Every year over 4,000 couples get married around the world at the Disney parks,
resorts, and cruises.
That is a massive number that averages out to nearly 11 wedding ceremonies a day, and
it’s a number that’s on the rise.
However weddings at the Disney resorts weren’t always commonplace.
In fact for a long time it didn’t happen at all.
So how did it get started, and why is it so popular?
CEO at the time Michael Eisner and COO Frank Wells were constantly on the lookout for new
ways to expand Disney’s audience, whether it was in film with more mature studios like
Touchtone, or the theme parks with more thrilling rides, or the nightclub areas like Pleasure
Island or retail spaces like The Disney Store.
Their belief was that the Disney name carried a standard of quality, and that if they moved
into new industries consumers would follow because they were Disney and you could expect
an impressive experience.
According to Korri McFann, the marketing and sales strategy director for Disney Group Getaways,
the idea to move into the wedding industry came from Eisner himself.
As the story goes he was in Japan in the late 1980s while attending a wedding.
It was there that he realized that so many people, like himself, just traveled from near
and far to attend.
So then, wouldn’t it make sense that people would also travel far and wide to Walt Disney
World for a wedding?
Beyond just the cost of setting up the wedding ceremony and reception that would mean more
guests staying at Disney resorts, visiting Disney parks, eating Disney food, and buying
Disney merchandise.
Today this revelation almost seems silly, but it’s important to remember that destination
weddings in the late 80s were not nearly as popular or common as they are today.
The idea of people traveling from afar to attend a wedding was actually still a novelty,
but that wouldn’t be the case for long.
"And our celebration is happening right now. Alexis and Jay, they're about to tie the knot
at the most magical place on Earth, Disney World!"
[Applause]
In September of 1991 the company introduced Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings.
At the time a wedding for 100 guests started at $17,500.
Adjusted for inflation that would be nearly $33,000 today.
The price would cover everything from the rehearsal dinner to the ceremony to the reception.
It’d cover food and beverages, entertainment, and even a video recording crew.
The idea was that beyond just getting the picturesque setting of Walt Disney World for
your money, you were also getting an all-in-one wedding package.
Couples were able to choose a variety of locations for the ceremony including the relatively
new Grand Floridian Resort, Fort Wilderness, and even the now-closed Discovery Island.
The service was successful and within their first year of operation they had booked, planned,
and held over 200 weddings.
In 1995 they took the business to the next level by opening Disney’s Wedding Pavilion.
Set along the coast of the Seven Seas Lagoon, the building can hold up to 300 guests and
sports a 75 foot long aisle for the wedding party to walk down.
Most importantly, the building offers everyone a perfectly framed view of Cinderella Castle
across the water.
To give you an idea of how popular this was,
By the time the pavilion opened that July, the first 200 weekends were already booked
up with ceremonies.
The service also offered extras.
For instance for $1,500 you could ride up to the ceremony in Cinderella’s glass coach
and for $400 a pop, you could have Disney characters show up at your reception.
They were pricey extras, as they tend to be at Disney, but they were quite popular
In 1998 the offerings expanded yet again, this time to the seas with wedding options
on the Disney Cruise Line.
Today you can be married on one of the Disney ships, or you could hold your ceremony on
the beaches of Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay.
According to McFann, the business would grow by over 400% over the following decade, and
today as the trend of destination weddings grow, so too does Disney’s share of the industry.
"I'm Lauren."
"And I'm Ben. Tonight you're gonna witness a man propose to his bride."
"Something I'm pretty good at, don't you think honey?"
Most recently Disney began to cross promote the service through their television network,
Freeform, with the similarly named reality TV series, “Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings”.
The series gives viewers a peek at the process that goes into the event, from proposal to
the planning to the ceremony itself.
It’s a level of synergy that would probably make Eisner proud.
As to why they’re popular, I think that question sort of answers itself.
Disney is undoubtedly at the top of their game when it comes to the business of crafting
these immersive and highly detailed fantasies.
For something like a wedding, where many want it to feel like a once-in-a-lifetime scene
out of a beautiful romantic fantasy, it’s no surprise that many would turn to Disney
to create that magical memory.