CARYN & MARK's Trip Report****6/8 added more pics, dried bouquet and wedding album***

[caryndisneydiva]

HERE IT IS! My long awaited, much anticipated trip report!!! I started this the first day we got to Disney and have been working on it since! Thank you all so much for the well wishes on our planning journal! We were truly blessed to have so many people thinking of us on this day! I am still waiting on a ton of pics to come back and I'll post as soon as I get them!!!

A little background in case you missed the PJ...

How we met...
I met mark on my Disney College Program. I was sitting in the Boardwalks community hall, prim and proper in my crisp white shirt and red shorts, watching CNN waiting for my trainer to come in. It's funny, a girl named Melissa was supposed to train me that day, but she called in sick. Mark came in, ranting and raving about some horrifying guest experience he had just had. We left for the pool (we were lifeguards) and I thought he was such a jerk. I actually said to myself, "well, I got the hot one, but he's such a JERK, he's so cocky..." later on that day, we were up at the top of the slide at the BoardWalk and something just hit me, like a thunderbolt. I knew at that moment that he was the one for me, even though he is cocky...Five and a half years later we were married at the BoardWalk, mere steps away from where we first met.


Day 1 January 21, 2008---AND WE’RE OFF…

Knowing full well that we were going to be at least a half hour late, I told Mark that we would need to be walking out the door at 7:30am on the dot in order to make it to the airport on time…I dragged all of our luggage downstairs along with the garbage we had to take to the bar (we had a TON and didn’t want it sitting in or outside our house for 8+ days…). So we (I) loaded up the truck because the luggage wouldn’t fit in the other car…and we were off (to the bar), we dropped the garbage in the dumpster and we were really off (to the airport, to Disney, to our new life together)-finally!

pic of the luggage in our front hall...
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0475.jpg

Because of the amount of luggage that we had, Mark dropped me at curbside check in while he went to park in long term parking. This is where I got my first pixie dust of our trip…we had a HUGE bag of wedding stuff that wasn’t going to come back with us. I knew it was wwwaaaaayyyy over the weight limit, and so did the guy, but he ALSO saw my dress bag and winked at me! He wasn’t going to weigh the big heavy bag, which saved me $25!!!! Yaaaaay! He congratulated me on my wedding and I was off (to wait for mark and the IL’s).

Mark quickly joined me, he was in one heck of a foul mood (early mornings do not agree with my nocturnal little husband and I told him not to talk to me until we got through security. Security. Yeah. That was fun. We had two carry-on’s each. Two laptops and the freaking dress AND they searched my bag and questioned my lip gloss. PUHLEASE. Ugh, anyway, they put the dress through the conveyor belt and I almost had a heart attack thinking it was going to rip, but it didn’t…we were all good. I proceeded to the gate and asked the customer service agent if I could have a seat for my dress. “No problem” she says, the flight isn’t that full and it should be fine as long as I belt it in. Fan-freaking-tastic. I am thrilled. I then join grumpy Marky at the Pappasitos for breakfast tacos. At this point it is 9am and the IL’s aren’t there yet. I start to get worried and begin to call MIL’s phone about a dozen times. They finally show up and join us at breakfast. Here’s a pic of us with the dress bag.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0476.jpg
Then we go to the gate and wait to get on the plane. The minute they call us to board, mark goes to the bathroom, he always does this and it annoys the heck out of me. Anyway, I board with his mom and dad behind me, he finally followed and we get on the plane. I asked the flight attendant where he would like me to sit so that my dress could have a seat and he not so kindly informs me that the dress MUST go in the overhead bin. Needless to say, this was sooooooo not even an option. I ever so kindly inform him that I have asked the customer service agent who said the dress wouldn’t be a problem. He said there were no extra seats. I inform him that the girl said there were plenty of extra seats. He says there are 20 extra seats on the plane which gave me the opportunity to inform him that my dress would have one of those empty seats. He huffed and said, “fine, but it has to have the window seat and it MUST be belted in.” whatever. MIL was so p'd off at that flight attendant that she goes up to him and says, “that’s OUR bride, don’t p^^s her off.” His reply was, he was "just following the rules.” Jerk. So I strapped my dress into the window seat, Mark sat in the middle and I on the aisle.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0477.jpg
For the most part it was an uneventful flight, I watched some bridezilla show on my IPOD and Mark watched the original Star Trek series on his. Various flight attendants asked me about the wedding, etc. Everything was going along very well, until the very end when I seriously thought Mark was going to kill his mother. As we landed, a female flight attendant got over the loud speaker and said that someone on the plane had something to celebrate. Do we think it wrong that I assumed it was me? that flight attendant had congratulated me on the wedding and everything. They were celebrating some man’s 58th birthday, which I’m sure was a super happy affair for him, but darn! I want my free champagne!!!! My mil got so mad that she really did make a scene and my face did turn red, though it WAS pretty funny…the whole deal culminated with Mark yelling, “MOTHER!” at the top of his lungs. Comedy.

So we finally get off the wedding dress haters flight from heck (too bad I packed the hater blockers. They really would have come in handy…). anyway, since we were at MCO I thought it totally appropriate to don my bride ears. IL’s thought this was ADORABLE and begin snapping pics with the camera phone! They’re so funny! We head to baggage claim at which point I gave Mark a job, he always has this job, to go find one of those rolling luggage carrier things that we DON’T have to pay for (I’m not cheap, this is just a great quest for Mark to be on when we’re standing in a crowd looking for luggage attempting to not get more aggravated). He finds one and we get all of our luggage and his parents luggage onto it, the rest we roll out ourselves. Lots and lots of luggage. We make it onto the Thrifty car rental shuttle and go to rent our “full sized” car, which would fit “1 or 2 suitcases”. Well, we had 11 bags of luggage and 4 adults (one of them a very stressed out bridezilla). We ended up with a mini-van (ew) and were off (so we thought at the time)…

Mark at this point is driving, we pull up to the little gate at the exit and the guard tells us that we’re in the wrong car and we need to switch. Uh-no. HE%$ NO. Not with 3 very hungry adults, 1 seriously stressed out bridezilla and 11 freaking bags of luggage! MIL is so mad at this point she’s red faced, so she and I walk back into Thrifty and explain our situation. We ended up not having to change cars and even get a free day. I think it was this free day that made me keep that stupid car for our entire trip. The car was hood ghetto and every time you opened a door, the hazard lights would come on. The child locks would re-set themselves every few hours. I prefer luxury and the half eaten moldy French fry that greeted me in the passenger seat was less than ideal, but I digress…

I love the drive to the WDW from MCO! We used to work in Florida Mall (also the place where we had our first date), you can see the Premium Outlets where I used to live, Vista Lay (I mean way) where he lived and the Crossroads shopping center where I also used to work. I loved reliving our happy memories with his parents as we drove to the All-Star Movies to check them in. My parents had gotten there early in the morning and Lindsay had already dropped off all the stuff!

Just as we were pulling into the world, I pulled out my camera for the obligatory welcome to WDW pic, but my phone rang…it was Marion! At this point it was 2:30, we had a meeting with her at 3 to see the Living Seas…we still had to drop fil off at ASM to check in, get my mom, feed mark etc…she had a rehearsal at the wp at 5 so we were on a serious time crunch. I started to get really stressed. Like, seriously stressed. So we get to asm, I sent mark to get something to eat, quickly, he got a pizza (I guess this was the first meal, I’ll preface other meals by saying that I’m REALLY bad with the food porn pics…), I grabbed him and the mom’s and we were off!!!

We showed up at Franck’s, jumped in the caddy with Marion and went to LSS which we all loved. Rather uneventful trip. I told Marion about the jerk flight attendant, she was funny, she asked if I had to go, “bridal” on him. This was the theme for the rest of my day.

By this point it is 4pm and I’m tired, severly hungry (hadn’t eaten in 24 hours) and just in a general bad mood. I needed food. We decided to go back to the All-Star to eat and get the welcome bags together/delivered. We went to the food court and I got a pizza. I decided that pizza wasn’t comforting enough, so I hit the bar. A tequila haze was just what I needed…We went to my parents room and I sent Mark to his parents room to take a nap. With the help of mom and dad, I got the bags together, organized the stuff for the reception and ceremony and started to feel sooooo much better. Mom was cracking up reading my welcome letter and I was organizing all the extra welcome bag items that I had brought. A little while later I went to get Mark and we all went to deliver a dozen welcome bags to the front desk. I swear, fabiola was so nice to us. She took them all and said I didn’t have to worry about a thing! An angel!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0478.jpg
here they are, lined up ever so nicely at All-Star Concierge!

We then went back to my parents room, picked up our luggage that we left in there and the 6 of us went to check us into the BoardWalk! I love love love the BoardWalk. It’s where we met and I was just so happy to be there. It was dark when we pulled up and it is just such a beautiful place!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0480.jpg
I let Mark and the Dad’s deal with the luggage while the mom’s and I went to check in. Judy checks me in and tells me that we have been upgraded to a garden suite for our entire BoardWalk stay! I had reserved a standard room for the first 2 nights! I was so happy I almost cried! I was so so so so hapy!!! So I run to find Mark and we took our parents to our room! They were shocked at how nice it was! I love the garden suites!!!

here we are hangin out in the GS...
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0481.jpg

After bell services dropped the luggage, we went to dinner at Spoodles, which was not good. Bad food, it took forever, just bad in general.

pics of us at spoodles, we all look exhausted!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0484.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0485.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0486.jpg

I was so so so tired, we bid our parents farewell and went to our room for a nice loooooong bath in the Jacuzzi tub and some much need zzzzzz’s.

[Starr W.]

Love the garbage bit, before we leave I have to case out the new subdivisions for dumpsters for DH. Luckily we have a big villa project down the road with ample Waste Management dumpsters.

Keep it coming Caryn!

[FIREFLY01]

Congrats Again!!!
I Can't Wait For More Of Your Tr And To See Picts!!

[Keira1387]

Caryn,
I'm glad your back! Yes, we have all been waiting for your TR. That was a great start. I can't wait to read more!!!

[tlhbdm]

Yay you started! Hope things turn out better. Sounds like a crappy first day.

[Lindsay22]

While Caryn and Mark were having their airport adventures, DBF and I started loading the car with all of the things Caryn shipped to me. This is the car right before I left (I also had some things on the back seat)

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s131/lindsayacraig/Carynswedding015.jpg

I had just pulled out of my apartment complex when my Dad called to say that he had landed. I still had an hour to drive so I figured that they (Mom, Dad and Gram) would beat me to the hotel. I didn't figure in the time to get off the plane, get luggage, get a rental car, etc. I pull into ASmovies and they aren't there yet so I play around in the gift shop for a little while and then go outside and wait. Finally they pulled up.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s131/lindsayacraig/Carynswedding018.jpg

They checked in and we all went to their room. My grandmother was being picked up by my cousin Kelly. Kelly called to say that she was in the food court. Dad and I sent Mom and Gram to fetch her while we emptied the car.

This is Mom Gram, Kelly and her daughter Destiney
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s131/lindsayacraig/Carynswedding020.jpg

We organized the boxes that Caryn had shipped me (things to go to Marion and things for Welcome Bags) and then we all headed over to the food court for lunch. Kelly took Gram back to her house and I headed home to pack everything I needed for the wedding (the car was so full I couldn't pack anything for myself :scared1: ) I also had to go to work the next day so I figured I should rest.

I did some running around and then called to make sure the the bride and groom arrived on time. They did. Dad told me all about the meeting with Marion and then told me that they had the welcome bags done.

(Sorry to pirate: your TR Caryn, but it's a very important part)

[M&M126]

I'm so glad to see your back. I cant wait to read your TR!!!! Great start. Congrats on your marriage :)

[Lizby]

Finally!!! Thank goodness you are back! :rotfl: We've been waiting! I can't wait to see wedding pics!!!...can we have a sneak peek? :flower3:

[BaBeeCee14]

:banana: :banana: Welcome back Caryn!!:banana: :banana:

Great start! I'm so excited to read your TR! Thank you for starting it right away and not keep us in suspense :flower3:

[oneyodafan]

Congrats Caryn!! Waiting not so patiently for more!

[OceanGdss]

SO happy to see your TR!!! :) Can't wait to see more and more and more!!!!

[Desnik]

Welcome back and congrats on your marriage!! I can't wait to hear more and see some pics! Thanks so much for taking time to write a TR.

[TamTab]

Congrats and welcome back. Can't wait to read more! :surfweb:

[cseca]

YAY!!!
Good to hear you're back... :)
Ana mentioned she did your hair the day before she did my trial run... she said you looked absolutely beautiful and sophisticated! ;)

[pink_tink8i8]

YAY! I've been waiting for the TR. Congratulations and welcome back! Can't wait to read more.

[BayouPrincess]

WELCOME BACK CARYN AND MARK
Mr. & Mrs.

I'm so glad to see you've started your TR. I can't wait to hear the rest of the story!

[helloirishkitty]

Yay! The TR I've been waiting for!!!

Congratulations on your marriage! I can't wait for more :)

[twiu]

I'm so glad you're back! Caryn withdrawals are worse than quitting smoking :lmao: I haven't achieved that yet... but seriously, your trip report so far is awesome! Can't wait to hear more!!!!!

[Goldeelox9]

Welcome Home! I can't wait to read all about it!

[caryndisneydiva]

Love the garbage bit, before we leave I have to case out the new subdivisions for dumpsters for DH. Luckily we have a big villa project down the road with ample Waste Management dumpsters.

Keep it coming Caryn!

garbage-it's a nasty business!!!!!

Congrats Again!!!
I Can't Wait For More Of Your Tr And To See Picts!!
i'm getting there! i'll hopefully be done (minus pics) by the end of the week...

Caryn,
I'm glad your back! Yes, we have all been waiting for your TR. That was a great start. I can't wait to read more!!!

thanks!

Yay you started! Hope things turn out better. Sounds like a crappy first day.

yeah. day 1 was not so much fun, but it gets better.

While Caryn and Mark were having their airport adventures, DBF and I started loading the car with all of the things Caryn shipped to me. This is the car right before I left (I also had some things on the back seat)

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s131/lindsayacraig/Carynswedding015.jpg

I had just pulled out of my apartment complex when my Dad called to say that he had landed. I still had an hour to drive so I figured that they (Mom, Dad and Gram) would beat me to the hotel. I didn't figure in the time to get off the plane, get luggage, get a rental car, etc. I pull into ASmovies and they aren't there yet so I play around in the gift shop for a little while and then go outside and wait. Finally they pulled up.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s131/lindsayacraig/Carynswedding018.jpg

They checked in and we all went to their room. My grandmother was being picked up by my cousin Kelly. Kelly called to say that she was in the food court. Dad and I sent Mom and Gram to fetch her while we emptied the car.

This is Mom Gram, Kelly and her daughter Destiney
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s131/lindsayacraig/Carynswedding020.jpg

We organized the boxes that Caryn had shipped me (things to go to Marion and things for Welcome Bags) and then we all headed over to the food court for lunch. Kelly took Gram back to her house and I headed home to pack everything I needed for the wedding (the car was so full I couldn't pack anything for myself :scared1: ) I also had to go to work the next day so I figured I should rest.

I did some running around and then called to make sure the the bride and groom arrived on time. They did. Dad told me all about the meeting with Marion and then told me that they had the welcome bags done.

(Sorry to pirate: your TR Caryn, but it's a very important part)

we already discussed this on the phone, you're allowed to pirate: as long as you don't get ahead of me...

I'm so glad to see your back. I cant wait to read your TR!!!! Great start. Congrats on your marriage :)

thank you! i love being married!

Finally!!! Thank goodness you are back! :rotfl: We've been waiting! I can't wait to see wedding pics!!!...can we have a sneak peek? :flower3:

i'm hoping to finish the wedding day asap...like, by tomorrow, it's mostly written (boring plane ride home), it just needs to be edited and i have to locate pics...

:banana: :banana: Welcome back Caryn!!:banana: :banana:

Great start! I'm so excited to read your TR! Thank you for starting it right away and not keep us in suspense :flower3:

i'm actually really glad that i started it when i got there. i keep a diary anyway, and i just copied everything! there is SO MUCH to write, i was surprised!

Congrats Caryn!! Waiting not so patiently for more!

thanks! you were one of the first girls to post on my pj! thanks for following my journey!

SO happy to see your TR!!! :) Can't wait to see more and more and more!!!!

don't worry, there is more and more and MORE!

Welcome back and congrats on your marriage!! I can't wait to hear more and see some pics! Thanks so much for taking time to write a TR.

i'm still waiting on a ton of pics. i took about 300 with my camera, which isn't so much, but i have about 120 to develop from disposables from the reception and i have both sets of parents camera's and my sisters and all the other guests. hopefully the picture emails will come through soon!

Congrats and welcome back. Can't wait to read more! :surfweb:

thanks! it's nice to be home with my kitties!

YAY!!!
Good to hear you're back... :)
Ana mentioned she did your hair the day before she did my trial run... she said you looked absolutely beautiful and sophisticated! ;)

that's funny that she mentioned me. i was a wreck that day. literally. if she spoke of me favorably i'd be happy. i was a mess the morning of my wedding...there's the sneak peak everyone!

YAY! I've been waiting for the TR. Congratulations and welcome back! Can't wait to read more.

thanks!

WELCOME BACK CARYN AND MARK
Mr. & Mrs.

I'm so glad to see you've started your TR. I can't wait to hear the rest of the story!

thanks lisa! i couldn't wait to start my tr! i did so much planning, it's important for you guys to know how things worked out with DFTW (great, by the way...)!

Yay! The TR I've been waiting for!!!

Congratulations on your marriage! I can't wait for more :)

thank you! being married is great!


do you know what mark said to me at dinner tonight? i have noticed a change in him, and in me as well. back up a bit, we need some history here-mark was a perpetual bachelor. we've been through our ups and downs and never thought we'd be married...he never thought he needed it. seriously. he'd broken off an engagement previously. tonight he told me that he feels so content and it's very comforting. he said that everyone should be able to feel like this. it's a very lovely feeling. it really is. it was so magical (and we're not even in disney anymore ;) ) when he said that to me! more tr to come soon!

[camara381]

OH MY GOD!!! Finally.... i was dying...

I love everything so far especially the scene of the MIL on the plane...she's right you deserve the attention... everyone turns 58 but how many get married at WDW.

:cool1:

[figmentfan814]

It's so great to read the start of your trip report! Thanks for sharing all the pictures- I love the one of the dress strapped in the plane and the one with all the Welcome Bags lined up. The upgrade sounds fantastic, it must have been great being back at the Boardwalk!

The hijack of your trip report was so cute too, I'm excited to read more from everyone :jumping1:

[BethanyMouse]

Welcome home! I read your entire PJ this past weekend because I was so into it and just stumbled upon this site a few days ago! I am so glad that you are home and that you had a great time! Thank you so much for all that you have shared and all of your advice in the PJ. It has been so helpful! Now on to the show: Love the pics so far- thanks for the report! Cant wait to read more!

[caryndisneydiva]

Welcome Home! I can't wait to read all about it!

i can't wait to read YOUR tr! a dcl wedding! i'm super excited for you! maybe we'll book and lurk at your wedding...

OH MY GOD!!! Finally.... i was dying...

I love everything so far especially the scene of the MIL on the plane...she's right you deserve the attention... everyone turns 58 but how many get married at WDW.

:cool1:

she is so funny. she even complained about that guy on her flight home.

It's so great to read the start of your trip report! Thanks for sharing all the pictures- I love the one of the dress strapped in the plane and the one with all the Welcome Bags lined up. The upgrade sounds fantastic, it must have been great being back at the Boardwalk!

The hijack of your trip report was so cute too, I'm excited to read more from everyone :jumping1:

i think it's funny to look at that dress pic. at the time, i was absolutely MANAIC about it.

Welcome home! I read your entire PJ this past weekend because I was so into it and just stumbled upon this site a few days ago! I am so glad that you are home and that you had a great time! Thank you so much for all that you have shared and all of your advice in the PJ. It has been so helpful! Now on to the show: Love the pics so far- thanks for the report! Cant wait to read more!

wow! thanks for reading! my pj is super long...i'm glad you got through it! i'll post as many pics as i can...i'm still waiting for them to arrive!

[geetey]

Oh, Caryn, what a sweet thing for Mark to say. :goodvibes You must both be so happy!!

Count me in as another person who has been waiting for this TR!! I can't wait to see how wonderfully (because I know it did!) everything came together!!

CONGRATULATIONS and WELCOME HOME!!

[caryndisneydiva]

Day 2- Tuesday January 22, 2008-The day before the day before the wedding...this was suppsoed to be my "no stress" day...
I had told my dad that we needed to drop the ceremony and reception items off at Franck’s that morning and we also had 3 welcome bags to take to POFQ. I wanted to meet them in the morning to get this done and not worry about wedding stuff for the rest of the day. I woke up at 7:30 to get ready, I took a shower (LOVE the shower in the GS), go downstairs (ahhh-GS), roll my hair in the ½ bath (darn those GS’s are great) and then Mark wakes up. His mood did not improve at all yesterday and I didn’t want to deal with him that morning. The plan was to leave his grumpy butt in the room so he could sleep, I would run all the errands and meet him and his parents at MK. Well, that wasn’t Mark D’s plan…he wanted breakfast, since we were Concierege Level, we went to the Innkeepers Lounge, ate and waited for my parents to get there. While we were waiting, we walked by the pool. The bartender was just going on duty and he recognized us! Five years later! So cool!

We met my parents and headed off to POFQ to drop the 3 welcome bags off. I hadn’t seen that hotel since my cp, It is so nice, I’m really glad that I included it in the room block.

Next stop-Franck’s.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0488.jpg

It was super busy in there, Marion had a PS that day so I gave all of our stuff to the interns that were there. One of them (Keri-Ann) was going to be her assistant for our wedding, I was really glad to meet her (on the day of the wedding, I was relieved to see a familiar face). There were two weddings at the pavilion that day and they were cleaning it, so we snuck in to take a look. I had never been in there, when we entered, I was instantly glad that we had chosen SBP. The WP is beautiful, it’s just not ME. My Dad really loved it though…he had an “ah-ha” moment with the castle view through the window (I believe the word he used was “tremendous”). We took some pictures posing at the wp and then walked outside.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0491.jpg
The one thing I have to say about that area is that it’s very secluded, but you still have the Disney “feel” 100%. If you want a private wedding, the WP is the place to be! There really aren’t any areas in there that can’t be controlled by DFTW, which is unique.

I looked across Seven Seas Lagoon at the Poly and got excited that we would be there for the rest of our trip! I told my parents the story of these kids on my cp who stole a boat from the GF marina in the middle of the night, took it to the volcano pool at the poly and put a whole bunch of powdered soap in the pool so the volcano was foaming all over. They videotaped their stunt and were subsequently fired, but live on in infamy (and my tr)! My dad thought that was pretty funny. We got into the car and headed back to bw to get the mini-van. I was done with wedding stuff for the day!

The three of us were hungry, Mom and Dad were going to get Megan from the airport at around noon and we still had a couple of hours to kill so we headed to DTD for lunch. They ate at Earl of Sandwich, sorry, no food porn, I’m REALLY bad about that…though I got slightly better at the end of the trip…We went to the Christmas shop and I was so upset when I found out that they are not carrying the Disney Christmas Spode china anymore. DRAT!

This day was also Megan’s birthday, so my parents went to fetch her and Mark and I went to MGM (oh, excuse me, the Hollywood Studios) with his parents. We were all going to meet up with at the MK later on that day.
Here we are on the tram (I love self pics…)
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0493.jpg
and in front of the park (the 90210 bag is HOT)
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0497.jpg
MGM (sorry, it will always be MGM to me, no matter what it says on the sign) was pretty fun, I wore my bride ears everyday in the parks and it was amazing how many people noticed-truly amazing! We went on Star Tours (MIL’s fave) and the Great Movie Ride. I was excited that we got a spot at 50’s for lunch that day.
An exciting family pic at 50’s!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0500.jpg
We just LOVE that place! We would eat dinner there often when we were cm’s, so there are a lot of happy memories. I forgot food porn (again). I was starting to get very anxious around this time. I barely even ate (a problem that perpetuated until the day after the wedding). I really wanted to see my sister who had just arrived and was on the way to MK, so we hopped into the van and made our way to the TTC. We detoured through there to see the poly since I hadn’t been there in like 6 years. Then we headed off to MK to meet my parents and Megan.
Here’s the birthday girl and I (self pic in the MK)
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0508.jpg
Rabbi Jimmy and his fantastic wife Shelley had just arrived as well and we met them on Main Street right in the middle of the parade! We headed over to Pirates (no line), then the HH (again, no line), someone was hungry and figured out that you get free popcorn in the MK if you are getting married, so free popcorn it was! I really wanted to go to Hall of Presidents (I LOVE wax people) especially since American Adventure was being refurbed, it took some coaxing for some people to go (namely my husband) and I had to get the Rabbi Jimmy’s support on this one. I just LOVE that ride (I guess it’s an attraction-NOT a ride, sorry), I’m such a dork. After that was done, Rabbi and Shelley went back to the hotel, they had a long day and were tired. I confirmed that Mark would meet them in the front of All Star Movies tomorrow at 9am to pick them up for the rehearsal.

It was getting dark at this point, so we decided to try and make dinner plans. Lindsay and her dbf Chris (herein referred to as “my ray-bar”) had just arrived and were going to meet us at MK, but we decided to head back to the All Star and eat in the food court. As I said earlier, my anxiety was hitting an all time high. I don’t know what did it. I was texting Lindsay and my ray-bar texted back and asked me if I needed a hug. NO. I decided that tequila would cure all and so I hit the bar as soon as I arrived. Lindsay had bought a birthday cake for megs so we (my parents, IL’s, Megan, Lindsay and my ray bar) congregated in the back of the All Star food court for her mini-party. I asked a cm if we could have some balloons, which she delivered while I was at the bar with lin, my ray bar and my mil. I think everyone was tired that night and nerves were on edge, after a mini-drama (that will be referred to in the future as the “lemonade incident”) mark and I headed off to the GS. Actually, we were really hungry since we hadn’t eaten and the tequila was NOT helping my stress level. We needed to get something for dinner, but just couldn’t think of a place to sit down, so we ended up at Gooding’s, which was fine since I wanted to buy a flower for my rehearsal bouquet anyway. The first flowers (one of a precious three times) that mark gave me were from Gooding’s. It was a single red rose in a tall thin glass vase with some baby’s breath. I had that rose for years until one of our cats destroyed it. I was so happy to see that they had the exact one, but NOT happy to see the price, $9, he only spent $9 on my flowers??? And that’s with inflation, I bet 5 and a half years ago it was even less than that!!!

I was in a REALLY bad mood, like, such a bad mood that I couldn’t concentrate on anything. This mood perpetuated until just after our ceremony. Not good. We went back to the BW and mark listened to me scream for a bit. Bless him. Then we took a bath in the Jacuzzi and went to bed. I was tired, but didn’t sleep much.

[caryndisneydiva]

Oh, Caryn, what a sweet thing for Mark to say. :goodvibes You must both be so happy!!

Count me in as another person who has been waiting for this TR!! I can't wait to see how wonderfully (because I know it did!) everything came together!!

CONGRATULATIONS and WELCOME HOME!!

it WAS wonderful! i can't wait to finish my writings so i can share it with you all!!!

[helloirishkitty]

Awww! It was so sweet of him to say that... I would have melted into my chair.. :)

and....

and in front of the park (the 90210 bag is HOT)


OMG I love your tote!!! Seriously...amazing :thumbsup2

[Jessbell34]

Caryn... Your TR has started fabulously! I can't wait to read more! Great picture at the 50's Diner, one of my very favorite places at Disney! Can't wait for more!:rotfl:

[tamijoy514]

Type quicker!!
popcorn::

[romymichelle21]

I know I'm like the 54,382 person to say it, but...

Congrats you guys!! :goodvibes

popcorn:: Anxiously awaiting more...

[WithDisneySpirit]

Yay, Caryn's trip report! Well, I am glad you at least packed your hater blockers :cool2: and the pic of you in them was very cool too! I loved the belted dress pic too ; I even showed it to my 15yr old son - he said "niiicce," LOL!!

[mla1977]

Just subbing! I'll be back to read later!

[lurkyloo]

What the @#$%! are you doing here, missy?! You're supposed to be at WDW patiently waiting for me and Wendy so you can crash our weddings!!!

But thank gawd you've started your TR already - I thought I was gonna miss it! :goodvibes

[cryssi]

welcome back Caryn! congrats!!

[lov2b@disney]

YAY! :yay: glad your back! CONGRATULATIONS :dance3: Been looking forward to your trip report!

We were the PS Marion was with when you dropped off your stuff at the WP!

BTW, we got to lurk at your ceremony! Just BEAUTIFUL! We arrived at the BW just as your guest bus pulled up! :laughing: I spotted the pink crinnie the minute I walk in the door! :cool1: I have been waiting patiently to hear all about it!!!

[caryndisneydiva]

Awww! It was so sweet of him to say that... I would have melted into my chair.. :)

and....


OMG I love your tote!!! Seriously...amazing :thumbsup2

he is a very sweet man! 90210 is one of my favorite shows ever! i got that bag at target for like $10 the day before we left!

Caryn... Your TR has started fabulously! I can't wait to read more! Great picture at the 50's Diner, one of my very favorite places at Disney! Can't wait for more!:rotfl:

i wish i would have been calm enough to eat that day, i'm STILL craving s'mores...

Type quicker!!
popcorn::

i'm going i'm going...

I know I'm like the 54,382 person to say it, but...

Congrats you guys!! :goodvibes

popcorn:: Anxiously awaiting more...

thanks!

Yay, Caryn's trip report! Well, I am glad you at least packed your hater blockers :cool2: and the pic of you in them was very cool too! I loved the belted dress pic too ; I even showed it to my 15yr old son - he said "niiicce," LOL!!

the :cool2: came in quite handy at times on this trip...


What the @#$%! are you doing here, missy?! You're supposed to be at WDW patiently waiting for me and Wendy so you can crash our weddings!!!

But thank gawd you've started your TR already - I thought I was gonna miss it! :goodvibes

i know i know i know. my best friend and i might pop in next week...i missed my kitties...

welcome back Caryn! congrats!!

thanks!

YAY! :yay: glad your back! CONGRATULATIONS :dance3: Been looking forward to your trip report!

We were the PS Marion was with when you dropped off your stuff at the WP!

BTW, we got to lurk at your ceremony! Just BEAUTIFUL! We arrived at the BW just as your guest bus pulled up! :laughing: I spotted the pink crinnie the minute I walk in the door! :cool1: I have been waiting patiently to hear all about it!!!

oh wow! franck's was PACKED that day, we wanted to look around, but all my dad got were some pics and we scooted out! i'm glad you got to see the wedding, i was looking for dis'ers, but it was such mayhem that i didn't see any!

[caryndisneydiva]

Day 3- Wednesday January 23, 2008-Rehearsal Day

Rehearsal morning. I woke up early to put my hair in rollers and get ready for the day. I was stressed when I woke up, according to our original reservations, we were supposed to switch rooms that day, but since we were upgraded that wasn’t necessary. They just gave us new keys and we didn’t even have to go check in and out again, that was great. We ended up going to the concierge lounge for breakfast and then I met my sisters to take their dresses to the GS to be steamed later on that afternoon. Mark went to get his parents and the rabbi and wife at the ASM for the rehearsal that started at 10. I met my parents in the lobby. I had 2 welcome bags to be delivered there, Mark’s business partners were staying in a suite there and were arriving that afternoon. When the last 2 bags were finally gone, we headed outside. I was in a super snappy mood and my father attempted to let me know that and I just got even snappier. Bridezilla was a real thing at this point.

We all met on the BW outside the bakery and made our way to the rehearsal.
Here’s Mark and I posing with our sign
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0514.jpg
Originally Marion told me that I didn’t have to do a rehearsal, but I really wanted to and I’m so glad that I did. We all had our bridal party wear on, it was so cool! The rehearsal went well, Marion said I was very organized and complimented me on my numerous craft projects, which was sweet of her. The rehearsal took no longer than 15 minutes. That surprised me. I thought it would take longer. I guess I was SLIGHTLY bossy, but I was stressed and people weren’t focusing and that was making Bridezilla mad.
Rehearsal Pics
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0515.jpg
Lindsay on her practice walk
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0524.jpg
Megan on her practice walk
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0526.jpg
Mark and his parents practicing
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0528.jpg
(everyone got to practice except me)
discussing something very important (not that I remember what it was…)
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0539.jpg
a super fun family shot of us in our rehearsal wear!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0551.jpg

We had an ADR at the Garden Grill for 12:20 and had a ton of time to waste…I decided to call Periwigs to get a nail appointment, I wanted to keep my afternoon free because we were SUPPOSED to go to property control that day, but that never happened. In retrospect, it would have been better for me to go to one of the spa’s for a massage but that didn’t happen…So we were all in the GS, Rabbi signed and had witnesses sign the marriage license. I remark that we’re technically married now, we could just perform a mini ceremony in the GS and be done with it!

I get a nail appt for 11am and it was already 10:30 so Mom and I headed over to Y+B and the rest of them went to EPCOT. If I had it to do again, I never would have went to Periwigs, my manicure is completely gone now, not a trace of it and it hasn’t even been a week. It was the weirdest thing, it just peeled off in whole pieces! I’ve never had that happen before. I felt bad for the girl working there, she was obviously terrified of her bosses (there were like 5 Disney managers in there when I was there) and was a bit shaky. We got done at around 12:10 and I was worried that we would miss our food. Well, we are racing through World Showcase and Mark called and said that Lindsay had the time wrong and the ADR was for 12:40 and to take our time.

Lunch was amazing. Probably one of the best meals I’ve had a Disney.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0563.jpg
The only thing that wasn’t perfect was the turning mechanism on the restaurant was broken, so it wasn’t moving. Oh well. The food was really good (sorry, I forgot the porn, oh wait, I have one…)
Desert
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0577.jpg

and they even gave us a congratulations cake!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0576.jpg

In the middle of the lunch, my mother got a phone call and started saying very loudly, “ohhhh noooooo” she was talking to her mother. It was supposed to snow a lot over those two days in NJ and my grandparents and 3 sets of aunts and uncles were coming in that day. When she started her dramatic conversation I thought they weren’t coming. Turns out that they were already in Orlando, they just had a nice 4 hour wait at Newark airport. At least they were there! We loved the characters. Mark remarked that this was the first time he’d actually seen Mickey since his first cp in the early 90’s. He took this as a good omen.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0566.jpg
After lunch we went on The Land. I just love that ride, it’s one of my all time faves.
My ray-bar and I on The Land
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0581.jpg
I REALLY wanted to go on the “Behind The Seeds” tour, but grumpy Marky wouldn’t let me.

We left EPCOT with my mom and headed back to the GS to meet Carolyn Allen’s. Sue came and steamed our dresses.
When she first started steaming
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0583.jpg
with my sisters dresses hanging up
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0584.jpg

It took her literally 2 hours to do mine since it had never been steamed. I was amazed at how much poofier it was after she was done with it. Mark kept trying to come into the room as she was doing my dress, but I wouldn’t let him, I sent him to the Inn Pool’s spa, right across from our room. While Sue was steaming, I re-arranged the hoops in my hoop skirt and put it together with my crinnie.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0585.jpg
on the morning of the wedding, right before I was about to leave, I had my mother crawl under my dress and cut out all that extra white stuff, I was tripping over it…

After Sue was done, I stashed my dress in the ½ bath, allowed Mark access to the GS again and we went to Celebration for dinner. On the way out of the lobby, I noticed that our names were flashing on the Events Sign! I was so excited!!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0587.jpg

We were SUPER nervous. Like, it was really bad. We couldn’t find anything to talk about, we made boring small talk…we were a mess. We actually used to live in Celebration, that was when it was Disney owned, which is no more. Our dinner was ok, we ate at some italian place outside, Café D’Antonio’s maybe? It wasn’t that late when we finished up and we needed to “get tired” in order to sleep that night so we decided to go walk around DTD. We started on the West Side and walked all the way through PI and then onto The Marketplace. Mark’s family was having their dinner at Portobello Yacht Club and we stopped by for a drink. Originally, we had planned on just being by ourselves that night (my family was at Cape May Café) but since we were there, I thought it would be a good idea to meet his side instead of trying to meet 20 people at my reception. This actually worked out really well for us. I had a lemon drop martini and Mark had a beer. We were there for an hour or so and the martini really calmed my nerves. Truth be told, I could have gone for another, but I didn’t want to get loaded in front of my new fam. Oh the scandal that would have been…We lazily walked through The Marketplace, I was pretty upset that they don’t carry the Disney Christmas Spode china anymore but oh well. We got bored and cold and decided to head back. I took a pic of our ears on the bed while the tub was filling up…
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0582.jpg
Here’s Mark, posing through the window…
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0589.jpg
We went to bed at around 11:30-12ish…

[MistressOfAllEvil]

Congratulations!!

Wow, a lot happens in the one night I'm away from my computer. You gotta hurry up with the TR so I can read it all up before we leave on Friday. I'm glad you're back on the board, but soooo sad that you're not in the World. Come back, come back!

[hope1826]

do you know what mark said to me at dinner tonight? i have noticed a change in him, and in me as well. back up a bit, we need some history here-mark was a perpetual bachelor. we've been through our ups and downs and never thought we'd be married...he never thought he needed it. seriously. he'd broken off an engagement previously. tonight he told me that he feels so content and it's very comforting. he said that everyone should be able to feel like this. it's a very lovely feeling. it really is. it was so magical (and we're not even in disney anymore ;) ) when he said that to me! more tr to come soon!

CONGRATULATIONS!!
:dance3: :cheer2: :banana: :cheer2: :dance3:
YAY, I'm so glad to be reading your TR! It's great so far and I can't wait to read more and see lots of amazing pics. What Mark said is so incredibly sweet. I wish you both the best! :wizard:

Nikki

[scarlett873]

Welcome home!! Congrats again!!!

Can't wait for the pictures!!!!

[caryndisneydiva]

Congratulations!!

Wow, a lot happens in the one night I'm away from my computer. You gotta hurry up with the TR so I can read it all up before we leave on Friday. I'm glad you're back on the board, but soooo sad that you're not in the World. Come back, come back!

thanks wendy! how'd the hair trial go? do we have pics?


CONGRATULATIONS!!
:dance3: :cheer2: :banana: :cheer2: :dance3:
YAY, I'm so glad to be reading your TR! It's great so far and I can't wait to read more and see lots of amazing pics. What Mark said is so incredibly sweet. I wish you both the best! :wizard:

Nikki

he is a doll! thanks!

Welcome home!! Congrats again!!!

Can't wait for the pictures!!!!

i wonder when randy's pics will be up...i can't wait to see them!

[caryndisneydiva]

Day 4- Thursday January 24, 2008 Wedding day! The 21 hour day begins...

Part one-why can’t we sleep?

The 21 hour day began officially at around 4:30am when I woke up, but I didn’t sleep at all that night. Maybe I slept for 2 hours or so…I had a nightmare that Mark was going to die going to pick his parents and the Rabbi up at the ASM and couldn’t get back to sleep without making alternate plans for them to arrive at BW that morning. I was seriously freaked out. Someone had a dream a few days before the wedding that I was pregnant at the wedding with a boy. I always heard that when you dream about pregnancy it means someone is going to die and I was a WRECK when I woke up. I made an alternate plan for my dad to bring everyone to the BW and Mark was going to hang in the Innkeepers Club until the wedding. I actually felt a lot better after I made that plan (I was slightly maniac before that, attempting to get on the internet and google the meaning of said dream…). I STILL couldn’t get to sleep so I lay in bed for the next three hours. At one point, Mark woke up and said he couldn’t wait for the wedding to be over so we could stop this ridiculous stress. I couldn’t agree more. I’m so glad that we decided to stay together that night. It wasn’t ever really an option not to, since we’ve lived together forever, I just would have been more of a wreck had he not been there.

Part 2: getting ready

FINALLY at 4:30 I decided to get up and take a nice hot shower. By the time I got out and into my “getting ready” outfit, my Mom and Dad arrived and my sisters were 2 steps behind, with Ana and Lily from Beaute Speciale behind them. If I have ever made a good decision in my life, it was using Ana. I can’t say enough good things about her.

Since I hadn’t slept, hadn’t really eaten all week (seriously) the anxiety was palpable. I look at pictures now and think that I was emaciated on that morning. It was really horrible. I couldn’t pull myself out of my nervousness and that feeling got worse and worse until Mark and I walked back down the aisle. I was trying to equate the whole experience to performing when I was a ballet dancer-didn’t work. Ana and Lily are true professionals and know exactly what needed to happen. Ana even helped me get into my dress! Ok, back to getting ready…

Here I am, nervously organizing my jewelry…
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0590.jpg

Dad left and quickly returned with Dunkin Donuts and coffee and then he left that seriously estrogen filled environment for the quiet of his room at the ASM. I sent him off with instructions to call Mark’s parents and tell them of the new transportation plans (Mark wasn’t going to pick them up because I had a vision that he was going to get into a wreck and die). I think my Mom’s hair was first since it’s so short.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0591.jpg
Then they did one of my sisters make-up, megan I think, it looked great.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0592.jpg

Marion called at around 6:30 to make sure I would stay hidden in the GS until it was time for me to appear in the lobby. I was in the bathroom when she called and I think my mom talked to her. I had Mark shower at this point and start to get ready, then lily did his hair. I had planned on them doing his faux hawk since I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it that morning.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0594.jpg
We got him dressed and sent him and Lindsay to the Innkeepers Club.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0598.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0600.jpg
We had the grand plan that I was going to eat that morning-didn’t happen.

After Mark left, the anxiety became terrifying. The room was a mess, I still had some stuff to pack and we needed to have the luggage transferred to the Poly. I was barking orders at Megan and my mother and begging for my mom to call my dad to come to me. I knew he’d be able to make everything right. Lindsay was still with Mark at the concierge lounge. When she reappeared with 2 croissants for me, I just looked at her and said, “yeah that’s not going to happen, there is no way I can eat right now.” I asked her where Mark was and she told me that he went to check us into the Poly. I almost had a heart attack based on the panic attack I’d had a few hours before. There was no time to focus on that though as I kept getting up in the middle of my hair and make up and Ana and Lily would kindly remind me to sit down so they could finish and I looked beautiful and not to stress etc. Right when I sat down for hair, or make-up, don’t remember which one, Randy stopped by and started clicking. I think I was in a super snappy mood and I apologized to him in advance for my bridezillaness. He didn’t really say anything, which threw me for a minute. He said that my flowers were right behind him. Oh yay! I was wondering when they would get there. The bouquet was HUGE and it was PERFECT. The yellow touches were lovely. I was worried that it would look like a big sun, but the colors were amazing. I had planned putting my bouquet jewels in the flowers and they were laying out on the coffee table but the moment I saw my bouquet I looked at my mom and said, “I’m not touching it.” It was stunning. Laura Kidd outdid herself. She really did. Every time I think back to my day, I envision my bouquet. It was STUNNING. Anyone who has any doubts about Disney floral, my money was well well spent. I loved them!!!

Randy took a ton of shots of my dress and then he escaped the estrogen filled GS to go find Mark in the lobby for his pictures.

We finally got my hair/make up done, it took forever since I kept getting up. She put the cage on to test it when Randy was there and he was enthralled with it. He had never had a bride wear a cage before and he loved it! I also had the cathedral, which I loved, I was originally worried that it would take away from the cage, but it didn’t. I think it was a nice touch. Ana put both of them on and helped me get into my dress, which was a bit of an issue. She had suggested (bless her) that I put the hoop and crinoline on the floor and the dress over it, so that I could step into the dress since it couldn’t go over my head. This was the first time I looked at my dress and realized just how big it was…it took three people to get me in it and I felt so bad that my butt was in Ana’s face…but finally it was on and we were (almost) ready to rock and roll!

[Goldeelox9]

i can't wait to read YOUR tr! a dcl wedding! i'm super excited for you! maybe we'll book and lurk at your wedding...!


You don't have to lurk, I will help you book and you can have a seat with the other guests right on the beach! :)

[MistressOfAllEvil]

Oh Caryn! I'm sooo sorry about the nightmare and the stress and everything. I think we're very similar with the stress. I've already stopped sleeping. This started Sunday night. And then again last night. I can't get to sleep/stay asleep!

[BaBeeCee14]

Caryn - you deserve an award for fastest TR! I can't wait to see you in your dress!!! More please...:flower3:

[Desnik]

I am so lovin reading all about your adventure!! I can't wait to read more and see pics of you in your dress!! Again, thank you so much for posting so soon after your wedding! You are awesome!!!

[caryndisneydiva]

You don't have to lurk, I will help you book and you can have a seat with the other guests right on the beach! :)

mark and i will be discussing this plan as soon as he awakes...

Oh Caryn! I'm sooo sorry about the nightmare and the stress and everything. I think we're very similar with the stress. I've already stopped sleeping. This started Sunday night. And then again last night. I can't get to sleep/stay asleep!

just wait. the day after your wedding, all of the stress is gone and you feel like a new person!

Caryn - you deserve an award for fastest TR! I can't wait to see you in your dress!!! More please...:flower3:

I am so lovin reading all about your adventure!! I can't wait to read more and see pics of you in your dress!! Again, thank you so much for posting so soon after your wedding! You are awesome!!!

thanks girls! i figure if i didn't do it now, it'll never get done!

[Keira1387]

I need MORE!!! I want to see the dress pics!!! I'm waiting with suspense popcorn::

[caryndisneydiva]

I need MORE!!! I want to see the dress pics!!! I'm waiting with suspense popcorn::

here you go!!!

[caryndisneydiva]

Since I just got back from my trip, i have very limited pics. i wanted to get my tr started as soon as possible...i'll post more/better pics at the end of this thread as soon as i receive them.

Part 3: We’re finally ready! Can I go yet??????

My dad disappeared for a minute, I think he went to the car to drop something or whatever, I’m not sure where he went…but he came back pretty quickly and bell services came to take our luggage. How easy is that?

I now began the, what seemed to be, endless wait to leave the GS and go to the lobby for my pics. They were doing a ton of construction on the GS’s that were in between us and the lobby, I had just seen all the workers arrive for the day and was worried about how their equipment was going to be set up and if I would be able to get around it since the path was so narrow (narrow paths were a problem for me that day…). I was ALSO worried about how I was going to get out of my suite…we were in the honeymoon GS with the heart shaped shrubs in front and there were shrubs leading up the super tiny path to the room from the gate. I took all of the sheets off the beds and the extra blankets and had my sisters cover the shrubs so it didn’t shrub stain my dress. At one point, a lady from mousekeeping walked by and started to disassemble my dress stain saving device and I was none too pleased with her. Megan had to run out of the GS screaming, “nooooooooo!” until she stopped. Back to the construction workers…they were super aware that there was a bride waiting to move, so it shouldn’t have been a problem for them to set their paint up elsewhere, but they gave Randy a problem when he asked them to wait. There were some words exchanged (gooooo Randy!) so Lindsay went out and yelled at them. I thanked them profusely on my walk to the lobby. They looked annoyed. Oh well. I’m sure they’ll understand when their daughters get married one day…

While I was not so patiently waiting to get the heck out of there, I was practicing stairs and discovered the issue with my hoop skirt, so my mom had to cut the white part out. Randy did some shots of me in the room and on the stairs and we left-FINALLY!

Part 4: And we’re off (to the lobby, for pics…)

I swear, I felt like Britney spears cruising around LA. There were paparazzi EVERYWHERE! And not just the ones that I hired! Our first stop was the steps leading up to the lobby. I took lots of pics outside there. Then we headed inside to the lobby and took pics in front of the doors that lead down the stairs to the GS’s. Sage appeared at this point with a camera in hand and I introduced myself to her. She is a super cute little blond thing and so so so bubbly! We made our way into the lobby and out onto the BW verandah. I saw most of my guests at this point and I began to feel really overwhelmed. We were standing downstairs outside and they were all just gawking at me. Randy noticed my discomfort and ushered me under the stairs until they were all taken to SBP. We then headed back upstairs (stairs were REALLY fun in my huge dress) and took tons more pictures. There were people everywhere just staring at me…it was kind of odd. They wouldn’t even say anything, they’d just gawk. This is when my ballet training came into good use. I just ignored them all, smiled and waved at the little girls and focused on Randy. Marion and Keri-Ann from DFTW were waiting in the lobby. They were great, I was really glad that I had met Kerri-Ann a few days prior. At one point, Mark’s business partners and their girlfriends (herein referred to as the Barbie doll look a likes who refused to eat all day) were passing through the lobby on their way to SBP. Their snarky looks were obvious to many and Keri-Ann noticed and said, “are you here for the Craig/DeLange wedding? Please move away from the bride.” HILARIOUS. Marion soon told us that the Rolls had arrived and she escorted my sisters to SBP to await my arrival. My parents and I were waiting in the BW lobby near the big couch, where I actually got to sit for a precious moment. The dress was starting to hurt…

Part 5: And we’re off (in the Rolls to the altar…)

My mother was in paparazzi heaven. All she could keep saying was, “this is so coooool.” The Rolls picks Mom, Dad and I up in front of the BW lobby. There was a DFTW guy named Andrew there and bless his heart, they made that boy RUN in front of the car, all the way behind the BW, in front of ADH, down the boardwalk until we reached SBP. I felt so bad for him and remarked that it was a good thing it was January and not July…

So we’re in the Rolls, Mom is doing the celebutante waive to all the well wishers staring at me and I remarked to my father that this was the time where he is supposed to say, “now Caryn, if this isn’t the right decision for you, we can just take the Rolls and head to Miami.” He said, “uh no. I’m not telling you that.” We paused on the boardwalk in front of Spoodles, all the CM’s were outside watching, there were a bunch of people sitting outside the bakery and I got my first glimpse of Mark standing with his parents. I saw the Rabbi enter, then Mark and his parents.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/of50590442-2.jpg

Lindsay and Megan entered from opposite sides of the pavilion (I forgot to tell Randy about this important part, so I think pics got messed up. Either way, it caused some confusion…) and then we pulled up in front.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/of50590442-8.jpg

I told my mother on the drive that Mark was either going to pass out from nervousness or sit there and crack jokes until I arrived. Thankfully the latter was true…

Part 6: And I’m off (to marry mark..)

I don’t really remember much of this part, it’s very spotty…so I’ll rely on the spotty memories that I do have and other people’s recollections of the moments…

I fell out of the Rolls, that dress was huge mind you, the driver handed me my bouquet and I went around the front of the car to meet my parents. The first thing I noticed was that SBP was PACKED. Like, to the brim. My mother was happily jaunting along and my father and I kept tripping over one another. I have three of his footprints on my dress…I think I was like, “DAAAD, stop stepping on my dress!” the whole way down the aisle. I was seriously nervous. My uncle even told me that he was surprised at how nervous I looked.

We proceeded down the aisle to my super secret, walking down the aisle song, the theme from “star trek: TNG.” Feel free to laugh at me all you want. I LOVE that song. It took my forever to find sheet music for it. It’s one of our favorite shows and I wanted something that would make Mark smile!

I stopped before Mark, he shook my dad’s hand. I kissed my mom, then my dad and Mark took my hand and we finally were standing before Rabbi Jimmy. I handed my bouquet off to Lindsay and took my gloves off and gave them to her as well. I started to cry and sniffle (totally hypocritical, I know, I was going to banish the criers-oh well), Lindsay handed me a tissue, I dabbed my eyes (which wasn’t easy under the cage) and handed the tissue back to her.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/rabbisblessing.jpg
I looked down and saw that Rabbi Jimmy was wearing black crocs and I thought it was so funny! It made me feel a bit more comfortable. The ceremony last all of 10 minutes (inspiration for said short ceremony was “I do, I do, We’re done.). We said our I do’s, then we said some sort of pre-written vow that had the word “beloved” in it and it was time to do the ring thing. Megan was so funny, when the Rabbi asked for the rings, she said, “I didn’t forget them!” that was a relief! I’d given Lindsay my engagement ring to wear, so Mark just had to slip that baby on my finger and then it was my turn…like a nervous, bumbling fool, I proceed to put Mark’s ring on his RIGHT hand and didn’t even notice until Randy pointed it out when we were taking pics about an hour later. See what uncontrollable nervousness does to you on your wedding day???

The rabbi told a story, something about a cup and a saucer and he said Mark could kiss me (he did) and we were DONE!!!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/of50590442-5.jpg
YIPPEEEE! I’ll assume that everyone cheered, but I don’t remember. Lin gave me back my engagement ring and we walked back down the aisle to The Verve’s, “Bittersweet Symphony” which was so very beautiful and clear in that moment. I remember standing on the street in front of the Rolls thinking, “oh, that’s Bittersweet Symphony, it sounds really good!” I think I’d forgotten that was the song I’d chosen.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/of50590442-6.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/mrmrs.jpg

We were supposed to get back into the Rolls, which was supposed to drive us 3 feet to the side entrance to SBP for our staged bubble exit. I really didn’t want to shove my big self into that car again, so we just walked to the entrance and through the bubble blowers! Lindsay later told me that Randy was so funny, he would yell things like, “left side, we need more bubbles!” When we got back to the altar site, we were congratulated by like, everyone, we took pics with the family and then they all left to go to the pre-reception at LSS. The violinist was fantastic, my dad later told me that he was taking requests at the cocktail hour! So cool! He re-played the Star Trek song because Mark hadn’t heard it. Mark asked him if that was the weirdest thing he’d ever been asked to play at a wedding and he said yes, but that lots of brides walk down the aisle to the “Death March” from Star Wars. See? I’m not that odd after all!

Here are two shots of my parents and I taking pics after the ceremony
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/momandiafterceremony.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/dadandiafterceremony.jpg

[FIREFLY01]

THANK YOU THANK YOU :worship:
YOUR TR IS GREAT AND GETTING ME SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS WEEKEND, I AM USING ANA AND RANDY ALSO, I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED THEM! MAKES ME FEEL BETTER (I NEVER DID HAIR TRIAL AND WAS KINDA WORRIED)

[keenercam]

Oh, Caryn, you poor thing! :hug: Oh, honey, I am so sorry that you were so stressed and had no food and no sleep. :sad1: I just can't imagine how the cumulative effect of all of that must have been hitting you. I am sure that when we see the pix we'll be impressed with how you looked and how everything came together, but I really, really wish it had been so much more enjoyable for you.

Thank you for coming back and sharing so many details with us so quickly. I hate that you are re-living all the anxiety you felt, but I hope that as time goes on you'll just laugh off the stress of the day and think of it all very happily! And major, major kudos to Mark for expressing his contentment with married life. :cloud9:

ETA: okay, obviously, we were posting at almost the same time! sorry!

[Lisella]

Congratulations, Caryn!

I was so surprised to see you back so soon, but selfishly very excited to read the report as I've been looking forward to it ;). Of course, I am loving it so far and cannot wait to read more and also see your pictures. I also love the added reports from your sisters - very nice touch and fun, too!

popcorn::

[orangetiggs]

I LOVE your flowers and you looked stunning.

What did you ask for with those flowers they are so big! Also if you dont mnid me asking how much were they??

[scarlett873]

Absolutely stunning bride!!! Can't wait for more!!

[caryndisneydiva]

THANK YOU THANK YOU :worship:
YOUR TR IS GREAT AND GETTING ME SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS WEEKEND, I AM USING ANA AND RANDY ALSO, I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED THEM! MAKES ME FEEL BETTER (I NEVER DID HAIR TRIAL AND WAS KINDA WORRIED)

i didn't do a trial either. she is fabulous. she truly is. i didn't like my hair the first time she did it, but she hadn't sprayed it, so she re-did it. every time they did anything they'd ask if i liked it, so there wasn't a problem changing. she is terrific. you're in good hands.

randy speaks for himself. he is so creative and innovative, i can't say enough good things about him. i can't wait for his pics to come. i bought 4 photo albums in disney in anticipation of his fabulousness!!!

Oh, Caryn, you poor thing! :hug: Oh, honey, I am so sorry that you were so stressed and had no food and no sleep. :sad1: I just can't imagine how the cumulative effect of all of that must have been hitting you. I am sure that when we see the pix we'll be impressed with how you looked and how everything came together, but I really, really wish it had been so much more enjoyable for you.

Thank you for coming back and sharing so many details with us so quickly. I hate that you are re-living all the anxiety you felt, but I hope that as time goes on you'll just laugh off the stress of the day and think of it all very happily! And major, major kudos to Mark for expressing his contentment with married life. :cloud9

it actually ended up being very enjoyable and when i look back on the day, i am happy. leading up to it, and right after the reception were killer though. stress is bad. like. really bad. i had been sick for over 2 months and literally, 2 days after my wedding, all the symptoms were gone. amazing.

i was surprised by the change in mark. since we've lived together for such a long time, i wasn't anticipating feeling any different. since he is significantly older than me (doesn't look it, doesn't act it ;) ) i was a bit worried with how marriage would affect him, but so far so good!

Congratulations, Caryn!

I was so surprised to see you back so soon, but selfishly very excited to read the report as I've been looking forward to it ;). Of course, I am loving it so far and cannot wait to read more and also see your pictures. I also love the added reports from your sisters - very nice touch and fun, too!

popcorn::

yes. we're back. unfortunately. i miss disney. i'm trying to go back next week though AND mark says we can go back in a month or 2! we still haven't planned a honeymoon, so i really need to get on that...

[BaBeeCee14]

Caryn! You look BEAUTIFUL!!! I love the cage veil! Its great to be able to see everything together with the dress, veils, and bouquet... I can't wait to see Randy's pictures!!

[caryndisneydiva]

I LOVE your flowers and you looked stunning.

What did you ask for with those flowers they are so big! Also if you dont mnid me asking how much were they??

my bouquet was $350. i told her that i wanted the biggest bouquet of roses that she had ever made. it weighed a ton, but i loved it.

Absolutely stunning bride!!! Can't wait for more!!

thanks!

[caryndisneydiva]

Caryn! You look BEAUTIFUL!!! I love the cage veil! Its great to be able to see everything together with the dress, veils, and bouquet... I can't wait to see Randy's pictures!!

thanks! i can't wait to see his pics either! he said 3 to 4 weeks! agh!

[MistressOfAllEvil]

THANK YOU THANK YOU :worship:
YOUR TR IS GREAT AND GETTING ME SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS WEEKEND, I AM USING ANA AND RANDY ALSO, I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED THEM! MAKES ME FEEL BETTER (I NEVER DID HAIR TRIAL AND WAS KINDA WORRIED)

Me Too!!


Oh Caryn!! You look AMAZING. So, so Beautiful! OMG. I'm in love with your wedding. What is wrong with me???

I'm looving everything, but I'm having a hard time focusing to comment on all the details. I'll probably reread this trip report a million times before I absorb it all. Or just once after my wedding when I can focus a little better. It just all sounds so WONDERFUL! :goodvibes

[Mermaid_Ariel]

OMG YAY!! Welcome back and congrats!!! This is the fastest TR ever!!! :goodvibes So beautiful!!! I can't wait to read more when I have my lunch hour at work!

[Princess_Amanda]

Congratulations Caryn. All the best in your future!

[keenercam]

OMG, Caryn!!!!! (WHERE THE HECK IS THE FAINTING SMILIE?). When I first saw the picture of you, my heart smiled!! You looked absolutely gorgeous!!! Truly picture perfect. I mean, bridal magazine cover beautiful!!!Mark must have been beaming!

[twiu]

Caryn... you are absolutely stunning!!!! I cannot imagine a more beautiful bride. I mean... STUNNING!!!! Can't wait to hear more. It's so much fun that you're sharing this. I feel like we've been through this whole thing with you, so thanks for giving back so quickly. You're awesome!

[mermaidbride1108]

Hey Caryn - Congrats! I love your wedding look, from the veil, to the dress, the birdcage and the stole - it just looks so pulled together!

Are you using Sage from Starfruit Productions? Please post details for them because I am considering them for my videography.

Thanks!

[Desnik]

OMG! You look so beautiful, and those flowers! WOW!!!

[helloirishkitty]

Caryn... WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all, thank you SO much for getting your TR up so quick! :worship: I'm all teary from reading about your wedding day and it was so beautiful! It really sucks that you were so stressed out but you're the bride, it's allowed... I'm glad that it just melted away!

Second of all, you looked beautiful. Picture perfect and I love how everything came together. Mark's jaw must have hit the floor when he saw you, you looked gorgeous! :bride:

[hope1826]

OMG... Caryn, you look like a movie star. So glamorous and you look way better than Katherine Heigl in your birdcage veil!! And the fur wrap is 100% better than gynormous ruffles!

I'm so sorry everything was so stressful leading up to your "I dos".:hug:

[keenercam]

Caryn -- I am so sorry to bother you (especially since we are all waiting for more of your TR!!! ;) ) but my friend who is getting married in March has asked me to find out where you got your birdcage/fascinator. She LOVES your pix! Can you pm me? PRetty please? :lovestruc I've shown everyone your pix and you are a celebrity in my office. Everyone seems to think they've never seen a more gorgeous bride!

[cseca]

Absolutely gorgeous!!!
Ana was not exagerating... you look amazing.
If I could look half as good as you in April I'll be happy :)

Great TR!!!
Keep em coming ...!!!

[PrincessBride010103]

popcorn::
cant wait for more PICS

[Goldeelox9]

You look AMAZING! Like a Hollywood Movie Star! I can not wait to hear about the rest of it! OMG It is like a fairytale!

[MistressOfAllEvil]

Caryn -- I am so sorry to bother you (especially since we are all waiting for more of your TR!!! ;) ) but my friend who is getting married in March has asked me to find out where you got your birdcage/fascinator. She LOVES your pix! Can you pm me? PRetty please? :lovestruc I've shown everyone your pix and you are a celebrity in my office. Everyone seems to think they've never seen a more gorgeous bride!

PM Sent :thumbsup2

[Keira1387]

Caryn,
You looked goregous!The whole wedding was so elegant!!! Everything was beautiful!!!

[keenercam]

PM Sent :thumbsup2

Thank you so much, Wendy!!!

Caryn -- you can go back to writing your TR, sweetie! ;)

You guys are just the absolute best, sweetest brides ever!

[AuroraBorealis]

Congratulations, Caryn, and best wishes for your happily ever after with your prince!

I was a lurker on your PJ, but I had to come out to comment on your TR! :)

You were absolutely, stunningly gorgeous and some of those shots look like a magazine spread! Disney should use you in their advertisements! (I work in marketing in the event planning industry and your look epitomizes the glamour of right now. Too perfect!) You and Mark are a beautiful couple. The birdcage veil and shrug are so chic and your dress was perfect! What a perfect fairytale!

Also-- Fastest trip report, EVER! Congrats again,I can't wait to read/see more!

[lurkyloo]

If I had it to do again, I never would have went to Periwigs, my manicure is completely gone now, not a trace of it and it hasn’t even been a week. It was the weirdest thing, it just peeled off in whole pieces! I’ve never had that happen before.

Crap crap crap! I have a manicure scheduled at Periwigs the day before the wedding! What kind did you get? I'm not doing acrylics or anything.... maybe it will be OK? :scared:

[MistressOfAllEvil]

Crap crap crap! I have a manicure scheduled at Periwigs the day before the wedding! What kind did you get? I'm not doing acrylics or anything.... maybe it will be OK? :scared:

Eeeek! I thought of you when I read this!!! Let us know what you figure out or decide to do??

It almost sounds like they didn't properly prepare the nails before they painted. Like they left lotion on or something. So the polish didn't adhere properly. They usually swipe your nails with some acetone (?) before they begin painting. That or it sounds like they didn't let the coats dry enough in between. :confused3

At least though Carrie, if you stick with Periwigs, your appt. is on Sunday, so they won't look bad the next day!!!

[lurkyloo]

So we’re in the Rolls, Mom is doing the celebutante waive to all the well wishers staring at me and I remarked to my father that this was the time where he is supposed to say, “now Caryn, if this isn’t the right decision for you, we can just take the Rolls and head to Miami.”

HIGH-larious!! :rotfl:

We proceeded down the aisle to my super secret, walking down the aisle song, the theme from “star trek: TNG.” Feel free to laugh at me all you want. I LOVE that song. It took my forever to find sheet music for it. It’s one of our favorite shows and I wanted something that would make Mark smile!

:banana: LOVE it! Love it love it LOVE IT! :banana:

popcorn::

[lurkyloo]

At least though Carrie, if you stick with Periwigs, your appt. is on Sunday, so they won't look bad the next day!!!

You are right... calming down...

Now back to your regularly scheduled Caryn's Trip Report....:happytv:

[caryndisneydiva]

Crap crap crap! I have a manicure scheduled at Periwigs the day before the wedding! What kind did you get? I'm not doing acrylics or anything.... maybe it will be OK? :scared:

i'd go somewhere else if i were you carrie...they were very very nice there, but my mani was cr@*. i had a french manicure on my natural nails, like i always do. she didn't put any of the sticky coat stuff my regular lady usually does, but i'm not sure that's why it's gone. when i say gone, i mean GONE. like, not a trace left. my pedi, that i got almost a week before my wedding at home is still perfect! also, i'm a real perfectionist and it wasn't perfect or even, it was good enough and i was on a time crunch that day, but if i had it to do again, i'd have gone off property...

[caryndisneydiva]

At least though Carrie, if you stick with Periwigs, your appt. is on Sunday, so they won't look bad the next day!!!

that's a good point, mine started to peel after my ceremony...so at least it was good for most of the day!

[sunsh1ne]

your tr is wounderful. i feel like i was there with you. and everything so far looks beautiful.

i do have a question waht was your suite number? it looks identical to mine. i just think it would be funy. o and we are getting ready outfit twins hehe .

well anywaycant wait toi hear and see more

[caryndisneydiva]

your tr is wounderful. i feel like i was there with you. and everything so far looks beautiful.

i do have a question waht was your suite number? it looks identical to mine. i just think it would be funy. o and we are getting ready outfit twins hehe .

well anywaycant wait toi hear and see more

we were in #1208! it was a lovely suite, i'll never stay in another room there again! i LOVED it!

[sunsh1ne]

i have to double check but .... that was my room hehehe. see i left happy vibes for you

[stitchlet]

Welcome back & Congratulations to you both!

Lovin' your TR - can't wait for the next installment! popcorn::

[caryndisneydiva]

Part 7: Pics with Randy and Sage at the BW

The only pictures I even cared about were the ones at the BW. We took them EVERYWHERE and I think they got some really great shots. At one point, my hips were KILLING me, I was in a ton of pain for the majority of the day because my dress was so heavy. All the weight was on my hips. Something just wasn’t right under there, something was bunching…I couldn’t take it anymore and standing right in front of the Wyland Gallery, I pulled up my whole skirt and adjusted the pink crinnie. Randy looked surprisingly shocked and Tiffany (the DFTW assistant) blushed or something. I just remarked that I’m not shy, it’s not like they could see anything and I didn’t want to go through a hip replacement while at Disney. Anyways, we went to the Luna Park Pool where we used to work, people looked at us like we were nuts, but we got a few in there. Mark went up and introduced himself to the lifeguard on duty. That cm had just started his cp 2 weeks previous and Mark said to him, “I was sitting in this seat and she was sitting on that seat (at the other guard stand across the pool), that’s how we met and I just married her.” He was very congratulatory and asked if we wanted to take pictures ON the guard stand. I’m sure his coordinator would have LOVED that. We politely declined and were on our way.

Part 8: Reception which was fabulous!

We finished up pics with Randy in front of the BW (I really wanted the “Maggie” shot), we got into the Rolls and headed to the LSS for the reception. This was the first time Mark was actually in the vintage car and he really liked it. He talked classic cars with the driver the whole way. I was having a difficult time breathing and was in such pain that I was seeing spots, but I was so happy it didn’t matter! We arrived backstage at the LSS and I was surprised that we were going through EPCOT in the big poofy dress, passing right by actuall guests! We didn’t go in that way when we had our mini site tour on Monday and it surprised me! I thought appearing in a wedding dress in a theme park was a total no-no. I made a mental note to sneak a few shots on the way out of the reception…

When we got upstairs to the LSS we were met by Marion and TJ (at least, that’s what I think his name was. He was our point of contact at LSS and was amazing!) who had food waiting for us! Mark was thrilled because he hadn’t eaten since the morning. I asked TJ if he would mind getting me my heels. Along with hip, back and rib pain, my feet hurt because I was wearing flats. My father laughed at me because most girls, obviously, are more comfortable in flats, but I felt much much better in my manolo blahnik knock off pink shoes. My mom came to see us and I asked her to come in the bathroom to loosen my corset. She and my aunt did so and they said my back was bright red and I must be in pain. The loosening helped a bit, but not entirely. I remember my mother standing there contemplating just which row of hooks to hook up and I was thinking of that scene in Sex and the City when Carrie was trying on wedding dresses and she screams, "just rip it off." Totally understandable.

As we entered the reception it was like a whirlwind. There was no announcement, but because of how LSS is set up, everyone could see us making our grand entrance and they all clapped and cheered!
Here we are as we entered…
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/of50332442-3.jpg

I had strategically placed Mark and I at a table of 4, with our best friends in the corner. Courtney later told me that the servers were very strict with them about us sitting in the corner. I wanted to be out of the way because I knew I would be STARVING and didn’t want to be bothered while we ate.

Now, the thing about our family is that the only people we actually see on a regular basis are Mark’s parents. We live halfway across the country from everyone else, this was the first time we had seen any of them in quite awhile and we were bombarded! All I wanted to do was see my cake and the fishies, which I did eventually, but it took awhile.

The cake was amazing. Everyone thought it was so beautiful and loved that it was so different. The aquarium windows were so fun! The kids loved them! One of Mark’s little cousins is autistic, his parents were worried about how he would behave at the reception, but he stayed in front of those windows the entire time, jumping around smiling, laughing. Jonah was one of the highlights of my day, it was so nice to see him so happy! Divers in the tanks kept swimming by to say hi! The LSS is a GREAT place to have a reception!

I wasn't thrilled with my centerpieces. They just weren't what I was expecting, cross that...I liked the ones with the flowers, but the ones with the candle's weren't so fun. I shouldn't have even done centerpieces, but oh well. It brought a little extra yellow into the room, and that's what i wanted...
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0689.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0691.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0690.jpg

The cool thing about a Disney reception is that there are CM’s EVERYWHERE. I didn’t know this at the time, but one of my family members fell down the stairs and my father later told me that cast members just “appeared” to make sure she was ok! We had our own personal servers (one for me, one for Mark) who took us around the buffet and saw to our every need. I felt a little odd being served, but Johnny was so nice to me. Their professionalism was amazing and because of him, I actually ate at my own wedding! The food was pretty good, I didn’t want to eat too much because my dress was so tight. , Lindsay and Megan had a great time at the bar.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0608.jpg
I however, didn’t drink anything (there is NOTHING tackier than a drunken bride), but apparently the two of them were pretty entertaining…

I think our reception was very different from other weddings. Our pianist was amazing. Mark actually had a long conversation with her at the end. I loved her. Since Mark owns a night club, we have the dj/dancing/loud music almost every night. In our personal lives, we are a bit more subdued. After it was all said and done, many people commented that it was a lovely, classy affair and the most fun wedding they had ever been to. They didn’t have to worry about yelling over music and it was nice for people who hardly ever see each other to have a chance to sit and talk. The reception was to take place between 12-3. I shortened it by one hour, it was supposed to end at 4. I’m so glad I did this. A bit after the buffet ended, the choice was made to cut the cake. This is the only traditional thing that went on during our wedding. I didn’t wear a garter or throw a bouquet and we didn’t feed one another (we had just eaten after all;)). Before we did so, my dad made a little speech/toast about how much he liked Mark and was happy that he was a part of the family now and he hopes our relationship will be as strong as his and my mom’s. He talked about milestones in life, you were born, you receive communion, you receive confirmation and I made a joke to Mark, “you are married by a rabbi,” and he toasted to our marriage.
Dad making the toast
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0635.jpg
us watching dad toast
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0626.jpg
us drinking (the only drinks we had the entire time…)
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0638.jpg

I had kind of forgotten our toasting glasses on the table, and TJ magically appeared with both! How did he do that? We cut the cake and it was served to our guests.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0629.jpg
The cake was a huge hit, especially the almond flavor. I think the layers were yellow cake/chocolate mousse and almond cake/Bavarian cream and the top layer was milk chocolate/peanut butter cup. They also had little kids cakes as well for them to decorate! They were adorable!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0682.jpg
even megan, in her altered state of mind had a field day with the kids cakes...
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0657.jpg
After the cake was done, there was a bus leaving, so a lot of our guests took off for the parks. For a minute that threw me, but afterwards I realized that we had done everything there was to do and it was nice, our immediate family and my best friends stayed with us and we did our first dance to Frank Sinatra’s, “The Best Is Yet To Come.” After that I danced with my dad to, “It had to be you.”
Here’s Dad and I
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0695.jpg

Randy and Sage left shortly after most of the guests, I gave Sage our music for the video and thanked them both profusely.

After our dances Lindsay discovered that the cameo she was wearing (family heirloom, very important) had gotten lost. Since she was in her not so normal state of mind, she became hysterical and kept apologizing profusely, which I, in my sober state of mind, thought was hilarious.
Here she is, tan line Lindsay herself
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0693.jpg
I kept telling her that it was somewhere in her dress, but she didn’t believe me. All of our left over guests, the wait staff, Marion and Mark (not me, I couldn’t crawl in the big dress, I took pictures) were crawling around LSS looking for the cameo.
See the people crawling around on the floor?
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0687.jpg
Someone finally convinced tan line Lindsay (who by this time had gotten rid of those ugly lines…) to go to the freaking bathroom, take her dress off and see if it was in there and what do you know…there it was! We all cheered and clapped when she came back in and she hugged my mother in law! I thought it was pretty funny, but she felt bad for causing drama at my wedding. Whatever. Soon it was time to board the buses back to BW. The wedding was over-but my trip wasn’t!!!

We all headed out of LSS and I got my park shots! I was so happy!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0699.jpg
There were a lot of guests in the area and it was so super cool. We were really tired when we got on the bus, but this was the first time I got to talk to my 2 college roommates who came to our wedding. I hadn’t seen one of them in 4 years and it was her birthday! I was so happy she was able to come! The other one caught me up on the news of our other mutual friends, it was really nice to talk to both of them. We made plans to meet that night at 10 in front of the Comedy Club at PI.

The bus dropped us at the BW convention center and Mark and I got into the ghetto fabulous mini van. I remembered that my saline and glasses were in my reception bag and I thought my dad had it, but he didn’t. Lindsay had it and she was on her way back to POFQ! It took awhile to get in touch with her, so Mark and I just went over there to get it. She wasn’t answering her cell phone, so I had to have Courtney call her room to get it! At this point I was in so much pain I could barely speak and my eyes were really dry. I really needed my glasses. It was also the first time Mark and I were totally alone that day. I don’t know how to describe how we felt at that moment, but it wasn’t good. We felt very very awkward. It was a horrible feeling actually. At the time, we thought it was because his business partners (well, just one of them really) acted snotty, aloof and like our wedding was big inconvenience for him. Also we felt odd that people left so early. I’m sure that was all part of it, but more so than not, we were TIRED. Exhausted. We had just gone through a huge moment in our lives and I think the emotions were overwhelming us. My rib cage felt bruised, I could barely see, weird feeling. Still, it felt miserable at the time and it makes me almost cry writing about it, so I’m going to stop.

Next up: Do we start to feel better? Checking into the poly...and PI where i finally got to meet Kristen14!

[lurkyloo]

Oh my gosh! I can't believe your guests left a THREE-HOUR reception early! They must have been scarfing down their meals... and who makes plans directly after a wedding?! :sad2:

I know things get better for you guys, but it makes me sad that you were feeling so crummy after the reception. However, none of that will show in the pictures and the video! :thumbsup2

I'm so glad you were there to get Disney accustomed to the idea of a non-traditional reception - ours will be very similar, and when I first told our planner our ideas, she was shocked, simply shocked that we didn't want a DJ, a garter toss, announcements, etc. Thank goodness you could be the standard bearer for a NEW type of DFTW! :goodvibes

[caryndisneydiva]

Oh my gosh! I can't believe your guests left a THREE-HOUR reception early! They must have been scarfing down their meals... and who makes plans directly after a wedding?! :sad2:

i know, it was weird. one of mark's bus partners even wore jeans. he had a jacket on with them, and they were designer jeans, but PUHLEASE. no freaking class at all. i think it was an early morning for most of our guests, since the ceremony was at 10...it worked out for the best though. we had our close loved ones around us for the end of it and it was just lovely!

I know things get better for you guys, but it makes me sad that you were feeling so crummy after the reception. However, none of that will show in the pictures and the video! :thumbsup2

it really does get better, especially when we got a really good nights sleep that night!

I'm so glad you were there to get Disney accustomed to the idea of a non-traditional reception - ours will be very similar, and when I first told our planner our ideas, she was shocked, simply shocked that we didn't want a DJ, a garter toss, announcements, etc. Thank goodness you could be the standard bearer for a NEW type of DFTW! :goodvibes

carrie, there was no way i would have done all that stuff. it's just not me! i got lucky with marion, she's great! she really is. she let me do whatever i wanted and we were so happy with her!

[lov2b@disney]

Cannot get enough!! Enjoying your TR!

[topsy]

Hi Caryn, you looked beautiful! I hope that you both enjoyed your trip, I can't wait to hear more. I forgot that you and Mark were on the CP. I'm from the UK and have just applied to do the CRP, to work at the UK pavillion for a year! I'm just waiting for a phone interview at the moment, hopefully I'll hear soon. Anyway, I have a selfish question to ask you, do you have any more pictures of the LSS? I'd love to see how it looked all dressed up! Looking forward to hearing (and seeing) more!

[MistressOfAllEvil]

WoW :eek:

I'm just shocked. It seems like it was such a mixed bag of emotions. Between snooty :snooty: guest(s?) and the wonderful CM experiences.... it seems very up and down. I'm so sorry you were in such physical discomfort!!! And I'm sooooooo sorry that it upsets you to write about it!! I know you're not saying it was all bad... I just want to get to the happy parts!!! Or at least where you're more happy than sad, ya know?? :hug:

I can't wait to hear about the turn around! pixiedust:

[camara381]

Wow both of you looked amazing!!! :thumbsup2
I think mishaps and problems are all part of a normal wedding, everything looked great!

Now comes the fun part life as Mr. & Mrs.

:cool1: :cool1:

[Starr W.]

Caryn,

I'm so sorry your dress was causing you so much pain(you looked wonderful though, no way I could have pulled off a cage and the big veil). I was so excited for you when I read that the BW pool re-opened early.:banana:

You used to be a ballet dancer? I used to dance until I hurt my knee pretty badly playing soccer at age 13, just in time where those nasty point shoes were getting at least tollerable.

Was your family member that fell okay? What can I say about some of your guests, my mom always used to say most people don't know how to behave in such situations(she was clearly dismayed people never learned or ignored proper etiquette). It's rude to leave early, like I can't wait to get out of here. It wasn't like you had a later ceremony and people were getting tired.

[stitchlet]

Glued to my 'puter :surfweb:

So glad to hear that you got the wedding YOU wanted pixiedust:

And very glad to hear that you both got to feeling better after some (much needed!) sleep!

[BayouPrincess]

OMG Caryn,

I'm sitting here at my puter....blubbering like an idiot! :sad: What a beautiful story. :hug:

Your pictures take my breath away. What a beautiful couple. I hate that you were so uncomfortable on your wedding day! I would have loved to have seen their faces when you pulled up your dress to adjust! :rotfl:

I can't even keep up with what is racing through my mind. You looked absolutely stunning and that bouquet! WOW! Yellow roses are my absolute favorite. (our first Valentine's Day together [dating] my sweetie gave me a dozen GORGEOUS yellow roses) Yours were just fabulous!

It's been a busy thread today. I checked earlier and was up to the wedding morning...I come back after lunch and there are 3 pages of thread after that! :lmao:

BEAUTIFUL, JUST BEAUTIFUL!

[Lizby]

Wow Caryn, words can't even describe how beautiful and glamorous you looked. It's so nice to see all of your planning come together. I love your bouquet and Mark's outfit looked great with it! I especially like his yellow tie (or was it an ascot?..) Sorry you were stressed and uncomfortable on your special day, but you looked beautiful anyways! Congrats on a gorgeous wedding!!! :dance3:

[Ticky Toria 78]

Wow your pictures are lovely, and you look beautiful in your dress.
Congratulations to you both ! Can't wait to read more!:surfweb:

[pink_tink8i8]

Since I just got back from my trip, i have very limited pics. i wanted to get my tr started as soon as possible...i'll post more/better pics at the end of this thread as soon as i receive them.

Part 3: We’re finally ready! Can I go yet??????

My dad disappeared for a minute, I think he went to the car to drop something or whatever, I’m not sure where he went…but he came back pretty quickly and bell services came to take our luggage. How easy is that?

I now began the, what seemed to be, endless wait to leave the GS and go to the lobby for my pics. They were doing a ton of construction on the GS’s that were in between us and the lobby, I had just seen all the workers arrive for the day and was worried about how their equipment was going to be set up and if I would be able to get around it since the path was so narrow (narrow paths were a problem for me that day…). I was ALSO worried about how I was going to get out of my suite…we were in the honeymoon GS with the heart shaped shrubs in front and there were shrubs leading up the super tiny path to the room from the gate. I took all of the sheets off the beds and the extra blankets and had my sisters cover the shrubs so it didn’t shrub stain my dress. At one point, a lady from mousekeeping walked by and started to disassemble my dress stain saving device and I was none too pleased with her. Megan had to run out of the GS screaming, “nooooooooo!” until she stopped. Back to the construction workers…they were super aware that there was a bride waiting to move, so it shouldn’t have been a problem for them to set their paint up elsewhere, but they gave Randy a problem when he asked them to wait. There were some words exchanged (gooooo Randy!) so Lindsay went out and yelled at them. I thanked them profusely on my walk to the lobby. They looked annoyed. Oh well. I’m sure they’ll understand when their daughters get married one day…

While I was not so patiently waiting to get the heck out of there, I was practicing stairs and discovered the issue with my hoop skirt, so my mom had to cut the white part out. Randy did some shots of me in the room and on the stairs and we left-FINALLY!

Part 4: And we’re off (to the lobby, for pics…)

I swear, I felt like Britney spears cruising around LA. There were paparazzi EVERYWHERE! And not just the ones that I hired! Our first stop was the steps leading up to the lobby. I took lots of pics outside there. Then we headed inside to the lobby and took pics in front of the doors that lead down the stairs to the GS’s. Sage appeared at this point with a camera in hand and I introduced myself to her. She is a super cute little blond thing and so so so bubbly! We made our way into the lobby and out onto the BW verandah. I saw most of my guests at this point and I began to feel really overwhelmed. We were standing downstairs outside and they were all just gawking at me. Randy noticed my discomfort and ushered me under the stairs until they were all taken to SBP. We then headed back upstairs (stairs were REALLY fun in my huge dress) and took tons more pictures. There were people everywhere just staring at me…it was kind of odd. They wouldn’t even say anything, they’d just gawk. This is when my ballet training came into good use. I just ignored them all, smiled and waved at the little girls and focused on Randy. Marion and Keri-Ann from DFTW were waiting in the lobby. They were great, I was really glad that I had met Kerri-Ann a few days prior. At one point, Mark’s business partners and their girlfriends (herein referred to as the Barbie doll look a likes who refused to eat all day) were passing through the lobby on their way to SBP. Their snarky looks were obvious to many and Keri-Ann noticed and said, “are you here for the Craig/DeLange wedding? Please move away from the bride.” HILARIOUS. Marion soon told us that the Rolls had arrived and she escorted my sisters to SBP to await my arrival. My parents and I were waiting in the BW lobby near the big couch, where I actually got to sit for a precious moment. The dress was starting to hurt…

Part 5: And we’re off (in the Rolls to the altar…)

My mother was in paparazzi heaven. All she could keep saying was, “this is so coooool.” The Rolls picks Mom, Dad and I up in front of the BW lobby. There was a DFTW guy named Andrew there and bless his heart, they made that boy RUN in front of the car, all the way behind the BW, in front of ADH, down the boardwalk until we reached SBP. I felt so bad for him and remarked that it was a good thing it was January and not July…

So we’re in the Rolls, Mom is doing the celebutante waive to all the well wishers staring at me and I remarked to my father that this was the time where he is supposed to say, “now Caryn, if this isn’t the right decision for you, we can just take the Rolls and head to Miami.” He said, “uh no. I’m not telling you that.” We paused on the boardwalk in front of Spoodles, all the CM’s were outside watching, there were a bunch of people sitting outside the bakery and I got my first glimpse of Mark standing with his parents. I saw the Rabbi enter, then Mark and his parents.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/of50590442-2.jpg

Lindsay and Megan entered from opposite sides of the pavilion (I forgot to tell Randy about this important part, so I think pics got messed up. Either way, it caused some confusion…) and then we pulled up in front.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/of50590442-8.jpg

I told my mother on the drive that Mark was either going to pass out from nervousness or sit there and crack jokes until I arrived. Thankfully the latter was true…

Part 6: And I’m off (to marry mark..)

I don’t really remember much of this part, it’s very spotty…so I’ll rely on the spotty memories that I do have and other people’s recollections of the moments…

I fell out of the Rolls, that dress was huge mind you, the driver handed me my bouquet and I went around the front of the car to meet my parents. The first thing I noticed was that SBP was PACKED. Like, to the brim. My mother was happily jaunting along and my father and I kept tripping over one another. I have three of his footprints on my dress…I think I was like, “DAAAD, stop stepping on my dress!” the whole way down the aisle. I was seriously nervous. My uncle even told me that he was surprised at how nervous I looked.

We proceeded down the aisle to my super secret, walking down the aisle song, the theme from “star trek: TNG.” Feel free to laugh at me all you want. I LOVE that song. It took my forever to find sheet music for it. It’s one of our favorite shows and I wanted something that would make Mark smile!

I stopped before Mark, he shook my dad’s hand. I kissed my mom, then my dad and Mark took my hand and we finally were standing before Rabbi Jimmy. I handed my bouquet off to Lindsay and took my gloves off and gave them to her as well. I started to cry and sniffle (totally hypocritical, I know, I was going to banish the criers-oh well), Lindsay handed me a tissue, I dabbed my eyes (which wasn’t easy under the cage) and handed the tissue back to her.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/rabbisblessing.jpg
I looked down and saw that Rabbi Jimmy was wearing black crocs and I thought it was so funny! It made me feel a bit more comfortable. The ceremony last all of 10 minutes (inspiration for said short ceremony was “I do, I do, We’re done.). We said our I do’s, then we said some sort of pre-written vow that had the word “beloved” in it and it was time to do the ring thing. Megan was so funny, when the Rabbi asked for the rings, she said, “I didn’t forget them!” that was a relief! I’d given Lindsay my engagement ring to wear, so Mark just had to slip that baby on my finger and then it was my turn…like a nervous, bumbling fool, I proceed to put Mark’s ring on his RIGHT hand and didn’t even notice until Randy pointed it out when we were taking pics about an hour later. See what uncontrollable nervousness does to you on your wedding day???

The rabbi told a story, something about a cup and a saucer and he said Mark could kiss me (he did) and we were DONE!!!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/of50590442-5.jpg
YIPPEEEE! I’ll assume that everyone cheered, but I don’t remember. Lin gave me back my engagement ring and we walked back down the aisle to The Verve’s, “Bittersweet Symphony” which was so very beautiful and clear in that moment. I remember standing on the street in front of the Rolls thinking, “oh, that’s Bittersweet Symphony, it sounds really good!” I think I’d forgotten that was the song I’d chosen.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/of50590442-6.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/mrmrs.jpg

We were supposed to get back into the Rolls, which was supposed to drive us 3 feet to the side entrance to SBP for our staged bubble exit. I really didn’t want to shove my big self into that car again, so we just walked to the entrance and through the bubble blowers! Lindsay later told me that Randy was so funny, he would yell things like, “left side, we need more bubbles!” When we got back to the altar site, we were congratulated by like, everyone, we took pics with the family and then they all left to go to the pre-reception at LSS. The violinist was fantastic, my dad later told me that he was taking requests at the cocktail hour! So cool! He re-played the Star Trek song because Mark hadn’t heard it. Mark asked him if that was the weirdest thing he’d ever been asked to play at a wedding and he said yes, but that lots of brides walk down the aisle to the “Death March” from Star Wars. See? I’m not that odd after all!

Here are two shots of my parents and I taking pics after the ceremony
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/momandiafterceremony.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/dadandiafterceremony.jpg

wow! you looked so glamorous! gorgeous flowers!

[DigitalLove]

So sorry to hear about your stresses on your wedding day!! Thats part of the reason I always said I would never get married again! I remember wedding day stress all too well from the first time around! :lmao: Hopefully the joyous moments far outweighed the stress you felt!

You look like such a beautiful couple... and you looked such an elegant bride!! Truly stunning! Your bouquet looked magnificent... I think my biceps would have felt like I had just done an hours worth of free weights at the gym if I had had to carry that around!

I especially loved the comments Mark made about being married!! My DF is also called Mark :goodvibes and he's managed to get to the ripe old age of 37 (38 in a couple of weeks) without ever being married, or ever feeling the need to get married, and I really really hope that he has the same feeling once he's 'signed his life away' Muhahahaha!

Christina

xxx

[momofbride010103]

Caryn,


To my new friend who now shares the same wedding anniversary with me......

YOU WERE A BEAUTIFUL BRIDE SIMPLY STUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH AND MARK LOOKED PRETTY GOOD TOO!

[shasess]

Caryn,
You were soooo beautiful! One of the prettiest brides that I have seen in a while. You just looked like what a bride should look like, very elegant!

[DisneyFairy19]

YEY WELCOME BACK!!!:banana:

[DisneyFairy19]

Your dress and head piece is amazing

[Lindsay22]

I don't have to worry about posting pics before Caryn!!! She is seriously the faster TR'r I've ever seen in my life!! (and I've been lurking on these boards for almost 2 years now)
Here are some more pics

Ray-Bar and I took Megan to the bar at POFQ after the "lemonade" incident to celebrate her birthday. This is us by the pool.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s131/lindsayacraig/Carynswedding021.jpg

I don't think raybar was too into the picture taking, as can be witnessed here...
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s131/lindsayacraig/Carynswedding023.jpg

This is from the morning of the rehearsal. We all sat down and had a little breakfast snack and these seagulls, seriously, I thought they were going to attack us. It was like a Hitchcock movie
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s131/lindsayacraig/Carynswedding042.jpg

Here are Caryn and Mark at the rehearsal lunch (which really was spectacular)
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s131/lindsayacraig/Carynswedding053.jpg

Oh, and in my defense of the HORRIFIC "I just lost my necklace picture" I was VERY upset that A.) I had just lost a family heirloom, something that I will wear at my own wedding and B.) I was causing drama at Caryn's wedding. I was less than pleased when Caryn snapped that picture. Believe me, I tried all weekend to delete it.

The food at the reception was WOW!! Mashed potato martini bars should be included in all events. They were great. The pasta station was great too (and really good if you have vegetarians) The room was just the perfect size and way more beautiful than any picture. Everyone had a wonderful time. The guest book pages were a great way to get people involved, walking around and talking. It's so different and something that they will have forever.

Oh, and Caryn didn't mention that the violin guy played the Star Trek theme during the bubble blowing and he was GREAT!!! How cool is that?!?!

And for those that closely followed the beginning of Caryn's PJ, if you look at the rehearsal pics you will see Megan and I carrying the magic wands that Caryn originally had us carrying in lieu of bouquets. (Thank god we talked her out of that one. Our rose wands were perfect)

[Starr W.]

Lindsay, I have really enjoyed your input on your sister's PJ and now TR.

Loved the part about the straplines and if she didn't lay off you wouldn't be able to find the way to the winery.

[caryndisneydiva]

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s131/lindsayacraig/Carynswedding021.jpg


that picture is hilarious. how many glo-tini's was it? megan looks REALLY into the air guitar!

[c4alymom]

I have been following your PJ and I am loving your TR...I just want to see one thing... Do you have pics of the FOOD????? I am anxiously awaiting the potato martinis!

Keep it comingpopcorn::

[disneediva]

loving it!!

[tlhbdm]

Wow so much updating. My email didn't say that I had updates. Congrats and you looked beautiful

[caryndisneydiva]

Wedding Day Part 9: Off to the poly!
We finally got our bag from Lindsay (and our cake too!) and headed off to the Poly. Bless Mark for checking us in that morning. All we had to do was go to our room!

We got in the room and I immediately noticed that there were 2 queen beds and I had specifically requested a king. I called the front desk and they told me that there were no rooms in the entire resort with king beds. Ergh. Oh well. I then got out of the dress while Mark called bell services to have them bring up the luggage. I had huge black and blue indentations on my ribcage and I was red on my whole back and abdomen. My hip bones still hurt 4 days later. Breathing became easier, but I don’t think my lungs were quite used to it, how did those girls do it in the old days? All I could think of was Scarlett O’Hara and her 23 inch waist.

While the bellman was in our room, I hid in the bathroom since I was naked…when I got out of the bathroom I finally got a chance to calm down and look around and I noticed a bottle of champagne and 2 flutes with a “happy honeymoon” letter from Mickey and Minnie from some VERY special friends!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0744.jpg
You ladies know who you are and I can’t tell you how touched Mark and I were! It was the sweetest gesture, it really was! I actually cried. That champagne made me so happy every time I looked at it.

I was restless, but decided to try to take a nap. At this point it was like 3:35. I slept until 4:36 exactly. I was still in my awkward mood. I called my dad to see where he was. All of our stuff got jumbled and mixed up and we needed to exchange some things. Mark got annoyed that I was awake already and I told him to just sleep, I would go to the ASM and see my dad. Mark didn’t like that idea. He wanted to go in the hot tub (since our room was a standard room, it had a standard tub). Bingo. I love hot tubs. Unfortunately, the Poly doesn’t have one. We had our swim-suits on and everything and were walking all around the hotel looking for one. Oh well, it’s probably better that there wasn’t one, it was VERY cold at that point, we would have gotten sick.

We went to see the menu at Kona Café and then went back to the room. I was toying with the idea of ordering room service until Mark pointed out that the menus for room service were the same as Kona Café. We decided to go to dinner then go get Megan and Lindsay at POFQ and go meet the rest of the family at ASM. I have to tell you, for most of the trip, while they were there, I LOVED LOVED LOVED having all of our loved ones at Disney with us. We feel so at home there, it was great!

So we put on clothes and headed to the Great Ceremonial House. The Poly is SOOOOOO beautiful! We booked it because it was where Mark used to stay with his parents as a kid and we wanted it to be special. That resort is just heavenly, I’d never stayed in a monorail resort before and it was so cool to be able to see MK from the paths! Anyway, we made our way to Kona Café, there was no wait, which was fabulous. I had forgotten my bride ears, but had my pink clutch with my “bride” pin on it, our server noticed it and congratulated us! I was still in “no eating” mode, but I tried REALLY hard to eat the yummy coconut chicken dish that I ordered. The meal originally came with strawberries, but I am REALLY allergic to them, so I told the server and the chef actually came out, told me how he was going to prepare the meal etc. Gotta love Disney. I often have to sub things on a menu because of that allergy and I have never met a chef nor been treated like that. It made me feel a lot better, breaking out in hives would not have been fun at all. Anyway, Mark had the tuna and we thought the food was fantastic! That’s another thing about the Poly, the restaurants are amazing, they truly are.
Here’s my food
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0708.jpg
and Mark’s (I got really into the food porn during the 2nd half of our trip…)
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0709.jpg

Dinner took a little while, so by the time we left, my parents were already on their way to get my sisters at POFQ so we headed to the All Star. We met someone in the food court, not sure who it was…then we headed off to my parents room to exchange stuff. It was 9:45 and we were going to meet everyone at PI at 10…it was time to go! I told my dad that we would try to meet them for breakfast at the ASM food court the next morning.

Part 10: The 21 hour day continues at PI!

We were exhausted and didn’t really feel like going out, but we did anyway, I was in Nike’s, which is unprecedented for “Clubby Caryn.” My best friend Courtney called, we made plans to go to MGM the next morning, they had never been to Disney before and were super excited! I love going on the RRC with newbies so I was excited too! They decided not to come out that night so they could conserve their energy and maximize their fun potential for the next day. I totally understood, we all needed sleep at that point.

We met my girlfriend Kari and her boyfriend in the Comedy Club, I was text messaging Kristen and my friend Vinnie, they weren’t able to get in since the show had just started. The Comedy Club was actually pretty good, we had a nice time there! After the show was over, we headed out to the streets and Kristen called me, she was actually standing right behind me! We actually met! Yaaaay!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0711.jpg
She is the sweetest girl and her now husband Rob is soooo nice! We all headed out to 8-Tracks and ordered drinks! Kristen and Rob were in pre-wedding stressed out mode and had to leave but it was so nice of them to come meet us! I felt so bad for her at that moment, having just gone through it myself, I was happy their wedding day was soon approaching! I cannot say how much I just really loved meeting them! They are fabulous!

We hung out in 8-Tracks for a bit, then headed over to Mannequins. For some reason, we didn’t go to The Beach Club and now I’m upset over that since it’s closing and my chance is gone! I wasn’t trying to get drunk that night, so I wasn’t going to get a bucket and I think there was a line or something. Anyway, Mannequins is the most fantastic club on the planet! We danced and danced and danced!
Self pic of us at Mannequins!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0714.jpg
Mark knew the DJ from his time at PI and I commented that he wasn’t as good as Mark is, Disney really limits their talent at PI and Mark thinks that’s why Dave was a bit off. We had such a good time there! Vinnie and I club together all the time at home, it was so nice to be in a different place! I was a sweaty mess when Mark’s business partners arrived. I don’t think their jaws came off the floor, Mannequins is THAT fabulous. Mark instantly went into work mode with the two of them, talking about lighting, fog machines, some blasting thing etc. I just stood there with the Barbie twins and tried to make small talk. They had sushi at the Swan & Dolphin that night and I think they went to MGM. One of them had never been to Disney and they made the comment that Disney was so luxurious. I think they had a good time, they went to ADH the night before the wedding and liked it. We left soon after, around 12:30.

By the time we got back to the Poly, we had been up for 21 hours straight, more for me since I didn’t sleep the night before, we went to bed between 1 and 1:30. Our day was over and I needed SLEEP! I didn’t even take my hair out, I just took off my make-up (which stayed remarkably fresh all day long-thanks Ana!) and fell into bed! The 21 hour day was over!!!


Day 5- Friday January 25, 2008-MGM with the newbies, EPCOT that night and a mini-celebration at where else? The ASM food court that night!

I slept for a fit 7 hours straight, something I hadn’t done for more than a month. It was GREAT! I woke up starving and called my dad to see where everyone was. Mark’s parents were leaving that day, and I wanted to see them before they headed off to the airport. They were already at the ASM food court, so I quickly took my hair out, showered, re did the hair/make up, threw on the bride ears and we left to go eat. Our entire family was in the food court when we arrived and they all cheered when we came in! We greeted everyone and went to get our food. I think we both had Mickey waffles and bacon (loooooove bacon). I ate every single morsel off my plate without breathing. I think I even stole some of Mark’s bacon. I told him that we needed to go to the front desk and ask for “Just Married” pins! He said, “oh, I have them in my tux jacket, they gave them to me when I checked into the Poly!” the jacket was still in the ghetto-van, so we put them on immediately!

The rest of the family was going to EPCOT that day and we were meeting Courtney, Laura, Megan, Lindsay and My Ray-Bar at MGM. I told the fam that we were going to meet up there that night to eat the rest of the wedding cake (I wasn’t going to drag that on a plane with me) and drink champagne!

We went to MGM and I was so excited! Everyone else was already there and I walked in and immediately saw Courtney who proceeded to crack up at my bride ears, which are obviously not things I wear at home…We took some pics and headed off to the RRC/ToT area…
Self pic of Court, Laura and I
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0725.jpg
There was a 30 minute wait at ToT and a 50 minute wait at RRC. Since the line moves really fast at ToT, we decided to hit RRC first. We met up with both of my sisters and my ray bar and went to sit in line.
Mark and Megan acting like fools in line for the RRC
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0727.jpg
It took 20 minutes and we were there. Since it was their first time, we let Courtney and Laura sit in the first row! The picture at the end was so funny of the four of us that I bought it, which I never do. We got two and gave one to them! We hit ToT next which is my all time favorite Disney ride. ToT has the best pre-show of any attraction at WDW, I just LOVE that ride!!!

We had an ADR at the Hollywood Brown Derby, so we headed there next! I hadn’t ever eaten there, it’s super nice! Our server saw my ears and our pins and gave us a free champagne toast! It was so nice!
Pics of the free champagne!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0729.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0732.jpg
I got the bbq chicken and it was really good.
I got bored and took a TON of food porn pics during lunch. Really, I think I just wanted to annoy everyone and not let them eat until I was done photographing their meal…don’t ask me what any of these dishes are, I forgot already!!!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0734.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0735.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0736.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0737.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0738.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0739.jpg

We started to get tired during lunch, the day before was a bit draining. We were stuffed and decided to hit the Great Movie Ride (a GREAT digestion ride) after we ate. It was on this ride that Laura started saying that she wanted to stay…we decided that Courtney could get out of work for the weekend and that they should stay. We went back to RRC and Court was calling Southwest airlines to see if they could change their tickets. It was so funny, we were in the pre-show area and all we could hear over the “hey hey hey!” was, “$140 to change our flights? $140 EACH? Ok, thanks.” So they couldn’t stay. DRAT! They’re coming back with us for a few days soon though! They LOVED it! I’m so happy to have some new Disney freak friends at home! Everyone else thinks we’re crazy, but we just LOVE the world! We rode ToT again, hit some shops and it was time for Courtney and Laura to head to MCO for their trip home.

We bid them farewell and went to meet everyone else at EPCOT. We were a bit hungry and went to the new and improved Sunshine Seasons Food Court. I am so impressed with Disney. That new set up is great! So healthy, we were really impressed! Of course, I decided to have Mac and Cheese, but oh well, Mark ate healthy! The cm’s saw our pins and gave us free cookies! Thumbs up for free stuff! Everyone was waning, it was dark and getting slightly chilly so we decided to leave. Mark and I took my mom to the Poly with us to get the cake to take to the ASM food court for our party! Mom commented on the size of our room, which was a standard room. It really was big! We grabbed the cake and associated items that needed to go home with the fam the next day and headed back to the ASM.

Everyone was waiting in the food court and I had my grandma cut the cake.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0742.jpg
It was SOOOOOO GOOOOD. It tasted like a funny bone with the milk chocolate and peanut butter cup filling. It was amazing.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0743.jpg
I kept some of the scrolly metal things that were on top of the cake for my scrapbook.

After we were done, we said good bye to everyone, this is the last time that we would see them as they were all going their separate ways the next morning. We went to my parents room to drop off the stuff for them and gather the rest of our belongings. It looked like a tornado had gone through there. They had one of the Mickey Mouse Hat chocolate favors that I had for the kids. I was so mad when I saw it. it was HOLLOW. They were $5/apiece. OUTRAGEOUS.
The Favor
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0746.jpg
The Hollowness…
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0747.jpg

Anyway, The one thing my father said he would have changed was that he and my mom would have stayed in a suite instead of at the All Star. I tried to tell him that months ago…We said our good bye’s and headed back to the Poly. We made plans with Lindsay and my ray bar to have breakfast at O’Hana at 10 the next morning and we were going to go to MK to ride the teacups!

[GJLS10108]

OMG YOU LOOK ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!!!!

I hope my wedding looks and is that amazing!!! I cannot wait to see all of your pictures!

[BethanyMouse]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the TR! Thanks so much for posting all of this! Your sister really makes me laugh when she describes her defense for the lost necklace. I can picture that exact situation happening to me! So glad that she found it!!!! Everything looks so wonderful! You looked so beautiful in your gown and seemed to really be enjoying every part of the trip. Thanks for sharing!

[caryndisneydiva]

Cannot get enough!! Enjoying your TR!

i'm so sad that i didn't see you! i kept looking for your df's beard but there were so many people around that day!

Hi Caryn, you looked beautiful! I hope that you both enjoyed your trip, I can't wait to hear more. I forgot that you and Mark were on the CP. I'm from the UK and have just applied to do the CRP, to work at the UK pavillion for a year! I'm just waiting for a phone interview at the moment, hopefully I'll hear soon. Anyway, I have a selfish question to ask you, do you have any more pictures of the LSS? I'd love to see how it looked all dressed up! Looking forward to hearing (and seeing) more!

good for you! good luck with the crp! my cp was the best thing i ever did in my whole life (obviously)! you'll have a blast! one of my roomates married a guy who was on his international program from the uk!

WoW :eek:

I'm just shocked. It seems like it was such a mixed bag of emotions. Between snooty :snooty: guest(s?) and the wonderful CM experiences.... it seems very up and down. I'm so sorry you were in such physical discomfort!!! And I'm sooooooo sorry that it upsets you to write about it!! I know you're not saying it was all bad... I just want to get to the happy parts!!! Or at least where you're more happy than sad, ya know?? :hug:

I can't wait to hear about the turn around! pixiedust:

it was surreal. that's all i can say about it. i'm used to mark's business partners not being so nice, but at my wedding? i think they might have felt uncomfortable. all of our other friends that were there already knew all of our family because THEY are like family since we live so far away. whatever, it's over. they did tell mark today that they had a wonderful time which was nice of them...

Wow both of you looked amazing!!! :thumbsup2
I think mishaps and problems are all part of a normal wedding, everything looked great!

Now comes the fun part life as Mr. & Mrs.

:cool1: :cool1:

i love marriedland!

Caryn,

I'm so sorry your dress was causing you so much pain(you looked wonderful though, no way I could have pulled off a cage and the big veil). I was so excited for you when I read that the BW pool re-opened early.:banana:

You used to be a ballet dancer? I used to dance until I hurt my knee pretty badly playing soccer at age 13, just in time where those nasty point shoes were getting at least tollerable.

Was your family member that fell okay? What can I say about some of your guests, my mom always used to say most people don't know how to behave in such situations(she was clearly dismayed people never learned or ignored proper etiquette). It's rude to leave early, like I can't wait to get out of here. It wasn't like you had a later ceremony and people were getting tired.

the only reason i was able to sustain so much pain was because of ballet. i swear, to this day, it is THE ONLY REASON that i have such a high pain tolerance. the dress was killer though. i had surgery two times in the last 2.5 years and my incisions (belly button) haven't hurt me in over a year, until my wedding day. they're even hurting right now...i loved the dress, but i think i did something wrong. is it SUPPOSED to hurt that much?

Glued to my 'puter :surfweb:

So glad to hear that you got the wedding YOU wanted pixiedust:

And very glad to hear that you both got to feeling better after some (much needed!) sleep!

sleep is much overrated. i must say.

OMG Caryn,

I'm sitting here at my puter....blubbering like an idiot! :sad: What a beautiful story. :hug:

Your pictures take my breath away. What a beautiful couple. I hate that you were so uncomfortable on your wedding day! I would have loved to have seen their faces when you pulled up your dress to adjust! :rotfl:

I can't even keep up with what is racing through my mind. You looked absolutely stunning and that bouquet! WOW! Yellow roses are my absolute favorite. (our first Valentine's Day together [dating] my sweetie gave me a dozen GORGEOUS yellow roses) Yours were just fabulous!

It's been a busy thread today. I checked earlier and was up to the wedding morning...I come back after lunch and there are 3 pages of thread after that! :lmao:

BEAUTIFUL, JUST BEAUTIFUL!

it's actually done, i just need to add pics and edit it! i found so many peoples trip reports helpful to me, i wanted to get mine done asap so it will hopefully help someone else! yellow roses are my all time fave! they are the symbol for friendship and our relationship is based on a very strong friendship, it's how we started!

Wow Caryn, words can't even describe how beautiful and glamorous you looked. It's so nice to see all of your planning come together. I love your bouquet and Mark's outfit looked great with it! I especially like his yellow tie (or was it an ascot?..) Sorry you were stressed and uncomfortable on your special day, but you looked beautiful anyways! Congrats on a gorgeous wedding!!! :dance3:

thanks liz! i can't wait to see your TR!!!!! we decided not to go with the ascot, it made him look old. i liked the new tie better anyway and i think it really "popped" in our pics!

Wow your pictures are lovely, and you look beautiful in your dress.
Congratulations to you both ! Can't wait to read more!:surfweb:

thank you!

wow! you looked so glamorous! gorgeous flowers!

thanks!

So sorry to hear about your stresses on your wedding day!! Thats part of the reason I always said I would never get married again! I remember wedding day stress all too well from the first time around! :lmao: Hopefully the joyous moments far outweighed the stress you felt!

You look like such a beautiful couple... and you looked such an elegant bride!! Truly stunning! Your bouquet looked magnificent... I think my biceps would have felt like I had just done an hours worth of free weights at the gym if I had had to carry that around!

I especially loved the comments Mark made about being married!! My DF is also called Mark :goodvibes and he's managed to get to the ripe old age of 37 (38 in a couple of weeks) without ever being married, or ever feeling the need to get married, and I really really hope that he has the same feeling once he's 'signed his life away' Muhahahaha!

Christina

xxx

mark is 36 and will be 37 in april. there's something about that age, isn't there????

Caryn,


To my new friend who now shares the same wedding anniversary with me......

YOU WERE A BEAUTIFUL BRIDE SIMPLY STUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH AND MARK LOOKED PRETTY GOOD TOO!

yayyy! january 24th is the best day in the world! i can't wait to see amanda's pics! she's using ana who is amazing in ever sense of the word! you guys are going to have great day! i can't wait to read about it!

Caryn,
You were soooo beautiful! One of the prettiest brides that I have seen in a while. You just looked like what a bride should look like, very elegant!

oh you are so sweet! thank you!

YEY WELCOME BACK!!!:banana:

Your dress and head piece is amazing

thanks! i think i remember seeing your dress on your pj and it was gorgeous!!! thank god i couldn't find it anywhere or else i would have been a three/four dress bride!!!

I have been following your PJ and I am loving your TR...I just want to see one thing... Do you have pics of the FOOD????? I am anxiously awaiting the potato martinis!

Keep it comingpopcorn::

i got better with the food porn as the trip went on...i didn't get any of the reception though, hopefully it shows up in randy's photos...

loving it!!

Wow so much updating. My email didn't say that I had updates. Congrats and you looked beautiful

i think the dis is drunk again...

OMG YOU LOOK ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!!!!

I hope my wedding looks and is that amazing!!! I cannot wait to see all of your pictures!

it will look that amazing!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the TR! Thanks so much for posting all of this! Your sister really makes me laugh when she describes her defense for the lost necklace. I can picture that exact situation happening to me! So glad that she found it!!!! Everything looks so wonderful! You looked so beautiful in your gown and seemed to really be enjoying every part of the trip. Thanks for sharing!

thanks! lindsay was pretty funny. i wasn't mad at all, i welcome comic relief during all times of my life!

[Goldeelox9]

Your TR is so great! It has been alot fun following along! I think I am taking the laptop on our wedding/honeymoon now and I am going to start my TR from the first day of the trip! (I am sure this will just THRILL my DF, he doesn't understand my obsession with "other disney nuts" and the DIS boards...LOL) I really want to post soon after the wedding like you have. It is so fun to read!

Oh and I don't think your dress should hurt you???? But the pain was worth it you looked amazing!!!

[caryndisneydiva]

Your TR is so great! It has been alot fun following along! I think I am taking the laptop on our wedding/honeymoon now and I am going to start my TR from the first day of the trip! (I am sure this will just THRILL my DF, he doesn't understand my obsession with "other disney nuts" and the DIS boards...LOL) I really want to post soon after the wedding like you have. It is so fun to read!

Oh and I don't think your dress should hurt you???? But the pain was worth it you looked amazing!!!

i can't live without my laptop. i liked writing about the day on our trip, i didn't though for the 2 days leading up to and the day of our wedding. i continued on friday and for almost every morning afterward and then on the plane ride home. it was therapeutic for me, especially during that first day!

[meryll83]

Wow, you're well on with your TR already aren't you?

Pictures so far are fab, looking forward to seeing Randy's - everyone is right, you really carried off the birdcage and your bouquet was awesome - I want a huge bouquet now :lmao:

Did you have to pay for your dress to have a seat on the flight, or was it offered to you free? If there weren't any spare seats what were your plans for the dress?
I'm trying to figure out the best way to transport my dress, but there's no way I'm forking out for a seat from the UK-Florida, and we're going around our schools' half term holidays, so I doubt they'll be any spare seats...

[tamijoy514]

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s131/lindsayacraig/Carynswedding021.jpg

holy moly, I cannot wait to see my sisters because of this picture!!
thank you girls, thank you!! :rotfl:

[lov2b@disney]

Caryn- everything is awesome! I'm glad to see you got some sleep and some food! Looking forward to the next installment!

Strange question- You said you went to bed without taking your hair out- was it a complete mess in the morning? I ask because we have our MK photo shoot the morning (5:30am) the day after the wedding :eek: I dont want to have to get up any earlier than is truely necessary- I am also having Ana do my hair-I was hoping if I left it I could just touch it up in the am! The pictures are not close up anyway-- do you think it might work???

[caryndisneydiva]

Wow, you're well on with your TR already aren't you?

Pictures so far are fab, looking forward to seeing Randy's - everyone is right, you really carried off the birdcage and your bouquet was awesome - I want a huge bouquet now :lmao:

Did you have to pay for your dress to have a seat on the flight, or was it offered to you free? If there weren't any spare seats what were your plans for the dress?
I'm trying to figure out the best way to transport my dress, but there's no way I'm forking out for a seat from the UK-Florida, and we're going around our schools' half term holidays, so I doubt they'll be any spare seats...

i had to fight with a flight attendant to get my dress a seat. the back up plan was that i was going to commandeer an entire overhead bin.

holy moly, I cannot wait to see my sisters because of this picture!!
thank you girls, thank you!! :rotfl:

yeah, they had a good time didn't they?

Caryn- everything is awesome! I'm glad to see you got some sleep and some food! Looking forward to the next installment!

Strange question- You said you went to bed without taking your hair out- was it a complete mess in the morning? I ask because we have our MK photo shoot the morning (5:30am) the day after the wedding :eek: I dont want to have to get up any earlier than is truely necessary- I am also having Ana do my hair-I was hoping if I left it I could just touch it up in the am! The pictures are not close up anyway-- do you think it might work???

i think it would be fine! my hair didn't move at all. it was sprayed to death and had a ton of pins in it!

[caryndisneydiva]

Day 6- Saturday January 26, 2008- Cool Down Day 1!

I spent lots of time this morning on our balcony at the Poly. It was cold, overcast and rainy but it didn’t matter! Lindsay and my ray bar came to our room and we headed off to O’Hana for the BEST DISNEY BREAKFAST EVER. Seriously. Fabulous. We’re not too into the character thing, but the food here was amazing. The Lilikoi juice was so good, I’m going to try to replicate it. I love love love the mini mickey waffles.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0755.jpg
So amazing. This is the best meal that we had on the whole trip. O’Hana is really nice, I love the views, the comfy chairs, the nice oversized tables. So fun. We had a really good time. They gave us free cupcakes because we had just gotten married.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0763.jpg
Bride ears and Just Married pins are amazing. I’m taking them with me every time we go to WDW from here on out…Mark was misbehaving and got cupcake smashed into his face…see what happens when you are mean to the characters?????
Mark getting cake smashed in his face for being a meany!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0764.jpg
Me dancing with stitch
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0758.jpg

I was so excited that we were going to MK. I just LOVE the MK. Especially as an adult, the MK is super fun. We went to the Carousel of Progress and I saw Buzz Lightyear taking pics with kiddies and Mark was being a huge hater and wouldn’t stand on line with me. So what if it was raining. We went on the tea cups and took tons of funny pics!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0769.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0775.jpg
Since it was Saturday, the lines for everything were really long. We did some shopping at the Emporium and then took the monorail to EPCOT where we saw the Rolls waiting for Kristen’s wedding outside the WP. We all sent her silent well wishes! It was so exciting!!! They must have just walked down the aisle, I think it was 2:36 and her wedding began at 2:30!

We were pretty boring that day, it was raining/drizzling and we went to eat in Japan. OMG, the food in the new restaurant is amazing. I also treated myself to two sake-ritas.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0778.jpg
They were pretty good as well…Lindsay and I both had teriyaki grilled chicken with wasabi mashed potato’s and steamed veggies (yummy!)
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0780.jpg
Mark and my ray bar each had sushi and some other stuff…the servers kept bowing, which was slightly odd to me, but I guess that’s the culture. We got free chocolate ginger cake for our wedding!
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0783.jpg
LOVE the bride ears!

After our meal was over we walked through that shop and then decided to head our separate ways. Lin and my ray bar were heading home to Tampa, we decided to ditch Disney on Sunday and go see them and their new house.

Mark and I left EPCOT through the International Gateway and walked to BW. I was pretty choked up as we went past SBP, there were flower petals scattered on the ground, I guess there was a wedding that day. It was a very surreal moment for me. If I have one regret from this trip, it was not staying at the BW the entire time. The Poly is nice, don’t get me wrong, but the BW is home. I am very sentimental about that place…

I’m glad that we didn’t have rose petals. It was kind of sad seeing them just sitting there all alone. I remember a wedding I went to 4 years ago, I drove past the reception site much after it was over and the ice sculpture with their monogram on it was smashed and lying outside on the road. That makes me feel weird.

Anyway, we were at the BW because we needed to go to MGM to find this picture frame that I saw there and couldn’t find anywhere else. The Friendship Boat Captain saw that we were newlyweds and they applauded us! I bought my frame and asked Mark if he wanted to watch Fantasmic (no. it was raining.), we got free ice cream for being just married and headed off to the resort buses to go back to the Poly. It was still early, so we got in the ghetto van and went to DTD where I bought lots of souvenirs!!!


Day 7 January 27, 2008 Cool Down Day 2, we go to Tampa.

I haven’t done the drive to Tampa from Orlando in almost 6 years and OMG it has changed SO much! I remember it being desolate, now it’s almost all city all the way to Tampa!!! Before we left the World for the day, we had breakfast at Kona Café, it was really good. I had the French toast, Mark had the Big Kahuna and I had a TON of that Lilikoi juice which was a rip off at $4 a glass, but hey, I loved it!!! I forgot the food porn, so here’s a pic of my empty plate when I was done…
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/konacafe-afterbreakfastsunday-1.jpg

We visited Celebration before we left for Tampa, they had a little street market and we wanted to take a look at real estate before we left. Mark really wants to buy a condo there, but I’m not so hot on that area anymore. No offense to anyone who is in love with Celebration, I think it’s just really contrived and too “Stepford” for my tastes.

We got to Lindsay/my ray bar’s apartment in under an hour and went almost immediately to see their new townhome that is being built. We had a lovely little visit with her sales counselor and were off to get food. We ate a pizza place called Mellow Mushroom. It was pretty good. It was nice to see those kids again, we’d been apart for almost 24 hours after all. I think they’re going to come visit for Easter! Yay! We went back to their apartment and it was time to go. We had a TON of packing to do and it was getting dark out!

When Mark and I got back, we went to DTD to do some last minute shopping and then decided to walk around the Grand Floridian. We saw the electrical water parade (I’m sure it has a real name, but I don’t know what it is).
Bad pic…
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0787.jpg
I bought the most ADORABLE little Alice In Wonderland teapot for under $20. I LOVE it so much!!! The rest of my evening was comprised of packing packing packing. I had space bagged my dress and crinnie at Lindsay’s that day, but I was STILL out of room.
The dress as it traveled back to TX
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0784.jpg
Good thing I packed an extra huge duffle bag in case of an emergency. Emergency it was. We had so much stuff! Where did it all come from?????? No matter, it was packed and we were off to bed. I was trying to con Mark into going to Miami and returning to WDW later on in the week, but he wasn’t too keen on that idea and I was really missing my kitties…so no more FL for me, at least for awhile…

Day 8- January 28, 2008, We leave the world…booo hooo hooooooooooooo! DRAT!

Check out day is the worst. At least we were all packed. We went to breakfast at Kona Café again. I had the same thing, Mark tried the Tonga Toast. I was so super sad that we were leaving. I do this EVERY TIME. I had originally wanted to go to AKL to ride Expedition, but we didn’t have time. We hit the Orlando Premium Outlets, which were a zoo (on a Monday morning?), didn’t buy anything and headed out to MCO. As we were leaving, a plane was making a smiley face in the air above us. It was so lovely! I hate leaving WDW…

The flight back was uneventful. We did curbside check in since we knew our one bag was waaaay over limit. He also didn’t make us pay to check in any additional bags (score another 2 for curbside check in). We got to Houston Hobby Airport and the car battery was dead. The nice lady jumped it for us and we were home. So depressing. BUT Mark DID say that we could go back for a few days in a month or so. I’m holding him to that…

That’s it! Now we’re living in Marriedland (aka: Downtown Houston, TX) and Caryn needs to find a job that won’t make her miserable!

Next up: My Wedding Trip Reviews and 10 things I was happy I did, 10 things I wish I did...

[hope1826]

Caryn, I LOVE your food "porn" pics! The last one was especially interesting.

I know exactly how you felt about leaving the World. It really is one of the saddest feelings ever!

I can't wait to see your Randy pics. Everything looked so hollywood glam amazing.

And good luck finding a job that won't make you miserable! :wizard: I am in the process of doing that too.

[BaBeeCee14]

Great TR Caryn! Thanks for putting it up so quickly, I really enjoyed it! I hope you do get to go back to Disney soon. Only next time, it won't be as crazy and you'll be able take it slower and enjoy the parks/rides more. Can't wait to read your reviews!

[MistressOfAllEvil]

Next up: My Wedding Trip Reviews and 10 things I was happy I did, 10 things I wish I did...


Wheeee! I can't wait for this!!! :banana: :cool1: :worship: Srsly, the fastest TR ever!! You are a hero! A goddess. A Diva (in a good way :rotfl: )

I hear ya on leaving the world. It's a cry-worthy event. Chuck usually builds my whining into the itinerary! :rotfl:

Everything sounds so amazing. I can't wait to reread and really absorb everything and I really can't wait for Randy's pics! I talked to him Sunday night and he is just sooo great. He really put me at ease about the timing of everything!

[hope1826]

I hear ya on leaving the world. It's a cry-worthy event. Chuck usually builds my whining into the itinerary! :rotfl:



LOL... my DF actually whines more than I do when we have to leave the world!

[hope1826]

Day 6- Saturday January 26, 2008- Cool Down Day 1!

... O’Hana for the BEST DISNEY BREAKFAST EVER. Seriously. Fabulous. We’re not too into the character thing, but the food here was amazing. The Lilikoi juice was so good, I’m going to try to replicate it. I love love love the mini mickey waffles.

Caryn, would you recommend the Ohana Breakfast for a Welcome /Rehearsal Party? Was it good enough for that?

[Starr W.]

Dead car battery? Man that was my nightmare coming back from MLK weekend(it was bitterly cold in Detroit and Toledo) and we had to park on the top of the Northwest garage. But my darling Audi fired right up!

[ampooh]

I've have lurked on your PJ like many others for ages now. I love your PJ and now your TR. You looked amazing on your wedding day. I loved Mark's attire too. The tie was perfect.


Sorry you were in so mcuh pain from the dress and the stress was overwhelming. You're better than me. I gave in to the stress before the wedding and cancelled it all. I'm dreaming on a VR for our 20th if DH will go for it.



Congratulations!!!!!!

[Goldeelox9]

What an awesome trip! I get so sad leaving too....but just think you will be back soon! :)

[Vayleen]

Caryn-- Everything looked and sounded absolutely wonderful! Reading TRs like yours make me SO excited about our wedding! I can't live without my laptop but DF HATES that I am on it all the time.

[helloirishkitty]

Thank you thank you thank you for doing your getting your TR up so quickly!! I'm so impressed and inspired... :)

You really were a very glamorous bride and I'm so happy that you shared your day with all of us! I can't wait for your upcoming lists! :goodvibes

I might go through Caryn TR withdrawl after though... :rotfl:

[figmentfan814]

Wow! I was off the boards for a day and I missed so much. I just read through the last 5 pages and I have to say everything turned out fantastic for the wedding!

Your cage veil along with the cathedral veil really did flow together perfectly. I love the shots of the two of you in front of Living Seas. Definitely something for me to file away to have Randy do for us in a few weeks! Quick side note about Living Seas was it difficult for your guests to get pictures with the dimmed lighting? We have asked Marion to have the lights up a little bit and I'm wondering if we need this or not.

Also, if you don't mind me asking how much were the Mickey cakes for the kids?

I also saw that you had the Mickey bubbles ::MickeyMo We also have them for our exit. I'm toying with the idea of putting everyone's names on them like Mickey ears. Everyone keeps telling me I'm crazy that it will be too hard to figure it out but alphabetical order shouldn't be that difficult :confused: Maybe that's a Bridezilla idea on my part.

It looks like you had a great time with your friends and family at the parks. I'm really looking forward to the time with everyone. :cool1: I also agree that O'hanas breakfast is great! I did that last time with my MOH (who loves Stitch) and everything was fantastic!

[BethanyMouse]

Love hearing about more of your trip and love the food porn! we do this too, sometimes people look at you weird but it makes for even better trip reports! I am so glad that your trip went so well. Thanks for sharing it with all of us!

[Lisella]

Caryn, your TR is awesome. Thank you so much for sharing with us - and so quickly.

You were a stunning bride - I am so sorry that you were so uncomfortable in the gown.

I am also sorry that some of your guests left so early and that one or two of them were not dressed appropriately. :cool2:

I'm guessing that these might be some of the things for future brides to consider. I think that there are so many people that don't know a whole lot about Disney other than its a big theme park and they may think that a wedding there would be on the casual side (I'm sure they should have gotten more of a clue based on your elegant invitations, etc. etc., but some people just don't get clues if you know what I mean). :sad2: I can think of a few people I know that would show up in jeans, tanks, shorts & sneakers and thinking nothing of it...shoot, they'd probably do it at a banquet hall at home for that matter...but anyways... I wonder if some of the people were too excited about being at Disney and wanted to run, hence leaving so soon - tough to compete with WDW, although leaving so early was still very rude. :3dglasses

Maybe some of the future Disney brides who read this will be sure to include some type of dress code or "suggestions" in their newsletters or emails to make sure some of the clueless are aware that the wedding will be a formal affair (of course, the guests will have to read and absorb this info and we've all seen how that goes). Also, maybe spreading out some of the wedding stuff done at the reception (if you are doing them) or having the announcer let people know that there will be dancing until XX time...things to keep some anticipation going to try and help keep any potential runners from escaping too early.

In any case, I cannot wait to see more of your pictures. I also hope you find the best job ever - I am going through the same thing at the moment...

Congrats again!!

[JaxTeach]

I'm so glad you are back and married already Caryn! I haven't had time to read your TR yet, but wanted to post to say congratulations to you and Mark! I did peek at some wedding photos and you looked absolutely stunning. I hope you're enjoying married life-- we are! :cloud9:

[caryndisneydiva]

Caryn, I LOVE your food "porn" pics! The last one was especially interesting.

I know exactly how you felt about leaving the World. It really is one of the saddest feelings ever!

I can't wait to see your Randy pics. Everything looked so hollywood glam amazing.

And good luck finding a job that won't make you miserable! :wizard: I am in the process of doing that too.

i hate working. i don't like having a set schedule so my job search is not going well...

Great TR Caryn! Thanks for putting it up so quickly, I really enjoyed it! I hope you do get to go back to Disney soon. Only next time, it won't be as crazy and you'll be able take it slower and enjoy the parks/rides more. Can't wait to read your reviews!

i know! i didn't even go on expedition everest!!!

Wheeee! I can't wait for this!!! :banana: :cool1: :worship: Srsly, the fastest TR ever!! You are a hero! A goddess. A Diva (in a good way :rotfl: )

I hear ya on leaving the world. It's a cry-worthy event. Chuck usually builds my whining into the itinerary! :rotfl:

Everything sounds so amazing. I can't wait to reread and really absorb everything and I really can't wait for Randy's pics! I talked to him Sunday night and he is just sooo great. He really put me at ease about the timing of everything!

he is so great and he knows EXACTLY what is supposed to happen on the wedding day! tell him i said hi!

LOL... my DF actually whines more than I do when we have to leave the world!

i'm champion whiner when we leave...

Caryn, would you recommend the Ohana Breakfast for a Welcome /Rehearsal Party? Was it good enough for that?

FOR SURE. that place is GREAT!

Dead car battery? Man that was my nightmare coming back from MLK weekend(it was bitterly cold in Detroit and Toledo) and we had to park on the top of the Northwest garage. But my darling Audi fired right up!

yeah, mark left his xm satellite radio on for 8 days straight and it used up the entire battery. oh well. at least they jumped it quick. i'm glad we took the truck, my car is a bmw and it is a real pain in the butt to jump because the battery is buried in the trunk...

I've have lurked on your PJ like many others for ages now. I love your PJ and now your TR. You looked amazing on your wedding day. I loved Mark's attire too. The tie was perfect.

Sorry you were in so mcuh pain from the dress and the stress was overwhelming. You're better than me. I gave in to the stress before the wedding and cancelled it all. I'm dreaming on a VR for our 20th if DH will go for it.

Congratulations!!!!!!

if that were an option (ie: both sets of parents wouldn't have killed me) i just might have flown to vegas and been done with it.

What an awesome trip! I get so sad leaving too....but just think you will be back soon! :)

i know! i'm trying to talk mark into the dcl...

Caryn-- Everything looked and sounded absolutely wonderful! Reading TRs like yours make me SO excited about our wedding! I can't live without my laptop but DF HATES that I am on it all the time.

i know. mark hates it that i'm glued to it as well. he'll live with it though. your wedding will be beautiful!

Thank you thank you thank you for doing your getting your TR up so quickly!! I'm so impressed and inspired... :)

You really were a very glamorous bride and I'm so happy that you shared your day with all of us! I can't wait for your upcoming lists! :goodvibes

I might go through Caryn TR withdrawl after though... :rotfl:

i still have vendor reports etc to get done...

Wow! I was off the boards for a day and I missed so much. I just read through the last 5 pages and I have to say everything turned out fantastic for the wedding!

Your cage veil along with the cathedral veil really did flow together perfectly. I love the shots of the two of you in front of Living Seas. Definitely something for me to file away to have Randy do for us in a few weeks! Quick side note about Living Seas was it difficult for your guests to get pictures with the dimmed lighting? We have asked Marion to have the lights up a little bit and I'm wondering if we need this or not.

Also, if you don't mind me asking how much were the Mickey cakes for the kids?

I also saw that you had the Mickey bubbles ::MickeyMo We also have them for our exit. I'm toying with the idea of putting everyone's names on them like Mickey ears. Everyone keeps telling me I'm crazy that it will be too hard to figure it out but alphabetical order shouldn't be that difficult :confused: Maybe that's a Bridezilla idea on my part.

It looks like you had a great time with your friends and family at the parks. I'm really looking forward to the time with everyone. :cool1: I also agree that O'hanas breakfast is great! I did that last time with my MOH (who loves Stitch) and everything was fantastic!

sadly, the pics from LSS didn't turn out great. i had disposable cameras on the tables and my mom said we barely got any good pics out of them. i have some from my camera though and they were fine. i think as long as it's like, a regular digital you should be fine, but for some reason, those disposables were a total waste...

as far as the mickey cakes go, i didn't even know we were having them, so i'm going to assume that they were included in the kids menu. i just checked and they weren't on my menu or beo. they were so cute. i'm glad we had them. it gave the kids (and my sister) something to do!

i'm glad i didn't think of putting names on the bubbles. i would have done it too. marion just put them out on the chairs for us along with my programs and cry packs. i originally wanted to have my cousin hand them out, but i think i forgot to remind marion of that. oh well. the deed was done and effective to boot.

Love hearing about more of your trip and love the food porn! we do this too, sometimes people look at you weird but it makes for even better trip reports! I am so glad that your trip went so well. Thanks for sharing it with all of us!

people looking at me weird would equal my husband. he thought i was NUTS until lindsay kept yelling, "ooo ooo take a pic for your trip report" at every meal...

Caryn, your TR is awesome. Thank you so much for sharing with us - and so quickly.

You were a stunning bride - I am so sorry that you were so uncomfortable in the gown.

I am also sorry that some of your guests left so early and that one or two of them were not dressed appropriately. :cool2:

I'm guessing that these might be some of the things for future brides to consider. I think that there are so many people that don't know a whole lot about Disney other than its a big theme park and they may think that a wedding there would be on the casual side (I'm sure they should have gotten more of a clue based on your elegant invitations, etc. etc., but some people just don't get clues if you know what I mean). :sad2: I can think of a few people I know that would show up in jeans, tanks, shorts & sneakers and thinking nothing of it...shoot, they'd probably do it at a banquet hall at home for that matter...but anyways... I wonder if some of the people were too excited about being at Disney and wanted to run, hence leaving so soon - tough to compete with WDW, although leaving so early was still very rude. :3dglasses

Maybe some of the future Disney brides who read this will be sure to include some type of dress code or "suggestions" in their newsletters or emails to make sure some of the clueless are aware that the wedding will be a formal affair (of course, the guests will have to read and absorb this info and we've all seen how that goes). Also, maybe spreading out some of the wedding stuff done at the reception (if you are doing them) or having the announcer let people know that there will be dancing until XX time...things to keep some anticipation going to try and help keep any potential runners from escaping too early.

In any case, I cannot wait to see more of your pictures. I also hope you find the best job ever - I am going through the same thing at the moment...

Congrats again!!

here's the thing about the jeans situation. this guy owns several businesses AND he wore a jacket and a tie! he has more money than probably anyone else at my wedding, but money doesn't buy class. that's the only thing i can come up with. mark just told me that he's probably going to get married in the next year or so, i'm buying a pair of wranglers and ironing creases in them as we speak in preparation for his big day...

I'm so glad you are back and married already Caryn! I haven't had time to read your TR yet, but wanted to post to say congratulations to you and Mark! I did peek at some wedding photos and you looked absolutely stunning. I hope you're enjoying married life-- we are! :cloud9:

thanks jaclyn! i LOVE married life. it's lovely!

[MistressOfAllEvil]

here's the thing about the jeans situation. this guy owns several businesses AND he wore a jacket and a tie! he has more money than probably anyone else at my wedding, but money doesn't buy class. that's the only thing i can come up with. mark just told me that he's probably going to get married in the next year or so, i'm buying a pair of wranglers and ironing creases in them as we speak in preparation for his big day...


You hit the nail on the head!! :thumbsup2

And I love the retaliation wardrobe! :rotfl: I already working this in my mind for a few guests of my own...

[MariaLovesJon<3]

WOW! You've updated so fast!

I showed your ceremony pictures to my DBF and we both agreed that you looked absolutely FABULOUS!

Congrats to you and Mark!

[KQAN]

here's the thing about the jeans situation. this guy owns several businesses AND he wore a jacket and a tie! he has more money than probably anyone else at my wedding, but money doesn't buy class. that's the only thing i can come up with. mark just told me that he's probably going to get married in the next year or so, i'm buying a pair of wranglers and ironing creases in them as we speak in preparation for his big day...


Hahaha!!

I don't remember if I posted in your PJ, but like everyone else I've been obsessed with reading your TR and I really love the way your wedding came out! I too do not want all that traditional wedding 'toss the bouquet' kind of stuff, and I'm impressed by all your great ideas...esp the birdcage! You've written a great PJ and TR. Congrats on being married!

But back to this jeans comment, that cracked me up! If anyone shows up in jeans to my wedding I'm seriously going to be annoyed. I mean, it's a wedding people! Also, you can put me in the category of "my DF thinks I'm nuts because of my obsession with DIS" - I've spent too much time the past two nights reading your TR!

Congrats again!

[monana]

I just caught up with your TR. You guys looked so amazing on your wedding day. I can't wait to see your top 10 of things you were happy with and things you wish you could've done.

Congrates!!

[caryndisneydiva]

You hit the nail on the head!! :thumbsup2

And I love the retaliation wardrobe! :rotfl: I already working this in my mind for a few guests of my own...

seriously. i don't even own a pair of wranglers, but i will soon...

WOW! You've updated so fast!

I showed your ceremony pictures to my DBF and we both agreed that you looked absolutely FABULOUS!

Congrats to you and Mark!

thanks!

Hahaha!!

I don't remember if I posted in your PJ, but like everyone else I've been obsessed with reading your TR and I really love the way your wedding came out! I too do not want all that traditional wedding 'toss the bouquet' kind of stuff, and I'm impressed by all your great ideas...esp the birdcage! You've written a great PJ and TR. Congrats on being married!

But back to this jeans comment, that cracked me up! If anyone shows up in jeans to my wedding I'm seriously going to be annoyed. I mean, it's a wedding people! Also, you can put me in the category of "my DF thinks I'm nuts because of my obsession with DIS" - I've spent too much time the past two nights reading your TR!

Congrats again!

some people are so clueless when it comes to proper etiquette.

I just caught up with your TR. You guys looked so amazing on your wedding day. I can't wait to see your top 10 of things you were happy with and things you wish you could've done.

Congrates!!

thanks!

[caryndisneydiva]

VENDOR REVIEW

Ana with Beaute Speciale
Grade:A

AMAZING. Truly worth ever penny. Given my nervousness that day, there is no way I would have been able to do my own hair/make up. She is excellent and I think they made me look fabulous!

Randy with Chapman Photography
Grade: A

He is great and knows exactly what needs to go on during a wedding. He made me feel comfortable and dealt with my bridezilla nervousness all day long. He took such innovative shots, I can’t wait to see them when they get here! He has such great reviews, that it’s hard for me to not repeat anyone else. The one thing that sticks out in my mind is that at one point during the morning, I saw most of my guests and I felt REALLY uncomfortable. He completely ignored my mother (who was just telling me to not worry about it and smile) and moved me to an area where no one could see me until they all left. He also really helped out my videographer since she had never done a Disney wedding before.

Sage with StarFruit Productions
Grade: A

Sage was great, she was so easy to work with. She just appeared behind this big camera during my bridal shots with Randy. She was a very sweet girl and I really enjoyed working with her. I know that she has changed her pricing structure since I booked her, but I would still use her, even with higher prices. She is very accommodating and not intrusive at all. At times, I didn’t even realize that she was there. She was so excited to be shooting at Disney, which she thought was so beautiful. The samples on her site are amazing. I can’t wait to get my video.

DFTW- Marion
Grade: A

Marion was truly amazing. She let me take the lead in what I wanted for our wedding and it was wonderful. Her many years of experience show through in how she handles her weddings. I truly enjoyed working with her. She stayed at my reception the entire time, though wasn’t in our face at all. I love her and highly recommend her!

Disney Floral- Laura Kidd
Grade: A

Laura did a GREAT job. Floral was the one thing that I REALLY stressed over. Everything looked amazing. The corsages, the boutonnière’s and most importantly, my bouquet were fabulous! Even though I wasn’t overjoyed with one of the centerpieces, everyone else loved them. I know that they are a bit more expensive, but for me, the results were worth the extra money.

Murielle Winery
Grade: C

They were a bit difficult to get ahold of. I had to leave three or four messages before I spoke to anyone and they weren't quick to reply to any emails. I almost panicked about them at the last minute...I liked my wine favors, but they weren't perfect. I would have done a better job myself, but for the price, they were pretty good. Mark thought they looked cheap, but oh well. They were $3/bottle and it was one thing that i DIDN'T have to make myself.

Periwigs
Grade: C

The girl was very nice, but I should have gone somewhere else. Given the business of my day, I chose periwigs because it was convenient, but the results were not good. My manicure started to peel the night of my wedding and a few days later, it was completely gone. Of course, it was super expensive because it was Disney, but I should have just gone off property or to a spa and had a massage as well.

Thrifty Car Rental at MCO
They get a big fat red “F” on my review.

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE. DO NOT RENT FROM THEM. Even though they are located off airport grounds, their prices were reasonable and so I recommended them to everyone traveling from MCO to WDW. Bad idea. Our car was FILTHY, they gave us the wrong one the first time, after we had loaded 11 bags of luggage and 4 adults in there and then they asked us to change cars. My MIL and I had to go in there to argue with the guy and they ended up giving us a free day, but it added to my stress level. Then, the doors stuck the entire time we had the car and the hazard lights would come on when they opened. When we returned the ghetto van at the end of our trip, I told the attendant about the lights and he LAUGHED at me and said that it was normal. Now, I worked in the rental car industry for over 2 years and it was my experience to explain these things to my renters, NOT to laugh at them. Then, to top it all off, when my dad and best friend went to return their cars, they forgot to fill up with gas and they were all running late. The gas station closest to Thrifty, that was recommended by Thrifty charged $4.55 a gallon for regular. To compare, gas on Disney property was $2.99 per gallon. OUTRAGEOUS. Now, to be fair, I know that they don’t control this insane price gauging, but a warning would have been nice and I can’t help but think that those jerks are involved with this gas situation since they referred us to them. They don’t get a good review.

Southwest Airlines
Grade: D

They also don’t get such a great review. You can read in the TR about the flight attendant situation on the flight there. The flight back was uneventful, but Mark got yelled at for boarding with me (I was #31 and he was #33-PUHLEASE). I’m just not a Southwest fan. My MIL says we’re “yuppies” for thinking this, I’ll take it. I like my assigned seat # on other airlines.



Hotel reviews

BoardWalk
Grade: A
The best of the deluxe resorts. I love that it’s not that big, I think the service is so much better. The Garden Suites are PERFECT for a wedding. I should have stayed there our entire trip.

All-Star Movies
Grade: B
For the price it was good. In my opinion though, Disney is failing just a little bit there. The dresser/tv thing in my IL’s room was broken, it looked like some of the rooms had been broken into, the locks were all messed up and there was a wet spot on the rug in my parents room that never really went away. That negativity aside, I’m always a fan of the AS food courts. I like a variety. It also provided a really good meeting spot for everyone. Had we not had this option, I’m sure they all would have been in MY room, which would have been bad. We met in that food court so often, people stopped sitting in the back corner, we were there so much.

Port Orleans, French Quarter
Grade: A
I picked this for our room block because Mark’s family is originally from New Orleans and it is so beautiful there. They LOVED it. Someone even had beignets for breakfast!!!

Polynesian
Grade: B
GREAT FOOD. Had we had a room with a king sized bed and had the resort had a hot tub, I would have given it an A. The restaurants are soooooo good. I’m actually craving the O’Hana breakfast right now…

[Gillian]

Congratulations! You were a beautiful bride. Can't wait to see Randy's pictures.

I'm sorry about your guests. A lot of times people don't know what to wear to weddings and never bother to find out. Maybe the wedding newsletters need an attire FAQ! We had people in "church" dresses at our Saturday evening dressy affair (you know NJ weddings!) but it was in a sculpture garden with an outside ceremony and I think that threw people. As long as everyone has a good time, what can you do?


Polynesian
Grade: B
GREAT FOOD. Had we had a room with a king sized bed and had the resort had a hot tub, I would have given it an A. The restaurants are soooooo good. I’m actually craving the O’Hana breakfast right now…
Did you request a king room? I'm kind of surprised no one told you they don't have them (except in suites), but not really because the phone CMs are sometimes clueless.

Lack of a hot tub seems to be the #1 complaint about the Polynesian! Our personal issue was having to go outside to get from our building to the GCH, because we were there during some crazy September rainstorms. It's no fun getting drenched on your way to dinner.

[caryndisneydiva]

Congratulations! You were a beautiful bride. Can't wait to see Randy's pictures.

I'm sorry about your guests. A lot of times people don't know what to wear to weddings and never bother to find out. Maybe the wedding newsletters need an attire FAQ! We had people in "church" dresses at our Saturday evening dressy affair (you know NJ weddings!) but it was in a sculpture garden with an outside ceremony and I think that threw people. As long as everyone has a good time, what can you do?


Did you request a king room? I'm kind of surprised no one told you they don't have them (except in suites), but not really because the phone CMs are sometimes clueless.

Lack of a hot tub seems to be the #1 complaint about the Polynesian! Our personal issue was having to go outside to get from our building to the GCH, because we were there during some crazy September rainstorms. It's no fun getting drenched on your way to dinner.

i did request a king room, 3 times in fact. so that was slightly aggravating. i'm really tall and we both sleep "crooked." anyway, they re-did the pool at the poly right around the time i did my cp (6ish) years ago and i can't believe they didn't add a hot tub. that just doesn't make any sense to me. had we not discovered the good food the night of our wedding, i would have switched resorts for sure...but oh well.

[Starr W.]

At least the guy wearing the jeans had a jacket on, Caryn. I've seen some other pictures pictures on here and one guy at the WP was dressed like he had a tee time shortly after the ceremony. :scared1:

[caryndisneydiva]

At least the guy wearing the jeans had a jacket on, Caryn. I've seen some other pictures pictures on here and one guy at the WP was dressed like he had a tee time shortly after the ceremony. :scared1:

he would have been asked to leave. i'm a snob. i know it.

there was a random guy taking pictures at sbp, like, standing on the ramp to the altar, right before my sisters were to make their entrance and lindsay was like, "HELLO! don't you REALIZE that we're about to have an event here." and he left. marion thought he was one of our guests and lindsay said, "can you imagine caryn's face if one of her guests wore THAT to her wedding?" and marion said, "well, she is a diva!"

[hope1826]

i hate working. i don't like having a set schedule so my job search is not going well...

thanks jaclyn! i LOVE married life. it's lovely!

I hate it too!! I actually had an interview today that I called an canceled. The headhunter actually hung up on me while I was canceling! :headache:

[figmentfan814]

I was glad to see your positive reviews for Randy, Marion, and Laura! They have been fantastic to work with so far in my planning process, so I'm happy to see that they're even better once the big day arrives :cool1:

[Starr W.]

he would have been asked to leave. i'm a snob. i know it.

there was a random guy taking pictures at sbp, like, standing on the ramp to the altar, right before my sisters were to make their entrance and lindsay was like, "HELLO! don't you REALIZE that we're about to have an event here." and he left. marion thought he was one of our guests and lindsay said, "can you imagine caryn's face if one of her guests wore THAT to her wedding?" and marion said, "well, she is a diva!"

:rotfl2: :rotfl2: That is the only downsize I see to having our VR at WDW. DH does not want to be a performing monkey. :) I didn't realize how close SBP, my favorite, is to the walk way until I saw it in person. Man I might have to go with the WP it or go Wishes and have a bright and early ceremony at EPCOT(waiting for Lurky's TR)

They were shooing gawkers at Ariel's the one day during a reception(either Friday or Saturday of MLK weekend).

Thank goodness most of our family and friends know how to dress. I think my late "Vogue is my bible" designer clothed mother scared the family over the years into "what is appropriate attire." She would have loved your outfit(especially the shrug and birdcage, so original). She made me put "the attire" clause in our invitations(people just don't know how to dress anymore, so you have to help them.:cutie: ).

[hope1826]

he would have been asked to leave. i'm a snob. i know it.

there was a random guy taking pictures at sbp, like, standing on the ramp to the altar, right before my sisters were to make their entrance and lindsay was like, "HELLO! don't you REALIZE that we're about to have an event here." and he left. marion thought he was one of our guests and lindsay said, "can you imagine caryn's face if one of her guests wore THAT to her wedding?" and marion said, "well, she is a diva!"

:rotfl: :rotfl2: You're not a snob... you're a jersey girl! Stuff like that is just unacceptable!!

[mermaidbride1108]

VENDOR REVIEW

Polynesian
Grade: B
GREAT FOOD. Had we had a room with a king sized bed and had the resort had a hot tub, I would have given it an A. The restaurants are soooooo good. I’m actually craving the O’Hana breakfast right now…

The Polynesion Doesn't have a hot tub?:scared1:

[BaBeeCee14]

Great reviews Caryn! Thank you so much for writing them! I've booked Ana and Randy based on all the great reviews I've read from this board. I'm glad that you had a great experience with them also!

[donald&daisy]

Although I am not getting married any time soon, I have enjoyed reading this TR sooo much! It sounds like you had a great time, and you looked amazing. Good luck in the future and thanks for all the helpful info!

[Lisella]

here's the thing about the jeans situation. this guy owns several businesses AND he wore a jacket and a tie! he has more money than probably anyone else at my wedding, but money doesn't buy class. that's the only thing i can come up with. mark just told me that he's probably going to get married in the next year or so, i'm buying a pair of wranglers and ironing creases in them as we speak in preparation for his big day...



I had a feeling I was "reaching" with my thought on what "might" have happened - but I totally love your planned attire for his wedding.

[Gillian]

The Polynesion Doesn't have a hot tub?:scared1:Nope, and none of the rooms have king beds. Spread it around the bridal boards. Probably brides are too busy to spend a lot of time researching these things, there's so much else going on! It's a great place, killer location, big rooms, good food, but no king beds and no hot tub.

[2002Disneybride]

Congrats Caryn! You looked beautiful! :goodvibes

[twiu]

Where's the pic of your crinnie?

[DisneyLaura]

Caryn and Mark - first of all Congrats on the wedding. I just read your whole TR today. I love being married too. I have been married for 11 years, but I love reading the Disney Weddings because I plan on doing a vow renewal for our 25th (already told DH). Second I loved the yellow flowers. I love yellow. I too agree with you about the centerpieces, the ones with the flowers were much nicer. Your cake, what can I say about that, it was awesome. Are you a big Alice fan? That was so awesome. You loved absolutely stunning. I cannot wait to see more pictures. Great report.

[BethanyMouse]

Thanks for the review. It is really helpful to those of us planning. I am so glad that things worked out for you with most of your vendors. Really the most important, photography (IMHO), appeared to be wonderful as did your experience. Thanks for filling us in, you have been so helpful!

[caryndisneydiva]

I hate it too!! I actually had an interview today that I called an canceled. The headhunter actually hung up on me while I was canceling! :headache:

yeah. i'm trying to convince mark to let me buy another house to flip. the market isn't great in houston, but it's not horrible either...

I was glad to see your positive reviews for Randy, Marion, and Laura! They have been fantastic to work with so far in my planning process, so I'm happy to see that they're even better once the big day arrives :cool1:

oh yeah, there is nothing bad i can say about any of them. i never met laura though. one of the disney floral ladies delivered my flowers early early early in the morning. marion is the COOLEST. she's been with disney for 30+ years and she and mark even had the same boss at one point!

:rotfl2: :rotfl2: That is the only downsize I see to having our VR at WDW. DH does not want to be a performing monkey. :) I didn't realize how close SBP, my favorite, is to the walk way until I saw it in person. Man I might have to go with the WP it or go Wishes and have a bright and early ceremony at EPCOT(waiting for Lurky's TR)

They were shooing gawkers at Ariel's the one day during a reception(either Friday or Saturday of MLK weekend).

Thank goodness most of our family and friends know how to dress. I think my late "Vogue is my bible" designer clothed mother scared the family over the years into "what is appropriate attire." She would have loved your outfit(especially the shrug and birdcage, so original). She made me put "the attire" clause in our invitations(people just don't know how to dress anymore, so you have to help them.:cutie: ).

i'm with your mother. mark even just told me that he TOLD him to wear a suit. unbelievable.

sbp is not in anyway private. i swear, i'm probably in more pictures than heidi klum. but it's not a big deal. i didn't mind and the disney people were pretty good about keeping them away from me ("please step away from the bride.").

:rotfl: :rotfl2: You're not a snob... you're a jersey girl! Stuff like that is just unacceptable!!

could you imagine wearing jeans to a wedding in jersey? i can't...i shudder at the thought...

The Polynesion Doesn't have a hot tub?:scared1:

nope :confused:

Great reviews Caryn! Thank you so much for writing them! I've booked Ana and Randy based on all the great reviews I've read from this board. I'm glad that you had a great experience with them also!

i did. i can't say enough good things about them. what was even cooler was that mark LOVED randy. he wasn't really involved in any of the planning and he thought i made such a good choice which was very rewarding for me!

Although I am not getting married any time soon, I have enjoyed reading this TR sooo much! It sounds like you had a great time, and you looked amazing. Good luck in the future and thanks for all the helpful info!

it's nice that you are reading before you get married. had i done that, my engagement would have been a bit easier for me and not so overwhelming!

I had a feeling I was "reaching" with my thought on what "might" have happened - but I totally love your planned attire for his wedding.

i'll post pics when it actually occurs.

Nope, and none of the rooms have king beds. Spread it around the bridal boards. Probably brides are too busy to spend a lot of time researching these things, there's so much else going on! It's a great place, killer location, big rooms, good food, but no king beds and no hot tub.

that's what happened with me. i didn't even think to research it and was disappointed in the end. i'm just glad there was good food there, by that point in the trip, i was starving!

Congrats Caryn! You looked beautiful! :goodvibes

thank you! did you do a tr/pj in 02? when was your wedding? i was working there then!

Where's the pic of your crinnie?

i know for sure that my grandmother got a pic of it, but she's on a cruise right now, that lucky thing! so i have to wait until she returns before i see her pics!

Caryn and Mark - first of all Congrats on the wedding. I just read your whole TR today. I love being married too. I have been married for 11 years, but I love reading the Disney Weddings because I plan on doing a vow renewal for our 25th (already told DH). Second I loved the yellow flowers. I love yellow. I too agree with you about the centerpieces, the ones with the flowers were much nicer. Your cake, what can I say about that, it was awesome. Are you a big Alice fan? That was so awesome. You loved absolutely stunning. I cannot wait to see more pictures. Great report.

thank you disneylaura! i can't even think of a vr right now...i'm supposed to do something at home this summer, but i'm not sure i even want to, our disney wedding was so fabulous! thanks for reading, and i'm DYING for my pro pics!!!

[caryndisneydiva]

Thanks for the review. It is really helpful to those of us planning. I am so glad that things worked out for you with most of your vendors. Really the most important, photography (IMHO), appeared to be wonderful as did your experience. Thanks for filling us in, you have been so helpful!

i feel that way about photography too, oh and videography as well. that's what was most important to me because that's how we'll remember our day in 50 years!

[M&M126]

Thank you so much for all the details in your TR, Caryn. I've really enjoyed reading everything and I cannot wait to see Randy's pictures. You were a gorgeous bride!

[M&M126]

PS- Arent you glad you decided against those Martha Stewart cookies? Could you imagine the stress those would entail BEFORE the wedding stress?! Yikes. I dont know why I even considered them! ;)

[caryndisneydiva]

Thank you so much for all the details in your TR, Caryn. I've really enjoyed reading everything and I cannot wait to see Randy's pictures. You were a gorgeous bride!

thanks!

PS- Arent you glad you decided against those Martha Stewart cookies? Could you imagine the stress those would entail BEFORE the wedding stress?! Yikes. I dont know why I even considered them! ;)

you didn't do them either!?! there was no way, i think i made like, 2 of those cookie cakes and almost lost it. that just might have thrown me over the edge...

[M&M126]

Nope I nixed the cookie cakes. Too much work! My future SIL bought my favors for me actually so all I need to do now is put pretty ribbon on them. Simple and easy.

I still have two months and I'm already stressing. I'm going to be a nutcase by my wedding day!

[Vayleen]

Southwest Airlines
Grade: D

They also don’t get such a great review. You can read in the TR about the flight attendant situation on the flight there. The flight back was uneventful, but Mark got yelled at for boarding with me (I was #31 and he was #33-PUHLEASE). I’m just not a Southwest fan. My MIL says we’re “yuppies” for thinking this, I’ll take it. I like my assigned seat # on other airlines.



I'm with you about Southwest. They only thing they have going for them is their cheap flights.

[GJLS10108]

Caryn,
You said you had disposable cameras at your reception and the pics turned out crappy? What kind were they? Did they have a flash? We bought some kodak ones that were on sale at Wegmans (an awesome grocery store in upstate NY and a couple other places). I'm hoping they will turn out good since they are Kodak film and have flashes :confused3

[mermaidbride1108]

Ok so I'm thinking I may be switching my rwsort choice yet again because Ply does not have a hot tub! I really want a hot tub and thats why I was picking the boardwalk garden suites in the first place for the jacuzzi tub!!!

[lurkyloo]

pirate: Sit closer together! Thar be thread-hijackin' ahead......

BYE CARYN!! Thank you so much for getting your trip report up so fast - I am so excited that I didn't have to wait three weeks to read it! I will of couse be copying your in-Trip Report vendor review and how-we-met recap ideas....

:wave2:

We now return you to your regularly scheduled trip report... :sail:

[caryndisneydiva]

Nope I nixed the cookie cakes. Too much work! My future SIL bought my favors for me actually so all I need to do now is put pretty ribbon on them. Simple and easy.

I still have two months and I'm already stressing. I'm going to be a nutcase by my wedding day!

i was a nutcase on my wedding day!!!

I'm with you about Southwest. They only thing they have going for them is their cheap flights.

it's not worth it.

Caryn,
You said you had disposable cameras at your reception and the pics turned out crappy? What kind were they? Did they have a flash? We bought some kodak ones that were on sale at Wegmans (an awesome grocery store in upstate NY and a couple other places). I'm hoping they will turn out good since they are Kodak film and have flashes :confused3

i had the kodak cameras with the flash. i think the problem was that the LSS is so dark in general, unless they were right upon you taking a pic, it was too dark.

Ok so I'm thinking I may be switching my rwsort choice yet again because Ply does not have a hot tub! I really want a hot tub and thats why I was picking the boardwalk garden suites in the first place for the jacuzzi tub!!!

yup. that tub in the gs is amazing. i went to home depot yesterday to see if i could buy one...

pirate: Sit closer together! Thar be thread-hijackin' ahead......

BYE CARYN!! Thank you so much for getting your trip report up so fast - I am so excited that I didn't have to wait three weeks to read it! I will of couse be copying your in-Trip Report vendor review and how-we-met recap ideas....

:wave2:

We now return you to your regularly scheduled trip report... :sail:

ohhhhhhhhhh! i'm going to miss you guys! you'll have a fantastic wedding, i can't wait for the pics! steal away! how will i get through the next 3 weeks??? hopefully kristen and rachel will post tr's soon to get me through...

[geetey]

Caryn,
I do believe you set a speed record for quickest complete posting of a wedding trip report!! I can't wait to see your pictures from Randy because the few ceremony pictures you were posted were great teasers! I had one of those jeans (and plaid short-sleeved 'dress' shirt) wearing guests at our wedding. :sad2: I was afraid it might happen so he was seated in the back. Waaaay back.... :rolleyes1

Congrats on your fabulous wedding and welcome to married life! Good luck on your job search. :goodvibes

[myprincessgirlisa]

ive only had time to view your pics & i just want to say you looked AMAZING!!!!...very classy..almost old hollywood glam!!!!!

i cant wait to read your tr!!

Congrats!!!:goodvibes

[caryndisneydiva]

here's the only pic of the pink crinnie that i have thus far...

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/Picture802.jpg

[BaBeeCee14]

I love the pink crinnie Caryn! I can't wait to dye my crinnie!

[JaxTeach]

Great pic of the crinnie! We received our CD from Randy last week and he took a few pics of mine... One was unexpected when we were walking down the stairs at BWI. Once he discovered I had a blue crinoline when we were taking pictures at WL he had me pull the dress up a bit and walk around for pics.

[caryndisneydiva]

Great pic of the crinnie! We received our CD from Randy last week and he took a few pics of mine... One was unexpected when we were walking down the stairs at BWI. Once he discovered I had a blue crinoline when we were taking pictures at WL he had me pull the dress up a bit and walk around for pics.

he just got your pics back to you? darn. guess i'll be waiting awhile!

[M&M126]

here's the only pic of the pink crinnie that i have thus far...

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/Picture802.jpg

I love the pink! Very cute :)

[JaxTeach]

he just got your pics back to you? darn. guess i'll be waiting awhile!


Yeah-- I was getting super anxious. It was about 5-6 weeks. We got our proof albums first (we have a smaller package w/o a fancy album). Then our CDS. Last Friday he posted them on the website. We called 2 times asking about getting them on the website since my grandparents couldn't attend the wedding and I wanted them to see pics.

[caryndisneydiva]

I love the pink! Very cute :)

thanks marcy! i think they were fluffing me in that pic...

[caryndisneydiva]

Yeah-- I was getting super anxious. It was about 5-6 weeks. We got our proof albums first (we have a smaller package w/o a fancy album). Then our CDS. Last Friday he posted them on the website. We called 2 times asking about getting them on the website since my grandparents couldn't attend the wedding and I wanted them to see pics.

darn. i'm getting super anxious as well and i've only been married 8 days.

[figmentfan814]

Waiting for the pictures is probably going to be one of the hardest things for me too, so I definitely have sympathy for you while you're waiting :goodvibes

[geetey]

Looooove the pink crinnie! My sister might have to 'borrow' that idea for her dress. :goodvibes Did you ever figure out why the dress hurt so badly? Just wondering in case there was a sudden revelation later or the bridal shop had an idea. A wedding dress shouldn't hurt the bride!

[twiu]

Okay, it's past midnight (12:26 am) and I just got home from LSS. My Df had his wrap party for Spectacle of dancing lights -he's a production planner from that show - and all I thought the whole night was "Caryn had her wedding here!". What an amazing venue. I stared at the fishies almost all night and some people got up and played piano and we sang along. Honestly, for as long as I have worked for the mouse, I never saw LSS. it's GORGEOUS!!!! I had an amazing time but I kept trying to imagine your wedding. I even went to the bartender and I was like " did you work Caryn and Mark's wedding"...he didn't remember since catering works over 50+ hours a week.

Anyway, I thought about you all night and I kept trying to picture you there with you wedding dress. You're awesome and you're such an inspiration to all us future disney brides. You go.. you gorgeous bride you!

[disneymeg]

http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/?action=view&current=Picture805.jpg

http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/?action=view&current=Picture826.jpg

http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/?action=view&current=Picture834.jpg

http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/?
action=view&current=Picture832.jpg

ok so i think this is gonna work
here are a few more pics

[caryndisneydiva]

http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/?action=view&current=Picture805.jpg

http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/?action=view&current=Picture826.jpg

http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/?action=view&current=Picture834.jpg

http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/?
action=view&current=Picture832.jpg

ok so i think this is gonna work
here are a few more pics

i'll try to help you out megan...
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/Picture805.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/Picture826.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/meganlcraig/Picture834.jpg

[caryndisneydiva]

Waiting for the pictures is probably going to be one of the hardest things for me too, so I definitely have sympathy for you while you're waiting :goodvibes

i'm DYING. i need those pics for my thank you notes too...

Looooove the pink crinnie! My sister might have to 'borrow' that idea for her dress. :goodvibes Did you ever figure out why the dress hurt so badly? Just wondering in case there was a sudden revelation later or the bridal shop had an idea. A wedding dress shouldn't hurt the bride!

i think the dress was just really big and heavy and it was probably not meant to be worn for as long as i wore it. i also had a corset underneath (to smooth) and it may have been the wrong size...

Okay, it's past midnight (12:26 am) and I just got home from LSS. My Df had his wrap party for Spectacle of dancing lights -he's a production planner from that show - and all I thought the whole night was "Caryn had her wedding here!". What an amazing venue. I stared at the fishies almost all night and some people got up and played piano and we sang along. Honestly, for as long as I have worked for the mouse, I never saw LSS. it's GORGEOUS!!!! I had an amazing time but I kept trying to imagine your wedding. I even went to the bartender and I was like " did you work Caryn and Mark's wedding"...he didn't remember since catering works over 50+ hours a week.

Anyway, I thought about you all night and I kept trying to picture you there with you wedding dress. You're awesome and you're such an inspiration to all us future disney brides. You go.. you gorgeous bride you!

oh wow! lss is great! if it was the same bartender, he wouldn't remember me because i NEVER went to the bar that day, which is weird. lss is something i thought i was going to regret, but it's probably one of the best decisions i ever made!

[Missy Mouse]

Loved it! Totally loved all of it. I can't wait for more pics. How old are you and Mark?

[mermaidbride1108]

Hey Caryn, Would you mind posting the instructions again to dye this crinoline(sp?)? I love how yours turned out and now I'm thinking I would like to do the same - but I know if I don't ask you now I'll forget where I saw it from!:goodvibes

[caryndisneydiva]

Loved it! Totally loved all of it. I can't wait for more pics. How old are you and Mark?

i am 27 (28 in 2 weeks) and mark is 36!

Hey Caryn, Would you mind posting the instructions again to dye this crinoline(sp?)? I love how yours turned out and now I'm thinking I would like to do the same - but I know if I don't ask you now I'll forget where I saw it from!:goodvibes

here you go!

here's a link from the knot for color ideas...

http://community.theknot.com/cs/ks/user/page.aspx?username=ColoredSlipBio&MsdVisit=1

another important site for dyeing info is the rit dye site...there is a color chart that will help you make custom colors, should you want them...

to start, i filled my washer with hot hot water, then i put on gloves...BEFORE i put the dye in the wash bin, i dunked the crinoline into the water, since i didn't have anywhere else for the wet crinoline to go, i put a towel under a laundry basket so that water wouldn't get all over and i put the wet crinoline in the basket...
here is my set up...
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0250.jpg

i then added the dye (RIT liquid dye, Rose Pink) to the wash bin and set it to agitate, i then added the crinoline to the dye and dunked it in as much as i could (this is where wearing gloves comes in really handy, because that water was HOT)
here's the crinoline right before i shut the washer lid to let it agitate
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0249.jpg

i then kept setting the washer to agitate, i let it go for about 15 minutes, then I took it out, unraveled it the best that i could (it was heavy...) then i put it back in for another 15 minutes. this step is really important because if you don't unravel it, your crinnie will end up tye-dyed...

here it is mid-cycle...
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0251.jpg

then, after it was done agitating, i let it rinse twice, the 2nd time, i added just a bit of detergent, rinsed it again, let the water drain and i took it out...here is right before i took it out of the washer...
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0252.jpg

then i hung it up in my bathroom the best i could...it was REALLY tangled within itself and i had to have mark help me...
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/caryncraig/100_0253.jpg

it turned out pretty well. i think the color on the bottle very accurately describes the color that the crinoline turned out to be. i was surprised by that actually.

[B2B-2008]

Congratulations

I finally had the chance to have a quick look through your TR. You all looked amazing.

[mermaidbride1108]

Thanks so much for posting the how-to for the crinnie!:hug:

[Kristen14]

I just got back and you already have 13 pages of a TR??? boy am I behind!!! hopefully I can find some time to read it all!

thanks for the text by the way! our wedding was amazing!

[lpizzuro123]

First I just wanted to say that I have completely enjoyed reading both your planning journal and wedding journal. You have given eveyone such great ideas on these boards.

We are finally planning for our November 2008 wedding and I have a few questions to ask.

First I believe you went with the guest book from The Guest Book Store. I was wondering how that went. Did everyone fill out the pages and were you able to get pictures of your guests to add to the pages? We are definately considering this because I really want everyone to be able to write something and not just sign a book.

Our other option is to do what lurkyloo did which is to make a photobook of our pictures (I would do a through the years type book of assorted pictures (most at Disney) and our engagement pictures and have everyone sign that book. I am just afraid they would just write their name and not include anything else in it.

My other question is about your girls flowers. From looking at your pictures it looks like you went with the wands. I was wondering how many flowers you used in these and what the cost was. Also, did they like the flowers and was it easy for them to hold?

Thanks so much and I look forward to more reading (and I can't wait to see you pictures from Randy).

Linda

[Lindsay22]

Linda
Caryn did pick the rose wands for us. They had three ivory colored roses and were sprinkled with pixie dust. I liked how easy they were to hold and how light they were, especially when I was holding Caryn's 45 lb bouquet!! They were different, yet elegant which I liked as well. Caryn got us each a necklace with our initial and we pinned the initial charm to the stem of the wand. (You should have seen the look on Randy's face when I asked him to help me break the necklace chain. I think his exact words were "I've never been asked to BREAK a necklace before!")
I'm sure Caryn could tell you about the price.

[keenercam]

Caryn -- thank you so much for posting the directions on how to dye the crinnie. I am so worried that I might not be able to do that. We have a front loading washing machine (neptune?) which means, I think, that we can't open it while it is washing. :sad1: I am going to have to check out the knot and see if they have a fall-back plan.

[caryndisneydiva]

Congratulations

I finally had the chance to have a quick look through your TR. You all looked amazing.

thank you!!!

Thanks so much for posting the how-to for the crinnie!:hug:

no problem! i must have pm'd jaclyn 700 times when i went to do mine!

I just got back and you already have 13 pages of a TR??? boy am I behind!!! hopefully I can find some time to read it all!

thanks for the text by the way! our wedding was amazing!

oh yay! you're back!!!! TR TR TR! how was the cruise?

First I just wanted to say that I have completely enjoyed reading both your planning journal and wedding journal. You have given eveyone such great ideas on these boards.

We are finally planning for our November 2008 wedding and I have a few questions to ask.

First I believe you went with the guest book from The Guest Book Store. I was wondering how that went. Did everyone fill out the pages and were you able to get pictures of your guests to add to the pages? We are definately considering this because I really want everyone to be able to write something and not just sign a book.

Our other option is to do what lurkyloo did which is to make a photobook of our pictures (I would do a through the years type book of assorted pictures (most at Disney) and our engagement pictures and have everyone sign that book. I am just afraid they would just write their name and not include anything else in it.

My other question is about your girls flowers. From looking at your pictures it looks like you went with the wands. I was wondering how many flowers you used in these and what the cost was. Also, did they like the flowers and was it easy for them to hold?

Thanks so much and I look forward to more reading (and I can't wait to see you pictures from Randy).

Linda

well, i think lindsay answered lots of your questions, but let me get to the rest. the rose wands were $40 each, i loved them!

as far as the guest book goes, i loved the end result. i'm just REALLY glad that i had one of my younger cousins walking around, handing out the pages and markers and telling people what to do. for some reason, the guests didn't get it. BUT i'm glad i did it, the end result is fabulous and it's funny to see what people wrote/drew. i let people draw their own pictures and some of them are HILARIOUS. all in all, i like that the pages encouraged creativity, you just need to make sure you have a dedicated guest book person (avid sex and the city fans will not like this position).


Linda
Caryn did pick the rose wands for us. They had three ivory colored roses and were sprinkled with pixie dust. I liked how easy they were to hold and how light they were, especially when I was holding Caryn's 45 lb bouquet!! They were different, yet elegant which I liked as well. Caryn got us each a necklace with our initial and we pinned the initial charm to the stem of the wand. (You should have seen the look on Randy's face when I asked him to help me break the necklace chain. I think his exact words were "I've never been asked to BREAK a necklace before!")
I'm sure Caryn could tell you about the price.

i forgot about the breaking the necklace thing...wow. OH and my bouquet was NOT 45 lbs...it was probably about 10.:cool2:

[caryndisneydiva]

Caryn -- thank you so much for posting the directions on how to dye the crinnie. I am so worried that I might not be able to do that. We have a front loading washing machine (neptune?) which means, I think, that we can't open it while it is washing. :sad1: I am going to have to check out the knot and see if they have a fall-back plan.

hhmmmm...maybe you can borrow someone else's machine, just make sure you run a whole cylcle with a TON of bleach and really hot water when you're done. i don't see how you'd be able to do it with a front loader. you really need to be able to take it out mid cycle to detangle it...

[Kristen14]

Caryn -- thank you so much for posting the directions on how to dye the crinnie. I am so worried that I might not be able to do that. We have a front loading washing machine (neptune?) which means, I think, that we can't open it while it is washing. :sad1: I am going to have to check out the knot and see if they have a fall-back plan.

Hi Cam, I have a front loader too. I didnt want to try it, so I used the community laundry machine in our condo complex :rolleyes1 It was good to make a mess someplace that wasnt in my own house!

[caryndisneydiva]

Hi Cam, I have a front loader too. I didnt want to try it, so I used the community laundry machine in our condo complex :rolleyes1 It was good to make a mess someplace that wasnt in my own house!

i'll second that...i did my second crinnie in our condo that we currently have up for rent, mark hadn't been there in awhile and we were there today and he asked why there were brown/purple dots all over the tile/walls...:rolleyes1 i quickly ushered him away so that we didn't have our first marital fight...mental note to get the cleaning crew in there pronto...

[lpizzuro123]

Thanks so much for the answers about the rose wands. I have printed off the picture to bring to my floral planning session and to show my girls to see if they like them. Our colors are white, black and claret so I would think maybe white flowers and claret ribbons - and the price is right too. I love the idea of the pixie dust also.

I love the sheets from the Guest Book Store. I had shown these to a friend of mine and she did them for her husbands 50 birthday party and they came out great. I think I will go with this but use the sheets where we take pictures of the guests and put them in the book. I will probably make one of those other type of books just for us - a through the years type book. We have been together since 1991 so we have ALOT of pictures - we were 3 when we met - only kidding - we are now both 48 and have been together forever and are finally getting married.

Linda

[Missy Mouse]

i am 27 (28 in 2 weeks) and mark is 36!


You are the exact ages apart as me and my DF. Some people gasp at our age difference but most don't think it's an issue at all. I think we are the perfect ages apart since he is just as "mature" as I am. :goodvibes

[caryndisneydiva]

i posted somewhere else that if our age difference wasn't in writing you would never know. i think it was more of a shock to people when we first started dating (i was 22 and he was 31) because i was so young. the difference is nil now and not even noticeable.

[Kristen14]

I headed home to pack everything I needed for the wedding (the car was so full I couldn't pack anything for myself :scared1: )

Lol... what a good sister you are!

[DisneyLaura]

Caryn - I love the pink crinnie but I have a silly question. Is there a reason why you dyed it pink? Did I miss something in your PJ? Just wondering. :)

[Kristen14]

I swear, I felt like Britney spears cruising around LA. There were paparazzi EVERYWHERE! And not just the ones that I hired!

I did too! and that was only in the GF... i cant imagine being at BW/SBP! Random tourists were standing infront of me with their cameras, not saying a word!


We were supposed to get back into the Rolls, which was supposed to drive us 3 feet to the side entrance to SBP for our staged bubble exit. I really didn’t want to shove my big self into that car again

I smashed myself into that darn thing 3 times! From the GF to WP, staged exit of WP, then WP to LSS! Every time I got in it I hit my hair on the roof!

[Gillian]

I don't understand why people want to take photos of other peoples' weddings. Total strangers!

Well, except for Caryn's because she looked so glamorous! princess:

[Kristen14]

She is the sweetest girl and her now husband Rob is soooo nice! We all headed out to 8-Tracks and ordered drinks! Kristen and Rob were in pre-wedding stressed out mode and had to leave but it was so nice of them to come meet us! I felt so bad for her at that moment, having just gone through it myself, I was happy their wedding day was soon approaching! I cannot say how much I just really loved meeting them! They are fabulous!

Aww you are soooo sweet! We loved meeting you and Mark also!! Even though I look red as a lobster in that pic... weird cuz I'm really pale in all our wedding pics!

Anyways, believe it or not Rob was in the middle of a 4 day battle with food poisioning when we met you at PI! I would've loved to stay and party, but he kept telling me he would be sick if we didnt leave ASAP :rolleyes1

[Kristen14]

Day 6- Saturday January 26, 2008- Cool Down Day 1!

I spent lots of time this morning on our balcony at the Poly. It was cold, overcast and rainy but it didn’t matter!

Imagine me standing outside in my wedding dress! But you're right, it didnt matter. And I hear rain is good luck!


We did some shopping at the Emporium and then took the monorail to EPCOT where we saw the Rolls waiting for Kristen’s wedding outside the WP. We all sent her silent well wishes! It was so exciting!!! They must have just walked down the aisle, I think it was 2:36 and her wedding began at 2:30!

I'm sure I was halfway thru the ceremony already. I think Celeste started us at 2:30 on the dot! She's was fantastic at keeping us on schedule.


We were pretty boring that day, it was raining/drizzling.

This reminds me that I have some halarious pics of me in my wedding dress wearing a Disney poncho! I gotta post those in my PJ/TR. Funny thing is that I would've freaked out beforehand if we mentioned rain or ponchos and wedding dresses in the same sentence!

[caryndisneydiva]

Thanks so much for the answers about the rose wands. I have printed off the picture to bring to my floral planning session and to show my girls to see if they like them. Our colors are white, black and claret so I would think maybe white flowers and claret ribbons - and the price is right too. I love the idea of the pixie dust also.

I love the sheets from the Guest Book Store. I had shown these to a friend of mine and she did them for her husbands 50 birthday party and they came out great. I think I will go with this but use the sheets where we take pictures of the guests and put them in the book. I will probably make one of those other type of books just for us - a through the years type book. We have been together since 1991 so we have ALOT of pictures - we were 3 when we met - only kidding - we are now both 48 and have been together forever and are finally getting married.

Linda

are you going to make your own? they would be REALLY easy to do. those people have probably made a fortune off less crafty brides, had i seen one of those books before my wedding, i would have totally done it myself. no matter though...

Lol... what a good sister you are!

she's ok ;)

Caryn - I love the pink crinnie but I have a silly question. Is there a reason why you dyed it pink? Did I miss something in your PJ? Just wondering. :)

when i saw jaclyn do it, i knew it was the thing for me. i LOVE LOVE LOVE fashion and never do anything "normal." i like the little personal touches that accessories add and so i decided to dye my crinnie pink!

I did too! and that was only in the GF... i cant imagine being at BW/SBP! Random tourists were standing infront of me with their cameras, not saying a word!

yeah, it was slightly overwhelming at one point, but oh well...and it was a nice morning, so there were a million people out and about going to the parks...


I smashed myself into that darn thing 3 times! From the GF to WP, staged exit of WP, then WP to LSS! Every time I got in it I hit my hair on the roof!

there would have been no way. i barely fit in there myself!!!!!! and it's so low! i guess people were shorter back then...i wonder if we had the same driver...

I don't understand why people want to take photos of other peoples' weddings. Total strangers!

Well, except for Caryn's because she looked so glamorous! princess:

seriously, it was the weirdest thing, like, what are they going to do with those pics?

Imagine me standing outside in my wedding dress! But you're right, it didnt matter. And I hear rain is good luck!

i hear that too! i was thinking of you in the dress because it was so humid...

I'm sure I was halfway thru the ceremony already. I think Celeste started us at 2:30 on the dot! She's was fantastic at keeping us on schedule.

that's good! there wasn't anyone milling about around there, so we figured you must be saying "i do" or something...


This reminds me that I have some halarious pics of me in my wedding dress wearing a Disney poncho! I gotta post those in my PJ/TR. Funny thing is that I would've freaked out beforehand if we mentioned rain or ponchos and wedding dresses in the same sentence!

OMG that is so funny! can you IMAGINE the conversations going on in our PJ's if we had thought that would happen? i probably would have crystallized a poncho for myself JUST IN CASE...craziness!

[Goldeelox9]

OMG that is so funny! can you IMAGINE the conversations going on in our PJ's if we had thought that would happen? i probably would have crystallized a poncho for myself JUST IN CASE...craziness!


Great now you have given me ANOTHER craft project to do!

[disneychickforever]

I just caught up!

Caryn! You were a BEAUTIFUL bride! Amazingly glamourous!

Randy sounded awesome! Sounds like he was in the zone and watching out for you, much more than you payed for! Lol.

I'm glad you got your Happily Ever After Caryn!

Whenever (and if ever, lol) my day comes, You'll probably be one of the first people I message for advice! Lol.

congrats to you and Mark!

[caryndisneydiva]

Great now you have given me ANOTHER craft project to do!

you should be ok on the boat!

I just caught up!

Caryn! You were a BEAUTIFUL bride! Amazingly glamourous!

Randy sounded awesome! Sounds like he was in the zone and watching out for you, much more than you payed for! Lol.

I'm glad you got your Happily Ever After Caryn!

Whenever (and if ever, lol) my day comes, You'll probably be one of the first people I message for advice! Lol.

congrats to you and Mark!

your time will come! don't worry!!!

[curiouser]

I've been absent from the Dis for a while so I didn't get to read your PJ, but wow... you are beautiful!! Your wedding was beautiful! I love that used lemons in your centerpieces. Love, love, love. I hope you don't mind if I possibly use that idea in the future!

Congratulations!!!!

[Malibelle]

Caryn- i just caught up, I havn't been on here or a while. Your wedding came out beautiful. You looked great! It looks like you has such a good time. Love the centerpiecers too, very different.

[Kristinella]

Oh my gosh, BEA-U-TIFUL!!! :worship: You and your new hubbie look AMAZING!!! An event I wish I could have seen in person, but I would not have been one of the people with the camera staring at you...just a lurker, I'm sure it was a sight to be seen. I LOVE that picture of you and Mark in front of the Living Seas...very neat. Everything looked great, all of your hard work really paid off. Can't wait for more of the trip report and MORE pictures!!! Lindsey and Meg looked great as well.

Well congratulations and I can't wait for more. popcorn::

[Nana Katz]

Hi! I'm Mark's mom and Caryn's new MIL. She doesn't know I'm posting this. SURPRISE!!! I just want to add my report on THE Wedding, as it was known among the Craig and De Lange families.

First, my DH and I love Caryn and are thrilled to have her in our family. She is funny (a requirement in our bunch!), thoughtful, talented, loves cats and has excellent taste in husbands. (Did I mention I'm the mother of the groom? I have a wonderful t-shirt to prove it, made by Caryn herself.)

One of the things that made this such a beautiful wedding was all the work she put into the details. The welcome bags were wonderful, the locations for all our get-togethers were perfect, and she was a beautiful bride.

Everything she put in her TR was true. The flight attendant on the trip to Orlando was an officious twit about the dress. He insisted it had to have a window seat. What for - the view??? And it had to wear a seatbelt! Did he think the dress was going to run up and down the aisles during the flight?

Yes, we did march into the car rental office when we discovered we were in the wrong car, which the agency parked in the wrong space. Considering all the problems we had with it, it was definitely the "wrong" car. Caryn & I working as a team, negotiated a free day out of all that.

The wedding was wonderful, Caryn looked even more beautiful than her pictures show, and of course Mark was gorgeous. Of course, I'm his mom so I might be a little biased on that.

One thing - I almost always take Caryn's side on everything, but about Southwest Airlines: they have a great safety record, on time record, and their prices are wonderful. Yes, it's like a flying bus from a third world country, but on short flights (2-3 hours), who cares? But I'm an avid bargain hunter, so I might be prejudiced about this.

Caryn has left a few bits out of her TR, probably a good thing, but they were interesting. She's so funny - that's how I got the user name "Nana Katz." You'll have to ask her about that, though.

Just for the record, since this is a wedding forum, I got married at 19 and planned my own wedding. AFter reading all these posts, I'm amazed it went as well as it did. I was too young to know better, I guess.

Nana Katz

[keenercam]

Oh, what a sweet, sweet post by DMIL!!! We, of course, know that Caryn is an absolute sweetheart and I think we have all seen and appreciated her great sense of humor and her awesome organizational skills and over-the-top consideration for her guests' comfort and pleasure, but it is very reassuring to know that her ILs appreciate her too! :love: Thank you for posting, Nana Katz!

ETA: Oh, I meant to mention Mark did look gorgeous!

[mermaidbride1108]

Hi! I'm Mark's mom and Caryn's new MIL. She doesn't know I'm posting this. SURPRISE!!! I just want to add my report on THE Wedding, as it was known among the Craig and De Lange families.

First, my DH and I love Caryn and are thrilled to have her in our family. She is funny (a requirement in our bunch!), thoughtful, talented, loves cats and has excellent taste in husbands. (Did I mention I'm the mother of the groom? I have a wonderful t-shirt to prove it, made by Caryn herself.)

One of the things that made this such a beautiful wedding was all the work she put into the details. The welcome bags were wonderful, the locations for all our get-togethers were perfect, and she was a beautiful bride.

Everything she put in her TR was true. The flight attendant on the trip to Orlando was an officious twit about the dress. He insisted it had to have a window seat. What for - the view??? And it had to wear a seatbelt! Did he think the dress was going to run up and down the aisles during the flight?

Yes, we did march into the car rental office when we discovered we were in the wrong car, which the agency parked in the wrong space. Considering all the problems we had with it, it was definitely the "wrong" car. Caryn & I working as a team, negotiated a free day out of all that.

The wedding was wonderful, Caryn looked even more beautiful than her pictures show, and of course Mark was gorgeous. Of course, I'm his mom so I might be a little biased on that.

One thing - I almost always take Caryn's side on everything, but about Southwest Airlines: they have a great safety record, on time record, and their prices are wonderful. Yes, it's like a flying bus from a third world country, but on short flights (2-3 hours), who cares? But I'm an avid bargain hunter, so I might be prejudiced about this.

Caryn has left a few bits out of her TR, probably a good thing, but they were interesting. She's so funny - that's how I got the user name "Nana Katz." You'll have to ask her about that, though.

Just for the record, since this is a wedding forum, I got married at 19 and planned my own wedding. AFter reading all these posts, I'm amazed it went as well as it did. I was too young to know better, I guess.

Nana Katz

Could I trade my MIL in for you? j/k:goodvibes

[Missy Mouse]

Hi! I'm Mark's mom and Caryn's new MIL. She doesn't know I'm posting this. SURPRISE!!! I just want to add my report on THE Wedding, as it was known among the Craig and De Lange families.

First, my DH and I love Caryn and are thrilled to have her in our family. She is funny (a requirement in our bunch!), thoughtful, talented, loves cats and has excellent taste in husbands. (Did I mention I'm the mother of the groom? I have a wonderful t-shirt to prove it, made by Caryn herself.)

One of the things that made this such a beautiful wedding was all the work she put into the details. The welcome bags were wonderful, the locations for all our get-togethers were perfect, and she was a beautiful bride.

Everything she put in her TR was true. The flight attendant on the trip to Orlando was an officious twit about the dress. He insisted it had to have a window seat. What for - the view??? And it had to wear a seatbelt! Did he think the dress was going to run up and down the aisles during the flight?

Yes, we did march into the car rental office when we discovered we were in the wrong car, which the agency parked in the wrong space. Considering all the problems we had with it, it was definitely the "wrong" car. Caryn & I working as a team, negotiated a free day out of all that.

The wedding was wonderful, Caryn looked even more beautiful than her pictures show, and of course Mark was gorgeous. Of course, I'm his mom so I might be a little biased on that.

One thing - I almost always take Caryn's side on everything, but about Southwest Airlines: they have a great safety record, on time record, and their prices are wonderful. Yes, it's like a flying bus from a third world country, but on short flights (2-3 hours), who cares? But I'm an avid bargain hunter, so I might be prejudiced about this.

Caryn has left a few bits out of her TR, probably a good thing, but they were interesting. She's so funny - that's how I got the user name "Nana Katz." You'll have to ask her about that, though.

Just for the record, since this is a wedding forum, I got married at 19 and planned my own wedding. AFter reading all these posts, I'm amazed it went as well as it did. I was too young to know better, I guess.

Nana Katz


Hi Nana!!! Welcome to Caryn's trip report! That is so sweet of you to drop a line. I hope you write more about her wedding! :goodvibes

[BethanyMouse]

Welcome Caryn MIL! Caryn, you have been such a help to all of us! Thanks for all of your advice and help. It is so wonderful. I love reading your TR. It sounds like you had a magical day! Thanks for posting the pics too!

[caryndisneydiva]

I've been absent from the Dis for a while so I didn't get to read your PJ, but wow... you are beautiful!! Your wedding was beautiful! I love that used lemons in your centerpieces. Love, love, love. I hope you don't mind if I possibly use that idea in the future!

Congratulations!!!!

oh thank you so much! you are so kind! i love the lemon idea. i wanted to incorporate some yellow into our room and that did it! steal whatever idea you'd like!

Caryn- i just caught up, I havn't been on here or a while. Your wedding came out beautiful. You looked great! It looks like you has such a good time. Love the centerpiecers too, very different.

thanks daniella! i loved your pictures, i remember reading your tr and being so excited for my own day!

Oh my gosh, BEA-U-TIFUL!!! :worship: You and your new hubbie look AMAZING!!! An event I wish I could have seen in person, but I would not have been one of the people with the camera staring at you...just a lurker, I'm sure it was a sight to be seen. I LOVE that picture of you and Mark in front of the Living Seas...very neat. Everything looked great, all of your hard work really paid off. Can't wait for more of the trip report and MORE pictures!!! Lindsey and Meg looked great as well.

Well congratulations and I can't wait for more. popcorn::

thanks! regarding the lurking paparazzi...when i was on my cp, they would warn us that alligators used to swim onto property through the sewer lines and people used to actually have their kids pose with the gators for pictures because they thought that since they were on disney property, they were safe :scared1: . this goes along with strangers taking pictures of our weddings...everything at disney is on stage. even when we're not supposed to be. it's funny though, you kind of get used to the attention. we went out to dinner with the IL's the other night and told the lady that we were recently married and she was like, "great, ok, can i take your order???"

Hi! I'm Mark's mom and Caryn's new MIL. She doesn't know I'm posting this. SURPRISE!!! I just want to add my report on THE Wedding, as it was known among the Craig and De Lange families.

First, my DH and I love Caryn and are thrilled to have her in our family. She is funny (a requirement in our bunch!), thoughtful, talented, loves cats and has excellent taste in husbands. (Did I mention I'm the mother of the groom? I have a wonderful t-shirt to prove it, made by Caryn herself.)

One of the things that made this such a beautiful wedding was all the work she put into the details. The welcome bags were wonderful, the locations for all our get-togethers were perfect, and she was a beautiful bride.

Everything she put in her TR was true. The flight attendant on the trip to Orlando was an officious twit about the dress. He insisted it had to have a window seat. What for - the view??? And it had to wear a seatbelt! Did he think the dress was going to run up and down the aisles during the flight?

Yes, we did march into the car rental office when we discovered we were in the wrong car, which the agency parked in the wrong space. Considering all the problems we had with it, it was definitely the "wrong" car. Caryn & I working as a team, negotiated a free day out of all that.

The wedding was wonderful, Caryn looked even more beautiful than her pictures show, and of course Mark was gorgeous. Of course, I'm his mom so I might be a little biased on that.

One thing - I almost always take Caryn's side on everything, but about Southwest Airlines: they have a great safety record, on time record, and their prices are wonderful. Yes, it's like a flying bus from a third world country, but on short flights (2-3 hours), who cares? But I'm an avid bargain hunter, so I might be prejudiced about this.

Caryn has left a few bits out of her TR, probably a good thing, but they were interesting. She's so funny - that's how I got the user name "Nana Katz." You'll have to ask her about that, though.

Just for the record, since this is a wedding forum, I got married at 19 and planned my own wedding. AFter reading all these posts, I'm amazed it went as well as it did. I was too young to know better, I guess.

Nana Katz

NK, you are so funny! your son LOVED your post. Lindsay called this morning and alerted me to it...i think you'll like the dis! lets try to convince mark/bob to go on a disney cruise (since our halloween cruise was CANCELLED-AGAIN)...thanks for posting, you're getting requests, read below...

oh, i decided to leave out a few key family parts...guess who had the dream that terrorized me the night before the wedding...just take ONE GUESS...

Oh, what a sweet, sweet post by DMIL!!! We, of course, know that Caryn is an absolute sweetheart and I think we have all seen and appreciated her great sense of humor and her awesome organizational skills and over-the-top consideration for her guests' comfort and pleasure, but it is very reassuring to know that her ILs appreciate her too! :love: Thank you for posting, Nana Katz!

ETA: Oh, I meant to mention Mark did look gorgeous!

NK is so great! we named her that because she has many cats and started signing her emails "nana cats" (she is nana to OUR cats, her grand-kitties), so i said that i think Katz is more fitting of a jewish cat grandmother and voila!

Could I trade my MIL in for you? j/k:goodvibes

i know, i'm lucky!

Hi Nana!!! Welcome to Caryn's trip report! That is so sweet of you to drop a line. I hope you write more about her wedding! :goodvibes

i'll be emailing her this week for her updates...

Welcome Caryn MIL! Caryn, you have been such a help to all of us! Thanks for all of your advice and help. It is so wonderful. I love reading your TR. It sounds like you had a magical day! Thanks for posting the pics too!

no prob bethany! i miss wedding planning!

[Kristen14]

you miss wedding planning???????? DO YOU REMEMBER WEDDING PLANNING???? i miss the wedding... not the planning at all!

[Lynn5700]

Wow girl what a beautiful wedding,you were stunning!!! Thank you for posting the steps on how to dye the crinnie,I want to do mine pink too!!

Oh and your bouquet was gorgeous!!!

[caryndisneydiva]

you miss wedding planning???????? DO YOU REMEMBER WEDDING PLANNING???? i miss the wedding... not the planning at all!

i miss the craft projects! not the stress associated with completing them NOW though...

Wow girl what a beautiful wedding,you were stunning!!! Thank you for posting the steps on how to dye the crinnie,I want to do mine pink too!!

Oh and your bouquet was gorgeous!!!

thanks lynn! i loved my crinnie and my bouquet!

[LauraInWonderland]

Hey Caryn,
So I met with Randy Chapman today and he had your picture up in his studio! It was Fierce!!
Its a b&W close up of you with your birdcaige veil looking oh so glamourous.
Its one of the best pictures ive seen of his, It really made me want a birdcaige veil lol

[caryndisneydiva]

oh man! i asked him to send me a copy of that pic! i'm glad it looks good. he told me on my wedding day that he was going to use some of them as samples. it's so sweet of him to use my pics. i'm honored, i really am! you've seen my pics before i have!!!!! lucky girl!

[Goldeelox9]

Ohhh Caryn you are Famous!

[Goldeelox9]

Caryn......How many Roses were in your Bouquet? If you don't mind me asking how much was it through Disney Floral? I am trying to figure out what I want to do? I got a quote for a Bouquet and Bot. from Peddles for $250 including delivery for my Magic Kingdom Photo Shoot. Since we are getting married on the ship we are going to need all new flowers for the MK pictures.

Thanks

[caryndisneydiva]

Caryn......How many Roses were in your Bouquet? If you don't mind me asking how much was it through Disney Floral? I am trying to figure out what I want to do? I got a quote for a Bouquet and Bot. from Peddles for $250 including delivery for my Magic Kingdom Photo Shoot. Since we are getting married on the ship we are going to need all new flowers for the MK pictures.

Thanks

my bouquet was 5 dozen roses and was $350!

[Kristen14]

Your MIL is so sweet! I'm jealous!

[Goldeelox9]

Thank you! I am thinking then that the quote I got was pretty good. It was for a Bot. Bouquet and delivery. They said it would be 4 doz roses. I wanted it to have that Big look like yours. You have the prettiest flowers I have ever seen!

[BaBeeCee14]

Thank you! I am thinking then that the quote I got was pretty good. It was for a Bot. Bouquet and delivery. They said it would be 4 doz roses. I wanted it to have that Big look like yours. You have the prettiest flowers I have ever seen!

Lisa - that seems like a great price. Is your bouquet going to be all roses? I was thinking about using Peddles also, but I wasn't sure.

[Lisella]

Ooooh - so sweet that Nana Katz added to your TR! I love it. It is so fitting that your family has such love for you and is just as sweet as you are.

I hope you have some more pictures for us to look at soon!

I'm sure you miss the projects (but not the stress LOL), but the rest of us crazy planners around here can try and do our best to keep you busy answering our questions and helping us think up some great ideas for our future weddings!

[Goldeelox9]

Lisa - that seems like a great price. Is your bouquet going to be all roses? I was thinking about using Peddles also, but I wasn't sure.


It is going to be a Bridal Bouquet with white roses, white stephanotis, a few hot pink roses - extra large - say 48 roses? It would be stem wrapped with pearl inserts (Mickey style). The boutonniere would be a Hot Pink Rose and stephanotis.

[M&M126]

Hi Caryn! I just wanted to say I can see how you might miss wedding planning. I've already been wondering what the heck I'm going to do with myself after this wedding! It's all I talk or think about these days and when it's over I'm going to be bored :) I think we should plan the next big vacation after the wedding!

[Nana Katz]

Oh, what a sweet, sweet post by DMIL!!! We, of course, know that Caryn is an absolute sweetheart and I think we have all seen and appreciated her great sense of humor and her awesome organizational skills and over-the-top consideration for her guests' comfort and pleasure, but it is very reassuring to know that her ILs appreciate her too! :love: Thank you for posting, Nana Katz!

ETA: Oh, I meant to mention Mark did look gorgeous!

Thanks! Caryn is the best and we really do love her - in spite of her organizational skills! None of which I have or have passed on to Mark. But he did look gorgeous, didn't he? I have to admit, I raised a prince!

Nana Katz

[Nana Katz]

Could I trade my MIL in for you? j/k:goodvibes

Only if I get to trade mine in too! (You probably all think I'm kidding. Ha!:eek:

Nana Katz

[caryndisneydiva]

Your MIL is so sweet! I'm jealous!

i know, she is sweet :lovestruc

Thank you! I am thinking then that the quote I got was pretty good. It was for a Bot. Bouquet and delivery. They said it would be 4 doz roses. I wanted it to have that Big look like yours. You have the prettiest flowers I have ever seen!

ok, i only have one comment...in the mk shots, you don't really get close up's, so you can probably get a bouquet cheaper somewhere else, like ebay, or even another florist, just a thought. once i started researching bouquet prices, i realized that i was kind of overcharged, but i loved my bouquet, so i wouldn't have it any other way.

Lisa - that seems like a great price. Is your bouquet going to be all roses? I was thinking about using Peddles also, but I wasn't sure.

i think kristen used peddles...i could be wrong though.

Ooooh - so sweet that Nana Katz added to your TR! I love it. It is so fitting that your family has such love for you and is just as sweet as you are.

I hope you have some more pictures for us to look at soon!

I'm sure you miss the projects (but not the stress LOL), but the rest of us crazy planners around here can try and do our best to keep you busy answering our questions and helping us think up some great ideas for our future weddings!

so i was discussing the wedding projects that i have left from the wedding (scrapbooking every little thing) and i realized that i can't miss them, THEY'RE STILL HERE!!!!! my mil is the best!

It is going to be a Bridal Bouquet with white roses, white stephanotis, a few hot pink roses - extra large - say 48 roses? It would be stem wrapped with pearl inserts (Mickey style). The boutonniere would be a Hot Pink Rose and stephanotis.

are you going to have it preserved? i have my floral preservation phone session tomorrow with keepsake tomorrow and i am so excited!

Hi Caryn! I just wanted to say I can see how you might miss wedding planning. I've already been wondering what the heck I'm going to do with myself after this wedding! It's all I talk or think about these days and when it's over I'm going to be bored :) I think we should plan the next big vacation after the wedding!

you know what i'm going to do? train for the 1/2 marathon in jan 09! i did my first run tonight, i'm doing a 5k in april and a 10k in october. i'm excited about it! of course, mark told nana katz about this tonight and she said, "what is this crazy a$$'ed idea you have?" but she'll be there at the finish line with mark, lindsay's dbf and fil to see lindsay and i finish (hopefully)!

Thanks! Caryn is the best and we really do love her - in spite of her organizational skills! None of which I have or have passed on to Mark. But he did look gorgeous, didn't he? I have to admit, I raised a prince!

Nana Katz

don't tell him he's a prince. then i'll have to hear him and his "princely" orders all night...

Only if I get to trade mine in too! (You probably all think I'm kidding. Ha!:eek:

Nana Katz

you kill me nk.

[juligrl]

Caryn & Mark - Congratulations on the wedding!

I've been reading through your TR - wow! My cousin's considering a Disney wedding but doesn't want a lot of the traditional stuff. I'm going to direct her to your TR.

I loved your dress - sorry to hear it was such a pain, literally!

[caryndisneydiva]

Caryn & Mark - Congratulations on the wedding!

I've been reading through your TR - wow! My cousin's considering a Disney wedding but doesn't want a lot of the traditional stuff. I'm going to direct her to your TR.

I loved your dress - sorry to hear it was such a pain, literally!

thanks for reading! we really aren't into the traditional stuff at all, it's just not us. i know that disney isn't used to the sort of wedding that we had, but for us it worked out well! some planners fight their brides on this, but mine didn't she was great! at first, we didn't even want a wedding and to be honest, i think i would have been just as happy on the disney cruise as i was with my actual wedding. we just wanted to be married and have a marriage. i was adamant about that, i didn't want to focus on a wedding (a party essentially), we want a strong marriage that will last. the wedding day is just that, a day (albeit a very long and fun one).

thank you for the dress compliments, advise your cousin to consider what she wears under her dress carefully...i think that's where my problems came from...

[Goldeelox9]

ok, i only have one comment...in the mk shots, you don't really get close up's, so you can probably get a bouquet cheaper somewhere else, like ebay, or even another florist, just a thought. once i started researching bouquet prices, i realized that i was kind of overcharged, but i loved my bouquet, so i wouldn't have it any other way.



I don't like fake flowers so I don't want them. I am not sure where else to find a Cheaper bouquet? I need a kinda big one since I am not a skinny Minnie. I want the flowers to stand out. I may get her to take out the Pearl Mickeys and maybe the Stephanopous (however that is spelled...I don't want to look it up...LOL). Since the pictures wont me too close. I just figure I am spending $1300 on these pictures (MK & Epcot)and I don't want to not be happy with them.


i think kristen used peddles...i could be wrong though.



Yup she did!


are you going to have it preserved? i have my floral preservation phone session tomorrow with keepsake tomorrow and i am so excited!



I don't think so....I think my DF is going to kill me if I don't stop adding things to our ever growing budget!!

[Chilly]

You were one gorgeous bride even if the dress did nearly kill you - congratulations!

[PrincessBride010103]

Caryn-- How long til your Randy pics are in? Im getting antsy for you!!

[caryndisneydiva]

You were one gorgeous bride even if the dress did nearly kill you - congratulations!

thanks!

Caryn-- How long til your Randy pics are in? Im getting antsy for you!!

UGH UGH UGH! i think i still have a few weeks to go, judging by how fast he's gotten everyone elses done...there are still a few people who got married before me that haven't gotten theirs yet...

[BaBeeCee14]

I can't wait to see your pictures from Randy! I'm thinking Kristen's pictures won't be too long after yours.

[Kristen14]

I can't wait to see your pictures from Randy! I'm thinking Kristen's pictures won't be too long after yours.

He told me to send him an email when I got back from my honeymoon... so I did and he emailed me back with "give me 4 weeks and then give Linda a call in the office". :eek: I know he does a lot of artistic photo-shopping... thats why we hired him, but IM SO EXCITED TO SEE MY PICTURES!!!! 4 weeks is an eternity!

[caryndisneydiva]

He told me to send him an email when I got back from my honeymoon... so I did and he emailed me back with "give me 4 weeks and then give Linda a call in the office". :eek: I know he does a lot of artistic photo-shopping... thats why we hired him, but IM SO EXCITED TO SEE MY PICTURES!!!! 4 weeks is an eternity!

well, it's 3 weeks on the dot for me today and three weeks on the dot for you saturday...who knows maybe he'll be really energetic, drink some powerade and get them all done by next week :laughing:

[Goldeelox9]

Wow 3 weeks....I can not wait to see your pictures! I am sure they will be super fabulous!:Pinkbounc

[BayouPrincess]

I'm dying to see your pics!

:cheer2:
GO RANDY!
YOU CAN DO IT!
GO RANDY!
:cheer2: