Beach Location Question

[mermaidbride1108]

Question for you all - what are the Beach Locations available for Ceremony?

I remember reading about some bride here who did a Beach for Ceremony even though it's not listed on Wishbook, maybe Polynesion or WP?

And if you have heard of a beach location and did it for your wedding what time was your ceremony

Thanks a bunches!

 

[padisneyfour]

Sunset point?

 

[mermaidbride1108]

No not sunset point, a location that wasn't listed on the Wishlist on the official DFTW site.

Thanks for reading my question though

 

[sandk]

We planned for our wedding to be on the beach next to the wedding pavilion. However, we switched to the wedding pavilion after we fell in love with it at our planning session. When we were interested in beach ceremonies, we were also told that we could have our ceremony on the beach outside the beach club resort (shipwreck beach)...Hope this helps

 

[mermaidbride1108]

Awesome thanks for this info. Any pics of either beach location?

Is the WP beach the same amount Ceremony fee at WP?

 

[sandk]

hmm...i may have some pics. I'll take a look and post them if I do. You should try looking up pics around the wedding pavilion because in a lot of those shots you will get a good idea of what the beach looks like. The same rental fee applies for that beach because the wedding pavilion will be your back up location if it rains.

 

[mermaidbride1108]

Beach first and then WP backup instead of a ballroom, this is sounding beter and better... I'm honestly not liking the WP because it resmebles a church and I want some thing very different than a church wedding but that's just me.... but Wp would be better than a plain ballroom especially with a September wedding date!

I'd love some pics!!! Thanks for your help

 

[sandk]

I completely felt the same way about the WP looking too much like a church when i first started my planning process. I don't know what it was, but when we saw it in person we changed our minds. But it is different for everyone...and I completely think a beach ceremony would be awesome! And like you said, you'll have a great back-up location!

 

[scottish/canadian]

We are using the beach next to the Wedding Pavilion for our May 5th wedding at 5pm. Our backup is the WP, which we DO NOT want to use at all, but didn't like the idea of having to pay to dress up a ballroom that we may not use, or having an empty room with chairs and whatever else we put on the beach. We do pay the same as the WP, plus a little more for the sound system. Saving some money on the decorations though...white plastic chairs (it's a beach, they'll look fine)...three tiki torches down each side of the aisle and two on each side across the front (so ten)...maybe a few palm branches here or there...a small table for the sand ceremony and that's it. The chairs will be turned to have Space Mountain in the background. Apparently, there are indoor tiki torches we can place inside the WP if we have too. My Dad loves the WP and is doing a rain dance, which I think is mean since we don't really like it. The ceremony will be the tropical beach wedding I have always wanted and we are making our reception at ADH more of the fun, silly "us".

 

[mermaidbride1108]

Thanks Scottish/Canadian for the reponse

Do you have any option of having chairs faced toward the castle? Are you on the sand or on some walkway? I'm loving the inexpensive decor!

I've never seen the WP in person but I'd rather have that as my backup than an empty bare ballroom I think...

Another beach I've read tonight is Shipwreck beach, I asked this in the dessert party thread but figured it belonged here...

Is shipwreck Beach the one at Stormalong Bay at the Beach Club? Isn't this a pool? Am I thinking of the right one?

 

[pink_tink8i8]

what!?!?!?! I didn't even know that was possible (getting married on a beach in WDW) that's exactly what I want! that's very exciting! I'm going to look into this.

 

[pink_tink8i8]

from what I can see the locations are GF beach or the summer house.

 

[scottish/canadian]

Hi Mermaidbride,

You can't really see the castle from the beach...a wing of the GF is in the way. It's at much different angle than the WP. Your choices are pretty much Space Mountain, a green island (but the cranes from the construction at the Contemporary currently stick out above that), the Polynesian or the WP. Space Mountain and part of the GF easily won in our books. We are on the sand (which makes picking shoes very tricky).

Shipwreck beach is at the BC. It runs between the water and the walkway to EPCOT (opposite side of walkway from the pool).

Disney can send you pics. They did to me, but I can't seem to find them.

 

[mermaidbride1108]

Ok, I'm hoping to get a planner on the phone in a week(i'll be at the 18 month mark) so I'll ask for some photos

Thanks for all of the info!

 

[Swmhc]

We had some of our post-wedding photos on the ship wreck beach. I don't have access to them from work, but I would be willing to post them this weekend if you'd like. Just let me know !

I wish I had known the beach options were available, as this would have been my preference !! We used the YGC and it was fine too ! It makes for a good photo back drop...but I am ALL ABOUT sand and palm trees.......oh well. Maybe a VR in the future !

 

[Janet2k]

Mermaidbride1108, the beach next to the Wedding Pavilion is lovely. I looked into having an evening party in that location during my last WDW vacation, but the money to light it was costly (there are no power drops in that area and thus the lighting bill was quite high). I opted to hold my party at the GF's marina instead (and since I love the marina venue, it was an easy decision for me to make).

I have some photos of the beach area but they're not in any of my on-line albums. If I can dig them up, I'll post them. But in the meantime, at least to give you a feel for one of the GF's beaches, click here and click here. Those particular photos are of the Summerhouse patio & beach area. You could probably hold a wedding in that location, but I think you want the beach area that is next to the Wedding Pavilion since it is truly "beachy."

By the way, I have attended a private event on the Beach Club's beach. It was a wonderful event. Sadly, I don't have any photos posted of that event (I shot mostly video footage). But take my word -- it's a wonderful venue.

Again, if I can dig up my Wedding Pavilion beach photos, I'll let you know.

 

[Janet2k]

Until I can locate my beach photos, I'm hoping the following Google Earth shot of the beach that is located next to the Wedding Pavilion will do:

At the bottom of the photo you can see Franck's (white building on left) and the Wedding Pavilion (white building on right). The red-roofed building (on left-hand side, beneath tennis courts) is the Grand Floridian's Spa & Health Club. At the top of the photo and just out of sight is the Grand Floridian's Beach Pool area.

Here's another aerial image from Google Earth:

In the photo above, you can see the entire beach that spans from the Grand Floridian Resort (top of photo) to the Wedding Pavilion complex (bottom of photo).

I hope that helped.

 

[Janet2k]

Again, it's a lovely expanse of white sand. I really did want to have a party there during my last vacation but the cost of wiring it for sound & lighting was too high for my small guest list. For a wedding during the daylight, you wouldn't need to worry about lighting, and I'm assuming that for sound, they have units that are battery-powered (for example, a microphone & speaker system so your guests can hear you recite your vows). Discuss this with the FTW folks. They'll let you know how weddings / vow renewals are handled in this area during the day.

 

[Janet2k]

I've been unable so far to locate my beach photos. However, I did "stitch" together (rather kludge-ily, I might add, since I don't have the proper software installed on this computer) three photos that I took of that location when I was in a Sea Raycer boat a year or two ago.

In that photo, the Wedding Pavilion / Franck's is on the left. Next to it you can make out the beach area where a ceremony could potentially take place. To the right of that area, you'll see a grouping of blue/white beach chairs. It might be possible to have a ceremony in this location, too; however, it does sit next to the resort's Beach Pool and thus it might be too noisy.

If you're really interested in a beach ceremony at the Grand Floridian Resort, please ask the FTW folks if/where it is possible. Only they can answer that question for certain. Good luck -- and happy planning!

 

[mermaidbride1108]

Wow Janet Thanks so much for all of your info! I definitely have Beach locations written down to ask my Planner about. I like Epcot Germany but not crazy about a morning Ceremony so I'm thinking a Beach Ceremony since I'm not totally 'in love' with anything yet. I'm booked for a site visit for beginning of September so I'll be asking about all possible ideas for a beach ceremony.

I had so much fun browsing about all of you event photos too! Your VR looks like it was a blast!