Sick feeling.....

[allisonswonderland]

Ok I am beginning to get worried here, 1st I see JohnetteA worried about the price being way over, then Codie is talking about the bad exp with Disney video.....which i need for minimum. I am just really concerned, to me Disney was supposed to make the magic happen ad customer sevrice is the priority, is that not the case with weddings? Tell us some good things about Dinsey wedding......please

 

[hiwaygal]

I think if you were able to talk to lots and lots of former Disney brides (quite a few of whom hang out here) very few (if any) would have any regrets about Disney being able to create a magical dream wedding.

Some may have fretted during the planning, I did a little and my wedding was the very basic, no frills intimate package as provided by Disney...no extras, no "special requests". It happens. There are things Disney can and will do (and some of that could depend on the EM you are assigned) and there are things Disney will not allow...but that's true of any venue you would choose for your wedding.

Budgeting and who to invite/not to invite will be a stressful factor no matter WHERE you get married!

Disney does an EXCELLENT job of coordinating the most magical of weddings...you will not be disappointed!!!

Read some of the trip reports at the top of the page...you will see that Disney Weddings are truly magical!!!

 

[Janet2k]

I think if you were able to talk to lots and lots of former Disney brides (quite a few of whom hang out here) very few (if any) would have any regrets about Disney being able to create a magical dream wedding.

I agree completely with Hiwaygal. I have read many a trip report and many a post on this website and other websites regarding Walt Disney World and Disneyland weddings and vow renewals (and this has been since 2000 -- so that's five years worth of reading). I can't think of any wedding couples who regretted their Fairy Tale Wedding. There were some couples who I was very concerned about since they had experienced some serious issues leading up to their events (family issues), and even some issues during the planning of their events (wedding issues). But when they came back from their weddings, the stories that they told were simply breathtaking. I thought surely they would have negative things to say, but they didn't. And for those couples whose weddings were not flawless, the Fairy Tale Weddings folks were able to create magic that saved the day.

Please remember that everyone is human. Couples make mistakes, their Wedding Planners make mistakes, their vendors make mistakes, their families make mistakes, their guests make mistakes, and the list goes on and on. But if everyone can keep a level-head about them and can work through the issues without too much emotion getting in the way, wonderful solutions can occur. It sometimes takes tremendous faith, but just about anything is possible if people work hard enough and keep the main goal in sight -- a beautiful ceremony and reception.

I haven't read the threads that you have mentioned, Allisonswonderland, so I don't know what issues people are facing. I hope whatever the issues are, a solution can occur that will make everyone happy.

As to my own Fairy Tale Weddings vow renewal, I ran into some bumps while planning it. But my event was magical beyond words. When I stood on Hollywood Boulevard at 2 AM waiting for my surprise fireworks display to begin, I had never felt so blessed in all my life. It was the most humbling experience to stand there with my family and my friends and to realize that the vow renewal ceremony & dinner party that I had waited 20 years for had finally happened. I can only hope that all wedding and vow renewal couples feel what I felt at that exact instant in time. I have a funny feeling that they do, judging by the trip reports and posts that I have read over the years. The magic is contagious.

For all the couples yet to come, they will face trials and tribulations both related to and unrelated to the event that they are planning. With hard work and faith, they will be able to watch their wildest dreams come true on the day that they say, “I do.” At least that is my wish for them.

 

[Codie]

Ok I am beginning to get worried here, 1st I see JohnetteA worried about the price being way over, then Codie is talking about the bad exp with Disney video.....which i need for minimum. I am just really concerned, to me Disney was supposed to make the magic happen ad customer sevrice is the priority, is that not the case with weddings? Tell us some good things about Dinsey wedding......please

Allison!!!!!
I'm so sorry....PLEASE do not think that my wedding was anything other than totally magical. The video department was awful as far as customer service...but the product is not awful, just missing a little of what I experienced, which was SHEER magic. My husband was happy to get married in Disney but to say that he thought it would be magical would be overboard--NOW he knows it!!! We talk every night about how awesomely cool the whole two days was. The staff that worked my wedding (and there was at least half a dozen just wedding planning people) could not do enough to make it perfect for us. You expressed even the slightest concern, question, or even just an off look and they were jumping to make something happen! I just finished writing a letter to the cast member recognition management about how wonderful they all were! The disney florist was one of my favorite people--my Wedding Planner Tracy was my absolute favorite and he had an assistant named Megan who truly made it her complete responsability to keep us happy. I would recommend a Disney wedding to absolutely anyone and everyone!!! I can't wait to go back for my vow renewal!! As far as the video goes--I just suggest that you learn from my mistake and be very specific about what you want them to catch and it seems now that someone said you can get a "roaming" camera for free, which would have solved the problem that I had. I am so sorry if I was the cause for ANY disillusionment. I had very high expectations for my day and Disney met and exceeded almost every single one of them!!!! I'm sitting here right now watching my raw footage and reliving that magic...


As far as the price being way over...mine was too, but in the end...after a cut here and there, I got it manageable. You have to balance things (guests verses activities or types of activities) and I guarantee whatever you choose (I think we really had bare bones) will be magical and wonderful!!!

 

[Snow_White]

Allison--DON'T WORRY!! Disney really knows what it's doing My husband and I were married on Nov 1, 2005 at the wedding pavilion (reception at Whitehall) and the ENTIRE day was truly magical. I still can't believe it, but the day was really 100% perfect! Not one single hitch. It was truly magical and cemented the fact for me that there is NO BETTER place on Earth to get married at than at Walt Disney World! My husband and I are still in shock (in a good way, lol) at how perfect the entire day was. We're already talking about a 5 or 10 year vow renewal at Disney...I just can't to be a Disney bride and have a fairy tale wedding again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As far as prices go, my family and I think that if we had had a similar wedding up here in MD, the price would have been very similar as well. I think there are a bunch of ways to bring the price down once you get your initial estimate. The initial estimate is ALWAYS going to be higher than you want--basically, you just put EVERYTHING you could possibly want in it, and then cut it down from there. It was very easy for us to trim a few thousands of dollars off our initial estimate.

Jennifer

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Another vote here for DFTW department - they were nothing but helpful for me. MY EM was wonderful and I never for one moment thought that my day wasn't going to be magical because I just knew that if anything went wrong then my EM would sort it and it wouldn't be a problem.

I always had a great customer service relationship with all of my vendors both inside and outside of Disney LOL even photography

Price, well I started off thinking I was going to work to the minimum - that totally went out of the window, more so because I couldn't be bothered to work out ways to do things cheaper - but in hindsight I think I could have done the same wedding and shaved off $3k easily maybe more - it was just laziness that I didn't do this at the time, so let's not tell my husband this sssshhhhh.

I will defintely say that I do believe that Disney sometimes give the impression that they are complacent with their business status and can sometimes not be as fluffy and as up on customer service as we expect them to be - but hey they are the ones that managed our expectations in the first place right?

On the day for us I could say that Disney came up trumps and delivered the magic for us or did they? Maybe, just maybe, we and all of our friends and family who we love dearly made our own Magic that will be remembered in our hearts for as long as we all live, now that's something else to think about.....isn't it?

 

[allisonswonderland]

Thanks to all....I think that I was stressed out yesterday and I was just reading all of the problems and thought OH CRAP! But today I felt much better and feel that this is the reason this board is so great b/c with the help from all of you experienced people the rest of us are able to learn how to handle all of this and the questions that need to be asked...it also reminded me that I have some research to do. I am fine, but I would still love to hear how Disney made your wedding magical.... Thanks again, I am not sure how the poor brides who are not aware that this board exists do it!

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

I wish I had found this board ages ago! It would have been such a helpful tool to have.

 

[pixie08]

This board is a great tool....and I don't think Sam could have put it any better!

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Thanks Mary

allison - I think most of us have gone through what you went through the other day - sometimes reading so much can give us information overload and be a bit scary. I went through the same thing that you just did and I had to keep telling myself that everything I read just arms me with knowledge and experience and I tried to remember that every bride's experience is always different and every bride will have different expectations etc this helped to keep me very level headed in the wedding planning process when reading other's experiences.

 

[M.K. Poppins]

Allisonswonderland, I feel you...For the first time, I filled out my wishbook on the website the other day and went into sticker shock! I'm just now starting to calm down. I know that I included things that most likely won't be a final part of my day, and that I just need to relax and wait until my site visit / planning session (Jan.) I'm the kind of girl who preferrs to have definitive answers yesterday and I'm trying to realize that it isn't worth stressing over (yet) and that I just have to cross each bridge as I come to it.
Also, I just try and think about the fact that although I want to have the "perfect" day and have a great experience for my friends and family, none of them would want this process to be any more difficult or stressful than it has to be.

 

[Luvndisney]

I agree with everyone who posted. I think each disney bride or groom has his or her own meltdown moment....but doesn't every bride? I had mine last week and thought I wasn't sure this was our best option. This board helps alot! I do not know what I would do if I didn't find it one day while I was searching online. There is so much information and support, plus true caring from the other brides. It's as if we are all in this together. No other brides I talk to can relate to my concerns and problem because they are unique to disney. I Love this board!!!!!