Cover photo by Cara Mannino and Chris Largen.
I have been involved in three Walt Disney World proposals. I helped Jay’s friend Brian propose to Jessie at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. I helped Robert propose to Victoria at the Pirate’s League. Then, back in March, Jay proposed to me. Now I finally get to plan a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding.
If you’d asked me two years ago, or even a year and a half ago, if we’d be having a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding, I would have said no way. We went to the Wedding Showcase in 2018. Everything was wonderful, and looked truly like a fairy tale, but it was all so very expensive. I never thought it would be feasible for us. Even if I had the cash on hand, I’m the girl who has to think through which credit card will give me the most cash back for this particular purchase before I buy anything.
Fast forward. My friend Sammi asked me to be the photographer at her wedding. Now, I don’t consider myself a photographer. I am someone who takes photos. However, I wasn’t going to tell her no. This girl and I trained together at the World Famous Jungle Cruise in 2013, meaning I’ve known her longer than just about anyone else in Florida. When we sat down to discuss the details, she asked me what I would charge and I told her I would take it in trade. Sammi is an insanely talented cosplayer. You can find her on Instagram as KayeCosplay. If you follow anything cosplay related in Orlando, you have probably seen her work.
I gave her a couple of different options, but as soon as I showed her what I wanted for a wedding dress, I could tell she was excited. For the cost of materials, I could have the dress I had always wanted, but never thought I’d be able to afford.
One of the photos I took for Matt and Sammi’s wedding.
Chelsea, what does this have to do with a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding?
I’m getting there.
I was not really one of those little girls that dreamed about her wedding. I’ve always said the only thing I cared about was the dress, the cake, and the photos. However, I could never justify the kind of money my dream dress would require, so I’d pretty much given up on that. Jay and I knew we were going to get married eventually, and I had it in the back of my head we’d do a small ceremony somewhere and a dinner at our favorite restaurant. Suddenly, now that the dress was in the realm of affordable, I began wondering if everything else could be possible.
I don’t think I knew you could take wedding portraits in the Disney Parks until I saw a bride and groom one morning while I was opening Pirates of the Caribbean. Quite frankly, I thought taking wedding photos at Pirates was a little strange. I don’t know when I saw the castle portraits for the first time, but it feels like I’ve wanted them for forever. Since I didn’t think I’d ever get my dress, I never looked into them. Now I had a reason to start figuring this out!
I emailed Disney Fine Art Photography inquiring about the Magic Kingdom park photos, and I got a response back fairly quickly that I could book it. I was super excited and forwarded it to my mom, except she caught the one detail I missed. You can absolutely book the Magic Kingdom Portrait session. Anyone can. However, you can only wear formal bridal attire if you had a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding. Why anyone would spend $2,400 on photos and not have them be wedding photos? I don’t really understand, but to each their own.
Fun Fact: You can do wedding photos, in actual wedding attire, at any of the other parks without having a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding, and they’re only $1,500. Resort photography is $1,100!
I was crushed.
For about a week and a half.
Once I got over my initial disappointment, my brain started spinning. I knew we couldn’t afford the amazing, over the top weddings you see all over social media, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t pull this off. I bought a house two years sooner than anyone expected. I just needed to figure out which Disney Fairy Tale Wedding would be right for us. It might not be the most Instagramable thing on the planet, and I couldn’t afford to have Duffy there, no matter how badly I wanted to, but I could find something that would work, be special, and let me get my photos.
Now I just had to figure out which option it was going to be.
This article is the first part of a series where I explain every decision we made along our Disney Fairy Tale Wedding adventure. I’m going to take you guys through the options, tell you what we picked and why we picked it. Thanks to Disney+ I’ve finally been able to start watching the Disney Fairy Tale Weddings tv show, and it makes me crazy. They show you all these cool weddings but they don’t tell you anything about what the other options are or what they cost. They also don’t explain the rules for how you book things, or the hoops you have to jump through. So, I am going to be as transparent as I possibly can about what things cost and what we spent. I will say this up front, I have been insistent on paying for everything Jay and I possibly can ourselves, because I wanted us to be able to make all of our decisions without outside influence. I wanted anyone who was upset by our decisions to be forced to take that up with us, and not our parents.
I’ve been looking forward to this since Jay and I got engaged, and I’m so excited to finally be able to start sharing this with you guys! Sharing some details will have to wait until after the wedding because I don’t want to spoil anything too soon, but make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss anything!
