Where did you stay before wedding night?

[DisneyDeeFL]

I'm trying to figure out where to stay for the few nights before the wedding...DF and I don't want to stay together til the wedding night, but we'll be at Disney for a few days before the ceremony. Did most of you stay with parents, friends, etc. in other rooms and then transfer your stuff to your new room before the ceremony? I kind of want to be surprised and see the room for the first time when we return from the reception as Mr. and Mrs. I don't want to be lugging giant suitcases around in a wedding dress!

 

[JJClemson]

I am going down to WDW a few days before my wedding. My mom and I will be there before anyone else, and we will stay at POR for 2 nights. Then we'll transfer to a 2 bedroom BCV to stay w/ my dad, brother, and 3 of my bridesmaids for 3 nights. DF will be staying at the BC w/ 3 of his groomsmen. Our ceremony is at 10 am, so we probably wouldn't have time to check-in to the GF until after the ceremony anyway. I'd rather go back up to the BCV and change out of my wedding dress (so my parents can take it home with them) before heading over to the GF. Then they will take Jeff and I over to the GF and we can live happily ever after in that lovely hotel... well, for 5 nights anyway

 

[Janet2k]

DisneyDeeFL, since I don’t know what kind of resort-hopping you might be considering, I thought I would pass along a few words of wisdom.

If you are thinking of upgrading yourself to a nice resort for only the night of your wedding, please consider keeping your other resort room for that night, too. It will make your life less stressful. Believe me, you don’t want to worry about checking out of your wedding night resort when 11 AM rolls around the next morning. And you certainly don’t want to worry about packing up your luggage and transferring it to another resort. That would be a little too much stress and could possibly taint your feelings about your fairy tale event.

That is why I mentioned keeping your regular room. In that room you would keep all yours and your fiancés’ vacation stuff. That stuff will stay put. For the day of your wedding, you would transfer over your wedding gown, lingerie, makeup, shoes, purse, and anything else that is needed to prepare for your event. You would also transfer over a small suitcase that contained yours & your fiancés’ PJs, robes, slippers, toiletries, and clothing for the day after your event. This limited amount of luggage will make transferring back to your regular resort room a breeze.

This is what I did for my vow renewal:

* 1-1/2 weeks prior to event – resort-hopped all over the place (lots of Disney resorts since I like to sleep around)
* 1 day prior to event – Grand Floridian
* Day of event – Grand Floridian
* 1 day after event – Grand Floridian
* 2 days after event – resort-hopped over to the BWV where my family stayed for several more days

On the night of my event, we didn’t get back to the Grand Floridian until after 3 AM. Believe me, I was thankful beyond words that I had booked an extra night at the Grand Floridian. There was no way my family would have been up and packed in order to meet the 11 AM check-out time.

My advice to any FTW bride/groom is to consider booking yourself into a resort for at least two nights – the night of your event and the following night. If you can swing it, book one more night – the night prior to your event. That will allow you more time to relax and enjoy yourself as you move into the next phase of your life – the happily-ever-after phase (a.k.a., married life).

My post might not have exactly answered your question, but hopefully it at least shed some light on something that you probably haven’t given much thought yet. Lots of FTW couples plan on spending their wedding night in a different resort than where they’ll spend the bulk of their vacation. They need to consider how doing this will impact their vacation/honeymoon experience.

Now, if you're not considering moving to a different resort for only the night of your wedding, then please ignore everything that I've said above.

 

[Laurafoster]

We kept the same room throughout our vacation and used our free room night at the end of the vacation. I stayed in our hotel room that night and DH went to a villa his family were sharing.

 

[ahutton]

DH and his best man were in one room at POR, and I was in the room next door (did have doors between them) with my best friend. After the rehersal we closed the doors between us. DH and I moved to GF for the wedding night and next night. I packed my stuff up the morning of the wedding and after my shower stacked it into the rental car with DHs bags (best man delivered them to the car). I drove to the GF and dropped off the luggage, then went to the WP to get ready.

I second someones opinion that if you are going to a Wedding Night room and then coming back to the hotel you were in before to just keep the room and take a small bag with you. Much easier and well worth the extra money to save the hassle and trying to move luggage around.

 

[princessdisneybelle]

My bridesmaids and myself are all staying in a room the night before. Our honeymoon resort is a surprise. So his parents are moving our luggage to that resort. Sounds like a fun adventure to me.

 

[JonetteA]

I did the great room/ resort musical chairs. Lucily I took taxi's to transport my luggage, and finally had Disney transfer it the last time. The arrival night was at Port Orleans with my Grandmother, the next night (night before the wedding) was the Garden Suite at the Boardwalk with my friend Lisa, and then finally after we were married we went to the Poly for 2 nights before the cruise. We were going to have to switch rooms after one night, but a miracle happened and we didn't have to! Thank you Poly!

 

[smoof]

Mom didn't say it until later, but it meant a lot to her that I stayed with them the few days before the wedding. The night before the wedding, we came back from PI, I had a large glass of water, so I wouldn't be hung over, and stayed with them. When dad got up at the crack of dawn, I did go over to DH's room.

 

[Meyer1110]

I stayed with my family at one of the Boardwalk Villas and DH stayed at Saratogo Springs w/ his family. We had an early reception, so we checked into our room at the BW after the reception was over. Even though we had to drag our bags with us, it worked out well because we were shockingly and surprisingly upgraded

 

[JandJ]

I went and stayed at my daddy's house 4 days before the wedding. Daddy, my niece (my MOH), and I caravanned down the day before (it was pretty funny - the only things that fit in my car were me and my gown, so daddy, MOH and all of our luggage were in his car). MOH and I stayed in the "honeymoon room" the night before and because DH's best man got sick and couldn't come, DH ended up staying in my daddy's room with him Good thing they get along! He didn't want to stay with his parents and since everyone was from Florida, our other guests didn't arrive until the wedding day, so he had few options. Otherwise, DH would have stayed with his best man at POFQ the night before. I'm old fashioned in some ways and I didn't want us to even see each other on our wedding day before I walked down the aisle, or in our case, out onto the balcony.