Disney themed wedding question

[foxfire]

I was looking @ Disneyweddings.com and saw prices ranging from $20,000 - $55,000.

A wedding is far off for me (not even dating @ the moment), though I was wondering who has done a theme wedding @ Disney. I saw they mentioned swing-dacing themes, undersea themes, etc. and was wondering what these might cost? Thanks!

 

[mrtoad]

I did not do it. But from what I heard, the $20,000 starting price was not for a lot of people. Like 25 or 50. This is what I heard, not first hand knowledge so take it with a grain of salt.

But when my wife and I were on our honeymoon, we saw a wedding going on behind the Grand Floridan. We were on the monorail and it was on the lawn. All the chairs were white wood on beautiful, green, green grass. Very nice. The bride arrived in Cinderella's Coach. Very nice.

So if you have $20,000 to $50,000 to spare, I say go for it. We would have done it, but all we had was large bills.

 

[wdwhoneymooner]

If you're interested in booking a date, you'd better do it quick. My then fiance and I went there just to a take a peek around and inquired about available dates. We were told the waiting period was 1 1/2 years and that it would soon reach 2 full years "very soon". This was back in 1998.

 

[Val]

Weddings at Disney World

I just got married in June and we went to Disney World for our honeymoon. When we were planning our wedding I checked into some of the wedding packages...20,000 doesnt sound that bad for a wedding, but from what i remember that package doesnt even include the ride in Cinderella's carriage. You had to pay for a bigger package for that. I agree that it's so worth it if you have the money, but just spending your honeymoon at Disney World is perfect enough. If you visit for your honeymoon, make sure to wear the bride and groom mickey and minnie hats. Cast members really go out of their way to make your time there *extra* special.

 

[KevinPage]

Foxfire,

My wife and I were married at the Grand Floridian/Wedding Pavillion Dec 2001.

There are minimum $$$$ amounts to certain type weddings, but not "themes". You really can do anything you want, and have to speak with your wedding coordinator about fine tuning details and such.

You can't say an underwater theme is this price or a swing dance is that price, there are waaaay too many variables.

Unless they have changed things(which there have been changes in the dept as we still keep in touch with our coordinator and assistant still) you would set up a time to meet with a Sales Manager, they will show you different locations where you want the wedding (too many to list). You ask them any uestions you want, they will discuss the type of wedding you want(how many peope) and how much $$$$ each one is. Then 8 months prior to the date you put down a deposit and are assigned a coordinator, who you deal with the entire time. You go over anything you want, they will tell you what you can/can't do, set up a food tasting, meeting the chef, and anything else you need.

Heck, they are even there on the day of your wedding, making sure everything goers smoothly.

The cost is relative. We come from Long Island, NY, where it's nothing to drop 20-30K on a wedding for 150. We only had about 80 people, and paid in that range. But it really depends on what extras you want.

We had 3 characters, doves, Major Domo, special dessert. You can spend less money or an infinite amount of money.

Any other questions, feel free to PM me

 

[foxfire]

Thanks for all the replies so far =) Like I said, it's singlehood for me...though when the time comes it sounds like I'll have to book something far in advance if it's going to be @ WDW.

 

[mrtoad]

Re: Weddings at Disney World

Originally posted by Val
I agree that it's so worth it if you have the money, but just spending your honeymoon at Disney World is perfect enough

One extra thing that Val made me think of. Unless you live in the area, and you are going to have everyone come to WDW for your wedding, you won't be alone on your honeymoon. Your whole family will be there too. Just something to think about. We went to WDW on our honeymoon and it was wonderful, I think that is perfect enough. At least for me.

 

[Mr. Tom Morrow]

We were married in WDW on February 1, 2001. Our total cost was about $10,000 for a party of about 40 people. Disney does a wonderful job and can do just about anything you want them to do if you have the budget! However, with proper planning and a lot of thought, we were able to have the wedding we wanted that also fit into our budget. Our ceremony took place at the Yacht Club Resort Gazebo. Our day started with a character breakfast at Chief Mickey’s, the ceremony, dinner at Ariel’s which is a dinning room at the Beach Club Resort and a desert party at the United Kingdom lower terrace inside Epcot for a private viewing of Illuminations. Following Illuminations pretty much all of the childless adults went on to the Atlantic Dance Hall before calling it a night. I should also mention that about half of our party also took a private Keys to the Kingdom Tour at the Magic Kingdom the day before the wedding. I know, your thinking how did we do all that for only $10,000?

Well we wanted to have, and give a memorable event for our families so we cut all of the extra junk that a normal wedding would have. The only flowers used were the bouquet for the bride. We used over head music for dinner instead of hiring a band or D.J. which was fine since we only ate dinner there anyways. We didn’t hire a photographer, but we did purchase a doz. through-away cameras for our family’s to take pictures, we ended up with tones of beautiful shots. Because all of our wedding events took place in one area, we didn’t require any transportation. We had no decorations for our dinner, which was fine since Ariel’s is already nicely decorated. We’re very down to earth people, so the food items we selected weren’t the most expensive on the menu, but since its Disney it was all excellent food anyways. We were also able to count the Chief Mickey’s breakfast and the desert party in our meal requirements. We did however hire a violinist for ceremony and dinner as our entertainment. This was awesome as he played all the usual Disney music before the start of the ceremony, Some Day My Prince Will Come when I walked down the isle and Here Comes the Bride when my wife walked down the isle. I should also mention that we we’re in WDW for almost three weeks with most of the nights on property, which went a long way to fulfilling our hotel room requirements. Did I mention that we got one free night in the Honeymoon Suite at the Wilderness Lodge!

 

[Maria]

All that for only $10,000? Including the honeymoon?? wow...

Has anyone got married at the Mary Queen of the Universe Shrine?
I can´t think of a wedding outside of a church -has to be with being Catholic, I guess-. I was just wondering how much it would cost to "dress up" that big one.

For the 'civil' ceremony (by law), I would do it in the gazebos with a few people around. The possibilities are endless!

That is, of course, if I ever get married!
:lol: :animwink:

 

[KevinPage]

Foxfire,

You actually cannot book a WDW wedding far in advance. The earliest you can reserve a date is 12 months out, and you sign a contract and get assigned to a coordinator at the 8 month mark. If there are many couples wanting the same date, same locations, time, etc., they will hold a "lottery". But, there are so many different locations, that a lottery isn't very likely. We were married on a Sunday, and were actually the only ceremony held at the wedding pavilion that day (they can do 5 or 6 per day). If I remember correctly, our reception was also the only one at the Grand Floridian that day too.

You can meet a sales manager as far in advance as you'd like, they can go over all the preliminary stuff with you, such as different things you can have, looking at locations, etc, it's just the date that you cannot actually reserve until 1 year out.

The fact that a coordinator was included was priceless to us, as we were planning our wedding from NY. It was nice to be able to call or email her with anything we needed, any changes we needed to make, etc., it took any stress out of planning a wedding from far away.

There is also an unofficial site dedicated to WDW weddings, it's a place you can talk with others who have had, or are currently planning a WDW wedding. We found it very helpful during our planning, and even if you're not planning on getting married for a while, it's a good place to ask questions and gather information before you make a decision. The website is http://www.yourfairytale.com/mailist.html

 

[UncleJeet]

My fiance and I are getting married at the Wedding Pavillion in just a little over two weeks. Our wedding coordinator has been excellent, and everything concerning the ceremony planning has been fairly painless. (I wish the same could be said for the reception we're having when we get back home....)

We tenatively booked our date in March of last year, so we didn't experience any 2 year long waiting period or anything. We leave here in 15 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 24 seconds - but who's counting?

As to family and friends being around on your honeymoon....this can be minimized. We're having our ceremony in October, on a Monday - this prevents a lot of people from hanging about since they'd have to pull kids out of school, most have already taken their vacation time over the summer, etc.... Having it on a Monday allows them time to get to the resort and get in a park or two over the weekend, then scoot on out of there before their bosses miss them or their kids' teachers get upset.

UncleJeet

 

[Mr. Tom Morrow]

Nope the 10 G’s didn’t include the honeymoon, just the things I mentioned above. Our wedding was on a Thursday, no problem booking that date! Remember you don’t have to get married on a Friday or Saturday, the most popular days of the week. No need to worry about family on the honeymoon if you plan things right. Organize all of your family things leading up to the wedding so that there really isn’t a reason for the two to clash. You can also include a Disney Cruise as part of your honeymoon (like we did) far away from the family!

 

[DisneyDJ]

Cannot book inside the Shrine, but there is a catholic church on 535 that is beautiful. It's called Holy Family. We were looking at having our reception at Atlantic Dance. The reception was on a Saturday in May and the starting price was 28,000 and an extra 30,000 if we wanted Atlantic Dance exclusive for the evening. Everything adds up, but after DJ for Event Productions, and FT Weddings for about a year now, they really know how to do it. Just remember when it comes to weddings, you get what you pay for! Good luck!

Until Next Time...

 

[foxfire]

I checked out the yourfairtale.com site and joined it. So in 2-3 years (I'd like to be married by the time I'm 26-27) I can have kept up with all the changes and offerings.

 

[mkepcotmgmak]

does that include airfare for your arriving guests? lol