oh boy... my head is spinning!!!!

[sambycat]

hello everyone and thank you so much for sharing such fabulous information! but i am feeling like this ----->

i am newly engaged and was really pleased to find that all the different wedding packages at WDW were at least with in the time frame of being possibilities for us! so we are looking at a january 2011 wishes package as the guest size for the escape was even more difficult than we first thought (although the disney wedding sales person NEVER said we could add a scant few people more for a bit more $$ ). our date is "confirmed" but they won't be taking our deposit for another 2 months and the reception site cannot be "confirmed" until may. i feel pretty confidant based on the time and day of our wedding (tuesday brunch in january anyone??) that in the end the locations and date will all work out but...
* we don't really have anything other than the disney website, a few "sample" documents and forums and the like to give us some idea of what we can do with our hopefully minimal budget for potentially 30 people ($10K minimum, WP/GF brunch to follow with cake)
* i feel very confident about the disney services overall, but see enough caveats about specific photo ops, planners, officiants, photogs etc.. that i want to do some research and compile my little lists and all...
* i don't think it is too early to start planning
* i'm confused but what you can/can't do on your own or "have" to do through disney

i guess i shouldn't be reading blogs and forums and books so heavily - maybe i am just freaking myself out, but more often than not, there is information that is really helpful and actually helps me feel more calm....

oy! here's hoping i can figure this all out - i am now having greater fear of these "MK photo shoots" - which generally look so cool and the cost of bridal photography which seems like it will be half our freaking budget!!! i worry that the ballroom will look sad and pathetic with our little theme considering our budget for decor and all and we will all sit there all sad and droopy! should i be making extra centerpiece stuff? can i do that? is the ipod playlist music going to be ok for the non-dancing brunch and can we get a beloved WDW performer to play for an hour at the reception without having WDW charge US $1500 and pay HIM $150??? Will they cover my cake in fondant even though i don't like to eat that stuff? and if they don't, can i still get a mad hatter style cake with REAL yummy buttercream and flowers!!!!

HOW DOES EVERYONE ELSE HAVE THESE BEAUTIFUL WEDDINGS AND NOT BE MILLIONAIRES???

unless i randomly got to the disboards millionaire planning thread by accident.......



thanks for listening!!!!!!!!


deep breaths! deep breaths!

 

[ColeV]

Don't worry! We all started there too! It can easily be done at minimum, you just have to learn to be creative and know what is most important to you. When it comes to decor I think the best bang for your buck is anything other than flowers. Those get so terribly expensive quick. And you can bring in some of your own decorations and floral (bouquets are common), but if it's being set up there will be a fee for that after a certain amount of items. We decorated our pre-reception tables, the seating chart table, used my bouquet as a centerpiece, and used palm leaves & peacock feathers rather than flowers for other decor.
We used an Ipod for our reception and it was perfect. The jazz band from the ceremony played the pre-reception time. If there's a particular performer you want you can see if you can book them directly. I got my silhouette artist directly and it cost me less than half Disney would have charged.
The cake won't have to be in fondant, but it will restrict what you can do to it (no fancy designs on it). And there is buttercream under the fondant too.
We ended up spending about 15,000 for 30 people. But, we could have cut down a lot on food (hors d'oeuvres and a big dinner), cake (fancy custom design), and extras like the Rolls Royce. To note though, we used an outside photographer so it didn't count in that minimum.
Just keep asking questions! The brides on here have come up with some brilliant cost saving ideas that are still beautiful.

 

[sambycat]

thanks for your thoughts, your posts are among those i've been admiring. i do like seeing alot of the reusing flowers at different places. we are aiming for a "mad hatter" theme - waiting to hear the pricing on all the "set pieces" as well as alice, the hare and the hatter coming to visit!!

i think with that theme, the colors and table settings do much more for the set up than flowers. and i am hoping that minimal if any additions to the WP will be necessary - it looks so pretty as is.

just glad to have this resource out there and anxious to get a sample budget going!!!!

 

[lurkyloo]

Hi!

* we don't really have anything other than the disney website, a few "sample" documents and forums and the like to give us some idea of what we can do with our hopefully minimal budget for potentially 30 people ($10K minimum, WP/GF brunch to follow with cake)

I pulled together the sample budget that showed us we could afford a Disney wedding by looking through budgets posted on this forum and pulling out the prices for each of the elements we wanted. Even if the weddings listed are a year or two old, the prices will not be that much more by the time your wedding rolls around.

This thread full of budgets is hugely helpful: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2182201

We had a Wishes wedding for 34 people for a few dollars over Disney's $10,000 minimum in similar circumstances to yours - weekday brunch, small guest list - and got to include fun stuff like a dessert party in Epcot and boat transportation to the reception. (Videography, photography, the dress, tuxes and other non-Disney expenses, along with tax and Disney service charges, added about $4,000 to our total.) There's more info about that under the PJ! and Wedding! links in my signature.

* i'm confused but what you can/can't do on your own or "have" to do through disney

- All food and beverage has to be through Disney, including the cake.

- Inside the parks, everything else has to be Disney: floral, decor, entertainment, transportation, photography, videography.

- Outside the parks and indoors, you can provide your own everything (but food).

- Outside the parks and outdoors (i.e., in public locations like Sea Breeze Point), you can provide your own personal floral (bouquets, boutonnieres), photography, videography and transportation. You must use Disney for all other floral and decor, plus entertainment (like a vocalist or musician).

...and the cost of bridal photography which seems like it will be half our freaking budget!!!

That's one of the reasons so many people on this board use non-Disney photographers.

i worry that the ballroom will look sad and pathetic with our little theme considering our budget for decor and all and we will all sit there all sad and droopy!

That's why we chose a non-ballroom location. Check out The Attic, Ariel's, Atlantic Dance Hall and the various restaurants. These all have much more interesting decor and work great for smaller groups.

is the ipod playlist music going to be ok for the non-dancing brunch

Yes.

and can we get a beloved WDW performer to play for an hour at the reception without having WDW charge US $1500 and pay HIM $150???

There may be a conflict-of-interest thing going on if you try to hire him or her without going through Disney. If you do hire him/her through Disney, they can probably request that s/he be the one to perform for you, though.

HOW DOES EVERYONE ELSE HAVE THESE BEAUTIFUL WEDDINGS AND NOT BE MILLIONAIRES???

See above.

 

[Butler_chic07]

I just wanted to say THANK YOU for posting this!! I completely understand where you are coming from. I am newly engaged, and don't really know where to start!!!! My wedding is later than yours, but I am finishing college and will be in Tasmania student teaching for most of this year, then I will come back to student teach, and then I will be getting married.
Saying that, I am trying to get as much planning as possible done now.

Thanks again!

 

[sambycat]

thanks one and all - it is indeed rerassuring to know that others feel the same and that especially such elegant affairs as lurkyloo's and other in the planning stages are within my grasp...

i'd imagine then that i should be able to feel pretty good about getting the things we want together..... and i promise to keep breathing!!!!

prepare for the sambycat onslaught!!!!!!!

 

[sambycat]

My wedding is later than yours, but I am finishing college and will be in Tasmania student teaching for most of this year, then I will come back to student teach, and then I will be getting married.
Saying that, I am trying to get as much planning as possible done now.

Thanks again!

thats the one thing i do feel great about in a disney wedding - the confidence in the "machine" and the resources such as this.... i may be able to maybe squeak out one trip to the world before the wedding, but, given i have as yet to get a new job and actually MOVE IN (no comment!) with my fiance - well, we just have alot of dough to be seeking into me relocating, us fixing up his place some and we are paying for our own wedding - and needing to assist a couple of relatives (his son - obviously!, my brother and his wife and my grandmother to get there and with accomadations for the wedding trip)...

i will definitely have to make a "PJ" - and formally introduce myself - a 43 yo first time bride to be!!!!

 

[Mydisneywedding]

If it makes you feel better, let me tell you that I have been on the same boat since May 2008. I got engaged right before our Disney vacation and all I could do was picture the wedding while at Disney.

I had it all played out, until I was told the Escape pkg. was only for 20 people, that a reception type event was not for Escape weddings and that the Wishes minimum was going up as of 2010... It was just one thing after another. I got so discouraged that I had convinced myself that a Disney wedding was not for me.

In December 2009, I said to myself "I have been engaged for a year and a half and still now plans... Disney it is not matter what". I called Disney, got all the latest changes and started reading all the postings having to do with reception/dinner pkgs, budgets & DIY projects.

I know it's a lot, trust me I totally understand you but I have learned so much from this board that I know you could do this too.

I'll give you some advice, get the PASSPORT WEDDING GUIDE.. (you could join for $4.95 a month and download it to your computer) If you don't like the site you cancel your subscription but atleast you have the ebook and you could use it as a guide. My 2nd advice is, JUST DO IT... if all these other brides have been able to do it under different budgets, ideas and dreams WE COULD TOO...

If you need to vent, just message me, trust me I know what it's like...

good luck!!!

 

[sambycat]

the recomended budget thread seems to be a good one.... we are aiming for wishes wedding at the WP - a minimum if any extra decor there, bridal party is just one and one best man - my flowers probably corsages for 3 and boutennieres for 3 total beside the groom.

we are hopefully having a riff on the mad hatter tea party as a brunch at the white hall patio/room and i think everyone - ourselves included - can walk our happy you know whats on over to the GF, no?

i forget the name of the brunch menu, but it was less than 70/person (maybe 55?) and substantial. the wedding sales person already suggested splitting off some items to the WP for a pre-ceremony nosh which i think is genius.

i want the buffet and cake, with tea, coffee, juice and perhaps blody marys/mimosas.. i really like the mad hatter colorful theme and i hope we can scale the centerpiece ideas to something we can afford, and perhaps utilize some of the props that go with this theme including alice and characters and some statuary. we are going to do just an ipod or something for background music and hope that we can include an hour of a certain favorite disney performer as well (apparently the WP costs include a soloist of some sort for the wedding portion).

because it is a weekday, and the hour (either 10am or 12pm ceremonies i believe) we have to meet only the 10K minimum, not 12.

although i doubt that would be hard to do.....

 

[Mydisneywedding]

I love you ideas and I think you would be able to do it without any issues..

If I read correctly, I saw your date being a Tuesday in Jan. I think that would be a plus in keeping the cost down.

I have seen the brunch menus and they are great, plus it gives you all day to enjoy yourself with your guest...

I wasn't aware that the minimum is lower if it's a weekday, is THURSDAY included in that, and is it 10am ceremony only.. I am looking into a Thursday in Jan 2011 and don't reach the $12,000 minimum so I have been looking into an Escape wedding.. I was never told about that diff. in price

could you provide me some info, heck if I need to move it to a Wed, so be it

 

[sambycat]

mydisneywedding - i think it is any weekday wedding/ceremony starting at the 10am time (even though our reception goes till 3 and the actual reception would be starting at like 11-12). i am not sure how long they are offering this program - i know there was some kind of special offer on the disneywedding.com website, but that was till the end of 2010.

we were pricing out some general options and the wedding sales person (our first and only contact thus far) suggested this as an option. i am not sure off hand if there is even an 8am ceremony but i was initially thinking of a lunch and this seemed like a really grat idea!

we havne't yet made our deposit, but we are talking with disney and officially/unofficially penciled in - i can't see why they'd mislead us - its certainly something to ask about!!

for us, we got engaged on a disney cruise early december 2009. my now-fiance had booked us on the maiden voyage of the disney dream - that is sailing january 26, 2011, which i didn't realize was a wednesday. the more we talked about it, we just thought that would be such a great honeymoon and we have just taken it from there!

 

[Skylersmommy5]

First of all congratulations on your Engagement. Believe me the beginning is always overwhelming. Take deep breaths. It all comes together, and having a planner always aleviates a lot of stress. So many other Brides on here are so helpful, they'll be a huge asset of information to you as they already have been to me! I wish you the best of luck, and don't let the planning get the best of you.

 

[SuzeQ]

thats the one thing i do feel great about in a disney wedding - the confidence in the "machine" and the resources such as this.... i may be able to maybe squeak out one trip to the world before the wedding, but, given i have as yet to get a new job and actually MOVE IN (no comment!) with my fiance - well, we just have alot of dough to be seeking into me relocating, us fixing up his place some and we are paying for our own wedding - and needing to assist a couple of relatives (his son - obviously!, my brother and his wife and my grandmother to get there and with accomadations for the wedding trip)...

i will definitely have to make a "PJ" - and formally introduce myself - a 43 yo first time bride to be!!!!

Congratulations! It sounds like you've got a lot of exciting things happening in your life. I'm looking forward to reading your PJ.

Suze

 

[sambycat]

i will definitely get started on it! actually, i put a deposit on my dress this week and a photographer! still awaiting the initial price proposal from the Disney consultant but very excited!!!!!!