NightnDay's Planning Journal

[NightnDay]

Hi all!
My goodness, I always read the posts here but I never ever say anything and I've really put off posting my planning journal for you all to read. I guess everything is pretty much coming together...I have so much fun reading everyone else's planning journals that it wouldn't really be fair to not share.

Well, a little backstory here I suppose. My fiance and I went to Disney World in August of 2006. I decided that since he had never been to Disney World (and he's 25) that it would be a nice treat for the both of us. It was kind of a last minute trip, but we loved every minute of it. We stayed at the Port Orleans French Quarter, and he and I both really, really enjoyed it even if the mousekeeping was...meh. After getting back home, we started planning our wedding which was originally NOT going to be a Disney Fairy Tale wedding...but instead somewhere else. We then ran into a few problems with our families agreeing on where we should have the wedding (no that's too far, we can't come out that way, everyone would have to travel) and we just got kind of fed up. I really wanted our wedding to be fun and I wanted to have as few responsibilites as possible because planning a huge, complicated wedding just never appealed to me. So...my fiance and I then decided to start taking a look into the Disney Fairy Tale weddings. Ever since I had been looking into planning my wedding, I would always find myself back at the Disney website and wishing that I could get married there.

My parents were finally the ones who gave us a nudge into the direction of Disney when they noticed just how stressed out I was getting because of everyone arguing about not approving of the places we were picking. My fiance wasn't holding up too well with arguing with his parents, either. So we just said...we're getting married in Disney World, whether you like it or not!

So, for our wedding...
We are having an intimate wedding on October 29th, 2007. I'm not quite sure how many people we are going to have exactly, but our plans are to get married at the Boardwalk Resort by Reverend Jack Day (he's already penciled us in).
We plan to have a small dinner afterwards at O'Hana. I'm actually a little bit concerned about this. I know my family loves O'Hana, as we have eaten there before when I was much younger and on the family vacation. I really don't want us to be all seated out where the children scoot the coconuts around the floor...I kinda just wanted it to be a relaxing, casual but still nice dinner. I'm also not sure if my fiance's family is going to like the food. My fiance is a chef, so he just loves food PERIOD but his family is a different story. They aren't really into experimenting with the food. We were REALLY set on O'Hana though, and when I read the menu out loud to my fiance he said it sounded really good, but he wasn't sure if his parents would find anything acceptable! Do you think non-adventurous eaters will find something to eat at O'Hana? I don't want to make my future in-laws unhappy because I took them to the wrong restaurant. Maybe I'm just being a little paranoid, I don't know but...anyway...

We actually chose the Coronado Springs resort over Port Orleans this time. I was busy reading reviews the past week, and it seems that everyone liked French Quarter and CSR equally, so we thought why not try something new and different? My mother has offered to pay for a honeymoon portrait session. It seemed like a nice package, but I was wondering, for the people who have had this package...do they let you go to multiple parks, or do you only get to pick one? My fiance and I were wondering about this because we really wanted to get some pictures with Cinderella's Castle, but we also really enjoy the Tree of Life.

I think we're going down to Orlando two-three nights before the wedding, and we're going to try to do the whole "bachlorette" and "bachelor party" thing at Pleasure Island...well, at least, I am. With my mother, my sister, future sister in law, mother in law and the best man's wife. My fiance just wants to go play in Disney Quest for the day or something. Whatever he wants to do!

I'm a little stuck on what to do to welcome everyone to our wedding. I've heard of people having dinners and stuff but we weren't sure of what we wanted to do. I know the day before the wedding we planned on getting everyone to Epcot, since this is a first trip to Disney for many people going and my parents really can't deal with the Magic Kingdom anymore (but I love the Magic Kingdom! ) There are a lot of details that haven't been worked out yet...like how long we want to stay down there for, and what my dress will look like. I haven't even begun to look for dresses yet, but I'll post a link of it (if I'm able) when I find my dress.

Sorry that was sort of long, and I could have gone into more detail, but things aren't too "together" yet, if you know what I mean. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read it and answer any of my random questions

 

[Maggimus]

Hey there!! Congrats on getting married and choosing Disney.

I say go with O'hanas. Who cares if DF's family cant find food? Not your problem... just my opinion. its your wedding day and eat how you want-- it wont kill them to 'try' a few things and if they dont like it-- fine-- they can eat at a counter service later!!

About the honeymoon photo session-- not sure if you can go to other parks but I highly doubt it. Have you considered asking your mom to pay for Randy Chapman's photography instead? Have you seen his work? He is an outside vendor who is FANTASTIC-- a ton of disney brides use him (most here on the boards do because we've seen his work). If your mom gets you his photography package-- you can automatically trade your already paid for disney photography package in for a honeymoon photo session-- that way you get the best of both worlds. Instead of having her pay for that-- she could just pay for photography-- -so you wuold get upgraded photography, own the copywrite to all of your photos (you can print them whenever you want, whereever you want), an album with tons of photos in it, and above excellent photographs! Just a thought...

If you want more info I can give you the schpeel!!

GL with everything!

 

[PrincessBride07]

Congrats on the wedding planning. I am glad that you decided to post your planning journal, and I look forward to reading more. I completely understand the family feud thing. I had family telling me who to invite, where to have it, and even family arguements as to whom was throwing the bridal shower. (of course they couldn't grow up and say we will throw a shower together ) Anyways, I wouldn't worry too much about the FIL eating habits. They might find a vacation is a good time to be a little adventurous.

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

Congratulations on getting started with your planning!

I think Ohanas sounds fantastic - and if they don't like the meal, well, it's only one meal to them, but it's YOUR wedding meal - so choose somewhere YOU will like, I say!

I'm really looking forward to hearing all about your wedding planning - I love planning journals - only a few months until I can start to officially plan mine!

 

[Sparkles9306]

Yeah, Another October bride!

The Honeymoon Portrait Session only can be done at one park, but you can pick which park you want. Like Maggie said, look into outside photography, it may work for you in the end, and you get the Honeymoon session as an even exchange.

For a welcome, you could consider doing a dessert party at Epcot, if you were going to go to Epcot anyway. It's a good way to say welcome with a little treat and watch Illuminations!

 

[NightnDay]

I really love the idea of the dessert party in Epcot. I've read (and have seen pictures!) of brides who chose to have dessert parties in Epcot. My only concern for this would be the cost. We would only be having about 10-12 people, so I'm wondering if it will cost us an arm and a leg to reserve a spot in one of the countries.

 

[Sparkles9306]

I think the rental fee is a flat fee and isn't determined by the number of people you have. There is a per person charge for the desserts, the lowest tier is $19.50pp. I'm not sure if there is a minimum there, but you could ask you WC and see about that if you're interested.