Wedding Pavillion at WDW
 

I have tentaively reserved the Wedding pavillion at WDWfor evening od Nov.17, 2001. I will be speaking with a wedding coordinator in the near future to work out the details. My budget is about $18k. I would like to have about 25 guests and am particularly interested in using Cinderella's Carriage. Am I being unrealistic on this budget? Also has anyone done this before. i wan tto know specifics about professionalism and attention you received. Thanks

Congratulations on the wedding. If your budget includes transportation, lodging, park admissions, fun stuff on other days for your guests, it might be a little low. You might want to check out theknot.com, it's a wedding planning web site with a message board. <BR> <BR>This is not related to your topic, but might want to change the wedding date to early 2002. There is a huge tax penalty for married couples and with only 6 weeks left in 2001 it's a lousy penalty you will have to incure. <BR> <BR>I didn't do a Disney wedding, but I fould out the hard way about the "marriage tax." <BR> <BR>

I looked into doing this for my wedding, amost four years ago. It ended up being out of my budget though. I seem to recall there is a $10k minimum which you must spend to have a wedding there. You could do anything you wanted to equal up to this $10k and they actually send you a list of certain things with prices but of course everything is not on the list and you have to talk to the planner about the other things. I think rental of the Wedding Pavillion was $3k just for the site. As you can see your money does not go far at Disney. This is for the site of the wedding only, depending on where you wish to have the reception, we were looking into ballroom atop the Swan/Dolphin Resort as it was very high up and had a beautiful view. Rental of this room was another $3k (others are more such as Floridian etc) This does not include anything else such as food, drink, flowers, any decorations minister etc. For the type of wedding I wanted it was going to be WAY too expensive. However, if you have a very small wedding and maybe an outdoor brunch reception with very few flowers and decorations you may be able to do it under $20k. Kay referred to park admissions and lodging, I do not think including this it will be possible to come in under $20k unless wedding and reception are VERY informal!

FYI: Regarding the tax penalty--I hate it and want more than anything to seee it changed, but it may cost more to change the date than it might save. The average couple, I'm told, pays around $1,700 extra in taxes. My husband and I pay around $3,000 more a year.

Give us some more info on the type and style of wedding you are having. I'm very interested in this thread as my daughter just got engaged and this along with a Sandals wedding in Jamaica are 2 things she has mentioned as possibilities.

I see on the website where you can rent out Cinderella's castle for wedding or reception or both for the low low price of $35,000.00. (site rental only) Guess you can't afford that . . .

Kelly-Go away! How many times have you posted this? Are you trying to break a record? This is not a wedding planning site! Since you are so flushed, why don't you hire a wedding coordinator!!

To fedupwithu, I apologize if I have irritated you, why don't you quit reading this post. I was merely making a second post on the topic as instructed by several posters since last weeks post seem to go off on a tangent regarding spending and weddings with still no info. I was hoping this time to get some real information an so far I have until you came along. Also, I apparently am not the only one here with wedding ?s, I have seen many posts about Hawaii weddings, Florida weddings, etc. By the way the Jacksonville post is NOT mine!

Once again the trolls are out and they are MEAN today! Would these people be so evil to poor posters if valid registration wre required? Can't we be nice and if you don't like a post, just not answer it? <BR>

Well, FedUp, I did a Fodor's search and this is only the second time ever this topic has come up, the first being last week. I'm not sure how that could be a record!?!!

I live in the Orlando area and have been to a couple of these Disney Weddings. This is a popular thing to do even if you are a local because of the beauty of the facilities at Disneyworld. Though the ones I have been to have been large weddings in the chapel with a hotel reception to follow. They have not been disney themed, this was merely the local location the couple chose. I had no idea it was so expensive. I would imagine depending on where you are coming from, ou will not be having a large "Destination Wedding" as it is hard to bring 250 people to Florida with you. If you want the fairy tale on a budget bring your closest family and share the experience with them and make it fun with special diney theme touches.

Why are you people even defending Kelly. She is a spoiled brat who is obsessed over having an unrealistic "fantasy wedding." Did you know that destination weddings were invented by travel agents trying to make more money because online bookings and the internet have cut into their profits? It is a shame weddings have turned into one upsmanship and spending obscene amounts of money to impress others. No wonder 1/2 of all marriages end up in divorce when people have lost sight of vows, commitment, cherishing one another. <BR> <BR>And Kelly-Get a grip. A wedding is about commitment to each other and a covenant one enters into between 2 people and God , not about a fantasy weddidng in a cheesy, fiberglass place that charges an outrageous amount. The location should be secondary to your vows and commitment. Get married in your parents back yard, a small chapel or somewhere else that has real meaning and where you can share the day with your friends and family. And, with the uncertainty of the economy, you or your fiance could be out of work tomorrow and you will wish you would not have been so foolish with your money. <BR>

FedUp, you think Kelly's a spoiled brat; I think you're a self-righteous prig. You don't know a thing about Kelly or her priorities; perhaps she's pretty well off, and wants to give herself, her spouse, her close friends and family a great vacation. You seem to think she's putting a dollar value on her marriage itself--that if she truly cared about her marriage, she'd spend as little as possible. You have no idea of her background or relationship, all you know is where she wants to have her wedding and how much she's willing to spend on it. The fact that she's in a different place than you, culturally or financially, does not make her a spoiled brat. You ought to get over yourself. Oh, and internet booking has been around for around five years. Do you really think no one had a "destinantion wedding" before then? <BR> <BR>Kelly, I truly hope you find the answers you're looking for, here or elsewhere on the net. Unfortunately, anyone asking about weddings on this site tends to abused by sad sacks like FedUp.

Kelly-Since you can afford such an extravagant wedding, why don't you HIRE a wedding planner? Quit taking advantage of the nice people here. <BR> <BR>Anonymous-Just so you know, Kelly has posted at least 4x using anonymous names just like you. She got blasted for her comments in the last thread, so she thought she could fool everyone and start another thread. Kelly obviously has way too much time on her hands. <BR> <BR>And to the rest of you slackers who are helping an anonymous airhead plan her wedding---GET BACK TO WORK!!!!!

All of you rude people should get a life! Yes, in my opinion 18K is a lot of money to spend on a wedding, especially for only 25 people, but that's what Kelly, her husband and family are willing to spend on it! This is on a board where people regularly scoff at the quality of hotels that cost less than $500 a night?! <BR> <BR>Kelly, when I was planning my wedding I used two very active bulletin boards: theknot.com, and my favorite--PLEASE no peanut gallery comments about this-- marthastewart.com. --it's a VERY active board with people from all over the US and Canada planning weddings in all different places with budgets from $500 to 100K. And you can't post anonymously so there is a very little abuse from other posters. <BR> <BR>Congrats on you wedding and good luck in getting some real advice. I think someone in the previous thread advised going to the WDW bulletin board also. <BR>As for those of you who keep telling Kelly this isn't a wedding planning board, every day there is a question about weddings (Opryland Hotel, Hawaii, Las Vegas, etc. etc.)

First of all I did not start this second post to "fool" anyone. In the terrible thread of last week it was suggested to me by more than one poster to start a new topic with different title to get a better response. <BR> <BR>Second of all, I certainly can't afford a wedding coordinator. As I said I only have $18k. This may sound like a lot to some (depending on where you live) but I heard not too long ago on the news that the average "no frills" church wedding in Chicago costs $19k+. <BR> <BR>Third, I am very committed and have been with my fiancee for 3 years. We have no worries regarding our marriage vows and have confidence that we will be together. That only leaves wedding planning, which I am trying to do. I merely want to have wonderful memories of the most important day of my life, not be like everyone else. My wedding will not be extravagant as I said I would only be having about 25 people. I'm not sure why I have been called an airhead for wanting to plan a special day, I thought every bride put quite a bit of effort into the planning? <BR> <BR>PS. We are not even using a travel agent for our wedding just planners at disney. It will only be close family coming and each is making their own travel arrangements. I can't see how "Destination Weddings" can be dreamed up by travel agents to make more money. <BR>

Kelly: <BR>There is no need for you to explain yourself or defend yourself to some one who has nothing nice to say. <BR>Though I cannot help you with WDW <BR>(hate the place LOL) <BR>I wish you luck and best wishes!

Good grief! Kelly is posing a travel related question. She used a descriptive header. A few people were able to help her. Would you snipes please leave her alone? <BR> <BR>And for what it is worth, anyone who thinks Kelly's budget for a wedding is extravagent should get a calculator and figure it out. Weddings are expensive, and the only one who knows what she can afford is Kelly. <BR> <BR>As for hiring a wedding coordinator, that's a hoot! Half the fun is planning it yourself. Next time someone asks a travel question on the board, perhaps we should all just tell them to hire a travel agent. <BR> <BR>Kelly, good luck and best wishes.

As an observer of this thread, I don't understand how Kelly is "taking advantage of the nice people here" by asking their advice. . First, if people don't want to offer their advice, they won't; if they do' they will. If they choose to, how are they being used? Second, the entire point of this board is for people to ask others who may have been there for advice. (I realize that this may be news to posters like FedUp and CiaoKelly, who seem to have the impression that it's some sort of bulletin board for venting their indignation at life in general.) <BR> <BR>I certainly can't help you with your wedding Kelly, never having been to WDW, but I hope you'll follow the lead of some respondents and go to those wedding boards, where I'm sure you'll find support and help. And congratulations.

Kelly, <BR> <BR>I wish you happiness and joy forever. You deserve it after dealing with some of the jerks here. <BR> <BR>To fedup and other bashers, try this analogy: you want to buy a car. Fedup and other bashers are going to buy a 5-year-old Chevy Metro, because it's cheap, realible, and will get you from point a to point b. And, you can fit kids (well not that many), groceries, pets, etc. in the Metro. The Metro is a great car, unless you are going uphill with the air-conditioning on or have to pickup lumber and other supplies from Home Depot. We all should probably drive an efficient car like the Metro, but we don't. Some of us drive giant SUV's, some drive mini-vans, and some of us drive Mercedes. We know going into the process the SUV, mini-van, Mercedes, etc. cost more upfront and after sale (insurance, taxes, gas mileage, etc.) but we still opt for not getting the Metro. Our choice in a free country. <BR> <BR>Kelly has probably been planning her wedding since she was four. I guess she saw Cinderella and loved the scene where Cinderella emerges from the coach. Let her dream and do what she wants. It's HER wedding. To fedup and other bashers, go to the courthouse for your wedding and save your money for a rainy day. Let your children spend it after you die.