From the very beginning of our wedding planning, well before we were even engaged, there was one small detail that was of paramount importance to me: Duffy and his friends had to be there. When we were looking at the Memories wedding at Walt Disney World, one of my greatest fears was that they wouldn’t give me extra chairs for the Bears, because they’d think we were trying to sneak extra guests in, over the limit.
Okay, technically it’s two Bears, a Cat, a Bunny, a Dog, and a Turtle, but it’s just so much easier to refer to all of them as Bears.
According to “proper wedding edict”, which I like to think of “imaginary wedding rules the internet made up”, if you have a wedding party on a cruise wedding, you’re supposed to pay for their cruise fare. Even though I disagree with said rules, that didn’t seem like a good one to break. Thankfully Disney Cruise Line doesn’t charge for stuffed animals!
My friend Polly lives on the other side of the country. We’ve only met in person once, and she’s been one of my closest friends for the last ten years. If you are remotely into Keytar, you probably know her as Pink and the Keytar Cat, but I’ve asked, and I’m still allowed to call her Polly. Among her many skillsets, she has a talent for making Duffy and friends sized clothing. This is partially my fault, for getting her to make Haunted Mansion outfits for Duffy and Shellie May back in 2017. This is the same Polly who made my Sorcerer Mickey Dapper Day dress, also in 2017.
I texted Polly the day Jay and I got engaged, partially because I wanted to share the news, and partially because I wanted to give her as much of a heads up as possible.
“So, I’m warning you now. Everyone is going to need outfits.”
I think I scared her, and for a moment she thought I was asking her to make the dress. She could have done it, and done a great job, but I already had that covered.
“You know when I say everyone, you know I mean Duffy and friends, right?”
Then off we were with planning. I found pictures of what I wanted for the wedding party, and I sent them to her. Each of the girls would have a slightly different dress style, and each couple would have a different color. The boys would have grey suits, and their bow-ties would match the girls’ dresses.
A few months later, I changed my mind. I was also a jerk, because this was after she sent me fabric samples. I realized I had only picked the pastels because I thought they were pretty, not because they really went with the theme, or what I wanted as the whole vibe. I realized the red would go better, and match the whole theme, and Jay’s suit. Thankfully, she hadn’t bought the actual fabric yet.
Polly has her own Duffy, Shellie May, and Cookie that she rescued a while ago. She actually looked for ones online, that had a little too much hard love, and fixed them up. I had a friend who was visiting Hawaii send me a new Gelatoni, Stella Lou, ‘Olu, and Shellie May, so Polly could sew them into their outfits. (Cookie wasn’t available at Aulani yet, and Duffy had to be my first Duffy.) She could use her Duffy and Cookie to make their outfits, even though they’d have to be removable. I could have had her make them all removable and not bought new ones, but I know sewing them in is much easier for her, and I try to make things easier on my friends when I can.
Their names are now “CookieAnn” instead of Cookie, and “’Olu Mel” instead of ‘Olu, but all of mine are from before the name change, so their tags say Cookie and ‘Olu. I will eventually get more, when I actually get to go to Aulani, at some point.
We also wound up adding to the wedding party. I decided I’d be carrying Duffy down the aisle instead of flowers. (This was originally because I thought we couldn’t take the flowers off the ship, and I didn’t see the point of getting a bouquet, if I couldn’t keep it. We later found out I could keep the bouquet, but I was already set on carrying Duffy. It’s more me!) However, if Duffy was with me, that meant Shellie May would be sitting by herself. So, I added Nip, who is the Baby Mickey I’ve had since I was a child, to sit with Shellie May. Then it didn’t seem fair that Braveheart Lion, who is a Carebear Cousin that Jay has had since he was a child, wasn’t included, so we added him too.
I couldn’t send Nip and Braveheart to Polly, so I bought a couple off eBay and sent them to her. The outfits were removable, so they could go on the real Nip and Braveheart, but I tried to make it as easy as I could on her.
I also asked her for a Duffy ring pillow, based off the one that Tokyo released a couple years ago.
We had one more last-minute addition.
A little-known fact about me: everyone generally assumes I was named after Chelsea Clinton. I was not. I was named after a stuffed cat that my grandmother had. Why Nana had an orange stuffed cat named Chelsea, I don’t really know, but that’s where my mom got the name. When Nana passed away in October, that cat was the first thing I took from her house. I didn’t have room in my suit case on the plane ride back from the funeral, so she rode in my lap.
I think we were less than two months out when I decided to take her with us. I asked Polly to just throw a couple of extra ear bows in the box, and I’d take care of it. A couple of small plastic hair ties, and she was all set.
The most fun part of setting up the wedding party was explaining to our wedding planner that I needed extra chairs for our Bears.
“Now here’s the part where I start sounding like a crazy person, but hey, you’ll have a great story for the break room! We obviously don’t have a final guest count just yet. I’m still working on the invites. Duffy Bear is my favorite thing in the entire world, hence the Duffy wedding topper question before. I don’t know how much you know about Duffy, (he’s kind of a random character to have be your favorite), but he has several plush friends available in other Disney parks around the world. There are currently a total of six including Duffy. (Although there’s a rumor Shanghai will have a new one by the end of the year.) It is extremely important to me, and Jay is graciously going along with this, that Duffy and friends have their own chairs at the ceremony. I’m hoping they can just count as guests under 3, since they don’t need a champagne glass or cake. They can even go two to a chair, if that makes it easier. I just really want them there, and not on the floor. I don’t need anyone to put them there for us or anything, I just need to make sure we can have the extra seats.”
“Yes, I will make sure your little friends have seats.”
So, our total wedding party consisted of Duffy Bear, Shellie May, Gelatoni, Stella Lou, Cookie/CookieAnn, ‘Olu/’Olu Mel, Nip, Braveheart, and a cat named Chelsea.
While I got to save the money of paying for other people’s cruises by going with the Bears, most wedding parties pay for their own dresses and suits traditionally, and I did have to buy those for everyone. I still call this a win. Plus, I would love for someone to show me a cuter wedding party, because I don’t think it can be done.
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
Hoop-Dee-Doo: $444
Park n’ Cruise for 6 Vehicles: $256.94
Wedding Party Outfits: $125.43
Total: $8,915.93
