Tag Archives: American Adventure Rotunda

Fairytale Themes: Cinderella

Posted in Fairytale Themes, The Finer Details by

Our Disneymooner Member and Pixie, Katie, wanted to share her Cinderella Theme for her Disney Wedding:

I always knew that I was a princess. And I always knew that I would have my wedding at Disney. So of course, once I was engaged and everyone was on board with a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding, it was decided that the theme would be Cinderella, but not the character, the aspects of the story instead. We would focus on the slipper and the coach, and focus we did.

Even before our wedding even started, we had our theme in place at my bridal shower, we, of course, needed a coach cake

Cinderella shower cake

For the wedding, we started with our locations at Disney, The American Adventure Rotunda…there is no place that looks more like the castle ballroom in the world, no place else in the world that I could imagine floating across the floor dancing with my own prince charming, my new husband.
Disneymooner AAR

And of course, we needed to add Cinderella’s Coach… there was never any question there…
coach

But it’s the little things that really make a theme…

We chose Cinderella coaches as our centerpieces and used them as ceremony decorations as well

ceremony

And made little slippers on pillows to put in the middle instead of floral

centerpiece_slipper

We had the slipper sorbet

Slipper

The white chocolate slipper dessert
dessert

Our Sparkling Wishes cake had the white chocolate castle topper
cake1

My Swarovski Crystal tiara and jewelry had a hidden coach
tiara

The table cards were held by little coaches
table_cards

We wrapped up slipper bottle openers as our favors
slipper_favor

We had a coach gobo

gobo

We tried to think of every little area that we could tie into the theme and in the end, I truly felt like Cinderella and I did marry my Prince Charming 😉 You can too! If you are a Disney Bride and would like to read my full recaps of my wedding day, join the Forums!

What Theme will/did you have for your Disney Fairytale Wedding?

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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.

A Disney Bride’s Favorite Moment: Katie

Posted in Favorite Moments by

Some of our Disneymooner Forum members have been sharing their favorite moments from their Disney Wedding

by Katie

Disneymooner Favorite Moment

I think that *my* favorite wedding memory was the walking into the American Adventure Rotunda and seeing how beautiful it looked and realizing that all my planning came together just as I always imagined!

Thank you for sharing your favorite moment Katie.  To read more Disneymooner’s favorite moments please visit our forums.

A Fairy Tale Focus: Tara & Chris

Posted in Fairy Tale Focus by

Disneymooner, Tara and her fiance Chris, will be having a Wishes wedding at Disney’s Wedding Pavilion at the Grand Floridian on September 1st 2012. They will be holding their reception at the American Adventure Rotunda at Epcot.

Disneymooners: Can you tell our new members a little about the both of you?

Tara: Chris and I not your average couple and things have not always been so great. I currently work for Limited Brands and Chris is a sergeant for a local police department. I met Chris while working at Kohl’s and he was doing special duty there. He always talked to me and said hi while at work, but I never thought anything of because so did all the other police officers. One day I had mentioned that I was finally moving out on my own, which was close to where he lived, he gave me his number incase I needed anything and things just blossomed from there. Chris is a huge Steelers fan so I go along with him since I didn’t really watch NFL before I met him. We are both huge Disney fans and hope to move to Florida in the next couple of years.

Disneymooners: When did you first decide you wanted to have a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding and why?

Tara: I had been to Disney World many times as a child, but had not gone as an adult until I met Chris. I fell in love with Disney World even if it was during July 4th! I had always joked about wanting a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding after we went, but did not think it was going to happen. I looked at their website and told Chris that I really think we could make it work with their minimums. We looked at some places locally and I felt the prices were going to be comparable. After doing some research, we decided it was going to be a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding.

Disneymooners: Did you have any concerns about having a destination wedding? If so, what were they and how did you work them out?

Tara: Our main concern with a destination wedding is having to planning a wedding so far away. However, we have met with DFTW 3 times in the past year and will meet with our planner again in a couple weeks so it makes things a lot easier. I really do not know what we would have done if we didn’t have some many opportunities to go to Florida and meet face to face.

Disneymooners: How has the reaction of your guests been to a Disney wedding?

Tara: Most people seem to react with a little shock and most of them make the comment that it must be expensive since it is Disney, but we set them straight. Some are excited though because they have never been.

Disneymooners: Any special reason why you chose these locations?

Tara: We were limited to our locations based on our estimate of 100 people, we changed venues a couple times, but glad we settled with this

Disneymooners: Many brides pick a Top 3. These are components that are a non-negotiable. Chiavari chairs, lots of floral, lobster, etc. Tell us about your Top 3!

Tara:

1. Illuminations
2. Chair covers
3. Quick ceremony (hopefully this holds true)

Disneymooners: Do you have any extra magical touches planned? Such as a dessert party or characters?

Tara: Our cocktail hour is going to be at Italy Isola during Illuminations and we are definitely having Mickey and Minnie there.

Disneymooners: How has your planning experience with Disney Fairy Tale Weddings been thus far?

Tara: My planning experience has had its ups and downs so far. I have had a couple planners so far which can sometimes be frustrating when getting shifted around. Also, MK bridal portraits aren’t available anytime around our wedding so it is also frustrating in that aspect when things do not go as plan… However, my current planner is doing a great job and making things go a lot smoother.

Disneymooners: What would you say has been your biggest challenge?

Tara: Our biggest challenge has been making decisions. Chris and I are both easy going, laid back people so trying to make decisions isn’t always the easiest. Decisions are also a challenge because we are just estimating our 100 head count even though we are inviting over 300 guests. Granted I would love for everyone to come, but it will also send our budget sky high.

Disneymooners: Budgets are very important to all of us. Do you have a favorite budget tip that you’ve used and can you tell how it’s helped you?

Tara: Shop around and be patient. We can’t really cut much through DFTW so we had to look at the other things we having. For example, I waited about 5 months from buying my gown and returned to the bridal salon to look for a rehearsal dinner dress and ended up finding the dress I fell in love with 5 months prior on the discontinued rack and it saved us big bucks.

Disneymooners: Have you found it to be easy to plan a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding on your planned budget?

Tara: Yes and no. Honestly I didn’t really come in with a budget, I knew what my parents would pay and anything else Chris and I had to pay for. Chris and I have kept it to the minimum and do not have very many extras so we are comfortable with what we are spending. I also had the passporter’s book which helped give me an idea of what things were going to cost before Disney sent out the BEO.

Disneymooners: Do you have any fun splurges planned for you trip that you’re excited about?

Tara: We are staying in the concierge rooms for 4 our of the 8 days we will be there. Not only that, my bridesmaids will be staying with me in the concierge room for one night and I think it will have them spoiled.

Disneymooners: You have a Planning Journal in progress here, have you found that to be helpful in your journey?

Tara: I love having a planning journal, not only does it allow me to share my ideas and experiences, but it also gives me a place to vent (only sometimes) when DFTW causes stress knowing my fellow disneymooners are there to listen. I also enjoy having a planning journal because I tend to look at the other planning journals and it gives me ideas.

Disneymooners: What are you most looking forward to on the big day?

Tara: I am looking forward to seeing everything put together and the reaction on our guests’ faces.

Disneymooners: Do you have anything else you’d like to share with our new members?

Tara: These boards are full of a lot of information so take your time and look through everything. Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions on here or to your planner.

Tara, the Disneymooners would like to thank you for sharing your experience with us. We are so happy to have you as a part of our community! We look forward to sending you off on your big day. And we can’t wait to hear all about it when you return! All the best~ the Disneymooners