I was lucky enough to attend a Disney Weddings Press event last year. While there we were told that the majority of Disney Brides spend less money at Disney than they would at home, especially if home is a major city. In NYC the average wedding costs $75K, at Disney those brides can get a similar affair for about $35K. They said that most Brides worry that no one will come, however the response rate is actually higher for Disney Wedding than for regular home town affairs. Give them enough time to budget by sending out save the dates, but people love to go to Disney. Disney offers a variety of wedding styles as well. If you only want a few people and to stick to a relatively low budget you can have a pre-designed Escape Wedding. However if you would like to go all out with more guests and a Wishes Wedding the sky is the limit.
Do research for the wedding you would want at home and make up a budget, then do the same for Disney. Take both budgets to him so that he can see for himself the costs. I think that the reception at home later is also a great idea!
We live in the DC metro area, and I'm already finding this to be the case. Vinyards around here arent cheap, I am interested in the baltimore aquarium but it will likely cost us 50% more than Disney. I could go all out at disney for 20k and have a wedding that would blow my socks off, I could also do one I'd be more than happy with for about 12-16k. We could do one a little cheaper up where his family is from in western NY but I think in the end itll even out despite what my current budget shows because the budget is for 50 people. I think at Disney we'll get 60 tops, in NY we'll get over 100 which will double the food, cake, and set up costs which will make it about the same.
My biggest worries are the stress and food. I love october fall used to be my favorite season but when I developed my condition that kinda went by the wayside. The weather in Florida would mean even if things arent 100% I wont have to worry about the weather agrivating it.
I'm waiting till June to call their actual coordinators I'm going to have them work their own budget as well so we'll have a real cost vs a subjective one. This way if we go this route there are no suprises.