Small Wedding ?s

[Nicsmom]

My sister is getting married. This will be her second marriage, as well as his. Her fiance is a huge Disney fan and would love to get married at Disney. There would be very few guests. I would think no more than 30 guests. Has anyone had a small wedding at Disney? Any suggestions? I told her that I would research this for her but I'm lost. I received the wedding video today but it seems targeted for larger weddings. They both love the beach. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

 

[Aurora63]

Well, if they are going to get married at Disney with 30 guests, Disney would consider it a custom wedding.

For some background, a custom wedding is a wedding with more than eight guests. If you have more than eight guests, it becomes a custom.

That being said, to have a custom wedding at WDW, you have to spend a minimum of $7500, if it is held on Mon-Thurs. For a Friday, St, or Sun wedding, you must spend at least $10,000. Of course, this does not include things such as the wedding gown and tuxes, but they can handle just about everything else.

You also have to guarantee a minimum number of room nights at their resorts. They base the number on the number of guests you have. Most people worry when they hear this, but then, a lot find that they don't have much trouble fulfilling the obligation.

Anyway, I am not a complete expert, but there are two websites you should definetly look at for more Disney wedding info. They are www.disneyweddings.com (this is the official Disney wedding site) and www.yourfairytale.com (this is an unofficial site, with lots of info.)

Have fun whatever you (or she) do, and I hope this was helpful!

-Aurora

 

[Debonna]

I was married on 3/1/03 at the Swan hotel. They are not managed by WDW; therefore, the packages are much more reasonable. They use a wedding planning company called Just Marry! Look them up at www.justmarry.com. They take care of everything - flowers, music, makeup, etc.! We had our ceremony in the Crescent Terrace at the Swan, adjacent to the walkway to the Boardwalk. (27 guests) Rain forced us to have the cocktail reception in one of the Swan's meeting rooms. It was very lovely. Then, we had dinner at Palio in the Swan. They put us in the back room at a big long banquet table. They did a set menu which was delicious. The restaurant has strolling musicians - - we had a violinist play requests during dinner. The guests thought it was all planned! Great "freebie." Dinner was wine, salad, entree, and dessert/coffee. They also brought out bread baskets w/ roasted garlic. It made it seem like an extra course! At the end of dinner, everyone lined up on the bridge leading to the Dolphin (where we got a DEAL on a bridal suite for the whole week - $189 a night/club level) and blew bubbles as we left. It was truly a fairy tale at a reasonable price.

 

[ahutton]

Something to keep in mind for the Disney Weddings, there is a minimum for different days of the week, but it is very possible to have a very nice wedding and not go much over that minimum, if at all... It just depends on your overall budget and what you want to spend it on.

 

[AllyandJack]

I had 20 guests at my wedding last year. It was a custom wedding. The ceremony was at the Wedding Pavilion and the reception was in the Napa Room of the California Grill. Everyone had a great time. The whole thing was beautiful and we actually got money refunded to us because we didn't use everything we paid for. We still went over the minimum, but it was so worth the money.

If you have any questions, you can PM me and I'll be more than happy to answer them!

 

[DrKnow77]

Just a note on the intimate weddings... we are having one in September. We are only have 6 guests with us; however, after spending money on photography, videography, dessert parties, etc., we easily went over the custom wedding price minimum. You can have a nice intimate wedding for a smaller price, but it doesn't come with much of the things that are typically associated with a wedding. After you add everything up, its much more...

nevertheless, I am very excited about our Disney Wedding and know it will be worth the price!

 

[AllyandJack]

I second what DrKnow said. My minimum was $7500 for a Monday wedding, but we went over the minimum for the weekend wedding. This included the hair/makeup, photgraphy, which also included the MK Portrait Session and the hair and makeup for that, as well. It also included our rehearsal dinner, transportation for our guests and flowers. Actually, we didn't even go that far over the minimum - maybe a thousand or two? So, do the math before you commit to an intimate wedding or to a day that you're not thrilled with. I wanted a Monday because we had weekend plans and then plans for the rest of the week. But, don't feel like you have to have a Wednesday wedding, if you've always wanted a Saturday wedding based on money. Do the math first and it might just even out!

 

[LaGaviota]

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[Disney1-30-98]

Got married at The WL in 98. Never even went through what you call Disneys custom weddings. Went directly through the hotel. Had 30 people, dinner off the menu at Artist Point( they made a great wedding cake)Everyone who came stayed at the WL and since we had about 7 rooms for at least 3 nights they had no problem helping us. I hired an non-disney photographer and florist( alot cheaper). You need to book rooms with front desk and food and such through food and beverage. Its funny b/c the food and beverage manager actually commented that we figured out how to have a disney wedding without going through the "normal" channels. Our day was beautiful and we wouldn't have changed a thing.Good Luck and questions let me know!!