April and Jeffery's Wishes Wedding May 14, 2011 - WP/LS - I'm Married!!!

[Sapphire_Ag]

I already typed this out once and then my internet had to restart.

Jeffery and I got engaged on September 4, 2009.

That day we flew in to Orlando from Seattle, Washington. It was a long flight and we were tired. While we were waiting for the bus to take us from the airport to our hotel at Animal Kingdom Lodge, one of the cast members told us about the Halloween party that night at Magic Kingdom. It was pretty late in the afternoon and the Halloween party was suppose to start a in a few hours. I wasn't sure if we would be able to get tickets, but I called anyways and they had some available.

If you have never been to Mickey's Halloween party, you should. It was great! They have a special Halloween show and firework display. The rides are open and there are cast members around that give up candy. They also have a lot of characters out and there are barely any lines for the rides or the characters.

Jeffery and I had just gotten off of the Haunted Mansion ride and were heading into Fantasyland when we saw that they were taking pictures in front of Cinderella's coach. I was so excited. We waited inline to get our picture done.

We got our picture done with our camera and as we were waiting to get it done with the professional camera, Jeffery got on his knee and took my hand. Jeffery took the ring from his pocket and said, "Will you marry me?" My jaw dropped and I immediately started crying. Jeffery put the ring on my finger and some guy nearby yelled, "What's your answer?" I, of course, said yes.

It was wonderful and he planned it so we could get professional pictures of it. Smart guy, huh? Enjoy!

 

[Sapphire_Ag]

Jeffery and I just got back from Disney World last night. While at DW, we met with our wedding consultant, Stacey. She answered our questions and showed us a couple of venues.

We loved the pavilion and are planning on that for our ceremony. We are still deciding on the reception site. My fiancee loved the Living Seas. We have 140 people on our guest list. Most people would be coming from Seattle area or Los Angeles area so we are not sure how many people would show up. We are hoping to be able to get the American Rotunda as a backup plan.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions for a Little Mermaid wedding at Living Seas, we would love to hear them or see them.

 

[princess22]

I just wanted to say Congrats and happy planning!!! I'll be following along, I'm sure you can get lots of ideas for your wedding off the boards!! I remember someone recently having a Little Mermaid inspired wedding, can't remember her name, I'll go look and let you know!

 

[princess22]

Here, this is the one I was thinking of!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2150796

 

[meghan&josh]

Your story is absolutely precious!! I'll follow along your planning, as I'm planning my DFTW for May of 2012! Good luck with your planning!

 

[ChocoKat]

Awww! Sweet proposal!!! You are right the Halloween party is a blast DH and I have done it twice and we loved it.

Welcome! I can't wait to follow along with your plans!!!

 

[Sapphire_Ag]

Is it possible to have a DFTW at the Pavilion and a reception dinner at Living Seas for $30,000 and 100 people?

I mean, we have gone over the budget multiple times. We first started with the Pavilion, then Italy for the pre-reception and then Italy for the reception. But then we found out you can't have a DJ outside in a theme park and they use trees to block the party from guest's view, which also cost alot. Then we thought about the Rotunda. It seemed like a good fit since we wanted a Cinderella themed wedding. I love all of David Tutera's weddings and I wanted something as elegant and outlandish as his. Our consultant told us that for just a candelabra flower arrangement centerpiece, they start at $400.00. Way out of our budget. I know that some people can have $40-50,000 weddings, but we can't. We just went to DW and looked at the Rotunda and my fiancee didn't really like it, but he loved the Living Seas. The whole idea of Scuba Mickey and seeing under the water. He is a dive master. We have 130 gallon salt water tank in our front room, along with photographs by Peter Lik of boat and beach scenes. The Living Seas seems to fit us better.

So, now we need to see if we can have the wedding we want for the budget we want. Is it even possible or should we look for someplace in Seattle?

 

[Sapphire_Ag]

We talked to our wedding coordinator about characters. Since we are planning our reception at the Living Seas with a Little Mermaid theme, we wanted Ariel to be in her mermaid outfit to greet people when they got out of the elevator. Apparently, they can't do that. So, we asked about having Ariel in her "land" dress. Well, I guess you can't do that either, unless you get a princess trio. I am not sure who the other princesses are or how much they are, we are waiting on those small details now.

It sucks that in order to have the princess we want, we may have to add two others, that adds to the cost. So, much so, that we may not be able to do it.

Has anyone gotten the princess trio? Does anyone know if there is a discount if we get the trio and scuba mickey?

 

[Rohais]

Hi!

OMG! You were at the same MNSSHP as we were! My DF and I got engaged on August 31st at AKL

I love the photo of your DF proposing!

Your plans - or planning - sounds great so far

The weddings at Living Seas that I've seen TR of, have all been gorgeous. BUT, I have a special place for the American Adventure Rotunda Unfortunately, we won't have anywhere near enough guests!

 

[Sapphire_Ag]

So, we heard from our planner and for the "princess trio" it would cost us $1800, but we would be able to have Ariel and 2 other princess, any ones we chose.

We also found out that someone else is going for our ceremony time and date. 5:00pm ceremony on May 7, 2011. I guess the other person also has a date in April as a backup, so we have to decide if we want the 2:30 ceremony as our backup or if we want to change our date. I told her we could do the 2:30 ceremony or we could do it May 14th, as long as we got the 5pm ceremony that day.

So, now, its just a waiting game. Can't really plan anything to book anything, until we find out what day we get.

 

[Sapphire_Ag]

So, yesterday, my DF (is that what I am suppose to call him?) and I went to our local outlet mall for something to do. I am on Spring Break right now and completely bored. I know as soon as I am back at work though, I will wish for Spring Break again.

Anyways, we went to one of the jewelry stores there and fell in love with this men's watch.

Now, I have to figure out what to get my parents, bridesmaids and flower girls. Is there anyone else we are suppose to get gifts for? Any suggestions?

 

[Sapphire_Ag]

Since we are still waiting to see if we get our date from Disney, we decided to try to do as much as we can before that. We already found our groomsmen gifts and our officiant's gift. The other day we found out bridesmaid gifts. We have 3 of them. We got them at Zales. Great deal. Less than $100 for each one.

We got these for our flower girls. In real life, they are the size of the inside heart of the bridesmaid's ones. We really wanted something that matched the bridesmaids, but did not exactly the same.

 

[Sapphire_Ag]

So, I have been looking at a lot of different photographers lately. It is nice to see that a lot of them in the Orlando area are under the $2000 price area for their small packages and still have beautiful pictures. A lot of the photographers I found when I thought we were doing the wedding here are in the $3000 price range for great photos and the ones that are lower were not what I was looking for.

So far we have been in contact with Vicki Arndt, aka David and Vicki Arndt. They have some beautiful pictures and they are willing to do an engagement session inside a Disney park for only $350.00.

I really want some engagement pictures in the park, but I don't want to pay 1000 for Disney to do it and I really don't want to have to wake up at 5am in the morning.

We have also been in contact with Jennifer Werneth. I love her pictures and she is also willing to do an engagement session in the park.

Both photographers are about the same price, I am just not sure which one to go with.

Any suggestions?

 

[Sapphire_Ag]

Well, I just booked our photographer today. We choose Randy Chapman. We got a great deal!! Way under the budget we had set aside if we had used a Disney photographer. Of course, since our reception is in Epcot, we can't have Randy come with us, but we can do all our pictures before and have him take pictures of the ceremony. We have a few family members who are amateur photographers, so we are just going to ask them to take pictures during the reception.

I am so excited!! Now, we just have to wait to hear about if we get our date and ceremony time.

 

[Sapphire_Ag]

So, I went wedding dress shopping with a friend of mine. I didn't see anything that really called to me. Here are a few that I tried on.

This one I tried on when I went by myself to look at dresses. I don't have a picture of me in it, but so far, I think this is the one I am going to get. I still have one more store to try, but I think I am going to wait a little longer before I try them on. I want to see if I can loose any weight.

 

[DVC Bride 2011]

Gorgeous dresses! I tried on the one you have in the first picture. So princessy. Congrats on booking Randy! We are using him too, later in May. He seems like he is great to work with.

 

[Disney9.9.10]

I just read your PJ and it looks great! You have a ton of stuff done already, which is amazing - it is just the waiting that is no fun lol Your DF is a smart guy doing the proposal like that! I am glad that you liked MNSSHP - we are going to be going to it when we are on our Disneymoon and I am really looking forward to it. I really like the second dress - very princessy! I had no idea that you needed to book a princess trio - did they tell you what the reason is for that? Any other characters can be booked on their own. I look forward to reading more about your planning!

 

[Sapphire_Ag]

So, I have been looking at different wedding cakes trying to get some ideas. I have narrowed it down to four different styles that I like, but I have no idea if Disney can do something like these or which style I would like to go with. Any ideas??? If there are any other designs for an under the sea/little mermaid theme, I would love to see them.

 

[helloirishkitty]

I love everything that you've done so far and my last cake is definitely my favorite! I'm posting to subscribe because we're wedding twins- I'm having my ceremony at WP and the reception at Living Seas (On 02/12/11). And I'm trying to do it on a budget too. We also have similar taste in dresses... lol... I love the one you're considering.. who makes it?

 

[Sapphire_Ag]

I love everything that you've done so far and my last cake is definitely my favorite! I'm posting to subscribe because we're wedding twins- I'm having my ceremony at WP and the reception at Living Seas (On 02/12/11). And I'm trying to do it on a budget too. We also have similar taste in dresses... lol... I love the one you're considering.. who makes it?

Congrats on your wedding! You will have to send me pictures of your ideas. The dress is a Mori Lee. She has some amazing dresses on her website. Good Luck!!