Jess & Ben's Wishes Wedding 11/18/14 Sea Breeze Point/Backstage Prop Shop

[alyaki]

Seems like you had a bunch of updates while I was out last week for our planning session! I think your menu is really fun, and an awesome value for everything you're getting. Also, hope you get your floral soon! Looking forward to seeing how that turns out, and what you two end up with near the end after chopping and modifications! Your event sounds like it's going to be a blast!

 

[edeneye]

Thanks! We actually just received our floral budget! It came in at just under $3,000 (it is amazing how much ribbon and the like costs when its for a wedding). We're glad we kept it pretty simple! The good news there also is $3000 is roughly what I anticipate being able to remove from our existing BEO so that should basically even itself out and land back around the $17,000 mark which isn't too bad. Plus we still have wriggle room in our food budget so we might try and get inventive in there, but knowing what we're like we'll probably just make the menu EVEN MORE like a McDonalds. A friend reminded us over the weekend how we like the Disney adult-sized chicken nuggets so yeah, it's basically going to be like a child's birthday party. I don't know much about how our wedding will go, but I do know our guests wont go home hungry.

The burger and fries bar sounds AWESOME. And coincidentally makes me want a burger for lunch! I also am loving the entrance music selections. It's your wedding! Be you!

Thanks! That's what we figured, it should reflect us. We've gone this far to have what we want, it seems silly not to go all the way with it. One of my good friends got married years ago and her one piece of advice to us was 'dont let people tell you what to do'. I can see that was a big regret of hers that her day ended up being about what others wanted in a variety of ways, we've probably taken that to the extreme but we're leaving nothing to regret!

 

[edeneye]

Okay! Our floral budget arrived earlier today and it came in at just under $3,000. That would make our grand total somewhere around $20,000 but we're gonna slash the transport and a few other items along the way and get ourselves back to somewhere around $16,000-17,000. If we feel we need to make some big changes from there, we can lose things like the twinkle light dance floor, Major Domo and/or the Dapper Dans but I think we're feeling fairly good about where everything is at right now!

So now that we've seen it, a quick note on the floral side of things. We're keeping it pretty simple at Sea Breeze, adding some balloons, scattered petals, ribbon swagging on the aisle and not a lot else. We'll have ribbon wands for our staged exit and a sand ceremony. The colours in our ceremony aren't actually the black, red & yellow as dominantly. We're instead using our favourite colours of purple and green for some of the details at this location and saving the Mickey palette for the reception.

At the reception is the bulk of our bill. Instead of escort cards we are having personalised ear hats. And on each chair will be a mini bean bag sized plush character as a favour for each of our guests. Our chair covers are going to be somewhat custom, made to look a bit like Mickey's shorts. The centrepieces are black, yellow and red gift boxes with ribbon as we are celebrating Mickey (and Minnie)'s birthday! I'm sure I've mentioned that somewhere, I know it's in our BEO anyway - I suspect that's why the pre-reception has so much cheese, what else would you serve at a Mouse's birthday party?!

Our consultant got back to me just moments ago letting me know she loves the music I put together, we've sent her our notes on the first draft of the BEO so hopefully she has time to get to work on that and we'll have some more items locked in and inch closer to our final budget (before it is due in 18 days time!).

Oh & In Australia it is 12:27am on the 1st of October right now. I'm getting married next month.

 

[elphie101]

Ok, I've been slacking. I'm glad you feel comfortable with what your (eventual) total cost will be, now that you know your Floral BEO and the cuts you plan to make.

You menu.........oh dear lord your menu. It makes my tummy rumble just to read it all!! I think it's PERFECT wedding food, who says you need to have steak and "adult" food at a wedding reception if it isn't you? Anyone who won't appreciate your good clearly isn't living life to the fullest

 

[alyaki]

I second elphie's comment about the food! Sounds tasty to me!

As for your floral - that actually sounds like a really good price, considering some of what you guys are getting for it. Can't wait to see pictures of everything, because I'm sure they will all be awesome! It's really fun that you two have different themes (don't know what else to call it - forgive me ) at your ceremony and reception, and both sound neat in their own rights. I have to say though, as much as I think the chair covers are going to be cool...I'm actually really looking forward to seeing how your centerpieces turn out. They sound fun!

 

[Sammi912]

Hi Ben! I just sat and read the whole thing in one sitting! Sounds like you will have an amazing wedding. We will be there a month after you to get married as well!
Quick question, for your ride mix-in, are they letting Jess wear her dress? I hope so. Your on ride photos will be AWESOME from ToT.

 

[Disneyducks12]

Hey Ben!

So happy to see all the updates your menu sounds amazing! I love the mickey crisp treats yum and your BEO sounds great so far! I cant believe how close you are this last month is going to fly by and then you will doing TR reports can't wait!

 

[edeneye]

Yes it's going by so quickly now! It is already the 2nd and we leave on the 26th (and because of the time difference, also arrive on the 26th, it's a long day). Jess has two more weeks of work to go and I'll likely stay on right up until we go but even that isn't long. I looked at the calendar last night and asked Jess where we'd be in a month's time - the answer: our last day at Disneyland before we head off to Vegas. It's so close!

You menu.........oh dear lord your menu. It makes my tummy rumble just to read it all!! I think it's PERFECT wedding food, who says you need to have steak and "adult" food at a wedding reception if it isn't you? Anyone who won't appreciate your good clearly isn't living life to the fullest

Yep I doubt there'll be any complaints from our guests! Well, unless someone is a vegetarian, we're not giving them very much to choose from at the moment if so! We've submitted a few tiny modifications for the menu but it's mainly stuff like me asking if we can have Nutella for the waffles and if there's anywhere we can fit in some adult-size chicken nuggets.

As for your floral - that actually sounds like a really good price, considering some of what you guys are getting for it. Can't wait to see pictures of everything, because I'm sure they will all be awesome! It's really fun that you two have different themes (don't know what else to call it - forgive me ) at your ceremony and reception, and both sound neat in their own rights. I have to say though, as much as I think the chair covers are going to be cool...I'm actually really looking forward to seeing how your centerpieces turn out. They sound fun!

Yeah I was pretty happy it was only $3,000, we were keeping it very minimal but even then we thought it could get as far as $5,000. We've asked a few questions about how we can save a little money but where the budget is at right now we really don't look like needing to make any major sacrifices. The only thing left that we don't have a price on is our cake! But that's an easy enough guess, they tend to land somewhere between $600 & $800 for what we're looking for. We're excited about seeing how everything turns out too, we've never been in the Prop Shop before so the first time we see any of it will be when we enter for our reception.

Hi Ben! I just sat and read the whole thing in one sitting! Sounds like you will have an amazing wedding. We will be there a month after you to get married as well!
Quick question, for your ride mix-in, are they letting Jess wear her dress? I hope so. Your on ride photos will be AWESOME from ToT.

Welcome! I really appreciate you joining in! Sounds like your countdown is quickly winding down too! All along, Disney hasn't been able to guarantee Jess will be able to ride ToT in her wedding dress, to that end she has bought an alternate, simple white dress for wearing for the mix-in (and maybe some of the dancing!). Again, they can't guarantee what's going to be allowed, we won't really know until we get there and it'll be at the ride staff's discretion whether or not it's okay.

 

[edeneye]

TIME IS GOING BY SO FAST NOW!

We're now inside 6 weeks to go, which hopefully means we can find out for sure if we get the Dapper Dans and then we can decide on music and budget etc on a more final level. We're awaiting adjusted BEOs since we submitted all of our changes about a week and a half ago (and we're now only 9 days away from final payment).

Basically what is happening now is lots and lots of stress! The stuff probably everyone goes through but doesn't always commit to writing. In some ways we can't wait until it's all happening just so we don't have to worry (as much) anymore. The clock is really ticking now and we hope to get the BEO we want before time runs out and we have to pay up. Our coordinator is out of office through the rest of this week I think so it's a little nerve wracking hoping that our important details aren't getting lost underneath the day-to-day madness that DFTW must be.

Like Tiana says though, we're almost there. I remain confident that everything will work out and that Disney know pretty well what they're doing by now! I just hope we don't miss the Dans booking window and miss out for a silly reason like that. Some good news though is that we're so close that I can see extended weather forecasts for our wedding day and the news is better than I could've hoped for. 'Brilliant Sunshine' is forecast. Not a shower to be seen for DAYS either side. Obviously the weather, particularly in Florida, is notoriously unpredictable but the early indication is so, so good!

Other than all that, we're really starting to try and work out the finer details of our trip. Transfers, rentals, tickets, payments due, money owing, who's watching our house and our pets and taking us to the airport and allll that sort of stuff. And learning our dance choreography! I've been busily editing a video that'll teach our Bridal Party to dance to my edit of Backstreet's Back and we practice that when we get some time together too.

Oh & one other note, we've booked our first ever WDW tours! We're doing Wild Africa Trek and Backstage Magic so that's really exciting. I'm actually getting so excited now that I feel like we're about to leave and keep getting disappointed when I have to go to work. I'm officially checked out of day-to-day life and have one eye on the clock/calendar at all times. My favourite game lately is 'where will we be in three weeks' to which today's answer is 'Disneyland' where we've got a reservation for Breakfast in Goofy's Kitchen!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Y'all are getting so close!

Hang in there its almost time!

 

[TiffinyKaye]

TIME IS GOING BY SO FAST NOW!

We're now inside 6 weeks to go, which hopefully means we can find out for sure if we get the Dapper Dans and then we can decide on music and budget etc on a more final level. We're awaiting adjusted BEOs since we submitted all of our changes about a week and a half ago (and we're now only 9 days away from final payment).

Basically what is happening now is lots and lots of stress! The stuff probably everyone goes through but doesn't always commit to writing. In some ways we can't wait until it's all happening just so we don't have to worry (as much) anymore. The clock is really ticking now and we hope to get the BEO we want before time runs out and we have to pay up. Our coordinator is out of office through the rest of this week I think so it's a little nerve wracking hoping that our important details aren't getting lost underneath the day-to-day madness that DFTW must be.

Like Tiana says though, we're almost there. I remain confident that everything will work out and that Disney know pretty well what they're doing by now! I just hope we don't miss the Dans booking window and miss out for a silly reason like that. Some good news though is that we're so close that I can see extended weather forecasts for our wedding day and the news is better than I could've hoped for. 'Brilliant Sunshine' is forecast. Not a shower to be seen for DAYS either side. Obviously the weather, particularly in Florida, is notoriously unpredictable but the early indication is so, so good!

Other than all that, we're really starting to try and work out the finer details of our trip. Transfers, rentals, tickets, payments due, money owing, who's watching our house and our pets and taking us to the airport and allll that sort of stuff. And learning our dance choreography! I've been busily editing a video that'll teach our Bridal Party to dance to my edit of Backstreet's Back and we practice that when we get some time together too.

Oh & one other note, we've booked our first ever WDW tours! We're doing Wild Africa Trek and Backstage Magic so that's really exciting. I'm actually getting so excited now that I feel like we're about to leave and keep getting disappointed when I have to go to work. I'm officially checked out of day-to-day life and have one eye on the clock/calendar at all times. My favourite game lately is 'where will we be in three weeks' to which today's answer is 'Disneyland' where we've got a reservation for Breakfast in Goofy's Kitchen!

So I didn't quote everything I wanted to comment on, because there's so much!

First off, THANK YOU for posting your menu. It's exceedingly helpful to see what you can get for the price, and I appreciate you posting it.

And I think that EVERYTHING sounds great. Your wedding will be so awesome. I can't wait to see pictures.

I can't say how much I hope you get the Dapper Dans, since they are so important to you both. And I'm happy you're coming in around the budget you expected.

I COMPLETELY relate on the level of not having your prices. It's amazing to me that you guys had an initial BEO before your floral. We only got our floral last week...still haven't even seen a first draft of our BEO. Tomorrow is our 60-day mark. I know they're busy...but when you're so down-to-the-wire...I would hope you'd have more time to make all your changes in time.

Anyway, I cannot wait to keep following. You and your fiancee have the same "Mickey" idea as we do for a theme, and it's exciting to see it be executed in such a different way. We're all unique, and I think it's awesome to see this vision come to life.

Tiffiny

 

[Libby_Darling]

Hi Ben! I've been following your PJ since earlier this year and now that myself and my fiancé are almost fully submerged in Disney wedding planning, I thought I'd comment!!

I LOVED reading the story of how you got together - myself and Ben (great name!!) have been together a long time too (10 years, got together when we were 16!) and we got together because of MSN Messenger! Oh the evenings where I'd spend hours waiting for Ben to come online and then when his name popped up in the corner of my screen...freak out, haha! Good old MSN. I miss it.

Anyway. I have really enjoyed reading a planning journal from a groom, and I wanted to thank you as I sat Ben down last week and forced him to read at least the first page of your PJ as I thought it might inspire him to start one of his own!! Or at least become as obsessed with wedding planning as I am. It worked, he loved it and read the whole thing, yay!

It's funny because he is actually 100% for a DFTW, whereas I'm the one researching venues over here (we live in the UK) and writing countless lists of pros and cons regarding whether to get married here or there. I'm a naturally indecisive girl anyway unfortunately, which makes big decisions like this really hard! I do think it will be a Disney wedding though, reading your PJ gives me butterflies in my stomach and I just feel so excited for you both, it's going to be the best wedding EVER! Whereas I look at wedding blogs of weddings in England and it just doesn't give me the same thrill...I think I need to stop worrying about potentially annoying people by getting married so far away and just do what we want. We have had a lot of positive reactions so far but I can't help but worry if people change their minds or are secretly resentful...I worry too much!!!!

Well this has been long and rambling so I'll sign off now, I hope you both have the most incredible time and please please please do a trip report when you get back so we can all live vicariously through your wedding!!

Take care xxx

 

[TiffinyKaye]

It's funny because he is actually 100% for a DFTW, whereas I'm the one researching venues over here (we live in the UK) and writing countless lists of pros and cons regarding whether to get married here or there. I'm a naturally indecisive girl anyway unfortunately, which makes big decisions like this really hard! I do think it will be a Disney wedding though, reading your PJ gives me butterflies in my stomach and I just feel so excited for you both, it's going to be the best wedding EVER! Whereas I look at wedding blogs of weddings in England and it just doesn't give me the same thrill...I think I need to stop worrying about potentially annoying people by getting married so far away and just do what we want. We have had a lot of positive reactions so far but I can't help but worry if people change their minds or are secretly resentful...I worry too much!!!!

Take care xxx

Stop worrying and Disney! In fact, Disney Wedding!

As the ghost host says in the Haunted Mansion attraction, "there's always room for one more..." There is ALWAYS room for another Disney bride here. And, obviously that is your decision to have a wedding in Disney or in the UK--but I'd say if you're a Disney fan and you have the resources to afford one, it's just such an awesome experience. I mean, DF and I would be getting married anyway (we actually get married here 12/08/14 in the Japan pavilion of Epcot)--but having Disney to help plan everything, and to have Mickey and Minnie scheduled to show up to my wedding...it's just been so memorable and so awesome. I am so glad I made that choice.

That's my two cents, though. Every bride should do what makes them happy. If you decide on Disney wedding, we would all LOVE living vicariously through you!

Tiffiny

 

[Libby_Darling]

Stop worrying and Disney! In fact, Disney Wedding!

As the ghost host says in the Haunted Mansion attraction, "there's always room for one more..." There is ALWAYS room for another Disney bride here. And, obviously that is your decision to have a wedding in Disney or in the UK--but I'd say if you're a Disney fan and you have the resources to afford one, it's just such an awesome experience. I mean, DF and I would be getting married anyway (we actually get married here 12/08/14 in the Japan pavilion of Epcot)--but having Disney to help plan everything, and to have Mickey and Minnie scheduled to show up to my wedding...it's just been so memorable and so awesome. I am so glad I made that choice.

That's my two cents, though. Every bride should do what makes them happy. If you decide on Disney wedding, we would all LOVE living vicariously through you!

Tiffiny

Haha awww thank you for your cute and funny comment I'm one of those annoying people who has to check out every single option before coming to a decision whenever we view venues over here though I just can't get excited about them. But it's like I need to envision what our UK wedding would be like, before I commit to DFTW. We're actually going to see a venue this weekend; I'm looking forward to it but I think it'll only strengthen my decision that we want a DFTW! I'm lucky that Ben (my Ben, not the Ben on this thread!) doesn't mind visiting venues over here and my endless dissecting of each!

Technically we do have the resources to afford one as the kind of wedding we'd have over here would be the same, if not more expensive. And as Ben points out, no view of the castle, no fireworks, no caricature artist, no Dapper Dans...none of the cool stuff we'd like that would make our wedding absolutely one of a kind (well, you know, apart from the other thousands of other brides who get married at Disney every year!)

I'll be starting my PJ as soon as I make the decision haha don't you worry, I write a lottttt so it'll be a long one!!! Your wedding sounds amazing! So soon, too! Enjoy the last few weeks leading up to it!

 

[edeneye]

Y'all are getting so close!

haha What an amazing gif! When people ask how I'm feeling at the moment I tend to tell them I'm alternating between excited and stressed, that's an excellent representation of 'excited'! I think that'll be me in two weeks from now, the night before we fly out!

Anyway, I cannot wait to keep following. You and your fiancee have the same "Mickey" idea as we do for a theme, and it's exciting to see it be executed in such a different way. We're all unique, and I think it's awesome to see this vision come to life.

Yes! It's such a nice colour palette to work in, Jess & I break from it for parts of the ceremony which probably confuses everyone at Disney but Mickey's colours have been such fun to try and put in where we can. I tried on most of my suit again today as it has been a while, I say 'most' because we didn't have my tie so I used a yellow one we'd bought as an alternate. I don't think we'll change to that permanently but it's nice how interchangeable the colours are and how well they complement each other. The broad scope of Disney and individual uniqueness shows through in that we are both having weddings of a similar size and budget, both through many of the same staff, using the same colours and yet they'll be so visually distinct from each other. Makes a great change from all the hotel weddings I've been to over here!

I LOVED reading the story of how you got together - myself and Ben (great name!!) have been together a long time too (10 years, got together when we were 16!) and we got together because of MSN Messenger! Oh the evenings where I'd spend hours waiting for Ben to come online and then when his name popped up in the corner of my screen...freak out, haha! Good old MSN. I miss it.

Anyway. I have really enjoyed reading a planning journal from a groom, and I wanted to thank you as I sat Ben down last week and forced him to read at least the first page of your PJ as I thought it might inspire him to start one of his own!! Or at least become as obsessed with wedding planning as I am. It worked, he loved it and read the whole thing, yay!

Welcome! I'm so honoured that this could provide any inspiration for you! When I started reading your post I had to stop and check that you weren't actually Jess cheekily letting me know that you've found my post. Our stories are so alike!

I'm similar to you in that I like to evaluate all my options before choosing something, even if I feel I know the answer at the start. When we go to Disney I won't even buy anything for the first few days until I've been to all the gift shops (well, most of them - there's so many!). We did the same thing here, looking at venues and trying to find something we could do something special in and everything felt like a bit of a compromise. The one place we found in Australia that were happy to really customise and cater to us was quoting our budget at well over $35,000. We figured we could go get married at Disney for that price! And how right we were.

Thanks for joining in! Looking forward to seeing your own planning journal in here soon!

And now... photo roundup!

Jess' bachelorette party, that is Jess' MOH Luisa with the white sash, her other Bridesmaid Sarah at the far right and flowergirl Ebony on the far left. She's 20 but still the youngest person attending! Yep, some guys crashed it but Jess always intended that - it was in a public place so she couldn't very well keep them out!

Dear weather, stay exactly like this. Note - this is celsius, there isn't an apocalyptic cold front on its way to Florida.

The Mickey Mouse colour scheme extends well beyond our wedding - much of our house is also in those colours! It's still a messy work in progress, wedding planning and a new home don't mix well when you've got as much stuff as we do.

Watching the days fly off the calendar. I can tell Jess is excited because she doesn't normally cross out dates like this, this month she isn't missing a beat.

My countdown clock is still ticking. You may remember I posted it earlier on, back when it said something closer to 250 days!

 

[TiffinyKaye]

Ben, I'm with you on that GIF. Bear in the Big Blue House GIF is AWESOME. It makes me giglg.e

I love your house! That room is so cute! We've got Mickey stuff all over too, but it's not quite so prevalent (yet). We've got two Mickey Mouse statutes (the type of stuff you can buy at Art of Disney), the Christmas countdown calendar, a Minnie nutcracker, and a few other things (plus Disney movies, of course). It is my intent to, slowly over the years, convert our kitchen to Disney. When we were there, I bought some of the burlap-ish Mickey Mouse placements. I guess it's called the "Gourmet Mickey Collection" on the Disney Store's website. When we go in December, my wedding gift to myself will be the dish and flatware sets.

The biggest problem is that our kitchen is blue...and there's not much we can do about it, unless we spend $10,000 re-doing the kitchen (counter tops are a blue-ish color and everything). So, maybe someday. For now though, it'd just be too costly.

So did you known the dude in her picture, or did he just sort of join in as the night went on? I think it's funny. He's got a Rainbow Dash shirt on that I also happen to own. I love that shirt. I mean, it's not classic "My Little Pony," but I don't mind the design.

So few days! YAY!!!!


Tiffiny

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Dear weather, stay exactly like this. Note - this is celsius, there isn't an apocalyptic cold front on its way to Florida.

I got confused there for a sec!

 

[LadyD]

I hope you get the Dans!! They are such a lovely group . When will you know for sure either way?

It looks like you are really lucking out with the weather. I hope it stays that way for you!

I adore your house decor. Diana and I would love to Disney theme our house one day.

 

[TiffinyKaye]

I hope you get the Dans!! They are such a lovely group . When will you know for sure either way?

It looks like you are really lucking out with the weather. I hope it stays that way for you!

I adore your house decor. Diana and I would love to Disney theme our house one day.

LadyD--do it slowly! That's the only way we can afford it. LOL! Buy a plate every other trip.

Tiffiny

 

[edeneye]

I love your house! That room is so cute! We've got Mickey stuff all over too, but it's not quite so prevalent (yet). We've got two Mickey Mouse statutes (the type of stuff you can buy at Art of Disney), the Christmas countdown calendar, a Minnie nutcracker, and a few other things (plus Disney movies, of course). It is my intent to, slowly over the years, convert our kitchen to Disney. When we were there, I bought some of the burlap-ish Mickey Mouse placements. I guess it's called the "Gourmet Mickey Collection" on the Disney Store's website. When we go in December, my wedding gift to myself will be the dish and flatware sets.

The biggest problem is that our kitchen is blue...and there's not much we can do about it, unless we spend $10,000 re-doing the kitchen (counter tops are a blue-ish color and everything). So, maybe someday. For now though, it'd just be too costly.

So did you known the dude in her picture, or did he just sort of join in as the night went on? I think it's funny. He's got a Rainbow Dash shirt on that I also happen to own. I love that shirt. I mean, it's not classic "My Little Pony," but I don't mind the design.

Thanks! Jess does basically all of the design, she really has a passion for interior decorating so when we were going through the building process she was heavily involved in colours and styles and gathering together items that'll go nicely inside. Mickey's colours are represented in so many places around the house, we've got a lot of red placemats and even some polkadotted plates for some Minnie elements. I'd like to think it's still subtle but it's really not at all! We're really happy with it though, it's nice to have pieces of our laughing place all around us at home. And yes, Jess loves looking at the homewares! She'd love some of the Beauty & the Beast china we saw at New Fantasyland when we were there last but it's so risky bringing things like that all the way back here. We'll definitely visit the store in Downtown Disney this time though, if there's some more Disney touches we can add around the house I'm sure we'll be picking some up!

Yep, the guy in the picture is a friend of Jess' from high school. She had a few male friends pop in through the night but it was primarily the girls and Jess, she and her bridesmaids had a hotel room in the city for the night as well so they had a great time together. I love that he has the same shirt as you! It's funny that could happen, usually if I'm wearing something I bought in America I'll never see anyone around here with the same thing!

I got confused there for a sec!

haha I nearly posted that before I realised that it might briefly seem like WDW was going to be under deep, deep, deep, deep snow and thought I'd point out why my numbers were so far off!

I hope you get the Dans!! They are such a lovely group . When will you know for sure either way?

It looks like you are really lucking out with the weather. I hope it stays that way for you!

I adore your house decor. Diana and I would love to Disney theme our house one day.

We'll know soon apparently! We heard from our planner yesterday who mentioned that she is just waiting to hear back from Entertainment about their availability. So I'm guessing some time next week we'll know one way or the other! We asked for them to be included in our budget for now because they are something we're certain we want so they may as well go in there! And we're so happy about the weather, ever since April last year we knew which location we wanted that that it would be pending Florida weather so we've been so nervous about it for so long. Now we finally get an indication of what to expect and it's sunshine, lollipops and no rainbows because there's NO RAIN!