Swan Wedding Questions?

[JD3419]

I've been reading these threads for a couple months now, and thought I would finally jump on to see if anyone could help me out. My fiance and I wanted to have a DFTW, but couldn't get our guest list below 18 to have an intimate, and didn't want to spend the money for a custom, so we are looking into having one at the Swan and Dolphin with Just Marry! My fiance was planning everything when we originally were going to go through Disney, but the combination of her job and the stress of wedding planning was getting to her. After reading the board I saw a few people mention the Swan as an alternative, so I took the reigns over. She will still be involved in all the decision making, but now I'm in charge of collecting all the information. I have a new respect for all of you, trying to juggle everday life and planning a wedding. I thought this was going to be much easier, boy was I wrong. Does anyone have any positives or negatives about a Swan and Dolphin Wedding? Also, we were planning on having all of our guests (30 to 40) eat at 1900 Park Fare with us at some point, does anyone know if they will allow a group that big, and will they mind us taking a lot of photos of the group? Thanks in advance for everyone who replies.

 

[groomtb]

as the rare male breed on the wedding forum, I welcome you to the forum!
how far out is the wedding?
I too looked at DFTW as 1st option but turned the other way once the restrictions and price didn't work too well.
So I started the swan wedding with just marry and they're wonderful!
They're always reachable for questions and answered promptly. I think of them as our wedding planner and they really are great.
the packaged prices seems reasonable considering you have no guest limits and hotel stay requirement. you pay for the basics things and build from there. You have the choice of using their upgrade options or hire someone yourself like photographer (Randy Chapman for us). Just Marry is OK with that! But keep in mind that anything that is NOT booked through Just Marry, they're no responsible for it.

don't forget you can get 10% off by finding a discount offer (search here)

Pros
affordable
far less restrictions compared to DFTW
You're still on the Disney property.
Great wedding planners to work with

Cons
lack of locations, only Crescent Terrace, East Courtyard, or in banquet(meeting) room.
no Disneyish backdrops.
can't use DFTW bride perks (I think)

Good luck and congrats!

 

[Laurafoster]

Although im having a disney wedding, i have seen weddings at the swan and they do look beautiful!! Im sure whatever you choose will be great!

 

[Kim10110]

Congrats to you and good luck with wedding planning. Who was your wedding coordinator at just marry. I have been trying to work with alyssa but she does not answer many questions and emails.

Thank You

Kim

 

[JD3419]

Thanks for the welcome. It sounds like we are making the right decision then. We are looking to get married either late October or early November. It kinda depends on when my bestman will be back from Iraq.

We are working with Alyssa as well. Most of the time she replys back to my emails within the day, but there have been a few times she has taken a bit longer. We are actually trying to plan a meeting with her next week to kinda go over the packages and visit the Swan and Dolphin. We have been to Disney many times, but have never seen these resorts.

 

[groomtb]

btw you can add on a Swan and Dolphin wedding certificate for only $10

If you plan on staying at Swan/Dolphin, don't forget to mention you're there for your wedding/honeymoon. They noted that on our reservation.

Character apperance can also be arranged, they'll be priced the same as DFTW.

Also keep in mind the apperance of Crescent Terrace, as someone noted, due to past hurricanes, lots of damages were done to the trees. So don't expect to see what you saw on their webpage. I posted some pics from Nov in the community photo gallary.

And I noticed that they usually book the well known vendors in the area. Many are highly praised on the board here. So you can't go wrong picking their upgrades. But shop around for photography, additional flowers, etc, will help the budget.

 

[smoof]

I don't know too much about it, but I know my coordinator has done weddings there. She is Cee Rivas of Wedding Perfecters. Her web page is the same name as her company.