Bride-to-be's totally confusing PJ - Beach towel design =o)

[CharacterFan]

I think you should go with the castle. And if you don't like the Wedding Pavilion see if they'll let you set American Adventure as your rain location. It's a beautiful site. Disney World is going to be much easier to custimize to what you want.

 

[Bride-to-be]

I would hope they would wait but doesn't christmas come down on like Jan 1? My little sister just pointed out too that part of the moat runs behind swan boat landing so that could be empty too which might be a disaster....

Our budget really isn't high at all. Its kind of low I think compared to a lot of other peoples. The cruise just eats up most of it. I got the temp info from weather underground or some site like that. It however didn't say anything about rain - so it could have easily rained the entire day when it was warmer.

The frustrating part of all of this is that we both know the parks and most of the hotels like the back of our hands - inside and out. I keep thinking and I can't think of anything that I think they would let us do that I really really like.

I don't think we could ever afford to "rent out a park" for even part of an evening. Do you guys have any idea what something like that would cost? If its in teh budget I would totally go for it but I don't think its anything anywhere near what we could afford - or everyone else would be doing it too.

I just had a long talk with DF -he is beyond frustrated with DCL - but doesn't want to cancel the cruise part of it. He also doesn't want to have to get up so early for a castle wedding - even if it is the castle. He claims he wants to enjoy the day and not be super tired and have to run to the boat. So I can see where he is coming from - but neither of us can seem to come up with something we like more. He thought we should keep the ceremony as planned on Castaway Cay (which I am fine with) and then have a big reception the night that we get back to WDW. The only problem with that is that all of our guests who may have been planning to leave and go home after the cruise then have to stay another night and buy park tickets for another day if they choose to go to the parks during the day. Neither of us want to inconvenience anyone, because we certainly wouldn't be able to afford ANOTHER night at disney for everyone. So DF agreed thats out too.

We are both torn...

As for Disneyland - it would be even more expensive!!!! Hong Kong would be soo much cheaper but its such a long flight. We could do hong kong for a week at the disneyland hotel (GF equivalent) with annual park passes, RT economy air and a ceremony and small reception for all of our guests for less than a WDW wedding. If I thought people would be willing to sit on a plane for that long then I would have booked it there long ago. Its like almost 6 hours to CA so whats an extra 10 to get to hong kong? Before when we were trying to decide where to have it we thought - do we have it at hong kong where we want it and not have all of our friends and family there or do we move it closer to home so that most everyone can attend.... So thats how we got to the cruise.

 

[pink_tink8i8]

I didn't know that you also wanted to do the castle!!!

 

[Bride-to-be]

I think you should go with the castle. And if you don't like the Wedding Pavilion see if they'll let you set American Adventure as your rain location. It's a beautiful site. Disney World is going to be much easier to custimize to what you want.

I am kind of leaning towards the castle too and risking there being no water around us. I just have to talk DF into it. I feel like it would be so much easier then we could all just enjoy the cruise.

Have you guys ever seen any pictures or videos of a swan boat landing wedding? I CAN'T FIND ANYTHING. If I didn't know better I would think that it has never been done.

 

[Bride-to-be]

I didn't know that you also wanted to do the castle!!!

HAHA thats why I sent you that PM with all of the questions!!! We are really considering it - just because I could wear my dress and not have to worry about having a formal reception on the boat. We then wouldn't ahve to worry about anything on the boat... )

 

[Skylarr29]

Have you thought about having a wedding the night before. There are great locations at both Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom and you don't have to rent out the park, you just have to start two hours after park closing so you could have a 7pm ceremony and then an in park reception.

Options are Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror courtyard, Narnia, Fantasmic dessert party/cocktail hour, Hollywood Brown Derby, Hollywood Hide Out, and Animators Building

AK options are Tamu Tamu courtyard, Harambe, Tusker House, Festival of the Lion King.

Just trying to offer suggestions, no one here can really completely understand what exactly you are looking for but hope that helps.

 

[Bride-to-be]

Have you thought about having a wedding the night before. There are great locations at both Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom and you don't have to rent out the park, you just have to start two hours after park closing so you could have a 7pm ceremony and then an in park reception.

Options are Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror courtyard, Narnia, Fantasmic dessert party/cocktail hour, Hollywood Brown Derby, Hollywood Hide Out, and Animators Building

AK options are Tamu Tamu courtyard, Harambe, Tusker House, Festival of the Lion King.

Just trying to offer suggestions, no one here can really completely understand what exactly you are looking for but hope that helps.

Thanks! I don't think I even know exactly what I am looking for which complicates it all. Before I really wanted to do the beauty and the beast venue at MGM. Negatives are that it could be really cold and its outside and wouldn't be as quick as just a ceremony. Other negatives are that its almost as expensive as the castle wedding - so feelings were sort of why not pay a little more and have the castle. We LOVE the brown derby but its too big for a small party. Fantasmic goes back to being not so kid friendly - even though I think it could be fun. Same with all of the dessert parties - they could be a lot of fun but could also be stressful if peoples planes are late and whatnot.

I figured if its the morning of the cruise then atleast everyone will have arrived and gotten some sleep.

I am sorry to bug you guys with all of this and I completely agree that if we knew what we wanted or even what direction we wanted to go in it would be sooooo much easier.

I guess we just have a lot of thinking to do.

 

[pink_tink8i8]

ohhhh sorry I mixed you up with somebody else. A few people have IMed me with castle questions. Swan boat landing in on the side of the castle with the moat as the background, the castle is in the back background. I want to see what it looks like with the decorations. I saw the decorations for sleeping beauty's castle at disneyland and I wasn't impressed at all. It looked cheap.

 

[Bride-to-be]

I want to see what it looks like with the decorations. I saw the decorations for sleeping beauty's castle at disneyland and I wasn't impressed at all. It looked cheap.

I asked our consultant if they had any pictures or videos of other weddings there. If they do send me anything I will pass it along to you.

 

[PixyDusted]

Reading....

Wow, sounds like you have a lot of decisions to make! Show us pictures though! It's so nice to put names with faces. I'd love to see some shots of you and John...especially with that amazing proposal? I bet you have some awesome photos!!

 

[padisneyfour]

so many options to decide upon..... good luck! from a beach wedding to an MK ceremony- WOW! then add in a cruise too.....

 

[tiggersam00]

wow, you sure do have some choices to make! It sounds like you are being very indecisive because you are worried about other people being inconvinenced. Just focus on what you want, if your guests want to be there they will, if not it's their loss! I think you should do what will make you and your DF the most at ease, I have been to many different weddings and the bride or groom has never asked me "Is this ok with you?", I am just a guest. So do what you want not everyone else.

 

[Bride-to-be]

Ok so I have to sit down and figure out how to put pictures up at the bottom. I will try to work on it when I get home. I have been putting it off forever.

So DF and I had a long long talk last night. He says he is fine for the castle, even though its not exactly his first choice of the beach, he said he understands my wanting to be a princess and wants me to be happy. BUT he hates Swan Boat Landing. He said he refused to be married there. He said if we could do it on the castle steps, in front of the castle or even on the rose garden lawn he would be game. UGH. So more emails with question to our consultant. We completely ruled out getting married and having a reception the night before when everyone arrives and we also ruled out having a reception at disney after the cruise. We are both scared peoples flights may be delayed coming in and we figure not everyone will want to stay at disney after the cruise and we don't want to spend the money on another nights hotel room for everyone. So both of those are out.

So its down to these choices - if we can get kids into Palo we are going to stick with the original cruise beach wedding plan. Assuming we can't, then the castle is our next choice but only if we can have the ceremony some place other than Swan Boat Landing. That would also go hand in hand with the construction not being to major on that day. I am really hoping that option works out. If neither of those two options work then we are back to the drawing board. I am first going to wait and hear about the castle. Then I am going to start working on getting kids into palo.

 

[Goldeelox9]

So did DCL say you could have Palo to yourself for the night without the kids?

Soundslike you have alot to think about! Keep us up to date?

 

[Skylarr29]

So I have a serious question and I don't mean to be rude and you can tell me it's none of my business lol!

But why are you paying for everyone's cruise and hotel room? It is not customary or expected for the bride/groom to pay for their guests to get to a destination wedding. I think you are spending so much money there that you are cutting back on what you actually want for your wedding. Cancel the suites and put their butts in inside staterooms - Cat 12 baby. They should be thankful they are even going for free!

 

[Bride-to-be]

HAHA not everyone is in suites - I think we only have like 6 of them and its just immediate families and best friends staying in them. Everyone else is in cat 4s. Reasons being 1) some are families of 5 and have to be in a cat4. 2) DF and I have never stayed in anything less than a cat4. We usually stay in what I consider to be "my stateroom" where we have ALWAYS stayed. It wasn't available on the last med cruise we did so we had to stay in a cat 4 which we liked - it was fine. I would have thought to put everyone in cat 4s and just do "my stateroom" for us - except when I called to ask about availability they said the big suites were all open - we have never ever ever been able to get the big ones so I snatched them up as fast as I could. It actually is cheaper than the cat 4s because you can put more people in them. I suggested to DF that we stay in a cat 12 for a quick 3 day sometime soon (assuming we go with the beach DCL ceremony) and he wasn't too keen on the idea.

I feel like if we had stayed in a cat12 or something similar before I would feel a lot more comfortable putting guests there. I priced it all out and it really wasn't that much more expensive to keep everyone it cat 4s. Since most of the rooms have families in them the bulk of the cost is just the first two people anyway. If it were a huge difference in price I would certainly downgrade a bit.

Also I wouldn't want the families of 5 to be in a cat 4 then have other people in the family who we like just as much or even more to have to be in an inside stateroom - its just not fair to have the discrepency.

So we are paying for them because no one (or very few) would be able to afford to come otherwise. We want everyone there - so thats why we have devoted almost all of our budget to it. We love the cruise and we want to share the experience with everyone.

As for the hotel- I would never have done it - BUT we don't want people trying to save money and fly in the day of the cruise- have their plane be delayed and miss the boat. Almost everyone is coming from way up north and planes are ALWAYS delayed because of snow and ice in the end of Jan. So its not that much.. We are skipping trip insurance so the costs about even out.

My sister is planning a typical at home wedding for one evening - standard dinner/flowers/band everything - we are still way under her costs.

I think the cruise is a good value. I wish we had a magical budget but in this economy we just have a normal budget like everyone else.

 

[Skylarr29]

Those are all very good reasons. Can I join your family, lol!! We paid for a few of our guests because they couldn't afford to come but it was members of the bridal party, not everyone lol! I would never have been able to have spent what I did otherwise.

 

[Bride-to-be]

Those are all very good reasons. Can I join your family, lol!! We paid for a few of our guests because they couldn't afford to come but it was members of the bridal party, not everyone lol! I would never have been able to have spent what I did otherwise.

Sure you are welcome to - we would love to have you!! We just can't afford any more staterooms =o(

If I win the lottery I will let you know!

 

[Skylarr29]

Sure you are welcome to - we would love to have you!! We just can't afford any more staterooms =o(

If I win the lottery I will let you know!

He he, I'm just joking. Our Little One will be too small! I am dying to take him or her on a Disney cruise though, we took one for our honeymoon and LOVED it!

 

[Bride-to-be]

He he, I'm just joking. Our Little One will be too small! I am dying to take him or her on a Disney cruise though, we took one for our honeymoon and LOVED it!

HAHA we have a few infants already coming!

So do you guys have names picked out yet? You must be pretty excited!