Help!

[mad4282]

Hi everyone! I am completely new to the Disboards and really am not sure I am doing this right but here goes!

My name is Melonie. me and my fiance Donald have tentatively held 9-10-11 for our wedding at the wedding pavillion with a lunch reception following at the Atlantic Dance Hall. I am in the very early stages of planning but after seeing the pavillion and the dance hall, I cannot imagine getting married anywhere else! My question is, have any brides been married at Disney with arouind 50 guests and kept the costs below $15,000? Our ceremony will begin at 12 with a lunch reception and we will serve beer and wine. Any tips on how to keep costs down? I am so confused!!! Thanks in advance!

 

[leonix8238]

First of all, welcome and congratulations!

With regard to your questions I'm afraid I'm not the best person to answer it as I had a very small Escape wedding, however you may find the following thread useful when planning your budget:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2182201&highlight=budget

If you haven't bought it already I also highly recommend you purchase Carrie's (lurkyloo) passporter guide. It's full of information, ideas, tips and tricks:

http://www.passporter.com/weddings.asp

Hope it helps and happy planning!

 

[super_k0116]

Congratulations on your engagement! You can certainly do a wedding with 50 guests and a lunch reception for less than $15,000. Very do-able.

There is one issue you may come up against. The guest minimum at Atlantic Dance Hall is 150.

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

Hi there! I think it's very do-able to keep costs down and do it with your budget. One thing you could consider is having a bruch reception to keep costs down. A ceremony that starts at 12 has a minimum expenditure of $100per person, while a ceremony that begins at 10 with a reception at 12 has a $75 per person minimum. Also, you'll probably have to be very light with the floral and decor, but that's very easy to do because the WP is very beautiful by itself and ADH doesn't need any decor either. HTH!

 

[mad4282]

Thank you for the quick responses! Hmm, i didnt know that about the minimum, I met with a Disney planner (i think) and she suggested the dance hall. I purchased the passporter book and its great! I am just so worried I wont be able to make my dream a reality since i need to spend 15,000 max including tax and photography. Luckily my mom will be buying my dress but other than that it is just me and the future hubs!

 

[mad4282]

Thank you and congrats on your wedding as well!

 

[leonix8238]

Thank you for the quick responses! Hmm, i didnt know that about the minimum, I met with a Disney planner (i think) and she suggested the dance hall. I purchased the passporter book and its great! I am just so worried I wont be able to make my dream a reality since i need to spend 15,000 max including tax and photography. Luckily my mom will be buying my dress but other than that it is just me and the future hubs!

Don't worry, your wedding day will be perfect! You just need to look at what you REALLY want and what you can leave out/substitute.

As people have already mentioned it's so much cheaper to do a brunch, you could have a buffet style light brunch, where everyone is given a glass of champagne to toast you - I think you may be able to bring your own at certain places for a corkage fee. After that I doubt many people will want to drink a lot so you needn't pay for alcohol at the bar.

It seems dessert parties are more popular and one of the wonderful things about a Disney wedding so you could match the low key reception with one of these and your guests will be blown away and be talking about your wedding for years to come!

Other money saving options are using an i-pod instead of a live band,

You can also cut costs by using external suppliers for photography, floral, linens, chair covers etc.

The key really is to concentrate on what you really want and not get carried away and spend a fortune on things that neither you or your guests will care much about on the day.

Good luck!

 

[mad4282]

Thanks! I definitely want a dessert party! I am considering a brunch but am concerned people will not come because it is so early in the morning? Has anyone had a brunch? Thanks so much everyone. All these responses are incredibly helpful!

 

[leonix8238]

Thanks! I definitely want a dessert party! I am considering a brunch but am concerned people will not come because it is so early in the morning? Has anyone had a brunch? Thanks so much everyone. All these responses are incredibly helpful!

In my opinion, if they really want to be there they'll be there, but that's just me. As long as the most important people in your life are there then it doesn't really matter

Those who don't want to come so early could then go to the dessert party instead so you'll still get the see them and then you'd save money on feeding them twice,

 

[mad4282]

HAHAHA Leonix8238 I love the way you think!

 

[leonix8238]

HAHAHA Leonix8238 I love the way you think!

I'm mean I know but it's your day and you shouldn't have to worry about other people. Reading these boards it seems half the stress of planning a wedding comes from trying to please other people. In my opinion the important people in your life are going to your wedding for you, so they'll be happy no matter what you do!

 

[mad4282]

I'm mean I know but it's your day and you shouldn't have to worry about other people. Reading these boards it seems half the stress of planning a wedding comes from trying to please other people. In my opinion the important people in your life are going to your wedding for you, so they'll be happy no matter what you do!

Very true! Its hard being a people pleaser and trying to plan a wedding without offending people.

 

[leonix8238]

Very true! Its hard being a people pleaser and trying to plan a wedding without offending people.

Indeed it is.

No matter what you do I'm sure you'll have the best time, who wouldn't? It's Disney!

 

[mad4282]

Ok, Just got back some additional estimates from my walt disney something or another (not my planner, the other person lol). I asked to see if it could be done for under $15,000 and recieved a quote that budgeted at around $14,000 for 35 people, not including my beloved dessert party or photographer. Now Im worried with adding all of this together, I will be closer to $20,000, which I cannot afford without selling a kidney. I am wondering if Escape would be a better option, but I do not know if I can keep to 18 guests, id need atleast 25 including the bride and groom. I read somewhere on the disboards that you can add additional guests to an escapes package for a flat fee and bring your total up to 25 people. Does anyone know if this is true? Im starting to worry my disney wedding is just not going to happen...

 

[leonix8238]

Ugh, that sucks. Is there anything you can cut to bring the price down?

Regarding the Escape package I think they changed the rules recently so that you can no longer add any additional guests. I could be wrong, but I'm sure I read a post from Lurkyloo stating this, so it can be pretty much taken as gospel.

I'm sure you can make it work, it's surprising how much the little cut backs add up to.

 

[mad4282]

Ugh, that sucks. Is there anything you can cut to bring the price down?

Regarding the Escape package I think they changed the rules recently so that you can no longer add any additional guests. I could be wrong, but I'm sure I read a post from Lurkyloo stating this, so it can be pretty much taken as gospel.

I'm sure you can make it work, it's surprising how much the little cut backs add up to.

It really is amazing! It would be this way no matter where I got married though, weddings are just plain expensive lol. I am trying to stay positive! I have Lurkyloo's book, and it has become my bible lol

 

[leonix8238]

It really is amazing! It would be this way no matter where I got married though, weddings are just plain expensive lol. I am trying to stay positive! I have Lurkyloo's book, and it has become my bible lol

I know, as soon as the word 'wedding' is mentioned the price of everything goes up by several hundred dollars!

Still, with a bit of creativity and planning I'm sure you'll manage to get your dream Disney wedding!

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

No, you can't add people to the escape anymore.

And $14,000 without photography or any fun stuff?!! Hmm. That sounds a bit high. I mean, if you did a brunch reception about about $50 per person (and think about it... that's a LOT of eggs and pancakes, right?!) for $50 people that would be... $2500. (This is assuming you're not going to have a bar at a brunch reception--- we're sure as heck not, but that's because we're not big drinkers, and I don't want drunk people at my wedding!) And let's say your Dessert Party was $30 a person, that would be... $1500, plus your viewing fees and yadda yadda yadda. So really, you could budget, like, $5,000 for food, $3,000 for the wedding pavillion, and then still have half of your budget for everything else!

 

[mad4282]

No, you can't add people to the escape anymore.

And $14,000 without photography or any fun stuff?!! Hmm. That sounds a bit high. I mean, if you did a brunch reception about about $50 per person (and think about it... that's a LOT of eggs and pancakes, right?!) for $50 people that would be... $2500. (This is assuming you're not going to have a bar at a brunch reception--- we're sure as heck not, but that's because we're not big drinkers, and I don't want drunk people at my wedding!) And let's say your Dessert Party was $30 a person, that would be... $1500, plus your viewing fees and yadda yadda yadda. So really, you could budget, like, $5,000 for food, $3,000 for the wedding pavillion, and then still have half of your budget for everything else!

Doombuggy0922 thats a great idea! I guess I didnt look at it that way. Are you having a brunch reception?

 

[girli565]

We spent $14k for 35 people, and we had a DP, WP ceremony, and lunch reception.

if you changed it to a morning ceremony and brunch reception you could def get it dont for $15k for 50 guests! It's possible.