Tamu Tamu Breakfast & Discovery Cove Wedding ~ 12/10/12 ~ Start of Day 2

[NeverlandClub23]

While I'm finishing up on assembling my invitations (which I love!), I thought I would add the status of what was supposed to be a simple meet 'n' greet...

Originally, Matt wasn't keen on the idea of having a meet 'n' greet. I wasn't either as the two days before our wedding I already had a general idea of what I wanted to do on those two days (plus leaving available time for the things I don't plan to happen). I started playing around with the idea of everyone meeting at Ghirardelli in DTD on Saturday night (since we have an ADR at 'Ohana's on Sunday night), but I know from experience that Saturday nights in DTD are crazy packed in December. Plus, we would want to pay for everything and I don't want to spend the entire time of our meet 'n' greet at the Ghirardelli register...

One idea I had from reading other's trip reports, was to get some trays of food and meet at a resort empty common space room or by the pool area. Since we will be at the Polynesian that day, that rules out the empty common space room idea and, since we'll be at Discovery Cove for our wedding, I didn't want our guests to feel like they had to be in a bathing suit for our entire wedding week (especially if the weather is bad).

Since I don't really know how many people will be coming to our wedding (let alone our meet 'n' greet, I wanted it to be a casual-come-if-you-want type of thing with no set times). I read that the Belle Vue Lounge at the Boardwalk Inn offers a continental breakfast. I thought that it would be great if we could pre-order a couple trays of food and take over a few tables inside or outside on the patio (and switching our Polynesian 2 night reservation to the Boardwalk). Also, that would be perfect as Matt wants to go to the ESPN Zone after with a bunch of guys and those of us that want to can just take a bus to Magic Kingdom.

When I inquired about this option on the Wedding boards, lurkyloo reminded me that the Attic could be had for around $1,000 (our budget for this event). I thought this was an even better idea and would surely impress our guests and give us some privacy. That started the wheels in motion! I contacted Disney's Catered Events and a day or so later was contacted by a wonderful CM, Rickey.

Rickey went over all the different options for a brunch at the Attic. He said he would contact the chefs at the Boardwalk to see what my options were for getting the per person charge below $40 (what they were on the sheet he emailed me). I was/am pretty stubborn about wanting Mickey waffles though .

He called back the next day with some unfortunate news . Apparently during that time of year the Boardwalk doesn't have as much staff as other times of the year and something about the labor costing more, so my per person if I wanted Mickey waffles would be approx. $50 per person. That really wasn't in our budget (as we're expecting about 35 people), so he suggested an alternative.

He raved about the Tamu Tamu Courtyard at Animal Kingdom. He said it's his favorite space to do events in WDW (of course, that may be just because I was disappointed about not going with the Attic ) and I could get Mickey waffles (which may be with an action station, I'm not sure. I get the actual print out of everything this week) for about $44 per person inclusive. This is still over our budget (almost double our intended budget), but I guess I need to stop being so frugal. We've done really well with the cost of everything else that a little splurging on this event feels okay. Of course, I'll just keep repeating that for the next few months...

Matt's really excited about it, but then I realized that this means there's no walking over to the ESPN Zone. He said he's fine with just riding a bus back to the Boardwalk afterwards.

So, what started as a little get together has exploded into a full-blown welcome party. Now, I've got to actually get an R.S.V.P. and head count to this and not the simple casual little meet 'n' greet I had originally intended. Oh well, I am really looking forward to it!

Oh, and he said you can hear the background music inside the Tamu Tamu courtyard. I need to go do a little digging around at D-Cot.com to see if I can hear it (I LOVE background music at the parks, in fact, the song I'm going to walk down the aisle to (hopefully-we haven't discussed music stuff with Discovery Cove yet) is Behind the Waterfall which I remember falling in love with when it was played around Tomorrowland).

That's all I think I have for now! I'll post a picture of all my invitation goodies soon (but probably not until after Labor Day as we're going to Upstate New York for a week).

Thanks for reading!

[NeverlandClub23]

I received my BEO today and everything looks great!

We're having the Aurora breakfast. The selections I made were: scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, assorted pastries, roasted potatoes and onions, fresh fruit platter, juices and coffee, and a Mickey waffle action station.

The breakfast is $28.10 per person with an $8 per person "operations fee" and $9.75 per person for the Mickey waffle station (which my fiance would probably have a stroke about and would command everyone to eat their $10 worth of waffles ). One thing I do like about this structure is that I don't have to pay the service charge and tax on the $8 per person fee, so I'm only paying the service charge and tax on $37.85 per person.

The event total will go down if I have less than 35 people R.S.V.P. (or it may go up, but I really don't think more than 35 will be coming).

This event begins with meeting the escort by 8:15 a.m. and concludes by 9:30 a.m. I hope my guests love it! We're not going to have photography so I hope I take enough pics on my own (or can beg enough of my guests to send me their's).

Here's some pics I found throughout the Internets of the Tamu Tamu Courtyard:

[MrsDrewsky]

Wow, I just caught up on all of your plans.

I had no idea Discovery Cove did weddings, or even existed before reading your plans. It looks incredible!

I love your plans for brunch. Can't wait to read more.

[lurkyloo]

Yay! Tamu Tamu brunch sounds like SO much fun! I can't wait to see all of your plans come together.

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Wow! I'm really excited about your plans. Especially the welcome party!

[CourtenayB]

Hi Kimberly,

Happy to be following along. I LOVE the idea of a DC wedding, how fun! I have never been but it looks amazing.

Your proposal story is the best ever! That was seriously creative and anything that includes cake is just awesome.

Love your dress, colors, everything. Can't wait to read and see more.

-Courtenay-

[NeverlandClub23]

Originally Posted by MrsDrewsky

Wow, I just caught up on all of your plans.

I had no idea Discovery Cove did weddings, or even existed before reading your plans. It looks incredible!

I love your plans for brunch. Can't wait to read more.

Thank you! I think I'm most looking forward to the brunch . Thanks for reading along!

Originally Posted by lurkyloo

Yay! Tamu Tamu brunch sounds like SO much fun! I can't wait to see all of your plans come together.

Thank you! I can't wait for someone to put all these plans together . I watched your video on the Tamu Tamu Courtyard (which came up in my frantic search for more and more Tamu Tamu pictures) and it was great! Thanks for reading along .

Originally Posted by NoOrdinaryPrincess

Wow! I'm really excited about your plans. Especially the welcome party!

Thank you! I'm very excited, but getting more and more nervous by the day. I can't believe all of this is really happening!

Originally Posted by CourtenayB

Hi Kimberly,

Happy to be following along. I LOVE the idea of a DC wedding, how fun! I have never been but it looks amazing.

Your proposal story is the best ever! That was seriously creative and anything that includes cake is just awesome.

Love your dress, colors, everything. Can't wait to read and see more.

-Courtenay-

Thank you so much! My cousin just started a Facebook group with my family members to see who's coming and where everyone is staying and they are so excited about going to Discovery Cove and that gets me even more excited.

The thing I love most about my proposal is that now, every December 26th, I have an excuse to get another ice cream cake .

Thank you for reading!

[NeverlandClub23]

My guest count is already up to 24 definites! My cousin started a Facebook Group with my family members to see who is going and where they're staying and it makes me so happy to see other people excited about coming.

And in other news, I think my credit card has smoke coming off of it from using it so much recently on wedding stuff. I'll have enough flying points to travel for the rest of my life!

[NeverlandClub23]

I knew I wouldn't keep my Poly club level garden view room for the first two nights unless a discount came out (I mean, that's a whole lot of Mickey bars!). I grabbed up the 30% room only discount, but started debating on getting an AP for this trip and getting the extra 5% off (plus we're going to WDW in September/October next year so I would need a ticket anyways).

It then occurred to me that we're paying for the 'Ohana's semi-rehearsal dinner for a total of 14 people (I can't use the "Welcome Party" title since my brunch stole it) and quite a few other TS meals for ourselves (not to mention next year's meals) and I sold myself (a hard sell, I tell you...) on getting the AP and the TIW card.

Matt kept asking if we're eating lunch at Sci-Fi (one of my favorite places) and I told him I hadn't made any reservation as he didn't seem like he was interested in going back. He told me he really wanted to. The only available time in our schedule was the day after our wedding and I didn't want to schedule anything very early. It works out, though, because Sci-Fi only had a 1:50 p.m. reservation available, so I took it (although, I will be trying to get that closer to 1 p.m.).

Hmmm, what else... Oh, so... I made a major error. And by "I", I would like to shift some of that blame to my lovely other half. It seems I/he got caught up in inviting anyone who seemed interested or didn't fall asleep when being told every excrutiating detail about our wedding. How many people does that turn out to be, you ask? 56 people. Remember that little blip I posted before about being able to have more than the 30 people during certain times of the year? I emailed Discovery Cove and they emailed me back saying "No way" to having more than 40 people. So I either need to hire a hitman or have a plan B if I have more "Yes's" than I intended to have. I'm still not freaking out yet. If it does happen, I think my plan is to just get married somewhere local in Orlando (see: my-#1-random-place-in-Orlando-to-get-married) and then we'll all bus over to Discovery Cove for the "reception" or if it's just a couple people over the 40, beg and plead for mercy. The biggest problem with getting married at our ages is that most people we know have multiple kids. So when you invite a couple, it's really 4-6 people and that adds up.

I will have a picture of our invitations up this weekend! Time seems to be flying by and I have a little anxiety in the back of my head that the wedding is going to all of a sudden be here and I'm going to be unprepared. I had a dream to that effect the other night, but my wedding dress was purple tie-dye and I was wearing black cowboy boots.

My biggest concern is getting transportation all organized because I won't be able to do that until about 30 days before our wedding. On the invitation R.S.V.P. cards I asked if each guest needs transportation to the wedding and if so, where they are staying. This should be interesting...

Thanks for reading along!

[CinderALLIE]

Hoping you don't go over your maximum. Can your wedding budget afford teh extra cost of a hit man? XD

[NeverlandClub23]

Originally Posted by CinderALLIE

Hoping you don't go over your maximum. Can your wedding budget afford teh extra cost of a hit man? XD

Absolutely not!

[NeverlandClub23]

I purchased my earrings yesterday off of Ebay. They're coming from Australia, which means I should see them the day we get back from our honeymoon .



They were less than $30 with shipping!

I don't think I'm wearing a necklace. I'm going to wait to see what the earrings look like with my dress and then decide.

I think my hair will be half up and half down, but I'm still looking through hair photo's to see what I like.

My parents came over yesterday and I was showing them my invitations. My Dad said, "So.... We have to BE at Discovery Cove at 7:30 A.M.? Like, in the morning?!" That's what I get for inviting retirees!

[NeverlandClub23]

I also bought this BCBG dress from Ebay 'cause it went with my colors, but I don't know if I'll be wearing it for my bridal shower or for our semi-rehearsal dinner at 'Ohana's. It's called "Fireworks" which I thought was appropriate for Disney .




This is the kind of hairstyle I want for the wedding, but with more face framing hair. I like the height and the braid. I'm still looking for a pic that's exactly what I want. So many pictures I'm finding have the focus on the braid. I want the braid to just be something small and that you notice, but not look like a trendy hairstyle.

[NeverlandClub23]

I'm starting to do research on Matt's suit/outfit for our wedding. I remembered my brother has a gorgeous Italian white button up shirt with a pink paisley trim. I started formulating a plan to buy the shirt and pair it with a charcoal gray linen suit. Soooo... I text my brother to find out who makes the shirt and he says it's what HE's wearing to the wedding and there's no way Matt can wear the same thing . Okay... I didn't realize people would be picking out their outfits 3 months in advance. So now I'm back to square one...

Then my cousin sent me a message on FB that she wants to call me tonight to discuss something her Dad (my uncle) wants to request of me that may be "annoying" as she called it for the wedding. I can't even imagine what this might be. I've heard rumors of people wanting the wedding to take place later in the day, since 7:30 is too early, like I have control over it.

I'm still working on the invitations, but I'm starting to think it might be better if some of them never get finished...

[lurkyloo]

Harrumph! I think your brother should own more than one nice shirt so he can swap out his fave just this once. Does the company make a similar shirt in a different color trim maybe...?