Whitehall Room - questions and opinions needed!

[DVC Bride 2011]

Hi girls,

I am having a dilemma with the timing of my ceremony/reception/DP. We will be able to book our ceremony in May and I want to make sure I pick the right time (going between 12 and 2:30). We want our ceremony at the WP, reception at the Whitehall Room, and DP at Sago Cay.

I was originally thinking that the 12pm ceremony would be good because the minimums are cheaper - but that will leave a gap between the reception and the DP. Many of my guests will be staying off property - my aunt and uncle are renting a townhouse in Orlando and some of my guests will be staying with them, and other guests are staying at an off property hotel because they have rewards points. So - I am worrying about people leaving the GF to go back to their hotels and then having trouble getting back there for the DP. My consultant told me Wishes could be at 8 or 9. So, if we have ceremony from 12-1, cocktail hour 1:30-2:30, reception 2:30-6:30, that leaves about an hour and a half to two and a half hours of a break. If we did the 2:30 ceremony there wouldn't be as much of a break, but it would cost us more money since the min would be 12K and the F&B mins are $125pp.

What would your suggestions be? If you had the gap between reception and DP, what did your guests do? Was it a problem for them to get back to the DP? Did the appreciate the down time or was it an inconvenience?

One other question - how many people did you fit in the Whitehall room? We want a DJ but we want him to be inside in case it rains. We have about 50 people on our list - I would guess 5-10 won't come but what if they all do? Will I be able to have a DJ inside? What are the table sizes? If I do have 50 people, I'd need 5 tables of 10 or 6 tables of 8 and a sweetheart table. Any suggestions/ideas? Can you plan for the DJ outside and move him inside if it rains?

Thanks for any help/suggestions! I know the people at DFTW are very busy right now so I don't want to bombard our consultant with a million questions.

 

[lurkyloo]

There's a bit of discussion about having a gap in the day over on this thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2446509


I'm usually a big proponent of taking a break - even if you have guests staying off-site, which we did - but when we did it, the break was about 6 hours.

Some of our guests went back to their rooms/off-site condo, where they swam or napped, and some stayed and played in the parks.

So I might suggest that you consider moving your ceremony even earlier - you'll have the cheaper minimums but the break will be long enough to make a trip home worthwhile for those who are staying off-site. You might also consider cutting an hour from your reception, since many guests tend to drop out during the last hour anyway. That would give them a longer break and save you some more money!

 

[Stephie77]

I originally had 50 people but ended up with 40 at the end. I has 5 rounds of 10, the sweetheart table was set up in the back of the room to the left with the cake table behind the sweet heart table, DJ was basically in front of the birds(which I had covered) and dance floor with plenty of room. So if you needed to move the DJ inside it is totally doable. I will post pics in my PJ as soon as I get my high res disc and you can take a look.

As to the DP, I had mine in Epcot but I will tell you my opinion. I had a 12 pm ceremony with cocktail and reception immediately following. My wedding ended at 5:30 and everyone went back to their hotel (everyone was staying onsite though) and we were late for our DP. I thought people would have time to change and get there by 7:30 but that did not happen. People were suppose to meet in front of Epcot by 7:30 and most people did not get there until 8. I also had a lot of people without tickets so they had to be escorted in. Then we had to walk all the way to America and we happened to have the SLOWEST women directing us(that is a whole other story). I assume your family and friends are all driving from their condos/hotels? If so you should be fine especially since it is at Sago Cay and you don't have to worry about being escorted in like you do at Epcot. My guests relied on Disney transportation (everyone was at the Cornado Springs and had to take the buses) so I think that attributed to people being late. My advice to you is to have the 12pm ceremony (especially if you are looking to save money) and maybe end it an hour early like Lurkyloo suggested. If your guest have cars and being that the DP is at the GF your guests should have more then enough time to leave, change (if they want) and get back. Or people can always hang out at the bar in the GF if they want or even take the monorail to MK for a couple hours. I know my guests enjoyed the downtime and time to change espcially since it was so cold on my wedding day and everyone was able to change into warmer clothes.

Hope this helps!

 

[BecBennett]

You could also consider extending your reception

 

[DisneyDJChuck]

I would plan to have the DJ inside. I have done receptions outside at Whitehall, even when it rains. The DJ is set-up in a covered area outside of the room, but under cover on the Patio. The problem is, if it does rain, the DJ is stuck there... you cannot do a break-down to move inside.

And yes, while there is a dancing area (also under cover) on the Whitehall Patio, if it rains or is miserable, most of your guests will come in anyway... leaving the DJ outside (it's lonely out there!)

To see various set-ups of the room and patio with pictures and video, click here:

http://classicdiscjockeys.com/blog/?p=452
http://classicdiscjockeys.com/blog/?p=377
http://classicdiscjockeys.com/blog/?p=331
http://classicdiscjockeys.com/blog/?p=154

Hope this helps!