Starting to plan a Disney wedding... help!!

[disbride10989]

Hello everyone!

I have just joined DISboards in hopes to receive some helpful information about planning a wedding at WDW. My fiance and I just got engaged two weeks ago at Victoria and Albert's. We are hoping for May 5, 2013 at the WP and are not exactly sure on the reception location yet. After making our initial call to DFTW and receiving their emails, such as a timeline of planning, we are left with a few questions.

How does room block work? Especially if we're not 100% sure how many people will come? Do we HAVE to do a room block in order to sign letter of
agreement?

What kind of room discounts are offered? Does location matter, for example, would Swan/Dolphin be an option? Is the room block just for the wedding party, or anyone coming to wedding?

Can we go to WDW before 6 months before the wedding in order to start planning/Can we book a reception sight prior to the 6 month date?

Is there a minimum night stay for Bride/Groom?

So many questions, so little time!!!

 

[tric8783]

Welcome and congrats!!
Since I just got married on may 5, 2012, i like your date!

Which type of wedding are you looking to have? It sounds like wishes but just to be sure. If wishes, you can hold your ceremony and reception spaces at 12 months out! Swan/dolphin are not Disney owned hotels, therefore you can't use them as part of your Disney room block. We had guests stay there on their own, we just weren't ale to set up a block there since we already had one through Disney. I think with wishes you do have to guarantee at least so many nights since you're having your wedding on property. I'm sure someone else will chime in about this. We wanted the room block for the discounts. Deluxe resorts we got about 40%, moderate I think was 30% and value resorts 20% I want to say? For example we blocked rooms at the beach club, the going rate for our wedding weekend was $440/night and our wedding rate was $273/ night. It really makes staying on Disney property a lot more doable for your guests.

The block is for anyone you tell about it. A lot of girls end up asking here on the boards and our fb group when we have trouble filling our block and extend the discounts to girls here or even get reservation numbers and add them to their block to have their nights count towards the guarantee. That might have just confused you if you're just starting out, sorry!! Haha. Definitly take some time and look around, there is so much to learn here! Good luck!!

 

[BethieTink]

Congrats on the engagement!

I would suggest picking up the Passporters Guide to Disney Weddings and Honeymoons, by Carrie Hayward. She is a regular poster on here (lurkyloo1) and is a very helpful resource.

Where are you considering for your reception? If you are unsure about locations, you can arrange a site visit where your consultant will take you around to the sites you are interested. We did it and it was well worth it for us.

Hope that helps a bit! Good luck with the planning!

 

[disbride10989]

Welcome and congrats!!
Since I just got married on may 5, 2012, i like your date!

Which type of wedding are you looking to have? It sounds like wishes but just to be sure. If wishes, you can hold your ceremony and reception spaces at 12 months out! Swan/dolphin are not Disney owned hotels, therefore you can't use them as part of your Disney room block. We had guests stay there on their own, we just weren't ale to set up a block there since we already had one through Disney. I think with wishes you do have to guarantee at least so many nights since you're having your wedding on property. I'm sure someone else will chime in about this. We wanted the room block for the discounts. Deluxe resorts we got about 40%, moderate I think was 30% and value resorts 20% I want to say? For example we blocked rooms at the beach club, the going rate for our wedding weekend was $440/night and our wedding rate was $273/ night. It really makes staying on Disney property a lot more doable for your guests.

The block is for anyone you tell about it. A lot of girls end up asking here on the boards and our fb group when we have trouble filling our block and extend the discounts to girls here or even get reservation numbers and add them to their block to have their nights count towards the guarantee. That might have just confused you if you're just starting out, sorry!! Haha. Definitly take some time and look around, there is so much to learn here! Good luck!!

Thanks for your reply! Do you know if the block of rooms can be spread across WDW, or does it have to be at only one hotel? Yes, we are planning on wishes, hoping to meet the minimum of 20 people.

 

[disbride10989]

Congrats on the engagement!

I would suggest picking up the Passporters Guide to Disney Weddings and Honeymoons, by Carrie Hayward. She is a regular poster on here (lurkyloo1) and is a very helpful resource.

Where are you considering for your reception? If you are unsure about locations, you can arrange a site visit where your consultant will take you around to the sites you are interested. We did it and it was well worth it for us.

Hope that helps a bit! Good luck with the planning!

Thanks! I was hoping to hear that you can visit various sites at WDW for the reception prior to the 6 months mark. We are considering St. James Hall, California Grill- Napa Room, and Arielle's.

 

[lurkyloo]

Welcome!

How does room block work? Especially if we're not 100% sure how many people will come?

The room block sets aside a certain number of nights at the resorts you choose for your guests. You really have to guess where you think people would like to stay (which is why many offer a Deluxe, a Moderate and a Value, for variety) and about how long, but your sales consultant can help you estimate. Also, you can make changes to your block up until much closer to the wedding, so what you decide when you're starting out isn't set in stone.

Do we HAVE to do a room block in order to sign letter of agreement?

If you're going to have one, it has to be set up before you can sign the LOA. But you can also opt not to have one and just give up the benefits that would come with one.

What kind of room discounts are offered?

Discounts vary by time of year and room type, but you can usually figure on about 30% off at Deluxe resorts that have convention centers, about 15% off at other Deluxes and Moderates, and less than 10% off at Values.

Can we go to WDW before 6 months before the wedding in order to start planning/Can we book a reception sight prior to the 6 month date?

Yes, but you won't be able to have an official planning session with DFTW until you're within 6 months of the event.

Is there a minimum night stay for Bride/Groom?

Not for Wishes events.

 

[lurkyloo]

Thanks! I was hoping to hear that you can visit various sites at WDW for the reception prior to the 6 months mark. We are considering St. James Hall, California Grill- Napa Room, and Arielle's.

You can do a site visit up to 16 months out. It's only the planning session that you have to wait on.

 

[disbride10989]

How helpful were your wedding coordinators? I want to feel as though I can trust that the wedding is moving forward even before the 6 month mark.

Also, do you have any suggestions for the reception? We would have somewhere between 20-30 people. Our initial idea was to have the ceremony at SBP and then the reception outside at the French Arm in Epcot. Then, we decided against that idea because of the chance of bad weather and the heat. (not sure my grandparents would hold up) We really like the idea of having a dessert party, maybe in Epcot during the Illuminations show. Just not quite sure if going from the WP to a reception then to Epcot is too much moving around for one day.

Any ideas, comments, concerns would be great!

 

[disbride10989]

You can do a site visit up to 16 months out. It's only the planning session that you have to wait on.

Thanks for your help. I just purchased your book and find it extremely helpful!

 

[lurkyloo]

Oh, I'm so glad!

 

[tric8783]

Thanks for your reply! Do you know if the block of rooms can be spread across WDW, or does it have to be at only one hotel? Yes, we are planning on wishes, hoping to meet the minimum of 20 people.

Yes, you can choose which hotels you want- they recommend 3 , we picked two deluxe resorts (boardwalk and beach club) and a value (pop). We ended up adding in a moderate (Caribbean beach) closer to the wedding so we ended up having 4. It worked out really well.

How helpful were your wedding coordinators? I want to feel as though I can trust that the wedding is moving forward even before the 6 month mark.

Also, do you have any suggestions for the reception? We would have somewhere between 20-30 people. Our initial idea was to have the ceremony at SBP and then the reception outside at the French Arm in Epcot. Then, we decided against that idea because of the chance of bad weather and the heat. (not sure my grandparents would hold up) We really like the idea of having a dessert party, maybe in Epcot during the Illuminations show. Just not quite sure if going from the WP to a reception then to Epcot is too much moving around for one day.

Any ideas, comments, concerns would be great!

We only started planning at 8 months out so our planners were always involved.
We had our site visit in October while we had our normal vacation scheduled already. We were told our prices couldn't be guaranteed until 6 months.

We were married on the beach at beach club and had our reception in the boardwalk ballrooms. We had our cocktail hour at sea breeze point. This worked really well for us in that everyone thought the area was gorgeous, we didn't have to provide any transportation at all and it was fun for everyone to walk from one place to the other together. The ceremony site fees are less than the WP too but I know a lot of people absolutely love the WP. I think if you want to use the WP and have an Epcot DP, you should have your reception at either the BC or BW for convenience and you can all just walk over to Epcot. St James is really pretty and has an outdoor patio attached- I know you said you'd like an outdoor reception and I think this comes pretty close! Ariel's is also a good choice depending on your wedding theme and decor. It has a pretty under the sea theme that works really well depending what you're going for

Another option if youre set on the WP, would be to have your reception at the Napa Room, with only about 20 guests you could ride the monorail over which would be fun for pictures! You could also look into watching the fireworks from up there, renting out the grand 1 maybe, or doing a wishes cruise. There are lots of options!

 

[DFTWbride2013]

How helpful were your wedding coordinators? I want to feel as though I can trust that the wedding is moving forward even before the 6 month mark.

Also, do you have any suggestions for the reception? We would have somewhere between 20-30 people. Our initial idea was to have the ceremony at SBP and then the reception outside at the French Arm in Epcot. Then, we decided against that idea because of the chance of bad weather and the heat. (not sure my grandparents would hold up) We really like the idea of having a dessert party, maybe in Epcot during the Illuminations show. Just not quite sure if going from the WP to a reception then to Epcot is too much moving around for one day.

Any ideas, comments, concerns would be great!

Keep in mind that if you do anything in the park, you have to have chartered transportation, so that will up the cost. Also, if it's outdoors in the park (almost all the Epcot reception locations are) then you're subject to guest noise and you also can't have a DJ. You also share the bathrooms with the park guests. I don't know about you, but I wasn't too keen on the idea of having to go into a public restroom with my gown on!

I don't think it's too much moving around, I'm pretty sure a lot of people do it. We're having 4 events on our wedding day! I think it's fun to give your guests a lot of different experiences. Of course, you could also do your dessert party as a welcome party for everyone the night before the big day. A lot of people seem to do that, too.

Oh, and you don't have to wait to reserve your reception location. You do that with everything else so it's part of your contract when you sign with them. Also, the WP is a very popular location! Since you're already less than a year away from your date, I would suggest contacting them soon to see if that date is still available.

There's still plenty to do before the 6 month mark, believe me. The planning session is where you go over everything with Disney, but you still should have an idea of what you want before you go in. When you're assigned your planner, you get a planning kit that gives you a ton of stuff to fill out. You'll have things to do like choosing music for your ceremony, what kind of music you want (live, Ipod, DJ, etc), what colors you're doing, thinking of flowers and centerpieces and at least get an idea of what kinds of decor you want. If you're doing any DIYs you can stay busy with that too. The internet, and especially Carrie and the Disbrides, will give you loads to think about and plan way before you ever get to your planning session.

The best thing you can ever do is to read through Carrie's book and keep it nearby as a reference.

Congrats, and welcome to the boards!

Oh, also, another location that has indoor/outdoor is Whitehall Room & Patio at the Grand Floridian. It's adorable and has windows halfway through the room, and your own outside patio area that you can see the Castle (in the distance) from. The monorail also goes right by it.

 

[2012DisneyWorldBride]

As others have said, you do not HAVE to do a room block. We chose not to do one, because of two reasons, a lot of our wedding guests have annual passes and the discount with annual passes is usually more for resorts or they have AAA discounts, and also because we were told, us being the bride and groom were not allowed to do the dinning plan if we offered a room block. I think the minimum number of nights in the room block is 10 nights and you have to use 80% of that otherwise you would have to pay for what was not used (I think at a value resort price).

We were told even for a Wishes wedding that we needed to stay 3 nights to be married at Disney.

We will have about 30 people total for our wishes wedding. We are doing a 10:00 AM ceremony on Saturday at the wedding pavilion, and then a reception at the White Hall Room and Patio. I really fell in love with White Hall after seeing it about a year ago. The pre reception will be from 10:45 - 11:30 AM outside on the patio and the reception will be from 11:30 - 2:00 inside. We are serving a lunch menu (technically dinner because they dont have much for lunch menus) - that was important to me since I did not want breakfast served. Then that night we are having a dessert party in Epcot for Illuminations. Hope that helps some!

Welcome!!!! You should def start your own planning journal!!!

 

[disbride10989]

Thanks everyone!