Is the wedding better earlier or later in trip?

[2dogmom]

I picked my wedding date and reserved the location, now I am trying to figure out if it is better the be down there with the wedding earlier in the trip or later. I haven't even figured out how many days or where I plan on staying, but it will definitely be at least a week. My wedding will be on a Friday.

What are you doing and if you have gotten married at WDW, what did you do and how did that work out?

 

[disneylizzylou]

DF and I are getting married on a Thursday and chose to make it towards the end of our trip. For us it just happened to work out that way, we wanted more time at the beginning of the trip to "run errands" and do last minute things that might pop up. Plus, I think it depends on what your honeymoon plans are (if you're planning on honeymooning right away). We are taking a cruise that leaves the saturday after the wedding so I had to put all my Disney time up front.

 

[Tiggeriffic79]

Our 2 week vacation was our honeymoon too and it was nice to have the wedding at the beginning and feel like we were on honeymoon. I agree with pp, I think it depends what your plans are before and after.

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

ours is in the middle, and i wish it was in the beginning... but it's just not going to work out that way. we wanted it so our guests would be gone and we could have some time afterwards without distractions... but we have guests coming the day after our arrival and others are staying until 2 days before we leave. i also am concerned about eating too much disney food before getting into my dress!!

 

[lurkyloo]

Ours was at the beginning, with 3 days beforehand. This gave us enough time to run errands, try on tuxes, etc. but left the majority of our trip to be the honeymoon. It was great!

 

[jshora]

We are flying down Sept 30th for our Oct 7th wedding. Part of this is because we are running in the Food & Wine Half Marathon on Oct 1st. The other part was to give us time to run errands and fix anything that needs fixing prior to the wedding. However, we are not staying in Disney for our Honeymoon. We leave on the 8th to drive down to Miami and then do a 7 day cruise out of Miami on the 9th.

 

[lovindisney4ever]

Mine was on a Thursday but we came in on Wednesday. We did our bridal spa day and the groomsmen did golf and tied up any loose ends that day. We had a 11:00 wedding so we were done earlier in the day. We stayed until Monday and used the rest of the time as our honeymoon and if any relatives stayed also we just avoided them so we could have our time alone.

 

[mjshorses]

I'm in the same boat as DisneyLizzyLou. We're doing the Disney thing with friends and family the week before the wedding and then leaving on a Disney cruise two days after the wedding for the honeymoon.

The only things that I'm concerned about having the wedding later in our stay is the fact that i'll want to eat every piece of unhealthy food in sight (which could be a bad thing when it comes to putting on the wedding dress), tan lines that may arise from being out in the sun at the parks, (also bad for the wedding look), and then blisters or whatever on feet from walking around (who wants to spend their wedding with their feet hurting from the get go).

I'm going to try to counter these things by 1) consistently chanting in my head that I'm getting married in x-days every time I pass an ice-cream cart or turkey leg. 2). Slather on that sunblock (and hope it doesn't make my skin break out) as well as wear one of those ridiculously big kentucky-derbyish hats and try to stand in shaded places 3) no sandals this time, it's going to be sneakers and socks for me (boy, i hope they sell sunblock with an SPF of 5,000,000. I don't want tan lines! )

 

[sambycat]

Omg get it over with ASAP!!

 

[geek+nerd]

We got down on Saturday and the wedding was on Tuesday. I really liked how we did it. We had a few days to have fun in the parks, the wedding day, and then a few more days with our families who left on Friday and Saturday. Then, we stayed another week for our official honeymoon.

I vote for earlier if possible!

 

[kjg5]

We arrived on a Saturday and were married on a Monday, and I think it worked out wonderfully. Everyone arrived at different times on Saturday, so Hubby and I went to Cirque Du Soleil. We met up with out families at Epcot on Sunday and had dinner together at the Biergarten, which was a lot of fun! The wedding was at the Poly at 10am Monday. Afterwords we had brunch at Kona Cafe (mmm Tonga Toast on my wedding day!) then we met up with out families at the MK for some rides and we treated them to the Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks party, which was AMAZING and so much cheaper than a private dessert party! Our families stayed until Saturday, and we had a group meal planned each day- Boma dinner, Crystal Palace breakfast, Teppan Edo dinner, and Via Napoli lunch. It worked out beautifully, as Hubby and I stayed another week, so we had a 2 week honeymoon altogether that our families were also a part of. It was fantastic and I wouldn't have done it any other way!

 

[Boston Disney Bride]

Definitely do it in the beginning. That way you can relax and enjoy the rest of your trip.

 

[minniebride]

Ours was at the beginning, with 3 days beforehand. This gave us enough time to run errands, try on tuxes, etc. but left the majority of our trip to be the honeymoon. It was great!

That's pretty much what we are doing as well. We arrive 3 days before the wedding, only one day before the pre-wedding festivities (welcome dinner, dessert party). The next 9 glorious days will be our honeymoon

For us, if we save it until the end, we feel like we would be jittery the rest of the week. This way we have our wedding and relax for the rest of the trip.

 

[princesswendy720]

We are getting married in a Sunday and arriving on Thursday. Well leave the following Saturday or Sunday. I too am afraid of too much Disney food before having to squeeze into my dress!! But, I also feel like I won't have much time to relax in the days leading up because we have activities and errands.

 

[2dogmom]

Definitely some good points about too much food (those darn Mickey bars are too good!) and too jittery. Well, this will be our honeymoon with the kids along. Maybe one day we will get an actual alone trip. As much as I love disney, it wouldn't be the same without the kids so I can't just ship them back with relatives.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

We arrived on the Sunday, the VR was on the Wednesday and we left the following Wednesday. This meant we had three days to get organized, and a week after the VR for parks etc. However, our TTD was on the Monday, which broke up the post-VR week a bit. I felt I could have done with more park time, but then I always feel that way at the end of a trip!!!

 

[Jilian]

We'll be arriving on Thursday and our ceremony is on Saturday. I wanted to do it early in the trip so we can enjoy the trip after. I wanted to be able to eat whatever I wanted (after dieting for the past few months!) and to not have to worry about weird tan lines, etc. We tend to stay at the parks for the whole day and after 3-4 days of that we're exhausted. We plan on using Thurs & Friday for errands and a get-together and not doing any of the parks until after the ceremony.

 

[wildelady]

We are doing our half way through but that is because one of our guests will be at a conference until then and wouldn't be able to make it otherwise

 

[ckpoodge]

We got married on Friday, June 3, and we flew down on Wednesday June 1. We stayed off-site the first night, since we didn't have enough DVC points for our entire stay.

I wish we would have either stayed onsite, or flew down an extra day early. The time we had on June 2 for checking in/getting cars, rehearsal, etc made for a crazy day - we didn't get to bed until well after 2:00 am, and our wedding was at 2:30 pm. We seemed like we were literally running until our guests left on Tuesday.

If you have the chance, check in at least 2 days before your wedding. This way, you will be able to get all your last minute things done, and still have a chance to relax.

Hope this helps.

 

[disneybex]

We arrive on Friday 28th October and get married 4 days later on 1st November. We then get the rest of our 3 week trip as our honeymoon

I didn't want to worry about tan lines or not fitting in my dress. Especially as we are on the DxDDP this time! Plus as OPs have said you then get your honeymoon if you have it early on in the trip