Wishes WEdding ** need to stay around the $15k mark... any tips??

[morozco5]

dinner reception for no more than (hopefully a lot less) 60 guests
any pointers and what i should do or shouldnt do? what to focus on? i know flowers are important and we have a buffet chosen but what else can help us stay at that mark????? anything youve got is good!

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

Hey there! I'm also having a Wishes wedding with a tight budget. We are having 85-90 people and our budget is 19-20k, but that's not including the photographer and extra stuff, like invitations, dress, favors, etc.

I found that the "cheapest" way to do it is to have a brunch ceremony/reception, because you're minimums are a lot less than a dinner reception. It's $75 per person vs. $125 pp. We are also taking it easy on floral and decorations. We are using the Atlantic Dance Hall for the reception because the place is already decorated and setup, so we wouldn't have to add decorations at all, maybe just some centerpieces for the tables. And because ADH is beautiful!

I've heard that Disney is very accommodating and if you tell them your budget, they will work with you. HTH and good luck!

 

[BecBennett]

If you want to use the WP, transfer your floral from there to your reception space. Hmm. I can't really think of much else most of my budget cutting things are floral, but they're important to you, so probably wont work...

I'm using an IPod instead of a DJ, and all of our locations are outside the park, so we're probably only worrying about transportation for the bridal party.

 

[Cait8383]

I am in the same boat as well. We are expecting about 70 people at our wedding. I chose the Yacht Club Gazebo and am having the reception at Atlantic Dance Hall. This eliminated the need for transportaion which helped a great deal. We are having a lunch buffet which is cheaper than dinner and am also transfering all the floral from my ceremony and will act as centerpieces at the reception. Also, we aren't having a desert party. It would have been great but with that amount of people would have been a hefty bill. We are having a DJ which was a must for us, but no extra entertainment beyond that. This is mostly what helped us to keep costs down.

 

[helloirishkitty]

We're hoping to stay around 15k, for 50 people, with dinner and desert party. It is doable, but our reception is at Living Seas, so there's no need for decoration. I'm also not a big flower person, so we don't need much floral which definitely cuts down on costs. We're using an outside photographer, so that is not included, but if you add in the dress, favors, photographer and disney we will come in under 20k

 

[Princess SarahK]

I am having an evening ceremony and reception for around 50 people at WP/GF and am sticking very close to the minimum. We are doing alot ourselves. We are making all of our own centerpieces (i like simple but elegant style) and it is soo much cheaper this way, especially when the stores over here have their 50% off sales! So we are only using disney floral for my bouquet and maybe my girls' and the guys bouts. That cuts soo much out of it for us. We also found rose petals on sale from the Dollar General (of course their fake, but no one will be able to tell) but we got like 14400 rose petals for 45 dollars! These will be for inside the pavilion since you can only have real outside but rose petals for the aisle has been known to cost around 300 so im pretty pleased about our 45 dollar find! Start thinking what you can do yourself to cut corners and you will be amazed! So our budget is only ceremony, reception (upper scale meal) bar, and dj, car, etc and we are before tax at 15001.50!! and after tax...well you do the math..lol Needless to say if you want to be under 15k do a weekday or morning, midday wedding. Im sure you'll figure everything out. Goodluck!

 

[puente0629]

I recently received my BEO from Disney and we were at $15K with only 29 guests, that does not include photography, videographer, flowers, linens, chiavari chairs, the dress, steaming, tux, favors and officiant. We recently were able to remove some things we liked but were not something we absolutely needed and that brought it down to $13K. I'm sure that a dinner for 60 guests is at least $18K-$20K and that's not including photo, video, linens, flowers, etc., our grand total is so far $18K.

I think you should make a budget for outside vendors if you will be using any and a budget for Disney. Then put a "must have" with a "can live without" list, that way you can weed out anything that can cause the budget to climb. Oh and maybe you won't have all 60 guests going we invited 50 guests and only 29 said yes, which I thank god worked out great. Also, morning wedding can get you closer to your budget then an even wedding. Let me know if you need any other info?

 

[Princess SarahK]

I recently received my BEO from Disney and we were at $15K with only 29 guests, that does not include photography, videographer, flowers, linens, chiavari chairs, the dress, steaming, tux, favors and officiant. We recently were able to remove some things we liked but were not something we absolutely needed and that brought it down to $13K. I'm sure that a dinner for 60 guests is at least $18K-$20K and that's not including photo, video, linens, flowers, etc., our grand total is so far $18K.

I think you should make a budget for outside vendors if you will be using any and a budget for Disney. Then put a "must have" with a "can live without" list, that way you can weed out anything that can cause the budget to climb. Oh and maybe you won't have all 60 guests going we invited 50 guests and only 29 said yes, which I thank god worked out great.

Absolutely! Part of the reason ours is so low is because my dad owns a wedding photography business where we live, so our photographer is on him/free of charge. So the outside vendor thing for us is a major slash! Although, my hair and makeup isnt included in our numbers either. Or invitations, etc...uggh!

Were using standard white linens, we did add chair covers and sashes, DJ, and of course the cake. Although Im pretty sure you could find a DJ cheaper than 1500, but if you bring your own in you have to pay a fee and Im sure it ends up being the same as using one of Disneys. If you dont have a high minimum to meet you have more wiggle room. But its not hard to meet that minimum either, lol!

Basically a 10k is 12k..15k wedding ends up being 18k..you get the idea. So stick reeaaalll close to that minimum and you should be okay. Darn those taxes and service charges!

 

[girli565]

I trasferred my ceremony decor to my reception and they acted as my centerpieces. We only paid a move fee of $50 for this and it saved us a great deal!

 

[puente0629]

I think to really try to keep it close to your budget you might have to do a morning wedding with an afternoon reception (it's what we had to do), the minimum is $10K, you can have it any day of the week and the F&B minimum is a lot less then dinner. Also, using minimal and in season flowers will definitely keep you with in your floral budget.

 

[wintermouse]

We are having an evening ceremony at the pavillion and just got our BEO not including floral for 65 guests and it was 19K tax included. To stay around 16K we needed to cut out our pre-reception food and serve the chicken plated dinner (cheapest plated option but still really good!) drinks, DJ and cake. This doesn't include our photography either as we are using an outside vendor. Our planner was also really great at helping us stay within our budget and get the most for what we have to spend! Hope that helps!

 

[morozco5]

thanks ladies... this gives me a great deal to think about... I'll be having my planning session in September and want to have a lot sorted out by then. We're having our ceremony at the DP and reception at AK Tamu Tamu Courtyard so we really cant use outside vendors from what i understand but flower arrangements will definitely need to be moved from DP to AK and I figured the courtyard doesn't need much arrangement since its got a vintagey look and that's what I'm looking for... any more suggestions are welcomed! thanks!

 

[Wazzo]

Hi!!

I really recommend getting the Passporter DFTW ebook! It really helped me stay on budget, and had some great money saving ideas.

Here's the link: http://www.passporter.com/weddings.asp

(And lurkyloo is the author, so she's always around to answer more questions!! )

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

Hi!!

I really recommend getting the Passporter DFTW ebook! It really helped me stay on budget, and had some great money saving ideas.

Here's the link: http://www.passporter.com/weddings.asp

(And lurkyloo is the author, so she's always around to answer more questions!! )

Just bought mine!!

 

[super_k0116]

Just bought mine!!

DITTO!!


Might me moving our date to 2012 to save up some more funds now.

 

[torsie24]

Eeek good luck! We're having 18 guests and we'll be over (and we're having outside photography/videography). But I guess I can see why, so here are some tips from me:

- Don't have the cinderella carriage or characters - all BIG expenses from the get go.

- Maybe have a look at the rehearsal/brunch menus as opposed to the Dinner ones.

- Do a cash bar?

- Don't have a dessert party, maybe do something as a group, but not included in the wedding (Jellyrolls? Etc.)

 

[adisneygal]

We were right at the minimum. I think we had 34ish guests. My BEO is on the other computer. Anyways, to save, I bugged the h*** out of Carrie (Lurkyloo) for ideas, we had minimal floral (rose wands instead of bm bouquet,etc), we had brunch (used pastries and fruits for prereception & only served the coffee & juices that were included), no alcohol and no big ticket items like the carriage. We did have the caricature artist and a dessert party though and I wouldn't have changed it for the world. Good luck!

 

[Princess_Jo]

Some ways to help keep your budget low:

• Use the same floral for ceremony and reception
• Choose a buffet or lower priced entrees
• Don't offer passed appetizers during cocktail hour - we went with a stationary cheese and fruit display instead
• Skip the open bar - this is costing us a small fortune
• Use the bridesmaids bouquets as centerpieces for the wedding - we are using them to line the sweetheart and cake tables
• Make your own invitations - I am a graphic designer so I designed and printed ours and it saved us a lot of money
• Use an outside vendor for photography - our photographer costs half of Disney's lowest priced option and is working twice as long. Plus her work is amazing!

 

[girli565]

Using the same floral for ceremony and reception is a HUGE money saver. We did this and only had to pay a move fee which was $50. The altar arrangements and the ones on the pillars flanking the altar were then moved to the reception table for centerpieces.

We also had a buffet as our meal. There was so much food!! We had carving station for the beef, chicken, potatoes, salad, soup, & pasta stations for a great price. I was expecting at least $100+pp when I had my tasting and we were way under that. my planner told me that because we chose a buffet our price was much less. she mentioned in passing that my meal plated would have been at least $150+!

We went a bit over our original $10k budget but stayed well under $15k even with a Dessert party the night before the wedding.

 

[sambycat]

our first draft BEO is like $16600 - thats for 42 people, brunch reception, no extras like DP - we are doing buffet, with open BOC bar, but "featuring" only champagne/mimosa or bloody marys (not sure how this works - have seen some peoples PJs with pics that seem like they show a drink mock up at the bar for the signature drink, but noone has suggested this from DFTW). this doesn't include photography or video. we're using an ipod set up and have contracted with our own piano player, but are still waiting to hear back (depsite having this discussion like FOUR times) from our planner as to the cost of the paiano etc the performer needs.

we ARE doing (at this point) 2 portrait sessions (AK/MK), a mad hatter cake, confetti/streamer cannon at the WP ($500 but our ONLY "bonus" decor at the WP) and minimal flowers (only personal/bridal party floral and some small deal on our sweet heart table). we are also having a single appearance by 2 characters.

i am so so so wanting a DP and i suppose if we cut like the characters we could almost do it for the same price, maybe that plus cutting the AK part of the pics.

i kind of feel like what we have chosen is great and splurgey in some ways, but we are bare bones in other (floral, linens, music).

oh, we are tweaking our buffet slightly and have yet to see how much/if that brings us down a notch.

i don't think we have enough elements in the floral/centerpiece area to warrant chasing down outside vendors for us..