Escape Wedding Questions/Help please!

[PRPrincess1081]

I'm trying to find our budget to help some folks out. We had our Escape wedding including everything (wedding, 4 nights @ BWI, 1 week in Paris, invites, favors, my dress, DH's suit, wedding rings... everything you would need no matter where you were married) for $16K total. We paid Disney around $7k.

I think that was another hard part for me to swallow-- if we went the Wishes route, we'd pay $10k to Disney for just the wedding day. We would then have to pay at least $5k for our attire, wedding favors, honeymoon, stationary, etc. Considering we knew we wanted an outside photographer, Escape was the only way to go.

Thats what I am looking at about $15K with everything

 

[JaxTeach]

Thats what I am looking at about $15K with everything

You will easily be able to have everything you can imagine for $15k or under. We went waaaaaaaay out with our favors for our guests. Our wedding was also my 30th birthday, so I figured we could go all out to celebrate 2 occassions! We also had quite a honeymoon which pushed our budget higher than DH would have liked.

DDE is a card that allows you to take 20% off certain table service locations (most of the popular ones are participate). Now, they automatically add a 18% gratuity, but if you were having a large party you'd do that anyway. We used our DDE for our welcome dinner at 'Ohana. We could not use it at our reception at the California Grill because we had a private dining room and used the catering menu.

You can book a pontoon boat (or the Grand 1 yacht for more $$$) to view Wishes! from the waters surrounding the MK. You can add things on-- like drinks, snacks, cake, etc. for a price.

Our DP was under $1000 with approximately 20 guests. The Wishes! cruise is much less, though.

 

[Eyesparkle]

Is there somewhere you can see prices/availability of the wishes cruise?

 

[PRPrincess1081]

You will easily be able to have everything you can imagine for $15k or under. We went waaaaaaaay out with our favors for our guests. Our wedding was also my 30th birthday, so I figured we could go all out to celebrate 2 occassions! We also had quite a honeymoon which pushed our budget higher than DH would have liked.

DDE is a card that allows you to take 20% off certain table service locations (most of the popular ones are participate). Now, they automatically add a 18% gratuity, but if you were having a large party you'd do that anyway. We used our DDE for our welcome dinner at 'Ohana. We could not use it at our reception at the California Grill because we had a private dining room and used the catering menu.

You can book a pontoon boat (or the Grand 1 yacht for more $$$) to view Wishes! from the waters surrounding the MK. You can add things on-- like drinks, snacks, cake, etc. for a price.

Our DP was under $1000 with approximately 20 guests. The Wishes! cruise is much less, though.

you were married in 2007 which is not too long ago but so much has changed. Can you still have a reception at the california grill with a private dining room

 

[JaxTeach]

Is there somewhere you can see prices/availability of the wishes cruise?

To book, you can call 407-WDW-PLAY. I think that's the only way to find availability. I'm fairly sure they're readily available. I've booked them in the past with few problems.

Here is some info from the WDW Info page: http://www.wdwinfo.com/recreation/fireworks.htm

 

[Eyesparkle]

Ooh, thanks Jax!

 

[JaxTeach]

you were married in 2007 which is not too long ago but so much has changed. Can you still have a reception at the california grill with a private dining room

As far as I know you can. You will have to ask your planner of course, but my planner set everything up for me. At times I would have much rather done the legwork myself, but everything was wonderful in the end. DFTW and Disney Floral tried to be a pain in the behind at times-- saying we couldn't do this or that, but I would talk CG directly and they were nothing be kind and accomodating to us.

The only thing DFTW is in charge of, for Escape brides, is the ceremony itself. They will setup other things (transportation, "reception," dessert party, etc.) but you are on your own (as in your planner disappears never to be seen again after the ceremony). I had our planners cell number that I'm sure I could have used if we had a major problem. Since I'm a mega-planner, it went off without a hitch. I assigned my cousin, brother, and good friend tasks that they were more than happy to complete while DH and I were off taking photos.

The only major change I've heard coming out of DFTW is with the in park photography issue and of course the package pricing increase, but that's a yearly thing. Use of the private dining rooms should still be available to Escape brides.

I'm not sure if you're aware of the minimums. For the Sonoma Room (where we had our dinner) it was $2000 after 5:00pm. For the Napa Room the minimum was (and I believe still is) $3000 after 5:00pm. Sonoma seats around 30 and Napa seats around 50.

Eyesparkle- No problem!

 

[Rora]

Wow! There's so much info on this thread. Love it!

Thanks to all the married DisBrides who are kind enough to help us out. I'm thinking that Escape is the way to go for us! Thanks again Ladies!