Since the site visit...a primer on DFTW timelines and a lament on a lengthy engagement

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So since we met with DFTW and toured our venues in way back in November 2010, I bet you're thinking: "You're so ahead of the game! You probably already have your venues booked and contracts signed!" Not exactly. As a matter of fact, other than my monthly emails to check in with Joe to make sure that no one else requested our venues on our date, there was zero progress with DFTW from November 2010 until July 2011. The DFTW booking timeline for Wishes weddings goes something like this:

• 24 months: Despite what the people answering the phones say, you can begin to talk to a consultant at 24 months before your date. Demanding Requesting a site visit doesn't hurt when trying to get the ball rolling.
• 16 months: You can "tentatively" confirm your spaces. Nothing is signed or guaranteed. This basically means that another couple can't reach out to DFTW after this point, request your venues that you've been pencilled in for for the past 8 months, and steal them out from under you. If, before the 16 month mark, someone else asked for the same date/venue/time as you, Disney keeps it "fair" and does a lottery. I prefer "first come, first served," but c'est la vie...
• 12 months: This is when you can sign a contract and send Disney your deposit (finally!).
• 6 months: You can book your planning session when you are within 6 months of your wedding.

And then there are some deadlines for paying the balance of your bill, etc.etc. I'm still trying to get to the contract-signing step at this point.

I've said it up in my blog header, but sometimes I feel like we are in the midst of the world's longest engagement. I brought this on myself. We could have done a more intimate Escape wedding with our immediate family there and afforded to get married this year I'm sure. But I didn't have a Sweet 16 and now I want a big wedding (or something like that). I'm paying for most of the wedding on my own, so I think its okay to be a little more extravagent with my wish list. A wish list that keeps growing as the months pass.

We hit our 16 month mark last month, and while we did not get entered into a lottery, we had another snafu that almost gave me a heart attack. In June, 7 months after our site visit, I got an email from Joe that a convention had all the indoor space at the BoardWalk booked. This didn't seem like a big deal on the surface, but Disney's rules aren't always so clear. If all the indoor space was booked, there was nowhere for us to have our ceremony if it rained. And without a rain backup, Disney wouldn't allow us to book Sea Breeze Point.

I struggled with what to do at first. Joe said the Wedding Pavilion was free, but I wasn't crazy about it. It was too traditional. I had already moved our date once (from a Monday to a Sunday) and wasn't sure I wanted to do it again. I felt attached to our original date. In the end, I asked about availability of a few surrounding dates, and we move our wedding up a week. I'm not sure all of the Christmas decorations will be up when we arrive, but we'll have more time to enjoy the Food and Wine festival while we're there.

Did you have any issues getting your date or venues?