Magic Kingdom shoot or not to Magic Kingdom Shoot???

[gillian1926]

Ok...My DF and I have scheduled a MK shoot for the day after our wedding. We were very excited about it but as I keep reading the boards I am wondering if it is worth the money(and getting up at 3am). I would LOVE and appreciate your opinions on this topic. Would you do it again? Was it worth it? We are having a very hard time deciding! Especially after reading some peoples experiences.

Thanks so much in advance for all of your advice and opinions!

 

[aprincess72]

I have read some mixed reviews as well. However one of the main reasons I wanted a DFTW was for the photo shoot. We had our two weeks ago and to be honest I would have paid more! We did MK and EPCOT and we had a blast! Our photographer, Ty, was awesome! I absolutely love my pictures! So much so that I called Disney immediately and swapped the low res CD for the high res!
I will be doing them again when we do our vow renewal!

 

[dee slack]

I have read some mixed reviews as well. However one of the main reasons I wanted a DFTW was for the photo shoot. We had our two weeks ago and to be honest I would have paid more! We did MK and EPCOT and we had a blast! Our photographer, Ty, was awesome! I absolutely love my pictures! So much so that I called Disney immediately and swapped the low res CD for the high res!
I will be doing them again when we do our vow renewal!

I noticed that they are now offering MK and another park for $1300 (so an extra $300 for another park), and was kinda thinking it would be neat to have EPCOT as well - where did you choose to have your photo's?

Personally, I am definately having the Mk photo's as it's a once in a lifetime chance. I would prefer to have mine in daylight, but that's not possible in Dec. I would say that if you are really having doubts, maybe wait (you have up to 1 year to have them taken) or write yourself a 'for' and 'against' list so that you can give yourself a good reason whichever way you choose. Good luck with your decision

 

[aprincess72]

We did ours in the UK and Italy. We went down two weeks before (we live close) to see how the flowers for the flower festival looked and those were the best in my opinion! Italy looks really amazing right now!

 

[kimysbug]

We did one in 2005 morning of our VR

Totally worth every penny!!

 

[karentan]

we did one, and for us it wasnt even a question, why travel thousands of miles (from the UK) to have a DFTW and not have the castle photos?

 

[JandJ]

I think if you want to do it you should go for it! DH and I had no interest in doing the MK shoot and I don't regret not doing it. For us it wasn't the money (it was about $850 at the time) but getting up at the crack of dawn and getting all made up again. I did not want to see DH before walking down the "aisle" and so we couldn't have done it the day of the wedding and going through all that the next morning at like 3:00 or 4:00 am was so unappealing. We thought about it for like a minute before we decided not to do it.

If it's important to you, and it is a chance of a lifetime, you should definitely do it!

 

[Lynn5700]

We are going to do the honeymoon shoot at the castle,its only 300 so I don't think that's a bad price at all. I would do the wedding ones if it wasn't so early in the morning.

 

[figmentfan814]

We are having ours two days after our wedding since we didn't want to see each other before our ceremony (plus our wedding is at 9 am). I am really excited because that is something that I have always wanted. During my planning session last week I talked to the florist about my bouquet and they will keep it for me and add any replacement flowers so it will look great that day.

 

[purplegirl247]

I haven't gotten our album back yet from the MK photo shoot, but the pictures online are beautiful (I'll link to 'em in my trip report when I get the chance). The only thing that worries me is that they get to choose what goes into the album, not us, so we may end up having to order more (our favorites). Since they don't know us, how will they know if we're making a face or whatever?

As far as getting up early, we woke up at 5 am for a 6 am pick up. Our photographer, Tom, was also awesome and called us at 5 am just in case our alarms didn't go off or whatever, which was sweet.

Regardless, just being at MK with no one else around (well, kinda), was a very surreal experience and made it worthwhile. I don't think we'll look at it quite the same again...

 

[D&R love Disney]

For us it was so worth it and really made the whole Disney experience. I got up at 5:00 am and did my own hair and make up for the photo shoot. Rick got up about 15 minutes prior to having to be in the lobby!

 

[lurkyloo]

I noticed that they are now offering MK and another park for $1300 (so an extra $300 for another park), and was kinda thinking it would be neat to have EPCOT as well - where did you choose to have your photo's?

Can you wear your gown at both shoots, or is the package for one bridal portrait at MK and a honeymoon shoot at another park? My PDF doesn't mention this option....

Also, I thought I read you get to pick the 12 prints in the album they give you, but PurpleGirl doesn't seem to have been given a choice. Anyone know for sure?

TIA

 

[purplegirl247]

You can only wear your gown to the Magic Kingdom Photo Shoot (Disney calls it a bridal portrait), the ridiculously early morning one. Honeymoon shoots are completely separate, and can be done at any park (Sometimes they charge you $50 for anything outside of MK though. I have no idea why.) but you can't wear your wedding dress. Those are usually in the morning too, but only to cut down on the amount of foot traffic that could appear in the background, not because the parks are closed per se.

lurkyloo, when we asked Tom what our next steps were on the day of the shoot, he said it would take about 2 weeks for the photos to appear online (which was true; we got an e-mail giving us the link) and we'd get the album in the mail shortly thereafter. According to him, *they* choose the photos for the album. No one from Disney has contacted me to ask which ones are my favorite or anything. I really wish we could choose our own but I think (a) some people might drive the photography team crazy with changing their minds, demanding more photos, or taking their sweet time to choose and (b) it's a sneaky way for Disney to make more money. I've already made a list of which ones we can't live without and if they don't appear in the album, I'm still going to buy the prints from Disney.

Make sense?

 

[FlowerJ723]

When I first read about the option I absolutely wanted to do it. The money wasn't a problem b/c it would have been a gift for us. But then when I started thinking about things such as fixing my hair again, and makeup again, and the $150 to refresh my flowers and waking up at the crack of dawn I started to really stress out. I decided against it which I'm very suprised of but I just thought it would be too much of a hassle(for me at least). That's my opinion but I'm sure the pics will be gorgeous if you get them!!!

 

[gillian1926]

thanks everyone for your opinions...maybe I could request certain photographers??? What do you think about that? Do flowers need to be refreshed if I am doing the next morning?

 

[aprincess72]

thanks everyone for your opinions...maybe I could request certain photographers??? What do you think about that? Do flowers need to be refreshed if I am doing the next morning?

I'm not sure if you can request a certain photographer or not. I would ask your EM.

Are you having dark or light colored flowers? What time is your ceremony?
Can you get them in water asap?
Light flowers bruise easily and do not last as long. Dark flowers would probably be just fine the next day.

Take a spray bottle with you to mist them and this will help! Keeping them in a cool place but not the refrigerator is also helpful!

 

[dee slack]

Can you wear your gown at both shoots, or is the package for one bridal portrait at MK and a honeymoon shoot at another park? My PDF doesn't mention this option....
TIA

The package is listed under Formal Portrait sessions, so I'm taking it that both portrait sessions will be in your wedding attire, which makes it a reasonable deal as you get the 12 4x5" folder for each park. Not sure if it's on the same day, or on different days tho'.

thanks everyone for your opinions...maybe I could request certain photographers??? What do you think about that? Do flowers need to be refreshed if I am doing the next morning?

I'm expecting my flowers to be fine for the next day - as long as no one sits on them on something!!

 

[Chantelle]

What is the point of a disney wedding if you don't get to have pictures in front of the castle? The photoshoot is expensive, but it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I know my wedding photos will be unique compared to all my friends.

I am not looking forward to getting up at 4 in the morning for hair and makeup, but I doubt I will be sleeping much that night anyway because I will be anxious/excited for the day ahead.

Any magic kingdom photo shoots I have seen of other brides have been beautiful and I look forward to sharing that special time alone in the magic kingdom with my fiance before we get married.

I do have a question though....should I wear my wedding band at that point or not? We won't be married yet, but it would be nice to have it in the shots. What have others done?

 

[aprincess72]

What is the point of a disney wedding if you don't get to have pictures in front of the castle? The photoshoot is expensive, but it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I know my wedding photos will be unique compared to all my friends.

I am not looking forward to getting up at 4 in the morning for hair and makeup, but I doubt I will be sleeping much that night anyway because I will be anxious/excited for the day ahead.

Any magic kingdom photo shoots I have seen of other brides have been beautiful and I look forward to sharing that special time alone in the magic kingdom with my fiance before we get married.

I do have a question though....should I wear my wedding band at that point or not? We won't be married yet, but it would be nice to have it in the shots. What have others done?

I think it's up to you but they don't do tons of up close shots so you may not see it anyway!

I think getting up at 4 am just made it all the more interesting. I was delirious so I was having a great time!

 

[figmentfan814]

Make sure to talk to your florist about your flowers. When I was at my planning session last week I was told that she would have someone pick up my flowers and that they would keep them in their cooler until my shoot two days later. Also, as other people mentioned it depends on your flowers whether or not you will have to get them refreshed. I am having spring flowers- irises, daffodils, hydrangeas, etc. and she said odds are all my flowers will still be fine. They will replace any that don't make it, but she said I probably won't need it.