Hi
Just read through your entire thread and can really sympathise with your agony of trying to get exactly want you wanted for your wedding through
DCL !
...not least because that was me 2 years ago !!!
I came up with entirely different solution ...it may well be of no interest ....but I am going to just run it past you because you never know...it just might be worth a bit of investigation on your part ?
The main problem I was getting with DCL was firstly that you actually have to "officially" get married in port before you leave Port Canaveral - and that was making me personally feel that my "wedding day" was in actual fact more of a blessing ceremony (and an expensive one at that !)....don't get me wrong...that was just
my personal feeling ....its not necessarily something that bothers, or is interpreted like that by, everyone. It just bugged me alot.
Second, like you I was fast finding that the cruise ship wedding is best suited to the bride who wants things made easy, and planned for her...and not to someone who wants something detailed, highly personal and tailor made to suit.
And third, I really wanted a full wedding "day" and not a "wedding couple of hours" !
We were going to get married through DCL on a 7 day western cruise ...however, thanks to someone on the Disboard, by chance I was alerted to this place on Grand Cayman :
http://www.grandoldhouse.com/
They have their own wedding planner, Desiree, who deals mainly with cruise ship weddings.
Well, I was just completely WOWED !!

...especially when I saw the prices, compared to DCL !! ...and what I particularly liked, was the fact that your package could be completely tailored to exactly what you wanted.
I was able to get my hair, nails & make up done on the island before the wedding too.
In the end we were able to have the full works; horse & carriage, stretch limos, a live harpist (you could also have a pianist or steel band), fantastic sandcastle cake, plenty of our own Disney theming, a wonderful charming pastor, a great setting for the wedding on the pavillion/decking, a great local photographer, spent the afternoon getting fantastic shots on a very quiet local beach 5 minutes away, whilst the kids played in the water ...oh, and did I mention the FABULOUS food ?!! for a fraction of what it cost through Disney ...I could go on .....and only 10 minutes from the ship.
Here are some pics of our day...
OK - so you can see we didn't have a big wedding LOL ! ...our witness was the person (and her family) from the Dis board, who recommended the place ! - but you CAN have alot of guests accommodated there !
We were back onboard the ship at 4pm and celebrated some more at our evening meal with more cake & champage - I continued to wear my wedding dress and it was lovely to get so many "congratulations" & "good wishes" from the other diners in the room.
It ws a perfect day and a perfect way to combine Disney ...and cruising.....and a wedding - perfect for us anyway !
So my idea for consideration would be could you change to cruise to a 7 day Western .......the cost of which could be met by the savings you'd be making by not booking through DCL / WDW weddings or doing the WDW bit ???
However, fair to point out that there is one
big downside to the plan.......Grand Cayman is a tender port and therefore there
is a chance it can be missed (though I am informed the chances of this are much less in Jan, Feb, & March.).
You would have to be entirely comfortable to work with a plan B should this occur....ours was to fly out at a later date, as most aspects of the wedding were postponable/refundable.........but it could be to re-arrange it quickly when you returned to port at an alternative venue .....or some other plan ????
Well, this is just an idea I wanted to share

..and I sincerely hope you have a fantastic wedding , what ever your plans turn out to be !
