UK Wedding Couples

[brucesearson]

Hi there,
It's just a month away now until we are able to request our date for next years intimate wedding (Dec 15th 2004). The problem is, we are still undecided on who to book the wedding with (Virgin or Disney direct). Our holiday is booked with Virgin but after speaking with their wedding department over the phone we are a little worried about the service they offer.
We are hoping to add extras to our wedding such as extra photo's from DPS (12 are already included), wedding video (still undecided between STVS and Disney), Reception at Citricos or V&A, Dessert Party in Epcot for the Illuminations and other things such as extra flowers and maybe a portrait session in MK. Our worry if we book through Virgin Weddings is how good are they at arranging these extras? They only seem to be interested in the basics, where as we would like to specify such things as photo locations and reception menus before we arrive. They told us also that brides are unable to wear their dress for the Dessert Party in Epcot, yet we have seen pictures of brides wearing them.
Any extras booked through Virgin also carry a £225 charge. We dont fancy paying this if they cannot arrange to the smallest detail the above requirements.
We do like the idea of booking direct with Disney Weddings as we will be able to ask questions ourselves instead of using Virgin as a go-between. Our only worry with this is if the distance could cause a problem. (We don't like the idea of not being able to get in touch, after reading some of the problems with EM's on this board).
There's no real difference in price between the two its just that we would like to have everything arranged without any stress!
Any advice from UK (or US)Disnymooners would be appreciated.
Many thanks,
Bruce & Tammy

[joanne]

Not done this myself, but I would definitely opt for Disney direct.
Keith may be able to offer more advice.
I've seen a wedding dessert party at Epcot, and the bride was wearing her dress. BTW, Itlay Isola is the best location for this.
Why pay extra to go through Virgin when you can use Disney's experts?
If you're worried about the cost of phoning the US, sign up for a free service such as Onetel.co.uk who offer calls to the US for about 3p a minute.
Let us know how you get on.

Joanne

[Keith]

We looked at both and finally went with Disney direct.

To get the complaint out of the way, I found the Event Managers that we had absolutely awful and reading the disney weddings yahoo group (an excellent source of support and information for disney weddings by the way), our experience of EMs wasn't uncommon.

However, I should say that everything WAS arranged without a hitch and everything went perfectly. My problem with them was that our wedding wasn't going to be a complicated one and so, they took it so matter of factly that it just didn't feel like they cared.

They didn't suggest any extras, they wouldn't send out a video "look at the website" and considering that people in the states were able to visit and discuss everything, see the cakes and so on, it felt like they should have been going out of their way for us but they just didnt.

I ended up phoning the event manager boss, then her boss, then his boss and got the event manager changed but I can't say the second one was much of an improvement.

I do think there are some good ones there and the yahoo group will tell you who to insist on. I also think if you have a more complicated setup, they get more interested.

I think the basic wedding stuff is so well done at Disney that it just "happens" and they all know that so don't need to start trying unless you want a reception at this time, for that many people with this and that and the other....

With that out of the way.... the wedding went perfectly. Everything was as promised and I wouldn't have changed anything.

The limo driver was GREAT and took lots of photos for us in fact, he posed us in front of the christmas tree at the wilderness lodge and so on and later in the evening, he took us round to the Celebration town and took more photos and generally made our day that much more special.

The wedding chapel is perfect... Standing there with the MK castle in the background <sigh> really amazing.. really perfect.

The cake was yummy, the souvenier cake topper brill..... we had organ music + violin and reception at the grand floridian with the voilin player playing away...

Disney photographic were great too... one of my sidelines being photography, I didnt want to pay a fortune to have them mess with the images and give me 10 or something, so they said ok! and stuck everything they took on a couple of cds for me! I got the prints/album etc too but I also got the "digital negatives" to colour correct/fix as I wanted etc. The photos were in our room only a couple of days later!

Finally, the presents are really nice... when we got to our room, there was a bag with balloons on, and inside it had cards, photo album, pen, bride and groom pins and some other stuff.

Then after the wedding, they presented us with a his and hers watch which they claim is only available if you get married there.. not sure but in a lovely display case and they seem like really nice watches too! We also got a wedding certificate from the happiest place on earth and it looks so special.

So with all that, and with how well it DID end up working, I'd recommend going to disney directly but I do recommend looking on the yahoo group if you havent already and seeing the EM reviews. Stick up for yourself when you call and get a recommended EM.

[Redkop]

red wanders and sticks his hand up for virgin

they were wonderfull in oprganising everything for our weddinf, we didnt get married in disney but they took care of everything else including directions for the court house and made sure the rev jummy johnson phoned us a couple of times, they also arranged all of angelas and the kids flowers.........i thought there service was good

chris

[brucesearson]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
I think we will probably deal with Disney direct and hopefully there wont be any communication problems.
I'm sure that we will have many more questions before we get married and hopefully someone will be able to answer them.
Once again, thankyou for the advice.
Bruce & Tammy.

[neal]

We went through Virgin and have no complaints - we just told them everything we wanted and it happened! We also got the freebies - a package was delivered to our room in AKL containing a Disney Fairytale Weddings goodybag, and we also got the watches and certificate.

[Bec]

Good luck for your WDW wedding. Our wedding is booked for 31st March 2005 and we can't wait!

We have booked with Virgin and they have been fine so far. Do you know what the arrangements are for getting dressed on wedding day?

Hope your wedding goes well

Bec

[Keith]

Welcome to the forum Bec and wow I bet you can't WAIT for next March!!! Hope it all goes fantastically for you... all I can say is, we were delighted with ours and if I had to choose all over again, I'd do it all exactly the same.

Getting dressed depends I guess on where you're getting married etc... there is a brides room at the Wedding pavilian which you can use for finishing touches and so on. We got dressed in the hotel we were staying at (wilderness lodge) who had arranged for us to have a room close to the entrance so we didn't have to walk through the whole hotel. Disney hair and makeup were there a few hours before and they helped Helen with her dress etc.

[Bec]

Thanks Keith,

It's great to hear other's experiences. I don't think there is a better way to tie the knot!
Thanks for the tip with dressing, I've got the strangest concerns!

[Keith]

Bec, one tip which you've probably already caught onto but.... DO make sure you get the bride and groom mickey ears. You'll get loads of freebies like desserts and things and sometimes you'll be taken to the front of the line on the rides etc