Money Saving Tips?

[fmdelano]

Anyone have money-saving tips for hosting a DFTW? I need to shave some off my budget! Please help!

 

[twojo21]

as long as you have your minimum, check outside companies for floral (even consider silk), photo & video (there are number of vendors, styles & prices), transportation, etc many are cheaper than disney. check out http://www.yourfairytale.com/vendors.html

we are also doing some diy projects like our centerpieces, sashes for the ceremony chairs outside, our unity candle, etc (which we are bringing to florida with us & having them set it up)

 

[hwygirl1928]

I think one really great way to save money is by using Randy Chapman (or other outside photographer) as a photographer vs. the Disney Photographers. I have Randy's Package info if you want it. His prices are quite reasonable.
I have the same advice about the flowers too. I find that Disney is way overpriced on they bouquets. All I wanted was 3 roses for myself, and one rose each for my girls, all nicely wrapped. They are going to charge me $35 for mine and $25 for each of the girls. So instead I am going to go to a nearby florist and buy a Dozen Roses for $25 and make myself a bouquet with 6 roses, and the girls will each have 3. I am also bringing my own unity candle and all of that stuff. The other areas I am cutting out is the champagne toast, people can just toast with whatever drink they have, we dont' need champagne to have a beautiful toast! And I am also not bothering with the wedding cakes. I make wedding cakes as a hobby, and they charged WAY too much for them, and it is a waste because nobody ever eats it. Unless you are a real traditionalist, I wouldn't bother with the cake!
That's the only advice I have for now. Hope some of it helps!

 

[tinkerbela]

we were on a tight budget when we were planning our disney wedding. we stayed at a value resort for our trip was our first big money saving tip. our thought on that was, why spend so much money for a room where you'll only sleep, shower and, in the words of seinfeld, yada yada yada.

another money saving tip that we did was we had our wedding in the morning, followed by our reception at 12 pm. receptions are a few pennies more after 2 pm.
we also shopped around with airlines to see what was the best deal price wise. we flew out of JFK with jetblue and the ticket prices were very reasonable.
if you plan on having your wedding at the pavilion, you can save so much money by not decorating it at all! the pavilion is beautiful enough without decorations. you can easily get away with no decorations at the pavilion.

of course, you have to think logically as to what you can and can't afford. yeah, having the cinderella coach would be so nice and magical, but spending $2,500 for a 90 minute ride and it can't really go far is not worth the money, that's my opinion. we first wanted to have our reception at the california grill. when we found out the carriage can't go to the contemporary, we stratched it off our list.

i'll try to think of other money saving tips for you. i hope this helped you somewhat.

 

[fmdelano]

Thanks for the tips!! Hwygirl, can you please send me Chapman's info? I'd really appreciate it! He is very popular on these boards, word of mouth is working well for him! About the bouquets, did Disney charge you to make your own bouquets? Did you still use Disney for floral at the reception? Thanks again!

 

[Firefly Girl]

A great way to save money is to have your ceremony and reception at the same place, we saved tons on transportation by having the ceremony at SBP and reception at the BoardWalk. An obvious, but still worth thinking about, tip is to keep the guest list small. Using a ceremony location other than WP will save you $$. Don't have lots of food at the cocktail hour. You can ask that the lighting package be eliminated if you're using a DJ. That's all I can think of right now but we saved literally thousands by doing all these.

 

[jamie0201]

We were able to save A LOT of $$money$$ by using ouside services (floral, phot, video, limos). I was shocked at the difference.

PM me or Email me at Jamie0201@aol.com if you would like the names of the services we used - dont have everything with me right now. We were very happy and impressed with everything!

Jamie

 

[umaangel00]

How do you go about setting all this up if you are using outside services? I would like to do a vow renewal either March 13 or 14 but the quoted my 5000 and I just dont have that kind of money.

 

[JohnsPrincess]

Could someone please send me Randy Chapman's info also? I've heard nothing but good things about him and would like to look more into it!

 

[hmgolden]

Randy Chapman's website is www.chapmanphotography.com

 

[Firefly Girl]

Ummangel, it sounds as though the $5000 you were quoted is for an intimate pakcage. All these tips were designed for saving money on custom weddings, which aren't a package as the intimate is. If you can't afford a FTW intimate you may be better off looking into other options such as the Swan.

 

[umaangel00]

Is there a website I can look at for weddings and renewals at the swan?

 

[hiwaygal]

Is there a website I can look at for weddings and renewals at the swan?

Try this one:


http://www.swandolphin.com/weddings/weddings.html