heapies926
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 3, 2016
I stumbled upon these travel logs a few weeks ago, and I absolutely love reading them. I wanted to do one myself because I thought it might be helpful for anyone considering/having a DCL wedding.
I apologize in advance for being terrible at taking pictures on this cruise. All of the pics you will see were taken by someone else.
FYI – This is for the cruise that departed on May 8; It departs from and returns to Port Canaveral, and has Itinerary A.
Setting the Scene
I went on my first Disney Cruise last year (also a 7N West Caribbean on the Disney Magic) with my then boyfriend (who proposed to me on that cruise). We both LOVED it. We started to plan a traditional wedding, but I wasn’t super excited about it. My parents had offered to pay for the wedding, so I pitched the idea of us all going on a Disney Cruise with the money instead – they LOVED it! And so the planning began.
The Cast
Me (26F), my sister (25F), her fiancé (27M), my mom(60F), my dad(63M), my now husband(26M), his mom (62F), his brother (40M) and brother’s girlfriend (?F). DH and I were the only ones who had been on a Disney Cruise before.
Planning the Wedding
Disney Cruise line weddings are very simple affairs. They involve a 15 minute ceremony, and a 30 minute cake and champagne celebration (if you add a photo package, there will be another 15 minutes of photographs). It’s not a legal ceremony. You have two options - you can be legally married before the cruise, or a DCL notary will legally marry you in the terminal before embarking.
Planning a wedding with Disney is very straightforward. They email you a 30 page packet. You print it out, write out your guest list, and make your selections – which bouquet you want, what music you want, what cake you want, etc. The cheapest wedding is $3000 and includes 8 guests plus the bride and groom. You can add additional guests for $20 a person, and can make all sorts of additions to inflate the price (cake and floral enhancements, favors, more expensive champagne….) The only thing we added to the $3000 base package is a photo package. The wedding photo package is totally separate from any photo package you might get for the rest of your cruise. There are 3 to choose from – we went with the most expensive ($995) because it came with a CD of all the photos. 45 days before you cruise, you will get an email from Disney with all the information for your wedding (place, date, time). Ours was Tuesday, May 10, Deck 10 Aft, 4:30pm.
Day 0 – Arriving in Orlando
Most of our party arrived in Orlando (via Southwest) the day before the cruise. We had planned on staying at the Hyatt Regency at Orlando International Airport, but when we tried to check in, we found out our reservation was at the Hyatt Regency Orlando on International Drive! (Surely I’m not the first one to make that mistake!) Fortunately, both the Hyatt and Hotels.com were understanding, and they gave us rooms at the airport Hyatt at the same price. At the time, it was stressful, but in hindsight, I have to say we lucked out. The airport Hyatt had a much higher fare that day – we inadvertently saved $80 a room.
The airport has a small nail salon, so some of us girls went and got our nails done. We had dinner in the food court and poked around the shops before going back to the comfy beds at the Hyatt.
I apologize in advance for being terrible at taking pictures on this cruise. All of the pics you will see were taken by someone else.
FYI – This is for the cruise that departed on May 8; It departs from and returns to Port Canaveral, and has Itinerary A.
Setting the Scene
I went on my first Disney Cruise last year (also a 7N West Caribbean on the Disney Magic) with my then boyfriend (who proposed to me on that cruise). We both LOVED it. We started to plan a traditional wedding, but I wasn’t super excited about it. My parents had offered to pay for the wedding, so I pitched the idea of us all going on a Disney Cruise with the money instead – they LOVED it! And so the planning began.
The Cast
Me (26F), my sister (25F), her fiancé (27M), my mom(60F), my dad(63M), my now husband(26M), his mom (62F), his brother (40M) and brother’s girlfriend (?F). DH and I were the only ones who had been on a Disney Cruise before.
Planning the Wedding
Disney Cruise line weddings are very simple affairs. They involve a 15 minute ceremony, and a 30 minute cake and champagne celebration (if you add a photo package, there will be another 15 minutes of photographs). It’s not a legal ceremony. You have two options - you can be legally married before the cruise, or a DCL notary will legally marry you in the terminal before embarking.
Planning a wedding with Disney is very straightforward. They email you a 30 page packet. You print it out, write out your guest list, and make your selections – which bouquet you want, what music you want, what cake you want, etc. The cheapest wedding is $3000 and includes 8 guests plus the bride and groom. You can add additional guests for $20 a person, and can make all sorts of additions to inflate the price (cake and floral enhancements, favors, more expensive champagne….) The only thing we added to the $3000 base package is a photo package. The wedding photo package is totally separate from any photo package you might get for the rest of your cruise. There are 3 to choose from – we went with the most expensive ($995) because it came with a CD of all the photos. 45 days before you cruise, you will get an email from Disney with all the information for your wedding (place, date, time). Ours was Tuesday, May 10, Deck 10 Aft, 4:30pm.
Day 0 – Arriving in Orlando
Most of our party arrived in Orlando (via Southwest) the day before the cruise. We had planned on staying at the Hyatt Regency at Orlando International Airport, but when we tried to check in, we found out our reservation was at the Hyatt Regency Orlando on International Drive! (Surely I’m not the first one to make that mistake!) Fortunately, both the Hyatt and Hotels.com were understanding, and they gave us rooms at the airport Hyatt at the same price. At the time, it was stressful, but in hindsight, I have to say we lucked out. The airport Hyatt had a much higher fare that day – we inadvertently saved $80 a room.
The airport has a small nail salon, so some of us girls went and got our nails done. We had dinner in the food court and poked around the shops before going back to the comfy beds at the Hyatt.