Why did you choose an Escape Wedding?

[LovelyPrincess432]

If it is what you truly want in your heart then you are not missing out. You just have to figure out what is right for the 2 of you. We were going to have a Wishes but because we were paying for it on our own it was going to be too much so why go through all the stress, you know what I mean. Escape worked out better for us..I would have went with a wishes if we could just as long as it was a destination wedding in Disney and not home in crappy Jersey lol!

Ok for the guest list we just invited grandparents and immediate family to the wedding... everybody was invited to our ghetto fab reception UGH! It was fun but so not worth all the stress I went through and the money I wasted on a stupid party to make people happy.

Lynn,
I feel the same way about the party at home to make everyone else happy. That's what at home wedding's seem to be to me. You have a big huge party so everyone can drink and what not, but Idk if it's really me. As for my fiance, he just wants something special and small and for me to be happy. Which is very sweet of him. I don't know what to do about family though still. My mom was not thrilled by the idea, and I really want her to be there.

Oh and I saw some of your pictures, did you do any upgrades?

-Brit

I also see how the guest list can be a huge problem. My fiance is from a very large immediate family.

 

[Lynn5700]

Lynn,
I feel the same way about the party at home to make everyone else happy. That's what at home wedding's seem to be to me. You have a big huge party so everyone can drink and what not, but Idk if it's really me. As for my fiance, he just wants something special and small and for me to be happy. Which is very sweet of him. I don't know what to do about family though still. My mom was not thrilled by the idea, and I really want her to be there.

Oh and I saw some of your pictures, did you do any upgrades?

-Brit

I also see how the guest list can be a huge problem. My fiance is from a very large immediate family.

Aww I'm sure your mom will not miss it!! My dad was not thrilled at first but you know what he went and loved every second of it and had a great time.

I know what you mean about the party. Just have something informal, small and fun.

Did I have any wedding upgrades? The only thing I upgraded was in floral...bridal party floral and the rose petals down the aisle and on the cake table and sand ceremony table.

 

[tinks_1989]

Thank you for starting this thread we are having a escape wedding and have had the so and so wont be able to come


i only want the people that matter to me

i only want a home reception to show off all my pictures and prove to people disney isnt a joke its a beautiful location

 

[Lorelei528]

i only want a home reception to show off all my pictures and prove to people disney isnt a joke its a beautiful location

We're having an at home reception for a few reasons...I want to wear my dress again, we want to share the day with my friends and other relatives (like cousins) who aren't included for the intimate Escape wedding, we also are hoping to show some pics somehow or even our video to everyone so they can see what a lovely day we had (and yes, how a Disney wedding is beautiful and not just cartoony etc.), plus there's one other reason, but I'm taking the 5th on it...

 

[LovelyPrincess432]

Thank you for starting this thread we are having a escape wedding and have had the so and so wont be able to come


i only want the people that matter to me

i only want a home reception to show off all my pictures and prove to people disney isnt a joke its a beautiful location

You're welcome. I think we all have this problem in some way shape or form. The biggest thing is, that most of us grew up with this being on dream wedding, and other people dont get that. I'm also having problems with his side accepting this whole concept. It's like no matter what I cant win here. Keeping my fingers crossed regardless though.

I can't really imagine an at home reception that we could afford that I wouldn't be sitting there going this would have been so much better in Disney.

Thanks for everyone with their help and input on things. Hearing people's experiences definately gives me a good sense of how things may go!

 

[tinkerlisa]

Why did you choose to go with an Escape wedding?
What did you love or regret about this choice?
Basically, what was your experience? And how did you celebrate with everyone after the ceremony?

1) We ultimatly decided it would be cheaper. To date so far(wedding is in Sept) we figure around $7000 with the vacation included. If we did it up here, it would cost that and then some WITHOUT the vacation! I never wanted anything big and fancy and we are only having immediate family. If I did it up here, I would have ended up inviting my whole family which is huge! I can use the excuse of the guest limitations for my reason not to invite any one else

2) NO REGRETS WHEN IT COMES TO SAVING MONEY!! The one cool thing about Disney is if there is something I like that they offer Wishes brides, I can upgrade, like my bouquet for instance.

3) I was thinking about going to dinner maybe at Crystal Palace with everyone so we can see WISHES after, but I think the cake and champagne reception is enough. What I am going to do is go to dinner at a nice restaurant with new hubby I just hope someone will watch my kids

 

[weich1001]

1) We ultimatly decided it would be cheaper. To date so far(wedding is in Sept) we figure around $7000 with the vacation included. If we did it up here, it would cost that and then some WITHOUT the vacation! I never wanted anything big and fancy and we are only having immediate family. If I did it up here, I would have ended up inviting my whole family which is huge! I can use the excuse of the guest limitations for my reason not to invite any one else

2) NO REGRETS WHEN IT COMES TO SAVING MONEY!! The one cool thing about Disney is if there is something I like that they offer Wishes brides, I can upgrade, like my bouquet for instance.

3) I was thinking about going to dinner maybe at Crystal Palace with everyone so we can see WISHES after, but I think the cake and champagne reception is enough. What I am going to do is go to dinner at a nice restaurant with new hubby I just hope someone will watch my kids

If no one wants to watch your kids, you could hire "Kids Nite Out". We used them in September-they are WONDERFUL! They reviewed everything with us on the phone when we made our reservation and then again when they arrived. They played games with the kids, took them to Olivia's at OKW for Dinner, made sure they got their bath's and that they were in bed at a reasonable hour. Their fee's are very reasonable! These two kids aren't used to having a babysitter, whom they don't know-but the sitter warmed them right up and they've even ask when we go back in April if they can get the same person again!

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

ALL I CAN SAY IS THANK YOU!
This thread made me realize a couple of things.
1. those who are important should be there
2. if people can't understand that that's their issue not mine.
3. I'm cool with the no home reception thing. We'll do an open house when we buy a house anyway.


So, here's my question...How do I get my mother to BACK OFF! Her standard line is "You shouldn't have to miss out on the gifts!" Um...Did she regress to say 8 years old??? She is very quick to stack the guest list with family-but forgets DF has family too...I don't want to say my vows in front of a gazzillion people...Honestly, if I could get away with it just being me and DF I'd be good with that.

Thank you for making it clear in my mind what I want...an escape is perfect.

 

[LovelyPrincess432]

ALL I CAN SAY IS THANK YOU!
This thread made me realize a couple of things.
1. those who are important should be there
2. if people can't understand that that's their issue not mine.
3. I'm cool with the no home reception thing. We'll do an open house when we buy a house anyway.


So, here's my question...How do I get my mother to BACK OFF! Her standard line is "You shouldn't have to miss out on the gifts!" Um...Did she regress to say 8 years old??? She is very quick to stack the guest list with family-but forgets DF has family too...I don't want to say my vows in front of a gazzillion people...Honestly, if I could get away with it just being me and DF I'd be good with that.

Thank you for making it clear in my mind what I want...an escape is perfect.

Haha. I have no idea, sorry I don't mean to laugh, but I've heard the very same statement. Everyone is going to take it their own way, and you just have to address whats most important to you.

 

[polynesianbride]

Why did you choose to go with an Escape wedding?
We chose to go with an Escape for ALOT of reasons. We didn't want a traditional at home wedding (I was married once before and I already did that... not to mention ALL of our friends have already done that- DF and I are both extremely bored with traditional weddings). So we decided on Disney and decided we just wanted it to be casual and fun. We wanted to get married with a castle view (but right in front of the castle is out of the budget). The WP is too formal for us so that left sunset pointe which is an Escape spot... so Escape it is. That also determined our guest list as 8 is the MAX. We wanted small and intimate but this has been tough. It will be just my parents, his parents, my brother, his brother, and his 2 grandma's (all other grandparents are deceased). There will be other people celebrating with us at Disney- our brothers will each have dates, and DF's aunt uncle and 2 cousins- then maybe my one aunt and uncle from Tampa. We have others that want to come but you know how it is... if this person comes then you have to invite that person...blah blah blah. Plus these extras won't even be at the ceremony so I think it is kind of rude but they knew this was the case from the beginning and are insistent they still want to come so whatever. Anyways for awhile because of all the guest list drama we talked about upgrading to Wishes but in the end decided not to for the following reasons:
- if you have a weekday during a slow season the minimum is not THAT bad but the FOOD MINIMUMS are RIDICULOUS IMO. I think it's going to $75 for breakfast, $100 for lunch, $125 for dinner. I mean $75 worth of bacon eggs and mickey waffles... (Don't get me wrong I love Mickey waffles)
-we didn't like any of the ceremony sites for Wishes... we really wanted to keep our casual tropical theme and want to see the castle. We thought about the beach by the WP but you can't see the castle from there
-We decided we would rather use the extra money to put a down payment on a house
So we decided we will have an at home reception to celebrate with all our friends who aren't at Disney with us- this is probably going to be a casual pig roast.

What did you love or regret about this choice?
I love the idea of a casual relaxed wedding that I will actually have FUN at! We will keep the elements we like about weddings but get rid of everything that we don't think is important to us. I'm excited that it will be very small and intimate and that our special moment will only be shared with those MOST important to us.
I haven't had my wedding yet but the only thing I may regret is not having my friends there... but I think the pig roast will make me feel better about this. Some of our friends said they would rather do this than go to Disney for the wedding (of course others are still saying they want to "crash" the wedding)

Basically, what was your experience? And how did you celebrate with everyone after the ceremony?
Like I said I haven't had my wedding yet so all I can share are my plans and expectations. After the ceremony we plan to do the cake cutting- I will eat the cake at this time too bc I love cake. We then will box up the extra cake for the guests. We plan to have Mickey and Minnie and do all the first dance stuff and then get tons of pics. Then we'll have dinner at OHana and hopefully a Wishes cruise on the Grand 1 Then when we get home we will have a giant party with all our friends so everyone can see the pics and DVD and just have more FUN! Keep in mind we plan for this to resemble more of a party than a reception... no ballrooms. We will either wait a few months for the weather to better (maybe our 6 month anniversary) and have an outside pig roast- or we will have more of a cocktail party at an upscale casino near where we live.

As for upgrades...
I plan to change the color of the flowers in my bouquet... don't know if this will be a charge
NO extras bouts or corsages but do plan to fly in fresh leis from hawaii
Mickey and Minnie
MK Photoshoot
Would like to upgrade cake but will have to eval cost
Maybe some extra flower petals

That's about it! Hope that helps. This thread was a great idea . I love seeing what other escape brides experiences have been like!

 

[tinkerlisa]

If no one wants to watch your kids, you could hire "Kids Nite Out". We used them in September-they are WONDERFUL! They reviewed everything with us on the phone when we made our reservation and then again when they arrived. They played games with the kids, took them to Olivia's at OKW for Dinner, made sure they got their bath's and that they were in bed at a reasonable hour. Their fee's are very reasonable! These two kids aren't used to having a babysitter, whom they don't know-but the sitter warmed them right up and they've even ask when we go back in April if they can get the same person again!

Yeah I figured I would try them if my family didnt want to watch them.

 

[tinkerlisa]

ALL I CAN SAY IS THANK YOU!
This thread made me realize a couple of things.
1. those who are important should be there
2. if people can't understand that that's their issue not mine.
3. I'm cool with the no home reception thing. We'll do an open house when we buy a house anyway.


So, here's my question...How do I get my mother to BACK OFF! Her standard line is "You shouldn't have to miss out on the gifts!" Um...Did she regress to say 8 years old??? She is very quick to stack the guest list with family-but forgets DF has family too...I don't want to say my vows in front of a gazzillion people...Honestly, if I could get away with it just being me and DF I'd be good with that.

Thank you for making it clear in my mind what I want...an escape is perfect.

To get her to back off...hmm... That is hard because each situation is different. Customarily, the brides family pays for the wedding(not so much the case anymore though). DF and I are paying for the wedding ourselves. How i got my mom to back off is by this: "Are you going to help me pay for my wedding(my mom can barely support herself and my sister) because I sure as hell can't pay for a wedding up here with the whole family!" She backed off on that and moved to other tactics like "Lisa, Aunt Jean was already planning a trip to Disney for that same week(YEAH RIGHT) and would like to come to your wedding." I felt bad okaying it for my favorite aunt so now I guess Aunt Jean is coming to! But it makes up for the people on my fiance's side that won't be there i guess. I only invited my favorite aunt because my mom's boyfriend isn't coming and I didn't want my mom to feel all alone.
It is hard getting her to back off. She gets trickier each time we talk about the wedding. The last time I was with her, we went shopping and she asked if she could dress in all black like Morticia Addams!

My mom said we should have a wedding up here so we can do a registry. I have been with Stan for almost 8 YEARS!!! We own a house together. I need nothing! Besides I am not materialistic! She was like but you'll get MONEY!! I said "well I signed up for the Disney Honeymoon Registry, let my guests buy breakfast at Chef Mickey's for my kids!"

 

[NikkiPants]

We are having an Escape wedding because we wanted a small ceremony and would rather it be a private thing instead of a gazillion people there. We are planning on having a reception of sorts when we are home, but I kind of feel like we are doing it to please people. Because believe me when I say that I have a large family and mostly all of them were angry they can not attend our ceremony.
My finacee's family is giving us problems about travelling to Florida. [They are jerks, in general.] We told them they shouldn't come if they don't want to because we don't need the stress.
So really, I say be true to what YOU TWO want. It's your day and you should have it exactly how you want it!

 

[Wish on a Star]

I think that my favorite thing about the Escape Wedding that I am planning is that it is stress free. Knowing that this might be the only vacation we are having for a while- I wanted to make sure it was fun and RELAXING. The choices with and Escape allow me to make it unique to me and yet somehow I feel like the choices are not overwhelming. I kinda feel like everything is going to be taken care of when I get down to Florida and I am hoping to feel like a guest at my own wedding- just show up for the fun!!!

 

[D&R love Disney]

Why did you choose to go with an Escape wedding?

I wanted a destination wedding at it was between Las Vegas and Disney, Disney won out. We had 9 guests and it was wonderful and then had a big party for 100 6 weeks later at home.

What did you love or regret about this choice?

Loved being able to get married in Disney, loved SBP, and loved having a MK photo session.

Basically, what was your experience? And how did you celebrate with everyone after the ceremony?

Wonderful experience, Disney was great to work with. We upgraded flowers and added the chocolate castle topper to our cake.
The night before the wedding we did a Wishes cruise for us and our guests.
After our 3:00 pm ceremony we had dinner for 11 at Yachtsman Steakhouse. The restaurant did a wonderful job and the food was fantastic.
After dinner we all went back to our suite for a short time to say good night to our guests.

The next morning we had our MK photo shoot and were also chosen to be the Grand Marshalls in the parade!

 

[tinks_1989]

We did an Escape Collection (then called "Intimate") vow renewal in January 2007 and frankly found the experience somewhat disappointing. The Disney Weddings people were pleasant but impersonal. There was an element of being "treated like a princess," but it seemed very pre-fabricated and standardized.

this was my main concern of doing a escape wedding

i didnt care if it were just me and dave at our wedding

that quote is from mouse wedding.com and i find it quiet upsetting that a well
known website quiet alot of people use to help plan their disney wedding says that

 

[disneypolybride2008]

we picked it because i dreamed of getting married in Disney World. At first on the webiste i only saw Wishes for some reason and was bummed at the 10K minimum expenditure. After thinking i'd have to settle for an at home wedding -with no where around here that i would even want to get married at. Then i searched some more and found Escape weddings... WOW! The price was right and so was the location, Sunset Point. My DH proposed to me at the Poly on my bday in 2007 and we booked our wedding in Disney two months later for NYE 2008. It was a bit of a decision to pick Sunset Point b/c of only getting to have 8 guests. We ended up goign with what we wanted and it worked out fine. We only had 4 guests come anyway. the wedding was so magical and breathtaking! thanks to Stan and Randy we now have gorgeous photos and videos of our special day. Nothign would've came close at home here! Disney is so special to us and to have a weddign there was a perfect fit!! My only regret was that my mom and grandma didnt get to go but they would'nt have been able to come out here where i live either. They were so happy for us and watched ourweddign on a live webcast! I couldnt imagine a weddign anywhere but there! We had rev. Kevin Knox and he was fabulous. Seeign the castle in the background of our photos was a dream come true!

we met our guests for lunch in germany at epcot. it was a bit loud for my grandpa but the rest of us enjoyed it. the cost was great for us too.

it was also nice to have a built in honeymoon, no plane ride after the wedding... just going to play at disney world some more... it was great!

we also splurged and stayed at the Poly and the monorail, lounging on the beach, playing in the pool and seeing the castle, the water parade, fireworks and all that great food made us so happy to have had a Disney Wedding.

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

To get her to back off...hmm... That is hard because each situation is different. Customarily, the brides family pays for the wedding(not so much the case anymore though). DF and I are paying for the wedding ourselves. How i got my mom to back off is by this: "Are you going to help me pay for my wedding(my mom can barely support herself and my sister) because I sure as hell can't pay for a wedding up here with the whole family!" She backed off on that and moved to other tactics like "Lisa, Aunt Jean was already planning a trip to Disney for that same week(YEAH RIGHT) and would like to come to your wedding." I felt bad okaying it for my favorite aunt so now I guess Aunt Jean is coming to! But it makes up for the people on my fiance's side that won't be there i guess. I only invited my favorite aunt because my mom's boyfriend isn't coming and I didn't want my mom to feel all alone.
It is hard getting her to back off. She gets trickier each time we talk about the wedding. The last time I was with her, we went shopping and she asked if she could dress in all black like Morticia Addams!

My mom said we should have a wedding up here so we can do a registry. I have been with Stan for almost 8 YEARS!!! We own a house together. I need nothing! Besides I am not materialistic! She was like but you'll get MONEY!! I said "well I signed up for the Disney Honeymoon Registry, let my guests buy breakfast at Chef Mickey's for my kids!"

My mom tries...but oh well. I just wish she wouldn't be so worried about gifts. DF and I have lived together for 8 years...we don't need anything. I think she thinks she has to get back all the money she spent on wedding gifts for people over the years...HER ideal guest list gets out of control!

 

[disneypolybride2008]

My mom tries...but oh well. I just wish she wouldn't be so worried about gifts. DF and I have lived together for 8 years...we don't need anything. I think she thinks she has to get back all the money she spent on wedding gifts for people over the years...HER ideal guest list gets out of control!

That's the same similar situation we were in, we were together for 9 years and owned a house together and didnt need anything. We too were paying for the whole wedding ourselves. As it is we have yet to hear a congratulations from his side of the family and have yet to see a card or gift. tomorrow we're having our wedding party at home for our NYE wedding now that our photos and video have just arrived.

I am SO glad we went with our Disney Wedding, after all it's for the two of you, so do what makes YOU both happy.

 

[jodeeluvsdisney]

Another Escape bride who was extremely happy with her wedding!

It was perfect and magical and stress-free, and best of all affordable considering we paid for the entire thing ourselves. Our upgrades were minimal- rose wand for MOH, flower purses for the moms, corsages for the dads and a corsage for BM. We had the standard cake, no extra drinks, no lavish transportation other than the included limo. We did use outside photography and videography. And of course the MK photo shoot!

We had a luncheon at the Swan and Dolphin and then we did a Grand 1 Wishes cruise later that night after the ceremony and it was perfect since it gave everyone time to change into comfy clothes and nap beforehand!!

I loved the opportunity for the MK photo shoot and just a different wedding all around from what we were used to attending.

I wouldn't change a thing. It allowed us to have a relaxing wonderful time with our immediate families and friends!!

We had a large, very casual at-home reception at our house following the wedding, and we received a ton of gifts even though we had only a couple of tiny registries (both older, lived in our own homes for a long time before marrying- didn't need much!)