Thinking Of A Disney Wedding Live In Uk Help!!!

[nemmie]

Hi Everyone,
As you can guess i'm new to DIS and would firstly like to say hi and then ask for some help!
We are thinking of getting married in Disney World and will have about 15-20 people coming. i have made a few enqiries and am having a meeting/site inspection with Stacey next May when i am going to Florida. Stacey has sent me a small ammount of info but i've been hearing (and reading) loads of confusing stuff like minimum night requirement and that ALL your guest have to stay in a Disney hotel. See this is not great for me as my brother and his wife have a holiday home there so they would want to stay there!!!!!! To be honest i'm sort of shell shocked about all the rules and regs Disney lay down. Can all you Disney brides out there let me know if it's worth it?
Thanks
xxx

 

[Lisa1976]

Hi, i am a UK Disney Bride to Be. We are getting married this December. It really depends on what you want, we are having an intimate wedding add on, which means that we can have as many as 8 guests (but can pay for a few extra if we want) and we have booked our accommodation separately. We had to have a minimum of 4 nights booked on disney property to be able to have the wedding but I was never told that our guests had to stay there too, my mum and dad will be staying on International Drive.

I hope this helps a little, im sure someone who is having a custom will be along shortly to shed some more light. Have fun planning.

Lisa

 

[140905]

Hi Nemmie

Congratulations to you and your hubby2b!
Welcome to the forum - I am also from the UK and in the process of planning my own Disney wedding for 15-20 people. I agree with you that the rules and regs are confusing and it does take you time to get your head around it (I still haven't) but as for your question, I haven't had my wedding yet, but if you take a look at all the other brides trip reports, pics and wedding videos you will see that a Disney wedding is definitely worth it.
Everyone is so helpful here and they make the planning so much easier.
It is not true that all your guests have to stay on Disney property, some of mine are stopping off site, but you will have to meet a certain number of room night requirements if you are holding a custom wedding (1-40 guests = 25 room nights) at Disney. When I first started planning I ordered the 'Unofficial Wedding Guide' from yourfairytale.com - this book is great and made me understand the whole Disney wedding process a lot more - hope this helps.

Suzanne

 

[nemmie]

hi
thanks for your replys so far. i agree looking at all the pics and video disneys weddings look fantastic and i guess the planning will be a lot of fun once i've got my head round it all!!
lisa1976 did you book your intimate through disney or a travel agent??? and if you don't mind me asking how many more people over 8 can you have?
thanks for your help everyone.
xxx

 

[Lisa1976]

I booked everything separately rather than go through a travel agent, saved myself quite a lot of money, it is a lot of hassle though as i had to book flights, then accommodation, then the wedding etc etc, but well worth it in my eyes as i have full control over it all.

I booked the wedding direct with Disney, we were lucky enough to be there in March so had a good look round the Wedding Pavilion and resorts, had a great chat with a sales person there and thats what sold it really, such a fairytale place.

I think you can have up to 13 people in total, not too sure on that point, will have to look into it for you and prices.

 

[Lisa1976]

OK have just found out, the normal number is 8 guests (plus bride & groom - 10 in total) but for an extra $500 (around £280) you can have 5 additional guests i.e. 13 guests plus bride and groom. If you want more than 13 guests then you have to go for a custom wedding.

Hope this helps.

 

[nemmie]

lisa 1976-
thanks for your info. as i said earlier we're going for a site inspection in may 2005 do you have any tips so that i can get the most out of my visit? would love to hear any suggestions you have.
x

 

[Lisa1976]

Definately go prepared with a list of questions, we did this and im so glad we did as when we got there i was just in orr of everything and wouldn't have been able to think of anything off the top of my head.

The good thing with the sales assistants is that even if you forgot something just give them a call when you get back and they are more than happy to help.

Which location are you thinking of?

 

[nemmie]

lisa1976
prob the wedding pavillion for service as for the recption i have no idea whatsoever because there is just loads to chose from.

 

[Lisa1976]

Have you seen the pavilion before?? We hadn't and i fell in love with it as soon as i saw it, although our small party of 6 is going to look lost in there but its will be fantastic anyways.

Because we are only having an intimate we don't get a planned reception as such, we get a small champagne reception at the Grand Floridian with cake and drinks but we have then booked a table at California Grill to have dinner, hopefully get to see a few fireworks from up there too.

 

[140905]

OMG Lisa1976!! I've been keeping an eye on your countdown and I can't believe how quick your wedding has come round!! I bet you are soooo excited?

 

[nemmie]

lisa- i've only seen it from the outside so looking forward to may to get a good look around. i would love love love to have my recp at epcot or mgm so we could watch fireworks/fantasmic but i bet it's really high priced? does anyone know how much that recp. would cost??


140905 where are you getting married and having your recption?
you have about the same size party as me so maybe you could give me few ideas???

I tell you what tho speaking to you 2 today has made me REALLY REALLY want a disney wedding!!!

 

[Lisa1976]

It is a tad on the expensive side, but well worth it in my opinion. Only my mum and dad are coming out so we are having a separate party next March for our family and friends.

140905 - i know, only 37 days to go, i remember looking at my clock when it said 148 days, i really don't know where the days are going. It was 6 weeks yesterday til we say "I Do"

 

[140905]

Lisa1976 - how exciting, 6 weeks will fly by!! I hope you have everything organised - are you still taking your dress over by travel box from the empty box company?

Nemmie - We are getting married at the Wedding Pavilion and having our reception at Ariels. We are also having a Dessert Party on the UK Lower Terrace at Epcot.

I'm not really sure how much a reception at MGM would be - When I first enquired I was told that California Grill (Sonoma & Napa rooms), Whitehall Room at GF, Ariels and Living Seas (Epcot) were all quite popular for couples with a smaller guest list - but there are loads of other venues you could consider too.

 

[Lisa1976]

Yup, have got my travel box now, although it looked huge at first, but it is within Virgin's hand luggage sizes and other brides to be from the UK have used this box so i am hoping I will be fine.

Just had a heart attack though, had an email from American Airlines who our flights with Virgin are booked through to say there has been a scheduled changed, luckily its only the homeward flights, we are flying home an hour early, not too bad.

 

[140905]

Phew, that's not too bad - no bride2b wants any last minute changes that they haven't made themselves!

As for the travel box, I'm going to the bridal shop in January so I'm going to ask them to fold the dress and measure it like it says on the website so I can get an idea of whether it will fit in the hand luggage size box ...fingers crossed!