Wishes vs Escape - Advice Needed

[jshora]

I'm hoping this topic hasn't been beaten to death already, so feel free to redirect me to any prior postings.

My fiancée and I have decided on a small Disney wedding. Right now we are at 24 guests, but we could definitely go down 20 guests. We're having a reception back in our home state of Minnesota, so we really want to keep costs down for our Disney wedding.

We know we want to get married in October of 2011, during the food and wine festival. We know we want to get married at the Wedding Pavilion. We know we want a videographer and the additional photoshoot at the magic kingdom and Epcot. We know we want to do either a dinner or a desert party for Illuminations.

We want a dinner after the wedding, but we don't really care where it is. If we do a dinner off-site or at another Disney location we would still do a desert party at Epcot. Otherwise, we would just do a dinner party at Epcot for Illuminations. We're happy either way, but not sure which one would be most cost effective.

Any insight people have on Wishes vs Escape would be greatly appreciated!!! We're going crazy because it seems to be close in price between Wishes and Escape for a 20 person wedding with the additions that we want. Any advice on how to save money would be greatly appreciated as well!!!

Thanks!!!!

 

[lurkyloo]

Hi!

I'm hoping this topic hasn't been beaten to death already, so feel free to redirect me to any prior postings.

Hmmm... this topic is a fairly popular one, but I can only find these posts at the moment...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2303771

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2429437

We know we want to get married in October of 2011, during the food and wine festival. We know we want to get married at the Wedding Pavilion. We know we want a videographer and the additional photoshoot at the magic kingdom and Epcot. We know we want to do either a dinner or a desert party for Illuminations.

While you can certainly add all those things to an Escape wedding, if you're going to get them all through Disney, you may as well go with Wishes and then work on keeping your costs close to the minimum. You may find the increased level of service and flexibility provided with Wishes to be worth the scarier-sounding price tag!

Otherwise, we would just do a dinner party at Epcot for Illuminations. We're happy either way, but not sure which one would be most cost effective.

The food and beverage minimums are much higher for dinner with IllumiNations than dessert. Then again, if you were at a lower-priced venue, like UK Lochside ($1,500 minimum for dinner vs. $440 for dessert), you would be meeting the same minimums required for places like Citricos or Narcoossee's for a brunch or lunch buffet. If you're intending to have a dessert party anyway, you're already going to be paying for any viewing fees or transportation required, so why not have the whole meal there?

 

[jshora]

Thank you so much for your input!

The more and more I think about it, the more I lean towards Wishes. I know I could save money doing a nice reception dinner off-site, but then I started to think about all the stress that would go along with that. I would have to coordinate all the people and arrange for transportation (since most of us are flying in from Minnesota and using Disney's Magical Expresss). Now, granted, I would have friends and family to help me with all the coordination efforts, but I really want them to enjoy the wedding as well and not have to worry about anything. So, I think it's worth the extra money to not have the stress.

Thanks again!

 

[Racey]

Im having everything your having and i'll still do an escape (i'll be hiring a motorcoach to ferry everyone all at the same time ... including me and the new hubby) - although I havent priced everything yet and it may add up to what a wishes minumum is?

Im wondering how far a WP will go to help with a meal in a resturant onsite (ie say fultons in downtown disney)? Will they just leave me to organise EVERYTHING for that part or will they help in some small way?

 

[daisygirl902]

I started with Escape and then changed to Wishes due to the add ons I was having (MK shoot, Mickey and Minnie, additional Floral, etc) - I was easily over the minimum for Wishes.

I ended getting everything I had originally wanted PLUS brunch for around the same cost. The addition of the planning session was great as well.

You can check out my BEO for estimate of cost for what I am having in my PJ linked below.

 

[geek+nerd]

I'm doing an Escape wedding with 23 guests and having dinner at Cantina Laredo, a gourmet Mexican restaurant, off site. DF and I had our first date at a Mexican restaurant, and we really wanted to do that for our wedding.

Don't forget that you have the limo for four consecutive hours, and it will make multiple trips; you could feasibly transport your guests to an off site restaurant. Of course, you'd have to worry about transportation back, but I'm sure the restaurant could help you get taxis for your guests that you could pay for.

Also, if you were thinking of doing something at DTD, don't the Disney buses go there? You could have the limo get you all there, and then have your guests take buses back.

I'm pretty sure your wedding consultant/coordinator won't help too much with coordinating something not on Disney property, but you can always ask! We are from PA and were in Orlando a few weeks ago for vacation and ate at a few restaurants we were thinking of; I posted a request for recommendations of nice Mexican restaurants in Orlando on TheKnot.com Central Florida message board and got some recommendations.

Good luck making your choice!

 

[weedee]

I had an Escape wedding with 19 total guests and got married at the WP. I enjoyed the simplicity of the Escape package and it helped keep our costs well below the Wishes wedding minimum. We didn't have a DP though because we tried to keep the cost down, but we were able to afford an outside photographer. I'm not sure what your budget is, but I think the Escape package is great if you are wanting to keep it under $10,000.

 

[jshora]

Oy... I didn't know this would be so stressful!

So, now I'm thinking an Escape Wedding, dinner reservation for 24 people at Italy for dinner, and an Illuminations DP.

We're planning on doing the MK + 1 location photo add for $1300.

We want a videographer, and if we can have an outside vendor at the WP then we will go that way. We're not set on having a Disney videographer.

Then we were thinking of giving guests giftcards. Being that we are specifically having our wedding during the food and wine festival, we thought instead of appetizer hour(and to give people things to do between the wedding and dinner) they could use the gift card around the World Showcase.

I think that's going to be a pretty price efficient way to include everything that we want to have at a minimum price. Suggestions and thoughts greatly appreciated!!!

 

[lurkyloo]

As a wedding guest, I would *love* to get a gift card in lieu of a boring cocktail hour! The only worry I'd have as the bride is that people would be using it to fill up at the F&W food booths right before coming to dinner!

Another thing to consider is that you may have to work directly with the restaurant in Italy to accommodate your party if your Escape planner won't do it, and they usually only let large groups make reservations for the first or last seating (like 5:30pm or 9pm). They also can't guarantee that they'll be able to seat large parties together. It would be worth calling the Group Dining # at Disney to find out more about your options: 407-939-7700.

I am totally not trying to steer you toward Wishes just because we upgraded to Wishes from Escape. I just found that, for us, switching seemed to open up a whole world of choices and services and eliminated a lot of finagling and planning I would have had to do on my own to get what we wanted.

 

[jshora]

So, like most people in the early processes of planning their Disney Wedding, we've changed our minds once again.

We found out that they no long allow for more than 18 guests + bride and groom (for a total of 20 all together). You can not pay extra or anything, it's a hard limit now. However, that doesn't matter much anymore as we have our guest list down to meet the 20 people.

Even though we only have a total of 20 people, we've decided to do a morning Wishes package. We're going to have an early wedding (as late as possible in the morning but still early enough to be considered part of the early 10,000 minimum and $75pp f&b limit). Then we are doing a brunch reception. Then the gift cards and following it up with an Illuminations Dessert Party.

My fiancée loves this idea because he said he didn't want to have to wait until 5pm to marry me (as per our previous plan). This way we can be married and celebrate the entire day together and with our guests.

This may be posted somewhere, but I'd just thought I'd through it out there anyway. Can our guests take pictures at the Illuminations Dessert Party? We have a friend that is a professional photographer who would love to help us save money by taking some candid shots (nothing that would outwardly look like a professional photo shoot) during the party. Anyone know if this is "allowed"?

 

[TreasureYourDreams]

We were debating between the two as well, but ultimately decided to go with Escape.

Right now we're thinking 18 guests, but I do plan on talking with my WP about paying the extra $500 to add 5 more people to the list.

We're getting married on January 24th at the WP, then will be having a DP that night at Sago Cay Pointe to watch Wishes.

The ceremony will be at 5, and we will have about an hour between the end of the cake/champagne celebration and the start of the DP -- we have a lot of kids in our group (I'm 13 years old than my brother and sister, and the two couple friends we invited both have small children) so didn't want to do a formal sit-down meal.

We're going to reserve some tables in one of the lounge areas of one of the GF bars (Citrico's or Mizner's) and just have some heavy appetizers before the DP.

We've also hired an outside photographer (Misty Miotto) and are going to ask about using our photo credit to go towards either a MK photo shoot or a honeymoon shoot (I read somewhere that you can do that...) -- so that's just something for you to think about too, if you've considered using an outside photographer.

That's why we decided to have the DP at SCP instead of Epcot, so that the photographer can stay and get fireworks pictures

Since we aren't having a formal dinner the night of the wedding, we are taking the whole group to the Hoop De Doo Revue ( I would like to use the kids as an excuse on this one... but truth be told it's one of my Mom's and my favorite Disney activities) the night before the wedding.

The Wishes minimum would be pretty easy to hit, that's for sure... but what ultimately made us decide was running the numbers and realiizing we will be able to do the WHOLE wedding (plane tickets, dress, outside photographer, etc) for around $13,500... which we definitely couldn't have done if $12,000 had to be spent with Disney.

But who knows... I'm still 6 months out -- I may change my mind and upgrade LOL

That's one thing I've realized in the last 2 months... I've changed my mind, A LOT!

 

[kcampbell]

This may be posted somewhere, but I'd just thought I'd through it out there anyway. Can our guests take pictures at the Illuminations Dessert Party? We have a friend that is a professional photographer who would love to help us save money by taking some candid shots (nothing that would outwardly look like a professional photo shoot) during the party. Anyone know if this is "allowed"?

Yes, your guests can take pictures, but outside professional photography is not allowed at in-park events so you would have to use Disney Photo Services (DPS). That's wonderful that your friend wants to help you out and save you some money, but honestly I wouldn't risk it. He/She can still takes pics, but I would have DPS there as well just to be sure all your bases are covered and there are no issues. It's not worth it to "bend" any rules and get into any trouble in my opinion. Congrats and good luck in all your planning!

 

[geek+nerd]

So, like most people in the early processes of planning their Disney Wedding, we've changed our minds once again.

We found out that they no long allow for more than 18 guests + bride and groom (for a total of 20 all together). You can not pay extra or anything, it's a hard limit now. However, that doesn't matter much anymore as we have our guest list down to meet the 20 people.

Even though we only have a total of 20 people, we've decided to do a morning Wishes package. We're going to have an early wedding (as late as possible in the morning but still early enough to be considered part of the early 10,000 minimum and $75pp f&b limit). Then we are doing a brunch reception. Then the gift cards and following it up with an Illuminations Dessert Party.

My fiancée loves this idea because he said he didn't want to have to wait until 5pm to marry me (as per our previous plan). This way we can be married and celebrate the entire day together and with our guests.

This may be posted somewhere, but I'd just thought I'd through it out there anyway. Can our guests take pictures at the Illuminations Dessert Party? We have a friend that is a professional photographer who would love to help us save money by taking some candid shots (nothing that would outwardly look like a professional photo shoot) during the party. Anyone know if this is "allowed"?

Who told you that you can't pay extra for 5 more guests for an Escape wedding? We just tentatively booked ours at the 12 month mark a few weeks ago, and our consultant said this was fine.

 

[jshora]

You must have just snuck in. I called my consultant yesterday and he said that they have now changed it so Escape Weddings have to be at most 18 guests plus bride and groom. They are longer allowing the option to pay for adding more guests.

 

[Chilly]

We're going to reserve some tables in one of the lounge areas of one of the GF bars (Citrico's or Mizner's) and just have some heavy appetizers before the DP.

We've also hired an outside photographer (Misty Miotto) and are going to ask about using our photo credit to go towards either a MK photo shoot or a honeymoon shoot (I read somewhere that you can do that...) -- so that's just something for you to think about too, if you've considered using an outside photographer.

I'm not sure you can reserve any of the lounge tables but I could be wrong.

You cannot use your photo credit towards anything else, they used to let you do the honeymoon shoot but they stopped that about 2 years ago, and they never let you put it towards the MK shoot. You can still have the Disney photographer at your wedding as long as your outside vendor is ok with that and they take candid photos and a few posed ones.

 

[Brit_Jude]

jshora

Do you have the Passporter's Disney Weddings and Honeymoons Guide e-book? If not I recomend getting a copy to help you work out some options. It can be downloaded on-line. It really helped me and a lot of brides on here plan their weddings. Here is the link:

http://www.passporter.com/weddings.asp

Judi

 

[girli565]

You must have just snuck in. I called my consultant yesterday and he said that they have now changed it so Escape Weddings have to be at most 18 guests plus bride and groom. They are longer allowing the option to pay for adding more guests.

That sucks.

I wonder when that happened and when it'll be officially announced.

 

[geek+nerd]

That sucks.

I wonder when that happened and when it'll be officially announced.

In a panic, I emailed my consultant about this. He usually answers within 3 days, so I should have an answer by Wednesday. I will post his response. I have an email from Kristi Davis from May 12 that says that you can pay the $500 extra for the 5 extra guests.

One thing that I do hate about dealing with Disney for the wedding is that there seems to be a lack of consistency. So many times on this board you read that one bride was told one thing and another bride was told the complete opposite. I wish that Disney were more transparent about what exactly the "rules" and costs are for everything.

I do second getting the Passporters ebook. Carrie did an AMAZING job compiling information; in fact, if it weren't for that book, we probably would have given up on the idea of a Disney wedding because it's so difficult to get information.