Can anyone help me understand the process?

[scotthart]

OK I finally worked up the nerve to pop the question, we have a date in mind (this coming labor day weekend), and we know we want to get married in the chapel. I have the number to call to start the process. Can anyone give me an idea of the process? We would not be able to make it down to the world for our planning session until mid-June. Can we reserve the chapel prior to our planning session? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am sooooo excited.

 

[jamie0201]

Hi there... My DH and I got married on 3/26/05 and we had a custom wedding with approx 100 guests. We got married at the pavilion and had the reception at the Boardwalk Resort. The first thing you would want to do is call them to get some info and reserve your date!! You can reserve your date up to one year in advance... you dont have to wait until your planning session. We reserved our date in March of 04, had our planning session in July of 04, and the wedding in March of 05.

I am more then happy to help you with anything else. Feel free to email me at Jamie0201@aol.com

Good Luck!!!!
Jamie

 

[hiwaygal]

Hi and CONGRATULATIONS! Our wedding will be just a few days after yours! We are getting married at Sunset Point on September 20.

I would certainly call and start the process as soon as you can, I'm guessing Labor Day weekend will be a busy time (but I'm not an expert).

It is my understanding that Intimate Weddings can only be done Monday through Thursday, with weekends reserved for Custom Weddings. But I've heard of a few Intimate Brides who have been able to get a weekend date. The sooner you call and start the process, the more chance you have of getting a date/time/place you want.

I'm assuming you've gone all through the disneyweddings.com site. So you've already selected certain things...

When you call that number, someone will take some basic information and forward it to a sales manager (SM). The SM will call you back in a couple of days (mine called back the next day) and ask a few more detailed questions.

My understanding is once you've paid the deposit, you will be assigned to an event manager (EM) who will send you more information and a form for you to fill out about the details of the wedding.

Are you planning an Intimate or Custom wedding? That's probably the biggest decision you need to make first...

I hope this helped some. I'm sure other folks will stop by and give you more information too!

 

[scotthart]

Wow, thanks for replying so soon. We are planning a custom wedding (40-60 guests) and would like to have it in the chappel. We thought we could have the dinner portion of the reception in the rotunda of the AA, a ROE dessert party, then back to the AA for drinks and dancing. We like the Brown Derby for the rehearsal dinner. If we have a 5:00 wedding is it reasonable to think that we could have dinner at about 7:00 so that we could be done in time for ROE? That would give us two hours for dinner and cake cutting. I am not sure how long it takes for the ceremony and the transferring of the guests to Epcot, etc. We have both been married before and between us we have six children , so I thought that we would probably send the kids back to the rooms with our Moms while we dance the night away. Is all of this making sense to those of you who have tied the knot at the World?

 

[ahutton]

Our plan for the day was very similar to what you are interested in. We had our ceremony at 4:00, at that time they did weddings on the even hours and rehersals on the odd at the WP. That may have changed, I'm really not sure. We had time to do our ceremony, pictures, dinner and about an hour of dancing before we would have left the Living Seas for the Illuminations party. There was a schedule change that ultimately added some extra time in our plan but the EM did something special for the extra couple hours we had. We opted at that point to end the evening so that it didn't run too late into the night, but we knew we had other things we wanted to do (we did Theme Park pictures, you have to get up really early for those!) so we wanted to wrap up before it was late.

You might want to call ASAP and set up your date, especially since you have an idea of where you want to have your event. They can check dates and availability and reserve these until your SM/EM is assigned. If you are thinking September of this year you will have plenty of time to get everything (officiant, flowers, food, music) arranged but may have a challenge getting every site you have your heart set on for the same date, they will work with you as much as they can. We ended up having our event on Friday because Saturday the UK was already booked for Illuminations.

 

[marn913]

I would definitely give FTW a call ASAP if you are looking at a wedding in Sept 05! As others have already stated, the first thing that you have to do is set the date, from there you can work on reception venues (and your wedding date may depend on whether the venue you'd like (such as AA rotunda) is available.) There are two other things that I'd keep in mind. First, some of the reception sites do have a minimum guest count (AA rotunda used to be one that required either 75 or 100 guests to book - I am not sure if this policy remains in effect). Also, if you plan your rehearsal dinner at a restaurant inside a park, like MGM for the Brown Derby - each of your guests will have to purchase park admission in order to attend (you won't be brought in separately for your rehearsal like you will for your reception). We had a few members of the wedding party that did not go to the theme parks at all during their stays either because they weren't in to the Disney thing or because of financial limitations. Also, I am not sure if you will be able to have dinner, leave for fire works and come back. We had our reception at the Living Seas and they absolutely did not let us out into the main park area at all (they won't allow you in the park in your wedding attire unless you are entering or leaving the building or have a separate event planned outside.) You may have to have an earlier wedding ceremony so that you can eat, dance and then go to the show with a dessert party. Happy planning!

Marne

 

[twojo21]

definetly get a move on asap if you're talking about labor day this year 2005! holidays are very popular at the world not just for weddings but in terms of crowds & room availability. if you're planning labor day 2006 then you have more time. either way contact ftw & request some information as well as schedule a site visit. we did this before the year out mark & it really helped us narrow down our choices ie venues, wedding details & costs, so we could start saving & planning. some sites cant be confirmed until 8 months out from the date but you still want to get your name in there & get things started with a sales manager. i have heard of other brides having their reception at the rotunda then having a dessert party then returning to the reception afterwards, but you have to have a dessert party to exit the rotunda to epcot & illuminations. for your kids you could also arrange in room child care through kids nite out which is certified caregivers they bring toys & games for the kids & will sit with them while they sleep, no age limit 407-828-0920. then your moms could still enjoy the reception with you or place them in a kids club at one of the nearby deluxe resorts ie yacht club which is available 4:30pm-midnight for children 4-12.

best of luck with your plans, its so exciting!