Today we have a very special guest post from the author of PassPorter’s Disney Weddings and Honeymoons Guidebook, Carrie Hayward! (Hint: If you’re planning a Disney Wedding OR Honeymoon, you need this book!) I spotted Carrie giving helpful money saving advice on Facebook and I asked her if she could elaborate a bit for my readers. She has some wonderful tips on how to save money on your floral and decor for any wedding, but with some special tips just for couples getting married at Disney. Please welcome Carrie to IBD!
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| Photo by Julianne Fishell |
Floral and decor can easily eat up a huge chunk of your budget due to the expense of fresh flowers and the amount of decor needed to fill large empty spaces like ballrooms. If you’re having a Disney’s Fairy Tale Wedding, you may be required to purchase some or all of these things through Disney, which means you’ll be paying a premium for already pricey goods and services.
Still, there are many ways to save—some big, some small, and some dependent on other decisions you make for your wedding, like the number of guests and the venues you choose. If you can’t use an outside vendor (which is usually the No. 1 way to save money on floral and decor for a Disney wedding), try some of these tips for controlling your costs.
- Choose ceremony and reception venues that don’t require a lot of decoration
- Scale down the size and/or number of floral altarpieces, pew decorations, centerpieces, etc., or eliminate them entirely
- Mix cheaper flowers in with the expensive ones you have your heart set on
- Give Disney a budget for each item and ask what they can do for that (i.e., $50 worth of aisle petals or a $75 bridesmaid’s bouquet)
- Limit the number of attendants to save $75-$150 apiece on bouquets and $10-$20 apiece on boutonnieres
- Choose rose wands, single stems, or non-floral alternatives for attendants
- Use a bridesmaids’ bouquet for the bride
- Use an outside vendor or make your own personal floral (bouquets, boutonnieres, aisle and toss petals, flower girl petals, corsages), which is the one exception to the no-outside-vendors rule
- Provide enough loose toss petals for fewer guests than you have
- Toss something other than petals
- Move ceremony floral to the reception (unless the move fee is more than the cost of separate decor)
- Use non-floral centerpieces
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| Photo by Disney Fine Art and Photography |
- Decorate the cake table with bridesmaids’ bouquets
- If your cake design requires crystal bands or other inedible decor, provide your own
- Use chair covers instead of Chiavari chairs
- Use standard table linens or add just a runner
- Make your own table names, menus, place cards and other paper products
- Eliminate chargers under the plates, gobos on the walls, pin spotting, fancy napkins and other pricey details no one will remember
- Skip the dessert party decor—it’s only an hour, and people will be too busy watching the fireworks anyway
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| Photo by Randy Chapman |
Carrie Hayward is the author of PassPorter’s Disney Weddings & Honeymoons and the host of the Disney Wedding Podcast, a weekly show about planning weddings, honeymoons and other romantic occasions at the Disney parks and resorts. Follow her adventures at Disney Travel Babble and @lurkyloo on Twitter.
