Disney/Florida Wedding

[luke]

OK ok, after our amazing trip to Orlando last month, i have somehow managed to persuade my fiancée that a having our wedding abroad will be the way to go (not to mention about 50% cheaper) and have also persuaded her that we should do it in Florida next October (08).

We've gotten a few wedding brochures (Virgin, Cosmos, Airtours) and have thumbed through them though it's all a bit confusing at them moment.

Anywho, would like to hopefully hear from anyone here who has either had a wedding, or attended one, about what it was like, costs etc.

One of the Disney weddings would be my ideal (though more expensive) choice, however any other weddings are still in our thought, as long as we get to wear those bride and groom Mickey Ears on our honeymoon then i don't mind

Oh were also looking at maybe doing it as a twin break with a week in the Bahamas as a kind of wind down too, so if anyone has done this (not even as a wedding, just as a twin break) i'd love to hear from you, again about how it was and prices and stuff.

Luke

 

[mrsminniemouse]

Hi! Congratulations on your engagement.

We married at Disneys Wedding pavilion in Aug 2001. we had our reception at the Grand Floridian then an Illuminations dessert party at Epcot. We had about 30 guests. i cannot remember prices etc. But we had a custom wedding and Disney did photography, hair, make up, cake, cars, pretty much everything. All i can say to you is that it was AMAZING! Disney had everything soooooooooo well organised.

Contact Disney's wedding dept for an info DVD. Price really depends on your guest numbers as an intimate wedding for less peple can be much more reasonable I believe. I am sure many people on here will have more recent info for you.

We have never regretted a penny we spent on our Disney wedding. It was truly stunning.

Good luck with whatever you decide. If you have any specific questions just post them here or PM me.

Mandy

 

[Goofyish]

You can also check out the Disney Weddings and Honeymoons Boards on the DIS, you should get all your questions answered there if no one here can help

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

 

[Cyrano]

Can't help but wanted to offer my congratulations also

 

[lorapinky]

Congrats!

We had a Disney intimate weddings, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to sak any questions!

PM if you want advice on getting a videographer as the one we had made a complete mess of our video and we still haven't got anything sorted.

It can't be fixed basically!

Oh well.

Congrats again!

 

[lagunn]

We are renewing our vows in sept here http://www.royalchapel.com/ ok not disney but it looks great..

 

[mushumadness]

we are getting married at disney wedding pavillion, and having the reception at the living seas in epcot, we get married jan 08

feel free to pm me with any questions,

anna

 

[AlanUK]

DW and I got married in a Disney intimate wedding in 2000 and it was wonderful. We were married at sunset pointe at the Poly overlooking the Magic Kingdom.

Disney provided us with a wedding planner who did most of the organisation at WDW but we booked our own photographer, who was excellent and DW also arranged suit hire and a steam service for her dress with Carolyn Allens.

I'm sure she will be along later and will be able to fill in many more of the details than i have put here. If you have any more specific questions please ask.

 

[Ji||s]

Congratulations!!

DH and I got married in Disneys Wedding Pavillion in October '05.

We had an intimate wedding, followed by cake cutting on the Commanders Terrace in the Grand Floridian, dinner in Yachtsman Steakhouse and an Illuminations Dessert Party in the UK Lower section in Epcot.

If you need any advise feel free to drop me a PM.

 

[natalielongstaff]

congratulations please keep us updated with your plans....i love hearing about disney weddings

 

[luke]

Thanks for all your kind wishes everyone!

Not done much more than thumbed through a few brochures, will nip out and get some more brochures later too - only been back for 2 weeks and already i'm allowed to look at them, what a wife to be i have lol!!

Great to hear that some of you have done it too, and how good it sounds. One question - did you book it through a company (Virgin etc) or all separately - As it is Virgin's prices for Disney Wedding's seem to be more expensive than others, but their prices for the holiday seem competitive - i was just wondering whether it all has to be booked togethr (holiday and wedding)?

Also i wo0uld like to stay at the Animal Kingdom lodge for some of the stay, but notice it's not a wedding hotel - can you, for example, stay here and get married at say the Wilderness Lodge?

Thanks for all your help,

Luke

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Hi - We married in the Wedding Pavillion in May 1998, followed by sit down lunch at the Grand Floridian and Buffet/disco in the same room in the evening - we were able to watch the MK Fireworks from the function room.

It was amazing and we did have alot of extras (Mickey, Minnie in the evening, Chip and dale at lunch, Cinderellas coach, castle cake, doves released, videographer and photographer etc and we had about 30 guests), and to be honest it was very very expensive. Having said that the exchange rate is alot better these days!!

But depending on how small your party is, you can book a package from over here which will cover all the basics, especially if you are looking for a more inimate wedding. - Happy planning!! and whatever way you decide to go I'm sure it will be fantastic!!

 

[mushumadness]

we had to book the wedding direct through disney wedding as we have too many guests for an intimate wedding that virgin offers,

 

[Bambi Sunshine]

I dont know the full ins and outs....mainly because I switched off after about 20 minutes of listening...but my mother and her husband were married at Disney in 2004 and they had a NIGHTMARE with Thomas Cook; who basically messed up the whole thing, which was then saved and fixed by Disney saving the day (I want there)

I know that my mother took them to ABTA and was even thinking of suing them and shes not really the type to do that kind of thing....Im not sure what happened with it all as to be honest we dont exactly get along

 

[Chilly]

Congratulations - I want to have a Disney wedding as well - good luck with the planning.

 

[dtm316]

Hi Luke,

I've booked my wedding for Aug 08 with getmarriedinflorida.com we aren't doing the disney wedding (due to cost) but they do offer disney packages. All bookings are in US$ and therefore at the current rate are priced nicely. We visited the office in Orlando (just north of wet n wild) and they are really nice people. They do a default selection of packages but you can tailor make any parts you want. I'll be happy to answer any questions.

 

[Benchley]

Congratulations.

We got married last year at Cypress Grove - all arranged by Virgin - booked their deluxe wedding.
I was very impressed with the service they provided - we had to move the wedding back by 1 day due to a hurricane and it did not faze them at all - me I was frazzled. Thy arranged dress steaming, hair, makeup, car, photographer - the photos arrived 4 days later at our hotel. We had our Weding breakfast at planet hollywood and then honeymooned at Port Orleans - Riverside. Do make sure you pick up your badges from guest services at the first park you visit after your wedding - everyone wishes you congratualtions and you get treated specially special cakes, drinks, brought up to the front of queues for rides.

 

[luke]

Congratulations.

We got married last year at Cypress Grove - all arranged by Virgin - booked their deluxe wedding.
I was very impressed with the service they provided - we had to move the wedding back by 1 day due to a hurricane and it did not faze them at all - me I was frazzled. Thy arranged dress steaming, hair, makeup, car, photographer - the photos arrived 4 days later at our hotel. We had our Weding breakfast at planet hollywood and then honeymooned at Port Orleans - Riverside. Do make sure you pick up your badges from guest services at the first park you visit after your wedding - everyone wishes you congratualtions and you get treated specially special cakes, drinks, brought up to the front of queues for rides.

Ah excellent, was hoping for something like this after possibly deciding to do the much cheaper Cypress Grove wedding, and then be able to afford to maybe stay in the Grand Floridian and tack a Disney Cruise onto the end of the holiday, rather than spending the price of the whole two weeks p/p for just one part of the day (as special as it would be).

Had a little plannign session with her maid of honour last night too, onwards with the planning

 

[Beep]

Firstly, CONGRATULATIONS!!

We are looking to get married at Disney in a couple of years and are definitely going to do it direct with them. I've heard and read some horror stories about going through a TA and some people ended up dealing with Disney anyway as the TA was useless.

We are looking at venues when we go in September but I think it's going to be Seabreeze Point on the Boardwalk and Jiko's at the AKL. The GF is a bit grand for us and we don't like the sound of the restaurants.

We registered on the Disney weddings site and got scared at the cost of all the extras. It shows you the individual costs of things so that you can build your own package which isn't what we would want. We are only going to have about 10 people (including us) so the basic intimates package is just right for us.

Oh, just a thought. The nights you have to spend on Disney property (5 if memory serves) can be bought with DVC points. We are going to try and do this to stay on the Boardwalk or BCV. We are going to use the limo time to ferry people to and from Seabreeze Point and Jiko's. I think almost everyone will be staying off property so this would be ideal to get them back to their cars at the Boardwalk so they can they drive home.

There are loads of things you can do like that and I would rather do everything direct. You also get Disney AP's so don;t fall into the trap of buying tickets too! With that you can also buy the DDE which has saved many people a lot of money.

Congratulations again and have great fun planning!!

 

[traceycooper]

Hi Luke & congratulations

We got married 6th November last year & booked holiday & wedding through Virgin holidays,
we did 1 week in disney, 1 week i-drive & 1 week Hilton clearwater beach resort & thats were we got married on the beach, only DH, DD, myself & mum & dad but it was lovely, got married at sunset & we booked a meal in the Hiltons restaurant for afterwards, which was lovely, we sat outside & there was only us, it was all very chilled & relaxing!
Paid extra for the cheapest photo package,
Wedding & holl cost about £2300 for 2 adults & 1 teen
(tickets, Hilton meal & photos extra)

Pics here if you would like to take a look-

http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b385/traceycooper/wedding/our wedding/

Good luck with whatever you decide
If you can afford a WDW wedding i would go for that,
we would have, just couldnt afford it!! But very happy with our choice & no regrets