Epcot's 30th Birthday!

Walt's vision of a futuristic city opened in 1982 to much fanfare.  EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tommorrow!) Center was amazing in the early days with the CommuniCore hub, World Showcaser and a bunch of amazing pavilions and rides that were educational, as well as amazingly fun.

I read something this morning in last week's issue of the All Ears Net newsletter- my favorite email once a week- about the fountain that sits just beyond Spaceship Earth (the actual name of the giant golf ball thing, in case you didn't know).  

Before the park opened on October 1, 1982, representatives from 23 countries and regions collected water from their lakes, streams, rivers and seas.  These were not just the countries that are represented in the World Showcase!  Each country kept their vessel of water and then during the opening ceremonies, in what was called the "International Ceremony of the Waters", one by one, they poured their water into the fountain to symbolize the international understanding and cooperation for which EPCOT Center stood.

What I've been doing...what's left to do?

Escort cards/favors:  done

Names smeared to protect the innocent!  

Keeping the Kids Busy

I'm starting to tie up all of the little loose ends!

Today my munchkins had the day off from school (why?!?!?!?) so I was limited in what I could do with my day.  So I sat down at the computer to put together a little activity book for all of the kids who will be at the wedding.  While I am dreaming of dancing like a crazy person with all of our munchkins, doing every silly participation dance out there, I know that they will likely want some time at their table too.  So here's what I did.

I created this little beauty in PowerPoint, figuring that of the programs I have at home, it would be the easiest in which to manipulate images. There are a slew of Disney coloring pages out there on the web.  I was looking specifically for wedding images but I also included some that are just couples.  I also threw in some wedding themed games and puzzles.

The cover is in a font that Disney used to use in the 80s.  It's free and available to download.  It's called Florida Project.  On the back, I put the date and location of the wedding. The finished book will be a folded, stapled 4.5 x 8.5 booklet.  You know, half of a standard sheet of paper.  I was thinking I'd have the cover printed on red cardstock, but then the kids couldn't color the castle.


Click for a sneak preview (black and white line drawings!  Such exciting graphics!)

Happy Anniversary to the Disney's!

Eighty seven years ago today, Walt and Lillian Disney said I do. They were married at Lewiston's Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Idaho, where Lillian grew up. Lillian made her wedding dress herself and is reported to have giggled through the ceremony.

Music! For the Ceremony! We picked some!

Time is running out and there are lots of little decisions being made every day it seems.  Today it was music.

Yesterday I had a phone conference with our wedding planner (the AMAZING Maxine!) to discuss our BEO- the Banquet Event Order- basically the entire script of the day from transportation pick-ups, to the ceremony order and music, to the meal, to everyone leaving and someone packing all the remnants up.  It's an intricate document that also spells out the prices we're going to pay for the elements of the wedding.

The BEO is a daunting, scary thing.

There was a big hole on our BEO: I still owed Maxine our chosen ceremony music.  Our ceremony is going to be very simple and very personal  to us. We've chosen to use all Disney music for our ceremony and it will all be played by the organist who comes with the Wedding Pavilion.

So while I won't reveal what song is being used for what, here's what we chose:

Candle on the Water from Pete's Dragon

Our Disney Wedding Planning Session, part 2: floral and cake

After returning to Franck's from our trip over to the Grand Floridian kitchen, we returned to Merriweather and met with Elizabeth from Disney Floral & Gifts, who handle all of the floral arrangements and decor elements of the wedding.  I sent her the link to my wedding board on Pinterest and partially filled out the floral planning form indicating what we were want ahead of our meeting.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  I've seen other Disney brides' floral bills and I think it's insane what Disney charges for flowers but, if you use outside floral, you get stuck with fees. So we plunged in...

For myself, I wasn't really sure if I wanted all of the floral elements to be matchy matchy or if we were going to go with personal floral that was different from the decor floral.  We decided not to do matchy-matchy. 

For myself, I requested a hand-tied, red rose bouquet in the bridesmaid size.  The stems will be wrapped with a black ribbon with white polka dots.  The ribbon will cover the entire stem.  No green sticking out the bottom. 

Our princess will carry a red rose wand.  I think that's three roses and a big bow of black ribbon with white polka dots.  She will totally love it. 

More pictures from the Tasting at the Grand Floridian



The sign... and a really clean, well-organized kitchen

 


Our Disney Wedding Planning Session, part 1: menu tasting

I can't believe that it's over and I had to come back to real life today.  We had a whirlwind weekend at Disney and I have the blisters on my feet to prove it!

We flew out of Philadelphia to Orlando on Thursday evening.  After the flight, the trek through Orlando's airport, waiting for the Magical Express bus and the trip to the property, we didn't get to the check in desk at Coronado Springs until midnight.  Still, we set up a wake-up call for 6 am, we set the alarm on my Kindle for 6:30 and the room's alarm clock for 6:45.  I figured if we were up by seven for our nine o'clock appointment, we'd be in good shape.  And we were.

We took a taxi to the Wedding Pavilion so that the trip over would take 15 minutes instead of an hour plus.  When we got to the Pavilion, there were security guards parked in the driveway, blocking the way.  Our driver tried to explain with his thick Haititan (I think!) accent that we had an appointment.  The security guard kept saying "Planner?  Planner?"  After a couple minutes of this I yelled from the backseat, "Yes, we have an appointment with a planner!"  And they finally let us through.

The construction at the Grand Floridian is still ugly.



Those aren't the types of cranes I'm used to seeing at Disney.

 We were actually quite early for our appointment so we got to hang around Franck's and look around before being ushered into the Merriwether room to discuss stuff with our Wedding Planner, Maxine.  It seemed like five minutes went by before her Blackberry beeped that it was time to head over to the Grand Floridian for our menu tasting!!! We were both totally giddy with excitement.

Food photos are after the jump!

Inviting the people

Here's what the finals look like...

Pile of pieces in a box on my crafting table.

Coming Soon: DFTW Planning Session!

It's almost time for us to actually do some planning for the wedding.  At this point, the invitations are out.  (We've actually gotten THREE RSVPs already!) We've planned our trip and purchased our Halloween night tickets for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.  Some of our guests are booked and confirmed as well.  We've already met our guaranteed room night requirement and will get our free night at the Disney Resort of our choice.  We chose The Polynesian because we're dorky like that! SQUEEEEE!  So that's the overview update of what's going on!


It's just like Mexico!  Only it's Florida!

Our appointment for the wedding planning session with DFTW is Friday, June 1.  (They only do these on weekdays...) You know what that means?  Wayne and I get a weekend getaway to the World!!!!  We're staying at Coronado Springs- our first moderate resort together!  We were able to get a great rate and decided to splurge just a little on a romantic, wedding-focused weekend just for us.  We are going to activate our annual passes and be all mushy and goofy in the parks and have dinner at one of our favorite places and hold hands through Wishes on Saturday night.

Awesome Disneyland Flash Mob Proposal

We're in kind of a quiet period of wedding planning so to keep the blog alive and stuff, I wanted to share a video I stumbled across on YouTube that makes me cry like a little girl every time I watch it.  And I've watched it a lot.

The song, is Bruno Mars' 'Marry You.'  So sweet!

Booked at the Art of Animation Resort!

Happy New Year!

Wedding stuff was totally on hold until the holidays were over and the first munchkin's birthday.  Now that's done and I am in hardcore bridal insanity mode.

The first step was to book our wedding trip.  Kind of an essential element, right? Can't get married in Florida if we're in Pennsylvania.

I knew that our particular circumstances were going to make this one of the more difficult issues of wedding planning because of our family size and what we wanted. There are six of us so we either needed two adjoining rooms or a suite.  We want to use the Disney Dining plan.  Then there's the issue of park tickets which just throws everything off.

See, one of the perks of being a Disney bride is that you get a pair of Disney Parks annual passes.  So Prince Charming and I do not need park tickets; however, in order to get the Disney Dining Plan, you have to buy park tickets.  Then factor in the need to get the best price possible and it's all a mess.

Now it's ON, baby!!!!`

Not actually our planner!

I just got a call from DFTW!!!!  We've been assigned our planner!!!!  It's the amazing Maxine. 

First thing I did was go to the Dis Boards and see what the other brides had to say and everyone loves her!  And then I googled her and found her on Twitter.  Followed!  

Oh, I am so excited.  I am literally bouncing up and down in my seat.  I went squealing down the hall to my co-worker's office just to share the excitement!

So now we get to see if we can swing a planning session sometime in the late spring, early summer.

You gotta have a PLAN!

Not my actual planner. 
Our wedding is on a Thursday!

Our check has been in Disney's hands for a little over a week and I keep watching our checking account to see when it clears. Once it clears I can await the assignment of our planner and a bunch more stuff to look through.  In getting ready to make the deposit and wondering whether or not we were going to have to go into a lottery for our venues or date I kind of forgot about, or put off, some of the smaller details about the wedding.

Like planning the actual trip for the wedding.

It just kind of hit me this weekend that the hotel and airfare and spending money for the wedding trip aren't included in the minimums we need to spend with Disney for the wedding. Ouch!  Aside from that, I think that our wedding trip involves some logistical issues that perhaps other Disney Brides don't really face. 

Big Fat Check!!!

We received our THIRTEEN page contract for the wedding from DFTW and, whew, we signed it and the check is going out via Priority Mail today.

It's really going to happen!  Now the real planning starts.

Oh the confusion...

So now that we're within that year mark we get to start the real planning stuff and, oddly, before we can sign a contract or provide Disney with a check, we have to deal with the room block.

I would always chuckle at the messages I'd see on the Dis Boards with people all stressed out over the room block, asking all kinds of questions.

Yeah.  Um.  I had NO IDEA what a confusing mess it is to set up the room block or how much information was required.  Or that if we don't make it to the number of reserved rooms that we requested be held, Prince Charming and I will have to pay to make up the difference. I thought it was as simple as picking three hotels and being done.  Nope. 

Overdue Trip Recap, pt 1: The Site Visit!

Franck's Bridal Salon, home of Disney Fairy Tale Weddings

It's over a month since our trip to Disney World and our site visit with DFTW.

How'd it go?  Hmm.  That's tough to answer.  We were in Florida for almost a week and our appointment at Franck's was the last morning of our trip.  While we were in Disney we did not have email access and my phone was destroyed on the first day in the parks by a sudden rainstorm.  At one point I checked my voicemail from Prince Charming's phone and there was a slightly frantic message from a guy at DFTW saying that someone else wanted our appointment time and would we be okay giving it up and he needed us to call back immediately.

Disney Trip!

We're back and I'll do a full trip recap over the next few days.  Much fun was had.  We got to see the Wedding Pavilion and may have chosen a completely different room for the reception that wasn't even on our radar.  In the meantime, some photos:

The Suite Life!

I head out to the World tomorrow for vacation with Prince Charming's munchkins and our Site Visit with DFTW but before I left I had to share this link to pictures of the actual suites at Disney's Art of Animation Resort that will open next year!

We're using AoA as one of our room block resorts because so many of the people we're inviting are families that will require extra sleeping space. 

It looks amazing.  I think the Nemo suites are my favorite.

First Look at Disney's Art of Animation Resort!

Fit to be Tied, part 2

The Results are IN and they're bright and colorful!