Wedding During Food and Wine Festival tips

[kanadar]

My fiance and I recently got engaged and have started the planning aspect of our wedding. We have decided we want to have our wedding in October 2015, with the draw of F&W festival going on. I was wondering if anyone on the boards has experienced planning their wedding during F&W, and what things were unavailable to you that would otherwise have been. We are also planning a weekend wedding because I am a teacher so I won't have much time off. Any advice would be great! It will be a large Wishes ceremony, my extended family alone if everyone comes is almost 50.

 

[elphie101]

Welcome!! I'm planning our wedding right now for October 12 2014, for we're hoping around 70 people

The first major thing that comes to mind is that if you are interested in an Illuminations dessert party, you cannot have them on Fridays and Saturdays during F&W (Disney says the general crowds in Epcot are too great to close off pavilions for private groups). Also Italy West pavilion is blocked from dessert parties for the whole festival (as this is where the Eat to the Beat concert queues up).

If you plan on blocking any of the Epcot resorts for your room block, these resorts have a habit of selling out (though your rooms you've blocked will be held till 30 days before). We decided to block extra rooms at Beach Club just so we would have wiggle room, since we knew that there was a strong chance it would be difficult to add more rooms to our Beach Club block later in the process if our guests filled it up (our date is also over a holiday weekend, so we're being extra cautious regarding that).

I can't think of any other specific F&W obstacles we've encountered in the planning - mostly we're just thrilled to pieces that our guests will get to experience the festival (as well as MNSSHP!)

Finally, if you haven't yet, do yourself a favor and download the Passporter's Disney Weddings & Honeymoons (written by a former Disney bride, lurkyloo on these boards). It'll save you lots of headaches on the Disney-related side of wedding planning!

 

[andeesings]

Welcome!! I'm planning our wedding right now for October 12 2014, for we're hoping around 70 people The first major thing that comes to mind is that if you are interested in an Illuminations dessert party, you cannot have them on Fridays and Saturdays during F&W (Disney says the general crowds in Epcot are too great to close off pavilions for private groups). Also Italy West pavilion is blocked from dessert parties for the whole festival (as this is where the Eat to the Beat concert queues up). If you plan on blocking any of the Epcot resorts for your room block, these resorts have a habit of selling out (though your rooms you've blocked will be held till 30 days before). We decided to block extra rooms at Beach Club just so we would have wiggle room, since we knew that there was a strong chance it would be difficult to add more rooms to our Beach Club block later in the process if our guests filled it up (our date is also over a holiday weekend, so we're being extra cautious regarding that). I can't think of any other specific F&W obstacles we've encountered in the planning - mostly we're just thrilled to pieces that our guests will get to experience the festival (as well as MNSSHP!) Finally, if you haven't yet, do yourself a favor and download the Passporter's Disney Weddings & Honeymoons (written by a former Disney bride, lurkyloo on these boards). It'll save you lots of headaches on the Disney-related side of wedding planning!

Elphie do you need people for your block?? Which resorts did you block? I'm waiting for an AP discount to be released but there seem to be NO discounts for Columbus Day weekend! Can you PM me?

 

[kanadar]

Thanks! I thought about a dessert party but it's not necessary. We're thinking about the American Adventure Rotunda, so I wasn't sure if that might be blocked out during food and wine on the weekends. I guess we'll see! I called yesterday so hopefully I'll hear from the coordinator soon! I already have the book! As soon as I read about it on another thread I ordered it! We're a little confused about the bar rates though, if anyone can answer that here, if not I'll make it it's own topic

 

[andeesings]

Thanks! I thought about a dessert party but it's not necessary. We're thinking about the American Adventure Rotunda, so I wasn't sure if that might be blocked out during food and wine on the weekends. I guess we'll see! I called yesterday so hopefully I'll hear from the coordinator soon! I already have the book! As soon as I read about it on another thread I ordered it! We're a little confused about the bar rates though, if anyone can answer that here, if not I'll make it it's own topic

The AAR is my FAVORITE venue!!! Do a planning journal, please!!!

 

[lurkyloo]

Thanks! I thought about a dessert party but it's not necessary. We're thinking about the American Adventure Rotunda, so I wasn't sure if that might be blocked out during food and wine on the weekends. I guess we'll see! I called yesterday so hopefully I'll hear from the coordinator soon! I already have the book! As soon as I read about it on another thread I ordered it! We're a little confused about the bar rates though, if anyone can answer that here, if not I'll make it it's own topic

Wedding receptions at AAR take place after the park has closed so there is no conflict with using it at any time of the year, Food & Wine Festival or otherwise.

Bars are setup one of three ways:

• Pre-paid package: You pay in advance for unlimited drinks
  
• Bill-on-consumption: You pay only for what people actually drink
  
• Cash/No-Host bar: Your guests pay for their own drinks

Prepaid can be good if you have a large crowd of heavy drinkers, but you pay a high price with no chance of a refund. People who choose bill-on-consumption almost always get a refund when the actual number of drinks is tallied, sometimes thousands of dollars. I have an episode of the Disney Wedding Podcast explaining the differences here: http://disneyweddingpodcast.com/2013/03/27/how-to-save-a-bundle-on-the-bar/

 

[kanadar]

Thanks! My dad, sister, and I were looking at the table in the book and there was a bit of a discussion of how much a pre-paid package would be for say 2 hours. I think the blog cleared it up for us! My dad seemed to think that, for example, the first hour would be $24/person the second would then be $31/person. My sister and I, however, disagreed lol.

 

[Olive_loves_the_mouse]

Is food and wine festival the only time Fridays and Saturdays are blocked for dessert parties! What about flower and garden festival? What if we did April up until the middle of May instead? Will Fridays and Saturdays be available during flower and garden festival? Please help! The weather in April/May is still relatively cool/ rain doesn't pick up till mid May and spring break crowds break early since Easter is early April 2016. Seems like that wouldn't be a bad time either opposed to October/November.

Or I could always do November after food and wine but before the thanksgiving rush but i think the only lull is in the middle of the week...food and wine festival ends and then it's the thanksgiving rush pretty quick after. I'm lost now for my date. Not sacrificing Illuminations DP lol

 

[lurkyloo]

Not every dessert party location is blocked out on Fridays and Saturdays during Food & Wine. And there are NO restrictions during Flower & Garden.