For those who are married, how did Disney Staff treat you

[ShanMann1981]

Since I have been planning, I have heard from some people thatsome of the Disney staff was not as nice as they should be. I can't imagine that this could be true, but I'm just wondering if any of you who have already had your disney wedding experienced this?

Thanks!

Shannon

 

[wendy46001]

I have to say everyone at Disney bent over backwards to help us...and not just the bride and groom....My whole family said they got the best treatment (booked in the wedding block)

 

[ShanMann1981]

Every time I have ever been to disneyland, just for a family trip, the staff has always been more than nice, so I found it hard to believe that on a special day like your wedding they wouldn't be just as fantastic.

 

[dsnyfan6/18]

we had a great experience, both with Disney staff and with the wedding itself. Everyone was great with my entire family. The one funny thing that I laughed about was at some point during the beginning of the reception when everyone was eating dinner, the bartender fell asleep! My friends tried to take a picture but by the time they were ready to take the pic, he woke up. Oh well! I thought it was funny!

 

[ShanMann1981]

LOL the bartender fell asleep!!! LOL

 

[faeriegrl]

We had a wonderful experience with our Sales Manager, Bill Barchik, and our second wedding planner, Ken Weaver.

There were some kinks in the beginning stages of planning but I can say Disney rose to the occasion and I was very happy with my perfect wedding day. They did everything so perfect and nothing went wrong.

 

[bridegirl]

In retrospect, I should have asked to change when I knew things were going wrong

- failed to complete any of the 3 simple requests I had made leading up to the day

On the actual day, everything that went wrong was this persons fault

- was late to meet us for the carriage ride to the WP so no one was organizing anything, it was chaos and Stan from STVS had to get everyone going

- forgot to tell the photographer to bring a ladder for THE ONLY PHOTO I REALLY WANTED - of all of us and the carriage and the pavillion

- forgot to put the castle topper I had ordered on our cake, and when I asked for it, said "if you want me to make the change, it will lessen your character time, you know, the characters have a tight schedule". I said but I don't want the mickey topper, that's why I ordered the castle. They haruphed off and got it, but then cut our mickey/minnie time in half and still charged us for the full time since "I had chosen to wait for the castle topper" which the EM had left in the kitchen

- was in such a hurry that they instructed the staff to box up the cake before everyone had even gotten a piece

It goes on and on - the worse part being - a surly attitude!

The moral is - IF YOU ARE NOT FEELING THE LOVE, MAKE A CHANGE. It doesn't get better, it only gets worse.

We had a lovely day despite this person, but it doesn't help when you are paying so much money to get bad service - very frustrating.

Susy

 

[JonetteA]

I don't mean it to sound harsh, and I thought alot about posting to the thread.

Honestly, I think that every wedding has problems. Goodness knows we had our fair share. I understand Bridegirl's point, but I want to try and set expectations with people. I went into my Disney wedding thinking that this would be stress free, I would give them a vision and they would execute it. Well, it doesn't work that way. You are still very involved down to the last detail. For some people that is good, for others not so good. I have a very demanding job that requires alot of attention. I had to be on and off the phone quickly and concisely, and luckily I had a planner that could help with that. These planners are human and they do have lives besides our weddings. Their average workload is INCREDIBLE! The month that I got married, my WP had 20 something weddings plus she was doing planning sessions for brides, and answering everyone elses questions and phone calls. Trying to keep things straight and organized for 20 life important events is a hard thing to do. The other part we never see is the fact that they are trying to get us the best deal they can while working with other areas in the company who honestly, could care less about your wedding. I hate to tell everyone. Unless you are having a 50k event or more, some areas in the company really don't care what you want. B/c their daily revenue is more than your entire event. The planners have to work with our demands and the company's demands, and I don't think we give them enough credit for what they do. Was I sad/upset that everything didn't go perfectly after I had heard so many wonderful stories of a perfect day? Yes I was disappointed, but then with perspective I realized what mattered most. I was married to my Prince Charming and I cared about what went RIGHT! The looks on the kids faces when they saw Mickey and Minnie, my 87 year old grandmother doing the chicken dance, and being at my favorite place with friends and family. For that alone is priceless and precious to me!

 

[dsnyfan6/18]

bridegirl, i hate to ask, but who was your EM?

I'm sorry you had a bad experience

 

[Glass Slipper]

I could not have had a better experience!!!! The whole staff from photogs, photo assistants, my wedding planner, and just everyone was wonderful. I was having problems with my bustle and my wedding planner came out of nowhere and pulled out safety pins and was immediatly fixing my dress, I had no idea that he even knew something was wrong with it. I also forgot to put my garters on, within 10 minutes he had a garter brought over for me. My husbands mother had the batteries die in her camera...within 5 minutes he had fresh batteries brought to her. It was amazing. Even the staffs attitude was wonderful. The were very helpful in every aspect. I actually miss my wedding planner. I could not have asked for a more perfect day!!

 

[princessblueeyzes]

bridegirl, i hate to ask, but who was your EM?

Please don't post their name. Just because someone had a bad expierence with a planner doesn't mean that everyone is going to have the same problems with that EM. All I am trying to say is that for the most part our EMs have bent over backwards for a lot of us. They have to abide by Disney rules plus deal with what us brides want and try and make our day go great. Besides I wouldn't want the job of our EMs having to deal with all kinds of stresses making sure everyone's day is up to what the bride's expectations are, I give them a lot of credit and just because something went wrong for your wedding, just think at all those phone calls and e-mails of them trying to take care of each one of us.

 

[JonetteA]

I know that some of you have just joined us. Disney does read the boards, and they are more than welcome to. We are a public forum open to anyone. Posting an EM's name is not something we do at the DIS. Everyone tries so hard to make it a special day for you. The support staff that helps with your wedding is HUGE. Seriously! That being said, there are personality conflicts on occassion, and that is normal. Someone that you may not get along with, someone else will! All of the Disney WP work really hard and miss time with their families to make your event spectacular! No one really noticed the things that went wrong at the wedding except for one thing I will mention in my planning journal later.

 

[bridegirl]

I would never post the person's name, I purposely wrote my reply so that you wouldn't even know if it was a man or a woman.

I agree that just because I had a bad experience it doesn't mean someone else will - I just want to suggest to people that they listen to their instincts.

For purposes of clarification, I have had MANY wonderful experiences with FTW, and only one that was less than stellar.

This year I am working with Bill Barchik who is beyond a pleasure, prompt, efficient, full of information that he's willing to pass along, and has a sincere excitement about both his job and our event, which I really appreciate.

Pixie dust,

Susy

 

[JDR2b777]

ME too.. I have Bill too.. I LOVE HIM! He is so wonderful - sounds so cute over the phone!

So, the lastest on me - I submitted my SAVE THE DATES so they should be going out soon - What should I expect next?

 

[AlmostMrsH]

These planners are human and they do have lives besides our weddings. Their average workload is INCREDIBLE! The month that I got married, my WP had 20 something weddings plus she was doing planning sessions for brides, and answering everyone elses questions and phone calls. Trying to keep things straight and organized for 20 life important events is a hard thing to do.

While this is true, it shouldn't be an excuse for things to be wrong. It is, after all, their job to plan weddings. The WP may have 20 weddings in one month, but I will only ever have ~one~.
In Guest Relations, we were taught that no matter how trivial a situation may look to you (or how many other times you've dealt with the EXACT same thing), for the guest in front of you, this is THE most important thing. It's all about perception - if those 19 weddings go off without a hitch, but the 20th falls apart, everyone involved in that last "bad" one only knows that things didn't go well. That's their perception of the situation, no matter what the rest of the story might be.

That said, I really haven't had any problems with the planner I have right now, and I'm excited to finish the planning so I can look forward to my Fairytale Wedding.

 

[karenperez]

I agree with AlmostMrsH. It is their job to plan weddings. Bridegirl should have NEVER been disrespected re: her cake topper. When she mentioned it to her WP, he/she should have gotten it there ASAP! Then for the WP to say it would cut into her character time if she wanted to wait for the topper!?! That's like $1,000 she spent for those characters! THEN she was charged in full for half the time with them! There is no excuse for any of that. The least they could've done was drop the attitude and apologize for the inconveniences. If Disney can't offer exceptional service with EVERY wedding, they shouldn't book so many in 1 day back to back. All of her guests didn't even get a piece of her wedding cake. It's unacceptable.

 

[starseed]

I hope I'm not hijacking the thread here... but it appears that the majority of the time I read about problems with DFTW staff, it is for Intimates.

AND IT HAS ME WORRIED!!

I realize that my EM is busy, and sometimes I feel that her email replies are a little short and not always complete. But I have not had any problems, so maybe I am just worried for no reason.

But I wonder if there's a way I can feel better and more assured about our once in a lifetime event planned from afar!?!

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

I also had my fair share of things not going as well as I expected for a Disney wedding. I had a wonderful and magical wedding experience because it was at Disney...my dream place, but there were many issues with my wedding. Including...a bad photographer. I had all Disney staff too and I was disappointed. I was just sent a questionnaire a couple days ago and explained my issues. It's not that this will always happen, but I had more than I expected to go wrong. I was not happy with my event planner on my wedding day, photographer, or officiant. Everyone else was wonderful (musicians, servers, videographers, etc.), but the most important people let me down on my big day. There were problems arriving to my wedding location, my guests not being told what to do, the reception, champagne toast, and cake. The main problem was not really having anyone there to take control, help, or infrom us and my party what to do or what was going on. I felt like my event planner just stood in the background and watched. I was more in control of taking over and having to do the job of my event planner and photographer. My Mom and I were shocked that we were having to be the planners on my wedding day and that's what happened. I had complaints after my wedding and I guess I was just expecting a more "perfect" experience because Disney hires the best! So...they say...

 

[starseed]

I also had my fair share of things not going as well as I expected for a Disney wedding. I had a wonderful and magical wedding experience because it was at Disney...my dream place, but there were many issues with my wedding. Including...a bad photographer. I had all Disney staff too and I was disappointed. I was just sent a questionnaire a couple days ago and explained my issues. It's not that this will always happen, but I had more than I expected to go wrong. I was not happy with my event planner on my wedding day, photographer, or officiant. Everyone else was wonderful (musicians, servers, videographers, etc.), but the most important people let me down on my big day. There were problems arriving to my wedding location, my guests not being told what to do, the reception, champagne toast, and cake. The main problem was not really having anyone there to take control, help, or infrom us and my party what to do or what was going on. I felt like my event planner just stood in the background and watched. I was more in control of taking over and having to do the job of my event planner and photographer. My Mom and I were shocked that we were having to be the planners on my wedding day and that's what happened. I had complaints after my wedding and I guess I was just expecting a more "perfect" experience because Disney hires the best! So...they say...

Hi there!
Thanks for sharing your experience! Is there any advice you can give for future Intimates in order to have the day run as smoothly as possible?

And just out of curiosity, did you have the EM you had been working with from the beginning at your wedding?

I would love to read your wedding trip report (hint hint).

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

Hi Starseed! Yeah, I'll have to get around to writing my wedding trip report. Yes, I have the same EM the entire time, but wasn't able to find that out until the day of my wedding. There is really nothing on my wedding day I personally could have done to make it run smoother. I did everything I could before the wedding and on the day of to make it as smoothly. I think if I and my family weren't the way we were...it would have ran less smoothly as it did. The real problem was just my EM, who chose to really do nothing, but stand in the background and not take charge. Of course, I wouldn't know this or think this ahead of time and once you're at the wedding...you're kinda stuck. It was a magical day and I married my Prince, so that's what's important to me. The problem with a Disney Intimate wedding is you don't get to meet or really know the people like you usual would. You just know them by e-mail mainly and then...it's your wedding day! It all pays off though, but I expected more from Disney...as I think most people do.