Just engaged and thinking Disney!

[elielioh]

Hello everyone! I'm brand new to these boards and looking for some input and advice. I just got back from my favorite place in the whole wide world (WDW of course!) yesterday with a shiny new ring on my finger. Needless to say, I've dreamed of a Disney wedding since my parents bought timeshare at the Boardwalk 12 years ago. Now it's finally time to look into it! Our wedding is 2 years off (Disney IS expensive) and we're shooting to get married on our 7 year anniversary on 7/21/14. I want something super small-like just our parents and siblings. We don't even want a fancy reception...maybe just a casual dinner afterwards. (Actually, my stepdad recommended taking the whole group to the Hoop-Dee-Doo and I kind of like the idea.) My mom and dad each contribute 5000 to the wedding so our total budget is around 10000. (We will also be contributing, for example, I will most likely buy my own dress.) Is this doable for what I want? Do I need a minimum of 7500 if we just want the ceremony? I know prices will most likely go up over the next few years but I'm just curious about the extra costs of the actual wedding-hair and makeup, an officiant...I can't really think of much else. Do I really have to wait until 11/21/13 (exactly 8 months prior) to contact Disney and book things? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Clareathon]

Congrats on the engagement!

I just got married in December and we didn't have to meet a minimum. We did an Escape wedding on Tuesday...from what I understand, if you do a wedding Mon-Thurs and don't add a reception through Disney, there isn't a minimum spend. We had 8 guests and took them to dinner at The Wave, and we didn't have any decorations or extra floral (the WP by itself was pretty enough for us), so we literally stuck to the $5750 package price for the ceremony/cake & toast. The dinner and (lots of) drinks afterward only cost our little group about $600. It's definitely doable to have an awesome wedding for very little money, especially if you don't get bogged down by decoration details or by expensive add-ons like carriages and park photo shoots. The Hoop Dee Doo would be extremely fun for the group, plus that includes beer and wine so you wouldn't have to spend extra on that!

Just to give you an idea, we had 9 nights at the Grand Floridian, lots of expensive honeymoon dinners, the wedding, the reception dinner, airfare, the entire trip was about $13K. If you get married during the week it really keeps costs down!

 

[Sleepydee]

Congratulations!

I'm actually in almost the same boat! We got engaged in august and bought our first home the following month - Between that and the holidays we are finally sitting down to make our wedding plans. Disney has come up many times as an option! I mean, Every princess wants a disney wedding

My DF brother was married there a few years back, and it was beautiful! No detail was over looked! They had every option available to them! No matter the budget/style Disney seems to have a wedding package that is perfect for you! And they take care of EVERYTHING! Right now, we're still looking to our options locally but keeping Disney in our minds!

I wish you good luck with everything!

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Congrats!

 

[elielioh]

Thanks for the congrats! I am SUPER excited- it seems so far away! We're debating January instead of July as it would be better on DVC points but my sister and stepdad are educators so we don't know if we can swing it. Reading posts on these boards is so exciting!