intimate wedding with "Virgin Holidays"

[bluedisneygill]

can anyone help. We have booked wedding through virgin from the UK. All is not going well. Having problems getting questions answered, people on phone don't appear to know a lot about disney weddings. Starting to stress about what actually happens when arrive ion florida as I don't appear to be getting disney wedding coordinator until morning of wedding. We have booked rest of our holiday through another company. Has anyone from the UK booked only wedding and minimum four night stay through Virgin, if so can you give me some advice on how things are going or have went. thanks for your help.

 

[Fantasia Sam]

I'm bumping this up for you in the hope that someone can help you

 

[JonetteA]

Is there anyway that you can call Disney directly?

 

[rosiejo]

can anyone help. We have booked wedding through virgin from the UK. All is not going well. Having problems getting questions answered, people on phone don't appear to know a lot about disney weddings. Starting to stress about what actually happens when arrive ion florida as I don't appear to be getting disney wedding coordinator until morning of wedding. We have booked rest of our holiday through another company. Has anyone from the UK booked only wedding and minimum four night stay through Virgin, if so can you give me some advice on how things are going or have went. thanks for your help.

Gill - we have booked our entire holiday and wedding through Virgin - and wished we hadn't! Their holiday service is great - their wedding service leaves a lot to be desired.

The brochure indicates you need a four night stay at a disney hotel to qualify for the intimate - we wanted to check in to the AKL the day before and start our four nights, but were told we had to check in four working days before! As our wedding is on a Tuesday we have to check in the previous Wednesday. As we don't want to check out the day after the wedding (the AKL was supposed to be our honeymoon hotel) we have now had to stay there for 8 nights in total. This messed up our budget as we are renting a villa for the rest of our family and wanted to stay with them until the night before the ceremony.

We were told that even though we were staying in Kissimee the co-ordinator would not come off site to see us - and we could not meet them on site unless we were resident in a hotel!

I have only dealt with virgin by email and it took a lot of emails for someone to tell me that we will see our co-ordinator the day after we check into the AKL, and that it may take all day for the meeting. It's a virgin rep apparenlty not a disney EM - so if you want to make any changes they have to pass the message on.

We have received a pack that we have to pick flowers, music etc in. Apparently they don't need it back until 8 weeks before the wedding and they'll forward the disney part on for you - if you read the Disney part of the pack though it says they need it 10 weeks prior!

The pack also offers additional photography - although Stephanie at Disney photography Service doesn't know about this and thinks it may be through a virgin photographer.

I emailed Virgin to organise a portrait session at the magic kingdom and after 5 weeks of repeated email chasers I emailed stephanie direct and had it booked within 4days.

When I emailed Virgin to complain they offered me and my DH2B complimentary passes to the lounge at Gatwick airport... useful when we're checking in the night before so only need to arrive an hour before the flight, and there are seven family members travelling with us who would have to pay to get in!

Just out of interest what Disney hotel are you staying in? And are you doing your four nights before the wedding?

RJ

 

[bluedisneygill]

You sound as if you have had an even more stressful time than us. We are staying on international drive in The Best Western Plazza and taking our four days at the contemporary. At present we are checking in to the contemporary the day before the wedding but are working with our travel agent to change this to the day of the wedding. Which after a lot of hassle Virgin have agreed we can do but it has taken so long and they are now saying they don't have availability at this time.The staff don't appear to have a clue what they re speaking about. Luckily we have booked Virgin through Thomas Cook travel agent and after my a lot of complaining to them about virgin they are now dealing with them for us. We are fed up with it all and are really regretting booking with Virgin. Our planning booklets are the same in regard to the one saying 8 weeks and disneys saying 10 weeks. I phoned and asked about prices for additional flowers, was told pages must be missing out of planning booklet and they would send another one, this took to phone calls to get this and we now have a differnt booklet. Our travel agent is trying to get in touch direct with disney to answer our questions. I would advise anyone thinking about a disney wedding not to book through Virgin as it is spoiling the fun we should be having planning our wedding. When are you getting married We are 6th October 2005. Let me know how you are getting on with your plans.

 

[eblondie]

rosiejo..when I last spoke to Randy he told me that Virgin have their own photo packages which is probably why Stephanie didnt know about them.

Im so sorry you are both having problems with Virgin weddings...we were so close to booking them but changed our minds at the last minute. Instead we went direct with Disney.

 

[rosiejo]

Gill - you've hit the nail on the head - Virgin Weddings are spoiling our fun. I've been so dissapointed with their service, and you're right no one seems to know what they're talking about. I keep meaning to write and complain but so far have been so busy at work I javen't had a chance.

I'm really annoyed at being forced to book into the AKL 6 days before the wedding. We had worked out we could afford to upgrade to a savannah view if we only stayed the 4 night minimum as we're sharing a villa with our family to begin with - the savannah view went out the window when we had to do 8 nights there instead, after all we don't want to book out the day of or the day after the wedding, who needs that stress??

We're moving off site two days after the wedding to save money, although this means that while our family are in town we're staying at Disney - so can't really enjoy the early entry and other perks - and then when they all fly home we're moving off site!

I just can't decide whether its worth the hassle to try and change the booking... Although if I don't try I'll never know... now I know you're checking in the day before your ceremony I may go back to them.

We've booked through Lunn Poly - so i may go and ask them to liase with Virgin, as the girls in the store have been so helpful with the rest of our booking.

The weddings in November, so you'll be back to share your tales by then :0)

Thanks for clearing up the photography thing eblondie, I've read on another thread here in this forum that UK brides get a free high res CD with all the photos on, which I'm going to confirm with Stephanie, so I'm not bothering with Virgin's packages, I'll just use the CD and order the photos i want from photobox.co.uk when I get home.

Gill, let me know if you want to do anything different with your photography, packages/MK portrait sessions etc and I'll PM you Stephanie's email address

I'm glad you posted here, it's good to know I'm not the only disgruntled bride :0(

 

[uktigger]

hi all
thank you for the warning about virgin weddings,i have just ordered the virgin wedding brochure but i am now thinking about booking something direct with disney
me and my partner have decided to get married while we are on holiday in 2007 altough we are not sure how or where to do so we have been together for 15 years and have 2 boys aged 13 and 9 and it wil be just us four when we go so i am open to suggestions altough i must say my partner is quite shy and would like to marry with as little fuss as possible

thanks eve

 

[rosiejo]

hi all
thank you for the warning about virgin weddings,i have just ordered the virgin wedding brochure but i am now thinking about booking something direct with disney
me and my partner have decided to get married while we are on holiday in 2007 altough we are not sure how or where to do so we have been together for 15 years and have 2 boys aged 13 and 9 and it wil be just us four when we go so i am open to suggestions altough i must say my partner is quite shy and would like to marry with as little fuss as possible

thanks eve

Congratulations Eve!

Go for the intimate ceremony with just the four of you - it'll be lovely - and minimum fuss.

Definitely go through Disney though - I'm starting a boycot Virgin campaign!

 

[uktigger]

hi rosiejo
do you know where i can find information on the intimate ceremony

thanks eve

 

[rosiejo]

hi rosiejo
do you know where i can find information on the intimate ceremony

thanks eve

Hi Eve, I've answered this question... but it appears my post didn't work!
Hang on let me get the website address for you again...

You need to go to: http://www.disneyweddings.go.com/site/hon/start/index.jsp

that's the official disney site.

Hope this helps

RJ

 

[uktigger]

hi rosiejo
i have found out the info on the disney site have you booked your wedding through disney direct or virgin?
i have looked on the disney site and found out the cost of the intimate wedding but i don't want to have the 4 night stay included as we are already planning on staying on site do you know if i can have the intimate wedding but without the 4 night stay and passes

eve

 

[rosiejo]

hi rosiejo
i have found out the info on the disney site have you booked your wedding through disney direct or virgin?
i have looked on the disney site and found out the cost of the intimate wedding but i don't want to have the 4 night stay included as we are already planning on staying on site do you know if i can have the intimate wedding but without the 4 night stay and passes

eve

We booked with Virgin and are paying for our four night stay seperately - well it's an eight night stay as they are forcing us to check in four working days before the wedding (and it's on a Tuesday so we're having to check in on the Wed before!) This is the bit I think that have gotten wrong.

Are you booking the rest of your trip through Virgin? You could try Thomas Cook or First Choice weddings instead of Virgin Weddings.

 

[LIGrumpyGirl]

Yes you can have an intimate add-on wedding through Disney if you don't need their accomodations and tix. You will need to have a 4 day stay there though (ours is through DVC). It is only $2350 as an add-on.

 

[uktigger]

hi rosiejo
well this wedding is going to cost us a fortune i have priced up virgin to include our 2 week stay at all star movies and then the disney wedding it totals roughly £4800 i am going to see if i can book all of our holiday seperatly (i have heard people on here save alot of money doing it this way)this will be our 3rd time so i don't need to use a tour operator,and i am now thinking of opting to book the wedding direct with disney i'll join your virgin campain i do hope all goes well for you i'd love to hear from you when you come back married

LIGumpyGirl,
sorry to sound thick so if i stay at all star movies(for our entire holiday) i can do the whole disney wedding without the 4 night stay in a deluxe resort and tix?

eve

 

[rosiejo]

I think you have to do a minimum four nights in a deluxe hotel to get married at Disney... can anyone confirm?

 

[poohmadmum]

rosiejo : could you let me have the e-mail address for Disney Photography? I have booked a Vow Renewal at Disney through Virgin and Virgin are being less than helpful! We would love to have an extra photo package while we are there - me, DH and DD(11).
I hope everything goes well for you and I know you could do without the added stress when planning your wedding.

 

[rosiejo]

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd give you an update on my wedding saga... I spent Saturday afternoon composing a very nice letter to send to Virgin, expresing my dissapointment at having to check into the AKL 8 days before the wedding, and therefore only being able to stay there for two days after - supposedly our honeymoon - before checking in to a cheaper hotel off site.

I checked my email today and they'd passed my letter onto the virgin wedding co-ordinator who said of course we could check in the day before the ceremony!!! And she's sorting out the change in itinerary for us... so we are now spending 11 nights with our families in a villa and then 10 nights in the AKL!?!!?

Hooray!!!

Virgin have exonerated themselve, and I am literally bouncing of the walls!

Five months today and I cannot wait ::big grin::

 

[uktigger]

thats great news rosie

eve

 

[952LisaR]

For intimiate add on you have to stay 4 nights at a moderate hotel or higher, so value will not count. At least that is what i was told and did for our May 26, 2005 intimate vow renewal.