Reception Help! The Living Seas...

[WingsofThread]

Hello My fiance and I will be getting married next September (2014) and we are really hoping on having a Disney Wedding. We are currently looking at having the reception at the Living Seas in Epcot, but we had a few questions I was hoping that someone would be able to help answer with personal experience.

Mainly I just want to hear how your day worked with the Living Seas as a reception site. Was it too small? Was it hard to get too? Etc.

My main fluff is are the guests attending the wedding allowed to go to the reception even if they DON'T buy a ticket to Disney and are JUST there for the wedding itself.

I noticed on the WDW wedding website it does not give an amount for the food platters. All the website could give me was a minimum amount that had to be met. Was the food expensive or is it priced similarly (more or less) than what the Grand Floridian offers ($75 for Breakfast, $100 for lunch, $125? for dinner plus of course the tax and service charges).

I also noticed that there was a piano on location at the Living Seas, can this be used during the reception? My fiance's Uncle wants to play the piano for our ceremony and I know he'd be so thrilled to see that piano and want to play it at the reception as well.

I'm sorry if this is so scatterbrained, I'm still trying to get this whole wedding organization down Any help would be awesome!!

 

[lurkyloo]

Welcome!

Mainly I just want to hear how your day worked with the Living Seas as a reception site. Was it too small? Was it hard to get too? Etc.

My main fluff is are the guests attending the wedding allowed to go to the reception even if they DON'T buy a ticket to Disney and are JUST there for the wedding itself.

When you hold your reception inside a theme park, your guests are bused in by Disney and admission is not required. Living Seas holds about 80 people with dancing, up to 132 with no dancing.

I noticed on the WDW wedding website it does not give an amount for the food platters. All the website could give me was a minimum amount that had to be met. Was the food expensive or is it priced similarly (more or less) than what the Grand Floridian offers ($75 for Breakfast, $100 for lunch, $125? for dinner plus of course the tax and service charges).

All menus are completely customizable, so yours will be as cheap or as expensive as you want. One of the requirements for holding a wedding anywhere on property is that you spend a minimum of $100/person at brunch, $125 at lunch or $150 at dinner. However, that includes ALL food and beverages on the day of your event, not just the reception meal: wedding cake, the bar, and any other food you might serve, like desserts at a dessert party.

I also noticed that there was a piano on location at the Living Seas, can this be used during the reception?

Shouldn't be a problem, unless they lock the lid. You can ask your planner about this when you start working with one. The only rules about the piano are that it can't be removed and you can't display food on it.

 

[WingsofThread]

Awesome! Thank you This was a big help! I did not know that about the food at all, so that's really awesome that it is all included and that's just the minimum!

 

[DisneyDJChuck]

You can see some wedding reception pictures from the Living Seas VIP Lounge here.

Hope this helps!

 

[WingsofThread]

I couldn't get the link to open DisneyDJChuck

 

[DisneyDJChuck]

This one should work... thanks for the heads up!

 

[nsquared0428]

Just to clarify, I am getting married at LSS this April and would be happy to share info. Yes, Disney buses in the guests- bad thing- you pay $1000 per bus and that is about 50 people. It has a $500 fee and that does not include an actual dancefloor. There is only one bar for both pre and reception that is built into the wall. I love that but we are not drinkers so it easy access is not needed. If you have your reception in the park you have to use Disney everything! The average dinner price is $87pp, open bar is about $43pp, cake is about $12pp. Then you add tax and 22% service charge. From what I figured, you cannot use the LS for less than 13K for a group of 40. Hope that helps- not to discurage but to let you know what you are in for. I am excited and glad our family is paying a great deal of it. Good luck!

 

[WingsofThread]

this one worked! thanks a bunch!

 

[WingsofThread]

Just to clarify, I am getting married at LSS this April and would be happy to share info. Yes, Disney buses in the guests- bad thing- you pay $1000 per bus and that is about 50 people. It has a $500 fee and that does not include an actual dancefloor. There is only one bar for both pre and reception that is built into the wall. I love that but we are not drinkers so it easy access is not needed. If you have your reception in the park you have to use Disney everything! The average dinner price is $87pp, open bar is about $43pp, cake is about $12pp. Then you add tax and 22% service charge. From what I figured, you cannot use the LS for less than 13K for a group of 40. Hope that helps- not to discurage but to let you know what you are in for. I am excited and glad our family is paying a great deal of it. Good luck!

I got my BEO back and based on 55 guests our entire price was around $14500. It helps that we chose brunch and are doing a small cake Just wanted to let you know that I think it can be possible! I'll share my BEO soon on my PJ

 

[MrsHappilyEverAfter]

Had our reception at Living Seas in August 2012.
Everything was fantastic - we didn't have any complaints about the bus system from any of our guests.
It can be a bit dark for photos, but we had no issues with Disney Photography.