FAQ for Disneyland Brides

[Mish5.10.08]

Hi all, I just got engaged at WDW in December and will be getting married at Disneyland and am looking at May 17th of 2008. I kniw it is so far away but I am so excited. I am hoping to get some advice from other Dsineyland Brides. First of all, I am looking at having the ceremony at the Rose Garden, pre reception at the Brisa Courtyard, and the Reception at the Sequoia Ballroom. Has anyone had any experience at any of these locations? I am also looking for a very "fairy tale" esque gown, but don't want to spend more than $1k-1500, any advice or suggestiosn on good places to look that are't way more? lastly, I really want to have the special Fantasmic rehersal dinner. Does anyone know how much that generallt costs per person?? Thanks for the help!

Well im brand new to this site...but I am sooo glad I found it! I just got engaged a week ago and I really want a dland wedding also. It was our first date and we go there now almost weekly just to "get away" for a night alone. Actually we are planning to do our wedding the week before yours. May 10th 2008. I am so excited and i have NO idea on where to begin. I really think that everyones posts on here are really gonna help me. If you have any questions email me at michelleschaller@hotmail.com. I actually got a lot of info for dland weddings at a bridal show i went to last weekend. Good luck to you and we should keep in touch on here since our weddings will be so close together.

 

[RangerPooh]

Michelle,
You might want to post some of your info to help other DL brides in their planning process.

 

[momofnicky]

I got married at Disneyland in 2005 and if I can give any advice to you brides to be it's to get yourself a day of coordinator. Even though Disney had assigned us a disney coordinator we couldnt have gotten through the day without our own coordinator. The problem with Disney coordinators is that they dont lift a finger to help you out with anything that you dont do through them.

For example we had made our own flower cones, baskets, favors, placecards, menus, rented centerpieces (candelabras) and seat linens from an outside vendor, had a non disney florist etc... well so our Disney coordinator refused to help set these things up for us and I wasnt about to run around on my wedding day setting up the reception room and ceremony area. I had to get ready and that was stressful enough.

So anyway, we hired a weding day coordinator and she did all the running around. She met up with us the night before at the rehearsal and gathered up all of our stuff (placecards, menus cones etc...) then the next day she arrived a few hours early and set up the reception room tables with all of our things, then set up the cones in their baskets at the ceremony, helped our florist set up the floral arrangements at the ceremony and reception, put out our bathroom baskets etc.... all the stuff our Disney coordinator wouldnt do.

It was well worth the money not to stress out and have everything done so I could concentrate on getting ready on my wedding day. Not to mention that during the wedding she made sure everything went smoothly and took everything down after the wedding and returned all of the stuff that was ours to our room including the gifts etc...

So ladies, I would highly reccomend a wedding day coordinator at your Disney wedding unless, you are doing everything through Disney.

If you want contact info on who we used just PM me. She was really great and had the lowest prices around back then. I assume her prices are still pretty low.

 

[DreamGirl627]

this information was so helpful! We're in Ft. Lauderdale right now and trying to get started planning for our july 2008 wedding in disney!! all the links and pictures provided were amazing!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Hi and congratulations to everyone who is getting married at Disneyland. We are in the very, very early stages of the planning and just had an "info" session at the DLR today to get more information to try to determine if Disneyland is even an option budget wise (keeping my fingers crossed but so far it is looking like a yes!!!).

One of the places I was looking into was the outdoor ceremony location at the Grand Californian and I just wanted to let everyone know that they have stopped "selling" that site due to a new tower that is going to be built at the Grand Californian. The woman we met with, Cynthia, said she has already had to move the location of her ceremonies at that location later this year because even though it will not directly affecting the garden area they can not guarantee what the view around it will be like and the last thing anyone wants is a big crane in their pictures.

Even though I can't start a planning journal on here yet - I at least wanted to give people a heads up and let them know that 2008 dates are/will be filling up faster based on the fact that the only ceremony location is the rose garden. All of the reception sites are still available at the Grand Californian though!

 

[pumpkinfish]

Quick question for the DL wedding experts:
Is it possible to do a vow renewal ceremony here, or is this only limited to weddings?

TIA!

 

[RangerPooh]

You can do VR too, but the costs will more than likely be he same as a regular wedding as the fees for locations and food would be the same.

 

[dare_bear]

I have a question for anyone that can answer it:
I know that the Fairy Tale Wedding site says you should have at least a year, but how far ahead of your date did you start planning and actually put a down payment?

If anyone has any advice at all it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[RangerPooh]

We started planning for our DLR wedding in October of 2002, had our down payment in 2 weeks later. So mid Oct of 2002 for a June of 03 wedding. The planning was completed by December. The main thing was just locking in our locations. As we were planning from a distance we wantd everything nailed down far inadvance and FTW complied.

 

[Disneyluvr81]

We went to get information at the end of July, this year and to see what dates they had available for September 2008. The only date they had on Saturday not in the early afternoon was the date we got - August 30th, 2008 (Labor Day weekend).

It was a earlier than what I wanted, but because the garden at the Grand Californian is not going to be available for ceremonies until after the new tower is complete, the only place to hold the ceremony is at the Rose Garden at the DL hotel, so it has drastically cut down the availability for the ceremonies.

Our ceremony and reception our split up too because they didn't have the room available to accomodate our size at DL hotel, so our reception is at the Californian - which is just fine with me, I actually wanted the ceremony to be held their too - but the rose garden is just as beautiful.

I believe they will hold the date for you for 2 weeks before you have to put money down. Hope that helps!

 

[dare_bear]

Thanks for letting me know! I've been dreaming of a Disneyland wedding for a while. My boyfriend and I are planning on getting engaged really soon. But we probably wouldn't be able to get married until closer to 2010. So we would be engaged for close to two years.

But all would be worth it if I get the chance to get married at Disneyland. I've been interested in the Rose Court Garden but lately I have been thinking about somewhere at the Grand Califorian. But who knows, I've got time!

 

[Elvenfire]

Would it be possible for someone to show me some of their Disney wedding pictures by the boutwells? Doug and Chenin seem great, but the price is enough to make my heart pound like CRAZY....I just want to know if its worth it before I sell my soul to make this work.

Thanks ladies...You are wonderful
-Elvenfire

elvenwedding at yahoodotcom

 

[BrideToBe82]

Fantasmic! Premium Seating With Dessert

The wonderful Disneyland show Fantasmic! is included in your theme park admission and is shown every night in the summer, and on weekends during parts of the winter. In low season it may not be offered. You can stand with the crowds and watch it for no extra cost. But if you want to watch Fantasmic! with the best possible view and comfortable seating (and enjoy yummy desserts at the same time), you may want to consider booking Fantasmic! Premium Seating.

Fantasmic! Premium Seating includes a reserved seat in a private area near the Haunted Mansion. There are about 60 seats in the Premium Seating area. You will also enjoy a fabulous dessert and drinks such as coffee, soda, iced tea and hot chocolate. If you book Premium Seating for the first performance of Fantasmic! offered that evening, you will also be allowed to keep your seat for the fireworks.

This is strictly a luxury experience and very costly. Reserved seating for Fantasmic! is $59 per adult, $49 per child.

To get reserved seating for Fantasmic! you MUST call one month before the day you plan to attend. (It usually sells out within minutes.) Be on the phone to (714) 781-4400 at 8:00 am (PST). They will give you a confirmation number. On the day of your reservation, you will need to bring that confirmation number, the credit card used to purchase the tickets, and photo ID.

On the day of your reservation, pick up your tickets at Guest Relations outside the Disneyland entrance. Show up at least 30 minutes in advance (45 is better) at the special seating area. They will call you about 20 minutes before the show and show you to your seats. Usually you will be seated based in the order of the tickets purchased, but this is not guaranteed.

We planned a dessert party for our guests right after our rehearsal and everyone had a great time! My mom called exactly one month before right when the ticket office opened and we were lucky to get tickets for all of our guests. Unlike WDW, Disneyland's dessert party is not a private party but a section blocked off with first come first serve seating for those that purchased a ticket. A couple of our family members arrived an hour early to reserve seats for the entire bridal party so that we were able to all sit together. We had the perfect view of Fantasmic! and we were able to stay and watch the firework show right after. We were given all you can drink soda, coffee and hot chocolate.

Here is a picture of the dessert platter that each guest got:

 

[valb@cox.net]

I am going to Disneyland for my first planning session in 10 days. On a lot of the WDW threads, they talk about receiving an AP as part of the package. Does anybody know if there is an AP as part of a FTW for DL?

I am so excited I can't wait for my trip!!!

 

[BrideToBe82]

Unfortunately Disneyland FTW doesn't offer AP's to their brides. We asked at our planning session but maybe they have changed things since. Have fun at your planning session!!

 

[valb@cox.net]

Thank you very much! Appreciate it...

I'll let everybody know if anything has changed!

 

[Corpsebride]

Hi all~
Is this the Disneyland California Fairytale Weddings brides page now? I stopped looking at the wedding board on here because everything was for WDW. But it would be great if this was for California Brides.
Anyways, Df and I were going to get married at Disneyland in the Rose Court Garden on Oct. 31, 2008. BUT, we got into a head on collision a few weeks ago and it wiped out our wedding $$ , soooooo we are rescheduling for Oct, 31, 2009. We are fine and will be fine by then but I was a little sad and am still a little sad.
But, that will give me time to get absolutely EVERYTHING done. and lose that 25lbs.lol
Anyhoo, I hope this is our board, that would be super!

 

[IndyBride]

This board has information specifically for DL but you can a lot of great ideas on all the other posts. Unfortunatly it is kinda hard to hear about specific vendors and what not unless you find a DL bride.

 

[CelticBelle]

Hi! I think we have just decided that we will have our wedding at disneyland. It is just much closer than wdw. So I was wondering if anyone knows any good resources for disneyland information. theres not much on these boards and their website doesn't have much. We won't be getting married until after I graduate college which will be in about 2 1/2 years, but I would like some info now to plan by.

Also I think wee will be going to dl soon and I was wondering if it is possible to show up or have an appointment where they give you basic information and maybe show you some of the areas. I was wondering so we could make sure this is what we want since so much money will be put into it.

 

[RangerPooh]

Hi! I sent you a PM.

I recommend making an apointment. They might not be too interested in talking to you this far out, but you could at least inquire about receiving some general planning information such as minimum expednitures and sites available for use.