Swan & Dolphin Weddings FAQ

[J.ThaddeusToad]

Originally Posted by KristiLyn

Here's an email I got from Karen when I asked her:
In regards to music, we do offer some pre-recorded music selections that we can bring along.
Depending on equipment availability on our end, we would either have a
CD player or iPod with some standard wedding selections. We charge a
$25 rental fee for this.

As another option, you are welcome to bring your own music and
equipment if you prefer. I recommend ensuring that the player you
bring has a battery backup, as power can be occasionally turned off at
the ceremony site. You will also need to identify someone in your
group to press "play" when needed.

Kristi, I'm so glad I came across this! We had been thinking of hiring a violinist, but felt like it would a lot of money for such a short time. Do you know what kind of pre-recorded music they have? Are you bringing your own music? I'm getting so nervous about the lengths of songs as people go down the aisle, timing of songs during the ceremony, etc! My brother plays guitar and has a wonderful voice... I'm tempted to have him play whatever, whenever!

[KristiLyn]

Originally Posted by J.ThaddeusToad

Kristi, I'm so glad I came across this! We had been thinking of hiring a violinist, but felt like it would a lot of money for such a short time. Do you know what kind of pre-recorded music they have? Are you bringing your own music? I'm getting so nervous about the lengths of songs as people go down the aisle, timing of songs during the ceremony, etc! My brother plays guitar and has a wonderful voice... I'm tempted to have him play whatever, whenever!

If I had a brother that played the guitar and could sing, I would definately choose that!!
I'm just going to let them provide the music. She said if we bring our own music, we also will need to have someone "press play" and I have a hard time asking someone to do that. And I haven't asked her what kind of music she has, but that's my very next question to her I figure since she does this all the time, if she provides the music she knows the timing of the songs, etc.
I am the exact same way, I'm not paying a violinist $300 for a 20 minute ceremony, no way!

[Sizzle]

Hey everyone! I'm pretty new to the boards but have been reading lots and lots

I am looking at switching my Wishes wedding to a S/D wedding. I'm still a bit unclear on the planner aspect. As I understand the S/D refers you to Just Marry, but that there are other planners that will work with them as well? So my questions are:

*Am I required to use a planner to get married at S/D?
*If I am required, do I have to pay the planner a seperate fee for using them?

I'm so excited to chat with everyone more about planning

[minniebride]

Originally Posted by Sizzle

Hey everyone! I'm pretty new to the boards but have been reading lots and lots

I am looking at switching my Wishes wedding to a S/D wedding. I'm still a bit unclear on the planner aspect. As I understand the S/D refers you to Just Marry, but that there are other planners that will work with them as well? So my questions are:

*Am I required to use a planner to get married at S/D?
*If I am required, do I have to pay the planner a seperate fee for using them?

I'm so excited to chat with everyone more about planning

Congrats on your wedding planning!! I am pretty sure that you can go through another planner, who is not from Just Marry.....I just cannot recall who the other planners are. If you google Swan/Dolphin wedding, you should be able to come across other planners.

I think S/D directs you to Just Marry when you call because JM is their preferred planning service.

We are going through Just Marry & our planner is Karen Gingerich. She is incredible and has far exceeded my expectations! We were even able to do a tasting session for no additional fee.

I do not think we are paying anything in addition for our planner. I believe it is built into your price of the venue and such. I do not think you can have a S/D wedding without going through a planner

[tinkerbell 766]

Hi Sizzle and welcome to our small and exclusive group of S/D brides and VR brides.
I totally agree with everything that Minniebride has said. We have Karen as our planner too, and she is an absolute angel!! I really don't know how I would have planned my VR (which is in just over 4 weeks) without her. I live in the UK, and have had to arrange everything via e-mail and phone. She has never let me down once, and always answers my questions and addresses my concerns extremely quickly, usually the same day!!! As you may be aware this is not always the case with DFTW!!! She has encouraged me to pick my own vendors for the things I have been fairly confident about (eg cake, photographer, harpist and officiant) and offered good advice on the vendors for the elements I was unsure about. I cannot speak highly enough of her and JM through my whole planning, and have no doubt that she will be just as efficiant on my big day!!
Do you have concerns about using JM or have other planners in mind?
Feel free to ask us any questions and happy planning!!!

[KristiLyn]

Hi Sizzle!!
Just wanted to say welcome!! And I totally agree with the previous posters

[jerichoZ]

That venue is lovely.

[Jilian]

Welcome Sizzle, I'm using Karen too and she has been great to work with. She usually gets back to me within an hour or so with answers to all of my questions, and trust me when I say I've asked a million questions. The price of the planner is built into the $1595 base price for the S/D ceremony. I'm not sure if you'd get a discount off that price if you used your own planner. Personally, I love working with Karen because she knows a lot about S/D weddings and gives great advice because she's planned so many S/D ceremonies. I wanted to be absolutely sure I was going with someone very experienced in S/D weddings.

Anyway, happy planning!

[Kasper]

My daughter lives in Japan and has survived the disaster there...but remains there as a teacher along with her fiance. They have decided to get married in December here in the States and want to have a Disney Wedding. They have asked me to plan this wedding for them. Money is a great consideration and as I look at the Disney Escape weddings I wonder how we can do this and make it a magical wedding without breaking the bank. I want to make her dreams come true. I stumbled across this thread today and wonder if S/D would be the way to go? We would stay on Disney property but if we can actually spend less than the $5000.00 min. that Disney wants for the ceremony it would make a huge difference. Where do I begin? I e-mailed the S/D today so hopefully they will get back to me soon. Any help or suggestions you lovely brides can give me would be much appreciated. It is very hard to do all this without my daughter with me and I want to make it so special for her. We are so blessed that she has made it through this terrible tragedy in Japan and are so proud of her for staying to help rebuild and support her students. (Although still fearful due to the Nuclear Power Plants) We want this wedding to be the wedding of their dreams.
Thank you.

[Jilian]

Kasper, how sweet of you! I'm happy that you're daughter survived the disaster and I hope she doesn't have any issues from the power plants. Emailing Just marry is a great first step. Have you been to the swan/dolphin wedding page? It is here: http://www.swandolphin.com/weddings/index.html There are some pictures and some info there. Basically it is $1,570 for the ceremony, this includes chairs for your guests, use of the S/D space, a wedding coordinator from Just marry, and use of the S/D hospitality suite to get ready in (if available). You can add other stuff on, for example I'm adding an officiant for $150 and a violinist for an hour for $250. The wedding coordinator can add any assortment of services in that you want from cake, to flowers to musicians. If you want a dinner afterwards you book that seperately by yourself, but there are many restaurants to choose from. They also have function halls if you want more of a traditional reception with a DJ and dancing. The possibilities are endless really. If you have any questions, just ask! Many of us have asked those same questions and can help point you in the right direction.

[KristiLyn]

That's very sweet of you Kasper!!!
In my opinion, if you didn't want to pay the large amount of money for a Disney wedding S/D weddings are definately the way to go! I don't regret my decision one bit! If you have emailed Just Marry, you will probably get assigned Karen as the planner. (atleast she has done most of the recent ones) She is absolutely wonderful and I can't say enough about her! She's very quick with emails and is extremely helpful! She will send you a price list of everything. I think I've posted it a few pages back, and if you don't see it check the first page of my pj. I know it's there.
Keep us updated!!

[tinkerbell 766]

Hi
A very warm welcome to our little group!!
Looks like you have had a tough time recently. It is fantastic that your daughter is okay after the terrible events in Japan and you are justly proud of her for staying and helping her students through the aftermath. She certainly deserves a beautiful wedding!!!
I echo everything the girls say!! My VR is coming up very soon and I can honestly say that in the year or so I have been planning, I have not regretted going down the S/D route. I started out looking at an Escape package, but was increasingly frustrated with the numerous rules and regulations imposed by DFTW. I was also getting annoyed with the distinct lack of communication they seemed to have with me. I live in the UK and so have had to arrange everything via e-mail and phone - no planning trips. Switching to the S/D was the best decision!! No more silly regulations and communication issues disappeared. Heaven
The other thing I like about planning your wedding/VR at the S/D is that you can either go with your planner's recommended vendors or research and book your own -something you cannot do with many elements of a DFTW. This is very useful if you have specific ideas about what you want, or you need to marry (pun intended!!) an element to a particular budget.
Feel free to check out my PJ (link in siggie) and podcast (link below, first post on this page)

http://www.insidedisneyweddings.com/page/3/
We are delighted to have you along!!! Ask anything - we are a very friendly bunch. Happy planning!!!

[Kasper]

I am so appreciative of your quick answers to my posts. You are all Angels and I thank you for letting this Mother of the Bride into your very special circle. I have e-mailed my daughter the information and when I hear back from her I will know if she wants me to go this route. Unfortunately she has to go to an internet cafe right now to e-mail me so I can only communicate with her once a week. I am going to e-mail Just Marry directly tonight with the hopes they get right back to me. I am very excited that this may be the way to go. We are thinking we will have at the most 20-25 people at Disney with us for the wedding. We are planning to have a reception dinner after the ceremony somewhere maybe in Disney. Are any of you doing this kind of thing? What Restaurant are you using?
I know she wouldn't be able to wear her gown in the parks....Could she wear it at a resort restaurant? Thanks again for your help. When are your weddings??

[pixie921]

Originally Posted by Kasper

I am so appreciative of your quick answers to my posts. You are all Angels and I thank you for letting this Mother of the Bride into your very special circle. I have e-mailed my daughter the information and when I hear back from her I will know if she wants me to go this route. Unfortunately she has to go to an internet cafe right now to e-mail me so I can only communicate with her once a week. I am going to e-mail Just Marry directly tonight with the hopes they get right back to me. I am very excited that this may be the way to go. We are thinking we will have at the most 20-25 people at Disney with us for the wedding. We are planning to have a reception dinner after the ceremony somewhere maybe in Disney. Are any of you doing this kind of thing? What Restaurant are you using?
I know she wouldn't be able to wear her gown in the parks....Could she wear it at a resort restaurant? Thanks again for your help. When are your weddings??

Hello and congratulations on your daughter's upcoming marriage!

We started out planning our vow renewal through Disney but quickly became frustrated with their rules and regulations (not to mention the cost!) and the lovely Joanne (who answered you previously) got us interested in using the Swan instead. We are also working with Karen at Just Marry and she has been wonderful!

We will have 22 people total at our vow renewal this October. We are using Crescent Terrace and will have cake cutting and the toast right there afterwards, as well as a visit with Mickey and Minnie. Then we are hosting a lunch for our guests in the private dining room at the Wave at the Contemporary Resort. It's $37/person for lunch and there are several choices on the group menu (for groups over 20). Your daughter can absolutely wear her gown into the restaurant and the Wave even allows some decorating in the room. I know the other ladies are doing different things ... I believe Joanne is having her dinner at Citrico's at the Grand Floridian if I remember correctly.

HTH a little -- we're so pleased with our decision to change to the Swan; we're getting everything we could've wanted (and more!) for a lot less money (and hassle) than we had with Disney Fairy Tale Weddings.

[tinkerbell 766]

Kasper
Thank you for your lovely comments!!!
My sweet Amy is right - I am having my reception dinner at Citricos at The GF. They have been really lovely to work with. The manager Vivianna, has been an absolute angel, and has bent over backwards to help. I can't wait to meet her!! She ended her latest e-mail to me a couple of days ago with the words 'we will do everything we can to make it perfect'. They are having personalized menus printed up for us, allowing my daughter to go up to the restaurant and arrange our favours on the table (they would have done it themselves, but our favours are personalized, and so I figured it would be better if my daughter did it) and are happy to receive the floral arrangements from our florist to put on the tables. They have been brilliant!!! I highly recommend the service I have received, and since I have eaten in the restaurant before, I am confident that the food will be fabulous!!
Oh and I will be wearing my gown all day, including at the restaurant. I will not be taking that baby off until I absolutely have to!!!