Lindsay & Ryan's Wishes PJ 10/25/13 **Planning Session TR Pt 4! 5/21/13**

[goodmorningirl]

I love that you asked about the scent in GF. We went in before our site visit and I just wanted to sit there and inhale the smell. Glad to know I'm not the only one. lol

DisneyBamaBride: We were there at the same time too in Alligator Bayou! What a small world.

[goodmorningirl]

[tinydancr06]

Originally Posted by Wshs0127

Lindsay, you're making me want a site visit now. I can't book the wedding until next month but if we don't get the GF ballroom we will be lost I love the GF!! I also love the PO resort too. I'm glad to hear you like it so far. I'm biast because I'm originally from Louisiana so I feel like its home. Can't wait to see more on the site visit TR venues.

I totally understand worrying about getting your venue! I don't think you'll have too much trouble getting a ballroom, though. Fingers crossed for you! And, we LOVED POR. If it's any indication of what the real Lousiana is like then I need to get there FAST!

Originally Posted by CDsSleepingBeauty

It looks like you all had a fun trip! Can't wait to read more!

Thank you! More coming soon!

Originally Posted by DisneyHappiness

I just read your entire Pj and I wanted to say Congrats! I was so excited when I saw another Chief How exciting! We are also getting married at Disney. We are getting married at the Yacht Club with a reception at the Boardwalk. I also do not like the temporary folding walls but Boardwalk has nicer walls and you can barely tell that they are the folding walls.

I can't wait to read the rest of your planning journal. Happy planning!

You're a Cheif?! Omg, from what year(s)?! Can you tell I'm excited?

I'm glad the temporary walls are better at the BW! The ballrooms there are beautiful but I don't want to deal with transport from the WP. I just love the Yacht Club, too! So classic. Your wedding is going to be beautiful! Thank you for reading!

Originally Posted by luvvwl

How exciting! We're 2013 as well. I think I can book this July. Isn't this waiting awful?!?!

Woohoo, 2013! Our consultant told me you can book at 12 months so I have to wait until October. Yes, it's awful! I am a little worried about the lottery process since, apparently, October is one of their most popular months

Originally Posted by DisneyBamaBride

I'm so glad yall had a good site visit.

It's so crazy that we were both there at the same time and stayed at the same hotel. Lol
We also stayed at por in Alligator Bayou! I loved the river roost lounge, and the piano guy. He was awesome! Yall's bathrooms were way bigger than ours though. Did y'all have a renovated room?

It really is crazy! I'm not gonna lie. I was wondering if I would run into any DIS brides while I was there. It's crazy how you can be at Disney at the same time as so many other people and never see eachother. I even had good friends that were there that we never saw!

We loved River Roost, too! We just happened to be there a bit before Yeeha Bob's show and ended up being at the closest table to him! We had SO much fun with him. He's such a talent. I will definitely be writing about him in the TR.

It's funny that you ask about the bathroom. I was showing my mom pictures from the trip and she saw the bathroom and said that we MUST have had a handicap room. We never even thought of that but there was a bar on the wall by the toilet so my mom must be right! If so, then people staying at POR for there weddings should request one of those rooms because the bathroom was awesome!

Originally Posted by goodmorningirl

I love that you asked about the scent in GF. We went in before our site visit and I just wanted to sit there and inhale the smell. Glad to know I'm not the only one. lol

DisneyBamaBride: We were there at the same time too in Alligator Bayou! What a small world.

You are definitely not the only fan of the GF scent. I need to find something like it so I can pretend I'm there!

I can't believe there were so many of us there and I never saw anyone! Or at least I don't think I did...

[lejen]

Joining in! I'm a floridian (ish) too. Dad was in Air Force and was transferred to MacDill in Tampa when I was 16, and i've been here ever since! I went to UCF though, but Daddy was a Gator, so I'll usually root for them unless it's baseball. FSU has a kick butt team.

ANYHOW---

I L.O.V.E. your theme and the picture board. It's so romantic and sweet. Alot like what I have always envisioned for my wedding. (I'm not engaged yet bc of a military boyfrann and he's deployed now... WAAAAAAAAAAA but we're thinking of a Disney wedding when he gets back) and your DF gets best idea i've seen so far by incorporating the lighting change. AH-mamamamamazing.

I was at Disney this past Thursday with my niece and nephew (first timers) and it was sooooofun! Not too packed. Your Franc's trip looked awesome!


I can't wait to see what's next!

[tinydancr06]

Originally Posted by lejen

Joining in! I'm a floridian (ish) too. Dad was in Air Force and was transferred to MacDill in Tampa when I was 16, and i've been here ever since! I went to UCF though, but Daddy was a Gator, so I'll usually root for them unless it's baseball. FSU has a kick butt team.

ANYHOW---

I L.O.V.E. your theme and the picture board. It's so romantic and sweet. Alot like what I have always envisioned for my wedding. (I'm not engaged yet bc of a military boyfrann and he's deployed now... WAAAAAAAAAAA but we're thinking of a Disney wedding when he gets back) and your DF gets best idea i've seen so far by incorporating the lighting change. AH-mamamamamazing.

I was at Disney this past Thursday with my niece and nephew (first timers) and it was sooooofun! Not too packed. Your Franc's trip looked awesome!


I can't wait to see what's next!

That's so funny that you mention MacDill. Ryan (DF) lived there from when he was like 4 until college! Small world! And yes, FSU's baseball team is great. Go Noles!

I'm so happy you like the theme! Feel free to steal things when it comes time for your wedding Oh, and tell your bf THANK YOU for serving our country!

Ryan will be so happy you like his lighting idea. He's very proud of it! Lol

I'm glad you had a great time at WDW this past week. The crowds were manageable, right? We had a great time, as always! Thanks for reading!

[lejen]

Originally Posted by tinydancr06

That's so funny that you mention MacDill. Ryan (DF) lived there from when he was like 4 until college! Small world! And yes, FSU's baseball team is great. Go Noles!

I'm so happy you like the theme! Feel free to steal things when it comes time for your wedding Oh, and tell your bf THANK YOU for serving our country!

Ryan will be so happy you like his lighting idea. He's very proud of it! Lol

I'm glad you had a great time at WDW this past week. The crowds were manageable, right? We had a great time, as always! Thanks for reading!

Crowd's were incredibly manageable. We hopped from HS, to Epcot to MK. (it was a loooooong day)

Tampa was alright, but I'm a traveller and I want to explore everywhere. when you have that bug it's difficult to stay in one place for so long. it's the longest we had ever stayed in one station.

I will pass on the message to him, although he gets all embarrassed about it. Meanwhile, i'm proud as a peacock of him. I want him to wear his uniform everywhere. lol. (plus, he's so daggum cute) alas, i digress.

I'm looking forward to more wedding stuff! :D

[tinydancr06]

Originally Posted by lejen

Crowd's were incredibly manageable. We hopped from HS, to Epcot to MK. (it was a loooooong day)

Tampa was alright, but I'm a traveller and I want to explore everywhere. when you have that bug it's difficult to stay in one place for so long. it's the longest we had ever stayed in one station.

I will pass on the message to him, although he gets all embarrassed about it. Meanwhile, i'm proud as a peacock of him. I want him to wear his uniform everywhere. lol. (plus, he's so daggum cute) alas, i digress.

I'm looking forward to more wedding stuff! :D

We hopped from HS, to EPCOT, to MK, too! It was most definitely a long day but super fun (even if our feet think otherwise!).

Do you think your bf will wear his uniform if/when you get married? I just love weddings with a groom in uniform! Hopefully, I'm not thinking too far ahead for you!

[tinydancr06]

We started back over towards the WP area and, on the way, we saw this:



So sad. The monorails weren’t running for most of the day which was a bit of a bummer but we dealt with it. Anyway, we passed the construction again. You can see why the monorails needed to be closed.





Then we reached Franck’s! You can see the blue wall again here.



And I took the obligatory picture at the door…



The interior of Franck’s is just as pretty as you’d imagine but not very big. It almost feels a little crowded. It’s still so bridal and lovely, though.  You feel important even going in because of the “by appointment only” sign out front. When we went in it was totally dead. The guy at the desk had been expecting us and was very nice.







The receptionist asked us if we wanted anything to drink which I thought was odd seeing as we would be leaving to see the venues. We asked for water anyway though because it had been pretty hot outside. Like I said earlier, I had expected the site visit to be very general. I kind of imagined sitting on the couches in the main area of Franck’s for a few minutes and then heading right out. Well, I was totally wrong! Diane came out to meet us and took us into the Fauna meeting room. She really is so nice and easy to talk to. We sat in there and talked for at least 30 minutes. She asked about our overall concept for the wedding and then basically asked for any information we had so far on what we wanted. We talked about our theme, our colors, how many guests, the food, the lighting, the décor…literally pretty much everything we could think of! I don’t think it would have been a problem had we not known this stuff but I was really happy that she asked even though we are early in the game. I even told her about my dislike for the temporary walls and she was very understanding and said every bride has something like that. She said, for her wedding, she was absolutely adamant that NO gladiolas be involved. Lol! That made me feel less crazy. She took notes on EVERYTHING. Oh, and I had printed out all of the documents they emailed us before the site visit but she just told me she was giving me all new printed ones in case anything had changed. Haha. The only thing I would say you NEED to print for a site visit is the site visit confirmation they send you because that gets you through the MK gates without paying for parking. Yay!

After spilling our wedding planning guts it was time to go see the venues! We were pretty much sold on the WP for the ceremony already but wanted to see it in person anyway.



This was the first time I had ever seen the WP in person and I don’t even have words to describe it. That place is just magical. There’s no other word for it. Pictures of the interior of the WP simply do not even come close to doing it justice! I don’t know how something can look so different in person. Obviously it is very pretty in pictures but in person it is just stunning. Can you tell I liked it?! Diane told us that the 2 big, silk floral arrangements by the doors and the one on the organ are permanent which was good to know. She also told us that the organist can play for us at our planning session (as long as we make arrangements ahead of time), that the organ has many different sound settings, and that he/she can play anything you want as long as you provide sheet music! I am not totally decided as to whether we will use recordings or the organist but I was happy to hear about the options. I think the free organist is a really nice perk.









Again, my pictures totally don’t do the space justice but you get the idea. When people say that the WP doesn’t need much décor at all they are telling the truth BUT the alter table (?) definitely needs a little something.

Diane took us out the doors to see Picture Pointe and it was a little bit awkward because some Disney food-related CMs felt the need to use it as their hang out spot. I definitely think I caught a glimpse of Diane giving them the eye but she really just acted like they weren’t even there! It was pretty funny.



After that she showed us the Groom’s Vestibule…



And the Bride’s Vestibule…







Interesting note: I don’t know if I am the only one who didn’t know this but the Bride’s Vestibule has TWO rooms! I had no idea! With having 7 bridesmaids I was curious as to whether or not we (along with my mom) would all fit but with 2 separate rooms it totally works! The idea is that one room would be just the bride and her mom and/or MOH while the rest of the BMs could hang out in the other room. I just love the Bride’s Vestibule. It’s so girly and fun!

We then went back into the ceremony space for some reason and Diane took our picture at the altar. The next time we stand there we’ll probably be saying our vows!



Then it was time to go see the GF reception venues. Diane went to get the DFTW car (a silver Cadillac!) and then drove us over to the convention center. At least I assume the car wasn’t her personal car! Lol.

I have to tell you…I was a bad DIS bride and we didn’t get many pictures of the rooms but they are very popular venues so there are lots of pics to be found online. The convention center is very convention centery but it’s so pretty nonetheless. Diane wanted to show us the Whitehall room (in case our guest count turns out lower) but there were people inside so she just showed us the patio.



I really love the patio area and would love to have our reception in Whitehall if we have a small enough number of guests. The uncovered area of the patio is also very spacious.

We then saw the St. Augustine room…



And the GF Ballroom…



St Augustine was setup for less than our guest count and the GF was twice as big as we would have. They were also both, obviously, not decorated for a wedding at the time but we got a good idea of what we would be working with. The lobby area of the convention center is really pretty too which made me happy.

After that we headed back to Franck’s. I think this was the point when Diane discussed getting our date and the lottery process. This was my least favorite part of the site visit. I always thought that, as long as your date wasn’t already full, the lottery process was just to get your TIME. Well, I was soso wrong. It turns out that if more than 5 people want your date you could just not get your date at all. I know this seems obvious but it blows my mind that I am planning this far out and I could still totally not even get my date! Diane also said that it’s not uncommon to have 7-10 people wanting the same date in October! Ugh! She kept talking about Saturdays and our ideal date is a Friday so maybe that number will be less but still! Anyway, for now I’m going to try not to worry about that as it is just one of those things that you can’t control. I’ll post later about our wedding date/time backup plans. We can confirm our date at 12 months out (not 16 anymore!) so let the countdown to October begin!

After that it was time to go. Diane put together a super cute folder of paperwork, menus, and business cards for us. She said she would email us an example BEO for a wedding of 100 and told us we were pretty much in a holding pattern for the next few months (which I already knew). She also told us that we’ll setup a phone conference with her for August or September to discuss details before we confirm our date in October. I was excited that someone at DFTW actually wanted to talk to us BEFORE a year out! Lol. She asked us about our plans for the rest of our trip and we chatted a bit and then went on our way. It was a great site visit!

Up next…resort hopping and the rest of the trip!

[lejen]

Originally Posted by tinydancr06

We hopped from HS, to EPCOT, to MK, too! It was most definitely a long day but super fun (even if our feet think otherwise!).

Do you think your bf will wear his uniform if/when you get married? I just love weddings with a groom in uniform! Hopefully, I'm not thinking too far ahead for you!

Yes yes yes yes yes. lol. Since and most of his (to-be) groomsmen are all in the military (they did ROTC together in college) they all will be in their uniforms too. It will sort of be like a mini military ball for them.

We have a bunch of military between my fam and his, so we're big "partiers". lol.

Your planning session looked like so much fun! I can't wait to see more!

[sarahb01]

Just caught up on your last post. Looks like you had a good visit!
I am sure that the lottery thing is a pain and nerve racking. I hope that you get the date and time you want!

[CinderALLIE]

Ugh, the wait.

I would have been annoyed at the CMs hanging out at the WP pic spot. I would have been thinking you better stay away from there on my wedding day. Did you still take a pic with it?

[tinydancr06]

Originally Posted by sarahb01

Just caught up on your last post. Looks like you had a good visit!
I am sure that the lottery thing is a pain and nerve racking. I hope that you get the date and time you want!

We really did have a good visit. The lottery definitely makes my stress level go up just thinking about it but I am going to be positive! It really is just one of those things you have to deal with to have a Disney wedding, especially at the WP. Keep us in your thoughts around October!

Originally Posted by CinderALLIE

Ugh, the wait.

I would have been annoyed at the CMs hanging out at the WP pic spot. I would have been thinking you better stay away from there on my wedding day. Did you still take a pic with it?

Yes, I agree. Ugh, the wait! Lol.

I definitely had that thought about the CMs at Picture Pointe but I would hope our planner would keep that from happening when the time comes! Diane's reaction alone assured me of that! We didn't get a picture, though.

[yourgypsy]

Aww, your pics totally gave me goosebumps! Our wedding's 44 days away now! (I'm constantly back and forth between and )

I'm loving your report so far and can't wait to read the rest!

[tinydancr06]

Originally Posted by yourgypsy

Aww, your pics totally gave me goosebumps! Our wedding's 44 days away now! (I'm constantly back and forth between and )

I'm loving your report so far and can't wait to read the rest!

Ah!!! Kristen, you are SO close! You were smart to choose a Spring date. The flowers around the WP right now are so pretty! I'm just so excited for you! Just have fun from here on out and don't let anything bother you.

Thanks for reading along!

[tinydancr06]

The plan for the rest of the day was to resort hop and do some things we hadn’t done before. Since the monorail was out of commission, we hopped on a boat over to the Polynesian. Neither of us had ever been to the Poly before and it really is so nice. I have to say though, GF is still our favorite! We did get some free cookies inside which was a nice little touch of Disney magic. We looked around a bit, took some pictures, and then decided to head out.







Then we headed back to the car and drove over to AKL. Diane told us to say that we were checking out resorts for our room block when we got stopped at the gates of the different resorts (which was actually the truth!). When we said this to the CM at AKL he got really excited and told us we would love it and to look around as much as we wanted. I know it really isn’t a problem to park at the resorts usually but it was nice to have something to say other than “ummm…we’re here to eat?” Lol! I had the pleasure of spending a week at AKL once and was dying for Ryan to see it. He loved it! We’ve pretty much decided that sometime (after the wedding!!!) we want to vacation there. We could smell the food from the restaurants almost everywhere and it smelled delicious! This made us start to get a little hungry but we wanted to get to the BW before eating so we headed out.





We drove over to the BW and parked. At this point our feet were really starting to hurt so walking across the street was a bit of a pain. We wandered around the resort and eventually made it out to the Boardwalk itself. That place is so much fun! We walked around for a bit and then…saw a bride!!! I was so excited! She looked beautiful and it was such a gorgeous day for a wedding! I wonder if she’s on the boards…



We saw the ceremony at SBP later on but didn’t want to be creepers so no pictures. Even later on we happened to be around when they were all heading to the BW convention center. I promise we weren’t following them! I heard a little boy say “Wow, she is GORGEOUS!” about one of the BMs. What a cutie!

We stopped at one of the photo booths along the way and took this picture…



I love the wedding theme!

Then we kept walking toward the Yacht & Beach Clubs because we planned on finding Beaches and Cream! It took us awkwardly walking through the entire pool area in not-so-pool like clothes but we eventually found it! We were seated at the bar which we didn’t mind because we got to mess around taking pictures in the mirror…



Beaches and Cream is a really cute place but it is tiny! Ryan ordered a burger and I ordered the grilled cheese but replaced the tomato bisque with fries. I’m sure the bisque is delish but I am just not a tomato person. The grilled cheese is definitely more of a “gourmet” grilled cheese and it was amaaazing! I highly recommend it. Ryan liked his burger, too.





We saved a little room for shakes so Ryan got a plain old chocolate milk shake while I ordered a Frozen Sunshine. Mmmmm…



Now that we were stuffed we started the long trek back to the car taking a look at the BW pool along the way. Very cool themeing but the clown is a liiiittle scary.

We made our way back to POR and relaxed a little in the room. Since we had an early dinner we knew we weren’t going to eat but March Madness was going on so we decided to go to River Roost and have a drink while watching the games. Have I mentioned that POR is SO pretty?! I just love walking around there! We are seriously considering doing our engagement photos there. More about that later!









We were so happy we decided to go to River Roost at the time we did because it turned out to be only a little bit before Yeeha Bob’s show started! We just happened to choose to sit at the table closest to his stage and we ended up having a BLAST! He is so talented! His show was so much fun and it seemed like everyone at POR was watching and participating by the end. If you’ve never seen him you need to ASAP! You’ve probably never seen anything like it. He had everyone clapping, dancing, singing, acting like Tarzan…it really was the best. One of my BMs who lives in Orlando even came to have a drink with us and joined in. We would love to see Bob’s show with some of our wedding guests when the time comes. Ryan still raves about it! If anyone plans on including this in their wedding events I can guarantee that your guests will have a fabulous time.


I had a Wildberry Margarita!



When the show was over we got a picture with Bob and he signed a photo for us. He even got a picture with everyone on his own camera. What a sweet guy!




This will be displayed in our apartment, for sure! We loved Bob!

It had gotten pretty late by the time the show was over so we went back to the room and turned in for the night. We were hitting the parks the next day!