How to Have a Disney World Wedding

If you've always dreamed of having a fairy tale wedding, consider exchanging your vows in Disney World's magical setting.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Wedding Invitations
• Wedding Gowns
• Champagne
• Wedding Cakes
• Wedding Bands
• Disney Fast Passes
• Airline Tickets

1. Decide whether you will have an intimate wedding or a gala including 250 guests.

2. Visit Disney World at least once prior to the wedding to check out your options. Visit the new Wedding Pavilion, the theme park (you can hold weddings there during the off-season, when the park closes early), Treasure Island, restaurants, hotels and other locations on the property to get some ideas of where you would like your wedding to be held.

3. Meet with a Disney wedding coordinator to find out about existing wedding packages.

4. Understand that the price for an intimate Disney wedding for two begins at $3,000 and includes resort accommodations, a ceremony and admission to the attractions. Destination weddings for up to 20 guests begin at $8,000, and customized weddings that include as many guests as you would like average $19,000 to $25,000.

5. Discuss details with the wedding coordinator. Make decisions about flowers, menu, music, officiant, photographer and decorations.

6. Allow time during your wedding weekend to take advantage of the activities available at the Disney Magic Kingdom Park, MGM Studios and Epcot.

7. Choose a Disney theme for your reception. For instance, for a Cinderella wedding, the bride arrives in Cinderella's glass carriage drawn by white ponies, and dessert is served in a white chocolate glass slipper. Other possible themes include Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin. The price is about $395 to have one character attend your wedding, and goes up from there, with additional charges for each extra detail you add.

8. Realize that you may have to make a second trip to Disney World before the wedding to make last-minute arrangements for a large wedding.

Tips & Warnings

• Plan your wedding for the off-season, when rates are down and the theme park will be less crowded. Late spring or fall are good times.
• Consider foregoing the coordinator if you are having a small wedding and plan to manage the details on your own. Realize that this can be challenging to handle from out of state, but could save you a lot of money.
• Book your Disney reservations online (see Related Sites). You can also call Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings department at [phone].
• Keep in mind that there is no waiting period or blood test required for a marriage license in Florida.
• Disney can also arrange a bachelor party or other special event related to your wedding.
• Avoid selecting a holiday weekend for your wedding, since these are always extremely busy.

on 4/12/2008 Save money by marrying at A Royal Wedding Chapel on International Drive, "Where Every Bride is a Princess, and Every Couple is Treated Like Royalty." Then spend your money at Disney on the honeymoon!

on 4/12/2008 Rather than have everyone stay in cramped hotel rooms, consider renting private homes or townhouses for your guests. They are much less expensive than multiple hotel rooms, and they offer more amenities (including full kitchens, laundry, and lots more space to spread out). Many even have private pools in addition to the normal resort pools.