Guest Count - Children

[shezfrombermuda]

Does anyone know if children count as guests? The woman on the phone said that she didn't know because "children are people" and certain areas have maximum numbers imposed. She said they could count but she wasn't sure. I am looking at having an Intimate Wedding and I want to have an idea of how many people I think I will have. My daughter will be 22 months and there may possibly be two other two year olds. I was thinking if they can get into the parks for free, maybe they wouldn't be counted as guests?

Thanks.

[Sparkles9306]

As far as I've been told any "body" counts as a guest. So Children of any age are counted as guests.

[maraki527]

Children are counted as guest

[shezfrombermuda]

Thanks for your responses. The children may put me over the limit for the Intimate and I might have to change to the Custom Wedding.

[lurkyloo]

Could you arrange for babysitting to occupy the kids and stay with an Intimate wedding? (Maybe not for your daughter, but the other two?). Seems like it isn't fair to have to pay Custom prices just cuz you have two little people!

[shaun&miranda]

My neice will be 13 months old at our wedding, and she still counts as a full guest - but they don't charge for her meals etc. She does count as a body in the Guest Count.

She's my 21st guest, which pushed us into Custom not Intimate, but I soon acclimatised to the exciting new options we got with the Custom options!

Miranda

[shezfrombermuda]

Originally Posted by lurkyloo

Could you arrange for babysitting to occupy the kids and stay with an Intimate wedding? (Maybe not for your daughter, but the other two?). Seems like it isn't fair to have to pay Custom prices just cuz you have two little people!

Oh, that is a good idea! Thanks. I will look into in-room babysitting.

[ChocolateMouse]

Originally Posted by shezfrombermuda

Thanks for your responses. The children may put me over the limit for the Intimate and I might have to change to the Custom Wedding.

I went over the intimate limit by ONE person because of a 1 year old child. The intimate sales consultant told me I had to change to a custom. When my wedding planning left the sales stage and I was assigned an actual planner, she told me she had never heard of this being an issue and did not include the 1 year old as a guest. So I was able to switch back to an intimate with 20 guests plus one toddler. Disney doesn't even charge theme park admission to anyone under 3.

[shezfrombermuda]

Originally Posted by shaun&miranda

My neice will be 13 months old at our wedding, and she still counts as a full guest - but they don't charge for her meals etc. She does count as a body in the Guest Count.

She's my 21st guest, which pushed us into Custom not Intimate, but I soon acclimatised to the exciting new options we got with the Custom options!

Miranda

I started looking at all the custom options and there are some really nice choices. I could probably spend the $10,000 minimum but is that $10,000 including service fees and taxes or are those in addition? If it is additional I don't know if I want to spend that much.

[shezfrombermuda]

Originally Posted by ChocolateMouse

I went over the intimate limit by ONE person because of a 1 year old child. The intimate sales consultant told me I had to change to a custom. When my wedding planning left the sales stage and I was assigned an actual planner, she told me she had never heard of this being an issue and did not include the 1 year old as a guest. So I was able to switch back to an intimate with 20 guests plus one toddler. Disney doesn't even charge theme park admission to anyone under 3.

I should be speaking to a sales consultant today so I will ask them and see what they say. I wonder if it was up to the discretion of your planner?

[luv4mylittleones]

Originally Posted by shezfrombermuda

I started looking at all the custom options and there are some really nice choices. I could probably spend the $10,000 minimum but is that $10,000 including service fees and taxes or are those in addition? If it is additional I don't know if I want to spend that much.

It's in addition...the service fee and tax does not count toward your minimum. I went from planning an escape wedding and dinner to planning a custom and my budget had to go up 10k to compensate for all the 'extras'. It truly seems that the escape weddings are a better deal because so much is included already. I dunno, but I may be switiching back....

[shezfrombermuda]

Originally Posted by luv4mylittleones

It's in addition...the service fee and tax does not count toward your minimum. I went from planning an escape wedding and dinner to planning a custom and my budget had to go up 10k to compensate for all the 'extras'. It truly seems that the escape weddings are a better deal because so much is included already. I dunno, but I may be switiching back....

Okay so that would be $12,650. I guess I will have to look at intimate and custom again and figure out the price difference is and what I want to do. I think I am leaning towards the intimate. Are you considering switching back to intimate because of the cost or for other reasons as well? thanks.

[luv4mylittleones]

We decided to stay with the custom only because the entire family is expecting an invite now. I know I shouldn't care but I do so we're gonna stick with the bigger wedding. I'm a tad nervous about and the money and really wish we didn't tell everyone and stuck with the intimate. The intimate is not only much less expensive, but it's also so much easier since the basics are already included. I had no idea how much photography and cakes could run until I started looking into the custom weddings...yowza!!

[lurkyloo]

Originally Posted by luv4mylittleones

We decided to stay with the custom only because the entire family is expecting an invite now. I know I shouldn't care but I do so we're gonna stick with the bigger wedding. I'm a tad nervous about and the money and really wish we didn't tell everyone and stuck with the intimate.

If I may go OT for a sec... I don't think you should have to pay for a more expensive wedding than you are comfortable with just to please other people. You'll find a lot of encouragement on this board for doing things the way you really want them, and one big theme is "Tell people Disney will only let you have the 18 guests and there's nothing you can do about it." I don't mean to butt in, I just thought that might be an option!

[luv4mylittleones]

Originally Posted by lurkyloo

If I may go OT for a sec... I don't think you should have to pay for a more expensive wedding than you are comfortable with just to please other people. You'll find a lot of encouragement on this board for doing things the way you really want them, and one big theme is "Tell people Disney will only let you have the 18 guests and there's nothing you can do about it." I don't mean to butt in, I just thought that might be an option!

Thanks...and I know you're right...it's extremely hard justifying the expense of the custom wedding. I really have some things to think about...