Site Visit Question

[lpizzuro123]

We are planning a WDW wedding next November. We will be down in the world this November for Thanksgiving. I called DFTW and booked a site visit for November 20. We kind of already know where we want things to take place (at least I do - not sure about my DF). We are looking at a ceremony in Epcot (I think I want Italy) a brunch reception at either ADH or Ariels and then a IllumiNations desert party later that night (maybe UK - not sure). We also want to do a Rehersal/Welcome Party either a day or two before the ceremony.

I just wanted to find out what type of things were discussed at a Site Visit and what type of info we should bring with us. Our meeting is with Heidi Pickard. I have spoke to her a few times over the phone and she seem very nice. I am not sure if she is a wedding planner or the person you meet with before scheduling anything.

Any info from anyone would be helpful.

Thanks,
Linda

 

[figmentfan814]

We did our site visits at the same time as part of our planning session, so some of my things blurred into one another. However, when you go into your site visit it's important to know how many guests you think you will end up having (since many sites are limited by capacity). Another important element is to know a general idea of what type of set up you are looking for in your wedding. Are you looking at a buffet or a sit down dinner?

Also, some sites don't allow you to have dancing because of limited space (AAR for example) so make sure to keep this in mind. It's also helpful to have a general vision for your wedding so you can see how the different locations would fit into that idea. Also, I highly suggest asking them for suggestions of other sites to visit. We did this and ended up going to Living Seas which was where we had to switch our reception once we outgrew our original location.

 

[NJBride2Be]

Heidi is great! She was my sales manager. She works with you up until you are ready to sign a contract. I never had a site visit but I think the best way to be prepared is ask her what she thinks you should bring with you and stuff like that. She is great at helping with details and figuring everything out. I gave her my budget my estimated group size and she put together all kinds of suggestions for me.

 

[Kristen14]

I had my site visit with Joe... who is fantastic by the way. We met him at Francks and sat down and talked for a bit. He took us to the Wedding Pavilion to show us all the usual picture spots and explained how things could be set up. Then we got into his company car and he drove us to the four venues we asked to see (Living Seas, Ariel's, Yacht Club & Contemporary Ballrooms). As we drove, Joe gave us some more information about DFTW, and also gave us some tips about touring the world... again, he's awesome! Our trip didnt last too long because I'd already had my heart set on the Living Seas, I just had to convice my mom and DF.

Once we got back from the site visits, we sat down with Joe at Francks and signed our contract and paid our deposit. Most venues dont let you sign a contract until you're less than 8 months out (which we were). If your site visit is a year in advance you really dont need to bring anything (except comfy walking shoes), it's also a good idea to know approximately how many guests you'll have. There's a lot of places that hold 50 guests or less, a few that will give you up to 100, and then even less where you can have over 100.

You dont get your actual wedding planner until you sign your contract. Then she'll arrange for a planning session where you will need to bring pictures of flowers, decorations, favors, cakes, etc... of what you want your event to look like. So basically you bring nothing for your site visit, and all the details will be taken care of at your planning session.

 

[MistressOfAllEvil]

I would think that you would want to bring a camera!! To take lots of pictures of everywhere you look at. So you can share them with us! Oh, and so later on when you're trying to figure out what that space really looked like, you can go back and look at your pics.

 

[lpizzuro123]

All this help is really appreciated. I have things in my mind from reading these boards endlessly, I just need to get DF on board. I would be interested in looking at other places also. Someplace I thought I might not like - would be just what we want.

Linda

 

[BayouPrincess]

llpizzuro123,
We are doing the same thing. Our visit is with Bill on Friday Nov. 16th. Our VR is tentatively set for Nov 24th 2008. What date is your wedding planned for? Maybe we can help each other with planning.

Happy Planning!

 

[lpizzuro123]

Glad to hear from a November 2008 VR Bride. Our wedding date is tentatively set up for November 10, 2008. We want a Monday so people do not have to take too much time off from work. We hope everyone will come down over the weekend - have the ceremony on Monday - and then those that need to go home can head home Tuesday and some others (hopefully) will stay longer.

Any help would be appreciated. I have been reading these boards for months and have a huge binder of all ideas from Disney brides. As of now we have about 60 people on our list - not sure how many will be able to come to Florida. We are from the NY/NJ area and 90% of our guests are from up here.

Anyway, looking forward to getting started planning.

Linda

 

[theantibride]

We did our site visit at about 13 months out. We're passholders so we had already explored all the ceremony locations on our own and decided which one we wanted. So our sales manager (also Heidi who is so sweet and awesome) just showed us reception places. Originally we were thinking Ariel's but it's so small and I didn't like the way it was laid out so we looked at ballroooms and found one we liked. Find a place that fits the maximum number of guests you plan to invite because you never know who might come. My cousin found a place that was smaller than her guest list taking into consideration the 20% rule (that about 20% of the people you invite won't come) and ended up with only 3 people not coming so she had to actually find a new locale (because they were over the fire marshall limit of people for the original space) in two and a half weeks and that was a nightmare!!! We took a camera with us and took lots of pictures to show everyone and get feedback from our parents and stuff. It was fun and very handy.

 

[Keira1387]

Our site meeting was back in July. We live in Florida and too are passholders, so before we came we looked at the reception venues in the wishbook at disneyweddings.com and wrote down the ones we liked. Before meeting with Joe we vistited a few of the locations like Ariel's and BC(which we eliminated before we went to our site meeting.) This way the two hours we get with Joe could be put to good use. He basically walks you through the wedding pavillion, helps you choose which venues will work for your wedding size, then takes you to the locations that will work.They also answers 1,000's of questions along the way. They also show you what your save the date cards will look like, and also give you a folder to take home with menus and other info like officant and cosmo for wedding!