Kim & Nick SBP/Ariel's/Italy DP 5/09/11 UPDATES!

Kimmers127

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 1, 2008
Messages
785
Hi everyone!

I feel like I need to start this off like an AA meeting: My name is Kim, I'm planning a Disney wedding and I am not engaged.

Before you all start the collective eyeroll let me just say: it's not like that, I promise.

My boyfriend Nick and I have been together for about 3 years now, and in the course of that time we've purchased two condos (one of which we now rent out). We gutted and completely renovated both condos, and the last year or so since has been a lot of Attempting to Pay Off All That Debt, Oh My God. We've had a wedding date in mind for some time now but have been really focused on putting any available cash toward diminishing our debt. So no ring just yet, but because we want to plan this thing down to the last detail, we jumped in and started planning the wedding anyway. We only get to plan this thing once, might as well make the most of it! :rotfl:

Plus I thought it might be kind of cool for there to be a PJ out there where the actual proposal comes to you in real time. Stay tuned for that.

Here are the details we've worked out so far...

Wedding Date: (obviously tentative) 9/13/10. We'd really like for our friends and family to come down 2 days prior to the wedding so we can all hit the parks together. After the wedding, Nick and I plan to go our own separate way in true honeymoon fashion, so we want to make sure we can spend some time with our guests beforehand. With this in mind, I chose a Monday wedding date thinking it would minimize the number of days our guests need to take off from work. September is our favorite month to go to Disney because the crowds are low and it's still hot enough to hit the water parks, Nick's favorite Disney activity.

Ceremony Location: Sea Breeze Point. I loved the idea of an outdoor ceremony. The Yacht & Beach Club is my favorite Disney hotel and I love that we'll be able to see it as we're getting married. I think SBP is a really pretty spot. Love that it's on the water, love that it's covered so although we're outside, we're somewhat out of the sun.

Reception Location: probably Ariels. Initially I wanted The Attic, but Nick isn't a big fan and I'm not 100% sure it will be big enough anyway. When I found Ariel's it seemed perfect - at my favorite hotel, walking distance from the ceremony, vaguely under the sea themed elements. I love that it's so near to Stormalong Bay. And, it brings my guests many steps closer to...

Epcot Dessert Pary! I'm leaning towards a 10 am ceremony, 11 pre-reception, and 12 - 3 lunch buffet reception. This gives our guests a big enough chunk of downtime before the DP to go do something fun or relaxing during the hottest part of the day. They can hit the pool, take a nap or make a Downtown Disney run. Whatever they need to do to recharge for Illuminations!

After the DP we're thinking that for anyone who's not ready to call it a night, we can all head over to the Atlantic Dance Hall for a bit.

Colors: Some kind of blue, some kind of yellow, accents of bright pink. (I'm told I need to keep the pink to a BARE MINIMUM :lmao:)

Bridesmaids/Groomsmen: TBD

Dress: I refuse to try on a dress until I have my ring, but that doesn't mean I can't look online! Judging by the (many) that I currently love, I think it's safe to say that I want something big and very fairytale. What I think is pretty hysterical is that before I started looking my ONE criteria was that it not be strapless and EVERY dress that I currently have bookmarked on my computer is strapless. Figures!

More to follow...
 
So right from the start of this whole planning process I told Nick that I was 100% set on a Mad Hatter cake with Mickey theming. Like some combination of these:

madhattermickeycakewithchecks.jpg


mickeymadhattercake.jpg


madhattercakeblueswirls.jpg


I looooove the swirled Mickey's on the blue cake. I love the tiny Mickey heads all over the pink and blue cake. And I love the cake topper from the other cake. Something about the Mad Hatter cakes really appeals to me... they're very whimsical, which is how a Disney wedding in general feels to me.

BUT THEN. Then I made the mistake of clicking through the gigantic cake thread on here... and now I'm torn. Part of me loves the Mad Hatters. Part of me loves the more traditional floral cakes with the white chocolate cake topper. And part of me likes the ocean themed cakes, with the shells and coral on them, like this one:

CoralAndShells-StandardDecoration.jpg


Especially as our reception is going to be at Ariel's... I'm thinking it might be cool to do an Under the Sea theme, sort of reminiscent of The Little Mermaid. We both love the beach, we'll be at the Yacht & Beach Club, and it's a theme we could easily do a little or a lot with. At the moment we don't have a theme, and I think that makes it tough for me to envision decor. I think having a theme will give my planning more direction.

What do you guys think??
 

CoralAndShells-StandardDecoration.jpg


Hope this helps. I don't know if this makes a difference but I went into properties and copied the web address from there.

Its a pretty cake!!!
 
How weird, if I click reply I can see all of the cakes under reply but they are all Xs on the main thread.... :confused3
 
/
Sorry I didn't realize you just edited them. They all look so pretty!!!

ha it took me forever and I'm still not 100% sure what I was doing wrong at first, but they're finally up!! Thanks for the help! :goodvibes

I feel like at some point I read somewhere that someone was thinking of doing a white chocolate cake topper made to look like a sandcastle... was that in your PJ? If I went with the shells & coral cake I was thinking that might make a really great cake topper. Then I get two of the things I wanted into one cake (sea theme, castle topper)!
 
Does anyone know how much that shells and coral cake costs in 3 tiers? Also, how many people will that feed?
 
Hey there Kim! I like that we will see a propsal in real time, how fun! Love your plans so far, we are staying at the YC for our Feb wedding, I have never stayed there before so it is great to hear a YC fan's prospective on here:thumbsup2. I noticed one small itty bitty snag in your plans (which sounds so amazing btw, do you know where you wnat a DP yet btw?) Atlantic Dance Hall would be a great spot for post wedding fun... excpet it is closed on Mondays... the only reason I know is becuase I am havong my reception on a Monday night at ADH because I loved it there lol! Besides that you are good to go girl! Have you called DFTW yet? Sorry I ask so many questions lol!

Have fun planning, can;t wait to hear more Kim!
 
Hey there Kim! I like that we will see a propsal in real time, how fun! Love your plans so far, we are staying at the YC for our Feb wedding, I have never stayed there before so it is great to hear a YC fan's prospective on here:thumbsup2. I noticed one small itty bitty snag in your plans (which sounds so amazing btw, do you know where you wnat a DP yet btw?) Atlantic Dance Hall would be a great spot for post wedding fun... excpet it is closed on Mondays... the only reason I know is becuase I am havong my reception on a Monday night at ADH because I loved it there lol! Besides that you are good to go girl! Have you called DFTW yet? Sorry I ask so many questions lol!

Have fun planning, can;t wait to hear more Kim!

Oooooh, I did NOT realize that ADH was closed on Mondays, so thanks for that! In that case maybe we will need to consider moving our date to 9/14/10. I chose the Monday really only to limit everyone's time off from work, but what's one extra day? I do think that ADH would be a fun place to go post DP... especially because any guests who stay at BW or Y&B could just walk back to their rooms after!

I have called DFTW... I felt sort of foolish calling pre-proposal but Nick talked me into it. As he pointed out, the sooner we get some guidance and a rough budget going, the sooner we'll know how much to save and what areas we can go crazy on. My wedding consultant is Joe, who sent me a mock budget for 60 guests (we're assuming we'll get between 30 and 60 so we wanted a worst case scenario). It's super rough because he just input basic floral and generic menus, but it does give us some idea. He did use my ceremony and reception choices and times, and included a DP. The first estimate was $25,000. :scared1: We'd like to be closer to $15,000 (and hey, $12,000 would be great too!!) but we also think we'll be a lot closer to 30 guests than 60 so that may not be too unrealistic. I can also already see some things I think we can cut from that budget. For comparison's sake I emailed him a few days ago asking for the same estimate based on 30 guests... we tried to do the math ourselves but I think the first budget may have had a few small errors because the math just does not work out (even taking tax and service into consideration).

I have NO idea where I want the DP... I'm not really sure what the pros and cons are of each location. I'm pretty much clueless about the DPs in general, I just love the idea.

And I LOVE the Yacht & Beach Club, it's easily my favorite hotel. The pool is amazing, the hotel and grounds are beautiful, and I love being right on the boardwalk and walking distance to Epcot. At night the do projection movies out on the beach which is really nice. Can't say enough wonderful things about this hotel! You will love it. :goodvibes

Thanks for stopping by!
 
Oooooh, I did NOT realize that ADH was closed on Mondays, so thanks for that! In that case maybe we will need to consider moving our date to 9/14/10. I chose the Monday really only to limit everyone's time off from work, but what's one extra day? I do think that ADH would be a fun place to go post DP... especially because any guests who stay at BW or Y&B could just walk back to their rooms after!

I have called DFTW... I felt sort of foolish calling pre-proposal but Nick talked me into it. As he pointed out, the sooner we get some guidance and a rough budget going, the sooner we'll know how much to save and what areas we can go crazy on. My wedding consultant is Joe, who sent me a mock budget for 60 guests (we're assuming we'll get between 30 and 60 so we wanted a worst case scenario). It's super rough because he just input basic floral and generic menus, but it does give us some idea. He did use my ceremony and reception choices and times, and included a DP. The first estimate was $25,000. :scared1: We'd like to be closer to $15,000 (and hey, $12,000 would be great too!!) but we also think we'll be a lot closer to 30 guests than 60 so that may not be too unrealistic. I can also already see some things I think we can cut from that budget. For comparison's sake I emailed him a few days ago asking for the same estimate based on 30 guests... we tried to do the math ourselves but I think the first budget may have had a few small errors because the math just does not work out (even taking tax and service into consideration).

I have NO idea where I want the DP... I'm not really sure what the pros and cons are of each location. I'm pretty much clueless about the DPs in general, I just love the idea.

And I LOVE the Yacht & Beach Club, it's easily my favorite hotel. The pool is amazing, the hotel and grounds are beautiful, and I love being right on the boardwalk and walking distance to Epcot. At night the do projection movies out on the beach which is really nice. Can't say enough wonderful things about this hotel! You will love it. :goodvibes

Thanks for stopping by!

Well I am glad your DF convinced you to call. Although the estimates they give you at first from what I have learned here are almost always a bit on the high side. I think you can get to you 15K goal with a few tricks we use on here without any trouble! Check out LurkyLoo's PJ (Carrie) she is the queen of keeping the BEO low, and her book is a great tool for a DisBride, it has all sorts of ost saving techniques and stuff (and for only about $7 you can't beat it right!) Maybe that will help you guys too while figuring out your budget. It is the PassPorter's DFTW Guide (it's available for download on the passporter website)

The Y&BC area is so nice, this was our 1st time seeing it on our last trip and we both kjnew we made the right choice! It is so pretty over there, and very relaxing too!

About a Tuesday, most of our guests are staying a few days, so I think one more is fine! Plus who doesn't love more time in WDW right!
 
Hi Kim, and welcome! :hug:

Sounds like you've got quite a bit figured out so far! Those cakes you posted were TOO cute! I loved the first two especially. I'm partial to the mad hatter cakes myself. :goodvibes

I'm very excited to hear more from you! And you're right! It will be very cool to see a real time engagement!
 
Your wedding will be exactly a week after mine. That's exciting!! I know how it feels to have started planning the wedding without the ring. We had a date and everything picked out about 2 months before my DF actually proposed. I can't wait to hear how your DBF proposes. Keep us updated.
 
Wow, you are so on top of the ball!! We too started planning before the ring but I didn't officially start the PJ until afterwards. Those cakes look lovely!! Everyone sounds so nice. I'm sure you'll find ways to reduce to $$
 
Everything looks great so far! I am having 30 people at my wedding and I am at the 12,000 mark so it can be done. One thing that can really help is to do your own centerpieces some of the Disney ones are really expensive. You just have to decide whats the most important things to you.
 
Just coming to join in on the fun!

Df and I had decided on a DFTW before the ring too...:rotfl: Can't wait to see everything unfold!
 
Hi! DBF and I are planning already too so I'm glad to see we aren't the only ones!
For the sand castle cake topper...I remember seeing a picture of that somewhere too, but I can't remember where and I can't find it in my saved pics.
I was reading the PassPorter's guide that lurkyloo wrote and under the cakes it says that Disney offers a chocolate sand castle cake topper for $165 for the small and $285 for the large. The prices may change but at least you know they have something along the lines you're looking for and a rough price estimate!
Hope that helps and I look forward to reading more :goodvibes
 














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