Confused: Do I NEED a reception for a Wishes Wedding?

[TheBearrs]

Hi Ladies,

I bought Carrie's book the other day and it's fabulous! Despite her thoroughness, I've confused myself. As a Wishes Bride, do I need to have a reception OR do I just have to meet my set minimum?

We're on a pretty tight buget- my parents are giving us $10,000 and we're trying our best to stay as close to that as possible. I calculated an estimate for myself (still can't talk to Disney as my hopeful wedding date is 12/22/12) and came to about $12,000 without tax or beverages...

I've found it's very easy to meet the $10,000 minimum I'd need (hoping for a 10am ceremony) just with photography, the ceremony, videography, etc.

So, do I have to have a reception? I'd absolutely love to do the Ceremony, skip the reception, and have a dessert party with a nice photography package, and whatnot.

Thanks girls!

 

[pixie921]

As long as you meet the minimum for the day, there's no requirement that you have a reception.

Is there some reason you don't want to do an Escape package with the dessert party? Then your minimum would be only $7500 (IIRC -- someone correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[sambycat]

Hi Ladies,

I bought Carrie's book the other day and it's fabulous! Despite her thoroughness, I've confused myself. As a Wishes Bride, do I need to have a reception OR do I just have to meet my set minimum?

We're on a pretty tight buget- my parents are giving us $10,000 and we're trying our best to stay as close to that as possible. I calculated an estimate for myself (still can't talk to Disney as my hopeful wedding date is 12/22/12) and came to about $12,000 without tax or beverages...

I've found it's very easy to meet the $10,000 minimum I'd need (hoping for a 10am ceremony) just with photography, the ceremony, videography, etc.

So, do I have to have a reception? I'd absolutely love to do the Ceremony, skip the reception, and have a dessert party with a nice photography package, and whatnot.

Thanks girls!

i dont know if you HAVE to have a reception per se, but i would LOVE to see what you are spending 10K on for ceremony alone! if you are using all disney vendors, thats proabably a very nice reception itself right there....

 

[TheBearrs]

As long as you meet the minimum for the day, there's no requirement that you have a reception.

Is there some reason you don't want to do an Escape package with the dessert party? Then your minimum would be only $7500 (IIRC -- someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Thanks for the response!

We are starting to consider the Escape package. The only reason we ruled it out is because of the 20 people limit. However, it's starting to look more and more appealing.

Let me ask another questions (thanks for everyone's patience!): if I do have an Escape, can I have more than 20 people come to the Dessert Party?

Thanks again!

 

[TheBearrs]

i dont know if you HAVE to have a reception per se, but i would LOVE to see what you are spending 10K on for ceremony alone! if you are using all disney vendors, thats proabably a very nice reception itself right there....

I guess what I mean is to really up my photography package, add on an MK shoot, have nicer decorations than I could normally had have for the ceremony, do a dessert party, have a cake, etc. Would that all really not come to $10,000? I didn't calculate that but I just assumed using Disney vendors it'd be pretty easy to hit $10,000 without a reception...

 

[Chilly]

you'd probably get more for your money if you book outside vendors for photography, videography etc.

Why don't you post you estimate budget and we can prob help more then.

 

[TheBearrs]

you'd probably get more for your money if you book outside vendors for photography, videography etc.

Why don't you post you estimate budget and we can prob help more then.

Alrighty, here's what I think I have going on:
-SBP: 2,000
-Lunch for 50 (maybe fewer guests): 5,000
*not including beverages*
-Backstage Prop Shop: 300-- I believe that was the venue rental price..
-2 tier Mad Hatter Cake: 450
-I really love the Gel centerpieces with the LED lights on Disney's website, but I don't have a clue how much they are. I guesstimated $75/each and assumed I'll need 8 figuring there would be about 8 tables? = 600
-iPod Set Up: I saw that there was pretty broad range of prices for this depending on your location- I decided to be super safe and read that it could be up to $650 for an iPod set up so that's the number I went with. I'm assuming I way overestimated this number.
-Motor Coach for Guests for 5 hours: 488.25
-Romance Photography Package: 2,800

TOTAL: 12,228.25

This is not including personal floral, beverages, tax, ceremony decor, sand ceremony, invites, etc.

I really wanted a videography package as well. I'd like to hire outside vendors but hope to have my reception in the park.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated!

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

Isn't lunch for 50 your reception??

 

[Chilly]

These ones:

I think it was only $15.


You can def do your food for less than $5000, that's $100 a person.


Have you checked out the budget thread that really breaks things down for you. Lot's of people have done a wedding for the minimum spend plus outside vendors for photography and videography.

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

These ones:

I think it was only $15.


You can def do your food for less than $5000, that's $100 a person.


Have you checked out the budget thread that really breaks things down for you. Lot's of people have done a wedding for the minimum spend plus outside vendors for photography and videography.

Wait... those are only $15?!?! They're so pretty!!!!

 

[Chilly]

Isn't lunch for 50 your reception??

I think she wants to skip the reception and have a DP instead.

 

[Chilly]

Wait... those are only $15?!?! They're so pretty!!!!

I got married in 2009 so could have gone up. Let me find my BEO and check.

 

[TheBearrs]

Isn't lunch for 50 your reception??

Yes, but my total is higher than I need it to be. I was wondering if there was a way to cut out the reception, add in nicer elements (more photography, dessert party, etc) and hit my $10,000 without a reception.

These ones:

I think it was only $15.


You can def do your food for less than $5000, that's $100 a person.

Have you checked out the budget thread that really breaks things down for you. Lot's of people have done a wedding for the minimum spend plus outside vendors for photography and videography.

Yep, those are them! Wow! I'm glad they're much cheaper than I expected!!

I thought that if you have a lunch reception it's $100 per person...?

I haven't seen the budget thread.. should I just do a search for it or am I just missing it on this page? It's been a long day already-- entirely possible I'm just momentarily blind!

 

[Chilly]

Here is the budget thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2182201&highlight=share+your+budget

 

[TheBearrs]

Here is the budget thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2182201&highlight=share+your+budget

Thanks so much!

 

[Chilly]

Wait... those are only $15?!?! They're so pretty!!!!

They were $17 in 2009

 

[Chilly]

You just need to decide what is important to you and what is not. Flowers and decor were not important to me and I think most people don't remember what you had afterwards either.

So if you were having a 10am ceremony and then nothing till the DP what would you and your guests do inbetween?

I'm not sure about the $100 min per person for lunch as I had an escape wedding.

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

Oohh okay. Sorry I was confused!

And yeah, you do have to spend $100 pp for a lunch... but your ceremony is at 10am, so you could do a brunch and that's $75 pp. (Or, I assume, you could just cut it out and do the dessert party--- but don't you still have to meet food minimums if you're a Wishes bride no matter what? Or am I just confused too?)

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

They were $17 in 2009

Thanks for checking! I wasn't planning on doing centerpieces, but I realllly like those! And I'd totally pay up to $20 for them.

 

[Chilly]

Oohh okay. Sorry I was confused!

And yeah, you do have to spend $100 pp for a lunch... but your ceremony is at 10am, so you could do a brunch and that's $75 pp. (Or, I assume, you could just cut it out and do the dessert party--- but don't you still have to meet food minimums if you're a Wishes bride no matter what? Or am I just confused too?)

has that gone up then? As in the budget thread you clearly see people with food for $40 a person for lunch, so way under $100, does cake count towards it?