Extra Wedding Guests for Intimate/Escape

[disneygirl_wdw]

As we are getting closer to the date more people are inviting themselves. Right now we have 24 guests, possibly more. This puts us out of the intimate guest max. A lot of the guests hav invited themselves or are undecisve about comming. Some have said they aren't comming and changed their minds or going back and forth on the issue. I was wondering what to do with the extra guests. My original idea was to invite them to stand in the back looking like tourists, but I don't know. What does Disney do if that day you have too many guests? Thanks

 

[sajilunni]

From what I've gleaned even one guest over the max puts you in the Custom/Wishes catagory. I think I read that DFTW asks for the names of all your guests so they know exactly who the 20 are. I am having an intimate vow renewal with just 17 members of our immediate family, but we have friends who live in Orlando. I have no problem telling them that adding one extra person will cost $6,000 more, so they won't be able to come to the ceremony. But since the dinner (reception) afterwards is not a DFTW event, I would think it is fine to invite them to that so they can still see us dressed up and celebrate with us.

Jil

 

[aprincess72]

I had some "wedding crashers" who stood at the back of SBP and watched my wedding. DFTW was pretty stiff on the 18 max. I originally wanted to have an intimate but have a dessert party with more people. They told me I would have to have a custom to do that so we just told people to stay home.
They were even going to count a 4 year old and 2 year old in the guest count.

 

[Laurafoster]

Everybody counts! From what ive seen they are really strict on people "watching" the wedding so they would ahve to be quite a distance away!

 

[disprincessatheart]

I was told that anyone under 3 didnt count, as they don't for many things across WDW - park tickets, DDP, etc. If that helps, check with your planner to confirm.

 

[disneygirl_wdw]

I had some "wedding crashers" who stood at the back of SBP and watched my wedding. DFTW was pretty stiff on the 18 max. I originally wanted to have an intimate but have a dessert party with more people. They told me I would have to have a custom to do that so we just told people to stay home.
They were even going to count a 4 year old and 2 year old in the guest count.

Did they try to chase them away? I have told some guests that they might have to stand in back and not actually "be there" and look like tourists watching in on the ceremony. If they allowed this I would be ok. I just don't want them to be chased off.

 

[Skylarr29]

Did they try to chase them away? I have told some guests that they might have to stand in back and not actually "be there" and look like tourists watching in on the ceremony. If they allowed this I would be ok. I just don't want them to be chased off.

I definitely think that is risky making a suggestion like that. I think you would feel bad if they were chased off, and there is a chance that they could be. I would just be firm and tell them that 'Disney' is saying no, or invite them to dinner after. It's a tough call.

 

[dznystar]

I was told that anyone under 3 didnt count, as they don't for many things across WDW - park tickets, DDP, etc. If that helps, check with your planner to confirm.

Infants DO count. We were originally going to have an intimate wedding, but our nephew would have put us over the limit. We were told that if a guest was pregnant and had the baby before the ceremony that the infant would still count as a person. They are "very" strict with the count. We had to change ours to a custom. And, we were told that we couldn't have a larger reception than ceremony. If we wanted the dessert party to have more people than the ceremony itself, we were told that disney could cancel it. Good luck!

 

[suprgrlx]

I know the policy says that if there are more than 20 people in total, that Disney ("in its sole discretion") can cancel the wedding and charge you any applicable cancellation fees (which I guess would be the whole amount if it's the day of). I would take that to mean that the consequences could be pretty severe if Disney chose to do so. Not to mention that if they chase your guests off, that could be pretty disrupting during your ceremony.

I haven't done my wedding yet though, so I can't tell you anything concrete.

Good luck!

 

[JackieSparrow]

Especially because of their policy stated above, personally I wouldn't risk the chance of the cancellation.. I mean all that hard work and planning I would be so and if that happened!

My planner told me that I COULD have more than 20 at my dessert party. But maybe that's because I'm doing the DP as a welcome party and not the same day as the wedding? Not sure...

Not to mention that people inviting themselves is kinda rude on their part

Well hope you get things all figured out The 20 people max is stressful but it also can be a blessing in disguise in such that it keeps the guestlist down. GL!!