My disney wedding plans

[Goobergal99]

These plans are slightly tenative, although most likely to take place in some form or another.

My DF and I are planning on a July 5th 2005 custom wedding at the pavillion with a guest list of about 20 people (Our two closest friends, parents (and step parents),his siblings (and step siblings) our beautiful five yearold daughter and my grandpop)
I am a disney adict and very frequent visitor and he has been adopting my disney like excitment since our early highschool relationship began eight years ago. We have dated forever and therefore the idea to finally seal the deal next summer and get married was very mutual. Our little one will be about to enter catholic grade school (us liberals all know how much the conservative catholic church feels about unwed partnership) and we have always been so crazy in love anyway that it just feels like the right time to say "I do"
After sitting down and discussing the idea of getting married, initially I wasn't so keen on the idea of having a wedding in the first place, partly because we have lived together since shortly after high school graduation and also because I am not much for the whole old world rituals associated with being wed (ie: I'm in my first year of a masters program studying political science and international relations and i am a hardcore FEMINIST!!) LOL, so the idea of a man giving me away to another man and throwing my bouquet to a bunch of unmarried women who want to catch themslves a dish was just too much for my tastes. We decided finally that we wanted something small and simple, yet reflective of us as a couple and enjoying for our guests (in other words not a five hour long "thank you for coming" session) originally we considered a wedding in disney going the intimate route, however my DF comes from a huge immediate family. Bottom line is that the intimate wedding didn't allow the flexibility that we needed and so we are going the custom route.
Our plans are for a 10 am cermeony at the pavillion, followed by a reception at the Napa room at the California grill at the CR. We don't really have a large enough size group for a DJ so we were opting to make cd's and play them over head on speakers (If possible) and have only a small luncheon with wedding cake as a dessert. After the three hour reception (planning to start at noon) we were going to go back to our hotels to rest and then head over to Epcot for dinner and Illuminations for the dessert party and then then everyone (with the exception of the seniors and the two kids) are going to head to party at pleasure island.
We are paying for everyone to come down, the $7500 necessary to meet the minimum requirements of the wedding day and of course park tickets for five days for all. Please give me your imput as to whether we should be doing anything differently, I appreciate everyones opinions!!!!

 

[Disney845]

Goobergal-

First off I just wanted to welcome you to the DIS. I see this is your first post. The DIS is such a wealth of info and you will find so many other people here who share your passion and love of Disney. Second....CONGRATS!!!! I hope that your wedding is everything that you can imagine. I am also a HUGE WDW fan, and interestingly enough I am a Poly Sci/Int. Rel. student myself!! Good Luck!

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Goobergal

Congrats and welcome to the DIS

I think your wedding plans are perfect. The California Grill is a perfect choice. I can see that you have put a lot of thought into your day and the good thing about Disney weddings is that they can reflect whatever you wish them too.

Have you decided on your officiant? Whoever you pick they will adjust the ceremony to your tastes and beliefs so you wont have to have the giving away the bride or you could have both parents give you away as a couple LOL and you certainly don't have to throw the bouquet. I made every single woman come to the dance floor for the bouquet so that if a married woman caught it she could get her very own Disney Vow Renewal

 

[ellieb]

Welcome to the DIS Goobergal99. Your wedding plans sound great however I'm sure they will change LOTS before the actually wedding.
Before my wedding in May of 2003 in Disney, I too was living with my now husband for 15 years before getting married. We have a now 13 year old daughter which was 11 at the time and thought that our ceremony should not only unite myself and my husband but also our daughter as she as well plays a very big part in our family.
I did not have anyone stand up for me but I did have her walk in as my princess. After me and my husband stated our vows to each other we then stated our promise to our daughter by using the "Family Medallion" as the gift to her with their words. (The family medallion is a necklace with 3 rings bound together you may view it here http://www.familymedallion.com/index.html )
It comes with a beautiful verse that you would give to the priest for him to incorporate into your wedding vows. Everyone at my wedding were in tears, for the words are truely powerful.
Once all was said and done we decided that were we not going to be announced as Mr. & Mrs. but rather "THE FERNANDES FAMILY"
I cant tell you how happy and special this made our daughter feel.
At our reception we had our main table set up for 3 and chose to have not only a father and bride and mother and groom dance but also a father and daughter (our daughter and her father) dance. They danced to "Beautiful in my Eyes". It was truely tear jerking.
Since my wedding party did not have one single person there I did not throw my bouquet however we did play a game. Me and my husband took 2 chairs and faced them back to back and we sat on them. Then we took off our shoes and traded one for one, so that he had one of mine and his and vise versa. Then the DJ proceeded to ask us questions like "Who is the better driver" and we would need to lift the shoe that belonged to who we thought was the better driver, not seeing each other answers but all of our guest would. This was a real fun game as our guest we laughing there heads off at some of the questions and responses we were giving. You can view a small clip of my wedding at the following link www.stvsweddings.com/gallery . You may need to type it in the menu bar yourself because sometimes the link does not work. Here is a link to some pics of my wedding as well http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=o9nzib...93&x=1&y=tvglw1

As for you stating that you are paying for everyone to arrive in Disney as well as tickets, is it because you want to or because you have to?
That seems to be a huge expense right there and I'm sure if people know you are getting married in Disney World they would not mind paying there way for the excuse to go.

Well good luck with everything and if you have any questions we are all here for you.

 

[FranP]

DD28 had her wedding at the WP at 10 am and a reception at around Noon in the Napa and Sonoma rooms at the CG. Cocktail hour in the first room (the one that faces the back of the Contemporary) with fruit and cheese platters, and the reception in the other room. She opted to serve a "brunch" type menu - don't know if they still offer this menu (itwas 6 years ago) - Sonoma goat cheese ravioli, field green salad, lemon grass risotto with shrimp, roasted chicken, vegetable fritatta, roasted potatos, sausage and bacon. Regular champagne toast and open bar. She had the white Chocolate Cinderella slipper with white choclate mousse for dessert and a small wedding cake with white chocolate castle on top - cherry nut cake with Frangelica mousse filling. We had 29 adults and 5 kids (the kids were served chicken fingers/pizza, etc.) and opted to have the DJ - he added so much to the party with games, special songs, etc. I can't imagine the wedding without him since he also acted like Master of Ceremonies during the bridal introduction, bouquet toss, garter toss, father/daughter dance etc. Mickey and Minnie came for the cake cutting, but we were having so much fun on the dance floor, they stayed and danced instead of doing the cake - songs like YMCA and the "Mickerena". We did the dessert reception the evening before in lieu of a rehearsal dinner.

Good luck with your planning!!!!! If there are any questions we can answer for you, please let me know!!!!!!

Fran

 

[Goobergal99]

Gosh! everyone here is is so friendly and helpful, I really appreciate your imput, ellieb, your wedding sounded absolutely beautiful, I too would have been in tears over watching your tribute to your family, what a wondeful experience for all of you!! Shannon (my lil princess) will be our flowergirl, or "fairy girl" lol, as she will have a wand and wear wings, instead of adorning the traditional flower girl basket, and you are absolutely right, I probably will change my mind a million and one times before July however one thing is set, theres no better place then the most magical place on earth to start your life with someone.
Also, we are paying because we want to and not because we feel obliged, my mom is splitting the costs three ways with us so its absolutely doable and as for his family, we really feel as though this is a gift we want to give to them, being that none of them have ever been to Walt Disney World before and we would like to give them the trip as sort of a thank you for being so accomodating to us for the past five years. Our upcoming trip to the Pop in six weeks was planned for my mom in celebration of her 50th birthday and we paid the whole cost of that trip so it was only fitting we do the same for his family (despite how large it is LOL) we are pretty well off financially for young parents and aside from that we live in a major metropolitian city and therefore the cost of a big wedding here would be astronomical anyway.
FranP. thanks for your imput about the california grill, maybe we will go ahead and have the DJ afterall, especially if it turned out to be as much fun as it was for your daughters wedding. Maybe we will do the same and have the illuminations party for our rehearsal. thanks alot again