Hi! First post and Questions--S/D or SoG

[proudestmunkie]

Hello ladies (and gentlemen )

My name is Kristen. I'm a long time lurker, first time poster.

First off I'd like to thank everyone, everyone here is a wealth of information and are really helping to make this a little easier.

I'm planning on a WDW wedding for April 2012..we were talking about going through DFTW but for what we're looking to do (life in general and for the wedding) it seems like waaaay too much. DF and I are pretty much doing this on our own so it makes it a little difficult but we're set on Disney. I'm very hands on so I have no issues doing alot of the work myself. I have already been in contact with Karen at S/D, they're actually holding my date and time (4/13/12 at 4pm) at Crescent Terrace. As I was reading Lurkyloo's passporter guide (it's brilliant--thank you! btw your wedding was gorgeous) I stumbled upon the Shades of Green info and got me doing more research on it. I nor my fiance are military but my future father in law is, as is my uncle so being sponsored wouldn't be an issue. The property seems beautiful and what I'm looking for (I'm pretty much falling in love with it lol), looks and budgetwise but there's very limited information out there. I'm still waiting to hear back from the SoG planning team.

So now I'm rethinking my plans..S/D is beautiful but it's architecturally masculine (so much concrete!). DF and I are going to check out properties when we're down in May. S/D info I have a ton of, I've read every Shades of Green thread that's out there.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, HELP!!! Any input you guys can provide is greatly appreciated.

 

[princesswendy720]

Have you looked at the Disney Wedding Blog? I know she spotlighted some Shades of Green weddings:

http://www.disneyweddingblog.com/search/label/Shades of Green

Seeing some actual weddings there might help you envision it a bit more

 

[proudestmunkie]

I haven't been on there recently. I'm going to check it out again now, thanks

 

[GIJasmine]

I'm having a SoG wedding in September- do you have any specific questions that maybe I could help answer?

We're not doing the intimate wedding that they have on the website because we'll have about 45 people, so we have to find our own vendors for everything, but it's been pretty easy so far. The cost of the gazebo varies depending on how many people you're going to have- it's $200 for 45 people. The cost of food is really inexpensive, too. I have a copy of the banquet menu- if you're interested, just PM me and I'll figure out a way to forward it to you.

They have a ballroom that is available, or you can reserve a section of a restaurant (either Garden Gallery or Mangino's) for your reception. There is no cost to reserve a room in a restaurant, but I believe there is a small fee to reserve the ballroom.

Here's a site with a bunch of pictures from someone's vacation- I found it helpful http://nitrostitch.smugmug.com/Paul-and-I/Shades-of-Green-and-Disney/9069003_2y9cs#603848688_vg6oi

Also, Randy Chapman has a section of wedding photos taken at Shades of Green: (Go to fairy tale wedding locations, then click on SoG)

http://www.chapmanphotography.com/dismain.html

Good luck in your planning! HtH!

 

[Figaro8398]

We had looked into the S/D weddings before we stumbled on SOG as well. I am so happy that we went with SOG. We did the intimate package, as we did not want to deal with a huge wedding. Only our parents attended. The Gazebo, in my opinion, was so much prettier than any of the S/D choices. We also liked the price better
Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[proudestmunkie]

Thank you everybody for your input! You've been helpful.

It seems that if you go with S/D, your only options are to either get one of the ballrooms for a reception which seems fairly expensive or go somewhere for dinner. We were originally looking at just our families attending, go to dinner and have a reception at home but upon further discussion we decided to do everything in WDW. We're looking at about 40 people, give or take.

If anybody has the pricing for the ballrooms, the banquet menus, locations and any other info that you think would be helpful I'd greatly appreciate it. We're going in May so I'm trying to be armed with as much as possible. I am still waiting to hear back from the SoG events people so the only thing I have is what I found on the boards (after extensive searching..SoG brides are few and far between!) and what's on the SoG site directly.

 

[DisneyDJChuck]

For prices, locale, and service, it is very, very difficult to beat Shades. Check out some photos/video here:

http://classicdiscjockeys.com/blog/?s=shades

Hope this helps!

 

[proudestmunkie]

Does anybody have the direct contact info, an email address for someone there? It's been almost a week since I've contacted SoG and I haven't heard back. Thanks!

 

[GIJasmine]

Does anybody have the direct contact info, an email address for someone there? It's been almost a week since I've contacted SoG and I haven't heard back. Thanks!

PM sent

 

[proudestmunkie]

I tried PM'ing and I don't have enough posts yet soooo

Jasmine-thanks for the contact info!

Figaro-Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm sorry it go as planned but thankfully everything worked out and you still had a beautiful day

I wonder if the lack of of followup has something to do with the change in staff