Originally, we didn’t have anything special planned for the night before the cruise. With no real wedding party, we didn’t need a rehearsal dinner. A late night in June at Magic Kingdom changed that though, when inspiration struck for a Welcome Party.
You read about people having dessert parties and all sorts of other cool events for their guests, but I knew that just wasn’t in the budget. So, in typical Chelsea and Jay fashion, we went non-traditional in a way that I’m sure would make most wedding planners scream: we gave people the option of going, and we posted the cost. If people wanted to come, they could send us the money for their spot and we would add them to the reservation. If not, that was perfectly okay and we’d see them the next morning for the cruise!
HOW DARE YOU ASK PEOPLE TO PAY THEIR OWN WAY? DO YOU HAVE NO SENSE OF ETIQUETTE?
No, I don’t.
Our guests don’t seem to mind either. Out of 23 cruising guests, we have 15 going to the 4:00 pm Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue show at Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground. My brother isn’t fond of Hoop-Dee-Doo, so he decided to skip it, and his decision had nothing to do with cost, or etiquette. He just doesn’t like Hoop-Dee-Doo. He also got the date of the wedding wrong. It’s fine. We even have one friend who couldn’t make the cruise but is coming to the Welcome Party, for a total of 16 people.
I did cover the cost for my parents and Jay’s parents instead of buying gifts for everyone. I’m sure that’s another etiquette no-no, but it seemed easier than bringing more stuff on the ship.
We plan on heading over to Magic Kingdom after Hoop-Dee-Doo is over to try to catch a couple of rides and the fireworks, but the park closes at 8:00 pm that night, so it might just be the fireworks. No matter how late you get to the Magic Kingdom, you do need park admission. Thankfully that wasn’t much of an issue for us, because we have SO MANY annual passholders in the group, but take that into account, if you’re going to try to plan something like this for yourselves.
We are staying at Fort Wilderness that night. We have two cabins, though not everyone is staying the night. Our house was getting too crowded, and I decided to just make things simpler by saying no one stays at our house the night before the cruise. So, most of our out of town guests who are coming to the Welcome Party are staying there, and a couple of the locals.
I did want to do something special for our guests though. With the limited cake selection on the cruise, there was no way I was getting my dream cake that looked like Duffy’s fur, with little ears on top. The Disney Wedding Podcast has tons of recommendations for ordering a custom cake, but it would involve a phone call (my dreaded arch-nemesis), so I asked my mom to look into it.
Well, my dream cake wasn’t recommended because the little ears aren’t standard and would count as “hand work” and the price for the ears would start at $30. They had a counter suggestion however, where we could get a little Duffy made out of white chocolate for the same price to stand up on top of the cake.
Sold!
If anyone tries to eat Duffy, it’s going to be really ugly. I already have plans for someone to take him home and keep him refrigerated until we get back from the cruise.
I will say if you want to order your own cake from Disney, give yourself plenty of time. It only took us one phone call to get the information, but it took us multiple calls over a week to order the cake. The good news was we didn’t have to pay for the cake until we got to Hoop-Dee-Doo!
Out of pocket expenses so far:
Cruise Fare: $4,944.06
Invitations and Postage: $89
Disney Fine Art Photography: $2875.50
Fairytale Hair and Makeup Deposit: $100
Hair and Makeup Trial: $180 ($150 base plus tip)
Hoop-Dee-Doo: $444 (Category 1 seating for us, plus both sets of parents, tax and tip included)
Total: $8,532.56
