Aussie getting married... Maybe at WDW

[jessiegirl84]

Hello,

I recently visited WDW in december and it was our first trip and it was perfect as my boyfriend of almost 4 years proposed!

We are thinking about getting married in WDW, but after looking at the WDW website I can't find any contact details to get more information, only a phone number which will probably get a bit expensive from Aus. Does anyone here have any other way to contact Disney?

Is there anyone here who is from Aus as I would love to chat to you who have gotten married in Orlando.

Thankyou so much for your help.
Jess

 

[Lulu83]

Hi! Congratulations on your engagement I am another Aussie getting married at WDW this October (we are eloping, just the two of us).

As far as I know you can only make initial contact with Disney by phone, and the timing for this will depend on what type of wedding package you would like (e.g. you can contact them at 12 months from the desired date of your wedding for an Escape package). After this you are assigned a wedding coordinator who we have been communicating with via email. Then once you actually put down a deposit (which varies again depending on the type of wedding package - it's 8 months out for an Escape so we're still waiting!) you are assigned a proper wedding planner. Our initial phone call was pretty brief and surprisingly cheap, although you do have to do the sums to work out the time difference!

The first thing I did when I was in my very early planning stages was download the Passporters Wedding Guide. It is invaluable and will probably answer most of the questions you have (and if not; you can ask on these boards!) without having to wait until you can contact Disney. The link to purchase it is here http://www.passporter.com/weddings.asp This book has been my Disney wedding bible!

Let me know if there's anything else I can help with; I'm sure there are some other Aussie brides floating around, and there are lots of UK brides who face similar challenges with the destination wedding thing.

Good luck with your planning

 

[TabZ]

I'm going to bill myself as an Aussie bride even though I live in London

If your worried about the international call rates, you could always use Skype. But I don't think your first contact phone call will be that long nor cost you that much. The other planning phone calls which happen after you've paid your deposit I'm pretty sure Disney call you so I wouldn't be to worried

Have you thought about which wedding package you would like to go for?!

 

[BecBennett]

I did it, was the best experience ever, so if you get the chance definitely take it!

I did the majority of my planning via email, and made maybe 4 phone calls throughout the entire planning process. 2 to my planner, 1 to my officiant and 1 to Virgin Australia to confirm details. Super easy!

Feel free to check out my PJ in my signature - haven't finished the TR yet, but everything else is there.

The only things that were slight hiccups was the fact that they don't do alternate drop for meals and signing the registry isn't part of the ceremony. Also, some flowers have different names over there compared to here, so make sure you have lots of pics of what you want.

 

[CinderALLIE]

LuLu83 are you going to do/or have you started a PJ?

I say if your fiance agrees with it go for it. My partner and I have discussed our future wedding (even though we are not engaged) and he knows I am hoping to have my wedding at one of the Disney Parks. He has reservations as he wants his family there...uh hello thats why you buy a video package if they don't come LOL

 

[BecBennett]

We were worried about family members coming too, but when it came down to it the only people who didn't come were a couple of aunties/uncles and his grandparents.

We still had 40 guests

 

[Freckledginger]

Congratulations on your Engagement!! I would love to hear your proposal story when you decide to share--WDW proposals always sound so amazing.

I'm not an Aussie bride per say, but my fiancé is an Aussie, and I started the planning process while I was living in Australia. We're having a DCL wedding, and while I believe those are more simple to plan than WDW weddings, I have found communication with DFTW relatively stress-free. I used Skype for my initial call, and have used email for everything else (makes the time difference less of a factor).

I was surprised by this, but guests on my fiancé's side have responded very well to traveling for our wedding! We're having a small wedding (~40 people), and there's more Aussies coming than Americans! I'm sure you'll have a good amount of people excited to travel for your wedding too!

Best of luck in your planning, and I look forward to reading more about your wedding plans!!

 

[jessiegirl84]

Thankyou ladies for your response.

I have been very slack in updating my trip report or even starting it so I willnget onto that soon!

Lulu83 thank you so much for the tip about the book, I downloaded it as well as ordered a copy (haha I couldn't wait for it arrive.
Unforunately, I think we are going to be over 20 people therefore I think wishes would be too expensive and we can ger married for cheaper back home.
But today, I read the section about weddings at Swan & Dolphin Hotel as well some research and it seems like that could be a bit more cost effective.

BecBennet I had a look through your trip report and your wedding was beautiful it looks like you had a great day in loved reading it.

Thankyou so much for your thoughts girls and i promise to start my trip report soon, so you can find out how the question was popped

 

[TabZ]

Not only the proposal, I wanna see the ring!!! xx

 

[jessiegirl84]

Girls, another question. Where did you get your invites & save the dates from?
I have looked at quite a few websites but they are mostly from USA and before I go on an email sending frenzy I might just check with you gals who have already ordered or made your own
Thankyou again !

 

[TabZ]

There are plenty of suppliers in Aus that can help you with invitations, have you looked on any local wedding forums?

 

[BecBennett]

I made my own STD in photoshop and got them printed as photos through Harvey Norman or KMart or somewhere like that...

I also made my invites, but I got the pocket folds from Cristina Re - Cant remember if I ordered them from somewhere here, or the US site, but it was online either way...

 

[*Nessa*]

Hey

Another Disney bride here we had originally planned a Disneyland wedding but changed along the way and had a DCL wedding and MK photo session. Similar to Bec I did all my planning over email (with the exception of 2 calls to our planner, time difference was ok about 7am our time from memory).

We did all our own trip & wedding planning (we ending up taking a small group of family/friends with travelling around Vegas for a week and Orlando for a few weeks then the cruise.) invitations & welcome bags and loved it! I never got round to doing a planning journal but I did have a blog if you are interested http://www.disneygirlswedding.blogspot.com.au/

I still have all our planning material if any of the current planning brides are interested or would like it

 

[BecBennett]

Hey Vanessa!

You really did it the smart way, I'm still trying to change my name now!

 

[*Nessa*]

Hey Bec so funny story ... I still haven’t changed my name on most things too

Organising the Aussie ceremony last minute didn’t leave much choice for a celebrant & we ended up with possibly the most disorganised guy in the country, who amongst other things, spelt my name & mum’s name completely wrong on the documents/certificates. About 6months after the wedding we were buying a house so I tried to get the marriage licence fixed up, when our solicitor noticed that my first name is spelt wrong on my birth certificate (has been that way since I was born) too and no one pictured it up!

OMG it’s been a complete nightmare trying to convince people who I am and to get both documents corrected, so 2 yrs on & still a 'miss' on nearly everything except my video ezy card