Vow Renewal, so confused, need help!

[lurkyloo]

Yay! I'm so glad you got it sorted out!

In lieu of a dessert party, you could do a Wishes or an IllumiNations cruise and order desserts or cake via Private Dining at the resort the cruise departs from. It's basically the same as a dessert party, just mobile!

Also, for dinner, the Grand Floridian's Private Dining department arranges private events for groups of fewer than 10 on one of their balconies. I have complete details in this podcast episode: http://disneyweddingpodcast.com/2012/12/12/how-to-plan-a-private-dinner-at-the-grand-floridian/

Regarding photography, Disney will not send out a photographer if you're hiring your own. Hopefully they'll let you swap for a family portrait session or dessert cruise photography the way they do with Escape.

 

[Alexsandra]

Yay! I'm so glad you got it sorted out!

In lieu of a dessert party, you could do a Wishes or an IllumiNations cruise and order desserts or cake via Private Dining at the resort the cruise departs from. It's basically the same as a dessert party, just mobile!

Also, for dinner, the Grand Floridian's Private Dining department arranges private events for groups of fewer than 10 on one of their balconies. I have complete details in this podcast episode: http://disneyweddingpodcast.com/2012/12/12/how-to-plan-a-private-dinner-at-the-grand-floridian/

Regarding photography, Disney will not send out a photographer if you're hiring your own. Hopefully they'll let you swap for a family portrait session or dessert cruise photography the way they do with Escape.

Just listened to the podcast, very interesting! At least there are other options out there. I will also look into dessert cruise.
Too bad about the photographer! I guess I will just have to wait to get a wedding planner assigned to me to discuss my options. At the worst, I will just use the outside photographers for before and after ceremony. We'll see!
Thanks for the info.

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

Hi- I just wanted to say good luck and that I share a wedding anniversary with you
We have been talking about a vow renewal for that last four years, next year is our 15 year! You have reenergized my desire to actually pull it off this time. Good luck, post pictures

 

[Alexsandra]

I just wanted to let all of you know that I had to cancel my vow renewal plans soon after writing this post as I had gotten bad news from the doc telling me I needed knee surgery in the spring.
Since I have to be off the leg and going to physiotherapy I thought it would be best to put the whole thing off until I got this issue with my knees resolved.
I wanted to thank everyone who helped me and hopefully will be able to plan a vow renewal in the near future. I think I will wait for my 15th wedding anniversary to do so. I guess it was just not meant to be!

 

[lurkyloo]

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon!

 

[Alexsandra]

Good News!
I've been so bummed out that I had to cancel our vow renewal, my husband, in an effort to cheer me up, has suggested I plan it for next year. I kind of felt like it had to be done on an eventful date like a 10th or 15th anniversary but my husband was like "let's just do what we want, there are no rules!" Did I ever mention I have the best husband in the world!

OK so now after discussing it with my HD, we planned to have our renewal the first week of March 2016. We decided to do it in March just because that is when we need to get away from the harsh Canadian winter and because the 24th of June (our wedding anniversary) is too hot and humid for my husband's taste. It is also high season so March is a better time to travel money wise. The kids are off the first week of March so I will try to plan it around then. I am so excited!

By taking some distance from the whole planning process, it has become clearer to me what I really wanted in the end. An intimate renewal just us and our two kids (no extended family members). We also decided to do an in-room affair instead of the memories Package. We decided to spend the money we would have spent on the Memories Package and instead use it to stay at the Poly for the length of our trip. The Polynesian is our favourite resort but it is so expensive that we never could afford it in combination with a disney wedding. Plus I always wished I could get married in Hawaii. Well this is the second best thing. If I did the memories package I would have to stay at a value or moderate to be able to afford it. The Memories package was also too limiting and expensive for what we wanted. We really wanted to hire an outside photographer of our choice and we do not want an officiant, a musician or a limo. Just seemed like a lot of wasted money. By doing an in-room vow renewal at the Poly we can do it the way we like. I am planing a lot of DIY projects like my bouquet and decoration and I want to order a small cake to make it feel like a renewal. I am looking into maybe staying in the one bedroom suite the day of our renewal so we could have more space for the renewal and we could have separate sleeping quarters from the kids This is still up for debate though because of the extra expense it would entail. I am also looking into a private fireworks cruise for Wishes.

If anyone is interested in seeing where this will end up, I started a planning journal where I will post pics of my ideas and DIY projects: http://www.disboards.com/threads/intimate-vow-renewal-with-kids-pj.3383440/#post-53134361

Anyway, thank you all again for helping me plan this vow renewal.

 

[hollybearsmom]

I would really like to see some of your DIY projects. I'm thinking of doing a surprise VR when my hubby gets home next summer. I started a pj just in case, to corral all my ideas, and get some DIS love since I can't tell him.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/june-16-b-j-surprise-vr-location-unknown.3451897/

 

[ahutton]

For the dessert party - there is a 10 guest minimum, but we did a smaller party, and just paid for 10 people! The UK pubside location for Illuminations is amazing!!!

 

[osxgirl]

Just to give you an idea of what is possible even without doing an in-park photo shoot, feel free to go take a look at the pics I have up from our wedding back in 2007:

http://kims-world.net/Our_Wedding.html

That's not even close to all we got, and we definitely got a lot that had the "Disney" feel. DH still complains about how much we had to walk, but between the wedding and the reception lunch, we (taking pictures the whole way) went from Citricos in GF, through the main lobby and out the front, took the limo to the front of Epcot, took the monorail to the TTC, took the ferry to the front of MK, took the monorail to the Poly, and then my memory fails me... I think we took boats back to MK and then to WL, which is where our lunch was.

Just going to resorts and the fronts of the parks, you can get some great Disney photos - and there's lots to see there too.

 

[Doodlebug25413]

After a long MIA, I'm finally catching up a bit.

THIS IS GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!