disfan melissa
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2009
- Messages
- 89
Even though I used these boards to answer pretty much all of my questions during my planning phase, I never started a planning journal or posted much. Since we just got back from our wedding, I figured I should post some information on our wedding which hopefully will help future brides and grooms. Before getting into any background, let me just say – Disney was amazing and since our wedding, we can’t stop talking about how magical the day was and how we would love to re-live it over and over again!
Some quick background:
Johnny and I have been dating for ELEVEN years (we were really young when we started dating!), live in Brooklyn, NY and got engaged last May after nearly 10 years of dating. During those years, I went to Boston for college, Johnny moved to Boston to join me, then Johnny moved back to NY and I did eventually too.
I have known for a few years that what I really wanted was a destination wedding. I have a small family and personally don’t usually enjoy cookie cutter catering hall weddings. Every now and then (usually after going to someone else’s wedding), I would look into different destinations for my future wedding and these of course, including Disney. But I pretty much thought it would be way more expensive and a little bit cheesier than other destinations.
After Johnny and I got engaged one Friday night in our apartment, I started seriously looking at destinations. We were thinking of different Caribbean islands, maybe a cruise, somewhere in the Florida Keys, the Carolinas and suggested by my Dad -- Disney. I started searching these boards for pictures of Disney weddings and I fell in love with Disney Weddings.
My family had been Disney fanatics and we always went for our summer vacation when I was growing up. When I was 8 I was diagnosed with leukemia and my wish through the Make a Wish Foundation was to go to Disney World with my family. I cannot even begin to explain how kind and generous Disney was to me and my family. We returned a few more times when I was on chemo and a few year later when I had surgery and walked with crutches or sat in a wheelchair. Disney was unbelievably amazing once again. So I have always had a place in my heart for Disney World and know the level at which they can operate.
Back to the wedding, we did some comparisons of price for us and for our guests and what we actually get for the money. With Disney, we could actually customize different aspects of the wedding. I knew this was where we would be getting married. Of course, outside of my immediate family, we were met with the usual question of “Why Disney?” by family, friends, coworkers and random people. I’m sure all Disney brides deal with this question and the strange glares or comments of “I went there when I was a kid but haven’t thought of it since” or “Are you getting married in the castle?” or just a little bit of laughter. I personally never saw the point of explaining how beautiful my wedding will be. Spoiler alert: even some of my family that thought a Disney wedding would be lame or cheesy were amazed after the wedding with how elegant and fabulous Disney weddings actually are.
I always wanted an outdoor destination wedding on a beach but once we realized our wedding was going to be in August, Johnny pretty much ruled out any ceremony location other than the Wedding Pavilion. We debated between the Whitehall Room and the Napa Room but ultimately, choose the Napa Room for the amazing California Grill food and view of the fireworks. After much debate, we chose to do a welcome dessert party at UK Lochside the night before our wedding immediately after Drinking Around the World (stay tuned for some Epcot craziness!)
Up next: Trip report begins and reviews!
Some quick background:
Johnny and I have been dating for ELEVEN years (we were really young when we started dating!), live in Brooklyn, NY and got engaged last May after nearly 10 years of dating. During those years, I went to Boston for college, Johnny moved to Boston to join me, then Johnny moved back to NY and I did eventually too.
I have known for a few years that what I really wanted was a destination wedding. I have a small family and personally don’t usually enjoy cookie cutter catering hall weddings. Every now and then (usually after going to someone else’s wedding), I would look into different destinations for my future wedding and these of course, including Disney. But I pretty much thought it would be way more expensive and a little bit cheesier than other destinations.
After Johnny and I got engaged one Friday night in our apartment, I started seriously looking at destinations. We were thinking of different Caribbean islands, maybe a cruise, somewhere in the Florida Keys, the Carolinas and suggested by my Dad -- Disney. I started searching these boards for pictures of Disney weddings and I fell in love with Disney Weddings.
My family had been Disney fanatics and we always went for our summer vacation when I was growing up. When I was 8 I was diagnosed with leukemia and my wish through the Make a Wish Foundation was to go to Disney World with my family. I cannot even begin to explain how kind and generous Disney was to me and my family. We returned a few more times when I was on chemo and a few year later when I had surgery and walked with crutches or sat in a wheelchair. Disney was unbelievably amazing once again. So I have always had a place in my heart for Disney World and know the level at which they can operate.
Back to the wedding, we did some comparisons of price for us and for our guests and what we actually get for the money. With Disney, we could actually customize different aspects of the wedding. I knew this was where we would be getting married. Of course, outside of my immediate family, we were met with the usual question of “Why Disney?” by family, friends, coworkers and random people. I’m sure all Disney brides deal with this question and the strange glares or comments of “I went there when I was a kid but haven’t thought of it since” or “Are you getting married in the castle?” or just a little bit of laughter. I personally never saw the point of explaining how beautiful my wedding will be. Spoiler alert: even some of my family that thought a Disney wedding would be lame or cheesy were amazed after the wedding with how elegant and fabulous Disney weddings actually are.
I always wanted an outdoor destination wedding on a beach but once we realized our wedding was going to be in August, Johnny pretty much ruled out any ceremony location other than the Wedding Pavilion. We debated between the Whitehall Room and the Napa Room but ultimately, choose the Napa Room for the amazing California Grill food and view of the fireworks. After much debate, we chose to do a welcome dessert party at UK Lochside the night before our wedding immediately after Drinking Around the World (stay tuned for some Epcot craziness!)
Up next: Trip report begins and reviews!
I look forward to reading more and seeing photos. 
