Student planning DFTW

[kjoy]

Hello All! I'm in need of some serious expert opinions. A little back story:

In 2009, I decided to take my first adventure to WDW as a CP cast member. I arrived January 27th, met my roommates, started my job as a character perfomer in the five foot height range and was head over heels happy! Less than a month later, I met the man of my dreams. Alex and I have been together since! Now, four years and some change later, we are starting to plan our forever. He is from Chicago, I am from Texas, and currently we are long distance as we try to finish up our degrees (He is a BIO major at the University of Kansas and I am a nursing major in Texas). Here are some obvious issues we are having:

1. Logistics! We agree that having a wedding in either home state would be viewed as either favortism or snobbery, so WDW was a no brainer! Plus we love the idea of begining a new chapter where it all started!
2. Planning and timelines! I will not graduate until 2016, and we have set a tentative date for 9-21-16. So all this is VERY premature. However, any former nursing students or nurses out there will tell you that the BSN programs are no joke! I'll be lucky if I have time to breathe much less plan a wedding! Which brings me to the purpose of my post!

If any one has had experience with planning a DFTW during their last semester of school, or if any Nurses have planned a wedding during those last two semesters, I'd love your opinion as to whether or not it is doable. It seems like planning should be fairly easy, more of a fill in the blank than start from scratch layout. But should we move our date more than three months post graduation? Does this seem doable?

I am looking forward to finally being able to say that my DFTW is in the works! And I am so excited to have found this community!

 

[bigr3ddog]

Congratulations on surviving the long distance thing. I know how hard that is.

I'm not a nurse, but I can tell you that your busiest time to plan a wishes wedding is the 6-9 months beforehand. Once you hit the 6-month mark, you meet with your wedding planner (can be done by email or phone too), you talk to your floral person to finalize decorations, you have to keep track of your room block, you have to review your beo's, and I'm sure I'm leaving a lot out, and that's just the Disney part. You also have your invitations to go out and figure out seating and worry about your dress and favors and welcome bags if you're doing them; it's a lot of work. Certainly, Disney will do a lot of the heavy lifting, but there will still be a lot on your plate. To top it off, you have to prepare for the planning session as well so that you go into it giving Disney direction as to the way you want your wedding to go.

My gut feeling says that if the last few months of nursing school are daunting, then i would strongly consider having your six months prior to the wedding to be school free if you can swing it. If you need to get married that calendar year for whatever reason, then consider an early December wedding.

That's my two cents, and hopefully someone who's been in your situation will chime in.

 

[princessmegank]

As a current college student planning a DFTW I can confidently say that it is definitely doable!! My Fiancé and I are planning a 2014 wedding and I still have over a year left in my bachelors degree. It will take some organization and time management, but anything is possible and I think you will be able to accomplish both of your goals and dreams at the same time. I say go for it with a positive attitude and outlook. Definitely don't let others discourage you or make you feel like you won't be able to manage both. The beautiful thing about Disney is that they are very accommodating and take care of all the details for you, of course with the help of your direction and desires, but it won't be terribly hard to do.

I wish you the absolute best of luck and congratulations!!!

 

[bigr3ddog]

I bow down to you who can plan a wedding and go to school simultaneously.

 

[tweety1049]

Congratulations on beginning to plan your happily ever after!

My story is very similar to yours (i also met the man of my dreams during my time as a CP and have been in a long distance relationship, and both of us want to get married in Disney)

I haven't started officially planning yet (we are thinking sometime in 2015) but this board is a true goldmine... I have learned so much about the whole planning process by reading planning journals so I would definitely suggest that you check those out.

 

[princessmegank]

I bow down to you who can plan a wedding and go to school simultaneously.

Thank you, it definitely is some work, but I like a challenge!

My fiancé is very helpful and a great sport too which is a plus!

 

[bradleyjess]

It's doable. Planning a Disney wedding is not difficult because you have a planner that coordinates all of your vendors. You really don't have to do much compared to a normal wedding!

 

[SOnotLayuh]

Just sending you positive vibes!

I'm a current Ph.D. student, and DF is in law school. It's crazy.

But totally doable, I think

 

[DisneyFairy19]

Hi and Congratulations on planning your DFTW

I planned my DFTW while I was in school. My DH proposed to me in the Fall of 2006. I still had 2 semesters to go before graduating. I was in my last 2 semesters of my Thesis and graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Interior Design. When we got engaged we knew that a Fall 2008 wedding would be ideal. It would give me a chance to plan the wedding, find a job, and save for a home.

Even though our wedding was 2 years away didnt stop me from planning my wedding. DFTW only books weddings 1 year from the wedding date. My thesis kicked my butt and I had sleepless nights but during some down time, I perused wedding magazines, tried on my dress at a local boutique.

... In your benefit there is Pinterest and Disboards to help you through, plus Disney makes everything very easy and understanding to your needs...
GL

 

[Beast913]

My fiance and I have a very similar story to yours. We met and started dating our freshman year in high school, in 2001. We graduated from high school in 2005, I proposed during our junior year in college in 2008, and we're getting married in less than 60 days, so we had 5 years to plan and coordinate our wedding. We also spent two years apart for education reasons similar to you.

I'll say about family you never know who is going to come to a destination wedding at Disney World. While it's at a very reduced price compared to normal, it can still be a struggle for some people, keep that in mind for the both of you. Then again, some family members may come who will surprise you, it certainly did for us.

You won't be able to book your wedding earlier than one year, sometimes a little more but usually not, so don't expect to be doing too much before then in terms of cementing plans, and do expect prices to go up, because they usually do over that period of time. (Again, it certainly did for us.)

Anyway, I hope you guys have a great wedding!

Oh, we did plan during my last year of law school/bar exam prep so that can be stressful, but the DFTW planners do a great job and helping you manage it. If you're concerned about stress, DFTW is the way to go for sure.

 

[Colette83]

Hello there, I had pretty much the same situation as you. I just finished nursing school in late April and my wedding is September 24th. We planned it that way so I would have a few months free from school to do wedding stuff and save some extra money and it has worked out perfectly so far. I used my down time (Summer/Christmas break) to read the Disney wedding book and these boards to pick out what I wanted for my wedding way before I had any contact with Disney, that way when I had my first planning session (while I was in my last semester of school) I knew almost exactly what I wanted. It is very doable and I hope this helps! Good luck with school!!!!

 

[MrsDuck]

I graduated two weeks before our wedding. It was stressful but honestly, I was super prepared and was done planning way before my last semester of college (I was student teaching - stressful!). I think it's do-able as long as you plan in advance, remember not to stress, and focus on the important stuff!

 

[bopper]

1. Logistics! We agree that having a wedding in either home state would be viewed as either favortism or snobbery, so WDW was a no brainer! Plus we love the idea of begining a new chapter where it all started!

Just saying...it is a well known cultural tradition in USA that the Bride's family hosts the wedding so it wouldn't really be favoritism/snobbery to have the wedding in your home state. Not saying you have to do it either way or not have it in Disney, but nobody would bat an eyelash if you had the wedding in Texas.

 

[DisneyBride514]

I am a Disney bride planning my wedding while in school and I will say that although it is a lot to juggle, it is very manageable! As long as you stay organized and focused you will definitely be able to do both! You just have to keep a positive outlook and set your priorities in the right place and it will all come together great. Best of luck with both school and your wedding!!!

 

[reginaastralis]

I'm also planning my wedding, and we're hoping for a fall 2014 wedding. DF and I are both in school right now, so it's rough, but doable. I've spent more time than I care to admit on pinterest when I should be studying, but I've started limiting myself to 15 minutes at a time. I literally set a timer, lol.

I'm currently going through the BEO's and trying to make up a budget .. but again, 15 minutes at a time. I try to make sure I spend 3x the amount of time studying than actually planning a wedding. Good luck!

 

[DisneyBride514]

I'm also planning my wedding, and we're hoping for a fall 2014 wedding. DF and I are both in school right now, so it's rough, but doable. I've spent more time than I care to admit on pinterest when I should be studying, but I've started limiting myself to 15 minutes at a time. I literally set a timer, lol.

I'm currently going through the BEO's and trying to make up a budget .. but again, 15 minutes at a time. I try to make sure I spend 3x the amount of time studying than actually planning a wedding. Good luck!

I can definitely relate! Sometimes wedding planning, magazines, Pinterest and even these boards can become a distraction. Making sure you stay grounded and prioritize is a good thing and I learned to also make sure I put school first and try to limit my wedding talk, browsing and reading to a minimum when school work is at it's highest. 15 minute timers is a great idea!

 

[pixie08]

Congratulations! Let me ease your mind and tell you it is all possible. Although you will b e doing a lot of research planning and contact with any outside vendors a DFTW is no where as stressful as an at home wedding. The logistics of travel is the hardest part, but you have a wedding planner that really takes some of the pressure off of you. I am not saying it will be easy, but it is possible.

I graduated from Architecture & Design school in May of 2007, and I had my wedding almost exactly one month later! I graduated, had 2 weeks to get everything together and two weeks later ( two weeks before wedding) left for Disney. i was also working part time at a firm!

I am blogging the whole wedding on my blog as a throwback if you need to see that it was all possible Of course all of my free time for a year before was all wedding related, and we did a site visit and planning session in WDW which helped tremendously.

http://www.disneytravelrecord.com/p/beyond-parks.html