Trip Report Our Fairytale Wedding

Hello! Several months have passed since we said "I do" at the most magical place on earth, but we are just finally wrapping up all of our post-wedding tasks and have gotten all the photos and videos back etc so I think it's finally time I put it to a trip report!

When: December 9-18, 2021
Where: Walt Disney World
Why: Wedding!!
Resorts: Saratoga Springs, Bay Lake Tower, Contemporary Resort and Beach Club Villas
Main Characters: Maci & Jimmy (bride and groom to be!)
Supporting Cast: Our four kids, Jimmy's family, Maci's family, Wedding Party, childhood friends, distant relatives - it's a big wedding y'all!

I'll start with some backstory. We got engaged on my 30th birthday trip to WDW back in 2019. It was a picture perfect moment, just the two of us in a near empty Epcot. My now-hubby always knew how important Disney was to me and that we'd be getting married there, but other than that I was open to most of the other details. After enjoying the rest of our trip for my birthday with our friends (there were 12 of us in total, it was great!), we looked at calendars and planned a date of 2/12/21, giving us over a year to save and plan for our perfect day. As you all well know, 2020 threw the world for a loop and Disney got hit hard, in October of 2020 we had to make the tough call to postpone our wedding due to all the intense restrictions on weddings through Disney Fairytale Weddings and social distancing protocols. Our new date was 12/12/21 - a new month, a new season, but thankfully, not a new year!

Our initial plan was to get married at the Yacht Club Wedding Gazebo since I used to work at Yacht Club it was special to me, and then we'd move to a ballroom there for the reception. But with December weather potentially being cold, we wanted an indoor ceremony location and with more time to save, we upgraded our reception location as well! So our wedding in December 2021 was honestly nothing like we planned and pictured for the first year of our engagement. We changed just about everything

My hubby has four kids and quite a large family, so around our wedding events we also made a little Disney vacation for them and did our best to split time between wedding stuff and family vacation stuff, so there will be a bit of both throughout this TR.

Welcome along, and I look forward to sharing it with you all!

 

[MagicalMaci]

Our Fairytale Wedding Day 4 Part 6b: The Ceremony Details

They forgot to take the protective backing off this before setting it out which super bummed me out. It was supposed to be clear.

Alter arrangement

Unity candle & intense look of focus trying to light it

When I came in

I love my girls

okay one more of my super cute flower girls

this one wouldn't fit in the normal ceremony post but I love it​

 

[MagicalMaci]

Our Fairytale Wedding Day 4 Part 7: Photo Break

We hid in the bridal suite for a few minutes while our guests made their way to the charter busses we had to provide. If you didn't make this transportation, you weren't getting to the rest of our wedding! We didn’t do any sort of staged exit because it is a time suck and also most of the options I like (bubbles was my top contender) look better in daylight. The charter busses were supposed to have everyone get off and go through security at International Gateway and then get back on the bus to enter backstage near America. But we found out that never happened and Disney just had a K-9 unit backstage for security so it was much easier on our guests.

We went back into WP for a few more photos and then out to Picture Point for some fireworks shots. Our ceremony was at 7:30pm and Enchantment tonight was at 8 I believe so it worked out perfectly for us.

These are some of my favorite photos of the whole night.

Once we finished up our photos we got in the limo and headed over to Epcot. It was just the two of us in the limo this time and it was a nice little moment to ourselves but also so cool to be driven backstage Epcot in a limo! They had bottles of water on ice in the limo which was super nice so we hydrated and just decompressed for a sec. I checked my email to find we already had the family photos from the day prior and was so impressed! We arrived backstage Epcot and saw the last of our guests walking into the park, I was surprised we were that close behind them! We walked through to Italy Isola and since the park was still open we were greeted with so many “congratulations“ on the short walk over. It was surreal.

 

[erstwo]

I am just LOVING everything about this! It's like an even better version of Disney's fairytale weddings. So many wedding photos that are just 'wow'. Stunning! And your flower girls are/ were adorable.

 

[MagicalMaci]

I am just LOVING everything about this! It's like an even better version of Disney's fairytale weddings. So many wedding photos that are just 'wow'. Stunning! And your flower girls are/ were adorable.

I tried to convince Jimmy we should apply for the show so we could get extra pixie dust for the wedding, but he vetoed the idea of being on TV immediately!

 

[LisaBelle]

All I can say is Wow! What an amazing wedding! Everything was gorgeous! Loved all the lead up events! Photos are stunning! Congratulations!

 

[DryerLintFan]

Our Fairytale Wedding Day 4 Part 7: Photo Break

We hid in the bridal suite for a few minutes while our guests made their way to the charter busses we had to provide. If you didn't make this transportation, you weren't getting to the rest of our wedding! We didn’t do any sort of staged exit because it is a time suck and also most of the options I like (bubbles was my top contender) look better in daylight. The charter busses were supposed to have everyone get off and go through security at International Gateway and then get back on the bus to enter backstage near America. But we found out that never happened and Disney just had a K-9 unit backstage for security so it was much easier on our guests.

We went back into WP for a few more photos and then out to Picture Point for some fireworks shots. Our ceremony was at 7:30pm and Enchantment tonight was at 8 I believe so it worked out perfectly for us.

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These are some of my favorite photos of the whole night.

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Once we finished up our photos we got in the limo and headed over to Epcot. It was just the two of us in the limo this time and it was a nice little moment to ourselves but also so cool to be driven backstage Epcot in a limo! They had bottles of water on ice in the limo which was super nice so we hydrated and just decompressed for a sec. I checked my email to find we already had the family photos from the day prior and was so impressed! We arrived backstage Epcot and saw the last of our guests walking into the park, I was surprised we were that close behind them! We walked through to Italy Isola and since the park was still open we were greeted with so many “congratulations“ on the short walk over. It was surreal.

Wait, that’s so cool you got to go into Epcot in your wedding dress! I thought that wasn’t allowed during park hours for some reason because on the show they said MK had to be shut down. Looking forward to the rest of the TR! The after ceremony pictures are so pretty!

 

[MagicalMaci]

All I can say is Wow! What an amazing wedding! Everything was gorgeous! Loved all the lead up events! Photos are stunning! Congratulations!

Thank you so much!

Wait, that’s so cool you got to go into Epcot in your wedding dress! I thought that wasn’t allowed during park hours for some reason because on the show they said MK had to be shut down. Looking forward to the rest of the TR! The after ceremony pictures are so pretty!

MK is a different beast when it comes to wedding stuff. If you don't plan through DFTW you can't go into any parks in any wedding attire at any time. I had to be escorted through the public areas, I couldn't go off on my own!

 

[MagicalMaci]

Our Fairytale Wedding Day 4 Part 8: Cocktail Hour

We had Italy Isola reserved for our event which is a beautiful location on its own but was so nice to have all to ourselves. There were a few tables set up and of course we had an open bar and park-inspired food for everyone to nibble on.

Our planner greeted us and immediately asked what we wanted to drink and went to get us drinks and a plate of all our food selections. It was so nice to be taken care of like that! I felt like a princess. (there was a LOT of drama with the DFTW team leading up to the event, so to feel taken care of was a big sigh of relief.) One of those things is the DFTW team would not "touch or handle" any of our stuff. So we had two WONDERFUL friends whom I love so much for volunteering to do this, head right over to our reception location and they set up the escort cards, guest book and memorial table, and went and sprinkled the Hershey kisses on all the tables. They made it back with plenty of time before the fireworks, but I was still so worried about this whole situation and them missing out.

​

The food was the first hiccup of the night. I don’t think our guests noticed but of course we did. The beef skewers (inspired by Morocco festival offerings) were supposed to have a white sauce which was forgotten completely. And our chicken teriyaki bao buns (Inspired by I think Japan F&W booth) were “upgraded” to beef, only it was cheeseburger beef not teriyaki! And we already were serving cheeseburger spring rolls (MK inspired) so that was a disappointment. They gave us little chicken dumplings to compensate which were good but not what I wanted. The food was overall really good though and everyone enjoyed it.

Disney is also great about dietary restrictions, so I knew all of our guests would be taken care of all night. Our pescatarians loved the food they were given, shrimp skewers at the least. But our gluten free guest was just given a stack of beef skewers, they didn’t make anything special GF for her which was a disappointment. I was told they could make the cheeseburger spring rolls vegan for my vegan and vegetarian friends as well, but never got a report back from my guests on those.

Our signature cocktail was also a huge hit at cocktail hour. It was “at last I see the light” but really just a Dad's Electric Lemonade from Tune-In Lounge at Hollywood Studios (my favorite Disney drink!). I was so glad I paid for the glow cubes because they really made it fun. I hope everyone took them home as souvenirs because we certainly had extras!

I wanted to make rounds but my feet were so tired so I ended up plopping down at a table and letting people come to me. It was so great to catch up with friends and family from near and far!

Our guests were having a great time just being in Epcot and hanging out on this beautiful Florida evening. Just before the fireworks we were pulled away to set up for photos. Jimmy had never seen Harmonious and he wasn’t about to

but our guests all got the perfect view and were blown away! I didn’t explicitly tell people there would be fireworks at cocktail hour so there was a lot of surprise! We posed our way through the fireworks and got what I think are some amazing photos to commemorate the evening!

Everyone had a great view!

​

 

[MagicalMaci]

Our Fairytale Wedding Day 4 Part 9: Harmonious Photos

These pictures are so special to me. Fireworks were my MUST HAVE and when Disney delayed bringing them back as we were planning the wedding I was devastated. I considered going off property multiple times if I wasn't going to get fireworks. When they announced they were coming back it was such a huge sigh of relief. I also LOVE Harmonious. I was there on Oct 1st when it premiered and just was blown away (I know reviews are mixed, but I like it okay?) I felt like such a princess being on the bridge on my own with Jimmy, and we did our best to have fun and enjoy the atmosphere as we posed away. It's not often you get to watch fireworks in Disney without a crowd of people in your personal space. We got so many great photos it is hard to pick a few favorites to share with you.

 

[MagicalMaci]

Oh also I found out how to link from Tik Tok so you can see the getting ready little thing we did!

 

[cfry06]

Our Fairytale Wedding Day 4 Part 9: Harmonious Photos

These pictures are so special to me. Fireworks were my MUST HAVE and when Disney delayed bringing them back as we were planning the wedding I was devastated. I considered going off property multiple times if I wasn't going to get fireworks. When they announced they were coming back it was such a huge sigh of relief. I also LOVE Harmonious. I was there on Oct 1st when it premiered and just was blown away (I know reviews are mixed, but I like it okay?) I felt like such a princess being on the bridge on my own with Jimmy, and we did our best to have fun and enjoy the atmosphere as we posed away. It's not often you get to watch fireworks in Disney without a crowd of people in your personal space. We got so many great photos it is hard to pick a few favorites to share with you.

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Just stunning! all of your photos are incredible, and it looks like the most special, beautiful day/night! You look stunning! Thank you for sharing these special moments with us all.

 

[JamieLee18]

Your wedding photos are so beautiful!

 

[cgersic]

WOW!!!! What a beautiful wedding!! Everything about it is just stunning and I can't imagine your excitement when you saw all of these photos for the first time. Amazing. My niece (who is now married and pregnant with baby 2) and I went at Disney together before she got married and were walking between the GF and the Poly and on a whim, I tried the gate to the Wedding Pavilion and to our amazement - it was open! We went in and there were some boys playing around on the organ, but we got to take a tour of the whole thing and took photos where the 2 of you are standing. I can't imagine how special that was!! That bridal suite was just out of this world beautiful. Congratulations again on all of it!!

 

[joshsprincess921]

I know I keep saying this but WOW! I'm blown away by your pictures. Gorgeous! So Magical

 

[MagicalMaci]

Just stunning! all of your photos are incredible, and it looks like the most special, beautiful day/night! You look stunning! Thank you for sharing these special moments with us all.

Thank you so much!

Your wedding photos are so beautiful!

Thank you!

WOW!!!! What a beautiful wedding!! Everything about it is just stunning and I can't imagine your excitement when you saw all of these photos for the first time. Amazing. My niece (who is now married and pregnant with baby 2) and I went at Disney together before she got married and were walking between the GF and the Poly and on a whim, I tried the gate to the Wedding Pavilion and to our amazement - it was open! We went in and there were some boys playing around on the organ, but we got to take a tour of the whole thing and took photos where the 2 of you are standing. I can't imagine how special that was!! That bridal suite was just out of this world beautiful. Congratulations again on all of it!!

Isn't it a magical place?! We had decided on it before ever actually being inside in person, then when we went down for our menu tasting we were able to pop in and even without any decor it is just so lovely!

I know I keep saying this but WOW! I'm blown away by your pictures. Gorgeous! So Magical

Thank you so much

 

[MagicalMaci]

Our Fairytale Wedding Day 4 Part 9: The Reception Part 1 - Special Dances

The park was closed now that the fireworks had concluded, but guests were still everywhere as fireworks just ended so another short walk feeling like celebrities over to the American Pavilion.

The time has finally come to party! It was probably about 10:30ish by the time everyone got into American Adventure Rotunda and settled down. There’s a little room on the side that they held us in so we could be formally introduced and we had some water and a coordinator bustled my dress and then I finally had to pee. Let’s just say it took 3/4 bridesmaids and a lot of laughs so that I could tinkle in my wedding dress

also the restrooms are the ones to the left of the pavilion that are also used by regular park guests and the rest of our wedding guests, so I'm sure they all got an earful as we tried to figure that one out.

Memorial table (I unfortunately didn't get a better picture of it, this was from a guest) and first glimpse into the space. The Memorial Table, Escort Card Table and Guest Book Table were all in the foyer before you enter the rotunda. I wish we would have gotten photos of them since they were cute set ups (I think the photographers took room pics before my friends had set up the things), but lesson learned on that one.

Finally we were introduced and went into our first dance. We took dance lessons but it wasn’t officially choreographed. No one said much about it and I haven’t seen the full video of it so I’m assuming we didn’t do a great job

our song was All of Me by John Legend.

Then I went into my grandfather-granddaughter dance, when I was little my grandpa wrote “Maci's Song” and I gave it to my DJ to play for us. I didn’t tell him this was coming and he was sooo surprised. He sang to me on the dance floor and it was such a special moment. I heard there were lots of tears in the crowd at this point too. My grandpa is so important to me and has supported all my dreams all my life so it meant a lot to me to have those special few minutes with him.

I then danced with my dad to Have I Told You Lately and I was surprised that my dad is a great dancer! Since it’s a long song Jimmy and his mom joined for their dance about halfway through. They were another few special moments and finally it was time for dinner!

I didn't love a lot of the dancing photos when I first saw them, but looking back now we actually got quite a few that I really love (more than I could fit in one post). We just look so happy as do our parents

Also what is great about this space is it has the built in "dance floor" space so no need to pay for a dance floor, and since it was December all the holiday décor was already up so we saved a lot on floral and décor by just leaning into what was already there (the Christmas Tree was simply moved behind our table to block the gingerbread box and the bunting along the balcony was already up!).

 

[MagicalMaci]

Our Fairytale Wedding Day 4 Part 9: The Reception Part 2 - The dining room proudly presents, Your dinner!

We headed to our sweetheart table where I immediately kicked off my shoes and we had servers who brought us champagne and the first course, Canadian cheddar cheese soup with pretzel nuggets! Our DJ also perfectly played "Be Our Guest" at this point to indicate that dinner service was starting. The perfect little Disney touch! I have no idea what they fed those with dietary restrictions on this one but the soup was fantastic of course. It was very late at this point after 11 I'd think at least, but alas, dinner was served! We completely customized the menu to our liking and cut out the salad course since it was so late at night.

We were surprised bread didn’t come out first but they brought it out shortly after. They were just basic rolls but they were so good also there were adorable Mickey heads in the butter. We were basically already full at this point so we barely touched the bread.​

My maid of honor gave her speech after the soup course and it was just lovely. The right amount of care and humor.

​

Jimmy and I did the short rib for our entrée but we also served stuffed chicken and vegan ravioli (no one took a pic of this, but I heard it was really good!) as the other two choices. The short rib was so tender and delicious! Our veggies were fried Brussels and asparagus and oh my gosh the brussels sprouts were incredible. And then our side was a potato pave for everyone except I got mac and cheese cause I hate potatoes (although they are growing on me) both starches were great but we maybe ate half our meal each, there was just so much food and it had been such a long day!

Our other two speeches were supposed to be after the main course but kids were already on the dance floor while we were eating and they were ready to get the party started. So our awesome DJ went with it and got everyone up and dancing. This was the second hiccup of the night. There was just some confusion about speeches but overall not anything too major to fret over.

​

 

[BrerWayne]

Our Fairytale Wedding Day 4 Part 9: Harmonious Photos

These pictures are so special to me. Fireworks were my MUST HAVE and when Disney delayed bringing them back as we were planning the wedding I was devastated. I considered going off property multiple times if I wasn't going to get fireworks. When they announced they were coming back it was such a huge sigh of relief. I also LOVE Harmonious. I was there on Oct 1st when it premiered and just was blown away (I know reviews are mixed, but I like it okay?) I felt like such a princess being on the bridge on my own with Jimmy, and we did our best to have fun and enjoy the atmosphere as we posed away. It's not often you get to watch fireworks in Disney without a crowd of people in your personal space. We got so many great photos it is hard to pick a few favorites to share with you.

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Those fireworks pictures are truly amazing!

 

[MagicalMaci]

Those fireworks pictures are truly amazing!

Thank you!

 

[MagicalMaci]

Our Fairytale Wedding Day 4 Part 10: The Reception Part 3 - "It's so good!"

Once we finished eating I believe we tried to make our rounds to the tables to say hi to all of our guests, people were up on the dance floor already and taking breaks outside, so it was hit and miss as we went around. We had 9 guest tables total.

Once there was a break in the dancing we set up for cake cutting which was also later in the timeline than it was supposed to be with the little head start on dancing from the kids. It’s fine we were still so full but people had already left after dinner which was disappointing. I loved how our cake turned out and we had three different flavors. The bottom tier that we cut was almond cake with amaretto crunch filing and then we also had lavender cake with lemon curd and blueberries and chocolate cake with raspberry jam and cream cheese filling.

Another piece here - we originally had a visit from some very special guests on our plans. Prior to covid they would help with cake cutting and join you for a dance and it was just oh so cute. However, social distancing for characters was still in effect so if we had them they would basically just stand behind us in the distance, and we had to pay about $700 extra for "greens" to create a barrier between our guests. So at the last minute we decided that wouldn't be the experience we wanted and nixed it.

We did our traditional cake cutting while Cake by the Ocean by DNCE played and apparently it was very obvious that I went “it’s so good”- and it was soooo good. Just really something special, I've got a sweet tooth and am an avid baker and I was very impressed with how it turned out.

Then we sat back down and had the toasts from Jimmy's brother/ best man David. But the real star of the toasts was Joey, our oldest son. He’s a great speaker in general but he clearly put so much thought into the speech and it was so special. There were lots of tears in the room. He had asked if he could give a speech, and it really just solidified for me that I am an important part in these kids lives. They mean the world to me, but it wasn't really until then that I realized I mean something to them too. These were supposed to happen after the main course so that everyone was still there, but didn't and I'm not really sure what happened there.

There were also a few random group pics throughout the night as people caught us. Honestly I was so so glad we did the welcome event the day prior, we never got to everyone at the actual wedding which was such a bummer. It just all went by so fast. I won't bore you with all my additional random friends and family pics since I already did all the posed family pics lol. I will say I didn't get photos with everyone I wanted to, we were all just having too great of a time and I didn't want to be posing for pictures constantly and not enjoying my party. BUT these two were my Disney College Program roomies in 2010 and we don't see each other too often but we've kept in touch even though we all live in different parts of the country. It meant so much to me that they made it!