If you were married at Disney...

[MinnieMOH]

...looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

Was there any expenditure that you would take back if you could?
Was there any expenditure you would add/spend more on?

What is your BEST advice for a to-be Disney Bride?

Thanks in advance!

 

[geek+nerd]

DH and I are very glad that we went with the dessert party. It was something that he was iffy on at first, but after it was all said and done, he was very glad that we did it. Going with an outside photographer was also money well spent.

If we could have done it, I would have liked to have added on Mickey and Minnie to the cake cutting of our Escape wedding. However, it wasn't in the budget. I do think that the dessert party was money better spent than having characters.

 

[justlook3]

I've always regretted letting my husband talk me out of an Illuminations dessert party (we went on an Illuminations cruise instead just the two of us). We had a multi course plated meal and he was concerned no one would be hungry. Which is probably true but given that we had some last minute cancellations and some concerns about making mins, that I could have cut the food for dinner and had room and money for dessert!
I don't regret going Wishes (even though we had 10 guests, not sure if they'd even let you now), nor the Wedding Pavilion. I might have gone with a slightly more exotic reception venue but the Whitehall room was charming for my French Princess theme. And I don't regret outside photography either.

 

[impromptudisneybride]

...looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

Was there any expenditure that you would take back if you could?
Was there any expenditure you would add/spend more on?

What is your BEST advice for a to-be Disney Bride?

Thanks in advance!

Take the time to plan! And take the time to save $

I am not saying I regret doing it the way we did... just myself, husband and his two kids... about 6.5 weeks before an already planned vacation, I said "I wonder if we can elope at Disney!" Found out it was possible, and ran with it. Then had to buy EVERYTHING needed in a 6.5 week period. It would have been nice to do the traditional wedding and reception... and go the whole elaborate route... but when it comes down to it, all of the added stress of getting everyone there and worrying about that kind of stuff... sort of the reason I did it the way we did!!! Now we're married, had a great day, have KICKA** pictures (Thanks, Randy Chapman!), and all is well. Now I'm just having thoughts of vow renewals every 5 years or so

Hire outside photography!

 

[Sweet Melissa]

I probably wouldn't have wasted so much time and money on DIY projects. Our welcome bags were a total waste, and when I think about all the decor and paper media I shipped ahead or packed in our already oversized luggage, I get a headache.

The one thing I'm really glad I did was book a fairly long honeymoon. Our first week there, with family and friends, was SO hectic and overscheduled. I slept about 4 hours a night and was getting tension headaches the whole time from running around exhausted. The second week was just the two of us, and I'm so glad we had that time to unwind and enjoy each other and the parks at a nice, leisurely pace.

There were a lot of things we omitted that I would have included if our budget was unlimited. We didn't do a dessert party, characters or a park photo shoot. The first two were things that I wanted to do for our guests, but the last one was one that I would have liked just for me. As such, although it's the one I would have liked most, it was the one I was least likely to do. The thing that I really should have done is hired a videographer. Our extended family has asked us if they'll get to see a video or hear our vows. Now I guess I'll have to record us reciting them and lay it over a PowerPoint slideshow of our photos or something.

 

[CMA21]

I have three things I would / wouldn't do:

1. Don't waste a lot of money on the welcome bags. We had about 100 guests and didn't want to spend a lot. So I just made some simple itinerary sheets, a door hanger, and added in some glow sticks and advil. Everyone loved them and it did what it needed to do...made them feel welcome and told them where they needed to be!

2. We did a Wishes dessert party (I LOVE wishes and that's where we got engaged), and for the longest time I debated adding the soundtrack to the party because it's really expensive. A week before the wedding I added it in and it was the BEST DECISION I made. Even my husband was like I'm glad you didn't listen to me and got the music, because it made the entire party.

3. And finally...this one might seem a little strange, but we used an app called Wedpics all week. You made a username and all your guests can upload their pictures both before and during the wedding. It's all free and everyone loved it! It was great to see guests in the park when I couldn't always be with everyone, and it was so much fun to see all the guests pictures from the wedding! After everything we ended up with 500 extra pictures...and there are some GREAT shots!

Those are my two (or three) cents!

 

[2012DisneyWorldBride]

Our top 5 things we did...

Get Cinderella's carriage

Dessert party

Do MK/Epcot bridal portrait shoot

Book Randy Chapman for photography for the wedding

Stay at GF with theme park view

------
Also I'm glad we did welcome bags... We spent more on them than we would have liked, but in the end the guests LOVED them and I had a whole folder of wedding info and Disney info that so many of our guests said helped a ton.

Things I wished we did

Get there more than one day in advance. I wanted more time for our honeymoon but now I wish we got there a day earlier. We had 30 welcome bags to deliver because some resorts we being rude about taking them at the front desk for our guests to get. Plus we had rehearsal and our parents dinner at Narcoossee's (we didn't have a bridal party)

Get Mickey

Spend more time customizing our dessert party menu... You can get ANYTHING you want for a price

Add time to dessert party

Got videography

 

[Julz226]

My favorite thing of the entire wedding was the Illuminations dessert party the night before. It was truly magical.

While my wedding photos were amazing and beautiful, I do wish I'd been a little more firm with the (Disney) photographers with saying enough is enough. We had over 300 people and they insisted on photographing us with every table. This was AFTER nearly 90 minutes of post-ceremony pictures. I'm told the food was amazing but I couldn't say for sure because I never got to eat with all of the extra photos. Once again, love the shots I bought, but seriously I picked out about 2% for my wedding album. I have a box of proofs of me with all 30ish tables of guests, but I think I looked through them once and have never looked at them again.

I was very underwhelmed by the confetti cannon at the reception.

My florist's name was Rose. I don't know if she's still with Disney Weddings now, nearly seven years later, but she was AMAZING. She was my favorite person to deal with of all of the people we worked with on this wedding.

 

[helloirishkitty]

We did a custom desert party menu and while it was everything we wanted, it was so much food! I think we would have done less if I could go back and re-do it.

I also would have gotten Cinderella's Carriage. I wanted it, but it was $$$ that we couldn't afford to spend at the end.

The best thing we did was get a 2 bedroom at BLT for the week. we had LOTS of room for everybody and the tub was so relaxing

 

[lorimay]

My daughter was married almost 6 years ago in Disney.

It was amazing and people still talk about it today and how much fun it was.

If I could change anything as the mother of the bride it would have been having the ceremony at 1:30 instead of 2:30 and adding that hour to the reception.

I felt it was cut short because of the dessert party.
The dessert party was just an unbelievable end to a beautiful day.

The carriage was a must and we loved riding in it with her.
Mickey and Minnie were such a great surprise to everyone when they came in.

Also, the sorbet bar after dinner was fun. The kids loved it and so did the adults who went to the bar to add there "toppings".

Another surprise that we didn't know about was that it was extra magic hours in EPCOT and our guests were given bands so that they could stay and enjoy the park after Illuminations. Everyone loved it. A few stares from others seeing people in formal wear running around the park.

As you can see there was nothing we were sorry we included.
It was a perfect day.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I was married at the Wedding Pavilion in 2001, October. Had a small wedding, about 12 guests and cost about 22,000 not including our accomodations/airfare. I was into lavender at the time, so my colors reflected that. I think since it was in October, I would go with more of a fall color theme for flowers and such. The coach cost $3000 at the time and was told that basically it was a ride from the Grand Floridian (where we stayed) to the wedding pavilion (5 minute ride?) and back. That's it due to where the coach was allowed to go....I know, but that's what I was told. Would of liked to have done it but not regretting it all the time. LOVED our rehearsal dinner, at the Polynesian, luau (spelling?). Guests had a great time. Another good idea, having all my guests picked up and dropped off after the wedding at the hotel that they stayed out. Guests appreciated that. Charter bus also took us to dessert party which everyone really, really enjoyed. When walking into park, we were at the end of the parade and became part of the parade. Great pics too! A big thing for my husband, the food. He wanted what he wanted and no one restaurant would accommodate. Ended up having a buffet of all the things we like to eat...good food....prime rib, king crab legs, chicken franchase, salads, two different soups, pasta station. Yes, a lot of food for the amount of people and was told that by the chef too. Just take a minute to take it all in. Be in the moment forgetting about all the little details and really take it all in.

 

[TiffinyKaye]

What a great thread! I don't know why it took me so long to take a look at it. My fiance's out of town tonight...but tomorrow, I'm going to show it to him so that he doesn't think I'm crazy about wanting the dessert party.

Tiffiny

 

[ahutton]

Today is our 17th anniversary of our wedding - and we still talk about how glad we are we did it.

If I could do it again - I would plan fewer events. There were parts of the trip that I felt like I was on the run and didn't get to just enjoy it. I would have left myself more down time, especially after we were married. We just wanted to be together and we were heavily scheduled all the way until we hit the cruise ship a couple days later.

I would NOT take my first ever cruise for a honeymoon. We learned it was not our speed. I got very motion sick and spent much of that sleepy from meds.

I would not stress out over every tiny detail. The people there know how to make very beautiful things and I would not stress about if it looks like I imagined in my head. The things that I did frustrated me. With some perceptive I wish I had let it go. All I did was frustrate myself, everyone else thought it was all perfect.

 

[Ember]

We just attended a wedding and were talking about this!

There is very little I would change about the day. I am thankful every time I see our photos that we hired outside photography. I am trilled I kept it a very small wedding (23 people, including us) because it was intimate and meaningful. I am so glad we had a DP party at Epcot, people still talk about it and everyone in the area cheered when we walked past. In between the afternoon reception and dessert party, we had a nap. What a good idea! We were tired and really needed it. We had a string quartette play both the ceremony and reception, which was amazing. This one may be silly... But my mum got me real silk stockings to wear. They not only made me feel super glamorous, but it was a really hot day and they prevented chub rub.

I sometimes wish we had gotten a videographer. But I still think it would have wound up being watched very little...

I do wish I had gotten the carriage. I really do. Yes, I still think it's a pretty giant waste of money for what you get, and I wish I'd wasted it anyway.... And I deeply regret my MK photos. Not even the end result where every castle photo was out of focus as much as Disney's handling of the situation which put a big black smear on my memories. They made me feel horrible when they messed up big time.

 

[TiffinyKaye]

We just attended a wedding and were talking about this!

There is very little I would change about the day. I am thankful every time I see our photos that we hired outside photography. I am trilled I kept it a very small wedding (23 people, including us) because it was intimate and meaningful. I am so glad we had a DP party at Epcot, people still talk about it and everyone in the area cheered when we walked past. In between the afternoon reception and dessert party, we had a nap. What a good idea! We were tired and really needed it. We had a string quartette play both the ceremony and reception, which was amazing. This one may be silly... But my mum got me real silk stockings to wear. They not only made me feel super glamorous, but it was a really hot day and they prevented chub rub.

I sometimes wish we had gotten a videographer. But I still think it would have wound up being watched very little...

I do wish I had gotten the carriage. I really do. Yes, I still think it's a pretty giant waste of money for what you get, and I wish I'd wasted it anyway.... And I deeply regret my MK photos. Not even the end result where every castle photo was out of focus as much as Disney's handling of the situation which put a big black smear on my memories. They made me feel horrible when they messed up big time.

Emberz...do you have pictures of your MK session? My fiance and I really want one...and I'm even considering using Disney for the ceremony photography just so that we can book it as soon as we sign the contract. I have heard more than one horror story though about the MK shoot, and it always makes me nervous. I actually talked to Disney about my concerns...and they were like, "We think we're awesome! I'm sorry you have reservations--but we really are cool!" And I'm still nervous... The pictures on their blog are GORGEOUS...but I don't know if they all turn out that way?

If you have copies of your MK shoot photos...I'd love to see them. What about your album for the MK session (with the grand total of 12 photos )?

Thanks!

Tiffiny

 

[MinnieMOH]

Wedpics sounds awesome!

Thanks everyone for the input!

 

[JandJ]

It's been 8 years and we still talk about what a perfect wedding day we had! We had a small Escape (back then it was called Intimate) wedding with 8 guests and 1 attendant. It was perfect for us. Not many extras - we had chocolate Mickey & Minnie favors, a custom cake, and extra floral. We had a wonderful "farewell" brunch at Whispering Canyon the morning after the wedding. That was a lot of fun!

Things I don't regret at all: DH and I weren't about to get up at 3:00 am for pictures around MK - just didn't care enough about that to lose sleep. DH hates Illuminations, not sure why, he just does, so no DP. In fact, we were in EPCOT a few weeks after the wedding and Illuminations started and he was like "thank goodness you didn't waste money on this!" I don't question his dislike for it My father was in chemo at the time and wouldn't have been able to travel to a DP anyway and I wasn't going to do anything wedding related without him. No videography - we'd never have watched it. I remember my day as perfect and wouldn't want a video to make me remember it any differently.

The only thing I would change was that I didn't have the bottom layer of our custom cake cut up and sent back with everyone to their hotel rooms. I should have gotten cake boxes or had Disney give us cake boxes so everyone could have enjoyed more cake. As it was, the bottom layer didn't fit in our room fridge and went bad overnight (raspberry mousse filling). It was such a waste of a gorgeous, delicious, expensive cake. Our resort did freeze the top layer for us and DH's parents transported it back home for us so that worked out perfectly.

I wish I'd been able to get the carriage, but we were married at Wilderness Lodge and I was told (at the time; no idea if it's still the case) you could only have the carriage if you got married at the Wedding Pavilion. I had zero interest in the WP so the carriage was out, too. I can't say I "regret" that, but I think it would have been fun.

 

[WDW_Diane]

waste of a gorgeous, delicious, expensive cake. Our resort did freeze the top layer for us and DH's parents transported it back home for us so that worked out perfectly. I wish I'd been able to get the carriage, but we were married at Wilderness Lodge and I was told (at the time; no idea if it's still the case) you could only have the carriage if you got married at the Wedding Pavilion. I had zero interest in the WP so the carriage was out, too. I can't say I "regret" that, but I think it would have been fun.[/QUOTE]
We just stayed at the Yacht Club in early December and saw the carriage arrive with three footmen while we were waiting for a bus on Friday. I'll bet it was for a wedding in their convention area.

 

[Disney_Alli]

We just stayed at the Yacht Club in early December and saw the carriage arrive with three footmen while we were waiting for a bus on Friday. I'll bet it was for a wedding in their convention area.

I bet it was for a wedding at the Yacht club's lovely Wedding gazebo

 

[jlovesee]

We were married 12 years ago as of January 26th 2014... best advice I can give... WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES.

Even if you husband is a foot taller then you.



Jennifer