SarahInMN
Drink your wine with a cheerful heart
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2008
- Messages
- 1,095
My fiance and I (and our parents) were at WDW from Friday (the 16th) to Wednesday (the 21st) for our site visit. We stayed at the Grand Floridian, my fiance's parents at the Yacht Club, my dad and his wife at Saratoga springs, and my mom and her friend at Port Orleans. It was really good and fun for them to meet. Six of us even rode test track together and got a great picture of us while we were on the ride. I hadn't been to WDW since I was 15 (which was 17 years ago), and it was fun to see new rides and how they had updated classic rides. Haunted Mansion is almost exactly as I remembered it, the green houses at the Land looked amazing, and I love the upgraded Spaceship Earth ride. We are totally doing the Behind the Seeds tour at the Land when we are there in January.
On Sunday night we all went to the California grill: we ordered flatbreads, several goat cheese raviolis, about 8 bottles of wine, various entrees, and the valrhona cake. We also got to see the fireworks!
Diane (whose last name I don't remember) took us on Monday morning to see the Whitehall patio and Whitehall room. The first picture is with my back to the magic kingdom, and the second is a close up of the flower beds edging the Whitehall patio.
It was perfect: small, intimate, and nice. We are having an evening ceremony and reception and will have a good view of the fireworks and Cinderella's castle at night. This is a view of the Magic Kingdom from the Whitehall patio.
On Tuesday morning, we met with Celeste (our planner) and Rose (from floral). We have very definite ideas of what we do and do not want: low on tradition and high on fun. So, the prelim stuff, ie where are we getting ready? Who is escorting me down the aisle, etc flew. We weren't certain what if anything we wanted for floral but Rose came up with a very simple idea for centerpieces AND kept them consistent with the black/ivory theme. My dress has a hint of purple in addition to lots of black, so we are going with purple hydrangeas. Rob proposed over our favorite bottle of wine (Angeli Cuvee from Marietta Cellars), and Celeste is going to see about getting 2 bottles placed on each table. Which was Rob's idea and totally fantastic.
We had our tasting session at the Grand Floridian's convention center kitchen in the afternoon. We are opting for the premium/signature bar package but were uncertain on the wine choices as we dislike merlots and white zins. Celeste arranged for us to taste the wine choices, and we are able to substitute in selections (ie insert a riesling for a white zin). The chef (Melanie) who prepared food for us and Kate (the server) were wonderful.
We are sticking with our pre-dinner selections: premium cheese display, spanikopitas, vegetarian spring roll, samosas with yogurt, red pepper hummus in phyllo, and chicken with mango plantain. Our plater dinner selections are almost unchanged: goat cheese crostini, caesar salad, and tirimisu for dessert. We did change the entree selections: we are sticking with beef/lobster but changed from the tilapia (which was fantastic) to a salmon with (I believe) soy sauce and wasabi. Delish.
The tasting session was really the best part: it was so fun.
A few points/hints:
1) The chefs prepare full portions for the tasting. I was thought we'd be sharing a plate but no we each got a full serving of everything. Delish but tons of food.
2) Take tip money with you to the tasting.
3) We included our moms out of courtesy even though we were in control. Honestly, that added way too much stress for the day. They had opinions on stuff (which is fine but it is our day), and my mother had a massive meltdown (not a good "I'm so happy my only child is getting married" meltdown but a "I had a terrible marriage" meltdown) which put a huge damper on the day. I would suggest only the bride and groom to be go to all the planning sessions.
4) If you want to try something (like the wines on the list), ask your planner.
5) Celeste is awesome.
On Sunday night we all went to the California grill: we ordered flatbreads, several goat cheese raviolis, about 8 bottles of wine, various entrees, and the valrhona cake. We also got to see the fireworks!
Diane (whose last name I don't remember) took us on Monday morning to see the Whitehall patio and Whitehall room. The first picture is with my back to the magic kingdom, and the second is a close up of the flower beds edging the Whitehall patio.
It was perfect: small, intimate, and nice. We are having an evening ceremony and reception and will have a good view of the fireworks and Cinderella's castle at night. This is a view of the Magic Kingdom from the Whitehall patio.
On Tuesday morning, we met with Celeste (our planner) and Rose (from floral). We have very definite ideas of what we do and do not want: low on tradition and high on fun. So, the prelim stuff, ie where are we getting ready? Who is escorting me down the aisle, etc flew. We weren't certain what if anything we wanted for floral but Rose came up with a very simple idea for centerpieces AND kept them consistent with the black/ivory theme. My dress has a hint of purple in addition to lots of black, so we are going with purple hydrangeas. Rob proposed over our favorite bottle of wine (Angeli Cuvee from Marietta Cellars), and Celeste is going to see about getting 2 bottles placed on each table. Which was Rob's idea and totally fantastic.
We had our tasting session at the Grand Floridian's convention center kitchen in the afternoon. We are opting for the premium/signature bar package but were uncertain on the wine choices as we dislike merlots and white zins. Celeste arranged for us to taste the wine choices, and we are able to substitute in selections (ie insert a riesling for a white zin). The chef (Melanie) who prepared food for us and Kate (the server) were wonderful.
We are sticking with our pre-dinner selections: premium cheese display, spanikopitas, vegetarian spring roll, samosas with yogurt, red pepper hummus in phyllo, and chicken with mango plantain. Our plater dinner selections are almost unchanged: goat cheese crostini, caesar salad, and tirimisu for dessert. We did change the entree selections: we are sticking with beef/lobster but changed from the tilapia (which was fantastic) to a salmon with (I believe) soy sauce and wasabi. Delish.
The tasting session was really the best part: it was so fun.
A few points/hints:
1) The chefs prepare full portions for the tasting. I was thought we'd be sharing a plate but no we each got a full serving of everything. Delish but tons of food.
2) Take tip money with you to the tasting.
3) We included our moms out of courtesy even though we were in control. Honestly, that added way too much stress for the day. They had opinions on stuff (which is fine but it is our day), and my mother had a massive meltdown (not a good "I'm so happy my only child is getting married" meltdown but a "I had a terrible marriage" meltdown) which put a huge damper on the day. I would suggest only the bride and groom to be go to all the planning sessions.
4) If you want to try something (like the wines on the list), ask your planner.
5) Celeste is awesome.
