Disney weddings not all they're cracked up to be?

[DG25]

I had what I guess you would call a guerrilla wedding. We wanted a small, 5 people in attendant wedding in a spot that meant something to us. I did not were a white gown but we were dressed nicely and did it fast so no one would see us and yell. We then went to Victoria and Alberts for dinner.

Here is my thing, we did not pay disney so okay we didn't deserve anything special. But I marked on our reissues for hotel honeymoon, we stayed at the grand, at boulder ridge villas and at wilderness lodge, over 16 days. Not once did hey say congratulations, or anything. Not once did we get an upgrade. No special towels, no chocolate strawberries and we stayed club level.

We marked every dinner we had that it was our honeymoon, not once did we get anything, not even a congratulations.

Today is our last day. Concierge overheard me tell a blogger that I was a little disappointed that Disney did not go out of there way to do anything in 16 days. Not one single congratulations, not even at grand Floridian club level at $1100 a night. That concierge did give us a lunch for today at Tony's. very nice we appreciate it.

I think personally Disney is going the way of, spend thousands on your wedding and we will show you we appreciate it. Tell us your on your honeymoon and we won't even ecknowledge it.

Just my take from my experience.

 

[Judique]

I had what I guess you would call a guerrilla wedding. We wanted a small, 5 people in attendant wedding in a spot that meant something to us. I did not were a white gown but we were dressed nicely and did it fast so no one would see us and yell. We then went to Victoria and Alberts for dinner.

Here is my thing, we did not pay disney so okay we didn't deserve anything special. But I marked on our reissues for hotel honeymoon, we stayed at the grand, at boulder ridge villas and at wilderness lodge, over 16 days. Not once did hey say congratulations, or anything. Not once did we get an upgrade. No special towels, no chocolate strawberries and we stayed club level.

We marked every dinner we had that it was our honeymoon, not once did we get anything, not even a congratulations.

Today is our last day. Concierge overheard me tell a blogger that I was a little disappointed that Disney did not go out of there way to do anything in 16 days. Not one single congratulations, not even at grand Floridian club level at $1100 a night. That concierge did give us a lunch for today at Tony's. very nice we appreciate it.

I think personally Disney is going the way of, spend thousands on your wedding and we will show you we appreciate it. Tell us your on your honeymoon and we won't even ecknowledge it.

Just my take from my experience.

Congratulations on your marriage! I hope you enjoy your lunch at Tony's!

 

[Turn the Page]

I think with DFTW's you get less for your buck. A friend had a 30K wedding and had 200 guests. I wonder how much that would cost at WDW. I sometimes peak at the wedding board and it seems like most people have 100 guests or less and it's still running around 20K+.

I would agree with this. When DH and I ran the numbers we figured we spent less on a 2 1/2 week trip to Disney World and Florida including our wedding with 11 people total than we would have one a wedding at home. Yes, we paid more for the individual elements we had at the wedding but there would be no way to keep it small at home like we wanted. It's not right for everybody but it was the right decision for us.

I don't know the answers to most of your questions, as I got married through the Disney Swan, which is completely separate from DFTW, but I can tell you that you are not required to to purchase a minimum night stay at the hotels. It makes sense to stay on property the night before your wedding, to make for a less stressful morning, but you are not obligated. With some DFTW packages, you actually get a complimentary night in any WDW hotel (standard room) as part of the package. This includes the deluxe resorts.

I'm pretty sure WDW has offered wedding packages since the early 1990's, but they have gotten more expensive and elaborate since then. Again, I don't think $100K is the norm.

Here is the link to the DFTW packages to get a better idea on what they offer & cost:
https://www.disneyweddings.com/my-wedding-space/dream-wedding-maker/florida/

I believe the bolded is incorrect. You are required to have 4 nights at a Disney resort with Escape packages and 2 with a Memories package. There is not a requirement for the Wishes package events but I believe you only get the complimentary night at a resort if you have a certain number of resorts nights associated with your wedding meaning wedding guests staying on property, etc., though I may be wrong about that.

 

[MeghanEmily]

I had what I guess you would call a guerrilla wedding. We wanted a small, 5 people in attendant wedding in a spot that meant something to us. I did not were a white gown but we were dressed nicely and did it fast so no one would see us and yell. We then went to Victoria and Alberts for dinner.

Here is my thing, we did not pay disney so okay we didn't deserve anything special. But I marked on our reissues for hotel honeymoon, we stayed at the grand, at boulder ridge villas and at wilderness lodge, over 16 days. Not once did hey say congratulations, or anything. Not once did we get an upgrade. No special towels, no chocolate strawberries and we stayed club level.

We marked every dinner we had that it was our honeymoon, not once did we get anything, not even a congratulations.

Today is our last day. Concierge overheard me tell a blogger that I was a little disappointed that Disney did not go out of there way to do anything in 16 days. Not one single congratulations, not even at grand Floridian club level at $1100 a night. That concierge did give us a lunch for today at Tony's. very nice we appreciate it.

I think personally Disney is going the way of, spend thousands on your wedding and we will show you we appreciate it. Tell us your on your honeymoon and we won't even ecknowledge it.

Just my take from my experience.

Congratulations on your marriage! I hope you had an otherwise wonderful honeymoon! We haven't gotten married yet (this August) so take this with a grain of salt. I'm so sorry to hear about your lack of pixie dust on your honeymoon! But I like to think that this was just really poor luck of the draw on your part, which is terrible. We got engaged on a recent trip and it wasn't originally marked on our ADRs since I didn't know it was coming, but we mentioned it at the check in desk at every restaurant and also wore Just Engaged buttons on our clothes, and we were overwhelmed with the number of times cast members congratulated us. We also got congrats from our servers a lot of the time, and we were given a free dessert at one restaurant. Going back for our honeymoon I won't be expecting anything in terms of pixie dust, but I also won't be surprised if we get some, and we'll be wearing clothing or buttons to make it more obvious to any cast members who might want to allude to our celebration.

I believe the bolded is incorrect. You are required to have 4 nights at a Disney resort with Escape packages and 2 with a Memories package. There is not a requirement for the Wishes package events but I believe you only get the complimentary night at a resort if you have a certain number of resorts nights associated with your wedding meaning wedding guests staying on property, etc., though I may be wrong about that.

Agreed. We're doing an Escape wedding and were required to show proof of a four night stay on property. If you and your guests will be staying a combined total of 10 nights or more you can set up a room block with DFTW and with a minimum of 10 nights they give you a complimentary night at the resort of your choice (including deluxe resorts.)

 

[lorimay]

We spent $25000 with DFTW plus more on the photog video clothes etc for our daughters wedding. She was never upgraded. She had a room with a king bed at Wilderness Lodge.
I don't think they received much "pixie dust" at all. This was over 9 years ago.

The wedding was perfect in every way and people still talk about it today.

We would do it again in a heartbeat.

ETA: my husband and I renewed our vows onboard the Disney Magic for our 25th Anniversary and we were given way more special treatment and pixie dust then my daughter and son in law and we spent only $2500 for that.
Go figure.

 

[aristocatz]

I had what I guess you would call a guerrilla wedding. We wanted a small, 5 people in attendant wedding in a spot that meant something to us. I did not were a white gown but we were dressed nicely and did it fast so no one would see us and yell. We then went to Victoria and Alberts for dinner.

Here is my thing, we did not pay disney so okay we didn't deserve anything special. But I marked on our reissues for hotel honeymoon, we stayed at the grand, at boulder ridge villas and at wilderness lodge, over 16 days. Not once did hey say congratulations, or anything. Not once did we get an upgrade. No special towels, no chocolate strawberries and we stayed club level.

We marked every dinner we had that it was our honeymoon, not once did we get anything, not even a congratulations.

Today is our last day. Concierge overheard me tell a blogger that I was a little disappointed that Disney did not go out of there way to do anything in 16 days. Not one single congratulations, not even at grand Floridian club level at $1100 a night. That concierge did give us a lunch for today at Tony's. very nice we appreciate it.

I think personally Disney is going the way of, spend thousands on your wedding and we will show you we appreciate it. Tell us your on your honeymoon and we won't even ecknowledge it.

Just my take from my experience.

We spent the second half of our honeymoon at WL Club Level & we had the same experience. No congratulations, no acknowledgment-nothing. In general, the CM's weren't very friendly. They focused on a few families who seemed to be regulars & were just very indifferent any time we had a question or even said hello. We also weren't crazy about our room. 7th floor view of the lobby was awesome, but the room we stayed in (called the "Honeymoon Room") was very blah in decor, view of dumpsters & roof.

The first half of our honeymoon was at the Poly Club Level & we had a complete opposite experience. They treated us so well-from the housekeeping staff to the lounge staff to the check in staff-they were all so friendly, welcoming, and full of congratulations & smiles. They seemed to treat all if the guests this When we arrived, they treated us to lei's with real flowers (not the plastic ones) & chocolate. Our standard view room was amazing.

Our wedding planner from the Swan sent us a nice bottle of champagne and a very sweet note.

We had an amazing honeymoon, but I do remember the discrepancy between the experiences at each resort..

 

[RangerPooh]

We were married at the Disneyland Resort through DFW in June 2003. It was a much better experience than the wedding that we were planning back hoe in the SF Bay area. We had originally wanted a DFW but thought that it would be too expensive. After we began planning a local wedding we realized that DFW would be a much better, cheaper, and more meaningful experience for us. Our wedding took place on a Monday and came in around $10k when all was said and done. Our guests still rave about it to this day. We'd do this again in a heart beat.

Of course there were a few glitches. Our original DFW planner was habitually rude. Needless to say we requested a new planner and things went smoother from that aspect. The other issue was we received a complimentary 2 bedroom corner suite at the GCH for our wedding night. Yay! The frustration came the next morning when housekeeping woke us up asking if we were ready to check out at 6:45am! We told her no, and she returned 15 minutes later and did this until 7:30. At that point we showered and took a load of gifts, our wedding clothes, and some of our memorabilia to my parents hotel down the street. Upon returning we found that we had been checked out and our remaining items tossed. Management was unable to locate any of the thrown away items and comped us a 3 night stay in a suite with 2 day park hoppers for a future trip.

Honeymooned at WDW and had a fantastic trip. Stayed at WL and received a few sprinkles of pixie dust throughout the trip, mainly at meals. But we did receive an upgraded pool/lakeview room on a higher floor.


(sorry for the large image, couldn't figure out how to resize)

 

[macraven]

What a beautiful bride and groom !

 

[MomOTwins]

Congratulations on your marriage! I hope you had an otherwise wonderful honeymoon! We haven't gotten married yet (this August) so take this with a grain of salt. I'm so sorry to hear about your lack of pixie dust on your honeymoon! But I like to think that this was just really poor luck of the draw on your part, which is terrible. We got engaged on a recent trip and it wasn't originally marked on our ADRs since I didn't know it was coming, but we mentioned it at the check in desk at every restaurant and also wore Just Engaged buttons on our clothes, and we were overwhelmed with the number of times cast members congratulated us. We also got congrats from our servers a lot of the time, and we were given a free dessert at one restaurant. Going back for our honeymoon I won't be expecting anything in terms of pixie dust, but I also won't be surprised if we get some, and we'll be wearing clothing or buttons to make it more obvious to any cast members who might want to allude to our celebration.

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! I think you are right that the buttons are helpful. We also noticed that the buttons seemed to make a lot of magic happen. I think that the cast members are so used to seeing buttons for people who are celebrating, they might not be as good about checking for notations on reservation if you aren't wearing one. Plus those Happily Ever After buttons are so darn cute

 

[MeghanEmily]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! I think you are right that the buttons are helpful. We also noticed that the buttons seemed to make a lot of magic happen. I think that the cast members are so used to seeing buttons for people who are celebrating, they might not be as good about checking for notations on reservation if you aren't wearing one. Plus those Happily Ever After buttons are so darn cute

Thank you! We got married a little over a year ago now, and went back for our anniversary the following August. Both times we wore buttons and found they really seemed to help! They were great little conversation starters with random CMs we encountered throughout our trips as well, and even with a few other guests. I try my best now, even as a guest, to spread the magic around and pay it forward a bit, and wish other guests well when I see them wearing buttons.

 

[olwyngdh]

We were lucky for our daughter's wedding which was a Disney/Not Disney wedding. Because my husband is in the Army, she was able to get married at Shades of Green. It cost a LOT less than a wedding where she lives in PA would have, in fact, they paid more for the reception they had at home after their honeymoon than we paid for the wedding and reception at SoG. We had around 30 people at $99 per person. This included the venue, the minister, a blending sand thingy, spa/makeup/hair for my daughter, a cocktail reception, a buffet reception, a wedding planner, the cake, Champagne toast with souvenir glasses for the bride and groom, and minimal decorations. I hired a photographer recommended by SoG for an additional $200. All the photos were on CD and she spent quite a while taking them all over the resort for pictures. My SiL's favorite is the one where the gator photobombed them. (just checked, the package is $115 per person now) The kids ran the 1/2 marathon the morning after the wedding and then everyone that attended met at Magic Kingdom. We all rode my daughter's favorite ride together (Carousel of Progress) and got a group photo in front of the castle.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

That would be a nice down payment on a house or pay down a student loan

Lol, I cant even imagine what it is like to have that kind of money to blow on one single day! That kind of money could buy me a pretty nice house (in the rural area where I live) AND pay off my student loans.

I'm such a cheapskate, the guerrilla wedding option is more my speed. Get the deed done quickly with no muss and no fuss, save a butt-load of money in the process, and then honeymoon for a week in Disney World. I can even come up with 3 great locations off the top of my head: Tom Sawyer Island, that area of Discovery Island in Animal Kingdom that feels remote and secluded--with the bridge and the waterfall, and the People Mover.

 

[ChristmasElf]

Having a Wedding anywhere in Orlando is not cheap! Hilton Orlando, JW Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Waldorf Astoria, Four Seasons are all averaging 216-250 per person.
Add in a DJ- $5,000. Flowers-$12,000 (2 estimates hovered at $22,000-23,200) Another was at $16,000 All for something that I will walk to the curb a week after.
Horse and Carriage? -$2,000 (for 2 carriages and 3 horses) $2500 for the invitations, $3200 for a 4 piece orchestra for ceremony and cocktail hour, the officiant-$300
Photographer/Videographer-$6500. Makeup and Hair for Bride and her Bridesmaids- $125 per. Cake-$1800. Late night bites at reception? Add another $22 per person.
Don’t forget the Rehearsal dinner- for 22 people $6200 including tip and taxes. Wedding Planner-$5500 (they were running a special-usually $8,000)


When you add in the wedding gown, shoes, tux rentals, limos, hotel rooms for out of owners, it gets pretty pricey!

 

[jerseygal]

Having a Wedding anywhere in Orlando is not cheap! Hilton Orlando, JW Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Waldorf Astoria, Four Seasons are all averaging 216-250 per person.
Add in a DJ- $5,000. Flowers-$12,000 (2 estimates hovered at $22,000-23,200) Another was at $16,000 All for something that I will walk to the curb a week after.
Horse and Carriage? -$2,000 (for 2 carriages and 3 horses) $2500 for the invitations, $3200 for a 4 piece orchestra for ceremony and cocktail hour, the officiant-$300
Photographer/Videographer-$6500. Makeup and Hair for Bride and her Bridesmaids- $125 per. Cake-$1800. Late night bites at reception? Add another $22 per person.
Don’t forget the Rehearsal dinner- for 22 people $6200 including tip and taxes. Wedding Planner-$5500 (they were running a special-usually $8,000)


When you add in the wedding gown, shoes, tux rentals, limos, hotel rooms for out of owners, it gets pretty pricey!

Very pricey! NOt everyone pays a wedding planner though. Its expensive; weddings can certainly be done well without that expense.

 

[leebee]

DD is getting married in June, NOT at Disney! We set a budget of $15K-$18K and right now we are running around $14K. That includes everything- venue, food and non-alcoholic beverages, champagne toast, dress, veil, bridesmaids' dresses, flowers, photographer, DJ, cake, decorations, rehearsal dinner, invitations, postage, contribution towards suits for the groomsmen, rehearsal dinner. There are 135 invited, with 110 reasonably expected to attend. It will go up a bit as we have decided to do an open bar for cocktail hour (probably about $2K) and there are always the additional, "unanticipated" costs. Final bill will be split 3 ways: Us, groom's parents, and DD/fSIL. So far, so good... everyone is happy with the arrangements and costs.

I don't understand why some folks are so grumpy about weddings. I'm tired of people telling us to not waste the money, to give them a check and let them elope, to do a courthouse wedding and use the money for something "real." Sure, we could take that money and pay off DD's school loans, but that's not how we want to spend it. She and her fiance are getting the wedding they want with the people they love, all within budget. It's all good!

 

[Cubbiecakes]

Weddings are generally a waste of money, so obviously a wedding on property would be a waste of money of an even bigger magnitude.

 

[NotUrsula]

Having a Wedding anywhere in Orlando is not cheap! Hilton Orlando, JW Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Waldorf Astoria, Four Seasons are all averaging 216-250 per person.
Add in a DJ- $5,000. Flowers-$12,000 (2 estimates hovered at $22,000-23,200) Another was at $16,000 All for something that I will walk to the curb a week after.
Horse and Carriage? -$2,000 (for 2 carriages and 3 horses) $2500 for the invitations, $3200 for a 4 piece orchestra for ceremony and cocktail hour, the officiant-$300
Photographer/Videographer-$6500. Makeup and Hair for Bride and her Bridesmaids- $125 per. Cake-$1800. Late night bites at reception? Add another $22 per person.
Don’t forget the Rehearsal dinner- for 22 people $6200 including tip and taxes. Wedding Planner-$5500 (they were running a special-usually $8,000)

When you add in the wedding gown, shoes, tux rentals, limos, hotel rooms for out of owners, it gets pretty pricey!

FYI, there are a number of lower-priced wedding venues in the Orlando area that are better known by locals. Probably the most impressive is the Lake Mary Event Center (HUGELY popular, and rather difficult to book), and Dubsdread Golf Course. Others that I know of are Leu Gardens, Berlinsky House at the Kissimmee Civic Center, the Orange Co. Regional History Center, and the Osceola County Historical Society.

 

[Erzengel]

I got married at Disney and wouldn't trade the memories of the actual day, the day before and afterwards for anything.

Everything leading up to it however, due to family not being cooperative, etc. not so much. LOL Was there some things that annoyed us? Yes. But overall, it was a pretty tight run ship and we look fondly back at it and everyone involved still talks about it.

Getting married even 5 years ago in my home state would run around $45-$55K so Disney was a better option for us. However, I will say that with Disney's ever changing rules, I think we would have been more frustrated of what we couldn't do.

 

[lorimay]

DD is getting married in June, NOT at Disney! We set a budget of $15K-$18K and right now we are running around $14K. That includes everything- venue, food and non-alcoholic beverages, champagne toast, dress, veil, bridesmaids' dresses, flowers, photographer, DJ, cake, decorations, rehearsal dinner, invitations, postage, contribution towards suits for the groomsmen, rehearsal dinner. There are 135 invited, with 110 reasonably expected to attend. It will go up a bit as we have decided to do an open bar for cocktail hour (probably about $2K) and there are always the additional, "unanticipated" costs. Final bill will be split 3 ways: Us, groom's parents, and DD/fSIL. So far, so good... everyone is happy with the arrangements and costs.

I don't understand why some folks are so grumpy about weddings. I'm tired of people telling us to not waste the money, to give them a check and let them elope, to do a courthouse wedding and use the money for something "real." Sure, we could take that money and pay off DD's school loans, but that's not how we want to spend it. She and her fiance are getting the wedding they want with the people they love, all within budget. It's all good!

People and opinions
Its your money and you can spend it as you see fit.
Both my children had beautiful weddings and I wouldn't give up those 2 beautiful days for anything.
Neither would they.

 

[Cubbiecakes]

Getting married even 5 years ago in my home state would run around $45-$55K...

I can't even.

Jeebus, that's a decent/nice car. Or a down payment on a house. How utterly wasteful!