For those of you who got married IN Epcot

[jspahn]

what time did your day start?

When did you do all of your pictures? If you did them immediately following your ceremony, what did your guests do?
What kind of "cocktail hour" would be going on for breakfast?

I am torn between having our ceremony in Epcot (with brunch reception) or a much later ceremony at SBP with dinner reception. The later ceremony would give us time to do most of our pictures before the ceremony.

I am not a morning person by any means... so i dont know if I could handle the 9am ceremony time.

And finally - was it worth it to get everyone there so early??

 

[lurkyloo]

what time did your day start?

OK, don't freak out, but.... 4am. Hair and makeup started at 4:30am.

When did you do all of your pictures?

We did them beforehand in Epcot, beginning around 7:30 and ending just before the ceremony started, at 9am.

If you did them immediately following your ceremony, what did your guests do?

If you did them after the ceremony, you could send your guests off to the pre-reception on the bus or a Friendship Boat.

What kind of "cocktail hour" would be going on for breakfast?

We served the pastries and bagels that came with our brunch buffet as the pre-reception food and had the juices, coffee, tea, etc. available. This saved money and helped spread out the tons of food included in the brunch so people weren't overwhelmed.

I am not a morning person by any means... so i dont know if I could handle the 9am ceremony time. And finally - was it worth it to get everyone there so early??

The way I see it, surely I could get up early on one day in my entire life in order to have the fabulous experience that is an Epcot wedding. If our guests didn't like it, no one complained to me - and many of them said they enjoyed having the break between our brunch and the dessert party for swimming, park touring, and naps!

If you click the "Trip!" link in my signature it'll take you to my wedding trip report so you can see how everything timed out...

 

[jspahn]

Lurkyloo you are awesome! I did start going thru all the TR and PJ threads to get some ideas.

Goodness 4am???? YIKES!!!!! And my bridesmaids soooo would not be happy with me. But I do like the idea of pictures before the ceremony.

We were going to stay in EPCOT for the reception - living seas - so I guess my guests could just walk there?

With a brunch - did you do the DJ thing? How long did your reception last?

I will go take a look at your TR too...

 

[lurkyloo]

I think Disney will recommend that your guests ride the bus to the reception, even though your ceremony is also in Epcot.

We didn't want a traditional reception, so we cut the DJ and one hour. We had a casual, 3-hour brunch where people just ate, mingled and got to know each other.

A lot of our guests have told us they really enjoyed this unstructured approach and that it felt more comfortable and familial than other wedding receptions they've been to (but then I'm the type of wedding guest who'll spend the whole 4 hours wishing we could just get straight to the cake part! )

 

[jspahn]

Ok, after reading your TR and your advice, we have decided to go with our initial instinct - which was to get married in France.

We wanted a shorter reception as well, and will cut the DJ in favor of an Ipod. Loved your idea too of splitting your brunch up by putting some of it as the pre-reception.

Thanks so much for sharing!!

 

[lov2b@disney]

I did a 5:30 start and did some pictures at the BC (including our first look) then to Epcot at 7:15, pictures until the guests arrived and then after some pictures after the ceremony we sent the guest on the bus to the pre-reception.

We did brunch stuff for prereception, fruit/pastry/coffee/tea and a champagne drink.

And had a full sit down lunch...

also no DJ

 

[lurkyloo]

Ok, after reading your TR and your advice, we have decided to go with our initial instinct - which was to get married in France. We wanted a shorter reception as well, and will cut the DJ in favor of an Ipod. Loved your idea too of splitting your brunch up by putting some of it as the pre-reception. Thanks so much for sharing!!

Glad I could help!

I did a 5:30 start and did some pictures at the BC (including our first look) then to Epcot at 7:15, pictures until the guests arrived and then after some pictures after the ceremony we sent the guest on the bus to the pre-reception.

Dagnabbit, I'm jealous - you got to sleep in an hour and a half later than I did and still look absolutely gorgeous!

 

[jspahn]

Lurkyloo, you are well known to the DFTW people.
In the course of talking to them today (i have a hold on France now for 10/12), I had said that seeing some advice from another bride on here really helped make up my mind.
And he replied, was it lurkyloo?

 

[jenna77]

Lurkyloo, you are well known to the DFTW people.
In the course of talking to them today (i have a hold on France now for 10/12), I had said that seeing some advice from another bride on here really helped make up my mind.
And he replied, was it lurkyloo?

I love it! Carrie, Disney hasn't made you a fabulous job offer yet? They really should!

 

[figmentfan814]

Congrats on deciding to join the ranks of the Epcot brides. We did a lot of the things that Carrie mentioned too.

But, instead of seeing each other like Carrie and Sandy did with their DH we wanted to wait until the ceremony, so our planner was still able to stagger pictures- the guys started at 7:00 am and I went with my bridesmaids at 7:45 am.

We did our fruit display and a cheese display for our pre-reception. Then instead of a DJ we had a pianist since we were at the Living Seas for our reception. We also took group shots with all the families that had came to the wedding at the end so we could send them in the thank you cards to our guests.

We also took the bridal party after the reception for some beach shots at the Grand Floridian since we still had some time left on our chartered bus. This allowed us to get more shots of just DH and I right after the ceremony during the pre-reception with just a few group shots at our location at the American Adventure Rotunda.

 

[jspahn]

Congrats on deciding to join the ranks of the Epcot brides.

Thanks!

But, instead of seeing each other like Carrie and Sandy did with their DH we wanted to wait until the ceremony, so our planner was still able to stagger pictures- the guys started at 7:00 am and I went with my bridesmaids at 7:45 am.

DF and I have decided we will see each other, and do the "first look" at the Boardwalk (where we will be staying then). And we are still undecided about having the whole bridal party (5 each) or just a MOH and BM... Though if we do have the whole party, I may take part of your idea and send the guys along first, the have the girls go and do the "first look" in EPCOT instead.

We did our fruit display and a cheese display for our pre-reception. Then instead of a DJ we had a pianist since we were at the Living Seas for our reception. We also took group shots with all the families that had came to the wedding at the end so we could send them in the thank you cards to our guests.

We also took the bridal party after the reception for some beach shots at the Grand Floridian since we still had some time left on our chartered bus. This allowed us to get more shots of just DH and I right after the ceremony during the pre-reception with just a few group shots at our location at the American Adventure Rotunda.

Since our wedding is only 40-50ppl, most of whom are family, we will have lots of pics to take after ceremony with our guests. I am hoping we will also have time after our reception to hop over to GF for pics as well - its such a gorgeous hotel!

 

[figmentfan814]

Since our wedding is only 40-50ppl, most of whom are family, we will have lots of pics to take after ceremony with our guests. I am hoping we will also have time after our reception to hop over to GF for pics as well - its such a gorgeous hotel!

Definitely let your planner know in advance if you want to get some shots after the reception. Our planner was able to manuever our transportation schedule, so we had a little extra time at the end and didn't have to pay for anything above the minimums. We used a limo for the wedding party in the morning before the ceremony and just rented a second bus for taking all of the bridal party over to the GF and then back to our hotels. It was worth it, I love some of our beach shots there!

 

[jspahn]

I did a 5:30 start and did some pictures at the BC (including our first look) then to Epcot at 7:15, pictures until the guests arrived and then after some pictures after the ceremony we sent the guest on the bus to the pre-reception.

We did brunch stuff for prereception, fruit/pastry/coffee/tea and a champagne drink.

And had a full sit down lunch...

also no DJ

Sandy I just finished you TR - you looked amazing, and you had fabulous pictures!! I hope mine turn out as nice as yours and carries - I am so nervous having to use DPS now for everything!

 

[DisneyBrideToni]

Lurkyloo, you are well known to the DFTW people.
In the course of talking to them today (i have a hold on France now for 10/12), I had said that seeing some advice from another bride on here really helped make up my mind.
And he replied, was it lurkyloo?

LOL Carrie Rocks!

I think ceremonies in Epcot are gorgeous. I wanted to get married in Italy but I could NOT think of waking up that early, even on my wedding day!

 

[lpizzuro123]

We had a 9:00am ceremony in Italy, a 10:00 to 11:00 prereception and an 11:00 to 3:00 reception. We had a break until 8:00pm when we had an IllumiNations dessert party in the UK.

My hair and makeup started at 5:00am.

My DH and I stayed together the night before the wedding and he was in the room while I was starting to get ready but not the whole time. My dress was hanging and covered with two white sheets so he could not see it. My girls were picked up by limo from their resort (we stayed at the Boardwalk - they stayed at POFQ) around 6:00am. The limo went back to the POFQ and picked up my Dad, my DH's dad and the groomsmen (POFQ) and then came to our resort and dropped off my dad and picked up my DH. Misty was our photographer. The guys went to Epcot for photos with Misty's husband and she stayed with me and my girls for our photos. Finally the limo came back for me and my girls and my dad.

We got to Epcot around 8:00am for photos. DH and I did not see each other (they hid him in Germany). Our guests were picked up by our private bus and brought to Epcot. Our ceremony started at 9:00am and was over by 9:30.

The bus took our guests all over to Atlantic Dance Hall and we stayed in Epcot until 10:15 for photos

then we took the limo over with our bridal party.

We had the Tinkerbelle brunch and took the fruit and dip and muffins and pastries and served them at the pre-reception along with coffee, tea and champagne punch. We got to ADH around 10:45. At 11:00 our guests left our prereception area and went to our dining area. We walked in by 11:10 had our first dance, our toast and then everyone started on breakfast. The food portion was over by 12:30 or so, Mickey and Minnie stopped by and we did the cake cutting with them.


The reception went on till 3:00 and everyone stayed the whole time. We had a DJ and lots of dancing.

By 3:30 everyone took our charted bus back to their resort.

At 8:00pm everyone met back at Epcot for our IllumiNations dessert party.

We did not hire a private bus for this. Everyone took Disney transportation to the front of Epcot and was met by a CM who walked them in to our dessert location. I think our guests liked the break. Most of them went back to their resort and hung out at the pool or just rested. Everyone came back in regular clothes (except our groommen who stayed in their tuxes).

Linda

 

[jspahn]

At 8:00pm everyone met back at Epcot for our IllumiNations dessert party.

We did not hire a private bus for this. Everyone took Disney transportation to the front of Epcot and was met by a CM who walked them in to our dessert location. I think our guests liked the break. Most of them went back to their resort and hung out at the pool or just rested. Everyone came back in regular clothes (except our groommen who stayed in their tuxes).

Linda

LOVE that picture!!!!!!

 

[A-T-G]

Wow! Look at that amazing dress!

And I love that Lurkyloo is famous at WDW! Way to go Carrie!