Have any of you Brides.........

[DisneyB2B]

Hi Ladies,

Just wondered if I am the only one on here that has booked their Disney wedding through a travel agent?

We have booked our wedding through a well known travel company in the uk and have had a lot of teething problems to say the least with communication in general.

Our intimate packages includes all the same things as the one from the disney site apart from ours includes the officiant which I beleive isn't included in the price anymore?

What I really wanted to know is are there any real differences between booking through a TA or booking direct?

Thanks in advance

Nicci

 

[karentan]

i booked with virgin weddings and had such bad service off them. if i could have changed things, i'd have booked direct, its much easier than trying to go through a middle man. have you paid a deposit yet or could you maybe put that towards the holiday and book direct with disney?

 

[DisneyB2B]

Hi Karen,

Unfortunately no we have booked and nearly paid up we did toy with the idea of cancelling due to the service or lack of but tbh we have paid a lot up front now.

We only received our planning pack yesterday which has really annoyed me as we booked the wedding back in March so it has taken them 7 months now to send this through when if it wasnt for Amy our coordinator who sent this direct to me about 2 months ago now we wouldnt have received anything with only 5 months to go . This company has really annoyed me so far and I am dreading turning up at Disney to find out they havent booked things right

Did you write to the complaints deptment at Virgin Karen?

Also what kind of wedding did you have?

Thanks again

Nicci

 

[Funniebunny]

I am a corporate travel agent and have booked mine through Virgin but I don't know whether to book the wedding part directly with Disney now. We can't book that bit until the end of this month so hopefully I would be allowed to cancel this bit from Virgin

 

[karentan]

dont worry disneyb2b, i was worried that things wouldnt go right, but the way things work is that the UK travel company will take the booking, but it is disney that actually handles the wedding day itself. i was really worried about mine but i got fed up with virgin and went direct through disney when i wanted to find out about anything or book extra stuff. i wrote a stinking letter to virgin but they basically fobbed me off. was even thinking of writing to watchdog!!!
bottom line, disney weddings has a reputation to uphold and they wont let a bad travel agents mess it up. our day worked out fine.
if you need any other help or advice, feel free to PM me

 

[JonetteA]

DisneyB2B I understand your frustration. Do you have Amy R.? I know you are good hands with Disney. It is correct that they will take everything the day of! No worries there.

 

[georgiajaimie]

We booked with First Choice and are not happy with the service from the wedding department. We deal direct with Disney with any queries. It got so much better when we were assigned our Disney planner. Considering the time difference, we get swift answers and accurate advice from them.
We've found this board to be a godsend with the planning though

 

[janine]

I never booked with Virgin, although I almost did until I read bad reports about their lack of service.
Can you not just go through your Disney co-ordinator to do the rest of the planning?

Our wedding was at the Yacht Club Gazebo, you will love it, it's so pretty.
Dont worry, Disney will do everything to ensure your day is magical.

 

[DisneyB2B]

Hi girls,

Thanks for your replies I feel better knowing that I am not the only one out there who has booked with a TA.

Georgiajaimie - we too have booked with FC they are just hopeless all we ever seem to get is each person saying they will deal with our booking strictly just them.

They even contacted my FIL2B to discuss the details instead of looking at the right booking and contacting us direct I pointed out that this was data protection and told asked them what they would have done if we didn't want the family to know we where getting married?? (The family are very happy that we are getting married btw and do know but I was questioning what if). The lady was in total shock and I think I made her realise what she could have potentially done. All she could do was apologies on behalf of the store and the company I did point out that I wasnt looking to blame her directly but the company for its lack of communication.

I do hope it all runs smoothly when we get there. Did you girls send your wedding packs back to Disney and your TA or just Disney?

JonetteA - We have Amy R L not sure if she is the same one but she is fab all the same v happy with her and she answers all our questions and has been a godsend

Thanks again for all your comments

Nicci

 

[georgiajaimie]

Thought it must be FC! I harrassed them for a while (daily phone calls) and eventually got given Matthew J Hunnels email address. He told me I should have been given a planning pack so I started phoning again and went to local branch who got a result. We filled it in and emailed it to Matthew. Then last week we got a letter & another copy of the pack asking us to fill it in & send it to them to so they could action our requests..... we get married in 4 weeks. Our new co-ordinator in Disney has already been working on them for weeks luckily(Amy L Reindeau) & at the moment I'm planning my bouquet with Rosie the Disney florist. Have piccies of alternatives if you would like them and cake upgrades.

 

[DisneyB2B]

I can't believe this company they are so pathetic at organising weddings its unreal! I really was just begining to this it was just our bad luck or something and you know the worst thing about it all is that we fly out on Friday 13th!!!! LOL I just should have known straight away shouldnt I.

It sounds as though we have been dealt with by exactly the same people and been put in the same situation, as we where given Matthew's email address and then told that we had Amy (who I have to say is brilliant and has answered every question we have given her) Thx Amy

I can't believe they have done that to you with the planning pack 4 wks before is ridiculous! If it was their wedding you can be sure they would have everything organised and booked months in advance!

I would love to see the other flower and cake options thx.

Also can I just ask did you get the officiant included in the price and do you know who is marrying you and have you been in contact with them and how have the arrangements been made?

Thanks

Nicci

 

[georgiajaimie]

We had to book our officiant seperately. We found Kevin Knox online and liked what we saw on his website. We emailed him and he sent us his ceremony planning kit. After reading this we decided to go with him & paid our $50 retainer to secure the date & time. Balance is due after the ceremony. He seems very friendly & accomodating. On all our Disney & FC paperwork it states officiant & marriage licence not included. Maybe its worth querying this as an officiant is one thing Disney can't magic up.
I agree Amy is great!!
If you PM me with your email, I'll send the bits over

 

[DisneyB2B]

You have pm

 

[georgiajaimie]

sent them over...

 

[Laurafoster]

Im sure your day will work out fine!! Disney will make your day magical no matter what!

Good luck with the rest of the planning!

 

[Doodles13]

Hi Everyone,

We have booked with Virgin and so far there have been no problems. But I don't know who is looking after our wedding at Disney. How did you guys find out? How did you get in touch with the people there?
What is in the planning pack you got? My wedding is next month and I am already worrying. Please help put my mind at ease!

Emma

 

[georgiajaimie]

The kit was several pages of info & questions about what we want for the wedding. Flowers, cake flavours etc. I was given contact details of my planner because FC could not answer my questions.

My planners email is
Amy.L.Riendeau@disney.com

Maybe you could contact her and ask her advice.

 

[Doodles13]

Thank you Georgia.

I will contact her. I do have a few questions to ask.

I wish that Virgin were a little more forthcoming with help and information.

 

[georgiajaimie]

Thats the problem we had. The travel side of it has been fine but the wedding service, well it hasn't been a service at all. The people at Disney have been great. Their florist is calling me on Tues to make sure I get what I want from my bouquet. (They can be customised to a certain extent & upgraded for an extra charge) The Dis has been the greatest help in planning our wedding & honeymoon.

 

[dee slack]

Doodles13 - why don't you phone/email Charlotte at Virgin weddings dept, and ask for more info and/or your direct Disney contact details? She has always been helpful whever I've emailed her and our VR isn't until next year!