Opinions - Cruise Wedding Options

[U2FanHfx]

Hi All,

My fiancee and I finally got my parents to agree to a Disney Cruise Wedding last week. On Thursday we booked the cruise (through Dreams Unlimited...AWESOME!) and then immediately called Disney Weddings. We received a call from our planner (Cathy) on Friday and learned some disappointing information.

Basically, a cruise wedding goes like this...
1) Board the ship;
2) Wedding Planner finds you and takes you off the ship;
3) You go in a room in the terminal and get married by a justice of the peace, with fake flowers and all;
4) Now you are 'legally' married;
5) Re-Board the ship and enjoy your cruise;
6) The second to last day (Thursday for us on the 7 night) you actually have the ceremony performed by the Captain.

So, really you were married long before the ceremony, but since you are in International waters there is no way to get around it.

Now, a wedding vow renewal has the nearly same ceremony/reception/perks except for the exclusions of a $100.00 on board credit, marriage certificate and justice of the peace in the terminal.

The packages, however, differ in price greatly. Wedding is $1900.00 and a Vow Renewal is $1100.00. So in my opinion, Disney is charging me $800.00 more for a licence, credit and justice

Why would I not do the justice thing here at home and get my own licence ($125.00 total) and then do the vow renewal on the cruise if all you are doing is getting the 'legal' items out of the way? Can I do this? Anyone have any other opinions? We really like the idea of the Captain performing the ceremony. To us, the legal business is nothing compared to the whole walking down the isle ceremony. We would rather use the $800.00 and pay for the maxed out photo package. There will only be 6 of us total anyway!

We are going crazy planning this thing already as I fear my parents won't go now. Any input is greatly appreciated!

Regs,

CJM & LM

 

[twojo21]

i agree with you i would just do the jp at home & then the vow renewal on the disney cruise.

 

[hmgolden]

I think there are several brides around the board who have done a cruise line wedding. I have never heard of the process going like that before. Perhaps one of them will see this and chime in. I agree that getting married at home and then doing a VR on the cruise might be better.

 

[U2FanHfx]

bump...looking for some input before we finalize this week

 

[dznybound]

U2fanhfx,

I married on Disney Cruise Lines back in 2002 so things may have changed since. Back then, in order to have a Castaway Cay ceremony, you had to book the wedding package. They did not do vow renewals on Castaway Cay. Are you planning your ceremony on board the ship or Castaway Cay? I believe if you were planning a ceremony on board, your way should work. However, keep in mind, you will not get the awesome Castaway Cay weddings photos if you did the renewal on board (the Castaway Cay wedding photos are the best and totally worth the extra $800 to do the wedding there!!).

Mary

P.S. I love you screen name. U2 is my absolute favorite band in the entire universe!!

 

[U2FanHfx]

Hi Mary,

Thanks for the comment on the name. I should post a pic of my licence plate

We are planning to get married on board instead of Castaway Cay. The main reason is not money but the desire to enjoy the day on the beach at Castaway.

Regs,

CJM

 

[bookworm74]

I'm getting married on Castaway Cay on Jan. 20, 2006. There is a thread that details a lot of the questions you may have (and many that you never would have thought of!) - it's Disney Cruise Weddings. Hopefully, this will help you out.

Dorie

 

[Moonbeams]

I collected all the answers to all the questions I had about DCL weddings and posted it at this URL: DCL Wedding Info.

From what several other DCL wedding couples have told me, Castaway Cay weddings are done at 10 am. Then you do pictures on the island while your guests go to Palo's. Then you have your cake and champagne reception at Palo's. You're done with all the wedding stuff by 12 Noon, which leaves plenty of time to enjoy Castaway Cay.

That was a big concern for me too. If my guests are going to pay for a DCL trip, I want them to enjoy Castaway Cay. And my DH2B and I do, too!

Also, having the captain perform the ceremony is not guaranteed. On CC, they bring over a Bahamian officiant. It's possible that if you do it on board you get the captain, but make sure with Cathy beforehand. You could end up with a cast member who is also a Justice of the Peace.

One thing about on board weddings, they are done in the lounge, which on the 7-night would be Sessions, if memory serves. Go on the DCL site and look at the photos of the lounge to make sure that's the atmosphere you want for your wedding.

The photos on the DFTW site show them having a ceremony on deck, but Cathy says you can only do that if you have a minimal number of people as the deck is very small. Believe me, it is! It's a private deck area and very squeezy. Your officiant, 6 guests plus you 2 might put you over the limit.

I was really upset about the JP in the terminal beforehand thing, too. It's something they never mention until you find it on this board and then ask them about. I was ready to skip the whole thing when I heard that. Or else have a wedding at home, at which point why not just have the reception here and be done with it. But then I started thinking about what two ceremonies allowed me to do. I can have 2 dresses: a pretty sundress (in my DH2B's fave color for me) for the JP ceremony and a traditional wedding dress for the CC ceremony. I can have peonies for my JP bouquet as I have always dreamed of having at my wedding since they are not an option with the DFTW bouquet selections. Granted, they will have to be silk, but that's okay. I get two sets of wedding photos: the night of the JP ceremony, I can have the on-board photographer take photos of us on the staircase before dinner (they're already set up to do this, so no need to hire a photographer). That's just my way of thinking.

Hope that helps!

Jennifer

 

[U2FanHfx]

Hi All,

Well our 'vow renewal' is on. Cathy our planner said that I was absolutly right that the wedding and vow renewal are identical except for the justice of the peace part. We have deceided that we would rather do the 'legal' stuff here and spend the extra money on the big photo package and spoil ourselves and guests in other ways. Plus, Cathy gave us a price of $1000.00 for the vow renewal over $1900.00 for wedding or $2900.00 for Castaway Cay.

FYI, it is true that on Castaway Cay you do not do the justice of the peace thing, but it is completely true for an onboard ceremony.

Regs,

CJ & LM

 

[TinkAZ]

My fiance and I are getting married on the Wonder 3-day cruise followed by an 8-day honeymoon in WDW. The package was great for us because if it wasnt for disney we simply would go elope on our own in vegas, which even though our families arent thrilled we will be getting married on our own they are happy that it is something very special like disney rather than an elopement in vegas. The on board ceremony with JP civil ceremony day of boarding simplifies everything for us and we dont have to do any planning except pick flowers, music, and well I guess that is all It will just be the two of us for the entire trip including the cruise so it will be a very special, private and intimate occassion for us. Plus we did splurge and buy the big photo package so all our family will have plenty of photos from the special day. We are very excited! We wanted it as simple as can be, but still special and disney offers exactly what we want!

 

[HebeJebe]

I was married last October at Castaway Cay. One thing about the Terminal Ceremony - the actual ceremony part was much better than the one by the Bahamian Officiants.

 

[Codie]

Hi All,

Well our 'vow renewal' is on. Cathy our planner said that I was absolutly right that the wedding and vow renewal are identical except for the justice of the peace part. We have deceided that we would rather do the 'legal' stuff here and spend the extra money on the big photo package and spoil ourselves and guests in other ways. Plus, Cathy gave us a price of $1000.00 for the vow renewal over $1900.00 for wedding or $2900.00 for Castaway Cay.

FYI, it is true that on Castaway Cay you do not do the justice of the peace thing, but it is completely true for an onboard ceremony.

Regs,

CJ & LM

Did you tell your parents yet? You could make your JP ceremony a secret between you and your honey? My dad is a JP and he does that for people all the time--especially now with people going over to Iraq...