Disney wedding!

Alyssa_Nelson1994

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
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14
My fiance and I are from Utah, so we are doing one wedding in Utah and another wedding in Disneyland. Has anyone lived out of state but still done a Disney wedding? Or has ever had two weddings in different states? If so, do you have any advice? Thanks in advance!!
 
Lots of us are from out of state or even out-of-country and got married at either WDW or DL. I know Catholic brides who want to be married in the church have to have a ceremony at home as well and many couples choose to have an at-home reception to celebrate with friends and family who were unable to attend the destination wedding. Did you have a specific question about any of these?
 
So we are doing the Escape wedding at Disneyland with the ceremony and reception. Then we are doing a second reception in Utah. I'm having a hard time planning everything because I'm trying to find photographers for both, budget both, plan different things for each event and it's getting very confusing unfortunately!
 
I know a lot of destination DL brides end up having an at home reception. One of the things I've heard of couples doing at the at home reception is displaying some of the pictures from their DL wedding during the at home reception. I've also heard of brides using some DIY decor elements at both events like items for the tables or cake toppers as well.

Are you close enough to have signed your contract yet? DFTW has a list of preferred vendors for photographers if you need a place to start.

At least the escape wedding is all inclusive.
 

Unfortunately I'm not much help as I was a WDW escape bride (I was an out-of-country bride though) and we didn't do an at home celebration.

I'd suggest spreadsheets... And @lurkyloo 's Disney Weddings and Honeymoons book by Passporter (get the ebook so you get the updates when she updates it)

Also I have no personal experience with them but Michelle Chiu photography has done some beautiful DL weddings http://www.michellechiu.net/ looking back at her page its engagements I've seen not weddings but they're gorgeous... If we do family pictures when we're at DL next I'm going to look into her pricing.
 
I know a lot of destination DL brides end up having an at home reception. One of the things I've heard of couples doing at the at home reception is displaying some of the pictures from their DL wedding during the at home reception. I've also heard of brides using some DIY decor elements at both events like items for the tables or cake toppers as well.

Are you close enough to have signed your contract yet? DFTW has a list of preferred vendors for photographers if you need a place to start.

At least the escape wedding is all inclusive.

Unfortunately we are not close enough to sign the contract yet. But those are really cute ideas for the decor!! (:
 
Unfortunately I'm not much help as I was a WDW escape bride (I was an out-of-country bride though) and we didn't do an at home celebration.

I'd suggest spreadsheets... And @lurkyloo 's Disney Weddings and Honeymoons book by Passporter (get the ebook so you get the updates when she updates it)

Also I have no personal experience with them but Michelle Chiu photography has done some beautiful DL weddings http://www.michellechiu.net/ looking back at her page its engagements I've seen not weddings but they're gorgeous... If we do family pictures when we're at DL next I'm going to look into her pricing.


Oh awesome!! Thank you so so much!! That is a ton of help (:
 
There is also a Facebook group, Married at Disneyland, for couples looking to book a DL wedding. The people in the group have a lot of great information and resources for DL couples, and they probably have some great ideas for an at home event after an escape wedding.
 
I'm not sure how helpful this is because we aren't having two full receptions, but my fiancé and I are getting married at our Catholic Church in NJ on 6/25 and then having a full blown Disney wedding on 7/3. Because I see the Disney wedding as my "real" wedding day, I put most of the budget into that. I did hire a local photographer to come and shoot the church wedding and I went with a local guy who is trying to build his wedding portfolio and so I got a great deal. I'm using the Roots for my Disney wedding so I know I will have a ton of beautiful photos from 7/3, and so I felt comfortable spending much less money, time and effort researching a photographer for 6/25. After the church ceremony, we have booked a private room at a local restaurant for the handful of folks going to the church. It's a lunch and so again, very affordable.

So I guess my question is are you prioritizing one event over the other? That may help you in terms of budgeting and time and resources spent on finding vendors, etc. For me, I put all of my energy into the Disney wedding and made the church ceremony just something nice but nothing extravagant.
 
There is also a Facebook group, Married at Disneyland, for couples looking to book a DL wedding. The people in the group have a lot of great information and resources for DL couples, and they probably have some great ideas for an at home event after an escape wedding.
I will definitely look at that! Thank you so much :)
 
I'm not sure how helpful this is because we aren't having two full receptions, but my fiancé and I are getting married at our Catholic Church in NJ on 6/25 and then having a full blown Disney wedding on 7/3. Because I see the Disney wedding as my "real" wedding day, I put most of the budget into that. I did hire a local photographer to come and shoot the church wedding and I went with a local guy who is trying to build his wedding portfolio and so I got a great deal. I'm using the Roots for my Disney wedding so I know I will have a ton of beautiful photos from 7/3, and so I felt comfortable spending much less money, time and effort researching a photographer for 6/25. After the church ceremony, we have booked a private room at a local restaurant for the handful of folks going to the church. It's a lunch and so again, very affordable.

So I guess my question is are you prioritizing one event over the other? That may help you in terms of budgeting and time and resources spent on finding vendors, etc. For me, I put all of my energy into the Disney wedding and made the church ceremony just something nice but nothing extravagant.
I'm not sure how helpful this is because we aren't having two full receptions, but my fiancé and I are getting married at our Catholic Church in NJ on 6/25 and then having a full blown Disney wedding on 7/3. Because I see the Disney wedding as my "real" wedding day, I put most of the budget into that. I did hire a local photographer to come and shoot the church wedding and I went with a local guy who is trying to build his wedding portfolio and so I got a great deal. I'm using the Roots for my Disney wedding so I know I will have a ton of beautiful photos from 7/3, and so I felt comfortable spending much less money, time and effort researching a photographer for 6/25. After the church ceremony, we have booked a private room at a local restaurant for the handful of folks going to the church. It's a lunch and so again, very affordable.

So I guess my question is are you prioritizing one event over the other? That may help you in terms of budgeting and time and resources spent on finding vendors, etc. For me, I put all of my energy into the Disney wedding and made the church ceremony just something nice but nothing extravagant.



We are prioritizing the Disneyland one to be the big one, for sure!! The one in Utah will be with all of our family on both sides. We are doing it at a venue that my fiance used to work at, so they are giving us a great deal.
 
Lots of us are from out of state or even out-of-country and got married at either WDW or DL. I know Catholic brides who want to be married in the church have to have a ceremony at home as well and many couples choose to have an at-home reception to celebrate with friends and family who were unable to attend the destination wedding. Did you have a specific question about any of these?
Just how to keep the planning separate without having my head explode and how to basically handle double the work load because it's essentially planning two complete weddings.
 
I know a lot of destination DL brides end up having an at home reception. One of the things I've heard of couples doing at the at home reception is displaying some of the pictures from their DL wedding during the at home reception. I've also heard of brides using some DIY decor elements at both events like items for the tables or cake toppers as well.

Are you close enough to have signed your contract yet? DFTW has a list of preferred vendors for photographers if you need a place to start.

At least the escape wedding is all inclusive.
No, we are getting married September of next year, so we can't sign until March 2017. :/
 
Don't worry, I can help! I've been there, it's stressful but SO worth it! :duck:

We live in Georgia, most of our family was located in Pennsylvania, and we got married at Castaway Cay on a Disney cruise! We had a reception in Pennsylvania to celebrate with those who couldn't join us on the cruise. : ) My main piece of advice is, if you have a budget to stick to, keep things as budget friendly on the Utah wedding as you can. The closer you get to your Disney wedding there will be little things that pop up here and there you may want and you don't want that money tied up elsewhere if the Disney wedding is more important to you. For example, I had my cousin who has a nice camera photograph our at home reception to help cut costs because those pictures weren't nearly as important to me as the Disney ones. One thing I recommend to keep you from getting overwhelmed is plan certain days of the week to set aside planning your Disney wedding and other days to set aside planning your at home reception. I did Mondays and Wednesdays were my "Disney Days" and Tuesdays and Thursdays were my "reception days" I set a rule for myself that I wouldn't even think about the other wedding that day unless I absolutely had to speak with a vendor or something. It helped balance a lot. Plus, this way I usually had wedding-free weekends to simply enjoy being engaged! : D

Also, I suggest making yourself a wedding timeline. Plan what you want to have done by when, and take everything one step at a time! Plan the more fun things like registering for gifts and your bridal shower (if applicable) during more stressful periods in the planning process, such as right around your signing date and about 2 months out to help give you something wedding related that's FUN to do during the most stressful periods. I would buy two separate binders, and organize one for each wedding.

As far as budget, Etsy and eBay may very well become your best friends. Remember, you're only going to use a lot of this stuff once, so don't shell out a ton, and buy used wherever you can! Plus, by going on Etsy you can get very unique things such as homemade photo albums and guestbooks and invites. Rent whatever you can as well. We rented our Cinderella's carriage birdcage to hold wedding cards at our reception and it was perfect! (After all, what would we have done with it afterwards?)

Finally, and this is something I already touched on, but my main thing I would change if I could do it over again is not spending as much on the at-home reception. It was lovely but there were a few things I shelled out for (such as a pricier venue, because I didn't want it to look thrown together, or expensive custom invites) that I would have rather had the money for little extras at Disney or for our honeymoon at Disneyland. I hope this helps you and feel free to PM me with additional questions (or just support!) : D Enjoy this wonderful time in your life!
 
My husband and I got married in Disney World we lived out of state. We originally lived in New York and then relocated to North Carolina during the planning. It was hectic at times but our planner made it very easy for us!!
 




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