Intimate weddings - any tips?

[Treesie]

My fiance and I are considering having an initimate wedding and staying at DW for the four days (as required, right?) and then taking off to Port Canaveral to take a cruise. We are inviting 18 guests and they're coming from Michigan. Any tips I should know of? Where can we take our guests for a reception? Also, can other guests come in addition to the 18, if they don't come to the ceremony, but do come for the reception lunch/dinner?

Our we're planning for November 2006.

Thanks!

 

[sajetto]

Your 18 guests are allowed to come to your ceremony and cake cutting reception, no more. I asked my EM if I could have a couple extra to the cake cutting and she said no. However, as an intimate you don't get anymore of a reception than that. If you chose to take everyone out to dinner that is on your own and you can invite however many people you want. Hope that helps!

Caroline

 

[hiwaygal]

Hi! Welcome to the DIS!

If you haven't already, check out the Disney wedding website: www.disneyweddings.com

You are correct that Disney requires at least a 4 night stay in any Disney owned and operated property.

Any "tips" you might need can be related to your choice of venue, cake, bouquet, music, "extras"...try to get a basic idea of where you want to be married and what "feel" you want your ceremony to have. Then go from there...

Try to make sure you understand what is and isn't included in the Intimate Wedding.

Where to go for a "reception" is kind of up to you...it may depend on where your ceremony is located (if there is someplace close by) or just may be somewhere you want it to be. Remember that with an intimate, your reception is not included. You will have to take care of those costs in addition to the Intimate Wedding. I didn't have a "reception" (just the cake and champagne after the ceremony) but I know there are lots of brides here planning some "extras" for their wedding dinner and they can offer better advice.

If you invite additional guests to the reception, since it's not part of the Intimate package, I don't think Disney will care...it's the ceremony part they will be concerned about...but I could be wrong about that. Call Disney and ask! You can probably start some planning now and really get things moving!

congratulations and good luck!!!

 

[JandJ]

We loved our Intimate Wedding! We wanted something small and simple and it was absolutely perfect! We didn't have a reception other than the cake cutting but we had a brunch the next morning and went to PI the next night with extra people who were not included in the wedding due to the set limits, and that was very nice.

Many brides do a dessert party the night of the ceremony and they can give you lots of information on that.

You can have a first dance, since you get a solo violinist, if you want. They allow time for toasts at the cake cutting. We took pictures for well over an hour after the ceremony and cake cutting.

One thing we did do that I think was a good idea, we brought some of our own decorations. A co-worker made bows for the WL Sunrise Terrace benches; I brought a couple of tablecloths for the table on the terrace and to cover up the garbage can out there; DH and I made silk bouquets and put them in vases with glass marbles for the cake table and on top of the garbage can - so no one knew it was a garbage can - they refused to move it off the terrace for my wedding. We didn't want a lot of floral or candles so it worked for us to bring our own decorations. Disney can do whatever you want, for a price.

Best Wishes and Happy Planning

 

[myslipperfitin06]

I too wanted something small and personal. All together we had 19 (including us). You do not have to do the whole cake cutting thing. You get the cake you can take it back to your room and have whoever you want join you. We took ours back to the All-Star Movie and ate it in the little cafeteria along with pizza. The cast members went out of their way to help us. We found a quiet corner to do this. A baker from the back even came out to help us cut the cake. As for the reception we did Epcot Illuminations from the UK lower Terrace which was a perfect ending to a magical day. We had 6 different hot foods (chicken tenders, scallops, meatballs just to name some) That went over great with our guests.

I hope this helps some
Sandy

 

[engagedatWDW]

We're also in the process of planning for a Nov 2006 wedding. Have you thought about venues yet? The Intimate package really makes it easy on you and I haven't been disappointed with any of the options yet. The hardest part has been rounding up the family and getting everyone to decide when they're arriving and what they want to do. We're having a 10 am ceremony at the Wedding Pavilion and decided on doing a lunch "reception" at California Grill. I've always wanted to eat there and figured it would be a nice place for us all to still be in our wedding attire. Good luck with your planning.

 

[krcs]

We were allowed to have up to 20 guests (ceremony & reception) at no extra charge for our intimate wedding.
We were married in the pavilion, and had the reception at the Grand Floridian.

I DO have two complaints though...
1) at the reception, there were seating for I think 8 people, which was NOT enough.
2) My wedding planner wasn't there...she sent someone else in her place! SO, I don't know who's fault it was, but our cake was not right. It was suppose to be choc. on the inside, and it was white, but I will admit, it was still good.

So, my tips are to just go over what you've picked out w/your planner to be sure everything is squared away, and I would ask how many chairs will be at your reception. I know it sounds silly, but hey-- it happened to us!

 

[friendofgusgus]

A few things - I hope these help!

Just to let you know, there is always only 2 tables with chairs for seating on the Commanders Terrace at the Grand Floridian (the cake-cutting location for Intimate brides.) This location is "existing seating only."

They do not add additional seating there, reagrdless of your party size. When we booked the WP (we were originally at the Yacht Club Gazebo) our WP advised us right away that only existing seating could be used at that location and that is might be a tight fit for 18 guests plus us, especially if we wanted to dance.

Once your cake-cutting is over, Disney is no longer involved with your day. One thing to watch, though, is that the maximum number of guests allowed on an ADR is 20 (someone please correct me if this has changed) so the maximum number of guests you can have dine with you and even hope to stay together is just the 20. (Even the 20 is not possible in some restaurants and at some times, so if it's really important to you, it's a good idea to call the restaurant and talk to them directly once your ADRs are made.)

Disney will pack up the cake for you to take to a meal at another site, though - just let your WP know in advance.

Also, it's not uncommon for one WP to stand in for another, especially with Intimate weddings - although it happens to Custom brides, too. (Many Custom brides have to share their WP on their day and may have an assistant for part of their day, especially during high season.)

Have fun with you planning - feel free to PM me if you want!

Jennifer
12/11/06
Intimate - Wedding Pavillion/Commanders Terrace

 

[Tinkerbelle14]

I agree with all the other brides, as soon as the cake cutting is done you can do whatever you want, as long as you are out of the way before the next wedding ceremony! I know we are doing the cake cutting for our photos and then having it packed up to take with us to Palio's at the Swan and Dolphin. I made the reservation for the 10 people and they had no problem with us bringing the cake, they are just going to charge us a $10 cake cutting fee. I think that if you are looking for a small, simple wedding, the intimate is the way to go!

 

[MEME]

Our Intimate Wedding was everything and more! We had a wonderful day and loved every minute of it.

We were married at the wedding pavilion. Our cake cutting reception was actually held in the covered cross walk between the brides vestibule and the wedding pavilion ceremony building. We had close to 20 guests and everyone was standing, but I didn't even realize it until I read this thread. There was so many exciting things happening that no one even paid attention to sitting or lack there of. We were dancing and the kids were toasting each other. We were taking pictures and our fathers both came up to toast us. Before we knew it, our 2 children, our 2 niece/nephews, our brother and 2 dads had each said words of congrats and then we were dancing and just having a fabulous time. It's a mini-reception, who needs to be sitting anyway?

If you would like to see pics from this area just pm me with your email address.

I agree with krcs, on the wedding planner thing. My em was not there but I actually got Maxine who was FANTASTIC! We had an absolute ball with her and she was on top of everything...... I knew that I was in good hands because I had read so many wonderful things on this forum about her. She lived up to her reputation too!

Some minor things happened to me too, such as getting the wrong cake, ordering 2 bottles of cuvee, only rec'vd 1. But, everything was corrected. We rec'vd the corrected cake the next day and they removed the extra bottle from our bill and etc.... All in all the minor stuff didn't mean nothing at the end of the day so don't sweat the small stuff.

Oh, we booked our own group dining reservation at O'hana's Restaurant (inside of the Polynesian resort). Had a grand time.....got a huge table in the center of the room ..right by the pit. Applause came from eveywhere when we entered, everyone was extremely loving to us.

The food began and it was FAB-U-LOUS! Ohana’s is an ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT buffet style dinner and not only did everyone eat until they couldn’t move, they also raved about the food which included:


· Shrimp and Vegetable Wontons
· Honey and Coriander Chicken Wings
· Salad with Honey Lime Dressing,
· Stir Fried Vegetables
· Cheesy potatoes
· Marinated Sirloin Steak
· Mesquite Seasoned Turkey Breast
· Bar-B-Que Pork Loin
· Grilled Tiger Shrimp
· Bread Pudding with Vanilla Bean ice cream


Skewers of delicious all you care to eat shrimp, beef, poultry and pork are prepared here and delivered to your table. I knew this was the spot for our dinner reception because:

1) The men in my family love to eat!
2) Ohana’s includes fun stuff for the kids (coconut races and hula hoop contests)
3) Lastly, they entertain your "Ohana" (family) by a singer accompanied by his ukulele.

This restaurant definitely included something for everyone. We were acknowledged by the singer and everyone clapped for us! It was affordable too, like $25 for adults, $10 for kids. Our final bill was less than $450.00 and our wedding cake was cut and served for free.

 

[krcs]

friendofgusgus.... That may be that there is only a set number of tables and/or chairs, but they should have let that be known to us! I think that was very crappy of them!

We let them know how many people would be attending, so they should have let us know that, well, "there's only going to be 8 chairs", I just think it was wrong... I did my part, and I feel like they did not do theirs.

THEN when I mentioned the cake was wrong, the replacement WP acted like it wasn't, but indeed I had my copy of my packet that I faxed and clearly confirmed I was correct. Why would she argue that I was wrong?

Other than those two lil' things though, everything else was great! I still would've gotten married there if I could do it over again!!!!! Although I wish I could've gotten married in the castle!