Meg & Ryan's Escape Wedding

[andeesings]

Can I just say you and I have VERY similar taste??? I'm sad you returned the pink Vera, because I'm obsessed with that gown, but the new one you chose is STUNNING! It's so unusual and seems so fresh and modern with the gold floral detail. It's just so beautiful!! Congrats!!

 

[Summer Daydream]

I love the new dress. I like that you take risks with colors in the dress. I'm not brave enough to do that lol.
I have had no problem with Ohana. I booked it myself. I am aware we are going to be at separate tables but I am requesting to try to be sitting to next each other. I have an email out to the manager so hopefully I hear soon. We picked the first seating for dinner 5:00 so hopefully that can be managed.
Yes, the welcome dinner is pay for yourself if you want to come. Since we are not having a rehearsal there is no obligation to pay for a rehearsal dinner. I sent them the menu and prices and told them that they could come if they wanted and see the menu for approximate cost to your family. (Obviously, I worded it a lot more politely.)

 

[Aschenputtel]

I love the last one of your engagement pics! I think it's great how you two express yourselfs! DF and I met at a ballroom dancing class, so I'm planning to do some dancing shots as engagement (and maybe wedding) pics.
To the dress: I'm also very afraid that this could happen to me, because there are so many beautiful dresses out there! I mean how should one manage to only choose one? But I have to say that I adore both of your choices. As said before, it's really great how you integrate the different colours!
It's really admirable how calm you stay with all those construction going on and the change of plans. That a location can change the whole wedding vision is totally understandable and I'm excited to see how it'll turn out!

 

[PrincessSoshi]

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. So I thought I would go ahead and post everything that I've learned about Escape weddings so far, to help future brides with their planning.

-Definitely book your date as early as you can. Because I changed my mind and it was closer to the date, I was limited on the dates and times I could choose.
-You are aloud to change your date, time, and location. Don't be afraid of asking.
-With the Escape wedding you are given a planning kit to fill out.
-You can pick more colors than are presented to you in your kit for your flowers with no extra charge.
-In the charming decor package for sea breeze point, the "basket of flowers" is not for a flower girl (which is what I thought at first), it's for a staged exit and your guests take a hand full and throw them.
-Although the kit says each bottle of champagne only serves 6 people, my planner says they can stretch the 2 bottles that come with your package to serve 20 people for toasting. You can also request extra bottles of champagne for $62 per bottle and they will put them as bill on consumption. Which means that if you don't open the extra bottles you can return them and they give you your money back. Or you can have the extra bottle sent to your room for later.
-The elegant scrolls cake does not come with fondant on it. All other cakes come with fondant normally, but when they serve it to your guests they take the fondant off and re-sculpt it with icing.
-If you don't want a violinist to play your music and you would prefer to have a song off an ipod or cd, you are allowed to bring your own ipod and speaker and have a friend run it. Otherwise an ipod and speaker set up would cost you $400.
-You can have outside floral for bridesmaids bouquets and boutonnieres, or do them yourself.
-They can take any floral decor that disney has provided for you at your ceremony and move it to your disney restaurant for dinner for a $30 fee.
-The Wedding Pavilion cake cutting ceremony is no longer held at commander's terrace. You may request a certain space for it to be held at but there are no guarantees and you don't know where it will be until a few weeks before the event. It must be held at the Grand Floridian Resort.
-Escape brides can trade the album and photos that comes with their package and get an archival disc for $500. Photos that come on an archival disc can be printed up to 20"x30". You will receive, on the disc, all your wedding pictures and any pictures taken for a bridal portrait session or at your dessert party.

Dessert Party
-Canada overlook is the place for Escape brides to have a dessert party.
-If you want to wear bridal attire to the Dessert Party you must book it through DFTW.
-If you want to pick a different location for your Dessert Party you can go through Disney catering, but you can't wear bridal attire.
-If you wear bridal attire to your Dessert Party the bride and groom must have transportation to and from the party. A town car costs $30 (tax & gratuity included) for a one way trip.
-Guests are allowed to enter through the side entrance of Epcot, escorted by a DFTW's person. Or if you'd prefer to get transportation for your guests, a van that seats 8 people costs $40 (tax & gratuity included) for a one way trip.
-Dessert Party Food- you can choose from pre done menus with specific prices that they will send you or create your own by picking things from menus or anything else you want, then a chef will come up with a per person price.

Restaurants for your dinner
-The Passporters guide was very helpful because they have all the prices for food & beverage minimums, numbers of people you can have, and pretty much everything you need to make a decision on a restaurant.
-I was considering Kimonos as a possible restaurant so I thought I'd give you all some info on that, because it's hard to find unless you call. They can accommodate a group of 20 people in a semiprivate area or a group of up to 25 people but there will be some other guests around you. The food and beverage minimum is $1500. They only really have platters of sushi and asian salad.
-The Yachtsman Steakhouse, which I have chosen for my dinner. They have semiprivate dinning for 16 people, otherwise they can make multiple reservations and seat you at tables next to each other. There is a dress code for normal guests, which is: Men may wear khakis, slacks, jeans or dress shorts and collared shirts; and sport coats are optional. Women may wear Capri pants, skirts, dresses, jeans or dress shorts. So my thinking is that the guests around you will not be too informal.

That's all I can think of to let you know about Escape Weddings. Hope that helps some brides out there.

 

[Aschenputtel]

Wow, I didn't know that there is only one DP location for Escape brides, if you want to wear your wedding attire. Do you know if this also applies when you add a full dinner to the DP?

Moreover thank you for your great information on the Escape package! I think it's really important that you're not afraid to ask.

 

[PrincessSoshi]

Favors
So we are getting a decor package that comes with chocolate favors, but I also have purchase Disney trading pins as favors for my guests. I purchased 25 trading pins from ebay for $20. I plan on trading a few of them for ones my guests would like.

Invitations
I customized and ordered invitations online at zazzle.com. Since I got some that were a little plain I decided to cut and add paper to it and create a gate fold invitation. The colors didn't come out so great in the pictures below, it's supposed to be navy blue paper with off white textured paper glued on that with light pink ribbon tied around it. The total cost of these 12 invitations was $35.65.

 

[PrincessSoshi]

Wow, I didn't know that there is only one DP location for Escape brides, if you want to wear your wedding attire. Do you know if this also applies when you add a full dinner to the DP?

Moreover thank you for your great information on the Escape package! I think it's really important that you're not afraid to ask.

I'm not sure. When I asked if I could add hot food to my DP, because I was just thinking of eating food all at once, they told me I couldn't add hot food. They didn't say why though.

 

[Aschenputtel]

I thought you could add a full meal? Don't know where I got it from, but I was pretty sure it was an option?

 

[Aschenputtel]

And your invitations look great! Like they're cut out right off a fairy tale book!

 

[PrincessSoshi]

I thought you could add a full meal? Don't know where I got it from, but I was pretty sure it was an option?

When I was reading stuff I'm pretty sure it said you could add a full meal, but then they told me I couldn't. But I'm not sure if it's different because I'm an escape wedding or because I'm going through DFTW and not Disney Catering. I guess the only way to know for sure is to ask your specific wedding planner, because I've heard people getting told conflicting things about other stuff and the only difference is the wedding planners I think or time(rules change over time). For example I remember reading one bride was forced to get transportation for her guests to the DP, another had to fight to get them to let her guests walk in to the DP, but when I asked my planner he said absolutely no problem my guests could walk in.

And your invitations look great! Like they're cut out right off a fairy tale book!

Thanks. I do really love the fairytale story theme, it fits well with a disney wedding.

 

[Aschenputtel]

So:
Carrie just answered on another thread (Help with the Escape package) that you can have a full dinner. I told her about your experiences - let's see what she says.
I think you're right and it really depends on your planner and if they just changed the rules or something.

 

[Aschenputtel]

Hi again!

Carrie just posted her answer:

Well, a full dinner and a dessert party are two different things. If you want a full dinner, you get the space for longer and you pay much higher food and beverage minimums. A dessert party lasts one hour, has lower food and beverage minimums, and you can add a limited selection of hot and cold savory foods if you want—many brides here have done that. But it's not a sit-down meal. Hope this helps!

So maybe you couldn't hold a full dinner at the Escape space?

Looking forward to hear more of your plans!

Cheers,
Katharina

 

[jennyst]

Amazing story! I have yet to meet someone like you guys have, I hope you enjoy the rest of your lives together!

 

[PrincessSoshi]

Kinda had a little freak out this weekend. So about a week ago, like the day after I spoke to my wedding planner on the phone and we were finalizing my DP menu, he emails me saying he has gotten a job doing wishes weddings now and he is passing me off to another person. He also said we could all talk on the phone together to reassure me everything has been passed to the new planner. Which sounds good to me and I emailed him back right away and then heard nothing for 5 days. After I was freaking out a little this weekend I finally just emailed my new wedding planner. She got back to me yesterday and she is going to call me today to go over any concerns I have. So all in all crisis averted.

Just realized my wedding is in 60 days!

 

[Aschenputtel]

I would have freaked out too, but congrats on staying so calm. I think no bride likes the change of her planner during the real planning process. It's sad that Wishes gets more attention although it seems to me that you could easily spend the same amount of money!

 

[PrincessSoshi]

I know I haven't posted in a while, I've just been busy getting details taken care of and work always gets in the way. But I finally have all my accessories and I'm ready to share them with you all.

So as usual it was difficult for me to decide on what shoes I wanted to wear. I really wanted to wear heels, but I couldn't find any that had a lower heel and I really loved. I thought about wearing a big heel for the first half and then switching to flats, because I realized my wedding will last about 8 hours. I know that seems like a long time but I will explain the schedule later. I wasn't too keen on wearing heels on the boardwalk either, afraid of getting my heel stuck in a crack. So in the end I decided that I would wear flats if I could find a unique style that I loved. I ended up finding a shoe that looks like a ballet slipper, which I love because I have been dancing for most of my life (like 20 years). They are a little plain so I am going to add a Star Trek symbol to each shoe, like a shoe clip, because I'm a total geek for Star Trek. Here is a picture below, but I haven't added the Star Trek clip yet.

My next accessory is a tiara. Of course if I'm getting married at Disney World I have to wear a tiara. I really liked this one I found at David's Bridal. It was mainly flower shapes and it had pearls and sparkle, it also had a slight tiara point shape but not too big. The problem was it was $130 and there was no way I was paying that much. Luckily I found a David's Bridal tiara on Ebay for $50 and it looks almost identical except the pearls are more pinkish, which is actually kinda perfect. Here is the tiara I bought:

Last but not least is my jewelry. I make jewelry as a side business, so of course it was no problem to make my own wedding jewelry. It was really cost effective too, only cost me about $8. I went with pearls to keep it a vintage look. So here is my necklace and my earrings, sorry the pictures aren't very good. The necklace pearls are really more pinkish, but the photo is kinda blown out.

 

[PrincessSoshi]

So when you are planning your escape wedding you will have to fill out a planning kit and email it to your planner. Some things you can't write on your kit so when speaking with your planner they will make notations of all the things you want. Here are some of the things it will ask you and what I had in my planning kit:

• Resort: We plan to stay for 4 nights at the Beach Club Resort, 4 nights is a requirement with an escape wedding.
• How many guests have you invited: We have invited 18 guests, which is the maximum you can invite with an escape wedding.
• Name of officiant you have booked for your ceremony: I am having my uncle be our officiant, he got ordained online for free. If you choose someone not on their preferred vendor list then that person will count as one of your guests.
• Floral Choices: I choose the classic rose bouquet in 1/2 ivory & 1/2 light pink, with a ivory rose boutonniere for the groom.
• Enhancements-Personal Floral: You can add sparkly things to your bouquet, but I decided against it. I did decide to add light pink bountonnieres for the groomsmen because they were only $11 each, but I decided we are going to make our own bridesmaids bouquets because I'm not paying $100 for each one.
• Enhancements-Ceremony Decor: We are getting the Sea Breeze Point Charming Package for $680.
  Which gives us:
  -Tulle swagging for archway with 3 floral cluster in light pink & ivory with navy blue accents
  -Light pink & ivory rose petals sprinkled on the aisle
  -White chair covers with alternating navy and light pink sashes
  -Basket of light pink & ivory rose petals for staged exit
  -Chocolate minnie and mickey favors
• Photography: You receive up to two hours of coverage and a 20 print album
• Enhancements-Photography/Videography: You can do all kinds of upgrades with photo albums and video packages. We decided to swap our album for the archival DVD, which means we will receive all our photos digitally on a DVD and we can print up to 20x30, all for $500. I think it is totally worth it because we we get all of our pictures, so about 100 more than we were going to get, and they are already digital so I don't have to scan them into the computer.
• Cake Choice: We chose the Elegant Scrolls cake, because it doesn't come with fondant, and instead of the flowers that come with it we are swapping them for light pink sugar roses as seen on the Lady Catherine cake. We are doing marble cake, chocolate and vanilla so everyone is happy, with white chocolate mousse filling.
• Beverages: We chose the 2 bottles of Sparkling Wine, but you could also choose to have 4 bottles of Sparkling Cider or 1 Sparkling Wine and 2 Sparkling Ciders.
• Enhancements-Food/Beverage: We chose to add 1 bottle of Sparkling Wine so we could make sure we have enough for everyone. You can add a fancy cake topper or soft drinks and juice in this section also.
• Transportation: In this section they ask the groom's pick up location, the bride's pick up location, and the final destination following the event. All so the limo will know where to pick up and drop you off. The package includes 4 hours of limo service, so we are using it from 12:45-4:45pm.
• Enhancements-Transportation: This section is where you can upgrade your limo, like to the Cinderella Coach. We decided we didn't want to spend extra money on this.
• Music: This is the section where you write down all your music selections for your ceremony. They give you a list of songs you can pick from that the violinist already knows, but you can pick any song and provide sheet music. We are actually bringing our own Ipod and speaker set up. I'm going to buy the UE Boom speaker because it has the best sound I've ever heard, saw it at an outside party at friends house.

So that's everything from my planning kit. Hope that helps some people better understand the escape package. As soon as I finish all the little details on my BEO I will post it on here so you guys can see what it looks like.

 

[Aschenputtel]

Thank you for the time you put in sharing all of this information! This is very helpful for future brides (like myself).
The jewelry you got is so cute - I wish I had the skills to create my own! And you will look like a real princess with the tiara!

 

[disneyfun15]

This is great info!! Thanks so much for sharing! We are also planning an Escape wedding at SBP!

This is super exciting!

 

[PrincessSoshi]

So normally in an Escape Wedding you can only have 20 people including the bride and groom. It's about a month away and my mom now asked me if my aunt can invite her boyfriend to my wedding that she has been dating for a few months. Normally I would be like "hell no", but I really don't care at this point. I told my mom he can't come to the ceremony but I would ask if we are allowed to add one more person to the dessert party list. So that means he could come to the dinner and dessert party. Everything I have seen online says the planner will say no.

Actually she said yes, she just had to clear it with her director first. So she went ahead and added the viewing few and food cost to the BEO.

As I was talking this over with the DF I realized that I remember reading that if I have 21 or more guests at my dinner at the Yachtsman Steakhouse then I have to order off the group menu and it comes with a $1500 min. (do they have an emojii for banging your head against the wall?)LOL. So I now must contact the restaurant and see if they will make me order off a group menu. If they do then I will have to tell my aunt she can't invite him and I will have to bother my planner again and tell her to take the person and cost off the BEO. Well that's annoying!

I'm not sure if it is mean or not but I don't want to pay an extra $500 to get one person in for dinner that I don't even know. And I don't really like the group menu.