disprincessatheart
I was a Disney Bride 4.29.08
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
The easiest way to start was with the vendor reviews, the trip report follows....
Since others have been so helpful with all their reviews, I thought I would do mine as I'm still waiting on pictures to start my TR (we let everyone else take all the pictures all week, now I'm suffering waiting on them to send me the pics!)
Grand Floridian - check in
A
This was our first stay at the GF - something I'd been looking forward to as long as I can remember. When we finally got there it was almost surreal. We've visited and dined there on most of our trips (6 in the last 5 years) but it was just overwhelming to be finally really staying there! The service at arrival was fantastic. Even DF was impressed that they wisked our bags away, valet parked the car and got us checked in all in under 10 minutes!! While we didn't get any upgrades (I know, I shouldn't have even been hoping) we did get a king bed as I requested and our room was ready even though we checked in a little before noon. DF was thrilled (I was too, just a little bummed on the no upgrade). Our bags were delivered and we were in our room about 20 minutes from the time we pulled up in our car out front.
Chef Mickeys
B
We planned dinner for the immediate families the night before the wedding so that everyone could meet (my sister and his brother hadn't met, but our parents had) and so that we would be free later that night incase there was anything wedding related that needed to be done. We had a few issues that evening with everyone but us getting lost at one point or another, so we were about 10 minutes past our reservation time before we had everyone there. After that we waited 40 minutes before we got our table. After that the drink service was very slow and none of us were impressed by the $30 picture they try to sell you - no way! Then we had trouble using the DDP for the group because the server was not wanting to split the payments. He did it, but overall we weren't impressed with the place and probably won't go back until we have our own kids. Oh, and I forgot to mention we were in the part right near the host stand, out in the middle of the atrium, and it was SO loud we had trouble hearing each other.
Beaute Speciale
A
We had Lilly and possibly Lorrena - sorry I can't remember for sure. They came to my parents' timeshare off property to do my hair, mom's, Dsis (MOH) and my niece. The only downside was they got lost (even though I'd confirmed all the details with Ana) and they were about 20 minutes late because of that. It was fine because I'd planned for them to be done by 12 with the limo not coming until 1:45. They didn't leave until close to 1 (they finished a little late and then we were all waiting on my dad to come back with cash for them - not sure why I thought I could write a check
) They were wonderful. I had a picture and I think my hair came out really close to the pic. For makeup I just told her I wanted natural with a little bit of a dramatic eye. It was more makeup than I would have done (I really only wear mascara on a daily basis) but it was beautiful. Everyone else was really pleased as well. They even did a tiny bit of eyeshadow, lip gloss and pixie dust on my niece who's 4 at no charge. She thought that was the best thing ever! I think we probably didn't get Ana herself because of the Disney channel games going on that week (Lilly and Lorrena were there too the day before - they showed us some call sheets they'd been given the day before with the people they were supposed to work on) but I didn't mind at all. Lilly was another of the old disney wedding cosmo crew, so she knows what she's doing!
Disney Photography - Paul
A+
(hi Paul!)
Final Product: anxiously waiting
Paul was so much fun! I requested him after seeing Summer's MK shoot pics and we were lucky enough to get him. He was snapping pictures before I even knew what was going on and he didn't stop! He showed us some along the way, joked with the family as my sister would get in the way trying to take a few shots, and was great all around. He even helped pass out cake and champagne before he left! We should have our pics this coming week so I'll be posting then!
DFTW - Tanis
A+
Love, love, love Tanis!! She had to put up with my being a DisBride AND the fact that I had planned a Wishes wedding the year before and had to postpone, so I had already been thru an entire planning process. I have to say with all that she never seemed put off by all my requests and she was a huge help every step of the way.
Teresa Knox
A
Last year we'd booked Rev Knox and paid a deposit. Well, when we postponed he said we could use that deposit anytime in the future. So when we booked with DFTW this year I contacted Rev Knox but he was already booked, so Teresa (his wife) said she'd be happy to do it if that was ok with us. Since we'd never met either, I was fine with that. Only about 3 weeks before the wedding DF and I sat down and went thru the ceremony planning kit they send (so helpful!). We took pieces out of all 3 ceremony samples and I cut and pasted them together in MS Word. I emailed it off and Teresa said it looked fine. DF and I are not religious, so we didn't want anything resembling a church ceremony, and we didn't want the ceremony to be too long. I was slightly nervous that because we'd done so much pieceparting that Teresa might not get all the right parts that we wanted but she got it perfect. Everyone mentioned how great she was, even cracking a joke when my nephew started singing in the middle of the ceremony!
She did add one little story in - guess she felt like we needed a little something more. She was right, we both liked it and it gave us a little time to relax during the ceremony (it was probably a 1 minute story) and we've mentioned it a time or two in the 10 days since! Overall she was great and I recommend her to anyone!
Disney Wedding Cake
A+
A couple of months before the wedding I decided to get DF in on some decisions that had changed since last year. I thought he'd like to pick the cake. Well, I was right and it started some cake insanity!
He decided that there was no way that the 2 tier cake would be enough and we had to get a 3 tier. Not only did he not think it would be enough cake, he thought it was too small for pictures. So after many attempts on my part, we got a 3 tier cake. We also upgraded to a Mickey's delight with purple fondant and silver mickey heads - it was SO cute!! This was the cake we would have had last year, so it was fitting and we really liked it. We had chocolate with chocolate mousse on the bottom, almond with buttercream and raspberry jam in the middle and chocolate with chocolate ganache and raspberry on the top. It was PERFECT!! Everyone had more than one slice - most tried a chocolate and an almond - and they all raved. Because Tanis warned me we'd have TONS of leftover cake I brought some large disposable containers (store brand ziplock things) for extra cake for the guests and then we split up the rest among the family. Everyone was more than happy to help us out by eating some leftover cake!
Dinner - Narcoossee's
A +
I booked this dinner for our group of 20 at 180 days from checkin at the GF. We had the first dinner seating at 5:30 after our 2:30 ceremony. The timing could not have been better. The group dinner there when I booked was a choice of 3 entrees (a chicken, a beef and a fish) with family style seafood appetizers, choice of soup or salad and choice of dessert for $65ppn. The only issue I had was that a few weeks before the wedding I was unable to get in touch with someone to confirm details. When I finally did I was very glad as the menu had changed slightly and they were able to honor the old menu for me because I had booked so far out.
The setup was 2 long tables end to end with a small gap, up on the level next to the bar. This was a great location because we were slightly separated from the rest of the tables in the restaurant, even though it wasn't private. The food was amazing and there was tons of it. I had to let a couple people know to slow down on the apps as we had 3 more courses to go! The service was fantastic and they were great about our DDP discount. The only negative that I realized later was DH and I didn't get our complimentary champagne that the person who I confirmed with said we would get . Other than that it was great and I highly recommend Narcoossee's to any bride that's looking for a nice dinner at a good price!
Grand 1 Wishes Cruise
A+
Besides getting married and staying at the GF, this was the part I was most excited about. When we got to the GF our first day, you could see the Grand 1 from our room, so we walked over and they were nice enough to let us walk around for a tour before our day. That was great. I had wanted to wear my dress on it. Well, we booked it for 18 ppl - max capacity - and it would have been really hard for me to have been on there in my dress. I was glad I hadn't tried to do that because DH and I watched wishes from the upper deck and I wouldn't have been able to get up there in my dress. The boat really impressed everyone and we had an amazing view of Wishes and the electric water parade. It was stressful to get the reservation having to wait until 90 days out, but so worth it! If you have a small enough party, definitely do this!!
Disney Floral
A+
We didn't do much floral wise, just my boquet, DH's bout, a rose wand for my niece, bouts for dad, fil, dbil, nephew and a coursage for mom. I wanted my boquet to be different shades of purple. When I first taked to Rosie, I was told there aren't purple roses.
I knew that DF had gotten them for me before so I was a little frustrated. Apparently I don't speak floral well - I explained that I wanted light purple roses and she finally realized I wanted lavendar roses. I mean, I know that's the exact color, but isn't that light purple . Anyway, I just told her, mainly roses for me, different shades of lavendar with a few dark purple flowers mixed in - i have no idea what kind they were - and lavendar roses for everything else with white and silver ribbon. They all came out fantastic! My boquet weighed a ton - must have been at least 10 lbs and it smelled AMAZING! Tanis said it was the lavendar roses that have a ton of scent, unlike most other colors. We had the boquet in our room and could smell it all week! My niece loved her wand (until her brother bashed it into the ground a few times - in hindsight children's flowers should always be silk!)
GF room/service
B+
We loved our room - have some pics for my TR and we were glad to get a king bed! We didn't get upgraded, but our room was next to the marina which was nice the day of the wedding (DH and I changed before dinner, and he ran back to get me flip flops and a jacket before our wishes cruise). The first issue was that the first night the power went out in the middle of the night. OUr alarm was set (had to go to AK early the next day ) but when the power came back on the alarm didn't make any noise or anything to alert us that the alarm was set but not functioning. I know my alarm at home does that. So, for the rest of the trip we set our cell phone alarms instead so we wouldn't have that problem again. Of course that was the only time that happened... The other issue was more annoying. On our first night they left a small bottle of champagne with a rose and a card from Mickey and Minie - I think this is standard practice for couples on a honeymoon at the GF. DF didn't expect it and we both thought it was very nice. Problem? They spelled DF's name wrong, and he's kinda sensitive about that. Well, they had it wrong on the ressie when we checked in, but we didn't bother to correct it because we were so excited. During the week I tried 3 times to get a new card with the correct name, and it never happened. We got 2 more cards (don't know where the 4th from the other request went) and none of them were right. I secretly saved them because I think it will be funny years from now, but DF was really bummed that they couldn't get it right. I may call or write a letter and see if we can get one after the fact. We have the one that came in the mail when we sent off an invite to M&M so I might just put that out one day for DH to find.
Ok, so now that I've rambled on, we really had a great trip and great service all around. We planned our wedding off and on for 26 months, and it really turned out even just a little better than my expectations and our guests all said it was so much more than they expected! I would do it again in a heartbeat!!
I promise an actual TR with picutres and all will be comign soon!
Since others have been so helpful with all their reviews, I thought I would do mine as I'm still waiting on pictures to start my TR (we let everyone else take all the pictures all week, now I'm suffering waiting on them to send me the pics!)
Grand Floridian - check in
A
This was our first stay at the GF - something I'd been looking forward to as long as I can remember. When we finally got there it was almost surreal. We've visited and dined there on most of our trips (6 in the last 5 years) but it was just overwhelming to be finally really staying there! The service at arrival was fantastic. Even DF was impressed that they wisked our bags away, valet parked the car and got us checked in all in under 10 minutes!! While we didn't get any upgrades (I know, I shouldn't have even been hoping) we did get a king bed as I requested and our room was ready even though we checked in a little before noon. DF was thrilled (I was too, just a little bummed on the no upgrade). Our bags were delivered and we were in our room about 20 minutes from the time we pulled up in our car out front.
Chef Mickeys
B
We planned dinner for the immediate families the night before the wedding so that everyone could meet (my sister and his brother hadn't met, but our parents had) and so that we would be free later that night incase there was anything wedding related that needed to be done. We had a few issues that evening with everyone but us getting lost at one point or another, so we were about 10 minutes past our reservation time before we had everyone there. After that we waited 40 minutes before we got our table. After that the drink service was very slow and none of us were impressed by the $30 picture they try to sell you - no way! Then we had trouble using the DDP for the group because the server was not wanting to split the payments. He did it, but overall we weren't impressed with the place and probably won't go back until we have our own kids. Oh, and I forgot to mention we were in the part right near the host stand, out in the middle of the atrium, and it was SO loud we had trouble hearing each other.
Beaute Speciale
A
We had Lilly and possibly Lorrena - sorry I can't remember for sure. They came to my parents' timeshare off property to do my hair, mom's, Dsis (MOH) and my niece. The only downside was they got lost (even though I'd confirmed all the details with Ana) and they were about 20 minutes late because of that. It was fine because I'd planned for them to be done by 12 with the limo not coming until 1:45. They didn't leave until close to 1 (they finished a little late and then we were all waiting on my dad to come back with cash for them - not sure why I thought I could write a check
) They were wonderful. I had a picture and I think my hair came out really close to the pic. For makeup I just told her I wanted natural with a little bit of a dramatic eye. It was more makeup than I would have done (I really only wear mascara on a daily basis) but it was beautiful. Everyone else was really pleased as well. They even did a tiny bit of eyeshadow, lip gloss and pixie dust on my niece who's 4 at no charge. She thought that was the best thing ever! I think we probably didn't get Ana herself because of the Disney channel games going on that week (Lilly and Lorrena were there too the day before - they showed us some call sheets they'd been given the day before with the people they were supposed to work on) but I didn't mind at all. Lilly was another of the old disney wedding cosmo crew, so she knows what she's doing!Disney Photography - Paul
A+
(hi Paul!)Final Product: anxiously waiting
Paul was so much fun! I requested him after seeing Summer's MK shoot pics and we were lucky enough to get him. He was snapping pictures before I even knew what was going on and he didn't stop! He showed us some along the way, joked with the family as my sister would get in the way trying to take a few shots, and was great all around. He even helped pass out cake and champagne before he left! We should have our pics this coming week so I'll be posting then!
DFTW - Tanis
A+
Love, love, love Tanis!! She had to put up with my being a DisBride AND the fact that I had planned a Wishes wedding the year before and had to postpone, so I had already been thru an entire planning process. I have to say with all that she never seemed put off by all my requests and she was a huge help every step of the way.
Teresa Knox
A
Last year we'd booked Rev Knox and paid a deposit. Well, when we postponed he said we could use that deposit anytime in the future. So when we booked with DFTW this year I contacted Rev Knox but he was already booked, so Teresa (his wife) said she'd be happy to do it if that was ok with us. Since we'd never met either, I was fine with that. Only about 3 weeks before the wedding DF and I sat down and went thru the ceremony planning kit they send (so helpful!). We took pieces out of all 3 ceremony samples and I cut and pasted them together in MS Word. I emailed it off and Teresa said it looked fine. DF and I are not religious, so we didn't want anything resembling a church ceremony, and we didn't want the ceremony to be too long. I was slightly nervous that because we'd done so much pieceparting that Teresa might not get all the right parts that we wanted but she got it perfect. Everyone mentioned how great she was, even cracking a joke when my nephew started singing in the middle of the ceremony!
She did add one little story in - guess she felt like we needed a little something more. She was right, we both liked it and it gave us a little time to relax during the ceremony (it was probably a 1 minute story) and we've mentioned it a time or two in the 10 days since! Overall she was great and I recommend her to anyone!Disney Wedding Cake
A+
A couple of months before the wedding I decided to get DF in on some decisions that had changed since last year. I thought he'd like to pick the cake. Well, I was right and it started some cake insanity!
He decided that there was no way that the 2 tier cake would be enough and we had to get a 3 tier. Not only did he not think it would be enough cake, he thought it was too small for pictures. So after many attempts on my part, we got a 3 tier cake. We also upgraded to a Mickey's delight with purple fondant and silver mickey heads - it was SO cute!! This was the cake we would have had last year, so it was fitting and we really liked it. We had chocolate with chocolate mousse on the bottom, almond with buttercream and raspberry jam in the middle and chocolate with chocolate ganache and raspberry on the top. It was PERFECT!! Everyone had more than one slice - most tried a chocolate and an almond - and they all raved. Because Tanis warned me we'd have TONS of leftover cake I brought some large disposable containers (store brand ziplock things) for extra cake for the guests and then we split up the rest among the family. Everyone was more than happy to help us out by eating some leftover cake! Dinner - Narcoossee's
A +
I booked this dinner for our group of 20 at 180 days from checkin at the GF. We had the first dinner seating at 5:30 after our 2:30 ceremony. The timing could not have been better. The group dinner there when I booked was a choice of 3 entrees (a chicken, a beef and a fish) with family style seafood appetizers, choice of soup or salad and choice of dessert for $65ppn. The only issue I had was that a few weeks before the wedding I was unable to get in touch with someone to confirm details. When I finally did I was very glad as the menu had changed slightly and they were able to honor the old menu for me because I had booked so far out.
The setup was 2 long tables end to end with a small gap, up on the level next to the bar. This was a great location because we were slightly separated from the rest of the tables in the restaurant, even though it wasn't private. The food was amazing and there was tons of it. I had to let a couple people know to slow down on the apps as we had 3 more courses to go! The service was fantastic and they were great about our DDP discount. The only negative that I realized later was DH and I didn't get our complimentary champagne that the person who I confirmed with said we would get . Other than that it was great and I highly recommend Narcoossee's to any bride that's looking for a nice dinner at a good price! Grand 1 Wishes Cruise
A+
Besides getting married and staying at the GF, this was the part I was most excited about. When we got to the GF our first day, you could see the Grand 1 from our room, so we walked over and they were nice enough to let us walk around for a tour before our day. That was great. I had wanted to wear my dress on it. Well, we booked it for 18 ppl - max capacity - and it would have been really hard for me to have been on there in my dress. I was glad I hadn't tried to do that because DH and I watched wishes from the upper deck and I wouldn't have been able to get up there in my dress. The boat really impressed everyone and we had an amazing view of Wishes and the electric water parade. It was stressful to get the reservation having to wait until 90 days out, but so worth it! If you have a small enough party, definitely do this!!
Disney Floral
A+
We didn't do much floral wise, just my boquet, DH's bout, a rose wand for my niece, bouts for dad, fil, dbil, nephew and a coursage for mom. I wanted my boquet to be different shades of purple. When I first taked to Rosie, I was told there aren't purple roses.
I knew that DF had gotten them for me before so I was a little frustrated. Apparently I don't speak floral well - I explained that I wanted light purple roses and she finally realized I wanted lavendar roses. I mean, I know that's the exact color, but isn't that light purple . Anyway, I just told her, mainly roses for me, different shades of lavendar with a few dark purple flowers mixed in - i have no idea what kind they were - and lavendar roses for everything else with white and silver ribbon. They all came out fantastic! My boquet weighed a ton - must have been at least 10 lbs and it smelled AMAZING! Tanis said it was the lavendar roses that have a ton of scent, unlike most other colors. We had the boquet in our room and could smell it all week! My niece loved her wand (until her brother bashed it into the ground a few times - in hindsight children's flowers should always be silk!) GF room/service
B+
We loved our room - have some pics for my TR and we were glad to get a king bed! We didn't get upgraded, but our room was next to the marina which was nice the day of the wedding (DH and I changed before dinner, and he ran back to get me flip flops and a jacket before our wishes cruise). The first issue was that the first night the power went out in the middle of the night. OUr alarm was set (had to go to AK early the next day
) but when the power came back on the alarm didn't make any noise or anything to alert us that the alarm was set but not functioning. I know my alarm at home does that. So, for the rest of the trip we set our cell phone alarms instead so we wouldn't have that problem again. Of course that was the only time that happened... The other issue was more annoying. On our first night they left a small bottle of champagne with a rose and a card from Mickey and Minie - I think this is standard practice for couples on a honeymoon at the GF. DF didn't expect it and we both thought it was very nice. Problem? They spelled DF's name wrong, and he's kinda sensitive about that. Well, they had it wrong on the ressie when we checked in, but we didn't bother to correct it because we were so excited. During the week I tried 3 times to get a new card with the correct name, and it never happened. We got 2 more cards (don't know where the 4th from the other request went) and none of them were right. I secretly saved them because I think it will be funny years from now, but DF was really bummed that they couldn't get it right. I may call or write a letter and see if we can get one after the fact. We have the one that came in the mail when we sent off an invite to M&M so I might just put that out one day for DH to find.Ok, so now that I've rambled on, we really had a great trip and great service all around. We planned our wedding off and on for 26 months, and it really turned out even just a little better than my expectations and our guests all said it was so much more than they expected! I would do it again in a heartbeat!!
I promise an actual TR with picutres and all will be comign soon!
just for you guys! 
(ok, I expected that based on work functions I plan, but my poor dad was horrified when he payed that bill!) 
For us anything more would have been a total waste. It was the most amazing experience though!!
Around 75 days I decided just to book it anyway and that we would have a really nice cruise around MK area even if there were no fireworks. Thankfully no one else had the same idea! I got the cruise and eventually Disney changed the MK schedule and added Wishes back that night, so it worked out, but talk about stressing!!
