Most of us would agree that Disney World weddings are the most magical. After all, in a land where fairies and pirates are not only real, but lovable! Well… you really can’t ask for more than that.
So what kind of a wedding can you have at Walt Disney World?
Disney World Wedding Locations:
Technically, you can get married almost anywhere on Disney property for a price. However, the Disney wedding planners provide a selection of their standard locations that are set aside for weddings and vow renewals, as well as some of the more popular alternatives.
1. Disney’s Wedding Pavilion
This is one of the most popular locations for a Disney World wedding as it’s enclosed (perfect no matter the weather), and has a stunning view of Cinderella’s Castle. It’s located just down the white sand beach by the Grand Floridian, and is beautiful. The site fee is approximately $3000 and applies to the Disney Wedding minimum charge.
2. Sea Breeze Point at Disney’s Boardwalk Resort
This is a lovely white gazebo located at Disney’s Boardwalk Resort. There is no view of Cinderella’s Castle here, but the much lower site fee ($2000) makes that one concession worthwhile for many couples.
3. The Wedding Gazebo at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts
The charming white gazebo (complete with heart patterns) is set in a rose garden. As with the Sea Breeze Point location, the site fee is approximately $2000, which counts towards the minimum charge for a Disney wedding.
4. Park Locations
The listed locations on the Disney Weddings website are: In front of Cinderella’s Castle at the Swan Boat Landing, in Epcot at Italy, France, Germany, Japan, China, and the UK. The Epcot locations have a site fee of $2,000 and up, and require ALL arrangements to be made through Disney vendors.
Reception halls are available in the Grand Floridian, Boardwalk, and Yacht & Beach Club resorts.
Now, if you’re willing to cut into your kids’ college funds, you can get married nearly anywhere on property. The rose garden in front of Cinderella’s Castle is always popular, and weddings have been performed actually inside the Haunted Mansion and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Wouldn’t a wedding in the Walt Disney World Railroad station be romantic? Or even on one of the trains as it’s chugging through Frontierland? Maybe even a quiet ceremony under the shade of the Tree of Life in Disney’s Animal Kingdom! The possibilities are limited only by your budget and your imagination. And possibly your guest list.
How much does it cost to get married at Cinderella’s Castle?
Tighten your girdles for this one girls- no less than $28,000. Now, this is the minimum total for ALL of your wedding arrangements for the day of the wedding- reception and transportation included. This is still quite a high price, but I’ve heard of much worse for non-Disney weddings. If you’re planning for a fancy wedding anyway, the Disney World option could prove to be rather economical!
Update: Disney World Weddings is currently offering a special “Memories Collection” wedding deal for only$1991 and is only good until April 2012. The available locations are not the same as listed above, you are limited to 6 people, and ceremonies are only during certain hours on Saturdays and Sundays. But, seriously- a wedding for under $2k and you’re at Disney World? So worth it! Just remember, the details of this particular package are NOT the same as the regular Disney World wedding offerings. Check their website for more details.
Memories Collection ceremonies may be held at the following locations:
- Conch Key Marina at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Narcoosees’ Landing at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Luau Beach at Disney’s Polynesian Resort
How much does it cost to get married at not Cinderella’s Castle?
Bare minimum charge for a wedding on Walt Disney World property is $10,000 in 2009 and will be going up to $12,000 in 2010. This is with their bare bones (still elegant and charming) plans during the value season. On average, you’ll spend between $15,000 and $25,000 for your wedding day on Disney property.
How do I plan my Disney World Wedding?
The first step is to contact the official Disney Wedding Planners and request an information packet. You’ll be dealing with Disney directly for all of your arrangements- even if you don’t get your officiant, photographer, or flowers through Disney, your wedding planner will need to know about your plans.
Did you know that Disney can even handle your dress requirements? It’s true, even if you want something a bit out of the ordinary, say, a red wedding dress? If they can’t help provide you with the perfect dress, they can certainly help in your finding arrangements for it.
The people at Disney are all professionals, and they plan these magical memories daily for people like you, who want to make their favorite place a part of their future. Disney World weddings are certainly the way to go for people who want their perfect day to be… well, perfect.
Updated To Add:
I’ve noticed a large number of searches from people wanting to know if they can get married in Cinderella’s Castle and how much it costs to get married in Cinderella’s Castle.
The short answer, is that you can get married in Cinderella’s Castle, but that I don’t know how much it costs. It all depends on when you want the wedding (you can’t do it in the middle of the park day), what time of year, what specific day, what the normal park hours are vs when you want the ceremony, and so on. I think it’s a minimum of $15k to get married in the park at all, but it’s been a long time since I’ve checked.
So, yes, you can get married in Cinderella’s Castle, but you’ll need to talk to one of Disney’s wedding coordinators to find out how much it will cost. There may be specific days that it won’t be allowed at all (most likely any day with Extra Magic Hours and on holidays), and the cost will vary depending on a number of factors. Keep in mind that it will definitely be expensive, but if your budget allows for it, there aren’t too many others that can say that they got married in Cinderella’s Castle.
Disney World weddings are expensive to begin with, so if you can, just go for the setting that you want the most.
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Have your cake and eat it kind of a dillema. What should today’s brides do? Have a greatwedding or save for a home? I would take the second any day
wedding planners are essentialy needed in every wedding specially if you are a very busy person `
You obviously haven’t had a Disney World wedding. My wife and I got married in front of the castle in 1996. It was awesome. A once in a lifetime event. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. We still managed to build a house in 1998.
P.S. We paid for the wedding ourselves.
wedding planners that are very committed to their jobs are very hard to find ;:,
Joseph- It’s sad, but many brides don’t even have that choice.
Beverage- Maybe not every wedding, but if you’re doing a big wedding, I’m inclined to agree with you.
Vince- You’re right, I didn’t have a Disney World wedding. My husband and I tried hard to find a package that would fit our budget (under 3K) but obviously couldn’t. We briefly considered paying for a local pastor and his wife to come and just marry us on one of the bridges near Flame Tree BBQ. It would be only 4 of us, take about 5 minutes, and almost no one walks around in there, but we love and respect Disney World too much to pull something like that. Instead we settled for a JP, and decided that if we can ever afford it, we’ll just have to do a vow renewal.
That said, I think it’s wonderful that you had a Disney World wedding! I can only imagine that it made the memory of your special day even better.
Fire- Ain’t that the truth!
it has a minimum expenditure of $500,000 dollars for this location and the ceremony has to occur at 8am
Mel- wow, $500,000? Where is that?