What to do between your reception & dessert party?

[*DisneyBride*]

Hi everyone

We planning on having a morning ceremony in the Italian Courtyard, lunch and reception in the Living Seas and dessert party for Illuminations. my question is, what do your guests do between the reception and dessert party? Do they go back to their resorts and relax or does the reception go right into the night? I really don't know!

Silvia

 

[stkim3011]

I'd like to hear others input on this also. We have a similar schedule with an intimate wedding at 10 in the morning at the wedding pavilion and then an illuminations dessert party that night. We were planning on letting our guests do what they want for the day and meet up at Epcot that night.

 

[happylalagirl]

Hi guys!! I just brought my wedding dress home today so I'm a very happy bride to be... I have another 418 days till my wedding, but hey, who's counting... our wedding is going to be at 10 a.m. and then a lunch reception... we figured our guests would go back to their resorts and maybe have the kids take a nap and then we'll send the bus for them around 7:30 p.m. to bring them to Illuminations. This way they can change into comfortable clothing as well... I on the other hand, will still be in a white dress... just a different one... But my tiara will still be on my head. I think by the end of the reception, I'll need a nap too...

 

[stkim3011]

Happylalagirl - Where are you going to have your lunch reception? There didn't seem to be a lot of options for lunch available outside of the theme parks. It seemed like the only options were a couple of restaurants in Downtown Disney (like Fulton's). We didn't want to have it inside of a park because it would require our guests to get theme park tickets.

 

[happylalagirl]

We are hopefully going to have our reception at the Atlantic Dance Hall. The min is much lower for a lunch reception if you are out before 5 p.m. So we plan on being out by 4 p.m. to keep it safe. I love the dance floor in the ADH and since I first saw it, that's where I've wanted to have our reception... but it's so close to Epcot, the travel time between getting married in France or Italy won't be long to get to the reception at ADH...

What places were you considering?

 

[JonetteA]

sktim3011, if you have your reception inside the park, your guests will not need theme park tickets. You have to pay 90 an hr for a "guide" person and your guests will NOT be able to go into the park and ride the attractions, but they don't need tickets. You will have to arrange for private transportation through Disney.

We are having a morning wedding, and a brunch reception. Then everyone is doing their own thing until Illuminations. I personally am going to go back and take a nap with my hubbie. We are not renting transportation for Illuminations, everyone is going to meet at International Gateway and then we will go in from there. At least this is the present plan. I am going to wait and see what happens budget wise when I get the final count in to make my final decision.

 

[novemberbride]

Hello everyone I will be getting married in November and I am having an intimate ceremony at the yacht club, would anyone mind sharing what the desert party cost. I am looking for a reception site for about 10-15 people.

 

[*DisneyBride*]

Happylalagirl congrats! i can't believe you have your wedding dress already. My wedding is 391 days away and I haven't even looked yet! ADH is a great place to have a reception lunch.

I think I'll have my guest go back to their resorts and relax and then come back for the dessert party. I'll give them a choice of changing but the bridal party will still be dressed. I can't wait!!! It's so exciting to be sharing this stuff with other Disney Brides!!!

 

[WonderWomanDC]

Things to do in between the lunch and dessert
1. Take a victory lap on the monorail
2. Take a nap
3. Pick three of your favorite resorts and get your photographer to take pictures of you there.
4. Dinner or snack
5. Listen to the band at the GF

 

[Mary626]

Hello everyone I will be getting married in November and I am having an intimate ceremony at the yacht club, would anyone mind sharing what the desert party cost. I am looking for a reception site for about 10-15 people.

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

I believe the Illuminations dessert party has a minimum food expenditure of $750.00 (you must pay 750 no matter how many guests you have, on desserts etc.)... and a 12.50 per person fee for viewing illuminations.

I'm not sure if you need to pay for a Disney host for this location or not?

I'm sure someone who's actually done the illuminations dessert party can help you more with the other details!

 

[mufasa0505]

I believe the Illuminations dessert party has a minimum food expenditure of $750.00 (you must pay 750 no matter how many guests you have, on desserts etc.)... and a 12.50 per person fee for viewing illuminations

You have a $17.50 food/beverage min per person, but no overall minimum. However, the different locations have different guest minimums. I'm getting out of the 12.50 viewing fee because I told my guests that they need to use their park hopper to get in. You also have to pay for an event host, which I think is $90 up to a certain amount of guests.

The Fantasmic! dessert party does have a $750 minimum expenditure.

 

[Mary626]

You have a $17.50 food/beverage min per person, but no overall minimum. However, the different locations have different guest minimums. I'm getting out of the 12.50 viewing fee because I told my guests that they need to use their park hopper to get in. You also have to pay for an event host, which I think is $90 up to a certain amount of guests.

The Fantasmic! dessert party does have a $750 minimum expenditure.

Ahh thank you for clearing that up. I had read that the rates were similar on disney's website a while ago, and should have known that it was wrong (as quite a bit of the info on the site seems to be).

****Edit: the website also says it has a minimum of 100 people at the isola dessert party, does anyone know if this is correct or not? Thank you

 

[twojo21]

pass the time going to the dtd clubs, taking a nap, going to the parks (ticket required)

mary626 - the isola does have a minimum of 100 people, we wanted the isola too but only have 66. we ended up with the uk terrace for our illuminations dessert party.

novemberbride - you also might get stuck with a small party fee depending on the location.

also fyi intimate brides - only custom brides can wear there wedding dress to illuminations dessert parties.