Just called DFTW - bit disappointed

[SerpentQueenClaire]

I just called DFTW as my boyfriend and I are visiting Florida in March and hoped that we could meet with someone to discuss options and perhaps visit a few of the ceremony sites. I was all ready to pencil in a date and was getting really excited but the girl on the phone said that I could only do that if I booked a Wishes wedding.

I explained that as we're from the UK we aren't able to visit very often and just wanted to chat about the different options and visit the sites but she said no and that would all be done further down the line if we book a Wishes package.

Is this the case for everyone or has anyone been able to do a site visit as an Escape bride or before the wedding was booked? We wanted to visit before we book to make sure it will be the right wedding for us...so doesn't make sense to me :sad2:

[irisbud]

I know that must be really frustrating, but if you are thinking of doing an escape wedding, you could easily visit each of the ceremony sites yourself, without the aid of a wedding planner. Unless closed off for an event, I believe all of them are accessible to the general public.

I understand this isn't exactly what you want, but maybe it would help you to make your decision.

Good luck!

[Mydisneywedding]

Don't get upset, you could visit all the sites without a coordinator and get an idea of what you are looking for.

I had the same issue, I wanted to set something up to discuss options and budget and to really decide if I wanted to go with a Wishes or Escape wedding since I am right at the 25 number of guest.

I was told no, because a site visit is only for Wishes but that I could go on my own to some locations. I just did that last month and I was fine with it.

I got to see all the ceremony locations and I visited and ate at Citricos, Fultons, & California Grill.

Plan it out and check out the site

Good luck !!

[rachy]

I also thought we could meet up with someone to talk everything through as we are from UK, and were there last September, and prefer speaking to someone face to face than over the phone.

We visited a few of the sites though whilst there, and came home and decided we didn't want a Disney wedding after all because of various reasons, so we booked somewhere else in Florida x

[SerpentQueenClaire]

Thanks everyone. I will go and visit some of the locations, restaurants and hotels-sure it will give me a good idea of what I do and don't like!!

Out of interest, where are you getting married? I am open to other ideas although at the moment I think Disney is the way I want to go :)

[rachy]

http://www.celebrationhotel.com/

There package suited us better, as we can have the meal included in the package for upto 8 guests, plus we get 2 nights free accomodation in the hotel.

We were all ready for a Disney wedding too, but i didn't like the fact you couldn't book until 8 months before the date.
Good luck in whatever you choose, and hope the snow isn't too bad in Kent. Terrible in Windsor! x

[SerpentQueenClaire]

I will take a look-there will only be a few of us at the wedding so something to consider.

Snow is quite bad-took me 2 1/2 hours to get home from work (normally a 25 min journey!) Think you have it worse than us this time though so stay safe and warm x

[rachy]

I will take a look-there will only be a few of us at the wedding so something to consider.

Snow is quite bad-took me 2 1/2 hours to get home from work (normally a 25 min journey!) Think you have it worse than us this time though so stay safe and warm x

You too x

[gemmybear83]

Were from the uk and planning an escape wedding for December, we visited all the sites during our October trip, and from doing that, reading lots of planning journals and Carrie's book I don't think were any worse off, tbh if a planning session was now offered I wouldn't go as we mow have our date pencilled in and a wedding coordinate to answer questions and we won't book the wedding until April.

Saying all if this I love the look of the celebration hotel, this was second on my list!

[Mydisneywedding]

I wanted to share something I learned today...

If you really want to have the magic of Disney but not the hassle of dealing with the wedding coordinators or Disney policies why not consider having the ceremony and dinner at Fulton's in Downtown Disney

I had a board member send me some info today and I think it's a great idea.

Less money than DFTW, no people limit, you could use your own photographer, cake and florist and you are still in Disney...

[MsEsty]

I can only imagine your frustration! When Esty proposed, we called Disney Weddings and asked if we could meet with someone while down there, a 10 minute drive! We were also told no and we could "talk to someone over the phone or by email." We're a 2 hour flight, I could only imagine being in the UK.

We said screw it and took a day to visit the the various sites to get a real feel for the places. I highly recommend the PassPorter Wedding Planner Guide. It really gets into the details regarding all possible weddings. http://www.passporter.com/weddings.asp

Hope it helps!

[missy0107]

I wanted to share something I learned today...

If you really want to have the magic of Disney but not the hassle of dealing with the wedding coordinators or Disney policies why not consider having the ceremony and dinner at Fulton's in Downtown Disney

I had a board member send me some info today and I think it's a great idea.

Less money than DFTW, no people limit, you could use your own photographer, cake and florist and you are still in Disney...

I had my wedding at Fulton's a month ago and it was perfect! Check my planning journal for a few photos. I'm happy to answer any questions!

[aduck126]

yah if you are having an escape wedding i found that especially in the beginning stages of planning when you have a lot of questions that disney are not the ones to turn to. I dont know how many times i felt like i was being pushed aside and ignored because i was only having an escape wedding. this is most frustrating when it comes to their booking restrictions. you book your wedding 8 months out then you book your reception 180 days out then the dessert party is somthing else. i almost gave up PLENTY of times. my advise is to hang in there and accept that it is going to be really annoying and some days you will want to rip your hair out and never want to hear the word disney again, but it will get better, i promise.

[Janell]

Im sorry to hear they can't meet with you. If it helps, I planed our Wishes wedding with out going on a planning session or even meeting our planner. We meet our planner the day of the wedding. Its easy to do over the phone and internet. its only easy to do this, because of the internet boards. You will learn more about the wedding, options form the ladies here then you will from your planner. Just because a lot of us have already had our weddings,so we can share photos, in site and help out in anyway.

While your at WDW, just go and see the sites where the wedding could be help and see what you like. For me I was at WDW 5 years before we got married, not know I was going to get married there. We choose the WP through photos and I had a brief memory of seeing it from the Monorail. We choose Living Seas Salon because it fit what we wanted and I knew it was a neat place because we had lunch there in 2003. We choose food that sounded good and the flavors of the cake were chosen because of the ladies here and what they raved about.

So don't stress, know where you could have the wedding before you go, so you can go by and see the locations. If you think you might want to have a meal afterwards, either make reservations at the location on this trip or just go and see it. You don't have to eat there. And know WDW has great food no matter where you go. (way better then Disneyland in Cal lol) You can't go wrong. Take lots of photos so you can re-look at them when you get home.

Have a great trip and happy planning.:surfweb:

[erin.w]

Isn't there a website with photos of all the locations? Does anyone know the website?

[Luvableoldonkey]

Isn't there a website with photos of all the locations? Does anyone know the website?

www.mouseweddings.com has a lot of information and pictures. I haven't been on the site in awhile, so I'm not quite sure how up to date the information is. I know some of the others have said this but I found Carrie's book Pasporters Disney Weddings and Honeymoons immensely helpful! :)

[kingLouiethe1]

Wow, it really sucks that they don't do that for WDW weddings. When we went to Disneyland we spoke to someone and they drove us around in their little golf cart, and this was just to see if we wanted to even have our wedding there.

[SerpentQueenClaire]

Thank you so much everyone-really nice to hear from so many people in relation to my little moan!! We're still going to look at the different options whilst we're out there and I am always on the boards picking up tips from you lovely ladies (and men!) I'll also look into some of the other suggestions, such as Fultons and Celebration. If anyone has any other ideas of places we could look at whilst we're out there please let me know :)

[tinkandonaldfans]

We're another UK disney couple and having an Escape 2011 wedding. We have chosen Sea Breeze Point(I made Df look at even before he proposed!!) but the gazebo would also have been easy to go look at if you wanted it there. We are having our reception at The Yachtman's Steakhouse (don't like the idea of having Steakhouse on invites though) as it sounds yummy and looks pretty- so feel free to have a look there and report back!! and afterwards we will be having a dessert party in morrocco! I wanted to keep my guests in one area so they don't wander off!:laughing:

As difficult as Disney is I can't even imagine how wonderful it will be having a disney wedding. Nothing else will ever really be good enough!

i'm particularly excited about seeing the first timers in our wedding party experience the magic!

[Scrap_Vamp]

Hi Claire,

Another Kent Disney bride here! I also had an Escape wedding and found I got the best idea of the locations by looking at other people's trip reports (we weren't able to go over at all once we had decided to get married in Florida!).

We also considered getting married at one of the Universal Resort hotels but in the end we decided we wanted the Disney magic. I also think one of the biggest advantages was having the wedding co-ordinator - I didn't have to stress about anything!

What part of Kent are you from?

[SerpentQueenClaire]

Thanks for your response. Think you will turn in to a very useful source for me so if you don't mind, I may be picking your brain from time to time!! It's nice to speak to people who have already experienced the things I'll be dealing with.

I live in Maidstone - how about you?

How did you find planning the wedding from over here and dealing with all the logistics over the phone and net?

[Dizneydawn]

Claire,
I too have been debating for quite some time (a year :rolleyes1) where to get married and do I want a Disney wedding or not and if so how big.

I was just browsing this morning and found your thread and looked into someones suggestion of Celebration.

Browsed their site - talked with a coordiantor and I am in loooove with this place!

I have been to Disney last March to look at all options includingt he escape pkg and wishes wedding. Hated the fact that so much was left out and would need to be paid for the Escape pkg OOP for dinner etc. Also felt that the runaround I was getting for me just put a bad taste in my mouth about a wedding or Disney and I did not want that. Wanted Disney feel without the second class citizen experience if you did not want to fork over so much for a Wishes ceremony...and your first child...which was in small print at the bottom. :lmao:

We went in June to look at Disney's Vero Beach resort to look at weddings and loved their price point but so much was needing to be coordinated by me like pastor, flowers, music, photography etc. that I was feeling like I would be overwhelmed from a distance.

The celebration pkg does have everything included - plus you will have a total 3 people assigned to your wedding team including start to finish, isle runner and outside wrought iron traellace if you want etc. The food is varied and very fancy, 2 hours of open bar for up to 8 guests, 2 nights of hotel, cake, flowers for bride and grrom, hour of photography etc...etc... all starting at $3995 if you keep it 10 or less. $120 pp extra for each additional person.

For us this seems awesome - so many places for meals or bar have minimums and we will have 10-15 probably so perfect for us.

I am interedted in Fultons also and ddi not know that was a possibility - anyone have more info?

Anyway - THANK YOU for giving me a new place to deeply consider that has Disney feel and glamour but not Disney price or snobbery!:snooty:

[missy0107]

I am interedted in Fultons also and ddi not know that was a possibility - anyone have more info?



Fulton's charges a nominal fee to set-up an outside deck for your ceremony. Then you rent the inside room for your reception by negotiating a rate for your meal per person depending on a the menu and other options you select. You may or may not need to meet a food and beverage minimum in order to use the room. The minimum was waived for me. I also ended up with the use of their larger room for my ceremony due to the torrential rain that greeted us for our wedding.

They do not provide any coordination services so you would either need to hire a coordinator yourself or do the work yourself. They do provide plenty of staff to help you the day of your wedding.

I can send you the menus they send me in the spring if you PM me your email address!

[Scrap_Vamp]

Thanks for your response. Think you will turn in to a very useful source for me so if you don't mind, I may be picking your brain from time to time!! It's nice to speak to people who have already experienced the things I'll be dealing with.

I live in Maidstone - how about you?

How did you find planning the wedding from over here and dealing with all the logistics over the phone and net?

I'm in Gillingham, so not far at all! I don't mind at all if you have questions - I found it so helpful having people on here to answer questions, so am happy to return the favour.

In all honesty, we found it really simple planning the wedding from over here. My wedding co-ordinator was Tanis and we had Rosie for floral, and they were both incredible. My mum also had a really good working relationship with them both, and arranged surprises which we didn't find out about. She actually reckons we had an easier time planning our wedding than my brothers had planning weddings in the UK (my younger brother used the Maidstone Hilton and had a bit of a 'mare to be honest!).

I can honestly say that I wasn't stressed at all during the process, although we mostly stuck with the basic Escape package. The only things we changed were to have the Model A Ford (a surprise from me to DH) and some extra floral (boutonnieres and a long-stemmed calla lily for my bridesmaid). Then mum arranged for Mickey and Minnie to drop by separately.

[SerpentQueenClaire]

Hmmmm....Celebration sounds very interesting! That would be a possibility for sure. Could always follow it up with a DP or the Wishes Cruise to add a bit of Disney magic!! Does anyone have more info about Celebration-I've looked at the website but would love to hear from someone who's been there or has spoken to a planner there.

I will have to take a drive over there in march and have a little look at the location etc.

[Maleficent Goon]

I feel like I'm missing something. Does a DFTW differ from just a regular ol' wedding at WDW? The reason I ask is that my sister is considering getting married there in the fall. My entire family visited this past weekend and got a tour of the wedding pavilion, as well as reception halls at the Grand Floridian, Yacht & Beach, and Boardwalk. They drove us around, showed us pictures of cakes, showed a slideshow, etc. They were very nice and very accommodating. If we had to drive ourselves around, my parents may have been put off. But we had a very nice time and Disney bent over backwards to please us.

[thatdisneygirl]

It might depend on who you talk to and how many weddings are going on the day you want to visit. It's possible that all the wedding coordinators were tied up on the day that you were hoping to look at locations and nobody was available to take you around.

It might be worth sending an email with some flexible dates and an explanation that you'd want to see the locations before deciding on a Disney wedding. Throwing in the fact that you know they've done this for other brides probably couldn't hurt!

[SerpentQueenClaire]

I didn't even get to offer some dates-she shot me down before I got to that!! I am free for 2 weeks and can go there any date or time so you'd think they would be able to accommodate my request. Would just be nice to have a bit of a tour, view the locations we're interested in and discuss options.

Is there an email address I can use to send a request as perhaps I'll have more luck going down this route?

[girli565]

I feel like I'm missing something. Does a DFTW differ from just a regular ol' wedding at WDW? The reason I ask is that my sister is considering getting married there in the fall. My entire family visited this past weekend and got a tour of the wedding pavilion, as well as reception halls at the Grand Floridian, Yacht & Beach, and Boardwalk. They drove us around, showed us pictures of cakes, showed a slideshow, etc. They were very nice and very accommodating. If we had to drive ourselves around, my parents may have been put off. But we had a very nice time and Disney bent over backwards to please us.
No, there's no difference.

I was treated the same way, we got driven around, shown the sites and even had a small meeting afterwards to discuss anything.

OP, maybe because you're interested in an Escape package is why you can't do a site visit? I was initially looking into a Wishes wedding so that's why we got a site visit. We downgraded bc we moved it up 6 months and were worried that we wouldn't be able to save enough in time.

[tinkerbell 766]

No, there's no difference.

I was treated the same way, we got driven around, shown the sites and even had a small meeting afterwards to discuss anything.

OP, maybe because you're interested in an Escape package is why you can't do a site visit? I was initially looking into a Wishes wedding so that's why we got a site visit. We downgraded bc we moved it up 6 months and were worried that we wouldn't be able to save enough in time.

I agree. If it's Escape you are interested in, then there is far less hand-holding done by Disney.
On my November trip, I had a day on my own and looked at my possible venues myself. It is very easy to check out all the ceremony locations - even the WP which luckily for me was empty and I had a good look around. I couldn't check out any ballrooms, but as I don't think I am interested in these, it didn't mattter. I really enjoyed myself having a nosey around and I used the Disney buses so I didn't drive anywhere.