Parents say they'll cover 10-15 grand

[disneyaddictgirl]

I just got engaged and although the wedding won't be until October 2016 my mother told me today that she would be willing to pitch in to pay for a Disney Wedding. However if the wedding can't be done at Disney it HAS to happen in South Florida.

This is a frustrating since my fiance and I both go to school at UCF in Orlando and plan to stay in Orlando after we graduate. Another factor if the wedding is in South Florida is that his family has to travel 2.5-3 hours (They're in Palm Bay) down. As a bride I also have no desire to plan my wedding from a 4 hour distance. I don't want to have to travel all the way to South Florida just to do a cake tasting, or to venue and church shop.

So I guess my real question is, is it possible to have a Disney wedding for 100 people for under 15 grand? I'm willing to cut down the guest list, it's my mother who's really struggling. I'm also having a really hard time understanding the Disney Wedding website.

Also when I try to suggest ways to bring down the cost of the wedding such as having it on Monday-Thursday or have a morning or early afternoon Friday or Saturday wedding, she tells me no because that is "tacky". I have 3 years to deal with this. HELP!!

 

[FairytaleBelle]

Hey,

Sorry you're being caused stress, but it's nice of your parents to pay

In the search bar type in 'share your budget' there's loads of people's budget in there so if you've time to flick around on it I'm sure you'll be able to see how much certain things cost people, and get an idea of what others have spent on a wedding with your size guest list. Actually here is the link:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2182201&highlight=share+your+budget

Another thing, I definitely wouldn't call mon-thur tacky, you could have a thur wedding, hold a welcome party on wed night and have an event on Friday to say bye (for eg I'm going to use mickeys not to scary Halloween party, it gets everyone in the parks for a big at a small price and should be a laugh) then your guests have the choice to go home or enjoy the rest of the weekend in disney.. Obviously that may involve taking two days off for some people but that still doesn't constitute as tacky!
Also the early am, some venues (in park) only allow the early ceremonies so if it were widely viewed as tacky, they wouldn't exist as people wouldn't go for them.
It's your wedding, so ignore your mother and go with what you and your df feel is best

 

[Sweet Melissa]

A Saturday evening wedding for 100 guests could easily be double your budget, possibly more than that three years from now. I don't know of anyone having a Disney wedding for that many guests on a Saturday for less than $25k.

I would take the next three years to do some hardcore saving so that you can have the wedding you want without and financial assistance or imposition from your mother.

 

[lurkyloo]

Unfortunately, there's simply no way to do a Disney's Fairy Tale Wedding for 100 people for less than $15,000 without doing a morning event—the $150 per-person food and beverage minimum alone will put you at $15,000 for an evening event, and that's just for food and drinks. Even doing a brunch, you'll be on the hook for $10,000 just for food and drinks.

 

[Duffy Lover]

Weddings sure can be stressful to plan, especially on a budget! But since you have three years before tying the knot, perhaps you and your fiance could save money for the wedding? If your family is paying for entire wedding they are going to think they have a good deal of say in how it all goes down... So start saving, sister! Take control!

 

[asunnysideup]

You'll definitely have to do some savings, but you can keep it as close as possible! Have it in the morning, stay low on decorations, and hope that not everyone can make it. My parents are also contributing 15k, and we're having a Sunday noon ceremony. It'll be over budget (we're inviting about 150 but we know probably less than 100 will be coming, a lot are polite invites to distant relatives across the country lol) but we're having a longer (16 months) engagement to give us time to save.

 

[Kaylars]

If you can cut your guest list down greatly, do a lot of diy projects to avoid further costs from Disney do it. We are having out wedding on a Wednesday which actually for us worked out. If you're guests are having to travel for the wedding it can also be seen as a vacation.

 

[pollypineapple8]

Thats the problem when people pay towards your wedding they think they can dictate every little detail and how things are gonna run. Iam glad I dont have this problem.

I have booked the memories package which is only for 6 guests. If I could afford to I would have more people there, but we r flying over from the UK, so its parents only really. And then a huge party back home - Buffet, DJ etc. So so much cheaper.

I had a guest list for party back home of about 300, I have managed to whittle that down to 100.

Would u consider a small intimate ceremony? The Escape package is for 18 guests. Then meet all your other guests at a local Disney hotel for reception? Would that work out money wise? Worth looking at.

 

[pollypineapple8]

If you need help with budget etc give me a shout anytime.

I printed my own wedding invites which cost total of about $20

I got a discount wedding dress from China - custom made for under $250

I got white flip flops and blinged them out myself for a total of $10 - added diamontes / embellishments and "I do" stickers on soles

My daughters flower girl dress just happened to be in the sale and cost under $15

My men (4 of them) are all wearing matching grey trousers, plain white shirts and I have made my own silk rose boutonnieres, all their outfits including footwear costing total of $200-150 approx. Our ceremony is on the beach so I wanted something more relaxed than a tux. Couldnt have the groom sweating in a heavy suit on a blistering hot day

My Mum bought her own dress

We are having a small dinner afterwards at Downtown Disney (because reception isnt included in our package).

We have had no time to save, we got engaged in February and literally booked the wedding in March with 8mths to go, with absolutely no money saved. We are buying things as we go along, which is stressful. My partner is out of work, Iam part time in the Hospital and we struggle, but it is do-able.

 

[usd2bmd]

Is there any way you can pay for it yourselves....then you can do it your way?

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

You could also plan your wedding at one of the nearby hotels. Our friends just got married at the Buena Vista Palace and it was much more reasonable.

There is no way you can do a wedding that meets your mother's demands on her budget.

 

[usd2bmd]

Your post says your parents are willing to pay 10-15K for the wedding. Is that your entire budget? If it is still 3 years away couldn't you and your fiance save and pay towards it as well? maybe then you could get something closer to your idea of your dream Disney wedding.

 

[pollypineapple8]

I wish my parents had $15k to give me.
My parents can barely afford flights

 

[charliegirl76]

I wish my parents had $15k to give me.
My parents can barely afford flights

No kidding! DF and I are paying for our parents to come in addition to paying for the wedding and a two week honeymoon. We had one person offer to help by paying for the invites and then at the last minute back out.

 

[tinydancr06]

Our wedding coordinator sent us a sample budget for a wedding of 100 after our site visit and it was right at 31k. She said this would be "very basic" in terms of what would be included, nothing fancy. She wasn't rude at all, just trying to be up front. You have lots of time to save though like everyone else said so figure out what budget you need to save for, do the math, and then save that amount per month, paycheck, etc. it's totally doable!

 

[MiaSRN62]

My husband and I are paying for the majority of my daughter's DFTW next April. She and her fiance are paying about 25% of overall cost. We are doing a Thurs noon ceremony and a 2 pm reception (we don't find it tacky at all). Many guests have to fly in, so we feel it provides a nice way to make a long weekend out of a trip to FL for them. My daughter and her fiance are recent grads from FSU and live in Tallahassee. They are fine with making the 4 hour drive for the planning/tasting session. They look forward to making a long weekend out of it.

We are not going extravagant by any means. Our invitation list is at 75 now but we don't expect more than about 50-55 to attend as family is scattered throughout several states (CA, IL, PA, NY, AZ & FL). With that amount of guests....a Thurs afternoon affair......we're already at about $15,000+ (I'm including the tax and service charges). And this does not include photography (another $1800) or the wedding gown/invitations.

I have no detailed event bill to share as we are just starting the process---deposit just went through about a month ago and we were just assigned a wedding planner 5 days ago.

Ways we could trim our bill would be :
1) no alcohol (we are planning a beer and wine package)
2) no cocktail hour (i.e. appetizers)
3) no DJ (we could opt for an iPod and playlist)
4) no motor coach for guests on the wedding day

We could save about $3,000 by trimming the above list but are choosing not to. I was provided with a very helpful suggestion to use some of the food from the lunch buffet for the cocktail hour---this would save a LOT for us (close to $1,000). THIS I would seriously consider as everyone is telling me there is a plentiful amount of food at the buffets. So we'll be discussing this with the wedding planner.

We have no clear idea of what to expect for flowers and reception decor----so I'm a little nervous about how that will affect our budget. We are having the reception at Ariel's so we have to use Disney for that.

 

[dayzee1983]

Hi! My DH and I were just married in Dec. we had a DFTW- we did without open bar, we brought our own DJ only paying for his weekend hotel as a favor. Did our own favors (Mickey mouse disneyland Christmas bulb ornaments). We chose 3 appetizers, opted for sit down dinner. Wedding was as 5:00pm on a Sunday and for everything.... Including my gown and all gifts for attendants TOTAL we spent nearly $25,000-$27,000. We only had 65 guests. Disney Weddings aren't cheap that's for certain! We also hired M&M to come to reception.

Hopefully you have your dream wedding. Just know, there were hiccups, quite a few at our wedding. I was a bit disappointed, especially considering the expense (and I am supremely laid back person). So a bit of advice, please use someone you trust to keep things flowing and keep you from stressing the small stuff. Don't leave it to the planners the day of to do everything or else you may be left a bit confused when the day is over to why you even had a disney planner.

Congratulations on your engagement