With season 2 of Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings debuting on Disney+ today, we wanted to take some time to get to know more about having a Disney Wedding. We had the opportunity to chat with Korri McFann, Marketing Director for Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings to learn more about the magic that they create and their process.
Laughing Place:
Thanks for talking to me today. First off, can you just give us a brief overview of what your mission is at Disney Fairy Tale Weddings?
Korri McFann:
Our mission here at Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings is to help couples from all over the globe plan their wedding. And they have a lot of different places that they can choose to plan their weddings with us. So albeit at Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland, Aulani,or Disney Cruise Line. All of the locations that you see on the show are actually locations that couples choose on a daily basis to get married with us.
What's great about us here at Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings is we really help couples plan their events, and we help them to what we like to call one stop shopping. So we help them with the date, the budget, the ceremony location, the reception location, all of the details for their culinary and food and beverage needs, entertainment, decor, floral photography, videography. Everything that goes into planning a wedding event, our team helps them bring it to life, and guides them through that. So I think that is certainly our mission on a daily basis is to help our guests through their wedding, and help them plan their weddings as well as bringing their weddings to life.
Laughing Place::
On the show, the weddings are typically large in scope, but are folks able to do a more intimate, smaller scale ceremony at Disney?
Korri McFann:
Absolutely. Our weddings starts here at approximately $5,000, depending on what you're looking for. So we have certainly something for everyone. You can be married at one of our marinas or take advantage of the Disney wedding pavilion here at Walt Disney World, which is one of our most popular locations. It's on its own private island and looks out across to Cinderella Castle across the Seven Seas Lagoon. Or you could choose one of the countries at Epcot and be married before the park opens there. There is also the rose court garden at the Disneyland Resort, Aulani or even our wedding pier on our Castaway Cay island with Disney Cruise Line. What is wonderful about the options and the breadth and scope that we have to offer is a wide variety..
We have couples, just the two of them, coming for a ceremony with a handful of guests, all the way up to hundreds of guests, depending on what they're looking to achieve. And that's our job here. Our role on the show here is to help those couples get a sense for their destination wedding. How many guests they're looking to come, what's their budget, what are their culinary needs, as well as what's their theme and style and vision? And then we help guide the couple through that and work with them based on their individual needs. And it really does make our job a lot of fun to get to know our couples and help them through that journey.
Laughing Place:
You probably have couples that come in kind of having the vision of what they want based on what they've seen. Or you might have couples that come in and they know they want to get married at Walt Disney World, but they don't know exactly what's involved, or they don't have their color scheme selected or anything like that. You guys are able to help walk them through it, and use your expertise to provide advice and suggestions?
Korri McFann:
We do. In fact, a lot of our couples day to day, they're certainly definitely hanging out with us on social media. So we're putting out content almost every day of the week, albeit through Instagram, Instagram stories, Facebook, also our website's got very deep knowledge on the different venues and choices. And then the other thing too is we actually have our own dedicated planning studio here for couples to come take advantage of. It's called Franck’s Studio, which you might remember from Touchstone’s The Father of The Bride. We actually have a dedicated planning studio where couples can come in and choose cakes and look at linens. They look through photography books and things of that nature. Though not every couple comes to see us.
Certainly a lot of couples do come from as far as Japan or Europe to come get married with us over here in the US, so we are happy to do that virtually or physically, whatever works out best for them. We will help them with everything, down to the color scheme that you mentioned. Maybe we pull out a handful of linen for them to take a look at and kind of get a sense of what that might look like as well.
Laughing Place:
And for those that might not be able to, for a myriad of reasons, get married at Walt Disney World, but they want to have a special moment there, does your team help facilitate engagements as well or honeymoons on the other side, or do you focus just on weddings?
Korri McFann:
Absolutely. We definitely have a lot of engagements happening here. Some will be organic where a groom or bride decides to drop on his knee right in front of Cinderella Castle, which is certainly a popular location all the way up to helping them create a lovely dinner dining experience, like at Cinderella’s Royal Table and things of that nature. But we can also customize an engagement too, depending on what their needs are. So our team certainly is here to help through that process as well. And then when it comes to honeymoon, this certainly may surprise you. But here at the Walt Disney World Resort, we are always a top spot and have held the top spot for being a honeymoon destination So we definitely have a honeymoon registry and have a lot of options for them to take advantage of as they go through that process, depending on what they're looking to achieve.
Lots of varying different opportunities, and resort options for them. And obviously the theme parks too, which is fun. And then a lot of adult activities too, albeit going to the spa or looking to go to Fort Wilderness and do something different and out of the norm like horseback riding or things of that nature. Maybe renting a boat for the two of you while you're here, or going on our Grand 1 yacht. So there's really a lot of ways that we can certainly make sure that that honeymoon is romantic and special for them. And a lot of couples do choose us for that.
Laughing Place:
I just heard that you have an upcoming wedding showcase at Walt Disney World. Can you share what that's like?
Korri McFann:
On March 13th and 14th, we will have couples coming for that weekend along with some of their bridal entourage as well. They might be bringing some family or just the two of them. And our showcase is a place where couples can come and see linens and decor and actually see, touch, and taste, and feel. So we will have over 800 attendees coming to our showcase, which is quite a few, and it's a really great time for them to actually get a sense of being able to see a ballroom set up, being able to see the wedding pavilion adorned with floral and get inspiration. And it's a really great time for them to get to talk one on one with our Disney wedding team and ask the questions that they have. Since it's in March, it's probably more newer couples that are looking to come inquire and actually get a sense of what they could do with us here at Disney's Fairy Tale Wedding. Most of those attendees that are coming are coming from all over the country, some certainly local as well. But we've got people coming from all over to come see us and spend time with us in March
Laughing Place::
And just to wrap up, do you have a special Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings memory that you can share?
Korri McFann:
You know what, I think if you have to ask me for my most special memory, Benji, I was actually married with us here at Disney Fairy Tale Weddings, so I'd have to say it's probably my own wedding. I've had the pleasure and the honor of working here for a while. And I had a lovely, beautiful event, and it was intimate. It was around 80 guests that flew from all over the country. And I got married at Disney’s Boardwalk outdoors on a beautiful garden setting and a beautiful garden lawn party. And I'll never forget my father leaning over saying, "This is the most magical night ever."
So for me, I think it's not only fun personally, but what I really like is to watch our couples, and all of our team enjoys working here to be a part of someone's most special day. I'm often asked what's the best wedding that you've been to, and what I really like it that we allow our couples to relax and enjoy that moment and be able to take in all the moments. Most of the time couples are nervous going into their ceremony and then they relax a little bit and then they're excited about enjoying that reception. But for me, it's probably my favorite moment on a daily basis are to see couples coming out of the wedding pavilion, and people throwing wedding petals and cheering them on right after the ceremony. Those are some of the most heartfelt moments that I personally enjoy.
For more on Disney Fairy Tale Weddings, you can visit their website or follow them on social media at @DisneyWeddings. You can find information about some of their great venues, including the new option of getting married inside Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. You can catch new episodes of Disney Fairy Tale Weddings each Friday on Disney+