~*Amy and Shawn’s PJ*~June 6th, 2011 - Our Hawaiian Honeymoon!

[donald&daisy]

Wonderful pics! You can tell you were all having a blast at the reception. The lists were very helpful!

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

Thank you everyone for the kind comments!

Vendor Reviews – I am going to make these relatively short as I just don’t have the time to go into too much detail, but if anyone has any specific questions about anyone we worked with while planning our wedding, please feel free to ask!
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Disney Fairytale Weddings 9/10
Let me just say I had very high expectations for what my DFTW would be, due to the fact that I had visited on so many occasions and loved the great customer service at Disney, and also because of the hefty price tag. My actual wedding day was AMAZING. I couldn’t imagine being married anywhere else, and the customer service was indeed amazing that day. Disney is able to put on a truly magical wedding that I don’t think could be replicated anywhere else in the world. The only reason I rated them a 9 rather than 10 is simply because of the lack of contact and information during the planning process. I had almost every person I worked with changed, including my planner, assistant planner, florist, and room block manager. I don’t know why there is such a turnover of staff at DFTW, but honestly it kind of bothered me that I constantly was being contacted by someone new. Overall they did a great job, but I feel like more consistency in staff would have led to more contact and therefore left me feeling more confident during the planning of the wedding. I will also not that I was less than impressed with much of the customer service of staff members during my wedding trip. I don’t know if Disney has lowered their expectations for staff in general, but this was the first time I felt as if myself and some of my guests were not treated as great as I am used to expect while vacationing at Disney.

Wedding Planner – Amy R. 8/10
Amy was our wedding planner and overall I thought she did a great job. She was very friendly at the planning session and wedding, and the wedding turned out great! I won’t rate her assistant because it changed throughout the planning process and I honestly can’t even remember the name of either of the two assistants who worked with us. I gave Amy an 8 partially because of the limo issue, and partially because I felt contact lacked between us throughout the planning process. I always felt kind of out of the loop with what was going on with my own wedding. Now let me say that I think this is not necessarily Amy’s fault, but more a DFTW issue as I know many other brides feel the same way and have had different planners. I think Disney should either not call planners “planners” or give brides a more accurate description of what their job entails. When I heard the term, “Wedding Planner,” I immediately thought of Father of the Bride and that I would be in constant contact with my planner. The reality is, these planners do multiple weddings EVERY DAY, and I don’t think it’s possible for them to keep in contact with all their brides on a regular basis. Overall I really liked Amy, I just think I had too high of expectations for what A DFTW planner is.

Photography - Randy Chapman 10/10
I can’t say enough great things about Randy. When I began looking at photographers for our wedding, it seemed to me there were three main photographers typically used by Disney brides, so I checked out all threes website, photos and contacted them all. When I got quoted prices, Randy ‘s packages were about 1/3 of what the other photographers were asking, and I couldn’t see any better quality pictures from the other two, so we went with Randy, it seemed like a no brainer. When we did our engagement pictures with him I was nervous about having to pose and feeling uncomfortable and afraid Dh wouldn’t like it, but we ended up having such a fun time, it was one of my favorite things we did from our Planning Session Trip. Randy is so friendly and professional and made us feel very comfortable, suggesting great ideas for poses. Our engagement pictures turned out great, and I was totally confident going into the wedding about working with him. He was also great about designing a package that fit our budget and also working with us to determine the best schedule for the amount of time we had him. We have over 3,000 fabulous wedding pictures and I HIGHLY recommend using Randy for your wedding!

Officiant – Luther Kistler 10/10
We LOVED Luther! When we met him during out planning session trip, we knew instantly we had made the right choice! He was seriously one of the nicest people I have ever met, and super funny! He had us laughing the whole time we met him as well as us and our guests laughing at the rehearsal and ceremony. All of our guests thought he was great! He brought his wife, Dottie, who was also extremely nice. My grandparents actually ended up spending quite a bit of time talking to them which was great. I don’t think Luther is used a whole lot by DFTW brides (although he is on the list of officiates provided by Disney), but I would HIGHLY recommend him. One of the best choices we made was choosing him to officiate our wedding.

Floral - Elizabeth Sutton 10/10
We originally had Warren Halestine, who was wonderful working with at the planning session. I really appreciated his efforts to keep our costs down and how friendly he was. I never met Elizabeth in person, or talked to her over the phone for that matter, but everything turned out beautifully the day of the wedding. The contact I had with her through email was always quick and responsive. She also sent us a little gift after the wedding to congratulate us, which I really appreciated. Floral was perfect!

DJ Scooter – 10/10
Dj Scooter was awesome! We wanted a lot of dancing and that is exactly what we got with DJ Scooter. He played all of our request, as well as requests of the guests at the wedding. He made the night flow very smoothly, and he was funny and entertaining. All the guests loved him and his props! I would highly recommend requesting him if you want a party atmosphere.

Coming Up: Honeymoon report with pictures!

 

[JimmysGirl313]

Hi Amy

You are a beautiful bride!!! Your wedding looked so pretty. I see you are going to be in Disney in a month and 3 days. I am going to be there for my planning session from October 1st - 8th. When will you be there? Where are you staying?

 

[elleinad16]

Your pictures in Atlantic Dance Hall are making me SO EXCITED!!! I'm so happy you were happy with having the reception there. It looks like a bunch of fun and I love the way it photographs. I also find your reviews very helpful, so thanks!!!

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

Hi Amy

You are a beautiful bride!!! Your wedding looked so pretty. I see you are going to be in Disney in a month and 3 days. I am going to be there for my planning session from October 1st - 8th. When will you be there? Where are you staying?

Thanks for reminding me it made me realize I need to change my ticker! We were planning on going in October to use our free annual passes one more time before they expire, but I just recently got a teaching job so unfortunately we won't be going as I can't take any time off this fall. However we are planning on going to Disneyland next fall when we go to San Diego to visit DH's cousin. I'm a little sad as I was really looking forward to the EPCOT F&W festival, but we will do it another time!

Your pictures in Atlantic Dance Hall are making me SO EXCITED!!! I'm so happy you were happy with having the reception there. It looks like a bunch of fun and I love the way it photographs. I also find your reviews very helpful, so thanks!!!

Thanks, we LOVED ADH!!! It's so fun and perfect for a fun reception!

My last installment of my TR is a breif recap of our honeymoon in Hawaii! I am so happy we decided to go there. We debated about it for a long time due to costs, but in the end it was really worth it. After the stresses of planning the wedding, we both really needed that week away from it all. Being on the other side of the world was very romantic in itself. We had a truly unforgettable time that we will remember and cherish forever.

What we did:

Day 1:
After a REALLY, REALLY long day of traveling, we made it to Maui, rented a car, and drove the hour to our villa at Kapalua Villas and Resort. We LOVED this place. We had a HUGE villa with a large bedroom, kitchen, dinning room, living room, two bathrooms, washer, dryer, all appliances, balcony off the bedroom and a huge patio off the living room that overlooked the ocean and mountains of Maui. It also had private parking and a private entrance. It was so amazing. The first night we cooked dinner in our villa and enjoyed it along with a bottle of wine on our balcony. We were getting sick of eating out after spending a week in Disney, so it was really nice to have a home cooked meal. We also did our laundry lol, and went to bed early their time due to the time change. I think this was my favorite night there because it was so relaxing and romantic. Here are some pictures of our villa and the first night:

Me enjoying dinner on our patio!

Villa & View

Day2:
On our first morning we went and had breakfast at one of the places on our property. Let me add that the Kapalua property is HUGE. It has two pGA golf courses, villas, homes, tons of pools, a Ritz Carlton on property with an awesome pool, spa, dinning options, another spa and more dinning options around the villas, it's own zipline course, you get the idea. We really hope to go back there one day! Anyway, after breakfast we headed to one of the three beaches and spent the day relaxing there. We then headed to the Ritz Carlton pool to have lunch & drinks. DH then went golfing at one of the PGA courses, which he loved, and I got a massage at the spa which was awesome! That night we had dinner and then went to bed early since we were still adjusting to the time change. Once it got dark there it was really hard for us to stay awake! Pic's from day 2:

View from breakfast

DH enjoying breakfast on our first morning in Maui

Kapalua Bay & Snorkeling

Ritz Carlton Pool

Spa

Golf

Day 3:
We cooked breakfast in the villa and then headed to one of the other beaches. It was super windy there so we didn't stay too long. We had lunch at a place right on the beach and then drove a few miles to a marine reserve where we went snorkeling. After that we headed back to the villa for some lunch. That night we went to a Luau about 45 minutes south of where we were staying. It was so awesome! When we got there we were given leis and mai tais and then were able to walk around stations where they had locals doing all sorts of different things like carving wood, making leis, etc. We then watched as the pulled the pig out of the Imu, in which it had been cooking all day, and then ate dinner. After dinner the show began. There was open bar all night, desserts, and a great show! After the show we had a chance to talk with some locals who were dancers in the show, it was great!
Pic's from day 3:

Beach

Lunch

Marine Preserve and Snorkeling

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

Luau
Day 4:
We grabbed breakfast from this little old fashioned store and then headed to one of the beaches. After some relaxing we went to the spa for some lunch and to swim in their infinity pool. We had reservations to go on the zipline tour, but when we went to check in we were told it got cancelled due to high winds. I was a little bummed since I had been wanting to try ziplinning for a while. We ended up booking a last minute sunset/cocktail cruise which sailed down the cost of Maui and we had a great time. Where the boat took off from there was a shopping complex so we bought some souvineers after the boat ride, and then headed back to our hotel where we had a late dinner and drinks. We went night swimming in the Ritz pool to end the night.

Beach

Sunset Cruise

Day 5: We woke up early, packed once again, and headed to the airport. We few into Oahu, rented a car, and drove to Waikiki. We had lunch and then checked into our room. We then headed to Waikiki beach, and spent some time swimming at our hotel, The Hilton Hawaiian Village. We really enjoyed the hotel and we had a great room. This hotel was also huge with tons of pools, dinning options, and shopping. However we did like Maui better simply because it was way less crowded, more secluded, etc. That night we had dinner at famous Duke's which was so good. The one thing that was deff. better on Oahu than Maui was the food. Everywhere we ate in Oahu was so good, not that it was bad in Maui.

Famous Waikiki Beach

One of the Pools

Dinner at Duke's

Day 6: We woke up early and headed to Pearl Harbor. We ended up spending a of time there and really enjoyed it. I love History so it was really neat for me to be able to see that. We also walked to The Aloha Stadium, where the NFL plays the probowl while we were waiting for our Arizona Memorial tour time. DH really wanted to see the stadium and they had a flea market in the parking lot where we were able to get a lot of really cheap souineers so it worked out well. When we left Pearl Harbor we headed to Puka Dog, this place where they put hot dogs in these sweet buns and then have all kinds of relish like starfish, guava, etc. We also got some shaved ice. They were really yummy! We then headed to hike Diamond Head, which was a really long and tough hike but so worth the view! That night we had dinner at somewhere DH had picked and it was so good, we ended up lingering over dinner for a while!

Pearl Harbor

View from Diamond Head

Dinner

Day 7: Our last day
We were suppossed to take surfing lessons but were too tired so we decided to sleep in and then have a nice breakfast. We then drove to Lanakai beach, about 45 minutes from Waikki. It is named the most beautiful beach in Hawaii, and it was so amazing. We actually saw a wedding going on when we arrived. We spent the day on the beach and kayaked out to this little island off the coast, which was really neat but actually also really scary because there were no lifeguards of anything on the beach and it was a round trip 3 mile kayak in really rough waters. It was really neat being on the little island though, and we were able to see several sea turtles from our kayak. That night we went to dinner at Oahu's only 5 diamond triple A resertaunt, Le Mar, which was soooo good! We tried caviar for the first time and the service was impeccable! We then had a drink at the lounge in the hotel where Le Mar was located before heading to bed.

View from our room

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

Lanaki Beach

On the little island

Dinner at Le Mar

Day 8: Seattle
We decided to spend the night in Seattle on our way home as we would have had to sleep in the airport anyway. We arrived around 3:00 and headed to a brewery near our hotel for some drinks. We had dinner at the Space Needle which had amazing views of the whole city, and then went back to our hotel where we had a few drinks at our hotel lounge. (A few too many actually!)

Brewery

Seattle

Space Needle

Day 9: Flying home
We had plans to go to Pike's Place Market but didn't wake up in time and both didn't feel well from the night before. I'm kind of bummed we missed it but we saw it as we walked and drove by a few times. The plane ride home was long and uneventful.

It was such an amazing time it almost seems surreal that we were even there! I recommend to other couples to take a few days to honeymoon elsewhere (there's a lot of great beaches a short drive from Disney!) we obviously LOVE Disney but also really enjoyed the relaxation of somewhere else!

That concludes my PJ &TR. If anyone has any questions for me about anything, feel free to ask me on here or send me a PM. Good luck to all the future Disney brides and grooms! I will continue to enjoy reading about your plans and weddings!

 

[lilsqueakrr]

Your honeymoon looks amazing. I wanted to go for our honeymoon but the prices were steep that I had found, how were your prices if you don't mind me asking??

I love your dress from the sunset cruise! And Pearl Harbor is one place I definitely want to visit. But all of Hawaii looks amazing! And you and DH look so happy! =]

I wish you the best of luck and all the happiness in the world!

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

Your honeymoon looks amazing. I wanted to go for our honeymoon but the prices were steep that I had found, how were your prices if you don't mind me asking??

I love your dress from the sunset cruise! And Pearl Harbor is one place I definitely want to visit. But all of Hawaii looks amazing! And you and DH look so happy! =]

I wish you the best of luck and all the happiness in the world!

Thank you! It was very expensive. We debated for a long time about whether we should go or not because of the cost, but we figured it was a once in a lifetime thing. We ended up using most of the money we got from our guests to help pay for it, of course we could have put that money towards a house, but I'm really happy with our decision to go. It was the perfect way to start our lives together and something we will always have to look back on. Good luck with your wedding as well!!!!!