Agreement - wording help on new $7500 minimum

[Brit_Jude]

I also posted on my PJ. I got my DFTW letter of agreement YEAH! But I have to wait to sign it as DF-Steve is on a business trip to Cape Cod and won't be back until Saturday.

It has the new addition of the $7500 minimum and there is no wording in there that you only have to get to the minimum if you have a catered food. The way I am reading it we have to agree to the $7500 even if we don't have food and beverage. Here is the paragraph.

c. In addition to the other minimum requirements set forth herein, you agree to spend a minimum of Seven Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($7500.00) (exclusive of service charge (21%) and tax) for the Wedding (the 'Minimum Expenditure'). The Minimum Expenditure includes only those elements of the Wedding booked through Disney (e.g. Escape Collection package, photographer and/or videographer, flowers, entertainment, food and beverage) and excludes charges for formalwear, officiant services, cosemetology, Reserved Rooms, Resort theme park tickets and any other events not taking place on the day of the Wedding (e.g. rehersal dinner, farewell brunch, bridesmaid lunch).

So in reading this an Escape wedding is really $7500 now and I add in other elements to get from the Escape pakage price to the $7500. Thoughs????

 

[MsEsty]

Since reading government contracts is a part of my career...lol

The Escape weddings now on Saturday and Sunday are now the $7500 minimum, not those Sunday-Friday (whew!). The $7500 must come from a Disney-approved Shopping List. For example, my MVMCP and 25 person dinner at Ohana would not count. If you want to spend the $7500 on the ceremony minimum (depending on your location), carriage, the super-duper photopackage, and a character, you are meeting your contract requirements.

HTH!

 

[Sarah84]

No help to you im afraid as im ages away from even booking but i seriously hope it isn't true, its rubbish that they can 'offer' an Escape wedding for $4750 but then tell you, you have to spend $7500 i know this is the case for weekend Escape weddings but not weekday. Maybe worth giving them a call and asking?

 

[Brit_Jude]

Since reading government contracts is a part of my career...lol

The Escape weddings now on Saturday and Sunday are now the $7500 minimum, not those Sunday-Friday (whew!). The $7500 must come from a Disney-approved Shopping List. For example, my MVMCP and 25 person dinner at Ohana would not count. If you want to spend the $7500 on the ceremony minimum (depending on your location), carriage, the super-duper photopackage, and a character, you are meeting your contract requirements.

HTH!

I guess I should have said my wedding is on a Tuesday !!!! Think I will send my wedding coordinator an e-mail and ask him to clarify as it is in conflict with their website.

 

[MsEsty]

http://disneyweddings.disney.go.com/weddings/florida/pricing/escape/detail

"Escape Weddings occurring on Saturday and Sunday must meet a $7,500 minimum expenditure. This minimum can be met through a combination of elements provided by Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings including your Escape Package, food & beverage, floral, décor, entertainment, photography/videography, additional transportation and venue rentals."

I may be super uptight about this but I would take a screen shot and include it in your email to cover your bum.

 

[Brit_Jude]

Yes I think I will, I may well get to that prince by adding elements (characters etc) but I certainly don't want to be tied to it if I don't have to and have the flexibility not to.

 

[Nikisha421]

No help to you im afraid as im ages away from even booking but i seriously hope it isn't true, its rubbish that they can 'offer' an Escape wedding for $4750 but then tell you, you have to spend $7500 i know this is the case for weekend Escape weddings but not weekday. Maybe worth giving them a call and asking?

With the way this seems to me they should just get rid of the weekend Escape weddings...bc the Escape cost plus the new minimum is equivalent to $12250...that number is the same as a small Wishes ceremony. I spoke to my contact person "whoever that first person you talk to" to ask her about changing my date and time and she warned me against changing since although I have a confirmed 10.10.10 timeslot if I decided to change it (being that I am looking at a weekend) then I would be stuck with that $7500 minimum expediture!!!

 

[MsEsty]

With the way this seems to me they should just get rid of the weekend Escape weddings...bc the Escape cost plus the new minimum is equivalent to $12250...that number is the same as a small Wishes ceremony. I spoke to my contact person "whoever that first person you talk to" to ask her about changing my date and time and she warned me against changing since although I have a confirmed 10.10.10 timeslot if I decided to change it (being that I am looking at a weekend) then I would be stuck with that $7500 minimum expediture!!!

Without knowing the timeline, did you already put down your deposit/sign your contract? If your contract does not mention the $7500 minimum, then you could fight the charges as it wasn't part of your agreement.

 

[Brit_Jude]

The way my letter of agreement/contract reads the Escape package counts towards the $7500 minimum. So enhancements would be the amount from $4,750.00 for the escape package up to $7500, so $2750 for the delux and $1750 for the difference between the premium escape package to the $7500.

It is not the escape package added to the $7500, the $7500 is it, it would not be $12000+

 

[tinkerbell 766]

No mention of the catered event part?

 

[gemmybear83]

The way my letter of agreement/contract reads the Escape package counts towards the $7500 minimum. So enhancements would be the amount from $4,750.00 for the escape package up to $7500, so $2750 for the delux and $1750 for the difference between the premium escape package to the $7500.

It is not the escape package added to the $7500, the $7500 is it, it would not be $12000+

That is exactly the way my coordinator worded it for me.

 

[girli565]

The escape price, whether it's the $4750 or $5750, counts towards the new $7500 minimum. So it's not the escape price plus the $7500.

But I did think that is was only Required if you were havng a catered event on a weekday and mandatory on the weekend.

 

[tinkerbell1988]

The Minimum Expenditure includes only those elements of the Wedding booked through Disney (e.g. Escape Collection package, photographer and/or videographer, flowers, entertainment, food and beverage) and excludes charges for formalwear, officiant services, cosemetology, Reserved Rooms, Resort theme park tickets and any other events not taking place on the day of the Wedding (e.g. rehersal dinner, farewell brunch, bridesmaid lunch).


thanks for posting this! so am i to understand that if we were to have the MK and Epcot portrait session a couple of days after the wedding it would count towards the new minimum as it's photography booked through disney?

i'm slightly confused because it states above that events not taking place on the day of the wedding don't count. as it's not taking place on the day of the wedding do i assume it won't count? or does it come under wedding photography? therefore counting towards it... arrrhh!!! lol TIA x

 

[Nikisha421]

Without knowing the timeline, did you already put down your deposit/sign your contract? If your contract does not mention the $7500 minimum, then you could fight the charges as it wasn't part of your agreement.

I have not yet recieved my contract, but she was clear on saying that if I changed the date...the new date would include the minimum expediture

The way my letter of agreement/contract reads the Escape package counts towards the $7500 minimum. So enhancements would be the amount from $4,750.00 for the escape package up to $7500, so $2750 for the delux and $1750 for the difference between the premium escape package to the $7500.
so I guess I misunderstood...which is a relief...because I was starting to thing that the weekend Escape would just be obsolete
It is not the escape package added to the $7500, the $7500 is it, it would not be $12000+

this is GREAT RELIEF...so now I guess they werent making a big enough profit on the weekend escape packages so they added the minimum...or they are trying to force people into using DFTW products instead of outside vendors...

...for me changing my date won't be a problem now since I was going to add a reception/lunch, upgrade cake + floral and a Dessert Party...

 

[Brit_Jude]

No mention of the catered event part?

No - there was no mention of the minimum being tied to a catered event

 

[Sarah84]

I hope it is a mistake for you, as you say you may end up spending that amount but it's nice not to 'have to'
Please let us know the outcome from emailing them.

 

[irisbud]

Speaking from my own experience last year (before the new minimums were put in place, so my contract did not include the wording you are concerned about).

When I recieved my contract, there were several things in it that I did not like, as part of my job includes reading and finding loopholes in contracts as well, mainly on the part concerning the Dessert Party we held. Some of these things were required use of backstage transportation after we had been told we would be able to walk to our location (Morocco), and having to pay for desserts for the alleged site minimum of 20 guests (there were nine of us total, though I thought there would be more at the time). There was other concerning language in the contract as well, though I don't remember it off of the top of my head.

I e-mailed my wedding planner with these things hilighted and asked about them, she assured me (in writing via the e-mail) that we would not have to use the transportation, would only have to pay for desserts for the guests we declared at the time a final count was necessary, etc. I asked about changing the contract, and she said the wording of the contract cannot be easily changed and would have to go through Disney legal, which could be a lengthy dely. During that delay, our time and location choices would be avalible to others, as we would not have a signed contract with DFTW.

Though I wasn't overly keen on this, I went ahead and e-mailed her again, asking for explicit clarification on any of the points that were questionable to me, then signed the contract, keeping all of the e-mails in case problems arose in the future. Though I don't know if these e-mails would have been sufficient evidence in the event legal recourse was required, I felt somewhat more assured, as I wasn't willing to potentially lose our location/time waiting for a revised contract.

IDK if this was the right thing to do or not, and we ended up having no issues in any case. Whatever you do, however, if you ask about that wording I would do so via e-mail so that you have a written response rather than having to rely on word of mouth alone should there be a contention (which I'm sure there won't!) at a later time.

 

[Brit_Jude]

I received a reply from Bill at DFTW in regards to our letter of agreement and the paragraph that talks to the $7500 minimum as follows:

Hi Judi,

The $7500.00 is only on the weekends and if you add on a privately catered function.

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks.

Bill

So I e-mailed back:

Bill,

Ok so as our wedding is on a Tuesday will it be possible to have that
removed from our letter of agreement as the wording doesn't
specifically say that it only applies on the weekend or that it is
tied to a privately catered function. Or did I miss somewhere else
where that is stated?

Thanks,
Judi

Here is the final reply with what to do:

Hi Judi,

You can cross this part out of the contract and initial. Sorry about the confusion.

Let me know if you have any other questions.


Thanks.

Bill

Good job I asked and thanks for your help all those who replied on here. Not a big hassle but it would be so easy to resolve with a clearer paragraph in the Letter of Agreement that more acurately reflects what the actual policy is on when a different minimum for an Escape Wedding applies and then align that with what is on their website but at least it is resolved for us.