Perks of a Being a Disney Bride

Okay, lets forget about the obvious perks like the experience of the Disney Wedding Planning Team, the great customer service, and feeling like a total princess. There are some perks you really don't expect! For instance, I just answered the door to sign off for a packet from Disney Fairy Tale Weddings and enclosed was a sweet little note from our fantastic coordinator, Kristi. Kristi was an absolute joy to work with. She had a way of making you feel like you weren't "just another bride." It must be a tough task to make everyone feel special when you host over 1,500 weddings per year. Kristi managed to do this with what seemed like complete ease. Anyways, in the super sweet card from Kristi was some "pixie dust" in the form annual passes for Frank and myself!

This is GREAT news, since Frank and I are heading to Disneyworld in July for a day and our annual passes ran out a few months back. We really didn't want to renew for just a day, but didn't want to buy a single day ticket. We may be heading down in late September for a quick weekend as well, for our usual Halloween trip. Again, with all of the money going out, we just didn't see it as reasonable to fork over more money at this point in time. What a great, GREAT surprise!!! Especially on a Monday. :)

Wedding Rooms Booked!

I must say I am EXTREMELY excited about having not only a destination wedding (which I've always wanted) but also a wedding at Disneyworld. With this excitement, though, comes a tinge of guilt. I do feel bad that people have to travel so far, and just the cost associated with everything. My family and friends will be coming mostly from Oregon, while Frank's will be coming mostly from the New York/Boston regions. I try to remind myself that even if we had it in one of our hometowns, one of our families would be making a long trip. But to ease some of the expenses, we have tried to help some of our most distant travellers out with hotel costs. I am so excited with the outcome! See, Frank and I have DVC, Disney Vacation Club. It is a great timeshare that enables us to stay at our favorite hotels in Disneyworld and other hotels throughout the world for little or no charge (other than annual dues.) We were able to cover the costs of so many rooms for people in my all time favorite hotel, The Animal Kingdom Lodge!!! I am just really happy to share this hotel with our closest family and friends. It is our favorite hotel, and conveniently where our rehearsal dinner will be held. DVC is also opening up a new hotel at The Contemporary Hotel, and we booked up a room there in a two bedroom suite for a little bachelorette party for me! The room has a view of the Magic Kingdom, so we can have our little fun time, then watch the fireworks over Cinderella's castle!!! Making the decision to have a Disneyworld wedding wasn't really mine, Frank definitely pulled for that one. I don't know how I'll ever thank him!!!

Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings

I just received an email from Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings with some exciting news! For any past or future Disney Brides out there, or any other curious and/or interested Brides... or anyone interested really, tune in this Sunday night, March 8, 2009, at 9:00 pm/8 c to watch Disney's Dream Weddings!

Disney Timelines

Planning a wedding with the company that also runs the #1 vacation destination in the world, clearly comes with some rules. Its like moving in to one of those upscale gated communities, you have to assume they won't let you paint your house pink. As I've begun planning my Disney wedding, I've run into rules that would've driven me insane or completely infuriated me if they had affected me. For example, only being able to use a Disney photographer if your ceremony/reception is held at certain sites. Typically this applies only to "in park" functions, but rumor has it the list seems to be expanding and including some resort areas. I can completely understand where Disney is coming from. Its just that I've heard only a small amount of great things about Disney photogs, and a fairly large amount of bad things about Disney photogs. One photographer reportedly lost all the pictures of a couple's entire Magic Kingdom photo session. Disney offered to shoot another one for no charge, but the couple would still have to pay travel expenses, making it not really worth the money. How devastating. Luckily for me, I will be using Randy Chapman for most of my event. I will only be using a Disney photographer for our dessert party which will be held in Epcot.

Floral CAN be another issue, but not so much. Again, if you are in a park you will have to use Disney services. I have never heard a bad thing about Disney floral, well... except that it can be pretty pricey. Many brides seem to opt for minimal floral anyways, since the Disney surroundings speak for themselves and not a lot of extra detail is needed!

The catering is typically pretty flexible. Obviously, the more you are willing to pay, the more flexible they'll be. :) I haven't tasted any "Disney wedding" food, but I imagine it is pretty darn good as Disney world boasts many, MANY great restaurants.

Many of the ceremony/reception locations hold very small amounts of people. For example, Frank and I were going to try to do the ceremony IN the Magic Kingdom, but we could only have 50 people. Of course, Frank and his swindling ways concocted a plan to just have a very large wedding party. No go. The 50 people include everyone, even the Bride and Groom! So, that plan was over before it really began.

My biggest issue, so far, has been the timeline. Our wedding is booked for January 8th, 2010... but I can't even plan anything yet!!! See, at 12 months out you can "tentatively" hold the space for your event... at 8 months you you get to sign a "Letter of Agreement." So what does this all mean??? My location will be reserved, and I can only begin planning my wedding and figuring out all of the details at 8 months out. As someone who prefers to have things done and checked off, this is driving me crazy. Completely... crazy... I can't stand it! What if I don't like what their florists have to offer and want someone else, only to find out the someone else I want is booked? I know, I could just book someone and cancel, but deposits and refunds are a HUGE pain in the "you know what." So I sit here... everyday wishing I knew a little of what they offer, or at least what my flowers would/could look like.

For the most part though, I've enjoyed everything I've learned so far about Disney weddings. Everyone I've worked with has been extremely helpful and fantastic. There are so many Disney Brides out there on the Internet too! They have all been so helpful in answering questions and sharing ideas.

As most brides would be, I'm just suffering from, "I guess this isn't how I thought planning a wedding would feel" syndrome. I thought it would be all magical, exciting, and fun... you know, just like in the movies. Going to tastings, floral appointments, gown hunting. I haven't even entered a bridal shop!!! Which is fine... I'll just be counting down the days to May 8th. :)

A Disney Wedding

I'm not sure how familiar the general public is with the process of having a Disney wedding. Like any wedding, there are so many things to be decided. I've tried to weigh the pros and cons nearly every day. See, as I've mentioned in the past, I wanted to elope and avoid all the hub-bub. So, in no particular order, I shall list the advantages and disadvantages of having a Disney wedding... at least some of them.

Advantages

• Its Disney... home of the best costumer service in the world by far.
• Options galore, including character visits, glass slipper deserts, private fireworks, and more. There is virtually nothing they won't/can't do... for a cost.
• Many different locations to choose from. You could have a wedding in Morocco, a reception in France, and dessert in England! Photo sessions can be held in a land full of magic and fairy tales.
• Disney provides nearly every service (excluding officiants, but they give you a list of locals that have performed Disney weddings) needed at a wedding. Food, flowers, cakes, DJs, bands, etc.
• You truly ARE a princess for a day.
• Its a great excuse for the family to take a vacation!
• There are GREAT resources for a Disney Bride, among them these sites: Disney Brides , Disney Weddings, Magical Kingdoms, Mouse Weddings, DisBoards. There are also blogs galore, here is one of my favorites: A Disney Wedding.
  

Disadvantages

• It is far for a lot of people, and impossible for some to travel.
• Weather can be unpredictable if you choose the wrong season.
• Some locations require you to use Disney services, whether or not you like what they have to offer... even money won't buy you out on this.
• The cost, Disney weddings are just expensive! There are minimums everywhere, and it is very easy to run up to nearly $50,000 if you're not careful!!! Its possible, yes to have a semi-affordable Disney wedding, you just have to be careful.
• It can be expensive for everyone, not just you!
• The timeline...

So, these are only a few pros and cons; I imagine I will be editing this constantly. So far, my biggest problem has been the timeline. My next blog will be an extremely long blog entirely on Disney weddings policies, cost, and timeline. I detest the timeline, I think any bride would.

"Why a Disney Wedding?" You Say.

Conversation:

Me:  I'm engaged!

Friend: Oh, let me see the ring!

Me:  I'm soooo excited!

Friend:  Oh, the ring is lovely, do you have a date?

Me:  January 8, 2009.

Friend:  In the winter?  In New Jersey?

Me:  Yes, in the winter, but in Florida.  At Disney World.

Friend:  (puzzled look on face)  Why Disney World????

Yes, I get asked this a lot.  Sometimes I ask myself the same question, since I was always the "lets elope to Fiji" kind of girl.  Fortunately for me, I have a wonderful fiance who wants a big and traditional wedding.  At least I'll never regret not having one... although I still don't regret not attending my High School Prom, even though everyone insisted I would.  Really though, this doesn't compare to HS Prom and I'm overly excited about it.

So, back to the point, why Disney?  I grew up in Oregon, Frank grew up in New York.  Rather than have hurt feelings over the other getting our big day in THEIR hometown, we both knew it would be a destination wedding.  Frank's mother is ill, and cannot fly, so it had to be somewhere his father could drive her.  This narrowed it down to the East Coast.  I would've loved to have a beach wedding, or a wedding in coastal Georgia with a southern flair  (oh do I love Magnolias and Spanish Moss!), but ultimately we knew the hassle my family and friends would be faced with having to travel to the wedding.   We knew we wanted it to be at a place that would be fun for them as well.  Disney was just an obvious choice.  We've been there hundreds of times (well, close, but not quite), and its a special place for us in a sense.  Besides, they do so many weddings there that its like the Target of weddings... they have everything!  How could we go wrong?  I will say that though there are a few things that bug me about their procedures (more to come on that soon), I feel very safe in their hands.  So much can go wrong in any wedding, but destination weddings just magnify that.  

Now, I just have to figure out how "Disney" I want our wedding to be.  When I say they have everything, I mean it.  From Cinderella's Carriage, to sorbet served in an ice glass slipper for palette cleansing.  Private fireworks - check.  Trumpeter - check.  Everything.  Problem is, I want to take advantage of some of these things, but still really want it to be classy and elegant.  I love Disney and all, but I don't really want it to be the center of our wedding.  I do think I'll do Cinderella's Carriage because hey, when will I ever get a chance to ride in that again!?!?  I don't think I'll have "Be Our Guest" playing at dinner, or the ice glass slipper.  It's a fine line between being a princess, and being tacky.  I don't want to cross that.