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

[GlobalDiva]

OK, so about the rehearsal dinner...

We got to California Grill and it took a little while to get the whole group up there (about 40 people) and seated, but it finally happened. Marion had said that she had booked the room for us between 6 and 10, and because it would take a while for the group to get up to the restaurant, she wouldn't have them start service until about 7:30.

The Napa Room was gorgeous; we had beautiful views of MK and the Castle. As appetizers they passed around these delicious pizza flatbreads with different toppings. The drinks were flowing and everyone got comfy quickly while DH and I welcomed all of our guests.

The centerpieces were bowls of fruit; I sat at a table with some of my bridal party and we eventually ate some of the fruit--they were quite sweet and we all got a laugh out of the fact that we were eating the centerpiece.

Food was amazing...the salads and desserts were individual portions, but the main courses were served family-style. Each table got large platters of salmon, of beef, and of chicken. Dessert was a yummy banana bread pudding.

We also got to watch the fireworks, which was great

The servers were super attentive, jovial and very friendly.

 

[padisneyfour]

It sounds like it was fantastic would love to see some pics. Congrats! looking forward to hearing more .....

 

[GlobalDiva]

Vendor Reviews

I wanted to talk a bit about the different services that I received at the wedding...

Hair/Makeup: Beaute Speciale
Grade: A+
The ladies of Beaute Speciale were punctual, easy to get in touch with, and efficient. They did a wonderful hair and makeup job on all of us: myself, 2 maids of honor, 6 bridesmaids, 1 flower girl, my mom, Val's mom, and Val's aunt. They were friendly, funny and helped keep the mood light and fun.

Photography: Christopher Patrick Weddings (cpoweddings.com)
Grade: A
Well, I haven't seen my pictures yet, so for now, I can't rate them completely. Where they get major points in my book are how efficient they are with time...Val and I have big families, and we had a big bridal party with lots of kids and Christopher and Jessica were really on the ball turning out pictures with everyone. They also very patiently took many pictures of me with individual guests (and there were a lot of those!), as well as individual shots of guests who wanted pictures with Mickey and Minnie.

Florals/Linens/Favors: Disney Floral Event Group
Grade: A+
I was dealing with Rose at Disney Florals for my Wedding Pavilion flowers, table centerpieces, and favors. She was great to work with and had very good ideas. I told her at our very first meeting that I loved candelabras and wanted to do a flower ball of all carnations. She made it happen and I think it looked gorgeous. For favors, I ordered the white chocolate Mickey lollipops with a little gold ribbon tied on. No writing or personalization or anything since that would have upped the cost, but I was just as happy with it as a plain chocolate. They were a big hit and tasted REALLY good.

Personal Florals: Dream Designs Florist
Grade: A
I wanted very simple bouquets here. At my first wedding, I spent well over $2,000 on bouquets for myself and my bridesmaids. The bouquets were stunning, but I told myself I wasn't going to spend a large amount on personal florals again. I went to Dream Designs and asked for simple bouquets: a mix of orange and pink roses tied by chocolate brown ribbon for the bridesmaids; pink roses tied with white ribbon for me. I wanted small bouquets this time around too; the others were heavy. So what I asked for, I got. I had to pick them up, so I sent my brother the morning of the wedding to get them. She made me a toss bouquet too, and also gave me a big box of fresh petals which i was able to give to my flower girl.

Tuxedos: Men's Wearhouse Tux
Grade: D
I give this a "D" with the original report card definition of a D: "improvement needed." This is definitely the one area of the wedding that Val and I weren't happy with. The process of choosing the tux simply wasn't shared enough between the business and the customer. The tuxes that we saw in the store were nice, and we liked the location because it was easy to get to for pick up and drop off (it's the one at the Loop on the Osceola). But we were strongly dictated to at every step of the way. We weren't given ANY options during the process and because so much info was thrown out at us during that time, there was a lot that we didn't discuss. For instance, the guys were given pleated pants, but we didn't want that but it never came up during the meeting. The jackets were too long, even though they weren't that long on the mannequin, but it's not like we could change that one day before the wedding. There was no choice of collar for the shirts. Buttons popped off the groom's tux, as well as off several of those of the groomsmen. I wish we had used Carolyn Allen's.

Portrait Photo Session: Disney Photography
Grade: A+
We booked an EPCOT photo session on the Tuesday after our Saturday wedding. Disney Photographer David showed up to pick us up at our hotel at 7:30 AM. We took pictures at Italy, Morocco and Canada. David was hilarious, and we got our pictures online really quickly and we LOVE them. Our experience here was really perfect.

Officiant: Pastor Luther Kistler
Grade: A+
I don't know why more Disney brides don't use this man's services for their weddings He and his wife were SOOOO sweet. He met with us before the wedding, he came to our rehearsal, and he came for the wedding. He was a real crowd pleaser--EVERYONE loved him; he was so funny and sweet. We told him we wanted a religious ceremony, and we asked him to wear his robes, but I also saw on his website a picture of him doing a wedding where he was just wearing a suit, so I'm sure he can do non-religious ceremonies too. There was nothing "canned" about our ceremony. I didn't feel like I was dealing with a salesman or someone who was just obsessed with getting a check. This was one of the best choices we made for our wedding.

Bridal Shop: Livette Bridals
Grade: A
This would be more pertinent to brides-to-be in Broward County, South Florida. Livette Bridal is in Miramar, FL. I used this place for both of my wedding gowns, it's a small business run by a woman and her daughter. They were wonderful to work with and the prices were very reasonable and included veil and headpiece. She wasn't secretive about dress models and dress numbers. I had a really good experience here.

Bridesmaids Dresses: Davids Bridal
Grade: A (IF your bridesmaids get their dresses on time) and C
I give this place 2 grades because they have some great conveniences but also some major drawbacks. If your bridal party is good about getting their dresses early, I think this place is perfect. The dresses are nice and fairly priced (none of my ladies spent more than $150 on the dress). The color system is great--I chose the color Rose Petal and let my ladies pick whatever long dress they wanted so that they could pick what looked best on them; Maids of honor wore Truffle brown dresses, and my junior bridesmaid wore a dress with both colors which bridged both colors perfectly.

This place is NOT good however at last minute dress emergencies because of course they can't keep every dress in every color in stock. One of my bridesmaids ended up having to get their dresses from a Davids in another state and the store FedExed the dress which was fine. But finding which store in the US had a dress always took forever. It would be nice if they had a database to let you just look it up yourself and overnight it to your house. We would hear responses like, We can have this dress for you the first week of April. For such a big chain store, they're not good at delivering items quickly at all. There's no reason for such a big turnaround time for bridesmaids dresses; this isn't a wedding gown here. I also think a lot of the employees aren't so great.

But seriously, if your ladies are on time with their dresses, the place is great. They also have good accessories--I got a faux fur wrap to keep me warm at the wedding, I got my shoes for my second wedding there, I got a necklace for my first wedding there, etc.

DJ: DJ Scooter
Grade: A+
Scooter had hilarious props and was super spirited and all my guests were raving about him in the days following. He played songs I asked for ahead of time; I had emailed him a few mp3s which he played; he had a good mix of American and Haitian music to please all our guests. We loved this guy

Disney Entertainment: Mickey and Minnie
Grade: A+
I can't recommend this enough! Mickey and Minnie were awesome!! They danced with the children, danced with us, took pictures with a million guests. They were fabulous!

Rehearsal Dinner Location: Napa Room at California Grill
Grade: A+
The men working at the Napa Room for our dinner were AWESOME. Super friendly and attentive. The Napa Room was gorgeous and we got to watch the MK fireworks in private which was a wonderful experience for everyone. Food was excellent.

Wedding Planner: Marion Stewart and her assistant Jennifer
Grade: A++
I feel I was blessed with the very best here. Marion executed everything to perfection. Jennifer was great about answering messages right away and filling in for Marion while she was out of the office. Marion was at the rehearsal the day before, she came to the rehearsal dinner to make sure everything was set up properly. The day of the wedding she called me a couple of times, and checked in with me and Val and let us know about stuff all the time throughout the day. It was reassuring to see her there so much during the reception.

OK, I think that's everything I can think of! Hope that helps anyone looking for reviews

 

[GlobalDiva]

It sounds like it was fantastic would love to see some pics. Congrats! looking forward to hearing more .....

Thanks! I'll put up pictures today!

 

[GlobalDiva]

OK, I wanted to add some pictures

Here are a couple of pics of us getting ready at my room in at the Grand; I took these:

My Flower Girl

Flower Girl's Hairdo

My friend getting her makeup...She had also used Beaute Speciale for her wedding at Disney 2 years ago

My friend's makeup...I think everyone looked awesome!

The benefits of staying at a Club Level room...snacks and drinks for everyone!!!

Getting ready was lots of fun

 

[Lynn5700]

OMG I love those Minnie and Mickey stuffed animals and that Vinylmation figure. I collect the pins, where did you get that? You're room was so cute at turndown.

ok reading more.

 

[GlobalDiva]

Wedding Day Pics:

For now, these are all pics that relatives and friends took before the wedding, during ceremony and during the reception!

Richard walking me through the GF lobby to the Grand Staircase.

Me with my bridal party...everyone's looking away from the camera, lol but you get a good idea of how the dresses looked.

Me with Bridal Party

The altar.

My mom lighting the side candle, escorted by my brother.

Dad walking me down the aisle

Lighting the Unity Candle.

Exiting the Pavilion.

 

[Lynn5700]

Aww look how cute your flower girl was! Great reviews. Boo to mens wearhouse. I would have been annoyed.

 

[Lynn5700]

Awww girl you were beautiful! I love the floral in the wedding pavilion. So pretty!

 

[GlobalDiva]

OMG I love those Minnie and Mickey stuffed animals and that Vinylmation figure. I collect the pins, where did you get that? You're room was so cute at turndown.

ok reading more.

OK, you mean like Vinylmation pins? Well, I got the Vinylmation pins and the sock Mickeys at World of Disney in Downtown Disney. They were great buys!!

 

[GlobalDiva]

Reception pics taken by relatives and friends...

Our cake!

Val and me at our head table:

One of our flower-less centerpieces; we had alternating tables of candelabras with flowers and without:

Everybody sitting/eating:

A guest eating one of the favors; they were yummy! You can see one of the floral centerpieces behind him:

Cake cutting with Mickey and Minnie!

Mickey and Minnie making a big splash on the Dance Floor:

 

[keenercam]

Oh, WOW! You looked soooo beautiful! You looked so happy and Val is just looking so happy and in love. And your floral and your reception decor were absolutely gorgeous! I LOVE seeing all your pictures. Thank you for sharing. We want more!!

 

[Pooh_Girl]

Everything looked so beautiful!!! I love your dress and your bridesmaid dresses!! Can't wait to see more pictures!!!

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

Everything looks beautiful!

 

[GlobalDiva]

Oh, WOW! You looked soooo beautiful! You looked so happy and Val is just looking so happy and in love. And your floral and your reception decor were absolutely gorgeous! I LOVE seeing all your pictures. Thank you for sharing. We want more!!

Thanks so much! We were blessed to have such a happy and laid-back day!

Everything looked so beautiful!!! I love your dress and your bridesmaid dresses!! Can't wait to see more pictures!!!

Thanks! adding more pics ASAP!

Everything looks beautiful!

Thank you

 

[GlobalDiva]

Aww look how cute your flower girl was! Great reviews. Boo to mens wearhouse. I would have been annoyed.

Wasn't she adorable?! She was such a cutie

A big boo for the tuxes from us too, LOL!

Awww girl you were beautiful! I love the floral in the wedding pavilion. So pretty!

Thank you so much! Rose was awesome in designing everything!

 

[GlobalDiva]

Hey all

Wanted to add a few details about our wedding trip since we're back home...

The day before the wedding had a ton of running around and then we got back to our hotel 2 hours before the wedding rehearsal with lots of shopping and our gifts that we had picked up earlier at Downtown Disney. It was way too much for me to carry on my own, so I gave it the bellhop while Val went to park the car.

I ran to my room and thought to myself--I need to pee, shave my legs and blow-dry my hair, and I can't do any of those right now because the bellhop might arrive any minute. So I decided to start blowdrying my hair, and then I'd switch off the hairdryer every 30 seconds to make sure I didn't miss the guy knocking at the door, LOL.

Well he ended up arriving after I had done half my head, so I quickly worked on the rest of my hair, and ran to start packing the bridal party gifts into gift bags. Halfway through that, I stopped to shave my legs since my dress for rehearsal was knee-length. I took my dress to put it on and it was kind of wrinkled but there was no time to steam it. So Val was like, "Take it off! give it to me, I'll steam it!" And thankfully, I have a wonderful hubby who did just that.

I called bell services and asked them to send a cart to our building to drive us to the WP with all our gifts since we couldn't carry them all. So someone came over to pick us up and drove us over and we only arrived to rehearsal about 8 minutes late

Rehearsal was lots of fun. Marion was there, and so was Pastor Luther and our videographer Teree along with bridal party and significant others.

You can see our videographer here in the bottom corner, getting me and my dad walking down the aisle:

Us practicing our grand exit:

All of us, including Pastor Luther, Marion, and Teree:

Rehearsal managed to go pretty quick and smooth to leave us lots of time to enjoy our rehearsal dinner afterwards

 

[keenercam]

YAY for time to blow dry your hair and shave your legs. What a sweetie Val was to steam your dress for you.

 

[GlobalDiva]

Some Wedding Day Details...

So, the day of the wedding...was fabulous. Val and I went down to the concierge lounge for breakfast and coffee and called one of my bridesmaids and her husband who were in the room next door to come down and eat with us.

While we were finishing up, the ladies from Beaute Speciale arrived so we all went up together and waited a few moments for housekeeping to finish preparing the room. A couple more of my bridesmaids arrived, and people started hair and makeup.

This was a totally fun and relaxed morning/afternoon. The room was a bit crowded, I won't lie--since it was Ana and her colleagues and all their gear, plus myself, maid of honor, 6 bridesmaids, one of the bridesmaids' moms, my mom, Val's mom, Val's aunt (Val's mom and aunt came early and left early when they were done, and both have very short hair, so that was some free space in the room, lol). But we were having a really good time together and before we knew it, it was time to get dressed.

Hairdos were great; here are a couple:

My hair/makeup:

I gave the bridesmaids their jewelry:

I think they looked fabulous:

My junior bridesmaid got a slightly different necklace:

Richard was waiting outside my hotel room to help me down. He helped me get into the golf cart that took me to the lobby area. I made my way to the Grand Staircase for some pictures with my bridal party. Of course, every 2 minutes or so, we'd have to wait for monorail riders to make their way down, LOL

One of my poor bridesmaids who's standing to the left of me in the pic below had horrible dress drama Her dress was in her room before heading to Orlando, and her cat ran straight for it and ripped up the entire under layer!!! So half of it was ripped off, and you can kind of see the unevenness in the texture of the skirt, but luckily in person you couldn't tell anything; I think it gets more highlighted in pictures. I told her thank God the cat didn't rip up the outside of the dress, LOL.

Dad and I headed over to the lobby to get into the vintage car (I can't wait to have pictures of this from Christopher Patrick! I should have them soon enough!). We headed to the Bridal Vestibule to hang out with the bridesmaids right before the ceremony.

 

[Keira1387]

Your hair and makeup look beautiful!