WedPics

A tip we picked up online from someone else (sorry, whoever you are; it's been so long ago that I've forgotten!) for our wedding is to take advantage of the fact that many, if not most, of our guests are going to have smart phones with them. Since we have two families spending almost a week in Disney World, sometimes together and sometimes apart, there's a lot to chronicle and keep as memories, and we only have a photographer for about three hours on our wedding day. Fortunately, phones with cameras and Internet access are ubiquitous among our guests, so we're going to ask all of our guests to get those phones out and snap lots of photos over the course of the week that we're there. Instead of having one photographer, we'll have 12 or so, taking photos of all of the pre- and post-wedding events and hopefully capturing some great, candid shots.

We're transforming our wedding guests into our personal paparazzi.

Of course, having a dozen people snapping photos during the trip doesn't do us any good if we don't have some way to aggregate them. Some websites recommend setting up a single repository on Photobucket or Flickr to which people can upload theses photos. However, I found setting those up to allow multiple people to upload to them to be a bit of a chore, so I started doing some research on dedicated apps for just this kind of event-based image collation. The one I ended up settling on was WedPics, for a number of reasons. First, it's free, which is a big boon. Second, it has apps native to both iOS and Android, which means that basically anyone in our family with a smartphone will be able to upload and view the photos for the trip. Lastly, the interface is easy, and you create a special wedding identifier that your family can use to connect their apps to your albums, automatically uploading everything to the right place. I think Girl Scout Fiancéeis also going to like the fact that the app can apply Instagram-like filters to the images before uploading them.

Man, they can do anything with filters these days.

I really hope it's going to work out; if it does, we'll have a lot of great photos from the trip. The biggest hurdle is going to be getting our families to remember to take the photos in the first place, and then to upload their pictures to the WedPics albums. We've put information about our WedPics album into our welcome brochures (which I'll talk about in a future blog post), so hopefully everyone will embrace this so we can come home with some great visual memories of the entire week.

Goodbye, Canada; Hello, New Fantasyland

It's easy for me to see how I was overly ambitious with some of my original plans for things to do and places to eat in Disney World, and the time came a few weeks ago when I had to make a hard decision and sacrifice one of our dining reservations. They days were just getting to jam-packed full, and I found myself scheduling us for three sit-down meals on a couple of our off days. A few weeks ago, I finally came to my senses for a couple of reasons. First, after having a huge lunch one day, Girl Scout Fiancée and I ended up skipping dinner one night, reminding me that neither of us can eat like we once did. The second reason is one of energy levels; as the time drew closer to the trip, both of us started spending almost every evening working on wedding preparation, and I could tell that soon both of us would be running on fumes and might need some days by the pool to recharge our batteries.

It was with great sadness that I had to bid goodbye to Le Cellier. I just didn't think we'd be able to squeeze in Via Napoli for lunch on one of our days off, and so it came down to deciding whether or not we wanted a fifth signature restaurant dinner, or pizza. I have fond memories of Le Cellier from when I was younger, but I've never been to Via Napoli, so I decided it would be a good chance to experience a new restaurant with both Girl Scout Fiancée and I never having tried it. I canceled my Le Cellier reservation, and moved my Via Napoli reservation into its spot, so on our first day at Epcot we'll be having lunch at the Living Seas and dinner in Italy.

Another new development includes shifting some plans around to try and get a lunch at Be Our Guest, which has been getting excellent reviews. Unfortunately, lunch is first-come-first-serve counter service, and the line to get in sometimes extends to a half hour or even 45 minutes.  The one saving grace is that it appears that many resort guests are invited to participate in a special Be Our Guest Lunch FastPass+, which does not count against your daily limit of FastPasses and lets you go to the front of the line. I'm hoping we'll get an invitation to participate, as I doubt we're going to want to spend valuable park time just waiting in line for lunch.

The big wrinkle in that plan, though, is the dedication ceremony for the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride on May 2nd...the very day we'll be going to the Magic Kingdom for the first time. I've already moved all of our FastPasses out of New Fantasyland, because I can almost guarantee you that it is going to be packed with people there for the dedication; I just hope we can get in and see the inside of Beast's castle, because it's something totally new to me.

A Quick New Addendum to Our Snack List

Just saw a post over on the Disney Food Blog about the new Mickey Kitchen Sink Sundae, debuting at both the Plaza Ice Cream Shop and the always-popular Beaches & Cream. The sundae is a sizable amount of ice cream, a boatload of toppings, though it looks like a pretty standard ice cream sundae. The big draw of the sundae is the container it comes in: a sink-shaped pair of Mickey Mouse's pants. Yes, you too can eat ice cream out of Mickey's pants.

I need you to know how mightily I struggled to keep this caption family-friendly.

Apparently, the Beaches & Cream version contains additional items and toppings that the one in the Magic Kingdom does not, including a brownie. It's also astronomically priced for ice cream: a whopping $23 for the sundae. Now, you get to keep Mickey's plastic pants, and that's a pretty cute souvenir, but it it really worth more than we'll pay for an entire lunch one day? I dunno. It's something to keep an eye on, though, because I'm a sucker for keepsakes.

Putting Together Some Disney Duds

I've mentioned it in a few previous posts, but both Girl Scout Fiancée and I have lost quite a bit of weight since our engagement. Just comparing our engagement photo shoot with things like the profile photo I have up now makes it pretty obvious how much we've lost, but as of this writing I've lost 110 lbs. since we got engaged, and Girl Scout Fiancée has lost a proportional amount. Of course, this leaves us with something of a problem every few months: we don't have any clothes that fit us. Since summer ends in Seattle in August, the last time I wore all of my summer clothes was about 50 lbs. ago, and now even the shorts I was wearing just fall down around our ankles. We'll be heading to the heat of Florida in just a little over a week, and so this past weekend the time was right for us to do a major summer clothes shopping expedition, because neither of us wanted to walk around on our honeymoon looking like little kids dressed up in their parents' clothes. 

Like this, only not adorable.

Since we settled on Disney World for our wedding and honeymoon, Girl Scout Fiancée has been following a fashion blog called Disney Bound. The premise of the site is that they put together outfits inspired by characters from Disney movies, using color schemes for those characters paired with more modern fashion. Girl Scout Fiancée has taken the idea and run with it, and in the weeks leading up to our shopping expedition she put together an outfit based on Snow White, along with a couple of variants. We have dinners planned at four pretty nice restaurants at Disney World (Yachtsman Steakhouse, Victoria & Albert's, Jiko, and California Grille), and we're going to want to look nice on the nights that we go to those dinners. So, in addition to shopping for clothes to wear at the resort and around the parks, I decided to follow Girl Scout Fiancée's lead and put together a few outfits of my own. After all, if she's going to look that good, I've got to at least keep pace!

Mickey Mouse

How can you not love the mouse himself as inspiration for an outfit? Back at Halloween, I snagged a pair of red jeans and a black shirt for a Mickey Mouse costume, and my first thought was just to use that. However, it doesn't quite match Mickey's look, especially not how he appears in the parks. I did a little Internet research and found some photos of Mickey in Disney World, and used that as a starting point.

If you're going to dress like a Disney character, why not go for the Big Cheese himself?

At first, I'd planned to wear a white t-shirt under a black blazer, along with the red jeans and my black dress shoes. Despite the fact that a jacket-and-t-shirt-combo can look hip and trendy on Seattle hipsters, I just didn't feel like I was pulling it off (though, I'll admit that part of that is because both my jacket and my t-shirts were far too large for me, and made me look disheveled). During our shopping expedition, I came across a nice white dress shirt, and even found a great-looking black dinner jacket at a secondhand that looked amazing on me (it was the equivalent of a medium, where my existing jacket was an XL). Now the Mickey-inspired outfit involves the red jeans, black dress shoes, a white dress shirt, and the black dinner jacket; I may use the bowtie from my wedding outfit with this, too, depending on how hot it is and if I can stand to have my collar closed. I'm also considering going back to Kohl's on Sunday or Monday to grab one of the black vests they had on clearance; I won't wear the vest with the jacket, but instead replace the jacket with the vest for a different look that uses the bulk of the same clothing items. That gives me something to wear to Yachtsman Steakhouse, and then wear the other version of the outfit to California Grille.

Aladdin.

At one point, Girl Scout Fiancée pointed me toward an awesome outfit that was inspired by Aladdin on DisneyBound. Since Aladdin is my favorite Disney movie, it took no convincing to get me to pursue it. Even better, I already had many of the components for the DisneyBound version of the outfit.

Though I won't be buying a magic lamp.

All I needed was a brown dress shirt and some slacks, both of which were easy to come by and both of which I could wear to work after the honeymoon is over. My brown work shoes are a little scuffed and uneven in color, but a little shoe polish will take care of the scuffs, and may even make it look more like the "street rat" version of Aladdin that the outfit is inpired by. I picked up the shirt and slacks, along with a nice new belt, on our shopping expedition, and I'd planned on using the vest from my wedding outfit as the vest for this one. Then, at the same store where I found my dinner jacket, I also found a vest that I knew I had to grab: it was a deep, royal purple, easily one of the flashiest pieces of formalwear I'd ever seen, and I could only imagine that it was once part of an extremely fabulous suit worn by Jerome from Morris Day and the Time. It's a little big, but I'm going to wait and see how I'm feeling about the whole outfit the day that we go to Jiko before making the call on the navy vest vs. the purple vest. Even better, Girl Scout Fiancée found a blue dress that is almost the same shade as Jasmine's, so she's putting together a Jasmine-inspired outfit to wear that same night.

Victoria & Albert's

Not every outfit I put together for our trip is inspired by a Disney character. Leading up to our shopping trip, I was getting very nervous about what I was going to wear to Victoria & Albert's. On the one hand, the dress code specifically calls out dinner jackets for me, which are not the same as a blazer, or even a simple suit jacket. On the other hand, I'd read a lot of posts by men who had simply worn their business suits, or even just slacks and a blazer, to Victoria & Albert's. Also, we're going to be sitting at the Chef's Table, not out in the main dining room, and I've seen enough reviews to know that it's a much more relaxed environment. Even still, there's something about me (guess I'm Lawful Good after all) that doesn't like breaking the rules, so I felt an insane amount of relief when I found the dinner jacket during our shopping trip. Girl Scout Fiancée showed me the dress that she plans to wear that night (she also wore it out for her bachelorette party), and it mostly black and pink. Since my dinner jacket and pants are black, I found a pink dress shirt at Kohl's and got a nice tie to go with it at Nordstrom Rack, putting together a pretty nice outfit that not only matches what Girl Scout Fiancée is going to wear but also didn't break the bank in the process.

Failed Outfit: Prince Charming.

There was one other outfit that I wanted to put together for the trip, but failed to do so. On the DisneyBound page I found a great looking inspiration for a Prince Charming outfit, which would have looked nice at any of our fancy dinners, or would have been perfect the night we went to Cinerella's Royal Table (though I'd probably want to run back to the Boardwalk to change after a day at the parks, since I wouldn't want to wear it all around the park that day).

This guy is definitely Doing It Right.

Unlike my other outfits that I put together, I'd need to obtain a lot of more expensive items for this one. I planned to start with the same red jeans and white dress shirt that would be a part of my Mickey Mouse-inspired outfit, then add a tan vest, a gold tie, and a gold belt, plus some nice brown dress shoes. Unfortunately, all of the components I needed were expensive. There weren't any tan vests at the secondhand stores, so I would have had to buy new, and none of the places I looked for vests had anything in the right color. My fallback would have been a jacket (though I wasn't thrilled at the idea of doing the jacket with no vest), but jackets are even more expensive. I ended up abandoning this outfit (for now; there's always the anniversary trip next year), and will stick with the three really nice ones I put together already.

Dessert and Snack To-Do Lists

I went into detail some time ago about the lengthy list of restaurants that Girl Scout Fiancée and I are going to be visiting during our honeymoon. Though both of us have made great strides with our health, eating habits, and weight, we both agree: the honeymoon is for us to enjoy, so bring on the delicious food! With that in mind, I decided to start compiling a post about the various delicious snacks and desserts out there that aren't a part of the meals we'll be eating. So, here's a list of all of the non-restaurant items I'm looking forward to trying out on the honeymoon. A huge shout out to the Disney Food Blog for all of the photos contained herein; all of these items are reviewed on that site, so check it out!

First stop on the delicious-and-bad-for-you food tour is the Magic Kingdom. I'm really looking forward to trying the sweet cream cheese pretzel at the Lunching Pad in Tomorrowland. After having something similar at a breakfast food truck in Portland, I'll be making sure to head to Sleepy Hollow and grab a Nutella and fruit waffle sandwich. For breakfast one morning, I'm really hoping to snag a maple cinnamon roll from Gaston's Tavern. It's already going to be tough to find room for another dessert at the Magic Kingdom (since we're doing the Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks Dessert Party) but it's going to be difficult for me not to stop into the Main Street Bakery for a homemade ice cream sandwich. Maybe one night on a non-park day, or after dinner at Jiko.

Sweet cream cheese pretzel.

Nutella waffle sandwich with fruit.

Maple cinnamon roll

Homemade ice cream sandwich.

Epcot is going to be a virtual cornucopia of delicious treats, I already know. I have penned visits into the bakery at the France pavilion for several nights, and I just know that I'll be walking away stuffed to the gills. Still, there are quite a few other snack offerings at Epcot I'm dying to try. Of course, one of the first ones that I hear a lot about is the school bread at the Norway pavilion, which looks delicious. Anything with custard in it stands out to me. As a sucker for salted caramel, the chocolate-covered sea salt caramel from Karamell-Küche in the Germany pavilion is on my hit list. Then there are the competing ice cream-like sandwiches, the gelato cookie sandwich from the Italy pavilion and the pressed brioche ice cream sandwich at L’ Artisan des Glaces in the France pavilion.

School bread.

Chocolate-covered sea salt caramel

Gelato cookie sandwich

Pressed brioche ice cream sandwich.

Hollywood Studios is not really known for its snacks, though in addition to sporting additional places to get some of the other snacks on this list, there are a few snacks unique to the park. I'm not usually a huge fan of carrot cake, but the carrot cake cookie at the Writer's Stop sounds delicious. I also know I have to try the Butterfinger cupcake from Starring Rolls, and that I might have to fight Girl Scout Fiancée for every bite.

Carrot cake cookie.

Butterfinger cupcake.

Not every delicious treat is found in the parks. I'm sure I can pretty much find them anywhere, but one thing I love (and haven't been able to eat since we started trying to lose weight) are the chocolate croissants, which appear at many different breakfast buffets. Of course, one of the big perks to staying at the Boardwalk is that the Beach Club (and thus, Beaches & Cream), is only a short walk away, making obtaining a No Way Jose sundae pretty easy.

Chocolate croissants.

No Way Jose.

There are also a number of snacks that you can in multiple places. I know I'll be labeled as not a True Disney World Fan for saying this, but I've never had a Dole whip, and I've got my eye on the pineapple Dole whip float.

Pineapple dole whip float.

So, here's the real question: what did I miss? What are Girl Scout Fiancée going to kick ourselves for not grabbing when we're hungry for a snack, or something sweet?

I Guess Disney Expects Us to Cry a Lot

The first time we got a little gift in the mail from our wedding coordinator, it was a pleasant an unexpected surprise. The second time, it was still pleasant and a surprise, but not quite as much of one as before. Still, you can't look the pixie dust gift horse in the pixie dust mouth, and I appreciate the gesture to keep us excited. Oddly enough, the third time we got some pixie dust, it was both a surprise, and a slightly bubble-bursting experience.

A small box arrived in the mail the other day, addressed once again to Girl Scout Fiancée and I in the traditional cardboard box that the other two arrived in. Whereas the previous gifts were nice but of questionable utility, inside the box this time were a pair of matching hankerchiefs, in a small keepsake tin. Edit: Well, apparently I was super wrong. Girl Scout Fiancée just informed me that the hankerchiefs are not identical; they have a monogrammed Mr. and Mrs. on them, respectively.

Not entirely sure why they're labeled separately, since they are identical. (Wow, I am so wrong; see edit).

They feel as though they will absorb many tears.

This little pixie dust was totally unexpected; this close to our wedding, I didn't figure Disney would have any need to keep us excited, so I didn't think any more such gifts would be forthcoming. The bubble-bursting part came when I looked at the card. While it was filled with the same kind of heartwarming notes as the ones that came with the previous gifts, it also bore the name of our old wedding coordinator embossed in silver inside, exactly the same as the other two.

Vague, yet reassuring.

Problem is, it's been well over a month since we found out that we have a new wedding coordinator, and that our previous wedding coordinator is no longer with Disney's Fairytale Weddings...meaning that it's likely that this gift and card was part of an automated process, not something generated by our coordinator. I knew, up to this point, that these notes weren't hand written or the gifts hand-packed, but I did kind of think that at least the coordinator was putting a conscious effort into sending these little presents to us.

I will console myself by imagining that this is the automated system responsible.

Regardless of how they come to us, it is a nice touch that Disney puts into place for you. Planning a wedding can be stressful, and the occasional present provides a nice little jolt of happiness along the way.

No More Merry Matrimony

One of our earliest attempts at adding our own unique flair to our Disney Escape wedding package was going to be in the form of a special wedding cake topper. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm a huge fan of Disney's Robin Hood (it's probably second only to Aladdin as my favorite Disney movie, with The Sword in the Stone knocking on the door in third place), and of course the movie ends with Robin Hood and Maid Marian getting married and riding off into the sunset for their Happily Ever After. This is not only an iconic Disney image, but also one that Girl Scout Fiancée thought would be the perfect complement to our wedding aesthetic. When we discovered that there was a statuette of Robin Hood and Maid Marian in their wedding outfits, we thought it would make a great cake topper.

Exhibit A: Our idea for wedding cake flair.

Over the last few months, I'd kept my eye on the Internet, looking for one of the statues at a reasonable price. Unfortunately, contrary to what I'd hoped, not only did I not find any of the collectibles for a good price, many of the listings I saw vanished as the shops selling the out-of-print statue continued to dwindle. All the while, Girl Scout Fiancée was doing research into the dimensions of the topper, and communicating with our wedding coordinator to verify that it would, indeed, work as a cake topper. The biggest question was going to be weight; a heavier statue would crush the cake, and our wedding coordinator confirmed with the bakery that they could build some supports into the top layer of the cake so that it wouldn't drop right down through the middle.

Finally, I bit the bullet and used some of our wedding savings to buy the statue. The day that one of the guys from the mailroom at my office brought the box up to me, I was shocked. It was huge. At first, I thought that they had only been overzealous with the packaging, but upon opening it up that evening we discovered that the estimated dimensions of the statue were off by at least 50%. We'd also been given the dimensions of the top layer of the cake by the bakery, and unfortunately the statue's base would have spilled over the edge, not to mention that the much-larger-than-expected collectible statue would look really awkward atop the cake. Both Girl Scout Fiancée and I were very, very disappointed; there would be no Merry Matrimony statue as a cake topper.

Sometimes ups outnumber the downs, but not in Nottingham...

A short conversation with our new wedding coordinator confirmed that we could get the included Mickey & Minnie wedding cake topper for our cake, which is pretty cute and definitely better than a lot of other cake toppers I've seen. That only left the decision of what to do with the collectible statue. On the one hand, we could keep it; I love Robin Hood, and it would be a keepsake of our engagement. On the other hand, without it serving as our cake topper, it loses a lot of its sentimental impact, and would really just be another thing to sit on the bookshelf that isn't a book. After some debate, we decided to sell the cake topper to someone else, and use the money for the honeymoon. The whole thing is a bit of a bummer, but in the end I think our wedding day is going to be so busy that there's not going to be much time to think about it anyways. Besides, there's always anniversaries, birthdays, Christmases, and other gift-oriented holidays, and now one of us already has an idea of something to get the other person!

The Wedding License (of Doom)

We're getting pretty close to the wedding, now, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to walk through the process of getting the marriage license. I wanted to wait to write this post until I'd done everything (save for getting married), and now seems like a good time. The good news for all of you future Disney brides and grooms is that the process is actually quite easy. The first thing you have to do is send in the request for a marriage application. Yes, that's right, in true bureaucratic fashion you have to send in an application in order to obtain another application. You can do this via e-mail, and the instructions are available at the Brevard County Clerk of the Court website, and the very specific information that you need can be found under Mail Away Marriage License Information. Girl Scout Fiancée and I downloaded and filled out the form, scanned it, and then transmitted the scanned request to the e-mail provided.

And then there's the request form for the application to request an application...

We very quickly received an automated response that filled us in on our next task: waiting patiently. You see, a Brevard county marriage license is only valid for 60 days; if you don't get married within 60 days of the license application being approved, you have to apply again. Fortunately, the County Clerk makes this nice and easy on you: after you supply them with your wedding date, they refuse to send you the marriage license application until exactly 60 days prior to your wedding date.

Our 60-day mark came and went, and so a couple of days later I fired off an e-mail to the address we'd sent the application to. Within a day we'd not only heard back, but they also provided us with the application. There are actually three forms you'll receive back; one is the marriage record, one is a marriage license affidavit, and one (the affidavit of common children born in Florida) is only relevant if you--wait for it--have children that were born in Florida. Once we got that package of paperwork, we needed to take the documents to a notary. Here's a helpful tip that I completely blanked on: if you work for a company that has its own legal department, check with them first to see if they have a notary on staff. My company does, but I completely forgot to check into that, and like a sucker we went to our local UPS store where the notary charged us $25 for his services. It's not bank-breaking, but that's $25 I didn't have to spend. Anyways, in the presence of the notary, we filled out the relevant fields on both the marriage record and the affadavit, and the notary signed and stamped in the relevant places.

I guess he used the $24 ink pad for the stamp.

Once the application to marry is signed and notarized, you send it back to the Brevard County Clerk (this time, via normal physical mail), along with the application fee. At the time of this writing, that fee is $93.50, which has to come in the form of a check or money order, because we still apparently live in the 20th century. Now, you can mail it normal post, but I opted to send it FedEx overnight (from my office, so the company discount knocks the cost down a bit), so the total cost of applying ran us about $135.

FedEx whisked our paperwork away, and within a day I had received the confirmation e-mail that told me that it had safely reached its destination. Again we played the waiting game, and this time we received the marriage record back in the mail (the physical mail, as in, from the Post Office) about a week later. The marriage record now has information filled out by the Brevard County Clerk, and a notarized seal, meaning that we're now two-thirds of the way through the marriage license process.

Stay on target. Stay on target!

Now all that remains is for us to actually get married. Once the ceremony is over, our officiant will fill out the final section, and we have the option (though it is not required) to have folks sign the marriage record as witnesses. The record will then be sealed up once more and FedExed back to the Brevard County Clerk, where it will be processed and then an actual marriage license will be mailed to us. Our plan is to entrust the mailing of the marriage license to someone else (likely our officiant, or my best man) since Girl Scout Fiancée and I will be too preoccupied with our honeymoon to do so. Then, it will all be legal!

Our Magic Bands Are Here!

You can tell that you're getting close to the start of your trip when two things arrive: your luggage tags for Disney's Magical Express, and your MagicBands! We received our luggage tags a few weeks ago, and just this week our MagicBands arrived. Leading up to about 30 days before our trip begins, we'd been asked (each time I looked at my itinerary page on MyDisneyExperience) to customize our MagicBands, picking a color and a name associated with them. Since Girl Scout Fiancée and I are likely to return for another trip in the next year, we decided to put more fun names on these MagicBands, making them a keepsake of our wedding trip.

Folks who know us won't be surprised at our color choices.

Like all of the new MagicBand/MyDisneyExperience paraphernalia that we've received in the last year, the MagicBands come in an Incredibles-themed package. The box is actually quite large, especially compared to the MagicBands, which are, in turn, relatively small. The inside of the box has some simple instructions on it, because wristbands require instructions (hey, I get it; new technology frightens and confuses people).

Mrs. Incredible has sealed the package tight.

And in case of a water landing...

Of course, like many of the things we're getting from Disney before our trip, I'm now trying to think of ways to preserve them without creating just a box o' junk under the bed for the rest of our lives. It also helps that the MagicBand unlocks something very special in my Disney Infinity game, as this video shows.I tried to shoot my own video, but trying to juggle an Xbox controller, an iPhone, and the Disney Infinity stuff proved too much.

Shipping Off Our BEO

The least fun part of a Disney wedding and honeymoon? Paying for it.

So, let's talk about the BEO. This is your Banquet Event Order, which is pretty much just a fancified way of saying, "Here's the bill." Throughout the process our wedding planner(s) have constantly referred to the BEO like it was some sacred document, on par with the Declaration of Independence or the Magna Carta. Admittedly, to them, it is; this is the final tally, the true locked-down, here's what you're getting, no going back from here document that itemizes every little thing about the wedding and assigns a cost to it.

Back in February, our wedding coordinator at the time (Danny) offered to put together a preliminary BEO for us so that we could not only start budgeting for the wedding, but also start verifying that all the details that we wanted were correct. At first, I was scratching my head; we've spent months working on this wedding, why would anything be incorrect? I had forgotten my mantra ("everything changes") for a moment, as, once we received this preliminary BEO, I knew I immediately wanted to make changes.

And not just the grammatical errors...

Yes, despite months of planning, we ended up making the following changes to our plans after seeing the preliminary BEO:

• We decided to use the four hours of complementary limousine service for our transportation backstage for our dessert party, instead of as transportation to our Chef's Table dinner at Victoria & Albert's.
• We decided to go with the complementary Mickey and Minnie cake topper after our plans for the Robin Hood & Maid Marian statue fell through (there's a whole other blog post in this one...)
• Girl Scout Fiancée changed what was going to be in her bouquet. 
• We added notes that our officiant (James) is gluten intolerant, and requested a gluten-free cupcake for the wedding and a gluten-free dessert for the dessert party (all of which Disney seemed happy to accommodate).

It's not that many changes, but there are more things on that list than I would have expected. Anyways, we went back and forth with both Danny and our new wedding coordinator, Sarah, until we had all of the details right.

I couldn't resist using this picture for the "back and forth" paragraph.

Once everything was locked in, Sarah sent us a finalized BEO, along with a price breakdown for everything. I was happy to see that we did receive a small credit toward getting the high-resolution photo disc instead of a physical wedding album. There was also one other thing I wasn't expecting, a $250 extra deposit for "any charges that might come up on the day of the wedding." I have no idea what those charges might be, but our wedding coordinator assured us that this deposit, if unused, would be refunded to us after the wedding. Additionally, if any of our family members have their own Epcot park admission (for example, the annual passholders, or anyone that goes to Epcot that day), we'll be refunded the viewing fee for those people.

At that point, Girl Scout Fiancée and I had to print out the BEO, initial and sign every page, and fax it back to Disney Fairytale Weddings. I also sent back a credit card authorization form, and the day that it was received they charged my card for the remaining balance. All in all, it was pretty simple, and now the wedding and dessert party are paid off.

...for the wedding.

For anyone thinking of doing a Disney wedding, I'll share a little bit of financial information: the total cost of our wedding, with dessert party, is probably less than we would pay to have a wedding and a reception here in Seattle. The Escape package, which is the small-wedding package, is very affordable, and I think we are spending more on our hotel stay than we are on the wedding package itself. Don't let cost be a barrier to exploring a Disney wedding; it's more affordable than you might think, at least until you start adding on other amenities.

Some other takeaways for prospective planners:

1. Don't be afraid to ask your wedding coordinator for preliminary estimates for anything. Danny was able to get us both an estimate for the dessert party, and for our BEO, well in advance, and it was a huge help to me in our budgeting.
2. Don't be afraid to ask for something unusual, but be prepared to pay for it. For the wedding cake, we'd heard of people doing a chocolate cake with a peanut butter cup filling; even though that wasn't one of the standard options, Danny looked into it for us and the chef at the Boardwalk gave us the OK for our special request at no charge. However, other special requests (such as the fresh floral on our wedding cake) do come at a price.
3. Don't be afraid to tell your wedding coordinator what you want, and ask them the best way to make it happen. There are a lot of options out there, from transportation to decorations, and your wedding coordinator might know ways to pull things off outside of the standard, rigid packages.
4. By the same token, don't be surprised if Disney refuses certain requests based on your wedding package, especially if you're doing an Escape wedding. We ran into a few issues when finalizing our BEO where our coordinator informed us that a particular option was available to Wishes weddings, but not Escape weddings. Given the amount of flexibility Disney showed with a lot of our requests, I think this is reasonable.
5. Finally, once you've done your initial planning with your wedding coordinator, ask when you can get a preliminary BEO. Having everything itemized and laid out for us really brought everything into focus, and helped us identify the trouble spots we hadn't yet considered (for example, which music selections we need to provide sheet music for).