Stephanie Burman can’t remember life without Disney World.
“I’ve been going to Disney since I was in my mom’s womb,” she said. “So the thought of having a Fairy Tale wedding was just a dream. … The fact that it came true was just unbelievable.”
Antonio Santiago of Wenonah, New Jersey, shared the same sentiment about his Disney wedding 20 years ago.
“It was everything that you dream about,” he said. But dreaming isn’t enough for a Disney wedding.
Here’s what it takes, and what it’s like for some of the thousands of couples who get married at Disney properties each year:
Where are weddings held at Disney World?
There are more than 100 venues at Disney properties across the globe, including more than 50 at Disney World ranging from in front of Cinderella Castle to the beach at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resort.
Eric Nicotri and his husband Jamesofee of New York got married at Disney’s Wedding Pavilion earlier this year and had their reception at the American Adventure in EPCOT’s World Showcase.
“It was beautiful, with the columns, the lighting, everything,” Nicotri said. He had been envisioning a simple wedding in the Hudson Valley, but joked that his husband “kind of didn’t even give me an option. … He is a Disney fanatic.”
They kicked off their wedding weekend with a welcome dinner at Animal Kingdom and arranged for their whole group to ride Avatar Flight of Passage together.
How much does it cost to attend a wedding? Why 2022 is ‘a very expensive year’ for guests
Their Vegas wedding wasn’t going to happen: So they got married on a plane 37,000 feet in the air
“We go to Disney a lot,” Nicotri said, but many of their friends and family don’t. “I think one of my friends hadn’t been to Disney in like 15 years, so (my husband) was like, ‘I want to be able to share this experience with them, just like boom right away.”
Santiago and his wife Chanoa also got married at the Wedding Pavilion, but they had their reception in a ballroom at the adjacent Grand Floridian.
Burman and her husband David got married in EPCOT’s United Kingdom pavilion last fall and had their reception in the France pavilion.
“You don’t have to go to Europe to get Europe,” said Korri McFann, director of marketing for Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons. She’s seen all sorts of weddings through the years, including her own at Disney’s Boardwalk Resort.
“Tower of Terror (courtyard) is always a fun one because I think it always takes people by surprise,” she said. “We can also do a mixed-in attraction ride after … taking the plunge literally, I guess, right?”
Depending on the location, capacity can range from just the wedding party to hundreds of guests.
How much does a Disney wedding cost?
Weddings at Disney World start at $7,500, outside of the parks.
“The event minimum for a ceremony inside a Disney park starts at $10,000,” McFann said. “This includes a couple’s ceremony venue, chairs, water station, a musician, and of course, a dedicated wedding planning team as well as a selection of other wedding elements that are important to the couple like floral and decor, transportation and more.”
There is no separate event minimum for receptions. Reception costs can go toward that starting price, but some reception venues may require additional venue fees and/or food and beverage minimums.
Prices vary widely based upon location, day of the week, party size and what each couple wants to include in their big day.
There is no maximum.
“If you can dream it, we can do it,” McFann said.
What is the average cost of a Disney wedding?
According to The Knot, the average cost of a U.S. wedding was $28,000 last year.
“We’re right in that wheelhouse,” McFann said.
“Certainly, people go above and certainly people spend right at that entry-level minimum as well,” she added.
How can I get married at Disney for cheap?
The cheapest way to get married at Disney World is to keep the wedding small and outside the theme parks.
“That $7,500 range is more of some of our beautiful outdoor, intimate ceremony locations,” McFann said.
Weddings on Disney Cruise Line have a lower minimum, $5,000.
‘Definitely get married on a cruise ship’: The weddings take less planning than on land
What is included in a Disney wedding?
“We handle everything that’s bridal,” McFann said, describing the
“one-stop-shopping experience” of arranging venue, decor, flowers, photography, entertainment, food, private transportation between hotels and wedding venues, and custom elements for each couple.
Santiago and his wife flew down to Disney World to plan the bulk of their wedding.
“We planned our whole wedding in three or four hours,” Santiago said. They spent the rest of the day in Magic Kingdom. “It was the most amazing thing.”
Other couples plan from remote.
“The planning was super easy,” Burman said. “They sent you a planning packet and you would just go through and kind of mark all the things you really wanted and what you envisioned for your day. … The planner really just takes everything that you want and just runs with it.”
“They come they come with very creative ideas, and it’s our job here to help them be their storytellers and bring imagination to it to really play out whatever that is drummed up in their mind,” McFann said.
Nicotri’s husband, for example, wanted to include EPCOT’s Harmonious fireworks in their wedding.
“That was his biggest thing,” Nicotri said. “So our planner recommended that we do a later wedding if possible, the last wedding actually. We were the last wedding for the Wedding Pavilion … We did the wedding ceremony (from) 7 to 7:30 p.m. and then everyone got onto the bus to make it to cocktail hour” at EPCOT. They watched the fireworks with their wedding guests in a cordoned-off area before being ushered to their reception as the park started closing to the public.
While any couple anywhere can have a Disney-inspired wedding, experiences like that, Cinderella carriage rides and musical performances by the Dapper Dans are unique to Disney weddings.
Santiago’s wife surprised him with an appearance by Sorcerer Mickey, his favorite character, at their reception. Disney characters don’t take part in ceremonies.
What time are weddings at Disney?
While some park venues are available during regular park hours, couples who want Cinderella Castle or the Tree of Life as backdrops should plan for unconventional timing.
“Pandora is more of a sunrise setting location for us,” McFann said. “You’ve got to be one of those couples that is willing to get the whole friends and family up early, but talk about an immersive, epic location.”
Nighttime weddings near Cinderella Castle are held after the park closes to guests.
“We like to call it a Cinderella start. They normally start at around midnight, so you’ve got to be flexible,” McFann said.”A lot of times for that, we might actually do their dinner first, then do cocktail hour and then do the ceremony. So there’s ways for us to play around with ways of flowing of a wedding day, and I think a lot of people are doing that now. There is no cookie cutter. They want to make it their own.”
Couples who get married outside of the parks have more options for timing.
Can I have a photoshoot at Disney?
For casual photos in plain clothes during regular park hours, any guest can book a Capture the Moment Package, which costs $79 per 20-minute session.
McFann said there are opportunities to use outside photographers for ceremonies and receptions, but wedding portrait sessions are exclusive to couples who either marry or renew their vows through Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons.
Disney’s Fine Art Photography starts at $699. Portrait sessions in the parks are held before they open to regular guests.
“We had to wake up at like maybe 3:30 a.m. just to get ready,” Nicotri said, adding that his husband was “like a little kid running around” with excitement having the park nearly to themselves.
“That was probably my favorite part of the entire experience, just getting to be in my wedding dress in Magic Kingdom with really no one else there,” Burman echoed.
Can you have a Disney wedding without food?
Yes, ceremony-only weddings are available at select locations, without receptions. On the flip side, couples can get married off property but hold receptions at Disney World.
Many couples request favorite dishes from across the resort for their receptions. Burman included two iconic snacks: Mickey waffles and cheeseburger spring rolls from Adventureland.
“Mickey waffles, I feel, are just straight up Disney,” she said.
“Our cake was so amazing,” Santiago said. “It (was) just all white, white chocolate. The cake topper was the Cinderella Castle, and it must have weighed 25 pounds. … It was just so simple but so pretty.”
No outside catering is allowed for Disney weddings, but options aren’t limited to Disney menus.
“We have seen their homemade recipes come in the door,” McFann said.
Dishes can also be customized around dietary needs.
How far in advance can you book a Disney wedding?
Wedding venues can be reserved a year out. Most couples contact Disney Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons between a year to a year-and-a-half from their wedding date, McFann said.
Some couples, however, book fairly last minute.
“A little bit more (than) a month would certainly be ideal,” McFann said. “We want to make sure that we can make it magical for them.”
Is Disney World a good place for a honeymoon?
Many couples turn their Disney wedding into an extended celebration, tacking on additional days at the parks.
“You’ve got guests coming for multiple days to vacation with you, and there’s something really special and indelible about that,” McFann said, estimating that most couples stay two or three nights. “It’s the meetups at the pool. It’s getting finally to meet their friends and family that you’ve never met.”
Santiago grew up going to Disney World with his family, but his wife had never visited until they started planning their wedding. Most of her family hadn’t visited either.
“Going into the theme park and seeing everyone’s face … it was beautiful to actually experience everything with family,” Santiago said. He and his wife added on a Disney cruise for their honeymoon.
Burman booked a Disney cruise too but pushed it back with the pandemic. She considers her wedding weekend “basically our honeymoon.”
“Because all of our friends and family kind of made trips out of it as well, we got to hang out with them throughout the whole time,” she said.
Other couples travel to different Disney destinations like Aulani in Hawaii or Disneyland Paris for their honeymoons or take an Adventures by Disney trip.
There are also lots of couples who don’t get married at Disney World, but get engaged there, have bachelor or bachelorette parties there, or honeymoon there.
‘Magic around every corner’: What passengers can expect on the Disney Wish
What about ever after?
Many couples who get married at Disney World return for family vacations.
“Last year we took our kids, who are now 16 and 9,” Santiago said. “We actually took a day and we said, ‘We want to take you to see where we got married at,’ and they were just so excited.”
“It’s part of our life now,” he added.
Both Burman and Nicotri have also been back.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Disney weddings aren’t just for fairy tales: What they take and cost
Source: Read Full Article
