Bridal Luncheon Question

[rnbecca09]

Is anyone planning a bridal luncheon or has already had one? Did you go through Disney Weddings or planned on your own? What are your thoughts and ideas?! =)

-Rebecca

 

[BethieTink]

I am holding a Bridal Luncheon/Tea the afternoon before our vow renewal. I went through DFTW to book it. We are holding it on the Asbury Patio at the Y&B Convention center. It is a lovely space and perfect for an event like this.

We are also holding our farewell breakfast there the morning after our ceremony.

I am very excited about this particular event. It should be a lot of fun. While we are doing this, the guys will probably have lunch in Epcot and go Drink Around the World. One of our male friends, who is Welsh, is a little put out that the tea is ladies only. He would prefer our event.

Since, I don't think my space needs a lot of decor, I just plan on doing the Mad Hatter setup with the tea pot centerpieces.

Hope that helps. I just signed my LOA with DFTW, so havent gotten into specifics with them about the planning yet.

 

[rnbecca09]

Perfect! Thanks for the response!

 

[belle2211]

I did a bridal breakfast at Kona Cafe the morning of my wedding as a treat for my bridesmaids. I just made a regular reservation for that. But for my bridal shower, I had it on the beach at the Yacht and Beach Club. It was beautiful and perfect!

 

[geek+nerd]

How big would it be? I would think you could save a tremendous amount of money by NOT booking it through DFTW.

I hosted a ladies' tea the day before my wedding at the Garden View Tea Room in the GF, and it was one of the highlights of the trip. I just did a group reservation; granted, there were only ten of us.

So, if your group is small enough, I would try to just make a group reservation.

 

[rnbecca09]

Mine is about 10-15. I didn't want to go thru DFTW if I did not have to. Is the tea room expensive?!

 

[geek+nerd]

For 10-15 people, I DEFINITELY don't recommend going through DFTW. The tea room was perfect. There are some pics in my incomplete (one of these days I'll finish it) PJ.

It was one of the highlight of the trip for all the ladies. Normally, I wouldn't take time out of the parks to do something like that, but it was so much fun.

Here is a link to more info: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningdetail.cfm?restaurant.ID=305

I made a group reservation at the 180 days and just told them it was for a wedding celebration. All the ladies got lovely pink roses when we went in. Service was superb, and we all enjoyed what we had.

Everyone ordered what they wanted. The prices range quite a bit. For my party, it was a little less than $200. DH and I did purchase the TIW card, which gave me 20% off. I do recommend getting that card if you aren't doing the dining plan. It's only $75 with the AP discount; it was well worth it for us.

PM me if you have any more questions. Good luck!

 

[rnbecca09]

That is so perfect! Thanks for the information, I really appreciate it!! I am definitely going to talk to my mom about this!

 

[BethieTink]

We have done the tea at the GF several times and love it. We plan on doing it again in the future.

There were a couple of things that swayed me in the direction of having it through DFTW.

The first was timing. The Gardenview Tea Room doesn't open until 2pm. We have our welcome dinner planned for 6pm that evening and I wanted to give the ladies plenty of time to get hungry for that. Our early event will be over by 2, so if people want a few hours in the parks in between they can have it.

We also wanted it to be convenient. All of our events are in Epcot or at one of the Ecpot resorts and we think that most of our guests are going to stay at the Beach Club. If we had held it at the GF, I would have felt obligated to provide transportation to and from, since most of my guests wouldn't know their way around. Also, if guests are just arriving that morning at the hotel, they just have a short walk to get to the luncheon.

Not sure what your full schedule is or your locations, but wanted to present another angle.

 

[rnbecca09]

Thats true too! I am signing my wedding contract in about 2 weeks. I need to find out what time the rehearsal is, then we will make our plans for the rehearsal dinner! I wanted to have the bridal luncheon the day before our wedding as well. A lot of stuff going on that day, but that is the only day it can be done, since the day of the wedding, we are getting married at 12 at the pavilion!

Where did you have your luncheon at? Was it terribly expensive?!

 

[BethieTink]

I am hosting mine at the Asbury Patio above. There is a $1000 food and beverage minimum there, but I have over 20 guests, so it will be a little extravagant (thinking lobster rolls, we are from New England), but not too bad. I wasn't planning on serving alcohol at this one, but if I need to eat some money there, I know most of my guests will be very happy. The pros and the beauty of the site outweigh the cost for me.

 

[belle2211]

I'm not sure if you were planning on being given gifts (not sure if this is a bridal shower) or giving gifts (not sure if this is for your bridesmaids), but you can't have any wrapped presents at the the Tea room. Or decorations. That's why we chose not to have it there

 

[princesswendy720]

I'm doing a breakfast the morning before the wedding at 1900 park fair. I didn't want anything too close to our rehearsal dinner, and as the others mentioned, I would have liked to do the tea room if it opened earlier.

 

[rnbecca09]

OH! I had no idea you can't bring gifts into the tea room. Thats quite a deal breaker! I wonder where else you can't bring gifts into. I wonder why you can't bring gifts into that room!

 

[lurkyloo]

The GF Tea Room is the only Disney restaurant with a no-gift-opening restriction. It is very unusual. All I can think is that because the space is so small, they worry about packages and wrapping blocking the aisles? Or maybe they think it creates too boisterous an atmosphere?