Planning a wedding from the UK

[disneywedding2012]

Hi all I hope someone can help me as I am getting a little frustrated...

Has anyone on here organised a Disney wedding from the UK? My fiancee and I have recently got engaged and we want to have our wedding in Disney World, Florida but we are really struggling to obtain the relevant information...

We have just spoken to Virgin about a wedding package and they inform us that they can only arrange the flights and accomodation and the basic wedding ceromony... they wont get involved in the reception and any other crucial information you need to know about before booking... there answer was that once you have booked your wedding you will be allocated a wedding planner...

As we have no idea of costs for anything else this isnt much use to us as there is no point us booking a wedding if we cant afford the reception.

We have requested information from the disney wedding website and requested for a wedding planner to get in touch but we havent heard anything yet.

Does anyone have any usefull information that might help get us started on planning our dream wedding?

We need to know information on the reception, additional costs for extras such as florists, hair/makeup, photography etc and dont know where to start.

Even if someone has a contact email for the wedding team in disney where we could email them direct that would be great?

I hope someone can help me

many thanks
Rachael x

 

[Sarah84]

There are a few people on here from the UK who have had or like myself planning to have a Disney wedding.

The first thing I'd suggest is looking at the Disney wedding website http://disneyweddings.disney.go.com/ you'll get an idea of the different packages and costs.

You have the Escape package which starts at $4750 but there are limits with it like you can only have upto 18 guests, a reception isn't included but you can add one on for an additional cost and then theres the Wishes collection which has a minimum spend of $10,000

Another great source of information is the Wedding Passporter, this has been a great help in my planning and researching http://www.passporter.com/weddings.asp

Personally I would (and plan to) book the wedding direct with Disney and not through a UK travel agent

 

[sambycat]

You check the trip planning/trip report thread on this forum you should find many UK brides. I'm sure you will find it helpful!!!

Good luck!! 

 

[clareyfairymouse]

Hey!

I did it, but mainly through doing my own research on here!!!

I booked my flights, tickets, accommodation and the basic wedding package through Virgin. Then when the 8 month marker came around we were asigned our Disney wedding planner and I booked everything else through her!

I read alot about what other brides had done on here and got the wedding passporter e-book which helped loads!!

If I can help with any specific questions then let me know, I've only been back 2 days and its all still fresh in my head!

 

[leonix8238]

Hi there,

I'm also from the UK and have booked my honeymoon through Virgin but not the wedding. I booked the wedding direct with Disney so I could contact them and get all my questions answered before confirming my booking.

In all honest Disney have been far more helpful with everything wedding related than any vendor I have spoken to the UK. I highly recommend you take a look at the various websites mentioned and once you have a vague idea of what you want to do give Disney a call for a chat.

I hope this helps!

 

[Chilly]

Yes there are lots of UK brides on here.

To get the ball rolling with Disney you need to ring them, they just take some basic info and then someone will ring you back.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

I am planning a VR at the Swan from the UK and yes, it is tricky having to do everything by email, but I think it will be totally worth it!!
The opinion of brides on here is that it is better to go direct with Disney as it seems to end up being more complicated going through somebody like Virgin.
If I can answer any questions you may have, feel free to ask!!
Good luck with all your planning!!

 

[sophieg]

Hiya.. We booked our wedding / holiday via Thomas Cook. Firstly we looked on the Disney Site and decided on an escape wedding as there will be 15 of us in total & requested a dvd. The bride & groom have to stay 5 nights in a Disney hotel to qualify for a Disney wedding so we are staying 5 nights in the Coronado Springs Resort and then the rest of our holiday moving to the Rosen Plaza on international drive with our wedding guests. Once you have booked your wedding / holiday package you give your travel agent 3 dates / times for your wedding as you will get one of those choices. Luckily we got our first chosen date and our second chosen time. Then 8 months before your wedding date you get your Disney pack sent through with your wedding date / time & planner. The wedding pack is so simple. You can add transport / photo packages / champagne (at a cost) and you pick your cake, flowers etc. You then send this back to your wedding co-ordinator @ Disney who sorts everything out. Also my planner emails me back the same day to any questions I have. You have to organise the minister & hair & makeup yourself but again this is easy as Disney give you contacts. To be honest using this site and mouseweddings has helped me more than the travel agent as I seemed to know more than them. We are also using Brevard Court for our marriage license as they sort this by mail / post and only charge the same fee of approx $93.

Hope this helps.

 

[angel81uk]

We have booked flights and accommodation DIY and the wedding direct with Disney. I'd much rather deal directly with Disney than go through a middleman as there are so many options and a few restrictions when it comes to Disney weddings that a third party won't necessarily know about.

As Sarah84 said the passporter ebook is a great source of information and will give you a good idea of the costs involved and what your options are. I get a good idea of what I would like and how much it will cost from the ebook and this forum and then contact my planner to sort out the details.

 

[sophieg]

Also with regards to the reception we have opted to take our guests to Planet Hollywood as we are having a 3 course dinner reception for over 100 guests when we come home. So we opted for something fun for the wedding dinner.

 

[Tiggeriffic79]

We've booked through a uk travel agent. I booked the wedding package a while ago with the holiday package so I just have that 1 big lump sum to pay off, and the price I pay stays at one fixed price no fluctuation because of exchange rate.

I recently came to my 8month booking point. There was a bit of crossed wires for a bit, mainly lack of expeience on their parts ( it's a small branch) but now it's all sorted I have my date, I have a wedding planner (dftw), the escape planning pack that all escape brides get, plus we also get 2hrs extra limo, a cd of the photos and they are arranging officiant.

With regards to reception/dp virgin might not be able to sort it but the wedding planner will, just like she would any other bride. Infact there are floral/decor packages for both listed in the planning pack.

Hope that helps

 

[disneywedding2012]

Hi everyone thank you so much for all your help and advice it has been so useful already!! We have purchased that ebook now and started reading and already things are becoming a little clearer!!!

Just one question which I think I already know the answer to but is the escape package limited to just 18 guests? We only want a small wedding but we already have over 20 people highly likely to come!!
We would rather just arrange our own reception at restaurant or something like that to keep costa down as it mentions in the ebook but as we have over 18 I fear this is not possible?

I think we are going to have to bite the bullet and go for the wishes collection and just try and keep it to the minimum costs

I have so many questions that I can't get it all out but I think I will try and read the ebook before bothering you all further!!!


Thanks again for all your help and advice i am so glad we found this forum

Rachael x

 

[Chilly]

plus we also get 2hrs extra limo, a cd of the photos

All international brides get a CD of the photos.

How many hours limo do you get then?

Just one question which I think I already know the answer to but is the escape package limited to just 18 guests? We only want a small wedding but we already have over 20 people highly likely to come!!
We would rather just arrange our own reception at restaurant or something like that to keep costa down as it mentions in the ebook but as we have over 18 I fear this is not possible?

Yes an Escape wedding is limited to 18 guests plus the bride & groom, children count towards this number as well. They did for a while let you add a few more guests for extra money but that is no longer an option.

 

[Tiggeriffic79]

Chilly we get 6hrs of limo service for some reason... Not sure why not complaining lol

 

[Chilly]

Chilly we get 6hrs of limo service for some reason... Not sure why not complaining lol

That's good.

Do you get AP's though?

 

[sophieg]

Hey we get a limo for 6 hours too... but we are also paying for the cinderella carriage. The limo is perfect tho as it will pick our families/ friends up from International drive & bring them to the wedding pavillion then will also take us to restaurant for dinner too. I cant wait! Hurry up March!

 

[Tiggeriffic79]

Do you get AP's though?

No no AP's, we wouldn't get any use out of them anyway so I'm not too bothered.

Sophie that's good to know about international drive march will come around quick

 

[Chilly]

No no AP's, we wouldn't get any use out of them anyway so I'm not too bothered.

Sophie that's good to know about international drive march will come around quick

Yes the limo can go anywhere no restrictions.

 

[disneywedding2012]

Also with regards to the reception we have opted to take our guests to Planet Hollywood as we are having a 3 course dinner reception for over 100 guests when we come home. So we opted for something fun for the wedding dinner.

hi sophie, not long now bet your excited!! We have started to look properly now but still cant book anything till april/may :-(

I was just wondering if I can quiz you a little about your planet hollywood reception as we are thinking along the same lines...

What is available in terms of food / entertainment?
Are you hiring a full floor, if so how much is this?
Do you know how much it is per head?

I hope all your planning is going well! Cant wait till this time next year!!

Rach x

 

[sophieg]

Hiya...

When are you getting married? The waiting part is the worst. I remember counting the days down till I could book!

We have 11 guests coming out with us and as we having a sit down meal reception back in England so thought Planet Hollywood would be perfect and novelty. We have a table on the VIP section (not the whole floor) and we have paid $30pp. This is for main course, dessert and includes all soft drinks. Also on the night we can order platters for starters which are only about $5 so will do that on the night. If you send them an email saying what you are looking at doing they will send you an info pack via email. They send you a menu but you can pick and choose what you like. (they are really helpful) and then we have ordered a drinks package which is $20pp and this includes all wine & beer for 2hours. So basically we have paid $50pp but this is for all food and all their drinks. How does that sound? We have also just recently paid Disney to have the limo extended for an extra hour that way we arent rushed and everyone can be taken home. Our wedding ceremony is 5pm and out table @ planet hollywood is booked for 7pm. Also the sunsets approx 6.30pm so we are hoping the weather will be nice.

Happy Planning. Let me know if you need anymore info. I am all ready and think I have booked everything. Sooooo excited!

Sophie