Guests at ceremony ONLY

[MissCass609]

My fiancé and I are in the process of planning our Wishes wedding for June of next year. The ceremony is going to be at the Grand Floridian and the reception is at the Whitehall Room. Our guest list right now is small, only about 35 for financial reasons. However as soon as we started talking about getting married in Disney of course everyone wanted to come. While the price of our dinner reception is on a per-person basis ($175 per person to be exact), the Grand Floridian is a flat fee of $4000 since we are doing it on a Tuesday regardless of how many guests attend. So my question is, would it be possible to have more people come to the ceremony and then just have the wedding party and our immediate families at the reception? That way we could still keep to our budget, but we can have more people be a part of at least some of our special day. The way I see it it's not like people who aren't attending the reception won't have anything to do- it's Disney! So if you personally have held/attended/planned a Disney wedding and had a different number of guests at your ceremony than your reflection, please share your experience! I don't mean to sound rude but I am really not looking for guesses on policies or opinions on the matter, just the facts. Thanks in advance!

 

[Seia]

I know how difficult it is getting the guest list down -- my fiancé and I are going through that now! Personally though, if I were attending a destination wedding and paying for hotel/flights/etc., I would expect to be able to attend both the ceremony and reception. This is just my opinion, but if I couldn't fit it in the budget for someone to attend both events, I wouldn't invite them.

 

[MissCass609]

I know how difficult it is getting the guest list down -- my fiancé and I are going through that now! Personally though, if I were attending a destination wedding and paying for hotel/flights/etc., I would expect to be able to attend both the ceremony and reception. This is just my opinion, but if I couldn't fit it in the budget for someone to attend both events, I wouldn't invite them.

The roughly 15 to 20 people who I have spoken to about possibly coming to the ceremony only are fine with it as long as they can attend. They just want to be a part of it and see me in my dress and all that since they are all people who have known me or my fiancé since we were little. Plus many of the people have small children that probably wouldn't stay at the reception that late anyway. The way I see it if I invite people to just the ceremony and they don't want to pay all the money to not be able to attend the reception, then they don't have to come.

 

[alyaki]

So, I'm sort of confused by what you said about a flat fee. I don't think any of the spaces have a flat dinner fee. Or are you talking about the ceremony? Because then, it makes more sense, but I think the Pavilion is always $4000. They don't change the price of the ceremony location based on day of week. However, they do change your enhancement minimum amount - yours would be $5000 on a Tuesday. Also, have you brought this up to your consultant, or looked through your contract, if you have one already? There should be something in there saying you can't have more than a 5% or 10% difference in number of people attending your ceremony and reception, and if you bring it up to them, they may tell you that if you want 35 people attending the ceremony, you have to pay for meals for 35 as well.

We're doing a morning ceremony so that we have lower food/beverage minimums ($125pp vs. $175pp) - would that be an option for you? I think my total minimum (food/beverage, enhancement minimum, ceremony fee) is around $11500 for 30 people before service charges and tax, which is actually pretty doable.

 

[Mommy2TwoMickeys]

I am also curious about this. My brother is having a wishes wedding in december. during the same week of the wedding a "not so close" couple will be in disney and wanted to attend the ceremony to join in the celebration. I told them I didn't think it was an option.

 

[MissCass609]

I am also curious about this. My brother is having a wishes wedding in december. during the same week of the wedding a "not so close" couple will be in disney and wanted to attend the ceremony to join in the celebration. I told them I didn't think it was an option.

Well, as you can see, so far I've gotten a lot of opinions and no facts haha. But I am speaking with my consultant today so I'll just ask her and let you know what she says!

 

[MissCass609]

So, I'm sort of confused by what you said about a flat fee. I don't think any of the spaces have a flat dinner fee. Or are you talking about the ceremony? Because then, it makes more sense, but I think the Pavilion is always $4000. They don't change the price of the ceremony location based on day of week. However, they do change your enhancement minimum amount - yours would be $5000 on a Tuesday. Also, have you brought this up to your consultant, or looked through your contract, if you have one already? There should be something in there saying you can't have more than a 5% or 10% difference in number of people attending your ceremony and reception, and if you bring it up to them, they may tell you that if you want 35 people attending the ceremony, you have to pay for meals for 35 as well. We're doing a morning ceremony so that we have lower food/beverage minimums ($125pp vs. $175pp) - would that be an option for you? I think my total minimum (food/beverage, enhancement minimum, ceremony fee) is around $11500 for 30 people before service charges and tax, which is actually pretty doable.

The flat $4000 fee was referring to the wedding pavilion at the Grand. My fiancé and I definitely do not want to do a morning ceremony/reception. I'm speaking with my consultant today so I will ask her.

 

[Seia]

I just looked it up in my LOA, and alyaki is correct. The contract says that your guest count for each event (ceremony and reception) "must be consistent and will not vary by more than five percent (5%)".

 

[MissCass609]

I just looked it up in my LOA, and alyaki is correct. The contract says that your guest count for each event (ceremony and reception) "must be consistent and will not vary by more than five percent (5%)".

Thank you! Technically my wedding is exactly one year from today, so I don't have my contract yet.

 

[alyaki]

Thank you! Technically my wedding is exactly one year from today, so I don't have my contract yet.

I had a feeling that might be the case - that was why I brought it up. I thought I remembered a clause in there (the one Seia referenced). Thanks for clarifying that you were referring to the Pavilion cost - I thought so, but when I first read it, it sounded like you were talking about the meal. So I was a bit confused.

Definitely bring it up with your consultant, since they can give you more information. I just didn't want you to be caught completely off guard! And I hope you weren't offended with the morning suggestion - wasn't sure if you were set on a particular time of day, or open to moving around some, so I was just trying to think of something to cut down the costs for you if you were more open to moving around.

 

[MissCass609]

I had a feeling that might be the case - that was why I brought it up. I thought I remembered a clause in there (the one Seia referenced). Thanks for clarifying that you were referring to the Pavilion cost - I thought so, but when I first read it, it sounded like you were talking about the meal. So I was a bit confused. Definitely bring it up with your consultant, since they can give you more information. I just didn't want you to be caught completely off guard! And I hope you weren't offended with the morning suggestion - wasn't sure if you were set on a particular time of day, or open to moving around some, so I was just trying to think of something to cut down the costs for you if you were more open to moving around.

I wasn't offended at all by your morning suggestion. I apologize if my response to your post seemed short and unappreciative or unpleasant, I was posting from my phone and was in an area with bad service at the time, so I had to keep my response short or else it would not let me post! There are two parties that won't be getting in to Orlando until the morning of the wedding, so we really need to go a later ceremony.
Good to know about that clause though. I'm not sure exactly what we're going to do now but I'm sure we'll figure it out. Thanks for the help!