Wishes in Catsablanca: 7.22.13 Epcot Wedding PJ&TR! Updated 03/09/15

Aaah, I just love everything! I'm tearing up as I'm reading! Your vows were beautiful. And the photos, well, spectacular! Everything looks like it was perfect!
 
Time to de-lurk! I've followed your PJ for a little while now (during my dedicated non-engaged lurking of the Wedding boards) but now that I'm engaged myself I feel like I can finally comment! I truly adore everything you've done, and you look simply gorgeous in your dress! DF and I are currently planning an Epcot ceremony as well (Italy) so the last few updates in particular have been very helpful!

Can't wait for more!
Welcome! I did the exact same thing before I was engaged. :lmao: :goodvibes Thank you so much for your lovely comments. I'm glad to be of help and please feel free to ask any questions, if you like!

I am loving reading your TR! your wedding photos literally had me in tears. Congratulations!!!
Aww, thank you so much!!!

Aaah, I just love everything! I'm tearing up as I'm reading! Your vows were beautiful. And the photos, well, spectacular! Everything looks like it was perfect!
Thank you! Everything really was perfectly the way I wanted, I am so pleased with all of it! DFTW (and all our vendors, for that matter) really did a great job of making the vision come to life.

Eeek what timeless beauty. The petals are funny but make for a fantastic photo
Haha, it's so true! You don't really think about what the petals are actually going to feel like, but it's completely worth it. I love the petal toss photos and I'm so glad we did it!
 


The Big Day -- Part Four: Portraits
Groom POV:


Anyway, back outside. We walked back through the gauntlet of rose petals. Most people (rightly) favour the underhand toss, but a few were doing overhand. I'm not sure you get the same spread with the overhand throw, and also some of those petals can be sharp.

We then gathered in front of the museum to do some group photos before our guests were led off to the air-conditioned pre-reception in Monsieur Paul's. Here's an added perk of having both an in-park ceremony and reception: in-park photoshoot included. We had about an hour in between the ceremony and reception, so we took some more photos in and around the France and Morocco Pavilions. I'll throw it to the photos, because they speak for themselves:

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We are increasing the Casablanca references with a fez on Ryan. Love it!

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The Big Day: The Grand Entrance
Groom POV:


Meanwhile, back at Monsieur Paul's, our guests were being treated to fresh fruit, wine and cocktails (including a pink "signature" cocktail we'd asked for at the planning session, but hadn't talked about throughout the BEO, so it was a pleasant surprise to see people walking around with them.) According to our guests, the favours and seating tickets had been placed at each guests seat at the tables already. We'd wanted the escort cards laid out at the entrance for our guests to take themselves, but that didn't really happen. Still, this was one of the few mix-ups of the day, so we didn't make out too badly.

Instead of entering Monsieur Paul from the side entrance, near the exit of the Impressions de France film, they had us enter through the empty Chefs de France restaurant. I love French brasseries and their decor, so it was a minor thrill to walk through it on our own. In the back, at the base of the stairs to Monsieur Paul, we met our first special guest... Marie! She's not that well-known a character (though she's moved from the France Pavilion to the Town Square on Main Street--the big leagues!) and she was more of a character for Nicole, a huge Aristocats fan, and a way to bridge Disney and our Casablanca theme.

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At one point, early in the planning process, we'd considered three character experiences: Mickey and Minnie to enter with us, animatronic Remy during lunch, and Marie during the cake cutting. This eventually morphed into Marie entering and Mickey and Minnie during cake cutting (we never ended up even asking about Remy as an option). It turned out to be the better program. Marie was kind of a starter character to get people into the idea that Disney surprises were going to happen throughout the reception, and primed people for Mickey and Minnie. If they were a little hesitant to approach Marie, they weren't for Mickey and Minnie.

Bride POV:

Well ladies, I was very cagey about the Marie info. This is one of the major reasons why I didn't post any BEO or pricing info in my PJ. I didn't want a single person other than Bryan and I to know about Marie. :goodvibes I actually thought it would be a struggle to get Marie to make an appearance, and it really wasn't. Marie is a frequent visitor to the France pavilion, so having her show up a few steps away in the Parisian restaurant was no big deal at all!

Music cue: "Wouldn't it Be Nice" by the Beach Boys

We entered with Marie to much fanfare, and immediately went into our first dance. DH and I had practiced a foxtrot for our first dance to a Teddy Wilson recording of "Isn't It Romantic," but I hadn't bet on my dress being as cumbersome as it turned out to be, so after almost tripping we ended up slow dancing instead. Oh well!

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Afterwards, Marie stayed to take photos with our guests, and even signed our guestbook. She seemed to think people would just come up to her to take photos, but I think some of the guests were a little hesitant, so I wish Marie would have been a little more proactive and moved about the space a little more to engage guests. But on the bright side we got more photos of us with her!

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Then we set up for a "fake" cake cutting for some photos:

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MARIE! Everything is so charming, and so pretty, and then...MARIE!

And I love the "bonus" Epcot shoot - those pictures look so relaxed and happy!

YAY!
 
Nicole,

I just wanted to say how amazing your wedding turned out! I love it. I think that is so awesome that you had Marie come to the wedding, so fitting :)

I think I've officially changed my mind and I'm going to request Cricket for our MK bridal shoot, all because of your wedding pictures!!

Jodi
 
MARIE! Everything is so charming, and so pretty, and then...MARIE!

And I love the "bonus" Epcot shoot - those pictures look so relaxed and happy!

YAY!
:rotfl: I love your comment! It was so fun to have Marie there!

I'm in love with your wedding!!!
:blush: :blush:

Nicole,

I just wanted to say how amazing your wedding turned out! I love it. I think that is so awesome that you had Marie come to the wedding, so fitting :)

I think I've officially changed my mind and I'm going to request Cricket for our MK bridal shoot, all because of your wedding pictures!!

Jodi
That is so wonderful! You definitely won't regret requesting Cricket, she is so fantastic to work with! And I know I am biased, but I really think she is one of the best - okay, the best - DFAP photographers.
 
The Big Day: The Meal
Bride POV


We sat down at our sweetheart table in the centre of the window-lined wall. DH looked out the window into Epcot and remarked that we wouldn't otherwise know we were in a busy theme park, because it was so peaceful and quiet in the restaurant. If you've seen the previous post with our seating chart, you know the Monsieur Paul dining room is divided into two spaces by a banquette through the centre of the room. We had just enough guests to seat in the bright, window-facing side of the room; another ten guests and we would have had to seat some of them on the darker side of the dining room, away from the rest of the group. It's something to think about if you're considering Monsieur Paul as a possible reception space.

*Spoilers* This won't be a surprise for anyone who's read their share of DFTW trip reports, but if you're having your own DFTW in the future and don't want to have what is a very lovely surprise spoiled for you, skip to the next paragraph.

Spoiler: On our table, was a book-shaped box with "Happily Ever After" printed on the front. Inside, were two gold his and hers wrist watches and a lovely message from our planner, Michelle.

Speeches. There were some really nice things said by all. I don't have any scripts or anything, so you'll have to just enjoy the photographic evidence that they occurred right about here in the day's timeline. Hopefully when my wedding video comes I'll get to relive it all. :lovestruc

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Food! Yums! Food yums! If my top priority for the wedding was photography, for DH, food was at the top of his wedding priorities. Heck, it's at the top of his life priorities all of the time, which is one of the reasons we chose Monsieur Paul instead of a convention venue. Not that you can't get great food from Disney Catering, but Monsieur Paul's is a signature restaurant, and it showed in both the food and the service. Bryan got a great feeling of satisfaction when our guests told us the servers asked them how they wanted their beef tenderloin cooked. You just can't get that from a catered meal.

We started with the famous Soup aux Truffles V.G.E., an oxtail consume with diced vegetables and a generous amount of sliced truffle, baked with a puff pastry dome. This was, by far, my most anticipated dish of the meal and it did not disappoint. I was a little worried that some of our guests might not like the earthiness of the truffle, but it was a universal hit. Even DH's two year-old niece loved it. She's quite a foodie-in-training.

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The second course was a bit of a hit-and-miss. We wanted a salad, and they only had a Roquefort cheese and poached pear salad. I should have known that the Roquefort would be too strong for some palettes, but DH liked it and even finished off my slice of cheese. It should be said that it was a generous slice of Roquefort, but that doesn't help much if you just don't like it.

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The entrees were selected by our guests about a month in advance of the reception, and we conveyed those selections on to our wedding planner. The restaurant also requested that our escort cards indicate each guest's entree selection; we ended up colour-coordinating the selections by printing each entree on a different colour of card stock (pink for beef, blue for fish, yellow for scallop, green for duck.) About half the guests selected the beef tenderloin, with scallops and duck tied for second, and a couple of red snapper and chicken orders. (I did my best to scour as many of our guests' photos as possible to find photos of as many entrees as possible.)

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Free-range chicken ballotine, carrot and sun choke puree, creamy spinach

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Red snapper in potato scales, braised fennel, rosemary sauce

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Grilled beef tenderloin with mushroom crust, mashed potatoes, Bordelaise sauce

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Um... I'm not entirely sure what this is... the mashed potatoes that goes with the beef, perhaps?

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Seared scallops with vegetables, cream of cauliflower, ginger lobster consommé

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Roasted duck breast a lorange, grated potatoes & baby carrots

DH tried a bit of each entree except the beef and he says they were very tasty, very well-prepared, but if he had to choose a favourite, it would be the scallops. The perfectly cooked scallops and the ginger lobster broth tasted very fresh and light. I was worried about the ginger taste being too pronounced, but it was very subtly enhancing the taste of the seafood, as it should be. Everyone who had the beef was very pleased with their choice.

We asked DH's brother and sister-in-law what they wanted as an infant meal for DH's niece. They eventually opted for the adult scallops dish, because they thought she would like the vegetables and lobster broth, and sure enough she did. In fact, they asked their server if they could have a bowl of just the lobster broth because she liked it so much. They said it would need to make it from scratch, and a bowl of broth arrived twenty minutes later.

The service was top-to-bottom great. The servers were all in-house, well-trained in fine-dining service, and they all seemed genuinely thrilled to be serving our wedding. Maybe I'm just projecting, but, as Disney college program students from France, it really felt like they were also getting a unique Disney experience as well. In any case, our guests were very well taken of throughout the entire reception.

With lunch out of the way one of the DFTW assistants approached me and asked if I was ready for my father-daughter dance. This is one of things I wanted to do, but I hadn't really discussed it or practiced or anything like that with my dad. So I was nervous about it.

Music cue: "She Wants to Dance with Me" by Rick Astley

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Towards the last chorus or so, my dad and I broke and I grabbed Bryan to finish up the song.

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And we were right around here when the next song began...
 
The Big Day
Bride POV:


Music cue: "Good Life" by One Republic

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If Marie's reception had been subdued, Mickey and Minnie's reception was wild! In the back of my mind I had been concerned about people not getting into the characters. I was wrong. Getting Mickey and Minnie was probably one of the best choices, it really, really made the whole day. I wouldn't trade those moments for anything. It probably depends on the characters you choose, but I think a pair of characters is a better than a solo character. They took photos together, but they were also able to split up. While one was taking a photo, the other worked the crowd and got everyone involved. Also, it's Mickey and Minnie! They put a smile on everyone's face.

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A little dancing behind us and then we were taken over to the cake table to cut the cake for realzies this time.
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Back to dancing!

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They also took individual shots with lots of our guests, which a lot of people really got into!

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And all too soon we were hugging Mickey and Minnie goodbye. Aww, it really was sad to see them go. My new niece spent the rest of the reception pointing towards to the door where Mickey and Minnie had appeared, trying to convince anyone she could to follow and find them. So cute!

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After Mickey and Minnie's departure, cake was served at our tables. At my plate was the raspberry and white cake and at Bryan's the chocolate with dark chocolate mousse. Both of the flavours were delicious but the raspberry was surprisingly great, and every bit as good as the planning session. I loved our choices. I can't wait until we go back to WDW and I order a recreation. I'm dreaming about it already! CAKE! My only regret here was that we didn't specifically ask for them to serve both flavours to each guest.

Here are a couple photos of the room:

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After cake we went back up the floor for some dancing. My girls and I really got into belting out the Backstreet Boys, not going to lie!

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And then all too soon, Bryan was standing up in front of everyone, thanking them for joining us on our special day...

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... But also reminding them about the Dessert Party later that night. This part of the day was coming to a close, but there was still more fun to come!
 
How did I not comment on the Marie update? I guess you surprised me into silence :rotfl: Love your characters, so creative! And the food looks DIVINE. It's nice to see an Epcot ceremony with a more lunch-y reception (even though I fully plan on doing brunch for my own reception! :thumbsup2)

I can't remember, but did you have a DJ or just an ipod setup? I am like you in that I really want a dance-y reception, but the fact that our reception will be at 11:30am/12:00pm obviously does not lend itself to the dance atmosphere like a dinner does. I know it depends mostly on the guest list (and about half of ours right now is college friends), and I want the Epcot ceremony more than a dance reception, but I'm still worried getting people to dance in the afternoon will be too awkward.
 
How did I not comment on the Marie update? I guess you surprised me into silence :rotfl: Love your characters, so creative! And the food looks DIVINE. It's nice to see an Epcot ceremony with a more lunch-y reception (even though I fully plan on doing brunch for my own reception! :thumbsup2)

I can't remember, but did you have a DJ or just an ipod setup? I am like you in that I really want a dance-y reception, but the fact that our reception will be at 11:30am/12:00pm obviously does not lend itself to the dance atmosphere like a dinner does. I know it depends mostly on the guest list (and about half of ours right now is college friends), and I want the Epcot ceremony more than a dance reception, but I'm still worried getting people to dance in the afternoon will be too awkward.
I know exactly what you mean. We decided to go with an iPod setup because Bryan's family does not dance, not even at night, so it seemed pointless to even consider a DJ with only 50% of the guests even open to dancing. What we did was we bought the Wedding DJ app, which I saw recommended by another Disbride. It worked out really well for us. We picked songs that we wanted to dance to, queued them up and then the app blends them and all that fun stuff. We just had to ask our Best Man if he could press play on the playlists at that right times. And people still danced, especially when Mickey and Minnie were there, but also after they left. Basically the guests just followed my lead (and my MoHs) if we were dancing they joined us so we were all together. That was my experience, and probably if you have guests that are inclined to dance they will just follow your lead and get into the party atmosphere no matter what time of day.
 
I know exactly what you mean. We decided to go with an iPod setup because Bryan's family does not dance, not even at night, so it seemed pointless to even consider a DJ with only 50% of the guests even open to dancing. What we did was we bought the Wedding DJ app, which I saw recommended by another Disbride. It worked out really well for us. We picked songs that we wanted to dance to, queued them up and then the app blends them and all that fun stuff. We just had to ask our Best Man if he could press play on the playlists at that right times. And people still danced, especially when Mickey and Minnie were there, but also after they left. Basically the guests just followed my lead (and my MoHs) if we were dancing they joined us so we were all together. That was my experience, and probably if you have guests that are inclined to dance they will just follow your lead and get into the party atmosphere no matter what time of day.

That's a great idea! That sounds like the perfect app. I don't feel like we really NEED a DJ (and a cheaper iPod setup sounds more attractive) but then I don't know.......good thing we still have a year to decide!
 

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