Mom and adult daughter's Xmas/Wedding Planning Trip ~ Day 2

[wdwpluto]

Day 2
The Cast
Disnymom1 ~ 40-something, mother of wdwpluto
Wdwpluto ~ 25, getting married at Disney’s Wedding Pavilion to DF, Kevin (who sat this trip out) on 11.7.02

Some background: Kevin and I have been planning a Disney wedding since January 2001. We hadn’t planned on going down to Disney until the wedding. After the 9.11 attacks, Mom wanted a little mother daughter time. So what better excuse than wedding planning? (Kevin’s involvement in the wedding is “whatever makes you happy as long as we’re married at the end of the day”. (Smart man ~ LOL)

Pictures of the whole shebang can be found here
http://photos.yahoo.com/disnysue

Day 2 agenda
Breakfast: @ the Grand Floridian’s Gasparala Grill
The Wedding Pavilion & Citricos
Epcot
Lunch: Beaver Tails, Itzakadozies and other snacks!
Downtown Disney
Dinner: Clambake @ Cape May Café (Beach Club)

Up and at ‘em. Bright and early because we’ve got to meet Bill from Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings at Franck’s bridal studio at 9:30 AM. This was the first time Mom and I got an up close look at the Wedding Pavilion. We’d only seen it from above in the monorail and in pictures! Needless to say, we were excited! I do have to say that this is as much her wedding as it is mine and Kevin’s and I love it! Kevin just wants to get married the where and the how don’t matter to him. So he’s been a real doll about letting me (and mom) plan the wedding of my dreams!

We took Disney bus over to the Grand Floridian. There’s a store there called Sandy Cove Gift Shop that sells all the Disney Wedding/Wedding Pavilion related merchandise. (Guest books, etc – the figurines, ornaments, mouse ears are available elsewhere). I got a Wedding Pavilion ornament, a post card with a great picture of the Pavilion on it, a wooden cut out stand up of the Pavilion and an instrumental CD of Disney Love songs.

After a little shopping (and taking pictures on the very Grand stair case in the Grand Floridian lobby – where I will probably have some bridal portraits done) we got a bite to eat at the Gasparala Grill at the Floridian. It’s a cafeteria style place where you basically grab and go. Cinnamon buns, fruit, hot and cold cereal, etc. Nothing special, but it fills the stomach when you’re in a hurry.

There’s a walkway from the Grand Floridian to the Polynesian. The Pavilion falls along that walkway. The gates are closed when weddings are happening. But when the gates are open, you can wander around. And surprisingly (to me) the doors were unlocked and you could go inside and roam around all you like. So when you're down there and if you have the desire - go check it out!

We walk up to Franck’s and I see “THE CAKE” in the window. It is the one I MUST have for the wedding (of course it’s insanely expensive). Franck’s is by appointment only, so we knock on the door and Bill answers. (Random bit of info – the wedding offices aren’t housed at Franck’s as I thought they were. Their offices are in Celebration, FL. Each day one of the Sales Managers hangs out at Franck’s.) Franck’s is beautiful. There’s sample cakes, favors, invites, floral arrangements, table settings, etc. We sit down with Bill and chat for a few minutes. He’s a really nice guy and you should see the folder they keep on each wedding. VERY organized!

We head over to tour the Pavilion. There’s a 2 dressing room bridal vestibule complete with a gazillion mirrors, makeup tables, etc. That’s where I get to hang out while all the guests are seated and so Kevin doesn’t see me. There’s also the groom’s chamber, which is nicely appointed. And then those double doors open and WOW! Breathtaking. You see down the aisle with the alter and that big beautiful window with the castle in the background.

Another random bit of info…you know how you can see the castle through the alter window at the Pavilion? From the back of the Pavilion, the castle looks HUGE, from the alter it looks teeny tiny. Why? The glass is magnifying glass! So in order to get that great shot, pictures have to be taken from the back of the Pavilion with a zoom lens. I had heard this from someone online, but wasn’t sure if it was true and it is. Bill laughed when I asked him about it.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming… So the Pavilion is incredible. It doesn’t need much decoration (I’m a minimalist when it comes to flowers – could be my allergies ). I’m thinking just an alter arrangement. We could do pew bows, but I think it’d be too much.

Off to the right and behind the Pavilion is picture point. It’s an archway made of greenery that has a view of the castle through it. There’s the lake in the background too. Just perfect!

In short, the Pavilion is everything I’ve dreamed of (and more!)

So we jump in the car with Bill and head over to Citricos at the Grand Floridian. This was the space we’d blocked for the reception. I’ve gotta tell ya, my sales manager, Joe, definitely steered me in the right direction on this one!

Citricos (as you probably know) is a regular restaurant in the GF. But I guess it’s only open for dinner. Since our ceremony will be at 10am, a lunchtime reception here will be perfect!

There’s a kind of waiting area that will be perfect for our cocktail hour. A few tables with 2-4 chairs are already there and we’ll have some snacky hours de ourves (I’m sure I spelled that wrong! ) Big windows w/ great views of the lake and the Grand Floridian.

Then the gates can be opened and the guests led back to the reception area. There’s an octagonal room that’s glass enclosed and has views of the Grand Floridian (which is very pretty) and the lake and there’s one spot where you can see the castle. There’s some columns in the center of the room. So what we’re thinking is a sweetheart table with the other tables going round the outside of the columns and the dancing can be in the center between the columns. Perfect, perfect, perfect! Like the Pavilion, Citricos doesn’t need much decoration to look beautiful. Simple centerpieces will be more than enough.

We go back to Franck’s and chat with Bill a bit more. We talk about room blocks and find out what the rates will be. (Wedding guests get a discount on the normal room rate, which is nice). We’re going to block rooms at 3 resorts. Probably Value: All Stars, Moderate: probably Coronado Springs and Deluxe:Contemporary. I’d love to be able to stay at the Contemp for the honeymoon, but our budget is more in line w/ CSR (which is a beautiful resort)

Mom and I get to flip through some books of cakes (I still am in love with the one I saw in the window) and some books of flowers. We also get to look at some photo albums of past weddings. I cannot wait! It’s just all so perfect. We thank Bill for giving us our grand tour and we’re off to Epcot!

Epcot is not our favorite park. (All though we like Animal Kingdom even less) but anyways! We’re here and the crowds are still very low. Get our bags checked, head through the gates and right for Space Ship Earth. I love this ride! It’s like history-lite (for me who hates history). Once we’re done with that, it’s off to World Show Case. We start at Canada with Beavertails. YUM! If you haven’t had one, I highly recommend it! It’s a flat pastry with different toppings on it. I had strawberries and whipped cream. There’s also cinnamon and sugar and I think chocolate/hazelnut and some others. I really wanted some cheese soup (another wonderful, wonderful Canada Pavilion snack) but it was too hot (in the 70’s) to even think about soup. Also had an Itzakadozie (an ice pop) which was perfect in that heat! The guy at the ice cream cart was impressed that I pronounced that right!

We finish our loop of World Show Case and it’s HOT. We still want to Ride Test Track, but figure we’d make another stop at Epcot and do it then (never happened, but we weren’t heart broken because we’ve ridden it before – AND anything we missed, we kept saying that “we’ll be back in less than a year!”).

So we head off to Downtown Disney to SHOP! We shopped till we dropped. We’re Disney Club Card members and we made the most of that 10% discount. I’m not quite sure what the heck I bought. I did get a heart shaped Mickey & Minnie wedding frame, some pins (the Bride and Groom ones are available all over the place), a shirt for Kevin, a box of candy for my co-workers, and lots of Christmas ornaments. You know the bride and groom mouse ears hats? Well they have Christmas tree ornaments that are mini versions of those. Guess what’s gonna be on our tree this year?

All that shopping made us hungry! Shopping is such hard work, isn't it? We had a 7 PM PS for the Cape May Café at the Beach Club. This is a buffet style New England Clambake. We ate and ate and ate some more. And just when we thought we couldn’t eat any more? We hit the dessert buffet! Try the Oreo mousse. Wow! Steamed mussels, clams, corn on the cob, peel and eat shrimp, crab legs, BBQ ribs. By far the best meal of the trip! I think this is our new favorite restaurant!

We head back to the resort and stop at the Old Port Royale. We’d had some packages delivered to the resort yesterday instead of carrying them. Browsed the gift shops and walked back to the room. Don’t try to walk back to your room for the first time in the dark!! Confusing as all heck. And I got bit pretty good by the mosquitos.

Time for bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.

Tomorrow’s plans- Day 3
Back to MGM!
Breakfast: Hollywood & Vine
Lunch: Hmm…snacky food maybe? Can't remember
Back to Magic Kingdom
Dinner: Liberty Tree tavern

 

[pigletproud]

I'm excited for you, you can tell in the way you write that this trip is just
the beginning of a wonderful wedding! I can't imagine a wedding at
Disney not being great! I'm anxious to read more! Lots of Luck!

 

[rhodgkie]

Sounds like a cool wedding to be! How many people will be there?

 

[wdwpluto]

Thanks for the kind words. We are looking at around 25 people right now ~ but who knows! From what I hear, Disney wedding guest lists having a way of getting out of control. LOL

 

[susy]

Lori,
You are just like me!! For my wedding (7 years ago) I wanted a place that I didn't have to decorate -beautiful on its own! I got married in Bal Harbor , FL (Miami Beach) at a beautiful little white church with a steeple and had my reception at a gorgeous restaraunt (the whole place to ourselves) right on the water. Still, NOTHING compares to Disney!!!! "Francks"-that is sooooo FUNNY~!!!!!!! I also LOVE Spaceship Earth and reading your report makes me want to take a trip with my mom!!!!! we are going together in Jan-but he rest of the family is going too!!!!!

 

[swankybeth]

All that Disney wedding stuff sounds so perfect....I'd love to get married in WDW, but my boyfriend doesn't...Time to get a new boyfriend??

 

[nativetxn]

Everything sounds so perfect and <b>magical</b>. I really enjoy hearing all the details. Thanks for taking the time to share your day with us.

Katholyn