Wishful THinking

[kimbamickey]

Hi everyone. I am calling this thread wishful thinking because I am not engaged yet, but I have always dreamed of a Disney wedding. However, I am going to get married eventually so why not start planning now! My dilemma is that I have a very large family, so it would be impossible for me to have a small wedding. Do most of the Disney wedding candidates have small weddings? How expensive would it be for 100 guests? Where can I cut corners? Any advice to this crazy lady would be most appreciated!

Thank you.

 

[Kismetdreams]

Well, you can't cut corners too much for 100 people, but to give you a budget idea, no matter what, for a custom wedding, you must spend $7500 or $10000, plus taxes and services charges, depending upon time and day of week, unless you choose one of thier "special days', which have higher minimium pricing (Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve, etc.)

That said, you must spend at least $75 or $100 or $125 per person for food and bevs., plus taxes and service charges, on your wedding day depending on day, time and location.

So, basically, if you had a weekday morning reception at the Yacht Club, I think you would be spending a minimium $7500 plus 20% service charge plus 6.5% tax just for the food/bev for you 100 guests.

If you would like some more pricing examples, based on day, time, location, let me know and I can draw you up and idea. Also, keep in mind this is all 2003-2004 pricing. Prices do go up year to year.

 

[superdiz]

Kimba I'm the same way! I'm all worried though that if I have a wedding in Disney, no one will go because of costs and time off work. I'd like the 100 people but we're from Boston. If I were you, I'd sign up for the yahoo group disneymooners. You get a ton of info on there!

 

[igobnu]

We're having a Disney wedding this March. We invited exactly 100 people and we have 65 guest attending. This seems to be pretty standard for a destination wedding from what I can tell (65%) We have guest from 4 countries and 15 states so for us most people were going to have to travel anyway. We chose Disney for their reputation on customer service, ease of planning and most of all for a fun place for all our guest. If you send out your save the dates early enough people have time to plan and save for the wedding.

Good luck planning.

 

[jennycee]

Kimba, my fiance and I both have large families, mine is VERY LARGE. I too had the fear that no one would come, and we really had to think about having it in Florida at Disney. But afterall was said and done, it was what the both of us wanted most. So we figured we would just do it. We sent out our Save the Dates just about 1 year before our wedding and right away people started to call us to find out where to book! We were shocked. We originally set our budget for 125 people and we are already over 150...and we still have 7 months to go. I think that our room requirement is already met too.

I think if you send out those Save The Dates early, get a buzz going around the family, they should have enough time to consider and plan the trip. Besides, it is Disney and who would miss it! That is what all of our family members keep telling us anyway!

And now that we are planning it and it is getting closer, and we are getting more excited, I have started to look at it this way; those 150 people or so that are coming to our wedding, those are the people that really mean the most to us in our lives, the ones I see the most, the ones that I would really want to be there for my special day. It is sad that some will miss it, and there is the video. But I take comfort in having those that support me the most next to me on my special day.

My Mom and Dad have decided to throw us a party when we come home to celebrate with those who won't be joining us. I fought them on that for a while but my fiance said, hey, it is one of the most precious moments in our lives, why not continue the celebration at home as well. So, ok! we are doing it! That is another idea for you, it can be something simple and small, maybe at your place to "introduce" yourselves and your home together as one.

Just my input! let me know if there is anything else I can help you with!

 

[ariel06042002]

I got married at the Wedding Pavilion and had my reception at Ariel's at the Beach Club Resort. We had the same concerns about the cost of having such a large wedding. In the end we had our immediate family and closest friends which ended up being around 40 people. When we returned home we had a reception for 125 that weren't able to join us at the wedding in Disney. It was so hard to chose who you could and coudn't invite to disney. Everyone was pretty understanding. When we had our reception at home we decorated with mickey balloons and confetti and set up a table with our wedding photos which everyone seemed to enjoy. Have fun planing your wedding. We had so much fun getting married in Disney.

 

[kimbamickey]

Thank you everyone for the advice. This is such a great site. I will definitely be back with questions when I have them. I think my boyfriend is getting nervous with all of this wedding talk