Ballroom decor

[Brer-Zoe]

Hello all!

I'm seeking advice regarding the decor for my upcoming wedding (Sept 2008). We have had our planning session and were totally blown away by all the possibilities and came away really happy. Only problem is that we now have our estimated budget. As we live in the UK, we are only having about 25guests and still our bill has come our so far at $35,000 - that's without any floral, linens, stationary, outfits (not to mention flights or accomodation!). Surely there must be a way of cutting that down!! We are using the Grand Floridan for our reception and want to make it look really beautiful. As it is a big space with high ceilings, we were keen on using a ceiling swag and topiary trees - but this is going to cost about $6000. Basically I was hoping either forthcoming brides or past brides that have used this space might be able to suggest some alternatives or any other possibilities I'm not away of. Our reception is from 2.30 - 7pm then followed by a dessert party (providing those Sept storms don't put pay to that!). If any one has any further advice regarding how frequently dessert parties are rainied off in early Sept, that would be great too!

I was also hoping to get a little clarification on photography. I've noticed there are a lot of posts on this site recommending various photographers but I was wondering whether generally Disney photos or external vendors are better? The photography is really important to me (I like relaxed, reportage style photos) and I really want to make an informed choice. I was quite sold on Disney as I really want an MK photoshoot - which is included in the package - but I don't want to be disappointed with wedding shots which lack any life because the guy has been doing the same shots for years!

Any help on these of other areas would be great - the wedding seems minutes away and I haven't acheived anything! Thanks.

 

[orangetiggs]

disney charge alot for thier photos and we are not using them, we are out there at the moment as we have just had our planning session. We are going with misty miotto as we can get the cd and rights to all our images with her instead of paying $1000 with disney.

 

[shezfrombermuda]

The Disney wedding photographs I have seen are all very nice. I think with any photographer you need to describe the style you are looking for. As Orangetiggs said, you do not get the rights to the photos and have to pay Disney for the CD. You could go with an outside photographer and still have the MK photoshoot.

Sorry I can't help with the decor questions!

 

[skk22]

I have the same problem. I am having GF whitehall ballroom for reception. The room itself is nice but I still think it is a bit plain. I love the Tulle Canopy idea but the estimated budget came back to be $2380, too $$$. Anyone have idea if I can bring in outside vendor to provide and decorate the ballroom with Tulle Canopy on the ceiling?

I have 40 guests, so 4 round tables and 1 sweet table for me and groom. The cake would be placed on the side table which is already part of the whitehall. With a baby grand piano sitting in the middle. Mine is a early afternoon reception, so no dance floor. For decoration, I will dress the table and chair ups with ice blue covers + centerpiece. But that's pretty much all I have in mind.

 

[topsy]

Not sure if this helps but I've been to a couple of weddings over here which have taken place in large ballrooms like those in the GF. One thing that looked great and made the room seem a little smaller was having really tall floral centrepieces on each table. I think it must be something to do with leading your eyes up to the ceiling?!! Anyway, this should be a cheaper option.

Oh, another idea (stolen from Kashmir's Couture Wedding) - could you hang lanterns from the ceiling instead if having a canopy? You could even get cheap ones yourselves and just ask Disney to hang them for you?

 

[StitchBride]

We used St. Augustine C&D and I was concerned with it looking to plain and too ballrooma and wanted to add the tulle in the worst way. But I just couldn't add it to the budget at the expense of a lot of other stuff. Between the flowers, the lights (pin spotting is a great way to add pop to the room) and the gobo's the dj provides (or you can have custom ones made) and the linens, I don't think our room was missing anything.

I did look into other companies doing the tulle canopy but the cost of putting it up there was the same or more than Disney

HTH

 

[mermaidbride1108]

Stitchbride - are those castle lights included in the DJ's package?

are there any other lighting effects that you could choose from?

 

[StitchBride]

The DJ provides a bunch of gobos that you can choose from, you can ask your planner for more specifics. We had the castle and stars on the wall and Cinderella's carriage on the dance floor. There are moons & stars, snowflakes, leaves from what I've seen. Some people have had them made with a monogram or certain design for Disney to project (but I don't know how much they were)

 

[skk22]

Thanks Stitchbride and Topsy for your tips. Great idea on the lighting, I think it can make great difference on how the ballroom would look and feel. I also think about using blue Mickey-shaped balloons, which I think would be cute.

 

[lurkyloo]

The photography is really important to me (I like relaxed, reportage style photos) and I really want to make an informed choice. I was quite sold on Disney as I really want an MK photoshoot - which is included in the package - but I don't want to be disappointed with wedding shots which lack any life because the guy has been doing the same shots for years!

You can purchase the MK Photoshoot separately from any Disney wedding photography packages, if that makes it any easier... That way you could have anyone you want shoot the wedding and still get pictures with a Disney photog in front of the castle.

One of the reasons we decided to go with an outside photographer is that we also wanted relaxed, photojournalistic photos. I have not seen very many pictures like this in Disney wedding albums. This is not to say that Disney photographers won't do a nice job - we just were looking for a more modern, fresh style of photography. You can see our pictures by clicking this link:

http://clients.rootography.com/carriepatrick/

The other advantages of using an outside photographer include lower package prices and getting all your photos on disc so you can print them wherever you want. Even Disney's most expensive photography packages include only medium-resolution digital copies of your photos, which means they are not big enough to print out in larger sizes. To get high-resolution copies costs another $1,000 (then again, with the exchange rate right now, that's like 500 pounds for you, right? )

Hope this helps!

 

[lpizzuro123]

We are having our reception at ADH - which also has very high ceilings. I saw photos from a wedding there a few years ago and they had Mickey shapped balloon centerpieces. There were probably about 3 or 4 shapped balloons per centerpiece (in a color to match the BM dresses) and then they also used silver star shapped mylar balloons in the centerpiece. They looked great. I asked our planner about this when we had our initial floral phone meeting and she said they can do that and they will get me a price. We are heading down the end of May for our in person planning session so I might not get prices until then but definately ask your floral person about them and let us know if they give you a price.

Linda

 

[PixyDusted]

Just my quick 2 cents - dressing up ANY ballroom costs a lot of money! That's why when my df and I were considering WDW (as opposed to our current DCL wedding front-runner) we immediately ruled out the ballroom. It would've cost us so much $ to make it look right! Flowers with height and great linens can go a long way though!

Good luck!!

 

[Swmhc]

The other advantages of using an outside photographer include lower package prices and getting all your photos on disc so you can print them wherever you want. Even Disney's most expensive photography packages include only medium-resolution digital copies of your photos, which means they are not big enough to print out in larger sizes. To get high-resolution copies costs another $1,000 (then again, with the exchange rate right now, that's like 500 pounds for you, right? )

One advantage for using Disney Photography though, is if you use them for the wedding, MK, or Honeymoon shoot, the high res cd is $1000, for all your shoots. So, it could end up being less expensive....I didn't know this at the time. Not that I regret my choice in photographers, but it was an issue I wasn't aware of at the time. Also, a couple of high res cd's are easier to pack than a bunch of proofs and for UK brides, I am pretty sure they get them processed before you leave. You might want to call DPS to check for sure.