Custom Wedding Questions

[karenperez]

Suppose I decide to go custom. The $10K weekday minimum does not include hotel stay, right? Or cake? Say I had 20 guests... how many rooms would I have to purchase? Instead of doing a full blown meal, could I opt for a less expensive "light refreshments" gathering?

And the overall question... how much over the minimum did all you custom brides go when you were trying to stay on a budget that was around the bare min.?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!!

 

[Janet2k]

Suppose I decide to go custom. The $10K weekday minimum does not include hotel stay, right? Or cake? Say I had 20 guests... how many rooms would I have to purchase? Instead of doing a full blown meal, could I opt for a less expensive "light refreshments" gathering?

Karenperez, a cake will count towards the custom requirement. Hotel rooms will not. Your Sales Manager or Event Manager will be able to tell you what your room block requirement is. I didn’t have to worry about it for my custom vow renewal since I had booked quite a few rooms for family and friends via my DVC membership (plus, I had cash reservations thrown into the mix too). I also was staying at least two weeks during that vacation and that wound up knocking quite a few room nights off my room block requirement. It is fairly easy to reach the room block requirement, try not to fret about it too much, but if you’re concerned, definitely discuss it with your Sales Manager or Event Manager.

As to the custom monetary requirements, just about anything that Disney supplies for your wedding ceremony and dinner reception will count towards meeting that requirement: ceremony location fee, ceremony entertainment, ceremony flowers, reception venue fee, reception linens, reception flowers, reception entertainment, reception food & beverage, and so on. It quickly adds up. Please remember that tax & gratuities are separate and don’t apply to the minimum (they do add up so leave a little wiggle room in your budget).

In regards to the reception, what you want served to your guests in the way of food and beverage is really of no concern to Disney as long as you meet the food and beverage minimums for your venue. If you want to have a lavish main entrée, that’s perfectly fine with Disney. Or if you’d rather have a simple main entrée but a killer dessert, that’s perfectly okay too. They will tell you what food & beverage minimums must be met. It’s up to you to decide how to meet them. But don’t fret too much as it’s pretty easy to meet those minimums.

 

[Janet2k]

Karenperez, I will share with you just two of the items that I was charged for at my custom vow renewal. Both of these items applied toward any minimum requirements that I had to meet. I thought your seeing this might prove helpful.

Note: The following prices were from October of 2004. They may be higher today. Please discuss pricing with your Sales Manager or Event Manager.

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Mini-Wedding Cakes charge was $625 ($25 per cake x 25 guests = $625)
Sales Tax charge for Mini-Cakes was $40.63
Gratuity charge was $173.75
Sales Tax charge for Gratuity was $11.29

When all was said and done, cost for 25 miniature wedding cakes came to $850.67. That works out to be $34.03 a cake.
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And…

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Transportation:

Private Motor Coach transported guests from Resorts to Vow Renewal Ceremony at Wedding Pavilion. After Ceremony, Private Motor Coach transported guests to Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park for Dinner Reception. After Dinner Reception, Private Motor Coach transported guests back to Resorts.

Private Motor Coach for 9 hours at $78 per hour = $702 (plus tip)
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The Gratuity and Sales Tax charges (and tip) stated above did not count towards my minimum expenditures but everything else did. As you can imagine, things do add up quickly (and Disney makes it very easy for you to spend your money).


I hope this helped.

 

[dsnyfan6/18]

As of right now, the mini cakes are still 25.00 plus tax.
I am doing a large cake, and then one mini cake for my diabetic grandma.

My overall minimum net spend was 20,000 and i came in right under 25,000. The funny thing is that when i was at my planning session, i just went all out (my mom was looking at me like i was crazy, becuase i was saying YES to wanting everything) but when i got the proposal it pleasantly suprised me. And the reason that my final price dropped was becuase i dropped people from my planning session to now.

My advice is that when you are doing the planning and budget, be open minded, because you can always change/delete things... (I still am )

Good Luck!

 

[Mary626]

Suppose I decide to go custom. The $10K weekday minimum does not include hotel stay, right? Or cake? Say I had 20 guests... how many rooms would I have to purchase? Instead of doing a full blown meal, could I opt for a less expensive "light refreshments" gathering?

And the overall question... how much over the minimum did all you custom brides go when you were trying to stay on a budget that was around the bare min.?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!!

Here's the list of thigns that did and did not count for my wedding. Since a few of the big things didn't count towards the minimum, I was basically right AT the minimum for Disney. Hope it helps


Things that did NOT count towards minimum for me:
Officiant fee
cosmetologist
I used outside photography and videography
the hotel room
My dessert party (since it was NOT on my wedding day)
all tax & gratuities



Things that DID count:

ceremony:
ceremony location fee
musician (through disney)
chartered bus
limo
flowers - bouquet, bridesmaids bouquet, corsages & boutineirres, and the two big flower arrangments for my altar, along with a small rental fee for the columns they were on top of

pre-reception:
fruit tray for the guests
beverage service & cashier fee for the cash bar (for alcoholic drinks)
(the musicians continued to play through the pre-reception as part of the 4-hour block that I hired them for)

reception:
buffet
cake
beverage service for 3 hours
the DJ
Mickey & Minnie

 

[Janet2k]

Karenperez, please remember that in order for something to count, it has to be supplied by Disney. That is an important point to stress if you plan on going outside, for example, for your floral needs or your photo/video needs.

From the official FTW website (click here):

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Wedding Expenditure:

A minimum of $10,000 for events Monday through Thursday excluding required tax and gratuities.

A minimum of $15,000 for events Friday and Sunday, excluding required tax and gratuities.

A minimum of $20,000 for Saturday events, excluding required tax and gratuities.

Food & beverage, flowers, décor, music, entertainment, photography/videography services, special transportation, spa services, our ceremony sites fee and any other wedding day services apply toward reaching or exceeding this minimum provided by the Walt Disney World® Resort and Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings.

During certain seasons a higher or lower minimum may apply. Please ask your wedding consultant for more information regarding those times.
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[AnimalPrincess]

If you just want light refresments and are only having 20 guests why not try for an intimate. You would have to cut 2 of your guests (not sure that is possible for you) but it would much cheaper and you wouldn't have the 25 room night requirement you will currently get with your custom. Just something to think about. hth

 

[Laurafoster]

I just got back from my planning session and as im having outside photography and video i wanted to stick to the 10k minimum as near as possible! At the planning session i said yes to everything i wanted, confetti cannons, mickey and minnie, major domo, limo and the motor coach transportation. When i got my BEO though i was very happy to see that it was only $12k! - my estimate included way too much food as at the time i couldnt decided what food to serve at the pre reception. It also included a 4 1/2 hour open bar and a dessert parrty - also with open bar and desserts etc. So i was very pleased with that!

My wedding planner was great i told her what i needed to stick to and she has come up with some great ideas to cut costs etc! I have 26 guests!