What made you decide.....

[Fantasia Sam]

.. on your Wedding venues? We haven't done this in a while

I was just updating the calendar of weddings and I noticed that there seem to be a lot more receptions at Ariels and Living Seas and I was wondering why?

So I thought it would be fun for us to share why we chose our particular wedding ceremony and reception venue.

I'll go first:

Our wedding venue was a no-brainer, we had our first vacation together at The Yacht Club and saw the Gazebo and a couple of weddings there and I think we knew back then that if we were ever to get wed then that would be the place. I also had always wanted to get married outside, not possible in England.

We chose Ariel's for our reception because I had read about it and The Little Mermaid was one of my favorite Disney films and this way being truthful we wouldn't have to lay on transport for our guests to get there LOL

We had to have our Dessert Party at UK Lower because we're from the UK and it would have just seemed "wrong" not to have our DP there

OK next ....

 

[pouncingpluto]

We chose Sea Breeze Point because we wanted something that wasn't a typical wedding chapel. The WP is beautiful (and I like it a lot more in person than I do in pictures), but it just seemed too traditional. SBP is great because it's right on the water, and I love that all of your guests can be in the gazebo with you. Now that we've had our wedding, I absolutely adore the Boardwalk at night aspect of it, with all of the lights around the water. And I have to admit, I even liked the aspect of how busy it was out there on a Saturday night... SBP is set off enough from the restaurants, etc. that we weren't disturbed by noise or anything, but it's on the beaten path enough that it felt really special to have so many strangers notice that something special was happening!

We had to change from Living Seas to Great Movie Ride at the last minute due to the rehab at the Living Seas. We had originally wanted GMR very much, but we decided to save money and go with LS. So, for Living Seas... we decided on that because it's a beautiful room and the aquariums make it unique enough that it feels like a special "Disney" location.

For GMR, we'll what's not to like??? I know it's not for everyone... some people would want something a bit more elegant or traditional, but it was perfect for us. It's very fun and very unique. We wish we had just planned on GMR to begin with... what's a few more months of paying off a credit card where your wedding is concerned?

 

[JohnsPrincess]

Well, the first time John told me he loved me we were in front of the castle and he asked me to marry him in front of the Wedding Pavilion. Since we couldn't do the castle (too expensive even if they were still doing Magic Kingdom weddings...) I had my heart set on the WP. So, for our site visit we checked it out and said that we still wanted to Look at some other places. Okay, I really wanted to see some places I hadn't managed to get to before. When we got to the Boardwalk (in all my years of going to Disney I've never been there... ) and John and I saw Sea Breeze Point Gazebo... we both fell in love! We couldn't imagine having the ceremony anywhere else. We live in Tampa so water is a way of life for us. I WILL cry if we get rained out.

As for the Reception...I wanted something close. We chose Ariel's do to the closeness factor, but also because we thought it was really cute And we liked that Martha's Vinyard is right next door (for the coctail reception).

 

[hmgolden]

We picked the WP, because its beautiful, and since we got married at 2:30 in the afternoon in June, getting married outside just didn't seem like a good idea

We chose Atlantic Dance Hall because we didn't want to have the reception in a ballroom, and we loved the feel of ADH. It's very relaxed and fun inside.

We had our dessert party on the Italy Isola, because it was the venue that would fit all our guests

 

[allisonswonderland]

I was at Disney when they were building the Wedding Pavillion at the time they would have "Weddings if a Lifetime" on TV and I saw that Pavillion and told my mom that is where I wanted to get married! Ariels --- I LOVE the Beach Club. I am not really all about The Little Mermaid, but I did not want to use a Ballroom and I am a water girl, a competitive swimmer/coach love seashells and tropical fish motifs saw the underwater cake love all of that....we will see what we end up with in a year!

 

[Laurafoster]

The yacht club was easy for me - its always been a favorite place of mine and i fancied something intimate so it was perfect. The reception i actually had to be talked into - i totally didnt want a "ballroom" but when i met the SM she said she had her reception in the Asbury room which is a small part of the convention centre in the Yacht club - it was all decorated for a function and i thought it was perfect.

Dessert party - would seem weird being from the Uk if i had the dessert party anywhere else!

 

[Mary626]

Well I have always wanted to get married in one of the theme parks... of course since Magic Kingdom was out of the question I turned my attention to either Epcot or MGM. My fiance and I are both big into star wars and we did for a while consider having our ceremony by Star Tours, but honestly it didn't suit my style enough AND I always envisioned getting married in the day time outside (ceremony would have been at night had we done that). So then I looked at the World Showcase countries. I thought the Isola was beautiful and I loved that it was "on the water". And it seems more like it represents EPCOT then it does Italy. Since we can see the other countries from the showcase AND the Spaceship Earth EPCOT ball, I thought it was perfect!!

It wasn't a tough choice for Ariel's. We knew all along that we would be staying at Yacht Club - I have always wanted to go there once I had a someone special to share it with, and it was close to EPCOT. I didn't have a clue about where the reception should be, but the sales coordinator Pam Pearce recommended Ariel's and sent me some pictures of it. I loved it immediately!! And I thought it would be great for our guests - most of them will be staying there so if they need to go to their rooms for a break they can.

The Fantasmic Dessert Party - I LOOVEEEE Fantasmic, and as soon as I saw that this was a possibility I wanted it! For a while there was a typo on the official website saying the food minimum was $7,500, so I was depressed that I wouldn't be able to afford it. I asked my sales coordinator about it just to be sure and she told me the real minimum was $750, and I was so pleased!! Even though it won't be on the same day as the wedding and I won't get those beautiful pictures everyone else has with their wedding dress on - I'm really looking forward to this!

 

[disneyheaven]

Hi there!
We chose the WP because it is one of the most beautiful spots on the Walt Disney World property. We orginially wanted Sunset Pointe (we loved the idea of saying our vows while looking at that INCREDIBLE castle) but our wedding is too big, and with our wedding taking place in August, we were worried about the heat. So the next best spot was WP. We love the victorian feel. And that view as you say your vows? Perfect!!!! We chose Ariels because we wanted something open and airy. A lot of the other places we saw had no windows and I tend to get claustraphobic in rooms with no natural light. I loved the color sceme of Ariels, as well as the beautiful location. The Yacht and Beach are gorgeous, and so Ariels was a perfect place for us! We can not wait to have our ceremony at the WP and our reception at Ariels!!

 

[Snow_White]

We just always knew that we wanted to get married at the Wedding Pavilion and seeing it in person during our site visit pretty much cemented it! It's such a beautiful place, and hey, any chapel with hidden mickeys is just about perfect in my book

As far as the reception goes, we originally were dead-set on having it in a theme park, either Epcot or MGM. Well, during our site visit, we checked out both the American Adventure (not the rotunda--we love that--but the second floor area) and the Living Seas. However, neither one really jumped out at us (to our surprise). Next, we were taken to Whitehall at the GF Convention Center...well, it was love at first sight We knew that was going to be the place as soon as we walked in the door!!! It's such a unique and lovely room (and the private patio is a wonderful perk too). I think different locations just speak to different people

For the dessert party, we decided on UK Lower...with a group our size (28 people), it was either UK Lower or UK Upper. We definitely wanted to be as close to the water as possible, so UK Lower it was! It ended up being an absolutely PERFECT location....what a memorable night!!!!!!

Jennifer

 

[tinkerbela]

we chose to get married in WDW because it was our first vacation there and we got engaged there. so, it was a no brainer that our wedding should be there, too.

we chose to have the wedding in the pavilion because of the beauty and location of it. also, cindy's castle in the window at the alter was just a little added touch to the ceremony.

we chose to have the reception at the Atlantic Dance Hall because of the location and the price. we had never been there before the wedding and took a risk with picking the place. ADH was available during the day and doesn't need any decor at all. so, it worked out really well for us.

we had a dessert party in Epcot and held it in the UK. i picked the UK because i'm english and wanted to have that little heritage momentum going there.

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

We chose the Wedding Pavilion for the ceremony years before we were ever engaged. It sealed the deal when I went inside and stood there for the first time the day we were engaged... the afternoon turned rainy at Discovery Cove (where he proposed) so we headed back to Disney World and on a him hoped to get into the WP. Right as we walked in, there was the faintest rainbow framing the castle in "the" window. We knew at that point that someone else was smiling on us and telling us where to go.

The Yacht Club works because he just got out of the Navy and attended college at the Naval Academy. We liked the ballrooms better there than the Grand Floridain... it was just too pink for us. Kind of default, actually!

Next!

 

[hiwaygal]

We originally were going to be married at Sunset Pointe. I tend to like "tropical/beachy" vacations and I thought getting married at the Polynesian would be kind of like getting married in Hawaii. We planned this whole Hawaiian themed wedding...had picked out my flowers, and dress and everything. It was all set!

Then I happened to read some stuff on the DIS boards about the Hawaii building (Polynesian concierge where we wanted to stay) being closed during the time we were going to be there!! I freaked out and called my EM and NO ONE knew for sure if the building would be open or not...

We knew Disney would "take care of us" if we arrived and the building was not available...but we just didn't want to deal with the uncertainty...so we had to re-evaluate our choices...

After talking with the guy "in charge" at DFTW and our EM we picked Sea Breeze Point...and I am SOOOO happy we did!! The Boardwalk atmosphere ended up being perfect for us. Even better than I think the Poly and Sunset Point would have been. It was our first ever trip to Disney and everything was just magical!

Since it was just the two of us, we didn't have a reception...we ended up taking our cake to the concierge lounge at the Boardwalk and shared it with the CM's there!

 

[ahutton]

Dh and I wanted a traditional look for our ceremony, so the WP was perfect for us. However, we wanted something special and one of a kind for our reception, so we went with Living Seas. We looked at Ariel's, it was pretty but nothing in our mind was as cool as the VIP room, which is also a once in a lifetime type place, not open to the general public. The American Adventure would have been cool too, but we were concerned our group of 30 would be swallowed up in the space. Whitehall was also a choice, but the idea of being inside EPCOT was too exciting. There are a lot of venues open now that we would have loved, but in 1996 it was the infant stages of events!

The UK was our dessert party pick because I wanted to be right on the water and they were not entertaining the idea of letting a group as small as ours use France!

 

[twojo21]

we choose the yacht club gazebo because we liked the garden, loved the seaside theme of the yacht club & we loved that it was intimate & away from the pier, a sense of privacy. we also really liked seabreeze point but my fiance hated the guest chair set up & the closeness to the espn club.

we choose ariels because we fell in love with the room on our site visit, we loved the chandeliers, the aquarium near the dance floor, the blue & green decor, not to mention logistical reasons its closeness to the yacht club gazebo & marthas vineyard being right next store where our prereception is.

 

[princessblueeyzes]

Hi- We chose the WP since it is so beautiful, I was proposed to at the California Grill right before the firework show, I had a perfect view of the castle, and wanted the castle in view for our wedding.
Even though we are doing an intimate wedding, I think I want to have dinner at the CG with all of his and my family, so they can see how beautiful it is. Besides, the food is awesome!

 

[Luvndisney]

I love this thread!

Well I always wanted to get married at the WP and when I met my FDH2B he said he thought it was a great spot even before the Wp was built. He stood there a few years before and thought it would be a beautiful spot for a wedding....well who would have thought we would be having ours in a few months?

(also a july wedding with 100 guests is a no no for outside )

When we were dating and traveled to Disney we took a behind the scenes tour of EPCOT and got to see the LS VIP lounge. Our tour guide was speasking and all of a sudden she said "and guest can now use this room for special events like parties and wedding receptions." We both instantly locked eyes and smiled. This was 2 years before we got engaged, but we already had the spot picked out. We fell in love with it's uniqueness.

UK LOWER - well we both love Illuminations and it means alot to us. We love the intimateness fo UK Lower and the amazing view.

 

[D&R love Disney]

I didn't want traditional and always wanted to get married outdoors. We decided on Sea Breeze Point and loved it. I really liked the idea of walking down the boardwalk in my dress on the way to get married.

Dinner was at Yachtsman Steakhouse and everyone loved it, the staff was fantastic and we were able to customize the menu. After dinner some of us even walked back to the Boardwalk to walk off dinner and Rick and I got to have one more kiss at SBP in our wedding attire.

Both locations were a perfect choice for us.

 

[JonetteA]

Why are we getting married at the UK pavillion?

I LOVE the idea of the rose gardern, and where else can I have an outdoors wedding during the flower and garden festival. It was over 1k less expensive than the WP, and I could get pictures in as many countries as possible!

Right now we are scheduled to have the reception at CG. I don't know how well this will work as I am trying to customize a menu.

These are our reasons and I am really excited about it.

 

[cryssi]

I am always unsure if I can play, being a left coast bride...

oh well...

We were originally going to get married at the WP, with an MK reception (have I posted this before?), since it would have just been totally ridiculous to have a castle wedding (my dream wedding)...

Things happened, and we had to ax the WDW plans. We then looked into DL weddings since our families are all from CA. We wanted a park wedding, but again, ridiculous. We ended up with the Rose Court Garden because it's beautiful and also the only venue outside of the park where you can have Cinderella's coach (a prerequisite for sure!). We wanted to be different, and take advantage of having a Disney wedding, so we had our reception at California Adventure! It was most definitely the event of the century for our families...what a fairy tale!

a few photos...

 

[Mommy Poppins]

cryssi - do you have photos of your wedding available on line? Would love to see your pictures!