Escape Brides--Lunch after wedding?

[Summer Daydream]

A friend of mine is getting married in Disney in August. She recently began to panic that she didn't have a place to eat lunch after. I figured I'd step in and do some research for her. Did any escape brides book their own lunch/dinner after the wedding? If so, where did you go? They will have, I believe, 18 people total. Thank you for your help!

 

[Jilian]

It really depends on what she's looking for and where. There are so many options! Is she looking for a private or semi-private room, or is it ok to just be seated at a table amongst other guests in a restaurant? Where is she getting married, does she want the restaurant to be close to the ceremony? Another option is doing a catered meal by Disney catered events in a restaurant that is closed during lunch hours (like citricos or narcoossees) or a private room. Does she want buffet, characters, theming? There are so many choices! Maybe narrow it down a bit first and then it will be easier to choose.

 

[princessK30]

We just had our escape wedding at the end of January and had our lunch at the Grand Floridian Cafe. There were 15 of us total and because the time we booked was for 1:45pm, the lunch crowd was basically over. We were seated all together near the back of the restaurant and had our flower arrangements from the ceremony (at the WP) transferred over to our tables. The GFC also printed out special menus for everyone to keep that said something about our wedding on top (I can't remember right now exactly what they said and they are still packed with breakables we haven't unpacked yet) including giving us envelopes to take them home in. The food was great, everyone thought so! We also had our cake from our cake cutting moved down there to be served after lunch. Best decision ever because even though we didn't have a "private room" it felt like we did! It also saved us so much time in the day not having to transfer everyone to another resort or downtown etc just to eat!
I highly recommend them when booking a lunch yourself!

We did look into some other options (Portobellos, the Wave), however, we weren't impressed with the food selections as much and liked the GFC menu much better for lunch!
Good luck!

 

[DznyGal]

We booked our own and ate at Wolfgang Pucks in Downtown Disney's Westside. Our group was 16 people total. The Limo took all of us there, and we had to use Disney transportation to get back to our hotels. (well one guest had a car so they drove my husband and I) The rest of our group took Disney busses.

 

[Boston Disney Bride]

We had an escape wedding at 10am at Sea Breeze Point and had a 1pm lunch at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian. We had 13 people and they accommodated us and were very helpful. The limo took all of our guests to the Polynesian and after lunch we had to take the monorail to the ticket and transportation center to get a bus back to the resorts.

 

[CositaRicaFabulosa]

We're doing a 2:30 ceremony at Sea Breeze Point followed by a 6:00 at Chef's Domain in Citrico's. Chef's Domain only seats 12 people, and the only seating is at 6:00, so that won't work for a party of 18 who want lunch. However, I've seen brides do lunch at Citrico's (which is normally closed for lunch) - there are quite a few places where you could have a private lunch if you didn't want to just book a table at a restaurant that's open for lunch anyway. There are rooms at California Grill, Jiko, Narcoosee's, The Wave, and some other restaurants that you could book for a private reception for lunch. The real difference between booking the reception at a restaurant that doesn't normally serve lunch is that there are food and beverage minimums that must be met, but with a party of 18 people, that shouldn't be too difficult.

Hope that helps!

 

[Summer Daydream]

Thank you all for you help. I passed along the info to her and she was relieved that there were many options and that restaurants seem to be accomodating. After reading all these boards, I want a Disney Wedding now too! All the pictures I've seen are so beautiful! Still waiting on that ring, though...