Things I learned from Planning session..

[Mary626]

I had my first planning session today (over the phone) and am so much more excited about my wedding.. it feels so much more real! Woohoo!

Anyway, I thought I would write down some of the things that were news to me that might help someone else out looking through the board. Or you all might already know it all, I don't know I just remember being ravenous for information when I first started looking into a disney wedding .. Anyway..

We started talking about my Fantasmic Dessert party rehearsal dinner/welcome party.. I thought it might be different then the Isola dessert party, but it's pretty much the same deal.. 200$ fee for location, $750 food minimum, 2 hosts per 50 guests (at $90 per guest for 3 hours)...
Things that were news to me:
-I don't have to use a chartered bus, we can all just meet at MGM!! This saves me 584 bucks!!
-I don't have to pay 12.50 per person for viewing fee if ppl have park tickets.. I'm just going to tell everyone they need tickets to get in to save myself some money.. why wouldn't they have tickets anyway? lol
-It starts a half an hour before the show starts.. It's a little short, but I think it will be worth it.. I'm going to hide the leftover desserts in a giant purse I am bringing lol!


I asked for a rehearsal for the ceremony on the saturday before our wedding, she said she wouldn't be able to gaurantee this date until 30 days prior. I thought it would be at the isola, but she informed me it would be at a different location, most likely somewhere in the yacht club (since i am staying there).

For the day of the wedding, we are getting a chartered bus for our guests (584$) and a limo for the bridal party and me and jim (fiance) ($230). The limo will take jim and his groomsmen to the italy pavilion around 7:30 for some pre-photos.. the limo comes back to pick up me and bridesmaids and we take our pics from 8-8:40ish. The guests get seated around 8:50-9 ish. The limo will take me directly on the italy pavilion behind the isola bridge, where i will meet my father and he will walk me across the bridge. The ceremony will be facing sort of in the direction of the american pavilion, but out towards the water (so the sun won't be in our eyes).
-Epcot provides basic boring silver folding chairs (can upgrade to white, but I'm not going to)

I have yet to talk to my floral designer about decorations I thought I might use biodegradable rice, but Michelle mentioned that they HURT and get stuck in your hair. She recommended rose petals, so I am looking into that. I am still not sure what musician to use, I am thinking maybe violinist but not sure if he can play all the songs I want used. Sound system for jim and the officiant to have hidden microphones, I really want it but it is 500 bucks, eek. Still will probably get it, so ppl and videographer can hear me.

After ceremony, bus takes guests back. Bridal party stays with us for post pics, then bus comes back for bridal party, me and jim leave alone in the limo.

Prereception from 10 to 11. Musician from ceremony will be playing here, as they have the minimum 4 hours... Michelle said we would probably get in around 10:15. I think me and jim will use this time to take pics around the yacht club and the lagoon, etc. I am excited about having pics done here!! I did request we have like 10 minutes before the ceremony to ourselves somewhere and to try the yummy appetizers I will be ordering..

On to Reception. I was thinking of using a pianist, but asked about it, she recommended DJ as being more versatile. I mentioned i didn't want a cheesey goofball dj, she said they can accomdate any style i wanted, so I asked for a low key, subtle DJ that would sort of just play the music. But I am happy she changed my mind about this it is a little cheaper at ariels because you dont' have to pay for lighting - so 975 instead of the 1200 that is listed.

I asked about Mickey and Minnie and Stitch. She said M&M come in their formal attire or traditional theme park outfits. I think they should be in their formal attire - it is a wedding . She said stitch comes in his hawaiin outfit. I Love stitch!! I was going to try to surprise my fiance with stitch, but of course I couldn't keep my mouth shut!! But we do have to see how finances are then.. total for three characters was around 1450. oye.

We talked more about the set up of the reception, but nothing really new there, just have to make choices about the food and dancing and who's giving speeches, etc.

Overall we talked for about 2 hours. She was very very nice and helpful!! I have about a million more questions I thought of to ask her afterwards of course. Anyway hopefully some of that may have helped someone looking for info Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[Fantasia Sam]

I don't have to pay 12.50 per person for viewing fee if ppl have park tickets.. I'm just going to tell everyone they need tickets to get in to save myself some money.. why wouldn't they have tickets anyway? lol

All sounds great Mary - I just wanted to point out the above quote to you because we found that whilst most of our guests had Annual passes they didn't mind bringing their passes but some of our guests were only in town for a short time and were not visiting the parks every day so we thought it was a little cheeky to ask them to use their park tickets to get into the park just for our event.

Our EM actually made all of our guests who had passes go through the admission barrier so that he knew how many to charge for the viewing fee - so those with tickets who were happy to use them got a day deducted from their passes.

Just thought I'd give you a heads up on that Of course our DP was the day of our wedding so our guests were less likely to have used their park tickets already that day. But obviously as this is for your welcome party then most guests bar those that get in late that day would have been in the parks for sure. Just make sure you remind all your guests to get their handstamped and that they have the "hopper" option on their tickets - because if they don't and they've been to AK that day then again that will cost them another park admission off their ticket to go into MGM.

 

[Mary626]

All sounds great Mary - I just wanted to point out the above quote to you because we found that whilst most of our guests had Annual passes they didn't mind bringing their passes but some of our guests were only in town for a short time and were not visiting the parks every day so we thought it was a little cheeky to ask them to use their park tickets to get into the park just for our event.

Our EM actually made all of our guests who had passes go through the admission barrier so that he knew how many to charge for the viewing fee - so those with tickets who were happy to use them got a day deducted from their passes.

Just thought I'd give you a heads up on that Of course our DP was the day of our wedding so our guests were less likely to have used their park tickets already that day. But obviously as this is for your welcome party then most guests bar those that get in late that day would have been in the parks for sure. Just make sure you remind all your guests to get their handstamped and that they have the "hopper" option on their tickets - because if they don't and they've been to AK that day then again that will cost them another park admission off their ticket to go into MGM.

Thanks for the info I was mostly joking anyway, but I know almost all of guests will have passes. Since our event is in the evening, they will have been playing in the parks all day anyway, so it should be all good

 

[hiwaygal]

I just wanted to suggest something else for the "rice"

One is bubbles...you can get them at craft stores. Already in pretty little bottels and just give each guest one. Everyone blows bubbles during the recessional.

Also, a butterfly release. You can order butterflies (off the internet) and have them in little boxes (I think) for your guests. At the right moment, your guests release butterflies. This could be really beautiful...but you'd probably have to check with Disney to make sure they'd allow that. I did a google search on "butterfly wedding release" and this is the first hit: http://www.butterflyreleases.com/ I'm sure you could find others.

 

[mindystar]

My sister was thinking about doing bubbles also. Until she read somewhere that the solution can stain your gown. So now she wants rose petals. Does anyone know for sure if the bubbles can leave stains?

 

[Luvndisney]

sounds like you got a lot done! Thanks for posting this update - it helped me a lot and you answered some of my questions. I was curious as to how the charter bus and limo would work. I was curoius...they quoted you 230 for the limo for 3 hours or just the time you needed?

 

[Snow_White]

My sister was thinking about doing bubbles also. Until she read somewhere that the solution can stain your gown. So now she wants rose petals. Does anyone know for sure if the bubbles can leave stains?

I heard that bubbles can stain your gown too. Also, I read that red rose petals can stain it as well!! So, I chose white rose petals...nice and safe (and beautiful!)

 

[mindystar]

Thank you for that-red roses can stain--that's good advice I'm going to pass to my sis!

 

[Mary626]

sounds like you got a lot done! Thanks for posting this update - it helped me a lot and you answered some of my questions. I was curious as to how the charter bus and limo would work. I was curoius...they quoted you 230 for the limo for 3 hours or just the time you needed?

Glad the info helped! I'm not sure about the limo. She just said it would be 230 for a three hour minimum, and that that should be enough. Sorry I can't answer for sure!

 

[Luvndisney]

Thats ok! I was just curious, because that sounded cheaper than what is on wishbook. I am just hoping some stuff is less expensive. Thank!

 

[pixie08]

Thanks for all the planning sestiuon info! It helps all of us girls who are far awy from our planning session but still want to know!

Thats ok! I was just curious, because that sounded cheaper than what is on wishbook. I am just hoping some stuff is less expensive. Thank!

It seems quite a few things are cheaper than in the wishbook! I hope this is true. We will be contacting Disney for the the first time next week however we are still over a year out (1 year and ten months) so no contracts or hard figures! My fiancee was working w/ a woman from dftw planning for his proposal to me a couple weeks ago in disney. Her name is heidi and hopefully she will answer some questions for us....I will keep you all updated!

 

[Mary626]

I just spoke with my floral/decorator person this morning, she gave me so many great ideas!! I had no idea what kind of style I wanted going in. The only thing I kind of knew was that my bridesmaids' dresses would be a dark royal blue. She asked me what kind of bouquet i wanted - I wasn't sure but mentioned I liked the "tear drop" bouquet look. After asking what kind of flowers I liked and colors, she suggested a bouquet of mostly white flowers - including oriental lilies, stephanotis, and white roses, with a few accents of blue - maybe hydrangea or delphinium.

She mentioned, I had never heard of this, that they can put tiny little cyrstal/rhinestone things in the center of the flowers to add a little more color or a little shimmer. And they can put some hidden mickys in that way too. Too cute!

I think my bridesmaids bouquets may just be handheld blooms of oriental lilies tied with a silver bow. Possibly with the crystal inlays.

Boutonierres and corsages for the guys - stephanotis with blue crystal for fiance, white freesia's for groomsmen, white roses for parents.

Her ideas for the centerpieces I like a lot - continuing with the color scheme, and knowing that my reception is in ariel's, but that I didn't want an ostensibly "under the sea" theme, she came up with the cylinder vases of water to put floater lilies in, with blue seaglass stones at the bottom, and maybe some seaglass sprinkled around the outside of the vase as well.

And then white chair covers with blue sashes for 8.50 per chair. I could add blue satin napkins for 2 dollars, or cotton blue napkins for 1 dollar, but i think i'll skip that.

She had other lovely ideas for the ceremony and the unity candle arrangement as well. I haven't gotten many prices from her yet though, as it takes longer to price since each arrangement is unique. I will let you know what she comes up with when she gets back to me though.

But I am totally picturing this in my head and I love it! Let me know if you have any questions about the floral session

 

[Mary626]

Oh I forgot to mention, I asked her about the rose petals staining the dress... She mentioned that White does not stain.. and the others don't stain when you are using them for the exit petal toss... But that if you are using them on the floor for your entrance, the colored petals can stain the under/bottom part of your dress as you walk across them, the color rubs onto them sometimes.

Hope that helps answer anyone's questions.

 

[Luvndisney]

This helps so much! I love the centerpiece idea! I think I would like that for my wedding. You'll have to keep us updated about the prices....to see if they are reasonable.

Sounds like you are having so much fun!

good luck

 

[mindystar]

Oh I forgot to mention, I asked her about the rose petals staining the dress... She mentioned that White does not stain.. and the others don't stain when you are using them for the exit petal toss... But that if you are using them on the floor for your entrance, the colored petals can stain the under/bottom part of your dress as you walk across them, the color rubs onto them sometimes.

Hope that helps answer anyone's questions.

Thanks! My sister goes for her planning session next month. So she wants to have the wedding in the Wedding Pavilion, and the only decor she was going to do was rose petals down the sides of the aisle. So I will let her know! She's planning on having a dress that just hits the floor, or is a touch off.

 

[PookieB]

I also want to do the rose petals on the sides of the aisle. Im probably using white and light pink so I dont think it will be so bad. I would like to have the flower girl throw the petals also....but may be fake ones?

 

[fun2bmomof3]

How about silk rose petals? Some of them I've seen you can't even tell that they're not real. No stains that way and probley cheaper too.

crissy

 

[hjc1277]

I have seen some fake rose petals on eBay... the prices are really good too -- this way you could still use whatever color you wanted & they wouldn't stain. Hope this helps!!

 

[Luvndisney]

Didn't want to start a new thread so i'll post this here. In regards to the planning sessions. How far in advance do you have to book them? Has anyone ever had trouble getting one set up during their trips? Someone told me they are very booked during christmas nd it is hard to get an appointment.

Is this true?
Also, During these sessions can you meet with mutliple people (i.e. catering, floral, etc.)

 

[twojo21]

luvndisney - planning sessions can be set up once your contract is signed with disney for your dftw, so 8 months+ and yes you can meet with multiple people & request a menu & cake tasting, etc. we have ours set for november with claudine, kristi, the chef with our tasting, florist, etc. i was told it will be anywhere from 2-4 hours. we are a custom dftw. not sure if this is the same or available for intimates though.