PrettyinTink,
I am having a Mad Hatter Welcome Brunch the day before our vow renewal this summer. We are having it in one of the rooms at the Grand Floridian. The main room they use is the Whitehall Room and patio at the GF but we are doing our reception there so that was out. The room is gorgeous and I love the patio with the monorail zipping by. The best video I found of the Whitehall Room is on the disneymeetings.com website under the virtual site inspection. They also list some brunch ideas and prices but as you know, Disney can come up with anything you like!
Another nice room is the St James Room over at the Boardwalk Inn. This is where we originally were going to hold our party until we got bumped by a convention who took the room for the entire week! It is a little more intimate (the patio) than the Whitehall Room but very pretty for the indoor/outdoor thing.
We also looked at the Attic at the Boardwalk. It is a very pretty, private room with a porch overlooking the Boardwalk area. The only thing here is, they don't let you move the furniture anymore or use props. So, for us, although it was a lovely area, it wasnt' going to work for us. My main reason for the Mad Hatter was the wild color linens, napkins, florals, props, cake.
I also have some amazing ariel photos of the party being held on the lawn on the back side of the Boardwalk Inn. It is back by the private Garden Suites (which by the way are amazing!) This is where I would've held this tea party if I weren't doing it in July!!! Ken gave me some 8x10's of this. I will see if I can scan them and post them later.
So, we went with a plain room so we could use a few props to "theme" it up. As far as the props go, they are expensive. If you have under $2000 in props there is a $500 set up fee. There is a white picket fence you can use that is $110/section, the giant caterpillar is $480, the mushrooms are $110/each, the clock is $110, the teapots (big or small) are $600 each and the flowers are $270 each. You can see how quickly it can add up. I have seen them without props and they are lovely. I still haven't received my BEO so we'll see where I need to cut back. We are definitely having Alice and the Mad Hatter and a 2 tier Mad Hatter cake and the crazy colored linens and napkins. Also, Shelley at Impressions has a very cute invitation that I think we're going to use. Disney Floral is going to do flower arrangements in upside down Mad Hatter hats and in teacups. We are also thinking of doing a gazebo with some brightly colored floral balls hanging down w/colored ribbons. Janet2k for her vow renewal dinner at the Great Movie Ride has some great pix of the dessert portion in the land of Oz with some great florals and cute Mickey cakes in bright colors. You might want to check out her photos. Heck, everyone should check out her photos, you can get ideas for just about everything there!
I do have some pix of the locations, let me see if I can post them. For me, I found the disneymeetings website very helpful for the room dimensions and 360 tours.
When will your party be? Hopefully, we can help you along the way!
Lisa
