Newly Engaged! What are your tips and tricks for a DCL wedding?

[Bellhop Brittany]

Newly Engaged...ready to plan a Disney Cruise Line Wedding.
Hey All! I am so excited to see this thread. I am newly engaged and really interested in planning a DCL wedding but am a little lost.

My fiancé and I have only been engaged for a month but I am super psyched and want to get a move on. First if you want to know our engagement story, my fiancé really out did himself. We checked into The Wilderness Lodge and received a letter in our check-in package stating that we were randomly selected to be the Flag Family of the Day. As the Flag Family of the Day we had the privilege of raising the flags atop of the Wilderness Lodge. The "Ranger" of the Wilderness Lodge gave out the flags to my fiancé, best friend, and myself. We each raised a different flag. I was told that I would be raising the Disney Vacation Club flag. In fact the flag that I raised said "Brittany, will you marry me?" My fiancé and I met through working for the Disney Vacation Club it was only appropriate that he propose this way. I was so shocked I said "Oh my god" seventeen times in the video footage of the proposal. It was pretty hysterical.

Anyways, I am asking does anyone have any suggestions as to the first steps I should take towards planning a DCL wedding. My fiancé and I are thinking the Disney Dream, 4 nights. We would like to get married aboard the ship and if possible have our guests eat in Palo together that night. Does anyone know, is it completely impossible to have a large group eat in Palo together?

Excited to hear back from everyone!

 

[XxsmortzxX]

That is such a great proposal! I love the font he used for the flag, and the pin is so cool!!!
Okay, for your Palo question(I asked-begged- Meredith about Palo and the amount of guests in there), there is only room for 14 guests in the private room. At first, I had never seen this room, but on the past Disney Wonder cruise we had a group of ten and ate in the room. I am not sure if it is the same size on the Dream and Fantasy, but it's hard to believe even 14 people can fit in it. You can ask your wedding planner/coordinator for a seating chart for the main dining rooms if your guests get into the same dining rotation/time.

I have only been planning since October last year. So far, having a travel agent has been the best thing ever. We are thankful for Lisa through pixieandpiratedestinations.com. She is also a DCL bride and on the disboards(with a planning journal). She gave us a wedding website you can put on STDs or invitations that has a link to how to book/get a quote and then keeps track of their reservation numbers, cabin numbers, which has been a huge help since you will need to have all this information in your planning guide. Plus, I don't have to answer the phones and walk people through the process. If I get calls or emails with questions on 'where do I go to book this' or 'how do I put a deposit down' I can just guide them to her. Lol!

On a side note, this is something I just learned earlier this month that I wish we would have known before we sent out the insane amount of invitations. You can only pick your venue if your wedding party is a certain size. In order to have the ceremony at the Meridian Lounge(I hope I spelled this correctly) your group has to be below 25; Outlook is 30(but Meredith assured me I could hit 35), anything bigger goes to the D Lounge on the lower decks were the adult areas are. I would just keep this in mind when you are making your guest list. The last few weeks we've been chewing our nails because we really want the Outlook!

Hope this helps!!!

 

[Bellhop Brittany]

You can ask your wedding planner/coordinator for a seating chart for the main dining rooms if your guests get into the same dining rotation/time.

Do you know is it at all possible to be seated in PALO but not in the private room? I know that they will not push tables together but I don't really care if we are all there in the same general area and not at the same table. My fiancé and I just adore Palo and really would like to eat there with our party on our wedding night. I am assuming this wedding cruise is going to be a party of about 30-35. Do you know if we linked our dining reservations we could all be seated at the same time?

 

[XxsmortzxX]

If you all make the reservations quickly, (as soon as advanced reservations become available) you may all be at Palo's. I would go in there and just explain that it is your wedding party, and they will most likely be able to seat you in the general area. I will write this down to ask, since I am going on a cruise in May. I will go to Palo's and interrogate them.

The cruise I am on is booking quickly - far too quickly for me. Some of my guests have been moved to the late dining seating, which scares me. Meredith put them on the waitlist for the main dining where we are, and I am hoping there are some strings to pull or whatnot or else I will be on the top deck pushing tables together and eating cheeseburgers. We would love to celebrate with everyone that night, you know? I am sure there will be some way to put everyone together, at least for that one night.

 

[lescal79]

If you all make the reservations quickly, (as soon as advanced reservations become available) you may all be at Palo's. I would go in there and just explain that it is your wedding party, and they will most likely be able to seat you in the general area. I will write this down to ask, since I am going on a cruise in May. I will go to Palo's and interrogate them.

The cruise I am on is booking quickly - far too quickly for me. Some of my guests have been moved to the late dining seating, which scares me. Meredith put them on the waitlist for the main dining where we are, and I am hoping there are some strings to pull or whatnot or else I will be on the top deck pushing tables together and eating cheeseburgers. We would love to celebrate with everyone that night, you know? I am sure there will be some way to put everyone together, at least for that one night.

All of my reservations are linked with mine so when people called to make a reservation, they automatically got main dining. Did you book with a travel agency?

 

[lescal79]

Newly Engaged...ready to plan a Disney Cruise Line Wedding.
Hey All! I am so excited to see this thread. I am newly engaged and really interested in planning a DCL wedding but am a little lost.

Congratulations! I love your story! [\QUOTE]

 

[Bellhop Brittany]

If you all make the reservations quickly, (as soon as advanced reservations become available) you may all be at Palo's. I would go in there and just explain that it is your wedding party, and they will most likely be able to seat you in the general area. I will write this down to ask, since I am going on a cruise in May. I will go to Palo's and interrogate them.

The cruise I am on is booking quickly - far too quickly for me. Some of my guests have been moved to the late dining seating, which scares me. Meredith put them on the waitlist for the main dining where we are, and I am hoping there are some strings to pull or whatnot or else I will be on the top deck pushing tables together and eating cheeseburgers. We would love to celebrate with everyone that night, you know? I am sure there will be some way to put everyone together, at least for that one night.

Thanks for the plan of interrogation for me. When is your cruise? What plans do you have for your wedding so far?

 

[asunnysideup]

I have no idea about DCL weddings, but that proposal is so stinking cute!!!