Swan & Dolphin Weddings FAQ

[MrsDuck]

This is very true. This is why I am sending our contract in today! Diana let me know this so that I would not have to pay more.

So I have seen my name come up a couple of times.

1. I tried a blue zoo reception and I was told that dancing would not be allowed because they will not allow me to re-arrange the tables...hence me moving to Fulton's

I'm confused.. what about Russell and Michelle's wedding.. they had dancing..? You can even see it on their spotlight on the Disney Wedding Blog:
http://www.disneyweddingblog.com/2011/07/wedding-spotlight-michelle-russell.html


Regardless, Teresa, Fultons is an awesome fit for you!!

 

[Jilian]

I'm pretty positive that you cannot have dancing in the Il Mulino private room, it is too small. You could have dancing in their courtyard (it is identical to the Swan's West Courtyard and just on the other side). We were offered it to rent out for a cocktail hour and there was an additional $1,000 food/bev minimum + tax and grat. It can hold about 40ish people with standing room only or you can hold more and keep their comfy furniture. They will move the furniture too.

Here it is:

Or some Disney brides do their first dance and cake cutting, etc directly after the ceremony. Then they move on to have dinner at a private room without a DJ.

 

[J.ThaddeusToad]

Welcome back Amy and congratulations!

I'm pretty positive that you cannot have dancing in the Il Mulino private room, it is too small.

Or some Disney brides do their first dance and cake cutting, etc directly after the ceremony. Then they move on to have dinner at a private room without a DJ.

We did not have dancing for our reception at Il Mulino, but we did do our cake cutting and first dance directly after our ceremony. We had 30 guests and watched IllumiNations from the Boardwalk following our dinner reception.

 

[jessiegirl84]

Hello,

I'm Jess and I have been looking through this thread most of the day

My partner and I got engaged on our first trip to WDW in December and are now thinking about a Disney wedding.
I did some research into the fairytale wishes package but it just got too expensive especially how we are coming from Austrlia we will probably have at least 20 guests.

I have emailed just marry & swan catering to get some information about a swan wedding. I cant wait tonget some kore information as I think after reading thus thread sounds like the price could be right.
The one thing I'm a little but concerned about is not being able to visit Orlando until we get married which means organizing everything via email & phone. Have others done this?

Hopefully I will be back in a few days after I get some more information about the swan wedding. We are looking at a September 2013 wedding so still a few months off being able to book in.

Nice to meet you, Jess :

 

[2dogmom]

The one thing I'm a little but concerned about is not being able to visit Orlando until we get married which means organizing everything via email & phone. Have others done this?

Hi Jess. I am doing the same thing. Karen has been great with sending me links to websites and pictures. I think even without a site visit, it will be fine. I'm sure I am not the only one that is doing this. I wish I could afford to go

 

[MrsDuck]

Welcome Jess! I hope you join our little family!

I priced out a Disney wedding and just wasn't willing to shell out a ton of money to have a load of restrictions dumped on me and poor customer service. Going with the Swan and Dolphin is the best decision I've made!!

If you are interested, check out my current budget for a rough estimate of some pricing. Keep in mind that I'm having around 60 people attend my wedding! I believe the site fee went up as of Feb. 1st but all of the other prices should be pretty accurate.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43273857&postcount=164

Let me just say this: if you want a Disney wedding, the Swan and Dolphin is the way to go in terms of affordability! The majority of us are having beautiful weddings for WAY under the national wedding average (about $25k).

In regards to planning from a distance, the majority of our girls don't get a site visit because they simply can't get to Florida. However, the majority of us have so many pictures, experiences, and advice that planning from afar is EASY. The planners at Just Marry are fantastic and will do all they can to make you more comfortable. I guarantee that you will be thrilled with Just Marry!

I'm in Florida and get to Disney regularly. All of my Swan and Dolphin sisters are amazing, friendly, and SUPER helpful! Always feel free to ask us questions-- we can help!

 

[sarahb01]

Hello,

I'm Jess and I have been looking through this thread most of the day

My partner and I got engaged on our first trip to WDW in December and are now thinking about a Disney wedding.
I did some research into the fairytale wishes package but it just got too expensive especially how we are coming from Austrlia we will probably have at least 20 guests.

I have emailed just marry & swan catering to get some information about a swan wedding. I cant wait tonget some kore information as I think after reading thus thread sounds like the price could be right.
The one thing I'm a little but concerned about is not being able to visit Orlando until we get married which means organizing everything via email & phone. Have others done this?

Hopefully I will be back in a few days after I get some more information about the swan wedding. We are looking at a September 2013 wedding so still a few months off being able to book in.

Nice to meet you, Jess :

Hi Jess!

I too am looking at a September 2013 wedding at the Swan. I wouldn't worry too much about doing everything via email and phone. I think that is what most people do, and I think that Just Marry! understands that and they have experience with doing everything that way. Like Faith said everyone is really helpful, and can answer a lot of the questions you may have.

Welcome to the group!

 

[Jilian]

Welcome Jess! I'm in FL and have taken lots of pictures of S/D stuff and so have many of the other swan brides. I'll be back there in March and can take pics of anything you'd like to see. It helps make planning from afar a bit easier! Welcome to our group and good luck with deciding. I've been very happy with the swan so far. If you want to hear numbers of a S/D wedding check out some of our PJs, I know both Faith and I have posted cost breakdowns so you can see exactly what the cost is.

 

[jessiegirl84]

Thankyou Thankyou for the warm welcome
I actually read of few of you girls trip reports and had a read of the budgets they sound really great and it's definitely making us lean more towards a Disney wedding at Swan so again Thankyou!
I got an email back from just marry and they attached a brochure with lots of information so I have emailed back a few questions. One thing I forgot to ask was which one of you may be able to advise do you know if Mickey and Minnie can come after the ceremony. We would love to have them come somehow and I thought you could only have them if you have a reception at the resort. Or could they come to say BlueZoo or one of the other restaurants as the restaurants would be a far cheaper option for us.
Thankyou so much for your help

 

[Jilian]

You can still have Mickey & Minnie but you book them yourself through a phone number that Just Marry gives you. I've seen them at all sorts of receptions so I imagine that you can have them at most, if not all locations. Last I checked they were around $1300 for the pair to come for 30 mins.

 

[MrsDuck]

Thankyou Thankyou for the warm welcome
I actually read of few of you girls trip reports and had a read of the budgets they sound really great and it's definitely making us lean more towards a Disney wedding at Swan so again Thankyou!
I got an email back from just marry and they attached a brochure with lots of information so I have emailed back a few questions. One thing I forgot to ask was which one of you may be able to advise do you know if Mickey and Minnie can come after the ceremony. We would love to have them come somehow and I thought you could only have them if you have a reception at the resort. Or could they come to say BlueZoo or one of the other restaurants as the restaurants would be a far cheaper option for us.
Thankyou so much for your help

From what I understand, they can come right after your ceremony OR they could come to a restaurant at the S/D.

Or, you can cheat (like we are ) and have your reception at a restaurant where the characters are already there (no extra cost to you!!). Goofy and Pluto visit our reception restaurant every Saturday night so they'll make their rounds and we still reap the benefits of a character encounter without shelling out $1,000+. Mickey and Minnie are not as easy to find at restaurants though...

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Hi Jess sweetie!!!
I am sorry that I missed your first post and want to warmly welcome you to the S/D boards!!!
I had my VR at the S/D last May and it was absolutely perfect (check out my PJ/TR - link is in my signature). I planned everything via e-mail. I live in England and so didn't do a site visit either. I even planned and contacted outside vendors, and organized our reception meal at the GF, via e-mail. It was very easy and the planners at JM are very used to organizing events this way.
Good luck, happy planning and be sure to keep us posted of all your plans!!!

 

[J.ThaddeusToad]

 

[J.ThaddeusToad]

Or, you can cheat (like we are ) and have your reception at a restaurant where the characters are already there (no extra cost to you!!). Goofy and Pluto visit our reception restaurant every Saturday night so they'll make their rounds and we still reap the benefits of a character encounter without shelling out $1,000+..

This is so awesome!!! Your guests will be so excited!

 

[MrsDuck]

This is so awesome!!! Your guests will be so excited!

I hope so! We are trying to keep it a surprise too!

 

[DarkPhant0m]

Hey everybody! I'm usually more of a lurker than a poster, but I just wanted to share my excitement that my DF and I were just "approved" for a S&D ceremony on 12/12/12!!!

We're going through Just Marry and our planner is Erin, since Karen isn't handling many of the Swan weddings anymore. We've been engaged since May of last year, but we had to wait until our taxes came back this year to see what our budget was! I look forward to joining in and being a little more active now that our planning is moving forward! I want to thank you girls (and guys!) for 1) helping me realize that our dream wedding in Disney doesn't have to break our (small!) budget and 2) for all of the wonderful ideas and tips you've passed along! I will try to start a PJ here soon, if I can muster up a little bit of courage to put it all out there, lol!

Thanks everyone!
~AnnaLe~

 

[MrsDuck]

Welcome AnnaLe!!

So excited to see you're a December bride like me!!

Can't wait to hear about your plans and chat!

 

[2dogmom]

AnnaLe, congrats on starting to plan your Swan wedding!

 

[Icecoldpenguin]

AnnaLe congrats on becoming a S/D bride we are all sisters here.

Teresa

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Welcome AnnaLe to our small but distinguished group of S/D brides!!! As the girls say, we are pretty much a sisterhood, and there will not be too many queries or questions you can ask, which at least one of us will not be able to answer!!! Our PJs and TRs may be of some help to you too!!!!
I am looking forward to hearing all your plans sweetie!!!!