Newbie Help!!!

[Bella Belle]

Hello all!
Okay, so I want to have my wedding vow renewal at WDW.
Date is December 23, 2009 (our anniversary)
I've been on the website and read everything I could, I understand the overview, but it's nothing like hearing a walkthru of a previous bride from the moment you decide to make that phone call what happens. I know there's plenty of time, but we will be paying for everything ourselves, with one teen in college, and two following close behind next year. We have four children all teens.

The Dilemmas (or Dramas depending on who you ask):
To Invite or Not Invite

The rest of our family is somewhat dysfunctional so I don't know who I'll be inviting anyone besides the six of us and our best friend.

If I invite my mom I can't invite my dad. They are still legally married, but mom lives with her BF. Which means Dad wouldn't show.

As for the rest of the family, I'd need to write a book. Our parents don't have the ability to help, so as before we will be paying for our wedding, and I can't afford to pay for the family to stay at the resort or other travel arrangements.
How do I invite them and let them know they're welcome if they pay for their travel? Is that too cold?
I would however pay for my nephews and nieces to enjoy their time at the parks, what better christmas present than that?
We figure our VR will be double the cost of our Wedding. We will be making alot of sacrifices for this day to be the dream wedding we always wanted, without having to settle alot like we did last time. (long story)

As for our thoughts so far.

We are drawn to a Beauty and the Beast theme. But I don't want to overdo it and make it to kiddy-like.
Our nicknames are Booty (for obvious reasons) and the Beast (He is kind, tall, with very long hair, beard, muscles but he does growl sometimes)

We would like to be married at the Wedding Pavilion.
As far as the reception that would depend on the # of guests.
Does anyone have info on the Dessert Party? I read that somewhere in the posts.
We want to have a unity sand ceremony with our children. I think it would make them feel very special. I would also like to ask my daughter, 15 to be my maid of honor, my sister was last time, but my daughter is my bestest friend.

As for my three boys, hmm? I was thinking of having my oldest son 17, give me away, we've grown up together, and are real close I was only 17 when I had him. The other two boys 16, and 14 I'm not sure about, but we want to give them each a special role.
(What are your thoughts?)

Our colors are Ivory, Gold, Red, and Black
I've already picked out my gown, Ivory ball gown with dark red rose accents.
I want my bouquet to be a mixture of roses and maybe calla lilies.
Calla lilies for my daughter's bouquet, and my hubby has picked out his and the boys' boutonnieres. My daughter will be dressed in dark red, I'm still looking at ideas for her dress.
Hubby and the boys' tux will be black with a dark red embroidered vest.
I'm not too concerned over the fashion, my mother in law will be making everything again, she made all the clothes for our last wedding, we had a maid of honor, best man, two flower girls, 6 escorts and one ring bearer (flower girls and escorts are all nieces and nephews) all the boys were identically dressed as were the ladies in asian theme.

We would like our cake to be at least 4-tiered ivory with gold scrollwork made out of fondant which I saw in the Knot magazine with a single red rose in a glass dome as the topper.

We've seen beauty and the beast wedding invitations but I'm not sure about them. I'm thinking more along the lines of an ivory invitation with the beast and rose outline like the one on the broadway poster which my husband can draw.

I'm not sure about centerpieces yet. I'd like each table to be themed as a different main character of the movie. I'm thinking gold floor length tablecloths with an ivory overlay swagged with red roses, ivory chair covers with alternating black and dark red sashes.

Favors will be made by us....we're really crafty and want to give guests something personal. I'll probably include some of my homemade candles and soaps for the ladies......still working on this one.


So now for the questions. Does all the decor, floral, etc. have to be purchased from WDW or can you contract your own? I've gone through the wish book, and although I understand there are minimums to be met, which I'm more than sure I will, I like to add my own flavor to things hopeless romantic that I am.

Thanks in advance!

 

[pink_tink8i8]

As long as your minimums are met for a wishes wedding you don't have to use disney floral (unless you are having a reception in one of the parks? Someone can correct me here if I'm wrong). and you can contract out for your decorations again as long as your minimums are met elsewhere.

As far as telling your guests that they have to pay their own way, I don't think it's cold at all. That's what I'm telling my guests, in a polite way of course. I'm sending out a brochure saying that they have to pay their own expenses except on the wedding day.

I LOVE the idea of your cake topper. So awesome I'm not sure what your budget is for centerpieces but Lenox sells most of the beauty and the beast porcelain characters that you can add to maybe a bouquet of flowers? Just an idea. I saw pictures of this and it was quite beautiful. Almost made me want to change my theme.

What info specifically would you like to know about the dessert party?

Here, I just found a pic for you. you can probably make these yourself since you said you were crafty. You can do different characters

 

[Bella Belle]

Thanks.
Anything you can tell me on the dessert party would be nice.
I do like the idea of Lenox. I was searching all morning at work lol. They have some really nice ones. The only thing I didn't like was that they are rather small. The rose in glass dome is 9 inches, but that includes the base, the actual rose and dome are more like 4 inches.
I did find someone who makes handblown glass/crystal roses, and I found the glass domes. I might have him make the rose to fit the glass dome because I don't want a large beautiful cake with a tiny topper.

The reason I asked about outside vendor contracting is I actually work for an event planner, so decor and floral would be so much more inexpensive for me. Not just that, but the floral design work here is out of this world! They come up with gorgeous ideas!

Those invitations are cute.

What kinds of things came up during your first talks with the wedding consultants/planners at disney? Where would you suggest I start?

 

[pink_tink8i8]

That's so cool that you work for a planning company. You could have all this great decor that would be inexpensive for you. That's so great! Just make sure you meet your minimums elsewhere and it shouldn't be a problem.

As per the dessert parties: there is usually a minimum of 20 guests. They take place at Epcot's world show case during illumiNations fireworks. You need to pay for an escort for your party and you need to pay for each person to view the fireworks unless they are using an epcot ticket that day or park hopper option. $12.50. Depending on what country you use for a dessert party, there may be an additional fee and you'd need to pay for tables and chairs etc unless the country already has some. The UK has some already. Then there is a minimum food and beverage for each person that will attend and you can have all kinds of add ons like open bar, fondue etc. I believe the prices started at $19.50 but have recently been changed. You can show up 30 minutes before the show starts and the fireworks begin at 9pm and last for about 12 minutes. Check out this website they have some good info and pictures. http://www.mouseweddings.com/wdwcustomweddes.html
You can also contact disney weddings also.

The firsts talks are usually about what kind of wedding, escape or wishes, how many guests, where you want the ceremony and reception. Also, what date you are looking at. They will ask you if you have viewed their online wishbook.
So, it is good to have all that kind of stuff in mind so I'd suggest to start looking at places if you haven't already. Feel free to ask for anymore help. These boards are awesome and everybody is helpful

 

[padisneyfour]

welcome to another VRer- I really like your beauty and the beast theme idea... I love some of the songs from that movie and hope to use them at our VR (planning for our 20th anniversary in july 2010). There are alot of awesome ideas and people on these boards along a wealth of info. Look forward to reading more of your plans in the future. Have fun planning. Good luck with all the family things too! Those things can make it more challenging.

 

[IndyBride]

very much enjoy reading the start of your PJ! You already have so much figured out! I feel like i have nothing done compared to you! Can't wait to hear more!!!!

 

[Lisacope]

I don't have much to add except for to say Hi! I am planning a VR for our 20th anniversary and I am having so much fun with it! Good luck in your planning!

 

[Bella Belle]

I only have this much done because I'm always looking at what the brides are doing for weddings at work.

 

[B2B-2008]

Hi, I just wanted to say you can have a dessert party with less than 20 people as I am having one and there is only 12 of us. But you do have to pay a very small fee and you are restricted to the areas you can use.