Planning with your family before the wedding

[Icecoldpenguin]

Did you guys plan stuff with the families before the wedding?

My family has never been to Disney World so they won't really know what they are doing. However, I feel split like I have to spend time with my mom and that part of the family then my dad and his part of the family and then with my fiancé's family.

The one thing we have planned is dinner with DF family the day before everyone arrives and the day we get there. This works because my family will not be there yet but we will.

However, once my family gets there I am not sure what we should do. Should I try to make plans with my family to make sure they eat and stuff? There are more people coming than just my immediate family so they may want to eat with some of those people. I guess I am just not sure how to do this so people feel like they are getting equal time.

So here is the schedule so maybe you guys can help:

6/27/12: FBIL and GF, FMIL/FFIL/Step Daughter all arrive at Disney
6/28/12: DF and I arrive at Disney at 7:30pm
ADR made for 9:30 this night at T-Rex Cafe (with fiancé's family)
6/29/12: DF and I attending another Disbrides wedding at 2:30pm
Mom/Gma/Gpa arriving at Disney and traveling on DME to resort at 2:30pm
ADR for DF and I at Mama Melrose's for 5pm (should I change this to have a meal with my family?)
7:30pm is our welcome event at Fantastia Mini Golf for anyone that has come down for the wedding
6/30/12: Rehearsal at 11am, Rehearsal Lunch at 12:30pm
7/1/12: Wedding Day (no worries this day, completely taken care of)
7/2/12: Breakfast in the morning at Ohana for all wedding guests that pre-pay (this day we wanted to go to parks with families also maybe trying to have a meal with my family only this day)
7/3/12: My family and DF family leaving/ DF and I officially begin honeymoon

So as you can see I am just not sure what to do about making sure people get equal time. Also on the 30th or the 29th I am going to need to assemble favors and confetti cones and stuff. Plus make sure my dress gets steamed at some point and make sure everything is all set up.

Now I am starting to get stressed can you guys help with this?

Teresa

 

[DisneyEverAfter]

Since you have ADRs with your DFs family on the 28th is seems only fair to have ADRs with your family on the 29th when they arrive (especially since they don't really know what to do/where to go, it may be a good time to talk about stuff to do).. & then you have the welcome mini golf for everyone (sounds fun!). But overall it seems you have everything figured out! Just need to make a few tweeks to get it how ya want.. Good luck with making final decisions on your timeline

 

[tric8783]

Hi there! We actually made a reservation for ourselves for one night (happens to be Thursday for us with our Saturday wedding). I added it to our website that we made a reservation at a certain restaurant for 7pm, and invited anyone who wanted to join us to make a reservation for the same place and time as well. We spread the word and this way, if they want to have time with us they can, and if not they don't have to. Kind of leaves it up to them to plan with their schedules and what they were thinking of doing. Both of our parents are coming as well as siblings, some friends, etc. It ended up being really easy to coordinate since they are in control of their own reservations and a lot of people seem to be participating!

 

[Icecoldpenguin]

Since you have ADRs with your DFs family on the 28th is seems only fair to have ADRs with your family on the 29th when they arrive (especially since they don't really know what to do/where to go, it may be a good time to talk about stuff to do).. & then you have the welcome mini golf for everyone (sounds fun!). But overall it seems you have everything figured out! Just need to make a few tweeks to get it how ya want.. Good luck with making final decisions on your timeline

This is why I was thinking this would work best. Thank you!

Hi there! We actually made a reservation for ourselves for one night (happens to be Thursday for us with our Saturday wedding). I added it to our website that we made a reservation at a certain restaurant for 7pm, and invited anyone who wanted to join us to make a reservation for the same place and time as well. We spread the word and this way, if they want to have time with us they can, and if not they don't have to. Kind of leaves it up to them to plan with their schedules and what they were thinking of doing. Both of our parents are coming as well as siblings, some friends, etc. It ended up being really easy to coordinate since they are in control of their own reservations and a lot of people seem to be participating!

My mom would not know how to even begin to make ADR reservations I will have to sit with her and explain it all and it may be too overwhelming for her. My grandparents definitely would not know how to do this I would have to do it for them. My brother just won't take the time to do it either.

fun!

Teresa

 

[Sizzle]

We struggled with this as well. Ultimately, we decided to have several group dinners. We made 3 ADR's and at each one we have invited a mix of people from each family. For example:

Dinner 1: My parents, DF's brother and wife and my maid of honor

This way, we get a small dinner with every family member and everyone gets a chance to mingle with their new family member. With the combination of big families, and some divorced couples, dinners with everyone at once just weren't possible.

I made each of the ADR's and emailed the date, time and location to each person.

 

[neener3]

Did you guys plan stuff with the families before the wedding?

My family has never been to Disney World so they won't really know what they are doing. However, I feel split like I have to spend time with my mom and that part of the family then my dad and his part of the family and then with my fiancé's family.

The one thing we have planned is dinner with DF family the day before everyone arrives and the day we get there. This works because my family will not be there yet but we will.

However, once my family gets there I am not sure what we should do. Should I try to make plans with my family to make sure they eat and stuff? There are more people coming than just my immediate family so they may want to eat with some of those people. I guess I am just not sure how to do this so people feel like they are getting equal time.

So here is the schedule so maybe you guys can help:

6/27/12: FBIL and GF, FMIL/FFIL/Step Daughter all arrive at Disney
6/28/12: DF and I arrive at Disney at 7:30pm
ADR made for 9:30 this night at T-Rex Cafe (with fiancé's family)
6/29/12: DF and I attending another Disbrides wedding at 2:30pm
Mom/Gma/Gpa arriving at Disney and traveling on DME to resort at 2:30pm
ADR for DF and I at Mama Melrose's for 5pm (should I change this to have a meal with my family?)
7:30pm is our welcome event at Fantastia Mini Golf for anyone that has come down for the wedding
6/30/12: Rehearsal at 11am, Rehearsal Lunch at 12:30pm
7/1/12: Wedding Day (no worries this day, completely taken care of)
7/2/12: Breakfast in the morning at Ohana for all wedding guests that pre-pay (this day we wanted to go to parks with families also maybe trying to have a meal with my family only this day)
7/3/12: My family and DF family leaving/ DF and I officially begin honeymoon

So as you can see I am just not sure what to do about making sure people get equal time. Also on the 30th or the 29th I am going to need to assemble favors and confetti cones and stuff. Plus make sure my dress gets steamed at some point and make sure everything is all set up.

Now I am starting to get stressed can you guys help with this?

Teresa

We made a bunch of ADR's for 20 people. Everyone came to the ones we made. That way, we showed up at the parks on our own time (DH's family does not know that vacation means not getting up at 5:30 a.m.), and ate either lunch or dinner with everyone. If they wanted to hang out with us afterwards, they could. Usually our friends hung out with us and our families did their own thing, but sometimes it was a mishmash. It was the first time DH's mom and dad had spoken in 20 years, so we were a bit worried, but everyone was very adult about it and we all had a good time.