small wishes wedding reception venue ideas

[cinder1]

My daughter is doing a small wishes wedding (about 30 people) at the WP at 10 am. We are trying to avoid transportation costs so she is considering Narcoossees for the reception or the Whitehall room. She loves the Attic and Ariel's but the transportation may be problem. Enough people may have cars but we won't know that until way too late. Any suggestions? Has anyone done a Narcoossee's reception? We like the more laid back look. Thanks.

 

[elphie101]

Have you looked at Citricos as well? Being in the main building at the Grand it's not quite as long as walk for guests from the WP (which I feel like I've heard from other brides is the main con against Narcoossees).

 

[cinder1]

That's a good point. Do you know how long the walk is compared to the walk to the Whitehall Room? To me, it looks way further to Narcoossee's but I'm not good with direction or measurement!!

 

[elphie101]

I just google mapped walking directions for the heck of it - 7 minutes to the main building (.3 mile) or the convention center (aka Whitehall/all the ballrooms - .4 mile), 9 minutes to Narcoossee's (.4 mile). Play around with google maps, it's your friend!

 

[cinder1]

Elphie you're awesome!! Thanks!

 

[DisneyBride2014]

I know you are trying to avoid transportation all together but if you do end up needing it, just an idea. I don't know how the bride and groom are getting to the ceremony but if they are getting a limo....we got married at the WP and had our reception at Whitehall. We chartered a limo for 4 hours (i think). That limo picked up my husband, his family, and his best man, and dropped them off at the wedding pavilion, then came back and did the same for me and my family. Then once the wedding ceremony was over the same limo did trips back and forth from the Wedding Pavilion to Whitehall for all our guests and then finally came back and got me and my husband and brought us to the reception. Just a thought if walking doesn't work out, by using the same transportation we used to get us to the wedding, it definitely saved us some $$

 

[lurkyloo]

You can also save by using $40 one-way vans. If your party is small this would be a cheap way to still be able to use The Attic (my fave!).

 

[sambycat]

We had a 10am ceremony and had 28 guests at Whitehall room and patio. Was s perfect size. Used minimal limo transport (an hour? Two hours? Whatever was the minimal we could do) and basically used it to sequentially take groom and groomsmen/MIL from GF to WP, then pick up myself and MOH. Guests could either use their own transport to WP (then to Whitehall) or a few family members traversed to the GF and I think the limo took another carload over to the WP. Then after, the car ferried folks who wanted it over to the GF/Whitehall and then brought the hubs and myself after pictures. It was nice and we have a couple of cute pictures from that. I'm not a limo person myself. Also, the room and patio were perfect, I was worried it would be too big (or too small and a million other things) but it was AWESOME!!!!

 

[CarouselKait]

We had a ~30 person wedding at the wp and reception at the Whitehall room too. While we took pictures the limo took our elderly guests and families to the Whitehall room, the rest of our guests walked and had no complaints. They enjoyed the scenery! But I will say, it was a nice, breezy morning. I think if it was hot out I would have said to just take the limo back and forth.

 

[DisMama5]

What's a more simple non tradition reception location? We are also doing the smaller wishes and only inviting about 30 guest max. We aren't really looking for the formal reception aspect although we know we have to have a reception even with the smaller wishes option.

Any ideas anyone? I almost wish we could just hit the water park and do some type of food thing there after the ceremony and then enjoy some slides we are not looking for traditional what so ever.

Most likely going with sea breeze as the ceremony option venue

 

[lurkyloo]

We really loved the Attic for our non-traditional reception! http://disneytravelbabble.com/trip-reports/wedding/day-4b/

 

[VikkiLilyBee]

We'll be having our reception inside American Adventure. There's a parlour and dining room on the third floor. We'll have our pre-reception in the dining room, an reception in the parlour. We have roughly 30 guests too.
You can pretty much make any venue host a non-traditional reception just by your choice or entertainment. You don't have to have a band/DJ, you could choose instead to have a caricature artist, for eg. Check out @lurkyloo's passporter book for more ideas!

 

[DisMama5]

Thanks both of you! I guess by non traditional I don't mean music wise I meant like the whole dining room and set up feel. We're more of a BBQ hangout type couple, not fancy and not looking for a dressed up dining hall if this makes sense lol and since keeping it small we don't want to be in a larger sized room with just the 30 of us, I feel as though that would just feel funky and still formal to us. I can't wait till a planner will actually work with us! Wish it could come sooner

 

[elphie101]

Thanks both of you! I guess by non traditional I don't mean music wise I meant like the whole dining room and set up feel. We're more of a BBQ hangout type couple, not fancy and not looking for a dressed up dining hall if this makes sense lol and since keeping it small we don't want to be in a larger sized room with just the 30 of us, I feel as though that would just feel funky and still formal to us. I can't wait till a planner will actually work with us! Wish it could come sooner

Since you said BBQ, did you know you can use spaces at Fort Wilderness? Lurkyloo has interviewed a few brides who had their wedding receptions there, like at Mickey's Backyard BBQ and on the grounds

 

[justlook3]

Years ago when I had my vow renewal, there was a patio between the Yacht and Beach Club suggested to me as a reception area, I believe it was above the concession stands? There are also lots of lawn areas that would be great for a laid back BBQ type reception. And Fort Wilderness might be your style too. Animal Kingdom might have too many restrictions for your budget, want, but that might be a fun and less traditional place to have a reception too.

 

[DisMama5]

Oh wow, I did not know about those options! I'll have to look into it non tradional and non formal is exactly what I'm looking for! An outdoor-ish space also, so that's a nice match I'll check into those! Anything that isn't just a typical hall space, is what we are looking for!

 

[Doodlebug25413]

I just google mapped walking directions for the heck of it - 7 minutes to the main building (.3 mile) or the convention center (aka Whitehall/all the ballrooms - .4 mile), 9 minutes to Narcoossee's (.4 mile). Play around with google maps, it's your friend!

YOU THINK OF EVERYTHING!!!

If you are thinking about BBQ, wanting something more laid back Ft. Wilderness is a good option. I even looked at pricing for Hoop Dee Doo since it's a set price. But we are a group of about 10ish. However, since I was looking at Sunrise Terrace & the Wilderness Lodge/Ft. Wilderness area for our wedding/VR, understand that entire resort is about to undergo (or is undergoing) extensive construction from now thru the entire 2016 year. (Confirmed this with my planner)
So I've had to completely scrap my whole Wilderness Lodge/Ft. Wilderness theme.

We are looking at the Gazebo at the Yacht Club. You might be able to do something there as the garden lawns around the gazebo are large enough for a small group. Or even the croquet lawn at the Boardwalk?