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Wedding Question
- Thread starter moonchild
- Start date
Married@WDW
Member
It's way more complicated than I can list here. There are many factors besides just the $7500 minimum -- that minimum probably doesn't include any park venues and probably wouldn't be possible for Saturday or Sunday weddings, which are usually at least a $10,000 minimum. You can choose where that money goes though -- it's not just to hold the space. There are minimums for what you must spend per person on food depending on where you have your reception (ours was $75/per person at Atlantic Dance). The wedding pavilion has a fee attached (I think it's $1200 which includes the organist). You'll need flowers and decor, entertainment, etc. If you're having many guests, you probably need to supply transportation (buses can be rented). Most of this can be included in that minimum, but chances are if you're having more than 25 guests, you'll spend more than that $7500 anyway.
Your best bet is to talk to Disney directly. Their options change almost daily and the possibilities are endless...well, depending on how deep your pockets are.
Our Disney wedding was amazing and totally worth every penny -- and they do everything right! It was magical.
Your best bet is to talk to Disney directly. Their options change almost daily and the possibilities are endless...well, depending on how deep your pockets are.
Our Disney wedding was amazing and totally worth every penny -- and they do everything right! It was magical.
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Thanks! We are planning a very small gathering, about 22 guests and a weekday wedding, i think i like December 3, 2003. Has a nice ring to it dont cha think? Also planning a small dinner reception, maybe at the Cali Grill. Ya think we can do this for under say........$10, 000? or am I dreaming?
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Married@WDW
Member
I don't think you're dreaming at all -- I would think that would be totally doable and it sounds wonderful!
We had a much bigger gathering -- it got out of control once my mother realized how much we could do! -- but with the rehearsal for 30, tea for 35 (including characters), wedding and cocktail hour at Epcot, reception at Atlantic Dance (with characters, DJ and roulette/blackjack tables) and dessert buffet in Norway for 70 our total bill was only around $22,000 (I say only because we did so much, not because I think $22K is cheap -- I still can't believe my parents agreed to pay for most of that. But both my sisters had small weddings at home, so this was their one chance for a big "to do"). That didn't include photography, videography or steaming my dress. Otherwise, everything's in there.
The Cali. Grill is amazing -- do you know that they have two private rooms there as well? I'm not sure how many people they hold but they have an amazing view of the property. There's also an amazing room at the Living Seas Pavilion and another above Norway. We used one for our rehearsal and one for our dessert buffet. The Living Seas room has windows into the tanks.
Don't be a afraid to pummel Disney with questions. We did and were pleasantly surprised to learn that since we wanted a morning wedding we could use the Italy Pavilion for FREE instead of paying the extra $1200 for the wedding pavilion (though we did have to pay $150 for two Disney CMs to be "guides" at Epcot). We just needed the ceremony to be over and our formal pictures done before the park opened -- we were having our cocktail party on Italy's isola when World Showcase opened. All the attention made me feel like I was Cinderella!
Wow! I wish I could do it all again. Sorry I'm so long-winded. If you have any other questions just post 'em and I'll do my best to help! I've kept up with a lot of this because my sister-in-law is currently planning a Disney wedding now too!
Happy planning!
We had a much bigger gathering -- it got out of control once my mother realized how much we could do! -- but with the rehearsal for 30, tea for 35 (including characters), wedding and cocktail hour at Epcot, reception at Atlantic Dance (with characters, DJ and roulette/blackjack tables) and dessert buffet in Norway for 70 our total bill was only around $22,000 (I say only because we did so much, not because I think $22K is cheap -- I still can't believe my parents agreed to pay for most of that. But both my sisters had small weddings at home, so this was their one chance for a big "to do"). That didn't include photography, videography or steaming my dress. Otherwise, everything's in there.
The Cali. Grill is amazing -- do you know that they have two private rooms there as well? I'm not sure how many people they hold but they have an amazing view of the property. There's also an amazing room at the Living Seas Pavilion and another above Norway. We used one for our rehearsal and one for our dessert buffet. The Living Seas room has windows into the tanks.
Don't be a afraid to pummel Disney with questions. We did and were pleasantly surprised to learn that since we wanted a morning wedding we could use the Italy Pavilion for FREE instead of paying the extra $1200 for the wedding pavilion (though we did have to pay $150 for two Disney CMs to be "guides" at Epcot). We just needed the ceremony to be over and our formal pictures done before the park opened -- we were having our cocktail party on Italy's isola when World Showcase opened. All the attention made me feel like I was Cinderella!
Wow! I wish I could do it all again. Sorry I'm so long-winded. If you have any other questions just post 'em and I'll do my best to help! I've kept up with a lot of this because my sister-in-law is currently planning a Disney wedding now too!
Happy planning!
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Maria
New Member
Married@WDW,
I have a question for you: Did Disney ask you or require you to not be in WSC dressed up in your bride dress when guests came? I am asking this because I think there is a rule about that. A friend of mine got married at the Wedding Pavillion and wanted to go to Epcot with all of us for Illuminations and Tapestry. She had to change clothes and only left her little veil on her head.
I have a question for you: Did Disney ask you or require you to not be in WSC dressed up in your bride dress when guests came? I am asking this because I think there is a rule about that. A friend of mine got married at the Wedding Pavillion and wanted to go to Epcot with all of us for Illuminations and Tapestry. She had to change clothes and only left her little veil on her head.
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Married@WDW
Member
As long as it's a scheduled wedding event, it's not a problem. We wanted to go to Tower of Terror all dressed but they wouldn't let us. But we were in our formals for the cocktail hour, which was in Italy while World Showcase was opened and then after the dessert buffet we were escorted outside to a roped off area to watch Illuminations (they wouldn't let us have the dessert buffet on one of the little island areas because we got married during Christmas/New Year's week and it was too crowded to close those off). I actually sat on the ground with my niece asleep on my lap in my wedding dress -- it was the coolest! After Illuminations we walked country to country with my husbands cousins and they took pictures of us -- the CMs not only didn't say anything, they clapped for us as we walked by.
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Married@WDW
Member
Maria --
I wish! After our cocktail hour, we used boats to transport our guests to Atlantic Dance for our reception. That was over at 4 p.m. and we had buses for everyone to get back to their hotels to change into jeans or whatever. Then we used buses to get everyone back to Epcot around 8 p.m. for dessert and the fireworks.
My husband and I just decided we'd rather stay dressed up for the dessert and fireworks since it was my only chance to be in the dress (and it was kinda romantic for my husband to be able to take me out of my wedding dress on our wedding night)!
I wish! After our cocktail hour, we used boats to transport our guests to Atlantic Dance for our reception. That was over at 4 p.m. and we had buses for everyone to get back to their hotels to change into jeans or whatever. Then we used buses to get everyone back to Epcot around 8 p.m. for dessert and the fireworks.
My husband and I just decided we'd rather stay dressed up for the dessert and fireworks since it was my only chance to be in the dress (and it was kinda romantic for my husband to be able to take me out of my wedding dress on our wedding night)!
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dress
Just got back from Disney and there was a wedding reception was going on on the island in Italy and saw the bride come through in her dress. So I do not think that is a rule.
Also, my brother got married at the wedding pavilion and reception at the Grand Floridian with the characters. Could not tell you how much it was, but the whole operation was first class by Disney.
Just got back from Disney and there was a wedding reception was going on on the island in Italy and saw the bride come through in her dress. So I do not think that is a rule.
Also, my brother got married at the wedding pavilion and reception at the Grand Floridian with the characters. Could not tell you how much it was, but the whole operation was first class by Disney.
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Married@WDW
Member
Re: dress
It's definitely a rule -- unless it's a scheduled event, wearing your wedding dress in the parks is not allowed. Unless things have changed, even if you purchase a photo package with pictures taken at MK you have to start the photo session at MK 3 hours before the park opens (you usually have to do this either early the morning or your wedding or the day after -- we didn't think it was worth it and did the honeymoon photo session for about 1/10 the cost). They are quite strict about that kind of thing.
It's definitely a rule -- unless it's a scheduled event, wearing your wedding dress in the parks is not allowed. Unless things have changed, even if you purchase a photo package with pictures taken at MK you have to start the photo session at MK 3 hours before the park opens (you usually have to do this either early the morning or your wedding or the day after -- we didn't think it was worth it and did the honeymoon photo session for about 1/10 the cost). They are quite strict about that kind of thing.
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Married@WDW
Member
Re: Dress
You said there was a wedding reception going on there, right -- that would be a scheduled wedding event, wouldn't it? I said it is allowed if it's a schedule wedding event, basically where it's obvious it's a wedding and little kids can't mistake you for a Disney Princess. I was allowed to wear my dress in Epcot as well because I was at a scheduled wedding event.
You said there was a wedding reception going on there, right -- that would be a scheduled wedding event, wouldn't it? I said it is allowed if it's a schedule wedding event, basically where it's obvious it's a wedding and little kids can't mistake you for a Disney Princess. I was allowed to wear my dress in Epcot as well because I was at a scheduled wedding event.
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Married@WDW
Member
They do! It's called Sunset Point and it's quite beautiful. Great for small gatherings and BEAUTIFUL for pictures. Disney will have you choose a "backup" location in case of inclement weather though. We had the American Adventure as our backup, so I'm so glad it didn't rain -- it's a beautiful room but not what I think of as romantic (no offense to anyone who may have been married there -- just not my thing).
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Married@WDW
Member
These people used a lot of great locations, so you can take a look at their pictures to see what stuff looks like:
http://www.geocities.com/lananfrank/lfwed/picindex.htm
They used Wilderness Lodge's wedding area (can't remember the name of it) for their ceremony and cocktail area, then on to Living Seas private room for reception and they had some photos taken at Sunset Point.
http://www.geocities.com/lananfrank/lfwed/picindex.htm
They used Wilderness Lodge's wedding area (can't remember the name of it) for their ceremony and cocktail area, then on to Living Seas private room for reception and they had some photos taken at Sunset Point.
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Married@WDW
Member
Sorry to post again so soon, but I remember that the minister who performed our ceremony had pictures up, too! He has some great shots of Sunset Point at the bottom of his page:
http://home.att.net/~revtim5/
http://home.att.net/~revtim5/
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Geez! how are we sposed to choose! actually we are going down this december for the disney cruise. we were going to schedule a day with the wedding people to look around and i guess make some decisions. did you do that married? and if you did, does that take a whole day?
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Married@WDW
Member
We originally stopped into Franck's while on a trip about 16 months before we were married. We spent about half a day going around to different locations to see what they were like. We told them what we wanted at at 12 months out they booked everything for us. We decided to go back to Disney about 2 months before the wedding with our moms to do a planning trip where we hashed out all the other details -- meeting with floral, photographer, DJ, minister, sampling the cake and doing a food tasting (this was the MOST fun I've ever had -- they cooked all our food for us and let us try everything to make sure we liked it!). It was definitely worth it for me because I'm a control freak who has to be involved in every little detail. But you can do EVERYTHING without ever setting foot on Disney property -- we didn't need to go to Disney.
They won't book any venues until 12 months out, but if you are concerned about getting something specific, I'd get in touch with them soon and talk to them about what you want. They can get you in touch with a sales manager so you have a contact to book your venues when you're ready -- and you'll have to put down a deposit to book. You can always cancel or change your mind, but better to be safe than sorry!
They won't book any venues until 12 months out, but if you are concerned about getting something specific, I'd get in touch with them soon and talk to them about what you want. They can get you in touch with a sales manager so you have a contact to book your venues when you're ready -- and you'll have to put down a deposit to book. You can always cancel or change your mind, but better to be safe than sorry!
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thanks so much for all of your help!Im sure Ill be asking many many more... I just sent the pix to my fiance, he likes the Poly & Wilderness Lodge ( so do I) I think we'll go with Poly....Ok so far, so good .....Date:12-3-03
Location: Poly
Oh, and the most important: Husband
:lol:
Location: Poly
Oh, and the most important: Husband
:lol:
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Married@WDW
Member
Hey -- no laughing matter on the husband thing! The husband is necessary for a Disney wedding -- you have to have a Florida Marriage License and you can't get one any other way! :animwink:
Good luck with your planning and if you have any other questions, just post 'em here! I'm sure I'm see 'em!
Good luck with your planning and if you have any other questions, just post 'em here! I'm sure I'm see 'em!
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