So down to business...our ceremony is at 5:00 PM, but Mr. Llama and I know that we want to do a first look, followed by some time for just us to enjoy our wedding day alone (-ish...with a photographer!). We'd like to travel around to a couple different resorts and get some photos with the different theming.
Knowing that bridal party and family photos also have to be done before the ceremony, this makes our "ready" time pretty early - around noon. So the plan is:
- Getting ready photos 12-12:45 ish
- First look in the Boardwalk area (12:45 - 1:00)
- Photos on our own (resort location TBD) 1:15 - 2:45
- Return to Boardwalk/Yacht Club area for bridal party/family photos (3:00 - 4:45)
- Ceremony at Yacht Club 5:00!
We'd really like to be 90% done with our photos before the ceremony, so that we can head to our cocktail hour right when it begins, which is at 6:00. Assuming the ceremony ends around 5:30, that still gives us about a half hour to do some more extended family photos (it only takes 5 minutes to walk over to our reception.)
So Ashley helped us map the day out, which really lined up quite well with what our planner told us the next day. So no conflicts there!
We had an unexpected highlight in our meeting with Ashley - when she asked us who our DJ was, and we said Willie Lugo, she sighed and said, "GOOD." Now - she doesn't know Willie, so she can't necessarily vouch for him, but there is one DJ who is hired by many (maybe even most?) Disney brides, and actually gets highly recommended by them. We listened to a podcast of his, and saw pictures, and...he just seemed really cheesy. It's possible that he caters well to his bride, and his style is what a lot of people want! But he just rubbed us the wrong way immediately. He came so highly recommended though, that I couldn't decide. Finally, the Disney Wedding Podcast (AKA the most helpful website/podcast ever for Disney brides!!) did an episode with Willie, and he just sounded much more like a normal human being compared to the other guy. We figured this was as good an "interview" as we were going to get, so we booked him.
Ashley was so glad we didn't book the other cheesy guy. She said he likes to really put the couple on the spot and do embarrassing things with guests, he seems to go on "autopilot" with every couple and does the same thing with every wedding, and also takes it upon himself to become a second photographer! Eek! We were pleased that we didn't go that direction, and it was so nice to get the approval of that decision from Ashley. It also made us feel like we were definitely on the same page as her in terms of our personalities and style.
The meeting went very well; we definitely feel like we made the right call with both our photographer and our DJ! And we also ate some really, REALLY good French Toast (Thanks for the tip, Miss Pyramid! It was delicious!)
Then we spent the rest of the day at The Magic Kingdom, where we rode Splash Mountain (of course). It was actually exactly a year from the day we were engaged there, which was a happy accident! My parents were in the row behind us, and needless to say, my dad's experience was slightly different from mine last year: