Home » Real Weddings » Real Disney Wedding – Eve and Phil

Real Disney Wedding – Eve and Phil

This Fairy Tale Life is reader supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a monetary commission. Learn more.

It has been a while since we’ve featured a real wedding, and I couldn’t be happier to bring you the images from my “wedding twin,” Eve!  Eve and Phil were married at Walt Disney World one day before my own wedding day, and we bonded after I found out I “stole” her first choice in photographers, Root Photography!  I had already booked them before she inquired about her date – whoops!  Sorry Eve!  But judging by these beautiful pictures, I think everything turned out okay.  I also consider Eve my wedding twin because, as you can see from these photos, Eve kicked some wedding traditions to the curb and really brought her unique style to their wedding day.  She reminds me so much of myself, and I know if we lived closer we would probably totally be besties!  I hope you enjoy reading about Eve and Phil’s wedding as much as I did!

(Please note the dollar figures provided were the rates at the time this couple signed their contract, and are subject to change at any time.)

All photography by: Disney Fine Art Photography and Video

Walt Disney World Wedding



Disney Bride: Eve Welte, 32, Alabama
Disney Groom: Phil Welte, 33, Alabama

Wedding date: May 18, 2012
Wedding Venue: Wedding Pavilion
Reception Venue: Citricos, Grand Floridian Hotel and Spa
Dessert Party Venue: Lower United Kingdom Pavilion, EPCOT
Guest count: 42

Why did you choose a Disney wedding?
Phil was the one who chose to do a Disney wedding.  Disney had been a site that his family made a tradition of visiting so it held a very special place in his heart. I was just excited to be getting married so it didn’t matter where the location was, as long as I got to marry my best friend!

How did your family/friends react to your Disney wedding?
Most were pretty excited about it!  Overall, there was a positive reaction to our decision, but there will always be that 1% who reacts negatively, often assuming that a Disney wedding will cost an arm and a leg—which wasn’t the case! When we budgeted to have a local wedding, we realized that we would be spending the same, if not more, to have the wedding in Huntsville, so we just decided to throw caution to the wind and do what we wanted to do.  We were thrilled when our friends and family got as excited as we were about having it at Disney!

Walt Disney World Wedding

What was your theme?
I didn’t really have a theme other than my own personal quirky style—I did have a few peacock elements and our color scheme needed to be bright and exciting so I went with a color palate of turquoise, hot pink, and bright orange.

What was your biggest challenge in planning your Disney wedding?
The biggest challenge was time management, as for most of the planning period, Phil and I both worked and were pursuing master’s degrees—so our time dedicated to wedding planning had to be efficient.

Walt Disney World Wedding - Fishbowl and Flower Decor

Tell us about your ceremony.  Did you include any Disney touches?
To save money, it was pretty basic.  No aisle runner, rose petals on the floor, or major decorations were used.  We had maybe 3-4 fishbowl glassware pieces filled with water and topped with a few flowers for color, but that was about it!  We kept most of the Disney touches saved up for the reception and dessert party! We didn’t really do a formal or long-winded ceremony so we felt that the budget was better spent on the after-events like reception and dessert party to fit with our personal style.

Describe your reception.  Was it completely traditional or did you do anything unique?
It was pretty standard in that we didn’t really include a lot of the major traditions in our setup.  We used Citricos (at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa) for the natural light and for the colorful chairs and environment.  We had a few centerpieces (that were brought in from the ceremony—the fishbowls) and we splurged on colorful napkins and an amazing cake, but that was about it.  We did add a visit with Mickey and Minnie (3 days before the wedding date, I might add—I VERY late addition! Thanks, Disney magic!) to vamp up the excitement for the cake cutting and to give our reception a special moment since we didn’t do a dance floor or DJ.

Walt Disney World Wedding

What did you splurge on?  Where did you save money?
We splurged on the food and experiences.  We definitely spent the most on food and photography, as those were our highest costs. We saved money by having an earlier reception (11am), and by skipping traditional reception events such as a dance floor, DJ, garter toss, bouquet toss, and having a lower floral/decoration expectations.  We used the Wedding Pavilion’s organist that was included to save money on music costs.  We had a limo rented for our transportation needs but saved money by having the ceremony at the Wedding Pavilion and the reception next door at Citricos, as most of the guests could leisurely stroll over to the pre-reception event without the need for additional transportation costs.

What was your favorite moment of the day?
The looks on Phil’s face as we said our vows to each other were something I will never forget.  I also loved seeing the looks on everyone else’s face as Mickey and Minnie arrived at the reception (a total and complete surprise to all of our guests!). The dessert party was a complete hit and we loved having the chance to see all of our guests one more time on the big day.

Walt Disney World Wedding - Wedding Pavilion

What would you change if you had to do it all over again?
Certain guests would not have been invited once we realized they were more interested in having a vacation of their own rather than spend time together—our entire wedding ceremony and dessert party was blown off by– in hindsight I would have invited other guests whom I knew would be there for the right reasons.

What advice would you give to couples that have just started planning their Disney wedding?
Be very organized and also be yourself!  Keep copies of EVERYTHING (most importantly all the BEO’s that your planner will send you)!

Be original! That’s the fun of planning a wedding—you can incorporate all of those intimate and quirky details that make the day truly special for YOU.

Walt Disney World Wedding

Any other details you want to share?
Pinterest, the Facebook Disney brides group, and Etsy were all major elements that inspired me to add some of the details I used!

Walt Disney World Wedding

 

Walt Disney World Wedding

 

Walt Disney World Wedding

 

Walt Disney World Wedding - Mickey Program Fans

 

Walt Disney World Wedding - Citricos

 

Walt Disney World Wedding - "Drink Me" Favors

 

Walt Disney World Wedding - Colorful Cake

 

Walt Disney World Wedding - Mickey Chalices

 

Walt Disney World Wedding - Monorail

 

Walt Disney World Wedding

 

Walt Disney World Wedding - Brooch Bouquet

 

Walt Disney World Wedding - Dessert Party Fireworks

Vendor List 
Wedding coordinator: Diane Bowen with Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings
Photography: Regina Hyman and Chris Weirdo with Disney Event Photography
Videography: Disney Event Videography
Officiant: Reverend Tim Herring
Hair/Makeup: Lisa with Lisa’s Magic Weddings
Stationery: (Etsy seller SomerStudios)
Dress: Local formal gown shop
Fascinator and Top Hat: (Etsy seller icegreeneyes)
Bouquet: (Etsy seller Noaki)
Micky Program Fans: $200 (Etsy seller GIGINoelle10)

 
About Mindy

Mindy Marzec is a life-long Disney fan who grew up in Los Angeles. She started This Fairy Tale Life to share Disneyland travel tips for adults. When not at Disneyland, you can find Mindy at home snuggling with her cats and re-watching Thor: Ragnarok for the billionth time.