Meredith & Chad, April 28 2018 Wishes, WP/GM Lounge/UK Lochside- WEDDING VIDEO

Love your "freaking out" clip. Hang in there. Almost here......it will go so fast. Try to take deep breaths and take it all in when your day is finally here.
 
Why a Disney Wedding and my not so lovely consultant experience

So I have a confession... I started planning our Disney wedding before we were officially engaged :duck:





My not so lovely consultant experience

So the months leading up to my one year mark were AWFUL. I seriously almost abandoned the whole idea of a Disney wedding. My consultant and I obviously did not click. I originally wanted the 2:30 PM WP slot with a reception at LSS and DP at Italy Isola West. About a month before my one year mark, my consultant told me there were a lot of couples requesting the 2:30 PM ceremony and the LSS. I decided to find a different reception venue b/c I wasn't all that thrilled with LSS anyway. So I decided on ADH, but my consultant told me I didn't have enough people and that it is usually used for groups of 100 or more (even though I've seen pictures of receptions in there with only 50 people). Then my choice was the GM Lounge.. but my consultant submitted the request and it was denied. Then it was a ballroom at the YC, oh but the whole YC is booked for a convention. Then I asked about a ballroom at the GF, but the only option I was given for my "group size" was the Whitehall Room. Finally, I ended up in a ballroom at the Contemporary.. which was absolutely NOT what I wanted. My requests to him for a more unique reception location were completely ignored. The one time I called him after our initial phone call he made it sound like he would rather have me email him.. so I think a lot was lost in translation.

We ended up with our second choice of ceremony time, 9:30 AM with a reception in a ballroom at the Contemporary :sad2: and DP at UK Lochside (even though I told him I wanted Italy Isola West). I filled out a survey a couple of weeks later that I received asking me about my consultant experience. I expressed my disappointment in his ability to find me a unique reception space.

Well... a couple of weeks later my planner informed me that my request for the GM Lounge WAS approved pixiedust:
Now we will have this AMAZING view at our reception and I am so darn excited :cool1:

View attachment 263175
Next up... THE DRESS!!!!
Just starting
Why a Disney Wedding and my not so lovely consultant experience

So I have a confession... I started planning our Disney wedding before we were officially engaged :duck:

We had previously discussed getting married in 2018 and we had been talking about a destination wedding for almost a year.. so it's not like it was completely unexpected. I picked April because it fell in the cheaper seasonal pricing (which has now been removed) and I picked the 28th because it was on a Saturday and far enough away from Easter to hopefully avoid those crowds, and it will be my parents' 28th wedding anniversary :wizard:

I would have LOVED to have a Christmas time wedding (love the Christmas decorations at Disney), but my birthday is on Christmas Eve and both of my parents' birthdays are in December.. so my fiance said there was already too much going on in December :rotfl:

My dad has been telling people I'm going to get married in Disney since I was little.. we've been on at least 26 trips in 17 years, so my family was NOT surprised at all when I first told them I was planning a Disney Wedding

My fiance on the other hand has only been to Disney twice, the first time being with his family in 2015 and the second with me in May for our engagement pictures. He was NOT a fan after his trip in 2015 (they didn't make any ADRs or FP+s :sad2:) Well after introducing him to the heaven on earth that is Disney signature dining and the variety of drinks in World Showcase.. he is a Disney fan, so much so that we have a week long honeymoon booked after our wedding :woohoo:

Here's a pic of us on the morning our our PPO BOG breakfast reservation. We were the first people at the restaurant so we got a special introduction and got to dine with Lumiere. I think this is where the Disney tides turned for Chad.. he thought it was pretty cool getting to go into the park before everyone else.



My not so lovely consultant experience

So the months leading up to my one year mark were AWFUL. I seriously almost abandoned the whole idea of a Disney wedding. My consultant and I obviously did not click. I originally wanted the 2:30 PM WP slot with a reception at LSS and DP at Italy Isola West. About a month before my one year mark, my consultant told me there were a lot of couples requesting the 2:30 PM ceremony and the LSS. I decided to find a different reception venue b/c I wasn't all that thrilled with LSS anyway. So I decided on ADH, but my consultant told me I didn't have enough people and that it is usually used for groups of 100 or more (even though I've seen pictures of receptions in there with only 50 people). Then my choice was the GM Lounge.. but my consultant submitted the request and it was denied. Then it was a ballroom at the YC, oh but the whole YC is booked for a convention. Then I asked about a ballroom at the GF, but the only option I was given for my "group size" was the Whitehall Room. Finally, I ended up in a ballroom at the Contemporary.. which was absolutely NOT what I wanted. My requests to him for a more unique reception location were completely ignored. The one time I called him after our initial phone call he made it sound like he would rather have me email him.. so I think a lot was lost in translation.

We ended up with our second choice of ceremony time, 9:30 AM with a reception in a ballroom at the Contemporary :sad2: and DP at UK Lochside (even though I told him I wanted Italy Isola West). I filled out a survey a couple of weeks later that I received asking me about my consultant experience. I expressed my disappointment in his ability to find me a unique reception space.

Well... a couple of weeks later my planner informed me that my request for the GM Lounge WAS approved pixiedust:
Now we will have this AMAZING view at our reception and I am so darn excited :cool1:

View attachment 263175
Next up... THE DRESS!!!!
 
I just starting reading your thread and will come back to keep reading. But, I'm glad you voiced your opinion about your planner and got the gorgeous space that you did for your reception!!

Also, I found that when I was planning, my Disney contact would rarely return phone calls and mostly only emailed, which was extremely irritating. Sometimes a quick question would take a week to get a response. Everything turns out beautiful in the end, but the experience, meh.

BTW, your fiance and you are too friggin cute. And the Roots. Your photos will be amazing pixiedust:
 
I have absolutely loved following your planning journal and I can't wait to read about the wedding and see all the pictures! Hope you have the most magical day!!!
 


:tink:Your wedding is this week! I missed all the planning as you went. The details look amazing from your dress to your cake and everything else. Wishes for an amazing day! Looking forward to your recap pixiedust:
 
I just starting reading your thread and will come back to keep reading. But, I'm glad you voiced your opinion about your planner and got the gorgeous space that you did for your reception!!

Also, I found that when I was planning, my Disney contact would rarely return phone calls and mostly only emailed, which was extremely irritating. Sometimes a quick question would take a week to get a response. Everything turns out beautiful in the end, but the experience, meh.

BTW, your fiance and you are too friggin cute. And the Roots. Your photos will be amazing pixiedust:

:tink:Your wedding is this week! I missed all the planning as you went. The details look amazing from your dress to your cake and everything else. Wishes for an amazing day! Looking forward to your recap pixiedust:

I'm so glad you are here!! :welcome:

I agree about the experience. There were definitely stressful points, mostly due to slow email communication. Whenever I see DFTW advertise Wishes weddings as having a personal coordinator I want to scream. Sure I had the benefit of having a planner throughout the process, but I wouldn't exactly call it a very personal experience. I had my planners switched without any notice and had to tell my planner a lot of stuff I had already told the first planner. So it was like starting over 90 days before :badpc:

Anyway, I'm glad all the planning is over! Thank you for your well wishes! :thanks: I'll definitely post an update after the wedding and more once we get back. We leave tomorrow night and I'm so ready!!
 


Love your "freaking out" clip. Hang in there. Almost here......it will go so fast. Try to take deep breaths and take it all in when your day is finally here.

That's definitely on my list!!! I don't want the day to fly by in a blur!!!
 
I don't have a big update other than yesterday, my fiancé said for the FIRST TIME EVER that he is actually really excited to go to Disney. I didn't think I'd EVER hear that come out of his mouth. Here's to hoping we have an amazing trip that makes him want to take more Disney trips! One more sleep until we are on our way!

party:
 
Happy Wedding Day!!! Enjoy. I hope all goes smooth for you and you cherish every moment. Looking forward to pictures :)
 
The Roots gave us Polaroids at our reception and I am in LOVE already!! IMG_5967.JPG
We are EXHAUSTED from yesterday and our park shoot this morning and now we are waiting for our brunch at California Grill.

In short, everything went absolutely amazing. I couldn't have asked for ANYTHING to go better. The weather was amazing, the Roots and Switzerworld were awesome, the food was SO GOOD and DJ Miles got everyone dancing (including me!) Stitch and Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto were great and my guests definitely enjoyed that.

Our Epcot DP and Test Track Ride were probably one of my favorite parts of the day!! It was so magical being by the water at U.K. lochside and the space was perfect for our group size. Test Track was awesome!

IMG_5977.PNG

I'll do a more in depth update later!!! We are loving the Club Level at Yacht Club!!
 
Ahhh I love it! How cool to ride test track in a wedding dress! Enjoy your time in club level and your honeymoon!
 
Ive been lurking through the whole process but holy crap those polaroids!!! Looks like a gorgeous day. Can’t wait to read about
 
You look absolutely stunning.
And Test Track with just you and your groom...what a way to end your wedding day!!

Looking forward to reading about your wedding day.
 
Congratulations!!!!!! Thank you for checking in. Pictures are amazing. So happy everything was amazing at it should be!!!!!!!!!Can't wait for more. Enjoy!
 
Hey everyone!!!! We are back from our trip!!! I hate that everything is over, but now it's time to wait for pics and video and reminisce on the day! I started documenting our trip in my thread over on the Trip Reports board! I'm going to wait to do a wedding day post here until I have professional pictures back.. but I have started writing about the details of the day in my trip report! It's just very word heavy!!!!

Here's where the trip report starts!
 

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