Wedding away from home

[themagicofdisney]

Hi everyone. My DF and I have dreamed about a Disney wedding and honeymoon, but our parents..and other family members...think it's way too expensive and way too far away for anyone to be able to attend. My excitement level went from a 100 to a 0 in one day. I can't help but to get upset knowing our families don't support our decision...considering we have holds for many things already. Does anyone have any experience in this area? I'm from Massachusetts, so yes Florida is far away...but is it that unmanageable?

what do you think?

Thanks!

Katelyn

 

[lurkyloo]

Well, half of our guests came all the way from California for our wedding - tell those people they're lucky they don't have to pay $400 each for an airline ticket!

Many of us have run into similar resistance. Everyone always says this, but it's true - the people who care will be there. Some of them just have to come to terms with the fact that this is your day and you get to do it the way you want it.

And there are a lot of things you can do to help ease the burden on your guests, like giving them info about discounts or low-cost lodging and tips for the parks and things.

Everyone on this board has lots of great ideas to share!

 

[themagicofdisney]

Well, half of our guests came all the way from California for our wedding - tell those people they're lucky they don't have to pay $400 each for an airline ticket!

Many of us have run into similar resistance. Everyone always says this, but it's true - the people who care will be there. Some of them just have to come to terms with the fact that this is your day and you get to do it the way you want it.

And there are a lot of things you can do to help ease the burden on your guests, like giving them info about discounts or low-cost lodging and tips for the parks and things.

Everyone on this board has lots of great ideas to share!

Yes, everyone does say that...but you are right it is true. I'm trying really hard to remember this is MY day, but I really want my family to be happy too .

Thanks for the kind words...it made me feel better!

 

[disneyberry]

I think this happens to most of us Disney brides.

My mom always wanted a huge hometown wedding for me. (Ick! lol) My fiance and I wanted to have a Disney wedding. Actually, I would've loved to "elope" at Disney hahaha but my fiance would have none of that lol.

In my case, the compromise was that we'll be having an at-home reception after our Disney wedding. That way we could keep the Disney wedding guest list smaller (saves a little money, I suppose, but really having a Disney wedding in general has got to be cheaper than having a hometown wedding in the Northeast! The prices up here are insane!)

We did have quite a few guests RSVP and say no mostly because of the rising travel costs lately, which is a shame because when we first decided on the Disney wedding, things weren't quite as bad travel-cost wise.

Also, both sides of the family invited fewer people because of the fact that it was a destination wedding, and I think it's still difficult for the older generation to understand the concept. They immediately think it's some kind of crazy thing that no one would ever want to attend. Grrr...

Not that I care XD Less guests at our Disney wedding = saved money!

Good luck!

 

[themagicofdisney]

Thanks for the kind words disneyberry. I totally agree with you.

My mom wanted a big wedding as well..she is pulling the "If no one can come I'll be really hurt" which I understand, but that is why I also suggested a home reception after the wedding.

hopefully everyone will come around!

when is your wedding??

 

[Racey]

Ive got 30 coming from the United Kingdom who are all paying for themselves to get there!

Can you not explain to her that as it's your day, you would really love to do what you want as your only doing it once in your lifetime. You want those who are most important to you around you on your big day (ie mum) and thats the main thing you are worried about.

Hope you can have a stress free conversation with your mum and explain ... and in teh end have the day that you have always dreamt of

 

[MegKate]

Speaking as a Massachusettsian who is lost in Maine,

I was planning on having my wedding up here in Northern Maine. We live about 8 hours away from MA. Through research we found that it would actually be less expensive for people to get to Florida than up here in Maine. A plane ticket from Boston to Presque Isle, Maine (about 450 miles) is about the same cost as flying from Boston to California - almost 400.00! So it made sense for us to have a wedding in WDW. Also weddings are getting expensive in MA and ME - especially in fall.

So I put it to my friends and relatives this way. You can pay 400 dollars (at least - much of our family is from Texas!) to get here, but you'll only have one day of excitement or anything interesting - there's nothing to do up here. You can go to Walmart the day after to entertain yourself. Or you can pay less than 200 for a plane ticket and 80 a night for a hotel and be in WDW where there are millions of things to do. Your choice.

So we've got them going to Florida without complaint. Many of them are going and saying it's an anniversary trip, graduation or birthday present. Many of my college friends are going to be rooming together to split costs. It works out in the end. Remember it's your day!!!

 

[bridetobe789]

All my family is from NY and are all paying their way to come in!

 

[thatdisneygirl]

We tried to fix this by having 3 receptions. We're having one in WDW and then one in CA (my family) and one in OH (his family). We thought that we'd be able to cover all of our bases that way, but it turned out that everyone wanted to come to WDW...so now we're paying for three receptions and most of our guests are coming to two of them...

moral of the story: people will want to come to WDW and if you offer them other options, be prepared when they say yes to everything

 

[Aeris]

I really feel for you on this one, this is exactly why we are eloping.

We won't be telling anyone until we get back to the UK. We are determined to have what we want without pressure, guilt and as stress free as possible!

We intend to have a reception on our return and hope our families will understand and be happy for us anyway.

You wouldn't want to regret YOUR big day by pleasing everyone else, would you?

Good Luck with your decision

 

[Lynn5700]

GO AWAYand get married!!!! Super easy and less stress. Trust me!!!!

 

[themagicofdisney]

Thanks to all for the kind words! My fiance and I have set our minds on 8-8-09 in WDW so thats what we are going for. Unfortunately because of so much unhappiness we will be paying for most of it by ourselves (well I'm kind of happy about this..more of what I want!)

I'm starting to get excited! We sent our engagement announcements out TODAY!

 

[*Enchanted1*]

You should be excited! Party!!! Every girl dreams about finding "the one" and having the perfect Wedding. Don't let anyone foil those dreams, you only get married once, and as the dream day for any couple this needs to be your dream. So no worries, not to mention you have plenty of support on this site...(I'm new, but i love this site already.) So woohoo happy planning!!!!

And Congrats on your engagement!

 

[shirleyb]

It's your wedding and your day, but honestly, you have to decide what is more important to you - getting married where you want, or getting married with who you want to witness it. You can't always have both, especially in today's economic times. If you're ok with knowing Grandpa or Aunt Sue or whoever can't be there, then go for it and make it a wedding to remember. But, if it'll put a damper on your day, then you'll have to decide which is more important.

 

[okeydokey]

As long as you are fine with paying for it yourself, do what you want and enjoy every moment. Please though, don't get upset if many people don't attend. It's a huge imposition to ask everyone to pay for a cross county flight to attend your wedding.

 

[okeydokey]

I really feel for you on this one, this is exactly why we are eloping.

We won't be telling anyone until we get back to the UK. We are determined to have what we want without pressure, guilt and as stress free as possible!

We intend to have a reception on our return and hope our families will understand and be happy for us anyway.

You wouldn't want to regret YOUR big day by pleasing everyone else, would you?

Good Luck with your decision

This sounds like a great idea!

 

[DonnaBoo]

Thanks to all for the kind words! My fiance and I have set our minds on 8-8-09 in WDW so thats what we are going for. Unfortunately because of so much unhappiness we will be paying for most of it by ourselves (well I'm kind of happy about this..more of what I want!)

I'm starting to get excited! We sent our engagement announcements out TODAY!

Congratulations!!

My fiance and I are from Canada and we are having an escape wedding this December. Just the two of us. We're having the wedding that we want, and the focus is on us. There's no arguing or disagreements and I feel we are starting our life together on a positive note. We've made all the decisions together, and we are paying for it ourselves. It's made us stronger.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[figmentfan814]

As many people mentioned you will have more people want to come to Disney than you might think. We only invited our closest family and friends to Florida and then we had a big reception at home in MI afterwards. A lot of our friends lived out of state anyway and some of our family too, so they would have had to travel either way.

Congratulations on deciding to do Disney! You won't regret your decision!!!

 

[SnowWhite09]

Hi everyone. My DF and I have dreamed about a Disney wedding and honeymoon, but our parents..and other family members...think it's way too expensive and way too far away for anyone to be able to attend. My excitement level went from a 100 to a 0 in one day. I can't help but to get upset knowing our families don't support our decision...considering we have holds for many things already. Does anyone have any experience in this area? I'm from Massachusetts, so yes Florida is far away...but is it that unmanageable?

what do you think?

Thanks!

Katelyn

We are coming from Australia to Las Vegas (with part of our honeymoon spent in Disneyland) because ultimately it is the wedding we want. However, I don't think our family is too happy about it. You can't please everyone. YOUR big day should be everything you and your partner want. Congratulations and good luck! I am sure a WDW wedding will be a day to remember forever.

Tara