Disney's Escape Wedding--Our story!

[tmli]

I just listened to the podcast where Julie was talking about Disney Escape weddings and felt I needed to talk about our experience.

A little background.....Dh and I are both huge Disney fans and met right here on the dis. Our love of Disney lead us to each other. He proposed at Disney, and we return to disney on a regular basis (3-4 times a year). I work in a career that is very much built around Disney, when we aren't vacationing at WDW we are on DCL, or in two weeks heading to DL. The point of all this is Disney is a huge part of our lives!!

From the beginning we knew we wanted to be married at wdw. We reviewed the packages and while we could have afforded a much larger wedding we decided on the escape package. This was my second marriage, dh's first. He is from Manitoba and I from Ontario so our families are spread out. We knew early on we wanted a small intimate ceremony. We also decided that we were okay if it was going to be just us and my son there.

When we told our families, they thought the idea was perfectly us and wanted to join us. We had 16 family members and friends join us for the week. (yes we do have friends ).

I don't have the exact numbers in front of me but the total for the wedding was somewhere around $5000. The escape packages were a bit cheaper then, but didn't include the AP's. We paid extra for the wedding pavillion, ordered a few extra flowers, included the officiant and a photographer. We used an outside vendor for this (whose name we got from the dis wedding boards), Randy Chapman. He charged $600 for the entire 4 hours, and gave us a beautiful album and cd's containing all of our pictures. Disney wouldn't offer a refund on photography but did substitute a Honeymoon photo shoot at the MK.

I am telling this story for a couple of reasons. I want hopeful disney brides to know that it can be done for a reasonable amount of money. Even though we only had the escape package and a few close family and friends.....not once did I feel cheated or that we cheapened out anywhere. I wouldn't dare to say that everyone should do this. As Julie said it would have not worked for them, and for many it wouldn't. But for some of us it does, and it works beautifully.

Our ceremony was beautiful, our memories magical. It truly was a fairytale and everything I hoped for.




.

 

[SamSam]

First, congratulations on your marriage and what sounds like a beautiful ceremony. Also, thank you for relaying your personal experience, it's always nice to hear someone's actual experience.
DH and I have been married 36 years and are thinking of having vow renewals at WDW for our 40th, so it was nice to read of your positive experience.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I didn't listen to that podcast, although now I may have to go back and find it. That said, I know that when me and DH married at Disney, they were called Intimates or Customs. There was always bashing of people who had an intimate ceremony. Not everyone decides to have a small wedding for monetary reasons though, so I think that is unfair.

Me and DH have both been married before. We both had huge first weddings. BTDT. Honestly, I am not the type that likes to be the belle of the ball and center of attention. We could have made our Disney wedding a huge production and I've heard of many who have-different strokes for different folks. Me and DH are very private people and felt that we only wanted to share the day with our very immediate family. We didn't go the cheap route, we changed our cake, changed the flowers, had the WP decorated in flowers, had our reception dinner at V&A's, had Cinderella's coach, had an outside photographer and videographer, did the MK photo shoot, we customized our little affair to just the way we wanted it. I enjoyed it 1000% over my first wedding because it was an experience that was tailored to the type of people that we are.

We did have to deal with some miffed relatives, but I didn't see a need to have aunts, uncles and friends I haven't seen since my college days (or even further back) attend the wedding. If I don't see someone in my normal everyday life, I didn't see a need for them to share in our very special and very personal moment. We wound up spending over 10K for our wedding, which at the time qualified us for the custom level wedding. Granted, at the time, I knew no one that could have a truly custom wedding with just spending that, but just saying, we could have put that label on our wedding if we wanted to.

If I had to do it again, I would do it all the same way. We have begun our planning for a vow renewal and DH asked if I wanted to make it a huge spectacle this time. Absolutely not. I want the same small, intimate ceremony I had before with just the people that mean the most around me.

TMLI-I agree with you totally! I think Disney recognizes that each bride and groom are different and they can tailor an experience that is perfect for everyone. I think too many people emphasize the monetary issue of the weddings as if it is a contest on who had the better bash. Its all nice, but at the end of the day, its one day out of your life.

 

[irisbud]

I haven't listened to the show yet, but thought I would chime in as well.

We are going to be having our wedding at Disney in January of 09 and we are doing an Escape. My daddy said he would happily pay for the custom if we wanted, but I thought about it long and hard, and I really saw no need. We had already invited everyone we felt needed to be there, and though we are a few over we know some won't come. If they do, they can join us for lunch or fireworks later.

We will be having the regualr package at Sea Breeze Point on the Boardwalk. I don't need extras. We have talked about it, and decided the location is beautiful and the logistics of taking things back home are just too much stress. We will be having a lunch we will pay for after the wedding, then an Illuminations Dessert Party afterwards. We are thinging about 6K total for everything, but feel good about this. I feel good because I didn't spend more of my parents money on things we don't need and we are having EXACTLY what we want (plus we now have APs, woohoo!)

If we did it here, it would have to be huge, and it would get expensive fast, more expensive than the custom minimum, for sure. there we can have 18 guests, here we would have 150-200. So it ISN'T a question of money for us, either. It is a question of what works for us!

 

[Minnie Lor]

I think they all sound lovely. Some people want to invite everyone they ever met to their wedding and some people like it to be a small intimate ceremony. I like the latter.

When I got married, I wasn't into Disney or I might have gone that route. We had a small intimate 'wedding tea' at my sisters large victorian home. The house, flowers, cake, appetizers, were perfect. The day was perfect in every way.

Everyone should customize their wedding to their needs. So many times it's the parents who dictate what and where the weding will be. My parents did this with my older sister. I sure remember those fights.

So glad that yours was everything that you dreamed of.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

If we did it here, it would have to be huge, and it would get expensive fast, more expensive than the custom minimum, for sure. there we can have 18 guests, here we would have 150-200. So it ISN'T a question of money for us, either. It is a question of what works for us!

That was another reason we opted for Disney. If we had our wedding at home, it would have turned into a circus and we just didn't want that. Hope you have the wedding of your dreams!

 

[disneybridetobe]

DH and I also had an Intimate Wedding in 2006. We could have done the big, expensive wedding, but we didn't want to! We had exactly what we wanted, the Wedding Pavilion, the people that really mattered to us were there, we had the flowers, the cake, the outside photographer... and it was perfect. <3

Hear, hear!

 

[tmli]

I am glad so many of you feel the same way!

There was not one thing about my wedding that I would do differently!!

 

[disprincessatheart]

I'm glad you posted!! I kinda felt the same way you did - we didn't settle for an Escape wedding, it was the wedding we wanted and it was amazing!! We started larger and decided we'd rather have the smaller wedding. (I have an extremely large extended family and DH doesn't) We had a much more relaxed day and never felt some of those "I have to invite this person" and "make sure you talk to everyone" pressures that a lot of our friends have had with their weddings. We did absolutlely everything we wanted including dinner for 19 at Narcoossee's and a Wishes cruise on the Grand 1 for $7500 (including pictures, hair and makeup and officiant). The WIshes wedding we were originally planning for 30 ppl would have been similar but $5k more and would have just had different locations (Illuminations reception instead of Narcoossee's and WIshes).

 

[Cruz Family]

That sounds like a lovely wedding you had. I didn't think the prices Julie quoted were so outrageous to begin with. Weddings are expensive regardless of where they are.
Thanks for sharing!!!!!

 

[davidand3rs]

I haven't listened to the show yet, but thought I would chime in as well.

We are going to be having our wedding at Disney in January of 09 and we are doing an Escape. My daddy said he would happily pay for the custom if we wanted, but I thought about it long and hard, and I really saw no need. We had already invited everyone we felt needed to be there, and though we are a few over we know some won't come. If they do, they can join us for lunch or fireworks later.

We will be having the regualr package at Sea Breeze Point on the Boardwalk. I don't need extras. We have talked about it, and decided the location is beautiful and the logistics of taking things back home are just too much stress. We will be having a lunch we will pay for after the wedding, then an Illuminations Dessert Party afterwards. We are thinging about 6K total for everything, but feel good about this. I feel good because I didn't spend more of my parents money on things we don't need and we are having EXACTLY what we want (plus we now have APs, woohoo!)

If we did it here, it would have to be huge, and it would get expensive fast, more expensive than the custom minimum, for sure. there we can have 18 guests, here we would have 150-200. So it ISN'T a question of money for us, either. It is a question of what works for us!

Just thought I'd chime in here..sounds like we're having the same exact wedding. We too also opted for the Escape package; we wanted it intimate and we invited 2 or 3 that won't be at the actual wedding either, but definitely am not spending anymore than 6000 or so. I felt like it was a great option and a steal if you will to have a wedding in such a wonderful setting for that low of a price. I just hope no one gets discouraged from having their wedding in WDW just because of 'high' prices.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

DD has said repeatedly that she wants to get married in WDW...although it's still several years away -- thank you for giving me hope that we can make this happen without going broke in the process!!!

For what it's worth, I think your intimate weddings sound fabulous and if I had to do it all over again, I betcha I would have opted for the same thing.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

DD has said repeatedly that she wants to get married in WDW...although it's still several years away -- thank you for giving me hope that we can make this happen without going broke in the process!!!

For what it's worth, I think your intimate weddings sound fabulous and if I had to do it all over again, I betcha I would have opted for the same thing.

For us, whether we had done a small or large custom wedding, Disney's prices IMO were extremely reasonable compared to wedding costs here at home in NJ. You definitely can have a fabulous wedding there for well under 10K though. Different things are important to different people, for us it was all about the location and everything else was negotiable after that.

 

[julezdisney]

I think the Escape package sounds perfect and charming. DH and I were married 1 mo and 1 day from the date we met, in front of a judge in a courthouse. We fell fast, and decided we wanted only those that would support us at our wedding. Well- that meant only us 2! So we didn't invite anyone! Here we are- 6-1/2 yrs and waaay different lives later, and we are still happily married- more so even, with a beautiful 5 year old and sharing in the raising of my step-son, who is nearly 7. To celebrate our 10th anniversary, something like the Escape package for our vow renewal sounds perfect to invite just our close family and friends! As some other posters have said- different strokes for different folks, and no one should think of an Escape package as a bare minimum anything, it really is designed, I think, as easy planning on those who want an intimate ceremony.

 

[burberryplaid]

Thanks for sharing your story Tracey, and Congratulations!

I told DH a couple of nights ago, if we ever renew our vows I want to do it at Disney and we would fall under the intimate wedding category. It is nice to hear you had a good experience with a price point you felt comfortable paying.

All in all, my thoughts are it can be very reasonable. I live in the Boston area and I would say it averages around $25K-$$35K to have a wedding here. Of course there are less expensive alternatives, but that's the average. It makes Disney sound kind of wonderful to me!

 

[blondediva911]

Hi I do not know what to do. I want a Disney Wedding so much but we do not have a lot of money to spend. My parents know my dreams of having a disney wedding but they are afraid people will not come since it is in FL. But I feel the people we are close to and that matters will come.
Can you please help me in seeing the differences between these wedding packages? What is custom wedding and escape wedding- what is the difference?
Thanks so much

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Hi I do not know what to do. I want a Disney Wedding so much but we do not have a lot of money to spend. My parents know my dreams of having a disney wedding but they are afraid people will not come since it is in FL. But I feel the people we are close to and that matters will come.
Can you please help me in seeing the differences between these wedding packages? What is custom wedding and escape wedding- what is the difference?
Thanks so much

The basic differences are the cost and guest count, with the custom having minimum expenditures, but limitless guests. The escape limits your guest count, but you also pay a lot less and are not held to minimums, just paying the package cost. We did the escape years ago. We only invited a handful of people-those that really mattered to us and we did not regret it. I would visit the wedding portion of the board here on the Dis as there are a lot of ladies there who can give you very detailed information.

 

[lorax123]

Since I glazed over during the whole wedding segments... I don't remember what happened!

But I see so many posts mentioning that other family and friends would think less of them for having a small, less expensive wedding. Really? People would think that?

Personally $5k is a lot to me. When we were married, our priorities were down money for a house. But, we just aren't fans of big affairs.

 

[tmli]

Head over to the wedding board....the girls over there have some great ideas. Ultimately you have to decide if the wedding is for you or your friends and family?

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

Hi I do not know what to do. I want a Disney Wedding so much but we do not have a lot of money to spend. My parents know my dreams of having a disney wedding but they are afraid people will not come since it is in FL. But I feel the people we are close to and that matters will come.
Can you please help me in seeing the differences between these wedding packages? What is custom wedding and escape wedding- what is the difference?
Thanks so much

You do what is right for you and your sweetheart . You are absolutely right - the family and friends that mean the most will come and if they really can't, you will both understand. Your day is about you and your husband-to-be, and some choices you will make due to finances are difficult. What we did was to have our wedding in Disney and when we got home, we had a picnic reception for all of our family and friends who were not able to make it to FL - we said NO GIFTS, we just want to be able to enjoy everyone's company and be able to share our wedding photos. We had a wonderful time both days and there was nothing I would've changed. Check out the wedding forums for some fantastic ideas:
http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55 -- good luck!