Help: Disney wedding?

kjsantos85

Has anyone had there wedding at Disney World? If so, where and how was it?

 I'm stuck picking either the Wedding Pavilion or Seabreeze Point for the ceremony and either the Grand Floridian or BoardWalk Ballroom...  

Is anyone having their wedding at Disney World?  If so, where are you having it?

Theresa626

I just replied to this on the other board.  If you want my personal opinion, there is no substitute for the Wedding Pavillion.  It is gorgeous and of course you won't have to worry if it rains and you'll have those amazing pictures with the castle as the backdrop.  Also, the Grand Floridian ballroom is much nicer than the Boardwalk ballroom though both hotels are elegant.  I like that the Grand Floridian has little crystals hanging from the chandeliers.  i don't think the boardwalk had that.  The Grand Floridian also has a gorgeous outdoor patio for the Cocktail hour which you have a view of the castle from and is surrounded by gardens.  If you choose the grand floridian, you can add on a dessert party and go outside to see wishes at the end of your reception. 

kjsantos85

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_florida-central-florida_disney-wedding-2?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:66Discussion:8a63ec97-33a9-44cc-b89b-56161a00e507Post:2e954ad8-cfa4-4810-87b5-fea34115de8c">Re: Help: Disney wedding?</a>:
[QUOTE]I just replied to this on the other board.  If you want my personal opinion, there is no substitute for the Wedding Pavillion.  It is gorgeous and of course you won't have to worry if it rains and you'll have those amazing pictures with the castle as the backdrop.  Also, the Grand Floridian ballroom is much nicer than the Boardwalk ballroom though both hotels are elegant.  I like that the Grand Floridian has little crystals hanging from the chandeliers.  i don't think the boardwalk had that.  The Grand Floridian also has a gorgeous outdoor patio for the Cocktail hour which you have a view of the castle from and is surrounded by gardens.  If you choose the Grand Floridian, you can add on a dessert party and go outside to see wishes at the end of your reception. 
Posted by Theresa626[/QUOTE]


 <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-smile.gif" border="0" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /> Thank you I just  read your other post as well and I will check out the disboards! What you said above is included in my pros and cons list between the two venues. We've already booked the Pavilion with a cocktail hour at the outside White Hall and a ballroom at the Floridian, but I also love the idea of an evening outdoor ceremony at Seasbreeze (I have my fiance to thank for that cause originally I was dead set on the Pavilion! Btw: He likes both places too now).

One uncertainty I'm facing is that I love both venues for many different reasons. I literally am split 50/50 with how I feel about the two venues.

Another uncertainty I'm facing is it will be dark at the time of our ceremony. I love the look of the Pavilion during the day, but I'm unsure of the look of it for an evening ceremony. At Seabreeze, I've seen both in the evening and daylight, the evening ceremony would look very romantic with the lighting and outdoor feel. I'm searching around for feedback from those who have had weddings at these places and possibly see more pictures to sway me more towards one of the venues.

Seeing Wishes is one of the main things we want incorporated with our wedding, so an evening wedding and reception is kinda must in order for that to happen. The patio of the Floridian is limited with it's availability with our range of dates in Oct to Nov. 

You mentioned you didn't have your wedding at Disney, if you don't mind me asking, was Disney at least a top contender in your search for venues here? If it was, what swayed your decision to go elsewhere?

BTW I read your vendor reviews. :) I might want to look into your make up artist when I get into that area of planning! Do you have pics I may look at?  

Theresa626

Before I met with Disney, I knew I only ever wanted to get married at Disney and that would be THE place.  I had  always dreamed of a Disney wedding.  I don't want to turn you off to them because Disney is wonderful but after meeting with them, I felt very disappointed and started to look into all the other options.  First of all, they were absolutely impossible to get a hold of.  They didn't want to communciate to me via email and were terrible about it and kept asking me to call while I was at work which I couldn't do.  They were almost never available to meet with and it took forever to get an appt during non working hours.  When I did go, I got this feeling like they just didn't care or looked down on me or maybe that they didn't want to work with me.  But, the main thing that really made me decide against them was that I wasn't allowed to plan ANYTHING at all until six months before the wedding and I had to use all of their vendors.  I was engaged for a year and a half and the idea of waiting that long to plan things made me feel sick.  The other thing that was a dealbreaker was that I had to use their DJ or pay a 1500 dollar fine but I wasn't allowed to choose the DJ myself, one would be assigned to me.  In addition, I couldn't ever meet with him before hand but he would call me to speak with me.  I did not like that.  Also, I only got to meet with the photographer for one hour after the wedding to discuss album choices and if I went over that hour, they charged me 100 dollars an hour.  To me, that is not good customer service.  I am really really anal and like to be very picky about how things are done and detail oriented.  There is no way I could jsut give up all control of everything to Disney and say "pick it for me".  

The Portofino Bay didn't have any draconian rules and was much more willing to work with me and meet with me plus they still gave me the feeling of being a princess because the hotel is so gorgeous and of course, I still had all the benefits of having a wedding on theme park property.  

Did you want pics of my make up at the wedding?  I can email you a link if you send me or private message me your email.  

You could always ask Disney to send you pics of evening weddings at the wedding pavillion.  I still think the Pavillion would be better.  Way too much can go wrong with outdoor weddings.  even if the weather is good, you might have unexpected people standing behind you watching your ceremony so it won't be as private.  

Theresa626

Also, after our honeymoon, we "honeymooned" another week at Disney and it was really awesome.  It was actually better than our first part of the honeymoon.  Everyone was so wonderful to us and happy and constantly congratulating us. They made us feel very special.  

kjsantos85

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_florida-central-florida_disney-wedding-2?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:66Discussion:8a63ec97-33a9-44cc-b89b-56161a00e507Post:371e32ba-2802-4ab2-94d7-5286da963597">Re: Help: Disney wedding?</a>:
[QUOTE]Also, after our honeymoon, we "honeymooned" another week at Disney and it was really awesome.  It was actually better than our first part of the honeymoon.  Everyone was so wonderful to us and happy and constantly congratulating us. They made us feel very special.  
Posted by Theresa626[/QUOTE]

Oh how awesome! :) Thats amazing, I bet you guys felt like rockstars!
That's an idea if we don't stick with Disney.

Theresa626

I didn't meet with Universal themselves.  They actually only recently started offering weddings in park locations.  We had already been engaged and booked quite a few things by the time they started offering that.  It would be a very cool location though.  You might want to look into the hotels on Universal property too.  The Portofino is one of the best wedding venues in Orlando but there is also the Hard Rock Hotel which might fit your moulin rouge theme.  The best thing about the hotel was that the guests got on all the rides without waiting in line (an unlimited express pass).  They also got access to Harry Potter an hour before the park opened and we got married four weeks after it's grand opening so that was pretty cool too.  They also got a large discount on the hotel rates during a time when they were charging peak because of Harry Potter.  

Theresa626

One more thing I thought of from your last post.  You said you have to have an evening ceremony.  This might've changed but when I met with them last, the rules were that they don't actually give you a ceremony time till eight months before hand.  At that point if someone else is also getting married there on the same day, they do a "lottery"  for people who want the same ceremony time.  

A note about the boardwalk:  You said you had to have wishes incorporated into your reception except that you won't be able to see wishes from the boardwalk.  You could probably have a nice view of illuminations but there aren't as many fireworks in that show.  You'd have to do your reception at the Grand Floridian in order to see wishes.  

BrideBrittain

I am biased to the Grand Floridian. I have a friend who is a manager for the property and she is always telling me of the beuatiful weddings thrown there and the wonderful catering done by the hotel....