Keep Track of What You're Spending

[tesseract]

Hi there everyone,
Wanted to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. After being told to book a private room for our reception to ensure I could wear my dress to the event we started adding up what we are spending.

Long story short, with the rehearsal dinner, the ceremony package, and the wedding reception we have actually moved from the initmate to the custom bride range.

Unfortunately our planner was not as astute at doing this math and with a little over one month to go we're now scrambling to find out if we can even get the "honeymoon" room offered to custom brides.

Now, we always new we were close to the total but were not aware that the rehearsal dinner could count toward our minimum so I'm posting this thread so that others will know not to make the same mistake. Also, keep count of the number of nights any guests are staying at the resorts. We also found out we meet the minimum room block requirement but until I asked we were never given a heads up to do so.

What I'm saying here is please don't expect the coordinator to give you suggestions or advice if you think you are near the amount of a custom wedding. Instead of letting us know 3 months ago we were close to the total it took us questioning her to find out we qualify for more "a la carte" options as she termed it earlier this morning.

Hope this helps!

 

[princess110607]

What is the honeymoon room offered to custom brides? I had never heard of that before.

Our intimate coordinator didn't help us out much either. We asked A LOT of questions....and she then told us a custom wedding might be best for us. I hope things get better for you

 

[tesseract]

Hi there,
She let us know that if you meet the room block requirement they offer the "honeymoon room" for one night at a Deluxe resort. The room block requirement is 25 room nights at any of the Disneyworld resorts...

 

[lurkyloo]

Wow, so the rehearsal dinner counts toward Custom minimums? I thought it was only events that happened on the day of the ceremony.... That would be a big inducement to going Custom!

 

[autumnbride2B]

I'm not sure how your rehersal dinner is counting towards the minimum. It is only events held on the day of the wedding. Also, the minimum number of room nights you have to guarantee depends on the number of guests you invite to the wedding. We are planning on 75 which requires a room night minimum of 50 to get the free room. All these things depend on numbers, so you really should check with your coordinator to get the details.

 

[tesseract]

Hi, to clarify, I'm not sure if the rehearsal dinner is "technically" counting towards the minimum but when I reviewed our total expenses she said we qualify as the "custom" category.

Additionally, she has known all along our number of guests and never mentioned the "room block" status as something to strive for which is unacceptable in my mind...

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

How upsetting for you - you must feel so frustrated.

I'm sure you'll have a beautiful wedding though, I can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[wendy46001]

I believe the rehearsal only counts toward the minimum if DFTW plans it... We originally wanted the rehearsal in the attic and that would count...but once we switched to Ohana's it was no longer included....

 

[tesseract]

Update to the story is we have been assigned a 'custom' coordinator who I have to say is absolutely fantastic (hoping there's no correlation to amount spent but there is a noticable difference in my case).

In addition to the amount your spending, PLEASE make sure you're keeping track of the "room nights" you and your guests book. As mentioned we've always had at least 25 nights booked but until now didn't realize that mattered and Disney's scrambling to find us a room for the night of our wedding.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!!

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

So were you not staying in a Disney Room originally for the night of your wedding? I hope they can find you one!

 

[autumnbride2B]

If you want to count the rehersal dinner for the minimum make sure DFTW will count it. Our RD is at Ariel's and still doesn't count since it is the night before the wedding. It can't hurt to double check with your planner.

 

[DLR2WDW]

Ther are probably a lot of Intimate Wedding groups that meet a 25 room night minimum...that does not necessarily mean you get a complimentary room. From my understanding the complimentary room comes form guaranteeing to use at least 25 room nights as part of a Custom Wedding. The rehearsal event or a farewell brunch does not count toward the minimum expenditure...it is only made up of the services that Disney provides on the day of the wedding. I agree with autumnbride...make sure you ask your sales manager.

 

[tesseract]

Hello again,
We are staying on property at Caribbean Beach, however we had been debating about getting a room at the Contemporary after our reception at CA Grill. Unfortunately we were not told about the complimentary room qualifications earlier and now all the rooms are booked.

I was told by my coordinator just this morning that having 25 room nights was the requirement for getting the complimentary room so I wanted anyone else in the Intimate category who is close to that total to double check with their coordinators to ensure they get the proper credit for hosting their weddings at DW.

Best,
~A

 

[ExCPKate]

I'm not sure how your rehersal dinner is counting towards the minimum. It is only events held on the day of the wedding. Also, the minimum number of room nights you have to guarantee depends on the number of guests you invite to the wedding. We are planning on 75 which requires a room night minimum of 50 to get the free room. All these things depend on numbers, so you really should check with your coordinator to get the details.

We're inviting 80 people, and were told we needed 25 room nights for a free night by our WC. However, our guarantee is 55 nights.

 

[autumnbride2B]

Kate
You're right - I mixed up the guarantee number with the number for the free night. I just wanted to stress that people need to verify things with their planners.

 

[ExCPKate]

I completely agree, and just wanted to check since it has happened before that one bride has gotten different info from her WC than another. They make it so complicated with all the different contractual expectations!

 

[tesseract]

Good morning everyone,
Want to start out by apologizing as I am now aware that my situation sparked some amount of interest with other intimate brides.

To be perfectly clear about this, we did not qualify for the complimentary room simply by meeting the "room night" minimum and the rehearsal dinner does not count towards meeting the minimum for the "custom" category.

My intent in writing this post was to make sure all intimate brides who are close to meeting the $10K cost and room night minimum made sure to inform their coordinator to see if it made sense to move into the "custom" category.

In no way did I mean to suggest that as an "intimate" bride you could qualify for the complimentary room simply by meeting the "room night" guarantee.

Regards,
~A

 

[DisneyFairy19]

Wow how frustrating.. Good luck... I am sure everything will come out perfect on your day..