Reception venue indecision

[VikkiLilyBee]

Hi everyone,

I'm a long-time lurker, newly registered member of the DisBoards, and was really hoping for some second opinions from those who know best... namely you guys!

I've just started contact with DTFW for our June 2016 Wishes wedding, and will be scheduling a site visit for early April. I've been planning this wedding in my head for at least two years now (money trouble meant we've had a *really* long engagement), but only in the last week have I gone over venues and things with my DF. This was the way he wanted it; until the ball is rolling, he knows he won't remember, so there's no point discussing it with him!

Anyway, I had basically planned for a Sea Breeze Point ceremony, reception in the Marvin Gardens rooms at Boardwalk convention centre, then a dessert party at UK Lochside. The ceremony and dessert party are no-brainers, but the reception venue was for convenience as much as anything. I don't want to spend loads of money just on a bunch of cars/vans transporting my guests around. However... we received our initial "welcome to DTFW" e-mail last week, with all it's attachments, and DF saw the one for Napa Room at California Grill, and said he really likes it. We went through lurkyloo's venue pictures yesterday, and he decided he also liked Italy West Plaza and Backstage Prop Shop. This has put a small spanner in the works, as it were.

Our guest numbers (20-30) limit our choices quite a lot, as does my desire to have a dance floor. We'd prefer a plated menu, but are willing to consider buffet if the location is good enough. Characters are a dream, but not essential, whereas Dapper Dan are high on my list. So, with all this background, I was hoping for some guidance on what other people suggest for reception venues!

Thanks in advance,

Vikki

 

[sambycat]

welcome - all your options sound great, so i am no help. personally, i would definitely lean towards something more unique to disney? like the prop shop, the wedding pavilion, having the dapper dans.... you just have to play with options. having a plan a,b,&c are key! it always comes down to budget, doesn't it? it's hard with wedding planning in general if one person is doing a lot of planning and research than the other (who wanted to be in on it closer to the date) will have differing opinions. its all gonna be about compromise in the end.

since you are going to go for a site visit (which as i understand isn't the most super detailed world tour), you can still scout other places on your own. you will get lots of ideas. is it a day or evening ceremony? the food is generally really good and you should be able to craft a menu within your budget, either plated or not. a desert party also plays into time and menu as to how you spread things out? we did the WP and the whitehall room and that was easy transportation wise, i understand your thoughts there. it seems to me all i can recall is that the napa room is really pretty but had a lot of restrictions or requirements as to size and menu and activities? i haven't even been up into the california grill since they redid it more than a year ago - i guess those rooms are all still the same.

i'm sure you have carrie's book then?

 

[VikkiLilyBee]

I've owned Carrie's passporter book for about 4 years now! Followed Disney through their pricing updates and everything. Very nearly dropped down to an Escape wedding because of it, but realised my heart just wasn't there!
Talking of scouting venues on our own, UK Lochside is very well known to me from when I worked at the Rose and Crown. On our last trip in Feb 2013, we spent an afternoon walking around from the Beach club to Sea Breeze Point, to the Boardwalk convention centre. We even went into the convention centre just to have a nose around and took a whole bunch of pictures! Prior to that I was thinking St James Room, but seeing the patio in person just made us both go "uuuh, maybe not?" I'm thinking on this trip we can scout out Italy easily enough, but I can't decide where else to ask my consultant for.
We're looking at either a midday or 2:30pm ceremony, which fits in nicely to take us straight through to the dessert party. Weddings in the UK are much longer affairs, so this short 5 hour thing is alien to us!

 

[lurkyloo]

@sambycat has given you a lot of great advice. Some things which may narrow your choices:

• Backstage Prop Shop may become unavailable due to rumored construction at DHS
• Switching from UK Lochside to Italy Isola West isn't a huge deal unless your planner refuses to let you and/or your guests walk in to that location, requiring you to hire a town car (if it's just you because your guests can meet a guide at the International Gateway) or vans (if she says everybody has to be transported in).

I'd definitely see if they can take you to all or most of these on your site visit. It depends on how far apart they are, and it's always good to ask to see sites you can't ordinarily get into on your own (Napa Room, Prop Shop).

I'm a huge fan of the Attic at BoardWalk Inn, which your group is the perfect size for. It reads a bit granny-ish in photos, but in person it's all shiny floors and stunning views, with lovely natural light. It would save you needing too much transportation (though that's quite a walk to UK Lochside), and it has so much more personality than a ballroom that you don't need any decor.

 

[VikkiLilyBee]

So, I just had a phone chat with Stacey, our wedding consultant, and she was very helpful. I now have a site visit booked and we will be seeing: Napa Room, Living Seas, American Adventure Parlour, and maybe Ariel's. She ruled out The Attic for me due to it's quiet hour restrictions, and our desire for a later reception and for dancing.
She also suggested that if we were really stuck on Napa Room that we maybe host our UK Lochside Dessert party on another night, as a welcome event or leaving do. I'd never even thought of that! Probably because I first looked at DTFW when dessert parties on the day of were included in the minimums! I'll have to talk it over with DF, but it's certainly and option.

@lurkyloo I don't know if you remember, but a while back (when commenting on your trip reports on your website) I invited you to our dessert party, and also to take pictures of our wedding from a friendship boat... are you still up for that!?

 

[lurkyloo]

That sounds awesome!

 

[Amanda132]

We looked at the Napa Room on our site visit, although we ended up going with Ariel's for our reception. But keep in mind, that if you have an evening reception in the Napa Room, you also get built-in fireworks from Magic Kingdom! From what I remember from our site visit, they pipe in the music, and you and your guests can go out on the catwalk to watch Wishes.

 

[MiaSRN62]

We had my daughter's reception in Ariels. It was a 2 pm reception so we liked the natural light. We knew Cape May Buffet was not open for lunch so this cut down on the traffic using the restroom which is in the hallway between Ariels and Cape May. We had very little traffic if any at all around Ariels at that time. With an evening reception you might notice more as Cape May is open for dinner and pretty popular? I would think Napa would be your best bet for a later evening reception because of the fireworks.

So if you go with a midday ceremony, Ariels would work well for you. The room holds something like 75 or so? Carrie would know best. I also have her book and read it cover to cover a hundred times but it's packed away right now. We only had 40 guests (but 66 were invited) so the staff arranged the tables so it felt more intimate. Ariels does round tables of 10 chairs. So we had 4 tables. They can arrange the room how you like and will provide you with final approval on the layout. Here is how our room looked for the 2 pm reception:

 

[VikkiLilyBee]

Thank you everyone! You've all been really helpful, especially with pictures. Now that I've booked my site visit, and talked things through with my DF a bit more, I know we'll end up making the right decision for us. He's said that much as he loves Napa Room, he still really likes the pictures he's seen of the other locations, so won't mind where we end up! I'll definitely let you all know what we think when we do our site visit. In fact, I should probably just start a planning journal!

 

[jwall840]

Hello!!!! Does anyyone know what was the minimum per guest for Ariels? I am just curious. We were looking at the Napa Room as well. The location is perfect but the look of ariels is very beautiful!

 

[lurkyloo]

Venues do not have per-guest food and beverage minimums. The overall amount you must spend on food and beverage at Ariel's is $1,000 for brunch and lunch and $1,800 for dinner, but it's sort of irrelevant because Wishes events require 20 guests and have food and beverage minimums starting at $125/person.