What are you doing about guests/paying?

[sabalpalms]

We are still in the process of deciding on a Disney wedding or just an Orlando wedding and what not (we are from NY), so for other brides where this is your "destination wedding," what are you paying for/having others pay for?

Are you paying for others hotel rooms? How much of a discount do you get on room blocks through Disney?
Are you buying anyone else park tickets? Paying for bridesmaids dresses? Plane tickets?

We feel like we'd be asking so many people to come down here that it could get pricey for our guests...

We went to two destination weddings this past year, Atlanta and New Orleans and we pretty much had to pay for EVERYTHING and I don't know how I feel about having OUR guests pay for EVERYTHING.

What are you guys doing?

 

[PrincessBride010103]

Are you paying for others hotel rooms? How much of a discount do you get on room blocks through Disney?

No, we did not pay for anyone's hotel room, everyone was responsible for their own accomodations. Disney gives you about a 20% discount on the room block.

Are you buying anyone else park tickets? Paying for bridesmaids dresses? Plane tickets?

We bought our bridal party 4 day park hoppers as their gift for participating in the wedding, everyone else purchased their own tickets if they chose to go into the parks. Also, bridesmaids paid for their own dresses.

We feel like we'd be asking so many people to come down here that it could get pricey for our guests...

We went to two destination weddings this past year, Atlanta and New Orleans and we pretty much had to pay for EVERYTHING and I don't know how I feel about having OUR guests pay for EVERYTHING.

What are you guys doing?

Remember, guests are choosing to come, they can always not come. Paying for all these things for your guests can get extremely expensive and it's not something that is really expected.

Hope that helped!

 

[ElleBren]

We were thinking along the same lines. However is it an actual destination wedding for you. Does most of your family have to travel to where you live/would have your wedding? If they have to get on a plane anyway, and stay in a hotel what's the difference? All of the weddings I have been to for my cousins have been up in NY(at the time I lived in FL).

I've been trying to look at it as what others have asked us to do for their weddings. I have been trying to work it so that no one will have to use a rental car, making it a little cheaper.

When we planned our VR it was hard, mostly my family lives in FL and his lives in NJ wherever we had the party, one side would have to travel. Who do you ask to travel? We ended up going with Disney because I love disney and he wanted to make this what I wanted since he was married previously.

Do what you can financially, it would be wonderful if you can pay for everything, but at the same time its a lot to take on.

Good luck!

 

[malaea3]

We are still in the process of deciding on a Disney wedding or just an Orlando wedding and what not (we are from NY), so for other brides where this is your "destination wedding," what are you paying for/having others pay for?

Are you paying for others hotel rooms? How much of a discount do you get on room blocks through Disney?
Are you buying anyone else park tickets? Paying for bridesmaids dresses? Plane tickets?

We feel like we'd be asking so many people to come down here that it could get pricey for our guests...

We went to two destination weddings this past year, Atlanta and New Orleans and we pretty much had to pay for EVERYTHING and I don't know how I feel about having OUR guests pay for EVERYTHING.

What are you guys doing?

Traditionally guests pay for their own hotel rooms. It is a very rare occasion that the groom/bride foots the bill for guests. Same goes for park tickets and airfare. When I say rare, I mean only super famous/rich people or those with VERY small wedding parties. People are probably going to have to travel for your wedding weather it is at home or disney. Our guest list was 50% in town and 50% out of town so it really wasnt a big deal. Before making a final decision I spoke to my very closest friends, those I only reallly cared about being there, and asked if they minded having it at Disney. They all said of course now, were super exicted and none regretting the travel cost. It is your guests choice to atttend or not. It's your wedding do what will make you happy. Your closest relatives and friends will most likely make the trip and that is what is most important.

Tradition says that the bridesmaids pay for their own dress. Mine was a little more expensive to I put some money towards their dresses.

Lots of luck.

 

[orangetiggs]

we are not paying for anyhting apart from the wedding stuff for them such and food and drink on the day,

we only ahve a small group as we are coming from the uk. I have however paid for my bm dresses, shows etc all they are going to pay for is their hair and makeup

 

[BaBeeCee14]

We are also from NY as well as all of our guests. Everyone will be paying for their own hotel/airfare and park tickets. I am having a welcome dinner at Ohana for everyone the day before the wedding, just as a thank you for coming down. My mom wanted to pay for the BM dresses, but traditionally the BMs would buy the dresses.

 

[sabalpalms]

Thanks for the advice! Most of our family and friends will be coming from NY/NJ except for a select few, but 90% of them would be traveling. We were thinking if they don't want to spend, they don't have to come, right? They will already get a discounted hotel rate, and we can put a few hotels on the list, right? We were thinking of maybe paying for the hotel maybe as a gift to the bridal party (just the wedding night) and as a thank you to our parents, and/or maybe park hoppers.
You're right though, the bridesmaids would have to purchase a dress no matter where we have the wedding. Thanks for all your input!

 

[orangetiggs]

i have 3 hotels
coronado springs at $144 a night with tax
animal kingdom savannah view $283 including tax
grand floridian $303 a night with tax

these are from 28th aug this year

 

[Swmhc]

We had an Escape wedding and when we started the planning process, we truely thought it would just be DH, myself and my DD. As it turned out, we each had a close friend who wanted to come and brought their families. We offered to pay a couple nights of the hotel (one accepted, one refused to let us). We paid for the tux, I tried to pay for the gown, but again, my friend would not let me. They did their own flights and park tickets. We picked up a couple of meals. Frankly, both of their families had more money than we did, so that was why they wouldn't let us do more. I think it would be nice to do a room night or a park pass if you can swing it.

Most brides try to chose one value resort, one deluxe and one moderate to give their guests a variety of price points, which I think is good.

 

[hope1826]

We paid for exactly the same things that we would have paid for if we had had our wedding at home EXCEPT we invited (and paid for) all 38 of our guests to our Rehearsal /Welcome Breakfast.

I did offer to buy the bridesmaids their dresses, but they said "No". DH offered to pay for tux rentals, but only one GM took him up on the offer.

Our reasoning was that if we had chosen to have our wedding in NJ (our home state) 75% of our guests would have had to pay for flights, hotels, rental cars and meals anyway. A NJ wedding was going to be just as much of a "destination wedding" as Disney was. The only extra item would have been park tickets, but about half of our guests did not go to the parks anyway. So, they ended up paying for exactly what they would have paid for regardless of our wedding location.

 

[disprincessatheart]

I also didn't pay for hotel rooms or anything else. I would have picked up the tab for my sister and niece's hair, but my parents decided to pay for all of ours. We did by DBil a park hopper since we knew the trip was a bit expensive for him, but everyone else was happy to be invited and we received surprisingly large gifts!

As for the discounts, disney discounts the rooms in your block 30% off Deluxes, 20% off moderates and either 10 or 15% off values. I think they also offered $20 off a multiday park hopper - not much but it's something for those who will buy anyway.

 

[Lorelei528]

We also are coming from NY as well as all my family and DF's family is flying in from Ireland.

We are having an Escape Wedding with 18 guests. We are not paying for any flights or hotels or park tickets.

However, we are paying for dinner the night before the wedding for everyone, the reception dinner and the dessert party at Epcot.....

 

[bestla]

We are planning on having just our parents, siblings, and grandparents come (a whopping total of 8). We can't afford a DFTW, so we are staying on Disney property but having our ceremony at Leu Gardens in Orlando.

My parents are DVC members, so they offered to pay for everyone's lodging. We plan to pay for the dinner after the wedding, and a dinner the night before. Other than that, everyone's pretty much on their own.

I think with destination weddings, people usually assume they need to pay for everything. If they don't want to pay, then they can choose not to come. Not sure how big of a wedding you're planning on...but in our case...the people that will be there are REALLY important to us, so we'd do whatever we could to make it a bit easier on them.

 

[figmentcookie]

we are not paying for anyhting apart from the wedding stuff for them such and food and drink on the day,

we only ahve a small group as we are coming from the uk. I have however paid for my bm dresses, shows etc all they are going to pay for is their hair and makeup

We are doing the same exact thing. Great minds think alike orangetiggs

We're only having 9 guests, too, if that means anything. There is also one legitimate website where you can get discount park tickets. If you want to know what it is, PM me.

Good luck!

 

[B2B-2008]

We are an exception to the rule. We are paying for our guests 1st weeks holiday and flights, there are ten of us in total. But this is because our family could never afford to visit WDW and we really wanted them to join us on our wedding day. This way is still working out cheaper than the original white wedding my parents wanted us to have in England.

 

[twiu]

I paid for my bridesmaids dresses - but they would've done it themselves. I just felt like it since they were all coming from out of town and I thought it would be a nice gesture.

 

[calismic]

We are paying the hotel stays of immediate family (mom, dad, sil) everyone else is paying for their own stay.

 

[IndyBride]

Everyone is pretty much paying their own way. We are paying to get my girl's hair and make up done but only because I found a stylist that I could afford to do that. I am leaning towards getting park tickets for the Bridal Party. Other than that just the meal at the reception. I am researching to find the best deals on everything that I can. And suggesting websites for them to go to to find ways to keep costs down. But- if they don't want to spend the money they won't come. And, I'm okay with that.