Help with an Escape Wedding!

[DISNEYJADE89]

Hi everyone!

This is the first time I've used a Disney forum so I apologise if I am repeating a previous topic or am in the wrong place!

I live in the UK. My fiancee and I have been engaged now for four years (ages I know!!!) and he proposed to me during the Wishes fireworks at Magic Kingdom on New Years Eve 2008.

We have been debating over where to get married for ages now...I think that is the reason why we have been engaged so long! I am an absolutely disney nut (DF not so much but whatever makes me happy keeps him happy )
We automatically ruled out a Disney wedding as we assumed it would be too expensive but once we started looked at UK weddings we realised just how much it would cost to have at home! I think my Dad nearly had a heart attack when I told him the average prices we were looking at!

We then decided that we would get married abroad somewhere hot like the Caribbean. However, I've always wanted to wear the huge princess wedding dress and have the proper 'father walk down the aisle'. I just can't see myself on a beach!

So I started investigating properly in to Disney weddings by using the forums. There are some amazing and beautiful weddings on here!

We have been looking at the Escape package as this seems more affordable and we don't think that a lot of people would be able to join us due to the long flight and cost. We are estimating that we will probably have about 16-18 guests which will be perfect for an Escape wedding. We would ideally like to have the wedding in 2015 so as to give our family and friends enough time to save (and us of course). As I am a teacher we can only get married in the school holidays so was thinking either mid August or December xmas time. I have been to Florida over xmas before and I know it gets extremely busy but it is also a magical time to be at Disney. Did anybody get married in either August or December and what was it like? Was it easy to get the date that you wanted over xmas?

I have my heart set on the wedding pavilion and would like to spend the night in the GF as it's my dream to stay there! I also have my heart set on the cinderella carriage but I just don't know if I can justify spending that amount of money for such a short time *sigh* I have already told the DF that we have to have a MK photoshoot as it will be the only chance I get to spend in MK in my wedding dress...unless I win the lottery this week!

I am intrigued to know what previous Escape brides have done for their reception. I know a reception isn't included in the Escape package but can you pay extra to have one? Or can you have a private dinner with wedding favours/menus etc? Where would you recommend to go and does anybody have costs/photos etc? I am liking the look of dessert parties as I would really like to watch the fireworks on my wedding day! Have people enjoyed these? And how much do they cost?

I know there is the basic package price for the Escape wedding but do people end up spending a lot more over the $5750 ( i would have the week day package). If I was to have the cinderella carriage and MK photoshoot plus a reception dinner or DP would it just be worth upgrading to the Wishes package and having more flexibility? I would ideally not like to spend more than the $12000 dollars though as that would be our maximum budget! Do you get a wedding consultation for the Escape package?

What photographers would people recommend and will they stay the whole day? I have heard good things about Misty Miotto and Randy Chapman.

With regards to the wedding party...where did family and friends stay and was it easy to transport them to and from the ceremony/reception?

Sorry for all the questions! I know it is a long way away but we would really like to work out basic costs before we send out our save the dates!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks

Jade

 

[2010_Bride]

This site will be a huge help for you during your planning. I was married at Disney in 2010 and joined The Dis a year earlier and found great resources and people here

We had an Escape wedding in July at the wedding pavillion. It was extremely HOT, so December may be a better choice! We really tried to keep costs down, and only added a few things to the existing package.

We added the landau coach - not the Cinderella carriage. It was white with deep blue velvet pulled by a single white horse. It was beautiful and waaaay cheaper than the full carriage.
We also added a dinner. We booked a private room at the Grand Floridian. We were able to choose our menu and there were two servers throughout the evening. We chose this option as we only had 17 guests and didn't require any dancing. Our wedding planner made sure everyone got to the dinner and then that was when she was finished for the night, and left us with the fantastic convention centre staff.

Everything else was part of the package. We used Disney photography and floral. The floral department were great suggesting ways to decorate the Pavillion that could then be transferred (by their staff) to the reception dinner to decorate that room. We were also pleased with Disney photography. You will hear mixed reviews. I found that if you want basic beautiful wedding photos, Disney will do a great job. My husband is not a great picture taker, and Mike took his time to make sure he took many photos for us to choose from. Outside agencies like Randy Chapman are much more creative from the pictures I've seen (in my opinion).

We ended up just a couple of thousand dollars over the package price and found that we didn't feel like anything was missing. It was a great day and cheaper than if we had the wedding here at home