Alaska Cruise on Disney Wonder - 1st Sea Day Views for Possible Wedding Ceremony

[DisDancerina]

Hi, all! We are getting married on the May 30-June 6, 2022, Alaskan cruise aboard the Disney Wonder and are trying to determine what venue we will go with! We are down to the atrium, Tiana’s and deck 10 aft. We were wondering if anyone who has sailed before has photos or could recall what the scenery looked like on the first sea day. I know it goes through the inside passage, so was hoping for some greenery, but wasn’t sure if we’d get it! And of course, we know rain is a possibility, so will have a backup, but would love to get an idea of what we might be working with. Thank you in advance!

 

[KGmomoftwins]

You should watch Disney fairy tale weddings there are 2 episodes based on the Alaska cruise on Disney +. My daughters have watched them several times 1 is a wedding and 1 engagement lol. Congratulations I don’t think you can go wrong either way.

 

[happycamper47]

May of 2012...It definitely can change as the day progresses.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi, all! We are getting married on the May 30-June 6, 2022, Alaskan cruise aboard the Disney Wonder and are trying to determine what venue we will go with! We are down to the atrium, Tiana’s and deck 10 aft. We were wondering if anyone who has sailed before has photos or could recall what the scenery looked like on the first sea day. I know it goes through the inside passage, so was hoping for some greenery, but wasn’t sure if we’d get it! And of course, we know rain is a possibility, so will have a backup, but would love to get an idea of what we might be working with. Thank you in advance!

Have you checked with DCL about locations? Typically, "onboard" weddings are actually conducted onshore (requiring license from state marriage is happening in) with a photo op "wedding" on the ship.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

May of 2012...It definitely can change as the day progresses.

Pretty much looks exactly like Happycamper47's pictures. Thats how I remember the majority of the day looking. Lots of green, occasional small house near the waters edge, sometimes some birds. Very pretty. Obviously weather can change, and having a back up is smart of you. One thing that might not pop up immediately when you think Alaska cruise, is it could be hot. Sure it can be cold and rainy, but during our Alaska cruise it was WARM. On our first day out which was the inside passage it was pleasantly cool, but by the end of the cruise it was shorts weather (which basically no one had packed because well it's Alaska). If temperature is a concern for you, its something to keep in mind for the location. No one wants to be in winter wedding wear standing outside in 80 degrees.

 

[DisDancerina]

You should watch Disney fairy tale weddings there are 2 episodes based on the Alaska cruise on Disney +. My daughters have watched them several times 1 is a wedding and 1 engagement lol. Congratulations I don’t think you can go wrong either way.

Thank you! Sadly they can’t do the ceremony in front of a glacier so my dreams have been dashed!

 

[DisDancerina]

Have you checked with DCL about locations? Typically, "onboard" weddings are actually conducted onshore (requiring license from state marriage is happening in) with a photo op "wedding" on the ship.

Thanks for asking! Yes, we are in contact with them. For Alaska, since it’s out of Canada, you get your official license before or after and get to have a ceremony and reception onboard.

 

[DisDancerina]

May of 2012...It definitely can change as the day progresses.

Thank you for sharing! This is beautiful.

 

[MrMarcus]

As stated above the legal license is done prior -- we did this just prior to departing for Vancouver. There is still a ceremony on the ship. Now I have two anniversary dates to track, although we agree to use the Wonder date. Yes I still mess it up.

As ceremonies are not too common on the Alaska cruises, let me give you insight on a bit of our experiences, although several things have certainly changed on the ship since our ceremony.

We had assumed that the ceremony on the ship would be with the captain, and when seeing him earlier in the day of our wedding we made a comment about seeing him at the ceremony later in the day. It turned out for us that the cruise director (Trent) did the ceremony, which was fine, but a surprise from what we had thought.

Disney had setup space for us on both deck 7 aft (which at the time was still accessible and not well known) and in the lounge, but due to the weather we had to make a decision several hours in advance to hold the ceremony indoors. Our ceremony was in what is now a concierge lounge, which at the time was basically the upper level of the Cove. It is now annoying that on subsequent cruises that as we are part of the general proletariat that we are not generally allowed in the space where we had our wedding since it was converted soon afterwards.

The music we had selected in advance was performed by a keyboard player. We told him that he could liven up the music with whatever jazz he wanted to play, but he said that he was obligated to only play what was on the selection list. It must have been a contract thing. We later went to most of his performances in the Cadillac Lounge -- he was always then very social with us and clearly demonstrated his real skill vs what he did at the formal ceremony. The wedding planner commented several times that he had told her that we were seeing him in Cadillac. The last time I saw him was on a CBS Sunday Morning clip about a current day Orient Express -- he was in the background playing away on the train.

We really like the wedding photos that were taken on the inside passage. That it was cloudy / foggy actually added to the beauty to us. The package included the use of the photographer for an hour or two after the ceremony, and although she did great for photos during the actual ceremony, it was almost like she had not done a wedding on the ship. When we asked her about ideas for interesting backgrounds on the ship she seemed to not have a clue (or needed to buy a vowel). We had quite a few ideas for where we wanted photos (lounging deck 4, in front of Walt photo, various other spots) and the photographer seemed surprised by every choice. In the end we were very happy with the photos, but beyond the ceremony almost all of the ideas for locations were ours. That just seemed really odd.

In the end we were very happy to have done the ceremony on the sea day heading to Alaska!

 

[ljhayes]

These are some of the exterior views from our vow renewal at the end of May. It had been raining earlier in the day so the ceremony was inside but we were able to get some shots outside.

 

[lklgoodman]

I saw a TV show that had a wedding on one of the ships. The couple got married in the atrium. They had a small roped off area by the stairs for the ceremony. There were other passengers walking all around the other areas of the atrium and the area above on deck 4. You may want to keep that in mind when choosing your location. We've been on several cruises and have seen the wedding party having pics taken. Usually see them in the big window seats. Triton's restaurant has several Little Mermaid mural's that would make good backdrops. The entrance to Tiana's would also be a good pic place. Congrats. My dh and I didn't get married on the ship, but took our honeymoon on the Magic 22 yrs ago.