Wedding at Tree of Life 12/22 - dessert party / reception?

[weddingtreeoflife]

Hi all!

This is my first post here and I'm super excited to be planning our Disney wedding

We are having a Tree of Life ceremony at 10.30pm on December 2022 & we need to decide the experience that follows after that. (Group of 30/35)

The main unknown we have is whether it makes sense to have a full reception or a rehearsal dinner the day before and a dessert party on the day. We are leaning towards a rehearsal dinner / dessert party but we have a few questions:

1. Which venues would you recommend for a dessert party in Animal Kingdom? We wanted Tamu Tamu but it's unavailable . We have requested availability for festival of lion king, tiffins, belvedere, harambe market & upcountry overlook but wanted to know if anyone has experiences / recommendations about this.
   
   
2. What are some entertainment recommendations for a late-night dessert party? We are probably going to do the awakenings show & maybe some characters but wanted to know if there were other options & pricing: ride buy-ins, etc.
   
   
3. For the rehearsal dinner we wanted to do a preexisting package with park fireworks show the day before. Does anyone know how to manage it? Our FDW consultant has advised us to book it directly with the park so not sure how to manage that part.

Thanks in advance & looking fwd to talk to all of you around here

 

[MATTERHORN]

So typically if you wanted a ride mix in at AK, it would have to be before the ceremony because of the hours. It has to be at the end of operating hours for the day (they don't staff/open the ride just for you later) unless you buy out the entire ride (Everest for the night, $10,000) etc.

So last week, there was a dinner/reception at Tamu, then a ride mix in, then a ceremony with Awakenings after, then a small after-party in Nomad Lounge.

 

[quandrea]

So typically if you wanted a ride mix in at AK, it would have to be before the ceremony because of the hours. It has to be at the end of operating hours for the day (they don't staff/open the ride just for you later) unless you buy out the entire ride (Everest for the night, $10,000) etc.

So last week, there was a dinner/reception at Tamu, then a ride mix in, then a ceremony with Awakenings after, then a small after-party in Nomad Lounge.

Any idea what the Awakening show costs? I’m thinking of doing a Flight of Passage mix in, followed by a dessert party or dinner. Adding Awakenings at the end would be awesome!