make my wedding say Small World. The bridesmaids are all in purple with the other colors accenting their dresses, with multi-color bouquets. I have very little at the Atlantic Dance hall. I was just debating having the florist alternate the color of the napkins and chair bows...

I just have this feeling like i'm missing something great.

 

[transfergirl]

Help! I am trying to have a very special Small World themed wedding.. like the attraction "it's a small world!" I just got re-assigned a planner this morning and my wedding is less than a month away 4/18/11! I still have major items up in the air like the cake, florist budget, part of the BEO. I keep asking friends and family for help or ideas but i think i haven't been thinking clearly- here is the forum of the experts. So if you could find it in your heart to throw any suggestions my way, i would appreciate it.

Right now the bakery has 2 visions for our cake: both are three rounds. One has the building structure from small world around the bottom and little circles around the upper 2 layers with the small world faces printed on them in my colors- purple, pink, orange, blue and green.
The other idea is to have concave circles cut out of the rounds on one side of the cake and somehow make the buildings look like a 3 dimensional set up like laying against the cake but standing up. I haven't seen a drawing or picture of each.
What do you think? I was thinking maybe combining the 2, going for the dimensional face but with the circles?

My other issue is decorations/theming. I just don't know how to make my wedding say Small World. The bridesmaids are all in purple with the other colors accenting their dresses, with multi-color bouquets. I have very little at the Atlantic Dance hall. I was just debating having the florist alternate the color of the napkins and chair bows...

I just have this feeling like i'm missing something great.

Each table reps a different country. See if they can come up with pictures of Small World brides and grooms for each country, and use floral specific to each country. Mums for China, roses for England, Thai orchids, etc.

If your budget allows, you can probably rent scenery from the ride. Or an actual boat to take pictures.

Whatever the bakery comes up with will be fab, if we can take a cue from the Splash Mountain or Up! cakes on here.

 

[MonorailPilotMulan]

Just thought I'd let you know that I saw your ideas and I absolutely love them. I don't think it would work for my wedding on Castaway Cay, but I love the idea. I wish I was as creative as you for thinking of that.

 

[chefbob609]

Each table reps a different country. See if they can come up with pictures of Small World brides and grooms for each country, and use floral specific to each country. Mums for China, roses for England, Thai orchids, etc.

If your budget allows, you can probably rent scenery from the ride. Or an actual boat to take pictures.

Whatever the bakery comes up with will be fab, if we can take a cue from the Splash Mountain or Up! cakes on here.

I forgot to mention, Shelley from Impressions has been helpful but she is really busy. She mentioned asking the florist for any Small World props but my second planner said they didn't have any. Now i'm wondering if she even asked- i have never heard of ride scenery rental? can you tell me more. who would i go to for that?

I saw the splash mountain cake, and i was kind of let down by the two suggestions because i was hoping for something like that!

 

[Mindyjoy]

I like the idea of each table representing a different country. Also, if it can fit in your budget, maybe get a backdrop of a picture of the fascade of Small World to go either behind your sweetheart table or as a seperate area where guests can take pictures in front of the backdrop. You could even build a fascade that looks like the front of the boat, so it looks like people are sitting in the boat without actually building or renting an ENTIRE boat (hope that makes sense).

Also check etsy for cute cake toppers, maybe someone can make a bride and groom in a Small World boat.

 

[Deb loves Disney]

Also check etsy for cute cake toppers, maybe someone can make a bride and groom in a Small World boat.

I love that idea of the bride and groom in a ride boat. You could maybe ask them to incorporate the bride and groom/boat like it is floating through the ride.

I was just doing a search on google and also etsy and it is really difficult to find anything on this kind of theme. At least you will have a unique them.

I did find these digital prints but they are sold. Maybe the seller can help you with something.

I love that at the end of the ride they have cute signs with goodbye listed in different languages. Maybe somehow you could incorporate this into your wedding somehow but instead of goodbye it could be love, or some other wedding like word.

The Disneyland version of this ride incorporates disney characters. You could always incorporate these characters into your country themes. Here is a write up about it...

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200902/1053/

and what Disneyland has to say about it...

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/its-a-small-world/

Do you have any small children in your bridal party, like a flower girl and ring bearer? It would be really cute for them to dress up like one of the dolls on the ride.

Good luck with the theme and wedding. You should definitely post pics here of the finished product after the wedding.

 

[super_k0116]

I have some Small world images in my email based on the book illustrated by Mary Blair. If you would like to see them you can PM me.

 

[transfergirl]

I forgot to mention, Shelley from Impressions has been helpful but she is really busy. She mentioned asking the florist for any Small World props but my second planner said they didn't have any. Now i'm wondering if she even asked- i have never heard of ride scenery rental? can you tell me more. who would i go to for that?

I saw the splash mountain cake, and i was kind of let down by the two suggestions because i was hoping for something like that!

Forward the photo of the Splash Mountain cake to your planner, and tell her you want the Small World version.

I'm pretty sure that Disney Floral would not be handling the rental of actual props from the ride! But, generally speaking, if you throw money around, you can have what you want (I speak from observation, not experience). That might go through DEG.

 

[lurkyloo]

I dunno if this would be considered classy enough for a wedding, but one of the cute things about it's a small world is how low-rent a lot of the decorations are: tissue paper flowers, glitter-glued cutouts, mylar streamers—things like that. You might grab a photo or two from the ride and ask for decor like that. Some of the centerpieces could be big colorful paper flowers like in the Mexican scene.

I definitely think drawing inspiration from the original Mary Blair concept art, as suggested by the previous poster, is an excellent idea. She had such a flair for color theory!

 

[transfergirl]

I saw the splash mountain cake, and i was kind of let down by the two suggestions because i was hoping for something like that!

Or how about the wedding cake be based on the white room?

 

[PrincessAriel09]

It's a small world! How fun & unique!

I know a couple of others mentioned the signs...

The signs are so much fun & you can do SO much with that! They are sparkly and attention-grabbing! You could do the names of the countries on signs like this and have them as the sort-of centerpiece of the tables. The great thing about Small World is its bright, bold colors and the feeling of unity! I am not sure how many people you are having at your wedding, because if it is more than a few it could turn into a fiasco, but I was thinking that each person's favor could be something small from that country. For example, a Latin American country table could have small moroccas (sp) and Canada could have small samples of maple syrup. Any of these things could be purchased from the World Showcase in EPCOT. Like Lurkyloo said, the other deco seems like it would be fairly easy to get ahold of/DIY. I think choose some big elements of the ride that are important to you so you don't go stir crazy trying to do everything~there is a lot going on in that attraction!

Congrats! & I hope your wedding is fabulous!

 

[princesswendy720]

When I think of it's a small world I think of bright colors and glitter! What about using brightly colored glittery overlays on your tables? And then different colored napkins and chair covers. If you haven't gotten favors yet, maybe put a little doll dressed in clothing from different countries at each place setting. Your centerpieces could have little flags from different countries.

 

[NOMNOMNOMS]

Aloha chefbob! I love you theme. It's gorgeous! I know with ADH you are unable to bring in your own decor which is tough. This is also my venue. Another great thing to look out for are small world ornaments or figurines. DH and I are displaying our small world figurines on our guest book table (one is Mexican and the other is Hawaiian, just like us ^_^) Small world has soo much going on...I really like lurkyloos idea, I'm just not sure what you would be able to bring in since it is ADH. How about picking a part of small world that you love...tropics or the arctics...bright vibrant tropical colors vs. the pastels? Strong geometric patterns. This might help narrow things down and focus things since there are soo many directions to go!
As far as the cake goes, It's hard to visualize. I definitely thing the iconic clock should be incorporated somehow! Best of luck!!!

 

[minniebride]

I love your idea!!!

I just wanted to share this cake with you-I found it online:
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1618826

 

[sambycat]

i think your ideas are great - i'm not sure what your whole budget is but a) i want to reassure you that it will all work out and b) not having the whole thing nailed down at this point (including budget!) is not unusual! and we had a planner change about 6-ish weeks out as well....

so deep breath!

lots pf posters have some really great ideas! because my budget was not humongous, i will mention the things i am hearing people say or what i think you've touched on that make me think of bigger impact with smaller budget impact! -

• doing each table a country is a great idea! if you do a simple DIY table marker in combo with some disney suggested centerpiece item that would be budget friendly and a way to get that signage into the space!
• maybe for tables go a little simple in terms of basic white linen and the alternating chair sash/napkin colors themed to each table/country color or alternately picking out a few colors from the ride and doing all the linens similarly throughout all the tables
• part of the fun of the ride is the bright colors, but other posters have mentioned the all white scene as well - this could really be neat for your head or sweetheart table, doing whatever decor/flowers/centerpiece items for this table in bright white while all the other tables are in color
• my personal feeling would be that any actual ride items or scenery will be prohibitively expensive, but then again - can't hurt to ask or search further!
• on the cake front - after having gone through a crazy cake experience myself, i would really just tell the planner/baker what colors you need, your budget and maybe opinions about what they've described then take a deep breath and let them surprise you a bit! perhaps it is in your budget to do a more "traditional" wedding cake incorporating some elements from the ride or the structure and then have a more ride specific fun "grooms" cake with others - like the boat or some of the kids or what not! hey, IASW cupcakes could be kinda awesome too - or candy buffet types stuff....

i think i would meditate on what things you really like - like i like the design of the scenery and the colors, then that can be a more specific inspiration. sounds like the bridal party dresses are bright and cheery!

your flowers could simply be flowers you love, and especially if you were doing the white type head table, do your bouquet in whites and very pale flowers with pale ribbons, maybe something hanging on the ribbon ties that suggests the ride or an element from the signs or something and the bridesmaids/bouts be very colorful.

sounds really really cool!!

 

[transfergirl]

i think your ideas are great - i'm not sure what your whole budget is but a) i want to reassure you that it will all work out and b) not having the whole thing nailed down at this point (including budget!) is not unusual! and we had a planner change about 6-ish weeks out as well....

so deep breath!

lots pf posters have some really great ideas! because my budget was not humongous, i will mention the things i am hearing people say or what i think you've touched on that make me think of bigger impact with smaller budget impact! -

• doing each table a country is a great idea! if you do a simple DIY table marker in combo with some disney suggested centerpiece item that would be budget friendly and a way to get that signage into the space!
• maybe for tables go a little simple in terms of basic white linen and the alternating chair sash/napkin colors themed to each table/country color or alternately picking out a few colors from the ride and doing all the linens similarly throughout all the tables
• part of the fun of the ride is the bright colors, but other posters have mentioned the all white scene as well - this could really be neat for your head or sweetheart table, doing whatever decor/flowers/centerpiece items for this table in bright white while all the other tables are in color
• my personal feeling would be that any actual ride items or scenery will be prohibitively expensive, but then again - can't hurt to ask or search further!
• on the cake front - after having gone through a crazy cake experience myself, i would really just tell the planner/baker what colors you need, your budget and maybe opinions about what they've described then take a deep breath and let them surprise you a bit! perhaps it is in your budget to do a more "traditional" wedding cake incorporating some elements from the ride or the structure and then have a more ride specific fun "grooms" cake with others - like the boat or some of the kids or what not! hey, IASW cupcakes could be kinda awesome too - or candy buffet types stuff....

i think i would meditate on what things you really like - like i like the design of the scenery and the colors, then that can be a more specific inspiration. sounds like the bridal party dresses are bright and cheery!

your flowers could simply be flowers you love, and especially if you were doing the white type head table, do your bouquet in whites and very pale flowers with pale ribbons, maybe something hanging on the ribbon ties that suggests the ride or an element from the signs or something and the bridesmaids/bouts be very colorful.

sounds really really cool!!

Oh- forward the Haunted Mansion cake to your planner, too. Effing. Amazing.

Look here: http://www.lot116.com/blog.php?id=19

 

[sambycat]

mmmmmmm cake

 

[elleinad16]

These are obviously not a wedding, but they might give you some ideas nonetheless!

http://nested.typepad.com/features/2009/10/feature-its-a-small-world-birthday-party.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotsaustin/4912261092/in/photostream/

 

[tigger536]

How about a candy buffet with candy from around the world?

 

[transfergirl]

How about a candy buffet with candy from around the world?

Avoid Chinese candy. My people don't excel in sweets.