Non-Disney Disney Wedding?

[srferson]

My fiance and I are going to be in Disney World for 10 days in October and we want to have a wedding ceremony while we are there.

The Disney Escape and Wishes weddings are out of the question. They are too elaborate and too expensive.

I started to look into the Swan wedding packages, but I have had no luck communicating with Just Marry! even though they say 'Tell us what you want! We'll be happy to help!' Well, I tell them and they say nothing. Plus I have seen some very NOT glowing reviews of both Just Marry! and the Swan itself. It seems like if you are really lucky, it may turn out nicely, but one unlucky incident and the Swan is trying to stick you in an ugly room and don't really feel like talking to you, or people at Just Marry! are not bothering to talk to you, or... You know? I don't want to take that chance.

My fiance would very much like to have a wedding ceremony on Disney property (aka, in Disney World). If I understand correctly, the Downtown Disney hotels are on Disney property but not Disney-owned. Is that true and has anyone had a wedding ceremony at one of them? If so, how was it? What did it entail? How much did it cost?

We just want a nice little ceremony for about 15 guests. We just plan on having a meal at a Disney restaurant after the ceremony, so we're not even talking about a reception. Ideally, we'd have a nice place to have the ceremony with somewhere for our guests to sit, someone to marry us (non-religious), a photographer for the ceremony and a few after ceremony shots, a single musician for the ceremony, and perhaps some champagne to toast right after the ceremony. All the other stuff like hair and flowers and limos... we either don't need or we can take care of ourselves.

We live in Pittsburgh, so it's hard to know how to get this arranged from here. And I realize the value of a wedding coordinator, but I also realize the price tag, and the ceremony isn't the only thing we want to spend money on. I was hoping a package deal of some sort would work for us. And I found one that seemed pretty perfect, but it's on a golf course next to Disney World and my fiance's reaction is 'The package is good. But I don't like the location. A gazebo in the middle of a field is kinda boring. And I'd really like it to be in Disney World.' I really do want to make him happy, but I really would like to be able to enjoy the whole vacation as well as the ceremony while still having a chance at putting our future children through college.

Does anyone have any advice? Experiences doing a non-Disney Disney wedding? Anything that could help me make my fiance happy without making my head explode?

 

[momplus3]

Before we decided to have an Escape wedding, I did some research into having an Orlando area wedding (not at Disney). There are some great services for alot less money than am Escape wedding. One of the services will also have a ceremony on the beach. If I remember correctly, none of them offer a wedding on Disney property. If you search Orlando wedding chapels, you should come up with some services.

Maybe you could have a Disney photo shoot at MK instead of a wedding there. This might be enough Disney for your fiance. The price I believe is $1000 and includes prints.

 

[CharacterFan]

Maybe you could have a Disney photo shoot at MK instead of a wedding there. This might be enough Disney for your fiance. The price I believe is $1000 and includes prints.

You can only do the MK Bridal session if you have an Escape or Wishes wedding.

Sorry I don't know anything about getting married outside of Disney

 

[lurkyloo]

Check out Shades of Green - it's on Disney Property, right near the Polynesian. You will need a military sponsor to hold an event there, though.

http://www.shadesofgreen.org/weddings.htm

DISer Tink_Kel is having her wedding there and has a Planning Journal here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1935879

When I was researching my book, most of the hotels on Downtown Disney that did weddings had 50-person minimums or charged almost as much as Disney (but offered a lot more). You could investigate Royal Plaza - they have fees for groups of less than 100, but at least it's an option: http://www.royalplaza.com/Weddings/weddings.asp

 

[disbridemimi]

Hi there! We have also given up on dealing with the S&D and Just Marry, it has been nothing but hassles trying to get any reasonable answers to our questions, and I am not trying to make this more stressful than it needs to be! Here are the places I have looked into for "Intimate" and our reason for shopping around is mainly due to our guest list being just above escape limit, but our budget being more "escapeish"

I have found a MILLION options in the are, but here are some of my favorites:


You are looking to do exactly what I am currently planning. There are a few locations near Disney, and some a bit further away that offer "Intimate" wedding packaged for small groups. I would suggest looking at these:

http://paradisecoveorlando.com/packages.php

pros- very close to Disney property, next to apartment I lived in as a CP , Little Lake Bryan is beautiful, affordable options, seems like you can make it either fancy or casual whichever you choose, they have answered almost of my email questions. I have been very satisfied with their responses.


cons- costs vary, cold not find many reviews, although the ones I did find on theknot were good they were all for regular weddings, not intimate, I didnt like that the music is a CD and I still wanted to add more photos/video



http://www.celebrationhotel.com/weddings/packages.asp

pros- beautiful!!!Includes soup to nuts right down to night for the couple in the hotel and a vintage car for the getaway pics! Their planner has gone above & beyond answerting emails & questions, I didnt feel like I would really need to add anything, includes food etc

cons- pricey!!! Food a little too fancy for me and its a little further away


http://www.leugardens.org/Weddings.html

pros - stunning! affordable, several ceremony spots to pick from, and even if you bump from their intimate 250$ rock bottom to the standard its still only like 750$ but then you have to add photos etc

cons-books up quick! popular with locals, farther away from Disney and distance is the only thing keeping us from using them

http://www.grandbohemianhotel.com/weddings/packages.asp

pros & cons- not sure, this place wasnt really our style


and alas the one we are leaning towardsnothing is final yet)

http://grandcypress.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/events/weddings/index.jsp

pros- has all the stuff I want and its pretty & close

cons-cant find reviews anywhere, not sure how they are to work with, so far my responses have been ok I guess, but not getting answers to all of my questions so I am planning to go visit

I will be adding photos/video, perhaps a violinist or harpist and we will prob go to lunch or dinner at a Disney resteraunt after and I am planning to still do a dessert party, but not in wedding attire

 

[disbridemimi]

Lurkyloo-can you have a MK session if you get married at SOG?

 

[lurkyloo]

Unfortunately, no - they seem pretty strict about requiring you to have a Disney's Fairy Tale Wedding for that. (Then again, in this economy..... maybe it's worth asking!)

 

[srferson]

Lurkyloo - Did you look into Shades of Green enough to have any idea about pricing?

Thank you all for those ideas. Keep 'em coming if ya got 'em.

I'm going to share all of this with the fiance. I don't want to be completely out of the loop, but it may be wise to just set a budget and hand him the reins.

 

[lurkyloo]

Yes - they sent me a whole bunch of info when I was researching the book. It looks like you don't have enough posts yet to PM me your email address, but I'll see if I can PM you mine.

Alternatively, if you follow the link I provided above, you will find contact info for Shades of Green and can call them yourself. They are very accommodating!

 

[Princess Annie]

I wouldn't rule out wedding coordinators all together....they are able to obtain discounts on all sorts of things that make it worthwhile paying for their services.

We are planning to get married at The Courtyard at Lake Lucerne next September and received a quote from the venue of $300 for the use of the venue for 1 hour.
The wedding coordinator has given us a package that includes use of the venue for 1 hour, photographer (with copyrights to all the photos included), flowers, officiant, music plus all her services for just under $1000, which I think is a good price.

Living in the UK, it is peace of mind that we have someone there to organise everything for us.

PM me if you want the details of the coordinator I am using.

Good luck with your planning!

xx

 

[smoof]

On the note of wedding coordinators. I had a SOG wedding, and used a wedding coordinator. She worked with the Swan and Dolphin a lot. You may want to try a wedding coordinator. I would give you the name of mine, but from what I can tell, she is no longer in the business. My minister's wife, also did wedding coordinating. They were a wonderful couple to work with. I think it would be worth giving her a call. There website is affordableorlandoweddings.com. Good luck!

 

[Tink_Kel]

The rental fee for the Gazebo at SOG, Disney World, is only $120! You can either decorate it yourself, or hire someone to do it for you. We are having a sunrise wedding, so we are just putting up twinkle lights, and maybe some tule around the main entrance, and that's it.

Doesn't get much less expensive than that!!

They do have some wedding coordinators there, though I don't have one, since our wedding is going to be so simple.

 

[Disneychix]

On the note of wedding coordinators. I had a SOG wedding, and used a wedding coordinator. She worked with the Swan and Dolphin a lot. You may want to try a wedding coordinator. I would give you the name of mine, but from what I can tell, she is no longer in the business. My minister's wife, also did wedding coordinating. They were a wonderful couple to work with. I think it would be worth giving her a call. There website is affordableorlandoweddings.com. Good luck!

This is the minister (jimmy johnson) who married us at the Swan. He was great. He had a wonderful, caring, kind personality. He was a really great part of our day.

 

[srferson]

Princess Annie - I'd be interested to know who your wedding coordinator was, but I'm not allowed to PM or email you.

Tink_Kel - Do you know if it's true that you don't have to be military to rent space for an event at SOG? We emailed them yesterday, but haven't heard back just yet.

 

[disbridemimi]

did you ever hear back from SOG? I am confused by the requirments. They said you need a sponsor, but they didnt clarify if you need one for the wedding too, or just for the room booking.

 

[srferson]

We did hear back a day or two ago. Unfortunately their email states "Eligibility for events on property requires 1 military sponsor for the event."

Our event is small, so that doesn't offer too many opportunities for someone in our party to meet the criteria. My brother-in-law almost does. He was honorably discharged. But I guess his disability is only 40% or 50% 'service-connected.' Not that I know how that all works. Just going on what my sister tells me there.

It is too bad though. Renting the gazebo is quite afforable. I was hoping that would work out, but I respect the intentions/purposes of the resort, so...

Anyway, I'll post again if I find out anything different.

 

[lurkyloo]

That's weird - when I spoke to the coordinator there as I was researching my book, I was assured that you only need a sponsor if you want to stay at SOG. She told me you don't need one just to hold an event there....

 

[lurkyloo]

So I was looking through the materials I got from Shades of Green and found this:

General Information
Thank you for considering the Shades of Green for your upcoming function. Banquet facilities may be used by the following categories of personnel: Active or Retired military personnel and their dependants, Active or Retired Reserve and National Guard members who possess a valid and current I.D. card and their family members, and Department of Defense Civilians. These eligible users may also sponsor functions. Should you have any questions regarding any of our policies, please consult one of our Sales Representatives.

Perhaps the person I spoke to misunderstood my original question. I'm sad to learn that it's not open to everyone, because SOG is such a great low-cost wedding venue. But I guess it makes sense that use of all facilities, and not just hotel rooms, would be limited to military personnel and their relatives.

 

[disbridemimi]

I am going to go do some site visits in May, and I am REALLY hoping to find an affordable place we LOVE. I have high hopes for the Hyatt Grand Cypress.

I am really having a hard time deciding if I will be ok with an Off Site wedding. I think as long as I can do the dessert party and a Disney resort luncheon after it will be fine, but Ill get back to you after the site visits. Thatb is when we will make the call on where its going to be!

Im totally bummed about SOG though, I am still going to go see it, My dad was in the Navy during Vietnam, not sure if he will be "qualified" but Im going to ask. I was really hoping this could be our place, and still have the Disney feel to it.


If we end up doing the Escape, our budget will be shot, the add ons just keep going up and up and up. I wish they'd offer one of those "last minute discounts" for Escape

 

[lurkyloo]

If he was in the Navy in Vietnam, your dad qualifies under the "Active or retired military personnel" criterion. (When I called today, they said the only former military personnel who don't qualify are those who were dishonorably discharged.)

Also, the sponsor doesn't have to actually attend the event, they just need to vouch for you. So if you knew anybody at all who was connected with the military or the Department of Defense, they could sponsor you.

Sorry - I'm just rootin' for you to choose Shades of Green!