Sad that my dream Disney wedding won't happen....

[HauntedMansionFan]

So I'm sure as everyone knows.... Disney now allows gay couples to have ceremonies on property.... kudos to Disney for making this change. As a gay man and a lover of all things Disney I couldn't be more excited about the decisions... but that is where the excitement stops. I called Fairytale Weddings about 6 months ago and asked if I could plan a wedding for my partner Jay and I, they told me that I couldn't because it wasn't allowed and passed me off to Disney Event Planning. Well the Disney Event team started working with me on planning just a private dinner for the group of us headed down.... but then we found out that we couldn't make the minimum room requirement of 10 rooms for one night. We actually own a condo in Florida that Jay's family was going to stay at and my family was going to stay at my parent's timeshare, hence why we didn't need rooms on property. So Disney Events pretty much said there was nothing they could do. What is a sad groom left to do? I ended up calling group dining and made an ADR at O'Hana for the large group of us and then let it go at that. Flash forward to 6 months later with the new policy in place..... we've already put deposts down on everything here in Massachusetts, sent out invitations and started to get our RSVP's back already.... needless to say I was a bit disappointed when I heard the news as we can't cancel everything up here so late in the game, nor can we afford to do two weddings either. So I called Disney Weddings to see what they could do to help us out to make our time at O'hana more special. So far its been almost two weeks and I keep getting phone calls that say... "we are working on something"... but won't go into detail about what that something is. Has anyone else had an experience close to this? Has Disney been able to help you out in the past?

- A Sad non-Disney Groom

 

[princessdisneybelle]

I am so sorry to hear about your disappointment. I'm not sure about DFTWs. But there are lots of people on here that live in the Orlando area, that could possibly help you do something special. I haven't heard great things about DFTWs and none wedding effents. Lots of Pixie dust to you.

 

[purplegirl247]

You can still have a great Disneymoon! Lots of Disney brides/grooms have their weddings at home but celebrate their love and excitement at Disney. Even if they don't do anything specifically wedding-related at Ohana's, it'll still be a chance to celebrate that you're MARRIED and at DISNEY!!

Don't be sad, non-Disney Groom.

 

[Sparkles9306]

Well you could loook at it as in MA you can acutally get married, whereas is FL it's a ceremony, but not actually a marraige correct? So you're actually getting married! That's a lot to be excited about. Disney is the icing on the cake (excuse the pun). Have you tried to call the restaurant directly to see what's going on or get some idea of what can be done? I'm sure they can cook up some Disney magic for you! Congrats!!

 

[V & S]

I wonder if you splurge for even just the night of your dinner for a concierge level room at one of the hotels that has a concierge floor (the honeymoon suite at the WL is about $450/nt I believe), if the concierge will help you. They have been fantastic for us!! It is worth a try, and you could decorate your room all up.

 

[HauntedMansionFan]

Thank you all for the suggestions so far.... I hadn't thought about calling the restaurant direct to see how they could help us out!

 

[JonetteA]

Have you thought about the intimate? I know that it would require 3 nights I believe at a moderate resort. I know that we looked into the two ceremonies thing just in case the families gave us alot of grief. It is really pretty affordable. You don't get the "reception" but you would get the Disney ceremony.

 

[hiwaygal]

I agree with JonetteA!!!

If you can't do it this year, maybe consider a vow renewal for your first anniversary!

The new Escape (formerly known as the Intimate) wedding requires a minimum 4 night stay in any Disney owned and operated resort (including the values!). The cost right now is about $3000 (closer to $4000 if you want the ceremony at the Pavilion) and this could change (as things so often do with Disney)...but it's soooo worth it!

I hope you find a way to make your Disneymoon special! Keep us posted on your plans!

 

[HauntedMansionFan]

So I finally heard back from the Fairytale Weddings area... they pretty much told me the same thing I heard about six months ago. At first the coordinator I was working with made it seem like he was going to try and do some stuff "outside of the box" to help us out... but I just got an email that stated the only thing they can do is make an exception for us with the number of guests. Usually an Intimate Ceremony only allows 20 guests but they will "allow" the additional four that we have because of the situation. That is great and all... but then we would still have to stay on-site for a minimum number of days.... *sigh*. So it appears that I'm back to square one, but I like the idea that a couple people had of calling the restaraunt direct, so I'm going to give that a try this week!

 

[Sparkles9306]

Wait...if you do an intimate a dinner or meal isn't restricted by the number of guests right? At least that's what the consensus here has been because it's not planned or paid for throught DFTW.

Try calling the restaurant and let us know how it goes!

 

[HauntedMansionFan]

Definitely Sparkles!!! I'm going to take the great advice I got from this thread and call O'hana directly this week. I already have the reservation in hand, so hopefully they will be able to help us out a bit more. I talked with soon to be husband.... and we decided that maybe we could do a vow renewal on our first anniversary instead. Yay!!! I'll keep you all posted once I touch base with the restaurant.

 

[princessdisneybelle]

Oh something that might be fun for you too. Is to do a Honeymoon photo shoot.

 

[HauntedMansionFan]

Oh something that might be fun for you too. Is to do a Honeymoon photo shoot.

Would Fairytale Weddings have the info on that?

 

[princessdisneybelle]

Here's the phone number of Disney Photography 407-827-5099.

I believe it's $295. for about 20 pics. And you can have it done in Magic Kingdom.

If you do a search I'm sure you will come up with more info. HTH

 

[DisneyFairy19]

LOTS of PIXIE DUST YOUR WAY.. SO sorry to hear

 

[allisonswonderland]

Hope things work out for you - you could also do pics at one of the resorts, too. I had my engagement pics done at the Yacht and Beach Club along with some of my wedding pics too. I say if I were you get married at home, wait a year and then do a Disney Vow Renewal! Good Luck and I truly hope this works out- I am so excited that Disney is being open minded about this and giving all couples the opportunity to have their dream come true!!!

 

[HauntedMansionFan]

Ok kids.... back to square one. The coordinator sent me an email just over a week ago apologizing for the confusion... he thought we wanted an entire wedding package etc, etc... so he asked if he could call me so we could discuss other options, I replied back that Friday afternoon would be a great time for us to touch base. Well that was this past Friday and it came and went, I gave him the benefit of the doubt.... people get busy. Finally after not hearing from him at all this past week I sent an email last night to him stating that I appreciated his help but that I'm going to take over from here and see what I can do on my own. With that said I'm going to try and give the restaurant a call this week to see what I can accomplish.... I will keep you all posted!

 

[allisonswonderland]

I am sorry - I would call DFTW back again. Were you speaking with a sales manager (for booking). Seriously stay on top of this.

BTW - I loved the show Alias is that what your Avitar is for

 

[HauntedMansionFan]

Yep... the avatar is from Alias... I love and miss that show. So I got an email back earlier this afteroon that basically said that he didn't receive my email from last week and that if I wanted to call the Polynesian this was the number and they were open for breakfast and dinner only. It came across as so cold.

 

[allisonswonderland]

I am so sorry. That is really too bad that you have to experience that. Can you call someone down there or maybe it would just be best to try to handle it throught Poly and ask us for help!!!

Yes Alias was my fav show!!! I watched the series finale last year at Disney when we were there at my planning session! I was glad that they brought Vaughn back and I totally blame Ben Affleck for him leaving to begin with hahahaha- hope things get better!