GF Ballrooms... what did you do?

[Swana9]

Hello brides!

I am planning to have my reception in one of the Grand Floridian ballrooms. We have space reserved for the St. Augustine room, which I got to see on my last trip to Disney, but the IRS was having a tax conference, and well...they made the decor as borin as taxes! lol

My question is... did anyone out there have their reception in a GF ballroom? And if so, how much decor was really needed to make it look good....

I have the Passporters e-book and they say that some other venues are better because they have more character and you dont have to spend much on decorations.. but how much really do the ballrooms need?

Any pics of what you did? Thank you!!!

 

[mb187143]

Hello brides! I am planning to have my reception in one of the Grand Floridian ballrooms. We have space reserved for the St. Augustine room, which I got to see on my last trip to Disney, but the IRS was having a tax conference, and well...they made the decor as borin as taxes! lol My question is... did anyone out there have their reception in a GF ballroom? And if so, how much decor was really needed to make it look good.... I have the Passporters e-book and they say that some other venues are better because they have more character and you dont have to spend much on decorations.. but how much really do the ballrooms need? Any pics of what you did? Thank you!!!

We used St. Augustine AB, and we didn't go nuts with the decorations. I also didn't want large center pieces. I loved how our room looked. We had the gobos from the DJ package and we did white linens with purple napkins to match my 2nd color (I had hot pink and plum as my colors). We were going to do chair covers but then we found out that they aren't always ironed and I didn't want to waste the money on that if it was possibly going to look messy.

If you're into big decor and big splashy centerpieces then you might be better In a venue with more already going on to save money. Otherwise, you may find the ballrooms to be just fine.

 

[Swana9]

Thank you!! That is great to hear. I am not an over the top flashy person.. and my colors are yellow and blue and plan to have simple centerpieces.
Were the chairs ugly? Is that why you wanted to cover them.. or just to add some color?

 

[mb187143]

Thank you!! That is great to hear. I am not an over the top flashy person.. and my colors are yellow and blue and plan to have simple centerpieces. Were the chairs ugly? Is that why you wanted to cover them.. or just to add some color?

To be honest I couldn't have cared less about the chairs. Originally I wanted to cover them because I've liked that look at other weddings, but it was a little too formal for our wedding and again, I had heard Disney was no great about pressing them.

I can really only recall chairs from one wedding I've ever been to, and it was only because they were incredibly uncomfortable - and ironically the chairs were chivari chairs that many brides pay to have. I was fine with the standard chairs because they really didn't stand out in a noticeable way, and we out that money toward having Mickey. At the end of the day I think our guests are more likely to remember we had Mickey than the chairs at our wedding. I hope anyways.

 

[Museofire]

Hey there! I haven't had my planning session yet so absolutely nothing for me is set but I'm in still Augustine as well. My colors are blue and white with silver accents. I'm looking to splurge on up lighting. Ballrooms to me always look like ballrooms unless there's something interesting with lighting. Also you can look into outside companies for chiavari chairs and other decor elements to save money.
Final thought of mine: did you look into the yacht and beach club ballrooms. I actually like them better than the grand flo ones because they don't have those murals in the ballroom. I didn't go with it for logistical reasons and because the carpeting is blue and GOLD which we feared would clash with my many silver elements. But maybe for your blue and yellow it could work?