Wedding in Magic Kingdom offer from Sam's Club

[SuefromRI]

In today's mail was a flyer from Sam's Club offering a custom wedding held IN the MK for 50 people for a price of $198,000! The one only ceremony will be held in the garden by the "swan boat" with a dinner following. You can see all the details at: samsclub.com/disneywedding Maybe if I won millions of dollars in the lottery I could maybe justify that amount of money, BUT I would rather give newlyweds a house for over $200,000 than a dream wedding. (It doesn't include airfare, so the total price would be higher.) It will be interesting to see if it sells. Maybe MousePlanet could follow up on this story for those of us who are curious.

[tdelaney_98]

Could you imagine? No, I wouldn't spend that kind of money on it either. It seems expensive--even for MK!

[Leslie]

I would never spend that kind of money except for a house. This is nuts even for Disney and only 50 people can come? uuummmmm no way......Cant wait to see if someone does though.

[GusMan]

I would hate to try to "cover my plate" for that wedding...

[mom22gls]

There was also an advertisement in a Sam's Club newspaper circular for the wedding. Very odd that a discount retailer would be advertising a very expensive wedding, and there is no indication that there is any discount over what Disney would charge for an elaborate wedding. When they listed what was included, it seemed a lot for what you got-did not appear to include hotel rooms and/or passes for the guests, for example. Wonder if they will get a taker, at least one who would not have, otherwise, just contacted Disney directly to plan the wedding.

[mechurchlady]

6. The Purchaser is responsible for any expense not listed herein, including but not limited to, payment of all taxes on Package, gratuities, meals, travel, and for any other expenses related to the acceptance and use of the Package not specifically stated.
7. Purchaser must be at least 18 years of age
8. The wedding couple must meet all legal requirements to be married within the State of Florida.

Personally I think someone will buy this package. They are including professional video taping with three cameras, two annual passes, 4 inght stay for the couple, in park specail wedding, in park dinner, dessert party, customized wedding, and more. If someone was into Disney and had money to burn maybe they would buy it. I would rather keep the money and get a home and car.

[mom22gls]

Oh, sure, people do spend that sort of money on weddings, and Disney has offered elaborate wedding packages for years. There was a Food Network show a couple of years ago about a couple who spent around $100,000 on an elaborate wedding, which included a lot of extras, such as character appearances, and additional get-togethers. I remember that they opted for almost every "higher" option-including allowing their guests to order from a selection of entrees, rather than picking one or two (the chefs had to prepare a lot more food, not knowing what would be ordered ahead of time). It's odd that they would choose to publicize this service through Sam's Club (not that wealthy people don't enjoy a bargain like anyone else). When you add those taxes and gratuities, it adds thousands more to the total. I've looked at the wedding packages, and options at Disney, and you could probably throw a very nice, and elaborate, wedding bash for 50, for less than that. Even with the wedding couple staying in a Deluxe resort, having an additional meal or reception, having photo/video services, etc.

[GusMan]

Just because it is being sold by Sam's or Costco does not mean that it will be sold at a discount. This time of year both companies tend to advertise a few extremely rare purchasing opportunities that easily run into the 10's of thousands of dollars all the way through the 6-figure zone.

[currence]

Originally Posted by GusMan

Just because it is being sold by Sam's or Costco does not mean that it will be sold at a discount. This time of year both companies tend to advertise a few extremely rare purchasing opportunities that easily run into the 10's of thousands of dollars all the way through the 6-figure zone.

Exactly. And this is a daytime in-park wedding. I'm not sure if that's normally available at any price.

I was surprised that Sams Club was offering this, but only because the recent Disneyland pass deals have been through Costco. Does Disney World normally offer specials through either store?

[Cheshire Figment]

I wonder how much they are paying Disney to allow them to run the promotion. I am fairly sure that Disney would have also made similar overtures at least to Nieman-Marcus for their Christmas Catalog or to American Express.

[janell]

Ive seen photos from a MK castle wedding. It is done very nicely. Not sure what the cost of that wedding was, but I know its up there.

The Sam's Club offer is what I would think it at the high end of Disney Wishes Weddings. In 2007 planning a Wishes wedding you started out at $10,000 and go up from there, I would think that this wedding is the top. Or at least I would hope so. lol

I wonder if they also advertised the better priced, smaller wedding called Disney Escape Weddings? In 2007, the base price(which got you quite a bit) was $3000. I think its now up to $5000.

[mom22gls]

Originally Posted by currence

Exactly. And this is a daytime in-park wedding. I'm not sure if that's normally available at any price.

This factor appears to be the real basis for the high price. The standard, even high-end wedding packages do not give the option of having the ceremony in the park. Normally, I believe, the ceremony would be at the chapel at the Grand Floridian, or another non-park location. There are many variables to the wedding cost, but 50 people is not a particularly large wedding party, and even if you include a lot of add-ons, the price would not go nearly that high. Most of the high-end options, considered individually, could add hundreds or a few thousand dollars to the price. Even considering the hotel package for the couple, it just doesn't add up. Basically, to "buy" the option of actually getting married in the park, which is not usually for sale, is probably, at least $50,000.

I just checked the Disney wedding webpages. The Wishes Collections offers the option of having a Theme Park wedding, but excludes the Magic Kingdom. If you look through the a la carte options, by adding live musical performers, character appearances, a coach ride, etc., and also more expensive catering options, you could get the total past $100,000, even for a moderate-sized wedding. The option of having the actual ceremony in the Magic Kingdom is not even listed, under the mid-level collection. They do have an upper-tier collection, which, presumably, is a lot more expensive.