Category Archives: Featured Venue Fridays

Bridal Shower at the Attic

Posted in Featured Venue Fridays, Reviews by

I’d like to say that I chose The Attic for my bridal shower because it “was my vision” but this wouldn’t be true as my shower venue was chosen for me by some very good friends, who decided to spoil me rotten!

For those that don’t know me, I’m from the UK but a large majority of my wedding guests were American and they were keen to throw me a traditional (well sort of) American shower and who was I to stand in their way. However, unlike most bridal showers mine was to be a few days before our actual destination wedding, close to our wedding venues, so that all our wedding guests could attend.

My two close friends wanted to plan and organize and all they wanted from me was the best time to do it, the rest was up to them.  I gave them full access to my Wedding Planner and he was happy to talk and assist them with their plans. This way our wedding surprises weren’t imaging their shower surprises although it killed me that my Wedding Planner knew more than I did about my own wedding week.

Once the date was picked I really didn’t know anything more. Cinderfella (my husband to be) and I wanted to arrange something for the men whilst us ladies were “showering” so he invited them all to what we referred to as a Groom’s Bath – they went and did a manly thing… had ribs at Tony Romas LOL

I did make one stipulation for my shower and that was that alcohol was served, I refuse to drink tea (remember I have little knowledge of American showers) at a party that was being thrown in my honor.

Just before Noon I got the call from those planning this fab shower that it was to be at The Attic at The Boardwalk…..oooo I was very excited, I had always wanted to see what was in that room above Jellyrolls.

To get to The Attic you have to go through the Lobby at The Boardwalk and then walk through the corridors all the way to The Attic. It’s a long way but you know when you get there because this sign greets you.

You can’t miss the sign!

Once we arrived at The Attic I walked in to see that we had our own hosted bar where the bartender was able to mix any cocktail we wanted I decided to hit the Margaritas for the afternoon but lots of the girls were drinking Daiquiris and Pina Coladas.

The fun part about having a shower this close to our wedding and in Disney was that I got really interact with the girls and hang with them all something I knew I wouldn’t really get the chance to do on our wedding day!

The Attic furnishings are what I would call very “cottage like” wicker chairs, flowery garden patterns in pastels on the furnishings with knickknacks all over the place. The Attic easily fits 50 guests in when using the indoor and outdoor spaces, however you can only use the existing seating.

Inside seating

Tables and chairs are also set up outside so guests can choose to eat inside or outside.

The outdoor space is perfect for Group Photos

We had a buffet laid on for lunch and it was really good, items included an array of salads, cheese plate, crudités and dips as well as hot pasta, chicken and salmon. Topped off with a few desserts. It was over 8 years ago and I don’t recall all the desserts we had but I do know we had plenty of food and it was good quality and tasted good.

I decided that American showers are fun… I enjoyed the games… until that day I didn’t really realize that shower gifts were different to wedding gifts so I was totally overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity, I just felt it was too much given that all our guests had paid lots of $$ to travel to our wedding destination.

The men were allowed to join us for the last half hour of my shower so that the Food and Beverage minimum had been met so we were all tasked by my lovely shower planners to drink more alcohol… well it would have been rude not to!

Our 3 hours were finally up, the bar tender made us all take drinks to go…. LOL it felt like Vegas and we headed back to one of our guest’s 2-bed villas at the Boardwalk to finish the party.

I personally would hold another event at The Attic it’s the sort of space that you can use for an Escape Wedding Party or perhaps a more intimate Wedding Rehearsal brunch or dinner?

To get more ideas on using Disney’s Attic for any part of your Disney Fairytale Wedding be sure to check out the Disneymooner Forums.

Advertisement

Featured Venue Fridays: American Adventure for a Ceremony

Posted in Featured Venue Fridays by

This week’s featured venue post was written by Disneymooner Vanessa.  To read more about her wedding, please go to our private Disneymooner Forums. Vanessa had her wedding ceremony at American Adventure Rotunda followed by a Living Seas reception.

It is hard to pinpoint when I decided I would have a Disney wedding, but I had my mind made up long before I met my husband. I knew about the Disney Wedding Pavilion, but beyond that I did not know anything about having a Disney wedding. After getting engaged I thought that a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding would exceed our budget; however after doing some research I soon discovered that I was wrong.

Once we decided on getting married at Disney I realized that I wanted something different compared to the traditional ceremony. The wedding pavilion is a beautiful place, but it did not fit the quintessential Disney experience that I was looking for in a location. While researching video and photography vendors online I came across a sample video of a wedding inside the American Adventure Rotunda. When I watched it, I instantly fell in love with the location for our ceremony.

My husband and I are very political, so the grandeur of the rotunda reminded me of this connection that we have together. An added bonus was that Epcot is my family’s favorite park. Many of our guests had never been to Disney World prior to our wedding, so I knew the location would completely amaze them.

A lot of brides choose to use this venue for a reception; however the site requires a minimum of 100-150 guests that we would not have been able to meet with our small guest count of only 50. Having our ceremony there allowed us to utilize the space with our small group. The current site venue fee for ceremonies in the American Adventure Rotunda is $2,000 plus tax.

An added bonus to the location is that the Rotunda is Epcot’s only indoor ceremony location. It was great to be able to plan our wedding without being worried about the weather.

There are several tips I learned along the way while planning our ceremony in the Rotunda. First, ask to enter from the side entrance instead of the main doors. Many of the wedding videos I saw of the bride entering into the Rotunda were washed out as they opened the main doors and light flooded in from behind her. I asked for our ceremony to be set up facing the side entrance and our planner had me enter in from inside the National Treasures Exhibit. She also mentioned the option of having me come down the elevator from the Parlor reception venue although that is not what we did in the end.

Another tip is to save on spend your money wisely when it comes to decorating. The rotunda is very ornate, so you do not need to spend a lot of money on added décor. The standard issue chairs that come with the facility rental fee do not blend well with the Rotunda’s background. We decided to pay for chair covers to solve this problem. The covers were more affordable compared to renting completely different chairs.

An important videography and photography tip is to ask your vendors to take photos from the second floor. The aerial view during the ceremony is amazing. In addition, we asked our photographer to take a group photo with all of our guests looking up towards the second floor after the ceremony was over.

There are some limitations in terms of the music offerings that can be used at this location. We paid for a keyboard player which sounded great with the acoustics of the room. One other thing to consider is the time of your wedding. Since the World Showcase does not open to outside guests until 11 a.m. weddings in this area must take place during the morning. We had a 9 a.m. ceremony which meant my day started at 4:30 a.m. Only receptions are allowed at the site in the late evening.

Four years later I would still pick the same ceremony location. The American Adventure Rotunda was the perfect fit for our personality and budget. It gave us an in-park experience that none of our guests will ever forget.

To read more about Vanessa’s wedding join our private forums, including her recaps.

Featured Venue Fridays: Ariel’s

Posted in Featured Venue Fridays by

When I first started planning my Disney Wedding I spent a lot of time searching the internet trying to find out as much as possible about different venues for a Wedding Reception. I was immediately drawn to Ariel’s.

For those that don’t know, Ariel’s is regarded as one of Disney Fairy Tale Wedding’s “Special Venues” located at Disney’s Beach Club this venue used to be an upscale seafood restaurant for Resort guests but sadly closed to the public back in the mid 90’s. However the good news is that it became a space used for Conventions and Weddings.

When I stumbled upon Ariel’s I realized that this special venue came with a lot of pros that was going to keep my wedding budget very much in check. As our wedding ceremony was going to be held at The Yacht Club Gazebo by having my wedding reception at Ariel’s I wasn’t going to have to pay out transportation costs for my guests as Ariel’s is just a short walk from the Gazebo! Not having a ballroom for our wedding reception was important because I needed a venue that our Disneyphile guests couldn’t experience any other time themselves so Ariel’s now had 2 big ticks against it. Finally I wouldn’t have to have to pay extra for DFTW to lay a dance floor because part of the flooring was stone-work perfect for dancing… tick #3 and a done deal!

First Dance at Ariel’s

Ariel’s can accommodate up to 80 guests but we only had just over 40 so we were able to use part of the split-level space as the bar area and for the pre-reception cocktail hour.

“Punch anyone”

We then had a 4-course meal served, although these days I believe DFTW push this venue for buffets only, but our meal was followed by dancing and we had a wonderful afternoon. You could almost see the children from the nearby Stormalong Bay pin themselves to the windows outside eyeing us all with envy as we celebrated our wedding with our special guests …

Room to swing a …. Mouse!

Dance floor below and windows looking out onto Stormalong Bay

I know our guests still talk of how they were lucky enough to enjoy Ariel’s and it worked out to be the perfect wedding reception venue for us…. and given that we always vacation back at Walt Disney World every year we’re also lucky enough to walk by Ariel’s and give each other that knowing smile, when we hear other resort guests say to each other “oooo I wonder how you get to eat in there?”

Thank you for allowing me to share some of our wedding reception highlights with you all.  For more information on Ariel’s, including pricing minimums, site specific restrictions and wedding recaps please visit the Disneymooner Forums.

Featured Venue Fridays: The Boardwalk – Marvin Gardens

Posted in Featured Venue Fridays by

This week’s Venue review is written by Disneymooner Dereka. To read more about her wedding and read her recaps, please go to our private forums.

If you’re looking for a reception venue that finds itself among the hustle-and-bustle of a 1940’s Atlantic City seashore, look no further than those at Disney’s Boardwalk Resort. Rooms are available for both large and small parties.

The beautiful St. James room seating up to 100 people has an additional benefit-you can have your cocktail party outside on the patio.

My own wedding was located in the Marvin Gardens room, which is slightly smaller than the St. James’ room, but these rooms can get split into three separate sections and Marvin Garden’s room was perfect for our intimate group of 10 people.

The ballrooms at the Boardwalk are a soft pink, which may or may not enhance your decor. It worked perfectly with the pink-and-silver theme that I used.

All the ballrooms at this location are very close to  The Boardwalk itself and a reason that many brides choose this location. There are many fun & unique photo options available!

The Boardwalk Resort is also right next to the beautiful Sea Breeze point, which could cut down on your transportation costs as your guests can walk directly from the ceremony to the reception. Imagine the look on your guests faces when they see Cinderella’s carriage coming around Crescent Lake!

Did you choose The Boardwalk for your wedding reception? What rooms did you use? We’d love to hear from you.

Featured Venue Fridays: Sunset Pointe

Posted in Featured Venue Fridays by

This week’s Venue review is written by Disneymooner Beth. To read more about her wedding and read her recaps, please going our private forums.

Everyone who is planning a Disney wedding has a reason for why Disney was the perfect place for them. Everyone who has had or is planning a Disney wedding has a reason for why they picked their location and here is mine.

We knew from the get go that we wanted a small wedding. My husband does not like being the center of attention so we decided to focus on our families and to pick a place that they might want to go to. We explored options in Colorado, California, but my heart kept coming back to Disney in Florida. After quite a bit of discussion and pricing we decided to make it a go.

Once we knew for sure we wanted to get married at Disney we had to decide on a wedding location. There were so many amazing choices from those that were in the park, to the Wedding Pavillion, to several of the resorts. We sat down and started really talking about our vision. My husband and I are both very laid back people. We knew that a suit or tux was not really his style so I ruled out places that seemed very formal to me like the Wedding Pavillion. Then I saw a picture of Sunset Pointe and I went that’s it. For us Sunset Pointe was perfect for so many reasons. It was at the Polynesian which is where we were going to be staying. It seemed very romantic to me with the palm trees around a path that was isolated. It had a view of the castle, I don’t think any explanation is needed there LOL! I had many fond memories from growing up of walks around the Poly with my family so really for me it was perfect. My husband agreed with me absolutely that it was right for us.

Our wedding trip was going to be his first trip every to Disney so the day we arrived we went straight to Sunset Pointe so he could actually see it. We walked slowly up the path with the excitement of knowing that in a day or so this place would have a permanent place in our heart. Once we reached the top we sat down for a little while to soak it all in.

Escape Wedding at Sunset Pointe

Disneymooner photo by Chapman Photography

Looking back now seven years later there is no possible way I would have changed our location because it did truly represent us, who we were, and who we wanted to be.

So why did you choose your location? What about it made it perfect for you?