UK Brides

[KT&Scott]

Hello Everyone

I'm planning to get married in 2010 but just wondered who you all booked your wedding through.

Is it best to use a Travel Agent or book direct with Disney?

I really dont know what to do!

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Congratulations and welcome to the boards
You'll find the girls on here very friendly and more than happy to help with any questions you may have.
Well, I'm from the UK and am getting married on Aug 20th 2007. I booked my Wedding direct with Disney. I find this is the most preferable way to do it as you have full control. You talk directly to Disney whereas if you book through a Travel Agent, many times you have to go through them first. Cut out the middle man, it's easier this way.
When you book through Disney you can basically have anything you want, I inquired about our wedding with a TA initially and she stated it was a set package and I wouldn't be able to choose an officiant, they provided one as it was a set package I don't know if this is the way it always works, but it did with mine.
Look around on this board and you'll likely find the answers to loads of questions and you can get great tips too!
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

 

[KT&Scott]

Thank you for the welcome!

I thought it might be best to go directly with disney. I was acutally just looking through your journal and your planning so far is lovely. It has really helped me.

 

[we_love_epcot2]

We looked at both options - booking through a travel agent and also directly with Disney.

We actually met a wedding co-ordinator the year before while on vacation to have a look round the pavillion and discuss options (intimate/custom weddings, flowers, etc). Once back in the UK we then looked at our travel agents options.

We decided to book directly with Disney for a number of reasons.

Primarily we saw dealing with Disney more "direct" - we could email or call our co-ordinator any time and would get an answer back the same or next day.

After talking to our travel agents it appeared that they would pretty much act as a middle man - we told them something and they then contacted the Disney co-ordinator. We couldn't see the real benefit the travel agent offered us over dealing directly with Disney, so we decided to deal direct with Disney.

We thought it might be more expensive directly with Disney but it wasn't (Disney was a bit more expensive but offered a bit more as standard so it balanced out in the end).

Also, we changed a few things a few times! That wasn't a problem with Disney and there was no "changing" cost involved - there was with the travel agent we looked at.

The Disney co-ordinator also called us once a week to discuss options until we were happy with the general plan of things. Bear in mind this was an intimate wedding, not an expensive custom one. But with Disney it wasn't an issue - we never felt pressured into being sold options we didn't want - we decided what we wanted and Disney simply helped us choose.

Finally, i called our Disney co-ordinator an hour before the wedding to arrange a little surprise for my wife - it was done without an issue. Not sure how that would work if booked through a travel agent.

I'm not saying booking through a travel agent is the wrong way to do it (i haven't had a wedding through them after all, and i'm sure many people have booked through a travel agent and found it great), but i can say that we were VERY happy with the service we had talking direct with Disney!!

Why not contact both Disney and your travel agents and give them a list of questions and see how they respond and them make your mind up?

 

[Laurafoster]

Hi and Welcome!!

Im from the UK too and my wedding was in December!

I had no choice other than to book with Disney as i had a custom wedding (over 18 guests) but i found planning with them really easy! They were so helpful, always arranging to phone me, or dealing with details via email made my life so much easier!

If you have any questions just ask - we have quite a few UK Brides on here now and they are all lovely and friendly! Pop over to the UK forum too - there's a few people planning weddings on there too! There really friendly people too!

I dont know where i would have been without these boards!!

Happy Planning!!

 

[DisneyB2B]

Hi and welcome to the boards,

Another UK bride for you to chat to here, we get married in April 2007, you have picked a great place to get married!

We booked directly through the travel agent (First Choice) and it was horrible! I have had to do all the communication work myself contacting disney directly but I had to do all the leg work. If we had known about disboards before we had booked we would have definately booked direct!

If I where you I would definately book direct as disney are great to deal with and will get the answer to all of your questions and if they cant you can always post on here.

Good luck with your decision, either way be reasured you will have a fantastic day!

Nicci

 

[karentan]

hiya and welcome
another UK bride here, (21st november 2005), we booked with virgin weddings and had horrendous time, loads of problems, they even cancelled the wedding at one point! i agree to book direct with disney, if i'd have known more about the disboards at the time i'd have been a lot happier!
welcome and congrats on the upcoming wedding,
karen

 

[KT&Scott]

Thank you everyone for the info.

I definatly think that we'll book directly. So would I just give them a call closer to the time to get the ball rolling?

 

[we_love_epcot2]

I think you can book the Wedding pavilion (if thats where you want to marry) about a year in advance. I'm not 100% sure about that, but thats what i remember.

We started talking to Disney about weddings about 14 months before the day we had in mind, to give us time to think about things. So i would suggest calling them around that kind of timescale, but of course you can contact them sooner or later.

They won't mind a few questions well in advance if you want to sort a few things out!

 

[soontobebride]

We have booked direct through Disney as well. At least if you have any questions you can call direct and e-mail them direct and get a reply quickly which is what you will want.

We started talking to them about 18 months before the wedding date just for advice and what they offered and then we booked it 8 months to the day as we are having an intimate wedding and if you want the wedding pavilion as an intimate wedding you can only book 8 months in advance.

We are here to answer your questions and congratulations.

 

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

Hi and Welcome! Another UK member here!

We are planning (well not 'planning' as such, rather hoping) to have our wedding at Disney either 2012 or 2013. We will book directly with Disney, as not only do we want a custom wedding, but I have heard a few horror stories about booking through travel agents.

Looking forward to your planning journal

 

[orangetiggs]

Hi and congrats

We are booking ours direct with disney but have booked the holiday part through Virgin Holidays

 

[Funniebunny]

Hi, another UK bride here.

I've booked our wedding through Virgin, mainly because I'm a travel agent.
Good luck with you planning

 

[dee slack]

hello and welcome! We're having a vow renewal and went to Virgin first (booked our hols with them) but she messed me about a bit, so then I just didn't feel comfortable with them so cancelled it and went direct to Disney. So far, everythings been so easy, especially with the help of everyone here on the boards. If you do phone them, remember to go thru telediscount for 1p a min calls to the US.

 

[Ticky Toria 78]

Hi, welcome to the board!!!

We booked ours through Thomas Cook Signature Hols.

We didn't encounter any problems, and we asked who our WC was early on so we could email them and ask them questions e.t.c.

The Disney Wedding Team are so helpful and pleasant......ooooh it's so exciting - happy planning!!!! If you need any advice/help let me know.