Getting REmarried in Disney - Has anyone done it?

[MosMom]

Our 10th wedding anniversary is coming up and I would really like to be remarried at Disney. Specifically, at the Polynesian - Sunset Point. I would like a small reception on the beach and have it be pretty casual.

I never had a wedding (insert pity here) and would love to be married in front of friends and family. I was a wild young woman and didn't want a formal wedding (that my mom would take over) so we just eloped secretly. Hee Hee Hee.

Has anyone here ever done this and what did it cost you? Does Disney Weddings specialize in this as well? We would probably have about 20 people attending.

I'm a little excited about it

 

[kpgclark]

I've never been married, but I've been "rehitched" at the Garden Grill. Are you familiar with that? It's a lot of fun.

 

[Desnik]

Like you I was wild and didn't have the big wedding. We did it at the court house and I was 3mo pregnant!!! We were engaged(and living together)and DH actually wanted the big wedding. I wanted no part of it. Then I found out I was pregnant so I had the excuse to not have the big wedding!LOL

Anyway DH and I want to do the same as you on our 10yr wedding anniversary. There really isn't too much info out there. The only site I found was this:
http://www.yourfairytale.com/weddings.html

 

[MelessaG]

I want to know about this too. DH and I are planning almost the exact same thing for our 10th (which isn't for three more years). We wanted to run off to WDW for our first wedding and were talked out of it by friends and family. This time we will do what we want.

 

[Desnik]

MelessaG
When is your wedding anniversay? Mine isn't until 3yrs either. July 21st. We did get to honeymoon at WDW!!

I think what we are looking at is the Disney intimate wedding pkg. here's more info on it:
http://www.yourfairytale.com/intimate.html

 

[MosMom]

I looked at the intimate but found out that you can only have 8 people and we have more than 8 people. So I really don't know what to do from there. I'm wondering if we would actually have to plan a wedding since we have more than 8? I have no idea.

 

[Spinning]

I would love to! We are doing the icecream social at Epcot I asked for the rehitching! I so hope they do it! Do you know if they always do if it is your anniversary? we will be married 15 years!

 

[ead79]

MosMom, yes Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings department specializes in vow renewals as well. They basically work the same way as their weddings--there are 2 main varieties: intimate and custom. I'll see what I can explain about the differences between the two. I also noticed that you were wondering about having to plan the event. Basically Disney allows you to be as hands on or hands off as you want. You may personally oversee the selection of everything, or you can simply tell them your overall theme and let them run with it. They really are experts! Also, you can request a complimentary video on Disney weddings/vow renewals from the Disney Weddings website (www.disneyweddings.com) that has some very helpful info and footage of various venues.

Intimate Vow Renewals--
Intimate vow renewals are package-type events. Disney does a terrific job with these events, but there are fewer options available to you than if you have a custom vow renewal. The standard number of people is 8 maximum, but you may purchase an intimate add-on of an additional 5 people for $500 I believe. You cannot have more than an absolute max of 13 people including the bride and groom. Here is the info on Intimate packages (though it may say wedding, vow renewals have the same fees, options, etc.):


Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings
Intimate Wedding Packages
Valid for arrivals January 1, 2004 – December 31, 2004


Where in the World can you have the storybook wedding of your dreams? Right here, in a fairy tale setting that you select. Disney's Intimate Weddings offer some of the most scenic backdrops for the perfect ceremony. Arrive in Cinderella's Glass Coach. Invite Mickey to your cake cutting, or keep it simply between the two of you. After the wedding, our vacation kingdom becomes your enchanted honeymoon playground. You can even combine your Walt Disney World© Resort wedding ceremony with a romantic cruise aboard the Disney Cruise Line. Whatever you choose it's destined to be your dream come true.

Magical amenities included with every package:
Luxurious accommodations for four (4) or more nights at one of the following Resorts: Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney's Contemporary Resort, Disney's Yacht or Beach Club Resorts, Disney's Polynesian Resort, Disney's Wilderness Lodge, Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, Disney's BoardWalk Inn or Villas.

Unlimited Admission during your stay to the Magic Kingdom Park, Epcot®, Disney's Animal Kingdom® Theme Park Disney-MGM Studios, Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park, Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, Disney's River Country Water Park, Downtown Disney Pleasure Island, the DisneyQuest® facility, and Disney's Wide World Of Sports Complex, with the freedom to visit multiple parks and attractions on the same day. (Admission to sporting events at Disney's Wide World Of Sports Complex requiring a separate admission charge is not included.)

Unlimited use of the WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort transportation system (includes monorails, ferry boats and motorcoaches).

On-Site Wedding Coordinator to assist with Wedding Ceremony and Cake and Champagne Reception.

Officiant to perform your wedding ceremony.

Choice of fresh flower bouquet for Bride and fresh flower boutonniere for Groom.

Wedding Reception including an Elegant Two Tier Wedding Cake with keepsake cake topper and one bottle of Fairy Tale Cuvee for the toast, served by Host/Hostess.

A Violinist for ceremony and cake cutting reception for outdoor
ceremonies. Premium Weddings will have an organist at the ceremony and a violinist at the cake cutting reception.

Four (4) hour Limousine Charter for transportation to and from
wedding ceremony and reception from Resort hotel.

A website highlighting your special event.

Special Wedding Keepsake.

Two (2) hours of photography coverage including a portfolio of twelve (12) images.

Unique Wedding Certificate signed by Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.

Premium Intimate Wedding Details:

Four nights from $4,200.00 per couple at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. The number of packages available at the offered price is limited to certain times of the year, please consult your Intimate Wedding Coordinator for additional details. Other dates and resorts are available at varying rates and times of the year. Disney's Premium Intimate Wedding Packages features all twelve of the magical amenities previously mentioned, plus your ceremony in Disney's magnificent Wedding Pavilion. Built on a private island surrounded by majestic Seven Seas Lagoon, Disney's Wedding Pavilion is a glass-enclosed enclave fashioned after a grand Victorian summer house. Swaying Palm trees envelop the solarium, which offers a picturesque backdrop of the glorious Cinderella Castle. Premium Intimate Wedding Packages feature all twelve magical amenities previously mentioned plus:

A Wedding ceremony at Disney's Wedding Pavilion including an organist & a violinist. (Subject to availability and scheduled Monday through Thursday only.)

Immediately following the ceremony, Wedding Cake and Champagne will be served at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa with the violinist providing background music.

Deluxe Intimate Wedding Details:

Four nights from $3,500.00 per couple at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. The number of packages available at the offered price is limited to certain times of the year, please consult your Intimate Wedding Coordinator for additional details. Other dates and Resorts are available at varying rates and times of the year. Disney's Deluxe Intimate Wedding Packages features all twelve of the magical amenities previously mentioned, plus a choice of one (1) of the following
locations during daylight hours (subject to availability):

Sea Breeze Point at Disney's BoardWalk Resort - All the charm, fun and flavor of a Mid-Atlantic boardwalk is yours to discover with a ceremony at Sea Breeze Point; a quaint white wedding gazebo located just off the boardwalk on the shores of Crescent Lake.

The Wedding Gazebo at Disney's Yacht Club Resort - Evoking the turn-of-the-century splendor of New England seashore resorts, the Wedding Gazebo is located within a colorful rose garden and welcomes couples for their special day in this lovely garden setting.

Sunrise Terrace at Disney's Wilderness Lodge - Nestled within towering strands of pine trees, the 4th floor balcony setting overlooking beautifully landscaped gardens and Bay Lake offers a magical touch to this spectacular wedding venue.

Sunset Pointe at Disney's Polynesian Resort - Located on a grassy hill overlooking The Seven Seas Lagoon with lush palm trees. Sunset Pointe serves as a perfect setting for a most special ceremony with Cinderella's Castle across the lagoon.

Additional Guests

Our WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort Intimate Wedding Packages are designed for the wedding couple only. You are welcome to invite up to eight ( additional guests to be part of your magical wedding celebration. You can extend your guest count to a total of thirteen (13) guests for an additional fee of $100 per guest for each guest exceeding the count of eight ( .

In order to provide a quality guest experience we ask that all of your guests stay in a Walt Disney World owned and operated resort. Your Intimate Coordinator will be happy to assist you with these reservations.


Custom Vow Renewals--

With custom weddings there are virtually no limitations as far as venues, options, etc. There are pre-set minimum expenditures that must be met, but otherwise the only limit is each couple's budget. The minimums are as follows:

For a weekday custom vow renewal the total minimum expenditures is $7500 plus tax (6.5%) and gratuity on certain items. For a weekend custom vow renewal the total minimum expenditure is $10,000 plus tax and gratuity on certain items. Anything you get directly from Disney counts towards this minimum, including flowers, food/beverage, cake, photography, videography, etc. There are outside vendors for everything but the food and cake, but those would not count towards your minimum expenditure. The additional minimums involve food and beverage expenses. If your reception begins before 2 pm, then you must spend a minimum of $75 per head on food/beverage plus tax (6.5%) and gratuity (19%, I believe). If your reception ends after 2 pm, then you must spend a minimum of $100 per head on food/beverage plus the same tax and gratuity. Custom vow renewals can have as many guests as your venue can hold or as few as you would like. Custom weddings allow you complete freedom of choice. You can have a menu tasting to select the food you will serve, you can have any type of bouquet you would like, and there are a wide variety of musicians to choose from if you would like one of those. Sunset Pointe is a wonderful place for a vow renewal in my opinion. Plus, I think you could get some really wonderful pictures.

The best websites for info on Disney vow renewals (remember, the info on weddings is the same as for vow renewals) are www.yourfairytale.com and www.disneyweddings.com. There is also an EZboard group called the Disneymooners where you can ask tons of questions, see sample budgets, etc. I hope that helps! If you have any other questions please feel free to PM me, and I'm happy to help!

 

[disneysnowflake]

Oh wow!! I am so going to do this for our 20th wedding anniversary. It will be 17 years this June. We had a very small wedding. I was going into the US Navy. He was in the US Army. I just wore a white dress, no wedding gown, no honeymoon. But we do have a 14 year old and 10 year old, so it never bothered me.

This sounds like something I'd really like to do in 3 years for our 20th anniversary.

 

[6_Time_Momma]

We were looking at this, too. However, for us it will not work. You must stay onsite (not an option for us as we need to rent a house). If you want more than 13 people (including yourself), you'll end up spending a minimum of $7500 even if you only want 15 people.

So, we are instead looking at http://www.orlandoweddinglocations.com/VowRenewal/index.html

 

[Pooh67_68]

I really wanted to do this in 2yrs. for our 20th, but it does seem a little expensive and the only one from my family that would go to Disney to be there for our renewal is my sister.
I guess we will just have to do the rehitching at Epcot.

 

[MelessaG]

Desnik-
Our anniversary is Jan. 4th. We didn't do the honeymoon there either, but that was because my in-laws said they would pay for it as our gift, and there's no way we were asking them to foot the bill for that. (I had a very sweet MIL) We definitely do want to intimate package. As long as our four kids are there, we don't care if there is anyone else. I do think DH's aunts and my parents might be there too, though. The aunts live in FL and my parents spend winter there. That brings us up to exactly 8 people, though-so it will still work. We just aren't decided on whether we want to go for our actual anniversary or waiting until it's a bit warmer. We've still never been to the water parks.

 

[Desnik]

Wait it was my understanding that the intimate pkg. is for 13 not including the bride and groom. Then you can pay something like $500 extra to have 15 people again not including the bride and groom. Am I just confused?

Does anyone know if they include kids in the head count? Like babies too?

MelessaG
I think I might not do the ceremony on the actual day either. But not because of the cold, I wish! I wouldn't go there in July if you paid me!!LOL

Can you get the pkg. without the resort part? I love renting pts. for a DVC resort and I don't want to take what they are giving in the package. Besides, I could save money that way too!

 

[Aurora63]

I have been planning this for a long time, and finances have kept us from it. However, when I last talked to a Disney Fairy Tale Weddings rep, she said you could invite eight guests to the intimate wedding/vow renewal. I specifically asked if the bride and groom were counted among the eight, her answer was no. This was about a year ago, and I don't think it has changed.

You can have up to five more guests and still have the intimate, for $100 per extra guest. The max number of guests is thriteen.

Just thought I'd clarify.

Also, I have unofficially heard that Disney is "experimenting" with a package that is just like the intimate, except it allows up to twenty guests and includes brunch at Narcoosee's. It is not in writing anywhere, but, if you think it might work for you, you would probably want to say something like, "Gee, I wish there were a way to have more than thirteen guests wothout going custom." and see what hapens.

 

[Desnik]

Thanks for clearing that up Aurora63!!!

 

[Fire14]

another possiblity is look into a swan wedding, you can still have a lot of the disney stuff and you have no max on ppl. or min on what to spent. i believe info can be found at www.justmarry.com

 

[Stimpy]

My parents did this about 5 years ago for their 30th anniversary. I don't know how much it cost them but it was really nice. They had a lagoon view room at the Poly. Guests only consisted of me, DH, DSis and her boyfriend at the time. DM, DSis and I went to the Grand Floridian Spa in the morning for nails, facials etc.

They had a really pretty ceremony at the Sunset point at the Poly with a minister and a violin player. There was a champagne toast at the end and then we all went to Victoria & Alberts for dinner. My mom still talks about the whole day. (Dad does too , but usually about how it cost him an arm and a leg LOL) The wedding coordinator treated them just as special as any other couple.

 

[tkd lisa]

There was a really nice trip report over on the passporter boards about a couple who did this late last summer or early last fall. You might post this over there, and see if she pops up, or at least someone there could probably find the report. I'm search challenged, or I'd try to find it and link.

 

[scarlett873]

this is something that i want to do too...but ours would end up being just the two of us and our future children...and since we just got married, it won't happen for a few years!

 

[Sonya]

What is the "rehitchin'" ceremony at Epcot?