Please help my DF says yes to a WDW wedding!!

[Beautybelle43]

Hi everyone!

I'm very excited about planning our 2010 WDW wedding!!
This has been my childhood dream and I can't believe it might come true!!

Nothing is definate yet, because we are not yet sure if we can afford it & if it will even be feasible.....I'm hoping you guys can help me prove to my DF that this is affordable and doable!!

We don't have all that much money, so we were thinking that $6000 would be our limit (not including dress, hotel, & airfare). My mom said she would buy my dress, thank goodness! DF & I can factor in airfare & resort later.

-We would definately be interested in an Escape wedding. We both have a small family, don't like being center of attention, and it will be much cheaper.

-We will have approximately 18 people in total (including me & DF & two infants). If we needed to lower it to 16, I'm sure the guests with the infants could hire sitter service for the ceremony only.

-DF loves the ceremony site at the WL, but I think we surpass the guest limit on that. We will likely go with Sea Breeze Point at the BW.

-Additional flowers: The photos of the sites I think look pretty just the way they are w/out having to add on extra $$ for additional flowers. I'm sure I'll be fine with my bouquet & DF ok with his corsage, but we will need:
rose wands for my 2 BM's (those are cute, right?),
simple corsages for my mom, his mom, my dad, his 1 BM & his 2 GM (6 extra in total).

-The included cake, music, & decor are all fine for us, though we will need more champagne than just the one bottle that's included. Since we'll have 16 guests to participate in a toast, how many bottles will we need?

-We might need to rent a chupah....not sure yet. How much extra is this?

-I would LOVE to do a reception at the Gardenview Lounge Tea Room at the GF! No need to rent the whole place out or anything, just the grand tea for everyone. Will they accomodate a party of 18 (16 plus two infants)? **My parents will likely pay for the reception lunch, so that cost likely won't need to be factored in.

-Also, my parents are FL residents & will likely be AP holders by then. Can I receive any discounts through them?

-It has been my dream to get our pictures taken at the MK!!! I've been lurking on here for a bit and I've seen some of your photos and wow-they are so beautiful!! I want that too!

-Woops!! I forgot to add getting my hair and make-up done!

-Ok, have I gone way over my $6000 limit?

Any advice, suggestions, critiques, predicted costs are welcome!!

Thanks so much!!

 

[davidand3rs]

We are planning our DW for Dec 08, and also chose the Escape at Sea Breeze Pointe. We've got the contract, contacted our wedding planner and all that stuff, and i've got the feeling it's going to be ok budget wise. One of our biggest issues was budget, being that we're young and one of us will still be in college. You're definitely ok on the guest list, not going with extra flowers was our decision as well. I believe 1 bottle of the bubbly serves 6, so plan for at least 3. As far as pictures go, if you'd like a photographer other than what disney gives you for two hours, try Randy Chapman (our pick)...he has some amazing disney wedding photos for less than $600, and you get a whole bunch of stuff for that price. Check him out... http://www.chapmanphotography.com/ the password is "ariel" for the disney brides section. Not so sure about the Tea Room, but we're going to attempt to put get 17 people ADR's at Teppan Edo, Japan. If you go with the Tea Room and an outside photog, you'll be close to the $6000

As long as you keep in mind those other costs not associated with the escape package...travel, food for the 4 nights 5 days you're required to be there, marriage liscence, you're going to be spending close to 7000 to 8000 after it's all said and done! Not to worry though, we came to this realization and we're planning the best we can!

P.S. From a guy who is a budget freak, this is definitely feasible

 

[newyearsbride]

I see you, David. Thats my hubby to be

 

[Beautybelle43]

Thank you for all that advice!! Geez, I wish my DF would come onto these wedding boards! Maybe as we start planning more I'll talk him into it.

Well, our last WDW vacation, we were able to save up at least $3000 in about 6 months, so hopefully this won't be too much harder. Plus we have way more than 6 months to save up & plan.

-Do you know how much each extra bottle of champagne costs?

-Does Randy Chapman do the Magic Kingdom photo package? 2 hours or less for the ceremony photos is fine for us-I want to get our pictures taken all dolled up in front of the castle!!

-How much does a marriage license cost?

 

[newyearsbride]

Believe it or not, he introduced it to me.

Not sure about the other two questions, but most of the FL ones I think are around $100?

 

[hiwaygal]

Your budget is fine as long as Disney doesn't increase the prices. My wedding (three years ago) cost about that, but it included everything (even airfare, dress, kennel costs, etc.).

There are no discounts (as far as I know) for Florida residents or Annual Passholders.

The extra champagne runs about $65 a bottle.

Only Disney Photography can do the Magic Kingdom photo package.

You'll also need to factor in cost of the officiant (about $150-$200).

That's all I can think of right now...

(sorry if this seems blunt...I'm kinda tired )

 

[Beautybelle43]

Your budget is fine as long as Disney doesn't increase the prices. My wedding (three years ago) cost about that, but it included everything (even airfare, dress, kennel costs, etc.).

There are no discounts (as far as I know) for Florida residents or Annual Passholders.

The extra champagne runs about $65 a bottle.

Only Disney Photography can do the Magic Kingdom photo package.

You'll also need to factor in cost of the officiant (about $150-$200).

That's all I can think of right now...

(sorry if this seems blunt...I'm kinda tired )

No, you didn't sound blunt Thank you for this great info!

So, champagne: $65/bottle times 4 extra bottles =$260
Officiant=$200 **Do you tip the officiant?

Darn it, my parents FL resident status will do nothing? What about if they have the DDE-can that be applied towards the reception/lunch at least?

How much $$ is the MK photo shoot? My guess is around $1000?

Do WDW wedding prices go up every year?

 

[Nicola2010]

Hi beautybelle43!

Congratulations and im very excited to hear that you are a 2010 bride to be, as i am!

What month in 2010 are you hoping for? We're hoping for May 2010!

Looks like youve had some great advice so far... these boards are fabulous, everyone is so helpful (hiwaygirl definitely seems to know her stuff, i always feel reassured when she's giving the advice )

my DF and i were going to do an escape package but for everything we wanted we were gonna hit $10k easily so we have decided to go for a wishes package.

escape package for SBP at this moment in time is $4000 and as you know that's not including extra bottles of champagne or the officiant or the BM's bouquets and corsages for wedding party so you could be looking at an extra $600 - $700 on top for all those things. And that's without the MK photo shoot which i believe is $1000 minimum.

If you are an american you probably have factored this in anyway but as im a UK resident it's something that we def have to consider for our budget... all these prices are subject to 6.5% sales tax so dont forget to add that onto your additional extras... i dont know if this sales tax is inc in the $4000 ceremony package minimum or not... i think an escape bride who has signed a contract would be able to let you know on that but it's always something to bear in mind.

Also remember that you have to book a minimum of 4 nights stay on WDW property in order to do any wedding package, which depending on where you stay could put the costs up dramatically.

Reasons for your DF to have a WDW wedding:
1. It's your dream!
2. bride and groom AP's inc in package... they're worth around $1000 alone and ive heard that you are given a voucher for these so you can activate them whenever you want rather than straight away, which for me is brilliant as i dont think we'd be able to afford to come back to Florida in 2011 so we could hold off and activate them for a 2012 trip... or we may use them in 2010 and try to come back in 2011 but at least Disney are giving you a choice so that's a real plus.
3. You will only ever do this once in your life... budgets are important but i personally think a few sacrifices made now in order to have your dream wedding is totally worth it!

Good Luck... hope to hear about your WDW wedding plans real soon!

 

[Nicola2010]

sorry forgot to say...

i think a marriage license costs $93.50

many people on the boards have used Ana from Beaute Speciale for their hair and make up and i believe they have quoted $65.00 for hair and $45.00 for make up, but im sure someone who has used her can let you know for definite.

As i dont live in America it's been really beneficial to get names of people and company's that i could book and i havent heard a bad comment yet so i will prob try to book her too, but need to book the wedding first obviously lol

 

[hiwaygal]

Good Morning!

Personally, my thoughts are that if you are having an Escape wedding, there is no need to tip the officiant. He is being paid for his services. Now, if he does something over and above for you, then yes, you can tip him. If you are having a Wishes wedding, then perhaps there might be a reason to tip him (for the rehearsal, etc.) but still, IMO he is being paid directly for his services. But I do know that some brides (heck, maybe most) have tipped their officiant.

The DDE can probably be used for your dining expenses for an Escape wedding. I don't see how anyone could tell you it wouldn't. And, yeah, sorry about there not being any discounts...even some of the Cast Members who have gotten married there didn't get discounts (although I suspect they did get some extra pixie dust )

Your guess about the MK photo shoot is about right. Last I heard it was between $1000 and $1200 depending on the options you choose (photo print sizes, etc.).

The prices/features of the packages do seem to change almost every year. I think there are a couple of 2009 brides who haven't been able to book anything yet because Disney hasn't finalized the package requirements. Sometimes the change is in the package details and doesn't effect the cost at all...but sometimes the changes do effect the cost. I just didn't want you to plan your budget so tight and end up not making it if something should change. You've gotten great information from all the brides...keep a "cushion" in your budget for unexpected expenses or just regular price increases and you should be okay!

 

[Beautybelle43]

Thank you all for your help so far-I am so glad to have found these boards!!

Nicola2010: Well, my dream would be to get married during the Flower Festival at Epcot, but I think that time of year might be too expensive and too crowded. Much more affordable to have our ceremony during a value season. I love January, but I also LOVE the holiday decorations, so maybe late November.

Wow, $600-$700 for the 4 bottles of champagne and 6 corsages??? Yikes!
I had figured the corsages would only be around $12/piece Is there a cheaper way to get around this? The extra corsages can be real simple-we don't need anything fancy....Has anyone else used any kind of alternative to a corsage that looks respectable for others in the wedding party besides the groom?

The price of the MK shoot will be fine-I'll just suck it up! I want it so bad, I told DF that I would work extra and pay for it myself if I had to! I know he won't let me pay for it myself, but for me, this is a must! I'm fine if we even just get 5 photos done-whatever the minimum is.

Wow, hair and make up will be cheaper than I thought!!

Hiwaygal: That's good to know about not having to tip the officiant and also about the DDE.

I'm pretty positive my parents will pay for some of this, like the lunch reception at Garden View Tea Room....they may offer to pay for a little bit more like the extra champagne and the officiant if I'm lucky, but I can't garuntee that as of now....

DF says not to include price of hotel/airfare/marriage license into the grand total for now. If the rest is around $6000 or under than he would agree to a WDW wedding!! He loves WDW almost as much as I do, but he's the practical budgeter in the relationship. I'm the one living in a fairytale that money grows from trees

So, it sounds like with all this info correct maybe I am still within my $6000 limit? or maybe close to it?

 

[suprgrlx]

Hi! Congratulations on your wedding!

Since you only have 18 people (and 2 are babies) you'd need 3 bottles of champagne (6 people/bottle) and one's already included. So you'd only have to pay an extra $130 (and that's if you go for the Fairy Tale Cuvee - our planner said they had another type of champagne for $30/bottle).

For our extra flowers we got a corsage for his mother ($30) and extra bouts for the BM and my father ($12 each).

4 x bout = $48
2 x cors = $60

I don't know about the rose wands. So I would think you could definitely do way cheaper than $600-700 for flowers/champagne.

Plus don't forget the annual passes could get you a decent discount on the four nights that you're required to spend at Disney. And the $4000 includes all tax and service charges.

Good luck with your planning!

 

[Beautybelle43]

Hi! Congratulations on your wedding!

Since you only have 18 people (and 2 are babies) you'd need 3 bottles of champagne (6 people/bottle) and one's already included. So you'd only have to pay an extra $130 (and that's if you go for the Fairy Tale Cuvee - our planner said they had another type of champagne for $30/bottle).

For our extra flowers we got a corsage for his mother ($30) and extra bouts for the BM and my father ($12 each).

4 x bout = $48
2 x cors = $60

I don't know about the rose wands. So I would think you could definitely do way cheaper than $600-700 for flowers/champagne.

Plus don't forget the annual passes could get you a decent discount on the four nights that you're required to spend at Disney. And the $4000 includes all tax and service charges.

Good luck with your planning!

Really? Thanks-this seems pretty doable....so not counting the 2 rose wands, extra champagne and extra flowers would be around $238???

So, to re-calculate!
$4000: Basic fee at SBP
$238: Extra champagne & extra corsages/bouts
$1000: MK photo shoot
$110: Hair & make up
$200: Officiant

Estimated grand total: $5548-could this be true???? Please oh please??!!

Taken into account if my parents decide not to pay for the chupah & reception lunch, add on:

$250: Chupah
$400: estimated cost of lunch for 16 adults at Garden View Tea Room at GF (NOT taking into account the 20% DDE discount that my parents have. With 20% discount, it will be around $320)

...I would love to add on an Illuminations cruise for DF & I, but I think that's pushing it...

As for other expenses, I know my mom will pay for my dress. We'll have enough frequent flyer points for our plane tix. We will definately use our AP for our park tix and discount for our resort rooms.
Right now, we are thinking we will stay at the WL for the first 3 nights & POFQ for the next 5 nights. Calculated at around $1500. and then there's food....

BUT if we can keep the basic wedding stuff at $6000, we are golden!!

 

[suprgrlx]

That looks pretty good (could be cheaper if you went with the cheaper champagne). Though you still need the rose wands and if your flowers are much more expensive than mine, prices could be a little different.

The flowers (and probably champagne) will probably have the 6.5% tax to be added on.

Other than the things you listed, the other things that I have written in my budget were license ($93.50 + mail fees if through the mail), rings, tux rental, and anything you might want in the way of favours, extra pictures, decorations, guest book, unity candle, etc.

Hope you can manage it for your budget (and that you can convince your DF). Honestly, our day went soo smoothly, was so easy to plan, and everything was beautiful. I would recommend it in a heart beat.

 

[Beautybelle43]

That looks pretty good (could be cheaper if you went with the cheaper champagne). Though you still need the rose wands and if your flowers are much more expensive than mine, prices could be a little different.

The flowers (and probably champagne) will probably have the 6.5% tax to be added on.

Other than the things you listed, the other things that I have written in my budget were license ($93.50 + mail fees if through the mail), rings, tux rental, and anything you might want in the way of favours, extra pictures, decorations, guest book, unity candle, etc.

Hope you can manage it for your budget (and that you can convince your DF). Honestly, our day went soo smoothly, was so easy to plan, and everything was beautiful. I would recommend it in a heart beat.

Thanks so much! Gosh I hope so too!!! DF is a waiter and I'm a teacher, so you can imagine our budget But we aren't planning to have our wedding until 2010, so we have time to save up. So far, it looks like he'll agree. So far it actually seems cheaper than one we would have planned at home! This really is my dream wedding!!

Did you opt for the cheaper champagne? I thought you could only do their champagne or opt for a cheaper wine and we definately want champagne. As long as the cheaper champagne is drinkable, that makes more sense.

So, with the champagne adjustment & I forgot to tag on license, we are down to about $5578, not including tax.

As for extras, we are not interested in any extra favors, extra pictures (besides the MK photo shoot), decorations (besides the chupah that I already factored in), guest book (we'll never look at it again and with 16 guests I know we'll remember who came!), or a unity candle (not our style).

My mom will buy my dress and DF is going to plan to borrow his twin brother's tux!

The only other thing I would love to add would be an Illuminations Cruise, but I think I'm getting too frivolous here-I'm sure that's way out of budget.

I'd also love to have a harpist for the music-can't even imagine how much that costs!! Geez, I think I was a wealthy princess in my past life!
I've given up on the harpist idea, and I'm sure I will love the violinist that is included.

The thing that I think will lure DF in hopefully for certain is that he is all for convenience & smoothness factor-having everything planned together instead of dealing with everything separatey and the fact that this will be a semi-lowkey event with a small guest list!! Neither of us enjoy being center of attention. If we had the ceremony at home, our families would start inviting a bunch of random family members and their friends who we barely know or don't know at all & I'd like to avoid that at all cost!!

Does anyone know anything about the price of the rose wands? I'm assuming you can get these through Disney? I saw a PJ once on here with a picture of someone having them for their BM's. I'm only having 2 BM's.

Thanks everyone!!

 

[Chilly]

An illuminations cruise isn't that expensive it is $250 for up to 10 people.

Don't forget you have to book 4 nights accomadation BEFORE you book the wedding so you cannot get AP discount on this.

 

[Nicola2010]

Hi! Congratulations on your wedding!

Since you only have 18 people (and 2 are babies) you'd need 3 bottles of champagne (6 people/bottle) and one's already included. So you'd only have to pay an extra $130 (and that's if you go for the Fairy Tale Cuvee - our planner said they had another type of champagne for $30/bottle).

For our extra flowers we got a corsage for his mother ($30) and extra bouts for the BM and my father ($12 each).

4 x bout = $48
2 x cors = $60

I don't know about the rose wands. So I would think you could definitely do way cheaper than $600-700 for flowers/champagne.

Plus don't forget the annual passes could get you a decent discount on the four nights that you're required to spend at Disney. And the $4000 includes all tax and service charges.

Good luck with your planning!

i was including the officiant cost in the $600 estimate on top of all flowers and champagne... the wish book states the wands are $125 each which is why i gave that estimate.

 

[Nicola2010]

An illuminations cruise isn't that expensive it is $250 for up to 10 people.

Don't forget you have to book 4 nights accomadation BEFORE you book the wedding so you cannot get AP discount on this.

i thought you booked the wedding slot first and then disney give you 72 hours to book the accom so you can go back to them with a res number to then confirm wedding booking?

is that not the case?

 

[Nicola2010]

oh sorry chilly, see what you mean

brides wont get AP's until after wedding and accom booked.

 

[suprgrlx]

An illuminations cruise isn't that expensive it is $250 for up to 10 people.

Don't forget you have to book 4 nights accomadation BEFORE you book the wedding so you cannot get AP discount on this.

You can apply the AP discount whenever you want. I don't think they ask you for a number, so when you book you can just tell them you'll have an AP. OR, after you get your vouchers (I believe about 8 months before the wedding), and the AP discounts are released, you can call and ask them to apply the discount.