Wedding advice

[jessabelda]

Hi there, after much lurking in the shaddows I have decided it was time I posted something!

I was wondering if someone could give me advice. Me and my boyfriend were thinking of getting married next year in WDW and was wondering if anyone could give us any tips for how to go about it and what we could expect. I've had a look at the disney weddings website (and created a wishbook! lol) but we live in Bonny Scotland so Im not sure if we should book thru disney direct or thru a travel agent (as you can see we're desparately in need of advice).

Any help/tips/advice basically anything at all you could advise us on would be fab!

Jessabelda xx

 

[kstella]

Congratulations! You are probably best going through Disney. I think you have to use them in order to get married there.

 

[J_Krafty24]

For the wedding defenatly book directly thru Disney. For the resort stay and tickets (unless you are doing a wishes wedding) book however you feel most comfortable.

I don't know if Disney even will book a wedding thru a travel agent, but if they do I personally would not want to even try it as it would take the control away from you.

The Disney wedding planners are very good at working with you and much of the communication can be done thru email to prevent big over-seas phone bills.

They do an excellent job with every aspect of the process.

Tips:

1.) Castle Portrait Session is a must.
2.) Get a disk with all your wedding photos (including portrait session photos if you do one) on it. If you want a lot of reprints or enlargements or if you have a lot of family members who do this could be much less expensive.
3.) Have the groom make any dining reservations so that they are in the correct name (I've got special printed menus from Coral Reef that say Mr and Mrs (my maden name) on them.)
4.) Have fun with your wedding and make it something that YOU TWO will enjoy.

Good luck. A lot of people on here have been married and Disney so if you have any specific questions someone will either be able to give you an answer or direct you to someone who can.

 

[KingStefan]

Hi. I have no idea how to answer your question, but wanted to say welcome to WDWMagic (I hope you like it here) and congratulations on your engagement, and good luck with your wedding and your future. Best wishes.

 

[jessabelda]

Hi,

Thank you so so much for all of your advice. We've definately decided on a disney wedding! YAY!! :sohappy:

Sorry to be a pest but I've got another quick question, I know that you have to stay in one of the Disney resorts to be able to have a wedding there but do all of our family members also need to stay in the resort or could they stay off base (so to speak!)?

Jessabelda xx

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Welcome aboard :wave:

My first piece of advice is to get hold of some UK travel agents brochures (Virgin, Thomas Cook Signature etc) and read what they offer in terms of booking your Disney Wedding through them. Then read what you have to buy from them in order to get married - flights, accomodation, park tickets etc. Work out a price for the holiday dates that cover your chosen wedding date.

Secondly, visit your local travel agent, ask them to shop around with different tour operators for what you want. Its not going to be cheap to do a Disney wedding so they should be able to offer you some sort of discount - if they don't - ask

Thirdly contact Disney - same thing - ask for prices and whether this includes park tickets. Add onto this the cost of a UK Fly Drive holiday (assuming you're prepared to drive) and work out your options.

It pays to shop around - as an example - Virgin are currently charging £19 more per adult for a 14 day pass than can be bought via the internet through UK based websites.

Good Luck

 

[Princess Clayre]

Hi there,

Congratulations! My Hubby and I got married at Disney and booked via Virgin Holidays. It's 10 years since we got married but i'm fairly sure they still offer the wedding packages and have a dedicated weddings line. There are lots of difference packages but we did decide to go for the one at the Wedding Pavillion in the end. It was the most expensive but worth every penny. You only get marries once after all........hopefully.......:ROFLOL:The pavillion is beautiful with wonderful stain glass windows and huge flower arrangements. There's a special arch in the gardens outside that you get pictures taken with Cinderellas Castle in the background. The Disney co-ordinators were fantastic and every thing ran really smoothly. We still have the most amazing memories of our day.

I would still take captains Hook advise above as try to compare prices as I know Virgin are not always a cheap as Disney Direct but could be a good option if you didn't want the hassle of calling abroad.

Happy Planning!

 

[Eeyore]

Hi,

Thank you so so much for all of your advice. We've definately decided on a disney wedding! YAY!! :sohappy:

Sorry to be a pest but I've got another quick question, I know that you have to stay in one of the Disney resorts to be able to have a wedding there but do all of our family members also need to stay in the resort or could they stay off base (so to speak!)?

Jessabelda xx

If you book your wedding through Disney you need to guarantee them a certain number of room nights based on the number of guests attending. I believe that if you have 40 or fewer guests then you must guarantee 25 room nights. So for example if you and your husband were to stay in a Disney resort for 15 nights and your maid of honor were to stay for 10 nights you'd be covered and the rest of the guests could stay where ever they like.

Disney offer room and ticket discounts through the fairytale wedding department.

There are so many other (and more affordable) options for decor etc. than they show on the wishbook. So don't be scared by the $2,000 centerpieces. :lol:

I second all of J Krafty's tips as well. The photo cd seems like a really big expense up front but it is really worth it!

The Disney Fairytale wedding people do a fantastic job!

 

[simmonstlee]

WDW Wedding

hello jessabelda!

we are getting married at the wedding pavilion on may 1st. i definitely think that you should speak with someone from disney weddings before you book your room or buy your park tickets. if you have enough guests coming to your wedding you could get one night free. and disney will block rooms for you and your guests at a discounted price.

you and your fiance receive 2 annual passes just for getting married there. and your guests can get discounted park tickets as well.

if i were you i would call now b/c things book up pretty fast. we are getting married at 10am just so that we could have our reception at california grill (napa room) b/c it was booked that night. our wedding coordinator is michelle and she is fantastic. good luck!

 

[DizneyPryncess]

My fiance & I were planning a Disney wedding, but it ended up being too much money for us, and not enough guests were willing to fly down. From what I learned, there are pro's & con's to it.

Major con for us: They do make you book a minimum amount of room nights per however many guests you have. So if your guests want to stay off property, you will have to pay for the resort guest rooms (even though nobody will be in them).

Pro: Disney has everything you need for your wedding right on hand - photography, videography, flowers, cake, dresses - all of it! You won't have to run around from vendor to vendor, or explore bridal shows trying to find things. Disney takes good care of their brides!

Call Disney Weddings and let them know your wishes - they will help you out with everything.

We settled for an "at home" Disney wedding & a Disney honeymoon, and they've been extremely helpful at Disney. They're doing custom invitations, mickey head program fans and cinderella napkins!

Good luck with everything & congrats!!

 

[wdwmagic]

Definately book everything (including rooms) through the wedding planners, it makes everything much easier (in terms of meeting your total number of room nights), and they do such a great job of handling it for you - it's part of the service.

 

[jessabelda]

Hi everyone, thank you so so much for all of your advice. it is very confusing so thanks to you all the fog in my brain has lifted! :ROFLOL:

Just another quick question, I just wanted to know if we booked the escape wedding package could we add some things that are offered with the wishes packages like more options for flowers etc. Cos I really like the fantasy flowers option plus the fireworks! lol!! :lol:


Jessabelda x

 

[J_Krafty24]

Hi everyone, thank you so so much for all of your advice. it is very confusing so thanks to you all the fog in my brain has lifted! :ROFLOL:

Just another quick question, I just wanted to know if we booked the escape wedding package could we add some things that are offered with the wishes packages like more options for flowers etc. Cos I really like the fantasy flowers option plus the fireworks! lol!! :lol:


Jessabelda x

I know you can have flowers added. I had 3 bunches of flowers and some tuelle put up around the archway on the boardwalk plus a ring of flowers around the unity candle (candle not recommended for outdoor weddings - they tend to blow out). My guess is that they will do just about anything you want - for a price.

 

[Frenort21]

Hi everyone, thank you so so much for all of your advice. it is very confusing so thanks to you all the fog in my brain has lifted! :ROFLOL:

Just another quick question, I just wanted to know if we booked the escape wedding package could we add some things that are offered with the wishes packages like more options for flowers etc. Cos I really like the fantasy flowers option plus the fireworks! lol!! :lol:


Jessabelda x

I had a escape wedding there last Sept. I know flowers can be added and I dont know about private fireworks, but I do know that you can have a Desert Party at Epcot or DHS and you can attend those in your wedding attire if you want to make your day last a little longer.

 

[kybred72]

HI! I just wanted to say Welcome and Congrats on getting married. I hope that you get to have the Disney wedding of your dreams!

We looked into getting married at Disney a while back (2000!) and decided against it because of the room requirements and not having enough people who would want to travel that far for our wedding. So, we got married at home and spent an 11day honeymoon there instead

Best of luck to you!

 

[Jones611]

Congratulations on your wedding! My husband and I were married at the Wedding Pavilion on 6/11/07 and it was absolutely amazing!!! I found that Disney will do anything you want for a price. We had 50 guests at our wedding and had to guarantee 25 rooms nights. With those 25 nights we were given a free night in a concierge suite at the Grand Floridian. We had an amazing view of Cinderella Castle!


A couple of suggestions I would make is definitely get the photo and video package that Disney offers. Our pictures turned out to be absolutely amazing and so did the video! It's something I will treasure the rest of my life! Also, it you have a small number of guests Ariel's at the Yacht & Beach Club Resort is a great place to have a reception. It's a perfect size for 50 or fewer guests. They will send you set buffet menus that you can choose from for the reception but you can change them to meet your needs. We had both breakfast and lunch at our 2 p.m. reception. Also we had an amazing wedding planner Karen T. Heyn, photographer, David Arndt, and DJ, Steve Weinstien. You can make requests for your planner, photographer and DJ and I would highly recommend these people.


I hope you have as much fun planning your Disney wedding as I did! Feel free to send any questions you have my way. I know the process can be overwhelming but it is totally worth it in the end!!! :sohappy: