what to do after epcot wedding

[mhl1414]

I am thinking about doing a Epcot wedding in Canada, but I am unsure what to do after that early in the morning. I wanted to an Animal Kingdom reception, however that would be a large gap in the day. I also woundered if I could get married in Animal Kingdom. I want an outdoor rustic setting and Canada looks perfect, but I am not so crazy about a morning reception. Any ideas?

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

I'm having my ceremony in Canada, and had the same concerns as you, ie not being a fan of getting up super early, and worried about a long gap. However, I realized that this means I get to wear my dress for the WHOLE day, which is super awesome

Our itinerary is as follows:
Epcot portraits 7:30 to 8:30am
Pre ceremony pics, ceremony, and post pics 8:30am to 10:00am
Brunch reception @ the attic 10:15 to 1:00 pm
Break between 1pm and 7pm
7 pm to 8pm Pics at GF
8pm to 10:30 pm Dinner and fireworks at sago cay

So you can see the benefit really is that you get to do so much in one day!

I think that AK allows ceremonies at night. That would be amazing!

 

[DisneyLeah]

I am thinking about doing a Epcot wedding in Canada, but I am unsure what to do after that early in the morning. I wanted to an Animal Kingdom reception, however that would be a large gap in the day. I also woundered if I could get married in Animal Kingdom. I want an outdoor rustic setting and Canada looks perfect, but I am not so crazy about a morning reception. Any ideas?

Hi there!
I asked this same question to the sales consultant at DFTW. We were thinking of doing an Epcot ceremony and taking a break until late afternoon and then having dinner followed by a dessert party.

Her advice was that its not the greatest "guest experience" to have your guests get up early and dressed up for your wedding which lasts about 30 mins and then leave them with a really long break until dinner. They would have to go back to their resort and change into regular clothes if they were going to the parks or other things in the area and then go back to the resort again to get re-dressed up for dinner.

Her advice was to stick with an early brunch or lunch reception if Epcot was important to us.

We're still trying to figure out what to do, but since we may not be able to afford dinner for the size of the group we are currently expecting, we are still considering Epcot but with a brunch/lunch. I actually posted a question for others who did Epcot ceremonies the other day, but didnt get much feedback. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2376276

We were tossing aroung the idea of doing the "cocktail hour" at another World Showcase location to maximize time in the parks so I wanted to hear about if this worked well (or not) and about the costs, pros and cons, etc.

Hope this helps somewhat....

Thanks for posting your question. I look forward to the suggestions of others as well!

 

[mhl1414]

Thanks for your help. I can not wait to see your pics from Canada! Is a brunch at the Attic expensive? That sounds like a pretty good idea for the day.

 

[mhl1414]

I have been following your posted question also, hoping for some good ideas! I like the idea of momosas and muffins before the wedding since the guest have to wake up so early to attend. It would be a nice idea. I am not sure how early they are allowed to get there or where it would be held.

 

[MainStMandy]

You can get married at Animal Kingdom, but the whole thing has to start 2 hours after the park closes. We chose to do a ceremony at the Wedding Pavilion followed by an AK reception but I have seen some beautiful ceremonies at AK.

 

[mhl1414]

You can get married at Animal Kingdom, but the whole thing has to start 2 hours after the park closes. We chose to do a ceremony at the Wedding Pavilion followed by an AK reception but I have seen some beautiful ceremonies at AK.

That might be an idea. I am not sure how my daughter would hold up that late at night! Where are the ceromonies usually held? Do you have any location pics from Animal Kingdom? The pictures on Disney's website look amazing! I can't wait to see pics from your reception!

 

[MainStMandy]

Here are some pictures from Roots of a ceremony in Tamu Tamu. This is where our reception will be:
http://rootphotography.blogspot.com/2009/02/ashley-jeremy-wedding.html

Here is the description from our WP
Tamu Tamu Courtyard - Open-air courtyard located in Africa off of Harambe. Venue is themed to East Africa with white-coral walls, thatched roofs, and trees. Only part of the venue is covered (some fans for cooling).
- Events May Start 2.00 Hours After Park Close
- Typical backstage drop off is Harambe (Dirt Path)
- Restrooms are located around the corner from the venue
- Venue Package: $250.00 ( +)
- F&B Minimum: $2500.00 ( ++)
- Existing seating consists of round wooden tables for 4 and can be removed for an additional fee of $250+
And some of our pics...sorry they are blurry, my brother took them.

You can also have a ceremony at Belvedere Court. Here is the info from my WP
Belvedere - Outdoor location within the Maharajah Jungle Trek surrounded by lush foliage and ancient palace ruins.

- Events May Start 2.00 Hours After Park Close
- Not available April - September due to uncomfortable weather conditions
- BGM is not included in the Venue Package; a Presentation Sound System Package is available for $905 and includes BGM
- Lighting is included in the venue package
- Typical backstage drop off is Harambe (Dirt Path) or Rainforest Cafe
- One companion restroom located in vicinity
- Roman Table may be used for groups of 30 Guests or less
- Venue Package: $3000.00 ( +)
- F&B Minimum: $5000.00 ( ++)

I don't have pics of this one though. We loved how intimate Tamu Tamu was. Our cocktail hour is 6:30-7:30 and then dinner. Since we are only having 35 people it's not a big traditional reception but more of a cool, intimate dinner...so we are only going until 10:30.

 

[mhl1414]

Wow! Thanks for all the information. Those pictures are breath taking! There are to many options and I want to do them all! Animal Kingdom looks wonderful and more like what I want. A evening casual wedding and reception, but breath taking. I want a small wedding of 30 to 40 people. I wonder how hard it would be to reach the $5,000 min. With drinks and cake it would probaly be pretty easy. I tried looking up pictures of the ceromony location, but I could not find any pictures. Your reception ios going to be awesome!

 

[MainStMandy]

Wow! Thanks for all the information. Those pictures are breath taking! There are to many options and I want to do them all! Animal Kingdom looks wonderful and more like what I want. A evening casual wedding and reception, but breath taking. I want a small wedding of 30 to 40 people. I wonder how hard it would be to reach the $5,000 min. With drinks and cake it would probaly be pretty easy. I tried looking up pictures of the ceromony location, but I could not find any pictures. Your reception ios going to be awesome!

The pictures I posted are for Tamu Tamu and the minimum is only $2500 It's easy...lol. I definitely hit it and we have 34 guests coming.

 

[Pirate's Princess]

Our plan like most other epcot brides is morning ceremony then brunch/ lunch reception at living seas until 2:30ish. Then dessert party that night and we are hoping to serve some savory snacks as well if it doesn't break the budget. I'd love to talk df into doing our mk shoot that morning but he refuses to see me before the ceremony so it will be 2 days after.

Can't really talk about costs since we haven't done our planning session yet but we have a $15000 minimum and we are trying to stay around there.