Needless to say, we both love WDW. We live in South Florida and usually get annual passes every other year. We've been married nearly 8 years, and have spent several memorable anniversaries visiting The Mouse.
So when I was planning a vow renewal for earlier this year, and we already had a short Disney trip planned for about the same time of year, I thought I could get the vow renewal done on property to make it really special.
When I called for more info about this, it turns out there's about a $2K minimum for such things. It includes a certain number of guests and so forth, but this was going to be just us. (We already did the traditional public wedding 8 years ago. This was more of a personal commemoration of something important to us. We didn't need anyone else to make a fuss or buy gifts or anything - or go to the expense of coming to WDW.)
So I asked if we just booked a Reverend and brought them over, is there anywhere on the grounds we could just do something like this on our own, some quiet area of our resort, etc. - but we were told as soon as you bring an officiant on property, it becomes a Disney wedding event, and welcome back $2K minimum. Arrgh.
Feeling a little defeated, but wheels still turning, I started researching little things, thought about ordering something special for the room (ended up nixing that) and here is what ended up happening:
First of all, I decided to keep it a secret. (There can be some risk inherent in this approach if you do not know your spouse well LOL!)
I booked the Reverend for the evening before our trip, in our own backyard. He's someone I've known for years. (And yay, our dog can be there!)
Decked out the backyard with some new topiaries, lights, deck lights, and so forth.
Ordered the same flowers we had in our original wedding centerpieces (blue orchids) and set those up in vases on little tables out in the backyard next to the lit-up topiaries (making a little area in which to stand by some palm trees.)
OK - clearly I should have removed all those pots of dead stuff, but nobody noticed that because it was dark by the time we had the ceremony LOL. Also, those orchids did not take the blue dye so well this time, so they're looking a little purple.
Ordered WDW champagne flutes with our names, the date, etc. engraved (these arrived just the day before the renewals, I was flipping out LOL.)
Ordered a nice, tasteful, all white pedestal picture frame from WDW. It has a subtle "Mickey ears" design throughout which you wouldn't notice unless you look for it. I love stuff like that. At first, I put this outside, and the picture I put into it was the picture of the announcement board from our original wedding, flanked by the two candles from our original wedding.
I had about 2 hours to set this all up in the backyard unseen.
Sappy (ha!) got home from work and there was a little tearing up moment (not me, I was a rock LOL.)
The Reverend arrived, we had a really meaningful vow renewal (I was surprised how much more to it there was than simply the "I do" part.)
Note to self: never take a picture from up on the deck LOL. Note to everyone else: we've both lost weight since then LOL.
Then we toasted with the Disney flutes, and went out for a nice dinner. He knew all along we were going to WDW the next morning. He had no idea it was to be our second honeymoon, complete with dinner in France at Monsieur Paul the first night.
When we got home, I replaced the picture in the Disney frame with a picture of us from that night.
Yes, those are giant glasses in which the orchids are placed - those are what we toasted with at our original wedding LOL.
And I leave you with the other thing I ordered in advance...every time we go to WDW (or any trip) we try to come back with an ornament specifically relevant to the trip. I found this when I was searching for the frame and flutes, and couldn't resist. (actually hung it on the topiary during the ceremony.) LOVE this:
So without breaking the budget, we were able to incorporate Disney into our vow renewal in a meaningful way.
The saying on the champagne glasses reads: "take three" because we had our proper wedding in 2007 (take one!) we had a paper wedding in California with just a judge in 2008 (take two!) and then Florida finally recognized our wedding in January of this year - hence the reason for our vow renewal to commemorate the final legal recognition of what had already existed for nearly 8 years.
This is all on my mind as I anticipate that 8 year anniversary coming up at WDW in less than two weeks. Woo hoo!
I hope some other budget-conscious Disney-lovers can find some inspiration in this. You don't have to spend a fortune to do it. (Although I probably wouldn't recommend this for a first wedding LOL!)
So when I was planning a vow renewal for earlier this year, and we already had a short Disney trip planned for about the same time of year, I thought I could get the vow renewal done on property to make it really special.
When I called for more info about this, it turns out there's about a $2K minimum for such things. It includes a certain number of guests and so forth, but this was going to be just us. (We already did the traditional public wedding 8 years ago. This was more of a personal commemoration of something important to us. We didn't need anyone else to make a fuss or buy gifts or anything - or go to the expense of coming to WDW.)
So I asked if we just booked a Reverend and brought them over, is there anywhere on the grounds we could just do something like this on our own, some quiet area of our resort, etc. - but we were told as soon as you bring an officiant on property, it becomes a Disney wedding event, and welcome back $2K minimum. Arrgh.
Feeling a little defeated, but wheels still turning, I started researching little things, thought about ordering something special for the room (ended up nixing that) and here is what ended up happening:
First of all, I decided to keep it a secret. (There can be some risk inherent in this approach if you do not know your spouse well LOL!)
I booked the Reverend for the evening before our trip, in our own backyard. He's someone I've known for years. (And yay, our dog can be there!)
Decked out the backyard with some new topiaries, lights, deck lights, and so forth.
Ordered the same flowers we had in our original wedding centerpieces (blue orchids) and set those up in vases on little tables out in the backyard next to the lit-up topiaries (making a little area in which to stand by some palm trees.)
OK - clearly I should have removed all those pots of dead stuff, but nobody noticed that because it was dark by the time we had the ceremony LOL. Also, those orchids did not take the blue dye so well this time, so they're looking a little purple.
Ordered WDW champagne flutes with our names, the date, etc. engraved (these arrived just the day before the renewals, I was flipping out LOL.)
Ordered a nice, tasteful, all white pedestal picture frame from WDW. It has a subtle "Mickey ears" design throughout which you wouldn't notice unless you look for it. I love stuff like that. At first, I put this outside, and the picture I put into it was the picture of the announcement board from our original wedding, flanked by the two candles from our original wedding.
I had about 2 hours to set this all up in the backyard unseen.
Sappy (ha!) got home from work and there was a little tearing up moment (not me, I was a rock LOL.)
The Reverend arrived, we had a really meaningful vow renewal (I was surprised how much more to it there was than simply the "I do" part.)
Note to self: never take a picture from up on the deck LOL. Note to everyone else: we've both lost weight since then LOL.
Then we toasted with the Disney flutes, and went out for a nice dinner. He knew all along we were going to WDW the next morning. He had no idea it was to be our second honeymoon, complete with dinner in France at Monsieur Paul the first night.
When we got home, I replaced the picture in the Disney frame with a picture of us from that night.
Yes, those are giant glasses in which the orchids are placed - those are what we toasted with at our original wedding LOL.
And I leave you with the other thing I ordered in advance...every time we go to WDW (or any trip) we try to come back with an ornament specifically relevant to the trip. I found this when I was searching for the frame and flutes, and couldn't resist. (actually hung it on the topiary during the ceremony.) LOVE this:
So without breaking the budget, we were able to incorporate Disney into our vow renewal in a meaningful way.
The saying on the champagne glasses reads: "take three" because we had our proper wedding in 2007 (take one!) we had a paper wedding in California with just a judge in 2008 (take two!) and then Florida finally recognized our wedding in January of this year - hence the reason for our vow renewal to commemorate the final legal recognition of what had already existed for nearly 8 years.
This is all on my mind as I anticipate that 8 year anniversary coming up at WDW in less than two weeks. Woo hoo!
I hope some other budget-conscious Disney-lovers can find some inspiration in this. You don't have to spend a fortune to do it. (Although I probably wouldn't recommend this for a first wedding LOL!)
Last edited:
