Swan & Dolphin Weddings FAQ

[minniebride]

Yay! We are staying the night before and the night of! We need to book this asap! I wasn't sure if there were any specials going on or anything to look for! It seems like they would/should offer a discount to couples getting married there. I think there's something where they do if you have a reception, but that wouldn't be us.
But we are very excited about staying there! Haven't before

We are really excited to stay there too~the beds are supposed to be super comfy!!! If you want a really special room, I just talked to our caterer today and she said you can book a theme park view room of the World Showcase at the Dolphin!!! Be sure to have them note on your reservation that it's your wedding to see if they will offer you any special discounts or free upgrades when you get there-can't hurt, right?

 

[KristiLyn]

Wow! That would be amazing, since the world showcase is one of our favorite things at Disney!!
I'm so excited, thanks for the suggestions!!!

 

[minniebride]

Wow! That would be amazing, since the world showcase is one of our favorite things at Disney!!
I'm so excited, thanks for the suggestions!!!

No problem!! We love the WS too-so much that we are doing an Illuminations DP the night before our wedding!

 

[KristiLyn]

No problem!! We love the WS too-so much that we are doing an Illuminations DP the night before our wedding!

Thats going to be awesome!!! We were thinking about doing something like that as well!!

And I'm so excited bc while we are there, the F&W fest will be going on!!

 

[minniebride]

Thats going to be awesome!!! We were thinking about doing something like that as well!!

And I'm so excited bc while we are there, the F&W fest will be going on!!

Ooh, that's a great time of year to be there!! We are getting married 6 days before Christmas, so we are staying for our honeymoon until the 26th. Our Christmas dinner will be at the California Grill It's going to be an insane week in the parks, but I think it will be fun

Am I the only Swan bride who is doing a full catered reception in one of the Swan ballrooms or is there anyone else?

 

[PrincessAriel09]

Hi tinkerbell,

what are you doing on the evening of your wedding. I am having a wedding at the swan in May also, and planned an epcot dessert party at night, but have been informed by disney I'm not allowed to unless all 13 guests stay at a disney hotel.

I was just peeking through the posts... and saw this! Now I am worried! I had hoped to do a Swan wedding (someday-) with a DP at Epcot for 50 guests! Disney says ALL guests have to stay on property to come to the DP? Or is there a mnimum that irishthemepark's 13 guests do not meet? Any info on this would be appreciated!

 

[minniebride]

I was just peeking through the posts... and saw this! Now I am worried! I had hoped to do a Swan wedding (someday-) with a DP at Epcot for 50 guests! Disney says ALL guests have to stay on property to come to the DP? Or is there a mnimum that irishthemepark's 13 guests do not meet? Any info on this would be appreciated!

We are doing a DP in Epcot ans most of our guests are staying at the S/D. Some are staying at a WDW resort, and at least 5 guests are staying off-property. We do not have any penalties for the off-property guests and actually, the event planner didn't even ask where our guests were staying. We are having about 60 guests~not sure if that makes a difference. HTH!

 

[PrincessAriel09]

We are doing a DP in Epcot ans most of our guests are staying at the S/D. Some are staying at a WDW resort, and at least 5 guests are staying off-property. We do not have any penalties for the off-property guests and actually, the event planner didn't even ask where our guests were staying. We are having about 60 guests~not sure if that makes a difference. HTH!

Awesome! that was exactly what I was hoping to hear!
Thank you!

 

[J.ThaddeusToad]

Here's an email I got from Karen when I asked her:
In regards to music, we do offer some pre-recorded music selections that we can bring along.
Depending on equipment availability on our end, we would either have a
CD player or iPod with some standard wedding selections. We charge a
$25 rental fee for this.

As another option, you are welcome to bring your own music and
equipment if you prefer. I recommend ensuring that the player you
bring has a battery backup, as power can be occasionally turned off at
the ceremony site. You will also need to identify someone in your
group to press "play" when needed.

Kristi, I'm so glad I came across this! We had been thinking of hiring a violinist, but felt like it would a lot of money for such a short time. Do you know what kind of pre-recorded music they have? Are you bringing your own music? I'm getting so nervous about the lengths of songs as people go down the aisle, timing of songs during the ceremony, etc! My brother plays guitar and has a wonderful voice... I'm tempted to have him play whatever, whenever!

 

[KristiLyn]

Kristi, I'm so glad I came across this! We had been thinking of hiring a violinist, but felt like it would a lot of money for such a short time. Do you know what kind of pre-recorded music they have? Are you bringing your own music? I'm getting so nervous about the lengths of songs as people go down the aisle, timing of songs during the ceremony, etc! My brother plays guitar and has a wonderful voice... I'm tempted to have him play whatever, whenever!

If I had a brother that played the guitar and could sing, I would definately choose that!!
I'm just going to let them provide the music. She said if we bring our own music, we also will need to have someone "press play" and I have a hard time asking someone to do that. And I haven't asked her what kind of music she has, but that's my very next question to her I figure since she does this all the time, if she provides the music she knows the timing of the songs, etc.
I am the exact same way, I'm not paying a violinist $300 for a 20 minute ceremony, no way!

 

[Sizzle]

Hey everyone! I'm pretty new to the boards but have been reading lots and lots

I am looking at switching my Wishes wedding to a S/D wedding. I'm still a bit unclear on the planner aspect. As I understand the S/D refers you to Just Marry, but that there are other planners that will work with them as well? So my questions are:

*Am I required to use a planner to get married at S/D?
*If I am required, do I have to pay the planner a seperate fee for using them?

I'm so excited to chat with everyone more about planning

 

[minniebride]

Hey everyone! I'm pretty new to the boards but have been reading lots and lots

I am looking at switching my Wishes wedding to a S/D wedding. I'm still a bit unclear on the planner aspect. As I understand the S/D refers you to Just Marry, but that there are other planners that will work with them as well? So my questions are:

*Am I required to use a planner to get married at S/D?
*If I am required, do I have to pay the planner a seperate fee for using them?

I'm so excited to chat with everyone more about planning

Congrats on your wedding planning!! I am pretty sure that you can go through another planner, who is not from Just Marry.....I just cannot recall who the other planners are. If you google Swan/Dolphin wedding, you should be able to come across other planners.

I think S/D directs you to Just Marry when you call because JM is their preferred planning service.

We are going through Just Marry & our planner is Karen Gingerich. She is incredible and has far exceeded my expectations! We were even able to do a tasting session for no additional fee.

I do not think we are paying anything in addition for our planner. I believe it is built into your price of the venue and such. I do not think you can have a S/D wedding without going through a planner

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Hi Sizzle and welcome to our small and exclusive group of S/D brides and VR brides.
I totally agree with everything that Minniebride has said. We have Karen as our planner too, and she is an absolute angel!! I really don't know how I would have planned my VR (which is in just over 4 weeks) without her. I live in the UK, and have had to arrange everything via e-mail and phone. She has never let me down once, and always answers my questions and addresses my concerns extremely quickly, usually the same day!!! As you may be aware this is not always the case with DFTW!!! She has encouraged me to pick my own vendors for the things I have been fairly confident about (eg cake, photographer, harpist and officiant) and offered good advice on the vendors for the elements I was unsure about. I cannot speak highly enough of her and JM through my whole planning, and have no doubt that she will be just as efficiant on my big day!!
Do you have concerns about using JM or have other planners in mind?
Feel free to ask us any questions and happy planning!!!

 

[KristiLyn]

Hi Sizzle!!
Just wanted to say welcome!! And I totally agree with the previous posters

 

[jerichoZ]

That venue is lovely.

 

[Jilian]

Welcome Sizzle, I'm using Karen too and she has been great to work with. She usually gets back to me within an hour or so with answers to all of my questions, and trust me when I say I've asked a million questions. The price of the planner is built into the $1595 base price for the S/D ceremony. I'm not sure if you'd get a discount off that price if you used your own planner. Personally, I love working with Karen because she knows a lot about S/D weddings and gives great advice because she's planned so many S/D ceremonies. I wanted to be absolutely sure I was going with someone very experienced in S/D weddings.

Anyway, happy planning!

 

[Kasper]

My daughter lives in Japan and has survived the disaster there...but remains there as a teacher along with her fiance. They have decided to get married in December here in the States and want to have a Disney Wedding. They have asked me to plan this wedding for them. Money is a great consideration and as I look at the Disney Escape weddings I wonder how we can do this and make it a magical wedding without breaking the bank. I want to make her dreams come true. I stumbled across this thread today and wonder if S/D would be the way to go? We would stay on Disney property but if we can actually spend less than the $5000.00 min. that Disney wants for the ceremony it would make a huge difference. Where do I begin? I e-mailed the S/D today so hopefully they will get back to me soon. Any help or suggestions you lovely brides can give me would be much appreciated. It is very hard to do all this without my daughter with me and I want to make it so special for her. We are so blessed that she has made it through this terrible tragedy in Japan and are so proud of her for staying to help rebuild and support her students. (Although still fearful due to the Nuclear Power Plants) We want this wedding to be the wedding of their dreams.
Thank you.

 

[Jilian]

Kasper, how sweet of you! I'm happy that you're daughter survived the disaster and I hope she doesn't have any issues from the power plants. Emailing Just marry is a great first step. Have you been to the swan/dolphin wedding page? It is here: http://www.swandolphin.com/weddings/index.html There are some pictures and some info there. Basically it is $1,570 for the ceremony, this includes chairs for your guests, use of the S/D space, a wedding coordinator from Just marry, and use of the S/D hospitality suite to get ready in (if available). You can add other stuff on, for example I'm adding an officiant for $150 and a violinist for an hour for $250. The wedding coordinator can add any assortment of services in that you want from cake, to flowers to musicians. If you want a dinner afterwards you book that seperately by yourself, but there are many restaurants to choose from. They also have function halls if you want more of a traditional reception with a DJ and dancing. The possibilities are endless really. If you have any questions, just ask! Many of us have asked those same questions and can help point you in the right direction.

 

[KristiLyn]

That's very sweet of you Kasper!!!
In my opinion, if you didn't want to pay the large amount of money for a Disney wedding S/D weddings are definately the way to go! I don't regret my decision one bit! If you have emailed Just Marry, you will probably get assigned Karen as the planner. (atleast she has done most of the recent ones) She is absolutely wonderful and I can't say enough about her! She's very quick with emails and is extremely helpful! She will send you a price list of everything. I think I've posted it a few pages back, and if you don't see it check the first page of my pj. I know it's there.
Keep us updated!!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Hi
A very warm welcome to our little group!!
Looks like you have had a tough time recently. It is fantastic that your daughter is okay after the terrible events in Japan and you are justly proud of her for staying and helping her students through the aftermath. She certainly deserves a beautiful wedding!!!
I echo everything the girls say!! My VR is coming up very soon and I can honestly say that in the year or so I have been planning, I have not regretted going down the S/D route. I started out looking at an Escape package, but was increasingly frustrated with the numerous rules and regulations imposed by DFTW. I was also getting annoyed with the distinct lack of communication they seemed to have with me. I live in the UK and so have had to arrange everything via e-mail and phone - no planning trips. Switching to the S/D was the best decision!! No more silly regulations and communication issues disappeared. Heaven
The other thing I like about planning your wedding/VR at the S/D is that you can either go with your planner's recommended vendors or research and book your own -something you cannot do with many elements of a DFTW. This is very useful if you have specific ideas about what you want, or you need to marry (pun intended!!) an element to a particular budget.
Feel free to check out my PJ (link in siggie) and podcast (link below, first post on this page)

http://www.insidedisneyweddings.com/page/3/
We are delighted to have you along!!! Ask anything - we are a very friendly bunch. Happy planning!!!