favors

[fugayzee]

I am looking for some really good ideas on favors for our wedding. We are having our reception at the Living seas. Do you think we should stick w/ an under the sea theem or is it ok to go w/ a Mickey & Minnie theem.

We are also thinking of having a characture artist there. Has any one done this? What is the cost?

Any ideas would be helpful!!!!!!!!!!

Thank You

 

[marn913]

For favors we had small bottles (airline sized) of Bailey's Irish Cream (since my husband's name is Bailey). We also did Disney favors (Nemo) for the kids. The under the sea theme for favors would have been great - they have floating candles at Pier 1 that are shaped like fish - you could wrap them with tule and tie with ribbon that matches your wedding colors and attach a tag with your names and wedding date. We made our own tags for our favors on the computer and embossed a silver heart on each- you could incorporate a mickey there if you like (even something more like a hidden mickey).
We did the caricature artist, who cost just over $500 for 5 hours (not sure exactly about the cost), and we also had our reception at the living seas. The artist was a HUGE hit with all of our guests. We had just over 30 guests, and almost each family went home with a drawing. We also chose not to have a DJ beacause most of our guests either don't dance or didn't bring a date. Instead (at our coordinators advice), we brought down a cheap CD player (like $20 at Walmart) and a great Frank Sinatra greatist hits CD. The staff had it set up in a corner with a microphone and it piped throughout our reception. No one even noticed that there was no DJ -- thinking back on it, we probably would have felt rushed if we had a DJ, and it wasn't worth the $1100 cost to us. Also, if you are looking to save money -- go with candles and flower petals on the tables at the LS as opposed to floral centerpieces. It saved us a lot of money and the tables at LS are smaller than at other venues (they seat 6 people), so a floral arrangement might have been too bulky.

 

[fugayzee]

thanks so much, I love the idea about the fish candles and Nemo. Your probably right about flowers on the table being too bulky.

But I do have another question for you, What kind of menu did you pick? I will be having about 50 -60 people and the sample menus that have been sent to me are so confusing! Aprox how much per person did it come to? That is my major STRESS!!!!!!!!!! My Fiance wants open bar for the whole 5 hours and its like $36 a person!! and that on top of cocktial hour, entre, cake, it all adds up. Dont get me wrong I want the food to be the best thing there next to the atmosphere but it is so much. So this is where I am so stressed! Any ideas on how to cut corners?

 

[marn913]

We had a $60/plate dinner that came with Ceasar salad, herb chicken, salmon and beef tenderloin (all three meats on each plate), horseradish mashed potatoes and veggies. We decided to do the plated meal because my husband pointed out that neither of us wanted to go through a buffet line in our wedding attire (he spills a lot!). We chose a simple cake (the destination castle cake without the extremely expensive chocolate topper). It was $8/person and we had it decorated with fresh flowers and brought our own topper.
We also wanted open bar the whole time -- you can request to have your bar billed on consumption (this option is not mentioned in any of the stuff that disney sends about bar packages), which is what we did. You will estimate a certain number of drinks per person (at $5/drink) - we estimated 4 drinks/person. This will be added in to your estimated budget and you prepay that amount. After your reception Disney will total your bar tab and if you overpaid, they will send a refund. Our bar tab for 30 people was about $575 -- and pretty much all of the adults were pretty loaded. We got a refund of almost $100 for overpayment and that way we only paid for the drinks that were consumed. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Marne
06-16-03