Forever Could Even Start Today, Wedding & Disneymoon Sept 17 update 10/1: Last Day, Budget recap

[kastoney]

Wow, you guys had quite the set-up. I can't believe you had such a large space to yourselves. Though definitely odd that no one was in charge and running the event for you.

You truly picked out some awesome looking food. How smart to know all the "secret" things you could have. The nitrogen item definitely looks awesome, but I think the Mickey pretzels would be by favorite (besides the booze of course)

 

[MeghanEmily]

 

[pepperandchips]

Wow what an awesome upgrade to that large area! Your food selections look amazing. I wouldn't trust myself around unlimited pretzels or nitro truffles! Sounds like the evening was off to an amazing start. Can't wait to hear how your guests enjoyed everything!!!

 

[DisneyMandC]

LOVING your Mickey and Minnie shots!!! How cute!! and that was so nice of the CMs to arrange for you!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Wow what a great space for your dessert party! I'd love to do a private one one day. Maybe with our next Chunky family trip (whenever that is). You picked the most perfect desserts, and I love how you included Micky pretzels too! I would be all over that. Beautiful pictures with Spaceship Earth and you look really pretty in your second dress!

 

[amalone1013]

Dessert Party
Part Two
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This will be mostly a big photo dump because, I guess it's self explanatory? You all realize that next up for the evening is Illuminations This is a fun photo opportunity when you have a dessert party. There is much smooching involved, consider yourself warned...

​

 

[amalone1013]

That is pretty amazing! Just because of a line...

Crazy! And while we were waiting, they let people in for the last concert. They easily could have set up our small event in that space, but hey, if that's what they want to do...

Morgan would have been in Mickey Pretzel Heaven! But my girls are addicted to the cheese sauce that comes with it in Disney.

I can't blame them! I didn't even think about sauce, but I feel like it might have been out...

Wow, you guys had quite the set-up. I can't believe you had such a large space to yourselves. Though definitely odd that no one was in charge and running the event for you.

It was a really nice set-up! I just thought that someone might come up to the people footing the bill, ya know...

You truly picked out some awesome looking food. How smart to know all the "secret" things you could have. The nitrogen item definitely looks awesome, but I think the Mickey pretzels would be by favorite (besides the booze of course)

Picking out the food was so fun I can't remember now if I mentioned it, but we had a hosted bar These boards and some other groups were great for knowing our 'secret' options. Disney kind of pushes you towards cookie cutter events, I'm sure because it's just easier on them.. so it was great to be able to chat with a bunch of people and get an idea of what you could ask for.

Wow what an awesome upgrade to that large area! Your food selections look amazing. I wouldn't trust myself around unlimited pretzels or nitro truffles! Sounds like the evening was off to an amazing start. Can't wait to hear how your guests enjoyed everything!!!

I believe a great time was had by all! Really, who could complain about reserved spots/tables, delicious food, and an open bar?

LOVING your Mickey and Minnie shots!!! How cute!! and that was so nice of the CMs to arrange for you!

It was so sweet! It was the cherry on top for me, because I really wanted character photos.

Wow what a great space for your dessert party! I'd love to do a private one one day. Maybe with our next Chunky family trip (whenever that is). You picked the most perfect desserts, and I love how you included Micky pretzels too! I would be all over that. Beautiful pictures with Spaceship Earth and you look really pretty in your second dress!

Aw thanks! I'd love to do a private one again - we've already been joking around about vow renewals Really though, I think you could easily be under what the normal dessert party costs - you might not have quite as many dessert options, but to be just your group and not have to fight for spots or tables... it's really nice.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Ummmm... It's like you had Illuminations all to yourselves!

And I thought you had too many great photos from before!

 

[Tink0812]

I love, love, love, love all of those Illuminations pictures. If I were you I would have them all framed. Illuminations is my favorite thing in all of Disney and we always go at least once if not more on every Disney trip. What a Magical way to celebrate the beginning of a new life together!

 

[Mopedmom1]

Absolutely STUNNING pictures!

 

[MeghanEmily]

So awesome!!

Favourites...

 

[kastoney]

Your photos are amazing!!!!!!!!!! Though I gotta ask were you able to enjoy Illuminations at all or were you just stuck kissing that husband of yours the whole time

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Your photos are amazing!!!!!!!!!! Though I gotta ask were you able to enjoy Illuminations at all or were you just stuck kissing that husband of yours the whole time

I thought the same thing! Maybe that is because we have been married so long! Ha!

 

[amalone1013]

One More Trip Around the World
​

We're down to the last bit of the night here, but we still had one more item left on the agenda!

Phew, it's over! No more kissing until after we're out of the park!​

We waited just a bit for the crowds to clear out from the show. It was a night with evening EMH, but it always seemed to me that for EMH in all the parks so many people cleared out - I guess most are off-site or just can't do any more after the show? Is that what you guys seem to experience? This was really our first big trip.

Anyways, while we were waiting Zack's brother decided he should say a few words. It was pretty funny, because he's not the type to do that really, but he had a little help from his friend We all got a good chuckle out of the delivery, but it was sweet and basically came down to him saying they should all be thanking us for throwing such a great party and inviting them along.

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After the crowds were deemed sufficiently cleared, we met our lovely guide for the last part of our adventure. We followed her and her green lightsaber.

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Some action shots You're not allowed to actually stop for any shots for this because we weren't paying for that! Disney has some nice 'before the park opens' photo shoots you can do, for the right price. We had made the decision that it wasn't in the budget right now (even though we probably could have made it work).

As we got over between Canada and the UK, we headed backstage! I was kind of excited about that, though it's a bit silly. I didn't know what route they would take us on. There's the path between the two pavillions, that leads back to the World Showcase Pavilion. We cut alongside that and through backstage and came in the emergency exit doors by the bathrooms in the Land Pavilion. As we passed WS Pavilion, there was water pouring down the sides! This may not be news to all of you, but we were told that quite a few buildings have sprinklers like that that run after Illuminations, and same in DHS - and that they also typically water some of the fields around DHS. Just things I would never give much thought to.

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Speaking of the land, you probably can guess where we were headed! Soarin'! Our guide took us up the Fastpass lane, and then we were put in the first two rows of section B.

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I got my grandpa to sit next to me on Soarin'. I wasn't really sure what he would think or how he would react. He went to Disneyland a few times as a kid because he grew up out in California, but that's all I know of. He thought it was the neatest thing! He went on and on about it for awhile, and how they could make something like that, etc. Zack's dad still talks about how he's such a wimp and has to hold the handles on Soarin' and my grandpa didn't care about that at all

We grabbed a few shots with our photographers and videographers! What amazing people!

This one cracks me up so much, because of Zack's face - like one more smile for the day is just the most painful thing ever!
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And then we said goodbye to most of the group. Those that were leaving had early flights the next morning, so we didn't get to see them. Zack's parents and aunt, and his one brother stayed a few more days. B's family also stayed, but had their own thing planned.

We then split from the group and headed up front for a photo. This was at Zack's request, it didn't even cross my mind! I'm so glad he thought of it. On the other hand and lucky for him, it had me looking for other PP photographers on our way back to International Gateway but it seemed they were all gone at this point. Between waiting and walking over to Soarin' and chatting with everyone before they left, our timestamp for this photo was 10:49pm, so it wasn't like there was much of EMH left anyways.

It seems the Pixie Dusted photo is most appropriate to end the night with


And they lived Happily Ever After





Next up, I'm going to try and do a little review of how we felt about all of our choices, then on to the honeymoon!

I don't know if anyone here is interested in seeing some costs? I know I found it really helpful when I was planning, so I might include it in the wrap up...​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Anyways, while we were waiting Zack's brother decided he should say a few words. It was pretty funny, because he's not the type to do that really, but he had a little help from his friend We all got a good chuckle out of the delivery, but it was sweet and basically came down to him saying they should all be thanking us for throwing such a great party and inviting them along.

Well, with the help of "his friend" I am sure it was genuine!

Some action shots You're not allowed to actually stop for any shots for this because we weren't paying for that! Disney has some nice 'before the park opens' photo shoots you can do, for the right price. We had made the decision that it wasn't in the budget right now (even though we probably could have made it work).

I don't think you are lacking in photos! Don't sweat it!

 

[Mopedmom1]

Even though I recently celebrated my 25th Anniversary (at WDW) I think adding costs in would be a nice reference point for others.

Everything looks so wonderful. A nice party indeed! Now start piling up those cc points for your next adventure!

 

[amalone1013]

Ummmm... It's like you had Illuminations all to yourselves!

And I thought you had too many great photos from before!

It was such a cool experience! Thanks!

I love, love, love, love all of those Illuminations pictures. If I were you I would have them all framed. Illuminations is my favorite thing in all of Disney and we always go at least once if not more on every Disney trip. What a Magical way to celebrate the beginning of a new life together!

Aw thanks! I really loved Illuminations before this. We had booked our Dessert Party before ever seeing it before as we'd never been to WDW, and I wasn't sure if I would feel connected to the show because of the theme - but that was all thinking as an outsider who had only been to DL and DLP at that point, so nothing even close to Epcot.

Absolutely STUNNING pictures!

Aw thank you!

So awesome!!

Favourites...

Gotta have a hidden Mickey

Your photos are amazing!!!!!!!!!! Though I gotta ask were you able to enjoy Illuminations at all or were you just stuck kissing that husband of yours the whole time

3
That's why we had to go back to Epcot the next night...

I thought the same thing! Maybe that is because we have been married so long! Ha!

Well, with the help of "his friend" I am sure it was genuine!


I don't think you are lacking in photos! Don't sweat it!

I love what we got. At one time, I thought about trying to go to a monorail resort and get some photos with the castle in the background. But I don't miss that at all.

Even though I recently celebrated my 25th Anniversary (at WDW) I think adding costs in would be a nice reference point for others.

Everything looks so wonderful. A nice party indeed! Now start piling up those cc points for your next adventure!

Thanks! We're working on it

I think costs are helpful too, so I'll probably stick something in.

 

[amalone1013]

Wedding Budget​

I decided to include an overview of costs, so maybe I can help someone out, just like others who shared theirs here helped me!

There's a few things not accounted for... I had started a budget originally for the big wedding, and then a lot of those things didn't get reused for that, ie my Disney centerpieces I was going to do. So I just started the Destination Wedding Budget with a clean slate. But the things I was able to use were small craft-type things, like paper/envelopes/ribbon, and added up to about $40.

One last thing before I start: The Layout

• First, to the right of the Category you'll see a number, ie for Stationary it's $359 - this is the "recommended" percentage of a $15k budget per wedding websites
• Budgeted Column: The original amount I thought, most of this was based off 25 guests.
• Expected Column: After deciding what we were doing/getting true pricing from vendors/getting final guest count, what I predicted it would cost.
• Actual Column: Seems self explanatory...

The other column here includes some postage, the guest book, miscellaneous supplies required to make all the stationary items like glue dots. $6 in "free" supplies.

Whoa! Hmmm... add $5 for my fancy nails You'll notice 2 park dresses, I actually had another I thought about wearing but decided not to, past the return date... It's in my closet and I'm going to try and sell it before it goes to the thrift store. I tried to keep track of costs like that for things I didn't use, because that money has to come from somewhere! I used birthday money for my shoes, they were $150-$200. I did pick up a garter for $1.50 but decided not to wear it. Hair and Makeup included me and MOH. My wedding ring is included here too. We weren't really going to include rings in the budget, so we were okay with going over it by that amount, but I needed somewhere to track it.

Zack's ring is also included... His suit cost is so high because he ended up with two vests and three shirts because he couldn't decide So really pants, vest, shirt, shoes should have run $200-$250. Accessories were belt, tie, tie clip.

I don't know where I got those budget numbers for photo/video... We did get 10% off on video by paying in full up front.

Obviously we didn't do a unity ceremony... For our officiant, we bought him a bottle of booze when we asked him, and then Zack's parents gave him $200 after the ceremony.

The Paradise Cove breakdown (I split it between budget categories here) was:

• Package $1800
• Less $525 for providing own floral, photo, officiant
• Plus $235 for arbor decoration, boat, additional guests
• 6.5% tax
• Total = $1501.65

I think personal floral was closer to $60 or $70 overall, I feel like I missed some things. The other $8.72 is because I purchased things to make my own cute dress hangers but didn't get around to it.

I budgeted for this originally, but skipped it in execution...

A nice thing for House of Blues was the $30pp menu charge plus service fee (22%) plus tax (6.5%) included staff/room rental/etc. Drinks were charged as ordered with no extra fee. I budgeted for a cake but didn't have one; this is where most of my $40 of extra stuff ended up, a Willow Tree topper I got off Craigslist.

We set up an Uber code for our guests to use, so we would be charged for their rides... We had to pay a service charge based on the size of the event when we set it up, which was $13 for us. We only got charged an additional $18... I don't know if our guests had trouble, forgot, didn't bother... But I didn't sweat it too much because of our favors we handed out

Bridal Party gifts ended up being Universal tickets/express passes. Guest favors were $50 Disney Gift cards at the bottom, which I bought slightly discounted from BJ's when my credit card was offering 5% cash back there. The hotel room was for Zack and Nelson. The security system is a long story, but was related to the trip so it ended up in the budget. Originally I also had a MK photo shoot budgeted in here, until the price went up. The other included little things that came up after we were in Florida, like the mimosas

The Dessert Party ended up under budget because we had some issues, and they waived a few charges, like the ride mix-in fee ($15pp) and we should have had 6 viewing fees ($15pp) for the people without park tickets. This saved us around $400. At the time I budgeted 25 people for viewing fees plus tax, planning worst case scenario.

And if any CC thread friends stop by, you'll be glad to know I had our CSRs for final payments/incidentals for the lunch and Dessert Party, and they coded as travel/dining. The Dessert Party also triggered the travel credit...

There you have it. I'd say adding a little for anything I missed, we came in somewhere around $14,200 - $14,500. Which was a good thing, because we went a little over on the last day of the honeymoon But had we not had things waived from our Dessert Party bill, we probably would have been just under the $15k budget.

 

[Mopedmom1]

Good job staying on budget. Thanks for sharing, and yay for the CSR travel coding!

 

[kastoney]

How awesome you all got to end the night on Soarin'. We did that once when our travel Agency hosted a private Illuminations party and then Soarin' afterwards. Though we just went through Future World to get there so infinitely jealous. Weird they wouldn't let you stop to take photos though since the park was still open.

Wow, you all did great with the wedding costs. I can't believe all you got for relatively "little" in wedding terms. The private part especially seems much more economical than I would have though it was. Way to go!!!! Though I must brag that I got married in a lovely little $99 ceremony at the Graceland Wedding chapel in Vegas