J & T's Wishes Wedding 5/5/12 SB/SBP/BW *Wedding & Aulani HM TR Complete!*

[MrsDuck]

AH! Shipwreck Beach is amazing! Congrats!! So happy the PS is going well!

Your plan sounds amazing.

Don't give up on the Buttons! Try Guest Relations at MK!

So glad you could give us an update!! Enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

[tric8783]

We are back home so I'll post some pics and more details about our trip!!
Yesterday it POURED, I mean poured all day long, which was a sign it was time to go HOME!

We got to WDW Friday night 9/30, walked right onto our ME bus and over to BW. Our room was the absolute last room on the hall and I was irritated at first, but we soon discovered being on the end also meant stairs next to our room which led right to the pool and walking path the HS. We ended up enjoying it all week long! We headed over to BC and ate at Cape May, amazingly we walked right in with no reservation, which shocked me since F&W Festival had just started, but we took it with no complaints!
We hung out in the parks, around the pool, etc, and mostly relaxed a lot all week long!
We had our PS on Tues 10/4.

We got there about 12:50 (scheduled to start at 1) and waited about 15 min. for Maxine. First things first, we were obviously staying at the BW and had been looking at that beach at the BC wanting to get married there for days, so we had to ask if we could move it there. As I said before, she didn't even hesitate and said, sure you can do it there, lets see if its open. She then also offered the Poly Beach right next to the WP. My mom wanted us to move to the Poly but I didn't want to bus everyone over from the BW and back so I put my foot down quickly and said no. We did go out and take a look at it though:

I also checked out the other side for curiosity, and someone was about to get married apparently so we were scooted away quickly (which I made DF run so we didnt ruin anyones wedding- oops! We got pretty close before someone told us, which I thought was odd, why wouldnt they stand closer to the parking lot/Franck's to stop people but oh well)

and excuse DF for being nuts. hahaha

 

[tric8783]

Of course we talked about needing Parasols, fans, etc for now outdoor May wedding. I was planning to get my BM and myself parasols anyway (I found them for about $7 each), then I was thinking program fans. I'm not sure if its too much to give people a parasol and a fan, but Maxine says yes. Then she sent me pics of the beach where other people added large beach umbrellas. So now I'm thinking fans for guests, umbrellas like the pictures she sent, then parasols for just BMs and myself. What do you all think?
(the pictures arent working so ill work on that)

The fans I plan to give out:

So after we decided to move the ceremony, next we asked if we could have Cocktail Hour at SBP- again it was open so we got it!

Maxine says we'll have the ceremony at 5, we really only want about a 20 minute ceremony, so cocktail hour will be from 5:45-6:45pm instead of 6-7pm, so that guests have 15 minutes to walk from the beach to SBP, then 15 minutes again from SBP to the reception in the Boardwalk ballroom. She also said she would hurry people along to the cocktail hour so that we can take pictures on the beach without everyone watching, which I'm happy about. I gave Maxine the color pallette swatches we're going with, told her the overall feel we want for the wedding and it was off to the menu tasting!

We met with Chef Charles, who was AMAZING. We are so excited to have him as our chef for the wedding!!

Here he is doing his magic:

We tried appetizers first, lobster beignettes (I dont eat lobster but DF says they were amazing), beef teriyaki skewers, and caprese skewers

We decided to go with all 3 for the cocktail hour! My mom also asked about adding in a pierogi station (kind of like in F&W Festival) for my polish heritage. DF and I both laughed, but if she wants to pay for it, we figured why not! haha So we'll see about that!

We also tried caesar salad and penne alla vodka, which we are also getting. I forgot to take pictures of them (I forgot to take the apps too and Charles made me a new plate so I couldnt ask for the other two also )
We decided we are definite on those two also!

Then for entrees we tried:
surf and turf (yes i was again so excited to try it i forgot the pic first so its already dug into... haha)

We also tried chicken and steak combo with risotto

Pork tenderloin with polenta

We decided to go with single entrees instead of the duo, because we were so full sampling we figured it would be just too much food and it would go to waste anyway. We decided on Filet with a mashed potato and mixed veggies, and the tanglewood chicken, with the starch TDB. I really liked the polenta but we weren't sure everyone would. The chicken was ahhhmazinggggg. We eat chicken almost every day and this was still the best we've had. Apparently they leave the bone in on one side to keep it juicy, and that it sure was. Everything was amazing and we left so happy with our choices!!
Charles even sent us with a parting gift- a whisk with a label "whisked away" and heart cookie cutters "cut out for love" it was so nice of him!

 

[tric8783]

after the tasting, we took a peek into the ballroom, which was set up for some sort of seminar- not the best pic but you get the idea. The walls are a really pretty light pink which works with our colors.

The carpet is a pink/fuscia and blue, very bright. It doesnt necessarily go with our light, pastel, neutral colors, but it could be worse!

The lobby area of the conference center where you can see the carpet better:

the hallway of our ballroom and salons (we have 1/2 the ballroom and salons 4-6)

We then hopped back in Maxine's car and headed back to meet with Laura (floral) as well as taste our cake!!

Here is Maxine (left) and Laura (right)

They were both super nice!!

If you remember my floral previously, I had a few ideas. I really wanted all white peonies,but I wanted them closed. Laura told me basically they couldnt guarantee me they would be as tight as the picture I wanted, so we decided to go with my other pick:

It has peonies, ranauculas (sp?), and tiny bits of hyndrangea.

The boys are going to have ranauculus bouts, DF will have white to match me, and GM will have light pink.

BM's will have bouquets similar to this, with peonies, ranauculus, hydrangea and anemones (lilly of the valley is in this bouquet but it wont be in the BM's, apparently Laura said a few strings of this flower are about $200)

My mom, DF's mom, and DFs gram are going to carry a single rose each, and right now the father's are wearing single rose bouts as well. (The ranauculus is too small for the moms to carry and we want the dad's to match them maybe? We'll see how this looks I guess)

As for aisle decor, now that we're on the beach, I'm not sure if we have too much going on.

DF also found this in my pics and liked it, but not sure how much it will be or how it will look on the sand

 

[CDsSleepingBeauty]

Hi Everyone!! I am sitting on our balcony at the BWV and have so much to share!! My sister is here with her husband and nephew and great for me, she brought her work laptop, so i borrowed it for a few minutes to give an update!!

We had our PS on Tuesday and it was AMAZING!! Maxine is great and so is Laura (floral). It really solidified our choice for having a Disney World wedding! AND we are more than happy to report we are now getting married on SHIPWRECK BEACH!!! DF is more than thrilled with me, with Maxine, and with life in general now that we are getting married on the beach. It did slightly irk me that Maxine said we could have it there without hesitation when I battled our coordinator previously and was shot down. buttttt since it worked out, I'll take it!!!

We are also having a "progressive wedding" now, by having the ceremony on the beach, cocktail hour at SBP, then reception still at the BW ballroom. The ballroom was also very pretty (except for the horrid chairs of course). Our tasting was also AMAZING. Really, nothing negative at all to say or complain about. We are definitely happy campers!! Even after 6 hours of planning, DF had nothing to complain about, which made me so happy too!

I did walk down to check out the beach at the WP- it hasnt been touched yet on either side. There are stakes up on the Floridian side (i took pics but can't add them through sister's work computer), but no construction yet. The beach on the poly side is also completely intact AND- again Maxine without hesitation told me we could have our wedding for 80-100 people on the beach at the Poly. Color me P.O.'ed since I originally wanted it there, but now that we have the block and everything planned at the BW, we're staying at the BW. FYI to future brides, if you want the beach next to WP (Poly side), they'll do it. :

I'm also on the hunt for "Just Married" pins, but when you ask for them, they just hand you "Happily Ever After" I'm convinced they've been completely replaced at this point.

Well that's all for now, I will update with more details and pictures once we're back on Sunday!! Enjoying our last few days in the world before we come back for our wedding- eee!!

I'm glad to see that someone else is getting married on Shipwreck Beach. We're having our wedding there two days after you! Hopefully, we'll have nice weather. I can't wait to read more of your PJ!

 

[virtuous girl]

Everything looks delicious!!! I'm happy u got what u want
I'm not sure if u were thinking of me but THANK U SO MUCH 4 getting pics of the WP beaches on both sides Now i have a better idea of where we can take our pics at...

 

[tric8783]

Maxine did say we could have a ceremony in the 1/2 round on the beach as well, so we'll be doing that too. I had picked Disney Instrumental songs to walk down the aisle and assumed we would just play the CD of them. We want the ceremony to feel very intimate, do not want it to be a big production, so to our surprise, we can get a guitar, harp, etc, for less than a sound system. She told us if we dont want to have microphones we really shouldn't get the sound system. My mom really wants a violin to keep it traditional(?) she was really starting to get under DF and I's skin with her comments at this point. She also made several digs about the ceremony not being Catholic, which Maxine or Laura could do nothing about.

So we told her right now likely we want an acoustic guitar. She told us he could walk and play with everyone behind him over to cocktail hour, which DF thought was the coolest idea ever. (As long as they're good! lol)

As of now, DF's grandmother and both sets of parents will walk in to the instrumental of "Can you feel the love tonight" (Lion King), he BMs will come in to "Someday my prince will come" (Snow White) and I'm coming in to "So This is Love" (Cinderella). We'll see how these sound on a guitar and go from there. Anyone else have the acoustic guitar??

For cocktail hour, the plan is for the white linens provided by the hotel, with a silver wrap/tie to give them an hour glass shape, and a single vase with a peony bud (or similar flower once price comes in) floating in them.

We figured we'd keep this pretty simple since the setting and food itself are really enough!

For reception, they gave us the ok for the votive placecards (as long as the votive is battery and not a real flame, which works), We are going to color coordinate the ribbon colors on them with the food and give Maxine a master list also. DF's niece is 12 so she doesnt classify as a "child" 3-9, but there is no way she's going to eat a 5 course meal. Maxine told us to just put her down as a child and they'll get her a kids meal- great!

I also asked about paper lanterns over the dance floor or swagging, swagging she said was about $2500 or $2800 I think she said, and the lanterns are about $1000. We'll see how the budget comes out - we don't have any transportation and photographer is already being paid for outside of the BEO, so we'll see how close we can come to the 20k.

Oh another side note-- we have drinkers, and DFs family is particular about their Vodka. To get them what they want (Absolut) we'd need the signature package, but really dont care about the other liquor. Maxine told us we can purchase the lowest liquor package and take out other liquors to add in the absolut, without having to upgrade to the higher package completely. DFs parents are paying for the open bar, so I'm sure they'll be happy about that.

We did get shot down on sparklers, she told us if we want to do them off our balcony on our own time, she won't say anything about it, but it can't be organized at the end of the wedding. Oh well, I was expecting that!!

The day went by so quick I forgot to ask about TTD, so that'll be a later email. She kept saying in Disney time we have so long, which I guess is a good thing, but I need to go with it, right now I'm sort of stressed we don't have everything set like a wedding at home would be already.

Oh and, for getting ready- we are moving over to the Beach Club now for our stay, (DF and I) and we can rent a conference room at the Yacht Club with a $500 F&B minimum. She said if two weeks prior to the wedding it's not booked, we can use it for free (not have to spend $500 on food etc). I picked up an Earl of Sandwich catering menu and would really like to use them rather than pay $500 for lunch, so fingers crossed no one wants the conference rooms!!

If anyone has questions let me know, I'm sure I forgot a lot as I'm sitting here trying to think of what else we went over!

Next up - rehearsal dinner and Welcome DP

 

[tric8783]

AH! Shipwreck Beach is amazing! Congrats!! So happy the PS is going well!

Your plan sounds amazing.

Don't give up on the Buttons! Try Guest Relations at MK!

So glad you could give us an update!! Enjoy the rest of your trip!

Thanks!! We are beyond excited!!
One of the mgrs at the GF recommended asking my planner for the pins, so I'm going to try that!

 

[tric8783]

I'm glad to see that someone else is getting married on Shipwreck Beach. We're having our wedding there two days after you! Hopefully, we'll have nice weather. I can't wait to read more of your PJ!

Yes! You were my inspiration to ask again, and I'm so glad we did!!
What are you doing for your decor on the beach? I saw you were looking for a tropical band or trio?
Definitely hope we both have nice weather!!

 

[tric8783]

Everything looks delicious!!! I'm happy u got what u want
I'm not sure if u were thinking of me but THANK U SO MUCH 4 getting pics of the WP beaches on both sides Now i have a better idea of where we can take our pics at...

Thanks! We are happy too and the food was seriously amazing! (Did I say that before? )

Yes I was thinking of you!! We didn't ride the monorail during the day time, just to dinner at Ohana and Kona a few nights when it was too dark to see! But hopefully you can get a good idea from the pics- def the beach on the poly side seems secluded and perfect for pics or a ceremony. I don't think you can walk on the beach at all on the GF side, that wall is right along the sidewalk and theres no space to get around it that I saw. I assume the stakes might be where they are either puting the building, or where they are extending the land out.

Maxine did comment also basically confirming it is a DVC hotel, I'm not sure if the announcement has gone out yet but . She did make a good point, she said if your neighbor decides to go build a shed or addition on their house, they dont tell you or ask you first, they just do it. She said thats basically what happened with them, the whole wedding business doesnt really understand why they're doing it but obviously they have no say. With no building up yet and just the walls I wouldn't freak at all, but I cant even picture how it will look with another building right there. My fam has been going to Disney since I was little and I remember staying at the Poly before the GF was even built (and we have pics of it being built). I'm sure in the end, it will look like it has always been there!

 

[tric8783]

Soo for our rehearsal dinner and DP,
right now we are planning to have the rehearsal dinner at Ohana (as long as we can get in), Maxine said with 30 people they will want us to either to go to first seating at 5pm or last seating around 9pm. So we're hoping to go at 5, have rehearsal at 3:30pm, then the DP as a Welcome Party after.

Sooo, with everything over at the BW/BC area, DF thought we should keep the rehearsal dinner there too and cut out the DP altogether. Then we started talking about maybe renting the boats at YC and taking over the wedding party only into Illuminations. Then I thought about renting boats and bringing in everyone that was there Friday night (but we'd need lke 6 boats).
Then the more we went into Epcot for F&W Festival, I saw DP's there and how nice they looked and how cool it would be to bring everyone in VIP.

So we took a day and walked around BW, BC, YC, Swan and Dolphin looking for a restaurant to keep the rehearsal dinner in the area.
DF loved Todd English's Blue Zoo at the Dolphin,

and we also liked Shula's in the Dolphin

DF decided we'd go with Blue Zoo and I secretly wanted to keep it at Ohana. Thankfully, we had a reservation for our last night at Ohana, and headed over. We had a table on the aisle right where they do the limbo, and I said, "Wouldnt it be so fun to have it here???" As the food kept coming and was amazing as always, he finally said we couldnt have it anywhere else, yay!

Now the DP. I'm thinking we'll get a van to bring the wedding party to dinner at Ohana and bring us back to the BW, then we'll either go into Epcot or rent the boats and see Illuminations. The more I read about DPs at the GF Marina the more I'm not so sure. You're viewing it from outside the park, if you pay to have the sound piped in, other guests staying or who just happen to be at the GF, will stop and gather to hear, etc. I just dont know I'm not sure what to do! I guess we have time to figure out who will really be in town Friday night and who will want to come and see how many people we are talking. Anyone know (I'm sure there are a few of you that do ) what the minimum is for the Epcot DP off the top of their head?

 

[Ash8716]

I was so excited to your read your update after the planning session. Sounds like you guys had an awesome time and got so many things accomplished. I love that you changed the ceremony and are now doing it at Shipwreck Beach. I love that location we wanted to do our welcome party their originally. Cocktail at Sea Breeze point is so cool too, I guess thats the advantage of not having a December wedding, you can do more things outside! All your plans sound beautiful, I can't wait to see it all come together! You must be getting so excited, the planning session makes things seem more real.

Thanks for the pictures of the construction at the Wedding Pavilion! We are doing a welcome party for Illuminations so i can't give you my number won't be accurate but I believe it is $250 to rent a portion of the France area and then $2500 food/bev minimum. Then it is $12.95pp for anyone who does not have a park pass that day. I will see if I can find my original quote when we were only doing a DP and let you know.

 

[tric8783]

I was so excited to your read your update after the planning session. Sounds like you guys had an awesome time and got so many things accomplished. I love that you changed the ceremony and are now doing it at Shipwreck Beach. I love that location we wanted to do our welcome party their originally. Cocktail at Sea Breeze point is so cool too, I guess thats the advantage of not having a December wedding, you can do more things outside! All your plans sound beautiful, I can't wait to see it all come together! You must be getting so excited, the planning session makes things seem more real.

Thanks for the pictures of the construction at the Wedding Pavilion! We are doing a welcome party for Illuminations so i can't give you my number won't be accurate but I believe it is $250 to rent a portion of the France area and then $2500 food/bev minimum. Then it is $12.95pp for anyone who does not have a park pass that day. I will see if I can find my original quote when we were only doing a DP and let you know.

Thanks so much, yes we are so excited!! No problemo on the pictures! Our DP is sort of a welcome party I think, we're not really sure just yet. haha Are you serving a meal, etc? We def don't want to serve a meal (we're feeding the WP then I think asking everyone to meet us afterward), but we're even thinking maybe drinks and just mickey bars or something, I'm not sure really! Hopefully it all comes together, I'm enjoying following along with your plans too!

 

[CDsSleepingBeauty]

Yes! You were my inspiration to ask again, and I'm so glad we did!!
What are you doing for your decor on the beach? I saw you were looking for a tropical band or trio?
Definitely hope we both have nice weather!!

I'm happy you got it! I'm actually surprised it's not a more popular ceremony location.

I haven't gotten prices back yet, but we would like to have the tropical ensemble for our ceremony if they're not too expensive. We're also considering the violinist or guitarist.

We want to keep our ceremony decor pretty simple. I think we're going to have aqua blue tulle with a starfish tied on each end-chair. I'm going to have them scatter hot pink rose petals, and we'd like a small canopy with aqua blue and white tulle, but we won't be able to get an estimate until our planning session in December. If it costs what I think it might, we probably won't be having a canopy. Have you decided what you're doing for ceremony decor?

 

[tric8783]

I'm happy you got it! I'm actually surprised it's not a more popular ceremony location.

I haven't gotten prices back yet, but we would like to have the tropical ensemble for our ceremony if they're not too expensive. We're also considering the violinist or guitarist.

We want to keep our ceremony decor pretty simple. I think we're going to have aqua blue tulle with a starfish tied on each end-chair. I'm going to have them scatter hot pink rose petals, and we'd like a small canopy with aqua blue and white tulle, but we won't be able to get an estimate until our planning session in December. If it costs what I think it might, we probably won't be having a canopy. Have you decided what you're doing for ceremony decor?

Well, we'll (hopefully) get our BEO before December so you can get some sort of idea for a few things from what we're doing if you want!
Maxine told us to bring the sound system to the beach would be about $800, and to have an acoustic guitarist would be about $500. She said he/she could go over to cocktail hour also. My mom requested the violin so I assume we'll get that on the BEO too and then cross it off. Your decor sounds pretty and very with your theme! I really hadn't planned anything beach-y before we knew we could do it on the beach, so we don't really have anything mixed in (shells, starfish, etc). Right now, I am going to do a shoe check, provide flip flops and parasols for guests, then place a fan and program at everyones seats. If you look back through my pics, we asked for ribbons on the sides of the chairs, and flower petals swirled in a pattern down the aisle. DF mentioned liking the canopy, but I can only imagine what it would cost and since the ceremony for us is only going to be about 20 min, I didnt even ask about it- Maybe we'd both be pleasantly surprised! Oh we're also having a hi-boy table to do a sand ceremony behind us or off to the side, and my latest idea is to have a memorial candle in a hurricane glass before the aisle. Not quite sure how I'm going to get all this stuff down there since we're flying but should be a good time!!! hahaha

Maxine could not stress to me more that we were going to need to provide fans, parasols, etc for guests that is was going to be hot for guests even for 20 minutes. I guess if she's wrong at least it will add a few nice touches
but be prepared for your planner to say the same to you, I hadn't thought about that before, figured it was short they'd be fine.

 

[tric8783]

Our first guest booked their room today at the Beach Club!!!
I am so excited!! (Besides us and my parents of course, we booked through DVC already)

I've written down all my lists of things we want and that I'll need to get, etc.
And I got amazing templates and sites for welcome boxes from Nichole that I am pumped to start working on. Makes this rainy gloomy day here in CT a little bit better! My BM's are all ordering their dresses this week too, yay!

 

[MrsDuck]

Great progress!!

It's so exciting that someone has booked for your wedding-- makes it seem more real!

 

[CDsSleepingBeauty]

Well, we'll (hopefully) get our BEO before December so you can get some sort of idea for a few things from what we're doing if you want!
Maxine told us to bring the sound system to the beach would be about $800, and to have an acoustic guitarist would be about $500. She said he/she could go over to cocktail hour also. My mom requested the violin so I assume we'll get that on the BEO too and then cross it off. Your decor sounds pretty and very with your theme! I really hadn't planned anything beach-y before we knew we could do it on the beach, so we don't really have anything mixed in (shells, starfish, etc). Right now, I am going to do a shoe check, provide flip flops and parasols for guests, then place a fan and program at everyones seats. If you look back through my pics, we asked for ribbons on the sides of the chairs, and flower petals swirled in a pattern down the aisle. DF mentioned liking the canopy, but I can only imagine what it would cost and since the ceremony for us is only going to be about 20 min, I didnt even ask about it- Maybe we'd both be pleasantly surprised! Oh we're also having a hi-boy table to do a sand ceremony behind us or off to the side, and my latest idea is to have a memorial candle in a hurricane glass before the aisle. Not quite sure how I'm going to get all this stuff down there since we're flying but should be a good time!!! hahaha

Maxine could not stress to me more that we were going to need to provide fans, parasols, etc for guests that is was going to be hot for guests even for 20 minutes. I guess if she's wrong at least it will add a few nice touches
but be prepared for your planner to say the same to you, I hadn't thought about that before, figured it was short they'd be fine.

Thanks! We have a lot of ideas for what we want, but it seems so hard to get prices for everything. I feel like I'm constantly emailing my planner for prices alone. Your decor sounds like it will be absolutely beautiful! I love the flower petals swirled like that!

We've decided to go with either the guitarist or violinist. I asked my planner about canopy prices, but she said that's something I would have to ask the florist. Our planning session is early in December, so I will be sure to ask and let you know what she says.

Since we're only having about 30 guests (mostly family), we've just told everyone that our wedding will be on the beach so they will want to avoid high heels, etc. DF and I, as well as our wedding party are going to go barefoot on the beach.

Our ceremony is going to be about the same length as yours, so I figured our guests would be fine, too. Hopefully, we won't have record heat at that time of year. I really like your fan/parasol idea. We're going to have to consider that now.

 

[tric8783]

Great progress!!

It's so exciting that someone has booked for your wedding-- makes it seem more real!

Yes! I agree!! I had another girlfriend from college email me saying she is booking also at the BC! It gets me so excited and my wheels spinning for everyone to meet up outside of the actual wedding activities!!

 

[tric8783]

Thanks! We have a lot of ideas for what we want, but it seems so hard to get prices for everything. I feel like I'm constantly emailing my planner for prices alone. Your decor sounds like it will be absolutely beautiful! I love the flower petals swirled like that!

We've decided to go with either the guitarist or violinist. I asked my planner about canopy prices, but she said that's something I would have to ask the florist. Our planning session is early in December, so I will be sure to ask and let you know what she says.

Since we're only having about 30 guests (mostly family), we've just told everyone that our wedding will be on the beach so they will want to avoid high heels, etc. DF and I, as well as our wedding party are going to go barefoot on the beach.

Our ceremony is going to be about the same length as yours, so I figured our guests would be fine, too. Hopefully, we won't have record heat at that time of year. I really like your fan/parasol idea. We're going to have to consider that now.

Thanks!! I am really looking forward to seeing this "vision" of mine pan out!! We have our floral director assigned, I can shoot her an email and ask her the price if you want to know before then! My BM's and I will be wearing our heels from the BC out to the sand, then taking them off and walking up the aisle barefoot. DF said he wants to just keep his shoes since they will be in their suits, I told him he runs whatever the boys do, so that's up to him! We decided we're going to just write the ceremony is at the BC Resort and not specify the beach so that the shoe check can be a cute little surprise. I'm sure people will figure it out and talk about it before the wedding but I decided I'm going to buy smaller quantities of flip flops and parasols rather than spending a lot for stuff people may or may not use!!

I found our parasols online from lunabazaar.com, they are between 5.50 and 7.95 each depending how many you get. I am also getting our fans from navyandlavender.com, for 1.08 each (and they look like they are nice quality). I found both vendors in the back of a wedding magazine on a list of "100 websites you need to know about"