My Disney Wedding: As featured on Disneygals.com

Happy July!  I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend.

I was excited to see that I was featured on Disneygals.com this weekend with an article I had written on my own Disney Wedding.   So today I thought I would share that story with you.  If you get a chance, visit the girls at www.disneygals.com.  They have lots of information to share!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As featured on Disneygals.com

When I was younger I absolutely loved vacationing at Walt Disney World with my family.  I may or may not have remembered passing the Wedding pavilion as the monorail traveled past the Grand Floridian Resort, but it didn’t matter because I never gave it a thought that marrying there would ever become a possibility. 

Fast forward several years and many vacations later.  I was engaged. We had no wedding date or location set, but I was already flipping through travel brochures searching for a honeymoon destination.  I came across a tropical island resort that hosted wedding packages and the thought crossed my mind that we could get married on an island.  I asked my fiancé if he would consider this idea, and he said sure!  We called my sister in law to tell her about the idea and she informed us that kids were not allowed at this particular resort.  She had two small children, so that idea was shot down.  I continued to flip through the travel brochure and I came across this beautiful advertisement for Disney Fairytale Weddings. I had never seen this before. I immediately say to my fiancé  “I’m sure they’ll allow kids here, what do you think?”  And with that statement, my Disney wedding planning began.

 We were married on a very hot Saturday afternoon in September. I believe at one point the temperature was a swarming 98 degrees.  Disney has a variety of beautiful locations to have your ceremony, but we chose the Victorian Wedding Pavilion located on the grounds of the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.  One big reason for this decision is that it is an indoor location and it is air conditioned!   Another was that it was so beautiful and in my mind was the most “fairytale-ish” location.  Other resort locations typically include Sunset Point at the Polynesian resort, an outdoor location that overlooks Cinderella’s castle, Sea Breeze Point, also outdoors on the Disney Boardwalk, the outdoor Gazebo at the Yacht Club, and Sunrise Terrace at The Wilderness Lodge. If you want to marry on one  of the resort beaches or gardens, Disney can arrange that as well.    There are also a variety of locations if you want to marry in one of the theme parks.  Of course if you want to have your ceremony in one of the parks, the time of your event will be limited.  

  Options are limitless when it comes to a Disney Wedding.  Disney will literally try to turn your dreams into reality paying very close attention to every detail.  One option is to have Disney cosmetology. We had a professional hairstylist and professional make-up artist come to our suite and do our hair and make-up before the ceremony.  When it was our time to leave, we took the elevator to the Lobby of the GF and were greeted by Disney staff who gave us our bouquets which I was absolutely thrilled with. I told Rosie at Disney floral what colors I wanted and she did an excellent job!  Then almost immediately I heard the jingle jangle of bells and saw the six white ponies attached to Cinderella’s glass coach. I could have cried it was so beautiful. This was a surprise to my mom. My mom and sister rode in the coach with me to the pavilion. My nana and friends waited for the limo to pick them up. Not only was riding in the coach fabulous, but watching all the vacation guest ooh and ahh over it as well made me smile. It’s not everyday that one sees Cinderella’s carriage pull up to their resort. There were many people at the pool area that started whipping out their cameras. So now me and my family will probably be in someone’s vacation pictures!

 
Before we arrived at the wedding pavilion, Disney had everything in place. They had pink roses passed out to all our guest as they arrived. The roses had little tags tied on them that had our names, date, and a wedding saying on them. Disney did an excellent job staging people in just the right places. My dad was standing right near the marquee at the wedding pavilion waiting for our arrival. He didn’t know we would be coming in Cinderella’s glass carriage, so I knew that was a surprise for him. Seeing him smile as we arrived made me so happy. When we exited the carriage, my dad escorted me to the Bride’s Vestibule until it was time.
When you walk down the isle of the wedding pavilion on your wedding day, the pavilion seems to be more beautiful than any other day you’ve ever seen it, and prettier than in any pictures you’ve seen! I can remember seeing the unity candle arrangement (my candles, Disney’s arrangement) and being so pleased with it!
One of my favorite parts of the ceremony was when the best man was asked for the rings. He had a blank look on his face because he did not have them. The Reverend then asked the maid of honor and she didn’t have them either. Then all of a sudden, when you wish upon a star was piped in and in walks Cinderella’s footman with a satin pillow and a glass slipper with the rings inside.  As soon as the footman walked in, I started to tear up. To me, this was just one more element that made this day full of “Disney Magic”.

After the ceremony our guests were taken to the Grand Floridian by limo while my husband and I had a carriage ride and then dropped off at the Grand Floridian as well. Somewhere along the way we did some post ceremony pictures with a Disney photographer. One bonus to getting married at the wedding pavilion was getting some great wedding pictures on the beach. ( although I don’t know how much of the beach is left after the renovations to GF DVC) Although a smaller reception than we would have had back home, it was perfect for us. Cinderella’s footman announced us as we entered the terrace. We were more than please with our wedding cake from Disney. It was a traditional 2 tiered cake. One tiered filled with white chocolate mousse and the other filled with strawberry mousse all underneath a scrumptious layer of butter cream frosting! This was absolutely the best cake I have ever had! We wished we would have been smart enough to find a way to bring our top layer home with us. If you ask Disney to wrap and save it for you until your departure, they certainly will. It just never crossed our minds to ask. (call it wedding excitement or just a blonde moment!) However, we were smart enough to have a layer of our wedding cake recreated when we returned to the Grand Floridian the following year for our first anniversary!

Although some Disney brides choose to use other vendors for certain elements of their wedding, I stuck mostly with Disney. Disney provided my floral, photography, food and beverages, transportation, and cosmetology services.  However, I did use Kyla Feeley from A Cut Above for video service and couldn’t have been more pleased. 

Planning a Disney wedding from a far was easier than I could have ever imagined. Of course I am far from being a Bridezilla and was able to let the reins loose and have faith in Disney and my wedding coordinator. That’s not to say that we didn’t personalize our wedding or have our own ideas, Disney incorporated them as well. They too want every wedding to be unique and magical!

If you are already married and wish you would have had your ceremony at Disney, don’t despair! Disney Fairytale Weddings also specialize in Disney Fairytale Vow Renewals. In fact, they are becoming quite popular at WDW!  In addition to Disney World, Disneyland and Disney Cruise Lines also perform Disney Fairytale Weddings and Vow Renewals!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The Summer months seem to be popular wedding months. Are you going to a wedding this summer ( or have you already gone to one)?   Please Share!

Would you ever consider a destination wedding?