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Real Bride: Kristin Kopania, A Disney Wedding

We’d love to feature our brides, and Kristin is certainly worthy of it! A lovely and full of life bride with an equally delightful family lived her dream of marrying her handsome prince Jeremy in Walt Disney World. We wrote about Disney Weddings several years ago and love seeing this in real life with one of our couples! Read their sweet love story below.

Kristin and Jeremy in Cinderellas coach, Disney World wedding
Kristin & Jeremy, just married in Disney World

The Beginning: 

As Mrs. Potts says “Love doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be true.” I’ve always lived dreaming of a Disney fairy tale. 

Jeremy and I met and it was very easy to love him. So caring, genuine, loving and a true fairy tale. When we first met, he ended up taking a job offer and moving 3 hours away. We did long distance for a while, and within the year of meeting him I took a risk and moved to be with him. Two months after I moved, we went on a spontaneous weekend trip to New Orleans. And that weekend, he proposed! With my dream ring! Complete shock! 

The Pre-Planning Details:

After a few weeks of getting engaged, I called my parents and asked them the bigger question. Are we really going to do this? Their answer: Lets do it! All I could think of was “wow I’m going to get married in Disney!” I grew up going to Disney multiple times a year and since I was 8 years old, I said I was going to get married in Disney one day. And now this day is finally in the works! 

The Dress:

When it was time to start looking at dresses, I knew I wanted a tight mermaid style dress. Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo was the very first store we went to and my mom kept telling me, “You are getting married in Disney, you need a ballgown!” Just to please her, I tried on a ballgown first to get it out of the way. However, that very first dress I tried on I compared to every other dress at every other bridal store we went to. I knew that was the one and we went back to Darianna and I said Yes to my dress, a big ballgown by Kitty Chen with a gorgeous long train and a lot of glitter and sparkle! 

Kitty Chen Alice dress in Disney World
Kristin at the Grand Floridian, Walt Disney World

The Pre-Wedding Parties: 

In the middle of planning, my mom and bridal party threw me the most fabulous bridal shower and of course it was Disney themed! 

We did a bachelorette party in the Finger Lakes and it was an amazing weekend with my girls. Wine, shopping, food and lots of pictures and laughter!

The wedding was a full weekend event! First, I had my welcome party as an Epcot dessert party. We rented out Germany in Epcot and had food, drinks, dancing and fireworks!

I did end up wearing a second wedding gown that night specifically for the pictures! And it was a tight straight dress I also got at Darianna! So I got the best of both worlds when it comes to dresses! We ended the Epcot party with a private group ride on Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. 

The next day we had ceremony rehearsal and we did a monorail bar crawl. We hopped on and off the monorail at the resort bars. More of a low key night!

The Day Of:

The next day was wedding day. My ceremony was at Disney’s Wedding Pavilion. It’s been my dream since 8 years old. Classic, timeless and Cinderella’s castle in the background.

Disney wedding pavilion
Ceremony at the Disney Wedding Pavilion

We used all Disney songs during the ceremony and even had the Fairy Godmother as the officiant! We had the ceremony live streamed, because my grandmother was not well enough to make the trip from PA to FL. As we walked out of our ceremony, Cinderella’s carriage was waiting to take us to the cocktail hour and reception. The cocktail hour was under the fireworks, with unlimited food and drinks. 

The reception was a dream come true. We had our reception at Disney’s Grand Floridian resort. Disney movie themed tables, storybook seating chart, and a Photo Booth were some of my reception elements. Mickey and Minnie showed up the reception and surprised all of our guests on the dance floor for pictures and dancing.

Jeremy and my parents surprised me with the Beast showing up for a private dance. That was the highlight of my reception and the only time I cried the entire weekend! My reception was a dream come true. 

Dancing with the Beast in Disney

The next morning we did a Farewell Brunch for all of our guests at Disney’s Boardwalk resort. On the boardwalk and overlooking the lake, we had a buffet brunch, complete with mickey waffles. My fave!

The whole weekend was so magical, an absolute dream come true. But more importantly than having my dream wedding, I found my true soulmate. 

Venue: Disney World

Bride’s Dresses: Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo: Kitty Chen “December” (Rehearsal night) and Kitty Chen “Alice” (Ceremony/Reception)

Groom’s Tuxedo: Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo

Seamstress: Emily Karali

Photographer: Stephanie Caldwell Photography 

Videographer: Merrily Married

Jeweler: Lauren B Jewelry