Tips on Keeping Costs down for Wedding at Disney

[Cinderellainlove]

Hello. My fiance and I are getting married in a Memories package this April. After seventeen years of true love our happily ever after is finally going to be made official!!!! We are looking for tips on how to keep costs down. We will be bringing our toddler son, two mothers, his brother, and my best friend, along with their significant others. Since we can only have 4 guests present at the ceremony we are looking for a cost effective reception idea for afterward. There will be about 10-12 guests at the lunch reception.

We decided to stay at Pop Century Resort on Disney property for 5 nights. So far, air fare is the largest cost aside from the actual package ($1,200 for the three of us).

I did pretty well finding our wedding attire at a local second hand store. $100 for all of us:
$30 Alfred Angelo Wedding Gown with veil
$15 Jessica Mc Clintock Maid of Honor gown
$5 Tuxedo for our little boy
$30 Suit for fiance
$20 Suit for Best Man

I managed to get 40 wedding invitations on clearance for a penny. That is not a typo. My fiance and I began giggling when they told us. He wanted to frame the receipt. We tried to pay more but they said nope, just a penny! We plan on having a low cost cake and punch reception for the rest of our friends at home in a rose garden across the street from where we live when we get home.

Any ideas for keeping costs down would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you in advance.

 

[Designer Rose]

If you are having a photographer, research photographers other than Disney. We are going with a non-Disney photographer and are saving a lot of money with that.
Also, research other florists. Comparing Disney's floral prices with the florist my sister is using for our wedding, the other florist is much cheaper.
Also I don't know if you have picked your date yet, but weekdays are cheaper, and so are Sundays. (which is one of the reasons my fiance and I are getting married on Sunday.)
Choosing not to have alcohol can also save you a lot of money. We cut out almost $500 because we chose not to serve alcohol.

 

[Cinderellainlove]

If you are having a photographer, research photographers other than Disney. We are going with a non-Disney photographer and are saving a lot of money with that.
Also, research other florists. Comparing Disney's floral prices with the florist my sister is using for our wedding, the other florist is much cheaper.
Also I don't know if you have picked your date yet, but weekdays are cheaper, and so are Sundays. (which is one of the reasons my fiance and I are getting married on Sunday.)
Choosing not to have alcohol can also save you a lot of money. We cut out almost $500 because we chose not to serve alcohol.

Thank you. Those are excellent suggestions. My fiance and I have opted for the Memories Collection which includes flowers and a photographer. I was told by my planner I would need special permission for an outside photographer. I'm not sure if Disney would allow it with the particular package I have chosen? Thanks for the tips. I think they will help a lot of brides!!!

 

[MrRomance]

Hello. My fiance and I are getting married in a Memories package this April. After seventeen years of true love our happily ever after is finally going to be made official!!!! We are looking for tips on how to keep costs down. We will be bringing our toddler son, two mothers, his brother, and my best friend, along with their significant others. Since we can only have 4 guests present at the ceremony we are looking for a cost effective reception idea for afterward. There will be about 10-12 guests at the lunch reception.

We decided to stay at Pop Century Resort on Disney property for 5 nights. So far, air fare is the largest cost aside from the actual package ($1,200 for the three of us).

I did pretty well finding our wedding attire at a local second hand store. $100 for all of us:
$30 Alfred Angelo Wedding Gown with veil
$15 Jessica Mc Clintock Maid of Honor gown
$5 Tuxedo for our little boy
$30 Suit for fiance
$20 Suit for Best Man

I managed to get 40 wedding invitations on clearance for a penny. That is not a typo. My fiance and I began giggling when they told us. He wanted to frame the receipt. We tried to pay more but they said nope, just a penny! We plan on having a low cost cake and punch reception for the rest of our friends at home in a rose garden across the street from where we live when we get home.

Any ideas for keeping costs down would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you in advance.

It really depends on how much you want to spend. You could have a dinner/dessert party through Disney Catered Events. With that you can set the cost per person to suit your budget.

We are having the memories collection in Feb, our Catered Event wasn't cheap but it's mainly because the location we wanted is a 10 person minimum with a $750 food and beverage minimum. The other option we had would have cost around $400 total, but we wanted the patio at Fantasmic!

You could have a private dining experience with a large enough party.

I think the best thing to do is set your budget and then explore your options.

 

[lurkyloo]

Hello. My fiance and I are getting married in a Memories package this April. After seventeen years of true love our happily ever after is finally going to be made official!!!! We are looking for tips on how to keep costs down. We will be bringing our toddler son, two mothers, his brother, and my best friend, along with their significant others. Since we can only have 4 guests present at the ceremony we are looking for a cost effective reception idea for afterward. There will be about 10-12 guests at the lunch reception.

Any ideas for keeping costs down would be greatly appreciated.

Probably your cheapest bet would be to make a group reservation at a Disney restaurant (up to 12 guests: 407-939-3463; 13 or more: 407-939-7700). Certain of them, like Narcoossee's, the Wave, and Yachtsman Steakhouse, have separate areas of the restaurant where they put large parties; even though they can't guarantee that they will seat you all together, it's usually not an issue. Even if they make you order off a large-party menu, you'll probably still spend less than if you did a private catered event.

Eating at a restaurant off-site could be even cheaper.

If you were staying in a villa or a family suite at the All-Stars or a cabin at Ft. Wilderness, I'd suggest doing something low-key there, like bringing in sandwiches or having a pizza party—that's probably the absolute cheapest way to do it.

 

[MrRomance]

Probably your cheapest bet would be to make a group reservation at a Disney restaurant (up to 12 guests: 407-939-3463; 13 or more: 407-939-7700). Certain of them, like Narcoossee's, the Wave, and Yachtsman Steakhouse, have separate areas of the restaurant where they put large parties; even though they can't guarantee that they will seat you all together, it's usually not an issue. Even if they make you order off a large-party menu, you'll probably still spend less than if you did a private catered event.

Eating at a restaurant off-site could be even cheaper.

If you were staying in a villa or a family suite at the All-Stars or a cabin at Ft. Wilderness, I'd suggest doing something low-key there, like bringing in sandwiches or having a pizza party—that's probably the absolute cheapest way to do it.

If you went the snack food (sandwich/pizza) party route, there are some great places off site to get platters. Publix springs to mind (they also do cakes) and Ponderosa chicken wings are awesome! We're probably going to do something like the night before our VR, because people will be arriving from other parts of the US and we have a villa at SS.

 

[Disney-Chick]

We wanted to keep our limit of spending down as well. We had an escape wedding & had a reception at my parents house they were renting off site. This we thought was better than a restaurant as you were able to mingle and not just be seated next to one certain person & not be able to chat with others. Plus it was more relaxed. My father & Uncle did a bbq & it was good. I know it doesn't sound fancy but I was so happy we went with that. I would have loved to have the carriage or Mickey & Minnie but we actually opted for more photos at AKL. Again we were happy with the choice.

I am not sure where you live at but we drive to Florida instead of flying as the fare is so expensive. It takes us up to 3 days sometimes. Were about 36 hours away. But the cost is only $1000 total trip including food/gas/hotel etc. And probably not even that much. Now my daughter did fly down for the wedding with my family ($700 ) but that was a special treat

Happy Planning!

 

[Jilian]

Wow, you've done a great job saving so far!! Nice work! Some more suggestions:

DIY anything that you can, programs, centerpieces, etc. I don't know if you have a Michael's near you but you can print a 40% off coupon from your computer and use it there. They have every kind of DIY supply you could ever want. I've heard good things about some of the lunch venues @ the Swan & Dolphin, I want to say Garden grove has been raved about?

We're a family of 5 and we save money on our trips by bringing our own breakfast (usually bagels or cereal that we can eat in the hotel room before we head out) and we bring our own snacks in case we get hungry in the parks. We usually go with the dining plan and that covers lunch and dinner.