Intimate Wedding Substitutions & Questions

[WDWbride2007]

Hi again!

So I mentioned in my previous thread that my boyfriend and I have decided we need to go intimate due to budgetery concerns. Long story short, I prefer to have a long, lavish honeymoon than to have a big, traditional wedding day. I do have some questions for the intimate brides out there. I am sure I will meet with much resistance from the FTWD, but I would like to know if anyone has tried (and possibly succeeded) to obtain these substitutions:

1. I hate the idea of a limo. I would love the black vintage car instead. I saw that the limo is $584 in the custom book, while the Model A Ford is only $540. Has anyone tried to exchange the use of the limo for the cheaper option? I really won't use the limo at any point because I will drive my car up from Miami.

2. Can you get any credit on your cake towards a custom cake? We will be getting married in Dec 2007 because Christmas is our fav time at Disney. I would like to have a Christmas-themed cake...very simple design with some holly (similar to the Holiday mini-cake in the cake powerpoint presentation). If you can't get a credit, can you request how the cake will look at all?

3. As we will be having lunch or dinner after our cake reception, I would like to have some background music. If you pay the $425 for a guitarist, can you utilize the full 3 hours? I noticed in the custom wishbook that the fee includes 3 hours of music with scheduled breaks. So, if I add the extra musician to my intimate ceremony, will I get the whole time or just the 30 minutes for the cake cutting? It would seem a bit steep for such a short time, but I wasn't sure.

4. Can you request the types of flowers to be included in your bouqet? Again, I want just some red roses and holly. Can you just call the floral dept and describe the arrangement you would like for the wedding?

5. Has anyone worked with private dining to set-up their lunch or dinner after the ceremony? I would like a private meal with our 12 guests. I was thinking of the private room at V&As. Can we reserve Citricos or Narcoosees for lunch when the restaurant is closed to the public?

6. Finally, I would like to do the MK photo shoot. Does it have to be the morning of the wedding?

Thanks so much for any help you may offer! I am a bit neurotic about the details, but we do wait our whole lives for this one day. I would like it to reflect who we are as a couple. Anyways, I won't be too upset if we can't get it all our way...but I sure will try!

 

[janine]

My EM told me that you get your musician for a full 3 hours, although they do take breaks, after the service they will follow you to your 'reception' and continue until the 3 hours is up. It can be arranged so that your musician can stay longer if required, and I am certain she told me it could be booked by the hour after that, rather than pay the full amount again.
She also asked me about flowers and although I didn't request certain flowers (I chose the garden bouquet), I told her my bridesmaids dresses are lilac, and if they could put some lilac flowers here & there that would work nicely. She said that's not a problem.
As for private dining I asked about the private room at V&A's and she told me only custom brides could have that room, and so I struck it off my list.
Since then I am possibly choosing the custom route as I would really like a bbq on the beach at the yacht Club with a few fun things added. I am currently awaiting a price for that before I decide.
If it's too expensive I will probably dine at the Yachtsman steakhouse or Ariels, and then take 2 decorated pontooon boats for my party of 15, to see the illuminations.
It's always worth asking though, some EM's tell you different things. Some say yes it can be done , others say no.
Sorry I couldn't help with anything else.

 

[hiwaygal]

Janine is right about getting different answers from different EM's. So definitely ask. I don't think you'll get a lot of resistance from them...just a yes or no answer.

About the limo...we didn't want one at all...didn't need one since it was just DH and me. But since you are kind of "paying" for it as part of the package, we decided to use it two days after our ceremony to go to DTD. I think from the Intimate wedding standpoint, the limo is the cheapest option...so getting the Model A Ford would be an upgrade. My guess is you can change to that, for a fee.

As for the flowers, you can pretty much ask for anything, really. Start by picking one of the "standards" and talk to Rosie (she helped me) about how you want it customized. From what I understand, you won't be charged extra unless you are asking for something that is REALLY REALLY hard to get at that time of year. I would think holly in December is pretty easy to find. My guess is there won't be any extra charge.

With the cake, I'm not sure. I think I've heard of other intimate brides doing a more custom cake, but I'm not exactly sure how that works.

I'm not sure about the musicians or the private dining either...but there are lots of options for the dining, I'm sure...you may have to schedule and coordinate and plan it more or less on your own, with the dining department, but your EM should be able to give you other suggestions and a number to set things up.

With regard to the photo shoot. Since you are an intimate bride, and you don't have to meet any minimums, from my understanding you can do the pics up to a year after your wedding day...BUT they all have to be in the morning before the park opens. I think several brides here have said that they have started scheduling two a day, but ask your EM, or Disney Photographic services to be sure.

Hope that helps some!

 

[WDWbride2007]

As for private dining I asked about the private room at V&A's and she told me only custom brides could have that room, and so I struck it off my list.
Since then I am possibly choosing the custom route as I would really like a bbq on the beach at the yacht Club with a few fun things added. I am currently awaiting a price for that before I decide.

Hi Janine,

Your EM may have said that intimate brides cannot have a private party because the FTWD will not organize it for you. Instead, you need to contact convention services or the private dining dept of the hotel you are interested in. They will work with you to create your private event (food, decor, music). Janet2k has hosted dinner/dessert parties at the GF marina for her family through convention services, so I don't see why you couldn't do the same at the Yacht Club through their offices. In addition, I know that intimate brides have used the private room at V&As, but again, you must go through GF's private dining. It takes a bit more legwork as an intimate bride, but you can certainly still have a private dinner with your loved ones after the caking cutting. The one thing to remember is that it will be more expensive to host a private party than just to go to a restaurant. For me, it will definitely still be less expensive than the 10K minimum for a custom wedding. Good luck!

 

[melmel]

I desperatly wanted to change my cake, I really dont' like the look of the intimate one and fell in LOVE with the silver Mickey head one. I know in the past you could upgrade it BUT when I asked I was told absoultly NO. What my EM suggested, and I am doing, is ordering a 'special occasion cake' through the Yachclub bakery for our dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse. YOu can also order through the Grand's bakery but there's a delivery charge if it's going to another hotel. They can do the exact cake I want and it'll be at the dinner for me. All I had to do was call and order it. So now I have 2 cakes, with 4 layers and 4 different flavors so I think this works out the best. As for altering the cake at the wedding the best I got is they'll smooth out the icing for me because I don't like all the fru-fru fluff on it. But, ask your EM they change the way things are done at FTWs alllllll the time.
Good Luck

Melissa

 

[MApigletfan]

All I can help you with is the flowers, I wanted some blue flowers in my bouquet for my 'something blue' and Rosie helped me out but it did cost $25 to make the change. It was worth it, the flowers were so beautiful. We kept the limo, but added town cars to bring everyone back to their resort after lunch. We had our co-ordinator book our lunch reception at Portobello Yacht Club and she arranged everything and we even had Rosie make some centerpieces for the table there. We did have to arrange our Dessert Party ourselves though.

 

[WDWbride2007]

MApigletfan,

Your wedding was absolutely gorgeous!!! The bouquet was definitely worth the extra $25. I noticed that you cake had a lovely flower on the front. Did you ask for that or did the bakery just design it that way? I would like my cake to look similar to yours, except a holly design instead of the flower (to go with my holiday theme). Congrats on a beautiful day!

 

[christineangel]

We had the model A and loved it! We are both classic car buffs and the car looked great in the pics. You can't exchange the limo for it- it's extra. We used our limo to transport our guests to the wedding, the reception and back to their hotels (had to add an extra hour). As far as flowers and cakes go...money speaks- you can probably get whatever you want for an extra price. We had flowers as a cake topper in place of the micky and minnie- that was an extra 75. We only had 11 people total and our EM made reservations for us for Narcoossee's- we didn't ahve aprivate room but we did have a table by a window with a great view of Mk at night. If your EM tells you no about something...keep asking- we had to do this for our photography. We did our MK shoot the day after the wedding but some do it the day before, two days after..kinda depends on what is available.

 

[Laurafoster]

Im hoping to have the MK Photo shoot 2 days after the wedding as im not sure ill be able to get up that early the day after! Can anyone advise me about the flowers tho? Will they still look ok? i heared somewhere that disney "freshen" them up for you for about $50?

 

[MApigletfan]

WDWbride2007 - I did not ask for anything special on the cake, but from looking at all the intimate bride photos, even though the basic cake design is the same the decorations all seem different. I had pink for my flowergirl and my flowers so they put pink flowers on the cake. I would as your EM about it I am sure they can decorate with what you want.

Laurafoster - we did not do the MK photo shoot but I will say my flowers started to turn brown by the night of the wedding and by two days later there were petals falling off. I do think though, like you, that I read where Disney can refresh your flowers, that is probably something you will need done.

 

[JandJ]

We had an Intimate Wedding a few weeks ago (I'm still on Cloud 9 after the perfect day!) - Congratulations and Happy Planning!
We did a custom cake, I wasn't crazy about the Initmate cake and really wanted a 2-layer square cake with flowers on top and down the sides and they gave me credit from the Intimate cake but it still cost another $250. It was really big though and we had tons left over (we had 9 guests at our wedding). They gave us the Mickey and Minnie topper boxed up, which was fine with us.
I did not like any of the bouquets, I didn't want any ribbon or anything showing or hanging down so Rosie helped me design a bouquet that I loved, ivory roses with burgundy spray roses with just the stems tightly wrapped in ivory ribbon, and it did not cost a penny extra.
We did not need the limo on the wedding day as we got married at Wilderness Lodge and we stayed there too, along with half of our guests. So, we used the limo the night after the wedding to take us to the Italy pavillion for dinner and then to Pleasure Island. You can upgrade to one of the cars but it will cost you more. The limo is included so why not use it for something.
I don't know about the music, we just had the solo violinist and we didn't need him after the cake cutting, so we thanked him and said good-bye (he did an amazing job BTW) then we had the pictures taken at the Lodge.
Our Wedding Coordinator made all of our meal reservations for us - rehearsal dinner at Artist Point, day-after brunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe, and dinner in Italy and we didn't have any problems with the larger groups at those locations (Italy was just my husband and me).
Hope this is helpful and I have to say what one of the other girls said - Rosie in photography and floral is the best! She is the most helpful and nicest person!
Congratulations again!

 

[groomtb]

thanks JandJ for the info on cake upgrade...good to know we can sorta get some credit for it.

were you able to make direct contact with the individuals directly for cake and floral changes? or all done through WC?

 

[JandJ]

Everything I did was through our Wedding Coordinator, Karen, and Rosie in Disney Floral and Photo. I never contacted anyone else at Disney for the cake, flowers, meal arrangements, etc. About 4 months before the wedding I sent my WC an e-mail with the picture of the cake I wanted, she said she would check with the bakers, and that was that. It was done exactly the way I wanted it.
I don't know if they can do something very elaborate, I guess it would depend on the cake you want and how much you're willing to spend. I'm sure the Custom Wedding folks get more cake options.
I must say, it tasted amazing too! We got the raspberry mousse filling and it was so good - our guests are still talking about it! I can't wait till next year when I get to taste it again on our one-year anniversary