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

[GlobalDiva]

Happy Holidays fellow DIS-ers

So, what's new on my wedding planning front?

Firstly, I'm very proud to report that I have met my room night minimum!! Woohoo! I had to meet a 113-room night minimum, and it is now met! Yay! This was challenging. We had invited a little over 300 guests (about 315), so we wanted to make sure we had a lot of rooms available. And as you all know well, the more rooms you ask them to block off, the bigger your guarantee has to be. So we had to guarantee 113 room nights. Well, a lot of people have declined, and we're ending up with a guest count of somewhere around 220, which definitely helps expense wise. But we didn't know they would all decline, so we didn't alter our room block 90 days out when we could have done so. So we were pretty nervous, but our guests just kind of ended up booking pretty late, but they came through (along with a guardian angel )

My sisters threw me a bridal shower last weekend at my cousin's house. Which was a ton of fun. It was a ladies' garden party theme. We lucked out with a gorgeous South Florida day, and a wonderful time was had by all

Here are some pictures:

Me with my Mouse Ears

My with one of my sisters (both of whom are maids of honor)

Me with my close friends and bridesmaids.

Yummy food that my sisters prepared.

Cupcakes that my sister made.

Tea time!

 

[GlobalDiva]

We are going with the gold candelabras for table decor. We're alternating them: half the tables will be candelabras with all candles, and some petals on the table. The rest will be candelabras with a flower ball in the middle.

This is the arrangement I'm doing, except this is roses with carnations, but mine will be all carnations bunched up tightly in a ball, all peach in color to match our pink-and-orange-with-brown-accent color scheme. Also the candelabra here is silver, but ours will be gold.

We're also going to do some organza overlays over the ivory tablecloths. We haven't decided on the overlay color yet. We're not covering the chairs, as it's too expensive, and fortunately for us they match our color scheme and the GF ballrooms perfectly.

Now we're trying to figure out what to do for our rehearsal dinner...we want to do it on property no matter what. I would love Narcoosee's, but we'll see.

OK, I think that's it for now!

 

[GlobalDiva]

We're having the English Butler. My mom wanted the Major Domo, but I like the idea of the English Butler more, not sure why

We booked an EPCOT photo session 2 days after the wedding. I chose EPCOT because DH and I LOVE the world showcase and I think we could get some wonderful shots in a couple of places around there.

I'm booked for a vintage Rolls for now. I LOVE vintage cars and I always wanted some photos of us in one for the wedding. We couldn't do it in Canada because we had the party bus, which was AWESOME, but I don't wanna miss the opportunity to do it here.

 

[GlobalDiva]

I booked Beaute Speciale for hair and makeup!!!!!!!!!! BIG source of stress off my shoulders!!!!

Now I'm freaking out a bit about finding an officiant...

 

[DisneyBrideToni]

YAY for booking beaute speciale!!!! I can't wait to work with them also. What officient were you thinking of? I booked Rev. Jack Day because I thought he was adorable. My second choice was Rev. Kevin Knox. I heard that he was a great also.

 

[Lynn5700]

WOW your colors are gorgeous! Everything was just beautiful...aww and your shower was beautiful!!!


Yay for booking Beaute Speciale! You will love them!!

 

[GlobalDiva]

YAY for booking beaute speciale!!!! I can't wait to work with them also. What officient were you thinking of? I booked Rev. Jack Day because I thought he was adorable. My second choice was Rev. Kevin Knox. I heard that he was a great also.

I booked Pastor Luther Kistler Another big source of stress off my head!!

Val and I want to go to Disney next week for a bit of last minute shopping, so we'll meet with him then. He and his wife were really sweet over the phone so far.

 

[GlobalDiva]

WOW your colors are gorgeous! Everything was just beautiful...aww and your shower was beautiful!!!


Yay for booking Beaute Speciale! You will love them!!

Thanks!

I'm so excited to work with Beaute Speciale! My best friend who got married at Disney also them and had rave reviews, and everybody looked amazing.

I love the new pic you added to your signature way on the left, you look great!

 

[GlobalDiva]

Hey all

HUGE source of stress done--ALL of my bridesmaids have their dresses!!!!! I was a bit worried, because 2 of my bridesmaids were waiting until the last minute because they were dieting, but thankfully, the last 2 bridesmaids and I headed to David's Bridal yesterday and there were 2 dresses in the Rose Petal color that fit them perfectly and they took them. Stressful experience (and I hope to never go to David's again on a Saturday), but we had tons of fun as only girlfriends can So all of my ladies are outfitted!

I used David's Dress Your Wedding thingie to put them all together; so here they all are:

My sisters, the maids of honor are in the Truffle dresses, the bridesmaids are in Rose Petal, and my junior bridesmaid is in the dress that has both colors. Whew

I'm heading up to Disney this week with Val for a last minute buying trip--possibly favors for guests, and gifts for our wedding party. We will also meet with our officiant, Pastor Luther Kistler.

I can't believe my wedding is LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I still need my pairs of shoes (A high heel for pics, and flats for the rest of the night. I also need to get a strapless bra for my dress.

Our guest count has dropped dramatically to about 190, which is a smaller number than we were expecting, but is also a more manageable number.

Trying to figure out whether I'm doing al updos or downdos....

Details, details, details...

 

[Mrsdisneyb2b]

I am in love with your wedding it is absolutely beuatiful ! I can not wait to see what you do with the disney wedding!

 

[GlobalDiva]

I am in love with your wedding it is absolutely beuatiful ! I can not wait to see what you do with the disney wedding!

Thanks!!!

I can't wait for the day to come!

 

[lpizzuro123]

Wow, I love the way you worked that all together. I love the different dresses and different colors and that you Jr BM ties it all together. I was watching 20 Do's and Don't's for Weddings yesterday and one of the Do's was putting all your girls in different dresses in the same color theme. I did the same thing and am so glad I did this. My girls were very happy about that and we got alot of great complements

One of the other things from the show said they do not have to wear the same shoes (my girls all wore silver sandals - but not the same ones) and they also do not all have to have the same hairstyles (I had some with short hair and some with long so I let them wear what they wanted). I did have the same Flower Wands for them.

Linda

 

[GlobalDiva]

Wow, I love the way you worked that all together. I love the different dresses and different colors and that you Jr BM ties it all together. I was watching 20 Do's and Don't's for Weddings yesterday and one of the Do's was putting all your girls in different dresses in the same color theme. I did the same thing and am so glad I did this. My girls were very happy about that and we got alot of great complements

One of the other things from the show said they do not have to wear the same shoes (my girls all wore silver sandals - but not the same ones) and they also do not all have to have the same hairstyles (I had some with short hair and some with long so I let them wear what they wanted). I did have the same Flower Wands for them.

Linda

You ladies looked GREAT! I love the same-color-different-dress thing; I wanted each person to choose a dress that looked best on them, you know? A style that they liked.

I told my girls to do silver sandals too! I figured it's an easy enough color to find (easier than telling them to find rose petal-colored sandals ). The ones with the darker dresses will have darker shoes.

 

[GlobalDiva]

Well, starting to plan a Rehearsal Dinner for 40+ people one week before your wedding will do some interesting things to your stomach

But God and the angels at DFTW have smiled upon me and we managed to score the Napa Room yesterday for our wedding next week.

Our rehearsal is at the WP at 6 PM and then we'll all head over to the Contemporary for dinner.

Val and I were starting to get really disheartened; I was on the phone all day on Wednesday with various Disney establishments and Disney catering trying to get my group booked somewhere, but EVERYONE kept passing the buck. "Oh, you'd have to go through Disney Dining for that." "Oh, you have to talk to Catering" "Oh you'll have to speak to your wedding planner" "You should probably talk to Group Reservations" yada yada yada. We were so bummed, cuz we were like, "Man, we just wanna have a meal together after the rehearsal!"

I finally spoke to Catering again (I had already spoken to them a couple of times and they sent me elsewhere), but this time I didn't say the words "wedding" or "rehearsal dinner" at any point; I SWEAR that was the trick because every time I would say either of those words before, no one wanted to do anything!!

So after he had gathered all of my info, at the end he asked, 'So what are we calling this exactly, what's the name of the event?' and then and ONLY then did I say "Rehearsal Dinner." lol

So Catering passed along all my stuff to Jennifer, Marion's assistant, and she got in touch with me yesterday for all the details and it's been fabulous because we finally have a place to have a beautiful formal meal.

So dinner will be in the Napa Room. We took off a couple of courses to shorten the meal and lessen the cost; it's the night before the wedding, we don't want a long drawn out event with course after course after course; we wanna fit into our dresses in the morning, not waddle out of the restaurant full and bloated

The original menu had an appetizer, a salad, a sorbet, main course and dessert. We removed the appetizer and sorbet courses. All the courses were wonderful, but not necessary in our opinion for just a rehearsal dinner.

So the first course will be a salad: Wine Country Salad with Marinated Dried Tomatoes, Olives, Sourdough Croutons, and Cabernet-Herb Vinaigrette.

Then there will be the dinner course; guests will have a choice of 3 different entrees:

Slow-roasted Atlantic Salmon with Farro Wheat Risotto and Crustacean Sauce

or

Sliced Oak-grilled Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes,
Caramelized Onions, and Red Wine Butter Sauce

or

Oak-fired Chicken Breast with Semolina Gnocchi,
Wilted Arugula, an Sauce Vierge

Dessert will be Banana Bread Pudding with “Drunken” Butterscotch, Toffee Bits
and Banana “Bisque.

The children have veggies and dip for their first course. Then they pizza, and for dessert they have a rice krispy plate.

We're getting Beer/Wine packages for the adults, and soda packages for the minors.

I can't believe the wedding is ONE WEEK AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Desnik]

I just read your whole PJ and all I have to say is WOW!!! I love everything! Your 1st wedding was so beautiful and you and your DH looked fantastic! I love all your choices for your Disney wedding. I can't wait to hear how everything goes. Good Luck! We will be at WDW during your wedding and I will be thinking of you and sending loads of pixie dust!!

 

[GlobalDiva]

I just read your whole PJ and all I have to say is WOW!!! I love everything! Your 1st wedding was so beautiful and you and your DH looked fantastic! I love all your choices for your Disney wedding. I can't wait to hear how everything goes. Good Luck! We will be at WDW during your wedding and I will be thinking of you and sending loads of pixie dust!!

Thanks!!!

If you're near the pavilion or ballrooms, wave hi!!!

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

WOOHOO! One week!
I love your plans and your colors!
Can't wait for the TR

 

[lpizzuro123]

Wow, lucky you getting the Napa Room. Your menu sounds great. What a great place for your dinner.

Have loads of fun.

Linda

 

[GlobalDiva]

WOOHOO! One week!
I love your plans and your colors!
Can't wait for the TR

Thanks!! Hopefully everything will look great on the big day

Wow, lucky you getting the Napa Room. Your menu sounds great. What a great place for your dinner.

Have loads of fun.

Linda

Seriously, you're so right--luck was on our side I know the Napa Room is supposed to have good views of MK, so hopefully we'll see some fireworks

 

[GlobalDiva]

HEY FELLOW BRIDES AND FUTURE BRIDES

We're married!!! WOOHOO!

This has been an awesome weekend to say the least. I'm excited to start my TR now.

Val and I drove up on Thursday morning, our car packed with stuff. Fortunately all my family members were driving up too, so my parents were able to put the favors, framed place cards, and menu cards, etc in their car, which helped us out immensely with space.

We arrived at the Grand and put all our stuff on the cart for the bellhop to take. We parked the car and headed back to the main area to check in, and we notice a castmember standing there with a clipboard and as we get closer to the overhang in front of the main lobby, she comes up to us and asks "Are you the So-and-So party?" And we say 'yes' and she goes, "Welcome to the GF, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding. We've actually upgraded your room to a concierge-level room."

Val and I were SOOO excited!!! She leads us towards our room and it was in the Sugarloaf building. The room was GORGEOUS. Here's how it looked after turndown:

A little while after I settled in, there was a knock at the door, and it was a delivery of some flowers from the Disney florist who did our centerpieces, Rose.

Since we were in a club level room, we started making great use of the Concierge Lounge for our drinks and food. This has been fabulous because I basically haven't had to buy food since I've arrived because I've eaten all my meals for free at the hotel A GREAT money-saver seeing as how our money was spread pretty thin for wedding expenses.

Val went off to meet his brothers and friends so that they could go pick up their tuxes and while they were gone, I unpacked all the bags and stuff. I started putting together our bridal party gifts.

One of our junior groomsmen got this Mickey Vinylmation figure:

The other junior groomsman got the Disney imagineering book, because he loves art and graphics:

For our groomsmen and bridesmaids, we got personalized stuff from Arribas Bros. The guys got beer mugs with Mickey on them, with their first names etched in. The ladies and our flower girl got a glass valet/jewelry box with roses and a tinkerbelle on top. I forgot to take pictures of those, so I'll take some at Downtown Disney while I'm here

The ringbearers got bobble head figures of Mickey Steamboat Willie, and also little Mickey dolls (see above picture in room after turndown service to see them) to walk down the aisle with.

Later that night we headed over to the Polynesian where our families, most of our BP, and a lot of our guests were staying and we hung out for a while. Then walked back to our hotel later that night and slept.

The next morning (Friday, day before the wedding), we had a meeting with Marion. I went over some last minute details with her while Val dropped off the favors and placecards, and menu card stuff nearby. We also discussed at length the rehearsal dinner that would take place later that night at California Grill.

Marion told us that we'd be really happy with the staff helping us out at the CA Grill that night. We most definitely were, but I'll talk more about that later.
We discussed scheduling, and meeting spots, picture spots, etc. Then we conversed for a long while about random stuff like antiques and linens, which was fun because she's so great to talk to.

After meeting with Marion, Val and I walked over the to the GF Spa for manis and pedis. They were fabulous and our one moment of relaxation in the midst of a hectic day. After that, I had to drive out to find a bank, then headed to Downtown Disney to pick up our BP gifts at Arribas Bros (we had bought them the week before and left them there for personalization and told them we'd pick it up next week right before the wedding).

After that, we ran to a supermarket in the area to get gift bags for the gifts since we wanted to give them out that night at the rehearsal dinner, and lo and behold, we found the one supermarket in orlando with no gft bags. So we had to go to Walgreens to get them. We got back to the hotel and had barely an hour to get ready for rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, AND pack the gifts, AND I still had to shave my legs since I was wearing a dress, LOL.

But we somehow managed to do it. We had so many gifts though, because we had a big bridal party (8 bridesmaids, 1 flower girl, 3 ringbearers, and 7 groomsmen) so there was no way we were going to be able to carry everything ourselves and we were running late. Rehearsal was at 6, and it was like 5:50. So I called the bell services and asked if a cart could pick us and our stuff up at our building and take us to the WP for rehearsal. Thank the Lord, a manager came over with a cart and got us there and we started rehearsal soon after!!!

Rehearsal was fun, Pastor Luther put everyone at ease and was so great to work with.

I handed everyone their gifts at the WP so that they could take it to rehearsal dinner afterwards and open it then. Some people monorailed over to the Contemporary, some drove.

OK, I'm off now. I will post details tonight about the rehearsal dinner, then vendor reviews for the wedding, then stuff about the wedding day