Timing throughout the day

[MilwDiana]

Hello all,
Still in the very early stages of planning but trying to create a timeline for the day.
Planning on having the Wishes Pkg. 50-75 people.
Would like to have the ceremony at the Wedding Pavillion
Reception at Ariel's with a brunch menu
and have the dessert party in Italy later that evening.
How late can we have the ceremony & brunch reception as to not have a large amount of time before the dessert party??
Suggestions on what to do in between reception and dessert party?? Would like to stay in wedding clothes all day and for the dessert party to "extend" the day.
Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[lurkyloo]

IMHO, you actually want a longer gap between the reception and the dessert party because then people can actually DO something with it. If it's just an hour or two, they may not even have time to go back to their hotels to freshen up.

Many, many of us have done brunches that end around 2pm or 3pm and then have everyone meet back up at 8:30pm for a dessert party. Our guests used their free time to play in the parks, swim, nap, shop, and sight-see.

Having the dessert party as an extra event at the end of the day makes it special and gives you something to look forward to after the reception ends. I have noticed in 6 years of interviewing Disney brides that often the dessert party loses its impact if it is tacked onto the end of an already long reception. Guests are winding down and then they get carted off to one more thing they have to do before they can go home.

Here is an interview with a couple who did the WP + an Ariel's brunch and then a dessert party in the UK that evening: http://disneyweddingpodcast.com/2015/10/07/wishes-wedding-spotlight-lindsay-jackie/

I have all my guests give a timeline of their weddings, so here are all my Wishes interviews: http://disneyweddingpodcast.com/category/walt-disney-world/wishes-collection/

 

[MilwDiana]

Thank you so much!!

 

[AllThingsMickey4]

Hello all,
Still in the very early stages of planning but trying to create a timeline for the day.
Planning on having the Wishes Pkg. 50-75 people.
Would like to have the ceremony at the Wedding Pavillion
Reception at Ariel's with a brunch menu
and have the dessert party in Italy later that evening.
How late can we have the ceremony & brunch reception as to not have a large amount of time before the dessert party??
Suggestions on what to do in between reception and dessert party?? Would like to stay in wedding clothes all day and for the dessert party to "extend" the day.
Thanks for the suggestions!

I was initially against a brunch reception because of the large gap between the end of the reception and the dessert party, but I am actually really happy that I went with the early ceremony time! It will give us a chance to relax together just the two of us after being in the "spotlight" all morning. We are staying at the YC and planning on having dinner at Beaches and Cream together before walking over to the dessert party. I do think if we went with the afternoon ceremony and had the dessert party immediately after the reception that it would just feel like an extremely long event.

 

[Traveliz]

My daughter had a 10 am wedding then prerecption and reception ending at 4. Her dessert party started at 9. Everything was at the Grand Floridian. Our thought there was people who were staying there could do whatever, other guests could monorail hop if they wanted. What happened was the guests staying elsewhere had time to go back to their resorts as well. I don’t believe anyone went to a park in between. This way it is a well defined event after some rest. It turned out great.

Liz

 

[AnnaS]

We are also in the "thinking stages". Silly ? Just curious does everyone stay (of course they can relax/change at the resort and dress up again) in their wedding attire for the dessert party if one has the reception/lunch/brunch early? Do they dress down but still nicely dressed?

 

[Traveliz]

Our experience. Bride and Groom came in wedding attire as we had a photographer. Flower girl wore hers. So adorable. Most members of the wedding party wore dressy clothes. Parents wore dressy but different from the morning. Guests ranged from dressy to casual. I don’t believe any guests wore the same clothes they had on during the morning but there may have been some. We had a lot of people ask what style of clothing to wear. We told them bride and groom were in their wedding clothes and we were dressing up as the hosts but people were free to wear whatever they were comfortable in. We had Everything from dressy to casual.

Liz

 

[lurkyloo]

^^Same!

 

[AnnaS]

Our experience. Bride and Groom came in wedding attire as we had a photographer. Flower girl wore hers. So adorable. Most members of the wedding party wore dressy clothes. Parents wore dressy but different from the morning. Guests ranged from dressy to casual. I don’t believe any guests wore the same clothes they had on during the morning but there may have been some. We had a lot of people ask what style of clothing to wear. We told them bride and groom were in their wedding clothes and we were dressing up as the hosts but people were free to wear whatever they were comfortable in. We had Everything from dressy to casual.

Liz

Thank you!!! This is what I thought. During F&W we have seen some of the dessert parties. Not sure if they were private (wedding) or part of the F&W event since we did not see a bride. The guests were very dressed up.