Do guests have to stay on the WDW Resorts?

[cass&mike]

Hi everyone! I am new and I am thinking about having my wedding at WDW. It will be an intimate wedding with close friends and immediate family in attendance only. I wanted to know if guests to your wedding have to stay at the resorts? If they don't is there a fee to have them come to the resort for the wedding?

 

[Equidae]

Hello! No, it is not required that any of your guests stay on property and you will not be charged for them to attend (other than food/bev etc). No special charges for guests not staying on property, that's what I'm trying to say. That being said, you will most likely have to reach minimums for hotel rooms for your wedding. It works like this: based on how many people are coming to your wedding (your expected guest list), Disney will let you know how many room nights you need to guarantee. For our wedding we have a minimum of 25 room nights. Each night a guests stays counts as 1 room night (this counts for you too). Does this make sense to you? It is a bit confusing. If you don't meet your mins, you will be charged for the lowest price hotel room of the hotels you have preselected for the amount of nights needed to fill your block. Whew!

 

[tinkerbela]

guests have the options of 1) staying at the hotels that you chose for the guests to get the discount; 2) stay at a hotel that will not get them discounts; or 3) stay at a hotel that is off property. it is really up to them where they want to stay. they can either stay on or off property. the only thing that matters is that they attend your wedding!

 

[evedein]

Just to clarify: room night requirements are for custom weddings only. If you have an intimate package, none of your guests are required to stay on-site. It is however, a lot more convenient. Most of the guests at DD's wedding will be staying at Pop Century., a value resort. I believe they got thier rooms for about $68/night during value season with AAA discount. Since we have only 9 guests & they are all in the same resort, the limo, which is part of the intimate package, will be able to pick everyone up in a couple of trips. That way, no one needed to rent a car or risk getting lost on the way to the ceremony.
HTH
Eve