Liz and Val's PJ - WP/GF, 1-24-09; Details =)

[GlobalDiva]

The men were hanging out beforehand:

As were the ringbearers:

The ringbearers had mickey pins instead of boutonnieres, and they carried little sock Mickeys instead of pillows:

Val's mom had a heart-shaped "Mom" pin with Minnie Mouse, that you can kinda see in this picture:

We saw some guests outside the WP who weren't seated yet and we knew they wouldn't be going in until my dad and I did because Marion and I had discussed that once the bridal procession started walking, she wouldn't let other guests come in until after my dad and I finished entering. Don't want any of the guests stumbling down the aisle behind my grand entrance!

The ceremony was really warm and funny; all of my guests who spoke to me about the ceremony afterwards raved about Pastor Luther--they said he was hysterical.

The ringbearers were providing a little comic relief too, apparently, which I didn't see because I was obviously facing the altar. But afterwards I saw in pictures that they were hanging out on the steps:

We exited to the Electrical Parade

here we are with our parents:

 

[GlobalDiva]

We finished taking our pictures in the WP and headed over to the GF ballrooms to see our room before guests entered. We met the DJ and I specified a couple of songs that I wanted at various moments during the party (Mouse House remix of "So This is Love" when Val and I enter the ballroom; Particular song for my dance with dad--a French song called "A Ma Fille" that I had emailed to him the night before with some other songs, but forgotten to specify what to play when). He was fabulous and accommodating.

Once we finished looking at the room, Marion said, "Well, alright, everything is on schedule, so you can go to your party." Val and I looked at each other and I was like, "Our cocktail party??" And she was like, "Yeah! Of course you can go, we're great on time, but if you don't want to see guests yet, I can bring you to another room, that's fine too." I was like, "Yeah! I wanna go to the cocktail!!"

She started laughing, and escorted us down to the hall to the Whitehall and other ballrooms and patio area where the cocktail reception was taking place. I was thrilled about that because I always regretted that we wouldn't get to mingle with guests before the reception, but since we finished our pictures on time and everything, and also because we had asked Marion during planning to start the cocktail hour 1-and-a-half hours after the ceremony instead of 1 hour after, that made it that we were able to be there at our cocktail for a full 30 minutes! I already made my grand entrance at the WP, I didn't wanna miss any more of my party!!!

So we entered one of the ballrooms where our cocktail reception was taking place and everybody just kind of looked up in surprise then started clapping and cheering, and it gave us a chance to chat with several guests. Attending the cocktail ensured that I got to speak with every single guest either during that hour or during the reception, which was really important to me.

In short, getting to be there for the cocktail was one of my MANY favorite things of the day I even got to sneak a yummy spring roll for my rumbling tummy, LOL

One of my bridesmaids was kind of enough to get some table shots before the room filled completely:

Dinner was excellent--everyone else had shrimp cocktails for their appetizer, but Val and I had chicken skewers since I'm allergic to shellfish. The chicken was yummy. After that, I had the DELICIOUS caesar salad and didn't eat anything else because of the corset The staff was kind enough to give me my food for later however so that I could enjoy it OUTSIDE the dress, lol. It was REALLY delicious. I did also have the bite of cake when we cut the cake and it was delicious (red velvet with cream cheese filling and buttercream icing). The staff also boxed up slices of the different flavors of our cakes which I enjoyed later that night (red velvet, marble with raspberry cream filling, and yellow with bavarian cream).

Later that night at 10 PM the guests got a great surprise when Mickey and Minnie arrived on the dance floor

Val and I danced with them, the children at the reception all danced with them (there were only 6 kids so each child got a turn), and a couple of guests got a turn to dance.

They cut the cake with us, and then headed into the lobby to take pictures with us and different guests. They were great about taking pics with everyone who wanted, and they went back to the ballroom afterwards to take more pictures with other guests.

I was thrilled to have them there.

 

[GlobalDiva]

There was a ton more dancing for everyone And at the end of the night, we danced "Last Dance" with the confetti canon that exploded when the song picked up.

The night was more than I could have hoped for. The lights came on, but there was lot of lingering of family and different guests chatting. Val and I talked to the DJ for a little while. With a little help we loaded some gifts and our stuff (portrait, guestbook, top layer of cake, etc) onto a bellhop cart and brought it to our hotel room with some relatives and bridesmaids.

Took off the dress and makeup, then put some comfy clothes and headed to GF's Mizner Lounge to meet up with some friends for drinks (By then it was like 12:30 or 1 and I was exhausted but we wanted to hang out a bit with them).

Came back to the room, ate my wedding dinner (crusted sea bass and beef filet) and a little cake DEEE-lish. Then was lights out.

I can't WAIT for photographer pictures!!!!

I'll post a little info about our EPCOT photos soon. The wedding was Sat night and we did our EPCOT photo session on Tuesday morning.

 

[Keira1387]

Your ring bears look adorable!

 

[AaronsDisneygrl]

Hi! We want a Disney wedding in 2011 but we have quite a large guest list, so we want to start saving for everything now:...do you have any recommendations? And what % of the invites showed?
Thank you so much!

 

[GlobalDiva]

Hi! We want a Disney wedding in 2011 but we have quite a large guest list, so we want to start saving for everything now:...do you have any recommendations? And what % of the invites showed?
Thank you so much!

Hello

Sorry I'm getting to your question so late

One of my recommendations is making it an adult reception--this cut down on numbers significantly. Secondly, the fact that it was a destination wedding cut down on numbers too.

We invited about 315 people and we got about 190.

Hope this helps!! Good luck =)

 

[padisneyfour]

I love the idea of a pin for the ringbearers,(though we won't be having a ring bearer) we will have our niece and nephew as greeters for the ceremony so I am going to borrow that idea for them instead of flowers... and the mom pin too! you looked beautiful and loved the colors! everything looks beautiful. congrats.Thanks for sharing.....

 

[GlobalDiva]

I love the idea of a pin for the ringbearers,(though we won't be having a ring bearer) we will have our niece and nephew as greeters for the ceremony so I am going to borrow that idea for them instead of flowers... and the mom pin too! you looked beautiful and loved the colors! everything looks beautiful. congrats.Thanks for sharing.....

Thanks so much!!