UK Bride needing help on WDW Escape Wedding

[showbizbird]

Hello!

This is my first time posting on the DIS boards, but i've been reading through lots of your posts and there is some really helpful info / pricing etc on there so thanks guys

Hoping some of you may be able to help me with a few questions i have....we're not planning on getting married until Nov 2012 but need to try and get an idea of some costings etc so make sure we can actually afford the wedding first and i'm finding it hard to get answers from the weddings section.

I've got the basic Escape package details from Disney and i was told you could only book 8months in advance, but on some of the other posts it says people have booked 1 year ahead of their dates........is it 12 months or 8 months in advance?

has anyone had an escape wedding (only be about 9-12 of us in total) and used just what is included i.e. choosen from their cakes and flowers, or is the selection not great and you need to spend more?

for extra such as the petals / aisle runner, do you have to buy this through disney or can you bring your own? if you do bring your own, do they charge you for using your own petals etc?

If you book a wedding through WDW do they offer a discount on room rates? we're looking at the saratoga springs.

I'm sorry if i've aked lots of questions, just seems you all know lots of useful info and may be able to answer them and save me spending a fortune ringing florida all the time!

Thank you!

 

[Gareth& Hayley]

For an Escape Wedding, you can register your interest in a particular date, but your date is only confirmed at 8 months prior to the date.

What venue are you looking at?

 

[showbizbird]

That' good to know. when you say you can register your interest, i assume there could be lots of other brides saying they want that date though, so how do they work out who gets what date / time?

we're looking at the wedding pavilion at the grand floridan florida

 

[Gareth& Hayley]

Oooh I'm getting married there too You can provide your own petals and aisle runner, but you must put them down inside the pavilion yourself or designate a guest to do it for you. Disney will put an aisle runner down for you for $25.

If someone wants the same date/time/venue as you, then you get put into a 'lottery' - whoever wins that lottery gets the date/time/venue. If this happens more often that not you'd probably just have to pick a different time i.e. if you want a 10am slot and did not win the lottery, you could have the 12pm slot if available.

 

[showbizbird]

$25?! definately will get a guest to do that for me......hey, would even give someone $10 off the street to do it instead of the $25

its a shame the lottery exists and its not just on a first come first served basis. guess you just have to hope that there is a slot around the time you are over there.......hard for us being in the UK as we have to book all the flights etc before they get booked up. so i could speak to DW now and get them to put my down for nov 2012 and then just have to wait till closer to the time to see if i've got it....? assume you dont pay anything until they confirm you have the date etc?

did you know any answers to any of my other questions i posted......or can anyone else help?

 

[gemmybear83]

Hi I just had an escape wedding in Decmeber 9and am from the Uk!). I used all the parts of the package and found disney great to work with and I didnt keep strictly to the flowers etc they were all happy to work with me.

I registered at 12 months, I had a sales consultant who answered questions, sent me photos etc and 8 months booked my wedding. You have to be unlucky to have a lottery, as long as your a little flexible with the time I am sure you will be fine.

Here is a long post from my wedding in December showing photos etc:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2623076

 

[Gareth& Hayley]

November isn't exactly peak season, so as you're from the UK I assume you're going to be out there for a fortnight? You shouldn't have a problem getting a date in a 2 week window.

I'm doing a Wishes wedding, which does offer discount on room rates, I assume Escape weddings would be offered the same. Hopefully someone will be along soon to confirm.

The cake/bouquet selection is OK. I think there's a choice our of 5 bouquets but you do have a say in what colours. If you don't like any of them you can pay extra to upgrade. I believe there is a choice of 6 cakes too, but obviously you could pay to upgrade if you wish.

 

[gemmybear83]

November isn't exactly peak season, so as you're from the UK I assume you're going to be out there for a fortnight? You shouldn't have a problem getting a date in a 2 week window.

I'm doing a Wishes wedding, which does offer discount on room rates, I assume Escape weddings would be offered the same. Hopefully someone will be along soon to confirm.

The cake/bouquet selection is OK. I think there's a choice our of 5 bouquets but you do have a say in what colours. If you don't like any of them you can pay extra to upgrade. I believe there is a choice of 6 cakes too, but obviously you could pay to upgrade if you wish.

When I booked my escape wedding there were the same discounts as wishes. But I have read on here they have stopped them for escape brides.

I have to be honest and say that I didnt use the hotel discounts DFTW offered as I got a much better 45% discount using my annual pass I got as part of my wedding than what DFTW were offering though!

 

[showbizbird]

thanks for your posts gemmybear83 & garethandhayley

 

[Gareth& Hayley]

Escape Flowers you can choose. (if these have changed, please can someone let me know)

Hand Tied French Style Bouquet and French Style Rose Boutonniere
A tightly packed round bouquet of light pink and medium pink roses with the faux stems wrapped with matching ribbons leaving the ends of the stems exposed. Alternate rose colors available with a 15 day notice.

Cascade Style Bouquet & Cascade Style Boutonniere
Trailing traditional style bouquet of white dendrobium orchids, white roses, red spray roses, white freesia and accents of green ivy. Alternate rose colors available with a 15 day notice.

Tussy Mussy Bouquet & Stephanotis Boutonniere
Elegant silver toned Tussy Mussy holder with a fragrant combination of white roses, white freesia and stephanotis blooms with pearl inserts.

Calla Lily Bouquet & Calla Lili Boutonniere
A vivid contemporary bouquet of mini calla lilies with the stems wrapped in a matching ribbon adorned with pearl pins. Available colors include white, burgundy, yellow, orange, and lavender.

Island Bouquet & Island Boutonniere
A striking mix of colorful tropical blooms and greenery in a freeform design including green dendrobium orchids, green cymbidium orchids, burgundy mini calla lilies and orange roses.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I had an Escape weding this summer on what could have been a very popular date 8-9-10. I did not end up in a lottery for my date or time I was able to get exactly when and where I wanted (though it was a less popular location)

I also used only thier flowers for me (red calla lillies) and one of the standard cakes, though I did add fresh raspberries to the filling. We added extra champagne and raspberry juice to drink with the champagne but that and a bouquet for my sister and boutenier for DH's brother that is all we added and I was very happy with everything.

Pics are in my PJ if you're interested!

 

[Disney-Chick]

I just had a wedding on Jan. 4th. You can only book 8 months out, but they can tell you if anyone else is asking for that date/time/location.

Also, there is no room rates for escape weddings. Or not that I was aware of. And we had calla lillies (white) and loved them. They were beautiful. I did upgrade for my MOH/BM (3 calla lillies per person @ $60 each). I thought 3 would look better than 1 and they even wrapped ribbon around theirs and mine that matched the girls dresses.

I also had the standard cake that they provided. Marble with chocolate mousse. It was FABULOUS!!

I didn't upgrade much as we didn't need extras that would put us in debt. My DH asked if I wanted Mickey there and after thinking about it I thought it was a waste of money (others of course would disagree). We decided to take that money and do a photo shoot at AK. Photo's last forever, Mickey doesn't.

The carriage I wanted but couldn't justify spending $2700 for it.

Have fun wedding planning and congratulations.

 

[leonix8238]

Hello!

This is my first time posting on the DIS boards, but i've been reading through lots of your posts and there is some really helpful info / pricing etc on there so thanks guys

Hoping some of you may be able to help me with a few questions i have....we're not planning on getting married until Nov 2012 but need to try and get an idea of some costings etc so make sure we can actually afford the wedding first and i'm finding it hard to get answers from the weddings section.


I've got the basic Escape package details from Disney and i was told you could only book 8months in advance, but on some of the other posts it says people have booked 1 year ahead of their dates........is it 12 months or 8 months in advance?


has anyone had an escape wedding (only be about 9-12 of us in total) and used just what is included i.e. choosen from their cakes and flowers, or is the selection not great and you need to spend more?

for extra such as the petals / aisle runner, do you have to buy this through disney or can you bring your own? if you do bring your own, do they charge you for using your own petals etc?

If you book a wedding through WDW do they offer a discount on room rates? we're looking at the saratoga springs.

I'm sorry if i've aked lots of questions, just seems you all know lots of useful info and may be able to answer them and save me spending a fortune ringing florida all the time!

Thank you!

First of all congratulations on your engagement!

We're from the UK and got married at SBP back in November.

Like others have said you can contact Disney at the 12 month mark, but with the Escape package Disney will not be able to confirm until 8 months before the date.

Whilst it's in my mind, if you want to book a MK photo session, do it as soon as you can. The reason I say this is because during November they film the Christmas parade, which means that for one (maybe two) weeks they cannot book anyone in for an MK session. We nearly didn't get ours because of this but luckily someone cancelled very late on. Phew!

As for flowers and cakes, the selection that Disney presents you with can be adapted to suit you, depending upon what you want they may or may not charge you. For instance we loved the scrolls cake but didn't want it in white, so they changed it to cream and gave us a gold base instead of the silver. Our flowers were also quite different as I wanted something very lose with lots of foliage, Disney were more than happy to accommodate and they did so for free.

The candles and petals for SBP were additional, I think we paid something like $300. However, we didn't have any guests at our wedding so we didn't need to pay for any chair covers or additional champagne/drinks.

If you fancy staying at Saratoga Springs it may be worth looking into renting Disney Vacation Points as I think it's part of the Disney Vacation Club. You'll be able to find more information on renting points on the boards.

As a general figure I would estimate that a Disney Escape wedding/honeymoon will set you back around £8,000, depending on where you stay, how much you spend on extras, if you have outside photography, how many people will need hair and make-up done, if you have a hair and make-up trial etc.

I hope this information is useful. Happy planning!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Hi and yay for another UK bride!!! Congratulations and welcome!!!
I think you have had all your questions answered by the girls above, but I just wanted to chime in that you may find it cheaper to rent points from a DVC for your stay at Saratoga Springs than to go direct. Disney only sets up room blocks and discounts for larger quantities of rooms (usually Wishes weddings) There are a few reputable places which arrange this and one advertises at the top of this page!!! I have heard very good things about them. Here is the link

http://www.dvcrequest.com/dvc_rentals.htm

Good luck with your planning and don't be afraid to fire all your questions at us!!!

 

[Chilly]

I just wanted to chime in that you may find it cheaper to rent points from a DVC for your stay at Saratoga Springs than to go direct.

If the UK SSR/OKW offer is on then it is cheaper to book direct with Disney I think as you also get free dining, but you have to buy park tickets.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Thank you Claire sweetie!!
Would this offer/free dining be on for OP's wedding in November 2012 do you think?

 

[Chilly]

Thank you Claire sweetie!!
Would this offer/free dining be on for OP's wedding in November 2012 do you think?

They've done it every year for the last few years I believe.

Its available to book for this year at the moment until the end of March I think.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

In that case, this may be a better option than renting points!!!!

 

[Scrap_Vamp]

Hi,

We're also from the UK and had an Escape wedding at Sea Breeze Point in August 2009.

We used the flowers from the package (orange calla lilies as seen in the pictures in a previous post) then added extra boutonnierres and a single white calla lily for my MOH. We had the Art Deco cake, made from marble cake with raspberry mousse filling, which was delicious. We swapped the champagne for what is called cider (non-alcoholic) as well.

The only 'upgrades' we had were to add the Model A Ford (but you still get the limo as well as this) and my mum got Mickey and Minnie to attend as a surprise

 

[angel81uk]

The free dining offer is definitely the way to go if you can get it. It's usually offered at SSR and OKW, approx 43% off AND free DDP! We've used it for our trip and a studio worked out to be around the same price as staying at Port Orleans so it's a great deal.

It's slightly cheaper to book through Complete Orlando, but if you book direct with Disney make sure you sign up for quidco first so you can get cashback (which worked out cheaper for us in the long run).