Fairly large budget...how crazy can you go???

[PrincessBecky]

Hi everyone! I am engaged and thinking about a Disney wedding. I am Orlando born and raised, and Disney has always been a huge part of my life, so I figure a wedding here would be the obvious next step. I am thinking of other locations as well (out of state) but Disney would be the most practical, and more people would be able to attend.

I want the big princess wedding. Big dress, Cinderella's coach, etc. I come from a very fortunate family and have been given a budget of $200,000-$250,000...although we would like to stay on the lower end of the budget if possible. I just want to know for this budget and a guest list of around 200 people, how crazy can you get?

Can you get married in front of Cinderella's Castle, or in the rose garden overlooking the castle? Can they accommodate around 200 people? Has anyone received a price quote on something similar?

Can you have Cinderella's coach take you up Main Street to the Castle for the ceremony, or can you only use the coach when getting married at the Wedding Pavilion?

Can you have your reception inside the Magic Kingdom? I was looking at David Tutera's website the other day and saw a picture of a reception in a glass-roofed tent/room that was overlooking the castle. Is this something you can actually do, or was that for contest winners or something?

I would be using Disney's catering services, but can you hire an off-property cake designer?

Can you hire your own band...or do you have to use Disney's entertainment offerings?

I am planning on talking to a wedding planner in the next month or two, but I figure any information I can find out now would be helpful.

If anyone has planned a wedding with similar constraints and has any advice or pictures to share I would appreciate it

Thanks in advance!

Becky

[curiouser]

Originally Posted by PrincessBecky

Hi everyone! I am engaged and thinking about a Disney wedding. I am Orlando born and raised, and Disney has always been a huge part of my life, so I figure a wedding here would be the obvious next step. I am thinking of other locations as well (out of state) but Disney would be the most practical, and more people would be able to attend.

I want the big princess wedding. Big dress, Cinderella's coach, etc. I come from a very fortunate family and have been given a budget of $200,000-$250,000...although we would like to stay on the lower end of the budget if possible. I just want to know for this budget and a guest list of around 200 people, how crazy can you get?

Can you get married in front of Cinderella's Castle, or in the rose garden overlooking the castle? Can they accommodate around 200 people? Has anyone received a price quote on something similar?

Can you have Cinderella's coach take you up Main Street to the Castle for the ceremony, or can you only use the coach when getting married at the Wedding Pavilion?

Can you have your reception inside the Magic Kingdom? I was looking at David Tutera's website the other day and saw a picture of a reception in a glass-roofed tent/room that was overlooking the castle. Is this something you can actually do, or was that for contest winners or something?

I would be using Disney's catering services, but can you hire an off-property cake designer?

Can you hire your own band...or do you have to use Disney's entertainment offerings?

I am planning on talking to a wedding planner in the next month or two, but I figure any information I can find out now would be helpful.

If anyone has planned a wedding with similar constraints and has any advice or pictures to share I would appreciate it

Thanks in advance!

Becky

I think your best bet would be to call DFTW. The official answer to the first question is no. You cannot get married in front of Cinderella's Castle. However, it has been done, and as recently as a few years ago. If you read this website, you'll see that they had to do a LOT of arm twisting to make it happen:http://www.fredammons.com/wedding/in...s/Page3107.htm. The end all is, it doesn't hurt to ask, and with DFTW the answers can always change depending on who you talk to.

You can get married at Swan Boat Landing, but it is limited to 50 people.

I am not sure about the cake answer, but I would veer towards no. You can supply your own entertainment if your reception is not outdoors/in a park.

Congratulations and good luck!!

[Ember]

The only answer I have is that, no, you can not bring in any outside food or drink which includes your cake. However, I'm sure for your budget, you'll have one heck of a wedding! (If you want some extra guests, you know, to fill things out, I'm sure all us DISers will be happy to help you out! )

[ColeV]

Locations are about the only limitation outside of your imagination and pocket. When I met with the baker he had just finished up a 7 ft tall cake for another bride and came in to custom design an art deco cake for me with a lit "glass" window in it. I've heard of some weddings and receptions in the Magic Kingdom, but I think it's very constrained as to when it's available. As said above, it doesn't hurt to ask! Just be prepared for odd hours, since it can't happen while the park is open. As for the reception, they can do some amazing things to their large ballrooms!

[MrsSpratt]

PLEASE tell me you will do a planning journal/trip report?

[pezaddict231]

Congrats and welcome!

You should definitely call Disney. I don't think they really allow weddings in MK anymore, aside from the Swan boat landing. I had heard there were no longer catering facilities in MK so that was why a reception wouldn't be possible, but it's best if you talk to Disney yourself to get the real answers. Even if you couldn't do MK, there's no reason you couldn't have an amazing wedding in one of the other parks. Even if you went with a Disney couture wedding, it would be very impressive for your guests and since it's held in a ballroom location you would most likely be able to bring in your own entertainment. I'm not sure about the cake since Disney has very strict rules regarding food.

With such a large budget, it could also be fun to do a few events before the wedding. You could do private buyouts of certain rides followed by a meal in an in park restaurant.

Good luck with your planning and if you do decide to have a Disney wedding I hope you'll share your experience with us!

[aduck126]

i remember reading somewhere fairly recently that they charge 500K just to stand in front of the castle and be married- not including anything (flowers, food, music, travel, pics, seating).

[v_misses_epcot]

I don't know if you can bring a cake from somewhere else but I had similar questions. Asking doesn't hurt at all and I was able to find out my question of if we're able to have Ritas cater into Epcot. They can

And if you're wondering what Ritas is? http://www.ritasice.com/
Over at the Italy pavilion for some Illuminations, mixed drinks and ritas! It will be amazing <3

And dittoing on the PJ! Have fun with that and I can't wait to read it!

[Nitsa]

I'm not sure whether this is still being offered as it was released Nov 18th and I think it's just for one couple, but I saw on twitter a really cool offer from someplace called Sam's club - a wedding in the MK during park hours and a reception where they keep the parade floats, which would be incredible.

It's $198,000, so it fits perfectly into your budget too: http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...=disneywedding.

Happy planning!

[DISNEY*lover]

Wow! I'm totally jealous that you have a budget so large. We had to stick with the $10k minimum because that's all we could afford. Although we had a beautiful wedding for just $10k. I can't imagine what $200k wedding would look like.

- Hire David Tutera for the coutoure wedding. As you know he doesn't amazing draping and lighting according to your tastes.
- Go wild with floral.
- You can have welcome and goodbye parties. Maybe even a tea party with all the ladies in your family at the Grand Floridian.
- I've heard of having a rehearsal in Mount Everest somewhere on the boards. You can look into that or have it at another favorite ride.
- Rent out a ride for your guests to ride during or after the reception.
- Cinderella's Coach.
- Dessert party.
- A hollywood glam themed wedding would be beautiful with your budget. Lots of floral, candles and crystals.

There's so much more! You can get pretty much anything at Disney but for a price. You name it and 99% of the time it can be done. Just go crazy!

Please please please please please do a PJ! I'd love to follow your plans.

Congrats and good luck.

[bellebride116]

We also have a very large budget and were very put off with how Disney was not willing to give us what we want, even with a large budget. We found it very stressful.

We wanted the front of the castle and they would only allow us 50 people NEARBY the castle. We were willing to pay more and still got turned down {no one could tell us anything about the 500k price for in front of the castle. They all said it's just NEARBY the castle}. Everything has to be under Disney's terms and conditions and their vendors. We got the run around a lot and were unfortunately unhappy. It was such a disappointment to me.

You can use outside vendors if you go outside a park and to one of their hotels. We definitely did not want to start planning our wedding off like this but still wanted the Orlando destination wedding experience for our guests. We found a gorgeous resort 1 mile outside of Disney, which allows guests to still have easy access to the parks, etc, and they have been beyond accommodating with everything so far {knock on wood}.

Our only option to use outside vendors was to use a Disney hotel location anyway, so we went and found a resort we fell in love with that was so easy to work with. While they still had their minimums, they were able to negotiate a lot, and we were able to book well in advance, etc. They also gave us a fantastic group rate so all our guests are under one roof and all our pre-and post- wedding events are there. It has been such a fantastic planning process. Since they are so close to the parks you can also see the Disney fireworks which is nice. We were able to rent out their penthouse suite to do a welcome dessert party right around the fireworks time. They also have a huge golf course right onsite which is really appealing to a lot of our guests.

It was really disappointing at first with Disney since that's what we had always pictured, but definitely worked out much better in the end. Hopefully you won't get the run around like we did and get better answers. We are only staying at our wedding venue for a little before and then during our wedding weekend and then moving to Disney because we wanted the dinning plan.

Good luck, but if it doesn't work out and you still want a wonderful destination experience in Orlando, there are other venues out there and there are some amazing vendors! GOOD LUCK, hope you get what you want!!

[PrincessBecky]

Thanks to everyone for the information and advice!!!

I must say though...I am a little discouraged. I don't understand why they make it 99 percent impossible to get married in front of the castle. They already have the stage, audio, lighting, and seating area. I understand the need to have the ceremony at an odd hour due to clearing the park out, etc. but if they can set up a ceremony at Swan Boat Landing why can't they do it in front of the Castle? But who am I to say...I don't know the logistics...I am definitely going to ask!

I really wanted the castle backdrop. The other two locations I was looking at are Oheka Castle in NY and the Biltmore in NC...which are both castle-esque and I know you can get married right in front of them. Orlando is just more practical location-wise and Disney has a meaning for me, whereas the other two locations would simply be beautiful locations but nothing extremely personal.

I'm not giving up on Disney yet...I just can't believe the Castle is so unattainable. Little girls grow up wanting to be married in front of this iconic castle...and finding out it is next to impossible is like finding out Santa Claus isn't real! My dream is shattered!!! Haha. So now some questions about the Wedding Pavilion:

Can you completely cover up the green carpet that runs down the aisle?

Do they offer different seating than the heart pews in the chapel?

If they do not offer different seating, do they have pew covers...or do you think I could get custom seat covers made (either by someone on or off property)?

Do they allow you to cover the overhead lighting fixtures in the chapel with flowers or decorations of some sort?

What would you consider the best location (ballroom or other location) to have a large Cinderella storybook, Marie Antoinette-esque reception? I know with the right draping, decor, lighting, etc. you can transform a room into almost anything...but I would at least like to TRY and work with the existing architecture and space.

Thanks again to everyone who responded...I am more motivated than ever to go talk to a wedding planner!

If I do end up having a Disney wedding I will definitely do a journal I just hope the wedding I am envisioning in my head can actually come true!

[Boardwalk_bride]

I'm not sure if this is your style or what you were looking for, but Germany resembles a castle fairytale theme, although I am not sure it is Cinderella-esg.

http://www.mouseweddings.com/wedlocg.html

[DansBride2009]

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you do a Disney Wedding, and you use the Magic Kingdom, you will only get to use Disney photographers, not a photographer of your choice. You will not even get the Disney photographer you choose, unless you are lucky, it might not matter on budget. I.E., you will not get pictures of Randy Chapman quality.

That said, we did get quite good pictures of our EPCOT photo shoot, though I was disappointed of our dessert party pictures, all of which were through Disney Photography. The fellow we worked with was really friendly though and did what we asked.

You will have to hire a Disney band, if it's in the parks, but their entertainment was phenomenal.

Our wedding was $20,000, and we got EVERYTHING. We got a dessert party with fireworks from Illuminations, a rehearsal dinner at the Grand Floridian (on the bay, with a direct view of the castle for fireworks, which got rained out!) ... I think the parties were actually extra but I don't remember. We got the BEST DJ in the parks, we got an EPCOT photo shoot, we had Mickey, Pluto, and Donald at the reception ... amazing food ... with servers! We had the model T car ... at Sea Breeze Point and The Attic. We also got gorgeous decorations at Sea Breeze point and The Attic, and we got a harpist for the ceremony and cocktail hour.

What I would do would be to get as many events as possible, like someone said. Disney does an AMAZING job within any budget. You can do a rehearsal dinner almost anywhere, a photo shoot in any park (with only a Disney photographer, not a photographer of your choice) ...


You can have your wedding in front of the hat at MGM studios, with your reception inside a ride (The Great Movie Ride), and a big band under the hat for your guests, after the parks are closed of course.

You will be able to do anything !! I mentioned my budget and what I got because you get great value for almost any budget.

If you would like to see pictures, go to Randy Chapman's website, go to Menu and My Photos, and September 27, 2009 is my wedding, LynnLee and Dan will be my pictures.

The reason I didn't have my wedding in Italy(which was what I orignally wanted!) at Epcot was because I couldn't use Randy Chapman, but I did get the Epcot photo shoot! But those aren't online.

Hope that helps and hope I didn't ramble too much ! It was just an amazing event. You can still have an amazing event for the budget you have. Even for my event there were TONS of Disney workers there ot make sure we had a good time. It was incredible.

Randy Chapman is an amazing photographer! He is a fun person to work with, and Stan, the videographer was great. I couldn't have had a better photographer!

Edit: Someone mentioned below about guests and budgeting; that is very true. If you are having 200 guests and want the whole shebang, it will add up very quickly and you might not get everything you want. That is true at any venue. My guest count was about 31, and we just hit the $20,000 mark. We had a gorgeous buffett in which servers would take guests up a couple at a time and serve them, and it could get on the pricey side, and that included a waiter just for our sweetheart table.

[Desnik]

I think you should take a look at the American Adventure Rotunda at Epcot. I think it is such a beautiful space and might be the look you are looking for. Here is a link to some pictures:
http://www.magicalkingdoms.com/ftw/photos/amadrot.html

As for the ceremony in front of the castle, I hate to say this but don't get your hopes up. It does stink it isn't available but the only option would be at the Swan landing and as others have said that is only for 50 people and I believe it's at 7am, or some other early am hour!

I know you really want the wedding at the MK but perhaps as a compromise you can do a Magic Kingdom portrait session. You can get all the pictures you want(have to use a Disney photographer)in front of the castle and around the park in your wedding attire. Keep in mind this has to happen early in the morning like 5am-6:30am.

Don't give up though! You can still have an amazing Disney wedding. The planners are great and will help make your day magical.

You do have a large budget, but Disney is expensive. Especially for 200+ people. We just had our vow renewal there, with 47 guests. My first proposal was almost $35,000! That was without linens! That was with no dessert party or rehearsal or welcome dinner. My point is you can really go crazy and be surprised how fast you can spend that $200,000!!

I believe you can have your own entertainment as long as the event is not in a park. That also goes for video and photography. The cake you have to have them do but don't worry, they have amazing cakes and you can have a custom cake done. They also taste really good too!

The wedding pavilion carpet can be covered with a runner and or some rose petals. You can decorate it but I am not sure about covering the lighting? You really have to see the wedding pavilion in person cause the pictures do not do it justice. It really is beautiful! I know you cannot change the seating but I am sure you can cover it with fabric.

Someone mentioned this already but I'll mention it again, the Disney wedding being offered at Sam's club. Here is a link for the info, but I just noticed it's only for 50 people. But it can give you an idea of what can be done:
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...POVB%7CMainPOV

I also hope you do a planning journal and post lots of pictures of what ever you decide to do! I'm sure it will be amazing!!

On a side note, if you find Disney is not right for you and you love the castle idea/look, have you ever been to Newport, RI? There are some beautiful mansions, some castle like right on the water that you can have a wedding at. They are beautiful and if we didn't do the Disney vow renewal we would've had it at Newport. The movie "True Lies" tango scene(and other scenes) were filmed there in one of the mansions. The room is to die for!