Real Disneyland Weddings – Hope and Mike – Part One

Hello everyone!  I have another great Disneyland wedding feature for you, and there is so much good stuff about this wedding that I need to share it over two parts!

This lovely wedding comes from Hope and Mike, who you may remember from their gorgeous engagement photos.  Hope and Mike got married at the Disneyland Resort in August 2010.  Part One will feature beautiful images from the ceremony, which was held at the Rose Court Garden at the Disneyland Hotel, and reception, held at the Trillium Room at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel.

From the Bride:

We knew a Disneyland wedding was a long shot, but it took all the faith, trust and pixie dust we could muster to weave together our plans for our Disneyland wedding. When researching wedding venues, we were pleasantly surprised to find that a wedding at Disneyland cost just as much as anywhere else in Southern California (if not less) and that the staff was able to work within our budget to make our wedding dreams come true. We didn’t have any plan B’s so we saved for 2 years and finally had our wedding in August of 2010 (on Mike’s birthday).


We threw around a lot of ideas for themes when we were planning our wedding, long before ever signing the dotted line with Disneyland. The one idea that stayed with us the most, was the idea to incorporate one of my favorite stories/movies into our wedding. We also got engaged in front of Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland so it made sense for us to sprinkle Sleeping Beauty touches into our wedding wherever we could. From our bridal party composed of my very own three good “bridal fairies” (in red, blue and green dresses with fairy wings) and Mike’s three “goonsmen” (all in black with ties resembling the color of Maleficent’s flames), to the amazing opening storybook replica that served as our cake topper and our first waltz as husband and wife to “Finale” from the “Sleeping Beauty” soundtrack; we felt like the real life Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip that day! Mike also wore a Maleficent pin as his boutonniere and an Ellie Badge that I gifted him earlier on our wedding morning. We also had a “(briar) rose exchange” during our ceremony and used a Maleficent Robert Olszewski pockit pal for our rings and an Olszewski Sleeping Beauty heirloom box for our love letter exchange during the ceremony.

Bridesmaids Fairies = BEST

Love Letter Ceremony

We also incorporated our love for the Disneyland Resort by using pressed coins from all over the resort during a symbolic cultural coin exchange during our ceremony and for a fun coin toss after we were pronounced husband and wife. We were thrilled to have used the Disneyland Main Street Fire Engine on our wedding day and bring a little piece of the parks to our event. Cast Member Steve drove me to the ceremony and delighted me with trivia about the motor car before the ceremony started (like the fact that Walt used to drive it around the parks in the morning!) It was so fun to climb into it after our wedding ceremony and have my husband ring the bell in the back. We were able to find our driver again on Main Street 5 days later on our last day of our Disneyland “Mini-moon” and ride the fire engine again all by ourselves. As it made it’s way down Main Street, some guests clapped and cheered for us and it made us feel so special. We’ve never been in a parade before, but for that minute ride, we felt like the Queen and King of Disneyland and it was the perfect book-end to our wedding journey. Now every time we go to Disneyland and see the fire engine, we think about our wedding day and so do many of our guests. It’s so amazing to be able to re-visit a piece of our wedding day every time we go to Disneyland!

Tossing Pressed Pennies!  Wheee!

None of it could have been possible without the love and support of our family and friends or the wonderful staff at the Disneyland Resort.


Our sales and service manager Kelly Feeney couldn’t have been a better companion throughout the planning process. She answered all of our questions and put our minds at ease when we raised a concern or had doubts. She was always friendly and generous with her time and attention. On the day of the wedding she was a total superstar. She made sure that all of our things were set-up, drove us around in the morning for our private Disneyland photo shoot (Ed. note – SPOILER ALERT for Part Two!) and after the ceremony and helped all of the “behind-the-scenes” things go in order. She acted like a true “fairy godmother” and it was a tremendous pleasure to have her on our side.


Denise, our day-of event coordinator, was also a great help to us on the wedding day. She made sure that we were on schedule and escorted us after the ceremony to our reception room to get a little sneak peek of the lighting and decor. Leslie, the banquet manager and entire Grand Californian staff that worked our event were magnificent! They really took care of us and our family. Our guests raved about the atmosphere, food and service. Baker Christina outdid herself with our custom cake topper. It was out of this world and literally brought tears to my eyes when I saw it. This wonderful and talented group of people made saving up and having our wedding at Disneyland worth every penny and we’re so glad that we held our most important day at the Disneyland Resort. The few surprises we had for our guests (Mickey and Minnie at the reception, me arriving in the Main St. Fire Engine) turned out to be tremendous hits. The expressions and feedback we received were priceless.

Seeing the cake display for the first time! 😮

Everything was excellent and the service was beyond compare. We got so much more for our money than we would have anywhere else! The experience totally solidified our decision to host our relationship’s most important day at our happiest place on earth. We’d host every party in our future there if we could, just to work with all these wonderful people all over again.


We thank each and every staff person that pixie dusted us with quality attention and helped us on our wedding day. Thank you all for helping us achieve the level of whimsy and elegance that we hoped to have.

The Best Man tossed a coin to see who would say their vows first!

Hope and Mike used their personal collection of snowglobes for the centerpieces, along with a note explaining their significance – and asking guests not to take them home!

Tables were named after Sleeping Beauty characters

Come back next week for Part Two – Hope and Mike’s Disneyland Castle Shoot!

Photographer: Nataly Lemus Photography
Hair and Makeup: Flawless Faces

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