Large Intimate/Escape wedding/vow renewal?

[sajilunni]

I'm not sure if there is a thread for the unique issues posed by having a large (say over 10 guests?) Escape wedding? Logistics and money were the main things I was thinking of. The choices of dinner/reception venues are narrowed down considerably since most semi-private opportunities are either too big or too small (wishing for a Goldilocks moment right now ). Transportation is also an issue, since the included limo can't hold that many people.

The costs can get out of hand too. I keep thinking 'I can't spend $10,000 on this because then it might as well be a custom wedding!'. But to do something special with that many guests the costs just keep adding up.

Does anyone else want to share their challenges and advice?

Jil

 

[purplegirl247]

We had a total of 16 people and solved the "sort of a large bunch of people though small for a wedding" issue by having dinner at a regular restaurant (Portabello's at DTD) and having the limo ferry us back and forth. In other words, they picked up half of us from the ceremony and took them to the restaurant, then came back and picked the other half of us and took them to the restaurant. The first half wasn't waiting too too long and I took advantage of the lull by having Randy take some after-ceremony shots of us around the Boardwalk.

Does that help? It is possible to have a slightly larger wedding but still staying beneath the custom (or whatever they're calling it these days) minimums.

 

[marywdw]

I will be maxing out our guest count for the Escape wedding and plan to do similar to the previous post w/ the limo situation - pick up some guests and come back for the rest, but a couple of my guests will have their own cars.
I am doing dinner afterwards at 'Ohana, which is family style, so I can pretty much anticipate the cost since it's a fixed rate per person (except for alcoholic beverages). Depending on the time of day, you can have a reasonably priced meal at a restaurant on property as long as you don't mind that it's not a private party. Most restaurants can accommodate parties of large size if you call group dining 180 days in advance (I made mine for 27 people with no problem). I'd also recommend calling the restaurant manager directly after you book your advance reservations.
I am not doing a whole lot of decorating at the ceremony site, but Rosie and I came up with some not too expensive options to add a little something to Sea Breeze Point. Or you can set up your own decor, I think.
I think the uniqueness of a Disney wedding is special enough that you don't need to add much to it. The package allows for cake for up to 20, but you'll need to add drinks (the bottle that comes with serves 6).
Good luck and happy planning!!!!

 

[purplegirl247]

The standard intimate cake serves waaaay more than twenty, by the way. We had sixteen and there was most of a layer left over (we gave it to the wait staff at the Portabello) on top of the top layer that we took home!

 

[o0IrishEyes0o]

We maxed out our guest limit (18 guests), so it's been fun trying to plan everything.

Most of our guests have opted to rent cars when they are down there. We are getting married at SBP, so the guests will have to drive to the resort to meet the coordinator. Then after the ceremony, they will drive to the grand floridian for a dinner at Citricos. (With an hour and a half in between for picture taking).

Citricos is allowing me to "preselect" meals, so we have a set cost 'per head'. (Not including alcohol). Manuel sent 4 dinner menus to me, and the one we selected was something like $80 / pp. We're also able to limit the alcohol selections the guests have to choose from (we can select the wines, or that we only want beer/wine, etc).

 

[lurkyloo]

The costs can get out of hand too. I keep thinking 'I can't spend $10,000 on this because then it might as well be a custom wedding!'.

I keep thinking the same thing (and sorta hoping I can use that as an excuse to bump up to a Custom), but then I think about how that's $10,000 before taxes, and just for the wedding day - on top of that I'd have travel expenses, accomodations, the honeymoon expense, invitations, officiant, wedding gown, etc.

Maybe I should stop being so sensible!

 

[Mean Queen]

We're doing an Escape VR with 15 guests. We're having it at the WP because the others were booked, plus we had more guests than many of the other locations would allow. We booked our own dinner at 1900 Park Fare with the regular buffet. I thought it'd be fun to eat with Cinderella after the ceremony. Plus, it was much cheaper than booking any private meals. This way we are no where near the 10k that would tempt us into a custom. We're also having the limo take groups of people at a time. You can do the Escape, but it means not going overboard.

 

[MEME]

Hello everyone,

We held our intimate (now Escape?) ceremoney in October 2005. We maxed out our guest count to 19. It was such a beautiful, magical day. Everyone still tells us that it was the most elegant celebration that they had ever been to. So, congratulations to you all! Be ready for the most amazing day of your life!

Here are some points that I learned that may be useful.

We hosted an dinner reception for all of our 19 guests. I booked the ressies myself. Because we had a diverse group of guests (kids to parents) we wanted to choose a place that could accomodate everyone, offer a variety, and was reasonably priced (hey - we paid for our entire wedding ourselves). So, it was so easy for us to decide on O'hana's. IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST DECISIONS WE MADE - only 2nd to have a DFTW.

Our wedding was at the WP. We used the limo charter to take most of the guests to the wedding and to transport everyone to the dinner location. In order to take everyone back to their respective hotels after dinner, we chartered towncars. It was actually cheaper to this instead of adding additional hours onto the limo. Disney offers one-way towncar transfers for $21 each. We requested 5 towncars.

Back to O'hana's.
The food was AMAZING! And it is a buffet, so all the men can continue to eat and eat. The atmoshphere was was suitable for everyone. It was fun and romantic. They offer games for kids (coconut races and sing -a -longs), ukulele playing and a limbo contest. The romance comes into play when the lights are low and you can see an incredible view of the seven seas lagoon. We had one of the large round tables in the center of the restaurant. The food is to die for and is served buffet-style. We had our wedding cake sent over, which they served along with their incredible bread pudding. Costs is $25pp adult and $11.99 child 3 - 9. So we fed everyone for a little over $500. And the town cars were around $100.

Menu Included: Starters: Fried Wontons served with peanut sauce, chimichurri sauce and harissa, and Mixed Greens with Honey-Lime dressing. Appetizers: Sweet & Sour shrimp and Honey-Coriander chicken wings. Skewers (prepared over an oak fire): Marinated sirloin steak, Asian BBQ pork loin, Mesquite grilled turkey, and Hawaiian pork sausage with pineapple-teriyaki glaze. Accompaniments: Maui scalloped potatoes and stir-fried vegetables. Dessert: 'Ohana bread pudding a la mode with Banana Foster sauce.

Other Ideas to consider:

If you can fly on Southwest, make sure you download the 'ding' from their website. I was able to get my family of 4 to Orlando, round trip for under $400.00. Go to: http://www.southwest.com/ding/what_is_ding.html to learn more.

I saved money by doing my invites myself. I'm crafty so this was fun and I was able to customize alot of things.

PRE-Purchase all of your photo proofs for $225. This cost may have changed since 2005, however, it is very cost-effective to get all of your pics for this minimal price. The trick is that you have to pre-purchase them.

Good Luck to you all. Feel free to ask many questions anytime.

 

[sajilunni]

We maxed out our guest limit (18 guests), so it's been fun trying to plan everything.

Most of our guests have opted to rent cars when they are down there. We are getting married at SBP, so the guests will have to drive to the resort to meet the coordinator. Then after the ceremony, they will drive to the grand floridian for a dinner at Citricos. (With an hour and a half in between for picture taking).

Citricos is allowing me to "preselect" meals, so we have a set cost 'per head'. (Not including alcohol). Manuel sent 4 dinner menus to me, and the one we selected was something like $80 / pp. We're also able to limit the alcohol selections the guests have to choose from (we can select the wines, or that we only want beer/wine, etc).

Citricos was one of the restaurants that I liked, but that MouseWeddings said that only accomodated 12 in the private room. Are you eating in the main part of the restaurant? Can you see the fireworks from there, do you know?

Here's my current dilemna: I booked SBP for 5 PM on June 4, 2008. My "vision" was for our party to go to dinner afterwards and then cap off the evening with fireworks visible from where we're having dinner. I just booked the date yesterday (yay!) but the sales manager said that DFTW discourages large parties from having 5 PM weddings because all large parties must have dinner at 5 PM at every restaurant (including Ohanas she said), so that the only way to assure a 7-8:30 dinner time was to book a private room, which left the Sonoma Room at CG as the cheapest option (at $2000 minimum). We have only 12 adults in our party which will come out to about $170 per adult for dinner, which is pretty outrageously expensive (especially since one is a vegatarian). If we have a 5 PM dinner then we are just loitering in fancy clothes for 4 hours until the fireworks come on. Anyone else encounter these issues?

Thanks for the great hint about the towncars too!

Jil

 

[JaxTeach]

The costs can get out of hand too. I keep thinking 'I can't spend $10,000 on this because then it might as well be a custom wedding!'. But to do something special with that many guests the costs just keep adding up.

Does anyone else want to share their challenges and advice?

Jil

I am having a maxed out Escape (18 guests). We will spend over $10k when all is said and done, but that is for everything (our rings, wedding attire for DF and I, plus flowergirl & ring bearer, favors, welcome dinner, reception dinner, dessert party, wedding license, officiant, invitations & other stationary, MK bridal portraits, 7 hours w/ Randy Chapman and STVS videography). We will be paying Disney about $7500 including tax of that total. Close to a custom, but it's exactly what we want with no filler. We aren't having to add on a bunch of extras to hit $10k then add $650 w/ tax. We expressed to our sales coordinator that there was no way we could have a Wishes wedding because we would not be able to fill the room block requirement (most of of guests are locals or will be staying with other locals).

We had the same issue with our "reception" dinner. We wanted private or semi-private, more to not disturb other guests at the restaurants. You said there were 12 adults in your party, I assume there are also children to put you over the 12 person Citricos Chef's Domain limit? I know that Chef's Domain has 2 seatings (6pm and 8:30pm) which would work much better for fireworks viewing. I think someone on here is sitting in the main dining room @ Citricos but I guess you will run into the 5pm issue. You could always have dinner and then do a Wishes cruise to enjoy the fireworks.

We will also be using our limo to transport our guests around (although some will have cars) from SBP to the Contemporary and back. We were told we can make as many trips as we want within the 4 hours. We are also considering adding an hour ($84/hour for each extra hour).

 

[Mean Queen]

When we booked Park Fare, we had to make reservations at 8 p.m. to be able to guarantee we all sat together. The CM on the phone said you had to make reservations within the first half hour of dinner or the last half hour. It's different for different restaurants. So I'd check different places to see what their rules are for seating large groups.

 

[FlowerJ723]

We are having an Escape Wedding on 11/16/2007 and have 18 guests attending. When I first started booking and looking at all the "extras" you can do I wanted to do it all and started to go overboard...lol. Since I've really mellowed out and I guess you can say slacking in the planning department. We are getting married at Sea Breeze Point and I'm thinking of just decorating my spreading out some rose petals. All of my guests don't expect me to go all out...their just excited to be in Disney World and to be attending my Disney wedding. Afterward we're having a reception at O'Hana's. I picked it b/c I wanted something kid friendly with a loud atmosphere. We are paying for all of our friends but our parents are paying for themselves and of course the bride and groom. Afterward we've told everyone about the Disney's Christmas Party in MK. We will not be paying for this but most of my guests don't care they still want to go. I want something small now b/c I want to have a reception when I get home.

 

[lurkyloo]

Citricos was one of the restaurants that I liked, but that MouseWeddings said that only accomodated 12 in the private room. Are you eating in the main part of the restaurant? Can you see the fireworks from there, do you know?

Citricos faces a courtyard, not the lagoon, so you can't see the fireworks. Narcoossee's is a good place for that.

Another thing to consider is the restaurants of Downtown Disney, especially those not owned by Disney (like Raglan Road, Fulton's and Portobello Yacht Club) - they seem to be a lot more accomodating for large parties. Even if you can't afford their private rooms, they will seat you in a quiet section of the restaurant so it feels like just your party is there.

 

[o0IrishEyes0o]

Citricos was one of the restaurants that I liked, but that MouseWeddings said that only accomodated 12 in the private room. Are you eating in the main part of the restaurant? Can you see the fireworks from there, do you know?

We're eating in the main dining area of the restaurant. I also know Manuel said that 20 was really about their limit for seating a big party together (though he sent me menus that said "for parties under 40 people").

 

[sajilunni]

For all of you that have already booked your reception dinner, what times did you get? Is it true that the only time available for large parties is 5 PM unless you book a private room?

How far in advance did you book it? Did you go through DFTW? Group dining? Regular dining? Or did you call the exact restaurant and ask to talk to the manager?

And since I haven't been to Disney World... can you still see the fireworks from Downtown Disney?

Thanks,
Jil

 

[sajilunni]

Here are some things that I've learned if anyone else is just starting to plan:

1. The 2008 price for an Escape wedding is $4000. This includes all the old amenities (location, bouquet, boutanierre, one cake that feeds 20 with your choice of filling, Mickey cake topper, 1 bottle of champagne, a violinist, 4 consecutive hours of an 8 person limo, 20 4x6 photos) plus 2 annual passes. The maximum allowed is 18 guests plus the bride and groom (children are counted as guests). The Wedding Pavilion location is $1000 extra.

2. Locations can be held by Disney at exactly 12 months in advance. You call and they pencil in the date and send you a contract. You mail back the signed contract with a $750 deposit and they confirm the date. The times available are M-F: 10AM, 12PM, 2:30PM and 5PM.

3. Sunset Pointe (Poly Resort) is only available Oct-March. It is a beach with a 10 person capacity. Sunrise Terrace (Wilderness Resort) is on the 4th floor and overlooks the mountain stream, but it has a 10 person capacity. The Wedding Gazebo (Yacht Club) is in a rose garden and holds a large capacity. Sea Breeze Point (Boardwalk Resort) overlooks Crescent lake and holds a large capacity.

4. Wedding attire is not allowed in the parks at all, but they are allowed at the resorts (hotels). If you book an Illuminations dessert party, you can be specially escorteed by a CM in your wedding attire to Epcot Park. Otherwise all dinner/reception venues are at the resorts.

5. Fireworks cruises: all private boats available have capacities of 12 or less. Grand1 yacht holds 12. Pontoon boats hold 10. Breathless holds 4 at most. Grand Gatherings offers a Magical Fireworks Voyage for large parties with visits from Peter Pan and Hook (I'm not sure if it leaves from the park, whether wedding attire would be permitted on board).

6. Post-wedding dinners for large parties (over 8 I believe) have to be when the restaurant first opens for dinner, usually around 5-5:30PM. I've heard that a few restaurants will give large parties the last seating too, around 9:30PM. So if you book a 5PM wedding, you are unlikely to get a standard dinner time, unless you book a private room.

7. Private dinner rooms available are: Citrico's Chefs Domain (capacity 12, $650 minimum), California Grill Sonoma Room (capacity 40, $2000 minimum) and Napa Room (capacity 60, $3000 minimum), Jiko's Wine Room (capacity 20, $2500 minimum), Victoria and Alberts (capacity 21, $1750 for first 10 guests), DTD Fulton's (capacity 40 , $2000 minimum).

8. Here are pictures of the reception venues:
http://www.tazfoto.com/webhtml/wdw_locations.htm

9. Here are ALL the phone numbers at Disney:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1312401&referrerid=&highlight=wdw+contact+snail

If anyone else has some efficient info to add or edit, feel free!

Jil

 

[purplegirl247]

That's quite a comprehensive list! Well done and super helpful!

 

[Tabetha]

Jil, that is immensely helpful, thank you so much.

 

[Natalie Scales]

Hi there, we are hoping to have an Escape package maxed out to 18 guests. For the reception we had thought of a restaurant nearby, however my parents and siblings are wanting to rent a villa nearby Disney (not on site) so we had thought of having a BBQ type reception back at the villa around the pool. This way everyone gets to chill out and relax and since we have a minimum budget and very mixed diet between guests this means that we can purchase exactly what everyone will want. Hopefully this means minimum cost, maximum enjoyment.