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By: Dave Parker |
| Last week we started to look at the beginning ideas for a Disney-themed wedding, and took a look at some of the choices we made for a traditional ceremony with a touch of Disney. This week, we get into the real "theming is fun" world of our Disney reception: parking lots and all. Don't worry, I'll explain...
The first thought we had was in regard to what the tables would look like, in which I mentioned how I liked the different sections of the Magic Kingdom parking lot named after different characters. I know, I know, "theming your tables from a parking lot?" Just go with me here... We took that initial idea and turned it into different characters/movies for each table. This in the end also allowed for a MUCH easier identification, as we could say that "the Smiths are at the Snow White table", etc. In the end, we agreed upon the following tables:
Mickey and Minnie was not a standard table, as that became our head table for the wedding party. Winnie the Pooh ended up being the table reserved for my immediate family, since my niece really likes Pooh. Jungle Book was the table reserved for her immediate family, since her dad really likes Baloo. As I'm sure you've already seen, we also had A Nightmare Before Christmas, which although not too wedding-like was chosen for my brother-in-law and his friends. Okay, we had the theme for each table, but now we had to create the centerpiece to anchor the table's theme. We wanted something unique, and cheap if possible. We started looking at professional centerpieces from florists, with every kind of flower imaginable in every glass vase imaginable. However, most of these ran between $75 and $150 per table, and we just didn't want to spend that much money on centerpieces. In the end, we were saved by a large discount retail chain, namely the one you've probably visited at one point last week. It was there in that store's craft department we found large round vases for the bargain price of $4.99 apiece! Better yet, they had plenty of them on the shelf. The next stop was to our neighborhood arts and crafts store, where we bought blocks of Styrofoam, purple tissue paper, a bottle of Modge Podge, spray glue, hair pins, epoxy, battery operated Christmas light packs, and lots and lots of silk flowers. In fact, we had been stocking up on silk flowers for a long time, and we ended up loving them instead of real flowers. For one, you can buy them during the year leading up to the wedding and they will keep, two they make every type of flower and most look very realistic, and most of all three, you can get great discounts on "after" holiday sales. This was the most true when we stocked up during an after Christmas sale, since most of the silk flowers they had for Christmas were white, silver, etc. Perfect for a wedding! We took all of our items, and in a MacGyver-like style, my mother-in-law, myself, and my wife started to construct our centerpieces. First, we took the tissue paper and cut it into small rectangles, and attached it to the inside of the vases with the Modge Podge. We did two or three layers so that the vases would look opaque. Next, we printed out various scenes that corresponded to the table themes, and glued them on the outside in a randomish pattern using the spray glue. Third, we took the Styrofoam blocks, and carefully wrapped the battery-operated lights around it, leaving the battery pack at the top, and fastening the lights and battery pack in with hair pins. Fourth, we took some more tissue paper and wrapped the entire foam block with lights. We then placed some epoxy in the bottom of the vase, and stood the foam block in the vase until it hardened. Finally, we used the foam in the vase as the "soil" for our massive amounts of silk flowers. That took a lot of work, but was well worth the effort. In the end, I think the centerpieces only cost us around $12 apiece! When completed, the lights would be turned on from the battery pack to create little specks of lights from inside the vase. Since they were so cheap to make (and since we didn’t want to carry them back to the house!), we had our Disc Jockey give each away to one person at each table, which was a huge hit with our guests. If the winning person didn't like Disney, the outside pictures could be peeled off relatively cleanly. Next, we decided that the vase look a little small on the big table, so we found round aluminum silver platters at our local dollar store for, you guessed it, one dollar each. By the looks of them, though, they were worth more. We also would end up adding some polished blue and purple glass beads to each. To add some fun to the table, we decided to add two Disney beanies to each. This was to say the least a big hit with the kids (and their parents who had something to occupy them with!), but we decided that one of each table would look like there was a front to the centerpiece, and we were desperately trying to avoid that. How did it all turn out? Why don't you be the judge of that:
Now that we had the tables completed, how were we going to get the guests to the appropriate ones? We decided on using a seating chart, but Disney-fied with appropriate fonts and all. After a lot of work in Microsoft Excel, I created the following which we had printed poster size. Notice my one true "hidden Mickey", which most people never saw! Of course, it's easy to spot with the names blurred out around it here:
As for the head table, we did the same layout, although my mother-in-law created some great front decorations out of 1"x2" lumber, fabric, more silk flowers, and plastic cups (which held the silk flower bouquets of the girls in the wedding party. Of course, Mickey and Minnie showed up in their finest for the occasion:
My wife had lived on her own before in college, so we ended up having an entire apartment full of items with no house to put them in. After looking up numerous web sites with rules of etiquette, we were happy to learn that is was okay to ask guests for financial gifts in place of house items, so that we may build up some money for a future down payment. Although we didn't do it formally, word got around thanks to our parents that we were not registered with any store, already had everything we would need, etc. Of course, where to put the envelopes on the day of the wedding? We needed another project! My wife had the brilliant idea for Pooh to collect the money in a honey pot, and once we found a large white Pooh in an after Christmas sale, the idea was locked in place. Of course, we epoxied a clear piece of hard plastic to the opening of our pot, after we had cut a slit in the top of it. Take a look at how Pooh came out, after much work (including the tree made from scratch by her mother). Pay attention to my wife's humor in the writing on the pot:
Last but certainly not least, we had to have a cake that reflected our theme. We looked everywhere for castle cakes, but didn't find any that we really liked. In the end, I would inspire a design that was anything but traditional. I wanted to have a multi-tier cake, but wanted to have some sort of hidden Mickey; namely the entire cake itself. We went from bakery to bakery, and got responses that were either way too much, or a simple "can't do that." Where to turn for help? Your local grocery store. We were certainly "shopping with pleasure" when the head of the bakery said "no problem", and for literally a fraction of what the professional bakers wanted. The end result? Again, see for yourself: Although not really all that hidden of a Mickey from what I originally had in mind, it certainly was incredible that is was actually able to be created at all. The taste was really good as well. You’re looking at four layers of cake in the ears, and three layers of cake in the head. The glass topper was bought at the Arribas Brothers store in Downtown Disney Marketplace, and the Castle was bought in the Christmas Store in the Marketplace as well (It was actually an ornament holder, but we took out the ornament rod). Not bad, eh?
 I hope that in some small way, you've seen what can be done when you put your mind to it. As Corey mentioned in his recent article about the Imagineering process, ideas can come from anywhere, and you just have to know how they all can be applied. I would like to say, however, that although we did a lot on our own, we certainly utilized the help of a lot of professionals. Just because we couldn't find professionals for some parts of our wedding, doesn't mean that none of them could do what we did. Check around for yourself and give them your ideas. They may be able t build upon them for a price that's worth avoiding all of the time and effort. I would like to dedicate this article, and in fact this entire column, to my wife whom I love with all of my heart. Happy first anniversary baby! Thank you for such an amazing journey on the introduction to the rest of our lives. The best part's just beginning... I think I'll go watch our wedding video again...*sniff* *sniff* In the meantime, thanks for stopping on by, and I'll see you next week! |
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