Trip Report: YC/Portobello/Disneymoon 4.23.07; COMPLETE as of 6.3.07!!!

[purplegirl247]

Yay, I’ve finally gotten all my pictures back and can begin my trip report! :banana: And let me tell you, there was a LOT of pictures! We have pictures from:

1. My dad, from the wedding ceremony
2. Randy, from the wedding ceremony and formal pictures afterward
3. What we personally took with our digital camera on our Disneymoon
4. What was on our PhotoPass CD on our Disneymoon
5. the Magic Kingdom photo shoot
6. the honeymoon photo shoot from Epcot

The sheer volume is insane! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to share them all with you, but I’ll put up some of my favorites. All the pictures turned out really great. :thumbsup2

Warning: I tend to be sort of…lengthy, so if I start detailing too much or go off on any tangents, I apologize in advance. I’m just so excited to be writing my very own trip report, I may let it all go to my head! :cool1:

Warning #2: Please don’t judge me if I mention the negatives along with the positives. I’m not a chronic complainer, I swear; I just want to share my experiences with other brides and hopefully help them in the long run. :teacher:

OK, not that I’m done with the disclaimers, let’s get this party started! :woohoo:

Where do I start? How about the beginning? Steve (DH) and I met at SAK Comedy Club, an improv club here in Orlando almost five years ago (our dating anniversary is July 23). We clicked immediately and have been pretty inseparable ever since. We both LOVE Disney so it was only a question of “can we afford a wedding there?” and with a little thing called intimate weddings, turns out we could! Here’s Steve at the idea of getting married.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/CL1.jpg
:rotfl: OK, not really. That’s us at Universe of Energy at Epcot in January, right after the ride shut down and we had visions of dinosaurs running amok.

Anyway…! We got engaged in November and began planning a wedding for April 23. [sidenote: those of you who have been keeping up with our story know this is a bald-faced lie. ;) I always knew we’d get married on April 23, my grandparents’ anniversary, so I had begun planning the wedding several months before he actually popped the question. I don’t think you’re actually supposed to do that, but it worked for us, so oh, well!] The planning went fairly smoothly except for a small bump in the road regarding what to wear under my dress (see my planning journal (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1310237)))

Time passed very quickly and finally the weekend before the wedding was here! His family lives locally and my family lives in Florida, so no one had to fly in, but I planned to have an out-of-towners dinner the night before the wedding just for my family. I was sort of a wreck the day of the dinner because I wanted to check into the Disney hotel as early as possible after dinner but my family was running late (as usual) driving up from South Florida.

Lesson learned: don’t plan things too close together; you’ll just freak yourself out. (I saw someone else do this on her trippie lately--it was aprincess72, by the way-- which I thought was hilarious because I had already planned to give out similar tidbits of wisdom, now that I’m an old married lady. :laughing:)

Here’s us at Buca di Beppo (a delicious family-style Italian chain restaurant, by the way).
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/RehearsalDinner.jpg
Starting on the left and moving around the table, that's my mom's sister, my brothers, my grandmother (mom's side), my grandmother (dad's side), Steve, me, and my dad. I'm in purple, surprise, surprise!

[Swmhc]

Keep it coming!!! I am all settled in for a long read and LOTS of pictures ! popcorn::

[MiaBella05]

Cant wait to hear more!! Its always good to hear the good and bad things that can happen. Makes people more prepared. princess:

[KStarfish82]

Subscribing popcorn::

[Swmhc]

Okay...so I couldn't wait....I searched Randy's thread and found your photos! Love them ! You are a beautiful bride. Looks like you and your brothers had a little sibling fun as well. Too cute !

[jmmastra]

Looking Forward to more popcorn::

[karentan]

cant wait to hear more!!!

[marywdw]

I don't think any of us would mind "too many" photos!!! We love them! :goodvibes
Congratulations!!!!!!!! :cheer2:

[purplegirl247]

You found them before I did! :lmao: I kept checking Randy's site but was only looking at the front page and didn't bother to check the others! I'll post a formal link shortly (as soon as I figure out how). Oh, and also, when I'm not at work. Tee hee. :rotfl2:

[Maggimus]

WOw im so excited-- im glad you got your TR going! Cant wait to hear all about it-- how do you like Randy's photos? What did you think about him?:hug:

[luna99]

the more photos the better I say!! keep em comin!:thumbsup2

[AbbyPan]

Can't wait to see more pics! Keep 'em coming!popcorn::

[Lynn5700]

Hey I thought of you like 2 days ago when we were in MGM, I saw your ring in one of the jewelery stores.

[Sparkles9306]

I love seeing photos!! I can't wait until you have all your links up! I'm very interested in how your MK photo shoot went.

[purplegirl247]

That's awesome, Lynn. DH never told me for sure where he got the ring. I assumed Downtown Disney since the odds of him successfully ordering something online is pretty small. Hee hee.

[lurkyloo]

Yay! I can't wait to hear more! :cool1:

[mcarthur205]

Enjoying your report - looking forward to seeing your pictures - as many as possible please! :)

[purplegirl247]

After the dinner, Steve and I rushed off to the Yacht Club (we had already loaded up the car) to check in. There was some confusion at the check-in desk, something about how he didn’t know if he was “allowed” to check us in, but ultimately we ended up at the concierge desk on the fifth floor and our wedding officially began! The lady at concierge was very nice and asked if I wanted to use my married name on my room key, but I was paranoid that someone would ask for my ID and I wouldn’t have it right on my driver’s license, so we compromised with hyphenating our last names. That was a +. The – came when we opened our hotel room and saw that she had given us double beds, even after gushing that we were on our honeymoon. Another + occurred when we told her about it and she took care of it right away.

Room at the Yacht Club
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon007.jpg

Towel animals at check-in. Enjoy them, because we didn’t receive any for the rest of our stay. :rotfl:
No biggie. They were very cute, appreciated, and I was just glad to finally see some in person after hearing about them so often.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon008.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon009.jpg

Mini-review on the Yacht Club: We weren’t overly fond of it. For the money we were paying (and Steve’s a CM so keep in mind it was already heavily discounted), we expected the room to be bigger/more luxurious or the concierge to be mind-boggling. Instead, we found the concierge breakfast to be about the same as any continental breakfast: donuts, bagels, cereal, and the food the rest of the time to be *shrugs* all right. Nothing overly fancy or delicious. If we had to do it again, we definitely wouldn’t stay at the Yacht Club. We spent our actual honeymoon at Port Orleans Riverside, and fell in love with it. :love: The main Yacht Club pool closed at 8 and there wasn’t much to do at night (in stark comparison to Riverside, which I’ll get to eventually). On our second night, I thought to ask if they rented DVDs to go with the DVD players in the room, which they did, but never told us about.

Lesson learned: Ask what is included with your stay. There was a pamphlet that said concierge guests could participate in “programs” but it didn’t specify what these alleged programs were.

We called everyone we were supposed to call with our room number (Juliana, our coordinator; Randy, our photography; our officiant; and our families), then headed out to experience the area. We walked around Yacht Club for a bit, then headed out to Boardwalk (Steve had never been around this area so I showed him the various sights to see), and made the full circle past Epcot and back to our room again. Steve was disappointed because we didn’t make it back up to our room in time to see Illuminations from our hotel balcony, but we did catch part of it and I told him we’d have to remember to do it the next night.

Me getting excited about being at Disney, brochures and maps in-hand.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon003.jpg

We headed to sleep pretty early, because…we were getting married the next day!

[stitchlet]

Loving your TR - thanks so much for sharing! And I think it's impossible to have too many pictures - can't wait to see them! :goodvibes

[jodeeluvsdisney]

Thank you so much for your honest opinion of the Yacht Club. We debated staying there, with us getting married there and all, but couldn't justify the price after "touring" it in April. We found other moderate resorts to be so gorgeous and much more affordable! Thank you, thank you for reaffirming our decision to change our lodging!

[Maggimus]

YAY-- that room looks neat-- but not very 'disney- like'. Thanks for the review-- ill keep that in mind. Cant wait to read all about the wedding!:woohoo:

[JackieSparrow]

Yay more pictures!! I agree with everyone else--the more the better :banana:

Buca is great, such a fun atmosphere. Before the Disney thing, when we thought we were getting married at home, we thought about having our rehearsal dinner there.

Anxious for more.... :woohoo:

[purplegirl247]

Maggimus, there were some small Disney details (there's decorative Mickeys on the bedspread and also on the top of the mirrors, which you can see more closely in Randy's photos) but for the amount we were paying, I wanted Mickey to come hang out with us for the night! :laughing:

Just kidding. The decor was lacking something though. We saw a lot of convention folk hanging around. Maybe it's more of a business hotel? I think maybe the problem was that it was too stuffy for us. It's a personal taste thing, as I'm sure a lot of people have stayed here and loved it!

jodee, I'm glad my review helped you affirm your decision!

[KellyJo18]

Subscribing :) I can't wait to hear more! We are staying at POR for our wedding next month and I keep debating if we should change to a deluxe. It is really nice to hear someone else's opinion on the resort.

Thanks for sharing!

[lamagique]

Noooooo! I thought there was more... but there isn't! I can't wait for more... this is so good so far! :) And you say your husband is a CM? Where does he work?

[purplegirl247]

DH originally just wanted to become a CM to get us into the parks for free, :rotfl: but we were SO GLAD he did because it saved us a lot of money. Factoring in his dining discount, tour discount, hotel discount, and the fact that we didn't have to buy an annual pass for us saved us almost two thousand dollars! :eek:

But to answer your question, lamagique, he works once a week as a park greeter at Magic Kingdom. So if you go to MK on a Wednesday, play nice with the guy taking your ticket. It could be my DH! Similarly, if you're interacting with characters at Universal, be considerate because the sound tech (who also interacts with guests from time to time) could be DH (his full-time job)!

And I promise to add more to the trippie tonight!

[Glorydaz]

love your TR! a quick question, if you don't mind? I've toyed with the idea of us moving to Florida and I joke about us getting jobs at the parks - does it take away from the enjoyment at all? and how difficult is it to get "in" so to speak? thanks!!

Michelle:cloud9:

[purplegirl247]

Glorydaz: I don't think working there has diminished DH's love for all things Disney in any way. If anything, he's more appreciative of all the hard work that goes into being a CM. Well, and how mean some people are! I, however, am now creeped out by characters in costume because DH was one at Universal for a year and it weirds me out that I don't know if that's a guy or a girl or what under there! :confused:

As far as getting a job at Disney, that's the easy part. Bad part is, they pay you barely above minimum wage. Getting a *decent* job at a *decent* salary is MUCH harder, I've been told. It's certainly true at Universal: DH had to do Halloween Horror Nights first, then became a regular (part-time) character, finally made it to a lower-level tech (part-time), then after a YEAR became full-time. Still lower-level though. And he's been in the biz for over 6 years now (at other venues, I mean)! Ah, well. Paying his dues, I guess.

[luna99]

love your TR! a quick question, if you don't mind? I've toyed with the idea of us moving to Florida and I joke about us getting jobs at the parks - does it take away from the enjoyment at all? and how difficult is it to get "in" so to speak? thanks!!

Michelle:cloud9:


sorry if I"m speaking out of line here purplegirl.. it's just I have some experience with working at disney.

getting a (low paying) job at disney is SUPER EASY... when I moved to orlando in 2000 I went with my younger sister to the castings building (where they do the hiring) just so she wouldn't go alone and I ended up coming home with a job myself!! They just handed me paperwork and I figured since I didn't have a job yet it wouldn't hurt to do it ... I told the woman I interviewed with there that I wanted an office type job and she said I didn't really have the experience (which I didn't, but I was 25, I knew I could do an office job!).... so the put me in the general store at the campground resort place. I worked for one day and quit .. mostly because of the guy training me (he got all up in my face and had smokers breath! :headache: ) and I just didn't like the position. They told me I'd never work at disney again if I just quit... but I didn't care.

about a year later I got a job working for Celebrity Eyeworks at Downtown disney (which is no longer there, now it's some other sunglass shop). I worked there for a year. I got that job because my roommate was working there and they needed someone. It's not a DISNEY store but it's an affiliate of disney so I got to go into the parks for free anytime I wanted to and got all kindsa nice perks! I loved it! Working there didn't take anything away from the magic.. but maybe it's cause I wasn't working directly in the parks...

It was fun because it was easy to talk to people (how is your vacation going? what's your favorite ride? where are you from? what park are you visiting today?) and it's fun to work in a place where (MOST) people are happy and feeling good! Even if you only worked part time, I think it'd be worth it. If I ever lived in Orlando again, I'd definitely work at least part time for the mouse! :mickeyjum

[purplegirl247]

Update: got the pics from Randy to work on my work computer! Shhhh! So these are mostly Randy shots below now...

************************************************** *****

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I'm going to post another installment because I'm too excited not to. The bad news is that the CD Linda Chapman gave me today is actually a DVD and my computer won't open it. So I'm going to do placeholders for now and go back and put in the actual photos later. Make sense?

OK, here goes...

We woke up fairly early on April 23 and grabbed some breakfast from the concierge lounge and started getting ready. Our officiant (our friend BM) showed up a bit early in the lobby downstairs so Steve had to rush a bit to finish getting dressed. He looked fantastic. Steve, not our officiant. :rotfl2:
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Steveinsuit.jpg

He went downstairs to go hang with BM and also sent Shana, BM’s girlfriend and also our friend, up in the elevator. See, if you’re concierge level, floor 5, you have to have a key to get in. This gets humorous later, as we realize that neither Anna (make-up lady) or Randy (photographer) can get up without our assistance. So Shana shows up in the nick of time, right after I had just finished panicking because I realized that even after speaking up about it on a Disboard thread, I had still forgotten to pack a button-down shirt to do my hair/makeup in. I realized at the last-minute that (duh) my pajamas were button-down so I just stayed in my pajama top.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Gettingready.jpg

Lesson learned: be sure to actually *look at* your packing list and don’t just assume you’ve remembered everything off the top of your head!

At this point Anna is running a little late: she said she’d be in my room at 11 and it’s already 11:10 and Juliana is supposed to call at 11:30 and I don’t know what to do and I’m nervous. I’ve sent Steve on a mission to seek out Anna (“she’ll be the one lugging around a tool box filled with makeup”) since I can’t get ahold of her on her cell phone to tell her to look for him so he can send her up in the elevator. I learn later that I had been calling her business line, not her cell phone, so she never got the message.

Lesson learned: double-check to make sure not only do you have your phone numbers, but also the right ones!

I call Steve several times to make sure he's looking for Anna, putting out the favors, programs, and tissue boxes (also in this pic; there's Mickeys on them!) and that he hasn't run off. Just kidding! :rotfl:
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Onthephonewithme.jpg

Anna calls from the phone downstairs and says she can’t come up. I call Steve on my cell (Anna in one hand and he on the other, it was pretty comical) and get them to meet up. Around the same time, Randy miraculously shows up. He realized what had happened and was in the right place at the right time and snuck up with some other hapless concierge level guest. I told him if the photographer thing doesn’t work out, he could always be a spy! :rotfl:

I should’ve trusted Anna because she was able to get my hair and makeup down and get me in the dress with time to spare, even though she kept stopping to tell us random stories. She was great, very nice, very efficient, and I was happy with the results. Makeovermajic.com, by the way. :thumbsup2

My hair
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon010.jpg

Before I forget, here's my something old (bracelet from high school), something new (shoes), something borrowed (my grandfather's hankerchief, which you may see me holding in some other shots), and something blue (Mickey toe ring, an idea I believe I "borrowed" from KT27).
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Oldnewborrowedblue.jpg

Then it was 11:40, Juliana called, and it was showtime! I met Juliana down in the lobby. And I mean that literally; I had never met her before! She was very nice and super excited to be there. She had also brought along another coordinator, Karen, to help her out. The first thing she did was hand me my bouquet.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/TheBouquet.jpg

The good news was that there was a tiny hidden Mickey in the stem and the ribbon was exactly what I had asked for.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/HiddenMickey.jpg

The bad news was that the hydrangeas weren’t quite the deep purple I had envisioned them to be. They were more of a lilac/lavender. This was not a reflection of Rosie in any way; *I* had asked for hydrangeas and this was probably the deepest they could get. I just wish she could’ve sent me a color swatch or something somehow so I wasn’t totally surprised by the color. Secondly, the flowers looked fake to me. I think I said in another post that because it was Disney, I assumed everything would be over-the-top gorgeous but I guess silk flowers always look like silk flowers. *shrugs* In any case, it turned out very nicely in the photos (couldn’t tell they were silk) and that was the important thing.

Lesson learned: don’t be afraid to ask for pictures, descriptions, or swatches of anything that has to do with color. And silk flowers are going to look like silk flowers no matter who puts ‘em together. :cutie:

Next, Juliana told me that two of the three ladies had received their corsages like I had asked. Uh, what? :confused: The flower presentation was supposed to be part of the vows; Juliana herself had told me what a sweet moment it would be! But now the ladies already had their corsages. Oops. Wait, what do you mean two of the three? Apparently the third corsage was misnamed and said mother of the bride, which Juliana wisely remembered was not true because my mother and I haven’t spoken in years and she was certainly not coming to the wedding. The third corsage was meant to go to Steve’s mom. I groaned because I could just picture his side of the family watching Karen pin the corsage on both my grandmothers and wondering why Steve’s mom didn’t get one. No matter. Karen rushed out and pinned the corsage on Steve’s mom and we were all square.

Putting the corsage on one of my grandmas
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Gettinghercorsage.jpg

Lesson learned: some things are going to get confused, no matter how clear you and your planner are. There are other people involved and *they* may get confused.

Randy got a couple of shots moments before I walked out.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Bythewindow.jpg

This one was up in the hotel room before Juliana called. It was so pretty that I had to include it. :thumbsup2
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Byhotelroomwindow.jpg

Then it was time to go, for real! Except…I had forgotten to tell my dad I wanted him to walk me down the aisle! How could I possibly forget that?? Luckily, Juliana had remembered to talk to my dad about that so when we reached the end of the sidewalk, there was my dad waiting for me.

Lesson learned: you’re going to forget to do something, inevitably. Hope your planner has it together. If something falls through the cracks, odds are it isn’t a big deal and no one will notice anyway.

[jodeeluvsdisney]

Your hair is/was gorgeous...and especially in the picture in your signature, your flowers are gorgeous too! I can't wait for more pictures. You two look so great together! I'm glad all the mix-up with the corsages and dad walking you down worked out A-okay!

[lurkyloo]

Loooving the trip report. I sneaked a peek at your photos on Randy's site (I couldn't resist!) and I have a question: Did you upgrade your Escape wedding cake, or did they just do a different design on the standard cake at your request? I've never seen one like it before! :)

[purplegirl247]

lurkyloo, no problem about peaking. :goodvibes I haven't posted the link yet because I feel bad having people slough through 283+ photos. I figured I'd just post the relevant ones here. Hee hee.

Our cake was standard. I asked my planner if the bakery could add some splash of deep purple and to come back with a price if they were going to charge me anything. She asked if I wanted flowers and I explained I'm not really a flower girl (I got a silk bouquet because seeing flowers die makes me sad for Pete's sake! :rolleyes: ) and that's what they came up with. I was SUPER pleased.

The cake was one of my favorite parts! :cheer2:

[Swmhc]

I have admired all your pictures from Randy and made notes of some I want him to take for our wedding ! Now I am patiently (okay, maybe not so patiently) waiting for a link to see your MK shoot and honeymoon photos ! Do share !!;)

[princessdisneybelle]

I love your pics! Your trip report is great. Love the detail.. Gosh I can't believe mine is so soon. Glad you had such a great time.

[Maggimus]

OMG your Randy pics are PHENOMENAL! I LOVE that photo of you looking out the window as you are sitting down, and the one of you in the room. Both of the shadows on that look great.. and I LOVE the color in the photo of you sitting down. Are you happy with them? You looked great-- such a beautiful bride! I think your bouquet was gorgeous! Did you take it home with you? Since its silk it will make for a great keepsake! Congratulations- cant wait to hear more!:hug:

[purplegirl247]

Maggimus, I was afraid to answer you at first because when I first saw Randy's photos (I stumbled across them myself after a fellow DISer told me they were posted), I wasn't that happy. :eek: I was disappointed that he didn't get hardly any closeups of the cake, that I didn't have any cool B&W photos, and that I didn't get any fun Photoshopped ones like you did. :confused:

But...! When I looked around some more, I found the folio of my B&Ws, which I LOVE. :love: And when Linda gave me the CD, I found a bunch of cake shots he hadn't posted online. :banana: So my only teeny tiny disappointment was that I didn't get any Photoshopped ones (like the gorgeous ones Maggimus has in B&W with color accents) but I know he's really busy right now so I totally understand. :cool1:

In conclusion, Randy is every bit as great as I've been told and I would definitely use him again! Great guy, great photos, great customer service (and by that I mean willingness to meet with, talk to, and answer questions of clients).

P.S. Plus he called me skinny when I was having a "do I look fat in this?" moment, so he's tops in my book. :rotfl2:
More on that later!

P.S. Yes, I did take the bouquet home with me. It's currently sitting in what Steve calls the Wedding Shrine :rotfl: that has my bouquet, his boutinniere (sp?), our Mickey/Minnie drawing from our shower, his Groom hat, our cake topper, and some other knickknacks. I have to find a permanent home for all this stuff; right now it's on top of a cabinet and I'm afraid someone's going to knock something over!:sad2:

[Maggimus]

Maggimus, I was afraid to answer you at first because when I first saw Randy's photos (I stumbled across them myself after a fellow DISer told me they were posted), I wasn't that happy. :eek: I was disappointed that he didn't get hardly any closeups of the cake, that I didn't have any cool B&W photos, and that I didn't get any fun Photoshopped ones like you did. :confused:

But...! When I looked around some more, I found the folio of my B&Ws, which I LOVE. :love: And when Linda gave me the CD, I found a bunch of cake shots he hadn't posted online. :banana: So my only teeny tiny disappointment was that I didn't get any Photoshopped ones (like the gorgeous ones Maggimus has in B&W with color accents) but I know he's really busy right now so I totally understand. :cool1:

In conclusion, Randy is every bit as great as I've been told and I would definitely use him again! Great guy, great photos, great customer service (and by that I mean willingness to meet with, talk to, and answer questions of clients).

P.S. Plus he called me skinny when I was having a "do I look fat in this?" moment, so he's tops in my book. :rotfl2:
More on that later!

P.S. Yes, I did take the bouquet home with me. It's currently sitting in what Steve calls the Wedding Shrine :rotfl: that has my bouquet, his boutinniere (sp?), our Mickey/Minnie drawing from our shower, his Groom hat, our cake topper, and some other knickknacks. I have to find a permanent home for all this stuff; right now it's on top of a cabinet and I'm afraid someone's going to knock something over!:sad2:

I am so glad that things worked out & that you love your photos. I think they turned out great!

Our wedding stuff is in a curio cabinet but I know it wont be able to stay there forever-- im having trouble finding it a home as well. When you think of something let me know!

[purplegirl247]

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/WalkingwithDad.jpg

My dad and I reach the gazebo. Steve hasn’t turned around. I walk up next to him and say hi. He half turns to me, very stiffly. Apparently (he told me later), Juliana took my request of no one seeing me before the wedding VERY seriously. She told Steve under no circumstances should he turn around until I was right there next to him. :rotfl2: I lean in to our officiant and quickly whisper we have to skip the flower ceremony part. He says he already realized that, so I am relieved. He’s such a good friend. Oh, and his girlfriend was our videographer (amateur). They were awesome. :thumbsup2

The vows begin! They went by very quickly. I was taken aback later when I realized I didn’t tear up once! I just repeated when I was supposed to, said “I do” at the right moment and then, voila! We were married. The only time I had to take a moment was when the officiant said the bit about how we wish others could have joined us (my grandfather passed away last year). That was sad. :sad1:

Just realized I’m referencing all these things and none of you have any idea what I’m talking about. I've never seen vows posted before, but I’m ridiculously proud the ones I wrote, so I’m going to include them now. Note that (a) I didn’t have my dad “give me away” because I didn’t like that custom (b) there’s a direct movie quote in there; bonus points to whomever gets it, and (c) if there’s a place where you felt like laughing, I probably wrote that on purpose so don’t feel bad about it. Hee hee.

~The couple asked that we forego the line “who gives this woman” and instead opted for more inclusive wording. To that end, who shares this woman with your family, making her as one of your own? {look to Steve’s family} Who shares this man with your family, making him as one of your own? {look to Christine’s family}

Marriage. Marriage is what brings us together today. We gather here today to recognize the end of this couple’s courtship and the beginning of their married life. What better location to celebrate than the happiest place on earth?

Steve and Christine asked me to say a few words on their behalf, mostly because they knew they’d be too nervous to form a coherent sentence. So first, a brief background on their history. How did they meet? For those of you who don’t know, Christine was a bona fide groupie at the comedy club Steve worked for at the time. She came so often that they eventually struck up a conversation, he asked for her number, and shortly thereafter they had their first phone conversation, which lasted over two hours.

Two hours is a long time, and likely Christine did most of the talking, but one thing stood out for each of them. Steve remembers that they were already very comfortable around each other; in fact, it felt like they already knew each other. Christine remembers (which Steve still tries to deny to this day!) that Steve said he had a vision of her in a wedding dress.

Exactly four years and nine months later, she is a vision in her dress. Some of you may say, “it’s about time,” but for the two of them, the time is just right. Like Christine’s dad often says, they didn’t want to rush into anything.

Their only regret is that not everyone could be here to share their special day. Let’s please take a moment to remember Christine’s grandfather, Russell D., who now shares a wedding anniversary with the couple. …

To honor those that are here, they will now bestow flowers upon the women in their lives [give flowers to Steve’s mom and Christine’s grandmas]. Without these ladies, the couple’s lives would not be what they are today.

And now for the vows. Steve, please repeat after me.

I, <full name>, take you, <full name>, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as we both shall live.

Do you, Steven, pledge to support Christine in all things, to love her above all others, to listen to her when she needs comfort, and most importantly, to buy her milk because she’s too lazy to get it herself?

Christine, please repeat after me.

I, <full name>, take you, <full name>, to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as we both shall live.

Do you, Christine, pledge to support Steven in all things, to build him up when he feels down, to comfort him when he is sad, and most importantly, to think about buying him video games and Guinness beer, as long as the timing and budget are appropriate?

{Look to audience} Can you tell who wrote these vows?

Do you, Steven and Christine, promise to encourage each other professionally, socially, and emotionally? To guide each other, through dark times and bright? And that only one of you will freak out about finances at any given time?

And now for the rings.

Steven, repeat after me. “I give you this ring, as a visible and constant symbol, of our wedding vows. Please don’t remove it, in times of anger, for they are fleeting, and our love is steadfast. With this ring, I thee wed.”

Christine, repeat after me. “I give you this ring, as a visible and constant symbol, of our wedding vows. Please don’t remove it, in times of anger, for they are fleeting, and our love is steadfast. With this ring, I thee wed.”

And now, with the power invested in me by the state of Florida, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Groom, you may now kiss the bride.~

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Stevelaughing.jpg
Steve laughing at some point. I can't remember what; guess I'll have to wait for the video!

So you can see where I didn’t tear up, I guess. Steve and I aren’t overly mushy people anyway. It’s funny though because the very next day we went on the Keys to the Kingdom tour and when the guide was describing one of Walt Disney’s last wishes, I teared up *then*. How lame am I??

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Andtheylivedhappilyeverafter.jpg
Us walking into our happily ever after (totally fake, by the way, because we turned right back around and started to hug our family and stuff :goodvibes)

[Tabetha]

Love your vows!

The movie quote is more familiar to me this way; "Mawage. Mawage is whot bwings us hewe... todawy"

[purplegirl247]

yay! I actually had to write it out that way for my officiant because he wasn't as familiar with it as we were! The only people who "got it" at the wedding was me, my dad, and my brother. We all giggled kind of quietly and told each other about it later. :rotfl2:

[AbbyPan]

Just need to say that "the princess bride" is one of my absolute all time fav movies! what a nice a touch for your wedding! (my younger sister and I love quoting that sentence-using the "MAWAGE" voice, of course...)

Randy's fotos are beautiful. he captured your day so well. You so happy and relaxed! congrats!

[luna99]

Love your vows!

The movie quote is more familiar to me this way; "Mawage. Mawage is whot bwings us hewe... todawy"

lmao! i love that movie and what a fun thing to include ... it would have totally made me laugh to hear that (which would be a good thing. I'm hoping something funny happens when I'm getting married so I laugh - that way I won't cry TOO much!).

btw, I LOVE your dress!!! it looks so elegant and simple and probably was pretty cool in the heat huh? you're a beautiful bride!

[karentan]

i love the bit about the milk and the guinness and video games, cracked me up!

[purplegirl247]

lmao! i love that movie and what a fun thing to include ... it would have totally made me laugh to hear that (which would be a good thing. I'm hoping something funny happens when I'm getting married so I laugh - that way I won't cry TOO much!).

btw, I LOVE your dress!!! it looks so elegant and simple and probably was pretty cool in the heat huh? you're a beautiful bride!

When I first started shopping for a dress, I tried on some of the bigger, poofier(is that a word??) dresses but with all the layers of crinolin and such, they were super hot! And I get hot REALLY easily so I knew that wasn't the way to go. :rotfl:

If you cry, it'll be out of love, so I'm sure your DH would understand. :hug:

[purplegirl247]

Now that the hard stuff was done, let the party begin! :cool1: At this point, things get a teeny bit confusing because no one really told me the order of the post-ceremony stuff. BM says that you can clearly hear me on the video several times saying, “wait, what are we supposed to be doing now?”

Lesson learned: Unless you have a clearly defined schedule ironed out with your coordinator in advance, you’ll sort of be at her mercy.

We, for example, did our first dance (more to come on that), started to take formal pics, got interrupted to do the cake cutting and toast (more to come on that!), did our second dance, finished our formal pics, then bundled everyone off to the limo. I had no idea what was going on and there are several pics of me looking a little…confused.

Our first dance went…awry…because while we did bring our own boom box, CDs, and batteries, somehow the boom box switch got turned on and left on all night. End result? We hit play and…nothing happened! So I had to run over to the violinist…
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Askingviolinist.jpg
…and ask her if she knew how to play “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story. Um, no, she didn’t. I asked her if she had any suggestions, and she went with “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from the Lion King. By the way, this was the only time I heard her clearly. I know she was there, and I know she sounded lovely, but I was so focused on other things that I didn’t get a chance to really enjoy her.

Lesson learned: If you have a violinist, don’t stress too much on song choices because you’ll be too busy to hear her/him anyway!

Our first dance. I LOVE this photo. I loved all of Randy’s photos that were artistic.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Aristicdancing.jpg

The beginning of our formal photos:
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Everyone.jpg

Moments later, someone waves at us from the boardwalk. Everyone waves back. I think the resulting picture is adorable.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Everyonewaving.jpg

We get waved over to cut the cake before it starts to melt. Here’s us pre-toast.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Toastingwithcake-1.jpg

I pick up my glass and notice that all the glasses look awfully clear. Apparently, the bartender/pour guy misread Juliana’s instructions. Instead of just me, my dad, and my grandma getting Sprite, he poured enough Sprite for EVERYONE! :laughing: This led to a very funny moment (unfortunately not caught on camera, I don’t think) where Juliana, Karen, and the bar guy try to surreptitiously toss the contents of the glasses (the Sprite) into the bushes with flicks of their wrists. Hilarious! :lmao:

Lesson learned: See above lesson about sometimes people getting confused.

Us actually toasting
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/TheToast.jpg

We go back to some formal pics when Juliana comes running up, all out of breath. The sweetheart had STOLEN a CD player from someone who worked at the resort so we could have our first dance! HA HA HA HA HA She did return it, so I guess it was more of a borrow. :) In any case, we got to dance again, this time to our real song. I told everyone the first one was just our dress rehearsal. :thumbsup2

OK, now’s time for me to just post pics, because the ceremony is pretty much complete at this point.

Yay for playful pics with the bros!
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Brotherlylove.jpg

This is us doing “the Freddy.” We used to watch Camp Beverly Hills over and over when we were on summer break and always did the Freddy. Does anyone else have any clue what I’m talking about??
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/DoingtheFreddy.jpg

My dad’s favorite color is yellow so he wore a yellow T-shirt underneath his suit. He also wore sneakers, which Randy took a special picture of. My dad ALWAYS wears sneakers and this weird old fishing hat. I nixed the hat but allowed the sneakers. I’m so good at compromise. :rotfl:
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Sillydad.jpg

Remember how our wedding day was also my grandmother’s wedding anniversary? We presented her with this card so she would know that she was special that day too.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/CardforGma.jpg

[M&M126]

OMG! I love Troop Beverly Hills!! I definitely know what the Freddy is! Hahaha. I love that movie so much!

[purplegirl247]

The Freddy is classic. Timeless. Enduring...

...just like Shelley Long and Troop Beverly Hills! :rotfl2:

[karentan]

i love that film!!!

[M&M126]

Hahah yes definitely A Classic ;)

[purplegirl247]

Just some quick photos that I especially enjoyed from Randy. I think I mentioned this somewhere else, but whomever you decide on for photography, be sure to tell them what style you like. I assumed Randy would do primarily "artistic" shots (like the ones I love below) but there weren't as many as I would've hoped for because I didn't tell him that's what I liked. Oops!

Lesson learned: talk to your photographer about what style, shots, look, etc. you have in mind.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/StevekissingBandW.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Sunglassesreflection.jpg
(What's that in his sunglasses? Why, it's me!)

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Ringsandbouquet.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Requestedshot.jpg
This is "our shot" that we requested in all our photo shoots. This one is sort of shadowy, but I like it anyway.

And of course, the one from my siggy, which I think is my favorite.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Soinlove.jpg

If you have the time or interest, here's the link to Randy's photos.
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=2890516
There are also several more on the CD that he didn't upload to the site, which was nice (I was primarily worried that there weren't very many pics of the cake, which I loved, until I got the CD and realized there were more).

The first set (where my name is spelled wrong; lol) is the color shots. The second is the B&W.

And so the wedding was over. The honeymoon was still to come! Don't worry; I'll be much more brief on that. Throw up some pictures, add in some advice, and call it a day.

[Maggimus]

Wow your photos are awesome- he did a great job. It didnt hurt that the ppl in it looked amazing as well!

[jodeeluvsdisney]

I want that cake!! Is that an option for intimates...or did you upgrade? I love it!

[RangerPooh]

My brother and I use to always watch Troop Beverly Hills. Infact it was one of the movies that my parents banned us from renting becuase we rented it so often. So I know all about "the Freddy". That picture is hillarious.

The picture of you with your brothers is very cute :goodvibes

[purplegirl247]

I want that cake!! Is that an option for intimates...or did you upgrade? I love it!

I just asked my planner if she could add a splash of purple because that's my favorite color (obviously!) and the all-white cake wasn't doing it for me. That's what the bakery came up with, and I loved it! I made sure to ask my planner to tell me if it was going to cost extra and in this case, it didn't.Oh, and it's buttercream, not fondant. I don't remember them asking me which I wanted, but I'm not a fan of fondant so it all worked out.

By the way, for anyone who may send one of my pics along to request that their cake look similar, please please don't mention my name or my planner's; I don't want to get her in trouble if she was supposed to charge me or whatever. I'll even make it easy for ya. Show them this shot, which is a closeup of the cake but doesn't show my face or hers...

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/CakeCrop.jpg
(I left it super big so you can see the detail. Close up, it's just a bunch of three dots. From far away, it's Mickey!)

Thanks! :thumbsup2

[purplegirl247]

My brother and I use to always watch Troop Beverly Hills. Infact it was one of the movies that my parents banned us from renting becuase we rented it so often. So I know all about "the Freddy". That picture is hillarious.


We watched that movie a lot, but our "banned to play while our parents were home" was Herbie. We LOVED LOVED Herbie and would watch it over and over and over and...well, you get the idea. I guess the 'rents got tired of it?? *gasp* When my brothers came to visit a few months ago, we busted it out and...you guessed it! We still knew ALL the words, even though we hadn't watched it for over a decade. DH thought we were nuts. :lmao:

But at least he understood when I got all excited at what I found outside the car stunt show thingy at MGM.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon066.jpg
Ah, true love.

[Tink143]

Loving your TR and LOVE your cake!

Congratulations!

[magdog79]

Wow everything looks amazing. Everything seem to fall into perfect place for you even with the few mis-steps. Congrats once again.

[purplegirl247]

The night of the wedding was very chill; I had planned it that way because I knew the day would be so rush rush. We took a dip in the hot tub, rented Muppets the Movie and just enjoyed each other’s company. Steve even ordered a surprise of strawberries dipped in chocolate, which was very sweet because he never remembers to do stuff like that!
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon011.jpg

When Steve talked to concierge about it, they said “oh, don’t worry about it,” which he took to mean it would be comped because it was our wedding, but alas, no, we were charged the $32.50 for it. Ah, well. Curiously, the next day after we had checked out, they called us to say that we had not picked up our complimentary bottle of champagne that we knew nothing about. I’m a little confused on why they wouldn’t just comp our strawberries and leave it at that, since they were cheaper than the champagne, but oh, well. :confused:

This is my most important lesson learned: I know people have said this before, but I didn’t take it to heart AT ALL and wound up a little disappointed: Seriously, seriously, don’t expect any pixie dust on your honeymoon. We got very nice well wishes from people walking by, and a dessert or two on the house, but didn’t see hide nor hair of any FastPasses, congratulatory phone calls from Mickey, free Mickey treats, or any of that. I was a little irritated at first but realized that Steve wasn’t because he wasn’t expecting anything at all. That’s sort of the danger of reading trip reports: you know in advance what other people are getting and can get wrapped up in the hopes of receiving stuff as well. Steve didn’t know what to expect, so he was pleased the entire time. I definitely learned that lesson! :rolleyes:

The next morning we checked out of Yacht Club and later that day, into Riverside, which we fell in love with, as I mentioned. :love: Even their hidden Mickeys were cuter! (check out the bedspread)
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon033.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon071.jpg

Then we were off to meet my brothers for our Keys to the Kingdom tour. We learned behind-the-scenes stuff about Disney in general, Disney the man, hidden Mickeys, folk lore, etc. etc. I had been on it before, but it’s different each time depending on who you’re guide is, so it was fun. They even had little ear buds this time so we could hear Aaron without him having to shout over crowds. I highly recommend any of the tours we went on, and I'm sure the other tours are fantastic as well. :thumbsup2
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/BrothersatMK.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon017.jpg

We also learned that the uniforms they use today are the only original uniform style left from when Disney opened the parks. Unfortunately, this is the last bunch to get them as they’re being re-vamped to match DL in the next little while. So go take a tour while you can!
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon019.jpg

After the tour, we bid a fond farewell to my brothers. Here’s where our timing stinks. We spent longer than I had anticipated riding attractions with my bros, so we didn’t have time to go back to the hotel to nap or hydrate or any of that good stuff. By the time we got to MGM for our Hollywood and Vine ADRs, we were miserable. Steve and I never fight—ever—but we were sniping at each other like no other because we were hot, tired, and generally in bad moods. :sad2: It didn’t help that when we got to Hollywood, they made us wait for ten minutes past our ADRs, but when we got inside there was only one other family there! What’s that all about? We did not enjoy Hollywood and Vine, their service OR their food.

Lesson learned: Look up your restaurants before you go on the dining thread on Dis. I had originally booked the ADRs so we could see Fantasmic but when I made the reservations, they said they didn’t offer that package anymore. Instead of being patient and calling back after I had done more research, I just went ahead and booked it. So we spent $48 on food that we could’ve gotten more variety and better taste from Golden Corral, Ryans, etc.

By the time we got back to the hotel, I felt awful. Headache, sick to my stomach, dizzy, you name it. I had to lay down for awhile which ate up two hours or so. :sick:

Lesson learned: If you aren’t used to Florida’s heat, or even if you think you are, take lots of breaks and drink lots of water.

The rest of the week, we made sure to stop back at the hotel after lunch and recharge our batteries. It took some time out of our schedule, but at least I didn’t get sick again.

Up next: our MK photo shoot, Treasures of the World Showcase tour, and lunch at Le Cellier! :woohoo:

[mcarthur205]

Great report, and I love your pictures. :) I agree with you about H&V. We ate there on our last trip in 2006, primarily for the Fantasmic Dinner Package. The service was so-so, and the food was worse. It was very crowded and we waited 30 minutes past our ADR time, even though we arrived 10 mins early! By the time we got in there, we were hot, tired and fed up! :sad2: We enjoyed Fantasmic from the reserved seating area, but I'll never eat at H&V again, especially now if they don't even offer the Fantasmic package.

Looking forward to hearing more!

[purplegirl247]

On Wednesday, we got up at 5 am to get ready for our MK photo shoot. I was a little nervous because some other Disbrides have had some trouble with the attitude of some of Disney’s photographers. Luckily, we never ran into that. Our photographer, Tom, even called us to make sure we were awake, treated us very courteously, and said that Randy was a good guy. I think my favorite part about the whole experience was being driven on the streets of MK before it opened. Very surreal. I think I liked that part even more than the pics themselves! :rotfl:

Link to our pics, including our honeymoon shots that we took later in the week...

Actually, skipping ahead, our honeymoon shoot was on Friday afternoon at 3:30 pm. That photographer, Bryan, was super nice and quite the trooper. Apparently they usually schedule these things in the morning for a reason: it was pretty crowded and RIDICULOUSLY hot. But because Bryan is some sort of GENIUS, you can’t tell either of those things in the photos he took. I honestly think his photos are my most favorite of them all, even including Randy's. I can’t wait for three years to go by so we can buy them. :woohoo:

Oh, and if you click on the favorites folder, you’ll see which ones we liked best.

http://www.collages.net/disneyweddings

Username: Persons / Pratt Wedding
Password: 1971

OK, back to regularly scheduled programming. On Wednesday we took the Hidden Treasures of the World Showcase tour, which was also phenomenal. We learned so much about the countries that I sort of felt like a bad Disney fan for not knowing more than half the stuff was there. For example, a saying in Morocco is that true beauty lies beneath the veil so the real pretty stuff is *inside* the buildings. And all the stuff is handmade by workers sent here as a gift from the King of Morocco. Wait, that sounds funny. The *work* by the Morocccans was the gift, not the workers themselves. They weren’t slaves or anything!

They said they were changing this tour so only people in town for conferences could go, which is a shame because it was great fun. Maybe they're just going to rename it to something else? Who knows. There's a listing of all the tours offered and their prices on allears.net, if you're interested.

For lunch we ate at Le Cellier, where we finally got to taste the pretzel bread, steak, and cheddar cheese soup. Just as divine as promised. Our favorite place we ate by far.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon028.jpg

The waitress surprised us with some sort of congratulatory honeymoon mousse dessert, which was delicious.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon030.jpg

Did you notice the hidden Mickey? Sorry it's blurry. It was too delicious for me to take the pic again! :rotfl2:
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon031.jpg

Went back to the hotel to take a nap, then headed out to Animal Kingdom to take advantage of Magical Evening Hours or whatever it’s called and take lots and lots of random PhotoPass pics!
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/DisneyPhotoImage65.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/DisneyPhotoImage76.jpg

A word about PhotoPass. Some photographers are better than others, both in personality and in talent, so be sure to take lots of different shots so you can pick your favorites. For example, that one up there in front of Expedition Everest was super fun because the photographer was playful (he told me to "be one with the Yeti"), but I’m all in shadows so he didn’t have a good technical eye.

This is what happened when we asked a photographer to take a pic of us in front of the Canada totem thingies. Notice you can't really tell what you're looking at.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/DisneyPhotoImage101.jpg

If you decide in advance to buy your CD, you can have a lot of fun picking random places and poses. Also, if you tell your photographer you’re going to buy the CD, they tend to have more fun with it. And the CD holds like 500 pics, so the odds of you filling them up are slim. We felt like we took pics for days and days but only came away with 113 or so.

The guy who took this pic had never thought to take it on this little guy. But he was a good sport and we had so much fun!
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/DisneyPhotoImage30.jpg

Also, be clear what you want a pic of. Some did a great job of putting the big ta-da behind us…
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/DisneyPhotoImage28.jpg

And some didn’t “get it.”
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/DisneyPhotoImage51.jpg
I could take this pic at home; why would I go to Disney to get it done?? Can you even tell that's the castle back there?

Here’s that pic of me over his shoulder that we always do.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/DisneyPhotoImage92.jpg

This is by far my favorite, and if I remember correctly, it was the photographer who suggested we switch. Genius!
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/DisneyPhotoImage32.jpg

Anyway, we had fun at Animal Kingdom. Up next, the Segway tour, eating at the castle, the stunt show, and Bob Jackson at Riverside. Yeah, a little busy!

[luv4mylittleones]

You guys are so cute!!! It looks like you had a blast!

[princessdisneybelle]

Aw I love the pic where you switch ears!

[Ticky Toria 78]

Just a quick note to say your pictures are lovely.
We just got married at the YC Gazebo and we stayed at PO Riverside.

[Maggimus]

love your photos-- both of you are so cute together!

[AbbyPan]

You both look so happy, it makes me excited! Love your Epcot pics!

[chiefdragon]

Love your photos. Both of you look Awesome :)

[purplegirl247]

Yay, thanks for all the kind words! I'll probably finish off this bad boy this week or weekend. I've had so much fun writing this; I hope you all enjoyed reading it as well!

[AshleyLynn]

I am loving reading your TR! I actually got chills while looking at your pictures because I will be honeymooning there in about a month and a half! Thanks for posting this...you look like you had a great time.

[JackieSparrow]

Great TR ! :thumbsup2 You're right- your honeymoon pictures are fabulous!! it seems the photographer used the backgrounds perfectly to capture stunning shots (unlike the photopass one who got the, ahem, "castle" in the background... :rotfl2: ) and you for sure can't tell it's the afternoon in a crowded park! It looks like you guys had a lot of fun... your pics make me want to go NOW! haha.. can't wait to read more :goodvibes

[lajones81]

Great photos!! :)

[purplegirl247]

Thursday, our busiest day. Looking back at my journal, I have no idea how we managed to do so much in one day!

Thursday morning we head to Epcot for…the Segway Tour! This was the most fun I think I’ve ever had at Disney, hands down. The first thirty minutes or so, they teach you how to get on, get off, and maneuver them. Then you’re off to the World Showcase (which wasn’t open yet so we had full reign!) to tour the countries in style! I strongly urge everyone to take this tour if they have the time and the finances because it was super super fun. :thumbsup2

Lesson learned: the Segway Tour is awesome!
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon042.jpg

After the tour we hopped on the Monorail to the MK, where we had reservations for CRT. This is yet another instance where I went on assumptions and didn’t do my homework. See, when I was a kid, the restaurant inside the castle was something we aspired to, because we couldn’t afford to eat there ever. From what I gathered, it was fine dining at its best. That’s why I was so excited to go on our honeymoon. Did I bother to take a look at what it’s like now over at the restaurant boards? Um, no, unfortunately. :rolleyes:

Lesson learned: CRT is a character restaurant.

I was completely unprepared for my fantasy fine dining locale to be one step up from my local Burger King playground. We were literally the only people there without kids. The food was good and the pics turned out very cute, but I doubt we’d go there again (and yes, I know Disney is all about kids, and usually it isn't a big deal; it's just that I was expecting one thing and wound up with something crazily, totally different!).

Me and Belle
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon057.jpg

I think this one is my favorite. I love that Snow White is doing that with her hands.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon055.jpg

Mmmm, majordomo pie!
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon053.jpg

At one point, the waitress came over and shoved a box at me. Well, I guess she more like threw it on the table in my general direction. I was a little confused because it was an odd-shaped box and we hadn’t ordered anything to go yet (we did end up taking one of the desserts home because it was too much for us and it was yummy yummy). Turns out it was champagne glasses! :cloud9: I was so grateful and they were so cool, but thought it was sort of odd the way the waitress handled it, though to be fair, she was very harried. :eek:

Our delicious dessert
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon060.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon062.jpg
The fairy godmother came over as we were leaving and told us to open our box. When we did, she threw a handful of confetti inside and told us that it was something magical for us to enjoy. She suggested putting it in a clear plastic or glass globe and hanging it on the Christmas tree. She was really sweet and made us feel a little better. :)

Went back to the hotel for a nap, then took a Disney bus to MGM to catch the Stunt Show Spectacular, which we had never seen before.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon064.jpg

They even included me in the show! :3dglasses
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon065.jpg
OK, not really. :goodvibes That was the answer to one of the pre-show questions; something to do with Stephen King’s book about the evil car.

We weren’t sure what to do for dinner until Steve reminded me that I had promised he could have some “authentic” fish and chips at some point of the honeymoon, with some Guinness (as per our wedding vows; lol). So we took the bus to Epcot.

Steve is very happy here, though for some reason he doesn't look it...
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon068.jpg

Funny story about the guy over his left shoulder. He was wearing the exact same shirt as Steve, an In and Out Burger shirt. Steve loves that place and loves talking about it, so he started to chat the guy up. The guy apparently had been drinking for quite some time because he didn’t quite “get” that they were wearing the same shirt. He kept turning around and asking us to describe what was on the back of his shirt (“Is is a Corvette? Is it blue?”). I kept telling him to just look at the back of Steve’s shirt, which was the exact same thing, but he just kept asking what was on the back of his own. It was a very Dude, Where’s My Car moment, if anyone has seen it and remembers the “dude!” “sweet!” tattoo bit. :rotfl:

I’m not a fan of fish and chips, but do love me some nachos, so we went over to Mexico to get some. Then we rode the new Mexico ride, which incorporates the Three Caballeros. It was cute. I missed the little vendor lady at the end who tries to chase you down and get you to buy some sombreros or whatever, but it definitely revitalized the ride (although why they chose a cartoon that no one has seen in twenty years or whatever to modernize a ride today is sort of beyond me! :confused:). Oh, and the lady was nice enough to give us a “wedding present”…

Our very own boat to ourselves (you can sort of see the empty rows behind us). Very sweet.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon069.jpg

Took the bus back to the hotel. Decided the night was still young so took a stroll on the grounds. Very romantic. We grabbed some drinks at the pool bar, then headed to the main lobby to take a look around. There was a guy named Bob Jackson performing at the River Roost, the little bar they have there. He was awesome. He told stories, sang songs, and encourage audience participation. The best part was that you could sit up front, and participate more, or sit toward the back, and just sort of watch. We just watched because, well, I’m not a drinker and the one Orange Creamsicle I had was enough to make me a little tipsy.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon070.jpg

Bob was great and I think we may go back to see him again even if we aren’t staying on property! He’s there from 7 to midnight, I think, and has been there for five years.

Off to bed we went. Up next, our last day at Disney :sad1: and "what do you mean there are no rooms on Disney property??" :confused:

[Maggimus]

how fun! Im glad you mentioned the new ride in Mexico-- we were just talking about how they updated it over on the "off topic" thread. Do you think its better than the old?

[purplegirl247]

It was definitely time for a facelift! But I don't think I've ever seen the Three Caballeros cartoon, so I didn't really recognize the characters or anything. They did a good job with leaving the framework in place but updating the interaction (so all the rooms and set up are the same; they just dropped Donald into certain spots; does that make sense?).

It's definitely a new attraction I'd recommend seeing at least once for the novelty of it (unlike the new Monsters Inc. show that did nothing for us, and we wouldn't recommend even though we loooooove the movie).

[purplegirl247]

To back up a little, when I first made the hotel reservations several months before the wedding, we had grand plans of checking out Friday morning, loading our stuff into the car, then heading for the parks for the day, going home afterward (we're local). As we got closer, I realized that my idea wasn't going to work because we had recently made plans to do Hoop de Doo with our officiant and his girlfriend that night, and we wouldn't have anywhere to hang out for the afternoon (see what happened on Tuesday for reasons why we couldn't just wander around in the heat the whole time :rotfl:).

So earlier in the week we called reservations and told them we wanted to extend. They said we couldn't; there weren't any rooms at Port Orleans. Actually, there weren't any rooms at any of the moderate resorts. Actually, there weren't any rooms at any of the resorts. ALL HOTELS ON DISNEY PROPERTY WERE BOOKED! :scared1:

Holy crap, how did that happen? Apparently it was the weekend of both the Disney Channel All-Stars games and the Disney's Magical Musical Something or Other for high school and middle school band students. There were no rooms. Very sad and also very unusual. So since we knew we wouldn't be able to get up early and do the Future World Tour we had planned and last the rest of the day, with heavy hearts we cancelled the tour (and of course it was too late to get a refund :rolleyes:). Ah, well.

Lesson learned: Even with Disney's gazillion hotel rooms, they can get booked up fast!

Anywho, back to Friday. We slept in a little (our first time the whole week!), ate a leisurely breakfast, packed up our stuff, and bade goodbye to our little room. :sad1: We still had lots of fun stuff to do though, so I wouldn't let the sadness keep us down for too long!

Went to Epcot. Hung out with Figment for a bit, who we love and are super sad that they updated Journey to Imagination without a starring role with him and the Dream Maker in it. :laughing:
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon076.jpg

Appreciated the fountain and especially, the cooling mist that came from it. It was getting pretty warm at this point.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon077.jpg

Went to Garden Grille for lunch. It was delicious.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon080.jpg

Plus, the atmosphere was awesome. :goodvibes
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon079.jpg

Pluto even stole Steve’s hat. :rotfl2:
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon081.jpg

He also cracked me up because he was making these smacking kissy noises from inside the costume.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon083.jpg

They gave us a lovely cake and certificate to commemorate our grand event.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon086.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon087.jpg

We also got to meet what had to be the shortest Mickey ever. Seriously, I know Mickeys must be short by design…
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon085.jpg
But what you can’t tell is that Steve is on his knees there!

This is Mickey’s actual height. It made for a pretty realistic Mickey experience! :love:
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon084.jpg

To be continued (too many pics in this post)...

[purplegirl247]

After lunch we went to Test Track to use a FastPass we had picked up earlier. We heard this was the only ride you can get your ride photo put on your PhotoPass, so we were pretty excited. Exited the ride, saw our photo, put our little PhotoPass card in, and…it disappeared. ACK! That card had ALL of our photos from the week on it! We tell the CM, who goes behind the scenes to pick it up for us. When he goes to load it onto the computer, he couldn’t find our Test Track photo to put on the card manually and…couldn’t find any of our other photos! :scared1:

The CM tells us not to freak out, that if you know the time and location of any of your recent pics, they can pull it up that way, but of course, we’re freaking out anyway. We run over to the photo store beneath the ball and…the pics were there all the time. The computers at Test Track don’t have enough memory to properly load all the pics on our card. Thank goodness!

Lesson learned: be wary about putting your Photopass card into some of the slots that may whisk it away forever.

Lesson learned, part II: allegedly, if something goes awry, you can still get your pics back, but it’s still a scary thing! :scared:

Anyway, now it’s time to meet our next Disney photographer and get our honeymoon shots that we swapped out when we used Randy for our actual wedding. We met Bryan at the International Gateway and man oh man, is it hot. I was under the impression that you just pic a country or two, they snap some shots, then you’re on your merry way. Bryan had no such thing in mind! He took us around to every country, set us up in places I wouldn’t even have though of, and managed to do it sweating buckets and with eighty million other guests roaming around (see my earlier comment about all the rooms being booked by all the band kids). He was excellent. :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2

Lesson learned: I’ve read some complaints about Disney photography, but it definitely depends on whom you get. Tom, our first guy, was very nice and got some decent shots. Bryan was also very nice and took PHENOMENAL shots. :cloud9:

After we bid a fond, sweaty farewell to Bryan (Sorry to be graphic but it’s true! We were gross.). We wanted to leave in time to get home and take a nap (depending on traffic, we’re at least thirty or so minutes from Disney) before our friends picked us up to take us right back out to Disney. On the way we stopped back at the photo shop under the ball to get our official CD. We picked out the three “free” 5”x7” we wanted and were on our merry way.

To interrupt myself for a sec, there’s two ways you can get the CD: online or at Disney. If you buy in the parks, you get the 5”x7”s and don’t have to pay shipping, but if you wait until you’re home, you can add borders and such (no free prints though). The pro about the borders is that somehow the program is smart enough to know what park you were in at the time, and you can put that park’s logo on your pic. The con about the borders is that somehow the program *isn’t* smart enough to let you move the logo, so they’re always in the same place on every photo, which is sort of restrictive. :confused:

Lesson learned: You may want to wait until you get home to order the CD. You can also have the people in the photo store put the borders on for you, but if you had over 100 photos like we did, you’d be standing there for quite some time! As for the “free” 5”x7” (I keep adding the “ around it because the CD used to be $100, no prints, and is now $125, with prints), you can just buy the CD, upload the pics to snapfish or something, and order your own prints in whatever sizes you like.

Anyway…we went home, took a nap, woke up refreshed (if not a little depressed), and were ready for our friends to pick us up. None of us had ever been to Hoop Dee Doo, but we all had a GREAT TIME. We couldn’t believe how much food there was! Ribs, corn bread, salad, beans, fried chicken, yum yum!

While we were there, we saw this guy.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon088.jpg
He claims he’s the only one officially allowed to have Disney tattoos or something like that (I think if you google “Disney tattoo guy” he comes up. No, seriously). His body is COVERED with all kinds of Disney tattoos. Not just of characters and locations either. He has the original cast of the Hoop Dee Doo, for example. Nice guy, but I don’t think he’s nearly as famous as he thinks he is! :rotfl:

Steve had a swell time playing the washboard thingy.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon089.jpg

As you can see, they also have free-flowing beer pitchers, sangria, but also sodas.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/purplegirl247/Wedding/Honeymoon091.jpg

The show was over. The honeymoon was over. We were officially married. Briefly, I experienced the post-wedding depression that everyone talks about, when the planning is over and what do you do next?? :upsidedow I’ve sustained myself by looking at all the pics and planning what to do with them all (searching for the perfect album, picture frame, whatever). :woohoo:

All in all, we had a great time. Disney is still fabulous. We’ve been married for almost six weeks and are just now starting to get used to calling each other “my husband” and “my wife” without giggling. ;) OK, it’s mostly me. DH has gotten quite adept at it. Who’d have thought??

Lesson learned: Disney really is the happiest place on earth. :flower3:

[lajones81]

LOVE all of the pictures!! It sounds like you had an amazing time!

I have seen the Disney Tattoo Guy on television before.

Here is his website: http://www.disneytattooguy.com/

Here is a list of his appearances: http://www.disneytattooguy.com/appearances.htm

Truthfully, I love Disney, but don't think I'm that devoted!!

[Maggimus]

Great TR-- im going to miss it..

One thing though-- the Disney Tattoo Guy is a lot more famous than you might think. Ive been on his website NUMBEROUS times in the past-- and his house is CARAZY!! I always look out for him when we are at WDW (he lives in PA- he isnt even LOCAL!)--- but ive always wondered if he was a little off.. ya know? Have you ever checked out his house online? There was a huge long long thread on the community board about him at one time. I knew him right away when I saw the photo and you mentioned his tattoo's!

Check out these photos of his house...:laughing: he's definitely a fanATIC!
http://www.disneytattooguy.com/housepics.htm

love your TR though-- had a great time reliving WDW and my wedding with you!!

[purplegirl247]

Yeah, I checked out his site. And the stuff he has *is* pretty crazy. But from the way he was talking to us, it was almost like he was offended that we didn't know who he was. Plus, he worded it like this: "I come down to Orlando and do "this" at least twice a month" (or whatever the frequency is), which led us to believe he signs autographs or interacts with people or does a little show or...something. But what he meant was, he sits up front at Hoop Dee Doo and waits for people to comment about his tattoos! He was silly. And yes, perhaps a little off. Isn't he on like his ninth wife?

He also has a Mickey head shaved into the back of his head. Sort of like a hidden Mickey, ha ha.

[Lynn5700]

Yeah I saw that tat guy on a talk show,I forget what one it may have been live with Regis. He is awesome!!

[luv4mylittleones]

Great TR-- im going to miss it..

One thing though-- the Disney Tattoo Guy is a lot more famous than you might think. Ive been on his website NUMBEROUS times in the past-- and his house is CARAZY!! I always look out for him when we are at WDW (he lives in PA- he isnt even LOCAL!)--- but ive always wondered if he was a little off.. ya know? Have you ever checked out his house online? There was a huge long long thread on the community board about him at one time. I knew him right away when I saw the photo and you mentioned his tattoo's!

Check out these photos of his house...:laughing: he's definitely a fanATIC!
http://www.disneytattooguy.com/housepics.htm

love your TR though-- had a great time reliving WDW and my wedding with you!!

WOW...that's a lot of Disney! The house might might be cool if it were decorated more tastefully, but honestly, I think it just looks cluttered and junky...he not so much a disney fanatic but more of Disney pack rat! But I guess we all have our own "style"! ;)

[Maggimus]

WOW...that's a lot of Disney! The house might might be cool if it were decorated more tastefully, but honestly, I think it just looks cluttered and junky...he not so much a disney fanatic but more of Disney pack rat! But I guess we all have our own "style"! ;)

you took the words right out of my mouth!!

[KellyJo18]

I just finished catching up on your TR and am sad it's over! Since you're local you will have to keep posting about your upcoming trips for us :). I cracked up when you mentioned giggling when you refer to your DH because that is something I can see myself doing. I still haven't gotten used to saying "fiancé" :rotfl:. Thank you so much for sharing your wedding/honeymoon with us! I really enjoyed reading it and loved your "lessons learned". Which tour do you think you liked the best? For one of the girls in my wedding party I would like to get a gift certificate (maybe just make one myself) for one of the tours. She works at Disney and I am going to be two hours away and thought that might be a fun thing to do together.

[luv4mylittleones]

You guys look like you had the time of your life!! I really enjoyed reading your TR and can't thank you enough for sharing!!:goodvibes

I don't remember you mentioning your dinner at PYC though...how was it? Where did you guys get seated?

[purplegirl247]

I just finished catching up on your TR and am sad it's over! Since you're local you will have to keep posting about your upcoming trips for us :). I cracked up when you mentioned giggling when you refer to your DH because that is something I can see myself doing. I still haven't gotten used to saying "fiancé" :rotfl:. Thank you so much for sharing your wedding/honeymoon with us! I really enjoyed reading it and loved your "lessons learned". Which tour do you think you liked the best? For one of the girls in my wedding party I would like to get a gift certificate (maybe just make one myself) for one of the tours. She works at Disney and I am going to be two hours away and thought that might be a fun thing to do together.

Our favorite tour hands-down was the Segway Tour, followed closely by Keys to the Kingdom. If your friend works at Disney, she's able to get discounts to a lot of the tours (DH is a CM too). Depending on the tour, we saved anywhere from 20-50%. If you're giving it to her as a gift, though, that might be tacky to ask her, I guess. :confused: We haven't been on a tour at Disney we didn't like, so I think you're safe in any direction you go! (They also have safari-type tours at AK)

[purplegirl247]

You guys look like you had the time of your life!! I really enjoyed reading your TR and can't thank you enough for sharing!!:goodvibes

I don't remember you mentioning your dinner at PYC though...how was it? Where did you guys get seated?

I sort of skipped the luncheon part of the wedding because I thought I was getting too long-winded. :rotfl: Portabello's was great. Everyone found something they liked and since our timing was sort of weird (2:30 pm), they offered to make us anything from their lunch or dinner menus. We were seated in what they called the Rose Corridor, I think, which is a fancy name for the edge of the restaurant, off to the side. The sales lady Lindsay said she booked that for us because it's so private, but there were only one or two other families there are that time, so it ended up not a big deal.

We brought our cake with us to eat after lunch (didn't want people loading up on champagne and cake at the ceremony; lol) and Lindsay said we would be charged a $2.50 per person cake serving fee, even if they didn't serve it directly and even if not everyone ate a piece. :eek: However, they ended up not charging us that fee at all (thank goodness!). I don't know if it's because Lindsay wasn't there and our servers didn't know about the charge or if it's because we offered our cake leftovers to the back staff and they were so happy they waived the charge. In any case, no charge! :woohoo:

[DAKLNiddy]

At one point, the waitress came over and shoved a box at me. Well, I guess she more like threw it on the table in my general direction. I was a little confused because it was an odd-shaped box and we hadn’t ordered anything to go yet (we did end up taking one of the desserts home because it was too much for us and it was yummy yummy). Turns out it was champagne glasses! :cloud9:


Just wondering if you have a picture of those champagne glasses?! I would love to see them!

[myprincessgirlisa]

i loved your tr!!

you put in some great tips...not just for weddings but any trip!!

How did you like hoop de doo....im debating that or MM bbq

Ive always wanted to do the tours...im glad you highly recommend them

Congrats!!

[AbbyPan]

Cori- I'm glad you posted- i forgot to read the about the honeymoon!:sad2:

Christina, I can't beleive its over. you looked so happy! I'm going through withdrawal from your wonderful TR...isn't there anything else?...ok...

Dudes that tattoo guy is out of his keesters! His house looks retarded!!!

[purplegirl247]

Just wondering if you have a picture of those champagne glasses?! I would love to see them!

I didn't take any pics at the time, but they're on a shelf at the house; I'll try to remember to post a pic for ya tonight!

i loved your tr!!

you put in some great tips...not just for weddings but any trip!!

How did you like hoop de doo....im debating that or MM bbq

Ive always wanted to do the tours...im glad you highly recommend them

Congrats!!

We LOVED the tours. They were our favorite parts, I think. Someone on here mentioned that they do OFF-ROAD Segway Tours; I told Steve we totally have to do that! (Well, when the weather cools off, of course!).

I've never done the BBQ but I can tell you that the Hoop de Doo was loads of fun. :thumbsup2

Cori- I'm glad you posted- i forgot to read the about the honeymoon!:sad2:

Christina, I can't beleive its over. you looked so happy! I'm going through withdrawal from your wonderful TR...isn't there anything else?...ok...

Dudes that tattoo guy is out of his keesters! His house looks retarded!!!

I'm so glad you liked my trip report! Hooray! Everyone's trip reports are so great these days that there's a lot of pressure. :rotfl: No more to add except that our marriage so far is going really well. I know most trippies sort of trail off after the honeymoon, but we've been married for two and a half months now and still going strong. We're not a sappy couple by any stretch of the imagination (just read our vows, ha ha) but in the end I'm really glad we decided to get married and I keep telling Steve that he makes a better husband than a boyfriend, if that's possible. :cutie:

OK, enough corniness. Back to work. :laughing:

[alltvseries]

H there I just finish reading your TR....I'm new at this and I'm hoping for a DFTW......Congratulations!......Best Wishes......:cheer2:

[jwwi]

:surfweb:

[29apr00]

You had a great wedding!! Thanks so much for your TR, it really does help!!

[purplegirl247]

Awww, thanks! If you ever have any questions, just drop me a line. If I don't remember something off the top of my head, I'm sure I have it detailed in my wedding spreadsheet or journal! *winks*

[sdcantrn]

I just finished your report (and am ashamed to say I didn't get much else done :confused3 ). Thanks for taking the time to post. I hope all is well with you and your hubby. Any little ones on the way yet???;)

I just got married last weekend and planning a belated honeymoon in September. I've been to Disney multiple times, but not since 1999. Hubby has NEVER been!!! I'm hoping he will be hooked and we can bring our family there in the future.

I am wanting to stay at Wilderness Lodge a couple of nights and then an Epcot area resort. Because of the cost, I'm looking into renting DVC points. Thanks for your honesty about the YC.

I just wanted to say Thanks. I LOVE reading these TR's, but can't imagine ever taking the time to write one.