Possible changes to wedding day - comments please! (LONG!)

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

We were all set for a 12pm ceremony, pre-reception at WHP and reception at WHR. DF now prefers Napa Room to WHR. I love the look and the idea of having it at the Grand, but I agree with DF that the Napa Room has more of a 'wow factor' than Whitehall, for us anyway - we absolutely loved the view when we had our site visit.

There are 1 or 2 things I need to straighten out in my head though. We'd have to move back to a 10am ceremony - we don't really have a problem with this as it'll mean our wedding day lasts longer and it'll be cooler in the morning in August. We'd have to be out of Napa Room by 4pm. If we're there 4-6pm then the minimum goes up from $1,000 to $4,000 - we're having 15-20 guests, we won't be able to reach that minimum.

Will a 4-course (app, sorbet, entree, cake) be OK at that time of day? Will we have enough time to eat, first dance, 3 speeches and cut the cake (12 - 3.30ish). We won't have time for dancing in this time frame, so no point hiring a DJ - does the Napa Room allow music to be piped in from iPod?

The reception will end at 4pm if we do CG. The dessert party starts at say 9pm - would you care that you are being left with nothing to do for 5hrs? We were planning on a break anyway for people to nap/rest/change before coming back for the dessert party. They'll have been with us 9.30am - 4pm so they might welcome a break? Another nice idea I had was for the Grand 1 to pick us up at CR and take us for an hour's cruise around the lake with cocktails, drop us off at GF Marina at 5pm where the guests will be transported back to their hotels to change and come back.

I was also thinking if we did this, we'd have a couple hours free for photos, so I could get Misty's 12hr package or something and use this time to get some nice photos in another location?

My head hurts

This is my sample timeline. Please, please tell me if it's unrealistic!

8am – 9am Misty arrives for getting ready shots

9am – 10am Bridal Portraits & Photos with Coach

10am – 10.30am Wedding Ceremony

10.30am – 11.15am Photos on the Beach (will we need 45min? we can come back later?)

11.15am – 11.30am Travel to CG by monorail

11.30am – 12.30pm Pre-Reception at Sonoma Room
Donald Duck appearance

12.30pm – 3.30pm Reception at Napa Room
Speeches
First Dance
Cutting of the Cake
Appetizer, Sorbet, Entrée, Cake

4pm – 5pm Cocktail Cruise on Grand 1


5pm – 9pm Break for Guests


9pm – 11pm Dessert Party at Sago Cay Point

*What do characters do if there's no dancing?!

I need help!!!!

[LuluLovesDisney]

I am having a CG wedding and 10 am ceremony as well.

The event agenda my WP gave me indicates 9-945 brides photos then head to WP, our pre reception starts at 11, but we won't prob get there till 11:30 or 11:45, I would focus on any family/bridal party pics then, you can do just the two of you more after the reception, that's the good thing abt a break like ours. Are you sure your DP ends at 11? Mine says 8:30-9:30 but maybe that's for IllumiNations? The menus are all "based on one hour of service". HTH. If you have any questions, I can try to help

ETA-

The only other thing I wanted you to know is that usually they do a preception right after, whereas you have another gap. IDK if you requested that but we were told 10 am ceremony, 11-12 Prereception and 12 Reception starts. I think this means most brides miss a lot of the Prereception, but it is really there to keep guests occupied during the time when you are taking pictures and the meal is getting cooked. If your ceremony ends at 10:30, they'd prob want to start the pre reception at 11 so your guests have something to do.

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

Thanks Lulu! I'm not sure of our DP end time, we're still 13 months out so I'm not sure of anything we will have a LOT of food due to having to meet the Wishes minimum, so I'm hoping we can do the DP 9-11 if they'll let us, so we get enough time to eat the food! Wishes should be at 10pm.

Most likely our friends and family will stick around to do some photos with us - there'll only be 14 or so of us there. But I get your point and that's not a bad idea at all, it means the meal gets to start earlier and we get more time in CG Maybe we should send them ahead...hmmm

[disneygal922]

Hi! We are doing a 10am ceremony with a reception at the California Grill as well. Like Lulu, our timeline is 10-1030 ceremony 11-12 pre-reception 12-3 reception. We were told if we stay past 3pm there is an extra fee b/c they need to flip the restaurant for dinner. I don't know if that applys to the Napa room though. We will have Misty for an extra hour after the ceremony for more pics too so that will be nice for more group pics and whatnot.

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

Hello Thanks for the advice!

It's good to have an idea of what the timeline will be like! It says with Napa for receptions finishing before 4pm there is a $1000 minimum, so I wonder if that means we will have to be out at 3pm also. My WC is on vacation at the moment, so I'll check properly when she gets back! We also want the monorail to the reception so I suppose we'll have to account for that too!

We are now thinking of getting Misty's 12hr package so that we have lots of time for more photos after the reception

[padisneyfour]

We are planning on using the napa as well after a10 am ceremony at WP I am going on my site visit at the end of the month so I can let you know more then...we plan on having around 20 guests(give or take)

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

Thanks Tammy! That would be really helpful!!