Hoping to be a Disney Bride in April 2010

[disneygal922]

Hi Everyone! i'm not new to the DIS but new to the weddings and honeymoon boards. My DF and I got engaged at DisneyWorld on April 17. We have always wanted a traditional ceremony and big reception near home but now that I'm looking into everything I am really hoping to get married in WDW. He already agreed to a DisneyMoon! Does anybody have any advice that might help me convince him this would be a great idea? What does everybody do when it comes to extended family when you get married out of state? Do you still send invites even though most wont come? or Do you send out announcements? I'm unfortunately a little confused and don't know where to begin. I really want to get a lot of info for when I mention it to DF. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! TIA!

 

[lurkyloo]

Welcome!

Well I think what convinced my DH was how much bang we would get for our buck at WDW compared to a wedding in California. When he heard me describing the wedding in Morocco, the reception on the BoardWalk and the IllumiNations dessert party in the UK to my (skeptical) dad, DH said it sounded like so much fun that he was sold instantly!

Now when he hears people talk about their $10K backyard weddings he just shoots me a conspiratorial look....

 

[Wazzo]

I convinced my DBF that it was a good idea because Disney takes care of everything! Neither of us want to plan every little detail, so we're excited about letting Disney take care of most of it!

And welcome to the 2010 club, that's when we're hoping for too!

 

[padisneyfour]

good luck with everything- hope it all works out .... we are planning a vr for our 20th anniversary in 2010. look forward to hearing more

 

[Cosi Bella]

What I really like about doing a Disney wedding is that your ceremony and reception can be completely traditional! (and then afterwards you get to go play in Disney World, so if DF <3's Disney, this can be a big selling point). The traditional wedding style was important to me. I just love traditional wedding stuff... the church-like setting for the ceremony, the reception with a dance floor and DJ for LOTSA dancing!

BUT, what is great about Disney is that if traditional is not your thing, they have SO many options and different things you can do that your wedding can truly be anything you've imagined it to be (well, for a price anyway lol).

As far as extended family out of state, you can definitely invite them if your budget allows. If a lot of your family/friends can't make the Disney wedding, but you really want to be able to share the joy with them as well, you could do an at-home reception for all those guests after you get back. That is a popular thing to do.

Good luck!!

 

[DisneyBrideToni]

Hi Everyone! i'm not new to the DIS but new to the weddings and honeymoon boards. My DF and I got engaged at DisneyWorld on April 17. We have always wanted a traditional ceremony and big reception near home but now that I'm looking into everything I am really hoping to get married in WDW. He already agreed to a DisneyMoon! Does anybody have any advice that might help me convince him this would be a great idea? What does everybody do when it comes to extended family when you get married out of state? Do you still send invites even though most wont come? or Do you send out announcements? I'm unfortunately a little confused and don't know where to begin. I really want to get a lot of info for when I mention it to DF. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! TIA!

I was also going to have a big wedding and reception here in New Jersey. I was planning on around 200 people. I actually started planning the wedding up here. I went to Disney in March and saw a wedding. I really loved the idea so when I told my DF he was all for it. I started to think after that I would be missing out on the whole real wedding thing. I feel like I am having a better wedding than I would up here and for lots less money. I mean really, who can say they had a dessert party with fireworks at an "at home" wedding???

 

[disneygal922]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I am definitely going to look into it some more. I know he's going to be nervous about our families and friends having to spend more money than they would if it was here.

 

[Disneybride2386]

Hi! I was so glad to read your post because I'm in a similar situation. I am struggling over the decesion to have a Disney wedding. I think I want to, but I am concerned about family feeling pressure to pay the money to come. I dont want there to be any conflict, especially with the new fam!

My DF thinks we should just do it, cause its our wedding, and have an at home reception afterwards.

I'm interested to keep reading to see what you decide and how your DF feels!

Good luck!

 

[PixyDusted]

I think one of the best things about a Disney wedding is that while many people get married at WDW every year, chances that your guests have experienced a WDW first-hand are slim! So it'd be really memorable for them too PLUS they can make a vacation out of it!

I was concerned about asking our guests to travel as well but df and I are getting married next year on a Disney cruise and we were fully prepared to have only immediate family come due to the cost it is for everyone - well, almost 55 people have confirmed and booked their reservations so far! As long as you're prepared and understand that maybe many people won't be able to come and make it clear to who you invite that you completely understand that they may not be able to make it but you'd love them there I think it'll be okay!

 

[Nicola2010]

Hello and congratulations!

I am also another 2010 bride to be (hoping for May) but i live in England.

My DF and I have always loved Disney... when we vacationed there in May 2006 we just knew that that was the place we wanted to get married. We wasnt engaged then but i told my family to prepare themselves for travelling if they wanted to see me get married

We got engaged July 2007 and told our families straight away that it would be at Disney. My DF's family love Disney too and holiday there every other year so they were/are mega excited.

My family have never been... never flew long haul and so are nervous about it. My sister has told me she will travel anywhere for my wedding but i am aware of how much it will cost everyone to travel from England.

DF's family have been great and told me not to worry about that, as i am not forcing anyone to go and so if people decide to go they are making a conscious decision to spend their money and their holiday time in that way.

That made me feel much better, (especially as me and my DF are paying for the whole wedding ourselves) rightly or wrongly it is your day and you MUST do what you want.

Even if you decide that WDW wedding isnt for you, please still come onto the boards to chat about your plans and disneymoon

Good Luck, let us know what you decide!

 

[SarahInMN]

Congrats!!

Does anybody have any advice that might help me convince him this would be a great idea? What does everybody do when it comes to extended family when you get married out of state?

Here's how we decided on a Disney wedding. My fiance and his family have gone to Disney almost every year since he was a child, and his mom loves Mickey Mouse. I initially thought that a Disney Wedding was, well, kind of cheesy and wouldn't have great food. I wanted a destination wedding where we would have to do minimal planning, where I could limit the guest list, AND where our guests could make a vacation out of it (versus coming to Minnesota in January when it is always below zero and there's snow on the ground and the sun sets at 4 pm ).

I was the one who had to be convinced and the official Disney wedding website convinced me. I would suggest showing your fiance some of the trip reports and photos on this board because they illustrate how sumptuous a Disney wedding can be. The sample menus on the Disney site sounded extravagant, the ceremony and reception were sans characters (except for the guests ), and, best of all, it meant no fuss no muss for me. I am now totally excited for our wedding and am beyond excited about next week's site visit!

As for the guest list, we both wanted to eliminate "obligatory" guests (like cousins and friends of our parents) and keep the list under 60. We're sitting at 62 invited (including infants) right now. So, we had Disney send the Save the Dates only to the people on that list, and we will only send invites to that same list of people. We aren't sending invites to people unless we really want them to be there. And we aren't going to send announcements to the non-invited. Which may or may not be "etiquette acceptable" but oh well!

Hope that helps!

 

[drlindsay]

My DF and I got engaged at DisneyWorld on April 17.

My FI got engaged there in April too! How did he do it?

 

[disneygal922]

Thanks for the help everyone! I have mentioned it to him and he's still very hesitant but I'm not going down without a fight... maybe that's not a good word to use with planning a wedding I'm not going down without a long persistant... well you know what i mean

DrLindsay ~ On our first night he knew I really wanted to see Wishes! So about a week before he called and reserved a boat for one of the Wishes! cruises on Bay Lake. It was really nice b/c we had the boat to ourselves and got to see the water pagent and Wishes! and learn a lot about Disney we didn't know about. It was great! He proposed closer to the end of the fireworks! It was really romantic and couldn't think of a better way for him to do it!

SarahinMN ~ I'm from Chicago so I know all about the cold and early sunsets too!

 

[drlindsay]

OMG mine too...without the boat. He took me into the Rose Garden and then at the begginning of the parade he popped the question. Then Tink flew down from the top of the castle...so romantic!

 

[disneygal922]

So, I've been doing some preliminary number crunching (without exactly knowing how many people we'd invite) but I think this might actually turn out to be cheaper! I was getting nervous it wouldn't and all my grand dreams were shot but now i'm thinking it could work... and my computer here at work doesn't have Flash so i can't go to the disneywedding homepage but i would like to know from others if it turned out to be cheaper for you? if i have it here in chicago i guesstimate it would cost about $20,000+. how far off is that from what disney would be, in your honest opinion? could I do Disney under $15,000?

 

[disneygal922]

WOOOHOOO!! the DF just called me to tell me he looked up the Disney Wedding Wish Book and thought it looked really nice! told me we could do it!!! i'm gonna be a DisneyBride!! WOOHOO! i can't believe it! i'm so excited!

 

[IndyBride]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SummerIrmoma2_3]

Congratulations!!!

We are doing a DFTVR in Dec 2010. It seams so far away. I really want to get the show on the road already.

 

[lov2b@disney]

CONGRATULATIONS!

Let the planning begin